Scarlet Night (Limited Edition) (20 page)

The
bastard vampire disappeared, followed shortly after by his greasy, synthetic stink, and Isaac let his shoulders sag once he was certain that he wasn’t being watched. Feeling suddenly very exhausted, he leaned against the nearby tree and tried to clear his head. And while he didn’t want to condemn his pack—his
family
—to any more chaos, he didn’t know if he could ensure their safety if it meant going against Zoey, perhaps even
killing
her…

Though it had only been a short time,
he couldn’t bring himself to do anything that would cause her harm.

He shuddered at the thought and cupped his hand over his heavy eyes, trying to massage away a growing headache.

“Hey, Isaac!” Zoey’s voice chimed from a short distance away, “You alright?”

He dropped his hand and sighed,
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just fine.”

“No, you
’re not.” She stepped towards him, her stride filled with more confidence and purpose than he was used to seeing from her, “Tell me what’s wrong!” She walked around him as he tried to turn his back to her, her unrelenting blue eyes filled with determination and worry for him as she placed her hand on his cheek.

He growled and turned his face away from her touch;
not feeling worthy of it after considering Keith’s offer. He wasn’t sure he ever would again. And yet, when he turned his face back to hers, drawn in by his own needs, all he could see was the hurt in her eyes, and he saw that it didn’t matter
what
he did. Either way she would be forced to suffer for his choice. He bit his lip and looked down, not wanting to make the decision.

Not now…

Not ever!

“
Please! I told you I’ll be okay, Zoey.”

“No, you said you
were
okay! So what’s all this talk of
going
to be okay?” She frowned, shaking her head, “Isaac… please.”

He sighed and put his hands on her shoulders. For her it would seem like a reassuring gesture, but the reality was that it was a simple way to keep her held back. “
You should go home to your clan for the night. They’ll be worried, and we can’t afford to be found out. Not like this.”

“
Why won’t you tell me? I thought…” she shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, “Please don’t do this!” she shot him a sudden glare, “I don’t
want
to have to go into your head and find out for myself! But if you won’t tell me then you leave me with no—”

He frowned, he couldn’t keep her and he sure as hell didn’t want to hurt her anymore
, but if he didn’t get her to leave—get her to stay away from him
and
his secret—then both they
and
their comrades would be in danger. He shook his head and let out a small growl as he turned his shifting eyes to hers, hoping the bestial glare and animal sound would be enough to sway her. “There’s a surprise!” he spat, baring his teeth as they shifted in his skull, “A
vampire
being a leech!” he sneered, “You think I’d tell you
anything
?” scoffing, he shook his head and turned away so she wouldn’t see his tortured features. Knowing that his aura would give him away, he focused on the rage he had for Keith and hoped it would provide the same effect, “We are enemies! We were
never
meant to be together! You were just convenient; a toy for me to pass the time! And though it was fun while it lasted, Zoey, I’ve gotten bored. Playtime is over! Now go home!”

The air went suddenly cold and Isaac had to force himself not to look. Zoey was strong, there was no doubting that, and if she was responsible for the drop in temperature than it was obvious he’d struck a nerve.
“You’re lying!” she growled, the air around him kicking up his hair and throwing it in his face, “You think you can
hide
it from me? I can tell; even
without
looking I can tell! I know we’re enemies, Isaac, I know we shouldn’t be together! But that doesn’t matter; not to
either
of us! When I’m with you, I feel right! I don’t care about this war or what I’m supposed to feel! I don’t even care what the others at the clan would think! For once in my life I’m being selfish and—dammit, Isaac!—I want to be with you!”

Isaac stared at her, blinking against the wave of fury and passion that had just been dumped on him. Biting his lip, he
frowned as he struggled to keep his eyes on hers, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

“
Fuck!” he sighed and shook his head, feeling his own expression betray his attempts to drive her away, “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, you still need to earn my forgiveness for what you said
.” She said, “So you might want to start by kissing me.”

He grinned a
nd licked his lips, “With pleasure.”

Hooking his hand behind her head, he pulled her face
to his and pressed his lips to hers with all the ferocity of a predator finding a meal. She moaned against his mouth, driving him to pull her closer to his body until the space between them was nothing but a vulgar memory. Her body fit his
perfectly
! Every contour and every crevice seemed to exist to allow the other to occupy it. She whimpered as he ran his hands across her sides, tracing her form with his palms. Using his wandering hands and her small body to his advantage, he lifted her easily from her feet and pulled her body on top of him.

“
O-oh! Isaac!” She blushed.

Blushing, but
not
complaining; not struggling or resisting or rejecting.

With that, they both held on tight to the other as they joined in the bliss of the night.

Their forbidden embrace holding them strong.

Isaac yawned as he woke up on the forest floor, finding himself tangled with Zoey’s still-sleeping body
. He smiled warmly and worked on unraveling their limbs and set her gently against the tree as he stood up and walked to the nearby lake to get a drink.

“So g
ood to see that my demands haven’t swayed your interest in that vampire bitch! I hope that…” he scoffed, “…
acquainting
yourself with her body won’t prove to be distracting in the long run.” Keith’s mocking voice called from behind him.

“Get out of here!
I already said I wasn’t going help you anymore and I meant it!” Isaac growled and turned to face him as his body began to shift.

“
Oh I don’t think so, Isaac! I’m not done with you yet!” Keith grinned and stepped forward. As Isaac focused to transform his body he suddenly felt himself gripped in an invisible force that began to crush him. Unable to fight against the force of Keith’s aura as it squeezed tighter and began to weave more and more through his body and mind, he cried out in agony. “You and your pack
will
fight for me! There is no other option for you!” He smirked and stepped closer, “You see, I don’t need
you
to make the order; I just need your body! And, as I’m sure you’re beginning to realize, your body is very,
very
easily controlled. Now, you can choose to play along and do as you’re told, or I can hollow out your head and
make
you do as you’re told! The outcome, either way, is the same, but I’m sure you’d rather not let me have all the fun, am I right?”

Isaac growled and, despite the pain, glared at him, “You couldn’t control me if you—”

Keith glared, “Am. I. Right?” he tightened his aura’s hold on the therion and began to pry into his mind, unlocking all the barriers and restraints in Isaac’s mind until…

Isaac settled, no longer struggling or snarling. “Yes, Keith. Quite right, indeed.”

“That’s a good boy!” Keith smiled at his own success and chuckled as he set Isaac down. “Now be off! There’s work to be done!”

“Yes. Of course.” Isaac bowed his head and started towards his pack.

Watching the therion disappear into the forest, Keith nodded to himself. The plan was coming together beautifully! Now there was just the simple business of Vail’s takeover. Satisfied that his work in the woods was finally done and he could be free of it, he turned away and started towards the city.

“Time for a family reunion, sis
.”

S
erena sighed behind the far-too-fancy desk in the far-too-large room she had been given by her far-too-hospitable clan. Everything, the whole “welcome back, princess, oh how you’ve been missed”-scene that everybody—even those who hadn’t been with Vail long enough to even
remember
her—seemed to be playing by, felt forced. Just a synthetic comfort. No different than the fake blood they all gleefully guzzled down just because it rid them of the guilt of tapping a
real
vein for sustenance.

And so there she sat.

Alone in a sea of scripted loyalty…

… behind a still-too-fancy desk!

“Goddam thing’s bigger than my
cabin
!” she grumbled, casting an accusing glare at the massive portion of polished mahogany that was not hidden under the old letters that Zane had offered her several days earlier after their chat in the infirmary.

Several days…

And already the tides of the calm-though-scripted sea were beginning to shift.

In only a few days Zane had become nearly non-existent, growing evermore distant with each passing day
. Furthermore, in that same time, Zoey had become scarce around the clan’s headquarters, and any time that she
was
around she seemed to be distracted; lost in her own world and leaving Serena behind in the gloom of reality to rot behind a desk.

A god-damned, stupid, worthless desk!

Groaning, she looked down at the letters that her father had been keeping before his death once more and deciphering, as she had each and every time she offered the pages her attention,
nothing
from them! Tapping her index finger against the wood—hoping that, maybe, she could “accidentally” gouge a piece and put some personality on the desktop—and frowned at another batch of guilt that grew in her mind like an ivy that throttled the life out of every other thought she had. Despite her many years of convincing herself otherwise, she could no longer blame her father for what had happened. It had never been Gregori’s fault. Not really! Rather, it had just been a series of shitty circumstances that she’d blamed on him; the easiest target to project her personal need for a source to all of it. She sighed, wishing again that she could’ve had the chance to apologize to the bastard before he was killed.

Zane had explained
that her father’s death had been Keith’s doing, and there was no doubt at this point that he was
also
their mother’s murderer. And, with all this new knowledge—this new knowledge that had been thrown into the spotlight—she had absolutely
no
idea what to do or where to begin. Instead, as she took her head into her hands and trying to control her jagged breaths, she focused on a far simpler and far more pressing task:

“
Do. Not. Cry!” she whispered to herself, “Not even one goddam tear or I will—”

Are you about to threaten yourself for wanting to cry?
Devon’s voice chimed behind her as his warmth encompassed her. Y
ou know that it’s okay to cry, right? Just like those cheesy after-school specials preach; ‘don’t bottle it in’ and all that jazz.

She
faked a smile, wishing that she could lean against him but knowing she’d only find warm air where there should have been flesh. Sighing, she looked down sadly and tapped harder at the desk.

Don’t worry so much! It’s like you said, we’ll find
a body soon.
Devon said.

“I hope s
o,” she sighed, “But at least I’m not finding my own food, right?”

He nodded. Devon had
always had a distaste for her feeding on humans, so being in the clan, where she was supplied with all the “blood”—if she could
really
call it that—she needed, must have been a relief to him. Smiling at his reaction, she found herself wondering if Zane felt that same way about their feeding habits, but quickly shook those thoughts away.

What’s on you
r mi
— Devon started to ask before suddenly disappearing, along with the warmth and his ghostly influence on her aura.

Startled by the sudden silence, Serena started to call out to him but stopped when
she heard laughing from the door.

Growling, she
turned towards the door and positioned her hands out as her aura shifted into the shape of a bow in her grip, holding it at the ready for the intruder on the other side. With the laughter growing clearer, an auric beam appeared in the middle of her “weapon” and she drew it back like an arrow—following the movements and habits from her archery training—and leveled it at the door.

“Get out of here, Keith!” She shouted
.

“Oh my! Ouch! Is that the greeting I deserve,
my dear sister! No hugs or tears of joy to see your long lost brother?” Keith smirked.

“Go to H
ell, you prick! You haven’t been lost nearly long enough!” She growled as she ‘fired’ at him.

Side-stepping the purple beam of light as it collided with the wall, Keith smirked.
“Hmm, tempting! But I’d rather not.” His own, stronger aura shot out and grabbed her own as she moved to retrieve the “arrow”. “However,” he laughed as he held out his hand and an auric bolt of his own shot back at her and slammed into her chest, “since you seem so taken with the place, you’re welcome to take my place!”

The force of the impact knocked the wind from
Serena’s lungs and the ground from beneath her feet, and she cried out as she fell back before everything turned black.

Smoke was
already filling the entire building as Zane rushed through the halls, slamming on every door he passed and warning others to head to the main hall for evacuation instructions. The panic in the halls was becoming stifling, and even without an aura he could feel the combined energies making the hazy air crackle. Finally, he reached Serena’s room and, not about to waste any time, kicked in the door and growled as a cloud of smoke poured from the opening and into his face.