Jesus looked down at her, expressionless, his eyes aglow, gazing into hers.
“I have been waiting for you,” he said, softly.
Caitlin felt her eyes fill with tears. Waiting for her? Jesus? She couldn’t even imagine. She felt so important. As if her entire life had a greater meaning than she ever knew. She had no idea how to respond.
“Follow me,” he said.
The crowd surged forward and his donkey moved on, absorbed by the masses. Still trembling, she watched his back as he continued on. The experience left her speechless. She felt more of a sense of purpose now than ever. She felt absolutely certain that if she followed him, he would lead her directly to her Dad. To the shield. She was so excited, she could hardly breathe.
But just as Caitlin took her first step to follow him, she suddenly stopped.
Because there, standing in the crowd, staring back at her, was a man with intense, sad eyes, a man she was sure she would never see again. She did a double take, unable to comprehend if it was true.
After several moments, she realized it was.
It was really him.
Blake.
And just as Caitlin, already overwhelmed, tried to process this new twist, she was suddenly overcome by another shock: standing there, beside him, looking up at her with love and joy, was her daughter.
Standing there, was Scarlet.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Caitlin stood there, staring at Blake and Scarlet, speechless. Her heart soared at the site of them. Her eyes locked on Scarlet’s, and at the same moment, they ran for each other. Caitlin could see Scarlet’s face light up with joy, and beside her, she was also thrilled to see Ruth, who ran to her, too.
Caitlin picked Scarlet up in her arms and hugged her with all she had. She could feel Scarlet’s little hands hugging her back, squeezing tightly.
Caitlin felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks, and felt Scarlet’s tears on her own neck. She felt whole again, alive again. As if a piece of her had been returned. Her daughter was alive. And she was here, with her, back in this time and place. Safe.
“Mommy mommy! I missed you so much,” Scarlet said, through her tears. Caitlin hugged her, never wanting to let her go.
“I know, sweetheart. I missed you, too.”
Ruth barked and whined, jumping on Caitlin; Caitlin knelt down, and she licked her frantically all over her face.
Scarlet watched and laughed hysterically. Caitlin was so happy to hear that laugh again. Her life felt whole again.
Then Caitlin stood, suddenly remembering.
Blake.
He stood there, staring back with his large blue eyes. They were watering over, Caitlin could see, and he smiled. Clearly, he was overjoyed to see this reunion. And more than that, he had been a part of it.
“Mommy, Blake saved me! And Ruth,” Scarlet screamed.
Once again, Blake had saved Scarlet. Her daughter. She owed him a far greater debt than she could ever repay.
Caitlin stepped forward and wordlessly embraced Blake, hugging him tightly. At first, he hesitated, and then he hugged her back. His embrace became tighter and tighter, and she felt his muscles rippling. She felt his love pouring through to her, and she could feel how sad he was that they were not together anymore.
After a long time, too long for just a casual friend, Blake finally, slowly, pulled back. He stood there, his eyes watered over, and looked down at Caitlin. She could see the longing and sadness in them. She could see in them how much he wished that things had turned out differently.
Caitlin felt indebted to him. But she was loyal to Caleb. Caleb was her husband, and Scarlet was her daughter. So Caitlin did the loyal thing, and forced herself to look away. She took a deep breath, and turned away, not wanting to look into his eyes anymore, not wanting to think of him. She owed that to Caleb.
She hoped she didn’t offend him. But she had to be strong. For them both.
Caitlin could sense Scarlet looking up, back and forth between them, trying to figure it out.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Caitlin said. But she was not looking into his eyes as she said it. She was looking away, refusing to meet that stare.
“I was looking for you, and I stumbled upon her,” Blake said. “I came back in this time searching for you. There is nothing to thank me for. It was a great privilege.”
Caitlin kept her distance. She turned and looked through the streets, trying to distract herself, to look at anything else. In the distance, she watched Jesus, riding slowly through the mobs. Some bystanders were cheering at his presence. Others were heckling him. She watched as he got further and further away.
Follow me.
She felt that she needed to go after him, that she couldn’t let him disappear. She had to follow him. Wherever it was she needed to go, wherever it was he would lead her, now was the time. She felt a pang of anxiety at the thought of losing him. She sensed an urgency.
“You are right,” Blake said, reading her mind. “You cannot lose him.”
Caitlin blushed at her mind being read.
“You must follow him. Now. Take Scarlet. Don’t let him get away. He will lead you to the shield.”
Caitlin blushed, embarrassed her mind was such an open book.
“And what about you?” Caitlin asked. “Where will you go?”
“As much as I would like to stay here, with you,” he said, “there is business calling me elsewhere. Urgent business. There is a great disturbance in the universe.”
Caitlin looked at him, unnerved to hear someone else say it.
“I can feel it too,” she said.
“It is Rexius. And his men. And, I’m sorry to say, your brother. Sam. He is with them now.”
Caitlin nodded slowly, sensing that, too. She felt heart well up with shame and remorse at the thought of Sam helping those cretins. But she didn’t know what to do.
“They are attacking Aiden,” Blake said. “Every moment counts.”
“Caleb is with him,” Caitlin said, feeling a sudden terror. As Blake said it, she could feel the power of these forces. She could feel that they had unleashed something very powerful, and she did not know what. She sensed it was heading right for Caleb.
“I have to join you,” Caitlin said. “I can help you. And I can help Caleb.”
Blake shook his head.
“No. We need you to find your father. If you come with us, you’ll be just another soldier. That won’t help us at all.”
As he said it, Caitlin sensed his words were true. But it still hurt to hear them. More than anything, she just wanted to be by Caleb’s side.
“I must go,” Blake said, sadly.
As he did, Caitlin had a sudden sense this was the last time she would ever see Blake alive again, too. The feeling caused a pain in her heart. She tried to pretend it wasn’t there, but deep down, she knew it was.
She looked at him one last time. She saw him staring back at her, and it pained her more than she could say.
“I don’t know what to say,” Caitlin said.
Blake took a step forward, standing just a few inches away. He reached up and held her cheek in his hand, smiling.
“Don’t say anything,” he said. “I know that you love Caleb. I’m happy for you. I’m happy for you both. But just do me one favor,” he said, looking at her. “Just tell me one thing…. In the past, once, long ago…tell me that you loved me.”
Caitlin felt her eyes well up with tears and pain. She wanted more than anything to push thoughts of Blake completely from her mind. But, she had to admit, there had been a time. Once. When she did, indeed, love him. She thought back to Venice, to their magical time together. The costume ball. His dying for her in the Roman Colosseum.
Slowly, her voice trembling, Caitlin began to speak. It was hard to breathe.
“I…there…was a time…once… Once, I loved you.”
Blake stared at her for several seconds, then finally, slowly, nodded. Satisfied.
He lowered his hand
from her cheek. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. Then, he reached down and placed something in her palm, and closed it.
Then, without another word, he leapt into the sky.
Caitlin stood there, in shock, her heart in a million pieces as she watched Blake fly away, over the streets of Jerusalem, up higher and higher, towards the Mount of Olives, his wide black wings flapping. She knew, she just knew, that she would never see him again. She watched him disappear for far too long, wondering why they’d ever had to meet in the first place.
She looked down and slowly opened her palm, afraid to see what he’d placed inside. Her heart stopped as she saw a small, well-worn piece of sea glass.
And, despite herself, she burst into tears.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Now Caleb understood. As he stood there, looking up at the blackening skies, now he understood why he and Caitlin were meant to part ways. She wasn’t destined to be here. She wasn’t destined to witness this slaughter, to die with all of them, here, on this mountain. She had a different destiny.
He, Caleb, was the one destined to die today. In her place.
Caleb felt the old warrior inside rouse itself. He raised his chin proudly, held out his chest, and breathed in, jutting out his jaw, holding his ground. It was the stance of a warrior prepared to meet his death—and to go down with honor.
Caleb reached down and instinctively extracted his sword from his scabbard. It slid out with a metallic noise that echoed in the hills.
All around him, Aiden’s coven members did the same.
Except for Aiden. He merely stood there, looking as relaxed as ever as he closed his eyes and merely raised his staff before him. Caleb could sense the energy radiating off of it. He had never fought with Aiden before, not shoulder to shoulder like this, and he wondered what it would be like.
Caleb’s heart started beating faster as the black cloud grew thicker, came closer. The sound grew louder, incredibly loud, a million vampire wings flapping up above. As they descended, Caleb could see them taking aim, right for them.
As he stood there and raised his sword, bracing himself for the attack, he could feel the approaching army, before it even hit, coming at him like a gale force wind. The sound grew louder and louder, as the skies blackened. The entire horde descended, aiming right for them.
Caleb looked to his left and right, and saw Aiden’s men holding firm, veteran warriors, all holding the line. None of them even flinched.
The army approached. 100 yards…50…20…. Caleb could begin to see their faces. As they got close enough, he was shocked to see who was in front, leading the charge.
There, right in the center, was Kyle.
Caleb could not believe it. He was sure that Kyle was dead, gone forever. He could not understand how he could be here.
And there, beside him, he saw Rynd, another creature he was sure was gone forever. Caleb could not understand how they could be back in existence.
Beside them he recognized vampires from his days in New York, when he was infiltrating the Blacktide coven. Vampires who he knew were gone forever. He could not understand how all of them could be here.
And then, suddenly, it hit him. And the realization struck him deeper than any sword, than any battle.
At that moment, he realized that all these creatures had been brought back from the other side. Resurrected. And there was only one weapon in the universe that had the power to do that.
The Shield.
The Vampire Shield.
Caleb’s heart sank, as his breath was taken out of him. They had found the Shield first. They had beaten them to it, and had already used it. These creatures, these thousands of demons, had all been resurrected with the Shield, dragged up from the depths of hell. The shield had fallen into the wrong hands.
That meant they had no chance. No chance at all of survival.
As they got even closer, Caleb looked up and saw Sam—and beside him, Samantha, a face he had not seen in years. As he saw Sam getting closer, he could see Caitlin’s face in him. It was hard for him to see his brother-in-law like this, so transformed, fighting for the other side. But there was nothing he could do. He would have to face off with him.
A moment later, there was impact. There came the awful sound of a million clashing swords and wings, as Sam came down, right for Caleb, a horrible grimace on his face. He raised his sword and brought it down right for Caleb.
Caleb stood there proudly and met his sword with his own, blocking it. There was a loud clash, and an instant later, dozens of vampires landed all around him.
Aiden’s warriors fought back bravely, blocking and dodging and ducking and slashing back. There was the clang of metal on metal, weapon on weapon, as they all fought expertly. Caleb caught a glance of Aiden: amazingly, he hadn’t moved. He stood very still, his staff up before him, eyes closed. It was as if there was an invisible bubble around him, a shield, and everyone who flew towards him bounced back as they got close. He was untouched, standing there in his bubble.
But Caleb didn’t have that power. He could feel the power rippling through Sam’s sword slash as he blocked it, the vibration of the metal shaking his entire body. He slashed back—but Sam was too fast: he blocked Caleb’s every blow, and immediately slashed back. It was the toughest battle of Caleb’s life, and he was being pushed back, with nowhere to go.
Making matters worse, dozens more vampires were landing all around him at every moment, encircling him from all sides. He was soon completely outnumbered.
Caleb fought furiously, swinging in every direction. The chaos helped him a bit, as some vampires, in the confusion, fought against each other.
He rolled away from Sam, not wanting to hurt him, and instead focused on other vampires. Moving with speed and dexterity, he managed to kill several of them. He was actually gaining momentum, when suddenly he felt himself elbowed hard in the back, right in the kidneys.
He wheeled, and found himself face to face with a hideous, sneaky creature.
Standing there, scowling back, missing one eye, was Kyle.
Before Caleb could react, Kyle raised his battle ax high and brought it down right for Caleb’s head.
Caleb dodged at the last second, then reached over swung back, for Kyle’s arm. Kyle blocked the blow with a shield, then leaned back and kicked Caleb in the gut, knocking him back.
Kyle came in for another blow with his axe, but Caleb anticipated it; he leapt over it, high in the air, and kicked Kyle hard in the chest, knocking him back. Now, Caleb had the upper hand.
But dozens more vampires landed, swooping down from every side. Caleb was already getting tired, already beginning to see that this was a losing battle. He saw no way they could possibly win. He wondered what Aiden was thinking, trying to even face off against an army with only a few dozen men.
Just when Caleb thought things couldn’t get any worse, suddenly, the earth around him shook. As he looked over in astonishment, he suddenly saw the thousands of graves on the Mount of Olives start to shift. And then, to his horror, the dirt rose up, and bodies began to emerge from each grave—dark, demon souls, hideous-looking black shadows, with long, sharp fangs. As if the army in the sky weren’t bad enough—now, Caleb was surrounded by thousands more evil creatures, from every side.
And he realized that, in the coming minutes, his life would be finished.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Caitlin stood there, watching the sky, wiping her tears, and finally tore herself away. She was jostled in the crowd, and felt a small hand grip hers, and finally snapped out of it.
She looked down and saw Scarlet looking up at her with her joyful, innocent eyes.
“Mommy?” she asked.
Caitlin beamed at the site of her, forgetting all her sadness. She bent down and embraced Scarlet, holding her tight, smiling, radiant. And then she remembered: Jesus.
Caitlin took Scarlet’s hand, checked to see that Ruth was by her side, and then hurried through the mob, heading after him. They we
re jostled as they went, and it was an effort just to keep them together. The masses flocked around Jesus, who was far away now, and the crowd was growing thicker and thicker. He was such a polarizing figure, Caitlin could feel the tension in the air, so thick it was palpable. Brawls broke out, as some people wept openly, while others argued with each other. It felt like Jerusalem was on the verge of a revolution.
The Roman soldiers stood back, watching carefully, Pontius Pilate overseeing them. Caitlin noticed more and more soldiers filtering in, their ranks swelling as they followed Jesus.
Caitlin had to get closer; she pushed her way through the crowd, and slowly, she narrowed the gap. In the distance he turned down a side street, and Caitlin lost sight of him. She elbowed with more force, but the crowd was thick—and growing thicker by the second.
Suddenly, Pontius Pilot gave his soldiers a signal, and they rushed into the crowd, cordoning off the street where Jesus had went. The crowd booed and screamed, trying to follow him, but the soldiers wouldn’t let them. The crowd got pushy, and the soldiers started to raise their clubs and beat them back.
A riot ensued. People started fighting, then stampeding toward Caitlin to get away from the soldiers’ brutality. Caitlin could tell the situation was about to worsen, and realized that if she didn’t do something fast, they’d all be trampled to death.
Caitlin bent over, put Scarlet on her back, grabbed Ruth with her free hand, and leapt up into the air. Her wings caught, and soon she was flying, up above the crowd. She made it just in time, right before the stampede headed her way. She didn’t like to fly like this, so out in the open, so conspicuously in front of humans, who she knew would spot her. But she had no choice.
They spotted her indeed—and the effect was electrifying. Caitlin heard the shocked cries and looked down to see hundreds of crowd members stopping and turning, pointing up at her.
“Witch!”
“Heretic!”
“Demon!”
Several people grabbed rocks and hurled them up towards Caitlin.