Unearthly, The (18 page)

Chapter 23

Andre and I
, soulmates. My heart fluttered, and then regret filled me. I’d pushed him away. And now I might die before I got the chance to apologize and try to fix things between us.

Theodore continued. “She also foresaw that, after your transition, you became queen, and under your reign, leagues of vampires were exterminated.”

“What?” I would go on to commit genocide? The thought made me nauseous. Of course vampires did not exactly have clean consciences, but that I could be behind something so evil made my skin crawl. “That’s impossible.”

Before I could blink, Theodore had closed the space between us. I didn’t see his fist move, but I heard my jaw crack as it connected with my face. Intense pain blossomed along my jawline, and I fell backwards. “Don’t tell me what’s impossible!” he yelled, his eyes wild.

His extreme mood swing was more startling than the sharp pain spreading across my face. And then, like flipping a light switch, his emotions were under control again.

“Why … my father …” It was hard to form words, and my jaw screamed as I spoke, but I had to know.

He smiled. “Not just your father. Your mother too.”

I felt sick to my stomach. How poorly I misjudged the situation. He was responsible for my parents’ deaths.

“And why? Because they knew. They knew and they protected you anyway. Them and Andre. But as you might already know, I can’t exactly kill Andre if I’m trying to prevent the deaths of countless vampires. Killing him would mean killing
all
vampires. Well, all of them but one
—
you.”

“I still don’t understand
—
why kill my parents and me if the future is alterable?” I asked, careful about jostling my jaw. I knew that I would die before I was responsible for the mass extermination of vampires, regardless of their innocence.

“That is exactly what Andre said when he learned of the prophecy. He thought he could change your fate. So he forbid all vampires from making an attempt on your life. A true leader eliminates all threats to his people, but when it came to you, his soulmate, Andre put himself before his subjects. Coward. He has left the dirty work to me.” With that, he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet.

He brought my neck to his mouth and bit down hard. I screamed as blood seeped down Theodore’s chin and my neck. Theodore hissed an intake of breath. “Perhaps we can have a little fun before you die. You are truly an exquisite thing.”

This was
not
how I was going die. Then Theodore’s words sank in.

I thought back to when Andre and I practiced how to captivate prey. That barely contained monster had surfaced, the one that feasted off of sex and other dangerous things. The siren inside me.

I knew what I had to do
—
I’d just never consciously attempted it before. Theodore bent down to my neck and ran his tongue along the wound. I suppressed my horrified shiver and opened myself up to my unearthly heritage, which legend says men have died for.

I felt the warm rush of power as the siren took over.

“Theodore.” I thought I had spoken his name, but it sounded more like an ethereal song. This voice could not be mine; I could never sound so seductive.

He stilled at my throat. Slowly he lifted his head up and looked into my eyes. I could almost see his wicked thoughts as he stared at me.

“You know you do not want to kill me … yet.” Again, I sang the words, my voice dripping of sex, an activity I
really
had no idea about.

Almost against his will he shook his head. “Stop it.” He spoke through clenched teeth.

“I know what you want to do.” I backed up towards the bed that loomed on the far side of the room and beckoned him to follow.

He gazed at me for a moment, his hands fisting as he tried to fight off the glamour. Gradually his hands slackened again as he became mesmerized, and then he began to follow me, no longer the feared predator.

I felt my control slipping. The siren in me wanted blood and sex, and she’d go all the way if she could. I put my hand to his chest, and pushed him partially onto the bed. His legs dangled over the mattress’ edge, and I bent over him.

I slid my hands over his thighs and made a sound low in my throat. His eyes were too bright, and they watched me in awe. I moved my hands to his hair, running them through his wavy locks.

His own hands cupped my butt and then moved out to my hips. He pulled me closer, our lower bodies flush with one another.

Tantalizingly slow, I leaned towards him until my mouth hovered over his. There, I paused before pulling back.

I stared into his eyes. My heart pounded and my breathing was becoming erratic. “Now I am going to give you exactly what you deserve.”

I slammed my knee as hard as I could into his crotch
—
which, given my strength, was considerable.

He screamed like a wounded animal. I turned and sprinted down the hallway, towards the stairs. I looked behind me to see Theodore leaning on the doorway, painfully straightening up. Taking into account his superhuman speed, I had only bought myself a few precious seconds. I dashed around the banister, knocking over a few candles that rested on its edge. Behind me I smelled smoke as the rug caught on fire.

Crap,
I
was responsible for burning down the mansion?

“Gabrielle!” Theodore roared behind me. I flew down the steps, hoping I wouldn’t trip in my stilettos. It would be a shame to escape death only to break my neck during my great escape.

Below me, I saw Andre fill the front doorway. “Gabrielle?”

“Andre
—
go!” I yelled. He could not die here too.

He looked quizzically at me, and then past me. “Theodore?”

Theodore must have registered that his time was up. He pulled out a gun. There was no hesitation. He looked down the barrel at me and fired. Almost instantaneously, something large and solid tackled me. My shoulder exploded as the bullet tore through muscle and tissue.

I shrieked as Andre and I hit the stairs, the pain causing my vision to cloud. Getting shot was just as unbearable the second time around as it was the first.

Andre stood up, his tux partially stained with my blood. An unholy fire blazed in his eyes as he stared Theodore down. The ground beneath us quaked. He was absolutely stunning and utterly terrifying.

I tried to sit up, but as soon as I moved, pain shot through my left side. I contented myself with watching everything sideways.

Slowly Andre walked the stairs towards Theodore. Each step he took shook the floor. Abandoned champagne flutes wobbled and china tinkled.

His eyes never strayed from Theodore, who stood paralyzed. “You tried to kill her,” Andre’s voice boomed.

The whole building shuddered at his words. Above me the giant chandelier rocked violently side to side. Dozens of candles toppled from their precarious perch, dropping from the chandelier and lighting the ancient rugs on fire. I took note that the fire was equally Andre’s fault.

Theodore managed to stand his ground, although his hands quivered. “She’s seen him, the devil. She’s cursed.”

I swallowed down my nausea. The devil? Was that who the man in the suit was? I couldn’t imagine how Theodore knew this. Andre, however, didn’t so much as pause at this revelation.

“She will lead to the death of us all.” Theodore’s words became rushed. “You could not protect your people, so I had to.”

Poor Theodore misunderstood the situation. Even I could tell that Andre was beyond listening.

Andre’s hair began to lift, as if caught by a breeze. “How dare you question my leadership!” he yelled. A violent tremor began at Andre’s feet. The building’s foundations groaned as it swept through the mansion, upending priceless sculptures and vases.

The enormous wrought iron chandelier shrieked, and with a awful snap, it began to fall.

“Gabrielle!” My head whipped around. Caleb ran towards me, cutting across the entrance hall. Dear God, the chandelier and he were on a collision course. He wasn’t going to be able to clear the distance.

Time slowed. I began to move as the chandelier plunged towards him. My shoulder screamed as I forced myself up and my feet to move. But I wasn’t fast enough.

“Caleb!”

He registered my alarm, his face changing from concern to confusion. And then the edge of the chandelier connected with his head. There was a sickening thump and Caleb’s eyes rolled back as he fell limp.

The entire event happened in seconds, but it seemed to stretch on in my mind. Then time righted itself.

The chandelier hit the floor; its massive iron frame crumpled side tables and pulverized the wooden floorboards beneath. It sounded like hell had broken loose, and maybe it had. Debris rained over me from the fallout.

Above me Andre’s anger still raged. “You took an oath to protect her, and instead you tried to kill her.” The fire bloomed and spread in time to Andre’s voice, licking up the thick drapery. “You betrayed the coven. You betrayed
me
!” Everywhere glass shattered.

Theodore started to back up, the whites of his eyes visible. Remembering the gun, he aimed it at me. Before his finger so much as caressed the trigger, the gun flew from his hand.

Horror bloomed on Theodore’s usually confident face as he looked at his empty hand. Apparently he hadn’t fully realized the extent of Andre’s power either. Theodore turned to run.

“No,” Andre ordered. The doors along the hallway slammed shut. Andre wrapped his hand around one of the banister rails and ripped it away from the staircase.

Theodore staggered. “No, not that.” He began to beg. “Please Andre, have mercy.”

Andre grabbed Theodore’s hair and pulled his head backward, exposing his neck.

“Please, please, please,” Theodore said, over and over again.

“There is no mercy for traitors.” Andre lifted the stake and, in one clean stroke, thrust it through Theodore’s heart. Above the roaring of the fire, I heard screams coming from outside.

My stomach roiled. Andre dropped Theodore’s body and walked back down the stairs. His rage had not subsided. With every step he took the fire expanded, until I was uncomfortably hot.

He approached me, and I tried to move away from him. Uncaring, he scooped me up, and I screamed as he jostled my shoulder. I was pressed against Andre’s bloody tux, soaked with my blood and now Theodore’s.

Andre didn’t so much as pause as we passed Caleb. We were leaving without him. “Wait, we have to get Caleb.” Andre ignored me. “Andre, did you hear me? Put me down.”

“No.” We crossed the mansion’s threshold then were outside. I breathed in the crisp evening air. People gathered in clusters, some whispering to each other as they watched us, others crying.

Here and there I noticed strange piles of singed clothing. And then an unsettling thought crept up on me. If Andre’s death would kill everyone he’d ever changed, could Theodore’s death kill the vampires he’d created too?

“Oh God …” But Andre must’ve known this. He must have known that killing Theodore would indirectly kill so many others. But if he knew … My stomach churned. If he knew, then his actions were horrific.

“Put me down!”

“No,” he said. His voice had lost its otherworldly anger. “You may hate me, but I will not let you go back inside.” Andre finally met my gaze, and he looked normal again. A droplet of blood snaked from his eye. It took me a moment to realize it was a tear. “I cannot let you die.”

He was not going to let me save my friend. He’d hold me back and let Caleb die
—
if he wasn’t dead already. I couldn’t let that happen.

For a second time that evening I coaxed the sinister siren to the surface. I opened myself up and let my power take over. My skin began to glow lightly.

Andre’s eyes widened when he realized what I was doing. But it was already too late. “Put me down.” Once again my voice was not my own.

Andre hesitated.

I brushed a piece of hair away from his face. “Put me down,” I repeated, my voice melodic. His jaw clenched and unclenched. Slowly, so slowly, he let me down. I could tell he was trying to fight it, but even he could be swayed.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I began to run, keeping my injured arm close to my body. I didn’t know how much time I’d have before he regained full control of his actions.

My skin was still glowing, and I noticed individuals approaching me as the siren pulled them in.

Although only a minute had passed since I was last inside, the mansion was now largely consumed by flames. I hesitated only briefly before plunging in. Once inside, smoke obscured my vision, and my eyes teared up almost immediately. I made my way through the smoke to the chandelier. Next to it was my fallen friend.

Caleb lay so still that I was convinced he was dead. I knelt down and felt for a pulse. It was there, very weak but there nonetheless. I almost collapsed with relief.

I hooked my arms underneath his. A wave of nausea passed over me as I forced my injured shoulder to support Caleb’s weight. I took in a deep breath, steadied myself, and pulled him to his feet. Lifting him was effortless, but I screamed from the intense pain shooting through my arm as I moved it. He moaned, slowly coming to, and I almost cried out my relief.

“Gabrielle?” He began to cough.

“Hey sleepyhead, not the best place for a nap!” I had to yell to be heard above the fire.

He smiled then winced and rubbed his head.

“We need to get out of here!”

I let him lean on me as I walked us through the haze and back to the mansion’s main entrance. As soon as I could see it, however, I knew there was no way of getting out. The large oak doors were engulfed in flames, turning our escape into a wall of fire. My heart dropped. We were trapped in a burning house.

“We’re going to have to figure out another exit,” I said.

This was beginning to feel like déjà vu; I had lived through one fire already.

That’s it.

“Persecution tunnels,” I said.

“What?”

“Can you walk?”  I asked him.