Her skin began to prickle. “Oh no,” she whispered to herself. The familiar powerful energy settled over her like a lost lover’s embrace. She’d know that energy anywhere now. It was Vincent. He was coming. And he wasn’t alone.
She looked up and saw the fog. Her coffee cup dropped to ground, smashing into a thousand pieces. They were here. The attack they’d been preparing for had finally arrived. Vincent and his army of vampires had arrived. The time to fulfil the prophecy was upon her. Her fate was waiting. But which fate?
“James,” she screamed out without taking her eyes off the huge mass of grey fog that was fast approaching. James was by her side a second later.
“Ally, what’s wrong?”
She didn’t speak just pointed. He followed to where she pointing. The colour drained from his face. “He’s here.”
She gulped. “Yes.”
As they watched the fog began to transform. Vampire after vampire materialised from the fog metres from the property border.
James swore under breath. “There must be hundreds of them.”
“We’re completely outnumbered.”
“Outnumbered yes, but not outmanoeuvred,” He took her hand and pulled her back inside. “Stay here. I’m going to warn the others.”
“No I can’t just hide.”
“I’m not telling you to hide.” He pulled her into his arms. “I’m giving you the chance to make your choice. I don’t want to lose you, but I’m not going to force you to stay with me either.”
Ally pulled him closer. “James, I have no choice.”
“Yes you do. I’m giving you that choice right now.”
She moved out of his warm embrace and pulled his face down to hers. She forced him to hold eye contact. “No matter what you see or hear, Ally will love you forever.” And then she kissed him, pushing everything she felt into him, into his soul and his heart.
It was over too soon and he was gone.
“They’re here!” He called out. “Terrace now!
Immortals and vampires scrambled from all over the house and met James within seconds.
“Where’s Ally?” Adele asked, facing the sea of vampires before them.
“In her room. She needs a few minutes alone before this starts,” James answered tersely. “So for now it’s up to us to hold these things at bay.”
“Where is Vincent?” Chase asked. “I can’t see him.”
“He’ll be here,” James said, searching the vampires for his father.
Collectively, breath held, they waited for Vincent to arrive. Nothing would start without the star performer. It was only minutes before they were rewarded with the sight they dreaded and awaited.
Goosebumps rose on her arms, but it wasn’t the icy breeze sweeping past that gave her a chill. He’d materialised. His energy flowing around her grew stronger with each passing moment. She could feel him getting closer. Heart in her mouth, she gripped onto the balcony railing. She watched the vampires begin to shuffle. One by one they stepped aside to let their master past.
Her heart stopped dead at the sight of him. This wasn’t the Vincent that she knew. That she loved. This was the one that she saw lurking beneath the surface. The one that had her memories stolen. He saw her and for a second, she saw the ice melt from his gaze. The fire she stoked within him flared to life. Her heart cried out for joy, then she remembered. She wasn’t Alessandra. This wasn’t a stolen moment in time. That was all they would ever have. That one stolen moment.
A sound from below caught her attention. She stole her gaze from Vincent and saw the devastation in James eyes. She also saw the confusion and the horror on the faces of the others.
Closing her eyes, she made her final choice. The only one that she knew could live with. What she felt only happened once in a lifetime. But it was going to hurt. Him and her. She steeled herself for what would come next.
“I’m sorry,” she opened her eyes and looked at James. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I’m about to do.”
She felt his heartbreak, along with her own as she jumped off the balcony and slowly walked towards Vincent.
“James for god sakes stop her!” Adele screamed at the frozen immortal in front of her.
Isabella joined in. “James do you see what is happening? You are going to lose her! You can feel what she is feeling.” Her voice rising with urgency. “Hell we can all feel what she is feeling! Her heart is about to shatter with what she feels for you and for him. It’s effecting everyone within a ten mile radius. Even the vampires can feel it and they feel nothing!”
James didn’t acknowledge what either of them were saying. What they felt was nothing compared to what he could feel. Her soul was screaming out in turmoil. It was being forced to make an impossible choice.
Dimly in the background, he heard Isabella speaking to him again. “Screw it, if you won’t do something then I will!”
He reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her back. “No,” he commanded with all the force he could muster. Speaking was almost impossible when he felt like he was being torn in two and burnt alive with the force of the emotion that was flowing around everyone. “No,” he repeated. “I promised her that where I was concerned, the choice would always be hers. Predestined be damned. I loved her enough then and I love her enough now to stand by it. She has to choose me willingly.”
“But what if she chooses Vincent?” Adele cried out in anguish. “You can’t let that happen James. After everything that the two of you have been through, you owe it yourself and to her to fight for her god dammit! If you let her go without a fight, you’ll regret it forever.”
“I’m not letting her go without a fight. I’m giving her the choice. There is a difference.”
“Yeah stupid and not stupid!” Chase yelled out from the other end of the terrace. “But what about the vampires about to storm the place. Shouldn’t we be worried about them as well?”
“Arabella,” James bellowed. “Bit of magical help would be nice about now.”
“I’m on it,” she yelled back from the top terrace.
“Alright, Madison,” she gave her a daughter a quick hug. “Now it’s up to us to make sure these vile creatures don’t storm the place. I’ve got an idea. We need to let the immortals get to the vampires to kill them, but we need to keep the vampires out.”
Madison eyes swept over the sea of vampires. A tremor raced through her. The emotions threatening to suffocate her. Ally, James and Vincent were an emotional nuclear weapon that she could feel on the verge of exploding. A hand on hers brought her back to the present. “Madison,” he mother spoke softly. “I know it’s hard but you have to block them out. The emotions they’re feeling will destroy you if you don’t.”
“They’re so strong!”
“I know, We can all feel it. I know that it’s worse for you. But they need us now. Every single person down there is counting on us to keep them safe. Without our magic, they will die.”
Madison shook her shoulders out then gave her mother a determined nod. “I’ve got this.”
“You yes do, sweetie.”
“Now let’s bring out the fire tigers to start with then whatever else we can conjure up.”
Madison smiled and joined her hand with her mother’s as they began the incantation in unison to wake the tigers from their eternal slumber.
“Fire Tigers we call to thee,
We need your help to set us free,
Guard us in our time of need,
And help us to complete this deed.”
Deep roars echoed from the beneath the ground as it began to shudder and quake. The tigers were coming. They pounced from within the ground, landing with a crack in front of the manor. Flames danced and twirled around them, as if moulded from the very fires of hell. More warning roars sounded to the vampires as they paced back and forth before coming to halt. One stood on each corner, with the third standing before the immortals on the terrace behind them.
The vampires eyed the tigers warily. It was obvious to all that none of them wanted to take on a fire tiger. But they had orders, so the first line advanced.
The tigers lazily moved forward and pounced with graceful power on each one, turning them into nothing but ash.
“Come on let’s bring up a dragon or two,” Arabella instructed her daughter. “If the tigers are making them nervous, then two dragons should do the trick nicely.”
They called the dragons using the same chant.
“Fire dragons we call to thee,
We need your help to set us free,
Guard us in our time of need,
And help complete this awful deed.”
Again the ground rumbled and quaked but with more force. The vampires looked at each other. They knew whatever was coming wasn’t going to bode well for them. Two dragons taller than the manor rose on either side of the house. An ear splitting screech filled the air. Then the dragons started breathing fire all over the remaining vampires. The smell of burning flesh burnt their noses and made their eyes water, but seeing the vampires defeated and the few remaining ones scattering into the night made everyone cry out ecstatically. All except for James. His gaze was fixated on Ally and Vincent. He’d taken her out of harm’s way into a corpse of trees at the border of his lands.