Passing (Crusade) (4 page)

“Building his own little army,” Antonio added.

I grabbed a stake in each fist. “Good thing we've got a vampire of our own.

“Let's get this party started!” Eriko shouted.

Antonio spared one look at me, and I felt a strange mix of horror and excitement. Antonio was a vampire. He’d said he loved me.

And I knew it was not a lie.

The knowledge propelled me into battle. I moved like whirlwind, fighting as I had never done before. I was almost crazy, I was so fierce. I felt my stake slam into vampire chests, taking vampire lives.

Miraculously, it was over in under five minutes. Even more miraculously, we were all bloodied but still standing.

“Everyone bandage up.” I set to work on my own wounds. Antonio stood a safe distance away, and by his stance, I knew he was trying to regain control over his vampire self. I had so many questions, but they could wait. When I killed Jack, his power over me had vanished completely. At that moment I remembered that before I met Jack I had loved Antonio. And not as a brother. Jack had twisted that emotion for his own ends. He had made me forget who I was for a moment. But that was all over now.

I had loved Antonio, and I loved him again. The idea was strange, and new, and yet it felt old. I thought of my parents and my grandparents, and felt a dizzying connection. Was I going somewhere in my heart that they had never been? Or were the hearts of humans and vampires more alike than different?

I had other questions. Some were for my classmates. Except for Jamie, they seemed fine with the idea of a vampire as comrade. I had fully expected them to turn on Antonio after we had dispatched the rest of the vampires.

I cleared my throat. “Are we going to have any problems?” I asked my new
grupo
.

“With Antonio?” Jamie frowned.

I nodded.

“He's okay with me,” Holgar said. But Jamie said nothing.

I stared at them all in disbelief. After two years of training to kill vampires, of witnessing the horrors they were capable of, I didn't know how the rest of them could let this go so easily.

“Why? How?” I blurted.

Eriko smiled. “If Father Armand let a vampire study at the Universidad, then he must be one of us.”

Us.
Not one of us
humans
. One of us
hunters
. I hadn't thought about that. Father Armand personally screened every student for admission. He was a very kind, but intense, priest with a twisted sense of humor. Still, would he have even been able to tell Antonio was a vampire?

“You think Father Armand knew?” I asked.

“He knew I was a witch,” Skye said calmly.

“And he knew I was a werewolf,” Holgar added, as if it was common knowledge.

I stared at them all in shock. Finally I pivoted to face Jamie and Eriko. “Anything about the two of you I should know about?”

“No,” a deep voice answered from the shadows behind us.

I spun around, my hand on a stake, and slumped in relief when I saw that it was Father Armand.

“Each pairing has one normal student, and one with special abilities,” he explained. “It’s safer for everyone that way.”

“But--”

He raised his hand. “You think humans are the only ones who wish to fight evil? No. This war against the vampires has pulled in many people from many groups. A very few vampires retain enough of their original self that with meditation, study and discipline they can control their bloodlust. Antonio is one of those. Skye is kin to some friends of mine and I recognized her talents when we met. Holgar, years ago, learned how to safeguard himself and others from his wolf aspect. This war touches us all and, I'm afraid, it does not stop here.”

“Then we will continue to fight,” I said. “Or at least, I will.”

“And I,” Holgar said.

“Me too,” Skye put in.

The others echoed in the affirmative, Jamie last. Antonio appeared suddenly nearby, slipping his hand around mine. I fought the urge to lean against his shoulder. There would be time enough later for the two of us.

“I have only elixir for one,” Armand reminded. “And it is for Eriko.”

“Yes,” I said. I wondered how I had managed to appoint myself spokesperson for the small group, and why no one else seemed to object.

The priest--our priest--smiled at me. “You understand, then. A witch may offer protection to her partner. A vampire may do the same. However, a werewolf has a wild talent. He could inflict unintentional damage on his partner and cannot change at will.”

Eriko bowed her head. “I am not worthy,” she murmured.

Armand put his hand on Eriko's shoulder and forced her to look up. “Then become so,” he whispered.

We all will
, I vowed.

“Sí,” Antonio whispered in my ear.

And so it began.

###

The story continues with the
Crusade
series.

Read the first chapter of
Crusade
for free. See below!

~

SOME
PASSING
THOUGHTS

When we set out to write "Passing", we had no idea where it was going to ultimately take us. It was just supposed to be a short story for an anthology, nothing more. But when we finished, we realized that we had created something special. The world and the characters we had put in it excited both of us and the last sentence didn't feel like an ending--it was definitely a beginning! That was when we had the revelation that this was the jumping-off point for our new series. Until that point, we had talked about writing something else together but hadn't actually taken any steps toward doing so. Within a month we had sold the series idea and were busy delving deeper into this war-torn world of great love and great sacrifice.

Readers of our
Crusade
series will notice some changes that we made when we went to write the series. We changed the priest from Father Armand to Father Juan and gave him a mystical connection with St. John of the Cross. We gave Skye a witch family that had no connection to the Cahors from
Wicked
. Also, we got rid of Jack.

We would like to invite you to further explore the world of
Crusade
. Visit
Nancy's website
or
Debbie's website
to read the first chapter for free!

Nancy and Debbie

~

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Crusade
Series

Wicked
Series

Wolf Springs Chronicles

http://www.nancyholder.com

http://www.debbieviguie.com