Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3) (13 page)

It was a hard pill to swallow, but Ethan knew that Alexa was right and that it went against every instinct she had as well.
 

“For now, we need rest. I can feel how exhausted you are. Tomorrow, we’ll see our families and talk to your mother. Perhaps she can use her ability to provide some insight. Okay?”

Ethan nodded reluctantly and settled back into bed while Alexa snuggled against him.

CHAPTER 10 -
The Price of Defiance

Chloe cringed, sensing Lucias’s approach. As much as she despised being a part of his darkness, she reached for his mind. She let out a small sigh of relief when she found his thoughts focused on her newfound ability and his discussion with Asana, which ensured that he wouldn’t try to complete the mate bond with her. She was just about to pull out of the abyss when images of her and Molly with him, which made her skin crawl, flashed before her. She started to panic; her mind reeling as she tried to find a way to escape such a fate without incurring Lucias’s wrath. It seemed that Asana’s vision would keep him from making her his mate, but completing a blood bond and sex were two completely different things. It stood to reason that the power in her blood would be unaffected if Lucias were to try and engage in the other unsavory activities always at the front of his mind.

She considered calling to Kaleb, but if he knew her fear, he would come to her and try to challenge his father; a fight he couldn’t win and that would probably cost him his life. Instead she searched for Asana, but before she could pinpoint her stream of consciousness, the door swung open.

Lucias ran his gaze up the length of her well-covered body, his eyes and mind full of devious intent until he took a step into the room. In an instant, his eyes clouded over with rage. As quickly as he’d appeared, Lucias was gone. Chloe remained stock still, grateful, but confused as she tried to understand what had just happened. She focused on Lucias, trying to find the answers in his mind, but it was impossible to decipher the source of his rage through the red cloud surrounding it. She looked around her room, wondering if there was something there that could have set him off. Then it dawned on her. She inhaled deeply, her hand shooting up over her mouth the instant she knew.

Kaleb and Asana had been certain to cover their tracks by disabling the security footage, but they hadn’t considered masking their scents, which among vampire kind were as unique and identifying as fingerprints were to humans.

Chloe sped around the room, growing hysterical as she thought of what Lucias might do to them and wondering why he hadn’t said anything to her. She knew the answer; he feared her as much as he desired to possess her despite the threats he used to keep her under control. He knew she would do his bidding to keep her family safe, but as much as he tried to conceal it, he was afraid that one day she would call his bluff if he pushed her too far.
 

She tried to calm down enough to focus and warn Kaleb and Asana before Lucias reached them, even though she knew it wouldn’t do them much good. Like her, he controlled Asana with what she loved, her daughter Anna. Kaleb he controlled through his sire bond and the threat of infection. Asana was too valuable for him to hurt her, but Kaleb was another story. He was his son, but Lucias had resented him since the day he was born.

Finding it impossible to focus, Chloe threw open the door and sped out after Lucias, not knowing what she would do, but determined to do whatever she could to protect her new friend and the man she loved.

✧

Asana fell back on the bed as a new vision overtook her. A tear slid down her cheek as Anna’s face came into focus. She was alive. It had been so long since she’d seen her that she was afraid she’d forgotten what she looked like. The joy was brief as the scene shifted to reveal Lucias standing over her, his eyes locked on Asana as he plunged a needle into Anna’s heart. The images began to blur, an indication that the vision was coming to an end, but Asana struggled to hold on, needing to know more. Anna looked her way, her eyes glowing red, and then she disappeared. The vision had been short; not enough to deplete Asana’s strength like so often happened, but what it revealed took more than her strength as her body was racked with sobs so hard that the bed shook beneath her.

Chloe?
she called out in her mind, knowing that the powerful vampire was the reason her daughter was in danger and the only hope of saving her. It had been Asana’s choice; even without the insight of her visions to guide her, she’d known when Kaleb asked that it was a great risk to go to Chloe in her room. She’d felt it in her bones, but she went anyway, understanding that Chloe needed them. The sweet young vampire was the key to it all; Asana had been certain of that for centuries and, despite all she had lost and suffered, she held on to the hope that, in the end, Chloe would bring peace to their kind.
 

“Asana, you disappoint me,” Lucias said from the doorway, his voice eerily calm. Asana shot up and immediately fell to her knees, lowering her head in a final desperate act of submission that she hoped would somehow appease him. He knew she’d gone to Chloe; it was the only explanation for her vision. He would infect Anna to punish her.

“Sire, it was only to serve you,” she began, “Chloe is lonely and afraid here. I thought if I went to her, if I shared some of what I’d seen, I could help to guide her towards her destiny of serving by your side as you’ve always planned.”

“I see; and you did not think to discuss this plan with me?”

“You were busy when I had my last vision, the one of Molly’s transformation. I know better than to disturb you, Sire, and Chloe was in need of a friend after what had happened; she was vulnerable, scared. It was the perfect time to gain her confidence.”

“Indeed,” Lucias agreed. In a flash he was before her, his hand wrapped around her throat as he raised her from the ground and suspended her flailing body in the air. “And how did my son fit into this little plan of yours?” he spat vehemently, throwing her against the wall. Asana crumpled to the floor, gasping for air as her bruised windpipe started to heal.

“It seems I have been too lenient with you over the years, Asana. You have forgotten your place. I believe it is high time that you were reminded who it is you serve. Why was my son with you? I suggest you think carefully before you answer me; if I detect the hint of a lie, I will remove your daughter’s head and mount it on your wall.”

“Then you may as well kill me,” Asana said, her voice hoarse but growing stronger as she stood up straight, defiant. “I only serve to keep her safe. If you take her from me you will lose the benefit of having a seer in your employ. You will face your future in the dark.”

Lucias sneered and took a step towards her, but she didn’t back down. “This is a side of you I have not yet seen. The thought never appealed to me before, but seeing you like this, perhaps you should spend some time with me in my playroom. I do enjoy a good fight.”

Even after years of practice, Asana couldn’t hide her disgust as bile rose up in her throat. She’d sooner die.

“Perhaps not,” Lucias continued, “I think it’s time for Anna to visit and we’ll see how strong your resolve is then. If you wish to live to see her again, you are not to leave this room until I summon you. It’s time for me to spend a little quality time with my son.”

When he was gone, Asana fell back to her knees.

Chloe?

✧

Though she could barely hear anything over the pounding of her own heart, Chloe listened intently for Asana’s thoughts as she moved through the unfamiliar corridors. She grew bolder with each step and had already incapacitated several of Lucias’s infected soldiers posted along the way. Even through her panic, a vision came to Chloe shortly after she left her room. It was only a flash; Lucias’s army gathered outside of Boston. She knew it was near the compound, remembering the scenery from her own journey there. Lucias was upset, angry as some of his men approached. In that instant Chloe realized that Lucias couldn’t find a way in. He couldn’t get to her family; his men couldn’t get to her family.

Chloe?
She finally heard and stopped. At almost the same moment, she sensed Lucias, but he was moving away; his mind so full of rage that she couldn’t make sense of his thoughts, but still somehow more restrained, calculating.

Please, Chloe, where are you?
Asana asked again.

I’m here,
she replied telepathically.
I think I’m close to your room. Which is it?

An image of the corridor flashed before Chloe’s eyes and focused on a door. She turned to see the same door on the left a few yards away. After a quick look around, she sped over and passed through.
 

Before the door closed, Asana rushed to her and Chloe wrapped her arms around her trying to offer some small amount of comfort.

“Chloe, you shouldn’t be here.”
He knows we came to you. I tried to cover by saying that you needed a friend. I had another vision before he came to me
. Asana sent before focusing on the vision, which passed through Chloe’s mind in time with Asana’s thoughts.

“I was worried about you; I know you broke the rules to come see me. I’m so grateful; you really helped.”
I’m so sorry, Asana.
Chloe sent, knowing it was necessary for them to keep certain parts of their conversation silent to avoid Lucias’s surveillance. The vision was no news to Chloe since she’d seen it long before Asana had, but had kept to herself. Chloe didn’t fully understand why, but something in her gut told her not to tell.
 

I don’t know what to do. He threatened to kill her, but this is almost worse. If he infects her, he can make her do anything he wants. I can’t stand to think of it; it would almost be better if she died.

Don’t think like that. A cure is possible, I saw it with my father; if it comes to that, we’ll find a way to bring her back.

I hope you’re right, but there’s more, Chloe. He knows Kaleb was with me; he’s on his way to him now.

Chloe felt her stomach drop; even though she’d known Kaleb was in danger, it became that much more real when Asana said it.
I know. He detected your scents in my room. I’m going to find him; if I can get to him, I think I could knock him out and we could escape. I had a vision. He can’t get to my family now and if we can get to the compound, he won’t be able to get to us.

But, Chloe, my daughter! He’ll kill her if I leave.

I don’t know what else to do, Asana. This could be my only chance.

Asana’s eyes darted around as she tried desperately to think of something.
Then you should go. Find Kaleb and go, but knock me out first. Then I can at least try to convince Lucias that I tried to stop you.
 

Asana, no—

Before she finished her thought, the door flew open. Both women had been so lost in their conversation that they hadn’t noticed Mason’s approach.

He looked back and forth between the two women with his red eyes, and smirked. “This makes my job easier. Lucias wants both of you upstairs. Now,” he said, holding the door expectantly. Chloe pushed into his mind, surprised to find something she’d never encountered before. The strength of her telepathy typically allowed her to access both current thoughts and memories unless a person’s emotional state was abnormally unstable, as in cases of extreme rage or stress. Neither was the case for Mason, but all she could see was the image of herself and Asana in present time. There were no other thoughts, no memories. His mind was like a video camera that didn’t record.

“I’m guessing you’ll want to hurry,” Mason said before flying off down the corridor. The two women looked at each other, their eyes full of fear and unanswered questions, before the sped off after him.

✧

Chloe entered the large room where Lucias was waiting and felt her power rising, threatening to spiral out of control as she looked at Kaleb. He was unconscious, strung up against the far wall, his arms and legs chained, and he was almost completely covered in blood. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides and turned to Lucias.

“I wouldn’t be too hasty, my dear. Look around. You are surrounded by my men, and there are ten times as many outside. If anything happens to me, they’ll kill my son and Asana. You may be powerful, but you can’t take on that many at once.”

He was right. The scale of mind blast Chloe would need to take out the men in the room would wipe her out and leave her defenseless against the men outside for more than enough time for them to kill Kaleb and Asana.
 

“I must say, your presence here seems to have encouraged great change in my son. If only he had been so strong in serving his father and master,” Lucias said, casting an almost admiring glance at his only child. “Even under the pain of the sire bond he refused to tell me anything. I doubt the two of you will be so willful.” Lucias nodded to the man closest to Kaleb, who then produced a large blade and pressed it to Kaleb’s neck hard enough to break the skin and draw fresh blood.

“What do you want?” Chloe yelled, clutching the skirt of her dress.

“Tell me why my son was in your room.”

“He came to make sure I was okay after Molly attacked me.”

“So he knew of your vision, Asana? I thought as much. What else have you shared with my son? What else have you seen?” Lucias demanded as he sped across the room, stopping only inches from her.

Asana lifted her chin defiantly and remained silent.

“Not feeling talkative? Perhaps this will loosen your tongue,” he said with a sneer as he flicked his hand towards one of the doors which was immediately opened. A woman and child were shoved through, both falling to their knees. The girl who appeared to be no older than ten years old was crying as she looked at her mother with eyes full of fear and confusion.

“Anna?” Asana said, as her eyes locked on the woman whose face was downcast and shielded by her long red hair. She raised her gaze and her hair fell away. Asana gasped; her hand shooting up to her mouth as tears filled her eyes.