by Morgan Rice
Vivian reached in her back pocket for her shard of wood and held it up to Scarlet’s neck. Scarlet’s eyes widened at the sight of it. Vivian watched her neck bulge as she swallowed her fear.
“Why are you doing this?” Scarlet cried.
“Why?” Vivian sneered. “Because I hate you. You’re a freak. And you stole my boyfriend.”
“You’re pathetic,” Scarlet screamed.
The insult enraged Vivian further. She pushed hard onto Scarlet’s wrists until she felt the satisfying crack of one of the bones breaking. Scarlet screamed.
“Bet you wished you’d left me to drown now,” Vivian replied with a malevolent grin, tightening her grasp on Scarlet so the writhing girl couldn’t get away. “Instead, you saved my life. Because you’re lovely, sweet, stupid, Scarlet Paine, who wouldn’t want to do anything bad to anyone. Thanks to you I got to murder Jasmine’s parents in front of her.”
Scarlet’s eyes widened with horror.
“No!” she cried out, not wanting to believe that Vivian could be so cruel.
“Oh yes,” Vivian said with relish. “And my bet is if she’s not dead by the end of the night, she’ll go mad and be sent to the mental hospital like Maria.”
Tears were shining in Scarlet’s eyes, clearly from the pain in her wrist, and from the emotional torment Vivian was putting her through.
“What are you talking about?” she stammered.
“Maria,” Vivian said with slow, cold calculation. “She’s in the loony bin.”
Vivian smiled. She was having so much fun.
“You’ve really gone to all this effort to hurt me?” Scarlet yelped. “Just because Blake had a bigger crush on me than on you?”
At the mention of his name, Blake shuffled out of the shadows. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, his head bowed. He looked completely dejected.
Vivian snapped her fingers and he trudged towards her.
“Blake’s mine now, aren’t you baby?” she said.
She handed him the wooden stake.
“And to prove how much Blake loves me and not you,” she added, “he’s going to kill you.”
Blake looked at the stake in his hand. Dutifully, he knelt down and held it directly about Scarlet’s heart. He looked into her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Go on,” Vivian said, urging him on, her eyes flashing with malice. “Kill her!”
“Don’t do this!” Scarlet cried. “Please!”
Blake shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t want to do this, but I have no choice.”
Then in one, swift motion, he raised the stake and stabbed it forward with all his might.
A scream pierced the night sky. But it wasn’t Scarlet who screamed.
It was Vivian.
To her shock, she felt searing pain in her heart, and she looked back to see that Blake had turned the stake on her.
Vivian loosened her grip on Scarlet. She staggered to her feet, looking at the shard protruding from her chest with disbelief and horror.
“Blake,” she said in a pained voice. “How could you do this?”
Blake turned on her.
“You’re sick, Vivian. You left me no choice.”
Vivian’s words came out of her in rasping chokes.
“You... killed... me.”
Then, just like that, she disintegrated, all that was left, her Ralph Lauren shirt and Louis Vuitton shoes, sitting on the roof tiles.
Scarlet lay on her back panting, dazed by what had just happened. She looked up at Blake.
“You saved my life,” she said with disbelief.
Blake extended a hand to her. She took it and he helped her to his feet.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For treating you badly. I think…” He looked away, rubbed his neck. “I think I always loved you.”
Scarlet stared at him, not knowing what to say or what to do. Once, all she would have wanted in the world was to hear those words.
“I wished that I loved you as you did me,” she said, feeling sad for him—and grateful.
She leaned forward and slowly planted a gentle kiss on his lips.
He stared back, eyes wide with surprise as she pulled back.
With that, Scarlet lifted up into the air, flying up, not need to look back to know that Blake was standing on the roof, watching her fly away, and thinking, as she was, of what might have been.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Reeling from what had just happened on the rooftop, Scarlet tried to force all thoughts of Blake from her mind. She instead landed on the drain pipe and burst into one of the upstairs windows in Sage’s vast estate. Time was short, and she had to stay focused.
Scarlet knew she was walking into a trap, but no longer cared. If she could just give Sage the potion in her pocket, maybe she’d be able to convince him to go to the vampire city with her, to give up his immortality for love. The sisters had made it seem like he would never do such a thing, but Scarlet felt that deep down he loved her enough to make that sacrifice.
She heard voices coming from downstairs and ran towards them, down a huge, stone spiral staircase that opened up into a cavernous, ancient living room. She drew to a halt. There, on a red velvet sofa, was Sage. He was alive. He was awake.
Scarlet bolted towards him.
“Sage!” she cried, flinging herself to her knees.
She felt his arms wrap around her, holding her close to his chest. He was warm, his breath steady. The horrible wounds that had marked his skin before had miraculously healed. She’d been right when she’d thought that the Immortalists would not harm him, that he was only useful to them as a bartering tool whilst still alive. But they’d gone beyond her expectation. Sage looked positively healthy, which was more than could be said for her.
“Scarlet, what happened to you?” Sage asked with concern.
He wiped a muddy tendril of hair from her face, and ran his thumb along the tear tracks on her cheeks. Scarlet wanted more than anything in the world for Sage to tend to her wounds, fix her broken wrist, clean the mud from her hair and skin. But there was no time.
“Listen to me,” Scarlet said, pulling away from his tender affection. “We don’t have much time.”
She fumbled in her pocket for the vial.
“This is a drop of immortality,” she added hurriedly. “If you take it it will buy you enough time to come to the vampire city with me.”
“The vampire city?” Sage said frowning. “Why would we go there?”
“Because,” Scarlet said. “If we go to the vampire city and you drink my blood then you can become human. Sage, we can be together.”
She pressed the vial into his palm and searched his eyes, willing to read in them the relief she’d hoped he would be feeling on hearing her news. But that wasn’t what his eyes were telling her. He was looking at her with grief.
“I can’t become human,” he said with a deep, sorrowful sigh.
Scarlet sat back stunned, frowning deeply. She felt winded, like she’d received a blow to the chest.
“Why not?” she demanded, gazing into Sage’s eyes.
In that moment, it felt as though all her fears were coming true. The sisters had been right; Sage wasn’t prepared to give up his immortality for her. He didn’t love her as much as she thought he did. Everything she’d been through was on a false pretence.
Noticing her dejected expression, Sage reached out and grabbed her hands in his.
“You’re a vampire, Scarlet,” he said passionately. “A vampire and a human can’t be together. Right now we are equals. But if I became human…” His voice trailed away.
“If you became human what?” Scarlet demanded. “You think I’d hurt you?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t think,” he said. “I know.”
“I can’t believe you’d think that!” Scarlet cried, tugging her hands away from him. “I’m a vampire, not an animal, Sage. There is a difference. I know how to control myself.�
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“That’s not what I meant,” Sage said. “I meant you’d hurt me emotionally. You’d hurt me because I’d have to age whilst you stayed forever young. Do you really think you’d still love me when I was an old man? Whilst you were young and healthy and beautiful, you think you’d be willing to care for a dying, decrepit man?”
Scarlet was relieved to learn that the sisters had not been correct about Sage not being prepared to give up his immortality. She was also relieved that Sage didn’t think she was a mindless, uncontrollable human-killer. But his words hurt her nonetheless. How could he even question her loyalty? She’d been to the ends of the earth and back for him—surely he knew her well enough to know she would never be that shallow, that their love transcended the normal barriers faced by mere mortals.
“I will love you for eternity,” Scarlet told him passionately. She gazed deeply into his eyes, imploring him to believe her, to accept what she was saying. “Please. Please drink the potion before it’s too late.”
A noise from behind made Scarlet jump with shock. Standing in the doorway of the room stood the same huge, robed man she’d witness torturing Sage in Boldt castle. She felt red hot anger race through her. The killer in her wanted to make him suffer for what he’d done to Sage.
Behind the man stood Lore, and a woman who bore such striking resemblance to Lore she could only be his mother, and a girl who looked Scarlet’s age, with raven black hair. They were all watching the scene unfolding before them.
“Don’t touch her!” Sage screamed from his place on the sofa.
He tried to stand but he was still too weak. All he could do was watch helplessly.
Scarlet looked at the vial in his hand one last time and accepted in that moment that he was never going to drink it. But if he thought that would let him off the hook, he was wrong. She would rather die then let Sage die.
“You don’t need to fight me,” Scarlet said wearily, standing. “I’ll give my life so that Sage can live.”
“No!” he screamed.
“I’ll let every single one of the Immortalist monsters live too,” she added, “to make sure he doesn’t die.”
Scarlet directed her last words at Octal, then Lore. If what Vivian had told her was true, Maria’s mental breakdown could only have been caused by him. But whilst Octal stood tall, seemingly proud of the pain he’d caused, Lore looked guilt-ridden.
In the background, Scarlet could hear Sage crying out, shouting his futile protests. But she wouldn’t look at him because she knew that, in his hand, he held the vial with the power to stop everything. If he just agreed to become human, this would all be over. She wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself. The Immortalists would become extinct.
But he would not drink the potion. And in that moment, Scarlet knew the end had come.
“Just… do whatever it is you have to,” she said, finally. “I’m ready to die.”
Lore approached Scarlet. Something about his demeanor had changed. He no longer seemed like the arrogant boy she’d met before. He seemed older, wiser.
The black haired woman approached too. She was holding silver handcuffs. Scarlet let her place them around her wrists.
Scarlet looked up, noting that she had an audience. Octal was watching on with a grave expression. Lore’s mom was ringing her hands and looking somewhat terrified as Lore removed a spear like weapon from a box and held it up in the air.
Scarlet paid them no attention. Instead, she looked at Sage.
“I love you,” she said. “Even if you don’t love me, I love you so much I will die so you can live.”
“I do love you!” Sage gasped through his tears. “But I cannot agree to go to the vampire city to drain your blood! Don’t you see if I did that you’d die? I’d kill you. I can’t do that Scarlet.”
But it was too late. There was no turning back now.
Scarlet squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the final blow to claim her life.
But no blow came.
She opened her eyes.
Lore was standing there, motionless, the spear held so tightly in his clutch that his knuckles were turning white. A silver tear thread its way down his cheek.
The black haired girl studied his face, wearing an expression of empathetic pain. She reached out and wrapped a delicate hand around his.
“You don’t have to do this, Lore,” she said.
His hands were trembling. He looked at the girl. She spoke again, her voice as soft as the wind.
“We don’t need an earth to walk upon, you and I,” she said, smiling. “Our love crosses all times, all worlds.”
“We’ll be together for eternity?” Lore asked. “Do you promise me, Lyra?”
Lyra reached up and stroked his hair.
“We were destined to meet,” she said. “Our atoms will be drawn to one another no matter where in the galaxy we are.”
“Do you promise?” Lore said again.
“I promise,” Lyra whispered. “Now do what your heart tells you is right.”
Lore dropped the spear. It hit the ground with a clatter. He swept Lyra up in his arms and their lips met. They held one another tightly.
Scarlet gasped, not believing what she was seeing. Behind Lore, she saw the woman who must be his mother let out a sigh of relief. She was watching her son with adoration, not because he had saved his race from extinction but because he had decided to let them die.
Just then, she heard a roar from behind. Octal. He grabbed the spear up from the floor and charged Scarlet.
She turned, seeing the pointed weapon coming right for her. But before it reached her Octal froze. Right before her eyes, he turned to stone.
In that moment, Scarlet realized the sun had risen. The Immortalists were out of time.
The ritual had not been completed. Their race was dead.
She looked at Lore and Lyra, frozen in place, locked in an eternal embrace. Lore’s mother had her hands clasped, forever gazing at her son who had done, in the last moment, the right thing. Then Scarlet looked back at Sage.
His eyes were open but there was no fear in them. He had turned to stone gazing upon Scarlet, and the look in his eyes could only be described as love.
Locked in his stone hand was the vial of immortality potion, the stopper still in place, not a drop drunk.
Realizing it was all over, Scarlet crumpled forward and wept into her crossed arms.
Sage was dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Scarlet was bereft. She was so engulfed by grief she didn’t even care when she heard the hammering on the front door of the mansion or the sound of glass smashing. It was only the sound of chaos and anarchy, the jeering, screaming sounds of murderous rage, and the thudding sound of hundreds of boots on the marble floors that made her turn around.
As soon as she did, she took in the sight of a vampire army. Amongst them were kids she knew from high school, the jocks and cheerleaders still in their uniforms, the goth kids from freshman year, the glee club. Then behind them was a savage looking group of thugs, with shaved heads and tattoos all over their faces, necks and arms. They were wearing uniforms, and it dawned on Scarlet that they were escaped prisoners.
Scarlet had no idea what was going on but she knew instantly that it had something to do with her. This army, made up of kids and convicts, was here to kill her.
She sprung into action, leaping into the air and heading towards the vaulted ceiling of the mansion.
The vampire army jumped after her, taking to the air, while the inmates were left to race up the staircase.
The whole scene looked completely out of place within the walls of Sage’s opulent mansion. But luckily for Scarlet, she was familiar with this place. She’d been here before, unlike the others, and that meant she could wind her way through the labyrinthine corridors quickly, gaining precious seconds and distance.
As she rocketed through the corridors with their ornate chandeliers and beautiful gold leaf wallpapers, she tried to think of what to do. Her gr
ief was fast turning into rage. Her death at the hands of the army would be a blessing, the only way to eradicate the emotional pain that had taken up residence in her chest. But her stupid survival instinct was forcing her to keep going, to stay alive no matter what.
She raced past a framed family portrait of Sage and his parents and ripped it from the wall as she went. As she flew, she broke the wooden frame and held it in her hands like a spear. Then she steered herself down a narrow corridor, heading straight for the open door at the end. She burst into the room, turned on the spot, raised her stake, and stabbed it straight through a row of vampires.
They exploded into dust as Scarlet slammed the door in their faces and raced towards the window.
She found herself in a beautiful bedroom with a large four poster bed and tall candles dotted all over the place. It was the sort of room she could image spending time in with Sage, and her heart ached as she remembered the fact that she would never ever get to experience that.
Scarlet tried to burst out the window but found it blocked, held firmly in place.
She catapulted off the glass, leaping over the top of four poster bed. As she went, she grabbed one of the candles and lit the curtains that surrounded the bed. The group of cheerleader girls who had chased her through the posts were trapped by a wall of flames on all four sides. They set alight and turned to dust.
Scarlet flew over the heads of the other vampires who were streaming into the room. As she raced through the corridor, back the way she’d come, she realized that the inmates had now made it to the top of the stairs. She doubled back on herself, racing in the other direction through the dark hallways.
There was a second staircase, Scarlet knew, at the far end of the mansion. Used originally for servants, it was steep and crammed. She probably wouldn’t be able to fly down, but if she was going to get out of the mansion alive, that was the only way.
She flew, a group of jocks right behind her, and stretched her arms in front of her, hands squeezed into fists. They slammed into the door, forcing it open. Scarlet felt pain race through her broken wrist but it was more like a dull ache. She was too pumped with adrenaline to feel real pain.
