by CJ Flynn
Chapter 25
We spent the morning in the diner, and I had spent most of my afternoon at the library. I could feel the time ticking away, and I had nowhere close to the detailed plan that Ernie had asked for. I wanted access to the rest of Harding's notes, and until I had it, I was going to keep plugging along at the DNA analysis.
It was past sunset by the time I made it back to the lab. I grabbed a fresh sample kit and made my way to Ben's cell. I needed to get his blood samples processed, too, and I needed to do it soon. I still wasn't sure what angle I'd be working, but I had some suspicions about the vampires after I'd seen Imala's initial test results. I knew better than to jump to conclusions—if the science was sound, the results would be too.
He was curled up on the floor next to his coffin-like box, and looked noticeably weaker than the last time I'd seen him.
“What do you want?” he asked, not looking up at me.
“I need to get a sample of your blood, Ben. I need to start with a comparison of your current numbers to Imala's.”
I heard a noise that sounded like a cross between a snort and a screech.
“You really think you can fix this, don't you?” he asked, shoving his arm through the silver bars of the cell. I watched the places on his arm where the bars grazed his skin. Angry, red welts were already forming there.
“I do,” I replied, taking out vacutainers from my kit.
He hissed a little and gestured to the skin burning on his forearm. “You think this is just another problem to solve, right? You are either unbelievably naive, Allie, or you're a complete narcissist. Have you ever met a problem you couldn't fix?”
His last words weren't delivered in a kind way. His tone was snide, and his eyes flashed with red anger. I could feel it rolling off of him; I didn't need to shift my vision to see it.
“You know I've found things I can't fix, Ben.” I jabbed the first vial down onto the holder and waited as red-black blood filled it. I attached the last two vacutainers in rapid succession before dropping his arm and stepping back.
“Like me,” he finally said, bringing his gaze up to mine. “Not this, but the rest of me. You couldn't make me fit any more than the rest of them. You couldn't force me to be a part of this world. The one vampire who tried to change me couldn’t even see it through.”
“I never tried to force you.” I couldn't bring myself to argue any further than that. What was the point?
Ben slammed his fist against the silver bars. “That's bullshit, and you know it. No matter how many people told you to keep your distance from this world, you just wouldn't listen. You think you know how all this works, but you're wrong. There's no saving me, Allie, and there wasn't any way you were ever going to bring me around to your way of thinking. These people are evil, and I want no part of it.”
“You need to give me a chance, Ben. I need you to fight it a little longer.”
He shook his head. “You aren't hearing me. I don't want to fight anymore. It's over. You need to let this go.”
“I can't,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I need to save you.”
He reached his fingers through the bars and grazed my cheeks. “You can't. You never could. It's over.
“It's over.”
His words hung all around me, and I fought to suss out their full meaning. I didn't need to be told that Ben didn't want me to save him—he knew what fate awaited him if I didn't. But the words were so much heavier than just that, and in a moment, his meaning came clear. No matter what happened with this cure, there was no going back to the way we'd been.
But I didn't care. Staring at him, thinking back to how I had felt the night I'd left our hotel room in Paris without him, I just couldn't give space to the idea that it was over between us, because deep down, I'd already known. We had been growing apart before, and even though I had seen the true depths of darkness the vampires hid amongst their ranks, I still felt I had made the right choice. I didn't fit in the vampire world, but I didn't fit in the human world either.
And still, even with Ben's human-ness disappearing in front of my very eyes, I knew I would still fight to save him. Saving Ben wasn't about saving our relationship, past or future, it was about saving who he was as a person.
My train of thoughts derailed as I heard a large thudding upstairs and a horrible scream seemed to echo off every room of the house.
“You need to go, Allie,” he whispered. “Get out of this place while you still can.”
Another huge crash echoed above me, and I grabbed my collection kit and hightailed it out of the cell block. I locked the door behind me and threw the emergency locks in place. I had no idea what was going on upstairs, but it seemed enough to warrant the emergency protocols. Until one of Sorrell's vamps gave the all-clear, no one could get in or out of the mansion.
I found Daniel waiting for me in the lab, his eyes wild.
“Someone has triggered the protocol,” he said, as soon as he saw me. “The compound is shut down.”
I took a shuddering breath—I had moved fast between the cells and the lab. “I know. It was me.”
“It was a good idea,” he said. “Sorrell has returned.”
My heart skipped a beat. “He what?”
“Come with me,” Daniel replied, in lieu of an actual answer. He grabbed my wrist and gave it a slight tug. “I need to get you somewhere safe.”
“This isn't safe?”
He shook his head. “No. You should lock your fridge, and we'll lock the doors before we leave, but this is where they're coming. Word has reached Sorrell of your plan, and your visitors.”
“Daniel.” I stared at his hand encircling my wrist.
“What?”
“Why are you helping me?”
He didn't answer me, but he did drop my wrist. In just the blink of an eye, he took the kit from my hands, locked it in the fridge, and grabbed me around the waist. He moved through the lab so quickly that the empty glass vials rattled. We were out in the hallway, the door locking behind us, before he returned me to my feet.
“We need a way out,” he said, his voice a low hiss. We were both listening for any unwanted visitors, and I let my vision slide, seeking other energy signatures. I could feel Ben in his cell, but no one else was on the lowest floor. Just above us, and looming much closer to the stairs than I would prefer, were several vampire signatures. Ernie and his witches were not far behind them. Everyone was headed our way, exactly as Daniel had said they were.
“I don't think there's a way out.” I looked towards the stairs.
He stared at me, his eyes glittering. “There must be—”
There was a shout at the top of the stairs, and I reached out and grabbed Daniel's hand. He pulled me behind him just as Sorrell appeared at the foot of the stairs, a pack of angry, pulsing vampires behind him.
“Alexandrie,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper. “Why do you hide?”
His words grated on me. I didn't want to hide behind Daniel. I wanted to face this man who was pulling out all the stops to halt work I had barely begun. I didn't need spidey senses to know Sorrell was hiding something. Something big.
I let go of Daniel and stepped out from behind him, drawing all of my five-foot-three self as tall as possible.
“I do not hide, Sorrell. I am protected.”
“By whom?” Sorrell asked. “By an impartial Druid who believes himself the protector of all the supes in the world? By my own right hand?”
His eyes glowed with his red blood energy and he moved his gaze towards Daniel. “Is this what you have chosen, Daniel? To stand by the side of this mite?”
“I stand by what I believe is right,” Daniel replied, his voice deep and icy. “Your actions in this matter have not matched the gravity of it. Ms. Stuart believes she can right a grievous wrong. What does it matter to you whether she is successful?”
Sorrell was across the hall in a flash, his fingers wrapping around my throat. I gasped as my air supply was cuto
ff and stared into the sparking black eyes of the most powerful vampire in the world. His red aura filled my vision, even as the edges started to blacken. My lungs burned with a screaming hot pain as the seconds ticked on.
“You will betray me for this pathetically weak woman? I could end her, right here, right now, and you would spend eternity mourning your foolish choice. It is not your job to second-guess me, Daniel. Not even for a silly human you have let yourself love.”
I clawed at his wrist, but my strength was seeping away from me. He squeezed a little tighter and my vision went black.
Daniel let out a roar so loud it shook the walls, and my vision flooded back as the pressure on my throat was released. Daniel's arm was stretched over my shoulder, and I saw his muscles ripple under his tight black shirt.
I scrambled away, desperate not to be caught between them again as Sorrell went down.
Daniel held him by the wrist, Sorrell's arm suspended over his head and his knees on the hard concrete floor that lined every service hall in the place.
There was a brilliant flash of light and I let my mind go blank, searching out the energies again. Ernie and the witches were at the top of the stairs and there was a strange shrieking noise emanating from all around me.
It took me half a second to realize it was the vampires who had come with Sorrell. My vision normalized and I looked around. Sorrell was shrieking the loudest, and his skin was blistering all over with red boils. His small vampire army had also fallen to their knees, the bright light shining through them.
The light flickered and flared and in a last brilliant flash, went out.
“Leave this place.” Ernie Haden's voice boomed through the hallway. “Or we will burn you where you stand.”
The vampires scrambled up the stairs and out of my view. Sorrell followed them, his face ashen and his posture stooped. I watched him go, my mind reeling over what had happened. The light was a truer, more perfect version of the fake sunlight I had seen in Beata's Paris stronghold.
I gasped and turned to find Daniel, completely untouched by the light. “What was that?”
“The sun.”
Chapter 26
The witches began setting up some sort of parameter around the estate. The brilliant sunlight bathed every room in the house as the wood lacquered shutters were thrown open. Daniel and I walked through the main floor of the house, following Ernie Haden to the study Sorrell favored. In each room, Daniel's eyes roved the walls, the floor, and I imagined he was tracing the arcs of sunlight that bounced everywhere.
“What is this?” he asked, as we all shuffled into the study. The sunlight chased away the evil darkness of the room.
“It is a spell that brings sunlight,” Ernie said. “It takes an incredible amount of energy—even those three cannot do it alone. I'm making a donation.” His eyes were dancing as he spoke.
“But it has no effect on me.” Daniel gestured with one hand to his face.
Ernie shrugged. “Your intentions are good. Why would it?”
Daniel fell silent and I longed for sound to fill the void. Anything that would buy me more time to think through what had happened down there. I wasn't even sure if I could talk. My throat still ached and I could feel the sting where Sorrell's hand had been. I could just guess at the bruises he had left behind.
“Well, this isn't exactly what I expected when I agreed to come here, Allie. I think we've bought you the time you need, though.”
I nodded. “Thank you,” I croaked.
Ernie held his hand up. “It is the least I could do. I'm sure there will be much discussion amongst the leaders of the various supernatural groups, but I believe action was necessary. Use this time wisely. I cannot guarantee any length of time to you—it could be days, or weeks.”
We left him there, Daniel ushering me through the door with a hand at my back.
“Would you like to go home?” he asked.
I nodded, now knowing better than to trust my voice.
He walked me through the front door, out onto the portico that dazzled in the magical sunlight. Snow had fallen at some point, dusting the earth around us with glitter and diamonds that showed off the weapon holding the vampire forces at bay. I knew it wouldn't take long for Sorrell to amass troops against us, and I didn't know how long the witches and Ernie could hold out.
But for the moment, I didn't care. I would get to my cottage, take a shower, drink some lemon tea, and get back to the lab. The time Ernie had given me was precious.
The walk through the woods was a blur. I unlocked my cottage and Daniel moved towards the wood fireplace on the far wall. The heat was off and the room was icy cold. He piled in several logs before adding a starter and tossing in a match. While I went to the kitchenette and put the kettle on the stove, I heard him carry another armload of logs to the fireplace in my bedroom. I plunked a mug on the counter, and grabbed a tea bag whose package promised sore throat relief. I doubted its efficacy in the face of throat-crushing vampires.
The kettle whistled and I poured the boiling water into the mug. Daniel's fire building efforts had been successful and already I could feel a slow heat creeping across the room. It warmed my muscles and made me feel tired. It had been almost twenty-four hours since I'd slept.
I turned to face Daniel, looking at him fully for the first time since we'd left the hallway in the basement.
He was grinning.
“Why are you smiling?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.
“I can't believe this is what you look like in the sun.”
My heart started beating in my ears. I had not missed Sorrell's accusation, but I didn't know how much stock to put in it. Now, looking at Daniel across the room of my tiny cottage, the heat of the fireplace swelling around him, I knew Sorrell had been dead right.
My mind raced, trying to make sense of this new information. Daniel was my confidant and my protector. He was loyal and...
I shoved that all away. I didn't need to justify Daniel. Not for one second. My body hurt, my mind hurt, my heart hurt. I was tired and overwhelmed and none of that mattered.
The sexiest man I had ever seen was staring at me with a dazzling grin that was turning devilish. I let myself enjoy the moment. The sun, magical or not, was filling my cottage, with its white walls and burnished floors. The glow emanated off every surface, including that of the man standing in front of me. For the first time in the entire time we'd known each other, I could see what the sun did to his hair. What had seemed light and pale in the night looked golden and alive in the sun.
He closed the distance between us in a few steps and brushed his fingers against my cheek. “I can see bits of gold in your eyes,” he whispered. “You are so beautiful to me, Allie.”
I tilted my face towards him, searching his eyes for answers to questions I didn't have.
I crushed my lips against his, breathing in his taste and smell. His fingers trailed along my throat before sliding down my sides to my waist. He pulled me against him, every inch of our bodies touching, and I gasped at the feel of him. His entire body felt hard against mine, and the heat from the fire couldn't erase the coolness of him.
His hands dropped from my waist, to my backside. His fingers lingered there, before he wrapped his hands around me and picked me up. I clung to him, my legs wrapping around his hips. He held me in place with one arm, and let his free hand trace my spine as we deepened the kiss. Finally, I broke away from his lips and let out a sigh as he immediately pressed his mouth to the side of my neck. He lingered there for a moment before dropping more kisses down my throat. The pain there evaporated under his touch and I let out a groan.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered, pulling away from me.
“Why?”
“You're hurting. What Sorrell did to you—”
I shook my head. “No, I'm okay. I promise.”
“Let me help you,” he said.
“I think you've helped me enough.”
“Not possible. I mean it. Let
me take care of you.”
I swallowed a breath and nodded.
His lips found mine again with the gentlest pressure, and I pressed against him with greater urgency, craving more than he was giving me.
Seemingly without effort, he carried me to the bedroom and laid me down on my stomach. I sighed as my muscles twitched with pain. Too many hours in cars and planes... too many hours hunched over a computer terminal. Not enough sleep, not enough food. Constant tension. My body ached as I felt Daniel settle on the bed, his knees on either side of my hips. I sighed into the pillow underneath me.