Revamped (17 page)

“This certainly is a very happy announcement. Congratulations, son!” William exclaimed, placing a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. He turned to Aurora and grinned. “Congratulations to you both.”

Aurora returned his smile, but her lips strained to look sincere. Her heart ached with the knowledge that the news was not as joyful as Sebastian and his family had assumed.

 Sebastian’s little sister, Grace, rushed into the room, jumping up and down with excitement. “I was listening at the door. Is it true? You’re getting married?”

Sebastian nodded, plucking the small girl off the floor and pressing her tiny body tightly against his chest.

As the warmth of the fire and the kindness of the Hamilton-York family soothed Aurora’s worries, a calming feeling of hope came over her. She resolved that she would escape Viktor’s wrath and find shelter in Angel Creek. She would spend the rest of her life with these loving people.

“I apologize for imposing, but would I be able to rest here tonight?” she asked sweetly. “I rushed over to tell Sebastian the news, not really realizing just how late it was.”

She would never admit to the real reason for coming to Angel Creek in the middle of the night, but she knew that she wouldn’t have to explain herself any further. Sebastian’s caring parents would never allow her to travel at this hour.

“Why, of course, dear,” Mary replied, then frowned. “I’m afraid we don’t have any staff in the house tonight, so I hope you are not plagued by too much discomfort. We give all our workers a night off to be with their families each week, so if you need anything during the night, please do not hesitate to let me know.”

Of course someone as kind and thoughtful as Mary would give her staff time off,
Aurora thought
,
shuddering at the thought of how vastly different her uncle Viktor’s philosophy for ruling the household was.

“We’d love to have you stay the night,” Sebastian’s father agreed. Little did he know that those words would lead to his demise.

Aurora awoke to the bone-chilling sound of a child’s scream. She sat up in bed, taking a moment to gain her bearing. As she recalled that she was in one of the guest suites in Sebastian’s home, another terrified scream rang throughout the house. This time, the cry was even more urgent. Aurora rushed out of the bed, stumbling over the fabric of her long nightgown. She ran toward the wing of in the mansion the scream originated from—the part that housed Grace’s bedroom. The girl’s room was empty. A cold chill ran through Aurora’s body as she noticed the torn bedcovers lying in a shredded heap on the floor.

She jumped, startled by a loud clank of metal emanating from the master bedroom. Muffled cries followed, then everything fell silent. Aurora sprinted toward the room, gasping in horror at the sight in front of her. Sebastian’s father lay on the ground, his body sprawled unnaturally, a long sword embedded deep in his chest. He was completely motionless, unmoving. Not breathing.

Sebastian’s mother and sister huddled in the corner of the room, six large, frightening vampires looming right above them. The deep purple color of the intruders’ uniforms identified them as Viktor’s men. A sharp, sobering chill traveled down Aurora’s spine as one of the vampires lunged at Mary, plunging his ferocious fangs into her neck. Grace screamed—a bloodcurdling, unchild-like howl—as Mary’s body slumped lifelessly against her.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Aurora charged at the assailants. “Leave them alone!” she shouted. She had no plan of attack; she had never even been in a fight, after all. As a Born, she was naturally strong and fast, but it quickly became evident that she was in no position to fight a group of armed vampires. Their leader quickly overpowered her, thrusting a gleaming, sharp dagger deep into her chest. Immobilizing pain rocked her body as the room began to spin.

Just as her world was about to end, Aurora caught a glimpse of Sebastian’s tall frame, his long sword ready and poised as he rushed toward the attackers. Aurora wanted to warn him, to tell him that these were no ordinary men he was battling, but it was too late. She was too far gone. She dropped to the ground, her head cracking against the cold, marble floor. She fought against the darkness, yearning to stay awake, to see Sebastian make it out alive. He was so strong, so skilled with the sword, and to her surprise, in a few swift slices, he triumphed over the vampire attackers. They collapsed in a bloody heap as Sebastian rushed to her side.

“Aurora!” he shook her awake, glancing over at the rest of his family. Tears pooled in his eyes at the sight of their lifeless bodies.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, Aurora saw Viktor enter the room. His dark black eyes, so full of wickedness and hate, shone blissfully at the sight in front of him. Aurora tried to scream, to warn Sebastian to turn around, but no words came out. She begged Viktor with her eyes, but he paid no attention to his dying niece. Grinning feverishly, he pressed a revolver against the back of Sebastian’s head. Before Sebastian had a chance to react, Viktor pulled the trigger. The loud blast echoed through the quiet house.

Sebastian fell to the ground beside Aurora, blood pooling around his wound. He gazed into her eyes as they both drifted away. With her final breath, Aurora pulled at the vile of blood around his neck. She broke open the glass and, gathering all her strength, pushed the capsule into Sebastian’s mouth.

“Drink,” she whispered as everything went black.

CHAPTER TEN

 “
Aurora
!” I gasped, snapping my eyes wide open.

I was in bed—
in my own bed at the Presidential Headquarters
—I realized, glancing around the familiar room. I sat up, sliding a light summer duvet off my body in the process. Underneath the loose fabric of my white nightgown, wrapping all the way around my chest and back, was an outline of a gauze bandage.

All at once, it came flooding back to me. The memories of the fight at
Dixie
Pharmaceuticals
, Ethan’s mother, Hannah’s betrayal, the malicious, scarred vampire, the shooting—everything
.
I lightly touched the spot where the bullet had entered my body. No pain. I pressed harder. Still nothing. I slid the nightgown straps of off my shoulders, curious to peek underneath the bandages.

Suddenly, the door of my room swung wide open and Sebastian materialized in the room. He gasped in surprise, nearly dropping the can of
Blood Cola
he was clutching in his hand.

“Dawn, you’re awake!” he exclaimed, then quickly looked away. “And, uhh, undressing.”

I hastily pulled up my nightgown straps, burying myself under the covers.

“What are you doing here?” I muttered from the safety of my fort.

“I’ve been here for the past five days,” Sebastian explained, walking to the side of the bed. I could feel the slight depression in the mattress as he sat down next to me. “Waiting for you to wake up.”

I peeked out from underneath the blanket. “
Five days
?”

“You were badly injured.”

I touched my chest again. Still no pain.

“I was very worried about you, Dawn,” he said, then looked away, visibly embarrassed by the admission. “I should’ve been by your side. I should have been there to—”

“To what? Protect me?” I attempted to look displeased at the thought. Secretly, I was touched by his words. “I know you’re from the old-fashioned time of chivalry and valor, but I’m a modern girl—a tough vampire chick. I can take care of myself.”

Sebastian looked down at my bandage in a teasing manner, then realizing he was staring directly at my chest, leapt off the bed and rushed to the door.

“I’m going to tell the others that you’re awake,” he said, avoiding my gaze. “Your father will be pleased to hear the good news.”

As the door closed behind him, I rushed to my dresser in search of more suitable attire. As I passed the full-length mirror, the image reflecting back at me caught my attention, stopping me short in my tracks.

The face, the body, the hair ... It was all so familiar.

I reached out and ran my fingers across the surface of the mirror, caressing the reflection in front of me. My reflection.
Aurora’s reflection
. I shuddered, yanking my fingers away. My fingers stung, as if the mirror had magically burned my skin.

Just then, my father burst into the room. He leapt toward me, pulling me into a tight, crushing embrace. Sebastian, Brooke and Sophie followed right behind, with Seth and Hunter piling in closely after.

“Who is Aurora?” I whispered hoarsely, not returning the hug.

My father pulled away, looking at me in awe. “What?”

“Who is Aurora?” I repeated, speaking more clearly.

“Dawn,” he sighed, reaching out to me. I took a step back.

“
Who is she
?” I was now yelling, completely oblivious to the others around me.

My father pressed his lips into a thin line. Finally, he said, “Aurora was my daughter.”

A flurry of thoughts flooded through my mind, but, in that moment, I couldn’t comprehend a single one. I was completely numb, haunted by that name. That face.

“Tell me everything.” I heard myself say, but I wasn’t the one saying it. It was as if I had completely left my body and was watching the scene unfold from afar. “I need to know the truth,” my stronger, more conscious self added.

“For you to understand everything, I must start from the beginning,” my father said quietly. “With your mother’s story.”

I nodded shakily. I was now sitting on the edge of the bed, not even realizing I had moved.

“Your mother, Zora, was a Born vampire from a small town near Transylvania. Her own mother was able to trace her roots straight to one of the first and strongest Born. Zora’s parents were extremely wealthy people, so when the Transylvanian War broke out in 1850, they sent Zora to the United States to stay with her human half-brother.”

I nodded mindlessly. My father’s voice flowed through the air, sounding like it was light-years away.

“Zora was only eighteen, but her human brother, Viktor, was already in his mid-forties and had moved to the US twenty years prior to establish a life as an entrepreneur in the financial field. With the money provided by their parents, they were very well off. Viktor had built a property in my hometown, which once lay right in this area, and after Zora’s arrival, my life as a simple farmer changed forever. She turned my world upside-down. For the better, of course,” he said, smiling at the memory.

“Without even knowing her, I was already in love with her. I think the entire town was. One day, I caught Zora sneaking into my chicken coop to feed. And the rest was history, you could say. By some miracle, this perfect, magnificent creature took a liking to me. And only me.”

Somewhere in the distance, Brooke let out a wistful “Aww!”

“We were happy together for five beautiful years,” my father continued. Her half-brother, on the other hand, was a sorrowful man; something was missing in his soul. He was overrun by greed. Nothing in life—except for power and money—satisfied him.”

“Following our wedding, and my transformation into vampirdom, Zora and I began to talk about moving away from Viktor. He was so cold, so selfish; we didn’t want to start a family in his presence.” My father’s eyes grew darker. “When Viktor realized that he was about to lose his sister, he begged her to turn him. He could tell she was trying to distance herself from him and wanted her to give him the gift of eternal life while he still had some power over her. He figured that becoming a vampire would give him the longevity to garner more riches and authority.”

“Out of pity, Zora obliged. With his newfound powers, Viktor came into even more money, and set out to build a palace for himself. He asked us to stay with him until the construction of this grand place was completed,” my father continued, gesturing with his arms around the walls of my room. “We didn’t have much choice but to oblige, as by that time Zora was already pregnant and very ill. I was eager to do anything to keep her safe. Our daughter, Aurora, was born a year later, in 1857. The birth was too hard on Zora and, sadly, she passed away shortly after.”

Brooke was sobbing loudly, but I couldn’t bring myself to look her way. I couldn’t bring myself to look at anyone. I shut my eyes, desperately wishing I could tune out my father’s voice.
But I had to hear it all.

“After Zora’s death, I threw myself into raising Aurora to the best of my ability, giving in to her every wish so that she wouldn’t feel the void of not having a mother. Zora’s death also had a great impact on Viktor, but in different way. It made him darker, even more soulless. He resented Aurora, blamed her for her mother’s death. I never understood why he forced us to continue living with him, but by then he was so powerful, so mad, that for Aurora’s safety I was afraid to cross him in any way. I was a coward.” My father’s voice was laced with sadness.

“Viktor got it into his mind that he was going to raise a large army of vampires and take over the country. Just like in today’s world, back then, money could buy anything. For many years, most of the vampires in the area lived under his tyranny. By the time Aurora was seventeen, I realized that there was very little of Zora in her. She looked exactly like me. My hair, my eyes—my everything. That same year, she attended a party in the nearby town of Angel Creek where she fell in love with a young man.”

I glanced over at Sebastian. Our eyes met, but I couldn’t hold his gaze. I looked away abruptly. If my father noticed the brief glance, he didn’t let on.

 “Viktor had a strong hatred for the boy’s family,” he continued. “In fact, he had killed the young man’s grandfather in a feud after the man had refused to sign over the Angel Creek town treasury to him. Viktor selfishly forbade Aurora to see the young man. Regardless of his threats, she continued to meet him. A year later, during one of her and Viktor’s disputes, she announced that she was going to marry into his family. Upset by her insubordination, Viktor sent out his men to kill the boy’s family. He had assured me that he would spare Aurora. She was useful to him, if only for the fact that she was one of the only Born in the world. Unfortunately, something went wrong. The guards did not obey the orders. They—”