Page 44 of Eternal Obsession

“Did you know?”

Lord Artimas ignored his son’s question. “You believe that, do you? That you can tell from looking at a girl who does not have a belly that she is pregnant? If you believe that, then you are . . . For God’s sake, he read her mind. Your Lord Velde is none other than a vampire!”

Alex placed his hand upon his neck again. He backed away from Lord Artimas, staring at him and attempting to fathom his words. Lord Artimas flicked back Alex’s shirt collar and viewed the two fang marks.

“No!” Lord Artimas steadied himself against the stone wall. “How could you have allowed him?”

“Father.” Alex stepped backward. “It is not what it seems.”

“Do you see?” Lord Artimas said to his men.

With a nod from Lord Artimas, they lunged toward Alex and overpowered him.

“Father, please.”

“My son.” Lord Artimas caught his sobs.

Lord Artimas followed closely behind the entourage. Struggling frantically, Alex was dragged into the dungeons. They shackled him to the central table, securing his arms, tying his wrists upward and binding his feet together.

“Blindfold him, for God’s sake!” Lord Artimas commanded.

The room was prepared, the altar set, the knives sharpened, and the silver chalices placed. Lord Artimas shook, stifling his tears while preparing the instruments. The preparations complete, Lord Artimas’s men offered their words of consolation. The ceremony began, the ritualistic chanting resonating. Lord Artimas took the knife from the altar and with a shaking hand placed it close to Alex’s wrist, doing what he could to ignore his son’s pleas. Lord Artimas cut deeply into his son’s flesh, surprised as the blood flowed easily into the cup below. Despite Alex’s deafening screams, Lord Artimas persisted.

My menacing silhouette was finally noticed at the entrance.

Lord Artimas glared at me.

The shadows danced over me. “He is not a vampire,” I said. “I merely bit into his neck.”

Alex cried out. “Oh, thank God, Daumia! Please hurry, the pain! I cannot bear it!”

“Why him?” Lord Artimas asked.

“To gather up all the lords of the Stones and to ensure that they, and you, would be in the same room at the same time. Artimas, see how his wounds do not heal as those of a vampire would? You are a stupid man.”

“I do not believe you! The marks on his neck . . .”

“You mean you would actually murder your son with such little evidence? How little you think of him.”

“You manipulate everything.”

I snapped. “Someone put pressure on that boy’s wrist before he bleeds to death.”

Lord Artimas raised his hand, an indication his men were not to move.

“He is no longer your son. You do not deserve him,” I said. “Alex is mine. You have taken my Sunaria from me. Now I take your son from you.”

“There are five of us and one of you,” Lord Artimas pointed out.

“Any last words?” I said.

Four of his men approached me. Before they could close in, I descended upon one of them, lifting him high into the air. I flew toward the ceiling, dragging the startled man with such force that his neck was broken on impact. I dropped him to the floor with a thud. Lord Hawke threatened me with his knife until he too found himself flying through the air. I caught him and forced the man against the ceiling.

Lord Hawke flinched in terror as I removed the knife from his grasp and turned it toward his throat, hacking through his fleshy neck from one ear to the other. The blood poured from the gaping wound, gushing down onto the other two men watching helplessly below.

“Do you now comprehend who I am?” I shouted and fell upon the two remaining men now covered in their friend’s blood, fracturing their necks easily. I again settled before Lord Artimas.

“Alex, lay still, do not be afraid,” I reassured him. “I shall not let you die.”