Kerrelyn Sparks: Vampire Mine

“Thank you, my queen.” Casimir glanced at Angus when a beeping sound came from his watch. “What is that?”

“The sound of yer final defeat,” Angus replied.

With a loud whooping noise, Vamps and shifters erupted from the woods. The Malcontents forgot all about slaying their mortal victims when they saw a huge Kodiak bear, five wolves, a panther, and a tiger charging toward them.

Screams, roars, and the clashing of swords filled the air. Connor ripped Roman from Casimir’s grasp. Casimir jumped back, flailing his knife. Connor looked about for a weapon. He recalled the sword he’d left at the top of the monument, but that was too far away. Empty-handed, he jumped at Casimir, but the coward vanished.

“Dammit!” Connor ducked when a Malcontent took a swing at him with his sword.

On the bleachers, the mortals came to and began screaming. Casimir’s mind control over them had broken when he teleported away.

“You will drop your weapons!” Casimir bellowed from the top of Mount Rushmore. “Drop them or I will kill your priest!”

Connor looked up and gasped.

The fighting stopped. The mortals ran screaming up the stairs to the exit.

Casimir stood on top of George Washington’s head, his knife in his right hand. Nadia was dragging Father Andrew toward him.

“Oh God, no,” Roman breathed.

“Drop your weapons and surrender!” Casimir screamed as he pulled Father Andrew close.

“Don’t do it,” the priest yelled.

Roman tossed down the weapon he had managed to grab from a fallen Malcontent. “Let him go! Take me instead!”

The Vamps dropped their weapons. The Malcontents pointed their swords at them.

Casimir glared at them. “Now swear your allegiance to me.”

“Let him go!” Roman yelled. “Let him go, and I’ll swear.”

“No!” Father Andrew shouted. “Don’t do it, Roman!”

Casimir laughed. “This reminds me of the good old days. You remember, don’t you, Roman? Remember the time when I invaded your old monastery and killed all the monks? All those innocent old men who had raised you?”

Roman paled.

Casimir sneered down at him. “I’m going to kill you anyway, so I might as well watch you suffer first.” He stabbed Father Andrew in the chest and tossed him off the monument.

“No! ” Roman levitated up to catch the priest in his arms.

Rage erupted in Connor, snapping his vision blue, freezing the blood in his veins. He teleported to the top of the monument and grabbed the claymore he’d left behind a week ago. With a war cry, he beheaded Nadia.

Casimir whirled around. His eyes widened with fear.

“Stop!” Corky shouted.

Connor glanced back, his vision still tinted blue.

Corky had teleported to the top of the mountain with the camera. “If you kill him, I will spread the video all over the Internet and tell everyone that vampires are real.” She lifted the camera. “I’m recording now.”

“Drop your sword,” Casimir hissed. “You don’t want the whole world to know about us. It would be the end of us all.”

Connor shook with rage. He turned to Casimir. “It is yer end tonight.” He stabbed him through the chest and turned Casimir to dust.

“No!” Corky screamed.

Connor whipped around to kill her, too, but she vanished, taking the camera with her.

Marielle screamed when she saw Father Andrew stabbed and thrown off the cliff.

“Bunny! Can you hear me? Please come. Please save him.” She repeated her plea over and over as she scrambled down the hill, dodging the trees.

Meanwhile, the battle had started up again. Vamps and shifters attacked the Malcontents, shouting and roaring their fury. Thank God the mortals were managing to flee.

She reached the bottom and weaved her way through the fighting to where Roman knelt on the stage with Father Andrew in his arms.

“Father!” Marielle fell to her knees beside him. Tears filled her eyes. “I’m praying for a Healer to come. Please stay with us!”

Roman had a bloodstained hand pressed against the Father’s wound, but blood was still seeping out. “Let me take you to a hospital.”

The priest shook his head. His face was pale and clammy with sweat. “My time has come.”

“Don’t say that!” Roman shouted. “Oh God help me, I should have never dragged you into my world.”

Father Andrew gave him a weak smile. “I don’t regret a moment of it.”

Connor materialized beside Marielle, his face haggard.

She reached up to touch him. “Are you all right?”

He shook his head slightly as he regarded the priest. “I have avenged you. I hope it will give you peace.”

“You killed Casimir?” Roman asked.

Father Andrew coughed, then lifted a trembling hand to Connor. “My son, you know what I really want from you.”

Connor’s mouth twisted, then he fell to his knees and clasped the priest’s hand. “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been . . . almost five hundred years since my last confession.”

“Tell me,” Father Andrew whispered.

A tear rolled down Connor’s cheek. “I . . . have murdered in a fit of rage.” He glanced up to the top of the monument. “Twice.”

Father Andrew nodded. “I will pray for you.” He looked at Marielle. “Now I wish to finally be touched by an angel.”

“Father, no.” Tears streamed down her cheek.

Blood trickled from the side of his mouth. “I’m in pain, child. Please let me go.”

Marielle glanced at Roman through her tears, and he nodded. A pink tear ran down his face.

“Dear soul, your Father loves you greatly.” Marielle laid a trembling hand on the priest’s brow.

He didn’t die. His soul didn’t open for her. He merely sighed and fell into a painless coma. With a gasp, she lifted her hand. Was she no longer a Deliverer?

“Marielle.” Zackriel appeared close by. “I have come for this soul.”

“Have I ceased to be an angel?” she whispered.

“Who are you talking to?” Roman asked.

Zackriel knelt beside her. “You are very close to being completely human.”

Another tear slipped down her face. “You’re not taking me with you tonight, are you?”

“It is not yet your time.” Zackriel rested a hand on Father Andrew’s brow. “Dear soul, your Father loves you greatly.”

Marielle saw the priest’s soul open and his spirit lift out. Zackriel stood and moved close to the spiritual form of Father Andrew who was smiling at her, Connor, and Roman.

She stood and bowed to the priest. “God be with you, dear soul.”

Zackriel wrapped an arm around the priest. “It is time for us to go.”

“Will I ever be able to go back?” Marielle asked.

Zackriel smiled at her sadly. “It is still possible. But only if you really want to.” His wings fluttered out, and he vanished, taking Father Andrew’s soul with him.

“What just happened?” Connor asked.

Marielle gazed up at the stars while tears rolled down her face. “Father Andrew is going to heaven.”

An hour later, they were all back in the cafeteria at Romatech. Marielle sat quietly in a corner, watching the friends she had made in the seven nights that she’d been on Earth. They had succeeded in defeating the Malcontents, but there was no celebrating.

The Vamps sipped from bottles of Blissky and Bleer. The shifters indulged in real whisky and beer.

After Connor had teleported her back, he’d hugged her fiercely. “I thought ye were leaving.”

“Not tonight.”

He slumped into a cafeteria chair. For the last hour, he hadn’t moved or spoken a word.

At the end of the battle, the Vamps and shifters had quietly cleared away all signs of the struggle. Piles of dead vampire dust were swept into the woods. Weapons were gathered and returned to Romatech. Bloodstains were washed away. A group of Vamps swept through the area, looking for mortals and wiping their memories of the night’s events.