Anathema (Causal Enchantment #1)(34)

Sofie gasped.

10. Truth

“You lying bitch!” Mortimer snarled. He flew at Sofie, sending her crashing into a glass side table, which shattered.

“And you!” Mortimer turned his furious eyes to Max. “Traitor!”

Max responded with a short but fierce snarl.

“I didn’t know this would happen!” Sofie shrieked, on her feet in seconds and lunging at Mortimer’s neck with a jagged chunk of glass in her hand, intent on decapitating him.

Mortimer barely avoided the swipe at his jugular, taking a nick on his shoulder instead. Catching her arm in mid–swing on her second attempt, he snapped her forearm with a sickening crack. He followed with a backhand that split her bottom lip wide open.

Arm dangling and blood pouring from her lip, she grimaced in pain. “Is that all you’ve got?” she grated, taunting him.

Mortimer’s dark eyes flashed with rage. He was going to kill her. I couldn’t watch. I buried my face in Max’s body, my hands digging into his fur, bracing myself for the blood–curdling screams.

I heard Viggo’s serene voice instead. “Everyone, calm down please.”

Peeking out from behind Max, I saw Viggo standing between the two of them, his arms outstretched. “You have some explaining to do, Sofie,” he said calmly.

I dared look at her. And gasped. Her lip was as beautiful and unharmed as ever, except for a patch of smeared blood which she now dabbed at with a cloth, using the arm that should be hanging limp at her side.

“Please stop fighting. You’re terrifying Evangeline. She’s already been through enough today!”

All three turned to regard me. “And I suppose you have some questions,” Viggo said, smiling gently. He took a step toward me.

Max growled.

Viggo raised his hands in surrender and backed up to sit in one of the armchairs. “But us first. Why did you sneak off to the park?”

I gaped at Sofie’s uninjured lip a moment longer. “I was looking for an explanation for the bites.”

“And how does Central Park offer that explanation?” Viggo asked.

Here we go. “I thought you two were drugging me, taking me into the park, and paying a bunch of people to pretend they’re vampires.” There. It was out there.

Viggo’s jaw dropped, his face twisting in a mixture of horror and insult.

“Why on earth would we do that?” Mortimer stared at me in disbelief.

“I don’t know … you’re bored? Viggo is fascinated with vampires and I overheard you guys fighting the other day about a game. Anyway, I figured if I could find the statue in the woods, then I would have proof.”

“How would the statue prove that? You’re not making any sense, my dear Evangeline,” Viggo exclaimed in frustration.

I sighed. “I had another dream last night.”

“And what happened?”

I told them about waking up beside the statue again, about the cave, and the attack. “And I woke up with these.” I gestured to my neck.

“And did you find proof of this trick you suspect us of?” Mortimer asked, eyebrow raised.

I shook my head, dropping my gaze to my hands. I could feel their eyes boring into me, waiting for me to speak. “Am I going crazy?” I finally asked.

Viggo changed the topic. “These people who attacked you. How did you come across them?”

“They cornered me while I was looking for the statue. Four of them,” I answered, explaining how a seemingly sweet old lady set the trap.

“Four of them,” Mortimer repeated, his expression unreadable.

I nodded. “Three men and a woman. And a dog.” I shuddered, remembering the mutt’s decapitated head.

“A woman?” Sofie asked, glancing at Viggo.

I nodded.

“And did they tell you who they were or what they wanted?”

I hesitated. “It didn’t seem random. They knew you—all of you. They said they’ve been watching you.” I looked at Sofie. She had known. Yesterday, shopping. She had sensed it somehow.

“What exactly did they say?” Viggo asked.

“Something about this necklace, about me being human, about Sofie doing something to me. You being … leeches?”

Viggo tisked, shaking his head in disdain. He rose and walked over to rest his arm on the mantel. “Well, I guess we can’t keep this from you any longer.” Viggo gazed up at the painting of Sofie’s sister. “No, Evangeline. You are not crazy, or hallucinating, though what I’m about to tell you will not help convince you of that.” He paused to clear his throat. “‘Vampire’ has such a stigma to it, wouldn’t you agree?” he said casually, followed by a resigned sigh. “I am over two thousand years old. I’m the oldest surviving vampire on earth. Mortimer is just shy of nine hundred.”

My stomach tightened into a tight ball. If I wasn’t crazy, then I was surrounded by a bunch of people who were.

“Sofie, you are—what now, a hundred and forty–eight? Is that right? I wouldn’t want to age you. I know how sensitive females are,” Mortimer sneered.

Sofie rolled her eyes in annoyance, but nodded.

“You’re all … vampires,” I repeated, listening to the words come out of my mouth.

“Now Sofie, you’re not being completely honest,” Mortimer mocked.