Innocently Evil (A Kitty Bloom Novel) (25 page)

We
crouched low and took quick, quiet steps as we stayed close to the left row of rose bushes and followed their straight line to the stairs. As we crept up them, I could feel my evil side’s senses heightening, ever cautious of our dangerous surroundings. At the top, our head flicked from side to side and once she’d established our safety, my darker half made a run for the shadows of the double door. In the dark, our tense muscles began to relax and the adrenalin that had been pounding through my body ever since I’d left my house now only had one last fear: that I’d be too late.

Although we had
decided to leave the darker of us in control for a while longer, we both agreed to take a look through the closest stained glass window before we tried to make our way inside. Finding the clearest and most translucent piece of glass was a hassle until we peered through the central, sunflower yellow diamond shape. That was when we saw her.

My mum
was sitting on a luxurious sofa beside a handsome man with long, straight, crimson hair. A glass of red wine was held tenderly between her fingers and her hand was resting on the man’s thigh. Her long, loose auburn hair dipped low on her back as her head fell back elegantly and her lips spread as her mouth opened in an amused chuckle. She looked back at the man and pushed his thigh in a teasing manner, then her lips moved but I couldn’t tell what she was saying.

Suddenly, her eyes shot to mine and my heart stopped beating. I pulled myself
away from the window as quickly as possible and flattened my back against the dark brick wall by the double doors. My heart beat furiously inside my chest creating an aggressive vibration through the rest of my body, as my eyes, a second slower than the rest of me, finally flicked to the darkness in front of me. Instantly, I gasped and found myself almost dying from fright for a second time in seconds.

“Spying, are we,” said Max, as he pulled himself from the darkness.

I gulped in air, looking considerably like a dying goldfish as I scrambled to try and think of an excuse. But it seemed as though my brain had abandoned me and that my shock had retracted my evil half’s control of our body. I was left human, helpless, motionless and mindless. The only thought going through my head was that my mum seemed to be on a date with a dead guy.

Max stared down at me and smiled a smug, evil incarnate smile. My mouth snapped shut at the overly pleased look in his eyes and
I glared at him, completely exasperated that I had been caught. Max’s grin widened and he took a step towards me.

“You’
d better come with me,” he said as he gripped my right arm tightly. “We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

Eighteen:
Fear only Makes
Us
Stronger

Even though I struggled and managed to lose Mum’s dirty pocket knife in the process, I couldn’t seem to pull myself free of Max’s grip and he continued to drag me, without hassle, through the double-door entrance of his home. I gave up the fight as he pushed me into the foyer and a tall, scary, Lurch-looking man closed the door behind us. Without a word, he nodded low at Max and disappeared into a dimly lit room on our right.

Max gripped my arm tighter to pull my attention back to him, then once he had it, he raised a hand towards our left and smiled.
“Shall we,” he asked, rhetorically.             

Before I could decline my consent, he
dragged me forward inside the room I had peaked into moments before. My mum and the pale, red-headed man next to her were staring at us inquisitively as we entered. After a few steps, Max released his firm grip on my arm and pushed me insistently in front of him. I stumbled forward and then nervously pulled the sleeves of my grey shirt down over the ends of my fingers. I looked up at both of them and smiled weakly, trying to swallow my fear and embarrassment.

“My, my,” said the man as he gracefully
rose from the sofa. His luminous gold eyes stared deep into mine and I found myself having to look away.

I saw his hand reach out for my mum’s and he sophisticatedly helped her to stand.

“Angelica, my dear,” he said in a voice hinted with a French accent. “You told me your daughter was beautiful, but I never expected a beauty quite as extraordinary as this.” He stepped towards me, guiding my mum along with him; his graceful movements the picture perfect image of a seventeenth century gentleman.

Surprisingly his outfit was much more casual than I would have expected
given his superior air. Although, he wore black suit pants, a matching jacket and shiny, black leather shoes, his button up shirt was a royal purple and had the top three buttons undone. My mum, on the other hand, was dressed completely unlike herself. A tight, tiny black dress with a v-neckline and a lacy hem hugged her thin figure and a thick, black choker with a stunning, ruby-red jewel wrapped snugly around her delicate neck.

They halted less than a
meter in front of me and I felt a desperate need to retreat back a step. I glanced behind me cautiously and saw that Max was standing only inches from me, blocking my escape. As I turned my head back to the front, my jaw was snatched in the cool, strong fingertips of the man and he pulled my face in line with his. I felt my body shiver at his touch and I could hear my evil half’s unfavorable opinion of him as he forced us to look at him.

“Don’t be afra
id, ma Chaton,” he purred at me. “I am not angry at you for visiting us, although you were uninvited.”

Even though his friendly grin stayed secure, the lilt in his voice during his final four words proved he was not impressed with my interruption. I stared hard at his slender nose, his full, pink lips and his sharp, square-shaped jaw, desperately trying not to look into his eyes ag
ain. His unnaturally golden irises had seemed to stare deep into my soul only minutes before and although unsure, I felt as though my thoughts had been open to him. Right this minute, I didn’t want him to know what I was thinking. I was sure my body language would have been enough to show him the gist of it.

His fingertips held my jaw more firmly and he pushed my head up, clearly fighting to capture my eyes. I avoided him politely, until I no longer cared if he thought I was being insolent and instead of looking at him I stared at my mum.

I looked deep into her eyes and couldn’t seem to hide the shock from my face. My mouth gaped open as her once silvery-blue eyes now shone back into mine with a cold, turquoise glow. She smiled serenely at me and battered her eyelashes, then held tighter onto the man’s hand.

I pulled my mouth shut and pursed my lips hard together, fighting off the sadness that was filling my heart. Then, ignoring the possible personal danger, I s
napped my eyes back to the vampire in front of me. “What have you done,” I growled through clenched teeth.

The man’s eyes glowed with pleasure as they looked into mine
, while his hand dropped from my jaw and his lips pulled back in a tight grin. “Oh,” he said, feigning apology. “How rude of me to forget the introductions. I’m sure by now you’ve guessed that I am Louis Tiennan, but have you yet had the pleasure of meeting my fiancé?”

              His pale hand gestured elegantly to my mum, whose eyes glowed greener as they moved from my face to Louis’. She lifted up her left hand from where it was lying gracefully across Louis’ and a ruby studded gold ring glittered from her ring finger. Then, she inched closer to him and her lips pulled back in a wicked grin, revealing a truth I had hoped was not yet reality. Two sharp pointed canines protruded from her rosy lips.

I clenched my lips
more tightly and bit the insides of my cheeks, trying to fight the hot tears I felt coming. Denial spread like wild fire inside my mind. I clutched at even the most unbelievable notions, explaining to myself why or how my mum couldn’t be a vampire. My body began to shake as my fury and fear united together and the realization that I had been too late hit home. My evil half yelled at me to stay in control, to get it together, but I didn’t have the strength.

My mum had finally given in, and if she wasn’t strong enough to keep on fighting, what made me think I could. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes, welling up until they were eager to burst. As soon as the first one threatened to drop, a warm strength came over me
. My head fell to my chest and my eyes closed while my body went weak. I felt myself get pushed to the back of my mind and I wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it.

Swiftly, my head rose back up and I could feel that the heavy tears were gone. My head
tilted to the side, left then right, as though I was cracking my neck, then my eyes opened and I was seeing the world through a joined perspective, while both sides of me controlled my body at once.

A raging fury burnt inside us as we stared from Louis Tiennan to our mother. How could she do this to us and what gave him the right to control her destiny?
Louis stared at us, the smugly satisfied grin on his lips faltering just a little. Our mother now gently lay her head on Louis’ shoulder and stared quizzically at us. With our top lip pulled back in an enraged snarl, our left hand lifted and, in a blur, it struck our mother’s right cheek, slamming her head hard against Louis’ frame. Louis’ grin dropped in shock and his head turned in a flash from our mother to us. His body stiffened and he leaned away from us.

“How could you,” we roared at our mother. “H
ow is this a cure?”

Her head lifted from Louis’ shoulder and she touched her right hand to her cheek, wiggling her jaw from side to side as if trying to realign it. Warily, she stared at us, still clearly confused by the situation or possibly by our reaction. She dropped her hand from her cheek and moved it towards us.
“Kitty-cat,” she said softly, reaching out for us.

Our left hand rose again and our mother flinched as we hit her hand firmly away. The hurt that seemed to appear in my mother’s eyes was gone moments later and her posture changed
into an arrogant perfection that we had never seen on her before.

She smiled at us sinisterly and wrapped her left arm tighter around Louis’.
“How could I,” she spat at us. “How could I what? Finally end this incessant fight of mine. I’ve been trying to be good all my life and what has it got me? Nothing but pain and death and fear.” She sighed deeply, closing her eyes for a second as she tried to gain control over the anger in her voice.

Her eyes flipped open and a hint of sincerity shined through them.
“There was never a cure, Kitten,” she said honestly. “I spent my life looking for a lost cause.” She took a tiny step closer to us and we raised our head defiantly to her. “But this,” she said, pointing to herself and her surroundings. “Kitty-cat, this is better than a cure. To live eternally like this, to not have to fear, to be finally free, is better than anything a cure could have given us. And I owe it all to Louis.”

Our mother turned her head back to Louis Tiennan and gave him a warm, loving smile. Although, he kept an eye on us, Louis looked at our mother and returned her affectionate grin.

Rage boiled our blood and we went to lunge at our mother and Louis, but at the final moment Louis’ head nodded and strong arms from behind us wrapped around our shoulders and held us in place. We screamed at them from deep within our broken soul and fought to free ourselves from Max’s secure hold. Louis nodded again and Max’s grip became vice-like. Our lungs fought to bring in air and slowly our fighting began to cease. We glared at Louis furiously and together both halves of me swore bloody vengeance.

“That’s b
etter,” Louis said complacently. “You’ll make this a lot easier on yourself, Kitty, if you don’t fight.”

Our top lip rose in disgust and we looked down our nose at him
.

Louis’ golden eyes flickered and his head ti
pped slightly to the side. Then he took a small step towards us. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Kitty dear,” he began, staring at us as though we were a new toy that didn’t work properly. “But isn’t there something a little different about you?”

We took advantage of our right to remain silent, since denial would most likely dig us
in deeper, and we forced our expression to remain flat. Louis’ eyes narrowed and stared deep into ours, but all shields were up and there was no way he could penetrate our defenses. Our mind would remain a mystery to him.

His expre
ssion hardened as his unauthorized search for the truth was a bust and he took a step back towards our mother. “Something is different,” he said curiously, almost as if he was talking to himself. “I will find out what it is.”

We gave him a pleasant smile and shook our head.
“No you won’t,” we said, happily.

His firm expression became an angry frown and he waved his left
hand in the air as though he were dismissing us. We felt Max’s arms loosen and he began turning us around.

“Wait,” called our mother.

We looked back over our shoulder just in time to see her whisper something in Louis’ ear. Max didn’t stop moving us until his father intervened.