The Vampire's Lineage (Fatal Allure Book 13)

by Martha Woods

  “Well, that requires a little bit of a story, if you don’t mind me telling one.” Chuckling at my eye roll, Anthony held his hand out in what I imagine was supposed to be a calming motion. “I promise, it won’t take too long. It’ll just help you have the full picture of what’s happened here, and why they hate us so completely.”

  Leaning back in my chair and tapping my foot against the tiles, I waited for him to get properly comfortable, almost snapping at him before he finally got started. Maybe I’m being too harsh to him, but I’ve been kidnapped and others have been hurt by these people, and I know that he’s already lied to me on multiple occasions. If anyone was worth getting angry at I’m fairly certain that he’s the one.

  “The old elder’s name was John, a pretty common name for such an extraordinary man I know, but that’s how things go sometimes. He wasn’t always batshit insane and dedicated to destruction, once upon a time he was willing to listen to reason and come to a compromise, wasn’t so used to killing everything that he came across and salting the land where they fell. For a while… I was even running with him.”

  “You were what? You were with them?”

  “Only in the early days, I left before resignations became impossible, but I never really dropped the friendship that I’d built with John. He was a good friend, smart, witty, just about everything you could ever wish for. Which of course meant that when things went bad… well, just about everything fell apart for just about everyone.”

  For the first time he looked genuinely haunted, his loss must have really affected him if it was slipping through the mask. “What happened?”

  “Well, someone as brilliant as him goes nuts? He’s liable to get the upper hand no matter what defense you try to build against him, he’ll be able to tell all your moves, what your options are, who you’ll go to for help. He’ll get you into a corner and choke off every method of escape until all you’ve got is the option to accept death.”

  “So how did you get out of that situation? Why didn’t all of you just die?”

  “I managed to slip through his web because he still felt like we were friends, he wasn’t looking for me when I sent for help to whoever would give it. But when the werewolves showed up and he found out who’d sent for help, you wouldn’t believe the lengths he went to try and kill me.”

  “Why did he go crazy?” I asked, “What changed him from the man that he was into a monster?”

  Anthony just shrugged. “No one really knows, he just woke up like that one day it seems like. I’ve tried to figure it out for years now but I’ve never gotten close to the answer, I feel pretty confident in saying that I’ll never understand, not really.”

  He shook his head sadly, before clearing his throat, “Anyway, the wolves show up and all hell breaks loose, we’ve got people being killed in the forest, in the town, everything is on fire and just about every human being within a hundred mile radius is extremely likely to know that we exist unless someone does something drastic.”

  “I’m guessing that you did something drastic?”

  “You’re goddamn right that I did, I knew that whoever did it was going to paint a giant target on their backs, and I didn’t want the werewolves to be attached to that, so I told them to get out of there and leave it to me. While the rest of his shifters were distracted by ours I snuck through to where he was, and I was about to kill him right then and there before his daughter ran by, which really blew the whole thing wide open.” He winced, running his hand over old wounds. “He grabs me, I grab him, the whole thing is just fucking chaos. Somewhere in there he stuck his hand in my stomach and was making a decent attempt at trying to rip my heart out, and somewhere in there I managed to get my hands on a knife that had been laying nearby, I think one of the werewolves had been using it to fight before they fell. And, somewhere in there with my heart almost in his hands, I stuck it right into his neck so deeply that it was coming out of the top of his head. I didn’t really realize what I’d done until I heard his daughter screaming, and he had just enough time to look back at her before he just dropped dead on top of me.”

  “It was you?” I asked, “You… you killed the elder, it wasn’t an accident. You went to him personally and you killed him in front of his daughter.”

  “Yea, the daughter that now is one half of the couple that runs that whole group of shifters, the same one that left town that same night with a level of hate in her eyes that should never be on a child’s face. I guess that you could say that just about every part of this is somehow my fault, I wouldn’t exactly fight you on that.”

  No, I wouldn’t really fight him on that either, but I was definitely thrown for a loop as to what we should do. He’d killed the elder, that much was certain, but the elder was hardly an innocent in all of this if he was telling the truth, which made this whole revenge plan that they were doing… almost understandable on the daughter’s side. Her husband however, he was just in it for the thrill of killing a group of people that he hated, I’m under no mistake there. So what to do with these people that I had decided to take in without even hearing all the facts? I couldn’t rightly hand them over, they hadn’t had anything to do with the elder being killed for the most part, and even those that had been alive were likely far too young to have played any significant part. But I didn’t want to fight against this daughter if she decided to make an appearance, in all likelihood she just wanted to avenge the father that had been killed in front of her.

  This was definitely one of those sadistic choices that I’d heard so much about, yet never wished to have to make.

  “Um, Amy?” Anthony raised his hand, interrupting my thoughts with a solution that I’d never considered, but was equally perplexed by. “If you don’t want to give up everyone else to avoid a fight, why don’t you just throw me to the wolves?”

  There were probably a lot of things that I could have said in response, of a level of eloquence that would do such a selfless request justice. As it stood however, I was in no position to do anything except deliver one, breathless word.

  “What?”

  Chapter 4

  I stood there for a moment, not quite able to verbalize all of the things that came to mind. Well, that’s not completely true, I was able to verbalize all the things that I was thinking, hence why I was absolutely speechless. Sacrifices were something that I was honestly pretty familiar with now, given the absolute reckless abandon that Damon and Vincent are determined to put their lives in danger, but this was the first time that I’d heard it be delivered so… casually. Like it wasn’t a big deal to suggest that someone toss you out into the street to be tortured and murdered, as though that was just the order of the day.

  “You look kind of lost,” Anthony said, “are you all right? Do you need some water?”

  “No, I don’t… need water.” I narrowed my eyes at him, running a hand across my forehead. “I think you might be the one that needs water, clearly you’re going insane.”

  “I’m perfectly sane Amy, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that whole story if I was. It’s the right call, you know it is, as much as you might not like it.”

  “Just because it’s the call you’re making doesn’t mean that it’s the right call, it’s just the one that you want to make.”

  “You really think that I want to let those people maul me until I’m begging to be let into hell?” He asked, raising his eyebrow, “I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not.”

  “Oh please, after that whole story that you just told me? Obviously it’s what you want to happen, you feel like shit about the whole situation.”

  “There are a lot of people dead because of me…”

  “Yeah, including someone that you called a friend, someone who you killed personally, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to connect that to the drinking, the recklessness… how’d you lose that arm by the way? Were you on the front line in front of everyone? Or were you taking it easy in the back like good spies tend to do?”

 
He didn’t answer, which was answer enough. You think I would make it as far as I did as a cop and not be able to recognize when someone is hanging onto life by a bare thread? I’ve felt incredibly guilty about some of the things that I’ve done over the last few years, I can’t imagine how I would be feeling in his shoes. If I’d had to kill Cara… I honestly don’t know if I would have been able to live with myself, but I think I would have done it if she was still being held prisoner by that vampire. But afterwards… I don’t know what would have become of me, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been sitting here, surrounded by friends. I would probably be ten bottles deep at a bar somewhere, or maybe floating face down in the canal, probably would have depended on how bad it was to do.

  But I’d had people around me to make sure that I didn’t have to make decisions like that, Vincent and Damon both had come for me multiple times to save me and whoever else was there from total annihilation, I’m privileged to have that sort of backup whenever I need. And though Rick betrayed me, and it was a betrayal that still stung my heart, I could at least take comfort knowing that he was being punished because he chose to be, not because of anything that I’ve done. Anthony doesn’t even have that small comfort.

  “Sure,” He said, voice noticeably huskier than it had been when I’d first walked up, “Even if it was the plan that I wanted, can you really think of a better one? Are you just going to… keep going and risk everyone else just for some… busted up old spy? I don’t even have both arms anymore, there goes the ability to not be noticed, that’s my best skill.”

  “You haven’t lost your mouth though, that much is clear.” It was tempting to joke with him, as it always was when a situation got just a little bit too heavy to really deal with normally. I mean here I was trying to talk to someone who genuinely wants me to give them up to die, that’s a stressful situation if I’ve ever seen one. The corner of his mouth quirked at my statement, at least taking a bit of edge from my nerves but still leaving me wanting to say something, anything to try and convince him that things could be all right.

  “You’re having a very hard time with this, aren’t you?” He asked, tilting his head at me briefly before falling back against his pillow, “Leading might not be for you in that case, trust me, there’s a lot more calls to be made that are just like this, probably worse. It’ll get to you eventually, trust me.”

  “I don’t really want to be in charge this much,” I said, shrugging my shoulders, “But I guess people think that I’m good at it, so I’ve got to stick it out until they find someone better, preferably someone who actually has experience with leading and not… working alone, actually.”

  “Ah right, you were a cop before all this weren’t you? Didn’t you have a partner or something like that?”

  “I’m surprised that you didn’t already know, wasn’t it in any of the files that you read?”

  “Eh, I got bored reading through all of that, I figured nothing that interesting must have happened until you quit, so I just skipped ahead.” He snorted, “From the look on your face I was right, pretty much nothing interesting.”

  “There were some interesting cases! But… I suppose that I spent more time some days rolling my eyes at coworkers than solving crimes, it had that kind of atmosphere, especially since I was pretty much the only woman that wasn’t a secretary,” I sighed, slumping in my chair and resting my chin lazily in my palm, “So no, I didn’t really have a partner. The closest thing was my boss Rick, but he was my boss, there was still a level of rank there that we couldn’t be fully honest with each other like partners could. And then he tried to kill me, so that kind of killed any positive feelings there, I quit pretty much right after.”

  “Yea, I read that part. You’ve already been through some bad shit, you’ve been put through it by people that you thought you could trust fully, but you still didn’t kill them. I saw the pictures of what Rick had been involved in, forgive me for saying it like this but that was really some sick shit, nobody would have blamed you for just… killing him right then and there, I think even you would probably forgive yourself eventually.”

  “I thought about it,” I said, “I really, really did. All the time I spent trying to psych myself up to pulling the trigger, just… firing that gun right into his heart and have him go with some dignity, at my hand. But I couldn’t…”

  “No, because you want everyone to have a chance, even if they could be reasonably considered monsters,” Anthony groaned, “even if they really want to just get all of this over and done with so that they can rest knowing that everyone else is safe.”

  “You might not think that you actually deserve a chance Anthony, but I think that you do.” I leaned closer, reaching for his hand before I realized that it wasn’t there anymore. “You feel so bad about everything that happened, both then and now, that’s clear for just about everyone to see. What would be just about throwing you out to die when you could do so much more to help everyone?”

  “I think that helping everyone else live would be a much smarter way to go about it, plus it would make me feel a lot better,” He sighed, “but you’re not going to do that, are you? And it’s not like I’m in a place to argue, look at me. I’ve got one arm and the one that I’ve got left isn’t my good one, I think that I’m just going to have to go along with whatever plan it is that you come up with, regardless of whether or not it’s actually a good one.”

  “My ideas are generally successful.”

  “Yeah, and I generally got out of every situation with my limbs intact, but there’s always a first time for everything right?” He looked down at where his arm had so recently been, the look in his eye betraying the flippant tone he’d taken. It was easy to see that he was devastated by his loss, I can’t blame him for it either. I’m trying to help Damon through accepting his new life, so I can definitely say that I’m pretty familiar with helping people through a tough time, I know the signs. Damon is going through it, Cara definitely went through it, and now it’s certain that he’s going through it as well.

  “I know that you might not trust me all that much to want what’s best for you, I’m certain I wouldn’t if I’d lived the life that you have for so long. Could you even really connect with anyone after… well, after everything?”

  “Wasn’t really interested in it, I figured I could watch over everyone like I was supposed to without getting too attached, I didn’t want to have another friend that I could chance losing, especially by my own hand.” Anthony let his head fall back into the pillows, his eyes closing and a tired groan forcing its way from his throat, “But look at me, losing my arm for those two idiots, I ended up getting attached anyway even though I wanted anything but that. Did you know that the two of them think of me like an uncle? I’ve never even done anything worth being called that, but they insist on calling me that sometimes when we’ve had a few too many. They’re… they’re good kids, the pack will be in good hands with them, I just want to make sure that they actually get the chance to live. Do you see what I mean? It can’t just be war and fighting all the time, they need what you are trying to build, and all I’ve done through my actions is bring our shit to your door as well.”

  “Well you can try and make up for everything now, and I think that you can do a much better job at that without dying, don’t you?” This time I reached over, taking his hand and squeezing his palm gently. “Even if I gave them to you, there is no real guarantee that they would just decide that everything is through, don’t you think? If they’ve hated all of you so much for so long then why would they just stop with you? And even if that wasn’t the case… well, those brothers would miss their uncle, and I think that they’ve lost too many people already.”

  “You just had to go and make me feel guilty, didn’t you?” Exhaling roughly out his nose, Anthony looked up at the ceiling, as though he was looking for answers that I wasn’t privy to. For all I know, given everything that I’d found out about the paranormal, it was possible that’s exactly what h
e was doing. “Fine, we’ll try it your way. I’ll try and stay alive through all of this, since my life is just so precious to everyone, but the minute that someone has to make a sacrifice I’m not going to let it be anyone but me. I started this whole thing, and goddammit I intend to finish it.”

  “With how badly you’re determined to always get the last word in,” I said, grinning widely, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how stubborn you can be when it comes to trying to fix something.”

  “What can I say?” He asked, a glint in his eye that made him look more alive than the entire time that I’d known him, “There’s nothing I won’t do, not when it means that I get to win.”

  Talking someone out of letting themselves be killed just to end a feud is unsurprisingly quite a tiring task, but my day was far from over there. I still had things to handle, people to talk to, I have meetings to set up and plans to make, and most of all I have an absolute motherfucker of a headache which is quite stubborning refusing to get better no matter how many aspirin I swallow.

  I guess it’s just going to be one of those days isn’t it?

  I was about halfway to the office before I had to pull over to the side of the road, the throbbing in my head getting so bad that I had to lean out my door and retch into the gutter like some college girl after her first big party. Those days I missed, the aftermath I did not. Come to think of it this is starting to feel like I might have a concussion, that might be something that I have to get checked out, I don’t want to collapse in a few weeks because my brain is swelling out my ears or anything like that.

  “Fuck,” I grunted, wiping the corner of my mouth and reaching for the bottle of water on my passenger seat, “This sucks.”

  My phone began to ring, my head instinctively hanging lower and a sigh pushing through my lips, just wishing for one moment free so I could just feel myself being ruined in peace. “Yeah?” I asked, holding the phone to my ear, “I’m puking, is it important?”