Page 55 of Last Hope
He fell limp to the floor.
Isis stared at her brother. For a moment there was nothing in his eyes but a blank and hollowed expression but then he blinked rapidly and realized what he had done.
“Isis,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I know I said I’d change but—but he was coming after you and I didn’t know how else to stop him.” The panic in his voice was real and Isis could only look at him for a moment.
Could she really reprimand him for killing when she had done so herself so many times? She had killed to survive just as he had and it would have been unfair to yell at him for not being able to dim down the instinct of survival he’d had for so many years. She hadn’t been able to get rid of the killing instinct right away after she left Caesareon and he had only found out minutes ago that she was real and true, it didn’t go away in a flash.
“It’s all right, Azizi. It’s okay. You didn’t have a choice.”
He shook his head. “It’s not all right. What if I never get fixed? What if I can never go back to the way we were before?”
Isis smiled at her younger brother. “If I know one thing for certain it’s that we cannevergo back to the way things were before. We used to be human and now we’re not. After our worlds change, they stay changed.Westay changed. It’s not always for better and it’s not always for worse but all we can do is move on and try and make it better. That’s what change is about.”
“Don’t you see, Isis? I willneverstop killing. It’s what Caesareon made me into.”
“Then make yourself into something else,Sn!” she shouted. “You can do it! If you don’t like what you are, if you know that it’s wrong then make yourself into something new, into something to be proud of.”
Azizi looked down at the ground for a moment as if indecisive. “You’re sure I can change into something else? You’re sure I can become a new, better version of myself?”
Isis nodded. “Yes.”
Azizi then held his head high, a new and determined look on his face. “Then I vow, from this day forth to become the decent vampire I was meant to be. I promise to never kill again, to never drink without permission again, to never create another vampire and to live out the rest of my days by the rules from which the rest of decent society lives.”
* * *
“I promiseto never kill again, to never drink without permission again, to never create another vampire and to live out the rest of my days by the rules from which the rest of decent society lives.”
Victoria heard the voice before she saw it. She crouched down low in the darkness, perfectly camouflaged by the edge of the building. Terrance was following, she could sense him near but she had gotten ahead. She had transformed into a wolf to jump from rooftop to rooftop with ease and she was certainly glad she did.
Now, she got a front row seat to Azizi and she was watching with great care. He had just pledged to never again commit crimes, but Phillipe didn’t trust him. He had been Caesareon’s training goat for years and had lived a life of hiding, of kill or be killed. If she dared to attack right then, he would surely try and kill her because his instincts couldn’t be wiped out that quickly.
Even though she knew jumping out was a bad idea, she had to do it. He was there, he wasright therein front of her and she needed to get to him. She needed to take him down not just for the safety of humans, but for Savvy.
She saw Azizi and all she could hear were Savvy’s whines and screams as he attacked her best friend. All she could see was his frail body wrapped in gauze in a hospital bed unable to move or talk or click away at a keyboard because of that little bastard in front of her.
Victoria Phillipe growled low in her throat.
And she sprang.
The pads of her paws hit the concrete ceiling. Her vicious growl startled both siblings into a defensive pose. Isis didn’t seem to recognize her at first. She had put her fists up and then back down again at the sight of her FBSI badge hanging around her neck on a long chain.
But Azizi didn’t back down.
Victoria growled at him.
“Who is that?” he asked his sister.
“Agent Victoria Phillipe of the FBSI.”
He stared wide-eyed at her. No doubt, he had known about her from the beginning, had known she and her team had been hunting him down for a while now.
“What does she want?”
Victoria growled at the boy. Didn’t he know it was rude form to talk about a werewolf as if they weren’t there? She thought menacingly. Apparently, Caesareon hadn’t taught him any manners. But still, she had him in front of her, she had to talk to him, had to read him his rights and take him away.
Knowing she’d be standing in the cold night air, butt naked but not caring a bit, Victoria stood on her hind legs and transformed back into her human self. As always, the pain of the change whooshed the air from her lungs but she didn’t dare to show any weakness in front of the enemy. Her bones shrunk back to their normal size, fur slithered back into her pores until she was smooth all over. Transformation done, she stood to her full height and turned her gaze on Isis and Azizi.
Azizi’s eyes barely spared her naked body a glance, but they were on her face, a wary look in his eyes.
