“I see. Well, there are many reasons a power-crazed vampire would want a witch. But there’s only one reason a vampire would want a purebred heart.”
“Why?” Mary Jane asked in a whisper, as though she were afraid to hear the answer.
“I can’t go further until I have some security.” Lady Alice’s gaze flicked to us, then landed on Jemima. “Do you know how to do a loyalty spell?” she asked. It was the first time she’d acknowledged Jemima in a while, and Jemima seemed taken aback.
“A simple one, yes,” she said meekly.
“Good. Can you perform it between the two vampires and me?”
“All right.” Jemima exhaled, and I could tell she was nervous at her skills being put to the test. “I need a lock of hair from each of you.”
I reached to the top of my head and plucked a few brunette strands for her. Lady Alice and Damon did the same and gave their strands to Jemima as well. She squinted at them and braided them together, her brow furrowed. The braid thickened and grew until it became a multicolored rope.
“Put out your hands. Palms up, please,” she said. Then she then took the rope and tied it loosely on each of our wrists. “Fidelitas ad finum!” She clapped her hands. The rope disappeared, but left a shiny red welt against my skin. Damon and Lady Alice had similar ones. It throbbed in time with my heart.
“We’re bound. Thank you,” Lady Alice said, as though Jemima had performed a task as simple as pouring a cup of coffee. “That spell means that even if you wanted to betray me, you couldn’t. The words wouldn’t be able to escape from your lips. And now, I can tell you all I know.”
“Please do,” I said.
“Legend is, if a vampire eats the heart of a purebred witch, he can compel other vampires,” Lady Alice said sadly. She reached to drape her arm over Mary Jane’s shoulders, but Mary Jane jerked away, holding both hands to her chest as she lurched from the bench and began to run.
“I don’t believe any of this!” she yelled from halfway across the garden. “You’re trying to scare me!”
“Mary Jane, it’s all right!” Cora ran toward her and pulled her into an embrace.
“But it’s not all right!” Mary Jane said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Cora’s shoulder. “If he can do that with my heart, that means he’ll never, ever leave me alone. And even if we do kill Samuel, then what if another vampire wants to kill me? I’ll never be safe!”
“Shh, there, there,” Lady Alice said. “You will be safe. Stay with me. We’re safe here. If you’re here, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
We needed Lady Alice, and although I knew she’d do whatever it took to help Mary Jane, I wasn’t sure her loyalty extended to us. If Mary Jane decided to stay in Lady Alice’s mansion, how would we convince them to work with us to trap Samuel?
I rested a hand on Mary Jane’s back to comfort her, only to have Lady Alice shoot me a look. I snatched my hand away.
“We’re keeping Mary Jane safe,” I explained awkwardly.
“They’ve been protecting me, too,” Cora piped up. I shot her a grateful look.
“Where?” Lady Alice asked crisply.
“Near the Bank of London,” I said evasively, not wanting to give away the fact that our current address was a tunnel far below ground.
“Near the bank? But where exactly, pray tell?” Lady Alice asked quizzically, knitting her eyebrows together. I wasn’t being compelled. I was entirely in charge of my own faculties, and yet the knowledge that I couldn’t lie set me on edge.
“The Underground tunnel,” I admitted.
Lady Alice shook her head. “Two grown-up vampires might belong underground. And as for the human girl, well, whoever she decides to spend her time with is her own foolish choice. I don’t interfere with humans unless absolutely necessary. But Mary Jane, I insist you stay here. Your friend can, too,” she said, nodding at Jemima.
Mary Jane pulled back. “No. I know you mean well, but it would be too hard to stay here now. I wanted more than anything to live with you when I was little. Now, I’m used to being on my own. I need to stay with Stefan and Damon. I trust them. And they need me,” she said in a small, proud voice.
Lady Alice pursed her lips as if to protest, but then nodded once. “Very well. But I’m involved now and I’m not going to let you disappear from my life again. We’ll take the matter to my coven. You know what a coven is, don’t you, Mary Jane?” she asked as if she were a schoolteacher.
“I…I think so,” Mary Jane said uncertainly.
Lady Alice clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You have so much to learn. I hate that this is how we’ve come together again, but trust me, your life will change for the better. And there’s no need for you to stay in that tunnel. You can stay with me and still help your vampire friends. But from a distance. The way it should be.”
“They’re not my ‘vampire friends,’” Mary Jane said in a low voice. “They’re Stefan and Damon. They’re good men.”
“They’re not men at all,” Lady Alice said. “These vampires might be better than most, but I want you to know that, beyond this challenge, we can’t really trust them. They’re monsters.”