Unbound (The Captive #7)(14)

William wouldn’t have recognized the woman for who she was either. He hadn’t spent as much time with the mad king as Aria had. William had recognized something familiar about her, but he wouldn’t know the distinct shades of green in her eyes, or the depth of the cruelty within them, but Aria knew she was right about the woman’s identity.

“Freaking vampires,” Timber muttered and Max nodded in agreement.

“Sabine is dead,” Jack said. “She was staked through the heart.”

“And so was your father, but he came back to life,” Aria said. “This would help explain why he did. It also explains her looks and her power. That woman is related to you, and I believe she is Atticus’s mother. Your grandmother.”

“You vampire families are so messed up,” Max said and everyone gave him a look. He lifted his hands and shrugged. “Am I wrong?”

Jack’s hands fell limply, and his skin took on a ghostly hue as he stepped away from her. His gaze fell to Braith. “Do you think they were like Braith, and they only looked dead when they were buried? Did we bury Atticus alive?”

There had been no love lost between Jack and his father, but she heard the note of anguish in his voice at the possibility. “No,” Aria said. “I think they were both dead when they were buried.”

“But how did they come back?” William demanded.

“I don’t know,” Aria replied. “But they are all a part of the one true vampire line, a line that can be traced all the way back to the original vampire Lucifer created. We have no idea what a vampire of that lineage could be capable of.”

“It is the oldest and most powerful vampire line,” Ashby said. “If there was a chance any vampire could beat death, it would be a vampire from that line. If they knew they were capable of surviving what would kill any other vampire, they would make sure there was no record of it. If they died in a public way, the survivor would have to go into hiding after rising.”

“So she’s been in hiding all this time?” Melinda asked. “Wouldn’t someone have seen her at some point?”

“Not if she was careful and left Europe immediately after she woke again. She may have even been in this country all that time. Back then it was wild and secluded enough that she would have been able to lose herself completely,” Ashby said. “Any who might have known her have perished over time.”

Jack ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends of it as he paced about the cave. With every step he took, he limped more and more. Blood trickled from his wounds to stain the ground, but he didn’t pay it any attention as he continued walking.

“Do you think Atticus knew about this?” he asked as he spun to face her again.

“No, I don’t,” Aria said. “All he wanted was death. If he’d known there was a chance he could come back, I think it would have driven him even more insane while he was still alive.”

“Don’t think that was possible,” William muttered.

“Why would Sabine keep the knowledge from him?” Jack inquired.

“She may not have known about it either, or most likely she never got the chance to tell him,” Ashby said. “A vampire that can’t die by staking is something else entirely. There’s a power involved that would be more than a little frightening to other vampires. They would have risked their entire line being destroyed if their secret ever got out. She may have been waiting until Atticus was old enough to keep the secret before telling him.”

“Att…icus was only fi…” Xavier rested his hand against the closing hole in his throat. He winced with every word, but continued speaking. “Five when Sabine die…d.”

“They die, but somehow they rejuvenate after death,” Ashby said.

“Shit,” Jack muttered.

“So that means Jack could withstand a staking?” Hannah asked.

“I don’t think so,” Aria replied. “Sabine only asked for Braith’s head earlier. Jack may not be as old or as powerful as Braith, but he’s still a big threat to her too. She’ll want him eradicated as well.” Aria turned to face Melinda. “And there’s no reason she would know that you’re not Atticus’s child. She would have asked for your head too, if she believed you could come back.”

Melinda clasped her hands before her, twisting them into her cloak when they began to tremble.

“She’s right,” Ashby said and Xavier nodded in agreement. “This is something to do with the first born in the line. Sabine, Atticus…” He glanced at Braith. “Even when he was young, there was always more power in Braith than in Caleb or you, Jack, or many of the vampires who were older than he was.”

Jack pulled at his face, rubbing his hand over the stubble lining his jaw as he stared at his brother. “He’s always been more powerful than most,” Jack agreed before focusing on Aria again. “What if you’re wrong and it’s not Sabine?”

Aria couldn’t stop her gaze from falling to Braith. “If I’m wrong and he dies, then he will remain dead, but either way, I have to leave here in order to keep him from being discovered.”

“I’m not letting you leave here,” Jack stated.

“I am your queen. You have no say in this.”

“Aria—”