Lucian smoothly took the blame, and I hated that he’d done so. I also hated that he used my title as well. A title I had yet to accept.
“How did a wolf come to acquire a cure for vampirism?” the female vampire asked, leaning forward on the table.
“She had a warlock make it,” Lucian answered evenly.
“And where is this warlock?” The woman raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.
“Long gone, Stella.” Lucian bowed his head. “He disappeared after the Freedom War.” That was a lie, but I imagined Lucian didn’t want to involve Bobby Wu in the matter.
Stella huffed but leaned back in her chair, flipping her braid back where it had fallen across her shoulder.
“Can we see this cure?” the bald vampire asked, extending his hand out to Lucian.
I tensed, my eyes widening slightly. I didn’t know he’d brought the cure here, and the idea of it being in the Elders’ hands made me nervous.
Lucian moved forward, stuck his hand in his pocket, and pulled out the vial, handing it to the vampire. Every molecule in my body screamed a litany of insults at the stupidity of his gesture. They could easily smash it with one squeeze, and there went all of Amy’s hopes and dreams. Her future. I didn’t trust these vamps. Something felt off.
The bald vampire uncapped the vial and sniffed it, closing it again and inspecting it closely under the church lights.
“What do you think, Ephraim?” Isaac, the blue-eyed Elder asked.
“I smell blood,” Ephraim remarked as he held on to the vial, his bald head gleaming under the lights.
Lucian cleared his throat. “A willing sacrifice had to be made to complete the cure. We lost a dear friend.”
“A vampire?” one of the older vampires asked.
Lucian shook his head. “No, Francisco, a wolf.”
Francisco, the older vampire grunted to his partner, “Vampires consorting with wolves. What is happening in this region?”
I growled. I couldn’t keep it in any longer. Isaac’s gaze trailed over to me and he smiled, as if he expected this reaction. Maybe he was. My identity was no secret, but I didn’t think my reputation would have reached the oldest vampires in the world.
“Let’s hear from the girl,” Stella demanded, waving Amy forward.
Amy’s small frame stood from the pew and tentatively walked to stand beside Lucian in front of the assembled Elders. They watched her every move as shrewdly as I watched theirs.
“Your name?” Ephraim commanded, his eyes still on the vial.
“Amelia Fitzgerald.”
“How long have you been a vampire, Amelia?” Isaac’s eyes roamed her tattooed body while rubbing at his chin.
“Less than two years.”
“Are you unhappy with being a vampire?” Stella raised an eyebrow.
Amy lowered her head and cleared her throat. “I didn’t choose this life.”
“You were changed without consent? By whom?” one of the older vampires asked.
“By me, Abdul,” Lucian revealed. “Amelia was killed during the Freedom War, and I thought I could save her life.”
“She was killed?” Isaac confirmed, his eyes widening.
Lucian nodded. “Her neck had been snapped.”
Stella gasped. “And she survived the change to vampirism? That’s remarkable.”
I never thought about how Amy became a vampire. How she’d already been dead when I asked Lucian to change her. I’d been so desperate at the time, I would have tried anything. I never once questioned how the hell Amy’s survival was possible.
Lucian placed his hands behind his back and began to wring his fingers. “Amelia is a special young woman, but this is not a life she has chosen for herself. I believe it is only right that she is given the cure, especially when it was made specifically for her. She deserves to live a long, human life.”
“Technically, her life already ended,” Ephraim refuted, his gaze lifting to meet Amy’s. “And if she reverts back to human, she’ll know our secret.”
“I already knew your secret because of Mackenzie,” Amy admitted, “and I kept quiet. I will continue to do so.”
Francisco placed his palms on the table and pushed his chair back to stand. The others stood with him. “We will deliberate and return with our verdict.”
They filed out of the altar, taking the cure with them. My jaw clenched, and although I wanted to jump after them, when I saw the plea in Lucian’s eyes, I refrained. He shook his head, giving me a silent, Not now.
After the Elders walked out, there was barely any movement from the assembled witnesses. I sat quietly and watched the vampires murmur between one another, Lucian and Amy standing patiently before the altar waiting for the Elders to return with their ruling. My insides twisted with anxiety and I had to take deep breaths to calm my racing heart. Everything would be okay. They had no reason not to give it to Amy.
After twenty minutes of deliberation, the doors behind the altar opened and the Elders re-entered, taking the same seats as before. Everyone stood as the Elders took their seats. Ephraim still held the cure clenched in his hand, but he motioned with his other hand for everyone to take their seats.
“After much consideration, we have come to the conclusion that Amelia is a very valuable vampire in a unique position, due to the miraculous nature of her transition,” Isaac announced as he clasped his hands in front of him. “It would be a shame if she were to take the cure and revert to her human status. There is much to explore with Ms. Fitzgerald. It is because of this, that we deny the request to attempt the cure.”
I held my breath. Or I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know; all I knew was that everything in the room stopped and my heart clenched.
“We will confiscate the cure until further notice.” Ephraim put the vial inside a wooden box and sealed it shut. “For safe keeping.”
“No,” Amy whispered. “Please, I beg you, I don’t want to be a vampire!” Lucian held her back as she tried to step toward them.
“Your fate is sealed, Ms. Fitzgerald, and our verdict is final,” Stella smirked. “Eternity is a gift. Learn to appreciate it.”
That was the last straw. My claws extended and my canines slid out as I shifted into a half wolf, half woman. I roared into the quiet of the church and jumped from the pew, my eyes flashing their MacCoinnich silver.
“Give her the cure,” I demanded. My body vibrated with the need to kill, the bloodlust trembling beneath my skin, ready to consume me. I couldn’t let it.
“This is no business of yours, wolf,” Abdul sneered, pointing a bony finger in my direction.
“The hell it’s not,” I growled. With supernatural speed and reflexes, I vaulted up to the altar, bypassing Amy and Lucian, my clawed hand extending with deadly accuracy to swipe at Ephraim’s neck. His stone body stilled and his hand unclenched, releasing the cure. I caught the vial in my hand before landing with a resounding thud on top of the table. The cathedral was deathly quiet as his bald head rolled down the steps of the altar, fifty shocked vampires witnessing the murder of one of their Elders.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins and my heart pumped at the speed of light. My gaze flashed around the church until they landed on Amy and Lucian, their eyes wide with fear. But it was Amy’s green, tear-filled eyes that triggered me out of my stupor. When her pierced lip mouthed Run, I snapped out of my shock.
“Kill her!” Stella yelled to the crowd of staring vampires.
I didn’t waste any time. I leapt off the table and ran straight for the stained-glass window, bursting through the colorful shards. Soaring out of the window and into the New York City morning sun, I ran.
2
Although I knew vampires didn’t typically go out in the day time, I didn’t stop running until I was far away from the cathedral. I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t brave the sun to find me, or else send other supernaturals instead. My hands were shaking as I replayed what I did.
I’d killed before, so it wasn’t that my delicate
sensitivities had been crushed. But I knew that what I’d just done could start a war between the werewolves and the vampires. Even if it didn’t, I was shocked that I’d broken the law. I was a cop – a detective with the Supernatural Investigative Unit, and I killed an Elder in cold blood. I was a murderer. If they brought this to the SIU, I could go to prison. I looked down at the vial in my hand. I’d screwed myself every which way possible for this cure, but at least I was able to retrieve it. Now I had to find a way to hide it. I couldn’t walk around the city with it, and I definitely couldn’t go home.
I went into the first open bodega I saw and bought a prepaid cell phone. Before I did anything, I had to disappear. I stepped outside of the store and pulled out my old phone, transferring the few numbers I needed into the prepaid phone. Then I removed the memory card and the SIM card, throwing all of it on the ground and stomping on it, smashing it to pieces. If the SIU got involved, I knew the first thing they would do is track me through my phone. I threw my shattered phone in the garbage. I’d get a new one if I made it out of this alive. The first part of my disappearance complete, I started for the bus station.
I had a plan and I needed to hurry before too many people were alerted to my disappearance and what took place at St. Paul’s cathedral. I took multiple taxis to make sure no one followed me, and when I made it to the bus station, I kept to the shadows, avoided the security cameras, and kept my head down. Even though it was still early in the morning, this was the city that never slept and the station was busy. I observed humans going about their usual activities, including early morning commuters, those traveling in and out of the city, and a single woman with a stroller. Her baby was peacefully asleep, and she was headed in my direction. Just as she was about to pass by, I grabbed her arm, halting her and turning her to face me.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed, gripping the stroller.
“Listen to me closely.” I looked deep into her hazel eyes. They quickly dilated and she stiffened beneath my grip.
“I’m listening,” she replied robotically.
“You will go to the front desk and purchase a locker under your name. What is your name?” I asked, handing her money.
“Marissa Cruz.”
“Marissa, once you have purchased the locker, you will put this box inside it and lock it. When you finish, you will come back to me and tell me the locker number and combination. Understand?”
“I understand.” She nodded and mechanically pushed her stroller to the front desk to purchase a storage locker. I stood in a hidden alcove, watching every move she made as she held the small wooden box that held the cure to vampirism. I hated compelling humans, but this was one time it was necessary. I had to hide the cure somewhere no one would think to look. Somewhere they wouldn’t think I’d go. A bus station locker was the perfect place. Even if they did think of it, I wouldn’t open a locker under my name, or show my face where someone might recognize me. I’d get a human to do it. The thought of using someone like this gnawed at my gut and grieved my conscience. I was crossing so many ethical lines.
Marissa strolled back with her baby to where I stood. “The locker number is twenty-five, seventy-three. The combination is twenty-three, four, fifteen,” she said, her emotionless eyes drilling into me. The compulsion was working perfectly.
I quickly tapped the information into my prepaid phone and put it away. “Marissa,” I looked at her, “you will forget me and everything you just did. You never opened a locker or put anything away. You were standing here rocking your baby to sleep.”
She blinked a few times before she started to rock the stroller back and forth. Without glancing back, she walked away.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. I was never the best at compulsion. I never had a desire to learn because I thought it was wrong, but I was glad it worked. I hurried out of the bus station before I caught anyone’s suspicion.
I wandered the city for a bit, but I knew I had to make the call I dreaded the most. If I didn’t, the SIU witches could easily do a locator spell and then I’d definitely be in hot water. So I pulled out my burner phone and called Bobby Wu.
“Talk quickly,” he answered after a few rings.
“Bobby, its Mackenzie,” I blurted before he could hang up. “I need your help.”
“Princess?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. I usually hated when he called me princess, but right now I was in no position to throw a diva fit. “I’m in trouble.”
There was silence in the phone line and for a second, I wondered if he’d hung up on me. “What kind of trouble?”
“The kind where I need to go into hiding. And fast.”
There was shuffling in the background. “I’m texting you an address. Meet me there as soon as possible. It’s one of my safe houses.”
I released a breath. “Thank you, Bobby.”
“Don’t thank me just yet,” he answered grimly, then he ended the call.
Within seconds my phone beeped, and a text message came through with an address that took me to an apartment in the Bronx. I flagged the first cab I saw and got in, told the driver the address, and we sped away. In the meantime, I pulled out my phone again and made another phone call.
“Hello?” a groggy, still-sleepy voice came through the phone.
“Jackson,” I sighed, thanking the heavens he answered. “Don’t tell anyone it’s me.”
“And who is me?”
“Mackenzie.”
He cleared his throat. “Why are you calling so early in the morning? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t panic,” I bit my lip and looked out the car window, “but …”
“But what, Kenz?” He sounded more awake. “Where’s Amy?”
“The vampires had a hearing with the Elders about whether they would allow her to take the cure. They denied her request and confiscated the cure.”
“What the hell? Why didn’t she tell me?” he growled.
“She didn’t even want to tell me, Jack. I forced her to take me to the hearing, but that’s not all that happened,” I whispered. “When they made their decision, I lost it. I beheaded one of the Elders and swiped the cure. Now they have Amy, and I’m on the run.”
Jackson’s breath hitched and he was quiet for a moment. “What have you done, Mackenzie?”
I shut my eyes and squeezed them tightly. “I know, Jack, I know.”
“I don’t think you do, Kenz. The Elders are the oldest vampires known on the planet. Killing one of them could start a damn war!”
“Shh! Don’t you think I know that? I do!” I ripped my eyes open. “But they were going to take the cure away. Jonah didn’t sacrifice his life for nothing, just so a group of ancient vampires could take it. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I called Bobby Wu,” I reluctantly told him; his answering curse whispered through the line. “I need help. It won’t be long before the SIU gets involved, and I need to stay hidden until I figure things out.”
“Kenzie, you can’t do this alone. I’m coming home,” Jackson said, and I heard the rustling of bedsheets.
“You can’t tell Bash, Jack, please,” I begged. I know I called him for help, but it had to stay between us. No one else in the Pack could know about what was going on. If Bash found out, it would just get him into more trouble, and I didn’t want to involve him. Charles already thought I was the root of Bash’s issues. He didn’t need more fuel.
“I can’t lie to my Alpha, Kenz,” Jackson groaned.
“The massacres of the Lunas, the revolution, Jonah’s death, then Enzo. The Brooklyn Pack hasn’t had much luck since meeting me.” I gulped as I admitted to something I’d never before said out loud. “Charles is the only one who has called me out on it, and he’s right. I bring trouble to Bash’s doorstep, Jackson, and that’s why I need to keep him out of it. I know Sebastian; he’ll want to help. But right now, he needs to worry about the Pack.”
Jackson’s
breathing grew heavy as he contemplated what I said. He knew deep down I was right. “Fine,” he relented. “I’ll tell them I miss Amy and I’m coming to visit.”
“Perfect. I’ll text you the address of the safe house.”
“I’ll be there tonight,” he said as he hung up the phone.
My leg bounced as I rode the rest of the way in silence, using the time to think of my next move. I couldn’t stay holed up in Bobby’s safe house for the rest of my life. I had to figure out what to do next and think five steps ahead. The vampires usually kept to themselves, but they were smart. As one of the longest living supernatural races, they hadn’t survived that long out of pure luck. Lucian would go through the proper channels and contact the SIU, but those Elders seemed old school, like they would take matters into their own hands. I could have enemies coming at me from multiple directions if I wasn’t careful.
The taxi pulled up to the curb and stopped in front of a two-story brick house with red doors. I paid the driver and got out. As the car sped away from the curb, I double-checked the address and the house at which I’d just been dropped off. I looked around the neighborhood and was surprised that it looked very up-and-coming suburban. I walked around the front garden area and up the ramp, taking a moment to marvel at the doorbell before I rang it. Instead of a push button, it was an actual bell cord that I had to pull. The house seemed old from the outside, like one of those pre-war houses, but appeared to be very well kept.
I raised my hand to knock when I heard it unlock and the door swung open. Bobby Wu stood in the threshold and hurried me inside. The house was dim, compared to the brightness of the morning sun outside. Bobby looked like he was still in his pajamas, standing before me in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie.
“Sorry for the roughness, Princess, but only the inside of the house is cloaked. Once you’re inside, no one can do a locator spell on you,” he explained, waving me further inside the house. While the outside looked dated and old, the inside was beautifully renovated with a sunken living room, high ceilings with hand-hewn wood beams, and a wood-burning fireplace. Polished wood floors gleamed in the morning light. A soaring archway led to the dining room and kitchen, where there were marble countertops and stainless-steel appliances, opening up to a covered patio. The overall effect of the house was stunning.
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