Kara gracefully lifted her back to her feet. She pulled her silky, blue-and-black hair to one side, exposing her neck. “Here. You need blood,” she offered.
“No,” Rose said quickly, swaying a little on her feet. “I can’t.”
Kara frowned. “Rose, Alana fed from you, and then, I fed from you, too.” Her voice caught as she said that, and her eyes darkened hungrily, as if she wanted to do it again. She swallowed. “You’re lucky you haven’t passed out yet.”
Rose felt a wave of drowsiness sweep over her, and she had to grasp Kara’s arms just to keep herself from falling forward. “I’m fine,” she lied.
Kara snorted, “I think you might be the worst liar I’ve ever met.”
“Kallias and Erik need our help,” Rose said, her stomach turning with guilt as she said Kallias’s name. “When Alana bit me, it severed Kallias’s bond with me, but I still have my bond with him, right? As long as I don’t feed?”
Kara nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, but Rose, you need…”
“I need to find him,” Rose interrupted, “which means I can’t feed.”
Kara sighed, “I don’t like seeing you suffer.”
Rose stared at her, stunned that Kara would admit something like that.
But then, Kara’s eyes lightened, and her lips twitched upward at the edges, as if that serious confession had never happened. She stepped forward, a seductive smile curving at her lips. “I really enjoyed kissing you. Let’s do it again.”
“Uh, no,” Rose squeaked, scrambling backward out of Kara’s reach.
Kara stepped forward, her boots thudding against the stone floor. She tilted her head, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “You kissed Elise.”
“W-what?” Rose sputtered, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. She took another step back, desperate to keep as much space between them as possible, especially with the taste of Kara’s kiss still lingering in her mouth.
Kara didn’t take the hint. Instead, she pursued Rose in slow, deliberate steps. Her lips curved into an amused smile. “I tasted her on your lips.”
Rose was positive that her face would burst into flames at any moment. She took another step back, squeaking in surprise as her back hit the wall. “It was nothing, really. She just wanted to trick the guard outside. That’s all.”
Kara grinned. “Still, she’s a good kisser, isn’t she?” She took another step toward Rose, and her blood-soaked leather pants squeaked quietly as they pressed against Rose’s blue jeans. Her icy blue eyes darkened as Rose’s soft curves pressed against her. She lifted her hand and brushed her fingers over Rose’s jaw, watching as Rose’s eyes fluttered closed. “But not as good as you.”
Rose barely suppressed a moan as she felt Kara’s lips brush against hers, and her entire body ached to lean into it, to let it happen again, to feel the heat of Kara’s lips against hers, to taste the sweetness of Kara’s mouth. Just for a moment. Just one more time. “I can’t,” she said breathlessly. The desire burned so intensely inside of her that she could barely pull air into her lungs. She tilted her head back against the wall and grasped Kara’s wrist to stop her. “I…I can’t.”
Kara’s breath fell against Rose’s face as she spoke, and Rose could smell her own blood on Kara’s lips. “What can’t you do?” Kara whispered seductively.
“I can’t kiss you again. Ever,” Rose said. The words hurt as they came out of her mouth, and they just felt…wrong. “The kiss was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
To Rose’s surprise, instead of seeming disappointed, Kara actually smiled, as if Rose had said exactly what she wanted to hear. “Ah, so, kissing Elise was nothing, but kissing me,” she paused, her eyes sparkling, “that was a mistake?”
Rose frowned. “Wait…you’re happy that I called our kiss a mistake?”
“A mistake isn’t nothing,” Kara murmured. “A mistake is something.”
Rose swallowed uneasily, suddenly at a loss for words.
The sound of a door opening echoed through the empty building. Rose froze and looked up toward the ceiling as she heard the footsteps clicking softly on the floor above her. Rose felt her heart hammering against her chest, and she didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until she was absolutely sure that it wasn’t Alana.
“It’s Elise,” Kara said, her brows furrowing, “and…she’s bleeding.”
Rose shifted nervously. She glanced around at the partially-collapsed room, scowling at the lack of comfortable furniture. “Where did you sleep?”
Kara trailed her fingertips up and down Rose’s arm, staring longingly at Rose, as if she were in some kind of trance. “The floor,” she answered easily.
Rose tried to ignore the tingling desire that spread across her skin as Kara touched her. She frowned. “Alana didn’t give you anything to sleep on?”
“That surprises you?” Kara asked with a raised eyebrow. “She’s cruel.”
“Yeah, but she loves you,” Rose reminded her.
“Alana doesn’t know what love is,” Kara said dismissively.
Rose shuddered as Kara’s fingertips trailed up her neck, raising chills on her skin. “Why do you keep touching me?” she asked, frowning at Kara’s hand.
Kara blinked in surprise. “Oh. Sorry,” she mumbled. Her light blue eyes darkened with desire. “It’s the blood bond. I just…” she trailed off, and then, as if her hand had a mind of its own, she continued her path up Rose’s neck, to Rose’s face. She cupped Rose’s face with her palm, her fingers brushing against Rose’s jawline, her touch as gentle and soothing as the softest silk. “I just can’t stop touching you,” she finished. Her words came out breathless and almost inaudible, as if it hurt to say them. She tilted her head back, her eyes fluttering closed, as if some kind of intense feeling were traveling through her. Rose knew enough from her own experience with blood bonds to know exactly what Kara was feeling, and a painful wave of desire traveled through her own body at the realization. Kara opened her eyes again, pinning Rose with her intense, light blue gaze. “This is such a strong blood bond,” she growled, leaning closer to Rose.
“It is?” Rose asked breathlessly. She noticed a drop of her blood at the corner of Kara’s lips, and she lifted her hand to wipe it away with her thumb.
But before she could pull her hand away, Kara caught her wrist. Her gaze flickered briefly toward the drop of blood, and then, she dipped her head, her gaze sliding up to meet Rose’s, and licked the blood from Rose’s thumb.
Rose’s mouth fell open, and her bright, azure eyes widened.
Kara’s lips lifted into an amused smirk. “I can feel what you’re feeling.”
Rose blushed. “Please, don’t remind me of that,” she whimpered.
“Whoa,” Elise exclaimed suddenly as she stepped into the room with them, glancing around at the debris with wide, blue-gray eyes. “What on Earth happened down here? It looks like this building was hit by an earthquake.”
“A very sexy earthquake,” Kara added playfully, grinning at Rose.
“Thanks. I love being compared to a natural disaster,” Rose muttered.
Elise seemed to suddenly notice the way they were standing—so close that they were practically embracing. “Ohhh,” she said meaningfully, an excited smile curving at the edges of her lips. “Should I…uh…step out for a minute?”
“No,” Rose said, stepping away from Kara so abruptly that she fell.
Fortunately, Kara caught her before she hit the floor, casually sweeping her arm around Rose, as if she caught falling women all of the time. Kara smiled at Elise—her fangs glistening in her mouth. “Rose kissed me,” she bragged.
“Yay!” Elise exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly.
With a sullen glare, Rose straightened and extracted Kara’s arms from around her. “No, that’s not what happened. You kissed me,” she argued.
Elise laughed, “You do realize that kissing involves two people, right?”
Kara smirked at Rose. “And you were very involved.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of don’t-kiss-and-tell?” Rose hissed at Kara.
“No. It sounds like a fun game, though,” Kara said. She stepped closer to Rose, a wicked grin curving at her lips. “Do I get to kiss you again, if I play?”
Rose rolled her eyes. “In case you’ve forgotten, Alana just tried to kill us,” she sassed. “Not to mention, we have to save Kallias, the Tomb of Blood, and—at this rate—probably the entire freaking world. So, instead of sitting here talking about who kissed whom, maybe we should leave before Alana returns.”
Kara’s smile widened. “You’re so sexy.”
Rose stared blankly at her.
Elise frowned. “Wait…why do we have to save the Tomb of Blood?”
“That’s why I sent you that message,” Kara sighed, glancing at Elise. “I needed to warn you that Alana is planning to attack the Tomb of Blood tonight.”
“Oh, no,” Elise gasped, her eyes wide. “We have to warn Aaron.”
“And we have to help him defend the colony,” Kara agreed.
Rose’s nostrils flared at the sweet, warm scent of Elise’s blood, and her gaze shifted toward Elise and down to the gruesome wound in Elise’s ankle. “Oh my word. What happened to you?” she asked, her eyes widening in shock.
Elise glanced down at her ankle. “Oh. That was me, actually,” she said, wincing. She held up the battle-axe that she’d taken from Kara’s room, revealing that it was coated in her blood. “It turns out that I don’t know how to use this.”
Kara chuckled, “Give me that.”
“Gladly,” Elise said, handing over the battle-axe to Kara.
Kara slung it over her shoulder casually, as if she carried around massive battle-axes all of the time, and tilted her head toward the dagger on the floor. “Take Kirk’s dagger. He’s dead. He doesn’t need it anymore,” she told Elise.
Elise picked up the dagger, wrinkling her nose at the corpse beside it.
Kara returned to Rose, prowling like the animalistic predator she was. She leaned in close, until the scent of blood, leather, and violets filled Rose’s senses, and her lips brushed against Rose’s ear as she whispered, “Lead the way, sexy.”
Rose shuddered involuntarily. “Stop doing that,” she grumbled.
—
Rose shuddered as she felt Kara’s breath on her neck. “Uh…Kara?”
“Yes, love?” Kara murmured in her ear, inhaling deeply.
“You’re…sniffing me again,” Rose informed her, her cheeks flushing.
Kara straightened, her icy blue eyes widening, as she seemed to suddenly snap out of her daze. “Fy faen,” she cursed under her breath. “It was an accident.”
Elise watched them both with an amused smile as they walked. “That must be an awfully powerful blood bond. I’ve never seen you so affected.”
Kara dragged her hand through her hair. “It is,” she growled, veering away from Rose as they came to an opening in the trees, hoping that a little distance would help. “Out of all of the bonds I’ve had, this one is the strongest.”
Rose frowned. “What does that mean?”
Kara glanced at her, suddenly, her cornflower-blue eyes wide with alarm, her face a shade or two paler than usual. She looked like a doctor who had just realized her patient had cancer, except without the practiced poker face…which seemed strange to Rose because Rose was pretty positive that Kara’s poker face was more practiced than anyone’s. Kara forced a smile. “It’s just a coincidence.”
Elise veered closer to Rose and linked her arm through Rose’s arm. “Our dear friend, Kara, is lying,” she whispered. “It’s not a coincidence at all.”
“I’m your dear friend, but you’re snitching on me?” Kara complained.
Elise giggled at Kara. “The strength of a blood bond is based on your emotional connection with the person. The first time Kara and I shared blood, we’d just met, and I could barely feel the bond. But after we became friends, it was more intense. Every time I feed from her, it is stronger than the last time.”
Rose considered that. “Is that why my blood bond with Aaron felt so much weaker than my blood bond with Kallias?” she asked curiously.
Elise nodded. “That’s exactly why.”
“Elise reads too many romance novels,” Kara muttered.
“Says the woman with a secret poetry collection,” Elise teased.
A faint smile tugged at Kara’s lips. “When I was human, legends and poetry were our only form of storytelling,” she said defensively. “It’s nostalgia.”
Rose laughed at her defensiveness. “I’d love to see this collection.”
Kara smiled at Rose, her eyes darkening. “I’d love to show it to you.”
Elise glanced back and forth between them, her eyebrows lifting. “You two are going to suck up all the oxygen in this city with all of that sexual tension.”
Rose blushed. “There’s no sexual tension,” she muttered.
Elise exchanged a look with Kara. “You’re going to have to teach her how to lie. She’s terrible—talking about moons and no sexual tension,” she scoffed.
Kara laughed, “She is in need of my instruction, isn’t she?”
Rose suddenly gasped and reached out, pressing her hand against the trunk of the closest tree to steady herself, as overwhelming emotions rushed through her. Icy fear rushed through her veins, sending a horrifying chill down her spine, sending her heart into overdrive. Her chest felt tight. Her lungs refused to inflate and deflate. She pressed her back against the tree, gasping for breath.
Kara appeared in front of her immediately. “Rose…are you all right?”
Rose trembled involuntarily, her teeth chattering. “It’s… It’s…”
“Shhhh,” Kara whispered soothingly, lifting her hands to smooth Rose’s messy, auburn hair. “I know. I feel it, too. It’s your blood bond with Kallias.”
A spark of red flashed in Rose’s wide, terrified eyes. “Oh… Oh, no.”
“It’s Erik,” Kara explained. “He’s projecting fear, and you’re feeling it.”
“I have to find Kallias. He needs me,” Rose mumbled. “He needs me.”
“Use your blood bond to find him,” Elise suggested.
Rose glanced past Kara. Elise stood just a few feet from them, watching them with a concerned frown. “But I…I don’t know how,” she stammered.
“It’s okay,” Kara whispered, tracing the softness of Rose’s cheeks with her thumbs. “I’ll teach you how. We’ll find him, and we’ll save him. I promise.”
Rose nodded slowly, her heart pounding rapidly against her chest.
“You are connected to him,” Kara explained slowly, “and if you focus, you can feel that connection. Between his soul and yours. You can feel it here.” She rested her palm over Rose’s heart, her eyes fluttering closed as her own blood bond responded to Rose’s pulse against her skin. She leaned into Rose, exhaling shakily. “Just feel the connection for a moment. It’s like a rope, always present between you, always drawing you together. Feel it. And then…follow it.”
Rose did exactly that. Determined to save Kallias before Erik hurt him, she ran with such speed that it was as if she’d vanished right before their eyes.
Kara offered Elise an apologetic look. “I’ll come back for you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I need to feed anyway,” Elise said, holding out her bloody ankle for emphasis. “Go on. She needs you. I’ll meet you back here.”
Kara nodded. She closed her eyes, feeling the deep connection between Rose and herself, and then, just as she’d just advised Rose to do, she followed it.
—
“You’ll have to kill me,” Erik said as he tilted his head back against the pavement, increasing the distance between the blade of the dagger and his throat.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kallias muttered distractedly, staring intensely at Erik as he tried to break into his mind. “I can break Alana’s control over you.”
Erik’s lips curved into a dark, taunting smirk
. “I don’t think you can.”
“I can,” Kallias insisted indignantly. “I just need to concentrate.”
“But that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Erik said. “I’m not going to let you.”
Before Kallias could respond to that, as his brows furrowed, Erik shifted beneath him and touched Kallias’s arm. He touched it so lightly that, at first, Kallias hardly noticed it. Then, Erik used his empathic abilities to project fear.
Kallias fell back instinctually, releasing the dagger and Erik, as his body reacted to the cold, fear-induced adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream. Every muscle in his body tensed. His light brown eyes widened. His heart raced.
Erik grabbed the dagger as he raised up, and without even pausing, he shoved the blade of the dagger into Kallias’s stomach, watching as blood oozed around the blade. His green gaze shifted up, toward Kallias. “You know where this is leading,” he said desperately, as Kallias grasped his wrist and twisted it, forcing Erik to release the dagger he’d recently plunged into Kallias’s stomach. Erik grunted in pain as Kallias twisted his arm tighter and then pressed the tip of the dagger against Erik’s neck. “I won’t be able to stop until I’ve killed you.”
“I already told you,” Kallias panted, the pain bleeding into his voice. “I can break her control over you. I just need a few moments…to concentrate.”
“Can you concentrate?” Erik asked. “With that injury? It must hurt.”
Kallias narrowed his eyes at him. “Would you shut up for a minute?”
“I want you to kill me,” Erik pleaded, all of the humor fading from his expression, replaced by anxiety and fear. “The longer you wait, the more likely I am to succeed. And Kallias, if I kill you…I won’t be able to live with myself.”
“Good to know,” Kallias muttered. “Now, shut up so I can focus.”
“I can’t fight it. I want to kill you, but at the same time, I know I don’t, really,” Erik continued, frowning. “Does that make sense?” He sighed, “I can’t believe Alana would do something like this to me. This is a new low for her.”
The Tomb of Blood Page 58
