Chapter 7

Elena's POV

I never thought, after all these years, I'd be trapped in another fire. And like this.

Smoke rolled across the room.

Flames climbed the walls.

The air stank of gunpowder, sharp enough to burn the inside of my nose.

And I was locked in here, in this burning sitting room, with Alexander and Vicky.

*****

Tonight was supposed to have been a vampire nobles' banquet.

For some reason of his own, Alexander had brought me along.

Every step in there, people had stared.

Vampire nobles with wineglasses, not bothering to hide the mockery in their eyes.

I'd gone numb to it by then. I just followed quietly behind him.

Vicky had clung to his arm, glancing back at me every so often, like she was showing off.

Then, halfway through the night, screams broke out across the hall.

"Vampire hunters!"

Gunfire.

The whole banquet hall erupted into chaos.

Before I could even react, a hand shoved me hard from behind and into a side room.

The door slammed shut and locked.

Outside there was chaos, footsteps, explosions.

The fire caught fast.

Vicky was white-faced, curled up against Alexander.

"Alexander. I'm scared."

Her voice shook, but there was something soft and sticky underneath the fear.

He pulled her closer, by reflex.

"Don't be afraid. I'll get you out."

That familiar reassuring tone. For a second it disoriented me.

The flames were getting higher.

Alexander threw himself at the door, trying to break it down.

The instant his hand touched it, silver beads came pouring in through the gap underneath.

The smell of silver burning through skin filled the room.

Alexander let out a strangled sound and staggered back. His footing slipped on the silver and he went down, his whole face twisted with pain he could barely contain.

Vicky lost it.

"This can't be happening."

Her voice was shaking. "They said."

She bit the rest of it off.

I still heard her.

She was the one. She was the inside source for this.

I looked up at her slowly, and the color went out of her face all at once.

Like she'd just realized something. She lunged at the door.

"Open it. You tricked me. You promised me you'd only kill the bitch."

She slammed her palms against the door, again and again.

Her voice was raw, splitting.

"You broke your word."

The room went still.

I watched her come apart, and I finally understood it. All of it.

This attack had been about her from the start.

She just hadn't realized.

The vampire hunters had never wanted to kill me. The target had always been Alexander.

With an Ashbourne bride to bear him a strong half-blood heir, his position as the next Vampire Prince was as good as confirmed.

The smoke was thicker now.

Alexander was visibly weakening from the silver.

The flames were closing in. The air was hot enough to scald.

Then I saw it.

There was a fire escape on the side of the building, just outside the window.

It looked like nobody had touched it in years.

The iron railings were eaten with rust, and the whole thing looked ready to come apart.

This was a private vampire banquet hall.

The people who came here were high-ranking vampires.

No one had imagined anyone would dare strike here.

And no one had imagined that these untouchable nobles would ever be reduced to crawling out down a rusted fire escape to save their own lives.

I cracked the window open. I was about to gauge the distance to the staircase, then turn back to call Alexander.

Vicky moved first.

She didn't hesitate. She bolted straight to the window and climbed through.

Her heels rang against the iron stairs, harsh metallic clangs.

The whole staircase swayed.

"Wait."

Alexander reached for her, but she didn't look back. Not once. Like one more second in there would be the end of her.

The moment she was gone, a burst of gunfire came in through the window.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Silver rounds tore through the door, raking the room.

Alexander was already weak from the silver, on the ground, and he was a beat too slow.

Without thinking, I threw myself in front of him.

The pain went through me like a blade.

A silver bullet had gone through my calf.

I dropped to my knees. The blood came fast.

Alexander's pupils contracted to pinpricks.

For the first time, those blood-red eyes held something like shock.

"Why?"

Why would you save me?

He didn't finish.

He didn't need to. I understood.

Firelight on his face.

I remembered something from a long time ago.

The boy who'd run into a burning house to get me out.

He'd held me like this, that night too, scared, dirty, frantic.

I let out a quiet laugh.

"Alexander. Because you saved me, once."

I had been broken by what he'd done to me. I knew that.

But seeing him like this, hurt and helpless on the floor, the only thing in my head was the boy he'd been ten years ago, the night he'd come for me through the fire.

I'll admit it. I couldn't bring myself to hate the boy who'd come through that window for me, no matter what came after.

This life I'd been living, I owed it to him.