Chapter 59

Lucian

I watched droves of vampires leave through the gate that had opened. With the gate opened, I could feel Trinity’s state of mind easier. She was frightened, but she didn’t seem to be in danger. A spike of terror rippled through her, and I went stiff. I pushed power into our bond, trying to see what was happening. But all I got were flashes of fear. I saw Mark’s face. I heard gunfire and that woman’s voice shouting orders. There was worry and

I pulled on my connection to Mark, trying to get a better sense of what was going on. As I expected, Mark’s vision was clearer. His mind was calmer as he pulled Trinity down a set of dark stairs and started running. There was a sense of urgency. I could hear him counting at a slow, steady pace as they ran. The woman came up behind her and then went past him. I tried to hold on to the connection, but there was too much information coming in across the distance. It stretched and thinned.

The only constant thing was Trinity’s fear and the odd sense of her losing consciousness.

I set my jaw. They were being chased. If I was right that she was a descendant of the Blood Ancestor, then I couldn’t afford to stay here.

He might have said that he would bring her here, but I couldn’t trust that. I pulled at the restraints, resenting that I had allowed myself to be bound in the first place. The shackles seemed to grow tighter as I felt a presence coming down the stairs.

He appeared. His eyes watched me with a sense of knowing that I couldn’t place.

“You are the only one with information about the church’s movements as of now,” he said. “What do you know of these hunters?”

I swallowed and met his gaze. “They’re sturdier than regular humans. Most of them are regular humans that have simply been trained very well… Some of them have vampiric abilities.”

His eyes narrowed. “Like what?”

“Mind reading and manipulation,” I said. “I believe… they’re using a mixture of vampire blood and healing elixir to give hunters the abilities… They call it Communion.”

His lips curled into a sneer. “What is this healing elixir?”

I looked away. “My wife… developed it. It’s effective for human and vampire wounds. Keeps the drinker alive. I believe it might also grant the drinker an immunity to silver.”

I took deep breaths as I felt Trinity’s consciousness starting to waver.

The Blood Ancestor let a soft growl out. “I can only imagine… where they got such an idea.”

I looked at him.

“A true half-breed is rare,” he said. “Daywalkers, all the powers of a vampire without a weakness to silver or sunlight. Had he been with me, he would have been a force to be reckoned with, and the silly royals casting blame on their wild warrior wouldn’t even exist.” He eyed me. “Though, I suppose the same could be said of you.”

My eyes widened, and I grit my teeth. “I take it… your child was--”

“My son,” he said. “Either they had or have him in their clutches or… someone of his line. It is impossible to know which.”

His lips twitched wryly. “What do you know of your origins, Lucianus?”

I frowned. “Not much. I… am an orphan for all I know. I was raised in the

I swallowed and went to the gate. “Would you release me? I know more about fighting them than the vampires you are sending. The human world has changed so much.”

He smiled. “So, you can keep my daughter from me?”

He chuckled as I drew back. “Did you think I would not know? That I could not feel her presence in this castle? Smell her blood on the stone? You forget that I am the original master of the dark castle.”

I couldn’t even think. He was the original master? No one had ever told me that, but it made sense. My gut turned as I looked at the man.

His eyes turned cold. “Not feel my grandchild growing in her womb and thus have a grasp of you, Lucianus?”

I swallowed. “She’s… in danger. She’s with hunters.”

“Of that, I am sure,” he said and drew back. “But you need not worry about that. I will enjoy my grandchild after she is awakened.”

“Awakened?”

“She is a descendant of mine by blood, not by siring,” he said easily. “She needs only the right push to reach her full potential as a vampire. I have instructed them to do what must be done.”

“She is… fragile,” I said. “What if she does not survive it? Mentally? She will not be the Trinity she was.”

He smiled. “I have more faith than that of a child of my line. She has managed to survive your influence after all.”

His hand dropped his hand, and he turned the ring around his finger. “Have you marked her?”

I went still. He glared at me. “Do not lie to me.”

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “I suppose I should not be surprised…”

His lips twitched as he turned the ring around his finger and turned.

“Worry not. Trinity will be back soon enough.” He started to drift up the stairs. “With any luck, I may even allow you to meet your son, but never forget that he will be my grandson first.”

I clenched my jaw, watching him vanish. I turned back and pulled at the restraints. I felt the castle trying to stop me, trying to keep me here, but I ignored it. I pulled until I heard the shackles pop and crack. The chains went flying from the walls. The castle closed off the grate I could see through and plunged me into darkness. I put my hands on the nearest stone wall feeling almost apologetic.

For centuries the castle had been my home. It had been the home where I thought my wife and I would live and raise our children. I thought I would bring Trinity and our child back here. That she would die here watching over our child.

But that was a future that couldn’t happen if I had to tear my way through the castle to get to her. It wasn’t the hunters I was worried about. It was his plan to turn her into a vampire. I already felt the edges of her mind crumbling. Turning her would drive her insane. It might even make her lose the baby.

I pushed against the stone and felt the stone pushing back, trying to keep me contained. I heard screaming above me, orders to come and stop me, yet they didn’t reach me. The bricks closed in tight, trying to crush me, to stop me, but I kept pushing.

I had to get to Trinity. I had to save our child. I pulled on the connection a little harder, fighting it even as it tore my skin and turned sharp and jagged. I felt the stone cutting through me. The pain was almost unbearable, but just as I thought my strength would give out, the wall collapsed, and I tumbled into the dark forest. The blue light of the new sun made the trees open, allowing me to see the path to the nearest opening between our worlds easier. I ran towards it and dropped through the air into a forest that wasn’t too far from where Trinity was.

I could feel her.

Then, an explosion went off in the distance, slightly heating the air and making it smell faintly of silver.

My lips twitched as I receded into the shadows and followed the trucks of the church headed in that direction. I knew it would only be a matter of time before the Blood Ancestor realized I was gone.

I would likely die tonight, but if I could thwart him and find a way to hide Trinity from him until the child was born, that would be okay with me.

I focused on the blood-slave bond between us and felt her starting to move away from where the church’s trucks were headed. I dropped onto the back of one of them silently and snatched the man off the truck bed. The man driving screamed. The man in my arms tried to fight, but I tore into his neck and drained him before he managed to do much else but squirm. My wounds healed quickly as I carried his body into the forest.

When we were alone, I rifled through his pockets, taking every bit of ammunition he had. I hated the thought of using the church’s weapons, but I would be fighting vampires in a weakened state. I would need all the help I could muster. The gun warmed in my hand, burning me. I stole the man’s gloves to make it easier to hold before walking through the forest towards where I could feel Trinity growing more and more fearful.