“This is simple, Sâbbat. You take that shiny little stake of yours and you plunge it straight into Aidan’s heart, or your friends die. Your choice.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, I won’t.” The stake slipped from my hands, and I bent down and retrieved it, bile rising in my throat.
Now, Julius! one of the females demanded.
I heard Kate cry out in pain as her captor grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her head sideways, exposing her neck. Marissa’s captor did the same, fangs poised over my friend’s pale skin.
“Now, Sâbbat!” Julius commanded. “Now, or your friends die a slow and painful death.”
“Do it, now!” Marissa screamed, her voice full of terror. I couldn’t look at her or Kate. Couldn’t look at Jack and Joshua, now standing at the edge of the scene, watching helplessly. Instead, I focused on Aidan. This was where reality had to veer from my vision; where we had to do something to change what I’d seen, to alter the outcome.
Aidan’s gaze locked with mine, and he nodded, a faint smile on his lips. Do it, Violet, he spoke in my mind, his voice calm and soothing. There’s no other way. Go on, I taught you how.
“No!” I screamed, tears running down my cheeks. Why was he giving in so easily? “I can’t,” I sobbed, my legs shaking so badly that I could barely stand.
Behind me I heard a horrible sound, an inhuman scream, and I realized it was Marissa. Turning in horror, I saw the female vampire’s fangs buried in Marissa’s neck. Marissa’s whole body spasmed, her feet lifted clear off the ground.
“No!” Kate cried. “Make it stop! Violet, do it!”
Listen to me, Violet! It was all a lie, Aidan said in my mind, his voice now rough, angry. I loved Isabel, I never got over her death. I never loved you; only her. You look just like her, and I used you, I“ Shut up!” I screamed, taking two steps toward him, pain slashing at my heart. I knew it was a lie, knew he was trying to manipulate me. Oh, God, I had to do it. I didn’t have a choice. They were killing Marissa, and Kate would be next.
We had failed.
My entire body trembling with fear, I raised the stake high above my head. Anger and fear flowed through my veins, mixing into some new emotion, giving me courage. I took a deep breath, felt strength surge through my arm, into the stake, andThere was a horrible growling noise, a snarl behind me, followed by a scream. I spun around just in time to see an enormous dog lunge at Marissa’s captor, knocking the vampire to the ground. The other female released Kate, moving as fast as lightning toward the animal that appeared to be ripping out the female’s throat.
It was chaos. Everyone was yelling; vampire and human screams all intermingled with canine snarls. Julius had taken a few steps toward the attacking dog, dragging Aidan with him, but a thick, impenetrable fog — created by Joshua, no doubt— appeared out of nowhere, shrouding the scene, increasing the confusion. Somehow I had dropped my stake, and I looked around wildly for it, in a panic. Not a second later it flew straight into my hand. My fingers closed around the familiar smooth wood as I silently thanked Kate.
Now. I had to take advantage of the confusion. Without the slightest hesitation, I took a running start. Instantaneously the fog vanished, and I lifted the stake high, my grasp firm and steady. With an earsplitting shriek I plunged it down toward its target, as hard as I could.
Right into Julius’s heart.
Before I knew what had happened, Aidan was behind me, taking captive the female vampire who’d held Kate only moments before.
“Violet, here!” he called out, and I knew what I had to do; it was easy this time. I raised the stake and plunged it down once more, straight through her heart.
The huge dog released the other female — the one it had been attacking so viciously — and trotted over to my side, prodding me with its enormous snout. Its thick, coppery-brown fur was matted with blood, but bright blue eyes met mine — intelligent, wolfish eyes, and yet they looked so familiar. A shiver of recognition rippled down my spine as the injured beast turned and limped off toward the bushes with a whimper.
But there was no time to think about it — I had one more vampire left to slay. The third time would be easy; thanks to the wolf, this vampire’s throat was already ripped open, her eyes glassy, her breathing shallow.
“Her injuries aren’t mortal unless you do it,” Aidan said, though I needed no prodding. She’d hurt my friend; maybe killed her. I took great pleasure in raising my trusty stake a third time and plunging it down through her heart.
And then I collapsed in the blood-soaked grass and cried— deep, gulping sobs. Someone yelled for Jack to get Marissa to the infirmary, and fast. I was vaguely aware of activity around me, of Aidan carrying away the slain vampires, presumably to separate their heads from their bodies and then burn them.
Familiar voices surrounded me — my friends, checking on one another, cleaning up the mess. I wanted to get up, to help. But all I could do was lie there — weak, entirely drained— and cry.
At some point Aidan returned, lifting me gently from the grass. “Shh,” he whispered in my ear. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
But how could it be? How could anything ever be fine again?
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he called out over one shoulder. “Close your eyes, Violet. We’re going the quick way.”
Swallowing the painful lump in my throat, I did as I was told.
I woke up on Aidan’s daybed, blankets pulled up to my chin. Beside me, Aidan sat in a chair watching me, his gray-blue eyes unblinking.
“What time is it?” I asked, yawning, feeling as if I’d been drugged. I’d had a terrible nightmare.
“Almost eleven,” he answered, his eyes never leaving my face.
I shook my head in confusion. There were no windows in his room; it was disorienting. “At night?” I asked, stretching my arms out. I felt stiff all over, sore in places that weren’t usually sore.
Aidan raised one brow. “Eleven in the morning. You slept through the night.”
I sat up abruptly, panic washing over me. “I’m going to be late for class!”
“It’s Saturday,” he said, amusement in his voice. “You’ve just woken up in my bed, and your first thought is about being late for class?”
I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “How did I get in your bed?”
“I brought you here. You needed to rest.”
My bare legs brushed against soft, silky sheets, and I started in surprise. “What am I. where are my clothes?” I peeked under the covers and saw that I was wearing nothing but one of Aidan’s T-shirts and my own panties. Oh, crap — what had happened? What had we done? If I got caught in his room.
And then I saw it, in the corner. A pile of clothes— my clothes, covered in dark, dried blood. Aidan reached for my hand just as it all came back in a painful rush — the events of last night.
Oh my God. The nightmare. it had been real.
“Shh, just let it come,” he said. “It’ll only hurt for a moment.”
I’d killed three vampires. Killed them. I’d enjoyed it too, I realized with horror, remembering the sense of. of pleasure I’d felt when my stake hit its mark. I glanced down at my hands, remembering the blood there, the“ It’s your destiny, Vi,” Aidan said, interrupting the downward spiral of my thoughts. “You can’t fight it. Besides, they would have killed your friends.”
My friends? More painful memories came flooding back. Marissa. her lifeless body lying in the blood-soaked grass. “Marissa,” I breathed, barely able to speak. “Is she. is she dead?”
“No, she’s in the infirmary, recuperating. She’s going to be fine.”
“But. but how?”
“The damage wasn’t fatal. We put some blood back in her, healed the wounds in her neck. She’ll be weak for a bit, a little anemic.”
“But Nurse Campbell. what did you tell her? I mean, how did you explain—”
“Oh, Nurse Campbell is aware of. the situation. She’s a gifted healer, you know. Anyway, Marissa will recover. Jenna’s injuries are a bit more complicated, but she’ll recover too.”
“Jenna?” I asked, my heart accelerating.
“Jenna Holley.”