To Vanquish Darkness (Le Sombre #1)

Chapter 19

19

1824 BLOIS, FRANCE

R achel curled her legs closer to her chest, watching the dancing flames. Florent sat straight in the chair next to her. His eyes were on her, but she wasn’t ready to meet them. She was sitting in Place Deaumont. With a vampire.

“This isn’t possible,” she whispered against her knees. The words were empty husks. She felt numb. Like she was hovering just outside of herself.

“Have you never heard the stories?” Florent’s voice was gentle, and it only tightened the knot in her chest.

“Of course I’ve heard them.” Her parents had used myths from the Grimoire to keep them from sneaking out after dark. To remind them to light their incense and recite their prayers. She’d been steeped in tradition since she could walk and talk, and while she knew the stories were true, she never thought she’d encounter them. She’d been careful.

She’d done everything her parents had told her to, had never questioned. She may not have kept Oren’s rules perfectly, but close enough. And now there she was. Raising two girls alone without two francs to rub together.

She finally turned her head. Florent sat on the floor with his back against the wall, one leg stretched long and the other pulled in, his arm slung across his knee. “I know it’s a lot. It’s why I waited to tell you.”

“Why did you tell me?” Rachel’s heart began to pound. She couldn’t explain how Florent had swept her from her window and brought her here in mere minutes. She couldn’t explain how he appeared in shadow without making a sound or how he always knew where to find her. But this . . .

“Because I love you.”

Rachel’s heart beat faster, warmth spreading under her skin like she’d lowered herself into a bath. “You don’t love me. You barely know me.”

“I know enough.”

Rachel shook her head. This was impossible. “Vampires can’t love. If you are what you say you are, then?—”

“I’m a monster?”

Fear gripped her heart. What was she doing? She was sitting here, far from her two girls asleep in their beds, conversing with a man who had admitted to being a creature of the dark. Who fed on human blood. Who killed each time he satisfied his thirst. Was that why he’d brought her here? Did he always seduce his victims? Toy with them before taking their life?

“I told you the truth.”

Rachel nodded, unable to think of a response. Could it be possible? Florent spoke of vampires living in peace with humans. Of a time when they didn’t kill to survive. But how could that have turned into the world they lived in?

Rachel pushed herself up from the floor and stumbled back until her palms pressed against the wall. She could make it to the window, but Florent was between her and the door.

“I won’t stop you. If you wish to go.” Florent stood and moved closer to the hearth.

Rachel watched him warily. “Florent?—”

“I won’t harm you. I can’t, actually.”

Rachel frowned. “What do you mean, you can’t?”

Florent took a step closer. “It wasn’t our fault, Rachel. So many of us were fooled, victims of vampires who believed they were above the agreements with those of guardian blood.”

“Were you a victim?” Rachel asked.

Florent’s expression hardened. “Yes. A vampire, Helena, who I thought was a friend, gave me up for a chance at power.”

“What do you mean, ‘gave you up’?” Rachel groaned and leaned against the wall. “I’m trying to understand, Florent, but you speak of this world as if it’s part of my own. My family is supposedly of this guardian blood, and yet I know nothing of these stories. I only know that vampires are our enemies. That they abused their power and we had to flee.”

“Shh, Rachel.” Florent closed the final space between them and placed his hands on her waist. “Your ancestors were victims, yes. But we were not your enemy.”