House of Shadows

by Morgan Hawke

  Rick cried out hoarsely, then moaned. Slowly he curled up on his side with his good arm wrapped around his stomach. His body shuddered. Rick gasped and his eyes opened wide. He flopped onto his back and his body suddenly jerked taut. His heels thumped on the floor and his back bowed up sharply.

  Klaus’s brows rose. “A fast reaction. Very good.” Klaus rose to his feet, leaving Rick laid out on the floor. “If he holds my blood down, all will be well.” He walked around to the front of the couch and sat. His head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed in concentration. “Now, ved’ma, you may find us.”

  The TV hissed as it switched on by itself.

  * * *

  A shout echoed in the upstairs halls.

  “Son of a bitch, I know they’re up here...” Rowan ran through the maze of joining halls on the top floor and panted. Her feet thumped on the carpeted floor. Rick’s fear and desperation was clawing at the back of her mind, adding to her own growing panic. “Where the fuck is the TV room?” She could feel that Rick was nearby but she couldn’t focus on his exact location.

  A sharp pain in her side stopped her cold in the middle of an empty hall that ended with a window before it took a sharp right turn back to the stairs. She put a hand on the wall and leaned over gulping for breath. Her heart was hammering in her chest. “Damn it, Rick, where the Hell are you?” This was the third time she’d stopped in this particular hallway looking for the door to the TV room, but she still couldn’t find it.

  She slowly stood upright and frowned. There was a door on her left. Wait a minute, I passed through this hall three times and that door wasn’t there... She heard the sound of a TV switching on then a breathy moan. She took the three steps to the door. It opened with a push. Klaus was lounging in the center of the couch watching TV.

  She didn’t see Rick. Panicked, she looked around the room then saw bare feet sticking out from behind the couch, near the wall. Don’t be dead, you idiot vampire...Please, Rick, don’t be dead... Suddenly his feet kicked out and he shook hard as though having a seizure. “Shit! Rick?” She dashed around the edge of the couch.

  Klaus flung out a long arm. “Do not go near him, he is not in control of himself just yet.”

  Rowan stopped short. She did not want him touching her. She glanced at the old vampire. Though his arm was out, he continued to stare at the TV. She looked back at Rick. He had stopped shaking and sprawled limp on his back with his eyes wide open. His face was pale as milk. Some kind of thick black liquid was oozing from his mouth and covered the front of his shirt. My Gods, what’s wrong with him? Rowan felt anger mixed with fear boiling in her gut. “What did you do to him?” She balled her fists. “You’re sworn not to bleed him...”

  “I have taken nothing. Your spell still holds.” Casually, he pulled back his arm then picked up the remote control and changed the channel. “He has drunk of my blood.”

  “What?” She looked at the elder vampire. “Your blood, but why?”

  “As he was, he could not provide for me. By sunset he will be stronger than before and fit sustenance.”

  Rick gasped and began shuddering and writhing on the floor. He rolled to his side and started retching. A small amount of thick black bile spattered out of his mouth and onto the floor. He groaned and curled up with his arms over his stomach.

  “Son of a bitch!” Rowan took a step closer.

  Klaus flung his arm out again, stopping her. “Do not go near him. He will kill you accidentally with his strength.”

  “It looks like it’s killing him!”

  Klaus turned red eyes on her. “It is.”

  “Shit!” She ducked around his arm and came to a sharp painful stop. Klaus had grabbed a handful of her long hair. “Let go.”

  “Do not concern yourself. There is nothing you can do. He survives with a heartbeat or he survives as a full vampire without one, but he will still survive.”

  Rowan turned to look at him. “Let me go, or I will fry you where you sit.” She felt the shimmer of power begin to dance under her skin.

  Klaus abruptly released her. “That would be unwise.” He shook his hand as though it had been burned. “My blood is coursing through his body. If you use your magic on me, you will destroy him, too.”

  Rowan stomped her foot in frustration. The son of a bitch is probably right. If I throw enough light to get rid of him, I may hurt Rick. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Concentrating, she eased up on her power. Light still shimmered under her skin but she forcibly kept it from breaking free.

  Klaus picked up the TV remote and changed the channel again. “Go downstairs and occupy yourself. You will see him at sunset.”

  “I don’t want to leave him.” Not with you... Rowan grit her teeth. I should have fried your ass this morning, you sack of shit vampire...

  Klaus chuckled. “I will ensure that he does no harm to himself.”

  Who said anything about Rick harming himself? She took a breath and stubbornly stayed where she was.

  Klaus looked over at her with a frown. “Do you intend to stand there all day? Is there nothing else you can do to occupy yourself?”

  Rowan looked over at Rick. This sucks and it’s my fault. Rick went downstairs to get my suitcase so I could help this monster...She winced. I should have never left him alone. She nibbled on her lower lip. I really don’t want to leave him. Even if I could get past Klaus, I’m not strong enough to carry Rick downstairs, and damn it, I can’t think of anything I can do here. She thought about her witchcraft books sitting in the brown suitcase downstairs. I can always work out the spell to keep the son-of-a bitch out of Rick’s house...

  Rowan turned on her heel and headed for the door. Abruptly she stopped in the doorway and looked back. “By the way, just so you know, he was getting my suitcase so I could find your damned sorcerer for you.”

  Klaus came off the couch a boiling, black fury. Wreathed in arcane darkness, he stepped toward her. “How did you know?” His voice echoed as though he filled the room.

  Rowan’s light broke free of her skin and shimmered around her. He stopped cold at the edge of her light and she cocked a brow at him. “I’m a witch, a ved’ma, remember? I used my tarot cards to get a few questions answered.”

  Klaus bared his serrated teeth. “And what else did you discover?”

  Rowan smiled and propped a hand on her hip. “That someone else is holding your leash.”

  “You little fool!” He turned sharply to look at Rick on the floor.

  Rowan frowned at the older vampire. What the hell is going on with him?

  Klaus turned back to stare at Rowan. “And?”

  Rowan shook her head. “Nothing else, I couldn’t get a straight answer past the point that they are powerful and organized.”

  Klaus studied her. “Do not look closer. It would mean your death.”

  Rowan blinked. What the Hell is that supposed to mean? I thought he wanted me dead anyway? She shook her head then waved a hand toward Rick. “So, do you want me to find your sorcerer or not?”

  “Go.” He pointed at the door. “At sunset we will discuss this further.”

  Rowan rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever...” She turned and walked out the door. It slammed closed behind her. She turned to look at it and discovered that it was gone. She put out a hand, but felt no trace of the door. “How the fuck is he doing that?” She sighed then headed for the stairs.

  - Thirteen -

  Hunt

  The silence of the huge house was deafening.

  Rowan hunched over the kitchen table reading and flipped her long red braid from her shoulder to her back. Her gold, wire-framed glasses threatened to slip from her nose. Several large tomes lying open and covered the entire surface of the table. A plate with a half-eaten sandwich rested atop one of the open books.

  She pushed her glasses back up with two fingers of her right hand then picked up her cigarette from the ashtray. Her thoughts tumbled with incantations and ingredients. She was not going to think about
Rick and the vampire upstairs.

  Her eyes scanned the page crammed with tiny print. Absently she lifted her mug of lukewarm coffee with her left hand. She frowned at the complicated design on the page. She laid down her cigarette and picked up her pen to scribble yet another notation in her notebook. She was not going to think about whether or not Rick was still breathing.

  Rowan looked around for her small notebook and discovered it jammed under her right elbow. The coffee mug finally made it to her lips and she drank the dregs while writing the exotic incantation in her notebook. She was determined keep her mind on her work and not think about what she was going to do if Rick wasn’t... She scrunched her eyes closed. Stop thinking, damn it!

  She set down her empty mug on the glass tabletop with a sharp bang. “Coffee, I need coffee.” She looked over at the coffee pot and made a face. It was the second pot she had emptied and time to brew yet another. Gods, I’m going to slosh when I walk from all this coffee... She straightened in the chair with a groan, put out her cigarette then got up to make more coffee.

  Darkness moved against the back of Rowan’s mind. She stopped with the bag of coffee beans in one hand and the grinder in the other. She glanced at the windows over the sink and finally noticed that night had fallen. She had to put the grinder down; her hand was shaking too badly to hold it.

  “Make coffee,” she muttered. “He’ll want some.” She took a breath. If he is still human enough to drink it...

  Rowan felt the darkness shifting at the back of her thoughts and worked silently. Listening with all her might for a sound on the stairs. The coffee maker began snorting and filling. The scent of fresh coffee filled the room.

  “Good God! Open the back door, will you? The whole downstairs smells like cigarettes.”

  Rowan turned sharply. Rick was leaning against the kitchen doorway. His face was almost colorless and his eyes had dark circles, but he was smiling.

  She swallowed hard, backed slowly to the kitchen door and opened it. She couldn’t stop looking at him. His long black hair was wet and slicked back into a neat tail. He had changed clothes, but he was still barefoot. He must have showered.

  “Is that coffee brewing?” He raised a brow. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

  Rowan nodded. “I do when I read the Grimoires. The print in the older books is really tiny, and yes, it’s coffee.” She pulled the glasses from her nose and folded them closed.

  He held out his hand. “Come here.”

  Rowan walked over to him more quickly than she had intended. He took the glasses from her fingers then pressed her hand to his chest. He’s still warm. She felt a thump under her palm. A heartbeat? She looked up at him.

  “Yes, Kitten, I still live.” His smile was thin and tired.

  “Thank the Mother...” Before she knew what she was going to do, she wrapped her arms around his waist and was squeezing him with everything she had. She buried her face in his shirt and took a deep breath smelling soap, clean cotton and male. He still smells like Rick... She felt his arms close around her squeeze back with breathless strength. She blinked. I am not crying, she told herself. Not over an idiot vampire.

  “Yes, he still lives. Pity.” Klaus coalesced from black shadow into solid existence, leaning against the counter by the coffee machine.

  Rowan yanked out of Rick’s arms to stand between the two vampires. She leveled two fingers at the old vampire and electric blue witch-fire blazed around her hand. “Don’t you ever do that again!” She hadn’t intended to shout, it just came out that way.

  “Hey, what’s with the hand?” Rick asked softly.

  “I’ve been doing some reading,” Rowan said through clenched teeth. “I mean it, Klaus. Don’t you ever, go near him again.”

  Klaus blinked. He looked at Rick from under his brows. “I think your ved’ma is trying to protect you.”

  “Then I wouldn’t piss her off if I were you,” Rick said quietly. “In the meantime, Rowan, can I have some of that coffee?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Rowan lowered her hand and flexed her fingers; they felt a little numb. She hadn’t expected the radiance to be quite so concentrated. Purposely she walked toward the coffee machine glowering at Klaus, daring him to stand in her way.

  Klaus bit back a smile, threw up his hands and moved to the counter on the other side of the sink, by the back door.

  Rowan dug a mug from the cabinet, then poured a cup of the fresh brew. She shot Klaus a vicious look as she passed him. Rick put her glasses carefully down on an open book, then took the cup in both hands and they shook. He lifted the coffee to his lips.

  “How do you feel?” Rowan asked quietly.

  “Like shit.” Rick leveled a black look at the ragged vampire leaning against the kitchen counter.

  “You will feel better as the night progresses.” Klaus propped his hands on the counter behind him then hopped up on the counter and sat with his ankles crossed. It was such an odd motion that both Rick and Rowan blinked.

  Klaus raised a brow at Rick, and Rowan felt a shift in the back of her mind. Are they talking to each other? She frowned.

  Rick sighed and went to sit in Rowan’s abandoned chair. “Rowan, can you get me a glass, please? They’re over the sink.”

  A glass? Rowan looked at Rick wide-eyed. “You’re not going to...” She didn’t want to say it out loud: feed Klaus.

  “Yes, I am,” he said tiredly. He looked away. “Please, just get it.”

  Rowan walked over to the cabinet over the sink and retrieved a glass. She returned to Rick’s side and saw that his small knife was already in his hand. She didn’t bother to ask if he needed help, she just held the glass steady. He sliced his wrist open. His blood was darker and thicker than she remembered. It was also cooler.

  Rick licked his wrist to close the wound, then gently took her hand and pulled her around to stand behind him. With his free hand, he shoved a few of her books, making a cleared spot on the far end of table. He took the glass from her and put it down in the cleared spot.

  Klaus came off the counter in a blur of shadow and drained the glass. He set it back down on the table and it clinked. He smiled. “Much better.”

  That son of a bitch... Rowan felt her temper rise and her magic begin to shimmer under her skin. Rick hissed in pain and came out of the chair. Rowan gasped in shock and dampened her magic. She reached for him, but he instinctively pulled his hands out of reach. “Rick, I’m sorry!” Rowan turned to glare at Klaus.

  Klaus raised a brow at her. “He’s more mine than yours now, ved’ma. It will take time before he can withstand your magic again.”

  “Rowan, it’s okay...” Rick gingerly lowered his hands and touched her shoulders. “I wasn’t expecting it either.”

  She turned to look up at him and felt his fingers closed more firmly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered again, then pulled her against him, wrapping his arms loosely around her shoulders. He dropped his chin on the top of her head.

  “Now what do we do?” she said softly.

  “Now,” said Klaus, “you may tell me how you intend to find my prey.”

  * * *

  An hour later, perched on the edge of the chair, Rowan’s knees were starting to ache from sitting hunched over the road map that was spread across the kitchen table. Her books were piled on the floor by the wall. I just know I’m going to have a bruise on my elbow from holding the pendulum in this position for so long.

  Rowan frowned in concentration. The pendulum started swinging in increasingly smaller circles. “I think I got him.”

  Rick peered over her shoulder at the tiny scrawl that marked the streets. “Where is he?”

  Rowan looked at Rick’s face. He was a warm and vibrant presence at her back. Klaus was right; he is definitely better. Rick had gained color and energy in the last hour. He was still pale, but the dark circles under his eyes had disappeared and he seemed to be more his normal self. She looked back down at the map an
d the circling pendulum. “Looks like I have it narrowed down to somewhere in the middle of this street.

  “I think I know where that is.” Rick frowned. “Wait a minute, that’s the ritzy district. What the Hell is a sorcerer doing in that neighborhood?”

  The tiny button at the end of her silver chain swung in swiftly tightening circles. Rowan felt a shimmer of rancid power race up her arm. “Quick, put your finger on the spot.”

  Rick jabbed a finger onto the map. “What’s the matter?”

  Rowan gasped, jerking the pendulum away to sit back in her chair. “Damn, that was really starting to hurt.” She shook her hand and wiggled her fingers. “There’s a nasty ward around the place he’s in.” She looked up at Rick then over to the elder vampire sitting on the counter. “I think he felt me looking, so he knows somebody found him. Be prepared for a fight.”

  Klaus smiled, his mouth spreading wider than any normal human jaw would allow, showing teeth a shark would have been proud of. “No matter. He cannot escape me.” He dropped from the counter, almost floating to the floor. “You.” He jabbed an overlong finger at Rick. “Take me there.”

  “Sure.” Rick picked up the black, flared long coat he had tossed over the chair. “I can drive us there in ten minutes. “ He pulled his car keys from a pocket and they jangled.

  Klaus sniffed. “You may drive, I will follow.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “I do not trust these...cars.”

  “Fine, follow me, whatever...” Rick rolled his eyes at Klaus, then raised a brow at Rowan. “Stay here and out of trouble.”

  “Trouble? Who me?” Rowan gave Rick a tight smile. While Klaus is busy playing catch with his sorcerer, I can get our suitcases packed into my car for the run to the airport.

  “I have need of you ved’ma.” Klaus waved a clawed hand at Rowan. “You can ride in the car.”

  Rowan set her jaw stubbornly. “What for? I’m not strong enough to break the barrier spell he’s in.”