“If your power was greater than Julian’s, you would have already used it against him.” Could this be her speaking? Where had all of this bravado come from?
From facing death.
In answering her own question, she realized that having nothing more to lose and everything to gain had given her courage she hadn’t known she possessed.
Zurik suddenly appeared no more than six feet from her, his long black hair framing an evil face twisted with a fury that blazed in his hideous, soulless black eyes.
“You dare question my power? Do you think what I do is from weakness?”
Good. She had gotten a reaction out of him. Since her delay tactic seemed to be working she had to keep it going.
“I think you’re probably too cowardly to face Julian on neutral ground, just the two of you. Instead, you cower behind two innocent females. Something Julian would never do”
“So you think the great Julian Whitcombe is some kind of white knight, to use a cliché from your modern vocabulary,” Zurik rumbled, his voice deep enough to come from hell itself. “Well, my dear,” he sneered, “has it ever occurred to you that your knight has an ulterior motive for keeping you so close to him?”
Simone took a step back, unable to bear the evil that was so palpable it assaulted every one of her senses. She could even taste his evil in her mouth and prayed for a way to spit it back at him.
“No answer for me, Ms. LeClerc?”
“Julian has no ulterior motive.”
“Hah. Do you think you really know Julian Whitcombe?”
She felt a rush of excitement. Zurik seemed to be falling for her game of question and answer. If she could keep the verbal foray going long enough it might give Julian time to find her. Somehow she knew he would. He wouldn’t let her die. These past two weeks—all the times they had made love and he had tasted her blood—had to have meant something to him.
She hated playing into Zurik’s hands by asking him to explain his insinuation about Julian’s honor, but if it kept him talking it was worth it. “I wouldn’t believe one word of anything bad you told me about Julian. He’s not evil and underhanded like you.”
Before Zurik could come back with another retort, she asked him, “Can I see Dottie again?”
She doubted he’d humor her, but she needed to try any distraction that might buy more time. Just a second ago she’d had an odd sensation in her head, a vibration followed by a spike of static similar to what she felt before she and Julian communicated mentally. She turned her head slightly in the direction of the static and waited for another sound. Could Julian be trying to make contact with her? If so, did it mean he was close by? She quickly swung her attention back to the fiend in front of her.
Zurik had supernatural powers, just as Julian did. He might be able to read her mind too, and she didn’t want to do anything to tip him off. She had to engage him once again in dialogue, if for no other reason than to keep him out of her thoughts.
“I want to see Dottie, again,” she insisted.
Zurik threw back his head and laughed, his ancient, razor-sharp teeth striking a new fear in her soul. “You think I don’t know what you’re up to? You think I don’t know you’re trying to distract me? Is that because you don’t want to hear everything I have to say about your beloved Julian Whitcombe?”
Suddenly, Zurik spun around, lifted his hand and pointed a finger to the back of the room where she’d seen Dottie’s face before. The area lit up as if touched by a thousand candles and Dottie appeared again, her face contorted in pain, both hands outstretched in a silent plea.
Zurik pivoted back to face her. “So you would have your sister suffer even more to save your worthless lover? I had given you more credit than that.”
Simone’s heart twisted in pain. “Please, let her go. She’s innocent. She doesn’t even know Julian.”
“If you want to spare her more suffering, call Julian.” The phone flew up from the floor and hovered in the air in front of Simone.
For a second, Simone’s resolution wavered. Then the static in her head started up again and she thought she heard Julian’s voice calling her name. It was too faint for her to be certain. And maybe it was another of Zurik’s tricks—
Simone, where are you?
It was no trick. It was really Julian’s voice! She heard it in her heart as well as in her mind. Her spirits soared, but she forced herself to keep the emotion from her face.
Julian?
Where are you, Simone?
Julian’s voice began to fade and panic struck her heart. She couldn’t lose touch with him now. He must be close by.
Some old building near the Quarter, I think. It smells dank and moldy, like it got wet during the hurricane.
Keep talking to me. Ke—
Julian’s voice broke off suddenly, as if it had been snapped in two.
Then, just as suddenly, she remembered the necklace and brought her hand up to the tiny dagger that rested between her breasts. Instantly, the static returned, stronger this time.
Simone?
Her heart swelled with hope. Julian’s voice was as clear as if he were in the same room with her.
JULIAN STOOD OUTSIDE the door to the old warehouse where Zurik held Simone prisoner and fought to control his anger while he calculated his next move.
If Zurik’s attention had not been dulled by the rage he now directed at Simone, Julian knew he would have been spotted in the partially open doorway the second he arrived.
As long as Simone was not in any immediate danger from Zurik, he would wait for the most advantageous moment to strike. Since this was not Zurik’s home ground, he didn’t need Zurik’s permission to enter. He could make a surprise entrance.
And with their supernatural powers being equal, the slightest advantage either of them was fortunate enough to gain could be the difference between continued life and certain, eternal death.
There were few outcomes in the vampire realm of which one could be certain, but there was not a shred of doubt in Julian’s mind about the outcome of his impending confrontation with Zurik.
Only one of them would survive.
“CALL HIM,” ZURIK snarled as the phone whirled crazily in front of Simone. “I command you to call him.”
Simone pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head. She was sure her and Dottie’s time was running out, but she couldn’t give in now. She just knew Julian was close. She could feel him.
“Let me see Dottie. All of her. Bring her here where I can touch her.”
Electrical sparks crackled in front of Simone’s face, almost blinding her. Zurik’s evil countenance moved disgustingly closer to hers.
“Bitch!” he shrieked. “You dare issue me a command?” His spittle sprayed across her face. It’s stench caused her to gag, and she doubled over, retching.
Zurik stepped back a pace, but she could still smell his evil.
“Look at you,” he scoffed, “all dressed up for the main event. Little Red Riding Hood waiting for the Big Bad Wolf to sink his teeth into her.”
Zurik raised his eyes to the ceiling as if thinking deeply about something. When he swung his gaze back to Simone, the bursts of electricity sparking around her head suddenly stopped.
What was this monster talking about? Simone wondered as she gathered her thoughts. She looked down at the childish costume with its youthful dress and apron that Mike had said was the only one left that would fit her. What did this costume have to do with anything?
“Contemplating the truth of what I told you?” Zurik taunted. “I take it then that you have no idea you were meant to be your honorable lover’s main meal tonight.”
Zurik looked up at a huge luminous clock Simone hadn’t seen before. It hung in the darkness like a black-rimmed moon.
“How many
minutes left? Seven,” Zurik spat out in answer to his own question. “Seven minutes for Julian Whitcombe to perform the ritual that will transform him from vampire to the human he once was. Or not,” Zurik added as he brandished a long sword with a jewel tip above his head.
Slicing the air in quick strokes, Zurik laughed his evil laugh. “Maybe,” he said, his lips twisting into an evil smile, “I shall be the first to dine.”
In less time than it took for her next breath, Zurik slashed open the front of Simone’s shirt to her waist, slid the tip of the sword under the gold chain at her throat and sent it flying across the room.
Simone gasped as the sword’s tip caught her under her chin with the sting of a bee.
Zurik sneered. “How remiss of your lover not to tell you the necklace would protect your life against everything but the diamond tip of my sword.”
Simone felt a drop of blood fall to her chest and her knees sagged.
Zurik stepped closer. “The choice is yours,” he said. “Call your lover or die.”
“STAY AWAY FROM her,” Julian roared, as he leaped into the room, landing within a thrust of Zurik’s sword. Both Simone and Zurik turned startled glances toward him.
Zurik recovered quickly and pressed the tip of the sword deeper into Simone’s flesh. Blood ran down Simone’s neck and into the cleft between her breasts.
Hooking one arm around her waist, Zurik pulled Simone against him, keeping the sword in place. He lowered his fanged teeth to the other side of her neck.
“No!”
At Julian’s anguished cry, Zurik looked up and laughed, then lowered his mouth to Simone’s neck again.
The pressure inside Julian’s chest built until there was no room left for his lungs to expand, and the pain in his heart was as sharp as if it had been pierced by a diamond stake. Never before had he experienced pain as intense as he now felt at the realization that the woman he loved was at the mercy of his worst enemy.
The woman he loved.
What a cruel irony that he would fall in love with Simone. It was a twist he’d never considered. He never imagined he would come to care so deeply for the woman willing to give up her life so he could fulfill the Legacy. What sense did it make for him to fall in love with her if she was destined to die?
But, good sense or not he was in love with Simone.
And he loved her beyond all else.
He didn’t know what Zurik had planned for the next few minutes, but he did know he would die first and take Simone with him, if that was the only way to save her from Zurik and the horrific future she would have with him. Assuming Zurik kept her alive.
But even as he reached that conclusion, his conscience nagged him. What would the future be like if he weren’t here to battle the likes of Zurik? His death would doom not just his brothers, but all of mankind. Was the sacrifice of the many worth the life of one person, even if that one person was the woman he had come to love more than life itself?
Julian savagely brought his thoughts back to the present. Now, of all times, he had to think clearly. Rationally. He couldn’t dwell on anything but his next move. He’d already wasted precious seconds he could have used to distract Zurik.
“Let her go,” he shouted, the depth of his hostility against the vampire who held his beloved captive, nearly choking him. “I’m the one you want, not her.”
“Oh, but I do want her,” Zurik taunted, suspending his sword in midair and freeing his hand. Reaching over Simone’s shoulder, he slid a finger through the blood between her breasts. Slowly he brought the bloody finger up to his mouth and licked it clean, the wicked gleam in his eyes daring Julian to strike out at him. But Julian knew he couldn’t make a move until Simone was safely out of Zurik’s reach. He had to think of a diversionary tactic.
“You’re a coward,” Julian taunted. “A fucking coward, just like your ancestors before you.”
Zurik’s face contorted with rage. Julian knew that to label Zurik or any of his unholy bloodline a coward was an immediate call to arms.
Just as Julian hoped, his attack on Zurik’s ancestors switched the evil vampire’s focus to him. “You, of all people,” Zurik screeched, “dare to call me and mine cowards?”
When Zurik pointed the sword at him instead of Simone’s neck, Julian took his first easy breath since he’d entered the room.
Simone was slumped against Zurik, her eyes closed and her dark lashes vivid against her pale skin. All the while he and Zurik had verbally sparred, she hadn’t uttered a sound. He had to figure out a way to free her. Maybe he could reach her mind. But first he had to again distract Zurik.
“Every vampire in every clan thought it pure cowardice when your great-great-grandfather kidnapped the Queen’s infant daughter in order to get the Queen to become his mistress. It’s beneath even the lowest vampire to use a helpless baby as blackmail.”
While Zurik stoked his anger at Julian’s continuing insults to his ancestors, Julian quickly touched Simone’s mind. Their communication from now on would have to be conducted at lightning speed since time was fast running out for both of them.
Simone.
Julian?
She sounded so weak Julian’s heart thudded against his ribs in fear for her. Was she weak from loss of blood, or from the shock of being captured? She should have been protected by the—Julian’s heart stilled. In his fear for her and his wrath for Zurik he had forgotten that Zurik had found a way for the tip of his sword to override the magic of the necklace. She no longer had the protection of the tiny dagger at her throat. He cursed himself for not taking such a possibility into consideration. It was now more imperative than ever that he determine her physical condition before he proceeded.
Are you badly injured, Simone?
I don’t know.
There was only one thing he could do. Hope Simone had enough strength and presence of mind to follow his directive.
I’m going to send a shock to Zurik’s shoulder so he’ll have to release you. When he does, throw yourself to the floor and move as far away from him as you can, and do it as quickly as possible. Do you think you have enough strength to do that?
She sent him a quick, affirmative answer, and he wasted no time. The shock he sent to Zurik’s shoulder had exactly the effect Julian was counting on. Zurik jumped back in pain and surprise, releasing his hold on Simone. She fell to the floor.
In her weakened state, the most Simone could do was crawl a few feet away from Zurik. Julian wanted desperately to help her, but he had to keep his focus on the evil monster in front of him.
“Now,” Julian shouted, “let’s see you fight like the master vampire you think you are.” Wrapping his hand around the hilt of the dagger at his side, he wrenched it from its sheath.
Zurik readied his sword. “You always did overrate your abilities, Julian Whitcombe, would-be savior of New Orleans.” Zurik brandished the sword in a wide circular arc. A dozen more candles lit up the room.
“We can do battle now,” Zurik continued, “and this time I will not leave you gravely injured. This time, I will rid the earth of you forever. And then I will find your weakling brothers and destroy them as well. But first . . .” He turned to Simone, who still lay on the floor, and pointed at her with his sword. “First your bitch will know the truth about you. She will hear from your lips how you intended to use her in . . .” Zurik looked up at the suspended clock . . . “five minutes. Only five minutes left of the time you would have forced her to trade her life for your future.”
Julian’s head nearly exploded with rage. He couldn’t let this fiend twist the Legacy’s intention to further torture Simone.
“That is not the way it was to be,” Julian shouted angrily, directing his words more to Simone than to his enemy.
“Then explain this to her,” Zurik countered, extending his free hand toward the bac
k of the room. Simone’s necklace flew across the room and landed on the tip of Zurik’s sword.
Simone was on her hands and knees now. The blood from her neck had stopped flowing, but the front of her torn blouse was soaked with it.
“Look,” Zurik commanded, lowering the sword until it was at eye level with Simone. “Look at the razor sharp tip of the little dagger. Didn’t you ever wonder why it never cut your flesh?”
Zurik twirled the necklace around until the copper of the tiny dagger blazed as if it were on fire, and the jewels embedded in its hilt sparkled with a near blinding light.
“I’ll tell you why. “It’s because it was only meant to cut when he uses it to gain entrance to your beating heart.”
Simone lifted a hand to her chest and pulled in a deep breath. She looked up at Julian with such an imploring look it tore at his heart. “That isn’t true. Tell me it isn’t true, Julian.”
He tried to answer her, but couldn’t.
It was the truth.
Chapter Twenty-one
SIMONE SHOOK HER head to clear the buzzing in her ears. What Zurik had just told her couldn’t be true. Julian would never do such a horrible thing. But why hadn’t Julian answered her? She pushed herself to her knees, looked up at Julian and whispered past the painful lump in her throat, “Is what he said, true, Julian?”
“Well,” Zurik sneered, before Julian could answer, “go ahead. Tell her.” He swung the necklace back and forth on the sword’s tip in front of Simone, taunting both her and Julian.
The look Julian gave Simone was one she had come to know very well. She had seen it in his eyes whenever she had offered him her blood and he had reluctantly succumbed. It may have been abhorrent to him, but it was, after all, his nature. It was something he had to do.
“I could never do it without your consent. The Legacy would not allow it,” Julian said.
“Ah, yes,” Zurik smirked, “The Legacy. The gift from the Goddess Lilith. A gift that is given even to the undeserving.”
Julian waved his dagger above his head. “Debating this serves no purpose. Let us get on with what we have to do.”
The Vampire Julian Page 18
