His fingers sought the silkiness of her moist folds as he prepared her to accept him. Kathrina shuddered when she felt him probing her most intimate place. The heat was so intense that she had to gasp to get air into her lungs.
When he leaned over her, his long hair brushed against her breasts. Luciano was staring into her eyes, drawing her into his being. It was as if their souls were joining - becoming one. Then she felt that first touch of his stiff flesh against the soft lips between her legs.
Kathrina had always imagined that if he were to ever make love to her, there would be words between them, but there didn’t appear to be a need for words. His eyes seemed to speak to her, warning her that she could never again be the same woman once he had taken her.
He kissed her lips gently as he slowly entered her. There was just a moment of pain as her flesh spread to accept him. She could feel every inch of him as he moved within her, taking her to the verge of that shattering peak, but then slowing so that she never quite reached it.
She moaned, withering beneath him. “I can’t take this anymore!” she gasped.
Kathrina heard his dark laughter, and knew that when he finally allowed her to reach that moment of release, she would be forever changed.
“My sweet angel,” he whispered in her ear. “She so longs to be filled with that darkness that is her lover.”
“Yes!”
Luciano began rocking against her so hard that the bed shook, slamming against the wall. He was no longer gentle, his own need for her consuming him.
Then it happened. She experienced that first taste of sweet - explosive release. Kathrina screamed, but he quickly quieted her with a kiss. With one last thrust, he surged within her and the sensation made her tingle as she climaxed a second time.
For several minutes she could not even move. She had been drained of every ounce of energy she possessed. He was kissing her face and caressing her breasts, but it was impossible to respond.
“Was it everything that you imagined it would be?” he asked, his voice still soft with his sated desire.
Kathrina nodded. “Yes … and I want it again.”
Luciano laughed. “As do I … but not yet.” He left her side and pulled on his pants.
“Why haven’t you killed me?” she asked.
Luciano was still. Finally he looked back at her. “You’re the first woman …” His words trailed off and he became silent.
“Go on,” she urged.
“Nothing … never mind,” he told her.
Kathrina wanted to question him further, but something held her back. She wasn’t sure if it was her reluctance to shatter the moment, or fear of what he might say, but she held her tongue.
She let out a heavy sigh and changed the subject. “That thing that I told you about when I was in the hospital. What can you tell me about it?”
He gave her a sad smile. “There’s a lot that you do not know about yourself, and a lot that you don’t know about me.”
“So why don’t you tell me then?”
Luciano reached into the drawer of the bedside table and took out a book. It was the Book of Anu.
“I thought Omar had this!”
“He did, but I took it back from him. In any case, it never contained the information that he believed it did,” Luciano explained. “I finished the translation for you and added a little more.”
“And you are just going to let me have it.”
He nodded. “Just in case I never get the opportunity to tell you the story myself. I wanted it to be in my own words, and not some lies that you might hear.”
“Why wouldn’t you get the opportunity to tell me?” Kathrina didn’t like what his words were implying.
“It’s all in there Kathrina … everything that you need to know.”
“Well why can’t you just tell me?”
“I have to go away from you. If I don’t … I will be risking your life and your soul.”
Kathrina shook her head. “You can’t go. I need you now more than ever. No one believes me … and my sisters are so set on following that slayer that they won’t even listen to reason anymore.”
Luciano reached over and laid his large hand over her small one. “In that book is everything that you need to know to conquer your enemies. You don’t need me Kathrina. You are stronger than I could ever hope to be,” he told her, forcing a smile.
“No!” Kathrina jumped from the bed and wrapped the blanket around her body. “Tell me why you have to go away.”
“There are forces at work that are more powerful than you or I. You were meant to be my savior. I have known about your coming for a long time. I was meant to take your life, and when I chose not to … I guess you could say that I basically reneged. That has upset the balance.”
“So what would happen if you didn’t leave?”
“I could not promise that it wouldn’t happen eventually. But there’s more to it than that.”
Kathirna was still confused, but she said nothing as she waited for him to continue.
Before he could say anything more they were interrupted by a shrill scream nearby. They both jumped up and went for the door. When Luciano threw the door open, Kathrina felt her stomach lurch into her throat. The house and yard were crawling with vampires.
Chapter Fifteen
They were both dressed within seconds, but he stopped her just as she was ready to follow him out the door.
“Stay here!” he commanded.
“Are you kidding? My family is in that house!” Kathrina followed him out the door.
They had no sooner stepped out into the gardens behind Donavan’s house and they were surrounded by vampires. Luciano’s eyes were on fire as he hit the vampires with everything he had. While some of them fell to the ground, squirming in pain, others kept coming.
Kathrina couldn’t even begin to count how many vampires were coming at them; she just knew that there were multitudes. There wasn’t much time to contemplate the numbers. The shattering of glass and the screeching of vampires filled the night, leaving her almost numb with fear.
She wasn’t ready for this … none of them were!
There was just no way that an attack of this size would go unnoticed by neighbors, they would call the police and put officers in danger. Everyone within several blocks was in danger. Kathrina felt the responsibility weighing heavy on her shoulders.
Two vampires came at her at the same time. Instinctively she swung her leg around and kicked one to the ground, while simultaneously biting the other. The vampire’s features twisted into a mask of disbelief, just before he began to warp into something unrecognizable.
It was over quickly. The grotesque form was now no more than a crumpled mass of blood and tissue against a blanket of emerald colored grass.
Kathrina sprinted for the house with Luciano not far behind her. He had managed to reduce their numbers, but the undead were still swarming in every direction. She was forced to confront several of the creatures before she managed to get to the back door of the house.
It was locked.
Open up! It’s Kathrina!” she cried out frantically as three more vampires came at her from behind.
Turning her back to the door, Kathrina braced herself for the attack, but it never came. Before they reached her, a beast came out of the dark and knocked them to the ground. It was a big cat, and though it appeared to be a jaguar, it was larger than any she had ever seen.
The cat’s claws were ripping at the vampires. She saw the jaguar’s jaws clamp onto the throat of one of the vampires and tear it out. In the darkness she saw wolves. There were nearly as many wolves as there were vampires, but only one jaguar.
Then she remembered that Summer’s shifting abilities were that of the jaguar. Summer had brought the wolves to help them.
In the midst of the wolves she saw Dash struggling with a mutant vampire. The creature had bat wings and was wrapping them around Dash. The monster would feed on her friend, despite the fact that he was a vamp
ire. It was the very reason that a vampire became a mutant.
The door behind her opened, but she couldn’t go inside yet. She had to help Dash.
“Watch for me. I’ll be right back,” she shouted over her shoulder, not even sure who it was that she was talking to.
When Kathrina reached the mutant, she pulled at its wings with all of her strength until she managed to drag the thing away from Dash. The creature suddenly flipped around and pinned her to the ground.
“Well that was a bit a silliness.” Dash was yelling at her.
Baring her fangs, she tried to bite into the mutant’s flesh, but it had her pinned too tightly. She couldn’t move and get the leverage she needed to reach it. It hovered over her, giving Kathrina a good view of its deformed face. Its eyes were glowing blood red. Then the thing opened its mouth to reveal huge fangs - the type of fangs that belonged to monsters, not vampires.
The sharp - protruding claws on the mutant’s hands were cutting into her skin. The harder she tried to break free, the deeper they gashed her flesh. It would only be a second longer before he was tearing out her throat, but the creature suddenly howled in pain and reared its head back.
This gave her just enough movement to sink her fangs into the monster, but she never got the chance. The creature swung at its attacker and then hit the ground, already dead.
Kathrina scrambled to her feet. It was then that she saw the boy vampire on the ground, deep wounds in his chest. Before she could go to him, Luciano was at her side, pulling her toward the house.
“No!” she pulled away from him. “I have to get Chad.”
She ran to the boy’s side. His eyes were still open and she could see tears running down his cheeks. Leaning down, she picked the boy up and cradled him in her arms. He shook his head weakly, pointing toward the monster.
“Get it.” The boy’s voice was little more than a whisper.
When Kathrina turned to look at the mutant, she saw a golden sword sticking into the monster’s side.
“There’s no time,” she told him.
“I’ll get it,” Luciano yelled at her. “You just get inside.”
Kathrina ran, trying not to pay attention to the battle that was still going on around her. The wolves were tearing at the vampires, but some of them had been lost - they lay on the ground - transformed back into their human form by death.
Just as she made it to the door, it swung open and she managed to get into the house. Luciano was close behind her.
“What about Dash?” She looked out a nearby window and saw that he was slowly inching his way toward the house.
“Get ready to open it,” she told Nicole.
Her sister was still standing near the door, ready to open it as soon as Dash knocked.
At that moment there was a loud bang on the door.
“Is it Dash?” Nicole asked.
“Yes, let him in!” Kathrina screamed.
There were at least twenty vampires ready to tear Dash apart, Nicole managed to get the door open just in time, though it wasn’t as easy to close it against the onslaught of undead. It took Luciano, Dash and Nicole to get it secured.
Kathrina was a little confused. With that many vampires they could easily rip the door from its hinges and come after them, but yet they remained outside.
“Why aren’t they breaking through the door?” she asked no one in particular.
“Sarah is putting up barriers at all the entrances,” Nicole informed her.
“He’s hurt,” Kathrina told them, looking down at Chad’s pale body resting in her arms.
“He’ll pull through … he’s a vampire,” Dash told them.
Luciano shook his head. “He’s too young. It is one of the reason why turning a child is forbidden. Their cells will not regenerate like those of an adult vampire.”
Kathrina felt her throat close up and a sob escaped her lips. “We have to do something.”
Chad’s lips turned upward in a little smile. “You’re special.” His voice was hoarse so she had to listen close to hear what he was saying.
The little boy’s words brought Kathrina to the brink of black despair. She wasn’t special and she couldn’t help him.
“We have to do something!” she cried.
“There’s no time,” Nicole told her as she was running from the kitchen to the front of the house.
Kathrina followed her. When she entered the front parlor she saw that the vampires that had made it inside the house had all been destroyed, but there were many that were still outside, trying to find a way in.
Sarah was sprinkling salt around the windows and chanting a banishing spell, while her father was trying to reinforce the door. Vicky sat in the corner, and from the blank expression on her pale face it was apparent that she was in shock. Nicole’s mother was rocking back and forth, staring off into space.
Kathrina gently laid Chad on the sofa and started helping Nicole board up the broken windows.
“This won’t help for long,” she told her sister.
“I know, but it will give us some time to figure something out. The wolves have managed to keep them back, but I don’t know for how long.”
Nicole’s last words were drowned out by the sound of the front door exploding – splinters of wood flew in every direction. For just an instant there was mass confusion. Everyone was moving, but no one knew exactly what to do or where to go. Nicole’s mother was screaming so loudly that Kathrina couldn’t even think of what her next move would be.
There was a gaping hole where the front door had stood just seconds before, but it was quickly filled with a red mass. It took a minute for Kathrina to realize that what she was seeing was Omar’s robe.
Her nemesis stood in the doorway; his very presence was so stagnant and evil that he brought with him the rancid stench of hell. At least Kathrina imagined it to be a hellish odor. The sheen in Omar’s eyes was not the light of the immortal. His eyes radiated a sickly greenish - yellow color. They were not the eyes of the vampire, but the eyes of death and disease.
“Omar!” Donavan’s voiced thundered through the house.
Her uncle looked toward his brother, but there was no recognition. He reminded Kathrina of a zombie. His only purpose was to kill and consume anything in his path, unaware of all else.
“That’s Omar, but there’s something wrong with him,” Nicole whispered.
Omar turned to look at the three sisters and his mouth twisted into a vicious snarl. When he lifted his hand, Kathrina felt as if a rope was tightening around her throat, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.
Luciano stepped forward. “Let her go Omar! Take me instead.”
As quickly as it started, the feeling was gone and Kathrina was left gasping for air.
Now Omar’s grotesque eyes were fixed on Luciano. A voice came from his mouth, though he never moved his lips. “Betrayer!”
At that moment a heavy chair flew at Luciano, but he was able to avoid it. It smashed against the wall and fell to pieces on the floor.
Vicky screeched in terror, and Kathrina began praying that Omar wouldn’t notice the woman.
Omar’s attention was on Luciano. “You were to take her innocence and her life. That was your debt!” Her uncle’s voice seemed to seep into every pore of her skin, sickening her.
“Her virgin soul is so sweet … isn’t it Luciano?” Omar bellowed. “You hunger for her soul just as I do. Have you told her that you are a reaper of souls … that you send your victims to hell?”
Stunned, Kathrina stared at Luciano. He had been a part of this all along.
Kathrina felt faint as poisonous laughter filled the room. It was like everything she had ever believed had been destroyed with the vampire’s words. Luciano was as evil as Omar.
Donavan stepped in front of Kathrina to shield her. “You are not my brother!”
Again that dark - decaying laughter echoed through the room. “Your brother has willingly given up his soul. He now rots with the rest of those that ha
ve welcomed me.”
It was then that it truly sunk in that the thing that she was seeing wasn’t her uncle. It was some kind of thing living inside of her uncle’s body.
“I am here to do what you were too pathetic to do,” it roared at Luciano.
Kathrina felt someone tugging at her shirt and she stole a quick look. The boy vampire had crawled from the couch on his hands and knees and was trying to get her attention. She just hoped he had not gotten Omar’s attention as well.
“Take this,” Chad forced the words from his mouth and lifted one hand to show her the golden sword.
Kathrina took the weapon from the boy. It felt warm in her hand, as if it radiated its own energy. There was something almost magical about the sword. She remembered how the mutant had fallen dead after Chad attacked him with it. Now that she thought back to that moment, she realized that simply stabbing the creature shouldn’t have killed it.
Holding tightly to the sword, she lifted it and ran toward Omar, aiming for his throat. It plunged into him exactly where she intended. In that instant, her uncle’s face morphed into something unrecognizable as human or vampire. It almost resembled some kind of serpent.
As Omar lay dying, a thick black smoke was seeping from his mouth, nose and ears.
“Demon possession.” A frown marred her father’s handsome face.
Sarah was at the window. “They are leaving,” she told the others.
“If Omar is dead, does that mean that the demon is gone?” Nicole asked.
Luciano shook his head. “He has only left the vessel he was in at the time. He has likely been trying to possess Omar for a long time and has just managed a full possession.”
Kathrina gave Luciano a look of distain and then turned her attention to Chad. “Isn’t there anything that can be done to save him?”
Chad reached up to grab her hand, pulling her until she was bent over him. “I will go to heaven … like you said … right?” A small amount of blood was dripping from his mouth and nose.
Tears sprang to Kathrina’s eyes and she had to look away quickly so Chad wouldn’t notice.
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