I wake with a jolt. The sun has been gone for hours. Why did I sleep so long?
I panic for a moment when I discover Alissa missing. But relief finds me the moment I flare my senses and discover her outside.
I walk out there. I spot her on the edge of a roof, staring up at the moon.
I jump up and walk silently to her. The bodies of the guards are nowhere to be seen.
“I watched them turn to ash,” she says softly. “They were scattered by the wind.”
I nod. Killing my own men was not something I took lightly. But it afforded me two things: seeing Alissa safe, and letting the darkness inside loose.
I come behind her and wrap my arms around her body. She puts her hands over mine.
“I cannot take you with me,” I say. “Mother would kill any fledgling made by her offspring the moment she lay eyes on it. I’ve already experienced that.”
“I know,” she says softly.
“I must leave you here. You cannot follow me. I have given you all I can. Your strength has been augmented many times over by your feeding on real vampire blood. Do not take that gift lightly.”
“I won’t.”
“Burn this village. Torch it to the ground. I know it is where you grew up, but it is no longer a part of you. The sooner you sever ties to your past, the better it will be.”
She nods.
I turn her around by the shoulders. “Promise me, Alissa. The moment I go, you will set fire to this place.”
“I promise,” she says.
“You cannot follow me,” I repeat, taking her hands in mine. “But we will forever have this link. Maybe many years from now, we may be reunited. But that is a distant future.”
“I understand.”
I pull her head to my chest and press my lips to her forehead.
“Forget about the chamber beneath the church. It holds nothing for you. I returned because I knew I had missed something. It was not the treasure. It was you.”
I turn away, and am about to leap down, when she calls out, “Wait!”
I turn my head.
“Don’t you want to know my real name?”
I meet her eyes. Without a word, I nod my head.
“It’s Liana,” she tells me.
“Liana,” I whisper and disappear into the night.
Back on the plane, I come to myself with a violent shudder. I cannot even recognize the vampire I was back then. Raiding villages, killing women, killing children, killing my own kin?
And the whisper of that haunted name remains on my lips: Liana.
Everything that happened after had been a lie. A carefully crafted, perfectly manufactured lie. When she and I reunited so many years later…
No. I refuse to think about that.
“Raul,” Phillip says. “Raul!” He shakes me. “Snap out of it! The darkness is a part of you now, you cannot fight it.”
Suddenly something erupts. That long-forgotten, buried memory has reminded me of the last time I truly felt alive. On the long journey back to The Haven from that village, I became uncharacteristically burdened by guilt. Maybe it was a side-effect of letting Liana go. But by the time I arrived in The Haven, I felt so awful about killing the guards—from some very real fear in my nature—that I vowed never again to let the vampiric darkness take full control of me.
Of course, that was a mistake. I see it now. The passion I felt with Liana I have never been able to replicate with Eleira.
Why?
Because I did not allow myself full access to my emotions.
I look at Phillip. My gaze changes.
No longer will I reject who or what I am.
“You’re right, brother,” I say in a hoarse whisper. “You have re-awakened me to my potential.” I place both hands on his shoulders. “For that, I am eternally in your debt.” I feel the miasma in my eyes swirl. “When we get back to The Haven, none shall be told of your transgression against me. But—mark my words—should you cross this new me, nothing will stop me from ripping out your heart. Not even fear of my own death.”
Phillip, for a flicker of a moment, appears surprised. But then his expression morphs into a steely gaze.
“Brother,” he tells me. “I would not have it any other way.”
Chapter Nine
James
On the outskirts of the Crusaders’ facility.
We drive out of the garage and hit the main road.
We are far on the outskirts of town. But as soon as we’re out in the night, my eyes seize on a huge pillar of smoke coming from the main area of the town.
My gut clenches. The smoke is coming from the direction of our motel!
I rip the steering wheel one way and hit the accelerator to speed toward the fire.
“What the hell are you doing?” Paul exclaims. “The outpost is the other way!”
I ignore him, driving toward the fire like a madman.
The minute we’re closer, my worst suspicions are confirmed.
The entire motel is in a horrible, violent blaze.
The vehicle skids as I slam the brakes. I leap out of the car, not waiting for the others, and run closer to the flames.
The heat is terrible. It’s absolute. The fire engulfs everything.
I flare my senses and find nobody around.
In a blind rage, I turn back. Paul and Smithson have emerged from the car. Victoria is just pulling up.
I leap at Paul and slam him into the side door.
“Your men did this,” I hiss. “They killed all the vampires inside!”
I fling an arm out at the burning building.
Victoria joins us. She seems even more shocked at the development than I.
“You have control over the organization,” I hiss. “You knew what was happening here. Yet you did not tell me!”
My fangs come out. I am shaking with rage. My thoughts go to April, Sylvia, Liana, Paolo, all the rest.
“Yes, yes, fine,” Paul spits. “I knew your motel would be taken. I gave the command the moment you landed.”
I rip him forward, and then slam him back. The force of the blow dents the side of the car.
“You bastard,” I spit.
I sink my claws into his shoulder and start to drag him toward the fire.
“James! James, what the hell are you doing?” Victoria demands, running my way.
“You heard him,” I say, vision blackened by rage. “He gave the command to kill our vampires. For that he deserves the same fate!”
I step around Victoria and am about to throw Paul into the fire when Smithson suddenly grasps me.
“James, don’t be a fool!” he snarls. “You kill him, and all we did would be for naught!”
“He killed Liana,” I say. “He killed your Sylvia. And you want me to have mercy on him? He lied to us about it.”
“I didn’t lie!” he protests. “By the time you came to me, by the time you transformed me, it was too late!”
“Quiet,” I snap, and backhand him across the face.
He spits out blood.
I drag the struggling vampire closer to the flames. The heat crashes into me in immense, ceaseless waves.
Since I am stronger, I can withstand it. Paul does not have that benefit. He fights and pulls and squirms to get away, skin burning.
“James, wait!” Victoria screams. “You kill him now, and we’ll have come all this way for nothing!”
“I vowed,” I growl, “to keep members of my coven safe. When I hold the man responsible for their deaths in one hand, I will not simply let him go!”
The fire rages on and on, and it matchers the tempest of emotions storming through me.
I am about to cast Paul into the flames, consumed by vampiric hatred, when a voice I haven’t heard for a long time calls my name
“James!”
I stagger back. My head whips around.
April is running toward me from out of the trees.
With her is Paolo. He has a grave, determined look over his face.
I let Paul go. He scampers away. I turn fully toward them.
April crashes into me in a huge embrace.
“James,” she exclaims. “You came back!”
Paolo stops by Paul and pins him to the ground with one foot.
“Who is this?” he asks.
“The leader of the Crusaders,” I answer. “And a brand new vampire, whose life you’ve just saved.” Gently, I ease April off. “Tell me what happened.”
Speaking quickly, she tells the whole story.
“They stole Sylvia,” I repeat at the very end. I look at Paul. “Took her where?”
He swallows, feeling like he is still on thin ice.