Chapter Seventeen
Two days passed in a blur. Raven wouldn’t have even known it if it hadn’t been for the constant pain in his heart keeping him barely alive. He didn’t care about his own pain, all he could think about was that his precious Sophia was suffering—and because of him. He had let her down. He was supposed to keep her safe. They had a chance at a happy life; a life with a family, something he didn’t even think was possible. And now that he knew, it was torturing him. He couldn’t imagine what Sophia was thinking. He wished he could get to her, but he could barely move. And now they would both die—all because of him.
The door flew open. “Well, Brother. Have you made your choice?”
Maurie and Randolph approached him and pulled him to his knees. Raven could barely hold himself upright. “Don’t do this, Brother. I won’t join you. You will be forced to kill me. Can you really live with that?”
“I am not the one who betrayed our kind!” Griffin spat. “I am not the one who married the enemy and is now having a half breed. We cannot allow such an abomination. Father will not let that happen. He has been in Romania but is on his way here. It seems he too wants to be involved in destroying this pack.”
Raven smirked. “And does he know you plan to kill me?”
Griffin’s smile was dangerous. “He was the one who gave the order.”
Raven’s face fell. Could his father truly be that mad at him to actually order his execution? It seemed so. Pain, mixed with shock and disappointment filled him, suffocating him.
“So, what is your final decision? Are you joining us, or are you dying today?”
Raven slowly peered up at his once beloved brother, a sadistic smile creeping on his face. “It looks like I am dying.”
Anger, disbelief, and a twinge of sadness flashed through Griffin’s eyes before he straightened his shoulders, turned on his heels, and left the room. “Bring him,” he said before he disappeared from sight.
The two vampires picked him up by his arms and dragged him from the room. He spotted Cassie in the hallway, crouched down against the wall, crying. When they reached the top of the stairs, instead of carrying him down, they threw him. He rolled violently down the stairs, crashing hard to the floor below. He heard a woman scream. “Sophia,” he whispered just before everything went black.
Rose watched in horror as they lifted Raven’s limp body and carried it out the front door. They dragged her behind him, taking them into the center of the backyard and stopping in front of a huge tree. She watched with tears spilling from her eyes as they tied him to the big tree with chains covering his entire body. His head dangled loosely as though he was already dead, but Rose knew better. Raven was a fighter. He was the strongest man she knew. But studying him now made her heart lose hope. He looked like a shell of the man she loved; the vibrant and passionate man from only a few days ago. He was paler than she’d ever seen him. His long hair wasn’t silky and straight like usual, but messy, bloody, and plastered to his head. His lips were not the lovely shade of red as before but white, dry, and cracking. Things were looking so bad. She glanced up at the sky just as the sun began to appear. It wouldn’t be long before this part of the yard was drenched in sunlight.
She became desperate. “Please, Griffin. Please let us go. He’s your brother.”
“Silence! You know nothing of me, or what he has done to our family. He deserves this. He did this! Not me! And you are next! Tie her to that tree over there.” Then he smirked at her. “So she has a front row seat to the barbeque.”
She gasped and knew then that this man was pure evil.
Raven’s eyes flickered open but quickly shut. It felt like daggers were being shot through his skin. He tried again, forcing his dry eyes to open. It took him a moment to recognize where he was. But once he did, he filled with dread. He was tied to the huge tree in the backyard, and the now awakened sun was encroaching toward him very slowly. He heard whimpering and quickly scanned to find his Sophia tied to the opposite tree. “Sophia,” he tried to say, but his vocal cords were dried shut.
By her expression she appeared to know what he was trying to say. “Oh, Raven,” was all she said before succumbing to the tears.
It broke his heart to see her cry. He knew how helpless she must feel. He felt it himself. He made an attempt to break free but nothing happened. He tried again, but he was just making things worse. He felt like if he tried again his bones would snap. Raven heard laughter and turned to see his entire coven, along with many others he recognized from a fellow coven, seated under a constructed tent, safe from the rays of the sun.
“You can stop this anytime you feel like it, Raven. You can help us destroy the werewolves, or you can destroy yourself.”
Raven tuned him out. He knew Griffin was going to kill Sophia and the baby no matter his choice. He could not live without them—he would not. His choice was simple. If he did not have the strength to save her—he would die with her.
Raven peered over to Rose and their eyes locked, giving his heart a little more strength, though all hope was lost. They stayed that way for a long time; their eyes saying things their voices were too weak to say, until the encroaching sun finally reached his body. The intense power of the direct sunlight, and the lack of the healing blood he so desperately needed, caused the sun to begin to burn through the top layers of his skin. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out.
Chapter Eighteen
Rose screamed as she watched Raven’s body slowly begin to shrivel. Steam was creeping out from under his clothing.
“It wwwill be o-kay, Sophia. I-I—love—you,” he finally managed to force the words out. But she knew he was already too weak and the sun was too strong. He couldn’t hold his screams back any longer as he let out the most heart-wrenching, blood-curdling scream of agony. Rose could feel it all the way to her bones. Raven’s screams continued as his face sunk in and the moisture was sucked from his eye sockets. His head flopped forward as the steam surrounded and engulfed him.
“No!” Rose screamed. “Somebody help him! He’s dying!” she peered at the vampires huddled under the tent, safe from the sun, and lost all hope. They were enjoying the scene playing out before them. She turned back to look at Raven, his head still slumped forward in an awkward way. “Raven, I love you!” Her desperation quickly returned. “Somebody please help him! Raven, don’t leave me!” She struggled violently with the chains until they began to dig into her flesh and blood trickled down her limbs.
“Did somebody call for help?!” Eli’s voice penetrated the thick smoky air as a rumbling surrounded the yard. Then furry bodies burst from the forest with one mission in mind—total annihilation. Rose sighed, letting the tears fall as the relief flooded her heart. The werewolves had finally arrived, and the slaughter was about to begin.
Rose glanced over to Griffin, but instead of fear he displayed an arrogance that said he was prepared for this. He pulled out his phone and within seconds a dozen or more vampires poured out of the house. The last one was Maurie. She emerged from the door almost in slow motion, snatching her whips from her hips and slicing them through the air like a master. The sound was deafening. But, from the forest, the werewolves kept coming—and they were angry. At last count—forty-five. The vampires were outnumbered—again. And soon they would be no more. This thought brought a comfort to Rose like no other, but she would have to watch it all play out before help would come to her and Raven. But could he survive long enough? Did he even realize help had arrived?