He placed his forehead against hers, both of them trying to catch their breath. His body still burned. It was hard to breathe as his body absorbed and adjusted to the power he was given.
“Can you tell me what just happened?”
“You are my chosen, McLain. I will love no other.” Fear of sharing all that transpired halted her words farther. She had just experience something profound and earthshaking and had no want to see it leave with angry words. Carmen ran her palm across his sweat slick chest and gloried in the heat pouring from his flesh. The feel of him still inside her brought a shiver of renewed pleasure.
He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “I drank from you and still live.”
“I have given you all the powers I possess. Your strength will equal no others.” Her fingers run over one of his male nipples. “You now carry the blood of the gods in your veins. It was given to me to choose a man of honor, to hold the title of Slayer. You are the law, the prince, and the ruler over all immortals. My father, the Celtic god Cocidius, saw a need to see all immortals under direction. They grow unruly and uncaring, so Cocidius sought women that would give him daughters. They in turn must seek out a mate suitable for the task as Immortal Enforcers. Only for me, I fell in love with you. A bonus, I’m thrilled to accept. Are you angry at me?”
McLain frowned, his eyes narrowed and she feared he would now leave her for withholding the facts.
“Does Slain and Brom hold these powers as well?”
That question was not what she had expected. “My brother has never taken my blood, but Slain is a Slayer. I gave my blood to him freely, to save his life, but it was from a goblet. He never touched me.”
McLain leaned forward, kissing her once again. Words fell as a caress over her lips. “There will be no other but me, Carmen. You are my mate for all eternity.”
Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “Yes, love.”
A disturbance on the night air blew through the open windows, causing both of them to glance out at the full moon.
“Menippus comes.” McLain removed himself from her and slid her feet to the floor. Gripping the back of her head, he kissed her hard again.
“Dress and get below.”
“What about you?”
“I go to meet our guest.”
Chapter Eleven
A blast of unnatural power rolled in waves across the land. The birds took flight in screeching pandemonium. Every dog and wolf from miles around let out howls and insistent barking. A warning. The ancient had arisen.
“Menippus will be on the hunt, gorging himself on anything close enough to get his hands on. And once he reaches full power, he will come for me.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because, I killed his son, an act of vengeance he will not ignore.”
“I thought you couldn’t have children.” She ran a hand over her belly in a soothing caress.
McLain noticed and an odd sparkle lit the depths of his dark gaze. “A myth to quiet the fears of the humans. What do you think would happen if word got out that we could give birth to powerful immortals? Giving birth is rare to our clan. They are called True Bloods, and it is forbidden that they be harmed.”
“There is more between you and Menippus than you have shared with me, isn’t there?”
His palm cupped her cheek. “You are my sun in a dark world, a blessing from the gods. I would have you know that I love you, Carmen.”
Her gaze narrowed and fear curled like a disease through her heart. “You do not expect to live through this encounter.” She grabbed the long dark hair on both sides of his face in fists. “Listen well, my love. Your power is greater than his. He cannot defeat you—unless you allow it. Do you hear me?”
A wicked smile curled his sensuous lips. “Even the gods could hear you, love. Your passion pleases me.”
“You please me, McLain. So believe in your new powers or they would not rise to help you. Come back to me.”
He ran a finger along her jaw a fire of determination in his gaze. “Nothing could keep me from you.”
* * *
McLain stood near a large oak, its branches thick and wide in a canopy. Menippus would have to come over land, not by sky to greet him. A father’s wrath would not allow him to build to his full strength before searching him out. Again, he remembered coming across Menippus’s son, Snake, holding a screaming child of no older than six. His fangs planted deep in the child’s torn throat. The boy’s eyes were wide in pain and fear as they swung to his. There was no hope of rescue in their depths, only an inevitability of his death. In the next second, the child stopped struggling and closed his eyes. Snake threw the boy’s body away with a smack of his lips and a sniff of his nose. McLain’s anger rolled in like a wave on a stormy sea. He would no longer stand for the endless slaughter that Menippus was breeding. McLain was done waiting for revenge. He walked up to Snake and struck before the vampire knew what he meant to do. With a razor sharp nail, McLain slice through Snakes neck then plugged his fist through his chest and ripped out the vampire’s heart. The startled vampire burst into dust with a cry on his lips.
The total absence of nocturnal animal or insect songs brought his thoughts back to Menippus. The familiar taint of evil warned of the ancient drawing near. An inky slither of mist fingered its way around the base of several trees. It glided closer until it rose into a pillar some twenty-feet in front of McLain before taking human form.
Menippus’s flesh hung gray and wrinkled, stretching like leather over bones. His eyes glowed red and were sunken, but power crackled about him.
“McLain...we meet again.” Menippus greeted.
McLain examined his nails as he leaned one shoulder against the oak’s trunk.
“Yes, I must have forgotten my garlic,” he answered laconically.
A growl came from within Menippus’s chest. “You killed my son, insolent dog.”
“I will not abide vampires gorging themselves on the young, destroying the innocent.”
“That was not your decision to make. I am the ancient ruler over our people.”
“Are you? Do you rule from the grave?”
Menippus’s gaze narrowed. “This vendetta has been fun, but I grow tried of it.”
“This vendetta is of your making, Menippus. Once you killed Catherine and my unborn son, you took my heart, but you didn’t stop there. You had to take my soul as well.”
“Catherine was marked as mine, fledgling. I offered her everything, even immortality. You were nothing. I wanted you to suffer for eternity.”
“I wonder if the saying is true, that if the vampire who turned you is killed you become human again. I believe I’m in the mood to test that theory.”
“You have no chance of living. Come to me, McLain, meet your death with honor. Your sentence will be carried out.” His voice rang hypnotic, a push hidden within his words.
McLain felt the effect, the need to move forward, but held his place. Menippus had underestimated him. He was no longer a heartsick boy on the verge of manhood. He had waited over the centuries for this moment, a chance to avenge Catherine and his son’s deaths and end the ancient’s reign. He still remembered the evil glow in Menippus’s gaze as he bit violently into his throat, taking the only life he had ever known. He had to leave his home for fear of the blood lust running through his veins. McLain had been alone in his walk through the night, finding his own path. No longer would Menippus be a threat to him or Carmen now that she walked with him. It ended here.
“You are tired of walking this earth, Menippus. Weakness invades your bones. Let me help you find that rest.” McLain used his voice as a weapon, putting his own compelling push within the soft cadence. Menippus took a step forward then stumbled to a halt. McLain felt the power, building within. He pushed away from the tree to move closer to Menippus.
“Ancient one, the years grow long and without pleasure. I hold peace in my hands. Take it and sleep.” McLain held out his hand in offering. Menippus’s gaze f
ell to his outstretched hand, the glow fading from his eyes. He stumbled forward. Then he raised his stare to McLain, the fire returning to his black orbs.
A wicked smile twisted Menippus’s lips and McLain felt the wave of energy just as Menippus raised his hands and red flames shot forth.
McLain leapt into the air with his new increased speed, making him look like a streak of color. He watched below as the flames slowly devoured the spot where he had just stood. He lowered himself behind Menippus and whispered. “You missed.”
Menippus swung his head around. Surprise evident on his face as McLain swung his fist into the ancient’s jaw.
The sickening crack of bone sounded as the vampire’s head jerked backwards and he stagger to fall backward, landing hard on the ground.
Menippus shook his head and stood, his gaze menacing. “Etan!”
McLain’s gaze narrowed. What was Menippus up to? Suddenly, a sharp pain ripped through McLain’s chest. He glanced down to see a clawed fist, protruding through his chest, only to disappear, leaving a gaping hole, where his flesh had been. He leapt into the air before this unknown assassin could attack again. He glanced down to see Menippus’s mate before the cover of trees hid him from view.
He was losing blood rapidly and the collapsed lung made it hard to draw breath, but the witch had missed his heart.
“McLain, I feel your pain. You are bleeding, close the wound.” Carmen’s voice rang through his thoughts.
He didn’t ask how. He only knew his strength poured out with his blood. “How?”
“Center all your power on the task. Command your flesh to close. Push deeper, and will your flesh to heal. Tell me when this is done.”
He landed among the protection of the trees and closed his eyes, blocking out Menippus and his mate, Etan, and the surety that they would follow him.
McLain took a shallow breath, then built a ball of energy. Its glow bright, its heat burning as he held it contained then when he could no longer hold it, he pushed it into the wound and its heat coated his chest. His muscles stretched and reconnected, bones liquefied to reform under his muscles then harden. His lung filled with air, and he drew a deep breath. Finally, flesh covered his sinewy chest, making him whole once again.
A scream of such agony echoed about the woods and McLain’s first thought was of Carmen. With a swift leap into the air, he returned to the field where Menippus stood over his mate. Etan was rolling on the ground. The arm she had shoved through his chest was disintegrating. The flesh ran down the arm to drip from her elbow. The bone crumbled to lie twisted and charred in pieces.
Understanding brought clarity to the scene before him. In taking Carmen’s blood, he had grown more powerful, yes, but now his blood had become a deadly poison to all it touched without permission from him. When Menippus’s mate attacked, she had put her fist through his chest, missing his heart by inches, yet in doing so, she had lost that arm. His blood had dissolved her very flesh and bones. Now the poison spread into her body, soon she would die in greater agony.
As McLain stepped out onto the field, Menippus looked up and stood, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. The burning orbs in his deep-set sockets pierced McLain’s skull like hot pokers. Then those eyes slowly moved away from him to land on something just over his shoulder.
McLain felt a chill run down his spine. Fear rose up as he realized who stood behind him.
“McLain, are you well?” Carmen slid her hand up over his shoulder. “I couldn’t stay behind when you were injured. I had to seek you out.”
“In so doing,” McLain shared, “You have put yourself in harms way and me at a disadvantage.”
“It has not been the first time.”
Menippus threw back his head and cackled. His gaze fell again to McLain. “I have found your weakness. Now, I will have you both.”
The wind began to pickup, buffeting them with the approaching storm. Dark clouds paralleled McLain’s mood.
“Old man, the gods have foretold your death. Your son reigns no more, your mate writhers on the ground, taking her last breath. And for your crime in seeking to destroy me and mine, I will take your life and end any threat you levy against us.”
“Your conceit will be your downfall. Come weakling, taste of my power.” Menippus raised his hands and red fire shot forth.
In a blinding streak of speed, McLain grabbed Carmen, pulling her to the ground, rolling her out of harms way. The fire shot over their heads, the heat singing the flesh of his hip.
He landed on top of her and a wicked smile curled his lips. “I would like to take advantage of my position but duty calls. Stay hidden behind the shelter of a tree.”
“Finish this McLain and take me home.” She smiled then rolled away, and he stood to face the storm.
The wind whipped up. The gusts tore at his long black hair and fire danced in his gaze. He reached up, pulling lightning from the black roiling sky and threw it like a spear at the gray figure. Menippus stumbled back, smoking curling from a black spot on his shoulder. As the ancient raised his hand to attack, McLain vanished to reappear in another area and brought the lightning again, hitting Menippus in the thigh.
The ancient screamed in frustrated anger, then his form changed to a tower of rats. A lump of swarming bodies now stood where he had been. They leaped off one another to move in a wave of black bodies toward the tree where Carmen hid.
McLain shot fire from his fingertips, flames devouring dozens of squealing bodies. Tiny fire demons, their fur ablaze, ran in every direction to escape a torturous death.
The ones unscathed sought out Carmen with teeth and claw. With the first stinging bite, she glanced down to see a sea of rats, closing around her ankles. She closed her eyes and forged a shield of blue light about herself. Before the shield sealed about her, clawed fingers scrapped into the back of her neck, leaving burning cuts. Menippus had reformed, using the remaining rats. One arm and half of his left side were missing. She met his burning gaze and smiled in triumph.
McLain materialized behind Menippus and shoved his fist through the vampire’s chest, pulling out Menippus’s black heart and squishing it between his strong fingers.
Menippus’s eyes widened, his mouth opened in a silent scream, then he crumpled to dust at their feet. Rain chose that moment to fall, washing Menippus’s remains into the soil. McLain stepped forward taking Carmen into his arms as the blue light encompassed them in a shield of brilliance. The energy burned away any taint of the ancients black blood form McLain’s hands.
She put her arms around his neck as he lowered his head to kiss her. “Our future is a clean slate. What plans shall we make?”
Carmen’s question stirred his hunger to have her again. “The sun rises soon and I mean to have a taste of your body once more before we sleep. His hand came up to fondle her breast. “I will start at your neck, then suckle your breast before moving lower to feast ‘til we are sated.”
“Mmmm. Then take me home, love. For I feel a hunger of my own.”
A wicked grin twisted one side of his lips. “Do you trust me?”
She laughed. “Explicitly.”
He grabbed her around the waist and launched them both into the air, traveling to a new destiny.
Author Bio
Alyna Lachlan is Lady of the Crypt. Dark dangerous vampires are her creation. She lives in North Carolina but grew up in Florida. Alyna loves the dark bad boys that are tortured and in need of a strong woman. She writes under many names and has won awards for her works. One award is the Romantic Times Reviewer Choice Award winner for fantasy book of the year. In diving into her worlds beware what lurks in the corners. She has twists and turns in every book.
Website: www.alynalachlan.com
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Satin Chamber Page 9
