Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts)

by Kita Bell

  The Sakai’s expression stilled, his eyes turning to chunks of bitter gray ice. “That is not relevant.”

  “It is if you can’t fight.”

  Kieran gave Brand to a deadly smile. “Hunger hardly affects my ability to kill, Kaspian. Worry about your task, and I’ll worry about mine. Unless you are offering?” It was a darkly amused taunt, but Eva didn’t miss the surprise on the Sakai’s face when Brand nodded.

  “I will if it ensures everything goes smoothly. If it will keep my people safe and guarantee that everyone makes it out unharmed. Then yes, I will offer you my blood.” Brand’s hand closed around Eva’s shoulder, and the memory of that night at Stronghold – that night in the kitchen when she had watched him slit his arm to feed Ashtoreth – flashed through Eva’s mind. She bit her lip.

  Kieran stared at Brand, something dark and tormented surfacing in his gaze. Then he turned to stare blankly at the map. “No. Your offer is appreciated, but no. And don’t worry about your people. I am no danger to them.”

  After a pause during which Brand frowned at Kieran, Joshua moved to turn the map in his direction. “You said Rohe lodges her guards on the second floor. She stays there too?”

  “Yes.” Kieran’s eyes burned a hole through the drawing. “Second floor is for Rohe’s people, first floor for humans. The basement is for prisoners.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “No.”

  Joshua arched his brows, amused. “If you want to get past Rohe’s guards you will need me. I can take us through the shadows and,” his lips quirked, “don’t worry. Rohe is yours to hunt.”

  Kieran gave him a flat look. “What is your real reason for coming with me?”

  “You’re weak. If you fail, the bitch is mine.” Joshua’s expression turned feral.

  The Sakai’s face was devoid of emotion as he studied Joshua. Dead, Eva thought, suddenly unsettled. He looks like my mother did, before she died. “I won’t fail.”

  Joshua smirked. “Prove it.”

  Brand blocked her path as they exited into the corridor outside the motel room. “Eva, we need to talk.”

  “No.” Her voice emerged tight, strained, as she moved around him. The less she said, the better it would be. “I’m going with you. If you leave me, I’ll find a way to follow. You might have Kieran to help now, but I still need to go. You might not need me, but Rainey does.”

  Brand’s lips tightened. “I never said I didn’t need you, Eva. And that wasn’t what I was referring to.”

  Eva tripped on the dull carpet, catching herself before Brand could take her arm. Of course. Their conversation from earlier. He wanted to finish the conversation Kevin had interrupted.

  I’m so not ready for that.

  “No, Brand,” Eva shook her head, fear rising in her to push against that horrible sense of hope, of longing and desire, and watched his expression turn grave, “Maybe you Marqued me, but I can’t…it’s too much right now. I…I only know how to do temporary. We both know that. I told you from the beginning. I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. Not now. Not…forever.”

  “You can,” Brand’s dark blue gaze was almost gentle. He reached to stroke his thumb across her jaw. They had stopped walking; Eva didn’t know when they stopped walking. “You’re brave, Eva. No matter the ‘forever,’” he gave a rather sad smile, “this isn’t something we should miss out on.”

  “Joshua said you didn’t think you deserved me. Earlier,” Eva whispered, and Brand’s hand stilled.

  “I don’t.”

  “Then why are you being so insistent?” It was hard, but Eva turned her back on Brand and began walking the other direction. The hall lights flickered as a cold wind rattled along the outside windows.

  “Because I love you,” Brand said softly behind her. “And sometimes life is short, Eva. Even if it’s not forever, I’ll take what I can get. But I won’t give up asking you for more.”

  Eva froze. A warm shiver coursed down her spine, lodging beneath the Marque on her breast, to spread through her arms and legs. Tears fought to escape as a frightening need whipped through her body. Then Eva grit her teeth, ducked her head, and as Kieran and Joshua came out of the room and walked toward them, she left.

  She couldn’t deal with this now.

  She felt Brand’s gaze on her all the way down the hall.

  Eva shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket and crouched between Brand and Kevin as they waited for Kieran’s promised “distraction.” The dark long bulk of the Asylum rose before them, lights shining out through the gabled windows of the second floor. The first floor was dimly lit; the kitchen entrance through which Joshua and Kieran had gone was entirely dark.

  Brand’s breath was warm on Eva’s neck, his body strong beside hers. Eva raised her fingers, touched the Marque on her breast, then dropped her hand before Brand noticed. Earlier, the night had looked like it was going to be clear, but now thick snowflakes were coming down, filtering through the air. The cold wind blurred any trace of them, but even crouched within the trees, Brand’s scent seemed to embrace her.

  Eva shivered from more than cold, and focused on the Asylum. She did her best not to think of what might be happening to Rainey as they waited.

  The Asylum’s lights abruptly doused, covering the building in darkness. Eva gasped, but Brand’s hand found her shoulder. “Kieran must have cut the generator,” he murmured. He nodded his head at Kevin, and the two men silently coursed through the trees toward the Asylum’s outer guards. There was the sound of blade on flesh and a muffled snarl, a soft groan, and Eva cautiously approached.

  A hand jerked her down. “Stay low, Eva,” Brand murmured, blue eyes intense as he focused on the building before them. Eva studied his dark figure from the corner of her eye, smelled the thick blood in the air. Her eyes dropped to the knife in his as he cleaned it on the dry winter grass.

  She knew the guards were dead.

  Eva had seen Brand kill in blood tiger form, but never human form. It shouldn’t have unsettled her.

  “You’re not armed,” Brand said softly, sounding as if that surprised him. Eva looked up and realized he must have seen her studying the blade. She shrugged. “Take this,” Brand folded the dagger into her fingers; it was still warm from his hand. “Don’t hesitate to use it.”

  “You need it,” Eva whispered back. There was a strange, smooth texture to the dark-colored blade that made her reluctant to touch it.

  “I’ll grow claws,” Brand muttered, refocusing on the Asylum. “Head down, Eva. Those guards were carrying guns.”

  Then they ran across the open ground to the Asylum.

  It seems, Eva thought as they paused beside the door and Brand motioned her to wait with Kevin, I only ever see this place in darkness.

  She waited until Kevin tapped her shoulder. Then slowly, taking a deep breath, Eva stepped across the too-quiet threshold. She inhaled the cold still air, gripping the knife as she tried to fight back her fear.

  Rainey is in here.

  Eva looked around. Someone had fixed the door handle that Kieran broke in their escape, adding more locks. But the first floor lobby – it was different. There were no tall plants, no tables and chairs – no patients. The room was eerily stark, and Eva shivered. Brand touched her shoulder and pointed forward. Eva nodded, indicating the doors at far end led to the staircase.

  The stairwell was pitch black as it had been on the night of Eva’s escape. The three of them paused as they entered the depths, listening – but heard no one. Eva rested her right hand on the strength of Brand’s back as she glanced upward, thinking of Kieran and Joshua and their search for Rohe, then gripped the knife in her other hand as they ghosted down to the basement level.

  Eva fought her claustrophobia as they exited on the landing. Her heart leapt to her throat as she glanced right, down the dark silent hall to the room Rohe had always taken her. The room with the examination table. The room with the knives. Then Brand – who had opened the other door, the door
they wanted – took Eva’s arm and pulled her through.

  Everything was eerily quiet.

  Like last time, the hall’s fluorescent bulbs held a greenish afterglow. Eva inhaled, trying to make out Rainey’s scent in the icy cement darkness, but couldn’t. She turned to Kevin; she had given him one of Rainey’s socks, hoping he could track it, but he shook his head. The flickering light made his still-gawky form look sinister, imposing.

  Brand took a crowbar from his belt. Earlier, Eva hadn’t understood why he brought it, but now she did: he and Kevin began working their way down the corridor, testing the doors with a small, watch-like gadget that had a backlit face, before prying them open with the bar.

  “What’s that?” Eva whispered, standing out of Brand’s way as they set to work on the third door; the first cell had been vacant, the second terrifyingly bloodstained, but empty.

  “Electronic key. Deactivates the locks,” Kevin murmured beside her. “Seth overnighted it to the motel.”

  “The locks aren’t…”

  “Someone set up a secure power feed to the cells since you escaped. We thought that might happen, planned for it.” Brand grunted, levering the third door open. This cell, too, was stark. Vacant. Brand and Kevin moved on to the next cell.

  Despair spiraled through Eva.

  They didn’t have much time. Not until Rohe’s guards came. They needed to find Rainey and leave. Soon. Now. Eva brushed fingers over her Marque as a horrible fear bit through her. They might get caught. Taken. Hurt. Brand could get hurt.

  Her heart ached, and Eva desperately sucked the stale air into her lungs, seeking her sister’s scent. It was there – but vaguely. The scent was cold and chill and broken. “Try again, Kevin,” Eva whispered.

  He shook his head. “I’ve been trying, Eva. It’s everywhere, but I can’t get a fix.”

  Anxiety shivered through her. “Brand, I need the flashlight. I’m going to check the other cells. Maybe I’ll hear someone inside.” Brand glanced up and nodded before he passed her the flashlight from his left pocket.

  “Stay close,” he murmured, before going back to work on another cell door.

  Eva flicked the light on, working her way down the short corridor as she pressed her ear up against each cell. Some of them gave off a faint static tingle, as hers had. Those, Eva knocked on.

  On the fifth door down, when Eva knocked, something smashed against the door from the other side.

  Eva leapt back, dropping the flashlight; it spun across the cement floor. Then Brand was there, pulling Eva aside as he and Kevin examined the door. The door smashed again, resounding with the impact so Eva’s heart skyrocketed.

  “Someone’s in there,” she whispered.

  “Rainey?” Kevin murmured doubtfully. Whatever it was sounded big – angry.

  “We have no idea who, or what, Rohe has been keeping down here,” Brand muttered. “It could be a Kaspian. Or for all we know, it could be a fresh-made Bloodborn.”

  Kevin shuddered.

  “Bloodborn?”

  “A human made Sakai,” Brand muttered, checking the lock with the electronic key. “Bloodborn: means born-of-blood, not naturally, like most.”

  Horror lodged in Eva’s throat. “Made a Sakai?”

  Brand flicked her a glance. “The Winterbournes can do it. That is where they get their servants. At least,” he muttered, picking up the crowbar and handing it to Kevin, “that is how they used to do it in Europe.” Brand stood back from the door, hands spread wide. “Go stand at the far end of the corridor, Eva. Now.”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  The door shuddered beneath another fierce impact, and even in the darkness Eva saw the feral edge to Brand’s smile. “Do you really think that is your sister in there?”

  “We don’t need to open that door,” Eva said hastily, but edged to the end of the corridor anyway. “Do you want your knife back?”

  “Keep it. If I’m going to get one prisoner out of this place, then I’m going to take the rest of the poor bastards out with me. Kevin?”

  There was the harsh wail of pulling metal as Kevin forced the lock and the door burst open.

  Eva screamed as a dark, snarling bulk of blood tiger landed on top of Brand, biting viciously for his throat as Brand growled, “Change!”

  The thick scent of Brand’s blood filled the air, pooling, and Eva hurtled back down the corridor. “Brand!” Stark terror rose inside her, eclipsing everything else. Brand. Not Brand. No. No – no – no… Her vision flickered red.

  It was too fast, had happened too fast. Like the truck that had taken her uncle, the drain cleaner had taken her mother. She couldn’t do anything – she had to stop… “Brand!”

  Kevin seized her and Eva clawed his face.

  Like a blessing, Brand’s voice came from the floor: “Stay the knife, Eva. I’ve got the situation under control.” Then, with an edge of strained humor, “I’m not dead yet.”

  That quickly, everything went out of Eva. Rather than hold her back, Kevin had to steady her. “Brand Kade, if you ever do that to me again…” she choked off, then swallowed. “Bréanainn Kade.”

  “Mother never should have told you that name.” Then Brand’s tone altered, became harsh and deadly so the small hairs stood up on the back of Eva’s neck. “I told you once. I won’t tell you again. Change. We don’t have time for this right now. You know what I am, I know what you are. Now we’re both injured, and the Sakai will track our blood. I can get you out of here, but I won’t fight you the entire way.”

  The bronze-colored blood tiger on top of Brand gave a vicious growl. After a tense moment, it pulled away.

  Which was when Eva smelled the other Kaspian’s blood as well.

  The blood tiger backed down the corridor, fixing them all with a suspicious look from golden eyes before Changing.

  Eva gasped, almost dropping her knife as a naked man the size of a tank appeared. His torso was bleeding, a painful mess of claws and shredded flesh. “Cuzão, you broke a rib,” the man snarled, fixing his glare on Brand as he prodded at his side. “Maybe two.” Brand pulled himself to his feet before wiping blood on his jeans. He treated the man to a level look.

  “I could have done a hell of a lot more damage than that.”

  “Then why’d you stop? You the rescue committee?” The man snorted, disbelief in his tone as he took in the three of them. “How do I know you’re not one of that bitch’s people?”

  “If I were one of ‘that bitch’s people’ you’d be dead. Stop wasting time. Are there others in these cells?”

  The man gave Brand a disbelieving look, then shrugged and turned his back, stalking down the corridor. He didn’t seem to be bothered by his nakedness, or to feel the wounds Brand had gashed into his chest. And, just as apparently, he was going to leave. Eva’s desperation peaked. “Please, I’m looking for my sis…”

  “There’s a female in here,” the man snarled, not turning around. He jammed a fingertip against a cell door so hard the metal rang. “The bitch takes her out every day.” He continued moving as he jammed his finger against several other doors. “There’s a dead male in here. Enough said. A living male in here,” he continued down the corridor, “with his cub in here, and” Eva’s breath caught as the man stalked to the end of the corridor, tilted his head and carefully inhaled, as if testing the air, “another female…here. I think.” As Eva moved the flashlight away from him she saw uncertainty pull his face.

  Brand and Kevin went to work on the first door. Eva waited, breath held in hope and terror before flinching back as a thick wave of blood scent poured from the opening.

  “Rainey.” Eva ran into the cell. Kevin followed, and she shoved the flashlight into his hands. “Shine this on her, I have to see…” her sister wasn’t moving. Oh god, it’s just like the Warning. Only it’s worse – it’s real. Rainey’s thin shape was clothed in Asylum garb, and her sister was lying on the cold cement floor, her body constricted into a small knot. She was unconscious, her hair w
as matted, and she reeked of blood. I love her. I love so much. “God Rainey, don’t die,” Eva choked, touching her sister, turning her – her hand came away wet with blood. The whole floor was soaked. Eva clenched her teeth on a sob and heard Kevin curse.

  “Get it together,” Eva whispered, low and fierce, to herself. “Get it together. Just…just do this.” She whirled to Kevin. “Can you heal?” It was a stark demand. Kevin shook his head, and Eva leaned back on her heels, trying to pull Rainey’s arms away from where they were locked around her chest. “Brand!”

  He was there immediately, passing the crowbar to Kevin and pointing to the corridor. “Help him get the cub out. Then the father, then the female. In that order. I’ll be a moment.”

  Eva gripped Brand’s palm, pulling it toward her sister. “She needs healing. My ability didn’t Warn me soon enough. It should have Warned me sooner. I hate it – I hate it so much sometimes. Brand, can you…do you think…” her words dwindled.

  Brand’s eyes were barely discernable in the light of the flashlight lying on the floor. He was studying Rainey, his fingers gently checking the pulse at her neck. Eva closed her eyes as she tightened her grip on her sister.

  There was a long, tense pause, before Brand said softly, “Eva.”

  She met the gold in his gaze. “What?”

  “I’m only good for flesh wounds. She needs more.”

  Fear rose through Eva before she quickly choked it down, and Brand touched her cheek. “Don’t worry. Samuel can heal her.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Unset bones. Something with her…” Brand shook his head and swore. Viciously. “I can’t heal internals, Eva.”

  Eva licked her lips, trying to hold onto herself as she remembered Stronghold’s healer. Samuel Gaviros’s cool gaze floated into her mind. He had seemed so remote. Intimidating. But frighteningly competent.

  Brand pushed to his feet again. “We’ll take her back to Stronghold. Eva?”