‘Here.’ Jake pulled out two swords from under a table and threw one to Alec.
He caught it and strapped it on. ‘I half expected this ... but still, I was hoping the green ring wasn’t tied to the witch’s one.’
‘Luc had never been clear on that.’ Jake stripped out of his scrubs and into leather pants and a grey long-sleeved T-shirt. ‘Kept it to himself.’
Alec helped me rise from my makeshift bed. My legs were wobbly, but I could stand.
‘Kari, the baby bag.’ I pointed to the rucksack on one of the tables. We’d trawled scores of baby websites ordering everything online in preparation for the day. Dougal’s men had been running relays to collect our deliveries from a post box address in Stirling. Only a few days ago we’d packed the rucksack and left it here in readiness. ‘Take out a nappy, blanket and cap. Sophie has to be rugged up before being taken out into the cold. You’ll have to do it.’
We’d both spent endless hours practicing on dolls, so we knew how to put on a nappy and bath and dress a baby. She’d taken such pleasure in it and had done it so well that I had absolute confidence placing my baby into her care.
Sophie whimpered, her sweet little face scrunched up in protest when I laid her down between my feet and Kari expertly bundled her up.
Jake and Dominik stood guard at the entrance while Alec helped me dress. Kari placed Sophie back into my arms. Alec scooped me up, kissed my brow, and we stepped into the frigid night air. A light drizzle fell.
‘Dom, stay behind me,’ Alec said, as the boy whipped ahead to fall in line with Kari and Jake. I knew Dom’s behavior annoyed the heck out of her and I couldn’t stop an inward smile.
The large timber back doors were ahead. Just a few more metres and we’d be in the warmth of the high hall where a cosy fire awaited.
Shouts came from outside the walls, followed by the whoosh of massive wings. Dougal, Marcus, and the rest of the men ran into the courtyard, throwing nets up high. Kari sniffed the air ... and snarled. From the dark, claws descended throwing men violently aside.
The lamia! My stomach dropped. I clutched my baby closer. Only a couple more steps and we’d be safe.
With a sickening thud, the lamia landed in front of us. Massive outstretched leather wings blocked out the light ... and our escape. Its yellowy eyes homed in on me and my baby. An evil grin lit up its ugly face.
My heart pounded. I groped for my dagger with shaking hands. Where was it? I never went anywhere without it. It was always at my waist. But the belt had become too tight as my pregnancy developed. And since we were so protected here, I didn’t see the need to wear it. I’d left it hanging in my closet.
Damn it!
‘Ya fiend from hell! Go back there,’ Dougal shouted and fired off a crossbow. The arrow embedded in the lamia’s leathery wing.
The attached net spread out over half the creature’s body but not enough to bring it down. Its claws tore it to shreds. Several other pieces of netting clung to its other wing and one of its legs.
‘Jake, it’s useless!’ Alec yelled as Jake stabbed at the lamia with his sword. ‘Get back to the sepulchre.’ With me in his arms, Alec turned. Dodging the scrambling men, he made for the relative safety of the witch’s tomb.
Over Alec’s shoulder, I watched horrified as the lamia swept men out of its path like they were mere toys. Some it pierced with its venomous claws, treading on the men as they lay screaming.
Those poor men!
I caught my breath as it narrowly missed Terens, who rolled out of the way.
It rose into the air and landed in front of the tomb entrance just as we reached the steps. It stabbed one wing tip into the ground on our left, the other to our right.
We were hemmed in.
Fear for my baby made my heart race until I was almost nauseous.
With me in his arms, Alec was helpless, his sword swinging unused at his side.
I wanted to scream, and to have the strength to stand on my own so Alec wasn’t hampered by me.
But wishing wouldn’t make it so.
Grim faced, he took a step back, the creature’s incredible stench overpowering, like a thousand rotting corpses left out in the midday sun.
The shouts, yells and screams set off Sophie, who began to cry. ‘Ssshhh, it’s all right, sweetheart.’ I prayed with all my heart while I tried rocking her back to calm, my arms trembling.
How I wished for my blood to still be toxic. I wouldn’t have hesitated in slicing open my hand and ramming it into the creature’s belly. But to my horror, a thick layer of overlapping scales protected its only vulnerable spot. It had come prepared.
Jake and Kari jumped in front to shield us. Dominik tried his best to look brave. His lip quivered as he clung to Alec’s side.
Alec spun around just as Terens ran toward us. ‘Take her! Get them out of this! Dom, go with them. That’s an order.’
What?
‘I love you.’ He kissed me, and in the space of a blink I found myself in Terens’s arms being carried to the other end of the courtyard and away from danger. Dominik, eyes wide with terror, sprinted at Jake’s heels.
‘No! Take me back.’
‘You and the baby come first, pet.’
My mind went blank at what Alec had done. I knew he was saving us by risking his own life. But I simply couldn’t fathom existing in a world without him. And yet, as I looked into our baby’s eyes—her father’s eyes—the full weight of my responsibility bore down on me. She needed at least one of us alive ... or so I tried to convince myself.
‘Terens, stop. Please. I can’t be away from him now. He’s my husband. I need to be here ... near him.
Terens sighed and slowed to a halt. The easy-going and brash, almost lackadaisical, confidence he normally exuded was gone. For the first time, I saw indecision, and a pained expression crossed his face. ‘We can’t lose you or the baby. That thing’ —he jerked his chin in the direction of the battle taking place— ‘is unstoppable, and it wants to wipe out Marcus’s entire line. I can’t ... won’t let that happen.’
‘You stopped it once before.’
‘We used Ingenii blood back then. Smeared our swords with it, same as we did with yours. It weakened them enough to capture and cage the smelly devils. It’s your blood that kills ... used to kill.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s all gone now, pet. Not a drop left anywhere.’
I looked back to where the men fought the beast, my gaze glued to Alec. He and Marcus had just succeeded in throwing another net over it, and another, and another, bagging the lamia within it. But each time, the razor-sharp claws would slice through, and it would be free again.
Please, please, please, let him live. I sent up the silent prayer.
A lone figure broke away from the others.
Kari.
She ran to us. ‘They told me you look after you. So here I am. They’ll take care of Old Stinky.’ Although she sounded confident, the slight tremor in her voice betrayed her fear for Jake, and the way her eyes strayed back to him, I knew I was right.
Dominik sprang to her side, looking up at her like a lost puppy.
So Jake did the same as Alec. He more than cared for Kari.
‘I’m glad you’re with me, Kari, because—’ A strange figure caught my eye. An old man had just appeared, wielding a sword of his own. He took something from his pocket and ... inhaled. ‘Who is that?’
Terens and Kari looked where I pointed. Terens snarled. ‘Pazu!’ He tensed and took a step forward, then checked himself. Responsible for me and the baby, he couldn’t go anywhere near the battle.
We stood there helplessly and watched as the man entered the skirmish. Then the unthinkable happened. Time slowed till everything appeared in horrendous slow motion.
Alec turned, momentarily distracted by the Pazu’s presence.
‘Alec, watch out!’ I cried out.
The lamia lunged toward him, claws outstretched. Alec turned back and ducked.
But it was too late. The venomous
claws tore into him. He dropped his sword, doubled over and fell to the ground.
I screamed.
Startled, Sophie wailed.
Kari yelled something, but all I heard was the sound of my own voice as my world collapsed. ‘Take me to him! Take me to him!’ I struggled in Terens’s arms as my baby cried and kicked in mine. I wanted to be with Alec, even if it meant dragging my body along the ground to be by his side.
Through blurred vision, I saw Jake lift Alec’s limp body and carry it from the fray.
With my heart almost torn to pieces, I knew what I had to do. ‘Kari, take Sophie. Take her to safety. Please, do it for me. I have to be with Alec.’ Before she could protest, I kissed my precious babe. ‘Mummy loves you very much.’ I handed her into Kari’s arms. ‘Go now, before I break.’
Mouth trembling and face streaked with tears, Kari hugged my neck. Then with my baby safely tucked to her breast, she sped away, Sophie’s cries fading until I could hear no more. I closed my eyes as my heart splintered.
‘Dom, go with Kari,’ Terens said. ‘Protect them both.’
Dominik didn’t need to be told twice. His footsteps crunched on gravel as he sprinted after her.
‘I’ll take you to him.’ Terens’s voice wavered, his chest rising and falling as he grappled with his own emotions.
As we neared where Jake knelt next to Alec, the lamia broke free from another blanket of nets. The elderly Pazu stood tall before the creature, who backed away from the sword pointed at it. It snapped at him but continued to back away, as did Dougal’s men.
The amazing power of the Pazu sword.
‘He’s alive ... just.’ Jake glanced up at us, his face pale, mouth streaked with blood as he tried sucking the venom from Alec’s body. But there were too many claw points. ‘I’m losing him, and there are no blood vials left.’
‘Put me down.’ Terens gently lowered me to my husband’s side.
Alec’s face was deathly white; his eyes were closed. No breath came from him. It was only a matter of time and... I couldn’t finish that thought.
With shaking hands, I smoothed the hair from his brow and kissed the smooth skin, his cheeks and his mouth, the memory of our short time together tearing me apart. I brought his hand up to my lips, caressing and kissing each finger as my tears splashed down. The ache in my breast grew and consumed me, spreading through every nerve and fibre of my being, until all I knew was pain.
I clutched my breast. As I squeezed the woolen fabric, my fingers touched something hard beneath.
The blood vial!
How could I have forgotten?
It had the power to bestow life and immortality on any who drank from it. Luc had meant for me to use it if I became human after lifting the curse while Alec remained immortal. But what was immortality to me if the man I loved was dead? To face the ages alone, never to see his beloved face again, to hear his laughter or feel his touch? Immortality at such a price was no better than a living death.
I ripped the vial from around my neck and held it up.
‘Take it, and give it to him!’
Understanding dawned on his face. ‘That’s meant for you.’
‘Not without him.’
‘Laura, do you know what you’re doing? You’re giving up your immortality.’
‘Wouldn’t you do it for someone you love if it meant saving their life?’
Jake studied me for a few seconds. Then his face softened, and he gave me a nod. ‘Quickly then.’ He tipped Alec’s head back, and with my heart racing and my blood thundering in my ears, I unstoppered the tiny bottle and emptied the contents down Alec’s throat.
Live, my love, live. Come back to me.
I clutched his hand. Cold, so cold. How long would it be before the blood vial worked? Or had I left it too late?
‘Please, Alec, wake up. Don’t leave me.’ I brought his hand up to my cheek.
Time stopped.
One finger twitched, and my heart flipped.
Then the other twitched, and soon he was squeezing my hand.
A strange combination of relief, joy and laughter bubbled up from within me. And when his eyes opened and he smiled at me, all of those emotions came out at once. Barely able to see through my tears, I dropped my head to his chest and let them take me over.
Alec’s arms enveloped me, holding me close to his heart as if he never wanted to let go.
I didn’t want him to. Ever.
‘You gave me your blood vial; didn’t you?’
I nodded.
‘Laura, my darling—’
I put my hand over his mouth. ‘Don’t say it. I don’t regret it, and I never will.’
He crushed me to him, but the next instant, he was holding me at arms length, his eyes wide with concern. ‘Where’s Sophie? Is she—’
‘She’s fine. I asked Kari to keep her safe.’
From behind us, a shout cut through the night followed by the strangled screams of a creature in pain. Amid the dead and dying Brethren, the old man stood alone, the sword at his side dripping with blood. At his feet lay the lamia’s body, it’s head some metres away, its cold, lifeless eyes staring into nothingness.
The elderly man started to cough, bent over and fell to his knees.
Marcus tried to go to him, but he doubled over and stumbled backwards.
‘Don’t know if he means to kill us too. As long as he’s holding the Pazu sword, we can’t get near him,’ Jake said.
‘He doesn’t look in any condition for another fight.’ Alec rose and lifted me as my legs were still too weak.
‘Stay here. Don’t even think about going near that guy.’ Jake grabbed Alec by the upper arm. ‘We nearly lost you. I’m not letting that happen again.’ Jake glanced at me. ‘Laura, keep him here.’
‘You bet I will!’ I tightened my arms around Alec’s neck.
A strange shimmering light appeared and hovered above the witch’s tomb. It stopped Jake in his tracks. The light slowly made its way toward us. Within, I could vaguely see a human outline. Oddly, I felt no fear. More curiosity.
The strange apparition neared. It stopped in front of Alec and me and coalesced into a beautiful female form in an ankle-length gown. Her long, flowing hair floated freely about her as if blown by an invisible breeze.
Jake dropped to his knees, as did Terens, then the rest of the men who had rushed to our side when the apparition appeared.
Instinctively, I knew this was Eithne, the witch, who’d cursed Marcus and his men all those centuries ago, and who’d spoken to me when I first stepped inside her sepulchre. It could be no one else.
Smiling, she extended a ghostly hand and touched Alec’s face. ‘Son of my blood. You’ve done well, and through you, my curse is now ended. Ask me what you will, and I will grant it.’
Alec sucked in a breath, and his gaze darted to the men, still on their knees before the apparition. ‘Please release Marcus and his men, my friends, from vampirism. End their suffering. I’ve seen the good they’ve done in the world, spending centuries making restitution. Isn’t that enough?’
Eithne turned to the men at her feet. None lifted their heads to look at her. Maybe they didn’t dare. I know Luc would have. He’d hated her for having to carry the sin of his father.
‘Their suffering could end at any time by choosing death. But they did not.’
Marcus sighed. I was guessing he’d accepted his fate, and perhaps the others too, for they remained silent. Only Terens’s fingers clawed deep into the grass as his hands curled into fists.
‘Because of you, my son’ —she returned her attention to Alec— ‘I will grant them and those who they made in their image this boon: no longer shall the sun reject them. They will be free to roam under its light all the days of their lives. They will still need blood to live, but they will also be able to eat all manner of food as they enjoyed before their doom.’
Terens’s head popped up first, and a smile that would melt the heart of anyone spread across his face. He tur
ned to Alec with a tearful bob of his head.
My own eyes stung, because it meant that Kari and Dougal, and any they’d transformed, were free of the dark too. I hoped that wherever Kari was with my baby, she’d heard.
‘Thank you, my lady.’ Marcus rose and bowed, his men following. All glanced at Alec with grateful grins. But what of Alec? Would he remain vampire forever? I wanted to ask her, but she spoke again.
‘Because you requested nothing for yourself, my son, I grant you freedom from the darkness. You were never meant to be one of the dark ones, a child of blood like they.’ She darted a glance at Marcus. ‘That ends this day. To you, I also give all my powers as a child of my blood.’ I hoped that didn’t mean what I thought it meant. ‘Use them wisely, for your life will go on for many ages.’
Eithne extended her hands, palms upward, and tendrils of light flowed from them to Alec until he was covered in a bluish glow, from his arms with which he held me, to the crown of his head. Even his hair glowed and waved about as if caught in static electricity. A second later, the light receded, leaving him with eyes of the same electric blue.
‘Alec, your eyes. They’re blue.’
His eyebrows shot upwards. He ran his tongue along the top of his mouth. ‘They’re gone ... my fangs. They’re gone!’ A wide grin curved the corners of his mouth, and he spun me in a circle from sheer joy. And I didn’t want to spoil it. For me, it was a bittersweet moment. With her powers transferred to Alec, what did that now make him? A sorcerer or a wizard with an extended lifespan married to a human. Whether I aged slowly, like my mother, Judy, or rapidly now that the curse was lifted, only time would tell. Either way, I would age and die while he would remain young.
My throat dried.
Yet, there was no question about me giving my blood vial to Alec.
I had no choice.
It was either I lose him or he lose me.
That was how it was.
I took a deep breath, kept a smile plastered on my face, determined to make every moment count with him, every second last a lifetime until old age and then death took me.
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