“Hello, beautiful.”
CHAPTER 28 – Michael
Being with Sarah again—holding her and talking and making love was an entirely different experience. She was glowing with warmth from the first moment I came back. It was far more than I’d hoped for and definitely worth the price I’d paid to get to that point.
The events that happened in Chicago set the stage for a revolutionary change for the Council. What happened at the farm while we were battling for our lives in that skyscraper was worse than any of us could have predicted.
I did finally get in touch with Victoria, but the news was not good. Captain Jones had been injured by Elizabeth, one of the vampires to whom I’d given some of my blood. What followed was a horrific fight for survival between the vampires who’d had my blood and those who had not.
Jackson had disappeared. He slipped away while Victoria was trying to protect the Captain. When Katie arrived, she came home to a bloody battlefield. Jones and Victoria were both seriously hurt. Jackson was gone. And there were fourteen dead vampires on the property, some of which had been completely ripped apart.
The team that Vincent had sent to keep the situation under control was admitted onto the property by Katie. She barely had time to get the Captain and Victoria out before Vincent’s thugs set off the explosives. There were only pieces of burning wreckage left when the fire department arrived thirty minutes later.
Teddy went with me to sift through the remains. Katie had to let us in. Whatever force held the protective barrier in place hadn’t been affected by the violence within its boundaries. While we were picking through what was left, Katie found her grandfather’s journal. It had been partially damaged, but most of it was still intact enough to be read. She tucked it inside her jacket before we left.
No vampires will ever cross onto the property again. Sarah sold it to a company who planned to harvest the standing timber. She refused to sell it to an individual or family, fearing that somehow the whole dreadful process would start again.
Trevor Kincaid never found Alex, nor did his father. Six months after his attempted assault on Sarah outside of the tavern in Nashville, he was arrested and convicted of indecency with a minor. I would imagine he is finding a new kind of hell behind prison bars with only his fellow male inmates for company.
The two young men that I had killed and turned when I was under the influence of Isaiah’s blood were purged of the poison, but they decided to remain as vampires despite Selena’s offer to give them their human lives back. Large amounts of money were distributed to their families anonymously and we used two medical school cadavers, infused with the men’s’ DNA, to create an automobile crash scenario in order to bring their families a sense of closure. The two new vampires were inducted into the Council’s primary security team after completing a rigorous four weeks of training.
Sarah never was told that Nelly was her real mother. I think she suspected it to be true, but it would not have changed anything for her. She knew who loved her and who had raised her. Selena did try to establish a relationship with Katie, but that is a story for another time.
William and Meekah were separated at some point. He went back into hiding without her. She never did try to reestablish the partnership we had, although Victoria did try to repair their friendship with limited success. I could never trust her again after her betrayal, and I worry still about William and what he may try to do here in America if he ever comes back.
As for me—I am whole. Adjusting to this new mortal life was hardly easy, but love itself is always worth it. Never again will I fly. Never again will I kill. I will finish out my years beside the woman who taught me that it was my soul and not my power that gave me my true strength.
THE END
You can learn more about the author and her upcoming projects by visiting www.sjwrightbooks.com.
The Vampire's Release, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #4) Page 12
