B005EMAYWS EBOK Page 14

  “Don’t you do it Marius.” The deep voice came from behind him.

  Marius turned to see Omar standing just a few feet away. With him were several of his followers.

  “You cannot change her now … not without the Rite of Eternity. She would not be bound to you and could be a danger to us all.”

  “I cannot let her die.”

  “You must,” Omar tried to reason with the grief-crazed vampire. “You know the law. It is forbidden without the Rite of Eternity. Too many have bypassed this and their creations turn on them.” Omar took a step toward him, closing the distance between them.

  Marius hissed at him. “Stay away from her!”

  “We must leave immediately. As we speak, the wolves draw nearer. They are on their way.”

  “It is a war that you have yearned for,” Marius’ voice was cold.

  Omar smiled. “It is, but you have brought it to us too soon.”

  Defiantly, Marius slid his teeth across his wrist. Tilting Summer’s head back, he let his blood drip into her open mouth. Small amounts of the scarlet liquid escaped her mouth to drip over her red lips and onto her pale skin. He found the site of crimson against white skin tantalizingly erotic.

  The first sign of regeneration was the gurgling in her throat. Her eyes opened and then he saw the light of the vampire’s hunger. Reaching up, she grabbed his wrist and brought it to her mouth to suck at his blood.

  From far away he could hear Omar’s laughter. “Marius you are a fool. She will kill you.”

  And then they were gone. The vampires would make their escape once again, at least most of them would.

  * * *

  Summer peered through the darkness with the eyes of a vampire. The night was so different - so much more exotic than she remembered it. A breeze stirred the air around her, tussling her long hair. The crickets chirped a song of darkness and serenity - that was unless she got too close. As she stepped through the grass, the night creatures fled away from her. The owls took their hunt somewhere else – someplace where they would be safe from the predator that was moving toward them. The crickets became still - their instinct for survival warning them of danger.

  Yes, all of the creatures of the night now made way for a predator with an unquenchable hunger. A new vampire was almost as dangerous as an ancient, maybe even more so. For a newborn vampire, the hunger was all consuming, it controlled the vampire’s actions - it was at the very core of the vampire’s existence. All else would bow to this hunger.

  With each step she took toward her maker, he would take one step back. Curiously the jaguar within her was not at battle with her vampire nature - instead the jaguar embraced the vampire, becoming one with her immortal instincts.

  “You should have left me to the grave,” she told him in an eerie, singsong voice.

  “I love you Summer,” he told her. “I could not let you die.”

  Summer laughed hysterically. “You will have no problem feeding me then.”

  “You cannot feed on me. It will mutate you … make you into a monster,” he warned.

  “You have already made me into a monster,” she growled, moving closer to him.

  Marius lifted from the grown and flew toward the house. As a new vampire, she did not yet have that skill. Summer turned to follow him.

  She knew no fear, only the constant gnawing hunger. Just before reaching the back door, two figures appeared in front of her. At first she was dazed by their sudden appearance, but recognition slowly crept into her brain, temporarily pushing aside the killer within her.

  Penny and the small boy stared at her. Even in her crazed state, she could feel their anger. The changing had not severed her ties to the dead - still they haunted her.

  “What do you want?” Summer glared at the intruders.

  “Control yourself,” Penny told her, “or you will be a killer the same as he.” Blood was still pouring out of her friend’s throat. It was an illusion created by the dead to remind her of what the vampire was.

  The little boy’s voice worked its way into her head. “Love is stronger than anything. It is stronger than death … it is stronger than your hunger.” He was so sweet – so innocent. How could she ignore him?

  The hunger once again took hold of her, bringing with it a pain that nearly brought her to her knees.

  She had no choice but to ignore the pleading eyes of her ghostly visitors. Summer stepped through them and into the house.

  Most of the feeders would have fled with their vampire masters, but at least one of them had stayed behind. She could smell their fear - hear the blood rushing through their body. Summer almost seemed to glide across the floor as she searched the house, hunting the feeder.

  “Come out come out wherever you are,” she sang.

  Summer came to a large parlor. The scent of blood was overwhelming - enflaming her hunger. The feeder was near - their heart pounding against their chest as the terror ate at them.

  “I will find you,” Summer laughed. “Don’t worry … it will be over quickly.”

  Summer heard a sob come from behind a wing-backed chair of red velvet. Without a second thought, she flung the chair out of her way. Huddled against the wall, her prey stared at her with wide - terrified eyes.

  “Please don’t,” Candy begged. “You promised that if I helped you, that you would help me.”

  Summer paused, searching her memory for details that she just could not grasp. The hunger clouded her thoughts, making all else irrelevant.

  “I will be your feeder,” Candy sobbed. “Just don’t kill me.”

  Summer flew at the girl and sank her fangs into Candy’s artery. As she drank of the girl’s life essence, she was ecstatic. The pleasure of warm blood in her mouth was the most mind blowing thing she’d every experienced.

  “Summer!”

  Her father’s voice broke through her bloodlust. Summer moved away from Candy and looked up. As her hunger crept back momentarily, rational thought returned. Several people stared at her, most she didn’t know.

  There was Sarah and Kathrina, as well as her father and Lex, but it was not the shocked expression of these people that was now ripping at her heart, it was the horror in Anton’s eyes.

  Summer could feel the blood dripping from her mouth to cover her chin and the front of her gown. But even if she had not been aware of it, the look on Anton’s face would have told her that she was now nothing more than a creature of darkness.

  “Go away!” Summer yelled.

  Candy was still alive. Summer could hear the girl crying softly, but she dared not look away from those that had once been her family and friends.

  “Summer,” Gray Eagle took another step in her direction.

  The anguish in her father’s voice was like a knife through her heart. “Go away. I am no longer one of you,” she told them, her voice shaking with emotion.

  “You will always be my daughter.”

  All of her life her father had been a rock - the leader of the Sungmanitu and the strongest man she’d ever known. Now she saw a man in so much pain that it was bringing him to his knees. His torment was more than she could tolerate.

  Summer stood up and was ready to flee.

  “Summer … we can help you. It was always meant to be this way.” Kathrina was next to her, putting a protective arm around her shoulder.

  Summer glanced down at Candy. The girl was still crying. “Help this feeder,” she told Kathrina.

  “Where are the others?” her father asked.

  It was then she realized that Marius was gone. No, not gone. He was near - she could feel him watching her. She could tell them that he was close, but they wouldn’t find him. There would come a time to confront Marius, but that time wasn’t now.

  “They left. I think they knew you were coming.” Summer used the sleeve of her dress to clean the blood from her face. When she looked up, she caught Anton watching her. Their eyes locked. What she saw in his eyes was ripping away at her soul. She saw revulsion, pain, and
maybe even hatred. She was feeling the true agony of the immortal for the first time, but it would not be the last. Summer would have an eternity to suffer the pain of the vampire.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The tranquil garden did little to bring Anton the peace that he craved. The humid air covered him like a wet towel, adding discomfort to his heartbreak. Even the moon that he loved so much was hidden behind a mass of dark clouds.

  Summer had been avoiding any contact with him since they’d brought her back to New Orleans. The vampire Donavan had offered her shelter while she recovered from her ordeal with Marius.

  Every night since their return, Anton sent a message to Summer, asking her to meet him in the gardens. Each night he waited patiently, but she never showed or gave him any explanation. The pain within him was like a claw, tearing at his spirit. He would give his life just to hold her in his arms once more - to feel her silky skin next to his. Even more than that, he wanted to beg her forgiveness for not protecting her like he should have.

  He was so engrossed in his grief that he did not hear Gray Eagle approach. Since finding Summer, her father had kept his distance as well. It was obvious that he was holding Anton responsible for what had happened to his daughter. He understood the anger and sorrow that Gray Eagle was feeling, and it was only right that he should take the blame. If he hadn’t been so caught up in making love to her, maybe he would have sensed the danger that was so near.

  “You invited my daughter to meet you out here?” Gray Eagle asked.

  Anton nodded.

  “She wanted me to tell you that it’s over and that she would prefer it if you went away.” A frown marred Gray Eagle’s features. “What does she mean?”

  The pain in his heart leaped into his throat and for a moment it was impossible for him to utter a single word.

  “Anton?”

  When he was finally able to speak, Anton dropped all pretenses. “She means that we are over. I was her lover.”

  Anton could sense the other wolf’s fury.

  “I love your daughter,” Anton told him.

  “And your brother?”

  “Is not good enough for her. He would whore and gamble all night, even while she gave birth to his brood.”

  “And you know this how?” Gray Eagle asked through clenched teeth.

  “I don’t really, but it is what I imagine would happen. I could never let her go to him. She is my life now … the reason I continue to draw in each breath.”

  Gray Eagle sighed, but Anton wasn’t sure if he was sensing defeat or relief. “If you love her, then let her go.”

  “She cannot go back to Outerlands. I should stay on this side and watch over her.”

  Gray Eagle’s face twisted with grief. “I know she can never return home, and she can never marry your brother. This is not why I tell you to go. It is her wish that you should leave … not mine.”

  * * *

  Summer watched Anton from the window. After her father left him alone in the garden, she saw the true extent of his grief. His body trembled as he sobbed silently. He thought no one could see him, but she could. She watched him every night from the bedroom where she kept herself secluded. Though she could not probe his thoughts, she could sense his emotions. He was hurting like she was. All this time that she had yearned for his love, it had always been there.

  Sending him away was the only thing she could do to end his torment, and her own. The wolf and the vampire could not coexist in harmony. Even if he loved her right now, eventually his contempt for what she was would take over. She could not stand it if he ever again looked at her the way he did when he first realized that she had been turned. Time would heal his wounds, but her own wounds would remain open and bleeding until the end of her existence.

  Tomorrow the sun would shine for Anton, but for her the night would become her constant companion.

  “Why are you sending him away?” Sarah’s voice was like a splash of cold water, bringing her back from that obscure place that was now her heart.

  “He is all that you ever wanted, or have you forgotten already?”

  “It was only your spell that brought us together in the first place,” Summer frowned, remembering that evening on the balcony when they had innocently called their true loves to them with witchcraft.

  Sarah shook her head. “He loves you. The spell would not have made him feel something that he would not have naturally felt anyway.”

  “That love will not last when he finally confronts the fact that he hates me for what I am. It was in his eyes.”

  “Maybe what you were seeing in his eyes was self loathing. You are the one that hates what you are.”

  Summer could not deny this. She’d nearly taken Candy’s life, and probably would have if she had not been interrupted. How could she expect him to love her if she hated herself?

  “Don’t let him go Summer. You’ll have forever to regret it,’ Sarah advised.

  In her heart she knew Sarah was right, but it would destroy her if she ever saw that look of utter disdain in his eyes again.

  * * *

  The nights passed agonizingly slow. Though she had her friends by her side, Summer still felt like she was alone. She was a vampire now, but she didn’t belong. Her people were the shifters, the wolves and the jaguars. Now she had an idea of what Kathrina had felt like during all those years living with the wolves. No matter how welcoming the vampires were, she was still an outsider.

  Anton had gone away without even sending her a farewell message. Not that she could expect more. It was what she had wanted. At least that’s what she’d thought she wanted when she asked her father to tell him to go away. Now she felt an emptiness that would forever be with her. Being without him was an existence as painful and colorless as she had always imagined hell to be.

  Each night she sat at the window staring out onto the garden. She never left the room, not even to feed. Dash brought her a concoction that he called the recipe. It gave her the nourishment she needed without having to kill. At least she could be thankful for that.

  Her father and Lex had left soon after Anton. With her father gone too, it made her loneliness even more profound. Summer worried about what would happen when the wolves discovered what fate had befallen her. It would be a long and bloody war, and now her own people would look at her as an enemy.

  Everyone had made an effort to coax her out of the bedroom, but Summer was not yet ready to face the life of a vampire. Sooner or later she knew that she’d have to go out into the world, but she just wasn’t ready.

  Marius was gone so she had no teacher, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Dash, Ethan and Darrien might be better teachers. At least these vamps still had a glimmer of humanity in their hearts. Donavan was not as scary as Marius, but she still sensed the darkness within him. This was not too surprising. All Donavan had ever known was the existence of the vampire.

  Already she missed the sun and how it felt on her skin on hot summer days. Closing her eyes, she let herself imagine lying on a bed of wildflowers with Anton. It was a beautiful dream, but still just a dream. The happiest moments in her life had been in his arms, but any chance they’d had for a life together died when Marius introduced her to the world of shadows where the vampire existed.

  Summer’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her bedroom door.

  “Come in,” she called. Though she tried to speak loudly, her voice was faint and weak.

  To her surprise, it was Donavan that opened the door. Kathrina’s father was devastatingly good looking, but always seemed a little cold and distant.

  “Do you mind if we talk?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she tried to force a smile.

  Stepping into the room, he left the door open just a crack. “The girls tell me that you won’t leave this room.”

  Summer turned away from him. “I’m just not ready yet.”

  “What happened to you was an atrocity. I say that though it was my own kind that did it. Forcing immor
tality on someone is one of the worst sins among our kind.”

  “It’s a little late for regrets,” she shrugged.

  “It won’t be easy, but you can save some of who you are.”

  “How? I will never be a wife and mother. I will never love someone that won’t eventually die and leave me behind.”

  Donavan walked to where she sat in a chair looking out the window and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “This is the curse that we all endure. It is especially bad for females because they cannot reproduce like males, but you have the children of other family members. You will live to watch over your family for generations to come.”

  Summer’s eyes misted with tears. “None of that matters if I must do it alone.”

  Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. “There is Outerlands.”

  It was true. Outerlands was the one place where she could live a somewhat normal life. There was magic in that place that existed within the fringes of human reality.

  “That world is forbidden to me now.” The lump in her throat was making it difficult to talk. “I can never go home.”

  “Maybe you can,” he told her. “Nothing happens by chance. There is a reason why the daughter of the Sungmanitu leader shares the fate of the vampire. It was your destiny to become one of the immortals. I suspect that you have important work to do.”

  This caught Summer’s attention. “Like your daughters?”

  Donavan nodded. “Many of us believe that your destinies are one. I think it is your fate to stand with them in battle against the evil that has corrupted our species.”

  “And then I might be allowed to live in Outerlands.” Summer was putting it all together, surmising her situation and what opportunities were still open to her. If she could live without killing, just maybe Anton would look at her with love again.

  “What do I do now?”

  Donavan smiled. “It’s time to go to school, but your teacher will not only be a vampire. You will also become the pupil of a slayer.”