Bloodlines Read online

  “My turn,” Jake said. “If you had dreams about us, how come you didn’t know who you were looking for?”

  “I never saw your faces; you were always so far away from me. I could never get close to you. I tried to, believe me, but it just wasn’t happening.”

  “I take it it’s my turn now,” Lucian smiled. “Why is it that your eyes go white and yet ours and our fathers’ go black…? That’s who was with us before by the way, well except mine with him being ill.”

  “I was going to ask you the same question. You need to remember something, I’ve been on my own with this. I’ve not grown up with people who are the same as me or even similar. I haven’t had any insight into what I am, which I know is my own fault for being ignorant, and I came here hoping to get answers.”

  “Didn’t your father tell you when you were growing up?” Tyler asked.

  “My father died three weeks after I received my powers. All he told me was that I was special and had a gift. The day after I got them he went away with work for two weeks. My granddad offered to tell me but he said he wanted to be the one to sit down with me and talk me through everything. When my dad was driving home he was in an accident. He was seriously hurt and in a coma; he never came out of it and died six days later. I don’t understand how a car accident could have killed him though. I mean, surely he would have been able to do something.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Lucian said. “He would have been able to get out or throw the other car away from him.”

  “So I’m right in saying there must have been something else at work then?” I asked.

  “I would have to say yes to that.”

  “How would I find out? Is there a way?”

  “Sadly I can’t answer that. I wish I could,” he said sincerely.

  I felt Lily take my hand to comfort me and that was when I noticed the time.

  “Wow, it’s 3 a.m. – we better get back,” I told her.

  She was just as surprised as me and looked at her watch to check I’d seen it right.

  “Why don’t you stay here, there are plenty of rooms,” Lucian offered.

  “Thanks, but all our things are back at the motel, so we best be leaving,” I replied.

  “Will we see you tomorrow?”

  “That would be nice. Where would you like us to meet you?”

  “How about the café? Say midday?” he suggested.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Come on then, ladies,” Jake said. “I’m the only one who hasn’t had a drink so I’ll drive you home.”

  “We don’t mind walking,” Lily told him.

  “And I don’t mind driving you.”

  They walked us to the door and waited with us until Jake brought the car, a silver Audi, around. We said goodnight and got into the car with him. I think Lily had felt a little left out back at the house, so I left her to do the talking to Jake. I was happy just staring out of the window, but I still listened to them.

  “So what do you do back home?” Jake asked her.

  “Work mainly.”

  “Where do you work?”

  “Just at a local music store, I’ve been there for years. I used to work weekends when I was at school, and then when I left they offered me a full-time position.”

  “Didn’t you fancy college?”

  “No, I hated school enough, Keira was the same where school was concerned, but she stuck to college.”

  “Is that why you get on so well?”

  “Maybe, we’ve known each other about eight years now and we’ve stuck together more or less since we met. She’s been there for me through some really bad times, and she’s always stuck up for me. Now I’m here to support her.”

  “You can tell how close you are, and that she’s protective of you.”

  “I know. What about you anyway, what do you do with yourself?” she asked.

  “Not much really. I love cars so I fix them up for people from time to time. But other than that I’m normally just hanging out with the guys. These last few months have been different though, what with sending out messages to try and find the fifth bloodline and then you both turning up. Things may get more interesting now.”

  “Sounds like you were bored.”

  “No not really, it’s nice to have a laid-back, relaxing lifestyle. No stress or running around like mad in an office for crap pay.”

  “I envy you,” she smiled.

  “Well, here you go,” he said, pulling into the motel car parking lot.

  “Thanks, Jake,” we both said.

  “Any time. See you tomorrow.”

  ***

  “I thought you would have wanted to stay longer,” Lily said.

  “When I had my suspicions about my dad confirmed I got uncomfortable. I just had to get away.”

  “Are you OK?”

  “I always knew a car accident couldn’t have killed him. I couldn’t talk to my mom about it and I didn’t want to upset my granddad; he was his son after all. But then, thinking back, I remember hearing him talking to himself, not long after it happened. He was sitting in his living room with a picture of my dad in his hands. He kept saying “I’ll find out what happened, I promise you I will” over and over again. I’d forgotten that until now. At the time I remember thinking “Oh he wants to get the person in the other car or find out if it was a drunk driver.” I didn’t think it could have been anything else.”

  “You were very young. It’s funny what comes back to you in time,” Lily said, taking her coat off. “Besides back then you didn’t know what you do now. The more you learn the more you will think back and remember things. And the more you will question them.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry for pulling us out of there. You should have said if you’d wanted to stay.”

  “No, it’s fine honestly. Besides I would only have drooled over Jake more.”

  “Really?” I said, a big grin appearing on my face. “I hadn’t noticed you liked him. You’d never have guessed.”

  “I think he’s gorgeous,” she said as she flopped on the couch in a dream-like state.

  Jake certainly was kind of cute. He stood about five foot eight and had a really athletic build, with spiky light-brown hair, pale skin and big hazel eyes. “Well, maybe you should ask him on a date before we leave,” I said.

  “Are you really going to go back to West Chester?”

  “I live there.”

  “Yes, I know, but don’t you think you belong here?”

  “I don’t know,” I flopped down next to her. “I suppose I should stay here really, but they might not want me here all the time. They might have just wanted to meet me and that’s it.”

  “I seriously doubt that. Besides, I think something may be in the cards for you and Lucian.”

  “Rubbish. What you mean is you want me to move here so you can stay and get it on with Jake,” I smirked.

  “No, although that thought does give me butterflies in my stomach. I was actually being truthful about you and Lucian; he never takes his eyes off you. Having said that, Tyler was staring at you too. And don’t forget, you don’t know why they were calling to you. Plus your granddad told you that the families needed to be reunited.”

  “Let’s just see how things go, OK?” I said, getting up and walking into the bathroom.

  “OK,” Lily sighed as I shut the door.

  Chapter 6

  The Tour

  The next morning we didn’t even hear the alarm. I only woke up when Lily dived on me to tell me it was 11:35. I jumped up and we both got ready quickly. We arrived at the café at 12.10; the guys were there waiting for us.

  “I’m sorry we’re late,” I told them as I walked over. “We slept through our alarm.”

  “Don’t worry, we were five minutes late ourselves,” Tyler told us. “Serves us right for having a late night.”

  “Have you eaten yet?” Lucian asked.

  “No,” I answered.

  “Well, neither have we, so
if you all tell me what you want it can be my treat today.”

  We sat down, picked what we wanted and then Lucian went to place the order.

  “So what do you want to do today?” Jake asked us.

  “I don’t know,” I replied.

  “Well, we need to spend a lot of time together really. We need to get to know each other and there sure is a hell of a lot we need to talk about.”

  “We’re only here for a week,” Lily told him.

  “What?” Lucian said, rejoining us. “Are you crazy? You can’t leave us now; we’ve only just found you.”

  “I’ve got my house and all my things back home. Lily’s got her job and her family,” I told them

  “Family, yeah of course,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Don’t you get along?” Jake asked.

  “Not at all. I spend most of my time at Keira’s. I more or less live there actually. I stay as much as I can just so I don’t have to face them. They want me to work every hour God sends to pay for their…drinking habits, shall we call it?”

  “OK, then you have nothing to stay there for, so you could move here with Keira,” Jake said, going slightly pink when he realized just how enthusiastic he had sounded.

  “Yeah I suppose,” she glanced at me.

  “I want to know how you knew who we were,” Lucian asked. “It’s been bugging me.”

  “I looked you up on the internet. It wasn’t hard to see the name changes,” Lily told him.

  “Keira, you could move into the old Putnam house,” Tyler interjected.

  “I didn’t know it was for sale.”

  “It isn’t.”

  “I don’t understand,” I frowned.

  “My parents have the deeds to the place,” Lucian said. “They’ve been passed down through the generations just in case the fifth bloodline ever came back. You see John Putnam’s daughter, Ann, stayed in Salem when our ancestors moved. When they returned she knew them instantly. She wasn’t married and was gravely ill. She knew she was dying and passed the deeds to my family. Just in case Edward came back. When they were passed down to my parents, they toyed with the idea of selling the place because nobody had heard anything from the Putnam family since the witch-hunts. When we tried to go inside we couldn’t get the door open. No matter what we did.”

  “That’s why we couldn’t understand how you got in,” Lucian continued. “We followed you, and to say we were surprised when the door opened for you would be an understatement.”

  “Maybe the house was waiting for you,” Lily suggested.

  We all went quiet for a moment while the waitress brought us our breakfasts.

  “I think she’s right,” Jake said. “How else can you explain it?”

  “What? A magical house? Oh please, now I’ve heard everything,” I mocked.

  “No, that’s not what I mean. Maybe, just before John Putnam and his family were killed, they put a spell on it, so that only their descendants could enter. I mean, obviously Ann was there and they knew Edward had escaped. Maybe they thought he would go back.”

  “So they protected it for him?” Lily said.

  “Exactly,” he answered before taking a bite of his huge sausage sandwich.

  “Well, I suppose it’s a possibility,” I toyed with the idea.

  “I don’t think…and I’m sorry to say this to you, Keira…” Lucian said sincerely, “But I don’t think anyone will ever know everything that happened with all our families. The founders’ wives told their children everything they knew, but only the founders of the coven knew the whole truth and the extent of what we had inside us. And that died with them. We’ve never found anything written to learn anything from.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I said, stabbing my hash brown. “I have the book.”

  “Keira, we don’t even know what the book is. We just saw you walk out with it and, because we didn’t know who you were, we wanted it,” Tyler said.

  “Well, if you can go another few hours without attacking me I might just let you look at it with me.”

  Danny sniggered. That was the first sound he’d made other than telling Lucian what he wanted to eat since we had walked in.

  “Oh yeah sorry,” I said, looking at him for a moment. “I meant everyone but him.”

  “Whatever,” he said, standing up. “I’ll catch you guys later.” He grabbed what was left of his sandwich and walked out.

  “Just ignore him,” Tyler told me and Lily.

  “We are,” Lily replied.

  “So how about it then?” Jake said, turning to me.

  “What?”

  “Moving in the Putnam house. It is rightfully yours and it obviously welcomes you.”

  “I don’t know, we hardly know each other and…”

  “What better way to get to know each other than for us all to be here. This is where you belong,” Lucian interrupted.

  “Come on, Keira,” Lily jumped in. “You always said you never really fit in back in West Chester. You used to always tell me you felt like you didn’t belong there. Well, maybe it’s because you belong here.”

  “Have you got any commitments?” Tyler asked me.

  “No, I don’t think so. I mean I have my house but it’s only rented. My granddad left his house to my mother so I don’t need to do anything with that.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Lily said.

  “Yeah, she wasn’t happy because that’s all she got; I got all the money and jewelry and stuff. But that’s been sorted out already. No wonder she hates me. I mean I got all that off my granddad and when my dad died he…”

  “What?”

  “Nothing, it doesn’t matter,” I said with a thoughtful look on my face.

  “Go on,” Tyler pushed.

  “No, there’s something I need to check before I say anything else.”

  “Fair enough. Well, going back to Jake’s original question then, what do you want to do today?”

  “I think we should show them around more, take them to where the trials were held and stuff,” Lucian said.

  “That sounds interesting,” Lily said to me. “You never know, you may get some of the answers you’re looking for.”

  “Yeah, I’m up for that.”

  So we finished our breakfasts and left the café.

  We decided to walk everywhere. It was a nice day, cloudy but warm. We headed deeper into the old part of town. It was mainly made up of old-style houses, some of which still had thatched roofs. Every few blocks there was a little shop selling tobacco and sweets. Old men and women looked out of their windows but quickly closed the curtains when they saw us.

  “What is it with people around here?” Lily asked.

  “Just superstitious. This place has a lot of history, don’t forget. Some of these families have lived here for generations and still live in the old days. They don’t seem to move forward with time,” Jake told her.

  “Don’t worry about them, they won’t talk to you,” Tyler said.

  “Good!” I said sharply. “Otherwise I may have to explain to them what the words rude and ignorant mean.”

  “They’re harmless really.”

  “Through here,” Lucian said, turning down a little alley.

  We followed behind him. The alley smelled really bad and I couldn’t wait to reach the end. There were old clothes and bits of furniture thrown all over the place. If it had been dark it would have been hazardous walking down there.

  “Oh yeah,” Tyler giggled, covering his nose, “I forgot to tell you – hold your noses.”

  “Bit late for that… What is that smell?” I asked.

  “Rubbish, damp materials… Oh, and remember how Jake said the people live in the past?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, they really do, they still throw pee and everything out in the street.”

  “Err yuk,” Lily said, paying extra attention to where she was walking.

  “Isn’t there another way?” I asked.

  �
�Yeah but it takes five times longer to get where were going,” Lucian replied.

  “Well, as long as we’re not walking back this way.”

  He laughed to himself and kept moving forward. The further we walked the stronger the smell became; it was sickening. I don’t know how people could live there and not be ill. I looked up at the backs of all the houses; they were in desperate need of repair. Pipes were hanging off the walls, parts of the walls themselves were cracking and the windows looked as though they were made of stuff we used to make plastic wallets. Luckily five minutes later we were out of the alley and walking across a small cobbled street towards an old rundown house.

  “This is where the trials were held,” Tyler said, pointing to it. “It’s the old meeting house; they used to hold prayer services here on a Sundays sometimes, instead of the church.”

  “It was also used for the village meetings and anyone who was accused of practicing witchcraft was brought here. They would be examined in front of the judges and questioned. Then they would have their fate decided,” Jake added.

  “What were they looking for when they examined them?” Lily asked.

  “Any marks on their body that they could have said were made by magic or summoning,” Lucian told us. “They were also checked for possession. Say someone had developed an illness or passed away, a grieving relative may have believed the illness or death was caused by witchcraft. Standard practice was that they would go to the magistrate’s office and make a complaint against the supposed witch. If the complaint was seen as credible, the magistrate would order that the accused be arrested. Then they would publicly examine them, interrogate them and press for a confession. If the magistrates were convinced that the complaint was well founded, the person or persons accused would be handed over to the superior court for sentencing.”

  “What did they do?” I asked.