End of an Era: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 4)

by Kristan Belle

  “Anyway, I must have passed out at some point. By that time, the change had already started. Not that I knew what it was, I just knew that I felt like I was dying. The pain I felt after the crash was nothing compared to the absolute agony of the change. It was all a bit of a blur to me. After all that had happened in such a short space of time, my mind was confused as I drifted in and out of consciousness, screaming into the night for someone to end the pain.

  “Even now, we still don’t know why they didn’t stick around. Perhaps they didn’t want to kill me, only turn me. Maybe they were disturbed? Who knows? Anyway, their motives don’t really matter. It happened. And what matters is, Kelton was out on duty with the Sons of Satrina that night. It was your father that found me.”

  She smoothed down the soft hair on the baby’s head, smiling down at him. “I was extremely lucky that he didn’t just kill me on sight. Your father is the best of the best and he has more kills under his belt than anyone else. Something stopped him, thank goodness, and he still can’t say why he didn’t kill me on sight. Everything in him called out to end my life, but he couldn’t do it.

  “It wasn’t easy. I woke up in a strange place, chained to a wall with a man towering over me, holding a dagger to my throat. He was the most menacing sight I’d ever seen.

  “As a human, I loved watching horror films, and he was a horror movie come to life. Admittedly, he was hot and I recognised that fact from the moment I opened my eyes. It wasn’t something I could focus on, though. He had a knife to my neck! I thought he had kidnapped me and was going to kill me!

  “When he explained what had happened to me, my transformation, I didn’t believe a word of it. I didn’t feel any different and it sounded like madness to me.

  “That was until the burn started in my throat and the cramps in my stomach. It was a hunger I had never known before. Kelton tried to explain it me, but I didn’t understand. Not until one night I got the better of him and managed to escape. Yes, you heard me right, Elias, I got the better of your father! It only happened that once, but that was the moment I started to believe his words.

  “The thirst for blood was what drove me to get out. I needed to feed. I didn’t understand it at first, I just knew I needed something. As soon as I saw a young man walking by himself, the urge to attack was too strong for me to fight. Some people try and explain that it’s similar to the call of the warrior mark, but the urge is much stronger and much more deadly.

  “I would have killed that man if Kelton hadn’t found me and dragged me back. He saw the guilt in my eyes as I realised what I had nearly done and he wanted me to overcome the monster that was lurking inside me. The pain was unbelievable. The bloodlust that raged within me in the beginning was totally out of control and I couldn’t think of anything else but the need to feed.

  “It controlled me. There was nothing but the bloodlust. Kelton couldn’t make me see reason, but he didn’t give up on me. There was something in me that he saw that wasn’t built for the Mortuorum. It wasn’t me. I didn’t want to be that kind of person and Kelton was the one who promised to help me every step of the way.

  “It wasn’t easy. Far from it. The pain was excruciating as I denied my body what it wanted and needed. Kelton fed me with blood bags, but that didn’t satisfy me. I wanted more. I wanted it fresh.

  “I don’t have the urge any more, but it took me a long time to conquer. Kelton took the time to teach me the right way, the Matris way. Not that it was as easy as just giving up the blood, I had to force myself into this new life.

  “One thing Kelton always loved about me was my grasp on humanity. You see, I couldn’t give up my human family. They’d been such a big part of me for so long that I just couldn’t turn my back on them.

  “I didn’t want to accept the changes in my life. I had been married to a wonderful man named Michael and we’d been married for seventeen wonderful years. I was only thirty seven when my human life came to an abrupt end. I had my whole human life ahead of me and I couldn’t wait to see my grandchildren playing on the lawn as I sat on the porch with my husband. That was never to be.

  “We had a daughter called Nicole, your sister who was only sixteen at the time. And we had twin boys’, Christopher and Matthew, who were only six years old. All I’d ever wanted when I was growing up was to be a mother and my life was complete when my children came along. Up until that night, my life had been perfect.

  “Evidently, it was a little too perfect by some peoples’ standard and had created some jealousy among my friends, in particular with Julia. She wanted what I had. Literally.” Kayleigh could feel herself frowning as she thought of her former friend.

  Kayleigh took a deep breath as she thought back to how things were. It had been the worst time of her life, but also the best because it brought Kelton to her.

  “Everything I am today, I owe to your father. I don’t think you’ll ever realise quite what a wonderful man your father is. You’ll see him as your hero, but I see him as so much more. With his perseverance and faith, I got through it.

  “He took great pains to explain everything about the life I would be stepping into. He explained everything to me about the two Lamia races and the ongoing war that was fought between them. It explained why he came at me with a dagger in the beginning.

  “If I’m honest with you, it sounded like some really bizarre fairy-tale, like a tale I’d heard when I was a kid. Even when I was filled with bloodlust, I managed to take in everything he was saying to me. Vampires. Vampires were real and that was what I had become. A vampire.” Kayleigh shook her head and smirked. It sounded like a bad film.

  “It wasn’t until I was getting the bloodlust under control and was getting more coherent that I really understood what he had been telling me. He told me all about the Sons of Satrina and the job that the warriors did and it really hit home to me just how close I had come to dying by his hands. After all, it was his mission in life to hunt down the kind of monster I had become, and I knew how important his job was. The world wasn’t safe when there were monsters like me roaming the earth.”

  Kayleigh had to smile again. Looking down at the peaceful baby, she was hit again by how much he looked like his father. “Kelton always said that there was something different about me, something he saw from that very first moment, which was lucky! He was right, though. I’m not like them at all. I have a lot more in common with the Matris than I do them.

  “They tried to make me into a monster, but I don’t have it in me to be like that. I don’t have their bloodlust, or at least I don’t anymore. I am able to stand a little more sunlight than the Matris, but I don’t ever push my luck with that.”

  She got serious again, running a thumb over his soft-as-silk cheek. “Most importantly, I am not Lamia Mortuorum in here.” And she placed her hand over her heart. “I don’t ever want you to be afraid of me. I am your mother and you’re our little miracle. I would never do anything to hurt you.” She promised him. “Your father is a warrior and would throw down his life for you, but I’m your mother. I would take my last breath for you. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe and from harm.”

  “Who would have thought that we would have fallen in love? It was something else straight out of a fairy-tale. At first, we didn’t trust one another, which is understandable. He may have seen something in me that made him think I could overcome the monster, but that didn’t mean we had to like one another.

  “In fact, at first, I hated him,” Kayleigh laughed as she thought back to that time. “He was the one that was keeping me in pain, keeping me from what I needed. It took me a long time to realise that he was actually helping me.

  “Once I understood that, I did all I could to keep the monster at bay. I didn’t want all his hard work to go down the drain. It took a lot for him to take a gamble on me and I wanted to repay him.

  “It took a long time for him to trust me to be by myself. After all, he had to work and up until that moment of trust, he’d had to seda
te me to make sure that I didn’t run off and cause havoc. I know that sounds harsh, but he did the right thing. I wouldn’t have trusted myself, either. The temptation was too strong, no matter how hard I was fighting against it.

  “All I would take was one slip and I would be the person I didn’t want to be. It would have been that easy. I didn’t want that. I fought with every part of me to keep me sane.

  “That night Kelton left me alone to go out with the warriors, leaving me conscious, the urge to run away was strong. I didn’t give in, though. I spent hours in his apartment, talking myself into staying, telling myself to be strong. It was all worth it when he came home and found me sitting in the armchair, reading a book. He told me that it was such a normal sight and that he was so proud.

  “That was the moment I started to feel something more. It had already been lurking within me because Kelton is such a handsome man, but up until that point, he had been the enemy. It was that point that I recognised him as my saviour.”

  It was true. Every word she was speaking was the truth. It was good to get it all out there after so long. Kelton didn’t like to speak of that time, wanting to concentrate on the here and now, but Kayleigh had to recognise where she’d been and how far she’d come to appreciate it all.

  “Life wasn’t ever exactly easy. Between juggling his warrior-ship and looking after me, Kelton was wearing himself thin. It didn’t take long for his behaviour to come to the attention of our leader, Bartholomew.

  “He was a good man. You would have liked him, and he would have adored you! Bartholomew used to love seeing the next generation of warriors born, knowing that our future would be safe. He was a wonderful man and it’s a shame he isn’t here now to meet you. Kelton would have been so proud to have been able to show you off.

  “Although I wasn’t so excited to meet him, I have to say. Kelton had been summoned to appear before him because he had been so distracted of late, and knowing that it had to do with me, I wasn’t going to let Kelton face him alone. Your father may be a big, badass warrior, but it was my fault he was distracted and I wasn’t going to let him take all the heat.

  “I was full of bravado before we left, but as soon as we pulled up to Bartholomew’s large house, I was scared to death and ready to run and hide. I was literally shaking in my boots as we walked in.”

  Kayleigh chuckled softly so as not to wake Elias. “After the battle I had already been through, the pain looked like nothing in comparison to the fear I was feeling. Kelton had told me all about Bartholomew and although he had described him as a very reasonable man and that he thought of him as a father figure, this was man that had the power to demand my death.

  “All we had on our side was hope. At that moment in time, we hadn’t discussed anything deeper about our feelings, but I was ready to lay it all on the line if Bartholomew asked me. I was ready for Kelton to react negatively, to feel disgust at my feelings. Not that it would have stopped me. I would have done anything to keep him from trouble, my own life came second to that.

  “Luckily for me, Bartholomew saw the same thing in me as Kelton had and granted me immunity from assassination. It took a lot of discussion and soul searching to reach that point, but that was the ultimate outcome. I couldn’t have been more grateful to him.

  “One of the conditions was that I was to stay with your father at the academy and he would ultimately be responsible for my actions. Not that I would have ever done anything to shame him if I could help it. As long as Kelton accepted me as his responsibility, my life and my secret would never be in danger.

  “Bartholomew was a man of his word. I knew that he set that condition firstly to protect his other warriors and the people in the community, but also because he saw the connection between Kelton and myself. He thought of Kelton as a son and wanted him to be happy, and as crazy as it sounded, he saw that in me. I was honoured to be put in that position.

  “It wasn’t just that, though. Bartholomew went above and beyond to make sure that I was accepted and to make our lives easier. He sent me to his personal dentist who signed so many privacy clauses that I thought his hand was going to fall off! It was all worth it, though, as you can see.” Kayleigh grinned widely in the mirror, seeing her fangs that showed her to be part of the Matris race.

  Kayleigh sat in silence for a moment, only Elias’ breathing could be heard in the car. The night was so still and peaceful and Kayleigh knew that she had chosen the perfect time to tell her story. There wouldn’t come another time like this and she was glad she’d made the most of it. Elias wouldn’t remember, and that was the point. She wasn’t keeping anything from him by doing this now, as crazy as that sounded.

  She felt a relief at someone else hearing her story. Of course Kelton knew, and Bartholomew, but he had taken her secret to the grave with him. Aisline also knew. She had told her her story when the girl had first come to the academy. She wanted her to know that she wasn’t the only one facing a dual battle within. That was all. No one else knew and she knew her secret was safe.

  Tears pricked at her eyes again as she thought of everything she could have lost. If she had died that night, she would have lost her human family, but she would have also lost her future. This was a life she never envisioned, but all the heartache and pain had been worth it. She’d do it all again to be with Kelton and to have the life she had now.

  Humanity. That was something both Kelton and Bartholomew had seen in her. But the monster still lurked within her, no matter how much she tried to push it down.

  It proved it the day that Kelton had been out on the streets with the rest of the warriors and Kayleigh had snuck out of the house. It wasn’t a moment she was proud of and when Kelton found out, he had told her it was a simple act of revenge and not an act of Mortuorum madness, but she’d gone back and taken Julia’s life. It was something that she wasn’t proud of, but that woman had taken everything from her. That was her single lapse in judgment, but even Kelton said it was understandable. She couldn’t let the bitch get away with what she’d done.

  “It’s hard coming here, baby, but it’s something I sometimes need to do. I can’t let them see me, obviously, because they think I’m dead. They’d mourned for me. I couldn’t do that to them. I had to content myself with watching them get on with their lives.

  “You have a big sister and two big brothers, and you’re an uncle!” Kayleigh grinned at the thought. “Elias, you would be proud to call them family if you knew them. Michael married again to a wonderful woman, who was a friend of mine, called Jenny. She was my best friend and had been devastated by my ‘death’. The kids all got on well and it was a good partnership. As strange as it was for me, they were perfect for one another.

  “Your siblings are all very successful, with careers in law and medicine, and have done wonderful things with their lives. I’ve been very blessed. As I am now with you.” She lightly touched his nose and Elias smiled in his sleep. “You’re going to grow up to do wonderful things with your life.”

  It wasn’t like she craved her human life. Kayleigh loved where she was in life with Kelton and the Matris. However, it wasn’t like she was ever going to be able to forget. Even though it sometimes hurt to see how they got on with their lives and how she faded from their memories, it made her heart swell to see her human family grow, continuing the blood ties that she had created with her human husband.

  Elias slept the entire time they were there. He was snuggled up in a fluffy blue fleece blanket in his car seat. Kayleigh smiled. He looked just like his father.

  Deciding that it was time to leave, Kayleigh checked her phone before setting off. She’d come here and done what she’d needed to and wanted to leave before any conscientious neighbours spotted her car and decided to call the police.

  Just as she was about to throw her phone back into her bag, the screen lit up with a text from Kelton.

  Is everything okay?

  Kayleigh smiled softly. She’d been hoping that her little outing would have gone unn
oticed, but knowing that Kelton liked to call in on them if he had a quiet five minutes, she had left him a note telling him that she was taking Elias out for a drive in the car. If he had come to their suite and found them gone with no explanation, he would have had a panic attack. After all that had gone on lately, he worried about her safety. There was no way he would have let her leave on her own. If he had insisted she take a warrior with her, she wouldn’t have been able to do this.

  It had been important to her. She needed to get this off her chest while Elias was still young enough not to take it in. This was the perfect time to do it.

  Also, as perfect as their life was, Kelton still feared that she’d run out on him again and take the baby with her. He never said anything to her about it, but he didn’t have to. They knew each other too well to be able to hide their fears. She tried to reassure him in subtle ways, but only time would prove to him that she wasn’t going anywhere, and that she certainly wouldn’t take his son from him.

  On our way back now xx

  As she started up the car and turned back in the direction of the mansion, Elias started to stir. He’d been asleep the whole time and it was nearing the time for his next feed. Plus she didn’t want Kelton to worry about her being out unguarded. She had done what she set out to do and now it was time to return to her life as it was.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kelton felt like smacking his head against a brick wall. If the situation hadn’t been quite so serious, it would have been comical.

  They’d finally gotten Trey over feeling the guilt over all that had happened. He knew that there were too many factors for any one person to be blamed.

  Caleb had helped out a lot with his mental recovery, but now they were having even more trouble trying to stop Caleb from shouldering the blame.