Chosen Mate

by L. J. Red

  “Talon,” Rune shouted again, and his hand came down on Talon’s shoulder. Talon reared back, spinning and snarling in Rune’s face. Rune blocked him, his thick forearm cracking against Talon’s face, and the impact brought Talon back to himself.

  “We have to go,” Rune said, stumbling back a step. His eyes were wide, but as Talon watched, he masked his concern. Talon brushed past him. He didn’t want Rune’s concern. He knew he was walking on the precipice of madness and one day even his fellow Shadows wouldn’t be able to pull him back.

  Now was not the time to worry about that. The vassal had mentioned a bomb. It could go at any moment. They had to evacuate the Conclave.

  Together they sprinted back towards the building, hoping they could get the mass of people out in time.

  Chapter 29

  May snapped back to consciousness when someone struck her across the face. She cried out, curling up in pain and blinked gritty eyes. A cold stone floor scraped her cheek, and she forced herself upright, staring into the darkness. She couldn’t see anything. Out of the darkness came a high-pitched and ugly laugh. A second later the lights were flicked on, the glare bright against May’s eyes, and she blinked away tears as a blurry shape came towards her and struck her again, this time, flicking her head back. Her bruised head struck against the wall. May cried out in pain a second time as Isabella came into focus before her. The vampire still laughing that high-pitched laugh. The sound was made even more unsettling by the blankness of the mask on Isabella’s face.

  Sense and memory gradually filtered back. May recognized the room they were in. It was the very basement room that Isabella had been trying to get into all those days ago. Isabella must have brought her here while she was unconscious.

  Isabella took a step forward, shoving her masked face in May’s before dancing back, something shiny flashing between her fingers. The key.

  “Thank you for this,” Isabella said, her voice as sweet as before but now May heard the bitter, twisted undertone to her words. For a second the scent of roses and smoke was thick in the air. It came from Isabella. A mix of her perfume and a scent that escaped from under the mask.

  May choked and turned to the side, only to freeze in the horror at the sight of blinking lights and tangled wires sticking out from what was clearly some kind of explosive. She crawled shakily backward away from the bomb, then turned to stare at Isabella in mute horror.

  “Oh yes,” Isabella said, “do you like my little toy? It’s extremely powerful. Or so they tell me, HUNT,” she said, “you know, those insane humans who hate vampires.” She cackled.

  “So, you’re the one who was working with them.”

  “Of course,” Isabella said, “what, you think Roman wanted me here for my pretty face?” She laughed again. This time it sounded broken and jagged and it took Isabella a moment to control herself. It dawned on May, as Isabella shook with laughter, that the vampire was utterly crazy. Crawling terror locked May’s limbs. She was trapped in a room with an insane vampire and a bomb. Oh, God.

  “No,” Isabella said after she got herself under control. “He wanted me for my alliances. You see, I have always had an in with the hunters. Ever since I was human in Italy so many years ago.”

  “Italy?” A shard of memory pricked her.

  “Oh, yes,” Isabella said, her eyes sparkling with anger. “I see you recognize that. I suppose he told you all about it.” May realized why she remembered Italy. The ‘he’ that Isabella was talking about was Neal.

  “How do you know Neal?” she asked, her voice hollow with shock.

  Isabella laughed again. “Why, he is my maker. He’s the one who turned me.” She stepped forward and May shrank back at the madness in her eyes. “He’s my soulmate,” Isabella said.

  “That’s impossible,” May said.

  “Impossible?” Isabella screeched. “Why, because you think you’re his soulmate, ha, as if a little nobody like you could possibly be the soulmate of a warrior vampire. No, Neal doesn’t know what he really wants, but soon it will be obvious. I will find him again, and he will know—”

  “He thinks you’re dead,” May interrupted.

  “Yes,” Isabella said, turning away. “That was unfortunate,” she muttered, flicking her head to the side.

  May stared at Isabella. She didn’t believe it for a second. May might not be Neal’s soulmate, but there was no way this insane, murderous vampire could possibly be a match for him. She glanced sidelong at the bomb. She couldn’t see the numbers from where she was but she heard a beeping noise that she was extremely afraid was the sound of the clock counting down. She didn’t know how long she had. Her only hope was to try and stall for time, keep Isabella here and hope she found a way to stop her. She looked back at Isabella. The vampire had taken to pacing and muttering to herself. She had to keep her talking. “How do you know Neal?” she asked.

  “How do I know him?” Isabella spun to face May. “We were lovers,” she said viciously. May tried to control her ripple of disgust, but Isabella caught it anyway, and May had the feeling she was grinning under her mask, “yes, many centuries ago,” Isabella continued, “in Italy when I was a human, Neal came to court as an emissary of the Shadows, sent to protect a vampire Elder from the hunters who had grown restless and dangerous in the city. I came upon him one night, looking out on a quiet bridge over the city and I knew in that moment that he was more than human.” She caught May’s eyes. “We spent the night together. It was glorious,” she added victoriously.

  “So, what went wrong?” May said, trying to control her voice. “How come you’re here hiding in the basement like some kind of rat, and Neal thinks you’re dead.”

  Isabella screamed and struck May again. May welcomed the pain, welcomed every moment that Isabella wasted here. “Can’t you guess?” Isabella said bitterly. “His duty to the Shadows, his duty to his Bloodline. He told me he could not turn me, that we could not be together. That he had to place his brothers, his duty first. I knew he was weak,” Isabella’s sneer twisted the side of her face May could see. “He didn’t understand what we had, how powerful we could be together, but I will show him,” she said grimly. “I will show all of them.” Her eyes flashed with a glittering madness.

  “But you are a vampire,” May said, “How can that be possible if he didn’t turn you? Did you find someone else?”

  “Someone else?” Isabella shouted. “There is no one else for me. It had to be Neal. I knew I had to find a way, and I was clever. I was so clever.”

  May felt a wave of foreboding. “What did you do?”

  “I tricked him.” Isabella grinned, her fangs sharp. “I used the hunters, of course, there have always been men willing to do my bidding,” and she waved a graceful hand.

  “You mean when you still had a face,” May snapped. She knew women like Isabella. Women who used their beauty to get what they wanted without any care for the people they used up in the process.

  Isabella snarled at her.

  “How did you do it?” May said quickly, not wanting to be struck another time.

  “I let him think I had been captured,” Isabella said, clearly willing to be distracted by her own boasting. “They took me to an isolated castle, and I made it seem as though I had been dragged there against my will. When Neal arrived,” she paused, “he was glorious in his rage, he cut through them like so much paper.”

  “You let them die,” May said. “All those humans who worked for you.” Even if they were hunters, to just use them like that… But Isabella merely shrugged.

  “They were tools,” Isabella said, “and I used them as tools are meant to be used. In any case, the numbers eventually overwhelmed him, and they dragged him down to the dungeon, chained him up, and bled him out.”

  “That’s it,” May breathed, that was why the hunters had taken his blood. Not to weaken him, as Neal had thought, but on Isabella’s orders. “You stole his blood.”

  “I didn’t steal it,” Isabella snapped, “I took what w
as rightfully mine. He should have turned me himself. He was just too cowardly to do it.”

  “Too cowardly?” May exclaimed. “No, he saw you for what you are, an insane power-hungry woman who didn’t deserve the power that being a vampire would give you. No wonder he didn’t want you to be part of his Bloodline.”

  “His Bloodline?” Isabella snarled. “The Shadows, oh yes, the great and powerful Shadows, well they aren’t so great or powerful anymore. They didn’t stop me from getting here, did they? They didn’t stop the hunters from smuggling in the tools to make this bomb either. Soon they will all be gone,” she crooned, raising her head to look up at the ceiling. May remembered where they were, directly under the Conclave.

  “No,” May whispered.

  Isabella laughed. “Oh, yes! They won’t be able to escape, not with HUNT in the forest, pinning them down, and soon…” she glanced at the bomb. “Soon all of this will go up in fire and smoke. No more Conclave, no more Circle, no more Elders. A new ruling class of vampires will emerge.”

  “You can’t think that you can simply take control by yourself,” May said.

  “No,” Isabella said, “you’re right. There are some uses for Bloodlines still, but Roman has promised me the strength and the power of Radiance. Once I’m done here, he will bite me and let me become part of his Bloodline, then this”—she raised her hand to her mask—”will finally be healed.” She pulled the mask away.

  May gasped in horror at the ravaged visage underneath. Blackened, twisted flesh, the smell of smoke and rotting scars beneath.

  “My God,” May said. “What happened?” She was shocked by the severity of the wound into a moment’s sympathy for Isabella.

  “I was caught in the blaze at the castle,” she said, her voice twisted with anger, “and the blood I took from Neal didn’t work.” Her voice was choked with frustration. “Something went wrong, for some reason I wasn’t turned fully. This scar, this hateful scar…” she raised a hand into claws and tore at her face. Blood running in rivulets down her skin. “It won’t heal,” she cried. “It has never healed.” Her shoulders shook and May realized that the scar was only the outward sign of the burnt and twisted scars within her mind. Her soul had burnt up that night and only a mad desire for power and revenge was fueling her so many centuries later.

  “That’s why you’re doing this,” May said. “You kept your connections with the hunters all these years in the hopes that someday, some vampire would offer you their blood so that you could complete your transformation.”

  “Yes,” Isabella hissed, “exactly. Of course, it was only a silver lining when I discovered that Roman’s hatred for the Shadows meant I would have my chance to get back at Neal.”

  May stared at Isabella. The vampire didn’t seem to know whether she wanted revenge on Neal for refusing to turn her or whether she wanted to try and make him take her back. Despite May’s disgust and anger at Isabella’s actions, part of her pitied her. Years and years of madness and hate had turned her into something barely human.

  “I will begin a new breed of vampires.” Isabella was pacing back and forth in front of May, her eyes turned inward to the fantasy world that she was building in her head. “When Roman accepts me into Radiance, I will finally have the ability to turn new vampires. I will start my own Bloodline and I will have what I’ve always wanted. True power.” Isabella stopped talking and turned to May, an eerie emptiness in her gaze. “What will it do to Neal when he finds out that you burned up thanks to the hunters?” Isabella said in a spectral voice. “Then he will find me.” She smiled, and the scars made her face twist hideously. “Suddenly alive. A miracle.”

  “How will you explain away being a vampire?” May said, pushing herself up onto her feet.

  Isabella shrugged, “I’ll tell him I was found by some other vampire, that I was forbidden from seeking him out, but that after my maker died in the tragic explosion,” she said with a sarcastic twist to her voice. “I was free to find him again.” She pinned May with her wide grey eyes. “You should be proud. You’re the reason we will finally be together,” she said. She walked to the door, twisting the handle and pulling it open.

  “No,” May said grimly from behind her. “I’m the reason you will never get your poisonous claws into Neal.” And she launched herself at Isabella’s back.

  Isabella spun to meet her, but her speed was not quite as fast as a true vampire, and she didn’t get out of the way in time. May’s strike caught her across the face, her scarred, rotting skin sloughing off under May’s hand. Isabella screamed, and they both collapsed to the ground, rolling and twisting around each other.

  May put to use every single thing Neal had taught her, every strike, every twist. She had no time to think, no time to plan. Her only edge; the moment of surprise, and the fact that Isabella hadn’t expected her to fight back. May struggled to remain on top, drawing her fist back and punching Isabella hard in the face.

  “You little bitch,” Isabella gasped. “You’ll pay for that.” She reared up, flipping them, her fangs extending into her mouth. Her eyes were wild. Black blood ran down her face from where May had caught her scar, the stink of burnt roses swirled all around. May stared up, horrified to realize that this was the last face she would ever see.

  Chapter 30

  “No,” Neal roared, launching himself towards the open door, and the vampire crouched over May. He had sped through the lodge, pulling tight on the tether connecting him to her, desperate not to arrive too late. Finally, he had found her.

  The vampire raised her head, and Neal reared back in horror and shock. The face was ravaged with scars, but he recognized it. The scent of burnt roses was thick in the air. He finally understood why. The rose perfume that Isabella would always wear and the burning flesh from the fire that should have killed her. He rocked back on his heels. “Isabella?” he choked out. Isabella’s eyes stretched wide in surprise and fear.

  Neal looked down at May. Isabella’s cruel claws were biting into her flesh. Pure incandescent rage stormed through him. “Get off her!” He lunged, but before he could snatch May away to safety, Isabella twisted around, pressing her fangs close to May’s fragile and unprotected neck.

  “Don’t,” Isabella said, her voice muffled. “Don’t come one step closer, or I’ll tear her throat out.”

  “No. Isabella. Why are you doing this?” he asked. He didn’t understand how she could be here. How she could even be alive, but the mystery paled in comparison to his terror at seeing May in danger.

  He didn’t care how Isabella got here. Any last shred of affection he might have felt for her was long gone. How dare she threaten May? “Get away from her,” he snarled.

  “How can you want her?” Isabella cried. “Look at her. She is a pathetic little human. She is nothing. I was a beauty. I can be again. We loved each other once. I just need you to turn me, Neal, to finish what you started.”

  “I never started anything with you, Isabella. I told you we couldn’t be together. I told you it had to end. Let May go,” Neal said, taking another step closer but pulling up short as Isabella’s claws bit deeper into May’s flesh.

  “Careful,” Isabella said, “I’ll kill her, I’m not lying.”

  He pulled back, his eyes flicking around the room. There was an explosive device in the corner and with a chill, he read the numbers on the dial. Barely a minute left. He had to get May out of here. He stared at Isabella. There was more than just surprise in her eyes. They were tinged with the haze of madness. The woman he had once known was long gone. “What happened to you?” he asked, inching forwards slowly.

  “What happened to me?” Isabella cried. “Look at me!”

  “You were caught in the fire,” Neal said his eyes tracing the scars. “I thought you were dead. I called for you; I wandered the corridors; I searched and searched every room in that castle.” He took another tiny step, masking it with his words, keeping her focus on his face.

  “I know,” Isabella bit out. “I couldn�
��t leave until you had gone. I couldn’t let you see me, and every moment you spent out there, the fire got closer and closer until I burnt.” The horror and pain in her voice made it clear to Neal that she was revisiting the memory of those flames in her mind. He imagined he could see them licking at the insides of her skull, casting shadows in her eyes.

  “That was why the hunters took my blood,” Neal said, his voice heavy with realization. “It wasn’t a kidnap, none of it was real. You used them to take my blood because you wanted to become a vampire.”

  “I wanted to be with you,” Isabella cried, “but you wouldn’t turn me, you wouldn’t—”

  “This is why, Isabella. You were not made for this kind of power. It takes whatever is within a soul and makes it a thousand times stronger. Honor, loyalty”—his voice turned—”greed, hatred, the good or the bad. All those things become unstoppable as a vampire.” He took another half-step. “Lucian would never have allowed you into his Bloodline. Only the strongest are chosen for the Shadow, only the purest.”

  “You’re lying,” Isabella said. “You could have turned me and gone against Lucian’s wishes.”

  “I couldn’t,” Neal said. “He is the leader of my Bloodline. To do such a thing would be to reject my duty as a Shadow.”

  “That’s exactly what I wanted you to do,” Isabella screamed, “to choose me over the Shadow.” She paused, panting. “But now you won’t have to choose,” she continued, her voice turning soft, pleading. “We have a second chance. You can heal this hideous scar on my face and we will be together again. You can choose me this time.”

  Neal shook his head. “Isabella,” he said, taking another step forward, edging closer towards them. “You don’t understand. I will never choose you.”

  Isabella stared at him, and the flames of madness rose up and burnt away any last sense in her eyes. “If you will not choose me, then you will not choose anyone.” She lunged forwards and closed her fangs around May’s throat, ripping her teeth free in one sudden movement, tearing open May’s throat in a massive gushing wound. She flung May to the ground. May gasped, bubbles of blood appearing at her lips as her heart’s blood began to pump out across her neck. Neal screamed with rage and he lunged forward. Isabella stepped to block him, and he threw her to the ground so hard he heard her bones crack. He leaped towards May, gathered her up in one sweep of his arms and sped to the door, flinging it shut behind him and kicking at the lock so hard that it crumpled under his boot.