Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) (31 page)

“Now, about your daddy,” Barb continued, “You know he’ll be coming soon and when he does, you need to show your mama how to cure him. They’ll need to renew their blood bond to break the tie to Lucias, and to erase everything else that happened,” she added, her ethereal form suddenly standing before the mirror across the room. “Her blood is the key, but you must wait until the last possible moment to show her. I think you already understand that, seeing how you knew to hide the rest of your vision from her. She loves you too much to let go on her own, so you’re going to have to help her.”

“I’m so scared,” Chloe whispered, lowering her head in shame.

“Sweet girl, you’d be a fool not to be; but you’re stronger than you know. Now, I’m afraid it’s time for me to be going, but I think you should come over here and take a look at just how beautiful you are today.”

Again confused, Chloe flashed across the distance to the mirror. “I’m not sure how—,” she said into the empty room, stopping when she felt the loss of Barb’s warm presence. Even though she knew she was gone, Chloe turned in a circle, scanning the room while holding on to the tiniest sliver of hope that she might be mistaken. Finding that she had been right, Chloe thought of Barb’s last words and returned her eyes to her reflection.

She felt the blood drain from her face as surely as she saw it grow pale in the soft glow of the overhead light. Chloe wondered how she had failed to realize it when she’d chosen the ensemble, but there was no escaping what the pale pink blouse and gray skirt meant. The day of her vision was upon them.

✧

“I was starting to wonder if you had forgotten,” Alexa said, forcing a cheerful tone as Dante closed the door to their makeshift training room. Though she had only had one training session, she already felt stronger; more empowered somehow. At least she had before she’d gone to sleep. Since waking up, she’d spent the bulk of the morning lying on the cold tile of the bathroom floor, sobbing uncontrollably as she was forced to witness her husband, her soul mate, lying with another woman. Once she’d had the first glimpse, her emotions were so out of control it was impossible for her to raise a barrier to block the bond and the horrifying images it carried.
 

While a part of her wanted to remain there, wallowing in her despair, she fought with every ounce of her willpower to get up and make her way to the room in which she was standing. As much as it hurt, she knew she was too strong to give in to self-pity. Her family needed her; Ethan needed her, and no matter what happened, she would always be there for him.
 

“Sorry, just had something else I needed to attend to,” Dante said trying to keep his tone light as he reinforced his mental shields. As soon as he entered the room, he sensed Alexa’s unease; but in trying to deal with his own emotional train wreck, he quickly decided against prying into the source.
 

“Are you ready to begin? We won’t have a lot of time; a group of soldiers is expected to arrive soon and I’m to lead a mission to the human’s farm where we found the car used to abduct Layla,” he explained, turning away as he unzipped his jacket, trying to push back the images of Layla from Chloe’s vision, which flooded his mind at the mention of her name.

“Yes; I’m ready,” Alexa replied before taking a deep breath and preparing her stance.

Dante dropped his jacket to the ground and, in a rush of movement, he was upon her. Alexa moved efficiently, countering each move and blocking his attacks. With each move, her straight lips began to turn up into a cocky smile. When Dante spun around, sweeping her feet, she easily jumped over his leg and countered with a punch that landed in the center of his chest and send him stumbling back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her hand shooting up to her mouth covering her smile.

“It seems I have been going too easy on you,” Dante replied, a slight grin cracking his expression which had remained stern since his arrival. When he left Chloe’s room, he wouldn’t have believed that anything could dull the pain he was feeling; but somehow, as each minute passed with Alexa, it lessened more and more.
 

When he attacked again, it was at his full speed, which turned out to be slightly more than Alexa could handle as she found herself caught with one of his arms hooked under her neck and the other laying across her stomach, pinning her body to his.
 

“Now,” Dante said with a chuckle, “this is probably a good time to work on release moves. If you’re caught from behind, you should—” Dante started, stopping cold as Alexa’s thought about how handsome he was entered his mind. Having been so focused on the training and blocking his mind from her, he’d neglected to rein in his own ability and had unintentionally absorbed her telepathy.

“I should what?” she asked, oblivious to the impact of her innocent thought. It was impossible to ignore how attractive Dante was; besides Ethan, she’d never seen a better looking man and those kinds of looks had an impact. In her case, combined with the focus needed for training, they were providing enough of a distraction to keep her from falling to the ground sobbing every two minutes.

Immediately releasing her, Dante took a small step back. Alexa spun to face him, her face confused until the slightest hint of his arousal tickled her nostrils. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Her eyes fell to the ground while she struggled to find her bearings. She watched as Dante’s feet inched forward in what felt like slow motion until there was almost no space left between them.

She wasn’t sure why, but she looked up into his dark eyes knowing exactly what would happen when she did. Dante didn’t disappoint, instantly closing what was left of the distance between their mouths as he slid his arms around her waist. Alexa moaned, parting her lips ever so slightly in an invitation he willingly accepted, sliding his tongue skillfully over them before slipping it inside to meet with hers.

Though it only lasted a few moments, that one kiss gave them both something they needed to move forward. They both loved other people and they would continue to love them when it was over, but for that little slice of time, they were free of the pain, of the hurt and regret which had consumed them before. The kiss gave them hope.

They moved back at the same time, breaking the kiss but remaining close as Dante stroked her cheek. No words were needed, their thoughts flowing freely through Alexa’s telepathy, which he would share until they no longer touched.
 

With a deep sigh, Dante dropped his hand and stepped away. “Thank you, Alexa,” he whispered.

She responded with a smile as she knelt down and picked up his jacket, passing it to him without a word before she disappeared out the door.

CHAPTER 26 -
Chloe's Sacrifice

“Sir, that makes fifteen in less than six hours,” Jester said in a panic, as he slid his chair to another monitor to pull up the location of the latest attack.
 

“Fuck,” Commander Claesson replied, sliding his hand over his face, “How many soldiers are still on the compound?”

“Twenty-five; excluding us, the guards, and Cami, but Dante and his team should be returning any minute. The building at the back of Sean Taylor’s property was deserted but, based on the weapons and gear they found, it is, or at least was, being used as a training facility for Lucias’s humans,” Jester replied.

“Like those who attacked Elijah in Indianapolis?” William asked stepping closer.

“Precisely; Cami was here when Dante called in so she took the photos he sent to her father in the lab. He confirmed that the gear was identical to what the human soldiers who destroyed his clinic wore.”

“So Elijah and his wife are still holed up in the lab?” Claesson asked; regarding William carefully.

“Yes; they’ve been working non-stop with some of your researchers, analyzing the sample of infected blood Jasmine found on her clothes. As I’m sure you can understand, they’re desperate to find a cure as soon as possible,” William replied.

“Of course; I just hope he’s more successful in the endeavor than we were in the past,” Commander Claesson stated; giving William a knowing look.
 

There had been an entire team of scientists working to synthesize an antivirus when the first round of infected vampires appeared nearly seven hundred years ago, to no avail. Technology had come a long way since then, so they were hopeful that a cure would be found. The real concern was if it would be found in time; both leaders knowing that, as an infected vampire, Ethan Kellar was an enemy their forces simply couldn’t defeat.
 

“This area is only a few blocks from Blood Runners,” Jester chimed in; pointing to a spot on the satellite feed which had just loaded on the monitor. “We could give Winston a call; maybe have his people handle clean-up since all we seem to be finding are bodies, and it’s unlikely that this one will be any different.”

“Make the call,” Claesson responded, before turning to the High Commander. “It seems we’re about out of time. The next wave of reinforcements won’t be here until morning. If there are any more bodies tonight, I’m afraid we’re going to have to enlist the help of a lot more civilians. Even with the witches’ protection on the gates, we can’t send out any more of our soldiers. Doing that will leave the compound virtually unguarded and, with one of our own missing, we can’t take the risk.”

“And what of the Boston coven; will the witches come to our aid?”

“They know what is at stake; I have Esther’s word they will honor our alliance. But until we know more about Lucias’s intentions, they will not leave the protection of their homes.”

William nodded his understanding. “What do you think he’s trying to accomplish with these blatant attacks?” he asked; slumping down into a chair.
 

Having spent the last several hours trying to appease the civilian leaders, and after many consecutive sleepless nights worrying about his daughter, William was beyond exhausted. The threat of widespread panic was imminent, as word of the violent deaths, which had been occurring in Boston since the sun went down, spread throughout the civilian vampire population. The body count was somewhere around thirty, consisting of a pretty even mix of humans and civilian vampires; all either dumped out in the open, or attacked within public view. It was a media nightmare, as evidenced by the three separate human news channels running the stories seen on the monitors that were mounted on the walls.
 

Thanks to some of The Elite’s human allies, the murders were being attributed to a new drug, commonly referred to as bath salts; which had quickly become famous for the psychotic, and often cannibalistic, episodes it caused in its users.
 

“My guess is he’s testing us. If he was looking for battle, his men would be waiting for us; and if his intent was to expose us to the humans, well, you know how easy that would be,” Claesson replied; taking the seat beside him.
 

William cringed when the word zombie scrolled across the bottom of one of the screens. “If he keeps this up, it won’t be long before the humans make the jump from zombie to vampire, especially if they get to one of the bodies before we do.”
 

“The story was just picked up nationally,” Jester said; pulling up the latest update.

“Shit; Thompson and our other contacts with Boston PD have been able to give us first pass on scenes, but if other outside agencies get involved, things will be far more complicated,” Claesson observed, as he stood and began to pace the room.
 

William sighed heavily. “I suppose there’s no point in putting it off any longer. I’ll notify the civilian leaders in and around Boston and have them assemble teams from those amongst them who have been properly trained. I’ll order them to keep the information local and need-to-know only, but you know as well as I do it won’t keep for long. Their families and friends around the world will be warned within a matter of hours; not that I can blame them.”

“My lord, if I may; I am of the opinion that the entire population should be informed of the threat. We are well beyond the point of maintaining secrecy amongst our own kind. It makes us more vulnerable; besides, we may not be far from the need to activate the human integration protocols,” Claesson stated; his voice low.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” William replied solemnly though, with all that had happened, he realized his hope might well be in vain.
 

Lucias intended to rule completely; over humans and vampires alike. If they didn’t find a way to stop him, the exposure of their kind was inevitable. Understanding that possibility, the vampire race’s leaders and their human allies had developed a plan to minimize the backlash of their discovery.
 

“Sirs, I’m sorry if this is out of line, but maybe you should consider implementing those protocols preemptively,” Jester interjected.

“Why in God’s name would we want to do that?” William asked; sharply turning to the young vampire.

“Well, my lord; I’ve spent a lot of time following culture and trends with the humans online and in other media and millions of them are utterly fascinated by our kind, or at least the myths of our kind which have become so popular in recent decades. Even believing some of the worst stories about our people, many of them would be, well, thrilled to find out we are real,” Jester responded; his tone growing more excited with each word.

“So you’re suggesting that we reveal a secret which has been kept for millennia because you think some of the humans will be pleased that the monsters from their movies actually exist? And what happens when the excitement wears off and their fear sets in? How do you suggest we handle the remaining humans who are anything but thrilled to learn the truth? They outnumber us at least a thousand to one and, if history has taught me anything, it’s that while a single human can be very kind, understanding, and compassionate, their species as a whole is intolerant and fearful of the unknown,” William stated, feeling a chill run over his skin as he considered the catastrophic possibilities which lay before them.