‘What did you plan to do?’ Rhode grunted out. ‘Turn all of Wickham into vampires? . . . Kate Pierson was your friend,’ he continued.
Justin threw Rhode to the ground hard enough to break bone and his lips curled into a grimace. He pressed his foot, clad in a designer shoe, on Rhode’s chest. There was a crack near Rhode’s ribs and he cried out.
‘Now,’ Justin said to me, ‘I’ll decide what we talk about.’
Below me, Rhode raised his head shakily. His fingers lifted too and they trembled as they reached out. He was . . .
Hope burst through me.
Rhode was reaching for the sword. I had to divert my thoughts from what Rhode was doing or Justin might sense my emotions.
‘Talk about what?’ I finally answered. ‘That I never loved you?’ I said anything I could to stall for time. Justin punched me in the shoulder, knocking me to the wall. I slammed my already sensitive head and slid to the floor.
‘Lenah . . .’ Rhode’s voice carried weakly to me.
Justin’s face slid into view and he bent closer. His eyebrows were angled in a severe V-shape and a sneer grew across his face.
There was no loss in his eyes. No sadness.
In my peripheral vision, Rhode’s hand curled over the hilt of the sword. Amid the music and commotion still coming from the sitting room, he was soundless.
Justin wrapped his hard vampire fingers around my neck, squeezing enough so I could only take small breaths.
‘I’m going to take your soul,’ he snarled. ‘Once and for all. We’ll do it right this time.’
He squeezed harder and blood pounded in my ears. He can hurt me. He’s done it! He’s broken vampire law just like he said he would. My lungs couldn’t contract. A burning radiated through my chest. Rhode, get the sword. Get the sword.
The hallway light faded along with the noise of battle.
‘Your soul is mine,’ Justin said in a long drawl.
I couldn’t fight him . . . didn’t have the strength.
The light faded away and the last image I would take with me was of two pointed and deadly fangs.
CHAPTER 17
Rhode . . . don’t let him take my soul. Anam Cara.
Justin cried out and I fell back to the carpeted floor. Screams and clashes of metal assailed my ears. I sucked in air, making a horrendous rasping sound.
I wiped tears from my eyes as Justin grabbed his leg. Blood dripped through the fabric of his pant leg and smeared his hands. The sword protruded from his calf muscle.
I shook the shadows from my eyes. But Justin and Rhode were both fuzzy.
‘Run, Lenah!’ Rhode had turned over, trying to hoist himself up.
‘Don’t expose the heart!’ I cried. My warmth met his cold body. I protected him by lying over his stomach.
I used whatever strength I had to hoist my body protectively over Rhode’s.
Justin had the sword now, and he lifted it into the air so its point hovered over our heads. My whole body tensed. I held my breath. Here it was – the end. At least I would die with Rhode. I hung on to him as hard as I could. Justin hissed like an animal. He blinked slowly at us . . . his mouth parted in shock.
Justin lowered the sword. Then he smiled.
‘Of course,’ he said with a hollow chuckle. ‘I should have known.’
The sword’s point flickered in the strange eclipse light as Justin dropped the blade to his side.
‘It’s both of you,’ he said in awe.
He did not stab me. He did not hurt us. What the hell just happened?
‘Justin!’ A vampire appeared from the sitting room and pointed to Henri running down the stairs to our floor.
Justin immediately ran from us with no indication that he had been stabbed moments before.
I checked the eclipse. A great diamond ring sparkled around the sun. The eerie twilight would last only a minute more at most.
‘Listen to me,’ I said to Rhode. His eyes were closed. I slapped his face. ‘Rhode.’
‘Lenah . . .’ he groaned. ‘I . . .’
‘Get it! Get it! The Verese—’ Justin cried from the stairwell. I didn’t know if I’d caught the word in its entirety. He ran right by Tracy and Tony, who had come out of the sitting room and were now standing behind me.
I turned back to Rhode. ‘You need to help me. I can’t lift all your weight,’ My arm stung and the cut on my middle finger pulsed.
‘I love . . .’ Rhode sputtered. ‘I love . . .’
His eyes rolled, his head tilted to the side and he passed out.
I shook Rhode but he did not respond.
Tony and Tracy were now dragging Kate down the hallway by her ankles.
I lifted Rhode’s head, but his eyes remained closed.
‘The Vere—’ Justin yelled, coming back into the room, but the word was lost on me again. I didn’t think it was English. He held something under his arm. An ancient leather-bound book with a thick cover.
He called out that strange word again. Maybe it was French? I couldn’t translate.
Cassius ran at Justin but ducked quickly from an impending blow from Justin’s blade. Their duelling forced them both back into the sitting room. Taking my opportunity, I lifted Rhode’s large frame. My stomach muscles shook and I almost got him to the middle of the hallway before my tired body gave out again. Slick sweat ran down my temples to my jaw. I just needed to get us to that door. Tony and Tracy were busy with Kate while Justin’s coven was successfully distracted. The Demelucrea has allowed us a getaway as best they could. I just needed to lift Rhode!
‘Justin! She’s taking Rhode. Lenah is taking him!’ Kate cried. She broke free from Tony and Tracy and scrambled to her feet. Tony fell back, massaging his arm.
‘Kate! Wait!’ Tracy cried, and followed her into the sitting room. Tracy clearly could not understand the switch in Kate’s loyalty, but I could. Kate was a new vampire. Justin was familiar and powerful. It wouldn’t have taken much to get her under his control. Tony ran in after Tracy.
‘No! Let her go!’
An arrow flew through the air. There was a crump of a body falling and Tracy’s anguished voice called out Kate’s name.
Liliana’s arrow had found its target.
I hooked Rhode under both arms and dragged him down the hall. The back of his head pressed into my stomach and the heels of his boots scraped along the Oriental rug. Tony came out of the sitting room supporting both Micah and Tracy. Micah’s right leg was dangling in an odd way. Blood seeped near his hairline. Both he and Tracy were limping. None of them could help me with Rhode.
Tony looked as if he was about to let go of Micah to come help me, but Liliana charged by and grabbed Rhode’s other side. With her help, the strain on my arms lessened immediately.
Cassius lifted his sword in the air and charged at Justin. Tony, Micah and Tracy passed us. Tony looked back at me.
‘I’m all right – go.’
Tony didn’t like it, but he pushed on the side door and they were gone.
Cassius ran down the hallway to meet us. He bled from his head and arms. The cut on his temple looked deep and raw. Even as a vampire it would take time to heal.
‘Hurry!’ he cried. ‘I kicked some book out of Justin’s hands. It sent him running. We have mere . . .’
An icy wind lifted my braid from my back. Justin flew towards us.
‘Go! Now! Now!’ I kept repeating it. ‘Cassius, Liliana! Take Rhode and go!!’
Liliana dropped Rhode and I nearly fell hanging on to him. She readied her arrows.
‘I command it, Cassius!’ I said.
He clenched his jaw and coupled it with an angry grunt of frustration. He escaped out the door to the last embers of eclipsed light.
‘Liliana, stop!’ I screeched.
She ignored me and fired arrow after arrow at Justin, but he batted them away with ease, one after the other. Rhode remained unmoving at my feet.
Justin threw his palm out, and a fierce gust of air rushed down the hallway, lifting
Liliana and slamming her body against the door behind me. She lay in a crumpled heap, her bow motionless in her hand.
Justin moved so that he was standing right in front of me. Quickly he swiped a dagger through the air. It whizzed by my nose, an inch from my neck.
I jumped back, nearly falling over Rhode at my feet, and grabbed for my neck. I expected hot blood to seep from my skin. My fingers searched my neck and face. I was unharmed, but I should have been mortally wounded.
Shock radiated through me. This wasn’t merely Justin attempting to hurt me as he had on the beach. He had tried and failed before because the natural law of vampires commanded it. He loved me so I was safe.
This time he missed on purpose.
Justin had tried to cut me. He could hurt me. Nothing stopped him this time.
This could only mean one thing.
‘Tell me you didn’t?’ I said. ‘Tell me it hasn’t come to this, Justin?’
‘It’s not so tragic,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to look so sorry for me.’
‘I am sorry for you.’
It hadn’t registered until now; I had been too distracted trying to get Rhode out. Justin had punched me only moments ago; kicked me too. He couldn’t stab me before this day, but now he most definitely could.
He looped an arm around my waist and his fangs hovered over my neck. I held my breath. I would be with Rhode, I would love him, but my mind would fall away, my hatred would rule me and I would be the mistress of power once more. Justin would get his wish. I would become the vampire queen again. I would kill. I would hate. I would not keep my soul.
The knife point of Justin’s fang dug into my skin and broke through. The needle-like pain made my knees buckle. The bite wasn’t enough to transform me, not yet. He would drain me and over the night, I would transform and join those that wished death on the living. I yanked my arm away but his grip was relentless. He’s draining me, and fast. My knees buckled.
Behind me, the latch of the door clicked; someone was coming back inside. Justin loosened his grip and pulled back from me.
‘Let her go,’ Tracy said in a very low voice.
‘Tracy, get out!’ I cried. Justin dropped me. When I hit the floor, I grazed Rhode’s lifeless hand with my own. My arms shook and my neck burned from the bite. I shielded Rhode and Liliana’s bodies the best I could.
‘You’re not Justin,’ Tracy said. ‘Not any more.’
She slipped the bracelet off her wrist.
Oh no.
She lifted her arm. ‘The real Justin wouldn’t kill Kate. She was your friend.’
Tracy cast the silver into the air and it flew past Justin’s ear. The bracelet stalled, hovering just past where Justin stood. Tracy fell to her knees at Justin’s feet and cradled her throwing arm.
‘No, Tracy, don’t!’ I yelled, but it was far too late. The bracelet circled again and again, melting into a silver disc. The disc morphed as it flew across the hallway into a spinning vortex.
Her weapon had worked; the bracelet was an airborne whirlpool of water that grew bigger and bigger. Just like the fireball on the beach, the element, water, grew in size.
Justin backed to the wall to watch the great spinning whirlpool. It flattened and lengthened in shape.
‘What is this?’ he said. ‘What the hell is that!?’ He raised his voice even more.
Rhode and Liliana remained passed out on the ground.
The loud guitar music that had been blasting through the speakers suddenly fell silent. I didn’t know why and couldn’t care. The whirlpool vibrated while it spun. Its rotation made a rhythmic swish and with every complete turn, it grew in size. It made Justin’s water shield look like a kiddie pool.
Justin lifted a palm, but before he could manipulate the water, the entire mass collapsed in a great sheet to the floor. Rain pelted the inside of the house with torrential force.
‘Lenah!’ A roaring deluge drowned out Tracy’s scream. A rush of water emerged from the basement stairwell. It spilled over on to the carpeted hallway and rose higher and higher. I gasped as the freezing water licked at my ankles.
There was a splash at my feet. Rhode shook his head; the water must have revived him. Liliana too. I squatted down by Rhode. Tracy took Liliana’s arm and helped her stand. The Dem wiped the water out of her eyes but it continued to pelt the house. I looked for Justin but he was at the opposite end of the hall, battling the waves of water rushing down the stairs to the main floor.
‘Come on,’ I said, and pulled on Rhode’s arm.
‘No,’ he said, and yanked away. ‘There is nothing you can do, Lenah.’
He zigzagged off down the hallway in the direction of Justin.
‘Have you lost your mind?’ I asked, following him.
‘Lenah, come back!’ Tracy cried from behind me.
Rhode crashed into a table at the end of the hallway and fell in the water again.
The water was now up to my shins. Rhode reached up to pull himself out of the water. His hand shook so badly that he could only wrap his fingers around the table leg before he collapsed again. I was still feet from him when Justin stepped out at the end of the hall once more. He had retrieved his precious book and held it under the crook of one arm. My legs shook from the weight of having carried Rhode. Justin lifted one hand, palm out, and spread his fingers wide.
At Justin’s command, the water beneath Rhode crested and surged upward. It separated from the mass of the flood and drifted like a floating table. Rhode was limp as Justin brought him towards him.
I reached out, my hand aching and pain pulsing through the cut on my finger.
I sloshed after Justin and Rhode, but the water had now risen to my belly button. Rhode remained limp on the floating altar and hovered behind Justin.
A vampire floated by me in the water. Headless.
Justin slipped something into his pocket, like a vial or a bottle, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
‘Rhode, wake up!’ I screamed, but my voice cracked. Through the window, the dangerous sun shone on to the roof of the carport outside. The eclipse had been over for some minutes at least.
‘What are you doing to him?’ I called. Now that I was closer to the open window I could see; the windows of the car were covered in what appeared to be black paint.
Justin’s sneer grew. The rain fell down around us, coating his hardened face.
Justin pointed and Rhode’s body floated behind him on this odd stretcher of waving water. Justin clambered on to the windowsill, which was above the height of the water. He directed Rhode’s body through the smashed window and across to the sports car.
A scream grew inside me, spilling out of me like an animal let loose. Maybe the power of my anger surprised him because Justin looked back and his face slackened.
Use it only when you need it most.
Now. This was when I needed Fire’s necklace most. But I hadn’t known that, couldn’t foresee this kind of horror.
Justin jumped down under the protection of the carport.
‘Lenah!’ Somewhere behind me, Tracy called my name. The water was up to my chest. I swam back to the hallway. Tracy opened the door and water rushed out to the yard. The sunlight trickled in and Liliana moved further into the hallway to avoid the direct rays. She looked out the door and up towards the blue sky.
‘Go,’ Liliana said, but her eyes were on Tracy. ‘Go to the others.’
Tracy obeyed, leaving only Liliana and me inside the house.
The rain had tapered off and only a light shower pattered the flooded house.
There was a crack of wood, and my heart jumped. A harsh sound of splitting of beams came next and I protected my head. I checked the ceiling; surely it was caving in; but no, it remained intact. Outside, an engine started. I quickly moved to the end of the hallway – the carport awning had cracked, and the wood fell apart.
Justin roared off in a black Jaguar with Rhode’s unresponsive body inside.
Justin had destroyed the carport. Its
roof fell inwards in a V-shape.
It was already shining so much lighter than before.
Liliana was trapped.
She still hid in the shadows at the end of the hallway. She looked so small to me.
The tips of my toes touched the floor as I swam back towards Liliana. The further I made it down the hall, the more shallow the water. Once the door was opened, the water flowed out.
When I reached her, Liliana passed me her empty quiver and her bow. The top of the bow had a tiny encircled R engraved in the wood, just like her sister’s had.
‘Swim to the top floor. We can get you out later,’ I said gently.
‘The water isn’t what would kill me. I could live for weeks in a house filled with water.’ She cocked her head. ‘Don’t you hear them already?’
‘What?’
‘The sirens . . .’
She was right – the distinct sound of emergency sirens echoed.
‘They’ll hold me responsible, want to take me in for questioning. Either way, they’ll force me out into the light.’
She stood in the shadow of the open doorway and looked up at the sun.
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she asked, and met my eyes.
In the distance, Tracy hobbled towards her car on the street. I hoped Tony, Micah and Cassius were safe inside.
Water pressed against the back of my legs and pushed out the door to the grass.
Liliana took a step to exit the house.
‘No!’ I cried, grabbing her arm. She, like Cassius, was warm to the touch.
‘This is what I was born to do,’ she whispered. It was the whisper that stopped me. Liliana was so calm. ‘Let me go,’ she commanded.
Our eyes met, mine blue, hers silver. She shouldn’t die in this house of water. She should choose her own fate.
‘Thank you, Renoiera,’ she said. It should have been me thanking her.
Liliana stepped on to the grass and brought her chin to the sky. The beautiful blonde vampire slid her gaze to me. A smile played on her mouth just as a sliver of the sun moved from behind a cloud and beamed on to the grass.
Orange dust enveloped Liliana from head to toe. Like Suleen in my father’s orchard, she had become a statue of golden ashes. I stepped out of the house and my fingers shook as I touched the soft powder; she collapsed to nothing but dust.