Chapter Ten

  Temptation

  It felt a bit strange to actually be sitting in the black SUV that I had only visited through Tristan’s mind. He hadn’t mentioned my making contact yesterday morning—breaking our promise to stay away—so I didn’t ask about Leia’s not being here. After all, I wasn’t supposed to know she existed.

  Before I left train, I’d slipped into his mind to get an indication of where his thoughts were. Nowhere did I see anything that might lead me to believe that he was capable of what that vision showed. By meeting up with him, I must have successfully changed the present, which in turn changed the future. Still I wondered what path could lead Tristan to the point that he’d try to kill me. Was it possible that something could lead us back to that future?

  “Why are you smiling so much?” I asked as we pulled out of the train station’s parking garage.

  His smile lengthened. “I’m sure you could guess.” He placed his hand over mine on the armrest. It took a few moments before I thought to pull it away. It would be a lie to say that having our bodies touch didn’t feel completely natural, but I was with Darren, and that was that.

  Snatching my hand away caused Tristan to laugh. He’d noticed how long it had taken me to react.

  “Tristan, we promised—“

  He shook me off. “I think you were the one who broke our promise.” He had me there. “If you’re expecting me to spend what could very well be my final days alive pretending not to love you, pretending not to want you in my arms, to have your lips against mine then maybe your memories aren’t so good after all.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I needed Tristan for my plan to work, so meeting up with him was necessary.

  “I love him Tristan, I’ve told you that.”

  “But you love me too. Don’t you? Your memories of us have returned, Ana. You know perfectly well what we had now. You are the girl I fell in love with. We’re soul mates, if ever a such thing existed.”

  Again Tristan had spoken me into silence. Truthfully, having my memories did make being with him difficult. Even now, there was something stirring in my chest and my hand still tingled from where his skin had touched mine. Just to look at him caused involuntary images from our past to explode into my mind, bright and vibrant as fireworks.

  “I wish that I could hear your thoughts for once,” he said.

  I shook my head. “I doubt they’d make much sense to you either at the moment.”

  “I’ll bet your heart is sending you a much clearer message. The question is merely whether or not you’ll follow it.”

  “You can’t do this to me, Tristan. I need to feel detached from you. I can’t go after Daemon if I’m thinking about how much you mean to me. I won’t be able to kill him. It’ll be just like every other lifetime, when my fear of losing you stops me from doing what I was born to do.”

  “Except now you’ll have someone waiting for you once you’ve done it,” Tristan answered. “I’ll be gone, but Darren will still be here for you. I’m not upset that you’re in love with him, it’s the opposite really. Because of him, I know for a fact that when the time comes, you’ll be able to kill Daemon because that will mean saving Darren’s life. I guess I’m just asking for the same thing I asked for the other night, that my final days be spent with the girl I love more than life itself.”

  “Literally,” he added with a smile. “Let me love you, Ana.”

  Again he touched me, this time with his middle two fingers. He made small circles at the base of my palm and then lightly dragged those same two fingers down my forearm and back again. The softness of his touch made me shiver beneath him. Memories, countless memories sprang to my mind. I began to feel his touch all over me, images of intimate moments between us making my breath catch in my throat. Warmth spilled down into my thighs. My heart was beating so fast…

  And then I heard Darren’s voice. “I’m the one you chose, Ana.”

  Again, I forced myself to pull away from him, turning my head to look out the window. “I’m sorry Tristan. What we had…it’s over.”

  **********

  We drove for another few hours before we reached the small town Tristan had told me about. I’d contacted his mind as soon as I’d left my grandmother’s study. He’d agreed to help and said that he was one hundred percent sure that there weren’t vampires in this area. As to why? He didn’t share. And I didn’t ask.

  The hotel we’d pulled up to was much nicer than any my mother and I had ever spent the night at during our time on the run. I was concerned about money, but Tristan paid for everything. With the way things had gone in the truck, I didn’t bother asking about that either.

  As we rode the elevator up to the thirteenth floor, I stole quick glances at him. His expression was difficult to pin down exactly, but seemed to be somewhere between “pissed off” and “lost puppy.” He hadn’t spoken a single word to me since I pulled away from him in the truck.

  The room was enormous, even bigger than my bedroom back in Brighton. Beautiful white leather furniture decorated the circular living area, with flat screens sprinkled throughout the room. Seven televisions seemed a bit excessive when you only had two eyes to watch them—even in a room this size. Overhead lighting was absent, and lamps were strategically placed so that it was impossible to make the room too bright, ensuring a cozy atmosphere.

  I walked around the room while Tristan stepped out into the hall for a moment. Again, I didn’t ask.

  I admired the floor to ceiling paintings and played with the gold knobs on the wooden cabinets. It was a beautiful space, though I couldn’t understand for the life of me why there weren’t any windows.

  Eventually my exploring led me to a thin golden door with a clear knob. My curiosity was piqued. I had but to touch it for the door to pull itself open and the view literally stole the air from my chest.

  It was a wide shallow balcony, and there was nothing below it. We were on the edge of a cliff. Mountains rose up in the distance, covered in evergreens and dotted with patches of autumn. Early evening cast a reddish glow upon the valley, and the moon could already be seen in the opposite direction.

  The moon signaled the coming of nightfall.

  “It’s almost time,” Tristan said from just behind me. He’d placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and this time nothing in the world could draw me away. There was no undoing what we were about to do. Tomorrow, I could very likely be dead. We both could be.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nightfall

  “Where’s Leia?” I asked. We still had some time to kill before we could put our plan into action, and the view of the sunset from the balcony was just too spectacular to leave behind, so we sat side by side on the edge, our arms and feet sticking through the railing.

  The question seemed to catch Tristan off guard at first—before he remembered that I’d spent some time playing stowaway in his mind yesterday.

  “I told her the truth...about everything. She didn’t take it very well.”

  I didn’t imagine she did. Having your savior tell you that he was actively working to bring about the end of your life couldn’t be an easy thing to accept. A small part of me wanted to press for details, but the rest knew to leave well enough alone.

  “I’m afraid of what she’ll do out there on her own. Eventually she’ll need to hunt, and you know what will happen after that… Once she’s forced to put aside her humanity to end a human life, she won’t be able to bring herself back.”

  “You’re worried about her,” I said. It came out harsher than I’d intended, almost accusatory. I was going for sympathetic.

  A small smile formed on Tristan’s lips. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.”

  “Huh? No. I mean, it’s none of my business, right?” My cheeks were burning. It was obvious that I was lying my butt off.

  “It’s okay, you know. You can admit that you’re still in love with me. It doesn’t make you any less loyal to Darren. It’s just makes you honest with yourself. Before him, there was just us, again and again.”

  “You know perfectly well that I love you Tristan. You don’t need to hear me say it.”

  “I know that. It’s just that you’ve been different today.”

  “Because I wouldn’t let you hold my hand?” I shook my head. “Tristan you want me to pretend that we can have what we used to have but it doesn’t work like that. It’s not a switch that I can just turn on and off when I want to. You have to accept that I chose Darren. And me choosing Darren means that no matter where I am, or what I’m doing, I’m being true to him. That’s how it is. I understand if that makes you change your mind about tonight. I’ll be totally and completely screwed, but I’ll understand.”

  Tristan didn’t speak for a few minutes. We watched as the sun set behind the mountain range in the distance. In many ways it was just like our relationship. There was a time when it was red hot, enough to light up the entire world. But that was over now. Our romance was ending, slipping quietly into the horizon. Nightfall had come.

  “Just tell me this,” he said. “If there was some way that I could live on after you kill Daemon. Would you still choose him then?”

  I felt my eyebrows jump at that question. “I would.”

  If somehow I lived beyond this bit of insanity I was inviting on myself, I would always remember the face he made in response to those words. I had never in my life seen despair like that. And in all the years, of all the lifetimes I’d lived, I had never been more brave.

  Not that that made it any easier. Again, I was breaking his heart while he risked his life to keep me safe. The knot in my stomach weighed about a hundred pounds, doubling when he stood up from the balcony and turned for the hotel room.

  “Check and see if they’ve left yet.”

  The words had a coldness about them that gave me a chill. I reminded myself that lives needed to be saved, and if that was going to happen then I needed to get over whatever I was feeling.

  I closed my eyes and let my mind find Duncan’s. He was nervous, unexpectedly so, but like me, felt he needed to get this done. My departure had greatly surprised him, and he was wondering if he truly was making a grave mistake by staying to fight. He did believe that I was Merline reborn, and if an impending attack was enough to make me run away…

  I felt his pride snap into effect. He wouldn’t let Brighton lose. He would lead them to victory if I wouldn’t. Tonight they were going vampire hunting, and once they’d cleared the surrounding areas of vampires, they could build a wide perimeter in the woods of the neighboring towns. The vampires would have to come through the woods to remain undetected, and they’d see any kind of attack coming long before it ever got to Brighton.

  It was a great idea. I had to admit that. But also a big gamble. It meant leaving Brighton temporarily less secure than it was yesterday or would be tomorrow. The timing for my plan would never be more ideal than it would be once he gave the order. I dug deeper into his thoughts; I needed to know when he intended to send the guardians away from Brighton.

  “Ten minutes,” I told Tristan. “If you leave now, they’ll be gone by the time you get there.”

  He nodded and then went to fetch the broom from his bag. He snapped the handle and handed it to me.

  I took in a deep breath. This was the first time I tried to do magick since I’d gotten my memories back. Though the knowledge was there, doubt still made me question if the ability was there too. I was much weaker than I once was.

  With a thought, the end of the handle burst into flames. I waved it around in the air in front of me.

  “You’re sure it’ll stay lit?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Just make sure to keep it away from your body. If you catch fire, you won’t be able to put yourself out.”

  “Understood.” He stepped towards the door.

  “Thank you,” I called.

  “The difference between us,” he said, pausing in the doorway. “Is that I’ll always choose you, Ana. Always.”

  And he left.

  **********

  I had planned on being with Tristan while he made his run toward Brighton. I mean, there was no way I could physically go; the speed at which he was traveling was too fast for a human body. I was going to connect with his mind, but now I wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea. The hurt, that pain I’d caused in him would be festering in his mind. Did I really want to jump into that?

  I had to. I needed to make sure that he stayed calm. The slightest mishandle of that flame and it would be a disaster. I couldn’t afford to be weak anymore. If he hated me right now, then I’d just have to deal with it.

  “Tristan!”

  Immediately woods surrounded me; the speed at which he was moving was incredible. Every step pushed him twenty, sometimes thirty feet forward. He was sidestepping trees and moving over dips in the ground as though it were nothing, all the while keeping that flaming pole out in front of him. He was suppressing his thoughts of me, focusing completely on the task at hand. Saving the people I cared about became, for the moment, the single most important thing in the world in his mind, and determination sharpened his senses.

  I didn’t need to worry about him after all. Instead, I reached out to Darren’s mind. With me gone, there wasn’t any need for a security detail. When my mind touched his, there was only darkness surrounding him.

  “Go!” someone shouted.

  Immediately, the darkness cleared, and he was running toward a large farmhouse, standing alone in a wide field. Hundreds poured into the field from every direction, all moving toward the house. I saw Chris running just in front of Darren. His hands were on fire, and he, like so many others, was yelling at the top of his lungs.

  This would be an easy victory, Darren thought. With the help of the vampire hunters, there were many more men than was needed for the few dozen or so vampires that were reportedly hiding away on this farm. His thoughts shifted to his uncle, dragged out of his bed like an animal, tortured in front of his aunt. They’d left her alive, just for the fun of it, raped and broken.

  Anger warmed his face against the New England chill, and sent adrenaline racing through his arteries. Tonight, they were the ones lashing out at the vampires. Tonight would be revenge for all the loved ones who had been lost. The havens simply weren’t big enough for everyone, and because of that fact, so many had suffered. No more. Thoughts of a vampire-free world surfaced next and the elation those imaginings brought about in him caused him to run harder. To believe in their cause more. For a split second, the images I’d showed him came to mind but he pushed them away. Like Duncan had said in his speech to them before leaving, they’d make their own destiny.

  If only there weren’t so many warlocks in front of him. He wanted to fight. He’d managed to pass Chris and a few others, but already he could see the first of the warlocks slipping into the large house.

  Boom!

  Something rocked Darren, knocking him off of his feet and backwards into the grass. His head was spinning and his ears were throbbing. It took him several seconds to gather his thoughts and it was a minute or so before he could see or hear clearly. Once the world around him had come into some kind of focus, the reality of what he was seeing terrified him to his core.

  The house had exploded, and flames were dancing wildly upon its ruin, swaying in the night air, surrounded by what had to be thirty or forty dead guardians and vampire hunters. Suddenly shouts went up from the thick forest surrounding the field. It was the same forest they’d just vacated. It sounded to Darren like a Friday night, when he’d be on a football field surrounded by thousands of screaming fans. And when the wave of vampires started into the field from every direction, he realized that his ears hadn’t deceived him. They were surrounded, and from the looks of it, they were outnumbered ten to one.

  Chapter Twelve

  Valor

  Before Darren fully understood what was happening, arms had closed around him, dragging him up to his feet. It was Chris’s face that he saw once he’d peeked over his shoulder. With Chris’s help, he made his way toward Duncan and what remained of the house.

  Once they’d covered half the distance, he could hear Duncan shouting orders to form the “Circle” at the center of the field. Searching Darren’s thoughts, I discovered that the “Circle” was a guardian defense formation. Concentric rows were formed, with everyone’s back facing the center of the circle. The hurt were put at the circle’s center, and the healthy formed rows around them. Still a bit dazed, Darren was thrown onto the third row, six other rows formed in front of him. Duncan stood tall in the outermost row, hands ablaze.

  The vampire hunters weren’t so disciplined. All but a couple charged blindly out to meet the wave of vampires, dying quickly, their bodies being decimated. The rest attempted to run, realizing too late that the vampires were coming from everywhere. Fear shook at Darren’s arms and legs and he thought of me, how he’d probably never see me again. How he’d like to kiss me one last time.

  “Dammit, we’re all gonna die!” someone cried. “How the hell did they know we were coming?”

  I pulled myself out of Darren’s head. The tranquil interior of this hotel room didn’t feel real around me, like some kind of mirage. Sweat dripped freely from my face and my shirt was clinging to my skin in various places. My heart thundered against the inside of my chest and my right hand was sore from gripping the edge of the table next to me for too long. Experiencing Darren’s fear in conjunction with my own had overwhelmed me, and now I wondered if I should go back. Could I watch Darren die?

  A better idea. “Aspen!”

  Nothing. That was a good thing, I reminded myself. It meant that Nadia had control of her, and we could use an untainted angel right about now. “Nadia!”