Chapter 126
"Henrietta, please you don't have to do this. You can stop all of this-"
"No, you can stop all of this!" she shouted. "We could end his line tonight and save everyone! I will only ask you one more time to join me, Kala. Please, join me."
"No," I said backing away from her. "You're mad."
She stared at me, her eyes filled with anger and disappointment and said, "Very well, have it your way."
She backed slowly into the shadows, never once breaking eye contact with me and backed into the wall. The wall swung open revealing a hidden passageway and she quickly backed into it. I lunged after her, but the wall swung shut and she was gone.
I took a few steps back.
Finally, I had the truth about everything. I knew who she was and why she had killed all those people, and I thought having that truth would somehow make hate her even more but it didn't. I could understand her twisted logic for wanting Jac and his family dead. Their ancestor had killed her family and she feared this unpleasant family history might repeat itself with Jac. Academically it was a possibility but in my heart, I didn't believe he was capable of such an atrocity and perhaps on that point Henrietta was right. Maybe it was naive and blind of me...I had doubts, to be sure. But I also had hope. Hope that Jac would not be the monster his great uncle was, and hope that the bond between him and his younger brother would be restored, and hope that he wouldn't reject me for the person I am. It felt like I was banking a tremendous amount of hope and expectation on Jac... I just prayer he won't end up letting me down.
He would be here soon and all the truth would finally come tumbling out, but before he came I wanted to do one thing. I wanted to reunite Celia with her baby.
I walked over to the stone coffins standing in the middle of the crypt. Each coffin had a single plaque detailing the birth and death of each of its occupants. The nearest empty coffin belonged to Louis while the one next it belonged to his mother. The one after that belonged to the old King and lastly, the last coffin belonged to Celia.
I stood next to the coffin and pushed the stone cover slightly ajar. I didn't want to open the coffin all the way. I didn't want to see the corpse of decade old vampire princess staring up at me. I reached into my pocket and found the bones that belonged to Celia's baby. Taking it out carefully I placed it inside the dark coffin and shut the lid. Finally, mother and baby had been reunited.
I heard the trapdoor of the crypt burst open and from the far side of the crypt and saw a flurry of snow drift down the stairs. I let out a gasp of surprise as Jac suddenly appeared in front of me in nothing but a black t-shirt and a ripped pair of jeans.
His hair was damp from the melted snow and he was panting hard like he had just run a marathon. My heart started to swell inside my chest and instinctively I reached out and touched his forearm. I expected him to be frozen solid from running through a blizzard in summer clothes, but he wasn't. In fact, he was burning hot like he had some kind of fever. Instantly I pressed my hand against his forehead and holy cow he was on fire.
"Jac, you are burning hot. Is something wrong with you, are you sick? And what the hell are you doing running about in those clothes? There is a blizzard outside for goodness-"
He didn't even let me finish my sentence. With one arm he reached out grabbed me, yanking me into his chest. I yelped in surprise but was quickly silenced when his mouth claimed mine with a deep hungry kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and anchored myself to him. His kiss was so greedy and intense it felt like he was trying to steal the air from my lungs.
I pulled away from him, needing to come back up for air but he didn't want to let me go. Raggedly he breathed against my lips, "I thought I had lost you. I found the corpse of my brother and I thought.."
"I know, I had to jump out the window but I'm okay," I said caressing his jawline.
He rested his forehead against mine and whispered, "I really thought you were gone - the pain was so awful."
As he spoke the ground beneath us suddenly began to rumble. I froze and looked up into Jac's eyes and saw that they were almost black. His grip on me tightened and he continued, "I kept thinking over and over that he had taken you from me, and that I would find you dead, just like Celia."
I shushed him softly and pressed my lips lightly against the corner of his mouth. "I'm fine, Jac. Try to calm down a little."
"I can't. I thought he had taken you. You had no idea what I went through. I wanted to tear the city apart brick by brick. I thought about burning it to the ground just to find you-"
"Okay," I said slapping my hand over his mouth. "I don't ever want to hear you talking about tearing the city down or burning it, or doing anything else bad to it - do you understand?"
He gently prised my fingers from his mouth and said, "You left me."
"I didn't leave you," I replied flatly. "I had to jump out the window to escape your undead brother."
"Then why didn't you wait for me in the gardens?"
"I wanted to but something came up, or rather someone."