“You must stay here in the meantime,” I quickly threw in, a desperate attempt.
“And when the fledglings are all gone? Then what?” Evangeline asked Lilly, ignoring me.
Lilly didn’t look at me before answering. “Then we hunt down the last of the witches. The People’s Sentinel will fall into the recesses without the witches’ power. And then we will hunt down Viggo.”
“Or we can rid ourselves of him at the same time. He’s already hunting for me, right?” Caden asked.
“Yes, he will be. Which is why you should stay away,” I hissed. “You’ve already seen what he’s capable of!”
“That’s because you didn’t warn us,” Caden spat back. “But now we know. So we’ll see this through and then I’m taking Evangeline away from you. For good.”
Unable to control my reaction, my wide eyes rushed to Evangeline, her jaw set tight and those odd golden eyes locked on me. To weigh my reaction, perhaps? Ready to battle my argument? “You can’t!” I blurted.
Why hadn’t I expected this?
“The curse is over. There’s no need for you to protect me anymore.” Distress flickered across her features but she stood firm, shoulders back.
As if that were the only reason I was there, always within the shadows, manipulating those around her.
Loving her, like a mother would her daughter.
Eighteen years watching over Evangeline, keeping her hidden, and now she was telling me that I would be relegated to her past.
An intense panic rose inside me. I remembered feeling this as a human. It always coincided with my lungs closing up and me struggling to breathe. I may not need my lungs anymore but I felt my emotional heart breaking. I was losing her. The only thing that had motivated me, the one thing that truly kept me going these last eighteen years, had not been Veronique.
It was Evangeline.
“I can’t just let you go,” I said hoarsely.
“It’s not up to you anymore, Sofie,” Caden responded.
“It’s not up to you, either,” I snapped.
“You’re right. It’s not. It’s up to me,” Evangeline said.
Bishop and Fiona shifted on their feet. They had likely anticipated my reaction.
I grasped at straws. “Even without Viggo and the witches, the humans will not simply forget this. The Sentinel will reform. There will be more wars that we need to—”
“If vaporizing an entire city didn’t change this world’s fate, then nothing will. We won’t risk losing any more of us trying,” Evangeline offered softly, reaching out to grab on to Caden again.
Despite myself, a sad smile curled over my lips. Evangeline had changed. Yes, she was no longer human, but beyond that transformation, she had matured. She was no longer the naïve eighteen-year-old, accepting a waitressing job from a complete stranger out of desperation, having nothing left to lose.
She now had something to lose.
It wasn’t me, though.
I watched her beautiful, youthful face—changed and yet not changed, still her but no longer her.
“We just need … peace. We need to be away from this,” she said, voice drifting. The real words need not be spoken; I knew what they were. Away from me. I had pushed her away. Now that no one needed me to solve a problem or cast a spell, I was nothing but a hazard.
And it clicked. This is what Viggo wanted. This was the true catalyst behind his plan. It wasn’t enough to take Veronique or hurt Evangeline. He wanted me abandoned. Unloved. Alone.
Like him.
And I had lost them all—their trust, their support.
Their love.
And after what I’d done to them, I probably deserved it.
Chapter Eighteen – Evangeline
“Devastation brings out the best humans, does it not?” Mage murmured, her voice thick with sarcasm, as we stood in a Wal-Mart parking lot and watched a few dozen darkly dressed people—men and women both—climb in and out of the gaping windows, arms loaded.
“Do they need these supplies?” Fiona asked.
A moment later, as a man struggled with a flat-screen television, we had our answer.
“The police will be here relatively soon,” Lilly said. “Relative” was the operative word. I imagined they had their hands full. This wasn’t the first department store we’d seen looted and we hadn’t reached the real devastation yet. Here, people could still walk outside without fear of their skin and lungs burning.
“Come on, then. Let’s go,” Sofie said.
We slipped through the opening like eight shadows. Max stayed outside. After all, what did the werebeast need? Some of us, on the other hand, could use a change of clothes and a shower.
The place had already been pillaged, a free-for-all to grab what one could. Based on the sparse canned goods and battery shelves, at least some were concerned more about survival than high-ticket items.
“Five minutes,” Sofie said, “and let’s stick together, please.” Since our confrontation, she’d leveled no more orders, though I knew she had to bite her tongue countless times. With that, she took off. I doubted she’d ever shopped at a Wal-Mart before in her life.
Grabbing knapsacks, we flew through the basic grooming and clothing aisles, each grabbing a change of simple black clothing and toiletries. It seemed rather trivial, given everything else that had happened, but I couldn’t blame Caden for wanting a shower and something clean to wear.
I knew I’d prefer him in clothes that weren’t covered in ash and blood.
It wasn’t until the shoe section where Bishop showed us his split heel that it hit me. “This is our new life, isn’t it?” It wouldn’t be long before the broader society would deteriorate to match this small section of the country. Until we were stealing everything that we wore. Only it wouldn’t technically be stealing because there would be no one left to pay. Infrastructure would crumble, currency would hold no value. Civilization as we knew it would cease to exist. The only answer I received in response was a sympathetic smile.
*
“We’ll have to wait until nightfall tomorrow to go in to the city,” Lilly explained, leading us up the creaking old steps of the farmhouse porch. It didn’t matter that she kicked open the door. Most of the old windows were already shattered from the blast.
“The owners?” Sofie asked as her sharp eyes surveyed the darkness within. Even with nightfall, I sensed the thick, dirty air, the dust and radiation particles floating through the atmosphere, creating a toxic blanket for any mortal. My skin tingled with a slight burn.
“Gone,” Lilly confirmed. I wondered if “gone” meant abandoned or dead as she led us farther in. My nose picked up the faint odor of cattle.
The back of the eerily quiet home opened up into a sprawling kitchen. Open loaves of bread and a carton of milk still sat on the counter. It was obviously an unplanned exit, one way or another.
Using her tiptoes to reach over the stove, Lilly flicked a switch and a light came on. “We’re on one of a few grids still working,” she explained. “But we should probably keep the lights to a minimum. Just in case anyone’s watching.”
“Anyone” wasn’t anyone. She meant Viggo. It didn’t seem likely that Viggo would trail us so quickly, Veronique in tow, but this was Viggo we were talking about. What sounded irrational was exactly what he would do.
“Good pick, Lilly. It’s nice and remote,” Bishop murmured. “Smart call on the cattle farm.”
“They’re contaminated,” Mage was quick to point out, running a hand along the kitchen counter. She inspected the sooty film on her fingertips.
“So? Radiation can’t kill us.”
I often had to remind myself that Bishop had been created after the war had already started and was whisked away by Fiona soon after. Of all of the Ratheus vampires, he was the only one not familiar with the downfall. And of all of the Ratheus vampires, Mage was the only one acutely aware of how it unfolded from day one.
Fiona wrapped her arms around his neck. “No, they just taste dreadful, babe. You’ll wish you hadn’t.”
His brow quirked. “How bad, exactly? Because from what I saw, there have to be at least fifty of those fine beasts out there, waiting.”
“Really bad, like you’ll-wish-you’d-listened-to-Fiona-because-she’s-always-right bad.” She nuzzled her delicate nose against his neck.
Bishop groaned. As happy as I was that they could find some levity in the gloom, it was too much for me right now. I touched Lilly’s forearm.
“Have you heard anything from Isaac?” I asked.
A solemn shake answered me as she stepped over to peer out of a glassless window, shards crunching under her boots. “They were supposed to bring the submarine to the surface and leave, but I don’t know that they got off. None of the signals are working.”
We’d been so focused on the loss of Amelie, I hadn’t heard one kind word spoken to Lilly about her own grief. “I’m sorry about Galen and Kait.” I may not have liked them but they died fighting with us. They deserved that much.
There was a pause and then a sheepish smile, one of a child rather than a deadly creature. “I didn’t think you’d talk to me again after I helped with that.”
Sofie’s head turned toward us slightly and I knew she was listening, even with her eyes locked on the hilly countryside through the window. She had to be wondering the same. Why would I forgive Lilly and not her?
“I trusted that you would listen to Sofie. You didn’t betray me, Lilly.” Lilly had done exactly what I told her to do. Listen to Sofie in all things war-related. It was to her I spoke, but I’m sure everyone standing in that old farm kitchen knew who it was meant for.
Confronting Sofie earlier had been harder than expected. I knew that it would be. When we marched out in a solemn row to face her, I had wavered momentarily. And then she did exactly what we had anticipated. She’d tried to control the situation, tried to ship us away, knowing that we needed to see for ourselves that Amelie was in fact gone. We needed that closure. Sofie knew we needed that closure. Yet, she was going to take the opportunity away from us.
That’s when I knew for certain that I could never trust her again.
Still, when Caden informed her of our plans—that we would part ways when this was over—I saw the veil drop for just a second and her pain revealed itself. I almost buckled.
Lilly’s mouth opened as if to say something but after pausing, she simply nodded. “We need to know what’s going on at all times from here on in, okay, Lilly?” Also meant for Sofie to hear. A warning to not keep us in the dark again. At least casting spells against me would prove difficult from now on. I smiled to myself, in awe of my new abilities.
Another nod from Lilly. “The military is setting up their rescue stations across the ridge. I’m going to go and gather some information and supplies.”
“We can come with you,” I offered quickly, glancing at Caden and the others. We would not be separated again.
Sofie’s head whipped around and her mouth dropped, but she held her tongue.
“No, this is straight reconnaissance. I do better on my own,” Lilly explained.
With my single nod of agreement, she disappeared. I knew we didn’t have to worry about Lilly. She’d survived for over a millennium. She had even evaded Viggo’s reach.
And still, I worried.
She’d become more than an ally in all of this, so ironic given the first meeting with her had ended in a ghastly slash across my arm, followed by a kidnapping. I now considered her a good friend. I hoped that after all this was said and done, she would join us wherever we ended up.
“I suggest you go and clean up. Enjoy the quiet you have now,” Mage said, her tone serene, as she dragged over a kitchen chair. “Tomorrow night, when you see what is left … you will be wishing to unsee it for a long time.” A glimmer of sorrow passed through her eyes as she sat.
Caden’s fingers entwined in mine. With a slight tug, I tailed behind him as he led me out of the kitchen. We grabbed our knapsacks from the hallway. Passing by the living room, I spotted Max, stretched out across a blue floral rug, his chin settling on his front paws in his sad puppy way.
He hadn’t let me heal him as I had healed the others’ emotional wounds. In fact, Max and I had exchanged no more than two words since the mines and I couldn’t stand it. I don’t think he trusted me. My insides twisted. What if he decided he wanted nothing more to do with me?
It would gut me.
“I’ll come find you upstairs,” I said, breaking free of Caden’s grip. I dropped down beside the giant canine body, wrapping my arms around Max’s neck. “Please don’t leave me.”
He made no effort to acknowledge my affections or my words but he didn’t pull away, so I curled up next to him and rested my head on his shoulders. I lay there quietly as Caden and the others took the creaky steps to the second floor. Footsteps above, followed by doors closing and taps turning. Water rushed through the old house’s pipes.