Love Is Mortal

by Caroline Hanson

  Cerdewellyn frowned and took a step away from Marion, clasping the gem in his hand. “No, it is all right. I promised I would not kill him. Besides…I would give my Virginia anything to see her happy.”

  Marion slanted a longing look towards Cer, her gaze fixating on his full lips. “You are a lucky girl,” she said on a sigh.

  Val knew how jealous Virginia had been. She would not have put up with Marion’s flirtatious overtures. Valerie stalked forward, trying to do what Virginia would have done so that he didn’t become suspicious.

  Cerdewellyn frowned at her as she advanced and took a step closer to her, blocking Valerie’s path so that she could not get close to Marion. She had the distinct impression that he was used to women being jealous over his attentions.

  He looked down into her eyes, as though he could see into her soul, as though he were looking for something.

  “We are ready,” he said, and he walked her over to the table. She didn’t like being this close to Marion. Close enough to touch. Her weapons didn’t feel close enough, and she didn’t trust her newfound powers. “All the power lost will be set free and returned to me. We will put an end to the vampires and reclaim the world.

  Valerie nodded in agreement, even managed a smile of encouragement and hoped that was convincing enough.

  “And Margaret,” Marion reminded him sharply.

  “Of course,” Cer agreed. His hand hovered above the stone, and then he said to Valerie, “She must be there. Within you. A small part. Yes or no?”

  Taken by surprise, she didn't know what to say. “What do you mean?”

  He turned to face her head-on, the full brunt of his personality and attention making her want to flinch away. She was lying to him, and she felt like such a terrible liar that he would be able to see it upon her face. And then he would destroy her.

  “I have one chance. One wish. This power is not a subtle thing. It is not like a sharp blade that can carve, but a sword that can split things asunder,” he said intimately, as though Marion was not even there, and it was just him and his love, Virginia. “My desire must be an all-consuming command. There is no hesitancy or changing one’s mind. The stone’s power must be directed with pure focus of will. So tell me, what am I to wish for? Power? Love? A new beginning?” he asked quietly.

  “You ask for your power to return to you so that you may make our people strong,” Valerie said. “Isn’t that your greatest wish?”

  He closed his eyes for a moment, and Valerie wished that her blade had been drawn, and she could have stopped this cat and mouse game. Everything he said had two interpretations, and the desire to ask him if he knew Virginia was gone was bubbling up inside her.

  “I cannot betray my people for love,” he said.

  Valerie felt a touch on her connection with Lucas, a gentle inquiry wanting to know if he should appear; if she were ready for him. She told him no, or at least she thought she did.

  Cerdewellyn moved, standing before an open book that looked tattered, and as if it had seen better days. This was the book that Lucas had talked about—the Book of Life and Death.

  Marion stood on one side, looking over his shoulder almost greedily. Valerie stood on his other, watching, heart thundering. She fished the knife out of her pocket and held it close to her side and out of his view.

  Cerdewellyn began to speak, reciting words in a language Valerie had never heard before, the letters on the page looking to be a combination of Cyrillic and ancient English. She couldn't have guessed the pronunciation of those words had she tried. And then he straightened, swiping a blade across his palm and letting the blood fall onto the stone.

  The stone began to glow, giving off a golden light. She could hear it too, the stone making a humming sound as the light grew brighter and the power built on the inside.

  He opened his mouth, and she knew that he would make the wish, set the Sard on its purpose and that she had to act now or never. Valerie lunged forward with her blade, stabbing Cerdewellyn in the stomach, shocked at how easy it was. Mentally, she called for Lucas, telling him to come now!

  Cerdewellyn stared at her for an endless moment; the expression of grief on his face was something else that would haunt her at night. Marion screamed, but then Rachel and Jack were there, and she heard a gun go off. Blood bloomed on Marion’s chest, and suddenly Lucas was there too. He stabbed Cerdewellyn again and shoved him to the floor, ignoring him, as though he were already dead.

  Valerie reached out and touched the stone, its heavy power throbbing through her, making her teeth rattle inside her head. The stone’s power was waiting, building as if it were gathering into a wave and ready to spill outwards. It just needed to be told what to do.

  Lucas reached out, ready to take the stone from her, to make his own wish—the one that would kill him and leave her bereft forever…And she couldn’t do it.

  “Hold still. I forbid you to move,” Valerie said and watched as Lucas’ hand froze in midair.

  Lucas made an angry sound, and said to her in a rush, “You do not know what you do. Release me now!” His words were furious, and she could feel him fighting against the power she held over him. Containing his movements was hard. She felt him using all of his physical and mental strength against her. But he was bound to her, and she was more than she had ever been—Fey, empathic, determined—and his strength was not enough. Between Lucas fighting her and the stone’s anxious pressure, her head felt like it was splitting open from the inside out.

  Valerie watched Lucas as she made her wish, using her love for him to strengthen her will and force the stone to obey her command. “I wish that there were no Others, that every vampire, werewolf, witch, empath and Fey become mortal, human and alive. I wish for magic to disappear, to unwind from one and all, and be erased utterly from this world.”

  She was looking into Lucas's eyes as she said it, but then his eyes went wide in shock and blood arced out of his mouth, spraying across her chest and face. “Release me,” he said on a gurgle, and all she could see before her was red: The red of his blood on his skin and his clothing, as well as the sword that had pierced him from behind. Cerdewellyn had spitted him like a piece of meat.

  Cerdewellyn stood behind Lucas and he shoved him forward with his foot, toppling him to the ground, Lucas’ body sliding off of his sword in a wet rush. Lucas’ skin turned gray, and she suspected that any other vampire would be dead already. She clutched the stone to her chest, taking a step back, wanting to draw Cerdewellyn’s attention away from Lucas so that he could heal.

  The enormity of what she’d done made her feel weak. If the magic did what she’d told it to, Lucas would become mortal. There was no way he could survive as a human with that wound.

  No! She needed to take it back. She didn't know what to say. How to amend her wish. She stared at the stone dumbly, waiting for the words to come to her when Cerdewellyn's hands slapped over her own. He ripped the stone from her hands and said, “It’s not done yet.”

  Cerdewellyn murmured something in the same ancient language he’d used to activate the stone, and she felt the air change. The light of the stone dimmed for one second, as if it were thinking about what Cer had said, and Val snapped back to reality.

  Valerie drew her gun and gripped it with two hands, hastily sighting on Cerdewellyn before drawing the trigger, and shooting him in the chest repeatedly. Blood exploded from him, and the impact threw him backward. The stone flew from his hand, skidding along the ground, and Valerie chased it, desperately praying she wouldn’t be too late.

  The seconds it took her to reach the stone felt like an eternity. She felt clumsy and slow. Time was precious, the window to change the wish was closing—she could feel it. She grabbed the stone and held it tight.

  “Heal Lucas!” she shouted at it. “Take away his mortal wounds.”

  But as she spoke, the gem lost all color, becoming inert, beyond lifeless, nothing more than a rock. Panic ripped through her. And then the stone cracked open and something lik
e vapor rose out of it, curling upwards and then out like tentacles. The vapor twined around her, settled over her as though seeking a way inside of her, and then it swept inside, swimming through her blood and rooting deep into her cells.

  The vapour picked at her like the ethereal hands undoing a knot. She could see exactly what was going to happen. That the magic would send out tendrils across the world, and untie itself from every magical creature in existence. It would take from the newest first: her, Jack, Rachel, Marion and Lucas. The ones who wanted them dead would stay powerful for the longest amount of time. Long enough to kill them all, no doubt.

  That was the flaw in her plan, and why Lucas had wanted to make a different wish. But Lucas was old, the oldest vampire in existence, and who knew how long it might take for the magic to reach him, maybe he’d be healed by the time it did. He had to be. And Cerdewellyn, who was so old that he made Lucas look young, how long would it take before he became mortal?

  And then the air cleared around her, the vapor gone, and she felt…human. Cerdewellyn was pulling himself to his feet slowly, painfully, his clothes coated in blood. He wrapped his arm around the middle of his body, crimson blood pulsing between his fingers. He was healing before her eyes.

  Lucas lay on the ground unable to move, his right hand desperately seeking his fallen blade. Valerie didn’t think about what she did, but ran over to Lucas with her gun drawn, ready to protect him to the death.

  “Did you hurt her?” Cer asked Valerie, stopping several feet away. His voice settled into a low register so that his words were a scrape of sound, like death’s fingernails sliding along a windowpane. This was not calm, collected Cerdewellyn—this was a desperate man.

  “It was her or me,” she said, not willing to tell him that she had bashed Virginia's head in with a rock. It was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Whether that turned out to be in the next two minutes or 60 years, she wouldn’t forget what she’d done to her.

  He scanned her from head to toe, as though he would be able to see Virginia like a visible manifestation laid over Valerie. He smiled at her roguishly, “I wish I could say I felt bad about this, but you deserve far worse.” His hand came out of nowhere, a backhanded slap to the jaw that knocked her off her feet and slammed her head into the wall, knocking her unconscious before she could say a word.

  Chapter 27

  VALERIE DISAPPEARED, leaving Jack with Lucas and Rachel. They stood there in what could only be described as the most painfully fucking awkward silence ever, and waited; Lucas claiming that he would know the moment they should follow her. Jack didn't like the idea of waiting for an invisible signal, some magicky mumbo-jumbo that was unproven, unreliable, and if wrong, might cost Valerie her life. The urge to go now and attack gnawed at him. He didn't know if his fear and agitation were worse now that he was a werewolf, or if it was just because he loved Valerie so damned much that the idea of her walking into danger first was almost more than he could bear.

  He punched his hand into his palm. He’d spent so long being pissed that Valerie was unwilling to fight the good fight, and yet now that she was; it scared the shit out of him.

  Waiting. He could feel Rachel's presence standing next to him, as though she were warm all along his body. As though she were fire, and he was some hapless beggar struggling in from the cold, wet darkness seeking shelter in her warmth.

  Which just showed what an idiot he was; because she didn't have a warm bone in her body. Part of him wanted to ask her yet again if she meant it when she said that she would let him kill Marion. Let him. What did that mean? Would she stop him? Compel him not to harm Marion? Was that what he was asking? No, it was more. He was asking her to choose him. To set aside 90 years of connubial bliss or whatever the fuck they had, and be with him.

  To give him peace.

  The truth settled around him like a warm blanket. She could not control him. Not in this. Not when it came down to the final battle. Killing Marion was his destiny. It was what he’d dedicated his life to. And there was no way Rachel would be able to stop him. Once the fight started, he’d be damned if he’d ask her for anything. It would be Marion and him; like two lovers ready for the last dance before the end of the world.

  Just him, just her, and one of them would die.

  He’d use his weapons, his strength and cunning, and if he had to use his newfound werewolf abilities, had to transform into an animal to kill her—he'd do that too.

  “Now,” Lucas said, and Jack knew that the time for thinking was done. Rachel put her arm around him, transporting them to Margaret's crypt in the blink of an eye. Marion was facing Valerie, and something in the set of her posture, told him that she was about to attack.

  Fear crashed over him, trying to drag him under, his legs feeling weak and the gun in his hand the only friend that would ever matter. He must've called her name, because she turned and looked at him; that black soulless gaze settling on him.

  Making him feel like a helpless child.

  And then something that Nate had once said came back to him: never think about why you are doing something, just act. For in that space of time that one agonizes with oneself, lives could be lost.

  Marion hissed at him, the deranged sound more monstrous than human. She stepped close to him, her head tilted to the side like a broken doll.

  “I should have finished with you long ago. Such a small boy you were. So petulant and complaining.”

  Marion rushed him, emitting an eerie bloody scream as she slammed into him, the full length of her hard body jerking him off his feet. His shoulders crashed into the wall, a sudden agony that made his arms go numb. Her fingers, pale, cold and with those clawlike nails, sank into his face, shredding his skin. Sinking so deep that it felt as if she scraped bone.

  Marion was suddenly yanked backward, dragged off him by Rachel. Marion spun out of her grasp, using her superior strength to evade her grip.

  “How dare you?” Marion said, voice filled with rage. “You are mine, and I am yours! You would turn on me for him? For this pathetic abomination?”

  Marion's words alone bruised Rachel. She stopped, as if momentarily frozen, her body swaying gently as though she weren’t sure if she should be going forward or backward. Her eyes filled with tears, which seemed to give Marion strength. Marion stood proudly, suddenly a confident and beautiful woman. She took two steps closer to Rachel, murmuring to her in a gentle voice. “He's nothing to us. A bump in the road. A trial that we can overcome. What we had…” she let her voice trail off as she moved in for the kill, touching Rachel's face gently with her hand—establishing a connection with her. Reminding her of the years they’d spent together.

  “Can you hurt him, my heart?” Marion’s voice was a dirty whisper, her lower body arching forward like a harlot peddling her wares. “He would never let you do the things you like. The things we do in the dark, when you won't even let me turn on the lights. Will you forgo that? Will you become just a woman, just an ordinary boring girl who will hide behind her man, let him protect her, and at the end of the night give in to him? We both know that is a lie.” She leaned in and kissed Rachel gently on the lips. Still Rachel stood frozen, standing at the crossroads, and unable in this final moment to do what was right.

  “Let me take care of this, and then we will be a family. Me, you and Margaret.” Marion moved away and turned towards Jack, a terrifying smile on her face. Pain ripped through him in a flash, stealing his breath. He locked his knees so he didn't fall down, and tried to keep his hold on the gun in his hand. The pain made no sense. Marion was still watching him, still gloating that Rachel wanted her more than him. Just as abruptly as the pain came it left, taking all of his newfound energy with it.

  That sense of wrongness, of Otherness, and the beast lying just below the surface vanished. In a way, it was funny. Morbid humor like winning the lottery the day after committing suicide. He’d finally been strong enough to deal with Marion, strong enough to win with his own bare hands, a
nd just as quickly that was gone.

  He was mortal. Valerie and Lucas had done it.

  His arm trembled as he lifted it, weighted down by both weakness and destiny. Jack sighted on Marion, and her response was a pout. As if he'd said he wouldn't take her to the opera instead of standing here threatening her life.

  “Little Italian boy,” Marion cooed. This was his moment.

  Marion rushed him and he shot her in the chest, one bullet slamming into her cheek, the side of her head exploding outwards. Marion was on him then, taking them both to the ground. The gaping holes in her face started filling in, blood and muscle crawling over re-forming bone as she healed while she lay on top of him.

  She pinned him with her weight, held his shoulders flush to the ground with her arms, and bent down, mouth impossibly wide to rip his throat out.

  “No!” Rachel shouted, slamming the stake towards Marion’s exposed back, ready to protect him from Marion as she’d promised. And which, it pained him to admit, was a little surprising.

  Marion rolled off him, evading Rachel’s strike and resting on her haunches, as she waited for one of them to make the next move.

  Yellow vapor settled over Rachel, and she froze, her body swaying gently as though she were no longer the one in control of it. Rachel took in a huge breath, sucking magic deep into her lungs, confusion, fear and weakness scrolling across her features in turns.

  Her skin changed, lost that hard luster, becoming pink and alive.

  Fuck.

  Rachel was human. He was human. But Marion…she was still a six hundred-year-old vampire.

  Marion laughed and grabbed for Rachel, wrapping her hand around Rachel’s throat and squeezing, choking the life out of her. Jack lunged forward, knocking into Marion so that she had to release the newly human Rachel. Rachel was gasping, clutching her neck where Marion had choked her.