***
The Tom Miller Dam sits choking the Colorado River in a sparsely populated area inside the Austin city limits. To one side are the functional, characterless maintenance buildings, but on the other side are rugged, natural woods separating the dam from the nearest subdivision.
Chase pulls his truck up to the nearest maintenance building, close enough to be within easy walking distance, but not so close as to be suspicious.
I glance to Damian, seated beside me in the backseat. His pulse thrums at an alert, tense rate. In fact, that describes the heart rates of everyone in this vehicle.
In spite of it being October, the sun is shining happily. I adjust my long-sleeved sweater. Vampires may not die in sunlight as our ancestors did, but our skin still doesn’t tan.
I open the door at my side and swing out. Damian follows close behind. We both inhale deeply, testing the air for traces of familiar scents.
While I detect the hints of several humans besides the Huntsmen in the area, I find nothing familiar. I’m sure Uncle Devin is here already, I just can’t smell him.
James passes us. Chase has one of those metal and glass covers over his truck bed. The four Huntsmen all head toward the back of the truck.
Damian and I follow them, not sure what’s going on.
Chase unlocks the back, drops down the tailgate and props up the back window. He reaches for a black plastic travel trunk, unlocks it with a key from his keychain, and flips open the lid.
My eyes go wide.
Inside is a collection of knives, axes, rifles, swords, crossbows, and just about every sort of weapon a warrior could want. The Huntsmen help themselves.
Shelby easily picks up a rifle. She checks the bolt, makes sure it’s unloaded and swings it over her shoulder while grabbing a few extra clips. Seth grabs one, too.
Chase grabs another handgun and slips it in the back of his belt under his jacket.
I take the time to notice a Semper Fi sticker affixed to the bumper of Chase’s truck. It looks relatively new. I store the info away for future reference and turn my attention back to the present.
“So, do we have a plan?” I ask, watching the Huntsmen help themselves to weaponry.
Chase shrugs, adjusting the sidearm in his belt. “Get Madelyn, get out alive.”
“Ah,” I nod.
“Of course, if we can take out Chadwick’s main enforcer, that would be pretty nice, too.” As soon as he says it, Chase glances to me to see if I’ve taken offense. He clearly doesn’t understand just how I feel about my uncle.
“I agree,” I drily concur.
He seems to relax at that.
The four humans finish arming themselves and we stand around in a loose circle. Damian and I won’t have much use for weapons. Most of our training was hand-to-hand. Still, I tuck a pocket knife with a three-inch blade into my back pocket. Damian shakes his head when they show him their cutting tool selection.
James breathes a deep sigh. “Chase, you come with me and see if we can’t get inside and get a bead on the vamps with the girl. You two,” he jerks his chin at Seth and Shelby, “you go together and try to see what you can do to stop them from getting away if things go pear-shaped.” He turns to me and Damian. There’s the briefest hesitation before he addresses us. “You two…”
“We play along with what our uncle wants,” I say. “We try and keep him from thinking about looking for you all. And we try to get Madelyn away from him.”
James nods. “You got a sound head, girl.”
That’s a compliment and I find myself wondering if James has ever complimented a vampire before.
I incline my head.
Without waiting for me, Damian turns and marches off toward the dam.
The dam is closed right now and the water rises about two thirds up the deep side. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not. We skirt around the hard-hatted dam workers in the maintenance areas and manage to get onto a walkway along the dam itself.
To our left is the towering concrete of the dam shading us from the sun, to our right is a guardrail and below that, a sheer drop landing in shallow, rocky waters that would doubtless be fatal, even to a vampire. I try not to think about it as I march onward beside my brother.
Damian seems to radiate tension. We’re both on the lookout for the first signs for Uncle Devin. I’m certain he knows we’re here. He’s just waiting for us to get where he wants us.
I wonder if he knows that the Huntsmen are here with us. Probably. I wonder what he’s planning to do about them. He most certainly intends to deal with the Falkners once he’s taken care of his niece and nephew. He would’ve caught their scent again at the motel. And judging by the trail I tracked last night, it won’t be hard for him to find their house.
Maybe that’s why the Huntsmen are helping us. They realize he’s now their problem as much as ours. I just hope that they won’t turn on us.
I can sense Damian wants to tear down this walkway and rip the dam apart until he finds Madelyn. It’s what I would want. But Damian keeps his head and walks calmly and cautiously in front of me, his sharp eyes scanning everything for signs of action.
We reach the middle of the dam without seeing or hearing anything. Everything’s quiet, eerily quiet.
Damian comes to a stop. He marches around in a tight circle. “Come on!” he shouts. His voice echoes off the dam and seems to project over the river below. “Come on! Here we are!” His eyes are darkening again. “What are you waiting for?” he demands.
I sigh.
Damian paces away from me. “Where are they?” He anxiously rakes his hands through his hair. “Damn it, Uncle Devin, where are you? Where’s Madelyn?” He seems to be talking more to himself now.
I watch him, silently sharing his frustration. I want to find Madelyn, too. I want Uncle Devin to pay for what he’s done as badly as Damian. But I know there’s nothing I can do to make the man show himself.
Suddenly, there’s motion behind me as a door swings open and one of the Thatcher twins dashes forward. Before I can face him, he has one arm locked around my neck. I slam an elbow backwards against his gut. He grunts, but then jabs the cold barrel of a pistol against the side of my head. I freeze. I can’t even reach for the pocket knife.
I knew that Uncle Devin and his men had guns, they just don’t use them unless they’re dealing with someone who has them, too. Personally, I think Uncle Devin prefers getting blood on his fangs.
People have been jabbing loaded guns at me more times today than in the past nineteen years of my life. It hardly seems right.
Damian whirls around. He sees me in the grip of the other vampire with a gun to my head. His eyes flicker crimson and he moves forward.
But before he can take more than two steps, a door behind him bursts open and the second Thatcher twin emerges, Madelyn in his grip. She’s gagged, she has a few bruises, but nothing serious.
There’s a gun pressed to her head, too.
Damian’s torn. I watch him whip his frantic gaze back and forth between the two of us. He makes a frustrated, aggressive, distressed sound that’s halfway between a whine and a growl.
Uncle Devin strides out from the door behind me. I feel a deep primal need to act as he comes closer, step by step. I ache to face him, to run from him, to fight him, to do something other than stand here with my back to him.
But the Thatcher twin holds me fast.
“Hello, Damian.” Uncle Devin carelessly smiles.
The troll comes out beside him and the fourth vampire stands next to the Thatcher twin with Madelyn. Madelyn tries resisting, but her captor presses the gun harder against her head and she stops.
“Let them go!” Damian orders, his eyes flaring scarlet. “You let them go now!”
Uncle Devin arches one eyebrow. “When I’m ready.”
“I’m warning you—”
“When you’re king, Damian, you can give me orders. Until then, I will follow the orders of your father, our king
. And our king wants you to choose.” Uncle Damian nonchalantly adjusts the cuffs of his blazer.
Damian’s face shows confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, we can only take one of them back to New England.” Uncle Devin motions to me and Madelyn. “The other one gets a bullet to the brain pan and dumped into the river. So…choose.”
My heart leaps in my throat. I’m scared. Genuinely and truly scared. Uncle Devin will do it, too. He doesn’t bluff, not about things like this.
Damian’s face goes awash with horror. “No…no!” he shouts. His gaze darts back and forth between us. He’s aching to fight, to attack, to protect us both. But he knows that if he tries to rescue one of us, that means death for the other. I can see him struggling, fighting with himself. “Dad’s not going to let you kill Haddie,” Damian argues.
“Actually,” Uncle Devin corrects him, “I just got off the phone with him. Our dear Hadassah…” He extends a hand and curls his fingers through the loose strands of my hair. I try not to cringe. “…has been such a bad girl. We thought she had learned her lesson, but she clearly hasn’t. So why bother trying again to fix something that chooses to stay broken?”
“She’s not broken, she’s perfect,” Damian snarls.
“Oh? Then where were you when she was serving time as an enforcer as punishment?” Uncle Devin coolly inquires.
I see guilt flash across his face. “There wasn’t anything I could do to help.”
“But did you even try?” Uncle Devin taunts.
“No!” I shout. “There wasn’t anything you could’ve done, Damian. Don’t let him—”
The troll slaps a fist across my face before I can finish. My vision goes blurry and I can’t see anything for a moment. My whole head throbs and the world spins.
“So here are the options my dear nephew: Your sister…” He lays a hand on my shoulder. I ache to shove him off. “…or your lover?” His other hand motions to Madelyn.
The Huntsmen are nowhere to be seen. I don’t know where they are or if they’ve decided to back out. They might just not be able to find us.
“Choose one, Damian, or I kill them both,” Uncle Devin calmly announces.
Damian cries out. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!” he screams.
Uncle Devin shrugs. “I’ll give you one hundred seconds.” He glances down at his wristwatch.
“I can’t!” Damian shrieks. “I can’t!”
Madelyn is staring at him. Looking at her face, I can see she isn’t pleading for him to choose her. She just wants him to know she loves him. But she’s gagged, she can’t talk.
“Damian.” I make my voice be steady and strong.
My brother meets my gaze. Sadness, anger, terror, conflict, and pain are written in his darkened eyes.
“Damian.” I say his name softly. “You’re the only person in this world who I truly love. And I love you with all my heart.”
Uncle Devin makes a mock cooing sound. “Isn’t she sweet? Survival instincts are always a plus.” He keeps staring at his watch.
I swallow, keeping my eyes on Damian. “I want you to know…” I inhale deeply. “It’s alright.”
Damian looks confused.
“I want you…” I fight to keep myself together. I’m about to sign my own death warrant. “I want you to choose Madelyn.”
Damian’s face shows pure agony. Madelyn blinks at me in shock as she realizes what I’m doing. She tries to say something that might be no. Uncle Devin stares at me in mild disbelief. The other vampires seem surprised, too. Even the troll looks befuddled.
But James sent Shelby and Seth out to stop Uncle Devin and his men in case they get away. I have a good hope that they’ll be able to intercept Uncle Devin and whoever might be with him as he leaves. Damian and Madelyn will have a chance to escape. I said I would die for Madelyn. Looks like I get to prove it.
“What?” Damian softly gasps.
“It’s okay,” I repeat. Damian blurs out of focus. I’m crying, damn it. Didn’t I resolve not to cry when the time came for my death? “It’s okay, Damian. Choose Madelyn.”
Damian gives a wordless shout and kicks the guardrail. “I can’t let them kill you!”
“They’ll kill Madelyn, too, if you don’t,” I say.
“Haddie…” Damian groans, staring at me with pure grief and pain in his eyes.
Tears roll down my cheeks, but I keep a straight face. “I love you,” I whisper. “Now choose Madelyn.”
Madelyn’s shaking her head. She doesn’t want me to die for her. I don’t want to die for her. But I’m willing.
“Twenty seconds,” Uncle Devin interjects. “Hurry up Damian, or they’re both food for sunfish.”
Damian stares at me. “I love you, too.”
I smile and nod at him through my tears.
Madelyn keeps shaking her head.
I look to her. “You take care of my brother, okay?”
Madelyn’s crying, too. But she nods. Of course she’ll take care of my brother. She loves him even more than I do.
I take a deep breath. “Do it, Damian.”
Damian’s shaking. Tears fill his eyes. He stares at me, putting off the inevitable for as long as possible.
Uncle Devin starts counting down. “And five, four, three, two—”
“Her.” Damian points to Madelyn. “I choose her.”
“Finally,” Uncle Devin sighs. “I hate suspense.”