Blood Rights (PULSE Vampire Series #7) (PULSE Series)

by Kailin Gow

  “I’m saying that you need to come out of this alive, Kal. For the sake of the other Carriers, as much as for your own. Even if they don’t.”

  “You want me to stake them?” Kalina’s mouth dropped open with horror.

  “You said you would – back there. Would you have the strength, if it came to that?”

  Kalina’s voice began to tremble… “What are you talking about? I…don’t know. I just said that to scare Jaegar, to shut him up.”

  “You might have to, Kalina.”

  “I can’t! They’re my friends…”

  Stuart closed his eyes, and Kalina could see the pain in his expression. “Kal, listen to me. I know what it’s like to be under the influence. To be made crazy – disgusting – filthy…if I was a monster as a vampire, I was worse – far worse – as a Life’s Blood vamp. You’re not yourself anymore: you’re a creature of such darkness you can’t even recognize the human you once were. And I’m telling you this honestly, Kalina – I wish I had been staked. You saved me – but if you couldn’t have done that, then I would have rather been killed than live like a monster like that. And I know that Octavius and Jaegar, in their right minds, would say the same. Life as a Life’s Blood vamp like that – it’s a living hell. And if either of them was cured, only to find out they’d hurt you…”

  “We’ll find a cure,” Kalina said. “We’ll fix it. I won’t let that happen.” She was shaking now, horror flowing through her. “I won’t let them get to me.”

  “You may not have a choice, Kalina,” Stuart said, grabbing her wrists. “Now, promise me – for Justin’s sake, for Max’s, for the Carriers’, for mine – for Jaegar’s and Octavius’ and for everyone that loves you – that you’ll come out of this alive. I won’t lose you. And those Carriers can’t afford to lose you. You’re the best weapon we’ve got.”

  He pressed her hands to his lips. “Now, listen to me…” He took off his life-vest and put it around her, tightening it before she could resist.

  “What are you doing? Stuart?”

  “I’m securing you. If Octavius loses you, for whatever reason, you’ll be safe. One of the vests got trampled on in the confusion – we’re one short.”

  “But what about you?”

  Stuart smiled grimly. “I’ll manage.”

  “But you could die!”

  “I’ve been alive eight hundred years, Kalina. Death was something I signed up for willingly when I became human again. I’m not afraid of it.” He took her hand. “Death’s not the curse. The other thing…that’s what I’m scared of. And I won’t let that happen. Octavius and Jaegar don’t realize it – they’re so hopped up on Life’s Blood – but if they don’t survive this crash, it’ll be eternity of pain for them. Waterboarding with no end – if they manage to keep their parts in one place. That’s what I’m scared of. And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone…not even my brother.”

  “Stuart!” Kalina’s eyes filled with tears. “You can’t…”

  “I’m not sacrificing myself, Kalina,” Stuart took out a pair of handcuffs and shackled himself to her. “I’m not stupid – I want to live through this just as much as you do. But if I don’t…” he sighed. “Just know I’ll be okay, okay? Now put on your seatbelt. This impact’s going to be rough.”

  “About sixty seconds until landing!” Max’s harsh, brittle voice came over the loudspeakers. Justin joined them, strapping himself against the wall of the plane. “I guess this means we’d better start praying,” he said without smiling.

  Octavius ran forward, a parachute in hand. “This was under the pilot’s seat,” he said, putting it on his back.

  Snarling, Jaegar followed suit with another one. “Come on, Kalina,” he said. “We can take your weight…”

  “Take me!” Alice cried. “Please, take me! Get me out of here…” Before Kalina or Stuart could stop her, she rushed forward into Jaegar’s open arms, tackling him.

  “Careful!” Max cried, but it was too late. The plane took a sudden nose dive, rattling so violently that the cabin door blew open.

  “No!” Kalina screamed.

  In a flash, Jaegar, Octavius, and Alice had vanished – swept out by the force of the rushing wind.

  “Hold on!” Stuart was shouting. “Kalina – hold on…”

  Kalina craned her neck out the window, but there was no sign of them. Had they been able to activate the parachute – to fly…or had Alice’s weight distracted them, forced them all into the waves that were growing larger and closer with every passing second. Kalina closed her eyes….

  “Twenty seconds…” she heard her mother’s voice. Loud, she thought – confident. Brave.

  “Ten, nine, eight…”

  Stuart took Kalina’s hand. “In case I die,” he whispered, and then leaned in, kissing her quickly and softly. It wasn’t the romantic kiss she was used to – it was free of desire, free of pressure, free of restraint.

  It was a kiss that meant goodbye.

  “Stuart, no!”

  “Five, four, three, two, one…”

  And then she felt the jolt of landing – the plane hitting water, the force of the drop violently shattering the walls of the plane. She felt herself rattling, as her teeth clenched tight, her entire body jolted with the force.

  And then everything was still. Kalina looked around – Justin was unshackling himself, vampire-pale but still alive. Max was running from the cockpit. Only Stuart was still, motionless….his mouth closed, blood trickling from the corners of where only just moments before had been brushing against her lips.

  “Stuart…no…” Kalina whispered.

  “No time!” Max shouted. “We need to get out of here.”

  Kalina looked down in time to feel the chill. Water was pouring into the aircraft, soaking her clothes – a cold so bitter it made her scream.

  They had to get out. The plane was sinking.

  Chapter 3

  “Stuart!” Kalina tugged at Stuart in vain.

  “Get him unshackled, quickly!” Max cried, directing Justin over to help.

  “He’s still alive…” Justin said. “He’s just unconscious…but it doesn’t look good. Damage to the internal organs.” He lifted Stuart’s body into the air. “We’re going to have to swim…” he said. “I’ll be fine – I can take him.” He smiled wanly. “There have to be some advantages to being a vampire, right?”

  “We need to heal him,” said Max. “Or he’ll die.”

  “I can’t do it,” said Justin. “It might turn him – and you know he’d rather die than…”

  “Let me do it!” Kalina said.

  “Life’s Blood – on a human?” Justin looked confused. “How do you know it…?”

  “It can’t hurt, can it?” Kalina looked up at Max, who nodded.

  “It’s worth trying,” said Max. “And right now it’s the best shot we’ve got. So you’d better hurry.”

  Kalina didn’t hesitate. She tore into her own flesh, wincing at the pain as her veins opened. She grabbed Stuart’s head and pressed her wound into his mouth. Instinctively, Stuart began to drink, his mouth sucking on her wrist. The intensity floored Kalina; she began to shake as he drained her, filling himself with her power, her life force.

  “The vest!” he murmured, coughing up blood. “Kalina, inflate your bloody vest…”

  Max pulled on her own tag and Justin’s as Kalina inflated her own vest.

  “We’ll have to swim,” said Max. “Justin, you’re the only vamp among us – you grab Stuart…”

  “Swim? In this cold?” Already Kalina’s teeth were chattering.

  “It’s not quite swimming,” said Max darkly. “Follow me.”

  With that, she leaped into the icy dark water. Justin and Kalina exchanged glances.

  “Listen to your mother, dear,” said Justin with a wry smile.

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “On the count of three, sis.” Justin pulled Stuart closer; Kalina felt herself pulled along by the handcuffs. “One…two…�
�

  “Three…” Kalina plunged into the water. The shock to her system was agonizing – pain worse than any vampire torture. She forced her eyes open against the pain of the salt water. What she saw shocked her.

  Max was riding the waves, pushing down on the waters with her feet, standing above the chaos as if she were on solid land.

  “What the…”

  “Kalina – you do it!” Max cried. “Just…concentrate, okay? Justin can do it too.”

  Kalina gaped, but now was not the time to doubt her mother’s words. “What do I do…” she tried to ask, but water flooded her throat and she could only choke in pain.

  “Just push down,” Max cried. “And your blood will do the rest.”

  Okay, thought Kalina, here goes. She closed her eyes and pushed down on the waves. To her surprise, she began to float – her body felt light, buoyant, even powerful. She rose to the surface of the waves. She felt the handcuffs break as she and Stuart were separated.

  “An old vampire trick,” said Max by way of explanation. “I learned it long ago…” she smiled darkly. “From Constantine, Kalina – from your father. His abilities were…considerable.”

  Kalina started with surprise. Max so rarely mentioned Kalina’s father – she barely knew who he was. But she held onto the information, filing it away with the rest of what she knew about him.

  Considerable indeed, she thought, if he could keep up with Max.

  “Once you get above the waves,” Max said, “you’d better start flying. If you get down too deep you won’t be able to fly.”

  “Justin…” called Kalina. “Where are you?”

  “I’m fine!” Justin was flying above the surface of the waves, Stuart slumped over his back. “I can’t believe it – I’m fine!” He laughed, giving a loud and jovial war-whoop. “Remember, buddy?” He looked over his shoulder at Stuart. “You did this to me in Mongolia. I got to piggy-back all the way to China. Now I guess I know how it feels.”

  “Yeah, well…” Stuart smiled weakly. “Thanks for returning the favor, I guess. Now I know how it feels to be on the other side.”

  Kalina was still half-submerged in the water – floating but unable to fly above the waves. “Guys…” her teeth were chattering, but her fear had subsided. “A little help, here?”

  “Think ‘lightness’ said Max nonchalantly, “Imagine that you are completely weightless – like a feather. Just focus…forget your fears. Your worries.”

  What is this, yoga? Kalina thought. Images flew before her eyes – the flight, Molotov, the dark look of hatred on Jaegar’s face…but she shut them out, willing them to vanish before her.

  Immediately she rose up, floating above the waves, allowing her powers of flight to take hold.

  “Didn’t know that we could do this, did you?” Max said. “It’s one of the perks of Life’s Blood. The longer we live – the more like vampires we become.”

  “I’d never heard of this…” Stuart said.

  “Yeah, well,” Max glowered. “Most Life’s Blood girls don’t live too long.” She sighed. “Or else they lose their powers. They settle down – turn a vamp. It’s only the latest generation that has…unlimited potential.”

  The experiments! Kalina clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. “The box!” she cried. She turned back towards the aircraft, which had by now all but vanished beneath the waves.

  “You think I’d lose something that important?” Max stopped her, producing the box from her pocket. “Good thing you’re not the one in charge of our exit strategy. That box is the most important thing we have.”

  Kalina gave a sigh of relief. Her body was still shaking from the cold – the very idea of diving into that dark water filled her with pain.

  “There’s land in the distance,” announced Max. “We’re going to want to have a stop there. We need to eat – feed – rest. Justin needs blood, and I know I could use a stiff drink. And we need to find the others.”

  “Octavius?” Kalina’s voice trembled at the mere mention of his name. “Jaegar – the flight attendant – do you think they’re ok?”

  “They can fly,” said Max, “I’m not worried about their safety – the parachute should have bought them enough time to fly out of there. But I’m worried about whomever they come into contact with in that state.” She sighed. “That girl…I wouldn’t rate her odds as too good.”

  Kalina gulped. Alice-Suzanne had been irritating, to be sure, but she certainly didn’t deserve to die for it.

  “We’ll need Octavius to open the box, in any case,” said Max. “But we won’t do that unless we turn him back. Until then – Alice-Suzanne, and the rest of the Life’s Blood Carriers, are in some serious danger. As are you, Kalina.”

  Chapter 4

  They began to fly over the ocean’s spray, feeling the cool breeze as a balmy respite from the terror of the crash. The wind began to dry Kalina’s clothing, and as they approached land her teeth finally stopped chattering as her heart rate began to get down to normal. She was still in shock. Moments before, they had been in a nightmare – in an aircraft plummeting down towards the sea. She had seen her whole life flash before her eyes in those moments – seen the faces of everybody she had ever known and loved and lost. Aaron, her first boyfriend, whose puppyish love and kind eyes had never been able to make up for the childish nature of their affection – and yet whom she had lost twice over: to Octavius, and then to the end of a stake. She had seen Stuart – remembered those days when their relationship was young and new, when he seemed like everything she wanted in a man. Stuart was kind, he was respectful; he had taught her what to demand out of love…

  But he wasn’t the one for her. As she looked over at him she knew it bitterly in her heart. Stuart wanted a human life, a human love. And although he was one of her closest friends, she knew that deep down she wasn’t the one for him, either. Stuart wanted to escape the vampire world – its challenges, its terrors. But Kalina wanted to embrace it. She had never been so sure of it as she was at that moment, feeling the adrenaline rush as she flew above the ocean. She was still shocked by what she had seen on board the ship – Octavius and Jaegar high on Life’s Blood, their beauty masked by the look of bloodlust in their eyes. Could they be the same Jaegar and Octavius she had known, that she had loved? Kalina sighed as she remembered the darkness in Octavius’ eyes – and the love, the pain, that struggled to escape the power of the blood in his veins.

  “Keep your energy up,” she whispered to Stuart as they flew. He looked so vulnerable now, so fragile. So human. She was glad for him – glad that he would never more be tormented by the fierce hunger for blood. But she knew that something had passed between them that could never be undone – the love they had shared was over, but it wasn’t merely that. They had lost something else, too.

  It was her childhood that was gone – a time in her life when innocence and romance and kisses on the doorstep were still possible. For Stuart, that time was just beginning. But for her, Kalina knew, that time was all over. It would always be like this – she would spend the rest of her life on the run, dodging obstacles, dodging death, barely one step ahead of Molotov, of Mal, of whomever the next threat would be.

  Kalina smiled sadly as she thought of Octavius. He had once told her that this was his destiny – that he would have to forego happiness in order to rid the world of evil, of vampires like Molotov. He had refused to let her turn him – now, Kalina thought, she understood. She was like him, too. For the sake of the Life’s Blood Carriers everywhere, she had to keep going. It’s what Octavius would have wanted.

  Octavius!

  She had to turn him back…

  Max’s cry disrupted Kalina’s thoughts. “Land!” she cried, as they flew to the shore. Dawn was just breaking in the east, and they had to hurry to get out of direct sunlight for Justin’s sake.

  They landed on a beach that looked uncannily familiar. Kalina looked around, spying a cluster of electric lights in the distance – beach huts. “Well, I
guess uncharted islands are pretty out of fashion these days,” she said as she felt the warm sand beneath her feet.

  “Uncharted?” Max laughed. “Haven’t you ever seen a postcard, Kalina? This is Hawaii.” Her smile vanished. “Right – we’re going to need to get to a hotel quickly enough to get Justin out of the sun. I hear the Imperial Grand’s rather nice.”

  Justin’s mouth fell open. “Isn’t that like the most expensive hotel on the island?”

  Stuart gave a mischievous smile. “Funny thing about being a vampire,” he said. “Your money accrues a lot of interest over seven hundred years.” He handed Max a wallet with his credit card in it.