Undeniable (34 page)

“He hesitated. But then he mumbled something about trusting
me, about needing to tell me something, and followed me in.”

Damien slumped down next to his enemy, his anger overwhelmed
by his grief. Marek trusted everyone, was said to have the purest heart of
their kind. But to walk into a pen they all feared? To even approach Frank
Nostrum? “Did you listen to him, Frank? Did you ever bother to find out why
he’d come?”

Frank leapt up. “How could I not listen? The whole time he
raved like a lunatic. He said he was my brother, he said his name was Marek,
but I thought you were trying to trick me. And what if he was my brother? He
was still no better than an animal. A sick, dangerous animal that needed to be
destroyed for the safety of mankind!”

Damien sighed. “Diana’s in trouble.”

Frank froze. “Diana? What have you done with my daughter?”

“Not me, Frank. We too have lunatics who believe they’re
saving their own race by destroying another. But then again, like the lunatic
I’m talking about, you’ve always been more driven by jealousy, haven’t you,
Frank?” He reached up and nearly tore the man’s arm off. “Sit!”

“Diana’s with my mother,” Frank stated, but his voice
caught.

“That’s right, Frank. She is. They have your mother too.”

“I just saw her.” Frank shifted away, eyeing Damien warily.

“They’re gone, Frank. God, will you just listen. I need your
help. Someone’s taken them to the Isle of Fentmo—”

“No.” Frank once again leapt up. “But they’re not like the
Slashers. God, Diana has never even met a goddamn vampire, much less bonded…”

“You know about Slashers?”

“One of the vampires we caught thought he’d be spared if he
gave away a few secrets.” Frank cast his eyes down. “My mother swore Diana
hadn’t met any vampires,” he mumbled, then glanced up. “Are you telling me my
mother lied to me?”

“I’m sure she only wanted to protect Diana from you.” Damien
rose, snatched a set of keys from a small glass table, took hold of Frank’s arm
and pulled him toward the door.

“Where are we going?” Frank tugged back. His heels slid
across the floor.

“First we’re going to release Tomas.” Damien dragged Frank
to the car, ignoring the nauseating smell of the man’s fear. “Get in and
drive.”

Frank quickly opened the car door and slid across the
passenger seat to the driver’s side. Damien joined him before he could even
think of opening the other door. His hands shook so much that he couldn’t get
the key in the ignition. He screamed when Damien’s hand shot out and grabbed
his wrist. With Damien’s help, his hand steadied and the engine roared to life.

As they backed out of the driveway, Damien took hold of his
arm. “Just remember, Frank. Don’t try anything. I’m your only chance at saving
your mother and daughter. Do you hear me? Your only chance. Now let’s go get
Tomas.”

“Who the hell is Tomas?”

“Don’t be coy. I know you have him in your pen.” His anger
drove his nails deep into Frank’s arms.

“Ow! What are you talking about? I didn’t put anyone in the
pen.”

“Don’t play me for a fool. I see him. He’s just a babe, for
Christ’s sake,” Damien said through clenched teeth. The man amazed him.

“A baby? What do you think I am? I’ve never taken babies.”
Frank’s arms shook so fiercely the car swerved.

“Not a baby. A babe, just twenty-five, just entering his
eternal years. And don’t tell me you didn’t put him there, he’s calling for my
help as we speak.”

Frank drove through the village than continued north on
Route 9. “I swear you, I mean Marek, was the last vampire I put in the pen.”

Damien stared at Frank, could see the confusion etched
across his face. “I know he’s in there. I can still hear him calling for help.
If you didn’t put him there, then who did?”

“How the hell should I know?”

Damien watched the cars whiz by. “Frank, did Marek ever
mention how he found out you were brothers?”

“That’s why I didn’t believe him. He said his mother sent him
to me.” He let out a short, bitter laugh. “My mother would never hand a vampire
over to me, much less her own son. She hates me.” He clenched his hands around
the steering wheel. “She never forgave me for taking her away from you.”

“You fool. She loved you more than me. That’s why she
stayed. How could you be so blind?” Damien shook his head. “I guess I shouldn’t
talk. I believed Olympia, Marek’s stepmother, had grown to love him. She fooled
us all. She must have sent him to you. This was all part of her plan and now
she’s sacrificing Tomas, Diana and Sebastian just to get back at me and
Angelina.”

“Who the hell is Olympia and what has she done to Diana?”

“Nothing yet, I hope. If she hurts one hair on Diana or
Angelina’s head…” The handle on the passenger door snapped off in Damien’s
hand. “We’ll get Tomas to help us. If only I could break through the wall
Sebastian’s put up in his mind, I could recruit his help too.”

Frank turned and drove up a steep unfinished road. After
only a few minutes, he veered off the road and entered the woods.

Damien held onto the back of the seat as the SUV bounced and
seemed to head straight for a tree. At the last moment, Frank swerved around it
and came out on a path so narrow the branches of the trees and bushes lining it
brushed against the vehicle. The path grew so steep, he was sure they would
flip over and tumble down the mountainside. He would have thought Frank planned
to do just that in an attempt to get away if the man hadn’t been flicking on
his blinker before every sudden turn.

“I don’t think you have to worry about getting a ticket
here, Frank,” he muttered, shaking his head and grinning when Frank cast him a
completely baffled expression. “Never mind. Just step on it.”

He immediately regretted his words. His head slammed into
the roof as they sped up.

When they finally stopped before an outcropping of massive
boulders, Damien scanned their surroundings and immediately concluded they were
alone and very near Tomas.

Frank turned to gaze intently at Damien. “Why are you
helping my daughter? What do you care if she and my mother die?”

“I could never purposely harm a human, Frank. Even you. It’s
against our laws.”

“Laws?”

Damien let out a long sigh. “Yes, laws. We’re not monsters
who spend our nights looking for blood. We have families, schools, jobs and
laws just like you. Anyway, Diana is the grandchild of my soul mate. I love her
as if she were my own granddaughter.”

He slid across the seat and followed Frank out the driver’s
door. “When your mother refused to complete the bonding ritual, I was so
heartbroken, I wanted to drag her away and force her to stay with me. And when
I didn’t, I was sure she’d gone mad, like the Slashers.”

Frank looked at Damien. “So you thought you left me with a
mad woman for a mother.”

Damien nodded. “I felt her madness was my fault. It only
made sense that you’d grow up hating us. The hardest thing I’ve ever done was
protect you, Frank. You killed my family and friends, but you were still
Angelina’s child and, in a way, mine. Too many times I argued with elders that
even though you’d captured and murdered our kind, we could not, by law, kill
you. We can only kill in self-defense. And so they waited for one of those you
captured to do just that.”

Frank swallowed. “I always thought you just wanted my mother
for—”

“Her blood? Frank, you have no idea what we’re all about.
Now let’s get Tomas and go save your daughter.”

They walked along a narrow path until a huge metal gate
covered with ivy blocked them from continuing further. Frank sorted through his
keys and with a shaky breath opened the padlock.

Damien followed him through the opening, still wary enough
to keep his hand wrapped around the back of the man’s neck.

Towering concrete walls topped with a multitude of five foot
treacherous spikes surrounded a massive clearing. Not a tree or bush sprang
from the level ground. In the middle, a crucifix shot up some twenty feet.
Tomas, his naked body covered in sweat, hung with his hands and feet nailed to
the wood.

Upon seeing them, he broke down and began to cry. “Damien! I
knew you’d come. I knew it.”

Damien instantly took in the direction the youth faced. The
rising sun would come from his side, extending the time it took for its burning
rays to kill him. “My God, Frank, what kind of monster are you?”

“He didn’t do this, Damien. Olympia did. She’s crazy.” Tomas
sobbed. “Get me off this thing. These nails are killing me.”

Damien climbed up to the pole and tore the nails from Tomas’
hands and feet. Screams of agony sent a flock of birds into the dark sky.
Gently cradling Tomas in his arms, he carried him out of the pen. Blood poured
from the gaping holes. “Take off your shirt,” he yelled to Frank.

Frank ran up to them and tore off his shirt. “I didn’t do
this, Damien. You have to believe me.”

Damien shredded the shirt. Wadding the pieces up, he shoved
them into the open wounds. Tomas let loose a heartbreaking wail then passed
out.

They had only a few hours before dawn, not enough time to
get to the Isle. Gathering the boy in his arms, he raced back to the car. By
the time he reached it, blood was already dripping from the saturated cloth.
“If I don’t get him stitched up soon, he’ll die.”

Frank grabbed his arm. “I have a kit in the trunk. I’ve
nearly lost a few of my men while…” He clamped his mouth shut and ran around to
open the trunk.

A large black box filled the trunk. What appeared to be an
innocent flashlight lay across the top. Frank shoved another light to the back
and unlocked the box. Opening it, he tossed the contents aside, then let out a
sigh of relief and held out a suture packet.

Damien’s hands blurred as they moved over the wounds. A few
minutes later, Tomas’ wounds were sealed.

Tomas’ eyes opened to mere slits. “I was so scared. She said
we were going to burn the pen down and catch the hunter. The next thing I knew,
she had my hands nailed and—” His eyes flew open. “She found out about
Sebastian and Diana. When I lied and told her they didn’t bond, she went
berserk. She mentioned Fentmore.”

“It’s all right, Tomas. I’ll take care of everything.”
Damien lifted Tomas up into his arms and turned to Frank. His gaze fell to the
man’s outstretched hand. Two small white capsules rested upon his palm.

“They’re pain killers,” Frank said.

Damien eyed the capsules suspiciously.

“Take them.” Frank drew in a shaky breath. “I never could
stand to hear them scream. I always slipped them a couple of these. Then if
they didn’t take effect by sunrise, I left.”

Frank’s shame poured into Damien mind. With a quick nod, he
took the pills and convinced Tomas to swallow them. “Thanks. Now take us to
Angelina’s. We’ll figure out what to do next while Tomas sleeps through the
day.”

Sebastian!
Damien called his stepson again and again.

* * * * *

The other children in Luna’s class ignored Ms. Tindela’s
pleas to return to their seats. Luna felt those crowded around the bank of
windows press closer as they peered into the night, hoping to be the first one
to pinpoint where in the surrounding forest the vampire would emerge. Another
anguished roar, much closer than the first, had them nearly hanging out the
windows.

“Children, get down.” Ms. Tindela began tugging at their
wriggling legs. “You’ll fall and break your necks.”

“There goes another one,” Caitlin, Luna’s dearest friend,
squealed with delight.

They all watched as a young pine soared over the treetops.

“We have a lot to learn before dawn, children. Tomorrow
night—”

“I see him,” Luna yelled, jumping up and down. “See? He’s
lifting another one.”

Another sapling soared over the treetops, landing with
enough force to bury its roots in its new location.

“Oh my,” Ms. Tindela gasped.

Moonlight shone on the face and bare chest of the vampire
Luna had known all her life. Muscles bulged from his neck as he let out an
ear-splitting roar that sent some of the children scurrying under their desks.

Fallon let out a long whistle. “Boy, is he ever over the
edge!”

Luna tugged at Ms. Tindela’s skirt. She peered up, her eyes
filling with tears. “But that’s my Uncle Sebastian. You told us only teens in
pooh-betty went over the edge.”

Ms. Tindela ran her trembling hands over Luna’s head.
“Usually. It takes an awful lot to push a full-grown male over. Children,
please come away from the window. He’s dangerous.”

“He’s coming this way,” Fallon yelled, obviously no longer
in awe of the charging vampire. “Run!”

Twenty first-grade vampires charged. Desks flew across the
room, tossed out of their way with mere flicks of their wrists. Luna heard
screams and the sound of crashing desks coming from the other classrooms facing
the woods. By the time the entire school sat huddled in the hallway, a line of
elders had entered the schoolyard. Glad she’d stayed in the classroom, Luna
opened the window and watched.

The elders cautiously approached Sebastian, ducking as one
when a tree soared toward their heads. In the state he was in, with his senses
overloaded by his emotions, Sebastian seemed to have no idea that they were
even there.

* * * * *

Every time Sebastian thought of Diana and her deception, his
heart shattered anew. He wanted to hurt her as much as she’d hurt him. Needed
her to pay for Tomas’ certain death, for tricking him into betraying his own
kind while blindly falling victim to her wiles.

But more than anything, he needed her to convince him he was
wrong.

Tonight was their third of the final stage. They should be
together so that their love could appease their hunger until the final night.
They should be together!