Limerence (28 page)

We look back at each other, our eyes wide with fear. Fear of who is coming for us, fear that we will be killed. But the biggest fear is that we will lose each other again.

I wish I had the strength to carry on, but there’s nothing left in me. No blood means no energy; no energy means no strength. Nothing. I can barely stand, let alone run, and I know that Oliver is running low too. He tightens his grip on me, holding me closer to his chest.

“I love you so much, Mia. I just want to protect you. That’s all I ever wanted, all I’ve ever tried to do.”

“I know.” I hug him back. “Maybe it’s Mr San’s men? Maybe he can protect me from Shauna?” I think back to Mr San lying to me that Oliver was dead, and I know that he can’t be trusted either. It’s hopeless.

“Mr San helped me escape. Shauna helped me escape, Mia. I don’t understand why she would be working for him if she hated him. It makes no sense.” He frowns.

“She said she loved Mr Breckt, and that the Queen would take her back. That she never knew how hard it was going to be, blah, blah, blah.” I feign jokiness, but he sees through my charade. “Shauna helped you escape?” I ask with a raise of my eyebrow.

Oliver looks nervously behind us again. Voices are getting closer.

“Yeah. She broke me out, got me off the Island. One of Mr Breckt’s vampires—Pawns, I think he calls them—turned me. I woke up in my cell, half-demented from hunger. Shauna was there. She fed me and got me out of that place.”

We both look at each other. It all seems such an unlikely coincidence now, and he groans as he comes to the same conclusion as me. Shauna is working for Mr Breckt; she was working for him all along.

There’s no way anyone could have broken into Mr Breckt’s house and gotten Oliver out. Hell, they got me out afterwards. Surely security would have been even tighter then? Mr Breckt must be furious. That also means that Mr San has someone on the inside too. It’s a double double-cross.

They are closer now. I can smell them even stronger. They aren’t even bothering to run anymore; they know that we have stopped. We are in more danger than we had realised. There is someone else in the picture that we are yet to see. Someone else who seems to be in on everything.

We both look up as Donovan comes out into the clearing. His dazzling smile reflects from his dark face, his eyes aglow. He has a crazy look about him. Thunder rumbles in Oliver’s chest.

One of Mr Breckt’s other Pawns steps into the clearing too. She isn’t smiling, but she looks just as insane.

The pain is scorching my insides, and it’s all I can do to not scream aloud as Donovan steps forward and Oliver tightens his grip on me.

“Stay back.” Oliver’s voice is low and threatening, but we all know that there is nothing behind the threat. There's nothing that either of us can. These vampires are far too powerful for us. It’s over. We are over.

My head spins, the world unfocusing, and I slump in Oliver’s arms. I hear him roar out my name, I feel myself being pulled, but the world has turned black. My senses close down. There is not enough left in me to keep me going.

A loud crash startles me awake, and my eyes open. I look up; Oliver is standing with his back to me. I’m in a heap on the floor by his feet. His shoulders are stiff and his breath is coming in short, quick bursts.

“Ollie?” I croak out his name. I feel awful, but so much better than I did before I…before I passed out.

Dread hits me. My throat is suddenly too tight as realisation dawns that they have us and I have been fed. Ollie turns around and helps me stand. Our fingers intertwine and lock eyes before he gives me a chaste kiss. We turn around, ready to take our punishment, together.

Mr Breckt stands in the doorway, watching us, his vivid green eyes wild and alert with an intense ferocity that makes me shiver and cower in fear.

The door, which he has just thrown open, swings precariously on its one remaining hinge before it gives up and falls, hitting the cool marble flooring with another loud thud.

Mr Breckt surveys the room, his eyes passing over us with disdain. He glances at our hands, and his eyes blaze in further anger. His fangs drop down, his hands clenching and unclenching by his sides. Silence echoes around the room. Oliver steps forward, he tries to pull his hand free from mine, but I won’t let it go. He looks back to me, and then at our hands clasped together before relenting and staying by my side.

“Mr Breckt . . .” Oliver looks at him, meeting his powerful gaze, his voice breaking slightly. “I . . .” He pauses, sensing our imminent danger. “ We . . . we love each other.” he pleads for us. “We always have, even before . . .” He looks towards me, our eyes meet fleetingly, and then he looks pleadingly back to Mr Breckt. “Even before any of this happened—before you.”

We are both thinking the same thing—he hears me and I hear him. We loved each other before Mr Breckt showed up and tried to destroy our lives.

“You love her? And you, Mia?” He spits the words out. “Do you love him?” He raises an eyebrow at me, and I step closer to Oliver’s side in an attempt to show the sincerity and conviction in my words.

“Yes, Mr Breckt. I do. It’s always been him. You know that.” I squeeze Oliver’s hand. Our shoulders touch, and the current of fear runs back and forth through us.

“Well, isn’t this uncouth of me then,” Mr Breckt replies. “And here I was, sending my Pawns out to bring
my
princess back to
me
, Oliver. I hadn’t realised that you had decided she was yours.” He sneers. “And, Mia, for the last time…call me ROBERT!” He yells so loud I think the windows might break, and I shudder.

I look away from him in worry. I don’t want to anger him any further, but I’m not going to back down—I can’t back down now, and I won’t call him Robert. It goes against everything I believe and want. It’s too personal too intimate for someone that I hate so much.

“It's not like that,” Oliver pleads, his voice strong.

Mr Breckt runs a hand through his hair. “That is
exactly
what it is like. You have stolen her. You have laid your filthy, wretched hands upon her, and touched what is not yours. She is my princess. Mine, Oliver. I made her for
me
. And you…” He glowers at us both. “You both act like it doesn’t matter. Like my retribution isn’t something to be feared.” He storms forwards, sending a dark ripple of his aura reaching towards us like the black hands of death, I pull Oliver with me as I step back away from it. “Well fear me you will!”

I cower, wanting to hide behind Oliver, to run and hide. But there is nowhere left to go, this is it.

A dead end. Our dead end.

“Leave us!” Mr Breckt screams when Ava and Donovan come into the room, his voice cracking on the words.

“Sir?” Donovan questions apprehensively, stepping forward.

“Leave us now, both of you.” Mr Breckt strides to a large, ornate wooden chair. His hand glides along the top, feeling the rich wood underneath his hand. His fingers trail the gold design etched along the top.

“Do you know how long I have waited for you, Mia? How much I have risked, for you? And you have just thrown it all away.” His hand moves to the chair next to his—smaller, and the gold more delicately carved.

“No, please, if you’ll just listen to me. I can explain . . .” I plead with him, my eyes widening as he comes towards us.

“I am listening, Mia. I have been listening the whole time that you have been gone.” He sneers.

He’s staring at me with a dark intent. I don’t know what he’s trying to get at, but he seems really angry about it. It’s something more than just the fact that I don’t love him, and ran away. Something much more. It seems like he has tipped over the edge now.

“Mia . . . I felt everything you felt. I made you. We are connected.”
He puffs up his chest, a look of pure hate in his eyes. I look up at Oliver in repulsion, the same conclusion dawning on his face at the same time as it hits me.

Oh god. He felt us.
I close my eyes tightly against the nausea that rises.

“Oh yes, Mia. I felt it all.” Robert leers at me. “I felt every thrust of pleasure rippling through your body. Everything.”

I swallow hard, forcing the ugly thoughts to the back of my mind. I can’t think about what he is telling me. It’s too repulsive to think of him sat there, feeling what I was feeling. The love, the pleasure, it’s too much and makes me feel sick.

“I felt it
all
, you bitch!” He says the words slower, driving them home. “You can’t just push it away—push me away.”

Anger rises in me, the blood pounding in my ears. “I love him, I love Oliver, you have no right to do this.” My teeth grind together, the feeling of hatred growing hotter.

He laughs, the sound hollow and empty. “Oh, you do, do you? Yes, I heard that also. Several times. So thank you for that.” His hands run through his hair, making him look wild and unkempt. He swallows before he continues. “But I don’t care, Mia. I made you, you’re mine now!”

Oliver tugs my hand pulling me behind him. “No, Breckt. She’s not.” I’ve never seen such anger from Oliver. It’s the perfect time for it, but it’s still a surprise. His aura twists and turns around him, matching Mr Breckt’s. Rage is pumping from both of them. “We made a deal, and you lost.”

Oliver looks at me, his eyes soft and apologetic, before hesitantly turning back to Mr Breckt. “You had one week to try and get her to fall in love with you, and if she didn’t after that, you said that you would leave us alone.” His jaw is grinding on itself, mirroring mine. I can hear the bone and teeth, crunching noisily. “She doesn’t love you, she loves me. She’s mine.”

My heart—as if it were still living—seems to skip a beat upon hearing those words. A deal? A week to get me to fall in love with him?

“Ollie?” I tug his hand lightly to get him to look at me.

He turns, his deep brown eyes both sad and angry. “I’m sorry, it was the only way. I had to give him a chance or he was going to kill us anyway—kill you, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We could have…I don’t know,” I sigh out, everything finally falling into place—the nighttime phone call, him leaving so suddenly. Everything makes sense now.

His eyes look pink with unshed tears. “I couldn’t risk you—your life, Mia. You’re too important to me.” he leans down and presses his lips to mine. “I knew it would be okay though, I knew he never stood a chance.” Oliver turns back to Mr Breckt. “So, the deal?”

Mr Breckt walks slowly towards us. “Yes, yes, that was the deal wasn’t it.” He grins wider his fangs showing. “But I changed my mind.” He says calmly.

“You can’t do that.” Oliver gasps, his muscles straining whilst he struggles to control himself. His skin is bristling in anger as Mr Breckt comes closer.

“I’m a vampire, Oliver!” Mr Breckt’s words screech from his throat as his anger reaches a new level. “I can do anything I damn well please, boy.”

“I trusted you.” Oliver yells back and tugs me further behind him.

“Why would you ever believe that you could trust me?” He’s laughing, screaming, and almost crying all at the same time.

I’m trembling with fear and hate and I realise how completely unhinged Mr Breckt truly is now. We are never leaving here. Not alive, anyway. Did I ever really think we would? Death seems like such a blissful escape right now. My eyes wash over Oliver. He’s in tormented agony.

I step forward from my coward’s spot behind Oliver, even as he struggles to pull me back behind him. but I won’t let him, if I’m going to die today then I insist on being heard.

“You’re a monster, Robert,” I finally say his name, watching as sweet satisfaction trembles through his body as I say it. “You disgust me. I will never, ever give myself to you!” I scream out my words. The pain and angst of everything that he has done to us finally breaks free. “I was his before you came here. You destroyed what we had, and you stand there like
you
are the one that has been wronged. How dare you.”

Anger visibly ripples through Robert and he lunges forwards, knocking me to one side with the back of his hand. I scream in pain and shock and crash to the floor, the air leaving my useless lungs in one great gasp. Mr Breckt shrieks in fury. He charges forwards, his hands finding Oliver’s throat. His fingers wrap expertly around it and squeeze. I see the fear on Oliver’s face as he kicks and hits out at him, desperate to be released from the iron grip.

“You touched
my
princess, and now you will be punished.” He’s shaking with rage. His grip tightens and his eyes glow red. His aura blazes—black and purple with sparks of yellow flashing through it. It’s like watching a giant electrical storm cloud erupting above him.

Even knowing that I should be running for cover, I turn and face my demons—
this demon
—head-on. I climb up from the floor and charge Robert.

“She is mine!” His voice breaks as he screams the words out.

Oliver stares at him helplessly, his veins throbbing in his arms, his hands clawing uselessly at Robert.

I barge Mr Breckt’s side but I bounce back off him, making no impact. I jump up on his back, tearing and scratching with all my might. My fangs bite down on his shoulders and my fists pound down to shake him off Oliver.

“Let go, please let go, please, please, please!” I repeat the words over and over. But Robert holds no love for us; he feels only hate towards us both right now.

Vengeance is what he wants from Oliver, and suffering from me.

He releases Oliver suddenly,and then turns to me, grabbing me by the scruff of my neck like a kitten from his back, and throws me like a rag doll across the room. I crash into the far wall with a cry. The wall crumbles in a cloud of dust, parts of it falling like splinters around me. My breath catches in my throat as I feel several bones crack. I freeze as the pain shoots through me in wild torrents and though I now I’ll heal straight away, the pain is just as intense as if I were human and keeps me frozen to the spot.

Mr Breckt looks at me, his eyes saddening. “Do you remember begging me, Mia? Do you remember begging me to take you?” His face softens at the memory, and I shudder in repulsion. “You didn’t even care that there were others there. You didn’t care about him then, did you? You only wanted me.”

My eyes widen with terror. He turns back to Oliver, reaches down, and lifts him up with one hand. I struggle to get to my knees, my body aching and burning with every movement. Both sets of eyes flash to me—brown and green—and I feel a deep pain worse than any physical pain I’ve ever experienced before. I watch the fear on Oliver’s face and the manic glee on Robert’s. Time seems to slow as I watch Mr Breckt turn his back on me. I finally stand with a sob of fear and pain and run towards him. But I’m running in sinking sand; my legs have turned to jelly. No matter how hard I push them, they won’t go quick enough. They can’t ever go quick enough for me—or Oliver.

I know what he is going to do.

“Please no, Robert. I submit, I’ll be yours. I’ll do anything, please!” I beg, but my words are ignored. “Please, anything but that.” I cry.

Robert lifts Oliver from the ground, staring deep into his eyes. “She is mine.” He says it firmly, and with finality, and snaps Oliver’s neck in one swift movement. The sound echoes off the walls. A reverberating crack as the bone snaps.

I drop to the floor mid-run, wishing with every ounce of me that it had been my neck that he had broken, my life that was ended and not Oliver’s.

I am suffocating. I close my eyes against the black tide of angst that is threatening to wash over me. Blinking furiously against it, I crawl forward. Robert reaches for the leg of a chair, snapping it off and holding the piece above Oliver’s heart.

“Please,” I beg. But my pleas land on deaf ears.

“Say goodbye, Mia,” Mt Breckt hisses with a smile, and plunges the weapon deep within Oliver’s chest.

Oliver’s body crumples into dust before my eyes, his face turning to grey and white ash from a nonexistent fire.

“No!” I scream. My body stops crawling and curls up into a ball. My hands cover my ears. My head swims wildly and I block everything out, squeezing my hands tighter to my head. I can still hear Roberts’s footsteps coming towards me. I can feel the air around me moving. Tears burn behind my closed lids. I am frozen. Every part of me is frozen to this moment in time.