Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince
Chapter 30

Something far worse than fear shotright through me. This wasn’t right.

I should’ve taken them all out whenI had the chance. I pocketed my phone and ran, jumping back down to the street.I didn’t care if people saw me. It was nighttime anyway, and if they toldanyone it would be the voice of a person on drugs or the mentally ill.

Finn was in deep trouble, and I wasthe only one who could save him.

I didn’t bother with calling him orEmery again. From the sound of the lost connection, something had destroyed thephone, I just didn’t know what. As I approached the building of where the fivestood above me, I overheard a part of the conversation between them. Iapparently hadn’t missed much, crossing the mile in a matter of a few seconds.

“What do you want?” Finn questionedthem in a clear calm and collected voice, despite the situation. Maybe thiswasn’t his first crisis.

“Your blood,” the raspy whisperer,the same voice I heard while on the phone with Finn earlier, responded.

I sucked in a breath of air. Ihadn’t heard the voice correctly before because there was no structure to itthrough the telecommunications call. At the time it had sounded more like awhisper, but now that I was closer to their location and had listened to thesubtle changes in the peak of the person’s voice I realized who it was and whatexactly had happened. I couldn’t believeshe had done this. She clearly had lost her mind, and now she was going to paydearly for her twisted scheme of revenge.

“I don’t understand?” Finn’s voicereached my ears again.

“It’s quite simple really,” shesneered at him. “Your family killed my lover. And I want my vengeance.”

Someone moved in front of Finn. Iheard the footsteps quicken towards the edge of the building they stood on. IfI had to guess it was Emery judging from the heavy thudded footfalls.

“That was over a decade ago. Theperson in question was punished for harming the innocence of a human,” Finnfinished. “Adrian always had problems with how he lost control of his temper.”

She laughed. “It wasn’t this Adrianthat killed him, it was you.”

“No, it wasn’t, believe me,Jennifer,” he refuted.

“No!” she screamed. “I will notbelieve anything that comes out of your mouth ever again. Kill the other two,but save him for me.”

I reached the building andpropelled myself up to the top. I landed right as the other four leapt acrossthe gap and hurried towards my three friends.

“Ms. Ingram,” I greeted her.

She whirled around at the sound ofmy voice. “Abelia?” she growled. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you if you got in my way,I’d kill you. Now tell them to stop.” I had to try to reason with her. She wasinsane, but still technically a human.

Thalia and Emery meanwhile, foughtfour at a time. Finn ducked and covered, but he got in a couple of shots aswell. He’d been trained to fight from his style. It was a combination of mixedmartial arts and Tae Kwan Do. But as long as he was alright I couldn’t worryabout him. The threat was in front of me. His threat was Ms. Ingram.

She sneered at me. “You can’t stopme. You’re not that powerful compared to me. Even if you are one of those goodones, you’ll never be strong enough.”

I wasn’t fooled by her charmingtaunts. I had heard those threats before. I stared into her eyes, pleading withher. A subtle change caught my attention. I noticed a difference in her eyes, asudden dilation from her rage. Normal human eyes couldn’t do that. It was agift, a part of the vampire curse that the created ones passed onto theircreations.

I gasped and took a step back. “Youdidn’t…” I couldn’t even finish what I was going to say. Now that I was facedwith this realization, I still didn’t want to believe that it was true, thoughthere was evidence that she had turned. Of course now that I truly thoughtabout it, every subtle change I saw leading up to tonight made sense. Themuscle contractions in her arms, the sallow and pale skin, her unyieldingadoration that she lavished upon her leader or her creator was more like it…she volunteered her life so that she could wreak havoc.

She smiled maliciously. “I did.Well, actually you helped me with that. You know I’m more powerful now than Iever was. I can actually help take out the family of vampires that killed mylover. And sweet vengeance will be mine.”

“By becoming one of them?” I askedher. “Look at what’ve you done to yourself!”

Her hand reached out and I swattedit away before she could lay her fingers on me. To willingly give your life inorder to have revenge was an abomination of itself - it was sacrilegious. Shedefinitely became one of the crazed ones by sheer will power of her own.

“You can’t harm me, Abelia! I ammore powerful than the rest of this lot! How can you care about him, aboutthem? They’re bad, Abelia. You know what they’re capable of.”

She was lost… my heart hurt forher. “They’re not bad, they never have been. They don’t harm innocent liveslike you are trying to do. Why did you do this? You didn’t need to have changedjust to wreak vengeance.”

“You wouldn’t let me have it. Youlied about Finn! You kept me from him on purpose because you knew! You were allied to me, not him!”

I shook my head, wondering if I wascrying. I was so numb inside from the horror of her decision, I couldn’t feelmy face. “No,” I whispered. “I was only allied to your humanity, but you destroyed that.” I stepped back withmy right foot placing myself into a fighting stance. She would attack me nowthat she knew we were no longer friends.

She threw her head back andlaughed. “You think you can defeat me? I am more powerful than you! I havewarlock blood in me, as well as the vampire blood. I may not have been a matchfor you at school, but I know I’m stronger than you now. I’m even more powerfulthan the ones who live at that nest you walked into. They asked for my help youknow, once they sensed me. I am themost powerful vampire there ever was, and you will not get in my way.”

I didn’t know how to respond. Whatshe suggested was ludicrous. Help, from a nest, in this part of town? Theyweren’t helping her. She only aided them in some sadistic plot that was kepthidden from her. They were using her, and she had fallen into their trapbecause her hatred had made her blind.

Behind her, Emery went down leavingThalia to battle the other three on her own. Finn tried helping her, but he wasflung backwards and nearly knocked off the side. My instinct to protect himburned anew and I circled around Ms. Ingram, jumping for the next roof. Ilanded gently and pushed the two off Thalia. She went down in the scuffle andhit her head near the temple. Her body slumped as a result, and she fellunconscious. Grabbing the nearest fallen vampire, I wrenched his neck and sunkmy fangs into him. After a few seconds, I dropped him and grabbed the next one,who was doing his best at twisting off Thalia’s head, which unfortunately forhim wasn’t working. I sunk my teeth into his carotid before he could do anymoredamage. He screamed, but his cry didn’t last long as I drained his life forceaway.

Across the rooftop, Ms. Ingram’seyes melted with fury. She bared her teeth, letting her porcelain fangs drop. Icaught the glint of her new set of canines from the moonlight. Her eyes dilatedand changed from the beautiful mahogany I remembered seeing to a lustful redcolor. I dropped the guy I drank from and let him fall to the ground. I ignoredMs. Ingram and her wrath because she wasn’t on this roof. I went after theother two quickly, because one of them had twisted Emery’s neck making him fallunconscious. He’d wake up eventually, once his vampire blood healed him, but heand Thalia weren’t getting up anytime soon. Finn twisted the head completelyoff of one of the vampires, killing him instantly. He went after the last guywithout blinking.

It took the two of us fightingtogether to push the vampire completely off the building. His spine landed onthe side of a dumpster and he crumpled to the ground unconscious. The vampirewouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Finn breathed heavily from the exercise,but I had yet to run out of breath. Feeding from the other two vampires hadgiven me power I had never felt before. My back tingled from the sudden surgein blood.

Just as I was turning around toface down Ms. Ingram, her foot pummeled me from behind, forcing my face intothe gravel surface of the rooftop. She didn’t wait for me to recover. From thecorner of my eye, I watched as she wrapped her fingers around Finn’s neck.

He struggled against her grasp, buthe could not break her hold, nor could he breathe. The color drained from hisface as he could no longer draw a breath. My back was really bothering me forsome odd reason, but I rolled over, pushed myself up, and gained my feetdespite the sudden pain. Ms. Ingram faced me with Finn in her grasp.

“It is my right to destroy him!”She yelled at me as though the power in her voice would force me back, awayfrom her. “You cannot stop me!”

I reached out and pried her fingersaway from his neck. She tried grabbing the side of my head with her free arm,but I latched onto it and twisted hard. Her eyes bulged with the pain I causedher.

Finn stumbled away, rubbing thespot where her fingers grasped him. He gulped in several deep breaths of airand coughed a few times. The color of blood flushed his perfect face once more,but I could no longer make sure he was alright. Ms. Ingram was fighting me toget to him again, and I directed all my attention to the lost woman.

I released the hold I had on herfingers and grabbed her neck with a quickness that caught her by surprise.Using her twisted arm, I pulled her body close to mine. She squirmed under mygrip, but she could not break it.

“This is impossible!” she gasped.“You’re not like me! I am the more powerful one here! You’re just a regularvegan vampire.” With her screams I was sure someone would hear us and call theauthorities. But I didn’t care anymore. I was in control, now.

My eyes switched their focus fromher eyes and traveled down to where her porcelain ivory fangs protruded. Theyjutted out of her mouth like some perverted twist of nature. This was neversupposed to happen to her. She was never to become like the created ones. Ididn’t want this future for her. But she had given her heart over to her painand suffering, which meant that there couldn’t be a future for her unless sherepented of her evil crime of hurting Finn and his friends when they had donenothing to her.

I turned her around so that shecould see Finn, who still recovered from asphyxiation. “Get a good look at him,Jennifer,” I said using her first name. We were way past the teacher/studentrelationship. “That’s Finn Tierney, my friend. You nearly choked the life outof him.”

She growled in her throat. “He’s aborn vampire. He deserves to die. They all do.”

I bent low to her ear. “That’swhere you’re wrong. It’s because of created vampires like you that cause me tohunt like I do.”

Her body went still. She sucked ina breath of air and I tilted her head back so she could see me. Her eyes werewide. “But that’s impossible! There’s no such thing!”

We were of the Fae. If anything,there always could be something new and different despite what they weretaught. “You caught a glimpse of what I was that day you attacked me in class.But you never fully learned the truth. Thanks to your exploits I had hoped tokeep the others away from the beast within me, but now…it’s too late.” Fromthis distance I searched Finn’s eyes hoping he’d forgive me for what was aboutto happen. I swallowed. “You sentenced your fate when you allied yourself withme.” I didn’t know who I spoke to more, Finn or Jennifer.

My lips parted and I let my fangsdescend into the soft tissue of her neck. My jaw clamped down, closing the areaaround the open wound, and I drained the life force away from her. Finn’s eyesnever left mine for a second, but I shut my lids, savoring the flavor of herpower laden blood.