Page 33 of Kept 3
“Before you agreed to join us, to go with Lucy.”
“Who,” I roll my eyes and spit the words, “had her head popped off and her face peeled – not in a beauty salon kind of way if you get my drift.”
I stop when I hear his sharp intake of breath.
“James, I’m sorry,” I add softly, “I forgot you are related.”
“She was my twin sister,” he says quietly, taking his eyes from me and gazing out to the garden beyond.
I feel terrible, horrible that I’ve told him how she died in such a graphic and heartless way.
“I’m so sorry, James, she never said.”
“She called me, the night she died,” he swallows hard, and I watch his Adam’s apple bob up and down, “she said you were going to go with her, to help us catch the ancient vampire.”
“Yes,” I nod.
“I need you to help me do that, Josephine.”
“And I need you to get me the hell away from here,” I say firmly.
He shakes his head.
“Fucking hell, James. Why not?”
“Because the way to free you, and all of us forever from the tyranny of these monsters, the key to their destruction, is in those journals, in that library,” he says firmly, swallowing his grief for his sister, his eyes deadly.
“You think the journals will say who this father or mother of all vampire is?” I shake my head doubtfully.
“Yes.”
“And when you find out, then what?”
“Then my hunters and I will find the ancient and destroy him, or her.”
“And then?”
“Then all vampires on earth will die, instantaneously.”
I gasp.
“All?”
“Our lore suggests, every one.” He enunciates each word precisely, in a deadly tone.
“Then I’ll be free,” I muse, frowning as my heart constricts at the thought of Nicholas dying.
“Yes.”
“Have you killed vampires before, James?” My mind swings back to the kitchen and Monsieur Contell’s words ‘books don’t teach execution.’
“Yes.”
I nod, satisfied that he, at least, knows how to kill one.
“So, you want me to read all his journals and find this name?
He nods.
