As Caleb flew away from his home, from Caitlin, his heart was breaking. He had seen the hurt on her face, and the last thing he had ever wanted to do was hurt her. He had never imagined he would ever leave her side. There was nothing he wanted more than to stay there, and be with her. In fact, he had been preparing to propose to her.But the news of his son was just too much to handle. It was not about Sera—if the message had come from anywhere in the world, he would have dropped everything and raced to see his son. Sera was, in fact, the last thing on his mind.But Jade was overwhelmingly on his mind. He still felt crushed by guilt for letting him die back in Venice. He would do anything—anything—to have him back. And if that meant having to interact with Sera, even briefly, he would do it. And if that meant having to leave Caitlin’s side, at least for now, he simply had no choice. As much as it pained him, he could not stand the idea of not seeing his son ever again.Caleb flew al
Sam walked arm in arm with Caitlin through the formal grounds of Versailles. He had been so shocked to find her here, and to see her fighting. He had been so proud, watching his big sister. At first, he hadn’t realized it was her. He had just stood there, with the others, watching in awe as the tournaments continued. He had been shocked to discover that the greatest warrior of them all was actually his big sister. He was in awe of her skills. He’d never seen anyone fight that way. It was a combination of a human warrior, and a vampire master. She moved with lightning speed, striking, slashing, dodging, doing things he couldn’t even imagine. It was like watching art in motion.After it had been over, after they had embraced, Caitlin had been surrounded by well-wishers, people congratulating her in every direction. Even Aiden had come over, and had nodded approvingly. Sam had wanted to talk to Aiden, but Aiden didn’t even look his way, and immediately disappeared. And having found Cai
As Caitlin stood there, Kendra took a step forward, and haughtily stepped between her and her brother. She stared at Caitlin with a defiant, territorial look, one that was clearly meant to tell Caitlin to back off. That Sam was Kendra’s territory now.Caitlin looked over at Sam, hoping that he would pick up on what was going on, that he would push her out of the way—that he would be immune to such behavior.But alas, he was not. Caitlin was shocked to see that Sam seemed to become completely subordinate in Kendra’s presence, as if she held some sort of invisible power over him. He even seemed to slump a bit, and Kendra seemed to stand taller. It looked as if he were helpless around her.Caitlin’s her heart fell at the site. She had seen this happen with other friends in the past. It was obvious that Sam was in her grip.“Kendra,” Caitlin echoed slowly, in a cool voice, looking her right in the eye. “I don’t believe we have been introduced.”“We haven’t,” Kendra stated, in a cold t
Kyle stood beside Napoleon, a huge army of supporters behind them. Napoleon had summoned his entire coven, all his people, hundreds of vampires strong, and along the way, they had all agitated in the streets and encouraged the citizens to join them and storm the Bastille. It had been easy: there had been such discontent hanging in the air anyway among all the French citizens, such anger towards the royal authority, and the prison in the Bastille happened to be the perfect symbol, the perfect representative of everything royal. The further they had gone, the more the mob had grown.And Napoleon, of course, looked to Kyle for direction.Kyle felt himself surge with power, relishing the feeling of being in charge of an army once again, relishing the destruction and bloodshed that were about to happen. As he stood with his men in the cobblestone plaza opposite the Bastille, Kyle stared up at it. The castle-like fort, with its drawbridge and turrets, was well-defended by soldiers, looking
Caitlin sat on her bed, staring down at the open container in surprise. Inside it lay a delicate scroll, curled up, and sealed in wax. On the wax was an insignia of a small, ancient cross, one which Caitlin immediately recognized as identical to the design of the small silver cross that she wore around her neck. Caitlin reached down and felt her necklace now as she looked at the symbol, and felt comforted to know that it was still there.She reached out and took hold of the scroll. It was brittle, written on a hard parchment, and yellowing. It looked ancient.She gingerly broke the seal, and unrolled it.The first thing she noticed was that the scroll ended abruptly as she was halfway through unrolling it. She looked at the bottom, and saw the torn ridges, and she could tell right away that this was an incomplete scroll, apparently torn in half. She only held the top half.She looked at the scroll, and observed the elegant handwriting. It reminded her of the script she had once see
After what felt like hours getting ready—far longer than Caitlin would have liked—Polly was finally satisfied with the way that the two of them looked. Because they couldn’t see themselves in mirrors, they had to rely on each other. According to Polly, Caitlin looked ravishing. Caitlin wasn’t so sure. She had never thought of herself as ravishing, in any outfit.But she had spent more time putting on makeup, and getting into this outfit, than she had in any outfit of her life. There had been layers and layers of fabric, each more uncomfortable than the next, and in this July heat, she felt her body temperature rise with each added later. She had no idea how they did it.If that were not enough, Polly had caked her face with layer after layer of thick, white powder. Caitlin didn’t understand why this generation thought this to be attractive. And even if for some reason they did, wasn’t one layer enough? She was pale to begin with, but now, she was sure she looked ridiculous.As if al
Polly stormed back into the room, pushing her way through the crowd, eager to be by Sergei’s side. She could not believe how rude and jealous Caitlin had been. She had thought she was a close friend. Now she saw that Caitlin, like everybody else, was just jealous. She had probably taken a liking to Sergei, too, and probably just wanted to steal him away.Either that, or Caitlin just couldn’t stand the fact that Polly had such a great man in her life. Whatever her reasons, Polly certainly didn’t need any advice from her. She knew, deep down, that Sergei was the one for her.Polly pushed her way through, and got close to Sergei. He was surrounded by a dozen admiring girls, and Polly felt her jealousy rise. She shoved her way in, right in front of his face, forcing him to look at her.Finally, he did. He looked somewhat resentful, though, as if she were interrupting him.But Polly felt that she knew the real Sergei, deep down, and that he was just putting on a show, for other people,
Sam couldn’t get over the concert. He had never heard classical music before, and he couldn’t get over that guy’s voice. The guy seemed like kind of a jerk, but he had to hand it to him: he really could sing.More importantly, his night with Kendra had been amazing. She hadn’t stopped cuddling up to him the whole night. He never knew what to expect with her: she was hot and cold. It seemed that once she’d gotten sight of Caitlin, she’d become super territorial and possessive. She barely left his side since.He didn’t mind. He felt like she was totally into him, and nothing made him happier. He felt completely glued to her side.As soon as the concert ended, she’d taken his hand and led him out the room, away from all the people—and he hadn’t resisted. She didn’t want to stick around and talk to the singer. She wanted him to herself. And she clearly had plans for them for the night. With a mischievous smile, she led him away, and he had been thrilled.She led him down a back hallway