The Immortal Vow

by Juliana Haygert

  The Immortal Vow

  Rite of the Vampire Book 3

  Juliana Haygert

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Juliana Haygert

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  First Edition May 2018

  www.JulianaHaygert.com

  Edited by H. Danielle Crabtree

  Cover design by Moonchildljilja at Fantasy Book Design

  Any trademark, service marks, product names, or names featured are the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if one of these terms is used.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Thank You

  About the Author

  Also by Juliana Haygert

  Author’s Note

  I hope you enjoy reading The Immortal Vow!

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  1

  Drake

  The sun and the moon continued their hide and seek game, as if everything was all right with the world. It was hard to believe that over a month had passed since Thea, Luana, Thomas, and I had fled Castle DuMoir. It was hard to believe I had met Thea only two months ago—and that everything had changed since then.

  “Here, my prince.” Thomas handed me a glass full of blood.

  My gaze still outside, on the darkening sky, I took the glass from him. “How many times do I have to say it? You don’t need to call me prince anymore. I lost that title when the castle went-down.” Thea had brought the castle down with her magic, but it had been my idea. I went back and forth about how smart that had been, but I couldn’t change that now. “And you don’t need to serve me things or tend to me. You’re not my blood slave anymore. You’re my friend.”

  “I know, I know,” Thomas said. “It’s just force of habit, I guess.”

  “You’re good at becoming material, though.” I glanced at him. His form was still a whitish mass in the shape of his old body, but now it was less transparent. He was also able to stay in that shape for longer. “You’ve been practicing.”

  “It’s still a work in progress,” Thomas admitted. “Just this morning, I dropped a glass bowl in the kitchen. Luana was not happy about that.”

  The corner of my lips curled up. “I bet.” Luana was temperamental, and she got upset and angry easily. Besides, being stuck in bed for the most part of the last month hadn’t helped her mood. “We have to cut her some slack, though. She has been through a lot.”

  “We all have,” Thomas muttered.

  We all had been through too much.

  Thomas had been killed and was now a ghost, stuck in this world. Luana had been betrayed by her pack and left for dead. Thea had found out she was the witch queen, but she had lost her coven’s heart to Princess Morda, who seemed intent on killing Thea.

  As for me, I had killed Alex, the bastard who had ruined the DuMoir coven, but now the castle was gone and the vampires were either dead or scattered.

  We had fled out of necessity, but we were gearing up to fight back.

  “How’s Thea?”

  I sighed. “She woke up better this afternoon.”

  “Still no idea what she has?”

  I shook my head. Since we came to this house almost five weeks ago, Thea had been feeling sick. She was weak and dizzy and sleeping a lot. “I’d bet all my fortune that Princess Morda put a curse on her before we fled the castle.” That had to be it. Thea had already cast every spell she could think of. There was no sign of a curse or internal injury. There was nothing visibly wrong with her. But if Princess Morda had cursed Thea, that could have gone unnoticed. “I’m hoping this person Luana knows will be able to tell us more about it. And fix whatever is wrong.”

  “So Thea is coming?”

  “She wants to.” I hoped she would still feel well when it was time to leave.

  Thomas’s shape flickered. “I’m just so tired of waiting.”

  “I know, but there was nothing we could do until now.” We would have met Luana’s friend sooner, if we could, but Luana had been badly injured when we fled the castle. Even with her werewolf healing and Thea’s healing spells, it had taken her a month to recover—and she wasn’t fully healed yet.

  But like us, she was tired of waiting.

  The sun dipped, and the orange sky was transitioning to blue. Sometimes, the world outside seemed like a foreign country, a distant planet, a fantasy movie we weren’t a part of.

  I had thought about giving everything up many times. I knew Thea had thought about it too. But it wasn’t that simple, not anymore.

  “I can’t wait to get this over with,” Thomas said in a low voice. “Once we win this fight, this war, I can focus on my own problem.” He glanced down at his hands. “I can find out who killed my parents and be free.”

  My gut twisted.

  I could end his misery right now. I could give him peace right this instant. But every time I opened my mouth to tell him, the words wouldn’t come out. I had practically raised him. I knew he cared for me as if I were his older brother. What would happen if I told him I had killed his parents? Would he find peace? Would he leave this world? If he did, it would be with anger in his heart.

  I cleared my throat. “We still have a lot to do before that.”

  “I know.” He let out a long sigh. “The sun is almost down. I’m gonna check on Luana.”

  With that, he disappeared through the wall.

  I kept staring at the darkening sky, sure this was some kind of punishment. For what? For being a vampire? For having killed innocent lives? For not telling Thomas the truth since the beginning?

  I exhaled deeply. I had done so many bad things in my long life, I didn’t even like to remember them. I regretted most of them, though I knew there were times when I didn’t have a choice—doing the bad deed had been my only option.

  Her soft footsteps echoed in my ears. No matter how sneaky she tried to be, I always heard her coming.

  I glanced over my shoulder as she pushed the door open and stepped inside my study. She saw me standing in front of the window and smiled at me. And, like magic, all the regret, the guilt, and the sadness left me. Thea had that effect on me. Whenever she looked at me with so much pride and love in those bright gray eyes, I forgot all the bad, all the dark, all the ugly. Together, we had big plans for a bright future�
�not just for the two of us, but for all supernaturals.

  “Damn it,” she whispered, closing the door behind her. “And here I thought I would get you this time.”

  One corner of my lips curled up. “You’ll never be able to sneak up on me.”

  Walking toward me, she shrugged. “It won’t hurt to try.”

  “No, it won’t.” I could also tell her that besides her footsteps, her sweet scent always gave her away. I could smell her even if she was over three hundred feet from me. Vampires had an increased sense of smell, but I believed it was more than that. It was like the pull I felt toward her and she felt toward me. I was sure the fact that her scent was so strong and alluring to me was because of whatever bond we shared.

  When Thea was in reaching distance, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to me. I wrapped my arms around her waist and leaned my head on her shoulder, taking in more of her addicting scent.

  She wound her arms around my neck. “Hello to you too,” she whispered, her tone husky. Desire coursed through me. My fangs elongated, and I grazed their sharp tips over her skin. She inhaled sharply. “What are you trying to do?”

  “Just enjoying my love.” I forced my fangs to retreat. Even though Thea kept offering her blood to me, I tried taking only a little sip here and there because she had been so weak. It was a relief to hear the stable beat of her heart and see her so strong. I pulled back and looked at her, at her beautiful eyes, at her rosy cheeks, her small nose, her pink lips. She seemed healthy right now. “Glad to see you feeling better.”

  “It’s good to feel better.” She stood on tiptoes and brushed her lips on mine. A jolt rushed through my core. “If we weren’t leaving soon, I would invite you to go back to our bedroom.”

  A growl rose from my chest. “Well, we can be a few minutes late.”

  She chuckled. That happy sound hit me hard. Hell, how I loved seeing her happy. I closed my hand around her nape and crushed my mouth on hers. She didn’t resist. She never did. Instead, she opened her mouth to me and let me take all I wanted and more.

  Without breaking the kiss, I pushed her back until her legs hit the desk. Taking my time, I slid my hands down her shoulders and her back, grabbed her waist, and pulled her up the desk. She sat down on top of the desk and wrapped her legs around my waist. And I stepped into her, pressing my body into hers even more.

  I leaned down, determined to have her right here, right now.

  I was about to rush to the door to lock it, when I heard a new set of footsteps approaching.

  Breathing heavily, I broke the kiss and rested my forehead on Thea’s. “Hell.”

  “What happened?” she asked, sounding as out of breath as I was.

  “We have company.”

  I took a large step back and inhaled a lungful of fresh air to calm myself down before our company burst into the room. But Thea’s scent was everywhere, and it was hard to calm down when she was staring at me with puppy eyes.

  I groaned.

  A knock came from the door, two second before it was pushed open.

  Luana stuck her head inside. She offered us a sly grin. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  She had werewolf hearing. She damn well knew she was interrupting something. “What do you want?” I barked.

  Thea frowned. “Drake!”

  Luana jerked her chin to the window. “The sun is down. It’s time to go.”

  2

  Thea

  The first two hours into our trek through the forest, I was fine. Great, actually. I hadn’t felt this good in almost a month. Perhaps I had used too much of my power during the last battle and only now my strength was returning. Perhaps it was the fresh air and the gentle exercise.

  But, like a switch had been turned, the dizzy spells began again. I tried to hide them really hard, but there wasn’t much I could hide from a vampire and a werewolf.

  Drake reached for me. He grabbed my hands and tugged me forward, to keep up with them. “Is it too bad?”

  “No,” I lied. I channeled my magic, hoping I still had enough to fight this fatigue, this bone-deep exhaustion, but only a flicker answered. Holding on to it only made me more tired.

  “You’re almost as pale as me,” Thomas said in a light tone.

  Drake shot him a glare. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

  Thomas’s eyes bugged. “Well, yes.”

  “That was—”

  I squeezed Drake’s hand. “Stop nagging him.”

  Thomas slowed down, staying a few feet behind us. The opposite of Luana who charged ahead with her powerful legs. Wearing brown leather pants, a beige tunic, and a leather bandana across her forehead, she looked every bit like a wolf princess. She was pretty too, with her long, light brown hair pulled back into a tight braid, brilliant hazel eyes, and golden skin. I had seen most of her body when I was healing her—she was lean and hard, with the right curves. Her entire body was pure muscle, a trait from her werewolf gene, I guess. However, as much as she looked like a wolf princess, during the few longer conversations we had during this past month, she had told me she had been one of the lowest ranked wolves in her pack.

  She still felt hurt for being abandoned by her pack. Or, like she had said, her ex-pack. She was a lone wolf now. A lone wolf who lived with a witch, a vampire, and a ghost.

  It sounded like the perfect recipe for a fairy tale.

  Shame our fairy tale was as dark as they came.

  My stomach turned, and I tripped on my own feet. Drake cupped my elbow to keep me up. “It’s getting worse,” he said, as if I didn’t know it.

  “It’s okay. I can take it,” I lied again.

  Luana paused about twenty feet ahead of us. “We’re almost there. Just one more hour and we’ll be there.”

  One more hour of gut-twisting nausea, skull-crushing pain, and black-spot vision. I wasn’t sure I could take it.

  I sat down. “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up soon.”

  Drake looked at me as if I had seven heads. “Are you really suggesting we leave you behind? The hell.” In one swift motion, Drake scooped me up against him in a tight embrace. Grabbing my hips, he guided my legs, so I wound them around his waist, then my arms around his neck. “Hold on tight.”

  “I’m heavy,” I complained.

  He chuckled. “No, you’re really not heavy.”

  He resumed walking, catching up with Luana in no time, and I tried not to be embarrassed by the fact that I couldn’t even stand on my own feet. On the other hand, this way I could stay close to my man. I could touch him, and feel the hard muscles of his shoulders, his back, his chest. I could rest my head on his shoulder and inhale his woodsy scent. I could even close my eyes and rest, knowing I was being taken care of.

  His arms tightened around my waist. “Comfortable?”

  “Very,” I mumbled. I didn’t want to tell him that the motion of his brisk walk made me even more nauseous.

  What was happening to me?

  I fought against the queasiness and forced myself to sleep instead—at least while sleeping I didn’t feel sick. But, as I was drifting off to dreamland, Drake halted. I glanced up and found Luana by his side, both of them as rigid as statues.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Shhhh,” Luana said.

  I clamped my mouth. With their superior hearing, they were probably picking up sounds I couldn’t make out yet.

  “How many?” Drake asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t know,” Luana said, equally low.

  A shiver rolled down my spine. “Who is out there?”

  Luana turned her big eyes to me. “My ex-pack.”

  A howl echoed through the forest.

  “They are getting closer.” Drake splayed his hand on my back.

  “Then we run,” Luana said.

  She took off, and without any warning, Drake raced after her.

  Sucking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. The nausea came back with a vengeance, but I kept my mouth closed so I wouldn�
��t throw up on Drake.

  We ran for what felt hours, though it hadn’t been more than a few minutes. By now, I could hear the wolves approaching us.

  For Drake and Luana to want to keep running, there had to a lot of wolves coming for us. If they had been alone, I bet Drake and Luana could outrun them, but with me holding the group back, I was sure the wolves would get to us in no time.

  Unless I did something.

  “Stop,” I rasped. Drake ignored me. “I said stop!”

  Drake didn’t stop, but he slowed down. He pulled back a little and looked at me. “What is it?”

  “I’m gonna block them.”

  “But you’re weak.”

  “And we’ll be dead, or at least hurt if I don’t do something.” I unhooked my legs from around him. “Now, please stop.”

  Reluctantly, Drake halted. With worried stamped in his green eyes, he helped me to the ground.

  I channeled my magic. I could feel it, just out of range of my fingertips. If I could trick it, if I could taunt it, I knew it would return to me. I knew I could use it again, even if sparingly.

  I spun around and faced the wolves running toward us. I lifted my arms and, with them, a thick shield wall rose from the ground, going all the way to the top of the trees. It extended for a few miles, so even if the wolves wanted to run around it, it would take them some time.

  The wolves bumped into the wall, they scratched at it. Then one of them changed back into his human form.

  “Rollin,” Luana said, eyeing the naked man on the other side of the wall.