Blood Lust (23 page)

Anthony sighed. Linus turned to him, a dark grin on his cross-burned face. He’d known it would come down to them, as if the other events and competitors had been mere window-dressing of the inevitable. The implements of torture were taken away, as were the chairs.

“There will be a brief intermission as competitors prepare for the final test.”

***

Numbness wrapped around Charlee. She could barely feel Paul’s grip on her hand and was sure by now all the circulation had left it. But she couldn’t find the energy to care.

“Are you okay?” Jane leaned over Paul to examine her face.

“Fine.” There had been a few moments when she’d felt Paul’s control slipping and her own emotions spiraling out of control. Too many confusing thoughts and feelings.

The vampire was getting tired from using so much energy to calm her emotions for such an extended period. Nothing could stop the dread that had gnawed inside her stomach when the lights came on, when that girl had curled against Anthony as if they were lovers and mauled him with her mouth. Was that jealousy that had stabbed her gut?

She hated him. What did she care if some enthralled woman gave out fake affection? She’d had to close her eyes at the animalistic fucking that had taken place in the center of the ring with zombie humans. Paul had whispered in her ear to reassure her Anthony hadn’t followed the pattern of the others.

When it was over, she’d opened her eyes too soon to see lifeless bodies being dropped without care. She’d looked to Anthony and mentally she’d chanted, Please don’t kill her. Don’t kill her. I won’t be able to stand you living if you kill her. As if he’d heard her, he let the girl go, and Charlee released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Jane, I need you to do me a favor,” Paul said.

“Name it,” she replied with the same fake adoration she’d used with Gregory––until she’d obviously believed it––and now was using with Paul.

“I need you to go into the ring; tell them you’re there as Anthony’s second. You won’t have to do anything but hand him his sword. I need to stay with Charlotte.”

Jane hesitated.

“I’ll be fine,” Charlee said.

When Jane had left them, Paul turned in his chair to face her. “If Anthony loses and Linus becomes king, we have to leave this place immediately. There is a car waiting. For whatever reason, Linus has become obsessed with having you. I’d just as soon not make waves, but Anthony is my friend.”

Charlee’s fear was beginning to become overwhelming for a drained Paul. She wondered if this would affect his ability to help her escape. But she knew if he didn’t keep doing what he was doing it would distract Anthony, and they’d have to find out. So she took a few deep, calming breaths to try to lessen Paul’s psychic load.

“And if Anthony wins, you will march down there and support him,” the vampire added.

Charlee bristled. It reminded her of why she hated Anthony. Either way her life was on the line. The only real decision was whether it would be the greater or the lesser evil she was saddled with. For either victor, somehow she’d become the prize.

The lights dimmed, and a bright spotlight illuminated the ring. Charlee felt her stomach tighten.

“Close your eyes,” Paul said.

“I can’t. I’ll be more tense.”

“Your call.”

There was a drum roll in the background. “And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the competition has been narrowed to two very worthy opponents. Anthony Burgess turned in 1546. And Linus Renard turned in 1312. In the human world we might vote, but in our world, we fight to death.”

Charlee had pretty much figured those were the stakes. She zoned out as the announcer went on describing rules and calling for swords to be brought out. She turned in her seat to find Callie staring at her with a vicious sneer.

She nudged Paul. “How will we get past her?”

He gritted his teeth against her assumption of Anthony’s death. “She’ll have to go down with her entourage. It’s not allowed to bring anyone else into the ring for the coronation. We can get out if we’re quick.”

Both vampires were expert swordsmen. It made sense as old as they were, but Charlee wondered who stayed in practice like that for centuries. She winced as Linus’s blade whipped out and caught Anthony’s cheek. Her hand came up to her own cheek, and she couldn’t resist the urge to look to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. Of course, her hand came away clean.

Anthony feinted to one side, dodging a strike that would have sent his head rolling across the ring. He twisted and took advantage of his opponent’s lack of center and drew his sword out in a wide arc, wanting his rival’s head but gashing his shoulder instead.

Linus laughed as blood gushed from the wound. If he hadn’t moved so quickly, he’d be minus one arm. Unfortunately for Anthony, it wasn’t the arm he was fighting with.

Anthony’s movements slowed. Something’s wrong. The thought grabbed hold of Charlee and wouldn’t let go.

Paul lost his tenuous control and her pulse raced, her emotions flooding out of her. She flinched when Anthony looked in her direction as her feelings swamped him. In that moment, Linus’s sword jammed into Anthony’s gut. He doubled over, and Charlee felt like the world had gone on mute, everything shifting to slow motion.

Her attention went to Linus as he turned toward the cheering crowd, holding his sword in the air, being a pompous ass, ridiculously sure of himself and his easy victory. So sure he could turn his back on his opponent.

She felt the rage surge through Anthony as he watched Linus’s display. He got his bearings back and rushed the other vampire, driving the sword into his back, and tackling him to the ground. While Linus lay shocked, the wind knocked out of him and his face in the dirt, Anthony slid the sword out and decapitated the vampire cleanly.

He looked up in Charlee’s direction, getting to his feet, clearly stunned he’d won so quickly and equally confused by Linus’s odd display of bravado at such a crucial moment.

Linus’s head and body began to rot.

Behind her Callie screamed, “NO!” There was murder in her eyes. “Fucking bitch!” She tried to climb over the rows of vampires below to get to Charlee but her entourage held her back. Charlee wasn’t sure why they prevented Callie from killing her; she was only a human. The claim couldn’t be that important.

Then she remembered what Anthony’s win meant. Callie couldn’t kill her because she was the queen and it would be off with her head.

Anthony’s sword fell with a loud clang in the stillness, and a sharp, unified gasp went up from the audience. Charlee turned in time to see Anthony stumble and fall.

Callie let out a peal of laughter. “Oh yes,” she bellowed from six rows up, “Your vampire got cut on Linus’s sword. Poison on the tip. One of the few that affects our kind. Guess you don’t get to be queen either.”

“I don’t want to be queen, bitch,” Charlee said. Then she thought better of it as she realized that if Anthony died, nothing would stop the crazed vampiress from descending on her.

“Go to him,” Paul said. “As his mate, your blood might save him.”

Charlee stood on shaking legs to make her way into the aisle.

“Wait!” Callie said, “You’ll be tied to him forever. Your life entwined with his will stop your aging. You hate him for doing this to you, don’t you?”

Charlee wasn’t sure if she hated him enough to let him die, but it was true she hadn’t asked for any of this, and she hated how he’d taken away all her choices.

Callie collected herself and was back to the elegant temptress, a mask which suited her far better than the hysterical loser. She slipped out of her row and descended the steps to calmly speak with Charlee, as if her spastic outburst hadn’t just taken place.

“This isn’t your concern, little human. No one wants a human queen. It will shame and undermine his reign. Let him die with dignity at least, and no harm will come to you. The claim will break, and we’ll let you go free.”

Charlee highly doubted that would be the case. Seeing her doubt, Callie lifted her voice to the crowd, the sound carrying farther than it should have out of such a tiny body.

“If Anthony dies, I have offered his little claimed human her freedom. Stand if you’ll support this decision.”

A murmur went through the crowd, and slowly, thousands of vampires rose to their feet. A door leading out of the stadium was less than ten yards from where Charlee stood. And beyond that, the circular lobby, and then the fresh air, and freedom on the other side. This entire nightmare could be over.

She started toward the door. Anthony was a monster; he’d likely killed thousands of people. He’d destroyed her life. She could walk away. No doubt someone from Cary Town’s finest organized troupe of vampires would find her and erase her memory. She wouldn’t have to carry this. Her life would be normal again. No vampires. Just a blissful, sweet ignorance.

Paul’s voice cut through the stillness. “How can you do this to him? He’s done nothing but thought of your safety. He shouldn’t have bothered.”

Charlee turned slowly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t live like this. I have to be free. I could never forgive him.”

It all seemed so easily laid out. So simple to execute. The perfect solution to the tangle that had become her life.

But then she felt it, the invisible twine stretched between her and Anthony. In a single day, it had almost started to feel a part of her. Now she felt it weakening, untangling, thread by invisible thread, and she made the mistake of looking into the ring.

He was doubled over on the ground, fighting to survive. Her feet stopped moving toward the door, and instead, she found herself turning and moving down the stairs.

At first she moved slowly as if she couldn’t quite believe she was doing it, arguing with herself the entire way. Every step was an effort, a temptation to turn back and run. Then the threads began unraveling faster, and a sense of purpose attached itself to her as she moved down toward the ring with more speed than she thought she possessed.

“Stop her!” Callie shrieked.

But no one started to chase her. The only explanation for why the insane vampiress hadn’t given chase herself, was that someone must be restraining her from doing it. Charlee got to the circle and slipped her arm underneath Anthony’s mouth. He’d lost consciousness.

Somewhere along the way she’d started crying. “You stupid vampire. Don’t you dare die on me!”

He remained unresponsive. Her eyes flitted back and forth between the two swords lying on the ground. Which one had the poison, and would it affect a human?

“Anthony’s is the one with the sapphire handle,” Jane shouted from the sidelines.

Charlee slid the blade across her arm and cried out. She’d expected it was going to hurt, but holy shit. She knew he wasn’t dead yet because she could feel the single thread pulled almost taut between them, a moment from breaking, but still there. That and his flesh hadn’t started melting off his bones yet. She shuddered at the thought.

She pried his lips apart and smeared a finger through the blood and put it in his mouth, trying not to think too hard about what she was doing. If she thought about it too much, she was bound to pass out. She’d barely made it through dissecting frogs in science lab.

She repeated the procedure three times before his mouth latched around her finger, sucking the blood off. She shoved her bleeding arm in front of him and almost cried with relief when his fangs extended, and he latched on.

She ran her fingers through his hair as he drank. The invisible cord between them tightened, the threads reweaving together, the connection growing so strong she knew she’d never be rid of him. For some reason she couldn’t seem to get worked up about that.

He ripped his mouth from her arm and crushed his lips against hers. She could taste her coppery blood on his tongue. His hand drifted to her breast, stroking under the fabric of her dress.

She jerked away from him. “Anthony! Public place! Public place!”

He removed his hand and waggled his eyebrows at her. “That’s what makes it fun.”

Then he turned serious. “Why did you come back for me? I was still conscious when Callie made the offer.”

“I love you, too. I should have known when I hated you so much. I couldn’t let you go.”

Anthony rested his forehead against Charlee’s, his hand cradling the back of her neck.

The loudspeaker crackled and the announcer spoke again, “Well, this is . . . unprecedented. I think there is no question Anthony’s mate supports his reign. So I give you your new king, Anthony Burgess, and his human queen.”

Anthony rose, his strength revived, gripping Charlee’s hand in his own. He stood with a kind of confidence she hadn’t seen on him before.

But the stands remained quiet. A single vampire stood and started clapping. Charlee couldn’t be sure, but he came from the gold rope section, so it was probably Paul. A minute or so passed, then a few more vampires stood. Then a few more, until the entire stadium erupted in applause.

Anthony let out a breath and turned toward her. “They’ll accept you. What you did was damn impressive. I don’t think any of them believed that given your chance at freedom you’d choose to throw in with the vampires.”

“I didn’t. I chose you.”