For the sake of my cousin’s life and my own sanity, I hoped he was right.
Chapter 23
Ego
“Leave me alone.Please leave me alone,” I whined.
The taunting, cajoling, and mocking had been going on for hours and hours, in a never-ending loop. I’d been so sure this was my own mind playing tricks on me, but it was time to face facts. I’d known from the beginning that this was my attacker, and he was back.
He was here in this in-between place with only a river between us, and I was alone with him, just like that horrible night. And just like then, I was scared to death that he was going to change my life forever. Right when I’d started to adjust to my new normal. Right when I’d found some happiness. When I’d found Scotty.
“Ego. You don’t know what you’re missing. I can tell you’re living on more than blood bags. More than on a mere mortal. Another vampire has found you and fed you, which you shall be punished for, but not until after you feed from me.
“You’ll never know pure ecstasy until you drink from your Maker. From me. Cross the river, Ego. Come to me. Come to me, my pet, and let me teach you. Let me show you how strong you are. You’ll have the world at your feet when I’m done withyou. Come to me and drink the nectar of yourGod. It will fulfill you like nothing you’ve ever tasted.”
My mouth salivated of its own accord at the idea of sinking my teeth into my Maker and drawing his blood into my body. Instinctively, I knew it would be sustenance like I’d never had. It would make me powerful. But there’d be no Lysandro where he was at. No Scotty. No Sky.
Like he’d done so many times tonight, he got mad and lashed out. “Don’t make me come get you. I will gut all of those who have kept you from me. I will rip out the throats of those who make you deny me. You need me, and I will have you.”
I felt heart-sick at the idea of him coming to Willowhope. Of him being anywhere near my anchor, who I was falling in love with, or my mentor, who’d become my friend, or Sky, my cousin, who was more like a brother. I didn’t want him anywhere near them ever.
“Come to me, Ego, or I’ll hurt them. You know I will.”
I rolled off the stone structure, and my feet sank into the moss beneath me. It was the first time I’d stood, so scared of him and getting too close to the river, but I couldn’t let him hurt the people I loved. I couldn’t let him come to Willowhope.
He stood on the riverbank, his silhouette much clearer now, and I choked back a sob. He was handsome, and his suit was designer, but the malice in his eyes stood out more than anything. Once he had me, his cruelty would know no end.
He threw back his head and laughed like an eighties movie villain. That usually made me laugh, but not this time. Not when my undead existence would be in his hands. “You’re going to have such fun with me. The money you have as that stupid pop star will pale in comparison to what you’ll be able to take under my tutelage. You’ll have whatever you need and give me whatever I want.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to go with him. I didn’t. But he sounded so sure in his place in this world. Like he knew exactly who and what he was, and I still felt so lost sometimes. Not like in the beginning, and I loved the family that I’d found, but they weren’t sure what to do with me either.
Would it be better for them, for me, if I went with the psycho who’d turned me?
“You…you have to promise to never come here and hurt anyone I love.”
He sneered. “I don’t care about them.” Then he held his arms open. “I only care about you, child. My fledgling.”
I took one step, only one, and found myself suddenly on the edge of the riverbank, right across from my Master. One more step, and I’d be with him forever. I glanced over my shoulder toward the stone slab, my resting place each time I came to this strange nowhere.
“Don’t look back. Look only at me,” he demanded.
Turning back to him, my gaze snagged on his stormy irises. It was as if clouds and lightning moved through them, dazzling me. “Ego, my child. It’s so good to see you again, face to face,” he said silkily.
“Yes, Master,” I agreed.
Why had I been fighting the draw for him? His voice was so beautiful, and his eyes were like a storm beckoning me to come play. He’d take care of me. He’d know what to do with the darkness inside of me.
“Ego,” came a far-off voice. “Ego, dammit, wake up.”
I glanced over my shoulder again, knowing that voice, but I didn’t remember quite why. I’d never heard it sound like that before.
“Ego, look at me?—”
I blocked out my Master’s words, trying to locate the other voice, the familiar one, when I heard my name said on aheartbreaking sob. Was that Scotty? My Scotty? What was wrong? Had someone hurt him?
“Ego,” Master snapped, and I turned back to him. “Cross the river and let me pull you through the void. My other children long to meet you.”
“Your…other children?” I asked, confused.
