“Where's my sister?” I demanded, the heat in my blood rising.
Wolfe's eyes snapped to me as his upper lip curled back. He looked ready to berate me, but managed to return his gaze to Erik.
“This is the second time you've interrupted the Courting, General,” Erik snarled at him. “You had better have a good explanation.”
Wolfe nodded, bowing his head again. “Please, let's speak in private, your highness.”
Erik muttered an apology to me before taking Wolfe's arm and pushing him roughly through the crowd. I watched as they slipped behind a curtain, heading into a concealed passage.
Nightmare urged me to follow, but before I could, Fabian snared me in his arms and forced me to dance. “Good evening, Montana,” he said lightly. “You're looking beautiful tonight.”
Rage spewed through me at being captured by this monster when so much was at stake. But I couldn't let my fury be known to him.
“Are you alright?” he asked gently. “I heard about what happened last night. You must have been terrified. There are more and more rebels in the city these days, it's quite dangerous for humans beyond the castle grounds.”
I gazed up at him, trying to compose my face into something that resembled innocence. “Thank you. Yes, I'm fine. My shoulder was injured. It was lucky Erik was standing in front of me at the time or I don't think I would have survived.”
“Absolutely,” he said with a nod, his eyes bright with concern. He was a damn good liar, which made him a formidable kind of enemy.
“So, have you thought about who you'll pick tonight?” Fabian asked with a slanted smile.
“Um...” I chewed on my lip, unsure what to say. What I really needed to do was talk to Erik about this mark. But I wondered how much time I had left to do so. “I'm not sure.”
“You're cutting it quite close.” He grinned keenly. “Surely there's someone more appealing to you?”
I shrugged, glancing over at Paige who was now dancing with Miles. I hoped she’d heed my warning and pick him over Fabian.
The song finally changed to a merry tune and the rest of the vampires joined in with the dancing, filling up the surrounding space. I took the moment to break free of Fabian and dart into the crowd.
With my eyes set on the curtain Erik and Wolfe had disappeared behind, I started walking at a fierce pace.
Where's my sister you twisted piece of shit?
I reached the curtain and slowed to a stroll as eyes turned in my direction. Feigning interest in the beautiful surroundings, I inched along, listening hard to try and pick up their voices.
“-the slayer is alive, it's true.” Wolfe's voice.
“How is that possible?” Erik snarled. “He is supposed to be dead. And even if he somehow survived, no mortal can live a thousand years.”
“I don’t know how, but he lives. And now he has the Ford girl. They ran off with her father.”
My heart screamed with joy. They'd escaped. Callie and Dad were free, just like I'd hoped.
Nightmare seemed to reach out to me, vibrating with a warning I didn't understand.
“You let them get away?!” Erik barked at him and a heavy thump followed.
When Wolfe spoke, he did so with a murmur of pain. “I tried my hardest, Master. But he was powerful and had already killed many of the Elite. My back still isn't fully healed from the slayer blade he drove into me.”
“Do you think I give a shit about your injuries? What's the point in having a General who cannot kill a slayer? What use are you to me?” Erik snarled followed by another thump.
My gut knotted. Will Erik want me dead too when he finds out what I am?
My breathing quickened as I listened, pressing myself to the wall. A flare of pain shot through my shoulder and I released a gasp before I could suppress it.
Silence fell beyond the curtain.
I turned to run, but an arm shot out and dragged me behind it.
Erik's eyes flared as they narrowed on me. “Spying, Rebel?”
I gathered my wits, figuring I had every right to know what Wolfe had to say.
“You can hardly be surprised.” My eyes adjusted to the darker space and I spotted Wolfe against one wall with a trickle of blood flowing down his brow.
The General's eyes narrowed on me. “She's one of them!” he cried. “Look at her arm. She's the same as her sister. I saw the Ford girl with a slayer's blade. She may have been weak, but there was fight in her like no normal human.”
Fear made my heart pound as Erik's gaze travelled down me, seeming to hunt for something. Nightmare hummed so loud, I feared it would give itself away.
“Erik-” I started, but he snatched my right arm, ripping up my sleeve.
Time stuttered to a halt as his eyes fell on the mark. A snake seemed to tighten around my throat. I had no words, no explanation. I'd wanted to do this on my own terms, but Wolfe had taken that from me. He’d stunned me when I'd learned Callie might have been the same as me.
“Montana,” Erik growled in a deadly voice that dared me not to test him. “Are you a slayer?” He said the word like it was his salvation. I couldn't make any sense of it. Wasn't that a bad thing?
I shook my head, then nodded, unsure what the answer was.
“I don't know – maybe.” I glanced at Wolfe over Erik's shoulder, my heart beating at a frighteningly fast pace.
“But if Callie's one, then I must be too. She's my twin.” I gazed up at him, praying the repercussions of this weren't going to be brutal. But I had no choice now. This was what I'd wanted, just not under these circumstances.
“Twin?” Erik breathed, his silvery eyes melting like solder. “You're twins?”
I nodded, unsure why that was important but his intense expression told me it was.
“Fuck.” Erik scraped a hand through his hair, his brows knitting sharply together. “We've been wrong all these years.”
“What do you mean?” I begged just as Felicia's voice rang out from the ballroom.
“The choosing is about to begin! Courtiers please make your way to the stage immediately!”
Erik gazed at me, but he didn't seem to see me at all, his eyes glazed in thought.
“Go,” he whispered at last, pushing me toward the curtain.
I stumbled away, my mouth desert dry as I returned to the ballroom and the crowd nudged me in the direction of the other humans at the top of the steps.
My heart swelled with every stair I climbed. Erik wasn't angry about the mark. He wasn't going to hurt me over it, I was sure. And my family had escaped Wolfe and were somewhere in the world completely free.
I moved to Paige's side, a smile gripping my face. She gave me a curious frown, but I couldn't get out of my own head to respond. As the cameras were pointed our way, my smile was reflected back at me on the large screen opposite us.
Nightmare vibrated more furiously, sending a tremor through my body. What was the matter with it?
Felicia drifted closer with a bright grin as the crowd gathered and gave us their full attention. An electric tension pulsed through the room as the vampires fell quiet.
Fabian, Miles and Clarice stood at the bottom of the stairs, gazing up at us with anxious looks. Erik pushed through the crowd, his expression chaotic as he joined Fabian's side. He turned to face me with his throat bobbing and his eyes anxious, a silent plea inside them.
Frank moved to my side and Justin stood beyond him, seeming agitated.
“Frank, make your choice,” Felicia asked and a spotlight fell on him. The rest of the room darkened and a hushed silence fell.
Frank visibly swallowed, gazing down at the vampires. “I choose to join Clarice’s harem.”
A tumult of applause broke out and Frank moved down the steps, taking hold of Clarice’s waist and placing a kiss on her cheek. She smiled then turned her attention to us once more.
“Justin it’s your turn,” Felicia said and the spotlight fell over him.
Justin shifted from foot to foot. A bead of
sweat sailed down his brow as he gazed from Clarice to the camera crew. “I want to go to Realm A.”
A jolt went through me as I gazed at him, unsure if I’d heard correctly.
“You said I had a choice and I don’t want to be a vampire,” Justin went on, looking to Clarice.
She smiled, but looked disappointed. “I did. And if that’s what you want, you can have it. Your family will be moved there too.”
Justin’s shoulders sagged as he jogged down the stairs and Clarice embraced him. A moment later a couple of guards strode to his side, escorting him away.
My throat constricted as I shared a confused look with Paige. This had been the offer Clarice had given the men? How was it fair that they were allowed a way out and we weren’t?
At least I didn’t have to have children if I chose Erik. But what about Paige..?
“Paige.” Felicia gestured for her to make a choice and my heart galloped into top gear.
She gazed across the three brothers, knotting her fingers together. “I choose...” She took a breath, glancing at me before saying, “I choose Count Miles.”
My heart sang with relief. I reached for her and she squeezed my hand before darting down the steps. Miles seized her in his arms, placing a brief kiss on her lips.
The crowd applauded, crying out to them and my gaze turned to Fabian who was fighting hard to not look pissed off. For once, the mask he wore had slipped and anger shone in his eyes. A second later, he turned to me expectantly.
Not if you were the last option on earth, creep.
Felicia turned to me and the spotlight fell over me. Suddenly, I wasn't afraid. My answer was obvious. I'd work out the rest later. Callie and Dad were free, maybe I'd find a way to join them after tonight...
“I choose-”
Nightmare screamed bloody murder inside my head and I winced sharply, raising a hand to my eyes. Something shifted inside me like a switch turning on and brightening up a world that wasn't mine.
A vision engulfed me and I saw a hundred scenes, flitting through my head at high speed. Rows of humans in strange coffins. Vampires snarling, biting, dying. Blood spilled at the feet of a fierce warrior.
I blinked and the vision faded away. My eyes met the concerned gaze of Erik and I drew in a breath. Some of the vampires muttered their concern and I quickly gathered myself together.
“I choose Erik,” I announced, my voice ringing around the room.
Erik's shoulders slumped and Miles' mouth fell open.
I took a step down, but my foot never met the stair. The visions swept me away again, dragging me into a barn where my father lay in a pool of blood. His face was deathly still. A hand was gripped around his. My hand. No...not mine. Callie's.
I felt her pain, her grief. His death rang in my head like a gong. I knew it was true with a clarity that tossed me into a black pit of despair.
The vision shifted and I saw Callie on the ground before the warrior, their hands clasped around a blade just like Nightmare.
I seemed to fall into an eternity of darkness, my knees never hitting stone.
Nightmare sighed softly and the blackness broke just enough to reveal a strange glow in my periphery. The feeling of something omniscient surrounded me and my body seemed to melt away. I became like water cupped in the hands of a divine being. And it spoke to me in a voice almost like my own.
“You must be made, Moon Child. It is time you are made.”
I’d cried until my eyes were sore and no more tears could find their way from my body. After everything we’d done to bring down the blood bank. Everything we’d risked to save him, my dad was gone. A hopeless kind of despair filled me as I stared at the cairn we’d created around his body.
Magnar had carried him to the top of the hill for me. It was the highest point for miles around and we’d lain him to rest looking down on all of it. He was finally free.
It had taken hours to collect the stones required to cover him. My fingers were numb from the cold and coated with dirt from digging the rocks out of the soil. My fingernails were broken and bloody but I couldn’t feel any pain from my injuries. The pain in my heart was too much to allow room for anything else.
The sun began to set as I looked at the monument we had created for my dad’s final resting place. The clear sky was streaked with lines of pink and orange and the full moon had already risen too. It was like the heavens had brought the sun and the moon together to say goodbye.
I clutched Mom’s wedding ring which now hung on the chain around my neck. The metal felt warm, its presence making me feel closer to my parents somehow. Like carrying it with me kept their souls close to mine.
My mind drifted to Montana, trapped with the murderers who had done this. She didn’t even know. It wasn’t right that she didn’t know.
I gritted my teeth as my grief began to give way to rage. Who did the vampires think they were to do this to us? How could they rip my whole world apart and feel no remorse? The pain clawing at my soul needed an outlet.
My father was gone. They’d taken Montana to the other side of the country. I was being hunted like some kind of animal. And for what?
It wasn’t right. I wanted them to pay. I wanted to make them feel an ounce of what I was feeling. I wanted to storm into their so-called kingdom, tear the walls down on top of their heads and let the sun burn them alive. I wanted them all dead. And there was only one way I could achieve that.
I turned towards Magnar who stood silently at my side and took his hand in mine. He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he caught sight of the determination in my gaze. The time for grieving was gone. Now I needed revenge.
“I’ll take the vow,” I said fiercely. “Tell me the words and I’ll say them. I want my gifts unleashed. I want to be a full slayer like you. I want to kill the Belvederes.”
Something sparkled in Magnar’s golden eyes and he wrapped his other hand over mine.
I waited for him to tell me what to do.
Fury burned at my hip in excitement, urging me on. Seize your destiny Sun Child.
This was what I’d been born to do. It was what I was made for.
“No Callie,” Magnar breathed. “Not like this.”
“What?” I stared at him in astonishment. I’d thought he would have been pleased, thrilled even. He was the last of his kind. If I joined him then there would be two of us just as dedicated to his cause as he was now. We could stay together and hunt down the monsters who had started all of this. I wanted to help him destroy the vampires. I needed to do it.
“Not like this,” he repeated firmly. “This isn’t a decision that you should make while you’re feeling this way-”
“I’ll never not feel this way,” I hissed angrily. Who was he to tell me my own mind? “My father is dead! Don’t you get it? They killed him!”
“You know I understand that pain better than anyone,” he growled and I remembered what Erik Belvedere had done to his father. He did understand, so why wouldn’t he help me?
“So let me take the vow. Let me help you to destroy them!” I demanded.
“There are other implications, things that you don’t understand. If you take your vow I will have to train you and then we can’t-”
“I don’t care!” I yelled, snatching my hand from his grasp. “I don’t care what the price is. I would give anything to get my sister away from them. I would give my soul, my life, anything at all.”
Fury continued to grow hot at my hip, seeming desperate for me to do this. It wanted me to realise my potential. It wanted me to become a true slayer.
I grabbed the blade from its sheath and a feeling like being submerged in warm water enveloped me. I gasped as a strange wind pulled at my hair and a power unlike anything I’d ever felt surged around us.
I dropped to one knee holding fury before me, its tip embedded in the frozen mud.
“Don’t do this Callie,” Magnar begged and a small part of me felt his anguish like a punch in the chest as he moved to stand before m
e.
I know the words, Fury breathed excitedly. Let me guide your tongue.
My eyes locked with Magnar’s and a fresh kind of pain hit me as I looked into his desperate gaze but I couldn’t go back on my decision. I needed my gifts. I could feel it in every inch of my body. I had to say the words.
“I vow to always walk in the light,” I said and the power of the words locked my body in its position as my blood thrummed in my veins. “I will seek out those who dwell in the darkness.”
Blinding light grew to the right of me and though I couldn’t turn my head, I could feel the presence of something far greater than any mortal or vampire. The being moved closer, watching us and willing me on, its power seeming to flow into me as I spoke.
“My days shall no longer be my own. I give them to the cause.”
Something immense slammed into my body and I gasped as its power radiated through my blood. I couldn’t move an inch. Each breath I took was laced with something which tingled and burned its way right down into my lungs before spreading further, finding every fibre of my being and moulding it into something new. I was being reborn as a creature of pure power, my human weaknesses leaving me and blowing away on the strange wing which spiralled around me.
Magnar growled in resistance as the being spread its power towards him and he was slowly forced to his knees opposite me. His eyes were filled with regret as his hands closed over mine where they clasped Fury’s hilt. His rough palms were hot against my skin and I sensed the same strange magic burning through his blood too. It flowed between us, forming a bridge from his soul to mine.
“Please stop Callie,” Magnar whispered but I doubted I would have been able to even if I wanted to.
“I dedicate myself to my mentor,” I said in a voice that didn’t sound like my own anymore. “My life is in his hands. We will be bound by our cause, forfeiting all other ties. I will follow the path he sets.”
The power in my chest surged from me to surround Magnar too and his eyes burned fiercely as he fought against the urge to speak. The seconds dragged as he clenched his mouth shut and sweat beaded on his temple. His jaw ticked as he concentrated on resisting the power which pushed against his will. His gaze burned with a desperate plea for me to end this and release him from the promise he was about to be forced to make.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 47
