Bloodlines

"I'm Lee Donahue," he said, extending his hand. Once again, Keith didn't take it, but I did and introduced us.

Lee looked back and forth between me and Keith, face full of wonder. "Alchemists, right? I've never met one of you. The tattoos you guys have are beautiful," he said, eyeing the gold lily on my cheek. "I've heard about what they can do."

"Donahue?" asked Keith. He glanced between Lee and Clarence. "Are you related?"

Lee gave Clarence an indulgent look. "Father and son."

Keith frowned. "But you don't live here, do you?" I was surprised that this, of all things, would draw him out. Maybe he didn't like the idea that his intel was faulty. He was Palm Springs' Alchemist, after all, and he'd believed Clarence was the only Moroi in the area.

"Not regularly, no," said Lee. "I go to college in LA, but my schedule's just part-time this semester. So, I want to try to spend more time with Dad." Abe glanced at Rose. "You see that?" he said. "Now that's devotion." She rolled her eyes at him.

Keith looked like he had more questions about this, but Clarence's mind was still back in the conversation. "I could've sworn I had that lock replaced."

"Well, I can replace it soon for you if you want," said Lee. "Can't be that hard."

"I think it's fine." Clarence rose unsteadily to his feet. "I'm going to take a look."

Lee hurried to his side and shot us an apologetic look. "Does it have to be right now?" When it appeared that it did, Lee said, "I'll go with you." I got the impression that Clarence frequently followed his whims, and Lee was used to it.

I used the Donahues' absence to get some answers I'd been dying to know. I turned to Jill. "You didn't have any problems getting here, did you? No more, um, incidents?"

"We ran into a couple dissidents before we left Court," said Rose, a dangerous note in her voice. "Nothing we couldn't handle. The rest was uneventful." "And it's going to stay that way," said Eddie matter-of-factly. He crossed his arms over his chest. "At least if I have anything to do with it."

I glanced between them, puzzled. "I was told there'd be a dhampir along... did they decide to send two?"

"Rose invited herself along," said Abe. "Just to make sure the rest of us didn't miss anything. Eddie's the one who will be joining you at Amberwood." Rose scowled. "I should be the one staying. I should be Jill's roommate. No offense, Sydney. We need you for the paperwork, but I'm the one who's gotta kick anyone's ass who gives Jill trouble."

I certainly wasn't going to argue against that.

"No," said Jill, with surprising intensity. She'd been quiet and hesitant the last time I'd seen her, but her eyes grew fierce at the thought of being a burden to Rose. "You need to stay with Lissa and keep her safe. I've got Eddie, and besides, no one even knows I'm here. Nothing else is going to happen."

The look in Rose's eyes said she was skeptical. I also suspected she didn't truly believe anyone could protect either Vasilisa or Jill as well as she could. That was saying something, considering the young queen was surrounded in bodyguards. But even Rose couldn't be everywhere at once, and she must have had to choose. Her words made me turn my attention back to Jill.

"What did happen?" I asked. "Were you hurt? We heard stories about an attack but no confirmation."

There was a heavy pause in the room. Everyone except Keith and me seemed distinctly uncomfortable. Well, we were uncomfortable - but for other reasons.

"I'm fine," said Jill at last, after a sharp look from Rose. "There was an attack, yeah, but none of us were hurt. I mean, not seriously. We were in the middle of a royal dinner when we were attacked by Moroi - like, Moroi assassins. They made it look like they were going for Lis - for the queen, but instead came for me." She hesitated and dropped her eyes, letting her long, curly brown hair fall forward. "I was saved, though, and the guardians rounded them up." There was a nervous energy to Jill that I remembered from before. It was cute and made her seem very much like the shy teenager she was.

"But we don't think they're all gone, which is why we have to stay away from Court," explained Eddie. Even as he directed his words to Keith and me, he radiated a protectiveness toward Jill, daring anyone to challenge the girl he was in charge of keeping safe. "And we don't know where the traitors in our own ranks are. So, until then, here we all are."

"Hopefully not for long," said Keith. I gave him a warning look, and he seemed to realize his comment could be perceived as rude. "I mean, this place can't be all that fun for you guys, with the sun and everything."

"It's safe," said Eddie. "That's what counts."

Clarence and Lee returned, and there was no more mention of Jill's background or the attack. As far as father and son knew, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian had simply fallen out of favor with important royal Moroi and were in exile here. The two Moroi men didn't know who Jill really was and believed that the Alchemists were helping her due to Abe's influence. It was a web of lies but a necessary one. Even if Clarence was in self-imposed exile, we couldn't risk him (or Lee now) accidentally letting outsiders know the queen's sister was holed up here.

Eddie glanced over at the older Moroi. "You said you've never heard of any Strigoi being around here, right?"

Clarence's eyes went unfocused for a moment as his thoughts turned inward. "No... but there are worse things than Strigoi..."

Lee groaned. "Dad, please. Not that."

Rose and Eddie were on their feet in an instant, and it was a wonder they didn't pull out weapons. "What are you talking about?" demanded Rose. "What other dangers are there?" asked Eddie, his voice like steel.

Lee was actually blushing. "Nothing... please. It's a delusion of his, that's all."

'"Delusion?'" asked Clarence, narrowing his eyes at his son. "Was your cousin's death a delusion? Is the fact that those high-ups at Court let Tamara go unavenged a delusion?"

My mind spun back to a conversation I'd had with Keith in the car. I gave Clarence what I hoped was a reassuring look. "Tamara was your niece, right? What happened to her, sir?"

"She was killed," he said. There was a dramatic pause. "By vampire hunters."

"I'm sorry, by what?" I asked, certain I'd misheard.

"Vampire hunters," repeated Clarence. Everyone in the room looked as surprised as I felt, which was a small relief. Even some of Rose and Eddie's fierceness wavered. "Oh, you won't find that anywhere - not even in your records. We were living in Los Angeles when they got her. I reported it to the guardians, demanded they hunt the culprits down. Do you know what they said?" He peered at each person in turn. "Do you?"