He couldn’t say when the tremor had started—maybe the moment he’d laid eyes on her or maybe before that. It might not have begun until he watched the vampire take her. It had been so vague at first, just a slight quiver in his breath. But now his entire body was visibly shaking as he looked down into the alley. His knees had given out and he sat in a painful crouch on the roof. The afternoon sun stung him, but he hardly noticed. There was only him and his witch now.
“Eve,” Aiden whispered the name that he alone called his witch. He’d always thought it had suited her more than “Gen”. To him, it had spoken of her purity and innocence, but Aiden wondered now if he’d chosen the name because he’d known she would be the cause of his eternal damnation. Gazing down on her, he said the name again, testing its taste on his tongue.
Aiden had felt so much in the days since he had tried to kill her. His hate and guilt had nearly crippled him. His revulsion and love had driven him mad. In one instant he wanted to devour her and the next he could think only of eradicating her from his mind, from this world. Strange now that she was dead, he felt nothing at all.
Why had he followed her here? Aiden didn’t know, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. On the subway, the vampire girl, Alexandra, in a single moment crumbled the tremulous barrier he had built between himself and his witch. He had felt Eve contaminating his soul. And though he’d tried to banish her from his mind again, Aiden was too exhausted to fight the soulmate link any longer. Once Angie had left him, he’d given himself up to it, let it pull him to his witch.
She had forgiven him—Aiden saw that in her eyes when she looked up at him from the alley. Of course, he’d already known that. She never blamed him for what he had done, but that did nothing to assuage the pain for either of them.
Gazing down at his witch, Aiden had found her thoughts falling from his lips, “It’s alright.”
And Eve had spoken his thoughts in turn, “Is it?”
They had both been so tired. The constant battle between love and hate in his mind had left Aiden beyond fractured. His witch, her emotions always so pure and untainted by doubt, was simply weary of being alive. She no longer cared about the fate of the world, no longer cared about her life. Eve had become pain itself and just wanted the pain to end.
And so Aiden had watched as she ended it. He’d been frozen in anticipation and horror as it happened. A crushing ache had begun in his chest as the soulmate link was stretched further and further into infinity with every drop of blood the vampire girl, Lex, took from his witch. The pressure had grown nearly unbearable and Aiden had struggled to breathe.
Then it was gone, leaving a damp void in its wake.
Now they were both still, except for Aiden’s trembling, as the sun began to set. It stripped the last of the warmth from Eve, and her lovely face that he knew so well seemed like a mask made of wax.
Aiden rolled and threw himself over the edge of the building, breaking his ankle from the five story fall as he landed in the alley. He kneeled down next to his witch and touched her face, but there was nothing. Her cheek was cold now and Aiden felt no electricity, no overwhelming sense of her. The soulmate link was severed.
He’d never really looked at her like this before. During the past year at the compound, it had taken so much for him to shut her out of his mind that it had been too dangerous to simply take her in, as he was doing now. All those nights, lying next to her, Aiden had forced himself to fall asleep immediately to avoid the temptation of watching her sleep. He hadn’t wanted to see her, vulnerable and trusting. He had squeezed his eyes shut every time they kissed, every time they came together.
His shoulders shook more violently now and Aiden realized that he was sobbing and yet there were no tears in his eyes. It was just halting breath and stabbing pain. As if he’d been slashed open and his guts were spilling out onto the ground.
Leaning over Eve, Aiden caught site of the pale, yellowish bruises around her throat—his thumbprints staining her flawless skin. And beside the marks were two puncture wounds, where the vampire had bitten her. Seeing the two injuries next to each other, he suddenly knew that although the vampire girl may have taken his witch’s life, Aiden had actually killed her five days ago. He’d betrayed her love and faith, destroyed everything she’d believed in. And though Eve had forgiven him, she’d left this world wanting him to witness the anguish he caused her.
“No!” Aiden cried as he wrenched himself away from Eve, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. He tried to get the sight of the bruises out of his mind, but it was useless.
Turning back to his witch, Aiden felt rage like a fire smoldering inside of him. Crying angrily, he lashed out at her dead body. He slammed his foot into her again and again, screaming, but unaware of what he was saying. “Damn you, Eve! Damn you to hell. I hate you! What did you expect me to do? Holier than thou, always right, always good, always sure!”
Collapsing next to her, Aiden beat her with his fists. “Do you think it was easy for me? You’ll never know! No, no, no.” And then, exhausted, he simply gasped the fabric of her shirt and laid his head on her stomach. “Damn you,” he hissed again.
He felt his sweat soaking into Eve’s clothing and remembered Angie’s words on the subway: “How far the great and untouchable Hellraiser has fallen.” It struck him as amusing just then and Aiden began to laugh. It burst out of him, loud and ferocious, as if it had a will of its own. The sound echoed off the buildings so that Aiden could hear his own cackle surrounding him, and it made the laughter worse. It all seemed so hilarious, how pathetic he had become and how foolish Eve had been to give up her life and her Power because of him. He couldn’t stop laughing and that realization only fed his hysteria. His stomach cramped as he gasped for breath, but the fit was incessant.
His witch was finally dead, but Aiden still wasn’t free of her. She had infected him, she was everywhere and nowhere. It was such a perfect revenge. And how fitting that the vampire who had broken down the wall he’d built to shut Eve out of his mind was the very same person Eve had chosen to kill her. That delicate girl with the glossy black hair and piercing eyes, the one Angie had called Soul Stealer.
The laughter stopped at once.
Soul Stealer…
Soulmate…
The one that Eve had chosen to kill her…
That deceitful bitch.
Aiden sat up abruptly, still breathing hard. He shivered inwardly, breaking into a cold sweat. Without thinking, he got to his feet and bolted out of the alley, leaving the body of his witch behind. It didn’t matter any longer. It was just a shell.
Conniving, vindictive witch. How did she ever think that she could fool him? Just slip into another body while he stood grieving for the one she’d cast aside? She was his soulmate and he could still feel her, in him and around him. He was choking on her. Well, Eve may have shown him the pain he’d caused her, but Aiden would be damned if he was going to let her go without showing her exactly what she had done to him.
The vampire girl was still limp in his arms as Reece entered the Daybreak compound through the main entrance. Tears and hostility contorted all of the faces he saw as he made his way to the security station. He found himself holding the vampire tighter against his body, as if to shield her from the Daybreakers’ accusing stares. It was a strange thing to do because certainly the girl deserved the blame for Genevieve’s death, but she was unconscious and unable to defend herself. It just didn’t seem fair.
Anton Parish was waiting for Reece at the security desk, a good head taller than any other Daybreaker in the compound. He was a lamia, one of the few that Reece knew who had let himself age past his forties. Nevertheless, Anton was still striking. He was always impeccably dressed in expensive black suits and with his silver hair and spectacles, Anton appeared to be wealthy businessman.
“Cahill,” the lamia greeted Reece. “This is her?”
“Yes, sir,” Reece replied. He glanced around the lobby, feeling all of the eyes on him. “They know about her?”
Anton sighed. “They needed the truth. When the mission went to hell this compound was in chaos with confusion. I had to explain everything. And they deserved to know that Genevieve had died. Many of these Daybreakers were her friends. But it would have been catastrophic for Circle Daybreak to admit to having lost a Wild Power.”
“So you gave them another,” Reece finished for him. He looked down at the vampire in his arms. “I don’t know if that was the right call, sir. I don’t think anyone should know about her until we figure out what the hell is going on.”
“I see. So after screwing up a critical mission and being responsible for the death of a Wild Power, you now presume to know how to do my job. Is that it?”
Reece winced, but the vampire was right. He’d botched everything. “No, sir,” he replied humbly. “I do take full responsibility for what happened today. It cost three good people their lives, one of whom was a Wild Power and another was my friend. I’m going to have to live with that. I didn’t mean to undermine you, sir. I’m just concerned about this girl, that she gets the protection she needs.”
Anton seemed placated and he nodded. “I apologize. I know that you and Beth were close and that you came to care about Genevieve a great deal as well. It’s easier to be angry than afraid. Let’s just get this girl into a cell before she wakes up.”
The witch was taken aback. “A—cell? You’re locking her up?”
“Of course,” Anton replied, as if the answer was obvious. “Whatever she is, she’s got a lot of Power. Thierry said that it blew your team away, literally. She’s not part of Circle Daybreak and she may be working for Angie Catellini. We can’t take any chances with her.”
“Does Thierry know about this?”
“He approved of the plan, yes,” the lamia answered curtly, as if to warn Reece that he was about to cross another line.
Reece didn’t understand his reluctance, everything Anton had said was right. And the girl killed Genevieve, she was clearly a threat. Reece tried to push aside his uneasiness. “Then let’s do it,” he said to Anton hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
Anton led Reece through security and into the compound. “Is she getting heavy?” the vampire asked as he pressed the button for the elevator. “I could have someone else carry her or we could get a stretcher.”
“No, sir. It’s fine.” In truth Reece’s arms were trembling. Although the vampire girl was disturbingly light, he’d still carried her a long way, and he was tired. But something in him that he couldn’t explain protested at the idea of handing the girl over to someone else.
The elevator doors opened and Reece followed the lamia inside. Anton pressed the button for the 25th underground floor, the lowest level of the compound. Reece looked at him sharply. This girl wasn’t just going to be kept in a cell; they were going to keep her in the maximum security lockup. The witch ground his teeth as the elevator descended, determined to stay silent. The older vampire knew what he was doing. Anton had run this compound for a decade and Aiden St. Helen had been the only breech in security in all that time.
Reece started at the ring of Anton’s cell phone and the vampire gave him an amused glance before he answered the call. Reece knew he had to calm down, his nerves were shot. He hated being back in this place. The last time he’d been on this elevator, Beth had been with him. She’d made him laugh, but now he couldn’t remember what she’d said. Sadness swept over him and Reece felt vaguely claustrophobic. He needed some air.
“Alright, I’ll let him know,” Anton said before closing his cell phone. He turned to Reece. “They found the other members of your team, Nigel and Carden.”
The witch closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn’t even been aware that he was so concerned about them. “Are they okay?”
“They’re fine. A little banged up from being thrown into an office building three blocks away and then falling a few stories to the ground. Nigel broke both of his legs, but we can heal him. Carden faired a little better and he’s apparently irritating everyone on the team sent to retrieve them.”
“Sounds about right,” Reece replied.
“They’re being transported here right now,” the vampire continued.
“Good.”
The elevator reached the 25th floor and Reece felt the girl in his arms stir. He quickly glanced at Anton, but the vampire hadn’t noticed. Stay asleep, Reece willed the girl. He didn’t want to think of what Anton might do to her if he found her awake right now.
They walked down the cool, sterile hallway. The walls and doors were almost blindingly white and Anton exchanged his spectacles for a pair of dark sunglasses.
“There aren’t any other hostiles being kept here right now, so your girl can have the largest cell,” Anton explained.
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” Reece replied sardonically.
Anton glared at the witch as he unlocked a thick, heavy door. “Here we are,” he said, leading the way into the cell.
The room was as stark as the hallway. It consisted of a bed, a chair, a toilet and a sink. The faucet was leaking and briefly Reece wondered if they were planning on torturing the girl with the constant dripping sound.
Reece laid the girl down on the bed and stepped back slowly, feeling chilled. He hadn’t realized how warm she’d been in his arms. It alarmed him that he missed her warmth and weight.
“Are you alright, Cahill?” Anton asked from behind the witch. “You haven’t been yourself since you got back here.”
“I’m fine,” he replied. And then surprising himself, Reece turned to the vampire and said, “There’s just…something about her that bothers me.”
Anton nodded. “She bothers me too. Another Wild Power was not in the prophecies.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Reece agreed, though he hadn’t been talking about the girl’s Power. But then, he didn’t really know what he’d meant. “Could she have taken the blue fire from Genevieve when she killed her?”
“Maybe,” the vampire replied noncommittally. “The prophecies say that the Power is in the blood. There’s just so much that we don’t know. Did she say anything to you before she collapsed?”
“No. My team split up to search for Gen because her mind was blocked. And then, I don’t know, she must have opened it. Maybe she didn’t have the strength to keep up the blocks when she was being attacked. Anyways, we all felt her and got to her at about the same time. We saw this vampire girl bent over Genevieve and then, when she saw us, the girl looked terrified. She scrambled away and backed herself against a wall. She was staring at me, even as Nigel and Carden were about to stake her, and then…blue fire.”
The Daybreakers were quiet for a moment as they looked at the vampire girl in wary awe. “She’s young,” Reece murmured. “Is it normal to make a vampire when they’re so young?”
“It’s possible to change anyone under the age of nineteen, but still I’d say that it’s unusual to do it until they are fifteen or sixteen. A vampire needs to be able to survive in the human society on their own and it’s harder to do that when you look like a child. But this girl could be lamia.”
Reece doubted it for some reason, but he didn’t say so. “What happens now?”
Anton sighed tiredly. “We need to question her, but also we need to keep her sedated so that she can’t use the blue fire on us. We’ll have containment spells cast around this cell to keep the energy inside, which could absorb some of the Power if she unleashes it, but blue fire is too strong to suppress completely. Thierry told me that he wanted you to guard her. Are you sure you’re up for it?”
“Yes,” the witch replied. “I am.”
“Good. Don’t let your guard down, Cahill.” The vampire led Reece out of the cell and shut the massive door. The locks engaged automatically with a loud bang. “I’ll have our best witches down here to cast all the spells. You’re way too exhausted to do it.”
Reece didn’t argue. “Could you send the rest of my team down when they’re ready?”
Anton smiled wryly. “You’re that eager for Carden’s company?”
“What can I say?” the witch replied. “I’m a masochist.”
The vampire laughed as he turned to walk back to the elevators, leaving Reece alone in the hallway. On the heavy door to the cell there was a small window at the witch’s eye level. Looking in, he could see the girl still unconscious on the bed. Something in his stomach tightened. Reece had the unsettling feeling that, as long as the girl stayed asleep, he would be okay and his world would stay the same. But as soon as she woke up, he would be turning a corner and there would be no going back.
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