by Raven Steele
Charlie stood. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Eve wanted to call out to Charlie to try and explain, but she was trapped in Lucien’s gaze. His eyes were the brightest blue, like the color of the sky closest to the sun, and just as intense. The heat from his stare warmed her insides from head to toe.
Charlie squeezed past him and closed the door.
Lucien took a tentative step forward, as if he might scare her off.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she assured him, no louder than a whisper.
He took three steps and pulled her up, his arms wrapping tightly around her. “And I will never let you go.”
Eve lifted up on her tiptoes, her mouth meeting his. Lucien pressed back just as fiercely, kissing as if it was his last breath. The intensity traveled straight to her heart, an organ that had become withered and tight lately, but his light helped it bloom once more. A perfect and true love as sure and bright as the stars in the sky.
A sudden thought ruined the moment as she remembered Anne’s words. They burned angry scars into her heart.
This perfect love could not last. Not if what Anne said about stopping Boaz was true. If Eve had to put that cursed necklace around her neck again, her alter-ego Alarica would be sure to destroy everything Eve loved, including Lucien. And, if by some chance Lucien and the others were able to remove the necklace, turning her back into Eve, their relationship could never be the same. Eve would have all of Alarica’s memories as if she had done the deeds herself.
Eve shivered and pulled away, gasping for air.
Lucien’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “You’re crying.”
She quickly wiped the tears away, not wanting to talk about it right now. “It’s nothing.”
Lucien took hold of her hands. They nearly disappeared within his large palms. “I won’t pretend to understand why you’ve stayed away. And I don’t think I need to tell you what your absence did to me. What I do know is that we need to work together from now on. We have the same goal. Stop Boaz. If we are divided in any way, he will win.”
Eve squeezed his hands. “I love you, Lucien, more than I could ever express. I know I caused you pain, and for that I am so sorry. But I still need Boaz to think I’m dead at all costs. It’s the only way I’ll be safe.”
Lucien let go of her hands and cold returned to her palms. “It’s not the only way. We need to trust each other. Our combined power is strong, unbreakable. Together we can beat him! I know it.”
“Perhaps you’re right.” She turned away, wondering if it were true. Was her fear of that stupid necklace controlling her? A sharp pinprick at the base of her neck reminded her of how she got here. She touched the healed wound and said, “My mother. What happened to her?”
“We have her downstairs. She’s not getting away.”
“She almost killed me,” Eve whispered.
“She could’ve, but she didn’t.”
“Because she needs me for Boaz.”
“The reason doesn’t matter. You’re alive.”
Eve walked to the door. “I must talk to her.”
“You will have plenty of time for that. Other things are happening that you need to know about.”
There was something in his eyes: a deep worry that she felt had nothing to do with her. But it would have to wait. “I have to speak to her first.”
She opened the door and avoided looking back at him as she walked down the hall. She would rather stay with Lucien, never leave his side again, but before that was a possibility, she had to know if there was any truth to Anne’s admission.
“Eve!” Lucien called.
She turned around and forced herself to look him in the eyes. “Please, Lucien. I need to do this one thing. Alone.”
“What can I do? I want to help you.”
“Just wait. I won’t be long.”
The helpless look in his eyes almost shattered her, but she walked away before he could say anything else. She had to know the truth because it would affect all their lives. Back at the apartment, she had just been about to ask Sable about the necklace and restoring Boaz’s powers when Lucien and Charlie had appeared. And her mother nearly killing her didn’t help either.
Eve rode the elevator to the second floor. Everything still looked the same since she was here last, except the people. Even Charlie seemed different, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on how yet.
The elevator doors opened, and she walked down the long hall to get to the holding rooms. A redheaded vampire blocked the door. This must be Rick.
She stopped in front of him. “I need to see Sable.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not supposed to let anyone in.”
“Are you really going to stop me from seeing my mother?”
“This bitch,” he quickly cleared his throat, “I mean witch is your mother?”
“Are you going to move?”
He timidly stepped to the side. “Be careful?”
She walked by him. “Always.”
Just before the door closed, he said, “I’ll be out here if you need me.”
Eve inhaled a deep breath, still shaken up from her last encounter with her mother. The fight had been vicious. Eve had tried not to hurt Sable, only capture her, but Sable seemed hell bent on doing everything she could to incapacitate Eve. She wished she could erase the memory from her mind forever.
The holding room contrasted sharply with the rest of the Deific. It had taken on an eerie quality thanks to the effects of dark magic. The walls, normally white, appeared grayer, and the colors of the few paintings hanging on the walls seemed to have dulled and lost their luster. Even the air smelled different, kind of chemically, and felt different too. Almost as if she’d walked into a building after a raging fire had just been extinguished.
Sable saw her and rose from her seated position from within the cell, her expression blank. “Your boyfriend nearly killed me.”
“No worse than what you did to me.”
The corners of Sable’s lips turned up, and she approached the bars, her blood-stained dress swishing against her bare thighs. “When Boaz doesn’t hear from me, he’ll know for sure you’re alive.”
“We’ll see,” Eve said, trying hard to sound strong, but inside she shook with fear. Boaz would never stop. “I need to ask you something.”
“Why was I such a terrible mother? Did I ever love you?”
“I want to know how to kill Boaz.”
Sable’s smile faded, and she looked around as if searching for something. “How secure is this place?”
“Very. It’s impermeable to magic.”
Sable drew near to the bars, her eyebrows drawn together. The smell of jasmine, her mother’s favorite plant, wafted outside the cell, forcing Eve to take a step back.
“There is only one way to kill Boaz.” Sable’s voice was low and held a serious tone Eve had not heard from her before. “All his powers must be restored to him. Then he can be killed, not easily, mind you, but it will make the task possible.”
Eve repressed a shiver. “And I bet that means I’m going to have to put that necklace on, right?”
Sable squared her shoulders back. “Yes.”
“Don’t you think that’s awfully convenient? The one thing I want, Boaz dead, and the only way I can get it is if I give Boaz the only thing he wants, me?”
“It is what it is.”
Eve searched her mother’s face, hoping she might see any sign of deceit, but there was none. “If what you say is true, why would you tell me the one and only way to kill Boaz?”
Sable snorted and turned away, the light in the room darkening even more. “You think I’m loyal to Boaz? I’m only loyal because I don’t want to die. And for as long as I’ve been alive, he’s been the only creature who could destroy me. I want him gone. Dead. I’d kill him myself if I could. The beast is a plague to everyone and everything. The devil’s soldier, that’s what he is, marching through the world, taking whatever he likes, commanding tho
se of a more noble birth line.”
Eve didn’t know what to say. This was something she never saw coming.
“You look surprised,” Sable said. “Do you think I like being at his beck and call, day and night, like some kind of cheap whore? Why do you think Erik and I pushed and trained you so hard? You were our one shot at freedom. The world’s shot! Because as soon as you restored Boaz’s powers, we were going to kill him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Eve asked, the words barely escaping her lips.
“Because it would have solved nothing. What person in their right mind would willingly hand themselves over to Boaz, especially knowing what they would be giving up? No, we couldn’t tell you. We had to trick you. Besides, that’s what Boaz wanted. You were the first witch he was truly drawn to. “
“And all the torture you gave me? Was that Boaz’s idea?”
Sable’s left eye twitched and her lips tightened, first into a smile and then into a frown. It was as if she didn’t know what emotion to feel. “We did what had to be done, and we were powerful beyond measure because of it.”
Eve’s heart fell. For one tiny moment, she hoped that maybe there had been a purpose to her abused childhood. “It’s always about power, isn’t it?”
Sable returned to the single chair in the cell and sat down, crossing her long legs. “It’s what we all crave, whether we admit it or not.”
Eve gritted her teeth, trying hard not to feel all the emotions from her childhood. She’d been down that road before and didn’t want those calloused wounds to reopen. The subject had to change and fast.
“What about Ellenore?”
Sable flinched. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.”
“Were you two close?”
She chuckled. “When we were younger, very, but blood only runs so thick. Ellenore ran away when she turned eighteen to avoid marrying Erik. She didn’t even bother taking me. Two years later, it was me marrying that buffoon, me who had to do whatever Boaz said, and me who was forced to have a child only to give it up to a monster.”
Eve stared at her, mouth agape. There was so much about her mother she didn’t know, but how much of it was truth?
Sable breathed in deeply through her nose. “It was a shame my sister had to die, but I warned her.”
“Warned her against what?”
“Boaz, of course. She was always meddling in his business, and it got her killed.”
Eve’s stomach tightened at how matter-of-factly Sable could talk about her sister’s murder. Anne had spoken the same way about her daughters’ deaths. These people were so beyond feeling that nothing fazed them. Eve needed to get out of here soon before she grew sick.
“Let’s say I believe you,” Eve said, “and I restore Boaz’s powers back to him. What then? How exactly do I kill him? With all of his abilities, he will pretty much be the most powerful man alive.”
“Not exactly,” Sable answered, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“What do you—”
The door behind Eve opened. Her questions would have to wait.
Chapter 13
Lucien walked through the doorway behind Charlie and startled. The room had darkened and had a sickly feel to it, much like the way one might feel coming upon a murder scene with the murderer still standing there, holding the knife above his victims.
Henry and Rick stepped into the room behind him. Charlie made an audible gasp, as he must have just picked up on the same disturbing vibes as Lucien. Eve was near her mother’s cell, her hands fidgeting. She looked pale, as if she might be ill. He wanted to go to her, but something felt off, and he had the distinct impression that she needed distance, even from him.
“Hello, boys,” Sable said. “Have you come to rescue your sweet Eve? Don’t you trust her with me?”
“We came to ask you some questions,” Charlie said, looking from Eve to Sable.
“Aren’t I the popular one? What would you—” She stopped talking when she saw Henry. “Why am I not surprised to see you here?”
“You know him?” Eve asked, her voice louder than she probably realized.
“Henry and I go way back.”
This surprised Lucien, and he turned to Henry. “But I thought everyone believed you to be dead.”
“Most do.” Henry moved to the bars, his gaze focused on Sable. “There have been a lot of deaths recently in the state and federal government. And we have a strong reason to believe that Boaz is behind them.”
Sable shrugged noncommittally. “Okay.”
Henry wrapped his fingers around the bars. “So is he, or isn’t he?”
Sable glanced to the men in the room. “This is like the opening of a bad joke. Two vampires and a psychic walk into a jail cell—”
“We’re wasting our time,” Lucien said. “Let’s go.” He held his hand out to Eve, but she was staring at the back of Henry as if she were conjuring a spell against him. What is that all about?
“Sable,” Henry continued, “I know you hold no love for Boaz.”
Lucien and Charlie looked at each other in surprise. This was news to Lucien.
“Tell us what you know,” Henry added.
Sable uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, her eyes focusing on Lucien. “This is all his fault.”
“Mine?” Lucien asked.
“If you hadn’t killed your brother, then none of this would be happening.”
Lucien clenched his jaw. Killing Aiden was the best thing he ever did. Just thinking about the way Aiden had tortured Eve still made him ill. “Aiden’s plan would’ve killed thousands.”
“Boaz’s will do the same and more. He is the devil’s soldier and will enslave millions. Boaz is Hitler on steroids and if you don’t stop him, the whole world will be at his mercy.”
A heavy stillness fell over the room. Eve visibly shivered and looked even paler than before. Lucien moved next to her and gave her an encouraging smile. She didn’t notice.
“What’s his next move?” Charlie asked.
Sable leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. “You already know it. Kill more people and come for Eve.”
“That’s never going to happen,” Lucien said.
Sable opened her eyes and winked at him. “You think so?”
“Let’s go,” Henry said and turned around.
Charlie grabbed his arm. “Not yet. Maybe she can tell us how to kill him.”
Henry shook Charlie’s hand off. “We’re leaving.”
Lucien looked from Charlie, to Henry, and finally to Eve. Something was going on, at least between Henry and Eve, and Lucien didn’t like it. Whatever it was, it was terrifying her.
As they walked up the stairs, Lucien pulled Eve away from the others. “Let’s go somewhere tonight. Forget about all of this and just be together.”
Eve stared straight ahead and continued upward. “I’d like that, but I need to do something first.”
“What is going on with you and Henry?”
Eve pursed her lips. “I’ll find out soon enough.”
Although Lucien had wanted to take her hand, he pressed his palm against the small of her back instead. He felt her relax beneath his touch, but only a little.
Upstairs, they returned to the conference room. Alana was sitting on a chair, her long, black-leathered legs and black army boots propped on top of the table. It had been a couple of weeks since Lucien last saw her. Alana, the Deific’s best agent, had been working undercover in different government agencies ever since the first few strange deaths. She was also a vampire.
Lucien was surprised she had stayed with the Deific, especially after Michael, the love of her life, had been killed by Aiden. Michael’s death had nearly destroyed her, but here she was, still fighting the good fight.
Alana flashed a mild look of amusement at Eve. “Ah, the great Eve Segur lives! Will wonders never cease?”
“Hello to you, too,” Eve said. She turned to Henry. “We need to speak. Now.”
>
Henry nodded as if he’d been expecting this. “Alana, go ahead and brief Charlie and Lucien. They can fill me in later.”
“Whatever.” She lowered her feet, swept her long dark hair to the side, and placed her elbows onto the table.
Lucien was about to say something to Eve, but she had already turned and was walking out the door after Henry.
“She just gets back and already there’s trouble in paradise,” Alana said, smirking at him.
“Shut up,” Lucien said and dropped into a chair. “What did you find out?”
Charlie closed the door to the conference room and sat down next to him, but Lucien noticed Charlie’s eyes linger on the door. He must be wondering what Eve and Henry were up to, as well.
Alana cleared her throat. “First of all, I want to go on the record and say that I hate playing the role of a DC intern. I have to wear heels, Charlie! Heels!”
“And I nearly died killing a bunch of diablos,” he said. “Are you done complaining?”
She huffed. “Well, it’s been a long day, and I just want to go home so I guess I’ll just spit it out. Basically the country is about to be screwed.”
“What do you mean?” Lucien asked.
“You ready for this?” Alana looked at each of them. “The Vice President. Hansen. He’s some kind of supernatural, but I’m not sure what kind. He’s got this vibe about him.”
Charlie shook his head. “That can’t be. I met him a few years ago when I was in DC. I didn’t notice anything strange about him.”
“He’s really good at hiding it. I think he might even have some kind of cloaking ability, because I thought he was a regular human too until I spied him doing this weird thing to one of his guards.”
“Weird, how?” Lucien asked.
Alana scrunched her face and shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The guard was standing straight as a board, his head back unnaturally far. Then the VP slid over a stool, stood on it so he was looking down on the guard’s face. He pried open the guard’s mouth like the way a dentist would.”
Charlie leaned forward. “What happened next?”
“The VP opened his mouth and, a few inches from the guard’s gaping mouth, sucked something out.”
