September Moon (41 page)

I didn’t feel like I’d been saved. Instead I felt very much condemned. Willow had sacrificed himself for me, and I didn’t even have the strength to finish what I’d come to do. I had failed him.

Shya reached for me, and I cringed. Anticipating his vile touch, I prayed it would all happen fast.

A sword burst through Shya’s chest, having been shoved through from behind. Falon stood behind the demon, holding tight to the hilt. Smoke rose from the silver blade.

Shya’s mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. He blinked several times as realization set in.

“Alexa, please,” he pleaded. “We can negotiate. Give me the scroll, and I’ll make you my queen. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“Go to hell,” I said.

Gaping down at the blade protruding from his middle, Shya pitched forward, nearly crashing into me as he went down on his face.

In a sudden fluid motion, Falon jerked the sword free and swung. The blade whistled through the air before slicing through Shya’s neck, effectively severing his head. Before my very eyes, Shya’s body faded away, disappearing completely. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Without so much as a word to me, Falon targeted Gabriel next. He slashed at the young vampire, driving him and Arys apart.

“Finish this now,” Falon shouted at Arys. “Shya will regroup fast on the other side. You don’t have much time.”

Arys wore several cuts and gashes, but otherwise he was all right. He caught me as I fell forward.

“Do it,” I said, my voice thin and shrill.

He shoved away from me, muttering something inaudible beneath his breath. Arys was battling with himself. It was a fight he would not win. “I don’t want to.”

In direct contrast to his words, he grabbed me again and shook me.

I fought him, hoping to slap some sanity back into him. My hand cracked across his face, and he bared fangs at me. Fear clawed its way up my throat, and I choked on it. This was really happening.

Arys froze, staring into me and seeing something that freed the hunger he had carried for over a century.

“You know you have to do it,” I murmured. “It’s ok. I’m ready.”

Bloodlust burned in Arys. He jerked me closer, and with no hesitation, plunged fangs deep into my neck. Targeting my artery, he bit with the intent to kill. Blood gushed from the wound. Arys was ravenous, biting a second time.

The power of our bond soared between us, much like it had the night we had first slept together, when our twin flame union had united us. We were inside each other. Random thoughts and feelings flitted through my mind, all of them Arys’s.

As he consumed my blood and the power within it, I very clearly saw how much he loved it. Finally, after waiting for so long, after craving my death for decades, it was his at last.

There wasn’t a single piece of him that didn’t find absolute pleasure in this moment. He held me close, lovingly stroking a hand through my hair as he stole my life. Arys exuded genuine emotion. He loved me. I felt it. However, that didn’t change the elation he felt at making me his in every way.

Something buried deep within me began to writhe and squirm. Lilah’s key responded to my fading life, resisting the pull as I took it with me.

My surroundings began to fade. No longer could I smell the acrid odor of burnt flesh. The sound of Jez’s shouts were muffled and far away. There was a sharp pain in my abdomen, which echoed throughout my mind. The dark, twin-flame forged key shuddered and seized before shattering like a burst bubble. I felt cold and then, only numb.

The last thing I saw was Falon standing over Gabriel’s prone form. He watched us with a disaffected stare. Then my vision grew dark, and I succumbed to death.

* * * *

Everything was so white. I found myself in a plain room with no door, no windows, only a table with two chairs. A man sat in one of the chairs. His back was to me, but I knew who it was.

“Veryl? What are you doing here?”

Feeling strange and loaded with questions, I rounded the table and slid into the chair opposite him. A long off-white robe clothed me. Veryl wore a suit and tie in the same color. The absence of sound and smell bothered me, but I paid it little attention once I sat across from the vampire I’d killed not so long ago.

He looked the same as I remembered. Middle aged but handsome with eyes that reflected an inner knowledge I could only imagine.

“You don’t have much time,” he said. “I’m here to see you before you go back.”

“Back?”

“To the other side. To the living. You’re in between now but not for long.” Veryl sat back in his chair and pressed his fingers into a steeple. “I warned you about Shya, did I not?”

I felt ashamed, knowing without a doubt that I’d been wrong to murder this man. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. There were just too many secrets.”

“There were,” he agreed with a slight head nod. “I too am sorry. I wish things had been different between us. It was my intention to protect you, not too harm you.”

I surveyed the small, simple white room. It felt safe and warm despite there being no obvious way in or out. “I suppose none of that matters now.”

“You’ve done well,” he said with a smile, revealing straight white teeth. There were no fangs. “I couldn’t be happier with how you’ve grown into your abilities.”

“So where is everyone?” I asked, feeling very disembodied. “Don’t I get some big welcome or something? Do I have to face everyone I’ve killed? Or just you?”

Veryl chuckled, and it was a sound of carefree happiness. “Just me. Everyone else is on the other side. You don’t get to join them yet. You’re going back, very soon. So let me make this brief. You must be prepared, Alexa. The evil you’ve faced, it’s not over. It is never really over.”

“What are you talking about?” There was a pang of disappointment that I wouldn’t see Raoul. Or Lena. I missed them both.

Veryl reached across the table and captured my hand in his. It felt warm and soft. “You’re not going to feel like yourself when you return. The turn will dominate you, making you a monster. But you must embrace your light. You’re going to need it.”

“You’re scaring me.” Though I said the words, I didn’t feel afraid. I felt detached, as if this entire thing were a dream that I couldn’t take too seriously.

“You’re not finished, Alexa. Not even close. As a Hound of God, you have a duty to uphold, regardless of whether you’re a vampire or not. The dark side will lure you into blood and mayhem while the light will guide you in love and honor.” Veryl’s expression grew grave. He leaned in close as if sharing a secret. “Possessing them both will be a great challenge. But if anyone can overcome it, it’s you.”

His warning left me feeling sad in a place that didn’t seem to recognize such an emotion. Sadness just didn’t belong here.

“What if I don’t want to go back?” I challenged. “Can’t I just stay here with you?”

Veryl patted my hand in a fatherly way and gave me a gentle smile. “I’m afraid not. You’re needed among the living. There are things you must do yet. A role to play that is yours and yours alone.”

Hadn’t I done enough? Was the face off with Shya only the beginning? I wasn’t sure I could take any more of that.

“And if I refuse?” It was a stubborn, childish remark. Feeling backed into a corner, I had an irrational urge to argue his words though he had given me no reason to.

“You won’t. It isn’t your way.” Veryl rose and held his arms out to me expectantly.

I moved lightly, as if my feet never touched the ground. His embrace was strong but gentle, parental and encouraging. Veryl had cared for me as if I were his daughter. And I hadn’t known that until now, when I could feel it without him ever having to say so.

“I’m sorry for the ways I’ve wronged you.” The words were not enough, but I had nothing else to offer.

He patted my back and smoothed my hair back before peering deep into my eyes. “Don’t be sorry. Just be who you’re called to be, a protector of mankind.”

I stared at him in wonder. Only Willow had spoken those words to me. Had Veryl always known?

There were so many questions I needed him to answer. Before I could utter a single one, I was pulled away, drawn by an unseen force. It felt as if I were being sucked through a shrinking tunnel, watching the white room grow smaller in the distance.

Veryl’s final words reverberated through my thoughts, an echo that followed me back to where I belonged: protector of mankind.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A hurricane of sensations welcomed me back. From the overbearing scent of cologne, wolf, and paint to the immaculate touch of satin sheets on my skin, it all hit me at once.

Voices carried to me. They belonged to Arys and Shaz, and though they spoke in low tones, I heard every word as if they shouted in my ears.

“It’s almost sunrise,” Arys was saying. “She probably won’t rise tonight.”

“I don’t care. I’m not leaving. And neither should you.” There was such vindication in Shaz’s tone. “Do you think she’ll still have the wolf?”

“She died with the amulet on. If Lena knew what she was doing when she made that thing, then yeah, Alexa should still have her wolf. Don’t worry, pup. She’ll still love you either way.”

My eyes popped open, and I sat up slowly. A dim lamp lit the room. Harley’s room. I was at The Wicked Kiss. In my current state, I couldn’t make much of that. Aside from an inner sense of disappointment, it didn’t mean much to me.

My vision was impeccable. The wolf had given me superior eyesight, but it paled compared to how I now saw. It was like stepping into the light for the first time after wandering around in the dark. There were no words for how detailed and pure everything was. From the cracks in the ceiling to the fibers of the carpet, it all was richer and more complex than I’d ever noticed before.

With a vague curiosity, I slid my tongue over the tiny but deadly fangs in my mouth. They were much smaller than I was used to.

No conscious thought commanded my mental state. In a state of strange observation, I merely took in my surroundings, thinking and feeling nothing.

I wore the same clothes I’d had on when Arys killed me. It felt like two days ago though I wasn’t certain. The dragon on my forearm looked especially black against my alabaster skin. I studied it for a moment and shrugged.

“I still can’t believe you did it.” There was judgment in Shaz’s voice from beyond the door. “You loved it. Didn’t you?”

A sense of detached surprise drifted through me when I lightly tossed the blankets aside and they slapped against the wall as if I’d hurled them in violence.
Weird.

“Do you really want an answer to that?” came Arys’s mysterious reply.

There was silence for a minute. The door opened and the two of them entered. They stopped dead in the doorway at finding me sitting up in bed.

I stared at them, uncertain and suspicious. They were familiar to me somehow. I knew that. But in that moment, I could only think in terms of instinctive feelings. The new dark, undead entity dominated.

“Lex?” Shaz barely breathed my name. Wide-eyed and speechless, he stared in disbelief.

The sound of his mortal heartbeat reverberated in my ears. His blood smelled wild and earthy. It called to me, and nothing else mattered. I needed it.

I sprang off the bed and cleared the room in a bound. The speed with which I moved was impossibly inhuman. It was invigorating, bringing me a gleeful victory when I easily took Shaz down beneath me.

Kneeling on his chest, I pinned him down and went for his throat. With a low growl, he flung an arm up to block me. My attack was vicious as I retaliated, fighting to get to that fount of hot, pumping scarlet nectar.

Suddenly I was airborne. I flew into the hallway, head over feet before smacking the wall and rolling into the middle of the hall. Feeling no pain, I was up and ready to face my attacker.

Arys stood in the doorway to Harley’s room. He shoved Shaz behind him and faced me with hands crackling with power. There was a melancholy element to him. It confused me in my predatory state.

Our eyes met and I froze. I knew him. Something deep inside me recognized him as mine, and yet all I could think about when I looked at him was death. He was the one. He was the one who killed me.

“Alexa?” He took a tentative step toward me. “I can help you through this, but you have to trust me.”

A snarl bubbled up in my throat. Arys’s memories echoed inside me. He had killed me, and he had loved it.

All at once the remnants of who I was swam to the surface. I was immediately overcome by a torrent of emotion. It was intensified, imbued with an abyss-like passion that outweighed any feelings I’d ever had before. I wanted to cry, scream, and dissolve into hysterical laughter all at the same time.

Arys took another step toward me, his hands held up in surrender. “It’ll be ok. I promise you, my wolf. Let me help you.”

“Help me?” I repeated, not recognizing my own voice. “You did this to me. You knew what would happen, and you did it anyway.”

I backed away, unable to understand why I should trust him. It just didn’t compute amid the sudden confusion and mental distress.

“There will be time to talk about that later. Right now we need to calm your bloodlust before you run amok and terrorize the city. You know me, Alexa. All of me. You know you can trust me.” Holding a hand out toward me, Arys pleaded with his eyes for understanding.

The hallway hummed with the intriguing energy of vampires. Like an intricate, fascinating song, it played through me, a beautiful piece of music that resonated in every fiber of my being. It was no longer merely something I felt from outside of me, but something that lived within.

Arys didn’t give me a choice. He continued toward me, and I reacted. The power went out from me with no real thought to guide it. My intent was to ward him off and that’s what it did.

Stronger than ever before, I threw Arys backward; he flipped over the small bistro table in the bedroom before hitting the floor. It had taken no effort on my part, sapping none of my strength.