Love and Bloodlust: The Sacred Objects
Page 21
“Oh, well thanks buddy,” Talon said facetiously.
Gunner continued, “I want to see how you’ll get out of this one. If it was up to me personally, I’d have a more gruesome fate for you and the girl. But I guess Cain’s plan is… okay.”
Talon went wide-eyed at the mention of Avery. “What do you mean?”
“Well, as you know, plan numero uno was that you kill her in your insanity and bloodlust. Since that didn’t work; you die here, flesh eaten off your body while you’re alive, and she…it’s a surprise.”
Talon shouted in frustration and swiped at Gunner, who disappeared as quickly. The demon attacked him again, but Talon smashed its head into a nearby tree. It kicked at him wildly, displacing Talon’s right patella. Talon fell to his knees and Gunner stood over him for a few last infuriating words.
“Well, I’ve got a personal errand to run. Sorry, I can’t stick around. Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
The demon scrambled back up. Talon grit his teeth and muffled a cry as his tendons and ligaments realigned his kneecap back into place. The demon swiped at him again. He tucked and rolled out of the way through a thick carpet of wet leaves. As he rolled, he came across his sword and snatched it up, piercing the demon in its chest. The sword stuck into something hard, to Talon’s surprise, and the demon gave an annoyed shriek.
Okay, that didn’t work. Talon ripped the sword out, flinging the creature around. He cut off its arm, and the demon didn’t even flinch in response. The arm, however, flopped around on the ground, still mobile. Neither did that. Then a revelation came to him. It’s claws are poisonous. Maybe…
Talon picked up the flailing arm and stuck its knife-long claws into the demon’s own neck. The creature gurgled up black and mucus-thick saliva, trying to cry out but unable to. It staggered back, grasping at its own unattached arm hanging from him. The creature gurgled as its eyes turned from black to pure white. Talon used this distraction to grip its head between his hands and dislocate its vertebrae. The demon went limp and fell to the ground.
Talon’s arms were covered in its black blood, and he tried to flick it from his body as it felt disgusting. He checked his bite wound, hoping those hadn’t been poisoned as well, but thankfully his arm was almost entirely healed at this point. He watched carefully; the creature didn’t move. Satisfied this was the end of the demon, his thoughts went to Avery. She had promised him but…even if she didn’t go looking for it, trouble found her eventually.
As Talon was about to race back to his beloved, he heard leaves crunching behind him. He swung around, ready to attack, and saw the shocked face of the red-haired girl.
“Oh yeah…” Talon recalled. He was surprised Gunner hadn’t found her. “Let’s get you to safety.” As he approached the girl, she peered around him and at the remains of the demon.
“What…is that,” she stuttered before fainting on the spot. Talon caught her. He examined her neck; it had almost completely stopped bleeding, but she still lost a lot. He continued to rush her to the nearest town.
The first house with a porch light on; small, white, with a wrap-around porch, he carried her up the stairs of. He laid her down in front of the door, on a Halloween themed welcome mat. Talon rang the doorbell several times, clearly impatient and in a hurry to get back to Avery. When he had heard enough shuffling and movement inside, he was satisfied enough that someone would open the door and find her.
“They got you from here kid,” he said before zooming off into the night.
“Come in, Miss Langdon.”
Avery let go of the knob, and the door creaked open. She defensively looked around the room, her sword at the ready. The fireplace still ablaze as it had been earlier but the balcony doors were wide open, letting in the chilly night air. Avery cautiously looked out them expecting to find Cain out there, but he was not. Did he escape? Avery thought briefly before turning back around and jumping at his close proximity.
She swung her sword at him only to have it caught in his grasp. His stoic face remained unchanged as he pulled the sword from her by the blade, as if it was nothing, and tossed it over her shoulder. Avery gasped as she fumbled backward, trying to grab it before it ultimately fell over the railing and down into the bushes below. Avery drew the dagger and turned to Cain, her arm out in a defensive pose over her chest, ready to strike.
Cain’s eyes lit with amusement, “Now what were you planning to do with those? You know you can’t kill me by conventional means.”
His eyes bore into hers, dilating. Avery tried not to get sucked into them as before, but the same cold and tingly feeling came over her. It was the same as when she first saw Cain in that alley; she was unable to move of her own volition. Damn it! She wanted to scream or yell, anything, but she could not form a sound. Cain took the dagger from her hand and threw it onto his four-post bed.
“It seems my plan to have your love destroy you didn’t work out so well… but I’ve got an alternative plan in mind,” he tucked wisps of chestnut hair behind her ears. “I’m thinking… sleep. Not sleep really, The Sleep. Where a vampire changes a human but doesn’t complete the change. It’s like the person is dead, but their mind is trapped in purgatory. I’ve been there before. It’s where I’ve spent the last, oh…260 some years after William Langdon cut my head from my body and separated the pieces, ensuring my soul couldn’t return to hell nor earth to rise again.”
“Purgatory,” Avery managed to choke out, his hold weakening over her as he distracted himself with past thoughts.
“Yes,” he smiled. “The place feeds off your fears and can make you relive tragedies, similar to hell itself, but you can’t really feel physical pain so much as mental anguish. You could be in The Sleep for a very, very long time. Your body would just become a dried-up husk from lack of blood, but you’d still be alive. No final destination, no reincarnation. Just trapped, forever.”
Avery shuffled a step backward, her eyes wide at the thought of reliving her torments, watching all the innocents she couldn’t save, including her parents and sister, die over and over. The thought of being powerless each time…it made her near insanity just to think about it.
“It’s not against you personally. In fact, you seem like someone I could come to like,” Cain closed any space left between them and inhaled her. “But I really hated your ancestor, and I have a promise to fulfill.”
Cain scooped Avery into his arms, eyes on hers, her body barely listening to her instincts to kick, bite, something, anything. He laid her on the bed, his weight pressing down on top of her. He moved her hair from her neck and paused, his eyes glossing over with red.
“I see. He did have at you, but you were strong enough to survive it. Sorry, I’m not your lover. I won’t be gentle with you. This…is going to hurt.” His fangs elongated and sharply pierced into her neck, and he laid his whole body on top of hers.
The pain was not near as bad as how she felt at that moment. Violated, disgusted, helpless…words would not come, only stuttered sounds from her mouth. She could feel herself getting weaker as he held her body tighter, darkness coming over her. At the angle her head was tilted, she could see the dagger on the bed near her, but it was just barely out of reach of her fingertips. As she gave up reaching, she thought she could hear her name being called from far away. Then, clearly, a deep growl filled the room.
“Talon,” she muttered before falling unconscious.
CHAPTER 25
Cain looked up at Talon, with little surprise on his bloodied face, Avery remained unmoving beneath him.
Talon saw red. “Get off her.”
“So you weren’t killed by the Flesh-Eater. I seem to have underestimated you.”
Rage filled Talon as he lunged at Cain. The two grappling men fell into a large armoire, effectively breaking it to pieces. Cain threw Talon off of him and through the wall as if he were nothing. Talon broke through wood, insulation, and siding until he caught and righted himself on the second-floor roof.
“What is this?” Cain asked as he noticed his wound did not close immediately.
Talon stepped back into the room through the hole his body made being thrown out of it. His back was sore, but damaged vertebrae were already righting themselves. “It’s a poisonous claw from your Flesh-Eater. I thought it would come in handy, so I plucked it from the corpse.”
Cain laughed as he tossed it, “This can’t kill me.”
“No, but maybe the poison will slow you down long enough for me to kill you.”
Cain growled low in his throat, the first real emotion Talon had seen from the vampire. “You should know when you are outmatched by your elder, even if I am poisoned. You’re playing a fool’s game,” Cain scoffed.
“We’ll see,” Talon shrugged his shoulders. He launched himself at Cain again, his blows being matched with blocks each time. Cain gained the upper hand by kicking him in the chest, a force that sent Talon through the bedroom door and tumbling down the stairwell.
The pain built up all over his body as Talon’s shoulder and tibia cracked back into place. Before he could get his thoughts together, Cain kicked him out into the hall and sent him crashing over the railing. Talon flipped around and hardly landed on his feet, his force crunching the floorboards beneath him.
Talon blocked the next blow from Cain and kneed him in his abdomen. Cain flinched and instinctively gripped his stomach, giving Talon the opportunity to lay an uppercut to his jaw.
Cain’s onyx eyes turned red as he bared his fangs in anger. Talon reciprocated the gesture. The two vampires locked arms; Cain’s strength seeming more equal to his own now. The poison must be working. But who knew how long it would last? Think of something. Move fast.
Talon let out a shout and threw Cain with all his might. Cain landed in a blaze of ember: in the fireplace. The room filled with the sickly smell of burnt flesh. Cain got up from his landing and casually patted his shirt to put out the flame. The seared skin on the side of his face and right-hand gleamed pink before slowly healing back into pale perfection. He looked pissed.
“Now I’m getting mad,” Cain confessed.
Talon raised his eyebrows sarcastically. Looks like fire isn’t the way to hurt him. He needed to get that dagger; Avery had it last. Avery. Talon turned to fly up the steps and only made it to the second floor before being tackled from behind. Talon spun to face his attacker, his back crunching into the stairs, breaking boards that splintered into him. He winced in pain.
Cain dug his fingers into Talon’s ribs, holding him in place. Talon struggled, but it seemed that the poison hadn’t lasted long. At full strength, he was no match for Cain, and he knew it. But he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to give the vampire hell.
Cain didn’t look amused. He looked more like something was bothering him. “What I just don’t get is…you were weak, bloodthirsty, crazed…and you drank from her. Why didn’t you kill her?”
Talon easily replied, “Because I love her more than I love myself. Something you would never understand.”
Cain bellowed a ferocious roar before stabbing Talon in his chest with a broken piece of floorboard. Talon gasped and tried to pull it out, but didn’t have the strength to. Cain smiled as he watched him wriggle in agony.
“I’m going to finish what I’ve started,” he heard Cain say under his breath as the vampire slowly ascended the stairs.
The pain was excruciating. Talon was certain it had just missed his heart as he was still alive. He tried to get up, but he was pinned in place on the stairs, bleeding profusely. He grunted and growled, almost wailing, as he tried to pull the wood from his chest. Avery needed him, and he was stuck here. Was fate really this cruel?
Avery wavered in and out of consciousness for what seemed like forever. Loud crashes intermittent with silence tickled her ears. Her fingers were wrapped around something. A handle. The knife? She felt a weight over her again, and pressure once more on her neck. Her eyes flew open. Cain was on top of her, finishing what he had started. She couldn’t really feel pain at this point. She was weak, but the hypnotic hold was gone, so she was able to move albeit barely. Please let the magick still be good. Avery carefully positioned her aim before putting all her strength into one last jab.
Cain froze. Blood dripped from his mouth, and his face was in complete horror for a moment. A sort of peacefulness replaced his horror. Did it not work? Avery stuck it in deeper.
“Aayla,” Cain cooed as he caressed her face. A tear ran down his cheek before his skin slowly melted away into ash. Avery’s arms fell to her side in exhaustion. She was weak, but rolled off the bed, trying to stand.
“Talon,” she muttered to herself. She needed to find him. He needed to be alright. Avery wobbled and fell to her knees at the end of the bed. A pair of black Armani shoes stood in front of her. She flopped her head up dramatically toward the face of her parent’s killer.
Fuck my life.
“Thanks for that. I was really getting sick of being told what to do by that guy,” Gunner joked, twirling a sword with a skull hilt in his hands, pretending to inspect its sharpness. “I figure, you’re weak, and Talon’s not around, now would be the ideal time to kill you. Revenge and all for what you did to my clan. You understand, right?”
What does everyone keep justifying why they needed to kill her? Avery wobbled to her feet and clenched her fists, mean-mugging the cocky vampire.
“I would call that almost even for killing my parents.”
“Kill your…ah! You’re the daughter of those Langdons. The vampire hunters. Well, had I known there were children, I would have sent you to join them long ago. They always screwed up my plans, and so have you. Time to end this.”
Avery staggered but straightened her posture the best she could, holding her head high. Gunner pulled back on the sword, ready to thrust it into her. Before she could register the broad chest shielding her, an enormous sting of pain spread from the center of her chest and outward. She stepped back from the end of the sword, the pinching sensation and blood remained. She looked up into the horrified blue eyes of the man she loved, with a fresh, gaping wound through his abdomen as well.
What happened to you? She thought at him, unable to say the words before succumbing to darkness.
“Avery!” Talon yelled and caught her in his arms. She was barely responsive, her breathing shallow, the blood that flowed from her and soaked her clothing barely a trickle now.
“It’s no use Talon, she’s as good as dead,” Gunner chimed in.
He knew it. He didn’t want to hear it. She had lost too much blood.
“Then just finish this! Finish me too! Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure you’ll regret it,” Talon threatened desperately.
Gunner smiled, “My old friend, I don’t want you dead. I want you to suffer, and I’d say you are doing plenty of that right now.” Gunner made a ghost of himself once again.
Talon yelled to the heavens in frustration. His own wounds stretched and burned as he tensed up, holding Avery close. Avery perked up at his yelling so close to her ears, and he noticed this.
“Just hang on; I’m going to get you to a hospital.”
“No,” Avery responded. “I’m ready to see them.”
Talon cupped her face in his hands, “Please don’t leave me. I need you. I love you.”
“I love you,” Avery leaned in for a kiss. Talon met her halfway but felt the kiss unreciprocated. He pulled away from her cold lips and listened as her heartbeat slowed and then disappeared altogether. She was gone.
Talon cried into Avery’s blood-soaked chest as he held her lifeless body close to him.
CHAPTER 26
A bright light surrounded her. Warmed her. Her eyes came into focus on her sister’s smiling face. They sat together on a bench at the park by the river, watching the trees sway, displaying their fall colors.
A cool breeze ran through her hair, tickling her.
“This is what I’ve wanted,” Avery spoke. “To be at peace. To be with the ones I love.”
Kyrie clutched her hand tightly in response, “I know, but….”
“But?”
“He’s got other plans for you.”
Avery cringed, not liking where this was going. “What does that mean?”
“It’s not your time yet, Sissy.”
Avery started to cry as she felt the entirety of her being pulled from her sister’s grasp, from light, from peace, and flung back into darkness and nothingness. But then, there wasn’t nothingness. There was burning; a fire. Her whole body was on fire. She was cradled and swaying as cold, light kisses pricked her skin all over. Like snow.
She couldn’t open her eyes. She just struggled to fight the fire. Was this the purgatory that Cain had mentioned? This torture, this pain of having what she wanted and then it being taken from her again? Was her mind trapped in a shriveling, but living, body forever? Avery screamed.
Talon pulled Avery closer to him to calm her cries. He remembered what it was like to change and he didn’t wish that pain on her. At least she’s here with me. At least she’s alive. And how, he didn’t know. The best he could figure was that his blood had entered her body from the sword that went through his abdomen and into her chest. He knew Avery never wanted this; in fact, she was terrified of what she would become if it did happen. That’s why he had promised her that when her time came, he’d let her go. But he never promised he would kill her, and he didn’t intend to. He would just let these things come to pass as they would naturally. And as happy as he could be on the inside that she still fought to live, he knew if Avery woke up from this when she woke up from this, she was going to be pissed.
After walking for some time, as he had no strength to run, the first snow of the year began to fall. Shortly after he came upon a parking lot with a silver sedan parked separately from the other cars. He placed Avery carefully on the back seat and looked around in the usual places for keys, finding them in the visor. He recognized the town they were in and knew home wasn’t far from here.