Redemption (23 page)

Aria's heart wrenching cry pierced through the commotion surrounding them as Calvin grabbed the horse's reins. "
William
!''

***

Jack had spotted the smoke miles before they rounded over the last mountain. "Hannah," he whispered as he moved with renewed speed toward the town nestled in the valley below.

The sounds of battle drifted through the air as steadily as the smoke still wafting from the ruined remains of what he now could tell had been the tavern. Braith was a little ahead of him as fear drove them faster than he'd thought possible toward the town they'd mistakenly left behind.

As they moved closer to the town they passed many humans and vampires running toward them to escape the chaos. Jack didn't stop to talk with them, didn't stop to ask them what was going on. There was no time for that, and no matter what was going on, he wasn't going to stop until he had Hannah in his arms again. They were just arriving at the outskirts of town when Aria's broken hearted scream pierced the air.

Something within him curled up and shriveled as within that scream he heard all the sorrow and anguish he knew only one of the twins could exhibit if the other had died. A roar erupted from Jack at the realization that his friend had fallen; his fangs sprang forth as he followed Braith's relentless pursuit of Aria.

***

"William." He felt hands pressing against him as Aria rolled him onto his back. He blinked against the influx of light on his eyes and it took him a moment to get her blurred face to come into focus. Tears were streaming down her face as she dropped at his side. "Hold on William."

Her hands were frantic as they pressed against his stomach in a useless attempt to staunch the flow of blood oozing from him. It was too late though and even if she was too stubborn to admit it yet, he was well aware of the fact that his life was coming to an end. There was no stopping the blood escaping his body right now, no stopping the weakening he felt in his extremities.

"Aria," he croaked. His throat was still sore from inhaling so much smoke and with his wounds he'd lost the strength to speak strongly. It felt as if his hands had been split in half by the sword but he couldn't feel his arms enough to lift them.

"Don't you dare leave me!" she yelled at him. "You just hold on. I'll get you out of here."

She grabbed hold of his arm and draped it around her shoulder. "Aria don't."

"I can lift you up!" she cried.

A groan escaped him, his hand clenched on her shoulder. It felt as if a
hundred
swords were piercing his gut as she began to lift him to his feet. "I know you can," he whispered. "But please don't."

She lowered him carefully back to the ground. The sound that escaped her broke his heart more than the realization of his imminent death did. She had Braith now, a life that was so different than any they had ever dreamed of, but he knew that his death would destroy her more than their father's had. Just as her death would have done the same to him. They were a part of each other, together since conception, and even when they were apart he always felt her with him. If she had died, a piece of him would have died with her.

Their father, he wondered if he'd see him again now. Wondered if there truly was something after this life or if he was going to fade away into nothing. He hoped there was something after death, hoped he'd once again see the man that had meant so much to him. It was the only bright thing he could find in the growing darkness surrounding the end of his too short life.

It suddenly didn't feel as if he had enough air in his lungs, he tried to inhale but there was a crushing pressure growing in his chest that made it almost impossible to breathe. Unconcerned about his blood, Aria pressed his hand to her face as she leaned over him. Tears dripped onto his cheeks as her fingers curled into his.

"I can get you help," she choked between the sobs shaking her.

"It won't do..." a racking wave of coughing broke his words off as more blood burst from his mouth and trickled down his chin. She leaned forward and wiped it quickly away. "Any good," he finished when the coughing thankfully eased.

"I can fix this," she insisted.

He would have laughed but he couldn't find any humor right now. "Always so stubborn, you can't fix death."

The ring of red that flickered through her eyes momentarily startled him. He knew what she was now, but she'd remained so similar after her death that there were times when he forgot she had become what he'd once considered his greatest enemy. "
I
can," she grated and he finally understood what she was proposing.

Dread trickled through him. He'd hated vampires his entire life and though one of his best friends was one, his twin now was, and his brother-in-law was the king of them all, he'd never once considered becoming one himself. It wasn't something he'd ever wanted, but then neither was death, not this way and not this
soon
. He'd been running away from his grief for over a year, hiding in a way that wouldn't have made his father proud, but he'd always known that one day he would come to terms with everything that had happened. That one day he would return to the home he had fled, and he would find his purpose there. He'd planned to do so much more with his life eventually, not to have it end before his nineteenth birthday.

"There's no guarantee you'll survive," Aria gushed out. "But if you'll let me, I can give you a chance. There..." her voice broke and she pressed his hand more firmly against her cheek. "There isn't one now."

He hated the tears that continued to spill from her eyes as she pleaded with him to let her do this. She was offering him a chance, but was it a chance he was willing to take?

His eyes rolled to the side as Daniel burst free of the smoke and chaos surrounding them. Daniel skidded to a halt behind Aria, his mouth dropped open, his eyes brimmed with tears as he met William's gaze. "No," he groaned as he fell to his knees beside Aria and resumed the useless attempt to staunch the blood flow.

He was losing sensation in his arms and legs, there wasn't much time left now. His gaze went to the sky, but he couldn't see the blue through all the black smoke filling the air around them. He could feel the sluggish pulse of his blood as it oozed from him; feel the stuttering beat of his heart as it struggled to pump what little remained of his blood through his extremities. He was dying and he couldn't even get a glimpse of the sky he had spent most of his life sleeping beneath.

His fingers twitched at the thought. He wasn't ready to die, not yet, and though the alternative was almost as unappealing as death, it was one that he could actually
live
with. Or at least he would be a different kind of alive after. "Do it."

His voice was so weak that even he barely heard it but Aria bit deeply into her wrist and tilted his head back to press it against his mouth. His body recoiled from the coppery tang of her blood, but as it flowed into the back of his throat, he found himself instinctively swallowing it.

Aria bent close to his ear as his heart slowed to an alarming rate. "Try proving that you are just as strong as me for a change and make it through this," she whispered.

He didn't have it in him to get angry, not as his heart gave its last lumbering beats, but if he made it through this he was going to throttle her.

Jack skidded to a halt behind Aria as she sat back from her brother. William's blood stained her clothes; it was streaked across her face and matted in her hair. The blood continued to seep from his mutilated body, it had discolored the ground beneath him a rust color but Jack was acutely aware of the lack of William's heartbeat. A sharp pang stabbed through his heart, he took a step closer to the still body of his friend as sorrow built within his chest, but he didn't have the time to mourn him right now. There would be plenty of time to mourn after he found Hannah.

"Aria..." Braith started as he knelt and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"I gave him my blood," she murmured miserably. Jack felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. Braith recoiled, his lips pulled back in a snarl to reveal the fangs that instinctively sprang forth at the knowledge that his bloodlink had shared her blood with another. "Braith..."

Braith's eyes faded back to their natural gray blue color as he regained control of himself. "We have to get him out of here."

He nudged her gently out of the way and slid his arms under William. William's head fell back; his eyes were still open as he stared unseeingly at the sky. "He can hear you," Aria said.

Braith glanced at her as she hovered nervously at her brother's side with Daniel. "He'll get through this," Jack assured her. "I know he will. I have to find Hannah."

"Calvin has her," Aria whispered and pointed through the crowd. Jack's hands clenched as a ferocious growl tore from him. Braith nudged her back with his shoulder as he eyed Jack. He regained enough control of himself to take a step away from Aria before Braith went after him. The last thing he needed was to start fighting with his brother when there was someone else he was much more eager to destroy. "He took her that way."

Jack focused on Hannah's blood, allowing it to lead him to her as he pushed his way through the battle waging around him. He dodged an arrow as he mercilessly shoved a vampire out of his way. She was close, he could feel it, his body thrummed with the need to see her, to feel her. He was going to rip Calvin limb from limb when he got his hands on him and he was never going to let Hannah go again.

Grabbing hold of one of Calvin's men, he jerked the vampire toward him and ripped the stake from his hand before driving it into the man's heart. Bloodlust ripped through him; he could feel the press of his fangs against the inside of his mouth as he tossed aside the dead body. Daniel appeared at his side, blood and soot stained his strained face as he lifted a spear and drove it into another vampire's chest. He'd never seen the calm, artistic boy look so enraged as his blue eyes shone with wrath.

Daniel shoved a human out of his way before stepping alongside Jack. "Where are they?" he demanded in a hoarse voice.

Jack jerked his head to the side. He seized hold of another vampire's neck as the man ran at him. Without any hesitation, he ripped forcefully back and tore the vampire's throat out. Through the fighting, he spotted Calvin's large frame ahead of him as he tried to force Hannah onto a horse. Amazement and wariness flickered through him at the sunlight filtering over her exposed skin. She wasn't burning though, and she wasn't crying out in distress as she fought against the hold Calvin had on her. Aria had given Braith his vision back and
his
blood seemed to have given Hannah the ability to move about in the sunlight without it singing and scorching her body. If he had anything to say about it, he was going to make sure she got many more hours and days within its warm rays.

Like a raging bull, he lowered his shoulder and plunged through the mob gathered around him with a loud roar. He shoved the last of the stragglers out of his way and raced across the ground toward them. Calvin must have heard him coming as he released the horse and spun to face him. Though fury drove him, Jack was still coherent enough to realize that he couldn't launch himself at them and destroy the bastard when he saw what Calvin was holding in his hand.

He slid to a stop as Calvin pressed the stake even more firmly into Hannah's chest. A small gasp escaped her, she tried to wiggle away from the stake but Calvin held her firmly against him as he kept his hand entangled in her hair. "Don't!" Jack spat as Calvin pressed the stake forcefully enough against her flesh to draw blood.

"Don't what? Do this?" Calvin taunted as he turned her head toward him. Hannah's struggles only pressed the stake deeper into her flesh as Calvin forced his mouth against hers. Red exploded across Jack's vision, the sound that ripped from him was one that would have made even the largest lion cower. A strangled cry escaped her, the scent of her blood caused Jack to lurch two more steps forward as Calvin bit into her bottom lip. He jerked to a halt as Calvin pressed the stake in hard enough to draw more blood from her.

"Stop!" Jack shouted as terror clawed at his chest.

Calvin smiled at him as he moved his mouth away from hers. Calvin was still too close to her; he would destroy her before Jack could make it to them. Pain twisted Hannah's features, she tried to fight against Calvin but her exertion only succeeded in drawing more blood from where the stake pressed against her chest. Her eyes shimmered like rubies as her fingers tore into Calvin's hand. Calvin didn't seem to notice it though, he was grinning as he pulled her back a few more feet. Jack stalked them but he didn't dare get too close as Calvin angled her toward the massive black stallion that had danced a few feet away from them.

"I can catch a horse," he said in a quiet, lethal tone.

Calvin's fingers rubbed against the underneath of her chin as he tilted her head further up. "Not if you want her to stay alive. You don't wish to catch a corpse, do you?"

The smirk that curved Calvin's lips caused Jack's hands to fist as he tried to calculate some way to get a hold of Calvin before he could drive that stake through her heart and effectively end both of their lives. He'd vowed he was never going to let anything bad happen to her and though he'd been too late to keep her completely protected, he was going to make sure she walked away from this if it was the last thing he did.

Calvin dragged her with him as he retreated a few more steps. Panic drove Jack forward another step, but when Calvin pressed the stake more firmly against her, he froze again. "I'd stay back lover boy, if you intend for her to live anyway," Calvin said with a cruel sneer.

Jack's eyes raced over the town surrounding them, but though smoke still filtered through the air it wasn't thick enough this far away from the tavern to cover any of his movements. Exasperation filled him as Calvin pulled her even further away. Jack spotted Daniel and Braith on the right side of Calvin seconds before Daniel fired an arrow. Jack lunged forward as Calvin turned toward the whistling arrow; it pierced through his shoulder and knocked his hand back from Hannah. The stake clattered to the ground as it fell from his limp hand.

Hannah spun and drove her fist into his face. Blood spattered from Calvin's battered nose, he staggered back a step but quickly recovered. He was already grabbing for her arms as she stumbled to the side in an attempt to avoid his frantic grasping. Calvin's left hand had caught in the sleeve of her dress when Braith grasped hold of her and ripped her away. A triumphant cry escaped Jack as he leapt over his brother and grabbed Calvin by the throat.

Dust kicked up around them as they tumbled onto the ground together. Something volatile and ferocious tore from him, something he'd never even known could reside inside of himself, but he knew that the driving urge to see this man dead was intricately interwoven with Hannah's safety. That if she was ever threatened this thing inside of him would destroy anyone that ever dared to touch her. Calvin tried to deflect Jack's hand as he repeatedly drove his fist into Calvin's face, but he couldn't hold him back.

A bone broke beneath Jack's hand, Calvin's right cheek caved in as his lower jaw cracked. Red continued to fill Jack's vision but he wasn't sure if it was because of his frenzy or from the blood that was spraying off of Calvin's face. Calvin managed to get his hands up, Jack felt his fingers digging into his face, tearing back the skin from his cheekbone, but he didn't stop pummeling the man.

A blow to the side of his head almost knocked him completely off of the man. Calvin managed to get his legs in between them and lever Jack the rest of the way off. "Jack!" Hannah screamed. Jack spotted her as he fell back to the ground. She strained to get free of Braith's hold but his brother kept her pressed against his chest as he moved her rapidly out of the way.

Blood trickled from Jack's temple and into his left eye as he rolled to the side. Calvin was still clenching the board he'd used to hit him with as he scrambled back and rose to his feet. Jack wiped the blood out of his eye to focus on the man across from him again. The right side of Calvin's face looked more like mush than anything truly resembling a vampire. His nose had been flattened, both cheekbones were broken, and his bloody and broken lips pulled back to reveal his lethal fangs.

Pushing himself up, Jack remained half bent over as he lunged forward. Calvin danced to the side but Jack still managed to snake his hand into the collar of his shirt. Calvin turned and swung the board up again but Jack grabbed hold of it before Calvin could hit him with it. Wrenching the board from Calvin's hands, he spun the burnt piece around in his hand and drove it forcefully upward.

It caught Calvin under the chin, lifted him up, and flung him ten feet back in the air. Jack twisted the board in his hands as he stalked toward Calvin. The larger vampire was attempting to get back to his feet when Jack placed his booted foot against Calvin's chest and shoved him back to the ground.

A twisted smile curved his lips as he leaned closer to him. "I told you not to touch her again."

Jack lifted the board over his head and drove downward with the full force of his weight. A low howl escaped Calvin, his hands curled around the board as it pierced through his chest. Jack turned the board in his hand, twisting it until it burst out of Calvin's back.

Though he doubted it was possible Calvin could return like his father had, he still held his hand out to Daniel as he approached. "Knife." Daniel didn't question the action, he simply tugged the foot long knife free from the holder on his side and tossed it to him. "Don't let her see this," he said to Braith.

"Stop!" Hannah cried. Jack forced down his unreasonable anger at his brother's hold on Hannah as Braith turned her away from what he was about to do.

The dying vampire watched him from terrified eyes as he squirmed to get away. Jack placed his hand against Calvin's forehead and pulled his head back. Calvin made a sick gurgling sound, even though he knew he was dying, he still tried to squirm away as Jack placed the blade against his throat and drove it deep. He hated Calvin, he'd kill him a thousand times over if he could, but he took no pleasure in severing his head from his body.

He dropped the knife at his side as it cut through the last of the sinew keeping it connected to Calvin's neck. He rose slowly, wary and beaten, and worried about what Hannah would think of what he'd done. Bracing himself, he turned to search the crowd for her. Braith still had a hold of her but he released her as Jack took a step toward them. He expected to see revulsion and condemnation in her eyes when she turned toward him, instead she let out a relieved cry as she raced across the ground and flung herself into his arms.

"Are you ok?" she demanded as her hands ran over his face and she wiped the blood from his eye and the scratches that marred his cheeks. He could already feel the wounds on his cheeks slowly closing back together. "Jack?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing, really," he assured her as he tried to hold her back in order to get a good look at her. The wound on her chest was already beginning to heal, the ends of her hair were singed and her face was still pink from the fire but he didn't see any burns on her. Even so, fresh anger spurted through him as he pulled her against his chest. "Are
you
ok?"

"I'm fine," she whispered in his ear. "Why did you cut off his head?"

Jack shuddered as he pressed her closer against him and turned her away from Calvin's remains. "My father survived a stake to the heart." He felt the shock that coursed through her body and caused her hands to tighten on his shoulders. "And though I doubt Calvin could do the same, I wasn't taking any chances with him."

She nodded as she pressed her face into her neck; he felt the hot wave of her tears against his skin. "Oh Jack, William..."

He held her closer as she released a moan. His eyes drifted to Braith as his brother pushed into the crowd. People and vampires scrambled to get out of the way as Calvin's remaining fighters attempted to flee the town. Braith's soldiers regrouped around him as Braith pointed in different directions and issued commands to them.

Jack reluctantly released Hannah as Braith snatched one of Calvin's vampires by the back of his neck and lifted him off the ground. He kept Hannah behind him as he hurried to help Braith. "The survivors are to be hunted down and locked up," Braith said sharply as he thrust the smaller vampire at one of his soldier's. "I'll be in the house at the end of the road. Find me when you've located them all."

"Yes Your Majesty," the man said and carried the kicking and swinging vampire away.

"William..." Daniel started.

"Aria's with him," Braith interrupted briskly.

"He's alive?" Hannah breathed.