The Chalice (Luna Vampire Series)

by Christine Asher

  "A long sought daughter of our righteous red," Michel poetically drawled. "She will forever and eternally be your mate, space-time will merge into a solitary whole, and the sands of destiny will shift." As he finished, I sensed Adrian's whirlwind of a reaction. Happiness. Sadness. Relief. Fulfillment.

  And, as if I'd seen enough, the vision dissipated. I returned to the present to be hastily bombarded by the unrestrained impact of Adrian's crimson energy. The putrid taste coated my entire mouth, hideous in its warm viscosity and its odd similarity with living razor blades.

  To avoid puking or screaming in pain, I tried to concentrate on the prophecy. Regrettably, however, my haggard intellect couldn't make heads nor tails of it. So, instead, I forced my mind to focus on Adrian's emotional response. Why the feelings of sadness and relief? Granted, I got the happy and fulfilled part. But why the rest?

  Obviously hearing my questions, he nodded and sent me a flood of images. A blink of an eye later, I knew six hundred years of Adrian's dating history. I felt the shame of his infertility, saw the aristocratic women repeatedly snub their noses at him over his mother's hybrid heritage, and understood his consequent sadness. He'd always been alone.

  A second surge allowed me to relive his upbringing as an only child. At the young vampire age of thirty, his mother had been assassinated. His father, unable to deal with the separation, took his own life shortly thereafter. And his aunts and uncles, well, they disowned his family long before any of those unfortunate events occurred. No one appreciated a hybrid marriage back then, especially among the nobility.

  Regardless, Adrian had to go on. Therefore, he found it necessary to seclude himself from vampire society, eventually enduring the long ship ride to America in hopes of change. Sadly, the prejudices were deeply entrenched. So, for hundreds of years, his human slaves and the vampires he created were the closest he ever came to a real family.

  As the scene dissolved, I started to regard my prophesied mate with an unseasoned compassion. A spot in my heart softened and I rethought my harsh judgment of him. I also surveyed the state of my body, noting a dramatic decrease in my pain level. My neck no longer throbbed as badly and my back's piercing ache had lessened. And, sure, the taste still hideously scratched at my sanity, nothing could've changed that. But my world was a little better, my strength definitely on the rise.

  Just as I was about to wiggle away from his blood flow, another memory inundated my perceptions. One that revealed Adrian's mindset in the minutes following our first dream. I felt the love he had for me, how strongly he craved my touch, and the pervasive sense of relief that integrated it all. He'd finally met me after waiting two decades. And so, with reverence, he looked toward the heavens and solemnly thanked the universe for bringing us together, for giving us a chance.

  Slowly, my full awareness emerged to find him removing his wrist and propping me up so that only inches separated our faces. "Your skin," I pointed out, my voice sounding healthy. "It's paler. Did I drink too much?"

  "There's no need to worry, my love. I'm strong." Pausing, he stared off into the distance for a moment before returning his attention to me. "I am irrevocably and unconditionally in love with you, Luna. You must know that now. Nonetheless, I wanted to say the words." And then, with the confidence gained from centuries of practice, he kissed me.

  If truth be told, the guy deserved some credit; he didn't flinch a bit at the disgusting aftertaste in my mouth. He simply spread me apart and seductively interlaced his tongue with mine. As a result, tingles exploded across my body and I was instantaneously breathless.

  His lips were inviting, pulling me closer and compelling me to return his kiss with unremitting wildness. Passion gushed between us, repressed from months of dreamscape cuddling. And, since we never broke eye contact, his baby blues opened a fire in the pit of my stomach that made me wanna tear off my already shredded clothes.

  "I wish we had more time," Adrian purred, scooting away from me slightly. "We'll have to continue this later."

  "Yep, we really should get going," I panted, struggling to calm my animalistic need. Frankly, I desired nothing more than jumping his bones right then and there. Shackles, partially healed wounds, nappy hair, and all.

  Totally frustrated, I settled my head against his chest in disappointment and ordered myself to unwind. Meanwhile, my freethinking nature chastised me for not analyzing the recent turn of events from my normally skeptical angle. Seriously, what if my attraction to him came from a newly created bond? Or some type of mind mojo my novice vamp powers couldn't perceive?

  Nevertheless, intuition told me not to stress over it. And, yeah, this might sound irrational, but it seemed as though I'd known him for years, lifetimes even. I understood him, how long he waited for me, how he truly loved me. And I knew in my heart of hearts that the visions I'd been shown were genuine. They weren't fabricated to manipulate. Plus, he'd taken great risks to come to my rescue. If that wasn't loyalty, what was?

  Chapter 25

  "Can you use your powers now?" Adrian asked, not taking his eyes from mine.

  "Don't know," I muttered. In spite of feeling a whole heck of a lot better, I still wasn't in top form.

  Sensing my apprehension, he squeezed me closer. "I only need you to freeze time for about five minutes. During which, I'll leave briefly..."

  "No," I shrilled, my pulse abruptly racing as my super cuddly mood dissipated and unwelcomed flashbacks of Tsedaka's torture session flooded my mind. If he poofed out of my cell, I'd be vulnerable. And, with the shackles holding me in place, somebody might come in and hurt me again.

  "We have no choice, love." Pausing, he gently kissed my forehead. "It's essential that I retrieve the keys to your chains. And, even though you can't see it, your cell's door is locked electronically with a pass code. So, I must sneak into the security office, hack into their computer systems, get the code, and enter it from the outside."

  I looked at him skeptically, my heart running marathons. What if my power quit on me when he was in the middle of stealing the keys? Or surrounded by guards in the security office? His blood had helped me, but it wasn't a freaking miracle worker. Plus, if they caught him, dear old daddy'd start in on Adrian and he'd most certainly pull a repeat of earlier on me.

  "Don't worry," he smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fast. Just try to suspend time. If you're successful, I'll go. If not, we'll wait a bit and give it another whirl."

  Sizing him up, I realized that he was prepared to gamble his life on my abilities and, seeing that he'd been a vamp hella longer than me, he probably knew best. Moreover, what other choices were there? To stay for the rigged trial and execution? To be tortured 'til I was brainwashed? Nope, not gonna happen.

  Straightening my posture with determination, I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Then I shoved my will upon the world. Nonetheless, when I peeked at my environment several seconds later, I was sorely disappointed.

  Adrian and I were the only ones in the cell and, since we were touching, I had no valid method of assessing whether reality was truly frozen. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I should've thought of that prior to even attempting to flex my lame psychic muscles...

  "You really must consider developing a more positive attitude," Adrian teased, chuckling as he lifted me off his lap. "I'll go see what I can do. Make sure to hold time while I'm gone. It's crucial."

  "There's no proof that everybody's stopped," I cautioned. "Seriously, you could poof outta here and find that they're all still moving."

  "Quit stressing, darling, I feel your powers at work. I'll return shortly." And with that, he winked and disappeared.

  How could he perceive my abilities when I felt nothing? Grumbling to myself, I tapped my fingers on the cold cement floor. And, sadly, I did begin to sense my influence, each moment zapping my energy and bringing me slightly closer to an inconvenient catnap. First came the droopy eyelids, next a series of yawns, and finally the sandman dancing an uncomfortable jig in my brain. I raged against it
, refusing to buckle. Then, as promised, Adrian showed back up.

  "Good news, I scored the keys and the codes!" he exclaimed triumphantly, the blur of his movements dizzying as he dropped to his knees and unlocked my shackles. "Listen, whatever you do, keep time frozen. I can tell it's drawing on you. Nevertheless, you must push past it." After which, he vanished from my cell, swiftly using the exterior keypad to open my door. Freedom! Thank fucking god!

  "Lucien's supposed to be down the hall," I advised, temples throbbing from my gradually increasing migraine.

  "I'm aware of his location," Adrian grinned. "I went to see him before visiting you, remember?"

  "Oh yeah," I replied sheepishly.

  "It's alright, you were really out of it earlier. Come on," he murmured, taking my hand and walking us at a brisk pace. "Lucien's family, a son to me. We won't be leaving him behind."

  Admittedly, a part of me had wondered about Adrian's opinion of Lucien, especially in light of how close Lucien and I'd grown over the past couple weeks. It relieved me to hear that Adrian thought of him as family. I agreed entirely. And, yeah, I know that's gotta sound kinda crazy, given Lucien's short stint in my life. Regardless, the bond linking maker to makee is instantaneous and quite intense.

  Strangely, I saw Lucien as a brother, son, best friend, bodyguard, and partner in crime as well as potential boyfriend material. A bunch of roles crammed into a single person. Damn confusing.

  To top it all off, now I've suddenly developed feelings for Adrian. Granted, Lucien and I never exactly hooked up or anything. Still, we shared a connection and I felt guilty for desiring my prophesied mate so wholeheartedly. Jeesh, as if this was the appropriate venue to be stressing over dating nonsense. Sigh.

  Shifting my attention onto Adrian, I watched him intently while he chose one of the doors, punched in a succession of numbers to disengage the lock, then wrenched it open. And, let me tell you, we were greeted by a horrific sight.

  Immediately, my heart sank as I examined the scene. My gunshot wounded protector hung frozen in the middle of the cell. Bloody. Badly beaten. Shackled in place. And, similar to me, Tsedaka's goons had removed his shoes, socks, and coat.

  "He'll be fine," Adrian remarked gruffly, his flurried movements unfastening Lucien's restraints in a hurry. "At this point, you shouldn't be squandering energy worrying about interpersonal matters. Just center your mind on maintaining your power, okay?"

  I nodded, although, it totally irked me that he'd been eavesdropping. Freaking telepathy...

  "We must share the same temporal plane, so release your control over the world," Adrian ordered, ignoring my irritation. "After that, touch both of us and halt the flow again as soon as you can."

  "I'm not sure I've got the strength. And, besides, I've never done the whole stopping, restarting thing. It might not work."

  Smiling, he patted me on the back in reassurance. "I have faith in you."

  Everybody always had so much faith in me; one of these days, our luck was bound to run out. Nonetheless, I allowed time's weight to lift from my weary shoulders, luxuriating in the prompt return of my health. Headache gone. Mental processes crisp.

  Desperately, I yearned to soak in the comfortable stability, to take a much-needed breather. However, I didn't have that luxury. So, wordlessly, I grabbed my men's hands and hastily forced reality to submit. Instantly strained, I nearly collapsed onto the floor. Truthfully, I probably would've if it wasn't for Lucien.

  "Girlie, are you alright?" he asked anxiously, throwing his arm around me to offset my teetering balance.

  "Yeah, sort of. Um, I figured I might never see you again," I gulped, emotions surging as I twisted to gaze into his beautiful chocolate brown eyes. Happiness. Relief. Awkwardness over Adrian's kiss.

  "I knew you'd find a way to save us, girlie. You're more powerful than all the king's guards combined. That's the reason they've done this to us." Then he silently added, "No worries about Lord Adrian. I came into this with the understanding that you'd develop a relationship with him; Michel's prophecies aren't wrong. Still, I'm here for you no matter what."

  "It's great to have you with us, Lucien," Adrian chimed in, interrupting our little reunion. "That said, we must get moving. How long can you sustain this level of exertion, darling?"

  "Not long," I answered, struggling to concentrate on the task at hand. Frankly, my weakening energy reserves were probably the source of my scattered thoughts. It was awful, a tension migraine from hell combined with pulsating twinges that tormented my spine.

  "As I feared, we need to hurry," Adrian boomed. In a flash, he removed his purple cloak, pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket, kicked off his boots, and tossed the entire pile at Lucien. "I realize we discussed this earlier, son. Regardless, you have to be informed. The extra clothing may not be enough protection from the daylight. You could get burned and I won't force that on anyone. This has to be your choice."

  "I'll give my life to protect her," Lucien avowed, gently propping me against the wall while he dressed. "A few burns won't bother me. You've still got the coffin in the chopper, right?"

  "Coffin?" I marveled, confusion setting in. I mean, I'd assumed that sleeping in such a contraption was a myth along with virtually everything else involving vampires and pop culture.

  Adrian chuckled. "We named it that as a joke, love. It's not really a coffin; it's more or less a large box that latches from the inside. Either way, it blocks the sun." Abruptly, he took off his trench coat and threw it to me. "Put this on, the wind's blustery today."

  "Thanks," I sputtered, grateful for the warmth as I gingerly slid it over my shredded t-shirt.

  "And to answer your question, Lucien," Adrian continued. "Yes, the coffin remains. The king's guards didn't confiscate it during the search."

  "Well, I guess that means I'll live. So, no worries."

  "Good, it's settled. Now we run," Adrian declared, promptly about-facing and hauling ass down the cellblock.

  Following close behind him, we ran full out, each step causing me to lean more of my weight on Lucien. He basically had to pull me forward which was definitely slowing our pace. To be honest, I felt bad for relying on him so heavily. For real, he hadn't gotten a chance to feed and he'd been seriously injured too.

  Nevertheless, we pressed on until the lengthy cell-lined hallway ended in a large room containing five of Tsedaka's lackeys. They were clad in their monotonously similar black suit, white shirt, red tie ensembles with matching swords in hip-holsters. And, thanks to me, the whole group was completely immobilized.

  And so, we watched as my hubby-to-be searched each of them, removing a treasure trove of hidden weapons. Guns, small knives, and several types of swords. Once finished, he threw a handgun to Lucien, before taking a sword for himself.

  "Do you know how to use this?" Adrian asked, meeting my gaze as he grabbed one of the smaller pistols and strolled toward me.

  "Well, uh, I guess. It's pretty self-explanatory. Just point and shoot."

  With an encouraging smile, he flipped off the safety and cocked a round into the chamber. "Only use it if something happens to both of us. Otherwise, spend your energies on keeping time at a standstill."

  Clumsily, I accepted the hunk of cold metal and, in a fraction of a second, he was marching back in the direction of the guards. If truth be told, the fury with which he pounded his feet into the cement should've been a signal to the gruesome acts that were to follow. Yet, I never could've predicted the brutality. It was a sight to behold, a scene straight from a horror flick.

  His rage took on tangible form as he used his sword to decapitate them. Afterward, he retraced his steps, sliced open their chests, and removed their hearts one by one. Snarling growls escaped his lips, fangs filled his mouth, and his normally caring blue eyes were hollow. In the end, putrid smelling blood splatters coated everything. The walls, the floor, him, even Lucien and me. Jesus. I so wanted to barf.

  During the entire spectacle, Lucien held onto my arm to ensur
e I wouldn't topple over. And, of course, he kept assisting me as we pushed ahead, trekking through what seemed like a never-ending maze of tunnels.

  Along the way, we passed a number of people. Humans, vampires. Males, females. The young, the old. And Adrian slaughtered every single one of 'em. He didn't make excuses for his actions. He merely struck without emotion and moved on, leaving a sickening trail of death in our wake.

  While a piece of my soul cringed at his brutality, another piece welcomed it with open arms. It was no shocker that Tsedaka'd send every last able body to hunt us down once time resumed. So, to protect our lives, I understood that we had to strike preemptively.

  Arriving at the main exit, Adrian quickly typed in the pass code and opened the door in a rush. I yearned to express my excitement at our success, although, I couldn't so much as crack a smile. It took all my resolve to barely lift my legs and put one foot in front of the other. Knees rubbery, temples vibrating in agony.

  "Can't go much longer," I groaned, collapsing to the ground in a patch of sunlight just outside. Vision swimming, my world tilted as I shakily discarded the gun in my lap. My hands were too weak to continue holding it.

  "Luna," Adrian barked. "Keep disrupting the flow, use every ounce of your strength. If you lose consciousness, I'll protect you." Then he turned toward Lucien, who was lingering in the shaded safety of the doorway. "Secure the hood over your face and walk slowly. You'll make it if you're careful."

  "Okay, here goes nothing," Lucien grunted, covering himself with the material and tentatively stepping into the sun. Thankfully, there was no sizzling or bursting into flames. He simply stood tall and inched forward with determination.

  "Uh, guys?" I stammered, squinting up at them. "Um, I don't think I can stand."

  "I must get the engine started. Carry her, Lucien," Adrian yelled, hardly giving us a moment's warning before poofing away.

  How in the hell was Lucien supposed to carry me? He had his hands full with ensuring he didn't become a crispy critter. Sigh. "Um, I'm down here. Three steps to your right."