“Beloved?” There was clear astonishment in his voice. “Her?”
As Finn started circling, so did Brennan, but his brother smiled at the woman. His woman.
A low growl shook Finn. “She is mine!”
“Oh, brother, she’s much more than that.”
“How did you know? Tell me.”
Brennan continued to talk as they circled the small area. “The moment I became a vampire, I searched for a way out. My maker never allowed me to pursue the aspiration, but I heard that bastard talking with Romus. Even back then, your maker talked about the possibility of resuscitating when he visited. I wasn’t allowed to appear, but I stayed close, listening.
“Every time my master let me roam, I followed Romus, noticed who he talked to, the research he had done. I wove my own web, parallel to his, following him like a shadow. He’d called himself Jove by that time, his fascination for Jupiter never-ending. It was a name I carried on once he was no longer, as he already had a reputation and an aura of power I knew would serve me well. What he learned, I learned, what he bought, I found it too.
“Slowly, I pieced together Romus’ plan until one night, I overheard a conversation he had with a friend, where he was debating an aspect of the ritual to bring him back to humanity. He had made many notes, and he decided to abandon the only lead he’d ever believed in and destroy the last piece I needed to seize what I’d worked for all that time. I killed the monster who made me and decided to put the plan in action, and for that, Romus had to die.
“I killed him and took every bit of information he had. I studied and analyzed everything, and only recently decided to test it. I found two humans with weak minds I could control, and they followed my orders to the letter. All I needed was a witch, willing or not, in which to pour that magic into and to wield it for me. When one very insistent and nosy witch came after my two humans, I couldn’t believe my luck. But I didn’t know she was yours.”
Deep sorrow fell over his face. “Whatever honor I have left would’ve prevented me from touching her because you’re the brother of my blood. Now, I can only express how sorry I am for the sad circumstances.” If possible, he sounded sincere, but that wasn’t enough.
“Did you know you would kill her? That nobody could sustain or contain such power for long?”
Fire lit Brennan’s eyes. “Do you know how many people you killed to feed, brother? Don’t preach to me about honor. Death clings to us and will never let us go until we shake it out of us by any means possible. If you’re asking if I intentionally chose her, no, I didn’t. The fates played against us.”
“You have lost your mind, brother. I will not let you hurt her. Ever!” Finn attacked once more, and Brennan deflected him this time. It seemed he’d grown tired of getting punched after all.
“You love her. Could it be that part of the brother I loved remains? Where everything is lost to me, could there be hope for you?”
The emotion was undeniable in his brother’s voice, but Finn could only see the pain he’d inflicted on Violet and not the faint tinge of remorse and redemption in him. He had to save Violet, even if it meant killing Brennan and suffering the pain of his loss for the rest of eternity.
Speed had never been a problem for Finn, apart from having the natural abilities of a vampire, he’d always maintained the strict regimen of a warrior as he always believed in being prepared. He wasn’t surprised that his brother had also improved, both in technique and agility over the years. He would’ve smiled in admiration if the fact that fighting his own brother to the death wasn’t a tragedy. So often he’d dreamed of seeing his family again.
Finn and Brennan had immobilized each other in a lock, and above the grunts and hissing, Violet’s voice rose like a siren. “Please, you have to stop. There has to be a solution. Brennan, you must tell us what you did. All curses and spells have an antidote. We just have to find it. Your brother loves you, and that’s all that matters in the end.”
There was sorrow in Brennan’s face at her words and hope too as if he saw something no one else could see. Maybe a solution that only appeared now. “I wish there were, witch. I see your loyalty for my brother and even sense your honesty in your proposition, but I’ve searched in vain for another option. Somehow, seeing what my brother has found, the last link to his humanity, it is clear that I misinterpreted something. Was I wrong? Was there another piece of that spell I needed but was out of my reach?”
Brennan shook his head, his gaze lost for a moment before he smiled at Violet. “Believe me when I say I’m not a monster, just desperate. And please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”
When his brother loosened his grip on him, Finn didn’t see his left hand disappear until it was too late. Brennan stabbed him through the heart with a short silver blade.
Finn always thought that dying would be painful. It wasn’t. The pain wasn’t physical; it was in another place, the one where he would never see Violet again, that because of him, she too would die, very soon.
“Finn!”
Her cry tore at him, shredding his damned soul. As his brother gently lowered him, he looked at his chest where he could only see the hilt. It wasn’t a hilt per se, more like a disc that was flat against his skin. A death lock. He’d heard of it but never seen one. There were only two sure ways to kill a vampire—cut
