LITMIR.BIZ

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her through the huge chamber. The room had become a slaughterhouse. Everywhere she looked, she saw thousands of vampire corpses, her former coven-members, their blood now pooling all over the floor, chopped into pieces by Kyle and his cursed Sword. That Sword held power beyond what she’d imagined.

      Yet amidst all the carnage, several hundred vampires remained alive. Kyle’s people now. And with each passing moment, dozens more poured in through the open doors. In fact, there seemed to be no end to the stream of vampires eager to plead allegiance to Kyle. It was clearly his coven now. With Rexius dead, there was no one else to plead allegiance to. And Kyle had earned it. He had managed to wipe out every vampire that had ever betrayed him.

      There were hundreds of vampires who had assisted him in the battle against Rexius. Some were truly loyal to Kyle, while some were just opportunistic. Others just didn’t like Rexius, and had been waiting for their chance. Vampires poured in from covens all over the city. News spread fast in the vampire world – and they all wanted to be a part of the upcoming war. Whatever their reasons, this was Kyle’s army now.

      Now that Kyle was leader, now that he had the Sword, it was clear that there would soon be a major war, a war unlike any the vampire race had ever waged. Kyle was ruthless, and lusted for blood, and even this carnage had not satisfied him. He had a chip on his shoulder he just could not remove. All of the vampires out there who had not already rushed to pledge allegiance to him would pay for that. Along with all of the innocent humans. His vendettas stretched endlessly, Samantha knew, and New York City would soon be his playing thing.

      They dragged Samantha roughly through all the chaos, right to the center of the room.

      Kyle now sat on Rexius throne, savoring his power, an evil grin spread across his face, as vampires bowed low to him in every direction.

      Sergei, standing at Kyle side, banged his metal staff on the floor, three times.

      The entire room, thousands of vampires, lined up in perfect order. They all raised their fists, and yelled: “Hail Kyle!”

      Samantha was amazed. It was an incredible show of force and loyalty. She had never seen any obedience like this in her life. Kyle was magnetic. Already, he was a tyrant.

      But Kyle didn’t seem interested in his soldiers. Instead, his eyes fixed on Samantha. The entire room seemed to notice his interest in her, and the murmur quieted as they prepared to watch the exchange.

      “So,” Kyle said to her. “You beat me to the Sword. But as you can see, I am the one to wield it.”

      “For now,” Samantha spat back.

      Let him think about that, she thought. For truly, she believed, one day it would no longer belong to him. Whoever was meant to wield the Sword would, and she knew, deep down, that it wasn’t him.

      Kyle raised his eyebrows.

      “Do you know why I’ve kept you alive this long?” he asked.

      Samantha stared back, defiant. She had no interest in engaging in a dialogue with him. She didn’t want any part of this new coven. She wanted to leave, to get as far away from this place as possible. She wanted to just take Sam and go. If he’d let them.

      But Sam was nowhere in sight. They had been captured by Kyle’s soldiers, and she hadn’t see him since. Samantha needed to keep her cool until she could find out where he was. She needed to buy her time, to plead allegiance to him if need be, until the moment when she and Sam could escape.

      “I still don’t know why Rexius sent you to retrieve the Sword instead of me. As we all know, I’m a better warrior. But I will admit, you have some skills,” he said.

      “But that is not entirely why I’ve kept you alive. Rexius had planned on punishing you. From this, I assume you have no reason to still be loyal to him. There is a war coming, and I can use strong warriors like yourself. If you are ready to pledge allegiance to me, I will consider keeping you alive.”

      Samantha thought. She had no issue with pledging allegiance, because she knew that very soon, she would leave all of this. But first she had to know about Sam.

      “What of the boy?” she asked. “Where is he?”

      Kyle smiled.

      “Ah yes, the boy. Getting right to the heart of what I want to discuss. I’m not sure why you’ve taken such a fondness for this human, and you’ve already violated our rules in doing so. I could have you killed just for that, you know. But I do find this very interesting, and this, indeed, is one of the reasons I’ve let you live.

      “You see, Samantha, you need to be punished. Any vampire who was at any time loyal to Rexius and not myself, needs to be punished. It is part of the initiation process of my new Army. You will learn to obey me, and to obey me only.

      “In your case, I have found the perfect solution: an act that will both prove your loyalty to me and serve to punish you. My men will take you to the boy, you will bring him back here, and in front of everyone, you will kill him.”

      Samantha’s heart dropped at the thought. That was something she could never, ever do. She would take her own life before taking his. Kyle, as usual, was delusional. And cruel. Yes, he was a fitting successor to Rexius.

      “I will quite enjoy seeing you personally put him to death,” Kyle said, smiling at the thought of it. “You see, I consider this boy a liability. He comes from the same strand as his sister, and for all I know, they bear an immunity that could hurt us all. I don’t trust any of them. Not to mention, he is a human.”

      Kyle studied Samantha’s face closely.

      “If you do this thing, I will reward you with rank, honor and prestige. There will be a special place for you in my new coven. This will be a magnificent war, one of the most magnificent our race has ever seen. And you can be one of its chief architects.

      “But if you refuse… you will be tortured, slowly, cast into eternal pain, and your name will be wiped out from our coven’s history altogether.”

      The room was dead silent as Samantha thought. Her mind raced, trying desperately to think of a way out.

      “Why don’t you just kill him yourself?” she finally asked.

      Kyle leaned back and grinned, slowly.

      “Half the fun will be watching you do it,” he said. “One of my favorite hobbies is watching people kill that which they hold dearly.”

      Eight

      Caitlin flew and flew. She had no idea where she was going, but wherever the wind took her would be fine with her. She felt as if she had nowhere to go, anyway, and nothing left to live for. Her beloved Caleb had betrayed her, and the only other person she cared for in the world, her brother, Sam, had probably betrayed her, too. After all, Sam had led Samantha, had led all of those evil vampires, right to her, right to the King’s Chapel. Was there anyone left in the world she could trust? Was it her destiny that everyone who came into her life ended up betraying her?

      Caitlin flew far over the Hudson River, and looked down as it gleamed in the moonlight. The night air felt good as it brushed her face and hair, wiping away her tears. She was far from the island now, just a dot on the horizon. She flew further and further away, desperate to clear her head.

      She dove low, within feet of the water, and flew just over its surface, nearly touching it. It felt good to be so close to the water. A part of her wanted to just keep diving, to submerge herself. But another part of her, the new vampire part, knew that would be pointless. A vampire could not die. Not even by drowning.

      As she flew, groups of fish leapt out of the water all around her. They must have sensed her presence. Was it the vampire blood they sensed?

      Caitlin climbed up high, high in the air, and as she ascended, her head started to clear again. She thought about everything that had happened. Already, the details felt fuzzy. Was it possible that she had blown things out of proportion? Now that she thought about it, what had Caleb actually done? Yes, Sera was there, and on the one hand, her presence was inexcusable. But the more she thought about it, the more Caitlin realized that she didn’t really know

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