Tempt

by Claire Farrell

  “Keep out of the way, and do your thing when you can,” I whispered to the twins, pushing them into a nearby garden. “I’ll see you when it’s over.”

  I broke into a run, refusing to take my eyes off Becca again. I couldn’t let her go. My heart drumming in my chest, I caught her attention before she made it to her next victim. Recognition flashed across her face, but she was unrecognisable as the woman who had once creeped me out. Her hair was falling out in clumps, judging by the bare patches on her skull, her skin was decaying, actually rotting. Her lips were split open from her fangs, as though she wasn’t careful with her bites. No matter how repulsive she looked, I still felt a slight pang of pity for her. She hadn’t asked to be what she was. Not that.

  “This is it,” I called out to her. “I’m going to make the thirst go away, Becca. I’m going to put you out of your misery.”

  She uttered a harsh cry and fled, but I was ready to chase her. She sprinted for fifteen minutes, and I thought my heart might burst out of my chest. Not from the exertion, but the apprehension of what might go wrong. So many people depended on me, and I had never pulled through for anyone. I had no Peter, no Carl, no Eddie to help. Just me and Becca, the way it should always have been.

  Becca went on all fours again and leapt over a railing into a graveyard. I couldn’t see her by the time I made it inside, but her scent pervaded the night air, and I knew she was still around.

  I felt magic in the air. The peculiar sensation sparked some memories, like the magic at the trial and, curiously, Folsom’s place. When I looked behind me, the edges of the graveyard were shrouded by mist. I mentally thanked the twins for their help.

  Many of the tombstones were cracked and discoloured. The cemetery was huge, and therefore easy to hide in. I reached out and tried to see Becca’s energy. Spotted her. Running away again. I still didn’t know why she kept running from me, and I was beginning to regret not taking the possibly fae sword from Lorcan.

  Jumping over headstones somehow felt wrong—disrespectful of the dead—but it was easier to catch up to Becca by moving directly over the old graves.

  She surprised me by attacking me first. She leapt from a huge granite memorial, knocking me to the ground. We struggled briefly, both trying to get in a few good digs. I sensed she knew it would be our final fight, that it would decide everything. She seemed as determined as I was to end it for good.

  She clawed the back of my neck, slicing my skin easily. It stung, but I was too wound up to really think about it. She tried to bite me, but my cross fell along the chain and surprised her. It couldn’t kill her, but the pain seemed to put her off balance.

  I pushed myself to my feet and kicked her as hard as I could in the face. She flew backward against a tombstone that broke in two from the force of her body. Her density seemed to have changed drastically since she had become… whatever the hell she was.

  The impact didn’t even faze her. She came at me harder than ever, fangs dripping with blood-tainted saliva, her next strike knocking loose one of my back teeth. I spat out blood as I backed away in a hurry, narrowly avoiding her claws. A fierce warrior, she never stopped moving or swinging. And I had no real idea how to kill her.

  She jumped like an animal, and I dropped to the ground to avoid her teeth. If she managed to bite me, I was screwed. Back on my feet, I grabbed her shirt and whirled her around, flinging her into a huge headstone. Her back cracked against it, and she crumpled to the ground. I grabbed her by the hair and whacked her head against the marble, cracking open her skull.

  Despite her head splitting open, and a spongy substance leaking out, she kept moving. She grabbed my ankle, pulling me to the ground. I kicked at her with my other foot, but she was like steel. She bit hard on my ankle, and immediately, pain scorched my body. The paralysis happened slowly, from my ankle upward, just like before. The same mistake twice. I refused to stop struggling, but my legs grew weaker and weaker by the second.

  “Ava!”

  Lorcan had some kind of pole in his hands. He rolled it over to me. Silver. At least on the outside. One end was pointed and covered in dirt. Utilising my last bit of strength, I stabbed Becca through the top of her head. With a disturbing snap of bone, her body shuddered and jerked for a few minutes. Then, she stopped moving. Just like that. Her fangs still penetrated my skin, and her paralysing poison still flooded my body. I couldn’t move. But she was dead, really dead.

  I lay flat on the ground, staring at the sky. It was over.

  Lorcan rushed over to me, eyes full of worry. “Are you okay?”

  I tried to point at my leg, but my arm no longer moved. Drowsiness overtook me, and nothing seemed to matter anymore. My eyes closed, and I slept.

  ***

  I must have only been unconscious for a couple of minutes because the twins still stood above me, silently arguing over what to do next. The feeling came back to my body. I hurt. Everywhere.

  Becca’s body lay a few yards away. The twins had moved me. Her head hung at a funny angle from her body; I had almost decapitated her.

  “Gross,” I mumbled, startling the twins.

  “You okay?” Lorcan looked embarrassed. “I didn’t realise she was still hurting you. Lucia took her fangs out of your leg. Some of them were embedded in your skin.”

  “Ew.” I didn’t have the energy for long sentences. I looked at the thing I had used to kill Becca, thinking it looked suspiciously like a giant, skinny candle.

  “It’s part of a massive family memorial at the other end of the graveyard,” Lorcan said. “I should probably clean it and put it back. Just in case.”

  I flexed my limbs, feeling a lot better. “I think I can get up now. Should I bury her here?”

  Lorcan looked around. “Isn’t it a bit too… sacred for her?”

  “She was human once. Maybe this is the perfect place for her.”

  He shrugged. “I better go find your bag. I dropped it along the way.”

  “I thought I told you to hide or run away or something,” I called after him. He grinned back at me.

  “Thanks, Lucia,” I said. “She almost took me down with her.”

  Lucia plonked herself down next to me and just stared. Her gaze wasn’t as creepy as I had once thought.

  When Lorcan returned, we dug a hole. I pushed past the pain as the urgency of Carl’s situation nagged at me. But when the sun rose, it took Becca with it. She didn’t burn, but her skin seemed to slowly erode until she was nothing but dust. The rotting stench disappeared with her.

  I threw down the shovel in frustration. “That was a waste of time. I need to leave. Will you two be okay?”

  Lorcan nodded. “Of course. As long as your side does their part.”

  “I think he will. He doesn’t like being told what to do, either.”

  “We’ll head to the docks and make sure we’re seen leaving. There’s always someone watching.”

  “Good. Thanks. And don’t worry, I’ll keep my end of our deal. I promise.”

  “We know. We’ll be waiting.”

  On a whim, I hugged them both and caught a glimpse of myself holding the hand of a small boy. I gave Lucia a quizzical look, but she didn’t explain.

  Going home felt strange. I was so happy to see Peter and Carl again, but I dreaded what I would find, and all of the things I had to do overwhelmed me. I took a ferry and spent most of the journey feeling seasick. Seeing land made my heart cry as though there were something there for me. I hoped there still was.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Thanks for picking me up.”

  “No bother.” But the stress on Peter’s face was obvious.

  “Has the succubus given you any hassle?”

  “Nah. She came around once, and Eddie sent her packing. Turns out the rest of the succubi are embarrassed by the whole deal with you and her. Esther told us they’ve all been warned away from you for now. Everything go as planned?”

  I laughed. “Not at all. Becca’s going to die over here tonight by
the hands of a hero Guardian.”

  “Pity you won’t get the credit for it. You could use the fear bonus.”

  Trust Peter. He gave me a sideways glance, and I knew something bad was coming.

  “What is it?”

  His sigh was heavy. “Be prepared, Ava. He’s slipping away. We’re probably too late.”

  “We’re not,” I said firmly, pushing the thought out of my head.

  I started to cry when I saw the grim look on Eddie’s face. He looked so apologetic, so mournful, that I was convinced it was over. I imagined death in the air, as if I were carrying it around and infecting people with it.

  But Carl was still alive. Barely.

  I rushed over to him and took his hand. A little tremor went through his wasted body. He’d lost a couple of stone while I’d been gone. He had aged, his eyes dulled, and even though I sat next to him, he could barely move.

  “How could this happen?” I whispered.

  “It’s all been too much, too soon,” Eddie said. “Nobody is built to go through everything he has. His mind, his body, it’s taken everything out of him. There’s no way you can break the bond yet, and we have no way of knowing if you being here is enough for him.”

  “There has to be something! Have you given him medicine, magic, everything you can think of?”

  “Ava. You know I have. I’ve tried it all. Nothing’s strong enough.”

  “But… I don’t want him to die.” Only my sniff was louder than my sob. I couldn’t rein it back. With trembling fingers, I stroked Carl’s hair, noting the streaks of silver running through it. “I did this to him. I’m sorry, Carl.”

  I caught his eye, those blank empty eyes, and he smiled. He slowly turned his wrist to me, as if to say, “Drink.” I couldn’t take it.

  I ran out of the room, needing to get away from what I had done. I sat in the backroom until Peter joined me.

  “It’s not your fault,” he said. “But if you fall apart, then you’re no use to him, and that will be your fault.”

  I glared at him, feeling the need to punch him in his stupid face, but my shoulders drooped instead. I looked away because I didn’t have the energy anymore. Carl had been the first step for me to actually live, instead of just exist. He was dying, and it was mostly my fault, no matter what anyone said. I felt more for him than I had when my own grandmother had been in danger, and it dawned on me that family, true family, was something different than the blood running through my veins.

  I took Peter’s point, though, and I stitched my messy emotions back together, somehow putting a pin in everything I was feeling. I returned to sit with Carl, holding his hand while he slept, and concentrated hard on helping him. I tried to do things with the abilities I had, hoping they would somehow open up something special. I had healed wounds in the past. Perhaps I could do other things if I really tried.

  But nothing happened. Minutes turned to hours, and Carl’s breathing stayed shallow. My fear and despair increased, but there had to be an answer. I kept thinking of our last bond, how it had ended, how he had offered me his blood when I needed it. Our bond was stronger this time. I had to be the one who could help him.

  “What if he drinks my blood?” I asked Eddie when the sun began to set. I felt as though there were power at that time of day because it was when the dead lived again.

  “There’s no reason to think that would help him.”

  “But he’s bonded to me. That has to count for something. And I’ve healed cuts before. There’s something in my blood that does it. I’m sure of it.”

  “Not always,” Peter reminded me. “Only when you drank blood.”

  “I’ll drink it, then!” I shouted, startling them both. “I can’t just sit here and wait for him to die. He’s our friend. We have to try everything.”

  Eddie looked defeated, as though he couldn’t take another second of being around us. But he nodded. “I’ll get you some, and we’ll try a few things. We’ll try and put some life into him.”

  Eddie left us, and Peter tried to argue with me, but I ignored him and concentrated on Carl. I felt as if looking at him was keeping him alive for another minute, and every second was precious.

  “Ava, you need to accept what might happen,” Peter began.

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “He chose to live dangerously. He chose to hang around with us instead of going home. He’s an adult, and his decisions caught up to him.”

  I slapped Peter hard across the face, leaving a red mark. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t shout. He didn’t retaliate. All he did was shake his head and leave the room. I sat with Carl and waited. I willed him to get better, hoping my strength would somehow leech into him, but nothing happened.

  The numbers in my head passed my lips rapidly as the minutes wore on. Eddie was taking too long. Peter stormed into the room, rolling up his sleeves. I half-expected him to punch me, but he shoved his tattooed wrist in front of my face. I stared up at him in confusion.

  “Bite. Go on.”

  “Are you… on something?”

  He rolled his eyes and dropped his arm to his side. “Carl’s my friend, too. You don’t even know what he’s done for me. I don’t want to sit around and do nothing when he needs us. If you think it might help, then take some blood.”

  “Eddie’s getting me some,” I reminded him.

  “But it’s not as good as fresh. We all know that. Just do it before I change my mind. I need to know I tried everything, too.”

  I gaped at Peter, more touched by his offer than I could have ever imagined or even expressed. “Are you sure?”

  He put his hands on my shoulders, and a sense of calm fell over me. “Ava. I’m sure.”

  I rose, laid my palms on his cheeks, and kissed him right on the lips. He held on to me for a moment before pushing me back with a sad smile. He held out his wrist again. My mouth watered at his cinnamon scent, but I hesitated because I was absolutely terrified. Peter’s arm didn’t shake. He was like a rock, but my fingers trembled on his pulse.

  I glanced up at him, but he had his eyes closed and was humming to himself. I gripped my cross for support, and bit. Peter gasped, and I almost pulled away, but then I tasted his blood, and I couldn’t stop. He shifted slightly, and I gathered myself a little, counting for distraction, to keep me human, to know when to stop.

  Life flooded into me. The taste wasn’t the best part, even if blood made the regular food I ate taste like ash. It was the pure raw energy coming from his veins. I felt more powerful than I had in years. Between being away from the succubus, dealing with Becca, making new allies, and taking some of Peter’s blood, I was high with power. But I wasn’t close to losing control, and I didn’t need to count to stay human. I cared, and for a change, it didn’t weaken me.

  I pulled away and licked his wound gently, relieved when I saw it heal. Eddie came in with the bags, and he didn’t look surprised. I suspected he had taken his time for a reason.

  Peter flopped into a chair, his eyes still closed, and I guessed we would have to deal with the consequences another time. I turned to Carl, his skin greying, and bit my own wrist, my stomach turning at the unnatural action.

  I pulled his bottom lip down gently and let my blood drip into his mouth. “Drink,” I said, and he obeyed because he had no choice. He didn’t grimace, or try to drink more. As the liquid passed his lips, I focused on my inner light and tried to will it into him. I imagined I was giving him my essence, that our bond was becoming something different, more powerful.

  Eddie laid his palm on Carl’s forehead and muttered in an ancient guttural language. The words sounded rough and beautiful all at once. I felt the air shift and realised Eddie was using energy from the souls. I didn’t care. Not then.

  “Sleep,” I told Carl after a while. I closed my own wound and gazed at Eddie, hoping he would tell me something good.

  “We tried,” he said. “Now we wait.”

  Peter left the room without saying a word. I hoped we ha
dn’t ruined our friendship, but life and death called for hard decisions and sacrifices. I would never forget Peter’s sacrifice, and I doubted he would either. That was the problem.

  I fell asleep sitting next to Carl and awoke with a crick in my neck. Carl had a little colour in his cheeks, and I took that as a good sign.

  I stayed with him as much as possible because he seemed healthier when I was there, as though I gave him vitality in some small way. I was sure it had to do with him ingesting the blood of the one who owned him. I would deal with what he thought about drinking blood another time. Hopefully.

  “I think he’s getting better,” I told Eddie when he checked in on us. “He’s definitely looking better.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Eddie. Is there any way my blood could change him?”

  “I don’t think so. We can’t know, but I really wouldn’t imagine so.”

  “Good.”

  “The Council announced the death of Becca today. It’s all done. Aiden got the credit for it.”

  “So he’s in on it,” I said, unsure if I liked that particular turn of events.

  “He’s a consultant. They trust him.”

  “I don’t. He can’t even see what’s in front of him.” I couldn’t wipe the frown from my face.

  “You can’t judge him for not having the same abilities as you,” Eddie said, annoyingly sensibly.

  “It’s all over,” I muttered, feeling as though it was all only beginning.

  “Ava,” he said softly, in that way of his that signalled bad news. “If the bond continues for much longer, he’ll lose himself completely.”

  “He won’t survive the break.” I gritted my teeth. “He’s not strong enough yet.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking about this. Your blood has helped, but it’s come too late. He needs a boost of something to tide him over.”