Her father. She was talking about her father. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted her. The Cassius family is nothing but a bunch of traitors. I should have learned my lesson with Kane.

  “Do what?”

  “Hello, Hope.”

  I looked at a man that looked like he was probably only a decade older than Francesca. He didn’t at all look old enough to be her father. I guess that’s what happened in a family of born vampires.

  He didn’t look like I expected. I expected someone bigger and more menacing. He looked, well he looked like Kane, only he had lighter hair and was slightly taller than Kane.

  “Your Kane’s dad.”

  He smiled. “Yes. My son speaks very highly of you. It’s a pleasure.”

  “I wish I could say the same thing, but you have me trapped in a magic circle against my will.”

  “I like a girl with fire in her. You’ll fit in quite nicely with our family.”

  “Sorry?”

  What the hell was he talking about? I would never fit in with his family. I would do what I had to keep my friends and family safe, but I would never be a part of his demented circle.

  “I can see it now. You are going to love being one of us.”

  “I’ll never be one of you.”

  “But you will. Tonight.”

  My eyes darted to Francesca. She looked guilty. It was obvious she didn’t agree with whatever was about to happen tonight. “What’s he talking about, Francesca?”

  The next words that left her lips made my body go numb and my entire world stopped spinning.

  “He’s talking about turning you into a born vampire.”

  Chapter 27: Hayden

  I opened my eyes and I could tell right away I wasn’t in wolf form. Everything looked so much clearer when I was in wolf form.

  It was like watching TV on a 4K, only even more pristine and brighter. It was indescribable.

  No, I was definitely back to my human form. I had a jacket on top of me.

  I lifted my head. Kane was sitting on the floor looking at me.

  I glared at him and rolled my eyes. “What happened?”

  “Quite a lot actually.”

  I sat up, keeping the jacket covering me. I looked around. “Where’s Hope?”

  “Long gone.”

  “Where?”

  “With my father and my sister. Probably in a cemetery nearby. The amount of magic my sister needs, the moon won’t be enough. She’ll have to channel the dead and the dead are strongest in the cemetery.”

  “Okay, what the hell are you talking about?”

  He was speaking nonsense I didn’t understand. He looked like hell. He was sweating and the hair in the front was sticking to his forehead. My bite was killing him.

  “What’s that like? Being a wolf? It looks dreadful.”

  “So does drinking vampire blood.”

  He smiled. “It’s not so bad.”

  “What does your father want with Hope? And why are you still here?” I stood up and kept his jacket around me. I suddenly had a thought. “Did you see me naked?”

  “He wants her to join him, my bitch of a sister locked us in here with a barrier spell, and no. What kind of a man do you take me for? I might be evil, but I’m still a gentleman. Besides, nothing I’d want to see.”

  I snarled at him. “We’re stuck in here?”

  I walked towards the front door and confirmed his claim. We were stuck.

  “Told you.”

  “This is all your fault.”

  He looked forward at the floor. “Perhaps. I wanted my father’s acceptance for once in my life.”

  I couldn’t say I didn’t know how that felt. I tried to get my mother’s acceptance every day of my life. It’s hard to live up to such a perfect person.

  His eyes met mine. “You don’t know what it’s like to feel like you’re inadequate.”

  I didn’t respond and he nodded. “Well, maybe you do.”

  “Shut up!”

  He laughed, but the laughter caused a fit of coughs. He took a deep breath. He was dying.

  It didn’t make much sense. My blood would have cured him. If a vampire gets bit by a wolf, they have to find the wolf that bit them and feed on them. Even a drop of my blood and he would be fine.

  “Why didn’t you drink my blood? You could have already been healed.”

  Kane sighed. “Death doesn’t sound so bad right now. I’ve been betrayed by my whole family. Even my sister, who I never thought would side with our father. No matter what she wanted.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great. I’m stuck in here with a suicidal vampire. You sound pathetic.”

  He looked up at me. “Good to meet you kettle. You and I, we’re cut from the same cloth.”

  “We are nothing alike.”

  “Oh, but we are. I’m seen as lesser than my sister because she’s a hybrid witch vampire. You are too.”

  “No one sees me as lesser than Hope. Just because your psychopath father did that to you, doesn’t mean my dad will do that to me.”

  “You’ll always be lesser than Hope.”

  It was a thought constantly at the back of my mind. I pushed it away everyday. Now that I was getting closer to Hope, it made me feel bad to even think about it.

  I knew she didn’t feel that way. My half-sister was perfect, in every sense of the word. She was a way better person than me. That’s why I had to help her.

  I had to save my sister.

  The vampire continued his crazy rant. “Especially after my father finishes what he has planned for Hope tonight.”

  “What does he have planned?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He smiled to himself and closed his eyes. “I won’t be around to see it.”

  I hit him and he laughed. “Hey! What the hell does he have planned?”

  He looked up at me. “Hope’s about to experience an upgrade, so to speak.”

  Chapter 28: Hope

  Rex was making sure his vampires were securing the perimeter. We were in an unused section of a cemetery, which was creepy as hell and extremely fitting.

  Francesca was waiting for the moon to be at its highest point. She was going over something in her grimoire.

  Apparently the spell to turn someone into a born vampire was complicated. I didn’t even know that born vampires could be created through a spell. I guess the ritual wasn’t known to many witches.

  I had to try to get Francesca to help me. She was my only shot at surviving the night without becoming a vampire.

  “Please, Francesca, don’t do this.”

  She sighed. “I don’t have a choice.”

  “I thought you were a good person.”

  “I am. It’s not as if I’m killing you.” She stopped and thought about her words. “Technically, that will have to take place to complete your transformation after the spell.”

  My eyes widened. “Francesca!”

  “I’m making you stronger.”

  “Is that what you’re telling yourself to justify this?”

  “Hope, you will be the most feared vampire on this planet.”

  Were there vampires on other planets? That was something interesting I was going to have to ask my aunt. Something that didn’t matter right now. About to be turned into a vampire, Hope. Focus.

  “I don’t want to be feared. I just want to be me.”

  “Believe it or not, being feared is exactly what you need to keep your family safe. You’ll thank me, one day.”

  “I will never thank you for this! Never!”

  “I’m sorry, Hope.”

  “Now, now. There’s no need for apologies,” Rex said, coming back to the circle. “Hope, you’re going to have a wonderful future. I have great plans for you.”

  I glared at him. If I wasn’t in this circle containing my powers, I would try to set him on fire. “You’re a monster.”

  He smiled. “I’ve been alive a long time. In that time, I’ve learned a lot about people.” He looked into my eyes, his mouth going straight. “We’ve all got a little monster in us, Hope.”

  He walked over to Francesca. “Just a few more minutes and we can begin,” she said.

  Damn you, Francesca. Damn you, Rex Cassius. And damn the day the Cassius family came into my life.

  Chapter 29: Kane

  I felt more sweat drip from my forehead. The werewolf toxin was acting fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was dead by the end of the hour.

  I know many people fear death, but when you’ve been alive as long as me, you develop a yearning for it. At least I did.

  Eternity isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Death is peace, and I’ve never known peace.

  I opened my eyes and the werewolf was glaring at me. There was concern etched across her features though, which I found peculiar.

  “You’re so stupid,” she said.

  I laughed. “You’re a funny girl.”

  “I thought you care about Hope. That just completely went away when you became evil?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but I was always evil. I was just behaving.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “I don’t care what you believe.”

  She came and sat next to me on the floor. “No. You went to your father. You risked everything to try to protect Hope. I don’t buy that you don’t care about her anymore.”

  I closed my eyes and took a steadying breath. “And yet here we are.”

  “I think you care about her so much that you want this to happen. You want her to be a monster like you so that you don’t want to care about her anymore.”

  “It’s an interesting theory.”

  “Or maybe it’s because you like her and you want to spend eternity with her. Plenty of guys do.”

  I opened my eyes and looked at her in disgust. “I first laid eyes on Hope when she was a child. Don’t disgust me.”

  She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, pouting.

  I closed my eyes again.

  I wish I could say the dog was wrong. But she wasn’t.

  A part of me did still care for Hope. I couldn’t help it. From the day I saw her, she had this affliction on me. I felt for her. I felt terrible for the part my family had in her becoming an orphan.

  But most of all, I think I saw some of myself in her. She was defenseless and a victim to the world she’d been born into. It was hard not to see myself in her. Or at least the boy I used to be.

  That boy died long ago. All that was left was me, a hardened shell of an evil man.

  Hope had to turn.

  She would either die at my father’s hands or she would become what he wanted her to be. He wasn’t going to stop sending people after her. He wouldn’t give up. No, my father never gave up and he always got what he wanted.

  Hope would never live without fear of being hunted. At least as a vampire-werewolf-witch tribrid she would have a fighting chance.

  “Hope’s only chance at surviving is becoming as ruthless as my father. This has to happen.”

  “So you do care about her.”

  Stupid girl. “It’s just the wolf venom talking.”

  “Which I can fix for you, if you drink my blood.”

  I opened my eyes and looked into hers. “This world has offered me nothing but pain and misery. I think I’ll be glad to leave it behind.”

  “It sounds like taking the coward’s way out. I thought you were supposed to be some big, bad guy.”

  “Nice try. I’m immune to teenage thought provoking words.”

  “You’re an ass. You don’t care about Hope. Not if you let your father go through with this.”

  “I told you. This is her only…”

  “Chance? Yeah, keep telling yourself that. There’s another option. We can stop your father.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Maybe not for me. But I think you can stop your father. You just haven’t dared to go against him.”

  I never even dreamed of it.

  The repercussions would be lethal. If I failed, death would never come. I would live out the rest of eternity in agony, wishing for death but with it never coming.

  My father wasn’t a man that you crossed. Unless you could end him entirely.

  “Kane, Hope doesn’t want this, and I don’t think you want this for Hope. Deep down, you do care about her. Please, Kane, show me the guy that she seems to think still exists.”

  I looked at her, fighting to keep my eyes open.

  “Please, help me help her.”

  Chapter 30: Wyatt

  I ran ahead of the others.

  I had to know if Hope was okay. It took us tremendously too long for us to get to her.

  As soon as I got to the house that Melinda tracked her to I opened the front door and burst inside. “Hope?”

  I stopped when I saw Hayden and Kane sitting together. She was holding a piece of cloth to her wrist. She also wasn’t wearing anything, but a man’s jacket.

  I furrowed my eyebrows and chose not to ask what I walked in on. “Where’s Hope?”

  Hayden stood up first. “Thank God. It took you guys long enough.”

  “Again, where the hell is Hope?”

  “She’s with Rex and Francesca.”

  “Francesca?”

  “Yeah, she’s on team Rex now.”

  “That bitch.”

  “Yeah, and she trapped us in here. There’s a barrier spell up.”

  Kane stood up and fixed his shirt. He looked like shit. He came forward. “I hope you brought a witch. We’ll need one to get out of here.”

  I glared at him. “What makes you think I’d do anything to help get your ass out of here?”

  Melinda appeared beside me. “Where is she?”

  “Rex has her.”

  “Dammit.”

  Hayden looked at her in question. “Who are you?”

  She looked at Hayden. “You must be Hayden. Nice to meet you.”

  Kane smiled. “Melinda Sinclair. This is marvelous. I for one cannot wait to see Hope’s reaction to this.”

  I glared at him, prepared to run forward and try to tear his heart out.

  Hayden caught on and stood in front of him. “Easy. He’s gonna help. And we need him to find Hope.”

  I grinned. “He’s helping now? That’s convenient.”

  He nodded in agreement. “It is. For you.”

  “Where did he take her?” I said through gritted teeth.

  “I’m no fool. Bring down the barrier spell and I’ll take you.”

  “No,” Melinda said.

  “Then I won’t tell you where she is.”

  “Kane,” Hayden said.

  “I’m willing to help, but I won’t be made a fool. Let me out and I will lead you to my father. After all, none of you are strong enough to do what needs to be done.”

  “And what’s that?” Melinda said.

  Kane looked at her seriously. “It’s time Rex Cassius met his end.”

  “You’re going to kill your own father?” I said. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “He’s telling the truth,” Hayden said.

  “Look, I don't know what the hell is going on between you two, but you can’t trust every guy who gives you the time of day.”

  Hayden raised an eyebrow and let out a low growl. “For one, you’re a dick. For two, gross. Nothing happened between us. And for three, bite me.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  “He’s not lying. And right now he’s our fastest way to finding Hope. We can trust him.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I can’t be,” she said. “But Hope doesn’t have the time. We need to get to her before it’s too late.”

  “Fine,” Melinda said. “If you so much as breathe funny I’ll snap your neck.”

  Kane put two fingers up. “Scout’s honor, or whatever the hell it is.”

  “Also, one more thing,” Hayden said.

  “What?”

  “I need clothes.”

  Chapter 31: Hope

  Francesca cut her hand and let the blood drip into the cauldron.

  She turned to her father. “I need her blood.”

  Rex came towards me with a knife.

  I stepped back. “Stay the hell away from me.”

  He smiled and walked to the outskirts of the circle. In one swift motion he stabbed my arm with the knife and pulled away with a blood soaked knife.

  I screamed out in pain and held onto the spot where he stabbed me.

  It would heal quickly, but it still hurt like hell.

  He went back to Francesca and handed the knife to her.

  She held it over the cauldron and let the blood drop into the concoction.

  She closed her eyes and began to say the spell. It was in a language I hadn’t studied yet.

  Wind started to erupt inside of the circle. The sky turned red and lightning struck.

  I suddenly felt like I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

  I fell forward and grabbed onto the ground.

  Please, someone help me.

  Francesca chanted louder, the ground beneath her glowing. She was channeling power from the earth.

  Rex watched me struggle. It felt like my head was going to explode. This was it. This was how my tragic life was going to end. It was fitting when I thought about it.

  And then, it all stopped. The wind stopped blowing and the mind crushing headache went away.

  I looked up and Francesca was opening her eyes. She looked at me. “It’s done.”

  That was it? I guess it wasn’t very hard to turn someone into a born vampire.

  Rex grabbed the knife and looked at me. “Only one more step.”

  He walked towards me. I crawled to the other side of the circle. I had to fight him. I had to stop him. I had to do something.

  I couldn’t let him turn me into one of them.

  I loved Wyatt and Christian, but I didn’t want to be a vampire.

  “Touch me and I will kill you.”

  Rex laughed. “You truly are something, Hope Sinclair.”

  Kane suddenly appeared in front of Rex and pressed something into his chest. Rex let out a startled breath and looked into his son’s eyes.

 

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