Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4)

by Rawlings, Rachel

I willed myself to move. The iron cuffs still wore a coat of my crusted blood from my attempts to free myself. I would not end up strapped to that table again. I forced my feet forward, one step, then another and another until I was running out of the cell. The soft glow of candlelight pushed at the darkness. Fully aware of how unarmed and unprepared I was to face my captors I continued to walk toward the light.

  The hallway opened into another stone chamber. Unlike the cell where they held me there was no iron anywhere. Thankful for small favors I stepped through the narrow opening. Dead end. The room, if you could call it that was barely six by six. A well took up most of the floor, there was hardly enough room to walk around it. If it hadn't been for the light emanating from the sconces on both sides of the doorway I would have fallen in.

  I stepped closer, surprised to find it filled with water instead of sealed with a cement cap once city water had been brought in. I bent down, about to dip my hand in the water when ripples moved across the surface. I jumped back, not wanting to get caught by whatever lurked in the well. Knowing the homeowners it was probably a fucking piranha pit.

  A hand broke the surface, gripping the top of the well for support as the rest of the body followed. I watched in horror as eyes peered out of the water like an alligator in a Louisiana swamp. As more of her body rose out of the well it became obvious the water wasn't water at all. It was blood. Red rivulets ran down her naked body as she stepped out of her bath and onto the stone floor. She reached for me, calling my name.

  "Maurin." Her bloody hands gripped my arms and I jerked backwards, slamming into the stone wall. The impact vibrated up my spine, rattling my head and snapping my jaws shut. I bit my bottom lip and cursed as I tasted blood. Elizabeth sucked in a breath, hoping to catch a taste of me on the air.

  "Maurin." This time my name was a command. Her voice was deeper, stronger and I felt compelled to move toward it. "Maurin, wake up."

  I shot up out of the nightmare and into Mason's arms gasping for air. I shook my arms until the sleeves of his pajama top were at my elbows. My mind wouldn't accept this reality until I felt it with bare hands.

  I shoved his shirt up and pressed my palms against his back. The skin on skin contact helped me find my center. We stayed like that for a while, my head buried in the crook of his neck, as he supported himself with one hand on the mattress while the other stroked my spine.

  His smell was heady and intoxicating, spicy like pipe tobacco soaked in whiskey. It was masculine and incredibly erotic. I took one last deep breath, pulling in the sensory memory as I pushed away.

  He watched me scoot back against the wall with a grin that said he knew the effect he had on me. The grin faltered when he saw the haunted look in my eyes. "Want to talk about it?"

  I shook my head, offering a thanks instead of the explanation he wanted.

  "I told you I would come for you. Even if it's to pull you back from the shadows in your mind, I will come for you."

  The intensity of his gaze overwhelmed me. My face warmed from the blush that crept into my cheeks. If I could have moved further from him I would have. It wasn't smart to be this close to Mason, he was an entirely different kind of dangerous. One I wasn't equipped to deal with at the moment.

  With nowhere to go since my back was already pressed against the wall, I turned my head enough to avoid the kiss he moved in to deliver. His lips grazed my cheek. Cinnamon scented breath warmed my neck as he chuckled over my attempt to evade his advance. My heart skipped a beat, thankfully my brain put on the brakes.

  "Do you have a phone I could use? I really should call Aidan."

  He dropped his head, resting it on my collar bone and the sigh he let out had me shivering. It wasn't because I was cold. "He knows where you are. We sent word to the Council once we settled on a location."

  "Still, he must be worried. I should call him."

  "Oh he's definitely worried." He gave a devilish smile, winking as he produced a cell phone from his pocket. The sleeve of his shirt that I wore had slipped down, covering my hand and I shook my arm to free it so I could take the phone. "I like the way you look in that shirt. It suits you."

  I knew he would follow anything I said with something along the lines of liking me out of his pajamas better, so I chose not to say anything. I took the phone and punched in Aidan's number, surprised I remembered it since I had him on speed dial.

  "Aidan." There was a long pause and then he said my name, his voice shaken. "It's me. Yes, I'm okay."

  I waited for a pause in the jumbled rush of questions and professions of his feelings for me. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here. No, they don't think it's a good idea to go back to my apartment."

  "You can stay with me." Mason knew full well Aidan could hear him.

  "Yes that was him. No. Aidan, did you hear me accept the offer? I'm going to hang up now." Mason laughed, obviously he heard the other side of the conversation as well.

  "Maurin wait, don't hang up. I'm sorry. Feckin' hell." His accent was thick and I pictured him raking his hands through his recently cropped hair in his frustration to say things that wouldn't make me hang up on him. He let out a breath and I mimicked him. "We lost communication a couple minutes after you went inside. I wanted to call it off and pull you out of there but Cash wanted to give you a chance. He was confident you'd get the job done, said it would turn into a blood bath if I went in there and you could get hurt." I winced at his choice of words. "I shouldn't have listened to him. I never should have let you go in."

  I wanted to reassure him, let him know I really was okay. The pain in his voice was hard enough to hear but the hint of fear mixed in broke my heart. Telling me all of this was important to him. He wanted me to know he looked for me, that he wouldn't have stopped until he found me. I may have lost hope that I would be rescued but not once did I doubt he was searching. Still, rather than interrupt him to tell him I knew he wouldn't have stopped looking for me, I let him get it out. I gave Mason a withering glare and pointed at the door when he muttered something about how you'd think Aidan was the one who was tied up and tortured. He didn't leave, so I turned my back to him while I listened to Aidan.

  "But then you came out, so we followed the car back to your apartment. I was already waiting for you at the door by the time the ghoul got out. I don't know who worked that glamour, only the fae can work one that strong. Can't imagine what fae would risk crossing your father by creating a glamour in your image.

  “One whiff of that rotting puss bag and I knew it wasn't you. I have been going crazy ever since. We questioned the driver, Cash roughed him up a bit. A lot truth be told but he was compelled, there was no breaking it. Jesus, Maurin, we forced our way back into the house. Caligula was gone by the time we got back. Tore the fecking place apart and never found the entrance. I thought I lost you. Then the Council calls and tells us to meet your father and that hunter back at the mansion. Turns out we wouldn't have been able to break the wards on the entrance even if we could have seen it. You were on that table with an iron spear sticking out of your chest. And then they took you from me!"

  "Aidan."

  "No, don't Aidan me. I told you, you weren't ready to go against him. That he would be prepared for anything and everything. I knew better than to let you go in there alone. You would have died.”

  "It was a good plan. I could have handled Caligula. What we weren't prepared..."

  "Bollocks, it was a horrible plan. You almost fecking died!"

  I kept right on going like he didn't cut me off. Normally I'd put him in his place for that and for yelling at me like he was currently doing but in light of recent events and the blame he placed on himself I gave him a pass. "What we weren't prepared for was the henbane and--"

  "Henbane?"

  Would he ever let me finish a sentence? I was about to revoke his pass. Mason chuckled at my irritation. Why the hell was he still here? I threw a pillow at him. "Think Romeo and Juliet."

  "That's certainly one way to describe it," Mas
on muttered.

  "Would you shut up," I hissed.

  "What?"

  "Not you, Aidan. I was talking to Mason."

  "Mason is it? You're on a first name basis with the hunter now?"

  That almost sent the hunter into a fit of laughter. "Tell him we've been on a first name basis since you came to my office wearing those knee high boots to tempt me out of that necklace."

  "And it worked to. Now shut up or get out."

  "You're in my bed, hardly in a position to order me out."

  "Maurin." Aidan ground out my name.

  I threw another pillow at Mason and he motioned to lock his lips.

  "Maurin." I could tell through the phone that Aidan's teeth were clenched and his jaw twitched.

  I let out an exasperated sigh. "Ignore him." I gave Mason a pointed stare, making sure he kept his lips locked. "What I've been trying to say is we weren't prepared for the Blood Countess. We thought Caligula killed the girls but it was her."

  Something gnawed at me, something Bathory said. "Did you know she was here, Aidan?" Mason leaned forward, very interested in his answer.

  "You need to come back to Salem. We have to talk to the Council. If Elizabeth Bathory is responsible--"

  "Did you know she was here?"

  "I lost her after Reykjavik. I followed her trail of bodies back to the states but there was no sign of her in Salem. My team, your team, has been hunting for her this whole time."

  "And you didn't think five girls drained of their blood might be something she was capable of? That she was worth mentioning?"

  "No, you found the necklace. Everything pointed to Caligula. This isn't how she normally kills, it was too clean."

  "You weren't convinced he was guilty before. Did you know Caligula was her sire? That she can absorb power through blood?"

  "Of course not! I never would have allowed you to go in there if I knew that. His line was supposed to be dead. Maurin, please, you need to come home."

  "She watched you. She saw me with you. It set this whole thing in motion."

  "Maurin, come home. We'll go to Agrona. Get the team together."

  "I can't just jump back to Salem. It's not safe for me in the between right now."

  "Why? Kellen wouldn't--"

  "What do you think she is doing with my blood, Aidan?" The conversation wore me out. I had been in and out of consciousness for the last few days - or was it a week now since I went to Caligula's - but I was exhausted and the wound in my chest started to hurt again. The iron seriously slowed the healing process. I wanted a bath, a meal and a nap. In that order. "Listen, I'll figure out a way to get back to Salem. We'll talk with the Council. I promise. But I'm still not a hundred percent. I can't remember the last time I ate something and I'm exhausted. I need to eat and then go back to bed."

  "Alone?"

  "I'm going to ignore that. Better yet, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and you're going to tell me how much you wish you could take away my pain. Followed by how brave and strong and totally amazing I am."

  "You are all of those things and more. Maurin, I...you know that I...you know how much you mean to me."

  "I know, Aidan. I'll call you in a few hours." I ended the call, curling back up under the covers. My chest hurt and it wasn't because of the iron recently pulled from it.

  The fact that he couldn't say it told me exactly how much I meant to him. Honestly, I was relieved that he hesitated saying those three little words. Relief was immediately followed by sadness. Maybe he was in love with me and decided this wasn't the right time to say it. Or maybe in that moment he realized he wasn't in love with me at all. Either way, if he had said the words I'm not sure what my response would have been.

  My feelings for Aidan were a tangled mess. One minute I wanted things to work and the next I looked for reasons we wouldn't. I thought I was in love with him. I had certainly allowed myself to be hurt enough by him to be convinced of it and maybe I actually was at one point. If I was in love with him I would be mad or disappointed when he choked on the words but I wasn't.

  I didn't have the energy to analyze my emotional revelation any more today. Mason must have noticed because he didn't fill the silence with smart ass comments about Aidan. He brushed the hair out of my eyes and pulled the covers over my shoulder. He kissed my temple and whispered something in a language I didn't understand. Within minutes I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

  I woke up sore all over and with a stiff neck to the sound of running water. Hoping it was a bath being drawn for me, I pulled back the covers and got out of bed. I managed a few wobbly steps before going down.

  The cursing I thought was just in my head must have been coming out of my mouth because Mason scooped me up before I hit the floor. He carried me to the bathroom and set me down on the edge of the tub. Some of the aches and pains were gone just from the sight of the streaming water. I couldn't wait to submerge myself in the hot bath. He added Epsom salts and eucalyptus to the water and lit two rosemary and mint scented candles before turning out the overhead light.

  He managed to get one button undone on his pajama top. The one I still wore. I grabbed his hand. "Thanks, I can manage from here."

  "You're still weak. I think I should stay with you."

  "Nice try but I'm fine."

  "Your face almost became intimately acquainted with my floor. We obviously have different definitions of fine."

  "I've been in bed for a couple days and on a steel table for a couple days before that. I'm not surprised my legs weren't cooperating. If I promised not to drown in your bathtub would you leave me alone?" I threw in a please for good measure.

  "If you aren't out of there in thirty minutes I'm coming in."

  "Yes, sir." I hadn't meant for my voice to be so husky and had no idea he'd find those two words to be such a turn on. The panty melting stare it earned me had me wishing for a cold shower instead of a hot bath. He saw the surprise in my eyes over his reaction- and my reaction to his reaction, but I'd never tell him that. He gave me that debilitating smile and left me to my bath.

  True to his word, before the water had completely cooled he knocked on the door. I barely had time to pull a towel into the water to cover myself when he barged in. His eyes quickly scanned the bathroom before settling on me. The heavy terry cloth towel had absorbed all the water it could hold. My body interrupted the towel's decent to the bottom of the tub and it clung to every curve. It kept me covered but didn't leave much to the imagination. The look in Mason's eyes was enough to boil the bath water.

  "I uh, I thought..." He cleared his throat. "I was worried you fell asleep."

  I tried not to laugh at the unflappable hunter. He'd seen more of me the other night in that room beneath Caligula's and then again when he obviously cleaned my wounds and put me in bed but this was different. There was no emergency or clinical reason for him to see so much of my flesh and he had a hard time keeping his desire in check. He wanted to do all those carnal things he'd hinted at the first time I met him and it took all of his control not to.

  "Wide awake. I was about to get out." He set another towel on edge of the tub. "Turn around and face the wall."

  The way he looked at me made me want to drop the soaking wet towel before he turned, giving him full view of the flesh it clung to. I barely resisted the urge, knowing that teasing the hunter would lead to things my body ached to do but my heart wasn't ready for. Once he faced the other way I let the towel drop, splashing into the water. He twitched, fighting the urge to turn around. I wrapped the dry towel around myself and stepped out of the tub onto the plush rug in front of it.

  "You can turn around now."

  Water dripped from my hair, glistening in the candlelight as it ran down my arms. The tiny flames flickered in his eyes and the man was gone. Replaced by the hunter.

  He stalked over to me, pulling me against him. His body was rock hard, all of him. His massive arms engulfed me, pressing every inch of me to him. His mouth crashed into mine, his
tongue demanding entrance. I resisted. At least I tried to but my traitorous body melted, deepening the kiss, opening my mouth to him. My hands slid up the hard planes of his chest to lock around the back of his neck.

  I moaned into the kiss and he growled in response. Without breaking contact he backed me into the bedroom, moving us closer to the bed. I should stop, I was still with Aidan. This was wrong. So why did it feel so right?

  A soft gasp that wasn't from me and was too feminine to be from Hunter broke through my arousal and brought me back to my other more conservative senses. I pulled back despite Mason's efforts to keep my mouth locked with his. Who was she and why did I care so much? Was she his lover or worse his wife? I wasn't in any position to judge. I still had a vampire boyfriend and it hadn't stopped me from ignoring the fact that my moral compass pointed due south, straight to Slutsville.

  I couldn't help but compare myself to the copper haired beauty. Her fair skin was flushed, her cheeks and ears flaming a red to rival her hair. She was taller than me, at least five six and her hair cascaded around her toned arms. In a word she was breathtaking. What did she think of me? Raven hair that reflected a deep violet in the sun emphasizing my porcelain skin, brown eyes so dark they looked black ringed with gold. We were opposites, light and dark. I was no slouch in the looks department but I highly doubted she saw me as competition.

  Humiliation overrode my jealousy as I looked at her and thought of Aidan. Her face gave away none of the betrayal she must be feeling. That Aidan would feel if he knew. I pushed further away from Mason and gripped the towel, that didn't cover as much of my body as the shame I felt did.

  "Begging your pardon, sir." Mason looked at me, humor in his eyes. I turned away, the woman's words not registering. "I set the tray by the fire, there's fresh clothes on the bed for you, miss." She was already backing out the door.

  "Thank you, Ryanne." He didn't wait for her to leave the room before trying to close the distance between us.

  "Oh my god," I whispered, thankful for the interruption and return to my good sense. "What is the matter with me?"