Reborn

Chapter Thirty Six

In his human years, Lukas had been a master of manipulation. In his vampire life, he was still the master of manipulation ─ only much much worse and on a much larger scale.

That didn't bode well for any of us.

Benjamin had explained everything, leaving nothing out this time, though I suppose he knew there was no way he couldn't tell me. Not when Lukas was using his ability on me, and I still didn't understand why.

By the time Benjamin had finished with his explanation, I was not only absolutely terrified of what that meant for me, but I was also feeling incredibly guilty for every negative thing I'd ever said to him. While I knew part of Benjamin's erratic behaviour was because he had lost his mate, I now knew that Lukas had been heavily influencing that, making him worse than he would have been.

I probably should have realised that there was something wrong with the way his emotions changed so drastically in a split second, but as I'd never encountered a hybrid who had lost his mate, I suppose I couldn't really blame myself for not knowing. All I'd heard about wolves that had lost their mates was that they became even more dangerous and unpredictable, that they could become angry at the drop of a hat and anyone standing in the vicinity was in danger of being killed. I felt guilty for not trying to help Benjamin, instead attempting to get him to see that killing me wasn't the right way to go about things. He was struggling even more now that his emotions were being made worse by Lukas. 

"Why the hell do you stay here then?" I asked Benjamin, eyeing him in disbelief.

He shrugged, looking so dejected I had to refrain for reaching over to comfort him. "The others aren't loyal to Lukas, they're loyal to me. I refuse to leave them behind only for him to manipulate them too. I suspect the only reason he hasn't already is because he has me."

"So what exactly are you going to do? Let him keep playing his twisted game until you really do end up going crazy?"

Benjamin winced. "I'm not saying it's the smarted decision, but at least I can keep an eye on him. He doesn't even know I've caught on."

"Benjamin, this is stupid." I stood up from by the window and started pacing. "It won't be long until Shadow finds out where I am and when he does, he'll come and get me. Nothing will get in his way of getting to me, and he thinks you're to blame."

"I am to blame." He said. "I may have been under Lukas' influence but there was a large part of me that wanted to claim you as mine so my wolf would be satisfied. Lukas only made that feeling stronger."

"What does he want from this?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

I kept on pacing, mulling it all over in my mind. What could Lukas be doing this for? What motivated him to hide behind Benjamin, using him as a pawn? Lukas had been pulling the strings that Benjamin had danced to and I just couldn't understand why. It wasn't making sense. Lukas couldn't possibly stand to gain anything from this, could he? 

Why hide behind Benjamin at all? Why not just come out and tell everybody what he wants? It couldn't just be the grimoire, though it was probably part of it. Did he know that the one I'd handed to Benjamin was a fake? Benjamin hadn't mentioned trying to use any of the spells since I'd been here, and neither had anybody else here. So what was the point in asking for it if they weren't going to use it? But if they knew it was fake, maybe they were hoping to use me to lead them to the real one...

If Lukas knew though, I was sure I would have been confronted by someone by now, or used Benjamin as a pawn to find out what happened to the real one.

"It can't just be the grimoire, can it?" I asked aloud. "Don't tell me Shadow has killed someone he cares about too..."

Benjamin's lips curled up slightly. "I wouldn't know, though it wouldn't be surprising. He has killed a lot of people."