Blood Forever (8 page)

“How
are
you?” she asks, squeezing me with exuberance.
“You ran out so fast last night I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye. Is everything okay?” She peers at me with concerned eyes. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you? I mean, about being a blood mate? Because Magnus really needs a good blood mate.” She glances over at the vampire, a fond look in her eyes. “He’s been kind of lonely, you know? Rachel and I have tried to keep him company over the last few years. But there’s only so much we can do. He really needs that blood bond with another vampire. And you seem like such a nice girl. I think you’d be perfect for him.” She gives me a worried smile. “So don’t back out, okay? Don’t break his heart.”

I glance over at Magnus, my own heart suddenly feeling a little broken. I had no idea, that night he bit me, how much he’d been looking forward to having a blood mate of his own. And then I went and completely rejected him, demanding to be changed back into a human and treating him like a vile monster who tried to steal my soul. When all along, all he wanted was my heart.

Charity leads me over to the table, where Magnus is swishing around a goblet of wine. He looks up at me, his beautiful sapphire eyes lighting up as they fall upon me.

“You’re back,” he says, sounding surprised. “I thought when you left last night…before we could practice…”

“I know, I’m sorry,” I say, pulling over a nearby chair. “I didn’t mean to abandon you. There was just something I had to work out.”

“I hope you were successful?”

I sit down in the chair, drawing in a breath. “Look, can we
talk?” I glance over at Rachel and Charity, watching with rapt eyes. “Alone?”

Magnus nods, then gestures to the donor chicks to make themselves scarce. Charity gives me a secretive wink while Rachel throws me a suspicious glare. I sigh and turn back to Magnus.

“So,” I say, not sure where to begin. “I wanted to—”

Magnus raises a hand to stop me. “It’s all right,” he says. “I know what you’re going to say and I understand.”

“Um, I don’t think you—”

“I felt you waffling at the church. And then you ran out before the practice bite.” He gives me a sad smile. “I know you don’t want to become a vampire. Not really, anyway. And I want you to know that that’s okay with me. I mean, not that I don’t want you. I’ve been waiting for a blood mate for some time now, after all. But I don’t want you doing something you’re going to regret. As I said last night, this is eternity we’re talking about.” He reaches out and places a hand on top of my own, sending a chill down my spine. “I will inform the council of your decision and they will send you a withdrawal form in the mail. You should expect to receive it between one to three—”

“Wait, wait, wait!” I cry. “That’s not what I came here to say at all!”

Magnus drops my hand. He looks at me with a hope in his eyes that nearly kills me. “It’s not?” he asks in a hoarse voice, as if he can scarcely believe his luck.

Gah. This is so hard. I mean, I don’t want to give him false
hope. But at the same time, we’ve got much more important things to discuss before we go down that whole blood-mate road. And if I tell him I’m backing out now, he’ll never listen to what I have to say.

“No, I’m still planning on going through with it,” I say, my lie tasting like sawdust in my mouth. I think back to all the times I yelled at him for lying to me. He’d tell me it was for my own good, something I could never understand. Now I think I’m starting to. “But right now we have more pressing matters.” I lean over the table, lowering my voice to a whisper. “Your Master’s life is in danger.”

Magnus jerks to attention. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. Your Master. Lucifent. The little-boy vampire who sired you.” I wonder how much I should reveal that I know. I want him to believe me, but I don’t want him to get suspicious because I know too much. “There’s a contract out on his head from Slayer Inc. One month from today they plan to send Bertha the Vampire Slayer into Blood Coven headquarters with a commission to dust him with her stake.”

I pause, not daring to breathe as I wait for his reaction. Will he believe me? Everything we’ve planned up until this point in our little quest to save the future depends on it.

For a moment, Magnus is silent. Then he speaks. “How did you come across this information?” he asks quietly.

I bite my lower lip. How indeed? Obviously I can’t tell him I’m a time traveler. That would just bring up too many unanswerable questions. But what else can I say? How would I know this information? “I can’t reveal my sources,” I say at last,
deciding to plead the fifth. “But I can assure you the threat is very real.”

Magnus frowns, staring down into his glass of wine. I can almost see the thoughts whirling around in his head like a prairie tornado. He wants to believe me, even though he thinks what I’m saying is completely absurd.

“Look, I’m going to be a member of the Blood Coven soon,” I remind him. “And the last thing I want is for something to happen to our fearless leader before I even get a chance to join.” I look at him pleadingly. Silently begging him to believe me.

He pushes back his chair abruptly, rising to his feet. “Come.”

“Um, what?” I squint up at him, confused. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. “Come where?”

“Lucifent must be informed of this threat,” Magnus says. “I will bring you to him so you can tell him what you know.”

Wait, he wants
me
to tell him? “Oh. I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…” I stammer. After all, though I’d only met the Blood Coven Master once, mere minutes before his death, let’s just say he wasn’t as cuddly or cute as he appears to be. In fact, now that I think about it, he was kind of mean. “Can’t you just, you know, warn him yourself?” In my head I can hear Rayne calling me a wimp, but I push the thought from my mind.

“I could,” Magnus replies. “But I’m guessing he’d prefer to hear about his impending demise straight from the source.”

“Even if the source in question is an inconsequential mortal girl he doesn’t know from a hole in the wall?” I know I’m grasping at straws here, but I can’t help it. “Wouldn’t he prefer to hear it from his own progeny, vampire to vampire and all that?”

“You’re going to be a full member of the Blood Coven and my blood mate in one month,” Magnus points out. “I see no reason why he shouldn’t respect you and hear you out.”

Sigh. I’m not going to get out of this, am I? I just have to pray Lucifent’s in an indulgent mood and not into killing messengers and such. “Fine,” I say reluctantly. “Lead the way.”

As I rise from my seat, I expect Magnus to lead me outside into his BMW and drive me over to Blood Coven HQ in St. Patrick’s Cemetery. But it turns out Lucifent evidently enjoys a little night life himself because instead I’m brought back through the dance floor of Club Fang, through a locked door at the other end of the hall, and behind a red velvet curtain, into a small, stark room I’ve never seen before. There, two vampires stand guard before a plain wooden door.

“We’re here to see Lucifent,” Magnus informs the guards.

The two vampires look at one another, then turn back to Magnus. “The Master is at dinner. He asks not to be disturbed.”

Phew. “Oh well, we’ll have to tell him some other time, I guess,” I say quickly, relieved to have an out. “Or, you know, you can tell him when you see him, Magnus. At some point when I’m probably not hanging around…”

Magnus ignores me. “This girl has vital information regarding the Master’s safety,” he insists, giving the guards a steely look. “I expect he will want to be interrupted to hear her tale.”

“Fine.” The guard on the left turns and opens the door behind him just a crack, slipping through and yanking it shut
before I can get a good peek inside. We wait in awkward silence, the second guard giving us a squirrelly look. A moment later the door opens again. But it’s not the guard—or Lucifent—who steps into the room.

“Jareth!” I cry out in surprise before I can remember I’m not supposed to know the vampire in question. “Um,” I say quickly. “That’s your name, right?”

He stops short as he sees me and a flush of anger crosses his face. “You again!” he growls. “I thought I told you to leave me alone!”

Uh-oh. I glance at Magnus, who’s now looking from me to Jareth and back again, confusion in his eyes. What did Rayne go and do now? I thought it would be safe to leave her alone for a minute or two, but evidently not so much.

And unfortunately Jareth’s not finished. “I told you. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to take a midnight walk on the beach. And I certainly don’t want to partake in a quick juicing of your jugular.” He bares his fangs at me, as if to try to scare me off. “I’m a very busy vampire, I’ll have you know, and I don’t have time for any of your shenanigans.”

“Jareth, I think you have this girl mistaken for someone else,” Magnus cuts in. “This is Rayne McDonald. My future blood mate.”

“Well, your future blood mate has just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to make me fall in love with her,” Jareth says with a scowl. “Telling me we’re soul mates from another life and that I should dump my girlfriend and hook up with her instead.”

Oh, Rayne…So not in the plan!

“That’s impossible,” Magnus protests. “She has been with me this entire time.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Jareth demands, his face turning purple.

“Well, if the cape fits…”

Jeez Louise. “Um, hello?” I interject. “I can explain?”

The two vampires turn to look at me. I draw in a breath and address Jareth first. “You have me mistaken for my twin sister. She’s the one who wants to hook up with you.” Then I turn to Magnus. “And I’m your blood mate.” Well, sort of anyway. It’s going to be very confusing if he keeps thinking of me as Rayne. But how can I explain our little switcheroo? It’ll only make things even more bewildering—if that’s possible at this point.

“Your blood mate?” Jareth snorts. “Wow. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel these days.” He gives me a scornful look, as if I’m gum he found on the bottom of his shoe.
Nice one, jerk. Way to go judging me ’cause you don’t like my twin.

Luckily I have my own personal knight in shining armor by my side, ready to defend me. “Jareth!” Magnus cries in a shocked and angry voice. “This girl has done nothing to deserve your disrespect. You will apologize to her and—”

“Guys, guys!” I interrupt. “We don’t have time for this!” Though, to be honest, I wish we did, as it’s more than a little nice to watch Magnus stick up for me, not even knowing who I really am. “I have to gain an audience with Lucifent and inform him about the threat on his life. That’s all that matters right now.”

Jareth narrows his eyes. “And where, might I ask, is this so-called threat coming from?”

“Slayer Inc.”

“I see.” The vampire general purses his lips. “And your proof?”

Er…Oh crap. I should have known he’d ask for that.

“I, um, don’t really have any?” I stammer. “But you should take me seriously. I know what I’m talking about.”

Jareth shakes his head. “Do you know how many false threats we get on the Master’s life every day? I have no time to follow up on each and every one of them. And the last thing the Master needs is to be bothered by some crazy, ranting mortal with an even crazier sister who has no proof to back up her claim. He’s got a very busy schedule, you know.”

“Well, I can assure you his calendar will be completely clear next month, after he’s been staked through the heart,” I dare to say. “But, sadly, then it’ll be too late to warn him.”

Jareth rolls his eyes. “Come back with proof,” he says. “And maybe I will see about granting you an audience. Until then, please go away. And tell your sister to go away, too. Magnus, here, may be blinded by your beauty, but I know your kind all too well. You’re trouble with a capital T, and I want nothing to do with either of you.”

And with that, he storms into the back room, slamming the door shut behind him. “Whatever,” I mutter, annoyed by the whole thing at this point. Lucifent doesn’t want to be saved? Fine by me. We should have just left things well enough alone, I guess, and not tried to go out of our way to save the future.
I turn and stomp down the hall, heading back to the dance floor to find my sister.

But before I can open the door, I feel a hand on my shoulder, turning me around. Magnus has followed me down the corridor, an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry,” he says. “Jareth means well. And he’s very loyal. But he can be kind of…rough around the edges at times.”

“I know,” I say with a sigh. “I mean, I’ve heard,” I correct quickly, catching Magnus’s look. “I mean, he seems that way. To be honest, I’m not sure what my sister sees in him.” I shrug. “But whatever. I’ve done my best. If your coven refuses to take me seriously, then there’s really nothing I can do.” I start for the door again, but Magnus stops me.

“Tell me,” he says in a low voice. “Is Lucifent truly in danger?”

“God, do you think I would be bothering with all of this if he wasn’t?” I demand. “I mean, no offense, but I have better things to do than get humiliated by arrogant, self-serving vampires. For example, I haven’t even begun to study for my chem test tomorrow.”

“Then I believe you,” Magnus says simply.

“You do?”

He gives me a rueful smile. “You’re my blood mate. Why would you lie?”

I can think of a million reasons, actually. But I’m not going to mention any of them right now. Instead, I’m just going to enjoy the fact that he’s willing to take me at face value, without demanding any proof.

“Except we’re going to need some proof,” he adds gently. “I mean, if you want the others to take you seriously, that is.”

Sigh.

“But I can help you get it,” he adds. “If you know where to look.”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. This, I wasn’t expecting.

“Okay,” I say, nodding, a plan forming in my mind. “Well, from what I understand, Slayer Inc. is as big on the red tape as you guys are,” I muse aloud. “And they’re bound to have done some kind of investigation. Maybe they’ve even put together an official commission.” I think back to some of Rayne’s past slayer assignments. She always got a folder with background information and photos, along with the slay order. It made sense to think they’d have created one for Lucifent, as well.