by K. M. Scott
The eldest Son of Navarus shook his head and frowned. “I can’t do that, Vasilije.”
“Vasilije!” she cried, her voice trembling from fear.
“Why? She’s done nothing to you. Let her go and we can talk out whatever you’re dealing with.”
“I stayed at the Order for centuries. I watched over everything that was so dear to us. You know that, don’t you?” he said, still shaking his head.
Sasa began to cry harder, so Vasilije instinctively stepped forward to help her. Nico pressed the knife to her throat, so hard the point drew blood that began to drip down her neck.
“Not any closer or she gets what the other two got,” he said in a low voice Vasilije didn’t even know now.
“Okay. Nico, it’s okay. We all know what you’ve been through for the Sons. You spent your entire life at the Order. I get it.”
His response to Vasilije’s attempt to placate him told the Romanian his friend was long gone, replaced by someone he barely recognized after all their years of knowing one another.
“The Archons don’t want to ruin our world. We had it all wrong. We were fed a pack of lies. Because of it, we let ourselves get deluded. We shouldn’t be fighting this war. They want to make the vampire world better. The Sons can’t do that. They don’t know how to run it like the Archons do.”
Vasilije didn’t give a fuck about any of that. The politics of the war with the Archons had ceased to mean a damn thing the second he saw Sasa standing there with a knife to her throat. All he cared about was getting her away from Nico and keeping her safe for the rest of time.
“I agree. This war needs to end. Just let Sasa go. It’s going to be okay, Nico.”
“No, it won’t! You don’t get it because your judgment is clouded!” he barked so loudly it startled Vasilije.
Sasa sobbed loudly and reached her hands out for him, but he didn’t dare make a move while Nico had that knife to her throat. If only Terek would get there, the two of them would be able to overtake him.
“It’s okay, love. It’s just Nico. We’re all friends here. It will be okay,” he said as he looked into her dark eyes and saw nothing but pure fear.
“Love,” Nico sneered, shaking his head in disgust. “Everything began to go wrong when females got in the way. Kali fucked everything up. All she had to do was obey her sire, but she couldn’t even do that. Same with this one here. Do you know the Archons were content to ignore us until you met her? From that fucking moment, we were on their radar, and my life became a living hell.”
He pushed the knife deeper into her skin, and Sasa screamed in pain. It tore through Vasilije like the knife was cutting him. He had to do something before Nico killed her like he had with Ilona and Navar.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nico. Sasa didn’t do anything. Let her go. If you want to kill someone, then make it me. I’ve done so fucking much in my life I deserve it. She doesn’t. Let her go,” Vasilije pleaded, hoping to reach some part of his friend that would never do this to a female.
Nico began rambling about all he’d endured from the Sons and Archons, so Vasilije took that chance to lunge at him. He pushed Sasa out of the way, and she fell to the floor. Whatever happened now, at least she’d be safe.
“Run, Sasa! Get out of here!” he ordered as Nico regained his focus and swung the knife at him.
His eyes flashed a madness that Vasilije had never seen in him, and he flailed his arms like he’d lost his mind, repeatedly trying to cut anything he could. To give himself the chance to subdue him, Vasilije hit him hard, sending him staggering back. He needed to get him on the floor to get that knife away from him, so he took another swing, but Nico jerked in the other direction.
Behind Vasilije, he heard a noise. He turned his head to look for Terek so they could end this, but instead he saw Sasa standing there with a stake. She screamed his name, and he spun around just in time to avoid Nico cutting him. His knife sliced through the air, and then he heard a sound that made his heart stop.
In her attempt to help him and stake Nico, Sasa got in the way. The knife slit her throat.
Vasilije watched in horror as she collapsed to the floor. He rushed to her and dropped to his knees beside her as blood poured from her body. She clutched at her neck, but it was no use. She couldn’t stop the blood.
He had to save her. Sinking his teeth into his wrist, he opened a vein and pressed his arm to her mouth. “Drink! Take my blood, Sasa!”
She tried, but Nico’s knife had done too much damage. Each time she attempted to drink her sire’s blood, she choked and gagged, sending more of her own blood pouring out of her neck.
With each second that passed, he saw her life fade away until he knew there was no more time for them. He cradled her face and stared into her dark eyes, now pleading as she struggled to speak one last time.
“You have to let me go.”
“No! This isn’t the end. I can save you.”
She reached up and touched her bloody hand to his cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you. I promise,” she said softly.
And then she wasn’t there anymore.
Vasilije’s eyes filled with tears at the loss of the one soul he loved in the world. Barely able to see, he felt around for the stake and said his final words to Sasa before he let her go.
“I love you. I have always loved you.”
He cocked his arm back, and with one swift plunge of the stake into her heart, he gave her the ending she deserved. She turned to dust before his eyes as he slumped onto the floor where a second before she lay mortally wounded.
Behind him, Terek stopped as he entered the bedroom. “Vasilije, he doesn’t leave this room.”
Rage coursed through Vasilije, replacing the sadness that filled him with the need to avenge Sasa’s death. Jumping to his feet, he stalked Nico around a table and, along with Terek, cornered him.
“The two of you know better than any other vampires the power of a sire. I had no choice,” Nico said unapologetically, never once regretting what he’d done to his friends and their loved ones.
Terek grabbed hold of his shoulders and ripped the knife out of his hand as Vasilije tightly clutched the stake he’d just used to send Sasa on her way. This time, though, he wouldn’t perform the final act with respect or love.
This time he aimed to send Nico to the Underworld with a promise.
“You’ll never find peace. I won’t let you. I don’t care who you have on your side. I’ll make sure you suffer for what you did.”
He pulled back his arm and watched Nico stare at him like they were strangers before driving the wooden stake into his heart. The eldest Son disappeared into dust, and Vasilije spit on his remains before turning away in disgust and rage.
Terek stood with his head hung and pointed toward the bed where Leta lay peacefully. “She’s all I have left of the life I planned with Ilona,” he said sadly.
Overwhelmed by his sadness, Vasilije wished he had that. He’d lost the only soul he loved, and now he wanted nothing to do with anyone.
Fuck the Archons. Fuck the Sons. Fuck the world.
Without Sasa, he was done. He had no reason to stay and fight. The vampire world held nothing for him now.
“Goodbye, my friend,” he said quietly without looking back at Terek and then walked out of the castle, disappearing into the night.
Chapter Sixteen
Saint silently padded across the bedroom floor and out to the balcony where Solenne stood looking out over the city. Nighttime always made it look so beautiful, its white buildings set against a backdrop of the dark sky. He looked up as he slid his arms around her waist and saw no stars in the sky tonight.
“Nothing to wish on,” he murmured in her ear.
She turned to look at him and smiled. “Maybe we don’t need to make any wishes anymore.”
“We do have everything we’ve ever wanted.”
He kissed her neck and inhaled the sweet smell of her skin and the vanilla lotion she loved to sl
ather on after a bath. A tiny hint of guilt tugged at him for having so much while his fellow Sons were still fighting in the east.
“I wonder how things are going.”
Solenne slid her hand over the back of his head and kissed his cheek. “I know. I’ve been thinking about them for hours. I’m hoping that since Sion and Kali haven’t called that it means things are going well. They do have dragons fighting with them in this battle.”
“I would have taken dragons any night of the week,” Saint said quietly as he gazed out at the city, instantly regretting his words as the memory of Hadrian’s death flashed in his mind.
“We only had witches, Declan. They’re up against daemons controlled by the god of the Underworld. I’ll take witches any night of the week.”
“I’ll take none of this ever again and the two of us living peacefully on a farm somewhere. That’s what I’ll take any night of the week,” he whispered as he hugged her tightly to him.
The two of them fell silent, but that was nothing strange for them. Saint had never been much of a talker, and while Solenne had her moments, lately they’d enjoyed the silence for what it offered. After the battle in Italy, the two lay in each other’s arms in their bed saying nothing. There was no need to. He knew how relieved she was he didn’t get staked, and she knew he wanted to be nowhere else in the world that night.
They’d been through the worst that could happen for two souls in love. Separated by her sire out of jealousy, they spent a century apart. Then she sacrificed herself with Verrater to save Saint, something he planned to avenge on that Archon bastard as soon as he could. Kidnapping, separation, and worse, they’d dealt with it all. Now, they had one more hurdle to clear before they could live out their lives in peace.
As if she knew what he was thinking at that moment, she quietly said, “I’m worried, Declan. I can’t help but be anxious about what’s going to happen when we go to Corsica.”
“I know, but things will be okay.”
She trembled against his body, so he slid his fingers over the back of her neck where his mark showed everyone she was his to calm her. Pressing his lips to it, he smiled. “I’ve never been prouder than when you got this.”
“And I’ve never been prouder to get it,” she said, turning in his hold. “But I’m still worried, Declan.”
Those beautiful blue eyes that never failed to show her true feelings stared up at him with concern filling them. Gently, he pushed her red hair off her forehead and kissed her softly.
“We’ve been through too much not to be together at the end of this, Solenne. I believe that.”
“That’s terribly optimistic of you, isn’t it? You’re usually the glass half empty guy to my glass half full girl,” she said with a chuckle.
None of what she said was wrong. Seeing the bad side of life had been his usual style, but recently he’d begun to appreciate the benefits of looking at the bright side. Things rarely turned out how he hoped, but there was something nice about not always being miserable.
And not having the woman you loved calling you a curmudgeon all the time was pretty great too.
“I thought I’d try being a bit more optimistic. I figure it couldn’t hurt.”
“Well, then we’ve flipped because I’m more worried than I’ve ever been. We’re going to be going into Archon headquarters. What if you get staked? I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said with a hitch in her voice on the last words.
“You’ll kick all their asses and stake the hell out of the whole bunch, Solenne. That’s what you’ll do. But I’m not going to get staked. I’m a man on a mission when it comes to those fuckers.”
She lowered her head and sighed. “I think you might have more faith in my fighting ability than I do. What if I forget everything in the moment? What if I freeze when it counts the most?”
Saint cradled her face in his hands and gently forced her to look up at him. She needed to see how serious he was when it came to believing in her.
“You’ve trained for months. You’re a descendant of Idolas. Don’t worry. Being a warrior is in you.”
“But you didn’t think that when you first found out.”
“I’m an idiot sometimes. This is a well-established fact, honey. I doubt you’d be able to find five vampires I’ve run across in this lifetime who wouldn’t attest to that.”
Her beautiful mouth turned down into a frown, disappointing him that his joke hadn’t worked. “Don’t make light of this, Declan. We’re going to hunt that bastard. There’s nothing funny about it.”
“I know. And what I said was only to make you worry less. I was an idiot when I first found out about your background, though. I let my male ego get in the way. Again. Thankfully, you didn’t hold it against me.”
Now she rolled her eyes, which at least was an improvement from her being sad.
“I didn’t hold it against you, but now that it’s almost time for this all to happen, I’m wondering if just having a long lost relative is that meaningful. Maybe it’s not a big deal that my bloodline is descended from Idolas.”
“A being who’s descended from two gods himself and who wrote the prophecy that foretold everything that’s happened? That sounds like a big deal to me.”
“Okay. I’m being stupid. I get it.”
After taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly and added, “The most important thing is I’m there when that son of a bitch is turned to dust. I want to look into his eyes as the stake is driven into his chest.”
And with just that mention of Marc Verrater, Saint felt all the negative thoughts he had to fight each night creep into his mind. He couldn’t even hear her call him a son of a bitch without being overwhelmed by hate.
“Hey, don’t do this, Declan. I feel you drifting away and growing distant just because I said that. You and I can’t run away from what happened.”
His hands fell away from her, and he turned to walk into the bedroom. “I know. It’s not like I ever forget, so I get it.”
Before he could take another step, she caught the bottom of his shirt and tugged him back toward her. He didn’t want to do this now. It didn’t have to happen. He knew what that fucker did to her. Why did they always have to use the word to refer to it?
The word he hated.
“Do you even realize you’re running away from this?” she asked with hurt covering every word.
Saint shook his head as he avoided looking at her. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of her. Never. He wasn’t ashamed of what he felt every time he thought about that fuck who hurt her. He just didn’t want to rehash it again. They’d done it so many times, and never once did it help him come to grips with the reality of what she went through.
“Honey, I need you to look at me. It’s important,” Solenne said in a soft voice.
He focused on her eyes and waited for her to say what she needed to. If only it didn’t have to be that fucking word.
“I know you struggle with what happened. For a long time, I felt like that meant you didn’t love me anymore or you didn’t want to be near me because I was dirty.”
Before she could go on, he stopped her. “I never thought that. Never for a single moment, Solenne. I’m sorry if you thought that. I never meant to make you feel like I didn’t love you. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. I honestly can’t think of a time when I didn’t love you.”
Reaching up, she touched her finger to his lips in that cute way she did when she wanted him to stop talking. “I know. I just need you to understand that for me, the word rape isn’t something I’m ashamed of. What he did is the reason I need to be there when his evil ass is sent off to the Underworld, though.”
And there was that word again to torture him. Rape. Silently, Saint swore that he would make that bastard’s last moments in this world more painful than anyone had ever endured to pay him back for what he did to her.
Quietly, he said what he knew he should have so long ago. “I know, and I swear I’m trying, Solenne. It�
�s just that every time I even think that word, I want to kill someone.”
“That’s why I need to be there, Declan. You want to avenge me because you love me, and I love you for that. But I’m the one he raped, so it’s important I get to show him I survived and I’m the one making sure karma comes for him.”
Desperate to change the subject, he hugged her to him and whispered, “What’s the first thing you want to do once this whole war is over?”
“I want to go back home to France. I want us to find a house and live a quiet life, just the two of us,” she said against his chest. “I want to plant a garden and cook dinner each night after sundown. I want to walk along country roads in the moonlight, just the two of us holding hands and talking about whatever. The weather even. It won’t matter. I know that might sound boring, but after all of this, boring sounds perfect.”
Boring did sound perfect, and as he closed his eyes and pictured that idyllic life she described for their future, Saint held her close and smiled. If that’s what she wanted when their job in this war was finished, then that’s what she’d get.
“I think we should get a dog.”
Solenne lifted her head off her chest and looked up at him in shock. “A dog? You’ve never wanted to have a pet. First, you’re a brand new optimist and now this? I’m wondering if I even know you anymore.”
He loved when she teased him like that. When they pushed away the rest of the world and got to be playful with one another, those were the best moments between them.
“A big dog, in fact. One who will lay at the foot of our bed during the day taking up too much space. That will mean we’ll need a big yard with this house we’re getting.”
A skeptical look crossed over her face. “Your big dog better not get into my garden and ruin it.”
“Don’t worry. He won’t. I’ll train him so he stays away from it.”
She rolled her eyes again, so he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss onto her lips. “I can’t wait to live that life with you.”
“Me too.”