Sire (26 page)

It happened at fifteen past ten. An indescribable pain welled up in Angelica's chest, pain so real and so sharp that Angelica thought she was going to burst open. Something had been cut out of her, something that she hadn't even been consciously aware of until that very moment. Her connection with Liam, the unbreakable connection between Sire and Scion, had been severed, and in its place there was nothing but raw, aching space. Liam was dead.

Bloody tears ran from her eyes and dripped onto the blotter on her desk.

Angelica gathered herself, then pressed the switch on the intercom. "Julian." Julian was her Warden, the captain of her guard and her chief enforcer.

He appeared a moment later. "My Lady?" He gasped. "My Lady, what's wrong?"

Angelica had never shown them vulnerability like this before. But for her story to hold up, they needed to see her mourn. "Liam is dead."

Julian's eyes went wide. "How?" he managed to sputter.

"There was an ... issue, with a group of University students. Someone was careless, and they learned of our existence. I sent Liam to ... clarify matters. He failed."

Julian tried to process all of this. "My Lady, if I may ask ... why was Liam sent, and not one of my men?"

"I meant you no disrespect, Julian. I simply didn't think your talents were
necessary
to deal with a group of children. And Liam, as you know, has been ... restless, lately. I thought the exercise would do him good."

Julian nodded. Then, "I'll gather a troupe and hunt them down, my Lady."

"That won't be necessary, Julian. The murderer is already on her way here. Please inform the council for me ... she will be dead by midnight."

***

Michael dropped Liam to the ground, the sword still sticking out of his chest.

Liam began to crumble.

His skin wrinkled, like he had aged a hundred years in just seconds, and then it began to flake away. Raw muscle became visible, then patches of bone. He shrank into himself, his entire body shriveling, and his ribcage collapsed. Traces of flame appeared on Liam's skin, racing over his body, consuming it. Within moments, there was nothing left but charred clothing and ash.

"God damn," Alexis said.

Michael hurried to Caitlin's side. "Are you all right?" he asked. She nodded, but couldn't take her eyes off Liam's remains.

Garret was staring at him, too, the muscles in his jaw clenching and unclenching. His eyes were hard.

Alexis walked over to Evan, who was examining the water jug, which was now filled with blood. She slid up next to him, and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Nice job, babe. That was pretty badass."

Evan smiled down at her, and kissed the top of her head. "Thanks, lover." He looked up at Michael. "I didn't know silver through the heart would kill one of you."

"Usually, it won't," Michael said. "Not right away. But without any blood in his body, he was too weak to recover."

Evan knelt by the ashes, and examined the blade. "So it wouldn't have killed you?"

"No, I've had that done to me a few times now. It isn't fun, but I'm strong enough to survive it. It just disables me for a while."

"Good." He stood up, holding the sword, turning it so that the light played off the blade.

Then he rammed it through Michael's heart.

"What the hell?"

"Oh my God!"

"Are you insane?"

"Jesus, man!"

Michael fell down, mouth open, smoke pouring out of his chest. Caitlin gasped and clutched her own chest, tears welling up in her eyes.

Alexis grabbed Evan by the arm and yanked him around to face her. "What the hell was that about? What the hell is wrong with you? Answer me!"

But he didn't. He looked at her as if she wasn't even there. Like
he
wasn't even there. He reached into his pocket and took out another one of his sigils.

Garret was walking toward him, his hands balled into fists. Evan ran his thumb over the sigil. Golden light flared, and Alexis and Garret fell to the ground, unconscious.

Evan turned toward Caitlin.

"Evan?" she said, backing up. She was still reeling from the pain she felt when Michael was hurt. "What are you doing? Why did you do that?"

"I have to take you to Angelica," he said. His voice was apologetic.

"
What?
"

"I have to." He took hold of Caitlin's wrist. She struggled, but his grip was fiercely strong. She slapped him across the face, but he didn't even seem to notice. He just yanked her forward, off balance, ducked beneath her, and threw her over his shoulder.

Michael grabbed for Evan's ankle, but the silver blade had sapped his strength. Evan kicked him in the face and kept walking.

He grabbed the jug of blood and, with Caitlin still thrown over his shoulder, walked out into the night.

Chapter Eighteen

They were in Evan's car, driving down a winding back road to ... somewhere. Evan's face was tortured, like he was fighting some kind of tremendous battle inside his own head.

"Why are you doing this?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm sorry, Caitlin. I don't ... I don't want to hurt you."

"So why don't you just let me go?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't," he said, agitation creeping into his voice. "I have to do this. I don't have a choice."

"Evan, this isn't you. It must have been Angelica. She put a spell on you or mind-whammied you or whatever it is. Liam did it to me, once. I tried and tried to get away from him, but I couldn't move, just because he told me not to. And I think that's what happened to you."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Caitlin. It's like ... I know I shouldn't be doing this, but the idea is just so strong."

"You can fight it, Evan. I know you can. You can be stronger than this. Stronger than her."

"Stop it! Stop!" Evan pounded on the steering wheel, then grabbed his head with one hand.

Caitlin shut up.

***

Alexis came to, and tried to make the room stop spinning.

Garret was rolling around somewhere nearby. "What the hell?" he said.

"It was Evan," Alexis said quietly. "He ... he knocked us out."

"Where did he go? Where's Caitlin?"

God, Evan had taken her, hadn't he? Why would he do that? What the hell was going on?

Michael moaned. He was lying on his back, trying to grab the blade that was lodged in his chest, but he wasn't making any progress. Smoke was rising from the wound.

"Hold on," Alexis said. She grabbed the sword, made a face, looked away, and yanked. The sword made a sick sucking noise as it came out.

Alexis felt nauseous. She dropped the sword on the floor. Michael rolled over and stood up. He was growling, and his fangs were showing.

She held out her hand. "Easy there, we're on your side."

Michael walked past her. "I'm going to kill him," he said to himself.

"Wait wait wait, we don't even know what happened."

Michael whirled at her. His eyes were red and violent. "Evan took Caitlin to Angelica."

"Hold on, man," Garret said. "Look, I know you don't get along with him, but come on. This isn't him. This just isn't ... Angelica must have done something to him."

Michael closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, they were blue again. "You're right."

"So she ... hypnotized him?" Alexis asked.

"Probably," Michael said. "Dammit, she must have known about this whole plan."

"Then why didn't she warn Liam?" Alexis asked.

"Maybe she did. Maybe he was just overconfident. Maybe he ..." He trailed off, and then walked over to the fireplace, and grabbed another sword. "I don't have time to care. Whatever happened to Evan, and whatever made him do it, he's taking Caitlin to Angelica."

"So what are you going to do?" Alexis asked.

Michael slid the sword into its scabbard. He picked up its twin and sheathed it, too. A pair of daggers found their way onto his belt.

"I'm going to kill
her,
" her growled.

***

Eventually, they turned off the road and onto a private driveway, a long, winding passage that cut through several acres of trees. It was disturbingly similar to Liam's place.

A gate stood at the end of the driveway. Four men—four werewolves, probably—were standing outside. One of them held up his hand, indicating Evan should stop. Another started walking toward the driver's side window.

Evan started to slow down, but Caitlin shot her leg across the console and slammed her foot onto the gas pedal. The car lurched forward. The guards dove out of the way.

The car slammed into the gate. Steam erupted from the grille. Air bags exploded into place.

Caitlin opened the door, threw herself out of the car, and ran into the woods.

***

The door to Angelica's office rattled. "Finally," Angelica began, but stopped when she saw that it was only one of the werewolves that guarded the mansion.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Um, my Lady?" the werewolf said. "There was ... an incident, outside."

Angelica rolled her eyes. "Fantastic."

***

Caitlin was getting away. Part of him hoped she got away. Part of him wanted to crush her for escaping from him.

Evan held the sides of his skull. God, his head hurt. Why did he have to bring her to the mansion again? He couldn't remember, but he knew it was important. The most important thing in the world. The most important thing to Angelica. He would die to bring Caitlin to Angelica.

"I am going to kill that bitch," one of the guards said. Caitlin had almost run him over when she crashed the car. But that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was bringing Caitlin in.

"The boss wants her for something," another guard said. "I think she's off limits, at least for now."

"So we should probably catch her?"

"Yeah."

"What if she ... got a little hurt, in the process? Nothing too bad, just a few scars, here and there?"

"I think that would be okay."

The four guards started stripping off their clothes. Why the hell were they getting naked?

Then they turned into wolves.

Well that was unexpected.

The wolves barked and growled at each other. Evan was pretty sure that they were talking to each other, forming some kind of plan.

Two of the wolves took off, heading in the same direction Caitlin had run. The third ran to the left, the fourth to the right. They were going to flank her.

Evan looked up at the mansion. This wasn't right. They weren't supposed to bring her to Angelica. He was. It was his job. His.

He ran after the wolves. After Caitlin.

It was dark. Too dark to see. He'd never find her this way. Not with the lead she had. And not when the wolves were tracking her.

He reached into his pocket and took out the last fire sigil he had, and summoned a flame to light the way.

***

Caitlin ran through the forest.

It was dark. Really dark. The kind of dark where you can't exactly see where you're putting your foot.

Tree branches grabbed her clothes, scraped her arms, and stung her face. Roots reached up to grab her feet.

But she had to keep going.

Her heart pounded. Her lungs burned. Her legs dragged.

But she had to keep going.

She didn't know
where
she was going. She didn't even know where she was. But none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was putting distance between herself and Evan.

Footsteps crashed behind her. He was coming for her. He was getting closer.

Caitlin ran faster.

The howl of wolves cut through the night.

***

Michael was tearing down the road that led to Angelica's mansion, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. The engine roared and the speedometer was pegged, but it still wasn't fast enough. He wanted to get out and run, to cut through the night like the predator he was.

Like the predator he was supposed to be.

A real vampire could have outrun the car. But not him.

He had been a failure, even when he was alive. He was just some asshole art student that never would have made a difference in the world. He had failed to protect Sarah. Failed to avenge her.

And now he was a failure as a vampire. Too weak to fight Liam, too scared to stand up to Angelica. Too slow to rescue Caitlin. God, if anything happened to her ...

If only he was stronger, faster. If only he had been drinking real blood, instead of the waste from butchers' shops. Then, maybe, he would be strong enough.

The steering wheel creaked in his grip. He pushed harder on the peddle, willing the car to move faster.

It stubbornly refused.

***

Caitlin ran blindly. She could hear the wolves chasing her. The sound was almost deafening, and it was coming from everywhere. Behind her. In front of her. From the left, from the right.

A snarling beast jumped out of the trees. Caitlin cried out and jerked to the side, and kept running.

But there was another wolf waiting for her. It jumped forward, fangs bared. Caitlin turned again, and kept running.

A third wolf was ahead of her. She tried to stop, and fell over backwards. She twisted her knee on the way down. The creature walked toward her, saliva dripping from its teeth.

She scurried to her feet and started running again, her knee throbbing with every step.

The forest opened into a clearing. With no canopy overhead, the moonlight actually reached to the ground, giving Caitlin her eyesight back. She ran into the center of the clearing, and tried to get her bearings.

A wolf emerged from the woods. Then another.

She spun around, ready to sprint in the other direction, but two more wolves were waiting for her.

Their fangs gleamed in the moonlight. Their eyes shone red.

Caitlin picked up a rock and hurled it at the closest wolf. It struck the creature's head, and the wolf flinched away and yelped.

Then it shook its head and growled.

The wolves started to close in.

***

Evan ran into the clearing. The flame that had been lighting his way flickered out, the sigil that had been powering it exhausted.