He gripped my arm. “Please, Kimber. Think about this. If you really want to do this, let’s go get the proper equipment. For the love of the Lost God, you’re wearing sandals.”
I shook my head. “No. We have to go now. I have to go now. You don’t have to come with me. But I have to do this.” Pursing my lips, I studied the rocks and walls of the cave. “This is the first time I have ever heard the magic tell me what I needed to do. So I have to.”
“I won’t let you go alone. If you break your leg, I can go for help.”
I nodded into the cave. “Let’s go. I need to find out what this is. I’ve never—”
How could I ever describe what it felt like to have the magic pulling on me? There was an urgency to it as if I needed to be somewhere immediately or I’d miss something spectacular. Elex didn’t need much more convincing than I had given him, so we trekked deeper into the cave.
It was a desperate urge for me.
So desperate, I didn’t even realize I was running after another few minutes of walking into the cave. Elex pulled me to a stop again, and let me—and him—catch our breath.
Before he could scold me, though, the magic shifted, and my light shook in the air and was yanked to the right.
Even Elex couldn’t miss that.
He stood up straighter, searching the cave with a glance. “What—”
“This way,” I said and then maneuvered around the boulders, toward the light. The cave grew narrower and sloped down. I didn’t travel another twenty paces before Elex pulled me to yet another halt.
“No, Kimber. Stop. This part of the cave hasn’t been explored.”
“How do you know?” I started to feel annoyed.
Pointing to the archway leading into the small side cavern we were in, Elex gruffed, “If it had been explored, a green medallion would have appeared when we walked by. There was nothing. There was…” Staring down at the ground, his brow wrinkled, and confusion washed over his features. “There are no footprints in the dirt here.”
“Well, if no one has been here—”
“No, you don’t understand. There are no footprints in the dirt here. None, save ours coming in. No one has even approached this cave. No one knows it’s here.” Spinning around, Elex’s expression flipped from confused to frightened. “We have to go back. We have to get the right equipment, the right documentation, spotters, communication, mapping—”
“Stop.”
My word was simple, direct, and stopped him dead.
“Listen to me. The magic is telling me I have to be here. To go this way. So I need to. And that’s as far as I’m discussing this. Come with me or not.”
“We can go, but let us get the equipment—”
I wrapped my hand around his arm and opened us to the magic around us. Elex’s eyes sparked in shock, and he inhaled sharply.
“Is that what you feel?”
“This time. That is why I am going to continue into this cave and listen to what the magic is telling me to do.”
He finally understood and merely nodded in agreement. I ducked further into the cavern, following the magic deeper.
Elex kept close behind. He lent me some magic toward my light and let the silence follow us.
The cavern led down, down again, and at some point, crossed under the cave above. I didn’t understand how this branch had never been explored, but—
Elex yanked me back against him by my waist as the entire mountain seemed to tremble around us.
“Kimber—”
Shaking my head, I spun in his grasp and faced him. “Stop. It’s not going to crumble. Can’t you feel that through the magic?”
“No.”
I found that disconcerting, but I didn’t have time to think about it. The shaking rocks compelled me on.
I went.
Deeper and deeper, faster and faster, until I was close to running again. The passageway curled in the other direction this time, and as I rounded a corner, I halted sharply, causing Elex to slam into me.
The deep breath he drew to yell at me, he released in a shocked huff.
The cavern beyond was massive and beautiful. Streaks and cracks packed with colors and light striped the walls. All the glimmering colors of the rainbow shone in the crystals dotting the stone. Thrumming with magic, pulsing with light and life, this was the source of the call.
The mountain trembled again as we both took a step further in, our fear holding us in place.
The rocks peeled further in the tremors, crumbling into dust. Not pebbles or boulders, but dusty powder coated the floor.
Magic pulsed through the room, taking our breath from our lungs. I put a hand to my chest, trying to draw a breath, and stared.
There was so much power.
Love.
“What is this?”
“The mountain is breaking.” I could scarcely believe my own words.
Elex grabbed me and turned me to face him. “What?”
“The mountain is breaking. The chosen love is awakening.” I blinked up at him. “The legends are all true. The chosen love is awakening! Can you feel it?”
Barely nodding, he recited the poem from our childhoods.
“Magic is life.
Without magic, we are nothing.
Without life, there is no magic.
Life is magic.”
Working his jaw, Elex could find no words for what we stared at.
“But it was all a story. Just a story.”
“The Temple of the Lost God exists because these aren’t stories. They’re history, Elex. We’re just all too young to know it. Oh, Elex! This is amazing! It’s the beginning of the mountain coming down, reuniting the two halves of our world. The gate will open again!”
Whirling out of his arms, I danced toward the wall with so many crystals, pulsing with all the colors we could imagine.
Elex, next to me in a moment and obviously nervous about this place.
“Please relax, Elex. Nothing is going to happen.”
“Something already has.”
The magic of the crystals called to me, pulling me in, daring me closer. I couldn’t resist a moment longer. With a careful hand, I reached out and made contact with the pulsing rocks. Oddly soft, gentle, yet firm with their instruction, it was not yet time, but soon.
Time for what, though?
“My God. Have you always felt the magic like this?”
“Not until just now. It so rarely speaks to me.”
Withdrawing my hand, thrill and excitement danced through me.
This was what the temple was waiting for and was why they existed at all—the gates, the mountain, the return of the God.
“I have to get back. I have to tell High Master Dorian and the Chiefs of the Temple. Oh, Elex! There’s going to be so much celebration! So much joy and happiness! The God is going to return to us!”
I clasped his arms and whirled us maniacally through the light of the room. The joy bubbled up from deep inside and exploded out of me—laughing and laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls.
Elex pulled me to a stop, and I giggled from being so dizzy. Holding me still to keep me from falling over for a moment, I leaned into him, still laughing.
Elex’s voice brushed against my skin. “Kimber. The crystals are flashing with your laughter…”
My laughter tapered off, and it was plain to see he was right.
My jaw hung unhinged.
Elex caught my eye, and in the sparkle of the crystal lights, I saw something there I’d never seen before. And yet, somehow, I knew it had been there all along.
Elex kissed me. His lips were warm and soft, and I wasn’t surprised. I joined the kiss, without thought, allowing him to possess my mouth. In return, I could possess his, and he tasted as sweet as any dessert I’d ever had.
The kiss didn’t end so much as tapered away, neither of us really wanting to let it go.
“You have to tell the temple,” he said.
“I have to tell the temple
,” I parroted.
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“I’m going to be with you. Through all of this.”
His words were serious, and his eyes were still sparkling with honesty.
“No, Elex, I have to speak to Master Dorian alone. I can’t…the temple won’t allow you in so far.”
“You can’t do this alone.”
“I have to speak to Dorian alone.”
Torn, his eyes glided over my face. “I am afraid for you, Kimber. This power is too much to face alone.”
“I do not have to face this power alone, just Dorian and the council. It’s the way it is. If you wish to help me—”
“I do.”
“—then let me do this.”
Again, his eyes were memorizing me. “Wasn’t the kiss enough to convince you I need to help you?”
I grinned. “More than.”
“Then… what?”
“You can help me after. There will be so much to do! But the magic has told me this is my responsibility alone, and I am the only one who can get that deep into the temple.”
“But you will come to me.”
“Oh, in oh so many ways.”
Worry drained from him. “May I act upon the innuendo you imply in that?”
“I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.”
“Then, let’s get you to the temple!” This time, his laugh rang through the cavern as he took my hand in his, pulling me along. “We have a discovery to report.”
CHAPTER TWO
~ GWYNNORE ~
Ras Ouanoukrim, Morocco
Atlas Mountains
Blood is life.
Without blood, we are nothing.
Without life, there is no blood.
Blood is life.
Every child knew the truth of that from the moment of birth. Whether suckling at their mother’s breast or taking their first taste from the vein, it was ingrained in all of them.
Blood is life.
Life began again, not as a roar but as a trickle, almost a tickle to the subconscious. I wanted to dismiss it as a dream my body wanted me to have. I tried to will it away. It was too soon. I was still tired. I was still owed years of sleep.
The trickle turned to a stream. Deciding that the flow calmed the soul, I went with it, riding along, still drifting through the Rest. Falling over the rocks, slipping by the deep pools of my mind, I followed. I allowed it to carry me.
The stream became a river. I could not deny that my Rest was coming to an end. It was too early. I was too far away from blood. If I woke alone, with no chance for life, I would go mad. I would ravage anyone nearby, and sing and dance with their existence coating my skin a deep garnet.
The river became rapids. Violent, uncaring, channeled toward just one end. I became aware of things. The long, cold stone my body rested on. The smell of must and dust. The utter darkness that surrounded me. The feeling of death, the chill of old bones and desecrated humans in the room.
Blood is life.
I awoke from my Rest.
A scream tore from my throat, the desperate sensation of hunger ripping through my stomach, my heart, my fangs. I was awake. Years before I should have been and the blood madness was taking a firm hold quickly.
Climbing, demented and nearly naked, from the altar I was on, I crawled to where I had discarded the last of the humans I had fed on before the Rest took hold.
Bones. No blood.
I snapped one open, hoping for marrow.
Only dust.
The crypt door was shut, but opening it was nothing for the strength the madness lent me. I shoved, hard, and the stone door moved smoothly to the side.
A stream of light slammed into the back of my eyes and I could see nothing. Like a feral cat in the light of a hunter’s sights, I scurried to a corner, welcoming back the dark and cool. I huddled there, in the grip of insanity, not knowing what to do.
A whisper not my own, “Christ.”
A lamb…a lamb has come. I waited.
Light followed the swear word and passed over me. The figure of a woman, dressed as a Bedouin, rushed forward. She smelled healthy, full of blood I could use.
I hissed, dropping my fangs.
Quickly rushed words, “Gwynnore. Don’t. It’s me, Adelie. I’m here, my friend.”
Who? No matter. She was a lamb.
I lunged, wrapping my hands around her neck and pulling her down.
“Gwen, stop. Stop.” She struggled inside my hold.
My fangs itched, aching to taste the red, warm life as it flowed around them. “Thirsty.”
“It’s coming, Gwen. It’s on the way.”
Some part of my hunger-addled brain recognized her. “Adelie.”
Not…
Not a lamb.
“Yes, it’s me.”
With hard drawn breaths, I could feel the death rattle in my chest. I had to drink. Soon.
I sniffed at the air around her head.
“Bring them forth, Adelie. Bring them.” My voice gave out at the end. I could smell… life.
More life than just her.
I peered toward the entrance of the cave. “Thirst—”
“They’ll be here in a minute. They’re all here for you. All of them, all of their memories, all of their blood.”
“Lambs…”
“…to your slaughter.” She grinned, her fangs gleaming and healthy. “Stay here. Stay hidden. Until I come back for you.”
I watched, unmoving.
Adelie moved to the cave entrance and enthusiastically waved outside, at someone. No, someones. I could feel them, more than one. A moment later, the first of the humans climbed in and looked around, and they began making quick work of filling the cave.
I started to tremble.
I needed them, and I needed them now.
“Someone opened the crypt for us,” Adelie said, cheerfully. “We can set up camp right in this cave.”
“Was it cranked open or broken?” said one of the hikers. The individual…looked strange to me.
“It’s in one piece. Let’s go in. We’ve been running ahead of that storm for hours. The rain won’t hold off much longer.” Adelie turned and called to the group that had assembled. “Into the crypt, everyone! There’s going to be a storm, and we want to be as far away as possible.”
Without question, the whole group walked in. Smiling the whole time, my wonderful best friend had brought me nearly twenty-five warm bodies full of blood, of life. I stayed dead still until she walked over to me and offered me a hand.
“They are all yours.”
“All?
“Yes. All of them.” She wasn’t taking any.
I darted into the crypt with the last of my energy.
Adelie shoved the door closed behind me.
Not one of those humans would be able to open it.
The high-pitched shouts started right away. The humans couldn’t see a thing. There was no light. There was only blood pumping and shaking breaths and screams and terror. It was beautiful. My lambs—all mine.
I started with the young boy, barely this side of puberty with a scraggly beard and rich, rich blood. I held his throat to keep the shriek quiet and drove my fangs into his neck. With the first swallows of my first meal in nearly three hundred years, the fog in my brain started to lift. The knowledge this child held was siphoned off with his life, and it was all mine to take and remember. I discarded his personal crap. I took only the history and events of the time during my Rest.
Time and again I struck. Draining all I could from the first six victims, I then took just enough to render the rest unable to fight me. I was going to enjoy the rest of my meal.
Blood is life.
* * *
Dripping crimson stained my face. And it couldn’t be any sweeter.
I stared down at the lambs brought before me. My mind churned with the memories I had stolen from each human. So much knowledge. So many differences in the world since I
had lain down for my magical Rest two hundred years ago.
Correction. Almost two hundred years ago.
‘Almost’ was the keyword there.
I had been woken early. And from the horrid churning in my stomach, I knew it was because of the overlords. Only they had the power to pull me to them.
And I wanted to see the vampire rulers. Desperately.
The urge to run day and night to stand before them made my skin itch.
Or perhaps that was the dust covering my pale flesh.
I brushed off my shoulders with a brutal rub, and at least two handfuls of dark dust fell from them to the floor. I was in need of a rinsing. Or a shower, as they now called it.
I cracked my neck and stepped over the bodies cluttering my crypt. Eventually, they would be nothing but bones—all before the next time I decided to Rest. Those bones I would shove into the back room, along with all the others. At some point, I would need to clean my crypt up. That back room was getting a bit cluttered with skulls and hip bones and such.
My dirty hands pressed against the crypt door, and I shoved.
It swung open with ease.
My two hundred years had been good to me. More power flexed within my muscles than I could remember. It was always like this upon awakening, reuniting oneself with one’s own body again.
I held up a quick hand to shade my eyes. I squinted, asking, “Adelie?”
A flash of curly red hair came into focus.
My friend now stood directly in front of me. “Here. Put these sunglasses on until your eyes adjust.”
“Sunglasses?”
“Yes. They go on your face.” Her words were gentle.
I held still, allowing her to put a pair of sunglasses over my eyes.
Instantly, I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped my hand from the glaring sun shining into the cave. I cracked my neck and rotated my shoulders. I bounced a few times in place.
My friend, who appeared all of sixteen years old with her innocent features, watched as I worked out my stiff muscles. Up and down, I jumped. Her eyes tracked every movement, a slow smile etching her lips. She muttered, “You’re coming around faster than last time.”
I grinned. “I feel damn good.”
Queen of Gods Page 2
