Blood Rules (Blood Immortal Book 2)

by Ava Benton

  Her tears dampened my cheeks.

  16

  Konstantin

  “Can I ask you something?”

  I slid an arm under my head and looked down at her. “Of course.”

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  “Oh. This doesn’t sound good.”

  She sat up, drawing a sheet around her. “No, no, believe me. I’m only curious.” I could still see her face in the dark bedroom. She looked sincere.

  “All right. What is it?”

  Her voice dropped to a whisper. “What was it like to die? After, I mean? What happened?”

  “Not an easy question to answer.”

  “You don’t have to. Truly.”

  I looked up at the ceiling with a sigh. “I want to. I’ve wanted to since we were back at little house. Now, I feel that there’s no reason not to.”

  “All right…” she trailed off, waiting expectantly.

  A deep breath. Then, “I saw my family.”

  She let out a sigh of happiness. “You did? Your parents, your sisters?”

  “Yes. They were there. Waiting for me.”

  If I closed my eyes, I could still see them. They were still young, all of them, just the way they were when I last saw them around the table in our little cottage in the woods.

  “What happened?” she asked in a hushed, awed voice.

  “He wanted me to tell you, back there. On the rocks, when he had you restrained. Remember? He said something about me being afraid of seeing my family on the other side.”

  “Yes. And you don’t ever, ever have to tell me why he said it.”

  “I don’t know how he knew. Maybe the sword gave him second sight, or maybe he remembered hearing stories back then, when it happened.”

  I still stared up at the ceiling, but it faded away and became the inside of the cottage. Mama and Father, the girls.

  “I missed them so much. I missed everything about my human life. It took a long time for me to adjust to being who I was—I suppose it does for all of us, really. I had never aspired to become a monster. One night, not long after I turned, I went home and watched from afar. I told myself not to go near. I didn’t want to frighten them, as they thought I was dead for good. But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to hear their conversation. I wanted to smell their food and feel the warmth of the fire in the hearth.”

  “Oh, Konstantin.”

  “I don’t remember which of them saw me first. I only remember their screams. Father cursed me, told me I was a devil, to get away from him and his family. His family. I was his family. I tried to explain it to him, but he would have none of it. Mama… she screamed and shrieked and tore at her clothes. I might have driven her insane.”

  I choked up at the memory. It was all so clear when I allowed it to be. “I killed him first. My father. He was the biggest threat. Then, Mama. And the girls. I killed all of them. And at the time, in the moment, I didn’t even care. I wanted to. Their hearts were beating so fast, and I could smell their blood so clearly. I lost my senses, and the blood lust came over me, and I couldn’t control it then, being as young and unpracticed as I was. Besides, I was glad when the screaming stopped, when they stopped calling me a monster, a demon, something out of Hell. It wasn’t until the lust calmed and I came back to my senses that I understood what I had done. I could still taste their blood on my lips. It was all over me, as though I had painted myself in it. I’ll never forget that feeling. Wishing I were dead, too.”

  I fell silent, and Monika didn’t speak for a long time.

  I could just imagine what she was thinking—I felt her confusion, her pity. I didn’t want her to pity me, but I didn’t dare tell her not to. I had already pushed her away by telling her. Ivan was right. She couldn’t love me after knowing that.

  Instead of cursing me or leaving me lying in her bed, alone, she asked, “What happened when you saw them? On the other side?”

  I let out a shaky breath, almost smiling in spite of my grief. “They welcomed me. They said they’d been waiting for me. And they forgave me.” I remembered the warmth and love which had wrapped itself around me, knowing what they said was true. They really did understand and welcomed me with open hearts.

  Monika’s sniffles brought me back to the present. “You have to forgive yourself,” she whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. “They forgive you. You can, too.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “Sure, it is. You’ve carried this with you for long enough. Set it down now. Let it go. Move on. You have a second chance. You’re free. We can be together for as long as you want.”

  Was she right? Was it that easy?

  Guilt was a habit formed over the centuries. How could I let go of it that quickly? Like it was a bag I had been carrying.

  I had told myself it was all right, that I had been given a gift when I died. I could move on, fully, knowing my family loved me and would be there one day when it was really my time.

  “How does forever sound?” I whispered, reaching for her.

  “I like forever-and-a-day better,” she agreed, melting into my arms, letting me lay her down and love her until the sun came up.

  Epilogue

  Monika

  “I never thought I would see this place again.” Konstantin took my hand to help me over some rocks on our way down the hillside. “I still know it by heart.”

  “It hasn’t changed?”

  “Not very much,” he said. “There are some new clearings, and I didn’t recognize the town we just passed through on our way here. That must be a new addition.”

  “New addition?” I snorted. “It could be nearly a century old.”

  And it looked that way, too, with its narrow streets and stone buildings with doorways so short he had to duck to make it through. It was cozy, quaint, like something out of a storybook. And old. Very old.

  “Which is new to me,” he retorted. “But the trees and rocks are here.” He pointed. “Out there is the stream where I used to catch fish. I would check the lines twice a day for new catches and take them home for Mama to cook up, or to cure for winter.”

  I had never seen him look so happy as he did while explaining his home to me.

  His face shone even when he wasn’t smiling—when he was, it was like the sun. He seemed more vital than ever, more real, more comfortable in his skin as he ran his hand over the trunk of a very large, very ancient tree. They rose like skyscrapers all around us and were full of twittering birds.

  It was enchanting.

  I almost expected Snow White to come dancing out of a little cottage, accompanied by seven little men and a bunch of helpful animals.

  “We must be close.” He looked back and forth, gauging our distance from the stream. “That trio of boulders is where I used to set my lines, so we can’t be more than a mile from where the cottage used to sit.” He took my hand and led the way, sharing all the old memories that came up with every new discovery.

  I had to remind myself more than once to pay attention to my footing instead of to him, but watching him was so much fun. He became animated, lighthearted, and made me wonder about the young man he used to be. It sounded like he worked hard for his family, making sure they had enough to eat while his father sold what he caught for money.

  I wondered what life would’ve looked like for him if he had lived it. He probably would’ve settled down with some local girl—I was sure they fell all over him, handsome as he was, though he denied it. He was too busy making sure the family was taken care of to consider leaving them, he said.

  I doubted the little home they’d shared still existed, but I didn’t want to tell him that and burst his bubble. Better he found out on his own. A

  nd it wasn’t the cottage we stumbled upon first. It was the graves.

  “My goodness,” I whispered, one hand over my chest. Four wooden planks, barely visible over the grass.

  He stood there, staring, while I bent to clear away the weeds a
nd overgrowth. There was no discernible writing on them, but I didn’t know if such a thing existed back then and thought it better not to ask.

  “Here they are,” he said.

  “They’re not really here. You know that. You saw them.” I slid my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest.

  “I know. Still, it does me good to see where they rested.” He looked up and around. “I suppose the cottage was here, then.”

  It was gone, though I doubted it had been removed. More like time and the elements had destroyed it.

  I watched him walk over the ground, occasionally stopping to bend down and examine something.

  “Look. An old spoon.” He handed it to me, and I turned it in my hands with a sense of reverence and awe.

  His family had used it. Maybe he had, himself. We found a lot of little treasures like that, which I carefully stashed in my backpack.

  Something for him to have to remind him of the love in the past, instead of the bad memories which still sometimes haunted him.

  It had been almost a year since he first told me the story of their deaths, but I still felt his guilt and self-loathing. It was my idea to visit Serbia, to take him back to the start in the hopes of bringing him around.

  “I did love living here,” he said, wiping his hands on his jeans as he stood. “Smell how fresh the air is.”

  “It is very fresh,” I agreed, taking a deep breath. “And it’s a beautiful place.”

  “It was then, too,” he smiled.

  “We can come back here anytime you want,” I reminded him. “Sincerely. And we can stay as long as you like. For the rest of our lives, even.”

  “You would leave the coven?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

  I shrugged. “They’re important to me, of course, but you’re more important. This is our life now, not just mine. I want you to be happy.”

  “Happy.” He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “I think focusing on happiness is a modern trend. We never thought about it back then. It’s not easy for me to think about it now. I was happy, but it wasn’t as if I strove for happiness. I only did what I had to do and was lucky enough to have a family I loved.”

  “So you’re saying it doesn’t matter what happens now? You don’t need to be happy?”

  He came to me with a smile and kissed me tenderly. “I never said I wasn’t happy. You’re my happiness. So it looks different to me now than it did back then. A lot looks different than it did back then.” He pulled me to him and held me, stroking my hair. “You made this happen, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for bringing me back.”

  “You’re the one who earned your freedom by saving my life. I figured I owed you one.”

  He pulled back, smiling. “You think you haven’t saved my life? You save it every day. Just by being you.”

  “Really?” It was the sweetest thing he could’ve said, and my heart glowed with relief and joy that I could make that sort of a difference to him.

  “Really, truly.” He kissed the tip of my nose, then my upturned mouth.

  “Do you want a minute alone with them?” I asked when the kiss ended, glancing in the direction of the graves.

  He looked their way, and a million thoughts moved across his face.

  Guilt that would always be there in the background, even it shrank a little as time went on.

  Sadness. They had missed out on so much in life, especially his sisters.

  Relief that he had found them and might be able to close the door on that part of his history for once and for all. They’d always have a place in his heart, but he had something else to move onto. Somebody else to move onto it with.

  “I think we’ve said all we need to say to each other,” he murmured. “I told them I was sorry when I had the chance, and they told me they understood and forgave. I know they’ve rested well. That’s all I need.” He looked down at me. “You’re all I need.”

  “Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” I tightened my grip around his waist. “Forever, at least.”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Forever-and-a-day,” he reminded me.

  Keep reading fro an excerpt from Blood Curse.

  Excerpt

  Nightwarden and vampire Alexander is awakened from his century-long slumber by a mysterious witch. There’s no fanfare, no custom, no traditions. Just the taste of her blood to awaken him.

  Now they’re on the run, having broken vampire and witch laws.

  Enter a Tracker who’s hell-bent on catching Alexander and bringing him in. Except there’s a problem. The mysterious witch needs him.

  And for a vampire that’s not had feelings in centuries, he seems to find something stirring deep within.

  Chapter 1

  Alexander

  The first sensation I felt on waking up after my long sleep was the sweet tang of blood on my lips.

  Instantly, my eyes snapped open as if I came back to life. In a way, I did. It was always the same.

  A century of sleep, then waking up to find a new charge looking down at me, giving me her life-sustaining blood and beginning the connection which would weave our existences together for as long as she remained High Sorceress of her coven. A witch in need of a vampire’s protection.

  Another running similarity was the immediate understanding of my new charge. Much of what I needed to know about a witch came to me through the first drops of blood she dripped onto my mouth.

  The instant I swallowed, her history would reveal itself. Not in clear images, really, but impressions. How old she was, her lineage, how she lived. Her intelligence. Her special powers. How she felt about being granted a Nightwarden for her protection. Even her temperament, though that was the sketchiest of all the bits of information I absorbed. Whether she was kind or short-tempered, self-important as a result of her high status in her coven, or humble.

  Which was why, after swallowing a few drops of blood, I squinted up at the witch standing by my side. I was still on my back in my cell, as comfortable as could be considering I was hundreds of feet under the mountains of Appalachia. It was cold in there, utilitarian. We weren’t in need of creature comforts since we’d only be in stasis while we were there, letting time erase the blood imprint of the last witch we’d guarded.

  “Who are you?” I whispered.

  My voice was cracked, my throat dry.

  I swallowed more of the blood she offered me, dripping it from her finger into my open mouth. I needed more than that after a hundred years. I needed her to flood my mouth with thick, ruby red blood which would make me feel fully alive again.

  “Just drink,” she whispered before looking over her shoulder.

  What was she so nervous about? This wasn’t like any of the other rituals I had participated in. They might not have been grand affairs with trumpets and flower petals dropped at the witch’s feet, but witches had a sense of style when it came to ceremonies such as the waking of a Nightwarden. Our connection was the most intimate she would experience during her tenure as High Sorceress. It was an event.

  Not like this one.

  “Who are you?” I asked again, wondering how to make sense of the information loading into my brain.

  She was all a mess inside, with conflicting thoughts and emotions crashing into each other.

  I couldn’t pinpoint the exact time she was born or which coven she was about to lead. And she was frightened. That was unusual.

  “Don’t worry about that right now. We have more important problems.”

  “We?” I sat up, pushing her away.

  There was no one else with her. The High Council normally attended the ritual to oversee things and generally remind everyone of how important they were.

  “How much has changed since I came here?”

  She frowned, looking straight at me for the first time since she woke me. Her dark eyes were troubled. “Quite a lot, I would imagine, if you’ve been here for a century.”

  “Haven’t I? Wouldn’t you know if I had?”


  She shrugged. “I’ll explain later. Come on. We need to get out of here, and you can feed properly after that.” She pulled me by the arm.

  “I don’t have clothing! What do you expect me to do?” I only wore a pair of light, cotton shorts which had passed for underwear at the time of my return to The Fold.

  I had nothing of my own, which was the typical arrangement. A Nightwarden relied on their witch for everything, except in rare cases where they carried something from their past. A weapon they favored, something to that effect. I had no such belongings.

  She thrust a canvas bag at me while we hurried down the long, dark tunnel lined on both sides by cells. “Here. But not now. Wait until we get outside, away from here.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ll explain it all. Come on!” We came to an intersection of tunnels, and the way she hesitated and put her hand to her head told me she was lost.

  “This way,” I growled, taking her arm instead and choosing the tunnel to my left. It was my turn to lead the way, and I didn’t even know the woman or why she was so secretive. If anything, I wanted to smell fresh air instead of the damp, cold, musty air of the tunnels.

  Which reminded me of something important. “Did you perform the Ra-Protection spell?” The spell which would allow me to enter daylight without bursting into spontaneous combustion.

  “Yes, yes, while you were in stasis.”

  “You’re sure?” Something told me I couldn’t take her at her word.

  “Why would I lie?”

  We slid around a corner and took off at a dead run down a curved passage. Or, rather, up a curved passage. I felt the slope of the floor under my bare feet as we traveled the length of the long tunnel which moved up around the inside of the mountain in a spiral.

  “I don’t know. Why would you be so secretive? You’re hiding something, and I don’t like being part of your game—whatever it is.”