Epilogue

Oliver

My mind is not my own, and it hasn’t been for a long time. It’s like I’m looking through someone else’s eyes, removed from the body I’m inhabiting. But then I feel drawn to her, and I go into the room where I laid her down to sleep until she wakes as something new. A woman reborn.

When I look upon her lifeless body, I regain control over myself and start having thoughts that are my own. My sweet Danica. You were supposed to save me from myself. It was never supposed to be like this. I didn’t want it to be this way. I’m sorry, love. I promise, I’ll explain it all once you wake up.

To think how different our lives were when I first met her. I was fighting every day, trying to hold on to my sanity and not end up in a jail cell. If I wasn’t in school, I was working on music—anything to occupy my twisted thoughts and drown out the voice in my head. Not that it worked all that well. Until her—until Danica. I don’t know what kind of hold you have over me, but I’m never letting you go.

* * *

The voice rips through my thoughts with delight as I walk to my next class. My eyes are kept down, trying to avoid the people surrounding me. I just want to bloody fit in. I want to feel fucking normal. If it wasn’t bad enough that I’m in a whole new place, a whole new environment, surrounded by new faces who stare at me with curiosity because I’m the new kid from a different country. I’m also the new kid with murderous tendencies, and a voice in his head as his puppet master. Hi, I’m Oli, I’m in a band. You should check out my music sometime—oh yeah, I also have a habit of killing people and drinking their blood to appease the faceless master in my head. Bollocks.

Why do you shy away from potential prey? Make friends, Oliver. Get close to them. Close enough to strike them and feast on them. Do you remember what that whore’s blood tasted like? How good it made you feel?

Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck up. I shake my head and quicken my stride to my English class. Where the hell was it again? Goddamnit, why is this school so massive for no fuckin’ reason? With a heavy sigh, I pull the campus map from my back pocket, because what high school needs that? Absolutely mental. I’m scanning the map to pinpoint my location and see where my next class is, as I realize I’m definitely going to be late. I look up from the map to check my surroundings to try and figure this out, when I catch the eye of a girl looking at me with a lustful gaze. I flash her a smile that I know well enough makes any girl’s panties wet, when she pulls her plump bottom lip between her teeth. Fuck. And now, she’s walking over to me. She’s pretty, and maybe I’ll just ditch this class altogether.

Yes. Take her somewhere secluded and fuck her. You can wrap your fingers around her throat and watch the light leave her eyes.

I go completely still as my eyes go wide. I slap my hand to my head, trying to rid my mind of the voice. Not now, you prick.

You will obey me, Oliver. This is what you were made for. Take what is owed to you—her blood.

I lift my eyes to meet the nervous blue-eyed girl in front of me. She seems hesitant to approach me now, because of how I’m acting. I don’t blame her. With the silence of the voice, as it awaits for me to approach the girl to make my move, I take the reins and spin on my heels, and break into a sprint in the opposite direction. I’m not doing this again.

The voice is furious, hissing violent threats of the things it will make me do that are far worse than what it had planned for me with that girl. I can’t focus on where my feet are carrying me, but I make no effort to stop my pace. I need to get far away. Make it stop, please fucking make it stop. The voice gets louder, booming through my brain and overtaking all of my senses. My heart thumps wildly in my chest. With my eyes on the floor, I avoid eye contact with everyone around me—until I crash into someone bringing me to a halt.

I’m breathing heavily from running. I look down at who I knocked over. Fuck, she’s tiny. I don’t think I would have even seen her if I had been looking straight ahead. With a gasping breath, I reach my hand out to help the girl up that I knocked onto her arse. “Shit, I’m so sorry.” Her books are strewn about on the floor—she looks around with flushed cheeks as she notices onlookers snickering at us.

She takes my hand and my breath catches in my lungs. The voice stops speaking, my mind is quiet. I help her stand, and I just stare in awe, not wanting to let go of her hand. She is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. “You really should watch where you’re going. You just fucking tackled me, dick.”

I smile wide at her snarky attitude. I like it. “I’m really sorry about that. Are you hurt?”

Her features soften slightly as her eyes drop to my lips. “I think I’ll be okay. Why the hell were you running in the hall like that anyways?”

Ah, shit. I was running from the damn voice in my head. The voice that is now… completely silent. I pause for a moment, thinking it’s too good to be true. Surely, the voice will be back? But I don’t even feel it lingering in the back of my mind like it normally does. “I didn’t want to be late to English,” I lie.

She raises one eyebrow at me incredulously. “Well, that’s funny. None of the English classes are held in this wing of the school.”

“ Erm, well, I’m new. And a bit lost,” I retort, with a breathy laugh.

“ I couldn’t tell by your accent.” Her lips tilt into a sultry smile that almost sends me to my knees before her. Fuck. I’ve never felt the need to want to get to know a girl more than I do right now. I’m overcome with desperation to know this girl— I’m compelled to know everything about her. “You’re in luck, I’m heading to English as well, so I can take you there. But… you might want to let my hand go so I can pick up my books.”

I feel my cheeks heat as I stare down at my hand, still held in hers, showing perfectly manicured nails. With a shy laugh, I release her from my grip and lean down to pick up the books I knocked from her hands. I sense the voice creep into the back of my mind once I’m free of her touch, barely audible even still as I keep all of my focus on the goddess before me. “I’m Oliver, by the way. I’m sorry again for acting like a wanker and knockin’ you over.”

Her laugh is infectious and the most perfect sound I’ve ever bloody heard. I’ve got it bad for a girl I barely even know. There is something about her. I’m going to make her mine, I’ve made up my mind on that already. “What is a wanker?” She asks with a wide grin.

With her books in hand, I return her grin, but I keep them firm in my grip. I’m going to be a proper gentleman after knocking her over. But I can’t lie, I’m glad I did. “Excuse my poor language. It’s just a term from back home to call pricks like me that knock beautiful girls down, when he isn’t paying attention. What was your name?”

She bites her lower lip and holds my stare. “I’m Danica.” Danica. The voice calls to me in hushed whispers, but I pay it no mind. I fill my mind with thoughts of Danica, this beautiful woman who is going to ruin my life in the best way possible. I don’t understand how she is keeping the voice at bay, but I think this girl is my savior, and I think I want to be the same for her. Not exactly sure what that means for us just yet, but I’m more than willing to find out. I’m never letting this one go.

* * *

I’m seized from my memories when I hear Balor crawling into my brain, to summon me I’ll bet. He knows I’m home now, and I’m sure he knows who I brought back with me.

Come to me in my throne room. We have many things to discuss.

His voice is loud in my head, even with Danica so close. I try to shake my head and make it disappear, but he’s too strong. He’s always been too strong for me to overcome. I bend to his will every time he calls for me.

Except when he sent me to kill Danica and Chris. He made a grave mistake sending me for that task, allowing me to be around her for that long. It let me be somewhat in control of what happened, even if Amanda forced my hand.

I know that Danica had to die; Balor wanted her dead, and he wouldn’t have stopped until he killed her. But he wouldn’t have turned her, he intended to just leave her lifeless on the ground. Now she’s safe, even though she’ll hate me for this. I’ll accept my fate, if it guarantees her safety and ensures that her death isn’t a permanent one. If she’s sired to me, Balor will have to see reason. I can control her so that she won’t be an issue for him, and he’ll let her live. I hope…

I haven’t seen him since everything went down at Ocean Street. I immediately took Dani and me to his castle, my home if you can call it that, to make sure she had a place to resurrect. It’s closer to Balor than I ever want her, but it’s what I have to offer.

He’s going to be livid about Amanda. His little fucking pet, who he didn’t even need to control. She did his bidding of her own free will. I’m so fucking glad she’s gone. That crazy bitch was going to make me kill myself if I had to bear her incessant whining, and temper tantrums, and possessiveness for one more moment. As if she could ever compare to Dani. As if I would ever want her instead.

After we arrived at my room in Balor’s keep, I turned my emotions back on. Not all the way, but enough that I can deal with her when she wakes. I need to atone for this. I know turning her was wrong, but I had no choice. That’s all there is to it. I glance down at Dani lying in my bed before I answer Balor’s summons. She’s where she belongs now: with me. Where she has always belonged. Fuck, I missed her. I stroke her beautiful cheek, something she would never let me do now if she was awake, and leave my bedroom—our bedroom—to attend to Balor.

His throne room is deep underground, centrally located in a maze of tunnels, aimed at making sure that no one who enters without knowing where it is can never make their way out again. Not that it’s bloody likely they would anyways. I finally enter the dimly lit room, and walk down the stone pathway that runs in a narrow line directly to his throne.

And there he sits, leaning back on his red throne, his legs spread wide. He grips his chin with his thumb and index finger, while his elbow rests on the arm of the throne. As I stride closer to him, he meets my gaze, and I try to quickly evaluate his mood.

In the last two years, I’ve learned the value of knowing his emotions, even if they are unpredictable. You never know what you’re going to get with him from minute to minute. He could praise you one second, then rip your head off the next. I’ve seen it happen so many times to others in his sired line, and his throne room is a testament to how he deals with those who have displeased him, filled with piles of ash and human skulls and their remains. Dried and fresh blood decorate the walls of the room, splattered without rhyme or reason. Just wherever the arterial spray shot it. It’s his shrine to his wicked acts—the God of Darkness in his element.

He doesn’t look pissed, at least. I take my place before him and begin to bow.

“Stop. Rise, boy,” Balor commands in his deep, eerie voice.

My eyebrows pull together in confusion at his order. If he is present, we must bow before him. He teaches his sired this lesson extremely well through torture. Nothing like seeing him rip out one of your mate’s vocal cords for disrespect to make you learn that lesson right proper.

“You’ve done well. I always knew you would. It was prophesied as such.” Balor presses his fingers together thoughtfully. “A pity about Amanda, though. She was such a loyal and faithful chosen to my cause, and would have been a committed ruler at your side once you bring the world to its knees.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “But it appears you had other plans. You brought the one with the pretty eyes here, yes?”

I grit my teeth and try to stop my fists from clenching at my sides. I want to destroy him for even talking about her. “Yes,” I say angrily.

“Then why the long face? Isn’t this what you wanted?” He asks, tilting his head at me, his eyes narrowing.

Not like this. “Yes.” Never like this.

Balor claps his hands together, the cheery sound at odds with the death in this room. “Then she shall be your new consort. Train her well in our ways. Will her sanguis become a problem for you? I heard he escaped.”

I shake my head, silent, as I double down on the lie that he escaped. When I’m with Dani, I’ve found ways to block him out of my mind; it’s not permanent, but it does work for a time. It’s how I got away with lying to him about this.

I don’t know why I lied. For that matter, I don’t know why I let him go either. Did I let him live because my ego wanted him to see that I could take Dani for myself? Or was it because I couldn’t do that to her? I’m not sure of the answer to that. Truthfully, I’m not really sure about much of anything anymore. I’ve spent the last few years in a fog, bouncing between being controlled and being lost. The only time I feel like me is when I’m with her.

No matter my reason, no one can know that I let him live. It needs to be believed that he escaped on his own. Otherwise, Balor will think me weak, and because he refuses to kill me, for some reason, he’ll kill Dani as my punishment. And that’s never going to fucking happen.

“He’ll only be a problem if he can find us. Which he won’t,” I respond before he can ask again. Balor doesn’t like to repeat himself, as I’ve learned painfully in the past. “And consort? Your Majesty, if I may ask, why do I need a consort?”

“Every ruler needs a strong woman at his side. And she will be strong indeed.” Balor smirks.

“How do you know she’ll be strong? Will she be like me?” I ask.

Balor stands and crosses to me, pacing around. “Why do you think you can walk in the sun? How you’ve gained more powers than the average vampire? Why you’re so strong? Don’t tell me you haven’t considered these questions.”

I shrug. “I dunno, because I’m your chosen?”

Balor comes to a stop in front of me and tsks at me like I’m a child. “And your parents. You never once considered who your parents are? Your real parents.”

“I really haven’t given it much thought. Not like I have much time to think for myself these days,” I mutter.

Balor backhands me, sending me crashing into a shrine of bones.

I land on my side with a loud grunt, and a sharp pain pierces my side. I catch a glint of a jagged bone shard sticking out of my stomach right before he’s in front of me, seizing my shirt and lifting me from the ground. The bone fragment falls to the ground, clattering dully at our feet.

His face is only inches from mine when he snarls, “You would do well to remember that I do this because I care. You have a destiny to fulfill, and I won’t allow you to fail in it.” He places me back on my feet and brushes away the debris lingering on my shoulders. “Now, where were we?” He cocks his head and holds my gaze, tutting in disappointment in me. “Oh yes. Do you really not recognize your own flesh and blood when they’re right in front of you? Sometimes, I wonder how you were conceived by me. Must have gotten those weak traits from your mother.” Balor turns on his heel and saunters lazily back to his throne.

My jaw drops. Conceived me? Did I hear him properly? “Wait… you’re my father? All this bloody time, you knew who you were to me?” If he’s a God, what does that make me? And more importantly… “Who is my mother?” I demand.

Balor lowers himself into his throne and rolls his eyes at me. He looks bored with me. Fucking prick. As if he didn’t just drop a bombshell on me. “Your mother is the reason you can walk in the sun. Think about it.”

Humans can walk in the sun, but Balor has little interest in humans for anything other than torture, and I’m fairly certain that a human female couldn’t conceive his child even if he did fuck one. Aeliana and her sired line can walk in the sun. But it can’t be another vampire, right? No, Balor would see another vampire who wasn’t a God beneath him. Good enough to fuck, but not to bear his child—not to mention, I’m under the impression that vampires can’t procreate, so I’m definitely missing something here.

Aeliana herself, maybe? No. No way. Not only was I born human, but if it is Aeliana, they’re half-siblings. This is fucking mental. “Can you just be straight with me? Stop with the runaround and just bloody tell me.” I don’t care if he gets angry at my insolence or my tone. This piece of shit has been controlling my whole goddamn life, all while sitting on this information. I deserve to know the truth. “Who the fuck is my mum?”

Balor gives me a condescending look. Aeliana is your whore mother. You were born as a human because of her actions. Because she took you away from me and begged the old Gods to save you from me. She knew what her being pregnant meant for you, that you would bring the world to its knees. As the child of two Gods, your birth and life were prophesied. You’re destined to destroy the world as we know it today, to make humans worship us as we’re meant to be. Only you can bring this future to pass.

So the cowardly bitch ran off with you once her wish was granted, and when you were born, she gave you away to that appalling human couple. She figured that, by giving you away, you could forge your own path and not give rise to the great age of vampire supremacy.

She didn’t know that I could still reach you, no matter how far she took you. That I could speak to you, and whisper commands to you from afar. You were so intrigued by the darkness I offered you, so torn, that it was easy to infect your mind. You can call it the ‘divine infection’, my child.

I brought you down your path. Your true path. You should be thanking me for rescuing you from that worthless human life Aeliana abandoned you to. Because after I found you in that hospital room and did what needed to be done to ensure your rise power, I watched my son transform into a deity. You cannot be killed. I think you know that now. I doubt you’ve even realized the full breadth of your power.

You have the blood of two Gods in your veins, and now your pretty-eyed consort does as well. You will influence her to do your bidding, teach her our ways, and bring the human world to its damnation and bathe in their blood.

“Is she a God, too?” I cut him off. The emotions I’ve allowed myself to feel again burn through me at the despicable bullshit he’s spouting.

He uses his voice to speak now. “No, a God is born, not made. But she now has two Gods’ blood inside of her veins, so she’ll be much stronger than any other turned vampire, even those that are thousands of years old. We don’t know which powers she will manifest. And I believe there is more to her than meets the eye, including things that we still do not understand. And I plan to find out all of those little secrets.”

The fuck he will. Even after his revelations, my first concern, my only concern, is Danica. The sperm donor who conceived me will never get near enough to my sweet girl, who is finally back in my bed, with my blood flowing through her veins, to discover anything about her.

I don’t even know what to make of everything else he told me, though. I s’pose it makes sense. It would explain why I’m so different from all the others in the sired line, why my mates didn’t manifest as many powers as I have. I’m a… God? Bloody hell. A God that’s meant to enslave humanity. But why? And when did Balor shag Aeliana?

“We were in love once.” His unexpected response startles me. Rage flows through me that he’s listening to my thoughts. Again. “A millennium ago, Aeliana and I were in love. But she betrayed me. Went behind my back to bring me to my knees. Since then, I’ve made it my mission to destroy her, and her line. I’ll never let her forget what she’s done.”

“If you were in love a thousand years ago, how am I even here? I’m only twenty-one years old.” I pause. “And what did she even do that was horrible enough to make you want to wipe out her entire line?”

“I caught her where she shouldn’t have been, one night twenty years ago, and I made sure she would regret it. I can’t kill her, but I had my fun with her nonetheless,” Balor sneers.

He… raped her? I blink rapidly, nausea building in my stomach. Fuck, I think I’m gonna be sick.

“You think me so disgusting, yet here you are. You were meant to be born. It has been fated to be so. Everything that’s happened was supposed to happen, my child. Do not pity your mother. She deserves no sympathy. She thinks she is a saint when, really, she is just as bad as the rest of us. You’ll see.” Balor is in my face before I see him move. “As for the rest, that is a tale for another time. Now, you have a new fledgling vampire to train. Share this story with her if you wish or don’t. It doesn’t matter to me either way. But keep a tight leash on her, though, and don’t let your little girl escape you again. Your sire bond will weaken if she finds a way back to her sanguis. You would do well to remember that.”

“But what am I meant to do with this prophecy? What the fuck does any of this even mean?” I snap.

“All in due time.” Balor casually brushes a fleck of lint from my shirt before placing his hand over my shoulder. It feels like a paternal gesture until his fingers begin digging into my collarbone, the pressure bending the fragile bone. His message is clear: watch your tone. “Heed my warning, and do not stray from your path. When your consort wakes, bring her out on the town. Unleash her. Let’s see what she can really do.”

My heart sinks, and any hope for me starting my relationship with Dani fresh vanishes in the face of his veiled threat. She’ll never forgive me if I allow her to murder anyone, even if it’s to save her from Balor. But I have no choice. If she’s to survive, I have to do this. I hope one day she understands that I did this for her. To save her. “I’ll do just that, your Majesty.”

Balor sighs. “One day, you’ll rule the world; there’s no need to call me that.” He snaps his fingers and points at me. “Take her to that place in Rome you always go to on a binge. Plenty of innocents there to satiate her hunger. It will be all she can think about, so let her indulge. Just like I let Amanda do with you.”

I nod listlessly, remembering that time after I was turned, or transformed into a God, or whatever the hell happened. When I’m in control of my mind, when Balor’s not forcing me to be his murder puppet, that first year still haunts me. Under Amanda’s shit style of teaching, all I learned was to hurt and kill. It’s why I had to dampen my emotions. Because it hurts to think about all of the people I’ve killed. The number’s probably in the thousands now. As much as Danica, and her prick of a sanguis hate me, it will never compare to how much I hate myself.

Balor’s hand moves from my shoulder to my throat, the paternal gesture turned murderous in an instant. He pulls me into him, his nails digging into the sides of my throat. I can feel blood running down my neck from his grip. “This is why I need to get into your head. Force you to see who you really are. You are weak.” He slams me into the wall, my shoulder shattering at the impact, the tender skin of my neck shredding under his fingernails. “You will bring this prophecy to fruition, you simple child, and I will not let you fuck it up with your whore of a mother’s misguided notions of kindness.” His voice is mocking.

“I will never let my hold go over you. You will never be free of me. Aeliana’s weak traits pollute your mind, but I will make you stronger.” He squeezes tighter, and I feel his nails dig into the muscle fibers of my throat.

I grab his hands, clenching my teeth against the pain.

“If your pretty-eyed girl meddles with my plans in any way, or manages to break the hold I have over you, I will fuck her while you watch and then let everyone in this damn castle make her their whore. I’ll torture her for months with you by my side, imprisoned in your own head and forced to do my bidding. And, after all of that, I’ll force you to kill her with your own hands. Do not fuck with me. Are we clear?” Balor eyes blaze, glowing scarlet, lighting up the dark room.

I force agreement past his hand around my throat, past the torrential rage pouring through my veins. “We are crystal fucking clear, father .”

Balor smiles wide, loosening his grip and setting me down. “Good. I have some things to tend to. Do give Danica my best.” Without allowing me to respond, he vanishes into the shadows.

Fucking bastard. I cough, rubbing the already healing wounds on my throat. That absolute fucking cunt. I won’t let him lay a goddamn hand on Danica. I need to protect her. No matter what, I will keep her safe, just like I always have.

She may not like me, but I have to make her understand that she must obey. She’ll die if I don’t, and I can’t let that happen. He’ll never fucking touch her. If I thought I could get her away from here, get her someplace safe from Balor and her sanguis, I would. But Morselli will be reckless trying to get to Dani and Balor. Well, Chris isn’t the issue, anyway. Balor can find me wherever I am, no matter how far I run.

The safest place for her is here because, apparently, I’m a lot stronger than I initially thought, and Balor has an interest in keeping me alive. Her life and mine are now bargaining tools against Balor. He needs me alive to complete whatever this prophecy entails, and if Danica’s life comes to an end, I will find a way to end my own to repay the favor. I will find a way to hold it over his head, until I can bring his whole house of cards tumbling the fuck down. Mark my words.

* * *

I lean over the bed as I watch her, her body cold and lifeless. I stroke her hair and whisper things to her, tell her everything I wish I could be strong enough to say when she’s awake. All the things I wish I told her years ago.

I’m not really sure what to expect when she wakes. She might go for my throat in hunger. She might try to fuck me. Shit, she might even attempt to knock me the hell out or kill me. It’d be deserved. She’ll be much stronger, so I may even feel her punches.

I can stop her in her tracks, though. All I have to do is give her a command, and she’ll obey. That’s how the sire bond works. All because she has bloody feelings for me. Or did. If she genuinely doesn’t have any love for me anymore, this won’t work according to plan, and Balor will go after her.

Eventually, I’ll tell her what I am and what’s expected of me. I need her to understand. I can’t get away from Balor without her. I can’t stop his plans without her. I hope she’ll see reason, once she learns the truth about this prophecy and its meaning. I sigh deeply, raking a hand through my hair. She’s going to bloody lay into me. This is not going to be pretty.

I brush a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. Even coated in blood and filth, she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She always has been. God, I missed everything about her. It was never just about her beauty, though. It was the pure goodness of her, the complete love she had for me. I never deserved her. Not once. As a human or a God, I’m undeserving of her. But I want to try. I want to be worthy of her.

Standing over her, I make her a vow: I will protect you. I’m so sorry for the pain I’ve caused. I lean down and place a kiss on her forehead. I have to make it right. With her by my side, I will make this right. I watch as her chest rises and falls. I hear a faint heartbeat. It’s so slow it’s barely audible. She’s waking. “Dani?” I whisper urgently.

Her eyes open suddenly, glowing a bright violet hue before evolving into the color of thousands of tiny gold stars, twinkling in radiant beauty. She sees me standing over her, her yellow eyes meeting my stare. Her forehead has grown new skin, accentuating the bumps where her forehead meets the bridge of her nose. Her true face.

God, she’s perfect. I reach out to smooth a hand over her hair.

At the sight of my hand moving, she bares her new canines at me and lunges for my throat.

I catch her by her shoulders, holding her just far enough away that she can’t tear out my throat. “Dani, it’s me. It’s Oli, baby. It’s okay—you’re safe here. Do you remember anything?”

Her eyes darken, and she glares at me, a snarl on her beautiful face. “Where is my sanguis?” she hisses.

Shit.