Blood Spirit (24 page)

"Dante!
Ordinarily, I'd say this is too dangerous, but I'm glad you're here. Let me get
you a..."

Terek
stopped dead at the sight of Ilona. Looking back at Dante, he barked, "Get
her out of here! What were you thinking bringing her here?"

"I
know what the hunter looks like. Dante and I have been outside watching for
hours," Ilona said with a smile.

He
didn't have time for this. The hunter could arrive at any moment.

"Dante,
get her out of here. Now!"

The
younger vampire raised his hands as if in surrender. "You need help. I'm
here to help you."

"So
you bring the one he wants here to him? What the fuck were you thinking?"

Nodding,
Dante admitted, "Yeah, this sounded much better back at the
monastery."

The
sound of a boot hitting the tile echoed in the hallway and in seconds the
hunter was there, just inches away from snatching Ilona. She screamed,
distracting him, and Dante grabbed her.

"Just
give me the girl and no one gets hurt. Not you or your friend here. I just want
the girl."

Terek
saw the terror in Ilona's eyes, like she thought in exchange for another's
safety he'd give her up to him. "Get her out now!"

Dante
held Ilona to him but nothing happened. Why wasn't he taking her out of there?

In
the doorway, the hunter smiled. "What am I? A fucking rookie? Don't bother
trying to disappear with her. It won't work. You're dealing with the Archons,
vampire."

Terek
quickly read the hunter's mind and knew everything. Knull, as he was called,
had orders to kill Ilona, but he was ignorant as to who he and Dante were.

"Well,
who the fuck do you think you're dealing with?" Dante snapped.

"Some
vampire who doesn't understand the world he lives in. I told your friend this
and now I'll tell you. You're meddling in Archon business. You don't want that,
either of you. So just hand her over."

"I
don't think so," Terek said calmly.

"You
picked the wrong vampire, dude. He's not just some average fucking vampire you
and the Archons can push around. He's a Son of Navarus, and you're in for a
heap of fucking pain now."

The
hunter's eyes grew wide and even without reading his mind, Terek knew the man
intended to call for more hunters. The problem was that whatever enchantment
he'd used to make sure no one left had also worked on him.

"Not
going anywhere?" Terek said with a grin. Dante's admission of who he
really was had been foolish, but with the hunter trapped there, Terek intended
to use it to his advantage.

Pointing
his sword toward Knull, he said, "I'd planned on just killing you, Knull.
But now, I think I've changed my mind."

Shock
registered on the man's ugly face. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm
a Son of Navarus, Knull. We have power you can only dream of. For example, I
know right now you're wishing you'd be happy in cold weather. Seems the
Archon...hmmm, our old friend Verrater, won't be pleased when you fail tonight.
Siberia's a nasty place to be reassigned."

"There's
no way you can know that! You're working with him against me!"

Terek
took a step closer to him and raised his falchion a little higher so the point
aimed directly at his heart. "You don't listen well, do you? We're Sons of
Navarus. The Archons are our enemy. Now you're going to tell me what I want to
know or I'm going to run you through."

Knull
turned to run and hit Dante and Ilona, pushing them to the ground. Terek rushed
to pull him off them, but Knull was too quick. In an instant, he had Ilona by
the neck and a stake pointed at her heart.

"Terek!"

Terror
gripped Terek's heart. "Ilona, don't move!"

"Now
you see, this is how this is going to work, Sons. She's coming with me. Make
one move and she's dead. Understand?"

Terek's
mind raced for a way to save her. Knull planned to kill her either way, but
he'd use her to save his own life. But if he was offered something better to
take to his master...

"Let
her go. I'm a much bigger prize. Imagine the look on your Archon's face when
you bring him an actual Son of Navarus. She's just a simple vampire, brand new
and knows nothing. I'm centuries old and one of your sworn enemies."

Knull
seemed to consider the offer for a moment but finally shook his head. "I'm
not stupid. I let her go and you'll cut my head off."

Terek
slowly lowered his sword and placed it on a table next to him. "Let her go
and take me. I promise you won't lose your head."

"My
boss wants her dead."

"He's
mistaken. She wasn't sired by the vampire you killed that night. She's
mine."

"But
she'll go back to the Sons and tell them."

"So?
You'll have one of us instead. You'll be a hero. Your Archon will be happier
than you can imagine. The first Son to be captured."

"Third.
We got that Declan fellow and Sampson too."

Before
Dante could spout off about Saint being alive, Terek put his hand up to stop
him. "Then the third Son. Just let her go and take me."

Knull
thought about it and gradually a smile grew on his face. "Okay. You for
her. We'll do it at the door."

Slowly,
Knull walked backwards with a terrified Ilona toward the front door. Dante
began to speak, but Terek simply shook his head. When he reached the spot where
he'd killed Serena, he pressed the stake to Ilona's chest. "You come
toward me really slow and tell your friend there no funny business. One wrong
move and she's dust."

"Terek,
don't do this!" she cried as he moved toward them.

"I
told you I would never let anyone hurt you," he said as Knull released
her. He hoped she knew how much he loved her. The look in her eyes told him
what her mind wouldn't, and a sense of calm came over him.

"No
funny business," Terek said as he raised his hands to go to Knull.

For
once, he hoped Dante understood the look on his face and didn't do something
stupid. He wasn't disappointed. Just as Knull took hold of him, Dante raced to
grab Knull from behind, stunning him. As he held him, Terek pulled a stake from
his belt.

"Did
you think it was funny when you slashed that woman's throat right on this
spot?" Terek asked, letting anger fill his voice for the first time.

Knull
struggled against Dante's hold and shrieked, "He made me do it! If I
didn't, he would've killed me!"

Thoughts
flooded Terek's mind—thoughts of Serena and how she'd been misused by this
Knull, how her innocence had made her vulnerable to his manipulation, how he'd
taken advantage of her kindness and repaid it with his vicious attack and then
left her for dead. A rage like he hadn't felt in ages raced through Terek now,
and the need to exact revenge for the cruelty she'd endured overtook him.

"Now
I'm going to."

Terek
pulled his arm back and prepared to plunge the stake into Knull's chest. Dante
released him, and for a moment, Knull was free. But before he could move, the
stake tore through his skin and pierced his heart, changing him from flesh and
bone to dust.

Chapter Twenty

Ilona
watched in stunned silence as the remains of the man who'd come to kill her
fell to the floor. She rushed to Terek to take him in her arms, but as she felt
his powerful body against hers, she questioned whether she truly knew the man
who stared down at her now.

"Are
you hurt?" he asked in a sweet voice so contrary to the man she'd just
watched kill the hunter.

Shaking
her head, she pressed her cheek to his chest. "No. I'm fine. Just a bit
shaken."

"I
think it's time we left, Terek, just in case that hunter has friends,"
Dante said from behind her.

"I
know. Check to make sure no one's outside. We'll be right there."

Terek
held her but said nothing. Looking up, Ilona saw his green eyes had a sad,
faraway look to them. His gaze slowly moved down the hallway, past each room
she imagined held so many memories of his time there.

A
lump grew in Ilona's throat. He'd lost those he'd loved and his home because of
her. "I'm sorry, Terek. I never knew when I asked you to save me that it
would cost you so much. I never meant for this to happen."

Dante
returned to say it was safe to leave, and Terek turned to face her. "I
need you to go with Dante now. I'll follow in a little while."

Ilona
felt his sadness as he kissed her. Everything he'd loved about this house and
his family here had been taken away. As she walked toward the door, she turned
back to see him standing there, eyes closed, in the hallway as if he were
waiting for someone.

He
was saying goodbye.

***

Terek
waited for Ilona and Dante to leave and then slowly made his way to the
courtyard. He heard the tinkling of Serena's bottle ornaments on the tree in the
corner of the yard as he stood staring up at the sky, needing to know that this
hadn't happened because of him. Had he unknowingly sent Serena to her death by
keeping her sheltered in this house for so long, his alone to enjoy? He'd never
taught her about the evils found outside these walls, preferring to believe he
protected her by not showing her the realities of the world.

Guilt
took hold of his heart, like a weight pressing on his chest. He'd done this.
His selfish need to keep her all to himself had made her too trusting, too
naive to be allowed to sire, but he hadn't seen it. While he was congratulating
himself on how wonderful a sire he'd been to finally give her some freedom, he'd
neglected to give her what she needed to choose wisely. Hollow advice filled
with platitudes wasn't what she needed.

She'd
needed his guidance and all she got were beautiful words that meant nothing.

Closing
his eyes, he silently prayed for her forgiveness. In the darkness, he let the
sadness and guilt he bore for her death and the others in his household fill
him. Just as when his wife and son died, it threatened to consume him, but unlike
then, now he was to blame.

Please
God, give me a sign they're safe and happy. Let me know their suffering is
over.

He
remained still as everything went silent, hoping for some sign he could be
forgiven. That the kind souls he'd wronged could see how much he regretted his
actions. Lowering to his knees, he looked to the heavens and silently spoke the
words he so desperately wished they would hear.

I'm
so sorry.

Just
then, a light breeze danced through the air, and the bottles Serena had used to
decorate the tree made a tiny sound, as if to tell him she knew. A feeling of
warmth filled him, and somewhere in his heart he knew his prayer had been
answered.

***

When
she returned to the monastery, Ilona didn't stay to see Carlie and the others
but went straight to the room Sasa offered. Guilt about everything they'd lost
all to save her tormented her and the man she loved seemed to be a stranger
now, no different than the hunter he'd killed.

Ilona
wrestled with that thought, not wanting to think of Terek that way. So much
about the man made no sense to her. He'd been a monk and happy, yet he was a
vampire whose sexual conquests were known throughout their world. With her,
he'd been kind and tender, but if the stories were correct, he'd killed
thousands of humans.

Sitting
on the bed, she closed her eyes and tried to replay those moments alone with
him when his gentle touch had excited her in ways no man's touch had before.
She wanted to think of him that way. But it was no use. Over and over, the
image of him as they made love was pushed aside by the horrifying one of him
staking a fellow vampire.

She'd
stood in the shower until the water ran cold scrubbing her skin and hair, sure
some remnant of the hunter still remained on her. Even now, as she ran her hand
over her arm, she swore she felt something there.

But
it was something more than that. Something more than a phantom feeling on her skin.
She was vampire, just as that hunter was. Terek had done to the hunter what he'd
planned to do to her. Placing her hand over her heart, she thought about
someone driving a stake into her and cringed.

"Don't
mourn him. He doesn't deserve your sympathy."

Ilona
looked up and saw Terek standing in the doorway to the room they were supposed
to share. "How can you say that? Weren't you a monk? You don't believe all
life is sacred?"

His
expression hardened, frightening her. "I mourn the gentle soul who trusted
him and was rewarded with a slit throat. I mourn the beautiful souls who
refused to give up someone I love and paid with their lives. I won't mourn an
Archon hunter who would kill you so his masters can rule our world as
tyrants."

Ilona
put her head down. She'd let herself get so lost in her fear that she'd
forgotten about Serena and the other women who'd suffered for her. Their
sacrifice was almost too much to bear. Would her life as a vampire always be so
full of death?

Terek
sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Tell me
what you're thinking."

When
she looked up into his face, she saw that tenderness she'd known before.
"I'm thinking I feel like I don't know you. You look at me with love, but
I can't get the thought of you killing that man out of my mind."

"Is
it impossible for a man to love a woman yet still fight for what's right?"

Shaking
her head, she said, "That's not what I meant."

"You
want a nice guy who's sweet and kind with you and nice to the rest of the
world? You won't find any of those here. I protect the ones I love. I won't let
any more of our kind die at the hands of the Archons. This is who I am. I'm a
warrior, a Son of Navarus."