Redemption (2 page)

“I am sorry,” Fane says softly.
 
He sinks back onto his heels, giving Nicolae some space.
 

Anger rips through Nicolae’s gut, deep and visceral.
 
It winds through his stomach and into his chest, clenching so tightly he fears he will lose the ability to take another breath.
 

Slowly, his fractured thoughts begin to clear as he looks at Fane.
 
“Turn her.”

Fane’s eyes bulge in disbelief.
 
“You can’t be serious.
 
Think about what you’re asking, Nicolae.”

“I am.”
 
The grief is too raw, sealing out logic and years of training.
 
None of that matters right now.
 
He closes his eyes and clings to Sadie’s lifeless hand, knowing that no matter the cost, he will not let her die like an animal, gutted and left for dead.
 
“Save her.”

Fane grips his shoulders, forcing Nicolae to release his grasp on Sadie’s hand.
 
“I know it hurts and that you would do anything to save her, but…”

“No,” Nicolae holds up his free hand, his voice threatening to give out on him again. “I know what I’m asking for.”

William glances between them, his rocking slowing to a halt.
 
“Are you saying there’s a chance she can live?”

“Maybe.”
 
Fane’s expression is troubled as he turns to William.

Nicolae’s gaze trails down to the floor, noticing how Sadie’s blood has seeped into the cracks of the aged hardwood floor as Fane responds.
 
“It doesn’t always work.
 
She has to possess the right bloodline.
 
I’m not even sure she would be strong enough to survive the transformation.
 
She’s lost too much blood.”

Fane waits for Nicolae to look up from Sadie and acknowledge him.
 
“Sadie might not survive.”

“She’s dead either way,” Nicolae replies, his voice choked with tears.

“But if you could save her, she’d become like you?
 
An immortal?”
 
William gently brushes aside wisps of bloodstained hair from his sister’s face.
 

“Yes,” Fane nods stiffly.
 
He looks to Nicolae.
 
“If I do this, and I’m not saying I’m going to, but if it works, I can’t guarantee that she will remain pure.
 
She might not be the girl you knew.”

Nicolae’s eyes darken as his expression grows rigid with determination.
 
“Just do it.”

Two

N
icolae paces at Sadie’s bedside, his frustration mounting with each tick of the grandfather clock that stands like a sentinel against the wall opposite Roseline’s bed.
 
His hairline is damp with sweat, his bare skin still caked with dried blood.
 
His disheveled uniform began to stink a day ago, but he has hardly noticed.
 
He absentmindedly chews on a cracked fingernail only to grimace at the taste of blood and dirt in his mouth.
 
 
“Why isn’t it working?”

“Magic cannot be rushed.”
 
Fane blots Sadie’s cheeks with a damp cloth, cooling her feverish skin.
 
Although William has grumbled several times about the chill in the air, Fane refused to stoke the fire and risk Sadie’s teetering health for William’s comfort.
 
Her breathing has slowed so much that he doubts Nicolae can sense its presence.
 
Her chest lies eerily still.
 

“You said a few hours, a day at the most.
 
It has been nearly two days, Fane.
 
Something should have happened by now.”

“She’s still alive,” Fane reminds him, with forced restraint.
 
“Be thankful.”

“You call this alive?”
 
Nicolae stabs a finger at Sadie’s still form.
 
The sheets and mattress bear rusty streaks of dried blood, a reminder of just how long Sadie has remained in this catatonic state.
 

Fane sighs and rises from his position on the floor.
 
His clothes are rumpled, stained from hours spent kneeling at Sadie’s bedside.
 
He groans as he reaches toward the ceiling, his neck popping and cracking audibly as he stretches.
 
Nicolae notices that Fane’s long hair, previously tied back by a leather thong, has fallen haphazardly about his shoulders, further evidence of the stress burdening the immortal.

He tosses his cloth back into a bowl of pink colored water on the side table as he approaches.
 
“I warned you this might not work.
 
It would appear that her body is fighting the changes. I can’t predict what will happen to her, but I do know what will happen to
you
if you keep refusing to eat or sleep.
 
You are human, Nicolae.
 
You can’t keep going like this.”

“I’m fine.”
 
Nicolae’s shoulder bumps against Fane as he brushes past, refusing to leave Sadie’s side.
 
He caught sight of himself in the mirror and knows how gaunt his cheeks have become, how purple the skin is under his eyes, but it doesn’t matter.
 
“I won’t leave her.
 
Not again.”

“Sadie is strong-willed.
 
If anyone can pull through, it’ll be her.”
 
Fane crosses the creaky wood floor and dumps the bowl of water out of the window.
 
It splatters against the stone courtyard below.
 
“If I were a betting man, I’d say Sadie will wake before morning.”

When Nicolae shivers at the frosty breeze that slips through the window, Fane locks the glass panes, sealing out the blustery night.
 
When he turns back, he finds Nicolae with his head hanging dejectedly.
 
“This isn’t your fault, you know?
 
If you’d been here, you might have shared the same fate.”
 

Nicolae’s jaw clenches as he vigorously shakes his head.
 
“It was my job to protect her.
 
She needed me and I wasn’t there for her.”

“I feel the same way about Roseline.
 
For so many years, I’ve felt like she was my responsibility.
 
Not that she would have ever let me take care of her; she’s independent for that.”
 
Fane sighs as he leans back against the wall, closing his eyes.
 
“We should have known there was something wrong with Malachi.”

“We did.”
 
Nicolae frowns.
 
“We knew, but Roseline was too stubborn to listen.”

Fane’s lips twist into a pained smile.
  
He opens his eyes and stares at the exposed wooden beams that run the length of the ceiling.
 
“She has always been like that.
 
From the first day I met her.”

Nicolae sinks down onto the bed beside Sadie, careful not to disturb her.
 
He can’t stand to be apart from her, not when death seems to be hanging on her doorstep.
 
He likes to think that, even in this coma-like state, she can hear his voice, sense his presence and maybe it will be enough for her to fight to survive.

When Nicolae clears away the strands of stray hair from her forehead, he tries not to notice the blood that still clings to her hair or the pallor of her skin.
 
“What was Roseline like?
 
In the beginning, I mean.”

For a moment, he thinks Fane might ignore his question, but instead Fane moves toward an oversized armchair near the window.
 
The leather creaks as he sinks into it and his face is cast in shadow.

“She was sweet, innocent.”
 
A wry smile crosses the immortal’s lips.
 
“Her laugh was different then, more like the giggle of a girl with a childhood crush, but there was a buried pain within her as well.
 
Seeing your entire family slaughtered before your eyes changes a person.”

Nicolae sinks down next to Sadie, resting his head atop hers.

“Roseline always feared the monster within her, always waiting for the savage desires to overtake her.
 
She was too strong for that, too determined to prove Vladimir wrong.”
 
Fane’s voice turns harsh as he crosses his arms over his chest, as if trying to repress years of anger.

“I wanted to kill him each time he touched her.
 
I used to dream about it, plan it, but I couldn’t risk messing it up.
 
I knew if I did, Vladimir or Lucien would make her suffer for my mistake.”
 
He falls silent for a moment, his brow furrowed.
 
“She always tried to hide her wounds from me.
 
I’m not sure if it was her pride or for my own benefit, but I always knew.”

Pursing his lips at the raw pain in Fane’s tone, Nicolae wishes he’d never asked.
 

Fane leans his head back against the chair and stares up at the ceiling.
 
“She saved me all those years ago.
 
I was like her in many ways, horrified by what I’d become, desperate to end it all.
 
I was contemplating suicide the day I met her.”

“Is that even possible?”

Fane rolls his head to look at Nicolae.
 
“Anything is possible, but would you really want to light yourself on fire?”

“Good point.”
 
Nicolae watches the emotions playing across Fane’s face.
 
It is strange to see this side of the man he grew up hating.
 
Nicolae had never stopped to consider that the evil Fane lived with would haunt the immortal just as much his own parents death did with him.
 

His gaze drops to Sadie’s still face.
 
“Do you think she will be like Vladimir?
 
If she survives?”

Fane shakes his head.
 
“No, but she will struggle.
 
We all do.
 
Blood calls strongly to us, but we don’t have to let it control us.
 
Roseline is the strongest person I know.
 
I can’t think of anyone better to show Sadie the right way to live.”

“But she’s not here,” Nicolae protests.
 
He stops and blinks, grimacing as he looks up to meet Fane’s hollow gaze.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I shouldn’t have said”

“No.”
 
Fane rises from his chair.
 
“It’s the truth.
 
Sadie needs Roseline.”

Nicolae watches his friend move toward the door.
 
Fane opens the door, pausing with his back turned toward the room.
 
“Once Sadie is on her feet, we will need to leave.
 
It’s not safe here anymore.”

“And Roseline?”

Fane shifts so that Nicolae can see his grim profile over his shoulder.
 
 
“She’s a fighter.
 
I know she will last long enough for us to find her again.
 
She has to.”

***

S
trong winds tousle Gabriel’s hair, biting at his cheeks.
 
Small ice crystals cling to his blond strands, clacking together as he wills the numbness to return.
 
He is adjusting to the cold, just as Elias said he would.
 
Staring out over the thick Siberian forest before him, he can’t bring himself to feel anything more than guilt mingled with a heavy dose of remorse.
 

Why did he leave Roseline behind?
 

He bows his head, ignoring the whistling winds that whip through the tall mountain pines, as he clamps his eyes shut.
 
He should have gone to her, said something, tried to explain…but he didn’t.
 

Even now, he can’t help but wonder if he made the right choice.
 
Elias’s argument was annoyingly sound back in the courtyard of Bran castle: leave now and save Roseline later.
 
Of course he had to choose this, but if that’s true, why does it feel like he has abandoned her?

Now he is the one who has been abandoned.
 
Elias dropped him off here several hours ago, when the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and the cloud cover was sparse.
 
Now the clouds have begun to roll in, thick and heavy with unfallen snow.
 
Seneh is gone too, although Gabriel can’t really remember when he left.

He spent most of the afternoon moping, kicking at buried tree roots and staring blankly at the wild landscape surrounding him.
 
Animals scurries from treetop to treetop, no doubt foraging for food.
 

Frustration soon melts into boredom as the hours pass.
 
He paces back and forth, muttering to himself under the thick canopy.
 
Dry pine needles jut up from the snow at awkward angles, attacking his calves as he sinks into the snow with each step.
 
He can’t wait to see Elias or Seneh so he can give them a piece of his mind.

It’s not the abandonment that bothers him the most. It’s the lack of answers, the secret looks the two angels share when they don’t think he’s watching.
 
Something is going on.
 
Something that has made both angels flustered enough to leave him here alone, in a strange land, completely unprotected.

Gabriel’s shoulders tense at the sound of a footfall behind him.
 
He drops to a crouch, peering into the woods back over his shoulder.
 
The muffled light of the forest plays tricks with his mind as he searches for any hint of a sound or movement of color.
 
He inhales to check for Seneh’s scent, but it is not an angel creeping up on him now.
 
It is a human.

He turns his face to the side and sniffs the air again, realizing that he can’t even pick up a scent.
 
The forest falls silent around him.
 
His heart beats in his chest as he counts the seconds that pass.
 
Two minutes pass without a single hint as to where the person is located.
 

Whoever is out there knows how to hide.

His muscles coil as he struggles to decide if he should run or turn and fight.
 
If he runs, his dark robe will easily be seen against the snow.
 
If he fights, he fears how far he will have to take this.

Gabriel has never had to kill before.
 
Although he knows he is capable of it, he doesn’t look forward to the time he is forced to.
 
Hopefully today isn’t that day.