Hunted (Vampire Wars Book 5) Page 2

  Dillan spoke to Isabella without taking his eyes or hands off Cedric. “Go look for her, Isabella.”

  He heard her move to the edge of the woods. Then he turned his attention back to Cedric. “Now, if you won’t tell me where Ella is, how about my brother, Robert? What have you done with him?”

  Cedric grin was sadistic and evil. “He’s lost to you, Dillan. His body has been possessed and there is no way for you to return his spirit to him as long as the body is, shall we say, inhabited by another. Yet, you cannot kill the other unless you immediately move the new spirit in.” Cedric’s voice dripped with feigned sympathy. “Since you won’t be able to find Robert’s spirit….” He shrugged. “Well, as you can see, it’s just not possible. I certainly hope you took the time to say goodbye to him before you locked him up in that prison 150 years ago.”

  Dillan felt the rage building. He knew Cedric was goading him. He took a deep breath, refusing to fall for Cedric’s mental tricks. Isabella would help him find Robert. She would know of a way to get his spirit and body back together. She had to.

  “You think you are so clever, do you? Tell me where that demon is, Cedric, and I’ll kill you quick and painlessly. Otherwise, I’ll draw it out.” Dillan’s eyes glinted as he spoke in a quiet, deadly whisper. “Very long.”

  Cedric grinned, his manic, bloodshot eyes rolling from side to side as he laughed at Dillan.

  “Not a chance, vampire.”

  Dillan smiled back. Then he pulled the tip of the needle out of Cedric’s neck and aimed it over the werewolf’s eye. Dillan used his left hand to prop open Cedric’s eyelids as he squeezed the plunger on the syringe, ever so slightly. A small drop of silver dripped into Cedric’s eye. The silver reacted to his biology immediately. The smell of burning flesh immediately filled the air as his eye sizzled.

  Cedric screamed. Dillan smiled more. As soon as Cedric’s screams faded, the one eye now ruined, Dillan lifted the syringe and dropped a bit into Cedric’s other eye. Cedric screamed again and then started to sob.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you what you want to know. No more silver, please, just kill me quickly.”

  “Where. Is. Robert?”

  The now-blind werewolf cried out. “He’s hiding under the old church from before. From the war.”

  Dillan’s eyebrow raised involuntarily. “Interesting. Thank you, Cedric. You’ve been most helpful.” Dillan shoved the needle into Cedric’s neck and waited a few seconds before pushing down on the plunger. Then he applied a small amount of pressure to the plunger, just enough to send a tiny drop of silver into the vein.

  Cedric grunted. “Please, kill me now. I beg you.”

  Dillan turned to search for Ella. He didn’t see her around. Then Isabella appeared from the forest towing Ella behind her. She seemed unhurt but a bit stunned. Her gaze was locked on Jeremy’s collapsed body.

  Cedric’s desperate screams competed with the sizzling sound of his skin. Dillan watched liquid metal drip from one eye, rolling down Cedric’s face like silver tears. Dillan watched the liquid torch the skin on his face as the poison tears rolled down and dripped onto his chest.

  Dillan was reluctant to let Cedric off the hook so easily. He could watch this man suffer for another hundred and fifty years. He let out a sigh as mercy won out. He’d had enough of Cedric and his whining. There were other things that needed his attention. So, without further ado, Dillan jammed the plunger into Cedric’s neck.

  As the werewolf writhed in death throes, Isabella removed the magic that had bound him in mid-air. Cedric was dead by the time his body hit the ground.

  4 Ella

  Ella stood next to Isabella and watched the smoke from the purple flames drift into the sky. It was over, finally over. She shivered as her gaze moved back to check on Jeremy. He lay unconscious a few feet away from her, but she could hear his light breathing from here. As soon as it was safe, Chloe had gone back home after I promised to get Jeremy home once he was well enough. Ella knew she had a lot of damage control to do and she wasn’t looking forward to any of it, but her and Chloe both seemed to understand that today was not the day to hash out Chloe’s hurt feelings.

  Dillan’s voice pulled her attention from the glowing flames when he spoke softly, his voice quiet and somber.

  “He’ll be okay. I expect he will wake up soon. He’ll have a bit of a headache, probably, but he’ll be fine.”

  Ella nodded, unsure of what to say now.

  “Thank you.” Her voice sounded strange to her. “For helping him.”

  He smiled at her, adding to her mental confusion.

  Damn him. Everything was just too hard right now.

  A bit of awkward silence lay between them until he spoke again.

  “Ella. I—It was my pleasure to attempt to make up for what I’ve caused here. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t intervened.”

  She shrugged. “True. But I’d be dead, so, there’s that.”

  He chuckled as amusement danced in his eyes for a just a moment, only to be replaced with dread once more.

  “If you ever need anything, I’m just down the road, okay?”

  She didn’t respond right away. She really didn’t know what she was supposed to say. He continued when she said nothing.

  “I’ll, uh, go now. You are special, Ella. And amazing. You’ll do just fine. Just step back into your old life.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, right. Everyone thinks I’m dead, remember. And what about what Jeremy saw here tonight? I doubt he’ll be able to forget all this. Not to mention you. And her.” She tilted her face to where Isabella now stood.

  “I can compel him to forget. As for the other, just tell them about Cedric. Say he kidnapped you and faked your death. Maybe leave out the part about his being a werewolf?” He smiled at her. She could tell it cost him a lot to keep his voice light.

  “Don’t compel him, Dillan. That seems wrong. Maybe I’ll just convince him it was all a bad dream.”

  He shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”

  She nodded.

  Dillan leaned in and gave a her a quick kiss on the cheek, not making eye contact. “I’m always around if you need me,” he whispered softly. “Goodbye, Ella.”

  Then he was gone.

  Damn vampires and their super speed, she thought.

  She looked around. Isabella disappeared, too.

  Ella stood stunned. So much had happened in the last few days. She couldn’t even begin to determine what she wanted or how she felt about anything or anyone. She was alive, sort of. And Jeremy was okay. That was really all that mattered in this moment.

  There was nothing to do now but to wait for Jeremy to wake up. She sat next to him, lifting his head and placing it gently in her lap.

  She waited, listening to the peaceful sound of his breath and watching the comforting sight of his chest moving up and down with each breath. Finally, he stirred. He moaned softly and slowly opened his eyes, looking up at her.

  “Jeremy,” she choked out his name. “Are you okay? Jeremy? Wake up. Can you hear me?”

  His eyes came into focus slowly. A purple bruise started forming along his jaw where Cedric had punched him.

  “Ella?” When he focused on her, he sat up, and his eyes were like saucers. “Ella! It is you. Are you okay? I was so worried. I didn’t know what happened. You were just gone.”

  Her tears ran freely. “Oh, Jeremy, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t—I mean, I was—” She sighed. “It’s complicated.”

  He wiped the tears from her cheeks and pulled her into an embrace. He smelled so good, so clean. So human. “Don’t cry, Ella. It’s okay. I’m okay. Everything will be all right now.”

  She sniffled into his chest, shaking her head.

  “It’s not okay, Jeremy. It will never be okay again.”

  He pulled back and lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. “What do you mean, Ella? You are here. I am here. We’re both okay.”

  What was she going to say to him? How could s
he explain what she was? He would be terrified of her. What was she thinking? There was no way this was going to work. Her mind drifted slowly to Dillan. She’d promised Dillan if he saved Jeremy she would stay with him. And here was Jeremy. Safe. Maybe a little beat up—not to mention freaked out—but safe.

  She sighed as she made up her mind and dried her tears.

  I have to let him go.

  A sob escaped her throat as she gripped him even tighter than before.

  Dammit, she thought. Quit being such a crybaby, Ella. You’re a vampire now. Vampires don’t cry. Except they do.

  He held her while she cried.

  How was she going to say goodbye to him?

  She couldn’t. She didn’t have the words to say goodbye to him. To her first love. Her heart constricted. And her last love as a human.

  She took a deep breath, regaining composure. Willing herself to be strong, she leaned away from Jeremy and pulled herself to her feet, stepping back. Distance. She needed distance.

  “Jeremy, I have to go. I can’t explain. I love you, Jeremy. Goodbye.”

  Without thinking, she ran toward Dillan’s house. She could barely see through the mist of tears, but she was in front of Dillan’s house before she was really ready to be.

  A sob caught in her throat.

  This is now my home, too.

  5 Dillan

  Dillan wasn’t sure why he stayed to listen to Ella talk to Jeremy. Maybe he just needed to hear her happy with Jeremy. Isabella waited with Dillan in the shadows as he watched Ella cradle Jeremy’s head in her lap. This was the right thing, to let her go.

  This is the right thing, he told himself over and over. He would stay just long enough to see that Jeremy was all right, and then he would stay away from Ella.

  But she didn’t say what he expected to hear when Jeremy woke.

  Dillan’s heart hammered in his chest, hearing Ella say goodbye to Jeremy. He could hardly believe his ears. Had she chosen him? Would she stay then? And then, he heard the retching sobs that broke from her chest, and his heart broke for her.

  His heart had known more sadness than he could recall, and it continued to shatter in more pieces as he watched this girl he’d fallen in love with lose everything. And he was the one who had taken it.

  He took her life.

  He’d set her free, but instead of taking the out, she’d chosen to say goodbye to Jeremy, and with him, her human life.

  Why? Why is she doing this? The answer struck him with devastating force.

  She’d promised him she would stay with him. And she was honoring her word. She wasn’t choosing Dillan over Jeremy, or her immortal life over her human existence. Instead, she was just keeping a promise made with the intent of saving the one she truly loved.

  He heard her gut-wrenching goodbye, and then he and Isabella returned to his house. He couldn’t stand to hear her cries, her agony, knowing all the while that he was the cause of it. She didn’t love him. She only felt obligated to him.

  Isabella put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Dillan.”

  He squeezed her hand and spoke, his voice gentle. “Thanks. I do get myself in binds, don’t I?”

  He tried to smile but grimaced instead.

  She tactfully didn’t see his pain and left him with some space to grieve.

  “I’ll be upstairs. I’ll need to do some research to figure out how to track down Robert’s spirit. And the demon that is occupying his body. Once we’ve found both, I need to be ready to perform the rituals that will cast out the demon and let Robert’s spirit re-enter his body.”

  He nodded and watched her climb the steps. This house had been standing for hundreds of years and it was definitely not Isabella’s first time here. Ella would be here soon and his breath came in ragged gasps as he considered what he had to do next.

  As soon as Ella arrived to fulfill her life sentence, he would set her free. He’d make her go away. He just could not hold her where she didn’t want to be.

  When she walked in the front door, Dillan was there waiting for her.

  An ocean of grief stretched between the two of them as they held each other’s gaze. Tears ran down her cheeks as she let out retching sobs. Dillan knew what she cried for. She cried for Jeremy. For her old human life.

  He searched her eyes and somehow he knew that she cried for him, too. One more dagger in his heart. After all he’d done to her, still she cried for him. He didn’t know what to do with this tidal wave of sadness that overwhelmed her and threatened to drown him too.

  And then he was pulling her into his arms, stroking her hair, her back. Drying her tears. Whispering in her ear that it was going to be all right.

  “It’s okay, Ella. I promise. Everything will be good again.”

  She continued to sob.

  He offered words of comfort as he held her. As though he had any right. As though he hadn’t been the one to cause all of her suffering.

  It was time. He knew he had to let go of her once and for all. When he spoke, he knew that the words were right, that it was the only thing he could say. It was at once liberating to do the right thing and devastating to say goodbye to her.

  “Ella, shhh. Listen to me. It’s all right. Go back to Jeremy. You are free. Do you understand me? You are free. I’m letting you go.”

  Her sobbing stopped. She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears and confusion. “What? What are you saying?”

  He wiped the tears from her cheeks with trembling fingers.

  “I’m saying you are free. You don’t want to be here. Go to him. Go back to your life. It’s possible, you know, for you to live a relatively normal human life. I’ve been doing it for a good long while. Go. Go and enjoy it. I’ll be here if you need anything. But you don’t belong here, with me. You belong out there, with him.”

  He kissed her gently on the forehead and slowly walked up the stairs and out of sight.

  6 Ella

  Ella stood there in the foyer of Dillan’s home, listening, speechless.

  The emotion of the last few weeks, especially today, left her feeling worn out and numb.

  Dillan just gave her freedom. He gave her back her life. Before he turned and walked toward his room, she was certain she saw a tear fall down his cheek.

  She moved to the chair in the living room and sat down, staring into the flames. She pondered her situation. Jeremy and Dillan. No, not really. It was Jeremy or Dillan.

  Which one? I can’t have them both.

  Their faces flashed through her mind. Her human life. Her life as an immortal. Saying goodbye to her human life seemed too painful. And saying goodbye to her immortal life was, well, impossible. She was a vampire now, and there was nothing she could do about that. But she could live a relatively normal human life. Dillan had done it. She still looked the same. Nobody would have to know. And Dillan was the one who had done this to her in the first place. There wasn’t even a choice here. And yet, she considered her options anyway, unable to push away the anguish in Jeremy’s face as she’d said goodbye to him in the clearing.

  She stared into the flames until dawn. The sun rose as her decision settled into her stomach. She knew what she had to do. What was best for everyone.

  First, she needed to sleep. When she woke up, she would do what was necessary.

  Seven - Dillan

  Dillan watched Ella as she slept. He stood in the back of the room, drinking her in. She might have known he was there, but he didn’t care. He needed these last moments with her to blaze her memory into his brain. Her eyes, her hair. He thought of the soft skin of her face, her hands. He captured all he could of her, knowing this was the last time he would see her.

  It had been the right thing to do, letting her go. After he drank in as much of her as he could and committed her to his long memory, he turned and walked quietly from the room.

  When she quietly left the house later that day, he didn’t stop her. He stayed out of sight and didn’t speak to her. He didn’t beg her to stay, e
ven though he wanted to with all his heart. He knew he had to let her go.

  The door clicked shut, and he heard her footsteps move away from the house.

  “Goodbye, Ella.” His whisper echoed through the silent house.

  8 Ella

  Ella waited outside Jeremy’s house, lurking in the cover of the trees, watching for him. She knew he’d come outside eventually. And this conversation needed to be private.

  Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him come through the front door and step out on the porch. For a brief moment, she forgot what she was. She forgot what had happened to her. For just a moment, it was only her and Jeremy and the anticipation of their love. Then reality flooded back in, and she forced the memory of a simpler time away. Whatever her future held, it would not be simple.

  She waited until he got inside his truck, and then she hopped inside.

  “Hello, Jeremy.”

  He jumped, and she tried not to laugh. “Ella?! What are you—? I thought you were—”

  She smiled at him, loving the happy surprise in his eyes.

  “We need to talk, Jeremy. I have something I want to tell you. Got a minute?”

  He laughed and hugged her. “Yeah, I think I can spare a minute for my girlfriend. You left so quickly. From the forest. You said goodbye.” His voice had grown serious, all frivolity gone.

  The emotion in her voice matched his. “Let’s go to our spot, Jeremy. It’s a long story.”

  He drove to their favorite park. She chewed on her lip, wondering how she was going to explain this to him. How would he take it?

  Was she doing the right thing?

  “Promise not to freak out, Jeremy? What I’m about to tell you sounds wild. Almost impossible.”