Thicker than Blood

26. Elias

CHAPTER 26

Elias

I can barely contain the chaotic emotions running through me right now. I’ve found a consort. Could there be anything more satisfying? For the first time in centuries, the future excites me once again.

With my hand wrapped around Geordi’s, I lead him down the hall to a private room I haven’t visited in quite some time. I created it with this very scenario in mind—a place to indulge in my lover’s blood as I steal his soul and make it mine for eternity. I didn’t count on feeding the voyeur in me at the same time.

Benicio trails behind us, dragging a distraught Tristan. It’s a shame such beauty has to be destroyed, but he brought it on himself.

“You have to kill him, right?” Geordi asks, as if he’s reading my thoughts.

“Yes. He’s a traitor and he’ll try again. Especially now.”

“But… he won’t be able to hurt me after you turn me.”

I lift the hand I’m holding to my lips and kiss it. “Yes, he will. We are nearly immortal, but there are ways and he knows them. Fisher is dead. It’s possible.”

“Right. My dad.” He blows out a breath. “Will I find it easier after you turn me? Will death mean something different?”

“Will it be easier? I don’t know. Some of us cling to our lingering humanity while others don’t. Will death be different to you? Very much so. Death is not to be feared, and human life is so fragile it’s hardly worth worrying about. Besides, despite what many mortals have chosen to believe about what happens when they die, it’s really quite simple.”

“What happens?”

“One of two things. If you did good things, tried your best, and did no harm, your soul is released into the universe, absorbed once again by the stars. It spreads across galaxies, its bits and parts ready to fall back to earth in the form of a new mortal someday. It’s peaceful.”

“That sounds amazing. What’s the second option?”

“Darkness. The underworld—a place where the souls of the evil or the lost go. It’s not at all the way it’s been described by human-constructed religions and theories. It’s its own realm with its own rules. There, the souls roam, unable to return to the stars or a new mortal existence. They exist in a state of confusion, unaware of where they are, how they got there, or why they can’t go back. Can you imagine feeling lost and confused for eternity?”

“No. It sounds awful.”

“It is. I visited once.”

“You can visit it?”

“An immortal can, yes. A mortal soul cannot.”

“I have, like, a million questions now.”

I chuckle, squeezing his hand. “Of course you do, my curious little treasure. I’ll take you some day, though I must warn you, it’s not at all pleasant. By design.”

“Right. What happens if a vampire dies?”

My reaction to his question is visceral, and I shudder. “Worse than darkness. We become trapped between life and death, stuck between realms with no escape. Mortals call them ghosts or spirits, but it’s not that at all. It’s not your grandfather or your aunt Betty. Those stuck souls are forced to endure, interacting with the living, but only to an extent. They can no longer smell or taste or touch, only see.” I pause in front of the door. “There is nothing worse.”

Geordi gazes up at me with fear in his eyes. “It sounds awful.”

“It’s a trade we make, whether consensually or not. To enjoy an eternal existence, the universe must be paid in some way. It’s balance.” Pulling him close, I smile. “But don’t you worry. That will not be our fate. I’ll keep you safe, and you’ll keep me safe.”

He nods. “I will.”

I look past my beautiful man to Benicio, my expression hardening when my gaze lands on Tristan. “Bring him in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Geordi leans into me. “Tristan knows all of this, doesn’t he?”

“He was well aware of the consequences he risked.”

“That will be Tristan’s fate. The place between worlds.”

“Yes.”

Geordi straightens his shoulders. “Good.”