Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (25 page)

Abby widened her stance. “Running low?”

“Damn, Abby. Yes. Running low. You do realize that magick isn’t in infinite supply, don’t you? We get tired out just like you do when your swinging your blades around.” She paused and looked Abby up and down. “Speaking of, where are your weapons? And what’s with the claws and dismemberment—” The Striga glanced at the demon bodies Abby had ripped apart and sucked in a breath. “Oh…” Abby took a step forward causing the Striga to slide a foot back. “Abby, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt you.” Abby growled.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! Did that damn priest kill you?”

Abby stopped her advance and stared blankly at the woman. Her hand moved to her chest where Nico’s knife had been. The moment flooded back as if it were happening all over again. Nico and Rosa fighting, Abby yelling for him to wait, then her split second decision to jump in front of him as he was about to kill The Whore of Babylon. Why had she done it? She didn’t really want to protect that woman, she just wanted him to wait so maybe she could get some answers about Chloe. In the end his knife had pierced her heart. And she knew it wasn’t just any blade that killed her, Nico’s blade was special. Etched with ancient symbols. Rosa had been afraid of it. That blade was death for anything unholy. It was a quick death for her.

The Striga moved to the left, Abby snapped to attention. No time to reminisce. She was so hungry and her dinner was about to flee. She bared her fangs and the Striga’s tan complexion went white. “Abby, it’s me, Kara. Please snap out of it.”

“Kara…” Abby rolled the name around on her tongue a few more times. Kara, Striga, friend. Puzzle pieces started to interlock bringing the entire situation back into focus. The Striga helped her, Nico cared for her. Or at least he had before she was killed and locked into her curse. Abby shook her head. “So hungry.”

“Well, fuck if I’m going to let you feed off me. Get your shit together, Abigail. We are friends, allies, and we don’t attack each other.”

Abby took a step forward and Kara shot her hand out. A wicked smile curled on Abby’s lips. “You’re weak, remember?”

The Striga darted her eyes from side to side and stepped back until her back was pressed against the wall. “I might be weak, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go down without a fight.”

The cold night air and the thought of a challenge only heightened Abby’s excitement. She rushed the cornered Striga hoping speed would catch Kara off guard. Instead the magick user held her ground and shot her palm out slamming into Abby’s chest and knocking her back several feet. Abby slid to a stop and snapped her head up. “What the hell?”

“Striga aren’t human, you’d do well to remember that we aren’t as easy to take down as you thought.”

She snarled. The primal side of her wasn’t pleased with this new development. She liked a little fight in her meal but she was too hungry for a full on battle. Abby attacked again, this time bypassing Kara’s defenses. She gripped the Striga’s wrist and pulled her away from the wall before spinning her around and pulling Kara’s head to the side. The scent of fresh blood and a racing pulse were a siren’s call to the aching in her fangs and hungry stomach. Abby lowered her head, letting her fangs graze the pulse point in Kara’s neck. Her dinner squirmed in her grasp, but couldn’t break free. “You were pretty easy to take down after all.”

The crunch of gravel didn’t distract her, it was the sound of Nico’s voice that made her hesitate. “Abby, stop it now.”

There was power in his voice, she’d never heard it before. Her body refused to respond to her desire to feed. She blinked. What had he done to her? Keeping her mouth at Kara’s neck she turned slowly to look at him. “I have to eat. Would you kill me again by starving me?”

“You aren’t going to kill anyone. Let Kara go now.”

Her body was starting to relax, whatever control he’d held over had melted away. “No.”

She snapped her teeth to take a chunk out of the Striga when something hot hit her in the ribs. Abby yelped and loosened her grip enough that Kara pulled away. She needed to feed and now her meal was going to get away. There was a howl off in the distance, but the bigger threat lay in front of her. Nico held his knife out. “Abby, stand down.”

She shook her head and jumped at Kara. The Striga braced both palms face out and a bright yellow ball of light formed for a split second before it hurled at Abby catching her square in the chest. She screamed, the fire engulfed her instantly and all she could do was writhe in pain on the ground.

Nico cursed. “God damn it, Kara. Don’t kill her!”

“The fuck I won’t, that bitch just tried to eat me.”

His body shook, he couldn’t lose her again. “She’s confused, she’s scared—”

“She’s fucking hungry.”

“I know.” Nico growled. “Put it out, please.”

Kara rolled her eyes and with the wave of her hand the flames extinguished. “I hope you know what you are doing, Priest.”

He advanced on Abby, kneeling down beside her badly burned body. She wasn’t moving and he feared Kara’s spell had done unrepairable damage. “Me too.”

“We can’t just leave her here.” Kara rubbed her hands on her jeans and paced the alley. “You know I didn’t really want to kill her.”

He glanced up and arched a brow.

She smiled. “Okay, I did. But not at first. I tried to talk some sense into her. I only wanted to kill her once she tried to take a bite out of me.”

“I know.” He reached out to brush a singed stand of hair out of Abby’s face when her red eyes opened. She was wild and frightened, whipping her head from side to side. Her gaze locked on Kara and the wild eyed look grew even more panicked. “Abby, stop. We’re here to help you.”

“You can’t,” she croaked out in a raspy voice reminding him of when they’d first met. When he’d exorcised multiple demons from her and she could barely speak.

“We will find a way.”

She scooted back as Nico reached for her, but she sprung to her feet and ran. “Fuck!”

Kara shook her head. “You have to find her. If anyone is going to get through to her it’s going to be you.”

He nodded. “You get to the church and rest up. I’ll track her down.”

Kara started down the alley and murmured. “Hopefully before she finds someone else to make a meal of.”

He didn't think she would head back home, but just in case he checked there first. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside to hear a feral growl coming from the kitchen. "Abby?"

"Go away."

"I won't do that." He flicked on the light to see her huddled up by the refrigerator sucking down bags of blood. "Is that helping your hunger?"

She shook her head but kept her mouth latched on the plastic bag. After another long pull she muttered. “It takes the edge off, but it doesn’t override this urge to kill. Rosa is top on my list, I should’ve let you kill her.”

“You thought she could help you find Chloe. But I don’t believe she knows anything.”

“You never know.” She went back to sucking on the nearly empty bag.

“Anything Rosa would have told you about Chloe would have been a lie, you know that don’t you?” Abby glared at him, but he continued to move closer. He held out his upturned hands to show he wasn't holding any weapons. "She said Chloe killed herself, but I don’t think she would do that. It’s another trap. Whatever you do, when Rosa comes around don’t listen to her."

Abby released the bag and spat. "If she did kill herself it's my fault. That bitch planned this all out. Lucas is dead. Chloe is dead. The Gates are open. And you are going to kill me again."

"No, I'm not. Why would you say that?"

"Because you said you would. If I ever..." She didn't finish her sentence, she just let the unsaid words linger between them.

Nico knelt down in front of her. "I will never hurt you, Abby. I swear it."

"But there’s no cure now."

He shook his head. "You don't need a cure. I see that now."

"Why? Why the sudden change?"

"Because I love you. The moment you died out there I prayed for God to bring you back, any way possible. And here you are."

She gave him a dull stare. "You think God made me a vampire to answer your prayers?"

"No, I think the damn spell made you a vampire." He took her hand and squeezed it. "But when I lost you I realized it didn't matter what you were, you were made for me and I love you. Besides, you've been a vampire this whole time, we know how to deal with it."

"But this is different. I feel different. I don't feel sad or scared. I feel angry and hungry and what if—"

His brow drew together in a hard line. "What if you kill someone?"

"Yeah. For god’s sake I tried to kill Kara." She swallowed the last sip of blood from the bag. "You’ll have to kill me. Again."

"That won't happen. Look at Alex, he is a full-fledged vampire and he controls it, doesn't he?" She nodded. "Then so can you."

"But I'm so hungry, Nico. It's not like before. I'm hungry, like really starving. I've finished all the blood bags from Alex and all I can think about is that pulsing vein in your neck." She growled and added. "Can't you cover it or wear a freaking turtleneck, something?"

"Maybe something is wrong." He tried not to laugh at her suggestion of a turtleneck, he knew she wasn't trying to be funny. “Don’t give up, let me just think about this for a minute.”

Abby tried to ignore him as he paced the room. Instead she focused on her hunger and proceeded to rip open the empty blood bags and lick every last drop from the plastic. It was disgusting and she knew it, but she was hungry and she didn’t care that she looked like an animal. Nico finally stopped walking and turned slowly toward her. His eyes were the size of saucers. “What is it? Did you think of something?” He nodded but remained silent. “Well? What is it?”

“I’m not sure it will work, but—” He shook his head. “I just don’t know.”

“Nico, just say it. Whatever it is I’ll do it. I want to fix this.”

He turned toward her. “Abby there’s nothing to fix, this is who you are now. We can’t reverse it.”

“But I don’t want to hurt anyone and you said—”

“I know. I know what I said and I was wrong. You aren’t a monster. You never were a monster. Everything boils down to your first day as a newly made vampire and how we handled it before.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We feed you.”

She pointed at the empty blood bags all around her. “It’s not working.”

“No, we fed you fresh blood before, the first two times you fed it was fresh.”

She hopped to her feet and went to the cupboard. She tossed him the knife on the counter as she grabbed a glass. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“No, you didn’t feed from a glass the first two times.”

She stopped mid-stride. “I…”

She shook her head as Nico crossed the kitchen to cup her chin in his strong hand. “You fed from a Striga when you first woke up.” He paused and blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”

"And? What the hell, do I have to drag it out of you?"

He held up his hands and took a step forward. "Remember your first day here?" She nodded. "I fed you first from my wrist until we decided it might not be the best idea and then from the glass, but it was always fresh in your first weeks or so." She nodded again and Nico rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, I think you need fresh blood, you're basically starting over."

Abby crouched down and eyed his wrist. "So you have to give me some of your blood then?"

"Yes."

She held up the glass again and Nico shook his head. "No glass this time, Abby."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Why not?"

"You need to feel the heart beating as you feed. You did that the first time, remember? You fed straight from my vein and from the Striga’s."

"Yeah, I remember and we both decided it wasn't a good idea."

"I trust you now. We didn't have trust then. And let's be honest, it was pretty intense. I wasn't ready for that."

"Are you ready for it now?"

"I think we are way past that point now."

"So I'm just supposed to bite you? Or do you want a knife?"

He tugged his shirt off and Abby felt every muscle in her body coil. Her mouth watered. The closer he stepped to her the more she felt her body ache. He shook his head. "No knife, just you and me."

"Then... Then I’m supposed to bite you?"

Nico licked his lips and she let out a small growl. "Yes, you bite me."

Abby stood up and closed the distance between them. Nico's bare skin radiated heat like the sun. She was almost afraid to touch him. She knew what just a single touch could conjure let alone what it would do to the both of them when she bit him. As apprehensive as she was, she was still moving forward. Her body was on autopilot while her brain was busy processing the pros and cons. Nico's arms wrapped around her waist and yanked her to him. Pressed chest to chest with the man she loved all she wanted was to claim him in every possible way, but she knew there was no time. "What about the Gate?" she whispered.