Page 13 of Hunted on Halloween

Right, that was one more revelation for which she wasn’t ready.

“Your mother wasn’t a vampire?” Fire queen and vampire didn’t seem to go together in her mind.

“No, witchling, she wasn’t. She was a fire witch, which you are going to be too. Well, you’re going to be a fire witchling.” He placed a kiss on her forehead and rubbed her back, listening to her breathing. “What scared you that you woke up screaming and how did you receive my mother’s fire?” The feeling of her in his arms made him want to growl. He refused to let her go.

“We have to get up.” She started pulling at him. “We can’t stay here. Everything, everyone, they’re about to die. They’re about to die!” She lost it thinking of everyone lifeless.

“Calm down, witchling, and tell me what happened.” She took deep breaths until she was finally breathing in sync with Tieran.

“I met this being, neither male nor female. They were an extremely beautiful being who called themselves Mael, but that’s what they wanted to be called today. Tomorrow, they might be somebody or something else.”

“My father spoke of them fondly, but I never had the chance to meet them.” Tia could feel Tieran’s mouth twitch in a smile as he talked about them.

“I’m fairly sure I met your dad too, although he didn’t give me a name. He looked like you, just bulkier.”

“That sounds like my dad.” It didn’t surprise him that his dad found a way to escape the dying world. Now, if only he and his people could do the same. “In features we look a lot alike, but in body I take after my mother.”

“The fire queen,” she said, and he just nodded his head, looking at her. They said there will never be another Hallo; that this is the last one.”

She gulped and rubbed her eyes. Talking of wide scale destruction made her feel sick. “When the world that you now inhabit is destroyed, this world will be destroyed too. Because, as you’ve already proved, you’re in sync with it.” Tieran threw back his head and laughed.

“I bet those necrotechs had no idea that when they destroyed their world and took over ours, that when their world died, everything would die. How long do we have, Witchling, before the whole thing goes kaboom?”

“Are you crazy, Tieran? We need to stop this together somehow, some way. We must find a way to save this world.”

“Why, Witchling? Your people have condemned my people to death. Why shouldn’t I condemn them to that same death?”

“You don’t get it.” She pulled away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. “If you die, we die,” she shouted. “But it doesn’t end there. Because if we die, you die.” She started rocking and thinking fast. “Nobody lives without the other. Either we all live, or we all die. Is that clear enough for you?”

“To save my people, I must save yours?”

“Hell to the yes, that’s what I’m talking about. It’s either all or none. So, which will it be?”

Tieran slid out of bed, and Tia couldn’t stop looking at his naked body. It wasn't like they had time to do anything. The rest of this night had to be about saving both of their people. But damn, if only she had the time.

“Are you with me, or are you against me?” She held her breath because it was a... shaking her head she wasn’t sure what to say. She knew it was a real possibility that he might decide to let it all burn. And she couldn’t blame him. In his position, she might do the same thing.

“You deserve to live, witchling. And the female who gave you birth. But that’s it. The rest of them, the necrotechs, the ignorant people who stole our world and condemned us for becoming the cursed people we are. They don’t deserve to live.” He took several deep breaths, calming himself down.

“But my people deserve to live. They didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t go looking for trouble. It came for them, as it so often does. So yes, I’m with you, but do you understand what that means?” He tilted his head to look at her.

Tia took in a deep breath. His navy-blue eyes were shooting darts, but not at her, at the people he considered to be enemies.

“I know what it means. We shall share this world together.”

“It sounds nice when you say it, but that’s not what it really means. It means that this is our world. This world responds to us. And yes, we will allow the humans to stay because unlike them, we will not condemn them to death. But we will not be slaves on our own world.”

Tia felt the butterflies in her stomach grow teeth and start gnawing at her insides. She knew her people well enough to know that they thought they deserved this world.

“We will not allow ourselves to be condemned or walked upon. Just because we don’t look like you, the precious few, does not mean we will allow ourselves to be ostracized. Can you handle that, witchling?”

“I’m not the one you need to worry about. It’s the rest.” She tried to protest.

“No,” he cut her off. “You’re the only one I’m worried about.” He flashed her a dark look that made her thighs squeeze close. “So again, I ask, can you handle that, witchling?”

Tia almost hit the floor and not the chair by her closet when she realized what he was asking her. She was making the decision right now for millions, maybe billions, of people whoinhabited Earth. They would live or die based on what she said she could handle.

That didn’t seem fair, but she didn’t think her vampire cared one bit about what was fair. How could she blame him for not caring about what the others would feel? She was the only one who mattered to him. And to a degree, she loved that simple fact.

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