Blood Spirit (12 page)

Ilona
pulled her wrist to her lips and slowly sucked Carlie's blood into her mouth.
It took the edge off her hunger, but when she was done, the sorry truth was the
hunger remained.

No
matter. Carlie's blood rejuvenated her enough to pretend she felt fine.

Ilona
hugged her. "Thank you. It means the world to me that you're willing to
help."

Carlie
pushed her away and took her face in her hands. "You can't avoid him
forever. He's your sire, and if he wants you by his side, you will take his
blood. Our world isn't like the human world. We are seen as males' equals in
many things, but none of that matters when it comes to sires. Male, female, if
they want something from one of their vampires, they get it."

As
she left Ilona's bedside, undoubtedly to tell Terek she'd just given her blood,
Ilona closed her eyes and tried to silence the voice in her head that told her
Carlie was right. No, she wasn't going to fall in line like the rest of them.
He made her a vampire, so now he was going to have to deal with the
consequences.

Sadly,
she admitted to herself that she would miss some things about his place if she
was forced to follow through on her refusal of his blood and couldn't receive
anyone else's. The women had treated her well, and Terek...

Just
thinking about him lying next to her made her smile. She didn't know how or
why, but she'd fallen for him, in spite of herself.

But
she couldn't be the woman he wanted, even if he was exactly the man she wanted.

Chapter Ten

After
waiting for Ilona to return and being disappointed once again, Terek had headed
to Romania before the sun came up. At least there he didn't feel like he was
fighting the impossible, ironically enough.

The
monastery had an oddly empty feel with Vasilije gone. Even with four other Sons,
Kali, and Sasa still there, the place felt incomplete. Terek found Sasa alone
behind his desk, like she was waiting for him to return and reclaim his place
in what had become their home.

"Can't
sleep? Have you heard anything?"

Terek
knew if anything had happened, good or bad, and Sasa had heard, he would have
too, but the sadness he saw in her face told him she could use a friend at that
moment.

"No.
But Solenne called to let me know Saint has gone to help him."

"He'll
be back soon, Sasa."

She
sighed as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. "I hope
so."

He
hesitated to ask if she needed blood, not wanting to intrude, but Sasa was
still a young vampire. She may be fine without her sire's blood for a short
time, but that didn't mean she could survive long without any blood.

"Do
you need anything?"

Sasa
smiled sweetly, as if she knew his thoughts. "Thank you, Terek. You don't
have to worry. I sense you're very concerned. I'm fine. I have our home and
everything I need is here."

Hesitating,
he asked, "And blood?"

"Thank
you, but Thane has been kind enough to offer and since he's here all the
time..." Sasa's voice trailed off and Terek sensed a twinge of guilt when
she looked away. Very gently, he entered her mind to listen to her thoughts,
but they were all of Vasilije.

"Let
me know if you need anything, Sasa. I'm never too far away."

"Thanks.
I think everyone's downstairs this morning. Seems no one can sleep."

Terek
made his way to the cellar hoping he'd find lighter hearts to cheer his up.
Sasa reminded him too much of Ilona, so in addition to his concern about
Vasilije, his problems with his own vampire were never far from his mind. For
once, he hoped he could count on Dante to be his usual self.

The
rest of the monastery's inhabitants sat around Thane and Ramiel's table, and
Terek saw in an instant something had changed since he'd last visited them.
Then they'd been sour-faced and miserable, but now their faces were brighter
and everyone was smiling, even Ramiel.

"Terek!
Our long lost Son! Come in and join us," Dante yelled across the room.

Everyone
turned to face him as he sat down at the far end of the table. Terek wondered
what the change that had come over them was about, but he didn't have to wait
long to find out. As he watched, Thane and Sion excitedly shuffled papers,
books, and scrolls.

"We
had another breakthrough. Actually, we've had a few small ones since Kali came,
but this one's much more," Thane said with a smile that reached from ear
to ear.

"More
than what you told us after Saint and Solenne's wedding?"

"Much
more," Thane answered.

This
was exactly the good news Terek needed. Finally, something to break through the
darkness that had settled over his world.

"Well?
Don't keep the good news to yourselves. Let me in on the celebration,"
Terek joked.

"Before
I get into the meat of it, remember the eight sons of Macaria and Navarus? Do
you know their stories?" Thane asked in an almost professorial tone.

Terek
thought about what he'd learned of the original Sons and nodded. "Vaguely.
Do I need a history lesson to enjoy the good news?"

"It
will help," Ramiel said. "This gets pretty thick."

Thane
stood and began to summarize the lore of those first eight who formed the Sons
of Navarus. "The oldest son was named Deimos. He's interesting because
while all the other children of Navarus and Macaria have their own children, he
has none. Pretty violent guy, as far as we know."

"Why
didn't he have any children?" Terek asked.

"You
can't very well have women giving birth to your children when you kill them
all. He had a habit of killing the women who could've given him more
vampires."

"Nice,"
Terek mumbled, wondering if the Archons were related to him.

"Yeah,
he's a real charmer, isn't he?" Dante said at the other end of the table.

"Okay,
but let's move on," Thane continued as he walked behind Terek. "Next
we have Erasmus. He's the son who saved Hermes' daughter from being raped. He
became like a second son to the messenger god."

"That's
the reference you mentioned on the phone after the wedding—the one that also
can refer to Saint in the prophecy."

"Exactly.
But let's keep going. Their third son was Haemon. He was the opposite of
Deimos. Of all the sons, he sired or was the father to the most vampires."

"I
remember him," Terek admitted, hoping Thane would get to the good news
soon.

"After
him was Ianos. Now he's interesting. Of all their sons, he was closest to his
grandfather, who was none other than the god of the Underworld himself, Hades.
He's the son who bridges the vampire world and the Underworld."

"I
don't remember ever hearing that, Thane."

Thane
held his hand out toward Kali. "None of us had either. Thanks to Kali, who
stumbled upon something in one of the scrolls, we had this small
breakthrough."

"That
Ianos actually has a history?" Terek asked, unsure where Thane was going.

"That
Hades has never been a fan of vampires."

The
news that the god of the Underworld and father to Macaria, the mother of their
race—in effect, the grandfather to the world of vampires—didn't prefer vampires
seemed odd.

"Why?
Wouldn't we be the poster children for the god of the Underworld?"

"No.
Think about it. The dead must remain in the Underworld. Hades won't allow them
to leave. Not that any of us think of ourselves as dead, but technically, we
are and we roam free up here," Thane said with a grin.

"Granddad
never loved us," Ramiel joked in a sad voice. "It's the stuff
therapists make a mint on."

Terek
laughed more at the sight of Ramiel in a good mood than his joke. "It's
definitely interesting. Do we know if it's important to the Archon
takeover?"

"Not
yet," Thane conceded. "But it's a small victory."

Everyone
around the table looked to Kali. A petite brunette, this woman had become very
important to them and their cause. She smiled and when Sion congratulated her
on the help, she merely said, "I'm just glad I could help."

"Don't
let her humility fool you, Terek. She's been incredibly helpful ever since she
arrived," Sion said in an uncharacteristically relaxed way. Terek couldn't
remember seeing the smartest of the Sons lacking his usual stiffness.

Thane
agreed. "She has. So let's keep going with our next small breakthrough.
The next son was Monimos, his mother's favorite. He was a Thracian prince from
the east."

Terek
shrugged his interest. Not as exciting as finding out the god of the Underworld
didn't like vampires, but okay, it was something.

"I
can see by your face you didn't find that impressive," Thane said with a
grin like a Cheshire cat's.

Terek
shook his head. "No. Did I miss something?"

"Let
me continue and then you'll see. Ramiel, read the lines from the prophecy we
think refer to Monimos."

"Rising
in the east of royal blood, he is the communion of heart and mind."

All
eyes fixed on Terek and he silently repeated what Ramiel had said, feeling like
the only one not in on the secret. Finally, he shrugged and said, "I give
up. What did I miss?"

Solemnly,
Thane answered, "We think what we thought might be references to the
original sons are in truth about us."

Repeating
the line in his head once more, Terek understood where they were going with
this. "Vasilije. He's the only one of us with royal blood. Well, direct
royal blood since he's the son of a Romanian prince."

Thane
clapped his hands together. "Exactly!"

"And
knowing that can help us to see what we need to do," Ramiel added.

"How
many references have you deciphered?" Terek asked, feeling for the first
time that they were close to finding out what they needed to do to defeat the
Archons.

"Just
the two referring to Saint and Vasilije, but with Kali's help, we don't think
it will take much longer," Thane said.

"Before
we all get too excited, remember that the Prophecy of Idolas is intentionally
obscure. He didn't want the Archons to figure it out. The other references to all
of you may not come so quickly," Kali cautioned.

"Kali's
right, but let's forget about that for a minute. We still haven't told you
about the big breakthrough," Thane said beaming with happiness. "We
think we know who the father of Idolas is."

Terek
sat stunned for a moment. This
was
big.

"Really?
You think you know the answer to one of the best kept secrets in the vampire
world?"

"Yes.
Kali and I were working on one of the first scrolls Idolas wrote and began to
see repeated references to who we believe is Idolas himself, his mother, and
his father, who we know wasn't Navarus because Idolas wasn't a vampire."

The
excitement in the room was palpable. Even Ramiel looked like he was going to
burst.

"But
he had something else that made him special. He was a seer, and we think that
came from his father."

"Another
human like Navarus or a god like his mother?" Terek asked.

"God."

Terek's
mind raced through the various Greek gods, mentally dismissing each one. Damn
it! Which one could see the future? Didn't all of them have that power to one
degree or another?

Before
he could figure out the answer, Thane added, "Here's another hint. As we
worked on that part of the prophecy, we found a number of references to the
son, but we think they actually referred to the sun."

Terek
ran through the Greek gods again, but before he could get the name out, Dante
blurted out, "Apollo!"

The
Sun god's name made Terek sit back in his seat. Taking a deep breath, he let
the idea settle into his brain that Idolas, and by extension all of them, were
descendants of Apollo, a god, and not a human turned vampire like Navarus.

"We
couldn't believe it ourselves, but from what we found, Idolas was the son of
Apollo. He was fair haired like him, had the gift of prophecy like him, and
definitely wasn't one of Navarus' sons," Thane explained.

"This
is big," Terek said as he blew out his deep breath.

"It
is. We're not sure what else it'll lead to, but it must be important to figure
out the identity of Idolas' true father," Thane said as he took a seat
next to Ramiel.

"We're
getting there," Ramiel said in low voice that verged on positive.

Terek
stood from the table. "Let me know when you find out anything else. I'd
stay, but I have to get some sleep. At sunset I have to return to Spain to deal with some things. Speaking of that, how are we doing on locating Sampson's
vampires?"

Sion
spoke up. "We've found many of them already. Thankfully, he had a
preference for a few places and wasn't a globetrotter. We found them safe
houses for now, but we can't get into this habit, Terek. We just don't have the
time to be saving everyone."

Terek
may not have liked what Sion said, but he wasn't wrong. They'd never be able to
defeat the real enemy if they got mired down in these little battles.

"I
know, but Sampson died because the Archons believed he was a Son. We have an
obligation to his vampires."

"Not
to be heartless here, but Sampson's bad luck is our good luck. If the Archons
believe he was one of us, then they're obviously working with faulty
info," Dante said.

Leave
it to the kid to not see the other side for some poor guy in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Sometimes Dante's inexperience was too much for Terek.

"I
agree with Dante," Sion said. "Better some vampire named Sampson die
than one of us."

Ramiel
chuckled. "Sion and Dante, the Compassion Twins."