“What? Are you jealous?” To’kel scoffed. “You hate him as much as I do.”
“I hate him more. But my cari did not want Slade harmed.”
Feeling invincible, the smaller man held his ground and jabbed the blade at Damien. “Who the hell cares what that human wants?”
“Unfortunately for you, I do.”
Even if she’d been paying attention, Kara doubted she could have followed what happened next. Damien just moved too fast. In less than a heartbeat, he’d wrenched the blue dagger from To’kel’s hand and, in one smooth movement, slammed the blade into the dead center of the Vampire’s chest. Glowing black eyes stayed locked on To’kel’s face as the Vampire gasped in surprise and pain. “I care about that particular human very, very much.”
Kara jolted at the violence. “Damien, don’t fight!”
“He tried to kill you!” Damien shouted back. “If I die today, I’ll die knowing he can’t harm you when I’ve gone.”
To’kel gave a wheeze, his sightless gaze going to the mortal wound and then back to Damien’s harsh face. “You asshole.” He sagged to the ground. “You were supposed to be the bad guy.” A final breath rattled out and then he lay still.
Kara watched his motionless form for a moment. Then, she gave up worrying about him and looked at Damien. “Help me.” She said, simply.
Damien was instantly on his knees beside her, assessing Slade’s damage with a trained eye. The Vampire had already lost consciousness and Damien swore. “Kara Lynn, even if I had all of my instruments, there is no way I could repair this damage to his heart. No one could. Slade cannot survive.”
At his words, thunder rumbled. Honest-to-God thunder.
Then, the world went dark.
Even the stars winked out like someone flipped a light switch. In the distance, the night sky splintered into a crimson spider web. The segments created by the jagged red lines grew wider. Spreading. Cracking. One by one, the pieces began to fall away, showing a terrible void on the other side. Something vital had been broken and there would be no fixing it.
This entire world was going to come down around them.
“Oh no.” Kara whispered. The book did not like them killing off the hero and it wasn’t going to content itself with just a bad review. It was going to close the whole fucking show.
Lenore swept in from out of nowhere, cawing frantically.
Damien lifted his free hand so the bird would land on his arm, his gaze still on the angry sky. “What is that?” He demanded, harshly.
Kara swallowed hard. “I think it’s Eternal Passion at Sunset’s grand finale.”
Chapter Twenty
Damien knew he would die. His hand covered the wound in his chest and he sagged to the ground.
Slade stood next to him, the agent of his destruction. “This is the end of you, Creature.”
“Yes.” Damien agreed. “You are lucky Slade.”
“I know. I have not been stabbed in the heart, as you are. Also, I am a king.”
“Well, there is that. But, I meant because you found your Eternal-One. When you die, she will be at your side.” Damien stared up at the Vampire and shook his head. “If I could die knowing I had a woman who loved me, I would not have the regrets that I have now. I think, perhaps, it all would have been worth it.”
Eternal Passion at Sunset- Chapter Twenty
Damien shot Kara a quick glance as the ground shook beneath then. “It’s the book’s doing?”
She didn’t respond to that. Her eyes were fixed on the manuscript that To’kel had tossed at her. “So, this is how you want to end it, huh, Tanya?” She whispered. “Funny. I thought I’d be more afraid.”
Damien felt a chill go through him.
A terrible and growing rumble of power echoed as the earth itself quaked in protest. Above their heads, cracks appeared in the walls of the Vampire Palace and, along the horizon, he saw the ocean roil in turbulent peaks.
The voices of the crowd rose in shock and worry, their eyes cutting around their normally peaceful homeland. A lot of them took off running. Even more just stood there gaping. Nothing like that had ever happened within the Vampires’ pristine borders before. It had never happened anywhere. This power wasn’t natural or supernatural, but something beyond the forces of this world. Whatever was going on, Damien knew it was outside the scope of his understanding. This was Kara’s area of expertise.
This was Eternal Passion at Sunset preparing to kill them all.
“Kara Lynn?” He made his voice louder, breaking through her haze. “Is this happening because Slade is dying?” Even as he asked it, he knew the answer. Slade was the hero of this book.
And heroes couldn’t die at the end of the story.
Kara gave a nod, focusing on Damien, again. “See? I told you Slade had to win, but you just always think you know better.” She gestured around, expansively. “I told you I’d be your doom. I told you Slade’s death could destroy us all. I told you, I told you, I told you. And you didn’t listen and now here we are. I think I’d like an apology before we’re sucked into oblivion.”
The woman would drive him crazy one of these days.
Well, if this wasn’t the last of their days.
Damien watched as the sky shattered like a window broken by some delinquent child. Whatever façade covered this world, it was cracking off one piece at time, faster and faster. He knew so much magic… had so many powers… And not even he could explain such a phenomena.
Damien couldn’t stop this. He knew that. Only Slade could halt the destruction. If the Vampire died, he would take this entire universe down with him.
He would take Karalynn down with him.
No.
Damien’s jaw firmed at the thought.
No.
“It’s the end of the world.” Melessa dabbed at her eyes. “It’s not fair. I’m going to die wearing this stupid bikini. And I’m so young.”
“Who cares if the world ends?” Fibos got out between weeping jags. “Without our majestic king, what do we have to live for, anyway?”
“Well, I kinda live for killing people.” Xim muttered.
“And there’s math.” Eugene pulled himself up from the other side of the platform, rubbing the knot on his head. “I like math.”
“Also, our eternal good looks.” Some random Vampire put in. “Those are nice.”
More voices joined the chorus.
“Flying really fast.”
“Hot chicks that you can mind control.”
“I think cars will be invented soon. That’ll be cool.”
“And don’t forget shopping.” Melessa volunteered, sorrowfully. “I’ll… miss that.” She broke down in sobs.
Damien tuned out their inanity and looked over at the only thing in the world he lived for. The only thing he would die for. “Kara Lynn?” He trusted her as he trusted no one else and he had to be sure. “Is this truly the end of the book? There is nothing else to be done?”
She glanced at him, her eyes damp and resigned. “I’m sorry.” She sniffed back tears, but one still escaped, rolling down her cheek. “It was my fault. I’ve doomed you. I knew I would. If you’d just let To’kel stab me and not Slade…”
“The world could end a hundred times over and I would still make no other choice.” Damien interrupted. Between Kara and Slade, there was no choice. Between Kara and anyone, there was no choice. Damien would do anything to keep her alive.
Anything, at all.
Kara swallowed hard. “I love you so much, Damien. I would do all of this again in a nanosecond, to meet you.” She made a rueful face. “Obviously, I’d do some of it differently, this time around. Like not dying. But, I have had the best time of my life in this stupid book. Zombies and shape shifters and dragons and all of it. All of it, Damien. Because I was with you.”
Damien let out a long breath at her words and hugged her against him. He glanced at Slade, his mind racing. The Vampire only had moments to live. Already his skin was going pal
e and waxy. Damien kissed the top of Kara’s curly head… and knew what he had to do. “Alright, then.” He said, firmly. “Alright.”
It was the end.
Karalynn was right. He’d have thought that he’d be more afraid.
Damien released Kara and got to his feet. He moved his arm in a quick jerk, so Lenore would take flight. “Go.” He looked right at her. “Be free, as I am.”
Beady red eyes stared at him as if she understood that he’d just given her what she’d always wanted and was thanking him for it. Then, the raven took off soaring into the fracturing sky, wild and unfettered as the gods had always intended.
Damien watched the bird disappear, at peace with what was about to come. He turned back to Kara and smiled. “I have something for you.” Crouching down beside her, again, he reached into his pocket and came out with an intricate ruby ring. “This is meant for my bride.”
“Oh.” Her word came out of a breathless sigh as she studied the gigantic stone surrounded by glittering diamonds. “Damien, you really made me a ring? Really? With everything else going on?” She held out her hand so he could slip it onto her finger, looking delighted despite the dawn of the apocalypse. “It’s beautiful.”
It fit her perfectly. He knew it would. “I did not make this.” His hand curled around hers and squeezed tight. “It was my mother’s. Long ago, she told me to give it to you. To my mate.”
Kara beamed at him through her tears. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” He closed his eyes, briefly. “And I am sorry.” Before he could reconsider, he created the handcuffs, again. Kara gave a gasp surprise as Damien latched one side around her wrist and then sealed his lips over hers for a final kiss. Dragging Kara backwards, his mouth still covering hers, he swiftly locked the other half of the cuffs around the base of the massive Vampire throne. “Forgive me, cari.” He forced himself to step away from her. “You would try to stop me and there is no other choice, now.”
“Damien!” Her eyes met his in outrage and bafflement. “What are you doing?” The throne was made of solid gold. Vampires could move it easily, but Kara was far too small to even shift it with her struggles. “What are you doing?!”
“My own decisions have led me to this moment, choosing this path. I would take no other.” He steeled himself against her panicked expression, needing her to understand that she wasn’t to blame for anything that was about to happen. “Remember that I do this on my own. The outcome was inevitable, whether or not we met. It’s always been my destiny.”
“Stop.” Her voice grew frantic. “Whatever you’re going to do, stop. Let’s talk about this.”
His eyes burned into hers. “You were never my doom, Kara Lynn. Not ever.” He shook his head at how insane that idea seemed, now. “You are my salvation.”
“Please. Please, just untie me and we’ll do this together.”
“I love you endlessly, cari.” He wished there were better words –deeper and more unique-- to describe what he felt for her, but he didn’t have the time to think of any. “I will miss you, even in death.” He wanted to say that he’d wait for her on the other side, but odds were good that they weren’t headed for the same place.
“Damien, don’t.” She whispered, starkly. “Stay with me. You said you would.”
He squeezed his eyes shut at the plea. “I’d stay with you until the gods themselves dragged me away. But, this is the only way to see you safe.” Glancing away from her perfect face, Damien turned his attention back to Slade. “This is the only thing I can do.”
He knew the exact moment when Kara fully grasped his plan.
“Stop!” She screamed it, pulling on the handcuffs so hard they cut into her wrist. “Damien, stop. I’m begging you, as your wife, don’t do this!” She was openly weeping, now, and it was ripping out his soul. “Please, Damien.”
“Do not cry.” He murmured. “I can’t stand to see you cry. It will be alright.”
“No. No. We can go together, but don’t you make me stay here all alone!”
He didn’t respond to that. He didn’t trust his voice to work.
Damien laid his hand on Slade’s faint pulse and tried to clear his mind of everything except saving the Vampire. He’d always been the Wizard-Warlocks’ best doctor. Given his selfish temperament and antisocial leanings, the gift had continuously baffled Damien. Why hadn’t the powers gone to someone more worthy? Less… villainous.
Now he understood why he’d been given the skills to heal his patients, though. Why he’d be chosen to survive as the last of his people...
So he could save the moron who was supposed to save the world.
Damien scowled down at Slade’s bloodless features in disgust. “You know,” he mused, quietly. “I still hate you.”
Probably not an ideal bedside matter, but who gave a shit at this point? It wasn’t like anyone was going to remember Damien’s role in this and carve those final words into his golden statue. When the Vampires got through embellishing this tale, Slade would have defeated To’kel singlehandedly, before battling a sea-serpent on his way to dedicate a new puppy orphanage.
Kara was the only one who would remember Damien and, given her current mood, none of her recollections would be fond ones. “Damien, if you do this, I will kill Slade myself! I swear to God.”
He glanced over at her one last time and smiled at that threat. “You are incapable of such a thing, cari. You are gentle, and pure, and you will always think of the welfare of others first.” He slowly shook his head, amazed that such a woman was his. “Unlike Slade and I, you truly are one of the good guys.”
With that, Damien moved his palm to Slade’s bleeding chest and began to transfer his enemy’s fatal injury onto himself.
*****
“Damien!” Kara screamed his name, although what good it might do she had no idea. He wasn’t going to stop. No matter what she did or threatened or promised, he was still going to kill himself right in front of her.
He was going to sacrifice himself for Slade and absorb the stab wound into his own body.
He’d sure picked a hell of a time to turn selfless.
“Damn it!” She pulled at the cuffs as hard as she could, ripping deep gouges into her flesh as she tried to pry her wrist free. “Somebody help me!” Her gaze flew around the spellbound crowd, looking for someone to enlist. “Xim!” She gestured frantically at the dragon. “Get over here and break these handcuffs!”
“Yeah, but if you stop Damien, I think the world might end, right?” He asked, dubiously. “I mean, that’s what you guys were saying. And I’m not liking the earthquakes and all, so I’m thinking maybe we should just let him…you know… keep doin’ what he’s doin’.”
“If Damien does this, he will die!” Kara raged.
“Uh-huh.” Xim squinted. “See, I never liked Damien, though, so…”
“You useless green gnat! When I get out of here, I’m going to rip your wings off!” Kara glanced back over at Damien. Already she could see a red stain spreading across his shirt as he healed Slade’s wound. Terror filled her, far deeper than anything she felt watching the sky crumble into dust. “Damien, you promised you weren’t going to die today. You promised me.”
That got his attention. At least, for a second. “Villains lie, cari.” His sounded strained.
“Villains also let the good guys bleed to death when they get stabbed!” If she could have reached the blue dagger, she would have chopped off her own hand. “You are worth a thousand times what Slade is. Don’t give your life for his. Please. You are my entire world.”
His expression softened. “I would die anyway. We all would. This way you will live.”
Her mind raced for a way to stop him. “Listen to me, I can think of a better plan to save Slade. Just give me some time and I’ll think of something.”
“We have no more time, though.” Damien’s voice was faint. “It’s for the best. You will be fine.”
“I won’t be fine!” Kara shouted. “I need
you so much. So much. You have no idea.” She stretched out a palm, trying to reach him. “Please, Vlad. Just look at me. Look at me.”
Glowing black eyes flicked to hers and she saw the pain and regret in them.
The resolve.
Kara swallowed, thinking fast. “If you have to do this, at least tell me what I need to know to survive here alone. I don’t know this world and you didn’t show me how to use my powers, yet, remember? You’re the last Wizard-Warlock. If you don’t tell me, how will I ever learn?”
Damien blinked, considering that through his painstaking work on Slade and his increasingly weakened condition. Normally, he’d be calling bullshit. With the hole growing bigger and bigger in his chest, though, he wasn’t at full his mental capacities. “Your powers should be just staring to develop.” He murmured. “Don’t worry. They are there.”
That’s it. Keep explaining.
Kara kept her face guileless and scared. The fear was very real and all about him, but –with luck-- he’d misinterpret it. “How will I ever be able to protect myself if I don’t know how to use them, though? You said you’d teach me to access the powers, beloved. Did you lie about that?”
“No.” He shook his head, weakly. “I… No. Of course not. All you have to do is reach for them and they’ll be there. Close your eyes, center yourself and just… feel them. It is all a matter of concentration.”
Concentration.
Right.
Kara squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated harder than she’d ever concentrated on anything in her life.
Deep breaths. In and out. In and out.
In.
Out.
Concentration became stillness.
Feel the powers. Harness them, so you can break out of these cuffs and save your mate.
Save him, save him, save him, save…
Deep inside, where it felt like her very soul was connected to Damien’s, something moved.
Not Another Vampire Book Page 33