Loved By The Vampires

by Lilly Wilder

  But, when she looked at him again, she noticed that the look on his face had changed. He seemed worried now. There was no trace of that bliss they just felt together.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, feeling a little hurt.

  Was he regretting what just happened?

  “Yeah, just…” he started, but couldn’t continue. “There’s something you don’t know, something I should have told you earlier, but I couldn’t.”

  “What are you talking about?” she wondered, starting to get worried herself.

  “If I tell you, I’m afraid you’ll get upset with me, but you’ll find out anyway…”

  “Why would I get upset with you?” she wondered.

  He wasn’t making any sense. Did he do something? He was looking at her in the eyes but she could see that there was something heavily pressing on his heart.

  “I can’t say anything now,” he shook his head, “I just need to get you to the Bunker.”

  Mina’s mind released a silent scream. Hendrik was working for Dante! The whole Bunker club was working for him. Now, he would take her there and Dante would be waiting. There was no other explanation. She cursed herself silently for having such lousy judgment about him. She even slept with him! She was furious with herself and with him.

  “I know what’s going on,” she growled at him, completely forgetting about the magical moment they had just shared. All that was left was rage.

  “You do?” he wasn’t expecting her to say that.

  “I’ve been waiting for this moment since I came here. I’ve actually been wondering how come it came so late,” she spoke confidently.

  She felt ready. She knew everything there was to know in this place, so prolonging the inevitable was painful to everyone. It was best just to get it over with. It’s just that she wasn’t expecting Hendrik to be on the opposite side. She trusted him. She fell for him, hook, line and sinker. How could she have been so stupid!

  “He couldn’t reveal himself to you just yet, the whole plan would be ruined,” Hendrik explained.

  “Oh, God forbid his plan is ruined,” Mina snorted.

  “Well, you’re here because of his plan…”

  “No, I’m here because of my plan!” she shouted angrily. “Because he threatened to hurt the one person I care about more than life itself. So, fuck Dante and fuck his plan!”

  Hendrik watched her spit her venom for a few seconds, then started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” she growled at him again.

  “You thought I was taking you to see Dante,” Hendrik couldn’t stop laughing, but then quickly turned around, to make sure they were still alone. “Come on! We don’t have much time!”

  He wanted to grab her by the hand, but she pulled away in time.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she hissed at him. “If Dante wants to see me, he’ll have to come to me.”

  “I wouldn’t be so cocky, shouting his name so loud, if I were you,” Hendrik spoke a little more quietly now.

  “Who the fuck cares!?” she shrugged her shoulders.

  “Kellam…” Hendrik worded her brother’s name and the very mention made her heart skip a beat.

  Mina jumped at him, pushing him hard against the lockers. Her thin, wiry fingers were now wrapped around Hendrik’s neck so tight, that he could barely breathe.

  “Where’s my brother?” she whispered.

  “Bun….ker….” Hendrik managed to squeeze through half parted lips.

  “Is Dante there?” she continued, pressing just a little tighter.

  “No…” Hendrik tried to shake his head, as much as her grasp allowed it. “Alone… help... “

  “What?”

  She released his throat only enough for him to speak properly.

  “He came to us for help. Asked us to keep his presence here a secret from you, until it was time for you to meet again,” Hendrik explained.

  Mina was listening but she could barely understand what she was hearing. All sorts of questions started swarming inside her mind, when she finally realized that she alone couldn’t provide a single answer to any of them. Kellam was the only person who could do it.

  “Take me to him,” Mina pulled away forcefully and Hendrik lowered his head, trying to catch his breath.

  “Trust me, we’re on your side,” he assured her.

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  Chapter 19

  Mina barged through the door of the Bunker, almost breaking the doorman’s nose. She didn’t even turn around to say sorry. She just kept marching down the hallway. She still thought this was all a trap. Dante would surely be waiting for her there but she didn’t care any longer. She felt hurt, betrayed. She knew she couldn’t trust anyone here and, still, she went ahead and did that, despite her own gut feeling. Now, everything had gone to shit.

  She wanted to end this once and for all. Breathing heavily, she entered the big room and saw that there were only a few people there. She recognized Renwick and Raphael in the corner, a few people she saw last time and Thorne were sitting on a small couch to her left. He’d been talking to someone, who had his back turned to Mina. The moment she barged in, with Hendrik by her side, everything froze. Everyone stopped doing whatever it was they were doing and they turned around to face her - all but that one figure, whose face remained hidden under a hat.

  “Well, here I am!” she shouted at everyone but mostly at that person who hadn’t turned around yet. “You wanted me here, right? At least have the decency to face me, Dante!”

  Her words echoed throughout the room. No one dared move. They looked at her, then at the figure, then back at her. There was confusion, anxiety and surprise on their faces. Of course, she expected all of those. Everything was finally out in the open. They’d all been working against her, allowing her to make a fool of herself, thinking she was safe, thinking she had made friends here, people she could rely on. But, all of that was one big fat lie. That thought sent her to the brink of tears but she was damned if she was going to cry in front of all of them and especially in front of Dante himself.

  Seconds passed and nothing happened. Her anxiety grew. She wanted to jump on his back and kill him right then and there but, in that case, she’d never find out if he had anything to do with Kellam’s disappearance.

  As always, she needed to be patient.

  As always, that never came easy to her.

  “You’ve always been too rash, Mina,” the figure suddenly rose up, lifting it’s elongated body upward, then finally turned around, taking off the hat he was wearing, so she instantly recognized the dark, chocolate tresses of her brother’s unkempt hair.

  “Kellam!” she screamed, then threw herself into his arms.

  She had no idea how long they just stood there, hugging. It didn’t matter. This was what she had come here for. Her brother was alive and well. Her heart could finally be at peace. Her mother was right. If she was right about that, then there was more Kellam needed to reveal to her.

  But, right now, none of that mattered. She was pressing her nose deep into his neck, her cheek pressing against the hard indentation of his collar bone. It really was him. She’d finally found him. It took her a while to let him go and Kellam gave her as much time as she needed. He could feel her heartbeat pressed against his chest. He knew she was on the verge of tears. Mina, who never found it easy to cry and show emotions, was hiding her face, because she didn’t want anyone to see the little tear that rolled down her cheek. The rest she was able to suppress.

  “Come,” Kellam smiled at her, “sit down.”

  She sat down next to him on the little sofa and glanced at Thorne with the corner of her eye. He was smiling at her. Switching her focus back on her brother, Mina realized how worn out he looked. He had black bags underneath his eyes and his jaw bone was even more prominent. His clothes hung loosely off of him, as if he was wearing a size too big. He looked like a homeless person. His bear
d was there, too. She noticed that immediately, because Kellam had always been very meticulous about his looks and usually spent more time in front of the mirror than she did. She always teased him about that. Now, that fact made her sad.

  She wondered where he’d been hiding all this time. Was he around here? If he was, why didn't he contact her? Why would he allow her to believe that he was hurt, kidnapped or something even worse? How did he end up here in the first place? What happened back home?

  She had so many questions for him, but for now, she just wanted to look at him, even though it hurt her to see him like this. A part of her was still afraid that this was all a dream, created out of her innermost desires, and as soon as someone snapped their fingers, she’d wake up in her bed, and Kellam would still be lost. She couldn’t bear that.

  It seemed that Kellam felt the same way. He kept looking at his little sister, as if she was a mirage and she might disappear any second. The love in their eyes was palpable, undeniable. They’d missed each other like crazy and, this whole time, Mina felt as if she’d been walking with a part of her heart missing, bleeding profusely and she was unable to stop it.

  “You must have so many questions for me,” Kellam was the first to start.

  His voice was soft and kind, as always, but he sounded weak. He sounded as if he’d been talking for hours before she came and, now, his voice was down to a barely audible murmur. The moment he spoke, Thorne got up, giving them some privacy. Mina knew that, probably, everyone was listening in to their conversation but she felt at ease. If Kellam trusted these people, then she trusted them, too.

  “Maybe it’s best if you just started from the beginning,” she smiled at him, unable to get that stupid grin off her face.

  There was nothing she could do about it. She was happy. Her heart was full. Her stupid face wouldn’t stop smiling, even if she tried to prevent it.

  “I think the best start would be my apology to you,” he admitted, gravely.

  “Apology?” she wondered.

  “Well, I don’t know how much you’ve learned over the course of this past month but what might come as a shock to you is that…” he sighed, gathering the courage to say what needed to be said, “I arranged my whole disappearance with the Bunker gang. No one attacked me.”

  He said it as quickly as he could, hoping it’d be like peeling off a band aid, but Mina just kept looking at him, as if she was still waiting for her brain to register what he’d just said.

  It couldn’t be. It’s too cruel. He wouldn’t do that.

  Mina thought about it for a second, then it finally hit her. She’d been worried sick about him all this time and he knew it. He’d allowed her to live in this conviction, he had allowed this heartache to go on until now. It was too crazy to be true.

  “You let me believe you were hurt or even worse all this time?” she asked him, her voice on the brink of cracking.

  She wasn’t shouting. She had no strength left for that. She was exhausted by this whole ordeal and, now, instead of being ecstatic that she’d finally found Kellam, alive and well, she had to learn the tough truth. He’d done this.

  She didn’t want to cry in front of all these people but she was too hurt. She never would have believed her own brother could do something this painful.

  “I had to,” Kellam pleaded. “It was crucial.”

  “My pain was crucial?” she swallowed heavily before speaking again. “We’re partners. We’ve always been partners and you chose to leave me behind…”

  She looked down and bit her lower lip. She wanted to run far away from this place, but she needed more answers. Also, no matter how much he had hurt her, she couldn’t leave him behind, not when he needed her help. Dante was still a threat, a real threat and it would take both of them to bring him down.

  “I didn’t leave you behind,” he sighed, sounding heartbroken. “I tried to keep you safe. If you knew where I was, you wouldn’t act like this and they’d see through any pretense you were putting on. These guys don’t play around, Mina.”

  She jumped at the mention of her name. She looked around frantically, waiting for any sign of a possible attack. She was someone else to them, a friend, a fellow student, not a vampire slayer, but the mention of her name revealed her identity and she knew that could mean trouble.

  “They know, Mina,” Kellam repeated her name. “They’ve known all along.”

  She looked around. Thorne’s gaze was aimed at her. Raphael watched her intensely. Renwick’s eyes hadn’t left her from the moment she’d stepped in. Hendrik was still behind her and she realized this only now. She was the main star, and they were her audience. She should be feeling special, but instead, all she felt was deeply hurt.

  “Hendrik is my main man,” Kellam looked up, somewhere above Mina’s head and she figured, he must have been looking at Hendrik.

  She didn’t turn around. Her gaze was focused on Kellam, on getting to the bottom of this, whatever it was. She still didn’t understand why all this was necessary, why she couldn’t have been in on it, from the very start.

  “It was his job to keep you safe, in case Dante found out anything.”

  “Can you start from the beginning, please?” Mina was starting to get a headache. “Why? And what happened at your place? How did you end up here?”

  Kellam smiled gently. He understood the confusion. He also understood why his sister was feeling this way. She was hurt, deeply hurt, and it was because of him. She might need some time to get over this but, unfortunately, that was the only thing they didn’t have nearly enough of. He had to tell her everything quickly and then move on. Time was of the essence.

  “I found out that Dante was looking for our book, he just didn’t know we had it. In his pursuit of the book, he killed many of our own,” he started explaining, as quickly and as succinctly as he could, trying not to waste time.

  “Rune and Vasilisa,” Mina interjected.

  “Yes, and not only them,” Kellam lowered his head, as if to give honor to those who were no longer with them. “Many have fallen, because they wouldn’t reveal to Dante that we were the keepers of the book. I knew it was just a matter of time before he realized this and came knocking on our door. So, I knew I had to do something. I trashed my place, so you’d think someone attacked me. I took the book with me, so you’d also think that whoever attacked me, now had the book. Because, if you thought that, then Dante would think that as well. It would leave him confused, wondering who had attacked us. It bought us some time. Then, I arrived here and the Bunker gang has been keeping me safe ever since.”

  “But…” Mina wanted to say something, but being outnumbered, she was reluctant to say it out loud.

  “We’re slayers and they’re vampires?” Kellam asked exactly what was on her mind.

  This was the secret she’d been trying to keep from everyone, the secret she thought might destroy everything she’d worked so hard for, while she was here. The thought never left her mind, how she would explain it to the guys. Now, it turned out, they all knew that. They all knew it and they all kept it from her.

  “Well… yes…” she was still unsure how that would sound, spoken in this place.

  “Of course they know,” Kellam smiled.

  “But, how are we on the same side?” Mina wondered.

  This was unheard of: vampires and slayers working side by side. At least, she hadn’t heard of that in a long, long time.

  “Dante is an egomaniac,” Thorne interrupted, but neither Mina nor Kellam seemed to mind, “all he cares about is himself. He wants the book so that he can gain power beyond anything we can imagine, but it’s not to make the world a better place for vampires. He just wants to rule someone or something. He has no morals, no scruples. We don’t want someone like that to guide us.”

  “We want the Overseer back,” Renwick added, saying the name which many knew of but which was still hidden in a veil of mystery.

  “But, isn’t he dead?” Mi
na wondered.

  She’d only heard stories about the famous Overseer, nameless and faceless to many, about the old days when humans and vampires lived side by side, without any wars or arguments. They lived in harmony simply because the Overseer brought out the best of both worlds. What Dante did was the opposite: he brought out the worst of both worlds and kept making it worse.

  “He was laid to rest in the old church on the top of this mountain,” Kellam told her. “When they found his body, they noticed that his heart was missing. If we manage to find his heart, we can bring him back. We can bring back the good old days.”

  “That’s what we are fighting for,” Thorne smiled.

  Everyone else approached closer, and nodded. Their unity was felt in the air and, despite everything, Mina realized that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.