But the rays of the sun continued to shine onto her, hurting her. Just as the sun started to burn his own body. Yet he couldn’t think of himself now. He had to rescue Faye.

“Hold on, baby!” he called out to her as he kicked his leg against one of the mirrors, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

“Cain!”

Her cries continued, the smell of burned flesh and hair becoming stronger now, as he aimed at the next mirror and smashed that one too. He felt his movements slow down as he destroyed the third mirror, but he couldn’t give up. He would save Faye or die trying.

His next kick barely cracked the mirror. His strength was draining from him as more and more of his body covered with blisters and began to smolder. Recognizing that his own life was lost, only one thought counted now: he had to keep Faye alive long enough until his friends would arrive to help.

With his last strength, he ran to the center of the crypt and jumped onto her, covering her with his body to shelter her from the sun.

“I love you, Faye. I’ll always love you.”

Tears stung in his eyes and pain radiated down his spine as he took the full brunt of the sun’s rays.

Darkness suddenly fell over the crypt, and he knew his end was coming. He would die in her arms.

“Cain,” she sobbed.

He still felt her body beneath his, still heard her heartbeat, sensed her breathing. But he knew in a few moments he would turn to ash and she would have no further protection from the sun. Only one hope remained: that there was a heaven for vampires, and that they would meet there.

“Oh, fuck!” a male voice penetrated the haze in his mind.

Cain tried to focus on it, realizing he knew the voice.

“Cain! Fuck, you look like crap!”

Involuntarily, Cain lifted his head and turned in the direction of the voice. A blurry looking Blake came rushing toward him.

Was he delirious?

Then a hand touched his arm. “Easy, easy,” Blake said. “We’ve got you. It’s all good.”

Cain’s eyes adjusted, and he suddenly noticed that it was dark in the crypt. No sunlight was entering.

“What happened?” he choked out. Beneath him, Faye breathed heavily, and he quickly braced himself on his knees to take his weight off her, Blake helping him in his weakened state.

“Nicolette and I managed to throw a tarp over the holes. Wes helped with a spell ’cause the building was too high for us to reach the roof.”

Looking up, Cain saw that indeed both holes, the one in the ceiling and the one in the wall opposite were covered with something dark. Relieved, he pulled on the hoodie covering Faye’s face. Her skin was red and covered in burns, pink tears rimmed her eyes, but her eyes met his, and he knew then that everything would be all right.

“Cain,” she murmured. “You came for me.”

“Always.”

Then she turned her head to Blake. “Thank you.”

The door opened, and two more people entered: Nicolette and Wesley. They slammed the door shut behind them.

“You guys look like you need blood,” Wes stated. “Way I see it, you’ve got three willing donors here. Take your pick.”

Cain tried to sit up, but his entire body shook. Blake put his arm around him to steady him.

“Can you get some tools to get those chains off Faye?” Cain asked, knowing she was still in pain due to the continued contact of the silver with her wrists.

“Already on it,” Wes confirmed. “John is driving the car through the main gate and bringing it closer. He’ll bring a chain cutter.”

Cain nodded. “And Abel?”

“We saw him drive away on the motorcycle. Haven is chasing him by car. But—”

The ringing of Cain’s phone interrupted him. Cain pulled it from his pocket and looked at the display. He tapped it. “Thomas?”

“Is Faye safe?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then I hope you don’t mind that we’ll defend your kingdom now.”

“Are the Mississippians attacking?”

“Yes, but they’re not only attacking us, they’re also attacking their own leader: Victor.”

Instantly Abel’s words came back to Cain. “Oh, God, that’s what Abel wanted.”

“What?”

“Abel has the Mississippi guards in his pocket. You have to save Victor!”

45

Cain looked over the heads of his subjects and other guests that were assembled in the large ballroom of the palace and brought the glass of blood to his lips, taking a sip. A feeling of relief and happiness filled him as he watched his fellow vampires and the few humans—plus one witch—mingle and finally relax after the tense hours the night before.