Chapter 240

Shiloh nodded and vanished as Messiah gathered something on the ground.

“You said—”

“Vampires have no business meddling with the fall of this world,” Messiah said. “You think you understand what is going on, but you’re blinded by your own desires.”

“Enough,” Ian said. “Messiah, go.”

Messiah huffed, sneered at me, then vanished into a portal. Ian didn’t face me for a moment, but then he slowly turned around. For the first time, it felt like he was really looking at me, not just looking near me. The anger in his eyes seemed to grow molten hot before cooling and the look of indifference came onto his face.

“What details Candido chose to share with you about the deal that was struck between us is not our concern.” Ian’s eyes twitched and he skimmed his gaze over me. “The original deal between Solare and Lunae or even just this recent truce is none of your concern—”

“I’m going to be—”

“Because you do not truly care,” Ian said. “Consider this… an act of kindness. Listen to Candido for once and stay as far away from the battlefield as you can.”

He turned.

“You’re just trying to keep us apart! You’re not going to separate us for your stupid relic! We’re going to kill the vampire king and avenge Candido’s family.”

Ian turned then. “Traitors will be left to survive… That includes you.”

He looked at me. “As for Candido, his purpose in this world, his goals, his abilities are beyond you. He wants to save as much of this world as he can, even if though that will mean his death.”

My heart lurched.

“He is the one who will remain by choice,” he took a deep breath. “You have nothing to do with it…”

“I have everything to do with it. I’m not going to Lunae! You can’t make me.”

Ian scoffed. “I have no desire to make you and even if I were to force you, it would mean nothing. You aren’t the other half of the artifact, you idiot.”

My heart lurched. “You’re… You’re lying.”

“I do many things, but lying is not one of them.” He huffed. “Thus, when I say this, know that it is only because my father requested this of me… I would have rather killed you ages ago and spared us all the trouble, but… he is boundless in his mercy and asks so little of me.”

He met my gaze. “Will you come to Lunae to be with the rest of those you share blood with?”

I snarled at him. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m not a vampire. I’m not related to you. I don’t share blood with you. I don’t need your offer. I’m staying with Candido.”

Ian nodded and lifted his hand from within his cloak. He looked down at the glowing rock and smirked.

“What is that?” I asked, staring at it.

He laughed and tucked it into his pocket before lifting into the air as the wind started to pick up.

“Stop!” I yelled at him. “You promised to help Candido! Take me to him! And tell what is that? Is that the Heart of the Moon?”

He looked down at me with a mocking smile. “If you want to be luna so badly, you can head that way on your own strength… Aren’t you supposed to be just as worthy as strong, as powerful as Estella?”

He laughed again, his voice echoing through the air. Then, he vanished.

I stared after him for a long time. His words rang in my head, and I growled. Everyone was comparing me to Estella, but where had she been in all these years? I was the one who helped him with Sibyl. I went into Moon Shadow. I’ve been supporting Candido all these years as Pandora, and no one wants to acknowledge me.

I turned and looked down at the map.

They would all acknowledge me as the rightful luna, as Candido’s mate. I turned and started walking in the direction I had been before. The trees rustled around me and a group of vampires came out. They each looked at me and bared their fangs.

“Look at that… A roadway snack.”

I turned and ran. They laughed. I could hear them following me, laughing. Occasionally, they would jump out and scare me and I had to run a different direction. I kept running, knowing that if I just kept running that I would eventually get away from them enough for the forest to shift around me. Candido had to feel that I was endanger. He would make sure that I got away from these vampires somehow.

I screamed as one of them caught me in the back with a blade. I turned back as he licked his dagger and moaned.

“What an interesting taste,” he whispered. “Pure… without that tang that werewolves have.”

Another one leaned over to sniff the blood before taking a lick. She cooed.

“That is something different… I wonder what kind of werewolf she is…”

I pushed back, trying to get away from them. “Don’t come any closer. I—”

“You’ll what?” One of them asked, twirling his dagger. “Attack us without a weapon?”

He leered. “It would be easier for you if you just accepted your fate.”

They laughed, and I tried to get away from them, but they were so quick. The woman grabbed my arm and plunged her fangs into my forearm. One of the men wrenched my head aside and drank from my neck. The pain was overwhelming. I screamed. Tears streamed down my face.

Then, there were gunshots. I felt one of them hit my shoulder as the vampires hissed and screamed, turning to ash as the silver burned through me. The wound hurt, but it didn’t burn like it had before.

“Get the medical kit!” Someone cried, coming over to me. I heard their footsteps getting closer. “I think she’s alive.”

Someone lifted me up as my vision started to clear.

“Wait… isn’t she…”

I opened my eyes, and I saw Harper looking down at me with a huff. He let me go. I landed hard in the dirt as he reared back.

“Damn it! We should have just let them finish her off.”

“No one would have to know,” someone else said as I heard a gun cock. She pressed it to my head. “I could kill her right here and—”

“No,” Harper said.

That surprised me. I turned and looked up at him.

“We can’t betray ‘D like that,” Harper said. “We… We know how this will all end. It’s the one thing he’s asked of us. We can grant him that.”

“But—”

“We can’t understand someone like ‘D,” Harper said, shaking his head. “He’s… carried so much his whole life. Let him… Let him have this peace that we at least could give him this.”

He sighed and tucked his gun in his belt before crouching over me. He looked down at me with hard eyes.

“We’re not going to kill you,” he said. “But we damn sure aren’t helping you. You walk on your own and keep pace, or we leave you behind. Tend your own wounds.”

He pulled out a mirror and grimaced. I saw the cracks in the back of it.

“’D,” he said. “Your idiot blonde is out in the woods.”

I heard a deep sigh. “What? She shouldn’t be anywhere near where you are…”

My heart lightened. It was Candido! I struggled to sit up.

“Can’t say if she killed the camp, helped them get killed, or just ran away. She’ll be with us. I just wanted to let you know.”

I held my breath, waiting for Candido to give some more instructions, but all that came was another sigh.

“Okay. Be careful. As soon as you’re done, head out.”

“We’ll stick to the plan,” Harper said. “Do or die.”

He hung up and tucked the mirror in his pocket. He turned to the rest of them. “Let’s get going.”

“You can’t think that Candido would be okay with you not helping me.”

“’D knows how thin a layer of ice you’re on with us and anyone else who loved Van and Vanessa,” Harper said. His eyes flickered red. “Let alone Estella. Get up. I’m not saying it again. It’s his wish that we don’t kill you. He knows full well we’re not about to actively save you either.”

My jaw trembled, and I pushed onto my knees. “When I’m luna, you’ll regret this.”

“Pray I’m dead, or somewhere I won’t have to care,” Harper said. A wreath of moonlight drifted around him for a moment before they started to walk away from me.

I felt ridiculous, but if they were headed towards where Candido was, I had to follow even if all I wanted to do was sleep. Tears streamed down my face. I cried as I stumbled after them, trying to keep up with them.