by Tish Thawer
"That sounds great, actually. I have a couple of new clients that just stopped by the office and this will allow me plenty of time take them to dinner and give them my pitch."
Perfect. This gave me plenty of time to investigate, destroy, and recuperate before I had to meet him.
"Where are you meeting your clients for dinner?"
"O'Connors, just down the street."
"Sounds great, darling. I'll meet you there at eleven."
As I returned to the front yard, I noticed everyone was clearly wired. The blood was doing its job. "Everyone gather around," I instructed from the top of the stairs. I paused as they moved closer to my makeshift podium. "I live on the twentieth floor of the new high-rise building downtown. I think it will be wisest for me to enter by myself, since the building has security. Then I'll make my way down to the entrance for deliveries and let you all in. We can take the freight elevator straight up to my floor without being seen. I'll go in first, followed by Raúl, Juan, and Max, then the rest of you follow but remain in the front room unless I call for you."
Everyone nodded their agreement and seemed to be just fine with following my directions. This was exactly how it was supposed to work; the leader leads and the followers follow. Simple.
As fifteen or so demons loaded into the vehicles, I made sure I was in a car with Raúl, Juan, and Max. I needed to give a little more detail to my main muscle.
"Okay, guys. Once we enter my apartment you'll need to be ready. If the vampires are still there, they will fight tooth and nail to defeat you, but our biggest advantage is that they won't bite us. They know that doing so would give us the upper hand, as our demon blood would infect them."
They nodded their heads and bumped their fists, as I continued. "However, we aren't restricted by their blood. We can bite them. So, if you get the chance to sink your teeth into one of them, do it. Draining them will be our best bet of survival since it will weaken them while fueling us."
The back seat was buzzing with excitement. The men were pumped and ready. Now I just hoped that my instructions were accurate. I'd never bitten a vampire before, but didn't think it would be any different than biting a human. Their blood should boost our speed and strength, while making them weaker in the process. It was clearly a win-win.
Once we entered the parking garage, claiming three spaces near the service elevators, I waved at the group of eager demons waiting in the cars as I strolled towards the front entrance. I was a nervous wreck as I walked into the lobby of my building but tried my hardest to appear calm and normal. I was worried my anxiety would spike, causing my eyes to flare for everyone to see. That was something I really needed to avoid if I was going to continue my ruse of a happy life with Jeremy and our child. Normalcy was in high demand. I laughed out loud at the irony as I rode the service elevator down to greet my demon army.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rage and Rain
(Rose)
The rain pelted my face as I flew through the air but did nothing to cool my rage. While I dipped and dove through the frigid spray, learning the nuances of my newly developed wings, my attention was suddenly drawn to the bodies scattered across the forest floor below. The overgrown ferns and mossy ground-cover hid them from plain sight, but the dried blood still clinging to their bodies drew me in immediately. There were at least twenty bodies strewn across the span of a couple of miles. As I landed near a small group of them, I instantly knew I'd been the cause of their death. The jagged teeth marks left on their throats were a match for my now protruding fangs. Fangs that were longer and rougher than I remembered.
Shaking my head, I tried to recall inflicting this level of mayhem. A vampire only fed once a day, but apparently I'd been killing at least six or more people at a time. Maybe that was why I was sleeping so much. I was ingesting too much blood. Even the thought of the word "blood" caused a smile to spread across my face and a tingling to race through my veins, but it also scared the shit out of me and that pissed me off.
I should no longer fear anything, yet here I was, afraid of losing myself to whatever transformation had taken over my mind and body. I hadn't even known I'd been doing any of this; I had to gain control over this situation––over myself, and fast. It wasn't that I minded the killing, as a matter of fact, I was enjoying it immensely, but what I did mind was not understanding or being able to control what was happening to me.
I flew back to my cave, descending through the hole and forced myself to think back to the last thing I remembered about my life before becoming the hybrid.
A man's face filled my mind's eye, a face that I knew should be familiar but wasn't. I tried to muster a memory that would spark some emotion in regards to the image but failed. I simply couldn't feel anything other than the pounding of blood in my head that seemed to be drumming to an ancient tribal beat.
I laid down, closed my eyes, and let the darkness claim me once more.
* * * * *
(Christian)
Glowing?
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"How else can I say it, Christian? You're fucking glowing!" Jillian responded.
I looked down at myself and found her statement to be true. My entire body was shining like a lighthouse beacon in the dark. The golden light was subtle at first but then grew to an intensity that lit up the entire cavern.
"Holy shit!" Justin declared as he shielded his eyes.
I searched the space for Loraine, hoping she had something to do with this, but when pain started to wrack my body I knew this couldn't be anything good. Whatever was happening to me had nothing to do with Loraine, but with Rose instead.
My gifts finally decided to kick in and it became clear that our consort bond was close to its breaking point. I was losing her. Our ethereal cord was ready to snap and that meant I was going to die in a cave in Kentucky. Worse, it meant that Rose too was on the verge of dying which caused the scream in my throat to burst free.
"Christian, my god, what's wrong, what do we do?" Jillian screamed.
I had no answer for her as I fell to the ground. The painful pull within my chest had me wrapping my arms around my torso just before I passed out.
* * * * *
(Justin)
The second Christian fell unconscious his body stopped glowing. Jillian looked at me, obviously scared and clueless about what we should do. I pulled out my cell phone to dial William for some advice, but quickly found I had no signal this deep within the caves.
"Let's get him back to the surface, so I can call William," I suggested.
Jillian shook her head and stared at me with wide eyes.
I picked up Christian and instructed her to clean up the blood bags and grab our backpack. We wove our way back out of the cave and reached the main opening within minutes. Thankfully, the park had closed over an hour ago, because the second we got service, all of our phones started blowing up.
Jillian and I quickly silenced ours. Then I reached for Christian's, pushing the button to mute the incessant notifications. There were at least six messages for Jillian and I apiece, and over fifteen on Christian's phone. It was obvious that whatever was happening was pretty serious.
I didn't want to be interrupted by another security guard so I raced into the nearby woods and placed Christian against the base of a large tree. I immediately dialed William while Jillian paced, her hair and eyes drifting in rapid succession.
"William, it's Justin. What's going on?"
"Oh thank god. Evie has some serious news that she needs to relay to Christian and she hasn't been able to get a hold of him. Are you still together?"
I looked at my unconscious friend and sighed. This sucks. "Yes, we are, but unfortunately Evie still isn't going to be able to talk to him."
"Why? What's happened?"
"We don't really know. After we woke this evening he started glowing and then just passed out. He hasn't come to since."
The line was silent except for t
he sound of William's deep breaths until he asked, "Did you say he was glowing?"
"Yes, do you know what that means?"
"No, but it sounds like some next level shit is going on around here, and I don't want any part of it. I've never seen Evangeline this panicked before, and while I want to help her as much as possible, I refuse to put any of my family in danger. I think you and Jillian should come home."
Fuck! I didn't want to leave Christian and I knew Jillian wouldn't want to stop looking for her best friend, but I had no idea how to convince William that everything would be okay because honestly...I had no idea if it would be or not.
"William, Jillian and I are fine, and leaving Christian alone isn't going to sit well with Evie. With everything else going on, you don't want to start a feud between our clans."
"Christian has been a vampire for even longer than I have; he can take care of himself. Besides, Evie will understand my wanting to protect my clan since that's exactly what she's doing too. No, you and Jillian will come home. Now!"
The last part of his statement was layered with his Sire command. Jillian dropped the backpack next to Christian's still form and within seconds our bodies were being pulled back to South Carolina of their own accord. I reached for her hand and watched the tears fall down her cheeks as we were forced to leave our friend alone in the woods.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Face to Face
(Meredith)
I knew my eyes were glowing red as we crept closer to the door of my apartment. I was so anxious about coming face to face with the vampires again and the ensuing fight, that I could no longer stop my demon traits from presenting themselves. I didn't think the vampires would have stuck around, but if their intent was to end my life, then what better place to lie in wait than my own home. The question that nagged at me, however, was how in the hell had they found me so quickly after our move?
"Okay, this is it. Is everyone ready?"
My crew nodded their responses and in the next second we all rushed through the front door, poised for battled. Immediately, the men followed me into the back rooms of the apartment while the rest of my demon guard staked out the living room as planned. It didn't take long to realize we were alone.
"The place is clear," I called out, putting everyone's mind at ease. Lupé closed the front door and we all gathered to discuss our next step. "Just look for anything out of the ordinary. A piece of paper or even a matchbook lying on the floor could be the clue we need in tracking them down," I ordered.
As everyone began to spread out, I returned to where I'd encountered the vamps in the first place. My bedroom was clean and there was only the slightest hint of ransacking that had been done but nothing seemed to actually be missing. I was getting ready to look in the bathroom when my cell phone started to ring.
"Hello."
"Mer, it's me. I was just wanting to see if you were still planning to meet me at O'Connors? My meeting is done, so I thought I'd call and make sure you were on your way before I left."
I was happy to receive Jeremy's call and know that he was okay, and since this mission was obviously a bust, I had nothing to worry about here for the time being. I was suddenly too exhausted to carry through with our plans for tonight.
"Actually, Jeremy, I'm feeling a bit tired and would prefer for you just to come home. I don't think I could sit through an entire movie at this point."
"All right, my dear. That sounds fine by me. I'll be home soon."
I hung up the phone and made my way back to the front room.
"Thank you all for accompanying me here to make sure I was safe. I'm so pleased by how well we came together as a unit to take on this situation. The time has come for us to become the hunters instead of the hunted, and when we do finally face the vampires, I know we'll succeed as long as we stick together."
Everyone smiled and clapped each other on the back.
"Let's plan to meet again at Lupé's next week. We'll discuss the next step in my plan, but for now, I'm going to call it a night. I will take extra security measures, so please don't worry about me."
Lupé stepped forward and gave me a hug. "Be safe and call us if you need anything at all."
"I will, thank you."
I watched as the small group of my demon army made their way back to the service elevator. I knew that with Raúl as my second in command, and everyone on board with the way I was running things, we'd be able to take down the vampires when the time came.
* * * * *
(Christian)
I opened my eyes and darkness surrounded me. I tried to use my psychic gifts to reach out for information, but couldn't. I knew I'd passed out and was now caught in some sort of in-between world. I wondered if this was what Evie had felt like when she'd fallen unconscious after linking to Terrance. I tried to calm myself and blank my mind, just as I'd suggested to her at the time. But unlike Evie's results, clearing my thoughts did nothing to release me from this nightmare. So, instead, I chose to fill my head with images of Rose.
I thought about the first time I'd seen her leaning out of that limousine, her long blonde hair blowing in the breeze; I pictured us sharing our first kiss in the back seat of my car and all the other times we made out during my breaks from work. I let my mind rifle through the next four months of what I thought was utter bliss when Rose had been in hiding with me at The Rising Pit; and finally, I landed on the image of me sinking my fangs into her neck as her eyes glowed red.
After everything we had been through, I was sure that we were going to end up happy for all of eternity; vampires in love, living the dream. But instead, I was trapped in this unconscious hell, literally alone, feeling the cord of our bond preparing to snap and my life about to end.
Just as I was about to take what I was sure to be my last breath, I started feeling a slight tug in my chest. The images started to flicker and suddenly a horrible beast replaced my beautiful Rose.
Its teeth were long and jagged and dripped with blood. It had hideous wings that sprang from its back and carried it up into the night sky as it screamed and screeched like a howling banshee. Its eyes were glowing red and it's long black hair was stringy and flew in every direction. I instantly recognized it from the drawings I'd seen in the cave.
However, it suddenly became clear that the beast I now saw in my mind wasn't a delusion or an image of an ancient demon from the past. No...it was the hybrid––it was Rose.
I screamed as the anguish of my decision washed over me in a tidal wave of despair. How could I have been so wrong? I cried out again as I opened my eyes and found the beast––my Rose––staring straight at me within this unconscious dreamscape.
She hovered in midair, piercing me with her ungodly gaze.
"Rose? Can you hear me?"
She tilted her head, like a dog does when spoken to.
"Rose. It's me, honey. It's Christian. Can you tell me where you are?"
The odd look on her face caused my heart to break and my despair to grow. She had no idea who I was. Maybe that's why our bond was breaking––not because she was dying, but because she was lost to me––lost to herself, and no longer the same person; no longer my beloved Rose.
I closed my eyes and let the tears come. I wondered if I would still die if our bond snapped even though she'd remain alive. Or would I simply continue to exist without my consort? She was the hybrid and I was just the vampire who'd created her. I had no idea how our differences would affect our bond, but as I contemplated losing my true love forever, suddenly a golden light began to glow behind my eyelids. I opened my eyes, hopeful that Rose was recognizing our connection, but what I saw next had me flying through the black space of this strange realm screaming and crying, desperate to save my own life.
Rose had a hold of the end of our ethereal cord; our actual consort bond. It was a glowing thick rope that ran between me and her, anchoring into each of our chests right above our hearts, and she was preparing to rip it apart.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Desperation
(Evie)
After receiving a call from William, I experienced a level of desperation I had never known before. He had explained that for some unknown reason, Christian had passed out in the caves he, Jillian, and Justin were exploring in Kentucky. William told me he'd used his Sire command to order Jillian and Justin home, in fear of the unknown danger pursuing Rose would cause if they continued. I understood the desire to protect his vampire children, but the idea of my son being left alone in the woods, unconscious, had me wanting to sink my fangs into William's neck and let the poison of true death flow. I was much older than the young Sire and would prove the winner of any confrontation between us. Dax, of course, talked me out of any vengeance and we were now racing to the spot we'd been told Christian would be.