by Морган Райс
“My coven cast me out,” Caleb snapped back, “after hundreds of years of loyal service. I owe them nothing. They are receiving now exactly what they deserve.”
Caleb exhaled.
“Nonetheless, I do care for them, and given that the situation is what it is, I will not let them down. I told you that I will return, when the time is right.”
“You said that you would return when she had recovered. Clearly, she has recovered. You’re out of excuses. You must return now!”
“I will honor my word, as I always do. But I want to be very clear on this point: I return only to help save our coven, the humans who might be slaughtered, and to help retrieve the Sword. Do not harbor any delusions that it is for any other reason. As soon as my mission is accomplished, I will depart again, for good this time, and it will be the last time you ever see my face. Do not harbor any fantasies that we are together again. Because we are not.”
“Oh, Caleb,” she said, with a dark little laugh, “you can believe whatever you like, but you know deep down that you and I have been together forever, and that we will always be together. The more you fight it, the closer you become to me. I know how much you love me. I can feel it, every day.”
“You are delusional,” Caleb said. “You are getting worse with time.”
Sera smiled wider. “That’s right,” she said, “tell yourself that. Fight your feelings. Fight what both of us already know.”
Sera suddenly took two bold steps to him, draped her hands around his throat, and with one quick motion, yanked him hard towards her.
Before he could react, she planted her lips firmly on his, kissing him with tremendous force.
Caleb recoiled, disgusted. He reached up and shoved her away. And as he did, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone landing on the parapet beside them.
Caitlin.
As Caitlin approached the island, she felt hope rising within her again. Her head was clear now.
Caleb, she realized, had done nothing wrong after all. She had been stupid. She should have given him a chance to explain. For all she knew, Sera had come uninvited, and there was absolutely nothing between them. Why had she been so rash?
As she swooped lower and the island came into view, she saw the huge stone castle sprawled out below her, the scores of vampires down there on the ground, training in the torchlight. It was a beautiful place, and she was grateful that Caleb had taken her here. She started to feel that everything would be OK after all, as she took one final turn and rounded the bend, landing on the upper rampart.
But as she came in close, as she landed, her heart stopped within her.
There were Caleb and Sera. And this time, they were kissing.
Kissing. The thought of it pierced Caitlin’s insides worse than the Sword. She couldn’t move.
She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. They were kissing. Kissing.
So, they were together. There was no misunderstanding this time. He was still in love with her.
He had tossed Caitlin out as if she were nothing. And he had done it all right in front of her eyes.
Caleb rushed over to her, and this time, Caitlin didn’t run. She stood where she was, frozen in shock, as she felt the rage well up within her. She felt herself becoming fierce, fiercer than she had ever been as a human.
“Caitlin,” Caleb began, “this is not what it seems. Please, let me explain—”
But as Caleb approached her, as he began speaking, Caitlin simply reached out a finger and pointed at the horizon.
“LEAVE!” she screamed, scowling.
It was an order. It was not a question, and it didn’t leave open any room for discussion.
Caleb stood there, frozen himself, apparently shocked at her ferocity. He must have seen how resigned she was.
“I SAID LEAVE!” Caitlin screamed again. “I never want to see you again. As long as I live!”
Caleb stood there, looking shocked and hurt himself, like a little boy who had just been scolded.
It looked like there was so much he wanted to say to her, but that he could also tell she would never hear a word of it.
He slowly lowered his head, despondent.
He turned and walked to the edge of the rampart, took two long strides, jumped onto the edge of the railing, and leapt off. He was soon flying, his giant wings flapping, and heading off into the night.
Caitlin could see Sera turn her head and look after him, watching him fly away, looking worried, like she wanted to fly after him. But she also looked torn, like there was something she wanted to say to Caitlin before she did.
Sera suddenly took several steps towards Caitlin, coming within feet of her.
“I hate you,” Sera said, slowly, her voice dripping with venom. “I will always hate you. You tried to take my man away from me. And it will never work. Caleb doesn’t want you. He wants me. Only me. And that’s the way it’s always been.”
Caitlin was in too much of a fury to bother responding, and she had nothing to say to her anyway.
Sera’s wings expanded behind her, as she got ready to depart. Before she turned, she leaned in close to Caitlin, and whispered one last thing: “I have something with Caleb that you will never have. Not as long as you live. I’m sure he never told you, and I’m sure he never will.”
Caitlin stared back at her with equal rage, wondering what else this vile creature could possibly tell her that could cause her any more upset than she already had. She didn’t think it was possible.
But as she heard her next words, she realized that there was, indeed, something that could make her feel even worse.
“Caleb and I have a child.”
NINE
Samantha found herself escorted by two hulking vampire guards down the stone corridor. They stood close, but neither dared grab her arm. She was too senior of a warrior to them—they would never cross such a line of disrespect. Despite their size, despite the fact that they were male, she was a much more powerful warrior than both of them—and they knew it.
They led her down and down, deeper into the bowels of their coven, towards Sam’s chamber.
They descended another flight of stone steps, the sound of their hard, leather boots echoing off the walls. It was getting darker and darker as they went, the vaulted corridors lit only by a sporadic torch.
Samantha was furious as she walked. She wanted to kill these two guards on the spot, but she couldn’t just yet. She needed them to lead her to wherever it was they were hiding Sam. She needed to rescue him.
How stupid Kyle was. Did he really think that she cared so much about her own life, about her own honor, to bring Sam back, and to kill him in front of everyone? He must have thought her as much a pawn as the others. He had a lot to learn. She was different. Very different. She had not survived for thousands of years by deferring to other people. She did what she wanted, when she wanted. And sometimes, that required bold action.
They turned down yet another corridor, this one deeper and darker than the others. The chambers beneath their coven in City Hall were endless. One could get lost wandering them for years. It made a very convenient place to keep prisoners. In fact, there were some legendary vampires still rumored to be kept in captivity under here, some who had been here for thousands of years. Few really knew the depths, or the extent, of where these chambers went, or of the thousand-year vampire history stored amidst its walls.
Finally, they stopped before an arched wooden door. One guard grabbed her by the arm, while the other reached into his pocket and extracted a huge ring of skeleton keys. He inserted one and turned.
As soon as Samantha heard the click, as soon as she saw the door start to move, she knew the time had come.
In one swift, decisive move, she swung her arm, throwing the guard’s hand off of her, and then spun and threw the heel of her hand right into his throat.
It was a perfect strike.
He dropped to his knees, eyes bulging wide, reaching for his throat with both hands. He
was trying to open the air channel. But he wouldn’t. 3,000 years had taught Samantha how to throw a perfect throat strike, with just the right force to bring the biggest man to his knees. Within seconds, as she predicted, the big man keeled off to his side, his head hitting the stone as he passed out. He was a vampire, so it wouldn’t kill him completely. But it would immobilize him for a very, very long time.
Before she could turn, she felt two huge, muscular arms grab her in a choke hold. It was the other one. He was quicker than she would have guessed. He grabbed her tightly, squeezing.
But he was not as agile as she. She could feel that he was strong, but lacked finesse. A young vampire, without half her experience. Probably why he had been assigned to guard duty.
She dropped to her knees, stepped to the side, swung her leg around behind his, and when she stood, he went flying backwards, she using his huge weight as leverage against him. He flew back over her shoulder, landing on his back on the stone. She could see that she had knocked the wind out of him, and before he could get up, she had already stepped on his throat, crushing it with the heel of her boot. She held her foot in place, pushing and squeezing, harder and harder, until finally, he stopped struggling, and he, too, passed out.
Samantha turned for the door. She checked both ways down the corridor, saw that no one was coming, and quickly went inside, closing and bolting it behind her. More guards would follow soon, she knew. But for now, she had time.
There he was. Sam. Seeing his face made it all worth it. He was chained against the far wall. Poor kid: he had probably been chained more in the last few days than he had in his life. He looked very pale, even for a human, and it was clear that he was in bad shape.
More than anything, he looked scared. His eyes opened wide at the sight of her, and he struggled against his chains, trying to speak, but prevented by the gag in his mouth.
Samantha hurried to him and removed the gag. He immediately started talking.
“Samantha, what the hell is going on!?” he asked in a rush. “Is this for real? Were those people really vampires? Are you a vampire? Are you going to kill me? Tell me I’m dreaming.”
Before she removed his chains, Samantha reached up, took hold of his cheeks with both her hands, leaned in and kissed him. It was a long kiss. At first, he resisted, scared, but then she felt him soften, and kiss her back.
The longer they kissed, the more she felt it. He still loved her.
That was all she needed to know. Her mind was made up.
“Samantha, please,” Sam said. “Unchain me. Get me out of here. I want to be with you. I want to get out of here. Please—”
“Shhh,” she prodded, holding up one finger. “There’s no time to explain. I want to be with you, too. And we have little choice. There’s no way out of here. All exits are blocked. There are thousands of new vampires in here now, and there’s no way out. We have to go along, at least for now.”
“Go along with what? What are you talking about?”
“Sam,” she said, stroking his face, “I love you. I need to know if you feel the same.”
Sam looked directly at her, with a mix of fear and surprise.
“I love you, too,” he said. “I’ll go anywhere with you. Just get me out of here. Please. I don’t care if you’re a vampire or whatever. I just want to be with you.”
Samantha smiled. She felt her heart swell with an emotion she hadn’t felt in thousands of years.
He felt the same way she did.
“OK,” she said, “then you have to trust me. There’s no other way. We can’t escape. If I bring you up there, like this, he’ll kill you. I want to save you. But there’s only one way.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Who will kill me? Why?”
“Sam,” she said urgently, “there’s no time. You just have to trust me. Do you want to be with me forever? Really think about this. I’m not just asking. I really, really mean it.”
She stared right into his eyes, his green eyes reflecting off of her blue eyes. He seemed speechless.
She asked one more time, slowly, with all the seriousness she could muster: “Do you want to be with me forever?”
He finally calmed, slowed his breath, and looked right into her eyes. He must’ve felt how serious she was.
“Yes,” he answered, confidently, with equal seriousness. “I want to be with you forever.”
She smiled.
“You might be mad at me at first, but I want you to know that there was no other way. Without this, you wouldn’t live. In any form. We would never see each other again. I’m doing this for you.
For us. I believe that you have a power that none us of us have, and that that will save you.”
Samantha leaned back, and let the desire flood through her. She flooded herself with the smell of his skin, breathing deep, and as she did, her fangs grew long—impossibly long.
She could see the boy’s eyes opened wide with fear, as he suddenly realized what she was about to do.
He opened his mouth to speak, but it was too late. She couldn’t let him ruin the moment.
She wanted him.
Forever.
And before Sam could cry out, Samantha was already leaning in, with all her force. She felt the delicious, exquisite, salty taste, as she plunged her fangs deep into the boy’s throat, drinking like she never had before.
Yes. Now forever could be theirs.
TEN
Caitlin lay curled up in a ball on her bed. She had been lying like that for hours. Caleb was long gone now, as was Sera. She didn’t know how many hours had passed since she’d told him to leave.
Since then, she hadn’t been able to move. She just lay there, frozen, wanting to die.
How could he do this to her? A child? How could he have not told her?
Then again, she wondered, did he really have an obligation to? They had only known each other for weeks—or was it days? Caitlin was surprised to think of it. It felt like they had been together for years already. Maybe their connection was more fleeting than she thought?
No. That wasn’t right. It was definitely something more. She saw it in his eyes. She felt it in his heart. He had strong feelings for her, there was no question about it. So then why had he kept his past secret from her?
Maybe he had just been waiting for the right time. Technically, they weren’t even officially dating. What were they exactly? Caitlin felt as if they were above labels, as if they had skipped all those steps. What they had was stronger. Deep down, she felt as if they were already together, forever. Crazy, she knew, but that was how she felt. And that was how she thought Caleb felt, too.
He should have told her. If he had truly expected to be with her forever, then he could have found an opportunity to give her the news. Sera and I have a child together. Why couldn’t he have told her? Why was he hiding it from her? Didn’t she have a right to know?
And what of their child? Was it a boy or girl? How old was he or she? She imagined it was a boy.
Were Caleb and he close? If not, why not?
And what else wasn’t he telling her?
These questions swirled around and around in Caitlin’s brain, as she tried to make sense of the whole thing. A part of her wanted to excuse him, to explain it all away, and lying here now, she kicked herself for not at least hearing him out, hearing his side of the story.
But another part, a stronger part, felt betrayed. After all, she had seen them kissing. There was no doubt about that. That could only mean one thing: Caleb was still in love with her. There was no other logical explanation.
Caitlin curled up, tighter, wanting to just disappear. Now, of all times, she was cursed with immortality. Going through this heartache was hard enough; now, she’d have to suffer with it not just for one lifetime—but forever. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked to be turned. Maybe she should have just let herself die in that church. It certainly would have been less painful.
Caitlin felt something wet on her face, and looked up to see
Rose, licking her, prodding her with her snout. Rose started to whine, as she licked Caitlin more aggressively. She must have sensed Caitlin’s emotions.
Caitlin reached out and patted her, stroking her face. Thank God for Rose. Caitlin didn’t know what she would do without her.
As Rose kept licking and prodding, Caitlin found herself sitting up in bed, slowly snapping out of it. She looked around the room, and wondered: what now? She knew that down below there was an entire community of vampires that had taken her in. They were probably waiting to meet her.
Should she go down there?
But Caitlin didn’t really feel up to meeting anyone right now. The pain was too raw, too intense.
She needed to be alone, and to sort out her feelings.
She looked over, and saw, on the small, ancient desk in the corner, that it was still sitting there.
Her journal. Her old, trusted friend.
Yes, she thought, that’s it. That was what she needed. Pen and paper. To sort it all out. As always, everything had happened so quickly. She could barely remember the events of the last few days, much less the last few weeks. She needed to remind herself.
Caitlin walked over to the desk and sat on the small, medieval chair. She lit a candle, and it illuminated the worn pages of her journal. She turned them back slowly, as the brittle pages made a soft, crackling noise. In the candlelight, she picked up the pen, rested her forehead in one hand, and began to write.
How did I get here? And where is here, exactly? I don’t even know anymore. I’m in a room, at the top of a tower, on some remote island, on some huge river. I feel like a fairy princess. Except, my prince charming has just left me.
Where to begin? Caleb. Always with Caleb. Since we first met, there’s been little else I’ve been able to think about. Days and weeks followed, but always, he dominates my thoughts. And my feelings.
When we first met, he was suddenly there at my side, saving me, racing me through the streets in a whirlwind. It seems like nothing has changed in our relationship. Again and again, it follows the same pattern: we are in danger, he is saving me. And the sad thing is, I’ve never really had a chance to thank him, and to tell him how much I love him.
