Catastrophe

by Liz Schulte

“What did he do to you?” I asked, when Corbin finally moved away from Thomas.

  “He didn’t do anything to me,” he said. “This is retribution…for others.”

  And I was an Olympic swimmer. I rolled my eyes. He wanted Thomas to suffer more than payback for some random crime. As far as I could tell, there was very little Corbin actually cared about in this world. Certainly not the vampires, and I doubted he would have lifted a finger to stop Thomas from killing anyone who wasn’t personal to him in some way. “Who are Camila and Clara?”

  A bitter smile twisted onto Corbin’s lips. “You have your twelve hours. He’ll be here if you need him. After that, he’s mine, so make it count.”

  My feet stayed locked in place. The wolfy version of Thomas was fading back to normal, out cold. I had miscalculated the situation. Corbin wasn’t looking for justice. Thomas was never going to stand vampire trial and he wasn’t going to be executed fast. Even that scenario was hard to imagine, but this was something completely different. Corbin was getting revenge. Not that Thomas deserves to be protected, I reminded myself.

  “What did he do?” I repeated. I needed to understand. I couldn’t leave him to this fate if I didn’t understand why—maybe not even then.

  Paolo’s smile came to mind when I said I would only take Corbin with me. He had known this would happen. He may have wanted Thomas, but he also wanted the old Corbin back; he said so himself. I didn’t know the Corbin before Selene. Was that when everything changed for him, or had it changed before that? Selene’s name hadn’t been mentioned. It was Clara and Camila.

  “He changed you, didn’t he? Was it Clara or Camila?”

  Finally, he shrugged with practiced ambivalence. “It’s your dime. Thomas here has been bad. You know about the trafficking, but you see, he didn’t just target rare species. Don’t get me wrong; he did plenty of that. That’s how he made the real money, but when he thought someone was too close to figuring out his schemes, he went after their families, both living and dead. I noticed more and more bounties were being placed on vampires who claimed innocence. I started looking into it, and…” He shook his head.

  “Your family,” I said softly.

  “Clara.” His black, fathomless eyes met mine. “But that loss wasn’t enough to distract me. Camila was my maker. When vampires are made, they are bound to children until the child breaks the bond. To kill an old vampire, one must eliminate all existing bonds. Camila and I were close. My world was different when she was in it.” Regret fluttered across his mouth. “We had fun.”

  “How did he kill her?”

  Corbin shook his head. “He didn’t. I did. He trapped her in purgatory. Decades of pain and torture, I was the only thing that kept her alive, but I couldn’t get to her. Then Selene came into my life. She wanted me to be her guide through purgatory, which would have finally let me free her.” His fist clenched at his side.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  He closed his eyes and shook his head. “He will suffer. No one can stop that. It’s been years in the making. Anyone who tries will be an enemy.”