“Usually, that’s true,” the first human told me. “But you’re brothers. You share the same blood. You can save what your sibling has destroyed.”
I paused, looking over at the two people. My brother had destroyed their lives. I didn’t know where they’d come from or what their stories were. Maybe they’d joined him willingly and then he’d screwed them over. I didn’t know any of that. All I knew was that this was it.
This was my last chance.
If they were correct, and there was a chance I could save Juliet, I had to try. I had to go for it. She was everything to me. She was incredible, and she was brave, and she was...
This was my only shot.
I bit into my wrist, tearing the skin open. Blood pooled and started to drip. I grabbed her and held her in my arms. I raised my wrist over her mouth and started dropping the blood down her throat. More and more went in. She was dead. She couldn’t swallow. I just had to hope against all hope that enough of my blood would go into her that she’d be able to live.
I just had to hope.
11
Juliet
I WAS COLD.
Everything around me was cold.
My body was cold, the blankets were cold, and the air was cold. I kept my eyes closed, but I tried to figure out where I was. It felt like I was in the middle of a snowstorm or a blizzard. It felt like I was in the middle of winter.
I realized that someone was close to me. My eyelids felt heavy, though, and I didn’t open them at first. Not right away. Instead, I focused on listening to all of the senses of my body.
“She’ll wake up soon if she’s going to,” a voice said.
“She has to wake up,” another whispered. That was Colin, I realized. Colin was with me. The other voice, I realized, was Ida. They were both here, but where was “here”? Why was I locked up in this ice prison?
“She was gone for a little while,” Idea told Colin. “If she doesn’t wake up, it’s not your fault.”
“Ida, she’s going to wake up.”
“I hope so, as well.”
“Is everything finished?” Colin asked.
Finished? What was he talking about?
Then I remembered.
All of my memories came rushing back all at once. I had been in the sitting room still. I’d been thinking about Clarissa and how a vampire rush on the hospital meant she’d died. It broke my heart, and I’d been crying. She’d always been a good friend to me. It wasn’t fair that she died defending what we’d created at the hospital.
Then again, there wasn’t much in the world that was fair, was there?
“It’s finished,” Ida said. “All of the rogue vampires are dead, and I’ve made an announcement on your behalf about the future of Darkvale.”
“You’re the best, Ida.”
“Well, you can tell me that after you see how people react.”
“They’re going to be fine,” he said. “We have a good community.”
“Your brother caused a lot of trouble,” she said. “There are going to be people who don’t like what they did, and there will be citizens who want to leave.”
“They’re allowed to leave. Nobody is going to be held here against their will.”
“Running a vampire community isn’t easy. Nobody thinks that it is,” Ida told Colin. “But you’re a good leader, Colin. Your people trust you. They trust the world you’ve built and how you handle relations between the people and the vamps.”