Destined

Rose to their final resting place. Church bells tolled in the background, and wails of grief rose up.

Aiden presided over the ritualistic vampire burial, as Caleb personally shoveled the dirt.

“…to resurrect another day,” Aiden finished chanting, “in God’s ultimate grace.”

Caleb stood there, tears in his eyes, feeling surreal, out of touch with his body.

Person after person walked up to him, to try to offer condolences. But there were none to be had.

As Caleb stood there, his grief slowly morphed to anger, to a slow, quiet rage. His boy had been killed. He had not died accidentally, but had been deliberately killed, in cold blood. It was the work of an evil vampire coven, one that had set out to destroy Caleb, and had found his boy instead.

Caleb wanted revenge. He needed revenge.

And he was not alone. His entire coven demanded vengeance, too, as did Aiden’s coven. This was an attack on all of them, and was completely unacceptable. The covens were united.

Caleb finally cleared his throat, and spoke up in a loud voice.

“My fellow members,” he began. “What happened today was an attack not just on me, not just on my son, but on all of us. The malevolent coven coordinated this attack, this breach of our shores, and we must answer with equal force. I will fly today to exact revenge on this horrible, unjustly murder. To exact revenge for all of us. If need be, I will fly alone. But I welcome you to join me, to avenge the cruel and merciless death of my innocent boy.

“Are any of you with me?”

A huge roar of approval rose up, and Caleb’s heart swelled at the support.

“Then fly with me now!” he yelled.

With that, Caleb took three steps and flew off into the air, by himself.

It took but a moment for him to hear the fluttering behind him of thousands of wings.

It was an entire army, mobilized for war.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

As Caitlin tried to open her eyes, she had a splitting headache. She slowly raised her head and looked about, trying to get her bearings. She blinked several times, and realized that she lay curled up on the floor of a stone cell.

There was a small, barred window, way high up, and she could sense that the bars were made of silver, would be impossible to break. A harsh ray of sunlight came through it on an angle, lighting up her face, and she squinted in pain. She rolled over, getting out of the way.

In the darkened corner, Caitlin breathed, slowly sitting up, trying to collect yourself. Her head was absolutely killing her, as she tried to remember.

She remembered being in a church. Santa Croce. She remembered being with Blake, ascending a pulpit. She remembered finding that secret compartment, opening it.…

And then there had been a net thrown over her, her tackled to the ground. And then Kyle, looking down at her, his face grotesque. Kicking her.

She sat up straighter and looked around, feeling a throbbing bruise on her cheek. She was in a jail of some sort, probably put here by Kyle. She wondered how long she’d been here. Her throat was dry, and she felt weak. She listened, and in the distance, she heard what sounded like a faint cheer, followed by a massive vibration that shook the floor. She wondered where on earth she was.

She also wondered why she was alive. Why hadn’t Kyle killed her? He was not one to show mercy. The only reason he would’ve kept her alive was if he planned on torturing her. Caitlin swallowed.

She wondered how she’d gotten into this mess to begin with. Everything was going so great, her idyllic time in Florence, her getting so close to finding her father, the clues all adding up. She had been so confident that she was almost there, right at the finish line.

Things had gone so wrong, so quickly. But how? She hadn’t sensed Kyle’s presence, or any of his people, at any point. He’d managed to sneak up on her so quickly. How had he found her? Had he been following her the whole time?

Caitlin wondered how that could be possible. The only person who knew she was there was Blake.

Blake.

Suddenly, her heart stopped. Had Blake led her to Kyle? Had he been deceiving her this whole time?

She felt her heart break at the thought. It hurt her more than anything she could imagine.

That had to be it. She’d been betrayed. She couldn’t see what other possible explanation there could be. There was no other way Kyle could have found her. And what about Blake? She couldn’t remember seeing him getting captured in the church. Granted, she couldn’t see much as she was taken down so fast. But she didn’t remember hearing him crying out, screaming.

And if Blake had been captured, wouldn’t he be here, in the jail with her?

“Blake?” she called out.

She cleared her throat, rose to her feet, and screamed: “Blake!”

Her scream echoed again and again throughout the empty chambers, as if coming back to taunt her.

No answer. That settled it. He must have betrayed her.

She felt like such a fool for loving him. She felt so deceived, so betrayed. So stupid.

Caitlin suddenly heard the creaking of an iron door, followed by footsteps.

She stood on her feet, in the corner, and waited, prepared to fight for her life if need be.

She had a feeling, though, that it would be futile. Kyle was not a man to leave anything unplanned for. Knowing him, he probably had several backup plans to keep her locked down, tortured, or killed. Her chance of escape, she knew, would be almost none.

Kyle suddenly came into view. He appeared on the opposite side of the silver bars, faced her and grinned. It was more like a scowl.

Kyle had certainly seen better days. Half of his face was disfigured, and now he was missing an eye. He looked hideous, grotesque.

“How do you like your new accommodations?” he asked.

Caitlin said nothing, just stared back at him. Finally, she spit on the floor in his direction.

He laughed—an evil, creepy noise.

“You’re right,” he said. “Blake led us right to you. A lamb to slaughter. How could you have been so naive? Well, finally, I have the upper hand. You have been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember. It’s thanks to you that my face is disfigured like this. That was my punishment for letting you go.…Not this time.”

Caitlin could feel the evil emanating off him, like a tangible thing. She had a sinking feeling that this might be the last moment of her life, and she prepared mentally to meet her fate.

“Before I kill you,” Kyle continued, “I want you to know that I’m a very kind man. I’m going to offer you two options. To die quickly, easily and painlessly—or to die slowly, brutally. You still have a chance for the former, if you comply with what I have to say. If not, make no mistake about it: your fate will be beyond painful.”

“I’m not afraid of dying slowly,” Caitlin answered with contempt. “I’d rather die in one thousand hells than give you whatever you want.”

Kyle smiled wider.

“You are a girl after my own heart,” he said, licking his lips. “It’s a shame that you and I never had a chance to be together. We would be a splendid couple.”

She felt sick at the thought. “I had rather die,” she answered.

He laughed out loud. “Don’t worry, you will. Very soon. But before you do, I will make you this offer: give me the object that you found in the pulpit. We searched, and found nothing. Tell me what you did with it, where you managed to hide it before we caught you. Did you break it? Did you swallow it? What was it? Tell me, and I will spare you. In fact, if it’s an answer I like, I might even let you go.”

Caitlin thought, wracking her brain. She tried to remember, but her head was still foggy. What object was he talking about? What was it that he thought she’d found?

It started to slowly come back to her. What she’d found in the secret compartment. Kyle hadn’t seen it, so of course he thought it was an object. What a fool.