Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3)

by Alicia Deters

  I knew my father was close by and wouldn’t risk exposure to the UV lights, but my stomach churned thinking about his next move. Underestimating him would be a huge mistake. His playbook was extensive, and I was all out of defensive tactics until he showed his cards.

  One would think I’d be a pro at defense by now, but it always came down to waiting. And I sucked at that.

  I moved to one of the front windows and scanned the sprawling hillside, not spotting a single movement. My heart kicked up with adrenaline before I shouted into the wind.

  “What the hell are you waiting for? You can’t get to us, so you might as well turn around!”

  His maniacal laughter carried over the breeze from a distance. Squinting my eyes, I saw a ridge less than a mile out that was high enough to shadow a large amount of space in darkness. And the amount of bad energy I was getting told me there was a whole lot of evil hiding in those shadows.

  “My darling daughter, always so impatient. There are endless ways to get to you. Did you think I would come unprepared?” He shouted loud enough for his voice to reach me.

  “Donavan, get as many of those damaged spotlights working again. Rotate the remaining ones to cover any unlit ground,” I commanded quietly.

  He stood by me, but at my orders, he rushed around giving hushed instructions to the others.

  “What is it you think you have on me, father dearest?” I yelled out the window.

  Another evil laugh reached me followed by another that sounded a lot like Shane’s.

  “I want to negotiate a trade,” he said cheerily.

  A sick feeling twisted my stomach further into knots. I knew what his form of bartering consisted of. It was what I expected, and it was what I dreaded.

  “Who is it?” My voice cracked, already anticipating the worst.

  “Come and see, baby!” Shane goaded.

  “You say you want me now, but I doubt you’ll feel the same when I’m ripping that over inflated head of yours from your body!”

  “Enough! Lucille, you will bring me the Sword or your best friend will die a slow and unnecessarily painful death, one which you will hear in every agonizing detail.”

  There was no way he had time to kidnap Sophie. He could be bluffing, and I had to know for sure. “Bullshit! You don’t have my best friend.”

  “I’m not talking about the bookworm.” I heard the irritation in his words as his own patience waned.

  Was it Max? No, he couldn’t have gotten to any of them.

  I strained to hear his next words, which weren’t shouted but directed at someone with him. “Come on, sweetheart. Call to your BFF for help.”

  A pained whimper came a second later, followed by an outcome far worse than death by an endless firing squad.

  “Lucy.”

  It was a mere whisper that barely reached me, but my heart stopped for one… two… three… four—

  “Lucy!” This voice was deeper and much closer. “Lucy, stay with me.”

  Gavin’s face swam in front of me, and I wasn’t sure if a vampire could faint, but if so, I was about to find out.

  Blackness encroached the edges of my vision, and I fell to my knees for the second time tonight.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  “Holly,” I breathed.

  And just like that, my heart beat furiously at the realization. I sucked in ragged breaths like I was starved for oxygen.

  “Lucy, you’re having a panic attack. You have to calm down,” Gavin said, but as I met his eyes, I saw the same shock I felt.

  A different kind of guilt gripped me and threatened to consume me the way it had so long ago. My newly discovered self control was slipping away. My fangs descended and my thirst erupted like a dormant volcano, seeking pure annihilation.

  And victims. I needed victims.

  She wasn’t dead.

  I needed to feed.

  She had been alive this whole time.

  I needed to fight.

  She was my father’s prisoner.

  I needed to kill.

  Tortured.

  Kill.

  Bloodied. Bruised. Worse.

  Kill. Murder. Maim.

  Hands clutched my shoulders to hold me back but I swatted them away, gripping handfuls of hair in my fists.

  “Everyone get back!” I heard Gavin shouting to the others, but it sounded distant to me.

  So much guilt weighed me down. My hands fell to the floor where they dug into stone, crumbling it into dust.

  “Lucy, stay with me. You can control it. You can overcome this. None of this was your fault. It was theirs. They are the enemy. Stop fighting yourself, gorgeous. Please. Come back to me.” His voice was closer now and pleaded softly.

  He was right. I knew he was, but I could have looked for her. I could have known this was a possibility. Her father even believed she was dead.

  Or did he? I thought back to his strange words before I left St. Louis. He acted like she was gone, not dead.

  Oh, God.

  He knew. He let them take her.

  But why?

  They would have threatened to kill her, but he could have come to me.

  He blamed you, Lucy. Why would he come to you? You already failed her once.

  “No,” I choked out.

  I refused to take the blame this time. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me, but this one wasn’t on me.

  Huddled on the cold stone floor, I felt my lack of control pressing my body down. Pushing everything down, all the guilt, all the self loathing, deep down into the pit of my stomach, I bottled it, then I shook it up until the pressure exploded and a tension relieving scream ripped out of me.

  Shoving off the floor, I reared back on me knees and gave it space, using it to push the remaining self doubt out of me.

  It was a good thing there was no glass in these windows, because it would have shattered in a violent explosion. When the scream died, there was nothing left but startling clarity. I knew what had to be done, but I also knew people could die, people I loved.

  Standing, I turned to face the crowd of silent Keepers against the opposite wall, who each showed various levels of fear. I broke the silence first.

  “Weapons ready. If anything gets close, shoot.”

  I took a step toward the stairs that led down to the Sword. A hand clasped around my wrist, stopping me. I glanced over my shoulder into Gavin’s pleading eyes.

  “I’m coming with you.” His voice turned firm and left no room to argue.

  I studied his resolute eyes and knew he wouldn’t budge. It didn’t matter. I had no argument left in me. I was cold inside and out, focused on my plan. I nodded at him, and he quirked a smile.

  “That’s it. You’re not going to fight me on this?” His incredulous tone held no hint of suspicion, to which I was extremely grateful.

  “We’re in this together, right?”

  “Right,” he responded.

  I started to reach for my wrist for comfort but stopped myself. Instead, I entwined my fingers with his and lifted our joined hands to kiss the knuckle under his thumb.

  He smiled faintly. “How’s your thirst?”

  “Nonexistent, but my hunger to kill is going strong.”

  “Oh, Lucy! You can have your girly meltdown later. Hurry this up before we start snacking on your bestie. And trust me when I say she’s a real treat,” Shane yelled.

  I saw red. His implications were enough to make my icy blood boil.

  “What will you do, Lucy?” Gavin asked.

  “I’ll punish them, and their pathetic retaliation will make me smile. Then, I’ll destroy them all.”

  He cleared his throat. “Well…um…Okay, then.”

  We headed downstairs into the secluded room below, and I only had a few moments alone to explain Gavin’s part of the plan to him while our voices could remain hidden. Circling the Sword’s display case, I raised a fist and brought it down hard on the nearly six-inch thick glass. It smashed through with little res
istance, shattering the aged material into splinters.

  Swiping my fingers across the metal, I wiped glass shards away from its surface. It felt like any other metal forged on Earth, but it was infused with a heavy dose of divine power that radiated outward in the form of emotions, as if it were trying to amplify whatever I was feeling.

  I ran my fingers over the coins next but didn’t get the same emotional boost. Gripping the Sword’s handle, I lifted it respectfully out of its centuries-long home and angled it this way and that to admire its beauty.

  “Gav, I need you to stay hidden from sight. Stick to the outside and only come if there’s trouble.” When he started to disagree, I held my free hand up to stop him. “Please, Gavin. I’m going to do everything I can to get Holly behind me, and I need you to promise me you’ll get her out of there as soon as I have her.”

  “Lucy, I can’t leave you—”

  “I thought you trusted me to not get myself killed,” I interrupted. Using his belief in me wasn’t playing fair, but it was the only trick I had to get him on board.

  “Lucy, I know what you’re capable of, but there are hundreds of them.”

  “Please, Gavin. I need you to promise me to keep her safe. I couldn’t live with myself if—”

  I cut myself off before a choked sob escaped.

  “Shit,” Gavin hissed before rushing to my side, carefully moving the Sword to my side as he wrapped his arms around me.

  “Please,” I begged again. “Gavin, please. I can’t fail her again.”

  “Okay, Lucy. I will do whatever I can. But I know you. You’ll keep fighting until they’re all dead, or you’ll die trying.” His voice hitched over the last word, and I felt his ragged breaths tickling the loose strands of hair by my ear.

  “If this is the end, then I want you to know how much I love you and how thankful I am to have known what being human is supposed to feel like.”

  A sad sort of laughter burst out of him in heavy breaths, and he reached up to tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ear before they drove me crazy.

  “I know I shouldn’t be thinking like this right now, but if it comes to that, then it’s a small comfort that I’ll die shortly after. You die, I die. We’re in this together. Until the end. I should be the one thanking you, Lucille. You brought light into my darkness. Hell, you are the light in my dark. Before you came along, I was ready to give myself completely over to my Shadowmarked side. You saved me, Lucy. There is no word for the unending love I have for you.”

  “You’re my light too,” I whispered hoarsely. Tears welled in my eyes and stung with a bittersweet kind of sadness.

  “No. You’re your own light, Lucy. You burn brighter than the damned sun most days.”

  “Hey, this is a moment we’re having. Don’t argue with me.” His chest shook against mine in silent laughter. “If you’re not my light, then you’re definitely my heart. My humanity. My home.”

  He leaned back to look into my eyes. That intense blue gaze peered straight into my soul as he whispered, “Forever.”

  I wasn’t sure who moved first, but we both leaned into each other until our lips met in a sweet pressure that quickly turned into much more. All of our love and loss found each other, and I felt a hot stream of tears streaming down my cheek to land on his.

  He pulled back only slightly to rest his forehead against mine, and for just a moment, it was me and him. We would always have this, no matter what happened. No one could take our love away.

  All too soon, a throat cleared and Donavan called to us from the top of the stairs. “Lucy, everyone’s freaking out up here. What’s the plan?”

  Only I could answer that question, because only I knew that answer.

  Bring it on, Dad.

  23

  “Lucy,” my father called. “Don’t do anything stupid. Come alone, and bring only the Sword.”

  Yeah, I figured that was implied. Translation: Don’t bring your handy dandy, mass vampire killing flashlights or your stealthy, super strong vampire boyfriend.

  “Got it, pops.”

  I let go of Gavin’s hand and nodded at him in understanding. He returned the gesture, offering me one last loaded look before he disappeared out the door and down the hill, skirting the edge of the peninsula where the abbey sat. I watched him hop off the ledge onto a lower rock outcropping that jutted up from the thrashing ocean.

  I knew he’d stick to the cliff side, using it for cover in both the shadows and the roar of the ocean that masked his sounds. It didn’t take long for me to lose him among the darkness.

  Squaring my shoulders I headed straight out the door, walking down the middle of the open clearing. The Keepers stood in the windows and doorways with their weapons trained on anything that dared to move.

  Keeping a brisk pace, I focused on steadying my feet as the crushing waves of evil washed over me the closer I got to my father’s massive army. I couldn’t tell how many there were, but it was definitely more than the first wave.

  Nearing the base of the ridge, I swayed again but held firm, tightening my grip on the Sword.

  “Come closer, baby. You can’t rip my head off from all the way over there,” Shane taunted from the other side of the hill.

  I ran to the top and looked down into the shadows at the bottom of the hill, ready to deliver my retort, but stopped dead in my tracks. It wasn’t the sight of my father and Shane standing together, or even the sight of hundreds of powerful assassin vampires staring intently at me.

  My eyes danced over all of them to land on Holly.

  Threatening to give out on me again, my knees wobbled, but I had to stay strong. This time for her. She knelt in a heap of skin and bones, sagging over her lap. I saw the bruises and smelled the dried blood at her throat from here. Long black hair fell over her face in matted, unwashed clumps. Her head lifted with effort and glassy grey eyes met mine, flaring briefly with recognition.

  “Lucy,” she rasped out before her head slumped. They were keeping her drugged. With any luck, she wouldn’t remember much of the horrors she’s encountered, but I was certain the nightmares of her captivity would haunt her for the rest of her life.

  Metal rattled from the chains binding her wrists, and I winced when I noticed the angry red marks where they bit into her skin.

  “She has a hitting problem,” Shane said after noticing where my gaze drifted.

  I clenched my jaw and shot a deadly look in his direction. Spinning the Sword in my hand, I got a better feel for its weight and pointed it at him. “You’re first in line, Monroe.”

  His smile broadened evilly. “Big talk for a weak little girl standing in front of an army.”

  “Children, why don’t we skip the pleasantries? Lucille, you have something I want, and I have something you want. This should be quite simple.” My father spread his hands in an open stance, a gesture of his cooperation.

  “Right, and I’m supposed to believe you’ll let me walk away after this?”

  “No. I never promised your safety. You made it clear you wouldn’t join my side, so I’m afraid I can’t offer you the same protection as your friend here.”

  “Okay, so how do you expect this to work? I hand you the Sword, and you kill me, then what? I just trust you won’t kill her and all my friends?”

  “As long as you cooperate willingly, you have my word that no harm will come to your humans. Tonight.”

  As soon as he finished speaking a commotion erupted in his right flanks. Movement through the crowd drew my eye, and I heard the crunch of bone and Gavin’s muffled groans.

  Shit! They found him. I shifted from one foot to the other.

  As four assassins broke through the front line holding Gavin captive, my stomach sank. I met his eyes and they revealed infinite regret. I shook my head to tell him it wasn’t his fault.

  They approached my father, and he cast Gavin a disgusted look before turning that disdain on me with a snarl. “This is the respect I’m afforded? You claim you want to save your frie
nds, but your blatant disobedience of my simple rules says otherwise, my ignorant little girl.”

  “Please. Like I’d ever trust you with my friends’ lives. We both knew where this would lead and it wasn’t with peace.”

  He tisked me and shook his head back and forth. “You have no faith in me, but I will prove I can be reasonable.” He glanced back and forth between Holly and Gavin, and it made my skin crawl. “You have a choice to make now, Lucille. You can choose to save one of them. Give me the Sword, and I will give you one. But you have to choose.”

  “You’re lying,” I hissed as I felt my heart breaking in my chest. The burn of tears threatened to impair my vision, but I held them back.

  “No, but you don’t have any other option. Give me the Sword or I’ll kill both of them right here, right now.”

  “He may be tough to kill, but I wonder if his head would grow back if I took it off, or if his heart would keep beating if I ripped it out,” Shane threatened as he looked at me and stepped up to Gavin with a sword angled at his throat.

  I flinched when he pressed it into Gavin’s neck, drawing blood. “Stop!” I screamed before I could control myself. This was happening too fast, and I didn’t have time to think it through.

  Holly fought against her weakness to lift her head and freeze me in place with a determined look. “Don’t… give it… to them, Luce. Kill. Them. All.”

  The last part was said with weighted cruelty. My lips twitched with a faint smile, but this was too serious for amusement. Her sacrificial will tore at my heart, and I choked back a sob.

  “Hol.”

  I met her eyes with my own sadness and determination. I had no other plays to make. I knew my father would kill both of the people I loved most. I had to take a chance that I could still save one.

  “No, Lucy!” Holly yelled with her waning energy.

  Gavin remained solemn, his eyes trained on my face, knowing I wouldn’t risk both of them.

  I looked at the Sword and turned it to take the opposite grip on it. Then, I gave up the only thing that could stop this and tossed it to my father. He caught it swiftly.

  His smile was all teeth as he studied it with pride and fascination. “That’s the smartest decision you’ve ever made, Lucille. Now, as for my side of the arrangement, choose one.”