Chapter 26
2722words
Cristiãn was in no hurry to meet up with the other members of the vampire alliance. He had no doubt how that meeting was going to end, but he still intended to face Lucian, Stefan and the others. His concern now was his attire. He spent the next hour showering, dressing and grooming himself for this meeting. A few minutes later he was back in his car and on the road.
It took Cristiãn an hour and a half to drive to the Greenwich vacation house. As he rolled up the driveway, he noticed one additional car parked there that he was not expecting to see: Razvan and Dumitra. He was not deterred; he parked the car and sat for several seconds to prepare himself for the coming events. He then climbed out of the car and saw several members of the vampire union looking at him through the front bay window. The sight of them caused him to hesitate before starting his approach to the house. When he arrived at the front door, he found Augustus standing there with the door open.
No words were exchanged between Cristiãn and Augustus at the front door. Augustus directed him through with a nod of his head. Cristiãn went through to the parlor without hesitation. The remaining sixteen union vampires were there waiting for him plus Razvan and Dumitra.
“Where is she?” Razvan roared at Cristiãn the instant he stepped into the room.
The room full of vampires moved out from the center of the room as Cristiãn walked into it. They immediately began to circle him like a pack of wolves circling a stray bison. Despite their maneuvers, all predatory expressions were limited to Razvan and Dumitra, and to Stefan to a lesser extent. Lucian looked perturbed but in control while his mate, Elisabeta, looked dismayed. But only Nadja and Petru showed any worry for his fate.
“What did you do, Cristiãn?” Lucian hissed.
Cristiãn showed no displeasure with the tenor of Lucian’s question. After spending a few seconds pondering a reply, Cristiãn passively answered.
“I saved her.”
His answer shocked everyone who heard it. Even Nadja and Petru were surprised by it.
“What about us?” Adrianna railed out with a tinge of hysterics. “Did you think about us at all?”
They waited for an answer that was not forthcoming from Cristiãn. Then Lucian introduced another question.
“Is Tremaine under your control?”
Cristiãn considered the question, and then shook his head.
“You didn’t blank her memory?” Radu queried with astonishment.
“No,” Cristiãn returned in a soft voice. “I did not.”
There was a moment of shocked silence from everyone in the room. They contemplated the probable changes to their lives that was about to occur. After several seconds, Iona expressed her dread.
“She’s probably telling everything she knows right now.”
“They may not believe her,” Flavia quickly countered in a hopeful tone.
“She doesn’t have to get them to believe her,” Sorin countered glumly. “She only has to get them to investigate us.”
Stefan’s usual sour disposition was seething with anger. He took two steps toward Cristiãn before clearly enunciating his venom laced questions.
“Is that what she’s doing, Cristiãn? Is she telling her story to the police?”
Cristiãn hesitated in the face of Stefan’s anger filled questions.
“I gave her a copy of Razvan’s file,” Cristiãn confessed solemnly.
For the first time, Cristiãn said something that produced an audible gasp from several within the room. Even Lucian was flustered out of his usual façade of control.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Laurentius blared out almost at once. “You’ve destroyed the lives that we created for ourselves.”
“I am sorry, Laurentius,” Cristiãn returned as he opened his palms toward him entreatingly.
Laurentius was not moved by his response nor were most of the others in the room. Adrianna’s displeasure was no greater than most, but her quick mind and sharp tongue beat all the others to the retort.
“Cristiãn, you may have killed us all,” Adrianna verbally disgorged with temper. “You’ve certainly killed some of us. How could you do that?”
Cristiãn looked around and examined the faces looking back at him before starting his explanation with a shrug and a sigh.
“You didn’t give me any other choice.”
This softly spoken reply had varied effects on everyone within the room. A few softened their reactions to Cristiãn’s confession, but most did not. For the rest, his response simply stoked the flames already burning within them.
“That’s your excuse!” Stefan raged as he flung his arm through the air. “You couldn’t have it your way, so you decided to act on your own!”
“We agreed—twelve hundred years ago—we all foreswore the killing of humans,” Cristiãn barked in his defense.
“Except in our own defense, Cristiãn!” Stefan roared back at him. “You forget that part. It was her or us.”
Cristiãn considered Stefan’s response from for several seconds before softly responding.
“I chose her.”
“And now it’s our turn to choose,” Lucian growled. “You have broken your vow to us, and now we get to decide what to do with you.”
“No!” Nadja yelled. “We do not get to decide.”
“He has broken with the covenant, Nadja,” Helga shouted with ferocity. “You cannot get in the way of this.”
“The alliance is dead,” Nadja roared back at Helga with a fierce glare. “Razvan and Dumitra have already broken from us. Our secret and our identities are probably being exposed to the mortals as we speak. This union no longer has a function.”
“And whose fault is that?” Lucian scolded back at Nadja. “Even if what you say is true, then that makes this one last piece of business all the more important. By his own actions, Cristiãn has earned the consequence of our dissatisfaction.”
Nadja looked around and saw nods of agreement from everyone except Petru and Cristiãn.
“No!” Nadja yelled, stepping toward the center of the room.
“Nadja!” Cristiãn quickly called to his sister.
Nadja turned to look at her brother and saw him staring at her. They gazed at one another for several seconds. Nadja saw that Cristiãn had already resigned himself to his fate. Her expression wilted as she recognized his resolve.
“No, Cristiãn,” Nadja wept.
Nadja took three steps to stand face-to-face before her brother.
“I knew what I was doing,” Cristiãn told his sister mournfully.
“You can’t leave me,” Nadja insisted with tears in her eyes.
Cristiãn took a deep breath and looked at his sister with sad and searching eyes.
“I have been alone for too long. It is time.”
“No, I won’t let you do this!” Nadja declared while grabbing hold of Cristiãn’s arms.
“I am sorry, Nadja,” Cristiãn said softly.
Cristiãn turned his attention to Nadja’s mate.
“Petru,” Cristiãn called softly.
Petru understood what Cristiãn wanted before he spoke. He walked over to stand behind Nadja and looked into Cristiãn’s eyes.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Petru asked softly.
Cristiãn understood that Petru was declaring his willingness to stand with him and fight. But that was exactly what Cristiãn did not want to happen, and he sensed that Petru already knew it. He suspected the question was more for Nadja’s benefit than his own.
“Yes,” Cristiãn answered in a word.
Shortly after Cristiãn’s answer, Petru put his arms around Nadja and slowly pulled her away with tears streaming down her face. When they came to a stop several paces away, Lucian took a half step forward and he glared at Cristiãn.
“I vote that Cristiãn should die,” Lucian stated while holding his gaze.
All eyes were directed at Lucian when he spoke his vote in a stern voice. Stefan was next to cast his vote.
“I vote death,” Stefan declared boldly.
“Death,” Helga stated as she took her place by Stefan’s side.
The others silently deferred to each other with glances around the room. Eventually, all eyes turned to Elisabeta who did not acknowledge them.
“Death,” Elisabeta softly said with regret.
Again, there was a pause as those who had yet to vote waited for others to proceed. This deference played out again and again as all but Nadja, Petru, Razvan and Dumitra cast a vote for Cristiãn to die. It was accepted as a given that Nadja and Petru’s vote was no, and no one thought to question them on it given that they were greatly in the minority. A silence filled the room for several seconds after the last vote, then Razvan stepped forward and spoke with venom in his tone.
“I say cut off his head and be done with him.”
“You don’t get a vote!” Nadja screamed as she charged at Razvan.
Petru and Cristiãn came to Nadja’s aid and Dumitra came to Razvan’s. A struggle erupted within the middle of the parlor and was quickly put down by the other vampires in the room. The combatants in the scuffle were pulled apart and separated to different sides of the room. Except for the huffing produced by their exertion, everyone was quiet as they paused to make sure the scuffle was over. The non-combatants began to slowly release the combatants. Shortly, everyone was standing still without a restraining hand. There was an awkward momentary silence that held until Lucian looked to Stefan with a directive.
Nadja almost gasped when she heard Lucian’s words. Petru took her hand to ease the wave of panic he felt erupting in her. Everyone listened to Stefan’s movements as he made his way to his room on the second floor. There was a short break in his movements, then they heard his footsteps coming back. Stefan strode back into the parlor at a deliberate pace, carrying the broad sword case he had at The Cavern.
Nadja jumped with a start at first sight of the case. She reached over with her freehand and clasped it atop the hand that Petru was using to hold hers. Nadja could not help but stare as Stefan set the case on the sofa and opened it. She gasped at the sight of the sword and then turned her gaze toward Cristiãn with terror and pain in her expression. Cristiãn returned her gaze with a steady emotionless expression.
“You should leave,” Cristiãn advised softly.
Nadja ignored his suggestion and turned her attention to Stefan just as he unfolded a thin film of green plastic secured inside the lid of the case. He opened the plastic out into a ten-foot by ten-foot square sheet on the floor. This sight suddenly made this event all too real for Nadja to endure in silence.
“You’re not killing my brother!” Nadja screamed at Lucian, openly displaying hysterics.
Petru quickly wrapped both his arms around Nadja and restrained her from rushing Lucian.
“Nadja!” Elisabeta yelled out plaintively. “You can’t stop this. You’ll only make it worst.”
“You’re planning to kill my brother! How much worst can it be?” Nadja screamed back at Elisabeta.
Elisabeta had no response. Her association with Nadja went back nearly one-hundred years before they became trapped inside the cave. She valued her friendship with Nadja far more than any other female she knew. Seeing her friend in pain caused Elisabeta a great deal of distress.
“Petru,” Cristiãn nearly whispered. “Take her out of here.”
“No!” Nadja resisted as she took Petru by surprise and threw him across the room to the floor.
Cristiãn knew that his sister was on the edge of a fierce reaction to what was occurring. Throwing Petru to the floor was a sign that she was ready to use the full extent of her vampire power on his behalf. This brought the other vampires in the room to a fighting stance.
They all knew that the strength of a vampire was simply a matter of how much fuel he, or she, was consuming at any given moment. Each of them understood that this gave them all the potential to be equal in strength across varied periods of time. It was also understood that their greater than normal strength made their flesh and bone bodies easily vulnerable to breaks and tears by another vampire. Because of this understanding, no one there took Nadja’s fighting stance for granted. Her quick reflexes and the depth of her know-how and overpowering emotions made Nadja dangerous, but in the world of vampires this was insufficient against superior numbers.
“Nadja,” Cristiãn called to his sister.
Nadja froze at the sound of Cristiãn calling her name. She looked at her brother and saw him standing still and quiet. She knew there was no chance of them fighting off sixteen vampires; and she knew that was all the truer if Cristiãn did not fight. This insight motivated her to slow the pace of her heart beats.
“You can’t leave me, Cristiãn!” Nadja pleaded with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Nadja,” Cristiãn said with moving sorrow. “I knew what I was doing. I broke my promise.”
Cristiãn and Nadja exchanged a long look at each other, then he turned his attention to Petru.
“Take her out of here,” Cristiãn said softly.
Petru was by then back on his feet and at a defensive stance by Nadja’s side. After hearing Cristiãn’s words, he began to perceive from Nadja’s pheromones that she was resigned to what was about to occur. He gave her a moment more to settle, then he took her hand into his. With a gentle tug, he led a tearful Nadja out of the room. When she was gone from sight, Lucian signaled Stefan to begin. Stefan, in turn, looked to Augustus and Sorin. They responded to his visual cues by moving forward and taking positions alongside Cristiãn.
“I’m sorry, Cristiãn,” Augustus declared with regret.
Cristiãn acknowledged him with a glance to his left, then he turned to see Sorin standing on his right.
“You did this to yourself, Cristiãn” Sorin asserted softly.
Cristiãn ignored the comment and turned his head in time to see Stefan use both hands to raise the broadsword out of the case: one hand under the grip and the other under the blade. He continued to watch as Stefan carried the sword over to Lucian and then present it to him. He watched as Lucian received the sword in the same way it was being presented to him. He then watched as Lucian turned his entire person toward him.
“Cristiãn,” Augustus whispered into his ear.
It was time, and Cristiãn knew it. He looked briefly at Augustus then took a step forward onto the plastic. After a pause for a couple of heavy breath, he dropped to his knees. Lucian then walked onto the plastic and stopped at a right angle just in front of Cristiãn. He waited there, unmoving, with the sword still resting in his hands. Cristiãn interpreted his pause as a signal for him to lean forward; so, he did. Several seconds later, Lucian grasped the grip of the sword with both hands and brought it up over his head. When he did this, Cristiãn closed his eyes and waited. Two seconds into this position, the sound of a car screeching to a stop in the front driveway interrupted their proceedings.
“Lucian!” Elisabeta called from the front bay window.
Lucian lowered the sword and looked to see his mate staring out the front window. Helga, Iona, Adrianna and Roxana stood at the window with her. Lucian, Stefan, Augustus and Sorin rushed to the sides of their mates. The other vampires hurried off to windows in the foyer and the study. Cristiãn stood up in the middle of the room and examined the others as they stared out of the windows. Within seconds of first hearing the car, Nadja and Petru raced into the parlor and stopped alongside Cristiãn.
“Who is it?” Petru asked of anyone with an answer.
