Chapter 34 Two Days Remain
Lyra's POV
I throw myself sideways as Kaelen's fist whistles past my head.
Too slow. His other hand catches my shoulder and slams me into the training mat. Again. For the hundredth time this morning.
"Dead," he says coldly, standing over me. "You're dead because you telegraphed your movement. Vampires can read body language faster than you can blink."
I spit blood and glare up at him. "I'm human. I can't move faster than thought."
"Then don't let them see you thinking." He offers his hand to pull me up. "Again."
December 23rd. Two days until Christmas. Two days until the mark either completes or kills me. Two days until twenty bounty hunters break through whatever's left of our defenses.
Kaelen barricaded us in after Corbin's attack last night. We barely escaped—Kaelen killed five vampires while I grabbed Stella and ran. Now we're holed up in the safe house's basement, reinforced with every protection spell his grandmother knows.
But spells won't hold forever. Not against an army motivated by ten million dollars.
"Why are you doing this?" I ask, getting shakily to my feet. Every muscle screams. "If I'm going to die anyway, why train me?"
His jaw tightens. "Because I need to know you tried."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting." He moves into fighting stance. "Now show me what happens when a vampire grabs you from behind."
I run through the drill. Stomp on his instep, elbow to the ribs, duck under his arm, run. Simple. Except Kaelen is eight hundred years old and moves like water. Every time I think I've escaped, he's already there, cutting off my exit.
"You're thinking like prey," he says after I fail the fifth time. "Prey runs in straight lines. Prey is predictable."
"I am prey! I'm a human fighting vampires!"
"No." He grabs my wrist, his mercury eyes intense. "You're moonblood. You survived a marking that should have killed you. Your blood makes vampires drunk with power. You are not prey—you're something they've never encountered before. Act like it."
Something in his words ignites anger in my chest. He's right. I've spent three years being treated like livestock. Being invisible. Being nothing.
But I'm not nothing. Not anymore.
This time when Kaelen grabs me from behind, I don't try to escape. I slam my head backward into his face. Vampire bones are harder than human—the impact makes me see stars—but it surprises him enough that his grip loosens.
I spin, drive my knee toward his groin (he blocks, of course), and when he lowers his guard, I rake my nails across his eyes.
He releases me with a hiss. I run—not in a straight line but zigzagging, the way he taught me. Making myself hard to catch.
When I reach the far wall and turn, breathing hard, Kaelen is smiling. Actually smiling.
"Better. Much better."
Pride warms my chest. "I hurt you."
"Barely. But you thought like a fighter instead of a victim." He touches his scratched eyes—already healing. "Again."
We train for hours. He teaches me where vampires are vulnerable: eyes, throat, joints. How to use silver—even touching it weakens them. How to recognize when a vampire is about to use compulsion so I can look away.
He's brutal. Doesn't pull his punches or pretend I'm fragile. Every time I fall, he makes me get up. Every time I fail, he makes me try again.
And slowly, painfully, I start to improve.
"You're exhausted," he observes as I collapse on the mat again. "We should stop."
"No." I force myself up. "If I'm going to die in two days, I want to know I fought until the end."
Something flickers in his expression. Respect, maybe. Or something deeper.
"You're stronger than you think," he says quietly.
"I don't feel strong. I feel terrified."
"Fear and strength aren't opposites. The bravest person I ever knew was afraid every day of her life." His voice goes distant. "Seraphine. Before she became... whatever she is now. When we were engaged, she told me she was scared of everything—war, politics, dying, living. But she fought anyway. That's what courage is."
"What happened to her? Really?"
"I don't know anymore. The woman I knew died four hundred years ago. This thing wearing her face is something else." He looks away. "I mourned her. Rebuilt myself around the hole she left. And now she's back, and I realize I never knew her at all."
My heart aches for him. This ancient, powerful vampire who's been alone for centuries.
"You're not alone now," I say softly.
His eyes snap to mine. "Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't make this into something it's not. You're a job. A problem to solve. When you die—"
"When I die, you'll feel it through the bond. It'll hurt you." I step closer. "You can pretend you don't care, but the mark doesn't lie. We're connected, Kaelen. Whether you like it or not."
He stands there, frozen, and through the bond I feel his war. The need to push me away versus the desperate longing to pull me closer.
The moment breaks when Stella calls down the stairs: "Lyra! Someone's at the door!"
We both tense. The safe house is hidden. Protected. No one should know we're here.
Kaelen moves faster than I can follow, already at the stairs. I grab the silver knife he gave me and follow.
At the top, Stella points to the reinforced door. Someone's knocking—calm, patient knocks that somehow feel more threatening than breaking glass.
"Who is it?" Kaelen calls.
"Councilor Ashcroft. I'm alone and unarmed. We need to talk."
Kaelen's grandmother. The one who saved us before.
"It could be a trick," I whisper.
"It could." But Kaelen unlocks the door anyway.
Ashcroft stands there in the fading daylight, blood on her elegant clothes. She looks exhausted.
"Thank God you're alive," she breathes. "I came to warn you. The Council just passed a new law." Her ancient eyes find mine, filled with sorrow. "Any vampire who shelters the marked human is guilty of treason. Punishable by execution."
Kaelen goes very still. "Grandmother—"
"Which means I can't protect you anymore. Neither can anyone else." She pulls out a scroll with official seals. "As of one hour ago, you're both declared enemies of vampire society. The bounty is now twenty million dollars. And Kaelen—" Her voice breaks. "The Council voted to strip you of your title, your property, and your family name. If you're caught with her, they'll execute you both at dawn on Christmas Day."
The world tilts. Kaelen just lost everything.
Because of me.
"Leave," Ashcroft says urgently. "Leave the city, leave the country. Run as far as you can and never look back."
"I can't." Kaelen's voice is hollow. "The bond won't let me leave her. We're connected now."
"Then you'll die together." She grips his shoulders. "Is she worth it? Is one human girl worth eight hundred years of life?"
Kaelen looks at me. Really looks at me. And through the bond, I feel his answer before he speaks it.
"Yes," he says quietly. "She is."
Ashcroft's face crumples. "Then God help you both." She turns to leave, then stops. "Thaddeus knows where you are. He's coming with an army. You have maybe an hour before—"
An explosion rocks the safe house. The protection spells shatter like glass. Through the broken door, I see vampires—dozens of them—surrounding us completely.
And leading them, smiling with ancient malice, is Councilor Thaddeus Blackwater.
"One hour?" He laughs. "My dear Seraphina, you always were too optimistic. We've been here the whole time, waiting for you to deliver our targets directly to us."
He looks at Kaelen with triumph in his eyes.
"Hello, boy. Ready to watch your human burn?"