Blood Cruel (Gods of Blood and Shadow Book 1) (14 page)

Katie winced, knowing no human could have survived a moment against those two. She watched as the woman landed at the man’s feet.

He jumped onto her and slammed his fists into the woman’s face, snapping her head back and forth, back and forth. When the woman was helpless, reeling, the man bent low, his mouth heading for the woman’s throat. At the last moment, though, the woman bucked, sending the man toppling off her.

She scrambled to her feet and ran away, off into the night and out of sight.

“Well that answers that,” Loki said from behind Katie. “I never saw a vampire try to drain another one before.”

“They can,” Katie said. “Obviously.”

The victor of the fight turned toward the house and she ducked back, worried he might see her. When she looked again, she found him stalking toward the house, taking long, skipping strides for the front door. The doorbell rang, and she froze, her heart taking a moment to remember to beat.

From outside her room, she heard her father’s door open.

“Stop him,” Loki hissed. “Don’t let him invite the vampire in.”

Her feet felt numb, slow to respond, as she hurried to her bedroom door and outside. Her father was already down the stairs, heading for the front door.

“Don’t open it!” Katie shouted.

“Go back to bed, monkey,” Aidan said. “I’ll take care of this.”

She jerked forward, her fear for her own life replaced by fear for her father. She ran down the stairs as Aidan opened the door, revealing a middle-aged man with long brown hair and cold, dark eyes.

“Can I help you?” Aidan asked.

“I’m Rans Beck,” the man said. “Is my son staying with you? I need to see him. Can I come in?”

“No,” Aidan said. “It’s the middle of the night. You need to come back in the daytime.”

“This is an emergency,” Rans said. “I need to come in and see my son right now.”

Katie moved around her father and put her shoulder into the door, closing it before he could say another word. Aidan turned and stared at her with surprise.

His shock melted into a kind look when he saw the fear on her face. “Don’t worry, monkey, vampires can’t come in unless you invite them.”

“Vampires?” she asked. She stared at him, her fear giving way to surprise.

“Sure. Godchosen aren’t the only ones hiding from normal people. But why is a vampire so interested in your boyfriend?”

“Jaden’s not my boyfriend.” She paused, but she couldn’t come up with a lie. She didn’t want to keep the secret from her father, now she needed him more than ever. “Jaden is Rans’ son. He’s going to turn into a vampire too.”

“Oh,” Aidan said. “Then you’d better wait here.”

She watched her father walk away down the hall, heading for the garage. When he returned, he had something held in his hand, hidden from her.

“What’s that?” she asked.

He ignored her, heading for the stairs. When he turned to go up, she saw what he was holding: an axe.

She rushed after him. “You can’t kill him. He’s my best friend.”

Aidan ignored her, climbing the stairs. She ran up after him, trying to catch him before he could reach Jaden. Aidan got to the spare bedroom door and opened it, the axe held ready.

She caught up to him at the door. “Jaden!”

The spare bedroom was dark, but the figure in the bed moved when she shouted. Jaden reached and turned on the light, looking at them with weary eyes. “What’s going on?”

Jaden’s gaze fell on the axe in Aidan’s hands and he nodded.

“Sorry,” Aidan said. “I can’t let a vampire with an invitation survive.”

“I understand,” Jaden said. “It’s okay.”

Katie struggled under her father’s arm and moved in front of him. “We’re working on a cure. He’s not going to be a vampire.”

“There is no cure.” Aidan’s eyes never left Jaden. “That boy will become a mindless killer and eat us both.”

“It’s okay, Katie,” Jaden said. “I don’t want to be a murderer. I’m starting to change, to notice things. Let your father do it.”

“No!” she said. “Both of you back off. We have two weeks until he turns. Don’t you even want to try to find a cure?”

“There is no cure,” Aidan said. “Believe me, people have tried.”

She stared up at her father. “How come you know so much about vampires?”

“How do you think your mother died?” Aidan asked.

“An accident,” she said. “You said it was a car accident… It was a vampire?”

He nodded. “She fell in with a group called the Servants of Loki. Their leader was turned and when she tried to talk to him, he drank her dry. Your mother was killed by someone just like that boy there. Someone who appears innocent until they’re at your throat.”

Katie turned to look at Jaden. Could she be that wrong? She thought… knew Jaden was a good person. Was he going to kill her when he turned? Would he even be able to?

She shook her head. “Two weeks. Give us two weeks and then you can kill him, if we haven’t found a cure by then.”

“It won’t help,” Aidan said.

“But it won’t hurt either,” she said. “Do it now and you’re murdering a human. If what you say is true, he’s not a killer yet.”

Aidan sighed. “He could escape by then… come back and kill us at his own convenience.”

“Then we’ll move,” she said. “Isn’t someone’s life worth at least that much?”

Aidan looked uncertain, but he nodded slightly. “But no more sleeping in the same room. We lock him in at night. And whatever you do, don’t let him touch you.”

“He wouldn’t want to, even if he could,” Katie said, then blushed.

Chapter 22

Delinquent

H
er father wove endless tales of Katie’s mother until six in the morning. How she’d fought vampires, with a half-dozen other Godchosen at her back. How Aidan had sat watching the door every time she went out. Until she didn’t come back, and he was left with a nine-year-old girl who didn’t understand where her mother had gone.

Katie felt a sick lurch in her stomach. She’d felt like her parents were hiding something as a child, but she hadn’t realised what it was.

Aidan said that after they’d fled Dublin, he’d heard from the remaining Servants of Loki, still fighting the vampires. Until they were all gone, and the vampires started trying to find other Godchosen. They didn’t like having another potential threat among them. Aidan kept Katie safe, across the sea where the vampires couldn’t go without leaving their precious society.

He got up and stretched his back. “I have to go to work.”

She stood, a frown of concern creasing her brow. “But they could still be out there. It’s dark, and will be for hours yet.”

“I need to work,” he said. He pulled a small piece of metal from his pocket: a coin rubbed flat by years of use. “Besides, I have Klondike. As long as I have his symbol on me, I can use it to ward them off.”

She put her own hand on her pocket, feeling Loki’s symbol there. She didn’t take it out. Aidan would recognise it at once and realise who her god really was. Instead, she gave him a hug and watched him leave the room.

Once he was out of sight up the stairs, she followed him up. A key was hanging on a hook by the guest bedroom door. She took it down and unlocked the door, pushing it open.

Inside, Jaden was sitting in the dark, staring out. He didn’t return her smile. “I can see better in the dark now.”

“That’s useful,” she said. “You’ll save on electricity.”

“I can smell your blood, too,” he said. “Even from there. I can almost see it pulsing around your body. You should have let Aidan kill me.”

“Again with this? There’s two weeks until you turn. That’s plenty of time to find a cure.”

“We can’t wait until I’m fully vampire. By then it’ll be too late. At most you have a week.”

“A week?” She paused, then nodded. “A week. Plenty of time.”

“Katie, you have to be realistic. I don’t want to die, but there’s no choice. I’d rather die than become a murderer.”

She switched the light on, found a chair, and sat. “You’re not going to turn into a murderer. You’ll still be you, behind the fangs.”

“A shadow of myself. One without emotions or guilt.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“You will,” Loki said, appearing nearby. “Tell him about what you saw, about the fight.”

She nodded. “Your father fought your mother in front of the house. Rans pinned Caterina and was about to bite her.”

Jaden frowned in confusion, shaking his head. “Why? Both of them said it’s not possible to drain other vampires.”

“But what if it is? They want something from you. What if this is it?”

“My father doesn’t want to kill me,” Jaden said. “There are humans everywhere, without him killing me. Besides, why would he have waited so long to do it? He could have killed me a decade ago.”

“You weren’t a vampire then,” she said. “They say you’re special. That pureborns are rare. What if that gives them something by draining you?”

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her. She pulled it out and saw an unknown number on the display. Answering it, she raised it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Katie Spears?” a woman’s voice asked, her pronunciation distinctly Norwegian.

“Yes,” Katie said.

“This is Siv Kjertilsen from Green Videregående School,” the woman continued in Norwegian. “We’ve had reports you’re not turning up to classes this week. Along with word you’re not sick.”

“I’ve had a lot of things to do at home,” Katie said. “I haven’t had time to go to school for a couple of days.”

“It’s important you go to school today, Katie,” Siv said. “Otherwise we’ll have to send a delinquency officer out to check on you.”

Katie shook her head in irritation. “But I can’t go to school today. There’s too much else to do.”

“School is mandatory,” Siv said. “Until you finish videregående. I realise you might have a lot of other things to do, but I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Katie. If you’re not sick, you have to show up.”

“All right,” Katie said.

“You’ll be there?”

“Sure.”

“Good,” Siv said. “I look forward to seeing you there.”

Katie hung up and growled in irritation. She was exhausted from too little sleep. Not to mention the dozen problems whirring around her. Even with all of that, she still had to go to school.

“You have to go in?” Jaden asked.

She nodded. “Someone ratted on me, told them I wasn’t sick.”

“It sounds like a trap,” Jaden said. “They want you out on your own. It’s why I haven’t gotten a call.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I have my Loki symbol.”

Jaden snorted and stood. “You think I’ll let you out of my sight? We’d better get ready.”

An hour later, on the bus, Katie watched dark shadows go by outside. All of them seemed to hold a pair of eyes, watching her. Somewhere out there a vampire was waiting for a moment to strike.

They seemed to reach the school faster than usual. Jaden insisted on getting out first, only letting her follow after he’d taken a glance around.

“She’s after you, not me,” Katie said.

“But you’ll do. She can use you to get to me. Just hold you hostage and I’ll come running.”

Katie smiled at Jaden. “Then we’re doomed by our affection for one another.”

He smiled back. “Isn’t that always the way with heroes?”

She heard a sound of retching nearby. When she turned to look, Loki was bent double, pretending to vomit.

Chapter 23

Move

J
aden squinted and leaned away from the window. He’d taken his usual place, near the back of the classroom, but hadn’t thought of the window until the sun came up. It felt painful on his exposed skin. He sprang to his feet as it grew, gathering up his books.

“Is there a problem, Jaden?” the teacher asked.

“It’s just too bright by the window,” Jaden said. “Is it all right if I move?”

“Of course,” the teacher said with a smile. “Just try to keep it quiet.”

Jaden nodded his gratitude, moving to the far side of the classroom, to a free spot. He set his books down and slumped into a chair beside a questioning Gunild Bingen. Back at the place Jaden had vacated, his friend Ragnor was looking similarly confused.

“Too bright,” Jaden mouthed.

He tried to ignore them and turned his attention to his book. However, the scent of Gunild beside him kept distracting him. Girls and women seemed to smell somehow better than men. Ragnor’s smell hadn’t distracted him as much.

He glanced over at Gunild, wondering if it was obvious. She was a bookish girl, with her hair tied back and a small smudge of ink near her temple. Her lips pursed as she concentrated on what the teacher was saying.

Jaden imagined putting his mouth around her neck, feeling her life spring from her throat into his mouth. He didn’t know what it would taste like, what it would feel like, but he wanted it. He longed for it with every piece of him.