The Return (2 page)

He traced a finger along her jaw, turning her face back towards him. His brown eyes searched hers for a moment, before he leant forward, pressing his lips against hers. She drew a sharp breath as he pulled her close, a strong hand caressing her waist. Taking the opportunity, Arturius slid his tongue into her mouth. It was a sensation she'd never felt before and she wanted more. She felt herself kissing him back, sliding her tongue against his,
feeling
him.

Finally, he pulled away, burying his face into the crook of her neck. She jerked back slightly as his lips brushed her torn skin, but he didn't bite down as she thought he might. Instead, he let out a contented sigh. "She wants to know the secret to your power," he murmured in her ear, kissing the corner of her jaw. "The power of your kind."

No, she could never tell him any of her family’s secrets. It didn't work that way, she couldn't tell. Something horrible would happen, something that she didn't understand, but something horrible nonetheless.

"All you need to do is tell Katrin what she wants to know, then you can go home," Arturius sat on the dirt floor and pulled her into his chest, stroking her silver hair. "I will take you myself so that you are safe."

She sobbed into his shirt, shaking her head. Why couldn't they understand? She
couldn't
.
Even if she wanted to, even if it meant her own life.

"Please," he pleaded. "They couldn't learn anything from your blood."

She was confused. Her blood? What did that have to do with anything? The Romans were just tormenting her, drinking her blood to sate
themselves
. Driving her to give up what she could not.

"Your blood gives us dreams," Arturius whispered, as he measured her expression. "They thought to learn what they wanted that way. They hoped... That way, you wouldn't have a choice."

When she didn't speak, he sighed, resting his forehead against hers. "I can't stop her," he pleaded. "She offered your release to your family in exchange for the same information, but they denied her."

Her family had betrayed her? Her parents were strong, they could tell Katrin what she wanted to know. Why hadn't they come to free her, despite the witches offer? There were too few of them left to leave her to die. Why hadn't they sent someone to rescue her?

"Please, you must, or I don't know what she'll do to you." He grasped her hands in his almost desperately. "Please, my love."

She stiffened in his grasp. Love? What did she know of love?

"I cannot," she whispered, finally. "Even if I wanted to betray them, I couldn't. It's impossible."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"I am bound. I cannot," she stated.

Arturius frowned, trying to mask the anger that had begun to creep into his features. If they couldn't get the information they needed from her, then what was her fate? Death? She began to panic, her heart thudding in her chest. Arturius could hear it beating wildly and reached out, seemingly intent on calming her.

"Come, my love," he beckoned. Falling against him she gasped as he forced his wrist to her mouth. She gagged at the coppery taste of his blood, but there was so much of it she was forced to swallow several times.

"
There
, there," he crooned, stroking her silver hair with his other hand. "This will only hurt a moment, my love."

Her eyes widened with panic as he took her head in his large paw-like hands, blood dripping from her chin. Suddenly, he twisted and the last sound she heard was the snap as he broke her neck.

Z
ac's eyes snapped open, despite how groggy he felt. He had been dreaming, which didn't feel right. His nights had been blank since day one. He was a vampire and vampires didn't dream. He tried to remain focused, trying to recall the woman's face.
The one whose neck had been broken just as he woke.
But it slipped away into darkness.

"Zac," came a familiar voice.

Turning his head, he found himself in his own bed, the sun shining outside. Sam sat in a chair beside him, leaning forward, a concerned look on his tired face.
Sam, his little brother, just as undead as he was, always there to patch him up.

"Sam," he groaned, trying to sit up. "What..."

Sam's hand held him down, stopping him from moving anymore. "Easy brother. You've been out for two days."

Zac frowned, trying to remember what had happened. They had been in the forest, guarding the clearing while Gabby and Aya fought Katrin. Then he was on the ground, dying. This time, he'd had a choice whether he would drink the blood that would save his life. And he chose her.

"Where's Aya?" he croaked, trying to sit up again.

Sam's expression was pained. Frowning, he said, "There's no easy way to tell you this, brother."

He began to panic, "What do you mean? Where is she? Is she alright?"

"Zac, she's gone."

"Gone where? She left?"

"No, Zac. She's dead."

The little color that had returned to his face drained as his heart clenched in his chest. No. It couldn't be true. Aya couldn't die. She was the strongest vampire he had ever known. She was over two thousand years old, could walk into anyone's home without being invited and sunlight didn't bother her in the slightest. Death seemed beyond her.

Sam reached out and
lay
his hand on his arm. Zac knew his brother better than himself and the look on his face said it all. He was telling the truth. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"While she was weakened from giving you her blood," Sam had preempted his question. "She had to let her guard down. It took too much from her, I think. After everything that happened with Gabby, healing you. It was the moment of weakness that he was waiting for."

"Who? What?" His head was still foggy as he tried to grasp the enormity of what Sam was telling him.

"A vampire named Arturius," he scowled at the memory. "He tore her heart from her chest. He was her maker, Zac. Another founding vampire."

Zac covered his face with his hands to stifle a sob. He ached all over as he dragged in breath after breath to calm himself.
His heart was broken
,
he was broken
. He saw her face as she had hovered over him in the clearing, her tears dripping on his cheek as he died. She had said she loved him and he realized he hadn't said it back. He loved her so much and he would never be able to tell her. In that moment, the grief of that realization made him want to die. But above all else, he wanted this Arturius dead.

"We put her in the cave by the lake," Sam said. "If you want..."

Zac turned his face away from his brother and nodded. He couldn't run this time. Not from her.
Never from her.

Zac stood at the edge of the gulley that led down to the mouth of the cave. The last time he was here, he'd ripped the head off of the woman who made him. Victoria. Was Aya asleep in the cave as he killed here? He couldn't remember if the entrance had been blocked then or not. Revenge was the only thing in his mind at the time.

He wondered how different their lives could have been if he'd met her that night. He would still be a vampire, but perhaps Sam would have led the human life he was meant to. He would remember his dead older brother as a hero of the Civil War. A war they'd lost, but a hero nonetheless. He could have finished his studies, married, had children. He knew Sam would have been successful, continued the plantation in the new United States. Righted their parent’s wrongs.

Sam should have been the father theirs wasn't.
The husband and the businessman.
He wouldn't have tolerated the use of slaves like their father did. Sam would have taken the plantation to a whole new level. Employed people, not force them to work.

Sighing sharply, he cast his thoughts aside and stared at the rock that blocked the entrance to the cave. Could he go in there, knowing the woman he loved lay cold and dead inside? 

He knew he wouldn't rest easy until he did. Walking forward, he grasped the heavy rock, Sam on the other side, and together they opened up the cave. His brother gestured for him to go. He would wait until he was done. Nodding, Zac made his way inside, his steps echoing off the close walls.

As he came into the large room of pure rock, he saw her lying on a slab of slate, covered with a dark colored blanket he assumed Sam had placed over her. Her hands were clasped on top of the fabric, her hair cascading over the side of the rock as if she were merely asleep, but her skin was an odd shade of grey.

Zac gazed down at her lifeless form, lingering at her chest, where under the blanket, he knew was a gaping hole. Taking in the features of her delicate face, he realized he'd never seen her look so tranquil before. Her gaze had always had an underlying motive about it, like she was aware of more than what her senses had revealed. Reaching down, he tentatively ran his finger down her lifeless hand, tracing the length of her index finger. 

He wished she would wake up and say something sarcastic. Call him out for being an ass. He wished he could go back and change the fact that he had been cursed. If he hadn't of, maybe she'd still be alive.

So many people had been taken from him. His parents, the plantation workers he'd made friends with, the men he had commanded in the Confederate Army. They'd all been murdered or taken by vampires. The founders would pay for what they had done to her. They would all pay with their lives.

He turned abruptly and left the cave, emerging into the air with a fresh resolve for revenge. Sam placed a reassuring hand on his brothers shoulder and together, they sealed the cave for the last time.

The woman standing in the center of the clearing was strangely familiar. Her skin shimmered opalescent pearl, like the inside of an exotic shell. She stood out like a ray of starlight in the green forest, a beacon. As she turned, he saw her laughing smile illuminated by the sun through the treetops. Blue eyes as bright as a
summers
day, hair so white it was like a fine powder of snow cascading around her shoulders. Her smile faded slightly as she caught his eye and he suddenly felt like an intruder in a place he should never have seen.

Her eyes warmed and she raised her hand in greeting. Suddenly, from out of thin air, a dark figure emerged from the tree line and seized her about the waist, throwing her over a shoulder. The horror on her face was gut wrenching. He went to dash forward to help, but he was frozen to the spot. He cried out to her, but she was taken away, her cries growing fainter and the forest growing silent.

"Zac."

He turned sharply on his heel at the all too familiar sound of her voice. "Aya?"

The forest had become dark, but he could still make out her form in the shadows, her blue eyes sparkling despite the lack of moonlight. Deep down he knew this was a dream, but he didn't want it to end. Reaching out with a trembling hand, he let out a hiss as his fingers connected with the skin of her cheek. The crackle of electricity that shot into him as he pulled her close made his heart skip several beats. Burying his face into her hair, he choked back a sob.

"It's okay," she murmured into his ear.

Zac pulled back, his hands cupping her face and he looked into her eyes. And this time, he
really
looked. It was as if the whole universe lived inside of her. She was… He had hardly noticed that he was a hairs breadth away from her until he felt himself press his lips to hers, her cool skin against his. His tongue was in her mouth against hers and she kissed him back like her life depended on it. He couldn't help but let out a groan as her hands found their way under his shirt, skin on skin.

Finally, he pulled away, resting his forehead against hers and let out a shaky breath. Aya's fingertips traced the edge of his jaw, finally coming to rest over his lips.

"Aya…" He wanted to say so many things. Where would he start? If this was in any way real, he wanted her to know the one thing he never got to say. "I love you."

She looked up at him, a sad smile on her lips. Why did it feel like she was saying goodbye?

Zac woke with a start. Sitting up gasping, he struggled to catch his breath. Shirtless, his torso glistened with sweat and he collapsed back into his pillow with a groan. He hadn't dreamed so vividly since… Well, since he was human and even that memory
was
fading. Rolling out of bed, he stumbled to the shower and turned the cold faucet as far as it would go. Stripping, he stepped into the icy water and washed the hot sticky sleep from his body, the memory of the dream refusing to leave his mind. He could still feel her lips on his.

As the water cascaded over his head and down his back he vaguely remembered dreaming of the silver-haired woman before. It was Aya, wasn't it? Was that who she really was? The day before he woke up. Another vampire had been there with her and somehow he thought he'd called himself Arturius, but he was still hazy, the details slipping through his mind into nothingness. He pushed the memory of the dreams away, refusing to think of them. It was a torture he didn't want to dwell on.

Outside, dawn was beginning to inch its fingers across the horizon. A new day meant a new problem and they still had the biggest problem of all to solve.
How to kill one of the oldest surviving vampires of all time.
Aya was gone and she had been their only hope, the only way to kill a founding vampire. If they'd been in trouble before, then they were well and truly screwed now.

Drying himself and dressing haphazardly, he wandered down the hall to his old bedroom, the one Sam had given to Aya when she first moved in, and opened the door. It was exactly as she'd left it of course.
Bare
, except for the furniture and a few items of clothing strewn on the dresser.

Zac sat numbly on her bed, staring into nothingness, his fingers absently clutching the book that was still under her pillow. It was the copy of 
Julius Caesar
 that Gabby had used to scry with when Caius had abducted her. He remembered the inscription in the cover and snorted. 
For Louis, Many happy returns on the day of your birth, Arthur Risom.
 
He understood now that Arthur Risom was Arturius. He had been here before, manipulating the townspeople, his family. He was here to find Aya and the book was a message. He wondered if she had realized and that's why she went to ground. He had never asked the reason why she slept. Did it matter now?

He didn't know what he should do with the book. It reminded him of her. He had been so angry when he found out that she had it, but now it was a harsh reminder of her killer. He felt a burning rage well inside him and he threw the book across the room with all his strength. He felt so powerless. She had died while he was comatose. He couldn't protect her. It would have been a suicide attempt against a two thousand year old vampire, but he would have gladly died in her place if it meant she lived.