Slowly, her hand trembling, she reached out and grasped it. She could feel its ancient energy coursing through her.
“This weapon has been in safekeeping for thousands of years, reserved for the time of greatest war,” Aiden said. “But it is also a clue, the final relic on the road to your father.”
Caitlin surveyed it, in awe.
“I’m meant to bring it to the temple?” she asked. “The one in my vision? The one in Jerusalem?”
Aiden nodded back.
“And now, you must go. There is no time to waste. A war comes. Find your father, for us all. Go. Say your goodbyes to Caleb. Make it meaningful. It will be the last time you see him again.”
Caitlin’s heart stopped at his words, as she felt her eyes well up with tears.
“How can you say such a thing?” she asked, horrified.
Aiden stared back gravely.
“I only say that which you know yourself to be true. Sometimes our future is revealed to us, and it is one we must accept. I am sorry, but your destiny with Caleb has come to an end.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Scarlet stood in her cell, Ruth beside her, and looked up at the group of people standing before her. There must have been a dozen of them, and she could sense right away that they were different, like her. Vampires. Except, they were not like her. They had a very different energy—a dark energy. She sensed they had very dark intentions.
The guard opened the silver bars to her cell, and now they stood just a few feet away, staring down at her. The guard stepped forward and unlocked her silver shackles, and she rubbed her wrists, happy to have them free. She felt tempted to try to make a run for it, to dart past them, between their legs, and up the stone staircase. But she knew she wouldn’t make it. Ruth certainly wouldn’t, either. So she stared back at them warily, waiting to see who they were, and what they had come for.
As she looked them over, she suddenly thought she recognized one of them. She did a double-take: could it be him?
Scarlet couldn’t believe it. It looked just like him, although his face, the expression, seemed different. As if he were under a spell of some sort. And his eyes—they look older, meaner, lifeless. But otherwise, she was sure it was him.
Sam. Her uncle. Polly’s husband. The man she had met back in Scotland, and had grown to love. The man who had once looked out for her, protected her. What was he doing with these creeps?
Seeing him, Scarlet could even see some of her mommy in him. It made her heart race, pine for her mother more than ever. Seeing him, she knew that she should feel relief, that someone in her family was here, had found her, was looking out for her. Rationally, she knew she should.
But emotionally, when she looked up at Sam, she felt nothing like relief. Instead, she felt fear. She couldn’t understand why, but the way he looked down at her, it was as if he didn’t recognize her. As if he didn’t even care about her. As if he had not come here to help her, but rather to help this evil group of people. She couldn’t understand it.
“Sam?” she asked, as she looked into his eyes.
The rest of the group turned and looked at him. For a moment, just a flicker of a moment, she thought she saw his face flush with something like surprise. Or maybe, even recognition.
“Sam, don’t you recognize me?” Scarlet persisted. “It’s me. Scarlet. Your sister’s daughter.”
Sam stared back for several soft seconds, unblinking. He looked as if he were trying to figure it out, to remember.
But finally, after several seconds, his eyes did not fill with recognition. On the contrary, they continued to stare coldly down.
“I don’t know you,” snarled his guttural voice.
Scarlet shivered at the sound of it. It was a voice she did not recognize. It was not the voice of a human, but of a creature, of a cold, soulless person from hell. The tone of his voice, even more than his words, told her everything: this was not the Sam she once knew.
Her heart fell. She knew at that moment that her mother had not sent him. That he was not here to help. And that she was still alone in the world.
To Sam’s side stood a woman with long red hair and large breasts, dressed in a tight black leather outfit, scowling down. Scarlet could see the meanness in her eyes, and she could also see the hold that she had on Sam, as if she had him in a spell. She wondered who she was.
On Sam’s other side was an evil looking man who seemed to be thousands of years old. From the way he stood, in the center of the group, she could sense that he was the leader. His pale blue eyes gazed down at her as if he were seeing right through her, and she felt a cold shiver run up her spine. She sensed that this man had come here just for her.
Ruth began to growl.
Scarlet wondered why these people had come here. Clearly, it was not to free her. And yet, she sensed, they weren’t about to hurt her either. Not yet, at least. She sensed that they wanted something from her.
The old, ugly man smiled down at her, his face collapsing into a million wrinkles. It was the most awful smile she had ever seen. She could feel the evil oozing off of him; more than ever, she longed for her mother, for any familiar face.
“You are a precocious little girl,” the old man said. “Just like your mother. You know that I tried to kill her once? Centuries ago? Or I should say, centuries to come. In New York City. I doused her in a bath of acid. But it didn’t work. Because, at the time, she was a half breed.”
The man stepped forward, and narrowed his eyes at Scarlet.
“But you are not a half breed, are you? No. You are the real thing. The union of two vampires. A very rare and special thing. Vampires cannot procreate, you see. You are the exception. The thread in the eye of the needle. The one exception in the universe.”
He paused, examining her.
“But why are you so special?”
He paused again, and as he did, Scarlet began to wonder. Was everything he was saying true? Did he really tried to kill her mommy? Would he try to kill her? Why?
“Yes, I would kill your mother now, if I could,” the old man said, reading her mind, with a smile. “But the problem is, I don’t know where she is. Not yet, anyway. You will lead us to her. And then, I can kill you and her together, at once.”
His smile broadened, and Scarlet felt her heart stop at the viciousness of his words. He was the meanest man she had ever met. And she could tell from his tone that he really meant everything he said.
“I’ll never tell you where my mommy is,” Scarlet responded defiantly.