Jack was staggered; Max took a threatening step forward but Jack jerked him back as Gideon’s eyes focused harshly on him. “I never agreed to that. I would never allow such a thing!” Jack shouted.

“She knew that, it’s why she came to me.”

Jack felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach. A low curse escaped him as he released Max’s arm. “My daughter will not be sacrificed in this!” David snapped.

“Your daughter has already been sacrificed for the greater good. You have already agreed that she wouldn’t want us doing anything reckless, that winning this war is far more important than any one life.”

“She has not been sacrificed!”

“Caleb has her in his possession. She may be alive, but you must face the fact that she will not come out of there the same. Caleb is not Braith; he will not be kind, especially if he has any idea how much Braith may care for her.”

“Jesus Gideon,” Jack muttered. He wished the vampire had one ounce of tact and decorum in him. Gideon didn’t understand the close bonds between these people, much as Jack hadn’t when he’d arrived to spy on them. However Gideon had to understand that though Braith and David had backed off, for now, they wouldn’t stay that way if they were pushed.

David was as white as a ghost, William and Daniel remained quiet, but their faces had become nearly as pale as their father’s. “Your daughter was strong enough to realize that her life isn’t worth the lives of so many others, including yours. You should be strong enough also. If Braith ever found out about our agreement, my life would be forfeit too. I was willing to accept that, and I still am if it becomes necessary.”

Jack groaned; he was tempted to rip Gideon’s tongue from his relentless mouth. For a moment Jack thought David was going to fall over, and then he rounded on his sons. “You knew what she intended!” he exploded.

“Not this much of it,” William admitted as he glared at Gideon. “But we knew she proposed to leave after the war. I was going to go with her.”

“And you? Were you going to leave also?” David demanded of his eldest.

Daniel shook his head. “No, I intended to stay.”

“This was the only option dad,” William said softly.

“Letting her die is an option?”

“We didn’t know about that part.” William’s gaze flickered resentfully to Gideon again. “But I suspected Aria might do something this drastic if it became necessary to sever her bond with Braith.”

“The needs of many outweigh the needs of one, or two.”

“For God’s sake Gideon, shut up!” Jack yelled at him when all of the humans turned to glower at Gideon.

“And Braith, what of him?” Max inquired.

“He can’t know about this, any of this.” Ashby moved from the shadows. He face was hollow, and ashen, but his shoulders were set in determination. “I know better than any of you what the two of them are going through, but Braith cannot know about this plan. He’ll destroy us all, he’ll storm that palace with little thought to anyone else, and he’ll get them both killed in the process.”

“You know that I disapprove of this whole situation more than anyone, but what do you think is going to happen to him when this is over? What will happen to him if Aria dies? In case you haven’t noticed he’s a little unstable right now, and she’s still alive,” Max retorted.

“And in case you didn’t notice he still chose the right path. Braith has been raised since birth to be a leader, he’ll be unsteady in the beginning, but reason and centuries of preparation will eventually win out.” Max’s lips compressed, his gaze turned to the woods as Gideon continued to speak. “Especially if there’s no way for him to get her back.”

“I’m not going to let you kill my daughter!” David exploded.

“Are you telling me your daughter is a stronger person than you are?”

David’s hands fisted as he began to shake. “Gideon stop talking!” Jack snapped. He stepped forward to block David if he flew off the handle and attempted to attack Gideon. “I am not going to let that happen, David.” He shot a pointed look at Gideon. “I never agreed to Aria dying. I will take her; I will keep her safe…”

“I thought he could track her anywhere if his blood was inside her,” Max interrupted.

“We’re hoping that diluting his blood with that of another vampire, probably the three of us in order to confuse Braith further, will help with that.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Don’t!” Jack thrust a finger at Gideon when he opened his mouth to speak again. Gideon glowered at him but remained silent. “We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“You’re not promising to keep her alive.”

“I will keep her safe,” Jack vowed. “I swear it. She’s important to me as well.”

David was shaking his head, “So her life is sacrificed no matter what.”

“None of us like it,” Ashby agreed. “At all. This was not an easy decision and it was not made carelessly.”

Max stared blankly at him for a moment before turning to Gideon. “I don’t trust you.”

Gideon lifted an eyebrow as he quirked his head in a small nod. “Fair enough, I’m not exactly certain about you either, but you must realize that we’re not doing this to be cruel. You heard what Calista said, they will not accept her as a human. They admire her, hell, even I admire the girl, but admiration does not make her a vampire.”

David turned away; he walked to the edge of the clearing where he leaned tiredly against a tree. “She’s my daughter, she deserves happiness. I want happiness for her, more than anything.”

“We all do dad but they’re right, Aria’s right, there are some times when our wants no longer matter,” Daniel said softly.

David wouldn’t look at them; Jack could smell the scent of tears in the air as his head bowed and his shoulders shook slightly. “If she is to leave after so be it, but we have to get her soon. She can’t be kept in there…”

“We’ll get to her soon,” Jack promised.

Max shook his head ardently. “No, now. You didn’t see what Caleb was doing to her; I don’t think he’ll keep her alive…”

“He’ll keep her alive,” Jack asserted.

“He was draining her!”

David finally turned away from the tree, tears didn’t streak his face but his eyes were watery. “He’ll keep her alive,” Jack insisted.

“How can you be so certain?” Max demanded impatiently.

“Because he’ll smell Braith on her, in her. He won’t kill her.”

“So he’ll just torture her?” Max accused. Jack’s eyes flitted nervously to David as he stepped away from the tree. William and Daniel were beginning to shake as their jaws clenched and a muscle jumped in William’s cheek. “Abuse her? I know that you’re one of them Jack, but you have no idea what goes on in there from our viewpoint. Aria was lucky last time, but by all accounts Caleb is a sadistic son of a bitch.”

“We will get her back,” Jack assured him.

“Braith has to know what Caleb is doing to her. He has to be aware of everything before he makes the decision to wait,” Max insisted.

“I’ll break your neck before I allow you to tell him that,” Gideon vowed.

“Jesus Gideon shut the fuck up!” Jack barked in frustration. “Max, we can all guess at what might be happening, but you can’t just go and shove it in his face. He may think he knows, may think he realizes it, but if you confirm it, there will be no stopping him. If there is to be any chance of getting her back alive we have to do this right.” Max looked away from Jack. “You can’t tell him what you know; we’ll lose them both if you do.”

“I don’t like this.”

“None of us do but I need your word that you won’t do anything reckless, yours too William.” He added with a pointed look in William’s direction.

“I won’t,” Max muttered resentfully.

William shifted uncomfortably, his jaw locked and unlocked before he bowed his head and reluctantly voiced his agreement. “I’ll do what Aria would have wanted me to do. I won’t ruin our chances of succeeding.”

Relief flowed through Jack and his shoulders slumped slightly. He studied Gideon as he contemplated whether or not he should tell the vampire that he didn’t believe any of their plans would work, or that the only reason Braith was even remotely sane right now was because she was still alive. He decided to remain quiet though, he didn’t trust how Gideon might react if he realized that there would be no separating them.

Chapter 3

There was a sensation in her fingers that she often associated with warming up too fast after being out in the cold for too long. A sharp tingling that woke her from the darkness that had claimed her for an unknown amount of time. Her heart seemed sluggish; it ached as it worked to pump blood through her body.

She was dying, she was certain of it.

She didn’t want to die. She’d told Gideon she would, but now she was terrified by the possibility. She’d meant the words when she’d said them to Gideon, but that was when her death would have been quick. That was when it would have been for others, for her family. There was no reason for her to die now. For the first time in years she felt like a child, she felt every bit of her seventeen years, and she longed for more of them.

Mostly she wished she could have said goodbye to Braith and her family.

Her tears were cool against her already icy flesh as they slid down her cheeks. “She’s awake.”

She hadn’t realized that there were others in the room. She was ashamed of herself for crying but she couldn’t lift her hand to wipe them away. Aria didn’t have it in her to face Caleb right now. Even under Braith’s protection she’d been fearful of Caleb, terrified of the cruelty the middle brother radiated, and now she was his to do with as he pleased. “Give it to her.”

The other voice was unfamiliar to her, but she didn’t have time to ponder it as hands seized her hair. A small cry escaped her, but she was able to hold most of it back as she was hauled up from the floor. She didn’t have time to take in her surroundings as something metal was thrust between her lips and her head was tilted harshly back. The vile taste hit her, causing an explosive reaction to erupt from her. She struck out at the hands holding her as the thick liquid was forced down her throat. She gurgled, choked, but her head was kept tilted back. The liquid pooled against the back of her throat till she was finally forced to swallow.

Bile surged up her throat, tears unwillingly burst free of her eyes as more was forced down her throat. Once, when she was a child, she’d eaten a handful of berries that she’d mistakenly thought were blueberries. They’d been bitter, foul; the taste alone had made her vomit. But this, this was worse. She’d gladly eat those revolting berries again before swallowing one more drop of the viscous liquid spilling down her throat.

She was abruptly released. Her head was thrust forward; she staggered but was unable to keep her balance. Falling back to the floor, her shoulders heaved as she panted, choked, and dry heaved. Her stomach twisted into knots, tears blurred her vision. She felt as if she were dying even as heat began to spread through her numb limbs, even as strength gradually returned to her weakened extremities. Sobs stuck in her chest, a new anguish twisted through her body as she realized what it was they had given her.

Blood. Caleb’s blood.

It had tasted nothing like Braith’s. Braith’s was sweet and soothing when it filled and strengthened her, it was right in so many ways. Though Caleb’s blood had renewed some of her strength, it felt hideously wrong in her body, it didn’t belong there and although her body was absorbing its healing properties, it was also revolting against the influx. A scream built inside of her, she had the unreasonable urge to rip her own skin off in order to release the blood that didn’t belong there.

She was shaking. Her hands wouldn’t sit still on the hard floor as they jumped and danced over the marble beneath her. She tried to steady herself, but it felt as if she were no longer in her own body, but in someone else’s entirely.

This was only the beginning of the suffering to come. Caleb could do this to her over and over again, and he would, because her reaction had just revealed how appalling his blood was to her, how miserable it made her feel.

“Apparently someone only likes big brother’s blood.”

Aria’s eyes flew open. For the first time fury and indignation tore through her. Her eyes narrowed as they focused upon Caleb, her jumping fingers curled into her palms. He appeared unreasonably dignified in his refined clothes as he smirked at her. He was somewhat shorter than Braith, but broader through the chest and shoulders. His dark hair tumbled in waves around his face; his green eyes would have been pretty if they weren’t so icy. Caleb’s nose was a little larger than Braith’s, his lips thinner, but there was no mistaking that they were related.