by L E Royal
The tide started to settle over me, and I grappled for her wrist, wanting to take from her too and feel it run both ways, but she held me down. A million memories flashed through my head. I saw myself through her eyes, lying broken at the bottom of a staircase, caked in my own blood. I saw myself in Chase Tower pressed against the wall and wanting her. I saw the fear on my face when she made Aria kill herself, and the desperation in my eyes when the virus almost took her life.
Our life together, a million little moments, they filled me up and tore me down, and if this was the last time I would ever feel our connection, ever feel her like this, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. As she pinned me to the bed, keeping her own bleeding arm away from me, and just letting me feel, I finally understood this was her gift.
She drank until I was dizzy, and when she pulled back, her mouth bloody and her eyes full of tears, she was scared.
“Is that it?”
She laughed softly, sad.
“No, Princess. You have to die with my blood in your system.”
I swallowed hard. I was scared.
“Are you ready?”
I nodded, and she pulled me up into a sitting position, moving too quickly until she was behind me against the pillows, one arm across my chest holding onto my shoulder, the other under my chin. The realization crashed over me that she was going to break my neck. I started to cry in spite of myself, horrible racking sobs swallowing me. She held me still against her cool body. The familiar scent of blood and her shampoo would be the last thing I would smell, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting.
Her hands were shaking. I wished desperately that she would just get it over with, and I wished I could open my mouth and scream for her to stop. The wound on my neck was bleeding profusely, thick ribbons of blood running over my collarbones and soaking the neck of one of Scarlett’s sleep shirts.
We were silent save for my sobs and it was too late to turn around. The marks on my neck would damn us even if we could.
“Just do it.”
The words sounded like a battle cry and I grit my teeth, ready for the pain. Her grip on my chin was bruising, but her hands were shaking hard.
She took a deep breath and I held mine, hoping desperately that it would work, that I wasn’t broken, that I would come back to continue my forever with her like we had planned.
I screamed when she moved, my eyes clenched closed tight.
When I opened them, breathing hard, she was across the room, pressed against the wall, her chest heaving too.
“I can’t. I’m not going to kill you.”
My heart soared and plummeted. This was the only way to save her, the only way to avoid sending her out into a fight she couldn’t win. But I wasn’t ready to die.
She looked like a wounded animal, pressed into the corner, bloody smears left behind from her hands on the light gray walls.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
She repeated the words again, and again, coming back to herself more and more each time. My voice was lost to me, my psyche so ingrained with hers that I had trouble sorting out what was mine and what was hers. I felt her refortifying, steel and fire and ice spilling into her veins. She was hard and abrasive, and she was soft and scared and broken, and once again her hands were tied.
Her gaze caught on my bleeding neck, and I knew she had left herself no choice. Neither of us would survive unless she killed me now. There was no more hiding the fact I had been bitten. Her only alternative was to fight Wilfred and the Government, and to somehow win.
“You are mine.”
I screamed again, surprised when she was already across the room and on me, the pads of her fingers pressed painfully against my neck.
It was her battle cry.
“I’m yours.”
She was raw and powerful, and a little bit terrifying, and the time to subvert her had passed. I could already taste the fight.
She kissed me hard and I lost myself in it, my blood and hers mixing together in my mouth. By the time she pulled away she had already pushed me down again and we were too close to losing ourselves.
She stopped, pulling her hand out of my underwear with a look that left my insides molten.
“Afterwards,” she promised me, and all I could do was breathe and nod.
She healed my neck and her wrist using our blood, and when she pulled me up on shaking legs to take me to the bathroom, I followed obediently. She positioned me in front of the sink and slipped behind me. Her cool fingers brushed my neck as she pulled blood-matted hair back behind my shoulder.
I watched with interest as she turned on the faucet, my eyes never leaving the girl in the mirror, pale gold hair and deep blue eyes. She looked like me as much as she was a stranger.
Scarlett wiped the blood from my mouth and chin, before she washed it from my neck. I flinched, the flesh still tender. When she was done, red-tinted water ran down the drain, and I raised my eyes to the twin puncture scars that were silver on my pale skin.
Behind me, she was still caked in blood, eyes intent on the scars.
“You’re mine, Princess.”
“I’m yours.”
Her lips over the little marks sent a jolt through my body, pleasure and pain, and I had to push her away before it became too hard to stop.
“Get dressed.”
I did as she asked, tugging on my jeans and a T-shirt, braiding my tangled, crimson-stained hair out of the way, watching as she slipped into a tight dress and sky-high heels. She pulled on her leather jacket and I knew—this was it.
She took her time over her makeup but left my blood dried on her lips and chin, a macabre display to match the punctures on my neck, unapologetic.
“What are you going to do?”
She didn’t answer, taking my hand instead and leading me to the living room. She tugged me inside, grabbed her phone, and tapped out a message I couldn’t see. When I looked up Camilla and Jade were both staring at us, mouths agape.
“Scarlett…”
Camilla sputtered the word. Apparently done with her phone, Scarlett threw it aside.
“She’s mine. We’re blood bound, and I’m going to fix this now. Take care of her and Jade, Cami.”
They exchanged a long, meaningful look before Camilla nodded. I took too long to catch up, my mind still caught on the fact that finally, our secret was out there.
“Wait…”
Jade seemed to come back to her senses at the same time as I did.
“Where are you going?” There was a desperation in her voice, tears already in her eyes, as it settled over all of us that this could be the last time we would see her alive.
“To end this. I love you forever, Jadey.”
Jade collided with her with a soft oomph. I was already crying, not equipped, not prepared, not ready for this goodbye, not in this life or the next.
They pulled apart and Jade was crying hard. Tears shone in Scarlett’s eyes but she didn’t let them fall. She kissed me. For a moment it was everything before it turned cold and sharp and she was already falling away, going to that dark place in her psyche, the one she was counting on to carry her through this.
“Come back to me…”
I managed to force the words out.
“Always.”
She turned to leave, and I pulled her back, feeling weak, feeling broken open, already aching at the thought of letting her go out there and do this alone, useless.
“Rayne…”
My name was as beautiful in her voice as it had been the very first time, and it crashed around me.
“You’re mine.”
It was my promise to her.
“You’re mine too.”
Something burned in her eyes, bittersweet, and a smile touched the very corner of her lips.
Panic was already rising as, once again, I felt her preparing to leave.
A slow clap interrupted us, and we all turned to the doorway.
“Touching. So touching. I got your message a
nd figured why meet in the bunker when we could meet right here, Scarlett?”
Wilfred Pearce stood at the mouth of the room, amusement and something darker shining in his eyes.
“Cami, take them to your tower.”
Any pretense was gone. We all knew exactly why he was here, and I wondered if he had known her plan to challenge him all along.
“No one’s going anywhere.” It was an easy declarative, leaving no room for argument. Camilla stayed frozen on the sofa, Jade pulled back down beside her.
With a growl Scarlett shoved me in their direction as he stepped toward us.
“This has nothing to do with them…”
“I’d think the bite marks on your pet’s neck say differently.”
His eyes flashed with something as he glanced at me, before again he was looking at her, and we were all spectators as he stepped closer to her still.
“Is that what you wanted to tell me? Could you not go through with it? Is that why you called me down here, to kill her and finish the job?”
Something in Scarlett’s jaw clenched.
“I’m not turning her.”
She was cool and detached as him on the surface, but beneath a storm raged.
They remained in a silent standoff. Standing three steps away from the sofa, I didn’t dare to move. I caught Camilla’s eyes, questioning, because surely, there was something we could or should do. She just barely shook her head.
“What is it you want to say, Scarlett, because there is something.”
“How long have you been a council member? How long has this city been built on lies…? Camilla.”
She didn’t take her eyes from him, the last word unrelated, a command, and then I was flying, too fast to stop or resist until she put me down. Jade and I were slung together in the back of Scarlett’s closet, the door already locked from the inside, three deadbolts I had never noticed, then Camilla turned to face us. Jade was already in front of her, trying to get around her.
“We can’t just leave her! I’m not going to leave her to die for us!”
I watched them grapple, numb, until something awoke in me, and my eyes landed on that familiar winter coat I had worn to the market. I slipped it on, my heart beating fast though the seconds slowed down as they passed. I was forming my plan.
“I have to do this for her!”
“What, let her die?”
The vampires were screaming at each other, Camilla stronger, easily holding Jade away from the door, though Jade was struggling, valiantly.
“She’s not going to die.” I took a deep breath. “Camilla, open the door.”
She hissed.
“Are you fucking crazy? If she dies it will be protecting you because you gave him everything he needs to control her like he always has.”
A loud thud muffled her words, followed by the faraway shattering of glass.
“Camilla, let me out.”
I tried to channel Scarlett’s cool, calm exterior, to subvert the terror that had gripped my insides the minute those locks had clicked into place, and for whatever reason, I couldn’t feel her anymore. I needed Cami to trust me more than her own judgment, and more than Scarlett’s unspoken request to take me away.
Jade grabbed my arm and tugged me back from the door.
“Rayne, she’s right, he’s just going to use either of us to control her. But someone has to help her.”
Her dark eyes fell on Cami, and Cami balked visibly.
“Jade, I’m not her, I don’t know how to fight… I’ve never had to.”
“Because Scarlett has always taken care of all us, and now we’re just leaving her to die? She can’t beat him!”
They devolved into bickering. Pain spilled across my vision, almost sending me to my knees, before it was gone, and of course the stupid vampire was still working to block our connection while having the fight of her lifetime.
“Stop! Just stop.” I looked at them both, letting my determination burn hot in my eyes. “Only one of us has to die to end this. I’ve had enough of her blood that I’ll be fine.”
It was still strange to say that aloud.
“He’s not going to kill you now and call it all good, she knows too much.”
“He won’t have to. Camilla, this is my decision to make. Just let me out, please, she’s hurting.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“Cami, let her go.” Jade’s voice was soft from behind me and I turned around to see tears in her hazel eyes. “If anyone can save Scarlett it’s her. I know how crazy it sounds, but just let her out, please.”
Indecision warred across Camilla’s face, torn between what she thought to be best, between Scarlett’s request of her, and the request of the woman she loved, plus the fierce determination I kept careful on my face.
“Do not die.” She hissed the words as she flung open the door and tossed me out before again it was closed and I heard the struggle on the other side. I was sure Jade had hoped to go with me.
I stumbled to my feet, carpet burns on the palms of my hands, having used them to slow my fall. Paying them little mind, I reached into my pocket, pleased to feel the cold weight of the gun still there. I had to take it out to unfasten the safety. My hands were steadier this time. The gun still scared me, but losing her scared me more, and with it done I shoved it back in my pocket and started down the hall.
Everything was silent for too long, still. Just as fear that I was already too late, that they had left or worse, she was dead, began to choke me, I heard something move.
I froze, five feet from the doorway, footsteps across the tile audible beside the sharp click of his cane on the floor. My stomach dropped into my boots.
“Now the question is, what do I do with you, child?”
I reached for her desperately, pressing myself back against the wall. I willed her to let me know she was okay, to tell me what to do, because honestly, I wasn’t sure. Camilla was right: even if I died and was turned now, we all knew too much.
A soft strangled sound broke the silence, then another, and to my horror, I realized she was crying.
I rushed forward, torn between my need to get to her and to be quiet enough, hoping Wilfred was so distracted he wouldn’t hear me coming.
My breath felt frozen, heavy. I fought to breathe, to drag it in and out of my aching lungs as I hovered beside the kitchen door, terrified by her sobs and the silence that hung around them. Holding my breath, I leaned forward, peering around the corner and into the room.
Devastation met me. The counters were cracked, broken, cabinet doors missing or hanging from their hinges. China and utensils littered the floor, and blood, so much blood. Wilfred’s back was to me. He leaned heavily on his cane and my stomach turned as I noticed one of his legs was bent at a jarring angle. He was standing over her. I saw her two bare, bloody feet, the rest of her obscured by his body.
“You’re mine, Scarlett.”
Those words turned my blood to ice and raised as many questions as they answered about Scarlett’s own obsession with the term.
“I was never yours.”
There was no strength in her reply, and just for a second, I felt a flash of what she did. I had to bite my lip to stay silent, pulling back behind the doorframe and leaning against the wall to take a shaking breath that was not as quiet as I’d liked.
“Do not forget who built you, and now it seems it’s time for me to end you. Yours will be a reign that is hard to recreate, but I already have the perfect candidate. After all, with you gone, what else will she have? I’ll complete her transformation, with your blood of course, and she’ll wake with new eyes and the echo of everything you were in her veins. She will be magnificent.”
An inhuman noise ripped through the air, followed by the scuffle of moving parts. I steeled myself and stepped back around the door, pushing my mind forward and through, around the fact that he planned to use me to replace her and back to stopping him, stopping this, saving her.
They moved too fast for my hu
man eyes to follow, and giving up trying, I reached into my pocket. The gun felt lighter in my hands now, in the face of absolutely everything being lost.
Scarlett screamed, and they were still. I raised the gun and stepped around the door completely. The sight that greeted me knocked all the breath out of me.
Leave.
Her eyes never met mine, but she knew I was there. The command was desperate, the last wish of someone who had accepted her fate, and in the face of her weakness, I was somehow strong.
“Hello, Rayne.”
Wilfred spoke without turning around, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood.
I tried to pry my eyes away from her, from the odd angle of her broken arm, the blood seeping from too many places, but most of all, the thick handle of the butcher knife protruding from her shoulder, for all intents and purposes pinning her to the wall.
She was screaming in my head, run, run, run. I flipped a switch and she was gone; my mind was quiet and focused, and mine.
“Hello, Wilfred.”
I felt none of the bravado I projected, but perhaps that had been her gift to me too.
“You have something that’s mine.”
He laughed, and if Scarlett was ever scary, he was terrifying. The sound sent ice crawling down my spine, but I held my ground, letting him finish his showpiece while I watched her, frantically willing her to lift her head and meet my eyes.
Fight for me one last time.
I begged her silently, pouring everything I had into the command, and then Wilfred’s laughter was dying cold in the dusty air of the kitchen, and he was all I could see.
“Yours?”
“Yes. Mine.”
In my periphery, I saw her head come up. I played the only ace I had.
“I’ve considered your offer, and I will accept it, but first I have a few conditions.” The gun was gripped tight in my hands, I knew he had seen it, but he said nothing about it, leaning instead on his cane and tipping his head.
“Please do tell. This I must hear.”
I swallowed down my fear, cold and hard in a way I didn’t understand, but somehow, I was ready to sell this.
