“Of course!” Rose gasped, pretending to be horrified at the suggestion. “We wouldn’t want anyone to know that you have emotions like the rest of us!”
He scowled at her sarcasm. “How have you not been killed already?”
“I have,” she reminded him, “but even that didn’t change my attitude.”
Aaron sighed, staring down at the black, marble floor beneath his tennis shoes. “I didn’t go above ground often, even then. I had no reason to leave. Most of my work was down here. But I became hungry and restless one night, so I decided to…indulge,” he explained. His dark gaze shifted up to meet hers. “I assume you know what happens when vampires consume too much blood.”
She nodded as she remembered the two intoxicated vampires that she and Kallias had encountered back when she was still human. “It intoxicates us.”
“Yes, and it becomes harder and harder to stop feeding,” he confirmed. “I killed a lot of people that night,” he said with no hint of remorse. “Late into the night, I had broken into this one home, and I’d drained the husband and wife, and then their children. Their adult children, of course. I don’t kill kids…”
“Interesting,” Rose commented.
He scowled at her. “Don’t do that,” he muttered. “Anyway, I had killed everyone in the house, and yet, I could still hear a heartbeat. I could still smell a living human. I followed that scent, and I found Alana…outside…in the barn.”
Rose’s brows creased with sympathy. “They kept her outside?”
“With the animals,” Aaron growled, his eyes flashing with anger at the mere memory of it. He laughed bitterly. “Except the animals had it better than she did. The animals weren’t chained up, and they at least had fur to keep them warm. Alana, on the other hand, was chained up in the corner…and naked.”
“That’s horrible,” Rose breathed, her chest tightening painfully.
“It’s not as if I had never seen a slave before,” Aaron muttered. “I was well-aware of how slaves were treated. But I had never seen anything like that.”
“You felt sympathy for her,” Rose realized.
His dark gaze shifted toward her. “I felt…disgusted…by what they did to her,” he admitted uncomfortably. “She had bruises all over her thighs. Her…”
Rose suddenly tensed up—a fact that did not go unnoticed by Aaron.
He tilted his head to the side, analyzing her with his cold, unfeeling, black eyes. “Is this too difficult a subject for you to discuss?” he asked curiously.
She looked away, clenching her jaw. “It’s just…hard for me to discuss rape…or sexual assault,” she whispered. “Please, don’t read too much into that.”
“Sorry. Turnabout’s fair play, sweetheart,” he said unsympathetically.
Rose looked at him. “Right,” she sighed.
He leaned back in the chair, resting his hands in his lap. “What happened to you?” he asked curiously, as if he were merely asking about her favorite color.
Her bright blue eyes narrowed at him. “Do you really think I’d want to talk to an emotionally-sterile jerk like you about something that traumatized me?”
Aaron nodded, as if to acknowledge that he deserved that insult. “However emotionally-sterile I might be,” he paused, sighing heavily, “I did have a daughter once. And a wife.” He looked away, and for a few moments, he didn’t speak. Then, he said, “Sexual assault is a terrible, disgusting thing. Even to me.”
Rose just stared at him, a surprised smile forming at the edges of her lips. “Is that your way of saying that you’re sorry for what happened to me?”
His dark gaze shifted toward her. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I suppose it is.”
“Well, in that case,” she said, offering him a weak smile, “thank you.”
He exhaled slowly, “So, when I found Alana, I unchained her. I told her to go, that she was free now, but she wouldn’t leave. She begged me to kill her.”
Rose frowned at that. “Why didn’t she want to leave?”
Aaron shrugged sadly. “Because someone like Alana—so meek, small, beautiful, and completely untrained in combat—wouldn’t have made it through the night. She would have been captured and enslaved again before morning.”
“And she preferred death?” Rose assumed.
“Wouldn’t you?” he said. “They beat her, raped her, starved her…”
Rose shifted uneasily. “Yeah. I can see how death would be preferable.”
Aaron continued, “She started unbuttoning my trousers, kissing me…”
“Uh,” Rose muttered awkwardly, “I don’t need every detail, you know.”
He ignored her interruption. “That was all Alana knew—using her body to barter for what she needed. It was how she’d gotten water, food, blankets…”
Rose nodded in understanding. “That explains why she is the way she is now. She uses sex to manipulate people because it’s what she’s always done.”
Aaron shrugged. “It’s always worked for her. Why would she stop?”
“But you didn’t,” Rose asked uneasily, “did you?”
He crossed his arms and rocked back in the chair. “Are you asking if I fucked Alana?” he asked bluntly. He shrugged. “She was beautiful and willing.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And vulnerable. And scared.”
“I offered her something better than death: the ability to protect herself. As a vampire, no one would be able to hurt her,” Aaron explained. “I drained her of blood, and then, I turned her into a vampire. I made her powerful.”
“But maybe a little more powerful than you meant to,” Rose guessed.
He nodded. “I could taste the power in her blood, but I had no way of predicting that she would be a telepath. If I’d known that, I would have left her dead,” he said unapologetically. “What I should have predicted, on the other hand, is her insanity. After the life that she’d lived, I should’ve expected that she’d be completely unhinged. That mistake will haunt me for the rest of eternity.”
Rose dropped her gaze to her hands, where they lay entangled in her lap. Despite her attempt to appear otherwise, she still felt extremely weak and could barely move any part of her body, including her hands. “You can’t assume that,” she sighed. “No one is defined by what happened to them. Some people go through terrible things and come out stronger and more compassionate.”
“But if I had assumed that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” he pointed out.
She looked at him, her brows creasing in frustration. “It doesn’t matter,” she insisted. “You showed her compassion. Compassion, by its very nature, is good. No matter what became of it, the fact that you felt compassion was good.”
“Is it still good when it results in the deaths of millions?” he sneered.
“Yes,” Rose said, unflinching under his condescending glare. “You can’t control what other people do. You can only control what you do—whether you do the right thing or not. Feeling compassion is always the right thing to do.”
“Is that what you tell yourself?” Aaron asked, a cruel smile pulling at the corners of your lips. “Is that how you justify all of your irrational decisions?”
“What irrational decisions?” she asked irritably.
“The hole in your chest is the result of one of them,” he informed her.
She shrugged, tensing as that caused a terrible wave of pain to burn throughout her body. “I will never regret caring about someone,” she stated.
“Your compassion will get you killed,” Aaron told her.
“A small price to pay for doing the right thing,” Rose said easily.
Aaron laughed—it was a bitter, condescending laugh, meant to make her feel foolish and inferior. “Lose the martyr complex, Rose. It’s annoying.”
For few moments, Rose didn’t respond. She just watched as Aaron stood and started walking toward the door. But as he prepared to leave, his hand on the doorknob, Rose called out, “It’s awfully lonely at the top, isn’t it, Aaron?”
—
Alana waited at the door for several minutes after Erik left, until she saw him turn the corner, disappearing from sight. Then, finally, she turned to face the vampire that stood behind the staircase. He waited patiently, his hands folded in front of him, his tall body cloaked in shadows. “Bring her to me,” she said.
He nodded and disappeared into the hallway. Within seconds, he returned with six more vampires—five men and one woman. The men shoved the woman into the foyer, forcing her to her knees in front of Alana. She growled lowly, her blue eyes flashing with anger beneath a curtain of black-and-blue hair.
Alana stepped forward, closer to the woman, and smiled. “Hello, Kara.”
“Be careful, my lady,” one of the men warned. “She’s dangerous. It took thirty of our vampires to subdue her, and she killed forty of us before we could.”
Alana giggled at that. “Oh, I know exactly how dangerous she is. I always loved that about her,” she murmured, a seductive smile curving at her lips.
Kara tilted her head back to look up at Alana. A few strands of her straight, blue-and-black hair fell behind her shoulders when she lifted her chin, but most of it remained in her face, disheveled from the fight. The hair shielded her face slightly, but not enough to hide the dried blood that stained her face or the partially-healed wounds on her lips, eyes, nose, cheeks, and neck. Her normally alabaster-colored skin currently looked reddish-purple from the blood and the bruises. And yet, she stared up at Alana with her light blue eyes narrowed and her chin high, her body language exuding complete and total confidence.
Alana bent slightly to push Kara’s disheveled hair out of her face, but the moment her hand brushed Kara’s cheek, Kara turned, snarling like an animal, and tried to sink her fangs into Alana’s arm. The five vampires that held Kara jerked her backward, nearly causing her to fall flat onto her back, but she jerked against them, trying to launch herself forward, toward Alana. Taken by surprise, Alana stepped back, but then, she laughed and chided, “Someone is pissed off.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Kara growled, baring her fangs at the vampires.
“Ah, come on,” Alana said, tucking a lock of pale blonde hair behind her ear. “You broke into my home. You must have known this would happen.”
“I came for Erik,” Kara snarled. “What did you do to him?”
Alana smiled seductively. “Lots of things. He enjoyed all of them.”
Kara rolled her eyes at the typical answer. “Did you control his mind?”
Alana shrugged. “I may have made a few tiny adjustments.”
Kara’s brows creased with worry. “What have you done?”
“Why do you say it like that?” Alana laughed. She stepped forward, her lacy, white dress swaying around her petite figure. “You say it as if I’ve done something terrible, but I haven’t. Not yet. Not to you and not to Erik. I would never hurt either of you. Don’t you understand that? I’m trying to protect you.”
“Protect us from what?” Kara asked, her brows furrowing.
Alana took another step toward Kara, but as soon as she did, Kara jerked against the vampires holding her, launching her body toward Alana. Kara groaned in pain as the vampires managed to jerk her backward again. Alana took another step forward, ignoring Kara’s attempt to attack her. Her dark blue eyes narrowed. “Stop attacking me,” she commanded, taking control of Kara’s mind.
Kara’s body instantly relaxed. When she realized that she couldn’t even attempt to attack Alana again, she rolled her eyes. “Damn it,” she complained.
Alana stepped closer to the now subdued Kara. “It’s okay. You can let go of her now,” she told the other vampires. She flashed a sickeningly sweet smile at Kara. “She can’t attack me now. Not until I withdraw the command.”
Kara narrowed her eyes at Alana. “You’re such a coward,” she snarled.
“Now, now, darling,” Alana chided, a seductive smile curling at her lips, as she took another step toward Kara. “Save the name-calling for the bedroom.”
Kara just continued to glower at Alana, even after the vampires released her arms. She slowly climbed to her feet, staggering a little because of her injuries.
Alana swept her gaze up and down Kara’s body. “Aww, my poor baby is hurt,” she cooed. “If you play nice, maybe I’ll give you some of my blood.”
“I’d rather suffer,” Kara said slowly, “than ask you for anything.”
“Kara Unnarsdóttir never goes down without a fight, right?” Alana said with a smile. “I hate to break it to you, love, but you’ve already lost the fight.”
“If you really want me to stop fighting, you’ll have to kill me,” Kara said.
Alana sighed, “I can’t kill the woman I love.” She brushed Kara’s dark, silky hair out of her face with the back of her hand, and then, she leaned forward, her lips brushing against Kara’s bruised, swollen lips, and whispered, “Kiss me.”
“Are you going to command me to do that, too?” Kara snarled.
Alana pulled back, shocked by Kara’s hostility. Pain flashed in her dark blue eyes as she asked, “Do I have to?” She tried again, leaning in and tilting her face toward Kara’s face, but before she could press her lips against Kara’s lips, Kara turned her face away. Alana stepped back, her brows furrowing as she tried to understand what just happened. For a moment, she just stared at Kara, but then, her eyes narrowed. She took control of Kara’s mind and hissed, “Kiss me.”
Unable to resist Alana’s telepathic command, Kara stepped forward and kissed Alana, wincing as her bruised lips burned and stung from the pressure. It was all too easy to lose herself in the kiss, to forget that even though she did love this woman, she also hated her. She cradled Alana’s face in her hands as she deepened the kiss. Alana’s mouth tasted of vampire blood, and her tongue felt warm and gentle as it moved against Kara’s. Kara hated how comfortable and familiar it felt when she kissed Alana, and she hated the pain and betrayal that tore at her chest. “What next?” she growled, her words vibrating with a potent, dangerous rage. “Will you force me to have sex with you now? You’re already practically indistinguishable from the monsters that turned you into this. I want to know just how low you’ll sink. Is there anything that’s too far for you now?”
Alana pulled back, stunned by the harshness of Kara’s words. Her face contorted, as if she’d been slapped, and her dark blue eyes glistened. She licked her lips and looked away, her pale blonde hair falling over her face. “Take her into the city, and lock her up there,” she told the vampires. When she looked back up at Kara, the pain in her expression had vanished, replaced by coldness. “Since she doesn’t want to be treated like my lover, I’ll treat her like a prisoner.”
“You might as well,” Kara said. “It’s all I’ve ever been to you anyway.”
Alana shook her head. “Why don’t you understand? I am protecting you. I wanted you by my side tomorrow night, but since you insist on staying at the Tomb of Blood and fighting for Aaron, this is the only way to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?” Kara asked. “What are you going to do?”
Alana smiled. “After tomorrow night, I will be all you have left.”
Kara paled in horror. “You’re going to destroy the Tomb of Blood?”
“And there is nothing you can do to save it,” Alana assured her.
“But why?” Kara asked breathlessly, horrified by the information.
Alana shrugged her bare, delicate shoulders. “It’s step one of the plan.”
“And step two?” Kara prompted, almost afraid to ask.
Alana smiled. “War.”
Kara stumbled backward as a couple of the vampires helping Alana pulled harshly at her arms, preparing to take her away—into the city, apparently. “Wait,” she growled. She looked back at Alana. “What if I did help you? What if I fight by your side tomorrow, like you want? In exchange for something…”
&
nbsp; Alana lifted her eyebrows. “I’m listening.”
Kara straightened, despite the painful pressure on her arms. She lifted her chin. “When you attack the Tomb of Blood, I want you to spare someone.”
Alana smiled, pleased by Kara’s change in attitude. “Who?”
Kara didn’t even hesitate. “Rose Foster.”
—
“So, how did it go?” Rose asked when Kallias returned to the room.
Kallias froze in the doorway, his brown eyes widening in surprise, as he turned to look at her. His gaze swept up and down her bandaged body, taking in the fact that she was sitting upright on the bed with a seven-hundred-page novel lying open in her lap. He closed the door. “I see you’ve been busy,” he laughed.
Rose glanced down at the novel. “Oh, this?” she said, closing it. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I was actually on page two before the night even started.”
“And now?” Kallias asked as he walked over to the bed.
She winced. “Page 689?” she answered hesitantly.
He snorted at that. “How?” he said as he knelt beside the bed.
She raised an eyebrow. “What? You think this is my first time? I’m not a virgin,” she scoffed. “Wait…I am, aren’t I? In the literal sense of the word. I’m not a reading-a-humongous-book-in-one-night virgin. There. That’s more accurate.”
He suppressed a laugh at her strange rambling. “Not the book,” he corrected. “I mean: how are you sitting up right now? How are you healing?”
“Kara brought a doctor to see me—a human doctor. She gave me medicine…through her blood,” she explained nervously. Her gaze shifted down to the pulsing artery in his neck, and her mouth watered. “I think the medicine gave my body the push it needed in order to start healing. I feel stronger now.”
“Kara did that?” he asked, unable to hide the hint of unease in his voice.
Rose watched him, her brows furrowing. “Does that bother you?”
“Of course not,” he said. “I’m relieved that you’re finally getting better.”
The Tomb of Blood Page 48
