Blood Guilt

by Marie Treanor

  “Here,” he said, “is where the vampires usually stand. Around the outside wall of this temple. According to your parents’ paper, familiarity is important to all the power sources, but particularly to the catalyst. Robbie runs all over the stones but has stood here with them too.”

  “The new vampire, the one who came early this morning, won’t have this familiarity,” Mihaela pointed out. She was already planning hiding places and angles of attack.

  “He may have been here before; he’s old and strong, and he has some stone feeling already,” Maximilian said. “Still, he may come before the others, so be aware.” He stepped closer to the wall and lifted one hand to touch it. A smile flickered across his face. “Robbie’s right. The stone does speak to you. It’s old and powerful…” Reluctantly, it seemed, he dropped his hand. “And they all touch it. They’ll stand against the wall here, probably with Robbie in the middle.”

  Mihaela glanced up to the top of the rough, dry stone wall. “Can you hide on the other side, inside the temple?”

  They’d decided earlier it would have to be some such scenario. Picking the vampires off earlier, either in their farmhouse or on the trail up to the temples, had attractions. But since they were only two against eight, Maximilian and Mihaela really needed the vampires to be distracted by the stone ritual in order to have the maximum advantage of surprise. They mustn’t have opportunity to snatch Robbie away in the fight.

  Maximilian followed her gaze, then jumped. He stood on top of a horizontal stone, gazing down on the other side of the wall, then transferred his gaze to the outside, as if imagining his enemies’ positions. He looked like some kind of old god up there. Even in his modern jeans and T-shirt, he seemed peculiarly at home among the ancient stones. There was a deep, atmosphere to this place that got under your skin and tugged. It made Mihaela shiver because it felt supernatural, almost magical, and so very old. Like Maximilian. Although, of course, the temples were older than he was by thousands of years. They were older than Stonehenge in England…

  “Yes,” Maximilian said, stepping casually down from his great height to land beside her as if he were merely alighting from a train. “You’ll have to be close enough to act immediately after I snatch Robbie. If I can, I’ll kill at least one as I take him, but that will still leave you with seven vampires, one of whom is very strong.”

  They’d talked about this too. Singly, none of the vampires except for Ferdinand and possibly Gavril were strong enough to seriously trouble an experienced hunter like Mihaela. Their danger lay in sheer numbers. On the other hand, the vampires were coming to trigger an earthquake, not to do battle. She and Maximilian should have the advantage of surprise.

  Mihaela said, “I’ll hope to get one at the outset by throwing a stake as soon as you move. And with luck, in the surprise, I’ll get another.” Mihaela walked away from the temple to a large stone that formed a small triangle with the temple wall and the lower wall of a stone circle. She examined the space between.

  “Here?” she suggested.

  Maximilian nodded. “Without Robbie to carry their ritual, they’ll stop and come at you. This is a good place to ensure they can’t surround you, though remember they can come at you from above as well.”

  “I’m a hunter,” she said dryly, and the flicker of pride as well as amusement in his cool eyes warmed her down to her toes.

  “I know you are. I’ll leave Robbie hidden and masked and return to help you as soon as I can. But for those vital seconds I’m gone, you’re much more vulnerable than I like.”

  “I’ll cope.”

  He met her gaze, his own unreadable. Then he merely nodded and began to walk forward again, his head up, as if he were sniffing the air like a dog. Then he looked at the ground and reached out one hand for Mihaela. “Gavril has come this way more than once. I suspect this will be his escape route. His trail goes some distance, so it’s quicker if we go like this.”

  Before she could prepare, he’d seized her round the waist and was running so fast her feet didn’t touch the ground. She simply hung on to him. She felt his every powerful movement against her cheek and body and limbs, the bunching and stretching of his muscles, the jolt of each pace taken with impossible speed. They were away from Ggantija. Open country of fields flashed by, and then, with a final jolt that made her grunt, they stopped.

  A large barn rushed into focus. Mihaela blinked and glanced up at Maximilian, who released her without comment and walked quickly toward the barn door. The door opened as he approached, but although Mihaela grabbed for her stake, no one came out.

  Understanding that Maximilian had manipulated the door with his mind, she murmured, “Have I ever told you how creepy that is?”

  “But useful. Look. That’s quite an escape route.”

  It took some moments for her eyes to adjust to the deeper darkness. Then, gradually, the large, monstrous shape of a helicopter emerged, its giant propellers almost touching the walls of the barn. So, once he’d set off the earthquake that would kill hundreds if not thousands, Gavril meant to get out by helicopter, no doubt taking Robbie with him so he could do it all again somewhere else.

  Mihaela couldn’t allow that. The quake had to be prevented and Robbie rescued. But no way was Gavril getting away to try again.

  She swallowed. “Why are hand grenades not standard kit for hunters?”

  “Can you disable it?” Maximilian asked.

  Mihaela shrugged. “Sure. How hard can it be?”

  She dug her flashlight out of her bag, and began looking around the helicopter. It would probably have been easiest to set the fuel tank alight, but the fire would be seen for miles around, and she didn’t want to alert Gavril so early on. Something a little subtler was required at this stage. She climbed into the cockpit with Maximilian’s help and began looking for wires to cut. While she got to work, using lock picks and her penknife as a screwdriver, Maximilian quietly left the barn.

  Mihaela’s heart began to beat faster as she hacked through every wire she could see. When Maximilian didn’t immediately return, she drew her phone from her pocket and found Konrad’s number. She wasn’t sure why it was necessary to do this without Maximilian’s knowledge. She just knew that they needed the backup and that Maximilian would be unhappy about the presence of more hunters, whom he feared would drag Robbie into the depths of their organization. Although in such an eventuality Mihaela herself intended to be there for Robbie, she respected Maximilian’s views enough to be glad there was an alternative. Cyn and John, who were already in Malta, were not official hunters.

  “Mihaela,” came Konrad’s voice in her ear, sounding neither pleased nor displeased. If anything, he sounded wary.

  “Konrad, I don’t have Cyn’s number,” she said, low and urgently. “Tell her tonight, on Gozo, at the prehistoric site of Ggantija. Eight vampires against Maximilian and me. Thanks.” She rang off before he could speak. Already, it was more than possible that Maximilian had heard her speak. But it didn’t matter, not really. She’d tell him if she had to. It was just that secrecy, and turning first to the network, was second nature to her.

  She hacked a few more wires with her penknife, and yanked one out completely. She was pretty sure the ignition wouldn’t work. The helicopter was grounded. Pausing only to cover her sabotage as well she could—the extra few minutes while the vampires searched for the cause might come in useful—Mihaela shoved the lock picks, penknife and flashlight back into her bag, along with the cable she’d removed, and left the barn, closing the door carefully behind her.

  She knew a stab of guilty relief when she saw that Maximilian was some distance away. In fact, she could hardly make him out in the darkness of the wood’s edge, surrounded by trees. It was only because she was so aware of his unique shape and poise that she spotted his figure among the other blacknesses. She hurried toward it instinctively, wondering all over again at the way her heart lifted at the sight of him.

  It was nearly over, and when it was, there would be n
o more of Maximilian and her. She had an inkling of how ridiculously much it would hurt, and yet she couldn’t regret what she’d done.

  Before this fight began, before they rescued Robbie and killed the vampires, before she even focused on Gavril and the cold necessity of revenge, she would take a moment with Maximilian, just to kiss him one last time. The memory would warm her as the years stretched out.

  Gradually, she realized that he was not alone. Another figure stood in front of him, half-hidden. It was as if some enchanting mask had just fallen. Maximilian was talking to a vampire.

  If she’d had any doubts about this—after all, it was very dark out here—they disappeared as the second figure vanished with inhuman speed. Maximilian walked to meet her.

  “Who was that?” she asked. An inexplicable weight of foreboding pressed down on her.

  “A passing vampire,” Maximilian said expressionlessly. Too expressionlessly. “I asked him if he’d fight for us.”

  “And will he?”

  “Maybe.” Maximilian began to walk back in the direction of Ggantija. Mihaela stared at his moving back, her pulses racing. After a moment, she followed him. She had to swallow a lump in her throat, because every suspicion she’d ever had about Maximilian was back with a vengeance.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ferdinand was a wily old vampire who knew better than to take anyone else’s word concerning his own safety. So Maximilian wasn’t surprised to sense him checking out the escape route. In fact, it was what he counted on.

  He left Mihaela sabotaging the helicopter and ran through the shadows toward the thin wood, from where he could feel Ferdinand’s heavy, lowering presence. Against Ferdinand, he had to use all his masking skills, for the older vampire had always been at least as strong as he.

  Maximilian leapt high into the branches of a tree on the edge of the wood and waited until Ferdinand walked silently past him.

  Then, unmasking, he jumped. Ferdinand spun to face him, fangs bared.

  “Ferdinand,” Maximilian murmured. “Just the vampire I wanted to see.”

  “You have a wish for the true death?”

  “Not in the slightest. I have a proposition for you.”

  “Oh, wonderful. This I have to hear.”

  “Give me the child, and I won’t tell Saloman that you were here.”

  Ferdinand’s lips stretched. “Why should I care what you tell Saloman? My stock with him couldn’t get any lower.”

  “It could become nonexistent if you were dead.”

  “Maximilian, are you threatening me?”

  “I don’t need to. I have a hunter just desperate to kill all the allies of Gavril, who murdered both her parents. Gavril is a fool, without the talent to bring off this escapade. It’s doomed. My hunter has cut off your escape. Hand Robbie over to me before the fight begins, and we can both leave without a fuss. If you don’t, I’ll let my hunter—or Saloman—kill you.”

  Ferdinand’s lip curled. “There isn’t a hunter alive who could take me. What’s the matter, Max? Lost your guts in exile? Along with your backbone. You never used to leave your killing to others.”

  Maximilian allowed the pause. He often did, from carelessness or inertia. He said, “Odd as it may be, I have no desire to kill you. I owe you for many things.”

  Ferdinand’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. “Damn right you do,” he said softly.

  “So you’ll do it?” Maximilian asked. Some distance behind him, he could sense Mihaela emerge from the barn. Some whiff of her must have reached Ferdinand, for the older vampire looked beyond him in her direction. Maximilian didn’t let his guard or his gaze waver.

  Ferdinand said, “I’ll think about it,” and glided back into the trees.

  Maximilian walked on to meet Mihaela. His evasive answers brought the suspicion back to her eyes, and although he couldn’t altogether blame her, it angered him. In the emotional, moral jumble of dealing with Ferdinand, he wanted to throw Mihaela on the ground and fuck her until she saw that this made no difference. She was his, whatever he did and whatever the repelling rigidity of her shoulders tried to tell him.

  But that too could wait. They should return to Ggantija and settle into their places for the coming battle.

  ****

  Hidden in the shadowy space between the outside of the temple and the stone circle, Mihaela tried to quell her anxiety and concentrate on the matter at hand: the vandalism of scraping herself a larger peephole in the prehistoric wall, from which she should be able to see the vampires—if they gathered where Maximilian had predicted.

  It was difficult to focus, since Maximilian had been distant and monosyllabic after he’d spoken to the other vampire. Something was churning him up, and it scared the hell out of Mihaela. All she had to be grateful for was that Maximilian appeared to be sticking to their original plan.

  Nothing’s changed, she assured herself. Maybe he’s just realized, as I have, that this will be the end for us. Maybe he’s sad, as I am… But that wasn’t an idea she could afford to dwell on either. And so she watched and waited, while several yards distant, inside the temple, Maximilian presumably did the same. He was masking them both so that none of the vampires would sense their presence. However, she was very aware that she also needed to be silent. Maximilian couldn’t hide the sound of stones clattering under her feet or the sight of her head bobbing up over the wall. At least, she didn’t think he could.

  It was a long, tense wait. As they’d suspected, Gavril was clearly waiting for the dead of night when as many people as possible would be caught asleep inside their houses, unaware of what was happening until it was too late. Mihaela couldn’t even begin to imagine the unspeakable tragedy that would ensue all around the Mediterranean coast if she and Maximilian didn’t stop this.

  At last, through the various gaps in the stone, she saw shadows gliding over the ground from all directions. Whether or not they knew of her and Maximilian’s presence, they were being careful. Mihaela thought she would spot Gavril at once, fixated as she was on the features of the vampire who’d slaughtered her family and was about to dishonor them further by so abusing their research.

  But it was Robbie who first drew her gaze, small and excited as he bounced among the vampires and the stones, making no effort to conceal his ebullience. If they’d troubled to read his mind, they’d know that a large part of his excitement was down to the fact that she and Maximilian were coming for him. But nobody kept him close. If Maximilian had only hidden farther down the hill, he could have snatched him easily. But they’d planned for the worst case: that Gavril would suspect their presence and hold on to the boy the whole way.

  And in fact, Gavril called Robbie to attention almost as soon as they reached the outer wall of the temple—surely only feet away from Maximilian. Through her tiny, manufactured peephole, Mihaela finally saw Gavril and a group of other vampires surrounding Robbie. She couldn’t make out the instructions Gavril was giving. But she saw Robbie’s pale, wide-eyed face turned up to the vampire as he listened.

  Gavril backed into the temple wall, and, reaching for Robbie’s hand, he yanked the boy over beside him. Another vampire took his other hand, and for the first time, Robbie made a jerk of obvious protest. He didn’t want to touch the vampires.

  Mihaela’s heart surged with pity and fury. Never again, she promised Robbie grimly. They’ll never touch you again. No one will, against your will—

  “Good evening, human,” a cool voice said above her.

  Even before the fear struck her, her stake was raised and aimed over her head. But the speaker didn’t appear to be paying her any attention. He sat on the wall of the lower stone circle, gazing toward the other vampires who were lining up at the temple and wandering over from various other parts of the site. She’d glimpsed him only from a distance before and it was still dark, but she recognized him at once. It was in the stillness, the power that radiated from the very old. And as many of the old vampires did in a preplanned battle, he wo
re a sword at his hip.

  “You must be Maximilian’s hunter,” he observed.

  I’m not his! Fortunately, she didn’t make the mistake of saying the words aloud. The other vampires would have heard her voice. So she just stared at him, stake still ready for his first sign of attack.

  “Pleased to meet you,” the vampire said politely. “A word to the wise, hunter. You may be his, but he isn’t yours. He will betray you.”

  And I should believe you, why?

  Again, she didn’t speak the words aloud, but the vampire gave a little smile of amusement as if he sensed her feelings pretty accurately.

  “He offered me a deal, you know. My life for the boy’s. He pretended it was to pacify you, his soft-hearted hunter, but I know differently. He wants to kill Gavril and use Robbie himself—in partnership with me as before—to topple Saloman. Then he, not Gavril, might take up the reins of power.”

  The vampire cast a lightning glance down at her—harsh, piercing blue eyes like shards of ice. She gripped the stake more firmly, but he made no move to attack. Instead, he shifted his gaze back to the temple.

  “You’re wondering how I could possibly know this. Well, I know Maximilian. I stood behind him when he took Saloman down. I kept my bargain. He didn’t keep his. I was to have been honored through my creation Maria, whom he promised to make his companion. He didn’t, and I had to watch Maria wither and die for love of him, for loss of him, until a hunter gave her the true death she sought. We lost everything, my progeny and I, by Maximilian’s betrayals and failures. Don’t make the same mistake.”

  Another of those glances, deliberately casual, perhaps in case of watching eyes.

  “Ferdinand,” Gavril’s voice called impatiently, and the vampire on the wall lifted one hand and slid to his feet.

  “His ambition,” said the vampire Ferdinand, “is as it always was. That alone doesn’t change for Maximilian.”

  Maximilian, the great betrayer. She had no reason to believe Ferdinand beyond the ring of truth in his speech and the fact that he had no reason to warn her. Unless he was deliberately sowing dissent between them? But then, if he wanted her and Maximilian to fail, why didn’t he simply tell Gavril they were there? Or had he? Whatever, there was more, much more to this.