Templar Vampires - Midnight Sun Part 28

Though she was covered with blood, he saw her throat already mended. The gash was now a scar, faded as if from time, death taking the newness of it. The flush was gone from her, leaving her pale. With her lips parted, he saw the tips of two razor-sharp fangs.

And then her eyes slowly opened. Gone was the vivid green they'd been. They glowed with the eerie silver radiance of her immortality.

No longer alive. Not dead. Caught between both realms of existence. She would walk the night outside of G.o.d's grace. As much as he felt like a monster to have done this to her, Constantine couldn't havestood by and watched her die. Not when he heard her in his mind begging for life.

He gave her the only life he could, even though it was one of death.

Allie came out of a hard sleep sharply. Dizzy and disoriented, she sat up slowly, her body free of pain, and ran her hands through her hair to get the b.l.o.o.d.y ma.s.s away from her face. Her mind was jumbled and her body felt different. Too different.

She wasn't breathing nor was her heart beating, and she couldsee . Her gaze cut right through the darkness, saw too far for a mere human. She possessed the sight of a predator.

Still trying to focus, make sense of what she was feeling, she listened to the sounds of the night all around her. The rustling of the leaves on the trees, the gentle sway of the blades of gra.s.s, and the beating hearts of the animals scurrying in the woods-all of it she heard as if it were as loud as thunder in her ears Slowly gaining her orientation, she looked over at Constantine, who was watching her intently.More than merely seeing him, shefelt him like they were one being. His thoughts and emotions wrapped around hers, blurring the line that separated them. His life played out in her head in a flash of sights and sounds and pain.

Over almost as quickly as it began, she stared at him in wonder, a catch in her throat when she realized what happened to him in his past to make him into who he was tonight.

He nodded his head curtly; acknowledging what took place in her. In his eyes she saw her own life played out for him as well.

She opened her mouth and touched her teeth. She fingered the fangs that took the place of her human incisors and looked to Constantine in amazement.

"I'm dead," she whispered.

Constantine nodded and she whimpered with dread.

Raphael went to move toward her but Allie jumped up with a quickness and agility that surprised her, used to only the limitations of human immortality.

Her mind cleared, the events of the night playing out on a sudden flood of images behind her eyes. She shook her head to dispel the flas.h.i.+ng visions. That's when she heard the clash of steel that overrode all other sounds.

"Sebastian..." His name was torn from her as she worked her dead vocal cords.

"Still in the house," Constantine told her.

Not needing to hear more, Allie looked to the house, sensing Sebastian's anguish. When she went to make a move toward the house, Constantine clamped a hand on her arm. She shook it off with a strength that surprised them both. She retrieved Constantine's dagger and turned the blade on them.

"He killed me," she spat. "I'll not leave Sebastian to fight this alone."

Without waiting for them, she raced toward the house, feeling they weren't far behind. Bursting through the door, Allie raced up the stairs and skidded to a halt in the doorway where Sebastian and Daniel were still locked in battle, awestruck at the scene playing out within the room. Her brave and beautiful warrior needed no help from her.

Her senses filled with him, she knew he fought to avenge her. He believed her dead, and nothing was going to keep him from ending Daniel and sending him straight to Lucifer where he belonged.

Daniel was a good fighter-better than good actually. His determination lent him the strength and skill to go toe to toe with a Templar. Still, he was no match for Sebastian, who fought with vengeance of his side.

When Daniel swung his sword high, Sebastian jumped back. "You're getting sloppy, Daniel." Sebastian smiled coolly, jabbing his blade into the renegade's left thigh. "Can you feel him? Can you feel Lucifer standing at your back, ready to drag you down to h.e.l.l?"

Daniel grabbed at his bleeding thigh. "f.u.c.k you, Templar. I'm going to put you down like a dog."

In answer, Sebastian stabbed him in his right thigh. "Give it a go then."

Daniel charged, their blades clas.h.i.+ng as Sebastian parried his expert attack. Nearly matched in skill, albeit not in strength, they danced around the room, as their swords met again and again. The sound of steel against steel rattled the very foundation of the house.

Unfortunately for Daniel, Sebastian fought with fires of vengeance fueling him. It woke the savagery in Sebastian that lay dormant since the days when he fought on the sands of the Holy Land with G.o.d at his back as he ran the ground red with blood in His name.

Daniel swung his blade up, thinking to catch Sebastian across the middle to render him incapacitated, which would give him the upper hand to go in for the kill. Sebastian however, was faster, able to grab his hand and twist it until the bone in his arm snapped. The sword clattered to the floor and Sebastian kicked it away. He used the hilt of his own sword to deliver a hard blow to the renegade's face. Blood burst from his nose when it broke. As Daniel fought his hold on him, Sebastian pulled on the broken arm.

Holding it out, he hacked at it with his sword. Daniel's agonized howl as his arm was severed echoed throughout the house.

The arm evaporated into dust as Daniel stumbled back. Sebastian prevented him from getting far by grabbing him by the front of his s.h.i.+rt. The renegade's eyes were wide with horror, seeing his own deathreflected in Sebastian's crazed eyes.

"I'm going to take you apart piece by miserable piece and leave you for the f.u.c.king sun."

Daniel swallowed down his terror, his eyes narrowing on Sebastian as a slow smile split his b.l.o.o.d.y face.

"Do your worst, Templar."

Sebastian, mad with grief, grabbed the renegade's other arm with the intent to make good on his promise to hack him to pieces.

Daniel, the slippery b.a.s.t.a.r.d, proved agile. He yanked his arm free with a force that pulled the shoulder clean from the socket. He ducked the blow and dropped to the floor to retrieve his sword. Sebastian sidestepped the swipe of Daniel's blade. He brought his sword down with such brute force he sliced Daniel's right thigh almost completely off. If Daniel hadn't jumped away he'd be less another appendage.

Of course, Sebastian wasn't finished with him yet.

Blood was everywhere, most Daniel's, some her own, Allie realized as the scent came at her in a rush, filling her, calling her, whispering the promise of life. With his leg nearly severed through, useless, Daniel had no balance when he swung his blade at Sebastian.

Sebastian stepped back, easily countering the sloppy attack. He swung around, the cross pattee glinting blood-red. He drew the sword around hard, catching Daniel across the left leg. The sword cut clean, taking the leg, which exploded into dust.

Daniel fell to the floor, his screams of agony a horrible sound that cut right through Allie's brain Sebastian's sword still poised in the air, ready to come down and take Daniel apart piece by miserable piece. Yet he refrained, unable to extract such revenge. Such were the ways of the renegades or the Obyri, not a Templar.

Allie was gone, lost to him. She was with G.o.d now, home, and that knowledge was what brought Sebastian back to his oath. If he lowered himself to a renegade's level, or worse, an Obyri's, there'd be no going back. If he allowed himself to be consumed by grief, to start down that road, it would lead him right to h.e.l.l.

The road would take him further and further away from Allie, until the possibility of ever seeing her again became a brutal reality he couldn't bear.

"You took from me. Now I take from you."

Sebastian pressed the blade of his sword against Daniel's neck. The renegade choked out an unintelligible sound that sounded more like a cry than an actual word. In one clean swipe, he opened the vampire's neck enough that his head nearly came clean off. Daniel's hands went to his throat and he fell back. Before he hit the floor, the renegade ended in an explosion of dust.

Sebastian killed him clean and quick, the way a Templar ended his enemies. His empty, victorious battle cry was filled with enough pain to make the angels weep.

The sword slipped from his grip and he dropped down to his knees, b.l.o.o.d.y tears running in rivulets down his face. Dropping his head in his b.l.o.o.d.y hands, Sebastian felt an emptiness that ran through him colder than death. She was gone. His Allie. His beautiful, funny, brave girl. His suns.h.i.+ne. Gone.

He clawed at his chest as a terrible agony tore through him over the place where his heart sat still behind his ribs. He wanted to rip the dead thing out and make the hurt stop.

Nothing had ever caused him such agony as the loss of Allie. Not the three years of imprisonment in Chinon. Not being burned to death, not even having Michael tear his soul from him. Only the loss of his suns.h.i.+ne hurt with the force of a million blades slicing through him.

Then he heard her voice, reaching him through his anguish. Already he was losing his mind.Jesus Christ , was he to suffer an eternity of madness to go along with his grief?

"Sebastian?"

Her voice came from right behind him. He didn't dare turn around. He didn't want to face the truth that it was his own mind talking to him. Still, he pushed himself from the floor and slowly turned. She stood behind him, b.l.o.o.d.y, pale, alive, her beautiful brown eyes silver with immortality.

"Oh G.o.d..."

Not alive.

Pallid, death having robbed her of the glow of life. Silver eyes watched him intently. Fangs peeked out from behind parted lips. Constantine's dagger was gripped in her hand. She was covered in blood, soaking her clothes, her hair.

A scar ran ear to ear, the mark of her death.

When he went to take a step toward her, his legs threatened to drop him back down to his knees. His body was numb with disbelief as he raked his hungry gaze over her from head to feet.

"My G.o.d, Allie, what have you done?"

She reached out to him, moving with fluidity. He came close enough to touch her but he didn't, afraid if he put his hand on her she would fade away. But when her tiny hand came to rest on his cheek, he knew she was real. She was still warm. Her soul thrived within her, giving her a warmth Sebastian would never know.

"I died."

Finally, he dared to touch her. Sebastian wiped at the blood on her neck. Putting his hand on her chin, he turned her head to the side, hissing when he saw the two small puckered scars where she was bitten and drained, literally, to death.

"Oh G.o.d, Allie, I failed you."

She placed her hands on his cheeks, her thumbs smearing away his tears of blood. "No, Sebastian, you did everything to protect me. This was Fate."

His fingers trailed over her mouth. He lifted her top lip, taking in the sight of her fangs. "Why did you do it, suns.h.i.+ne?" She smiled sadly. "I wasn't ready to leave you."

They'd come so far so fast yet it seemed like only yesterday he was doing everything he could to avoid her. Now, he couldn't imagine one moment without her.

"I wasn't ready to have you leave."

Sebastian didn't need to ask who turned her. He felt the strength of the Dragon inside her. They were bonded now, their blood mixed. He was glad it was Constantine who turned her. He was strong, strong enough to have resisted the temptation of her soul. If it had been anyone else, even Raphael-the thought wasn't even one he could entertain.

If her soul would have been taken and she turned, she'd be enslaved to her Blood-Sire. Much the same way the Templars were to G.o.d. She'd be no more his than if he'd never known her at all-or rather if she never knewhim. He'd go on suffering with love and she would travel through eternity with what they'd shared nothing more than a pleasant dream slowly fading with every pa.s.sing night.

Needing to feel her in his arms, he grabbed her roughly and gathered her in a fierce embrace. He never wanted to let her go.

Her heartbeat was gone. He felt no life left in her. Yet her soul thrived. The force of it radiated from her, too strong to be extinguished.

When she laid her cheek against his chest, he ran his hand down her hair. "I couldn't bear the thought of this world without you in it."

Her hand came to rest on his chest, right over the scar where Michael killed his heart. "I saw Christian as I was dying. He told me it wasn't my time. He made me fight for you when I was ready to give in to death."

He doubted she realized she'd stood on the very edge of life, peered right into the eyes of death and came back for him.Him . If he ever needed to be reminded that she was a gift from G.o.d, a true miracle, all he had to do was remember what she gave up to come back to him.

"I'm sorry you lost Heaven, Allie."

She shook her head. "No, baby, I didn't lose Heaven. Without you, it would have been h.e.l.l."

A knot of emotion tightened in his chest, nearly made his heart feel as if it was kick-started back to life.

"I love you, Allie. I'll love you until the stars burn out." He gave her a long, hard kiss. "And then I'll love you more."

Her arms came around his waist. She looked at him, her eyes glowing with immortality. "Then show me the night, Sebastian."

The night.

It's where he was cursed to dwell, yet with Allie at his side, it wasn't as dark as it had been before she came bursting into his existence. Her spirit and her love was a midnight sun that led him out of the darkness and brought him back into the light. Showed him what it was to love. He would show her the night and she would give him Heaven.

Epilogue.

Allie found being a vampire in the Templar's world was definitely a h.e.l.l of a thing. She figured it would take her lifetimes to get used to.

Hopefully she had plenty of those stretching before her to share with Sebastian.

A month pa.s.sed since the night she died and Sebastian set aside time each night to whisper to her the secrets of the ages. Stories unfolded in vivid detail as he described his life as a man and the centuries as a vampire. He told her of Michael and what it was like to face an archangel. He'd met many prominent historical figures; his life-and death-played out like one long history lesson.

He'd led an incredible life, even after he died.

With patience she was sure only he would show her, he answered her every question about the world, history, and most of all, the Templar Order. Not a night went by when she didn't tease him and the Templars that she was going to call the History Channel and spill the beans on all those mysteries the scholars of the world were dying to know.

The hardest part of her new existence was getting over her reluctance to feed, but once the hunger hit for the first time she got over that reservation right quick.

It hurt.Bad. If she had to imagine what it felt like to have her insides torn out, that was exactly it. Not to mention with it came a thirst that turned her mouth into sand. Never up for that party again, she made sure to feed as soon as the bloodl.u.s.t hit her, surprised she wasn't repulsed by biting a human and drinking from them. As a matter of fact, it felt completely natural.

When the dust settled after the fight Allie was terrified she was a renegade now. Sebastian a.s.sured her she was far from one of them. The blood of a Templar flowed through her, which shot her to the top of the nocturnal food chain.

With Sebastian to guide her through the night, she was adjusting to her new life-or rather, her death-surprisingly well. She still found it strange to have no heartbeat and breath, but slowly, she was coming to terms with it all.

They all resided at Seacrest Castle now, even Lex, who was the sole drop of life among the dead. Here they would stay until the Daystar was found.

Not only was Seacrest a ma.s.sive stone fortress, Tristan had a state of the art security system installed years ago. Every year he had it upgraded with the latest technology. Basically, nothing, alive or dead, was getting past the gatehouse unless Tristan wanted them to.

The only missing piece to their odd family was Lucian.

As long as he was lost somewhere out there, the Templars wouldn't rest until they found him.