Echoes of Blood and Glory

by Ripley Proserpina

  Her hand trembled as she pressed the shirt closer. “What is wrong with me?”

  “Rose.” He touched her hand.

  She shook her head, all she could see was the blood. He’d never forgive her. Never.

  The carpet was suddenly at her back and her hand over her head as Horus pushed her to the floor. In one smooth, graceful motion, he slid inside her again.

  How was he hard so soon? He thrust into her, and she shut her eyes.

  “Rose. Open your eyes.”

  When she didn’t right away, he withdrew and slammed back into her. “Rose.”

  Expecting to see anger at the very least, or pain at worst, she did as he asked. But none of that was there.

  “You claimed me.” He shifted to prop himself on his elbow and touched his chest. “Marked me. I’m honored.”

  “I hurt you.”

  He shook his head. “Never. Sharp-toothed little monster. I hope it lasts forever.”

  She’d love him forever. “I don’t know why I did that.”

  His easy slide was building her back up, kindling the fire that had only just banked.

  “Yes, you do,” he answered, shutting his eyes. He thrust again. “Can’t think.”

  Rose was in the same boat. Her ability to rationalize and use logic was gone when it came to how Horus moved.

  “It was instinct.”

  She was impressed with his ability to hold onto a thought when all she could do was clutch at him, squeeze him tighter, and hold on.

  He pushed his hand between them, circling her clit. “Look at me.”

  He was barely recognizable. Even white teeth clenched, pupils blown wide. He was holding back, not just from coming, but from something else. Maybe the thing that had made her sink her teeth into him.

  Rose came in a rush. One second, she was teetering on a cliff, and the next, she was floating blissfully into oblivion.

  Horus growled low. He dropped his head to her shoulder and called out, coming so hard his entire body shook.

  “I would mark you, too,” he whispered breathlessly. “I want to so badly, if only—”

  If only her blood wasn’t poison.

  But so what? So what if he didn’t mark her skin? That pain, the heat she’d felt in her heart, had marked her.

  “I want the world to know you’re mine.” He rolled them, withdrawing from her body and tightening his arms around her. “I want them to take one look at you and know.”

  She smiled and shivered. Her body was drenched in sweat and starting to cool off. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Pushing her hair out of her face, he grunted. “I will.”

  Rose smiled to herself as she pulled her clothes over her damp body. All the place had was a hand towel, and it didn’t really do the job after her shower. The floor of the bathroom was wet, and she had to wash her body with face soap, but oh well.

  There was a soft knock on the door. “Come in.”

  It opened, and Seti peered at her. His gaze went from her wet head down to her bare feet before he pushed the door wider. “You put a smile on my brother’s face.”

  “Oh my god.” She dropped her face into her hands. “Seti.” Embarrassment made her want to push past him and hide in a closet.

  He pulled her hands away, leaning down so he could see her. “I’m not teasing you.”

  She studied him. He was earnest, dark blue eyes serious. “Horus and Ra are…” He looked around the bathroom and shook his head. “This is a weird place to bare my soul, come on.” Taking her hand, he gave her a small tug. They went down the hall, downstairs, and into the living room. Horus was there and hurried to her as soon as her foot touched the last step. With a chuckle, he lifted her into his arms and spun her.

  It was so unexpected, she let out a gasp and then a giggle. “Hi.”

  Setting her down gently, he straightened to his full height. “Hi.” He leaned down, kissing her lightly. As he stood, his hand went to his chest, touching the place where she’d bitten him.

  “I told Rose how happy she’s made you,” Seti said from behind them.

  Horus frowned, looking over his head to his brother. “Why would you need to say anything about my feelings? Rose is well aware of how I feel.”

  “No fighting,” Ra’s voice echoed in their head. “This isn’t our house, and I’m not paying if one of you throws the other through a window.”

  “Where are you?” Rose asked.

  “Getting you food,” he replied. “And sniffing around a little. I thought I caught scent of something.”

  Her stomach growled at the thought of food, and next to her, Horus’s belly grumbled as well.

  “Twins,” she joked, laying her hand against his rock-hard abdomen.

  The smile he gave her was forced. He glared over her head at Seti. “Explain.”

  “Brother,” Seti began formally, “there is nothing in this world I want more than you to find peace. For the first time in our life, I saw that in your eyes.” He glanced at Horus’s hand where it still rested on his chest. “She marked you.”

  “It was—”

  Touching a finger to her lips, Horus interrupted. “She did.”

  Seti smiled, but it disappeared quickly. “Perhaps one day, I will be honored like you were.”

  Rose swallowed. “Have I ruined everything?”

  “No,” Horus answered aloud at the same time Seti shook his head.

  “I am happier for my brother than I have ever been in our lives. And I am also jealous.”

  This wasn’t the time for her to reassure him. He wasn’t looking for her to tell him how much he meant to her. No. What Seti wanted was to be heard. He was putting his heart on the line. His words had taken on a formal quality, and his accent, something that at times disappeared completely, was stronger than she’d heard it. It was as if the emotional toll the words took made it difficult for him to speak.

  “Seti…” She took his hand and lifted it to her lips. His skin was warm and smooth where she kissed it. “Each one of you is—” Laughing, she realized the same thing that had happened to Seti when he started to talk about feelings was happening to her. So she searched for her lady balls and met his gaze straight on. “You have my heart, Seti. I’m horrified that I hurt Horus, but he said it was a good thing. And I had no control over that instinct. Something inside me made me mark him. It’s the same thing that makes me want to climb you like a tree and stamp my name on the back of your shirt.” That was a long-winded response, but—“Do you understand what I mean?”

  As she’d spoken, his gaze had grown softer, like the color of the ocean, and a smile touched his lips. He stepped closer, and she unwittingly took a step back, right against Horus’s chest. “You’re running from me?”

  “No,” she replied, her voice breathless. She hadn’t meant to move, for a second though, her body had become charged and the impulse to do just what she threatened overwhelmed her.

  Horus was a wall at her back, but he put his hand between her shoulder blades and gave her a little push. Seti caught her and lifted her into his arms before fixing his lips to hers.

  This kiss was so sweet. It was the sort of kiss a boy gave a girl after thinking about it for months. It was uncertain and nervous, and not at all what she expected from this person who seemed so comfortable in this world and in his own skin.

  His tongue dipped into her mouth, tasting her quickly before he angled his head and deepened it. He made a sound, a low rumble, and ripped his mouth from hers. The breath he sucked into his lungs was loud.

  “Rose.” He smoothed his hand down her wet hair and kissed her once more. Loosening his grip, he let her slide to the ground. Then he stepped back and raked his hands through his own hair.

  Rose’s knees shook so hard, she had to lock them.

  Exchanging a glance, Seti and Horus suddenly straightened. They stared at each other a long moment before Horus took off. He was a blur of motion—so fast her hair flew around her face and she had to blink the tears fro
m her watering eyes. “What’s going on?”

  Seti appeared by her side, her bag clutched in one hand. He took her hand and dragged her toward the door. “Vampires.”

  Instinctively, she glanced toward the window. The sun was still high in the sky. Shit. Vampires out in daylight.

  “Are we running?” she asked. Their car sat in the small driveway, but it would perhaps be faster if she clung to one of their backs as they shot through the city.

  “No.” Horus’s voice startled her. He tore the door open and they rushed down the steps. It slammed behind her as one of them closed it too hard. “Shit. I’ll tell Marcus later.”

  She didn’t have a chance to look at the damage he’d done, because their car screeched to a stop at the curb. If they were trying to make a quick—and unnoticed—getaway, they were failing. Ra pushed the passenger door open. Seti lifted her, pushed her inside, and shut the door. The twins were inside seconds later, and Ra took off like a shot.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Only speak this way,” Ra told her. “If we’re being followed, they will hear you.”

  Rose glanced nervously out the window, half-expecting that she’d see a vampire running side-by-side with the car. But no, it was just the city.

  “This traffic…” Ra trailed off as the car slowed. There was no such thing as a quick drive between two places in this city. Between the stoplights and the congestion, people in Boston gave themselves a full hour to make it where they wanted to go.

  “Get her between you,” Ra told his brothers. Rose squeaked as two strong hands grabbed her and pulled her to the back seat.

  “Warn a girl, will you?” she complained. She was fully capable of climbing in back.

  No one answered her though. Between the two of them, Horus and Seti managed to get her buckled in.

  Their gazes were hard. Once she was restrained, they stared at whatever was outside the windows. She didn’t see what they did, but she had no doubt they’d keep what they saw from getting to her.

  The car slammed to a stop, and she lurched forward. Metal groaned and glass broke, the sound so loud she instinctively lifted her hands to cover her ears.

  Everything was a blur of movement and color, and she couldn’t make any of it out. Horus grabbed her, covering her body with his as Ra and Seti roared.

  All around them were screams. “What’s happening?”

  She tried to shift to see, but Horus squeezed harder. “Don’t look.”

  There was a blast of cold air, and the warmth of Seti’s body disappeared from next to her.

  “Stay in the car,” Ra commanded.

  “Horus, what’s happening?” she asked again.

  “People are being attacked.”

  She gasped. “We have to help.” No human was as strong or as fast as her guys. And she could help too, depending on what she was like today—metal or mortal. “Go.” With gentle hands, she gripped and pulled Horus away from her. “I’ll be fine.”

  He glanced toward the window and gritted his teeth. There was a splash of red behind him, it covered the window and dripped like rain down the glass. Horus’s nostrils flared.

  Even she, with her human senses, could recognize what that was.

  Something moved over the spidered glass of the windshield, leaving a trail of slime in its wake.

  And Rose’s decision was made.

  If those were her crawlers, her soldiers attacking, then she was going to use her blood to her advantage. “Let me out, Horus. If you need me to run, we’ll run. But you have to let me try.” The slime trail glittered in the sunlight.

  Horus stared at her. She watched him struggle, his gaze flitting to the window then back to her.

  “Rose.” Seti’s voice was a warning. “Please.”

  She didn’t answer him. Instead, she stared at Horus, willing him to understand what she needed to do.

  When he made his decision, he lurched forward, clutching her shoulders with both hands. With a gentle shake, he got close to her face and whispered, “You don’t leave my side. Understand?” He gave her a hard kiss on the lips before opening the door.

  Everything went to ten. The sounds. The smells.

  Bodies were strewn across the street, on the sidewalks, and hanging out of cars, seatbelts still on. She had a vision, a flash of memory as the events of a decade ago slammed into her.

  A nightmare. This was another nightmare.

  From the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of movement. A gray, rotting form opened the back door of a car. Broken fingernails, rotten teeth.

  “Stop.” Rose’s voice carried over the screams and sirens.

  And it did.

  It dropped its hand from the handle and crept in a low tight circle. The crawler studied her, moved forward and back like it wanted to come toward her, but wanted the humans in the car just as much.

  “Come.”

  It canted its head to one side and crawled, belly on the ground, toward her.

  Horus was at her side, a low rumbling growl of warning in his throat. Every so often, the crawler would glance at him, pause, and then crawl again.

  It was working. Whatever it was that connected them made it impossible for the crawler to deny her request.

  Something crashed behind her, and the crawler hissed. Horus whirled around and so did Rose. This creature was different, and if not for the empty look in its eyes, could have fooled Rose into believing it was human.

  “Soldier,” Horus whispered.

  Glancing over her shoulder to make sure the crawler hadn’t moved, she turned to fully face the soldier. He moved toward her so fast he blurred, but came to an abrupt stop when Horus’s hand wrapped around his throat.

  “We don’t know if it’s yours,” Horus said through his teeth. The soldier pushed at him, and Horus took a step back, straining to keep him in place.

  She had to find out fast. “Let him go,” she said, and then aloud, “Protect the humans.” The soldier spun and leapt into the air. He landed with a crash on another car, pulling a crawler who was half-through the windshield out to fling him away.

  Rose turned around, hurrying to the crawler. “Protect the humans,” she demanded. “Don’t feed on them.”

  This creature wasn’t happy at all with her command, it rocked toward her before spinning away into the fray.

  “It worked.” Holy shit. It worked. “Horus.” She met the man’s wide-eyed gaze. “How do we do this?”

  “Command them,” Ra’s voice was clear. “Horus, bring her through the fight. Rose, command them to protect.” He sent her an image. A dozen wounded crawlers and soldiers writhed on the ground. Their skin blistered and healed, reddened and oozed, and then healed again.

  It was hard to be heard over the screams, but Rose tried. She yelled at the top of her lungs, “Stop!”

  Those around her did, and it quieted the chaos enough that Horus lifted her in his arms and ran her toward the fight. Seti joined them. His clothes were torn and covered in blood. He stayed low, starting toward whatever creature was closest to them, but at hearing her voice, they stopped. In moments, the attacking immortals were her minions, rushing toward the creatures who hadn’t yet been commanded by Rose.

  A gust of air whipped her hair around her head as the world blurred. Seti appeared next to her, along with Ra. Horus put her on the ground, guiding her until her feet touched the pavement.

  “You’re ruining our fun,” someone said.

  Horus wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling him against her body. His chest was a low, thrum of noise, warning away the vampires who appeared in front of them.

  Ra stood tall. “Leave.”

  Rose felt the words inside her brain, like fingers of pressure reaching from her neck over the top of her head. She studied the vampires, who stayed in place, seemingly immune to Ra’s command. They were female.

  And beyond gorgeous.

  It wasn’t their clothes, those were old, worn, and torn in places. But they glowed. The
ir skin was like porcelain, and their hair shone in the winter sun. Snowflakes fluttered around, landing in their dark hair, leaving drops of shimmering water where they melted.

  “Leave,” she repeated, because—why the hell not? It worked on the soldiers and crawlers.

  These beings only laughed. “The human is amusing,” one said. Her words were accented, but not like the guys. She stepped forward, tilting her head and then wrinkling her nose. “But she smells wrong. Like wet Earth.”

  Ouch. The vampire smelled her blood, the poison of the crawlers that flowed in her veins.

  “Don’t drink her,” the other said. She was slighter than the first woman, almost waif-like with huge, dark, deep-set eyes. “Remember.”

  The first vampire hissed. “I remember.”

  The smaller one took a step closer and then paused. In the distance, sirens were getting louder, but the screams had tapered off. The crawlers and soldiers she’d been able to control had done what she’d asked.

  “Why are you with her?” the small one asked, her dark gaze darting toward Ra. “A human?”

  Ra had been silent since his first attempt at controlling them. Rose could sense something coming from him, a building of power that reminded her of the way air got heavy and thick right before a thunderstorm.

  He didn’t bother to answer the small woman, instead, he moved closer to Rose.

  The vampires didn’t even seem to be concerned about her. They talked right over her. Like she wasn’t there.

  She did a quick perusal of their surroundings. There were soldiers and crawlers within earshot. “I’m more than a human,” she said. An idea occurred to her, and while it scared the shit out of her, if it worked, it would be awesome.

  The small vampire grimaced, showing her teeth. “I was going to drink you, but now that I’ve smelled you, I think I’ll just kill you.”

  So rude.

  Next to her Ra bristled, and the hair on her arms lifted in warning. The taller vampire took a step toward her. “Stop,” Ra commanded.

  The vampire drew her eyebrows together and sucked in a breath, like she was in pain. But she took one step and another.