by Imogene Nix
“Control, Daniel. We need control if we are to save them.” His grasp was tenuous, she knew, but he held on as if she were the only thing keeping him sane.
Her body coiled like a spring and she made to leap, to tug the human away, but another body careered into her.
“Drop her.” Caridad had entered the room, and Creedar shoved the human to one side, where she lay. She lived still, her heart continued to beat, but it was sluggish.
Daniel pivoted and grabbed the human up before Creedar could move to stop him. A smear of red betrayed the woman’s injury and, lightning quick, Daniel sliced at the rope bonds. “Get her out of here. Go through there.” He thrust the injured woman to the released captive.
Cressida’s gaze was drawn to the window behind the woman, but the scent of blood enticed her again to the look at the site of the injury. It had been years since she’d fed directly from the vein. It wouldn’t take much and it always felt so good…
“Take it, Cressida. Feed.” The words, so insidious and mesmeric, tugged at her while the need nipped at her on a primal level.
The pulsing vein at her neck was so close… Her tongue flicked out as if tasting the air.
“Cressida.” Xavier’s growl dragged her back from the edge.
Before the captives could clamber out of the window, a woman appeared beside Daniel, her face a mask of hatred.
“Watch out, Daniel! “
He started, his focus snapping from helping them escape. The warrior woman grabbed the injured party and pulled her toward her face then inhaled deeply while Cressida grimaced. It was obvious she was testing the scent of her prey.
“Ours! We will feed on them!”
She turned in the direction of Creedar, who gave a grin. “Yes, my dear. Ours to feed upon!”
Her strike was fast, and Cressida knew she couldn’t have saved the woman. The attack was brutal and the cry of the injured ended abruptly as the warrior slaked her thirst.
Cries of fright and revulsion filled the air and Cressida thought fast. How to engage Creedar and this creature? How to ensure that the remaining humans survived?
Xavier surged forward and the female warrior threw the body of the now deceased captive to the floor. “Oh look! Up for some fun, are we?”
Daniel took the opportunity push the others through the window. “Go!” Then he turned back, muscles tensed.
Creedar lurched toward Cressida, his face a mask of fury as chaos descended. Amid the noise and confusion, the door was flung open. Creedar stopped in his tracks and a cackle erupted. Several more of the newly turned entered the room and Hope, Celina, Xavier and Javed engaged them while Caridad fought Creedar and Cressida helped Daniel. The woman who was Creedar’s guard was well trained and there were times that Cressida feared she and Daniel would both perish.
Thrust. Parry. Retreat. Engage. Forward. It was a parody of a dance, dangerous at all times but with a lethal grace.
The woman drove them back to the center of the room, hands and legs flying. Cressida struggled to maintain an effective telepathic communication while engaged in battle.
“Let. Me. I have. An. Idea.”
Cressida took up the slack, engaging her foe while Daniel’s eyes flashed. He raised his hands and the woman stilled, her mouth open as the sharp teeth arched toward Cressida.
“I can’t…hold her…long.”
She could only guess at what it was costing him while he sweated. His face turned red with strain as the female vampire fought against the magical bindings. The veins in his neck bulged. “Do. It.”
Cressida swooped quickly, realizing that this woman wouldn’t give up. It was rare for one with a taste for blood like this to be rehabilitated, and she doubted there was any interest.
The flashing hate decided her and Cressida gripped her, heaved, and a crack sounded in the sudden silence. Head separated from body.
A single, harsh surge of power erupted, stealing her breath and thoughts, and when Cressida spun around horror filled her.
Caridad lay in Creedar’s arms, eyes wide open and focused on nothing.
Cressida reached out, fingertips only inches from her Overlord’s body. “Caridad?” She whispered the words, unable to believe what she was seeing.
Caridad.
Dead.
Her head lay at an unnatural angle while the pulse of her heart faded from their hearing. Her face was pale.
“Oh my God. You killed her!” The accusation was the only sound and they watched the creature before them smile as the words died away.
“Now then. Make your bow to me. I reign supreme and my duty to my sister is done. The scourge has been removed.”
Cressida absorbed the words. He thinks he’s won? There was no victory for him, because I’d die rather than let him reign over them.
If that happened, it would be blood servitude forever. The innocents would be slain.
“Cressida?” Daniel’s voice echoed in her mind.
“We will fight him, my friends. We took a solemn oath to protect the innocents. We must not fail.”
The slow bubble of anger and horror died away, leaving the spewing hot lava of fury pumping through her veins. Adrenaline surged and she stalked toward him, her face tight and cold. “You failed, Creedar! You lost! We”—she encompassed all of them in her action—“we are all her issue. Generations of us exist. Generations, Creedar! The blood lives on!”
He paled. “No. It cannot be.” He stumbled, flinging an arm out as if seeking support. There wasn’t any. His army were all gone.
“It is.” She advanced, uncaring of the danger, wanting only to rip and tear the abomination in front of her limb from limb. “You may have killed Caridad, but the fight lives on. Just like her issue.”
He reached out, trying to grab her, and arcs of light filled the air. Cressida moved, motions so fast they were simply whirls of action too fast for the eye to see, then she was there, beside Daniel. She panted and they reached out, holding hands. “You may even defeat us, but there will never be an end to this battle. Not until you are dead.”
“I will kill you. My mother’s will shall be done. There will be no humans whose blood is mixed with mine. It was forbidden and I will reclaim the purity of our bloodline!”
Cressida laughed, but there was no mirth, only coldness.
This time it was Creedar who retreated.
They advanced, knowing here was the place and the time.
“Ready, my friends?”
“Ready.” All of them spoke as one, as they reached instinctively for the amulets.
Daniel opened his mind wide, and the others did the same, their thoughts and feelings mixing in a whirl.
“Cressida? Let us move to either side. We’ll use the fire, just as we planned. Javed? You and Celina take the rear. Hold him in place while Hope and Xavier take the front line. It’s just us. We can do this, but we must stick together.”
“May our will prevail, friends.” Cressida added the thought like a benediction. Then they took their places.
Hope stood beside the door, a whip curled in her hand, while Xavier held the long sword he favored. As they expected, another wave washed toward them.
“Ready?” Cressida looked at him, determination settled on her face.
“Yep.”
Daniel created a tiny flicker, just as they’d agreed, so that Creedar would focus on them, not the circles of magic being crafted behind him.
Creedar cackled. “Is that the best you can do, boy?”
Telepathically, Daniel heard Celina chanting and he sensed the flow of power to Javed while he flung the tiny little flame at Creedar. As expected, he batted it away.
Once again he crafted a flame in his mind, shoving the power to Cressida this time, while they both held onto the amulets. When the flicker hovered in her hand, Creedar’s face tightened, but before he could strike out, the circle settled around Creedar.
A roar filled the room, shaking the very foundations as he hacked at the dancing circle of
blue-pink magic surrounding him.
“You cannot hold me!” He fought the glowing wards. The weaker one, Javed’s, was in the middle. They’d planned that the smaller and weaker magic should be the one used first, giving the strongest among them a chance to reinforce their work.
Daniel poured the magic into the flame, willed it to grow brighter and hotter. It licked and wavered, seeking the fuel for the conflagration.
It danced and swayed while Creedar stepped this way and that, trying to avoid the licking hunger of Cressida’s flame.
The larger Daniel’s flame grew, the more brittle his control became, until it was close to raging wild.
“Hope! Xavier! Clear the building.”
The cry went out as he drained his resources. He felt Cressida, nervous and tense. She didn’t touch him physically. She didn’t need to. The amulets had transcended that.
The magic of the first ward snapped and for a moment Daniel’s control wavered. He hauled on his magic, seeing the flame reform in his mind.
“I will slay you. Drink your blood and feed your entrails to the masses.” Creedar screeched and raged.
“Daniel? Are you ready?” Celina’s mental tone was a thready whisper and it was time.
“Let it go…now!”
They only had an instant as the ward dropped in which to encircle Creedar in the fire. This was one opponent Creedar couldn’t slay, though he tried.
The sights and sounds, the unmistakable stench of burning flesh, assaulted his senses as Creedar burned.
“No! I’m a god! You…can’t…” His final shriek, unfinished and wild, loosened a backlash of power so strong that it knocked them from their feet. The impact jarred Daniel then he looked in Cressida’s direction. She too lay on the floor, her gaze dazed.
Creedar’s remains slumped, the fire tracing its way in their direction.
Javed was there, tugging at him. “We’ve got to leave now.”
The conflagration crept closer to the wall with a whoosh as they hurried out. Warriors streamed down steps and along the hall, footsteps muffled by the carpet beneath their feet. More than one carried a fellow fighter and Daniel wondered how many casualties they’d suffered that night.
A cloud of smoke billowed now from broken windows as the roar of a fire, out of control, echoed in the dying building.
Daniel stumbled down the shallow steps to the road as his chest heaved in the fresh oxygen and, like so many others, he slumped to the ground. At some time during their flight down the hall Cressida had taken his hand and now he pulled her against his chest.
Trails of silvery tears chased down her cheeks. “We lost so many.”
He nodded, the lump in his throat clogging his words.
With a tremendous bang the roof collapsed into the structure and the sound of sirens wailed above the noise.
He lurched to his feet, holding out his hand to Cressida. Around him, others followed suit and they made their way, a bedraggled and more than slightly secondhand-looking army of vampires. At the command post, Usain hovered, his gaze softening when their party came into view.
“And…?”
“The deed is done. Send in the trucks.” Usain gave a slight nod and Daniel smiled as Cressida clutched his hands.
“Oh and, Simon? I think there’s some cleaning up. Could you…?” Cressida coughed and Daniel tugged her closer.
“Time to go home, I think.”
She made to argue but he stood firm and she gave in with a tiny sigh. “Fine. I’m going home. Contact me…”
Usain grinned. “Cressida, if we need you, we’ll be in touch. But to be honest, I think a wind would knock you over right now. But before you leave? I have a question?”
Cressida swayed as she turned to Usain and Daniel reached out, bolstering her. “What?”
“If fire could do that, why didn’t you use it before?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “It wasn’t normal fire. We had to use a conjured fire, a magical wildfire, something we didn’t learn until recently. It meant we could contain it where we needed it. It couldn’t leave the circle, unlike fire. And it was able to destroy magic, unlike real fire, which cannot affect something without a combustible body.”
“Oh.” Usain clearly didn’t know how to take that so instead he simply shrugged and turned away.
They piled into the waiting cars, each heading to their own nests. There was still much to do before the sun rose in the sky. They needed to count their dead, attend to their injured.
And Caridad…
How would that be handled? He would ask Cressida… But later, once she’d rested and he’d attended to her wounds.
“The witches knew more than they told us.” She croaked into the darkness, as if she could read what was on his mind.
“Yeah. They certainly did. We’ll need to talk to them.” He pulled her close against him, savoring the warmth of her body. His fingers found a tear in the shoulder of her leather jacket and he burrowed within, seeking her flesh. Then he rubbed gently, with only a fingertip, reinforcing his feeling of togetherness and life.
As the gates loomed, one witch appeared, opening the wards for their entry, and the big car crunched its way up the graveled drive to the house.
Before she could climb out, he held her for a second longer, gazing into her eyes. “I will always be there beside you.”
Her hands cupped his cheeks. “As will I.”
They shared a gentle kiss, a brushing of lip against lip, sealing their vows to each other, then they alighted.
* * * *
Tiredness seeped through Cressida’s system. Her body had been working on pure adrenaline for the last hour or so, but now even that was petering out.
Daniel was hunched over a computer, inputting the data they’d managed to scrape together, including the names of their lost.
He looked up, saw her watching him and closed the lid of the laptop. “Come on. Time for bed.”
Their clothes still stank of fire and blood. For a moment she wondered if they were too tired…then she dismissed the thought. Waking up tomorrow, she’d feel even worse.
“A shower first, I think.”
His bleary eyes still, amazingly, carried a glint of amusement. “Need someone to wash your back?” He leered, though it was only a shadow. For the first time in hours she laughed.
“I think I’m too tired for that kind of carrying-on.”
He sobered also, winding his arm around her waist. Together they shuffled to the stairs. Each step jarred her aching body, and it was clear from his hisses that Daniel felt the same.
They stopped at the door nearest the stairs and cracked it open. Sarah turned in their direction, her eyes gleaming in the light.
“She sleeps deeply.”
Daniel reached out, then stopped, as if he thought better of his actions.
Cressida nodded. Tomorrow would be soon enough to embrace Samantha. So they pushed the door closed and they stumbled toward their suite.
Once the bedroom door was closed, they shucked their clothes, letting them form a pile by the door. “I think I’ll burn them.”
He nodded. “I’m in agreement. I don’t think I can ever look at any of these again. Christ, I’ve never seen anything like it.” His hoarse voice tugged at her heart.
“Not on that level. I’d honestly thought we’d never have to battle like that again. That in these civilized times…” She shrugged.
Together they padded to the bathroom and the water, once they stepped beneath it, washed away the soot and grime. The blood that stained their skin melted underneath the spray and she leaned close, his scent surrounding her.
Her body, as battered and bruised as it was, reacted the instant their skin touched.
He laughed, sliding his hand over her cheek. “Maybe we could manage this…”
The deep kiss left flickering fires streaking through her, and he gripped her hips before hauling her up.
Without thought, she wound her legs around his waist and he
plunged within her body, sheathing himself deeply.
The orgasm crashed down, filling her senses, and she screamed her pleasure while he jerked and shook, fingers digging into her sensitive flesh. Daniel groaned his release as he held tight, and the echoes of their cries filled the small room.
Inch by inch she slid down until her unsteady feet found the floor of the stall.
“Well, that was…”
Her mind was still fogged and she couldn’t think of the words to complete her thought.
“Amazing?” He wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed in spite of her exhaustion.
“Something like that.”
She shivered as they entered the cool bedroom. Even though they were wound in the soft towels Daniel had snatched, the air remained chilled and they shook.
The thoughtful and caring act still had the power to reduce her to a melted puddle, she realized.
Together they headed for the bed and lay down. Daniel snuggled against her and touched the amulet still hanging around her neck. “Will we have to give these back, do you think?”
“I don’t know, Daniel. Maybe. I suppose it really depends on what the witches decree.”
The fog of sleep advanced on her as he whispered, “Forever, my love. The three of us.”
The idea of the three of them was the last thought until they woke the next night.
* * * *
His eyes opened. Nighttime. His body didn’t ache, although it had only been the night before that they’d battled and beaten Creedar. It wasn’t a dream or some kind of nightmare that filled one with terror. Cressida lay beside him and by the light of the small lamp the outlines of bruises still showed on her face.
“Javed? Xavier?”
They grunted in his mind. “We’re here. What’s up?” He had the impression of crumpled sheets and warm bodies and he shook his head. Not really what he wanted to know.
“We need to get hold of the witches as soon as possible so we can put this behind us.” They needed to get the information from them, the things that had been missed, so they could make firm decisions for the future.