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Fallon leaned back, smiling in a way that sent shivers down my spine. He slid his hand into his blazer pocket. I tensed, wondering if he was about to pull out a gun or perhaps another ceremonial dagger, but instead, he took out his phone and began to tap on the screen. After a few moments, he looked up and smiled again. “There will be someone here shortly to aid me with your request. I must say, this is a pleasant surprise. I thought we were going to have a battle on our hands. Your priests certainly do not make it easy.”
“They are very loyal,” I murmured.To their mission, anyway, I added in my head. My heart ached, and I sat up straighter. “Actually, before we go any further, I would like to make a condition for my peaceful surrender.”
I heard his heart skip as he sat up. He was nervous again. “I see. And what would that stipulation be? You’re not exactly in a position to demand much right now, sitting here in my house with my own security force capable of defending me.”
I smiled at him, trying to seem more confident than I was and hoping he couldn’t tell I was shaking. “Oh come now, lord Fallon. You know what I am. Who I am. We both know I could rip your throat out in seconds if I so choose before your security even passed through the door.” I grinned, allowing my teeth to sharpen and descend. He visibly paled, and although he managed to stop himself from recoiling, I heard his heat speed up. “Relax, I’m not asking for much. I just want your word that my priests will not be harmed. They may well come looking for me, and I do not want them taken out. I would like you to call West and tell him what happened. I’m assuming you have a security camera on us right now. Show him the tape. In fact, send it to him. I want them to know I went willingly.”
Lord Fallon relaxed back into his seat, a strange smile on his face. “You are an interesting young lady. They imprison you, lie to you, and betray you, and yet you still protect them. Why?”
“Because they were just doing their job. I was a mission, one they carried out to the best of their ability for many centuries, and I want them to be free.” The truth hurt, and I fell silent, not wanting to say anything more. Fallon seemed to sense I was no longer in a talking mood, because he sat quietly too, watching me closely. My thoughts darted everywhere—my parents, Hattie, my priests. I couldn’t stop thinking about the photos I had found in West’s bedroom, and I smiled sadly to myself. They could have a life now, one where they could choose to do whatever they wanted without being cursed to guard me. A thought suddenly struck me, and I looked up at Fallon.
“Lord Fallon, do you know much about the curse on my priests?”
He blinked. “A little. Why?”
“I need to know if I die, like properly die as in don’t come back, will my priests be okay? There isn’t some terrible clause that says if I die, they will die too, right?”
“I don’t believe so, but I don’t know the curse in detail. Just that they would be reborn each time you were to guard and protect humanity from your wrath. I think it unlikely they would die at the same time. They never have before.”
“They haven’t?” I leaned back against the hard sofa, relieved.
“No. Each time you died, those remaining went on to live out their natural lives, though I do believe there have been several cases of suspected suicides over the centuries. I imagine they wanted to rejoin you when they realised you had already been reborn, but those cases, as far as I know, were certainly voluntary.”
I felt sick. Some of my priests had deliberately ended their own lives so they could rejoin me sooner. Had they been so terrified I couldn’t be controlled without them all that they had taken their own lives?
“Are you alright, my dear?” Fallon asked. “You seem a little pale.”
I glared at him. “Why do you care? You’re about to have me murdered.”
“Tsk, tsk, my dear. I was only being polite. You should mind your manners around your elders.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m several thousand years old, Lord Fallon, or so they tell me. That would make me your elder.” I shifted my eyes so they flashed golden, and he recoiled. I grinned. Okay, maybe I was enjoying playing with him a little too much, but hey, I deserved some fun before they... My grin faded as I considered all the ways they might try to kill me. Oh fuck.
I heard the door chime sound in the hall and sat up straight, my heart hammering in my chest. Lord Fallon smiled at me. “That didn’t take long. He must have been in the area.”
The door opened, and Fallon stood, turning towards the door. I stood as well, hoping my knees didn’t give out. I gripped the arm of the sofa to steady myself as a tall, dark-haired man walked into the room. His eyes travelled over me, and a sexy smile spread across his chiselled face. He didn’t even look at Fallon.
“Lord Fallon, good to see you. Would you introduce us?”
“Of course. Lady Victoria Astley-Hawke, this is Lucas Coulton.”
Lucas stepped forward and held out his hand. I took it, slightly confused about having a formal introduction to the man who was about to kill me. He raised my hand and pressed his lips to my knuckles. Revulsion filled me, and I snatched my hand back. He held my gaze, smiling down at me. “I have waited a long time to meet you, Lady Victoria.”
“I can’t say the same, Mr Coulton. Let’s not drag this out longer than we need to.”
He glanced over to Lord Fallon, who nodded, and then turned back to me and offered me his arm. I slipped my hand through it, my fingers brushing over a navy, pinstriped Savile Row suit. Lord Fallon moved past us, and Lucas guided me down the hall to where Fallon opened a door that led down into the basement. He flicked on the lights, illuminating a simple concrete staircase, and headed down the steps, his expensive shoes almost silent as he descended. Lucas released my arm and gestured for me to follow. Staring down into the shadows beyond, I swallowed hard and took the steps down towards my death.
Chapter three
JASPER
“Thisisridiculous,”Westthundered. He slammed his hand down on the desk, making the keyboards for the computers rattle. We all looked up at him from our laptops and phones. “It’s insane. One woman cannot just disappear into thin air with no trace.” He stood up and began to pace the room for the third time in two hours. “There have been no sightings. I can’t find anything on cameras, and none of my contacts have heard anything that would hint to her whereabouts. It’s just impossible. How the hell did she do it? Why the hell has she done it?”
I glanced at Zayn, deciding that keeping my mouth shut would be the better option, even though my knuckles turned white under the desk where my grip on my chair tightened.
“She’s terrified,” Jack said, “desperate, and alone. We need to find her. We can’t give up.”
“I never said I was giving up,” West spat, turning away from him. “It’s just... where the hell is she? And why the bloody hell did she run again?”
