Luciano knelt down next to Chad. “Have you ever killed anyone?” he asked the boy.
Chad shook his head. “I almost killed a dog once,” he told them in a weak voice.
Luciano stood up and looked at Kathrina. “Can we talk?”
Kathrina shook her head. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“I understand that, but it’s important.”
After hesitating for a moment, Kathrina finally followed him from the parlor to the kitchen.
“What do you want … to tell me more lies?” Her words were dripping sarcasm.
“I never lied to you Kathrina,” he told her.
“No … you just failed to tell me that my soul would be delivered to the devil as soon as you did kill me.”
“It’s not like that … and that thing is not the devil,” he corrected her.
Kathrina glared at him. “Well whatever that thing was!”
“It’s all in the book. That’s why I gave it to you. But right now you have something more important to worry about.”
“What’s that?”
“The boy … you can save him,” he informed her.
Kathrina shook her head. “I can’t! I don’t know what to do.”
“Give him a little of your blood,” Luciano urged.
Kathrina’s face contorted in shocked horror. “It will kill him! You know that.”
Luciano shook his head. “It will not kill him. He is an innocent so your blood will save him.”
Kathrina stared at him, saying nothing.
“Trust me.” Luciano tried to take her into his arms, but she pulled away from him.
“Trust you!” Kathrina stormed. “Are you crazy? I can’t trust you.”
“He will die anyway,” Luciano’s dark eyes turned hostile. “You don’t have anything to lose by trusting me on this.”
Kathrina could not force herself to take action. She didn’t want to watch the boy die in agony, which would happen if he reacted to her blood the way that other vampires did. At the same time, she did not want to just let an opportunity to save him slip by.
Luciano pulled a knife from the kitchen drawer and handed it to her. “Mix a few drops of your blood with something and have him drink it … but do not let anyone know what you are doing.”
His words alarmed her. “Why not?”
“Just don’t!” he said, still holding the knife. “It will only work if a vampire has never taken a human life, otherwise it will kill them. You have to keep this a secret because if anyone finds out what your blood can do, you’ll be a walking target the rest of your life.”
Finally Kathrina decided that he was right. What did she have to lose by trying this?”
Taking a glass from the cupboard, Kathrina cut into the tip of her finger. After letting a few drops of blood trickle into the glass, she wrapped her finger with a paper towel. She then added just enough water to the glass that you could no longer see the blood.
“I want you to go away. I don’t ever want to see or talk to you again,” she said, looking up at him.
His features were like stone, revealing nothing, but she thought she saw sorrow in his eyes.
Without saying anything more, she took the glass into the parlor. Someone had moved Chad back to the couch. The contrast of his pale skin against the red velvet couch was startling. She knew he would die soon.
Dash was leaning over the boy, whispering in his ear. When he looked up at Kathrina, she was shocked to see tears in Dash’s eyes.
“I brought him some water,” she told them.
“It won’t do any good,” Dash said, shaking his head.
“Well it couldn’t hurt either,” Kathrina reasoned, lifting the glass to the boy’s lips.
Chad was too weak to take more than a sip of the liquid.
“Drink just a little more,” Kathrina urged.
After drinking as much as he could, he lay back against the arm of the couch, exhausted by the effort.
Kathrina practically held her breath, waiting for him to begin shaking violently as he reacted to her blood.
Nothing happened.
Some color did seem to be returning to his face, but other than that, he lay still as death. Chad appeared to have slipped into a comatose state.
Dash stood up and stared down at the boy in disbelief. “His wounds are healing!”
“More than that … he seems to be breathing normally.” Nicole placed her fingers on his wrist. “He also has a normal pulse.”
Vampires did have a pulse and a heartbeat, but it was so faint that it would take a stethoscope to detect it.
“He’s also warming up,” Nicole told them.
This got everyone’s attention and they all gathered around the unconscious boy.
“The disease has reversed itself,” Sarah was amazed. “But why?”
Kathrina opened her mouth to tell them, but she saw Luciano’s eyes on her - warning her to keep quiet.
Donavan was looking at the boy, but he didn’t seem as shocked as the rest. “This has happened before, but it is very rare,” he explained. Kathrina got the impression that her father knew what she’d done, but he also didn’t want others to know about what her blood could do.
“Well what do we do with him?” Kathrina asked.
“He can go home now,” Luciano told her.
“But he knows about us,” Dash was shocked by the suggestion.
Donavan shook his head. “He will remember nothing when he wakes up. His time as a vampire will be a blank.”
“I know where he lives,” Kathrina told them. “I’ll take him home.”
“I know where he lives too, so if you don’t mind … I would like to be the one to take him home,” Dash told them.
Puzzled, Kathrina stared at Dash. “So you did know about him the whole time?”
Dash nodded. “The little tike was trying to protect me. That’s why he wouldn’t tell anyone that I was helping him. I gave him my recipe so that he could stay alive.”
“How sweet of you,” Nicole smiled.
Shrugging, Dash gave them all a mischievous smile. “I just couldn’t see letting them kill him. With him being just a little boy.”
It was true. If the vampires had known that Dash was helping the boy, he would have been destroyed, just like Chad.
“Do you know who turned him?” Kathrina asked him.
Dash shook his head. “I found him in a park. He was blood deprived and mad with hunger. I just couldn’t stand to see him suffering … so I helped him, but he never would say who turned him. I suspect it may have been Ray though.”
Kathrina stared at him in surprise. “You mean the Light Seeker I saw you with at Carnival Place?”
Dash nodded. “I have suspected for a while that he was a spy working with Omar. Maybe he was also being used by the demon.”
Kathrina felt her mouth go dry. She remembered how suspicious the vampire had acted when he saw her.
Placing a hand on her arm, Dash added. “I think he is also the one that killed your mother.”
“He needs to be taken back now … before he wakes,” Luciano interrupted them.
Kathrina forced herself not to think about her mother right then and there. She had to take care of Chad. There was some sadness that her newfound friend would not remember her, but she was glad that he would also not remember the horror he had lived through as a vampire.
Suddenly Kathrina remembered the sword and she wondered where he’d gotten it and how he’d known they would need it. Now she wished that she had thought to ask him about it before he’d fallen unconscious.
Dash lifted the boy in his arms and Kathrina leaned over to give Chad a peck on the forehead.
“Bye little man,” she whispered. “And thank you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Just as Dash left, Summer and Anton came through the door.
“They are all gone,” Summer told them.
“How many of your people did you lose?” Sarah asked her.
“Some, but not as many as we thought we would.”
Kathrina stared at Summer and an idea began to form. What if she could do the same for Summer as she had Chad? She knew Summer had killed vampires, but she wasn’t sure that would really constitute killing another human. She was intrigued by the possibility of being able to cure her cousin, but at the same time, she was saddened by the fact that she couldn’t do the same thing for Alec, Darrien or Dash. Kathrina was sure that they had taken human lives at some point, even if they were no longer doing so.
The confusion still lingered, everyone was trying to figure out where to start cleaning up when the sound of sirens tore through the night. With so many bodies littering the yard and house, this one was going to be tough to explain.
She had to ask Luciano if it were possible to help Summer too. Kathrina began searching for him in the mass of confusion, but he was nowhere. It took a few minutes to sink in, but finally she realized that he was gone and she was flooded with a grief so intense that it rocked her to the very core of her being.
He wasn’t just gone - he was gone forever. She could feel it as acutely as if someone had cut of one off her limbs. She had just lost a part of herself.
It was true that he hadn’t been entirely honest with her, but he also hadn’t killed her, despite the fact that he could have cured himself if he had.
Kathrina tried to force herself to ignore the agony that was filling her mind and soul. She had to remember that she’d been the one to tell him to leave. How could she blame him for doing what she’d asked him to do?
It was for the best. That was the thought that she was clinging to as she proceeded to help the others clean up the mess.
* * *
Kathrina lay huddled beneath her blankets, her eyes fixed on the television. It had been three days since the attack on her father’s house, and Chad’s sudden reappearance on his parents’ front porch was still making the evening news.
His parents were not allowing any interviews, but the news never tired of plastering the boy’s face all over the screen.
Kathrina half listened to the droning voice of the broadcaster. “The police are hailing Chad Spencer’s return as nothing short of miraculous. Though the boy has no memory of where he’s been for the last several months, he appears to be unharmed. Police are still looking into the circumstances of his disappearance on Halloween night … hoping to find some clue as to where’s he has been.”
Smiling to herself, Kathrina switched off the TV. At least something good had come of the confrontation with Omar, or more accurately, the demon that had possessed him.
With a deep sigh, Kathrina turned to stare out her window. The weather had turned warm and she’d taken advantage of it by opening up her bedroom window at night. She enjoyed the scent of jasmine that drifted in with the evening breeze.
Though her life had been considerably calmer, it almost felt as if it had actually been turned upside down. The trouble with the police had not been near as bad as she’d feared it would be. Both the vampires and the wolves had removed their dead before the police arrived. All that was left behind was the massive property damage. Donavan explained it away by blaming it on vandals.
Due to the bizarre nature of the calls they had received from neighbors, the police were not totally convinced, but they were overworked and tired so the officers were inclined to let it go as a vandalism incident.
Everything should have been back to normal, but it wasn’t. Jordan and his slayers seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Kathrina had to admit that she wasn’t sorry about that. She hadn’t liked Jordan from the moment she’d met him.
Summer and Anton had gone back to Outerlands, taking her sisters and their men with them. Sarah was anxious to meet her mother after thinking her dead for so many years. They were all excited about the concoction that Beth had been working on. The witch was positive that it would help to reverse vampirism for some.
Kathrina hoped that it would work for Alec and Darrien. Of course she still believed that she could cure her cousin completely, but she didn’t want to chance it unless she knew for sure that it wouldn’t kill Summer.
Last she had heard, Lex had gone to pay Sarah’s aunt a visit. Kathrina smiled.
Wouldn’t it be something if the two of them got together? A witch and a wolf seemed to be such a good match. All she had to do was look at Sarah and Darrien to see that. The two of them were so in love.
It was finally clear what Summer’s fate had to do with that of the immortal sisters. She would be the war leader of the wolves, and she would be the peacemaker between her people and the vampires.
There was now an uneasy truce, but Kathrina had to wonder how long it would last.
Ethan had returned from Rome. He’d been completely astounded that after spending so long preparing for the battle with Omar, he’d missed the whole thing.
Though the battle itself had been horrendous, the actual confrontation with Omar had been almost too easy. It was all thanks to the sword that she’d gotten from Chad. Again she wondered where the boy had gotten the sword and how he’d known what its power was.
As far as the wolves showing up just in time, that had been Dash’s doing. He had gotten wind of what was about to go down, and had conspired with the wolves for a surprise counter attack. By keeping it completely to himself, they had taken Omar’s followers totally off guard, which had probably helped to save all of their lives.
Kathrina was abruptly shaken from her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door.
“Who is it?” she called out. She just didn’t have the strength to get out of bed.
“It’s Dash. Can I come in? Are you decent?”
“Yeah, come in.”
Dash opened the door and stuck his head inside, as if he didn’t quite believe that it was okay to come in.
Kathrina waved him over to the bed. “What’s up?” she asked.
As soon as Dash stepped through the door, she noticed his new tattoo. A golden sword was tattooed down the side of his neck.
“I like your new tattoo,” Kathrina commented.
Dash smiled and cocked his head to one side. “Well that’s something I like to hear. Most people grumble every time I get a new tat.”
“What do they know?” Kathrina winked.
“So you seem a bit more chipper today.”
Kathrina shrugged.
“The way you been moping around … I’d swear you lost your best friend instead of winning the battle of the century,” Dash told her, pulling a chair up so he could sit next to her bed. “Why so depressed?” he asked.
Again Kathrina shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just feel alone, with everyone taking off.”
“Is it that, or is it because of a certain vampire that vanished on you?” he smiled knowingly.
The truth in his words made Kathrina blush.
Dash shook his head. “What did I tell you about Luciano? That’s one vampire that you don’t want to be playing with.”
Kathrina gave him a sad smile. “Blame it on my inexperience.”
“Maybe … but he should have known better,” Dash grumbled.
“I sent him away … that’s why he left.” Kathrina found herself defending Luciano.
“Well I’m glad you did that, but I wouldn’t count on that being the reason he went away. You would always be a temptation for Luciano. All he would have to do is kill you to end it all.”
“Either way, I guess he did what was best for me,” Kathrina tried to comfort herself.
“Hmm …” She sensed that Dash wasn’t convinced that Luciano would do anything so unselfish.
“So why are you here?” Kathrina asked him, suddenly realizing that Dash never came to her room.
“To say goodbye,” he told her.
“Not you too?” Kathrina frowned.
Dash gave her a sad smile. “My work here is done.”
“Why didn’t you go to Outerlands with Summer and the others? I
thought that’s what you always wanted was to live in the light.”
Dash waved the suggestion away. “Been there done that. Vampires don’t really belong in that world, and besides … it would be living a dream. I want to live in the light, but on this side.”
“Well there is Beth’s serum,” she reminded him. “She might have been able to help you.”
“Maybe someday,” he told her. “But right now I still think I have a lot I need to do as a vampire. There are still bloodsuckers to convince of a better way. Couldn’t very well do that if I were not a vampire … they’d be trying to make lunch out of me.”
“I guess you’re right,” she agreed, though reluctantly. “Where are you going then?”
“I finally got me a part in a movie … a vampire movie,” he told her.
Kathrina smiled. “That’s fantastic!”
“I’ll be heading out west. I guess I’ll probably settle in Hollywood for a bit.”
“But what about the ancients and their return. It seems that everyone has simply forgotten about that.” Kathrina’s bottom lip quivered. She knew that she was pouting, but was desperate to keep her friend near.
“Just a myth I believe,” he laughed. “If they do come back, we wouldn’t stand a chance against them,” he told her before adding, “Besides … they may actually help us.”
“Will I ever see you again?” Though she was overjoyed that Dash had finally managed to find his own way in the world, she would miss him.
“Oh I’m sure I’ll drop by to see you girls every now and again,” he reassured her.
Kathrina threw her arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze.
“Do you think you can stay out of trouble while I’m gone?” he asked.
It was then that Kathrina realized just how much Dash had given of himself to protect and help them. She forced a bright smile and told him, “We’ll be good. You go and make yourself a star.”
Giving her hand one last squeeze, Dash stood up. “You know Kathrina, even if it seems like the whole world is deserting you … they’re really not. You will always be loved and cared about.”
“I know,” she told him. “You don’t worry about me.”
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