by Moore, E. M.
Soren’s teeth clenched, his eyes hardening. “I loved Sophie. It wasn’t meant to be though.”
“He killed her.”
“In punishment for my actions. I’m supposed to be loyal only to him. I’ve learned my lessons and it will never happen again. Your friend, the one who’s so keen on reminding me that they’ll kill me if I don’t talk, might as well just do it.”
“Dumont punished you into submission. You don’t have to live like that.”
“Like I have another choice. I’m going to stay in this cell or die. If I don’t say anything, I might live for a while longer, and if there’s anything you should’ve realized about vampires by now, it’s that we have a strong desire for life. If I talk, I’ll die. You won’t need me anymore.”
“What if I could help you? What if you did talk, and I could promise that nothing would happen to you?”
“Then you’re more delusional than I thought.”
“I’m offering you a third option.”
“One you’ve made up in your head that’ll never come true. I’m your enemy. I don’t care who you are, you don’t save enemies. No one’s that forgiving.”
“But I’m offering it. It’s probably more than Dumont ever did for you. Let me guess what his options were when you told him you were in love with Sophie. Give her up, and only she would die. Fight for her, and you both would die. How long did it take you to make the decision, Soren? A couple seconds? A minute? You just said yourself a vampire’s will to live is stronger than anything else. I’m offering you a chance.”
“You’re offering me a dream that’ll never come true.”
“But sometimes dreams are all we have. Tell me, did you see her one last time before he killed her? Was she looking at you when he did it?”
His fangs slid out and he snarled in my direction.
I gasped, my mind reeling at the purely evil thought I just had. “It was worse than that, wasn’t it? He made you kill her. To prove your loyalty to him. That’s what he did, didn’t he?”
Soren’s hands dropped hopelessly from the bars.
I pressed forward. At least I had some sort of reaction out of him other than just playing and teasing me. “I’m sorry,” I told him truthfully. “You never should’ve had to go through that. But there are better people in the world. Ones that don’t make you their instant family just so they can use you to do their bidding. You know that’s all Dumont is, don’t you? And every other action he’s taken, like making you kill Sophie, was to prove to you that you’re nothing without him. But you’re not, Soren. The Ravanas want to change things and I don’t care if you believe them or not, but you can believe me. You can look me in the eye right now and figure out whether I’m lying or whether I believe that with my whole heart. Change is coming, and I’m offering you another chance, an option Dumont would never give you.”
“Come closer,” he demanded, fixing me with a glare.
I stood on shaky legs and stepped forward. His arm moved toward me. I stayed where I was, unflinching, as his fingers moved through my hair. “You remind me of her.”
I swallowed the uneasiness and let Soren have his moment. “I’m just trying to save the people I love, and give others the options they won’t have if Dumont takes over. You know it’s true, Soren. Your story proves it. He won’t let others live their lives the way they want. He’ll control everything. Here, it’s not like that, and it’ll get even better.”
“You have that much faith in him? In the clan?”
I nodded. “They’re good people. And this is coming from someone who didn’t even know vampires existed six months ago. I should be revolted by all this, but I’m not. I stayed. I had a choice, and I stayed.”
Soren took a deep breath, his eyelids lowering. He pulled his hands away and moved back into the shadows of his cell. “I believe you’re telling me the truth. Even if I told you where he was, it wouldn’t matter. There are hundreds more like me that will die for him.”
“His army?”
“Yes, his army.”
My heart lifted. A breakthrough. Maybe Soren was finally seeing the truth about his sire. “Tell me anyway. We’re fighting for the chance to live life the way we want with who we want. If you were given that choice all those years ago, wouldn’t you have taken it? Sophie would still be alive.”
“Yours will only end in hurt, Young One. Take it from me. Take it from someone who lived through it, and who was penalized greatly for it. You might as well turn around now. They gave you a choice, you said. You should’ve chosen the other one. The one without this world. In this world, Dumont will reign, and you will die.”
“But, you don’t know the life I came from… And even if I hadn’t come from that one, even if I liked my life before, I don’t know that it would’ve mattered. I want to be here.”
Soren sat on his cot heavily as if the energy inside himself melted away and there was nothing left to hold him up. He sat motionless for a few seconds and I waited on bated breath to see if anything I said had gotten through to him. Finally, he glanced up at me. “If I’d been given a choice, I would’ve chosen Sophie.” He paused for several seconds, then dropped his head. “Dumont will have gone underground. We didn’t have a backup plan. He was so sure we were about to take over The Fort that we didn’t bother having a plan B. The nearest safe house from here is in Calcutta though. That’s where he would go.”
A knot twisted in my stomach and I blinked, unsure I’d heard him. “Calcutta?”
He nodded slowly.
Impossible. All this time, I’d been closer to this other world than I’d ever imagined.
13
I leaned against the wall in the gym the next morning while the rest of the trainees filed in. The Ravanas were shocked when they heard what Soren had told me about Dumont’s safe house. Four pairs of eyes had immediately turned to me, but I didn’t know what to tell them. Who knew I’d been that close to someone so evil? Yet again, we didn’t even know how often he used the place. Maybe he never used it, and there was no reason why this new information should be spinning around and around inside my head and I couldn’t get it out.
Now, here we were, at the organization of the trainees just like Samuel had wanted. He stood in the front of the room, his arms clasped around himself while Lex and T.J. flanked him. Lex had been getting a lot of respect from the trainees since the night the invasion happened, and of course, everyone was already enamored with T.J., their stake teacher. Maybe that was why Samuel always seemed displeased in their presence. He wasn’t used to sharing the spotlight.
When the last trainee came in, I anchored myself in the back of the pack, listening. I hadn’t said the words out loud, but I knew the Ravanas weren’t deluding themselves. When Samuel asked people to volunteer for the risky mission, I was doing it. This whole affair was my job after all. No one would be bothering us if it weren’t for the fact that the Ravanas—my family—were being targeted. Since it was, they had to let me help.
Samuel explained the situation. The trainees, most of them anyway, all leaned forward, listening to the specifics. My mind wouldn’t concentrate on everything Samuel said, it was already on the task that lie ahead. So, when he finally broke the class up and told everyone they had to make their decision within the half hour and to come put their name on a list at the front table when they had, he dismissed us and told us that no matter what, we needed to stick on campus to await further instruction. Things would be moving fast on this.
While pockets of trainees broke apart and discussed certain tactics with their friends, I made my way to the front. A folding table had been placed in front of them with two sheets of paper. General Defense of The Fort and Deployed Personnel. Deployed Personnel was me. There were already a few names on the list when I got there, and I quickly added mine. T.J. and Lex gave me a smile while Samuel just nodded.
Once outside the gym entrance, a hand shot out to stop me. “Well?”
I turned and met Christian’s eyes. I gave
him a small smile to try to ease the worry lines on his face. “You know what I did.”
He took in a deep breath and then turned to walk with me. He didn’t say anything until we exited the main building and started walking toward the guardian house. “I do. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about you, and I’m not the only one.”
“Of course. I’d be worried too if any of you were in this situation. But, we’re ahead of ourselves. We don’t even know if they’re going to take me.” I didn’t know why I said it, maybe just to make him feel a better about the situation, to act as if there was a bit of hope of not seeing me leave the protection of The Fort, but I was certain they would take me. Not because I was full of myself, but because I was sure I’d already proven myself. I defended The Fort when it was necessary, saved guards and vampires. I was also the one who got the information out of Soren. The least they could do was send me where I wanted to.
Christian knew I was bluffing. He gave a tiny shake of his head. “Don’t. They’d be stupid not to take you, and I’m sure they were planning on doing so whether you signed up for it or not.”
“Well, that’s not true. We had a choice. Don’t make everything I told Soren to get him to talk a lie.”
His forehead wrinkled. “That’s what you told Soren to give Dumont up?”
I nodded, my lips pealing apart with a genuine smile. “It’s true. In his world, he has no choices. He made that abundantly clear. At least here we do. Sometimes you wouldn’t understand just how much that actually helps, to have some control of your own life.”
“I doubt Nicolai would agree with you on that.”
My shoulders deflated. “Are he and Gregor fighting again?”
“More like continuing the fight. I’m not sure it ever stopped.”
I could see both points of view. Nicolai wanting to do something, but Gregor not ready to let his son risk himself. “What do you think, Christian? Do you think your father should let Nicolai do what he wants?”
His lips thinned. “Asking me that is like asking me if I think you should go out on this mission. My heart tells me no, but my brain says yes.”
A gust of wind from in between two buildings came up and tracked hair across my face. I wrangled it down and placed it behind my ear again. “I suppose that’s true enough. Where are the rest of you anyway? I’m not allowed to leave The Fort.”
His lips teased upward. “In your room. We wanted to make sure we saw you before you left. Since we weren’t sure when that was happening, we decided we’d just show up when all the trainees were at the meeting and—”
“Kidnap me?” I asked.
“Now that you mention it. Yep.”
We walked through the main entrance and down the hall, the smells of breakfast still lingering in the common room and reaching out either way. Sure enough, when we got to my door, it was unlocked, and we walked right in. Connor was laid out on my bed, Stephan was in my desk chair, and Nicolai was leaning against the wall. Christian and I walked in, and each of them looked at me expectantly. I blew out a breath. “Well, I don’t know anything yet. I signed the deployment sheet, of course, but I don’t know anything besides that. They say we have to stick around on campus while they figure out who goes where, and then I imagine we’re going to be leaving soon after that. I know Lex and T.J. stayed up the rest of the morning to come up with a plan. They just needed the bodies.”
“You’re crazy,” Connor said. He dropped his head and shook it while looking out past his toes. “But I love you, Princess.” He sat up, and Christian and I also took a seat on the edge of the bed. “We kind of figured you wouldn’t know anything, so we thought it would be a good idea to have a movie day.”
“A movie day?” I asked, looking at Stephan who looked as unhappy as I thought he would be. Out of everyone, he worried the most about me. Not because he cared about me more or because he thought I couldn’t handle it, but because he was directly involved in the healing process. It took a toll on him, and he saw what it did to the injured, too. I wished there was some way I could erase his agitation.
Connor sprang from the bed and opened the closet. Inside was a TV/DVD combo. He pulled it out and placed it on the dresser. “Your new TV,” he said, showing it off like Vanna White.
“What? You guys did this for me?”
“Connor’s idea,” Nic said. He looked at me, his face grim.
Connor busied himself with putting in the movie and then took up his place on the bed. We scooted back to use the wall as a back rest while Stephan wheeled the chair over to get a better view. Nic dropped down to sit on the floor in front of me, my feet just barely grazing his shoulders. “What did you guys get?”
“Something awesome,” Connor replied. He tilted his head toward the desk. Leaning against the wall, I saw the cover for Wonder Woman. He smiled from ear-to-ear after I grinned. “We thought our wonder woman would like to see some superhero action before she goes off to fight the bad guys.”
My heart soared. They all looked at me with smiles on their faces. They really felt that way about me, didn’t they? That was amazing. I smacked a kiss on Connor’s cheek, and then held Christian’s hand as we relaxed back to take our mind off what was in the very near future. Of course I wanted to go fight for them, but that didn’t mean I particularly liked the idea of being away from them. It was hard every time all of us had to part, I just knew we were doing it for a damn good reason. We had the rest of our lives to stick near each other, and if I went out and did this, we were securing that future so it was so close we could practically reach out and touch it.
We didn’t get but a half hour into the movie when my cell phone rang. Connor paused the movie wordlessly as I pulled my cell phone out and checked the screen. ‘Rajyvik’ stared back at me, and I quickly swiped the phone to answer. Samuel, short and sweet as he always was, said, “Meet in the parking lot in ten. You’re being deployed to Calcutta with Team One.” Before I could even respond, he hung up the phone.
I opened my mouth to tell the guys the good news, but Nicolai grabbed my foot. “We already heard, Ri.” He pointed to his ear. “Vampire hearing, remember?”
“You can hear all my phone calls?”
Connor laughed. “Like that should be a problem. You only talk to us.”
That was true. I sprung up from the bed and went to the closet to pull out my black duffel bag. In it, I threw in a couple changes of clothes, sealed it up, and spun around to look at them. “I guess it’s that time.”
Stephan was the first to open his arms, so I went into them. He squeezed me, whispering in my hair, and then kissing the top of my head before I moved to Connor. He kissed my forehead, gave me a wink, and then moved me to Nicolai. He curled his arms around me and hugged me to his chest. He smelled like fresh sheets, and I sniffed deeper to try and memorize it. Christian was next. He cupped my cheek and kissed me softly on the lips.
They didn’t follow me when I left the room. I hurried down the corridor, not looking back. Though it killed me to do it, I was doing what I needed. For us, I kept reminding myself. For us.
I pulled the duffel bag up higher on my shoulder as I exited out the back. Spotting a dark black SUV, I ran toward it. Matthews, T.J., and Lex were already in the vehicle, but just getting there was another figure. A muscle pulled in my lower stomach when I recognized who it was. Zeke. He shook hands with the rest of the team, and then threw his duffel bag in the back of the vehicle.
I’d stopped mid-stride on my way there. Feeling a douse of cold hit me, I moved forward, shaking my head. It didn’t matter who else was there. This was what I had to do. The rest of them greeted me and I threw my bag in the back with Zeke’s. When I went to get in, T.J. stopped me. “Is this going to be a problem?” His eyes moved toward the other side of the vehicle where Zeke was just getting in. “Samuel said you guys have a history.”
“If it’s a problem, it’s not mine,” I told him honestly. Zeke had always been the one to start things with me. I just hoped he would
n’t let his personal feelings interfere with the mission. He’d shown earlier that he could be trusted so maybe he wouldn’t. We’d just have to sit back and see.
“Great. Welcome to Team One.”
14
My mind drifted as we made our way to the riverside city. The place I once called home when home was a shitty apartment, two physically demanding jobs, and early morning jogs so I could tire myself out just to sleep. I couldn’t imagine a better place to have Dumont’s safe house. Returning here only served as another reminder of what I was fighting for. Would I have wanted to fight as much if I were fighting for just my place to sleep and thoughtless, unrewarding jobs? Never. It was all about the home I’d found in the most inauspicious of places—a fantasy world some might even call it. But it was real, so real.
While we drove, we talked tactics. Other teams were also on the way to Calcutta. Team Two was scouting out the safe house from the description Soren gave me. Team Three was setting up with tech so we’d have digital eyes and ears as well as our own and those around us. The mission was to charge in there, abscond Dumont, and bring him back as our prisoner so he could be tried for his crimes. Gregor was out for blood when it came to him, so though our orders were to keep him alive, he probably wouldn’t last much longer than that.
Radio calls came in from the other groups on an hourly basis. The scout team had been sent out as soon as possible, so they were already in Calcutta, searching for the exact location. I couldn’t get an exact address out of Soren, but I was pretty sure I knew what building he was talking about. All that team needed to do was confirm that there was vampire activity in the area, then we could come in, bust the doors open, and leave with our captive. In my head, it was as easy as that. By tonight, we’d finally have the threat neutralized. Dumont would be nothing but a memory. Everything in my world could return back to normal, including classes at The Fort, graduation, and the princes.