Gabriel shook his head.
“I'm guessing Father knew that mission might be his last, so he prepared for Mother to go someplace far away.”
Tate’s grip on me tightened. I looked down to see tears welling in his eyes.
“That’s exactly why he should be kept away from those missions. We don't know what the hunters want with him. Or if the vampire council will take you next. And yet you?—”
“Ouch, Vesper! Lighten up, will you?”
I jerked away from Tate, realizing I was squeezing him a bit too hard with my vampire strength.
“Sorry,” I muttered and looked back at Gabriel. I hated the pitiful look that crossed his face.
“How have you been handling… everything?” Gabriel asked, his tone shifting and his expression changing. It was hard for me to believe he cared about me, but it looked real.
“I'm back with Aurelia now, so better than being at the beck and call of some royal vampires.”
“Don't act like you're not at your princess’s beck and call,” Tate teased.
I ruffled his hair. “You'll understand when you're older. I'm fine, really. I’m just… worried you two might be next.”
“They are trying,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “But we kill everyone they send, and you know the organization isn’t about to letalltheir best hunters go.”
I flinched, but it wasn't because of the word “hunter.” It was because I wasn't one anymore. The identity I had aligned myself with for so long had suddenly and forcibly been taken away from me. It was hard to imagine a world where I wasn't a vampire hunter.
“It seemed to be common knowledge to everyone but myself that the organization uses hybrids.”
“It’s their worst-kept dirty secret.” Gabriel clapped his hand on my back. “We’re just glad you made it through.”
I let myself simmer in the rare warmness between us.
When will I see them again? Will I?
What we were about to do would change the world as we knew it. There would be deaths, and how many of those would be the same people we fought by and loved?
“Now,” he said and cleared his throat. “Tell me what you need.”
I looked down at Tate. He had grown since I’d last seen him, his face and body filling out, and his hair was longer. His boyish look was slowly disappearing.
I wanted to stay in this moment forever. Just being with the two of them and acting like nothing was going on outside our little bubble. But I wasn't here to see them. Just like Cedar had to get the witches on board, I was the only one with a connection to the hunters. Even if severed.
“We are going to finish the prophecy. Kill the last in the Castle line. But… he’s getting stronger, and we don’t know why. You remember, he beheaded the witches and was going on a rampage, killing everyone in sight without breaking a sweat. We canfeelhow much worse it’s gotten now.” I looked at Gabriel. Originally, I didn’t want to tell him about what the general had done with the witches, but I couldn’t hold it back. “His right hand, someone from the council, was caught sacrificing witches and taking their powers. Cedar said it was over a dozen.”
Tate’s gasp had me grinding my teeth. I hated how much of this he had to witness.
“Is that what her brother is doing too?” Gabriel asked.
I shook my head.
“His body would need to have a rune carved somewhere,” I said. “From what we’ve seen, he doesn’t have it.”
He loved to show off his chest and back in robes, especially when he was with his feeders. If there was a rune, we, or one of the staff, would've seen it by now. Plus, in order to heal it, hewould have to have a witch around, but Cedar hadn't mentioned another one.
“Can he get the magic another way?” Tate offered. “You know, like maybe drinking witch blood instead?”
I shook my head.
“If that were the case I would have magical powers too.”
