Chapter 3 - What Happened in Prague
Celeste turned off the kitchen light.
“Upstairs.”
Livia stared at her.
“What?”
“Go upstairs.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You are if you want both of us alive.”
Another knock.
“Celeste,” the woman called again. “You know I dislike waiting.”
Livia grabbed her mother’s arm.
“Who is she?”
Celeste looked toward the door.
“Someone I should have made certain was dead twenty-eight years ago.”
Livia released her.
“That is not an answer.”
“No. It’s the reason we don’t have time for one.”
The front doorknob turned.
Locked.
For now.
Celeste shoved the metal box into Livia’s hands.
“Take it.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll follow.”
“Mom—”
“Go.”
Livia moved toward the stairs.
Then stopped.
Adrian.
Her mother had told her to call him.
She dialed.
He answered on the first ring.
“Livia.”
No hello.
No hesitation.
As if he had been waiting.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Where are you?”
She lowered her voice.
“At home.”
“Is your mother with you?”
“Yes.”
“Leave the house.”
“There’s a woman outside.”
Silence.
“What woman?”
“Silver hair. Green coat.”
Adrian’s voice changed.
“Get away from the windows.”
Livia obeyed before she even thought about it.
“Do you know her?”
“What did she say?”
“She told me to ask my mother about Prague.”
Adrian inhaled slowly.
“Livia, listen carefully. Take your mother and leave through the back. Do not stop for anything.”
“My mother says the same thing.”
“Good.”
“Who is she?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“I am getting very tired of hearing that.”
A crash came from the front room.
Glass breaking.
Celeste flinched.
Adrian heard it.
“Move. Now.”
The line stayed open.
Livia and her mother slipped through the back door.
Cold air hit them.
They crossed the yard.
A black shape appeared beyond the fence.
Livia nearly screamed.
Then Orion stepped beneath the streetlamp.
Adrian stood behind him.
Two vehicles blocked the alley.
Three men moved into position.
Livia stared.
“You got here in three minutes.”
Adrian looked toward the house.
“I was already nearby.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“Later.”
The front door burst open.
The silver-haired woman stepped onto the porch.
She looked toward them.
Orion growled.
The sound was unlike anything Livia had heard.
Deep.
Ancient.
The woman stopped.
Then smiled.
“Still loyal, Orion?”
The hound bared his teeth.
Adrian stepped between Livia and the house.
“Sabine.”
So he knew her.
Of course he did.
Sabine descended one porch step.
“You look well, Adrian.”
“You look alive.”
“I’ve always considered that one of my more charming qualities.”
Celeste moved beside Livia.
Sabine’s gaze found her.
“Celeste.”
Her mother did not respond.
Sabine smiled.
“You aged.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
The word landed strangely.
Livia looked at Sabine.
Then Adrian.
Then her mother.
Sabine looked exactly sixty.
Perhaps younger.
But the way Celeste had said it—
Livia whispered, “Mom?”
Sabine’s attention shifted to her.
“And there she is.”
Adrian stepped farther in front.
Sabine laughed softly.
“Still pretending you can prevent what comes next?”
“I did before.”
“No. You delayed it.”
Orion lunged one step forward.
Sabine stopped smiling.
Adrian’s men raised weapons.
Sabine studied them.
Then Livia.
“Ask your mother why your grandmother died.”
Celeste went rigid.
“Enough.”
“Ask her why she burned the archive in Prague.”
“Stop.”
“Ask her whose blood is in your veins.”
Adrian’s voice cut through the night.
“Leave.”
Sabine looked at him.
“You cannot keep her ignorant forever.”
“No.”
“Then tell her.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Sabine smiled again.
“Or I will.”
She backed toward the street.
Nobody moved.
Nobody fired.
Nobody tried to stop her.
Livia watched until Sabine disappeared beyond the corner.
Then she turned on Adrian.
“What just happened?”
“We need somewhere secure.”
“No.”
“Livia—”
“No more later. No more secure locations. No more mysterious warnings.”
She held up the metal box.
“My mother owns a gun and emergency passports. A woman who apparently hasn’t aged knows my grandmother. Your dog is acting like he understands every word anyone says. You knew this woman. Mom knows you.”
She pointed at Adrian.
“And you were already outside my house.”
Her voice cracked.
“So somebody starts talking now.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Adrian said nothing.
Livia looked between them.
“Fine. I’ll start.”
She pulled the pendant from beneath her blouse.
“What is this?”
Adrian answered.
“A seal.”
“For what?”
Celeste whispered, “The Ardent House.”
Livia looked at her.
“What is that?”
Her mother gestured toward the house.
“Not here.”
Livia laughed once.
No humor in it.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Please.”
Something in Celeste’s expression stopped her.
Fear.
Not for herself.
For Livia.
Twenty minutes later they entered Voss House.
It was not a house.
It was a fortress disguised as an estate.
High iron gates.
Stone walls.
Security cameras.
Old trees.
A mansion with architecture that looked European and far older than anything surrounding it.
Inside, however, it was warm.
Libraries.
Fireplaces.
Dark wood.
Portraits.
Orion remained glued to Livia’s side.
Adrian led them into a private study.
Celeste sat.
Livia remained standing.
“Talk.”
Her mother looked at Adrian.
He nodded once.
Celeste began.
“In 1998, I worked in Prague.”
“You told me you lived in New York.”
“I lied.”
“Obviously.”
“I was twenty-six. Your grandmother Elena was alive then.”
Livia’s chest tightened.
“You said she died before I was born.”
“She did.”
“How?”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“She was murdered.”
Silence.
“By Sabine?”
“Yes.”
Livia sat.
Celeste continued.
“Elena belonged to a family that protected certain historical records. Symbols. Bloodlines. Agreements that were never meant to become public.”
“Agreements about what?”
Celeste looked at Adrian.
Livia followed her gaze.
Adrian stood beside the fireplace.
He seemed suddenly less like a rich stranger and more like something cut from the darkness behind him.
Livia whispered, “What are you?”
Adrian did not evade it.
“Not human.”
Her brain rejected the words.
She laughed.
Nobody else did.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
Orion placed his head on her knee.
Adrian said, “You touched an animal that has been alive longer than the United States.”
Livia pulled her hand away from Orion.
Then immediately felt guilty when the hound looked at her.
She stared at Adrian.
“Vampire?”
Adrian’s expression was almost apologetic.
“Yes.”
Livia stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“No.”
Celeste rose.
“Livia—”
“No.”
“Sit down.”
“No!”
She backed toward the door.
“This is insane.”
“It sounds insane.”
“It is insane!”
Adrian remained where he was.
“Look at me.”
“Why?”
“Because you already know something is wrong.”
She hated that he was right.
The restaurant.
The fear.
Sabine.
Orion.
Her mother’s hidden life.
Adrian slowly removed one glove.
He took a silver letter opener from the desk.
He cut his palm.
Livia recoiled.
The wound closed before the blood could reach his wrist.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Adrian set the blade down.
“I am sorry.”
Livia stared at his hand.
Then at her mother.
“You knew?”
Celeste nodded.
“For how long?”
“My whole life.”
Livia felt betrayed in a way fear could not touch.
“My whole life?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By lying about everything?”
“Yes.”
“Who was Grandma?”
Celeste swallowed.
“The last Keeper of the Ardent Seal.”
Livia touched the pendant.
“What does that make me?”
“The next one.”
“No.”
Celeste’s tears finally fell.
“I hoped it would never matter.”
“What does the Keeper do?”
Adrian answered.
“Controls access to something Sabine has spent more than a century trying to obtain.”
“What?”
“The Covenant.”
Livia shook her head.
“What covenant?”
Adrian walked to a locked cabinet.
He removed an old leather book.
He opened it to a page bearing the same symbol as Livia’s pendant.
“The agreement that ended a war between my kind and yours.”
Livia stared.
Adrian continued.
“The Ardent family created the binding terms. My family enforced them.”
“And Sabine?”
“Wants them broken.”
“Why?”
“So there are no limits.”
“On what?”
Adrian met her eyes.
“Us.”
A cold silence followed.
Livia whispered, “Then why does Orion care about me?”
Nobody answered.
That frightened her more.
She turned toward Celeste.
“Mom?”
Celeste looked at Orion.
“When Elena died, Orion was there.”
Adrian’s head snapped toward her.
“What?”
Celeste covered her mouth.
She had said too much.
Adrian crossed the room.
“You told me Elena died alone.”
“I had no choice.”
“What happened?”
Celeste stepped backward.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“What happened in Prague?”
Celeste looked at Livia.
Then at Orion.
“He didn’t choose Livia because of the pendant.”
Adrian became completely still.
Livia felt Orion press against her leg.
May you like
Celeste whispered the truth she had hidden for twenty-eight years.
“He chose her because he already knew her.”
