Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - Shattered Mirror

Cold as winter, strong as stone;

She faced the darkness all alone.

A silver goddess; a reflection.

A mirage; a recollection.

No return; no turning back.

The past is gone, the future, black.

Serpents gather in their nest,

And she stands above the rest.

Shadows hunt; she hunts the shadow.

The moon is risen; she stands below.

She views her world through the eyes of others.

Black and white; there are no colors,

As she looks down upon a shattered youth.

A shattered mirror shows a shattered truth.

The poem reminded her of the notes Christopher sent to her.

On the back of the paper was a drawing of Nikolas, standing back to back with Christopher . . . or a reflection of himself. At the bottom of the paper were three words, written in black ink: Midnight; my house .

“I don’t think so,” she whispered.

Robert looked over at her shoulder and read the message. “You going?”

“I already gave him a free shot at me. I’m not really suicidal,” she answered absently.

“Huh?”

“He said he would help your sister,” Sarah snapped. “That doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a good guy. He isn’t particularly fond of me, and if I go there, he will try to kill me.”

“He didn’t act like he wanted to kill you,” Robert pointed out. “And what’s this poetry about—”

“Robert, give it up!”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something—”

“Robert, I’m a vampire hunter. Nikolas is a vampire. He has a million and one reasons to kill me and not one to let me live. Don’t let poetry and a moment of kindness on his part fool you. Nikolas has only one way of dealing with things, and that’s by killing. You heard it when he was talking about Kaleo.”

“The guy who did that to my sister deserves to die,” Robert growled. “I’d kill him too.”

“I’ll deal with Kaleo later. The only one on my hit list right now is Nikolas.”

“No,” Robert said.

“What?”

“No,” he repeated. “If you kill Nikolas, what’s going to happen to Christine?” he demanded. “Kaleo will keep hurting her, and—”

“Doesn’t anyone remember that Nikolas is a killer?” she hissed.

Sarah cut off his answer and left abruptly. Robert didn’t understand, and she didn’t know how to explain to him. Instead she went home and collapsed onto her bed, still holding Nikolas’s invitation.

SARAH RETURNEDto wakefulness gasping, struggling to fill lungs with air thick as charcoal ashes, and struggling to clear vision fogged with . . . she didn’t know. She could see, but the sight seemed imperfect and she could not tell why.

“Sarah Tigress Vida, stand up.”

Her mother’s voice, formal and cold, instantly cleared Sarah’s mind despite the disorientation she could not seem to shake. She felt off-balance as she found her feet, trying to keep herself from shaking. She sought uselessly to smooth her wrinkled jeans.

Adianna stood behind Dominique, her face pained as she sought Sarah’s gaze. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Dominique cut her off before she could say a word.

“I want no excuses,” Dominique stated flatly. “I am not a fool, and I have known what has been going on since the start of these events.” At these words, Adianna’s gaze fell. “You were warned, and you had more than one chance to halt this . . . disgusting infatuation. Now this.” Dominique threw to the ground Nikolas’s poem-invitation.

“Mother—”

Dominique held up a hand to halt her daughter’s words. “I might have turned a blind eye upon your association with the vampires at your school, since you would have in time come to your senses, but this . . . lying about this killer, protecting him,” Dominique spat, “this I can not forgive.”

Succinctly and in order, Sarah’s crimes were listed. Befriending her prey. Lying to her kin. Endangering her kind by revealing them to the vampires when she told Christopher the truth. Bargaining with Nikolas, and giving up her Vida knife. Telling the human Robert who she was without Dominique’s permission. The list went on and on, including transgressions so minor they would have been overlooked any other time, and through it all Sarah had no choice but to try to stand without swaying.

Sarah reached for her power to steady her nerves, but found herself grasping at air. She could feel the magic still humming deep in her blood, but Dominique had bound it—that explained the disorientation she had felt when she had first awakened, and that was why every sense seemed dulled. Without her magic available, she was little more than human.

“You have until tomorrow night to prepare yourself,” Dominique announced at last.

To prepare herself for the trial, Sarah knew. By then Dominique would have gathered the leaders of the other lines, and Sarah doubted she would be acquitted. Every word Dominique had spoken had been true.

When Dominique turned and left the room, Sarah sank back onto the bed, dazed. Again she tried to reach for her power; she could sense it so clearly, but could not use it. What would it feel like to have it stripped away completely?

It was only eight o’clock at night. So early, but it might as well have been the end of the world.

“Sarah . . .” Adianna’s voice was soft as she closed the door and sat beside her sister. “I’m sorry. I thought you had the sense to break it off with them, and I thought you would be better off if Dominique knew right away rather than finding out sometime later . . .” Adianna shook her head. “I never should have let it get this far.”

Sarah’s eyes widened as Adianna quietly ordered, “Get out of here. As it is, your magic will come back in a few days, and you still have your knife. But if you’re here tomorrow night, Dominique will disown you and take it all away.”

“I’m not going to hide from her.”

Adianna shook her head violently. “This isn’t about your pride anymore, Sarah. This is about your life —”

“And when Dominique asks where I’ve gone? Will you lie for me?” Sarah demanded. “I won’t have you killed for me.”

“I won’t be,” Adianna answered calmly. “Besides Dominique herself, no one will fault me for defending my sister.” When she saw Sarah’s hesitation, she added, “It’s your only choice, Sarah.”

“To hide for the rest of my life from every one of my kind doesn’t seem like a very good choice.”

Adianna swallowed thickly. “Better than being dead.” Her gaze still locked on Sarah’s, she stood up and turned away. “I’m going to bed, Sarah. I’m going to lock my door and turn on loud music, and if I don’t hear a car leaving, that’s not my fault.” She shrugged. “Good night.”

After Adianna closed the door, Sarah sat for a moment more.

To hide forever was not a very good option. Neither was being disowned—and she had no hope that she would be found innocent of the crimes Dominique had listed.

Her gaze fell on the invitation Dominique had thrown to the ground, and her decision was made. There was only one way out.

She spent about an hour orientating herself, getting used to using her body without the sixth sense her magic usually provided, and she was confident she could do what she needed to.

She needed to kill Nikolas.

Sarah wrote a note to Adianna and Dominique, stating her intent. Dominique had accused her of endangering her kin and protecting Nikolas—which, in her attempt to protect Nissa and Christopher, she had done. The only possible way out of this mess was to confront Nikolas.

In truth, Nikolas wasn’t the worst of his kind—he didn’t torture his prey, and he didn’t kill nearly so wantonly as his strength would allow. He hunted, as all vampires hunted, to kill the bloodlust. His marks were the only element that made his kills more obvious than kills by others of his kind. Had Christopher not separated from his brother before Dominique had started organizing the chaotic mess her predecessors had allowed the Vida records to become, his marks and name would have been just as infamous as his brother’s.