Killers Never Die by Chelsea Burton Dunn

Author:Chelsea Burton Dunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 4 Horsemen Publications
Published: 2024-09-04T16:12:13+00:00

Chapter 12

Ace made her way quickly through the mansion following the Council meeting, finding herself in the Medicus mere moments later; it was much the same as when she had left not long before. Minshin and Dietris were busy working on something while Octavian sat at the counter. Though she could see from his posture he was nearing sleep with the sunrise, his hand lazily holding onto the empty blood bag before him. It was far too close to dawn, and he was fading quickly.

“Come now, Octavian,” Ace whispered as she drew close to him, pulling him from the counter and into her arms. He didn’t say anything, merely nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck, letting her take all his weight as the coming dawn bore down on him.

Ace headed directly for their chambers. On a normal sunrise, she would place Octavian in his own room, but for the last few nights, she didn’t want him alone. She didn’t trust what could happen in this mansion if she were to succumb to the sleep the sun called within her.

“What’s going to happen now?” Octavian asked, as his mother set him down gently against one of the soft chairs in the room, moving toward the windows to make certain the curtains were secure. They hadn’t discussed with him what occurred with Srinta, instead trying to distract him with the Books and having him stay in the Medicus, learning about the research Minshin was doing for his own growth. He hadn’t spoken about what he heard and saw in the corridor a few days before, but now she could see Octavian’s face was lined with concern again.

“I don’t know,” Ace said honestly, sighing heavily as she turned back to look at him. His face was drawn with apprehension, eyes wide with childlike worry.

“Am I a monster?” he whispered.

Ace’s breath hitched as she knelt before him and looked into the silver pools of her son’s eyes.

“Werewolves tear flesh; Witches need bloody sacrifices; Chenjas’ main life source is draining it from anything living. There are humans that torture, kill, and even eat other humans. You, my son, have never killed someone. You may have hurt them, you may have taken their blood, but you’ve never taken a life by your own choice. You are less a monster than the rest of us in this house,” she said, brushing her thumb over the bloody tear that ran down Octavian’s cheek.

Nero had walked in but paused just outside the door as Ace spoke those words to their son. If his heart could have beat in his chest, it would have absolutely thundered. No truer words could have been spoken on the matter. It wasn’t black and white; there were certainly shades of gray in all forms, mortal and immortal alike. He had suffered through many years of his own inner turmoil over what he was. Nero had not been an angel as a human, let alone when he first became a Vampire. It

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