"Why did he have to come at all?" William said angrily. "If you truly need to speak with me, you should have come alone."
"William, you weren"t listening," Innokenti replied patiently. "We have come here to see you and the little one, and this is no routine visit we are on. I am a messenger here. Anton has accompanied me in order to look out for my welfare."
William snorted derisively. "He"s your bodyguard? What do you need protection from? Me?"
"Vampires are strong, but we are not completely invulnerable, William-you know that. And our mission here is a dangerous one."
William"s face grew grim, and he moved swiftly to stand in front of me.
"Tell me what you need to tell me. But leave Katie out of this."
I looked around William"s shoulder. Anton gave me an unpleasant smile, and Innokenti spread out his hands apologetically.
"I"m afraid I can"t leave Katie out of anything," Innokenti said. "Katie is involved no matter how much we all might wish otherwise."
William folded his arms across his chest. "Say what you have to say, and then get out of here."
"Very well." Something steely came into Innokenti"s light eyes. "You both have your duties, and you are both avoiding them. This is unacceptable."
"Unacceptable to whom?" William asked. "To you?"
"William, you know I do not speak for myself," Innokenti replied. "I speak on behalf of others. You, William, belong in Krov. You belong with us in the vampire colony there. You are valuable to us. You have special abilities-you alone amongst our number can fight the kost."
"Are you being troubled by a kost at the moment?" William asked.
Innokenti gave William a mirthless smile. "No-not at the moment. But our kind grows thirstier. You know what that means."
Innokenti"s pale eyes shifted to me. "And you, little one, you too, have a purpose. You are the Little Sun, and you are also destined to fight the kost. You owe us no particular allegiance, but your heritage confers certain obligations and responsibilities-ones that cannot lightly be ignored."
"Little Sun?" Anton said with a mocking lilt in his tone. "So you"re the one. How about I call you "Sunshine"?"
"So you say we have duties," William said, ignoring Anton. "What do you want from us?"
"I propose that you and Katie return with me now," Innokenti replied. "You can return to the colony, William, and Katie can live in the house that was vacated by her cousin, Odette. You can live near one another, and possibly even work with one another whenever a kost rears its ugly head. But I would recommend that you put an end to all romantic involvement. Such a relationship will not meet with much approval."
"And what if we refuse to go with you?" William asked.
Anger flashed in Innokenti"s eyes. "I would advise against it. But in the event that the two of you refuse, I would return to the colony and explain to them, with a heart full of regret, that I was unable to make you see reason."
"You would not attempt to force us to return with you?" William asked.
Innokenti"s eyebrows rose. "William, we are vampires. We are not savages."
William stared at Innokenti for a long moment, and then shook his head. "I don"t understand what"s going on here. You"ve admitted that the kost is not an immediate danger. And I can return to Russia any time I wish-you know that. There"s no need for me to be in Russia on constant patrol. And you"ve already admitted that Katie owes you no allegiance. What does it matter to you where she lives? This must be about something else. There"s something you"re not telling me."
Innokenti looked off into the trees, and then fixed William with a piercing stare.
"William, you may not believe this, but you mean something to us-to the whole colony-something that has nothing to do with your unique talents. You are one of us-and we know that this human girl here matters to you. Anton and I are here to ensure your safety and hers. Forces we don"t entirely understand yet are gathering. And the two of you would make convenient p.a.w.ns."
William was unmoved. "Then tell me what you do know. Give me all the information you have, and maybe I"ll consider coming with you. Katie isn"t to be involved in this-at all."
Anger flashed once again in Innokenti"s cool eyes. "Katie will be involved in this no matter what you want. There"s a price on the girl"s head, and there are two separate groups after her. I am telling you that she is not safe."
"Who"s after her?"
"I cannot tell you that William. I am merely a humble servant of a greater power. I have told you too much already. I have only been authorized to tell you that it"s in your best interests to return with us."
"Then the answer is "no,"" William said. "I"m not going with you and neither is Katie."
Innokenti"s eyes flicked to me. "Perhaps you should let the little one decide for herself. After all, she is the one in the greatest danger."
William took a step toward Innokenti. "I won"t allow Katie to be tricked into anything by you. That cousin of hers that you mentioned so cavalierly a few moments ago tried to kill her. If Katie goes back, her cousin may return, too, and try to finish what she started. Krov is far too dangerous for Katie. She"s safer here with me."
"What do you say, little one?"
There was a strong hint of warning in Innokenti"s voice, and I felt a wave of fear wash over me as I met his pale gaze.
"I-I want to stay here with William."
Innokenti displayed little outward reaction at my refusal, but he suddenly seemed to radiate rage. He turned toward William.
"I"ll give you one last chance. The girl doesn"t really know enough of the world to make a reasonable decision, but you know something of the true darkness that exists out there. If you don"t care about your own safety, then you should at least consider hers."
"We"re not going with you," William said curtly.
Innokenti spread out his hands in a gesture of surrender. "As you wish, William. But remember this: I tried to help you."
Innokenti backed up a few paces, and his eyes flicked to me once more. "You cannot remain with him, little one. They will not allow it."
He melted into the woods. Anton gave me a wink and a smile, and then he too, seemed to vanish into the trees.
I looked at William. He was staring at the spot where Anton and Innokenti had just stood. His face seemed set in stone.
After a moment, he looked around at me.
"We need to go to your house now. I need to be able to protect you."
Chapter 2.
William and I walked through the trees in silence.
I was rattled, and I could tell he was worried.
Cursed, d.a.m.ned, outcast.
Those were words that William had used to describe himself on more than one occasion, and words that had floated through my mind back at the skating rink.
In a way, those same words could be used to describe me.
I let my mind stray to the words it had shied away from before.
Vampire. Sdh.
They were words that did not properly belong to this world. And yet I knew they were part of this world all the same.
William had been one of the Sdh once-a race of bright, immortal creatures of great power. And then he had been attacked by a vampire and turned-though how long ago this had occurred exactly, I did not know. The Sdh had cast him out, taken his memories, left him to wander. He had found an unexpected home with the vampires of Krov, Russia-the village in which I had been born.
And I myself was a descendent of the Sdh. My grandfather had been sent to Krov to found a line of humans with Sdh blood-something the Sdh did every so many generations in fulfillment of an ancient treaty. The children of such unions were gifted with a unique ability, and an obligation, to combat evil spirits of great strength and age-particularly one known as the kost.
A kost was an evil spirit inhabiting-and animating-a human corpse.
My mother was the only child of this particular Sdh union, and like all those before her, she was known as the Little Sun. She was ordained by her birth to be the protector of Krov, and in this capacity she had fought and imprisoned a kost named Gleb Mstislav in his family"s crypt. And he had worked in secret to poison and kill her.
My father had died shortly before her in an ordinary accident-he had died while hiking. And I had been left an orphan in the care of my grandmother, GM, who knew nothing of my grandfather"s true nature or my mother"s purpose in life.
And then this past October Gleb had escaped from his crypt, aided by his son Timofei and my own cousin Odette. Gleb had come after me in Elspeth"s Grove, hoping to kill me. My struggle with him took me to Russia, where William and I had worked together to destroy him.
On my mother"s death, I had become the new Little Sun, though I didn"t even know any such thing existed. And shortly after my sixteenth birthday I had begun to have visions, which I had learned were meant to help me in my battle against creatures like Gleb. But after Gleb had been defeated, and I had returned to Elspeth"s Grove, the visions had stopped.
I had thought that it was over-that the darkness in Krov was something I had left behind forever. I had thought that I was free to live in Elspeth"s Grove in peace with William.
But there were vampires from Krov in Elspeth"s Grove now, and if they were telling me the truth, there was a price on my head now.
I shivered as I thought of Anton and Innokenti. How long had they been following William and me? How long had they been watching us? Had they seen me at the house with GM?
I didn"t want her to be in danger because of me.
"How did they find us?" I asked William.
William blinked as if I had startled him out of his train of thought. "What was that?"
"Innokenti and Anton," I said. "How did they find us? I"m sure I never told Innokenti that I lived in Elspeth"s Grove."
William laughed-a strangely humorless sound. "You need not have told Innokenti anything. He has ways of finding things out."
William lapsed back into silence.
"You and Anton appear to know each other," I said after a moment.
"Yes," William replied reluctantly. "He lived in the vampire colony in Krov at the same time as I did."
"The two of you don"t get along?" I asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"It doesn"t matter now," he said quietly. "And I"d rather not discuss it. Please don"t ask me to tell you."
There was a note of finality in William"s voice, and I knew he would say no more about Anton.
"What do you think they really want from us?" I asked. "Did you believe Innokenti when he said that someone is after us, and that he wants to protect us?"
"No," William said. "It"s a scare tactic. Innokenti"s trying to trick us into doing what he wants. There"s no one after us."
"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "One hundred percent sure?"
William paused for a moment before answering.
"No."
I felt a sense of dread settle over me. "So it"s possible that Innokenti was telling the truth?"
"It is possible-but it"s a remote possibility. You asked me if I was one hundred percent sure it"s a trick. I can"t be one hundred percent sure. But I know Innokenti and the rest of them. They don"t act in the interests of others-no matter what he says. They only act to help themselves."
"Why do you think they want us then?"
William shook his head. "I think it"s best if we don"t find out."
We walked in silence again for a time before I asked the question that was weighing the heaviest on my mind.
"Do you really think they"ll just take no for an answer?"
William looked at me, and a muscle worked in his jaw.
He did not reply.
Soon the trees we walked through began to thin, and we were in sight of my neighborhood. The thought of vampires lurking near my house left me feeling deeply uneasy.
I clutched at William"s sleeve, and he stopped walking.
"Do you think Innokenti and Anton will leave Elspeth"s Grove? Do you think they"re watching us right now?"
William took my face in his hands. "They aren"t nearby right now-I would hear them if they were. And I don"t know what they are planning to do, but you and your grandmother will be safe. I"ll see to that."
"William, if there really is a price on my head-if there really are two groups after me-"
William interrupted. "Have I let you down yet?"
"No, you"ve never let me down," I said.
"Trust me-I"ll take care of it." William smiled. "Now, let"s go see your grandmother."