Chapter Thirteen
Grant
An engine rumbles nearby. Cold metal presses into my cheek and my head throbs like I’ve been hit.
I don’t open my eyes. I’m not dead yet, and I’m not in a rush to be that way.
My power, magic, whatever it is—It betrayed me. And now it’s hiding somewhere, though I coax enough of it out to realise there are a few people in the back of this van with me.
Has to be a van, right? I’m in a creepy kidnappers’ van.
Focus. A human is driving up front and there are two vampires and a fae in the back with me. My magic whips back inside me, burrowing deep. I fight the urge to clench my teeth.
The fae isn’t here. Whoever she is. No one here is powerful enough for that. But I recognise the vampires’ energy, even with the brief feel I got. The bartender and the bodyguard. Jakob isn’t here, either.
That makes less sense. Where are they taking me? The sun is creeping up; I can feel that, too. Are they—
Someone grabs the collar of my shirt and yanks me upright. “I know you’re awake.”
I open my eyes, staring directly into the fae’s face. The bodyguard is sitting just behind where they’re crouching, and he scowls. He didn’t know I was awake, and that’s pissed him off. Good. Fuck him. Fuck the lot of them.
I force any tremor out of my voice. Now isn’t the time to show fear, even if I’m worried about where Vlad might be. He’s looking for me, right? He’ll be concerned.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask.
“To the beach,” the fae says. They sneer. “You’re dressed for it.”
I bare my fangs and they move faster than I expect, punch landing right on my jaw. Fuck, they’re strong. A troll. Jesus. I catch myself on my hands, then jolt as we take the next corner fast. And this human is a shitty driver, and that’s coming from me, of all people.
“They didn’t kill themselves, did they? You threw them out into the sun.”
The troll shrugs, but the bartender shifts behind me, so I turn my attention to him. His hair is as dark as Vlad’s but longer, falling down to his mid-back like a high fae’s might. His lip curls when he looks at me.
I don’t care why he doesn’t like me. He’s been a vampire longer than I have, but not as long as the bodyguard, and neither is as old as Jakob. Does he want Jakob’s attention? He can have it.
“The others all failed. Every test. Our queen is hopeful about you,” the troll says, and I look at him again.
The bodyguard shakes his head. “You talk too much.”
“Queen?” I ask. That fae I saw at the club isn’t the fae queen. She can’t be. She’s less powerful than the Huntsman and besides, the fae queen is dying. We all know that.
“Soon enough,” the troll replies with a shrug. “Once she has things settled here.”
Settled? Why is she bothering with vampires to begin with? Fae and vampires don’t mix, I’m pretty sure. Isn’t that why Rook and Saide joined the Huntsman? I rack my brain, trying to remember, but they were never the chattiest of people even when they were around.
“Won’t be him,” the bartender says. He glances up front, then leans forward, talking to the driver. “Pull up here.”
The windscreen must be warded because the sky is fairly light now and neither the bodyguard nor the bartender is shrinking back from it. It’s clear what the fae can offer the vampires here. What does she want? A vampire? But why?
The troll grabs me, and I might be a vampire, but with my power retreated, I’m no match for him. I struggle all the same.
I don’t want to die. Not like this; not at all. I want to see Vlad again. Paxton, Maurice, Asher, Quinn… All the rest of them, fuck. They’re my family.
And Rachel. Rachel is here. She’s seen me once and now—She’ll never know what happened to me all over again.
Will Vlad know? Will he feel it? I can’t feel the bond between us, not right now, so does that mean I’ll spare him this?
If I die, will he go with me?
I kick the bartender back against the side of the van when he comes after me and he groans before he hisses. The bodyguard is bigger and stronger, and a couple of quick hits leave my head spinning.
“Open the fucking door,” the bodyguard snaps.
The bartender reaches past us all, jerking his hand back when the door swings open.
Oh God. This is it. I try to dig my heels into the floor, grip at whatever I can reach, but the troll drags me inevitably back and toward my fate. They’ve parked right on the sand. I hear the waves and the call of seagulls in the distance.
“Fucking go,” the bodyguard snarls and then kicks us—me and the troll both—out onto the sand.
The troll lets go immediately, rolling away with a low snarl. I swallow a whimper. It’s so warm. Heat claws at my skin, sweat pricking my hairline and—
“What’s happening?” the bartender whispers, voice faintly horrified. “What’s happening?”
I hardly hear him. My power roars to life, soaking in every ray of light it can reach, dragging them deep and feeding some unquenchable hunger so far inside of me that I gasp at its sudden existence.
I’m not dead.
I’m not dead.
And not only that. My power filled the room before, but now it expands far beyond that, rolling down the beach and into the water, over the road until it butts up against the buildings at the other side, and the van—
The van.
The bodyguard flinches when I meet his gaze. The bartender is faster, scrabbling back, already yelling for the human to start the fucking engine, but the troll… Trolls are slow.
I leap on him before he can move and ignore the screech of tyres as I bring him down onto the sand. Living souls are all around us, their energy brushing up against my tsunami of power, but none are outside; none will witness this.
He tries to fight back, but it is nothing more than a thought to pin him in the sand.
Less than that to dig my fangs into his throat, and I taste the fizz of magic in his blood, but aside from that, it tastes no different than before.
Once he’s gone still beneath me, heart stopped, I get to my feet and turn to face the sea.
The sun still hangs in the sky, a little higher than before.
Waves break on rocks, and I swallow a terrified, exhilarated sob.
It can’t kill me. Whatever power the Huntsman gave Vlad, whatever he passed onto me, has given me this gift.
This ability to not only stand in the sun, but have it strengthen me.
Vlad.
The bond thrums between us. When I tilt my head to one side, I see it, a snake of gold that will lead me straight to him. And it is shaking on his end because he is in trouble and I do not doubt for a second that I can help him.
I grin, let out a loud bark of laughter, and break into a run.
Vlad’s snarl makes my heart stop. I’m halfway down the corridor to our room, and I see the flimsiness of the wards and hear the sounds of fighting from within.
I lower my stance and swallow my own growl. He’s mine. Mine. These fae should be able to tell. Fae magic is built on bonds, on their connection to the earth in this realm and their own. They know a bond exists between us and they tried to separate us anyway.
None of them are expecting the way I tear into the room.
The puca has Vlad all wrapped up in his shadows, playing with his food, but I flood the room with light—and my power leaps to protect Vlad because it’s me, part of me, and we won’t ever hurt him—and the puca screams and shrinks back into his glamour.
I kill him quickly, pivoting on the ball of one foot before I set my sights on the redcap. Redcaps can be vicious, and this one looks the part. I don’t care. Margate might be overrun with vampires, but this room is my territory, mine and Vlad’s, and these fae are trespassing.
Blood streaks the wall when I rip into the redcap’s throat.
He gurgles and falls, and I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, watching until he goes still.
Power still twists inside of me. I don’t want them here.
They don’t belong here. They should go back to her.
She’ll already know I survived. Let her know what I just found out about myself.
One blink to the next, and they’re gone. The blood is gone. Vlad makes a sound I’ve never heard from him before and when I turn to him, he takes a wary step back.
I whimper, wrapping my arms around my middle. It’s hard to think, what with everything I can feel right now. The wards need strengthening. Humans surround us, waking for the day, and they’re too close. It’s too unsafe to have them close—
“Grant?” He sounds like he doesn’t believe it’s me. Tears sting my eyes and I nod. “How did you… It’s daylight.”
“I know.” My voice comes out hoarse. Have I made a sound this entire time? I don’t know. I glance to the side, and the bond between me and Vlad fills my vision, a shining golden light. Does he want to get rid of it? I think I could do that now. I don’t want to. I’d refuse. But I think I could.
“You—” He’s without words. It’s different to the quiet he usually commands. He doesn’t know what to do, and I—
I shake my head. It’s like the night we met.
I turn all my focus back to him, magic flexing around us both, and Vlad gasps, I guess at the feel of it.
I’m still hungry. I don’t think I can be sated.
Or maybe this is the bloodlust I should have felt in the first place, but I’ll need to go out in the sun to be fed.
I don’t know. I don’t care. I watch the way Vlad swallows, eyes wide but never leaving me, and a new hunger surges forth, one I’m much more familiar with.
He doesn’t retreat when I approach. Not this time. His lips part and my mouth waters and I’m going to do something I can’t take back but why shouldn’t I? Fuck the consequences. I should be dead. He should be dead. I know what my regrets are, and I can fix that right now.
“How do I know it is you?” Vlad asks. I’ve rarely stood so close to him, and with the height he has on me, I have to tip my head back a little to look up at his face.
“You think it’s not me?”
“Puca can shapeshift.”
“You think I’m fae?”
“I think you should have died in the sun.”
I reach out and we both gasp when my fingertips brush his stomach. He’s still wearing his shirt, but a spark shoots up my arm all the same, and whatever he sees on my face makes him swallow hard again.
“Grant…”
“I came back for you.”
“You—”
“I protected you.”
He catches my hand. His touch is gentle. I expect him to move it away and tell me to stop, but he simply holds it, and his skin against mine is soothing in a way I’ve never felt before.
“You saved me,” he says. “Twice, I think.”
“Vlad.”
He frowns, tilting his head to one side. Touching me seems to have reassured him in some small way. Has that always been true? I’ve never noticed. Why have I never noticed?
“Are you hungry?” he asks. He reaches out with his other hand and wipes a drop of blood from the corner of my mouth. “You fed.”
“Killed,” I growl. He wipes the blood on his trousers, and his hand doesn’t return to my face. “I’m so hungry.”
“Then we—” He tightens his hold on my hand, begins to tilt his head, but I surge up and grab the back of it before he can move all the way. His shocked eyes jerk to mine in the second before I slam our mouths together.
God. Fuck. I should have done this before. My power draws back, pulls inward with a quiver as I breathe in the scent of him, tongue darting out to taste the shape of his lips. Vlad’s free hand clamps on my hip. Is he going to push me away? I should have asked. I should have—
He growls, the sound shuddering through me, and then his mouth moves against mine, lips parting as his tongue snakes into my mouth.
I shiver and collapse against him. I don’t let go of his head, though, fingers tangling in his hair.
He growls again when I tug on the strands and his arm sweeps around my waist, dragging me in until we’re pressed together.
I want to laugh. I want to cry. I never want to let go of him ever again.
He kisses me with the same hunger I feel, and power flares behind my eyelids, but I know we’re safe right now, so it doesn’t need to do anything at all.
I melt against Vlad’s strong chest, and when I whine into his mouth, he squeezes my hand.
We kiss until my jaw aches. I don’t know how long it lasts. I don’t care. The ache doesn’t even matter—I could keep doing this forever—but Vlad knows, somehow, and he sucks on my lower lip, making my knees weak, before he pulls back.
I blink up at him, the world coming back to me in a rush. He’s him, I know that, but still I take a moment to study the familiar lines of his face. He looks astonished, and with his cheeks flushed, lips red and swollen, he’s a vision.
I kiss him again, darting up on my tiptoes to take another taste, and I think a laugh rumbles through his chest, but I don’t dare drop back to find out. This time, Vlad pulls me back with the faintest tug of my hair and I arch my back, pressing our hips together.
“Grant,” he says, a warning.
“Please.”
“You’re hungry.”
“Not for blood.”
He blinks at me. Does he look amused? Maybe, faintly. But he’s reeling too, just like I am.
And I might still have all that power, but I’ve used a lot. I sway where he’s holding me and Vlad frowns, drawing me over to the bed.
“Are you all right?”
I slump against his side. I’m not in danger. Just… tired. That’s nice, too. New. I’ve hardly felt tired since he turned me. “Tired.”
“Grant.” The panic in his voice is unwarranted, but for the first time in a long time, the concern in his eyes makes my stomach flutter. “You were outside.”
“The sun… Made me stronger,” I murmur. Fuck. I don’t want to go to sleep. We’re on the bed. I can convince Vlad to kiss me again, can’t I? He won’t want to if I’m going to pass out on him, I guess. Fair. I wouldn’t want that either.
“Stronger?”
“Power.” I yawn and lean more heavily against him, nuzzling my face into his neck. He makes a surprised sound but doesn’t move away from me. “I’m so tired.”
He pushes his fingers through my hair, pressing them against my scalp, and I want to cry again. Maybe I did die out there. Maybe this is what happens to vampires when we die, which is a lot fucking better than I could have ever hoped for.
My next breath wavers and Vlad’s grip tightens on me.
“Stay with me,” I whine, clutching at him even as he moves us both further up the bed. My eyelids are too heavy to keep open. The pillow feels light under my head.
“Always,” Vlad says, a desperate urgency in his voice. “I will never leave you, Grant. Never.”
He means it. Maybe he did die, too. Maybe this is what we get, forever. I press my face against his chest. Okay. I can deal with that.
I just hope he’ll still be here when I wake up.