Chapter 17

There was no way that Alan could have known that the vampire he'd brought with him had threatened to kill me, but that didn't lessen my anger. But Alan was not someone I had to deal with. Not really.

I had to deal with the vampire in front of me.

"So you're working with Evangeline?" I asked. "Ready to see mobs of vampires overrunning the world?"

The vampire was as I remembered him. Smooth as silk, as charming as any deadly snake.

"No."

I stared at him. "What?"

"You are a problem, of course, but Evangeline is a danger to my way of life. Of course, so are you, Breena O'Rylee. Granddaughter of Celia, Guardian and Sentinel of Savannah."

"So formal." I tried to smile but found my lips numb. "Why, when I don't even know your name?"

He bowed from the waist. "Richart, at your service."

"Oh, lovely, you'll just let me out then? Or are you just going to try and off me? Maybe you want to send one of your rat creatures in here?" Might have used a sharp tone with that last bit.

He looked at the bars, tapping one with a fingernail. The tone rippled through the air, clear and pure, making my skin shiver. "Perhaps. But I do not know if that is a good idea. Any of them. My pets seem to find their deaths when they come near you."

Alan huffed. "You said you'd help her!"

"I said I'd bring her the musical sheets. I do not know if my help is what either of you thought it would be." His eyes raked over me as if he were looking for something. What, I wasn't sure. I folded my arms over my chest.

"So you came to gloat?"

"No. I came to ask you a question. The things from the spell…have you experienced them all now? You and I both know what it takes for a spell to be completed."

I did know. Gran had taught me the simple things of witchcraft. The words. The intent and the things as Richart was saying. "You mean the ingredients?" I closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh, knowing that there was no point in lying. "Yes."

Richart nodded. "I should have killed you when you were in France."

Ivan snarled and barreled to the front of his cage.

Even Alan yelled something, but the words were numb in my ears. A buzzing had taken over inside of my head and my body chilled, leaving me shivering.

I stared at Richart. His blue eyes were intense, and there was an element of sadness to them. He nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off mine. "You know there is one sure-fire way to make sure you do not cause the death of every friend, of every love in your life. A way to stop all of this, to save us all."

My guts twisted and I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to fight off the chill of knowing what I had to do. "If I'm gone, that's it. Right? No chance at this spell coming to fruition? There is no other person who could take my place?"

He nodded. "That's why some have tried to kill you, and some have tried to help you. It has all depended on how they want this to end. With you bringing vampires to the world, or…not."

I clutched the bars at my back. "Ivan?"

"I'm here. Don't do this, Bree. Don't give up, there's time yet." His words tugged at me, making me want to believe in the possibility of a happily ever after. But I wasn't a child. Happily ever after…it didn't always look the way we wanted it to.

Sometimes the bad guy got away with it, and the good guy had to pay the price.

The question was, what were the chances anyone could get me out of here?

Crash was looking for me, I was sure of it. "Crash will come for me."

Richart sighed. "And then what? Evangeline is not the only vampire who wants this to happen. If you kill her, there would be others. If you escape, they will hunt for you. There are other nights with a dark moon, Sentinel of Savannah. You will be a walking spell, ready to be unleashed." He paused and took a step toward the bars. "Besides, the question is not whether your friends will come, but what will happen to them when they do." He looked at the spot where Bridgette's blood had stained the stones. "She has made her point already, yes and harmed one of your friends?"

My throat tightened and I struggled to swallow around the grief lodged in my throat. "Yes, she killed a friend."

"And you think she would stop with one friend?" He looked past me to Ivan.

Ivan rumbled as if he had thunder captured in his chest. "I am not so easy to kill, fanged one."

Richart sighed. "If you have another way, I would hear it."

Alan paced behind him. "She goes into hiding."

"You'd have to help her escape first," Richart said without looking over his shoulder. "Escape a vampire and her wizard lover. Find a way to escape the other vampires here. And whatever else Evangeline has waiting in the shadows."

I could feel time slipping away around us, like raindrops from the sky.

Tipping my head back, I closed my eyes. He kept on speaking.

"I've managed to convince her that I am on her side, but she will realize soon enough that I am not. It won't be long before Evangeline realizes that I've found you. No doubt I set off a ward or two. That wizard of hers is a tricky bastard."

I gave a dry laugh. "You have no idea."

He pulled a folder of papers out from under his shirt and slid it through the bars, like a lifeline. "That is the music you need to set yourself free, if your information is correct. While I believe that your death is the quickest, and easiest way to handle this now…you have defied the odds before. I will leave the decision to you."

Richart was giving me a compliment. I think. Then again, if I got free, he would be able to kill me that much more easily. "You…would just let me go too?"

"At this point, I will take anything I can that would stop her. Your freedom is one of those things. What will you do when you get out? You cannot free your friend there." He tipped his head toward Ivan.

"She'd leave me. She must," Ivan said. "It is the cost I willingly bear for my son being a part of this so do not even argue with me, Bree. My fate is tied here, to my son."

I scooted forward and clutched the folder to my chest. "You…you really are helping me?"

"I do not want the world overrun. It would not benefit me at all. If you think you can escape, then…perhaps that is the way."

I squinted at him. "And if you'd just killed me before?"

"Then we would not be having this conversation, and the world would be safe. But even then, I wasn't sure it was the best way. The spell Evangeline has…well, it has been around a very long time. But if she uses it as she says she can, then the whole world will be overrun with vampires. All from a few drops of your blood." His eyes swept over me, assessing. Taking me in. "It is hard to believe, and yet I see your strength, power, and magic. The tools are all there, the ingredients woven into your very flesh and soul, waiting to be called forward."

I swallowed hard. "I don't want to die. I don't want to be a vampire and then killed a second time."

Alan sucked in a sharp breath. "Wait, who said you were getting turned into a vampire?"

Richart did not shift his gaze off me for a second. "You love your friends. Your family. The one who has your heart. What would you give to keep them safe, Sentinel of Savannah? To know you made the sacrifice needed so that they never again feared this spell? Tell me what you are willing to do, what you have been willing to do every time you've faced the Dark Council?"

My lips trembled even as my heart hammered and my stomach plummeted to my feet.

I knew what he was asking of me. What we'd been dancing around this whole time, sliding around the edge of the truth that we both knew and understood.

That I'd be saving the world, and everyone I loved, if I were to die now. What was the cost of one death in the face of all that loss? I'd seen more sunrises and sunsets than so many who had been taken too young.

I tucked the folder of music under the pillow on my bed and forced my feet to take me close to the bars. Almost within arm's reach of a death that would be quick. Relatively painless.

"Lass. No! Don't do this!" Ivan bellowed.

"Hush, Ivan. It is my choice." My words broke around the tears that gathered behind my eyes. "Just promise me you'll get Feish out. She's a river maid, captured somewhere in the castle. And help Ivan of course. Get him out of here, Richart. That's what I'd ask of you."

"What about me? You can't just die, Bree!" Alan snapped. "You promised you'd set me free of Marge's control if I helped you get the music, and I brought you the music!"

"I can't help you," I said. His accusatory words didn't faze me because I could hear the genuine fear behind them. "I never could, Alan. You aren't trapped by Marge, and we both know it. You are here, because you want to be."

He spluttered and fumbled for his words, something he never did.

Richart dipped his head in my direction. "You have my word. I will free your river maid friend, and Ivan there. When it is done."

"It'll be quick?" I asked.

"Very. Step forward and, if you wish, close your eyes."

I made myself close the distance between us. Richart slipped his shirt off over his head and tossed it behind him. "There can be no blood on me when we are done, not if I am to get your friends out."

I nodded, barely seeing him as he slid his hands through the bars, resting his fingers against my neck. "I will pierce your carotid. You won't feel it. My touch will numb the pain, and then you will fall asleep."

"Bree. Don't give up," Ivan said, his voice cracking.

I smiled through the tears that tracked down my cheeks. "I'm not giving up, Ivan. I'm making sure she doesn't win. I'm protecting the people I love."

Richart tightened his hold on my neck. I gave him a quick nod. It was like diving into a cold lake. There could be no hesitation, or I would stand on the shoreline between life and death forever. "I'm ready."