Life's Blood (Pulse Book 2) (PULSE Vampire Series)

by Kailin Gow

  “Octavius,” she said, in her most nasal voice.

  “Olive,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “Pretty little Olive.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “One hundred and twenty-three years old.”

  “What?”

  “One hundred and twenty-three years old. That's how long it will be. It took me a hundred years since the last hint of Life's Blood to find the girl. And if it takes me another hundred....you'll be old – you'll be dead. I'll be starting from scratch.” His voice was hollow, broken. “You'll grow old – first withered, then pale, then sick...you'll die...”

  Against herself, Kalina felt compassion for this strange vampire; his pain was splayed out across his face. She stroked his cheek lightly.

  “Turn you?” He caught her hand. “No – no, I won't do that. Not you. You wouldn't want it. I – I wouldn't want it – your lovely tan...no, Kalina has to be the one. She has to be!”

  He stumbled into her, and before Kalina realized what was happening he was kissing her, his hands wrapped tightly in her hair, his mouth deep upon hers. She felt the light touch of his tongue against her lips; his teeth gently prodding at her.

  It was as if she had been inverted.

  “Nobody who gets near Octavius,” Olivia had said, “can resist him.”

  It was vampire magic; Kalina could feel it in her, even as she scrambled to get her thoughts together. Poor Olivia, she thought, thinking of the addled young woman knocked unconscious in the bedroom. She really loved this man – and despite herself, Kalina could see why.

  “Your blood,” Octavius was murmuring, his voice hot with desire. “Your blood.”

  “What? No...”

  But it was too late. Octavius had moved his mouth down to Kalina's neck, and where Olivia's two puncture marks had been, now there was only smooth, white flesh.

  He drew his head back, and in a swift, sure motion, removed her sunglasses.

  His eyes grew dark with rage.

  It was too late. She was caught

  Chapter 4

  Kalina swallowed as she stared into the eyes of Octavius. If the portrait had shown his gaze as haunting, even terrifying, with those deep brown eyes filled to blackness with intensity, then nevertheless the painting had lied. Octavius’ gaze was infinitely more terrible in real life. She felt herself frozen, fixed on the spot like a butterfly wriggling under a pin. She was transfixed, as much by his beauty as by her fear, her heart leaping and writhing within her. Her throat closed up; her breath grew shallow and then silent.

  “Kalina,” said Octavius. His voice was as smooth as whipped cream. “How...interesting. I thought you were...”

  “Olivia,” Kalina blurted out.

  “Yes, Olivia, very good,” said Octavius, pacing around her like a feral cat. “Where is she? What have you done with her?”

  “She's in your bedroom,” said Kalina. “I think she'd rather be there than me at any rate.” She stopped short, surprised at her own daring.

  Octavius considered her.

  “That's why you want to become human, isn't it?” said Kalina, her voice shaking. “Because of her.”

  Octavius scoffed. “Nonsense,” he said. “Become a human – why on earth would I want that? When I have spent my life turning weak, feeble, mortal human beings into vampires stronger than thunder faster in the wind – why would I want to sacrifice all that?”

  “For love?”

  “What are you talking about?” Octavius snapped.

  “For love,” Kalina said again, louder this time. It was a gamble, but as her heart began to pound so loudly it almost deafened her, it was the only chance she had. “You don't want Olivia to live as you have lived...a life that isn't a life at all, is it? What about Drusilla? You loved her – you were going to marry her. And then she was turned. You wanted to turn her, didn't you? Was that why she killed herself? To stop you?”

  Octavius turned away swiftly. “How dare you?” he said. “That was a long time ago.”

  “Centuries,” said Kalina, softly. She looked straight into Octavius’ eyes, trying to find a layer of soul beneath the rage and the pain. She took his hand. She could almost feel sympathy, mingled with her fear and her desire. “You want a normal life – with someone you love. That's normal, Octavius.”

  He grabbed hold of her wrist in a flash of movement. “Come with me,” he said. “Come on – faster.” He dragged Kalina down a corridor and into a room. It was not as sumptuous as the bedroom she had been inside earlier, but it was nevertheless comfortable – above all things modern, with a sleek bedframe and black satin sheets. It was lined with film promotional posters, belying the room's owner.

  “Olive's room?” asked Kalina.

  “How’d you guess?” said Octavius, with only a hint of irony.

  Kalina sat down on the bed, with Octavius’ fingers still curled tendril-tight about her wrist. His grip loosed somewhat, and she found that his fingers were gentle to the touch.

  “Perhaps I underestimated you, Kalina,” said Octavius softly. “You see, I am used to beautiful women – with Olive's intelligence, shall we say?” The last time he had fixed his gaze on her, it had been that of a conqueror, a predator looking lustfully at his prey. Now his gaze was full of questions. “You're wearing Olive's clothes. Perhaps you do look like her. But that is not the resemblance that strikes me most, now. No – with hair like yours, eyes like yours...the resemblance is to Drusilla. It is not my death I regret, after all these centuries. No, it is hers that I mourn for. If she were the carrier of the Life's Blood – perhaps that would be worth dying for, becoming human for.” He loosed his fingers from Kalina's wrist and raised them to her face, brushing away the hairs stray around her brow with the lightest of touches. “Your eyes are different, yes. And you're taller. But I can see in you that which I loved so much in her. But more than anything it is your intelligence that interests me. Drusilla was an educated Roman girl – a senator's daughter. Her father taught her not just Latin, but the other languages as well – she knew Greek as well as any philosopher-slave, and even spoke and read Hebrew, for her father had first been a general in Judea. She could speak of the philosophers and the gods – Herodotus, Plato – Virgil, Homer...it was for this that I loved her. And in all my time alive I have not found that same spark of genius – as I saw once, as I loved once in my Drusilla, until now.”

  Kalina shuddered. “What about Olivia?” she asked.

  Octavius pulled away. “Yes, he said.” “I am quite fond of Olive. I have always been. But she is not...she is not…” he said. “She is a body. Perhaps at one time I imagined spending eternity with her – out of my loneliness, but that was before I met you.”

  Was it the Life's Blood? Kalina thought. She knew the dangerous curse of her blood – it exuded an attraction to vampires so strong that it clouded the mind of even the most cunning vampire. But she knew the down-side, too. She was destined to fall in love with a vampire; she was more susceptible than even most humans to the mysterious charms of that bloody race.

  “Legend had it,” Octavius continued, working his way to her cheeks, “that you will fall in love with a vampire. The Carrier always has. You could not choose between those two young boys – choose one. Perhaps you did not love either – not enough, at any rate. Not with all the ardor of true love. You are confused – unsure.” Octavius smiled – a smile filled with joy as well as victory. “You are yet to fall in love, Kalina…which means there is a chance for me in your heart. I felt it, you know. When I kissed you; I felt it upon your lips.”

  Kalina could not deny that she had felt something when he kissed her, overcome by his vampire magnetism, the animal passions coursing through his veins, awakening all the life her blood held in its infinite magic.

  Octavius leaned towards her, cupping her face in his hands. Slowly, with impossible tenderness and stunning skill, he pressed his lips against her, kissing her. It was not the kiss of a boy, but rather of a skilled lover. In its heat, its sure passio
n, Kalina was reminded of Jaegar – of the frenzied kisses they had shared in the Sunrise Motel the night before, when they had in their terror of the day to come succumbed to their passion. But unlike Jaegar – perhaps more like Stuart, if anyone – Octavius was restrained, powerful – entirely in control. He did not give himself over, as Jaegar had, to the melody of the moment; rather, he was old enough, experienced enough, to control himself and his desires, playing them out upon her body. Kalina's head began to swirl as she lost all sense of herself, as she began to forget why it was that she had come, who it was she had come for, losing herself in the chaos of Octavius’ kiss.

  He pushed her back down onto the bed; she allowed him to rise over her, to bury his lips in her neck, to trail his tongue along the edges of her collarbone.

  What are you doing, Kalina? A rational voice in the back of her head shouted at her -but it sounded like an echo from across a sea – voices that had no bearing on the present, on the moment. Her head was a delirious expanse of clouds...

  She kissed him back; she tangled her fingers in his hair; she set upon him with hungry kisses.

  He pulled away – slowly, gently – and as he began to remove his shirt she could glimpse upon his face the semblance of a cruel smile.

  “Stop!” Kalina cried, coming back to her senses. “No – no, I can't.”

  “Why not?” There was a twinkle of malice in Octavius’ eyes. “I warn you – I will find stopping myself incredibly difficult...”

  “Because,” Kalina's voice was trembling with shock.

  Octavius’ fangs were out now, ready to puncture the smooth skin of her neck.

  “I'm a virgin,” Kalina admitted, her face turning scarlet as she scrambled off the bed. “Also,” she said, regaining her composure. “You're keeping me prisoner – and this is your girlfriend's bed.”

  Octavius ignored the last part. “I knew it!” he grinned. He slipped the straps of Kalina's dress back onto her shoulders, the game concluded. “But wasn't it fun to find out?” His voice was devoid of the soft melancholy that had led her to sympathy before. “I enjoy these sorts of games, don't you?”

  “Why, you...”

  “Well, we've established that,” said Octavius blithely. “On to the next thing, shall we?”

  He led her down another corridor, down to the stairs she had tried to descend earlier, into the basement. He flicked on a switch and flooded the room with light. Aside from the slight smell of damp, it wasn't as bad as she'd thought – the room was Spartan, but certainly not Medieval.

  Perhaps Octavius isn't so bad. Perhaps being his prisoner wouldn't be the worst thing. He's handsome, isn't he? Gorgeous. I'd even enjoy it...

  Kalina shuddered from the fantasies that had come unbidden into her mind. She knew it was the vampire magic talking – the seductive force that unlocked secret desires and clouded the mind from common sense. It made her feel that she didn't even know herself, or her own desires. She hated the thought; it frightened and disgusted her.

  Her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. There, tied to three chairs in the center, were three faces – three faces she had known, had loved. Jaegar, Stuart – and Aaron.

  “Aaron!” Kalina shrieked, rushing towards him. Octavius remained implacable, a wry smile on his face.

  “Aaron – I thought you were...oh, God!” Tears began flowing from her eyes as she rushed towards him. He did not look well – he was thin, with straggly hair and bruises upon his pale skin – but he was alive, and that was more than enough for her. She rushed to embrace him, clasping him in her arms. She saw Stuart and Jaegar looking at her – their love palpable on both their faces – and tried to signal them both, in whatever subtle way she could, how much she loved them – how much she missed them.

  “I'm so sorry, Kal,” Aaron whispered. It was the first time anyone had called her Kal in months. “I should have told you. I should have told you everything...”

  She quieted him. “It's all right,” she said. “It's all right now.”

  “You shouldn't be here,” said Aaron.

  “No,” said Octavius from behind them. “She shouldn't. She should be upstairs right now, reclining in my bed, supping on peaches and grapes and pear, being treated like a princess. Not down here in the dungeons with you and your idiot brothers. You should have brought her to me here from the beginning. Then you would have spared yourself from this....predicament.”

  “I couldn't do it!” Aaron shouted, struggling against his bonds with rage.

  Kalina stared at the ropes. She placed her hand idly in her dress pocket – remembering where she had left her pocket knife.

  “If you knew Kal – even one little bit – you'd know how special she is – how nobody, not even the strongest vamp in this country or the whole world, even, could get to her. Not just because of her blood – but because she's Kal!”

  Kalina's fingers tightened on the knife. Suddenly, she began sobbing – loud, enormous sobs, throwing her arms around Aaron and weeping as hard as she could. Octavius, Jaegar, and Stuart looked on in shock.

  “Oh, Aaron,” she cried. “I've missed you so...” Even Aaron looked confused. Kalina wasn't usually like this.

  As she distracted the others with her sobbing, she placed the blade of her pocket knife to the ropes, and began cutting...

  “Are you sure she is the Carrier?” said Octavius. “Vampire wine may have dulled your senses. She might just be...ordinary”

  “I'm sure!” said Aaron. “She's anything but ordinary – haven't you smelled her?”

  Damn it. Vampire or not, Aaron still had the immaturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, Kalina thought. And sometimes he needed to learn not to open his mouth.

  She continued cutting, finally breaking through the ropes. Aaron felt them slacken; at last he understood what was going on.

  “Good,” said Octavius. “Just what I needed to hear.” Kalina felt him move on behind her; before he could reach her she whirled around on one foot, kicking him square in the mouth while slicing his chest open with the blade of the pocket-knife.

  Octavius fell back, as much in shock as in pain.

  Kalina rushed towards Jaegar and Stuart to untie them, but to her surprise, they leaped up of their own accord.

  “You were already untied?” Kalina shouted.

  “We're centuries old!” cried Jaegar. “What did you expect – weaklings?”

  Stuart grabbed one of the iron chairs, holding it out before him for defense; Kalina grabbed one of the mirror shards from her pocket and threw it to Jaegar. Then Octavius rose, and everything exploded into a cacophony of sounds and cries, blood and chaos. Stuart was striking Octavius with the chairs – then Jaegar was slicing him open – then...

  “No!” Kalina screamed, as Octavius rushed for Jaegar's neck, taking a large bite out of the marble-colored flesh.

  Jaegar gasped and staggered. Before Octavius could finish the job, though, Stuart hit him again with a chair. “Go!” Stuart cried, as Aaron and Kalina clustered together. “I'll hold him off – run! Now!”

  “Stuart...”

  “Or I'll use compulsion on you if I have to – run!”

  Aaron and Kalina rushed up the stairs and out one of the windows – Aaron flying Kalina to safety. They passed one guard on the way; Kalina staked him, and watched him crumble to ashes as they sped on past. Finally, they made it onto the street. It was night, now, and Kalina knew what that mean. More vampires.

  “Get in the car! Get in the car!”

  “We don't have the keys! Jaegar must...”

  Kalina felt a thud behind her – a shadow cast over her. “Aar--” the scream died on her throat. It was Jaegar.

  “Oh, thank God.”

  “Hurry,” Jaegar cried. “Get this door open and get out of here. Stuart will catch up with us...”

  If he survives, he did not say, but Kalina could hear the worry in his voice.

  “Let's get out of here.”

  Kalina pressed down on the gas and the car spe
d off through the night towards Rutherford.

  Chapter 5

  The night seemed to overtake them like a flood – the wind and darkness washing over them in torrential waves. Kalina's fingers grew tight on the steering wheel; her knuckles were white from the effort. She stared straight ahead.

  “You okay, Jaegar?” she asked. Jaegar's moan was her only reply.

  “He's hanging in there,” said Aaron, his voice frenzied and breathless. “But he'll need to feed. We both do.”

  “Will you make the trip?”

  She could see his reflection in the rearview mirror – white and in pain. She had a feeling she'd gotten her answer.

  “Got any vampire wine?”

  Jaegar gave a wry smile, gritting through his pain. “Why would I keep…that...swill…around?” He coughed up some blood. “I prefer…the real stuff.” he coughed again. “Just – get me some blood.”

  “I'd offer, but...” Kalina began.

  The brothers cut her off immediately. “No!” they shouted in unison.

  “We didn't just risk getting you out of there to have you spill your blood now,” Aaron said. “You can't give it up to just any vampire.”

  “Look,” said Kalina, swerving a right turn. “He needs blood; I have blood. I don't care whether it makes him human or not – but he's got to drink someone soon and only one of us has a heartbeat. And I'm not about to let him find some...victim, either.”

  “I know a girl,” Jaegar coughed out. “Nadine. We...hook up sometimes.”

  “A feeder?”

  Jaegar spluttered out an assent.

  Kalina quelled her jealousy. Someone had to feed Jaegar – and she knew despite her protestations that letting him get too close to her neck was a dangerous idea. All the same – what Maeve had given Stuart, that fantastic bond they'd shared....and now Jaegar would experience that gratitude of desire with someone else. She gritted her teeth and remained silent.