Virna DePaul - Turned

Hatred.

Utter hatred.

Ana saw it clearly then.

But she still couldn’t move. Couldn’t throw the knife she’d dragged out of Miguel’s dying body, hoping there was enough liquid nitrogen left on it to kill her sister.

She stood stock still until Ty called her name and staggered into view in the doorway.

Gloria didn’t even turn around. She just smiled and her muscles tensed as she prepared to lunge for Ana.

And Ana knew at that moment that she had to make a choice.

Her sister or her life. Her last chance at happiness with Ty.

Silently, Ana didn’t flinch from her feelings of betrayal or grief. She accepted them. Embraced them. And threw the knife the way Ty had taught her.

The blade pierced Gloria in the heart.

Her sister gasped even as she stumbled closer.

“Eliana, you hurt me. Eliana … why?”

She was almost to Ana before she dropped to her knees.

And died.

With a sob, Ana collapsed next to her.

Ty stepped over Gloria’s body and gathered Ana in hisarms. She stared numbly at her sister, clearly in shock. Her skin was cold, so cold.

He recognized that chill. He’d felt it himself. Every hour of every day since he’d been turned. It had only been in the past few months that the chill had begun to dissipate …

It had left him completely the first night he’d made love to Ana.

Ty glanced up at the man who’d saved him and accompanied him to Ana’s room. “She’s freezing.”

“When I came in, Miguel had started to turn her. I stopped him, but not in time. Her body’s cold because the turning process has begun. There’s a chance I can stop it if I feed her my blood, but I have to do it soon. Even then, it might already be too late.”

“How soon?”

“Within the next ten minutes.”

Ty growled. “You should have fed her your blood instead of coming after me!”

“She loves you. And I knew if I didn’t save you, she wouldn’t want to live anyway. This way, she has a choice, but it’s one she must make. Otherwise, I’ll make the choice for her. I believe she’d want to be with you, not just for a human lifetime, but for eternity. So unless she tells me herself to stop the turning, I’m not going to do it.”

Ty looked frantically down at Ana and he saw it clearly then—the possibility of a life with her. No, infinite lifetimes. The idea of being what he was, even the idea of living forever, didn’t scare him when he thought of spending that time with Ana. But he couldn’t be selfish. Couldn’t consign her to becoming a creature like himself, a being she would loathe as he had loathed himself for so long.

No matter what the other vampire said, she hadn’t chosen that. So he shook her.

“Ana. Ana, goddamn it, listen to me. Tell him you don’t want to be a vampire. Ana!”

Ty was calling her, and he sounded panicked. Frantic. That realization finally enabled her to look away from Gloria and search for Ty. He was right beside her. Holding her. The first thing she did was smile. He looked so worried and she wanted to reassure him but the words wouldn’t come. She raised a hand to his face to caress it, but her hand froze and fell when she saw the man standing beside him.

At first, she thought it was Miguel. Then the past—everything in the past—came rushing back at her. What he’d said. What he’d done. Her hand flew to her neck, but before she could touch it, Ty grasped her wrist. “Shh. You’re okay. Don’t touch it. Don’t—” His voice broke and he quickly looked away, as if he was ashamed to look at her.

But what did he have to be ashamed of?

“Listen to Ty, Ana. Everything’s going to be okay.”

How? was her first thought. My friend and my sister are dead . But she was again too distracted by the other man to get the words out. She studied him more closely, and was immediately struck by that powerful sense of recognition. This time, however, pieces to the puzzle drifted closer together.

She’d seen his face before. A long time before. But despite the passing of years, he looked exactly the same as he had back then. Not a single wrinkle marred his skin. Only his hair and eyes were different. Silver.

A vampire. But what kind? Born or made?

“Pablo?” Ana asked, her tone laced with disbelief … and fear.

“Ah.” He smiled widely. “You remember me, even after all this time. That’s good.”

She tried to stand, but her legs wobbled and Ty gently pressed on her shoulders, keeping her sitting on the floor. She glared at him, even as she snapped, “Of course, I remember you. You’re the one who gave me this scar. The one who came in with the others, guns blazing, the night I tried to jump out of Primos Sangre.”

Her voice was a shaky whisper, not the scathing retort she’d intended to make. But Pablo heard her anyway.

“Both things I truly regret, m’ija . All I can say is that you and I didn’t know each other then. I had no reason to know what a beautiful creature you were, inside as well as out. But when I learned what you were willing to do to get your sister out of the gang, when I read your mind after the shooting, well … that changed and I’ve been with you ever since. Watching you. Protecting you. It’s why I came here. To help you … and the vampire you love.”

Her head ached. She tried to think it through. Carly had said Devil’s Crew had been made up of Rogues. Likely he’d been a vampire even then and was simply no longer hiding it. But he’d said he was here to protect her, which made no sense. “Why me?”

“Because of what you were willing to do to protect your sister. Anything and everything. You let yourself be beaten to get her away from Primos Sangre. And you were willing to do whatever it took to be reunited with her. I’ve seen it all. Everything that’s happened. And your loyalty and goodness is what tells me you’re beautiful. Deserving of the protection I’ve given you. You remind me of my Carolina. My love, my wife. I lost her hundreds of years ago and I’m growing so weary without her. You’ve helped fill a void in me.”

“Were you—were you turned, too?”

“No, m’ija . I was born this way. Even born vampires can love. Can care.”

She remembered what Ty had said about someone following her. Someone protecting her by killing off anyone who had hurt her.

“I cared about Téa Montgomery, too.”

“Yes. Unfortunate. An associate of mine—you remember Officer Southcott, don’t you?—getting a little too carried away. She was supposed to be given a warning, not killed. I apologize, but rest assured, Officer Southcott got what was coming to him.”

“And that’s supposed to make it okay? Your apology? The fact you killed another man? Because it doesn’t.”

Pablo nodded sagely. “I understand if you feel that way.”

“What about Bobbie Hernandez? Is it true that he’s been working for you? That he wants to be a vampire?”

A look of regret flashed over Pablo’s face.

Ana shook her head. “Bobbie, too? Did you—did you—?”

“No, m’ija . He was doing a job for me. Talking to a few men who were in the bar before Ty killed Louis. I wanted to be sure what Ty meant to you, and Bobbie was helping me with that. Unfortunately, Louis’s friends were stronger than Bobbie thought. They killed him. But I took care of them. For you, but also for him. Bobbie was loyal to me. I owed him that. I should have protected him, but I’m happy I didn’t fail you, Ana. I want only for you to be at peace at last. Happy.”

Had he protected her? She supposed he had in some way. But he hadn’t been in time to save her. Nor had Ty. Not to save her from Gloria. She’d had to do it herself.