by Sarra Cannon
I swallowed, not wanting to admit the things I’d done, but knowing that I had to confess my sins to the woman I loved. She deserved to know just who she had fallen for.
“I captured witches and experimented on them,” I said. “I tortured them, Franki, knowing that I was also torturing the demons trapped inside of them. All in the name of saving one. I tried every potion and elixir I could think of. I even researched the darkest types of magic, willing to risk my own soul to save her and bring her home.”
Franki gripped my arm tighter as I continued.
“I hated myself for the things I did, but I was powerless. Desperate. I didn’t know what else to do,” I said. “The Brotherhood of Darkness came to me, promising to help me save my sister and get vengeance on those who had captured her. They were so strong and fast. No witch from the Order had any hope of capturing them. And more importantly, they were untraceable. They told me they’d discovered a way to use their demon magic here in the human world without leaving evidence of their power. Of course, they didn’t tell me how at first, but at the time, I’d almost been captured by the Order several times. I’d been stealing and murdering their witches, and they wanted me bound so they could use me the way they were using Ariella. They wanted my power for themselves, and staying free was getting harder and harder for me. I knew it was only a matter of time before they tracked me down and overpowered me. I was exhausted, and I was afraid I wouldn’t have the strength to keep fighting. To keep killing witches and demons in the name of my desperate experiments.
“They told me that if I agreed to bind myself to their Brotherhood, they would teach me the ways of their unique magic. They filled my head with all kinds of promises and tales of unimaginable power,” I said. “And in my defeated state, I believed them. I needed to believe them. I thought that if I had more power, I would be able to find a way to free my sister.”
“No one could judge you for that,” Franki said, but I didn’t want to hear her. I couldn’t ever forgive myself for the things I had done, even if I’d had a good reason for it.
“I agreed to join them,” I said. “The only thing I cared about back then was revenge. I was so filled with hatred and anger that I was willing to do anything, and I think they knew that. I think they watched and waited for me to get to that point before they even approached me.”
Franki kissed my cheek and ran her hands across my arm, but I almost wanted her to hit me instead. That’s what I deserved.
“After they turned me into a vampire, my rage was limitless,” I said, my voice low and unsteady. “I can’t even count how many witches I killed in the name of power and revenge. But no matter how much power I drained from them, I never had enough to save my sister.”
I swallowed, having finally reached the part that was the most difficult for me.
“For years, I watched her. Or, at least, I watched the witch who carried her inside her body,” I said, my muscles tensing at the memories. “I exhausted every spell, every type of magic I could think of or find that might help me release her from that prison. But when I finally came to terms with the fact that nothing could ever save her, I made a plan. Along with many of my vampire brothers, I raided the small town where Ariella’s witch lived. We killed every witch who belonged to the Order, saving only the Prima and my sister’s witch. I had planned to take them both back to my lab. To keep them alive, but not to let them use the power of the demons inside them anymore.”
I looked away, the memories of that night still too fresh to face. There had been so much blood. So much death.
“The witches tried to fight against us, but we were far too powerful as a group,” I said. “We killed without mercy, the bloodlust so great that we tore through them like a tornado, leveling the entire town in just hours. Only, by the time I got to Ariella’s witch, she was so afraid of us that she was ready to take her own life before she died screaming the way the other witches in her town had died. I saw her lift the dagger to her throat, but I was powerless to stop her.”
Franki began to cry at my side, her body trembling as I continued.
“I shifted and flew toward her, planning to rip the dagger from her hand, shouting at her to stop, but I got to her too late,” I said, my tears flowing freely now despite my determination to hold them back. “She died in my arms, and my sister died with her. It was the worst night of my life, and for the longest time, I felt as if it might as well have been me holding that dagger to her throat. I failed her in so many ways, I’ve lost count.”
When my story was over, I felt a heavy weight lifted from my shoulders, as if I’d been holding it there for a century.
Which, I guess, I had been.
“I needed you to know,” I said softly, sitting up so that I could look Franki in the eyes. “That was my weakest moment. My greatest shame. And I just needed you to know.”
I half expected her to be repulsed by me. To pull away and tell me I deserved to die for what I’d done to all those innocents.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she wrapped her legs tighter around mine, pulling me as close as two bodies could possibly get. She didn’t say a word. She just moved on top of me and took my face in her hands.
I was afraid to meet her eyes. Afraid I would see judgment and fear in them, instead of the love I’d come to long for.
She took my face in her hands, forcing my eyes toward hers as my heart pumped.
“I love you with everything that I am,” she said. “Nothing will ever change that, Rend. Everything you did was out of love, and I know you think you deserve to pay for what you did, but all of that is in the past. Losing someone the way you did would drive anyone to madness, but you somehow conquered that hunger and rage and turned your life into something meaningful. I hope you can see that about yourself. Because when I look at you, I don’t see a vampire. I see the other half of myself. I see someone who loves so deeply, they would do anything to save those they love.”
“I couldn’t save her,” I said, saying the words out loud, as if needing to understand them myself. As if truly facing it for the first time.
“You saved me,” she said. “I wish that could bring her back, but I know it won’t. I know nothing can ever take that pain away from you, but I hope you understand that you did everything you could to save her back then, and it isn’t your fault that she is gone. You can let this go now, Rend. You can stop letting this torture you the way it has for so many years. It wasn’t your fault.”
She kissed me then, and I felt her love and her strength pour into me, healing me. Forgiving me.
“I love you, Rend,” she whispered. “I will always love you, no matter what.”
Franki was right. I would never be able to forget the pain of losing my sister, but her love had given me new strength.
I would carry that strength with me into the summoning when the time came, knowing that no matter what happened, no one could ever take that from me.
We Belong To Each Other
Franki
Rend and I watched the sun come up on the Paris horizon, bringing the city to life before our very eyes.
We had spent the entire night talking and making love, sharing the secrets we had kept from each other. Our fears. Our shame. Our hopes for the future.
But there was one secret he was still keeping from me.
I rolled toward him, propping myself up on my elbow to stare into his eyes.
“I need you to tell me now,” I said.
“Tell you what?” he asked, gently running a hand across my arm.
“Why this feels like goodbye,” I said. “Like you thought this might be our last night together.”
He looked away, as if he wasn’t quite ready for us to emerge from this cocoon of happiness and intimacy. But now that the sun was up and a new day had begun, the truth could not wait any longer.
“I’ve seen the quiet conversations up on the balcony with men I don’t recognize,” I said. “The way your jaw tenses when anyone mentions t
he Brotherhood. It’s happening, isn’t it?”
His eyes met mine, and I saw the truth there.
“When?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Soon, I think. There have been rumors coming through Venom for a little over a week now.”
“A week?” I asked, my voice raised.
“Before you get too upset with me for keeping it from you, just know that I was planning to tell you today,” he said. “They were just rumors at first, and I didn’t want to worry you. I know you have your finals coming up, and there wasn’t any reason to get all worked up about it until I knew for sure.”
“And now you do?”
“Yesterday on the phone, I was talking to Ryken,” he said.
I recognized the name of one of the vampires who had fought against the Devil. Ryken was a machine-gun carrying beast of a man, twice Rend’s size and all muscle.
“What did he say?”
“He’s been asking around, and he found out for sure that the Council has been meeting in a closed room in the Brotherhood’s castle for the past several days. They haven’t allowed anyone else inside,” he said. “I think they’re making their decision about what to do with us, which can only mean that once they leave that room, the summons will come.”
I gasped and leaned back against my pillow. If the Council had already been in there discussing it for days, that meant Rend and I might only have hours left.
I forced back tears.
It couldn’t really be happening this soon.
“We have a plan in place to oppose the Council if they decide to put us to death or some harsh punishment,” he said. “We’ve been talking to every vampire who will listen, explaining that the Devil attacked first, making sure they know the truth before we even get to the summoning. If the Council sentences us to death for what we’ve done, we will have at least half of the Brotherhood on our side against them.”
“So, you’ll fight if it comes to that?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “If we have to. I’m hoping the Council will see how many of the Brotherhood disagree with their decision and open it up to a vote. Since two seats on the Council are empty right now, I think they’ll have to listen to the majority. I don’t think they’ll be willing to let it come down to a fight, Franki. Not with the numbers we have on our side.”
“But you don’t know for sure who is with you and who’s against you,” I said, feeling helpless. I wanted to go with him when the time came, but that was impossible. I’d be in too much danger around all those vampires, not that the Council would listen to a witch, anyway. Not even Solomon’s daughter.
“Not for sure, but we’ve done all that we can,” he said. “Now we just have to wait and see. If we have to, though, we’ll fight for our lives before we let them take us down.”
“I don’t know if I can survive it if you don’t come back to me, Rend,” I said. “We haven’t had enough time together, and it’s my fault you’re in this situation in the first place.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he said, caressing my cheek. “This isn’t anyone’s fault but the Devil. And I will come back. I promise.”
We held each other for a long time, his promise hanging in the air between us. The truth was, there was no way for him to promise that he would return. All he could really promise was to fight.
Rend and his friends were powerful, but so were the three remaining members of the Council. They had been turned from demons into vampires decades before Rend had even come to the human world to save his sister. My father, Solomon, and his brother, the Devil, had been the first to discover the spell that would transform them into vampires, and they had quickly recruited the other three to their side.
Gideon. Abagore. Raum.
All I really knew about them was their names, yet they held the fate of the man I loved in their hands.
“Is there anything more we can do?” I asked. “With the time we have left?”
“I’ve done everything I can think to do,” he said. “I still have people searching for Silas, but there’s no sign of him anywhere.”
My heart tightened in my chest. Silas was my half-brother, but I hadn’t really had any time to talk to him about our father or anything. He was there the night we killed the Devil, but he’d been given the stone that held our father’s soul and told to destroy it. He disappeared that night, but we hadn’t heard from him since.
“What happens if he doesn’t show up to the summoning?” I asked.
Rend kissed my hand, sensing my fear. “I don’t know,” he said. “Not showing up to a summoning itself is punishable by death. But just because I can’t find him doesn’t mean the Brotherhood won’t be able to. They have ways of tracking us, just like the Order does with its witches. When the summons comes, an envelope will be delivered to Silas wherever he is, and the envelope will teleport him and the rest of us straight to the Brotherhood’s castle. I’m sure he’ll be there when the time comes, I just wanted the chance to talk to him about the stone before it happened.”
“So when it comes, you won’t even have time to say goodbye?” I asked, my throat seeming to close up. I thought we’d have a few days after the envelope arrived to make plans or say goodbye.
“The second it comes, it will take me to the summoning,” he said, gripping my hand tighter. “All we can do now is make the most of the time we have left. Do you want to go home? Or do you want to stay in Paris today? It’s completely up to you. And it could be weeks before we hear anything from the Council. Rumors don’t always mean anything, Franki.”
“Let’s go home,” I said, leaning against him. “Paris is beautiful, but if we only have a few days left, I want to spend them at home with you.”
He nodded and got up from the bed. “Wait here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
I smiled and rolled over, admiring him as he walked across the room and slid his pants on. It made me want him all over again.
When he returned, I expected him to be carrying coffee or breakfast, but instead, he held a small white box decorated with a black ribbon.
I sat up, pulling the white silk sheet around my body. My heart raced.
Rend sat across from me on the bed, his eyes bright and clear as he placed the box between us. “I had planned to give this to you last night at dinner,” he said, smiling. “But then we never actually made it to the dinner part.”
I laughed, tears welling up in my eyes at the same time.
Rend tugged at the ribbon, pulling it loose before he opened the top of the white box. Inside was a smaller box made of black velvet. He carefully removed it from the white box and held it in his hand for a moment.
“I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say for weeks now,” he began. “And I’m not sure I have the perfect words, but I realize after last night that it’s not the words that really matter between us. What matters is the way we feel about each other. The way we fit together perfectly in every way. Ever since I lost my sister, I vowed to never again love anyone as much as I loved her. I was too scared to open my heart up to being hurt the way it destroyed me when she died.”
My heart pounded against my ribs, and I could hardly draw a breath.
“But when you came into my life, you tore down all the walls I had built around my heart,” he said. “I was helpless against you. I think I loved you the moment I first saw you, and whether we have an hour or a century left together, I want to spend the rest of our lives knowing that we belong to each other.”
He opened the small black box and held it out to me. Inside, a black stone with silver streaks running through it topped the most intricately carved silver ring I’d ever seen. I brought a trembling hand to my lips.
“I know this isn’t a traditional ring, but I wanted to give you something that proves the way I feel about you,” he said. “This stone is the first stone I ever successfully created in that lab my father built for me back in the Shadow World. It’s made from pieces of the Black Cliffs near m
y home and water from the Sea of Glass. It took me years of practice before I could even create this one stone, but when I finally did it, it opened a whole new world to me. That’s the way I feel about you, Franki. I thought I understood this world and the life I was destined to live, but you opened up a whole new life to me. I want you by my side, always.”
He smiled, took the ring from the box, and slid off the bed to get down on one knee.
“I think this is how it’s done in your world,” he said, laughing. He held the ring toward me, his eyes growing serious, but full of joy and love. “Mary Francis, love of my life, will you marry me?”
My face broke out into a smile, and I threw my arms around him, kissing him as tears of joy rolled down my face.
“Yes. A hundred times, yes.”
Rend placed the ring on my finger. His first successful alchemy experiment, and something he must have held onto for centuries.
It fit perfectly, and I knew that I would never take it off for the rest of my life.
Some Dark Fate
Franki
We spent the next full day at home together. It was the first time Rend had ever called out of work to do something other than fight a battle against the Order.
We hiked in the mountains. I showed him how I could now shift into crow form. We binge-watched a few TV shows and snuggled on the couch.
And now, I was showing him how to bake cookies.
For a while, it was like we were two normal humans. We pushed the Brotherhood and our troubles out of our mind, and it was heaven.
Rend pulled the oven mitt over his hand and raised an eyebrow. “Are you ready for this?” he asked, a smile reaching all the way from his mouth to his eyes.
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing and nodded. “Big moment,” I said. “Your first actual baking experience.”