“We’ll survive this.” Liana spoke up. “We have to. I want that cure, Vivienne.” She turned to her husband and clutched his hand. “We’re so close to being human again, living with a family. Normal. Mortal. And Sofia… if she really is pregnant… Derek and Sofia are family to all of us. We’re family. We’ve made it this far for the past five centuries. Together. We need to get through this the same way. Together.”
I was taken aback by what she said. I’d known that Derek wanted the cure in order to become human and be with Sofia, but it had never dawned on me that any of the other vampires wanted it as badly as he did.
With Anna, the only immune apart from Sofia, having been taken to the hunters’ headquarters soon after Derek and Sofia had left, there was no way any of them could take the cure for themselves. For some reason, the cure made the stakes higher. I looked at every person in that room—all of them vampires—and found myself perturbed that I honestly saw each of them as family.
I’d be a fool to still think of myself as a hunter, I thought, but then again… I thought of Zinnia and Julian and other comrades I’d made as a hunter, and I saw them as family too.
Liana’s pep talk seemed to have the desired effect on all involved. I had to give it to these vampires. They were resilient. Practically unbreakable.
“We’ll make it.” Cameron nodded.
“You don’t look convinced, Vivienne,” I said.
Vivienne forced a smile. “All I know is that if any of us are going to make it—together or otherwise—we need to know what we’re up against. Claudia, we’ll need you to tell us in detail everything you know about the Elder. Your encounters with him. What he did. What he put you through. That may be painful to relive, but it’s necessary for us to know.”
Claudia nodded. “All right. I’ll try to remember.”
“Good, but before that, Yuri, I need you to look through all the texts your brother has kept over the years. All the information about the original vampire. Legends, stories, rumors… I don’t care what it is. Find it. Ask Ashley to help you out. She’s already worked with Eli before when they were trying to figure out the hunters.” At that, Vivienne gave me a side glance, almost as if to apologize.
Yuri immediately went about the task, digging through the many resources his brother had collected over the past five centuries, leaving us all to hear what Claudia had to say.
“When the Elder comes, he will always make you bleed,” Claudia started. “An encounter with the Elder will always leave you in pain after.” She detailed how the Elder inflicted pain. The mystery of his invisible presence. She told us everything she knew.
“Okay,” I drawled after she was done. “We know what he is like. Now what we need to figure out is how to fight back. What are his weaknesses? How do we destroy him?”
Silence crossed the room as we all hung our heads to dwell on the reality we were facing: How on earth do you fight a creature that you can only sense, but never see?
Chapter 26: Vivienne
I was perched on an overhanging plateau at one side of the mountain range that was the Black Heights. I had to get away from everyone at the Catacombs, try to gather my thoughts together, find a dose of peace that could get me through the night.
I stared at the view ahead of me. Far into the distance, where the night of The Shade stopped and the day of the rest of the world was about to start, the sun was rising. It would only be a few hours before the Elders arrived.
“Vivienne?” A familiar, warm, soothing baritone spoke from behind me.
I was both relieved and shaken to have him around. Xavier had over the past months awakened my desire for him in so many ways that his very presence scared me. I was pleased to have his company, but I was also afraid of the effect he had on me.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for you. I know this is one of the places you go to when you want to be alone.”
I smiled, sensing him approach from behind me. “You keep stalking me, Vaughn.”
“I would think you’d be used to it by now, Novak.” The tips of his fingers brushed against my shoulders, then down my arms. “Vivienne… You’re trembling. You’re scared.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Cameron and Liana are right. We’ve made it through a lot together. We can make it through this.”
“I want to believe that we can make it, but we don’t even know what we’re up against. All that talk about unity and togetherness sounds great, but the Elder is a threat just on his own. To think that there are more of his kind…” I heaved a sigh. “Yes. Liana is right. We need to make it through this together, but we also have to look at this with a dose of realism. Xavier, we are an Elder’s creations. Mutations of the original. We are just watered-down versions of that particular Elder’s power. Who knows what the others are capable of? The information Claudia revealed and Eli dug up… they’re threadbare clues to what kind of creatures these things are. How do we fight that?”
His cold breath touched the back of my neck, his forehead pressed against my head, his hands brushing up and down my arms. No matter how cold we both were, he made warmth climb from the pit of my stomach to the top of my chest.
“You always worry about things that are beyond your control, Viv. You worry too much.”
“I can’t help it.” I frowned. “And you? You worry too little, Xavier.”
“The way I see it, these Elders are coming. Nothing we can do to stop it. We might as well cherish these last few moments we have, these times when we’re still free from their hold. I think it’s what Derek and Sofia would’ve done.”
“Really? You don’t think my brother would’ve had some sort of plan concocted by now? An escape… something?”
“An escape to where? Derek has done a lot of great things, but I don’t think even he could’ve found a way out of this one. Stop being so hard on yourself. Besides, Derek isn’t here. And you’re not Derek. Stop trying to be him. Do you see any of your subjects complaining so far? Vivienne, you’ve been keeping us all together since Derek and Sofia left.”
I spun around and pushed him away. “I hate you.”
“Hate me?” His eyes widened, his ruggedly handsome face twisting in confusion. “Why?”
“For being so calm! You’re always so cool and collected and…” I had no idea what was happening to me, but tears were beginning to fall from my cheeks. “You remind me of who I used to be before the hunters got me.”