“What happened?” I ask, feeling my heart banging around in my chest.
“I told my angels, the race which was still perfect, that the vampires were enemies. I made it look like the vampires killed a powerful angel, leaving his body in ruins, but I did it. My people killed them all, well, most,” he snaps. “Some clearly got away. I watched, building my power, until I met you. With the magic I had, I saw in your soul who your ancestors were. You are my creation, Kaitlyn, and you should have chosen me. I made Gabriel take your blood to find out what was wrong with you. I never suspected to find out who you were born to be, to find the amount of vampire magic that lingers even past so many generations. So I am reluctant to kill you…I wonder if I can shape you into what I want.”
“I choose Ren and vampires. I will always choose them, no matter what you do to me. You are a monster covered in light, and one day you will fall because you are a fake god! Fake, and ruling with nothing but fear!” I scream at the light, not regretting one word even as the pressure in the room becomes unbearable. Like boots are stomping on me, pushing me down to the floor, I can hardly move an inch.
“You are merely a drop of water in the spinning sands of time. Why should I let you live, Kaitlyn Lightson?”
For a moment, I’m not sure what the answer should be, but as I stare into the light, four faces flicker into my mind. Ren, Thallon, Henry and Myles. They need me as much as I need them, and I can’t think of a way we could live without each other anymore. Our lives are woven in things far stronger than time and gods.
“You don’t have the magic you once did, and my blood does. You know it, you created my ancestors with the last of your power. I have your power lingering in me, and you need the angels to see you as all powerful,” I respond, and he almost laughs, but he doesn’t reply to me. “Killing me means killing any chance of gaining your magic back.”
The silence that follows my words is almost as painful as the pressure of the room, the feel of his strength. I push against it with everything I have, getting myself to my feet even as I shake.
“For betraying me once, you will lose your wings in fire and pain. Maybe that will hold your tongue,” he sourly replies to me, not mentioning the secret I now hold. “The next time we meet, Kaitlyn Lightson, you will bow, or you will die. Magic or not.”
“I will never bow to a fake god!” I shout, tasting my own blood in my mouth. The fake god’s laugh fills my ears as pain as I’ve never known it, bursts into every inch of my body. I writhe in pain as it feels like two lines are cut down my back where my wings are, and the pain makes me blink in and out of consciousness. All I see is fire and light, and it reminds me of the time I was born into an angel. Just with so much more pain than ever before. I vaguely feel hands on my upper arms, picking me up, and my head rolls back. I open my eyes to see my blood coating the floor under the light and my once beautiful white wings on fire. I’m no longer an angel...and a part of me is glad.
I never will be on their side again.
Chapter 54
Like a soft hum of feathers against my skin, someone strokes my arm, sending goose bumps all over me, and I relax into the heat of their body as their masculine rosewood scent smells so familiar to me, comforting me even when I’m in pain and feeling broken. I open my eyes, arching my head up to meet the eyes of someone I didn’t expect to see with me when I woke up.
Am I dead?
I have to be, because Ren is with me, shirtless and holding me tightly against him like there is no one else in the world. His smoky hair is brushed to the side, like he has run his hands through it a million times, and there is a new cut on the side of his head, which has thankfully healed. He is as breathtakingly gorgeous as the first time I saw him, even as a ghost.
“Ren?” I question, sitting up and regretting it right away as pain laces through my body, and it hurts far more than I expected. Turning to look behind me, my eyes fill with tears when I see my magnificent wings are gone, and I strangely miss them even when I only had them for a short while. As I burst into sobs, Ren holds me close to his chest, careful to keep his hands on my lower waist so he doesn’t hurt me, never once letting me go or saying a single word.
And it’s everything I never knew I needed when I’ve lost something I didn’t know I cared so much for.
“How am I still alive?” I ask, not understanding exactly how I’m here. “And, Ren, where are we? Are you in the angel city with me? How?”
Ren helps me sit up, but I don’t rest back on the headboard of the metal bed we are on; instead, I lean against my shoulder. I glance around the room, noticing it’s the same room I shared with Thallon and Vesnia not long ago. Where are they? I finally notice Ren looks pale. A light sweat shines over his skin, and I place my hand on his cheek, feeling how hot he is to touch.
“The Great Light took your wings, but you are half-vampire. The angel blood always stopped you being who you were born to be...and now nothing does. You are a vampire, Kaitlyn, a master vampire by blood,” he whispers to me. “And when you escape here, our race will need a leader, and I know you can be it.”
“I’m not leaving without you! Stop making it sound like only one of us is getting out of here, Ren!”
“You keep talking like that, Kaitlyn, and I might suspect you’re in love with me as much as I’m in love with you,” he counters, and I freeze. I do love Ren...and I already knew he loved me because it’s in his eyes every time we even glance at each other. “I should have listened to you and took the vampires far away.”
“I was wrong,” I reply, shaking my head even when it hurts my back with every movement. “The angels will never stop until we are all gone. They don’t want peace, they want death, because they have lived so long they have forgotten what it is like to be mortal. To love, to feel, to simply be alive. We have to fight for those things, to make sure our people can have them. The angels will never stop, and I’m not saying what you did to the angels at the academy was right, but I understand your anger towards them.”
“So you don’t hate me for getting us in this mess?” he asks, and I smile at him before leaning closer and brushing my lips against his. Kissing Ren just feels right and oh so amazing. Even with us both weak, in a place we could never be safe, loving Ren is exactly where I want to be. His hands slide into my hair as I hold onto his shoulders, deepening the kiss before he stops us. “Thank you, Kaitlyn. You’ve always been the light I’ve needed in my life. I don’t want war anymore, I don’t want anything but you and my people safe.”
“What did they do to you?” I ask, furrowing my brow.
“I gave myself up to find you...which worked, but they wanted to make sure I couldn’t use magic or fight. They force-fed me something, which is why I can hardly stand up straight,” he says with a shrug. “But it worked, and I’m with you. That is all that matters.”
“You gave yourself up for me?” I question, and he nods. I stroke my hand through his dark smoky hair and rest my forehead next to his. “I love you, but don’t ever do that again. You are the future of the vampire race, and they need you.”
“As much as they need you. Without you, I can’t do it. I need my mate at my side, or what is the point?” he asks me. “I’d turn into the monster I was becoming before you snapped me out of it.”