The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  Kallias sighed and followed him, leaving Rose and Kara outside alone.

  The parking lot was much larger than a typical parking lot—probably ten or eleven times the size of most parking lots—and Rose felt as if it would take all night to cross it at this pace. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to move faster.

  Not when moving faster meant saying goodbye sooner.

  Kara waited for Rose in the shadows, her cornflower-blue eyes burning with powerful, agonizing emotions. She stood with her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her thin, leather jacket, her black and blue hair blowing around her face, as the brutally-cold wind blew through the parking lot. Her lips quirked up at the edges as Rose neared her. “The last time you and I were in this parking lot, I had you blushing and stammering like crazy,” she teased with a flirty smirk.

  Rose blushed, practically on cue. “Yeah. Well, in my defense, I was not prepared for your…boldness,” she laughed. “I wasn’t sure what to think of you.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “And now?”

  “And now,” Rose said breathlessly, “I think you’re kind of…wonderful.”

  Kara’s lips parted in surprise, but then, the corners of those soft, pale lips began to curve upward into a small, affectionate smile. She stepped forward, her boots crunching in the snow, and pulled her hands out of her pockets. “Come here,” she murmured as she cradled Rose’s face in her hands and kissed her.

  Rose barely had enough time to take her hands out of the front pocket of her hoodie before Kara’s long, lean body pressed against hers. She rested her hands on the slight curve of Kara’s hips. Kara’s thin, black shirt rode up a little around her lean, muscular stomach, and her leather pants hung low around her hips, which left the sensitive skin of her hips bare beneath Rose’s hands. Rose traced her fingers over Kara’s hipbone, over the tattoo of that unusual flower.

  The melted snow left Kara’s hair and skin cold and wet, but her lips and tongue were hot as they met Rose’s. So hot. Like fire. A delicious mix of ice and fire. And that taste, that sensation—it melted Rose. It melted her resolve to stop kissing Kara. It melted her fears and thoughts about how this would affect her relationship with Kallias. It melted it all…and left only want. Only need. Only…

  Love?

  Rose pulled back, her bright blue eyes wide, her breath coming fast, her heart racing against her chest, as she tried to make sense of what she had just felt.

  “I’m sorry,” Kara whispered, misunderstanding the reason that Rose had pulled away. Sadness glistened in her icy blue eyes. “I just needed…one last kiss.”

  “Me, too,” Rose confessed. Her mind whirled with so many thoughts, so many questions, so many fears… And she couldn’t make sense of any of them.

  Kara offered her a weak smile. “I never took you to see the fjords.”

  “Well, we’re both immortal, right?” Rose said breathlessly. “Maybe…”

  “Maybe,” Kara agreed, even though Rose hadn’t finished her sentence.

  The thought of never seeing Kara again caused such an overwhelming, unbearable pain to spread throughout Rose’s chest that she briefly wondered if her chest wound had reopened. But no, this felt much deeper than physical pain.

  Much worse.

  “I’m sorry that I have to leave so soon,” Rose said quietly. She stepped back and slid her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. “I can’t let anything happen to Audrey. I can’t let anyone else get hurt because of me.” Intense, visible pain flashed in her eyes as she said that. She cleared her throat and glanced back at the plane. It looked even smaller than usual from this distance, its white outline barely visible in the darkness. “Besides, we probably would’ve left tonight anyway. Kallias wants to get back home as soon as possible. He hates the Tomb of Blood.”

  Kara tilted her head to the side, studying Rose. “Why do you do that?”

  Rose glanced back at her, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  “You talk about what other people want, as if,” Kara paused, her brows furrowing, “as if what you want doesn’t matter. As if your desires don’t exist.”

  Rose swallowed uneasily. “Because…it doesn’t matter,” she admitted.

  Kara stepped closer. Her voice rung with strong, clear conviction as she said, “Yes, it does.” She raised her hands and placed them on the curve of Rose’s jaw, her fingers brushing over the sensitive skin of Rose’s neck. She smiled a little as Rose closed her eyes, obviously affected by Kara’s touch. She lifted Rose’s face so that Rose would meet her gaze, so that Rose could see the sincerity in her eyes.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Rose explained. “And so, if the thing that I want would hurt someone, then…to me…it doesn’t matter. It’s not worth that.”

  “Tell me what you want, Rose,” Kara said. “Just say it. Say the words.”

  “What good would that do?” Rose sighed, her brows creasing with pain.

  “Why does it matter if it would do any good, if it’s how you truly feel?” Kara asked. “I can’t help but notice that beneath everything you say and do is this underlying idea that you don’t matter, and that…breaks my heart.” She traced her thumb over the soft skin of Rose’s cheek. “Because, Rose, you do matter. So much. And to so many people. You change everyone you touch. You matter.”

  Rose shivered, not because of the snow and wind that swirled around them—although it was painfully cold—but because of the way Kara’s words made her feel. It felt as if Kara could see straight through her, past her defenses and walls, straight to her fragile, broken soul. And it was an unnerving feeling. “How do you do this?” she breathed. A nervous, soundless laugh escaped her trembling lips. “Out of everyone I know—telepaths and empaths, friends who have known me forever—no one has ever made me feel as naked as I feel when I’m with you.”

  Kara stared at her for a moment, as if she were amazed by the words that Rose had spoken, warm affection burning in her piercing, blue eyes. But then, her serious expression gave way to that familiar, mischievous expression, her eyes sparkling and her lips tilting into a sideways, flirty smirk. “Ah, Rose, you can’t just throw that word in there like that. Naked. You’ve given me all kinds of thoughts.”

  A surprised giggle escaped Rose’s lips. She stepped back, blushing. “And here I thought you were done relentlessly teasing me. You’ve been so serious.”

  “Never,” Kara said as her icy blue gaze traced its way over Rose’s curves.

  Rose’s blush deepened. “I have to go,” she said reluctantly.

  Kara’s smile faded. “I know,” she sighed. “Goodbye, sexy.”

  There was no humor or flirtiness in her expression when she said the word sexy, and somehow, that made it even sadder than if she hadn’t said it at all.

  “Will you be okay?” Rose asked worriedly. “I mean, because of Alana…”

  Kara offered her a small, forced smile. “I’m always okay.”

  Rose watched her for a moment, trying to decide what to say or what to do, but ultimately, there was only one thing that she could do. The pilot was waiting for her. Kallias was waiting for her. Audrey was waiting for her. She had to leave.

  Forcing her feet to move away from Kara felt like the most impossible thing that she’d ever done. And her heart seemed to shatter more and more with each step. She told herself that it was just the blood bond that made her feel this way. The blood bond that tied her to Kara, that made her long for Kara’s touch.

  But part of her wondered if it were more than that.

  Part of her wondered if she were making a mistake right now.

  She could still feel Kara’s gaze on her as she crossed the parking lot, and she knew, even as she boarded the small, private jet, that Kara was still watching.

  Kallias met her near the door. “Why was Kara here?”

  Rose raised an eyebrow. “She was just saying goodbye,” she said, sadness and exhaustion bleeding into her voice. “So, you can lower your hackles now.”

&nbs
p; His eyes narrowed. “She could have said goodbye back at the tombs.”

  “I don’t even understand her half the time when she’s talking,” Erik complained as he flipped through a magazine. “What the hell are hackles?”

  Rose scowled at him. “You know… Hackles… As in…” she trailed off as she raised both hands and hissed at him, obviously mimicking an angry cat.

  Erik lowered the magazine and frowned at her. “Is this…charades?”

  “The hair!” Rose said irritably. “You know, it stands up? On an animal?”

  “Oh,” Erik said with a confused look. He shrugged and picked up the magazine again. “Because if we were playing charades, I was going to guess pussy.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “Ugh!” she groaned, storming past him, to her seat.

  Kallias sighed, “I’ll let the pilot know that we’re ready to leave now.”

  Rose glanced at the covered window beside her, wishing that she could look out through it, to see Kara one last time, but they’d already covered it, just in case they didn’t make it to their destination before sunrise. If that happened, they would sleep on the plane during the day and disembark at night. The pilot was already prepared for that possibility, thanks to Kallias’s telepathic abilities.

  “You could have invited her to come with us,” Erik told her.

  Rose glanced at him, startled by the suddenness of his comment.

  “Why would she do that?” Kallias asked as he returned to his seat.

  Rose watched Kallias as he sat down beside her. Rose and Kallias sat on the right side of the small, private plane, and Erik sat directly across from them.

  “You’re insane if you think that Kara wouldn’t be useful,” Erik told him.

  Kallias narrowed his eyes at him. “We can handle this on our own.”

  Rose slouched a little in her seat as they argued. After the week that she’d had, especially the last few nights, she didn’t have the energy to care about what they were saying. She grabbed her worn, black backpack from the seat beside her and unzipped it. “Kara has work to do back at the Tomb of Blood,” Rose sighed as she pulled a book out of her bag. “I would never take her away from her work.”

  “The kind of work that Kara does can be done from anywhere,” Erik pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “But if that’s what you have to tell yourself…”

  Rose buried her face in a massive horror novel. “Shhh. I’m reading.”

  Erik rolled his eyes at her. “You’ve already read that one four times.”

  “Seven,” Rose corrected. “I read it three times before we left America.”

  Erik lifted his eyebrows at that, but before he could respond, his phone dinged in his pocket. He set his magazine aside and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He glanced at the message on the screen, and his bright green gaze darted up toward Rose. Then, he typed something into his phone. As the pilot prepared to take off, Erik continued to text someone, the phone dinging every few seconds.

  Once they were in the air, on their way back to the United States, Kallias pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “It’s already late, so the sun will probably rise before we land, but the pilot knows what to do,” he told them. “Well, he knows what I commanded him to do, anyway. We’ll sleep in here and then unload at nightfall. Then, we’ll head straight to your old apartment.” He scowled at Rose. “Even though I still think it’s foolish to risk your life for her.”

  “You didn’t have to come,” she said. “I would’ve come without you.”

  “Which is exactly why I did have to come,” Kallias informed her. “I’m not letting you go off and risk your life by yourself. I love you too much for that.”

  Rose glanced up at him, her lips curving into a smile. “I love you, too.”

  She scooted closer to Kallias and curled against his side, resting her head against his warm, muscular chest. Kallias straightened, surprised, at first, but his frustration seemed to melt away at the familiarity of her touch, and he couldn’t resist slipping his arm around her and pressing his lips against the top of her head.

  And eventually, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, like they always had.

  —

  When Kara returned to her room, it still smelled like Rose. It still smelled like the honey and vanilla of her skin and hair, and it still smelled like her blood.

  There were other scents, too. The faint scent of the aftershave that Erik or Kallias used, the faint scent of the whiskey that Erik had spilled on the bed, the nauseating scent of the bleach they’d used to clean the blood from the floor…

  Alana’s blood.

  Kara closed the door behind her and leaned against it, squeezing her eyes shut as the memory of Alana’s lifeless body flashed through her mind. Her heart pounded in her chest, rattling her entire body, as she tried to stop thinking about it. Kara had always known it would hurt to lose Alana, even after everything that Alana had done to her. Her grief was illogical, but deep and painful, all the same.

  Her mind tried to grasp at some kind of comfort, something that would help her endure the pain. Rose. Rose was her comfort. She crossed the room, her brows furrowing, as she realized that she could smell Rose’s blood. Not just her scent but her blood. The same blood that she’d tasted the night before, the blood that she longed to taste again. She found the source of that scent on the floor.

  A black, hooded jacket, stained with dark patches of blood, lay on the black, marble floor, in front of the desk, where Rose had been packing her bag.

  Kara realized that it must have fallen out of Rose’s bag while she packed.

  She scooped the jacket up in her hands, staring down at the thin, black fabric. The scents of blood, honey, and vanilla swirled around her head, and she couldn’t deny the comfort that those scents brought her. She lifted the jacket to her face, acting on a primal, instinctual urge, and breathed in that soothing scent.

  The door creaked open, and the scent of sweet pea wafted into the room.

  Kara quickly pulled the jacket away from her face and turned to look at Elise. She found Elise standing in her doorway, wearing a flowing, blue dress.

  Elise’s blue-gray eyes sparkled with amusement. “Were you just…”

  “I was just tidying up a bit,” Kara interrupted. She folded Rose’s jacket and carefully placed it on the desk. “I know I’m a Viking, but I’m not a total pig.”

  Elise laughed. She closed the door behind her and stepped into the room with Kara. “Did she leave already?” she asked with a sad, sympathetic smile.

  “Who? Rose?” Kara asked, feigning nonchalance. “Yeah. She’s gone.”

  Elise slipped out of her black, high-heeled shoes and lay back on Kara’s bed. She stared at the ceiling, her eyebrows lifting. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  Kara leaned against the dresser and crossed her arms. “Why would it?”

  “Ah, well. My mistake,” Elise sighed. “I guess I just assumed that, if Kara Unnarsdóttir has a beautiful woman in her bed and isn’t enjoying herself, then something must be wrong.” She looked at Kara, batting her eyelashes innocently.

  Kara smiled, amused by Elise’s exaggerated flirting. She pushed away from the dresser and strode toward the bed. She hopped onto the bed, straddling Elise’s hips, and leaning over her. Her dark hair fell around her face, tickling Elise’s shoulders, as she captured Elise’s lips in a deep kiss. She willed herself to get lost in the softness of Elise’s lips, in the sweetness of her mouth. She willed herself to forget about Alana, to forget about…Rose. She pulled back, suddenly.

  Elise stared up at her, her lips still tingling from the kiss. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, of course,” Kara said dismissively. She raised up enough to tug Elise’s thin, black dress up around her hips. “I was just adjusting your dress.”

  Elise closed her eyes, moaning softly, as Kara ran her fingers over Elise’s stomach, as the cool leather of Kara’s pants pressed against her bare hips. Kara bent to
kiss Elise’s neck, trailing kisses along Elise’s neck, down to her chest, as she once again tried to forget, as she sought out relief for the longing inside her.

  The longing for Rose.

  With a frustrated growl, Kara pulled back. She climbed off of Elise and turned away to sit on the edge of the bed. She dragged her fingers through her blue and black hair. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. She stared at the black, marble floor, beneath her black boots, too humiliated to meet Elise’s gaze. “I can’t do this.”

  Elise sat up, watching her with a sympathetic frown. “Which one is it?”

  Kara turned to look at Elise, her brows furrowing. “What do you mean?”

  Elise smiled. “Which one got into your head? Was it Alana? Or Rose?”

  Kara looked away, her brows creasing with fear, as she realized that it was Rose. She could bury the pain of losing Alana, but she couldn’t bury her longing for Rose. She couldn’t bury the aching emptiness that Rose had left. “Neither.”

  “It’s Rose, isn’t it?” Elise said with a smile. “You’re thinking about her.”

  Kara leaned forward, running her hands over the back of her neck, as she tried to focus, to push the emotions back, to mask them, like she always did.

  Elise leaned back, smiling. “You could have gone with her, you know.”

  Kara let out a soft, breathless laugh. “Kallias’s head would explode.”

  Elise raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “So, you didn’t go after the woman you want because you didn’t want to upset her boyfriend?” she said skeptically.

  “Ah, no, I don’t mind that,” Kara chuckled. “It’s kind of fun to rile him up, actually. But then, Rose feels guilty, and I feel guilty for causing that, and…”

  Elise smiled knowingly. “It sounds like there’s a lot of feelings going on.”

  Kara shot her a peeved look. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know how I am.”

  “I know how you are with me. And every other woman you meet,” Elise said. “But the way you are with Rose—it’s different. I’ve never seen you like that.”