Alpha’s Blood: A Vampire Shifter Romance (Midnight Doms)

Five minutes later, I’ve watched the recording Declan sent several times. The old lady is a smaller and frailer version of the she wolf I recognize. She was part of my old pack. My parents had her babysit my sister and me a few times.

On camera, she’s unfocused and confused, her story meandering until she comes to the details of attack. She tells the tale with the growing horror of someone who can never forget the atrocity they lived through. Someone who still has nightmares of their pack’s slaughter. Her description matches the image of the old picture. Bodies lying on the floor–she was one of the last to be wounded, and she fell and played dead until the attacker left. When she describes the attacker, her words are clear: a large, male vampire with scars on his face and one eye.

I replay the recording a few times, even though I don’t need to. She said it over and over: the one-eyed vampire. He did it. He had one eye.

Scars and physical build are easy to recreate as part of a physical disguise, but there’s no faking that one damning detail. How many one eyed vampires are there?

Declan sent me the details of the pack who made the recording, so I can follow up, but I believe this account. There’s no reason for Lucius to lie, to create this long con. And this old lady isn’t the only witness. Deep down, suppressed until they appear only in my darkest dreams, I have my own memories of the attacker.

All these years. All the nightmares, night after night. Sleeping with a stake to protect myself from the vampire in the room. Not Lucius.

Xavier.

It was Xavier who came to my family home and killed my parents, did away with my siblings. Xavier who took me away for foster care to raise me until he was ready to train me to kill. But first, Xavier mind wiped me so I wouldn’t remember.

Except I knew. Deep down I knew. I never let down my guard.

Movement outside the car makes me jump. A bird flies into the shelter of mesquite branches. The sun has sunk behind the mountains, taking away all warmth. The last dying rays slant through the park, the world holding its breath before plunging into night.

I dial up Declan. I don’t know why. I need to talk to someone.

He answers without a greeting. “Did ya watch it?”

“Yes.” My voice must be thick with grief because his softens.

“I’m sorry, lass.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be okay. I had a dream actually. Xavier killed my family and wiped my mind so I wouldn’t remember. He returned and killed my pack. He took me and raised me…” I have to swallow several times to wet my throat enough to continue. “He told me Lucius did it. He promised me revenge, but all the while it was Xavier who killed them…” Because of Georgianna, I realize. He wanted to avenge her death, and when he found me, a girl who looked like her, he set his plan in motion. All those years for one long con.

Declan is silent, as if shocked by the turn of events. I can’t blame him. I lived through it and I still find it horrifying.

“What ya goin tae do now?”

Good question. Easy answer. My mission hasn’t changed, just my target.

I’m about to tell him to get intel on where Xavier is when an SUV screeches into the lot. In a cloud of dust, an escalade pulls up and parks behind me, blocking me in.

“Declan,” I croak. “I’ve got company. I gotta call you back.”

“What do ya mean, company?” His voice gets high and tiny as I toss the burner on the seat beside me. The escalade looms in the rearview mirror. Doors open and shadows stream out of it. My visitors aren’t human.

My stomach starts roiling again. As if in a dream, I twist and grab the cooler on the car floor. Take the blood. You might need it.

Lucius knew this moment would come. My bad luck that it happened sooner rather than later.

Eyes on the vampires surrounding the car, I grab the first bag and uncap it.

A vampire knocks on my window. “Get out, sweetheart. Xavier wants to talk to you.”

Bottoms up. I tip my head back and swallow the thick liquid as fast as I can. Maybe I’m too desperate to be grossed out, but the bittersweet taste isn’t unpleasant. As soon as it pours down my throat, adrenaline floods my system. Time slows. The vampires blurring from the Escalade to my car seem to walk at a normal pace. My limbs, a second ago weak and shaky, feel stronger than ever.

My last gift to you.

I can fight anything off, even a vampire. Which is good, because in about two minutes I’m going to have to fight a lot of them.

“Come on,” the vampire knocks again. His buddies are now armed with crowbars. Shame to use them on the Lambo, but I’m not getting out of the car. Not until I’ve downed more blood.

“Go to hell,” I reply, and grab a second bag.

The world slows.

Moonlight glints on the leader’s fangs. “Your funeral.” He grabs his colleague’s crowbar–the blurred movement almost at normal speed to my enhanced vision–and leaps on the car. A thud as the hood takes his body weight, and another as he brings the crowbar down onto the windshield. The glass cracks but doesn’t shatter right away. Must be reinforced.

I wait as the vampire brings down the metal rod again and again. His buds stand back and watch the show. Not that they can pick the lock while their leader is destroying this beautiful car. Xavier must want me dead or alive–and I don’t blame him. If I plotted and planned, killed and manipulated for a decade, only to have my quest for revenge thwarted by a single she wolf, I’d be mad too.

Not as mad as said she wolf. The blood of a Vampire King sizzles through my veins, augmenting my boiling rage. I’m going to get out of here, track and kill Xavier. First I have to deal with these thugs. It’ll be a nice warm up.

Above me, the vampire grunts and brings down the crowbar hard enough to make the Lambo shudder. The glass is a fractured cobweb above my head. Any moment it’ll shatter.

I have to bite the inside of my cheek not to laugh. This is going to be fun.

The vampire raises his weapon again.

“All right, all right,” I shout, pretending to be scared. “I’m getting out.” I raise my hands, showing empty palms. The vampire jerks his head towards my door. I unlock and open it, swinging out slowly. The vampires stand back to give me space.

Mistake.

The vampire on the car roof drops to my side. “Xavier wants–”

I never learn what my former mentor wants. A crowbar can’t kill a vampire, but grabbing and jamming it into their guts is a good way to get their attention. Follow it up by twisting their head around hard enough to break their neck, and they drop neatly, ready to be staked or left out for the dawn. I do all this, and I do it fast enough that I blur. When I turn, I take a second to register the shock on the waiting faces. I’m fast as a vampire. Maybe faster.

As if in slow motion, the vampires start to jump on me–too slow. I jump first. The crowbar disembowels a second, a third. I’ve lost the element of surprise, but I’ve spent years practicing fighting and killing vampires. Between Lucius’ blood, and Xavier’s training, I am unstoppable.

I chase two into the park and stake them with palo verde branches. I return with more quickly fashioned stakes and take the rest of the guys out. I drag them into the park, hiding them in a ditch. Hopefully, no human will find them before dawn comes and turns them to ash.

When I stick my head into the Lambo, the burner phone is bleating. I grab it and the cooler of blood, and jog to the now empty Escalade. I took the keys off the leader.

Declan answers before the first ring.

“What happened?’ he shouts.

“Five guys, vampires. They tried to take me to Xavier.”

“Tried?”

“Yeah. Well, vampire blood has its benefits,” I say before I can think.

But Declan knows all about vampire blood because he sucks in a breath, then mutters in a chastising tone, “Girl…”

My stomach flips as I start up the car. I’m feeling better. Not 100 percent, but good enough to take out anyone trying to stop me. Including a vampire or five.

“Where are you? “Declan asks.

A road sign flashes by and I read it to him. “It’s about twenty miles from Lucius’ home. Why?”

“Because when you hung up, we called Frangelico. Was gonna try to track your car, so we could get in and help you out.”

“So?” I reverse the Escalade. Not as much torque as the Lambo, but pretty spry for such a heavy car.

“So, no one picked up at the house. Not Lucius. Not any of his security team.”

My heart thuds to my feet. “I’m going there. Now.”

“Selene–it’s nae safe–Frangelico would want you to stay away–” Declan sputters.

“He could be in danger.” Xavier wants Lucius bad enough to kill my entire family and pack and wait years until I was honed as his perfect weapon. He’s not going to stop now.

“Who would dare attack the Vampire King?”

“Xavier,” I answer, my heartbeat speeding up with the Escalade. “Not just Xavier. There’s a coup. Lucius’ sired want to overthrow him. What if they’re working with Xavier?” The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. That auction wasn’t Xavier’s doing. Whatever’s going on, all Lucius’ enemies are in it together.

I hit the gas and the wheels squeal.

Lucius

I know the minute the sun retreats before the dark. My lungs fill with air.

The lethargy rolls away. I rise, pushing aside the sarcophagus lid. My morning ritual requires an act of supernatural strength. It should make me feel all powerful. Immortal. Instead I am drained. Weak.

I close my coffin and stretch out on it, hands folded as if in prayer. But who would I pray to? In all my years, I am closest thing to a god anyone will ever meet. Immortal, all powerful.

A monster, forever damned.

Cool air wafts down the hall. I blink, but don’t turn my head.

The house is empty without her. My life is empty without her.

But not my crypt. Someone else is here.

“Lucius,” Xavier’s voice echoes in the gloom.

I left the crypt open. Two thousand years and I never let my guard down. Not until her. And when she came in, she brought light into my world, the likes I thought I’d never see again.

The shadows coalesce as the one-eyed vampire takes a solid form.

It’s time for this to end. I rise to greet my lifelong enemy. “Hello, old friend.”

Selene

My foot hits the floor as the SUV powers up the mountain to Lucius’ palace.

“Hang on, lass,” Declan’s voice crackles on the burner phone. “We’re almost there.”

Gritting my teeth, I take a turn too fast. The Escalade almost tips on two wheels, straightening with a jarring bump. I’m coming, Lucius. I don’t know if he’s in trouble, but the fact that he’s not answering his phone, that Xavier’s minions found me doesn’t bode well.

“It’s gotta be Xavier and all of Lucius’ sired.” I tell Declan to let him know what we’re walking into. As crazy as it sounds, I believe they’re working together. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. Xavier was Lucius’ enemy. Why would Lucius’ sired align with him?” I wonder aloud.

“Selene, there’s something else you should know,” Declan says. “I didn’t send you the full recording, just the specific part where the witness named the attacker.”

I rip around another turn. “So?”

“Not all your pack died in the massacre. The alpha did some digging some of your pack were taken to a private compound. This facility contained a lab and there’s evidence that the they didn’t die right away.” he stops as if what he’s about to say is too horrible to blurt out.

“Torture?” I ask.

“Not quite. The vampires had a purpose for stealing the youngest and strongest of your pack. We think the vampires were trying to turn them.”

“Shifters can’t be turned,” I say on autopilot, even as Lucius’ words echo in my memory. They got the idea that they could turn shifters, he said. Form an army to overthrow my rule.

“Xavier was searching for a way. Had a theory that if a shifter could become a vampire, they’d be more powerful than any other creature on earth. Able to overthrow anyone.”

“Like the Vampire King.”

“Exactly.”

“Did it work? Did any of the experiments work?

“Apparently not. All the test subjects he stole eventually died. I’m sorry, lass.”

“It’s all right.” I thought they were dead long ago. This doesn’t change anything.

“Did he ever try to change you?”

“No.” I look like Lucius’ first love. I was too precious to waste on an a risky experiment. Unlike the rest of my pack.

Fucking, fucking vampires. The SUV stinks of them. I hit the down buttons on the windows and relax as fresh air blows through the cabin.

I don’t know if I can take on Xavier and all his sired, but I’m gonna try.

I slow as I approach the gate to Lucius’ home. It’s open, but someone’s manning the guardhouse. “Quiet,” I order Declan and roll the windows back up before I stop beside the guardhouse. A vampire exits.

“Did you get her? Xavier wants you to go on through–”

I slam open the door with enough force to drive him backwards. He stumbles and falls. With my enhanced vision, these vampires aren’t so graceful. I fly out of the car and leap on top of him, snapping his neck before he can say a word. I stake him and leave him where he falls.

Behind the guardhouse, in a ditch, lie Lucius’ guards. Not a good sign.

I hop back into the Escalade and tell this to Declan and he relays it to whoever’s driving him.

“I’m going in,” I say and toss the phone down.

“Wait for us, lass–” Declan cries and I shout back, “There’s no time!”

A dark obstacle appears ahead. Two more black Escalades are parked to block the road. I almost slow–until I see the two shadows standing to the side. Vampire guards. One waves at me to stop. The other has a walkie talkie to his head. I see the moment they realize I’m not one of their colleagues. Their eyes widen.

“Oh no, you don’t,” I mutter, and mash the gas pedal down. My SUV hits the road block, metal on metal screeching in an earsplitting sound. The momentum blasts me past the two SUVs. I look back as the Escalade hurtles onward, but there’s no sign of the vampires. It’s too much to hope I got them in the crash.

A thump on the roof above my head, and I know exactly where one of the vampires went. I wrench the steering wheel back and forth, weaving up the steep incline, trying to shake the intruder off. The vampire sticks like a leech. I take a deep breath and jerk the wheel hard. The vehicle shudders, dancing out of control. The tires leave the road. My whole body is suspended in air for a horrible second as the SUV tips onto its right side, rolling several times before settling in a ditch.

Lucius

Xavier enters my crypt, his footsteps heavy. Like me, he can move soundlessly. It’s a display of power when he chooses not to.

He regards my austere lair with a sneer and says, “I was never your friend.”

I spread my hands. “Brother, then.”

“You killed our sired.”

“I’ve killed a lot of people. Most of them deserved it.”

“A vampire with a conscience.” Xavier shakes his head. “So superior.”

“There’s enough evil in the world without corrupting innocents. Although, I’ve corrupted my fair share.”

The edges of his mouth curl. “I remember. There was a sweet little blonde you hunted, once.”

“Georgianna. Yes. You turned her before I could.”

“She was mine.” Xavier’s voice echoes through the crypt. He seems to realize he’s lost his temper because he heaves a breath and straightens. “Just as Selene was mine.”

“Was?” I tilt my head.

“I assume you killed her. Betrayal cannot go unpunished.”

I incline my head, pretending to agree. “Forget the she wolf. She means nothing to me.” The lie is ash in my mouth, but it’s safer this way.

Xavier chuckles. “She played her part. You always were a soft touch. Why else would you have left your crypt open?”

“Maybe I’m ready for the end game.” I set my hands on my sarcophagus and lean forward. “So you decided to kill me. Tell me, Xavier, what makes you think you’re strong enough to best me?”

“Interesting accusation coming from someone grieving for a lost pet. You can’t even keep your sired in line.”

“I like giving them a long leash.”

“You coddle them. If they were mine–”

“Ahh but they are not. As I recall, you have trouble siring vampires. It requires too much…coddling.”

“I sired Georgianna.” Xavier’s empty smile turns smug.

My hands clench to fists. “Only because I prepared her. You knew she’d consented to be turned. We’d completed blood exchanges. All that left was the final exchange.”

“It was so easy to seduce her away.” His laugh fills the cavernous room.

“You mind wiped her.”

“Of course I did,” Xavier spreads his hands. “We are gods. To have that power and not use it?”

“It’s not real. They do not consent.”

“Consent,” Xavier scoffs. “You want them to love you of their own free will.”

“Yes.”

“Another weakness. And how has it worked for you? How many sired have turned on you like you turned on our maker? How many have you killed?”

I don’t answer.

Xavier ambles closer to the dais. “Georgianna didn’t want to kill you, did you know that? I had to mind wipe her several times before she obeyed.”

He’s trying to make me angry. It’s working.

“But she did obey, in the end. And you killed her. Amusing how history repeats itself?”

“I find it tiring.” And I do. This whole miserable existence is not worth leaving the grave. It wasn’t until Selene came into my world that I had a reason to feel. To walk a new path.

“You just need a challenge.”

“Is that what I am to you, Xavier? A challenge?” I spread my hands. “How exactly did you think you could kill me?”

“Do you know how the shifter auctions came about?”

I narrow my eyes. “Some of my sired got a taste for shifter blood.”

“Yes. do you know how?”

I do, actually. My own research and interrogations have told me. But I fold my arms and let Xavier have his fun.

“I’ve been at it for years. Hunting shifters, capturing them. I thought, if I can get one to complete the change, I could create an army more powerful than anything on earth. There had to be a way to do it. We tried with all types of shifters, strong ones and weak ones. But they’d rather die as shifters than live again as the undead.”

I snort, and he nods as if I’ve agreed.

“It is too bad. We could’ve created vampires faster than you could dream. An army of the strongest creatures on earth.”

“So that was your plan to overthrow me?”

Xavier smiles. “Not the only one.”

Selene

When I come to, I’m hanging upside down. I’m in a crushed cab, covered in glass. Windshield wiper fluid drains out of the hood. Where am I? What just happened? The road block. The car crash. The vampire–Vampire!

I rip away the seatbelt and gravity takes over. I fall, hit the roof of the destroyed Escalade. My world tilts. Blindly, I grope for the door lock. When I find the window opener, i say a prayer and press it. It opens most of the way.

I’ve contorted around to squeeze out of the window when hands clamp under my armpits. I save my strength and let the vampire drag me out. He tries to grab my throat but I’m too fast for him. I rear back and kick him in the gut. He falls. My speed is wearing off, but these guys aren’t expecting me to be as fast as a vampire. I still have the element of surprise. I stake my fallen enemy and scramble away from the upside down SUV. There was another one.

I jog back to the scene of broken Escalades. Glass crunches under my shoes. I find the second vampire unconscious from the crash and finish him with one of my makeshift stakes.

The walkie talkie crackles on the ground with someone asking for updates. Any moment, they’ll dispatch someone to check this out. Maybe they already have.

I’ve got to get out of here, but my sickness is back with a vengeance. My vision blurs.

Something white streaks up the road, solidifying into a Camaro. I jolt backwards, falling into a ready fighting stance, but an Irish accent makes me pause.

“It’s all right, lass! It’s just us!”

The doors slam and gravel crunches as I stagger. Declan and Parker appear at my side.

“Easy, there, it’s all right.” They support me as I dry heave onto the dirt. I can’t believe my stomach is still upset. It’s been over twenty four hours that I’ve eaten anything.

“Thanks, “ I say, using a section of my shirt to wipe my face.

“You all right?”

“No,” I mumble. “I’m…I don’t feel well.”

“Come on, lass. Into the Camaro.”

“Need to go to Lucius.”

“You’re in no condition to get to him.”

Laurie appears, holding something. The cooler. It survived the crash.

“Feck, Declan mutters. “Not this again.”

I push upright and jerk my arm out of Parker’s grip to beckon to the tall shifter. “Give me the blood. Now.”

Declan blocks my way. “Lass, no. It’s too dangerous.”

“Lucius gave it to me. He knows…He knows I need it to kill vampires. Xavier will hunt me to the ends of the earth when he finds out I betrayed him.” My head throbs. Whatever illness I had earlier, it’s not gone, but buried under the adrenaline rush the vampire blood gives me. When this is over, I’m going to have a hell of a migraine. “This has to end now. Tonight

Lucius

“You’ve wanted to kill me for what, a hundred years? A thousand? Since we were sired? You were always jealous of me, Xavier. Of course you had several plans to kill me. None of them worked.”

“Mmm,” Xavier is back to looking smug. “I had high hopes for Selene.”

“And she didn’t kill me. She got close, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.”

“Are you so sure?”

I’m here, aren’t I? And she is not.”

“Ah yes, there is that. Tell me, what exactly happened to her?” Xavier steps onto the dais, close enough for me to make out the scars on his face, even in the dim light. He lost his eye in a fight with a she-bear shifter, and even though he always wears a black eye patch, his face is a gruesome sight.

But his face doesn’t hold my attention.

Behind him, in the hall, a shadow moves. A glimmer of a white blonde head. Xavier and I are no longer alone. My pet sneaked into the room.

She’s come back to me at the best and worst possible moment.

Everything’s changed.

Selene

Xavier stands in front of the sarcophagus talking to Lucius like they’re at a party. Vampires are nuts.

I snuck through the house. It was easy. I’d lived there almost a month, after all. Xavier’s guards were alert and on edge, but they didn’t expect me. No one expects a she-wolf hopped up on vampire blood. I left a trail of bodies.

“She’s dead,” Lucius’ voice echoes around me. “I killed her.”

“I thought you would. How’d she taste? I’ve always wondered.” My ex-mentor’s voice makes my skin crawl. “All those years keeping her untouched, unblooded. Chaste for the auction. How did you find her blood?”

Lucius licks his lips with an obscene flash of fang. “Delicious.”

“Did you drain her?”

“Yes, I–” Lucius stops mid sentence as his whole body jerks. He slumps onto the sarcophogus, suddenly gasping for breath. I freeze.

“Ah yes. I was wondering when it would take effect.” Xavier steps forward. He’s inching towards Lucius.

“Stay back,” rasps Lucius. I get to my feet. Something’s happening. Should I go to him? I creep further into the room and Lucius puts up a hand. “Stay back,” he repeats, even though Xavier hasn’t moved. Lucius knows I‘m here. The message was for me.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what’s going on?” Xavier chuckles. “Right now your limbs should be feeling heavy. The poison is delayed, but once it overwhelms your organs there’s no going back. No antidote.”

“Selene,” Lucius whispers. My hairs stand on end. I rise. “No,” Lucius orders, his voice sharp as a whip. I stay where I am, standing in plain sight, but Xavier’s focused on his enemy.

“It’s no use,” Xavier says softly. “The poison’s in your veins. I knew you wouldn’t resist drinking from our Selene. Draining her dry. I had to be careful of the dose–enough to kill you without killing the shifter carrier too quickly. My lab worked for years to make it slow acting.”

“When–” Lucius croaks.

My mind is racing ahead, knowing what Xavier will say. He poisoned me. That bastard poisoned me.

“At your club. I walked right in and gave her a drink. That’s what one does at clubs, correct? Then you both went home and I just had to wait.”

Lucius shudders. “Go on,” he makes a chopping motion with his hand. He’s ordering me to leave. I can’t believe Xavier hasn’t realized I’m here, but he’s too focused on his enemy. “Make it quick–”

“Oh I don’t think so,” Xavier whispers. “That’s the beauty of it. With you weak, I can take my time.” His body tenses and I know he’s going to leap over the sarcophagus and take Lucius down.

“No!” With my remaining strength, I blur onto the platform to grab my ex mentor.

“Pet!” Lucius cries. “No!”

I’m faster than Xavier, but only just. I pull him back from attacking Lucius and he whirls, hissing. Too late, I see the stake in his hand.

Lucius

For an awful second, Selene and Xavier grapple, the huge vampire’s body covering hers. I seize the stake she left at my feet a lifetime ago and leap over the stone coffin. I rip Xavier off Selene and slam the stake into his chest. He arches, stiffening, and falls. The stake isn’t quite in his heart, but it’ll hold him for now.

I whirl and crouch beside Selene.

“Hey.” Her smile lights her entire face. Her small hand pats my bare chest. “He didn’t get you.”

“No.”

From her shoulders up she’s beautiful, her hair falling around her face, silken silver. It spills over her chest and when I brush it away, the locks come away stained with blood. Xavier buried a stake in her gut. I place a hand on her chest but don’t dare tug the wood away. If he didn’t hit an artery, he came close and removing the stake will speed the blood loss. Her limbs are cold, stiffening.

“What’s happening?” Her lips turn blue.

“Pet…” My hands comb over her body, checking for more wounds. The stake shouldn’t slow her shifter healing. She’s fading too fast.

“The poison,” Xavier cackles beside us.

I blur to his side. The stake is half in his heart. I set my foot on it and press. “Where’s the antidote?”

His head rolls to the left and right. “There is none.”

“Lucius…” Selene rasps.

Xavier grimaces. With his final strength, he lifts his hand and clutches my leg. “She’s alive. How–?”

I lean over him, fangs bared. “I didn’t kill her. I made her mine.” His grip convulses on my leg, but his strength is gone. Another enemy, vanquished. But at what cost?

“I’ll see you in hell,” I tell him and push the stake in another two inches, until his mouth slackens and his eyes go black.

I blur to Selene’s side. “Baby. Sweet Selene. My pet.” My hands stroke over her body. I want to carry her out, move her from this place, but she might not survive.

“Just a flesh wound…” she whispers. “Why are you…so sad…”

I shake my head, not wanting to answer. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here. How did–”

“Nobody expects the Spanish–” Blood leaks from her mouth and I stop her lips with two fingers.

“Shhhh. Don’t talk.” A tremor goes through her and I answer the question in her eyes. “You’re body is shutting down. He poisoned you.”

Her mouth works under my fingers. “Tried…”

“Yes, baby. He poisoned you to get to me.” She’s dying and it’s my fault. It always is. My chest constricts, my body tightening with the need to roar.

Footsteps in the hall make me jerk upright. Declan and Parker and their tall, strange friend run up to the dais and take in the scene with horrified faces.

“Is it the blood?” The Irish wolf asks.

“She took the blood?” I snarl. “How much did she have?”

“All of it. She took all of it,” Declan says. The tall shifter beside him twitches. “Is that what’s wrong with her?”

I jerk my head sharply. “Poison. Meant for vampires.” My blood won’t save her. Her shifter healing is working but her wounds are too great. Her system is overwhelmed. Nothing can save her now.

Unless…

“Is there an antidote?” Declan is asking. “What can we do–”

“Get out. Leave us.” What I’m about to do can’t be witnessed by anyone but me.

“Sire–”

“Your debt is paid,” I snap at them, cradling Selene’s head with gentle hands. “Go.”

“No.” Declan sounds so stubborn I tear my gaze away from Selene. No one says no to me. “We’re not leaving her.”

Of course they’re devoted. She inspires that level of loyalty without trying.

“I would never hurt her. But you must leave. Leave and shut the crypt behind you. Tell no one what you saw today.” The echo of my voice dies with the sound of retreating footsteps. I relax. Selene and I are alone. The only sound is the rattle of her breath in her broken chest.

“Oh, pet, you are undone.” She’s so pale, her life slipping away with every heartbeat. By the time her body fights the poison off, she’ll die from the stake wound.

“Worth it…” she whispers. No anger, no rancor on her face. Nothing but love. She raises a hand and I capture it, bringing it to my lips.

“I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

Her eyes widen. “What–”

“Shhh.” I stop her lips again, leaning close. “If you could choose, would you stay with me?”

Her brow quirks. “Stay?” Her body convulses in my hold as pain wracks her organs. The poison taking over.

“Listen, Selene.” I’m running out of time. “What would you choose?”

Her mouth tips up under my fingers as she whispers, “You.”

My head falls back, relief bursting in my chest. With Selene fading at my feet, I tear a wound in my flesh, right above my heart. I lift her and press her mouth to the red slash.

“Drink,” I order. And her throat works, her lips sucking at my skin as she drinks deeply.

It might not work. It might be too late. But there’s a slim chance and I have to try.

She convulses in my arms and I grip her tighter.

“That’s it, pet. It’ll be all right.” She clutches me, straining. I tip her backwards so my blood flows more easily down her throat. The transformation takes several exchanges, sire to sired. We’ve exchanged blood several times, and with the amount she drank today, it might work.

But only if the poison doesn’t overwhelm her body first.

A sigh shakes her body and her hands lose their grip on my shoulders. Her eyes close. This is it. Her organs are failing.

Hands shaking, I pull out the stake. Blood spurts, and I press my hand to her chest as she breathes her last. Her body can’t survive the blood loss and the poison. But as she dies, the vampire virus will take root. I can only hope my blood will be enough to save her.

I can only wait.

In the stillness of my crypt, I hold her body for hours, long after she goes still. Long after the blood dries. Pressing a kiss to her cold lips, I rise and sponge her body clean. I lay her on the stone slab. In the grim darkness, her body glows with an inner light. A creature of moonlight, a beacon in the night. I could fall to my knees beside the sarcophagus and worship forever.

Instead, I clean the crypt and deal with Xavier’s body. I wash and purify the crypt, and settle in for a long night. Over the years, I’ve held countless vigils, waiting for the vampires I’ve created to rise. The joy of their birth is always tinged with grief, their life predicated by their death. I bow my head in semblance of prayer. This crypt is now a womb.

Close to dawn, the silence breaks with a long mournful note. A wolf howling. The melancholy sound both a greeting and a goodbye. And I know.

Day is coming. I stretch out beside the sarcophagus and wait for the sleep of the dead. Above me, on the slab, Selene’s body lies still, but I can sense the change. She’s cheated death and come nightfall, she will rise as a vampire.

Immortal, like me.

Selene

I open my mouth and air rushes into my lungs. My body is heavy as a slab of marble. I draw in deep breaths until tingles go up and down my limbs, bringing them to life.

I must have made a small sound, because the next moment Lucius stands over me, his forehead creased as he looks me up and down.

“Hey.” I give Lucius a half grin. My mouth isn’t working right. None of my limbs are. “What’s happened?”

“Selene.” There’s a world of relief in his voice. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah. Captain Obvious.” My muscles tense as I try to rise. Why can’t I sit up?

“Easy, pet.” He places a hand on my chest.

“I feel weird.”

“Yes. I thought you might.” He slides an arm under my shoulders and helps me sit up. My body feels different, and I’m not sure why. I’m naked, but surprisingly not cold. The crypt air flows around me, the cold vampire scent transformed into something warm and comforting. I touch the spot on my chest where Xavier stabbed me. The skin is smooth, unmarred. I am whole.

Lucius’ hands skim down my sides. Blood roars in my veins, my body awakening to his touch. His chest is still smeared with blood but my own is clean. I swipe at the red stain and he captures my hand.

“What’s wrong, pet?”

“So much blood,” I mumble.

“Yes. It was necessary.” He tilts his head close, his dark hair brushing my forehead. “You drank all the blood I gave you.”

“I needed it.”

He squeezes my hand. “You came back for me.”

“You were in danger. In trouble. Xavier–” I push at Lucius, frantic to look past him.

“Shhh, he won’t hurt you again.”

My mentor is gone, the spot on the stones where he lay scrubbed clean.

“Is he…” I look from the stones to Lucius’ shadowed face.

“Staked. I got him while he was distracted. I couldn’t have done it without you, pet. You saved my life.”

“Yes.” Pain twists in my temple, I rub it away. I have to remember. “I’m glad he’s gone. He killed my pack. My family. It was Xavier.”

“Oh,” Lucius sounds as pained as I feel. “Selene.”

I shake my head and wince. “I’m glad he’s gone.” My head throbs like it’s been clubbed. I sift through my memories, reliving what happened. Xavier, in the crypt, Lucius staggering– “He hurt you. You were hurt. You…when Xavier was here. You seemed to be weakened…” I stop as he smiles. “You were faking it! How did you know?”

“An educated guess. Xavier seemed so smug.”

“He used me to try to kill you.”

Lucius’ smile fades. “Yes, pet, and I’m sorry. Your death is my fault.”

I jerk in his arms. Bring my hands up between us, not to push him away, but to examine them. My hands look the same as they always have. A bit paler, perhaps. “I’m not…dead.”

“Not in the way you think.” He looks so sad, I cup his face.

“It’s all right,” I murmur.

“When you find out what I’ve done…I can only hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course. What–”

In answer, he takes my fingers and puts them to my mouth. I don’t understand until he pushes them past my lips. I touch something hard and slim and cold. Needle sharp. A fang. Not a wolf canine, but a tooth belonging to a greater predator, a–

“Vampire?” I ask, dreading his response.

Slowly, he nods.

A little sound escapes my throat. A whimper. A moan. “You turned me.”

“I turned you,” he confirms, and before I can say more, he gathers me into his arms. “I would do it again even knowing you’d change your mind. You said you wanted to be with me. I couldn’t let you go. Not now. Now when I know–”

“Know what?” I turn in his arms so I’m facing him. My heart beats loud in my ears. Under my palm, Lucius’ heart pumps blood in matching rhythm.

“I love you. Selene, I love you, and I couldn’t let you go.”

I raise my hand between us, right in front of my face. It looks the same, the pale skin, the bluish veins His blood flows through my veins. Immortal blood.

Everything is different. But when I retract my hand and see his face, I know: everything is the same.

“I know. Lucius, I know.” I lay my palm on his cheek. His hair is tousled in contrast to his elegant features. For once he’s not perfectly groomed. It only took a meeting with his enemy and a near death experience for him to forget his vanity.

He looks as beautiful as ever. Unworldly. A god come to earth. A legendary king come back to life. “I love you, too. I loved you from the first night.”

His breath blows my hair about my shoulders. He embraces me, his lips finding my ear. “That’s a relief.”

I laugh into his hug. “Did you think I wouldn’t forgive you for giving me life?”

He pulls away. “It comes with a price. Pet,”–he cups my chin, all seriousness–“I have condemned you to a life in darkness. You will never see the sun.”

I lean forward and twine my arms around him, needing to feel him. “I do not need the sun,” I tell him with all honesty. “You are all the light I need.”