Beyond The Sun

by Sandra Bischoff

  Absinthe pulled the silk free from his eyes. “If it wasn’t for what, Zephyr? What are you hiding from me?” She walked around him in a slow circle. Her fingers skimmed his shoulders. “Maybe I should finish draining her. She hasn’t transitioned yet, she’s still human. I will tell you one thing; she has your strength. She’s incredibly strong, but its fading fast with every pint I draw from her.”

  Zephyr gritted his teeth. “What do you want from me, Absinthe? Free her and you’ll have it.” Oh yeah, I’ll give her something, alright. After Alexandra is safely at home.

  “That was my original plan, Zephyr. But now that you are here, I think I have come up with an even better one.”

  Two of her men stepped from the shadow behind him and grabbed his arms. He glared at her, fought to pull free, but their hold was like steel. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and yanked his head to the side. Zephyr curled his lip, exposing his fangs with a hiss.

  “Now, shall we see what you’re not telling me?” She bit into his neck. His memories spilled into her mind. Pulling away, she licked the wound on his neck closed and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Put him in the room with her. I have family coming for dinner.”

  Her guards opened the door and shoved him inside. Zephyr’s feet tangled in whatever was lying across the threshold, and he fell forward. He tried to stop the momentum of his fall, but moved to slow. His temple slammed into the footboard of the bed. He rolled to his side, groaning. The last thing he saw was Alex’s prone form by the door before he blacked out.

  Twenty-Four

  THE MOMENT JARED HEARD Z IN HIS HEAD, HE knew he was on the right track. The tunnel widened and angled deeper into the earth the closer he got to the house. He couldn’t be more than twenty yards away, at the very least. A faint glow came from up ahead, a lighthouse beacon telling him that he was just about there.

  Jared reached out to Zephyr for directions, but nothing came back to him, only dead air. This wasn’t good. Jared backed up against the wall and peered around the corner. What he saw sickened him. He knew there were some vampires out there who got a thrill from torturing those they fed from, but he never came face to face with pure evil until this moment. The variety of torture devices amazed yet appalled him. Who could withstand endless hours of pain and suffering and still be able to live afterward?

  He shifted his attention from Absinthe’s “play room” and crept further down the corridor. At each door he passed, he closed his eyes and listened for a heartbeat. With every door came another disappointment. What if he was too late?

  Nearing the end of the hallway, he paused before a weathered oak door. He placed his hand and ear on the wood, closing his eyes to listen. He heard two distinct heartbeats. One was fading fast.

  “Alex, you in there?” Absolute silence met his question. “Alex?” Still no answer.

  Damn it, he had to find a way in there. He held his hands out and let them pass over the whole door and the wood framing it. Jared focused his energy on unlocking the door, but nothing happened. He was still learning to channel the powers unlocked during his transition. He wished he had more time to learn to control them. His powers worked when they wanted to, or so it seemed. Now wasn’t one of those times, none of his powers were working. Something in this place was blocking them.

  A low groan from the other side of the door made him open his eyes. “Who’s out there?”

  Someone crawled to the door and knocked softly in Morse code. The corner of Jared’s mouth quirked upward, and he answered it back in kind.

  “Jared?”

  “Who else would come to save your ass, Z?”

  “Oh thank, God. I’m sporting a migraine like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t have the energy to deal with your sister again. Get us out of here?” A dull thump resonated through the door.

  “Hey, Z, is Alex in there with you?” Jared spared a glance behind him. He was sure he had heard a door open nearby.

  “Yeah, she is. She doesn't look good. They drained her and her heart can’t handle it anymore. She needs a doctor.” Zephyr gathered Alex in his arms and smoothed the hair out of her eyes. “I don’t want to lose her before I get to know her.”

  “You’re not going to lose her, Z. Give her your vein. She’ll turn, I’m sure of it. You did it for me.”

  Zephyr shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way. A half-breed needs a trigger to kick it off. She has no fangs. She’s human. If we found the trigger, she’d be able to drink. Right now she’ll push it away.”

  “She’s not human, I’m telling you. If you want to save her just do it already”

  “If I do it, she will die Jared.”

  Jared glared at the barrier between them. “I can’t open the door. Damn it, Z. Can’t you dematerialize with her? Get her back home?”

  “No, can do. Been trying, but Abs has some kind of weird mojo on the place. I can’t break the magic.”

  The torches died, sending Jared into pitch black. What now? “Z, you better figure out a way to get out while you can. Things are about to get ugly.”

  Absinthe stood in the stairwell and willed the torches out one by one. She would have loved to see the expression on Jared’s face, but she needed the dark to make her entrance. Her foot hit the floor, and she skirted the room. His eyes would be slower to adjust to the dark. It gave her the advantage. She got as close as she dared and lifted two meat hooks off the wall quietly.

  “The prodigal son returns from the dead. I don’t think so, Jared. The three of you aren’t going anywhere.” Her voice came at him from all directions. Jared would never be able to figure out where she stood. She watched him palm a dagger and swing blindly at the air.

  Absinthe twirled the chain attached to the meat hook around her hand. “Now, Jared, I must know, if you could only save one of them, which would it be?”

  His eyes darted around the pitch black room. “Which one? Z and Alex will be leaving with me.”

  “Such bravado for one who cannot control his new powers.” She drifted closer to him. “Maybe it’s time you felt firsthand what should have been done to you years ago, cattle.” She let the meat hooks fly. They embedded under his shoulder blades. Absinthe gave the chains a yank, pulling him off his feet and burying the hooks deeper in the muscle of his back.

  Jared screamed. He hit the floor. His dagger skidded off, consumed by the blackness surrounding them. He grabbed at the chains, trying to pull them free. She dragged him across the floor. The chains clanked against something metallic. A machine whirred to life. The hooks pulled him at a quicker pace, and soon he was lifted off the floor to dangle in the air. The torches on the wall sprang back to life.

  Blood oozed down his back and dripped on the floor. Jared raised his head, face covered with the muck coating the cobblestone floor, and spat a mouthful of blood at Absinthe.

  “Jared, I’m offended. This is how you treat my hospitality?” She crossed the room to a fire pit. The flames licked the steel prods resting in the hot briquettes. Absinthe lifted a glowing prod and sneered evilly. “I think you need to be taught a few manners, little brother.”

  She came closer, the glowing end of the prod aimed at his heart. Jared panted and struggled to reach for the chains. The movement only made them dig deeper.

  Absinthe touched the tip of the poker to his collarbone and Jared hissed. She made a slow deliberate line with it down the front of his torso. The smell of burnt flesh and fabric filled the air. His scream echoed through the chamber. She raised the poker for a second pass. Jared kicked. His foot caught her under the chin, and she flew backward.

  Jared panted and grabbed the chain. Rolling his legs up above his head, he slipped the hooks out from under his skin and swung down to confront her. The wounds itched, and his skin pulled as he healed.

  “Nice touch, but you should have used a fish hook; they don’t come out as easily. Let’s dispense with the family reunion and get this over with already.”

  Absinthe narrowed her eyes at him. Roaring, she gra
bbed him by the neck and threw him at the table in the center of the room. She advanced on him with lightning quick speed. Jared threw the table aside.

  She was right there before he found his footing. Her hands closed around his throat. “Why won’t you die?” She snarled and squeezed harder, smashing his head against the floor.

  Jared grabbed her fingers and pried them from around his neck. Bringing a knee up between them, he pushed her off. Her back slammed into a rack of weaponry. He shucked off his ruined coat and curled a finger at her. “I live to torment you, Absinthe. It’s my ultimate goal in life.”

  Absinthe’s clawed hand curled around the hilt of a sword. She got to her feet and brought it up in an offensive position, the tip pointing at the center of his chest. She lunged at him. Jared easily sidestepped her, ducking and rolling across the blood-coated floor. His knee landed on a fallen sword. Jared picked it up and faced her. They circled the room, waiting for the other to make their move.

  Jared didn’t want to kill her; she was his blood after all. He just wanted to save Alex. His thoughts of Alexandra scattered from his mind, replaced by the need to defend himself. Absinthe came at him swinging. Their blades met in a sharp clang. The swords hissed, sliding against each other.

  Absinthe shoved him back. “I’m growing tired of this, Jared. This hero act is boring me.” She advanced, swinging her blade toward his head, and he met each thrust, moving backward, careful not to let her corner him in.

  Sweat poured from his brow and into his eyes, making them burn, but he would not yield to her. As he came around the broken table, his foot caught on one of the leather straps attached to it, and he fell back. Absinthe’s blade sliced through the air. He brought up his left arm to block. Her sword bit into the flesh of his arm.

  “First blood to me.” Absinthe licked the blood on the edge of her sword. Her eyes glowed as she dived for him.

  Jared caught her with an arm across her throat. Her fangs snapped together just inches from his neck. He tossed her off of him and sprang to his feet, sword at the ready. His arms were beginning to feel loose and rubbery. It was only a matter of time before one of them finally gave in.

  GIOVANNA SLID DOWN THE WALL OF THE STONE staircase, listening to the battle raging in the room below. She had been waiting for the right moment to return to Alex, but there had been no reprieve of Absinthe’s presence in the manor. The servants made a run for it when the fighting began, but not her. She was tired of watching innocent people get hurt. It was time she stood up for what was right.

  When she hit the bottom step, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was Jared, still alive, holding his own against the one woman she feared and hated more than anyone in the world. The two of them were hell bent on killing each other; it gave her the opportunity she had been waiting for.

  Giovanna snuck past them into the darkened corridor leading to Alex’s chamber. The clang of metal on metal was muted here, but it was enough for her to know the battle still continued. If the noise stopped, then she had to worry. She placed her hand on the weathered wood and willed her frantic heart beat to slow. “Alexandra?”

  “Who’s out there?” A deep masculine voice greeted her. Giovanna stepped back. “Answer me, woman. Who are you?”

  Giovanna swallowed her fear. “I--I’m a servant, nothing more. I’ve come to let you out.”

  “Why should I believe you? Absinthe would never let anyone open this door.”

  “Please believe me. She and Jared are too busy to know I’m down here. If she knew, she’d kill me. I have the key.” She held up a round amulet, it fit into the lock in the center of the door. Pausing, she listened once more to the roar and clang of the fight in the other room before placing the amulet in the lock. “You have to move quickly. I don’t know how much longer they will be.” She twisted the amulet. The lock clicked and the door swung open. She stood back as Zephyr emerged, carrying Alex in his arms.

  Z stopped to behold a face he hadn’t seen in years. “Giovanna? How is this possible?” If he hadn’t been holding his daughter, he would have touched her to make sure she was real.

  “Never mind me, you don’t have much time. Take this corridor all the way to the end. It lets you out at the edge of the woods. Once there, you are far enough away to dematerialize. She has a spell on this place. It negates whatever magic you possess.” She touched his arm lightly.

  Explains why I can’t use my powers.

  Giovanna’s eyes were as large as a doe’s. “You don’t have much time. The sun will be rising soon. You must hurry.”

  Zephyr nodded and sidestepped past her, taking just a heartbeat to glance back. “Why are you doing this?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I know he loves her. I can’t bear to see him suffer at Absinthe’s hands any longer. He deserves to know what happiness is. Now go, before it’s too late.”

  Zephyr longed to ease her pain somehow, but like she said, there was no time. He paused at the entrance to the other room and watched the two locked in battle. Zephyr gave Jared a nod the second his gaze fell on him and vanished down the dark labyrinth of passageways carrying Alex.

  Jared made no acknowledgement of Zephyr’s presence. Absinthe swooped in during the momentary distraction and locked swords with him once more. He twisted away left, only to have her wrench the sword from his hand. He reached out and realized too late that he couldn’t retrieve his weapon with his powers. She swung wildly at him, a war cry on her lips and backed him into a corner. He searched for a weapon, anything to ward off her blows when Giovanna stepped into the room.

  She held one of the torches. The world slowed down the second she called his name. The torch sailed through the air, and he caught it in his right hand, swinging at Absinthe’s head. She retreated a step and covered her eyes with her arm, holding her sword in front of her. He fought her back toward the stone staircase.

  Absinthe saw nothing but red. She swung her sword without abandon. The flame came so close; it singed her hair and cheek. The skin blistered and oozed from the burn. She would make him pay for ruining her face.

  She jumped at him. They hit the floor. The sword and torch went flying. “I won’t let you leave here alive, not again!”

  The flames from the torch ignited the broken torture devices around them. They struggled on the floor. Jared finally broke her hold, kicking her back into the stairwell. He headed for the passageway, fire licking at his heels. The chamber was a ticking time bomb of epic proportions with all of the time-weathered wood it contained. It would be engulfed in seconds. He called for Giovanna to follow him, but a wall of flame materialized between them.

  Absinthe grabbed a handful of her hair. “Not this time, pet. You belong to me.”

  Absinthe spun her roughly to face her. She sneered. The blackened flesh of her cheek cracked, and blood oozed from the ruined skin. “You owe me for destroying my face.” She backhanded Giovanna. The girl whimpered in pain.

  Absinthe glared at Jared through the flames. “This isn’t over, brother.” The women vanished into thin air.

  Jared gave one last parting inspection of the room engulfed in flames and tore down the tunnel. The heat from the flames faded the deeper he went into the labyrinth. The whole house had to be catching fire by now. He was just about to the exit when a loud explosion went off behind him. The tunnel began to glow. His feet flew over the earth. He had to get out of there. Jared cleared the tunnel entrance and dove into a mound of snow seconds before the fireball shot through it behind him.

  Jared lay there in the snow panting. He stared up at the bright blue sky above him and closed his eyes. A cold wet nose nudged his hand, and he let out a raspy laugh. “Didn’t I tell you I’d make it out?”

  The wolf whined and hit him in the head with a paw.

  “Hey, that wasn’t called for.”

  Lance transitioned back to his human form. “The hell it wasn’t. Don’t worry, he said. If I need help I’ll call, he said. You’re lucky a smack in the head is all I gave you.”<
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  Jared sat up and coughed. “I had it all under control.”

  “If you say so.” Lance’s face grew serious. “We thought you weren’t going to make it. How did you get out of there? Zephyr said the whole thing went up like a matchbook.”

  Jared stood and walked over to the ATVs. “It did. Glad to know I’m faster since the transition.” He rummaged through the gear bag strapped to the back of the vehicle. Finding a parka he pulled it on, wincing as it brushed the healing wounds on his back. He zipped it up and grabbed one of the helmets. Shoving it on his head, he tossed the other one to Lance. The shifter caught it but made no move to put it on. Lance stood staring at him.

  Jared frowned. “What?”

  Lance continued to stare.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? We have to get out of here.” He held out his hand for the keys.

  Lance made no move to hand them over. “Jared. Are you feeling okay?”

  “Will you just give me the damn keys!”

  “Seriously, look around. Notice anything?” Lance swept an arm over their surroundings. All Jared could see was sunlight glinting off new fallen snow.

  “It snowed, big deal.”

  “Jared. Look again.” Lance pointed upward.

  Jared’s eyes followed the direction of his finger. He was blinded by the sunlight streaming down from above. Holy shit. I’m in the sun, and I’m alive. He fell back against the ATV. “How is this possible?”

  “I don’t know, bro. But I think we may want to keep this a little secret for now.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Since its daylight, everyone is going to think you got caught in the inferno. Should I call the house?” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

  Jared grabbed his hand. “No. There’s something I have to do first.”

  Twenty-Five

  MOONLIGHT REFLECTED OFF THE CASTLE ruins. Years ago, it stood proud and in excellent repair, but as more and more humans moved north, the King had allowed it to age with the landscape. Better to blend in than become a target for their ignorance and fear. They could thank Hollywood and writers for their predicament. As a race, the vampire was another victim of legend. It was easier to fear and destroy what they didn’t understand.