Chapter 21

"Hi," she replied, eyes narrowing as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the library. "You'll go blind if you try reading in this bad a light," she commented.

"Good thing I don't read then," Jack retorted. "What I do is far better than that. I venture for treasures. I'm a treasure seeker of the highest order. I do not answer to your Circle Daybreak nor to Hunter's Nightworld Council."

"A treasure seeker?" she asked, eyes widening with fascination. She'd never heard of anything like that.

"And Kierlan is a treasure," Laurence said bluntly, turning from the large library door. He demonstrated how the door was locked by twisting the door handle. "A Blue Fire. And you're his Soulmate. Aren't you?"

"And what if I am?" Sarah demanded warily.

"Then we invite you to stay here," Jack offered, eyes gleaming. "You and Kierlan."

"You seek treasures," Sarah said sceptically. "And then what do you do with them?"

Laurence shrugged. "We don't sell them. You wouldn't be a slave. You'd just have to join our…club. If we can call it that."

"How many other people have you…collected?" Sarah asked shrewdly.

"Not many," Laurence said patiently. "Not any Blue Fires, and we didn't bother to invite them. But we collect…oddities. Quite a few of them are related to us Harmans and Redferns. We all hang together and find out more about whatever we like. We've dug up quite a few of the most dangerous spells. Forgotten just because they're so deadly."

"And where are these…club members?" Sarah asked, intrigued.

Jack shrugged. "Wherever they want to be. It's not like we keep them prisoner. We just keep an eye on them, it's our part of the pact. Protect each other. We're not into the Nightworld stuff, mostly. Just the magic and the nature. And the fun."

Laurence was nodding in agreement. "Rosamond, Angelica, Rex, Brooke, Ant, Roseclear and Kelly. Nine so far. Plus you and Kierlan would make it eleven."

"You do realise I'm just human?" Sarah asked sceptically. "I don't have any powers or anything."

Laurence shrugged. "You're Kierlan's Soulmate. It's not like that's nothing. The Soulmate power's pretty cool. We've been investigating it for a while, but we haven't ever had any way to test it."

She was thinking about this offer. "And if Kierlan and I…consented," she said slowly, "would that mean you'd help me rescue him and protect him?"

"More than that," Jack agreed enthusiastically. "We'd rescue him, protect him in any way necessary, even give him a new identity if he wanted it. Same for you. Think about that, Sarah. A chance for a new life. New friends. You'd both be safe."

And cut old ties, she supposed, with sadness for Susie. Still, she'd already chosen. She looked Jack in the eyes. "If it protects Kierlan, I will do anything," she said firmly.

"Wonderful," Jack beamed, swung off the couch and went to grab his coat. "Then we'd best go get him before Hunter executes him. And for that, we shall need some help."

Laurence raised an eyebrow. "I'm staying," he informed them with a yawn. "And I'm sure Angelica and Rosamond shall want to do the same. The others—"

"Shall be there, every step of the way," a boy said smoothly from behind them.

"Rex," Laurence said, as the boy moved into view, his short, spiky black-gold hair gleaming in the light, as did his green-gold eyes. He was tall, lithe, his shoulders proudly straight as he gracefully ducked the ledge of the illusion doorway. With a careless hand, he swiped the hank of gold-black hair from his eyes and gazed, eerily focused, at Sarah. "Hi, Sarah Strange."

"So we finally see you," another girl said in a bemused way as she followed Rex from the illusion doorway.

"Brooke," Laurence said warmly.

Brooke's hair was a cascade of blood-red curls down her back. She wore a perfectly-fitting gold top and violet jeans and neat blue-violet slippers. In her hand a gold ribbon dangled carelessly until she began the earnest work of pulling her hair back and tying it tightly, the gold ribbon shimmering. Sarah knew why Laurence liked her: the girl had the air of someone in control, determined and impossible to dislike.

"And Kelly," Laurence said softly.

Kelly. His complexion was pure Spanish, his black eyes gleamed with arrogance, and his hair was untidy, untrimmed black curls. He was only a head shorter than Rex. He wore black turtleneck and black jeans and was nearly invisible in the shadows, with a wildcat grace as he watched Sarah with his arrogant, dismissive look.

"Roseclear says she wishes to come," Kelly said in a soft, lilting accent. "And thus, I'm sure we shall have Anthony with us."

Laurence's shoulders moved with a sudden shudder. "Shall we keep Sarah with us here? Out of the way of the fighting?"

Kelly looked at Laurence like the male witch was insane. "We'll use her to track Kierlan. So of course she must come."

Laurence turned on his heel and left the library. A girl sighed from the illusion doorway. "So melodramatic," she commented. "So scaredy," a boy murmured in agreement.

"Roseclear and Anthony," Kelly supplied for Sarah's benefit.

Roseclear smiled at Sarah. At her lips gleamed perfect white vampiric fangs. Her lips were ripe red: she'd fed not long ago. She ran a tongue over her fangs, then a second later she looked only like a perfect human being, dressed in sweet pale blue jeans and a pale pink, medieval sleeved top that showed her slender figure well. Her companion, Anthony, had strange eyes: first they were blue, then green, then purple, then gray, then back to blue. Like Ash's eyes, Sarah realised, but Anthony's eyes bore a deep wilderness, making her feel suddenly like she was trapped in the River that beat only a quarter of a mile away from the mansion.

With a deep shudder, she wrenched herself free of Anthony's gaze: his lips had gained a curve of amusement as though he could taste how fast her heart beat, with fear. He wasn't a witch, she was sure. Not a vampire. He didn't seem like a shapeshifter…she gave up, refusing to believe it.

"Come along," Roseclear said playfully. "We haven't got all century."