by V. Vaughn
“It was you!” My feelings for Alexander flood me like a tidal wave, and they’re quickly followed by repulsion over the idea of what would have happened if Robert had taken me up on my offer. Rage boils in me, but it comes to a screeching halt when the scent of a warm human wafts toward me. Panic replaces it, because while Robert could muffle my feelings for Alexander, my concern for Lyndsey has always been strong.
Robert grins and steps away from me. I notice Liam’s smiling too, and Lyndsey begins to tremble with her bloodlust. I scream, “Robert! How could you?”
Lyndsey closes her eyes as if she can shut out the intoxicating odor of the warm human blood, which has to be close. It’s coming from the other side of the room, and I race over to the door to stand in front of it. I watch as Lyndsey’s control snaps like a twig, and she lunges toward me. I prepare to hold my ground no matter how much she hurts me, but Lyndsey doesn’t get far. Liam grabs the back of her dress and pulls her back to trap her in an embrace.
She growls like a wild animal as Robert says, “Very ugly indeed.”
I know how mortified Lyndsey will be if Robert and Liam witness her as a shredder, and I kick myself for not knowing how to fight. “Robert,” I say, “please don’t.”
The second the door opens behind me, Lyndsey growls with frustration as she kicks and squirms in an effort to get away from Liam. I turn to the young girl who walks into the room, and I shove her back outside toward safety. Once I slam the door again, I turn the lock and realize Lyndsey is silent. The girl bangs on the door and cries out, “I need to come in!”
The doorknob rattles with the girl’s efforts to get in, and I notice Robert is holding Lyndsey’s face. He speaks in a low voice with the same instructions he gave me on how to feed gently. She does as he says, and I have to blink to make sure what I’m watching is real. It’s working. The princess is perfectly calm, and my fear for the girl in the hallway disappears.
Robert stops talking to Lyndsey and says to me, “Maggie, get Elise, please.”
I open the door to the trembling girl, who has tears streaming down her face. I realize she’s here because she can’t help it, but she’s also afraid. I say to her, “It’s going to be okay. You’re not going to die.”
She tilts her head in confusion from Robert’s mind control. Which is good, because she’s not going to remember a thing. I take Elise by the hand and bring her to Robert. He pulls her head back for Lyndsey, and I stare in amazement at the way the princess begins to feed in a calm, controlled manner. Even Liam seems surprised by the transformation of blood-crazed-shredder Lyndsey to the serene version.
For a while, the only sound in the room is the gentle suckling of Lyndsey feeding on Elise. Then Robert asks, “Feel that?” Elise is now unconscious in Lyndsey’s arms. “That’s your signal to stop.” Lyndsey lifts the girl from the floor and sets her down on the bed gently before she licks her lips in satisfaction. “Excellent job,” says Robert.
Lyndsey says, “That was amazing.” She looks down at her hands as if she’s making sure this isn’t a dream then she gazes at me. “This is what it should feel like.”
I nod.
“Am I trained now?” she asks Robert.
“Yes.” He smiles at her with pride.
Lyndsey’s eyes narrow at him. “What’s this going to cost me?”
Robert turns to me. “I get such a bad rap for being motivated by power. It’s so unfair.” He laughs and then returns his attention to Lyndsey. “I’m really not a bad guy once you get to know me. First, promise me that what just happened will stay between the four of us, or I’ll happily return you to your shredder state.”
Lyndsey says, “Done.”
“You and Liam are going to—” Robert stops talking as if he’s surprised by something, and in the blink of an eye, he grabs Liam, and they disappear out the door to the secret passageway. It slams the moment the other door bursts open with Des and Tadhg pushing their way in.
I let out a squeak of surprise, and the men glance around to find we’re alone. Tadhg drops to his knees to check on the girl.
Des asks, “What happened?”
Lyndsey glances at me with a look that makes me think she’s about to tell one whopper of a lie. And she has to, so I hope she’s good at it. She says, “I’m so sorry. You’re clearly worried. Maggie and I just wanted to get away for a bit because I needed a break from smiling so much.”
Des practically growls at her. “So you came up to a room in the Kearns mansion with someone who has never thrown a punch? What is wrong with you?”
“I know,” says Lyndsey. “I’m sorry. Neither of us was thinking. We’re stupid. Really stupid.”
Tadhg pulls out his phone while she talks, and whoever he calls answers on the first ring. He says, “She’s safe and unharmed. We found them alone.” He looks at Lyndsey and me with a stare that makes me tremble with fear. “Who fed on the girl?”
“Me,” says Lyndsey before I can take the fall for her. She takes a deep breath and blows it out. “Total craziness I can’t even explain. I think Maggie must have some kind of powers after all.”
I see where she’s going with this and jump in. “I’m not sure how I did it, but as soon as the princess smelled this girl, who just wandered in here, I freaked out. Lyndsey was in full-on shredder mode, but I managed to grab her shoulders and willed her to be calm. And—”
“It worked,” says Lyndsey. “It was like a wave of calmness washed over me, and I was able to feed on the girl slowly.” She looks at Elise and shakes her head. “I barely left a mark.” Lyndsey then widens her eyes as she says, “I even knew to stop when she went unconscious. It was like—” She gazes at me, and I flash to what it was like when Robert was whispering directions to me. “It was like Maggie was in my head.”
Both Des and Tadhg are looking at us as if we came from another planet.
I say, “I don’t get it either. I tried so hard back at the castle to make this happen, and I guess I needed to be in complete panic mode to make it work.” I shrug. “Anyway, all I know is that I don’t think Lyndsey is a shredder anymore.”
Neither man looks convinced, but I think we’re at the point where Lyndsey and I need to stop talking before we dig our hole too deep, so I say, “We should probably get back downstairs before the king and Victoria get too worried.”
Des walks toward the hall and stops in the doorway to turn back to us. “You two will not leave our sight for any reason. If you need the bathroom, I’m coming. Got it?”
I nod, and Lyndsey sighs dramatically before she says, “Fine.”
“Fine?” Des’s eyes blaze, and his fists ball up as he steps into Lyndsey’s space. “Let me make something perfectly clear, Princess. I would give my life to keep you alive. I—” He snaps his mouth shut as if he knows he shouldn’t be yelling at his superior, and when he speaks again, his voice is even and cold. “Perhaps you are the stupid girl everyone said you’d be.” He turns on his heel and moves quickly down the stairs as Lyndsey and I scramble in our heels to follow without a word. We exchange a fearful glance, but both of us know better than to discuss what happened here.
Once we get back to the party, I think I need to find a reason for us to leave as soon as possible. Victoria hugs Lyndsey tight when she sees her and then me. I say, “I’m sorry we gave you a scare.”
She holds my arms, and her face is serious when she says, “We’ll talk more later, but it’s very important you remember you are not Lyndsey’s friend first. It’s your job to always be the voice of reason. Do you understand?”
I nod and whisper, “Robert has humans here.”
“Very well, then.” She leaves me to go grab the king’s arm and whispers in his ear. His expression turns serious too, and the next thing I know, Tadhg and Des are whisking Lyndsey and me away.
I assume the king and Victoria are saying our goodbyes as we head toward the front door. As we pass through the foyer, I notice something on the floor catches the light, and when I look in the d
irection of the flash, I see a piece of broken ornament. It’s big enough that I wonder how the maid could have missed it. But then I think about how easily I tricked Lyndsey into meeting with Robert and realize how easy it is to hide in plain sight. And I wonder what Robert might have put in Lyndsey that I can’t see.
Chapter 12
Lyndsey
My father paces across the floor of the yacht while I sit on the couch with Maggie as we wait for him to calm down enough to speak. Apparently, when Victoria noticed Maggie and I hadn’t come back from the restroom in a timely manner, she checked her phone to locate me. The bracelet she gave me earlier contained a tracker chip in the charm, and when she discovered we were not in the bathroom, she assumed I was in danger, so she sent Tadhg and Des to find me.
My father finally comes to a stop before us. “You were lucky, Lyndsey,” says Dad. “And you, Maggie.” He glances up at the ceiling for a moment, and I’d crack a joke about God not existing for vampires if he weren’t so angry. He lets out a huff before he starts to pace again.
He stops before Tadhg and says, “Maggie gets double sessions starting tomorrow. I want her competent by the end of the week.”
I have to give Tadhg credit for not even flinching. There’s no way Maggie can learn to fight in a week, but Tadhg must know my father is not open to rational thought right now. He merely nods in confirmation before my father walks over to the bar and splashes liquid on the countertop as he pours himself a hefty drink. Maggie reaches over and squeezes my fingers, and I offer her a small smile. I bet this is what it would feel like if we were sisters and being punished as partners in crime. I squeeze back.
It’s all I can do not to tell my father what really happened. Not only did I make a promise I intend to keep in order to remain cured of my shredder ways, I also don’t think the truth would make my father any happier. He’d likely blame Maggie for allowing Robert to control her mind in the first place, and who knows what he might want to do to my friend? No. I need to find a way to suck it up and deal with whatever my dad plans to dish out.
My father comes over and lowers himself to a chair across from Maggie and me. “Ladies, I’m sure both of you now realize how foolish your actions were.”
“We do,” says Maggie. “And I take full responsibility for what happened.”
“No,” I say. I glance at her and say, “We both decided to explore together, and as stupid as we were, I’m glad we did.”
“What?” bellows my dad.
I smile at him, hoping my news will help him get over what happened. “I’m no longer a shredder.” I notice Des and Tadhg exchange a look, but I ignore them as I go on to give my father the same story I gave them. When I’m done, I say, “So yeah, we shouldn’t have snuck off, but you’d have been so proud of Maggie and the way she reacted under pressure.” I smile as I recall the way she stood up to Robert without any fear. While I’m not telling the truth right now, I’m confident when I say, “Maggie had my back, Dad. And now nobody has to know I used to be a shredder.”
I take in the surprised look on both my father’s and Victoria’s faces, but it doesn’t last long for my dad. He begins to pepper Maggie with questions about how she did it, and between the two of us, we explain Robert’s process while letting everyone believe Maggie was the one who executed it.
When we get to the castle, my father is back to his cheerful self and doesn’t seem fazed when Maggie and I decide to retire to our rooms early. We change out of our gowns and meet in my suite.
Maggie hugs a pillow as she sits across from me. Now that we can finally speak freely, she says, “Holy crap, you’re a good liar.”
“I guess. It’s not like I’ve had a lot of practice, though. I suppose the fact that I didn’t have a choice helped.”
Maggie pulls her feet up to tuck them under her legs. She says, “I’m so sorry I tricked you into seeing Robert.”
“Don’t be. I meant what I said to my dad.” I grin as I think about how my biggest flaw is gone. “I’m no longer a shredder! I can hardly believe it.”
“Yeah.” Maggie smiles too, then her brow knits to form deep wrinkles. “What are you going to do about Liam?”
My joy fades too, because our conversation with Robert was cut short before I learned more about what Robert has planned for Liam and me. I say, “I don’t know.”
“It’s crazy that your soul mate killed you, then you extinguished him, and yet you’re both still here.”
I laugh. “Talk about a dysfunctional relationship.” But it’s not really funny. I recall that I’m still physically attracted to Liam, and while he’s my enemy, I can’t deny I want to be with him anyway. “It’s not like we can be together.”
“I know, but—” Maggie’s expression turns sympathetic. “It’s going to be hard.”
“You really came here because your heart belonged to Sebastian’s soul mate?”
She nods. “Elizabeth. She died in a car accident, and when I got her heart, a piece of her came with it. I could feel what she could.”
“So you felt her love for Sebastian?”
“I did. Except I’m Alexander’s soul mate. Talk about a weird love triangle.”
I begin to laugh then choke to control it.
“It’s okay,” says Maggie. “I laughed at your situation. You can laugh at mine.”
A soft knock sounds on my door, and Maggie gives me a panicked look before I get up to see who it is. When I open the door, Victoria is there. She’s in leggings, fuzzy socks, and an oversized sweatshirt the way Maggie and I are. She’s also holding a bottle of vodka and three shot glasses. “We need to talk.”
I step aside to let her in. “Of course.”
Without a word, she sets the glasses down and fills them before she puts the bottle down with a thud. We all grab a shot and down it. Victoria sits next to Maggie and says, “Your father believes your story. Des and Tadhg have their doubts, but it’s not their place to say anything. Me, however...” Victoria leans forward and fills our glasses again, and we all down another shot before she continues. She looks at me. “You’re really no longer a shredder?”
I nod.
Victoria trains her gaze on Maggie. “And you had a hand in that?” Maggie nods too.
“Okay.” Victoria fills our glasses a third time. After she swallows her drink, she leans back and crosses her arms as she glances between Maggie and me. “You two should keep each other’s secrets close, so I won’t pry. But I have a feeling there may be more to this situation and that neither of you is equipped to deal with it. I’ve been with the O’Kellys a long time and a vampire for much longer. Know that I’m here for you both at any time.”
“Thank you, Victoria.”
“Yes. I appreciate your guidance too,” says Maggie.
Victoria smiles and then sits forward to pour more vodka. “So. What did you think of Jessica Blake’s dress? She was one cough away from a nip slip if I’ve ever seen one.”
Maggie bursts out laughing, and I join in. “Who was that dusty old vampire with her? My god, he looked like he came from the dark ages,” says Maggie.
Victoria chuckles, and I sit back to listen to the two of them gossip about the vampires at tonight’s party. I remember how my friends Becky and Jenna used to dish the same way, and I smile. My life was turned upside down the day I met Maggie Evans as Kitty Kane, and my destiny fast-tracked me into a world where so much is different. I was plucked from a carefree life and thrust into one full of danger and uncertainty. Yet the things I hold dear are still the same. I have the love of a parent, two close girlfriends who’ll do anything for me, and men in my life I trust completely. So while evil lurks around the corner, happiness and love are in my hands. And I’m never going to let go.
Chapter 13
Maggie
My feet thud softly as I walk through my suite at the Harts’. I set my bag down on the floor with a soft thump and wander over to my closet. My mother is coming for Christmas tomorrow, and because it’s not safe for h
er on the island, we’re doing it here. I came early to spend time with Alexander. Ever since Robert allowed me to feel my soul-mate bond again, the extent of my love for Alexander is crystal clear. I flip through the dresses until I find the green silk gown I wore the very first night I arrived at the Hart mansion. I recall the way Alexander hid in the shadows that first day as he told me to wear the dress. I remember thinking he was intense, but I realize now he was attracted to me. But I was here for his brother, and he couldn’t act on how he felt.
Eventually, he did, though. I slide the dress off its hanger, and the fabric is smooth in my hands as I walk over to the windows that face the ocean. I gaze down at the cliff where Alexander and I first kissed, and the flutter of attraction I felt then comes back to me. I place my hand over my now-still heart. The one that used to love Sebastian when it was alive. Sadness washes over me, because Sebastian made a sacrifice he hadn’t planned on. He brought me here with the hope he’d get his soul mate back, but the reality is he found one for his brother instead.
That could have gone badly, but Sebastian Hart is an honorable man who graciously accepted my fate and stepped out of the way for it to happen. I recall the way I felt Elizabeth say her final goodbye. Love really can last forever, and I think Sebastian finally has peace.
Knuckles rap on my door, and Alexander asks, “Maggie?”
“Come on in,” I call out, and I walk over to greet him.
He steps inside and shuts the door softly behind him as he glances down at the garment in my hands. “That dress,” he says. “My god, please tell me you’re going to put it on for me.”
“I was planning on wearing it for drinks with Sebastian in an hour.”
“Then you’ll have to put it on twice.” He waggles his eyebrows at me.
I smile and turn on my heel to walk into my bedroom. When we get there, I point to the love seat and say, “Go sit over there.”