Page 130 of The Last Vampire
“A millennium? Five hundred years? He couldn’t be sure of an exact amount. Just long enough for the humans to forget. Those were Grandsire’s exact words:‘Let the humans forget us.’” Fabiana adopts a deeper voice when speaking like him. “‘Let us fall away into the shadowed realms of myths and legends. Their fear of us shall wane, for in time, they will cease to believein us. And thus, they will be ill-prepared when we once more rise to claim dominion over them.’”
William can picture Grandsire delivering that speech, with his perfectly coiffed black hair and silver eyes. No one knew his exact age, but by the pale silver shade of his irises, it was clear he had seen more than anyone else on the planet.
Even more than Leonardo the Bloody.
Fabiana places a hand on William’s chest, and he flashes to Anne’s immaculate red nails marking anXover his heart.
“He was a great leader. He was going to move millions of beings through time, and he sounded so confident that the spell would work—but I knew he had doubts. That was why he took out an insurance policy.”
“Us,” says William.
Fabiana nods in assent. “Grandsire summoned me. He told me he had already placed you in death-sleep for your own safety, because he knew the Legion was after you. They knew his fondness for you was his greatest weakness.”
Her hand drops from William’s chest.
“If the spell was successful, he and the rest of our kind would awaken you in the future. If not, he hoped you would make your own way. Only he did not want to leave you alone and without protection, so he asked me to stay behind and find volunteers to remain with us. We are to be your guard and answer your command.”
“Then my parents—they are with Grandsire in the future?”
Fabiana takes his hand, and from the way her eyebrows arch with pity, William senses he is not going to like her answer.
“The spell… it required Grandsire’s blood. All of it. And… hisheart.”
William stares at her like he has not heard her right.
“Not just his, but others’. One hundred vampires sacrificed themselves… including your parents. They felt that as you had done your part, they needed to do theirs.”
It is like a bomb has been set off in his chest.
His parents are gone.He took for granted that time would never take them. Yettimehas robbed William of everything.
He can barely think, much less speak. His whole family sacrificed themselves for the species. For him.
“I need… to process this,” William manages to say to Fabiana. “Please. Do not tell the others about me yet.”
She frowns like she does not understand. “But you are—”
“I am not who you think, Fabiana. I need some time in this world to adjust. Will you give me that?”
Fabiana stares so deeply into his eyes that William worries she has read all his secrets. “I am loyal to you,” she says at last. “I will not say anything. But…”
Her face fills with light, as if an inner sun were dawning. “You are here.That’s what matters.”
Yet William can only think ofher.
Whatever chance he might have had of returning to Huntington is now truly gone. As much as he told himself that going back to the school was not realistic, some quixotic part of him still believed he might get the chance.
Even coming to Boston was only partly to find answers, and mostly to be closer to her.
He must be the universe’s ultimate fool.
A sudden warmth begins to spread from William’s heart, as if his regret were strong enough to reactivate its pumping. The heat jolts through him like a lightning bolt.
He has felt this sensation before—
Lorena is in mortal danger.
Only this time, he will not make it in time to save her.
