Chapter Twenty-Two
After hearing the story about how Philip became a vampire, I figured we had some time before Stella woke up starving for blood. In the meantime, we had to deal with Cybil and make sure Isaac was okay.
As if he forgot we were there, Philip moved to Stella’s body and gently lifted her into his arms. I watched in confusion as he carried her out of the room. Cybil watched too and didn’t stop him.
I wasn’t sure what her endgame was, so I kept my eyes on her while I walked over to Isaac.
“Isaac,” I said as I leaned over him to untie the remaining restraints. “Can you stand?”
“I think so.” He slowly got to his feet with a small smile. “Are you the Vinur?”
“What? No,” I said. “I’m just… I have… I-I don’t know.” I turned to Liam. “Am I?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay… You’ll explain?”
“I will. Later,” he said, his attention on Cybil.
She smiled at him. I could tell she was trying to use her glamor, but it didn’t seem to affect him. “Listen, wolf, you know you won’t get close enough to kill me.”
Liam laughed. “You have no idea who I am.”
“Don’t I? You’re Liam Bertram Fraser. Much like your mate here, you were born under the Vinur Moon. Except you were born back in the fourth century. The year three hundred twenty-six to be exact.”
“What? Why haven’t you told me that?”
“Oh, that’s not all he isn’t telling you, is it?”
“What’s she talking about?”
His teeth ground together. “Now is not the time for this. We will discuss it later.”
He was right. We did have an ancient, seemingly impossible to kill, vampire staring at us.
Cybil sighed and clapped her hands together. “Well, it’s been fun, but it’s time for me to leave. Don’t you worry, I’ll be back. You two are too precious to leave alone for too long.”
And with that, she disappeared. Just poof! Gone.
As if on cue, more of her babies filed in. These vamps were older and stronger than the others, and I’d lost my knife somewhere along the way.
My wolf nudged me. “Oh yeah,” I said as I let the fire come.
A scream of pain had me spinning around. I expected to see Isaac, unarmed and newly healed as he was. But instead, I saw a vampire with his teeth in Liam’s throat. He was gnawing at him more than drinking from him, and Liam’s blood poured out of the wound. My heart nearly stopped when I saw his head fall forward.
The vamp dropped him to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and he hit the ground with a thud. He didn’t move, and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. The thought of Liam dying had my energy hitting me so hard, I stumbled back.
Before I could think or move, a blinding white light exploded from my core and flames covered the vamps. They screamed as they rolled around on the ground trying to extinguish themselves, but I aimed even more at them until finally, they were just piles of ashes.
When I was sure no others were coming, I closed my eyes and let the energy dissipate. I ran to Liam, falling to my knees in front of him. Isaac joined me, helping to move him to the board so I could get a look at him.
“Liam? Liam, can you hear me?” He didn’t make a sound. His neck was nearly gone. I took his hand in mine and felt for his pulse. It was there, but it was so faint I feared it would stop any second.
On an instinct I didn’t understand, I reached out to my wolf. She knew what I needed before I asked. My hands lit up, and I held them over Liam’s neck. The flames turned white as they got stronger. It didn’t seem to work at first, but finally I saw the skin moving to cover the wound. After another few minutes, Liam’s breathing became normal. Until finally he opened his eyes.
I leaned over him to make sure he could see and hear me. “Liam?”
He smiled when his eyes finally focused. “Red.” His voice was raspy, but what could I expect while his voice box repaired itself?