The Vampire's Ultimatum (Fatal Allure Book 10)

by Martha Woods

  “Jesus, more than a year of doing this and you still don’t have any idea how any of this works.” I could hear her eyes rolling, but I couldn’t help my smile when she groaned, “Alright, fine. What do you need?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? What did I need? Obviously, I needed a solution to this problem that I’d found myself in, but with so big of a problem and so few ways out making themselves known, it was easier said than done. Though some had been itching at the back of my skull since I’d picked up the phone and were just begging to come out, they were far too insane to even consider working… but hell, if there was any time to consider them, now was definitely the time.

  “Have you ever tried changing the sky? Like… blacking it out?”

  Silence was my only answer at first, instinct telling me that she was simply dumbstruck at the words that had just come out of my mouth. I couldn’t blame her, I wasn’t exactly fully on board with it now that I’d said it out loud, especially not with the way that I’d phrased it, but the chastising click of her tongue and the swish of her hair against the phone as she shook her head wasn’t that encouraging.

  “I just told you that I don’t have any of my supplies and I don’t have access to any practitioners, and now you ask me if I can change the sky itself, what part of that sounds like an ordinary request to you?”

  “I don’t know! It just popped into my head and I…” That was it, that was the solution, it was staring me right in the face this whole time and I hadn’t even realized it! “I know some practitioners, powerful ones too. They should be able to help you with what you need!”

  “You know some… Amy, no! I am not going to spend time with your… weird vampire friends!”

  “They have exactly what we need!” I said, not able to stop myself from bouncing in excitement from finally having a semblance of an idea of what we needed to do. “They might not be powerful enough to do this sort of thing on their own, but if you were working in tandem with them and you were all channeling through each other… who knows what you could do?”

  Though still reluctant, not that I could really blame her, I could tell that parts of the idea were starting to strike a chord with her. She always was a forward thinker even among some of the more progressive witches, insistence on finding other paranormals weird notwithstanding, it wasn’t surprising that she was quick to realize the possibilities of what I was suggesting. “I would be able to channel much more through them if the host was technically dead… the upper limits of some spells would stop a regular person’s heart in their chest, but if it wasn’t beating to begin with…” She grunted, less with frustration and more with an impatient need to know more, “I’m not saying yes, but I guess… I’m not saying no to it either. What do you even want me to do anyway?”

  “Alright,” I said, leaning into the phone as though I was about to whisper the secret of life itself into her ear, “Here’s what I’m thinking…”

  * * *

  “Are you completely out of your mind? Have you decided that you don’t really need your brain anymore and are just… deciding to ignore its existence completely?”

  “What? I think it’s a plan that could honestly work.”

  “In a b-movie, or a comic book for children maybe, but this is the real-world Amy, how do you think something like that is going to go down?”

  “Do you have any other suggestions?” I asked, knowing that to some extent that she was right but mainly just wanting to move onto the next stage, “This is legitimately the only play that we have, this is the only chance that all of us come out of this with all our bits attached, so unless you’ve managed to think of another way that we can save everyone I’m gonna have to say that you need to hurry up and get to Joseph’s, ok?”

  “This is such a stupid plan,” She said, “But fine, it’s all we’ve got and… I don’t want you to waste yourself by just… giving up. As long as it’s not that then… fine, I’ll play along with this plan.”

  “Aww, if you keep being that nice I might just start to think that you consider us friends.”

  “I do consider us friends.” She spoke with all the certainty of someone who hadn’t once considered anything else to be the truth. “Do… you not?”

  “You do?” That definitely wasn’t the reply that I’d expected, and though I really needed to be getting off the line now I couldn’t leave something like this unsaid. “But you always act so disinterestedly in everything, I always got the impression that I was mostly just annoying you.”

  “You are always annoying me, but not because you’re not my friend,” She scoffed, “Disinterested… I’m bored most of the time, not emotionless.”

  “Right, sorry…” That made me feel honestly like an asshole for even thinking it, but sometimes she really could just be inscrutable. I definitely wasn’t the only one to think so, I’d heard enough of the other witches speaking at our meetings to know that she was something of an enigma, but that was hardly an excuse. I wished that I could give her a proper apology, but the frantic waving of Vincent’s hand was telling me that our time really was up. I guess rushed was about all that we were going to be able to manage tonight. “Listen, Faye… I really am sorry, that was a complete ass move on my part, you’re an incredibly valuable ally and I think you’d be an even better friend. Do you think after all of this, if we make it out, we could talk about that?”

  “Yeah,” She replied, “Yeah that would be… that would be nice. Just don’t die alright?”

  I huffed a laugh, “You too, get to Joseph’s safely.”

  “It’s not the getting there that’s got me worried,” She giggled, a sound that I was really hoping I would get to hear more, “I’ll see you soon Amy. Really soon.”

  And with that final goodbye, she disconnected the call, leaving me with the hope that she would be safe and the fear that it was the last time that I would ever speak to her. I was trying to be optimistic that things would work out for the best, but I wasn’t blind to the possibility that comes tomorrow none of us would be alive to speak again. No point in thinking about it now I suppose, the decision had been made, now all we could do was ride it out until the very end. Whatever that end turned out to be.

  “Do you think that was the best decision to make?” Vincent sat down next to me, offering his hand for me to squeeze in support. “Faye is skittish around vampires at the best of times, even just the ones who are minding their own business. Joseph and the girls… ‘Intense’ is how I would describe them, and even then, I think I’m doing the word a disservice.”

  “They can be a bit much,” I conceded, “But they’re good people when it comes down to it, at least when other paranormals are concerned. If Faye says that she needs their help saving the rest of us then they’ll throw themselves into it with no question, they take our alliance very seriously.”

  “Not to mention that somehow you’ve managed to worm your way under their skin and gotten them to consider you a friend,” He laughed, “The concept of trying to befriend Joseph… only the most foolish of people would ever consider it, and yet you managed to do it.”

  “Oh please, Joseph is a sweetheart once you get past how… oily he can seem sometimes.”

  “Amy I once saw him rip out a man’s stomach just because he tried to talk to him when he was having a bad day, he and I have done absolutely monstrous things both individually and together.” He lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to each knuckle before sighing deeply, “Don’t underplay how incredible you can be, you’ve managed to show even monsters that we can be so much more than that. The city’s underworld is so much better for your having been here.”

  “Flatterer.” I wrapped my fingers around his hand, standing up and pulling him to his feet with me. Leading him over to the entrance of the bunker, pale blue light starting to shine through the windows of the kitchen upstairs, I turned back to him and drew him into my arms. “I need you to get over to Joseph’s as quickly as you can, if this is going to work then I nee
d him to have someone follow me to wherever it is that Tristian wants me to go, and I can’t risk making another phone call.”

  He nodded, squeezing around my shoulders and breathing deeply from my hair. “Alright,” He said, “How will they know where to find you though?”

  “I’ll drive past the police station, as long as someone is already there waiting then it should be easy enough to see which car I’m driving. We only get one shot at this, which is why I’m sure that you can do it.”

  He smirked, darting his lips against mine before pulling back and making his ascent. “Don’t worry about a thing Amy, just focus on what you need to do now. I’ll see you again soon, don’t think otherwise.”

  With a flash of his teeth and a gust of wind, he was gone, racing against time before the sun could rise into the sky. I had no doubt that he would be able to reach Joseph’s in time, but you can’t help worrying about the people you care about, can you? He was right though, I should just focus on what I needed to do personally, everything else was out of my hands now, and I would just have to trust that they knew best what to do.

  The ringing of the phone drew me out of my head, the same number appearing on the screen like a grim specter of shit luck, anxiety making my chest tight and my hands shaky. They were alright, everyone was going to be alright, even Tristian, for as much as he wanted to make me suffer, wouldn’t hurt any of them before I got there. As much as he wouldn’t want to admit it, I wouldn’t make an appearance unless I wanted to, he couldn’t take the chance on doing something that would jeopardize the chances of me doing so, not when his plan was so close to success.

  Taking a deep breath and holding it in my chest, I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear, exhaling slowly through my nose and answering, “Hello?”

  “Amy, glad to see that you’re still there,” He said, tone as insufferable as ever, “I hope that you’ve been thinking over your options carefully, this is a very delicate situation that you and your friends have found yourselves in after all.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking,” I replied, “But I want you to tell me clearly what’s going to happen when I get there.”

  “When you get here? When you come to the front door and willingly surrender yourself, under pain of your friends dying?”

  I grunted in acknowledgement, that didn’t even dignify a proper answer.

  “After you surrender yourself you’ll be brought in front of me on your knees, and you’ll apologize for everything that you’ve done, the monstrous abominations that you’ve helped over the last months, the transgressions you’ve made against the hunters and me personally…” He paused, and I swear I could almost hear him shuddering, “After all of that has been taken care of, then I’m going to take my gun, put it to your temple and end a problem once and for all.”

  “And my friends?” I asked that was what I really wanted to know after all, “What happens to them once I’m dead?”

  “Most of them are very dangerous people, and abominations in their own right, it will take some time to work out what to do with them in a way that won’t backfire on me and the others.” His voice turned more serious, almost genuine in a way that made my skin crawl, “I give you my word though, Cara will go free. She is not a paranormal, and she has not done anything to offend me personally. The reason for her being here is leverage against you, nothing more, and once that purpose has been fulfilled I have no more need to keep her prisoner.”

  “Why should I believe you Tristian? You’ve already betrayed so many other things, why not your word as well?”

  “I take my duty very seriously Amy, I don’t wish to hurt any innocent human beings if I can help it, I swore an oath to protect humankind and I intend to do that to the best of my abilities,” He clicked his tongue, for a moment I thought that I had angered him but to my surprise he continued, “I heard about what Rick framed you for, even though you have no reason to believe me, I want you to know that I find something like that incredibly distasteful. It’s of little comfort to you I know, but I will be speaking very strongly to him about that.”

  Wow, even Tristian thinks that Rick went too far if that wasn’t a serious indication that everything had gone to shit I don’t know what is. Still, for this plan to actually work, I would need to play along, and he had no reason to lie about keeping her alive compared to everyone else. Somewhere, in all that insanity and all the hypocritical reasoning that he’d filled his head with, I actually didn’t doubt that he thought he was doing what was necessary to keep humanity safe. The thought made me pity him almost as much as it made me hate him, but it was that fact alone that told me that he was being genuine when he said that she would be safe.

  “Alright,” I said, “I’ll turn myself in. Just tell me when and where I’ll be there.”

  There was a moment where he didn’t speak, clearly searching for any hint of a lie in my voice or for any signs that someone aside from me was listening, and for that moment I was petrified that he would find something I hadn’t planned for. But with a triumphant huff and an audible smirk, it was clear that he had bought every one of my words completely. Which wasn’t much of a surprise, considering that if it came down to it I really was more than happy to let myself be sacrificed to save even one of them.

  “In the old district there is a warehouse, it’s been under construction for the last two years, towers over the rest of the buildings around it. We’ll be waiting on the top floor for you, you have an hour to get here, considering that you’re probably out of city limits by now.” In the background I could hear someone yelling out, anguished cries sounding very much like Damon’s, obviously he had overheard our conversation. “One hour Amy, don’t leave me waiting. Otherwise, your friends start dying.”

  The line disconnected, his triumphant laughter and Damon’s furious screaming falling silent and leaving me alone in the bunker with my thoughts. One hour, I had one hour to make things as secure as I could, one hour to make sure that the rest of the plan was coming together…

  One hour to make peace with the fact that if things didn’t work out perfectly, then I was going to die. It was such a strange feeling, but at least I could focus on the fact that someone would still live if that happened. I had every ounce of confidence in Faye and Vincent, I’m not sure I would trust anyone else to handle something so delicate and so complicated, but there was always room for error in even the most airtight of plans. I would just have to push that from my mind and hope for the best, let my natural cynicism fall by the wayside for once and focus on the good that could happen, rather than the bad. Easier said than done but compared to everything else that I was going to have to do today that seemed like a cakewalk.

  “Fuck me,” I said, pocketing my phone and walking over to the duffel bag that Vincent had left behind, suddenly acutely aware that this entire time I hadn’t had so much as a shirt on, given the recentness of Vincent and my last coupling. “No wonder I was so cold.”

  Slipping an ordinary button up over my head, I took notice of something rigid hitting my palm when I went to zip the bag up. “Oh? What’s this?” I said, slipping my fingers in between layers of clothing and grasping the edge of what I had felt. Pulling delicately, my eyes widened when I recognized the shape of Damon’s pistol, the same one that he had used to kill the serial killer what felt like a century ago. “No wonder they managed to overwhelm him, he wasn’t even carrying this?”

  Well, if nothing else I had the chance to make sure they were reunited at least. Checking the magazine was loaded and that the safety was on, I slipped it into the back of my waistband and pulled the shirt back over, concealing it from view. I would prefer to have a holster for it at least, but things couldn’t be perfect.

  As soon as it was tucked away I took a moment to think to myself, to really look around and gather my thoughts in this space underneath the ground. Here was where the three of us were supposed to be safe from everything, where we were supposed to wait out the storm and emerge back into a w
orld where I wasn’t framed of anything and Tristian had been taken care of. But that was not to be, even if Damon was here, even if only one of my other friends had been captured, things still would have ended up like this. I wouldn’t be able to cope with knowing that the life of someone so close to me was lost in exchange for my safety, no way.

  I guess that makes me dumb, predictable, incredibly easy to back into a corner just by forcing me to confront my nature and decide whether or not I was ready to have blood on my hands. Though I was absolutely responsible for death in the past, Vincent’s return wasn’t brought through peaceful negotiation after all, I refuse to let that blood belong to the innocent, I refuse to be a coward and flee with my tail between my legs when risking it all is the only way to ensure that those close to me stay living. If I died in the pursuit of this, and the chances were depressingly high, I would die in the pursuit of something meaningful at least.

  So many people through history have died for less.

  My footsteps were heavy as I walked up the stairs, the sun starting to crest over the trees and the light shining through the kitchen window. If I’d only gotten the call a few hours earlier this would have been so much easier to deal with, but I suspect that was by design. Tristian was smart enough to know that I basically had the vampires on speed dial, what better way to ensure that they can’t hurt his plan than giving them only half an hour of darkness to properly mobilize? I just hoped that he wasn’t smart enough to figure out our plan, or maybe he would be too smart to figure it out, it was the sort of thing that only complete idiots would think of and attempt after all, why would anyone in their right mind even think of attempting something so reckless?

  Well, with an hour until I had to be there at least we had time to get ourselves sorted, I was only forty minutes away from the old district so I could afford to take my time, which would give Joseph’s man about half an hour to get into position to follow me. If I was early then that would be incredibly bad news, hopefully, we would at least intersect at just the right moment.