Blood Deception: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Royal Covens Book 2)
Page 14
Without asking, he leans down and picks up Carden’s body before striding toward the trunk of the tree. I follow on unsteady legs, practically stumbling along. It takes him a quarter of the time to lay him down gently in Jade’s lap than it would have taken me, and I give him a grudging smile. He flashes one back to me before turning and jogging toward the other three across the clearing, transforming as he does so. My eyes widen when I spot the wings and shadows. He’s one of them.
Wait.
There are four of them. Four.
Those are my lords. . . the ones I had loved, perhaps still love.
And they’re monsters just as Han had said.
Epilogue
No special feeling had coursed through me when that man walking away had touched me, no wash of love or memories from my past life. Nothing. Loss rises in my chest so fast and forcefully that I clutch at the space where my heart lies, gasping. It was supposed to be special; our connection was supposed to. . . to. . .
I don’t know, save me? Make me more human than vampire?
“Blair,” a voice near whispers. “BLAIR!”
My ears pop at that moment, sending searing pain through my head and a trickle of blood down the sides of my neck. Jade is calling my name, I know she is, but the sudden influx of noise is deafening, and I lean over my knees with my hands clutched across my ears. Her hand comes to rest on my back, smoothing the same soothing circles that she had all those weeks ago. It grounds me enough to sit up and look at her, tears shining in my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper hoarsely. “I couldn’t protect him.”
She scoots forward enough to place her forehead against mine, looking me right in the eyes. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault nor was it your choice to send him out there. You tried to stop him.”
“Okay, okay,” I sob, gripping her upper arms with my hands and feeling out of control.
She hisses, and I immediately let go when I notice that my talons are still out, but she smiles. “It’s okay, just a scratch. It’s okay.”
Before I can come up with a rebuttal the beast roars from behind us, shaking the ground beneath our bodies. I whip around in time to see it fall to its side, black smoke coming off of its body like it was burned and turned into ash from the inside out. They killed it. All four of the lords are flying over it, their enormous wings beating wind so forcefully that the grass cows beneath them. Slowly, all of them float to the ground, their wings tucking in close to their sides as they stride toward us, but not disappearing completely. The three I hadn’t seen up close practically rush toward me, the looks of longing on their faces almost making their features more terrifying than not. The smoke spiraling from their fingers reminds me of all those terrible days in that room with Alina, and I flinch away, curling in on myself.
Jade pulls me to her chest, cooing in my ear and shooting warning looks over my head. I pretend not to see it, burying my face deeper into her band tee shirt and cardigan. Only Jade would wear such a thing to a prison break out, I think, startling myself. It’s yet another small memory from my human life, that familiarity. Shock follows it, and I pull away from her, all of my limbs shaking and numb with pain as the adrenaline wears off. The lords press into my back, heat radiating off of their bodies and warming me. They think the shivering is from the cold, and it’s sweet that they want to help, but the proximity of their ethereal smoke nearly sends me over the edge.
“Is it over?” I ask to distract myself. “Or is Alina coming?”
One of the men kneels down in front of me so that we’re eye to eye, those glowing crimson orbs tearing into me. “No, she sent us along to collect you. Probably hoping that we’d find you here dead.”
I want to say that it feels very PG-13 compared to some of Alina’s other plans, but I bite my tongue. These people are strangers to me. There are no great feelings here like I thought there’d be. My human self didn’t rise to the surface. No, all I see in front of me are four incredibly, almost brutally, powerful vampires. I don’t even recognize them enough to know their fucking names. That realization floors me, and I lean back on my heels, reeling.
“I-I thought things would be different,” I stutter, reaching out and gripping either side of the man’s face. “I thought I would remember. I thought I w-would love you.”
His face breaks apart for a moment before he schools his features again and gives me a warm smile, bringing his hands up to cup my own. The man's features soften before my eyes, the red glow fading and fangs receding just as those powerful wings disappear. Now all that remains is a beautiful vampire with a wicked smile.
“There’s time for that, my love, there’s always time. I’m Michael, and the man that checked on you earlier is Raphael. And those two,” he pauses to point at the two men leaning around him. “Are Gabriel and Uriel.”
“He-hello,” I stutter, my face turning a light shade of pink. “I’m sorry that I don’t remember you, I tried, I’ll keep trying. My memories are right there I just can’t--”
Raphael cuts me off. “What do you mean your memories are right there?”
One hand regretfully retreats from Michael’s face to tap my heart. “I feel you, all of you, deep inside myself. There’s even these fleeting glimpses of memories. Every night I meditate and try to break through the mess, but I fail. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” one of the other’s murmurs, smiling with dimples and humor lines edging his eyes.
“Let’s get out of here, it’s over now,” Michael says, hauling me into his arms despite my protests.
Raphael takes Carden from Jade while the others grab my things and follow Michael toward the edge of the clearing. Despite his promise of it being over ringing through the air, my stomach is still sour. The power under my skin sizzles with the feeling of a deep rage and need for revenge coming from someone nearby. And we leave with eyes of fire burning into our backs.
“No, this isn’t over,” I murmur. “It won’t be over until Alina is dead.”
The End
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