Survivor - By Kaye Draper Page 0,85

refusing to think of anything else. I had never felt so drained of power, so completely empty.

Ever so slowly, I began to feel balanced again. I realized that Haine’s heartbeat was growing slow, even for a vampire. I lifted my head and looked at him. He had his head thrown back and his eyes closed, but he met my gaze when I stopped draining him.

“Better?” His voice was his own, soft and warm, with a hint of humor. I grimaced. “Much, thanks.” No one else spoke. It was eerie. There was a heavy sense of waiting hanging over the room.

Haine stood and set me on my feet. I wasn’t shaking anymore. His blood was unbelievably rich and strong. He ruffled my hair and gave me a sad smile before crossing the room to Leah and the others. I trailed in his wake, wondering what was going on.

Haine knelt in front of the coven leader and bowed his head. She stood looking down on him as if he were a foreign creature. “Mistress, please take my life.”

I nearly bit off my tongue. I started forward, but Peter’s command halted me in my tracks. “Melody!”

Leah sighed. “First explain to me. Everything.”

Haine’s soft voice filled the hushed room. “My master fades. Seeing his weakness, I took the opportunity to leave his side.” Leah nodded. This wasn’t news to her.

He kept his eyes on her feet. “He slipped into my mind once before, when I was unaware. He realized where I was.”

Peter frowned. “He bore a grudge against John. “

Haine nodded. “He has been using lesser vampires, taking over their minds and using them as puppets. It usually only works on the weak, but he was working his way up toward our coven using groups of lesser vampires to take out the stronger ones- like he tried to do with Cashern and his bunch.”

He gave a heavy sigh. “I knew what he was doing, and yet I stayed. I should have left at once. I brought danger to the coven and I’ve put your life in danger mistress.”

I put a hand on his shoulder and he glanced up to meet Peter’s eyes. “I never meant any harm to come to Melody. I genuinely care for her.” He shrugged. “I slowly figured out that there was something that made her special. I wasn’t sure what it was- and I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want him to know.” He squeezed my hand where it rested on his shoulder. That’s why he hadn’t let me tell him. “I used her as a safeguard. I didn’t really think he could get at me, but if I were weakened, if he did- then Melody could reach me through our bond. And I suspected that she could stop him.”

Peter’s lean cheek flexed as he clenched his jaw. “You risked too much,” he said angrily.

Haine nodded agreement. “I did. I accept my punishment.”

Viktor’s surly voice piped up. “Why didn’t you just tell someone what was going on? Or get the hell out of here?”

It was Leah who answered. “He couldn’t tell anyone because he was under a geas from his master.”

Haine nodded. “I couldn’t speak of it. But I could have left. I should have. I was just… too weak.”

Viktor snorted, and my anger got the best of me. I squeezed Haine’s shoulder and stepped closer. “You’re not weak. It wasn’t something you could help.” I met Leah’s eyes defiantly, not caring that I was shouting at my coven leader. If she meant to harm him, then she was blind.

“He couldn’t leave because he fell in love.” Cynthia let out a bitter laugh at my corny statement and I turned my glare on her. “Old vampires form deeper connections. What happens when they find their mate?”

Leah had moved forward. “Haine,” her voice was flat, betraying nothing. “How old are you?”

His muscles tensed. For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t speak. Then he lifted his head and met her eyes. “I was one of my master’s first children. I am over six hundred years old.”

She closed her eyes in a long blink and took a deep breath. “And have you found a mate in this coven? Is that what caused you to stay?”

He squared his shoulders and stood. I dropped my hand and shut my mouth, hoping he would forgive me for this if it saved his life. “Yes, I have.”

All of the other vampires were staring at me. Haine and I were often together. We shared a blood bond