A Vampire's Christmas Carol(20)

That hit went straight to Ben’s heart.

And so did Jamison’s claws. Because they sank deep into Ben’s chest. “Warned you…” Jamison ground out.

Ben pushed Jamison back as his blood dripped onto the sidewalk. “Bastard, you said you’d cut off my hands.”

“So I went for your heart instead. Maybe I was trying to see if you had one. I mean, use your freaking head. What do you think happened to the woman after you took all her blood ten years ago? You took her blood, and then you turned her.”

No. Ben’s gaze flew around the area, but he didn’t see Simone. I can’t lose her! “I didn’t give her my blood.”

“Uh, yeah, you did. It wasn’t a lot, I’ll grant you that much. The stories say it was just a drop or two, but that was enough to seal the deal, and enough to turn Simone into the first vampire-angel that the world has ever seen.” Jamison smirked. “Come on, it’s not like she was involved with any other vamp. Your blood did this to her.”

And Ben remembered a kiss. A last, desperate kiss in his penthouse. His lips had crushed against Simone’s, and, for just a second, he’d tasted blood. “No,” he whispered.

“Um, yes,” Jamison tossed right back. “And let me tell you, a lot of powerful folks were sure shocked by that change. Angels aren’t supposed to become vampires. Vampires are evil and dark, and they only exist to kill.”

Ben flashed fang at him.

“My point exactly.” Jamison flashed his own fangs, then said, “Angels are supposed to be good. They’re the protectors. To see one changed like Simone, it shook up the powers-that-be. They kept her in lockdown until they could see what she’d become and what she’d do.”

Ben brushed past the guy. Simone was close. She had to still be close by.

Another scream broke the night.

Ben ran toward that fading sound. Simone! He just had to get close to her once more and then—

He rounded a corner.

And staggered to a stop.

This time, Simone’s prey was a woman. Blood dripped down the woman’s throat as Simone laughed.

“No!” Ben yelled. “This isn’t you, baby! Stop!” She was the one who helped people. In the future, there was no way that Simone could become like this.

“Three freaking times,” Jamison’s voice was disgusted as he headed to Ben’s side, “and you still act like folks in these visions can hear you. I told you, they can’t. She can’t.”

Simone’s hands rose. They curled around the woman’s neck.

“Don’t,” Ben whispered.

Simone jerked her hands to the right. The snap of the woman’s neck was too loud in the quiet of that narrow alley.

“Take a close look. What’s missing from this picture?” Jamison asked, his words sharp. “I mean, other than the whole soul that Simone used to have?”

Ben’s eyes burned. “She looks the same to me.”

“You are such a f*cking liar. That woman looks like a monster. Check the fangs, dude. Look at all of the blood that covers her.”

Ben did, but in his mind, he still saw her as the woman he’d met in New York. The woman who had laughed so sweetly. When they’d bought that Christmas tree together, her eyes had lit up. She’d stared at him with so much love in her gaze.

After they’d decorated the tree, she’d kissed him. Promised him forever.

“Her wings are gone.” Jamison’s voice was flat. “But I guess you never really saw those anyway, did you? How can you miss what you didn’t see?”

Simone started to whistle again as she walked into the night.

“Where is she going?” Ben asked.

“To kill again. That’s pretty much all she does these days. But tonight…tonight will be different for her.”

Ben had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could speak. “Why did she lose her wings?”

“That’s the price for powerful magic. To save your sorry ass, she had to give them up. She traded her wings for your chance at redemption. Her wings…your soul.”

Snow began to fall around them once more. Only…

Ben lifted his hand. It wasn’t snow. Instead of catching an icy snowflake, he was touching a soft, silken feather. An angel’s wings. His hand fisted around that feather. “No.”

“How else do you think you were able to see the past? And the future? An angel’s wings are so powerful—they’re the source of an angel’s magic. Those wings can do anything. Even give a jerk like you a second chance.”

The feathers swirled around them. Ben knew the feathers were taking him to Simone once more. Only it was a Simone he didn’t know. He’d lied when he told Jamison that she looked the same. She didn’t. She looked like a shell of the woman she’d been. All of the vibrancy, the life—it was just gone from her face and her eyes.

The feathers slowly drifted to the ground. Ben glanced around and saw that they were in a cemetery again. Simone was strolling through the graves. She paused for just a moment near what appeared to be a freshly dug grave.

“Fuck,” Ben muttered because he knew how this part of the tale went. “Is that my grave?”

Before Jamison could answer, four shadowy figures sprang from behind the tombs in that cemetery. Another cemetery attack…just like with William…