“Why doesn’t he shift?” I whispered, although I didn’t expect Soleil to answer me.
“He is very weak. Perhaps Naill has done something to him. Leprechaun magic is extremely powerful. “
“Is he alive?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You would know better than I.”
I should know better. Normally, our connection was so tight I could sense his thoughts if I wanted. But now, looking up at him dangling there, he seemed so human. So disconnected. I tried again. Digging deep, I felt for the thread that tied us together, the trail of metaphysical breadcrumbs that always led me back to him. I thought of the day we met, the first time, how the water had felt coursing over my brown skin and the look of him exposed, shocked, staring at me with his full lips parted from the shore. A boy on the verge of becoming a man. My man. He had always been mine, from the very beginning. And I had always been his. I understood this now in a way I hadn’t before. It was like being eight years old and thinking a trip out of the state was seeing the world. The older I’d gotten, the larger the world became. This love was the same. When I’d met him, everything was flat, simple, odd but explainable. Now, I realized it was ageless, endless, a love that transcended lifetimes.
Julius and Gary had posed the question, if I had the power to do so, why hadn’t I made myself immortal? Why had I given Rick that particular gift? They tried to convince me that I could have had the power all along, that Rick had somehow tricked me into binding himself to me. But now I understood. I had made Rick my caretaker so that we could be together for eternity. If anything, I’d ensnared him in my trap of immortality, bound us together because I couldn’t bear the thought of living without him. And he had endured this curse for lifetime after lifetime while I had the luxury of death, of a relatively normal childhood. Rick was not the monster. I was the monster.
As tears flooded down my cheeks, freezing near my jawline, I found the thing that bound us to each other. Flimsy, like a spider’s web, our connection was the weakest I’d ever remembered it being. Consciously, I fought my way along it, psychically transcending the space between us, until the magic inside of me was in his head, and I was shaking him by the shoulders. How could I touch him when I was tied to an altar and he was in a cage dangling above me? I can’t explain the how, only that I held him in my arms in the white, empty space of our consciousness. We’d left the world behind, temporarily.
“Mi cielo?” He woke in my arms. Damn, holding this state was almost painful.
“Rick, you’ve got to wake up. You’ve got to shift and get us out of here!”
“I can’t. It’s too late for that.”
“What are you talking about?”
He met my eyes. “You told me you didn’t want me anymore, that you couldn’t forgive me after Gary. You told me you wished you had a choice.”
“We had a fight. I’m doing my best to—”
“No. You were right. I could have stopped Bathory from taking Gary, but I didn’t. Too many lifetimes.” He shook his head. “I became impatient to love you again.”
“Rick, I understand, okay? Can we talk about it later? We need to find a way out of this.”
His face fell. “I lit the candle,” he muttered.
“What? What candle?”
“After our argument, I left on a journey to obtain a magical object to help our situation.”
“You said something about that. What was it?”
“I visited another Hecate. Tabetha, Salem’s witch. She gave me a candle to break our connection. All I had to do was light the candle, and when it burned all the way down, I would be human again. I could die.”
I froze. My hand gripped his face, forcing him to maintain eye contact. “Why? Why would you do that? We’d reconciled. I told you I’d stay true to you.”
“I know what you said, but I did it to free you. You don’t want me. I saw Logan’s keys in your car. You love him. When the candle burns down, you can make him your caretaker, or grant yourself the immortality you’ve given to me. You will be free of me.” His eyes drifted from one of my eyes to the other and the pain in his expression broke my heart. “And when I die, I will finally be free of loving you.”
“Is it such a burden, Rick?” I asked, without thinking.
“Would it be a burden to you to love someone with everything inside you, only to know they would never love you back, that they thought of you as an affliction, a beast to be tolerated for the good of humanity? Yes, it is a burden, one I can bear no longer.”
Tears dripped from my face, and the entire space we were in turned grey from the pain that echoed through me. “But I do love you.” On my knees, I tried to plead with him. “The only reason I had those keys was because I stored the Book of Light in his condo. I don’t love Logan, Rick. I love you. I know you saw us kissing. I know it was painful for you. But I’d been drugged by Naill, and Logan initiated it. I didn’t want him to kiss me. I wanted you. I only want you.”
“You think of me as your dog,” he spat. “You don’t want me as an equal, you want me as a tool.”
“No,” I choked. I lowered my forehead toward his, sobs racking my chest. “Please, Rick, I want you. Only you. Don’t do this. Can’t you see I’m yours? I’ve always been yours.”
He reached up and tangled his fingers in my hair. “It is too late, Grateful. Already, my power fades. My only regret is I thought it would take longer. I thought I could save you first. But the moment I lit the wick, it began. And now it’s too late. The candle burns inside my cottage, and in a few more hours, I will be completely human. And then I will die.” He lifted his hand from a particularly nasty wound in his chest.
Grateful. He called me Grateful, not mi cielo. Not his sky. He’d already let me go. He’d resigned himself to his humanity. I sobbed until my shoulders shook violently.
He stroked my hair back from my face. “I suspect this emotion has more to do with your survival than your true feelings. Don’t you see that what is inside of you is more powerful than anything inside of me? All you have to do is access it. An entire universe of magic and power is at your fingertips. Call the power to you. I can’t help you anymore. Not this time.”
As if I’d bungee jumped into his brain, the cord of our connection snapped me back into my body abruptly and with enough pain to make me scream. Or was the scream from the torture happening behind my breastbone? Rick had left me. My own caretaker had given up on me.
“She wakes,” Naill said, walking his stubby legs over to my side. “Relax. Queen Bathory is preparing for the ceremony.”
“What does she want with me? She already has the book.”
He ran a thick finger down the length of my arm and flashed a smile wide enough to show all his gold teeth. “I’m so glad you asked. Legend has it that there is a spell in the Book of Flesh and Bone that will render a vampire truly immortal. Impervious to daylight, strong without the need for blood. After sunset, the queen will open the book and know the exact preparation for the spell, but one ingredient is a certainty, passed down to her from generations of vampires.”
“My heart.”
“Any supernatural heart will do. We’d planned to use one of the lesser vamps. We thought you’d be dead by now, after all. As it turned out, you and the book are a convenient two for one deal. Frankly, I was surprised you survived the army of nekomata who attacked you, but then we hadn’t counted on lover boy joining the fray.” Naill glanced toward the cage.
“Rick?”
“He killed most of the clan outside your house before we took him down. Lucky for us about the candle. And to think we had nothing to do with that. He did it to himself.” His wicked laugh drilled into me like machine gun fire.
But he came. The thought gripped me, sending a bolt of electricity down my spine. Rick had already made the decision to become human when he joined the fight. He was willing to die for me, a real, eternal death. That must mean something.
I leaned my head back against the stone as Naill wandered off t
oward the fire.
“Soleil?”
“Yes.”
“Any chance you could grant me that favor you promised?”
“Unfortunately, the mud has rendered that impossible. I am sorry.”
The sky was darkening. Sunset. Soon, Bathory would come for my heart. But she couldn’t have it. My heart wasn’t mine to give; it already belonged to someone else. And whether he liked it or not, I was going to get us out of this and end that candle before it was too late. Because at that moment I realized Rick still loved me. He had to. Not only was he offering to give up his immortality for me, he’d risked his humanity too.
He loved me, and I loved him. I knew it in my bones—whether or not Rick chose to admit it. Bathory was about to find out just how powerful those feelings could be.
Chapter 28
Sunset
As the sun set and darkness swallowed the clearing where I was held prisoner, Vampiress Anna Bathory emerged from the night as if she were part of it, cut from the shadows and stitched into a blood thirsty seductress with more body than dress. She cradled the Book of Flesh and Bone in her arms, closing her eyes and inhaling the scent of the tome as she approached me. I winced at the thought of the smell of dried flesh, bone, and blood. Sicko.
She rested the massive book on a tall stump that Naill provided for her and unhinged the jaw clasp, flipping the pages. “Ah, here it is. True immortality.” She looked at me and smiled her piranha smile with no attempt to hide any portion of her massive teeth. “The spell calls for your heart and lots and lots of blood. Shall I use yours? Or your caretaker’s?”
I tried to fix my expression. I didn’t want to give her the benefit of knowing she’d got under my skin. But I felt my eyes widen slightly when she mentioned Rick, and I could tell she noticed.
“Yes. I think we will use his blood. Much more entertaining. Plus, a more powerful combination I think. Two deaths are better than one.”
Damn, I hated this chick. “Why not two hundred deaths like Monk?” I said. “Worked out well for him. Oh wait, no it didn’t. The Book drives a hard bargain Bathory. It will take you down with it, just like Monk.”
She stroked her hand down her shiny black tresses, nudging the ends back over her shoulder. “I don’t think so. The problem with Monk was he didn’t know how to wield the Book. In his heart, he had good intentions. Only true evil can control evil. The price is you, your blood. I will be immortal.”
“Have you forgotten our deal?” Kai’s deep rumble of a voice came from outside my field of vision, somewhere near my feet. He sounded pissed and I had every intention to use that to my advantage.
I addressed the Nightmare within Kai’s body. “She won’t do it. If she wastes her first spell on you, the Book will extract a price on her that could make it impossible for her to perform her own spell. It could strike her dead like it did Monk or take her voice so she couldn’t say the incantation. She would never risk her precious flesh to give you what you want.”
“Shut her up!” Bathory growled. Naill was beside me in a split second, shoving a nasty stretch of rag into my mouth. Hmm. Maybe speaking up wasn’t such a good idea.
Kai stepped into view, hooded eyes digging into Bathory. He did not look happy. The vampiress took a step back.
“Allow me to perform the immortality spell first. Once it is done, I can create a body for you without fear of provoking the book’s wrath.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Anna,” Kai said through clenched teeth. “Once you get what you want, you will never pay me my due. You must perform the embodiment spell first, as we agreed.”
“Or what?” She laughed, low and breathy, in his face. “What are you going to do to me? Need I remind you that Naill’s magic restricts who you can possess? No undead. My body is off limits. You knew when you agreed to our arrangement that you were at my mercy. Now be a good little wisp and wait for your queen to finish her business and maybe I’ll throw you a bone.”
The flush of red that washed over Kai’s face made it clear he wasn’t down with that plan. I could be mistaken but I think it was the “good little wisp” comment. Even I thought that was offensive.
“Without me possessing the nekomata clan leader, you’d never have gained the book. You owe me.”
Bathory shrugged.
The nightmare snapped. I saw him go over the edge in Kai’s body. The possessed nekomata hurled himself at Bathory who rolled backward, ass over tea cup, as Kai pummeled her with everything he had.
Upon seeing this, Naill got his miniature, probably golden, undies in a bunch. “My lady? My lady?” he blubbered, dancing around the skirmish.
“Call the others!” she demanded between clawing Kai’s face and rolling on top of him. Big mistake. Kai shifted. With a series of blood curdling pops, his bottom jaw elongated into a long, toothy snout, and razor sharp claws extended from his knuckles. One swipe sent Bathory flying, blood pouring from her neck and chest. Kai’s nekomata exploded out of the camel hair coat, a tawny haired whirling devil.
But Bathory wasn’t born yesterday. Hell, she wasn’t born last century. Her wounds healed themselves in seconds and she readied for his attack. Taking advantage of the same weakness I’d detected in the shifters, she waited until he was in a full out run, then leapt sideways, hitching onto the creature’s mane and tossing a leg over its back. As her arms clamped around Kai’s throat, he bucked wildly. Naill bounced and clapped near the fray like some pre-pubescent cheerleader.
I took the distraction as an opportunity to work on my bindings. By bending my knees, a feat only possible by pressing them together to the point of pain, I was able to slide my back down the rough stone and loosen the ropes. If I strained my neck, the tips of my fingers could reach the gag. I yanked it out of my mouth and cast it aside. With a little more contortion, I was able to move one wrist to my mouth. The rope dug into my bloodied skin, but I set my teeth to work.
As I maneuvered the binding, it occurred to me that my years as a bar rat in college actually might pay off. I’d tongue-tied plenty of cherry stems into knots in my day. This was just the opposite, right? Only I wasn’t as drunk or as distracted with whatever fraternity cohort was on the barstool next to me. Still, I had skills. The knot loosened slightly between my incisors.
A growling mass of supernatural rage rolled between the fire and me. I paused momentarily but there was no way Bathory or Kai was paying any attention. Both were bloody to the point of serious injury, even for the undead. She was ghostly white from loss of blood, and he gushed red where she had torn into his front leg.
Victory! The rope loosened enough that I knew I could pull my hand out. Only, now wasn’t the time. An army of undead emerged from the woods, at least thirty vampires, some of whom I recognized from the Mill Wheel. Bathory’s reinforcements swooped down on Kai, ripping him apart, limb from limb. I watched in horror as the nightmare inside emerged from the beast’s body, a smoky black cloud of menace, and pinged around the incompatible undead before racing toward me. The cloud paused as if considering my body, but then plowed into Soleil.
“Get out of her,” I seethed.
“Not a chance,” Soleil said in a tenor version of her voice. “This is the safest place to be. The fae is the only one on this merry-go-round Bathory can’t kill without harming herself.
Soleil was made of sunlight. I guessed ripping her open would be dangerous for a vamp.
Everyone stopped. I flattened on the altar, effectively playing dead.
Bathory glared at Soleil over my stomach. “Smart. Only once I am immortal, Soleil’s talents won’t be able to hurt me.” Bathory staggered back toward the book, weak from the loss of blood.
“My queen,” Naill called, wrestling a bound man forward. “I had them bring this for you from the bar.”
The human looked around forty with a balding head and beer belly. I had a flash of sympathy, then remembered that if he was hanging out at the Mill Wheel, he was likely paying vamps to compel young girls to have sex with hi
m. My sympathy faded.
Bathory gave Naill a small nod, then sank teeth into the man. There was a moan, gurgles, loud swallowing and then a thump as his drained body hit the dirt.
Slowly, painstakingly, I worked my hand free from its binding, hooking my fingers in it to keep it from falling. I did not want to draw attention. Timing was everything.
“Now,” Bathory said, “the cauldron.”
Naill dragged a pot almost as large as he was to her side. “Yes, my lady.”
Oh dear Lord. If that nugget got his nose any further up her ass, he’d become a permanent part of her backside.
He handed her a silver-hilted dagger. She lifted it in her still bloody hand and strode to my side. Her perfectly arched brow lifted. “Nice knowing you, witch. Too bad about your caretaker. Looks like you won’t be coming back from this one.” With both hands gripping the hilt, she raised the dagger above her head until her upper arms covered her ears, then with one final gaze at my chest, plunged the steel toward my breastbone.
The movement was lightning quick, but so was I. Some part of me, the goddess of the dead part I suppose, knew what she would do before she did it. Rick had said that everything I needed was inside of me and surely he was right, because at that moment, I knew every undead cell in the super standing next to me. I owned what she was. I had knit her out of the ether in some former life.
Releasing the binding, I rolled out from under her falling dagger. She howled an obscenity as the blade hit the stone and not me. I rolled back, flattening the knife under me while bringing my elbow to the side of her head. Three of my limbs were still bound to the table but I used what leverage I could get to throw my entire bodyweight into it, aiming not for her head but through it. She hissed, and fell to the ground.
Quickly, I began working the knot on my other wrist. I wasn’t fast enough. I’d barely loosened it when she popped up next to me. One hand gripped my throat while the other clawed my shirt open.
“There are two ways for me to cut out your heart. Since you’ve taken my knife, we’ll do this the old fashioned way.”
Kick The Candle (Knight Games) Page 20
