by LM DeWalt
“You had no right to steal from him! Just as you had no right to steal from Kalia and Aaron!”
She glanced at Aaron and Kalia but said nothing. She dropped her arms and ran at me, a stake aimed at my heart. Before I could think twice, I instinctively swung my sword. Kalia had risen and pushed me aside but I managed to cut Maia’s throat. Her body fell to the ground and she clutched her neck, blood spilling out through her fingers, a gurgling sound escaping her parted lips. Everyone gasped.
“What the hell did you do?” Kalia screamed. Vampires and humans backed away. Kalia’s enraged face twisted into something unrecognizable. She looked nothing like the mother I loved. She tried to run toward me but Aaron held her tightly. She kicked at him trying to break his grasp as he struggled to restrain her. “You tried to kill my daughter!”
“She tried to kill Christian…and me.” I dropped the sword from my shaking hand. “She lied to you. She lied to all of us. I tried to tell you that. Aaron, I tried to tell you. You wouldn’t listen.”
“She is mine! I love her. You have no right to take her away!” she cried. The hearts beating around us grew fewer and fewer as the humans hastily retreated from the scene. The only heartbeat left was a weak one, from Jose Luis. At least I knew he was still alive, though just barely.
“She tried to kill me and my husband!” I screamed, hurt and confusion replaced by anger.
Aaron’s eyes softened as he looked at my face with a tenderness I remembered. He would understand. He had to. But his expression slowly became one of stone. “You could have done things differently,” he growled through gritted teeth as he clutched a fighting Kalia to his body. “You didn’t have to do it this way.”
“Please don’t do this. Please understand,” I said, unable to respond to his comment. What else could I have done? “She was going to kill me next. Is that what you wanted?”
Aaron’s mouth opened and then closed again. He looked down at his wife. “You have a week to get your stuff and get out of our house,” she screamed at me.
I dropped to my knees, pain in my chest overtaking my body. “Kalia, please…”
“Get out of our lives! I never want to set eyes on you again!” Aaron clutched her tighter as she screamed and he stared me in the eyes, but said nothing. “We did everything we could to help you! We gave you love. We gave you a home. We gave you family. And this is how you repay us?”
“I know you gave a lot. I don’t question that, but Maia lied to everyone. She was using you from the beginning,” I argued.
“Things were easy before you came into our lives. We were a happy, loving family. We never should’ve gone looking for you.” She wasn’t screaming anymore. She sounded mechanical suddenly, unfeeling and cold.
“I never meant for any of this to happen. Maia is the one who brought Ian back into my life. Please don’t take my family away from me. I love you both,” I cried. “So much.”
“It’s over, Lily. We never want to see you again,” Aaron said without looking at me. My dead heart felt like it was going to break. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t force my legs to get me off the ground so I could go to Kalia and plead with her.
“Aaron, let me go to her. To Maia,” Kalia pleaded. He slowly released his hold and she ran to drop by Maia. She slumped over her and cried, her body shaking with every sob.
“Lily,” Aaron said, his voice soft, bringing me hope again.
“Aaron,” I answered, hoping things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
“Get your people and get away from here,” he ordered.
“Aaron, you can’t mean that,” I pleaded.
“Now! It’s over!” he screamed, his face turning ugly with rage.
I looked at the other vampires who stood surrounding us. Riley looked at the ground when my eyes reached hers. Pierce had no expression on his face, his eyes staring straight ahead. Raul and Beth turned away. Only Fiore met my eyes. She walked over and helped Christian to his feet, draping his arm around her shoulder. I forced myself to my feet and walked to where Jose Luis was laying on the ground. I picked him up and cradled him in my arms. He was still breathing but it was very shallow. As I walked past Aloysius, he whispered, “Go to a hotel. I will be in touch as soon as possible.” I nodded.
My eyes drifted again to Aaron as we passed. He turned away from me. A lump rose in my throat and I couldn’t swallow, let alone speak. I wanted to plead with him, beg his forgiveness, but I said nothing as I followed Fiore to the path that would lead us off the mountain and away from my family forever.
~ Thirty-Six ~
The hotel room was as dark as the drapes would allow. I kept them closed all day and all night, not wanting to cheered by the city or the glowing sun that didn’t mourn with me. Christian was hanging on, taking blood from both Fiore and me, depending on who was in the room at the time. Jose Luis was in a hospital room in downtown Lima, fighting for his life. Fiore and I took turns with both, never leaving either alone for more than an hour.
It had been days since the horrible events that led my family to cast me out. I was just someone they had felt sorry for and decided to embrace into their family, temporarily, as it had turned out. I wasn’t their daughter and never had been. Despite everything she had done, Kalia and Aaron considered Maia their only true daughter.
I tried to focus my thoughts on Christian and Jose Luis’s recoveries instead, tried not to think of everything I had lost, but it was useless. The pain and loss was real. It was physical and emotional. I felt it in every fiber of my being.
“Lily, you need to feed,” Fiore warned as I swayed when I stood from Christian’s side to prepare to take my turn at the hospital.
“There’s no time. I’ll be fine. I have to get to the hospital,” I protested as I leaned against the dresser to steady myself.
“No, you won’t be fine. You need to feed. You’ve been giving Christian blood and haven’t taken any for yourself. You’ll do neither of them any good if you’re too weak to even walk,” she said as she stood to steady me. The room was spinning worse than I had anticipated. “It’s starting to show on your face and your hair. You’re starting to age. Is that what you want?”
I shook my head. “I’ll feed when there’s time.”
“It seems to me you’re doing this on purpose. If you don’t feed now, today, I will hold you down and force my blood into your mouth. Christian will just have to wait for his.”
“No! Please,” I argued. “You can’t do that. He needs it more than I do.”
“Then promise me you’ll feed before you go to the hospital. Or are you slowly trying to kill yourself?” She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow.
“Of course I’m not.”
“Good because I would hate to see you do something so rash. You still have a family. Jose Luis, Christian, and I are your family now and we do not want to lose you.” She raised her lips to my forehead and held them there. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. She was right. I couldn’t do that to Christian, not after how hard we had fought to stay together. I couldn’t give up like that. I raised my arms and wrapped them around her waist, squeezing her gently.
“I’m sorry. It just hurts so much, you know? But you’re right; I can’t give up now, for his sake.”
“How about for your own sake?” She backed away to look at my face. “Never mind. I don’t care who you live for as long as you live. The Lily I know and love is not weak. She’s a fighter. I saw that from the moment I met you. Please don’t prove me wrong.”
“I will try harder. I promise,” I said.
“I believe you.” She put her fingers under my chin and raised my face. “I love you. Don’t ever forget that.”
My stomach did a flip, remembering her argument with Christian. “I won’t. I love you too.”
Sitting by Jose Luis’s bedside at the hospital, while his broken bones healed, I couldn’t help but think back on all the things I could have done differently. I should have grabbed Maia, restrained her.
I didn’t have to do what I did; after all, she was just a child. Maybe we could’ve talked some sense into her. However, again Maia had missed her mark when she plunged the stake into Christian’s back. It had taken him a few days, but he was conscious again and slowly regaining his strength. And I had missed my mark; while I had no news, I was sure Maia would recover, just as Christian would.
“Lily, please don’t torture yourself over this,” Christian said as he heard my thoughts when I sat by his bedside again in the apartment. Fiore had left the room to call Aloysius. The doctors were hopeful that Jose Luis would fully recover from his injuries. He would need a lot of care since he was almost in a full body cast and I was more than willing to do that. “You had no choice.”
“I lost the people I love.”
His hand wrapped around mine. “You have me. You have Fiore and Jose Luis,” he said. “And somehow, you also have Aloysius. He doesn’t hold anything against you. Maia survived, remember? It will take some time, but she will heal.”
“I know.” I blinked over tears. “But I love Kalia and Aaron and they never want to see me again.”
“Maybe in time, they’ll come around,” he whispered. “Let them have some time to clear their heads.”
“I guess so. But what do we do in the meantime?” I asked raising my face to his.
“Fiore said that Aloysius will let us stay in his apartment as long as we like. We’ll go there when they discharge Jose Luis. We can start our lives over again, together.” He kissed my forehead.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not alone and I hope I never am again,” I said and kissed his lips. He sighed and closed his eyes.
“Not a chance. You will never be alone again. That’s a promise.” He wrapped me up in his strong arms as the door opened. Fiore walked in smiling from ear to ear.
“What is it?” I asked, turning to look at her from Christian’s embrace.
“Umm…well…” she started, trying to keep control of her smile.
“Spit it out!” Christian and I said together. She laughed.
“Aloysius is going back to Italy for a couple of months. He wants me to go with him. But I’ll stay if you need me to,” she said, still not able to wipe the smile off her beautiful face.
Christian and I looked at each other and smiled. “No, of course, go. Just make sure you keep in touch,” I said.
She rushed over and wrapped her arms around both of us. “Always,” she said and kissed the top of my head. “I need to go pack. We leave tonight.”
“I love you,” I said. “Never forget that.”
“Me too, Fiore,” Christian said, surprising both of us. “Take care of Aloysius. He’s one of the good ones.”
She kissed us both and then kissed Jose Luis’ forehead before bouncing out of the room. It was great to see her so happy. Aloysius was a perfect match for her.
“And I’m the perfect match for you,” Christian said, looking at Jose Luis. “And, we have a son now.”
Jose Luis stirred in his sleep and we both went to his side. He was our main concern now and he deserved the happiness we planned to give him. I sighed as I looked at Christian who tenderly held Jose Luis’ hand in his. One day, we would make Kalia and Aaron understand what Maia had done, but for now, I had my husband, my hero, at my side.
The rest could wait.
~ end ~
Lily & Christian’s Story Continues With... Leilani
Lily, a once solitary and lonely vampire, has finally found the love she longed for in Christian, her husband and a newly turned vampire. They’ve settled in Peru, and life is finally taking on a semblance of normalcy, albeit with bodyguards to protect them from a cadre of evil vampires bent on revenge.
With their friends, Lily & Christian are on a quest to find their newly adopted son’s long lost sister, Leilani, a child witch with uncontrollable powers. But their son becomes gravely ill and is taken from his hospital ward.
When Christian also inexplicably disappears, and long buried secrets come to light, Lily’s world is turned upside down, making her question her desire to remain a part of the undead world she’s lived in for almost a century.
About The Author
LM DeWalt is a Peruvian American who has been living in the US for 30 years. She works as a teacher of ESL, Spanish, French, and accent reduction and is also an interpreter and translator. She has written for several Spanish language newspapers but her passion was always to write novels. Her love of vampires, and all things paranormal, started when she was seven years old and saw Bela Lugosi’s Dracula.
She currently resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where it’s way too cold, with her husband, three teenage sons and two cats.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my mom, my husband, and my three sons for their patience and encouragement through this process. Thank you also to all my family and friends for their continued support. Thank you so much to Michelle at Central Avenue Publishing, the Greater Lehigh Valley Writer’s Group, my critique partner, Bob Janis Dillon, and my wonderful editor, Meghan Tobin-O’Drowsky. A special thanks goes out to Aloysius Dragovits, Daniella Juhasz, Lee and Krista Sandt for their time and inspiration. Last but not least, I would like to thank Oscar Ramirez Barcelli and Carol Rodriguez for their help with the research.