Морган Райс - Betrayed

“I could not leave you,” he said. “I had to see that you were all right.”

Was that all? Caitlin thought. Did he only care about seeing that she was all right? And as soon as she was, was he going to just leave?

On the one hand, Caitlin felt a surge of love for him, knowing what he’d sacrificed. But on the other hand, she wondered if he only cared about her physical well-being? Not about them as a couple?

“So…” Caitlin began, “now that you see that I’m all right…are you going to just leave?”

It had come out too harsh. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she be more kind, more gentle, as he had been? She certainly didn’t mean it. It just came out all wrong. What she had wanted to say was, Please, don’t ever leave me.

“Caitlin,” he began softly, “I want you to understand. My family, my people, my coven—they are in grave danger. The Sword is out there, and it is in the wrong hands. I need to get back to them.

I need to save them. In truth, I should have left a week ago…and now that I see that you are recovered, well…it is not that I want to leave you. It is that I must save my family,” he said softly.

“I could come with you,” Caitlin responded, hopeful. “I could help.”

“You are not fully recovered,” he said. “That crash landing was not an accident. It takes any vampire some time to fully come into her own powers. And in your case, you also suffered a terrible injury from the Sword. That may take days, or weeks, to heal. If you came, you could injure yourself.

The battlefield is no place for you right now. They will train you here. That is why I brought you.”

Caleb turned and crossed the terrace, leading her, and they looked down at the courtyard.

There, far below, were dozens of vampires, lit up under the torchlight, sparring, jousting and wrestling with each other.

“This small island holds one of the finest covens there is,” Caleb said. “They have agreed to take you in. They will teach you. They will train you. They will make you stronger. And then, when your powers are fully developed, when you are fully healed, I would be honored to have you fight beside me. Until then, I’m afraid I cannot let you. The war I am heading into will be very dangerous. Even for a vampire.”

Caitlin’s brow furrowed. She’d been afraid he’d say something like that.

“But what if you don’t come back?” she asked.

“If I am alive, I will return for you. I promise.”

“But what if you don’t live?” Caitlin asked, almost too afraid to utter the words.

Caleb turned and looked out at the horizon, and breathed deeply. He stared out at the clouds, and did not say a word.

Now was Caitlin’s chance. She desperately wanted to change the subject. He was determined to leave, she could see that, and nothing was going to stop him. And it was clear that he could not bring her. She felt a wave of exhaustion, and she knew that he was right: she was not ready to fight.

She needed to heal.

She didn’t want to waste any more time trying to stop him. And she didn’t want to talk anymore about vampires, wars, or swords. She wanted to use their precious remaining time to talk about them. Caitlin and Caleb. Them as a couple. Their future. Their love for each other. Their commitment to each other. Where, exactly, did they stand?

More importantly, she realized, throughout all their time together, since she’d first met him, she’s always just taken him for granted. She had never stopped to take a moment, to look into his eyes and tell him exactly how deeply she felt for him. She was a woman now, and she felt it was time for her to step up and act mature, act like a woman. To tell him what she really felt for him. She needed him to know. Maybe he sensed it, sensed how much she loved him, but she had never uttered the words. Caleb, I love you. I’ve loved you from the second I met you. I will always love you.

Caitlin’s heart was pounding, more terrified for this than she had been for anything thus far.

Trembling, she reached up a hand, and gently placed it on his cheek.

He slowly turned towards her.

She was ready, finally, to tell him what she thought.

But as she tried, the words got stuck in her throat.

At the same time, he suddenly looked at her with a flash of concern, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Caitlin, there is something I need to tell you—” he began.

But he never had a chance to finish his sentence.

There was suddenly the sound of a door opening, and Caitlin sensed immediately that the two of them were no longer alone.

They both spun towards the noise, and looked to see who it was.

It was a person. A vampire. A beautiful, incredible creature, taller, thinner, better built than Caitlin. With long, flowing red hair and bright green eyes.

As Caitlin realized who it was, her heart plummeted.

No. It couldn’t be.

It was her. Sera. Caleb’s ex-wife.

Caitlin had met her only once, briefly, at the Cloisters. But she had never forgotten her.

Sera walked towards them with the elegance of a creature who had been on this planet for thousands of years. Confident. Without slowing, her eyes on Caitlin all the while, she walked up beside Caleb.

She reached up a single, pale, beautiful hand, and slowly draped it around Caleb shoulder. She looked down at Caitlin with utter contempt.

“Caleb?” she said softly, a sinister smile across her face. “Didn’t you tell her about us?”

And with those few words, Caitlin felt as if a knife had been plunged into her heart.

Samantha watched in horror as the cauldron tilted toward Sam’s face. She struggled for all she was worth, but there was nothing she could do to break free of her captors. She was helpless. She’d just have to stand there and watch it destroy the person she had come to love.

As the liquid doused Sam, Samantha braced herself, expecting to hear the horrible shrieks so often accompanied by a dousing of Ioric acid.

But as Sam became completely lost in the waterfall of acid, there was, strangely, not a single sound.

Had it killed him so quickly, so completely, that he didn’t even have a chance to scream? As the liquid stopped, Sam came into view.

And Samantha was truly shocked. As was every other vampire in the room.

He was fine. He blinked and looked around, clearly not in pain. He even looked a bit defiant.

It was incredible. Samantha had never seen anything like it—never seen anyone, human or vampire, immune to the liquid. That is, anyone except for one person. Now she remembered.

Caitlin. His sister. She had been immune, too. What could that mean? Was it because they were genetically linked? She thought back to his watch, to the inscription. The Rose and the Thorn. Was the dynasty split between them? Could it be that she wasn’t The One?

But that he was?

Caitlin was a few years older than Sam, and perhaps she’d showed signs of coming-of-age sooner than he. Perhaps, if they had waited a few years, Sam would also have shown signs of morphing into a half-breed.

Whatever the reason, he was clearly immune. Which made him very, very powerful. And very dangerous to her coven.

Samantha looked around, and in the room of several hundred vampires, there was not a sound.

They all just stared, in shock.

Sam looked pissed. He reached up, dragging his chains, and wiped the water from his face. He tugged at the chains, but could not get free.

“Can someone get me out of this fucking thing!?” he screamed.

And then, it happened.

Suddenly, there was a crash at the door.

Samantha spun around, and watched as the huge set of double doors came crashing down.

She couldn’t believe it. There stood Kyle, half his face disfigured, Sergei at his side, and hundreds of mercenary vampires behind him.