Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Iwoke with a start, my heart pounding in my chest as I all but threw the lid of my coffin across the room. Within moments I sliced through the sky to the estate, landed on the balcony of our bedroom and ran through the doors. The world was different. Everything had changed.
And someone was dead.
The bed I’d left Adrienne in as she’d drifted off to sleep was empty and made, the sheets smoothed. It had been two nights since the ball and we’d barely left the bedchamber. Though we had not consummated the bond, I knew she was close to ready.
My feet hit the landing in the next breath, her name a roar as I tried to calm myself. Reach for her in the bond, find her scent, do not panic, it is not her. But the bond was already frayed, the connection fragile.
“I’m here,” she breathed, running from the hall leading to the music room and into my arms.
In an instant I pulled her close, taking deep pulls of her scent, careful not to crush her fragile bones.
Relief skated across my heart, but it did nothing to shake the feeling that the world had started anew.
A sob caught in her throat and I drew back, touching her tearstained face. “What is it, my love?”
Seth walked from the music room, hands clasped behind his back. “Mael is dead.”
The words carried so much weight I almost crumpled with it. “How?” A strange mix of grief and relief tangled in my chest. He was dead, the world was rid of his madness…and yet he was my brother. I had loved him for centuries—longer even.
But I could not understand why Adrienne wept and clutched me as if I were a raft and she adrift at sea. I cradled her closer, kissing her hair and her temples while I kept my attention fixed on my maker. He watched my movements with a furrow between his brows.
“The night of the ball Lilith was taken by the Covenant,” Seth explained, taking another step closer. “Mael intended to use her as a means of controlling Callum but in doing so, he miscalculated her strength.”
Goddess. I had been so caught up in my mate…how had I missed this?
“Lilith killed Mael?” I whispered the words, afraid that if I was wrong he might rise from the dead.
Seth nodded. “But not without great sacrifice.”
Grief crashed over me in a wave and I hugged Adrienne tighter.
I kissed her again, stroking back her hair from her wet face, while Seth sent an image to me.
It was Lilith, alive and whole, her face smooth with the transformation I knew all too well even after so many millennia.
Lilith with Seth’s wrist at her mouth, drinking deeply, her hazel eyes now a mix of green, brown, and swirling gold.
“She lives,” I whispered to Adrienne.
“But she is not herself, not anymore,” she answered, voice muffled through my clothes as she pressed her face to my chest.
Seth placed a hand on her back, concern etched through his features. “All will be well, little one. You’ll see.”
Adrienne tensed beneath his touch and he took a step back.
It was one of the things I’d always loved most about my maker: his compassion.
When I’d first been made, I’d assumed that as he was made from the goddess he would be without such human feelings, but I’d been wrong.
The first few centuries had been lonely with only a handful of us scattered throughout the world.
Other immortals he’d made and left long before he’d met me—all of whom had now perished out of madness or grief.
But throughout it all he had never lost this part of him and I was relieved to see it now.
I shushed Adrienne as she wept. “What do you need from me, sire?”
Seth’s attention flicked from me to my mate. The Covenant—
“There will be no secrets,” I said, working to keep the sharpness from my tone.
He gave a small smile and dipped his chin. “The Covenant is gathering and it is best we present a united front.”
This was what we had been working toward for so long, yet now it was here I dreaded leaving Adrienne for even a single second.
But she took a deep breath, attempting to quell her tears, and pulled back to look at my face.
Never once did I expect her to beg me to stay, but the resolve slipping through the fading bond had me thinking of all the reasons I should.
“I need to return to the apartment anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “And someone should tell Noah.”
My heart twisted at the idea of her alone. I looked over her shoulder to where Bernard had appeared. “Ralph will take you home.”
The barest hint of a smile curved the corner of her mouth. “Of course.”
I cupped her face in my hands, leaning down to press a kiss to her mouth. Urgency rippled off Seth, cutting through my haphazard list of reasons why I should stay. This was what we’d been working for, this would be for the betterment of all. So, reluctantly, I pulled away, pressing my brow to hers.
“Tomorrow and the next,” I promised.
She gripped my wrists, rising to her toes to kiss me again. “Tomorrow and the next.”
It had been centuries since I last set foot inside the ornate and foreboding mansion of the Covenant.
Mael and I had been on tentative speaking terms then, though by the time I’d left, an entire room had been destroyed.
That had not been my final conversation with my brother, but it had been close.
Since then I’d heard how he’d twisted our history until it was unrecognizable.
How he’d claimed to be the first turned by Seth, older than me and all others, despite his being made decades after I was turned.
Others spoke of his connection to the goddess, how he heard her voice and therefore must be obeyed.
Lies. All terrible, brutal lies.
And the very last time we spoke had been right before he planned the raids on the Souzterain—back when it was still on the Rachay River. I’d found him on the rooftops and all but begged him to reconsider, to see reason, but it had been too little, too late.
With a sigh, I stared at the double doors leading into a room I’d seen countless times in his fledglings’ minds.
Lilith stood beside me, preternaturally still as we listened to what was happening on the other side of the door.
Immortality suited her, though I’d known it would have.
She had been destined for this life long before even her mother had been born, but I’d never imagined that she would be the one to bring Mael to justice.
To say I was proud of her would have been a hideous understatement.
I squeezed her shoulder. Stay close to Callum.
She nodded, turning to look back at Seth, who hovered nearby.
He gave her a wink before slipping back into a shadowy alcove and all but disappearing.
On the other side of the door voices quieted and the footsteps padding from the opposite end of the room—the other members of the Covenant who’d served my brother directly—stopped.
Ready? I asked Lilith.
Yes…I think so, she answered, a little of her trepidation slipping through her silent voice. With trembling fingertips, she tugged up the hood of Gabrielle’s usual robe until it covered her hair and face. They would have noticed her immediately as an outsider had she come in with Callum and Mateo.
The thought of Gabrielle sent a pang of anxiety snaking through my heart.
She still had not woken from the state Mael’s torture had sent her into.
I’d visited her coffin tonight before Lilith and Callum joined us and had attempted to use my power to slip into her mind and encourage her to wake.
But there had been nothing but darkness, nothing but the sound of her screams. I worried Gabrielle would not wake and worried what that would mean, especially for Henry who sat vigil by her side.
Stay close, trust your instincts, I encouraged Lilith before I sent out my power to open the doors.
As one the crowd turned in our direction.
Gasps of surprise cut through the silence from some while others froze.
I took a moment to scan the crowd, noting each immortal in attendance.
Many of these vampires I knew—some I had even loved once.
But there were others I would take pleasure in destroying.
The masses parted when I took a step forward, Lilith following at my side.
It was as silent as the grave save for each footstep ringing over the stones, but I kept my attention fixed on the six immortals within the center of the circle.
Once I’d counted these immortals as friends—Iris, the lone female of the group, was a sister, in fact.
She had been made by Seth a thousand years after Mael and I had been.
But I’d lost her long ago to the fervor of Mael’s visions and madness.
She stared at me now with terror in her gaze, skin ashen and hair bright red. I ushered Lilith toward Callum where he stood beside his brother before I raised my voice. “Your master is dea—”
Atticus rushed me before the word was done, arms outstretched and fangs bared. I grabbed him by his thick black hair and sank my teeth into his throat, ripped off his head in the next breath and threw his body to the ground.
“Anyone else?” I rumbled low, blood dripping from my jaw.
A single breath was all there was before Balthazar surged forward next, followed by Hartley and Darian.
Around us the room descended into chaos, screams of terror and fury ringing in my ears as I dodged blows and shot out my power to wrap around necks, snapping them easily.
I reached for magic I’d long since abandoned.
Fire roared through my veins and shot out, immolating attackers where they stood.
Screams. Blood. The scent of burned hair.
And death, so much unnecessary death.
I fought with blood tears in my eyes, my soul cracking in half as I destroyed those who might have lived unendingly.
Those who had lived a thousand lifetimes, those who I had walked this world with before this city stood.
With each vampire I killed, another stone settled upon my shoulders I was unsure I would ever shake.
Fresh screams ripped through the room and from the corner of my eye I saw the double doors open again.
Seth stepped through, his hands in his trouser pockets, and watched with furrowed brows as his children destroyed one another.
The male I’d been fighting froze in horror and I paused, placing my hands on his face.
“Do not do this,” I rasped. “There is another way.”
He knocked my hands away, reaching for my throat with his fangs bared. I sliced through his neck with a whip of my magic, fire consuming his flesh until he was ash at my feet. No more immortals advanced and I turned toward my maker just as Iris fell to her knees.
“Kah aneyur, my maker, forgive me,” she wept in the long-dead ancient tongue, sliding to her belly until she was prostrate at his feet.
“Ahnak makayna,” he answered, placing his hand on the back of her head. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, cheek resting against his shoe. He took a deep breath and she crumbled into ash with his exhale.
I looked away from the scene, rubbing at my chest where grief had taken root, noting each survivor.
Mateo stood near the ominous stone table, panting heavily with blood streaked across his white shirt and waistcoat, the silver embroidery of starling birds turned copper.
Callum knelt in a pool of it and I took a worried step forward before realizing it was not his own.
Lilith was beside him, lowering to her knees to press her forehead to his temple.
“Don’t,” he murmured. “You’ll be covered in it.”
A strange, haunted smile tugged at her cheeks. “I am already covered in it.”
I turned toward the rest of those in the room.
Immortals clung to the walls, immortals with broken hearts and hollow souls.
Mercy. I would offer them mercy, even Gerald Montag where he stood with wide, terrified eyes.
But I would not be as foolish as I had been before.
I’d learned from my mistakes and I would no longer be complacent.
“And the rest of you?” I asked.
Whoever ruled us next must be patient but firm, fair but ruthless, and above all must have a capacity to love fiercely.
“I do not wish to destroy more of my kind. In fact, I wanted to offer peace. To offer them a chance.” I took a deep breath, rubbing again at my chest. “They did not take it…and I will mourn them for the rest of my existence.”
A hand curved around my shoulder, squeezing tight.
A small bit of tension bled away at the touch of my maker.
But it was not his affection I needed. I reached out through the bond toward Adrienne only to find a small flicker of feeling: her sadness, her longing.
As much as I could, I stayed with her as I spoke to the survivors, pushing my love and devotion to her through the frayed bond.
A female immortal I did not know well stepped forward, her hands wringing in front of her, asking who they should honor for the killing of my brother. My stomach turned and I could barely answer her and sighed with relief when my maker chose not to reveal their identities.
“Then should I honor you?” she asked Seth before turning to me. “Or you?”
Dread sank its claws into me and I recoiled. “I do not deserve such an honor.”
Seth hummed softly. “Nor I.”
Another male stepped forward nervously and cleared his throat as his eyes fell on my maker. “Then who will lead us now? You, sire?”
“No, my child,” he answered gently. “I am not equipped to lead.”
I cleared my throat, taking the time to look each remaining immortal in the eye.
“A leader should be chosen by all, not merely those in this room… When my brother came to power I did not do enough. My failure was in looking for the best in him, in hoping that with time he would see the error of his ways—that I could show him the truth.” I shook my head, clearing my throat of the thickening grief.
“I was wrong and, in that hope, I did nothing to stop him. Centuries ago was not the time for hope, it was the time for action. But now?”
I took a step back, making sure to look each and every immortal in the eye, including Lord Montag, who clung to another.
“Now is truly the time for hope, the time when we can dream up this new world and then see it built. We must come together, we must decide how we want our future to look. Together.”