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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
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2023-01-12 15:54:25Related chapters
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Scarlet flew through the cold night air, racing along the Saint Lawrence River, heading north, upstate, into colder and colder territory. She wiped away her tears, and for the first time, felt a fresh sense of determination. For the first time, she felt emboldened, felt a purpose: to save Sage’s life. She was elated to realize that Sage was not dead, that he did not abandon her, that he was alive and wanted to be with her. That was all she needed to know. She would go to the ends of the earth for him, do anything for him, even give up her own soul.Which was exactly what she was prepared to do. She knew it was a trap, that she would be flying straight into the lion’s den. She knew that Lore had taken his cousin for a reason, that all of them were awaiting her arrival. That her death would be the key for them all to live forever.And she didn’t care. She closed her eyes and saw Sage’s face, and as long she could see his face, as long as she could rescue him from whatever danger he w
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER ONE
Caitlin Paine stood in the back room of Pete’s Bar, joined by Caleb, Sam, Polly, and a dozen police officers, and stared out through the smashed open window, into a night filled with flashing police lights. She wondered what on earth could have happened to her daughter. Scarlet, the love of her life, was out there somewhere, running into the night, alone, likely afraid, and the thought of it was tearing her apart. What pained Caitlin even more than the thought of Scarlet missing was the thought of what Scarlet had become, her memory of her, her last look at her before she’d leapt out through that window. That wasn’t her daughter.That was something else.Caitlin shuddered to think of it, and yet, try as she did to shake it, she knew it was true. She had been fighting with the idea all this time, fighting not to believe that Scarlet was no longer human, that Scarlet was really a vampire. Caitlin had been fighting with Aiden, with the priest, with Caleb, and most of all, with herself,
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWO
Kyle sat in the back of the police car, hands cuffed behind his back, staring at the cage in the cramped cruiser, and feeling unlike he ever had before. Something was changing inside him, he did not know what, but he could feel it bubbling up inside. It reminded him of the time he used heroin, that first rush when the needle touched his skin. This new feeling was like a searing heat, coursing through his veins—and accompanied by a feeling of invincible power. He felt overwhelmed with power, felt like his veins were going to pop from his skin, like his blood was swelling inside him. He felt more powerful than he ever had in his life, the skin prickling on his face and forehead and the back of his neck. The surge of power within him was something he did not understand.But Kyle did not care; as long as the power was there, he welcomed it. He looked through blurry eyes as the world tinted red, slowly coming back into focus. Behind the cage, he could see two officers.As the ringing in h
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER THREE
Sage flew through the air, into the breaking dawn, the first rays of sun lighting up a tear on his cheek that he quickly brushed away. He was exhausted, bleary-eyed from flying all night, searching for Scarlet. He was sure he’d spotted her many times during the night, only to swoop down on some strange girl, shocked to see him land, and take off again. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever find her.Scarlet was nowhere to be found, and Sage could not understand it. Their connection was so strong, he was sure that he would be able to sense her, that she would lead him to her. He couldn’t understand what had happened. Had she died?Sage’s only guess was that perhaps she was in such an emotional state, all her senses were blocked, and he was unable to pick up on her location; or maybe she had fallen into a deep sleep, as vampires were known to do after the first time they fed on a human. That could be deadly for some, he knew, and his heart pained at the thought of her out there,
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER FOUR
Caitlin sat in the passenger seat of their pickup, exhausted, heartbroken, as Caleb drove relentlessly on Route 9, driving up and down as he had been for hours, scouring the streets. Dawn was breaking, and Caitlin looked up through the windshield at the unusual sky. She marveled that it was daybreak already. They had been driving all night, the two of them in front and Sam and Polly in the back seat, keeping their eyes peeled to the side of the road, looking everywhere for Scarlet. Once, they had screeched to a stop, Caitlin thinking she’d seen her—only to realize it was a scarecrow.Caitlin closed her eyes for a moment, her eyelids feeling so heavy, swollen, and she saw the flashing of cars as she did, headlights passing, an endless flow of traffic as she had seen all night long. She felt like crying.Caitlin felt so hollow inside, like such a bad mother for not having been there enough for Scarlet—for not having believed in her, for not understanding her, for not being there in her
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER FIVE
Scarlet Paine felt herself floating through the air, the fluttering of a million small wings in her ear as she felt herself being raised up, higher and higher. She looked out to see she was being hoisted by a flock of bats, a million bats, surrounding her, clinging to the back of her shirt, carrying her through the air.Scarlet was carried up through the clouds, through the most beautiful breaking dawn she’d ever seen, the clouds scattering and breaking up, the whole burnt-orange sky on fire. She did not understand what was happening, but somehow, she was unafraid. She sensed they were taking her somewhere, and as they screeched and fluttered all around her, as they hoisted her into the sky, she felt as if she were one of them.Before Scarlet could process what was happening, the bats set her down, gently, before the biggest castle she’d ever seen. It had ancient stone walls, and she stood before an immense arched door. The bats flew off, disappearing, their fluttering fading.Scarl
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER SIX
Maria sat with her friends in the pumpkin patch, hating life, so jealous of all of them. Everyone seemed to have a boyfriend but her. And the ones that didn’t seemed to have a really strong clique of friends that all huddled together.Maria sat on a pile of pumpkins, Becca and Jasmine by her side, and she didn’t really know where she fit in anymore. Maria used to have such a strong clique, an unbreakable clique forever, the four of them, she and Becca and Jasmine and, of course, her best friend, Scarlet. They had been inseparable. If one of them didn’t have a boyfriend, the others were always there for them. She and Scarlet had vowed to never fight, to go to the same college, to be maid of honor at each other’s weddings, and to always live within ten blocks of each other.Maria had been so sure of her friends, of Scarlet, of everything.Then, in the last few weeks, everything had suddenly fallen apart, without warning. Scarlet had stolen away Sage right from under her eyes, the only
Last Updated : 2023-01-12Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER SEVEN
Scarlet flew through the morning sky, wiping her tears, still shaken from the incident under the bridge, and trying to understand all that was happening to her. She was flying. She could hardly believe it. She did not know how, but wings had sprouted, and she had just taken off, lifted into the air as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She couldn’t understand why the light was hurting her eyes, why her skin was starting to itch beneath the sun. Luckily, it had become a cloudy day, and she had some relief; yet still, she did not feel like herself.Scarlet felt so lost, so alone, and she did not know where to go. She felt she could not go back home, not after all that had happened, not after discovering that her mother wanted her dead, that they all hated her. She couldn’t go to her friends, either; after all, Maria hated her now, too, and it seemed she had turned the others against her as well. She couldn’t go back to school, couldn’t just step back into her normal life, e
Last Updated : 2023-01-12
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Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Scarlet flew through the cold night air, racing along the Saint Lawrence River, heading north, upstate, into colder and colder territory. She wiped away her tears, and for the first time, felt a fresh sense of determination. For the first time, she felt emboldened, felt a purpose: to save Sage’s life. She was elated to realize that Sage was not dead, that he did not abandon her, that he was alive and wanted to be with her. That was all she needed to know. She would go to the ends of the earth for him, do anything for him, even give up her own soul.Which was exactly what she was prepared to do. She knew it was a trap, that she would be flying straight into the lion’s den. She knew that Lore had taken his cousin for a reason, that all of them were awaiting her arrival. That her death would be the key for them all to live forever.And she didn’t care. She closed her eyes and saw Sage’s face, and as long she could see his face, as long as she could rescue him from whatever danger he w
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Caleb drove like a madman on Route 9 and checked his rearview to see a dozen police cruisers trailing him. They were gaining fast, and he didn’t know how much longer he could shake them.“We’re not going to outrun them,” Caitlin said. “Should we pull over?”Caleb shook his head.“Too late for that,” he said. “They’ll throw us in jail. We’ll never save Scarlet. Not in time.”“But Scarlet’s upstate. It’s a ten-hour drive—we’ll never make it in time.”Caleb drove on, his mind racing with a million thoughts. He knew she was right. He knew the police would catch up to them soon enough. He knew they could not travel all the way upstate in this pickup. More than anything, he knew that they needed to rescue Scarlet. Nothing else mattered.As Caleb drove in desperation, racking his brain for what they could do, suddenly they passed a sign lit up in the night, going almost a hundred miles an hour, and he had an idea. Duchess Air Force Base. It made Caleb think of work. His fighter jets.C
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Kyle landed outside the tall stone gates heralding a long, tree-lined cobblestone driveway that wound its way longer than any driveway ever should, up to a massive private mansion. Kyle could have landed inside the gates—he could have landed right on the roof of the mansion if he’d wanted. But instead, he had flown over it, scouting it out from above, seeing the sprawling acres, the huge historic structure, the swimming pool and tennis court, the ancient oak trees, the sculpture scattered on the lawn, and he had felt sick from it. It was more than any one man should be entitled to. Much less this bratty little girl, Scarlet’s best friend.Vivian.Kyle thought it would be fun to land before the gates, to take his time walking up to the house and enjoying himself. After all, it was a beautiful fall day, and it would be a nice long walk up the driveway. He hoped he could even let them see him approaching, and strike terror and fear into their hearts. He smiled at the thought. Nothing wo
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Caitlin sat in the passenger seat, holding onto the handle, as Caleb made a hard turn onto their street and pulled up to their house, screeching to a stop before it. Caitlin leaned forward and craned her neck, peering into their lit-up house, hoping beyond hope that Scarlet had returned.It had been a whirlwind of a drive ever since the train station, where Caleb had picked her up. Caitlin had been speechless as Caleb, all bruised up, had filled her in on all that had happened with Kyle, with his escape, with the shooting in the high school and how lucky he was to be alive. Caitlin was both horrified and grateful that Caleb had not been killed. She had warned him to stay away from Kyle until she had discovered the weapon they needed—if she ever discovered it. He had not listened; she’d had a feeling that he would not.Caitlin had filled him in, too, on her research, on the clues she had discovered, and on where she felt they needed to go next to solve this. Caleb had listened with ra
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Sage felt a burning pain in his arms and legs as he struggled against the Askelon shackles, to no use. He hung there, on the huge Askelon cross, his arms bound on either side of them, his legs tied below, and looked out and saw thousands of his kind, more of his people than he’d ever seen gathered in one place, all swarming around the grand hall in Boldt Castle. It was an immense hall, hundreds of feet high, shaped in an arch, and they swarmed about in agitated chaos, some of them buzzing through the air, others pacing the ground, while Sage hung there, in the center, an object of display and scorn.Sage felt so weak; he had been dragged from his recharging station before he’d had a chance to recover, and he felt himself dying. He knew his time had come. His only regret was that he wanted more time with Scarlet, or at least a chance to say goodbye. He thought of her showing up at their meeting place, and his not being there, and it broke his heart. He could only imagine how hurt she h
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Caleb drove faster as he pulled into the gates of Scarlet’s high school andspotted commotion up ahead. He rode in his pickup, Sam by his side, determined to come here on the off chance that Kyle had come here looking for Scarlet.But Caleb had never expected to see the sight before him. There was chaos in the parking lot, kids screaming, running and racing down the steps, and as Caleb gained speed, his heart pounding, he realized something here was very, very wrong. It looked like a FEMA disaster scene.The front doors of the high school were torn off their hinges, broken glass was everywhere, and kids screamed as they fled from the school, pouring down the steps out to the parking lot, clearly running for safety. Caleb had a sinking premonition as he watched the whole scene that it all had something to do with Scarlet. And something to do with Kyle.“Get ready,” Caleb said, tensing up. “He’s here.”Sam reached into the glove, took out two pistols, locked and loaded them, and place
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Scarlet stood at the edge of the Hudson River as the sun began to set, standing inside the old, abandoned ruin of the gazebo, their destined meeting place, a place they had both been to before. In this lonely, desolate area hidden by trees, on the edge of the shores, was a private place that only Scarlet and Sage knew about, a place they could mistake for no other. She had been looking forward to meeting him here with such excitement, looking forward to their next time together more than she could say.Yet now Scarlet cried as she stood there, looking out at the river, watching the sun set, hardly able to comprehend that she was standing here alone. Sage had promised he would meet her here by four o’clock. Now it was after five.Sage’s ominous last words rang in her head: If I’m not there by four, you can be sure that I’m dead. I would never leave you. I would never abandon you.Scarlet wept and wept. She had been standing there for an over an hour. Obviously Sage had not made it ba
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Caitlin sat in the Beinecke Rare Book Library on the Yale campus, hunched over the Voynich manuscript, a librarian standing discreetly over her shoulder, hands clasped, waiting, watching over her. Caitlin reached out, latex gloves on, and studied the book, fingering each page gently.Caitlin had been grateful that they had allowed her, after she’d displayed her scholars’ credentials from Columbia, to examine the book. The librarian had taken her to a private table in a private room, here in this special branch of the Yale library, and had set it down before her, allowing her to peruse it under her careful watch.Caitlin sat there, exhausted, her heart thumping wildly, sensing that this book held a great secret, that the key to finding out what happened to the lost vampire race lay here, in this manuscript. Caitlin could not just show up in Egypt at the Sphinx and hope to enter. There would be guards and no obvious way to get in, if an entrance even existed. She needed to know more. S
Fated (Book #11 in the Vampire Journals) CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Lore raced through the air, following the Hudson, heading toward where he knew Sage must be. There was only one place Sage could be if he wasn’t at Scarlet’s side: the recharging stone. Of course Sage would go there. It made perfect sense. Sage, the stupid romantic that he was, refused to feed on humans, to suck out their energy, and he would be weaker than the others of their kind. He would need energy, especially with them all dying, and especially if he wanted to spend his last days with Scarlet before he died. The recharging stone would be the only place that could give him enough energy without a human feed. It would buy him a few more days, and Lore shook his head in disgust as he thought about it. Sage was a stupid romantic. He had always been weak. And now it would be his downfall.Lore flew along the shores, delighted with himself for manipulating Maria the way he had. Now, finally, he could execute his plan. His real plan, of course, was to live forever. To do that, he nee
