From Fear to Eternity

by Michelle Rowen

  A sneer curled her upper lip in a very unattractive manner. “Perfect life, perfect career. This can be such an illusion to someone not living that life, working that career. I achieved all I could as an actress. I crave more, but it will have to be out of the public eye for a while. God forbid that humans find out our little secret—the world might end. Or would it? Maybe it’s time for us to let them know vampires really exist. Maybe that’s exactly what I’ll do when I become the head elder of the Ring.”

  That vampires would go public with our existence was the worst idea I’d ever heard. “It would be chaos.”

  “Or maybe not. Maybe they’d bow to us—that is, if they knew what was good for them. Maybe we need to accept that humans are a plentiful food source for vampires, but not anyone who has power over us.”

  Was she crazy or just completely delusional? “You definitely have big plans.”

  “The biggest. But first I want to finish a couple more movies. I’m not quite ready to leave the limelight.” She put a hand on Thierry’s arm. “That’s why Thierry will take Atticus’s seat on the council and keep it warm for me. Yes, I think your husband will be a great help to me in the years to come, in so, so many ways.”

  Something very dark and unpleasant bubbled in my chest at the greedy way she was eyeing Thierry. I wanted to scratch those eyeballs out. “Is this how you get your boyfriends, Tasha? You have to put a spell on them so they can’t say no? Kind of pathetic if you ask me.”

  She didn’t flinch. “I guess it’s a good thing nobody asked you.”

  “I think Sebastien might have a little trouble with your plan to use Thierry as your walking, talking slave boy. He’s in love with you.”

  Tasha scanned me from head to toe as if assessing the competition and finding it unworthy. “He’s been very helpful to me.”

  “If that’s so, why did you forget about him for three hundred years after you trapped him in that tomb?”

  Her brows went up. “You think I did that?”

  “I think I need an itemized list to keep up with everything you’re responsible for, Tasha. I’m actually impressed by your thoroughness. When you do something, you do it right.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You killed Jacob since he wouldn’t give you big bucks for your book. You killed Anna and Frederic because they were in your way. Thomas . . . I still don’t understand how he died.”

  “A side effect of that spell, I’m afraid. He’d been under it for so long he went into harsh detox in minutes.”

  Panic clutched my heart to learn that the same spell Thierry was under had a deadly side effect.

  I shot him a look. “How do you feel?”

  A frown creased his brow. “I feel fine.”

  “What about your thirst?”

  “Currently muted.”

  I wanted him to snap out of this, to take control of the situation so everything would turn out all right, but he wasn’t making any sudden moves. “I guess there are worse fates than being the minion to a gorgeous actress. And, hey, looks like you’re going to get a promotion at work. Congrats.”

  “I have to respect your ability to make light of even the darkest situation. You’re not going to beg me to try to fight against this spell, as you did earlier?”

  “I’m hoping it’s implied. I’d hate to sound like a broken record.”

  His jaw tightened. “It won’t make a difference, anyway. Besides, you never believed in my ability to resist my thirst. You always thought the worst of me.”

  The accusation was delivered in a monotone, but it managed to ignite my anger like nothing else had this evening. I wanted to yell at him, to remind him that I was the one who’d believed in him when he didn’t believe in himself.

  But the words froze on my tongue before any escaped.

  And I just stared at him.

  “How sad.” Tasha shook her head as she walked in a slow circle around the two of us. “Married only a short time, but already that marriage has reached its end. It’s impossible for a fledgling to understand the needs of a master vampire, one with so much history, so much baggage. Believe me, Thierry, you’ll be much better off with me.”

  Over all the months we’d known each other, I’d never lost my faith in him. Moments of doubt, sure. Moments of fear, okay. But overall? I knew he was a good man who didn’t want to give in to his darkness. And I knew in my heart that he would never hurt me on purpose.

  I’m not sure I could have made my faith in him any clearer in the time we’d shared.

  Thierry’s expression didn’t change. His gaze remained cold and stoic.

  But he’d just lied right in front of Tasha.

  He knew I believed in him.

  Maybe it was possible to teach an old vampire new tricks after all.

  I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself. “You’re right. I didn’t believe in you, Thierry. Maybe I should have, but what was I supposed to think? Your thirst always gets the better of you and tonight’s no exception. My neck feels like you used it as a chew toy earlier. And one pathetic little spell can make you snap to attention like a tin soldier. I almost feel sorry for you.”

  His shoulders stiffened, but he still wouldn’t meet my gaze directly. “Your opinion is always appreciated, Sarah.”

  I turned back to Tasha. “So what exactly are you waiting for?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You think I’m waiting for something?”

  “Actually, yes. You killed half the people who were stuck here tonight. You tied up three others. You’ve got Thierry at your beck and call.” I exchanged a glance with Veronique, who looked very worried. For someone who was rarely concerned about anything, that wasn’t a good sign. Marcellus just stared at Tasha with silent fury. “What about Sebastien? Is he still around or did you get rid of him, too?”

  Tasha shook her head. “I didn’t kill Sebastien. In fact, I have him to thank for all of this.”

  My stomach lurched to think I’d been duped by someone I very nearly trusted. “He’s been in on this with you from the very beginning, hasn’t he?”

  She laughed. “Hardly. With all the time he was unconscious in his little tomb, Sebastien is barely more than a fledgling himself, ignorant to the ways of the real world. We were the same age in the beginning, supporting each other, helping each other. But then he misbehaved and had to be punished. All these years later, he’s still that little fledgling who needed punishment, and I’m a master vampire who knows what to do and how to get what she wants.”

  I was trying very hard to understand their relationship. Sebastien loved her, but it didn’t seem as if that love was returned. “What do you mean, he misbehaved?”

  Tasha’s hand went to her long hair as she absently smoothed it down over her shoulder. “I wasn’t exactly the most beautiful girl in my village, but Sebastien and I connected. At the time, I thought he was my soul mate.” Her eyes narrowed. “Then she came along.”

  “She?”

  Tasha marched over to Veronique and roughly pulled her gag loose. “This woman seduced him.”

  “You,” Veronique snarled, and I’d never heard her sound more dangerous. Those had to be silver-infused ropes or she would have broken free long before now. “I knew you looked familiar, but I hadn’t thought of that mousy little creature in hundreds of years. Bettina.”

  Tasha flinched at the name. “That was my name once, but I’ve upgraded. However, my hate for you, Veronique, has never faded. You ruined my life.”

  “I ruined your life?” Despite her bound state, Veronique managed to look down her nose at Tasha. “You barely registered for me. I couldn’t have cared less about you if I tried.”

  A muscle in Tasha’s cheek twitched. “You seduced Sebastien knowing it would ruin his love for me. I couldn’t compete with your beauty. Not then, anyway.”

 
Veronique looked disgusted at the accusation. “Are you mad? Sebastien was like a son to me. I didn’t seduce him.”

  “You’re a liar. You’ve always been a liar, but I know the truth.” Tasha shoved the gag back into Veronique’s mouth to stop her from saying anything else.

  I think I was starting to understand what had happened back then—fueled by love and jealousy, two very explosive elements. “You hated Veronique, but you had no chance against her as a fledgling. So instead you punished Sebastien by trapping him in the tomb and leaving him there to rot.”

  She gave me a withering glare. “I couldn’t bear to look at him, knowing that he’d betrayed me.”

  “Why blame it on Thierry?” I asked, sickened by the thought of doing this to anyone.

  “I didn’t. Sebastien assumed it was him and I chose to let him believe the worst of his sire.”

  So why had she released him now, after all these years?

  I think I knew.

  “You freed him because you found out he had an amulet stashed somewhere. Right? If he hadn’t had the amulet, you would have let him stay in that tomb forever.”

  Thierry hadn’t budged an inch. His gaze was fixed on the wall behind my shoulder, and I couldn’t even tell if he was paying attention. Melanie, Veronique, and Marcellus moved as little as possible, but they could hear every word spoken between us.

  Her secrets were being revealed to a captive audience. Emphasis on the captive part.

  Tasha’s condescending smile returned. “Some time ago, I came across letters that he’d left for me detailing that he possessed the amulet—the same amulet Thierry had wanted. When I’d first read those letters I had no idea what it meant, nor did I care. But in recent years, my interest in the subject has greatly increased.”

  I remembered a conversation we’d had earlier tonight. “That movie you made—the first one. The lousy one. The screenwriter knew all about djinn.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Oh, Sarah, perhaps you’re more clever than I thought you were. That writer was a great asset to me, especially since he was obsessed with finding one of the legendary amulets. Yes, there are more than one. When we acquired one, together we killed the djinn with a special blade I purchased at an auction much like the one held earlier tonight, burned his body, and stole his magic. Or rather, I did. By then the writer was no longer a problem for me.”

  “Gee, let me guess. You killed him, too.”

  She shrugged. “Humans are greedy creatures, but very fragile. Jacob, for example, didn’t take very much effort at all. Just a little twist after I quenched my thirst.”

  At this admission, Veronique attempted to stand, but didn’t get far. Smoke rose from her wrists as she fought against her bindings.

  “You burned the djinn’s body,” I said.

  “Of course. Cutting off the head wouldn’t be nearly enough to completely destroy a djinn.”

  Aha! So now I knew why Jack was still alive and kicking. They’d missed a step.

  “Thomas helped you,” I said. “You cut off the djinn’s head tonight before everyone arrived and you let him take care of burning the body.”

  A blood spell had made him her yes-man. But tonight he’d started to say no.

  Her gaze turned predatory. I knew there was no way she’d ever let me leave this room knowing what I did now about her and her nasty deeds. “Does it make you feel better to know all of this? Accomplished somehow?”

  “Mostly it makes me sad that my favorite actress is a power-hungry, wannabe witch.”

  “Most famous actresses are.”

  I hadn’t felt bad for Thomas earlier when I thought he was helping Tasha of his own free will. Turned out, he had very little free will to spare. And what he did have, he’d used to try to thwart her.

  I scanned the room again, trying to look as much at ease as possible given the situation. “I have a question. Why are we trapped here? If you managed to successfully steal the djinn’s magic, why are you still here with the rest of us?”

  Tasha regarded me in silence for an uncomfortable moment, and I wasn’t sure if she was going to answer. Then again, I already knew Tasha Evans loved the sound of her own voice. “There have been a few complications, but I’m patient enough to wait until dawn. We’re so close now. Can you feel the sun about to rise as I can?”

  She closed her eyes and held her arms out to either side. As I watched her warily, her famous tattoos . . . multiplied.

  Literally. The ones she already had expanded, tracing along her flesh as if someone had taken a Sharpie marker to her. It was writing in a foreign language, symbols twisting and flowing over her skin all the way down to her wrists and over her throat.

  Now that I was paying attention, I realized that her tattoos looked exactly like Jack’s.

  “The tattoos are the magic,” I whispered.

  This earned me an unpleasant look. “Don’t be too clever, now, little fledgling. It’s not healthy.”

  But I couldn’t stop just when more pieces were clicking into place for me. “You got the first ones when you killed the original djinn and stole his magic. It’s djinn magic you have, not witch magic. But it’s fading because you’re not a djinn. Now after all these years you need to recharge.”

  “Yes, every twenty years like clockwork.” She flicked a glance toward Thierry. “I need you to do something very important for me, Thierry. Will you do whatever I ask of you?”

  “Of course,” he said without hesitation, his familiar voice so cold it gave me chills.

  She held out her wooden stake, the one she’d been about to use on Atticus. “Kill your wife.”

  My gaze shot to Thierry as he turned to take the stake.

  “As you wish, Tasha,” he said.

  Chapter 24

  I spun to face Thierry as he stepped toward me, stake in hand.

  “What are you doing, Thierry?” I asked, my voice shaking. “You’re not going to resist at all?”

  His jaw was so tight it looked painful.

  I tried to get Thierry to look in my eyes, but he refused. Instead, he studied the sharp wooden stake in his hand.

  “Kill her, Thierry,” Tasha commanded. “Now.”

  Thierry’s eyes finally snapped to mine.

  I didn’t beg. I didn’t try to convince him that he could fight this. He’d already given me a clue that he was fighting—that he believed there might be a chance, even if this was a much stronger spell than we’d originally assumed.

  Life had been so much easier when we thought the werewolf cocktail waitress might be the witch in residence.

  Although the rest of him looked completely cold-blooded, a trickle of perspiration ran down Thierry’s left temple.

  “Do what you have to do, Thierry,” I told him, standing my ground. “You know how I feel. That hasn’t changed. It will never change.”

  “I didn’t believe in myself,” he said through clenched teeth. “It sounds ridiculous, given who I am. How long I’ve lived. But you changed everything for me.”

  Thierry lunged at me and I staggered back. He grabbed my hand and placed the stake in it. “Defend yourself against me however you must.”

  Maybe he meant for me to stake him, but, please. That wasn’t going to happen. Clutching the stake, I moved toward Tasha instead. Having a weapon made me feel a whole lot better about my odds against the murderous actress.

  But then, out of nowhere, Sebastien was suddenly there and he stepped in front of me, yanking the stake out of my grip. He shoved me backward so forcefully that I stumbled and fell hard to the floor.

  “Sebastien,” Tasha purred, “you didn’t have to worry. She wasn’t close enough to hurt me.”

  “I know,” he said. “But I am.”

  He turned and thrust the stake into her heart.

  She shrieked and stumbled back, a mirror imag
e of what I’d just done. She grasped the stake and pulled it out of her chest, letting it clatter to the floor.

  Her wide-eyed gaze snapped to his. “Why would you do that?”

  Sebastien’s hands were clenched at his sides. “I heard what you said. It was you all this time, all because of your stupid jealousies. I’d told you that Veronique meant nothing to me, but you refused to believe me. And you’d want to hurt me like that when I trusted you more than anyone else?”

  I flicked a look at Thierry. His brow was shiny with perspiration. He was a master vampire, much stronger than Thomas had been. He could fight this spell. I knew he could.

  He already had, mostly. There was only a little left, trapping him in its magical grasp.

  Tasha braced herself against the wall and glared at Sebastien, but the outrage and surprise swiftly faded from her eyes . . . just as the stake wound healed on her chest.

  “What the hell?” Sebastien managed. “You should be dead!”

  She grabbed his shirt and launched him backward. He hit the wall so hard he left a deep dent in it before he fell to the floor. “You think it’ll be that easy to kill me? I’m immortal, darling. For real. Forever.”

  “Frederic’s dagger,” I whispered. “That’s why you killed him. The cut on his arm. You used it to drink his blood. The dagger can give extended life to humans—”

  “—and true immortality to vampires,” she finished. “I wasn’t sure if it really worked, but I guess I’ve proven it now, haven’t I? I’m indestructible. I will live forever.”

  I stared at her in shock. This beautiful actress I’d admired for longer than I could remember was the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life.

  “There are now only minutes until dawn,” she said, glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner of the parlor near Veronique, Marcellus, and Melanie. “And then this will finally be over.”

  “You’ll have all the magic of the Jacquerra Amulet inside you,” Thierry said.

  “The sun is a powerful entity. Its arrival, its absence, makes all the difference when it comes to magic like this.” She looked down at her arms and the slightest edge of worry crossed her gaze. “This is a bit different than last time, though. The markings should all be solid by now.”