Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3)

by Alicia Deters

  “Then, let me come with you.”

  “I can’t. It’s too risky.”

  “That’s bullshit. I’ve been through worse—”

  “You almost died!” I screamed, drawing the attention of a passing nurse.

  She poked her head in. “Is everything all right in here?”

  “Yes, we’re fine. Sorry,” I said to get rid of her.

  She took one last look at the scene but decided to leave it alone, backing out of the room and pulling the door shut behind her.

  When I turned back to face Max, I swiped at the cold wetness on my cheek. He had grown stiff, frowning and narrowing his dark eyes on me.

  “Lucy?” he croaked.

  “Don’t. Look, let’s just drop it. Please.”

  “I’m sorry.” He rested his hands across his waist and looked down at his twiddling fingers. “I know you’re right, but it’s hard to take.”

  “I know you want to be there, Max. And I wish you could be, but I also want you to be healthy, because losing people you love sucks more than anything.” It was my turn to look away and study the shiny eggshell colored tile on the floor.

  “I know, and I’m sorry for being a pain in the ass, but I’ll be here when you get back to give you even more shit for saving the world without me.”

  I laughed so hard the remaining tears in my eyes fell freely to land on my boots. “I’m never going to hear the end of it, am I?”

  “Nope,” he replied with a wide smile, and just like that, the tension lifted. “Now get over here and hug me goodbye. Also, score me some Pop-Tarts from the vending machine before you go.”

  I laughed and hugged him goodbye, doing as he asked. I brought back a handful of processed goodness. Passing Nick’s room, I saw that he was sleeping and didn’t want to disturb him, so I kept moving down the hall.

  Allison and Brody were kept on a different floor for the more critical patients. Gavin took me to see them so I could assure them my father would be dead by the time they woke up. The familiar burn of tears built in my eyes, and Gavin drew me into his comforting embrace. I pulled my strength from him and turned to face my destiny head on.

  †

  “Soph, I want you to stay put while we’re in Scotland.”

  “Lucy! There could be certain people listening,” she warned.

  Night had descended over London as Gavin and I made our final preparations. I had wanted to hear back from our team in Scotland before finalizing the plan. They contacted me earlier to confirm there was a tomb with a great emotional barrier surrounding it.

  We ran toward the airport but slowed so I could call Sophie. “Don’t worry, Soph. We’re standing in a cemetery right now. The Cardinal I talked to in Rome mentioned that sacred places have the ability to mask sound.”

  I didn’t tell her that it was probably a place only as holy as the Vatican that could do that, but there might have been some truth to it.

  “Oh, well, okay. Be safe, Lucy. I’ll see you soon, right?”

  “Yeah. See you soon, Soph.”

  I disconnected the call and met Gavin’s questioning eyes. There were details of my plan I had intentionally left out of everyone’s briefing, including his, but he was a smart man and would catch on soon enough.

  “You do realize what you did, right?”

  I did indeed. “Maybe I’ve finally cracked. Or maybe I just don’t care anymore, but I’m ready to face this full speed ahead. I mean, hey, it’s what I do, right?”

  “You do have your talents, and none of them are known for being subtle.”

  “Damn right!”

  Everyone had just assumed my father would find the Sword and show up right on our tails, but I wanted to make it happen on my own terms. I was positive he had his little spies out in full force. I sensed their presence once or twice already.

  Every time they’ve used my humanity against me, I’ve had a very bad day. But they still thought I was at my weakest when I was down. They haven’t figured out that’s when I fought the hardest. How the hell else did I keep getting back up? I haven’t failed because I’m not dead yet. I’m not dead yet because I keep fighting. And I won’t stop.

  I knew their tricks, but nothing they did would save them from me. It wouldn’t matter if they were one step ahead of me or ten, because I was going to be the one standing over their ashes in the end. Let them think they’ve won. They could celebrate their small victory tonight.

  I had a plane to catch.

  20

  “I don’t like this,” Gavin growled. He stood in one corner of the dark room, highlighted by the warm glow of our scattered lanterns.

  “How much more do you need?” I asked impatiently.

  One of the Irish Keepers stood above me, holding a serrated blade. His name was Donavan, and he reminded me of the red-headed kid in Harry Potter.

  “Just a little more to fill these canisters,” he responded with a soft Irish lilt accenting each word.

  I slouched in the creaky wooden chair and watched my wrists heal for the twentieth time. My head lolled to the side as Donavan’s pale, freckled arm reached for my hand again, preparing to make another slice. I had trouble focusing on the others who stood back against the stone walls of the tomb. There were two other Irish team members and two Scottish Keepers overseeing my rather charitable donation. I looked back toward Donavan.

  When his eyes met mine with the question, I nodded my approval. He slid the edge of the knife over my flesh, and the second it penetrated skin, my fangs broke free, and my hand involuntarily shot out to take hold of Donavan’s warm fragile wrist. He screamed in pain, but it sounded distant to me. Thirst raged through my body in place of my lost blood, the blood that drained into the two pots at my sides.

  “Enough!” Gavin shouted and shot across the room to break my hold on Donavan’s arm. He shoved a backpack in my lap, which contained a water bladder filled with fresh blood. “Drink, Lucy.”

  I snatched the pack and yanked open the valve, putting the straw to my lips. I took one long pull after another until I drained the entire two-liter sized container. I was no mathematician, but two liters didn’t seem like an adequate amount when I glanced at the nearly full, two-gallon jugs by my feet.

  “You should have enough now for whatever you need.” Gavin spoke in a hard warning tone in case the others felt like arguing.

  Donovan replied to him but kept his gaze on me. “Yes, we have plenty. Thank you, Lucy.”

  “Just make sure every weapon we have gets dipped in it.”

  He nodded and the others took it as their cue to collect my blood and carry it out to the common room centrally located in the abbey. The other members of my army were holed up in the main chamber on cots and sleeping bags. Gavin and I had arrived in Scotland early in the morning and traveled forty minutes outside of Edinburgh to meet with everyone.

  Glancing to my right, I spotted the very reason we were all gathered here. The Sword of Michael rested in a raised concrete sarcophagus, encased on the top with a thick layer of murky, splintered glass.

  I felt the power radiating off of it the moment we arrived, and by following the sounds of drafts echoing off of hollow spaces, Gavin and I pinpointed the location of the tomb hidden beneath the rock floors of the abbey. It had a spiral staircase that had been sealed off behind a wall of heavy, tightly fitted stones.

  “How are you feeling, gorgeous?” The concern in his voice touched me, drawing me back to the present. Even after everything we’ve been through and everything I’ve withstood, he still worried over the lesser threats.

  “Like I may have drunk too many glasses of moonshine.”

  He laughed, remembering my first experience with that vile-tasting poison. I got the chills just at the thought of it. It had burned like acid going down my throat and didn’t taste any better.

  “I think I may have fell a little more in love with you that night,” he admitted.

  “Well, of course you did. I’m an adorable drunk.”

 
He laughed but grew somber when he stood over the Sword, peering at it like it held our future in its reflective metal. I swayed as I stood to join him. He wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me, and I nestled into his side.

  It was a beautiful weapon, untouched by time. It glowed as it caught the faintest light from our lanterns and reflected it back even brighter than the source. Like me, it was made by light, but that was where the similarities ended. It cast a permanent sense of peace and calm around it, but I projected a constant stream of anxiety and ire, tarnished by years of guilt and torment and a whole lot of pain.

  The shine of the blade emphasized the Latin words etched up and down either side of the fuller, or the spine of the blade, as I liked to call it. The cross guard gleamed in a soft rose gold color, and the grip and pommel were made of what appeared to be the same metal as the blade, but the grip had carved rings around it. At the center of the pommel a familiar symbol shined in the rose gold metal. The Chi Ro matched the chest of coins sitting next to the sword. They were the coins minted by Constantine but only one of them had the power to protect from the Sword. I reached for my wrist on instinct. Gavin squeezed me lightly.

  “Why would an angel create a weapon of such great power when there are so many evil, power hungry Shadowmarked out there to lust after it? Seems like it would have been safer without it. It’s like sharks with freaking laser beams on their head.”

  “Maybe he had enough foresight to see you coming, gorgeous.”

  “Are you saying even Mikey saw me winning this war?”

  He smiled down at me when I looked up to meet his gaze, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “How are you doing? You still look a bit pale.”

  “Better. Almost back to normal.” And I was. My body worked rapidly with the aid of the donor blood to replace my dwindling red blood cells.

  “We better figure out our next step.” He gently turned me from the tomb to head upstairs.

  “We need to start setting up our defenses. My father won’t wait a second later. He’ll be here by sundown, and we need to be ready.”

  He wasn’t going to get anywhere near this place, and that sword wouldn’t be leaving while I existed.

  †

  Sounds of chattering and blades being sharpened, along with guns being cleaned greeted us as we reached the top of the stairs that led into the main hall of the abbey. Light streaming in from long windows and the missing sections of the stone ceiling added to the glow of the roaring bonfire in the center of the room. Keepers from all over the world were sprawled out on mats and cots in the gigantic space, lining the walls and forming rows up and down the room like military barracks.

  They passed around my blood in small bowls, dipping every blade and bullet in them carefully so as not to spill a drop, like they were Jack Sparrow and it was the last of the rum. My eyes shifted to the corner where all the sharp pretty things lay in neat stacks, and the urge to touch pulled me closer. These weapons had already gotten the rum bath and reeked of my blood.

  “Intoxicating,” Gavin whispered in my ear when he came up behind me, breathing the air and my scent in deeply. He nipped my neck playfully, and I turned in his arms, officially distracted from all the shiny goodies.

  “Lucy!” A familiar voice called my name excitedly, and I snuck out of Gavin’s embrace to greet the newcomer.

  “Rachel! You made it!” I had sent out word to as many factions as I could but was unsure of the turnout from the distant ones.

  She bounded toward me like a dark shadow in her all-black skinny jeans and black top covered by a fitted leather jacket. Her jet black hair swung behind her, and her charcoal lined eyes were wide with enthusiasm. She squeezed me in a quick hug before pulling away to catch up.

  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. John couldn’t make it. He tends to stay out of the action these days.”

  “How is he?” I asked, concerned.

  “Still pretty shaken up when he thinks about that night in Canada, but he met a girl he likes on the research team, so he’s kind of become our faction’s Sophie. He spends all his time in the library. He’s so boring now, but I’m glad he has something to focus on.”

  “That’s really good to hear. How are you doing?”

  “I’m as awesome as ever. I get to go out on patrols. We only get the run of the mill vampires in Portland, so there are no psycho assassins coming to our doorstep.”

  I winced. “I’m sorry you guys went through that in Canada. It was my fault.”

  She stuck her palm in the air to stop me. “Please. I don’t care about all that. All I’m saying is that I’m not the badass you are, but I feel like one when I get to help take one of those fuckers down.”

  I laughed at her vulgarity. I loved it. She was only fifteen but carried that ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks’ attitude around like a champ. My girl crush was still intact.

  “Well, it’s nice to have you around again, but you don’t have to go anywhere near those psychos, so don’t worry.”

  “Oh, I know. I don’t plan on it. We’re all just the back line. You’re the front line. I get it. Trust me, I don’t have anything to prove, except maybe how awesome my aim is with a hand gun.” She winked. “Gotta go. There was a cute guy over there I have to find.” She darted off as quickly as she came.

  Glancing around, I noticed Gavin had left quietly to give us space, and I found him chatting with some of the German members, including Nikolas and Kristana. I made my way around the room, and conversations died as I neared. The hero worship thing wasn’t something I’d ever get used to, but I had a job to do, so I sucked it up and ignored the awed expressions as I went around to give orders.

  “Lucy, the spotlights are all in place. We just need to run the wiring to the main switch.” Donavan approached me as I spoke with a group of Italian Keepers about running into town for spare batteries.

  I turned to the red head. “Good. Let’s do a test run when it’s all set up, but keep it short to conserve our fuel. We definitely don’t want the generators running out in the middle of the night.”

  “We’ll be fine. I asked a few of the others to make a fuel run.”

  “Thanks for doing this.”

  His smile was strained like everyone else’s in our current predicament, but he nodded respectfully.

  I left him to finish his tasks and slunk back to the outskirts of the army. Laughing occasionally broke through the thick cloud of tension, proving the infallible human spirit couldn’t be killed as easily as a stake to the heart. The human body was fragile, but the soul was an immortal entity that continuously amazed me.

  I felt Gavin’s approach before seeing him in my peripheral vision. He came to my side to take in everything with my eyes.

  “Pretty incredible, isn’t it?” he asked, picking up on my thoughts.

  “It is.”

  The day passed with people diligently preparing or training with their weapons, and as the sun settled in for the night, the fire blazed higher while people gathered around it sharing harrowing stories of their encounters with the Shadowmarked.

  I sat by Gavin in front of the fire, leaning my head on his shoulder. Looking around at our new friends made me miss the others, even Allison. They were all my family, and it would kill me to lose any of them.

  I let my senses relax to allow myself this one small reprieve. The burn of smoke hit my nose and sank deeper into my lungs, but I breathed it in with a brand new association. Instead of the sulfuric tang of vampire ash, I thought about camping excursions in the wilderness and sitting by the fireside at Christmas. Over the roar of the fire I heard the crashing of waves against a nearby cliff and wondered what a trip down the New England coast in autumn would be like. There were too many things in life to live for to die tonight.

  “Should we escape out the back while no one’s watching?” Gavin whispered in my ear. I shivered from the sensations running down my neck.

  I looked from right to left. “Who are you talking to exactly?”
>
  I knew he was kidding, but I also knew he’d follow me in a heartbeat if I changed my mind about everything.

  He smirked when I caught his gaze. Bumping his shoulder with mine I looked back to the dancing flames. People had grown more comfortable and animated, standing to act out their stories or dance around the fire.

  “It’s all going to come to a head no matter what path I take. They’ll never stop hunting me. There’s no escape from this.”

  “What if there was? What if you leave it all behind?”

  I looked deeply into his eyes. “When I first learned my father was alive and what he was, I wanted to rip him apart and watch the fireworks display.”

  “And now?”

  “I still want that. Nothing’s changed, especially not me. I don’t run or hide. I attack shit head on. It’s kind of my thing. And I like it.”

  “I kind of do too.”

  “Uh, liar. You love it.”

  He leaned into my neck to nuzzle it gently. I laughed from the sensitivity.

  “Ticklish, Ms. Masters?” he whispered.

  “Maybe a little, Mr. West. Is there an empty room around here somewhere?”

  He growled. “You know we have to be on high alert right now, Lucy. Don’t tempt me. I’m seconds away from not caring how many armies are coming for us.”

  Just as he finished speaking in my ear, loud laughter and cat calls erupted, and I looked up to see several eyes enjoying our little show. Blushing, I turned my face into Gavin’s shoulder and shook with laughter.

  Their impervious good moods were rubbing off on me. Rachel was one of the free spirits dancing around the fire and stopped in front of me to pull me into the mix of frivolousness. I joined the masses to throw my hands in the air and my head back in wild abandon, looking like an idiot and not giving a damn.

  Someone had the bright idea to form one of those annoying trains, so of course I tagged onto the last person and returned the favor to Rachel by grabbing her to tow behind me. On our third pass around the fire, I spotted Gavin sitting on the ground with his arms draped over his raised knees. The contented smile plastered on his face held amusement and something deeper when he looked at me. I made sure to widen the circle until I came within reach of him. A terrified look swept over those beautiful features, and he quickly shook his head back and forth in refusal.