AllFreeNovel
Share Us
All that remained was a lake of blood.
Istvan turned to look through the shattered doorway. His eyes alighted first on Stephen and then on Bela, who was slumped on the floor, not quite dead. Istvan growled and snatched up a chair leg. He strode with purpose through the door and when the other Hungarian vampire saw him coming, he shrank back weakly.
“No,” he said. “Istvan, I beg you.”
Istvan showed no mercy, his eyes wild, his jaw clenched. He staked Bela to a pile of instant dust.
Janos was down on the ground holding the fading Stephen and Istvan could finally turn his attention to his fallen partner.
He sat down, gathering Stephen into his arms, stroking back his hair from his clammy forehead. “My love,” he said. “My love. Please forgive me.”
Sam watched with tears in his eyes. Janos brushed his shoulder, touching his hand, and Sam closed his fingers around his. Vampires and human were silent, watching Stephen.
Istvan wept. His tears dropped scarlet onto Stephen’s face and ran into his mouth. “Please,” Istvan said, “please give me the word.”
Stephen stared up into his eyes with his face contorted in pain. “I’m scared,” he mouthed, no sound coming from his lips.
“Don’t be. I’ll bring you into my world and I’ll love you forever, I swear it,” Istvan said. He bent his head and kissed Stephen’s lips.
Stephen eyelashes fluttered closed. Then when Istvan drew back from the kiss, Stephen looked around at Severin and Nikolaus and Janos, his eyes lingering on Sam’s. Sam nodded, very much afraid that Stephen was going to refuse to be turned and they would all have to watch him die in Istvan’s arms.
Stephen closed his eyes. Sam had no idea if he had consented or if the life had now left his body. Istvan gave a whimper of such mortal distress that Sam couldn’t be under any illusion anymore that Istvan still retained deep humanity. If Stephen was gone, Istvan would never recover, Sam was sure of it.
Istvan leaned down over Stephen. He punctured his skin above the mortal wound with his fangs. Stephen showed no reaction. The hands clutching Istvan’s arms fell away and his mouth opened slackly. It looked like he was already dead.
Sam watched, crying, as Stephen’s chest heaved once, then went still.
Istvan gave a little sob, his mouth full of blood. It looked like it was an effort to swallow it. He lifted his head as Severin knelt by him.
“You can’t stop,” Severin said. “You must take every drop.”
Istvan shook his head with blood tears streaking his face. “I can’t.”
Nikolaus stooped over him and put his arm around him and while he comforted Istvan, Severin bent over Stephen and finished the job. He sucked, swallowing, dragging every last bit of blood from Stephen’s body. Sam wept, sure that Stephen was already gone and it was too late. Meanwhile, the stink of his blood, heavy, sweet and coppery, hung in the air.
Severin withdrew his teeth. He looked at them all. “I don’t know,” he said. “We might have been too late.”
Istvan howled in pain. He drove his fist into the wall with such power the settling building shook once more. “No,” he said. “No.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sam felt numb with loss and bone-tired. Dawn was almost upon the city and all the heavy curtains in Istvan’s apartment were drawn against the impending light. The vampires and one remaining human, bloody and battered, were clustered around Stephen lying on the bed. He still looked dead, grey and unmoving like a corpse. Istvan sat by him, holding his hand with his face ashen.
Janos drank a glass of brandy, the after effects of adrenaline making him shake. He leaned against Sam for support while the vampire ruminated on this most terrible of nights. Was he going to lose his friend or would Stephen wake up? Would Janos want anything to do with him again after what he had witnessed tonight? His head ached but the stolen vampire blood still blazed in his cells, keeping him alert and upright.
He didn’t know how long they had all stood there silent and afraid before Stephen began to stir on the bed. Sam started, gaping, hardly daring to believe his eyes. Stephen’s feet twitched and his hands, then his eyelids. He licked his dry lips slowly. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room in confusion.
“Thank God,” Severin said, speaking for them all.
Istvan was trembling. He leaned over Stephen and brushed his hair back, kissing his forehead tenderly. Their eyes met and Sam saw the depth of feeling pass between them. He regretted everything that had passed between him and Istvan in that moment. He would take a hundred broken jaws from Istvan if it meant Stephen got to stay with his soulmate.
Stephen’s gaze alighted on Sam. He smiled at his friend. “Always knew it would come to this,” he said, his tone resigned.
Sam didn’t smile back. Stephen had never wanted this, but he had wanted Istvan and sometimes one had to make sacrifices for those one loved. He hoped Stephen would come to accept that eventually.
Stephen tilted his face up. He lifted a hand and stroked the curve of Istvan’s blood-stained cheek. Istvan inclined his mouth and kissed him.
“That’s our cue,” Nikolaus said and he led the way out of the room. Severin followed and after one more look at Stephen, Sam followed too, with Janos.
