One thing is certain: I want to know the truth. There are three sides to every story, and I plan on getting Bishop’s one way or another.
Two
Bishop
“Bishop!” someone shouts, but it only echoes in my ears.
The sound is faraway and my legs are weak as I close my eyes. I feel myself being carried to my bed as a wave of exhaustion hits me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I can recall Dove saying who the girl in the painting is, but I can’t focus.
Everything is turning black and the world tilts right before I feel myself land on my bed. I can smell the scent of fear and panic all around and then there’s shouting. I reach out, but the cool sheets are all that meet my fingers as I drift out of consciousness.
When I fall into the blackness I see the violet eyes of the one I’ve been dreaming about. It’s almost like she’s here with me. But if she were, I wouldn’t be dying. I can feel the end of my life fast approaching, and I think that’s what’s happening to me now. I always knew this moment would come, but I’m not ready. There’s still so much I need to tell my family. There’s so much I need to teach them about our ways. I’ve tried to write it all down and do all the research I could, but it’s not enough. It’s been two hundred years but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the lifetimes they’ll all live now. They’ve found their mates and their true bonds have been formed. That’s all I ever wanted for them. I know that no matter what, they’ll be with the person they love, and knowing they are safe makes it easier to let go.
I just have one regret and it’s that I never found her. My beautiful dream with her violet eyes and red hair. I know in my soul that she was my mate, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m leaving this world without ever finding her, but I can’t help but hope that I’ll somehow find her in eternity.
* * *
Three days later…
My mouth is dry and my body is weak as I roll over in the bed. I feel a warm hand grip my own and I open my eyes slowly.
“Ravana?” I croak, and her eyes snap up to meet mine.
“Oh, thank god,” she breathes as she turns to look away from me. “Valen! He’s alive!”
She squeezes my hand and I blink a few times, pushing the sleep away. “How long was I out?” My voice cracks and sounds like I’ve been chewing on chalk.
“Shh, take it easy. Don’t talk,” she says as she bows her head in what I can tell is relief. “You’re okay.”
I hear Valen running into the room and he comes up beside Ravana. He puts an arm around her and places his hand on top of our joined ones. “You scared the shit out of us, old man.”
I want to smile at him, but right now everything hurts.
“You were out for three days. I think you were in some kind of coma. We had no idea what to do. Kane and Juliet were talking about taking a trip to find a vampire doctor.” I hold a hand up in protest. “Don’t worry. I just called them,” Valen adds. He sits down on the chair next to Ravana and they both give me a hard look. “We thought you died.”
“It’s not long now,” I say as I clear my throat again, and this time it hurts a little less. “I’m running out of time.” The two of them share a look and there’s something they aren’t telling me. “Now is not the time to keep secrets.”
“Dove thinks she’s found your mate. The girl in the pictures,” Ravana says, glancing over to them.
The memories of her words right before I passed out come flooding back. “How can it be that she’s Gordon’s daughter? It can’t be possible,” I say. How could he have found her?
I met Gordon when I was a young vampire and traveling the world. His maker had just died and he rose to power overnight. At the time I didn’t understand what it meant to run a city and be in charge of other vampires. Or what it meant to keep our secrets safe. But Gordon was brought up by someone who thought that vampires should rule the world without care or remorse for who they had to kill along the way. At first, I thought there were things I could learn from Gordon about how to maintain control of an area and how to create wealth beyond my wildest dreams. But in the end, all I felt was cold and empty.
He believed that in order to have people follow you, they must fear you, and I didn’t agree. We went our separate ways, and I thought he’d taken up residence in the snowy hills of Russia. I assumed he would live out his years there because he didn’t believe finding a mate was the secret to vampire immortality. He believed that if he tasted enough human blood it would be enough to keep him alive forever, no matter what our history taught us.