Dark Salvation (9 page)

“Nothing important,” Nicholas said low under his breath. Need still beat at him. Every fiber of his being desired another sample of Kitara’s blood. “You guys okay?”

Alyssa gave Nicholas a half-hearted grin. He could see she was in pain, but trying her best to hide it. “We caught a bit of shrapnel back at the church yard, but we’re okay now. Looks as if you had the same problem.”

A small kernel of guilt sat in the pit of his belly. He should have made a better sweep of the area before returning home. If he’d known they were out there, injured, he would have done his best to get them to safety.

“Are you okay?” Lysander asked, his tone turning very concerned.

Nicholas grunted in assent. “Yeah. I was worried. Now I need blood.”

“Please go. We’ll take care of these here.” Lysander helped Alyssa to the couch.

Kitara remained where she stood, frozen against the wall as if contemplating whether or not to run. “You’ll be safe with us, Kitara.” Alyssa reassured. “We’re much better company that grumpy old Nicholas.”

For once, the little redhead was right. Kitara was in better hands with them. Nicholas needed to get out of the house and get his head straight. Knowing his friends were safe gave him some measure of comfort, but to really and completely heal he needed to get fresh blood.  If he stayed any longer he’d be a danger to Kitara anyway. One sample was enough to drive him mad with need for more. “Please excuse me. I won’t be long.” He shouldered a coat as he headed out the door.

Even after returning home from a fresh infusion of blood, Nicholas still had to fight the temptation. There was something special about that woman. Something that drove him mad. And speaking of mad, Nicholas wanted to rip Ian’s good arm off and beat him with it the second he returned home. “I told you to stay with her!”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I’m not your lackey, or I might be scared right about now.” Ian shrugged off his coat and hung it on the rack near the front door. “Relax. She was safe, and not going anywhere.”

“And what if Santino had returned? He knows nothing of her. Could you imagine what might have happened?”

“Santino doesn’t eat people-blood.” Ian turned to Kitara and cringed. “Sorry… uh…”

“No. It’s okay. I get it. You’re all vampires. Just move past it and tell me what you found.” Her eyes lit with excitement.

Ian’s brilliant smile bloomed across his face. “I snapped a few good ones, I’m sure. Even followed one of those bastards before the explosion.”

Nicholas’s temper faded just slightly at the mention of that runaway Saint. Perhaps the cripple leaving was a good idea. “Where did he go?”

“Oh. Now I see. When I have something you want, you can be civil.” Ian was already on Nicholas’s last nerve, and his mocking tone threatened to put him over the edge.

“Would you rather I beat the knowledge out of you?”

“Nicholas, be nice!”

The command in her voice shocked him. But he obliged, since arguing was just going to prolong the time to get the information he needed anyway. “Fine. Show us what you found.”

“What’s the magic word?” Ian taunted.

“Now!” Nicholas barked.

“Please,” Kitara said and shot an angry glare at Nicholas.

Why was she defending that asshole? Had Ian already gotten his hooks into her in the few hours he’d been gone? That vampire was insufferable.

“Anything for a beautiful lady.” Ian indicated with his good hand for them to follow him into the study.

The room wasn’t terribly huge, just enough room for a desk and a few bookshelves, but the three of them fit comfortably. Ian took his spot at the small writing desk. He flipped open and booted up his laptop.

Kitara headed for the bookshelves and browsed through the titles as they waited. “How old are these books?”

“Varying ages. That right there is a first edition printed in 1930. Oh, and over there, I have a few signed by the authors.”

“I didn’t know you loved reading so much.” Kitara sounded impressed, and that had a strange effect on Nicholas. He wasn’t sure where these possessive feelings were coming from, but the more Kitara and Ian talked, the more he wanted to punch something.

“The pictures…” Nicholas said impatiently.

“I’m working on it.” Ian plugged in a cable from the computer to the camera and tapped on the keyboard. “Just a few more clicks and we’ll see what I got for us.”

Kitara walked over to Ian. She leaned over his shoulder, almost nose-to-screen with the computer. “Well, c’mon.”

“Relax, girlie. The computer can only run so fast, but while you’re there, want to rub my shoulders? I promise to return the favor later.”

She playfully smacked him across the shoulder. “You’re such a flirt.”

“Ouch! I’m serious, my shoulders are aching.” Ian looked up with sad puppy-dog eyes.

“Hey, I’m the one who got chased around the park last night. Where was my foot rub?” Kitara replied back with a laugh.

 “If you really want a good rub down, I’ll take care of you later. I may only have one hand, but baby, I know how to use it.” Ian flashed Kitara his thousand-watt smile.

Nicholas gritted his teeth. Kitara was not his. The rational part of him knew this, but seeing the way those two casually bantered drove him a little mad. “Just download the pictures,” Nicholas grumbled. Ian’s flirting grated on his nerves, and the fact that Kitara was buying into it sent his blood boiling. Even she, as naïve as she was, should see though his plastic smile. She should have better taste than that.

She shot a quick glance back at him and blushed, but Nicholas couldn’t tell if it was from Ian’s advances or because she saw how much it annoyed him. Why did it annoy him so? Sure, she was attractive, but he had no claim to her. She held her heart out for a Saint. Logically, there was no reason for jealousy to flare within him, but the part of him that didn’t listen to reason was angry. That part wanted to silence Ian for daring to tempt Kitara.

Get a handle on yourself, man.
He shoved those thoughts down deep inside and refocused on the task at hand.

“All right. Here it is.” Ian cycled through the pictures, most of which were blurry or out of focus. He paused on a photo of a tall, muscular man in the dark uniform of the Saints, carrying a package out of the old church.

Nicholas narrowed his gaze. That must have been the one to escape during the scuffle. He kicked himself for choosing to jump the man in that room rather than the one on the stairs. What the hell had he escaped with?

“That’s him. That’s my Jeremy!” Kitara’s face lit up. She practically squealed with delight.

Nicholas kicked himself again for which one he’d let escape. He’d have been done with this whole Jeremy business had he not hesitated.

“Do we know where he went with that package?” Kitara’s hopeful tone enraged him further. Why? Why was she holding on to such hope? How could she not see that Jeremy had gone to the dark side? Hadn’t Nicholas’s wounds been proof enough of what they were willing to do?

Always helpful, Ian wasted no time giving her every detail of his find. “I followed as close as I could without being seen. He ducked into an apartment not too far from the church yard.” He clicked through a few more photos, to a building with the address etched on the doors.

“I remember seeing that building.” Kitara’s smile widened. “I’d taken a few shots of it a few days ago when I was heading to the church. It was such a pretty old building. I know exactly where it is, too!”

“Let’s not get too hasty.” Nicholas tried to sound calm, steering the conversation to the more important topic. “We don’t know for sure if it’s him. Or what he had in that package.” What they were after was much more important than who, at least as far as he was concerned. 

“I have to try to talk to him.” Kitara ran to grab her jacket hanging by the front door. “Don’t you understand? He’s alone now. You blew up his friends. I have to make him see.”

“No, they tried to blow us up. And I don’t see why you need to go right now. He’s a Saint, Kitara. Why can’t you understand that?” Nicholas wasn’t the pleading type, but he desperately needed her to see reason. Chasing after Jeremy would only lead to pain, whether physical or emotional. There was no need for it.

“He’s not a real Saint. Not like the guy who tried to kill me. Jeremy is a kind, loving, good man. He’s just confused.” She sounded so sure. How crushed would she be when she learned the truth?

“If he’s with them, he’s a killer.” Frustration pulled the kind edge from Nicholas’s voice. “He’s not the same man you knew. He doesn’t care about you. Why can’t you get that through your thick head?”

“Because, unlike you, I don’t see the world as black and white. I know my man. We loved each other. That’s something I doubt you’ve ever experienced, true love.”

Her words cut Nicholas to the bone. He’d loved longer and deeper than she could possibly know and mourned his lost love every day. He’d have given his life a thousand times over if it could bring back his beloved. He’d endure the fires of hell if that’s what it took. Oh yes, he knew both the pleasure and pain of love. But this, her delusions about Jeremy, was not love. This was lunacy. Grasping at a lifeline that was not there. He was a Saint. It didn’t get more black and white than that.

“He loves me,” Kitara continued. “He’ll come back to me. I know it.”

“Don’t go,” Ian said. “As much as I hate to admit it, Nicholas is right. Please, listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about.” 

Kitara refused to listen to anyone. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her without a single glance back.

Fool
, Nicholas thought as he followed her out of the front door and watched her take off down the street.
She’s going to get herself killed… over a guy.

He knew he couldn’t let her just go. Jeremy was a Saint and she was a witch, no matter what label she tried to put on it. If Jeremy didn’t kill her, one of his holier-than-thou brothers would.

Nicholas fisted his hand and slammed it into the door frame. The wood cracked and splintered, slicking slicing his knuckles, but Nicholas didn’t care. He needed to vent his frustration.
Women!

She’d made it half a block when he caught up to her. Kitara paid him no attention; she just kept running as if her life depended on it.

She only stopped when she reached the apartment building Ian had snapped a photo of. She heaved a deep breath as if trying to steel her courage.

“You don’t need to go in there.” Anger and threats were not going to work with her, so Nicholas tried using the calm, reasoning approach.

“I do. Jeremy is there. He needs to know I care, that I forgive him, that I’m here for him.”

How could she be so blinded by love that she could not see the danger lurking before her? He could talk until he was blue in the face, nothing was going to sway Kitara except the cold hard truth. The least he could do was be there to protect her when she finally learned that painful lesson. “Then I’m going in with you,” he said with a resigned sigh.

“You are not.”

“He’s a Saint. You’re a witch. I’m not letting you go in there unescorted.”

“Now you try to be a gentleman?”

“This will be the fourth time I attempt to save your life. You might try a thank you every now and again. It won’t kill you.”

“I’ll thank you when there is a reason to do it.”

She was really working his last nerve pretty hard. But, as much as he wanted to wash his hands of the whole mess, he could not send her in alone to deal with a Saint. “If you’re going to do this, then let’s just get it over with, okay?”

She took another deep breath. On the wall next to the door were a set of twelve buttons, each with a name. She located Jeremy’s, number 3C, and pressed the doorbell.

A male voice over the intercom shouted, “Who’s there?”

“It’s Kit, Jeremy. Let me in, please.”

For a brief moment, all Nicholas could hear was the racing of her heart; and then, the faint buzz of the lock being disengaged.

“Come up,” came a reluctant reply.

His place was on the third floor. Nicholas’s senses were on red alert as they took the narrow set of stairs up to the apartment. The building reeked of human filth. Old mold, mildew, rotting garbage… Nicholas wondered how on earth humans could stand to be around it all, but then, their senses were so dull in comparison they probably weren’t bothered. Among the less pleasing scents was the hint of cheap cologne. It led them straight toward an open apartment door labeled 3C. And that door had been left ajar. Nicholas listened as they approached for any signs of others besides Jeremy. He wasn’t about to be caught unawares.

Nicholas pulled Kitara up short when they reached the apartment. She opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when she spotted someone in the apartment.

A tall man stood in the door frame; he could only assume it was Jeremy. He had a good five or six inches on Nicholas, and was built like a bodybuilder. But that mattered very little to Nicholas. Kit had mentioned he was a contractor before he’d decided to run off. He certainly had the muscles for hard labor, but though he appeared formidable, he was still human, and what Nicholas lacked in stature, he more than made up for in experience and supernatural strength. Even the strongest man alive was no match for a vampire on their worst day. At least where hand-to-hand combat was concerned. Nicholas was more interested in the weaponry that Jeremy had on his person. And by all appearances, he had none. At least none visible.

Satisfied that there was little danger at the moment, he stood aside and allowed Kitara in front of him.

She smiled brightly and held her arms out in offering. “Jer. I’m so glad to see you, baby.”

Where her face had been all soft and welcoming, Jeremy’s face was cold and hard. He stared down at Kitara with hate-filled icy blue eyes. “Kit, what are you doing here? I told you, we’re done.”

Her lip quivered as she approached to embrace Jeremy. “You know that’s a lie. Come home. Forget this whole nonsense—”

Jeremy crossed his arms and took a step back, denying Kit the loving embrace she’d attempted. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I know, but I had to come. I needed to see you and talk to you. You left things so suddenly.” 

The tall man finally acknowledged Nicholas’s presence and recognition glinted in his eyes. “Did you bring him here to compel me to take you back?” Like a soldier, his hand reached for his sidearm, only it wasn’t there.

Nicholas seized the opportunity and pushed Jeremy through the threshold and into his studio apartment. He pinned the taller man against the wall, baring his teeth, ready to strike. “She came here to talk. If you so much as think of trying to harm either her or myself, I will not hesitate to end your pathetic existence. Are we clear?”