Chapter 69

Night had fallen as I stared down at the entrance of the Grand Hotel, the streets bustling with life. Nick hadn't returned yet and during that time a lot had happened.

Mrs. Fullerman had sent me the documents her husband had scanned and sent to his personal computer at home. A small smile came to my face as I think how much having the name on that folder would prove useful.

After getting off the phone, I started working. My mind was strangely clear, all secrets laid bare. So I had taken the box of files that had been copied for me and called for more I started searching.

I had opened the shades wide, hoping it would save me in case he tried to enter my room again. However now the sun was long gone, Ki had not come, Nick had not come, and I wondered if my maker had decided to leave me behind.

Around 6:30 when the sun went down he had left and now it was half past eleven. I could run, I could disappear and never have to worry about death. But with my friend dead, I wanted answers. Dante's words still rang in my ears, 'It will lead to your undoing.'

I had to know. I still had to know. That's when my eyes catch Nick's form coming out of a vehicle, a large black SUV. Hot on his heels was his brother. But I'm startled by what I see. Igor tries to grab his brothers shoulder, but Nick throws him off. He whirls on Igor, yelling something, pointing at him. Igor looks unaffected. They were too far away for me to eavesdrop on their conversation and its infuriating as Igor says something that only makes Nick angrier.

Finally Nick turns away and walks into the hotel. Igor remains in the large circle drive, but then his eyes look up. Jumping, I stumble back, hoping he hadn't seen me watching them.

I knew with each second that passed, Nick would be that much closer to me. So I slowly walk over to the couch in my suite and sit. My chance to run was now gone. It was likely that I never had a chance to begin with.

The room was silent and dark. No point in turning lights on, my night vision was superb. That's when I feel him, the elevator door dinging as it slides open. My hearing straining as I listen to his footsteps and smell his pheremones of warning. His power was as it was that first night we met in the club months ago.

Sweat pops out on my forehead as I sit stone still. He stops in front of my door, and I hear the beep as he slides the extra card into the slot. The door opens and there he stood. Every fiber in my body screamed once again to run. My breathing becoming quicker, my heartbeat speeding up and I can smell my own fear.

He flicks on the lights, and I blink, uneffected by it. Everything on his face registered as pent up anger, the set of his jaw, the tightness around his eyes, the slight flaring of his nostrils. But he didn't change, he didn't use his telepathy to turn me into a jellied mass on the floor. Instead he walked into the room and sits in the high backed chair opposite me. We stared at each other, the maker and his creation. The weight in the room was heavy with tension as I waited. Anything I said would be worthless in his eyes.

'So I am your maker.'

I nod, not knowing if my voice would work under such strong pheremones coming from him. It was as if he couldn't decide what to ask next, as he brushes his hand through his hair. But after another few minutes of silence, he seems to gather himself and replies, 'How could I be your maker? I never bite you.'

I lick my lips, grabbing a handful of hair and brush my fingers through it to release my nervous deer like response to his power, as I reply, 'In truth, I don't know. I only know that after... after that kiss I... I started to change.'

Nick grimaces at this statement and murmurs, 'It doesn't explain your changing. Vampires, even we Purebloods, can kiss humans without changing them.'

Slowly shaking my head, I murmur, 'I don't know how either. It just... happened.'

We sat there again in awkward silence, Nick's once powerful pheremones lessening and his power pulling away as he asks softly, 'You survived the changing well, though I am sorry about your father.'

I hold up my hand as I look down. That memory was still too sharp in my mind, though it had dulled slightly over the years as I ask softly, 'Why didn't you come back?'

'What do you mean?' Nick asks with a frown.

'I went back the next couple of days to see you, though unwell, and you weren't there. You weren't leaving for St. Petersburg for another day. Why?'

He just stared at me, but finally shakes his head, whispering, 'I don't know.'

'Why did you start talking to me in the first place? Was I a play thing, a passing fancy, a distraction for you?'

'I truly don't know.'

His responses frustrated me, despite my fear of him, and I reply, 'That's not good enough.'

'That's all you will get.'

The edge in his voice was enough to tell me to not push too hard, so I remain silent.

'When did you realize you could walk in the daylight?'

'From the beginning.'

'Who else knows about your ability?'

I sigh, look up at him and reply, 'Besides you, no one. Those who knew are dead.'

'Which were?'

'Jerry and Furlow.'

Nick stiffened at this and simply stares at me. I whisper, 'I don't understand. You called me a daywalker, are there more like me?'

It was so strange how Nick seemed uneasy for a moment, but finally nods saying, 'There was one.'

'Who?'

'Fideus the Great.'

I stare at him and shake my head with a frown murmuring, 'I...I don't understand.'

'What history do you know of vampires?'

'Little. Furlow said that history was useless and the heirarchy of vampires is a sham to make one think they are superior to their meals.'

Nick winced at that, but nods as he replies, 'In our history, there are three ages, we are in the third. But Fideus, he was so old, he saw and survived the demise of the first. He was known as Fideus the Great, not only for his ancient lifetime, but also that he was the only known daywalker of our kind.'

I blink several times in surprise. Words didn't come for some time, but finally I ask, 'What happened to him?'

'As far was we know he may still be alive. There is a journal in the Great Library of Kotowa that he has written in for centuries. No one knows what he looks like as he disappeared from vampiric society before my birth, but the last entry was a little over two hundred years ago.'

My eyes slowly widen, realization dawning, as I jump to a standing position, and say quickly, 'Nick! What if?! What if the leader of the Silent Phantasma is him?!'

Nick blinks, but shock slowly transforms his face as he murmurs, 'The one you seek is older than us all, but not of this time.'

I nod vigirously and reply, 'And I know his previous alias as well!'