Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3)

by Alicia Deters

  After getting that squared away, he gave me one last searing kiss goodbye and set out into the waning light of dusk.

  When did that happen?

  Probably during the marathon sexcapades.

  Gavin was right. We could easily lose valuable time getting wrapped up in each other. And here, we were worried we’d be the ones to set the world on fire in our lust crazed tirades, but in reality, we’d be completely oblivious to the flames, allowing it to burn down around us. We would have to practice self control for entirely different, but no less dangerous, reasons from now on.

  Traveling at super speed, I sensed Gavin growing farther and farther away from me by the second, and I grew apprehensive. The bad feeling we shared earlier about splitting up sat like a boulder in the pit of my stomach.

  I flopped back in the bed and reached for my phone to inform my friends that I was, in fact, not dead, as several of their texts suggested. Max had said he tried knocking on our door but we hadn’t answered. He not so subtly suggested what types of activities it sounded like we were engaging in, and I blushed at that text.

  I’m fine. Stay in tonight, and I promise we will talk tomorrow.

  I sent out the mass text to everyone and miraculously drifted off to sleep, again, to the sounds of their affirmative replies.

  I dreamt about loss and blood. Shoving through a crowd of people speaking a melodic language, I frantically searched for my friends, calling out to them in the chaos. Until it was no longer a dream.

  I shot straight up in bed, my ears sifting through varying decibels of white noise to lock on a single feminine scream.

  “Sophie.”

  13

  My voice hollowed out around her name and sounded reedy. It felt like a sumo wrestler was sitting on my chest. Panic had sucked everything out of me, and I charged through the window, leaping straight into the night on sure, strong and, oh yeah, naked legs.

  I hit the snow with bare feet and shock ripped any remaining air from my chest. My body adjusted to the freezing temperatures enough for the shock to dissipate, and I narrowed my focus on Sophie’s screams. When I pinpointed them, I heard other familiar voices. My friends had all been taken right from under my nose.

  Gaining speed and clad only in Gavin’s oversized shirt and my tiny black shorts, which were technically underwear, I honed in on those sounds and let them guide me, which in hindsight, probably wasn’t the best thing to do, because when you focus all your energy on something far away, you don’t see what’s right in front of you.

  The last thing I remembered before everything went black around me was several stinging sensations, all over my body. Arrows, I thought to myself, followed by a hand around my neck and a sharp prick on the other side.

  Son of a…

  †

  I came to and was once again jarred by the freezing temperatures against my back. I lay on a hard mound of packed snow. No, not snow. Dirt. When my vision returned, there were four walls of soil surrounding me. Roughly six feet above me stood the one vampire I wanted dead more than my father.

  “Shane,” I growled.

  His almond shaped eyes blackened and glittered in the moonlight with malicious intent. Those wide lips were pulled into his signature cocky grin. His black hair was cut so close to his head, that thick skull appeared bald. Shane was half black and his milky smooth complexion and model-worthy features would be attractive, if I didn’t know he was such a dick.

  “Well, damn it. There went my whole plan to have you wake up covered in all this dirt. I didn’t have time to get you a coffin, either. I wasn’t sure how fast my treats would burn through your new system. Guess I should have upped the dosage.”

  “Where are my friends?”

  “They’re fine, for now. Relax.”

  “Where’s my father?”

  “He’s preparing for your next meeting. Tell me, Lucy. Where’s your boyfriend?”

  My heart stopped. Did he mean to insinuate my father was hunting Gavin, or was this another trick?

  “Oh, that’s right. He was called away to deal with a crisis.”

  I tried not to panic, because it only confirmed they knew where he was, which also meant that I had been right. My father and Shane must have been working with the First, because their assassins were the ones terrorizing the Keepers. King Dick must have ordered it in order to separate us and cause chaos among the factions.

  “Divide and conquer, right, Lucy?”

  I stood up on wobbly legs but quickly regained my balance. Brushing off chunks of dirt, I leapt out of the grave and faced off against Shane, who stood on the opposite side of the pit.

  Taking in my surroundings, I sensed the other vampires along the outskirts of the cemetery Shane chose for his current game. It was sprawling and dotted with generic headstones.

  “Damn, baby, you’re looking better than ever. The no pants look suits you.” He sniffed the air around him and turned up his nose in disgust. “You’re covered in his stench, though. You know, if you wanted to pop that cherry, I would have volunteered for the job. All you had to do was ask. Or beg. On your knees. Did you get on your knees for him, Lucy?”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “And you’re pathetic. You can’t even keep your friends safe.” He paused to rake his eyes over my body again, this time finding me lacking. His lip curled up with disdain. “I bet you’d let all those little kids get eaten by the First, too.”

  Warning bells rang loud and clear. I didn’t play chess but I felt the checkmate approaching fast.

  “What? What kids?”

  “Oh, you haven’t heard yet? The First have gotten a bit hungry and desperate lately. They’ve been sending out nightly raiding parties to collect fresh meals for them.”

  My stomach churned, and I wanted to be sick. The missing children weren’t part of a trafficking scandal like Brody suspected.

  Questions began forming and swirling through my head in a giant dust bowl. I wondered why Shane hadn’t just killed me while I was drugged, but then I realized my father still needed me to find the real Sword of Michael, because I was his best chance. So why did Shane mention the children and risk sending me on a mission that didn’t pertain to finding the Sword? Was it another trap? What was the point of that?

  “I can see that tiny brain is working overtime. Careful, Lucy. Wouldn’t want you to have an aneurism.”

  “My brain is tiny?” I gestured to the empty grave at my feet. “I know this must have been your idea.” I ticked off each element of his sad scheme on my fingers. “Vampire. Buried in a coffin. Rising from the grave. This reeks of cliché. Are you capable of having an original thought or does my father do all your thinking for you?”

  “Are you capable of creativity, Lucy? This is poetic.”

  “In what way?”

  “The irony of all this is artistic. Because it’s not just you I buried. Your friends are here too. Instead of the dead rising from their graves, I reversed the roles on them. You only have a matter of time before they suffocate. You see, Lucy, that ought to keep you busy for a while. Now, that’s clever.”

  My blood burned in my veins like acid. “I can’t wait to kill you. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it’s going to be over too quickly and I won’t get to savor it. But either way, you will end up ashes on the tip of my stake, you piece of shit.”

  I dove over the grave, but he dodged me before I could tackle him. As soon as I landed on my feet, he shoved me right back off of them. I crashed into a stone cross and rolled off the grave.

  “Sorry,” I said to the deceased.

  I really hoped we didn’t wake any of the dead tonight, because I didn’t think I would be able to keep anything from breaking like I had in Rome.

  The vampires stepped out of the shadows to come to Shane’s aid, but he waved them back. It was awfully nice of the First to donate so many of their soldiers to my father’s cause.

  Shane smirked. “I can see your panties, baby. You sure you don’t want to wear my
scent instead? I’m more of a beast than he’ll ever be.”

  My skin crawled at his crude suggestion. “You’re right about that. He’s definitely more man than you’ll ever be.”

  Pissing off Shane was like finding a lucky charm in the middle of a battlefield. You could still end up dying, but it really made your day.

  He charged, and I spun at the last second, shifting my foot in his path to set him off balance, and then I reached up behind my head, wrapping an arm around his neck. In the same movement, I yanked him forward by the head and flipped him over. He landed flat on his back, and I drove my foot into his nose.

  His head made an indent in the frozen ground, and blood spurted from his busted septum. Righting himself, his leg shot out and connected with the back of my knee. I dropped to the ground.

  “Told you I’d have you on your knees.”

  With snake-like precision, he wrapped his hands around my head and twisted. The resounding pop ricocheted through the cemetery with finality. My useless body flopped to the ground, landing next to a weathered grave marker.

  Michele Ricucci, 1932-1988.

  Sorry, Michele.

  Beyond the gravestone, Shane approached a female assassin with pale blond hair and took the metal stake she offered. He winked at her before turning back to me. He loved his blonds.

  Paralysis was a very inconvenient thing for a vampire, which was why our nerve fibers were much tougher than a human being’s, and although they could be severed with enough trauma, it took a lot more than a broken neck to accomplish immobility.

  He towered over my still form. Just as he swung the stake toward my heart, I crossed my forearms over my chest in an X. I cried out when the stake tore through skin and broke bone on its descent.

  Shane leaned down to taunt me. “How does that feel, baby? Next time, I won’t give you a chance to block me.”

  I head butted him and ripped one arm free of the stake. Upon impact with my steel-like vampire tissue, the stake had compressed and bent, making it all the more painful on the way out. Agony lanced through my arms, but I used my free hand to pull the stake free from my other arm.

  Once dislodged, I swung it at Shane before he had a chance to react. There was a wet gurgling sound that followed its impact. I laughed at his bulging eyes. That ought to shut him up for a while. The stake stuck out of his throat, marking my impeccable aim. He wouldn’t be talking for a few minutes at the very least, and I was going to savor every peaceful second of it.

  I got to my feet with effort, and by the time I steadied myself, Shane was able to whisper. “Bitch. We’ll finish this later. Happy digging.” He tossed a single shovel at my feet and winked.

  At that, he breezed away with his mini army at his heels. The reminder hit me like a 9mm round to the skull. I picked up the rusty shovel and focused my hearing deep into the ground. Silence greeted me, and I began combing the expansive lot.

  A thudding noise stopped me in my tracks. I listened, and it came again. And again. Running toward the sound, I spotted a fresh mound of dirt twenty feet ahead of me.

  I approached and slammed the shovel into the loose dirt. I prayed I wasn’t too late. With debris flying in every direction, I dug for what felt like hours. Every second that ticked by was a breath that was stolen from them.

  Picking up my pace, I flung entire piles of dirt in every direction. When I was standing waist deep in the hole, I saw movement in the dirt.

  I threw the shovel aside and sunk my hand into the remaining layers. Elbow deep in soil, my hand brushed warm flesh. I gripped the arm and pulled. Brody’s dirt covered curls and golden eyes greeted me. He coughed and wheezed, but he was alive.

  “Lucy, thank God.” He shot forward and hugged me tightly to his chest. “Where are the others?”

  “We have to find them. You’re the first one I found.”

  Terror leaked into his eyes. “Shit! Let’s go.”

  I helped him out of the hole and grabbed the shovel. We sprinted down rows of headstones until I heard the next heartbeat. “Over there!” I shouted, pointing to our left. “By that group of trees.”

  We stopped in front of the next mound. Brody didn’t waste time snatching the shovel from me and setting to work. I knelt at the edge and started scooping and swiping armfuls aside. My legs and Gavin’s shirt were caked in soil, and it clung to the wet blood on my chest and forearms.

  Sweat glistened on Brody’s forehead in the moonlight, but he didn’t once pause to rest or adjust his grip. I knew if I looked at his palms right now, there would be blisters forming.

  The night ignored us as we frantically tore through the ice-cold earth. A calm breeze skated over my bare legs, prickling my skin, and something small chattered in the distant woods. An owl hooted cheerfully under the moonlight, blanketing us in a false sense of serenity.

  Time escaped us more quickly than before. It seemed to be speeding up cruelly. When we made it three feet down, I shouted, “Stop!”

  He could have disemboweled whoever was below the last layer of dirt, and I had enough personal experience with that to know it was no walk on the beach. Brushing the loose layer away, I uncovered blond hair.

  A hand shot out of the soil by my side and helped us brush away the remaining dirt. Her other hand had been muzzled over her mouth and nose as an air pocket, but she still gulped in oxygen once uncovered. As soon as she was free, Allison shot up and frantically wiped off her face, spitting and blowing the dirt out of her mouth that made it past her barrier.

  “Gross. I’m going to need ten showers to get all this crap off.”

  Brody replayed our reunion, squeezing Allison into a bear hug. “I’m good,” she told us.

  “Al, we have to go. We still need to find the others.”

  Her eyes bulged as she swept her gaze between the two of us. Without another word, she picked herself up and climbed out of the shallow grave.

  “Where, Lucy?” Brody asked.

  Before scouting the area, I heard the next person close by. “Next row, twenty yards down.”

  We repeated the same process, with Allison helping me dig. I was surprised to watch her go from one Allison to a completely different one. Gone was the carefully constructed Valley Girl persona, replaced with the scared girl who ended her father’s suffering, a bleeding heart determined to hold onto those she loved at any cost this time around. The white tank and pink striped pajama pants she wore had turned shades of brown, but she ignored it. Her appearance and discomfort were forgotten in favor of loyalty and righting her wrongs.

  When we made it a couple feet down, I left them to finish their work while I searched for the next grave. I found it almost fifty yards from their location. The heartbeat was faint, and I fell to the ground with single-minded focus. I wouldn’t lose any of them. I couldn’t.

  About a foot into the ground, a commotion broke out in the distance. “Lucy, we have Sophie!” Allison shouted.

  “Alive?” I called, my voice cracking over it.

  “Yeah, she’s okay,” Brody responded, and I could hear the smile in it.

  My chest burst with relief, and I thanked God for helping me out where I failed them. I heard them all calling for me.

  “Over here,” I yelled.

  Their heavy footfalls drew near and were louder than the small heartbeat underneath me. I dug faster, packed dirt hardening under my nails. The edge of the shovel joined my hands, and two other sets of arms joined my efforts.

  I glanced up and met Sophie’s clear brown eyes. Her glasses were missing, probably left on her nightstand during her kidnapping, but she could still see me two feet away from her. I tried smiling at her under the circumstances but couldn’t muster one. She smiled back weakly and continued to dig.

  Several minutes passed, and my hand brushed against something hard. I pulled on the object and revealed a dirty cast.

  “Nick!” Allison shrieked.

  We uncovered his face, but he wasn’t conscious. Allison cried hysterically for him to wake up,
and I helped her pull him to a sitting position. Brody resorted to shaking him, but that just seemed like a terrible idea.

  “Wake up, man!”

  He pounded on Nick’s back, and surprisingly it worked. Nick hacked up a lung and bits of dirt, but he made it.

  “Ow. What just happened?” he gasped, disoriented.

  “You were buried alive.”

  “Oh. That sucks.”

  Allison snorted, but it wasn’t time to make light of our situation yet.

  I leapt out of the hole, listening for any more signs of life. “Max. Where are you?”

  “Lucy, where next?” Brody followed me out of the grave. The others were right behind him, waiting for my guidance.

  “I don’t know.” I searched the ground all around us. “I can’t hear him.”

  Nick stepped up to the plate. “Everyone fan out.”

  We were nearing the edge of the cemetery, where pines formed the lines of demarcation. We already made a full pass, and I hadn’t heard him anywhere. Was he even here, or had Shane already killed him for fun?

  No. Not Max. Please, not Max.

  Minutes slipped away from us. From him. Everyone called out for him like he was a lost puppy who strayed too far from home, but the sinking feeling in my chest knew it wasn’t that easy.

  I began racing up and down rows of headstones, scanning for any disruptions in the leveled earth. Another pass took me closer to the front of the cemetery where I faced off with Shane, wasting time while my friends lost air. I was so stupid to antagonize him. It only made him draw out my suffering longer, like he always did. I should have known better, and now, it could cost my friend his life.

  One more pass, and then another, each time coming up empty handed. I was close to the understated front gates when I heard Sophie’s voice shouting above the others.

  “Here! Over here!”

  I was the first one to meet her. She stood above a fresh mound, all the way around the copse of trees where we had found Allison. Why hadn’t I heard him?