Saving Mitchell
Chapter 7 – "Family Secrets"
Staring out the car window I see my flat getting smaller, any hope that I would see it again starting to fade. I knew if I hadn't come with Seth then Herrick might hurt Mitchell and George.
Giving him my family name was enough to keep him at bay but not enough to stop him from being curious. Perhaps his knowledge of the Romanoff family scared him or maybe he just wanted to see what I knew, either way I was on my way to him.
I grip the talisman in my pocket, going over every incantation I could think of in my head. Seth looks back at me in the rear view mirror, his smile so smug and cold. "Herrick tells me you're a witch … maybe even a powerful one. I don't know, you don't look very powerful to me."
The coldness in his eyes makes me cringe inside, makes me want to be anywhere but in this car with him.
"Are we going to the funeral parlor?" I look up at him, my green eyes glaring.
"I see you know more about us than I had expected. Herrick said you were a sly one and not to underestimate you. You'll just have to wait and see won't you." His cold smile returns, his dead eyes studying me as if he doesn't trust me.
The car finally stops but we're not where I thought we'd be. The Bristol Museum in all its regal glory was before me, the morning fog swirling around its high towers.
"It's too early, they aren't even open." Seth opens the car door, taking my hand.
"To Herrick nothing is ever closed. Shall we." He places my hand inside his arm as we walk to the glass doors.
Once inside I find it calming, the museum had a tranquil quality to it with the lights turned down low. We walk up to the second floor, the art gallery dimly light as well.
We walk past all the paintings and sculptures, some of which I had witnessed the artist paint themselves. When we come to a round room with an exhibit of royalty around the world. Seth leaves me standing in the middle of the room, closing the two large wooden doors behind him.
The silence in the room was deafening, the paintings all seem to be staring at me. I begin to walk the circular room, my feet moving slowly across the oak floor.
"Beautiful aren't they, kings and queens of old." Herrick comes in the room startling me.
"Yes they are. Why am I here Herrick?" I turn to him, my every instinct to run as fast as I can.
He walks over to me taking my hand. "There is one painting in particular I want you to see then we need to discuss what I need from you."
My mind begins to race, what could he have planned for me. A dark thought enters my mind, what if he knows I'm a Romanoff witch.
We stand before the painting of a very lovely young woman, her auburn hair and green eyes very much like mine. Gazing down to the plaque below the painting I begin to read it. The name Catarina Romanov, Grand Duchess was scrolled across the metal and my heart sank.
"You know don't you?" My eyes look up to him, my shoulders slumping.
"It is too much of a coincidence for you to know about the Romanoff witches and not to be one yourself. Augustus was a very strong and old vampire, no mere witch killed him. Once I saw this painting I knew, I knew this had to be you." Herrick looks at me as if I was an answered prayer.
"This girl is not me, not in the least. She is however a distant relation. The Romanoff's changed their names to Romanov and blended into Russian nobility to conceal and finance their war against the vampires. Romanov's have even befriended the lycans but are not above killing them as well. The Romanoff's that still live carry on using magic and spells to battle the blood drinking demons of the night. Now that you know what I am, what do you want of me Herrick." Walking over to small table with two high back chairs, I sit and Herrick joins me.
"So you are a descendent of Russian royalty, but you are more Romanoff than Romanov. This is good, very good. What I need from you Cara is one little favor. You do this one thing for me and I'll leave Mitchell be but you deny more or double cross me and I will come for him and your little dog." My eyes narrow at him, my fingers digging into the soft leather of the chair.
"Ask it Herrick." I can feel my back go stiff, my hands curling into claws.
" I need a vampire taken care of you, one that has become a problem, you do this for me. If you can take out an Old One you can handle any vampire in Bristol . I have one that has been a thorn in my side for some time. I need him out of the picture by the end of the day. I can't have this coming back to me of course. You do this and all will be right and you can go on living your diluted live with Mitchell and the lycan. Agreed?" His callous smile rubs me all wrong but I swallow back my pride and nod my head at him.
"Agreed." A vile taste fills my mouth as I say the word. Herrick shakes my hand, giving me his gleeful grin.
"Good, now here is the name and address. Call this number when it's done, I'll need proof you've done your part." He walks me out of the museum and I stand there on the steps shivering, knowing I just made a pact with the devil.
On my walk back to the flat I see George, his blue eyes looking very tearful. He runs to me, hugging me so tight I can hardly breathe. "Oh God Cara, you're alive. I had to wake Mitchell, I couldn't just let them take you without a fight. We've been looking for you all morning. Mitchell went to the funeral parlor but no one was there. He's driving around Bristol looking for you. I told him to let go on foot, so here I am. What happened?"
"Herrick had me brought to a museum. He found a portrait of my mother's great- niece and thought it was me. He knows I'm a Romanoff witch and he wants me to kill a vampire for him. George, there is so much I have to tell you, secrets I have to share but you have to promise to never tell Mitchell." The sweet boy before me nods his head, his arms still around me.
We walk to a diner to get a cup of tea, his hand holding mine. "Do you want me to call Mitchell?"
"Yeah, go ahead." I pull my jacket around me, the cool winter morning still clinging to me.
After George calls Mitchell we sit drinking our tea and I tell him my secret. He sits quietly across from me, his eyes looking down at his cup. "Your blood can cure a vampire, change them back into a human? Oh my God Cara, why don't you want Mitchell to know? This could be the answer for all of us."
"I won't take his immortality from him George and I won't tell him because it will change how he sees me. He'll be different with me and I couldn't bear that. Please George, you can't tell him. If the day comes and he wants to change, wants to give up his long life then I will do this for him but until that day I have to keep quiet. If vampires find out I'll be marked. They'll either kill me or worse, keep me alive to use my blood. This is why I won't let him feed from me, why I can't. I know he struggles with the blood lust, even I did at first but he can beat this and I will stay by his side until he has." Reaching across the table I take George's hand, his fingers lace into mine.
"Okay, I won't say anything. But Cara, if I see Mitchell slipping, see him becoming the vampire he's afraid of becoming then I'm going to tell him." He squeezes my hand and I smile back at him understanding his love for both of us.
Mitchell runs into the diner, standing there looking at us. I jump from my seat and run into his arms. His hand strokes the back of my hair as he holds me so tight to him. "Are you okay, he didn't hurt you did he?"
I lay my head on his shoulder, my arms around him. "No and he doesn't know I'm a vampire."
Sitting at the table with George I tell Mitchell about my morning with Herrick and what he wanted from me. I even tell him about the dead Old One but leave out the part where my blood changed him and then I killed him. I conveniently tell him a lie, that my Romanoff powers took out the Old One and burying him on consecrated ground bonded him there. Mitchell kisses me softly, his brown eyes hold so much pain that I had to look away from him.
"Can you do this Cara? If you can't then we'll find some other way." Mitchell lifts my face up to him, his fingers under my chin.
"For you and George I have to. Let me go alone and do this Mitchell, you can't be a part of this." I can see the doubt and fear in his eyes, his smile all but gone.
"We won't abandon you, we won't let you do this alone. Right George?" Mitchell turns his gaze to our friend, George sitting quietly sipping his tea.
"Wrong Mitchell, she has to do this without us. We'll just be in the way. She's lived for thousands of years and she's stronger than either of us knows. I won't put her in danger by being there, she'll just worry about us Mitchell." In my heart I knew the truth, George wasn't hanging me out to dry, he was protecting my secret.
"Are you both completely mental? No, I won't let you do this. Please Cara, listen to me." I kiss him on the forehead and head out the diner. He comes after me, his hand taking mine.
"I'll be back Mitchell, I promise. Like George said, I'm stronger than you know and Herrick doesn't know I'm a vampire. I've done this before and I'm sure I can do it again. Go to work and wait for me, please do this for me." Mitchell looks back at George then to me.
"You're going to do this and there's nothing I can say to stop you." My heart feels like it's being ripped from my chest when he drops my hand and walks out the diner without another word.