Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 29328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“He’s precious,” she said aloud, already sensing my presence. “It was his birthday. I couldn’t allow him to think I didn’t care anymore.”
I crossed my arms. “Eva, there will always be something. A birthday, a holiday… You must leave him for good.”
“I want children.” Eva hung her head as I approached her from behind. “I’ve always wanted children.”
I could taste her desperation in the air as tension swirled between us. I’d known for a while that Eva felt strongly for me—the way I felt for her.
But a union between a Dark One and a vampire would do nothing but present us with hurt feelings when a bond failed to form. We could not mate with each other.
And children were impossible.
“I can’t give you that,” I whispered, setting my hand on her shoulder. She gripped my fingertips, and I shuddered from her warm touch.
Eva turned, her green eyes beautiful as they gazed up into my cold depths. “We could adopt.”
I smiled at that. “Humans adopt. And you and I…will never be.”
“Immortality.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. I never allowed such liberties. “Not for the faint of heart, hmm, Cassius?”
“No.” The temptation to kiss her was too strong to deny any longer. My mouth descended, fusing with hers, creating a hum of energy between us as her blood heated, getting out of control. My touch cooled her as fangs descended past her top lip.
Our tongues twisted in a fight for dominance as I lifted her into my arms. The last thing we needed was to be seen in a forbidden embrace. Not only was she a Council member, but she was also a vampire—not mine.
She would end up with a snotty-nosed human.
One who would get her pregnant.
One who would love her like I never could.
Slowly, I pulled away from her, my hands pressing against her wrists as I lowered her arms to her sides.
“One day…” Her voice was filled with sadness. “I’ll be mated to someone, and you’ll forget all about me.”
“I highly doubt I’ll ever forget your taste, Eva.”
A thick, flowery scent charged the air. Eva’s eyes widened just as a voice said from behind me, “What have you done?”
Slowly, I turned.
Sariel’s eyes were white, his hair a blazing rainbow of blue and black streaks. His feathers protruded, then shuddered as if tasting the wrongness in the air. “Survivors?”
He shoved past Eva and me and then pressed his fingertips to the door of the house.
“Two survivors. How many more? And why weren’t they destroyed?”
I couldn’t lie.
It wasn’t in my makeup as a Dark One to want to lie to my creator—my father.
“I saved them,” I admitted, grabbing Eva and shoving her behind me. “I saved twelve.”
“Twelve!” Sariel roared, and the ground shook beneath our feet. “You were to destroy them all. Every. Last. One.”
“I did not.”
Sariel’s wings turned purple, the color of angelic royalty. He was about to pass judgment. “Then you will die. Blood must always be spilled. You know this.”
I nodded, unable to conjure any guilt for doing something that gave Eva happiness, no matter how temporary.
I took a step forward.
“No!” Eva shouted. “It was me.”
“Eva!” I hissed out her name and shoved her body into the nearest wall. She stumbled back and glared. “Stay out of this.”
“You will not die because of me.” Her eyes glowed green, and her fangs elongated past her bottom lip. Her gaze snapped to Sariel. “If you want a life. Take mine. I asked Cassius to save them. It is I who is at fault.”
“Very well.” Sariel nodded.
“You cannot be serious.” I charged Sariel, fists clenched. “She’s a Council member. She’s been around for centuries. You cannot simply eliminate her for one bad choice.”
“Oh?” Sariel’s head tilted to the side as he pulled a purple feather from his wing and held it out in front of him. The edge was black—the color of the Angel of Death. He meant to truly kill her. To make her no more. “We live by the rules, we die by the rules, Cassius. She broke the rules. She dies.”
“But—”
Her head held high, Eva pushed past me and got down on her knees, her head bowed toward Sariel.
“Sariel, think about this.” I knew reasoning with him would do nothing, but I couldn’t stop myself. This was Eva. My Eva. I’d had her by my side since my creation. She was the reason the darkness wasn’t so dark. Why I was always pulled back into the light. Without her, what was I?
“And there it is…” Sariel nodded. “She makes you weak. She makes you second-guess your decisions. Not that it matters. One of you must die for this serious lapse in judgment, and Eva is right. The fault lies with her. And I need you to lead the immortals. Therefore…” He held out the feather to me. “A life is taken.”