Forever (Fallen Series Book 3)

by Micalea Smeltzer

  How were we going to pull this off?

  * * *

  There was a knock at the door and we all stiffened. We’d been so absorbed in everything that Gabriel was telling us, that we hadn’t been paying attention.

  Jonathon sniffed the air and grinned. In the blink of an eye, he was opening the door and welcoming my brothers, Vivian, and Viola into the house.

  Holy crap, my brothers were vampires!

  They wore identical grins as they looked at me, dancing on the balls of their feet. Stunned, it took me a moment to stand.

  I ran into their arms and hugged them close. It was so good to see them. I loved my older brothers, always had. They looked out for me, and the last few years of not having them around, had taken its toll on me.

  “You’re vampires,” I said unnecessarily.

  They chuckled. “So are you,” they replied simultaneously.

  I shook my head back and forth and hugged them again.

  “Mom?” Adam asked, looking over my shoulder.

  “Boys,” she replied, and I heard her light steps as she came forward.

  I let my brothers go and turned to Vivian and Viola so that my brothers could have time with my mom.

  “We heard you might need some help,” Viola smiled, playing with the ends of her vibrant red hair.

  “Some help? How about a lot of help?” I laughed, hugging each of them. I didn’t know them that well, but I knew enough to know that they were worthy of my brothers.

  Vivian laughed. “I guess that’s true.”

  “Let’s all sit down,” I waved them into the house and over to a free spot on the couch. “Did you know about this?” I asked Jonathon. There was no point whispering, everyone in the room would hear me anyway.

  “Not at all,” Jonathon shook his head. “I’m as surprised as you.”

  “Then how did you guys know to come?” I asked the four vampires.

  “Gabriel,” Aiden pointed at the stoic vampire.

  “Guilty,” Gabriel raised a hand. “I figured you wouldn’t tell them, to keep them safe, but we really need their help,” he shrugged, glancing at Jonathon and me.

  Calling my brothers and the girls had never crossed my mind—there had been too much going on for me to think about them—but if I had, Gabriel was right. I wouldn’t have wanted to put them in danger.

  “We need everybody,” Gabriel’s voice was soft.

  We all became solemn. We needed numbers, because in the end, there wouldn’t be many of us left.

  I had already experienced so much death and violence in a short amount of time. How much more could I handle before I snapped?

  Chapter seventeen: Taken

  Jonathon and I stood in the nursery, watching the babies sleep.

  He massaged my shoulders, even though they didn’t ache. I realized now, being a vampire myself, that there were some human tendencies that stayed with us even in the afterlife.

  “I’m sorry,” his voice was low as his lips touched my neck.

  “For what?” I asked, turning to face him, and wrapping my arms around his neck. My fingers clasped the blond strands of his hair.

  “That ever since you met me, your life has been plagued with nothing but death. I feel like we haven’t had a moment of peace. It’s always been something. Your mom. Selena. The miscarriages-”

  “Shh,” I put a hand over his mouth. “It’s okay. I know things haven’t been…ideal, but I don’t want you to ever think for a second that I regret you. I love you, Jonathon, more than my next breath.”

  “Good,” he kissed me soundly. “Because I love you too.”

  I turned back around, to face the babies, and his arms wrapped around my chest. I smiled in content.

  Everything I needed was right here, in this room, and I would fight to keep them with everything I had.

  * * *

  “So,” I said to Jonathon as we sat in the unused kitchen, “how does this whole, being the seer, thing work?”

  Gabriel breezed into the room at my words and sat down across from me. “I can answer that,” he grinned. I was so used to the broody angry, Gabriel, that I was shocked by just how much a simple smile could make someone look so…different.

  “Okay,” I prompted.

  “Like when you were human, you’ll just a get a feeling for certain things, like your gut telling you to go right, not left, for example. You’ll have visions too.”

  “Will I know I’m having a vision or will I just think I’m dreaming?” I questioned.

  “Oh,” he smirked, propping his feet on the kitchen table, “you’ll know.”

  “Great,” I grumbled.

  “It’s not like it’s painful or anything,” he shrugged.

  “Regardless,” I glared at him, “I’m a little freaked out about the prospect of a vision hitting me at anytime.”

  “You worry too much,” Gabriel crossed his arms behind his head.

  “I have a lot to worry about,” I mumbled.

  “Everything will work out,” Gabriel shrugged.

  “When did you get so optimistic?” Jonathon asked.

  “Eh,” he shrugged again. “I may not be the brightest ray of sunshine out there,” he smiled menacingly, “but I have my moments. I know we can take down the Originals…this is the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole existence,” he whispered the last part under his breath.

  “How are you so confident?” Jonathon leaned into the table.

  Gabriel let his feet drop to the ground. “Because, the Originals think they’re invincible, but nothing and no one is invincible. Even vampires. Their arrogance is their weakness, and I plan on using that to our advantage.”

  “You’ve thought about this a lot,” Jonathon stated.

  Gabriel smiled grimly, “Only since the moment I watched them kill my family and turn me into a monster.”

  Jonathon’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really believe we’re all monsters?”

  “Yes,” Gabriel replied without pause. “Every day is a struggle for us, a struggle to hold onto our last shred of humanity, a struggle not to kill, a struggle not to succumb to our thirst. At the end of the day, all of us,” he looked at Jonathon and me, “are monsters.”

  “I don’t think we’re monsters,” Jonathon whispered.

  Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “Have you killed a human?”

  Jonathon squirmed and reluctantly admitted, “Yes.”

  “Monsters. That’s all we are and all we ever will be…forever.”

  With that, Gabriel stood and left the room in the blink of an eye.

  * * *

  “Fight back!” Gabriel yelled when I refused to hit Jonathon.

  All of the Pulmer’s, my mom, my brothers, Vivian, and Viola, were gathered in the large basement, as Gabriel instructed us on the best way to take down the Guarde and the Originals.

  “I don’t want to hurt him,” I whined.

  “Ugh,” Gabriel shoved Jonathon out of the way and stood in front of me. “If you won’t hurt him, maybe you’ll hurt me.” Dancing on the balls of his feet, he said, “The Guarde are highly trained, they’re skilled fighters, so you all need to know what you’re doing. We do have an advantage in the fact they’ve never had to use these skills before.”

  “Yeah,” Mason snorted from the corner of the room, “because no one’s been stupid enough to try before.”

  Gabriel’s smile was less than friendly. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, you can leave young one.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Mason stood his ground. “I was just saying-”

  “What you were saying isn’t important. You all need to pay attention,” Gabriel instructed. When everyone’s eyes were on him, he began. “Their neck,” he pointed to a spot on his own, “is their weakest point. But the Guarde all wears protective armor. It covers all of their bodies except for their head.”

  Joseph stepped forward, his hand raised slightly like a kid in school. “Why do they need protective gear? They’re vampire
s, right? Our bodies are protection enough.”

  “They are vampires,” Gabriel confirmed, “but since they’re protecting the Originals, they wear a special kind of gear, made by the Originals themselves. It’s very strong. Almost as strong as our natural skin. But not quite enough,” he smiled menacingly. “There’s a weak spot in the armor, behind the knee. Your hope is to engage them in combat long enough to kick that spot, and then you want to remove their head from the rest of their body.”

  I cringed.

  Up until now, all the fighting had been done by everyone else, but now I was going to have to take part in it as well. I didn’t know if I would be able to kill another being so…savagely…the same way I watched my own father die.

  “I’m going to attack you now,” Gabriel warned me. “Remember, kick me behind the knee at the soonest opportunity.”

  I squared my shoulders in preparation. Gabriel was spending the most time training me, since I had such little experience. Even my brothers had more experience than me, since when they were human, they’d both taken karate from the time they were little boys through all of high school.

  I watched Gabriel closely, waiting for the first sign of a twitching muscle.

  His right arm began to swing out, his hand fisted. With the back of my arm, I smacked his away. The sound of our flesh meeting echoed around us.

  Gabriel dropped to the ground, swinging out his leg, in the hopes of taking my own out from under me. I easily jumped over his leg.

  In a standing position once more, he prepared to punch me again. I ducked and swung my leg out, kicking him behind the knee. He went down and I grabbed his neck in one hand and cupped his chin in the other, as if I was about to tear his head off.

  “You’re a feisty little thing, aren’t you?” He chuckled. “I should’ve known not to be worried about you.”

  I released him, both our chests were heaving, like someone after a hard workout, even though neither of us needed the oxygen.

  “Who’s next?” Gabriel asked.

  Danny stepped forward.

  “Let’s go Danny boy,” Gabriel waved him forward.

  It took Danny three tries to take Gabriel down, which made me extremely giddy. I had the least amount of training, and yet I’d taken Gabriel down on the first try.

  “I can do better than that,” Mason punched Danny’s shoulder playfully, and took his place in front of Gabriel. “Ready pretty boy?” Mason asked cockily.

  Gabriel tilted his head. “The question is are you ready?”

  Before Mason had a chance to respond, Gabriel had him flat on his back, with a hand clasped around his throat.

  “You’re dead,” Gabriel smirked.

  “I didn’t know you were starting,” Mason croaked.

  Gabriel released him. “The Guarde isn’t going to give you a warning. Neither am I.”

  “You gave Kylie a warning,” Mason groaned, standing.

  “That’s because she’s never done this before. You, on the other hand, should know better.”

  Mason glared at Gabriel. “That’s not fair and you know-”

  Mason fell flat on his back. Gabriel squatted next to Mason’s prone form. “If you’re going to act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one.”

  Mason’s eyes narrowed and he reached up, as if he was going to pull Gabriel down to the ground, but the dark haired vampire was fast and moved out of the way.

  Gabriel’s laughter filled the basement. “You don’t stand a chance against the Guarde, young one,” he smirked at Mason.

  Mason rose to his feet once more. “Maybe, if you’d actually teach me something instead of attacking me, I’d be fine.”

  “Alright,” Gabriel’s voice was low. “Pay attention.”

  Even with my new vampire eyesight, their movements were blurred. On the fourth try, Mason finally managed to take Gabriel down. Danny wore a proud smile that he’d taken down Gabriel before Mason had.

  “Keep in mind,” Gabriel pointed a finger at the twin vampires, “when you’re fighting the Guarde, there are no second chances. You have one shot not to die. That’s it.”

  That instantly sobered the two brothers up.

  Gabriel continued, practicing with everyone, and then a second time.

  “That’s it for today. We need to keep working—”

  All of us froze at the sound of someone walking upstairs. If all of us were in the basement, then who was upstairs?

  Ren and Makenna began to cry.

  Without giving it a second thought, I shot off like a bullet, everyone else close on my heels.

  I had to get to my babies.

  I had to get to my babies.

  I had to—

  Three seconds, that’s how long it took me to get to the nursery. But it was three seconds too late.

  I froze.

  The vampire that had caused the car accident that nearly killed me, stood by the nursery window with my daughter in his arms. He was exactly as I remembered. His skin was whiter than most vampires, long white hair fell down his chest, even his eyes were just all white—no pupil—and the clothes he wore were white as well.

  He smiled, displaying teeth that were all sharp and pointed, like a shark.

  “No-” I reached out, to grab my daughter from him.

  But like a wisp of smoke, he was gone.

  I crumbled to the ground as my world shattered.

  A scream that was nowhere close to human tore through my chest.

  Gone.

  He was just…gone…and my daughter with him.

  This couldn’t be happening?

  Hadn’t I gone through enough?

  Jonathon knelt down beside me, his hand rubbing soothing circles along my back, a strangled cry escaping his own throat.

  I thought I had been prepared to fight before, but now, I wouldn’t hesitate to do everything it took to get my daughter back.

  This. Was. War.

  Chapter Eighteen: Plan

  Gabriel crouched down in front of me.

  “We’ll get her back,” he said, but his words did little to comfort me.

  I closed and opened my eyes rapidly, as if that would change the reality of what I had seen.

  “It’s been…a long time since I’ve seen Isaiah,” Gabriel rubbed his jaw.

  “Isaiah? As in the Original Isaiah? The one that turned you?” Jonathon fired questions at Gabriel in a rapid pace.

  Gabriel nodded slowly.

  “That man,” Jonathon pointed to the spot where the vampire had disappeared, “I recognize him. He’s the one-”

  “That stepped out in front of your car,” I finished for him.

  Gabriel’s eyes darkened. Looking at everyone, he said, “They were trying to prevent the prophecy.” Nodding his head at me, he added, “With you dead, there would be no war.”

  “But why only the one attempt?” I asked. “Why take Makenna? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Ah, but it does,” Gabriel sat on the floor, drawing one of his legs up, and resting his arms on top.

  “Explain,” Jonathon growled, holding me close to his side.

  A cry from Ren startled me into action. I pulled away from Jonathon’s embrace and took my son from Joseph’s arms. I rocked the fussy baby in my arms as I waited for Gabriel to speak.

  “My theory is that they’ve misinterpreted the prophecy…they think that Makenna is the reincarnation of their sister.”

  Jonathon pulled at the blond strands of his hair, his teeth gritted. “What?! I didn’t know they even had a sister! And if they think Makenna is the reincarnation of their sister, why would they have tried to kill, Kylie? With Kylie dead, there would be no Makenna!”

  “It’s just a theory,” Gabriel shrugged. “They wanted Kylie dead to prevent the threat of war, but when they failed, my guess is they decided to let the pieces fall where they may. When Isaiah figured out how to make himself and his brothers immortal, he tried and failed to make their child sister immortal as well. She died during the
process. Kids can’t become vampires. It’s impossible. But they didn’t know that.” Gabriel stood and paced the length of the room, rubbing his chin. “Yes,” he murmured to himself. “They think she’s their sister. Fools.”

  “Could you stop talking to yourself and tell us what you’re thinking?” Jonathon roared.

  “There’s another prophecy…one that predicts the return of their sister…they believe that Makenna is the reincarnation of her. But they’re wrong. She’s not the reincarnation…she’s the way they can bring her back.”

  “What do you mean?” Jonathon asked with a furrowed brow.

  “Your daughter,” Gabriel faced us both, “has one of the most remarkable but destructive powers to ever exist. Bringing back the dead isn’t a power to be taken lightly.”

  Jonathon and I were quiet.

  Finally, Jonathon asked, “What are the Originals going to do with her?”

  “They believe she’s there sister, so she’s safe. You don’t need to worry about her well being…for now.”

  “How are we going to get her back?” My voice shook. I still couldn’t believe that she was gone, that the same vampire who had tried to kill me, had my daughter.

  “I think we need to stick with the same plan,” Gabriel said. “But we can’t wait. If they figure out that she’s not their sister, they’ll destroy her. And if they figure out her power…well, either option isn’t good. We need to strike within the next forty-eight hours.” He eyed each of us and said, “I hope you’re ready.”

  But we all knew what he was really saying…I hope you’re prepared to die.

  * * *

  “Somebody has to stay behind with Ren,” I finally spoke up after a long moment of silence. “As much as I don’t want to leave him,” I rubbed my fingers along his small scalp, the fine dark hair tickling the palm of my hand, “I have to be there, fighting for my daughter.”

  “I’ll stay,” Amelia stepped forward immediately. She glanced at Patrick and her sons, “As much as I don’t want to watch you leave, I know I’m not the strongest vampire out there, and I don’t want you worrying about protecting me. If I’m here with the baby, then I’m helping in the best possible way.”

  “Thank you, Amelia,” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.