"Maybe you're psychic," I answered, then regretted smart-mouthing her. I swung the door open and smiled a shark smile at both of them. "Well, it's been lovely, but I really have to be…"
The ghost turned to look at me. Her expression of despair rivaled that which I felt in Christian. Clearly here was a ghost who wanted to be Released, but who was trapped, forced to remain here, called forth by either Phillippa or Guarda and refused the deliverance she was due.
"Honoria, go to your keeper," Guarda commanded as she rose from her chair. The little ghost's eyes turned to a ratty cloth doll; then she disappeared. A little zing of hope quivered in my mind as my fingers automatically began tracing wards in the doorway behind me. "As for you, Allegra Telford, the time has come for you to understand just who you have set yourself against. Phillippa?"
The hermit nodded and slipped out the door behind me. I didn't have long; I knew Phillippa had been sent to fetch Eduardo, who was no doubt at the front of the house trying to deal with Roxy and Raphael.
Christian?
"You realize, of course, that by coming here you have given yourself into our power."
I felt his concentration as he struggled to unmake the wards on the wine vault door. I am almost through the door.
Good. I found the ghost. I should have her in a couple of minutes, but then all hell's going to break out. Can you get Sebastian out by yourself?
He frowned into my mind. I can, but acquiring the spirit is not according to our plans, Allegra. What are you hiding from me?
"We are too strong for you. It would be better if you came to us willingly, but if it is not to be"—Guarda shrugged—"we will take you by force."
I set up another level of guards in my mind between Christian and Guarda. Yeah, well, I didn't plan on falling in love with a vampire, either, but sometimes you just have to deal with what life hands you.
"Why are you torturing that poor child? Why don't you Release her? What can you possibly hope to learn from a little bitty ghost like that?" I asked Guarda, more to keep her from discovering I was talking to Christian than to hear her answers.
You are up to something, the silky, suspicious voice slid through my mind. I cannot stop now to investigate, but you will remember what you have promised. Your safety comes first.
"The poor child is a spirit, a mere memory of a human life. It has no feelings."
"You know what?" I asked, tipping my head to the side and gathering power until it glowed hot in my hands. "I think you're the one without any feelings. Which makes me regret this not at all."
Guarda frowned, falling right into my trap. "Regret what?"
I lunged forward, slamming the power held in my hands straight into her face, sending her flying backward until she hit the wall. Her head cracked painfully on a wooden shelf as she slid down, slumping in an untidy heap on the floor. I wasn't sure if it was the overload of my power shorting out hers, or being knocked unconscious that disabled her, but I didn't stop to question the situation. From somewhere on a floor below me I heard a shriek.
"Drat it all; she's got a sympathetic link to Phillippa. I might have known." I grabbed the doll keeper, stuffing it under my sweater as I spun on my good leg to race down hall toward the back stairs.
Noise erupted from the front of the house.
I hope you have that door open, because you're going to have company any second now! I warned Christian.
He didn't answer, and I didn't have the time to probe further. As I hit the second floor running, a dark shadow to my left lunged toward me. My wards glowed gold and white, allowing me to grab the banister and throw myself down the stairs without the ARMPIT flunky getting a grip on me. He was close behind me, though, panting heavily as he thundered down the stairs after me.
I flung myself off the last couple of steps, my weak leg buckling beneath me and sending me crashing painfully to the ground. The ARMPIT tripped over me, and went flying. I stumbled to my feet, holding tight to the front of my coat, the wards around me lit up in brilliant emerald. Beyond me, the door to the basement was suddenly blown off its hinges, the percussion from the blast deafening the shrieks and screams from the front of the house. I kicked at the ARMPIT as he grabbed for me, limping hard toward the back door, glancing behind me to make sure Christian was following.
A tall, handsome man with filthy dark blond hair and sunken eyes staggered from the basement. He was dressed in rags, his emaciated body thin, far too thin for any human to survive. He stumbled and clutched a chair as he tried to walk toward me.
"Sebastian?"
He looked up, his face gray and gaunt.
"Beloved," was all he said, the word a whisper so faint I hardly heard it.
"Yes, I'm Christian's Beloved," I said, limping toward him.
"No, you don't!" the ARMPIT yelled, lumbering to his feet. "That's ours! You can't have it!"
I snatched up the teakettle sitting on the counter and hurled it at his head, lacing the kettle with my last remaining dollop of power. The ARMPIT never stood a chance.
"Come on quickly; we're out of time," I said as I shoved my shoulder under Sebastian's arm and tried to hurry him toward the door. "We have to get out of here now, before the triumvirate—"
The air within the house shuddered.
"Too late." I groaned, half dragging the vampire to the door. A wave of power slammed into me, ramming me up against the counter. I struggled for breath, struggled to hold on to Sebastian as wave after wave of pain rolled through me. My wards were gone, dissolved under the strength of the triumvirate's power. Sebastian started to fall, clawing at the counter. I wrapped my hand into the shredded cloth that covered his back and fought my way through the pain to make it the last few steps to the door. I knew if I could just get us beyond the boundary of the house, the triumvirate's power would be significantly lessened. The door was warded, but I'd seen the ward before. I half held Sebastian as I untraced it, gritting my teeth against the agony that racked me, sick with the stench of demons. My strength was draining quickly, the last reserves being used to hold Sebastian up and keep me standing against the force of the triumvirate's continuous attack. With a sob that was more than a little mingled with prayer, I freed the ward and clutched at the door, dragging Sebastian through it into the black rain outside.
The windows above our heads shattered, tiny bits of glass pinging around us on the paving stones as a soundless roar of anger filled the night.
"Come on," I cried to Sebastian as I pulled him to his feet, my voice a croak of pain. "We have to get out of here."
Stumbling over what seemed like every stone, falling twice into the mud and rain-soaked grass, I managed to navigate Sebastian through the tiny garden, down the alley toward the place Raphael had left his car. Halfway there Roxy appeared out of the shadows.
"God almighty, you're covered in blood."
"Grab his other side," I said in a gasp, my breath a sharp stab in my side. "I can't hold him up much longer."
She hurried around him and took a bit of his weight, and together we got him step by painful step down the alley until we were at Raphael's car. Sebastian fell into the backseat, Roxy beneath him as she tried to pull him in. Raphael ran down the road toward us, several ARMPITs in close pursuit.
"Get in the car," he roared at me as I stood looking back down the alley.
"I can't; Christian isn't here."
"Get in the damned car!"
I shook my head and stepped away from the open door. "Christian hasn't come out yet."
Raphael can run; I'll give him that. For a big guy, he's incredibly fast on his feet. Still, the ARMPITs giving chase were angry, and that meant Raphael had no time to listen to me explain that absolutely, under no circumstances, would I leave without Christian. Instead he just picked me up and threw me into the back of the car on top of Roxy and Sebastian, lunging into the front seat and slamming his foot on the accelerator as he started the car. All three of us in the backseat were thrown backward as the car shot off, swerving arou
nd one ARMPIT as he leaped toward us.
Raphael swore and swerved again, the faint thud indicating that this ARMPIT wasn't as agile as the last.
"It's okay," he said, panting as he glanced into his rearview mirror. I hauled myself off Sebastian and turned to glare at Raphael's head. "Just winged him. He's up and running. We made it."
I turned to look back, ignoring the four people as they ran down the rain-slicked pavement after us. The house stood as silent as ever, its windows staring out into the street with dark, watchful eyes.
I slumped down into the seat, a sharp pain slicing through my heart. "No, we didn't make it. We left Christian behind."
Chapter Sixteen
Roxy had to sit on me to keep me from throwing myself out of the car every time Raphael was forced to come to a stop. I swore and thought seriously of cursing her—just a little one—but in the end Raphael and Roxy ignored my sobs and pleas and threats and drove us to Christian's home.
What Sebastian thought, I had no idea. He didn't look very lucid, and to tell the shameful truth, at that moment I didn't care what he thought, In fact, I would have been more than willing to trade him for Christian's safe return.
"Good evening, Mrs. Turner," I told Christian's housekeeper as we stood on his doorstep. "You remember Raphael and Roxy from earlier today, of course. This is a friend of Christian's." I waved toward Sebastian, apparently lying dead in Raphael's arms. "He's… um… he's not feeling very well at the moment, and Christian asked if we'd get him settled in one of the bedrooms."
Evidently Mrs. Turner's impression of Christian's eccentricities covered two near strangers appearing at the door with her employer's girlfriend and a nearly dead man, because she didn't even bat an eye as she stepped back and allowed us in. Oh, she blinked a bit once she got a good look at my eyes, but she didn't faint or run screaming from the room, so I figured we were well ahead of the game.
"Will Mr. Dante be along shortly? There is a young lady waiting to speak with him," she said as we started up the stairs.
I stopped on the first stair. "Oh, really? What sort of a young lady?"
"It's a good thing you're not denying your fate any longer," Roxy called from the top of the stairs. " 'Cause that's the most jealous 'What sort of a young ladyI I've ever heard."
"Christian has been"—torn from my side… held prisoner… forced to endure who knows how many torments—"detained. Is this something I can help with?"
Mrs. Turner looked doubtful. "The young lady said Mr. Dante had asked her to repair some damage done to a floor in the wine cellar."
The Guardian! I'd forgotten all about her. Drat, what a time for her to come and put a cork in the conduit to hell.
"If it will make you feel better, I'll have a talk with her."
Mrs. Turner didn't look as if she'd feel a whole lot better, but I guess she figured I was the lesser of two evils, because she nodded and bustled off to dust something. I limped as quickly as I could up the stairs.
"This is all I need, a Guardian hanging around just when I need to focus on saving Christian."
"You don't know that anything happened to Christian," Raphael pointed out as he carried Sebastian into Christian's bedroom.
I trailed behind, wringing my hands and wishing I could scream and yell out my frustration and worry. "Oh, sure, he's in a house filled with ghost and vampire hunters, not to mention at least one demon and a triumvirate capable of destroying any of us without breaking a sweat, and I have nothing to worry about? Cow cookies! Christian sacrificed himself for Sebastian; I just know he did. And now he's in trouble and I have to go save him. So if you don't mind setting Sebastian down on the bed, I'll get him tucked in and then be on my way to rescue the man I love." I headed for the door as the last word left my lips.
"What about him? You can't just leave him like this. Even I can tell he's not going to last much longer," Raphael said as he set Sebastian down. The Dark One lay limp and exhausted on the bed, too weak to move.
I stopped at the doorway. Blast. I knew he was going to call me on that. "He needs blood."
Roxy and Raphael looked at Sebastian doubtfully. I waved my hand toward him. "It's obvious; I can feel his hunger from here. One of you is going to have to allow him to feed."
"Feed?" Roxy yelped. "You mean… feed?'
I tsked. "It's just a little blood. Think of it as a donation to a worthy cause. Look, I don't have time to stand around explaining it to you. I have Christian to go save."
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Raphael asked as Roxy stared at Sebastian in horror. The latter moved in feeble protest under her gaze. "You barely made it out of there on your own; how do you expect to find Christian and free him—that's assuming he isn't staying there of his own free choice?"
I was across the room and in front of Raphael even before I could draw breath. "Christian is strong. He would never yield to the triumvirate. Never!"
"Not them," Sebastian whispered, his voice a frail reed of sound. I glanced down at him, the tatters of his shirt making it possible to see his ribs clearly outlined beneath the tautly stretched skin of his chest. His breathing was labored and slow, much slower than it should be. His sunken, hopeless eyes begged me for a release to his nightmare. I was torn between the need to rush out and save Christian, and helping the friend I knew meant a lot to him.
I stood next to the bed, hesitating, knowing that if I didn't do something, Sebastian would slip away. He needed help, and I couldn't turn to either Roxy or Raphael for that help. They simply did not understand.
I hope you're all right, Christian. I hope you understand that I have to do this first.
Sebastian moaned a wordless protest as I sat on the bed next to him.
"You need blood," I told him quietly, rolling up my sleeve. Roxy moved away from the bed, giving us room as I offered my wrist.
Sebastian closed his eyes, his lips thinned into a tight line.
"Come on," I said, shaking my wrist beneath his nose. "I'm offering this to you of my own free will. Please take it. Christian would want you to."
His breath hissed through his teeth.
"I want you to."
He turned his face away from my wrist.
I squished his lips apart and shoved the delicate flesh of my inner wrist up against his teeth. "For God's sake, I've never had to beg anyone to drink my blood. Now will you just take it!"
His hands fluttered against the bed. "Not you," he mumbled against my wrist. "Beloved."
"Oh, for heaven's sake…"
"What's wrong?" Roxy asked as I straightened up.
"He won't feed off me. I think it's something to do with the fact that I'm Christian's Beloved."
"Glad to know you've finally seen the light," Roxy said, then tapped her chin as she thought. "You know, I think he's right. You haven't Joined with Christian, have you?"
I shook my head.
She continued chin tapping. "That makes sense. Once a Beloved is claimed, you go into kind of a holding zone, a limbo as far as other Dark Ones are concerned. You're not Joined, so you're not a Moravian, and yet you're not quite human because you've completed all but a few steps of Joining."
"There's just the last one remaining," I admitted. "Wait a minute—what do you mean I'm not quite human?"
"According to what Christian wrote in one of his books—you really need to read them; you're sadly ignorant of even the most basic Dark One lore, and that's bound to be a handicap when you're married to one—your blood is actually like poison to any other Dark Ones."
I gaped at her. "Of all the ridiculous things I've ever heard! My blood is not poisonous!"
"Not to Christian, no, but just you dribble a bit on poor Sebastian's lips and he'll be stiffer than a three-day-dead dog."
We all looked at Sebastian. He lay so still, so lifeless he almost looked as if he were already dead. I couldn't leave him like that, I just couldn't. Not only would Christian not want his friend to suffer; I couldn't allow it. Not when there was a way to h
elp him.
"Now what will you do?" Raphael asked. I turned toward him and smiled.
He was out even before he saw the punch coming.
"What do you think you're doing?" Roxy gasped as Raphael hit the floor. She looked from his massive body to my small fist. "And more important, how did you do it?"
I grabbed one of his arms and nodded toward the other one. "Come on, help me—he won't be out for long. I used a spell to add some wallop to my punch, but it doesn't last long. I'm not very good at casting spells."
Roxy grunted as we heaved Raphael's torso up onto the bed, his head lolling next to Sebastian's thigh. I rolled up his sleeve and dragged his arm up over his head. "Dinner's served," I told Sebastian.
He looked from the wrist in front of his mouth down to the unconscious man lying half-on, half-off the bed.
"You don't have any other choice," I told him. "I realize you feel weird about dining off of someone who helped save you, but I won't force Roxy, and you turned me down. It's Raphael or nothing."
Sebastian nodded, his reluctance evident even as his lips parted.
"Raphael is going to be so pissed at you," Roxy said, her eyes wide as she watched Sebastian's fangs sink into Raphael's wrist. "I mean, majorly pissed. We're talking world-class pissed here."
"Tell him he has to take a number," I said, pulling the rag doll keeper from beneath my sweater and setting it carefully on the floor. "There are a lot of other people who were angry with me first. I might as well do this while Sebastian is filling up."
"Do what? What's that doll?"
I explained about the ghost Guarda had Summoned as I chalked out a circle.
"Wait a second, if she Summoned the ghost and bound it to a keeper, how can you do anything for her? I thought there was some rule that said first come, first served."
"There's another rule that I like better," I said as I pulled out a small pair of scissors, a length of ribbon, and the bottle of holy water. "Finders keepers."
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