“But not everyone has killed their entire family!” His chest rose and fell with a vengeance. “I did.I tore into them and drank their blood without a single thought of anything but the blood-lust!”
A dark, sickening grief filled my heart. “I can’t say that I understand, because I don’t. But I know you weren’t you when that happened. I remember when I awakened and that first scent of blood hit the air.” I shook my head. “If I had heard the heartbeat of a human, or smelled the scent of one...I’d have devoured them all without a second thought. It’s primal, and it’s fucked up, but it’s something nobody can change. That vampire knew that. He’s the one who murdered them. Not you. You were just the tool, but he pulled the trigger.”
A panicked expression flitted across his handsome features. “I wish I could share your daft view.”
“It’snotdaft!”
“Daft or not...” His voice came low, cold. “They won’t want to see me. I—”
He never would believe he wasn’t to blame for their deaths unless they told him.I may not know his family, but the deep love Thaddeus held for them was clearly returned. They would know he wasn’t to blame, and maybe, if they told him that, he’d start believing it himself.
Angry black spots danced in my vision as I growled. Stomping toward him, I latched onto his firm bicep with an iron-clad grip. “You’re going to walk through that fucking portal and face them. Then, you’ll be able to finally forgive yourself.”
His body trembled. “Ican’tface them!”
“You can and you will. Three hundred years of avoidance is long enough.” I pushed him forward and forced us both through the black, swirling portal before he could protest.
We stumbled into an empty room that looked just like any other place in Hell. I furrowed my brows as I glanced around the empty room.Priamos was supposed to have brought them already.
A cry of relief fell from Thaddeus’s trembling lips before his heated gaze pinned me in place. Regret swirled inside of me, mixed with pain from seeing my brooding vampire so torn up...because of something I had done.
“Thaddeus, I’m sorry.” The walls pulsated in short bursts, the red glow flickering on his face. And I let go of his arm. “You mentioned how good closure was for Kai and how it was helpful for him to face his past, and I thought closure would be good for you too. I thought it was what you wanted—no—needed.”
“Why would youforcethis on me? You’re bloody bonkers if you think for even a—”
He was cut off by a bright flash, and then Priamos stood beside a woman, a man, and a young boy.
Thaddeus’s mouth snapped shut.
Oh, fuck. What did I do? What if he isn’t ready for this?
“Laurence, Prudence, and Baron Alford, Mother. Heaven has allotted you an hour,” Priamos’s soft voice broke the crippling silence after they’d arrived.
I cleared my throat, stealing a glance at Thaddeus who looked like a fucking deer in headlights. His pretty green eyes were wide with a film of tears coating them, and his jaw was slack. “Thank you. You’ve done well.”
Priamos bowed before teleporting out of the room.
As pissed off as Thaddeus was at me, I reached over and laced our fingers together. He squeezed my hand so hard I heard bone crunching followed by less pressure and the pricking of healing.
He was tense, and I could see the fear in his demeanor. I couldn’t imagine what he must’ve been feeling, but it was something he had to do. Eventually, I had to face my family, and even Corbin, again. It wasn’t something I looked forward to, especially since all supernatural compulsion ends once death comes. My family would remember everything from that night and about what I’d become. Little did they know, I wasn’t just a vampire. I was something else entirely.
But when the time came to face them, I would do so. No matter what calamity awaited me when I did.
Sweeping my gaze over toward the Alfords, I took the time to assess them.
His mother, Prudence, had black curly hair and big brown eyes. Her hands cupped her mouth as she stared at her son with an overwhelming amount of love.
His father, Laurence, had brown hair and green eyes. He sucked in a sharp breath as he stared at his son. His gaze was more calculating than Prudence’s. It was like he was trying to figure out exactly what was going on and why they were here.
His younger brother, Baron, was only ten years old. He was so young, and he still had that childish look in his green eyes. His shaggy brown hair moved back as his little head angled up to stare at his brother with a wide, wonder-filled expression.
“Thaddeus?” Laurence stepped forward. “Is that really you?”
Thaddeus nodded, clamping down on my hand again, and I winced as the bones in my hand cracked again.
Prudence stumbled forward and reached a trembling hand out to place on Thaddeus’s cheek. “Oh, Thaddeus, it really is you.”
His grip tightened, crushing the bones in my hand into smaller fragments loose within the skin.
