Twilight Vendetta (37 page)

Her mother’s face calmed. Her trembling eased. All she had needed was hope. Emma felt good that she’d been able to give her that. And yet, she still seemed sad. “I missed your childhood, Emma.”

“No you didn’t. I grew up the day you left us.” She closed her hand around her mother’s. “Besides, Dad and his camcorder captured every event, no matter how minor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had footage of me sleeping.”

Diana’s smile was shaky, but real. It reached her eyes. It was the first time Emma had seen a hint of the old light in them. “You’ve inherited your father’s positive attitude, haven’t you, Emma?”

“For the most part,” she said, not admitting that her goals had changed from peace mongering to mass murder once she’d realized what those bastards had done to her mother. But that was temporary. She still believed peace was the best way for everyone.

Her father must’ve read her face, because he said, “Everything happens for a reason. Even this. There was something, some greater purpose. We were torn apart, and now we’re together again. We need to look forward, my girls. Never back.”

Emma met his eyes, nodded as if she agreed, even though she wasn’t certain she did. Cheering her mother up when she was feeling so miserable herself wasn’t easy, and if she stayed much longer, she’d surely bring them all down. She bent to kiss her mother’s cheek, and then got up off the bed. “I should go.”

“Not yet,” Diana said. Then she sent a look at her husband, which he read as easily as if they’d never spent a day apart.

“I’m going to go find some human food,” Oliver said. “I heard they were keeping some on hand for the kids.” He leaned in to kiss one woman, then the other, and then he left them alone.

Diana patted the bed and Emma sat down again.

“I’m not...a hundred percent, Emma,” her mother said softly. She touched her forehead with the pads of her fingers. “There’s a whole lot of...something. Like fireworks going off in my brain, all the time. Sparks and explosions. It’s difficult to think clearly through all of it.”

“I’m not surprised. You’ve been through hell.”

“It’s over. I think...I’ll get better.”

“You will.”

She nodded, though she didn’t seem as certain as Emma had tried to sound. “I did pick up on the...” She shook her hand rapidly as she searched for the word. “...vibration,” she said at length, “Between you and that big fellow. Devlin.”

“Vibration,” Emma repeated.

“The...you know, the energy. Please don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean, Emma. I’m having enough trouble with clearness...clarity...”

“No, you’re right, I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m...” She bit her lip, nodded once, and just said it. “I’m in love with him.”

“Yes. And he feels the same.”

“No.”

“It wasn’t a question, Emma. He feels the same.” Then she frowned. “But if that’s obvious to a vampiress with a broken mind after fifteen years in captivity, why, I wonder, isn’t it obvious to you?”

Emma shook her head. “He’s planning to send me...us...away from here.”

Diana shrugged. “So refuse to go.”

Emma looked at her quickly, widening her eyes. “Mom, it’s not all that simple. I can’t just–”

“Yes, you can. Why would you leave the man you love?” She tried to sit up in bed, and Emma quickly shoved another pillow beneath her to support her as she went on, her voice gaining strength as she did. “What force on earth could compel you do the very opposite of what your heart and soul are telling you to do?” She shook her head slowly, then relaxed back onto the pillows. “I had time to think, to contemplate. I had time, nothing but time, and the clarity that came to me was powerful. The most real truths that could ever exist. And the truest of them all is love.” She closed her eyes, licking her dry lips, clearly fighting exhaustion.

“You’re weak, Mom. Try to rest.”

“This is too important. I have to tell you, in case...in case it gets lost in the swamp that seems to be my brain right now. Emma, love is the only real thing there is. When you find it, you have to wrap yourself up in it, wallow and roll and bask in it, because...it’s too precious...to do otherwise.” She gasped a few breaths, that old habit still strong in her. “I stayed alive in that box for fifteen years when I could have let go. I could have embraced death. But I fought it. I fought death and I fought madness because I would not give up on love. I endured what I did just for the slim hope that I would find you and your father again.”

“Oh, Mom–”

“You do not walk away from love, Emma Louise Benatar. If I am only allowed to teach you one thing, then let this be the one. You do not walk away from love. It’s the only thing that matters.” She clasped both Emma’s hands and gazed into her eyes.

Emma stared back, wondering how to live up to the strong, powerful woman her mother was, even now, after all she’d been through.

T
here was a brief knock on the door before it opened slightly, and Emma’s father stood there, a worried frown marring his brow. “Devlin asked me to send you downstairs, Emma. Something’s gone wrong, people seem very agitated.”

She got to her feet. “Stay with Mom,” she said. “I’ll send someone to fill you in as soon as I find out what’s up.” Already her senses were tingling with alarm.

She kissed her mother’s forehead, then quickly left the room, hurrying through the halls and down the stairs, across the foyer and out the front doors.

Vampires were rushing around. Bellamy, Tavia and Devlin stood together in a huddle, and Devlin looked her way as she approached.

As soon as his dark eyes met hers, she went soft inside. Her mother was right. Love like this didn’t come along every day. Maybe only once in a lifetime. She wasn’t going to give up on this thing, at least not until she found out for sure whether he loved her too.

Their gazes held so long the others began to notice, so she lowered her eyes and said, “What’s going on?”

“Wolf and Sheena sensed danger approaching,” Devlin said. “It’s one gift that all the Offspring seem to share. They seem to detect threats from greater distances than vampires can.”

“So I started scanning and after a while, I felt Andrew,” Bell said quickly. “We um...we broke up and he left here, furious with me. He accused me of being hot for one of the guys who just arrived. As if.”

“He wanted to leave. He was accusing you of nonsense so he’d have an excuse. And now he’s coming back,” Tavia said.

Bell nodded. “It did seem that way. He’s blocking, but I can feel him near us. Nearer all the time.”

“And I can sense mortals with him,” Devlin said.

Emma frowned. “You think he would bring humans here?”

“You did,” Tavia accused.

Emma felt the barb. “My father was taken by DPI for trying to help our kind, Tavia. He’s one of us. More so than Andrew is or apparently ever was.”

“Enough. This is no time for...it’s enough,” Devlin said. “Emma, if they see the island, they have to die. I know you’ve been against violence, but–”

She clamped his upper arms in her hands. “This island is my home now.” She lowered her head when she saw the flash of panic come and go in his eyes, then let go of him to face Bell. “As for Andrew–”

“I’ll kill him myself if I get to him first,” he said. But there was pain in his voice.

A handsome young vampire led a plethora of others out of the basement via an open hatchway door, and they were all carrying weapons.

“You don’t need all that,” Wolf said softly. “My sister and I can fix this. All of it.”

“It’s too risky,” Devlin said. “You’re just kids–”

“Besides, we owe you.” Sheena looked at Wolf. He stared back, intensely, but then he nodded his agreement.

Devlin’s jaw flexed. “I don’t have time to argue with you. Emma, I want you to get your parents out of the bedroom and into the basement. Use the tunnel that leads to the hidden cove. Tavia says there’s a boat there large enough to hold you all if you need to escape. Wolf and Sheena, I want you to go with them.”

He was trying to protect her. In that moment, their entire relationship became crystal clear to her. Despite everything she’d done as a human, despite that she was now a vampire, and as powerful as many of the others on this island, Devlin still saw her as weaker. In need of defending. In need of protecting. He was projecting the vulnerability of his mortal wife and baby onto her. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it.

She opened her mouth to argue, but he was already moving on. “Bell, what direction are they approaching from?”

“Dead on from the coast, Dev.”

Devlin nodded. The handsome vampire who’d been leading the armed troops from the basement came to them, rapidly pulling rifles off his shoulders and handing them around. Tavia, Devlin and Bell each took one.

Emma touched the cold steel of the one he offered her, then stopped and drew her hand away. “I can’t. I couldn’t use this even if I wanted to.”

“You might not have a choice.” Devlin took the rifle and pushed it into her hands. “Go. Now. Get to safety.”

His voice brooked no argument. “Fine,” she said. “But when this is over, we need to talk.” Then she snatched the damned rifle and stormed into the house. “Wolf, Sheena, come on, let’s do this. Bell...will you come with us?”

She didn’t expect them to follow her, but something in her voice must’ve told them she had no intention of obeying her soulmate. Not in this. She wasn’t going to let a war break out on this island. Nor was she going to drag her mother into an underground cave to keep her safe. It would be too much like where she’d spent the past fifteen years.

To her surprise, the three came right behind her as she headed back inside. As soon as Emma closed the front doors behind them, she said, “Bell, you’re sure they’re approaching from the east?”

“Yes,” he said. “But they could circle the island and approach from another direction at any time.”

“Let me know if they do. Shout mentally. I’ll pay attention.”

“But I’m
with
you.”

“I want you to go up to my mother’s room. I want you to stay with my parents. I can’t drag her down into the tunnels unless there’s no other choice, Bell, she’ll freak out. She’s been trapped in a concrete coffin for I don’t know how long. She can’t handle it.”

He nodded. “I understand. But where are you–”

“I’ve seen Wolf and Sheena in action. And I know the three of us can keep this thing contained. If Andrew and whoever is with him reach the island, people are going to die. Our people.” She met Sheena’s eyes, then Wolf’s. They both nodded.

They split up, Bell heading up the stairs while Emma led Wolf and Sheena to the basement and into the tunnel. They poured on the speed, flashing through the underground stone passage, which was dark and cool and soothing somehow. They stopped abruptly at its mouth, ten feet above the waterline where a small motorboat bobbed like a soldier awaiting orders. Emma didn’t hesitate, just jumped, splashing into the water and then pulling herself up into the boat. The two teens followed, taking their seats as Emma started the motor. If anyone heard it, they would just assume she was doing what Devlin had ordered her to do.

Ordered her. She could get pretty ticked about that, if the man wasn’t so sadly deluded. She was not the kind of woman who obeyed orders. And she didn’t need protecting.

They sped away from the island, and as she steered the boat, Emma spoke to Bellamy.
Ride along inside my head, if you can, Bell. Tell me which way to go.

He answered almost immediately.
They made a wide circle around the island and are coming at us from the west now. They’re a couple of miles out. Go that way and you should cut them off.

Thanks, Bell.

Be careful, Emma. Don’t get dead. Dev will kill me if you do.

I promise, I won’t get dead.

She pushed the boat faster. “Sheena, once we get near enough, I need you to take control of their boat. Just stop it in the water and hold it there. Wolf, I don’t know exactly how you do what you do, but–”

“Everything moves,” he said. “Vibrates. I can feel the vibration of everything. People. Places. Rocks and plants. Mountains and water. I adjust my own vibration to match and then I sort of....turn it up.”

“And what happens? Besides the shaking I’ve already experienced, I mean.”

He opened the fingers of both hands and said, “Boom.”

She nodded, not sure she got it, but hoping so. “You need to destroy the radio so they can’t call for help. Can you do that?”

“Why don’t I just destroy all of them?” he asked, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides.

“Because I don’t want you to just yet. We need to know what they’re up to, and who else knows about the island first. All right?”

“I see them,” Sheena said. She pointed. The patrol boat was heading directly toward them.

Emma leaned forward, straining her preternatural vision to its limits. Men in black fatigues armed with heavy weapons filled a boat. She guessed the boat to be under 40 feet in length, and that was a relief. It wouldn’t hold too many crows.

One of them, however, was Commander Hobbs.