“You did?” I swallowed, not having expected him to say that.
“Of course I did.” He shook his head and smiled slightly, like he couldn’t believe I’d ever thought otherwise, and moved closer to me. “I fell for you the first moment I saw you, when you sneaked out of the palace to meet me at the boundary line. But your heart’s never been mine. It’s always belonged to Peter.”
“I don’t even remember Peter,” I said. “My heart can’t belong to someone I don’t remember.”
“I get that.” Wildness crossed over his eyes—pure, heated desire—and electricity crackled between us. “And trust me, you have no idea how hard it is for me to not be glad you don’t remember him so I can finally have you as mine.”
“So what’s stopping you?” I tilted my head, teasing him.
“It feels wrong.” He sighed and leaned his head back, as if struggling with his own urges. “Like I would be taking advantage of you. I’d never be able to forget that once you learned Peter couldn’t return from the Beyond, you had your memories of him erased because you couldn’t live knowing that you’d never see him again—”
“Hold up.” Now I was the one holding a hand up to stop him from continuing. “I might not remember Peter, but I know myself. I would never give up my memories of anyone—especially someone I loved—because I couldn’t deal with the grief of their loss. I wouldn’t throw away something so important like it never mattered at all.”
“But you did,” he insisted. “Or you wouldn’t have forgotten him.”
I held his gaze, feeling like we were at a standstill. “Perhaps I did bargain away my memories of this Peter,” I said, since it was the only explanation that made sense. “But I can assure you it wasn’t because I didn’t want to deal with my grief. There was another reason. There had to have been…”
I paused to think, when suddenly, a plane sounded overhead. It was so loud that it was clearly taking off or landing at the Vale.
It wasn’t abnormal—the Vale used planes to receive supplies—but it was annoying in the middle of our intense conversation.
Worry crossed over Noah’s eyes, and his brow creased, as if something wasn’t adding up.
“What’s wrong?” My hand rushed to cover his, and I was relieved when he didn’t move away.
“The Vale has a strict supply schedule,” he said. “We track when the planes come in and out to prepare for our attack. They shouldn’t be sending out another for at least two days.”
“What do you think it means?” I could only assume the worst—that they were gathering something for the upcoming war. Supernaturals rarely used human technology while fighting—we preferred to relay on our natural abilities and strength—but the vampires of the Vale were desperate.
Who knew how far they would go to win?
“I have no idea,” he said. “But it can’t be anything good.”
Suddenly, someone unzipped the tent and stepped inside. Marigold. Her hair fell in long, unbrushed waves down her back, and she wore a white nightgown that hung to her feet. It made her look like an angel.
Noah pulled his hand out of mine and put space between us again, as if we’d been caught doing something wrong. “Yes?” he asked the witch.
“The Vale’s protections are down.” Marigold’s eyes gleamed with excitement. If she noticed that she’d interrupted a moment between Noah and me, she didn’t show it.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “How could they go down? What did you all do?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I wish I could say that we’d gotten to their witch and killed her, but we didn’t. All I know is that the boundary went down after that plane took off. Now, the Vale is completely unprotected.”
As she spoke, something twisted in my stomach. Guilt.
Could this have happened because of me? Because of the bargain I’d made with the fae?
“What’s the plan?” Noah stood at alert—a soldier ready for battle.
“We’re going to wait until daylight, since that’s when the vampires are at their weakest,” she said. “It gives us a few hours to prepare. Then, once the sun rises, we’ll soak the soil with the blood of the vampires so our Savior can finally rise.”
Annika
I made my way back down the golden steps, relieved that the door to the Tree of Life opened when I placed my palm upon it.
Jacen waited in the center of the room. I’d only been gone for a few hours, but from the way he beamed at me, one might have thought it had been weeks.
“Annika.” He hurried toward me, but halfway there, he stopped in his tracks. “Your eyes,” he said, looking at me in wonder. “They’re completely gold now.”
“I drank from the Holy Grail.” The words didn’t feel real as they left my mouth. “I’m an angel now. Well, technically an ‘Earth angel.’ But still an angel.”
“What?” His brows shot up, panic registering on his face. “How’s that possible?”
I filled him in on everything Emmanuel had told me in Heaven. It was a lot to cover, but I did it as quickly as I could, since right now, the Vale needed our help.
“We need to get to the Vale at once,” Jacen said once I was done. “I need to talk to Noah. Once he knows the truth, he’ll have to get the wolves to stand down.”
“If he believes you,” I said.
“I’ll make a blood oath promising him that I’m telling the truth.” Jacen’s eyes swam with intensity. “I know you haven’t met Noah yet, but even though the shifters are technically part demon, he’s a good guy. He’ll believe me.”
“I trust your judgment,” I said, especially since Emmanuel had told me not to discredit the shifters because of their demon blood. “But how are we going to make it to the Vale in time? All we have now is that lousy rowboat I found on the beach. It’ll take forever to reach the mainland in that. Unless…” I trailed off, not sure it would be possible.
“Unless what?” Jacen asked.
“Once we were done talking, Emmanuel flashed out,” I said. “He teleported, like witches can do.”
“And you’re an angel now.” Jacen brightened—he must have realized where I was going with this. “Do you think you can teleport too?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged, since I knew little about the abilities I had as an angel. “But I can try. Do you know anything about what the witches do when they teleport?”
“They need to picture where they want to go,” he said. “It’s more accurate if they’ve been there before, or if they’ve seen a picture.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’ve been to the Vale.” I took a deep breath, holding Jacen’s hand in mine.
Then I realized—by going to the Vale, we’d be near humans. Jacen had spilled a lot of his blood to distract the wyvern, and it had been hours since he’d fed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, tilting his head in concern.
“You should feed.” I brushed my hair to the side, bearing my neck to him. “To be at your full strength.”
“Annika…” He sounded like he was trying to resist, but his fangs emerged from his gums, showing me that I was right—he needed more blood.
I stood on my tiptoes to get closer to him, my stomach flipping in anticipation of his bite.
“You’re not a Nephilim anymore.” From the way his eyes were swirling with desire, I could tell it was taking everything he had not to bite me immediately. “You’re a full angel. We have no idea what your blood will do to me.”
“My Nephilim blood gave you more strength than human blood,” I said. “I imagine that angel blood will be even better.”
“Just a sip…” He pressed his lips to my neck, and a shudder rolled through my body as he sank his fangs into my skin.
Ecstasy poured through me, and I felt more connected to him than ever. But it was over too soon. He’d barely taken anything compared to last time before pulling away.
“That’s all?” I nuzzled into him, already feeling the bite marks on my neck healing.
But as much as I wanted to kiss him forever, I soon forced myself to pull away.
“In the future, you can have it whenever you want.” I smiled, feeling a certain power at knowing how tempting he found my blood. “But if we don’t get to the Vale, we might not have a future to look forward to. So… are you ready to get out of here?”
“You know it.” He reached down for my hands, watching me with confidence. “Let’s do this.”
Annika
I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of the Vale.
It didn’t feel like anything happened. But after giving it a few more seconds, I peeked to see if we’d teleported without realizing it.
We still stood in the center hall of the Tree of Life. Disappointment filled my chest. I’d been so confident a minute ago that I could get us to the Vale. Now, the Vale seemed as far away as ever.
“It didn’t work,” I told Jacen. “I pictured the Vale, but we’re still in the Tree.”
“Did you think about wanting to go there when you were picturing it?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “I just pictured the Vale.”
“Try again,” he said. “This time, think about how much you want to bring us there. Imagine us arriving into the picture in your mind.”
This time, when I pictured the Vale in my mind, I also thought about how badly I wanted Jacen and I to be there and imagined us appearing.
Suddenly, my stomach swooped—like on the drop of a roller coaster. It was the same thing I’d felt when Camelia had transported me to the Crystal Cavern. We didn’t really “land” as much as that I felt a subtle change in the texture of the floor beneath my feet, and the air became colder and drier.
I opened my eyes and smiled at my familiar surroundings.
We’d arrived in the attic of the Tavern. There was a blanket bunched up beneath the window, and all the books on the shelf were untouched, including the bookmarked one I’d left on top of it the night I’d first brought Jacen here.
“I did it!” I squealed. “Open your eyes.”
“Hell yeah you did it.” He swung me around in a celebratory circle and pulled me in for a kiss.
Despite wanting to fall down with him onto the blanket and forget about the rest of the world, I forced myself to pull away. After all, we had a lot to do, and no idea how much time we had to do it.
“Why’d you choose to bring us to the Tavern?” he asked.
“I didn’t,” I said. “I was picturing the Vale in general, and ended up here.”
He reached into his pockets, and it was impossible to miss the worry that crossed over his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My phone’s still back at the Haven,” he said. “I have no way of contacting Noah.”
My heart plummeted—why hadn’t we thought of that? We’d been so determined to get to the Vale that we hadn’t thought through our plan.
“Maybe my angel instinct can help,” I said. “It should be stronger now that I’m a full angel.”
“It got us this far,” he said. “Give it a try.”
Noah, Noah, Noah, I thought, trying to hone in on the wolf I hadn’t met. How can we get to you?
I instinctively reached for the handle on the floor—the one that pulled open the hatch that led to the rooms above the Tavern.
“This is the way out,” I told Jacen. “Come on.”
“Can’t we just leave through the window?” he asked.
I was instantly reminded of the first night we’d met—when we’d sneaked our way inside through the very same window. It was crazy how long ago that felt—like an entire lifetime ago.
“We could,” I said. “But I feel like we should go this way.”
He glanced warily at the open door. “If the humans see us, they might report us to the vampires,” he said. “We can’t risk being stopped by Scott or Stephenie.”
“The humans here are my friends,” I said. “And anyway, look at us.” I motioned to our clothes, which were torn and bloodied from the creatures we’d fought on our journey to the Tree. “We have no chance of blending in. The humans here don’t have much, but I’m sure there’s something they can loan us.”
We made our way down the ladder and into the girls’ dorm—the place I’d slept when I’d lived here. I didn’t bother to be too quiet. Since it was night, no one would be in the dorms. The Vale kept a nocturnal schedule, so night was when most humans were working. They wouldn’t come up here to start getting ready for bed until sunrise.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw three girls huddled in the corner.
They stared right back at me, looking like they’d seen a ghost. I knew them from my time working in the Tavern—Jill, Rachel, and Laura—although I hadn’t been close to any of them. They’d been born in the Vale and had lived there for their entire lives. They knew nothing of freedom.
When Jacen jumped down behind me, sheer terror crossed their faces.
“Your Highness,” Jill sputtered, glancing back and forth between the two of us. “And Annika. You’re not dead?” She stepped in front of the other girls, as if trying to protect them.
“No.” I couldn’t help but laugh, but I forced myself to be serious. I couldn’t blame them for being confused. “Too much has happened to explain, but we’re here to help you. What’re the three of you doing up here now? Don’t you need to be working?”
“Everything’s been crazy since we found out that Queen Laila died,” she said.
“What?” My eyes bulged—I hadn’t expected them to know that Laila was dead. From what Jacen had told me, Scott and Stephenie were determined to keep Laila’s death quiet for as long as they could.
“Who’s leading the Vale now?” Jacen asked.
“Prince Scott,” Jill said. “Well, I guess he’s King Scott now. But that’s not the craziest part. A few hours ago, Prince Alexander gathered everyone in the village and told us the most unbelievable story.”
From there, she detailed everything that Prince Alexander had told them—the entire truth, or at least what he knew of it. Which meant everything except the reality of who the “Savior” truly was.
I listened closely, proud of Alexander for going against his siblings and telling the citizens of the Vale the truth. I didn’t know much about the prince, but he sounded like he would be a much better leader than Scott or Stephenie.
“Prince Alexander gave us a choice,” Jill finished. “Follow him to start a new kingdom in America, or stay here and face the wolves.”
“Why didn’t you leave?” I asked, unable to fathom why anyone would stay.
“Who’s to say the prince is telling the truth?” Laura spoke up, her voice soft.
“Exactly.” Jill nodded at Laura, backing up her friend. “Plus, everything we have is here. We can’t just leave with no idea where we’re going. Who’s to say we’ll be better off there than here?”
“You would be,” Jacen said. “Alexander was correct when he said that the wolves far outnumber the vampires.”
“But the vampires keep us safe,” the youngest girl, Rachel, said. “They’re the most powerful creatures in the world. They’ll protect us, like they always do.”
“They’ve never kept you safe,” I shot back. “They kept you here unwillingly, as slaves.”
“They keep us housed, clothed, and fed.” Jill placed her hands protectively on Rachel’s shoulders. “We need to be thankful for what we have.”
“They’ve taken away your freedom!” I dropped my arms to my sides, unable to stay calm for a moment longer. “You’re nothing more than cattle to them. All they care about is your blood. How have you not realized that yet?”
“The human world isn’t any better.” She crossed her arms,
jutting her chin out stubbornly. “It’s worse. In the human world, they don’t care if you live or die. Terrible things happen to people on a regular basis there. Society will leave you hungry and homeless. Here, I’ll always have food, and I’ll always have a roof over my head. I won’t get overlooked like I would if I lived out there.”
I pressed my lips together in frustration. This was the type of propaganda the vampires of the Vale fed to the humans who lived here on a regular basis. The ones who had been born and raised here—like Jill, Laura, and Rachel—tended to easily buy into it.
“What about Martha?” I glanced to the bed where the girl had always slept—she was the youngest and smallest at the Tavern. I used to sneak her candy bars on the days we were forced to donate blood. “Did she go with Alexander?”
“She did.” Jill frowned. “Alexander promised the humans who went with him that they would be treated as equals to the vampires—that they would even eat the same food. That was what convinced Martha. We all know how much she loved food. Most of the Vale-born stayed.”
“You should have gone,” I repeated, even though I had a feeling that getting through to them would be impossible. They were far too brainwashed for me to change their minds now.
“There’s nothing for us out there,” Jill said. “Alexander doesn’t even know exactly where he’s leading the people who followed him. They’ll probably all end up dead.”
“You’re wrong.” Jacen stepped forward and snarled. “Staying was the stupidest thing you could have done. You have no idea what’s coming. The ones who will end up dead are the ones who stayed here. The ones like you.”
Terror washed over the girls’ faces, and I placed a hand on Jacen’s arm in the hint that he needed to back down.
He sucked in a deep breath, but then he moved closer to me, managing to get control over his temper.
“We know what’s coming.” Jill spoke calmly and surely. “The wolves want our land, and they’re going to try to fight for it. But the vampires can beat them. The vampires have held this land for centuries. That isn’t going to change now.”
The Vampire War Page 7