Loved by Morgan Rice Page A

dumfounded. He could hear his own voice cracking, and felt ashamed. “My master, I am afraid I do not understand. I have already executed everything perfectly.”
    “I know you have. That is the only reason you are still breathing right now,” he said.
    Kyle swallowed hard.
    “There remain your past mistakes to be accounted for. I never forget, Kyle.”
    Kyle swallowed again, and he felt his throat go dry. This was what he had been dreading.
    “You let that half-breed escape. She may lead someone else to the sword. If so, our war will be compromised.” He learned forward, so Kyle could see the full effect of his icy blue eyes. “ Severely compromised.”
    Kyle knew better than to try to defend himself. That would only make matters worse. So instead, he just knelt there, waiting, trembling in rage, in fear. He had been tricked. He had waged their war perfectly, and now he would be punished for it.
    Several seconds of silence followed, as Kyle wondered what his future would hold.
    “Kyle of the Blacktide Coven, you have failed in your duties, and broken our holy covenant. I hereby sentence you to partial emergence in Ioric Acid, followed by banishment from our coven forever. You are no longer among us. You will live, but it will be a lonely life, and we will no longer recognize your name. You are an outcast. Forever.”
    Kyle’s eyes opened wide in fear and astonishment, as dozens of minions suddenly appeared and grabbed his arms, dragging him away. It was too extreme, this punishment. It was unfair.
    “But my master, you can’t do this. I have been your greatest soldier—for centuries!”
    Kyle struggled, as more and more arms grabbed him, dragging him backwards.
    “I can find her!” he screamed, while being dragged. “I can bring her back! I and I alone! I know how to find her. You must give me this chance!”
    “You have had too many chances already,” the leader said, with an icy smile. “I will find her myself. I have other soldiers in my army.”
    It was the final thing Kyle heard as he was dragged out of the chamber, out through the double doors.
    “My master!” Kyle started to scream, but before he could finish, the doors had slammed in his face.
    Kyle felt the arms on him, all over him, and before he knew it, he was on his back, flat on a slab of stone.
    More and more vampires pinned him down, hovering over him. It was a frenzy of vengeance. He thought of his thousands of years, of all the vendettas he had accumulated. He had stepped on a lot of toes to get where he was. Now it was time for payback.
    One of them, sneering down at him, stepped forward with a bucket, and Kyle could smell the awful stench of the Ioric Acid before he even saw it.
    “NO!” Kyle screamed. He had seen others suffer from it, and he could already guess the horrible pain that awaited.
    As he looked up, the last thing he saw was the bucket tilting, then the liquid beginning to pour, right for his face.
    And then the halls filled with the sound of his shrieking.
     
     

 
    TWELVE
     
     
    As Caitlin flew with Caleb in the cold air, gripping him tightly, her hunger pangs started to dissipate, and her head finally started to clear. She looked down and saw the blood all over Caleb, all over both of them, and tried to remember what had happened.
    She remembered leaving Hawthorne’s house. Then the police, then losing control. Then there was a gunshot. Yes, now she remembered. As she had aimed her teeth for the officer’s neck, she had suddenly been pulled off him by Caleb. With lightning speed, he had yanked her off, had spared her from attacking another human.
    But he had suffered for it. That cop had fired, and had hit Caleb in the arm. His blood had been all over both of them, but it never seemed to slow him down. Instead, he somehow managed to knock out all three policemen before they could react, to pick her up in the same motion, and to take off into the air. She marveled at his sense of control, in every situation. He