Now that Kyle was leader, now that he had the Sword, it was clear that there would soon be a major war, a war unlike any the vampire race had ever waged. Kyle was ruthless, and lusted for blood, and even this carnage had not satisfied him. He had a chip on his shoulder he just could not remove. All of the vampires out there who had not already rushed to pledge allegiance to him would pay for that. Along with all of the innocent humans. His vendettas stretched endlessly, Samantha knew, and New York City would soon be his playing thing.
They dragged Samantha roughly through all the chaos, right to the center of the room.
Kyle now sat on Rexius throne, savoring his power, an evil grin spread across his face, as vampires bowed low to him in every direction.
Sergei, standing at Kyle side, banged his metal staff on the floor, three times.
The entire room, thousands of vampires, lined up in perfect order. They all raised their fists, and yelled: “Hail Kyle!”
Samantha was amazed. It was an incredible show of force and loyalty. She had never seen any obedience like this in her life. Kyle was magnetic. Already, he was a tyrant.
But Kyle didn’t seem interested in his soldiers. Instead, his eyes fixed on Samantha. The entire room seemed to notice his interest in her, and the murmur quieted as they prepared to watch the exchange.
“So,” Kyle said to her. “You beat me to the Sword. But as you can see, I am the one to wield it.”
“For now,” Samantha spat back.
Let him think about that, she thought. For truly, she believed, one day it would no longer belong to him. Whoever was meant to wield the Sword would, and she knew, deep down, that it wasn’t him.
Kyle raised his eyebrows.
“Do you know why I’ve kept you alive this long?” he asked.
Samantha stared back, defiant. She had no interest in engaging in a dialogue with him. She didn’t want any part of this new coven. She wanted to leave, to get as far away from this place as possible. She wanted to just take Sam and go. If he’d let them.
But Sam was nowhere in sight. They had been captured by Kyle’s soldiers, and she hadn’t see him since. Samantha needed to keep her cool until she could find out where he was. She needed to buy her time, to plead allegiance to him if need be, until the moment when she and Sam could escape.
“I still don’t know why Rexius sent you to retrieve the Sword instead of me. As we all know, I’m a better warrior. But I will admit, you have some skills,” he said.
“But that is not entirely why I’ve kept you alive. Rexius had planned on punishing you. From this, I assume you have no reason to still be loyal to him. There is a war coming, and I can use strong warriors like yourself. If you are ready to pledge allegiance to me, I will consider keeping you alive.”
Samantha thought. She had no issue with pledging allegiance, because she knew that very soon, she would leave all of this. But first she had to know about Sam.
“What of the boy?” she asked. “Where is he?”
Kyle smiled.
“Ah yes, the boy. Getting right to the heart of what I want to discuss. I’m not sure why you’ve taken such a fondness for this human, and you’ve already violated our rules in doing so. I could have you killed just for that, you know. But I do find this very interesting, and this, indeed, is one of the reasons I’ve let you live.
“You see, Samantha, you need to be punished. Any vampire who was at any time loyal to Rexius and not myself, needs to be punished. It is part of the initiation process of my new Army. You will learn to obey me, and to obey me only.
“In your case, I have found the perfect solution: an act that will both prove your loyalty to me and serve to punish you. My men will take you to the boy, you will bring him back here, and in front of everyone, you will kill him.”
Samantha’s heart dropped at the thought. That was something she could never, ever do. She would take her own life before taking his. Kyle, as usual, was delusional. And cruel. Yes, he was a fitting successor to Rexius.
“I will quite enjoy seeing you personally put him to death,” Kyle said, smiling at the thought of it. “You see, I consider this boy a liability. He comes from the same strand as his sister, and for all I know, they bear an immunity that could hurt us all. I don’t trust any of them. Not to mention, he is a human.”
Kyle studied Samantha’s face closely.
“If you do this thing, I will reward you with rank, honor and prestige. There will be a special place for you in my new coven. This will be a magnificent war, one of the most magnificent our race has ever seen. And you can be one of its chief architects.
“But if you refuse… you will be tortured, slowly, cast into eternal pain, and your name will be wiped out from our coven’s history altogether.”
The room was dead silent as Samantha thought. Her mind raced, trying desperately to think of a way out.
“Why don’t you just kill him yourself?” she finally asked.
Kyle leaned back and grinned, slowly.
“Half the fun will be watching you do it,” he said. “One of my favorite hobbies is watching people kill that which they hold dearly.”
Eight
Caitlin flew and flew. She had no idea where she was going, but wherever the wind took her would be fine with her. She felt as if she had nowhere to go, anyway, and nothing left to live for. Her beloved Caleb had betrayed her, and the only other person she cared for in the world, her brother, Sam, had probably betrayed her, too. After all, Sam had led Samantha, had led all of those evil vampires, right to her, right to the King’s Chapel. Was there anyone left in the world she could trust? Was it her destiny that everyone who came into her life ended up betraying her?
Caitlin flew far over the Hudson River, and looked down as it gleamed in the moonlight. The night air felt good as it brushed her face and hair, wiping away her tears. She was far from the island now, just a dot on the horizon. She flew further and further away, desperate to clear her head.
She dove low, within feet of the water, and flew just over its surface, nearly touching it. It felt good to be so close to the water. A part of her wanted to just keep diving, to submerge herself. But another part of her, the new vampire part, knew that would be pointless. A vampire could not die. Not even by drowning.
As she flew, groups of fish leapt out of the water all around her. They must have sensed her presence. Was it the vampire blood they sensed?
Caitlin climbed up high, high in the air, and as she ascended, her head started to clear again. She thought about everything that had happened. Already, the details felt fuzzy. Was it possible that she had blown things out of proportion? Now that she thought about it, what had Caleb actually done? Yes, Sera was there, and on the one hand, her presence was inexcusable. But the more she thought about it, the more Caitlin realized that she didn’t really know exactly why she was there, or how she got there. She didn’t really know for certain that Caleb had invited her. She didn’t really know for certain that the two of them were back together again. Was it possible, even remotely possible, that there was some other explanation?
Maybe she had reacted too quickly. She had always done that, could never control herself.
As Caitlin flew even higher, she made a wide turn, heading back in the direction of her island. She found herself drawn to go back in that direction, and a part of her wondered if she might even return. After all, where else could she really go?
As she headed in that direction, she felt a newfound sense of purpose. Maybe she should at least give Caleb one chance to explain. He had saved her life so many times. He had watched over her all these days, had nursed her back to life. Maybe he did still love her. Maybe…
Caitlin wasn’t so sure anymore. But the more she flew, the more she realized that she did owe Caleb at least one chance, one chance to explain himself.
Yes, she would give him that. And then she would decide.
* * *
Caleb was furious. Once again, Sera had landed into his life, causing destruction everywhere she went. He couldn’t recall, over the thousands of years, how many times he had asked her to keep away from him, how many times he had made it clear that he had no feelings for her, that he didn’t want her in his life. But countless times, at all the wrong moments, she managed to show up again. It was as if she knew, as if she sensed whenever he was with someone new, whenever he was with someone he really cared about. And she always showed up at exactly the wrong moment. She was the most territorial and possessive creature he had ever met. And he had been plagued with her in his life for thousands of years.
This time, he could not accept it. He would not allow it. She had ruined his relationships too many times, and this was one time too many. He cared more for Caitlin than anyone – vampire or human – he had ever been with. And Sera, like a moth to a flame, must have sensed that. This must have been what brought her out of hiding, what prodded her to track him down.
She had an excuse – she always had an excuse. That was the problem with her: you could never really one hundred percent blame her, because she always showed up with some urgent message, and it always had some legitimacy. In this case, of course, their coven was on the verge of attack. Kyle, she’d said, was back in New York City, with the Sword, and it would only be days until there was an all-out vampire war. She came bearing a message from his coven: they wanted him back. They would forgive his earlier transgressions. They needed every soldier they had in this time of war, and Caleb was one of their best.
So on the one hand, he could not be as upset with her as he would have liked – which made the situation even more maddening. On the other, he suspected that she had been waiting for exactly a situation like this to have an excuse to worm her way back into his life. But regardless of the news, she’d had no right to give Caitlin the impression that they were still together.
He stormed over to her now, still on the castle’s terrace, red-faced.
“Sera!” he snapped. “Why did you have to say that? Why did you have to use those words? There is no us! And, as you very well know, there is nothing that I have not told her. You came here to deliver a message from our coven. That is all. You gave the impression that there was some secret I was hiding, that you and I were still together.”
She was not deterred by his anger. If anything, she seemed to enjoy it. She had managed to ruffle his feathers, and it appeared that that was exactly what she’d wanted.
She smiled slowly, taking a step towards him, and raised a hand and laid it on his shoulder.
“But aren’t we?” she asked seductively. “You know, deep down, that we still are. That is precisely why this upset you so much. If you had no feelings for me, you would not care either way.”
Caleb threw her hand off his shoulder.
“You know that is complete nonsense. We have not been together for hundreds of years. And we will never be together again. I don’t know how many times I can say this,” Caleb said, exasperated. “I need you to stay out of my life. I need you to stay away from me. And most of all, from Caitlin. I am warning you to stay away from her.”
Sera’s face transformed with anger in the flash of an eye.
“That pathetic little girl,” she snapped. “Just because she is one of us now, doesn’t give her any more standing over me. She has nothing against me. I don’t see how you can even look her way. Not to mention that our coven never sanctioned your turning her,” Sera said, giving Caleb a dark look.
Caleb knew what that meant. It was a threat. She was warning him, his violation of the law. He could be punished severely for it – and she was threatening to let the others know.
“I’m not deterred by your threats,” Caleb said darkly. “You can tell anyone anything you want. I will face whatever they want to throw at me myself.”
“You disgust me,” Sera snapped. “Here we are, at war, our entire coven, our family at risk. And what are you doing? You are hiding out here, on some island, waiting for some pathetic little girl to get well. You should be home, defending your people, like the real man you used to be – ”
“My coven cast me out,” Caleb snapped back, “after hundreds of years of loyal service. I owe them nothing. They are receiving now exactly what they deserve.”
Caleb exhaled.
“Nonetheless, I do care for them, and given that the situation is what it is, I will not let them down. I told you that I will return, when the time is right.”
“You said that you would return when she had recovered. Clearly, she has recovered. You’re out of excuses. You must return now!”
“I will honor my word, as I always do. But I want to be very clear on this point: I return only to help save our coven, the humans who might be slaughtered, and to help retrieve the Sword. Do not harbor any delusions that it is for any other reason. As soon as my mission is accomplished, I will depart again, for good this time, and it will be the last time you ever see my face. Do not harbor any fantasies that we are together again. Because we are not.”
“Oh, Caleb,” she said, with a dark little laugh, “you can believe whatever you like, but you know deep down that you and I have been together forever, and that we will always be together. The more you fight it, the closer you become to me. I know how much you love me. I can feel it, every day.”
“You are delusional,” Caleb said. “You are getting worse with time.”
Sera smiled wider. “That’s right,” she said, “tell yourself that. Fight your feelings. Fight what both of us already know.”
Sera suddenly took two bold steps to him, draped her hands around his throat, and with one quick motion, yanked him hard towards her.
Before he could react, she planted her lips firmly on his, kissing him with tremendous force.
Caleb recoiled, disgusted. He reached up and shoved her away. And as he did, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone landing on the parapet beside them.
Caitlin.
* * *
As Caitlin approached the island, she felt hope rising within her again. Her head was clear now. Caleb, she realized, had done nothing wrong after all. She had been stupid. She should have given him a chance to explain. For all she knew, Sera had come uninvited, and there was absolutely nothing between them. Why had she been so rash?
As she swooped lower and the island came into view, she saw the huge stone castle sprawled out below her, the scores of vampires down there on the ground, training in the torchlight. It was a beautiful place, and she was grateful that Caleb had taken her here. She started to feel that everything would be OK after all, as she took one final turn and rounded the bend, landing on the upper rampart.
But as she came in close, as she landed, her heart stopped within her.
There were Caleb and Sera. And this time, they were kissing.
Kissing. The thought of it pierced Caitlin’s insides worse than the Sword. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. They were kissing. Kissing.
So, they were together. There was no misunderstanding this time. He was still in love with her.
He had tossed Caitlin out as if she were nothing. And he had done it all right in front of her eyes.
Caleb rushed over to her, and this time, Caitlin didn’t run. She stood where she was, frozen in shock, as she felt the rage well up within her. She felt herself becoming fierce, fiercer than she had ever been as a human.
“Caitlin,” Caleb began, “this is not what it seems. Please, let me explain – ”
But as Caleb approached her, as he began speaking, Caitlin simply reached out a finger and pointed at the horizon.
“LEAVE!” she screamed, scowling.