Vampire King of New York (35 page)

You have to. I don’t want you here when the Arnhem Knights burst in. They are only minutes away.

If you die, Max, I’m going with you.

“Excuse me, lovers, I’m standing right here.”

They both looked up at her. Max was sure she hadn’t heard their conversation. He was careful to wall it and was proud that Evelyn did the same.
His Evie.

Leaping up with the anchor still bound to him, he rushed her. She screeched. Her minions scurried.

Evelyn had been wiggling her wrists in the ropes ever since he mentioned it. A finger was free then two. She twisted her hand.

Six or more savages jumped on Max, wrestling him to the ground.

Evelyn tugged on her bleeding hand, trying to free it.

“You, stupid …” The vampiress lost her needle-like dagger in the turmoil. She grabbed the Crueler. “Here, little vampire slayer, I have a gift for you.” She spun around and stabbed Evelyn in the chest.

Evelyn felt her heart jump. The dagger had missed her heart, but it didn’t matter. Air and blood rushed out of her at the same time.

“No!” Max lay on his back with savages holding him down. “No!” He fought them to no avail. There were too many.

Everything got very blurry.
Max, where are you?
She couldn’t hear him. Laura’s voice thundered in her head.
We’re coming, Evie, just hold on. We’ll be right there.

She didn’t care any longer if the evil bitch heard her. “I’m going to kill you, Ruxandra.”

The vampiress laughed, “And what is the helpless little human going to do?”

“You have no idea who I am.” Evelyn felt her life inching away. She reached inwardly.
Laura, sing with me. Mama, sing with me. I need all the Telkhines to sing with me, for I am all alone.
Her voice was horse and fading, but it would have to be enough.

“Sing to me beneath the waves

Free my heart, salt my tongue

Float my breath within the flame

Only a child’s song

Only a child’s smile

Call me into eternity

Land and sea bound and free

Touching but never keeping

Awakening but always reaching

Sing to me beneath the waves

And I will sing to you.”

“Look,” Ruxandra laughed. “Your pet has gone mad.”

First verse done and her fingers were numb. She sang the verse again hoping the words came out right. When her tongue touched the word” ‘awakening’, her mind’s eye widened. Far out at sea, the kin swam in a torrent. A wave grew.

Second verse done, and her legs were numb. Death isn’t scary at all. It’s like the memory of a beloved song. Her vision kept switching between the vampiress hovering between her and Max, and the blue violet wave growing and growing until it was mountain tall. The Telkhines growled. She saw their eyes staring back at her.

“Evelyn.”

She thought she heard Max but wasn’t sure.
Evie, stay with us.
Laura. Her sister. She knew her voice. The only thing Evelyn knew without a doubt, were the words of the song that flowed out of her in an almost childlike voice. She giggled remembering when Mama taught her the song. “Remember, never sing it three times, unless things are very, very bad. Unless there is danger that could kill a world. Never sing it unless . .” The wave like a mountain rushed for the shore gaining height and strength and anger.

“Look at her,” the vampiress screamed. “She’s become the idiot, mumbling a children’s song to herself.” Ruxandra slapped her in the face.

Funny how she didn’t feel it. “Get safe.” She looked at Max when she said it. He raged, standing, straining against the chains and the six savages attempting to hold him down. “Get safe. It’s coming.”

“What? Your Arnhem Knights?”

“ … Sing to me beneath the waves and I will sing to you.” There. The third verse was done.

In a final leap to save everyone she loved, Evelyn threw herself against the ropes holding her. Flames sprouted like flowers everywhere.

“What are you?” Ruxandra shrieked.

“Telkhine.” The word barely escaped her lips. “I love you, Max,” she whispered. Then the tidal wave slammed into the boathouse.

Chapter 25

The wave shattered boards, knocking the vampiress into the water. Max struggled in torrents swirling around him, pulling the anchor with it. Laura, David, and the others ripped off part of the roof to get inside. David dove in after Max. Just as he reached him, Max shifted into a fish. The chains fell away, and he changed back in time to grasp David’s hand.

“Where’s Evie?”

They looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere.

A hideous squeal of pain tore through water and storm. The Telkhines of the sea had Ruxandra. They tore her limb from limb, filling the water with black blood.

“Where’s Evie?” Max shouted. “Find her. She’s dying. We have to find her.” With the search underway, David, Laura, and Max swam while many of the other knights hovered over the surging tide. Blood brushed him and it was deep red. It was Evie’s.

Max saw her first. Evelyn was floating like a lily on calm water. Her eyes were closed and her lips formed the most serene smile. Flames covered her, but the fire didn’t burn her. It didn’t even singe her clothes. The conflagration emanated from her and held her like a tender lover. Telkhines made a circle around her.

He tried to swim toward them. They growled and more joined them in moving protectively to make a barrier.

“I’ll talk to them.” Laura suggested and moved to pass Max.

“No.” Max swam closer to the Telkhines. Evelyn had grown very pale. Blood stained her blouse. “I am her lifemate. We’ve met before in New York Harbor. I’m Evelyn’s lifemate. You cannot take her from me. I’ve waited forever for her.”

There was a moment when the Telkhines and Max faced each other, neither side moving. Then they parted, allowing him to reach her. Max didn’t care if he was burnt. He touched her and felt the flames fluttering around him. He embraced her and towed her through the water.

David got on one side and Laura on the other. Together, they lifted Max with Evelyn cradled against him into the sky. They didn’t go far, when Max insisted they land. Noblesse found a deserted summerhouse and they went inside. He placed Evelyn carefully on some sheets that had draped furniture and sat on the floor to hold her.

“She’s dying.” Everything in him wished he could die with her. The Crueler was still stuck in her chest. “Should I pull it out?” He cradled her against his heart.

Noblesse shook her head. “If you pull it out, it will hasten her death. We should get her to a hospital.”

“She’s out of time. I can feel it,” Laura said. “Max, bite her.”

“Evelyn told me that she didn’t want to become a vampire.”

“Max, I can hear her thoughts. She wants you to bite her.”

He held her closer. He couldn’t hear anything. “You want me to bite her.”

Laura growled. “Don’t be stupid. We’re losing her.”

He hugged her and held back the tears welling in his eyes. “I can’t go against her wishes.”

“Maximum, bite me,” Laura said.

His mouth fell open. Only Evelyn called him Maximum. In one swift move, he brushed aside her wet hair and bit into Evelyn’s neck. He turned off the world in order to listen for that already faint heartbeat. One beat. Two beats. Then nothing. He withdrew his fangs quickly and licked the wounds inserting as much saliva as he could before they closed. Then he opened her mouth and licked her tongue, teeth, and cheeks. He remained kissing her mouth and infusing his saliva, until David touched him on the shoulder.

“You can’t do anymore. Either it will work, or it won’t. Come on. It’s nearly dawn. We’ve got to get back to New York. This is not a secure location.”

Max lifted her back into his arms. She was dead. He would wait for her to rise again. He followed his knights back into the sky and to his home in Manhattan. Once there he put her in his bed and waited, his heart aching with every passionate second.
What if she never wakes?
Max closed his eyes, hugging her, unwilling to let her go. The world around him was growing colder.

Death wasn’t what she expected it to be. It was simple like breathing in the soothing fragrance of a rose and finding peace. The landscape was white everywhere, a garden of white. Evelyn would have liked some color but reasoned maybe this was a between place.

“It is.” The glowing light sitting beside her took form, the form of Juliette Cordelais.

“I’m glad I’ve found you.” Evelyn hugged her mother. “I’ve been lost. It turns out I’m a Telkhine after all. Fire springs from me.”

“Yes, I know. You were meant to find yourself in your own time.”

“I used the legacy. I’m sorry about that.”

“It was necessary.”

“Mama, what happens now?”

“It’s your choice.”

“May I see J.J.?”

Juliette stood up and took her daughter’s hand. “Come with me.” As they walked together, the world slowly changed absorbing color with each step. They entered a park. It could have been any summer day on Earth. Children played games and chased each other. Couples picnicked. Evelyn searched everywhere but did not see her son.

“I don’t see him.”

A young couple packed up their basket. The man was tall and blond. He picked up the blanket, shook it, and folded it. The woman’s dark hair framed her sweet face with soft curls. They left their things and hand-in-hand, chatted happily about their plans.

“There he is.” Juliette merely extended her hand in their direction.

The couple walked toward her.

“Mama.” The young man hugged her.

Confusion didn’t stop her from hugging him back. His hair was like hers, his nose and mouth. He had Jack’s dark eyes.

“Jackson.” The name flowed out of her mouth before she could stop it. How could this be him? He was grown. It had only been a year since his death. Death didn’t make sense at the moment.

“Mama, I would like you to meet my wife Emily.”

Evelyn hugged her too. “Welcome to the family.” Then she turned to Juliette. “This is” J.J.’s grandmother Juliette Cordelais.”

Jackson turned looking surprised. “My grandmother is a Celestial! I will have to remember that if I ever need help.”

Evelyn didn’t know what that meant.

Emily’s smile was contagious. Evelyn found herself grinning at this strange meeting. Then she turned to Jackson. “Are you truly happy here?”

“I’m very happy.”

Evelyn nodded and then her son and his wife walked away to collect their things and head home, wherever home was. She stood alone with her mother, or at least a being that looked very much like her mother.

“I was Juliette Cordelais.”

It was obvious this being could read her thoughts. “You aren’t anymore?”

“I am more. You’ll understand that someday.”

“So what do I do now? I was grieving for J.J., but he’s happy. I feel like all the sadness in me has dissolved, but what do I do now?”

“It’s a decision only you can make.”

Evelyn shifted from foot to foot. Waves of pain, loneliness, and grief washed over her. At first, she didn’t know where it came from, but then she focused and found the source.

“Max.” The feelings emanated from Max. He mourned her. She tasted his blood in her mouth, and knew a thousand years of longing, of an empty heart looking for her to fill it.

“Tell me about him.” Juliette alighted on a rock and sat.

Evelyn sat in the sweet smelling grass beside her. “Max is wonderful. He’s handsome and on the inside too. He’s brave, considerate of others, fun, loving …”

“He sounds perfect.”

Evelyn laughed. “Ah, no. Max sometimes makes faulty decisions.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“Yes, well, um, , it’s bad when Max makes a mistake because it affects many other people.”

“Everything we do, even the smallest decision, affects others. Is his faulty reasoning why you can’t love Max?”

“If I go back, it’s because I love him, but I will also be a vampire. I asked him to change me.”

“You won’t love yourself then?”

Evelyn was confused. “Mama, when I was little in New Orleans, you and your friends called vampires the most unspeakable evil walking.”

Her mother looked into her eyes with such love and compassion. “Evie, after knowing Max and knowing yourself, do you truly believe that? Many people make faulty decisions.”

She stood up and paced in agitation. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Then images of the surf slamming the boathouse washed through her memories, the sight of Max struggling against the chains with the anchor dragging him into the swirling tide going out.

“Max! Is he dead? Can I see him?”

“He is not dead.”

Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief.

“It would hurt you if he were dead?”

She sniffled. “Yes. He would be doomed, and I wouldn’t be able to see him.”

Juliette stood up. “That’s ridiculous. Max has atoned for many of his indiscretions early in his existence. He has saved many lives, including yours. Why would you think him doomed?”

“I guess damned is the right word.”

“He’s not damned. Even if he were, you would always have the right to see him if you wished. But Maximillion Vander Meer is not damned.”

“Are you telling me that not all vampires are damned?”

Juliette smiled. “Honestly, give God some credit.”

Chapter 26

Juliette started walking, and Evelyn had to hurry to catch up. “What do you want to do, my little one?”

“I guess the right answer would be to move forward now that I’m here.”

“Is that what your heart wants?”

Tears streamed down Evelyn’s face. “No, I want to go back and be with Max, have children, live however long I live, but be with him. Be with Laura and David too. And Papa.”

“It appears you have made a choice?”

“But if I go back, I’ll be moving backward.”

Juliette turned toward her. “Tell your father that I will always love him, but it is time to move on.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Some people must go backward in order to move onward.” Juliette’s light grew brighter until it encompassed her entire being blurring all lines of recognition.