Blood Father (Blood Curse Series) (10 page)

Arielle grew instantly alert as she listened to the approaching sound of water sloshing in the swamp and then heavy, prodding footsteps steadily coming her way.

Dear
est
ancestors!

She immediately snatched her belongings, scrambled from the edge of the bank to a nearby grove of trees, and took cover behind a thick cluster of bushes. She drew an arrow from her quiver, notched her bow, and held her breath...waiting.

She hadn’t been wrong!

There were several large, intimidating males coming her way
.

And unlike the typical gold-and-russet-haired lycans, all but one of these males had dark black locks. In fact, one of them had hair so black it shimmered with a kaleidoscope of bottomless, reflective blue. An uneasy knot twisted in her gut, and her palms grew sweaty as she studied them more closely. Their gait was smooth and predatory, like that of wild cats, and the seamless way they moved as one, each disarming male functioning as a separate limb on a singular body, stole her very breath. They were magnificent as soldiers, vulturine as a species,
te
rrifying
as men
.

And somehow she just knew that death followed in their wake.

Clutching her bow more tightly, she trembled in her boots, wishing for all intents and purposes that she could just blend into the landscape and disappear.

These males were dangerous in a way that not even Thane’s generals could match. They didn’t appear to be Lycanthrope, and they definitely were not human.
By
all the ancestors,
what were they?

Who were they?

And why were they here
,
within
five
hundred
yards of the Rebel Camp?

She pressed her belly lower into the dirt and shimmied further back beneath the prickly bush, hoping to remain undetected as their approach grew nearer. She glanced anxiously to the left and then the right, eyeing the inconspicuous trail that led to the Rebel Camp and the large mossy trees that dotted the northern banks of the Skeleton Swamps, and then it just occurred to her:
G
reat ancestors
, these men had traveled from the south,
through the Skeleton Swamps,
and they had all lived to tell about it!

They had survived the ferocious beasts
.

But how?

Of all the days to venture out alone to the edge of the forbidden swamp, to collect plants for her healing tonics and poultices, why had she chosen today?

Arielle felt like she was going to be sick.

Of all the ways she had imagined her death, this wasn’t it. She absently wondered what Walker would think when she didn’t return. What everyone in the camp would do—would they ever find her body?

Just then, the lightest-haired male turned his head in her direction and lightly scented the air, his exquisite, chiseled features tightening with recognition. His intense brown eyes reflected silvery light from the centers, even as they narrowed in focus, homing in on the bush where she crouched.

She felt like a sitting duck.

One of those idiotic rabbits that tried to freeze in place right out in the middle of a field, even though it was clear to everyone except the rabbit that the gig was up, as if the predator could no longer see its prey if it stopped moving or avoided eye contact. And like a cornered rabbit, she wanted to scamper away, run like the wind from the alarming male who was staring right at her—or was he?—but the lot of them were too close now. She would never get away. She couldn’t hope to outrun them.

Arielle bit her bottom lip and steeled her resolve. Unlike a rabbit, she wasn’t stupid or defenseless. Slowly removing two more silver-tipped arrows from her quiver, she prepared to do the only thing she knew how: to fight to the death if necessary.

And, hopefully, to die with her honor
and
her
virtue
still intact.

The Silivasi brothers emerged from the Skeleton Swamps like crusaders emerging from months of battle. They shook off the foul, prehistoric experience even as they shook out the musty water from their clothes and their hair, immediately utilizing their vampiric powers to dry their packs and reset their body temperatures.

Kagen shuddered as he fell back into place to the left of Nathaniel, and to the right of Nachari, essentially bringing up the rear—and just what had that last creature been anyway? The one with the giant, ten-foot wingspan and two globular heads protruding out of its neck like some kind of carnival freak? He glanced appreciatively at Nachari and smiled. The wizard had been true to his word: He had brandished his beloved sword, as well as his curved sickle, with expert ease and precision, taking on one monstrous predator after another without flinching. He had even used his magic on several precarious occasions, an impressive display of mysticism to say the least, and it wasn’t until they had run into the fifty-foot-long snake that he had become squeamish.

Kagen chuckled inwardly.

This was a strange land indeed.

As beautiful on the outside as it was ugly and distorted on the inside, just like the lycans that inhabited the realm.

Now, moving forward at a brisk place, his eyes and ears alert for the impending presence of another enemy—beast, human, or werewolf—he thought he detected the outline of a person about one hundred yards ahead, a shadow ducking beneath a large, thorny bush. He didn’t register a reaction—the last thing he wanted to do was alert an enemy to their presence—rather, he reached out to his brothers on a telepathic wavelength:
Marquis, fifty yards ahead. Three o’clock. Beneath the bush
.

I see it
, the fearsome warrior grumbled.

It
…
is
a
her, Nachari offered, his psychic voice even yet alert.

Indeed
, Nathaniel chimed in.
The heart is smaller and the rhythm is faster, a
nd
not just because she’s afraid.
And
by the
familiar
aroma
of the hormones being released into her bloodstream,
it would appear that
she
is a human
.

And alone
, Nachari said.

Are you sure
? Marquis asked.
That she’s alone
?
There was no room for error in such calculations.

Nachari paused only for a moment.
She’s alone
, he reiterated.

And scared to death
, Nathaniel added.

Kagen turned his gaze in the female’s direction and lightly scented the air.
Adrenaline
, he commented to no one in particular.
Fight or flight
response
.
She’s getting ready to do…something.

Yes
, Nathaniel agreed,
a
nd by the
acrid
s
cent
of
her
fear, the sudden constriction in her veins,
my guess
is
that she’s preparing to fight
.
Not run.

Kagen nodded in agreement.
What say you, warrior
? he asked Marquis.
Is it time to meet the natives? Find out a bit more about this oddly
picturesque yet
repulsive land?

Marquis grunted his permission
,
and it was all Kagen needed to proceed
.

He instantly teleported from where he stood and reappeared just as suddenly about two feet in front of the bush. Reaching down to extend a hand, he gave the woman a quiet command. “Come out from underneath the bush, sweeting.”

The woman moved incredibly fast for a human. She sprang to her knees, rocked back on her heels, and immediately released an arrow from a crude, makeshift bow, the missile heading straight for Kagen’s heart.

Kagen caught the arrow in his right hand and crushed it on impact, but before he could reach out to stop her, she released two more arrows, each in quick succession.
By all th
e gods, she was skilled with that
weapon
. Kagen swatted the last two arrows away and reached for the bow. He snatched it out of her hand, flung it over his right shoulder, and scooped her up by the crook of her arm before she could even register what had happened.

And then he let go of her and took a measured step back.

The female was literally quaking in her animal-hide boots, her stunning aquamarine eyes as wide as saucers. Her impossibly thick, wavy hair was the color of burnt copper with fiery red highlights interspersed throughout, and it stood up in several places—no doubt, mussed by the prickly branches of the bush—so that she looked like a wild-thing from the nearby swamps, fiercely beautiful, inconceivably rare, and despite her obvious fear, angry as a rattlesnake.

She was dressed in some primitive outfit from a time long gone, the hide of some native beast wrapped around her torso, from the left side of her neck to the right side of her waist, leaving one shoulder bare. The garment clung to her midriff and descended to her thighs, before dividing into two long flaps that covered an equally crude pair of leggings. The leggings were tucked inside a thick pair of boots, and the entire visage practically screamed
Amazon
,
q
ueen
of
the jungle
. She was fairly tall and unmistakably lean, with all the right curves in all the right places, and the clear definition of the muscles in her arms belied the fact that she was in spectacular shape: She was a warrior of some standing.

Kagen held up both hands in a defensive posture. “I mean you no harm, little warrior.” He eyed the quiver at her back and tapped the bow, the one he had taken just moments before, with respect. “As long as you make no further attempts to harm me.”

The woman’s eyes darted frantically from one end of the clearing to the next—she was obviously trying to map out an escape, to determine whether or not she could get away.

“You won’t get far,” Kagen said softly, trying to relax the rasp in his voice. “What is your name?”

Her aquamarine eyes grew even bigger—if that was possible—and by the tortured look on her exquisite face, one would have sworn the healer had just asked her to remove her clothes. She pursed her lips together in defiance and angled her jaw upward, refusing to answer.

Kagen pushed gently into her mind. “Arielle Nightsong…that’s an unusual name.”

She staggered backward. “What? How? Who are you?”

Just then, Marquis, Nathaniel, and Nachari approached, and the terrified woman bolted in fear. She shoved at Kagen’s chest, barely moving him an inch, and then tried to duck around his wide shoulders before tearing off to the left and running straight into Marquis’s implacable girth.

She screamed like a cougar, twisting this way and that, trying to break out of his hold.

Marquis instantly stole her voice—he blocked all sound from emerging—lest she alert an enemy to their presence.

She reached up for her throat and stroked her larynx impulsively, her hand quivering with barely concealed panic. She tried several times to speak before falling to her knees and cowering on the ground.

Back up a bit, Marquis
, Kagen suggested on the family bandwidth.
We don’t want her to die of fright before we have a chance to question her
. He bent to address the cowering woman at eye level. “My brother would be happy to return your voice, but you must agree to stop screaming.” He held her gaze with one of compassion. “Do I have your word?”

Arielle nodded slowly, staring blankly at each male before her like a deer staring into a pair of blinding headlights.

“Very well,” Kagen said. He nodded at Marquis.

The Ancient Master Warrior released her voice and harrumphed. “You are wasting our precious time, female. The sooner you answer our questions, the sooner we can scrub your memory of this unfortunate event and get on about our business. So just be quiet and cooperate.”

“Tactful, Marquis,” Nachari said.

The warrior leveled a warning glance at the wizard.

Tears filled Arielle’s eyes, and she shivered uncontrollably. “Please,” she whimpered, “I don’t want any trouble. I just…I just…”

Her cowering was a ruse.

As she stammered before them, she reached into her tunic and withdrew a hidden short-sword from a thin leather sheath, gripping it like one who knew how to wield it.
Great
c
elestial
g
ods, she was going to fight them to the death
,
even though she stood no chance
,
whatsoever
,
of prevailing in the battle
. With a sudden burst of speed, she slashed sideways at Kagen’s chest, managing to draw the tip of the blade across his right pectoral muscle. Although the clever maneuver failed to draw blood, she didn’t appear daunted. She leapt to her feet with amazing dexterity and lunged at Marquis in one fluid motion, placing the full weight of her body into the stab.

Marquis flew back, moving instantly out of her reach, and then he held out a hand to keep her at bay. “Stop this, at once,” he grumbled. “Are you daft?” And then he reached out slowly to grab her arm.

She spun around in a circle, crouching as she revolved in order to evade his hold, and then she leapt backward like a gazelle, landing with both legs and one arm braced against the ground, the short-sword still brandished in her free hand, her proud jaw tilted upward to meet the warrior’s stare head-on.

Marquis’s typically stoic features registered surprise at the female’s audacity, and then he rolled his dark eyes in annoyance and took a single step forward to end the battle, once and for all. By the way he raised his hand and angled it toward her head, he intended to paralyze her where she stood, reduce her to a granite statue—perhaps one of bravery and courage—but a statue nonetheless.

The woman jolted, almost as if Marquis had struck her, and then she slowly stood to her full height and glared at him, open mouthed, as she instinctively lowered her sword to her side.

Perhaps she has chosen to acquiesce
after all
, Marquis said telepathically, sounding relieved.

Her eyelids fluttered rapidly several times, as if a small butterfly had taken possession of the frail skin, and then she tilted her head at a peculiar angle and nearly gawked at Nachari.
Surely the male’s striking good looks had not halted a warrior such as
she
in the midst of
a
life-
and-death
struggle
, but then again
, Kagen had seen stronger reactions
to
the wizard
’s good looks
before
…

She cleared her throat.

Twice.

As if all at once testing her voice.

And then she took an unwitting step forward toward Nachari. “Did you just call him
Marquis
?”

Nachari’s eyes opened wide with curiosity. “I did. Why?”

“
Marquis
?” she repeated. “Like the angular cut of a diamond?” She didn’t wait for an answer. Rather, she stared at Nachari like he had just descended from the heavens and walked on water, measuring every little nuance of his features with scrutinizing interest: his eyes, his nose, his jaw, even the shape of his lips. Then she turned and did the same to Nathaniel and Kagen, each male in turn. “You’re vampires, aren’t you?” she murmured, her voice reflecting a considerable measure of awe in its depth.

“And what do you know of our kind?” Marquis asked. He was beginning to grow wary.

Arielle slowly released her breath. She lifted her free hand tentatively, almost like she was going to touch Nachari softly on the cheek, and then she quickly pulled it away and tucked it beneath her arm. “Your eyes…they’re so green…like the forest trees in a moonlit valley. Woodland emeralds wrapped in celestial light.” She turned toward Marquis and winced, clearly afraid to provoke him but obviously compelled to continue. “And yours; they’re so black they’re nearly blue.” She spoke the words with reverence. “And you’re built like a mountain.” She almost laughed then, but caught herself before the mirth sprang forth. She turned to Nathaniel and gently cocked her head to the other side—she was staring so intently it was unnerving. “And this one is devious to his soul, his gaze as dark and enchanting as the ocean floor.”

Her eyes misted with tears, and that’s when Marquis lost his patience. He shifted nervously in his heavy boots. “What is your malfunction?” he jeered. “Are you touched in the head or something, woman?”

Ignoring his comment, Arielle turned to Kagen. “And one has brown hair, the color of milk chocolate with almond swirls lightly intermixed, and his eyes are just as rich, only they shimmer with an unspoken depth in the centers, silver, like the autumn moon.” She took a careful step back then, sheathed her short-sword, and brought her hands to her face, where she grasped her cheeks in disbelief. “The one called Kagen.”

Kagen swallowed his surprise.
N
ow this was getting freaky
. “How do you know my name?”

She arched her brows, displaying a bit of her inner fire. “How do you know mine?”

“Don’t play games, woman!” Marquis growled. He was clearly not in the mood for banter.

She shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Her voice trailed off, and she grinned. And when she did, the entire clearing smiled with her: The sun was brighter, the timber wolf moon was lighter, and the surrounding vegetation seemed to sharpen with intensity.

Kagen tried again. “How do you know my name?”

She giggled unabashedly. “Then you
are
Kagen…
Silivasi
?”

Kagen raised his shoulders and nodded his head slowly. “Yes.”

She turned to the wizard next. “And you are Nachari?”

Nachari furrowed his brow. “I am.”

When she turned to Nathaniel, their eyes met in a knowing glance, and both of them spoke the word as one: “Nathaniel.”

Marquis seemed positively dumbfounded. He cleared his throat and tried to speak, but no words came out.

Arielle placed her hand on her heart. “I know you…because I know your father.”