Chapter 26: Chapter 26

PRESENT

CHAPTER 18: THE REUNION

DIANA

When I finally got my cellphone back at the end of my training, I was overwhelmed with the number of messages, missed calls and news that I had waiting for me on it. I was horrified to learn that Oliver had been brutally murdered and Zari – who was later found dead too – was the prime suspect.

I immediately thought of what Mae had said about strange deaths not usually being what they seemed and knew in my gut that this was one of them. Like Roman’s, like my parents’. Zari was many things, but murderer was not one of them. The only way I could see her killing a guy is during a Fifty Shades of Grey roleplay gone terribly wrong. I won’t pretend she was a saint just because she’s dead, but I won’t exaggerate her evilness either. She was a mean, selfish slut, but she was not a violent killer.

I had been struggling with what to feel about Gualtiero and how almost everything I learned about vampires during my stay in Romania applied to him. I struggled with how I should approach him over my suspicions, or if even should. Part of me thought I should catch him red-handed, by snapping a picture of him or placing a mirror in front of him to prove he has no reflection. But when he sent me a creepy message about how I ran off with some guy (how did he know I had been training with Lucas? I didn’t even know I would be training with Lucas!) something came over me and I had to call him back and confront him right then and there.

The nerve of him to accuse me of any kind of lie when he was lying about the biggest thing of all. I have to admit that I had held a tiny ray of hope that I was wrong, but he didn’t even deny it.

“I am not a monster. I’m a vampire and I love you,” he had said.

My entire world came crashing down with those few words. How could this happen? How could I have fallen for a vampire? And more stupidly, how could I not have seen the signs when I had been reading Iosif’s journal the entire time I was getting to know him? I felt stupid and humiliated. I had really thought I had met a great guy, but he was really just a monster who was killing my friends one by one and was probably going to come after me next. After all, he’s a vampire and I’m a hunter. We don’t exactly co-exist well on this planet.

I wondered if he was the Gualtiero from Iosif’s journal. Iosif seemed to be mourning the loss of his friend named Gualtiero, but perhaps his friend was just turned into a vampire and did not really die. Maybe it was Gualtiero himself who killed him, just like he killed my parents. I felt my nails digging into my skin and looked down to see that I had subconsciously balled up my fists in fury at these thoughts. There was no use angering myself so hard. Whatever happened in the past couldn’t be changed now, but I could sure try and seek justice by staking every vampire who came my way, Gualtiero included.

Anastasia wasn’t home when I arrived back at the house and it was fine with me, as I didn’t really feel like seeing her. Gualtiero wasn’t exactly worth fighting over, but that didn’t change the fact that she had shamelessly betrayed me, meddled into my life in a malicious and selfish way and completely disregarded my feelings. I cared about her safety, so I would talk to her and warn her that Gualtiero was dangerous, and she should stay away, but I also decided I should move out and find another place to live. Tomorrow I would start looking for apartments.

I would be lying if I say that all of this isn’t affecting me emotionally. I cried in the shower after getting home, thinking about everyone that I had lost in the past week and fearing who I might lose next if I didn’t act fast. As angry as I felt at Gualtiero for fooling me, I knew that it wouldn’t be easy for me to kill him. After all, my feelings for him had been real and it was the first time I had ever felt anything like that in my life. It would be difficult to shut all of that down and kill the man I thought I loved, but I would have to freeze my heart and do it. It was the only way to stop everyone else around me from dying.

I was drying my hair after my shower when I heard the doorbell ring downstairs. I padded down the steps and checked the peephole and saw a handsome delivery man standing on the porch balancing a very large and heavy looking package. Anastasia must have ordered something while I was away, I thought as I opened the door.

“Hi,” said the man, smiling brightly, “Anastasia?”

“She’s my roommate,” I said. “Isn’t it a little late for deliveries?”

I moved aside, letting him in. He lifted the large package somewhat effortlessly and stepped through the threshold. There was something familiar about this man’s face. I felt like I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t remember from where.

“Where can I put this?” he asked.

“There would be fine,” I said, pointing at a corner. I didn’t know what it was, but I could feel my senses on high alert at that moment. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickling.

“Have we met before?” I asked, unable to shake away the uncanny feeling that I’d seen this man before.

“Maybe,” he said. “I make a lot of deliveries in this area.” He finished setting the package down and then turned back to me, “Hey, do you mind if I use your bathroom for a second?”

It was then that I was hit with an intense sense of déjà vu, and I remembered exactly where I knew this man from. It was about a week before my parents died and he showed up at my door one night when my parents were out on a date, except then he was not a delivery man, but a cable guy. I hadn’t had any issues with my cable but let him in anyway because I thought he was cute. It was foolish and dangerous, but in my young mind, I couldn’t see the harm.

That night, he’d asked if he could use the bathroom, just like he was doing now, and I never saw him again. He went upstairs and never came back down. I had thought that it was weird, but nothing was missing from our home, so I didn’t think he had been a thief. I still don’t know what he had done up there, but everything in my body at this moment was telling me that it wasn’t good.

“You should leave,” I said nervously.

“But I just got here…” he said and smiled again, this time flashing sharp, pointed fangs at me. I immediately ran for my purse, in which I had one of the guns Lucas gave me, but he got to it first and held it up mockingly.

“Looking for this, hunter?”

Okay, don’t panic, I thought, this is what you just spent a week training for. You can handle this.

I made a run for my suitcase, which was still by the door and contained the rest of the weapons I had brought over with me. It was heavy and I had been too tired to drag it up the stairs when I got home, so I had left it there. I silently praised my own laziness as I headed over to it, when suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my calf which sent me toppling onto the ground.

I couldn’t help but scream as I watched the blood pour out of my leg and onto the floor. He had shot me with my own gun! I tried to push the pain away from my thoughts so I could crawl my way over to the suitcase instead, but the man laughed mockingly and, in a flash, was standing in front of it, the gun still in his hand and aimed right at me.

“You hunters think you’re so clever. You learn a few tricks and buy a few weapons and suddenly think you can conquer our kind so easily,” he paused, laughing a bit more. “Here’s a little newsflash for you, darling: we don’t survive for centuries by being easy to kill. We’re older, faster and stronger than you weak humans. If you don’t believe me, ask your parents… oh wait, you can’t because they’re dead.”

He laughed maliciously and never in my life did I wish I could kill something else so badly.

“It was fun killing them. You helped me with that, were you aware of that? It was so easy to get you to invite me in. I didn’t even have to compel you – I couldn’t because your parents had been sneaking vervain into your food for years. You let me in because you were taken by my good looks,” he laughed more, amused by the memory that made my cheeks grow red with shame.

I hadn’t known this about my parents, but it made sense. Lucas had shown me how vervain came in all different forms, even spices and condiments for cooking. I could imagine my mother now, preparing dinner with an added sprinkle of vervain to protect me from something I hadn’t known existed yet. I felt a stabbing pain in my heart for my parents and in that moment, wished nothing more than to have them by my side.

“I asked to use the bathroom and you allowed me to roam right through your home unattended. I found their stash of vervain and tampered with it, replaced it with something else. For an entire week they slowly went lowering their defenses to my kind, until I met them face to face and was able to compel them…” he paused and smiled a beastly, malicious smile. “Do you know what I had them do, Diana?”

I didn’t want to hear this, no one would, but I was happy to keep him talking. The longer he stood there talking to me, the longer I had time to think about how I could defend myself. It seemed hopeless though. He had me cornered and wounded, with a loaded gun in his hand. One move and I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me again.

“I made them get in their car and drive themselves over a bridge,” he gloated in delight. “It was so satisfying to watch those filthy hunters die. Way more fun than killing the Hall boy, he was just a drunken idiot who barely put up a fight. It was too easy. Your parents really screamed and begged for their lives,” he bared his ugly teeth in an evil grin, cherishing the gruesome memory.

“So, it was you who killed Roman…” I said, in part to keep him talking and in part because I was thinking out loud. “I assumed you also killed Zari and Oliver?”

I was thinking of removing the sash from my robe and using it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from my leg, but I wasn’t sure if he would stop me or if I had the strength to tie it strongly enough. I was losing quite a bit of blood and it was making me feel weak and dizzy. This was so not how I imagined my first encounter with a vampire outside of Romania to go.

“Oh, they were fun to play with,” he cackled. “The girl was an easy little whore, just like you. Although I can’t take credit for her—”

“Diana!” he was suddenly interrupted by Gualtiero, who had shown up and burst through the door. Oh, great. Now there were two vampires I had to deal with. Gualtiero may not have been the one who killed my parents or friends, but he was still a monster. Although perhaps not as vicious as the other one standing there right now.

“Kieran,” he said, glaring at the other vampire. So, they knew each other. Of course, they did. They were probably vampire besties.

Kieran laughed, looking surprised to see him. “Well, look who it is. I’m surprised to see you alive after all these years, Gualtiero.”

“Leave her alone,” Gualtiero breathed, his eyes on the gun in Kieran’s hand.

“Oh,” Kieran said coldly. “I was hoping you came out of hiding to join the fun, but I see that you’re still just a disgusting vampire traitor. Lilith was damn near perfect, but she made one mistake in her life, and it was trusting you.”

He raised the gun and pointed it straight at my head. “You once killed my lover, now it’s time that I repay the favor.”

His pale, white finger clenched against the trigger. I braced myself for the impact, but it never came. Gualtiero had thrown himself in front of Kieran and took a shot right to the chest before kicking the gun out of his hand. I hurriedly crawled towards the gun as Kieran hissed in anger.

“You idiot!” he spewed at Gualtiero, who was gripping at his chest in pain with one hand but ready to fight Kieran with the other. What was transpiring in front of me was unlike anything I had ever seen and mostly it was because I could barely see it. With their superhuman strength and speed, it was difficult to make out the details of a fight between vampires because it all happened so fast. It was as if a tornado was hitting the living room and sending random pieces of furniture crashing down onto the floor.

I managed to take the gun and aimed it at the blur, hoping for the best. I pulled the trigger and as soon as the shot went off, the two vampires stopped fighting. I had hit Kieran somewhere in the back. Gualtiero was scratched up from the fight and stumbling backwards, clutching at his chest, clearly weakened by the gunshot he had received himself. I aimed at Kieran again, this time trying to get his heart now that I could see where I was aiming, but as I pulled the trigger, he hissed again and ran out the door. My shot hit a picture of Anastasia hanging on the wall, sending the frame crashing down on to the floor.

Gualtiero became impossibly pale (more so than he already was) and collapsed.

“Gualtiero!” I yelled and quickly tied my robe’s sash around my leg as best as I could before crawling over to him.

“Diana,” he breathed. “Are you okay? You’re wounded.”

“You’re wounded,” I said. I couldn’t make sense of my feelings at this moment. I was a hunter, and he was a vampire, I should have been ending his life now that I had him weak and cornered, but I felt scared and worried. I didn’t want him to die. Tears fell down my cheeks as I pressed my hands to his chest. “What do I do?” I’d been trained to kill vampires, not save their lives. I had no idea how to go about helping Gualtiero.

“Do not worry about me,” he said weakly. “Call a doctor for yourself. You need medical attention.”

“My wound isn’t fatal,” I said.

“Neither is mine,” he said. “The bullet did not hit my heart; I am simply weakened by the vervain.”

That gave me some relief, but the bullet still needed to be removed and I did not know how to do that. Calling a doctor would be risky, they’d be sure to ask questions. Unless…

“Could you compel a doctor to help us both, no questions asked?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he replied. “Please call, Diana. I am worried about you.”

I got up and painfully limped over to the open door, peering out into the night for any glimpse of Kieran, but there was none. He was long gone. As I shut the door and headed for my phone, I had a sudden realization. I never actually invited Kieran into the house, which meant only one thing: he had been in it before.