Морган Райс - Loved

Kyle swallowed hard.

“There remain your past mistakes to be accounted for. I never forget, Kyle.”

Kyle swallowed again, and he felt his throat go dry. This was what he had been dreading.

“You let that half-breed escape. She may lead someone else to the sword. If so, our war will be compromised.” He learned forward, so Kyle could see the full effect of his icy blue eyes. “ Severely compromised.”

Kyle knew better than to try to defend himself. That would only make matters worse. So instead, he just knelt there, waiting, trembling in rage, in fear. He had been tricked. He had waged their war perfectly, and now he would be punished for it.

Several seconds of silence followed, as Kyle wondered what his future would hold.

“Kyle of the Blacktide Coven, you have failed in your duties, and broken our holy covenant. I hereby sentence you to partial emergence in Ioric Acid, followed by banishment from our coven forever. You are no longer among us. You will live, but it will be a lonely life, and we will no longer recognize your name. You are an outcast. Forever.”

Kyle’s eyes opened wide in fear and astonishment, as dozens of minions suddenly appeared and grabbed his arms, dragging him away. It was too extreme, this punishment. It was unfair.

“But my master, you can’t do this. I have been your greatest soldier—for centuries!”

Kyle struggled, as more and more arms grabbed him, dragging him backwards.

“I can find her!” he screamed, while being dragged. “I can bring her back! I and I alone! I know how to find her. You must give me this chance!”

“You have had too many chances already,” the leader said, with an icy smile. “I will find her myself. I have other soldiers in my army.”

It was the final thing Kyle heard as he was dragged out of the chamber, out through the double doors.

“My master!” Kyle started to scream, but before he could finish, the doors had slammed in his face.

Kyle felt the arms on him, all over him, and before he knew it, he was on his back, flat on a slab of stone.

More and more vampires pinned him down, hovering over him. It was a frenzy of vengeance.

He thought of his thousands of years, of all the vendettas he had accumulated. He had stepped on a lot of toes to get where he was. Now it was time for payback.

One of them, sneering down at him, stepped forward with a bucket, and Kyle could smell the awful stench of the Ioric Acid before he even saw it.

“NO!” Kyle screamed. He had seen others suffer from it, and he could already guess the horrible pain that awaited.

As he looked up, the last thing he saw was the bucket tilting, then the liquid beginning to pour, right for his face.

And then the halls filled with the sound of his shrieking.

As Caitlin flew with Caleb in the cold air, gripping him tightly, her hunger pangs started to dissipate, and her head finally started to clear. She looked down and saw the blood all over Caleb, all over both of them, and tried to remember what had happened.

She remembered leaving Hawthorne’s house. Then the police, then losing control. Then there was a gunshot. Yes, now she remembered. As she had aimed her teeth for the officer’s neck, she had suddenly been pulled off him by Caleb. With lightning speed, he had yanked her off, had spared her from attacking another human.

But he had suffered for it. That cop had fired, and had hit Caleb in the arm. His blood had been all over both of them, but it never seemed to slow him down. Instead, he somehow managed to knock out all three policemen before they could react, to pick her up in the same motion, and to take off into the air. She marveled at his sense of control, in every situation. He had managed to get them out of there without seriously hurting anyone but himself. She felt embarrassed that she was not as evolved, not as in control, as he, and felt badly that she had once again put him in harm’s way.

It was dark as Caitlin and Caleb flew over the woods, on the outskirts of Salem. As they flew in the cold, night air, she slowly felt herself calming. Caleb’s strong, icy grip held her in the air, and she felt the tension in her body starting to leave. The hunger faded. So did her rage.

By the time they landed in the woods, she felt back to normal. With her head clear, the events of the past hour seem like a wild and crazy blur, and she couldn’t understand why she’d reacted the way she had. Why had she been so filled with rage, so quickly? Why couldn’t she control herself?

Of course, she knew the answer was not intellectual: when the pangs struck her, she was simply out of control. A different person, at the mercy of her animal instincts. Thank God for Caleb. She wouldn’t have wanted that policeman’s blood on her head. She was so grateful that he had rescued her before she could do anything rash.

As she saw the blood dripping down his arm, she again felt guilty. He was shot because of her.

She reached over and put her hand on his arm.

He looked down.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Are you going to be okay?”

“It will be fine,” he said. “Vampires are not like humans: our skin heals quickly. Within a few hours, it will be completely healed. It was just a regular bullet. If it had been silver, then that would have been very different. But it wasn’t. So please don’t worry,” he said gently.

As she looked at his arm, she saw that it was already healing fast. It was amazing. It hardly looked like more than a large black and blue mark. It was as if it were healing before her eyes.

She wondered if she had a similar power. Then again, being only a half-breed, she probably didn’t. Like most vampire powers, it was probably reserved only for true, full-bred vampires. A part of her wished that she was one. Immortality. Superpower. Immunity to most weapons. She had some of those traits, but clearly not all. She was stuck between two worlds, and she didn’t know which one to choose.

Not that she was being given much of a choice anyway. The only way to become a true, full vampire would be to be turned by one. And Caleb wasn’t offering. That was forbidden. And even if it wasn’t, she had a feeling he wouldn’t offer anyway. He seemed to be oppressed by being immortal, and he seemed to envy her her mortality. She didn’t get the feeling that he’d want her to be what he was. For her own sake.

“Do you still have it?” he asked.

She looked over, not understanding.

“The map,” he added.

Of course. The reason why they had landed here.

She reached into her pocket, and was relieved to discover it was still there. Thank God for zippered pockets.

She handed it to him.

He unrolled it and stared.

“We are not far,” he said, lowering it and looking at the woods before them. “The cottage should be close.”

Caitlin looked all around her, squinting in the darkness. All she saw were trees.

“I don’t see anything,” she said.

“It’s an old map,” he said. “It was drawn by hand, and is very rough. I’m sure it is not exact. But the markings indicate this area.”

Caleb looked around again, and she did, too. But neither of them saw anything.

“This cottage,” Caitlin said, “was here hundreds of years ago. Isn’t it possible that it’s been destroyed?”

Caleb scrutinized the woods. He headed in a particular direction, and she walked with him, leaves rustling.

“Yes,” he said, “that is possible. Especially if it was built of wood. Then it is most likely. But I am hoping it was built of stone. Most vampire cottages were. Then it could still stand. Or at least a portion of it.”

“But even if so, don’t you think that by now it would have been discovered, or vandalized?” she asked.