Chapter 68

ALEXANDER

I felt my body moving faster than my mind. I could smell her blood—thick, warm, luscious. I remembered its taste in my mouth.

I remembered the feel of her soft skin—the golden slivers of skin peeking between the top of her shorts and her shirt. I was focused, for the first time in my life, to get there before the human died.

I wasn’t the only one. As I flew up the tower’s stairs, I heard Demetrius right behind me. I burst onto the balcony. The scent of her blood was so strong.

She was lying on the balcony floor. Her blood pooled around her. She had obviously been dressed by her mother.

The gown she was wearing was centuries old, dark blue velvet with a dark sash tightly around her slight waist and the opal, snug against her breastbone, above the low neckline.

Her throat was torn open, and blood gushed from her wound. Her artery was pierced, the blood spurted. Her eyes were searching, blindly staring around.

For a second, I couldn’t look away. My instincts focused on her scent, but when I caught her eyes, I suddenly no longer wanted to rip her throat out.

Above her, Elizabeth crouched on the balcony railing, sucking on her fingers coated with Eleanor’s blood.

Leaning over the edge of the railing, I caught sight of Aric and Eloise. She had her fingers digging into his shoulders, her teeth bared, eyes blazing crimson.

Aleesha, dressed in a white sari, stood behind him, pulling him off her daughter. Aric was coated in blood. Eleanor’s blood. His shirt soaked, his face dripping, his eyes blazed.

He had his hands around Eloise’s body. In a quick movement, he flipped her around and threw her off the balcony. She screamed as she fell.

Aleesha hissed and jumped on Aric’s back, digging her nails into his skin, biting his neck. Aric roared.

Behind us, a wave of purebloods hammered up the stairs, scaling the walls of the tower. Their eyes were blazing red. Elizabeth was gazing at me, at her son, at her grandson.

She grasped Eleanor’s hair, pulling her to her feet. Eleanor hung loosely from her grip, her head lolling to one side, her eyes unfocused.

“Look what I found,” Elizabeth giggled. Her lips glistened with Eleanor’s blood.

Demetrius pushed past me. “Mother, put her down!” he growled. Aric was able to rip his aunt off his back and slam her down onto the floor, bringing his foot down hard on her throat, immobilizing her.

At the same moment, Rose appeared, scaling the balcony, flying over the railing. Angus shoved past, his eyes focused on his wife, wriggling under her nephew’s foot.

Elizabeth was laughing. “Trying to turn her, Aric?” she snarled. “She’ll never make it. She’s too weak.” She shook the human emphatically.

“Get off my wife,” Angus growled, lunging toward Aric. Demetrius grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him back. Rose was facing Elizabeth.

“Take your hands off her!” she hissed. Elizabeth met her gaze.

“She’s a waste of your energy, Rose. She will only betray you in the end,” Elizabeth spat venomously.

“Eleanor is not Romulus!” Demetrius roared, turning from his brother to his mother. Aric moved away from Aleesha, letting her rise to her feet, grabbing onto her husband, seething.

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed on Demetrius. She hissed at him.

“Who’s Romulus?” I asked. Behind me, Phoenix appeared, her red eyes bouncing between her parents and her grandmother.

The bride and groom came careening onto the balcony, now entirely too small for the number of purebloods stuffed onto it.

“Say goodbye to the precious pet!” Elizabeth snarled, lifting Eleanor, ripping her torn head back, spraying us with her blood. Her rich, sweet blood.

My mouth salivated. My whole body felt warm as I licked my lips. She tasted even better than I remembered.

“Eleanor!” Aric lunged toward her as every other vampire did, some to save her, some to drink more of her sweet blood. Elizabeth flipped her body into the air and tossed her clean off the balcony.

Aric flew after her, throwing himself into the night sky and diving down. Aleesha made to jump after him, but her husband grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Within seconds I heard the sound of Aric landing and catching Eleanor in his arms, her body making a squelching sound, the scent of her blood intoxicating.

In the distance, I could see him taking off with her in his arms into the woods.

On the balcony, Rose and Demetrius were glaring at Elizabeth. She was glaring back, Eleanor’s blood drying on her fingers.

“She won’t survive the turn,” Angus snarled. “She was already half dead.”

“Enough!” Rose hissed. “Enough of this!” She turned her cold glare to each member of her family present, finally landing on me.

“Enough trying to kill her, enough threatening her, enough hunting her! Enough! Eleanor is under our care. She will not be touched by any of you!” she seethed.

“She’s probably already dead,” Grace, the bride, answered, glaring at Rose. Rose’s heated gaze turned to her.

“I agree. Enough.” I stepped forward. The purebloods turned to me, their expressions dark. I waited for them to settle. Meeting Elizabeth, Rose, Demetrius, and Angus’s gazes, I pursed my lips.

“Enough with the human. She’s one human. She means nothing. If the Mcnoxnoctis family have decided to turn her, they are well within their rights, and no crime has been committed.

My grandfather, the king, does not care about this human. What he does care about, Demetrius, is how you smuggled her right out from under our noses!”

My eyes flashed red.

Demetrius gazed back at me. He looked calm. Rose by his side was burning with anger, her eyes bright crimson, baring her fangs at me.

“What did you say?” Elizabeth breathed, slipping off the railing of the balcony and stepping toward her son.

“You are such a little shit,” Rose snarled at me.

“Mother!” Phoenix hissed, stepping toward me. I smiled at Rose smugly.

“Demetrius! What did you do?” Elizabeth reached toward her son, his eyes bright blue.

Demetrius met my gaze over her head. “As you have been seen, Eleanor, the human child Rose and I adopted twenty-five years ago, is alive.

“I didn’t bury her on a hillside near Naples. I fed her my blood and carried her to a hospital where I made sure she was taken to the emergency room and immediately cared for,” he explained, his voice clear and loud.

Rose was vibrating with anger beside him. “I shared this information with no one. Every other member of my family mourned her death, fully believing that she passed.”

“When did Aric find her?” I pushed.

“Actually, I found her.” I spun around as Henry pushed through the crowd, towing Venus behind him. His dark gaze met mine. “I found her seven years ago and got the message to Aric.”

“Aric and I.” James stepped forward, ignoring his future wife’s pursed lips. “We then spent years searching for her. Aric found her only seven months ago,” he said.

I gazed between them. “I had assumed as much,” I said. “I’ll get the message to my grandfather. Demetrius, don’t go anywhere.”

I stared at him. He nodded once.

“No.” Elizabeth stepped between us, her eyes blazing red. “No, that’s not what you’ll tell my brother,” she hissed.

“I will tell him the truth,” I answered. Elizabeth moved toward me, her eyes blazing, her fangs bared, focused on my throat.

“You will not,” she seethed.

“Mother, I’ll fight this battle myself. You have been of no help,” Demetrius snapped.

“King Lucius will decide on a correct punishment,” I said. “In the meantime, if the human survives, she will be under Mcnoxnoctis control and protection.

“I don’t want her dead until my grandfather has made his decision about Demetrius.”

My gaze met Rose’s. “He doesn’t care about her now, but maybe he will want to use her as an example again. She will not be harmed,” I declared, this time turning to glare at Aleesha and her husband.

“You won’t get your hands on her,” Rose hissed. I turned to glare at her.

“Learn your place, Rose,” I snapped. “Consider yourself lucky I have saved her life for now,” Rose was radiating with anger.

“Consider your place at risk, Alexander,” she sneered back at me. I bristled with anger.

“Mother,” Phoenix pushed past her mother, moving to my side, her body strong, her eyes focused on me.

“That’s enough now. We’re celebrating a wedding. Everyone, please, return to the party. The excitement is over now,” she called in a clear resounding voice.

Grace, glaring at her brother and her betrothed, nodded in feverish agreement.

Phoenix stayed by my side as the purebloods, little by little, trickled back down the tower to the lawn. After her parents and grandmother descended, Phoenix turned to me. Her eyes blazed bright red.

“I will stand by your side, my lord, as long as you respect my family,” she hissed.

“Eleanor, human, turned-vampire, is my sister. You will not use her as an example again, and you will not hurt my father. Or you will lose me forever and forever make an enemy of my family. I swear it to you.”

She had stepped closer to me, her face in my face, her crimson eyes boring into mine. Her tone made me bristle. I wanted to punish her for her words.

“We’ll just have to see what’s more worth it then,” I sneered.