Revisited (Redemption Series) (6 page)

“Lily, you can have it again. You can have Ryan back. Please, just think about it.”

Martin was fighting dirty. Ryan was her only weakness. Her need for her husband had driven her through the years. She didn’t know if she could give up the path she had set for herself so long ago.

“I promise to think about it.” Lily reached for the necklace on the dresser in front of her. 

Martin took it from her and placed it around her neck. 

She smiled her dutiful daughter smile as her eyes met his in the mirror. “All right, let’s get to the party we have been waiting a decade for.”

A white silk tent swayed in the breeze as the night winds began to blow. It picked up the scents of the fresh cut grass and the lilacs that decorated the entire area.

“You’ve outdone yourself.” Filipp wrapped his arm around Lily’s waist.

“No, this is Martin’s baby.” Lily leaned into her friend and rested her head against his shoulder.

“Well, good for him. He is still going forward with everything?” 

Filipp had been a close confidant throughout Martin’s trials. Lily often wondered if Filipp would partake of the elixir of life Martin had concocted. “Yes, I’m not sure how the rest will take it. I’m worried, but he has set his path. There is nothing I can do to stop him.”

Filipp noticed Martin as he approached the head of their group, ready to announce his plan. “Let me get you a drink for the toast.”

Lily shook her head at seeing a bottled beverage resting on the table beside them. Even though her mouth watered at the sight and smell of the fresh human blood ̶  ̶ donated earlier that night ̶  ̶ she felt it wrong to partake. “Not tonight.”

“Lily.” Filipp took her hand and placed a crystal goblet full of crimson delight in it. “If Martin goes through with this, it might be the last time you are able to toast with him. Who knows how many will gather for the next Blood Feast.”

Lily nodded and held a firm grasp on the goblet as they gazed upon Martin who began his toast.

“Today we celebrate the friends we have, and the friends yet to come. Please join me in a toast to the essence of life we possess, and the life we still have yet to live.”

Lily smiled and brought the goblet to her lips. Before she could get a drop in her mouth, she felt a tug at her elbow and the goblet fell to the ground. “Debir, look what you made me do,” she whispered before he crooked his finger and beckoned her to follow him out of the tent. She made her way out while the vampires around her remarked at the delectable flavor of the blood.

“Don’t worry about that. Someone will take care of it.”

“What are you doing?” Lily was more than a little surprised when Debir took her into his arms. There was no doubt she was attracted to him with his messy brown hair and cinnamon-colored eyes.

“I just wanted to steal a moment with my favorite girl. It was getting a little stuffy in there for my taste. I brought a bottle of your favorite.” Debir reached behind the tree beside them and produced a bottle of the finest Irish whiskey.

“A man after my unbeating heart.”

“If only.” Debir winked at his friend, knowing that was all she would ever be. He removed the top and offered the bottle to her.

Lily gulped the whiskey down as if she was about to wither from thirst. A contented sigh escaped her lips when she passed the bottle back.

As Debir was in mid gulp, they heard a loud growl, followed by a crash, coming from inside the tent.

“Are you insane!” a wicked, tall, blonde female vampire screeched. “Manchester will use this against us. They are using you to get rid of us!”

“No, you misunderstand, Ambrosia. It is just an option for those who are ready,” Martin pleaded as others came to join Ambrosia in her fury.

“This
option
you have created will send us further into hiding. Now that Manchester has the power to eliminate us, they won’t hesitate. I will not stand for it! I was nothing but a waste of space as a human. I will not let you, or anyone else take this away from me.” Ambrosia reached for her half-emptied goblet and swallowed the remaining blood in one swallow. “This is life! This is what gives me breath in my body and venom in my veins. If you, Martin Leatherby, or any of your Manchester lackeys try to take it away, I will rip all your limbs from your body, break every bone, and crush your skull to dust!”

Lily saw the fright in her sire’s eyes. Ambrosia was not one to break promises and had a lot of respect from a majority of the vampire community. Terror echoed through Lily as she saw the devilish twinkle in Ambrosia’s eye. Lily’s seventy-year-old reflexes were nothing compared to Ambrosia’s seven-hundred-year old ones. 

Ambrosia crashed into Martin, which sent them both flying through the back of the tent before Lily could even blink. 

Fights broke out all around as Lily rushed to her sire. “Ambrosia! No!” She reached the two as Ambrosia was about to crush Martin’s skull.

Ambrosia smiled as the pressure of her hands on each side of Martin’s face increased. “You’re next, little one.” Ambrosia’s dress fell open at her thigh to reveal a blade strapped there.

Lily threw all her strength and speed at Ambrosia and received the razor sharp slash of the carbon steel blade across her chest for her efforts. The pain seared through her entire body. 

Ambrosia rejoiced in the damage. She lifted her hand to bring a blow to Lily’s chest, but an invisible force threw her to the ground.

Lily rushed to Martin’s side and noticed the color in his eyes. They had changed from the ever-present brown to a bright and beautiful shade of blue. She noticed a few more wrinkles on his brow and at the corners of his eyes, while laugh lines graced the corners of his mouth as he smiled.

“It’s happening. My heart is beating.”

Lily lowered her ear to hear the rapid pace of a heart that beat against the walls of his chest. She could see his skin pink up and could smell the blood flowing through his veins. “How?”

“I don’t know, my girl.”

Lily noticed Ambrosia in a similar state, except the once vivacious looking twenty-something looked as if she were at least fifty. “She’s aging too fast!” Lily rushed to Ambrosia.

“I can feel the life entering and leaving at the same time,” Ambrosia whispered as her hair began to turn from blond to shades of gray.

“I don’t understand.” Lily’s breathing quickened upon seeing the changes happen right before her eyes.

“It had to be . . .” Ambrosia gulped a violent breath, and then she was no more. 

Left in front of Lily was the shell of what looked to be a ninety-year-old woman. She returned to Martin’s side to find him aging as well, but not as rapidly.

“It had to be the blood. Did you?” Martin gasped out.

“No.” Lily shook her head.

“Good. Manchester is not to blame here. Remember that, my girl.”

“I will.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find her oldest friend. “Peter, help us.”

“What has been done here tonight was never meant to happen, yet I cannot stop it,” Peter said. “Come, let’s get him somewhere comfortable until it is time.”

Lily helped Peter gather Martin in his arms before they turned back to the tent. The white silk was stained with blood. It dripped in shocking patterns as her vampire family lay about, destroyed and forever broken.

Debir and Filipp appeared to be in shock from the carnage. Out of ninety-eight vampires in attendance, only four remained. Debir rushed and took Lily in his arms, while Filipp followed. The three of them embraced while the blood of their family soaked the ground beneath them.

“Some of the vampires didn’t last long enough for the serum to take effect as the anger between those who respected Ambrosia and those who supported Martin was immediate and deadly, causing a bloodbath to ensue. Martin passed a few days later, leaving Lily, Filipp, and Debir on their own. None of them wanted to return to their human lives through the formula that caused the death of their family. As a result, Manchester developed a microchip which was implanted in all three of them and whose main purpose has been called into play only once in forty years.” Nathaniel came to the end of the story Lily had shared with him so many years ago.

“Your point being?” Mr. Ore asked as if he was bored.

“If we find Liam before he’s turned another, we can give him Martin’s cure to return him to his human state, since murder is not one of our options.”

Mr. Ore laughed as the rest of the room sat in bone-chilled silence. “How do you suppose we accomplish that? Martin Leatherby’s formula was complete rubbish.”

“But you see, Mr. Ore, there is one more facet of the story I have left untold.” 

Mr. Ore cocked his eyebrow at Nathaniel.

“The formula in the blood that night was not Martin Leatherby’s. I believe it was a highly concentrated version made by Anton Cadreanu.”

For a new vampire, Liam wasn’t doing the typical things a virile vampire would do. He hadn’t drained the blood from any of the humans he came into contact with. He hadn’t had any strong sexual or violent urges to act upon. He hadn’t mourned for his lost human life. He was, in fact, still in a luxury hotel suite in Bucharest, Romania. He began to wonder if he was vampire enough to take the next step.

    Shortly after his arrival, Debir and Filipp had gotten the call from The Manchester Group to stay put. The entire group was on high alert since Lily’s death, or at least that was what the elder vampires were told.

Liam knew different. Lily was his sire and in those moments she made him, an unbreakable bond was formed. He still felt it down to the marrow in his bones. Lily was alive in one form or another.

As for the next step, Filipp’s plan was for the three of them to strategically sire new vampires, whose strength would bring The Manchester Group down. Gideon’s plan coincided with their own, though he was occupied now and wouldn’t be of any help to them. Through fate and a hell of a lot of luck, Ian Holt was in the wrong place at the exact right time. Gideon needed a new vessel to cast a spell over Becca and receive her love and devotion. Ian was presented as if on a silver platter; Gideon turned him into his vessel and the benefits to him would be limitless.

Liam hadn’t heard back from Gideon and assumed all was working according to the demon’s plan. So, he waited while he drank the burgundy liquid of life to keep him going. Filipp had alluded to the humans he had handpicked for the next generation of vampires ̶  ̶ one who was to arrive at any moment. Liam should have been excited at the prospect of draining his first victim as he formed the unbreakable bond, yet, he realized it might very well put him in harm’s way. Once more vampires were created, his usefulness would fade. His one saving grace was the circle of black flames adorning his skin.

“She’s arrived.” Filipp stood and straightened his clothing.

Liam thought it a tad odd that Filipp seemed to be nervous. Filipp was never nervous. Debir just sat back and smirked as they waited for the inevitable knock.

Two raps on the main suite door had Filipp grasping the doorknob within milliseconds. “Welcome.” He moved to let the woman pass.

Liam stood to greet her when she passed through the threshold. It was not a woman at all who had walked into their suite. She was a goddess. Her waist-length black hair fell like ribbons of silk over her shoulders. Her eyes were the color of coal with a delicate sparkle that enhanced their beauty. Her skin was the shade of an ivory pearl, with a sheen that made his fingers ache to touch it. The curve of her waist held a soft femininity as her emerald green dress clung to her body. Her shapely calves caused him to swallow hard at the thought of them wrapped around him while her spiked heels dug into his back.