Chapter 55

Trinity

I opened my eyes. I couldn’t explain how I knew. I just felt it. Then, I heard footsteps coming down the hall. The door opened, and Lucian walked in. My heart filled with relief and happiness seeing him. He closed the door behind him and approached the bed, but he couldn’t get much closer as the barrier seemed to repel him.

His lips twitched. “How are you feeling, Trinity?”

My eyes burned, and I went to the edge of the barrier, putting my hands on the invisible wall. I was so close. I swear I could feel the heat of his body.

“Y-You shouldn’t be here. Mark wants… They’ll know if you’re here.”

“They already do,” he said gently. “Are you hurt? Were you bitten?”

I shook my head. “I’m okay… It’s just a scratch.”

He nodded. “Pull back from the barrier.”

I frowned and sat back on my heels. He kneeled. I heard something scratch on the floor before he stood up. Then, he stood and pulled me into his arms. I let out a desperate gasp and clung to him.

“T-They killed—”

“I know,” he said gently, stroking my hair. “I know.”

“We should go.”

“Not yet,” he said softly.

I set my jaw and pulled back, looking up at him. “Were you… Lucian, I have to know…”

He blinked. His glowing red eyes flickered with amber as we stared at each other.

“About before…” I said. “Before… Was that really the first time we met?”

Lucian tilted his head. “Does it matter?”

My jaw trembled. My eyes burned. I felt the need to say no. It didn’t matter. I loved him. Even if the memories that I didn’t want to remember were all true, I couldn’t say that I cared.

“I…” I sniffled. “I don’t know what to say.”

Lucian stroked my cheek. “Do you want me any less knowing what you know now?”

“No,” I gasped.

“Neither do I.” My eyes widened. I could barely breathe as we looked at each other. “The way this started isn’t the way this will end. When the time comes, I’ll take you back to my castle, and every bad memory you’ve had will seem like just a nightmare.”

He pressed his mouth to mine, licking and sucking with promises. My stomach clenched. I wanted so much. I clung to him, trembling.

“But I’m only human….” I gasped against his lips.

“And?”

“I-I’ll die….”

“Yet, you still want me,” Lucian said. “Don’t you?”

“Will you move on after I die?” I asked. “Would you want to?”

His lips twitched. “Even I don’t have an answer to that, but… it feels as though it is unlikely.”

“I don’t want you to live the rest of… however long you have to live alone.”

“That is the fate of any vampire who desires a human,” he said. “Perhaps… in another two hundred years, there will be another with your face, but just as I remember my wife, I will remember you.”

My eyes burned. “Why can’t you turn me?”

He went still and pushed back from me. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Then tell me,” I said.

“Even if I were to turn you, that doesn’t mean that we will remain together. Even vampires can die.”

“But it would mean we could be together longer.”

He scoffed. “With your friend? A vampire hunter and his friends?”

“We’ll leave,” I said. “W-We can go to your world, can’t we?”

He smiled. “You have quite the plan, don’t you?”

My shoulders slumped. “I just want to be with you forever.”

“Do you think you could live drinking the blood of humans for the rest of your life? Banquets of blood? Tasting human food as an afterthought? I was under the impression that you enjoyed doughnuts too much.”

I pouted at him as his eyes twinkled.

The door slammed open, and Mark entered, aiming his gun at Lucian. I jumped in front of him.

“Stop, Mark!”

Mark’s eyes narrowed as he stepped inside the room. There was a faint glow wrapping around the room.

Lucian laughed. “How amusing.”

“Tell me what you’ve done to her,” Mark said. “Undo it, and I’ll give you a quick death.”

“How merciful,” Lucian sneered.

“You’re not going to kill him, Mark. I won’t let you.”

Mark didn’t even glance at me. “Hiding behind her? You’re more of a coward than I thought.”

“Says the one using her as bait,” Lucian said easily. I felt his breath on my neck as he pressed a gentle kiss there. “Be safe, Trinity. I will come back for you.”

Mark growled. “You think you can escape? I have a barrier around this whole room.”

“And I’m sure your friends have made a new barrier around the building. I am aware.”

Lucian sounded so unaffected by it all, but if the barrier was anything like the one that had separated us, didn’t that mean that it could be broken just as easily as it had been before?

“Go to him, Trinity,” Lucian said. “I don’t want you in this room for what happens next.”

I saw Vash on the other side of the door and grit my teeth. “Step through the barrier.”

“Come on, Trinity,” Mark said, not lowering his gun.

Lucian nudged me gently, and I wondered if Mark could actually shoot Lucian through the barrier on the room. Was that why he wanted me to come there? Lucian nudged me forward, and I walked forward. My hands shook. Tears streamed down my face. Then, I felt the oddest urge to drag my feet as I reached Mark’s side. I dug my heel in hard and felt something sort of gritty beneath my feet.

Then, the lights went off, plunging us into darkness.

“Shoot!”

Gunshots filled the air. Light flashed in the darkness. Someone grabbed me and shoved me into a wall. I stumbled and flailed in the dark. Red light flashed in my vision. I felt Lucian’s hand along my spine as Mark and the others continued to fire gunshots and yell. I hear water sloshing around. Then, Lucian guided me a little further down the hall and up against a wall.

When the lights turned back on, I was crouched on the ground away from the blasts, and one of the hunters was pinned to the wall with a glinting silver dagger driven through their head. There was a wound on his neck, but there was no blood. He was pale.

I stared at the body in disbelief and surprise, unable to understand, but a part of me knew that Lucian was gone.

Vash and Mark looked at me. The other members of the group looked at the body, and I wondered what would happen next.

“What did you do?”

I looked at the man who started to come towards me. “That barrier was fool-proof. There was no way—”

“Stop,” Vash said, holstering her gun.

“You’re telling me to stop?”

“I’d like to shoot her too, but she’s the best bait and shield we’ve got,” Vash said. “He left her here for a reason. Until we know what that is, we have to keep her alive.”

Mark holstered his gun, and Vash glared at me. “How did he get you out of the barrier?”

I blinked and shook my head. “I-I don’t know. He just… I heard something scraping then the wall was gone.”

Mark frowned and looked around. “I’ve never heard of a vampire having a weapon.”

Vash walked up to the body and yanked the blade out of his head. The body crumpled to the ground, and she inspected the blade.

“It’s not one of ours,” she said. “At least… not one from recent make.”

She handed it to Mark before coming over to me. I pressed further back into the wall.

“Your pal… Tell you anything specific?”

I shook my head. She narrowed her eyes. I thought there was a little glint of light in her eyes, but then she pulled back and stood.

“We’re moving base of operation. Ideas?”

“Another headquarters.”

“Vetoed. Next.”

“There’s the bunker.”

“No.”

“We could go back to my house,” Mark said softly. I doubt they had time to get to the bunker under it.”

Vash hesitated before looking back at me. “Fine. If it’s the best we’ve got. Get her up, and let’s go.”

The other man stared at me with a glare before Mark came to me. He got me to my feet and helped me out of the building.

“My God…” the other hunter whispered.

Then, I saw it. There were bodies everywhere. All of them had wounds in their throats, but there were signs that there were more bodies by the piles of clothes around.

Vash crouched and picked up an outfit. The glint of the metal trimming prodded at something in my mind, but I didn’t need her to say why.

“Vampires,” she said. She looked back at me and dropped the clothes. “Looks like he’s trusting us to keep you alive for some reason.”