by Lund, S. E.
"How long before it wears off?” I ask. “Can't we stop him from getting into my mind?" I frown and clench my fists. "Pain stops either of you from connecting with me. Maybe I should see if pain can block him as well."
"Maybe being in stasis prolonged the effect. Besides, you can't be in constant pain, Eve. No." Julien shakes his head and walks back and forth, pacing. "We need you to be in a safe house we control so we can protect you, keep him from taking you."
"Can you?" I ask, looking in Michel’s eyes for a moment to see if I can detect deceit. "Can you really protect me from him? Or is this a done deal? Should I just give him what he wants?"
"We'll do whatever it takes," Michel says and leans forward to take my hand, squeezing it and rubbing his thumb over my palm. "We should know soon enough what he plans to do—kill you or capture you and use your powers. He’s obviously weak from fighting off the virus, so it will take him some time to be strong enough to do anything himself. We have to be ready for anything."
“What do you see?” I say, my voice low.
He frowns for a moment. “You don’t believe I can see the future.”
I shrug and glance quickly at Julien and Dylan before leaning closer. “What do you think you see?”
He smiles briefly. “Too many futures to know which one comes true. In one, Julien and I die. In another, we both live. There are so many permutations, Eve. Choices we all make alter them. It’s too much for one person to control. I know that now.”
I look in his eyes to see if he’s being truthful, but I can’t read him. He’s too good at deception.
“If he’s going to kill me, he’ll want to do it himself. Letting someone else do it wouldn’t be good enough for Soren. If he wants to kill me, he’ll want to do it with one hand around my throat so he can watch me die when he stakes me.”
Julien frowns at Michel and finally, Michel releases my hand.
I sigh and lean back. The three of us working together is going to be tricky.
"I really don't have a choice here, do I?"
Julien shakes his head. I turn to Dylan. His arms are folded and he’s frowning.
"Eve, we have to protect you. We have to prevent Soren from using you to gain power.”
“All right, I’ll go to Boston,” I say. “But I need one more night here. I’m not budging on this,” I say, my voice firm. The sky has been so clear the past few days and I want to enjoy it before I leave.
Michel shakes his head. “You should leave tonight. If you insist, you need to pack your things and prepare to leave by tomorrow night. No later, Eve. It’s not safe here.”
He’s right, of course. There’s no other option now that Soren’s free.
* * *
When it comes time for them to leave, Julien stays behind, lingering by the door. It’s his week starting tomorrow and he won’t let me forget it, but I hate to have Michel leave with Julien here. There’s no need to foster more jealousy between the two of them.
I pull Julien aside. “Come back in the morning,” I say. “Slip out when Michel’s sleeping.”
“It’s my week,” Julien says, his voice filled with muffled protest. “He knows that. He’s got to be a man and accept it. He doesn’t hesitate to speak of being with you when it’s his week.”
“Just do it, Julien,” I say, and push him, my palms flat on his chest. “I want peace between the three of us. I won’t become Marguerite and have you in front of each other. Those are my conditions for this to work.”
He sighs and makes a face but relents. “I know. I’ll be back before sunrise.” He leans in and gives me a quick kiss but I see Michel waiting in the driveway.
He’s seen us.
His frown says everything.
Chapter 85
“A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.”
Max Muller
I spend the rest of Sunday evening sitting on the patio watching the night sky. Down below on the beach, two guards take turns patrolling the perimeter of the property. On the street to the west, another set of guards monitor the road.
While I realize I have to move somewhere safer, I want to stay by the ocean and smell its scent tonight. I wanted to stay here until Dylan gets the daywalking drug from Blackstone. I’m still too new to this vampire lifestyle to be doing anything but adjusting. I need this peace and quiet for my sanity. At the cottage, the rest of the world, with all its tragedy and heartbreak, seems to vanish and it’s just me and the sound of the surf, the seabirds, and, when they’re with me, one of the twins.
* * *
As promised, Julien arrives an hour before dawn, when the sky is still dark enough that I can sit outside with a blanket around me and breathe in the fresh air without being too cold. I hear the lock turn in the door and then the sliding door to the patio opens.
He stands behind my chair and his hands squeeze my shoulders as he leans down to kiss my cheek.
I take one of his hands and squeeze it back. “You were able to escape?”
“We’re staying at the hotel. We sat up talking strategy and meeting with a few people about security in Boston. I think Michel was trying to stay awake as long as possible in case I left early, but when I didn’t, he finally went to his own room. I waited at least twenty minutes before I left, so if he was listening to see if I left early, it’s his own fault for being jealous.” Julien takes my hand and pulls me up from the chair. “Come inside. It’s cold out here.”
I try to resist. “I like it out here. The sound of the water calms me.”
“I don’t want you calm, Eve. I want you all breathless and excited. If you’re leaving tonight, I want you now.”
He grins and I can’t resist that de Cernay smile. I relent and let him pull me inside the house, my heart rate quickening at the thought of making love.
“You can’t wait?”
“I can’t wait any longer,” he says and removes the blanket from around my shoulder. “It’s been nine days,” he says, his voice dropping lower in register. “That’s more than long enough.”
He sits on the bed and pulls me between his knees before pulling me against him. I cradle his head in my arms and we remain in that position for a few moments as our senses finally join and mingle, our flesh becoming an indistinguishable mass of desire.
He glances up at me, and our eyes meet. “I missed you,” he whispers. “When we’re apart, I feel like this huge part of me is empty. I only feel whole when we’re together. Alone. This being apart for nine days at a time is hell, Eve. I don’t like it. I want us to be together all the time.”
I feel the same ache he describes when I’m separated from one or the other twin. Even when I’m with one, my heart aches for the other and I feel guilty for denying him.
“We can’t be together all the time, Julien. You know that.”
“The heart wants what it wants.”
He kisses my neck where he first bit me, and the feel of his lips makes my breath catch in my throat. Then, he rolls over onto his back and pulls me on top of him. I straddle his hips and admire him beneath me for a moment. The expression of desire on his face as his eyes slide over me is incredibly arousing.
“Fuck me,” he whispers as his hands grip my hips. I lean down and kiss him and before we connect senses, I can’t help but think of how different he is from his twin.
Briefly, for a short time, I forget everything—all the stress of discovering that Soren is free. The worry about moving to Boston. Daywalking. Being a vampire. It disappears in a blur of flesh and mouths and tongues and fingers as our bodies press against each other, our limbs entwined, our breath joined.
* * *
We sleep the day through, wrapped in each other’s arms, the sheets and blankets a tangle around our bodies. Before dusk, I send Julien back to the hotel where the twins are staying so that he can change clothes. They both stayed at the hotel in town. Neither one wants to be too far away in case Soren comes for me.
And come he does,
all too soon, and the peace I have known at the cottage is forever shattered.
* * *
That evening, Dylan and the twins arrive to help me pack up and before we can even start, one of the guards enters the cottage wearing full SWAT gear, stake and sword on his hip in twin scabbards. He removes his helmet, his face vampire pale.
“We got traffic on the road.”
“What?” Michel goes to the window and pulls back the drapes. “Damn…” He turns back to the room and his eyes find me where I stand. “Get Eve in the most central room.”
Julien nods and takes my hand, dragging me to the bathroom, which is located in the center of the cottage. “Stay in here,” he says. “Lock the door and don’t come out unless one of us tells you. Do you understand?”
I stop and pull my hand out of his. “In case you forgot, I spent two weeks at the Abbey learning to fight…”
He shakes his head, his blue eyes dark under a frown. “You’re too valuable to put in danger. Just stay here.”
“Julien,” I say, angry that he won’t let me fight, “why did you go to all the trouble of training me if I don’t use the skills I have?”
“Because,” Julien says and grabs my chin, forcing me to look in his eyes. “Because if this is Soren, he has older and much stronger Adepts and ascended vampires helping him. You’re no match for them, even with training. Leave this to us.”
I try to pull away, but he stops me, his hands on either side of my face. He kisses me and his kiss is almost desperate.
“Please…” he whispers. “You know I love your independence, but for once in your life, just obey…”
I exhale, caught between a desire to protect myself and following orders. I don’t want to obey if the brothers are just being overprotective, but maybe they’re right. I don’t have a chance against much stronger and older Adepts or ascended vampires.
“Okay,” I say with reluctance, trying to be a good soldier.
He pushes me towards the bathroom and I enter, closing the door and locking it. I sit on the side of the tub and wait, my acute sense of hearing keeping me informed. Since I can’t see anything, I focus on the sounds, attentive to the noises of the house and yard.
Michel shouts to Julien, ordering him to take up position in the back of the house. I hear the two of them moving through the halls, then I hear the slice of Julien’s sword as he removes it from his scabbard. I hear Michel checking his pistol to make sure it’s loaded, the click of the magazine as it slides into the gun. Dylan leaves the house with the guard, their footsteps crunching on the gravel as they run down the drive to the road that borders the coast.
I wait, my heart pounding. Is it Soren himself? I can’t imagine it’s anyone else. He’s come to kill me in revenge for what I did to him and the Twelve.
It’s only then I realize that I don’t have my own swords. In the haste to get me to a safe place, the twins didn’t think to arm me. I hesitate for a moment, not wanting to disobey orders. I don’t want to be left alone to defend myself. Without a weapon of any kind, I’m a sitting duck.
The cottage is quiet. I listen at the bathroom door, but I hear nothing from the street or yard. The only sound is a low moaning of wind through the trees, a branch groaning as it moves back and forth, a hiss and crackle as the wind rustles the dry leaves. I turn the lock very slowly, for whoever, whatever is out there has hearing as good as or better than mine. The lock clicks open with a metallic sound that rings in my ears.
I turn the knob and slowly open the door, leaving the bathroom and hurrying on tiptoes to my bedroom, where my own sword and stake are located. I lift the cloth they’re wrapped in and slowly unwind the package, taking the sword and wooden stake in my hands before creeping back to the bathroom. If Michel and Julien have heard my movements, they don’t try to stop me. I’m surprised and a little unnerved. I thought one of them would hear me and come running, but perhaps they’re so focused on the external threat, they don’t notice.
Once back in the bathroom, I close the door, clicking the lock shut. I stand with my sword in one hand and stake in the other.
I won’t be killed without a fight.
* * *
Long moments pass and my heart rate slows a bit in the silence. Nothing has happened and I begin to think that it was truly nothing of concern. I let my guard drop a bit, the sword heavy in my hand. I sit back down on the side of the tub, my sword resting across my thighs, and wait, placing the stake on the counter across from me. It’s in easy reach if I need it.
A huge explosion rocks the cottage and the floor shakes below my feet. I hold on to the side of the tub and wait, my heart speeding. Dust falls from the ceiling, which seems to have been warped from the explosion. Shouts and the sounds of gunfire break the ensuing silence—single shots, one after the other. My nerves are all on edge, adrenaline pumping through me.
“The beach!” Dylan shouts and Michel responds that he’ll check it out.
I stand and hold my weapons up, ready for whatever might come through that door. Another loud explosion pounds nearby and the house shakes once more, plaster dust falling from the ceiling. Are they trying to destroy the house?
I smell smoke, the scent unmistakable. Fire is one of the only things that can kill a vampire and immolation is not a pretty way to go. I remember the manuscript and the description of Marguerite screaming when she woke to find herself standing on a pyre, flames surrounding her.
Is Soren planning on burning me to death the way Marguerite died, to punish Michel?
I can’t stay in the bathroom or I’ll die, so I open the door and rush out, my weapons at the ready. I’d rather die with a stake through my heart than burn to a crisp. There’s no sign of either Michel or Julien as I run through the cottage to check on the damage. Fire in the living room blocks the doors, so I run to the back of the house. There’s a hole in the wall and fire there as well, orange flames licking up the drapes.
Where are they?
“Michel!” I shout, desperate for a way out of the cottage. I enter the office and put down my weapons so I can open the window, but the frame is jammed. I pick up a heavy lamp base and try to break the glass, but it’s tempered and triple glazed. The lamp bounces instead of shattering the pane.
“Julien!” I gather my weapons once more and run to the hallway, desperate for a way out. Fire blocks the exits to both doors.
I’m trapped.
I run to the third bedroom and see that Julien is on his back on the floor. A soldier dressed in SWAT gear has a sword at his throat. Julien’s unconscious, his eyes closed, his arms thrown over his head. I see something protruding from his chest and I scream.
“Julien!” I rush the figure and raise my sword and stake, yelling as loudly as I can manage, falling into fight mode, but the soldier meets my sword with his and he’s far too strong. He’s a vampire and must be old because my moves are pitiful in comparison to his. I try to see his face behind the mask, and catch a glimpse of pale hair and white skin—is it Soren himself?
He attacks me, pushing me back until I fall to the floor, and straddles me. He takes off his helmet and I see it isn’t Soren. It’s someone I haven’t seen before.
He leans down, his sword across my throat, the stake pressed between my breasts. “Soren says hello.” He smiles a completely evil smile and presses the stake against my breastbone until it hurts, cutting into my skin. “He has a message for you. You can’t escape. Turn yourself in for your punishment or your beloved twins will die.”
The sword bites into my skin, the pain slicing through me.
His eyes widen in shock, his expression a grimace, teeth gritted.
As I watch, a sword slices through his throat. Blood erupts from the wound and from his mouth. He tries to look down at the sword, his hands gripping it like he wants to stop it from moving. A stake protrudes from his chest and he stops completely, his expression freezing, his eyes staring blankly ahead. The sword retreats and the soldier slumps to the side.
Behind him stands Michel, Julien’s bloody sword in his hand.
He kicks the body aside and kneels down to me, checking my throat and chest for wounds. “Are you okay? We told you to stay in the bathroom…”
“I smelled smoke. I didn’t want to be burned to death. I’d rather die fighting.”
He nods and leans down, pressing his forehead to mine for a moment, his eyes closed and his long hair brushing my cheeks.
“Julien,” I say and Michel sits up, helping me up in the process. “He was staked.”
I glance over to where Julien lies, but the stake has been removed and he’s starting to awaken. A groan escapes his lips.
“Damn, that hurts,” he says when Michel helps him up.
“Let’s get out of here,” Michel says, squeezing Julien’s shoulder with affection. “There’s no fire service. This place will burn to the ground.”
I follow them to another room and this time, Michel’s able to get the window open. It’s a good thing because the air is thick with black smoke. I cough so much I have tears streaming down my cheeks.
After throwing our weapons out the window, we jump out to the lawn and run to the front, Michel in the lead and Julien behind me. I hold out my sword in case I have to fight.
When we arrive, there are several bodies on the lawn. Dylan runs up to me, checking me over. He gives me a hug.
“Thank God you’re okay.”
I hug him back. “I thought you didn’t believe in God,” I say and smile.
He squeezes me. “Not the way Michel does.” He releases me and one of our guards runs up.
“We got them all, but the cottage is destroyed. It’ll burn to the ground.”
I turn to Michel. “Where will we go?”
“Your parents’ cottage,” Michel says to Dylan. “There’s lots of room.”
Dylan hesitates. “I don’t want to put them at risk,” he says, shaking his head. “There are a lot of abandoned cottages we can use.”