by Hayley Todd
Dammit. I loved him and I knew it.
I didn’t respond and didn’t move until I felt his breathing draw long and his grip slackened. I knew he had fallen asleep without even looking.
It wasn’t until he was unconscious that the guilt seeped in. Images of Carson, Carson who had taught me so much and shown me this world, bled into my mind. I felt disgusted, not because of what I had done, but because my own heart was torn between them. I loved them. I loved them both.
Kellic was an afterthought. I felt sick when she finally appeared in my already clouded mind. Anton was her boyfriend. And I had slept with him. Despite fighting every urge we’d both had, we had slept together. That couldn’t be taken back.
I groaned and carefully untangled myself from Anton’s protective embrace. I stepped softly across the carpet to the dangerous gemstone on my floor. I scooped it up with two fingers through the chain and returned to the bed.
Anton reached for me in his sleep and I allowed him to draw me in, despite the pang in my chest at the guilt it caused. I wanted him. I still wanted him. And more than that, I needed him.
I glared at the sapphire. It had caused all of this to go into motion. But without it, would I have lost Carson even sooner? It had enabled me to insert myself into Valeria’s plans and maybe that had held her off if only for a little while longer. Maybe I could have saved him if not for the Champion trials.
While I fought, Valeria sunk her mind-altering claws into him. I might’ve been fighting to defend my people, but in so doing, I had lost one of the most important ones. I would make her pay. Even if it took my life, I would make her regret what she had done.
That guilt only grew as I let the amulet spin from my fingertips. I cast a glance at Anton’s sleeping form. He looked just as handsome in his sleep as he did while awake. I ran my fingers across his forehead, pulling messy locks of hair from his eyes.
I-
Wait.
I stared at the amulet, dangling from one hand, while my other ran across Anton’s skin. I was using both arms! I wasn’t sure if having Anton’s blood or feeding from him as a Succubus had done the trick, but it seemed my arm was healed! It didn’t even bother me as I kept it hanging in the air.
I gazed at the man lying beside me, breathing softly. I couldn’t say he had no idea how I felt. I was sure after that feeding and our intermingled thoughts, he knew exactly how much I loved him.
And yet, I felt as though I betrayed him as I let the sapphire fall into my palm.
Chapter Forty-One
Darkness coalesced around me first before a dull yellow light filled my vision. I could sense Seira’s presence, though I couldn’t see her. I saw through eyes that didn’t belong to me and the sight they held became me.
I was around a campfire in a wooded clearing. I was pretty sure this was the same one I had seen before, though it was hard to tell. There was a campfire before me though it's light only reached to the edges of the clearing, not into the darkness below the surrounding trees. The night was chilly but it didn’t bother me much.
Above me sat Valeria, her cold beauty washed over me and I couldn’t help the shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the night air. Her legs were wrapped over my hips, grinding against me. She moaned loudly into the night as I took her.
Oh my God.
I fought desperately to pull away from Carson’s thoughts but found myself frozen, stuck with eyes wide open, watching the whole heartbreaking act.
She cut her nails into his—my flesh. Scores rippled my chest in lines made by a perfect manicure. A growl tumbled low in my throat at the pain. It was tolerable, if only just.
She lifted away from me, grinding out her last desperate motions as first she, then I called our pleasure out to the night and shook as completion exhausted us.
It didn’t take her long to roll to my side, laying on the blanket splayed beneath us. She cuddled up to me and I draped another quilt across her shoulders. She was sweating and it glistened across her pale skin.
“So,” she crooned and something in me begged me not to look up at her. But look up at her I did. Her eyebrows creased her forehead as she looked me over but instead of violence, as was normally her response, she smiled slyly.
“So,” I echoed, waiting for her to finish.
“So,” she said enunciating the word in the empty night. “It’s almost time now. Are you sure you can lead us to the estate?”
I chuckled and was surprised she didn’t react since it was at her impatient expense. “Absolutely. It’s etched in my mind.”
Valeria paused, placing a finger against her voluminous lower lip. “And do you remember why you know it?”
I hesitated. That was a strange question. Then I considered the thought. But no, I didn’t clearly remember where I’d obtained the knowledge. My mind felt like it was warring with itself as I tried to recall, like it didn’t want to remember.
I shook my head.
Valeria laughed and even her laughter was cold and cruel. “That’s for the best,” she chimed and I felt anger rise within me. I knew she’d been keeping something from me though I hadn’t yet figured out what exactly that was. I thought perhaps it had to do with her so called “pest problem”.
I’d beaten the girl within an inch of her life despite how beautiful she was. Wasn’t that good enough? I’d had explicit instruction not to kill her and I hadn’t. I might’ve been bitter though that it hadn’t been my decision. That Magick pretty boy had intervened before I’d completed my task as it’d been told.
“When do we move?” I asked her. Maybe this time she would finally fill me in on her little plans. So far, she only discussed them with that girl, as though I couldn’t be trusted.
Valeria looked up at me, then across the clearing to where the girl sat.
She was a bizarre girl and I’d never felt entirely comfortable around her. She held a book in her lap and scrawled furiously on its pages with her pen. Her white haired head bobbed up and down as she considered her written words before she’d scribble out first her sentence, then the entire page before ripping it from the book and tossing it in the fire. Then she’d start over. She’d been doing it for about an hour now and it was never less disturbing.
“It’ll be soon now,” the girl replied without further prodding, her voice barely a whisper. There was an ethereal presence around her. It gave me the chills.
I saw her petite face then upward, as though she could somehow see through the sheltering trees above but if I saw nothing, I wasn’t sure what she could be looking for.
Valeria crawled out of our makeshift bed and immediately started pulling her clothes on. The girl, Tempest as she called herself, never spared us a glance.
I knew she was older than she appeared but that seemed to only lend her more mystery. I didn’t like that Valeria was so open around her. It made me feel exposed.
I followed after her only a moment later, tugging on my own jeans and t-shirt. Valeria sat next to Tempest, closer than I would have ever dared.
“I’m so excited!” she shrieked like a child, grabbing the eerily similar looking girl by the shoulders. Tempest didn’t react and only continued her scrawling in her book.
I sat across from them, preferring to stay as far from the girl as possible. “Do I get to hear any of this plan?” I asked.
Tempest didn’t even acknowledge me. After several long seconds, Valeria spoke up. “Well, we have almost all our forces ready to walk right up to their door come sunrise. They’ll be at their weakest then.”
I nodded. That made enough sense at least. Unlike myself, Magicks were severely weakened in the daylight. For me, I just had to apply some extra sunscreen.
“And what about us?” I asked. I grabbed one of the grill forks that were laid out in a bag beside my bench, popped open a cooler full of meat and slid a hot dog onto the spears. I held it over the fire, admiring the flames.
“We stay back,” Valeria said with a curious grin. “The ritual happens
to be done at dawn as well. So while they decimate our adversaries, we will prepare.”
“And this ritual does what exactly?” I asked, watching the strange girl.
She finally looked up, staring straight at me as though nothing else existed. She smiled, though the expression was more horrifying than sweet. “We obtain the ultimate prize! And then we wipe out those selfish vampires for good!” She immediately ducked her head and became engrossed in her book once more. I wasn’t sure what she scrawled there but it must’ve been important.
“Yes,” Valeria said softly, running her hand over the younger girl’s white hair. “We definitely take the prize.”
I couldn’t place exactly what was wrong but Valeria seemed off right then, like she was placating the tiny witch. Did she have other plans?
“So for now we just sit and wait?” I asked.
Valeria looked up and grinned at me. I could see the irritation in the lines at the corners of her eyes. She was an old enough vampire that she was actually starting to show hints of crow’s feet there.
She lifted her other hand, a finger to her lips and nodded her head softly towards Tempest.
Okay. That was strange. Up to this point, we had done everything Tempest had desired. If she said jump, we leapt. We didn’t need to ask how high. I had a feeling Valeria’s true intentions might not line up with Tempest’s.
And I wasn’t sure that I was against that. The girl was off her rocker. She was literally losing her mind. I had asked Valeria about it once and after the sting of her slap had faded, she had told me that Tempest was sick. Literally. There was something inside her that was slowly eating away at her mind.
I had initially worried that maybe it was contagious. Valeria definitely had her own moments of insanity. And even I hadn’t been feeling myself lately. I had encountered multiple memories of the same incident, as well as gaps in my memory. But, how do you bring that up without insulting the mistress of all things pain?
“What exactly does this ritual do?” I asked, watching Tempest’s reaction. She jerked for one second, becoming incredibly still before she continued her frantic writing.
Valeria answered for her. “Well, it’ll finally rid us off a pain in my neck,” she said with a wide, disarming grin. “And it’ll give us power that’s been unknown for millennia!” She said the words as though she were describing the weather for tomorrow, not dictating how we were going to alter the entire world in the morning.
I sighed and pulled my hot dog from the end of my fork, popping it into my mouth without further delay. We were limited on supplies out here, so that was the best I could manage.
When I looked up again, Valeria was only a foot or so from me. I had to fight my bodies urge to leap away from her. I went stiff for only a second before forcing myself to relax.
“Oh dear,” she said, advancing toward me, “you worry too much.” And she kissed me, hard and rough. It almost hurt and I was sure she’d nicked me with a fang when the taste of blood filled my mouth.
She pressed her forefinger between us against my forehead so hard I had to wrinkle my brow just to relieve some of the pain. Then her hand—or what I could see if it—lit up with violet light and my vision went entirely black.
I was thrown from Carson’s mind like I’d been slapped away and I came to, myself again. Tears stained my cheeks and still ran from my eyes. A sob racked my chest.
Before I could panic, cry, scream, or react in any way, strong arms swept me up. Anton seated beside me on the bed tugged me into his lap and tucked my head against his neck.
He ran his fingers through my hair as what I had just witnessed came rushing back to me like a nightmare. Images I couldn’t scrub from my memory flashed through my mind.
I sobbed as he held me.
“It’s okay. I know,” he cooed, rocking me. It was comforting. I felt lighter, less hurt. My heart felt a little less broken. Maybe I could just let it go. Anton was here. He was here for me. I-
I jerked away from him, glaring up at his face. He made an effort to give me his innocently arrogant smile but it was weak.
He had been working his empathy on me. I appreciated the gesture but with my impending doom come sunrise, I needed to hold on to my pain and anger.
I simply shook my head at him.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, holding his arms out to me again. I leaned into them hesitantly, not sure how sorry he really was.
Then I leapt away. I speared my gaze around the room, seeking my age old alarm clock. It must’ve finally bit the dust because it was nowhere in sight.
“What time is it?” I asked him, climbing from the bed and tugging my clothes on in a rush.
Anton reached behind himself, pulling a cellphone from the bedside table. “It’s five forty five. Why?” He asked, then paused. “Holy shit. That wasn’t a memory was it?” He jumped out of the bed beside me, yanking his clothes on now too.
“No,” I said gruffly as I pulled my shirt over my head. I was more than happy to leave that damn sling in its place on the ground. “It wasn’t a memory,” I explained in a rush, “it was actually happening. And they’re about to bust in our door.”
Anton didn’t question me as we both went flying down the steps in search of my father.
Chapter Forty-Two
I was already screaming my dad’s name the moment I hit the first floor. I’d worried that with all the occupants, we’d have to go find him when the day room doors swung open and my dad came barreling out, his face as white as a sheet.
I was surprised to see Lucas Fifth, Will, Gabrielle, and my mother follow on his heels. I could just barely see into day room beyond them and had to force away a choking sob when I found the curtain to Evelyn’s room open, the bed empty.
“Kyra! You scared the life out of me. What’s wrong?” Damien said, frantically patting at his chest.
“Well it’s about to get worse,” Anton chimed in then looked over his shoulder at me.
I gaped for a second trying to find my words. I hadn’t expected such a crowd. “I...uh...um I touched the amulet and saw something. Something bad. Troops are right outside our door and they’re going to attack at sunrise.”
They all stared blankly at me but my father was the first to believe me and head on the move. “Execute Evacuation Plan C!” he bellowed up and down the hall.
There was no hesitation. People burst into movement with no further prodding. The house exploded into action.
Lord Romanoff came barreling through the oncoming rush of vampires. He stopped at the door of the stairs and my dad pointed at a nearby wall. Romanoff nodded and turned, whipping his hands in front of him and spinning purple energy across the room. An oval appeared in the wall and the portal was up.
Doctors and nurses burst from the day room pushing gurneys and slammed straight into the portal. I was never so relieved to see my dad’s careful control in action.
Will and Lucas dove back into the day room, launching into the evacuation. My mother, Gabrielle, and Damien headed for the kitchen to arrange the other troops.
With the Magicks in action, I didn’t even hesitate. I ran past the stairs toward the back of the house and out another door.
I felt Anton trailing behind me as we dove towards the woods. We reached the edge of the trees without any interruption but just as we stepped into the underbrush, the ground towards the front of the house shook.
We braced ourselves as the explosion’s volume reached us. Anton and I shared a quick glance before speeding through the forest.
“Where are we headed?” he asked dashing along beside me. He was struggling and panting which confused me. That was odd. I was faster than him normally but not by much.
I slowed my pace until his dash came a little easier. “I recognized that clearing,” I explained. “There’s a tree near there where I broke my arm when I was a kid.”
Anton glanced sideways at me as he ran. “You broke your arm?” He asked with a goofy grin.
I rolled my eyes. “
Not all of us have been vampires since childhood,” I said.
He went quiet after that, following my steps closely. I didn’t know how we could do this but I hoped we weren’t walking into our deaths. I didn’t know why he’d go on this suicide mission but I was happy he was here. Our post-coital bliss has been all too short lived.
The closer we got to the tree the more my heart hammered in my chest having nothing to do with the run. I’d see Carson again. But did I want to?
When we left my dad’s I had been worried that he might’ve been dead but i could feel him through our imprint. I knew he was still alive. After what I’d seen with that bitch Valeria, I wasn’t sure I’d see him the same way. But hadn’t I did the same?
I glanced at Anton, then shook myself, needing to think clearly for what was coming. I’d need to be at my absolute best. It was good that I’d fed.
The forest was quiet when we arrived. I could hear gunfire and explosives in the distance but we were far enough away now to hear footsteps in the underbrush.
For several moments, there was nothing. Then I had an idea. It wasn’t anything I had seen before, like many of my tricks but I was learning more and more how mental my powers were. Anton’s were too.
“Hold my hand,” I demanded as I fished the amulet out of my pocket. I slipped it over my head and he clutched my hand. I used him like an anchor, feeling what was real and fighting mentally against the pull of the amulet.
And I’ll be damned but it worked.
I felt the buzzing of energy down my limbs and through my chest. I felt unstoppable. I knew Anton could feel it when his hand tightened on mine.
“You okay?” I asked him, worried that there could be negative effects from my borrowing of his senses.