Niccolo (Blood Brothers) (16 page)

“Perhaps you can pretend, but I won’t. What is it you have against vampires?”

“I have nothing against vampires. I just prefer human men.”

“Have you ever been with a vampire?”

“No, but I don’t have to taste poison to know it’s bad for me.”

“Apples and oranges, my dear. As I said before, you intrigue me.”

“And you annoy me,” she shot back, attempting to move past him.

He grasped her hand. “There’s something you should know about me.”

“There’s nothing I want to know about you.” She flashed angry brown eyes at him.

“Nonetheless, I will tell you. Besides being a hybrid vampire-warlock, I’m also very persistent. I’ve learned how detrimental it is when one of my kind has been denied what he wants and I won’t deny myself now. Be warned, Camryn, because whether you wish to hear it or not—I want you.”

Chapter Seventeen

“This is it.” Niccolo looked at Sasha, squeezing her hand. There was apprehension in her dark eyes. He could understand how she felt.

“Yes, this is it,” she replied with an uneasy smile.

“Are you nervous?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m practically shaking in my shoes.”

“There’s no time for nerves now. Let’s go,” Dante said, getting out of the car first.

Niccolo laughed humorlessly. “That brother of mine has nerves of steel. Sometimes his single-mindedness can be a little annoying.”

“He’s just very determined. It’s understandable. You were the one who told me how he’s dedicated his life to this cause, so he takes it very seriously.” Sasha rubbed his arm.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I still don’t feel comfortable having you here with us. I wish you had gone with Jagger.”

“And I already said I wouldn’t allow you to leave me behind, so deal with it.” Sasha looked at him defiantly.

Beneath her brave façade he could still sense her fear, and wished he could take her into his arms and rid her of it. “Stay close to me when we go in.”

“Yes, I already know the drill,” she answered before they got out of the car and walked to the front door. “I can’t believe I’m here so soon after telling my father I would never step foot in this house again.” Sasha bit her lip.

“Yes, but when you said it, you meant it. Circumstances have changed.”

Dante rang the doorbell.

An anxious anticipation Niccolo had not felt in a long time coursed through him. He felt almost as nervous as Sasha looked. There was no answer. Dante rang the bell again.

Still no answer.

Sasha frowned. “That’s odd; usually Dmitri answers the door before someone even rings. I wonder what’s going on.” She reached forward to try the doorknob. She knew only family members could enter through the magical barrier surrounding the door unless they were specifically invited in. “It’s locked, and the wards seem to be in place. I’ll need one of you to kick the door in while my hand is on the door.”

“I’m on it,” Niccolo said. With one swift kick to the door, he sent it flying open. The moment he walked over the threshold, the feeling of danger made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Niccolo grabbed Sasha, pushing her behind him. He should have known to be on his guard the moment he’d stepped onto the warlock’s property. Despite Sasha’s words, he should have remembered the house was warded to protect its inhabitants; no wonder they hadn’t immediately felt the danger.

“Something is going on within these walls,” Dante said aloud exactly what he had been thinking.

The two vampires walked ahead while Sasha followed closely behind.

“I won’t let you do this to me. I made you what you are!” they heard a voice yell from the back of the house.

“My father’s study. Hurry!”

The men followed the sound of the yelling. Niccolo pushed open the door of the study and was immediately knocked back by a burst of light. He crashed into the opposite wall. Dante ran inside, and Niccolo sprang back to his feet. Racing into the study, he saw Ivan Romanov trying to fend off two rogue vampires and another warlock.

“What’s going on in here?” Dante demanded. The rogues who were pummeling Ivan into a pulp stopped what they were doing and turned around. The unknown warlock shot them an angry glare.

“Leave now or you’ll be next.”

“Papa!” Sasha ran into the room, but Niccolo stopped her.

“No. Go back,” he hissed at her.

“Yes, Sasha, leave. You also should take your own advice, vampire,” the warlock taunted.

Niccolo’s eyes narrowed. He had called Sasha by name, and she seemed to recognize him. Who was he?

“From what I see, it’s three on one. How about letting us even up the odds?” Dante asked, letting his hands shift into claws. His eyes gleamed dangerously as he took a step toward the warlock, who seemed slightly intimidated by a vampire who was evidently not afraid of him.

“Who are you?” the warlock demanded.

“Dante Grimaldi, and you?”

“
The
Dante Grimaldi?” the warlock asked in obvious disbelief.

“At your service.” Dante gave him a mock bow.

“And I suppose this is one of your brothers. I hear you don’t go anywhere without them,” the warlock sneered.

He introduced himself. “Niccolo Grimaldi. How about telling us what’s going on before we kill you?”

“Yes, you are definitely a Grimaldi. You are both just as arrogant as I’ve heard. No matter, we came to take care of one little problem. I don’t see why we can’t kill two or three birds with one stone. Get them!” the warlock shouted.

The two rogues raced toward them. The larger of the two charged at Dante, while the smaller, stocky one tackled Niccolo, nearly sending him to the ground.

“Run, Sasha!” Niccolo shouted before a fist connected with his jaw. The blow sent him backward but he remained on his feet. He ducked another punch and delivered his own blow into the rogue’s solar plexus.

To his surprise, he caught a glimpse of Sasha confronting the warlock. “Get the hell out of here, Sasha!” Stubborn woman, she was going to get herself killed! Why didn’t she listen to what he told her? The rogue wrapped his fingers around Niccolo’s throat.

Shit! Now he had to worry about her and staying alive, too.

“Why have you done this to my father, Leo?” Sasha asked the warlock. Leo Federov was one of her father’s henchmen.

“You’re not in a position to ask questions, Sasha.”

“Don’t give me that. Why would you do this to him? My father trusted you.”

“Such familial loyalty from the discarded daughter. You should enjoy seeing us crush him.” Leo sneered down at her father’s bloodied, battered body. Ivan looked as though he was barely hanging on to life. “Run away now, Sasha, and I will spare you. Our grievance is not with you.”

“Your grievance is most certainly with me. You’ve attacked my father and now the man I love.”

“Fine. I had not planned to, but I will kill you, too. Say your goodbyes to your father now.”

Sasha refused to let her father’s whipping boy intimidate her. She had to think on her feet. Niccolo and Dante were battling the rogues; she knew she would have to act fast for their sakes as well as her father’s and her own. She lowered herself to her knees, her mouth at her father’s ear.

“Papa,” she whispered tentatively, touching his bloody face. One lid slowly slid open to reveal a pain-filled blue eye. The life seemed to drain out of him with each passing second.

“Sasha ... you came to me.”

“I will try to save you. You know what you must do.” She whispered so Leo wouldn’t hear. “Unbind me.”

“No ... I can’t let you face him. You’re not strong enough. He’ll kill you.”

“He’ll kill me anyway. At least I will be able to better defend myself. If I don’t do something, we will all die. Papa, please.”

For a moment he didn’t respond and she feared he wouldn’t as his breathing grew more ragged.

“Please, time is running out,” she pleaded.

“
Arocko julium rigous mokton rushi ma balik wi. Wi balik ma rushi mokton rigous julium arocko,
” he murmured, then slumped back.

Leo reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her up to her feet. “Time’s up, Sasha. You could have been spared, but you wanted to be stubborn. So be it.” Leo brought his hand up.

“No!” Across the room, Niccolo lifted his rogue up in the air and tossed him into a bookshelf before dashing over to them, and punched Leo on the side of the head.

The warlock had not seen it coming and loosened his grip on Sasha.

“Sasha, get the hell out of here before I toss your ass out myself!” Niccolo shouted.

“Niccolo, watch out!” The rogue he had been battling only seconds earlier charged toward him. Instinctively her hands shot out. To her surprise a bolt of power blasted from her fingers, knocking back the rogue clear across the room.

The charge from her body was so powerful, she also fell backward. Niccolo looked at her as though she had grown two heads. “I thought—”

“Think later, take him out now,” she cut him off and returned her attention to Leo, who was slowly getting back to his feet.

“Ah, you want to challenge me.” Leo laughed. “You’re way out of your league, Sasha.”

“Am I?” She held up the palm of her hand to show him her birthmark.

Leo looked astonished. “The mark of Hecate?”

“Yes.”

He regained his composure almost immediately as though the mark was of no concern to him. “No matter, little Sasha. You don’t know how to properly use it. At least I now know why your father never wanted to train you properly.”

What was he talking about? He must have seen the look of confusion on her face.

“Oh? You didn’t know? Well, I guess you’ll never know now, because you’re both going to die today.”

Leo threw a ball of fire at her head. Thinking quickly, she puckered her lips and blew out a stream of air, freezing the ball’s motion. The ice ball dropped to the floor, shattering into several pieces.

“Not bad. How about this?” Leo threw his fist out, sending an invisible punch to her stomach. The air slammed out of her body, making her double over.

Concentrate, Sasha. You are rusty, but you have to do this,
she chanted to herself.

Another invisible fist hit her in the chest. She staggered, but she refused to fall. She threw two fists at the overconfident warlock, sending him flat on his ass.

“You little bitch. I was only toying with you before. Now I’m going to make sure it hurts when I kill you.”

“Not if I kill you first.” She prayed for the strength to pull this off. Sasha lifted her hands in the air. The room began to shake.

“What are you doing, you crazy bitch?” Leo was clearly stunned by the show of strength.

A book from a shelf flew at the warlock’s head, followed by another, then another. Leo ducked, but the barrage of items that began to fly off the bookshelves was too much for him to fend off. He tried to redirect the flying objects in her direction, but suddenly things began to fly from all directions.

A heavy marble paperweight, which had rested on her father’s desk, flew at Leo’s head. This time the warlock didn’t duck fast enough. It caught him on the side of the face, cutting his cheek wide open. He grabbed at the wound, not seeing the sharp letter opener flying his way. It flew with such force right through his ear that it came out the other side.

Leo clutched his head, then collapsed, dead before he hit the floor. Sasha lowered her arms, stunned at what she had done. She swiftly went to her father’s side, holding his hand before lowering it. Her father had given her his remaining strength. It was the only reason she had been able to generate so much power after not having used her skills in so long.

She glanced at Niccolo and Dante, breathing a sigh of relief to see they had taken care of the two rogues, whose lifeless bodies now lay at their feet.

Niccolo rushed over to her. “Sasha, are you okay?”

He grabbed her, squeezing her against him as though he would absorb her into him. Then he held her away from him and started to shake her. “What the hell got into you? You could have been killed, dammit! I told you to run!”

“I wasn’t going to leave you or my father.”

“So you preferred sticking your neck on the line?! You nut! I ought to take you across my knee and spank you until you can’t sit for weeks. If you ever pull a stunt like that again, that’s exactly what I’m going to do! Do you understand me?”

She realized there was no point in arguing with him when he was like this; nonetheless, it was good to know he cared. “Yes, Niccolo,” she said, mustering as much contriteness in her voice as she could.

A loud groan came from the floor. “Papa!” She twisted out of Niccolo’s arms and went to her father’s side. She would never have thought her strong-as-steel father could look like this. Tears sprang to her eyes as she gathered him into her arms, rocking him back and forth.

“
Devochka moya.
My little girl,” he whispered.

“Papa?” He had never used that endearment with her before.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you. You came to me despite—” he broke off as he coughed, spitting up a disturbing amount of blood.

“Please save your strength,” she begged. “I’ll try to heal you. I’m a bit rusty but—”

“No, my little one. I must pay a penance for my sins. There is no second chances for me. My time is not long for this world. I have been a foolish old man.” He coughed again.

She saw Niccolo and Dante hovering over them. She shook her head at them. Seeming to understand, they backed away but did not leave the room.

“You must rest.” Sasha stroked her father’s face.

“No. I know you need answers and you deserve them. Listen to me. You have to understand what’s going on.” He paused for a moment as if he was trying to figure out where to begin. “I have wronged you and all because I was jealous ... jealous of that mark on your hand. The mark of Hecate is only granted to a few witches in a millennium, and you are one of the chosen ones. I told myself it should have been me. I slighted you in your training and belittled you when you made a mistake so you would lose your confidence. So help me, I knew what I did was wrong, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Even though you won’t believe me, I do care for you, Sasha. You were my baby. It was just so much easier to get along with your brothers because they are male, and your sister, God rest her soul, was so like me, and compliant to my wishes ... well, that’s no excuse, and I’m more sorry than you can imagine for everything I’ve done.”

Tears ran down her face. He did love her. Finally, the acceptance and acknowledgment she had been waiting for her entire life, but the words were bittersweet because her father barely clung to life.

“Please say you forgive me, Sasha. I can die in peace if I know I have your forgiveness.”

“You hurt me very badly, but you are my father, and because of that I forgive you.”

“You have a kind heart; it is more than I deserve. Now, listen carefully, because this is important ... it concerns you all.”