Bloodlines

"You might say that," he replied.

I started to ask what he meant, and that's when I saw it. The spread they'd done in honor of Kelly had pictures from all parts of her high school life. Unsurprisingly, most of them were pictures of her playing sports. There were a few from other areas of her social and academic worlds, including one of her at the prom. She wore a stunning blue satin dress that made the most of her athletic figure and was giving the camera a big grin as she wrapped an arm around her dashing, tuxedo-clad date.

Lee.

I jerked my head up and looked at Lee, who was now regarding me with an unreadable expression. I turned back to the picture, scrutinizing it carefully. What was remarkable wasn't that Lee was in the picture - though, believe me, I hadn't figured out what was going on with that yet. What had me hung up was the timing. This yearbook was five years old. Lee would've been fourteen at the time, and the guy looking back at me with Kelly was certainly not that young. The Lee in the picture looked exactly like the nineteen-year-old sitting across from me, which was impossible. Moroi had no special immortality. They aged like humans. I looked back up, wondering if I should be asking if he had a brother.

Lee saved me from questioning, though. He simply regarded me with a sad look and shook his head. "Shit. I hadn't wanted it to happen like this."

And then, he took out a knife.

Chapter Twenty-Four

IT'S WEIRD how you react in moments of immediate danger. Part of me was pure panic, complete with racing heart and rapid breathing. That hollow feeling, the one that felt like a hole had opened in my chest, returned. Another part of me was able to still inexplicably think along logical lines, mostly something like, Yup, that's the kind of knife that could slit a throat. The rest of me? Well, the rest of me was just confused.

I stayed where I was and kept my voice low and even. "Lee, what's going on? What is this?"

He shook his head. "Don't pretend. I know you know. You're too smart. I knew you'd figure it out, but I just didn't expect you to do it so soon."

My mind spun. Once again, someone thought I was smarter than I was. I supposed I should be flattered by his faith in my intelligence, but the truth was, I didn't know what was going on yet. I didn't know if betraying that would help or hinder me, though. I decided to play cool for as long as I reasonably could here.

"That's you in the picture," I said, careful not to make it a question.

"Of course," he said.

"You haven't aged." I dared a quick look at the picture, just to ascertain that for myself. It still baffled me. Only Strigoi were ageless, staying immortal at the age they'd turned. "That's... that's impossible. You're Moroi."

"Oh, I've aged," he said bitterly. "Not a lot. Not enough that you can really spot it, but believe me, I can. It's not like how it used to be."

I was still clueless, still not sure of how we had reached a point where Lee - starry-eyed and lovesick for Jill - was suddenly threatening me with a knife. Nor did I understand how he looked exactly the same as he did in a five-year-old picture. There was only one terrible thing I was beginning to be certain of. "You... killed Kelly Hayes." The fear in my chest intensified. I lifted my gaze from the blade to look into his eyes. "But surely... surely not Melody... or Tamara..."

He nodded. "And Dina. But you wouldn't know her, would you? She was only human, and you don't keep track of human deaths. Only vampires."

It was hard not to look at the knife again. All I kept thinking about was how sharp it was and how close it was to me. One swipe, and I'd end up just like those other girls, my life bleeding away before me. I groped desperately for something to say, wishing again I'd learned the social skills that came so easily to others.

"Tamara was your cousin," I managed. "Why would you kill your own cousin?"

A moment of regret flashed across his features. "I didn't want to - I mean, I did... but, well, I wasn't myself when I came back. I just knew I had to be awakened again. Tamara was there at the wrong place and the wrong time. I went for the first Moroi I could get... but it didn't work. That's when I tried the others. I thought for sure one of them would do it. Human, dhampir, Moroi... none of them worked."

There was a terrible desperation in his voice, and despite my fear, some part of me wanted to help him... but I was hopelessly lost. "Lee, I'm sorry. I don't understand, why you'd need to 'try others.' Please put the knife down, and let's talk. Maybe I can help you."

He gave me a sad smile. "You can. I didn't want it to be you, though. I wanted it to be Keith. He certainly deserves to die more than you do. And Jill... well, Jill likes you. I wanted to respect that and spare you."

"You still can," I said. "She - she wouldn't want you to do this. She'd be upset if she knew - "

Suddenly, Lee was on me, pinning me to the chair with the knife at my throat. "You don't know!" he cried. "She doesn't know. But she will, and she'll be glad. She'll thank me, and we'll be young and together forever. You're my chance. The others didn't work, but you..." He trailed the knife's blade near my tattoo. "You're special. Your blood is magic. I need an Alchemist, and you're my only chance now."

"What... chance... are you talking about?" I gasped out.

"My chance for immortality!" he cried. "God, Sydney. You can't even imagine it. What it's like to have that and then lose it. To have infinite strength and power... to not age, to know you'll live forever. And then, gone! Taken away from me. If I ever find that bastard spirit user who did this to me, I'll kill him. I'll kill him and I'll drink from him since after tonight, I'll be whole once more. I'll be reawakened."

A chill ran down my spine. In light of everything, you would have thought I'd already be at maximum terror level. Nope. Turns out there was still more to come. Because with those words, I began to put together a fragile theory of what he might be talking about. "Awakened" was a term used in the vampire world, under very special circumstances.

"You used to be Strigoi," I whispered, not even sure if I believed it myself.

He pulled back slightly, gray eyes wide and glittering feverishly. "I used to be a god! And I will be again. I swear it. I'm sorry, I really am. I'm sorry it's you and not Keith. I'm sorry you found out about Kelly. If you hadn't, I could have found another Alchemist in LA. But don't you see? I have no other options now..." The knife was still at my throat. "I need your blood. I can't go on like this... not as a mortal Moroi. I have to be changed back."