“Well, we don’t get many sane ones that far into the bonding.” He whistled. “Whenever someone gets lowered into the city, we wait and watch. Not all come in completely mad. We rescue them and try to make their lives a little more comfortable.”
The nurse grinned, baring small fangs. “And for that, we’re eternally grateful.”
“Katie here was one of our first. We get more and more every year.” He glanced up at Angelina, then over at Diana. “Don’t get many your age, lately. It’s the teenage vampires that drop the most off. You know, they always think they’ve found the love of their life until the next one comes along.”
She nodded, remembering how at sixteen she’d been sure Frank’s father was her true love.
“All done.” He pressed a small ball of cloth over the tiny hole and handed the sample of her blood to the nurse. “Every now and then we get one in with those wafers. You came just in time. Our scientists have almost figured out how to make them, but our supply is running frighteningly low. They help our Night-timers.”
Angelina nodded. “The temperature here helps too, I bet.”
He nodded, taking in her sweater. “During the summer months, at least. You wouldn’t happen to know where we are, would you?”
Shaking her head, Angelina explained. “I was unconscious, but judging by how quickly the helicopter left me, then returned with my granddaughter, this island can’t be too far from New York.”
“We figured that much. We weren’t in the air too long before the crash.”
The doctor began to stitch up Diana’s wounds. “One good thing about her going so far, she won’t have any scars to remind her of her arrival. Poor thing, she must have been terrified.”
A lump choked off Angelina’s reply.
A half hour passed. The more labored Diana’s breathing became, the more Angelina prayed. Just as she thought she’d scream from the tension cramping her muscles, the nurse arrived and handed a slip of paper to the doctor. He glanced down as Katie spoke close to his ear. Seeing their grim expressions, Angelina drew her chair closer to the bed and grasped Diana’s hand.
“I’m sorry. You’re not a match.” Doc Jenkins ran his hand through his hair. “I always feel so helpless when this happens. We’ll just have to wait and see if she can hold out long enough for us to test all our Night-timers.”
The night drew to an end and no matter how hard she tried to stay awake, Angelina soon fell into a deep sleep with her head resting on the bed beside Diana’s hand.
She dreamt of Damien and Frank. They sat huddled over a map while another man she instinctively knew wasn’t Sebastian slept on a nearby couch. Her couch.
Damien, help us, she tried to yell.
Although her words sounded like nothing more than a groan, Damien raised his head and looked directly at her. He winked.
Hold on, Angelina. We’re coming.
She tried to get closer, to touch him, but no matter how fast she ran, the distance between them remained.
Get Sebastian, Damien. Bring Sebastian to Diana. She needs him, she cried, her sobs strangling her words.
She watched in horror as Damien closed his eyes and turned back to the map.
She’ll die if he doesn’t come. She needs his blood! Her words sounded like nothing more than babbling to her ears, but once again, she knew he understood.
Damien just shook his head. The room faded and for a moment she hung suspended in darkness. Gradually, she could make out a cluster of pine trees. Her eyes adjusted. Something moved in the clearing between the forest and a small brick building.
“No,” she wailed, realizing the enraged vampire tossing a tree like it weighed no more than a toothpick into the air had to be Sebastian. Blood covered his bare chest and arms and saturated his pants. Sebastian! Sebastian!
But he didn’t hear her. She watched in horror as he held his arms up toward the amber sky above the horizon. Angelina realized he awaited the rising sun, knew he had no intention of taking shelter. Drawing closer, she saw the anguish on his face and reached out to touch him. Her hand passed through him. No matter how hard she tried to get his attention, he saw nothing, heard nothing.
“Don’t cry, Nana. I’m not afraid to die.”
Angelina lifted her head. “Oh, Diana,” she cried, “You have to call Sebastian.”
Diana’s lips trembled. “He won’t come. You didn’t see his eyes. He hates me.”
“He’s hurt, Diana. He thought you’d tricked him. Give him a chance. Call him.” She sat on the edge of the bed and cupped her granddaughter’s face in her hands. “He loves you.”
“No, he hates me.”
“You listen to me, young lady. You’re dying. The Slashers took too much blood and your body isn’t accepting mine or any from the supply here. Call him.”
“I can’t. He has to come back to me on his own. I won’t beg him to!”
Angelina scowled down into Diana’s once-vibrant green eyes. “If you love him, you’ll call. He’s dying from the guilt. I saw him, Diana. He needs to know you still love him. That you forgive him.”
“You can feel that? He wants me to forgive him?” Hope lit her eyes.
“Open your heart to him. Close your eyes and see him with nothing more than your love, then you’ll see what I did.” Angelina brushed a wayward curl from Diana’s forehead. “Go to him, Diana. Scream out his name with everything you’ve got.”
Diana closed her eyes and tore down the walls she’d erected to protect herself from Sebastian’s hatred.
His anguish slammed into her heart before she saw him kneeling on the ground while a sliver of the sun peeked over the horizon. A group of men glanced at the coming dawn, then, turning from Sebastian, rushed toward a building.
Get up, Sebastian! Get away from the sun! She screamed with her mind, but found that it, like her body, had barely enough energy to keep her connection to Sebastian. The vision started to fade.
He lifted his head and glanced at the horizon. To her horror, instead of bolting for shelter, he tilted his head up higher and closed his eyes.
Her eyes flew open. “He’s killing himself!”
“Don’t stop, Diana. Tell him you love him. Tell him you’re dying. He’ll find shelter if he thinks he could save you.”
Diana fought off the fatigue and squeezed her eyes shut. I love you, Sebastian. I’ll always love you.
She felt the heat of the sun burning his skin. No! You have to come back for me!
Sobbing, she used her own impending death to seduce him away from the dawn. I’m dying, Sebastian. If you ever truly loved me, let me see you one more time. There’s nothing to forgive. Nothing. Oh God, Sebastian, get up!
Sebastian’s back flinched as the first ray struck his shoulder.
Get up, you idiot! She watched as he raised his head, felt her heart swell when a grin spread across his face. With a bolt of speed that took her breath away, he charged into the building.
I’m coming, Diana.
She feared he thought she had meant that her hunger for him was killing her. Hurry, Sebastian. The Slashers took too much blood.
The rays of the sun seared Sebastian’s back as he sprinted the last twenty feet to the school. By the time the metal doors closed behind him, smoke rose from his back. The smell of burning flesh and the razor-sharp sting from the multitude of slashes covering his body nearly sent him to his knees.
Only Diana’s last words and the weakness he detected now that she had once again opened her heart up to his kept him from passing out.
He had to get to her before she died.
Nearly a hundred children sat huddled against the walls lining the dark hallway of the school, their quiet sobs and the comforting words of the teachers the only sounds meeting his ears. He opened his mouth to demand an explanation of why the children remained in school during the day, then closed it with a groan. Their terrified eyes as they stared at him told him all he needed to know.
The teachers hadn’t dared send the childre
n out of the school with him out there. The windows of the school had metal shutters for emergencies such as this, but that didn’t alleviate his guilt that these children were separated from their parents during a time when they should be home, safely tucked into their beds.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
Luna pulled away from Ms. Tindela’s grasp and timidly approached. “You okay, now, Uncle Sebastian?” She tilted her head back and frowned up at him.
“Yeah, I’m okay now.” Squatting, he winced. Seeing the concern on her face, he grinned. “How’s my favorite girl?”
She pinched her nose between her fingers. “You smell awful!”
He laughed at the sounds of disgust and fake retching that erupted from the children as one by one they gathered around him. Their eyes widened as they gazed at the damage a few moments in the sun had wrought. He doubted any of these children would accept a dare to face the sun even for a few seconds.
“You must be the strongest vampire ever,” Fallon yelled from the back of the mass of bobbing heads.
“And the craziest,” another added.
Sebastian chuckled. “Love can make even the strongest vamp act crazy.”
Luna pouted. “I thought I was your favorite girl.”
“You are, Luna Moona. You’re my favorite little girl, but Diana is my favorite big girl.”
Luna’s eyes lit up. “Diana? My Diana?” She grasped the locket. “She gave me her heart,” she announce proudly to her friends. “It’s special. She put all her love in it so the monster that got Daddy would know she loved me and leave me alone.”
Sebastian’s guilt washed over him anew like waves crashing upon the shore during a winter storm.
Luna’s face beamed. “She said she’d always come if I got scared and called her. I did one day, when Mommy was sleeping. Diana said that she’d kill the monster before she let it hurt me or my mommy.”
“A girl can’t kill a monster.” Fallon scoffed, then yelped as he received a swift punch in his arm from Luna. She turned around and faced the children. “Diana can, can’t she, Uncle Sebastian? She can kick even better than that Chinese guy in the movies. She showed me once. Her leg swung over her head and broke a big branch right off a tree!”
Sebastian chuckled.
Luna turned to glare at him.
He swallowed and wagged his finger. “Luna, what have we said about telling fibs?”
She stomped her foot. “It is not a fib. She broke a branch off a tree with just her foot. Mommy saw it too.”
Sebastian recalled how Diana had kicked his feet out from under him when they were in her yard and all the trophies lining the shelves in her room, the figures atop them always with a leg flung out. “So she was going to kick this monster to death?”
“Yup. She’s the best kicker in New York.”
Sebastian drew in a hissing breath as a small finger from the group gathered behind him poked the raw flesh on his back.
Rising, he gazed over the children’s heads to the group of elders standing at the end of the hall. “I have to go. Now.”
They nodded. His grandfather took out a cell phone. After mumbling a few words, he snapped it shut. “My helicopter is refueling. You’ll be protected from the sun in it. I’m sorry, Sebastian. It seems your mother took two women to the Isle of Fentmore earlier this evening in the other one and hasn’t returned.”
Sebastian swallowed his rage. He had to stay in control, for Diana’s sake.
His grandfather let out a long weary sigh. “Olympia thinks that she is above our laws just because she is my daughter. She disrupted your bonding and must be punished.”
“Banishment?” Luna asked, her voice sounding oddly relieved. “You’re going to banish Grandma?”
Sebastian took the little girl’s hand. “It’s the law, Luna. We can’t keep producing Slashers. They’re too dangerous to us. That’s why anyone who purposely hinders the completion of a bonding ritual of a couple must face banishment. They’re risking everyone’s life. Do you understand?”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “She hurt my Daddy.”
Sebastian shook his head. “A bad man hurt your Daddy. Not Grandma.”
She dropped her head. “She did. I heard her.”
Sebastian glanced up at the elders. They seemed as confused as he and slowly made their way through the children.
“What did you hear, Luna,” Desmond, the youngest of the elders, asked, placing his hand on Luna’s shoulder.
“She told Daddy that the hunter was his brother. That he’d never hurt Daddy because they shared the same blood. She told him to go to the hunter and trust him.” Luna’s chin quivered. “Daddy was scared, but Grandma swore she knew the man wouldn’t hurt him. She said she’d follow and told him that he should do what the man said.”
Sebastian’s fists clenched. He glared at his grandfather. “Has she no heart? She sacrifices her sons like we mean no more to her than the vermin she crushes beneath her feet!”
“I hate to admit it, but we are all pawns in my daughter’s eyes. She used my guilt against me when she convinced me to bind Damien to her, even though he begged me to keep him free until his chosen could join him.” He dropped his head.
“But to kill her own son?” Sebastian struggled to remain calm. He knew his grandfather’s grief matched his own.
“Marek was adopted, Sebastian, you know that.”
“She raised him from infancy as her own. She must have loved him.” He’d never forget the day his stepfather had brought the baby into their house. He’d felt a bond with him unlike any he’d had before or since.
Until Diana.
He glanced up at his grandfather. “I always thought Marek looked like Damien, but I assumed one of his parents was another vampire. He was Damien and Angelina’s son, wasn’t he?”
When his grandfather sadly nodded, Sebastian snarled. “Damien always treated me like his real son and my mother repaid him by sending his only son to his death. Banishment isn’t good enough.”
“No, it isn’t. Now that we know about her crime, we must take action,” Desmond demanded.
His grandfather turned, his shoulders slumped, and walked down the hall. “So be it.”
The sound of an approaching helicopter drew everyone’s attention away from the departing elders.
Chapter Fifteen
Doc Jenkins stood beside Diana’s bed holding her wrist between his fingers. Shaking his head, he tenderly tucked her hand under the sheets. “I’m afraid she won’t last through the day.”
“She has to. Sebastian can’t come until sunset.” Angelina grasped his arm. “There must be something we can do to keep her alive until he arrives. Why won’t feeding help? Why can’t I let her feed from me?”
He continued to shake his head, and patted her trembling hand. “It won’t do any good. She needs a transfusion to replenish the massive amount of blood she’s lost. Feeding from you would only satisfy the craving.”
“But it might give her enough energy to hold on until Sebastian comes. We have to at least try.” She battled the massive lump in her throat, the searing sting of tears in her eyes. “Please, let me at least try.”
“Angelina, even if Sebastian walked through that door this instant, I doubt she’d make it.”
Angelina lost her battle to remain strong and slumped into the chair, her racking sobs tearing at her chest. “This is all my fault. If I’d kept her away from them like her father had wanted, she’d be home right now. Not in this Godforsaken place.”
Katie, the nurse who’d remained beside Angelina all morning, squatted beside her chair and wrapped her arm over her shoulders.
The sound of a helicopter hovering overhead drew everyone but Angelina and Katie to the window. Angelina covered her eyes when they shoved the drapes aside, allowing the bright rays of the midday sun to wash over the room. Diana didn’t even flinch as a beam slashed across her face.
“Three in two days. If they keep this up we’ll be overrun by Slash
ers,” Katie muttered, rising and drawing a curtain halfway around Diana’s bed.
“They’re dropping a box in the square!” Doc Jenkins shouted.
“A box?” Katie peeked around the curtain.
“It looks like a coffin,” one of the orderlies uttered in a hushed voice.
“Why would they be dropping a coffin on our side of the wall?” Katie’s voice trembled. Her hands clenched the curtain. “What if it’s a vampire? What if the one who brought you here heard we’re helping you?”
“Does that woman never give up?” Angelina searched the room for someplace to hide Diana.
“John’s got an ax.” Doc Jenkins winked at Angelina over his shoulder. “Looks like they’re going to bust it open. If it’s that Olympia, she’ll fry before she reaches us.”
“Sebastian…” Diana whispered and sighed.
The doctor frowned.
“Oh, my God, he’s in the coffin!” Angelina glanced down at Diana, then back at the doctor. “Sebastian!”
“Cover the windows,” Doc Jenkins yelled and flung open the door.
Angelina squeezed Diana’s hand as she watched the doctor race outside, heard his frantic demands that the coffin remain intact.
The orderlies closed the blinds and curtains. The two wearing extra layers of clothing darted from the room. Katie took a step to follow them, then turned and, raising her chin, returned to Diana’s bed.
Angelina brought her lips to Diana’s ear. “Your Sebastian’s here, isn’t he, honey? Diana? Is it Sebastian?”
But Diana didn’t answer, didn’t move no matter how hard Angelina and Katie nudged her. She looked so content, a soft smile curving her pale lips.
Angelina’s throat constricted. “He’s here, Diana. You have to hold on.”
A lone tear escaped from the outer corner of one of Diana’s eyes. A long, barely audible breath was the last sound Angelina heard before her own screams filled the room.
When the doctor and the men carrying the coffin entered the room, they found Angelina sobbing on her knees beside the bed as Katie, tears pouring down her cheeks, frantically searched Diana’s neck and wrists for a pulse.
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