She was no longer a vampire.
But as she discovered, she was no longer human either.
She looked down at herself. Her claws. Felt the sharpness of her fangs. Different from the vampire fangs. She felt the strength in her body, in her animal nature.
She was one of them.
Whatever her mother had done, she had done this. Given her the wolf gift. Given her the strength to belong.
Lawson nuzzled her. You are truly one of the pack now. Run with me.
The wolves howled, a battle cry, a warning:
We are coming. We are coming, my brothers and sisters.
Fenrir has returned.
We shall break your chains. We shall lead you into freedom.
We shall bring war upon our enemies.
Arise, arise! It is our time. The War of Heaven is upon us. Arise, wolves of the den, wolves of the guard. Arise and defeat the enemy we slew once before.
FIFTY-FIVE
Schuyler
y father? Schuyler wondered, even as she felt her consciousness beginning to fade; as her lifeblood seeped out and death approached.
My father?
Why would Jack tell her that her father could help her?
How could he be so merciless to say such a thing?
My father is dead. My father is buried in the ground. He is no help to anyone.
Then she realized…
Her father.
Her immortal father.
Charles Force. Michael. Her father. This was Allegra’s secret. This was the key of the twins, the sangreal. Schuyler had had a human father to create a new life, but somehow, she was also Michael and Gabrielle’s daughter.
Schuyler remembered those days at the hospital, at Allegra’s bedside, and her intuition, the thought that had popped into her head when she’d seen the gray-haired man kneeling in her mother’s room, asking for her forgiveness. What had she called him then? Father.
They had the same dark hair, though his had gone gray. They shared a bond that neither of them had acknowledged. For Allegra’s secret had been hidden so deeply when she’d broken the bond, when she’d married her human familiar. The truth of Schuyler’s heritage had to remain a secret, even from her own father.
Father.
Help me.
Help me.
Father.
From the White Darkness, a sword appeared in her hand.