by Amber Lynn
“I guess your species ages and matures differently than ours. I would’ve guessed younger.”
“Like Krinla, Rya is special. I can’t say more than that without revealing things she doesn’t want known, so why don’t we move on to what we’re going to do next. Obviously, as fun as it would be to stay here in the past, we do have to get back to our time.”
“But Hulin wants to kill you,” Krinla interrupted.
As comfortable as she was on the floor, Krinla decided it was time to get to her feet. She handed the little button thing back to Hunter and started the motions of getting up. Hunter quickly put the button in some hiding spot in the fabric that covered his legs and then jumped to his feet to help her.
“Take my hand. You should move slowly.”
It was a nice suggestion from him, but Krinla didn’t want him to think she was delicate. Along with taking his hand, she sprung to her feet in a motion that caused him to blink his eyes rapidly.
“I’m not back to my usual, but I’m fine. If we have to go back to our time, then you can target where we return, right? You said you were going to try to visit New York, right?”
Krinla had no idea where that was, but it had to be away from Hulin. They could try to build a new place for them to live. With the way her world was expanding, she wondered if there were other Draculs out there.
“We’re not going to New York, Krinla.” Krinla opened her mouth to interrupt Krinton, but he held up a hand to stop her. “The only reason I left today was because you wouldn’t leave without me and I had to find out if he was who I thought he was.”
Krinton pointed over to Hunter, who’d wiped the shock from his face after witnessing Krinla’s quick movements. He stood close to her side but wasn’t touching her. The heat coming from him was enough to make Krinla feel like her skin was turning pink.
“Who do you think I am?”
“That’s not important right now.” Krinton shook his head as he spoke. Krinla begged to differ, but his next words were definitely more significant to her. “We’re going back to deal with Hulin and the rest of them. I can understand why you don’t want to be anywhere near him, but we can’t leave our people to deal with his anger by themselves.”
Krinton’s eyes were glued to Krinla’s, so he couldn’t miss the defiance in hers. It wasn’t about her not wanting to see Hulin. It was about the fact that a posse of guys was convinced killing her father was a good idea. She couldn’t let him walk into a battle by himself, and she didn’t see a way around that if they went back.
“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate the rest of the Draculs like he does you. They’ll be fine as they figure out what to do with you gone.” Krinla wasn’t sure how much she believed that, but she had to do what she could to convince Krinton not to go back.
“This is the guy who cut your wrist and threw a knife at you?” Hunter asked.
“Not to mention he thinks he’s going to be my husband.” Krinla didn’t hide the disgust in her voice. “As far as I know, no one has the same kind of problems that we do with him, so why not let him pretend to be a ruler?”
Hunter reached over and grabbed Krinla’s hand closest to him, intertwining their fingers as he did. “She can’t go back there.”
Krinla looked down at their hands and wondered how cold hers felt to him. His hand was hot enough that it was almost uncomfortable to hold. Somewhere underneath the heat, Krinla felt calm. It was an odd sensation that kept her from trying to take her hand back. The things going on in her life were anything but calm, so she needed any help she could get.
“If it makes you feel better, they won’t be getting married and you’ll be going with us.”
No one had an immediate response to Krinton’s words. Everyone seemed to need a moment to let the words settle. As soon as that moment was over, the noise in the room picked up ten times.
Chapter Fourteen
“We’re not going back there.”
Krinla was adamant, trying to make her voice heard above the others. Most importantly she wanted to make sure no one was listening to Hunter. For some reason, he was excited about going back to fight Hulin.
It made no sense for someone as fragile as a human to want to take on a Dracul, especially one who was as crazy as Hulin. They were lucky Hulin’s blade hadn’t sliced through Hunter’s skin. If the rumors were right about how delicate human skin was, he would’ve had a hole in his body that wouldn’t have healed within seconds like hers had.
“Don’t you want revenge for what he did to you?” Hunter asked. “This isn’t ever going to go away, is it?”
He lifted up their joined hands, showing off her cut wrist. Krinla didn’t remember anyone saying the scar wouldn’t go away, but she wouldn’t deny it.
“So I have a scar.” Krinla shrugged, trying to reiterate it wasn’t a big deal. “That’s not a reason to get yourself killed.”
“Is there somewhere I could talk to my daughter alone for a few minutes?” Krinton asked before Hunter could mount a defense.
The room needed a giant reset button so they could rewind to the moments before Krinton had opened his mouth. There was so much tension in it that cutting through it with a knife seemed feasible. Most of the tension was coming from Krinla because she wanted everyone else to see reason when all they cared about was going to war.
“I’d prefer we finish talking about why it is you think my son is going to be involved in your battle, but I can give you five minutes so everyone can take a few deep breaths.”
Noah seemed to be on Krinla’s side, but she was afraid once he got whatever explanation Krinton had, he’d change his tune. Nothing her father could say would make Hunter coming back with them okay. She knew absolutely nothing about the man, but she wanted to protect him. Allowing him to come with them would be a huge mistake.
“That sounds like a good idea. Rya, you okay by yourself?” Krinton asked.
The girl had come to life when the topic of a fight came up. Her part of all the overlapping voices in the room had been about strategy, like where they should transport back to and the quickest way to put together a surprise attack. Even if she was the ten years old that she claimed, the words coming from her were from someone who saw war often, or at least thought about it a lot.
Draculs weren’t coddled as children, but they weren’t brought up learning nothing more than the art of fighting. There was something odd about the girl, and Krinla hoped someone would explain what it was.
“I’ll make sure they don’t lock you two up somewhere. It’d be a good idea if I taught Hunter some moves. He’s going to need them if he has to kill Hulin.”
“He’s not ever going to meet Hulin, so he doesn’t need to know any of your moves,” Krinla said obstinately.
She stared at Rya, daring the little girl to challenge what she said. Rya smiled at her, revealing her two sharp fangs that hung down further than the rest of her teeth.
“We’ll see if you still feel that way after you finish with your talk.”
The idea that she already knew what was going to be said when Krinla and Krinton got behind closed doors rankled Krinla. It made no sense to her that Krinton would share all sorts of secrets with someone he wasn’t related to, and yet keep Krinla in the dark about things. If it was one of Krinton’s close allies, it’d be one thing. Of course, it didn’t seem like Krinton had many allies he could trust.
“Let’s walk away from that conversation for now and get this recess over with so we can come back and do some actual planning.”
Krinton seemed to indicate there wasn’t going to be any questioning his decisions, either to go back or that Hunter was going with them. Krinla made it her personal mission to make sure he changed his mind on both points. When the time came for them to leave the group, Hunter was hesitant to let go of her hand, choosing to hold on and kiss it before letting her fingers slowly leave his.
Not being deep in conversation gave Krinla a chance to look around the room they were in. She didn�
��t know how much time had passed, but it was a long time to have only looked up at the lights and felt the coldness of a smooth floor under her feet.
The room, not surprisingly, was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. There were no blocks of stone holding up the walls around them. The walls were flat and white with boards around them in a few places that looked to have writing on them. Some of the writing seemed to be words, but most of it looked like drawings of some sort.
Krinla had no idea what it all meant, so she tried not to spend too much time deciphering it. That ended up being how she felt about the rest of the room. There were a number of things she classified as desks, but the material they were made of was unknown to her and she couldn’t figure out how they didn’t topple over with the skinny legs that appeared to be holding them up.
She didn’t even want to think about the things on top of the desks. Visual overload was trying to take over, so she focused on finally looking at the other men in the room. They were by the door Noah was leading them to, blocking the way out until the group got closer.
There were three of them, like Krinla already knew. The two men who stood behind the one in front didn’t interest her. They were dressed the same as the first and had black weapons sticking out that Krinla had never seen. The only reason she knew they were weapons was because of how they held them. That wasn’t exactly right, but she just knew.
The man in front had to be the angry man she’d heard Hunter fighting with. His eyes were glued to Krinla and she didn’t exactly like the look in them. It reminded her of Hulin, and the anger he seemed to always have in his red eyes.
The man staring at her had brown eyes, but the almond shape of them was reminiscent of Hulin’s. As far as Krinla knew, she’d never done anything to the man, so there wasn’t a need for all the hatred she felt directed at her.
“Liam, I presume.”
No one else seemed to want to say anything and the men weren’t moving out of the way. Krinla got the feeling Noah assumed they would do whatever he told them, but she could tell he only commanded them so far. The scoff she got for the words she’d said was an indication of just how highly Liam thought of her.
“I thought maybe seeing you up close would tell me what all the fuss is about, but you’re just a little girl.” Liam leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “I could break you in two over my knee and all this fuss would be over.”
To prove a point already mentioned multiple times, one moment Krinla was standing there in front of the man who towered over her. The next, he was on the ground with one of his arms wrapped behind his back as Krinla contemplated snapping it in two. If he had been a Dracul, she would have.
She could feel the fragility of the human body underneath her, though. Breaking his arm was something that would take time to heal, and even though he proved to be rather idiotic, his fighting skills were something the humans probably needed. He wouldn’t stand a chance against a Dracul, but other humans more than likely were easier for him to defeat.
Krinla kicked him at half her strength in his side. She instantly regretted the move when she heard something snap. Maybe not all of her regretted it because a small smile turned up the corner of her lips.
“You humans really are as fragile as they say. I barely tapped you and your bones broke. Just imagine what would happen if I picked you up and tried to break you in two.”
More than anything, Krinla hoped Hunter was taking notes. He needed to know what he was up against if he went back to help them fight. His body would be battered and broken before he could swing a fist.
“Well, I guess that serves you right, Liam. It’s never good to antagonize a woman.” Noah was trying to make a joke of the situation as his soldier rolled over on the floor and gripped his side.
“If he’s willing, Rya can help get him back to normal while Krinla and I talk. It’s probably not something he’ll want to do, but we’ll give him the option.”
Krinla thought Krinton was a bit generous. The jerk deserved to feel a little pain for a while after all the word vomit that had been coming out of his mouth. Krinla hoped the idea of Rya sharing some of the blood in her system was repulsive to the man, just so he could writhe in agony for a little bit while they worked to get whatever humans had to help someone with broken ribs.
“We’ll leave that up to him.”
Noah waved his right hand to the side and the two remaining men blocking the doorway moved. It was surprising they didn’t scatter after seeing what happened to their leader. Krinla gave them credit for being a little braver than she expected. They’d been told the Draculs could’ve killed them all before they blinked, but seeing a firsthand demonstration of a Dracul in action, should’ve reinforced the point.
With the men out of the way, Noah opened the door and led Krinla and Krinton down a hallway. There were a few doors they ended up passing, making Krinla wonder what was behind them. When she wanted to be, she was inquisitive, and after trying to make sense of the things she’d seen back in the other room, she was curious whether they had anything in that time she’d understand.
“I assume you’ll want privacy. Most of these rooms have become barracks of sorts, so there’s a good chance some of the troops will be going in and out.”
The idea of privacy really didn’t need to be mentioned, since Krinton had made it clear he wanted to be alone. Krinla continued to study the doors they didn’t go in, trying to decide what they hid. Barracks was another word she was unsure of. It was odd that they seemed to speak the same language, yet there were things the humans said that didn’t make any sense.
“This should do,” Noah said as he held a door open. Krinla had gotten lost in her thoughts, so she hadn’t realized they were stopping.
“Thank you,” Krinton said as he entered the room. “We shouldn’t be long.”
Krinla wasn’t sure about that. She followed her father and quickly took in the white walls around them. At least there wasn’t anything else in the room that her mind wanted to try to figure out. The fact that the room was completely empty seemed odd, but there were more important things to talk about than an empty room.
The door clicked behind her as Noah closed it. Krinton waited until the other man’s heartbeat quieted as he made his way back to the others. Krinla was ready to get right into it, but the first words out of her father’s lips changed the conversation she thought they were going to have.
“Hunter is half of the duo sanguine.”
Chapter Fifteen
Krinla didn’t know how to respond to the statement. She should’ve asked why her father came to that conclusion or question if the couple was even real, but her emotions were taking her in a million other directions. Those directions made it difficult to concentrate on any one thought.
The duo sanguine was one of the stories Draculs heard as children. Like time travel, it was something Krinla had never considered real. Gyla liked to talk about it in a romantic way, but Krinla thought it was all hogwash, and tried to tell her friend that.
“He’s not even a Dracul.”
Krinla couldn’t make sense of what her emotions were telling her, so she thought she’d work to disprove Krinton’s claim. Hunter had kissed her so he couldn’t be part of the couple said to have a love never seen before or after them. That was the part of the story that had Krinla caught up. There was more said about the adventures of the couple, but their love was the root of the story.
“Why do you think I wouldn’t let him give you blood? His humanity is a temporary condition.”
Krinton’s words confused Krinla even more. He was staring at her patiently, like she should understand something she wasn’t. Draculs were born the way they were. There wasn’t some magic way to turn another species into one, so Krinton was making even less sense than he had been.
Krinla shook her head, trying to clear the jumbled mess making a home in it. Since Krinton’s expectant expression didn’t seem to be changing, she figured shaking her head wasn’t helpin
g things.
“I like Hunter. I know absolutely nothing about him, but I feel a connection to him.” Krinla paused for a second to see if Krinton would say anything. He made no motions of speaking, so she continued. “You saw him kiss me. Did that look like something a man who was madly in love with another woman would do?”
Krinton looked around the room before turning his eyes back to Krinla. The lights above them made his eyes seem brighter than usual, or maybe that was whatever he was trying to tell her.
“I wish we had some chairs. You look a little flush.”
“Very funny.”
Krinla wasn’t amused by the comment. It was impossible for a Dracul to be flush and there was no reason she needed to take a seat.
“I wouldn’t let Hunter give you blood, Krinla. You wouldn’t have been able to stop and it would’ve started a process I don’t think either of you are ready for. You just admitted you feel the connection, which I saw the second you two were anywhere near each other.” Krinton took a few steps forward and reached out to touch Krinla’s face softly with his hand. “You’re his other half.”
Krinla stared at him blankly, working to process what he’d just said. Not only was Hunter a part of some mythical pairing, her father thought she was too. Evidently, traveling to the past wasn’t good for mental health. It was clear Krinton had gone crazy and Krinla felt like she wasn’t far behind.
“You do know that’s impossible, right?” It was in Krinla’s mind and she wanted Krinton to come around to her way of thinking. “We’re not even from the same time and the duo sanguine is something written about in books in our time. There’s no way those stories are about me.”
Looking down at the floor, Krinla started counting the flecks she could see in the white squares that made up the floor. There were a multitude of colors she could make out in the squares. Reds, browns, oranges and grays were the primary colors, but as she stared harder at the squares, she could see other colors. Analyzing the colors was tedious, but it was easier than having to deal with what her father was talking about.
