Chapter 36
Slowly, I raised my hands in a gesture of submission, as if Serena was pointing a loaded gun at me. She might as well have been brandishing a weapon. If anything happened to Andrew, it would kill me.
I swallowed. My mouth was so dry that I could hardly speak. “Whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, please don’t. Please, please, please don’t. I’m begging you,” I pleaded, my words coming out jagged.
“Aw, you’re begging me? Isn’t that just sweet,” she sneered. “You’re going to be begging for your own life after I drain this whiney little shit.”
“No!” I screamed. “Don’t!”
Serena pinched my son’s soft, chubby arm and twisted hard. Tears sprang from Andrew’s eyes as a reddish-purple welt appeared on his skin. He reached out to me with his tiny pink hands, taking in sad gulps of air.
I was going to kill that bitch if it was the last thing I did.
Serena clucked her tongue and pooched her lips mockingly. “Oh, boo-hoo. Olivia, I don’t think your son likes me very much.”
“Look, I know you’re angry, but my little boy has nothing to do with your beef with the VGO.” I was stunned by how calm I’d managed to make myself sound given that my insides were a jumble of writhing snakes.
“It has everything to do with him,” she hissed.
She was fully baring her fangs, and I knew that if I didn’t act fast she was going to kill us.
“You and your pathetic husband took something important away from me, so now I’m going to take something important away from you.
Do you know how many years of bullshit I took before the VGO started to trust me?
Do you? Centuries! I could have taken over!
But then you had to go tattling to Joseph, didn’t you? ”
“How about you put the baby down and we talk?” I swept my hair back from my neck and took a step toward her, improvising. “Better yet, how about you put him in the hall and then you can shut the door and drink from me all you want?”
Serena laughed manically. She had truly lost her mind in the worst way. She had to be crazy, showing up at the VGO headquarters like that—then threatening to kill a baby. Her madness glinted in her eyes. She had nothing to lose, which told me she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Her eyes narrowed contemptuously as somebody entered the room behind me. I knew who it was as soon as she spoke.
“Hey, girl, you coming back to the . . . What the fuck?”
“Careful, Liz. She has Andrew.”
A second voice spoke out. “Put the baby down, Serena!” It was Joseph. “I’m twice your age and far stronger than you, so if you want to get out of here alive, you’d better heed my warning.”
The VGO would never let Serena live, not after she’d conspired to assassinate them, then crashed their party and tried to kill the guest of honor. I knew it, Joseph knew it, and Liz knew it. Even crazy-ass Serena knew it. She was insane, but she wasn’t a moron.
Serena’s fangs gleamed as she threw her head back and hissed. It was one of the worst sounds I’d ever heard in my entire life, and I’d remember it until the day I died, which might be soon. She lowered her mouth to Andrew’s throat, the tips of her fangs scraping his perfect skin.
And then all hell broke loose.
As if he knew what Serena had on her mind, Andrew thrashed in her arms, fighting to get away. He flailed an arm, hitting her square on the nose with her tiny fist. Good boy!
“Hold still, you little shit!”
“Grab him! Somebody, grab him!” I screamed.
“Stop, Serena!” Joseph commanded.
At the same time, Liz growled, “I’ll kill you, bitch!”
Serena hurled my baby into the crib as Joseph launched an attack. Andrew’s body slammed against the thick wood slats with a sickening thud. Frozen in terror, I was too afraid to look at his damage. He fell silent.
Liz attacked next. At the blink of an eye, the three vampires were tumbling around the room, knocking pieces of stone loose as they smashed into the castle’s walls. I ducked when they neared me, but one of their appendages whacked against my leg. It was like being hit with a baseball bat.
“Watch out for Andrew!” I cried. Nobody seemed to have heard me.
Serena was relentless. Joseph may have been older and stronger than the crazy vamp, but she was fast. She kept breaking through Joseph and Liz’s arms, tenacious as hell.
She was trying to come after me. I had bigger concerns, like getting Andrew out of the crib before one of the vamps landed on top of him and crushed his tiny body.
Finally, I got an opening. Quickly, I moved to Andrew, but a cold hand curled around my ankle and yanked as I bent down into the crib.
It was Serena. I kicked out at her with everything I had, nearly losing my footing.
She let go when Liz straddled her and punched her throat.
For good measure, she grabbed a fistful of her hair and slammed Serena’s skull against the floor. Bet that hurt.
I wrapped my arms around my son and began lifting him, but I fell forward when I was thumped on the back of my head. I blinked away stars. Jolted, Andrew let out a yelp, which filled me with such relief that I started sobbing. Thank goodness. He was breathing.
Dizzy, I stumbled forward and dropped Andrew back into the crib.
I gripped the crib’s frame and held on for dear life, desperate to remain conscious as the room started to go black.
Joggling my head, I looked toward the doors as other vampires rushed into the room to see what all the commotion was about.
One of them was Robert. “I can’t get to you, Olivia! Get Andrew!”
I tried to shout back—I’m trying—but I couldn’t make my mouth move. A thundercloud settled over my brain, muddling my thoughts. Heat pulsated from the spot I’d been hit. I suspected I might be bleeding. A lot.
I used every ounce of energy I had left to bend down into the crib.
My fingertips grazed Andrew, but I couldn’t make my hands close around his body.
He kept slipping through my fingers. It was like one of those nightmares where you’re trying to move fast but everything happens in slow motion, like moving through invisible cement . . . And, oh man, did my skull throb!
Suddenly, there was a cracking sound at my side. Wood splintering. It sounded as if every vampire in the room screamed in horror.
“No-no-no-no!”
I tried to join in as blood splashed across Andrew’s face, but my scream fell dead in my lungs. My breath hissed out through my lips like a teakettle. Air whooshed from my chest. Dazed, my eyes fell on the corner of the crib, where one of the posts was missing.
No, not missing, I thought crazily as I looked down. I knew exactly where it was. My hands fluttered to the hunk of wood protruding from between my breasts, a brown toothy mouth grinning up at me. A carved raccoon.