kindred 08.6 - blood enchanted

by Nicola Claire

  Papa was coming, I was sure of it. But Alain and Hakan had got here first. Papa would have opened the portals in Ljósálfar. Alain and Hakan had used the power of my brother’s blood to storm Faerie.

  I closed my eyes and then had a thought. “If we leave via whatever method you manage with my blood, then how does Alain leave?”

  “He doesn’t,” Hakan said with brutal honesty. “Not until he reaches the border of Dökkálfa.”

  Alain would have known this. He would be chasing or luring the Light Fey who had captured me towards Dark Fey lands. Once there he would be fine, but as I looked out over the lush and too vivid horizon, I recognised just how far inside Ljósálfar we were.

  “He drew the short straw,” I murmured to myself, humbled and surprised at his sacrifice. How long would it take him to get there? How much danger would he be in until then?

  “He drew the only straw available to him,” Hakan replied, stepping closer. “For only a Mhachkay can walk between worlds.”

  Hakan was my ride out of here. Alain was the distraction. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  Then Hakan’s hot breath met the side of my neck, the light touch of his fingers brushed my cheek, my jaw, my lips, and then trailed a hot path down to my collarbone.

  “One bite,” he husked. “One drop. That’s all.”

  One slice in the palm of our hands. One moment for our blood to mix.

  One bite. One drop. That’s all.

  I shivered. He growled. And then his arms wrapped around me, crushing me in his embrace, as hot lips sealed over my rapidly beating pulse, and his fangs entered the side of my neck.

  12

  But It Changed Nothing

  I’ve been bitten before, of course. I’m no blood virgin. Hakan had even managed to get fang to neck once. But not like this. Not unhurried, outside of a confrontation. Not with my permission.

  The giving of blood and taking of blood is a very necessary but sacred thing for a vampire. They need blood to survive. It’s their only source of food, if you discount single malt whisky, that is. But it is also that which gives them life. Power.

  Kindred joinings are sealed with blood. The combining of blood via clasped palms. But they are also sealed with a bite. Not all joinings are intimate; Alain’s and mine wouldn’t be. At least, I didn’t think it would be, but I really wasn’t sure about that anymore. And it was just one more thing I didn’t want to think about.

  Not with Hakan’s fangs in my neck, his tongue lapping at my blood, and the low, decidedly sexy growl vibrating through his body into mine. He clasped my shoulders, pressing me firmly against all that deliciously, hot, smooth skin, and drank my blood down like an exotic wine.

  It was sensual without being obviously so. He didn’t feel me up. He didn’t cup my butt or press his thigh between my legs. He didn’t need to. He could simply let me feel what he was feeling, let the desire that raged through him wash into me.

  Until I wasn’t sure whether it was his lust or mine that made me moan. Whether it was my images of us naked and sweaty, rolling around a sheet crumpled bed, sweat coating our skin, nails scratching, teeth biting, lips kissing, bodies melding… or all him. He groaned, his hands clasping me tighter, pulling me closer, but not moving from their rigid hold of my upper arms.

  My Sigillum blazed, already replenished outside the cave’s wards, already giving away too much of my fucking emotions through the thin fabric of Hakan’s shirt. I moaned, arching my back, giving him better access to my neck, to my body, to me.

  He only took the blood. I was left feeling frustrated, and strangely inadequate, until all thought of rejection left my mind as his fangs slipped free, and his tongue slowly licked the wound closed, and our surroundings came into better focus.

  He was breathless. And shaking. His grip almost painful on my arms. And for a moment I wasn’t sure whether he could move, could think, could act. Whether he realised he’d brought us somewhere that matched the images to perfection, that had only recently stormed through my head. A large stately bed, the dark sheets crumpled, thick curtains closed over floor to ceiling windows, plush carpet soft beneath my feet, the smell of his signature scent all around me; surrounding me, filling me, making it impossible not to play those images of us over and over inside my head.

  Oregano, mint, a crisp breeze off a salty ocean, sunlight and olive oil. Tulips. It was the most complicated signature scent I had ever encountered, but somehow it worked. And somehow it called to me. Spoke to me in a language I didn’t comprehend but my body understood regardless.

  I pushed back against his hard, wide chest and placed some much needed space between us. I needed to think clearly. I needed to figure out where I was, how to get to my father, how to let him know Alain was in Ljósálfar in danger. I needed to find Luc. End this.

  Get as far away from this mysterious, alluring, dangerous vampire as I could.

  I lifted my eyes to his. He was watching me. A blue so vivid mixed with a silver so bright danced in swirls inside heavy lidded eyes. His chest rose and fell rhythmically, a fine layer of perspiration coated his caramel coloured skin. I wanted to lick my lips.

  I stood frozen.

  “Where are we?” I asked, infinitely relieved that my voice was steady.

  “My home,” Hakan replied in equally steady tones.

  I inhaled deeply through my nose, trying valiantly to ignore his signature scent which seemed to have expanded, wrapped around me, invaded every inch of my soul. I pushed past it, searching for clues, searching for something I could use against him. Something I could give my father, that we could use to find Luc.

  “He isn’t here,” Hakan said, as if he’d read my mind and knew I was thinking of my brother. “This is my sanctuary.” I held his gaze and saw the message there.

  No one came here. Not even Ediz. And yet this is what he’d shown me in those intimate moments when he’d been drinking my blood. This is where he brought me, when he broke the Ljósálfar wards.

  Intentionally? I couldn’t tell. Nothing this vampire did made sense.

  I shook my head, looked around the plush room we were standing in, realising it was also the same place I’d been called to back in the wharves, and then brought my attention back to Hakan.

  “What now?” I could try to run, but my guess was we were in Turkey, in what used to be the Ottoman Empire. Eastern Europe, a world away from New Zealand. I might as well have been back in Álfheimr.

  If I could find a Ley Line, I could get back to Auckland before it was too late for Alain. I could throw myself on the mercy of my father, ask for his help, like I should have asked for his help right from the start. Tell him everything.

  The Sigillum. The ribbons of colour. The growing fear that there was more to come. More talents. More power. I knew what he would demand. I knew the price I’d have to pay. It’s why I’d been hiding from it all. It’s why I’d run from Papa and not to him.

  He would insist I join with Alain. Not later. Not maybe. But now.

  I stared into the blindingly blue eyes of the vampire before me, felt the ribbons twist and churn inside my gut, and knew I’d agree.

  This - whatever this was between Hakan and me - was danger. A risk that even I wasn’t prepared to take.

  “Do you want to help your brother?” Hakan asked, bringing everything back into vivid clarity.

  My freedom of choice didn’t matter.

  My desires or wants were irrelevant.

  Luc needed me.

  “Where is he?” I asked, the game shifting. The battle coming to a head. This was it.

  “Choose me.”

  I should have laughed; it was funny. How many people wanted my power but not me? There aren't that many Nosferatins. We’re definitely outnumbered. But I wasn’t merely a born vampire hunter, was I? Joining with me could bring far more for the kindred vampire than my power. Joining with me could mean anything.

  Even for Luc could I do it?

  “No.” The word was resolute. Hak
an didn’t even blink.

  “So you will join with your father’s spy master? You will bow to the Champion’s will and feed his empire?”

  I let out a frustrated breath of air.

  “And you think your demands are any better?” I growled. “You think capturing my brother and holding him over my head like the blade of a guillotine is better than what my father asks? At least my father is protecting me. Alain Dupont would do anything for Papa.”

  Hakan looked at me with what I could only call pity.

  It rocked me to my core.

  Papa loved me. I knew he did. He loved me, maybe not as much as he loved Mama - it was a different kind of love - but he loved me more than any other being in the universe.

  Survive at all costs. A vampire’s number one motto.

  Papa is vampyre. He loved me, but being vampyre came first.

  I couldn’t breathe. For a second, I thought I was drowning. Then Luc’s face flashed before my eyes. Laughing and open, carefree and mischievous. Devilish in that debonair way of his. He understood me. He got me. He always did. When there was nowhere left to turn to, no one left to confide in, no place I could truly call home anymore… there was always Luc.

  I loved my parents. I admired and respected them both. Occasionally, I might have feared my father, but no more than the fear a child has when she has done wrong.

  Wanting control over my destiny was not wrong.

  But allowing me that control was not my father’s to give.

  Destiny was destiny. But where would my destiny lead?

  “I don’t know what I’ll do,” I finally admitted. “But I refuse to be forced into anything.”

  Hakan stared at me, that impassive mask vampires wear hiding his thoughts with ease. And then he nodded. One short nod of his head. I thought that was it. I thought we were done. The battle won with words not fists.

  I was so far out of the loop.

  “Then your brother is truly lost.”

  Luc. That’s what it came down to. My twin. The other half of me. He is my mirror image. Smooth where I am rough. Humble where I am arrogant. Kind where I am hard. Loving where I am lethal. Luc is the better half of us. The more deserving. The one who should be free to choose.

  “Why have you not joined with Luc?” I suddenly demanded. Attraction aside, joinings need not be intimate.

  Hakan raised an imperious eyebrow at me. But didn’t reply in words. Instead his gaze drifted down my body, a heated touch without shifting a limb.

  His answer was obvious and also a little too contrived.

  I was missing something.

  What now? Where did this leave me? If I agreed to join with Hakan, how could I ensure my brother’s safety? Once joined, I couldn’t kill Hakan, unless I was prepared to die myself. Symbiotic is the kindred relationship. If one dies, so does the other.

  But I might be able to control him.

  I knew so little of the Mhachkay. I snorted internally. I knew fuck all. But my father knew something. I needed to get home to Auckland, I needed to face Papa, and demand answers.

  I let out a slow breath of air.

  “OK,” I said. Hakan cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “I’ll do it.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But only if you let me speak to my father first.”

  Now it was his turn to snort. Out loud.

  “Do you think so little of me, hayatim?”

  “What does that even mean?” I demanded, frustration gnawing at me, making me snap. This was useless. I was trapped. Just as much as Luc was.

  And all because of this vampire.

  “Sweetheart,” he said, watching me closely for a reaction. Hayatim meant sweetheart? I huffed incredulously. Sarcastic son of a bitch.

  “Very original,” I sneered. He shrugged a shoulder, bringing my focus reluctantly back to his near nakedness.

  Enough. I had to decide.

  Risk Luc’s safety a little longer.

  Or sacrifice myself on the slim hope Hakan would honour our bargain.

  I knew little of the Mhachkay, but I’d learned a thing or two about this vampire who’d invaded my life.

  He hadn’t harmed me, or taken advantage of my numerous weakened states, when he could have.

  He’d not once attacked my family. My father.

  If the Mhachkay were as powerful and influential as I was beginning to suspect, why hadn’t he done either of those things? He wanted me. He wanted my power through a kindred joining. He clearly despised my father, shared a history with him of some sort. Could that history be the key? Was he bound by an ancient accord?

  It was a risk. But I am the risk taker in my family. Luc is steady. I am volatile.

  And something told me, something twisting and turning in a flash of bright colours deep down inside, that this would work. That I could do it. Take the risk. Break the rules. Reach out with my Light.

  I felt it there, thrumming. Returned to me as soon as we’d walked outside the Fairy’s wards.

  So much at chance. So many players. Could I do this?

  Wait for me, Luc.

  I spun across the small space between us, the ribbons excitedly dancing and turning inside. A flash of muted colours in a vividly colourful room. A splash of power entwining with a surge of Sanguis Vitam. Like met like.

  But he’d been expecting it. He’d been waiting for my move. He knew me better than I knew myself. But I would not yield. I would not.

  We smashed together. Bones creaking, breath exploding from straining lungs. Growls rent the peaceful aura of his bedroom. His teeth grazed my skin, so recently healed. My fingers scraped down his chest, muscles quivering. His eyes blazed cyan, silver and a bright white as close to lightning as I’d ever seen. Mesmerising. I redoubled my efforts. Light bound his wrists, his chest, tightening. And then with a roar and a ripple of muscles my hold slipped.

  He was so much stronger than I’d realised. Just as determined as me not to lose.

  I relished the challenge. I savoured the battle. This was no arena. There would be no applause at the conclusion. No chance to soak up victory in front of an adoring crowd. No coins lining my pocket at the end of a successful night.

  No band containing my magic.

  I had no sword. But I had my wits, my fists, and my body.

  And I had my Light.

  Part of me hails from my mother. Her Light is the brightest in the world. Mine and Luc’s come a close second. He’d not bettered this vampire. But then, when he’d faced him, he’d have been banded for the fight.

  I was not.

  I spun and danced. Hakan met me move for move in a dazzling display of subtle beauty. Our limbs entwined. Our breaths mingled. It was more of an enchantment than a battle. He lured me with such finesse. I tempted him with equal panache. We were so well matched it made my chest ache.

  And as his fangs found purchase, and my Light swelled to a crescendo of brilliant, bright white, we exploded in a symphony of colours. Breathless, mindless, limbless. Two hearts. Two souls.

  One drop of blood.

  One blast of Light.

  The room exploded. And all I heard was Hakan’s low, sexy laugh.

  This is not over, hayatim, he purred inside my head. You are not safe, he added, making me frown. As far as threats went, it was lacking.

  And then he ramped up the menace factor by growling, And you are already mine.

  Light burst apart, the world split in two, and with a crack of thunder which had more to do with my light than his Mhachkay ability to walk worlds, at a guess, I landed in a dishevelled heap on a cold marble floor in the middle of the Iunctio’s council room.

  Damn. I’d been aiming for my apartment, which made me realise I’d had little to no control over the hijacking of Hakan’s power. Which gave me the uncomfortable and totally confused thought that Hakan had played me. Sent me here, to my father of all people, and only let me think I’d been in control.

  That no good, double-crossing, conniving, confusing, diabolical vampire!


  “Éliane?” Papa said.

  “Thank the Goddess,” Alain added.

  “What fun,” the Ambrosia’s ancient voice intoned.

  “I guess we can start now.” My Uncle Gregor’s highly amused chuckle filled the vast room with warmth.

  I lifted my eyes and scanned the twelve seats before me, finding my mother, the Prophesied, naturally. I always looked to Mama when I was confused.

  “Ellie,” she said. Her tone was saddened. I looked away and found Alain standing off to the side. He’d made it back before me. I’d pushed the boundaries, risked my Light, for nothing.

  I wasn’t sure how to feel.

  And he had a fairy on his knees in front of him, blood splattered, pale, gaunt, and shining a pitiful amount of Light.

  The fairy snarled, snapped his blunt teeth at me, and then surged forward on a burst of stolen Light.

  The ribbons twisted, a flash of something red and pulsing, parasitic and too Dark, flared before my eyes. And then everything happened at once.

  I cried out at a sudden drain of power, falling backwards onto my butt, no doubt flashing a little too much skin in front of my father, and felt the swell of the combined Sanguis Vitam of the Iunctio laced with a good portion of Nosferatin Light. The power of all supernaturals contained and cared for by this ancient group of vampires.

  The Fairy fell short of his goal, Light thrummed in the room for a suspended moment, and then nothing but a dazzling shower of sparks and colours and dust. I watched it float on the air, dancing, realised that this was as close to actual fairy dust as you could get. And then it settled on the floor in a pattern that closely resembled the intricate swirls and geometric designs of my Sigillum.

  Silence. Just the rapid beat of my pulse and a pounding inside my head.

  “Enchanted,” someone said. “Had I not seen and felt it for myself I would have doubted.”

  I blinked, confusion making it hard to reason out what had just happened. But the thrumming of power through my arm, the burning of my Sigillum under the material of Hakan’s shirt, the blazing of its colours even through the fabric, let me know that I had done something terrible. Something irreversible. Something that would have been better if I’d kept it hidden. Out of sight.