Asylum(40)

“Well, then why?”

“Like I said, I don’t know, Evangeline,” Leo repeated calmly.

I gripped the edge of the couch and stared at Leo, my stomach twisting with near-hysteria. “So send her a message!” I demanded. “How mad can she get?” The wrinkles on Leo’s forehead twisted as he arched an eyebrow at my insistence, and I dropped my gaze to my hands, feeling like a child being scolded. “What’s the big deal, anyway?” I muttered defiantly. “It’s not like they can find me here, right?”

“Who? Viggo? No.” Leo shook his head, then dropped his voice. “But I’m sure towns and cities all over the world are being scoured at this very moment as he hunts for you. There are people turning over every location connected to Sofie. And they will not stop. Not until they’ve found you or they’ve all died off from old age.”

The buttery taste the popcorn had left in my mouth suddenly turned rancid as I absorbed the implications of Leo’s words. Viggo was hunting me like an animal. And the end result would be much the same, if they found me. Suddenly this mountain was not remote enough. The trees were not numerous enough, the snow not deep enough; the cabin was so brightly lit, it was a shining beacon, visible from outer space. I had the urge to take an ax to the cables connecting the generators to the cabin and throw us into medieval times—anything that could help hide us from a two thousand-year-old vampire on his eternal mission to get this pendant off my neck.

My horror must have been written all over my face, because Leo rushed to calm me. “Not to worry, dear girl. They can’t possibly find you here unless they somehow . . . ” Leo’s voice drifted off in a chuckle that faded as a thought struck him. His expression suggested impossibility had become possibility. “Well, not unless they could trace the link to the spell.” He stroked his chin with a wrinkled hand, deep in thought.

A chill ran down my spine. “And who would help them do that?” I asked slowly.

Another puff of his pipe, this one long. I noticed that Julian was hanging off the couch beside me now as well, his attention riveted to Leo. We locked eyes for a moment and he offered a sympathetic smile.

The old man finally spoke. “My kind. A highly skilled sorcerer. Or sorceress.”

I swallowed around a painful lump suddenly filling my throat and asked weakly, “You can do that sort of thing?”

Leo chuckled. “Me? No. I can’t. But . . . I wouldn’t put it past someone to figure it out.” He snorted. “And of course Viggo would find that witch. He’s resourceful, that one.”

I remembered Sofie’s earlier words about witches and vampires. “I thought your kind hated their kind. Where does Viggo keep finding these witches to help him?”

He nodded. “They do hate vampires. Yes. So much that they’ll do anything to rid the world of them.” He leaned forward to inspect the fire. I recognized it as a sign that he was going to launch into a story. “Don’t you ever wonder how vampires were created?”

“I haven’t gotten to that point yet. I’m still stuck at the fact that they exist,” I answered dryly. I heard Julian’s low chuckle beside me.

“Fair enough.” Leo’s head bobbed in understanding as he leaned back into his chair. “We created them. My kind. Vampires are the result of a Causal Enchantment.”

I don’t know why this shocked me, given everything I’d seen lately, but it did. I realized my jaw was hanging open and slowly closed my mouth. Julian leaned forward beside me, his elbows on his knees, hanging on the old warlock’s every word. Words that so few would ever hear.

Leo grinned, clearly enjoying our reaction. “About five thousand years ago, a sorceress was searching for eternal youth and immortality for herself. She started messing around with that dark magic. The Fates. Nasty business, I tell you. Anyone who gets involved with them is absolutely crazy.” Leo scowled. “Anyway, they granted her Causal Enchantment. They gave her eternal youth and immortality.” The ghost of a smug smile touched Leo’s mouth. “All she needed to do was drink blood. She became the first vampire, the most unexpected outcome of a spell. And the witches have been trying to correct that mistake ever since.” He added under his breath, “Creating all kinds of other disasters along the way.”

“The first vampire was a witch?” I whispered in disbelief. “So was she like Sofie? With powers? What happened to her?”

“Oh, my kind isn’t privy to that much detail. She was ostracized as soon as the transformation happened. It’s said she held on to a few of her powers, but I don’t know. We think Viggo knows, but he won’t tell Sofie. It’s his one secret over her.”