Crave 02 - Sacrifice (15 page)

Shay tilted her head back and squinted into the distance. There, about seventy feet up, was a patch of gray light. She blinked, shocked
to see anything other than blackness. Shay reached for a handhold and pulled herself up onto a spire of rock. The air smelled of more than just trees now, it smelled of flowers, and rain, and animals.
Fresh air.

There was some kind of ledge up there, maybe a rock shelf like the one she’d left Gabriel on. It was impossibly far away.

Shay gathered herself and jumped. Straight up, pushing off of the spire with her feet. In her life she had barely had the stamina to play a game of hopscotch. Back when Olivia would play jump rope at recess, Shay always had to sit reading a book. Now, though, it was effortless. One push and she was flying upward, the damp air of the cave rushing past her face. She reached out and grabbed on to the ledge, her fingers tightening automatically. Without thinking, she pulled herself up and over the edge, landing on her feet on a wide shelf of rock.

“Wow,” Shay breathed. Her body had gone from house cat to lion in the space of one day. She felt the dizzy disorientation begin to fade. She was strong. She’d found her way here, and now she would get out of the caverns and away from Gabriel’s family.

The gray light came from a cave mouth at one end of the rock shelf, about thirty feet away. It was raining outside—Shay could hear each drop as it hit the stone of the cave, and she could smell the sweet and earthwormy scent of it. The air up here was wet, coating her skin in a fine mist.

“Thank God. I’m finally out,” Shay said. She didn’t care if she got drenched—no more worrying about catching cold and getting sick. She’d never be sick again. She was a vampire, indestructible.

She stepped toward the cave entrance, eager for the fresh air
and the rain. The dreary gray daylight washed over her—and she shrieked in pain.

Shay hurled herself backward, tumbling over the edge of the shelf and falling through the empty air. She landed flat on her back on the rock far below. Stars exploded in front of her eyes.

The sun.
The thought reached Shay from somewhere beyond the pain in the back of her skull.
It’s still daytime, and I can’t go out. Not even in the rain. Not ever again.

Her incredible vampire vision blurred with tears. She wasn’t strong. She was scared. She was a vampire, and she was alone. Forever.

The sun began to go down.

Relief flooded through Gabriel as he felt it. He’d been lying on the cold stone shelf ever since Shay ran off earlier that day. The only other times he’d defeated the death sleep—exactly twice in his long life—the sun had sapped his strength and put him to sleep as soon as the adrenaline rush was over. But not today.

How can I still be awake?
he wondered for the hundredth time. He felt the sun like a physical presence even though he was deep underground. It pressed on him, and he imagined he could tell its exact location in the sky as the minutes slowly ticked by. Feeding from Shay had done something to him. It was the only explanation. He’d taken in her half-vampire blood, and then she’d taken almost all of his own strong blood.

He was weak. Maybe even poisoned—if she’d been a full vampire, drinking that much of her toxic blood would surely have killed him. It was anybody’s guess what her unique blend of human and
vampire blood had done. But to defy the death sleep for the whole day? That was unexpected.

Or possibly he was dying. He felt the pressure of the sun, and yet his body didn’t react to it. Not only that, but his body couldn’t function at all. He’d lain still for hours, unable to even lift a finger. When Shay ran away, he hadn’t been able to go after her. He couldn’t get himself back to the lab either, to check on his family. It wasn’t like the time he’d been paralyzed by the hawthorn. Then, his body had felt like dead weight, locked in place. He hadn’t even been able to talk or blink. Now his body felt feather-light, hollow and weak. And he could still croak out a word or two. Every so often, he’d tried to call for Shay, not that he got an answer.

Where was she? There should be communion between the two of them now, because he had transformed her into a vampire. But he couldn’t feel her. There was a swirling confusion, a sort of dizziness and fear that kept overtaking him. That could be Shay, he supposed. She was on her own as a new vampire, with no one to explain things to her. And it was daytime. He’d never heard of a vampire being created while the sun was up. He didn’t know how it would work. She hadn’t immediately succumbed to the death sleep, which no newborn vampire should be able to resist.

Had the daytime transformation affected the communion? The confusion and fear could be his own. The world had gone crazy in the past few days. Gabriel had been so frantic with worry that he hadn’t had time to really think, until today. Lying here, unable to sleep, he could do nothing but think. And it was insane. He was in love with a human. And she was Sam’s daughter. His father considered her an abomination, his family had essentially killed her.
Gabriel didn’t know how to feel anymore—it was enough to make anyone confused and afraid.

And then Martin, and Ernst,
he thought.
And Richard.

He didn’t want to think about that part. He had no idea what he’d left behind in the lab. Had the fire climbed the ravine and reached the building? Were there human firefighters in the family’s quarters right now, discovering the sleeping vampires? Was the whole compound ablaze, killing everyone?

Was Ernst all right? He’d been paralyzed by the hawthorn—how long would its effects last?

His family wouldn’t know that Gabriel had chosen Shay over them, not unless Ernst recovered from the hawthorn much faster than Gabriel had. But even if they knew, even if they hated him now, he was still driven crazy by the need to keep them safe and to warn them about Martin. If Ernst was still paralyzed, he wouldn’t be able to tell them about the attack. They needed to know that Martin wanted a vampire to study—and that he wanted the rest of them dead so that they couldn’t come after him.

Richard would have taken over in Ernst’s place. He would have told them the lab is compromised,
Gabriel thought.
He would have told them they were in danger.
But Richard was dead.

His eyes filled with tears. His brother had died to save the rest of the family. Regardless of the tension between them since Gabriel’s return, he still loved Richard. He’d helped to raise him from the time he was a small boy. He’d rejoiced when Richard found love . . . and Richard had reacted with fury when Gabriel found love.

Gabriel blinked away the tears. He was devastated by what had happened. But he couldn’t forget what his family had done to Shay.

Just as she’ll never forget what I did to Sam.

He closed his eyes. He should have known that Shay would find out eventually. He’d told Sam’s plans to Ernst, and he’d stood by accusingly as Ernst sentenced Sam to death. Shay had had visions of so many things in his life, he should have known that she would have a vision of that sooner or later. Of all his experiences, that one—Sam’s last blood ritual—was the one that haunted Gabriel the most.

Sam’s screams of desperation had lasted through all three nights of the ritual that killed him. When Gabriel closed his eyes every morning, he still heard them. The last image in his mind as he drifted into the death sleep was always Sam’s agonized face . . . or at least it had been, until Shay. While Sam was slowly dying, Gabriel had thought there could be nothing worse than the horror of his desperation. But he’d been wrong.

The worst thing was the end. Gabriel was the last to drink from his brother before the entire family drank together, taking the last of Sam’s blood. Gabriel felt it as he drank . . . Sam was nearly dead. Gabriel pulled away, removing his eyeteeth from Sam’s throat. He’d avoided Sam’s gaze since the ritual began, even though he couldn’t avoid Sam’s emotions blasting through the communion.

But this last time he couldn’t help himself—he met his brother’s eyes.

Sam was looking back. “You act out of love for your family,” Sam whispered. “Someday you’ll regret your part in this, and when you do, remember . . . I forgive you.”

That was the worst part. The worst moment of Gabriel’s life.

He’d still drunk with the rest of his family, taking the very last drops of Sam’s blood. The final emotions they’d felt in the
communion were love for Emma and for Shay in her mother’s womb, followed by forgiveness for all of them who had slowly killed him. That sensation of sweet and piercing forgiveness was what Gabriel had never been able to forget, much as he wanted to. Every time he thought of it, he was struck again by Sam’s innate goodness and his deep love of all living things. Every time he thought of it, he was crushed by the knowledge that he had snuffed out that goodness, that love. For so long he’d clung to the belief that what he’d done was right. He’d needed to believe it was necessary for his family’s survival.

But now, after meeting Shay and coming to know her, that belief had slipped away and he was forced to face the truth: Sam had trusted Gabriel with his deepest secret, and Gabriel had betrayed him. Gabriel had caused the death of the person he loved as a brother and a best friend.

“If transforming Shay has killed me, I deserve it,” he said weakly into the emptiness of the cave. “Maybe it will make me worthy of your forgiveness, Sam.” He didn’t believe that, though. After what he had done, he would never be worthy.

“Gabriel!” The voice echoed through the cavern, piercing his dark thoughts. “Where are you?”

Millie.
He felt her now, fear and agitation and confusion. She must be feeling him, too, using the communion to locate him. It wasn’t something they did often, but when necessary, in times of great distress, the link could tell the family where to find one another.

“Here,” he croaked. His voice was pathetically quiet. Even with her vampire senses, it was doubtful that his sister would hear it. Gabriel closed his eyes.

It was another five minutes before Millie appeared on the rock shelf next to him. She took one look at him and dropped to her knees at his side. “What happened?”

“Martin,” he said. “He must have traced the signal from Shay’s cell—” At least he’d been able to get out that warning.

“We found Ernst in Richard and Tamara’s room. He can’t move,” Millie said.

“Hawthorn,” Gabriel told her. “Martin shot him with it.”

“Is that what’s wrong with you? What are you doing in the caves?”

“Mils . . . I need blood.” He could feel his consciousness blurring.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. We’re all confused.” She scooped him up in her arms. “I’ll run.”

Millie jumped down from the rock shelf, landing without jostling Gabriel. She took off at high speed, cradling him like a baby as she sped through the series of caves. Before long, they were back to the tunnel he’d come through with Shay that morning.

“Gabriel!” Luis cried when they reached the lodge. He glanced at Millie. “Where did you find him?”

“In the caves. He’s weak, nearly spent,” Millie said.

“I’ll get blood.” Luis took off toward the refrigerated room where they kept their store of blood bags.

“Was Richard there too?” Tamara asked frantically. She bent over Gabriel. “Where is he? I can’t feel him.”

Gabriel couldn’t answer her. Richard was gone from the communion. He was gone.

“Gabriel was alone. He’s not strong enough to talk,” Millie said. “Try to stay calm, Tamara.”

But Tamara’s emotions were in turmoil. It was almost more than Gabriel could bear.

When Luis returned with a bag of blood, Millie opened it and held it to his lips just as Shay had once done. Gabriel tried to shove down the feelings that the memory raised. He didn’t know how to explain to his family what had happened. Instead, he focused on the blood. His strength slowly returned, spreading through his limbs as he finished the first bag and reached for another. He felt his brother and sisters watching him as he drank, but he didn’t meet their eyes. Only when he’d finished a third bag of blood did he finally turn to them.

“I’ve never seen anyone take so much at once,” Luis commented. “What happened to you?”

Gabriel didn’t answer. “Where is Ernst?” he asked instead. The question distracted Luis, and Gabriel was grateful.

“Still in my room. I found him when I awoke, but Richard was gone,” Tamara said. “Tell me where he is.”

Her voice was steady, but she was brimming with fear. Gabriel knew they all felt it. “Can Ernst talk?”

“No. He isn’t moving, isn’t talking, and we can’t feel him in the communion,” Luis said quietly. “But his eyes are open, and he’s . . . he’s
there
. He’s alive. I don’t understand it.”

“Martin—the doctor—he came to the lab while we slept. The alarm woke Ernst, and Ernst woke me,” Gabriel explained. “Martin had a gun with hawthorn darts. And he had a bag filled with explosives. He wanted to knock out a vampire and take him captive. He had a gurney and a windowless van. He was prepared.”

“And the explosives?” Millie asked.

Gabriel shrugged. “He’s smart. He didn’t want to leave any loose
ends. I don’t think he has any idea how many of us there are, so he brought enough C4 to torch the whole place. He knows fire is one of the only ways to kill us.”

“So he shot Ernst?” Tamara said. “What about Richard?”

“He shot Ernst, and the hawthorn severed his communion with us. It’s what happened to me when I was Martin’s captive,” Gabriel said. “I don’t know how long it will be before Ernst recovers.”

“Did he shoot Richard? Did he
take
Richard?”

Gabriel met Tamara’s gaze. He couldn’t keep avoiding her questions. “No. I woke Richard from the death sleep.”

They all gasped. None of them had ever conquered the sleep before.

“I told him to stay in the lodge, to protect you three. I went to the front to help Ernst,” Gabriel said. “But Richard . . . he must have followed me. I didn’t know he was there.”