Blood Entangled (39 page)

Andre passed a glass of wine to Kos. “Are you thinking of the tunnel?”

“Yes. If Uta leaves from there, no one will see.”

“I am not liking this plan. Your house is trap. They are using explosives.”

Zoey set her glass of wine on the coffee table. “Call him back and demand Lena is outside.”

Uta shrugged. “He will not be agreeing. Only option is I am finding him before he detonate.”

“Of course Lena’s safety is most important. But is it impossible to save the vines?” Zoey placed Andre’s hand on her shoulder, covering it with her own. She knew him so well—he would think he was comforting her, when really she was holding him up. Another sign that maybe Kos had been wrong about love, and a coward, after all.

Andre shifted his weight. “I do not want to give up hope, but I will do what must be done to save Lena.”

And Kos would do whatever he could to make sure that did not happen. He needed to get Uta alone, make sure they were on the same page—he would face down the Hunters and she would rescue Lena, it was as simple as that.

He had the perfect pretense. “Auntie Uta, I want you to tell me how Bel was conceived.”

Andre threw his glass of wine, shattering it, and picked Kos up by his collar. “No.”

“Why are you wanting this?” Uta examined her fingernails intently, oblivious to Andre’s reaction, or studiously ignoring it.

Zoey rested her hand on his forearm. “Lena wants a child.”

“I see. Andre, you are leaving us. Kos and I are speaking of this.”

“No.” He didn’t set Kos down.

His green eyes blazed with…anger? No, it was fear. What was he afraid of?

“Your son is man. He make his own decisions. He having right to know.”

“Andre, if we save her, this may be the only way she will stay with me.”

The fear still blazed in his father’s eyes, but slowly, Andre lowered Kos to the ground. Everyone stared at him, waiting.

He pouted. “
Davo
, this is my office.”

Uta shooed him with the hand she’d finished examining. Zoey dragged Andre out before he could explode.

When the door closed behind them, Kos whispered as quietly as possible. “I will need to know about Bel, if she lives. But first, I need to know something else.”

She dropped into one of the overstuffed armchairs and put her very high heels up on the coffee table. “I am knowing the answers to many of your questions, I suspect.”

“Why did Andre bond with Mila?” He closed his eyes, rolled his shoulders, and hoped for an answer that would free him to love Lena—forever.

“Hmm. Of course you are wondering this. Normally a blood bond does not go so wrong.”

His eyes popped open. “Really?”

“It is only because Mila is refusing the bond.”

“But if she loved him, why did she do that?” Kos lowered himself onto the sturdy coffee table and leaned closer, resting his elbows on his knees. Uta smelled like the island of Šolta, which was impossible.

A cascade of auburn hair rippled when she shook her head. “Mila is loving idea of Andre, not real Andre.”

“But didn’t he see through that? He’s not easily fooled.”

She narrowed her eyes, pinning him. “I’ll tell you truth, but you must not blame yourself.”

What could that possibly mean? He opened his palms to her. “Okay.”

“He love you, want you for son so much he not question Mila enough.”

“Me?”

“You are little angel, little version of Andre, following him around vineyard, asking every question. And you have no father, you love him. He choose you, he take Mila too.”

That simply couldn’t be true. He’d always assumed gruff Andre was a reluctant father, even if a damn good one. “But I remember that he loved her. I remember the way he touched her, spoke to her.”

“The bond make him love her. But it bad match.”

Andre had done it for him. Kos wasn’t the baggage, he was the prize. Warmth rushed through him, the most amazing feeling, thawing places he hadn’t known were frozen. Was this how Lena felt, when she finally realized he wanted her? And then he took it away, because he was a coward and a fool.

“All this time, I thought—”

“Maybe, you are waiting for her. You good match? She love you?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Good. Now we go save her.”

He’d been so wrong, had made a terrible mess. He would make it right, and he wouldn’t let Lena, Andre, or the rest of the vampires pay for it.

“Uta.”

At the sound of her name, she focused her ancient eyes on him.

He mouthed his words so that no one in the house could hear. “Me. Not her, not the vines.”

Her bottom lip swallowed the top one, pulling her mouth into a thin line. Her eyes glistened, and she nodded. For a second, she looked like she cared—his old Auntie Uta, before she stabbed Bel in the back.

The quietest whisper of words floated to his ears, and her lips moved.
Krist—
that was serious old-time vampire power—almost telepathy. “Your father will kill me, but I am understanding this kind of love, and this kind of burden. You do what you must, I save girl.”

She stood, and Kos followed her from Andre’s office. His father stood mere feet from the door. Sneaky son of a bitch. Good thing they’d been careful.

“Is it true about Mother?”

“Yes.” Andre pulled him into a rare hug, resting his face on Kos’s shoulder, and gripping the back of his head. They stood locked that way for a long time, and the depth of his father’s love made what Kos had to do far worse.

Toes tapped on the stone floor of the cellar, and Uta said, “Yes. Yes. Enough. I hungry. Who can I eat?”

Kos was hungry too. But minutes later, when Susan and Ally stood in the foyer, dark circles under both their eyes, he decided to drink Blood Vine instead. With Lena out of the rotation, and Zoey feeding her young hunger, the two women were tapped.

Uta flung her fingers at the women. “I taking one of prisoners. Your household stretched thin.”

“You want to feed from a Hunter? You said their smell made you puke.”

There was her damn shrug again. “You are seeing picture I sent, of vampires under sunshine. Maybe it turn me into super vampire.”

He rubbed his chin. “You pretty much already are a super vampire.”

“True. But, I not walking in sun.”

They backtracked through the cellar to the workroom, and Kos opened the door to the makeshift cell. Uta stepped inside. “I am taking grown-up.”

“Hell no. No parasite is taking my blood. Fuck off.”

“Oooh. He is fighter. How fun.” She had Nichols on the floor with a hand covering his mouth in a second, muffling his hateful drivel.

That left the kid for Kos. Or more Blood Vine. He needed to be strong for Lena, so the kid it was.

“Leo, right? You’re with me.”

The kid actually smiled, ear to ear. How had little mister rogue Hunter become a vampire groupie so fast?

Kos sat him on a stool. “Put your hands out and grip the worktable. You might swoon.”

“From blood loss?”

“No.” There was no sense explaining—he’d figure it out soon enough.

Kos licked his neck and shuddered. Licking men was really not his thing, but blood was blood. Fangs out and into Leo’s neck. When his blood hit the roof of Kos’s mouth, pleasure exploded through him.
Krist
, that was no ordinary blood.

He was an infant at his mother’s breast. He walked hand in hand with a very tall Andre through the vineyards on Šolta. He unwrapped a toy train. He was at a table spread with roast meats and baklava. He was inside Lena’s sweet heat. He swallowed, and his veins buzzed with power, an energy far greater than the Blood Vine bestowed.

He was home. Everything was right with the world. He could stop Ethan Bennett. Lena would be fine. They could live happily ever after.

His skin heated with that burning pleasure that could only be—the sun.

He sighed. Could he really be in the light of day? Opening his eyes, the workroom at Kaštel materialized. The Hunter kid rested in his arms, slumped over the worktable.

Leo groaned, stroking himself through his pants.

Kos squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn’t blame the kid. He hadn’t given him any warning. He licked the punctures on Leo’s neck closed and steadied him under his arms. Leo found purchase on his stool, gripping the table.

Slowly, he turned to face Kos, his eyes huge. “Oh.”

Kos couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s the part they never tell you.”

A door slammed behind him, and he turned to see Uta standing outside the closet. Her hair stood away from her head like she’d had an electric shock. She twisted her pants on her hips, straightening them. Then she smoothed the sleeves of her jacket.

Her eyes locked onto Kos’s. Melodic Croatian flew out of her mouth in a rhythm so different from her broken English. “
Jebi me u sve rupe, to je najbolja stvar koju sam ikad okusila.
”

Kos laughed again. His auntie was as over-the-top as ever.

Leo stood on alert. “What did she say?”

“She said, ‘Fuck me in every hole, that was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.’”

“Derek’s blood?”

“Yeah,” Kos replied matter-of-factly.

The kid scratched his head. “That means something, doesn’t it?”

Kos took a deep breath, pondering his answer. “Yes it does, Leo. But I sure as hell don’t know what.”

Finally, Uta finished her wardrobe adjustments. “Kos, I very strong now. We are going to get your girl.”

Lena ran her finger over the neatly shelved CD cases. Thankfully, Kos hadn’t put them all on his iPod yet. She found it—
Ella sings Gershwin
. Lena turned the volume to almost silent, queued up “Our Love is Here to Stay,” and set it on repeat. She couldn’t hear it, but Kos would, even from far, far above in the sky.

Good old George Gershwin was surely right—true love would outlast passing fads. Maybe it would even hold up to the biggest mountain ranges. In his long, long life, Kos would not forget her, even if she wished it for him. Hopefully he would at least find the courage to love again sometime.

Gwen perused Kos’s bookshelves, but always kept one eye on Lena. Eventually the petite woman settled into a big chair with a dusty leather volume.

Lena said silent prayers and thanksgivings. All things considered, she had a lot to be thankful for—a loving home, friends, one amazing night with Kos. From glass doors in the living room, she watched the sky darken over the ocean. The doors opened onto the deck, built right over the sea cliff, where waves thundered, crashing below.

“Lena, come here.” Ethan stood by the front door, and he opened it as she approached. He pointed to the shrubs and alder trees lining Kos’s property. “Do you see the snipers?”

“Yes.”

“Gwen and I will join them momentarily, you will remain here and wait for Kosjenic.”

She hugged herself, staring out into the gloomy twilight. “You’re going to blow us up.”

“Why would I do something like that?”

She spun to face him. “He knows it’s a trap.”

“But he will come anyway.”

Ethan was right.

Apparently, Gwen couldn’t stand for that particular book to be incinerated. She wrapped her arm around it and followed Ethan into the trees.

The clock said Kos was due in ten minutes. She couldn’t cut it too close—he was always early, and she had to finish it before he arrived.

She turned up the volume on the stereo, took a deep breath, and strode toward the door.

When she was five or six feet from the exit, a dozen red dots streaked across the doorframe and over her arms, marking her torso with their terrifying glow—the snipers had taken aim. All she had to do was jog those last few steps, and it would be all over.

But suddenly, she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. She lunged back from the door, and ran across the room, yanking open the sliding glass to the deck. Climbing onto the rail, she shouted, “I love you,” to the night sky. Then she dove off the deck into the churning, rocky ocean.