When I talked about losing my dad, Tristan waited quietly while I struggled to get through it. I told him about my life in New Hastings with Nate and my friends – human and nonhuman. I made sure he understood that my life there had not been an unhappy one and that it had taken a Master to drive me from my home.
Tristan began to talk about himself then, and I was shocked to learn he was born in sixteen eighty-four. He told me about growing up in England with his parents and older sister, Beatrice, training to be a warrior and then travelling around Europe and living at various strongholds. I discovered that he had been to almost every corner of the earth, he was the youngest member to ever join the Council at the ripe old age of thirty, and he spoke fourteen different languages, including a few words of Troll. He met my grandmother, Josephine, in Paris in eighteen sixty-one, and she moved back to America with him.
When I asked him where Josephine was, he grew quiet before he told me she was killed during a raid on a vampire nest in southern California in nineteen thirteen. Their scouts had misjudged the size of the nest, and when Josephine’s team of six went in, they were overwhelmed and only one of them made it out.
“It was a very dark time for me, and I might have done something reckless and gotten myself killed if it were not for Madeline. She was only ten, and I could not leave her without a parent. Nikolas took a team and wiped out the nest. He avenged Josephine for me because I could not leave my daughter, and he brought her body home to us.”
“People here talk about Nikolas like he is some kind of superhero, but they seem almost scared of him, too.”
“But you are not?”
I couldn’t deny how good a warrior Nikolas was, having seen him in action more than once. “He is pretty good, but don’t tell him I said that because he’s arrogant enough already. He’s way too bossy, but there’s nothing scary about him.”
“Our young people grow up hearing stories about Nikolas’s missions and his fighting skills, so it’s natural they look up to him. He is a fierce warrior, and there are few who could stand up to him when he sets his mind on something.”
“No kidding. Been there, got the T-shirt.”
Tristan laughed heartily. “In the short time I’ve known you I can already see why you were such a challenge for him. You seem to have a very strong sense of self and a quick mind. And you are not easily intimidated.”
“I guess I had to grow up fast.” I didn’t tell him I struggled every day to figure out who I was and it wasn’t getting any easier. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“I know you guys are looking for the Master, but every time I ask someone about it they tell me not to worry. Will you tell me what you’ve found so far?”
He gave me an indulgent smile. “You don’t need to worry about him anymore.”
“See, you’re doing it, too.” I threw up my hands in frustration. “I’m not a five-year-old, and I didn’t move here to be coddled and kept in the dark about things that affect me.”
Tristan was taken aback by my outburst, and silence stretched between us. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said at last. “We are naturally protective of our young people, and we don’t include them in such things until they become warriors. It is a dangerous world, especially for our kind.”
I watched his gaze move to the portrait of the beautiful blond girl with the dainty, heart-shaped face and angelic smile. Pain flicked across his face, long enough for me to realize who she was. Nikolas had once mentioned Madeline’s aunt who was killed by vampires a long time ago, and there was no mistaking the resemblance between Tristan and the girl in the painting.
“Just because I want to know what is going on it doesn’t mean I will go out looking for trouble. Trust me; I plan to stay as far away from that vampire as I can.”
He came out of his reverie. “We cleaned out three nests in Nevada and two in California that we suspect belonged to him, but so far we have found no clues to his identity or his whereabouts.”
“I guess he wouldn’t be a Master if he was easy to find, would he?”
“I have hunted six Masters during my life, and this one is the most evasive by far. We did not even know of his existence until you told Nikolas about him.”
“Six Masters? Did you get them all?”
“Yes, and we will get this one, too,” he replied with conviction. “I just don’t know how long it will take. Today’s technology makes it easier to follow leads, but it also makes it easier for someone to disappear if they are good enough.”