They both spun towards the noise, and looked to see who it was.
It was a person. A vampire. A beautiful, incredible creature, taller, thinner, better built than Caitlin. With long, flowing red hair and bright green eyes.
As Caitlin realized who it was, her heart plummeted.
No. It couldn’t be.
It was her. Sera. Caleb’s ex-wife.
Caitlin had met her only once, briefly, at the Cloisters. But she had never forgotten her.
Sera walked towards them with the elegance of a creature who had been on this planet for thousands of years. Confident. Without slowing, her eyes on Caitlin all the while, she walked up beside Caleb.
She reached up a single, pale, beautiful hand, and slowly draped it around Caleb shoulder. She looked down at Caitlin with utter contempt.
“Caleb?” she said softly, a sinister smile across her face. “Didn’t you tell her about us?”
And with those few words, Caitlin felt as if a knife had been plunged into her heart.
Five
Samantha watched in horror as the cauldron tilted toward Sam’s face. She struggled for all she was worth, but there was nothing she could do to break free of her captors. She was helpless. She’d just have to stand there and watch it destroy the person she had come to love.
As the liquid doused Sam, Samantha braced herself, expecting to hear the horrible shrieks so often accompanied by a dousing of Ioric acid.
But as Sam became completely lost in the waterfall of acid, there was, strangely, not a single sound.
Had it killed him so quickly, so completely, that he didn’t even have a chance to scream? As the liquid stopped, Sam came into view.
And Samantha was truly shocked. As was every other vampire in the room.
He was fine. He blinked and looked around, clearly not in pain. He even looked a bit defiant.
It was incredible. Samantha had never seen anything like it – never seen anyone, human or vampire, immune to the liquid. That is, anyone except for one person. Now she remembered. Caitlin. His sister. She had been immune, too. What could that mean? Was it because they were genetically linked? She thought back to his watch, to the inscription. The Rose and the Thorn. Was the dynasty split between them? Could it be that she wasn’t The One?
But that he was?
Caitlin was a few years older than Sam, and perhaps she’d showed signs of coming-of-age sooner than he. Perhaps, if they had waited a few years, Sam would also have shown signs of morphing into a half-breed.
Whatever the reason, he was clearly immune. Which made him very, very powerful. And very dangerous to her coven.
Samantha looked around, and in the room of several hundred vampires, there was not a sound. They all just stared, in shock.
Sam looked pissed. He reached up, dragging his chains, and wiped the water from his face. He tugged at the chains, but could not get free.
“Can someone get me out of this fucking thing!?” he screamed.
And then, it happened.
Suddenly, there was a crash at the door.
Samantha spun around, and watched as the huge set of double doors came crashing down.
She couldn’t believe it. There stood Kyle, half his face disfigured, Sergei at his side, and hundreds of mercenary vampires behind him.
And that wasn’t all. Kyle had it. Was holding it high. The Sword.
Kyle let out a horrific scream and charged madly, headlong, into the room. His supporters followed close behind, shrieking, on a rampage. And the room broke into mayhem.
It was vampire against vampire, as Kyle and his men viciously attacked every being in sight. But the Blacktide Coven had been at war for thousands of years, and it was not about to give in easily. Rexius’ vampires fought back with equal determination.
It was an outright battle, hand to hand, vampire to vampire. Neither was giving an inch.
But Kyle himself made incredible headway. He held the Sword high, with both hands, and swung it widely in both directions. Wherever he went, vampires fell. Arms, legs, heads…. Kyle was a one-man army. He cut a path right through the crowd of thousands of vampires, murdering each one.
Samantha was shocked. In her thousands of years, she had never seen a vampire murdered, actually, ultimately, killed. She had never pictured a vampire as frail. This Sword was awe-inspiring. And very, very deadly.
Samantha didn’t wait any longer. As a vampire charged her, screaming, his bloody, sharpened teeth aimed right for her face, she quickly ducked, let him fly over her, and then took off at a sprint.
She charged across the room, heading right for Sam.
Just in time. A rogue vampire had the same idea, and was going right for the chained, petrified boy. The vampire leapt right for Sam, teeth extended, aiming for his throat. He was like a lamb chained in a room full of lions.
Samantha reached him just in time. She leapt, colliding with the vampire in midair and knocking him down to the ground. Before he could get up, Samantha backhanded him hard, knocking him out cold.
She jumped to her feet and tore at Sam’s chains. As she set him free, he looked all around in utter disbelief, as if he were watching a fantastical nightmare come to life.
“Samantha,” he said, “what the hell is going on – ”
“Not now,” Samantha said, as she tore the last of his chains, grabbed his arm, and jerked him, leading him through the mayhem. She was heading for the exit.
As they ran, another rogue vampire leapt right for them, teeth extended.
Samantha grabbed Sam and threw him to the ground, ducked herself, and the vampire leapt right over their heads.
She quickly regained her feet, dragging him up, and they sprinted through the room. They managed to duck and weave, she all the while leading them. She knew that if she could just make that door, there was a back corridor, a rear staircase that could take them to the street. Once outside, she could take them far, far from here.
In all the mayhem, no one noticed them sprinting. She was almost out the door, only feet away.
And then, just as she was about to make it, she felt the pressure on her back, felt herself tumbling, hitting the floor. She had been jumped from behind.
She spun around and looked up to see who it was. Sergei. That despicable little Russian sidekick to Kyle. The one who had stolen the Sword from her hand.
He grinned down at her, an evil, cruel grin, and she hated him more than she’d ever had.
Sam, to his credit, showed no fear. Still shackled, he jumped onto Sergei’s back, using his chains, wrapping them around Sergei’s throat. The boy was strong. He actually squeezed hard enough to get Sergei to loosen his grip on Samantha, and she used the opportunity to roll out from under him.
But Sam was no match for a vampire, nonetheless. Sergei stood, snarling, and threw Sam off of him like a ragdoll. Sam landed ten feet away, crashing into the wall.
As Samantha tried to scramble to her feet, she was pounced on by a dozen more vampires. She saw that Sam was surrounded, too. They were trapped.
The last thing she saw was Sergei’s cruel smile, as he wound up and punched her in the face.
* * *
As Kyle ripped through the huge chamber of the Blacktide Coven, wielding the Sword wildly, destroying vampire after vampire, he had never felt more alive. Blood splattered in every direction, covering him, and his hands felt wet with blood as he swung with more and more intensity. It was vengeance. Vengeance for his thousands of years of loyal service, for the way they’d treated him. How dare they. Now they would know the meaning of the word revenge. They would all apologize, every last one of them, bow down to him, down to the ground, and admit that they had been profoundly wrong.
It was all going perfectly. After his little detour at the Brooklyn Bridge, he had led his loyal throng right through the doors of City Hall, killing the few vampires who dared stand in the way. They had then filed through the secret passageway, lower and lower, into the bowels of City Hall, right into his coven’s nest. No vampires dared stand in his way as his army stormed the chamber. Many other vampires, upon seeing Kyle, and especially the Sword, immediately fell in with him. He was happy to see that so many of his old coven were still loyal. He knew that the day had arrived for him to claim rightful leadership.
Rexius was a weak leader. If he had been stronger, he would have found the Sword himself, years ago. He never would have sent others to do it. He liked to punish others for his own faults, when he was the one that needed to be punished. He had grown drunk with power. Banishing Kyle had been a last, desperate attempt to remove all those close to him. But it had backfired.
As Kyle tore through the room, he headed right for Rexius’ throne. Rexius spotted him coming, and his eyes opened wide with panic.
Rexius jumped down from his throne and tried to slink away, away from the fighting. Their so-called leader, showing his true colors in a time of war.
But Kyle had other plans.
Kyle ran to the other side, to meet Rexius face-to-face. It would have been much easier to just plunge the Sword into his back, but he refused to allow Rexius to go down so easily. He wanted Rexius to see, up close, who killed them.
Rexius stopped, his path blocked by Kyle’s massive shoulders, by the shining, gleaming Sword.
Rexius jaw trembled. He raised a shaking finger, pointing it at Kyle’s face. At that moment, he just looked like an old man. A weak, old, terrified man. How pathetic.
“You are banished!” he yelled, lamely. “I ordered you banished!”
Now it was Kyle’s turn to grin, a wide, malicious grin.
“You cannot win!” Rexius added. “You will not win!”
Kyle stepped up casually, reached back, and with one, smooth stroke, plunged the Sword right through Rexius’ heart.
“I already have,” Kyle said.
The entire room, even while busy in battle, turned and stared at the sound. It was a horrific screech, consuming the entire stone chamber. It seemed to go on forever, as Rexius screeched and screeched. As they all watched, his body dissolved before their eyes, disintegrating into a cloud of smoke, and then a wisp, rising up, into the air and towards the ceiling.
The whole room stopped and stared at Kyle.
Kyle raised the Sword high, and roared. It was a roar of victory.
Whatever vampire survived, on both sides of the battle, turned and faced Kyle. They all dropped to their knees, then lowered their heads, bowing all the way to the ground. The fighting was over.
Kyle breathed deeply, taking it all in. He was their leader now.
Six
Caitlin, unable to speak, stormed away from Caleb and Sera.
It was too much for her to process at once. Had she just seen what she thought she had? How was it possible?
She had thought that she’d known Caleb so well, that they were closer now than ever. She was sure that they were together, a couple, and would be that way forever. She had seen their new life together clearly, and had been so sure that nothing would tear them apart.
And then this. It never occurred to her that there could be another woman in Caleb’s life. How could he have not told her?
Of course, Caitlin remembered Sera from her brief visit to the Cloisters – but Caleb insisted he no longer had feelings for her, that whatever they had, it was years ago – hundreds of years ago.
So then what was she doing here? Especially now, of all times? During Caleb and Caitlin’s most private moment together, when Caitlin had just arisen, fully turned, a true vampire, by his own blood? How did she even know where they were? Had Caleb invited her? He must have. But why?
Layers and layers of hurt washed over Caitlin. There was just no explaining this. She had always been afraid to make herself vulnerable, especially to guys, for this exact reason. But with Caleb, she had let go, had trusted him completely. She had made herself more vulnerable than she had with any guy she had ever been with. And he had managed to hurt her deeper, deeper than she could have ever imagined.
She still couldn’t fathom how she could have misjudged him so thoroughly, how she could be so dense, so wrong. She felt like her insides were breaking apart. What would immortality be like now, without him? It would be a sentence. An eternal sentence. She felt like she wanted to die. And worse than anything, she felt like such an idiot.
“Caitlin!” Caleb yelled behind her, as she heard his footsteps chasing after her. “Please, allow me to explain.”
What could there possibly be to explain? Clearly, he had invited her here. Clearly, he still loved her. And clearly, his feelings for Caitlin weren’t as strong as her feelings for him.
Caleb’s hand gripped her arm, tugging at her, pleading for her to turn and face him.
But she jerked away. She couldn’t stand the feel of his touch. She wanted nothing to do with him. Not ever again.
“Caitlin!” he exclaimed. “Won’t you just let me explain?”
But Caitlin didn’t slow. She was a different person, a different being now, and she felt it in more ways than one. Along with her newfound vampire strength, there also came a newfound vampire array of emotions. She could already feel that her emotions were stronger than they had been when human – much, much stronger. She felt everything much more deeply. She didn’t just feel depressed – she felt as if she were literally dying. She didn’t just feel betrayed – she felt as if she were literally being stabbed through the heart. She wanted to tear herself apart, to do anything to stop the hurt that tore her up inside.
She marched across the terrace and right into her room, slamming the oak door behind her.
“Caitlin, Caitlin please!” came the muffled voice outside her door.
Caitlin turned and slammed the door.
“Go away!” she yelled. “Go back to your wife!”
After several seconds, she finally sensed him leave.
Now it was just her. Just the silence. Caitlin sat on the edge of her bed in her small room, put her head in her hands, and cried. She sobbed and sobbed, heart-wrenching cries. She felt that all she had to live for was suddenly taken away.
She heard a whining, and felt a soft brush against her face, and looked down to see Rose, rubbing her face against Caitlin’s. Rose licked Caitlin’s cheeks, trying to lick away her tears.
It helped snap Caitlin out of it. She reached down and caressed Rose’s face, stroking her hair. Rose jumped up onto Caitlin’s lap, still small enough to do so, and Caitlin hugged her.
“I still have you, Rose,” Caitlin said. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
Rose leaned back and licked her face.
But the pain was too much. Caitlin couldn’t allow herself to sit in that room one second longer. She felt as if she were about to burst through the walls.
She looked to the huge window, saw the inviting night sky, and without hesitating, put Rose down, jumped from the bed, took two long strides, and leapt out.
She knew that her wings would sprout, and carry her away. But a part of her wished they wouldn’t – wished that they would fail her, and let her plummet right to earth.
Seven
Samantha stood in chains. She was held tight by several vampires who grabbed her arms roughly as they dragged her through the huge chamber. The room had become a slaughterhouse. Everywhere she looked, she saw thousands of vampire corpses, her former coven-members, their blood now pooling all over the floor, chopped into pieces by Kyle and his cursed Sword. That Sword held power beyond what she’d imagined.
Yet amidst all the carnage, several hundred vampires remained alive. Kyle’s people now. And with each passing moment, dozens more poured in through the open doors. In fact, there seemed to be no end to the stream of vampires eager to plead allegiance to Kyle. It was clearly his coven now. With Rexius dead, there was no one else to plead allegiance to. And Kyle had earned it. He had managed to wipe out every vampire that had ever betrayed him.
There were hundreds of vampires who had assisted him in the battle against Rexius. Some were truly loyal to Kyle, while some were just opportunistic. Others just didn’t like Rexius, and had been waiting for their chance. Vampires poured in from covens all over the city. News spread fast in the vampire world – and they all wanted to be a part of the upcoming war. Whatever their reasons, this was Kyle’s army now.