Betrayed

But Sam was no match for a vampire, nonetheless. Sergei stood, snarling, and threw Sam off of him like a ragdoll. Sam landed ten feet away, crashing into the wall.

As Samantha tried to scramble to her feet, she was pounced on by a dozen more vampires. She saw that Sam was surrounded, too. They were trapped.

The last thing she saw was Sergei’s cruel smile, as he wound up and punched her in the face.

* * *

As Kyle ripped through the huge chamber of the Blacktide Coven, wielding the Sword wildly, destroying vampire after vampire, he had never felt more alive. Blood splattered in every direction, covering him, and his hands felt wet with blood as he swung with more and more intensity. It was vengeance. Vengeance for his thousands of years of loyal service, for the way they’d treated him. How dare they. Now they would know the meaning of the word revenge. They would all apologize, every last one of them, bow down to him, down to the ground, and admit that they had been profoundly wrong.

It was all going perfectly. After his little detour at the Brooklyn Bridge, he had led his loyal throng right through the doors of City Hall, killing the few vampires who dared stand in the way. They had then filed through the secret passageway, lower and lower, into the bowels of City Hall, right into his coven’s nest. No vampires dared stand in his way as his army stormed the chamber. Many other vampires, upon seeing Kyle, and especially the Sword, immediately fell in with him. He was happy to see that so many of his old coven were still loyal. He knew that the day had arrived for him to claim rightful leadership.

Rexius was a weak leader. If he had been stronger, he would have found the Sword himself, years ago. He never would have sent others to do it. He liked to punish others for his own faults, when he was the one that needed to be punished. He had grown drunk with power. Banishing Kyle had been a last, desperate attempt to remove all those close to him. But it had backfired.

As Kyle tore through the room, he headed right for Rexius’ throne. Rexius spotted him coming, and his eyes opened wide with panic.

Rexius jumped down from his throne and tried to slink away, away from the fighting. Their so-called leader, showing his true colors in a time of war.

But Kyle had other plans.

Kyle ran to the other side, to meet Rexius face-to-face. It would have been much easier to just plunge the Sword into his back, but he refused to allow Rexius to go down so easily. He wanted Rexius to see, up close, who killed them.

Rexius stopped, his path blocked by Kyle’s massive shoulders, by the shining, gleaming Sword.

Rexius jaw trembled. He raised a shaking finger, pointing it at Kyle’s face. At that moment, he just looked like an old man. A weak, old, terrified man. How pathetic.

“You are banished!” he yelled, lamely. “I ordered you banished!”

Now it was Kyle’s turn to grin, a wide, malicious grin.

“You cannot win!” Rexius added. “You will not win!”

Kyle stepped up casually, reached back, and with one, smooth stroke, plunged the Sword right through Rexius’ heart.

“I already have,” Kyle said.

The entire room, even while busy in battle, turned and stared at the sound. It was a horrific screech, consuming the entire stone chamber. It seemed to go on forever, as Rexius screeched and screeched. As they all watched, his body dissolved before their eyes, disintegrating into a cloud of smoke, and then a wisp, rising up, into the air and towards the ceiling.

The whole room stopped and stared at Kyle.

Kyle raised the Sword high, and roared. It was a roar of victory.

Whatever vampire survived, on both sides of the battle, turned and faced Kyle. They all dropped to their knees, then lowered their heads, bowing all the way to the ground. The fighting was over.

Kyle breathed deeply, taking it all in. He was their leader now.

Six

Caitlin, unable to speak, stormed away from Caleb and Sera.

It was too much for her to process at once. Had she just seen what she thought she had? How was it possible?

She had thought that she’d known Caleb so well, that they were closer now than ever. She was sure that they were together, a couple, and would be that way forever. She had seen their new life together clearly, and had been so sure that nothing would tear them apart.

And then this. It never occurred to her that there could be another woman in Caleb’s life. How could he have not told her?

Of course, Caitlin remembered Sera from her brief visit to the Cloisters – but Caleb insisted he no longer had feelings for her, that whatever they had, it was years ago – hundreds of years ago.

So then what was she doing here? Especially now, of all times? During Caleb and Caitlin’s most private moment together, when Caitlin had just arisen, fully turned, a true vampire, by his own blood? How did she even know where they were? Had Caleb invited her? He must have. But why?

Layers and layers of hurt washed over Caitlin. There was just no explaining this. She had always been afraid to make herself vulnerable, especially to guys, for this exact reason. But with Caleb, she had let go, had trusted him completely. She had made herself more vulnerable than she had with any guy she had ever been with. And he had managed to hurt her deeper, deeper than she could have ever imagined.

She still couldn’t fathom how she could have misjudged him so thoroughly, how she could be so dense, so wrong. She felt like her insides were breaking apart. What would immortality be like now, without him? It would be a sentence. An eternal sentence. She felt like she wanted to die. And worse than anything, she felt like such an idiot.

“Caitlin!” Caleb yelled behind her, as she heard his footsteps chasing after her. “Please, allow me to explain.”

What could there possibly be to explain? Clearly, he had invited her here. Clearly, he still loved her. And clearly, his feelings for Caitlin weren’t as strong as her feelings for him.

Caleb’s hand gripped her arm, tugging at her, pleading for her to turn and face him.

But she jerked away. She couldn’t stand the feel of his touch. She wanted nothing to do with him. Not ever again.

“Caitlin!” he exclaimed. “Won’t you just let me explain?”

But Caitlin didn’t slow. She was a different person, a different being now, and she felt it in more ways than one. Along with her newfound vampire strength, there also came a newfound vampire array of emotions. She could already feel that her emotions were stronger than they had been when human – much, much stronger. She felt everything much more deeply. She didn’t just feel depressed – she felt as if she were literally dying. She didn’t just feel betrayed – she felt as if she were literally being stabbed through the heart. She wanted to tear herself apart, to do anything to stop the hurt that tore her up inside.

She marched across the terrace and right into her room, slamming the oak door behind her.

“Caitlin, Caitlin please!” came the muffled voice outside her door.

Caitlin turned and slammed the door.

“Go away!” she yelled. “Go back to your wife!”

After several seconds, she finally sensed him leave.

Now it was just her. Just the silence. Caitlin sat on the edge of her bed in her small room, put her head in her hands, and cried. She sobbed and sobbed, heart-wrenching cries. She felt that all she had to live for was suddenly taken away.

She heard a whining, and felt a soft brush against her face, and looked down to see Rose, rubbing her face against Caitlin’s. Rose licked Caitlin’s cheeks, trying to lick away her tears.

It helped snap Caitlin out of it. She reached down and caressed Rose’s face, stroking her hair. Rose jumped up onto Caitlin’s lap, still small enough to do so, and Caitlin hugged her.

“I still have you, Rose,” Caitlin said. “You won’t leave me, will you?”

Rose leaned back and licked her face.

But the pain was too much. Caitlin couldn’t allow herself to sit in that room one second longer. She felt as if she were about to burst through the walls.

She looked to the huge window, saw the inviting night sky, and without hesitating, put Rose down, jumped from the bed, took two long strides, and leapt out.