Even in the poor lighting, she could see the concern he tried to hide. Did Luca’s fear stem from love or from something more? Something darker?
Standing on her tiptoes, Kat brushed a tender kiss across his lips. Breathing his masculine scent deeply into her lungs, she savored the longing it stirred within her. His touch spoke to her, reassuring and strong. It was surreal, too good to be true.
The voice of doubt whispered in her ear, suggesting she wasn’t good enough for him. How could she be? She was a killer who longed for blood, even his. And he was the man who walked the earth solely to dispose of her kind. Kat couldn’t shake the feeling she was stealing him, taking him away from his true purpose. How could he be committed to his destiny if his heart belonged to the very creature he was born to destroy?
“I love you.” Luca said the words with force, as if he knew what she’d just been thinking. “Don’t do anything stupid, Kat.” He looked toward the sky, and she followed his gaze.
The stars sparkled overhead. She watched them dance against the backdrop of the sky, shining there whether or not any eyes were turned up to see them. A sense of comfort filled her, and Kat felt free for the first time since Arden had stolen her human life away. No longer caught between life and death, Kat finally saw clearly.
“I love you too, Luca. Remember that, no matter what happens.”
“What?” Shock spread across Luca’s face. “Why would you say something like that?”
The front door of Arden’s house burst open, and three vampires stared out at them, Arden at the center. He was pale and weakened but otherwise appeared to be just fine. If the smug grin plastered on his face were any indication, he was overjoyed to see them.
“Ah, forbidden love.” Arden gestured to them with a dramatic sweep of his hands. “Is there anything more precious?”
“Fuck you, Arden! Get back inside your hole so we don’t have to look at your face while you burn.” Kat’s temper flared, quickly boiling over.
The laugh that came in response to her fury was pure evil, slithering up her spine like a snake. Arden didn’t leave the false safety of the entryway. His pitiful minions did, though, coming to flank Luca and Kat. Luca scowled at them, a dagger ready in his hand.
“Is that your little plan, Kat? After all this time, the best you could do was attempt to burn my home down before dawn arrives to burn you along with me? Has falling in love made you absolutely asinine?”
Her gaze locked on Arden, and she willed him to spontaneously combust. He grinned evilly at her, hate gleaming in his eyes.
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Luca snapped. “This is between me and you right now. I’m here for you. If you keep looking at her, I’m going to dig your eyes out of your damn head.”
“Please, do try. I would love a taste of Malcolm Alexander’s son. I’m sure your blood is just as satisfying as his was.” Arden boldly beckoned to Luca, inviting him closer. “Tell me. How does it feel to abandon your father’s memory in favor of loving a blood whore?”
Luca lunged forward, and two of Arden’s goons moved to hold him back. At Arden’s command, they let him go. He strode up to the front step, Kat watching with wide eyes as he let his anger guide him. This was no good. She inched closer to the forgotten gas can.
“This isn’t about my father. Not anymore.” Luca rushed up the steps to grab Arden by the throat. “This is about making sure you can never hurt her again. Kat’s not yours. She never was.”
The two men stared at each other, venom in their eyes and ill intent resonating from their bodies. They were ready for this face-off. But Kat was not. Terror struck her as she watched Luca and Arden. Their hate was palpable; she could feel it thick in the atmosphere. Things were going to spiral out of control and fast.
Arden laughed. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Luca’s rage. “I knew she was a good fuck. Believe me, I’ve been there. I didn’t know she was good enough to alter a man’s entire perspective. Or maybe you were just an easy target.”
“Don’t listen to him, Luca,” Kat cried out. The vampire closest to her grabbed her arm, and she flipped him and slammed him flat on his back on the hard earth. “He’s trying to set you off. Don’t let him manipulate you.”
Luca moved fast, a blur of motion. After releasing his hold on Arden, he violently hit him with a heavy closed fist. He brought the dagger up to finish what Kat had started, and Arden lashed out with a blast of metaphysical power that threw Luca down the steps to the ground below.
Luca was on his feet immediately. Blood dripped down the side of his face from a cut near his eye. Kat was infuriated.
Arden took a few steps forward but remained on the porch. He motioned to the vampires who awaited his command, and they sprang into action. Two of them went for Luca, and the other came for Kat. She easily sidestepped his attack, catching him with the dagger—one of Luca’s daggers—she’d hidden in her skirt.
This time she didn’t miss the heart. The vampire burst into ash, and she felt nothing. There was no remorse, no sense of betrayal. Her only regret was how fast it all happened. She wanted him to suffer.
Luca made short work of the two vamps who were stupid enough to take him on. A flurry of kicks and hits, the right move with the dagger and they were dust. Oddly, Arden didn’t look all that concerned. It gave Kat the sickest sense of dread.
“You certainly are so much like your father,” he said to Luca. “It’s almost enough to make me miss him. I bet you’d make just as good a vampire as he did too.”
Luca stared hatefully at the vampire, who continued to smile ceaselessly. “I can’t wait to send you to hell where you belong.”
“Then do it,” Arden taunted. “But if you can’t, if I best you, I’ll make you mine. Just like your father, Luca. You’ll make a mistake, and I will claim you.”
Kat was confused. She’d been under the impression Luca’s father had been willing, that he’d chosen to join Arden in undeath. Evidently that’s what Luca had thought too. She watched the astonishment on Luca’s face give way to comprehension.
“That’s right.” Arden continued to speak, his gaze darting between Kat and Luca. “Your father made the choice to walk in the darkness, but I took the rest of his choices away. It was that or true death. And like most pathetic humans, he chose the easy way out.”
Kat’s hand flew to her mouth, and she shook her head vehemently. It was Luca’s reaction that hurt, cutting through her like a blunt knife. Pain filled him, rolling off him to assault her senses. His eyes glittered with unshed tears. Before they could fall, he totally lost it.
Luca launched himself up the front steps and slammed into Arden with all of his body weight. They went down hard. Kat gave a small cry, rushing toward them. Luca’s dagger clattered to the porch, out of reach. That didn’t stop Luca from raining a series of blows down on Arden that caused blood to spray from his battered nose.
“Get back, Kat!” he shouted, never looking away from the vampire pinned beneath him. “The gas—get the gas.”
As she turned to fulfill the request, Arden threw Luca with a powerful metaphysical blast. He flew through the air and hit the ground hard. The gas forgotten, she rushed to his side.
His face was battered and bruised, but he was conscious. He struggled to his feet and pushed her away, toward the gas can. Arden advanced on them, his fingertips alight with the power he called. Kat tapped her own power, meager as it was in comparison to Arden’s. Projecting an energy barrier around her and Luca, she guessed it would buy them at least a minute.
“Are you all right?” Pushing Luca’s blood-splattered hair from his face, she examined his cuts and bruises.
“I’m fine, Kat. Please, get the gas and soak the base of the house. We don’t have much time.” He grasped her hands in both of his and brought them to his lips. After kissing her fingertips, he gently pushed her away.
Dropping the dagger she held, she ran for the gas, knowing it was their only way out. If Arden escaped them tonight
, the real battle would begin. He would hunt them relentlessly, and neither of them would know a moment’s peace until he was dead.
Pain seared through her, scorching her from the inside out. Falling to her knees, Kat looked up to find Arden approaching, his hand held out to direct the power he assaulted her with. He couldn’t win. He just couldn’t! Luca deserved his vengeance. She refused to let Arden win this way. If he succeeded in killing her, she would at the very least find a way to take him with her.
The gas can sat less than ten feet away. Digging her nails into the ground, she clawed her way along, crying out in pain but steadily moving forward. Arden came to stand over her, and Kat fought the instinctive urge to look up at him. Her hand closed on the handle of the gas can seconds before he reached to take it from her.
“Come now, Katarina. You don’t really believe this man is worth all of this. Would you risk yourself for him?” Arden knelt down to look into her eyes. “Would you die for him? Because you have to for him to be free of his curse. How long do you think he will be able to stand it, looking at you every night, knowing you’re all that stands between him and life? Life as it’s meant to be lived.”
Arden’s words—the same words she’d already said to herself – twisted a blade in her heart. She shook her head, biting back the angry insults she wanted to hurl at him. But he wasn’t the one who made those words true; he simply enjoyed delivering them.
Luca appeared behind Arden, his recovered dagger held high. The blade sliced through the air above Arden’s head. With a flick of his wrist, Arden disabled the motion, freezing Luca’s action in midair. Spinning around, he grabbed Luca’s arm and flipped him. The snap of bone was loud in the silence of the coming dawn.
Luca’s pained shriek spurred Kat into motion. She threw herself into Arden, knocking him away from Luca. Fumbling with the lid of the gas can, she managed to get it open and threw the flammable liquid at Arden, soaking his pants.
Arden’s eyes widened in shock and horror. “You bitch!”
She shook the can again, spilling more fuel in his direction. Glancing frantically at Luca, she was relieved to see him on his feet, pulling a Zippo lighter from his pocket. Arden might have seemed fearless, but clearly there were some things even he feared. Burning to death was apparently one of them.
He ran for the house but didn’t get far before Luca ignited the lighter and threw it. There was a whoosh as the gas caught, and Arden burst into flames. His soaked clothing burned quickly, and he screamed all the way into the house, disappearing beyond the doorway.
“The house—we need to get it going too.” Luca took the gas can from her and splashed the remainder on the front porch of the house. His broken wrist was at an awkward angle, but it didn’t slow him down.
Kat slowly backed away from the house, watching as Luca dug out some matches. He’d really thought of everything. Her feet never stopped moving, and before she’d made the conscious decision to do so, she turned and fled into what little remained of the night.
She loved Luca, of that she was undeniably certain. And because she loved him, she felt obligated to set him free. Her consideration had to be for him. Her thoughts had grown darker with each passing moment, until she was sure this was the right thing to do. Luca would exact his revenge on Arden, although it wouldn’t change anything. Despair and determination battled within her, but all she could think was, I have to.
A burst of flame lit up the sky, and she glanced back only to ensure Luca hadn’t been hurt when the house caught fire. She could see him scanning the yard for her. She focused on the tree line surrounding the property and poured on the speed.
She wept as she went, letting the bloodred tears fall where they might. It broke her heart to do this to him, but there was no other way. Luca would never be free as long as she walked this earth. She could end it here and now. The sun was on its way; it would make short work of her. Setting him free would be the ultimate act of love.
The trees closed in around her until she could no longer see the flames from the house. Here, she would wait for the sun to rise. It would be a decent enough place for her ashes to rest until they were dispersed by the wind or the feet of animals.
Would it hurt when the sun hit her, or would death come fast? Her greatest fear was the pain her death would cause Luca. But he would get over it and go on to live life as he was meant to.
It had to be this way.
Kat stopped and turned in a slow circle, looking up at the sky through the treetops. Her keen eyesight indicated the sun was less than an hour off. Perhaps sunrise was coming sooner than they’d thought.
Spying an old fallen log, she made her way to it and sat down. It was then that she heard her name. Luca’s cry was panicked as he shouted her name repeatedly. Sobs shook her, racking her body as the tears fell to stain all they touched.
Pulling her knees up to her chin, Kat hugged herself tightly. It took everything she had not to respond to Luca’s call. She felt the first trace of weakness as her strength faded along with the night.
Breathless and terrified, Luca scanned the perimeter of the property for any sign of Kat. Where the hell did she go?
The blaze began to grow hot. It wouldn’t be long before the flames were visible from the road. He had to find Kat before a passerby called the fire department. Hopefully the place would be too far gone to save by the time help arrived.
Would she have headed for the cemetery? She had been right behind him, though. Wouldn’t she have said she was going?
Frustrated and fearful, Luca wiped the blood out of his eyes. Despite the stinging facial wounds and the massive pain shooting from his wrist to his shoulder, the agony was the last thing on his mind. Kat’s safety was all that mattered.
A glance at the sky caused his pulse to quicken. It wouldn’t be long before sunrise. He had to find her. He’d never be able to live with himself if anything happened to her.
“Fuck.” Luca ran a hand through his hair in aggravation. “Kat! Where are you, baby? We’ve gotta get the hell out of here.”
When he was certain she wasn’t in the vicinity, Luca ran to the end of the driveway. He never stopped calling her name. The desperation was consuming him. If he didn’t find her soon—No, don’t finish that thought.
After a few more minutes passed with no sign of Kat, he gave up and headed for the SUV. The only place left to look was the tombs in the graveyard. She had to be there.
The drive took less than five minutes. He squealed to a halt outside the cemetery gates and almost flew out of the vehicle in his haste to find her. There were four tombs, each completely sealed and undisturbed. She wasn’t there.
Luca stood staring at the last tomb. He even reached to touch it, needing to feel the solid, cool stone. Panic wasn’t helping him. He needed to stay calm and think. Something told him he wasn’t paying attention, that he should know how to find her. And then it hit him.
“Who’s to say what I deserve?” Kat’s words from hours before rang inside his head.
No. Dear God, no!
She wouldn’t do something so rash, would she? Luca broke out in a cold sweat. He couldn’t possibly get to the SUV fast enough. He whipped a tire-screeching U-turn and headed back the way he’d come. Kat was still at Arden’s. Why would she do this? Why? Didn’t she know how badly he needed her? He didn’t give a shit about the curse anymore.
A storm of emotion erupted inside Luca. If he’d questioned Kat’s feelings for him in any way, he sure as hell didn’t now. Only a woman truly in love would sacrifice herself to set her lover free. The very thought almost disabled his self-control. Almost there. And still beating the sun. He’d find her. He had to.
Heart pounding harder than he believed humanly possible, Luca raced down Arden’s driveway with a prayer. It was blissfully empty of fire trucks. The upper floors of the house were engulfed in flames. No one could have survived that.
Parking a safe enough distance from the blazing inferno, he let his instinct guide him to
the woman he loved. Trees lined every side of the property. She could be anywhere. Yet he felt a strong pull to his right, and that was where he headed.
“Kat, please! Don’t do this. God, I need you!”
Tree branches slapped at his face, tearing through his exposed flesh as he ran. Time was running out. The sky had lightened significantly, a subtle gray replacing the black of night. Every second was one he couldn’t afford to lose. He tripped on a tree root and fell to his knees.
Hot tears of anguish streaked a zigzag path down his cheeks. There was no stopping now. Angrily wiping the tears away, he pressed on, deeper into the thick forest. Luca yelled Kat’s name until he was hoarse. Mentally, he hovered on the edge of a total breakdown. But as long as she was out there, he wasn’t giving up.
Forging ahead, he crashed through the trees and brush that blocked his path. Following a sudden pull to the left, Luca turned swiftly. And there she was.
He blinked slowly, fearing he was seeing things. No, it was Kat all right. Curled up in the fetal position and shaking like a leaf, but it was her.
“Kat!”
Strength surged through him, driving him to her side. He fell over himself in an attempt to get his hands on her. Her skin was ice-cold, and her eyes unfocused.
“Luca?” She reached for him with disbelief all over her face. “You found me?”
“I found you. Why did you do this, Kat? Are you trying to leave me?”
A sob escaped her. Bloody tearstains marred her flawless skin. “I’m trying to save you. You deserve so much more. A human life.”
“I’ve never had a human life. And I don’t want to start now. Don’t you dare leave me, dammit. We’re getting out of here. We have to hurry.”
Grabbing her under the arms, he pulled Kat to her feet. The pain in his crippled wrist was unbearable, and he almost dropped her. Her legs immediately gave out, and she collapsed against him. Weakened by the oncoming sunrise, she could barely stand, let alone hurry.
Love in Death's Embrace Page 11
