by Evie Byrne
Alya folded her arms. Knyaz. Not only was he already trying to change the way she ate, he was also reminding her of another small fact. “How could I forget? You’re not hungry, are you?”
An unexpected flash of pink grazed his cheekbones. “I ate very well this evening.”
“I’m amazed you can meet my eye while you say that.”
“I went about it wrong, that I admit. But I can’t say I’m sorry I tasted you.”
He stood in one fluid motion. She knew his strength now. Intimately. But she let him close with her. Let him press her hand against the leaping pulse at the base of his throat. When he spoke, his deep voice vibrated against her fingers. “Tell me you’re not tempted.”
Alya swallowed hard, remembering his tongue on her wounds. What would his blood taste like? His sweat and seed were compelling enough. But she couldn’t sink into this madness. “The idea sickens me.”
He covered her hand with his. “You know how they live on inside us. After.”
After exsanguination, he meant. Yes. Her enemies were always with her.
“Imagine that intimacy with a living person. Live communication, soul to soul.”
Intimacy. Her favorite thing in the world. She turned away.
“You’re afraid you can’t bond like that.”
“Why would I want to?”
“You’re afraid…you’re afraid you don’t even have a soul anymore.”
She whipped back around to glare at him.
“I heard it in your blood.”
Knowing that made her feel soiled and far too tired. “I hope you enjoyed all your gorging and eavesdropping.”
He tilted his head, a bit puzzled, as if he were still reading her. “I like you more for it. And it’s not tr ue , by th e way. ”
Alya’s eyes stung. Were those tears? What the fuck? She brought her heel down on a chunk of fallen plaster, crushing it into powder. “I’m so relieved. Because that’s what I really care about. Whether Mikhail Faustin likes me or not.”
“You have a right to be tired.” He swept her knife from the ground and handed it to her with a bow. “Come, rest with me. We can fight later.”
She swiped at her face impatiently. Whether he saw her tears or not, they still made her weak, and stupid. And because she was weak and stupid, she let him lead her to the sofa. They stretched out on it together, Mikhail behind her. He gathered her against his chest. It was a familiar gesture, as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old jeans. But it was also disconcerting. No one had held her like that since she left him. She’d never been able to trust anyone that much.
Alya laughed to herself. And what, now I trust him? A marriage-minded Faustin who—so far this night—has Tasered me, tapped me and shot me?
She kept her knife clutched to her breast, just in case.
Mikhail said, “Sleep a little, and I’ll bring you food.”
“And then you’ll want to feed from me again.”
He didn’t answer.
“What happens to you now…now that you’ve really fed from me?”
“I’m no different than before.”
“You’re lying. I remember a story, a fairy tale about a bonded man who couldn’t feed.”
“Roland. Roland and Illysia.”
“That’s it. What happened to him?”
He sighed. “It’s a sad story.”
“I like those best.”
“I remember that.”
Mikhail swept the hair off the side of her face. The gesture reminded her of her mother. For a long time she’d resented her mother for being so delicate and forgiving. For dying young and leaving her alone in a house of men.
Going to live with her aunt in New York had saved her life, she was sure of it, and meeting Mikhail and his family had been a revelation. She’d never known a family could be so tight. For a magic space of time, she’d been one of them. Until she betrayed them all.
“Only angels and demons have no regrets,” Mikhail said.
“Can you still hear my blood?”
“No. I just know you’re sad.”
Alya closed her eyes. Being with him was too much like being flayed with a scalpel. It had to end, and as she’d told him, it couldn’t end well.
“Please, tell me the story.” Following old habits, she nestled her head in the crook of his arm.
“It’s a story from the Caucasuses.”
“Where the Faustins come from.”
“That’s right.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Long ago there was a powerful prince named Volchock who had a beautiful daughter, white-shouldered Illysia. All the young vampyr lords desired her hand in marriage, but Illysia’s mother had a prophetic dream. Her destined mate was a foreign lord named Roland. She told her husband of this dream, and he made her swear to keep the dream a secret from their daughter. He wanted to investigate the man first, he said.
“The truth was that he knew of this Roland. Roland had killed his brother. Over the years, he’d contemplated revenge. Now he saw his way to a perfect ending. He went to Roland and told him about the dream, that all was forgiven, that he was welcomed to the family. After all, they could not deny fate, could th ey?
“Roland was amazed, but pleased. He’d seen Illysia once at a tournament, and remembered her fine figure, and her skin like white rose petals.
“Volchok brought Roland home with him, speaking all the way about his daughter’s beauty and worth, but also her passion. How he was glad to get her married off safely, because she burned hot and flirted with his men incessantly. He even insinuated that while he’d tried to keep her a virgin, she might not be one still.
“By the time they came within sight of the castle Roland was on fire, thinking about this girl who appeared a lamb but was a vixen inside, a girl who’d been given to him by destiny, a girl who could not help but love him.
“‘And she knows about me?’ Roland asked.
“‘She knows all about you. She’s chomping at the bit. Mind you, she’s spirited.’ He winked at Roland. ‘You’ll enjoy putting her to saddle.’
“They arrived in the keep just before dawn. Everyone had retired to their chambers. Roland was crushed he could not see her until the next night.
“‘Nonsense, boy,’ said Volchok. ‘Go to her now. She’s yours by right. No need to wait for the wedding.’
“Roland rushed up the stairs to her rooms and threw her women out. He spoke the words, ancient even then, ‘I declare you mine by right of dream.’
“Illysia, of course, knew nothing of him, and didn’t believe him. Roland didn’t care, because once he was near her, he lost control.”
Alya rolled her eyes. “He raped her in fine old vampyr style.”
“More important—to the story, at least—he fed from her.”
“How many times?”
“I don’t know. The story says he sated himself on her in every way. Volchok ordered the household to ignore her screams. He knew his daughter well. A practical girl would turn the situation to her advantage, but sensitive, idealistic Illysia would never forgive Roland. Roland would be damned by her hatred, damned by her blood. She’d never feed him again, and eventually, he’d starve for lack of her. One daughter’s virginity was a small price to pay for Roland’s slow, painful death. What he didn’t understand was that his daughter was smart enough to figure out that her father had sacrificed her.”
Alya tensed, all too sympathetic with Illysia. “This is a horrible story.”
Mikhail hooked his leg over hers and began to caress her earlobe. No one else––no one alive, anyway––knew how well that calmed her. She was amazed that he remembered.
“When Roland finally slept, instead of going to her parents, she crept away and hid in the dark recesses of the castle. At first darkness she ran away alone, and on foot, telling no one where she’d gone.
“Roland woke up, saw the blood on the sheets, remembered what he’d done in his frenzy, and ached with shame. He searched the castle for her, and when
she could not be found, saddled his horse and took off in pursuit of her.”
“How did he know which way to go?”
“By drinking her he’d forged a connection with her. He probably knew which direction she’d gone.”
“Could you follow me now?”
“I think so. Yes.”
Great. “But the one drop didn’t tell you where I was?”
“No. Let me finish.”
Alya nestled into his arm, yawning. A million years ago they’d curled together exactly like this in his room and listened to Leonard Cohen albums. Back then their days were endless. They wandered the city aimlessly. They made out for hours.
“Roland soon realized he was cursed. He was hungry, but all blood turned to ash in his mouth. He burned, but he couldn’t perform with other women. He was bound to Illysia. For two months he pursued her, slowly wasting away, slowly losing his mind.
“Always he was close to her, but always she eluded him. In that part of the world, huge, flat boulders litter the steppes. They call these rocks The Bed of Roland. Little blue flowers cover the grasslands in springtime. Those are called Illysia’s Tears.”
“Blue flowers…” Alya murmured. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. It would be okay to close them for just a minute, wouldn’t it? While he finished the story?
A second later, she woke to a roar.
Chapter Eight
She woke in a fighting crouch. Three rifle muzzles surrounded her at close range. Grim-faced vamps held the guns. The strangest vamps she’d ever seen.
Just a few feet away, Mikhail was already fighting with six more of them. She lunged his direction, but her captors rammed their guns into her body. One under her left breast, another against the small of her back, and the third in her side. She imagined them firing in unison, her torso exploding in all directions, and held perfectly still.
All of Mikhail’s teeth were extended and blood coated his naked body. None of it his own, she hoped. He caught hold of one of his attackers, a burly man in a plaid shirt. With a brutal twist, he broke the man’s neck and threw him aside.
Two more bodies lay at his feet. One didn’t have a head at all. That’s where the blood came from.
He’d captured some sort of club or baton and fought with it like the devil himself. They were trying to close on him, but he kept spinning that club, keeping a perimeter open around him, striking anyone who entered his range. The sight of him filled Alya with a fierce, unexpected pride.
One of the people holding guns on her, a rosy-cheeked kid in a trucker’s cap, said, “I think that guy is…him. You know? Ice. Michael Faustin.”
He was speaking to a stocky woman wearing a Mall of America T-shirt that hung down to her knees. She said, “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure, too.”
“Well, all the luck.” She raised her voice. “You better take that big feller alive, Paul!”
Who were these people? Alya tried to make sense of the situation. If they wanted her dead, she’d be dead already. There had to be a way to turn this around.
One of the men snuck up behind Mikhail with a long length of pipe.
“Watch out!” Alya shouted. She heard a cracking noise, and an explosion of pain filled her head with white stars.
Mikhail opened his eyes. He was flat on his back and tied down. He saw only the tops of skyscrapers and open sky. They were outside. Rooftops were never good news.
He jerked against his restraints, “Alya!”
“I’m here. I’m okay.”
If he craned his neck to the left, he could just barely see her. Coils of heavy chain bound her from the shoulders down. He assumed they’d bolted the chain to the wall. Her eyes were shining and wide. That meant she was pumping with adrenaline.
He guessed they were about twenty stories up, and in downtown LA. He knew they were still in LA because it smelled like LA.
His own situation was worse than Alya’s. While primitive chains held her, he was stretched out on a steel table, his wrists and ankles cuffed by a sophisticated restraining device. These cuffs were broad steel bands integrated with the table. He couldn’t move his wrists or ankles a millimeter.
A woman he could not see said, “Okay, fellas, thanks a lot. We got it now.”
Three vamps walked into his field of view. They positioned themselves at the foot of the table, so that they could see both him and Alya behind him. One was a big man in a faded denim jacket. He had a red, weathered face, soft jowls, and a bushy blond mustache. Mikhail remembered fighting him at Alya’s. He was strong.
Next to him stood a short, plump woman with no-nonsense hair wearing an oversized T-shirt and jeans. Though she was a vamp, she resembled a typical tourist mother—he’d watched plenty of them shepherding their families around Times Square—but there was shrewd intelligence about her that put him on his guard.
The last of the three was a young man, still in his teens, clean shaven, with round, ruddy cheeks. He twisted a hat in his hands, fighting to keep his lips over his fangs. That one wanted him dead.
The older man spoke. “My name is Paul Halverson.”
Mikhail groaned to himself. The North Woods rebel.
“So you’ll know what this is all about, then. This is my wife, Anna, and my son, Gunnar. We’re real sorry it had to come to this, but we can’t have you messing with us like you’ve been, and putting a call out on my life took it way too far. And I mean both Miss Adad and you, Mr. Faustin. Folks like to be left in peace. Our friend Frank—” He gestured another vamp into Mikhail’s line of view.
This Frank didn’t even look at him, but focused on Alya, visibly shaken.
“We heard through the grapevine that Miss Adad put a call out on our life, and Frank here––Frank is Anna’s cousin, did you know?––told us you’d come to Los Angeles to see her We thought it would be a good time to visit, too. Turned out better than we expected. We came for the lady, but found you both together, and the doors wide open. Couldn’t have been easier.”
“Hadn’t heard you two were friendly,” Anna Halverson interjected, her face sour.
“Oh yeah, real lucky I’d say. We’re not set up for war where we come from. No, it’s best to do it like this. Straight to the point.”
Mikhail didn’t have to ask what they meant to do. He was strapped down on a rooftop. They meant to let him and Alya burn with the dawn. It was a particularly disdainful form of execution. There’d be no formal combat. No ritual exsanguination. And that was surprising, because both he and Alya were well worth draining.
“Gunnar got this nice table for us,” Anna said, drawing her hand along the slick metal. “He ordered it over the Internet. They say it’s strong enough to hold an elephant. More than we needed, I’d say—”
“Mom, you said the very best.”
“It’s a beauty, I’ll give you that. Never thought we’d need two at a time, though. Hope those chains aren’t too uncomfortable, Miss Adad.”
“Oh no,” Alya said. “They’re fucking lovely.”
Mrs. Halverson pursed her lips at Alya and turned back to Mikhail. “Isn’t this straight out of a James Bond movie? No one but Paul can set you free—”
“Anna,” her husband said, his voice quiet but cutting.
Mikhail knew the table. The locks were coded to handprints. Halverson’s prints, apparently. Knowing the table, he knew there was no escaping. Little Gunnar had done his research well.
Alya’s bonds, however…
Gunnar stepped forward. “You killed my best friend back there. I wish I could watch you die.”
Mikhail raised a dismissive brow at him and rolled his head toward Halverson. “New York doesn’t want your land. House Faustin never attacks sovereign territory unless there is compelling reason. I’m sorry you gave us one. The code we all must live by is discretion.”
“I’m sure sorry, too. But folks have a right to live as they see fit without other folks coming from hundreds of miles away to tell them how to do it. Our kind k
eep to themselves. Always have.”
“You are eating animals. By choice.”
“We’ve come to realize it’s the right thing to do.”
“Humans are our perfect food. Swallow anything else and it degrades you.”
“And I’d say it’s degrading to hunt our close kin.”
Every so often a group of vamps would get it in their head that it was wrong to feed from humans. As if they hadn’t evolved side by side to do just that. As if all vampyr society wasn’t built around the safe and controlled consumption of human blood. Idealistic vamps who decided to live on animal blood inevitably became animals themselves. Blood was not just so many liquid calories. Vamps quite literally were what they ate.
Mikhail was sure the degradation had already begun in these families. That’s why they weren’t even cleaning up after themselves anymore.
Curious about their reasoning, he said, “The media has picked up on the carcasses. That’s our immediate concern.”
The boy smirked. “They blame it on Satanists—or space aliens.”
“How long do you think those answers will satisfy them?”
The boy lifted his chin. “When they realize we eat animals, like they do, they’ll be okay with us. One day we won’t have to hide anymore.”
Mikhail sighed. The Halversons hadn’t been reading their history books.
Alya finally spoke—he wondered how she’d managed to keep her mouth shut so long. “Bloody fucking hell. Why don’t you just kill us now so I don’t have to listen to this idiocy anymore.”
Anna stepped forward. “You know, I’m real tired of taking my marching orders from people I’ve never met. You have nothing to do with us. We ask you for nothing and we’ve never caused you harm. And yet you decided to put a hit on my husband, Miss Adad. Why?”
Had she? Mikhail wondered why she’d targeted Halverson.
Her voice dripping with scorn, Alya drawled, “Oh, I don’t know. I suppose I thought it would be fun to declare open season on lunatics.”
Anna took hold of her husband’s arm. “And you call us animals.”
It was hard to make convincing threats when you were naked and strapped to a table, but Mikhail gave it a try. “If you go through with this, I promise you my family will seek revenge. Faustin revenge is extracted straight from the flesh. I assure you they will not stop until they slaughter you and all your kin. I’ll die now, but you’ll not live another week.”
