We were walking through the castle’s corridor; Tero was to my left and Marcia to my right, much like they’ve done since I came to live here, my ever-present shadows, and I know Theodore cares for them too. He wouldn’t trust them to be around me otherwise. He wouldn’t have brought them to live here under his protection when their parents died when they were mere kids.

They’ve been arguing all day, complaining about some guard who asked his sister out on a walk around the garden, when various voices begin to shout.

I can’t make out what they’re saying, but a second later it doesn’t matter as the ground shakes and a wall to my left crumbles. The sound is loud, hurts my ears, but I’m being pushed aside before a large boulder can crush my left side.

“What the hell?” Tero yells, his voice frantic as I sit up and try to gather my bearings. I’m trying to take inventory of the situation, my hands shaking and chest feeling so heavy for some reason. It feels as though— “No. No. No!”

The gut-wrenching pain in his voice makes me look over, and the sight that greets me breaks my heart. My beautiful, sweet friend is on the ground with a large portion of her body buried beneath the rubble.

She’s not breathing, a large gash on her forehead.

“Marcia! Sister.” Tero’s body shakes, his voice cracking. “Please open your eyes. Please.”

“Tero, move.” He doesn’t hear me, trying to push the wall off himself. “Tero, move!” Those sharp light-blue eyes snap to mine at my pleas, so much like his animal, and in them I find so much sorrow. So much need. “I can’t help her if you don’t get out of my way.” His head tilts. He’s not the one here with me anymore, but rather his snake, and I’m thankful that the beast took the forefront. I’ll need its strength. “Help me move the rubble and then go and get Theo. Please. Can you do this for me, my friend?”

His head bobs while his human body begins to remove the heavy rocks one by one, only stopping once to glare at those responsible. Three men and they all look worried, scared. I’ll question them later. Right now, I need access to her full body.

For a few minutes, no one speaks. No one moves.

But I feel the energy all around me, the shift in temperature, and it begins to drop as I center myself. I can’t call upon her spirit if I’m not in control or I will lose myself, something that I’ll never allow to happen. Theo needs me.

“Done. My Queen.” Tero hisses and steps back, his muscles coiled and ready to attack if anyone comes near me.

Nodding at him, I get down on my knees and place my hands above her chest. Her energy is missing, but there’s a tether still lingering in the earth, fighting to stay, and I focus on it. My hands begin to shake as I give some of my life’s force to it, feeding it my essence.

There’s another commotion near us and the skies above rumble, lightning striking a few feet from me. I know the voice but choose to ignore it and continue to nurture the energy—make her a part of me. And as I do, it grows stronger. It becomes stable. “Resurgemus, Marcia,” I breathe into her mouth, and her chest expands but her limbs do not move. She’s hurt, her scream of pain filling the now silent space. If she doesn’t shift, she’ll die. “Shift.”

I’m feeling faint, my nose bleeding, and Theodore rushes to my side. He tries to pull me back, to stop me, but I’m not done.

“Pretty girl, I need you to stop. She’s back.”

But I’m shaking my head before he’s done talking. “If Marcia doesn’t shift, she’ll die for good and I’m too weak to help her. I can’t finish until I recoup. I gave her too much.”

“Tero, coach her to shift. Get her—”

Her body convulses, blood pouring from her mouth and I drop to my knees, pushing my husband’s hands away. Crawling until I’m hovering over her, I press my forehead to hers and exhale, a breath she inhales and clings to. “Shift now, Marcia. Now!”

Oh God.

Oh God.

I’m shaking as I move back, and tears continue to pour from my eyes while they watch on with sadness. What I saw can’t be real. This must be a figment of my fucked-up imagination, and I take off running before anyone utters a single word.

I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’ll go, but I jump into the still-running car and slam the door closed. “Come on, focus. Put the car in drive and—” I’m cut off by the ripping of the car’s door off its hinges. The screech of metal is loud, and I cover my ears, trembling as it’s tossed aside, and a hand grips the steering wheel. The plastic crumbles as if it were a cookie and I scramble to the other side, fighting with the lock until it gives way and I fall out.

My palms sting under the asphalt, and my knees shake when I get up, taking off into the night without looking back. I’m afraid of what I’ll find. Of what he’ll do if I do.

He won’t hurt us.

“He has.”

Only to bring us back.

“And now I’m talking to myself.” Not knowing where I am doesn’t help, but I just keep running in a straight direction, heading toward a bunch of buildings up ahead. I pray that one of them is residential and I can run inside, calling the cops— “Can’t call them. Consuelos is after me too.”

My chest burns from exertion, and I feel the prickles of eyes watching me. The sensation mocks me—it also warms me, and the contradicting emotions are wrecking my mental state.

Do I stop and listen to him? Do I hide for the rest of my life?

The sound of an aluminum can being kicked causes me to stumble, my body lurching forward, but before I hit the ground two strong arms catch me. His chest rumbles against my back, the noise soothing, and I lose all the fight I have left.

“No more getting hurt, pretty girl. I don’t like it.”

36

Theodore Astor

Vampire King

I

carry her bridal style into the warehouse where our people wait. They’re quiet, standing straight and with smiles on their faces when they see her, our beloved queen. And my girl looks at them too, taking in the familiar faces and the few that have never had the pleasure of being in her presence before.

They drop to one knee as we pass.

Their right hand pounds where their cold hearts once beat.

“Rise.” My voice rings loud and clear inside the large, enclosed space. The two bodies chained and on their knees tense at the sound: the man is a bit bloodied, while the woman remains untouched.

Meera and Marcia will deal with her.

Every member of our kingdom in attendance stands side by side, creating a large circle surrounding the center of the room. And at the helm, I place Gabriella in a chair she recognizes from her dream.

“How the hell…?” she whispers, but to the room it’s as if the words are being shouted.

“This has always been your chair.”

Someone scoffs at that, and I snap my eyes to the woman in question: Diana Veltross.

She’s the daughter of Elise Veltross with a human.

She’s the sister of Tim Roy, who she shares a father with, and who also had a sick obsession with Gabriella.

And lastly, she’s married to Detective Consuelos who she’s dragged down into a predator’s trap.

“Something on your mind, Diana?”