kindred 08.6 - blood enchanted

by Nicola Claire

  She smiled back, and then let the grin turn into a small frown.

  “That shifter is dangerous.” I blinked. “Something’s not right there.”

  “What did you see?” My mother could see more of vampires than shifters, but occasionally she could see enough to work them out.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Just a feeling.” Mama’s feelings were more often than not sound. “He reminds me of something,” she murmured. Then shook her head and walked out the door.

  My mother is only fifty years old. In the vampire world that is young. But she knows more about my father’s history than anyone. Even Alain, I’d hazard a guess. However, she’s never been to Romania. Never been where Papa spent a good portion of his first years as a vampire. Whatever Ediz reminded my mother of, it wasn’t the invasion of Wallachia by the Ottoman Empire.

  But if not that, then what?

  I tilted my head up and stared at the ceiling, letting the aches and pains sluice off my body and seep into the night. I was exhausted, operating well below par. Hungry and missing my brother. Worry gnawed a great big pit in my stomach, but despite that, I was sure Hakan would not harm him.

  Those fucking twisting ribbons.

  I punched out a breath of air into the silent room and walked through the door.

  Newmarket was quiet. Every supernatural within a mile had tucked tail and run. Either because the Prophesied had been here. Or because of that vampire. I took a deep breath in through my nose, and contemplated the few options available to me.

  There was no sign of Ediz. And I couldn’t track worth my life. But I knew who could.

  I pulled my cellphone out and thumbed through the contacts, then connecting the call, lifted it to my ear. There was a chance she was in Álfheimr. And cell coverage didn’t quite reach Faerie. But Georgia answered on the second ring.

  “El, long time no hear,” she purred down the line.

  Georgia was part vampire. A bit like me. Actually, a hell of a lot like me. But whereas I was born of a Nosferatu and Nosferatin coupling. She’d been turned by a vampire, and then changed into a vampire hunter by Nut. The girl was way more fucked up than me.

  “I need your help,” I admitted, ignoring the cessation of breathing down the line. “Are you around?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Newmarket.”

  “I’ll be right…” I spun where I was standing and met the slightly red glowing eyes of my Nothus friend. “There,” she finished with a wicked smile.

  Of course she would be nearby; she would have felt the Pull too.

  “You’re a fucking freak of nature,” I said calmly, pocketing my phone.

  “And proud of it,” she replied, doing the same with her own. It hadn’t always been that way, so I’ve been told. Georgia is close to my mother’s age, but looks in her late twenties. Her transition to functioning dhampir had taken some time. “Why am I here?” she asked casually, as if I called for her help all the time.

  “Shifter, unknown species, origin possibly eastern European.”

  “Oh, you really do have all the fun.” She sniffed the air, like I’d done. But whereas I could only smell an intricate layering of meaningless scents, Georgia could smell so much more. “Got him,” she announced, then flicked sharp eyes down to me. “Can you keep up?”

  I wondered what emotions of mine she was scenting. Georgia was an empath, from one whiff she’d be able to tell exactly what I was feeling.

  “I’m tired not incompetent,” I growled.

  “There’s the spirit,” she chirped. Georgia chirping was a scary sight.

  She took off at vampire speed, platinum blonde hair streaking out behind her. I kept pace, watching as the shadows wrapped around her, moulding to her body, stroking down her arms, encasing her thighs. Red softly glowed from her eyes, creating hazy laser light-like flashes through the darkness. From the corner of my eye I saw her Dark Shadow within turn its blank features towards me. A creepy sensation of being watched by a malevolent being chased down my spine.

  I guessed that’s why I liked her. Being what she was couldn’t be easy. We had a lot in common.

  “He’s pissed,” she said, sniffing the air like a hound. “And confused. No,” she corrected, “not confused.” She wrinkled her nose, cocked her head to the side, and smiled. “He’s mystified.” Her smile broadened. Then she turned her gaze to me and winked. “You learn something new every day,” she said, beaming.

  “What, you hadn’t come across ‘mystified’ before?” I demanded, feeling the pace starting to get to me. I wouldn’t let her see it. I wouldn’t let anyone see it.

  “Oh, ‘mystified’ I’ve scented. But ‘mystified’ mixed with such an intriguing and complex layering of emotions. Mmmm,” she purred in that vampire way she had, that fooled so many into thinking that’s all she really was, “tasty.”

  “Nice,” I drawled. “When you stop slavering over your shifter starter course, tell me something I can work with.”

  “Loyalty. Rage. Determination. Such fine strength filled emotions. Mystified. Worried. Fearful.” She shook her head, her pace slowing. “Such a conflict rising inside him. He’d follow his master anywhere, but he’s concerned about the path that he’s taking.”

  She came to a stop in the middle of Parnell. Street lights flickered. The creak of a broken gate swinging on rusted hinges sounded out in the unnaturally still air. Stars attempted to peek out from behind roiling clouds. The smell of charred wood and smoke met my nose, delicately. Overlaid with the stench of unclean bodies and… blood.

  I breathed though my mouth for a second, allowing my body to adjust.

  “Who is his master?” Georgia asked.

  “Can you scent him?” I replied, my hands already resting on my stakes.

  Georgia’s shadows swirled around us, wrapping around me now as much as her. She was hiding us from sight, but there were other ways to detect if someone was near.

  “I have not met the master’s scent before,” Georgia reminded me.

  “Eastern European, level one Sanguis Vitam vampire, tasted my blood within the past twenty-four hours.”

  She did stop breathing completely then. Without sucking in another breath of air, she murmured, “What have you got yourself into, little Nosferatin.”

  “Hey! You’re half Nosferatin too,” I pointed out.

  “Not my better half,” she admitted with a shrug. Georgia had a love-hate relationship with herself. Sometimes the vampire-within won. Sometimes Nut did.

  I was guessing the Dark Shadow was close to the surface right now. I resisted the urge to look for it. I was certain it was still watching me too closely for my liking.

  Silence stretched between us and then she made a show of sucking in air, attempting to be partially human, and sighed.

  “He is here,” she announced.

  “Does he know we are?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Is he…?” I hesitated. Georgia was a good friend, and her relationship with my parents was strained; she wouldn’t tattle. But she was half vampire and vampires’ number one motto is survive at all costs. If she could use me to survive she would.

  “Is he what, El?”

  I didn’t look at her, but kept my eyes on the dark shape of the building she’d led us to.

  “Is he at full strength?” I said, deciding that wording was better than what I’d been about to ask. No one could accuse me of feeling anything for Hakan with those words. Simply ascertaining what threat he posed. That’s all.

  Georgia started chuckling. “Well, well,” she crowed softly. “Oh, how the mighty fall.”

  I raised an imperious eyebrow at her.

  She raised her own eyebrow right back.

  I guess I deserved it. I did tend to tease her about Samson and Jett.

  “And fall you have, El,” she added even more softly.

  I started shaking my head… and she froze. Vampire still. A preternatural statue-like stance that invades them, when they f
eel threatened or their vampire-within rises.

  I did look then. The Dark Shadow not watching me but the house.

  “He knows you’re here,” Georgia said in a low voice that was all vampire growl. It sent tendrils of fear down my spine. I wasn’t afraid of my friend, but her Dark Shadow? That even Georgia couldn’t fully trust.

  “Is he at full strength?” I repeated, this time there was no doubting the reason why I asked.

  “Yes,” she hissed, crouching down, settling into a fighting stance.

  I let a slow breath of air out. Full strength already. After only a few hours post staking near the heart.

  Two things. It takes a level one Sanguis Vitam vampire all his strength and power to recover from an injury like that. And it takes a second level one Sanguis Vitam vampire to remove the stake so he can recover at all.

  I had both hands full of weapons before the thoughts had completed.

  Two level one Sanguis Vitam vampires. Not many worked together. Vampires are territorial. Auckland is strange, in that it has several. Every single one of the councillors of the Iunctio are level one masters, except my mother. And most would argue her power equals, if not exceeds, that of a level one vamp. The Master of The City, Jett, and Samson, both part of Georgia’s triumvirate, are also level ones. Alain is too. And then there’s visiting vamps, like Uncle Gregor from Wellington, and Sergei and Natalyia, Mama’s vampires of her Lux Lucis Tribuo line. A hell of a lot of power for one city. But the Champion, Papa, keeps them all in line.

  For Hakan to work closely with another level one vampire is not a given. But also meant he’d not travelled light. And for the Champion not to be aware of their combined presence was impossible.

  I suddenly realised Alain had lied to me. Not such a stretch of the imagination.

  But that my mother had omitted a few truths as well.

  If Papa knew, then Mama knew. And she’d known it when she’d faced off against Ediz.

  “Are we alone?” I asked Georgia urgently.

  She tilted her face to the sky and sniffed.

  “Yes.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t believe it. That much power in one location could not be missed.

  “Is he alone?” I tried.

  “The shifter and the vampire is all I scent,” my friend confirmed. “He is waiting.” Her head cocked to the side again. “He is eager.” She snorted, it sounded too loud in the still night air. “He’s turned on.”

  Her red rimmed eyes swept down to me.

  “And so are y…”

  “OK,” I said in a huff. “Enough of the hound dog routine.” She only laughed. It was loud enough, I was sure, for Hakan and Ediz to hear it inside. I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, feeling the telltale flush of blood sweep my cheeks.

  “The plan, Nosferatin?” she asked, putting me out of my misery. But I could have sworn it was her Dark Shadow asking. Not her. I flicked my eyes over her vampire-within, caught the hint of fangs where fangs could not possibly exists, and then the tendril of shadow that reached out towards me.

  I shuddered, and took a step sideways, away from Georgia and her fucked in the head inner vamp.

  “I’m going to knock on the door,” I announced.

  Georgia rolled her eyes. “Such finesse, is it any wonder you’re the Champion’s child?”

  My turn to snort.

  “Shall I cover the back entrance?” she suggested, a little too eagerly.

  “Keep your fangs in check,” I ordered. She smirked. It was hard to tell if her fangs were down. “I want him alive.”

  She opened her mouth to offer a comeback and then paused. Her nostrils flaring, making her eyes glow red and a low growl to emit from the back of her throat.

  “You’re worried.” Sometimes having a friend who could scent your emotions was a pain in the butt.

  “Not for the reasons you think,” I offered.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” she demanded, Sanguis Vitam wrapping around the command without an ounce of regret.

  “Cut that out!” I snapped.

  Georgia just laughed. “Seriously,” she purred. “You so need to get laid.”

  Then she was gone, into the shadows and ‘round the rear of the property.

  Sometimes having a friend who could scent your emotions was brilliant. I’d just thrown a whole hell of a lot of “back the fuck off” at her face. And she’d obliged.

  I stretched my neck, flipped my stakes end over end in my palms, and walked towards the front door.

  If there’d been tumbleweed rolling across the footpath in front of me, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Silence, thick and cloying hung in the air. I wondered what wards Hakan had placed on this building. How far they reached. If I’d crossed them already.

  Sounds were muffled, but I could still hear the scratch of a rodent beneath the porch steps. Smells were cloaked in a layer of something sweet, something fresh, like… ozone.

  I stilled on the top step, my senses on high alert. My heart beating a staccato rhythm inside my chest. I reached down deep inside myself, searching for an answer. Trying to get a bead on those twisting ribbons.

  Failed.

  Ozone equals fairy. A number one rule in our world. Either a portal to Álfheimr was nearby, and I wasn’t aware of one in Parnell that still existed. Or coincidence, in this case, was a very bad thing. Georgia had contacts in Faerie. The King of the Dökkálfa was considered a close friend. In essence we should have been safe for the fact alone that Georgia was here.

  But not all fairies are Dark. Some come from Ljósálfar. And nobody knew for sure if they were all still contained.

  I spun in a slow circle, my eyes straining to see through the gloom of a half abandoned suburb. My stomach doing somersaults that set my teeth on edge.

  I couldn’t be sure, but something said I was sure. I was being watched by a Fairy. One who had just arrived through a portal from Álfheimr.

  Guts & Glory and now Hakan’s front porch.

  I pocketed my stakes and pulled my Svante. A move I immediately regretted.

  Something shifted in the darkness beyond the property’s border, a flash and a sizzle followed, and then the smell of burned peaches met the frigid air.

  Motherfucker! Ljósálfar!

  The door behind me suddenly opened, on well oiled hinges that silently sent me to my doom. And the hot hand of a vampire wrapped around my throat, pulling me across the threshold, and thrusting me hard up against a wall.

  Teeth met my neck.

  Sword blade met his balls.

  And the Dark Shadow stormed through the back door.

  9

  He’d Come

  There was nothing of Georgia left in the vampire who barrelled down the hall. Red eyes glowing, fangs long and lethal, a growl growing in force from the back of her throat, having reached up from the very depths of her soul.

  Primeval. Old. Vampires have been around a long, long time.

  Colour streaked in from a side room and smashed into her side, taking her off her feet and through the air. A thunderous crash sounded out as both bodies hit something solid in a room out of sight. Snarls rent the air, tearing and ripping and high pitched hissing. The snap of fangs, the grunt of lost air, the crack of bone shattering.

  Georgia had met Ediz.

  Soft lips pressed briefly against my throat, reminding me I had my own battle to contend with, and then Hakan pulled back to look down at me.

  Silver laced the ice-blue, swirling, entwining, mesmerising. He blinked slowly, inhaled through his nose, nostrils flaring, fangs elongating. They were as long as I’d seen my father’s get. He pressed himself in closer to my body as growls and bangs and crashes sounded out from the other room.

  “You brought a friend,” he said, voice low and draped in velvet. “Ediz will be pleased.”

  He wanted me to ask, to demand he not harm Georgia.

  I just smiled and offered a one sided shoulder shrug. “The Dark Shadow was getting hungry.”

&
nbsp; He blinked down at my lips, his gaze locked there for too long a time. I breathed as normally as I could manage, thrust up against a wall, a vampire’s hot palm wrapped tightly around my throat, the knowledge that the blade between his legs was doing nothing for his arousal beating a frantic pace inside my head.

  My pulse fluttered and his eyes left my lips to stare at my neck.

  “I’m impressed,” he said conversationally, as if we both weren’t about to do lethal damage. “You have resources I was not made aware of.”

  “And such a long way to come to be disappointed.”

  The wall opposite us collapsed in a spray of broken plasterboard, dust and paint chips scattering across the hallway. Ediz reached through the gap that had appeared and wrapped a long clawed hand around Georgia’s jacket, hauling her back through the hole he’d just created.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  Hakan hadn’t blinked an eyelash during the interruption, his attention, his sole focus was on me. On the rapid beat of my blood.

  “I am not disappointed,” he purred.

  I sucked in a breath of air and gripped the hilt of my Svante tighter, pressing the blade firmly against the crease at the top of his thigh. He smiled.

  “There are better ways to get what you want,” he advised, silver and cyan flashing in his eyes hypnotically.

  I forced a grin, shifted the sword slightly, letting my knuckles run down the length of his very impressive erection.

  He started chuckling. “You are a delight.”

  Frustration gnawed at me, but my gut was silent. As if the ribbons were waiting patiently to see what I’d do. Of all the talents to receive upon maturity, I had to get a malfunctioning one.

  Luc.

  What had Luc received that had made him seek release - redemption? - in the arena?

  “You’re running out of time,” I advised with false bravado. False, because if Alain had been watching Hakan, he’d have already been here.

  The house rocked as something hit a wall in the room just out of sight. I heard the annoyed growl of Georgia’s vampire and then the high pitched scream of a shifter getting pulverised by the Dark Shadow.

  My lips edged up in a more believable smile.