by Lucinda Dark
A choked breath escaped the vampire a split second before dark cracks began to work their way up his neck and face, crawling from the holes I’d put in his chest. More specifically—his heart.
“You—holy … water?”
“Bullets,” I answered with a nod, taking a step back. “With holy water in them.”
“How … fascinating…” Strange, it seemed, to me that those were his last words as his eyes caked over with ash and the rest of his body disintegrated before me. But there was little time to dwell on it.
I headed for the car and got into the front seat, frowning when I noticed that I’d gotten into the passenger side. “Europeans,” I muttered absently as I got out and raced around to the other side. Thankfully, the car was an automatic—driving on a different side I could work with, a stick shift, I could not. I drove the vehicle around the side of the building, parked it, and killed the lights before sneaking back to the front of the building. Ash in the road could be missed, an abandoned car—not so much.
I ducked inside the entrance and found myself in a narrow space. It was a long room with plaques on the walls. Towards the center of it, a long stone coffin had been moved to reveal a set of stairs. I headed towards it and then descended the stairs without a second thought. It seemed the likeliest place for the others to have gone. My feet stopped on the third step down and my chest clenched.
I reached over and set a hand on the wall as I doubled over.
Go no further, human, if you don’t want to risk death, a voice snapped. The same voice from my dream. Sweat beads popped up along my brow and upper lip as I fought down a wave of nausea.
“Stop it,” I said through gritted teeth.
This place is cursed, the voice said. Nothing good can come from entering.
“They’re down there,” I replied. Barbie is down there. “I have to go.” The medallion beneath my shirt burned hot, so hot that I could feel it sizzling my flesh. With a jerk, I yanked the thing up and off, though I still held the tie in my grasp as I gasped and rubbed at the spot on my chest where it had rested. “Don’t fuck with me,” I hissed. “I’m going.”
Then you will need my power, the voice replied. Return the medallion to your chest and do not take it off. Even if it burns. I stared down at the thing uncertainly. Is what you told me before true? the creature asked when still I hadn’t slipped the medallion over my head once more.
“What?” Suspicion coated my tone as I narrowed my eyes on the dangling bronze coin. Several paces down the dark stairwell, fires had been lit inside small alcoves in the walls and as the coin’s face swung around, the light hit it and revealed the full image of a creature having formed against its metal surface.
Do you wish to protect your friends? he asked.
I stared at the outline of two sharp eyes watching me from the medallion’s face. “I do.”
Then take my medallion and put it over your head once more, he commanded. Let my emblem blaze against your chest and I will give you the power you sought before.
Why now? I asked internally. What has changed?
You are not afraid to kill, he said after a beat. And if you are willing to kill to protect them, perhaps, you will be worthy of my power.
The vampire I had killed, I realized. He’d seen that. Somehow, that had convinced him. I didn’t dare question it again. I slipped the medallion back over my head and placed it underneath my shirt and started off down the stairs.
The farther down I went, the hotter it burned. Every once in a while I had to stop and rest. The agony of being branded by the medallion made my palms itch to yank it off, but I knew I had to follow the creature’s commands if I wanted the power he offered. Esperanza had said there would be a sacrifice. This was nothing compared to what Barbie had offered. This was a bit of pain. I could take this. No fucking problem.
It took twice as long as it should’ve for me to descend the staircase. By the time I had reached the end, I was soaked in my own sweat. My shirt clung to my form, the neckline dampened. Sharp, hard footfalls reached my ears a moment before the creature’s voice erupted in my head.
Move! My body already was. I slammed my side into one of the many alcoves and stumbled as I fell to my knees behind a short stone statue. I looked up at it and wavered. Twin empty eye sockets stared back at me. The small statue wasn’t a statue at all, but a human skeleton resting against a low piece of stone jutting from the wall.
The footsteps stopped nearby and I jerked my head away from the skeleton towards the mouth of the alcove. There was the sound of fabric moving—of someone donning a jacket—and then a sigh. “Constantine, please send another car to pick me up. My business is done. Eloise will finish the rest. Henry is not answering his cell.” I held my breath as the footsteps continued and a figure slipped by the opening of the alcove I hid inside. A cloud of calm descended over me—obviously not my own. It was the creature’s and it slowed my heartbeat, kept me from breathing too quickly, too loudly.
The man continued farther and after several beats, only when I was sure he was truly gone did I climb out from behind the remains of human bones. I took a breath and coughed as dust assaulted me. Turning back the way the man had come from, I hurried along. Whatever the creature’s reason for protecting me, I hoped it would help me, too, when the time came to save the others.
Forty-Five
Torin
My teeth ground so tightly together that the action threatened to dislocate my jaw. Eloise's hands kept me from moving, her talons cutting into my skin. Inside, my vampire raged to be free. I could have thrown them off, tossed her aside. But then I would have to deal with what I had done.
I hadn't stopped my father as he went after her. The thought seeped through my brain, a slow acting poison that replayed the last several minutes over and over again in my head. A never ending loop. It had been too fast. He had been too fast. I knew my father was capable of truly horrific things. I knew he had not gotten to where he was, become who he was without this side of him. Yet still, I was held captive by overwhelming horror. I was stupefied.
Cruelty.
It was his power. The shadows followed him, searching him out, but cruelty was his true gift from the devil. Fragments of memories resurfaced as my gaze remained rooted to the scene before me. Barbie said something, her lips trembling with movement. I could hardly hear anything over the pounding inside my chest. Not whatever it was that she said and not what he responded with.
Eloise's hands left me then, and somehow—some way—I remained standing. Lines of blood dribbled down the side of Barbie's face—her eyes were glassy, echoing in agony and shock. Her limbs were tangled on the ground, her lower body positioned at an awkward angle that made the acid in my stomach curdle.
Mine! My vampire shredded my insides, wanting to get to her, demanding retribution for what had been done, but one look at my father as he slowly strode towards me kept the beast leashed.
Crimson irises stared down at me as he slowed to a halt at my side. "Perhaps this will teach you a lesson, son." He reached up at his elbow and began to unroll his dress shirt, rebuttoning the cuffs at his wrist as if he hadn't just broken a young girl beyond repair. As if he hadn't just ordered the death of an innocent woman. My woman. "Women are nothing but parasites. They are only useful for a time. Next time, I suggest you clean up your mess sooner rather than later. I'm sure your sister warned you of this."
Katalin. The reminder of my sister brought me back to life for a brief moment. "She's the one that told you." It wasn't a question but a statement. Yet, he answered none the less.
“Katalin is one of the few women I’ve decided to keep on my side. She is a good child. Loyal. Obedient. She knows her place.” His arm shot out, a hand clasping my throat as he lifted me into the air. "I suggest you follow her example," he said in that too-pleasant voice of his. "I do so dislike to have to repeat my lessons a second time." I flinched as his claws raked over my skin, drawing lines of blood across my throat. Just as suddenly as he
had grasped me, though, he released me and I went tumbling to the ground. "But just to make sure this lesson sinks in..."
I didn't even see it coming until my body was pressed back against a wall and my lips were already parted on a scream. Jerking my head to the side, I gaped at the stake of pure steel now wedged through my left hand—pinning me to the stone. The sharpened tip had pierced my palm and sunk directly between the stones. After a beat, my other hand was yanked up and a second one was slammed through. I grunted on impact. A snarl ripped from my chest as I struggled to tear myself free. I hadn't even seen them coming. Had no clue where he'd been hiding them.
"There we are." He smiled at me even as his words were layered in coldness. Arrius stepped back and nodded before turning away and striding towards the exit. "Enjoy the show," he called back, lifting a hand over his shoulder. "I'm sure Eloise will make it a fine one."
The bone deep chill of a vampire's madness slid through me, icing the blood in my veins. My head snapped to the side when Barbie's cry echoed near. Eloise had lifted her up by her hair and slammed her already shattered body against the wall. The woman's fangs slipped out and she grinned as she leaned closer.
No. No! My mind revolted, tore through my logic and rational self like a raging beast. I yanked on my arms, attempting to pull my hands from the stakes. Fire raced down my limbs. I mangled my tendons trying to get free, felt my bones fracturing and blood vessels rupturing as I tried to free myself.
"Barbie!" I screamed her name. "Barbie!"
Her head turned as Eloise struck, biting down into her throat. It must have hurt, but Barbie didn't even whimper. She stared back at me, her blue eyes so crystal clear that my soul itched to dive in and drown in their depths. Wave after wave crashed into me and each time they hit, it crumbled away something inside my soul. A cliff that had been saving me, keeping me sane. Rationality had allowed this to happen, though. Had I let my vampire be in charge—had I set him free long ago—perhaps this would all have been avoided. My father—my sire—was a monster who had sought to destroy me and I had tried, in vain, to keep myself human.
What was humanity, though? If it resulted in this. What was sanity, if Barbie was going to die because of it? Now. Now, it was too late. I was being stolen away and I couldn't have been happier. Because as soon as those cliffs were ruined—as soon as it was all washed away—I would be set free and calamity would fall upon my enemies.
“Torin!”
Torin was no more. I felt rage bleed into my eyes, burn out as I snarled and fought against my holds. Blood rained down my wrists and forearms.
“Torin, hold still!”
I would not hold still. I would— A familiar face appeared before me, hands gripping the pikes that had been shoved through my palms and ripping them free. Maverick. I hadn't wanted him to come, but he had. He found the other pike and pulled it free as well. As soon as both had clattered to the ground, I was on Eloise.
I ripped her clean away from Barbie, baring my fangs when she rounded on me. Maverick darted around us, his arms reaching for my mate even as I faced off with Eloise. She snarled—Barbie's blood dripping from her fangs. Her tongue licked up first one and then the other before she smiled at me.
"I didn't realize you and Maverick had become such good friends again, Torin," she hissed. "Katalin left that bit out."
I didn't answer her. When she reached for me, I captured her hand, turning it in mine. Without thought, I snapped it back, breaking the thing and listening to the symphony of her outraged and pained howl. My hand slammed into her throat, knocking her back. I took her to the ground and hovered above her as she wiggled and fought for freedom. As Barbie had struggled for hers. My other hand gripped the long blonde hair at the top of her scalp, fisting it as I pulled. Her eyes widened and then popped as I pulled—harder and harder—until her neck strained against my grip. Her skin ripped, blood oozing out of her damaged throat. Bone cracked under the pressure as I squeezed impossibly tight—tighter than any human would ever have managed. Until I felt her spine crack and splinter in my grip.
I waded through the tissue and muscle of her neck, pulling as she gurgled and grew silent when her vocal cords were rent from her. Claws raked at my skin, but soon her struggles ended. I tore her head from her body and stared down at her, numbness taking me over as her porcelain white skin began to finally decay. Cracks raced through her dead flesh and she began to ash, disintegrating into a pile of dust beneath my frame.
“Tor!” Maverick’s terrified cry drew me back from the edge of my stupor. Pivoting back, I raced to his side as he clutched Barbie against his chest. Her head lolled over his arm. Her form was limp and yielding as I reached for her and took her into my arms. “She said she can’t feel her legs,” he said. “She doesn’t—fuck, Torin!—what do we do?”
There was only one thing left to do. I turned her head my way and met her eyes. “Kill him,” she whispered. “Please kill him for me.”
“You’ll kill him yourself,” I promised her. “And I swear to you, I will be there to ensure it.”
She tried to shake her head, but it was obvious she had very little control over her body now. “I-I can’t.” She coughed and blood spewed from her mouth, coating her beautiful lips in red.
“Fuck, no … Princess … God.” I heard Maverick’s breath sawing in and out of his chest. His heart beat at triple the tempo it normally would. His sweat smelled like fear and desperation. I could relate. Everything he felt was an echo of my own emotions.
Hope was a dangerous thing, too often a lie people told themselves. I wasn’t going to give them hope. Just the truth. “Maverick.” My friend lifted his head as I spoke his name. “I’m going to kill her.”
He blinked. “You fucking what?”
Forty-Six
Barbie
There were three stages of life.
Birth
What the fuck?
Death
I never asked for the first, the second had me fucked, and I always knew the third one would come around to bite me in the ass.
Past the shock and pain of realizing I was dying, my body was starting to grow numb. In the face of stage three, I was growing … resigned. I just wanted to extract a promise from Torin. That was all. He would live a long life—he was a fucking dhampire after all. He would have the time and hopefully better durability than I had, but with that one fucking sentence, he blew that entire plan straight to hell and back.
I’m going to kill her. Nothing could have shocked me more. Not Arrius returning and deciding to kill us all, Maverick—who shouldn’t have even been there—included. Not my dead family coming back to life, popping out of the walls, and declaring the whole thing a hoax. There was literally not a damn thing in the whole world that could have surprised me more than those words falling from Torin’s mouth.
“D-don’t. You. Fucking. Dare,” I gasped out.
Strong fingers slid through the strands of my hair, directing my head onto Maverick’s lap. Torin didn’t meet my gaze as he spoke. “Hold her still.”
The desire to murder something—specifically him—grew. When I tried to move my arms and legs, I found that my lower body didn’t even budge an inch and my arms merely flopped uselessly. Fuck! Tears of frustration gathered in my eyes. “No,” I snapped. I looked up to Maverick. He was my only hope. “Don’t let him do this, Maverick,” I said. “I don’t want it. I’d rather die.”
“You’re going to turn her?” He looked up at Torin, ignoring my words.
My head turned, back one way and then the other. “No,” I rasped adamantly. “No.”
“I’m afraid I’m not giving you a choice, Sweetheart.” Torin’s voice was quiet, his eyes met mine—the brilliant burn of the red in them making my chest squeeze uncomfortably.
“I don’t want it,” I insisted. “If you do this, I’ll hate you.” I looked up at the man holding me in his lap. “Maverick, don’t let him, please. Don’t let him.”
“Barbie.” Maverick’s lips twis
ted. “You’re bleeding so much. Your legs…”
I was dying. I knew that. I didn’t care. I would rather die than accept what Torin was suggesting. I rejected it with every fiber of my being. Still, I was forced to watch as Torin raised his arm to his mouth—red eyes boring into mine as he tore into his flesh with the tips of his fangs. “Maverick?” Maverick jumped to attention, hands grasping at my head even as I tried to turn it away in a last-ditch effort to keep this horror from happening.
I pressed my lips together, glaring at him as Torin pressed his wound to my lips. Some of the red liquid spilled across my cheeks, smudging my chin and raining down into my sweat dampened hairline before Torin sighed and pinched my jaw with his free hand. He held down until agony raced up my face. Torin flicked a glance to Maverick and another hand—Mav’s—came up and pinched the bridge of my nose, cutting off my oxygen.
I winced but kept my mouth sealed until my body couldn’t take it anymore. Black and white dots flickered across my vision. My lips popped open on a gasp and rich, warm blood flooded my mouth, sliding over my tongue down the back of my throat. Maverick released my nose. I coughed, some of the blood coming back up. Torin’s fingers found my throat, massaging gently.
Fuck his gentleness! I closed my throat, but that didn’t seem to do much at all. More blood seeped inside, falling down and collecting in the pit of my stomach. The black and white dots continued to dance across my eyes. More joined in until the entire room blurred. Maverick’s face above mine grew dim. Torin’s fiery gaze wavered.
“Is … is this how you turn someone?” Maverick’s question broke the silence, his dark eyes meeting Torin’s over me. Torin responded, but my hearing was growing weak as well. It became harder and harder to keep my eyes open at all and finally, I let them shut.
Torin took his arm from mine, but soon enough it was returned. More fresh blood spilled into my open mouth. He’d reopened the wound, I realized. My limbs were sluggish, ineffective. As hard as I struggled, they refused to follow my commands. More of Torin’s blood ran over my tongue. I hated it. I hated him. But I couldn’t deny that it tasted amazing. It didn’t taste like blood at all, but like something rich and fine. Heady.
