Chapter 24

DEMETRIUS

As soon as the sun set, Rose leapt from our bed, where she hadn’t slept, and raced upstairs. I could hear her pacing outside Eleanor’s room, listening to her sleeping.

I got dressed rapidly and was outside just as fast. My body was a little weak from letting Rose feed on me the day before, and I went hunting.

I slipped into a hunter’s trance. I heard every heartbeat, every breath, even Eleanor’s soft breathing in her bed, a few miles away.

I could smell the small blood-filled animals scattering away from me. I could smell the city of Poitiers and the humans going home from work.

I moved swiftly to the edge of the town near the highways, the cars shot by me, barely noticing I wasn’t wearing a shirt in winter.

The snow had stopped. It coated the ground with slippery ice, and the cars were having a hard time steering.

I approached a small light-blue car. A tiny woman, who looked twice the age she probably was, was cussing loudly, smoking a large cigarette.

I peered into the window, and she rolled it down, slowly eyeing me.

“~Quoi? Qu’est-ce que vous voulez?~” she demanded rudely.

I smiled at her. I watched her eyes widen, and I heard her heartbeat accelerate as she took a closer look at me.

“Please, may I assist you?” I asked in fluent French. The lady nodded slowly, her mouth dropping in awe.

I pulled her car door open slowly and slipped into the front seat, forcing her to jump over to the passenger seat.

She immediately started showering me with questions, about my name, my age, where I was from. I answered with lies. Her car worked perfectly. She was just afraid to drive on ice.

I steered the car away from the curb slowly and into the highway. She chatted extravagantly, telling me about her poor unfortunate life.

She didn’t even notice I’d parked the car again, only this time near a lake, far from civilization.

“~Qu’est-ce qui se passe?~” she asked as I leaned toward her slowly. Her heart was racing in her chest, and I could smell the sweat on her palms.

“Calm down. This won’t hurt,” I promised. I reached my hand toward her face, with one sharp twist, I broke her neck. She collapsed into my arms, and I fed on her, greedily draining her body.

When I’d finished, I pushed her and the car into the lake.

I felt full and alert. I took a few seconds breathing in the cold, sharp air when I caught the scent of my father, a few miles away only. Smiling, I raced toward him, following my nose.

I found Father in a museum, where he’d spent the day in the basement. He was dressed finely in an Italian suit. His four dogs sat at his feet as he addressed himself to the female security guard.

I entered the museum, getting a few sour looks from the workers who wanted to go home.

“I’m sure we can make an arrangement,” Father slurred his words leaning toward the human. She held her ground, but her heart was fluttering in her chest and her cheeks flushing.

I took another step into the building. I watched as Father’s head cocked to the side. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Ah, will you excuse me, ~ma chérie~? I have some business to attend to,” he turned on his heels. The human reached her hand out to stop him, but he moved too fast, and she gave up, smiling to herself.

Father marched across the room in long strides, and his dogs flanked him, breathing heavily.

“My son, I’m disappointed.”

“Aren’t you always?” I frowned back at him. Father looked amused.

“I apologize, son. You haven’t changed. How’s your family?” He smiled cruelly.

I pursed my lips and crossed my arms over my chest.

“We have to talk,” I turned my back and exited the museum. Father followed me, and we took a small trail toward the lake. It was abandoned and getting further and further away from the city.

“Did your wife send you?” Father asked after a while of silence.

“No, I came on my own,” I replied curtly. “We know Mother is behind this.”

“The law against adoption?”

“Yes.”

“Of course, she is. It’s an abomination and a disgrace. I thought you had more head, but it seems Angus is the smart one.”

My brows pulled together in frustration. “You never give anything a chance. You’re like a human, afraid of what it doesn’t know. Why is Mother so afraid of Eleanor?”

“Blasphemy, son.”

“No, I’m right, she is afraid, or she wouldn’t have gone to my uncle to enforce this law. She would have gone after Eleanor without hesitation.”

“You know your mother well, she has pride, and she’s just. Eleanor has been declared a part of our family, a Mcnoxnoctis. Therefore, to murder her would be considered murder. She wouldn’t do that.”

I squeezed my fists together and scowled at the ground. “So, you made a law.”

“Yes, and that little human that your wife considers a daughter will perish.”

“I consider her a daughter too. Would you do that to me?”

Father paused in his steps, his expression hard and cold. “I will always do what’s best for you, my son.”

“You don’t even know her!” I snarled, “Eleanor is an innocent child! She’s already under enough death threats. Why can’t you just leave her alone? Twenty years, that’s all we ask.”

Father frowned at me and continued walking. I matched his stride perfectly, keeping my eyes on him.

We advanced deeper into the thick dark forest. I could hear the animals sleeping or just waking up. I heard their hearts beating, their tails twitching.

“The child is human, and we’re an elite pureblood vampire family! One of the first! Do you realize the disgrace, son? Your wife was cooking a cake! Are you fucking out of your mind?

“Why didn’t you stop this before? That child is not one of us, Demetrius, and she never will be! Rose has brought disgrace on the family, as have you! Your punishment will be the death of the child! And you will accept this, Demetrius. You will stand back and accept your fate.

“As an elite prince, son of a princess, do you realize what you’ve done to our family? You know fear is how we’re respected and obeyed by other pureblood families and those foul, turned vampires.

“No one fears a human girl,” he roared. The ground under us trembled, the animals screeched, racing away from us. I was pretty sure they’d heard him in the museum.

I locked my jaw and held my father’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, Father, but we’re not going to let that happen. We will fight for her, and Eleanor will live a long human life, safe from tyrants like you,” I answered in a steady voice.

Father blinked at me, then grinned widely. “I respect your courage, my son. You’re stubborn and very brave, but in this case, very stupid. If you fight, you die.”

“And will you let that happen?” I demanded.

Father cocked his head to one side and shook his head. “No, I will not watch you die, so if you try to run or fight, I will kill the child and end this. Or you will.”

There was a long silence as we continued down our winding forest trail.

“Father, we’re not giving up on Eleanor.”

“You will when you start feeling the consequences.”

I swallowed and ran my fingers through my hair lightly. Father kept his head high, his eyes on his dogs that raced ahead of us, after a stray rabbit.

He’d always been there for me, backing up my crazy ideas, getting Rose and me out of the worst of our troubles.

He’d always encouraged me to think for myself, to make rash decisions that would change the course of my life immediately. He wanted me to live on the edge, a nomad discovering all I could.

We’d barely ever disagreed before. He’d never been disappointed in me before.

I could sense he was confused and angry. He’d expected me to destroy Eleanor on day one. I’d disappointed him. That was obvious.

What was also obvious was we both had very strong opinions, and neither of us was going to back down. We both believed what we were saying.

“You’re going to have to pay for that dog, by the way. The one your wife killed. She was a pureblood Husky.”

“Father, you love your dogs, right? Well, I love—”

“Don’t compare the human and my dogs, Demetrius,” he cut me off sharply, his lips twitching.

“Dogs are stupid animals that I enjoy. Of course, some vampires do drain them when they can’t find a human.” His eyes narrowed at me. “Humans are our primary source of nourishment.”

“I’m fully aware of that, Father. I still feed on humans, as I always had. Eleanor is just not so appealing anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Of course, the first time you see her, she’s mouth-watering, but once you get to know her, she’s not so tempting.”

Father snorted. “What you fail to realize, son, is that you could say that about many humans. They are creative creatures, I’ll admit, I like their sense of business.

“In their short lives, they try to do all they possibly can. But they’re still beneath us. We are more powerful, more beautiful, better in all ways possible. We control them.

“Could you imagine the chaos this world would be without us? Humans need to be controlled. We are there for that.

“The reason we’re so strong and beautiful is to trap the humans and kill them immediately before we get to know them. Before they feel pain or get scared. We’re good for them.”

“I understand what you’re saying, Father, but in this case, it’s too late. I ignored Eleanor for a long time. She accepted it.

“She accepted that I never spoke to her. She loved me, even though I hated her. I’ve never met anyone like that in the vampire world, Father.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, son. But you will be if you try to protect her.”

“I didn’t start considering her a daughter until a few years back. It’s still weird for me. She’s human, and I’m a vampire. But she’s not a disgrace, and neither are Rose and me.

“You should get to meet her before you write her death sentence.”

“The child would have died had she been in the car any longer. She should have died seven years ago. Letting her go now isn’t half as bad. You’ve only had her for nine years.” He smiled slightly.

“How much time do we have?”

“The child will probably have a few more years.”

“Three?”

“If you’re lucky.” He gave me a sly smile. I ignored his expression and turned away.

“The king has ordered Rose and the bastard’s presence in his court. Be sure to come. You don’t want him getting any angrier than he already is.”

“That’s the truth.”

“Yes.”

“I see. He could still change his mind.”

“I’d doubt it. Your mother went to see his Majesty to tell him about our plan,” I brow furrowed.

“You did this to us then.”

“Yes.”

“Because you were afraid.” Father frowned at me, his bushy brows pulling together. He shook his head slowly.

“Because we don’t want a human disgracing our family,” I stopped walking. Father stopped next to me. I gazed out at the lake and breathed deeply.

“Thank you. I know all I need to know. Goodbye.” I turned on my heels sharply and started away.

“Demetrius.”

I paused, not turning.

“Don’t throw your life away for this human. There will be many humans who will impress you, and you can’t adopt them all.

“Give her up. You might regret it, but in the long term, it’s the right, noble thing to do. You don’t want her to be running all her short life, will you? It would be a waste of existence.

“Let her go now. It’s better.”

I clenched my fists and shook my head slowly before breaking out into a run. I heard Father calling his dogs to him and continuing to the airport.