Really, he had no idea how true that was for me too.
* * *
The realityof what was happening struck me the closer we got to the coffin room. It had another name, but I couldn’t think of it at all. The crickets sang. That was such a strange thought, especially while every vampire in the town stood outside the area. The moon was huge, not quite full, but bright and almost there.
I shivered and rubbed my arms. Across the way, Charlotte nodded at me, then smiled. She was happy about this. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that everyone wanted this to happen except for the six of us.
So much so, that they’d been looking forward to it. I swallowed. Rowan turned to look over his shoulder at me. “Don’t run. I know you want to. I don’t blame you, but almost everyone here is a predator. If you run, they will chase you because they get so little chance to do that.”
It made sense, even if I hated it.
“Dad,” Rowan called out, shooting a look I couldn’t decipher at Caesar before he said it. Ace changed his stance, broadening how he stood, while Tanner shoved his hands in his pockets. I couldn’t decipher Griffin at all.
His father stepped toward them. “The ceremony takes place inside. You know this. You’ve seen it many times. I’m glad to see you’re not just on time but you’re early.”
Rowan took a deep breath. “We still have things to talk about.”
They stood just far enough from their fathers that they had to shout to be heard and their vampire dads had to do the same. I blinked. That was odd…wasn’t it? What were they doing?
“I don’t think so. Come.”
Rowan barely let his father finish speaking before he answered him. “We understand you intend to kill our friend. Now that you have us here, her usefulness to you is over. That’s true, yes? You never lie, so I’d like an honest answer.”
Rowan’s father didn’t answer, but Ace’s did. “I think that was always the intention.”
“Not acceptable,” Ace answered his own father. “She has to be protected. No one is going to kill her.”
Around us, the vampires started to laugh. I’d never heard the sound before. Oh, they were amused. In that moment, I hated them—hated them so much more than I already did. I hadn’t known before then that it was possible to have levels of hate. I’d just pushed up a degree to the point that my hands shook.They think this is fucking funny?I clenched my fists. If they were going to kill me, I was going to break some vampire noses before I went out. And I bet it would hurt them.
Rowan’s father waved his hand. “Stop this nonsense. You have no say here.”
“Oh, but I do. We all do, because you have moved heaven and earth to get to this moment, so that the five of us would be standing here right now. Together. We had to be born within a period of time. We had to fit what you needed, so that we could carry these souls, right?” His back was so stiff that I swore I could see a slight tremor in it. I doubted anyone not standing directly behind him could see it. His blazer would cover all of that from the front.
The elder vampires looked at each other. “What is your point?”
Rowan pulled a gun out from under his blazer. It had been covered, and I hadn’t seen it. I gaped at him. They hadn’t had that on them when I’d hugged them. Was it just Rowan? Was it…?
My question was instantly answered. All five of them had guns pressed against their temples.
“Let me ask you, Dad…if I shoot myself in the head, will I wake up the way you want? Can I? Because I read in those books that some deaths kill the humans completely. Seems to me this is one of the ways. And I know you’re fast, but not so fast we can’t all pull the triggers. Even if you stopped one of us, what happens if all five of us don’t make it? What happens to your best laid plans?”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t even draw breath.What are they doing? Are they actually threatening to off themselves? Where did they get those guns?
It was Caesar’s father who spoke. “What is it that you want exactly?”
“I want Maci to be alive and well when I come back. I want her brought to me at the first meeting where you reintroduce me. You are going to give her to me then. She will be mine. And alive and well when that happens. That’s what I want.” His hand was steady. “You never lie, Father. I want your word. Now. In front of everyone, swear that is what you’ll do. We know what could happen to you if they think you’re a liar.”
What could happen to him? I had so many questions, but all I wanted to do in that moment was to call out for them not to do this.
“You think that you will care when you see her?” Tanner’s father had a low, scratchy voice. “But you won’t. At best, she’ll be interesting to you to feed on until she’s dead. At worst, you’ll want to torture her for fun. The early years are brutal. If you care for her as much as we think you do, and I see that you all do, you’ll let her die now.”
Rowan didn’t falter. “Those are my demands.”
His own father nodded. “I don’t like being held hostage, but I will be amused to see her at your mercies at that time. It will be a lesson for the others. Humans don’t matter other than as feeding tools. You’ll understand when you arise and you are finally one of us. Fine. She will be alive and brought to you at that time. You have my word.”
It was a long, poignant moment. With everything he could have demanded, it was actually brilliant what Rowan had done. And it had Griffin all over it. This had been his idea, and Rowan had executed it. Well, they all were. No way would his father ever let me go. I knew too much. He’d said that. Once you were in, you were in, whether you wanted to be or not. I had to stay, but he’d kept me alive.
I could hardly swallow. Tears clogged my throat. He’d asked me to trust him, and I had. They hadn’t let me down.