"Another weakness. And how has it worked for you? How many sired have turned on you like you turned on our maker? How many have you killed?"
I don't answer.
Xavier ambles closer to the dais. "Georgianna didn't want to kill you, did you know that? I had to mind wipe her several times before she obeyed."
He's trying to make me angry. It's working.
"But she did obey, in the end. And you killed her. Amusing how history repeats itself?"
"I find it tiring." And I do. This whole miserable existence is not worth leaving the grave. It wasn't until Selene came into my world that I had a reason to feel. To walk a new path.
"You just need a challenge."
"Is that what I am to you, Xavier? A challenge?" I spread my hands. "How exactly did you think you could kill me?"
"Do you know how the shifter auctions came about?"
I narrow my eyes. "Some of my sired got a taste for shifter blood."
"Yes. do you know how?"
I do, actually. My own research and interrogations have told me. But I fold my arms and let Xavier have his fun.
"I've been at it for years. Hunting shifters, capturing them. I thought, if I can get one to complete the change, I could create an army more powerful than anything on earth. There had to be a way to do it. We tried with all types of shifters, strong ones and weak ones. But they'd rather die as shifters than live again as the undead."
I snort, and he nods as if I've agreed.
"It is too bad. We could've created vampires faster than you could dream. An army of the strongest creatures on earth."
"So that was your plan to overthrow me?"
Xavier smiles. "Not the only one."
Selene
WHEN I COME TO, I'm hanging upside down. I'm in a crushed cab, covered in glass. Windshield wiper fluid drains out of the hood. Where am I? What just happened? The road block. The car crash. The vampire--Vampire!
I rip away the seatbelt and gravity takes over. I fall, hit the roof of the destroyed Escalade. My world tilts. Blindly, I grope for the door lock. When I find the window opener, i say a prayer and press it. It opens most of the way.
I've contorted around to squeeze out of the window when hands clamp under my armpits. I save my strength and let the vampire drag me out. He tries to grab my throat but I'm too fast for him. I rear back and kick him in the gut. He falls. My speed is wearing off, but these guys aren't expecting me to be as fast as a vampire. I still have the element of surprise. I stake my fallen enemy and scramble away from the upside down SUV. There was another one.
I jog back to the scene of broken Escalades. Glass crunches under my shoes. I find the second vampire unconscious from the crash and finish him with one of my makeshift stakes.
The walkie talkie crackles on the ground with someone asking for updates. Any moment, they'll dispatch someone to check this out. Maybe they already have.
I've got to get out of here, but my sickness is back with a vengeance. My vision blurs.
Something white streaks up the road, solidifying into a Camaro. I jolt backwards, falling into a ready fighting stance, but an Irish accent makes me pause.
"It's all right, lass! It's just us!"
The doors slam and gravel crunches as I stagger. Declan and Parker appear at my side.
"Easy, there, it's all right." They support me as I dry heave onto the dirt. I can't believe my stomach is still upset. It's been over twenty four hours that I've eaten anything.
"Thanks, " I say, using a section of my shirt to wipe my face.
"You all right?"
"No," I mumble. "I'm... I don't feel well."
"Come on, lass. Into the Camaro."
"Need to go to Lucius."
"You're in no condition to get to him."
Laurie appears, holding something. The cooler. It survived the crash.
"Feck, Declan mutters. "Not this again."
I push upright and jerk my arm out of Parker's grip to beckon to the tall shifter. "Give me the blood. Now."
Declan blocks my way. "Lass, no. It's too dangerous."
"Lucius gave it to me. He knows... He knows I need it to kill vampires. Xavier will hunt me to the ends of the earth when he finds out I betrayed him." My head throbs. Whatever illness I had earlier, it's not gone, but buried under the adrenaline rush the vampire blood gives me. When this is over, I'm going to have a hell of a migraine. "This has to end now. Tonight
Lucius
"YOU'VE WANTED to kill me for what, a hundred years? A thousand? Since we were sired? You were always jealous of me, Xavier. Of course you had several plans to kill me. None of them worked."
"Mmm," Xavier is back to looking smug. "I had high hopes for Selene."
"And she didn't kill me. She got close, but couldn't bring herself to do it."
"Are you so sure?"
I'm here, aren't I? And she is not."
"Ah yes, there is that. Tell me, what exactly happened to her?" Xavier steps onto the dais, close enough for me to make out the scars on his face, even in the dim light. He lost his eye in a fight with a she-bear shifter, and even though he always wears a black eye patch, his face is a gruesome sight.
But his face doesn't hold my attention.
Behind him, in the hall, a shadow moves. A glimmer of a white blonde head. Xavier and I are no longer alone. My pet sneaked into the room.
She's come back to me at the best and worst possible moment.
Everything's changed.