Page 20 of Revelations

Apparently, Claude had not been completely upfront with them, either, about the specifics of how exactly he could give the couple eternal life.

Gently, Greylyn took Kristina’s hands and peered into her tear-stained face. “Yes, honey, they are.” Before she could explain more, the young woman sank to her knees with a withering moan. “All you have to do is say no. Say no and you walk away.”

Brian rocked back and forth on his heels, mindful to keep an arms’ distance away from Kael. “And what if we say yes?”

Kael grabbed him by the upper arms and yanked him closer, so thatthey were nose to nose. A wicked scowl played across his face. “Then they will sink their teeth into your necks and drain all of your blood. You. Will. Die.”

Brian’s face turned the color of worn, aged Chantilly lace. Kael emphasized his next words, so that the horror of the situation would sink in.

“If, and that’s a bigif, they follow through and turn you, you’ll become like them—undead. For every second of every day of eternity, you’ll crave blood. You will be a killer.” The young man’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “But odds are that they’ll just outright kill you.”

Kristina shook her head violently. “No. No. No.”

Brian wrenched himself from Kael’s grasp to kneel beside her. Suddenly tender, he stroked her face. “But, sweetheart. We’ll be young and strong and gorgeous forever.”

Greylyn cringed. Of course, he had no words of love. It was all about himself. He would even sacrifice his life and hers to assuage his vanity.

“Don’t you want to be with me?” His last words were more the whine of a narcissistic toddler than a grown man.

Kael grabbed the back of his shirt and jerked him back to his feet. “You don’t get it, nimrod! You’ll be dead. Either way; human and dead, or vamp and dead, just a monster walking the Earth. D-E-A-D!” He shoved Brian against the wall before stalking away in disgust. “There’s no guarantee that they’ll keep their end of the bargain. They may just kill you outright. By saying no, you have a chance to escape and live a normal life.”

“But, we would be together…forever?” Greylyn heard the dreaded words from Kristina’s quivering lips.

Disappointment in the girl superseded the pity that she felt toward her. She had to have an incredibly bad sense of her own self-worth to consider giving her life in the off chance of romance with this macho clown.

Greylyn gripped the girl by her shoulders. “Kristina, do youreallywant to be with someone for eternity whodoesn’t love you the way you should be loved?” The girl was distraught, but still hanging to that frayed thread of hope thatBrian loved her. Only the ugly truth could break through to her now; the ugly, heart-wrenching truth.

The boyfriend tried to object, but Kael screamed in his face. “Tell her the truth, man! Do you love her? Truly love her? The kind of love that fights for her? A love that doesn’t want to see her pale and bloodless at the mercy of a vampire? Love that willingly sacrifices for her, not the other way around?”

A dead silence followed for several uncomfortable moments.

Brian cast his eyes down, shaking his head. “No. No, I don’t.” He started to sputter something about how he could become a vampire without her, but Greylyn knew that the deal was for the couple, not an individual. If he chose to persist, Claude might make a meal of him, yet.

As if on cue, Claude entered the room. Greylyn knew that he was listening in on their conversation by the delighted look on his face. He did not even make eye contact with Kristina or Brian. His eyes did not leave Greylyn, despite the death grip that Simone had on his arm.

“Kristina, dear, you may leave. My wife will escort you out of the building. Walk about a mile in a southeast direction and you should find the highway soon enough. If you get lost, simply keep walking. We are not that far from civilization.” The words were cordial, but devoid of any charade of kindness.

Without allowing for goodbyes, Kristina was dragged from the room rather forcefully by two overly buff vamps in black tank tops. Disheartened to discover that Brian did not reciprocate her feelings, she did not utter a word or cry out. Simone flashed a satisfied smirk over her shoulder, as she quietly shut the door behind them.

“Now, Brian. What are we going to do about you?” Claude still did not break eye contact with her.

A chill spread up her spine. She forced herself to relax, to open up her mind. What game was he playing? The couple should have been taken out together.

The young man stupidly sealed his fate. “I don’t need her to become one of you, do I? If I need a mate, I promise I can find one…fast. Girls can’t resist me. I can bring you dozens of women, hundreds.”

Greylyn’s hands itched to slap the cocky smirk off his face. Brian was a sleaze—physically good-looking, sexy even. But that personality and ego…uglier than a Wendigo.

By the callous smile playing on Claude’s face, he agreed with her assessment. Nodding, he motioned for his undead henchmen to escort Brian out of the room. “As soon as I am done here, we can discuss your future with us.”

Her mouth opened to protest, but he raised his hand.

“They gave their answers. The young woman is to go free. No strings. But the young man…”

“That wasn’t the deal, Claude,” Greylyn took a couple of steps toward him before Kael yanked her back against him, pinning her arms behind her.

Claude strolled over to face her. His hand reached up to cup her chin. Despite the growl emanating from Kael’s chest through her back, the vamp did not back away. “Well, not exactly the same deal, I will admit. But they did not hold to their end of the bargain. They had to decide together. Honestly, I was under no obligation to let the girl go but did so out of good will. Besides, my beautiful, I would not want our personal relationship to be sullied by disappointing you. You care for the girl, so she can leave. However, if you look deep within, we both agree that Brian is not worth the effort to save. Certainly not worth the effort to convert to our family.”

With a flippant wave of his hand, the discussion was closed. “So, now that is settled, what do you say? Ready to spend an eternity together?”

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