Authors: Ginger Voight
By that evening the staff was tucked away behind her back and under her jacket when she arrived at the hotel well after dark.
It wasn’t just Thaddeus she needed to see. She wanted to see her Nicholas, alive and strong, just one more time.
The suite
was literally alive with activity the minute she let herself into the room with her key. None of the vampires seemed to be surprised by her presence, and in fact the biggest and strongest ushered her immediately into the tomb room.
Michael was
strung up on one wall, and Nicholas was on the other. Her heart was immediately torn which one to rush to first. There was her past life with a soul mate for the ages. Then there was her new life with a man who loved her every bit as much as Nicholai could no longer. In the balance teetered Adele, whose heart was torn by both words she belonged to.
Thaddeus, who sat
upon a mock throne on his pedestal, recognized her dilemma and began to chuckle. “My Natasha,” he murmured. “Always motivated by love.”
She crossed her arms in front of her.
“And what are you motivated by, Thaddeus?”
He rose languidly and crossed over to where she stood.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked as he reached out to touch her. Even though his hand remained inches from her face, she could feel his cold skin caress her. “I’ve turned the world upside down to find you.”
“
You raped my mother,” she accused.
“
She refused to be seduced,” was his unapologetic reply.
“
You killed Nicholas.”
“
And yet here he is, quite undead.”
She glared at him.
“He died the minute you turned him into your killing machine and you know it.”
Thaddeus just smiled as he circled around her.
“And yet he did that willingly for you. As did Michael.”
Adele’s
eyes shot over to where Michael hung, almost like Jesus on a crucifix, bled and delirious. He was fed upon, but she knew instinctively he had not been changed. He was still alive, and she knew that she had to do whatever it took to keep him that way. She couldn’t curse yet another noble and brave man that had done nothing more but fall in love with a cursed woman.
Thaddeus stood behind her, hovering over her. He bent toward her slightly.
“The question remains. What are you willing to do for love?”
As if on cue another burly vampire dragged Vincent into the room, and yet another held Dani by the arms.
“Lily,” Thaddeus called. “Come play with your new sister.”
Adele watched in horror as the young girl once known as Lily emerged from the throng of adult vampires
, her lascivious grin dripping with quickly maturing fangs. Adele lurched toward both of them but Thaddeus held her back with one claw clamped around the back of her neck.
He walked around her until they stood face to face. Even with his human appearance, the frightening creature lurked underneath. She could see the fangs, the bones, the decaying skin – the desperation to steal that which he no longer naturally possessed.
Her very essence of life.
“
You have a choice to make. You can have the priest or you can have the vampire,” he motioned to Nicholas. “Which one will you choose?”
Her eyes dragged from Michael to Nicholas. She loved them both for very different, yet very similar, reasons. They both belonged to her, and
were hers to save and protect, especially since it was her fault they were in the predicament they were in. She could imagine a life without either of them; they were both stitched so deeply in her soul. How could she choose between them? “I choose them both,” she told Thaddeus.
He chuckled.
“That’s not the way this game is played, Princess. With love comes sacrifice. Or haven’t you learned that by now?”
Again her eyes slid toward Michael, who was incoherent as he repeated prayer after prayer to maintain his sanity and strength.
“Hail Mary, full of grace…”
She glanced over to Nicholas, who begged with his eyes for her to remain strong, to resist the seduction of
a devil who promised the world but could only deliver death and destruction for them all.
Thaddeus bent forward.
“Who do you love, Natasha?”
Her voice was low, but firm.
“I love them both.”
He grew impatient.
“Which one will you choose?”
“
I choose them both!” she shouted.
“
Wrong answer!” he bellowed. With bared claws he struck the air toward both men and left bloody, red gashes on their bared chests. Both men cried out in pain, which hurt Adele even more.
She fought back tears as she repeated again,
“I choose them both.”
Thaddeus’
s face contorted into a snarl. “Wrong. Answer.” With a wave of his hand he released Michael from the wall and he slid down in the midst of a circle of hungry vampires. Another wave and Nicholas was released. He did not fall but she could tell immediately his strength was compromised. She knew he hadn’t fed since he had awakened as a vampire – nor would he… to his very death.
She turned her eyes back to Thaddeus, who waited for an impossible answer.
“What do you want to hear?”
“
Me!” he roared. “You will choose me!”
She shook her head.
“Never,” she swore.
He snickered as he took a step closer to her.
“Don’t be so sure, Princess,” he crooned. “Didn’t you feel me last night?” he asked near her ear. “Nicholas is mine now. Everything he sees, I see. Everything he touches, I touch. Didn’t you feel me touching you? Tasting you? Making love to you?”
Her skin crawled as she remembered the night before, only instead of her beloved Nicholas in her arms she saw Thaddeus over her, under her… inside of her. She felt his snake-like tongue slither across her most intimate places, his claw like hands
clutching at her sensitive breast.
Suddenly she knew why he had not come for them last night. He instead chose to be a voyeur and live through Nicholas in the one and only night she would share with him. She gagged at the thought that each stroke had been felt by him, and no
w could be felt by her as well.
She fell to her knees before him, clutching her stomach and trying her best not to vomit as he mentally raped her through her memories of the night before. Nicholas struggled against his captors until finally he broke free, and flew
at Thaddeus with an angry roar.
“
Nicholas, no!” she begged.
“
Save the others!” he commanded. With all of the power he could summon he thrust Thaddeus backward against the other wall. She hesitated only a moment before she raced over to where Michael lay in a pool of blood, repeating his prayer, nearly unconscious.
She grabbed the crucifix from where it
still laid on the floor and advanced on the other vampires. “Get away from him!” she demanded. They hissed and swayed under the power of the cross, which began to grow hot in the palm of her hand. They fell to their knees, writhing in agony, and Adele was able to reach Michael where he lay.
He turned his face toward hers, searching her eyes with his own.
“Did you mean it?” he whispered.
“
Mean what?” she asked.
“
That you love me.”
She smiled through her tears.
Of course she meant it. She just didn’t know why it took her so long to actually admit it. “Would I lie to a priest?”
He returned her smile as he reached for his crucifix. He knew he could do anything now.
The minute the necklace touched his palm it emitted shards of brilliant light, and warded off the wavering vampires who still tried to approach them where they huddled together. Michael’s voice deepened as he began to repeat prayers stronger and louder. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”
Convinced he was as safe as he could be at the moment, Adele raced over to Vincent. He was unconscious and bled profusely from the two holes in his neck. With a gasp Adele remembered the holy water still tucked in the pocket of her jacket. She
didn’t know any fancy prayers to use when she doused the wound. The only thing she could think to say was, “God, please.”
He woke with a gasp, then turned over on his side and vomited. Just as she turned to find Dani she heard one of the other vampires holler in pain. He staggered backward and that was when Adele caught sight of Dani, who brandished a brass cross
she’d no doubt lifted from a church somewhere on her way to kill the vampires. There was no fear in her eyes. This was a girl who had been to hell and back, and was no longer afraid of any bogeymen. “Go back to hell and leave my family alone!” she commanded in a voice full of authority.
With an ear-piercing scream the vampire dissolved into a red mist. Adele stared at Dani in wonder, and envied just a tenth of her courage. Dani just lifted up the cross.
“I understand it now,” she said.
Adele nodded.
“Yeah. Me too.”
With renewed strength Dani raced back toward the throng of va
mpires with her newfound power.
Adele turned back to the epic battle playing out between Nicholas and Thaddeus. Though Nicholas had not fed, he was still younger and physically stronger than the older vampire, which evened the odds considerably.
Still, Adele’s heart broke to watch her beloved be tossed around the room like a giant rag doll. She dug out the wooden crucifix from behind her back and advanced on Thaddeus. “Leave him alone!”
He merely laughed.
“A worthless token of your worthless faith.” It affected him not at all as he advanced on Nicholas, who was, Adele suddenly realized, weaving on his feet before the power of the cross. She quickly withdrew the cross and allowed Nicholas to renew his strength for the battle. She watched helplessly as he charged Thaddeus, who raised him up in the air and spun him around, before flinging him against the opposite wall with a sickening thud.
“
Stop it!” Adele begged.
“
Only you can stop it, Princess,” Thaddeus told her.
She held her breath as she watched Nicholas lay there on the floor, so still, so broken.
“If you love him, you will do it.”
Her eyes met his.
“Then I choose you.”
Nicholas tried to scramble to his feet.
“Natasha, no!”
She tried to implore with her eyes to let her do this final battle her way, but he still tried to rush toward her. The other vampires held him back and Thaddeus advanced upon her victoriously. Just as he bent toward her he
jerked back, cried out in surprise and stumbled away. Vincent stood behind Thaddeus, wobbly but renewed, having plunged the wooden stake in his back from behind.
“
You!” Thaddeus thundered as he recognized the scar on Vincent’s face. He turned on her brother with all the fire of hell, grabbing him up by the throat and lifting him high in the air. His mouth opened so wide Adele thought he might consume Vincent whole.
“
Thaddeus!” she screamed.
He looked at her with murderous rage written across his face. She merely smiled.
“You can kill him or you can have me. With love comes sacrifice, or haven’t you learned that by now?” She bared her throat. “Choose.”
He growled with the choice of fulfilling his anger or his lust. Finally he thrust Vincent away and advanced on Adele with his face stretched wide open from his bared fangs and gaping mouth. Just as he swooped in for the kill and she felt his hot breath against her bare skin she thrust the
sharpened end of the hidden wooden crucifix up into his chest, angled directly toward what should have been his heart.
It
punctured just like a balloon.
Blood gurgled from his mouth as he fell to his knees in front of her. Around her she heard the other vampires falter the minute their leader fell. She ran immediately to Nicholas. He collapsed into her arms, and she cradled him lovingly
as he gasped his last breaths.
This time their goodbye would not be denied.
“I’m so sorry, Nicholai,” she murmured with her lips against his aging forehead. “I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. He was in pain but he knew he had to be brave for her. To release her, finally.
Natasha was long dead. It was Adele’s turn now. “Don’t be sorry, my love. You have set me free.”
She sobbed as she rocked him in her arms. She
didn’t want to let him go. “I love you, Nicholai.”
He reached for her face, to touch her hair one more time.
“Natasha,” he whispered. “Adele…”
He fought the pain and the cover of death for just a few more seconds with his greatest love.
There was so much he wanted to tell her. So much he needed to say. “You are not a mistake,” he labored to say as he memorized every last line of her face. With one last gasping breath, “You are redemption.”