Immortal Confessions (32 page)

I turned to Rene. “What am I to do?”

I expected her to tell me that we had to plan
strategy, or to practice with guns, swords, or other edged weapons.
But she was already taking her clothes back off.

“Be with me,” she said softly. “Please.”

I gave her an odd look, even as I was
appreciating her form. “Should we not go over the plan, at
least?”

“I am giving up my soul for you,” she said in
a whisper. “It will mean my life, Dev. Don’t begrudge me a few last
hours in your arms.”

I looked at her, and it all clicked into
place. “We are not doing this,” I said abruptly. And then I headed
for the door.

“Where are you going?” she shouted.

“Outside, where I should’ve gone a day ago,”
I said, swallowing my fear, and my anguish. I put my hand on the
door, and threw it open. And immediately, my skin began to smoke,
as the sunlight washed over me.

I began to hiss in pain, and then gentle arms
enfolded me.

“Come back inside,” Rene whispered. “Please,
Dev.”

“I will not,” I said, hissing in more pain as
agony built, feeling my skin flaking off and crisping.

“Please, Dev,” she whispered. “I love
you.”

“I cannot!” I screamed. “I will not doom you
because I lack the courage to take my own life!”

“Then I will burn with you,” she said
tenderly. “For I’m not leaving you here to die alone. And the fire
as you burn will consume me as well.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, the pain
intensifying as the smoke coming from me increased. Then I let her
lead me indoors.

Rene shut the door behind us, and bolted it.
Then she led me before the fire and helped me take off my clothes.
My skin was already healing, even as more of the burnt skin fell
off in reddish flakes. She embraced me in her arms, cradling my
head to her chest. I heard her heartbeat beneath her skin, and
closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than to be held by her. For a
long time we lay like that before the fire, our arms around each
other.

* * * *

Hours later, she finally took me to her bed.
We made love as we had the day before. As I held her after, I
finally noticed that her room had been painted a blue-green color,
matching her eyes. The room was cozy…too cozy…

“Why does your bedroom have no windows?” I
demanded suddenly, turning to her. “The ones in your main room are
covered also. Why? I have never come here before in the day.”

She looked at me a little guiltily.

“Speak, Rene,” I said, sick.

“I saw us together like this, not just hand
in hand,” she said, her eyes downcast. “If the time ever came, I
wanted my bed and home to be safe for you.”

“There is no shame in that,” I said gently,
nestling myself again in her arms, inwardly relieved. “I
appreciate—”

“You do not suspect me of orchestrating
Anna’s death, to get you for myself?” she said bluntly,
surprised.

I kissed her gently. “If that were so, you
could’ve arranged for her die in that fire in France, or to be
taken by Louis. Ravel guarded us because you asked him to. You
could’ve told him to cut her from me. There are ways it could’ve
been done, and many opportunities.”

“I’m glad you see that,” she whispered. “I
was worried you might think otherwise.”

“You say you love me,” I said, kissing her
again. “I’ve heard those words enough times in my life to tell
whether a woman means them or not. I’d wager you mean them. But
please do not speak of her again.”

I got up from the bed, and walked over to
lean against the far wall. Rene watched me curiously.

“I loved her,” I said, trying hard to speak
clearly in my grief. “What we’ve done or will do doesn’t change
that, Rene—”

“I’m not asking for your heart,” Rene said,
wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. “I know it’s already taken,
Dev. But I want to be your lover. Take the comfort I offer. It
doesn’t come with strings attached.”

I looked at her uneasily.

Rene got up and came closer, taking my hand.
“I give myself to you, Devlin Dalcon. I give you my promise, here
and now, I’ll be yours, the rest of my life.” She looked up at me.
“Do you accept?”

“You are not dying tomorrow,” I said flatly,
sitting with her back on the bed. “I spoke to Shaker this afternoon
while you slept before the fire. He agreed to take the souls of
Joshua and Henry, instead of yours.” I hugged her. “So there’s no
need—”

She looked at me in shock, and then abruptly
burst out laughing and lay backwards on the bed.

“
What are you laughing at?” I asked,
annoyed and intrigued at her mirth.

“You,” she gasped out. “You and your
posturing.”

I began tickling her mercilessly, as she
yelled out for me to stop. “Why are you laughing?” I said
mischievously as she gasped for breath. “I expected you to be
relieved!”

“Because I noticed you did not offer your own
soul, gallant vampire that you are,” she said, grinning.

I grinned back. “What is the point of saving
you, if we are still parted, my faerie princess?”

She snorted, and then laughed again. “Always
with men it’s the same. One thing on your minds.”

“Women are not all that different,” I said
grumpily. “Sex is on your mind, too.”

“You are so right,” she whispered throatily.
“Make love to me again, Devlin. For we must leave in another hour,
at most.”

I looked down at her. I didn’t love Rene as I
had Anna, but maybe that was best. She was a good friend and she
could be trusted. Better yet, not only could Rene protect herself
and I from my enemies, being oathed again would mean I’d no longer
have to fend off any advances from women looking to be my lady. It
was a small price to pay for a little lovemaking.

“On one condition,” I said, taking her in my
arms. “Repeat your oath for me.”

Rene trembled, but she repeated it.

“I accept,” I whispered gently. “And I
promise to be faithful to you, Rene.”

“For as long as I live, you’d better,” she
said, kissing me, even as she wiped away a tear. “Or I’ll zap your
ass with a little lightning.”

I gave her a look of shock, and she laughed,
her eyes shining. Then I put her beneath me, and silenced her the
best way I knew how.

* * * *

Dusk found us dressed, and waiting before the
door. Ravel appeared in a few minutes, and then Uther came with his
men at full dark, bearing guns and knives. Shaker showed up a few
minutes later. Even though it made me feel a little inept, I and
the rest all looked at Rene.

She was all business. “Shaker, teleport us
in. You go first. Devlin, keep yourself with Ravel -- he will watch
your back. You are to stay out of the fighting, as you will need
all your strength to beat Joshua. Ravel, guard him. Uther, you and
your men are to take care of whatever Shaker can’t handle. I will
guard the rear.”

“Ready?” Shaker said.

We nodded, and a moment later, we were in a
stone mansion. A half second later, we were discovered.

A group of bears charged us, yelling. Ravel
blocked me with his body, and hit them with some lightning. That
stopped two, but the rest came on, only to be ripped in half by
Shaker, who mowed them down as if he was invincible. Their weapons
did not seem to cause him pain, and his wounds healed faster than
any of mine ever had.

“Lead on,” Rene said, when it was done.

I wondered how Shaker knew where to go. That
was cleared up for me with his next words. “I remember the dungeon
being through here,” he rumbled. “But it’s been many years since I
was here last.”

He went into a passage and through a room of
maps, then down a flight of stairs to face a solid brick wall. When
he passed his hands in front of it and said a few words, the bricks
moved as if they were water, revealing a door of heavy wood.

I remembered with shame Anna’s words about
magic bricks, and said a quick prayer that she forgive me for not
believing her.

“In there,” he rumbled. “Joshua is in
there.”

He forced the door open, and everything
happened at once.

Titus appeared in the doorway, snarling, and
moved to strike, stopping in shock when he saw he faced Shaker.

“Damn you!” he shouted, and then screamed as
he disappeared.

“Get through the door!” Rene shouted. “Kill
Joshua and it’s done!”

We ran in to face one man. He was huge,
easily the size of Shaker, and he gripped an axe. Shaker intoned
something. The man shivered, but he didn’t move.

“My brother gave you something,” Shaker said
with horror.

“Yes,” Henry said, advancing with his axe.
“Magic will not work on me. And no earthly weapon will kill
me!”

Uther and his men attacked and covered him,
bringing him down under their numbers. But he fought them off
quickly.

Rene screamed “The amulet! Grab his
amulet!”

Uther was fighting with Henry; he was the
last on his feet. His men were already dead around them, cloven.
Shaker was intoning something quickly, fire forming white hot in
his hands.

Uther fell; the axe buried in his side, in
his hands a necklace. Shaker threw some kind of blue fire at Henry.
He dropped the handle of his axe and screamed, his body burning as
if he were a torch. He fell to his knees, as I ran to Uther.

I saw he was done for, even as I pulled out
the axe.

“Finish it,” he rasped. “Don’t let my death
be for nothing.”

He sagged in my arms, just as someone
screamed from behind me. I turned. Titus was back, fighting with
Rene and Ravel, fighting hard, and they were faltering. Shaker was
nowhere in sight.

“Go!” Rene screamed. “Kill Joshua!”

At the far side of the room was a casket.
Before I could get to it, it exploded outwards. I was knocked off
my feet, and when I looked up, Joshua was grinning up at me.

He decked me in the face, and then he was on
me. A moment later, his fangs buried themselves in my throat. I bit
into his neck, and he flinched, but he didn’t stop drinking from
me.

I could feel myself getting weak. Then hate
washed through me, enough hate to drown in. I had not lived so many
decades and come across an ocean to end like this!

I bit deeper and twisted my jaws in his
flesh, ripping his throat out. I dug in again, tearing deeper. This
time, my teeth grated on his bones.

Joshua ripped his fangs out of me and let out
a scream. Again I plunged in my fangs, twisting my head, ripping
away a chunk of his neck. He tried for me again, but I wrenched
back his head and sank my fangs into the spurting wound, tearing
and shredding his muscle and skin near the spinal bone. Joshua
began to twitch as his head flopped to the side, almost
severed.

Once more. I reared back to strike, and felt
a shock of energy run through me, burning me. With the last of my
strength, I sank my fangs a final time, and ripped outwards.

Joshua’s head separated from his body. It
began to fall in almost instantly, to decompose, even as vile,
pus-colored liquids seeped out of his skull.

“Drink,” Rene called out softly. “Hurry,
before he’s dust!”

I put my mouth over his stump of a neck and
drank greedily, until his flesh rotted and his body fell to dust in
my hands.

With the influx of his blood, I felt myself
change. I can’t describe it, except to say I was more than I was,
that I felt stronger than I ever had before. When I slammed my hand
down on the stone floor, it gave beneath my palm, the rock
cracking.

“Devlin!” Ravel called urgently. “Come
quickly!”

I turned. He was cradling Rene, her chest
blackened and bloody. Blood was widening in a pool beneath her.
Titus was beside him, though he was now on one knee, his head bowed
to me.

“She took most of that blast for you,” Ravel
said softly.

I went to them and Ravel placed her gently in
my arms. She was still breathing.

I turned to Titus. “Heal her.”

“I cannot,” he said regretfully. “She is too
old, Vampire. The wound I gave her is too severe.”

“And I want her soul,” Shaker said, appearing
beside us. “She gave it to me, as part of her deal with me.”

“You will leave it with her,” I said
hatefully. “Or I will send your brother back to Hell with you, here
and now.”

Shaker looked over at Titus, and then he
nodded. “Agreed. Henry’s and Joshua’s souls are enough. But you
will bind him to you, Vampire, as part of the deal with me.”

I offered Titus my wrist. Titus took it,
nicked it with his dagger teeth, and put his lips to my skin.

“Master,” he rumbled. “What is your
will?”

“Heal her,” I said with tears in my eyes. “Do
not let her die.”

“He cannot,” Rene whispered softly. “He is
right, I am old. I am as old as you are, Dev, even though I don’t
look it. Even if I were healed, I would not live much longer.”

“Guard the door,” I said, not taking my eyes
from hers.

Titus left. Ravel followed him, with one last
kiss to Rene’s cheek.

I kissed her gently. “Tell me what to do,” I
said hurriedly. “Tell me what to do, to make you vampire. I am
strong enough now! I will be able to do it.”

“I am faerie,” she said, touching my face
gently. “I cannot be vampire, Devlin.”

“Don’t you dare leave me here alone,” I said
brokenly. “I did not become King of this country to be alone!”

“Ruler,” she corrected gently. “And you must
be, Devlin. You are going to be a legend, lover. You will be the
most respected and feared Vampire Ruler the world has ever
known.”

“I don’t want to be,” I said, trying not to
cry. I wanted to look in her eyes and see her there in them looking
back at me for as long as I could. “I just want to be loved.”

“You will be loved,” she said. “Remember my
words.”

She began to twitch. I clutched her to me
carefully, remembering the stone floor. “Don’t die!”