Chapter 40
ONE LOOK AT CASSIUS HAUNTS me, an internal war etched upon his face. This could be something he doesn’t want revealed, and I hadn’t considered that, but he can’t deny that it happened, and it only proves that my visions are real.
Bastian’s back turns, and we step away from Oksana’s shrinking frame. The room is quiet, until Marlowe’s feet touch the ground, stopping when they reach Cassius.
“Is it true?” she asks quietly, her face pulled tight from fear. There it is. Cassius did not want this secret revealed, and I can only guess it’s because he abhors when he loses control more than anything.
“Once,” he admits, and my heart flutters. He grabs her hand, but she tries to yank it away. “Once before I knew you. Years and years ago. And it was only a bite. Nothing more.”
Marlowe looks at me then. When you see someone’s heartbreak on their face, it’s hard not to feel guilty for being the cause. Oksana’s quiet cries pull Marlowe’s gaze to the floor as she yanks her hand from Cassius’s grasp. “I’m leaving.”
“No,” he orders, but she shakes her head.
“There’s more, Cassius,” I say, and he puts his hand up, begging me to wait.
“Please, wait in my room for me. Promise you will.”
Marlowe looks among all of us, and I wonder if she ever wishes she had listened to my advice all those months ago. To run.
“Fine,” she says and storms out of the speakeasy, leaving her anger in her wake.
Cassius glares between me and Bastian, and then at his mother, like he’s required to start explaining himself. His admitting the truth is what I needed. But it doesn’t make me happy. I just need them to believe that Oksana worked with Franklin, and now I know why.
“He was going to change her. Franklin promised to change her into a vampire.”
Bastian’s arms draw tightly around my waist, making me a shield for his anger. His heart beats against my shoulder blades while his fingers dig into my hips.
Nicola, silent for so long, paces beside me as Cassius looks at me, utterly stunned.
“You went behind our backs with that snake?” Nicola seethes, falling in front of Oksana and grabbing her by the shoulders.
“I just wanted to be one of you,” Oksana says through her tears as Cassius pushes Bastian away from me.
I turn, the look in Bastian’s eyes murderous as Cassius places a hand on his brother’s chest.
“Why?” Bastian screams, trying to put the pieces together.
Cassius holds him back as Nicola pins Oksana’s shoulders against the wall.
“I’ve wanted it so long. I’ve begged, I’ve done everything right, and you wouldn’t turn me,” Oksana says to Nicola, her teeth clenching into her bottom lip, her hand wrapping around Nicola’s arms. “I love you all so much. It’s all I want.”
“What did you have to do? If he was going to turn you, what did you have to do for him to turn you?”
She shakes her head, not wanting to answer.
And it hits me. Franklin said, “Once she’s dead, you’ll be turned and be one of them.” He didn’t need a witch to set the fire. He just needed someone that could be out during the day.
“Oh, my God,” I say, speaking before I have it all thought out. “You set the fire, didn’t you?”
Oksana’s head shakes, her hands falling from Nicola’s arms, and it’s like the room has turned upside down.
“Tell me, Oksana. Or I’ll go into your memory and see.” It’s a warning, and the nerve endings in my ear drums snap.
“Cassius.” She looks at him like he can save her, but he just sinks into a crouched position, his elbows resting on his knees, his eyeballs fuming with rage.
“I can’t save you, Oksana. Tell us what you did,” he growls.
Her head falls back against the wall. Her gaze meets the ceiling as she speaks low, so different from her usual sharp tone.
“Franklin told me Aster had a spell on Bastian. And that he needed someone who could set her house on fire during the day so vampires weren’t suspected.
That her own aunts wanted her dead. Franklin and the witches planned the fire, telling me Aster had committed crimes against the witches and vampires.
That I would be thanked for it. That to keep The Agreement in place, an outside person had to set it. So I did it. I set the fire.”
I stumble back, taking in her words.
Nicola’s hand swings back, gathering enough force to hand Oksana a blow that could break her neck, but Cassius swoops in, grabbing his mother’s hand and pulling her away.
Bastian staggers back onto the couch, his legs buckling, his hand covering his heart. I slowly walk backward, making my way to him, but Nicola’s roars stop me in my tracks.
“He told you lies! You should have come to me! TO US,” Nicola screams. “How could you do this to us, your family? You killed my son!” Cassius holds Nicola against his chest, and he looks to Bastian, a warning not to touch Oksana. Even though she killed Bastian, he’s still protecting her.
My body flashes in waves of searing heat and cold. A desire to kill her gripping my wrists, the magic seeking revenge. But I’ve never killed before, and how she looks crumpled against the wall tells me I’m not ready to commit such a crime.
And then Bastian is storming to Oksana, his anger radiating as she pulls up to her feet.
“Do you know what it felt like? My skin burning over muscle and bone? Do you know the ache from your body turning to ash and your hopes and dreams dying in front of you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be you!” she shrieks, and my heart stammers.
“No,” I say. “It was supposed to be me.”
Bastian looks at me then, remembering who the real target was.
I swipe at his wrist to stop him, but he’s too fast, slamming his fist into the wall beside Oksana before I can blink.
Oksana covers her ears, tucking her chin to her chest like he’s going to hit her, and it looks like he could, his rage uncontrollable.
“She was pregnant with my child, and you tried to kill her. You could have killed Aster and my CHILD!” he screams.
“I didn’t know,” she bawls, and now I do want to smack her. Smack her for taking Bastian away from me. For all the pain that has etched scars into my heart.
“I never want to see your fucking face ever again,” Bastian whispers, and how does this end? Does Oksana die for this sin? Is that how vampires handle these types of indiscretions?
Oksana falls forward, rising to her knees, her hands clasped in prayer position.
She looks at Bastian, tears and snot falling down her face.
“Bastian, please, please forgive me. I love you like my own brother. I have protected your family, made a vow to be your right-hand woman for twenty years. When I found out I killed you, I wanted to die, right on the spot. I wanted to die! But Franklin told me we had to finish the job. And if I didn’t help see to it, then he would tell the family about what I’d done.
The two witches said I could stay alive if I never told, so I kept my mouth shut and kept my distance.
I know you should never forgive me, but I love you and beg for forgiveness.
” She bows her head, pressing it to her clasped hands. “Please my family, please.”
Bastian’s shoulders press back, his teeth biting the insides of his cheeks. With a look of loss and disgust, he grunts, “Get out of my sight.”
“Go to Nicola’s office and wait,” Cassius finally roars, and before Oksana can protest, he shouts “GO!”
She clasps her hands over her chest, never looking at me for a second, and stumbles into the office.
“Are you okay?” Bastian huffs, pulling me to his side, his hand wrapping around my hip so tightly it hurts. I take it in my hand to release the tension and nod the best I can.
“I guess we have to kill her.” Nicola sighs and falls onto the couch. The look on Cassius’s face tells me that’s not what he wants, not at all, and Nicola sees it too. “She killed your brother.”
“I guess it should be up to you. Do you think she should die?” Cassius asks Bastian, and he looks so exhausted like he could fall to the ground any second from the stress.
Oksana has always been closest to Cassius, and I’m sure this betrayal is the hardest for him to swallow. But it seems like he wants Bastian to say no, and truly, Bastian is too emotional to make such a decision.
I want Oksana to feel the pain she caused, but when I looked in her eyes, I saw all the suffering my vengeance desires.
“But was it really Oksana who killed Bastian? She was a used vessel, manipulated by a dead vampire,” Cassius says.
Nicola sighs in exasperation. “She still started the fire, she still killed Bastian. And she was trying to kill Aster! I think she must die.” Nicola pushes her hair back from her face then brings a hand to rub her temples.
“This is quite complicated. Franklin lied to her, made her believe Bastian was under a spell. She thought she was doing the right thing,” Cassius says.
“Oh, darling boy. She should have come to us the moment Franklin approached her, and deep down in your heart, you know that. You’re letting your guilt for biting her cloud your judgment.”
Cassius swallows, his long hair creating a cloak across his back as he bends forward. “I won’t be the one who does it,” he whispers.
“Is it possible to wait?” I offer. “We will have to confront my aunts soon, and she might have more information we need.”
Cassius looks like I’ve thrown Oksana a lifeline, and maybe I have, I don’t know. Maybe love has softened me.
“What do we do with her in the meantime?” Nicola asks, and I look at Bastian, who is pacing back and forth. I need to get him home.
“I’ll keep her with me,” Cassius says, his eyes two shattered slits. “I just have to talk to Marlowe first.”
Nicola rises, grabbing each of Bastian’s wrists as she approaches him.
“My love. Don’t be darkened by the pain.
” He looks away, but her face only follows his, forcing him to look up.
“You’ve come back from the dead. This is nothing in comparison.
” She smiles then, a smile that tells me in Nicola’s long life, she’s seen more betrayals than I can imagine.
She holds him, pulling his head down to her shoulder, running her fingers over his hair.
When they separate, she looks at me and grabs my hand.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” The apology isn’t easy for her. Years of hating each other make being vulnerable difficult.
“I wouldn’t have believed it either.” I wave, and she embraces me and whispers in my ear.
“Take care of my boys.”