We Shall Rise

by J. E. Hopkins

  Christian and Kaden followed closely behind her. She had a gut feeling that there was something here she had to find, but she had no idea what she was looking for. They had killed at least twenty ELM followers and every room seemed to reveal another. They had no problems dispatching with any of them. They weren’t much of a threat. Their magic was weak and before they could unleash it, Kaden had torched them or Christian had ripped them in half. Even without shifting into the wolf, he was a remarkably strong male.

  Reysa on the other hand had killed a few, but she was a step slower than usual and surprisingly hungry. She should just take a bite out of Christian even though her heart wanted her to feed from Kaden. She would definitely not taste his blood. That would bind them even more and that’s the last thing she needed since she pretty much despised him at the moment. She couldn’t feed from Christian now either. She just fed from his yesterday and he would be suspicious that her hunger returned so soon. She didn’t need his interrogation right now. She would snack later.

  Normally she didn’t need blood more than once a week, but lately she was always starving and weakened until she ate more. She had exerted herself more than her body was used to these last few weeks between all the fighting and making love. The constant stress didn’t help either. Her head was throbbing again. Those annoying headaches began when she fractured her skull as a child after the fall from her father’s window. Even when she fully transformed, the headaches did not fully heal. They were a constant reminder of that mistake she made that day.

  They stumbled upon another room. This one was heavily guarded by four demons. Kaden burned two of them and Christian took care of the other two before she had a chance to whip out her blades. Damn she was extra slow today.

  There were several laptops and other high tech equipment in the room. Hopefully there would be some useful information on these machines especially if Adam and Eve had escaped. They gathered up as much as they could and headed to the next room. That was becoming increasingly likely as they were running out of rooms to search.

  “I think we’ve exhausted this place,” Christian drawled. “We’re starting to walk around in circles. I think it’s time to go.”

  Reysa knew he was probably right, but there was a feeling she could not ignore. Her instincts were screaming that there was something more for her to find. How could she explain that to them? She had to try because there was no way she could leave right now.

  “I know there’s something here we need to find. I don’t know what it is and I can’t really explain it, but I can’t leave yet.”

  Kaden had been silent the whole time they searched, but he finally spoke. “Then we’ll keep looking.”

  Reysa was stunned. He just accepted her words without question. That was so unlike him. She was expecting to argue with him. He continued down another hall as she and Christian followed.

  The feeling was getting stronger with every step she took. Had they travelled in this direction before, she wondered? Now the feeling was so much more intense that she struggled to keep her balance. “What’s wrong, babe?” Christian asked as he caught her.

  “There’s something here,” she whispered. Before he could respond, she took off along a narrow corridor. Both men followed behind her but struggled to get their large bodies through the narrow passage way. Christian pounded the walls and was able to push them apart, allowing him and Kaden to get through and find Reysa.

  They found her standing before a locked door struggling to open it. It was made of strong steel, but Christian knew she should have been able to open it. He yanked on the door with one hand breaking it free from its hinges. Reysa walked inside as he and Kaden followed.

  Reysa stopped at the sight of a man curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. His dark skin was a ghastly pale. Reysa called out to the stranger, but he did not move. She took a few steps closer, but both Kaden and Christian stopped her.

  “I can smell vampire,” Christian warned.

  “A vampire in pretty shitty shape,” Kaden observed. “He could be feral.” Blood starved vampires would occasionally turn feral. A madness would set in from blood lust and they would destroy anything in their path. “We can’t take any chances with this vampire.”

  “We have to help him,” Reysa pleaded. “He may not be feral. He may just need our help.”

  “He’s skin and bones, Reysa,” Kaden countered, “that means he hasn’t eaten in a long time. That increases the odds of him being feral. I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”

  “My safety is not your concern,” she bit back.

  “It’s his concern as well as mine,” Christian stated pointedly.

  She leveled an angry glare on him, but he would not relent. “I can’t believe you’re taking his side,” Reysa pointed at Kaden. “You hate him, remember?” She knew she was being childish, but she was desperate. Something drew her to this vampire and she could not just leave him here to rot.

  “I’m certainly not one of Kaden’s biggest fans, but I agree with him when it comes to your safety. For some reason, you’re not thinking clearly about this. Calm down for a moment and think about this situation. Get some perspective.”

  She didn’t want perspective. She wanted to help this vampire. Kaden could see it in her eyes that she would not back down. He approached the vampire and lifted him up. His green eyes were open but there was no life in them, but he had a pulse. He was alive, but barely. Even if he were feral, he would be too weak to do anything. Kaden sat him up against the wall, wiping some of the dirt from his face. He heard Reysa gasp and then stumble backwards into Christian’s arms.

  Her eyes were filled with tears as she struggled to catch her breath. Kaden cupped her cheeks in his hands as Christian held her. “What is it, Reysa? Talk to me, babe,” Kaden pleaded. The color had faded from her cheeks and she looked like would have passed out but for Christian’s arms keeping her upright.

  Reysa just stared into the eyes of the vampire they had found. His green eyes matching hers, but they were as lost and vacant as she had remembered. There was still no light of recognition, no acknowledgement that she existed. Just that familiar dreaded silence.

  She gathered her strength and stepped out of Christian’s clutches. Kaden’s hands dropped from her face. Both men followed her as she approached the vampire. She fell to her knees before him and gently stroked his cheek. His skin was so hard and cold. A sign that the final death was imminent. She could not let him die. She used her fangs and sliced her wrist and placed her wrist at his lips. She knew she didn’t have a lot of blood to spare, but hopefully a little would keep him alive until she could bring him home. “Drink, Papa,” she begged. “Please, Papa, drink.”

  V

  Kaden and Christian watched Reysa feed her blood to her father. It was hard to believe that the dying vampire in front of them was Reysa’s father. There were so many questions that needed answering, but this vampire would likely have no answers. Kaden remembered how she described her father as a child. He was dead long ago when he buried his mate. No amount of blood would bring his mind back.

  Christian heard a faint ticking sound that caught his attention. He asked Kaden but he did not hear anything. Christian’s lycan hearing was more sensitive. He moved around the room looking for the source of the annoying tick. There was something behind the wall. He pounded the wall until the bricks turned to ash at his feet and then he saw it.

  “We have to get out of here now,” he shouted.

  Kaden raced to his side and saw the bomb. The timer was set for fourteen minutes and thirty seconds and ticking closer and closer to detonation. Kaden called Lucian and Julian warning them to get the other as far from the building as possible.

  He grabbed Reysa and pulled her upright. She swayed in his arms. She must have given her father too much blood. She wouldn’t be able to dematerialize. They would have to flee the old fashioned way, running. He lifted her up and licked the wound on her arm to prevent more blood from escaping. C
hristian grabbed her father and tossed him over his shoulder with ease and the two of them ran.

  Unfortunately, getting out was trickier than getting in. It was like a maze. Kaden was completely confused. “I’m lost, golden boy,” Kaden admitted. “Do you have idea how to get us out of here?”

  Christian sniffed the air hoping for a familiar scent. After a moment he found it. He raced to the right and Kaden carrying a weakened Reysa followed close behind. Time was running out. Kaden was slowing them down. Christian was considerably faster and running slower for his sake. He stopped and Christian came to a halt. “Can you carry her as well?” Kaden asked. Christian nodded as he held Reysa over his left shoulder while her father dangled from his right. “Run as fast as you can and get them out of here.”

  “What about you?” Christian asked.

  “I’m not as fast and I’m holding you up. I can survive the flames, you can’t and neither can they. Run Christian!”

  Christian took off at lightning speed. Tatiana was right, Kaden mused, her father was superfast.

  Kaden ran behind them but quickly lost them as he couldn’t keep up with lycan. He knew he had a matter of seconds left. Not enough time. He knelt down and called to the fire deep inside him. He closed his eyes while the building erupted in flames around him. “Save them, Christian,” he said before the flamed engulfed him.

  Christian made it out of the building just in time to see it explode behind him. Kaden was not behind him. He knelt down next to Reysa. He sliced his wrist and fed her his blood. Her body quickly regenerated and she was up on her feet a minute later. She saw her father was safe.

  “Where’s Kaden?” she asked Christian who refused to meet her eyes. “Where is he, Chris?” she asked again. Olivia and Julian approached them awaiting Christian’s delayed response.

  “Where’s my son?” Olivia asked when Christian remained silent.

  He took a deep breath and faced the three anxious eyes staring at him. “I don’t know. I think he is still inside. He was behind me, but I was faster.”

  Julian turned to the blaze that was lighting up this Vancouver midnight sky. He unleashed a blizzard of ice that engulfed the flames. Fire fought with ice until finally the fire petered out leaving nothing but ruined remains. Olivia and Reysa ran towards the charred remains of the barn looking for some sign of Kaden. Lucian embraced Olivia, whispering words of love and support in her ear as she wept in fear that her elder son was lost.

  Reysa and Julian ran towards the debris pushing the charred remains aside as they searched for Kaden. The others joined in the search, working furiously to find Kaden.

  Reysa pounded the ground in frustration and fear that they could not find him. She knew he was there. She could feel his presence, but there was so much rubble left behind from the explosion.

  She stilled as a hand grasped her shoulder. She jumped up and saw a disheveled, grimy and incredibly gorgeous Kaden standing behind him. She leapt into his arms clutching him tight as he held her close.

  “We couldn’t find you,” she cried as the tears soaked his shoulder.

  “The explosion threw me about a mile away from the building. The flames didn’t hurt me. They’re a part of me.”

  She pulled away, allowing his mother to embrace him. Corinne walked up to him jabbing her index finger in his chest. “I broke a claw searching for you. My clothes are ruined, my blonde hair has smelly black stuff in it and I have soot smudges all over me. You scared the blood out of me. We thought you were…”

  Kaden interrupted her rant, “You know it’s not that easy getting rid of me.” Kaden turned to face his brother. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Kaden looked for Reysa, who was standing next to her father who hadn’t moved. His appearance was slightly better, but not much. Reysa bent over to touch his cheek when she started to sway again. Kaden raced to catch her and she passed out in his arms. “Reysa!” he shouted repeatedly trying to waken her, but her body remained limp in his arms.

  Chapter 11

  Reysa could hear his voice pulling her out of the haze. His voice was panicked, not the usual sexy drawl that aroused her senses. She forced her eyes to open and meet his green eyes which had darkened with worry. She looked around realizing she was back in her bedroom, no longer in Vancouver.

  She tried to sit up but Kaden placed his hands on her shoulders to restrain her. “Stay down. You need to rest.”

  “What happened?” Reysa asked as she struggled to remember how she ended up back in her home.

  Kaden gently caressed her forehead the tension starting to ease in his stiff body. “You passed out. We couldn’t wake you. You were so pale and weak.” Kaden closed his eyes as if trying to block out the painful memory. “You gave us quite a scare.”

  Reysa searched her memory, but all she could recall was the painful hunger that had gnawed at her the whole time in Vancouver. “I needed to eat. I should have eaten. I was so caught up in the mission that I didn’t take time to feed. That’s what must have caused me to pass out.” Reysa rested her eyes for a moment, and then she bolted up grabbing Kaden. “My father. Where’s my father?”

  “Safe,” Kaden assured her has he gently pushed her back down. “He’s here and resting as you should be doing.”

  “I have to see him.”

  “Not now. Not yet. First you need to rest.”

  Reysa was about to argue when there was a knock at the door. Christian and Savannah walked into the room. Their attempts to smile could not mask their worried looks.

  “Kaden, may we have a moment with Reysa?” Savannah asked.

  Kaden clearly did not want to leave and Reysa didn’t want him to go either. Savannah seemed unusually worried. Right now, Reysa felt safer with Kaden there. “He can stay,” Reysa responded. “Whatever you need to tell me, you can tell me in front of him.”

  The unnerving silence was causing a ripping pain of dread inside of Kaden. He had been on edge the whole time Reysa remained in that deep sleep. Despite everyone’s assurances that she would be fine, he could not believe it until those brilliant eyes were staring back at him again. Now, terror was stalking him as he waited for either Christian or Savannah to say something.

  “What’s wrong with her!” he demanded as he let a ripple of heat escape his body.

  Christian glared at Kaden for a moment before walking towards the bed. He sat next to Reysa and placed her hand in his. The temptation to break the dog’s hand was overwhelming, but he fought the urge as he struggled to maintain his patience. Reysa did not need a violent encounter between him and Christian. As much as Kaden resented the bond between Reysa and Christian, there was no denying how deeply the mutt mattered to her.

  “Rey, I would prefer to talk to you in private, but it’s your choice.”

  Reysa looked over to Kaden, whose body language bespoke of a man who would never leave this room willingly. The last thing she needed was a brawl between the two most important men in her life. “It’s ok Chris,” Reysa squeezed his hand, “Kaden can stay. Just tell me what’s going on. I feel fine now, but I have to admit the look on your face is scaring the hell out of me.”

  Christian softly stroked her hair, ignoring the searing heat that Kaden was sending his way. “Love, it looks like you’re pregnant.” He paused to give Reysa a moment to digest his words, but there didn’t seem to be enough time to make this news any easier to bear. “I know this must be shocking, but Anastasia confirmed it. Apparently, all the sirens knew. There’s something about your kind that when one conceives, they can all sense it. They knew right away, but didn’t want to say anything to you, in case you didn’t realize. I take it from the stunned look on your face that you didn’t realize. I’m sorry to have to tell you like this, but you needed to know.”

  Reysa heard Christian’s words, but she couldn’t grasp the meaning. There was no way she could be pregnant. She was not in heat. Vampires could only get pregnant at very limited times. She looked over to Kaden who stood there motionless, frozen like
a marble statue. His face pale, haunted and so desperate for this not to be true. For both their sakes, she needed Christian to be wrong. As difficult as this would be for her, she knew in heart Kaden could not handle this. “It is not my time to conceive. I would know when my body was ready for that. This has to be a mistake, Chris.” Her eyes pleading with him for another explanation. “Vampires can only conceive…”

  “Reysa, you’re not just a vampire,” Christian interrupted not allowing her to continue. It was time for her to face who and what she was. She had denied it for so long, but he would not allow her to deny it any longer. “All your life, I have watched you ignore that other part of you, that dominant part of you that you inherited from your mother. I think somewhere deep within you, you’ve always known that you were a siren, but you didn’t want to accept it. Not until you went to Toulouse did you finally acknowledge it, but you refused to embrace it. Even now you continue to hide from it as if denial would change the truth. Love, it’s time for you to accept that you’re more siren than vampire, like I am more wolf than vampire. It’s not a 50-50 deal for either of us. Your body is responding like a siren and you’re clock works the way a siren’s does. You may not have been in heat from a vampire perspective, but you were ready as a siren the moment you sang that song to him.”

  The siren’s call to her mate. Reysa recalled the moment she sang that song to Kaden beckoning him to come to her. There was a powerful urge, an unstoppable impulse to sing those words and see if he would come to her. Reysa had never sung those foreign lyrics before, but that night, that moment she knew instinctively that she needed to. She had to know if he was her mate. So she sang that unfamiliar song, summoning him to answer her call, and he did. From that moment, she had bonded them in the way of sirens never realizing the potential consequences of those actions.