by Nina Croft
“Talk to me,” she murmured.
“What about?”
She shrugged. “Anything, nothing. Tell me how this happened. Why it happened.”
He thought for a moment. This was really just an episode in a story that had been going on for millennia. But he had to start somewhere. “What do you know of your mother?”
“My mother?” A frown flickered across her face. “Not much. My father didn’t like to speak of her. Why? Did you know her?”
“I know of her.”
“Know?” Raven questioned. “You mean she’s alive.”
“Your father told you she was dead?”
“No, I just presumed it, I suppose. The only thing he ever said about her was that none of this was her fault.”
Kael snorted in disbelief. “Well, he lied. She should have had more sense than to fall in love with a vampire. All of this is her fault.” He ran a hand through his hair, then smiled ruefully. “Okay, maybe not all. Maybe none. Some of the blame has to go to your father, and your aunt, and me.”
“And some to the fire-demons.”
A shadow of a smile crossed his face. “Of course.”
“So what was she like?”
“You know she was a witch?”
Raven nodded.
“The witches have great powers,” he said. “It’s rumored that they can even control the sun and moon, and others—like you—can foretell the future. The Council has been at war with the fire-demons for over two thousand years. We’re the only thing that stops them spreading over the whole earth. Just over twenty years ago, the war was going badly for us, and Darius wanted to approach the witches for guidance. I refused him permission—witches can’t be trusted. No one really knows where their allegiances lie, if they have any. Darius went anyway.” He glanced at her and smiled. “Your father was never one to take well to authority.”
“He always said rules were for breaking.”
“Arrogant bastard. So he went, and he returned and told the Council that it had gone well; the witches were considering the request. What we didn’t know—and didn’t discover until much later, after she had returned to her sisters—was that Darius had fallen hard for your mother. Had, in fact, abducted her and seduced her.”
“Wow. He never told me that.”
“No, not one of his finest moments. He claims she loved him back, but when her sisters found her, she went with them willingly, and she hasn’t been seen since. Nine months later Regan, your aunt, reappeared with you. She handed you over to your father, then told the Council of the prophecy.”
Raven twisted a little on his lap so she could look into his face. “But she never said where my mother was, or whether she was still alive?”
Should he tell her what the witch had told them? She had a right to know. “All she said was your mother had gone where Darius would never find her. And he didn’t, though I know he searched.”
“So what happened next?”
He blew out his breath, and his arms tightened around her. The next bit was hard. Would she hate him? “I gave the order to have you killed.”
She pursed her lips together tightly, a shadow crossing her face. “Why?” she asked.
“You have to understand—I was furious with Darius, and my decision was made in anger. I regretted it almost immediately. You were an innocent baby, but it was too late. Your father was gone. We hunted for him, but he managed to evade us, and we heard nothing from him until he came with the news of your capture by the fire-demons. He was badly injured, but he survived, and we’ve been working together, searching for you, ever since.”
“So how did you find me now?”
“We received a message. We don’t know who sent it, but it led us to you.”
They were both silent for a while. He tugged at her rigid form, and she relaxed against him.
“Why do you hate them?” she asked. “The witches I mean? I can hear it in your voice.”
Did he hate them? He thought back to his own dealings with the witches, and the dull ache of that memory washed over him. But she deserved to know the truth.
“Long ago,” he said slowly, “I too went to the witches for guidance. They told me nothing but delayed me with promises of knowledge and power. When I finally left, it was to find that the fire-demons had attacked my people. They were wiped out. If I had been there, perhaps I could have somehow saved them.”
“Or perhaps you would have been killed as well. Maybe the witches saw that and prevented your death.” She leaned across and laid a soft kiss in the hollow beneath his throat. “I’m sorry about your people.”
Kael shrugged. “It was a long time ago. And leading the Council has given me purpose. I get to kill fire-demons. What more could I want?”
She smiled at him then. “What more do you want, Kael?” she asked, moving her body sinuously against his. He bit back a groan; he was already hard again, aching for her.
But while he wanted her, he wanted more than sex, at least the hope of more, and fear gnawed at him. Did she feel the same? He stroked a finger down her cheek, under her chin, tilting her face so he could look into her eyes. “My people mated for life,” he said, “and always with their own kind. When they were destroyed, I lost all hope of someone of my own. Now I want back what I thought lost forever. I want a family, a future. With you.”
Chapter Ten
Raven could see the truth of his words in his eyes, and a wave of longing washed over her. Could it happen? Could there be a life for her beyond this evil place? She wanted that life so much it was a pain piercing her chest. “I want that too,” she said.
He released his breath then and smiled. “But that’s for the future. For now, I want to make love to you, this time for us. Not to stop Sorien, or to prevent a prophecy, but because we want to.” He paused as if unsure whether to go on. “And I want you to feed from me again.”
Raven’s body quickened at his words. Her gums tingled as her fangs sharpened in anticipation. She stared at him hungrily, and he smiled, then slowly leaned back to rest his head against the chair, tempting her with the long line of his throat. She wriggled round so she was kneeling, straddling his lean hips, then leaned forward, inhaling the warm, animal musk of his body and the sweet scent of blood so close to the surface. A pulse thundered beneath his skin and she tasted it with the tip of her tongue. One huge fist came up to wrap in her long hair, tugging her against him. She paused for a brief moment, then sank her fangs deep into his flesh. The blood spurted hot against her tongue, and she swallowed convulsively.
Kael’s hands slid down to cup her backside. He lifted her, spreading her flesh with gentle fingers, impaling her upon the hard length of him while she suckled at his neck. Unlike the first time, this was slow, seductive, each move deliberate, an erotic drag of his flesh against her own, the feel of his strong hands guiding her, pressing her down onto him.
Finally, one appetite sated, she released his throat. She licked the wound then raised her head, staring down into his electric-blue eyes as the pleasure swelled and their climaxes shuddered through them.
“Mine,” he growled.
“And you are mine,” she murmured. She twined her fingers into his golden hair, pulled him toward her. “I think you’ve always been mine.” He frowned, and she continued. “I first saw you when I was fourteen. You came into my dreams and then my waking visions. I knew you would come for me one day. But as I got older it became harder to believe.”
“I’m here now, and we’re going to be together.”
He kissed her, and she sank into the sensation, willing to believe him at last, feeling safe for the first time since she had been captured.
They were disturbed by a faint buzz. Kael frowned then slipped from the chair, lifting her and placing her on the seat. Immediately, she felt bereft, alone, the feeling of safety draining away.
He rummaged through his clothes and came up with the cell phone, a frown flashing across his face. She watched as he listened.
&nbs
p; “Who did this?” he growled after a moment, and a black cloud of foreboding filled her mind. Kael listened for a while longer, then dropped the phone onto the desk. He ran a hand through his hair.
“We have to get out of here,” he said.
She got to her feet looking around for her clothes. “What’s happened?”
“We’ve been betrayed. I told you not all the Council were in agreement with our actions. Darius has been imprisoned, along with those in the army loyal to me. For now, the attack has been stopped. We’re on our own.” He stroked her hair. “Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here before Sorien even knows you’re missing.”
He lowered his hand then stepped away, picking up her clothes and tossing them to her. “Get dressed. It can’t be long until nightfall.”
She pulled on her clothes, fighting the fear that tore at her insides.
She wanted to believe him, but she knew it was impossible for them to escape the castle without aid. Besides, she could hear movement in the castle below, a multitude of heavy feet, faint voices raised in panic. A feeling of dread engulfed her, smothering her dreams under a blanket of loss and regret.
“It’s too late,” she said. “They’ve found Grieffen. They know I’m gone, and they’re searching for me.”
She stared into his face; in such a short time he had come to mean everything to her. For a brief moment she’d allowed herself to hope, but she should have remembered how dangerous hope was. She knew the choices—they could die together now, or Kael could escape, and she would die later. Either way she would die. But in the end, there was no real choice. She had resigned herself to death many times, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Kael sharing that death.
“You have to leave me.”
He was silent, and she could feel the panic tightening in her guts. “You’ve done what you needed to do. I accepted my death long ago. I only hated the thought that it would bring victory to Sorien. You’ve saved me from that, and I’m not afraid to die.”
His jaw clenched. “I won’t leave you here to die alone.”
He was resolute, and she groped frantically through her mind for a way to convince him to go. But, as she stared at him, her eyesight wavered, and she experienced the strange flickering at the edges of her brain that always preceded her visions. She wanted to scream, not now, but the vision was already upon her. Her lids fluttered closed and, played out on the screen of her mind, she saw a brief glimpse of the future. And she knew then what she had to do.
Pain tore through her, but she forced herself to open her eyes and smile. A look of disbelief flickered across Kael’s features.
“What have you seen?” he asked.
“I have seen our future.”
“What?”
“I’ve seen our future. I’ve held our baby in my arms. Kael, we will survive this. If you escape, you can come back for me. They won’t kill me yet. They don’t even know of your presence. They won’t know I’m no longer a virgin. I’ll tell them Grieffen got too close, I overpowered him and stole his keys.”
He was watching her through narrowed eyes, and her panic rose. She had to make him listen. He had to go. The alternative was too hard to bear. “Don’t you understand? If you stay, then we both die, and our child will never be born.”
She could hear pounding feet on the stairs, slamming doors as the fire-demons searched each room. “Kael, you do come back for me—I have seen it.”
His hands fisted at his sides, the muscles of his face rigid, his eyes wild. But she could sense that he was wavering. She pushed. “Kael, I want our future; I want our children. You have to go.”
Kael threw back his head in a silent roar of despair. Then he reached out, gripped her shoulders. “You have seen this future?”
She nodded.
He took her face between his hands and stared down into her eyes. “You don’t die,” he growled. “Whatever they do to you, stay alive for me. I will come for you, Raven.”
He dragged her against him and kissed her savagely. Then he pushed her from him. A moment later he vanished, and a sky-blue moth alighted gently on her hand. She carried it to the narrow window and watched as it stepped from her hand to the blind. A moment later it disappeared behind the edge and out into the open air.
As soon as he was gone, Raven was filled with a frantic urge to call him back. Because now, when it was too late, she finally understood the true meaning of her visions. She knew why she had been shown Kael all those years ago. It wasn’t only desire that drew her to him, it was love.
She collapsed to her knees, a scream ripping through her mind. And she wept then. For the first time since her capture, the hot tears spilled over, filling her eyes with red haze for the baby she would never hold.
She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the images, but before her closed lids the vision replayed itself, over and over again, taunting her with the future and the lies she had told. For there had been no baby in her vision, only Raven, stretched out upon the altar in the great hall. She was staring up into Sorien’s hate-ridden, triumphant eyes as the sun slowly rose behind him.
Chapter Eleven
Be strong...
The words echoed in her mind, and Raven took courage from them.
She didn’t know what had happened to Kael after he’d left. Something, because she knew he would have come for her otherwise. But whatever had happened, she sensed that he was somewhere in this world, that he still lived. As did her father, and it comforted her that there were people out there who would mourn her passing. They would know that today was her birthday, the day of the prophecy.
Were they thinking of her?
She’d made no attempt to hide after Kael had gone that day, and the fire-demons had found her almost immediately. But Sorien believed her story. She had received a savage beating and been returned to her cell, but she would have fared much worse if he’d suspected the truth.
The last few weeks had been an agony of hope, but now she had attained some level of peace, and at least she could die knowing that the fire-demons would gain nothing from her death.
It would be over soon. Once she would have welcomed this; now her soul cried out against it. She wanted to live; she wanted to spend eternity with Kael, to bear his children. She loved him, and she longed for the chance to tell him so, somehow to lessen the pain he would feel at her death. He had lost so many already.
But it was too late, for the time had come, and she was living through that final vision.
She opened her eyes and stared straight into Sorien’s vicious face. A smile played across his features, triumph gleaming in his coal-black eyes.
“Well, the time is here at last,” he murmured, stroking a claw-like finger down her throat. “Can you feel the sunrise so close?”
Raven turned her head away. She lay stretched out on the altar. She wasn’t tied, but a fire-demon stood at her head and one at her feet, their claws around her wrists and ankles, shackling her to the smooth, cold stone. Through the stained-glass window above her she could clearly see the blood-red glow of the coming dawn.
The sun touched her feet first, a prickle of heat in her toes. Soon the prickle became a sharp, searing pain and she bit back a whimper. The scent of charred flesh filled the air and the pain expanded until it consumed her whole mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her jaw against the scream that tore at her throat. She tried to think of making love with Kael, the sweet taste of his blood, but the pain grew until it was a giant fist squeezing the air from her lungs, ripping the very thoughts from her mind.
Just as she thought she could hold back her scream no longer, the light dimmed. Behind her closed lids she sensed the dawn fading, and the flames that licked at her body flickered and died. She opened her eyes; beyond the window the rising sun had been banished, eclipsed by a vast black shadow so only a faint glimmer of light still showed.
The window above her exploded and a huge, winged creature hovered in the opening, its wings beating the air as it searche
d the room. Then the creature threw back its head and screamed before diving for the altar.
Raven kicked out viciously at the fire-demon holding her feet, then hissed and bared her fangs at the other. They appeared dazed, staring at the creature, backing away. But Sorien was still beside her, his face twisted into a mask of fury and determination. He drew a long knife, raised it high above her with a scream of rage. But, as he brought it down, the creature slammed into him, knocking him from his feet, then picking him up in its talons and hurling him across the room. At the same time the huge wooden doors burst open and a swarm of people flooded in, bringing with them a brief flash of hope. Was this Kael’s army?
But Raven couldn’t watch; her whole attention was taken by the winged creature landing lightly at the foot of the altar. She stared into its deep-blue eyes and knew him.
“Kael?”
He lifted her almost gently in his talons and flew with her to the shadows in the corner of the room. She almost fell as her scorched foot touched the floor, then Kael stood before her. He went down on his knees and lifted her foot. He kissed the reddened, charred skin before staring up into her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
“Sorry?” Raven shook her head, not quite believing that this was happening. “You saved me.”
She swayed toward him, and he stood up quickly, taking her in his arms, pulling her almost roughly against him. She was shaking, touching him, running her hands over whatever parts of him she could reach. Checking that he was real. All around, the sounds of fighting filled the air, but she ignored them, focusing only on Kael.
He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “I can’t believe we were almost too late.”
“Tell me what happened?” she asked.
“I was taken as soon as I transformed outside the castle—traitors in the Council. They used magic to bind me in my human form and imprisoned me with your father.”
“You escaped?”
He looked uncomfortable. “With a little help.”
