by Aja James
With a loud groan, Simone dropped her cross swords to the ground. But before Inanna could follow up with some more debilitating blows, she heard Gabriel’s gritted oomph.
The male vampire beside her Mate had stabbed him in the stomach with the six-inch dagger, embedding the entire length into his flesh, then pulling it out in a tear that shredded the skin and muscles and potentially internal organs with the serrated edges.
A low, maniacal chuckle bubbled forth from her opponent.
“Are you getting the idea yet?” Simone taunted. “For every hit you deal me, your male gets it much, much worse.”
Inanna pivoted and stepped back, reassessing her strategy.
A bead of sweat ran from her temple down the side of her cheek. She was barely winded from the fight—it hadn’t even been three minutes. But the fear and despair for her Mate that she was holding back was rearing its ugly head.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the ring of spectators were no longer stationary; they were slowly and steadily drawing the circle tighter. Although everything else was covered, their right hands were revealed through the black cloaks.
And each hand was holding a long knife.
Simone had finally recovered the use of her arms and hands, though they shook a little as they each pulled out a stiletto from her boot.
“Be careful you don’t step too far back,” she warned with false solicitousness. “You wouldn’t want to accidentally impale yourself on one of those sharp looking things.”
Inanna switched her steps and moved in more of a circle, keeping in mind the steadily decreasing space she had to work with.
Again, her opponent came at her full of rage and viciousness.
Again, Inanna deflected the attack and moved in close, delivering a hammering head butt and dislocating one shoulder as she twisted Simone’s arm behind her back while shoving it straight and sharply at an upward angle.
The vampire’s scream Inanna barely heard. Instead she was hyper attuned to Gabriel’s breathing behind the female who had fallen to her knees.
He did not make a sound this time, but his breaths had become ragged, and her laser vision told her that he had taken a knife between the ribs. One of his lungs must have been punctured.
Inanna calculated with a calmness she had to reach deep inside to harness, even as panic and terror for her Mate boiled close beneath the surface.
He likely suffered from both a punctured kidney and lung, if the darkness of his blood was any indication.
And he was bleeding out fast.
The cold helped to slow the flow, but the wounds were deep. The serrated edges of the knife not only fucked up the organs they stabbed in and out of but also the tissues of his muscles and abdominal wall, making it much harder to heal.
Added to that, his body was also trying to fight against the freezing cold, which weakened its power to heal the wounds.
At this rate, those wounds would be fatal within the hour. And that was assuming the knife wasn’t poisoned. Even his new abilities wouldn’t be able to save him.
Inanna choked on a breath.
She couldn’t do this. She didn’t have the strength after all. She couldn’t be the instrument of her beloved’s death.
Only for a moment did she hesitate, and it was all that her opponent needed to stab a poison-tipped dagger straight into her heart.
“Death is but a phase of life. While it is unwise to court death, there is also no reason to fear it if one’s soul is pure and one’s heart is true.”
—Excerpt from the Lost Chapters of the Ecliptic Scrolls.
Chapter Nineteen
Gabriel watched the poisoned stiletto enter Inanna’s body as if in slow motion.
In those few moments, his heart lost its rhythm and forgot to beat.
A silent bomb exploded within him, blasting through his body in a blistering heatwave.
A stab in the heart.
Neither a Pure nor Dark one could survive it.
Her death accelerated his own, for his body simply stopped functioning as his receding vision tracked her fall to the frozen ground. He no longer felt the pain from his wounds, no longer heard what went on around him.
No longer cared.
As if his body was on auto-pilot, he vaguely felt himself struggle free of his bonds and stumble the few steps toward his mate.
His soul seemed to be already floating apart from his flesh, so disengaged he felt from his surroundings.
Vaguely, shouting and clashes of steel reached his ears from a distance. He couldn’t be sure whether he was remembering the sounds in his mind or if they were happening right now.
He didn’t care.
As he reached Inanna’s prone body he collapsed beside her.
They lay on their sides facing each other, and he saw that her eyes were open, though unseeing. He clawed with his fingers another two inches to be close enough to touch her face, his lower body no longer obeying him.
If this was their end, then so be it. At least they would enter the afterlife together. They would not go alone.
He would never leave her again.
But as his fingers made contact with her cheek, a blast of energy consumed them both, hot and white and searing.
Was this what it felt like to burn? Was this what it felt like to die?
Gabriel closed his eyes and surrendered himself to the blinding light, keeping the physical connection to his beloved.
And then there was silence.
There was darkness.
A soothing cool breeze teased Gabriel’s eyes open. He awkwardly sat up and looked around him.
Nothing but blackness. There was no up or down, no sky and no ground.
Only void.
Inanna lay beside him, as naked as he, seemingly asleep, for her sides moved gently in deep, slow breaths.
He stroked her cheek and saw that it was tinged slightly pink with health and vitality.
How could this be? Where were they?
“You are in the In-between, warrior,” a soft feminine voice came to him, carried by an undulating white orb.
Gradually, the orb drew nearer and coalesced into the form of a woman, though she remained faceless, her figure obscured by the dazzling light she seemed to radiate from within.
“Are you… the Goddess?” Gabriel asked, his own voice hoarse from lack of use.
The bright light seemed to smile though he could see no such thing. “Merely a messenger. And here is my message for you, Alad Da-an-nim.”
Gabriel frowned at the name she called him. “I’m not—”
A sharp screeching erupted in his ears, abruptly severing his train of thought. Visions and images flooded his mind as long hidden memories were finally released.
When the images that included Inanna began to run like a furiously fast forwarded movie clip through his head, his heart accelerated to keep up. His breathing raced to match. And when he thought he would blackout from the hyperventilation, everything suddenly stopped.
“Do you remember now, warrior?” the voice asked gently.
“Yes,” he managed to gasp.
Yes, he remembered everything.
“Then you are ready to make your choice.”
The bright white figure floated closer until she enveloped him in the warm, soothing glow. “Attend me closely, warrior…”
*** *** *** ***
Gabriel regained consciousness in the middle of a heated battle.
As he rose on his hands and knees in a defensive crouch, he took stock of the situation in a split second with three hundred and sixty degree precision.
Aella and Cloud were engaging half a dozen of the black-cloaked spectators who had drawn long swords in addition to daggers. A couple other warriors he did not recognize clashed with more cloaked foe a few feet away. By the way they coordinated seamlessly with Aella and Cloud, Gabriel deduced they were long-time comrades.
Four vampires fought the remaining black-cloaks back with deadly maneuvers. He cou
ld tell they were Dark warriors for the fangs they flashed in the pale moonlight. One of the warriors was paired with a fierce black panther who was like an extension of his body the way they seemed to know exactly where each other was and the way they moved in tandem.
The torchlights had been doused, Gabriel saw. A mound of clothes and boots and leftover ash that the wind had not yet carried away lay beside the beams he had been bound to. His chains had been cut in four strategic places. Someone had released him as he struggled to get to Inanna.
At this reminder, he jerked toward her and saw that she was already standing beside him, one hand stretched to pull him to his feet.
With a smile of triumph and exhilaration, she said, “Let’s do this. You remember how.”
Gabriel clasped the hand and pulled himself up, using her weight as leverage.
He tugged a little harder as he gained his feet, pulling her close and devouring her mouth in a hard, passionate kiss. One that lasted not even a heartbeat but which communicated a hundred thousand emotions, the foremost of which was:
I love you. I shall never let you go again.
“I remember,” he said against her smiling mouth.
They rounded on the black-cloaked vampire assassins who flew at them from every direction, back to back, bare-handed.
He was still naked and sore, but his wounds had stopped bleeding and he knew his body well enough to gage that he was going to heal and live.
And despite the stab to the heart, his Mate appeared to be spritely and energized as well.
They both grinned as if they’d already won.
They were together again. They were whole. They could overcome anything as one.
“Duck,” Gabriel grunted as he did the same when a cloaked assassin swung a long sword at his head.
They both kicked out low at their opponents’ legs and brought them to the ground where they made quick work of disarming the assassins and using the weapons to deal killing blows, turning them to ash.
Without hesitation, they engaged the next foes to come at them, synchronized in their movements as if performing a deadly dance.
When he stepped forward to attack, she stepped back to lure her enemy closer. When she jumped to avoid a low swipe, he did so as well without being told.
When the odds were more than one-to-one, he used her body as an extension of his own and increased their reach, strength and speed like a lever or a pendulum.
Soon, both of them hardly winded, powered by adrenaline, they faced a circle of empty clothes, footgear, and discarded weapons as their enemies had all been reduced to heaps of ash.
The fighting around them had also come to a halt. Aside from Inanna and Gabriel, eight warriors and one feline remained standing.
In the center of the clearing, Simone was alive and kneeling on the ground, Devlin’s sword at her throat.
Gabriel picked up a nearby cloak and put it on. The boots could wait until he finished his business with the female vampire.
“She’s mine,” he all but growled as he approached his prey, a bloodied long sword in his hand.
“She’s ours,” Inanna said beside him, a hand on his arm to stay him. “I must complete the Challenge, and even if it doesn’t matter anymore, I just want the satisfaction of ending her.”
Gabriel nodded, and together they stood before their tormentor, grim and resolute.
Devlin stepped back to allow them the death-dealing blow. As the Hunter, Simone was his prey, but they had a deeper claim.
“Any last words, traitor?” Inanna asked, uncaring of the answer.
Simone merely glared up at her, her lips lifted in a scathing sneer. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” she spat, “you stupid, weak—”
From two different directions two blades swung together to sever the ex-Keeper’s head from her shoulders, cutting off her tirade.
As she disintegrated into a pile of black ash as if she never was, her executors turned and walked away without a backward glance.
Devlin’s mouth tipped up in a brief, ironic smile. “Good thing I interrogated her before those two got here,” he muttered to himself, then caught up with the others who had congregated in a loose group a few feet away.
“Thank you for coming,” Inanna said to her former Commander.
Maximus inclined his head and clasped the length of her arm in acknowledgement of her gratitude. “My Queen would not have it otherwise. For old time’s sake, she says. Jade sends her regards.”
Inanna nodded and with only a slight hesitation, stepped close to embrace her friend and comrade fully. “I shall miss all of you,” she said against his chest.
“And I, you, Angel.”
One by one, she embraced her former comrades. Ryu, Anastasia, and finally Devlin.
Even Simca allowed a quick smoothing of her sleek fur before she swatted Inanna playfully with her whip-like tail.
“Do you know what you will do now?” the Hunter asked in his nonchalant, casual way.
Inanna shook her head. “I am looking forward to figuring it out.”
With that, her old friends departed into the night.
This would not be the last she saw of them, she knew, but still Inanna watched them go with a bittersweet ache. The warmth of Gabriel’s arm around her waist comforted her immeasurably.
She then turned to Aella and Cloud and embraced them as well.
In a very short period of time, she had come to rely upon them as trusted friends.
They introduced the two other warriors who had traveled from Boston to their aid, Tristan, newly returned from his international expedition with Ayelet, and Dalair, the Pure Ones’ Paladin. Valerius had already escorted Benji and Sophia back to the Shield.
“What now, Light-Bringer?” Aella asked with a knowing smile.
“Now we go home,” Inanna answered.
But she was not looking at the Amazon. She was gazing steadily into the eyes of her Eternal Mate.
Her Blooded Mate.
He was both. He was everything.
He was her home.
Gabriel bent down so that their foreheads touched, their eyes closed, and softly he vowed, “Yes, we go home, Libbu mine.”
*** *** *** ***
The creature watched the Pure Ones, the Angel and her Mate depart the clearing on live streaming.
Simone Lafayette had done her job.
The entire Death Match and the ensuing battle had all been captured on hidden remote cameras in the trees and ruins surrounding the clearing. Real-time edited with slow-motion effect so that human eyes could track the supernatural beings’ movements.
And broadcasted on an encrypted channel on the Internet.
Globally.
Already, it could see the number of video views and downloads skyrocketing, reaching over five-hundred thousand in the first ten minutes.
Not surprising, given that it wasn’t everyday humans witnessed galactic battles among vampires and elves.
For that was what it looked like on the screen.
Even if most believed the footage was a spoof, wasn’t real, was some sort of movie trailer for a new fantasy epic, it didn’t matter.
Humans were curious creatures.
There would be those of above-average intelligence who sought the truth behind the videos.
And if they discovered it? The creature could only imagine the chaos that would ensue, gleeful in its anticipation.
If they didn’t? The gory violence would beget more, inspire those of average and below intelligence to unleash their base urges, incite destruction and disorder.
Because, after all, it all looked so freaking cool.
The fight clubs were not ended, not by a long shot.
This was just the beginning.
*** *** *** ***
Back in her apartment, Inanna and Gabriel washed each other and made love leisurely in her rainforest shower.
Tomorrow, they would leave for Boston with the Pure Ones, where Benji awaited their arrival
, and start a brand new chapter in their lives together.
Tonight, at least for the few hours left until sunrise, they would love and feed and revel in the fact that they were alive.
“Inanna,” Gabriel groaned as he braced his arms against the shower wall in front of him, his long legs spread apart to accommodate his Mate as she devoured his sex with her ravenous mouth.
Inanna clutched his tight, muscled buttocks closer, pushing him deeper into her throat, sucking his hard, satiny length with increasing pressure and a building desperation.
Goddess above, she would never have enough of him.
The water of the shower had turned cold a long time ago, but they did not notice, for the heat from their bodies turned the entire luxuriously large stall into a sauna.
She fisted both hands around his cock and pulled and squeezed as she suckled, nipped and lapped at the engorged head, running her teeth along the fat dorsal vein.
She’d already fed from him here several times. Despite the water rinsing over her constantly, his intoxicating musk filled her nostrils, the tantalizing taste of his seed and his blood danced on her tongue, the feel of his hot, smooth skin and the steely muscles beneath a sensorial feast for her hands, her face, everywhere she touched him.
She couldn’t get enough.
She knew he was terribly sore in spite of the continuous and pervasive pleasure of their orgasms. But she couldn’t help herself. She had to have more.
Gabriel caught his breath and bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood when she sank her fangs into his tortured cock once more, sucking deeply from the well-used vein there. One hand moved from the shower wall to tangle in her wet hair, his fingers massaging her scalp rhythmically while she continued to suckle him.
He knew that, as much as they took Nourishment from each other, they were also marking each other as their own.
There was a ferocity and desperation in Inanna’s claiming of him, in the way that she pushed him to, and possibly beyond, his limits, the way she needed him inside of her one way or another—his blood, his seed, his body, inside her mouth, her womb. It was as if she was trying to consume him, absorb him wholly into herself so that she would never lose him again.
