Beautiful Monster 2 (Beautiful Monster #2)(42)
Author: Bella Forrest

I sighed, burying my face in my hands. When I looked up, the others were whispering to each other.

And then Steve stepped forward. “We’re sorry, Liam. But we can’t risk it. The elders will be around forever, they are truly immortal.”

“But it had nothing to do with the plan!” I protested. “They even wished us luck!”

“And we wish you luck as well, Liam.” Steve bowed his head just the right amount to show respect to a clan leader, which contradicted with his actions because he and the rest turned to go. “We will remove our belongings and be gone in an hour.”

And then it was just Connor and I alone in the theater.

I glanced at him and he sunk into a chair.

“Well that went well,” I said.

He sighed. “We can still execute it without them,” he said. “It’ll just be a lot harder. Thomas De Ritter is still on board?”

“At a price,” I replied.

“What price?” Connor’s face darkened. “What have you promised on Sarah’s behalf?”

“Nothing. She doesn’t need to do anything. The Shields will offer her the opportunity to be educated by them.”

“Offer?” Connor raised an eyebrow. “Or forced?”

“Aah…” I threw up my hands. “What do you want from me, Connor? You want Selene dead? Well, it doesn’t come easy and it certainly doesn’t come cheap. We’ve lost Nina already. She couldn’t handle this life because we are such disgusting creatures. How long before someone else succumbs and decides they can’t handle that life? If we kill Selene, there won’t be another vampire suicide, at least not on our hands.”

“You promised Sarah to the Shields? Holy hell.” Connor got up as well and headed towards the door, leaving me alone in the theater.

It had been quite a while since I got smashed in the middle of the day. But today, I didn’t really care.

What I didn’t expect was Amy to be waiting in my office.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, slamming through the door and jiggling open my desk drawer.

I knew she didn’t like it when I drank, especially in the middle of the day, so I made sure to take a long swallow before meeting her eyes again. She didn’t even blink and I sat, letting the warmth of the booze flow through me.

“I came to tell you that I’m withdrawing from school after the show,” she replied. “My contract with Ranger has been extended.”

“Fine. You don’t know where the forms are or something?” I took another swallow.

“I just thought you’d like to know,” she replied.

“And I suppose you’d like to know if you can extend your benefits,” I snapped at her.

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“Amy, after a year, do you think I’m stupid or something?”

She looked taken aback and I knew I had hit a nerve. Amy never used to keep secrets from me.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I urged, and she bit her lip, clearly struggling with it. Finally, I saw her face soften.

“I don’t need AZT anymore.”

My heart plummeted to the ground. Of course, I knew what it meant. And it confirmed my suspicions.

“How long?”

“You mean, how long if I managed to survive without a vampire trying to kill me at every turn? I don’t know, a few years. It doesn’t matter, Liam.”

My jaw dropped. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter? Of course it matters!”

“Liam.” She glared at me. “I don’t know where the forms are. Show me so I can get out.”

“You aren’t thinking about giving up, are you?” I asked sharply. The look on her face caught me off guard and I almost leapt over the desk to grab her. “Amy! Answer me!”

“Why?” she asked plainly.

“Because… are you serious? You can’t be considering this!”

“Liam!” Now it was her turn to snap at me. “I found out less than 24 hours ago what was happening. And until then, I lived in some deluded fantasy that it would never happen and everything was going to be alright. Now my whole life has changed. Can you give me some time to think without smothering me for once?”

“You think I smothered you?” This was news to me.

Amy and I always talked about how we didn’t get to spend enough time together. But now, here she was talking about wanting more time apart.

She sighed, shaking her head.

“Forget about it.” She moved fast and was out of my office before I could catch up to her.

I sank into my chair, burying my head in my hands. If I had thought things were desperate before, I clearly had no idea what I was talking about.

My phone rang and I glanced at it, not intending to answer it. But when I saw it was Thomas’s ID, I picked up with a sigh.

“Hello?”

“The vampire Isabelle is dead,” he stated, as if we had been talking all this time.

I sat up straighter, closing my eyes. I had known that this was likely, but hearing the words was a huge blow.

“You killed her,” I said dully, a statement.

“You knew we would, Liam. Our truce only has to do with Selene.”

“I know.” I leaned back in my chair. “It’s just that Isabelle was 5 centuries old and now I have to explain this to her ex-husband.”

“Who nearly compromised another Shield in this situation,” Thomas reminded me. “This is already drawing dangerously close to the line. The others are restless. If Selene is not killed, I’m not sure I can stop an out-and-out war.’’

“I know.”

I seemed to be able to come up with nothing but those two words. I knew that disaster was weighing heavily on us, and yet there was nothing I could do it about. I had an ex-girlfriend who was about to drop dead, a ghost in my theater, and I was apparently the ringleader of a supernatural war and the headmaster to hundreds of kids. Five years ago, I couldn’t even keep track of my own car keys, and now all of this was on my shoulders.

“You should know that you are not the only one disapproving,” I said. “The elders visited me and told me off for telling humans about my existence.”

“At least someone keeps order within the vampires,” Thomas replied. “I understand you lost one of your own.”

“We did.” I was surprised by his sympathy.

“My condolences, we’ve been through it,” he said softly. “And we wish to never go through it again.”