I could hear things crashing. I could see the light given off from the bright blazes Darren was producing. And for a while, I thought Darren might be winning, until I saw him slam into the floor in front of me. The sight made me yelp and I tried to pull him under the bed with me.
Aiden turned the entire bed over.
“Ana? Are you still here?” It was Tristan.
“I’m in here,” I called desperately. “Aiden’s got us trapped.”
Aiden bared his fangs and lunged for my neck but was knocked out of the air by Tristan. They fought, moving so impossibly fast that I had no idea what was happening. Only when I saw Aiden fall did they ever stop. Over and over again Tristan seemed to get the best of him, and I could begin to see bruises on Aiden’s face. He was getting frustrated and it was taking longer for him to get back to his feet.
As Darren began to stir on the other side of the room, the two of them came to a stop again, although this time it seemed as though Aiden had struck out after me, only to be cut off by Tristan. Still, he was only an arm’s length away and I had to drop down to the floor, out of his reach, to avoid being snatched up.
Darren got to his feet and for a moment he seemed confused by what was happening, but then I saw his jaw set. I understood too late what Darren must be seeing; two vampires only inches away from me. His eyes took up a determined stare and he streaked a fiery inferno toward us. It was high enough that I, still on my knees, had no chance of being struck but I knew it was meant for both vampires, not just Aiden.
Aiden didn’t move at first and I had a moment’s hope that maybe he would bear the worst of Darren’s attack, but at the last possible moment he dropped to the floor. Before I had time enough to form the warning in my throat, Tristan, who had had his view of the blast blocked by Aiden, took the full force of it into his chest. It exploded upon impact, and sent him backwards, head first, into the wall, leaving a large dent.
I crawled over to him and did my best to put out the flames on his charred clothing. His chest was black and smoking and his eyes were vacant.
“No,” I breathed.
“Ana, what are you doing? Get away from that thing!” Darren shouted. But he should have been more concerned about the vampire he’d missed. Aiden appeared in front of him and slammed his fist into Darren stomach. He fell over in a heap, and began to groan loudly. I’d seen enough doctor shows to know that from the force of that blow he had to be bleeding internally.
Aiden relaxed now, even offering me a smile as he turned around. But again, it wasn’t anything reassuring. The anger and aggression that always swam near the surface of his features had taken over now, and there was no trace of anything human in Aiden. He was a predator and I his prey, and there was nothing now to keep him from me.
Oddly, he spoke casually when he addressed me. “Move away from him.”
“No,” I replied. “If I do, you’ll just keep hurting him.”
That made him lose his cool. “Do it now!” he shouted, baring his fangs.
Trembling, I shifted over a few inches. Suddenly, he was there in front of me. He grabbed a handful of my shirt and I screamed. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed me up over his shoulder and I landed awkwardly on my side, pain exploding in my left arm.
This was it. I was about to die. I waited for him to appear, and I imagined how he might taunt me before going through with it. I prayed it would be quick. If there was some of the old Aiden left inside him then maybe he wouldn’t make me suffer.
But the attack never came. Confused, I let myself roll onto my back and then turned my head to find him. Terror ripped through my body. I saw now why he hadn’t attacked. Darren, Tristan, and Taylor all lay at his feet, and he glared at me with such hatred that I found myself trembling again.
“I resisted killing you,” he seethed, barely keeping himself together. “London would be so proud of me. In fact, I’ve decided to let you live—but these two,” he said pointing at Darren and Tristan. “One of them will die tonight.”
“Aiden please… Please don’t do this.”
“Then you should have brought her back!” he shouted. “You should have saved her. That’s why she stayed. We’d decided to leave days ago, but she insisted that she could help you. She just knew the answer would be inside one of those old books.” He smiled angrily. “Well now you get to live my pain. You will choose who lives.”
I couldn’t breathe. “No…”
He continued. “This one led me to you. I remembered seeing the two of you sitting together at lunch, so when I saw his car speeding away from the mansion I had a hunch as to where he was headed. When I saw the two of you embrace, I knew you cared about him.” He laughed again. “We both know how Tristan feels about you. How soft he’s become because of you. So…choose.”
I shook my head, refusing to answer.
“Choose!” he screamed, a snarl in his voice now.
“I can’t. I won’t. Please Aiden, I tried. I really did. I wanted to save her. I kept trying and trying—Please,” I begged. “Don’t make me do this.”
I don’t think he heard a word I said. He was looking at Taylor now, his lips forming an even more sickening smile. “I was going to save her for my other appetites now that London is gone, but it seems you need a little push. If you do not choose immediately, I will suck her dry, and ask again. If you still choose not to answer, then I will simply kill them both and then you. Choose.”
“K-kill me instead,” I squeaked. I’m the one you’re angry with.”
Ignoring my plea, he dropped to the floor and tilted back Taylor’s head. He eyed me as he reared back his head and I knew it was now or never. Time stopped, and I had to choose between my past and my future, guaranteeing at least one of them a certain death.
“Darren.”
He looked surprised. “To live or die?”
“To live. Darren has to live.”
He laughed so loudly it echoed in the hallway. “Don’t you see Tristan?” he said to his friend’s motionless body. “No matter how much we love them, they will always choose their own kind over us. If London had chosen to leave with me, instead of trying to help her, then she would be alive today.”
I covered my face. I was so helpless.
“You have chosen Darren, and for that you get to watch him die.” He started to laugh. “And look, he’s still conscious. You’ll get to hear him scream too.”
He appeared beside Darren in a flash and I shouted the first thing I could think of. “Kora Mortae!”
Shock crept over Aiden’s face and he lifted his eyes to me. He seemed to regard me differently now, possibly sensing me as a threat. He lunged from across the room, landing on top of me. Pinning my arms down, his eyes bore into my neck and his canines extended. I could feel his heart beating into my stomach. I closed my eyes and shouted same two words, over and over again, bracing for the pain of his teeth piercing my flesh—bracing for death.
“Ana?” he spoke.
My eyes opened, and I saw Aiden for the first time. Not Aiden the predator, or even the Aiden I’d come to know prior to London’s death. The monster was gone—there was only a broken hearted boy staring back at me.
“Thank you,” he breathed, and his eyes looked off into someplace I couldn’t see. I realized that I could no longer feel his heart beat.
With a shove, he fell away from me. And I cried for him. For London. And what I’d just done.
Chapter 30
Guilty
Three days had passed since I’d seen another person’s face—well, aside from the guardian who brought me my food twice a day. At any given moment, I knew there were literally hundreds of people just across the short hall, packed into the Council Room, but they might as well be on Mars as far I was concerned. I’d gotten my first glimpse of the enormous and elaborately decorated room when I was presented to them, not five minutes after returning home. The silence that greeted me that day was deafening. Chris’s dad, positioned at a podium near the front, was the on
ly one to speak, and it wasn’t a glad to have you back. He announced that I was being formally charged with crimes against nature, for both being and concealing a conjurer, for concealing a vampire, conspiracy to mislead the public—he continued naming charges, but it was at that moment that I noticed the Elder Witches, my grandmother in particular, with their arms bound behind them, down in the front row. I was able to meet her worried eyes for just a second before I felt my own arms being jerked painfully behind me, my own wrists being tied together. And then all hell broke loose. People were on their feet, faces filled with anger, some screaming at the top of their lungs, both at me and at the Elder Witches down in the front row. Chris’s dad tried to calm them down, but it was a futile attempt. It wasn’t until a ball of fire exploded into existence mere inches from my face that the guardians decided it a good idea to pull me out of the room. They carried me across the hall to the bare windowless room where I’d listened to Mrs. Moorer be taunted by my grandmother through some boy’s cell phone, where a recently deceased friend of mine had first contacted me with her mind.
I could still hear them across the hall sometimes, and though I was sure it was nothing I wanted to hear, I still found myself thankful for a reminder that the outside world hadn’t ceased to exist. The hours of solitude could be unbearable at times, and it was maddening to have no way of knowing whether or not the people I cared about were okay. Questions and worries floated around the room, taking turns with their attacks, mocking the futility of my existence. I was scared for my grandmother, seeing her bound like that had shaken me more than anything else about this ordeal. If she wasn’t in control, then who was? What would happen to her? Or my mother—would she be guilty by association? Then I would think about Taylor, wondering how badly she’d been hurt by Aiden. Again, someone else was suffering for an attack meant for me—I should never have gone to her house in the first place. And, of course, I worried about the boys who’d fought to protect me. There hadn’t been time to hide Tristan properly, Darren and Taylor had been hurt too badly to wait, so I just moved him into a closet and hoped for the best. The guardians arrived within minutes of my phone call; though looking back, it was probably because they were already out looking to arrest me. Both Tristan and Darren had been hurt so badly, they could both be dead if I was being completely honest with myself. My mother said that I was the eternal optimist, but even I was finding it immensely difficult to stay positive at the moment. Every single person I cared about was in some kind of trouble, and as much as I wished otherwise, it seemed impossible, even to me, that all of them could come through this unscathed.
Two were already dead.
My dreams were my only escape. I was still visited by new memories of Tristan whenever I drifted into slumber, and for a time the world would become magical again, and I’d be reminded of why it was I felt so strongly about him. I tried to resist the dreams at first—I hadn’t chosen to save Tristan, so it didn’t feel right to have him come to my rescue via a memory. But was it a choice, really? I was going to die in a matter of months, and if Tristan was still alive when I did, then he was going to end his own life. Darren still had a chance for a family, a life, a future—if that blow from Aiden hadn’t killed him already. But my willpower could only take so much, being awake was both painful and exhausting, and after the first night’s blissful reprieve, I found myself trying to sleep as much as possible. I would take naps as often as my body would allow, only to be upset with myself once I awoke at how easily I abandoned everyone and everything to disappear into some fairytale fantasy land.
They came for me on the third night. There was no warning and no knock, just a dozen or so guardians storming into the room. One of them pulled me onto my feet, and with the help of another, he began to drag me forcibly out of the room. I shouted to them that they were hurting me but they didn’t seem to hear me. I was being pulled, stumbling after them, not into the Council Room, but through the house and into the ballroom where I could see torches lit up out past the gardens through the large window panels.
Hundreds had gathered outside the mansion, as silent as if it were a funeral they were attending. They were split into two groups, with three quarters of those present belonging to the larger crowd of people. I found my family and friends standing in front of the smaller gathering. My grandmother began to weep the moment she saw me, leaning into the arms of my mother, who was ever the strong woman. My mother met my gaze with an expression familiar to me. It was the look she used to give me when I was much younger, when I’d possessed a genuine fear of monsters being in my closet or beneath my bed. It was the look that said not to be afraid. Only, her needing to give me those comforting eyes now only succeeded in making me more afraid. Why had they brought me out here? Darren and Taylor were next to them, and for a moment the fear was muted by an overwhelming relief to see that both of them were okay. Still, the pity in both their eyes, Taylor’s mixed with what looked like complete disbelief, confirmed my fears. Something terrible was about to happen.
Whispers broke out when the guardians released my arms, causing me to fall forward onto my knees. It wasn’t until I looked up again that I saw the instrument of death I recognized instantly. A stake.
Duncan was standing in front of it, his eyes as fierce as ever. Hatred radiated out of them as he commanded me to stand. Trembling, I did as he asked.
“Princess,” he started, his deep voice ringing in the night air. “You have been declared guilty, by the people gathered here today, of treason. You have consorted with vampires and a confirmed conjurer, both enemies of witchfolk the world over. On top of that, you have yourself been confirmed a conjurer. Your accomplices have been rounded up, having each been declared guilty for aiding in your crimes. As tradition holds, there can only be one course of action for crimes this egregious, the most severe of our punishments. Your accomplices, in accordance with their own sentences, will be forced to watch. You, princess, have been sentenced to death by fire.”
That got a reaction. Murmurs started at first, followed by full on shouts—protests by members of the smaller crowd. My supporters. Their own accusations of treason were making several in the larger crowd visibly uneasy, and they began to talk amongst themselves.
But who cares about how uncomfortable they were. I was the one about to die. This was it—all that I would ever do had already happened. It wasn’t the fear so much that filled my eyes with tears, but bitter disappointment. So much of my life I’d spent sheltered away from having normal experiences, an effort to protect me from the vampires that hunted me. And in this moment of weakness, I felt the old resentments toward my mother sprouting up again. Then, to be told that I only had months to live, well that seemed like a cruel joke. But there was hope even then; I could still make this life something memorable in my remaining time, something fantastic, to leave my mark on the world. What was left now?
“We shall now commence with the final arguments,” Duncan announced. He moved closer to the crowds, stopping once he was equally close to both of them.
“Fellow citizens!” he shouted. “It was never our intention to disrupt the natural order of things—these laws which have governed our kind since the beginning. But once it was discovered that those in power had chosen to deceive us about something as basic as our own security, we had to act. They told us our borders were safe, that no harm could come to us so long as we remained within the safety of our “safe” haven. All the while, we’ve been very much in danger. Our children, tucked into their beds at night have been very much in danger. Our beloved heir, whom we welcomed back with open arms, whom I escorted back here personally, has deceived us! Vampires! The very same creatures that have victimized our brothers and sisters outside the havens for hundreds of years, that have left a trail of grief and despair unequaled in the whole history of the world, allowed to walk freely among us, while those in power told us that we were paranoid to suspect anything. Our interrogation of Helena Bohnam has revealed that not only was our princess well awar
e of their presence here, but that she’s left with them on numerous occasions. Days after a vampire kills her mother for all natural purposes, she’s become chummy with their kind.”
“But I do not fault her entirely. Her actions, I’m sure, could not be helped. You see she is a confirmed conjurer. We’ve all heard the stories as children. We all saw how the evil twisted London McArthur’s mind. I’m sure, in fact, that it’s done irreparable damage to our heir’s as well. The vampires recognized the evil in her soul, perhaps they even bonded over that common attribute. This unnatural alliance is what led her to invite predators into our haven, to use her disgusting black magick to weaken the old magicks that keep the vampires out. But our kind have persevered this treachery. We have sniffed out this plot to bring down our haven and this traitorous girl must be punished for this most terrible of betrayals. The conjurer must die!”
The shouts that went up from the larger crowd sent chills down my spine. These were the very same people who would cheer anytime I entered a room, and now they all wanted me dead. Duncan had fed them of some kind of conspiracy theory and they had all lapped it up. Already angry and afraid, I found myself hating them for it.
Darren stepped up next and Duncan began to chuckle. “Now we get to hear from a boy who’s so wrapped up in “puppy” love he can’t see the forest through the trees.”
Snickers sounded. Darren glared at Duncan.
“If I may, I’d like to speak on Ms. Adams’s behalf.” The voice had come from the larger crowd.
There was shock on nearly everyone’s faces once they’d turned to find that it was Mrs. Moorer that had spoken. Duncan’s too. Darren looked to my mother and she nodded. My mother was the take charge type—as a single mother on the run, she’d had to be. She was also terrific at putting a plan together, so it was no surprise that people were looking to her for leadership in this. She could have had Mrs. Moorer planted there, just to have this effect when she spoke up for me. But even if this wasn’t planned, it was probably for the better; Duncan had certainly destroyed Darren’s credibility with the shot he’d just taken at him.
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