When I step out of the bathroom, Faith is lounging on the bed. She glances up from the book she's reading. "I suppose it'll do," she says.
I'll take that as a compliment from her.
I run my fingers self-consciously through my dark hair. I'd left it loose after brushing it.
"At the end of the hallway is a set of double doors," she says. "They lead into Father's old bedchamber. I wouldn't recommend sleeping there, but otherwise, take any room you want."
I lick my lips. "Uh, I'm sorry for your loss."
She stares at me blankly for a minute. "Oh. Father, you mean." She shrugs. "Old Family so seldom die.... I'm not quite sure … what I'm supposed to feel. We aren't burdened with the emotions that humans are."
"Not even love?"
Ignoring the question, she thumbs through the book. I see the cover. It's a romance novel.
"What about Richard?" I suddenly ask.
Faith lets out a groan. "That's a night I'll regret for an eternity."
"I think he cares about you. The night I met him he asked about you," I hasten to explain.
"You're so innocent."
She says it like an insult. I bite back a retort. I don't need to defend myself, to claim that I'm not innocent at all—not with my history. But I'm not really in the mood to deal with her. I'd rather be with Victor. "Thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it."
When I step into the hallway, Richard is standing there. "How is she?" he asks.
"Cold, unemotional."
His eyes are fastened on the door. "She's probably confused."
He takes a step toward her bedroom.
"I don't think—"
He stops, looks back at me. I can't explain why I don't want to see him hurt. Perhaps because he's Victor's friend, and I've learned to trust Victor's assessments. "I think she wants to be alone."
He gives me a small smile that says he knows I'm trying to protect him and he appreciates it. "I'll be fine."
He disappears into her room, no longer my problem.
I walk down the hallway to Victor's room. The door is open, an invitation. I peer inside. He's in bed, beneath the covers. His suit is gone. He's wearing a simple cotton T-shirt.
Slowly he opens his eyes. "Dawn."
I move farther into the room. "How are you feeling?"
"Exhausted. Healing takes so much out of us." His brow furrows. "Faith was supposed to take you to a bedroom."
"I'm staying in here."
"No."
"Yes. We can argue if you want, but you're weak and I'll win."
He flashes a quick smile. It's probably the sweetest surrender I've ever seen. I turn the gas lamp down until it's just a hum, the glow disappearing from around Victor, leaving half his body in shadow. I crawl onto the bed and nestle up against his good side. He brings his arm around me.
"I can't even believe I'm going to say this," he says, "but you're probably the best medicine for me."
I know that so much more has to be done to ensure Victor's ascension is complete, and I'm aware that he may have a very dangerous brother out there to deal with, but at this moment, as incredible as it seems, I'm actually happy. "This is where I want to be."
He pulls me in even closer. "What about Michael?"
"I have to let him go. It'll be hard—I've known him forever—but it's not fair to him. Even if things with you and me … don't work out." Humans and vampires. When has it ever worked? "Michael deserves someone who can give him her whole heart. The Teen Initiative party is Saturday night. I'll say good-bye to him then."
"In four hundred years, I've never felt for anyone what I feel for you. No matter what happens, remember that." And I know that he understands as well as I do that things between us will never be simple. We may never have a happy ending.
Shortly before dawn Victor's stirring wakes me up. He touches my cheek and I wish we could stay here all day.
"How are you feeling?" I ask.
"The wound is almost healed," he says. "Most of my strength is back. While I hate to kick you out of my bed, I need a few moments alone to prepare for the funeral."
Reluctantly, I leave the room, close the door, and wait in the hallway. When he joins me, he's wearing a silk suit. In black.
I wonder if I should change into something more somber. As though reading my mind, he says, "You look great." As we walk through the manor, he holds my hand, but when we step outside into the predawn darkness, he releases it. I understand that he has to be strong in front of the others. They, particularly his uncles, can't see that he needs anyone. Especially a human.
A short distance away from the house, on a raised platform, is a plain pine coffin, no lid in sight. As Victor and I near it, I see that Valentine rests inside. Faith is fiddling with his cravat, straightening it.
With a guilty yet sorrowful look, she meets my gaze. "Father always took such pride in his appearance."
"Which is the reason he drank so much blood," Ransom said.
"To retain the appearance of youth," Seymour added.
Their voices are flat, unemotional. No sorrow, no grief. I have the impression that they feel nothing at all for their brother. At least Victor isn't as cold and wooden as they are. I saw the regret in his eyes. He did what he had to do, but he didn't enjoy it.
Faith moves away from the coffin to stand near Richard. He's armed with a stake in each hand, and one more is threaded through his belt.
"What did you decide?" Victor asks his uncles. "Are you with me … or will you be joining my father?"
"My allegiance is to you, nephew," Seymour says, and gracelessly drops to one knee.
Ransom glances around. I wonder if he's thinking about trying to make a run for it. Then he, too, kneels. "As is mine."
I wish I could trust them. But now that Victor is head of the most powerful vampire family, they have to resent it somewhat.
"I accept your fealty," Victor says, but he watches his uncles closely, too, as though he wants to sneak into their minds and read their thoughts as well. "You'll begin your journeys back home tonight."
The brothers stand.
All gazes veer to the coffin, to Valentine, and I'm wondering if they expect him to rise from the dead. For a moment, silence surrounds us. Respectful. That's when I notice the servants, Lessers, standing a short distance away, including the two who picked me up last night. Will they easily accept Victor's ascension?
"It's time," Victor says quietly.
Everyone turns toward the house, and I realize the first fingers of the sun are stretching up beyond the horizon.
Victor places his hand on my shoulder. "I have one more thing to ask of you, Dawn, something only you can do." "Anything." Though it's hard to imagine what that could be.
"When the sun rises, my father will become ash. It's important that you watch it happen. Let there be no question in anyone's mind that the Bloody Valentine's reign has ended."
As much as I hated Lord Valentine, seeing him burn is … unsettling. But I've come this far. "I'll stay here while you go in."
"Thank you, Dawn. It's no different from cremation. There won't be any pain; there won't be any screaming. He's dead; this is just the final step. His soul is gone, and soon his body will follow."
The coffin waits, holding the massive former lord. If his eyes were open, he'd be able to watch the sun rise.
"Join us in the study when it's done." Gently, he touches my cheek.
As he walks back to the manor, the sun begins chasing away the shadows. I want to yell at Victor to quicken his pace, but he continues on with an unhurried stride, as though anything faster would be undignified, or maybe he thinks he now commands the sun.
When he's safely inside, I release the breath I've been holding and spin back around—to perform my duty as the final witness. I'm standing far enough back that I can't actually see Valentine, only the pine box that is now his resting place. The sun is rising higher, higher, lighting the sky, warming the earth. I feel it touching my face, so comforting.
Suddenly there's a whoosh and flames shoot up from inside the coffin. I hadn't expected them to be so beautiful. Orange, blue, red, yellow. I can feel their heat. I can hear the crackling as the pine box catches fire. It burns swiftly, along with the wooden platform upon which it was resting.
Until nothing is left except ash.
A cool breeze gently lifts it and carries it away. I wonder if it's the same breeze that carried the remains of my parents from me when their coach stopped burning.
As I turn to leave, the sun glints off something in the dirt. I walk over and kneel down. Resting beside his unburned fangs is the massive ring that once wrapped around Valentine's finger. The family crest is imprinted deep into its gold. Cradling it in my palm, I can feel the history. I spin on my heel and return to the house, where a new Lord Valentine awaits me.
The study is large, but full of so many couches and chairs it feels cramped. The fireplace is oversize and crackles with fresh wood. The gas lamps are ornate with brass, and bookshelves line every wall, stretching up farther than I can reach, filled with volume upon volume. It makes our city library look pitiful.
Victor is alone, sitting on the largest sofa next to a low table. He appears powerful, and yet not at all in the same fearsome manner as his father. I walk over and hold out the ring.
"I believe this is yours."
I see the weight of the symbolism settling over him.
"I couldn't bring myself to take it from him," he says.
"You didn't. The sun did."
"You're right." He takes it and places it on his right forefinger. He turns it one way and then the other, as though he's not quite comfortable with it yet.
I sit beside him and wrap my hand around his. "What now?"
"Do you know how to drive a car?"
I give a small laugh at the unexpectedness of the question. "Actually, yes. Jeff taught me. He said I never knew when I might need the skill."
"He's wise. I'll give you the keys to my car so you can return to the city. Your absence has no doubt been discovered by now, and people will be worrying. We don't want the Agency sending Night Watchmen out here."
"Right." Reality is beginning to intrude on our fairy tale.
"The uncles have retired for the day," Faith says as she and Richard stroll into the room. Despite Richard's clear devotion to her, she seems utterly indifferent to him. Maybe she has too much of Valentine in her. "One of the bodyguards wanted me to give you this."
She hands me my cell phone. I notice that she isn't as disgusted by it as the others.
She and Richard take chairs across from us.
"What are your plans now, m'lord?" Richard asks.
"To start with, do away with all that 'm'lord' crap."
Richard grins. "It is rather archaic. But I was referring to the more pressing issue. This brother of yours. Do you really think he's as dangerous as your father indicated?"
"It's impossible to know. Father was a master of exaggeration."
"I've already had your loyalists and mine ferreting out information on him, but it's like he's a ghost. I can't find anyone who knows anything." We don't even know what he looks like," Faith says, and for the first time I think I catch a glimpse of someone who is not as uncaring as the aura she projects. I think Vivi would have a field day crawling around in Faith's psyche.
"Have you given any more thought to my suggestion that he could be Hoodie?" I ask.
"What's a hoodie?" Faith asks.
"Not what, who. Someone who's been following Dawn," Victor says, before turning his attention to me. "It's possible. Father obviously figured out that you were my ally, so whatever mission he set my brother on could involve you as well. It would explain why the guy was searching your apartment, trying to get a better understanding of you."
"Not sure that helps us much," Richard says. "We still don't know what he looks like."
"He wears a distinctive hoodie with a snake on the back," I offer.
"Which he can easily remove."
"True."
"But it's a place to start," Victor says.
"Or it could be a waste of our resources, a wild-goose chase," Richard points out.
"Which is why you're my second in command." He nudges me. "He's very good at strategic thinking."
"Except when it comes to love, apparently," Richard murmurs beneath his breath.
"Well, there's little we can do until nightfall," Victor says. "For the time being, I want to keep Father's death quiet. This other son will remain leashed as long as he thinks Father is alive. He may even come here looking to meet with him. It'll give us an advantage. Clive will need to know, of course. Dawn, you can fill him in. And I want Night Watchmen with you at all times."
He looks at Richard and Faith. "I need a few minutes alone with Dawn."
Richard stands. "Once again, it's been a pleasure."
Faith rolls her eyes at him before turning to me. "I understand that the increase in the blood supply is because of your Teen Initiative, and that there's going to be a party. Based on the unflattering clothes you were wearing last night … well, I picked a couple of things out of my closet as a thank-you. They're in a bag by the front door. Take them on your way out."
Before I can respond, she's swept out of the room, Richard chuckling at her heels.
"She likes you," Victor says.
I stare at him, dumbfounded. "You're kidding. That's her liking someone?"
"You have to understand that it's not easy for us to reveal our emotions. They're seen as a vulnerability." Twisting around, he faces me squarely and takes my hands. "Which brings me to what I need to say to you. While you were sleeping last night, I did a lot of thinking. My father clearly saw that you're my weakness. I have other enemies who will as well. You'll always be in danger if you're with me."