“Callie...” Magnar seemed pained as he stared at Montana and anger rolled freely through me.
“What now?” Callie asked me, ignoring him. “When is she going to wake up?”
“She has a lot of injuries, it may take a while for her to heal,” I muttered, giving her an intense look. “And she will be ravenous when she wakes. It's best I take her from here, somewhere away from the smell of your blood.”
Callie met my eye as she realised what I meant. Montana was going to try and kill them the second she woke. She wouldn't be able to help herself.
“You have to let him,” Julius said in a low tone, his expression grave as if Montana really had died. The sight set my blood boiling. This was better than death, how could he not see that?
His brother shifted uneasily. “It isn't right,” Magnar snarled but he didn't approach to halt this.
Callie glanced back at him, seeming broken. “It's better than death.”
Magnar glowered at her, evidently not agreeing but he didn't voice any more of his thoughts.
A silent tear slid down Callie's cheek as she pressed her lips to Montana's forehead. “We'll figure out the prophecy. You won't be one of them for long, Monty.”
I scooped Montana into my arms. Her skin seemed more porcelain already, the stillness of her body making her resemble a china doll. But she'd be anything but fragile when she woke...
Hope clawed its way out of the depths of my soul, spreading relief through to my bones. I glanced over at Fabian's decapitated body in the golden cage with a heavy frown.
Magnar lifted his head, seeming to sense something as he jogged through the rubble and scooped up three large swords. My gut tightened uneasily, but he sheathed two of them quickly and passed the other to his brother. Julius winced as he took it, blood still pouring from the bite marks on his neck.
Our fight was done. It was clear they’d accepted that.
Callie moved to my side and the slayers followed us over the broken concrete, keeping within the safety of the ring's power.
“You're going to let me take my brother home,” I snarled, rounding on the slayers.
“I'll fetch the fucker then,” Julius announced as we arrived beside the cage.
“Be careful with him,” I growled, glaring at the slayer as he flung Fabian's body over his shoulder and snatched his head by the hair.
“I'm always careful.” Julius smirked as he headed out of the cage, a dong sounding as Fabian's head collided with the bars. “Whoops. That was an unfortunate accident.”
Magnar chuckled as Julius approached. He stumbled with the weight of Fabian, his injuries clearly still affecting him. I was surprised he was on his feet at all after what I’d done to him, but I supposed his slayer gifts were working to heal him now. Magnar took Fabian’s body from his arms and threw him unceremoniously over his shoulder.
I glowered, clutching Montana to my chest as I led the way to the speedboat. Callie fell into step beside me, a slayer blade in her hand as she eyed her sister with concern. The golden knife was still tainted with my blood and the wound on my shoulder ached from the wound she’d given me. I hoped we could keep our differences aside long enough for me to get Montana away from here.
“I need to take her to shore then you can have the boat,” I said gruffly and she gazed at me with suspicion.
“Thanks,” she said tersely.
I nodded, wading out into the water toward the speedboat and gently placing Montana aboard. Climbing inside, I laid her on one of the leather seats, brushing a lock of hair from her cheek. She showed no signs of stirring, but I was sure it wouldn't be long before she woke. Callie sprang into the boat, seating herself beside her.
A loud bang sounded as Magnar tossed Fabian's body onto the deck. He helped Julius up and I spied my brother's head tucked under his arm.
“Put him down,” I commanded, irritated by the slayers’ lack of propriety.
Julius held out the head with raised brows. “As you wish.”
He let go of it and it thumped against the floor and Magnar released a rumbling laugh. I scowled, grabbing a blanket from beneath a seat and throwing it over Fabian and his severed head. I didn't think it was a good idea to let Fabian rise again now; it would cause way more trouble than it was worth.
Julius dropped onto a seat, clasping the wounds on his neck. “Still hungry?” he poked at me.
“I wasn’t in my right mind when I bit you,” I growled. “And besides, you taste like filthy dishwater.”
“Liar,” Julius muttered. “I taste like a rainbow.” His joke was somewhat diminished as his laughter caused him to wince and a ripple of guilt found me.
I turned the key in the ignition, driving us out into the harbour and pushing the boat to its limit as it carved a path through the waves. I glanced over at Montana to make sure she was alright and found Callie holding her head in her lap. I frowned, concerned that if she woke, she might try to feed from her sister. Magnar eyed her like he expected her to attack Callie at any moment. I sensed the strange agreement we were making was as fragile as glass.
I set my eye on the shoreline, closing the distance and finally making it to land. I hurried to take Montana into my arms again, pulling her away from Callie with a flicker of anxiety.
She blinked away tears, squeezing Montana's hand, before turning her gaze on me. “Look after her.”
“I'll protect her with my life,” I murmured and Callie nodded firmly, seeming to believe that at last.
“Get her to call me on Julius's phone the second she wakes up,” she said, briefly touching my hand before realising what she’d done and retracting her arm.
“I will,” I said stiffly, moving to the ladder that led up to the pier above us. I carried Montana onto it before returning to get Fabian, but he was deposited at my feet as Magnar threw him in from the boat. Julius tossed his head at me and I grumbled my irritation as I caught it. I wrapped the blanket around my brother before lifting him and my wife into my arms.
“You're not keeping her,” Callie called to me, her eyes holding a tempestuous sea inside them. “This is temporary, bloodsucker. Don't forget that.”
I didn't reply as I gazed down at the boat of slayers. After all that had happened, there wasn't really anything I could say so I just dipped my head and walked away. As quickly as I could, I jogged to the car I'd parked just hours ago.
With a flash of guilt, I put Fabian in the trunk, slightly concerned about someone seeing him in his current state. I couldn't deal with his mood right now; he was going to be severely pissed off when he woke up.
I laid Montana on the back seat, pressing a kiss to her lips as I leant over her.
She murmured something incoherent and my heart swelled. I didn't have much time left. I needed to get her somewhere safe. Somewhere I could look after her. And somewhere I could give her the one thing she was about to crave more than anything she'd ever known.
I stared up at the dock as Julius slipped behind the wheel and the boat’s engine flared with energy. He staggered a little before finding his balance again and I frowned at him in concern.
“It’s fine,” he said dismissively as he noticed my attention on him. “Besides, neither of you can drive, can you?”
I glanced up at Magnar but he didn’t seem too concerned about Julius’s condition so I left it at that and turned my eyes back to the shore.
Magnar’s arm was tight around my shoulders and he held me close as the boat pulled away from the wall, leaving the land behind and my sister in the care of a Belvedere. The next time I saw her she’d be a vampire.
My chest was heavy with doubts. Would she thank me for this choice or hate me for it?
I had thought that I’d rather die than become one of those creatures but now I’d let that very fate befall the person I loved most in this broken world.
I hoped that her guesses might have been right. That she’d been destined to take on this horrifying transformation and it might help us to solve the prophecy and
end the curse. But I couldn’t claim that for my reason.
In the end, the idea of never seeing her again, never hearing her laugh or holding her when she cried... it was too much. I couldn’t bear to say goodbye. And my selfishness had allowed her to be cursed. I’d given her fate over to our enemy.
I felt like I’d left my heart behind on the land and the further we travelled, the deeper the pain burrowed. Our destinies had always been in line with one another. I’d never counted on any kind of existence without her by my side. But now she was gone. Dead. Any creature who would rise in her place might not be her at all.
Who would she be when her deepest desire was the call of blood? How could she love me when her nature would demand she kill me? And my vow would demand the same of me.
But I’d never bow to that pressure. I knew beyond all doubt that no vow, deity or any force on this Earth would ever make me raise my blade against her. And I had to hold faith in the knowledge that the Monty I knew would still feel the same about me.
Julius turned the boat sharply and I lost sight of the coast. I leaned into Magnar, burying my face against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.
Whether I’d made the right choice or not it was done now.
I was a slayer and she was a vampire. Each destined to destroy the other. I just had to hope that our love would be stronger than the pull of the paths we’d taken.
Everything had changed but the world was still the same. The sun would set and the moon would rise. Over and over again. You never found one without the other close by. The two of them ruling the sky in perfect harmony despite their many differences.
And perhaps that would be our fate too. Endlessly different but eternally bound. The sun would set. And the moon would rise. The point at which the day met the night was always the most beautiful. So perhaps there was a chance for us yet.
Silence echoed endlessly over the water. I stared at the gentle swell of the waves as the moonlight highlighted them beyond the back of the speed boat.
I bit my lip, wondering if it had already happened. Had Montana changed beyond all recognition? Her features smoothed and perfected? Her canines filled with venom and sharpened just the right amount to pierce human flesh and give her the one thing she would crave above all else?
Perhaps she’d already awoken and realised what had happened to her. What I’d let happen to her. Would she hate me? Would she wish I’d let her die a mortal death? Or would she forgive me for my weakness? Maybe she’d even like being a monster…
I’m so sorry Monty. I should have saved you. This should never have happened.
I reached out and touched the freezing water with my fingertips. Julius had taken us out to sea, chasing the horizon until New York City was reduced to a cluster of glimmering lights in the distance and our blades had stopped burning with the proximity of so many vampires. Then he’d cut the engine.
The silence stretched between us and I knew that the brothers had no idea what to do now. We’d made some kind of fragile peace with Erik Belvedere, united over our hatred of the gods. But what did that mean for us now?
He was still our enemy. Even if he had wanted to halt the fight in the end. It didn’t change anything. And yet it changed everything.
I wished the phone would ring. But I had no idea what I’d say to my sister when she did call. I’m sorry? But was I even sorry?
You’re selfish. You couldn’t bear to lose her so you cursed her instead.
But hadn’t she been considering the idea of changing anyway? She’d been the one to insist the prophecy wanted her to be a vampire. And though I’d never have agreed to her doing it under any other circumstance, with her body broken beyond all chance of recovery, what other choice could there have been?
Magnar still hadn’t said anything to me about what I’d done. I could feel the unsaid words hanging between us like this heavy weight which just kept growing.
I should turn to him, open my mouth and say... well what could I really say? He’d killed his own father rather than see him walk the Earth as a vampire.
I didn’t need to ask him if he agreed with what I’d just done. I knew he didn’t. Given the opportunity I couldn’t even be sure he wouldn’t end Montana’s immortal existence if he saw her again. My actions went against everything I’d sworn to do when I took my vow. Or did they? If this ended in us breaking the curse then Montana would be human again. The vampires would all be destroyed and reborn in mortal bodies. So perhaps my actions were following the path I’d chosen. If creating one vampire led to the end of their reign then it had to be worth it. I only wished that gamble hadn’t had to be made with my sister’s soul.
I twisted my mother’s ring on my finger and wondered if the gods had figured out that I had it. They’d certainly felt its power when I’d forced them away from us but would they have recognised what was being used against them? Magnar thought they’d want to take the ring from me if they knew I had it but I wondered how they’d ever be able to retrieve something they couldn’t even see.
There were so many questions twisting through my mind and nowhere near enough answers.
The boat shifted as someone moved towards me and I closed my eyes, withdrawing my fingers from the water as whoever it was took a seat beside me. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what the slayers had to say to me but I guessed the least I could do would be to hear them out.
“I’m sorry,” I said before they could speak. “Not for choosing what I did; I can’t bring myself to regret that. But for the position it puts you in. Both of you. I know you think that that fate is worse than death but I... I just couldn’t say goodbye.”
“Normally I’d have to agree with you,” Julius said and I turned to him in surprise, having expected it to be Magnar beside me. “But your sister had plenty to say on the subject of her becoming one of them. And it wasn’t all bad. She thought it might have needed to happen even before she had no choice in it. And I think she would have asked the parasite to turn her in the end if she’d been able to.”
I looked up at him and my heart swelled with hope. “You think she would have wanted this? She would have wanted to change instead of dying?” The idea would have been unthinkable just weeks ago when we’d been two girls from Realm G but after everything we’d been through I really wanted to believe he was right. That she would have chosen a life as a vampire over a death as a mortal. Not for her own sake. But for the idea that she might have been able to change the fates of everyone tangled up in the curse the gods had given to the Belvederes so many years ago.
“I think she wanted to solve the prophecy,” Julius replied slowly. “And that she was willing to sacrifice a great deal to try and do so.”
“So maybe I did the right thing?” I asked hopefully.
He glanced at his brother before answering and a dark look crossed his eyes. “I think if the curse ends up broken then any kind of payment will turn out to be worth it.”
“But?” I asked, sensing there was a lot he wasn’t saying.
Julius shifted in his seat and looked at Magnar. I followed his gaze, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I waited for the words I had been trying to avoid hearing. Because I already knew how they felt about it. I already knew what choice they would have made in my position. Their own father had begged for death rather than live with the vampire curse. And Magnar hadn’t hesitated in giving it to him.
“But nothing,” Magnar said, surprising me. He leaned against the wheel and turned to look down at me. “If she had to do this to break the curse then it isn’t for us to cast judgment on her. The parasites have developed ways to sustain themselves without killing so she should be able to survive this transformation with her soul as close to intact as is possible. Now we can only hope that her guesses about the prophecy were right and that she won’t have to remain a monster for long.”
I stared at him with my lips parted in shock. I’d expected him to hate me for the choice I’d made. I’d thought that this would have created
a divide between us so great that even with the gods forced aside we would still struggle to be together.
I pushed myself to my feet and approached him, the boat rocking beneath me as I moved.
I reached up to touch his face. The blood and filth of battle still coated his skin though now it had begun to dry and flake away.
“Thank you,” I breathed, knowing what it must be costing him to change his views on this. If he was able to believe Montana could be saved then that could open up all kinds of doubts about what had happened to his father. Or what the vampires were, deep down inside. They’d all been human once.
Magnar looked at me and his fingers brushed along the length of my arm until he reached my hand and took it in his. He ran his thumb over the ring which still shielded us from the gods and it throbbed beneath the power of his touch.
“So what now?” Julius asked as he leaned back in his seat and put his feet up on the chair in front of him. He was looking brighter already, the colour returning to his skin as his gifts helped him to replenish the blood he’d lost to Erik in their fight.
I squeezed Magnar’s fingers and looked around us at the water which stretched on and on. The waves rocked the speedboat beneath our feet. A cool wind blew, raising goosebumps along my skin and I could feel a pain in my stomach which spoke of a desire for food.
I still wore the white dress Idun had given me, though it was now so stained with Fabian’s blood that it had turned red. My feet were bare and my body ached with fatigue.
The others weren’t much better off. They were shirtless and various wounds marred their flesh, slowly healing with the aid of their gifts.
We hadn’t grabbed our packs when we’d left the island and the speedboat was open to the elements. We couldn’t stay out here long but I had no idea where we were supposed to go. I didn’t want to travel far from Montana. She could be awake already. I needed to see her as soon as I could. To apologise and to make sure that whatever had happened to her now, she was still herself.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 104