My heart rose and fell after Zane snatched the door open and came in. He had my aunt by the hand, followed by my mom who he had in hand chains. William walked in right behind them, and his face was saddened. I knew whatever Zane had in store it couldn’t be good.
“Mom! Aunt Bev,” I screamed, and my mom’s face brightened when she first saw me, but then it changed to a mesh of pain and fear when Zane snatched on the chain, causing her to fall. Aunt Bev’s eyes looked downward toward the floor, and never even attempted to look at me.
Zane slung my mom onto the floor in the corner by his bed. When she hit the bookcase sitting against the wall, it moved slightly, but thankfully none of the books fell on her. I quickly noticed he was much more gentle with my aunt, and I wondered if maybe he’d grown tired of my mom and that was why he had kidnapped my aunt.
I almost puked when he gently kissed the back of my aunt’s hand before placing her in one of the chairs close to me. I tried whispering to her, but she never raised her eyes from the floor. I figured he must have told her if she looked at me he would kill me or my mom. I could understand Aunt Bev’s fear. Zane was very intimidating. Even though he was gorgeous to look at, he was the definition of evil. In my eyes, that alone made him a hideous-looking monster.
He leaned over and whispered something in my aunt’s ear, and the corners of her mouth curved up in a tiny smile. Before straightening, he looked over at me with a sneer that sent chills down my spine. My heart stopped as I watched him walk to where he’d thrown my mom onto the floor. He grabbed her by the hair, pulling back on her head to expose her neck. I held my breath and looked on in horror as he unsheathed a large knife and raised it above his head, looking just like one of those crazed psychos straight out of a horror movie. He placed the blade against her throat, and a tiny line of blood trickled down her neck. He stopped and looked at me to see if I was watching, then laughed eerily.
Chapter 57
The Lycans grew anxious. They smelled my mom’s blood and started to move closer. Zane probably kept them hungry all the time, only allowing them to eat just enough to stay alive. That way, when he ordered them to hunt they would do so willingly.
“Where are the Adlet?” Zane asked in a demanding tone. “Don’t lie or I’ll finish slitting her throat, and feed her to them.” He pointed to the pack of drooling beasts.
My mom whimpered quietly. The painful look on her face was tearing my heart out, but the truth was I didn’t know where any of them were.
I could see movement out of the corner of my eye. William was inching his way closer to Zane. My eyes never wavered from Zane’s or he would have seen me look away and known something was up.
“Don’t tell him anything, Gen,” my mom shouted, then winced when he pressed harder on the knife.
“Stop, Leave her alone and I’ll tell you,” I lied.
Zane ran his fingers through my mom’s blood, then released her. He straightened up and glanced in my direction while meticulously licking the blood off of each finger, savoring every drop. “Mmm ...” he said. “Delicious.” He had purposely done that to keep the Lycans riled up just in case he needed them to attack in a hurry. “I’m waiting, Genevieve, and you’ll find I am not a patient man,” he said, ominously.
“I don’t know where Joshua and James are, but Luna and Joseph each went in different tunnels and never came back.” It wasn’t a complete lie. The truth was I had no idea where they were. I actually thought they had been captured when they didn’t catch up.
Zane grew increasingly angry. “Do you think this is a game?”
“I swear I don’t know where they are.” My heart ached and I felt defeated when I heard my mom crying. “Please … just let my mom and aunt go free and I’ll do whatever you want,” I pleaded.
My mom was screaming in the background, begging him not to hurt me, but he wasn’t listening.
A series of intense growls followed by thunderous footsteps streamed from inside the tunnel. It caught everyone off guard, including me, when Luna, Joseph, and the twins exploded out of the tunnel.
The Lycans snapped their heads toward Luna and her brothers. My heart rose excitedly, but quickly fell when I saw the look on Zane’s face. He wasn’t surprised at all. He must have known they were close, but how?
I just wanted to get my mom and aunt away from him, so I could kill him. I glanced at William and he smiled warmly at me. It was at that exact moment I knew for sure everything he had told me earlier was the truth. Even though we were still in danger I couldn’t help but feel happy when I thought about William.
“Let my mom and aunt go, and I’ll let you walk out of here. You have my word,” I said, ready to attack. William had managed to get behind Zane without being noticed and was just about to reach my mom.
“Zane! Look out behind you!”
My head snapped to where the words of betrayal had come from. My chest tightened, and I couldn’t breathe. Nausea spread through me and I wanted to puke.
I peered at my mom and my heart ached seeing the look on her face. She stared at her sister and her eyes were filled with shocked and hurt tears. I glanced over at William. His jaw had dropped and he was shaking his head in disbelief.
“Aunt Bev, what are you doing?” I asked bewildered. “William was trying to save my mom, not hurt her.”
“I know exactly what William was about to do. I tried to tell Zane that William was playing him for a fool, but he wouldn’t listen. We’ve worked too long and too hard to lose it all now.” Aunt Bev walked over and stood next to Zane, looping her arm through his, and he leaned down and kissed her passionately. “Zane will kill you and marry Camilla. Then he will rule the throne.”
“You’re willing to lose everything so Zane can be with my mom?” I still couldn’t wrap my head around what Aunt Bev thought she was going to accomplish by helping that monster to marry my mom.
“You foolish little girl. After they marry—”
Zane cut her off. “Quiet, Beverly,” he snapped. “Don’t tell her anything.”
She narrowed her eyes at Zane. “She thinks this world revolves around her. Well, I want her to know everything before we kill her!” she shouted at him never taking her eyes off of me. “As I was saying, after he marries Camilla and accepts the throne as King, your mother will have an accident, leaving me to rule alongside the man I love.”
I eyed her severely for a moment, then I remembered what I had read in the old book I found inside the piano bench, and I burst out laughing. “You stupid bitch,” I said ominously. “You can never rule with him. She is blood, he isn’t. if anything happened to her he would lose all rights to the throne.”
Bev furrowed her brows. “You’re lying!” she shouted, then turned to Zane. “She’s lying isn’t she?”
Zane didn’t even look at her. He just stared at me with narrow eyes, like he was wondering how I knew, and then he flashed an evil smile.
“You should have read the book before stashing it inside your piano bench, and then you would know. It’s all there in black and white,” I said disdainfully.
When Zane didn’t refute it, she started to cry and became angry. “You lied to me? What about us? What about our plans to travel abroad … see the world?” She waited for him to say something, but he just shoved her away. “You bastard!” she screamed and slapped him hard across the face. “I hope you rot in hell.”
I saw his knife blade glint in the light, but by then it was too late. He quickly brought the blade down, stabbing her in the stomach, and shoving her to the floor with the heel of his boot.
I was in shock and couldn’t see or hear anything around me. I just stared at my aunt lying on the dirt floor bleeding to death. Zane moved in front of me wielding his knife in the air. I knew he was going to stab me next but I still couldn’t move. William grabbed him from behind, slinging him clear across the room.
“Genevieve!” William shouted at me, and I slowly turned to face him. “I love you,” he said warmly, and I started to come b
ack to my senses when I heard a thunderous noise booming from behind me and turned toward the tunnel.
I nearly freaked when the biggest, most beautiful, silver-furred Adlet I’d ever seen came thundering from inside the tunnel. It stood at least a foot taller than Luna and the boys, and had deep red eyes that reminded me of the color of the Crest stone. It was the leader of the Adlet warriors. It was … Chief Okpik.
Zane’s eyes widened and his face paled a little when he saw him. He hurried to his feet when the Lycans seemed to cower in the Chief’s presence. Zane had to command them repeatedly to attack.
I was momentarily awestruck watching the Chief in action, the way he tore through three and four Lycans at one time … and was winning. Luna and her brothers also fought more aggressively. I figured it was because he was there and they wanted to make him proud.
The Lycans were extremely malnourished and weak, but they greatly outnumbered us. Some of them were so puny, their necks broke easily. Joshua and James guarded the tunnel’s entrance to keep more from getting through.
I thought that Aunt Bev was dead until I saw her move. A Lycan also spotted her and had started easing his way over to her. I saw it lunge and grabbed its tail, yanking it backward just before it ripped into her face. I grabbed it around the throat and snapped its neck, then tore its head off.
“Gen … help your mom,” Aunt Bev stammered as her eyes slowly closed. I heard her heart beat grow very faint and knew she was fading. Even after everything she had said and done I still loved her enough that I didn’t want her to die before we could get her some help.
When I looked around for my mom she wasn’t there and Zane had vanished, too. I scanned the room frantically, but I couldn’t find neither one of them. I suddenly remembered when I had seen the bookcase earlier it was cracked open. How did I miss that?
I didn’t want William to know I was going after Zane. I looked around the room, not even Luna needed help, and the Lycans had already started retreating, at least the ones that were lucky enough to get past Joshua and James.
I eased over to the bookcase and pushed. It was on a spring lever and popped open when I released it. I scanned the room and found William eyeing me. He would just have to forgive me for lying. “William! Luna needs your help!” I shouted the lie pointing behind him. As soon as he turned away, I bolted, quickly disappearing through the hidden door.
Chapter 58
I flew down each of the tunnels that had opened up behind the bookcase, searching frantically, but couldn’t find a trace of my mom. I was about to lose hope when I remembered something my mom had told me when I was little. “Be still, and listen,” she had said. I don’t know why I even had that thought right then, but I did. I closed my eyes and listened, but didn’t hear her. “I’m just wasting time,” I grumbled.
Just when I was about to give up hope I smelled the familiar scent of lavender and I remembered the vision I’d had in New Mexico. I slowly turned until I smelled it the strongest and followed. I thought I was headed to another dead end, but as I grew close I saw a door made to blend in with the charcoal colored walls.
I quietly turned the knob, but it was locked. Really? You honestly think a locked door can keep me out? I took a step back, raised my foot, and kicked the shit out of the door. It went flying inward, and when the dust settled, Zane was hiding behind my mom with his knife to her throat, again.
I narrowed my eyes. “Put down the knife, you coward,” I said in a low growl.
“You think I’m afraid of you? Ha! You’re nothing more than a mere child.” He laughed, and pretended he was sheathing his knife, but instead threw it so fast I couldn’t get out of the way, and it stuck into my shoulder.
It hurt, but only for a second. His eyes grew big as golf balls when I pulled out the knife, and the bleeding stopped almost instantly.
“That’s impossible! A werewolf cannot heal that quickly, not even an Adlet wolf.”
“You’re right, they can’t … but I can.” I heard his heartbeat grow rapid and I laughed just as eerily as he had earlier.
He had my mom’s arm bent behind her back, and I heard it when he snapped her bones in two. She screamed out in pain, and anger like I had never felt before washed over me. The bones inside my face began to move and grow, causing the skin covering them to tighten. My neck and shoulders moved next, popping and growing. My shirt tore when my skin stretched tight across my chest as it grew. My pants also ripped at the seams when my legs became too large and too thick for my jeans to hold them.
I thought for a moment I was turning back into an Adlet, but that’s not at all what was happening. I was changing into something I had never seen before, and I was terrified of what was happening to me.
“I will kill you for hurting my mom,” I said in that same deep growl-like voice I had heard in the garage. I also noticed my words were over pronounced because my fangs had grown long like an Adlet, which was definitely something that shouldn’t happen to a vampire. All vampires had small fangs that were easily hidden when they closed their mouths.
Zane quickly shifted into his wolf form at the same time I lunged for his throat. It sounded like thunder cracking every time our bodies collided. He bit into my shoulder, the same one he’d stabbed, and I shoved him, knocking him back against the wall so hard it cracked behind him.
I heard my mom’s terrified screams, but I was more angry than I had ever been, and I couldn’t stop. I grabbed him by the fur on his throat and we went to the ground. I squeezed until my hands shook. “Die,” I growled in a deep voice sounding like a monster.
His eyes started to glaze over, and my mom’s faint warning for me to look out echoed in my head as everything faded to black.
***
When I woke up, I was lying on the floor with William cradling my head. I had a stabbing pain shooting from my back straight through to my chest. Everything was hazy except for the pain and the fact that I couldn’t breathe. Slowly, my breathing started again and the pain subsided.
I smiled briefly at William, but when he failed to smile back the previous events started replaying in my head. I sat up, quickly feeling my face and looking at my body. I thought it all had been a terrible nightmare until I saw my pant legs were ripped at the seams, and fresh blood stains covered the front of my shirt.
“Where’s my mom?” I asked, frantically looking around. “Where’s Zane?” I pushed away from William and scrambled to my feet.
All four siblings ran in the doorway. “They’re gone,” James said, looking at William. “We followed their scent, but it’s like they just disappeared.”
“What do you mean they’re gone? They were just here,” I said, scrunching my eyebrows. “What’s going on, William? I don’t understand what happened.” I paused, thinking. “I remember fighting with Zane and I had him in a choke hold.” I slowly paced across the floor as I started remembering the details. “I felt this sudden sharp pain in my back, and then ... nothing.”
William held up Zane’s knife, and I tilted my head to the side, scrunching my eyebrows tighter. “Look closely,” He said, slowly rotating it.
It wasn’t Zane’s knife like I’d thought. I think William wanted me to figure it out on my own, but Luna innocently spoke up.
“What are you doing with Grandfather’s knife?” she asked earnestly, and I quickly turned my attention to her.
“Your grandfather’s knife?” I asked. “Yeah, William … why do you have the chief’s knife?”
William’s shoulders dropped, and his expression saddened. “I think the reason you can’t remember anything after choking Zane is because you were stabbed in the back with this knife.”
Luna’s expression changed to horrified and she gasped, throwing her hand over her mouth. The two oldest twins quickly averted their gaze from me, but I saw Joseph grow angry.
“But I’m a vampire,” I said, still feeling a bit self-conscious saying it in front of Luna and her brothers. “A knife to the back wouldn’t cause me to pass out o
r kill me … would it, William?”
“It would if it pierced your heart,” he said quietly, and he saw my confusion. “It should have killed you, Genevieve.” William had the saddest look on his face. “The only way to kill a vampire is by piercing their heart. When I found you, you were in here alone face down on the floor with a knife sticking out of your back. When I couldn’t hear your heart beating I thought you were …” His voice turned throaty sounding and he trailed off. “I held you in my arms and I pulled out the knife. When I did, you suddenly opened your eyes.” He smiled so lovingly it made my heart yearn for him. “I don’t know why you didn’t die, and I don’t care. I’m just glad you didn’t.”
I chewed at the inside of my bottom lip, thinking. “Why would the chief want to hurt me?” I asked, looking the siblings.
I guess Joseph couldn’t hold back his anger any longer. “Grandfather didn’t do this! He wouldn’t do this. Not to Gen. He knows how I … how we care about her and how important she is to the survival of the Adlet people,” Joseph said and glared at William.
“I didn’t do this to her,” William shouted, and got in Joseph’s face.
“Stop it!” Luna moved in between them. “I followed William here. He’s telling the truth,” she shouted at Joseph, and his features stiffened to a painful mask. “He didn’t do it, Joe,” she said softly, lowering her eyes.
“Maybe he didn’t, but I know my grandfather didn’t do it either!”
“Where is your grandfather, Joseph?” William asked, sardonically. “I sure as hell don’t see him anywhere. And he left the cave before we did.”
When William mentioned the cave, I thought about Aunt Bev. “What about my aunt? Is she … ” I trailed off, not wanting to hear one of them tell me she was dead. “I have to see her,” I said before bolting from the room.
Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition Page 27