Only you cansave him.
I flick through the pages, looking for the rest of the message. Nothing. No details, no instructions.
“What is it?” Lucian asks, looking over my shoulder.
I clear my throat and shake my head. “A personal message to me, nothing important. Just caught me off guard,” I lie.
“So, I guess we’d better prepare for war,” Marko casually states.
“How long do you think we’ve got?” Lucian asks.
“I’ve got watchers that said they were spotted two towns over. And that was yesterday. My guess, by sundown tomorrow,” Cain informs.
The air is tight, tension consuming the room. “As your president, I am ordering you all to stand down. I am only required to end this. There is no need for you all to risk your lives. I suggest you leave now until this is over,” Lucian orders.
“If you think I’m about to leave you to face Anathema on your fucking own, then you’re even more stupid than I thought,” Silas snaps at him.
Talon stands, as do Shade, Marko, Rook, Viktor, and Hex. “We ain’t going nowhere either,” Talon fumes.
Clutch, Echo, and Diesel stand too. “Well, I guess that means we are staying too. Not like we gotanything better to do,” Clutch grins, twiddling his toothpick between his lips.
All the brothers turn and look to Cain’s empty chair. Disappointment floods me; I thought he was better than that. “Cain is a nomad, free to come and go as he pleases,” Lucian defends.
“Still thought he would have more fucking honour,” Silas spits angrily, and for the first time, I agree with him.
I stand. All eyes come to me. “I’m not going anywhere,” I assert firmly, staring into Lucian’s blazing gaze. He begins to shake his head. “I’m not leaving you, and you can’t make me.” His hands cup my face, resting his temple on mine.
“I should have never marked you. I should have left you alone,” he exhales, his eyes burning with pain.
I pull back slightly, placing my hand over his. I turn my head and place a soft kiss on his palm. “Finding you, falling for you. Giving myself to you.” My smile widens as my cheeks heat. “Giving you my heart is the best decision I’ve ever made. So don’t take that away from me. Because there isn’t anywhere I’d rather be than here with you. Even if that means the end is near. I will die in love, feeling utterly worshipped, happy.” I choke, swallowing back the tears. I want to protest that it’s not fair, that we didn’tget long enough together, that it’s over before we’ve even really begun. But I don’t. I refuse to spend the last few hours we have together full of pain and despair.
“If this is going to start turning into our declarations of love for each other, then I’m really fucking off,” Cain huffs. We look to him as he dumps a large duffel bag on the table. “Now, I’ve been fantasising about ending these fuckers for a really long time. Learned some things along the way.” He unzips the bag and pulls out water pistols.
“Water pistols?” I ask in confusion.
He smiles, his blood-red eyes dancing with excitement. “Yeah, in these is some kind of liquid,” he says vaguely.
“Some kind of liquid? You going to elaborate on that?” Lucian presses.
“I don’t know what’s in it. I met these folk on my travels. They were spiritual people, but not the church-going kind. We got talking, and when I mentioned Anathema, they gave me these. It won’t kill them, but it will hurt them,” he says proudly.
Everyone exchanges a look. “Well, I guess it’s better than nothing,” Clutch shrugs.
The brothers all reach for a water gun. Lucian stands there, staring off into the distance. “Hey, you okay?” I ask,concerned.
He frowns. “Put the guns down. We are going out,” he orders. Everyone stops and looks at him like he’s lost his mind.
“Prez, it’s war,” Clutch protests.
“Yeah, it fucking is, and we are already fucked. So, let’s go out, live one last night. I don’t intend on talking through ways we can prolong the inevitable,” Lucian demands. My heart stutters at the thought of losing him if I can’t save him. If this Anathema can erase vampires, then I’m not sure what use I can be.
Looks are exchanged; concern, sadness, and anger at the thought of them losing their leader, their brother, their friend, a member of their family. Silas is the first to place the gun down. “You’re right. We live for tonight. We fight death tomorrow.” The others, one by one, place their guns down.
“Does this mean we get some pussy?” Diesel asks, the youngest of them, his eyes excited and eager.
Lucian smirks. “Come here,” he orders. Diesel’s excitement fades, and a look of worry that he’s in trouble spreads across his face as he makes his way to Lucian.
“Prez, I meant no disrespect to your woman,” he mutters. I have to bite down on my grin as I step back. Lucian firmly grabs his shoulders, glaring down at him.
