Katrina shrugged. “I have nothing to worry about. By this time tomorrow, I’ll have the world in my hands. You’re the one who should be alarmed.”
This time Sasha laughed, and it wasn’t a good sound. There should be alarm in her voice yet instead she heard glee. “You have no idea how wrong you are, Katrina. That’s why I told you to come. I’ve stopped everything you tried to do. I’ve got people in place to counter you at every turn. You won’t have anything in the palm of your hand tomorrow or any other day.”
Katrina shook her head slowly from side to side. “You’re way too late. It’s happening, and nothing you can do will stop it.”
Sasha’s gaze didn’t waver, and she still couldn’t detect anything that resembled fear. “Nothing? Are you sure?”
A sick feeling hit her in the stomach. “What have you done?” She didn’t want to believe her and desperately wanted to wipe the smug smile off her face. This meeting was nowhere near how she’d imagined it as she’d walked through the chaotic streets toward the bridge.
“I knew what you were up to. I’ve been following the Consortium’s activities for years. We’ve been ready and waiting for you to make your move. The only surprise? That you came here, but I suspect it was because you finally found me. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Her hands clenched and unclenched. “I will kill you.”
“You killed me a hundred years ago.”
“You’ve been an ungrateful bitch since I met you. You never appreciated anything I did for you, and when you would have perished alongside your family, I gave you life. I gave you a chance.”
Now she did see Sasha’s expression change, only it still wasn’t fear that darkened her eyes. Hatred beamed from her eyes like a lighthouse beacon. “No. You gave me nothing but misery, and now it’s time to pay. Karma is here to give you a big slap.”
Her nails bit into the palms of her hands, and blood dripped to the concrete sidewalk. “You can’t touch me. I will destroy you.” Katrina launched herself toward Sasha at the same moment her onetime love raced toward her.
Chapter Twenty-three
Every decade of suppressed rage roared to the surface as Sasha charged straight at Katrina. Her anger was a fire that would be quelled only when one of them was dead. And it wasn’t going to be her.
She reached for Katrina’s throat, craving to rip through her flesh and silence the voice that had whispered in her head for more than a century. She wanted this over right now. Before she could strike and dig her fingers into Katrina’s cool flesh, Dee screamed, “Don’t.”
That single word coming from Dee’s lips stopped her. It didn’t stop Katrina. Her forward momentum brought them crashing into each other like Rocky Mountain elk locking horns, and Katrina’s nails bit into Sasha’s skin. The pain was searing as blood flowed down her neck. That Katrina drew first blood was unacceptable, and Dee’s warning forgotten, she was spurred forward and slashed out with her own hand. It connected, and now blood flowed across her hand and down her arm. Had it been human blood, it would have been warm. It wasn’t. It was as cool as her own that dripped down to stain her shirt.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw two figures running toward them. Recognition dawned, along with shock. Rodney and Prima. They must have followed her and Dee. She should be furious with them. However, she was glad. Both of them had taken the serum Dee had refused, and that made them powerful allies in this fight. They would be immune from a vampire’s bite and, better yet, would transfer a killing punch should Katrina try to feed from them. It was the kind of help she could use.
Dee had jumped on Katrina’s back, her arms around her neck as she tried to get her to let go of Sasha. She didn’t appear to realize that she was like a fly trying to slow down a lion. Sasha’s strength was massive, and in most situations she would be the champion. That was far from a given this time. Katrina had age, strength, and fury on her side. Sasha had righteousness on hers. She believed righteousness would win out. She had to believe it. She also had to save Dee before she was hurt.
“Get off me!” Katrina threw Dee against the bridge balustrade like a rag. Dee screamed, and Sasha feared she was hurt. She didn’t intend to loosen her grip on Katrina and couldn’t check on Dee. It was a risk she couldn’t take even to protect the human who was fast becoming important to her. She prayed Dee wasn’t seriously injured.
Katrina was fighting like a tigress. She spun with a move that freed her from Sasha’s grasp as if she were nothing more than a three-year-old trying to hold on to her mother’s leg. She wasn’t expecting the move, and she paid for her lack of anticipation. “Damn you,” Sasha cried as she went down on one knee. Pain shot up her leg, and she was relatively certain she’d just shattered her kneecap. She ignored it and jumped back up to her feet.
“You’re a fool. You always were.” Katrina laughed and then whirled again as first Rodney launched at her and then Prima. Sasha believed they had numbers on their side, and between them they would be able to take her down. It was four against one. No way to fail. They would have her any second.
She was wrong.
Katrina hooked her arm around Rodney’s neck in a lightning-fast move that broke it. The snap was sickeningly loud on the otherwise quiet bridge. She then whirled around, grabbed Prima by the neck, and tossed her over the balustrade, where she tumbled into the swiftly moving river below. The way the river was running over the falls, she would be dead in minutes as her body was smashed against the massive rocks that rose on either side. The two were taken out in a matter of seconds.
“No!” It was the last straw for Sasha. This bitch had helped kill her family. Had held a rifle and pulled the trigger over and over again until their blood ran like a river across the basement floor. Murder wasn’t enough to satisfy whatever twisted pleasure drove her, and she’d next taken away Sasha’s chance to be reunited with her parents, her brother, and her sisters in the afterlife. Katrina had not changed in the intervening years. She had just killed two kind, decent people and hurt someone she was beginning to care deeply about. Enough was enough.
The horrible laugh that seemed to echo and amplify in the still night air gave her chills. “Give up, little princess. You never had a chance against me. Not then and not now. No one does.” Katrina moved lightning fast to grab her around the neck and pull her up and off her feet. “You were always mine to do with as I please.”
Sasha reached for her, hoping to be able to wrap her hands around Katrina’s neck. “I’ll destroy you.” Rage was an excellent motivator.
“That ship sailed a long time ago. You’ve got nothing left. Your friends are dead, your girlfriend worthless.” Her fingers were digging into her flesh, and the breath was beginning to leave her. She feared that Katrina might be right and that she really was going to win this battle.
“You’re not going to win.” Her words were barely a whisper, and blackness was beginning to crowd her vision. “I will not let you.” Big words that required action to back up. She prayed that she could find it in time.
“I’ve already won, you little fool. I always win.”
***
Dee shook her head with as much vehemence as she could, trying to clear the stars threatening to take her away into oblivion. Never before had she felt anything like the power of the vampire who was holding Sasha off her feet. She was not going to black out. As her vision cleared, she could see that the crazy one was more than simply holding her up. She was about to rip Sasha’s head from her body.
That wasn’t going to happen, not as long as she was still breathing. Dee was going to destroy her, and that was saying a lot for a person who abhorred violence. Even the gentlest person could be pushed too far, and this was that day for her.
North of where the two vampires battled, a crumpled form lay in the middle of the road. It took a second for her to register that it was a man. It took another second to hit that the man was Rodney. Even from here, she could tell he was dead. She wanted to puke. Again, she sucked it up and took qu
ick stock of her options.
Quickly she scanned the bridge for Prima, and another wave of nausea struck when she couldn’t find her. Only two possibilities existed: Prima had gotten away or had been tossed into the river. Her heart wanted to believe in the former. Her intuition told her it was the latter.
The realization that Katrina had killed her old friend Prima and her new friend Rodney chased away any lingering stars that flitted around the edge of her vision. Her head was clear, her thoughts coming into focus. No way was this bitch going to take everything from her.
She settled her gaze on the two locked together in battle. From the look on Sasha’s face, time was almost up. If she didn’t do something and do it now, they were all going to die. Two too many had already lost their lives tonight. This had to stop.
She put her hand to her throat and fingered the silver necklace while she searched for a game plan. It always calmed her to touch the star-shaped pendant. Her mother had given her the necklace when she published her first book, even though it hadn’t sold that many copies. It hadn’t made a lick of difference to her mother whether she sold a hundred books or a hundred thousand. She always called Dee her shining star and thus gave her the necklace to remind her of how proud her family was of her. Now, the touch of the silver gave her strength.
Suddenly, she stilled her fingers. Something Sasha had told her earlier came back to her, and as it did, she knew exactly how to end this once and for all. She could almost see a scenario in her head. She yanked the necklace free without bothering to unclasp it. Thank you, Mom.
The star held firmly between her thumb and forefinger, Dee lunged at Katrina. Rather than trying to drag her away from Sasha, this time Dee pulled her arm back and screamed. At the same time, she put every ounce of power she possessed into plunging the sterling-silver star into Katrina’s neck, puncturing the flesh and pushing it as far in as possible. Blood spurted out, hitting her in the face, but still she didn’t let go. She pushed and pushed on the piece until she couldn’t shove it in any farther. She felt soft tissue, blood, and bone.
“Die, you awful bitch. Die!” Tears were running down her cheeks, and she hoped she wasn’t too late. She wished she’d figured out what to do sooner.
For a moment nothing happened, and then Katrina crumpled to the ground, her face a mask of agony, her hands dropping away from Sasha’s neck and going to her own, where she clawed, trying to get at the piece of silver. A gurgling sound came from her throat. Dee thought she could make out a single word. “No.”
“Yes,” she spat into her face. “Yes. Die, you piece of garbage.”
Sasha had been right. Sterling silver was a kiss of death, and the proof was in the dissolving body of the vampire who had caused the deaths of who knew how many. Who had destroyed Sasha’s family. Who had destroyed her friends. She wanted to do more than simply watch her dissolve into a pile of ash. She wanted to dance on the remnants of her body.
Her glee turned to concern when she realized that Sasha was also on the ground, unmoving. Had her heroic actions been a little too little and a little too late? Had she been too slow to make a difference? She dropped to her knees and grabbed Sasha, holding her close. Her arms were limp and her head lolled. Blood coated her neck. Dee held her close, sending up a silent prayer. At first she couldn’t tell if Sasha was still alive, and then she saw the rise and fall of her chest. Thank you, God. She was breathing.
She kissed the top of her head and murmured into her hair. “Don’t you dare die on me. Don’t you dare.”
Tears flooded down her cheeks when she realized that off in the distance, the sun was beginning to come up. This was bad. Very bad. They were a long way from the car. Wiping away the tears with the back of her hands, she dredged up her courage and strength. It was all she had left to fight with. Calling on a surge of energy way beyond her normal range of ability, she picked up Sasha and began to move in the direction of the car. It was on the north end of the bridge, and the battle had ended on the south side. She might have been able to pick Sasha up, but running with her was out of the question. Her weight-bearing exercises consisted of gym machines, not carrying hundred-pound women for blocks. What to do? She kept cutting her gaze to the sky and wondered how the daylight could be approaching at the speed of a commuter train. It wasn’t fair. After everything they’d done, the universe was conspiring against her. With a whole lot of effort, she managed to carry her in the direction of their vehicle. Dee felt like the unconscious Sasha weighed more like two hundred pounds, and she was huffing and puffing before she made it ten feet.
As the first ray of light hit Sasha’s face, she screamed and her eyes flew open. Smoke rose from the spot where her once-smooth complexion was now burned and blackened. Dee dropped Sasha’s feet to the bridge floor and slung an arm around her waist. Her shoulders no longer screamed in protest. “Come on,” she told her. “We’ve got to get you out of the light. Can you stand?”
Sasha’s legs buckled and she almost fell. Dee didn’t let her go. “Leave me,” Sasha whispered. “Go somewhere safe. This isn’t over yet.”
“I’m not leaving you anywhere. Move your damn feet. We didn’t make it through all this to have you die on me now. Move it.”
As if taken off guard by the command, Sasha straightened a little and obeyed her. The rapidly dawning sky burned her face and hands, smoke rising like a campfire. She didn’t make another sound until Dee unceremoniously dropped her into the back of the SUV. Furiously she searched for something to shelter Sasha and finally settled on putting her in a fetal position under the carpet padding that covered the entire hatch area. She had to get Sasha to slide over so she could pull it free, but when she did, she was satisfied at how it protected her. The whole time, Sasha never uttered a sound despite the blackened skin. Dee wanted to cry. She didn’t have time to cry again. She had to be the strong one and get them out of here.
By the time she reached the wooded area where they’d been stashing the car while at Rodney’s, she figured she’d set a land speed record for north Spokane County. Given the state of the world at the moment, she hadn’t worried about a county sheriff’s deputy or state patrol officer pulling her over. She wasn’t even sure how many of them were still alive, and if they were, she suspected they had more to worry about than a random speeding vehicle on a deserted highway.
She jumped out and ran to the back. She’d parked the car in deep shadows so that Sasha was as protected as possible. Sasha wasn’t moving, and only a thread of a breath was evident. She was losing her.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Dee declared. She could think of only one thing to do, and it was the one contingency that had kept her from taking the miracle cure earlier. The only problem was, she didn’t know how to accomplish this life-saving mission. It required a sharp instrument, and she had nothing. Then a thought occurred to her. She began to dig through the pockets of Sasha’s leather coat and was rewarded when her fingers touched something hard and metal. The silver knife she’d seen her use on the young male vampires.
Briefly she wondered why Sasha hadn’t used it earlier and then let it go. It didn’t matter. Saving her life now, did.
“Don’t be a wuss,” she muttered to herself as she took the knife out of the sheath. It was long and wicked-looking, and it made her shudder. “Now or never.” She drew the incredibly sharp blade across the soft skin of her hand, and the pain made her breath catch. Blood immediately came to the surface, deep red and warm. She put the palm of her hand to Sasha’s barely open lips. “Drink or else,” she warned her. She didn’t really know what or else meant, but it seemed like the thing to say. It had worked on her earlier when Prima had made her drink the energy-restoring tea, and she hoped it worked now on Sasha.
At first it seemed her grand plan would fail, and then slowly Sasha’s hands came up to press Dee’s palm closer to her lips. Thank the gods, it was working. After only a few moments of accepting Dee’s gift of blood, Sasha began to look better, and her eyes opened. In them was somethin
g Dee couldn’t quite describe, but it made her shiver with excitement. Or maybe it was blood loss. No, she’d go with excitement.
After about a minute, Sasha pulled Dee’s hand away. “I can’t stay out here. I have to get inside. There’s a coat in the cargo bin.”
Sure as the world, inside the built-in cargo bin was a long, hooded coat, perfect to keep a vampire protected from the sun’s rays. Being with a vampire put a whole new spin on the term “sun’s harmful rays.” She draped the coat over Sasha before she helped her out of the car, making sure every inch of skin was covered. For a second neither of them moved. Then Sasha leaned over and kissed Dee on the lips. The thrill it sent through her was pure magic.
Sasha pulled back and looked her in the eye. “Thank you for saving my life. Now run.”
And they did.
Epilogue
Fifty Years from Now
Sasha finished typing and sat back as the last of the pages spewed from the printer. Writing it all down was like living it all over again. How she remembered each and every moment, as though it had just happened instead of half a century ago. Some of it was very good. Some of it very bad. When the printer stopped, she gathered up all the pages, put them in a tidy stack in the middle of the table, and slowly set the blue and gold egg on top.
For over an hour she sat and stared at the manuscript. On the pages she’d tried to capture the essence of Rodney and Prima, long dead but never forgotten. She still missed them, even after all these years. Both had died protecting her, and for that she had done her best to preserve and honor their memories. Rodney’s body had been recovered and his ashes spread in the woods he so dearly loved. Prima’s body had washed ashore two weeks later in Long Lake, the massive lake north of the city fed by the Spokane River Katrina had thrown her into. The only comfort was that they were able to send her home to her family. A vampire war memorial had been erected in the center of the city, and on it were engraved the names of the warriors who never stopped in their fight to save the human race. Two of those names were Rodney and Prima. It wasn’t much, but every time she stood and gazed upon it, she smiled, for she remembered them for the unique and wonderful individuals they had been. She and Dee had helped in every way they could, though she’d never really felt like she’d contributed enough, given what Rodney and Prima had done both for her and for humanity. Still, she’d tried to accomplish what she could, and in her heart, she believed they’d be proud.
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