When she didn’t respond, he moved a little closer to the building he knew she was in.
“Not as brave as I thought you were,” he called out. His comment was met with laughter from behind him, and he turned to see Eduardo, Karma, and a full team standing not too far from where he’d left Nanette.
“I’m a hell of a lot braver than you give me credit for, but I’m also a hell of a lot smarter,” she told him and grinned. “Did you really think we’d still be inside that building once your army was inside? It’s called a trap for a reason.”
“What have you done?” He asked and her grin grew.
“None of those you sent in will be coming back out,” Dylan told him.
“Hello, Crompton,” Eduardo said and looked at the vampire who created him.
“My son,” Crompton said, and Eduardo hissed.
“I am NOT your son, or your anything else,” Eduardo told him through clenched teeth.
“I am the reason you are still on this Earth,” Crompton reminded him.
“Yes,” Eduardo agreed. “That doesn’t mean anything to me though. Unlike my sister, who I know is close, I didn’t want immortality. I was HAPPY as a human!”
“Then why have you stayed alive for as long as you have?”
“So I could kill you,” he answered and took a step closer to Crompton.
“Easier said than done, my son,” Crompton taunted.
“Maybe, but we will find out,” Eduardo countered and took another step toward his creator. “Your path of death and destruction has come to an end.”
“You’re not strong enough to kill me.”
“Let’s find out,” Eduardo said and jumped up and over Crompton, landing silently behind him and knocking him off balance before he could turn.
When Crompton fell, Eduardo pulled a stake from his belt, but Crompton was on his feet before he could use it.
“It’s not going to be that easy.”
“Didn’t think it would be.”
They circled each other for a few seconds before Eduardo moved quickly and landed a punch to Crompton’s face before anyone saw him move.
“You’ve learned a few things since we last met,” Crompton told him as he wiped the blood from his already healed nose. “But it will not be enough.”
“You will die today,” Eduardo told him as he sidestepped before Crompton could hit him. “May not be by my hand, but you will die today.”
“One of us will,” Crompton told him as he reached out and grabbed Agent Norris by the arm and pulled her in front of him. “But will it be me?”
Karma growled when Crompton snapped her neck and threw her limp body at Eduardo.
“Bastard,” Karma said, and Dylan grabbed her before she could charge at Crompton.
“He’s wanting you to get involved,” he whispered in her ear. “He knows you can kill him, and he’s goading you so you will attack him. Don’t fall into his trap. Agent Norris will be okay, but if you attack him, you and I could both die.”
Karma nodded, but didn’t take her eyes off Crompton as he leaped on Eduardo.
“You will be the one to die!” Eduardo snarled as he pushed Crompton off him with enough force he crashed into the wall of a building, cracking the brick. “And I will be the one to kill you.”
“Will I?” Crompton asked and Karma saw something in his hand just before he let a dagger fly at Eduardo.
“Eduardo!” She called out, and he moved just before the dagger could impale him.
“Resorting to throwing things like a toddler?” Eduardo asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t need anything to kill you,” Crompton responded.
“Let’s finish this, then,” Eduardo said as he crouched low and grinned. “Unless, of course, you want to be taken in to face trial.”
Crompton snarled, and reacted to Eduardo’s words just as he’d hoped he would.
When Crompton leaped, Eduardo stayed low until he was mid-air. When he leaped to meet his creator, he reached out and caught him by the hair. Using Crompton’s momentum, he swung him around and snapped his head from his shoulders, effectively ending his reign of terror.
Chapter Forty-Six
“He’s dead,” Jackson said as he looked at the headless body of his creator.
“Yes,” Delanie told him and laid a gentle hand on his arm.
“Yes,” Eduardo said as he dropped Crompton’s head next to his body.
As he went to turn, Karma spotted someone emerge from the shadows.
“Eduardo, look out!” She shouted, when she noticed a female vampire who looked nearly identical to Eduardo.
“Hello, brother,” Nanette sneered, and Eduardo turned just as she reached out and jerked him back by his hair. “You killed him, and now I will kill you.”
Before Karma could move to stop her, she jerked back, and Eduardo’s head was ripped violently from his shoulders. Nanette dropped his head, and took off into the alley between the buildings before anyone could react.
“NO!” Karma shouted and turned to follow her down the alley, but Dylan stopped her.
“You can’t go after her,” he whispered as he used all his strength to keep Karma from ripping his arms off to get away. “She will kill you.”
“She killed him! I can’t let her get away!”
“If you go after her now, you will be killed too!” Dylan told her. “We will find her, and we will destroy her for this, but you cannot let your emotions lead you into what is surely a trap.”
Karma struggled against his hold, but he refused to let her go.
“Karma,” Ramsey said as he stepped into her line of sight. “Eduardo needs you alive. You must help finish what he started. That was his sister, Nanette, and he would want her eliminated, but not by you sacrificing yourself and Dylan.”
“She killed him!” Karma shouted as tears ran down her face.
“Yes, and she will face the full force of the Senate, the VEB, and every good vampire in existence for that,” Ramsey assured her. “But we cannot lose you and Dylan. You are the one who will destroy her, the one who will bring peace to the vampire community. You cannot do that if you’re dead.”
Karma stopped struggling against Dylan’s hold, and sagged against him as waves of grief encompassed her.
When she sank to the ground beside Eduardo’s lifeless body, Ramsey, Holbrook, and Langley sank beside her and let their grief for their fallen brother overtake them.
“We must return to the others,” Harrison said after a few moments passed.
“Yes,” Ramsey said and looked at the other members of the Senate. “We will return him to his home, and give him a proper send off.”
“Yes,” Holbrook responded and looked at Eduardo’s body once more. “He would want to be returned to his home.”
“When will this happen?” Karma asked. “I want to be there.”
“In a few days, child,” Ramsey answered her.
“He would be honored if you were to see his home,” Holbrook told her. “He admired you, and had grown to love you like a daughter. We all do.”
“Now, let’s return to the others,” Langley said and rose to his feet. When he extended his hand to Karma, she grasped it and let him pull her to her feet. “The others must be told what has happened, and we must make plans to find Nanette.”
“Is Agent Norris okay?” Dylan asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the agent who was still laying on the ground where Eduardo had set her after Crompton threw her.
“She will be fine,” Harrington answered. “She’s unconscious, but alive. She probably passed out from the pain. Once her neck fuses back, she will be okay.”
“Bring her, Harrington,” Baxter ordered as he wrapped his arms around Gina. “Cook, Larson, I want the two of you to bring Eduardo back to the house. A clean-up crew is already on the way and they will get everything else.”
“What of Crompton’s body?” Jackson asked as he looked at the one who created him again.
“Leave i
t for the clean-up crew,” Baxter answered. “I don’t want that filth around Zora.”
Nodding, Jackson walked away from Crompton without looking back.
****
“This is a beautiful spot,” Nevaeh said as they stopped beside a small cabin about halfway up a mountain in the Sierra Nevada range near the province of Granada Spain.
Three days had passed since Eduardo had been killed, and there’d been no sign of Nanette since that afternoon.
“This was Eduardo’s home,” Ramsey told them. “He would come here when he needed to get away from everything and everyone. The only ones he ever allowed to be here, were us.”
“Then this is where he would want to be,” Harrison said and smiled sadly.
“We are going to give him a proper send-off,” Ramsey told them as he unlocked the door to the small cabin.
“What are you going to do?” Karma asked, as Aleyn carried Eduardo’s body, which was wrapped in a blanket, into the cabin.
“Eduardo wouldn’t want anyone residing in his cabin,” Langley explained. “So, we are going to place his body inside, then set it on fire. He will forever be in his favorite place.”
“That’s what he would want, child,” Constance told her. “No matter where he was, or what he was doing, our brother would return here for at least a year every decade or so. This was his solitude, his home, and the place he would want to be now.”
“I did the same with my family. The night they were murdered, Nevaeh and I set my house on fire, and I watched as it burned with the bodies of my family inside,” Karma told them. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, until now. Losing Eduardo was like losing my dad all over again. I may have only known him for a little while, but he changed my life. He helped me see things differently, and he helped me see that there was more to this life than the hatred I felt toward Vincent. Eduardo was a good vampire, and an even better friend.”
“He felt the same about you, child. He feared for you in a way he never feared for another. Your strength, your tenacity, your disregard for your own safety; they terrified him. You are the one, Karma, and with Eduardo gone, we will need someone to help the Senate. We will need your help to find someone to join us.”
“I will help you find someone,” Karma told them.
“Thank you, child,” Constance said and looked at the cabin as Aleyn emerged from inside.
“We are ready,” Ramsey said and looked at the small group standing before him. “Eduardo de Hurvea was born in Spain around 1100 AD. He was but twenty years old when his human life was taken from him by a vampire named Crompton. He was to be wed that spring, to a young woman of a wealthy family, but after he was turned, he left his home and never returned. Eduardo founded the vampire Senate nearly two centuries ago with myself, and our brother Holbrook. We were unlike other vampire we’d encountered, and felt it was time there was a governing force over the vampire population.”
“With the exception of Crompton, and three other vampire, the Senate was composed of the oldest vampire in existence, and we worked to attempt to have some control over the vampire population,” Aleyn continued for him. “On this day, we say goodbye to our brother. He lived for many centuries, and touched the lives of countless during his long existence.”
“He was a good vampire,” Zora said from where she rested her head on Baxter’s shoulder.
“He was, child,” Ramsey smiled at the girl then turned. When he lit a torch, tears filled Karma’s eyes.
“He was a good vampire,” she repeated Zora’s words as Ramsey touched the torch to the wood siding of the cabin. It caught flame instantly, and he laid the torch down and walked to where they were all standing.
“He was a good vampire,” he repeated the words again.
No more words were spoken as they stood and watched the flames engulf the cabin.
Just as the sun started to set behind them, the flames sputtered out, and Ramsey turned to Karma.
“I feel you and Dylan should be married before we leave this area,” he told her. “Eduardo wanted to be with you when you said your vows to one another, and being here, being in the place he called home, is as close as you can come to him being there.”
“Then we will,” Dylan told him. “We will come back to this place tomorrow and get married.”
“Tomorrow?” Nevaeh asked, shocked.
“Yes,” Karma said and looked around at them all. “Everyone who matters to us is here already.”
“What about the rest of the Huntresses?” Gina asked.
“They will understand,” Karma told her. “We didn’t want a big wedding anyway, and at this point, I just want the world to know Dylan and I belong to one another.”
“Okay, then,” Gina responded with a smile.
“Tomorrow at sunset, we will say our vows and become husband and wife,” Dylan said and looked around them.
“We’d better head into the village then,” Nikki said with a small smile. “We have a wedding to plan, and less than twenty-four hours to plan it.”
Epilogue
“Are you ready?” Nevaeh asked as she stepped into the small tent they’d set up for Karma to change in.
“Tell me again why you’re making me wear a dress?”
“Because you’re getting married,” Nevaeh answered with a small chuckle. “You’ll thank me when you see the look on Dylan’s face. He’s going to drool when he sees you in that.”
“He drools when he sees her in her normal clothes,” Gina said and chuckled. “I mean, I can’t blame him. She wears those jeans that hug her ass and it gives him a great view.”
“You two are insane,” Karma said and smiled. “If we’re attacked and I’m unarmed, I will stake you both,”
“You’re never unarmed,” Nevaeh reminded her. “You’re stronger and faster than any vampire in existence.”
“Even so, I couldn’t save Eduardo,” Karma told them, and a wave of sadness washed over her.
“No, not today,” Nevaeh said and walked to her. “No sadness today. Eduardo wouldn’t want you to be sad.”
“Yeah,” Karma said and looked at her two best friends. “Let’s do this.”
“Well, okay then,” Nevaeh said and grinned. “I will see if Dylan is ready.”
“If he isn’t, I’ll marry her,” Harrison said as he walked into the tent. “That dress is gorgeous. My son’s jaw is going to drop when he sees you.”
“You think?” Karma asked and looked down at the dress she wore. It was the same shade as her eyes, and she was surprised when Nikki had found it in the village the night before. The material was soft and shiny, and the hem hit just above her knees. She was wearing flat sandals, and had no place to hide any weapons. “I am uncomfortable as shit without my weapons.”
“You’ll be okay,” Harrison said and grinned at her. “Ramsey is just outside the tent, and wanted me to tell you he’s ready when you are.”
“Thank you,” she said and smiled softly. Ramsey had agreed to walk her down the aisle, and she was happy he had. Her original plan was to ask Eduardo, but that was no longer an option.
“Oh, and he has something for you,” Harrison added before he stepped back out.
When Ramsey walked in, she gasped a little. He was wearing a suit without a tie, and his crisp, white shirt was unbuttoned at the top.
“You look handsome,” she said with a smile.
“I am glad you approve, child,” he told her as he took in the dress she wore. “And you look beautiful. I haven’t seen you in a dress since DC.”
“And you probably never will again,” she told him and chuckled.
“I have something of Eduardo’s that I think he’d want you to have,” he told her after a moment passed. When he held out a small box, she looked at him in confusion. “It was his mother’s. He took it from their house after his mother passed. He took several things that he didn’t want to end up in the hands of his other sisters.”
“Oh,” Karma said and took the box. Whe
n she opened it, she gasped. Nestled inside on a bed of black satin, was an antique locket. “It’s stunning.”
“Open it,” he said, and she pulled it from the box and gently opened it.
Inside was a picture of Eduardo on one side, and a picture of Karma and Dylan on the other.
“Oh wow,” she said and smiled at the picture of Eduardo.
“He will be with you today,” he told her and pulled the locket from her hand. When he reached out and clasped it around her neck, she closed her eyes and reached up to touch it.
“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “Let’s go.”
“Guess she’s ready,” Gina said and walked from the tent.
“Count to a hundred, then come out,” Nevaeh said then she left the tent, too.
As Karma counted in her head, she thought of the events leading to this day. Her life had been over before she’d met Dylan. She’d been ready to die in order to avenge her family, but since meeting him, she realized losing her family wasn’t the end of her life. It was one door closing so another one could open.
****
“How’s it feel to be Mrs. Dylan Collins?” Harrison asked after they were back at the hotel in the village later that night.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Karma answered and leaned against Dylan’s chest.
“We’re going to take a few days off,” Dylan told them. “We’re going to travel to the coast here in Spain and will be back state-side next week.”
“You deserve a break,” Baxter told them. “Gina and I are going to take a few days off and see a little of the country with Zora, too.”
“We will head back and try to get a lead on Nanette,” Nevaeh told them all. “Karma, I want you to enjoy some time with Dylan. You two deserve this time.”
“We will be back in a week, at most,” Karma told them and shifted. “Now, I think it’s time we head to our rooms. We’re leaving first thing in the morning.”
“Goodnight, everyone,” Dylan said and smiled. “And be safe travelling back home.”
“You two be safe, too,” Harrison said and grinned at his son. “And keep her out of trouble.”
Gina's Passion (Vampire Huntress Sage Book 4) Page 24
