Around us, the vampires started to laugh. I’d never heard the sound before. Oh, they were amused. In that moment, I hated them—hated them so much more than I already did. I hadn’t known before then that it was possible to have levels of hate. I’d just pushed up a degree to the point that my hands shook. They think this is fucking funny? I clenched my fists. If they were going to kill me, I was going to break some vampire noses before I went out. And I bet it would hurt them.
Rowan’s father waved his hand. “Stop this nonsense. You have no say here.”
“Oh, but I do. We all do, because you have moved heaven and earth to get to this moment, so that the five of us would be standing here right now. Together. We had to be born within a period of time. We had to fit what you needed, so that we could carry these souls, right?” His back was so stiff that I swore I could see a slight tremor in it. I doubted anyone not standing directly behind him could see it. His blazer would cover all of that from the front.
The elder vampires looked at each other. “What is your point?”
Rowan pulled a gun out from under his blazer. It had been covered, and I hadn’t seen it. I gaped at him. They hadn’t had that on them when I’d hugged them. Was it just Rowan? Was it…?
My question was instantly answered. All five of them had guns pressed against their temples.
“Let me ask you, Dad…if I shoot myself in the head, will I wake up the way you want? Can I? Because I read in those books that some deaths kill the humans completely. Seems to me this is one of the ways. And I know you’re fast, but not so fast we can’t all pull the triggers. Even if you stopped one of us, what happens if all five of us don’t make it? What happens to your best laid plans?”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t even draw breath. What are they doing? Are they actually threatening to off themselves? Where did they get those guns?
It was Caesar’s father who spoke. “What is it that you want exactly?”
“I want Maci to be alive and well when I come back. I want her brought to me at the first meeting where you reintroduce me. You are going to give her to me then. She will be mine. And alive and well when that happens. That’s what I want.” His hand was steady. “You never lie, Father. I want your word. Now. In front of everyone, swear that is what you’ll do. We know what could happen to you if they think you’re a liar.”
What could happen to him? I had so many questions, but all I wanted to do in that moment was to call out for them not to do this.
“You think that you will care when you see her?” Tanner’s father had a low, scratchy voice. “But you won’t. At best, she’ll be interesting to you to feed on until she’s dead. At worst, you’ll want to torture her for fun. The early years are brutal. If you care for her as much as we think you do, and I see that you all do, you’ll let her die now.”
Rowan didn’t falter. “Those are my demands.”
His own father nodded. “I don’t like being held hostage, but I will be amused to see her at your mercies at that time. It will be a lesson for the others. Humans don’t matter other than as feeding tools. You’ll understand when you arise and you are finally one of us. Fine. She will be alive and brought to you at that time. You have my word.”
It was a long, poignant moment. With everything he could have demanded, it was actually brilliant what Rowan had done. And it had Griffin all over it. This had been his idea, and Rowan had executed it. Well, they all were. No way would his father ever let me go. I knew too much. He’d said that. Once you were in, you were in, whether you wanted to be or not. I had to stay, but he’d kept me alive.
I could hardly swallow. Tears clogged my throat. He’d asked me to trust him, and I had. They hadn’t let me down.
Almost at once, they all dropped their guns from their heads and set them on the ground. Tanner turned to me. “If it wouldn’t get you killed, I’d have taken them out.”
“Tanner…”
There was a flood of action then. Five vampires I didn’t know grabbed them by the arms and hauled them inside toward the coffins. Charlotte ran to me. “I can’t believe they did that. Would they actually have given this up?”
I nodded. She’d never understand, though. From that moment on, I was certain I’d only be surrounded by people who would never get it.
They all wanted this.
With Charlotte pulling me along, I went into the room where it would all end. Doctor Lamar stood inside. The lighting was low, almost resembling candlelight. He had five glasses in front of him.
That was the medicine they’d ingest to make them less likely to fight to get out of the coffin. It took everything in me not to rush to the tray and knock it over. What would be the point of that? He probably had more in his car or wherever he stored the stuff.
“You’re all murderers.” I had to say it. “And there will be an accounting. Somewhere. In this life or the next. I don’t care what you are. There will be. I know it.” I didn’t. Not really. I had no spiritual life to draw on, no sense of anything other than what I saw day by day. But right then? I believed it. In all of my body, in every cell in my body.
Caesar caught my gaze. He smiled at me before he took the cup in his hand. Tanner was next. Rowan after him. Griffin. Then Ace. They all stood together. In silence, they stared at their cups. Then, one by one, they drank them.
I closed my eyes. This is happening. I can’t do anything to stop it.
Chairs squeaked; bodies moved. The vampires settled in to watch, to be there to see these five die in the next five hours. Faster, if they struggle.
“It’s going to be okay.” Lamar walked over to me. “This is a beautiful tradition.”
“Drop dead.” I wouldn’t pretend it was okay. Not for anything in the world.
He sighed. “You’ll understand the beauty of it. I promise you will.”
It wasn’t likely. Not at all. “I’ll make you pay for this someday.”
This was happening because of me. I’d spoken to them in the library, and then they’d used me to make sure the five of them didn’t take any out they might have had to get away from this. I’d been the pawn in their deadly endeavor.
“I’m sorry.” I spoke low, but I was sure they could hear me.
Caesar climbed into his coffin first. They were all the same. Mahogany. Big. Daunting. The stuff of nightmares. Human beings shouldn’t have to see their own coffins unless they wanted to. They certainly shouldn’t be alive when they got in them.
Ace went into his next. He paused to clasp Rowan on his shoulder before he got inside. None of them looked at me so far, and I doubted they would. My part with them was over. They had to do this, and they had to do it alone. Even in a crowd.
Tanner. Then Griffin. Finally, Rowan. The lids were closed by vampires I didn’t know. Charlotte squeezed my arm. “It’ll be okay. They’re going to be like gods when they come back.”
I didn’t want gods. I wanted the five of them, just as they were. As they were meant to be. Not this nightmare. Not whatever monster was going to wake up sometime in the next nine months to a year.
A tear slipped from my eye, and I wiped it away. I couldn’t cry there. Not in front of these people. The lids were locked.