The pull at his neck was getting stronger. How many mouthfuls had the vampire taken? Three? Four? A dozen or twenty? Aleksei had no way of knowing. He opened his eyes and noticed the fading light. Either the candles were dying . . . or he was.
Nikolayev moved closer, wanting a better view of how the vampire was draining his victim, but Aleksei didn’t think he would be able to see much. The fall of purple-blue hair obscured most of the vampire’s face, and the count’s expression became that of a man realizing he was being cheated of a great prize. Catching Nikolayev’s frustrated look, Aleksei gave him a warm smile. It was the only weapon he had left with which to punish him.
The darkness was increasing, coming faster now, and Aleksei was having difficulty discerning substance from shadow. Nikolayev was turning hazy, threatening to become vapor in a few moments more. Aleksei recalled a memory from childhood. A priest, not the same one who had braved Magda’s hut, but an older, kinder man, had told him he had nothing to fear from death.
“When you die, my son, if your heart is pure, you will be carried to heaven by the gentle hands of angels,” the priest had said, “and bathed in the warmth of a soft, glowing light.”
It would seem the truth was somewhat different.
Death came for Aleksei on a great roar of thunder, bringing with it enough blazing light to blind him. And there were no angelic hands lifting him to paradise. Instead, he felt himself being rudely yanked free of the vampire’s embrace and thrown over a broad shoulder, his throbbing erection crushed against a mass of muscle and bone. He couldn’t decide which was worse, his need for release or his embarrassment at having a hard-on at such an inappropriate time.
* * *
“Life or death, Aleksei, which do you choose?”
Gabriel stared down at the cruel scar that covered half the peasant farmer’s face.
He would carry the witch’s signature with him for the rest of his life, no matter which choice he made. The healing properties that came with being a vampire would only restore injuries received as a vampire. They could do nothing for wounds already given.
Gabriel had been halfway up the staircase when he saw the familiar shock of periwinkle hair. Only one vampire, to his knowledge, was so brightly hued, but he could not imagine what might have brought Kartel to this house on this night. Still, there was no mistaking another Original Vampire. It had been so long since he last saw another of his kind that Gabriel was momentarily shocked. He hesitated and almost cost Aleksei his life.
He burst in through the door and realized Aleksei was only moments away from the point of no return. The moment where the amount of blood lost would be too great, giving his mortal body no chance of recovery. Humans facing the precipice of death rarely got the chance to step back from the edge, and those taken there by a vampire never were. They either became a vampire or were tossed over the edge.
In separating the two of them, Gabriel had been splashed with Aleksei’s blood. It was a few drops only, but enough to reveal he possessed the element that would enable him to make the transition to vampire. Something Kartel could not have failed to recognize as he drank. There was no precedent that said the offer had to be made, but that an Original Vampire had not done so troubled Gabriel. True, the process was not as easy as was believed, and it could only happen if absolute submission was given. And relinquishing their independence was something most humans were neither willing nor prepared to do.
But Gabriel could not, in all good conscience, deny Aleksei his chance to become a vampire. He had already asked if Gabriel would change him, and his reply had been “not without good reason.” Was imminent death good enough? It seemed to Gabriel to fall into that category, which was why, after throwing Aleksei over his shoulder, he had fled with him. Climbing upward through the grand house, Gabriel had exited onto the roof and from there moved across the city until the safety of his own home came into view.
Now, with Aleksei in his arms, he made his way to the chamber that held his sarcophagus. “Life or death, Aleksei,” he repeated softly, lying down with him on top of the blue marble. “I can give you either, but you must choose—and quickly, my friend, for time is running short.”
“Does . . . Petrov . . . live?”
Gabriel could not answer with any certainty, but he recalled the look on Kartel’s face when he’d pulled him away from Aleksei. Unpredictable and cruel, Kartel had cared little for the human race as an angel, and even less as a vampire. Indeed, Gabriel had often wondered what had driven the angel to stand with him on that battlefield so long ago.
With neither compassion nor any depth of understanding, Kartel had been known to change a human simply because it amused him to do so. Without proper guidance, the effects of the transition could be traumatic. The fact that no vampire changed by Kartel had ever managed to survive beyond their first year was considered by Gabriel to be a good thing.
And now he was certain the same fate awaited Nikolayev, although in this case Kartel’s cruelty might be considered poetic justice.
“He lives . . . for now,” Gabriel said, grimly.
Aleksei gripped his arm, surprised at the feel of bare skin beneath his fingers.
“It will save time,” Gabriel told him, answering his unasked question, and wondering if Aleksei was coherent enough to realize that both of them were naked.
If he was, it made little difference because his pale tongue passed over even paler lips as he said, “Make . . . me . . . as . . . you . . .”
Gabriel, pleased by the choice, smiled at him. “You must surrender yourself to me, Aleksei. All that you are or ever will be must be given to me. Can you do this?” Even as he saw the vague movement of Aleksei’s head, Gabriel felt him yield.
Using his saliva to close the puncture wounds made by Kartel, Gabriel pierced the other side of Aleksei’s neck. His fangs were longer than Kartel’s had been and went deeper. Aleksei, barely conscious, lay inside Gabriel’s embrace, his head supported by the vampire’s broad shoulder. Pulling deeper, Gabriel took only as much blood as was necessary. Enough to trigger the start of the death spiral, but still leaving enough to assure the same fatality caused no long-term damage to the delicate balance of internal organs. Drawing back his fangs, Gabriel waited.
He felt Aleksei ’s body as it stilled, chemical reactions triggering the natural process that would result in atrophy and decay as each organ slipped into a state of inertia. The brain’s electrical impulses began slowing as it succumbed to a paralytic dream. And when all that still functioned was Aleksei’s heart, moving on muscle memory, Gabriel listened and waited. The slowing beat, followed by another, and then another . . . and then Gabriel struck.
Without hesitation his fangs sliced through Aleksei’s rapidly cooling skin, sliding between his ribs and into his heart. And as the organ contracted for what should have been the final time, it now began to fill with blood. Instead of siphons used to draw blood from the body, Gabriel’s fangs were functioning in reverse. Filling the stilled heart with a mix of Aleksei’s human and his own vampire blood. A mix that sent a shock wave through the motionless body and jolted to life a long-recessive gene.
In the normal course of events, Gabriel would have slit his wrist and fed Aleksei back his own blood, his vampire body easily holding the surplus volume until it could be returned. But Kartel had almost drained Aleksei, leaving barely enough liquid to stimulate the change. Now Gabriel needed Aleksei’s own body to replace the lost amount. But that would take time.
He tightened his arms around Aleksei, watching the runes on the glassy surface of the sarcophagus as they glowed and started to move. Tasked with the responsibility of protecting and restoring him, the small black symbols now scurried like insects, realigning their positions in order to accommodate two bodies instead of one.
Having done all he could, and praying it was enough, Gabriel closed his eyes and gave himself and—God willing—his progeny up to the Dark.
Chapter 24
“So how long were you in
the sarcophagus with Gabriel?” I asked, watching Aleksei get up out of his seat. An unexpected twinge of jealousy flared at knowing I wasn’t the only person Gabriel had taken into his coffin. It was unreasonable, I know, and I felt horrible about it.
“I’m not sure,” the big guy said with a frown. “Three days, maybe four?”
“And you looked like this when you came out?”
He nodded and grinned at me. “Yes. Even more handsome than before.”
“Any regrets?” It was an unfair question, but I was curious to see if he fully understood that when Gabriel had asked him to make his choice, he was hardly in a clear state of mind to do so.
“Being a vampire has allowed me to see the world in a way I never knew was possible. That alone has made every minute of every night worth it. So no, I have no regrets about what I am.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “No matter the circumstances, Rowan, believe me when I say I would always choose to be vampire.”
So now you know.
“And how bad was the transition for you?”
“For me? Not so bad, but I was lucky. I had Gabriel to help me.”
“Yeah, I can imagine having to drink blood took some getting used to.”
“That was not problem.” He chuckled softly at my puzzled expression. “Rowan, you don’t think about needing food or drinking. You know is necessary to keep body alive. When you are vampire, blood is same thing. You need it to keep body alive.”
“So you never had a problem drinking blood?”
Clasping his hands together, Aleksei rested his chin on them and stared at me. “You are wanting to know if I thought it was wrong to drink blood, yes?” I suppose I was, and I gave him a small nod. “No,” he replied. “I have never been confused about what I was doing or the reason why. And I never felt guilty.”
“But can’t a vampire kill someone by draining their blood?”
“Of course,” he said with no hesitation whatsoever. “It happens. In the beginning it cannot be helped. It takes time to learn how to control the feeding and there will always be vampires who use it as a form of execution.” He paused, giving me a few moments to let his words sink in.
“But you have killed people, haven’t you?” I asked, with morbid curiosity. He hesitated for only a moment before nodding his head. “So . . . how?”
He held his hands out and then made a quick twisting motion in the air. “Snapping neck is faster and cleaner, unless, of course, message needs to be sent.”
Message?
Yeah, like the kind of message Gabriel sent courtesy of Gus.
“Besides,” Aleksei continued, dropping his hands to his knees, “blood from those people leaves bad taste.”
Those people were the corrupt and depraved, and how their blood would taste was something that, in a million years, would never have occurred to me.
“But have you ever drunk from someone . . . and killed them accidentally?”
The way his eyes darkened told me I was skating on very thin ice, but I needed to know as much as I could. Aleksei was the only human Gabriel had ever turned, which made him special. And I didn’t mean riding the short bus special. I could feel the link between the two of them, and in light of what Aleksei was expecting Gabriel to do when Anasztaizia died, I felt I had the right to know as much about this vampire as possible. After all, he was expecting me to help Gabriel pick up the pieces.
“Only once,” he said in a voice so low I almost didn’t hear him. “It was few months into my transition. As I already said, I had no problem with drinking blood, and Gabriel was teaching me how to regulate my feeding so I never took too much from one person.”
“But something went wrong?”
He nodded and lowered his eyes. “You must understand that as vampire I was much bigger and stronger than before. I had to learn how to use my new body. Holding something small was challenge. It was six months before I was allowed to drink from a glass.”
The difficulties were perfectly relatable, and I could understand that it took time to adjust to the new parameters afforded by the physical enhancements. “What about your senses?” I asked. “Were you having trouble with those as well?”
He shook his head. “The improvement there did not happen until after I was in more control of my body. Is too much to deal with all at once. I had to get used to the changes in . . .” He held his hands up, palms facing each other about an inch apart.
“Baby steps.”
“Da, baby steps.”
Okay, that made sense. “So how did that feel?”
His face lit up like the Fourth of July. “Amazing! I could smell when rain was coming, I could hear people in next house arguing, I could taste blend of grapes in wine,” he paused and smiled at me. “But you want to know what the very best is?” Returning his smile, I nodded. “Seeing colors. Seeing all colors, seeing colors that make up colors.”
“It sounds fantastic, but kind of one step away from a nervous breakdown,” I told him.
He shrugged. “Yes, is true, and Gabriel has said some new vampires cannot deal with so much, um . . .” He screwed up his face as he searched for the right word.
“Stimulus?” I offered.
“Yes, is too much.” He beamed at me, pleased that he had not succumbed to such a fate. “But Gabriel was big help. He taught me how to turn it down. How to hear everything, but not so loud and not so much.”
This time he made a lowering gesture with his palms facing the floor. I understood exactly what he was saying. He needed to find a way to be aware of everything around him without letting it overpower him. Teach his brain how to compartmentalize all the information his heightened abilities were sending him.
“So what happened?” I asked softly, bringing him back to my original question of whether he’d ever killed anyone by accident.
He lowered his eyes, concerned with the dregs of coffee in the bottom of his mug. “Has Gabriel ever fed from you while you are . . .” The color crept up from below the collar of his shirt, flushing his neck and jawline.
“What? Having sex?” I couldn’t decide if his embarrassment was over the subject of sex in general, or as it pertained to me and Gabriel. The blush grew deeper in color.
“Then you know how closely linked the two appetites are,” he said after clearing his throat a couple of times.
Oh yeah, I knew. Did I ever.
I stared at the big guy, wondering which appetite had gotten out of control, because from the way Aleksei was now squirming in his seat, one of them had. With really, really bad consequences. I hoped it wasn’t lust because having so recently been threatened with it myself, I couldn’t bear it if Aleksei turned out to be a rapist.
“Tell me about it,” I murmured in a low voice.
He put the coffee mug on the table between us and clasped his hands together, holding them so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Tomas had very strict rules for the house servants,” he began in a voice only a little lower than mine had been. “If any of them began to ask questions or show too much curiosity about Gabriel, then he found them another position somewhere else. The servants had no concerns about Gabriel as far as I knew, but my presence in the house was causing some . . . unease.”
I could well imagine that. It would be hard to not notice this newly turned and improved version of Aleksei.
“The servants were told not to go into my room when I was in the house, and even when I was gone to never go in without Tomas. It was for their own safety. My behavior was erratic, unpredictable, which is why going through the transition without the help of another vampire is so dangerous.” Unclasping his hands, he now began rubbing them together. Kind of like air-washing. “You must understand I was a peasant with no knowledge of women, so when I experienced lust—real lust—for the first time, it was both terrifying and wonderful. Please believe me, Rowan, when I tell you I never meant to harm her.”
“I believe you,” I said. Even if it turned out that Aleksei had assaulted this gi
rl, I was certain he had not been aware of his actions. And the fact that whatever happened still haunted him was proof of his remorse.
“There was a new girl in the house, and she either forgot or decided to ignore the instructions about being in my room.” He shook his head, recalling the foolishness of the girl’s actions. “She came in alone, without Tomas, just as I was rising. Gabriel had told me that he had made certain arrangements for me”—the color began creeping up over his collar again, and I could appreciate just how difficult this was for him—“and so I assumed . . . seeing a girl alone in my room . . .” Placing a hand over his mouth, Aleksei began shaking his head slowly.
“You attacked her?”
He gave me a stricken look and nodded.
“How?”
“I fed from her.” I could only imagine the terror the girl must have felt at having Aleksei grab her from the shadows, but I was relieved there had been no rape. “But with the lust so strong in me, I could not control the feeding.” He slumped back in his seat, and the hand that had been covering his mouth earlier now covered his eyes. “I didn’t even know what I had done until Tomas and Gabriel pulled me off her.”
“Was she . . . ?”
He nodded. “It was almost ten years before they told me I had killed her that night. So yes, I do regret taking a life, but that is the only one, and I will carry it with me to my grave.”
There was nothing anyone could say to ease his guilt, me least of all, but perhaps that was the way it was supposed to be. In the grand scheme of things, he needed to carry the burden of an innocent death. To remind him just how fragile we all were. Even vampires.
“You said Gabriel made certain arrangements?” Aleksei stared at me, his face unreadable, and now it was my turn to feel my face pink up. “Was it with another vampire or . . . ?”
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