"That is something far beyond my skillset, and I don't know if Dracul would ever give us another chance to get close to him," Abner said. "If he's just taken over a body and hasn't fed yet, he would still be weak, and that may be our only chance to stop him."
I swallowed hard. "You mean kill him? And kill Jack in the process?"
"If Dracul has taken over, Jack will already be gone," Abner said. "It will be the only way that we can free him. I can do it, if it's as you wish, or you can."
"I..." I tried to focus on my breathing, and not the way the world felt like it was falling apart around me. "I can't."
"I'll do it," Peter interjected firmly, and I looked over to see the resolution in his eyes. "He's my brother, my progeny. If it comes to that. If it must be done. I should be the one."
"Or we could just go in there and get Jack before it's too late," Bobby suggested.
The pain in my wrists burned sharply, and I knew I didn't have time to waste. Bobby was right. So, I started up the rock staircase, heading toward the largest door in the center that appeared to be glowing from a fire within.
"Alice, what are you doing?" Abner called after me.
"Facing the danger head on," I replied, and I could already hear Bobby scrambling on the steps behind me to catch up.
The others followed, and we climbed up the crumbling stairs. I'd almost reached the landing in front of the main door when Aisha stepped out, clad in a ridiculous burgundy robe that really seemed much to on-the-nose for a cult.
"You actually found us," Aisha said as I approached her, and the cold wind caused her robe to billow out around her. "And you brought your posse along with? How cute."
I stood in front of her, and I could see past her, into the tomb. Torches were hung along the walls, providing a dull yellow glow, which made the inside appear even more cave-like. A dozen cloaked vampires stood around the room, watching and waiting, but neither Liesel nor Jack seemed to be among them.
"I want my fiance back," I said.
Aisha smirked. "It's too late for that."
"No, it's not," I insisted. The pain in my wrists and ankles assured me that that he was still connected with me, which meant he wasn't dead or gone. Not yet. "I can feel it. He's still here."
"His body might be, but there will be nothing left of him after Liesel is done," Aisha replied with a laugh.
The overly confident smirk on her face had me convinced that she would never tell me anything, which meant that she was of no use to me. I took a deep breath, as she looked down at me with that condescending glimmer in her eyes, and imperceptibly I reached back and wrapped my hand around the stake from waistband.
Moving lightning fast - so quickly it would've made vampires like Cyrus envious and required a concerted amount of energy and attention - I drove the stake straight through her heart. Aisha didn't even notice. Not until the very last second when she was actually dying, did her arrogant expression finally shift to shock.
As her body fell to the ground, the vampires inside the den rushed toward the door, preparing to take us all on.
"Let's rock and roll," Bobby said as he cocked his crossbow.
BOBBY'S CROSSBOW IMMEDIATELY PROVED ITSELF useful by taking out a hulking vampire that was charging right toward me, but that unfortunately still left plenty of vampires to tangle with.
It used too much of my energy to go so fast, the way I had to take out Aisha, so I had to resort to moving within normal speeds for a vampire, and dodge out of the way of attacks when I could. I couldn't get an exact count on the vampires, and a few more poured in through the tunnels that connected the tombs.
As I staked a female vampire who hissed at me like an aggressive cobra, I glanced up long enough to count at least thirteen vampires in this chamber, not counting the bodies we'd already taken out.
The only thing that worked in our favor is that most of the vampires that followed the House of Basarab seemed relatively young, stupid, and arrogant. That explained the ridiculous robes they wore, and why they insisted on charging at us head on with their claws out, even though they'd already seen us take out several of their comrades.
Still, they were strong and angry, and a vampire managed to bite a chunk out of my shoulder before I finally got a stake in him. I could still fight, but he ruined my favorite jacket, and my blood was scenting the air.
Abner let out a loud grunt as I wrestled with a short vampire that kept shouting at me in Russian, and I looked over to see him wielding a pretty fierce looking battle axe that he'd taken from another vampire. He swung it with both hands, and managed to decapitate two vampires at once.
I reached into my pocket to pull out a stake to care of the Russian vampire, and I realized that I'd used them all. He gnashed his teeth at me, so I kicked him in the head and knocked him back to the ground. I kneeled on his chest, and gripped his head with one hand on either side, then started pulling upward. He howled, but only for a second, then I heard the audible pop as his skull separated from his spine. Just to be safe, I tore off his head and tossed it aside.
When I looked up, I realized that we must've vanquished at least half of the members of the House that came charging in here. There were probably more hiding in the wings of the tombs, and there were definitely more spread out throughout Europe and undoubtedly the world.
But I couldn't worry about them. I could only deal with the ones that I could see, the ones that were standing in my way, until I got Jack. The Agency could put together some kind of plan of attack to take down what was left of the cult after I was through.
Abner seemed to be doing a great job of taking out vampires, thanks to the battle axe, and Bobby appeared to be doing well with his crossbow. His clothes were torn in a few places, and he was bleeding from a wound on his head and had a bite on his hand, but it was nothing worse than he'd dealt with before.
Across the room, standing over the corpse of a vampire he'd just slain, Peter met my gaze, and he motioned to one of the tunnels that exited the cavernous main room. He didn't say anything, but I read the look in his eyes - it was time to leave them to fight what vampires were left. We needed to go get Jack.
I RAN INTO THE TUNNEL first, with Peter racing close behind me. I had no idea where to go, but most of the tunnels were dark, except for one. One had the faintest glow of white, so that's the one I chose, deciding that following the light might be the best bet for finding Liesel and Jack.
The tunnel wound deeper in the mountain, with the walls getting narrower and the air felt colder, but the ground began to angle, raising upwards, towards the peak. It all smelled of must and decay... until I got a familiar metallic scent that hit me, sweet like honey.
It was Jack's blood. We were on the right track.
Finally, the tunnel opened into a tall cylinder of a room, reminding me of a bell tower, and I saw where the hint of white light had come from. There was a hole in the ceiling, a large circle that let the moon and the stars shine down.
The tower had two sets of stairs, circling either side, like a double helix. At the very top, where both staircases met some thirty feet above us, was a landing. On that landing, centered between two large vampire guards, was a huge chunk of wood. It had natural edges, like it had been taken from a massive redwood trunk.
And that's where Jack was, with the moonlight shining directly on him. His hands were bound over his head, with a nail driven through them to hold him in place, and another stake went through his ankles. He was shirtless, with blood and sweat dripping down his chest, and his head lolled forward.
"Jack!" I shouted, but he didn't react.
Liesel sneered at the sight of me, from where she stood half-way down the western staircase. She'd already been coming down when we entered the room, but now she quickened her descent. Peter ran up the eastern stairs, where he would have to take on the two vampires guarding Jack, while I stayed below to face Liesel myself.
"Do you have any idea how old I am?" she asked as she walked down toward me.
"No, and I don't particularly care," I replied. I tried to keep my gaze locked on her, but I kept glancing over, watching as Peter bounded up the stairs.
"I have been alive for 538 years." She absently touched her long blond hair as her cloak drug on the steps behind her. "And I have spent the better part of five centuries looking for a way to revive my father, to bring him back to rule over our kind as he was always intended to. Do you know how hard it is to find an immortal empty vessel?"
"Jack is not empty," I told her fiercely. "He has heart and brains and passion. He's not just some husk you can throw your dead father in."
Liesel let out a dark cackle. "That's where you and I disagree. He's precisely what I need, and I can't wait to rule by his side."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you're going to have to wait a few more years," I told her as she reached the bottom of the steps.
Liesel stepped toward me, and her smile deepened. "I'm not going to just let you waltz out of here with him. He's mine now."
I HEARD THE SOUNDS OF flesh hitting flesh as Peter began taking on the guards beside Jack, but I knew I couldn't take my eyes off Liesel. As she circled me, I realized belatedly that I was out of stakes. I would have to find a way to take her out with my bare hands.
"My father -" she began, and that's when I launched at her, punching her in the face before she had a chance to react.
"I don't give a shit about your father," I growled at her, but she was already up and coming for me.
She threw me back to the ground and then leapt on top of me. With her mouth open wide above me, I saw that her fangs were long - much longer than the average vampire's, and I wondered if it was because she was so old or because of her alleged parentage.
With one hand around my throat and another on my right arm, she had me pinned to the ground, and when I tried to push her off, I realized with dismay that she was much stronger than me.
"I'll need to eat, if I want to help Dracul rule," she hissed through her fangs. "And a dhampyr like you will provide the perfect meal."
As she bent down, I stopped trying to push her off and instead let my hand travel lower, to the soft flesh of her belly. Just before her fangs broke my skin, I tore my fingers into her stomach. She howled in surprise and pain, and when she sat up, it only gave me better access.
I pushed up, through her warm entrails as she screamed, and she tried to push me off, but it was too late. My hand had encircled her heart, beating slowly in her chest. Her blue eyes widened as she realized what it was I meant to do, and with all my strength, I yanked down and tore her heart out through her stomach.
It seemed to take an extra second for her to realize that she was dead, but finally, her body slumped back on the floor. I dropped her heart beside her, and just to be safe, I stepped on it with all my might, squishing it beneath the heal of my boot.
I looked up just in time to see the second vampire guard crashing to the floor beside me. I'm not sure if he was dead before he fell, but as his flesh split open, with blood spilling out around him and his neck bent at an angle that left his bones protruding, I'd say he was definitely dead now.
The other vampire lay dead on the landing, so Peter hurried to pull the stakes out of Jack's limbs. As I ran up the stairs toward them, Peter hoisted him down from the wood, and held him in his arms, since Jack was too weak to stand. Blood streamed out of his wrists and ankles, and he slouched against his brother.
"I got you," Peter whispered as he held him. "It's going to be okay."
"Jack!" I shouted as I collapsed to my knees beside them.
His eyelids fluttered and he moaned weakly, but otherwise he didn't move. His skin had gone pale and clammy, and I don't think I'd ever seen him look so sick and terrible.
"He needs blood," Peter said.
"Is it him?" I asked breathlessly with tears standing in my eyes. "Is it still Jack?"
Peter stared down at him for a moment with his jaw clenched. "I don't know." Then he looked up at me, his eyes desperate. "Can you feel him?"
"What do you mean?"
"You could always feel what he feels. Can you still feel him?" Peter asked.
I closed my eyes, concentrating, but I could only feel my own panic and nausea. "No. I think he's too weak."
Peter tore open his wrist and offered up to Jack, but he didn't even stir. He tilted his head back and let his blood poor into Jack's mouth, bright droplets falling between his open lips.
And finally, Jack started swallowing. Weakly at first, then gulping it down, and soon he grabbed onto Peter's wrist and sunk his teeth into his flesh.
Peter winced. "That's enough."
He pushed Jack off himself, and he groaned quietly. As Peter held up his arm and let his blood coagulate, I crawled over and pulled Jack onto my lap.
"Jack, wake up," I said as I brushed the hair back from his forehead.
His lids trembled again, then ever so slowly, they opened, and his soft blue eyes met mine. "Hey, beautiful," he said with a sleepy grin. "Did I die again?"
Then I felt it - a rush of drowsy happiness flooding over me coming from Jack. And I couldn't imagine that something as dark and evil as Dracul could feel as gentle and warm and wonderful as Jack did.
"I can feel him," I told Peter, with a tear streaming down my cheek. "It's him. It's Jack."
A look of pure relief fell across Peter's face as he smiled at me. "Thank god for that."
That's when I realized what Elise had been warning me of. This whole time I thought Peter had been in danger - and in an abstract way, I suppose he had been. He'd told me he couldn't bear to lose someone else he loved, and by the look in his eyes as he stared down at his brother, I knew there were few people in the world that Peter loved more than Jack.
It would've destroyed him to kill Jack, but he'd volunteered to spare me, to save Jack from living as a monster, to protect humans everywhere. And if we'd come too late, I am certain that Peter would've done what he needed to do, and that would have been the end of him, just as much as it would've been the end of Jack.
I looked down at Jack as I cradled his face. "You're not allowed to die anymore."
"I don't think any of us could handle it," Peter agreed, causing Jack to look over at him.
He laughed weakly, a shadow of its normal robust sound, but it still sent shivers through me, the way it always did.
"I swear, this will be the last time," he promised.
WITH JACK LEANING ON ME for support, we walked back down the tunnel to find Ezra, Abner, and Bobby effectively standing on a pile of corpses. Abner and Ezra had a few wounds, but nothing that wouldn't heal up fast. Bobby's were more substantial, so Ezra had crouched down beside him to bandage up the more severe ones.
"Hey, Jack's alive!" Bobby exclaimed, managing to sound both exhausted and genuinely happy as Ezra tied a ripped piece of cloak around his leg.
"It does that seem way," Jack agreed with a feeble smile.
"Liesel is taken care of then?" Abner asked me, but his eyes were on Jack.
"Yeah, Alice ripped her heart out," Peter elaborated.
Bobby gaped at me. "You ripped someone's heart out, and I missed it?"
"It was more gruesome and less cool than it sounds," I brushed him off.
Abner stepped away from the bodies to inspect Jack more closely, and there was a suspicion in his eyes that made me uneasy. "How are you doing, Jack?"
"I mean, I've been better, but I'll survive." He held up his arm to inspect his very slowly healing wrist. "I was hanging up on that board for quite a while, and Liesel kept chanting stuff and burning me with shit. She kept going on about how her dad was so great and powerful, and he would do so much when he got here."
Abner exhaled slowly through pursed lips. "She was trying to possess you."
"Yeah, I gathered that," Jack said.
"Wait. How do we know that it didn't work?" Bobby asking, catching onto the same thing that Abner had been trying to decipher. "Jack could be Dracula right now or wh
atever."
"Ask me something that only I'd know," Jack said.
He was still leaning against me, and he looked like his normal self. Worn out and bloody, but normal. But I suppose that was part of the appeal of possession. The body didn't change.
"When did we first kiss?" I asked, more playfully, since I already knew in my heart that he was still himself.
He scoffed. "Oh, come on. I didn't write down the exact date. I've been kissing you for quite a while now."
"No, I got it." Bobby stood up and limped over to him. "Who shot JR?"
"What?" Jack asked dubiously. "Are you talking about JR Ewing from the old TV show Dallas?"
Bobby shrugged. "Yeah. I just feel like since Dracula's been dead for a few centuries, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep up on pop culture."
"Then you could've asked me literally any question about anything in the last century," Jack pointed out. "Who the president is, or my birthday. Any of those things."
Bobby folded his arms over his chest and stood his ground. "Yeah, well, I didn't, and you still haven't answered the question, which is growing suspect."
"That was over thirty years ago," Jack replied. "I don't remember. I think it was some woman? JR's mistress or something. I don't know."
"I think that's close enough," I said, feeling somewhat relieved.
"We can Google on the car ride to confirm," Bobby decided.
"We should head back," Abner suggested, meaning that he must no longer feel suspicious of Jack either. "We all needed to rest, and we don't want to be here if more members of the House of Basarab show up."
"Do you think that's a possibility?" Ezra asked.
"We're not entirely sure how many active members there are right now," Abner said. "But once we get back, I'll talk to Ettie at the Agency, and we'll come up with a plan to diffuse the rest of them before things get out of hand."
On the long car ride back to Amsterdam, I curled up in the cramped backseat of Abner's car with Jack, leaving Bobby to ride shotgun. Jack stretched out as much as he could, with his legs across my lap, and he held my hands in his.
"I might not remember the date of our first kiss, but I do vividly recall asking you to marry me," Jack said quietly.
I smiled at him. "I remember that too."