Age of Vampires- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

  My heart was tugged in two directions.

  “Leave him! Let’s go!” Callie insisted, her cheeks ashen and her eyes glimmering. She desperately wanted to get away and I could see how much she needed me with her.

  “Please,” I begged Erik again. “Stand down.”

  Erik released a low growl, slowly turning to Miles with his fangs bared. “We'll fight another day,” he commanded and Miles opened his mouth in surprise.

  Tears pricked my eyes as I backed up, relief spilling through me. It was quickly drowned away as I realised the decision I had to make. I couldn’t part from Callie again. We’d been away from each other too long.

  “She needs me,” I breathed as the rain battered my cheeks.

  Erik’s posture stiffened as he stared at me, realising what I was saying. “You’re leaving,” he stated with so much pain it was if he was announcing my death.

  “I’ll come back,” I promised, my words choked as emotion threatened to overwhelm me. We both knew it might not be possible. That if I walked away from him now, we might never see each other again.

  Leaving him felt like tearing out a piece of my heart and abandoning it here. It would hurt like hell, but I had to do it. I couldn’t desert my sister. Not now. Not after everything we’d been through to find each other.

  He shook his head, bleakness seeping into every inch of his face. “You won’t.”

  I reached for him, taking his hand and pressing my mouth to the wedding band on his finger. “I promise,” I whispered.

  He looked ready to argue, to demand I stay or even take me into his arms and refuse to let me go. But he did none of those things. Erik was letting me make my own choice for once. And as his arms fell to his sides and defeat took root in his eyes, I backed away, knowing I was crushing him by doing this. That he didn’t trust I’d ever come back to him. And maybe he was right. Because how could I ever come back if I walked away from him now?

  The only thing I knew was that I belonged with him, no matter what the world thought of that. Of how I was betraying humankind by wanting him. But that didn’t mean we could be together.

  I turned to leave but Erik slammed into me, crushing his lips to mine. Rainwater sailed between our mouths. His lips were icily cold and sent a shiver through to my heart. But as he held me, the cold ebbed away and a fire coursed through my veins. I loved him, although it defied all logic. I loved him because he wasn’t the monster I’d grown up to fear. And I loved him because he’d shown me that there was hope for the world yet, that the curse could be broken.

  I pulled away and heated tears rolled down my cheeks, muddling with the rain. His hand still gripped mine as I backed up until I moved too far and our fingers parted.

  Callie ran to my side, taking my hand and dragging me away. I kept looking over my shoulder as I ran after her. Erik’s gaze burrowed into mine. The rain swept around him and his family, making them appear like statues in the dark mist. I fell into step with Julius and Magnar as they sped away from the royals, my soul crushing as I realised I might never see Erik again.

  We turned a corner and my heart shattered into a million pieces. I was sure I'd done the right thing. I had to stay with Callie, the last of my family. But doing so sent a rocket of finality through me.

  There was one thought I held onto. It was more than a promise, it was a vow. One I committed to with my entire soul.

  I’ll find you again one day, Erik.

  I swear it.

  My family and I made camp in the woods close to the battlegrounds. The lands of Atbringer would be nourished by blood for decades to come. Blood spilled by my hand. My teeth.

  Miles sat beside Fabian on a log as they spoke in low murmurs. I kept away from them, my back to the circle we'd formed under the waning moon.

  Clarice moved to my side, taking my hand in hers. “We had to kill them or they would have killed us.”

  “Every war is the same. Who is it we're fighting for, sister? I don't see worthy men sitting here. I see monsters made by an angry god.”

  “We are your family,” she urged, squeezing my fingers. “I love you and our brothers more than anything. We can't let the slayers win.”

  “Maybe they should win,” I muttered. “Did you see what I became today?”

  Clarice rested her head on my shoulder and her golden locks cascaded down my arm. We'd all washed the blood from our bodies in an icy river. Our bodies were immune to the freezing water. I would never feel the sun on my back, nor the bite of frost again.

  “You're a good man, Erik,” Clarice promised and I released a dry laugh.

  “Good? How can you think that? I am a vessel for Andvari to fill with blood.”

  “If we're his pawns, perhaps it's not our fault,” she murmured.

  “Many men before us have blamed the gods for their misgivings. That does not make them right. We still have free will.” I toyed with the blade in my hand. One strike, deep and true, would end my plague on this world. But the afterlife would bring me no peace after what I'd done. Remaining here in this body didn't seem like a better alternative though. And at least if I was in hell, I could no longer kill innocent people.

  Clarice gripped the hilt of my blade, prising it from my fingers. “You're worrying me.”

  An ache grew in my heart. “I can't stay like this, Clarice. I thought perhaps changing the slayer warrior into one of us was the answer. But here we are, still in our cursed forms. It has changed nothing.”

  “That slayer may have destroyed the last of the clans by now. It could have changed everything. If the slayers are all dead there will be no one left to hunt and persecute us,” Fabian called to me, but I didn't turn to him, growing irritated by his lack of guilt.

  “Your priorities are all wrong, Fabian,” I snarled, gazing at the dirt by my feet.

  “My priority is keeping us alive. The slayers were made to kill us. If they're gone, we're free.”

  I rose sharply, turning to him and Miles caught Fabian's arm, trying to keep him back. A fierce tension crackled between us.

  “And how long do you think the gods will keep things that way? They can make slayers at their whim. If they want us challenged, we will be challenged.” My shoulders tensed as Fabian bared his fangs.

  “Then we will kill them too,” Fabian growled, stepping closer.

  “Stop fighting,” Miles groaned, giving up on holding Fabian back. “I just want to go home.”

  “To your fucking band of followers?” I spat at him. “You're all giving into the curse, every one of you.” I rounded on Clarice and she gave me a guilty look. I pointed at her. “You draw men to you like moths to a flame. And Miles, you offer out the curse like it's a good thing. You're all building an army of creatures just like us, and for what? Every one of us you make, another slayer will be born. The gods will not let us win. They don't want us to prevail.”

  “I disagree.” Fabian folded his arms, his fury seeming to have dissipated a fraction. “Perhaps this is a gift more than a curse. Perhaps they do want us to prosper.”

  “You were there when they killed our families!” I roared, losing control of my emotions. “You wept at your sisters’ deaths. You saw what they did to our mothers and fathers! This was no gift, it is our punishment for their crime.”

  Fabian stalked around the edge of the small clearing, irritated by my tone. “Perhaps the gods have changed their minds. Perhaps they are taking pity on us now. We won that battle. They could have intervened if they didn't want us to succeed.”

  I thought of Andvari and how he'd given me the strength to win. Fabian was right in one sense. Andvari wasn't done with us yet. But pity? I wasn't enough of a fool to believe that.

  “Andvari doesn't want us dead, he wants us tormented,” I growled.

  “Andvari?” Fabian spat. “Does the great Andvari speak to you, brother, because he never seems to answer me.”

  Miles's brows rose. “Does he?” he asked me hopefully.

  “Yes,” I sighed. “He has spoke
n to me many times.”

  “And?” Clarice asked, taking my hand again and giving me a hopeful look.

  “He's lying!” Fabian bellowed, lifting a log from the ground and throwing it into the trees. With a tremendous crash another tree was uprooted by the collision and smashed to the forest floor.

  “I am not lying,” I snarled, my muscles flexing. If Fabian wanted a fight, I'd happily give him one. I had too much energy to expend and I'd revel in taking it out on him.

  “You went insane in that cave. I told you not to go.” Fabian rounded on me once more, his eyes narrowing sharply. “My brother went in there, but a madman has walked out.”

  “You're just jealous,” Miles bit at him then turned his gaze to me. “I believe you, Erik. What did Andvari say to you?”

  I shook my head, pulling away from Clarice's hold. “Just more riddles and laughter. He wishes to taunt us, that's all.”

  Silence reigned and Miles fell into a dark reverie, gazing into the trees. Fabian stalked around the camp, evidently hankering for a fight.

  I fished up my blade and headed into the forest, needing to get away. Clarice called after me but I ignored her, moving into the shadows where my soul belonged.

  When I'd moved far enough from the others and was certain I was alone, I took a seat beneath a birch tree and weighed the blade in my palm.

  I was no coward, but facing an eternity in hell still frightened me. Forcing my hesitation away, I rested the tip of the blade against my chest. My heart grew heavy as if it longed for the pierce of the blade to end its suffering.

  I gazed up toward the canopy, glimpsing the canvas of stars above. “I've tried to right your wrongs Mother...Father. Sometimes I hate you. But most of all I wish to forgive you. To put the pain in my heart to rest for what you have caused.” The star-spangled sky seemed to watch with bated breath, whispering between them about whether I would go through with killing myself.

  “I'm done,” I whispered. To me. To Andvari. To my family. “I will not be a bane upon this world any longer.”

  I pushed the blade hard, but no pain came. I took the hilt in both hands and drove it inward, but no crack of ribs followed. My skin was iron to most men, but that shouldn't have stopped me.

  Andvari's chuckling laughter filled the air. “Too easy, Erik. I won't let you take this path.”

  I ground my teeth, fury sprouting in my chest and growing deep roots. “Let me die,” I snarled.

  “Death is easy,” Andvari purred from between the trees. “I will see you suffer in every way this world has to give. And then perhaps I will let you die. If you do not break the curse first.”

  “Then I shall walk into a camp of slayers and they will end me instead!”

  Andvari's presence shifted around me and the leaves stirred at my feet. I could almost sense him kneeling before me, then a warm hand rested on my knee. “I dislike the slayers, Erik Larsen. I will gift you what you need to fight them.”

  “Then I am just your puppet,” I said, the words more for me than him. I was trapped here living this life until Andvari decided otherwise. And that truth tasted bitter on my tongue.

  Dropping the blade into my lap, I rested my head back against the tree. “What do you want from me and my family?”

  Andvari seemed to sigh. I could feel it in the way the trees bowed to the wind and the leaves swirled in the gust. “It is time the vampires rose to power. Tell your brothers and sister to sire as many humans as they can. Build an army, Erik. A challenge is coming to you like nothing you’ve ever faced before. Your family can only be saved if you rise to meet it.”

  I felt his presence waning and jerked forward, certain he was about to leave. “They won't believe me. You must speak to them yourself.”

  Andvari laughed. “I will speak to them in songs and poems and sonnets. I will speak to them in the arc of the rising sun and the shadow of the crescent moon.”

  “You make no sense,” I growled.

  “I make perfect sense. The meaning is that I am always here. I am always watching.”

  “Then speak with them!” I barked.

  The air seemed to shudder before my eyes. A small stream bubbled and steamed just a few feet from me. I rose, moving toward it at a cautious pace. The water stilled and I gazed into it as a man seemed to swim up from its shallow depths. Andvari rose from the water like a reflection stepping from polished glass. He was in his own form, just as he'd been the day he'd cursed us. His eyes were as black as tar and his skin near-translucent. His hair was a course tangle of hazel locks akin to weeds. His dark robes were perfectly dry and seemed to move about him like the lapping of a wave.

  “Lead the way,” he whispered with a cruel smile.

  Turning my back on him felt dangerous, but I was already snared in his claws. He could end me as easily as he could save me.

  I guided him back to my family, finding them all gathered on the fallen log. Stepping aside, I allowed Andvari to move past me. His feet were bare and hardly touched the ground as he moved toward them.

  My brothers and sister seemed to shrink before him, their strength nothing in comparison to this deity.

  When he spoke, his words were fluid and soft. “Sat on by a ruler, polished by a maid. What am I?”

  Clarice glanced at Miles and he tentatively slid an arm around her shoulders.

  “A throne?” Fabian guessed, getting to his feet, his eyes wide with awe.

  Andvari laughed, opening his arms wide. “Yes. And it is time you take it, friends.”

  My hands curled up into fists as my family fell under his spell, nodding their agreement.

  “How?” Miles asked, his gaze glittering with hope.

  “There is a land far from here, not yet claimed by the strong. It is time you go there. Then you must wait until the day of reckoning arrives. And when it does...you may seize power. But do not squander the time you have. Make your monsters. Breathe immortal life into every deserving soul you can find.”

  “Is that the answer to your prophesy?” I hissed, stepping forward so Andvari had to acknowledge me.

  “Do you think it is?” Andvari's pitch black eyes dragged over me.

  I shook my head, having no answer.

  “What is it I told you of the sun and moon?” he whispered, drifting closer.

  I swallowed the hard lump growing in my throat. I didn't want to voice that answer. I feared how my brothers and sister would take it. But Andvari's smiling face turned to a dark grimace and I knew I had no choice. I drew up the memories of my time in the dark cave and repeated what I'd learned. “We can birth children with humans. Twins perhaps...” I glanced up at the sky and the stars seemed to have dimmed.

  “Is that the answer?” Clarice asked excitedly, her eyes brighter than they had been in years.

  Andvari smiled around at us all. “You have much to do. Begin with the nearest town. Sire as many as you can and head to the last of the slayer clans. Finish the battle before Idun can create another army. Buy yourselves times to rise.”

  My gut coiled up into a tight ball.

  “They're still alive?” Fabian asked and Andvari nodded.

  With that, leaves coiled up around the god, swirling in a vortex until he was completely concealed. When the wind died, they fell limp on the ground and Andvari was gone.

  My gut rolled as my family began speaking excitedly. I feared with all my heart what Andvari had said. He had tricked me on the battlefield and I was sure this was another of his games. The look in my family's eyes told me I'd never convince them of that.

  Siring humans was a dangerous thing. I didn't want to bestow this curse on anyone, but perhaps I needed allies beyond my family now. People who could help me figure out this riddle. Men and women with knowledge of the gods. And at least when the curse was broken, they would be free of it too.

  There was one thing I'd never do, however. I made a steely promise to myself that I'd never bear a child with a human. I would not be fooled by Andvari again. But my brothers were
another matter entirely.

  The storm continued to pummel us as we fled from the cathedral, leaving Erik and the other royals far behind. Julius took the lead, heading down a darkened alley and swiftly dragging up a circular manhole cover at the heart of it.

  Magnar grabbed Callie's arm, commanding her to go first as if he was afraid she might turn back if he didn't force her.

  My heart cracked as I halted, watching as Magnar followed her then Julius turned to me expectantly.

  I glanced over my shoulder, gazing back at the rain-swept street, shivering as the cold inched into my bones. My wedding dress was heavy, sodden and filthy. Blood tainted its pure colour with a red tinge. The bite marks on my skin were sore, but the venom had been washed out by the rain, leaving a trail of silver marring my flesh.

  Erik invaded my mind and the cross on my left palm burned with an intensity that begged me to go back to him.

  “Come on,” Julius urged, moving toward me with a threat in his stance.

  I blinked back tears, forcing my legs to move me in the direction of the drain.

  “You belong with us,” Julius murmured, reaching out to squeeze my hand, his skin burning hot in comparison to mine.

  I didn't answer, unsure if that was true. My heart craved Erik in a way that made my body ache. But I'd made my choice. And I'd chosen family.

  With a breath, I lowered myself onto the ladder beneath the hole. Julius's huge form cast a shadow over me as I descended into the thick darkness.

  As I prised my numb fingers from the rungs, Callie's arms wrapped around me. I leant into her embrace, utterly relieved to be properly reunited at last. I'd made the right decision. She needed me. And I needed her too.

  The heavy thunk of the manhole sliding into place sounded then Julius's boots thumped against the ladder.

  “Are you okay?” Callie whispered.

  “Yes,” I replied, even though it wasn't true. “Are you?”

  “No,” she answered, releasing me.

  The bright light on Julius's cellphone suddenly blinded me and I lifted a hand to shield my eyes.

  Callie floated toward the ladder and with a burst of energy, started climbing it.