The Savage End (The Vampire World Saga Book 6)

by P. T. Hylton

  “I didn’t say that,” she said with a grin. “Look, CB was a genius when it came to warfare, but he was an idiot when it came to politics. If you want to lead this settlement, fine, do it. But don’t do it out of some weird sense of duty. And definitely don’t do it because CB said you should go into politics.”

  Alex shifted in her seat. “Okay… If you don’t want me to take that job, why did you come out here?”

  “I have another job offer for you.”

  The former members of the GMT met at Tankards that night. Alex was the first to arrive, and she paused on the way to their usual table. She nodded hello to Billy, who stood behind the bar. “You bartending tonight?”

  “No choice,” he answered, sourly. “Most of my employees left. Seems like everybody wants to be a farmer or some shit, now.”

  Alex looked around, noticing for the first time that the bar was oddly sparse for that time of night. “Maybe you shouldn’t have done such a good job fighting off the Twisted.”

  He chuckled at that. “You kidding? A lifetime of bartending is a small price to pay for getting to see my people defending their city the way they did. That was something.” He shook his head as if he still couldn’t believe it.

  Alex took her seat, and it wasn’t long before Owl, Frank, and Ed joined her.

  Ed shook his head as he sat down. “So this is what true Resettlement looks like. An empty bar on a Thursday night. It’s a sad state of affairs.”

  Billy set a round of beers in front of them. He looked at Owl and Frank awkwardly. “Not sure if you two drink beer, but I wanted to buy you one anyway. In fact, none of you ever needs to pay for a beer in this place again.”

  Ed’s grin was so wide it nearly stretched off the sides of his face.

  When Billy had gone, Alex raised her glass. “Guys, I want to say something. It’s taken a while for this to really sink in, but we did it. We did the impossible. We stopped Maryana, and we saved New Haven. And I want to say thank you. Here’s to the GMT.”

  “To the GMT!” They clinked glasses, and they all drank to their victory.

  After they’d set their glasses down, Owl leaned forward and glared at Alex. “So, Alex, you gonna tell me why you’re avoiding me?”

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “Avoiding you? We had lunch yesterday.”

  “With three other people. Ever since we got back, you’ve been avoiding being alone with me. I’m thinking maybe it’s because I said I wanted to talk with you about something.”

  “That might have something to do with it,” Alex allowed.

  “Okay. If you don’t want to have the talk in private, we’ll do it right here.” Owl drew a deep breath before continuing. “We know from Maryana’s example how this vampire thing can spread. It’s too dangerous to exist. Even one Twisted is too many, and you’ve got two sitting right here.”

  “Owl—” Alex started, but Owl cut her off.

  “Frank and I are both direct progenies of Jaden. That means we can make new Twisted. And that can’t be allowed. Frank and I have talked, and we’ve agreed. We need you to do us one more favor, Alex. End it. End the vampire line. End our lives.”

  Alex looked her friend in the eyes for a long moment. Owl’s face was earnest and filled with sorrow.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Alex said.

  Owl and Frank exchanged a surprised glance.

  “Come work for me. You too, Ed.”

  Frank crossed his arms. “Work for you doing what, exactly?”

  “Just what Owl said.” Alex smiled. “Ridding the world of vampires.”

  Ed’s face scrunched up. “Am I the only one who’s confused?”

  “Look,” Alex said, “Owl’s right. Vampirism is too dangerous to be allowed. And this isn’t the vampires’ world anymore. That story is over. But there are still vampires out there. We don’t even know if the virus has reached every continent. So, we start with that. Then we swing back around and look for Twisted. Jaden says Maryana had followers all over the world. As long as they exist, New Haven and Agartha aren’t truly safe.”

  “You’re talking about putting the GMT back together,” Ed said, his voice filled with awe.

  “No,” Alex said. “This is something new. Something different. Jessica is having a ship built for us. But I’m not talking about a quick, one day trip and then back to the city. I’m talking about a mission that could last months. Maybe years. I’m talking about wiping every vampire off the Earth.” She looked at Owl. “When that’s over, we’ll have this talk again. But not before.”

  Owl stared down at the table for a moment, then nodded.

  Ed frowned. “Just so I’m clear, you’re asking us to leave New Haven right after Tankards promised us free beer for life?”

  Alex took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t know about you guys, but the past few weeks… Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled Resettlement happened, but I’ve got this hunger inside me. After everything we’ve been through, I don’t think I can just sit in this city working a normal job. As long as there’s something threatening humanity, I have to fight it. It’s who I am.” She paused, a slight smile creeping onto her face. “And I’m thinking it’s who you are, too. So who’s with me?”

  “How beauteous mankind is!” Ed quoted. “O brave new world, that has such people in't!”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Hell, yeah, it is,” Ed grinned.

  Frank sighed. “I never considered myself a warrior, but I’ll fight in your war, Alex.”

  “You’re going to need a pilot,” Owl added. “It would be irresponsible of me not to go.”

  “Good,” Alex said. “I expected no less.”

  She felt a weight lift off her chest at their words. She’d been fighting beside Owl since her first day on the GMT. Ed had been part of her first command. Frank had only been on the team for a little while. But these were the heroes who’d brought humanity safely home, and she’d never stop fighting by their sides.

  Alex pushed her beer aside and smiled. “Let’s get started.”

  Authors’ Note

  Thank you for taking this six-book journey with us. We hope you had as much fun with this story as we did.

  We had some debate about how to leave things with Alex, but in the end, we knew she needed a life of adventure. Though her story ends here, her journey probably never will. She’ll keep fighting for what’s right until she draws her last breath.

  While Alex’s story is over, we may not be done writing in this world. We have another story we’d like to tell here. It’s going to be a bit before we are able to tell that one, but if you’d like us to drop you a line when we do, click here to join our email list.

  Once again, thank you for reading. It means the world to us that you spent this many hours with us and our characters. As far as we’re concerned, every one of you is part of the GMT.

  Jonathan and P.T.