BloodWish

by Tima Maria Lacoba

  Good question, and I had a feeling I knew what Alec was about to say—his position as princeps. Would it bother me if he wasn’t princeps? Not at all. I could think of nothing better than to live an ordinary life with my husband and child—or children—away from Brethren politics.

  Alec caught my gaze before returning his attention to Dougal. ‘There’s a chance I may not be able to continue as princeps when all this is over. With the curse lifted, I might be back to post-juvenile stage, and with Luc gone, I doubt I’ll even be allowed to keep it. Marcus will probably step in and take up the princiship.’

  ‘All supposition. You have a lot of supporters, Alec.’

  Alec shrugged. ‘I never wanted to be princeps. It’ll be no loss for me. Laura and I can live a private life, and I can go back into medicine, where I belong.’

  ‘Sounds good to me.’ My thoughts strayed to the class I should have been teaching this year. A little melancholy longing took hold in my chest at just how much I missed it ... and an idea grew, one that would keep me occupied while we were here. My chest instantly lightened.

  Alec shot me a quick grin, which sent a lovely tingle all the way to my toes.

  ‘I’ll see what happens first and then decide.’

  ‘Fair enough. Let’s drink to it.’ Alec raised his goblet, and he and Dougal clinked and drained their contents.

  ‘Now, on another matter,’ Dougal wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, ‘we’ve had whiff of Brethren sniffin’ round. They can’t sense or see us, of course, thanks to the ward.’ He cocked his head and scratched the side of it. ‘Except for that time when it did vanish for a wee bit. Pretty exposed, we were. I put on an extra guard, but nothing came of it, thank providence.’

  That must’ve been the time our previous housekeeper stole Luc’s ring to give to Timur in return for immortality. It had switched off the ward for a while.

  ‘We rectified that situation, as you know.’

  ‘Aye.’ Dougal glanced in my direction, his gaze dropping to my belly. ‘We don’t want a repeat of that, especially now, so close to the end.’

  Although I was barely showing—my baby being the size of an avocado—he could hear my baby’s heartbeat as clearly as I. And being part of our clan, he knew the truth, for being Marcus’s juvy, when the time came, he too, like Kari, would have to make a choice—death or an eternity as a blood drinker.

  Alec’s arm around me tightened. ‘We’re in your hands, Dougal.’

  Dougal’s gaze darted between the two of us. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head. ‘If by my life or by my death I can serve and protect you, that I will.’ His head shot up, his piercing lavender eyes connecting with mine. ‘You and the wee bairn are safe here, m’lady Laura. This I swear.’

  My eyes misted over at the ring of sincerity in his voice. I had no doubt he would be true to his word. ‘Thank you.’

  He rose and smiled, a lock of red hair flopping roguishly half-across one eye. He really looked no older than nineteen or twenty at the most. I pitied Scotland’s females whenever he went out to feed. And he didn’t have to worry about getting in and out of the ward since he wore a green serpent ring. ‘I’m glad of the company. Been getting a bit bored with the lads. Your time here is promising to be interesting.’

  Interesting was the last thing I had in mind. ‘I just want this to be over with, and our child free of the curse.’

  He sobered. ‘Of course. I understand.’

  Kari, who’d been leaning against the table sipping from her goblet, cocked her head to the side and quietly regarded Dougal. She seemed to be particularly interested in the subtle mass of rippling muscles barely concealed by his black T-shirt.

  Could I dare hope that Jake was about to have some competition? Poor Kari had been mooning about him for months with seemingly no response from him. Dougal could be just the one to heal her broken heart. I only hoped he didn’t already have a mate.

  I sauntered over to her and lightly nudged her arm, letting my gaze slide to Dougal then back to her and I subtly cocked one eyebrow.

  She smiled, almost sheepishly, and buried her nose in the goblet.

  Yes! Goodbye Jake, hello Dougal.

  ‘Good light tonight.’ With a tilt of his chin, Alec indicated the arched windows through which a full moon shone. ‘Perfect for viewing the gravesite and monument. You up for it?’

  I sure was. ‘Lead on.’

  I’d have plenty of opportunities to see it during the day by myself, but Alec and the rest of the guys were trying to preserve their meagre stores of Ingenii blood. We’d become nocturnal again. And unless he and Jake could replicate the Ingenii gene, that’s the way it would remain. But, I’d already reconciled myself to a nocturnal existence should Alec not succeed. As long as he was by my side, I could happily be a nightbird.

  ‘Can I come too?’ Dominik eagerly grinned at us. He’d been quietly circling the room, practically nose to wall, checking out the murals but never straying far from Kari.

  I couldn’t resist an inward chuckle at his teenage crush.

  ‘Course you can, but stay close to Kari,’ Alec replied.

  Kari’s mouth dropped, her eyes and head rolling so far back that I thought she’d fall backwards. ‘Personal space, limpet,’ she hissed when Dominik sidled up next to her.

  I nearly chortled. Alec, my darling man, didn’t have a clue!

  ‘A moment.’ Dougal raced out and returned seconds later holding a plaid hooded cloak. ‘With your permission.’ He glanced at Alec before draping it over my shoulders. ‘April tends to be a wee bit nippy still. The wind’s a blowin’. Tis a lovely coat you’re wearin’, but it won’t keep out the Scottish chill.’

  I thanked him and drew it around me. I didn’t recognise the strange green plaid. ‘Is it a particular tartan?’

  ‘Aye, your family’s. Tis the D’Antonville tartan. Lord Luc had it commissioned.’

  ‘How much don’t I still know?’ Frustrated annoyance laced my tongue, yet my heart still lurched at how much time my father and I had been robbed off. Luc never got the chance to tell me everything. Everyday I seemed to learn something new.

  I rubbed the soft wool against my cheek imagining him strolling through these grounds clad in our clan kilt ... and that’s a far as that thought went. I simply couldn’t see him in a kilt.

  ‘You got to know him, darling, and the things he considered important.’ Alec pulled the hood of the cloak over my head.

  ‘I s’pose.’ A sigh escaped me.

  ‘If it’s any comfort, Luc wouldn’t’ve been seen dead in a kilt.’ Alec’s voice whispered in my mind.

  I slapped my hand over my mouth, as a laugh nearly burst from me.

  Dougal wore the clan kilt.

  Alec’s choice of words could have been more sensitive, but if his intention was to stop me from sinking into another pit of sadness then it worked, as I preferred laughter to tears any day. My poor heart see-sawed from one extreme emotion to the next, even after all these months.

  I blamed it on my raging pregnancy hormones.

  ‘That’s better.’ His fingers skimmed the edge of my jaw. ‘And now there’s one last thing to for you see. Probably the most important of all.’

  He grasped my hand, and we went out through a door at the other end of the high hall. It opened directly to an interior courtyard the size of a football field, its centre dominated by massive green mound. Not far from it stood what looked like a small colonnaded temple.

  Two steps led inside.

  This was no temple but a sepulchre.

  Torches ensconced into the rough stone walls lit the interior, casting our shadows into unearthly, twisted shapes. There were no decorations, no statues, nothing to mark the person whose remains lay here. Only a simple inscribed white stone sarcophagus.

  A strange awareness crept over me, like I was being watched, judged even. It was unnerving. I hung back.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Can’t you feel it?’

&nb
sp; Alec shook his head, furrows forming on his brow. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Like ... someone’s watching me, weighing me in the balance. It’s spooky, but it’s the only way I can describe it.’

  Dougal stepped up next to Alec. ‘She knows you’re finally here—a daughter of Rome. She’s checking you out.’

  The witch!

  Deep in my veins, my blood turned into sharp slivers of ice. I shivered. An unknown voice whispered in my mind, One who willingly bears a child to a son of Prythyn shall release the cursed ones.

  I sucked in a breath, knowing I had to respond. That everything depended on it. ‘Alec, she spoke to me.’

  He gripped my fingers more tightly. ‘What did she say?’

  I repeated the words. His eyes reflected such love and confidence in us, that it calmed my own turbulent emotions. ‘Tell her the truth, darling.’

  With hands clenched—one still holding Alec’s—I searched my heart to find the answer the witch wanted to hear.

  Then it came.

  After a deep, calming breath, I placed Alec’s hand on my belly. ‘With all my heart, I willingly bear a child to a son of Prythyn, Alec Duncan Munro ... because I love him.’

  That was it. So simple, yet my entire being—spirit, mind, body—were tied up in those few words.

  Alec leaned down and kissed me with a tender fervour that lit a fire down below. I felt his desire pressing into my thigh.

  A sigh rose from the ground and reverberated through the chamber. As we pulled apart, the inscription on the stone sarcophagus glowed. Although I’d never studied Latin, the words and the meaning burned into my mind:

  Here I lie, Eithne of the Prythyn, servant of the great goddess Melusine, whose dying lips cursed Marcus Antonius Pulcher and his men into beasts of blood and darkness. As long as the moon circles the earth, so shall this curse last until a Child of Light and Darkness willingly bears a child to one of Prythyn blood, a descendant of my house. For the child shall carry the blood of Roman and Prythyn—one race, one blood. And the child must be born where I lie.

  An intense humming filled the empty space, and the eyes of our serpent rings blazed to life bathing us with a radiant blood-red glow that swirled around us in a strange, luminous dance. The humming rose to a crescendo before slowly dying down, leaving us in silence once more, although my ears continued to ring from the magnitude of the sound. The light from the serpents’ eyes also dimmed, leaving only the glow from the torches.

  ‘Great gods, the serpents sang! She’s accepted you.’ Dougal’s eyes burned brightly. He, Kari and Dominik stood just at the entrance. ‘Of course I believed it when you told me, but ... but ... what I just saw....’ He waved his hand in our direction. ‘There’s no denying it now.’

  Next to him, both Kari and Dominik’s eyes were the size of saucers. Kari’s normally short and spikey Nordic-blonde locks seemed to stick up more than usual. ‘Whoa! That’s what I call one out of this world light-and-sound show.’

  Dominik merely nodded.

  ‘Aye, and we were privileged to see it.’ Dougal grinned and ran his arm around Kari’s shoulders, giving her a comradely hug.

  Alec remained pensive. What we’d witnessed was the beginning of the end of the curse, and its far reaching consequences for the Principate. And hopefully, if Alec was forced to step down as princeps, it would no longer be our problem.

  ‘Before this year is over, everything’s going to change, except for the Principate. That’ll remain. Only we’ll no longer be dependent on Ingenii blood.’

  ‘You’ll lose the advantage of daywalking and be like the rest of us.’ Dougal gazed long and hard at Alec. ‘Think you’ll miss it?’

  Alec gave me a sidelong glance and squeezed my hand. ‘As long as this incredible lady is by my side, I can happily face an eternity of darkness.’

  My heart melted. What woman’s wouldn’t? ‘Always.’ I wrapped my arms around his neck. ‘If you have to live in the dark, then so will I.’

  He kissed the tip of my nose. ‘Might have to if the antigen keeps evading us.’

  ‘Is that what all that equipment’s for?’ Dougal waved toward the castle.

  ‘Among other things, yes. We’re trying to replicate the Ingenii antigen, make an artificial daywalking serum.’

  Dougal whistled. ‘If you can do that, you’re a wizard, man.’

  ‘He’s already created an anti-white-oak serum,’ I proudly boasted.

  ‘Which reminds me ...’ Alec, still gripping my hand, turned and hurried down the steps and back across the courtyard. ‘Dom, get me my medical bag.’

  By the time we re-entered the high hall, Dominik was waiting for us. He’d perched himself on the edge of the table, legs swinging, one hand holding a blood-filled goblet the other Alec’s black medical bag. ‘Got it.’ He held it up.

  ‘Good lad.’ Alec opened it and removed a syringe. ‘C’mon, Dougal. Your turn to be immunised. You’re the last of us.’

  Dougal didn’t look too keen. ‘You’re gonna stick that thing into me?’

  ‘You want to be protected from white oak?’

  He gazed at the needle in Alec’s hand and ran his tongue over his lower lip ... thinking. ‘Sure, it’s only ...’

  ‘It’s okey-dokey, Dougal.’ Kari lightly punched his arm. ‘I got it too. And look at me.’ She did a little twirl. ‘I’m super-okay.’

  ‘Me too,’ Dominik piped up.

  Kari sent him a withering look.

  ‘Och, I trust Alec, there’s no question there. It’s that thing.’ He pointed to the syringe.

  It never ceased to amaze me how some big, brawny guys who probably wouldn’t flinch in the face of danger practically fainted at the sight of a needle. ‘I hate them too, but this one’s going to save your life.’

  ‘A’right. Let’s do it then.’ He proceeded to walk toward the door.

  ‘Dougal, where are you going?’ Alec stood there, utterly bewildered, syringe at the ready.

  ‘You want to do it here ... in front of the ladies?’ Dougal looked horrified.

  ‘Why not? Jake and other guys did,’ Kari told him.

  ‘They did?’ His eyes grew wide, and he shook his head. ‘Nah, I canna.’

  Kari and I exchanged a glance. What was up?

  He hesitated, then, on a sigh, ‘Ladies, don’t look. I’m not as progressive as the rest of you,’ turned his back to us and raised his kilt exposing a portion of one smooth, white butt cheek. ‘A’right, I’m ready.’

  Kari snorted and spun around, her hand over her mouth, narrowly avoiding spurting the blood from her goblet halfway across the room.

  Dominik just about fell from the table doubled over in laughter.

  I’d bit down on my lip to stop that very thing, but it was bubbling out of me, and I was sure the image of Dougal’s backside would stay with me forever.

  ‘Dougal, what are doing, man!’ Alec pulled his kilt back down. ‘In the arm, in the arm. What were you thinking!’

  He straightened up and held the kilt down, his knuckles white from the effort, face burning. ‘But ... but, isn’t that where they stick those things? I was told—’

  ‘Who told you?’

  ‘A nurse, the other night, in Dundee. I don’t know how our conversation got around to that, but I let her pratter on while I fed. She said that’s the best place to administer a hypodermic.’

  Alec roared with laughter. ‘I’m sorry, Dougal, I’m not laughing at you, but you have to see the funny side.’

  ‘Aye, I’m tryin’, but not succeeding.’ He glared at Alec. ‘So, the nurse was wrong?’

  ‘No, she wasn’t. It isn’t always necessary. A shot in the arm is just as effective.’

  Dougal smoothed his palms down the sides of his kilt. ‘Och! I’m so stupid. I should’ve asked. My deepest apologies, ladies.’

  Poor Dougal. ‘No, you’re not stupid. It’s an easy mistake to make. Besides—’ I cheekily tapped Alec’s backside ‘—you don’t have anything I’m not already acquainted wi
th.’

  Alec grinned.

  ‘Hey, I kinda like what I saw,’ Kari quipped, a shy little smile on her face, totally at odds from the exuberant, in-your-face Kari I knew.

  Things were looking interesting.

  ‘Now, let’s get this right, Dougal, shall we? Arm please, any one will do.’ Regardless of the serious tone in his voice, Alec couldn’t hide the twitch in his lips and the twinkle of laughter in his eyes. ‘The only side-effect is temporary flu-like symptoms that last about thirty minutes. After that, you’ll be safe from its effects.’

  In less than second, it was over. Dougal paled and leaned back against the table. ‘I’ve never had the flu. Is everything supposed to hurt?’

  ‘Sadly, yes.’ Alec slid one arm around Dougal’s shoulders and eased him onto the floor. ‘Dom, bring me one of those seat cushions.’ Alec placed the cushion beneath Dougal’s head. ‘Lie here till it passes. You’ll be fine.’

  Dougal groaned.

  Kari knelt next to him and took hold of his hand. ‘I got it a few weeks ago, and see, I’m good.’

  ‘Aye, lass. Tis a comfort.’

  Alec sat at the table and drew me onto his lap. ‘Now, what was that passing thought you had that frightened you?’

  I was about to answer when my phone rang. It was Madame Gilbert. The first thing that ran through my mind was that something was wrong. Why else would she call? I steeled myself. ‘Sabine, is everything okay?’

  ‘Yes, all is fine here, my lady, not to worry. But the man you told us to expect was just here, Detective Inspector Matt Sommers. He had a warrant to question you and milord.’

  A warrant? How pathetic, but still it didn’t stop my stomach from turning into a bubbling cauldron.

  Alec tensed, the smile vanishing.

  I tried to rub the tension from my forehead. ‘He’s my ex-boyfriend, and he knows exactly what happened with Jean-Philippe. There’s no need for any further questioning. He’s just being a ... nasty pain!’

  She tsked, tsked. ‘He cannot accept you choosing another.’

  ‘In a nutshell.’

  ‘So it was good I didn’t let him through the front gates, as milord suggested. We spoke through the intercom. I told him you and milord are not here, and I don’t know where you went or when you’ll be back.’