Her back muscles ached; her wings strained, driving forward at maximum speed while carrying Jaden’s weight. The two-mile diameter of the domed city—an endless expanse of carbon steel—seemed damnably long, but the entrance beckoned with a warm glow. Almost there.
Ashra’s wings flared wide. She threw a mocking smile at the horde of daevas closing in on her. Her wings swept down, carrying her aloft. She shot up through the closing steel doors. Two daevas, their wings pressed tightly against their back, surged after her, maneuvering through the narrow entrance and into the tower. A third followed.
Talon, his feet placed on either side of the closing doors, drove his sword through the first daeva’s stomach. The creature doubled over with a screech of pain. Talon kicked the daeva off the blade, and brought the razor-sharp edge down across its scrawny neck.
Ashra dropped Jaden onto the floor. His limp hand fell away from the tiny body he had held close; the infant daeva whimpered from the loss of contact and burrowed deeper into Jaden’s warmth. The second daeva lunged toward the child. Ashra spun around and seized the daeva by its neck. Her grip tightened, pulverizing bone. It wilted in her grasp. She ripped through its stomach and dropped its corpse to the ground.
The third daeva wailed. Its unearthly cry was cut short as the carbon steel doors ground close, severing its body in half.
Talon dropped his sword, seized Jaden by his leather chest piece, and slammed him against the wall. “You…you’re a human who commands icrathari and elder vampires. Who are you? What are you?”
Jaden’s green eyes were unfocused. His lips moved, but no sound emerged.
Talon pushed harder.
Jaden arched his back. His breath pulsed out of him, a gasp of pain. His eyes rolled back, his head lolled to the side.
“What are you doing?” Ashra pulled Talon away and caught Jaden as he slumped forward into her arms.
A flurry of wings surged into the room—Tera and Siri. Tera was the first to reach Ashra’s side. Her gray eyes swept across Ashra, Jaden, and then focused on Talon. Her jaw dropped. “Talon?”
The elder vampire flashed a smile. “In the flesh.”
“But how—?”
Siri cut in. “What is this?” She leaned down and picked up the wriggling bundle of wings and thin appendages. A tiny mouth opened into a wail. Tears spilled from large yellow eyes set in a dark-skinned face. “A baby? Is this a baby daeva?”
“Their princess,” Talon said.
“How did you—?”
“Jaden took it hostage. It was our ticket out.”
Siri’s violet eyes gleamed in the florescent light. “I have to show it to Phillip. We finally have a daeva to experiment on.”
Ashra frowned. “Don’t hurt it, Siri.”
“Yes, of course,” Siri said. With the infant in her arms, she walked out of the room.
Ashra scooped Jaden into her arms. He shivered, arching away from the contact as if her touch had burned against his skin. His eyes fixed on her face. His lips trembled.
“I’m taking you to the infirmary,” she whispered. She ran toward the central shaft and leapt. Her wings unfurled, bearing the both of them up through the tower.
Lucas, the vampire who managed the infirmary, spun around as Ashra raced into the clinic. He took in the situation in a single glance. His lean face set into tight lines, he gestured at one of the vacant pods. “Put him down. We have to get his armor off.”
Jaden ground his teeth to keep from screaming in pain as Ashra and Lucas eased the remnants of his leather armor off his back. Blood trickled from his mouth; he had bitten through his lower lip. The useless armor, shredded into thin strips by vicious daeva claws, was tossed aside. Lucas lowered Jaden, facedown, onto the cushioned surface of the pod, and then cut the blood-soaked cotton shirt off his body.
Lucas inhaled sharply. Jaden’s back was little more than a bloodied pulp of ruined muscles and ripped tendons.
The door opened. Dana rushed in. She stopped short, her green eyes wide. Her expression was stricken. “What happened?”
“Daevas.” Ashra looked at Lucas. “Can you save him?”
“We can transform him. He’s lost a lot of blood, but he is stable enough to survive the half hour it takes to do a full transfusion.”
“No,” Jaden breathed. The white sheets beneath him had turned crimson. “Not…vampire.”
The vampires and icrathari were still monsters to him. Irritation snapped through Ashra, but the concurrent ache surprised her. “It’s the only way you’ll survive.”
Inexplicably, Jaden chuckled. The sound was pained but clearly amused. “Humans die…all the time.”
Lucas interjected. “He’ll need blood, regardless, and we don’t stock human blood.”
Dana shrugged. “We have lots of humans in the city. I’ll bring back some donors.”
She turned to leave, but Lucas held his hand out. “You’ll need people with matching blood types and without blood-transmitted diseases.”
Dana’s smile was a tight curve, devoid of humor. “I’ll find some volunteers. I know them from my time as a human. I’ll bring them here. How many do you need?”
“At a pint each, at least six.” Lucas shot Ashra a glance. “Of course if we’re planning to drain every drop of blood from their body, we’d need just one. We’d even have extra pints at that point.”
“Bring six,” Ashra said.
Dana nodded and left.
Lucas looked at Ashra. “Humans in the tower? You’re breaking lots of rules for him.”
“I made those rules.”
Lucas nodded. “For a reason. To protect the humans from us.”
“From their impressions of us.”
Lucas conceded the point with a nod of his head. “What changed, Ashra?”
She looked at Jaden but said nothing. Her mind filled in the silence. I remember love. Could it still be there waiting?
The minutes crawled. Ashra’s breath caught and held with each gasp that tore out of the injured man. Each moment spent beside Jaden was a cacophony of anxiety that made it nearly impossible for her to think clearly.
She should let him go, set Rohkeus’s soul free as she had intended from the beginning, but the path that seemed obvious then was no longer the only path.
She swallowed the bitter chuckle. I outwitted myself. I followed Jaden to prove that there was nothing of Rohkeus in him, but there is. In fact, there is more than just Rohkeus in him.
The rebirth of Rohkeus’s soul gave him a second chance at life, at love.
Did it mean she had a second chance at love too?
Lucas shook his head. “He’s not going to make it.”
Life. Love.
“Turn him on his side,” she ordered. With a fingernail, she slit her wrist and dripped her golden blood into Jaden’s mouth.
Lucas’s brow furrowed. “Ashra—”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Instinctively, Jaden turned his pale face to her. His eyes were closed, but his throat worked as he swallowed her life-giving blood.
Dana and five other vampires entered the room, each pushing ahead of them a blindfolded adult human. Dana jerked the blindfold off the old man she escorted. His eyes widened. “Jaden?”
Jaden’s eyes fluttered open. “Father?” Teeth gritted against the pain, he pushed up on one elbow. “You’re alive.” Joy and relief were evident in his weak voice.
Gareth Hunter’s gaze flicked between Jaden and Ashra. His lip curled in disgust. His fist swung out in a backhanded blow that slammed Jaden back into the pod. Jaden slumped into a bloody heap, unconscious.
Ashra’s vision flashed red, but Dana reached out and caught Ashra’s hand before the icrathari’s claws ripped through Gareth’s throat.
Unflinching, Gareth stared at the icrathari. “If you think I will save the life of man you’ve turned into a blood slave—”
Dana cut in. “You will save the life of our son.”
Gareth turned to face Dana. His
jaw dropped, and his eyes widened with equal parts terror and disbelief. “Dana?”
Ashra smiled with new respect for Dana, who had apparently abducted Gareth and blindfolded him without being seen.
“You’re—”
“A vampire,” Dana said. “Jaden is human, and to stay alive and human, he needs a transfusion of human blood.”
“The exchange of blood is the devil’s work.”
“Marriage to Lydia has turned you into a superstitious old bore.” Dana shoved Gareth into one of the empty pods, fastened the leather straps over his wrists, waist, and ankles, and then turned to Lucas. “Hook him up.”
Lucas chuckled under his breath. The other vampires stood guard over the cowering humans as Lucas inserted needles into their veins. Their blood flowed crimson into a machine, which analyzed it for impurities before transferring through a translucent tube and into a needle plunged deep into a vein in the crook of Jaden’s arm.
Dana tossed Lucas a small sealed jar. “I know you don’t carry medication since no one in the tower needs it, so I stopped by the herbalist. Once we clean and sterilize his wounds, the aloe salve in the jar will hasten the healing.”
Lucas shrugged. “As will Ashra’s blood. Every bit will help. Jaden is unlikely to survive as it is. Get the humans out of here. They’re cluttering my clinic.”
Dana looked at Ashra. “Do I return them to the city?”
Ashra’s gaze drifted over the pinched faces of the humans. She shook her head. “They’ve seen too much.”
Dana’s face tightened. “Do we kill them?”
“After all the effort you went through to find six blood donors instead of one? No, we won’t kill them. Not yet. Put them in a cell. I do not want humans wandering through Malum Turris. If they give you any trouble, bring them back here and Lucas will turn them into vampires.” A glance at the humans confirmed that her threat, casually offered, was received with heartfelt terror.
Dana nodded, dragged her ex-husband to his feet, and pushed him out the door. The other vampires followed her lead and escorted the shaken humans away.
Ashra turned to Lucas. “You said Jaden is unlikely to survive.”
“It’s been many years since I’ve treated a human, but I’ve never seen wounds as vicious as these. Even if we save his life, you need to be prepared for a long recuperation, and the possibility of irreparable damage to the muscles in his back or his spinal cord. He may never walk again.”
“Is there nothing else you can do?” Ashra asked.
“Turning him into a vampire is the only certain way to heal him.”
“It is not what he wants.”
Lucas shrugged. “We don’t always get what we want. The last time I checked, none of the vampires here were given a choice.”
Ashra’s gaze rested on Jaden. “I don’t want to change what’s in him.”
“Rohkeus’s soul?” Lucas snorted. “Do you really believe that?”
“There are glimmers of Rohkeus—”
“More than glimmers,” a voice cut in.
Talon strode into the infirmary, a sardonic smile on his face. Clothes hung loosely on his thin frame, but he had washed off the grime of his imprisonment underground. His dark hair was damp, and the knots had been combed out of it.
Lucas’s jaw dropped. He took several quick steps forward and grasped Talon’s hand. “Talon! My friend, how long has it been? How is it you are still alive?”
“It’s been five hundred years, and my captivity might have been longer if Jaden hadn’t dragged me along in his insane bid for freedom.” He looked down at the unconscious human. “He speaks with his voice.”
“Rohkeus?”
Talon nodded. “The ring of command when he ordered me to him. The familiarity…the certainty that I would obey.” His eyebrows drew together, and he shook his head. “It was his voice—Rohkeus’s voice.”
Lucas sighed. “Jaden offered you hope, and hope always takes the form of what we desire most.”
“Are you calling me delusional?”
Lucas chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare challenge an elder vampire—the only elder vampire—but I suspect you could use a transfusion after five hundred years of starvation. Lie down.”
Talon stretched out in the pod beside Jaden. He frowned as he surveyed Jaden’s mangled back, but he said nothing. Lucas bustled about him, preparing the medical equipment to transfuse a cocktail of vampire and icrathari blood that Talon’s body would need to repair the damage from long-term deprivation.
Ashra’s gaze shuttled between Talon and Jaden. Talon was an elder vampire, as ancient as Aeternae Noctis. Rohkeus’s blood had granted Talon immortality and superhuman strength, speed, and agility. With tenacity, Talon had honed it into a warrior’s skill. Next to Talon, Jaden lay still and silent, his fragile human body broken. His skill had been honed over a decade instead of a thousand years, yet he was no less a warrior.
Far more important, if Talon had spoken the truth of his encounter, Jaden had the heart of a leader—the intuitive authority that commanded obedience—and the grace to wield that authority with compassion.
She closed her eyes. Her shoulders shifted with a silent sigh. His skill, his grace, his beauty…the soul he bears is wasted in a human body. Yet, it is what he wants—to live and die a human.
If he dies… Ashra’s mental voice faltered. She inhaled deeply. At least he brought Talon back to us.
Ashra turned to the elder vampire. “When you’re rested, come to the chamber. I want your report.”
Chapter 12
Jaden awoke with a start. He shoved away from the pillow and mattress, and screamed as agony ripped down his back. Not even the soft warmth draped over him could dull the pain. He collapsed facedown on the bed, his hands clenched into fists.
“Take it slow,” a deep and resonant voice said from behind him. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
Lucky? He did not doubt that he was alive, though lucky was questionable. Every muscle in his body quivered from exhaustion and pain. Teeth gritted, Jaden raised his head as a vampire moved to stand in front of him. He recognized the vampire as the one he had seen in his early exploration of the tower, the one responsible for transforming the captured humans into vampires.
Slowly, Jaden pushed up. The heavy weight of the woolen blankets fell away from his shoulders. He shivered, and a grim smile passed over his lips. At least he was still human enough to be susceptible to the cold. “What…where am I?”
“The infirmary. I’m Lucas.”
Jaden braced against the instinctive surge of hate and fear toward vampires, but nothing happened. His brow furrowing at his lack of reaction, Jaden looked up at Lucas. “I’m Jaden.”
“I know. How do you feel?”
“Ashra—”
“She’s fine. What could hurt her? You, on the other hand, have demonstrated an amazing ability to survive encounters with species far more powerful than you.”
Jaden’s hands curled into fists. He could still taste Ashra’s blood—bittersweet like honeyed wine, burning down his throat. He looked up at the vampire. “Did Ashra save me?”
Lucas shrugged. “You would have died otherwise, though the blood transfusion from the other humans allowed you to stay human.”
Other humans. Jaden pressed a hand across his right cheek. It was tender to the touch, as if bruised. A dull ache pulsed through his chest. His father had struck him. Jaden pressed a hand across his eyes to block out the image of what his father must have seen—his mouth pressed against Ashra’s wrist, his throat working as he suckled greedily at her golden blood. What have I become?
The people of Aeternae Noctis had a description for what he had become—a blood slave. The term was issued with a spit and a curse for the weak-willed humans captivated by the intoxicating power of a vampire’s blood. Useless to man and beast, ignored by the vampires, and cast out by the humans, the blood slaves wandered the forests at the fringe of the city. Those humans, entrapped in unthinking adoration of the
ir indifferent vampire masters, eventually faded away from thirst and starvation.
Jaden gritted his teeth against the despair that swamped him. Unthinking adoration. No other words more accurately described his irrational attraction to Ashra. She’s not even human, and her kind has enslaved humans for a thousand years.
A traitorous voice whispered through his mind. Or did the icrathari save us?
Biting back a gasp of pain, he straightened. The muscles in his back tugged against his spine. He squeezed his eyes shut as the world spun around him.
Lucas shrugged and stepped back. “If you’re so determined to get up, you might as well attend the council meeting. Hold still. You’ll need something to stabilize your injured back.”
Jaden’s arm and shoulder muscles trembled from the strain of holding himself upright as Lucas lathered another layer of soothing salve over his back, and then wrapped thick bandages around his torso. When his task was complete, the vampire knelt and searched in a cabinet, before turning around to toss a change of clothes at Jaden. “Your clothes and armor are beyond salvage, but these should fit.”
With Lucas’s help, Jaden dressed and left the infirmary. The vampire stood close and offered Jaden a steadying hand when he stumbled, as he did frequently. Lucas shook his head. “You shouldn’t even be up. Ashra will stake me if you injure yourself further.”
“I’ll be careful.” He had to get to Ashra; he had to tell her about the man—human or vampire—he had seen in the daevas' cave; a man who had, with an indifferent wave of his hand, commanded thousands of daevas.
Lucas led Jaden to a platform without doors or walls. The vampire’s slender fingers danced over a glowing console, and the platform smoothly shifted into motion. The vampire chuckled, low and amused, when Jaden flinched. “It’s an elevator,” he said as it ascended through the levels of Malum Turris. “Didn’t you use it when Ashra took you to the ark?”
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