Alana rolled her eyes. “You’re just grumpy because you’re hungry.”
“You broke me, Alana,” Erik growled, “just like you break everyone.”
Alana examined her fingernails with a frown. “I need a manicure.”
“You’re so jealous of everyone else’s happiness that you have to make us all miserable along with you,” he snarled. “You’re nothing but a selfish bitch.”
She sighed, “I really want to slap you for that, but I’m trying to be nice.”
“I hate you,” he continued, “and I hate what you did to me.”
“You’re so sensitive,” Alana sneered. “I get so tired of listening to you whine about how you’ve suffered. You don’t know the meaning of the word.” She stepped forward, her dark blue eyes narrowing, as she hissed, “What were you doing when you were twelve years old? Because I was tied up in the bottom of a ship, covered in the blood of my parents. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.” She laughed bitterly. “It’s a good thing I was never as sensitive as you are.”
His eyes softened with sympathy. “Is it?” he asked softly. “Is it really good that they turned you into this? Because…sometimes I think that you and I could have been so happy together…if you had never let them harden you like this.”
The anger inside of her instantly melted. “Do you really think that?” she asked, tears glistening in her eyes. “That you would have been happy with me?”
“If you weren’t always trying to hurt me?” Erik sighed. “Of course.”
Alana wrapped her arms around herself, folding forward, as if she were suddenly in pain. She began to cry. “I don’t mean to be this way,” she sobbed.
As soon as he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks, Erik stepped forward, gathering her into his arms. He held her tightly as she cried against his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt. “I know,” he sighed as he felt the deep, emotional pain that emanated from her, his heart breaking for her all over again.
She looked up at him, studying his expression with her tear-soaked eyes. Then, she lifted her hand and held his face as she pressed her lips against his.
He kissed her slowly and gently, tasting the blood and tears on her lips.
“There are old apartments in the building next to us,” Alana said, pulling back to watch his reaction. “They’re a bit below my current standards, but I…have been in much worse…conditions…before.” She paused, her jaw tensing at the memories. She tilted her head to the side. “I know that you want me sexually.”
Erik laughed at that. “Everyone wants you sexually, Alana.”
“But,” Alana added, “if you stay, I will force you to feed from me.”
Erik sighed, “And after that? Will you force me to hurt people for you?”
“What you do after you feed,” Alana said, “is completely up to you.”
Erik laughed bitterly, “I find that hard to believe.”
Alana wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. A smile curved at her lips. “I don’t have to force you to come to my side, Erik. I have full confidence that you’ll do that on your own,” she whispered against his lips.
The blood drained from his face. “I would never betray my friends.”
“You would for me,” Alana said as she kissed him with her tear-soaked lips. She pressed her soft body against him. “So, what will it be? Will you stay?”
Erik sighed, “The right answer is obviously no.”
“I didn’t ask for the right answer,” she said. “I asked for your answer.”
Erik followed her as she took his hand and stepped backward, leading him toward the old apartment building. When they reached the door, he leaned forward and opened it for her. “This is going to be hard to explain to everyone.”
—
“I think we should go look for them,” Rose said worriedly.
“Relax, Rose,” Kallias sighed. He leaned against an angel statue that was almost as tall as him. “They’re only three minutes late. They’ll be here soon.”
“You don’t know that,” Rose insisted. “Anything could’ve happened.”
“Yes,” he said, staring blankly at her, “but if I had to guess, I would say that one of them probably got distracted by a pretty woman.” He frowned. “The weird part is…I’m not sure which one of them is more likely to have done that.”
Rose’s lips twitched in amusement. “It must be a Viking thing.”
“What must be a Viking thing?” asked a warm, familiar voice.
Rose spun around, a relieved smile spreading across her face. “Kara,” she sighed, “I was starting to worry that you and Erik had run into trouble.”
“Where is Erik?” Kallias asked, glancing at the fence behind Kara.
Rose’s smile faded as she noticed the scent of blood. It was a faint scent, sweet and appealing and powerful, and Rose frowned as she realized that she’d smelled it somewhere before. “Is that blood?” Rose mumbled as she stepped forward and reached out to touch a wet patch of fabric on Kara’s shirt. When she pulled her fingers back, blood coated her fingertips. She sniffed at the blood.
Kara smiled. “It’s not mine. But feel free to keep touching me like that.”
Heat rushed to Rose’s face as she realized that she’d just touched Kara’s stomach without even thinking about it. She opened her mouth to apologize or defend herself or…something, but the scent of the powerful, appealing blood seemed to intensify, all of the sudden, as Erik climbed over the fence. Rose’s eyes widened as she saw the amount of blood that covered Erik’s face and shirt.
Erik flashed a guilty smile at them, revealing that his teeth were covered in blood as well. “Hi, guys,” he said as he cowered behind Kara for protection.
Kallias stepped forward. “What the hell happened to you?” he gasped.
Rose sniffed at the blood on her fingers again, frowning at the appealing scent that instantly ignited her hunger. “And why does this blood smell familiar?”
Kara raised her eyebrow. “You recognize Alana’s blood?”
Rose blinked in shock. “Alana?” she repeated worriedly.
Kallias narrowed his eyes at Erik. “That blood is Alana’s?”
Erik winced. He ran his fingertip over the remnants of blood that were left on his neck. “Well, this little bit of blood here is mine,” he said evasively.
“What about the blood in your mouth?” Kallias growled.
“And…you know…everywhere else,” Rose added dryly.
“It’s…Alana’s,” Erik confirmed reluctantly.
Kallias stared at him, his brows furrowing. “You fed from Alana?”
Erik winced. “We might have done a few other things, too.”
Rose rubbed her head tiredly. “You were supposed to kill Alana, not sleep with her. But you know…” She flashed a sarcastic smile. “Close enough.”
“I tried,” Erik said defensively. He dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, wiping off some of the blood on his face. “But you know how it is.”
Rose frowned. “Not really. I’ve never accidentally not killed someone.”
“When I’m with Alana, the lines just get kind of…blurred,” Erik said.
“Between murder and sex?” Rose squeaked in disbelief.
“Besides, technically, I didn’t have sex with her,” Erik said quickly, as if that made everything better. Then, he winced and added, “I just…almost did.”
Her brows furrowed. “Define almost.”
“She forced me to feed from her. She used her telepathic control on me,” Erik said defensively. “I didn’t have a choice. As for everything we did afterward,” he paused, cringing, “I kind of did all of that out of my own volition.”
“Why?” Rose asked, frowning at him.
“I told you,” Erik sighed. “The lines get…blurred. It’s hard to explain.”
Kallias suddenly whirled on Kara. “And why didn’t you step in?”
Kara couldn’t have seemed less interested in
their conversation. When Kallias turned toward her, he found her leaning against a tall, tapered tombstone, cleaning the blood off of her dagger with a black cloth. For a moment, Kallias thought that she hadn’t heard his question, but then, she looked up at him.
“Step in…how, exactly?” Kara asked, her eyebrows lifting.
Kallias narrowed his eyes at her. “Why didn’t you kill Alana?”
She shrugged and returned to cleaning her dagger. “I was busy.”
“Busy with what?” Kallias snapped.
“That’s none of your concern,” she said simply.
Erik rolled his eyes at them. “She was unconscious, Kallias. Alana used her telepathic abilities to put Kara to sleep. There was nothing Kara could do.”
Kara didn’t respond to that, but her jaw seemed to tighten.
Kallias frowned at Erik. “Well, why didn’t she just tell me that?”
Erik sighed at his insensitivity, “I would assume that she doesn’t want to talk about it. You might not know this since you’re a telepath yourself, but it’s not easy to talk about someone controlling your mind. It can feel…humiliating.”
That just seemed to confuse Kallias more. “Why?”
Rose watched Kara as the other two talked, noticing how Kara seemed so intensely focused on her dagger, how she scrubbed at it angrily, despite her nonchalant body language. “No one likes to feel powerless,” Rose told Kallias.
Kara’s piercing blue gaze suddenly shifted up toward Rose, as if Rose’s words caught her attention. But she quickly shifted her gaze back to the dagger.
Kallias seemed to consider Rose’s point, but then, he shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. He narrowed his eyes at Kara. “I still don’t trust you,” he stated.
Kara’s lips twitched into a bitter smile. “I’m aware.”
“I don’t know how anyone could trust you,” he continued. “You’re playing both sides. You’re Aaron’s second-in-command and Alana’s lover.”
“I’m a spy,” she reminded him. “That’s what spies do.”
“You’re literally in bed with the enemy,” he added.
Kara smirked. “Only when I get bored.”
“Kallias,” Rose interrupted, scowling at him. “What is this about?”
Kallias directed his glare at Rose, then. “What I really don’t understand is how you can trust her. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie.”
Kara continued to pluck absently at the blade of her dagger, as if she couldn’t care less about what Kallias had to say. “Now, that’s an exaggeration,” she complained, a small smile on her lips. “It’s only like ninety-nine percent.”
Rose stepped between Kallias and Kara before Kallias could respond to that, hoping to calm him down before things got out of hand. “No one ever said we had to trust her,” she reminded Kallias. “We just have to work with her.”
“But you do trust her,” Kallias accused, “don’t you?”
Rose crossed her arms as a particularly icy gust of wind blew through the cemetery. She stared at Kallias, trying to understand his hostility. “I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt,” she sighed. “She saved our lives, Kallias.”
“Yeah,” Kallias said, “so that she could deliver you to Aaron.”
“I don’t believe that,” Rose said confidently. “Besides, Erik trusts her.”
“Erik is an idiot,” Kallias growled in frustration.
“Hey, the idiot is standing right here,” Erik complained.
“Yeah, I trust her,” Rose admitted finally. She shrugged, shaking her head. “I just think…after everything she’s done for us, she deserves our trust.”
“You think that?” Kallias repeated. His voice changed, became angrier, took on a bitter, mocking edge. “Did you use your genius brain to think that?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” he began harshly, stepping closer to her. “I don’t think you’re thinking at all. I think you only trust her because you’re attracted to her.”
Kara looked up from her dagger, her eyebrows lifting. An amused smile curved at her lips. “It sounds like someone is feeling threatened,” she remarked.
Rose suddenly looked pale. “I’m not…” she stammered. “I don’t…”
“Save it, Rose,” Kallias growled. “You’re a terrible liar anyway.”
Then, without giving her a chance to respond, he spun on his heel and marched back toward the mausoleum, leaving them standing in the cemetery. Rose stared after him, too stunned by the sudden accusation to chase after him.
“Well, this just got extremely awkward,” Erik muttered as he began to inch away from them. He offered Rose an awkward smile, revealing a mouthful of very bloody teeth. “I’ll talk to him. Moodiness is kind of my territory anyway.”
Rose watched as Erik darted past her, toward the mausoleum, as if he were somehow escaping the awkwardness of the moment by leaving her and Kara alone in the cemetery. Alone, Rose realized, her eyes widening. She cast a panicked glance behind her, at Kara. She started to back away. “I have to go.”
But Kara’s hand caught Rose’s arm before she could leave, and Rose had no choice but to stop and turn back toward her. Rose stared warily at Kara, noticing the curiosity and amusement that sparkled in Kara’s icy blue eyes. Kara had yet to let go of Rose’s arm. “Don’t you think we should talk about this?”
“I’d literally rather talk about anything else,” Rose informed her.
Kara smiled and leaned closer, pulling Rose against her with a gentle tug of her arm. “In that case, let’s talk about how you almost kissed me last night.”
Rose winced. “Okay, so maybe anything else was a bit of an exaggeration.”
“I know you know when I’m talking about,” Kara murmured quietly, her lips tilting into that wicked, mischievous smirk. “In the elevator, while I was holding you…I saw the way you were looking at my lips. I saw your eyes dilate.”
Rose swallowed. “I think you’re reading too much into things.”
“Oh?” Kara said, her smile deepening. Her breath fell against Rose’s lips as she whispered, “I think you’re just afraid that you’ll actually enjoy kissing me.”
Rose felt as if she’d just been doused in hot water. Kara still held Rose’s arm in her hand, and Rose could feel the length of Kara’s body brushing against her side. Her chest felt tight, as if her lungs had forgotten how to work, and her skin tingled and burned beneath Kara’s touch. Desire pulsed through her body in time with her rapid heartbeat. And with their faces angled toward each other and their lips close enough to touch, it was all-too-easy for Rose to think about how Kara’s lips would feel against hers. Her eyes widened. “I sh-should…” she stammered, clumsily pulling her arm out of Kara’s grasp, “I should go.”
Kara watched curiously as Rose ducked her head and started walking toward the mausoleum. “Why? Because you have a controlling boyfriend?”
Rose froze mid-step. She turned back toward Kara, her eyes narrowing at the strange, enigmatic vampire. “He’s not controlling,” she said defensively.
“He’s a telepath,” Kara stated, shrugging. “They’re all controlling.”
Rose shook her head. “That’s not true,” she argued. “All telepaths aren’t the same. Just like…all vampires aren’t the same. Kallias isn’t like Alana.”
A hint of emotion flashed in Kara’s light blue eyes, so briefly that Rose almost didn’t notice it. Kara looked down, watching the pebbles shift beneath her boot as she moved her foot. “You’re right,” she said. “No one is like Alana.”
Rose studied Kara with a curious frown. Kara stood in the middle of the cemetery with her arms crossed across her chest, the pale, blue moonlight highlighting the dark blue streaks in her hair. She stood with her feet shoulder-length apart and her shoulders rolled back. It was a confident stance, as always. But there was something about the softness of her eyes and the tilt of her lips that didn’t seem quite as confident. She
seemed…deflated…somehow. “What did she do to you tonight?” Rose breathed, her brows creasing with concern.
Kara’s gaze snapped back toward Rose. “What?” she asked, shocked.
Rose’s bright blue eyes softened with sympathy. “Erik’s not the only one who came back wounded tonight,” she sighed. “You just hide it better.”
For a moment, Kara just stared at her, her lips parted in surprise. But then, her jaw tightened, and she shifted her gaze away from Rose, toward the mausoleum behind Rose. She began to walk toward the mausoleum, walking past Rose without so much of a glance. Rose just watched as Kara left, listening to the soft thud of Kara’s boots against the dirt. Then, the thudding suddenly stopped. She watched as Kara froze on the steps and turned back toward her.
“You were right,” Kara said in a soft, tired tone.
Rose’s chest tightened painfully at the sight of the heartbreaking sadness that glistened in Kara’s cornflower-blue eyes. “About what?” she breathed.
“We should have never split up tonight,” Kara sighed.
—
“You actually like the Tomb of Blood, don’t you?” Alana accused.
Kara folded her arm beneath her head as she watched Alana undress. A smile curved at her lips as she watched the heavy, blue dress slide down Alana’s soft, milky-white thighs. Her own clothing lay discarded on the floor already, but she was thoroughly enjoying the view as she waited for Alana to join her in bed. “I do,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she considered the irritation that she’d heard in Alana’s voice. “Why does that bother you? You brought me here.”
“Yes,” Alana muttered irritably, “but I didn’t think you would like it.”
“It reminds me of home,” Kara said, “except…they accept me here.”
Alana finished undressing, dropping her undergarments to the floor. Her dark blue gaze shifted away as she quietly muttered, “They don’t accept me.”
Before Alana even realized that Kara had stood, she felt Kara’s body press against her, Kara’s bare breasts against her back. Kara wrapped her long arms around Alana’s waist, holding her close, as she pressed her lips against the soft, fair skin of Alana’s neck. Alana tilted her head back against Kara’s shoulder.
The Tomb of Blood Page 32
