Ashes to Ashes-Blood Ties 3 (44 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ashes to Ashes

Everyone always says, "You should see the look on your face," or, "I wish I'd had a camera." Both of those statements went through my mind as the Soul Eater laid eyes on his formerly dead son.

Cyrus strolled into the room like he still owned the place, head held high. "Surprised to see me?"

Nathan followed close behind him. His steely expression softened with relief when he saw me, but the emotionless mask snapped quickly back into place. "It's a dysfunctional family reunion."

"She told me you were dead." Jacob's right arm flailed, reaching for something to brace himself on. He seemed a tad more flappable than you'd expect someone to if he walked around calling himself the Soul Eater.

And Cyrus fed off his father's shock like a fire sucking up oxygen. I knew Cyrus well enough to know this was the first time he'd been in this position. "She tried, She failed. But what I want to know is, why did you send her to do it?"

"I didn't!" The Soul Eater backed up as Cyrus advanced on him. Before Jacob could call for the guards, Nathan grabbed the overturned couch and flung it at the doors. They slammed closed under the weight, and the sofa fell neatly to the floor, effectively barring anyone from entering. The guards would be strong, but they were still just humans. The Soul Eater's taste in furniture ran to heavy, expensive pieces. If anyone came sniffing around, the sofa would at least buy us time.

"We don't need any extra company," Nathan said coldly, advancing on his sire.

"Get back, Nolen!" Cyrus commanded, stopping him in his tracks. "This is my fight and mine alone."

I felt the conflict in Nathan. He wanted to honor Cyrus's wishes—it was
his
father about to be killed, after all—but he was driven by his desire to avenge his wife. To avenge himself.

It's okay
. I waited until he looked at me, and put out my hand. He came to stand at my side.

There were tears in his eyes.
It's really going to be over
. Nathan had never been this stupidly optimistic before. The Soul Eater wasn't dead yet, and I'd learned never to believe in the logical course of the future. Logical didn't really apply in the vampire world.

The Soul Eater drew himself up straight, regaining some of his regal manner. "Dahlia is a troublesome and disobedient girl. I warned her repeatedly to stay away from you, but she didn't listen. If she turned you, it was her own initiative."

"Oh, she didn't turn me." Cyrus took a few steps toward the fire. "She bled me and left me for dead."

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"Then she didn't do a good enough job of it!" The Soul Eater stalked off on his own path. It was almost comical, the way father and son paced identically, alike in their rage, "You are weak. Even a human could have fended off that cow of a witch!" Then, as if he was struck by lightning, the Soul Eater's eyes narrowed. He turned to Cyrus.

"But you did. She told me as much. She didn't turn you. How do you stand here if she did not turn you?"

And in another flash of inspiration, he rounded on me. "You!" I backed up as he came forward, and Nathan got between us. The Soul Eater knocked him aside as though he were made of straw.

"Nathan!" Torn between wanting to dive for him, to protect him and see if he was hurt, and my instinct to flee the Soul Eater, I found the latter winning out. But I wasn't fast enough, Jacob had centuries of reflex training over me. The instant I thought about running, he had me.

"Perhaps you were the weak one." He spun me, my back pulled up tight against his chest as his clawed hands gripped my arms. Nathan and Cyrus stood, their helplessness written in the dire expressions on their faces, unable to save me. Unable to do anything, really, until the Soul Eater made his next move, and that might leave me dead. "Now your resistance toward me seems all the more peculiar. Nolen at least had some fire in him, some passion. Simon… oh, my dear Simon." His hold relaxed, and he brought one hand up to stroke my neck. "What ever are we going to do with you?" I couldn't tell if he was talking to Cyrus or me, so I didn't answer him. Through clenched teeth, I whispered, "Let me go."

For a moment, lie seemed to consider it. Then he gripped my chin and pulled my head up.

"Isn't it funny, that my son is your fledgling, and my fledgling is your sire? We're blood related, in a way."

"Then what you were proposing before would be incest," I wheezed, barely able to catch my breath.

"Why are you doing this, Jacob?" Nathan attempted to draw the Soul Eater's attention away from me. It worked, but only a little. I could breathe again, but my head was still pulled up at an uncomfortable angle. My spine popped and my muscles screamed in protest.

Still, I sent Nathan a mental
Thank you
.

Hang on, sweetheart
. His gaze met mine for just a second before he addressed the Soul Eater again. "Why are you on this demented quest? Do you really think there isn't going to be another vampire just as ambitious as you are, gunning for you once you become a god?

Imagine the kind of trophy you would make!"

"More ambitious?" The Soul Eater cackled at that. "Have you met an ambitious vampire in your life? Look at yourself. You could have stayed with me, never wanting for anything, if only you would have done what I'd asked of you. Instead, you chose to live out your pathetic existence serving those who would see us subjugated and exterminated. Living in a filthy apartment and running your pathetic shop full of superstitions you've never believed.

"And you, Simon! All I ever asked is for you to carry out my wishes, to be my eyes when I could not rouse from my slumber. But you were more concerned with finding a woman to adore you, as if that would make you more of a man. You embarrass me!" He gave a

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grunt of disgust. "If you intend to serve me, I suggest you rid yourself of your insipid humanity.

"A new age is dawning, my children. Vampires will rule this earth, as we're meant to. No more of this 'the meek will inherit' preaching from the Movement. Let the meek have the kingdom of heaven. The strong shall rule on earth." As he spoke, his hand tightened around my neck. His body trembled with rage. "The Oracle has fulfilled her role. She has secured the child I need. She sees a vision of chaos, thinking to impress me with horror. But the true horror will come when I rule, when I kill the Oracle and reign in her stead." His hand at my throat relaxed once again, stroking down the column of my windpipe. He took me by the hand, the strength of his grip a warning, and turned me to face him.

"Despite your failings and your naive alliance to those who would destroy me, your death is not essential, Carrie. You're of my line. You could serve me. Or can die here tonight."

"If they die, I die." I said it with as much steel as I could inject into my voice, but I was terrified.

The Soul Eater smiled. "So brave. I should kill you for that alone. But I am feeling kind tonight."

"Thank you?" I looked over Nathan and Cyrus, saw their grim faces. They knew better than I how the Soul Eater displayed his kindness.

He hooked his index finger beneath my chin, lilted my face and gazed into my eyes. "You may pick which one of them lives."

"Excuse me?" I blinked rapidly, as if that would help me clear my head. I couldn't have heard what he'd said.

"You can pick which one lives." He shrugged elegantly. "Oh, they'll both die eventually. I need Nathan's soul to complete my ritual, and I'm sure my son will do something to rouse my anger before long. But at your word, one of them can leave this house tonight." I looked to Nathan.
What do I do
?

I trust you
. The reply didn't help me, but it was the only communication we could manage. The Soul Eater made a move…

I'm not sure what he intended to do. But in that second, Cyrus rushed forward, a stake drawn. He swung the weapon at his father, and before my eyes could track the Soul Eater's movements, he had Cyrus's arm bent at an unnatural angle behind his back.

"Why do you fight me?" Jacob sounded pained as he twisted Cyrus's arm. I heard the bones crack and saw the stake fall from his fingers as he screamed. The Soul Eater grimaced. "Why would you make an attempt on my life?"

"Because I know you're a coward! You'll kill her, just like you kill anyone else who threatens your power!" Cyrus shouted. The tears rolling down his face were from the pain in his arm and the grief he felt. Both sensations overwhelmed me, and I clutched my chest, crushed under the weight of his sadness and frustration. "You won't steal her from me!" The Soul Eater looked taken aback. "She is worthless. You value her life above mine?"

"Yes, I do!" Cyrus cradled his ruined arm to his chest mouth frozen open in a silent cry of anguish as he dropped to his knees in defeat. "I don't know. I'm tired of this pain." I wanted to go to his side and wrap my arms around him. But it was his father who comforted him, placing a hand on his head. "And I can take it from you. My son. I can take it all from you."

Don't listen to him
, I begged him silently, but my thought bounced back to me with a

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desolate echo. Cyrus wasn't listening to me. He'd made up his mind.

"Let me help you, son." The Soul Eater knelt at his side. "Come home to me."
He's going to drain him
! I screamed silently at Nathan.
He's going to drain him and re-
sire him
.

Calm down, Carrie.
Don't say a word.

If I'd been in the right frame of mind, maybe I would have recognized the sense in Nathan's words. But all I felt was unimaginable pain that my fledgling would be stolen from me, that my life would be meaningless.

That's why I didn't see the stake Cyrus had pulled. My gaze was focused on the Soul Eater's face as it changed, his fangs as they pierced Cyrus's skin. So I screamed, "He killed your stepmother!"

The Soul Eater paused. I couldn't stop talking. "He pushed her into the fire. He was the one who killed her."

The Soul Eater actually withdrew, as if to apologize. He saw the stake in Cyrus's hand and raised his arm to strike him.

Cyrus was faster. He kicked his father's feet from beneath him. Jacob landed hard on his back and couldn't recover before Cyrus pinned him with a foot to the chest.

"You killed her?" His face contorted in rage. "You killed
her
?"

"She was a worthless cow," the Soul Eater wheezed. The sound of his ribs slowly crunching under Cyrus's foot was followed by a gurgle of blood from his mouth. "And now, I'll send you to join her!"

He planted his feet on the floor and sprang up, grabbing Cyrus's arm. But he grabbed the wrong one. It took only a second for Cyrus to implant the stake firmly in his father's chest. I braced myself for the whoosh of wind and the violent storm of ashes that was sure to follow. But nothing happened. The Soul Eater's shout of pain died into sinister laughter. I thought of Cyrus's heart, how he'd kept it in a box.