Before she could turn, she felt two huge, muscular arms grab her in a choke hold. It was the other one. He was quicker than she would have guessed. He grabbed her tightly, squeezing.
But he was not as agile as she. She could feel that he was strong, but lacked finesse. A young vampire, without half her experience. Probably why he had been assigned to guard duty.
She dropped to her knees, stepped to the side, swung her leg around behind his, and when she stood, he went flying backwards, she using his huge weight as leverage against him. He flew back over her shoulder, landing on his back on the stone. She could see that she had knocked the wind out of him, and before he could get up, she had already stepped on his throat, crushing it with the heel of her boot. She held her foot in place, pushing and squeezing, harder and harder, until finally, he stopped struggling, and he, too, passed out.
Samantha turned for the door. She checked both ways down the corridor, saw that no one was coming, and quickly went inside, closing and bolting it behind her. More guards would follow soon, she knew. But for now, she had time.
There he was. Sam. Seeing his face made it all worth it. He was chained against the far wall. Poor kid: he had probably been chained more in the last few days than he had in his life. He looked very pale, even for a human, and it was clear that he was in bad shape.
More than anything, he looked scared. His eyes opened wide at the sight of her, and he struggled against his chains, trying to speak, but prevented by the gag in his mouth.
Samantha hurried to him and removed the gag. He immediately started talking.
“Samantha, what the hell is going on!?” he asked in a rush. “Is this for real? Were those people really vampires? Are you a vampire? Are you going to kill me? Tell me I’m dreaming.”
Before she removed his chains, Samantha reached up, took hold of his cheeks with both her hands, leaned in and kissed him. It was a long kiss. At first, he resisted, scared, but then she felt him soften, and kiss her back.
The longer they kissed, the more she felt it. He still loved her.
That was all she needed to know. Her mind was made up.
“Samantha, please,” Sam said. “Unchain me. Get me out of here. I want to be with you. I want to get out of here. Please—”
“Shhh,” she prodded, holding up one finger. “There’s no time to explain. I want to be with you, too. And we have little choice. There’s no way out of here. All exits are blocked. There are thousands of new vampires in here now, and there’s no way out. We have to go along, at least for now.”
“Go along with what? What are you talking about?”
“Sam,” she said, stroking his face, “I love you. I need to know if you feel the same.”
Sam looked directly at her, with a mix of fear and surprise.
“I love you, too,” he said. “I’ll go anywhere with you. Just get me out of here. Please. I don’t care if you’re a vampire or whatever. I just want to be with you.”
Samantha smiled. She felt her heart swell with an emotion she hadn’t felt in thousands of years.
He felt the same way she did.
“OK,” she said, “then you have to trust me. There’s no other way. We can’t escape. If I bring you up there, like this, he’ll kill you. I want to save you. But there’s only one way.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Who will kill me? Why?”
“Sam,” she said urgently, “there’s no time. You just have to trust me. Do you want to be with me forever? Really think about this. I’m not just asking. I really, really mean it.”
She stared right into his eyes, his green eyes reflecting off of her blue eyes. He seemed speechless.
She asked one more time, slowly, with all the seriousness she could muster: “Do you want to be with me forever?”
He finally calmed, slowed his breath, and looked right into her eyes. He must’ve felt how serious she was.
“Yes,” he answered, confidently, with equal seriousness. “I want to be with you forever.”
She smiled.
“You might be mad at me at first, but I want you to know that there was no other way. Without this, you wouldn’t live. In any form. We would never see each other again. I’m doing this for you.
For us. I believe that you have a power that none us of us have, and that that will save you.”
Samantha leaned back, and let the desire flood through her. She flooded herself with the smell of his skin, breathing deep, and as she did, her fangs grew long—impossibly long.
She could see the boy’s eyes opened wide with fear, as he suddenly realized what she was about to do.
He opened his mouth to speak, but it was too late. She couldn’t let him ruin the moment.
She wanted him.
Forever.
And before Sam could cry out, Samantha was already leaning in, with all her force. She felt the delicious, exquisite, salty taste, as she plunged her fangs deep into the boy’s throat, drinking like she never had before.
Yes. Now forever could be theirs.
TEN
Caitlin lay curled up in a ball on her bed. She had been lying like that for hours. Caleb was long gone now, as was Sera. She didn’t know how many hours had passed since she’d told him to leave.
Since then, she hadn’t been able to move. She just lay there, frozen, wanting to die.
How could he do this to her? A child? How could he have not told her?
Then again, she wondered, did he really have an obligation to? They had only known each other for weeks—or was it days? Caitlin was surprised to think of it. It felt like they had been together for years already. Maybe their connection was more fleeting than she thought?
No. That wasn’t right. It was definitely something more. She saw it in his eyes. She felt it in his heart. He had strong feelings for her, there was no question about it. So then why had he kept his past secret from her?
Maybe he had just been waiting for the right time. Technically, they weren’t even officially dating. What were they exactly? Caitlin felt as if they were above labels, as if they had skipped all those steps. What they had was stronger. Deep down, she felt as if they were already together, forever. Crazy, she knew, but that was how she felt. And that was how she thought Caleb felt, too.
He should have told her. If he had truly expected to be with her forever, then he could have found an opportunity to give her the news. Sera and I have a child together. Why couldn’t he have told her? Why was he hiding it from her? Didn’t she have a right to know?