He lifted his gaze back to Sarah, all signs of fear gone. “Your mother is not dead. I will exchange her life for Amelia’s, the book, and your freedom. But you must leave this country and never return.”
She stabbed her heel harder against my thudding heart. Sharp pain struck my chest, my bones feeling as if they were going to break.
“It is not your negotiation to make. I have the power now, and I am within my rights. Rules you helped pen, Karson. Rules Rodney is here to see upheld. An eye for an eye. A throat for a throat.” She paused and sneered, “A heart for a heart.”
“You would betray me, Rodney?” Karson shifted his attention to him, his face hard. But I could hear the pain and hurt in his voice. “After all these years, after all I’ve done for you.”
“Not at all, my friend. You can see the bodies around the room.” His hand swept around the destruction. “This situation must come to an end or there will be more bloodshed. Moredeaths on both sides, more attention drawn to our kind. It is something we can sorely afford.”
Karson’s voice slipped to a low snarl. “None of you want to cross me.” His vampires tensed, ready to fight at his command.
Janice stepped up beside Rodney, her blood-licked swords drawn and crossed in front of her thighs.
Challis and Michael stepped ahead of the others, ready to attack. But Karson held up his palm. Wait.
Rodney’s eyes grazed the room. “Every vampire here understands if they go against the rules, they will lose their lives. There is no need for any more of our kind to die tonight. The truth will be exposed and this will end.”
My chest wheezed for air. The room spun so wildly, I felt sick. From the side, black blood slithered toward my face like an army of slugs. I willed my magic to rise, gritting my teeth, but I pulled at nothing other than the emptiness inside me.
My fingers still crawled agonizingly slowly toward my blade, sweat trickling down my back from the effort. Finally, I managed to curl my fingers around it. Panting for air, I closed my eyes and willed my mind to stop spinning so I could think my way out of this.
“Sarah, no,” Bob’s voice cracked from behind. “Sarah, enough, this has to stop now.” Bob came into my line of sight, except it wasn’t the old, frail Bob I knew. This man was much younger, his shoulders not hunched, not walking with a limp, his hair not gray. It was brown and slicked back behind his ears.
“He killed Nathan,” Sarah barked. “Now I have to kill the one he loves.”
“He didn’t, Sarah,” Bob said gently, tears welling in his blue eyes. “He didn’t kill him, honey.” Bob drew in a shattered breath and pure agony crossed his features. He whispered, “You did.”
Sarah stared at him, frozen in disbelief. Then she visibly reeled at her father’s betrayal. “No.” She shook her head.“They’ve poisoned your mind. That’s what he does, that’s his power, Dad, his and Rodney’s. They can get anyone to believe anything.”
“We love you, no matter what you have done,” Bob said, stepping closer slowly, hesitantly, pain and despair written all over his face. “You need to think about what happened at the lookout that night.”
“No, it’s lies.” She stabbed a finger at Karson. “He lies.”
“He’s not lying, Sarah,” Ethan said, shifting closer, torment in his eyes. “I know what happened that day. You tried to kill Georgie because I slept with her, but your brother stepped in to protect her.”
A pained wail bled through the room, more horrific than the blood painting the walls. Marg stared at Sarah, tears streaming down her blood-drenched face.
Rodney looked from Marg to Sarah and back to Karson, seeking the truth.
“It’s not true, Mama.” Sarah looked at her desperately, her eyes wild with panic. “They are lying. They are lying.”
Her heel pressed down so hard it felt like my chest was about to cave in. I didn’t want to, but I cried out. It was rasped but not soundless; my voice was working. If Sarah realized everything was coming back, she’d kill me, or incapacitate me. Her attention was hooked on her mother, desperate for her to believe her. Marg stared at her daughter, devastation all over her face.
I called on my powers, but there was only a hollow, lost feeling. I flexed my fingers; they were numb but moving a tiny bit better. The powder was wearing off, but not fast enough.
“Sarah.” Karson’s voice was spiked with that quiet rage. Marg flinched as Karson’s hand fell on her shoulder. “I warned you what will happen if you continue with this.”
The vampires in the room tensed again, glaring at each other like cage fighters, ready to fight again. Rodney strode between them and held up his palms in both directions. “Let this play out, we have rules for a reason. We shall abide by them.”
“Stop, Sarah, please,” Ethan begged. “What do you want me to do, get down on my knees and beg your forgiveness? I will if that’s what you want.”
The walls twisted, flaring in and out again. Sweat trickled down my back as I forced my hand to move. My fingers slipped from my knife handle into my pocket. I could barely feel them as I tried to open the sachet. I couldn’t access my magic, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use the powder in my pocket. If only I could grasp hold of it.
Bob walked forward, his palms up, fear in his eyes as they flicked between his wife and Sarah. “Think, sweetheart. The memory is there in your mind. You only need to find it.”
“I didn’t kill him, Daddy.” Her voiced was charged with the anguish of her brother’s death, with the terrible ache of the two people she loved most choosing Karson’s words over hers. “Please, you have to believe me. I would never hurt Nathan, I loved him.”
Her heel pressed down again. I heard a crack. Pain shot through my chest like a knife’s blade. A wail rushed up my throat, but I bit down hard on my cheek. The pain sent a flare of adrenaline through me, and my muscles began to tingle. I snagged the powder in my palm and curled my fist around it.
