The Lost: Book Two of The Whitechapel Chronicles

Chapter 10

"She would be dead now. You saved her," Lucius asserted. "So yes, vampire or not, she is Michael. She is the way."

Garrick eyeballed me, rubbing his hand across his mouth. "How long have you known?"

"Two nights ago. Lucius showed me two nights ago."

"And yet you chose to say nothing?"

I said nothing in return, but just bit anxiously on the skin around my thumbnail, which was already red and raw from constant nervous gnawing.

"I don't believe this. This is a lie." It was like a cold, sharp slap to the face.

"Said by the master liar himself," I sneered but didn't feel particularly triumphant. "Have you grown so used to lying that you can no longer accept that anyone else is capable of the truth?"

He slammed his fist on the floor. "How am I meant to accept this? Tell me that, Megan! How am I meant to believe that you, little Megan Walden, wife of that twisted son of a bitch Varúlfur, could ever be a descendant of an archangel of all things?"

The words tore out of his mouth and bound me, coiling tighter and tighter around my body until I couldn't breathe. It seemed even more terrifying to hear it spoken out loud. But it seemed I was not the only one terrified, because both Harper and Garrick looked chilled to the core.

Lucius broke the silence. "She is not a descendant. She is Michael," he insisted.

"Lucius, I swear to God if you say that one more time, I will toss you to the Varúlfur myself," Garrick replied with a cold hiss.

"And I will kill you before you lay one hand on him," I spat, uncurling my legs and tensing my hands against the floor, ready to defend the little boy who sat unperturbed by my side.

Garrick stared intently at me for a moment, before falling back onto his elbows, a cold, maddening laugh spurting from his mouth that did nothing to ease the tension. Instead, I inched closer to Lucius.

"You're both crazy, you know that? You're both fucking crazy and you're sending me fucking crazy too. It's a good job we're in an asylum because right now I think we all need some serious help here."

"Do you think that I want to believe any of this?" I shot back. "You think I don't know how insane it all sounds? I feel insane just thinking about it. But I have no choice. I know that it's true."

"Because a child tells you it's true?" he snorted derisively.

"Has he ever lied to you before?"

Garrick's face darkened and he looked away quickly. Too quickly.

"You know what he can do Garrick. You wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to obtain Lucius if you didn't believe what he shows you. He doesn't lie."

He raked his fingers through his hair, holding it back from his face as he stared at the boy. "But this..... you..... It's madness." But I could tell he was beat. The seed was slowing starting to take root inside his head, spreading out its feelers and taking hold.

Slowly, I crept towards him, feeling my muscles scream their protest as I tried to move even though the abject tension still raged through my limbs. As soon as he realised I was moving towards him, Garrick sat up, his face looking more and more tortured the closer I got. I stopped just in front of him; fingertips brushing his leg and making him flinch.

"Garrick," I whispered my plea. "You know it's true. You saw everything. Please, I need you both to believe this, because if you don't help me, how the hell am I meant to hold it together?"