Read 02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn for Free Online Page B

she was there the more likely her views were going to spill into Caleb’s unappreciative lap.
    ‘So you get ready to go down to the bar with Jake and I’ll keep Leila company.’
    She broke from the intense pull of his gaze to look back at Jake.
    ‘Come on, sweetheart,’ Jake said. ‘Another hour or so won’t hurt. I thought you wanted her to spend a bit of time in Blackthorn?’
    ‘I do, but...’
    ‘What are you really worried about, Alisha?’ Caleb asked, snatching her attention too easily back to him.
    She struggled for the right way to say it. ‘She has some strong views. I don’t want any friction.’
    ‘I saw the rings. What is her problem with us?’
    The right thing to do was to end the conversation there or at least try to divert away from it, but Caleb’s unrelenting gaze remained fixed on hers. ‘It’s not all her fault. Our grandfather filled her head with some bad crap. Not that I didn’t love him,’ she hurriedly added as guilt gripped her chest. ‘I mean he brought us up, looking after Mum after Dad left her just before I was born, and then looking after us when Mum died. I know it wasn’t easy for him. But with them it was always about the books and the prophecies because of Leila’s talent.’
    ‘What prophecies?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ she said with a shrug. She really didn’t – not the full extent. She’d never wanted to take any notice. It had always sounded so dull when they were growing up. ‘Vampires taking over the world and all that kind of stuff. I never believed any of it.’
    ‘But Leila believes it?’
    ‘He taught it to her from like the age of five or something, when she started interpreting. I guess it’s ingrained. It made her a bit paranoid, you know?’
    ‘You talk about your grandfather in the past tense.’
    ‘He died eighteen months ago. That’s how she got all his books and stuff. He left everything to her.’
    He narrowed his eyes pensively. ‘And what happened to your mother?’
    She lowered her gaze to the floor. She still felt uncomfortable saying it – a reminder of the treachery of what she was doing.
    ‘She was killed by a vampire,’ Jake cut in. ‘Attacked in an alley.’
    She looked back up at Caleb. ‘It was in Midtown,’ she explained. ‘So we know it must have been someone of importance though we never found out who. Sophie stumbled on it a few years ago. She found it in some newspaper article. Grandfather never told us the whole truth. I guess we were too young. I was no more than two at the time. Sophie was only six. I guess there was never a right time to bring it up. I guess Leila has never got over it. But you can’t all be judged the same, can you? Or where would the whole human race be?’
    ‘No wonder this is the last place she wants to be,’ Caleb remarked.
    ‘She’s not been the same since losing our grandfather. Since losing Sophie. Now she’s stuck in that library even more than she ever was. She can’t help the way she is. I know she’s a bit narrow-minded but she’s a good person. And she’s not as tough as she makes out. I just want you to understand why she’s the way she is in case she says anything stupid. I don’t want you to take things personally. I was hoping that being here would help soften her views but I guess there’s not much chance of that now and the longer she stays here, the worse it’ll probably get.’
    Caleb looked across at Jake, something unspoken and unreadable passing between them. She’d seen them do it countless times – some kind of shared understanding. Usually she found it a sexy characteristic of their tight bond; now it just made her uneasy. But she didn’t dare question Caleb as he stepped past her, leaving her alone in the room with Jake.
    She looked back at him, her pulse racing. ‘I’m not comfortable with this, Jake.’
    Jake eased off the bed. ‘Don’t look so panicked. He’s just going to talk to her.’
    ‘Exactly. She’s going to end up saying the wrong