Finally, when I felt I could speak without exploding, I turned to Sarah, trying to keep my voice as calm and even as possible.
“Sarah,” I spoke slowly. “Don’t you think that if I could save a Shield from dying, Porsche would be standing beside me right now?”
“What?” Her eyes widened.
“Shields cannot be changed,” I spoke as if every word had a period after it. “Shields cannot be changed into werewolves or witches, or vampires. Shields cannot even return as ghosts. If you had died, there would be nothing that could bring you back. Did you not think of that before you executed a drug overdose?”
Sarah paled even more, looking to Amy, who nodded.
“I thought that…” Her voice was trembling. “I just assumed you got to Porsche too late. I didn’t…”
“He tried,” Amy said, tears in her own eyes. “He tried. But she didn’t come back.”
“I didn’t think…”
“That’s the problem with you Sarah: you don’t think!” I hadn’t meant it to come out so harsh, but it did. I was beyond caring. “You don’t think at all. You think that whatever you do doesn’t have consequences, that there’s someone who can always fix it and save you. Connor and Isabelle wanted nothing more than to be free of Selene’s grasp, and now you’ve given me no choice but to exile them.”
“I haven’t…”
“You have!” I snapped. “How can I keep them around knowing Connor threatened you? But he wouldn’t have had to threaten you if you didn’t put him in such a position!”
“I didn’t…” Sarah said.
I cut her off. “Right. You didn’t have anything to do with it whatsoever. Unless you’re about to tell me you were raped, you’ve got no leg left to stand on.”
“LIAM!” Amy snapped at me, but I was so angry I could barely see straight.
“This isn’t a game,” I continued. “You think this is a game, you just waltz in and take whatever you want and assume there won’t be consequences? I told you from the beginning, if you didn’t want to be involved in this, you just had to tell me and I would have made sure the vampires had nothing to do with you. You watched from the sidelines for a year while Amy went through hell, and what, you thought it would be fun to come and try?”
“LIAM!” Amy’s eyes were blazing fire, and she was angrier than I had ever seen her. “Stop talking right now or I swear to God…”
“Or what, Amy? Or what?” I couldn’t stop my mouth. “You’re the one who fell in love with the damned creature that stands before you, and you’re the one who’s stupid enough to stay. For God’s sake, you’re not even twenty. You should be out and about living your life, not trapped in here with me.”
“Why? So I can set you free to be Nina’s knight in shining armor?” Amy screeched back at me. “Wouldn’t that be nice for her? Wonderful strong Liam to pick her up when she falls, to cuddle her when she cries and nurse her back to health. I’m not stupid, Liam.”
I almost laughed. “You seriously think that’s what’s going on? After all I’ve done for you, Amy…”
“Get out!” Sarah interrupted both of us, glaring at me. “Liam, get out before I call security.”
I snarled at that. “I would tear security limb from limb if I had to, and you know it. You two think being a monster is so romantic, so fun? I’ll leave you to your romantic notions.”
I made sure to slam the door on my way out.
Chapter 13: Liam
I waited until morning to find Connor. I shouldn’t have, I had visions in my head of us both being vampires and tearing him to pieces. But I knew that those visions were illogical. First of all, it was vampire rage causing me to think that way, and second of all, Connor was much older than me. It would likely be him tearing me to pieces. So, when morning came and my head was clearer, I dressed as I should, as a headmaster of a respectable school, and calmly asked my secretary to call Connor out of whatever class he was pretending to be in. I sat behind my desk and folded my hands, waiting.
By the expression on Connor’s face when he entered, I knew that he was anticipating a war.
I knew that in a school full of teenagers, I would have to deal with pregnancies and teenage drama. It had happened twice in my time as headmaster, and both times, we had to call in all the bells and whistles: social services, parents, clinics, everything. Never did I expect to be dealing with it among my vampire population.
“Have a seat, Connor,” I said, indicating the chair.
He sat, wordlessly. I took a deep breath, wondering how to approach this. My hands twitched and I decided, to hell with it, and reached into my desk drawer, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and 2 shot glasses.
“Drink?”
“At 9 am?” he asked.
I shrugged. “What’s it going to do? Destroy our livers?”
Connor agreed with me on that point, and I poured us both a shot. I was stalling for time and I knew it, but the truth was that I was torn. From what I had learned about Sarah and her behavior, she wasn`t lying to me. Many of these age old vampires still lived in the old ways, their morals and views still kept. Connor came from a time when wives were to stay at home and have children and the men went out and did their own thing. Often, that meant not being faithful. And if a baby were to come along, they would likely react in the same way Connor did, and not think anything of it.
But on the other hand, Connor and Isabelle were united with me in killing Selene, and they were probably two of the most powerful fighters we had. There were so few people in the world who shared my view, that I didn`t want to get rid of any of them. I knew how badly the ache to kill Selene hurt, and the fact that I was taking it away from them made my heart burn.
“Connor, I think you know why you’re here,” I said at last.
He shrugged. “The girl, the Shield, is with child.”
My eyebrows raised. “You haven`t heard?”
“Heard what?” Connor shifted uncomfortably and his face contorted in concern. “Is she alright?”
“Sarah… lost the child,” I said, tactfully. If he hadn’t heard the rumors, he didn’t need to know that it was self-induced.
“She lost it?” The emotion that took over his face surprised me. He actually seemed concerned about it.
“She did. And her main concern, all the way through, was that you would hurt her if it got out that it was yours.”