Chapter 44
Ahead, a lantern hung from a pole near a narrow entryway. Jo recognized this as the turn off having seen it in her aunt’s mind via the IAC they all had implanted in their eyes. It allowed them to speak to each other without anyone else hearing, amongst other things, and it was responsible for the map she was following now.
Jo slowed to turn, recognizing this was a driveway, not a road. About a half mile down the winding route, she came to a gate. She was expecting this as well. Snowflakes rushed in through her open window as she rolled it down, melting against the flush of her face.
Whomever answered the call button she pressed barked something in Russian so distorted through the speaker, even her IAC couldn’t pick it up well enough to translate it. She looked at Zane, who simply shrugged. He had no idea either.
“This is Jo McReynolds,” she began, expecting to have to give a lengthy explanation for who she was and what she wanted, but before she’d even gotten her full last name out of her mouth, the metal barrier in front of her began to move.
Turning to Zane, she said, “That was easy.”
He arched an eyebrow but said nothing, his way of reminding her that nothing is ever easy.
On the other side of the gate, she began to understand his reason for doubting the level of difficulty. Dozens of armed guards took up positions on either side of the Jeep, escorting it toward the large house at the end of the lane. Their eyes glowed amber, an indicator that all of these people were Souled Vampires. She hadn’t gotten the impression from Cassidy and her parties visit that they’d been quite so amassed, but then, perhaps Jo hadn’t been paying quite enough attention.
Slowly, Jo eased the Jeep along, awaiting instructions from these greeters, should they bark them. It wasn’t until she was near the house that one of the men signaled for her to stop and shouted something she didn’t understand. This time, it wasn’t in Russian, but his broken English was uninterpretable to her.
“He said turn it off,” Zane said. He always was more attuned than she was.
She did as she had been told, her eyes taking in the mansion now situated to her right. It was huge, probably ten thousand square feet, in a modern style, though not with the sort of wide windows one might expect from twenty-first century architecture. Instead, massive white walls encapsulated much of the living space with a broad, gray porch, probably slate, she thought. Lights illuminated the shrubs along the outside and poured out from the few windows that were visible from the front. It looked like the home of an affluent family, maybe in Seattle or Aspen, before the Revelation. Now, the idea that Eliza, Lucas, and their clan of Souled Vampires lived here, perhaps pretending the world around them wasn’t crumbling like fisted sand seemed as wrong as the idea that these Vampires might have a tiny chunk of rare metal shaped into a bullet that could kill the Guardian sitting beside her.
Jo didn’t open her door; one of the guards did. He took hold of her arm, forcing her out, though he didn’t yank her as she thought he might. Thank goodness I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, she thought. On the other side of the vehicle, Zane was also removed.
“Who this person?” one of them asked, gesturing at Zane. “You were to come alone.”
“He’s… nobody,” Jo said, watching him tip his head to the side in consideration of her remark. “I mean, just company for the long journey. He can stay here.”
The guards discussed the situation in Russian but didn’t come to a conclusion before the door to the house opened and a shadowed form emerged. “He can come inside.” An airy, male voice with only a slight Slovak accent called. Jo couldn’t see him, but she felt his eyes on her, and then, he disappeared back inside. Lucas, she thought. It had to be.
The guards checked them both for weapons, roughly enough that Jo thought she was back in jail--or maybe at the airport--and then they were allowed to walk inside. Not having any weapons made her feel as exposed as standing on stage with no clothes on would have, if she had ever had that experience, but she had to remind herself these people were supposed to be their friends, sort of. Besides, she could kill Eliza, a Guardian, with her bare hands if she needed to. The Vamps as well, assuming none of them shot her before she got the chance. The odds of her taking them all out were against her, but she’d never played to the odds.
Most of the guards stayed behind, either looking over the Jeep or heading back to the road. She wondered if that was their job, to just stand outside all damn day and night and make sure that nothing and no one infiltrated the fortress. She wondered what they ate. Most of the Souled Vampires preferred animal blood to human because they did have a conscience, but she knew there was such a thing as evil Souled.
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