Obsessed (Book #12 in the Vampire Journals) (20 page)

Reeling from
what had just happened on the rooftop, Scarlet tried to force all thoughts of
Blake from her mind. She instead landed on the drain pipe and burst into one of
the upstairs windows in Sage’s vast estate. Time was short, and she had to stay
focused.

Scarlet knew she
was walking into a trap, but no longer cared. If she could just give Sage the
potion in her pocket, maybe she’d be able to convince him to go to the vampire
city with her, to give up his immortality for love. The sisters had made it
seem like he would never do such a thing, but Scarlet felt that deep down he
loved her enough to make that sacrifice.

She heard voices
coming from downstairs and ran towards them, down a huge, stone spiral
staircase that opened up into a cavernous, ancient living room. She drew to a
halt. There, on a red velvet sofa, was Sage. He was alive. He was awake.

Scarlet bolted
towards him.

“Sage!” she
cried, flinging herself to her knees.

She felt his
arms wrap around her, holding her close to his chest. He was warm, his breath
steady. The horrible wounds that had marked his skin before had miraculously
healed. She’d been right when she’d thought that the Immortalists would not
harm him, that he was only useful to them as a bartering tool whilst still
alive. But they’d gone beyond her expectation. Sage looked positively healthy,
which was more than could be said for her.

“Scarlet, what
happened to you?” Sage asked with concern.

He wiped a muddy
tendril of hair from her face, and ran his thumb along the tear tracks on her
cheeks. Scarlet wanted more than anything in the world for Sage to tend to her
wounds, fix her broken wrist, clean the mud from her hair and skin. But there
was no time.

“Listen to me,”
Scarlet said, pulling away from his tender affection. “We don’t have much
time.”

She fumbled in
her pocket for the vial.

“This is a drop
of immortality,” she added hurriedly. “If you take it it will buy you enough
time to come to the vampire city with me.”

“The vampire
city?” Sage said frowning. “Why would we go there?”

“Because,”
Scarlet said. “If we go to the vampire city and you drink my blood then you can
become human. Sage, we can be together.”

She pressed the
vial into his palm and searched his eyes, willing to read in them the relief
she’d hoped he would be feeling on hearing her news. But that wasn’t what his
eyes were telling her. He was looking at her with grief.

“I can’t become
human,” he said with a deep, sorrowful sigh.

Scarlet sat back
stunned, frowning deeply. She felt winded, like she’d received a blow to the
chest.

“Why not?” she
demanded, gazing into Sage’s eyes.

In that moment,
it felt as though all her fears were coming true. The sisters had been right;
Sage wasn’t prepared to give up his immortality for her. He didn’t love her as
much as she thought he did. Everything she’d been through was on a false
pretence.

Noticing her
dejected expression, Sage reached out and grabbed her hands in his.

“You’re a
vampire, Scarlet,” he said passionately. “A vampire and a human can’t be
together. Right now we are equals. But if I became human…” His voice trailed
away.

“If you became
human what?” Scarlet demanded. “You think I’d hurt you?”

He shook his
head.

“I don’t think,”
he said. “I know.”

“I can’t believe
you’d think that!” Scarlet cried, tugging her hands away from him. “I’m a
vampire, not an animal, Sage. There is a difference. I know how to control
myself.”

“That’s not what
I meant,” Sage said. “I meant you’d hurt me emotionally. You’d hurt me because
I’d have to age whilst you stayed forever young. Do you really think you’d
still love me when I was an old man? Whilst you were young and healthy and
beautiful, you think you’d be willing to care for a dying, decrepit man?”

Scarlet was
relieved to learn that the sisters had not been correct about Sage not being
prepared to give up his immortality. She was also relieved that Sage didn’t
think she was a mindless, uncontrollable human-killer. But his words hurt her
nonetheless. How could he even question her loyalty? She’d been to the ends of
the earth and back for him—surely he knew her well enough to know she would
never be that shallow, that their love transcended the normal barriers faced by
mere mortals.

“I will love you
for eternity,” Scarlet told him passionately. She gazed deeply into his eyes,
imploring him to believe her, to accept what she was saying. “Please. Please
drink the potion before it’s too late.”

A noise from
behind made Scarlet jump with shock. Standing in the doorway of the room stood
the same huge, robed man she’d witness torturing Sage in Boldt castle. She felt
red hot anger race through her. The killer in her wanted to make him suffer for
what he’d done to Sage.

Behind the man
stood Lore, and a woman who bore such striking resemblance to Lore she could
only be his mother, and a girl who looked Scarlet’s age, with raven black hair.
They were all watching the scene unfolding before them.

“Don’t touch
her!” Sage screamed from his place on the sofa.

He tried to
stand but he was still too weak. All he could do was watch helplessly.

Scarlet looked
at the vial in his hand one last time and accepted in that moment that he was
never going to drink it. But if he thought that would let him off the hook, he
was wrong. She would rather die then let Sage die.

“You don’t need
to fight me,” Scarlet said wearily, standing. “I’ll give my life so that Sage
can live.”

“No!” he
screamed.

“I’ll let every
single one of the Immortalist monsters live too,” she added, “to make sure he
doesn’t die.”

Scarlet directed
her last words at Octal, then Lore. If what Vivian had told her was true,
Maria’s mental breakdown could only have been caused by him. But whilst Octal
stood tall, seemingly proud of the pain he’d caused, Lore looked guilt-ridden.

In the
background, Scarlet could hear Sage crying out, shouting his futile protests.
But she wouldn’t look at him because she knew that, in his hand, he held the
vial with the power to stop everything. If he just agreed to become human, this
would all be over. She wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself. The Immortalists
would become extinct.

But he would not
drink the potion. And in that moment, Scarlet knew the end had come.

“Just… do
whatever it is you have to,” she said, finally. “I’m ready to die.”

Lore approached
Scarlet. Something about his demeanor had changed. He no longer seemed like the
arrogant boy she’d met before. He seemed older, wiser.

The black haired
woman approached too. She was holding silver handcuffs. Scarlet let her place
them around her wrists.

Scarlet looked
up, noting that she had an audience. Octal was watching on with a grave
expression. Lore’s mom was ringing her hands and looking somewhat terrified as
Lore removed a spear like weapon from a box and held it up in the air.

Scarlet paid
them no attention. Instead, she looked at Sage.

“I love you,”
she said. “Even if you don’t love me, I love you so much I will die so you can
live.”

“I do love you!”
Sage gasped through his tears. “But I cannot agree to go to the vampire city to
drain your blood! Don’t you see if I did that you’d die? I’d kill you. I can’t
do that Scarlet.”

But it was too
late. There was no turning back now.

Scarlet squeezed
her eyes shut, waiting for the final blow to claim her life.

But no blow
came.

She opened her
eyes.

Lore was
standing there, motionless, the spear held so tightly in his clutch that his
knuckles were turning white. A silver tear thread its way down his cheek.

The black haired
girl studied his face, wearing an expression of empathetic pain. She reached
out and wrapped a delicate hand around his.

“You don’t have
to do this, Lore,” she said.

His hands were
trembling. He looked at the girl. She spoke again, her voice as soft as the
wind.

“We don’t need
an earth to walk upon, you and I,” she said, smiling. “Our love crosses all
times, all worlds.”

“We’ll be
together for eternity?” Lore asked. “Do you promise me, Lyra?”

Lyra reached up
and stroked his hair.

“We were
destined to meet,” she said. “Our atoms will be drawn to one another no matter
where in the galaxy we are.”

“Do you
promise?” Lore said again.

“I promise,”
Lyra whispered. “Now do what your heart tells you is right.”

Lore dropped the
spear. It hit the ground with a clatter. He swept Lyra up in his arms and their
lips met. They held one another tightly.

Scarlet gasped,
not believing what she was seeing. Behind Lore, she saw the woman who must be
his mother let out a sigh of relief. She was watching her son with adoration,
not because he had saved his race from extinction but because he had decided to
let them die.

Just then, she
heard a roar from behind. Octal. He grabbed the spear up from the floor and
charged Scarlet.

She turned,
seeing the pointed weapon coming right for her. But before it reached her Octal
froze. Right before her eyes, he turned to stone.

In that moment,
Scarlet realized the sun had risen. The Immortalists were out of time.

The ritual had
not been completed. Their race was dead.

She looked at
Lore and Lyra, frozen in place, locked in an eternal embrace. Lore’s mother had
her hands clasped, forever gazing at her son who had done, in the last moment,
the right thing. Then Scarlet looked back at Sage.

His eyes were
open but there was no fear in them. He had turned to stone gazing upon Scarlet,
and the look in his eyes could only be described as love.

Locked in his
stone hand was the vial of immortality potion, the stopper still in place, not
a drop drunk.

Realizing it was
all over, Scarlet crumpled forward and wept into her crossed arms.

Sage was dead.

Scarlet was
bereft. She was so engulfed by grief she didn’t even care when she heard the
hammering on the front door of the mansion or the sound of glass smashing. It
was only the sound of chaos and anarchy, the jeering, screaming sounds of
murderous rage, and the thudding sound of hundreds of boots on the marble
floors that made her turn around.

As soon as she
did, she took in the sight of a vampire army. Amongst them were kids she knew
from high school, the jocks and cheerleaders still in their uniforms, the goth
kids from freshman year, the glee club. Then behind them was a savage looking
group of thugs, with shaved heads and tattoos all over their faces, necks and
arms. They were wearing uniforms, and it dawned on Scarlet that they were
escaped prisoners.

Scarlet had no
idea what was going on but she knew instantly that it had something to do with
her. This army, made up of kids and convicts, was here to kill her.

She sprung into
action, leaping into the air and heading towards the vaulted ceiling of the
mansion.

The vampire army
jumped after her, taking to the air, while the inmates were left to race up the
staircase.

The whole scene
looked completely out of place within the walls of Sage’s opulent mansion. But
luckily for Scarlet, she was familiar with this place. She’d been here before,
unlike the others, and that meant she could wind her way through the
labyrinthine corridors quickly, gaining precious seconds and distance.

As she rocketed
through the corridors with their ornate chandeliers and beautiful gold leaf
wallpapers, she tried to think of what to do. Her grief was fast turning into
rage. Her death at the hands of the army would be a blessing, the only way to
eradicate the emotional pain that had taken up residence in her chest. But her
stupid survival instinct was forcing her to keep going, to stay alive no matter
what.

She raced past a
framed family portrait of Sage and his parents and ripped it from the wall as
she went. As she flew, she broke the wooden frame and held it in her hands like
a spear. Then she steered herself down a narrow corridor, heading straight for
the open door at the end. She burst into the room, turned on the spot, raised
her stake, and stabbed it straight through a row of vampires.

They exploded
into dust as Scarlet slammed the door in their faces and raced towards the
window.

She found
herself in a beautiful bedroom with a large four poster bed and tall candles dotted
all over the place. It was the sort of room she could image spending time in
with Sage, and her heart ached as she remembered the fact that she would never
ever get to experience that.

Scarlet tried to
burst out the window but found it blocked, held firmly in place.

She catapulted
off the glass, leaping over the top of four poster bed. As she went, she
grabbed one of the candles and lit the curtains that surrounded the bed. The
group of cheerleader girls who had chased her through the posts were trapped by
a wall of flames on all four sides. They set alight and turned to dust.

Scarlet flew
over the heads of the other vampires who were streaming into the room. As she
raced through the corridor, back the way she’d come, she realized that the
inmates had now made it to the top of the stairs. She doubled back on herself,
racing in the other direction through the dark hallways.

There was a
second staircase, Scarlet knew, at the far end of the mansion. Used originally
for servants, it was steep and crammed. She probably wouldn’t be able to fly
down, but if she was going to get out of the mansion alive, that was the only
way.

She flew, a
group of jocks right behind her, and stretched her arms in front of her, hands
squeezed into fists. They slammed into the door, forcing it open. Scarlet felt
pain race through her broken wrist but it was more like a dull ache. She was
too pumped with adrenaline to feel real pain.

Scarlet landed
on her feet and began to race down the spiral staircase. Behind her she heard
the sound of more and more people as they raced after her. She reached the
bottom of the stairs and ran out, finding herself back in the main hallway
where the statue bodies of the Immortalists stood.

She caught sight
of Sage lying on the velvet sofa, turned to stone, and stopped dead on the
spot. There was no point going on. There was no point in living.

Scarlet closed
her eyes, preparing for the sensation of a thousand murderous vampires
descending on her.

Suddenly, the
doors to the estate burst open and the police and national guard filed in. The national
guard were holding guns and riot shields. The police were equipped with planks
of wood. At the front of the group stood a woman in a police uniform holding a
megaphone.

“Use the wood to
kill the vampires,” she was shouting into the megaphone. “Good old bullets will
kill the convicts.”

The army and
police streamed past Scarlet, armed with their planks of wood and guns. Scarlet
stood there, stunned. She realized that standing on either side of the woman
with the megaphone were Jasmine and Becca.

“Scarlet!” they
cried, running forward and grabbing their friend.

Scarlet was
overwhelmed with grief. She collapsed into their arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Behind her came the sounds of gunfire. Vampires were shouting, exploding into
clouds of dust all around them.

“You’re okay,
Scarlet,” Becca was saying to her friend.

But Scarlet’s
sobs were uncontrollable. Her grief was all consuming.

“Sage is dead,”
she wailed. “Sage is dead!”

She broke free
from the embrace of her friends and ran towards where Sage was lying. From
somewhere far away she heard someone shout, “No! She’s not one of them!” At the
same time, a sharp pain shot through her stomach. She looked down and saw a
jagged shard of wood protruding straight through her body. She’d been stabbed
with a stake.

She was dying.