Savage Wings: Book Three of The Whitechapel Chronicles

Chapter 10

"What did you do?" I stared at her in horror. "What the Hell did you do?"

Caelan rolled her eyes. "Quite the little drama queen, aren't we?"

I took a shaky step forward, reaching out a hand. "Give me the boy, Caelan."

She tightened her grip around his chest and stuck out her bottom lip in a childish pout. "I will certainly not." A wicked smile tugged on the corners of her mouth. "Finders keepers."

"I'm warning you...." I growled.

"Warning me? Sweetie, I don't think you're in any position to warn me." She began stroking Lucius' hair. "It looks like I'm holding all the cards. Or at least one in particular. And what a beautiful one he is."

"Caelan...."I begged, feeling my chest tightening in panic. "Please."

"Oh so it's please now is it?" She tilted her head to one side, her hand moving to caress Lucius' face, her fingers trailing down to his throat. "I'm no longer chained up and suddenly you find your manners. Isn't it a shame you couldn't have been a little bit nicer earlier? How the tables turn so quickly. How do those shackles feel, darling Megan? Do they burn?"

I inched closer, swallowing hard. "Caelan....I'm sorry. What I said up there, I know it was wrong. I knew it as soon as I said it. It's just I was....God, I don't know. I was jealous I guess. I have no idea why I said all those things and you have every right to be pissed at me. But please...let Lucius go. It's not him you want, it's me."

She tightened her grip and Lucius' eyes bulged in terror. "On the contrary, I do want him. I want him very much." Pulling his head to one side, she ran her nose down the side of his face, inhaling deeply. "It's funny, he doesn't smell like humans do, but I bet he tastes soooo delicious.  I'm not surprised you've been so keen to keep this one all to yourself. I wouldn't share him either." Her mouth found his neck and she hovered there, incisors bared.

"No!" I cried, stumbling forward and stopping abruptly when she threw her head back and laughed cruelly. A tear slid down my face as I locked eyes with Lucius. He looked so frightened, so small and breakable in her arms and I couldn't bear it. All this time spent trying to keep him safe from Drachmann and the Varúlfur and now he was at the mercy of a mad, vengeful vampire, all because of me.

Her white eyes widened briefly. "Oh my goodness," she said with a gasp. "|Aren't you just the most precious, strange little thing? You don't want the boy's blood. You want to be his mother!" She cackled loudly. "You want him to be the baby that your husband could never give you! Poor princess Megs."

Her face twisted with a malicious grin as I recoiled instinctively on hearing that name. Nobody ever called me that but him. Brandon. And she knew. I could see the sheer delight she took in witnessing my surprise.

"Tell me something," she said, grabbing a handful of Lucius' hair and making him wince. "When I take the child's life, where will it hurt you the most? Your heart? Or that barren useless womb of yours?"

With a howl of rage, I charged towards her, seeing her mouth open wide, about to bear down upon the pale skin of his exposed throat, seeing her eyes blaze with hunger and vengeance. I hit her at full speed and we tumbled to the floor, taking Lucius with us in a knot of bodies. Caelan screeched like a banshee, all gnashing teeth and slashing fingernails, as we rolled on the dusty aisle until we hit one of the smashed pews stacked nearby.

Untangling myself from the seer, I jumped to my feet, snatching Lucius and pushing him behind me.

"Go, Lucius, run," I urged as Caelan climbed to her feet, her body tense and poised to strike. Slowly, stealthily, she stepped away from the side of the aisle and I backed up, knowing I couldn't afford to let her cut off Lucius' escape.