Page 45 of Cursed Lifeline (Eternal Love)

Forty Four

Alfred

song: teeth | 5 seconds of summer

“Please,” Evangeline pleads as my gaze locks harshly on Viktor’s. The vampire stares me down with the same disdain, the same repulsive hostility I’ve felt for him for close to two centuries as the princess steps closer and whispers, “Alfred, I beg you. There’s nowhere else for us to go, and…”

My gaze bitterly snaps her way, “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you pushed me away and forced me to leave you alone in that cave over a century ago.”

Hurt flashes across her features. Confusion fills her eyes. I’ve never spoken to her this way. I’ve never felt anything but… dare I admit, love… for the princess. But that’s before she insisted I leave her alone with the monster standing beside her. A heathen that did God knows what to her for the decades they spent hidden away in her family's mountains.

My gaze drifts back Viktor’s way when Evangeline doesn’t speak.But his stare is no longer directed at me. It’s focused on the fae in a way that has me believing he found a new religion while tucked away with the only woman I’ve ever loved for close to a hundred years.

Rising from my seat, I step towards him in a jealous rage that causes his stare to finally swing my way. Violent delight shines in his eyes as he takes a step forward, and challenges me to make good on all the vicious, savage ways I’ve longed for him to die. But before anything rash can happen, Evangeline steps between us and places her hand on my chest, halting me.

I’d never regret killing Viktor, but seeing as I’m not sure what exactly transpired in those hills for close to a century, I’m also not sure if doing so won’t also destroy the woman standing in front of me. And so, with deep remorse, I step back, and instead let Evangeline’s touch offer me false hope when I promised myself I’d never let her back in after she shunned what we might have had.

“Please,” she begs again.

Looking down into her eyes, a tender moment passes between us. For seconds I wish were a lifetime, everything around us fades until it’s just the two of us, and my thoughts drift back to the night we were alone on a hill gazing up at the stars.

Her touch reminds me of a promise to wait, to trust, to be the last man she ever loves, even if it means losing her for a while to others that will always be unworthy.

I remember Perseus and Andromeda.

I remember a vow to make her happy.

And although it’ll forever ruin me if her happiness is not found in my arms, I also remember a silent oath I made to shelter her and give her refuge whenever she needs it.

My reluctant gaze lifts and locks angrily on Viktor’s as I lace my fingers through hers and pull her tiny palm up to my lips.

Looking down into her eyes, a shiver courses up her spine as my breath feathers against her mouth and I whisper, “Where’s your focus, Evangeline?”

Her eyes search mine. Her mouth falls open and she stutters, “I, uh…”

She begins to look over her shoulder at Viktor, but I tighten my grip on her palm and sternly say, “Focus, Evangeline.”

Her breathing increases. Her jaw sets in defiance. Hostile spite fills her pale blue eyes.

Grinning, I say, “We need to stay focused to win, remember? You’re the one that once told me that.”

Outraged, Viktor steps forward. But he’s quick to come to a halt when Silas and Caelum approach threateningly from my side.

She once pushed me away because she worried I’d steal her concentration, at least, that’s what she insinuated. But she was so wrong.

Evangeline drops her gaze from mine, but I’m determined to make her finally see what I see. Cupping her chin, I gently force her eyes upward and whisper, “Maybe I never stole your focus all along, petite étoile .”

She attempts to hide her response to me calling her “little star,” but the truth is written in her eyes just like it was written in the constellations nearly a century ago.

She can try to fight it. Try to deny it. But an exchange happened between us on that hilltop as we gazed up at the stars.

She doesn’t belong with the likes of Viktor. He’d never honor her the way I’ve solemnly vowed to. Knowing so, my eyes lift and lock with his as I finish bringing her hand to my lips and tenderly kiss the top of her trembling knuckles.

“Maybe it’s finally time you understand what I’ve always known,” I whisper between the two of us.

“What’s that?” she asks breathlessly.

Glancing down, I grin as I take in the hope and trust filling her eyes. “That maybe, beyond all the misfortune and desolate circumstance, we’re each other’s guiding light.”

Evangeline frowns.

“My focus has always been centered around Felix breaking the curse,” she sternly says.

Grinning, my thumb longingly brushes across her bottom lip, “Maybe if you let me steal your focus for one night it will bring us both the clarity we desperately need.”

Viktor snarls a warning, and Evangeline rolls her eyes.

“You’d also be smart to remember Ember told us the cure.”

Shaking my head, I argue. “It’s too risky.”

“To not attempt to at least try is putting all of us all in greater danger.”

Locking eyes with Viktor, I pull Evangeline a step closer and regretfully ask, “Is that why he’s here? To ensure the curse is broken, or to lead us all into further peril when he decides to take another bite out of Esme?”

Viktor angrily steps forward.

Evangeline shakes her head, and says, “Alfred, there is something you need to understand…”

But her words are cut off as the door to the room violently flies open and crashes against the wall next to it with such brutal ferocity that all of us jump and turn to greet the enraged intruder.

Felix charges across the room towards his brother and I pull Evangeline quickly out of the way. The princess fights me, and I swallow my wounded pride as she shouts for Felix not to hurt Viktor while I hold her protectively in my arms. Viktor grins maliciously as he turns and takes in the wild eyes of his brother. He teleports quickly to the opposite side of the room, but Felix anticipates his move and beats him there. Thrusting him up against the wall, Felix pulls a stake from his side and yanks it up in the air, aiming perfectly at Viktor’s heart.

“No!” Evangeline cries, “He’s suffered enough, you can’t kill him.”

Holding Viktor hostage with a fierce grip, Felix glances over his shoulder at the fae and hisses, “With all due respect, princess, I learned over two of Esme’s lifetimes to never trust someone who turns their back on me first. You, and my brother, can both go to hell before I’ll ever listen to another word that falls from your traitorous lips.”

Felix’s arm slams down as Evangeline yells, “You’d kill your brother who swore a blood oath to keep you safe?”

Felix’s hand shakes as it stays poised, aimed, ready to kill his own flesh and blood.

“No brother of mine would ever be so foolish.”

“Foolish,” Viktor sneers, forcing Felix back a step before being violently thrust back up against the wall.

A war of dark powers unleashes between the two princes and I do my best to shield Evangeline in my arms.

“You’re right,” Viktor snaps, struggling against Felix’s powers. “I was foolish. But my fault was never intentional towards the coven. My mistake was trusting Ember.”

“Exactly,” Felix hisses, “Like I said, traitor. The Judas of the Immortalis Coven. You’ve been in bed with the enemy all along.”

Viktor laughs wickedly. “In bed, no, but I was forced to do things against my will.”

“Bullshit,” Felix snaps. “I was there. I saw you eagerly sink your teeth into what’s mine.”

“He was being controlled,” Evangeline shouts, arguing for Viktor’s release. “A blood oath is more powerful than you think.”

“Well,” Felix snarls, raising his fist with deadly intent, “Let me show him that the lifeline that connects Esme and I is more powerful than any damned oath he swore to the enemy. Powerful enough, in fact, to eliminate any threat.”

Felix violently brings the stake down just as Evangeline snakes out from under my arm and rushes forward. My eyes widen. Fear grips my lungs, and strangles my heart. Darting forward, light erupts from my fingertips and a powerful force is suddenly unleashed from my palms. It bursts between Felix and Viktor, separating the two brooding men just as Evangeline dashes between them and pushes Viktor aside.

Felix’s sharp stake threatens to stab her through the heart.

Moving at the speed of light, I force her out of the way, turn, and feel a sharp, piercing pain erupt in my shoulder. Staggering back a step, I suck in a shaky breath. Dizzy from the expensed energy I’m not used to honing, I’m momentarily disoriented until a sharp gasp falls from Evangeline’s lips.

“Alfred,” she cries

Her eyes widen with furious indignation.

Smiling, thankful to have her attention focused on me instead of Viktor, even if she is mad, I say, “I’m sorry I pushed you, I was just…”

Rushing forward, her stare bitterly swings towards Felix who studies me with a rueful expression before his worried gaze anxiously lands on my shoulder. Looking down, crimson stains my shirt and spreads at an alarming rate from the spike lodged between my breastplate and shoulder blade.

Warmth from the blood oozing out of my wound quickly turns cold as my knees give out and I fall to the floor. Bile rises in my throat. Looking in Evangeline’s worried eyes, I tell myself not to vomit, not to get sick as she kneels at my side and comes a whispered breath away from my lips and inspects the wound.

My stomach starts to retch. I gag on chunks. My insides heave as Evangeline glances angrily over her shoulder and says, “What did you lace this with?”

“Poison,” Felix whispers as my vision blurs and my stomach once again threatens to upturn.

My eyes start to close, and I unwillingly start to succumb to the darkness that wants to claim my soul. Evangeline cups my face and forces me to focus.

“Alfred,” she demands. “Stay with me. Remember? Guiding light. Don’t look away from the light.”

A delirious chuckle escapes my lips, and I mumble, “ Petite étoil , I could never look away from you.” Bile rises in my throat, and I choke, “Heavens knows I’ve tried and failed for over two hundred years.”

Searching my eyes, desperation builds in Evangeline’s worried stare as my lashes flutter closed and the hands of death draw closer.

“Help him to his feet,” she demands.

Quickly, I’m pulled to standing. The plink and plop of liquid causes me to look at the floor. Blood drips from my listless fingertips and my stomach threatens to upturn at Evangeline’s feet.

“Here,” Viktor says, instructing Evangeline to take my right arm as Felix keeps a firm grip on my left. “Hold him.”

“What are you going to do?” Evangeline cries.

Stepping in front of me, the enemy we’ve all been fighting for centuries looks at Evangeline and says, “You were willing to risk your life to save mine. After we defeat Ember, my oath will be to you. Tell me how to save him. Tell me, what do you need me to do?”

Disoriented from the wound, my blood loss, and the bile continuing to rise in my throat, I barely have time to understand what’s happening before Evangeline gives Viktor a curt nod and says, “Bite him.”