Seeking Eternity Ch. 05

"I must admit, Nicholas," she said slowly, "my business is more personal than you might expect."

The slight narrowing of the young man's eyes as he leaned back on his chair told Cassandra that she had gotten his attention at the very least. "Go on."

Cassandra decided to drop the bomb. It would be easier to clean up the mess when the worst was over. "It's about my granddaughter."

The sharp look that invaded Collbreed's eyes told her everything she needed to know about how he viewed the matter. Not that Cassandra was surprised. She expected every member of the pack to react the same way, if not worse. If they didn't, something must be definitely wrong with them.

"Cassandra..."

There was steel in his voice. A warning that he was not pleased. Cassandra persisted. If she backed off now, she would get no other chance.

"She needs help, Nicholas. She has recently started changing, but without guidance from another wolf, she finds it too difficult."

Collbreed was silent for a moment, and then: "How long have you known her whereabouts?"

Great. He was willing to listen. It gave Cassandra hope, although she did not know how to answer his question. She had known Raine's whereabouts for as long as she had been a slayer, but Cassandra had not known that Raine was her grandchild. Johanna had fled from the pack as soon as she found out about her pregnancy, and Cassandra had not even known her granddaughter's name until Ashford Hayes-Crowe approached her yesterday. The sad truth was that the vampire knew more about Raine than she did.

"I found out where she was yesterday," she answered Collbreed's question.

"How?" Collbreed asked. Despite his youth, the man was definitely not averse to finding out information that could prove disastrous in the long run. "The pack..." He shook his head and backtracked. "The Council had been looking for Johanna ever since she disappeared. We don't even know where your daughter has been. Now, you approach me to tell me that you know where your granddaughter is? That you suddenly found out her whereabouts yesterday?"

She nodded; she had nothing to hide. "It's the truth." Seeing the question that was still in his eyes, she added, "I didn't know where Johanna's child was. But the vampires did."

Collbreed hissed and leaned forward, his eyes as cold as ice. "The vampires? Shall I be concerned that the head of the congress of elders in my pack is in collusion with our mortal enemies?"

Cassandra met his gaze boldly. Clearly, this one inherited the spine of steel and will of iron that had made his forebears stand out. "Hardly. Ashford Hayes-Crowe has not reached out to me for years until yesterday."

"For years?"

He was not going to make this easy for her, Cassandra realized. But she would not quit so easily, either. If it meant telling him the whole truth, then that was what she would do. She could tell that it was the only way to secure his trust.

"Yes." She held his gaze, refusing to let the brewing anger there intimidate her. She had not lived this long to be intimidated by a young wolf, leader of the pack though he might be. "I knew that vampires were protecting Johanna and her child all those years ago. I never knew exactly where they were, but I knew they were safe. When the vampires lost them fourteen years ago? I knew about that, too."

"You knew, and you never said a thing?"

"They are my family."

Collbreed frowned. "You let your husband take all the blame. You claimed innocence. You condemned Thomas to die alone."

"Yes." Cassandra said nothing more. Her heart broke at the crass reminder of her betrayal. But what did Collbreed know? He was too young to even remember Thomas. If not for the knowledge passed down to him, he would probably not even know his name. And nobody would understand how much Cassandra suffered–how much she was still suffering–because of what she had done all those years ago. But she had nothing to explain to Nicholas or to anybody else. Thomas knew why she did what she did, and it was to Thomas alone that she owed an apology. No one else could condemn her but the man she vowed to love for as long as she lived.

"I am not impressed, Cassandra."

No... Of course he was not. How could he be? He had just learned that the woman to whom he entrusted the leadership of the congress of elders was keeping a secret that could send the pack to war against the Council of the Wolves. But even now, Cassandra could not find it in her heart to regret her decision, however painful it had been. She had lived for this day–for the day when she could be the family that her granddaughter needed, so that she could at least do something to redeem herself in the eyes of the world.

"Why are you telling me these things now?" Collbreed asked.

"Because I need your help," Cassandra admitted.

A humourless chuckle came from the young man. "Of course."

"She is family, Nicholas," Cassandra said quietly. Probably the only family I have left, she added in her mind. The pain that the thought of her daughter's death brought about prompted her to down all the whiskey he had offered. It felt as though fire travelled down her throat. "Can you blame me for wanting to help her?"

His eyes bore into hers with an intensity that would have made others cringe. But not her. Not right now. This was too important.

"What gives you the idea that I will help her? Or that I will allow anyone, including you, to help her?"

Cassandra looked at the glass she held. With all the whiskey gone, only the ice remained. Much like her heart. "I am not asking for your permission to help her." There was a challenge in her eyes when she looked at him again. "She is blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh."

Any other alpha would have gone after her for insubordination. In fact, Cassandra was certain that her words and actions were enough to prompt this man to hand her over the Council for some well-deserved punishment. But Cassandra had taken a gamble, trusting that the leader she served, however young he was, had the making of a great man. She had seen something in Nicholas James Collbreed that she did not see in the leaders before him, and it had been enough for her to accept the post of head of the congress of elders. There was no doubt in her mind that Nicholas would do what was best for the pack and protect them all as best he could, but Cassandra also hoped that he would be willing to toe the line to reach for something that his forebears seemed to have either put aside or forgotten: humanity.

"Her father had too much of our kind's blood on his hands," Collbreed said slowly, as if half of him was submerged in thoughts. Was he thinking of his grandfather, whose life Raine's father so ruthlessly ended?

Cassandra nodded. Raine's father had indeed been a plague to the wolves. But it was hardly just to visit the father's sins on the child. It would be like judging Nicholas for the crimes that his father had committed, and Cassandra would not cross that line.

"She was raised as a slayer, you know," she said quietly. Collbreed's body language became subdued, and she knew that she had his full attention once again. "For years, she has killed vampires in her spare time. But the vampires still kept her safe. They are still keeping her safe, though she has too much of their kind's blood on her hands."

Collbreed shook his head slowly, looking grim. "She is a slayer, making her more dangerous to all of us."

"I am not asking you to welcome her to the pack," Cassandra said. His words told her that he was considering what to do with Raine, and that was a good sign. Clearly, Collbreed was not dismissing her as another liability, although there was exasperation in his voice when he next spoke.

"Then what are you asking me to do?"

"Guide her," she answered. She saw Collbreed flinch. "The vampires are trying to stop her from changing because they don't know how she will react once she's quadruped. They won't know what to do, and they might end up killing her or being killed by her. As you've said earlier, vampires are wolves' mortal enemies. You must remember how it felt the first time you fully changed into a wolf. Instincts kicked in, and you were most likely helpless to stop it."

A grim smile appeared on his lips. "Do you really think that I care about the safety of vampires? Or even the safety of your grandchild?"

"No," Cassandra answered, "but I truly hope that you care about the safety of humans."

She allowed silence to fall between them, broken only by the sound of their breathing and the muted music from outside. Both of them knew that humans were not safe from a newly changed wolf. That was why the elders of the pack always watched young children approaching puberty: they had to be there when the young ones changed, so that nobody would get hurt–wolves or otherwise.

"What do you want me to do?"

His question made Cassandra smile. She had chosen to speak to the right person, after all. "Be there for her when she completely turns."

Collbreed seemed confused. "You can be the one to guide her."

Slowly, she shook her head. "She is too old to turn for the first time, Nicholas. The transformation is hurting her in ways that it should not. And it seems that she loses control when she is about to change. She needs a strong guide, and I am hardly as strong as I once was."

Collbreed was thoughtful for a moment, and his next statement was matter-of-fact. "We don't know how strong she is."

"No, we don't."

With a frown on his face, Collbreed sighed. "If I were to help her–and I am not promising to help her, I need to know her."

Cassandra nodded and grabbed the notepad on his desk. She picked up a pen and scribbled seven numbers on the notepad.

"As I mentioned earlier, she is a slayer. We have her on our database." She passed the notepad to the young man, who looked at the numbers with apparent doubt. "You have already given me much, Nicholas–much more than I had hoped for."

Collbreed took a deep breath and flashed an uneasy smile. "Even I think so."

The obvious discomfort his own generosity had brought him made Cassandra smile. He was still young; he had thousands of other things to learn. "If helping her proves to be too much for you..."

Collbreed nodded and stood up, offering her his hand. "If I decide that I cannot help her, I will leave you to do so. And I will share none of the things we've discussed here with anyone, especially the Council."

Cassandra bowed her head to him. Standing up, she shook his hand and prepared to leave. "You have my utmost gratitude, Nicholas James Collbreed."

*****

Cassandra Norwood had been gone for hours, but Nicholas was still in the library, finishing the bottle of whiskey by himself. Though he had not committed to do anything, the very fact that he was considering helping Cassandra's grandchild was madness. There was a bounty on the girl's head, and Cassandra knew this. He knew this. He should just spill everything out to the Council and quite literally feed the girl to the wolves.

Except that he could not. It was not the girl's fault that she was born to her parents. How could anyone condemn a person to death on account of being born to parents that she did not even choose? It was awfully unjust.

Nicholas looked at the seven numbers scribbled on the notepad. A simple database search would reveal the identity Cassandra's granddaughter, but he could not bring himself to do the search. He knew himself too well: he would decide to help her as soon as he put a face to the name. Not that he knew the girl's name yet.

The girl. Nicholas chuckled darkly. In his thoughts, he referred to Cassandra's granddaughter as "the girl", although he could surmise that she must be younger than him by only two to three years.

Downing the last of the whiskey he had brought into the library earlier, he made up his mind. He did not want anything to do with slayers, but he had to do the right thing, and it involved wading through muck and mud and probably dragging his whole pack down with him.

The hell with it, he thought as he grimly reached for his laptop and opened the slayer database that they were keeping. It listed all of the slayers known to the wolves, although only a few of the people there had knowledge of the wolves' existence. Still...

Nicholas keyed in the number that Cassandra had written. Now, all that he had to do was find out who this slayer was and see if it would be better to help her out or hand her over to the Coun–

His thoughts froze as soon as the saw the picture on the screen. Cassandra's granddaughter–the girl–seemed to be staring right into his soul. Deep blue eyes, platinum blonde hair, sensual lips... He knew her face well. Too damn well.

Raine.

Leaning back on his chair, Nicholas wished he had not finished the whiskey bottle after all. He needed a drink. Badly.

*****

Raine heaved a sigh as she plopped down on the bed, a frown marring her features. She had tried to help the servants clean the house, but they had refused her offer, claiming that their master would have their hides if they let her work. She doubted that Ashford would do anything so drastic, but the unease on the women's faces finally convinced her to back off.

Today, Ross had not visited her as he had faithfully done in the last four days, making the day so terribly boring. Ashford's child had been keeping her company ever since the incident with Melisande, and Raine found herself looking forward to seeing him. He was a good man, and his efforts to make her feel more welcome and comfortable were immensely appreciated. If he had been half as nice in Myles's presence, it was no wonder that the two of them became lovers.

She had reconciled herself with that fact: that her best friend had been sleeping with a vampire and was probably still doing so. After all, she was not in a position to judge Myles, having committed the same crime herself.

Except that she had not been sleeping with Ashford recently. Or, rather, he had not been sleeping with her. For some unknown reasons, he seemed to have been avoiding her recently. She was even now craving his touch, as she had been doing for almost as long as she had known him, but Raine would be damned to hell first before she sought his company.

Heaving another sigh, she closed her eyes. He still wanted her, she was sure of that. She could feel his eyes on her whenever he thought she was otherwise preoccupied, and she could hear the heavy sighs of yearning that sounded so much like hers. Still, he kept his distance, and the lack of explanation irked Raine.

If he wants things this way...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating. She quickly reached for it, surprised to note that the caller's number was blocked. She should probably ignore it, but, in the end, curiosity got the better of her.

"Hello?"

"Raine?" The female voice on the other end did not sound familiar.

"Speaking," she said slowly, wondering who on earth knew her new number, anyway. This phone was a gift from Ashford, for her to use to connect to him and her friends, who, at the moment, were limited only to Ross and Myles. She did not consider Amélie as such, although her number had been stored in Raine's phone "just in case."

There was a momentary silence at the other end of the line, followed by a deep breath. Truly, this phone call was confusing Raine.

"May I know who's calling?" she finally asked.

The woman audibly cleared her voice before answering. "Cassandra Norwood of Titan-Argentum."

Raine frowned. Why would the CEO of Titan-Argentum call her? "How can I help you?"

"Ashford Hayes-Crowe gave me your number."

Raine froze. She had forgotten. Ashford had told her the day before yesterday that he would give her number to "a friend" who could enlighten Raine about what was going on with her. Ashford had not been willing to divulge any more information, and Raine had simply put the matter in the back of her mind. After all, she had more pressing matters to think on. Why the vampire was shunning her, for example.

"Can we meet in person?" Cassandra was presently asking.

"Of course," she mumbled, reaching for the pen and paper on the side table. It was about time for her to know what was happening to her, and a face-to-face meeting with a woman who could give her some much-needed explanations was more than welcome.

She took down the name of the restaurant that Cassandra named. The Greyfox. She knew the place, although she had never been inside. Once, she almost went, but...

"Seven o' clock," she repeated, writing down the time on paper. A conversation about her strange transformation over dinner. Great. "I will see you tonight."

Raine sat staring at what she had written on paper for a good long minute. The Greyfox, seven o' clock. Somewhere in the back of her head, a cruel voice burst out laughing. She did not miss the irony. With a heavy sigh, Raine stood up, firmly pushing unbidden memories out of her mind. She reached for a towel and headed for the bathroom. She needed to get ready.

*****

The ride to The Greyfox was uneventful, though Raine had expected slayers to pop out of nowhere and drag her back to Michael Gilford. Considering how her life was turning out, she would not be surprised if she found out that Gilford had been in collusion with vampires all along.

During one of their long conversations, Ross had told Raine what had really been going on with vampires. Apparently, they had great houses, and each house–coven–had its head, who was usually the oldest vampire who sired the others in his house. In Ross's family, Ashford was the head, and he had a following of nine vampires, including Ross.

"Every vampire has a sire," Ross had explained to her, "but not everyone has a family. Take Amélie, for instance. She had family when Iulius was alive, but when my grandsire passed on, his children formed covens of their own, as seven of them had sired other vampires. But not Amélie. She was alone. With Iulius gone, she technically became a renegade."

According to Ross, vampires who became renegades this way usually kept their distance. But, again, Amélie was an exemption: she stuck around Ashford, and pledging neither support nor loyalty, she became an honorary member of the family. Not that Ashford minded. He was Iulius's firstborn and was thus closest to the older vampire, while Amélie was Iulius's favourite due to her aversion to creating others like them. The two of them had been favoured by their sire but despised by their brethren in blood: it was only logical that the two of them decided to stick together when their family broke apart.

"Most of the vampires that slayers hunt are renegades," Ross had explained. "But not all were created by families breaking apart. Most broke off from their families, while others were created by vampires who did not want to take responsibility."

Raine gathered from the information Ross divulged that covens usually steered clear of one another, living in peace with each other however great the hate that existed amongst them. They had unspoken pacts and rules, one of which was not to hunt down humans for food.

"Blood is voluntary donation," Ross had said, grinning when Raine rolled her eyes. "Some donors have knowledge of what they are getting into, but most are seduced to feed the hungry. None of them, however, needs to die."

That was why even vampires hunted down renegades who fed on humans and left them for dead. Those who defied the rules had to be punished, as they threatened the peace and quiet that vampires had established for centuries.

Now that she understood what was going on behind the scenes, Raine realized that she could work with that. If it were true that vampires did not need to feed forcefully, then, they could peacefully co-exist with humans.