“I . . . don’t want to die,” Kali mumbled. A single tear fell from her eye.
“Kali, listen to me. I can save you, but there’s only one way,” I said. Even as I spoke, her eyes slipped shut.
“Do it.” The words were no louder than a whisper. I brought my lips to her neck and gently bit. I didn’t bother with hypnotism because Kali was beyond feeling anything and I needed her anchored here as much as possible. I drained a few drops, just enough for the bite to work its part. She had already lost so much blood that I had hesitated even doing that.
I tore open my wrist and put it to her lips. The first few drops I had to force down her throat but after a minute she began to suck on her own. Now she had a chance of being brought over before she bled to death. My vision blurred as I realized I was bleeding heavily from the stab wound to my right side. I had been so anxious to get to Kali I had forgotten about it.
At that point I was probably in just as much danger of bleeding to death as Kali was, but I didn’t stop feeding her. Saving her life had become more important than saving my own. I could not lose another daughter, even if she wasn’t of my own blood, to Gregory again.
I didn’t think anyone else had noticed how badly injured I was. Not yet. If they had, someone would have stopped me from finishing the transformation. I knew they would attempt to finish it themselves, but I didn’t want to risk her anymore. I turned so my wound wouldn’t be noticeable.
My vision tinged gray when I lifted my wrist away. I collapsed onto the bloodstained floor beside her, exhausted. Gregory was dead and Kali had a chance of survival. Nothing else mattered. The monster is dead. Dear God, let it be for good this time! Marie, wherever you are, can you finally forgive me?
Chapter 27
Something roused me from sleep. What woke me, I didn’t know. Maybe it was the intense cold I felt. I was shivering even before I opened my eyes. I felt stiff heavy material cover me. “She’s shaking. Is she awake?”
“I doubt it, losing as much blood as she did. She can’t be awake yet,” Sandro’s voice protested. “It’s not even two hours after the battle.”
I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I was in a tall wooden structure. The smell of hay and the sound of horses whinnying made me conclude it was a barn. Other human voices hummed in the distance.
My right side throbbed in a steady beat. I groaned. Questions plagued my mind. Had I acted in time? Did Kali survive the transformation or had I gotten to her too late? Were the rest of my ka-tet all right?
I moved my head slightly and tried to focus on the near voices. “Wait, Matthew. I think she is awake,” Christina said.
“Julia?” Matthew questioned, kneeling beside me. He tenderly put a hand on my shoulder. I turned my eyes to him as I tried to stop shivering. He tenderly pulled up the blanket. “Easy now. You’re safe.”
“How is she?” I blurted out.
He didn’t try to pretend he didn’t know who I was talking about. “It’s still early to tell but I think she’ll pull through,” he replied.
“Good,” I whispered, staring up at him. “The others?”
“We’re all right,” Matthew replied with a crooked smile. “Well, except for Chiara. She’s dead. The rest of us are hurt, but not too badly.”
I nodded, but remembered the blows Samuel had taken to the head. “Even Samuel?” I whispered.
“Yes. His left eye is swollen and I’m sure he has an excruciating headache, but he’s up and around.”
“Are we in a barn somewhere?”
“Yes. One of the neighbors is letting us sleep here in the stable.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t take us to an inn or back to Villa Medici.”
Matthew shrugged. “I didn’t feel like carrying people halfway across the city. Besides, some of us here aren’t too fond of crowds.”
I nodded again. Truthfully, I didn’t pay much attention to his last sentence. As I warmed up, my mind started to drift again.
“I don’t understand. How can she be awake already? She couldn’t have healed this much from losing all that blood and changing that brat,” Sandro said, sounding confused.
“She’s strong,” Lane replied with a hint of contempt. He seemed to think Sandro’s question was stupid.
Startled by how close Lane’s voice sounded, I snapped out of my stupor and turned my head to look around more as the meaning of Matthew’s last comment dawned on me. He was still kneeling on my left. There were voices coming from an unused stall on that side. Christina sat next to me on my right. Looking past her, I saw Lane sitting on a stool inside the stall. Sandro stood in the barn proper, near the door.
I don’t think I was very surprised that Lane was here, but I was astonished by where he was sitting. Yes, he was sitting far enough away that he was clearly apart from us, yet he was sitting in the stall. Anyone looking in probably would assume he was with the little group around me before they would think Sandro was. How . . . odd.
I blinked, frowning. Had he really answered Sandro by saying I was strong? Good Lord, I must be dreaming. Coming from Lane that would be a compliment, wouldn’t it? I didn’t know precisely how strong he was, but he was certainly stronger than any of us.
“Lane?” I asked quietly.
He turned his head to look at me. His light brown hair covered his left eye, exactly how he looked when I first met him. He didn’t speak, but I knew I had his attention.
I struggled to sit up. It was most likely a trivial and childish thing to concern myself with considering how weak I must have been, but I felt ridiculous speaking to Lane while lying down on hay bundles. It didn’t seem very respectful; maybe I was simply more self-conscious because of the time he saw me on the road near Villa Medici.
Matthew realized my intention and moved my makeshift bed closer to the barn wall so I could lean against that and face Lane at the same time. “Easy now. You don’t want the wound to start bleeding again,” he cautioned.
I couldn’t suppress the shiver that went through me as the blanket slipped off of my shoulders. “Why can’t I stay warm?” I whispered to him as he draped the blanket over me again.
“Blood loss, Julia,” he answered as Christina stood. She and Sandro both disappeared into the loft where I could faintly hear a couple more voices. That left just Matthew, Lane, and me in this stall. Everyone else was either in the other one or up above in the loft. Matthew sat down next to me again, facing Lane.
I sighed and looked back at Lane. “Did any of them get away?”
He nodded. “One vampire and two Hunters.”
“Which vampire got away?”
“Amita,” Matthew replied, not bothering to hide his disgust. “However, she is the only one of Rome’s group left.”
“She won’t be able to find more reinforcements from other towns, will she?”
“Doubt it. We have her and everyone else within the next few towns terrified of us,” Matthew said, looking at Lane with a grin.
I thought for a moment. “Is there any chance we can catch her?”
Lane shook his head. “I'm sure she's well on her way out of the country. She's certainly out of Rome's limits by now.”
“Probably headed to Paris to tattle on us,” Matthew added. In a higher pitched voice he said, “Oh Valentino, it was horrible! Those rebels have gone crazy, I tell you. Between them and Lane, they killed everyone but me. Including a group of Hunters! We have to do something! Those rebels have to be punished!”
Matthew’s imitation of Amita was hilarious and I struggled not to laugh. It would have caused too much pain in my still-throbbing side. “That’s enough, Matthew,” I said and glanced at Lane. He shook his head, whether in amusement or exasperation, I couldn’t tell. Maybe both. Well, at the very least Lane could come away from this odd chance encounter with us thoroughly amused, if nothing else.
“All right, Julia,” Matthew said with a mock pout. “I’ll behave.”
I smiled slightly and went back to my musings. “I don
’t suppose we’ll be able to track down and kill those last two Hunters either?”
“No . . . probably not. They probably had the same idea Amita had – cut their losses and run while they still can.”
“I was afraid of that,” I said. “I don’t like leaving loose ends.”
“Relax, Julia. The Hunters have no true organization and very little communication between groups if any. They’re barely aware of each other. Gregory’s group was one of the largest I’ve ever seen. I doubt they’ll ever get a group together large enough to be a real threat. Amita getting away worries me the most. Before you know it, she’ll have Valentino knocking at our door. And if you think he was angry last time . . . this time I’m sure he’ll make us regret everything we’ve done the past several years, especially this, and that both you and Samuel nearly killed him.”
I shook my head. “Valentino doesn’t concern me right now. If he wants to come after us again, fine. I’m sure Samuel won’t mind another chance. Besides, the way we fought in England I doubt if Valentino would want to risk wrecking half his home country. I just have this nagging feeling we should have made sure we killed all those damn Hunters.”
“Now you’re being paranoid,” Matthew said. “The Hunters don’t have the resources or the communication needed to become a threat to a lot of us at one time.”
I shrugged. “Still, if we see them we kill them. I’ll feel better that way.”
He nodded and I noticed Lane was staring at me in curiosity. At first his expression confused me, but then I realized I was talking as if I were the leader of my group – which I wasn’t. The strangest thing was that no one was objecting, or even questioning me. What was going on? I was pretty sure everyone could hear what I was saying. Was it simply because I had dealt with Lane the most?
I decided to ignore this peculiar development for the moment and looked back at Lane. “Did you tell someone I was strong?” He nodded. “Why did you say that? Were you jesting? I’m really not, especially not compared to you. I can’t fight eight vampires alone, nor can I hypnotize any.” I wasn’t bitter, honestly. I was stating facts.
I saw a trace of a smile. “I wasn’t comparing you to me, Julia.”
I looked at him quizzically. “All right, so why did you say that?”
“For one, you are awake and talking to me. It’s been only three hours at most since the fight and with the beating you took . . .” he trailed off and looked at Matthew.
Matthew smiled. “I think Lane is trying to say that between the injuries you suffered during the fight and changing Kali, you lost so much blood that a vampire your age with the average strength that comes with it would be unconscious until dawn, if not beyond. You take into account that you also used a lot of your power . . . Julia, dawn is still more than two hours away. I knew you were stronger than many vampires your age, but you’ve surprised even me this time.” He glanced at Lane. “I don’t think any of us suspected this, unless you did, Lane.”
Lane spoke again. “I could tell when we first met that she was stronger than other vampires I’ve seen around our age, but it wasn’t until the last few days that I realized how much.” He looked directly at me. “Either you intentionally misled us all about how much power you have, or for some reason, you have deceived yourself about how much power you actually have.”
I pondered his statement. How many times in the last few months had Matthew chided me for intentionally weakening myself by cutting? I couldn’t even begin to count how many times I’d done it the past few years. I also remembered what the woman in white said about guilt holding me back. Could it be that I had been deluding myself into thinking I was powerless? Thereby, making myself powerless?
I wasn’t even a century old yet. As I told him a few weeks ago, a vampire’s abilities and strength increase dramatically when they hit that age. I was roughly fourteen years older than Lane. If I had this much power now, how strong would I be then? How powerful would Lane be?
I looked back at them. “I didn’t deceive you on purpose. I had no idea I had this much power.” I shrugged slightly. “I guess anger brought it out.”
Lane nodded. “That was obvious. Your ability to fight that Hunter tonight was startling. It was almost like it was someone else fighting him.”
I looked at Matthew and replied, “In a way it was someone else.” He nodded. It hadn’t been me, a vampire of seventy-seven years who had fought Stefan/Gregory; it had been that horribly beaten wife and grief-stricken mother who finally had the courage to take her revenge.
I took a slow breath to clear my head and winced as my side expanded painfully. I could think about that later. Right now, tonight, there was still one last thing to discuss with Lane: the concern Matthew had mentioned during the fight after he had once more come to our aid. “Lane, thank you for helping us again,” I said.
He shrugged in response, which was what I had expected. Matthew seemed to have expected the same non-verbal response because he gave me an exasperated look.
I ignored him and continued, “This entire strange encounter began with both of us repaying a kindness the other one did; at that time it seemed it would be a simple exchange of favors.” I smiled. “An exchange set in motion only by my lack of knowledge of your identity and you deciding not to make me supper that night.”
“You were lucky. I’m not normally that distracted. By the time I reacted, you were already backing away. Even apologizing if I remember correctly.”
Matthew looked between us and coughed, trying to stifle his laughter. “That had to be the first time you ever heard another vampire apologize for nearly attacking you,” he said. He looked at me again and shook his head. “That must have really confused you.”
Lane simply nodded.
“After protecting one another from Amita, I honestly thought that was it. None of us ever expected it to go this far, Lane.” I shrugged. “You chose to help us after that . . . saved some of our lives. But we haven’t been able to do anything in return to repay you for those kindnesses.” I stared directly into his eyes and spread my hands in a helpless gesture. “What can we do in return for the trouble you’ve gone to for us?”
Lane shook his head. “You have done enough.”
Confused, I said, “We were able to help you once. That hardly seems fair compared to the amount of help you’ve given. Surely, there’s something we can do.”
“You have done enough.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand. What have we done that’s enough to thank you for your assistance? I know you’ve gone way beyond what you usually would.”
Matthew looked from me to Lane and spoke. “Julia has a point, Lane. Without your help, things would have turned out a lot worse.” He paused a long moment. “I was wrong about you, Lane. I warned Julia to stay away from you. I guess we’re lucky that she didn’t listen. However, this arrangement seems rather one-sided. I feel as if we owe you a lot.”
Lane and I both stared at him. I never expected Matthew to admit to me he was wrong about his assumptions about the lone vampire, let alone to Lane directly.
Mary Anne suddenly leaned over the half-door of the stall and looked at us. “Actually, what Matthew really meant is the way he sees it we’ll be owing you favors for years and the idea terrifies him,” she corrected with a smile.
“Why I ought to –” Matthew said, giving her a scathing look.
I rolled my eyes and looked back at Lane. “Never mind them. Seriously, Lane, we certainly owe you something. And if you’re still insisting we’ve already repaid you, please explain because I honestly don’t understand how we could have.”
“You have done plenty,” Lane repeated. When I simply stared at him he continued. “Kali has given me information – about myself and vampires in general – that I would never have known without meeting her. I’ve spoken to Samuel, who is the only other vampire I’ve ever heard of who’s been alone but is not insane. The rest of your group has been remarkably tolerant of me despite their unease. A
nd you . . .” He paused a moment, looking thoughtful. “Julia, you’re the first vampire who, despite finding out who I was, did not attack or flee. Usually, if a vampire doesn’t attack, they run. You’re the first one in decades who didn’t.”
As I listened to his explanation, I could feel the emotion under his words, confusion mixed with gratitude. Suddenly I understood. What we had given him was deeper, more significant than just some assistance in battle; we had provided knowledge, tolerance, and companionship. He had been feared and shunned by our society for decades. We had done more than he ever expected.
“All right, Lane,” I replied. “I understand.”
Lane stood up and walked to the door. “I need to be going.”
“Will you be staying in Rome?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I think I’m going home – back to Ireland.”
I smiled, but truthfully I was a little sad to see him go. “Take care of yourself, Lane.”
He looked back at me and nodded. “You do likewise, Julia. Say goodbye to Kali for me.”
Samuel suddenly stood in the doorway. His left eye was purple and slightly swollen. A large blue knot had formed across his temple and forehead. Despite this, he smiled at Lane. “Good luck.”
“Same to you, Samuel,” Lane replied and turned to leave.
Samuel spoke again. “Oh . . . and Lane? In the unlikely event that you need some help, let us know, all right? We’re not usually that hard to find – if you do a little eavesdropping you should be able to find our location whether you’re in a Resistance-controlled area or not.”
Lane turned to stare at him. I could see the surprise on his face but I think the emotion went deeper than that. He glanced at Matthew and me. Matthew stared at Samuel, looking startled by his words. I glanced at Matthew, before turning my gaze to the other two. I was surprised but not for the same reason Matthew and the others were.
Samuel’s focus was still on Lane, waiting patiently for his response. When he just stood there, obviously in shock, he continued, “I mean it, Lane. I understand you feel we’ve repaid you for your help, but the least I can do is offer our assistance in case you ever need it.”
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