“Is she a vampire?” Cora asked, locking eyes with me.
I couldn’t lie.
“Yes, she turned,” I said. “Samuel forced her.”
A flash of hope lit up Cora’s eyes. “She did? So she’s not dead. Well, not dead dead. But . . . where did she go?” she asked in confusion.
“Samuel took her,” I said. “She didn’t have a choice. She must be frightened.”
“I’m sure she is,” Cora said in a small voice, twisting her vervain charm around her index finger. “When we were
children, Violet used to have to fall asleep with a candle burning all night. She was always afraid of monsters coming to get her.”
“She’ll get over that soon enough,” I said wryly. As a vampire, the dark was soon to become Violet’s biggest comfort.
“I suppose so,” Cora said, staring into space.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
Cora shrugged. “I hardly know. I was at the party, and Samuel came up to me, and I started shrieking. I didn’t know where the sound had come from. I didn’t even know that it was me. But he terrified me. And then your brother found me and made me talk. He brought me on the train. I kept praying Violet would be all right, but . . . could she be all right?” she said in a small voice.
I nodded. I didn’t want to give her false hope. “She’ll be different. But I can teach her. There are things that make being a vampire less terrible,” I said.
“Good.” We lapsed into silence. The wound in my chest was shrinking, and far above us I saw the faintest signs of dawn breaking through the inky night. I’d be all right. I’d live to see another day, another decade, another century. But Oliver wouldn’t. And where was Damon?
“Damon’s taking a long time,” Cora said, echoing my own thoughts. “Do you think he’ll be safe?”
“Yes,” I said. In truth, I didn’t know. I was only beginning to become aware of the different and vast expanse of vampires living in the world. Before, I’d thought I only needed to concern myself with Originals, like Klaus. But there were so many others to be worried about, in ways I’d never considered. “Damon’s very good at looking after himself,” I said.
A silence fell between us.
Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the woods. I stiffened as the footsteps drew closer, and conversation carried through the trees.
“Anything, men? Nothing over in those bushes?”
I heard the loud barking of several dogs. Footsteps passed nearby and I pushed my back against the rough bark of a tree. Cora squeezed my hand tightly until the group left, spurred on by the manic barking of the dogs.
“They’re looking for me,” I said, dully stating the obvious after the last footsteps had long since passed.
“Well, they didn’t find you, did they? That’s good news,” Cora said in her lilting brogue, attempting a watery smile.
I smiled back. It wasn’t much, but it was true. They hadn’t found us. Maybe I needed to learn to be thankful for small miracles.
Finally, as the sun’s early rays fell on us, Damon broke through the brush, Oliver’s lifeless body in his arms. His face was drawn and a jagged stream of blood trickled from his temple. He was shoeless, his clothes were torn, and he looked nothing like an Italian count or British merchant. Instead, he looked like the Damon of our childhood who’d spend hours playing in the woods. Except this was a game of life and death.
“I couldn’t find Samuel,” Damon said, sinking to a rock and sighing. “I tried to revive the child, but I couldn’t.”
“I know,” I said, picking up Oliver’s lifeless body. I’d never taken him hunting. I walked a few paces away, toward a grove of oak trees. I glanced at the dark sky, praying for Oliver’s salvation.
I tenderly laid the body on the forest floor and went to work creating a small, shallow grave. Then, I placed Oliver inside.
“Here lies the best hunter in Britain,” I said, a tear threatening my eye. I dropped a few handfuls of dirt inside, and covered that with tree branches.I turned away, not able to look at the grave anymore, and walked toward Cora and Damon, huddled a few feet away.
“What about my sister?” I heard Cora whisper. I saw Damon shrug. I wondered if there was more to the story than he was telling. But I wasn’t ready to hear it. Not yet.
I lay down on the hard forest floor a few yards away and closed my eyes, allowing sleep to overtake me. Even as my mind drifted toward unconsciousness, I knew the sleep would be rough and raw. But I deserved it. I deserved everything that was coming to me.
Chapter 19