Caden ignored my warning, scooping my hands from his cheeks to clasp them between his instead. “Does she hate me?” he whispered.
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Quite the opposite. The silly, sweet girl is busy worrying about everyone else, as usual.”
Recognition sparked in his eyes. “How do you know? Does she have a phone? Can I talk to her?”
I shook my head. “Leo. I can communicate with him.” Where only minutes ago I was ready to string Caden up and torture him mercilessly, now I was freely sharing my most protected details. Details that Viggo and Mortimer didn’t and needn’t know. “I didn’t have a chance to set up phone towers where she is. And it’s safer this way. Viggo’s likely tapped into the phone companies.”
“Where is—”
I cut him off. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s better for everyone if I keep that to myself.”
Caden nodded in assent, pausing only for a second. “When can we see her? I need to explain. I need to apologize.”
“When you’re ready . . . when I’m ready.”
“Can’t you do something? Isn’t there some way to protect her?” Caden pleaded, tearing at my heart.
“Keeping her hidden is the best protection right now. You’d better go. Now!”
But it was too late. A familiarly serene voice interrupted us. “Has your magic given you what you needed?”
We were so engrossed with each other that neither of us had sensed Mage’s approach. Now I slowly turned to face her, instantly arming myself with helixes, unsure of how she would react to my direct violation of the truce, of her specific requirement. To my surprise, the ancient vampire’s coal-black eyes appeared . . . satisfied.
“It was necessary,” I answered cautiously.
“Good.” She turned to Caden, a small smile touching her lips. “I suggest you depart now and keep your distance from Sofie. The truth—however obvious it is to you and I—should be kept muddied for everyone’s sake.”
My eyes darted to Caden to see the same shocked expression on his face that had to be sitting on mine. Was the supposedly evil, sadistic Council leader . . . helping us?
“And you’d best wipe that affectionate grin off your face when you look at him and his friends,” Mage continued, her words directed to me. “That’s why I didn’t allow you to do that thing with your magic earlier. One flash of that, and Viggo would see the truth. He needs to remain in doubt.” She waved a hand dismissively at Caden. “Run along, now. And don’t forget, you have a debt to repay, given you were going to leave me behind.”
Caden hesitated with that last comment, bowing his head guiltily. Then he turned to whisper, “Tell her nothing makes sense without her.”
I nodded once, squeezing his hand.
And then he vanished, leaving me alone with the ancient, magic-sensing vampire.
Mage’s dark eyes settled on me. “I understand that he is important to Evangeline and I am in her debt. I will not allow any harm to come to them. Ever.”
Her left eyebrow arched when a snort escaped me. “You don’t believe me?”
“No. I’m sorry, I don’t. For the life of me, I can’t understand why . . . ”
Mage’s red lips curled back in disdain. “I don’t know when our kind became such treacherous, conniving fools. I remember a distinct shift within the last five thousand years.”
It took every ounce of energy to keep my face from displaying my shock. She’s five thousand years old—at least! No vampire had lived that long on Earth, as far as I knew. Of course, I didn’t know much. Viggo was tight-lipped about our world’s vampire history. I only knew that he wasn’t the first vampire to exist, but now he was the oldest. My gut told me he played some role in that first vampire’s demise, especially since the handful of others left roaming the world threatened to kill me for my association with him. He hadn’t made a lot of friends.
“So this is Evangeline’s room?” Mage asked, her eyes roaming the décor as she moved farther into the room.
I said nothing, studying her intensely, wracking my brain for a possible motive to her interest in helping Evangeline. The fact that I couldn’t guess one had me on edge—more so than if I could definitively say Mage was evil. If only I could magically dissect her as I had Caden . . .
She stopped in front of the fireplace to study the painting—the one I had moved from Evangeline’s previous room to here. It was the one I had painted of her as a little girl, picking daisies at the playground. “This is Evangeline.”