Microsoft Word - BETROTHED.docx (25 page)

Have you come to tell me how jealous you are? If so, you're wasting your time. Caleb and I have no interest in each other. He's all yours. I'm happy for you both."

Caitlin shook her head. "That's not why I'm here," she said.

Caitlin breathed deep, feeling overwhelmed with sadness. She felt as if she wanted to cry, but held back her tears.

"Caleb…” she began. “He's…deathly ill," she said, looking down at the ground. She looked up.

"He's been poisoned. Aiden says he hasn’t long to live.” Violet's eyes opened wide, and Caitlin could see how shocked she was. She visibly relaxed her guard.

"Who did this?" she asked.

Caitlin shook her head. "I don't know. But I am guessing it was Kyle, of the Blacktide Coven.

And that he came back in time to do this.”

Violet's eyes narrowed. "Kyle. Yes, I know of him. That is exactly the sort of thing he would do.

But why Caleb?”

“Kyle was after me. I think Caleb got in the way.”

Violet glowered at her, and Caitlin felt overwhelmed with guilt.

"Can you help me?" Caitlin finally asked. "Can you help Caleb?”

"How? I'm not a doctor."

"Aiden said there was one chance for him. If I had blood. From his maker. That that might save him.”

Violet snorted. "You’re wasting your time. That’s an old wives’ tale. I've never seen that work.” Caitlin was determined. "It's the only chance we have. Please. I have nothing else to try."

Violet stared at Caitlin, and several moments of silence followed.

"You really love him, don't you?" Violet asked.

Caitlin felt tears welling up, this time rolling down her cheeks.

"Yes, I do,” she answered. “Very much. We are engaged to be married. We are
going
to be married."

Violet stared at her, and Caitlin felt as if she were summing her up, staring through her soul.

"Very well, then. I'll do it for you. To humor you. But you are wasting your time. You have to let him go.”

She turned and strutted away.

Caitlin followed her through the castle, down a dark corridor, twisting and turning.

"What was it?" Caitlin asked. "That music you were playing?”

"Bach," Violet answered flatly. "His Toccata and Fugue in D minor."

"It was beautiful," Caitlin said. “But very dark.”

"So am I," Violet answered.

They finally entered an alcove area with a small counter, on top of which sat several vials.

Violet suddenly reached out, took a small knife from her waistband, and sliced her wrist.

She then reached over, grabbed a vial, and let her blood drip into it. When it was filled, she sealed it with a stopper.

She bandaged her wrist with a rag, then held up the vial, examining it in the fading afternoon light.

"You are putting your faith for his entire life in this one vial," Violet said. "And if it doesn't work?”

Caitlin reached out, took it, and examined it.

“If it doesn’t work,” she said, sadly, “then I have nothing left to live for."

"Daddy, wake up!"

Caleb slowly opened his eyes. They were so heavy. They had never felt so heavy, and it took all the effort of the world to open them.

There, standing over his bed, was his son. Jade.

Jade was smiling down, and filled with light. There was light all around him, and a shining light behind him, and Jade had the most angelic smile on his face.

"Daddy," he said, "it's time for you to come play with me!” Caleb slowly sat up in bed, every muscle in his body aching, and he reached out his hand, to touch Jade. Jade's hand felt warm, and his smile widened. It felt so good to touch Jade again, to see his son in the flesh. Caleb was overwhelmed with emotion.

"Jade? I thought you were dead?”

Jade simply smiled back.

"It's time for us to be together again," he said.

Caleb closed his eyes and felt a sense of peace, of comfort. He felt his whole world slowly beginning to drift away, becoming brighter and brighter, slowly enveloped in a white light.

To see Jade again. Yes. He would like that very much.

But at the same time, he wasn't quite ready to go. He sensed that somewhere, deep inside, there was something left unresolved. That something was holding him there.

Caitlin.

"Come on, Daddy!" Jade urged, tugging on his hand.

"Soon," Caleb answered, as Jade slowly let go of his hand. "Very, very soon."

Kyle had never been so elated. His plan was working perfectly. He had put his crew of vampires to good work, and had managed to spark fires all throughout London; he had also managed to spread the plague himself, causing chaos, havoc and devastation beyond what he had even hoped for. He grinned widely.

It was so easy, in this primitive time, to cause destruction. There were no fire departments, there was no organized police force, there was no internet, and everything was built to be flammable. It was almost too easy, like dropping a match inside a pile of hay. He loved watching the expressions on the faces of the countless humans burned alive, running to and fro, spreading the fire even further.

As if all that weren't enough, the ones who survived the fire were scratching their ankles from flea bites and covered with welts from head to toe. One way or another, nearly all of humanity down there was suffering. Kyle felt like a little kid all over again.

It had served his purpose well. It was the perfect diversion. He had managed, as he had hoped, to get Aiden and all his people out of their castle, scurrying to help the pathetic humans. He had hoped they would be that stupid, and of course, they were. Which now left Warwick wide open for him to breach.

The only thing that remained to be seen was the poison. He had dropped it into Caitlin’s drink perfectly, but had snuck out before he could watch her drink it. He assumed she had drank it, and was lying in Warwick right now, all alone, dead or slowly dying. But this time he wouldn’t take any chances—he would head there himself and make sure she was dead. And if not, he would kill her himself.

Kyle nearly screamed with laughter and delight. Things hadn't gone this smoothly in centuries, and now he finally saw the end of his plans on the horizon. Within hours, Caitlin would be dead, and he would finally,
finally
, be done with all of them. Kyle breathed deeply as he flew through the nighttime air.

There, in the distance, he spotted Warwick Castle, wide open, completely unprotected from his visit. Kyle dove down, aiming right for it.

Kyle kicked open the wooden door, and marched into the room. It was dim in here, lit only by a few torches along the walls. There was a large four-poster bed, on which lay two bodies—an adult and a child. Kyle could smell the death in the air, the illness hanging over the room.

He approached, expecting to see Caitlin lying there, and was shocked to discover that it was not her, but Caleb. For a moment, he was furious: she had evaded him once again, and her stupid boyfriend had drank instead. Now he would still have to find her.

But then he relaxed. He realized that, with Caleb lying here, deathly ill, Caitlin would come soon, here, right to him, and he could kill her then. And at least he had poisoned one of them.

He looked at Caleb and Scarlet, and could tell right away that they were deathly ill, and hadn’t long to live. He smiled more widely. He hadn't expected to kill off Scarlet, too. That was a bonus.

But he could also see that, for now at least, they were both still alive. That annoyed him. He loved the idea of all the suffering they must have gone through. But he loved even more the idea of them dead. And now was time to finish them off.

Kyle approached the bed. Caleb didn’t react, and clearly, he was unconscious. It would almost be too easy to kill him. So Kyle decided he would start with the little girl first. At least she was squirming, semi-conscious.

Kyle walked around to her side of the bed, and as he did, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he heard a vicious snarl. He looked down.

Standing there, facing him, was a wolf. He was shocked, because he could have sworn he had already killed this wolf, back in Venice, when he had killed Caleb’s son, Jade. He couldn't understand how it was here again.

Before Kyle could react, the wolf suddenly lunged, landing with all fours on Kyle’s chest, and sinking its sharp fangs into Kyle's throat.

The animal was much faster than Kyle had anticipated, and Kyle screamed out in pain, as the sharp fangs cut into his throat, sending blood everywhere

The wolf would not let go. Kyle grabbed and pulled, trying to extract it, but no matter which way he tugged, it simply refused to open its jaws. Blood sprayed everywhere, as the pain grew deeper and deeper for Kyle.

Finally, Kyle jammed his fingers into the wolf's mouth, feeling the pain as it tore through his flesh, and pried open the jaws. He then took the animal by its jaw, spun it around, and threw it across the room. It landed into the wall with a thud, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Kyle, in a rage, walked across the room to finish it off.

But before he could reach it, he was distracted by voice.

"Leave my wolf alone.”

Kyle spun in his tracks, and stared at the bed. He could not believe it.

There, sitting propped up, was Scarlet. She raised her neck as much as she could, and scowled back at Kyle, defiant.

Kyle grinned. He turned and marched right for her.

"You are a brash little girl, aren't you?" he asked. "Well, you're going to pay for that. Now I’m going to kill you, just as I killed Caleb’s son."

To Kyle’s surprise, the girl did not retreat in fear, or hide under the covers, or try to run or even squirm. Instead, to his shock, she didn't even look afraid. She sat up even more, and scowled back at him.

"I'm not afraid of you," she snapped back. "And you couldn’t kill me if you tried."

Kyle stopped in his tracks, shocked at her audacity, her fearlessness. He burst into laughter, leaning back with a deep belly laugh. He liked this one. She had spirit. In fact, if he ever had a daughter, he would want her to be just like this. Fearless in the face of her own death.

"I like your style," Kyle answered. "Just for that, as a favor, I will kill you quickly.” Kyle took several steps towards her, reaching out his hands, ready to suffocate her.

But as he approached, he suddenly felt a searing pain slicing through his finger.

He screamed out in pain, and looked down, and was shocked to see that the girl had been hiding a small, silver dagger underneath the covers. As he approached, she’d somehow managed to slice off his index finger.

Kyle screamed in horror and shock, as he looked down to see himself now missing an index finger, blood gushing everywhere. He reached up and grabbed a corner of the sheet, staunched the blood, then reached back with his other hand, and backhanded the little girl so hard that it knocked her back onto her pillow, unconscious, and sent her little knife flying across the room.

Now Kyle was furious. He couldn't believe she’d managed to hurt him. Now, she would pay for that. No more mister nice guy. Now he would not kill her quickly. Rather, he would torture her all night long.

Kyle came in, this time, to strangle her for good. He reached out, his hand just inches away, when suddenly, he heard a thud, and felt a terrible pain on the back of his head.

Kyle staggered and crashed into the end table, then turned around to see what it was.

He was shocked. Standing there was a black girl, dressed in some kind of royal outfit, holding a candelabra, covered in blood. Kyle's blood. She had just whacked Kyle hard on the back of the head, hard enough to send him stumbling. And it hurt like hell.

"Whoever you are, you're going to suffer for that," Kyle snarled.

But to Kyle’s surprise, she wasn't scared, either. Rather, she was defiant, too.

"My name is Lily, and I will pay for nothing," she answered.

Kyle suddenly let out a roar of fury, and jumped up and kicked her with both feet on her chest, sending her flying back across the room, and crashing into the far wall, unconscious.

Clearly, this woman, Lily, whoever she was, was a dear friend of Caitlin's and Caleb's—the only one that they had trusted to watch over them. A stupid idea, leaving a human to watch over vampires.

But a good idea was forming in Kyle's mind. If this Lily was that important to them, then what better way to make Caitlin pay, than to go after her friend?

Kyle marched slowly across the room, his eyes fixating on Lily’s throat. Kyle could use another slave to do his bidding. And as he looked at her throat, he licked his lips, and realized he was hungry, and would like nothing more than to feed.

Kyle marched across the room, picked up her limp body, and without hesitating, plunged his sharp fangs deep into her throat. She screamed out as he did, suddenly conscious, but Kyle held her writhing body tight, sucking in deeper and deeper.

He felt her entire life stealing out from her, as she was being slowly, darkly, turned.

It had been centuries since Kyle had turned a human, and the feeling was thrilling. He would make this one in his own image, a true vampire slave, and would turn Caitlin's own friend against her.

Caitlin flew through the night sky, racing for all she was worth. In one hand, she clutched the three keys, feeling her father's presence with her strongly. In the other, she clutched the vial holding Violet's blood, feeling the energy pulsing through it, praying, hoping beyond hope that this small vial of blood could save Caleb's life. And praying that then, somehow, they could figure out how to save Scarlet’s life, too.

On her way from Bodium Castle to Warwick, Caitlin had to fly over London, and as she approached it, she was completely caught off guard. On the horizon, even from this great distance, she could tell something was terribly wrong. Huge clouds of fire rose up into the sky, and as she got closer, she could already feel the heat.

The sight below her took her breath away. The entire city seemed to be a great ball of fire. The few survivors she could spot ran through the streets, screaming, shouting. Others lay in the streets, lifeless, looking as if they had been infected by the Plague. Caitlin could sense that a great evil had been perpetrated here, and she could sense that it had been done by Kyle and his people. She felt sick to her stomach, and more intent than ever on killing him, if she should ever find him.