Rachel jerked her along, forcing her to follow Marion and Lucas. Marion was almost preening, hips swaying, spine straight in victory. Lucas was still unconscious, his clothes shredded and bloody. The shots were fired at almost point blank range, but through the fabric she could see skin. Whole, unblemished skin that was knitting together as she watched.
Please be alright. Not just because she wanted to get out of here alive and she suspected that would only happen with his help, but because she didn’t know how she’d react to his dying.
She stared at him hard as though trying to will him back to health.
And then his head snapped up, feet planted to the ground as he brought his arms together and the guards holding him crashed into each other head first, unable to let go fast enough.
Lucas was free. Turning and eyeing the guards who rushed forward to restrain him again. But Marion was there, back at Val's side, her arm around Val's neck and the gun at her temple.
“Stop!” Marion yelled loudly making Valerie's ears ring.
Lucas paused, drenched in blood like Carrie at the prom, looking Valerie over in a quick sweep to make sure she was uninjured. He waved a hand in acquiescence and walked to the dais that the guards had been leading him to in those brief moments that he'd been unconscious.
Climbing the steps slowly, as though tired, he sat on the throne, his jacket gone, white shirt shredded to pieces and hanging from him in bloody strips, while his long golden hair was matted with blood.
He sat in the throne, the wood so dark and ornately carved that Val knew it was centuries old.
Anger blazed from him, every moment that passed allowing him to heal and regain his strength back. But his skin was paler than usual and he didn't have the same rock-like hardness he usually had.
After a quick glance, Lucas didn't look at her but watched Marion. He made an expansive gesture, his palms facing up and outwards. It was a regal, 'Here I am, now what?’ gesture. Marion gripped Val tighter, the gun pressed so hard to her temple that the pain was constant and distracting.
“I’m sure I could guess what you want, but it seems a shame to deprive you the pleasure of making your demands.”
“Restoration,” she said with a hiss.
He gave an ugly laugh. “What does Rachel get? And your followers- have you any? I fail to see how anyone besides you benefits from your restoration to power.” His eyes scanned the room, calling attention to its emptiness.
“I have followers. Step down, tonight, restore me and this will go no further. You can take your little Hunter home and be done.”
He laughed. A deep, hearty and human sound, “You would not let us go!”
He slammed a palm down on the wooden chair and leaned forward, his blood stained hair sliding forward over his shoulder, full lips quirked in a bitter smile.
Val blinked dazedly, she'd never seen him so animated, so life-like as he settled back into his chair nonchalantly, confident and brazen.
“Let me tell you what is going to happen. Nothing.” The words were a snarl, “You will release us if you want to live. You have made enemies Marion. Rachel is so weak others will use her at the first opportunity. You are a stalking horse and nothing more. You think to rule in my stead and for what purpose?”
He leaned back in the chair, hands curled over the arms’ edges. “Are you bored again, sweetheart?” His tone was seductive, his gaze trailing Marion’s body lazily as though he had the antidote to her boredom.
Val shivered at the pleasure radiating from his voice. She saw the fine hairs raise on Marion's arm, his voice affecting her as well.
He shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache, his mood instantly changed. His voice was tired, maybe pain filled, when he said, “They will not follow you. You will bring war upon our race.”
She laughed hollowly. “How does that compare to you? You who want to give us to the Fey? Back to the wolves? How can you do that to your children?” Her voice held genuine grief.
Noise exploded, two shots fired into Lucas without warning. There was a hole in the chair where one had missed, but blood bloomed from his shoulder where the other bullet struck him.
“I'll keep you so full of silver you won't leave, do you hear me Lucas? God damn you! And this girl here too.” She pushed the gun against Valerie's temple, pushing so hard Valerie could feel her skin being scraped away. She cried out, tears stinging her eyes.
Lucas was still, almost frozen as though not to startle anyone.
Marion hissed at him, “Tell me she means nothing. Tell me and I'll prove you wrong.” She cocked the gun and Valerie felt tears roll down her cheeks.
Lucas watched Marion intently, never wavering his gaze, ignoring Valerie and her tears completely.
“I will not leave so long as you hold her. She is your hold upon me, Marion. Be careful lest you break her,” he said calmly.
Lucas shifted his weight and crossed his legs, a king at ease. He flexed his bloody arm and Valerie saw his large biceps bunch and tighten, straining the shirt. Blood flowed freely, a small black river of it gushing out before a silver bullet writhed out of his arm and fell to the ground with a ping.
He settled his hand on his knee. “If you shoot me again I cannot restore you, I will not have the strength.”
Marion nodded, acknowledging his statement as true. She passed Val to Rachel, who held her the same as Marion had, Val's back to Rachel's front, gun at her temple. Marion began to walk towards Lucas.
Lucas held up a forestalling hand and Marion stopped automatically. “What of Rachel?”
Marion's voice was angry, “What of her?”
“Will she take power from me as well? Or will you share power with her later?”
Marion gave a wicked smile and turned to Rachel. “My love?”
Rachel’s voice was soft when she said, “This is for her. I do not need more than she has already been forced to give me.”
Lucas frowned briefly. “You would be her second? I cannot see how that is good for the dynamic of your relationship.”
Valerie wanted to laugh hysterically. Was Lucas a marriage counselor now? Heaven help them. He couldn't emote his way out of a paper bag.
“I want her happy. And she is correct, the path you would lead us down is lunacy.”
He gave a sad smile and shake of his head. “Rachel, you are too new. You cannot make her happy and you certainly won't make her happy by giving her what she wants. Marion will always want more and nothing will ever be enough.” He paused as though deciding whether or not to say more. “And you don't know what things were like when the Others were here. There was balance and beauty. This gray existence we have now is the aberration.”
“No.” Marion said vehemently, “you have nothing and live in a gray world, but the rest of us are happy. We feel things. Numbness is your curse! You put yourself before us, would chain us for your attempt to feel something.”
Lucas turned his gaze back to Marion. “What happens after you are restored? Will you let us go?” His voice was ugly, the question insincere, knowing she couldn't leave him alive.
Marion stepped forward, her hand going to his face and touching him lightly. “You have been misguided but generous. I know you have acted towards me with love. It will take time to restore me. I want eight hundred years Lucas. That will take at least a week or two. And you can feed from her, then you can change her. Make her your consort. And you will be her second, just like you did to me. Then you can go free. It won't be worth killing you anymore. I don’t want you dead, Lucas. I only want you to be miserable.”
“You would leave us defenseless as children, cast out in a sea of enemies.”
Marion shrugged. Lucas' weakness was not her problem the gesture said. Things were moving too quickly, Val thought. She didn't want to die, didn't understand the political maneuvering around her but she sure as shit didn't want to become a vampire. Was she a strong enough person to choose death instead of becoming a vampire?
She thought about her mother, opening the door to those memories that she kept tightly locked and saw the pain and fear on her mother's face as she had died. The way her mother had sought her out, watching Valerie’s face as though seeing her in those final moments was the most important thing in the world.
Her throat closed up with tears. Yes, she would die. She couldn't do that to someone else's mother, didn't want to be a monster. She could die. She'd do it and once it was done, it wasn't like she'd feel regret, she thought morbidly.
Valerie blinked and looked up, her decision made, that she’d rather die than become a vampire and realized her vision was hazy, tears spilling down her cheeks. It wasn’t like death was a great option.
She wiped her cheeks and looked at Marion, blinking until her vision cleared. Lucas held his hand out, his wrist exposed to Marion’s hungry gaze.
“Go ahead, my love.” Marion said, absently, her whole body focused on Lucas’ outstretched wrist and the power that waited behind that thin layer of skin.
And then Rachel’s grip tightened around Val’s neck and she felt the displacement of air near her body, then a stinging sensation raking down her chest.
Blood welled out of her body. Her chest had been slashed open with a knife, a long jagged wound she could see through her torn dress.
Rachel stood beside her, the bloody knife lightly grasped in her hand. Valerie screamed in shock, watching her blood flow out of her like a dam releasing water. At first there was just a small stain and then it grew into a patch, then it was coursing down her dress and pooling on the floor at her feet. That’s too much blood.
At first, there was no sensation, but then the pain began to build and get worse, her nerves screaming at the injury, dots floating before her eyes and she feared she might faint. A killing wound.
“Think of that as insurance for your good behavior. As long as you don't dawdle and give me the power quickly, she just might live.” She took Lucas' wrist in hand and sat beside him. His gaze was locked on Valerie's as she tried not to cry. Each gasp made the pain worse.
Her knees gave out, Rachel letting her slip to the ground. She saw Marion's head descend to Lucas' wrist, striking like a cobra.
Valerie turned away from his intense stare, unsure what, if anything, he was trying to convey to her. Marion was drinking from Lucas, gulping frantically. She raised her head, turning it at an unnatural angle, and looked up at Lucas, his blood smeared around her mouth.
“Faster. The sooner we are done here the sooner you can get your little human fixed.”
Lucas turned to Marion, his expression blank. Blood began to drip from his arm faster and faster like honey pouring out of a jar. Marion cackled in a way that would have made the Wicked Witch of the West jealous and continued to drink from him. Obscene little noises of pleasure came from deep in her throat.
Even sitting on the floor became hard. Her chest felt like there was a campfire raging on it, burning and sucking all the oxygen from her so that even breathing was too hard.
Just rest. Val tried to lie down, using her arms to brace herself, but they gave out, the sound of her head cracking on the ground like another gunshot wound to Lucas’ chest.
Valerie gave up.
Chapter 11
Rome, Italy
Lucas felt Marion drawing from him, stealing the power from his veins as he funneled it to her slurping mouth. He couldn't give her too much, tried to be careful and give her enough so she’d believe him sincere but not enough to keep him from getting Valerie out of here the moment the opportunity presented itself.
Valerie would need his strength if she was going to survive the night.
Marion's head bobbed up and down, sighing in pleasure when all he wanted to do was rip it off her fucking body and shove it down Rachel’s throat. How could he have been so lax over the last few centuries? This wasn't a plot that was hatched overnight. It had taken centuries of Marion watching Lucas falter and drift before she would even think to wrest control from him.
She'd always been so obedient, so simple and now she thought she could disrupt the world he'd created? It was madness.
Staying still was a struggle. He could easily grab Marion and kill her. He had no doubt in his mind that a little evisceration would show who was really the master here.
But Rachel was ready. She held the bloody knife in one hand while the other held a gun. She'd crouched down, following Valerie when she slumped to the floor and lost conscious, not willing to let the gun be further than an inch away from Val's temple. If he did anything to upset Marion's plan, Rachel would kill Valerie without hesitation. Faster than he could get to her.
This was a revolution. Would he sacrifice his throne for her? All he'd built for centuries upon centuries. Could he give it up for a girl he couldn't even drink from?
He heard steps from outside and leaned forward in the chair, ready to move if the opportunity presented itself. He would hope that at least some of his followers would return to investigate what had happened. There had been a hundred vampires here. At least half of them must have stayed loyal, so where were they? Shouts came from outside, the sound of guns being fired and the doors burst inwards, guards and men spilling into the near empty ballroom.
Marion jerked away from him, tearing the skin at his wrist, a piece of his flesh in her mouth. Lucas ignored it, his eyes switching to Rachel. A predator’s smile flashed across his face as he waited for her to look towards the door. He only needed a moment. The barest hesitation and he could get to her. Rachel knew it, tried not to shy away from the weight of his gaze, nor look towards the noise coming from the doorway.
He shook his head at her slightly, warning her, ‘kill her and there will be no escape for you if you lose this battle.’ Her eyes widened, lips frowning, his message received.
Rachel made the barest motion, a nod or a flinch, then looked at the door.
Lucas leaped from the dais, moving in a blur of motion, in front of Rachel before one of the newcomers could fire a shot. His palm slammed into her chest, throwing her across the room and away from Valerie, hearing Rachel’s ribs crunch from the impact.
Men were spilling into the room, guns pointed as they formed a tight defensive circle. The shots were loud and echoing as they fired at the vampires in the room.
Lucas pulled Valerie from the ground, wrapping himself around her protectively. She was too hurt. If she was hit in the crossfire, he would never be able to save her.
He focused his will to get them out of there, trying to dematerialize, but bullets pierced him in the back. He dragged her tighter, gathering himself, focusing his energy for one last blast of power before he was spent.
The effort was draining. And it wasn’t enough. He blinked hard, blood in his eyes. This was it. They left together or not at all. She’d die in the crossfire if he couldn’t get them out.
He tried again forcing his energy outwards to encompass her, feeling a burn and exhaustion in his bones and mind that he hadn't felt for centuries. Lucas roared in agony, demanding his body respond and somehow, find the energy to take her with him.
In a final rush he had her, a cold wind whipping around them, her apartment the destination fixed in his mind as they vanished.
The apartment was quiet and still, the only noise a slight hum from the refrigerator in the kitchen. The anarchy of the moment before was now thousands of miles away. Lucas walked to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed. His legs shaky, movements as graceful as a drunk.
Christ, how weak am I?
Love is Darkness (A Valerie Dearborn Novel) Page 19