Blood Spirit (19 page)

"Of
course I'm here."

She
dropped her gaze shyly and stared at the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm very new
at this."

"I
understand, Serena. Would you like to sit at the fountain? Or maybe take a
walk?"

Whichever
she chose didn't matter. Within an hour, he'd convince her to let him walk her
home and the night's job would begin. It would be a nice hour, though.

"I'd
love to sit at the fountain. The sound of the water is very relaxing," she
said with a smile as she took his hand.

"Fountain
it is," he said as he escorted her to the low concrete wall that
surrounded the fountain of some religious figure Knull had never heard of.

Serena
sat with her hands in her lap listening as he told her the lies he knew would
make her trust him. He told her about his job as a policeman in Barcelona that he'd given up to live the quiet life in Cocentaina. He told her of how he
liked to read at night when all his friends were out partying. And he told her
about the puppy he'd rescued from a life on the rough streets of Barcelona.

She
believed all of it. With every story, her brown eyes grew more and more full of
adoration.

"I
didn't think men like you existed, Knull."

Taking
her hand in his, he smiled. "Of course we do. You just have to know where
to look."

"And
to think you were right here in Cocentaina."

"It's
almost as if it's meant to be, don't you think?" he asked as he stared
deeply into her eyes. "Do you believe in fate, Serena?"

"Oh,
yes! Very much!" she answered excitedly.

She
truly was a sweet little thing. However, now he watched the happiness fade from
her expression until a frown formed on her pretty mouth.  

"What's
wrong?"

"I'm
worried you won't think fate is such a wonderful thing when you see the real
me, Knull."

"What
do you mean? Why would I think less of you when you become a vampire?"

Serena
let go of his hand and dropped her gaze toward the ground once again. "I
don't become vampire. I am always vampire," she said sadly.

Knull
fought the urge to tell her she had nothing to be ashamed of and that being
vampire was the best of all worlds. Instead, he quietly said, "Show
me."

Like
a whisper, her fangs slid into her mouth and she looked up at him, her mouth
open just enough for him to see the sparkling white points of her teeth. The
look in her eyes begged him to accept her like this, and he smiled broadly back
at her.

"If
it's possible, you're even prettier."

Her
smile reached all the way to her eyes. A weaker man may have crumbled at that
point, succumbing to the innocent sitting next to him, but Knull knew it was
time to go in for the kill.

"How
about I walk you home while we make plans for tomorrow night? I want to know
everything about the siring. You still want to, don't you?"

Serena
clutched his hands tightly in hers. "Oh, yes!"

"Then
let's get you home so you're rested for tomorrow."

Giggling,
she said, "Knull, I'm vampire. I don't sleep at night."

The
giggling almost did him in, but steeling his will, he reminded himself of how
important finding and eliminating Sampson's last vampire was to his future.
Standing, he nodded. "Yes, I forgot."

Guiding
her to the path just outside the square, he readied himself for the job ahead.
Serena shyly held his hand as they made their way up the hill. The villa soon
came into view, and by the time they'd reached the front door, he'd convinced
her to let him come in for a snack.

Just
inside the villa, he pulled Serena roughly by the arm and spun her toward him. She
wore a look of confusion that turned to fear when she saw the knife in his
hand. Those big brown eyes that had spent the last hour adoring him now looked
up at him in terror.

"Sorry,
sweetie."

Before
she could speak a word, he'd slashed her pretty throat from ear to ear. Her
blood poured out, covering him before he let her drop to the ground in a heap.

Knull
stalked off in search of his prey, peering into room after room but not finding
a soul. Had they been tipped off somehow? There was no way that human had told
anyone before he snapped her neck. Had innocent Serena possessed some ability
to contact others without speaking?

As
he cursed his bad luck, he heard noises coming from the back of the house.
Hurrying to their location, he found seven women enjoying a quiet night
together at home. Scanning their faces, he quickly realized with disappointment
that none of them was the one he was looking for.

With
fear in her voice, one who looked similar to Serena stood as the other women
huddled behind her. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Knull
stood in the doorway of the family room and looked around at each wall for
alternate exits. He blocked the only way out. Perfect. "I'm looking for a
girl who would've come here in the last week. Blonde, pretty, she's like
us."

Flashing
his fangs, he watched as the looks of recognition crossed the women's faces.
They knew. She was here.

"Give
her to me and no one has to get hurt. Don't, and I'll kill you all. Your
choice."

A
few of the females began to cry, and the one in front and another behind her
worked to calm them. Turning back to face him, the one in the front said,
"You're mistaken. No one like you described lives here. It's only those
you see here."

Behind
him he heard footsteps, and he turned quickly to see two more women. Clutching
his stake tightly in his hand, he buried it first in one's chest and then the
other, reducing them to dust.

Furious,
he spun around to face the women in the room again. "Only those I see
here? Make one move, any of you, and you'll end up like those two."

The
crying grew louder and one from the rear pleaded, "Please, we know nothing
of who you want. Let us be."

These
bitches were starting to irritate him. They obviously needed a further
demonstration of why they should cooperate. Motioning to the one in the back,
he ordered, "Come here now."

She
walked toward him, eyes fixed straight ahead, not cowering like the others. He
put his hand up to stop her about ten steps away from him. "What's your
name?"

When
she spoke, her voice was strong, but he heard the fear at its base.
"Carlie."

Taking
a giant step forward, he came to within an arm's length from her.  "I'll
say it one more time. I want the girl your sire brought here."

Her
voice shaky, she answered, "I'm sorry. We don't know this woman."

Reaching
into his coat pocket, he grabbed his knife and slashed across her throat. She
clutched her neck in pain and with eyes full of tears, collapsed to the floor.
Stepping over her, he pointed to the woman who stood with her arms out to her
sides attempting to protect those who stood sobbing behind her.

"Here.
Now!"

She
approached him as the last one had—confident, like one in charge—but just as she
reached him, she swung wildly, catching him on the jaw. Stunned, he took only a
moment before he stopped her next punch and held her tightly, immobilizing her
arms.

He
dragged her to a chair, and after landing a few of his own punches to her
pretty face, tied her securely, binding her hands behind her and her ankles to
the legs of the chair. Bloody, her face began to swell and she hung her head.

Knull
lifted her head to look at him. "Pay attention. I'm going to ask every one
of these women where she is."

Over
and over, he separated one from the group and demanded to know where the girl
was. And over and over, he heard the same denial he'd heard before. With each
one, he turned back to the one in the chair in the hope that another slaughter
of her friends would compel her to give him what he wanted, but she said
nothing.

A
couple he dusted, but while that wasn't as messy as other methods, he needed to
send their sire a clear message. So with the last three, he slit their throats.

By
the time he was finished, he was covered in a mixture of blood and dusted
vampires that clung to his clothes and stuck to his skin. Even worse, he was no
closer to finding the girl and giving the Archon the good news he expected.

With
the terrifying possibility of reassignment to hunting vampires in fucking Siberia, he tried once more to extract some nugget of information he could use from the
only one of them left. She sat slumped over in the chair, quietly sobbing with
her eyes closed to the carnage all around her.

"None
of this had to happen. All you had to do was give up the girl. So I'll ask one
more time. Where is she?"

The
woman's crying stopped, and she shook her head. "Just kill me because I'm
never going to tell you what you want."

He'd
had enough of this. From behind her, he yanked her head up by the hair and
barked, "Look at this! How will you explain to your sire what you've
done?"

Tears
rolled down her face as he forced her to look at the room littered with the
bodies and remains of those she obviously cared for.  Blood pooled on the tile
floor and stained a rug where women lay bleeding out. None were dead yet, and
tiny moans began to fill the room as one by one the life slowly drained out of
them.

Even
Knull had a hard time looking at it. Stepping in front of her, he looked into
her eyes. One was nearly swollen shut, but the other stared back at him with a
steely look of hate.

"You
give this message to your sire when he gets back. I will find her, even if it
takes me slashing the throats of every single vampire he's sired. He's fucking
with Archon business. He has two nights to think about it before I come
back."

The
woman said nothing as Knull left, but he'd made his point. On the way out, he
found Serena in a pool of blood already bled to death. Stepping over her, he
looked back at her innocent brown eyes still wide with fear, frozen in the same
terrified stare as when he slit her throat.

"Too
bad," he muttered to himself as he closed the door behind him.

Chapter Sixteen

Ilona
swayed on unsteady legs, thankful for Terek's strong hand on her back that kept
her from tumbling into a patch of flowers near the front door. The ability to
move from one place to another, no matter where in the world, in mere seconds
was still something about being a vampire she needed to get used to. It was one
facet of her new life she enjoyed, though, especially if it allowed them to
travel to a place like Morocco whenever they chose.

Pulling
her close to his body, Terek leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
"Weak in the knees?" he teased.

"That's
the effect you have on me."

Terek
cradled her face in his hands and stroked her cheek with his thumb. His
expression was serious as he looked at her with those magical green eyes.
"I plan to have a meeting with everyone tonight. They deserve to know
about us."

"Are
they going to be okay with this?"

"This
isn't a harem, like you claimed, if I remember correctly. These women are my
family, Ilona. They'll be happy for us."

Ilona
wasn't sure they thought of Terek as family, but at least she knew Carlie would
be happy at their news.

"And
after we tell everyone, we'll need to figure out where we want to live,"
he said with a wink.

"We'll
move?"

"Maybe
not at first. I have a responsibility to the Sons and the Order to see the
Archons stopped, and for now, at least, that's a priority, so we'll stay here.
But we're going to want a home of our own once our lives are our own."

Terek
gently fisted her hair as he kissed her. Sweeping his tongue into her mouth, he
teased her playfully.

Pulling
away, she fixed her hair and straightened her dress. "Terek, what if
someone opens the door and sees us acting like teenagers out here?"

He
arched one eyebrow and grinned. "Trust me. What I want to do right now no
teenager has ever thought of."

When
he looked at her like he adored every part of her, she nearly melted inside.
Looking at him now, she knew that for as strong as he was, he'd showed her a
tender side she'd fallen for. And then there was the side that knew how to
please her body like she'd never imagined possible.

"Come
on. Let's go in. I'm hungry."

"Good
idea. What I want to do now will be better after a good soak in the bath."

Terek
took a step toward the door and turned to look at her. Wearing a devilish
smile, he said, "Or in the bath."

She
followed him through the door and stopped short at the sight of Serena lying in
a pool of blood with her throat cut. Her brown eyes wide with fear starred up
at them, evidence of the terror of her last moments. Terek dropped to his knees
and cradled her limp body in his arms as he murmured her name over and over,
his voice filled with sadness.

"Serena,
dear Serena. I'm so sorry, Serena. I'm so sorry."

Ilona
looked down the hallway for any sign of how this had happened but saw no tracks
of blood or anything to show who'd done this horrible thing to the most
innocent of the women who lived there. Terek seemed to be in a trance, clinging
to Serena and rocking her in his arms. The sight of him so devastated broke
Ilona's heart.

"Terek,
we need to find the others. Maybe they can tell us what happened."

"How
did I not know? She suffered, Ilona. All alone. Left to bleed to death. I'm her
sire. It was my job to protect her."

Terek
pressed his lips against her forehead in a kiss. "I'm sorry, Serena. I'm
sorry."

Ilona
heard a faint sound from a room down the hallway. It sounded like a moan, and a
chill raced up her spine. Serena wasn't the only one attacked.