Ivy put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “If you want her to come with us, she can do that, but we still have to make tracks or none of us will get there in time. I, for one, don’t want that to happen. I’m all for going home.”
Lura turned to Nicoletta and put her hands on her face. “You must come with me, please.”
Riah knew that look and that tone of voice. She felt the same way about Adriana. Whether Lura or Nicoletta knew the significance yet was hard to say. Nobody else in their small group would misunderstand, however, since each of them had discovered love in their own way. Not a single one of them was willing to let it go. Nicoletta was coming home with them to the twenty-first century.
Nicoletta seemed to study Lura’s face for a long time, her eyes deep and serious. Her indecision was clear, and yet after a moment, her expression cleared and she nodded. “I will go.”
That was all Riah needed to hear. She started for the door. “Come on,” she urged them. “Let’s go. This place is making me very nervous.”
Outside, the sound of movement through the storm hardened her resolve. It sounded like a hundred soldiers marched in the direction of the monastery, their pounding feet making the ground shake. Time was up, the clock had just struck midnight. It was now or never.
Colin took the lead. Though the injury had to hurt him with each step, he raced forward with a determination she’d come to admire. He’d had so many of his own challenges in life, and yet he’d survived them all. Like her, Riah didn’t think he’d give in. When he did die, he’d do it kicking and screaming all the way. He would not, as poet Dylan Thomas wrote, “go gentle into that good night.”
This wasn’t his time to die because he wanted his life with Ivy and wasn’t going to let some fifteenth-century monster take it away from him. Just another thing Riah found to admire about him.
Following each other closely, they trudged determinedly through the ever-thickening snow. The storm was picking up steam, as if feeding off the intensity of the coming battle. They paid it no mind. Instead, heads down, they powered through the storm, refusing to look back, refusing to let the encroaching soldiers keep them from their destination.
The rocks grew larger the closer they came, and Riah’s heart began to beat with welcome anticipation. They were so close, so terribly close to going home. She started to allow room for a little relief that they were going to make it in one piece.
Except it occurred to her quite suddenly that something wasn’t right. The roar she’d heard from between the stones when they’d come through the first time was silent on this side. The low rumble she expected to hear simply wasn’t there. It should be growing louder and stronger as they edged closer, and yet with each advancing step, the silence became more frightening. Oh God, please don’t let it be closed.
At the gap between the stones where not so long ago they’d walked from one time to into another, she stopped and stared. Nothing but bottomless black stillness. Panic had her hands trembling, and though she tried to make words come, nothing would pass her lips. Her throat was dry and her eyes stung.
So this was how it was all going to end.
“Step aside, sister.” Adriana pushed her sideways with an unexpectedly powerful thrust. “The wizard is on deck.”
“What…”
Adriana rolled her eyes. “You know, for a pretty smart chick, sometimes you’re kinda dense. I mean, seriously, how quickly you forget. Tell you what, you just stand there and be beautiful. I’ll do all the heavy lifting.”
Riah was so astonished she did just that. Adriana held her hands out toward the gap in the rocks and her eyes narrowed in concentration. Her lips moved, but her words were too low to make out in the swirling snowstorm. For a moment nothing happened, and then slowly a tremor began to shake the earth at her feet. The thunder below grew, and as it did the stones began to sing. Soon the song became a cacophony and the world opened up to them.
That was her woman, so full of magic and always ready to embrace the impossible that she could open a doorway between dimensions. And, yes, Adriana was right-on as usual; she’d forgotten what the love of her very long life could do.
Colin stepped forward first and stood staring into the blackness at the entrance to the stones. Turning his head, he squared his shoulders and then held out his hand to Ivy. She took it and together they stepped through and disappeared. One moment they were there, the next swallowed by a blanket of infinite darkness. Adriana, Lura, and Nicoletta followed at her insistence. Only she now remained at the yawning opening where her friends had once been. She should rush through; after all, that’s what they’d been pushing toward, and yet something held her back. Riah stood at the edge of the stones with a view of the meadow beyond, the roar of the dimensional doorway background music to the portrait of a world she didn’t belong in.
“There you are, you bitch!”
Riah heard his voice just as she stepped to the edge of the rock formation, only an inch away from the portal that would take her home. She didn’t move. As Dracula charged, his face a mask of fury, she stood her ground, feet apart and eyes wide open. How had he gotten so close to her in such a short amount of time? Was fate bringing them nose to nose?
Still, she didn’t move. Her hand strayed to the sword Colin had taken from the soldier earlier that night, the finely forged metal cold and lethal. Her fingers stroked the hilt, her mind racing. Adriana was safe, her friends were safe. Nothing else mattered but making sure they survived…and ending this once and for all.
Dracula’s scream made her turn once more. His arms were stretched toward her, his eyes black and filled with rage. She returned his gaze for one moment and then made a decision.
She jumped through the stones. The roar of the wormhole drowned out most sound…except for that of the man known as Vlad the Impaler. His scream didn’t fade, and with a feeling of total synchronization with the universe, she understood why.
He’d followed her.
*
Nicoletta did not understand what had just happened. One moment she was standing at the rocks near the monastery at Snagov Island, and the next, she tumbled through some long, shadow-filled place only to once more stand upon the island’s grounds. Except it was not right. It looked the same and yet was different.
“What has happened?” she asked as she took Lura’s hand and held it tight. Her heart was beating very hard. She had heard the Prince and his men pounding after them and was certain they were going to die. They had been so close she could make out the voices of those loyal soldiers she knew, and now she heard nothing but the sounds of their own breathing.
After a moment, the woman called Riah came tumbling through the rocks screaming, “He’s following me.”
Nicoletta did not pause or even give thought to what she was about to do. Moving on pure instinct, she let go of Lura’s hand and raced to the tall man’s side. In one hand he carried a sword, and she ripped it from his fingers, not breaking from her run. At the edge of the stones where Riah had just tumbled through, she raised the sword high above her head with both hands.
Like something only magic could make happen, his head appeared first. She did not hesitate; with all the power she could summon, Nicoletta brought the sword down. His severed head hit the ground with a thump, rolling until it came to rest at her feet, his dull, lifeless eyes staring skyward. She waited for his body to follow. It never came.
Nicoletta peered between the now-silent rocks. Nothing. No body. No sound. No magic. Only the dead, staring eyes of the man they had called the son of the dragon.
“Son of a bitch,” Colin muttered. “Way to shut that fucker down.”
Nicoletta crumpled to the ground, her burst of strength leaving her as quickly as it had given her courage. What she had just done hit her with the force of a giant rock: she had killed the Prince. Now, they would come for her. She would join her brother on the pointed end of a stake.
Lura seemed to sense the turmoil filling her heart. She kneeled n
ext to her and kissed her head. “You’re safe here, I promise.”
“I killed him.” Her words were hollow, lifeless.
Lura laughed and Nicoletta’s head snapped around. Was she daft? Did she not understand what happened to people like her? She had just signed her own death warrant. Though the Prince was dead, his supporters were not. They would come for her.
Lura’s bright eyes never wavered. “You’ll never see him or his people again. You’re in my home now.”
Slowly Lura’s words started to settle and Nicoletta began to see, began to understand the whole of the prophecy. She thought of Alexandru’s words and how he had spoken of the woman who would come from the future to save them from the madness of the Prince’s actions. Never did the words of the prophecy say that Lura was the one who would kill the Prince. Only that she was the one who would bring to them salvation.
Now she understood.
She put her hand in Lura’s and rose to her feet. Glancing back at the stones, she felt a pull to return. Then she recalled that she had nothing in her old life to go back to. No family, no home. No future.
The prophecy had been fulfilled. She had done her part, Alexandru had done his, including giving his life. All she had now was tomorrow in a new world and with a woman who made her heart sing.
Yes, she still carried the child of Dracula in her womb, and she could live with that for the child was also a part of her. In this world, in this place, both she and the child would have the liberty to love and to be loved. No one would know of the father. No one would know his sins. They were both free.
Kissing Lura deeply, she sighed and said, “I’m hungry.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Nicoletta was constantly amazed by the wonders of Lura’s world. Even now as she lay naked on the big bed in the room so warm and comfortable without a fire, she was astounded. She liked it. Very much.
The door to the bathroom—another modern wonder—opened, and Lura came out. The light behind her highlighted her tall, slender figure. She was beautiful, and just the sight of her made Nicoletta’s heart race.
Never in her wildest dreams did she see herself living out her life so incredibly happy. Yesterday, the most wondrous of things happened: she married Lura. She was married, to the person she loved, and that was something she had no way of believing possible for her.
So many exciting things in this place. Every day she learned of something new and wonderful. When Lura had asked her to marry, Nicoletta had not understood. How could it be? Lura had smiled and explained to her that the right for two women to marry was new, although it was perfectly fine. The laws in this place were made by the people, not a prince or other person of royal birth, and the people had decreed that two women could marry. She had been thrilled and readied herself for promising her love to Lura for the rest of her days. Everyone around them shared in their happiness, and she had never known such a perfect day.
And each day her love for Lura grew deeper and more true.
“Hey.” Lura smiled from the doorway. “You look like you’re thinking about something really hard. Got something on your mind, beautiful?”
Nicoletta smiled back, loving the way the sound of her voice warmed her from head to foot. “I am thinking of you and how happy I am. How much I love you.” She smiled even more brightly. “I am thinking that loving you is the most wonderful thing ever.”
Lura pushed away from the doorway and came over to the bed, where she lay down next to Nicoletta. Lura’s hand stroked her leg and Nicoletta sighed. She would never tire of that gentle touch.
“You’re not the only one,” Lura told her, returning her smile. “I’m surprised every day how just being with you makes everything perfect. You’re the best thing to ever come out of the fifteenth or twenty-first centuries.”
Nicoletta rolled close and kissed Lura deeply. The beautiful words that came from her lover were like love songs that she never wearied of. She moved her hands to Lura’s breasts and filled her palms with them. Her heart hammered and she pressed closer. Even if she lived a thousand years, it would not be enough.
Epilogue
Riah stood, along with Ivy, Colin, Tory, and Naomi, staring at Adriana as she sat at one of the long tables in her lab. She’d summoned them all with a “get your ass down here” command. Nobody dared to disregard that kind of directive. So here they all were waiting to hear her big news.
It had been two months since they’d returned from Romania with Lura and Nicoletta in tow. Colin had healed nicely once they’d gotten him the proper care, and they’d even had a wedding for Lura and Nicoletta.
It was an understatement to say that Lura’s marriage shocked a lot of folks. First, because it hadn’t been that long since she’d lost Vic, and some people took great offense at that. They were the minority, however, because more seemed genuinely shocked that she’d married a woman.
Lura had been exceptionally skilled at hiding her true feelings, and no one close to her, with the exception of Ivy, had any inkling of the inner self she kept buried from the world. When she finally let go of her fear and dared to stand for what was right for her, love opened the door to a new and wonderful relationship. Riah was very happy for both women.
Adriana, on the other hand, had gone directly downstairs and holed up in her lab the minute they got home. Before they’d left Romania, they’d made sure Dracula’s head disappeared, easy enough to do with a cemetery on the island. One little hole on the edge of the place and poof…head gone. No one was the wiser, although she now understood why the body she and Rodolphe had seen on that long-ago night was headless. Made her smile to think of it now.
The only trace of him that remained was in a glass vial. Adriana had insisted she wasn’t leaving Europe without a sample of the man’s blood, and as usual, she was right. Her justification had to do with a theory about the phenomenon of the daylight Riah and Ivy had enjoyed while in the fifteenth century. It didn’t carry through upon their return, and life had gotten back to what passed as their norm. The why and the how had made her tiny beauty start thinking, though, and they’d barely seen her out of the lab since.
After weeks of spending a zillion hours downstairs, Adriana looked like the cat that ate the mouse. To say she glowed wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Still, when Riah looked deep into her eyes, she saw something unsettling. She wasn’t sure what it was. Fear? Sadness?
Adriana finally got down to the purpose of the call to conference. “I’ve got some great news and some not-so-great news.”
Riah stroked a hand across her head. “Tell us the good news first.”
Adriana’s expression brightened. “It was him all along. I had a hunch when we were back there, but it wasn’t until I got home that I could prove it. It’s all about the blood, baby. Specifically, Dracula’s blood.”
“I’m not following,” Colin said, and the rest of them nodded.
“The blood,” Adriana repeated, as if it should be obvious. When nobody nodded in agreement with her, she sighed. “Dracula, he was the godfather, so to speak. You know, Riah, that was why Rodolphe was so jacked up to go to Romania and find Dracula’s final burial spot. It’s why the sunlight couldn’t hurt you when we were there. You were in the presence of the one.”
Riah shook her head. “Rodolphe was my maker, not Dracula. None of us have anything to do with him. The blood argument doesn’t hold up, at least where we’re concerned.”
“Nope, wrongo, girlo! On my mother’s grave, he was the key.”
“Pretty strong words. You don’t usually swear on your mother.”
“And for good reason. It’s because I got it, baby. I fucking got it! I found it again.”
The pride on Adriana’s face made a believer out of Riah. She knew what her beautiful lover was capable of. Her mind was incredible, and she’d believed deeply ever since Adriana’s house had blown up, along with the cure she’d discovered, that she’d find it again. A detailed explanation, she didn’t need, because she knew exactly
what Adriana had found.
She’d hoped and prayed for a chance at being human again. Now at last, here it was. Her chance. Yet something still lingered in Adriana’s eyes that made her wonder if all was as it seemed.
“What’s the catch?”
Adriana sighed, and the brightness faded from her face. “I only had enough to make the cure for two of you.” She looked from face to face, her eyes incredibly sad and suddenly filling with tears that spilled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Silence fell heavy over the room, where only moments before, hope and anticipation had been a bright light. Riah didn’t hesitate and didn’t stop to second-guess. She owed them, all of them, and she would do the only thing she could.
“Cure Ivy and Tory.”
They all started talking at once, and Riah held up her hand, warding off their words. Her smile was real and from her heart. She let her gaze flow from one startled face to another. “You have all given me so much. I never thought I’d have a real life again, and you gifted it to me without reservation or condition. You didn’t see me as a horrible creature but as a friend. You’ve been here for me as no one in my very long years has ever been, and for that I can never thank you enough. This is all I have to give back to you. Please understand that I have to do this.”
She could see the struggle in the faces that stared back at her and understood it all too well. They were in this together and had been for long enough to become a family. No one had ever had her back before, and now they all did. She was so proud and so humbled she wanted to cry.
She turned and settled her gaze on the one who was the most important to her in all the world. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought or said. It all came down to Adriana. As their eyes met, she saw a look that made her heart melt.
Adriana touched her face and gave her the tiniest of nods. “You’re sure.” It wasn’t a question. She knew her too well.
Vermilion Justice Page 24
