House of Shadows

by Morgan Hawke

  She sighed. “So, I have two jobs and a life you know.” She shook her head. “Your best option would be an airport. I vote a flight to the other side of the country. If your Visa’s in order, you can go to Canada. That should be far enough away. It’d take him days just to follow you.”

  “Canada?” He frowned. “That’s a bit further than I want to go.”

  Rowan lowered her brows. “You don’t really have a choice, you have to put enough physical distance between yourself and Klaus that he loses your trail. If I drive you to the airport in my town during the day, it’ll give you a four hour lead and it’s an international, so you’re good for just about anywhere.”

  “Sounds great.” Rick smiled thinly at her. “Just one problem.”

  “What?”

  Rick put his elbow on the table then propped his chin on his hand. “Right now, it’s after eleven in the morning and the drive takes four hours. If the car was already packed and we left now, sunset would still catch us at five.” Rick shook his head. “The damned airport security checks take so long these days, that he’ll stop me before I get on the plane.”

  Rowan frowned. “So? He still has to wait ‘til sunset and we’ll be four hours ahead of him.”

  “That’s not long enough for either of us to escape.” The fingers of his other hand thumped on the glass tabletop. “He can follow me anywhere I go and he flies.”

  She bit her lip. “He flies?”

  “Yep, and really fast. It would take him maybe an hour to catch up to me.” He picked up his mug and swallowed a gulp of coffee. “I have no idea how he flies, because he’s damned solid while he does it. I’ve seen him carry shit.”

  “Wait a minute, how’s he going to track us? The car doesn’t leave a trail.”

  “He drank my blood, remember? He can follow me that way.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Yeah, but out of a glass...”

  Rick stared at the floor. “That has nothing to do with it. It’s the blood itself, not the process, that makes the link.” Rick’s worried at his lower lip. “He’ll chase after me before he makes an attempt on you, so I can wait ‘til dawn tomorrow, then just take off on my own...”

  “No.” Rowan shook her head. “Absolutely not. He’ll catch you and I am not leaving you to that monster.”

  He grinned. “So you do care.”

  “Don’t push your luck.” Rowan rewrapped her cards. “We can leave at dawn tomorrow, that ought to be enough time. Maybe we can add a distraction, then take off while he’s busy.”

  Rick frowned. “What kind of a distraction?”

  Rowan looked out the window thoughtfully. “I can probably find his missing sorcerer. I’ll leave him the location and we can take off while he goes to play tag with him.”

  “We find who he’s looking for?” Rick frowned. “We help Klaus?”

  Rowan raised a brow at him. “Can you think of a better distraction?”

  He frowned. “It’s not looking that way. All right, how do we find this sorcerer?”

  She tucked her cards into her belt pouch. “I can use a pendulum and a map to find the sorcerer, but the trick will be to get enough distance between Klaus and us to make a clean escape.”

  He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” Rick leaned back in his chair. “In the meantime, I’ll get online and get a plane ticket. He can barely use the TV remote, never mind figure out what I’m doing on the computer.”

  “Speaking of TV remotes...” Rowan sat back in her chair. “I still can’t get over the fact that Klaus was watching soap operas when we walked through the TV room upstairs.”

  Rick snorted. “Soaps? That’s nothing. I caught him watching Babe-Watch the night before you got here. The way his mouth was hanging open, I don’t think he’s ever seen it before.”

  “Babe-Watch?” Rowan groaned.

  Rick grinned. “I thought he was going to have a heart-attack when a pair of girls in bikinis ran across the TV screen and then the camera zoomed in on their boobs.”

  Rowan snorted then grinned. “Considering that you have one of those wall-sized TVs that gives ‘Bigger than Life’ a whole new meaning, I’m not surprised.”

  Rick nodded. “I was convinced that he was going to make a grab for the screen.”

  Rowan sipped at her coffee. “You know you can get a ticket at the airport.”

  Rick shook his head. “It’s easier to do it online. I have to arrange flights, and do some interesting time juggling so I don’t end up flying in a window seat during daylight hours.” Rick leaned across the table to capture her hand. “Come with me.”

  “What for?” She tugged on her hand but his hold was iron firm. “You can contact me by email and you have my home phone number.”

  His fingers tightened and he frowned. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You don’t have me to lose.”

  He leaned across the table toward her and his eyes ignited with flame. “I don’t?”

  She glared at him. “You like being used to feed my magic?”

  “It’s not doing me any harm and the sex is hot.” His smile was grim and determined. “I already told you I’d be your sex-toy any time you wanted. Besides, I feed from you, too, so it’s even.”

  “Let me go.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because, you’re starting to cut off my circulation.” She wiggled her fingers.

  He bit out something harsh in German and released her hand. Glaring at her, he picked up his coffee cup.

  She pulled her knees up onto the chair, folding in on herself. “Anyway, you can’t afford to become too attached to me.” She turned her head away.

  “Why not?” His fingernails dug into the coffee cup with unconscious strength. There was a crunch. The cup crumbled in his hand, spilling coffee on the floor. “Shit...” Rick got up and tossed the remains of his cup in the trashcan by the back door. At the sink he grabbed a rag, then knelt to clean the spilled coffee and glass shards from the floor. He looked up from the floor. “Look, it’s pretty damn rare that I have a lover that knows what I am,” he said harshly. “Never mind one with a sexual appetite that matches mine. Do you think I’m about to give that up?”

  “You live forever, I don’t.” She said softly. She fixed a cool and level look at him. “Remember?”

  “That…” His lip curled and his fangs flashed briefly. “Can be fixed.” He got up from the floor.

  “No.” She shook her head firmly then pointed her finger at him. “That—is not an option.”

  He frowned. “What’s wrong with living forever?”

  “As a witch, I already live forever,” she smiled grimly. “Reincarnation comes with the package and I don’t have to change my diet.”

  “Reincarnation, huh?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “And how many memories do you retain from each life?

  She flinched. “I remember enough.”

  “Oh, really?” His eyes narrowed. “As a vampire you keep them all, crystal clear. Will you remember me?”

  Rowan bit her lip. “I am not giving up my abilities to become something like Klaus.”

  “Vampires have powers, too,” he said in a soft whisper. “And I am nothing like Klaus.”

  “But eventually, you will be,” she said very, very softly.

  He put up a hand. “We’ll argue about our relationship later.” He turned and dumped the rag in the sink. “Before you find a good enough excuse to really leave me,” he added in barely a whisper. “What kind of stuff do you need to find this damned sorcerer for Klaus?”

  Rowan sighed. “I have a pendulum in my big, brown suitcase and I’ll need a map of the local area.”

  “Stay here, I’ll go get them.” He headed for the doorway and his eyes flashed flame. “Don’t go anywhere.” He strode from the kitchen.

  * * *

  Rick pressed the catch, opening the door to the vault under the staircase. “Damn it, Rowan,” he muttered under his breath. “I am not losing the only person in my
life who hasn’t freaked out on me, and the only person that I don’t have to pretend to be human with...” In a blur of speed fueled by anger, Rick descended into the vault. On bare feet, he crossed the carpet to the bed. “Sooner or later I’m going to beat some sense into that ass of hers...”

  The larger brown, leather suitcase lay flat on its side at the foot of the bed, where Rowan had left it. He grasped the handle of the suitcase and whirled, only to be jerked to a halt when it resisted being moved. The suitcase weighed a ton, literally.

  “Shit.” He ground his teeth. “I forgot about her damned spell!” Groaning, he lifted it, one-handed from the floor. “Damn it, she could have at least pulled the spell until she left.” One step at a time, he walked the bespelled case toward the stairs, then stopped.

  Something wasn’t right. Eyes narrowed in concentration, he opened his senses. I don’t feel anything unusual... He looked up at the ceiling. Klaus was still buried somewhere on the grounds and Rowan was sitting in the kitchen. He looked around the room. All the paintings and the furniture was in place, the bed was still made and the floor... His eyes opened wide. The floor!

  Klaus’s blood was gone from the carpet.

  A warning chill shivered through Rick. “Shit,” he hissed. Grabbing the case awkwardly with both hands, he walked faster. Damn it, this thing is heavy... He sucked in a breath. Next time she gets her own suitcase.

  Hauling the case up the stairs with both hands was a pain in the ass but he made it to the top. He dropped the case in the hall, then turned and pushed the door under the stairs closed. Rick felt a fleeting shimmer of impending malevolence. Klaus? He turned.

  Darkness exploded upward from the floor under his feet, cascading high over top of him. He shouted, his hands shot out and instinctively dark claws lanced from his fingertips. The darkness spilled down onto him, drowning him in impenetrable stygian black. He raked at the shadows around him and it parted like smoke.

  Hands abruptly closed on his throat, cutting off his breath. He gasped and grabbed wrists that felt like they were made of steel. His claws slid against an unbreakable surface. Suddenly a pair of familiar crimson eyes appeared in the boiling blackness only inches away.

  “Klaus, what are you doing?” he gasped out with the small amount of air he had left.

  The hands tightened. “Sleep.”

  A fist of dark power closed around his mind and Rick knew no more.

  * * *

  Rowan reached across the table and picked up the coffee pot still on the table. She went to pour coffee into her mug and paused. Her head lifted. Something isn’t right...

  She focused on Rick and got the distinct impression that he was climbing the stairs with her suitcase and he was pissed about something. Oops, I think I left the spell on the suitcase. She smiled and put cream in her coffee. That puppy has got to be heavy, I bet that’s what he’s bitching about.

  She lifted the mug to her lips and felt the wave of darkness that meant Klaus was close by. Her head shot up. She heard a shout. Rowan scrambled out of the chair and dashed into the hall.

  Klaus filled the narrow hall with his pooling shadows and had Rick by the throat.

  “Klaus, no!” She ran for the two vampires and her radiance blazed to life.

  Klaus exploded into tatters of shadow and disappeared, taking Rick with him.

  “Shit!” Rowan focused her mind, desperately searching for Rick or the concentrated violence that was Klaus. She felt them both well above her head. “The TV room...” She lunged for the stairs.

  * * *

  “Awaken.”

  Rick coughed then sucked air into his bruised throat. His eyes snapped open. What the fuck? He was sprawled face down on a hardwood floor. His head snapped up. He was in the TV room at the top of the house, between the leather couch sitting in the middle of the room, and the wall. He could see the door just past the end of the couch. He lunged up onto his feet.

  A fist closed viciously in his long hair at the base of his neck, jerking his head back. “Ow, shit!” He could feel the solid, heavy darkness that was Klaus directly behind him. He reached around with clawed fingers and his hands closed on a wrist, but his sharp nails found no purchase. The hand in his hair twisted tighter. He winced. “Klaus! What the fuck, are you doing?”

  “I need to strengthen your blood.”

  “What?” Rick felt Klaus’s clawed hand grab his shoulder. He was shoved down hard. He landed on his knees with a heavy thud. “Fuck, Klaus!” If he had been human, his knees would have been broken. He tucked his chin and attempted to stand. “Cut this shit out!”

  “Stay down.”

  “What the Hell, are you talking about?” The clawed fingers dug through the fabric of his shirt and into his shoulder, forcibly keeping him down on his knees.

  “Hold still. This will be over soon.” He knelt at Rick’s back.

  Rick’s head was suddenly jerked back, baring his throat. Rick could see Klaus’s carved profile only inches from his cheek. Rick bared his teeth and hissed. “I am so going to kick your ass for this!”

  Klaus’s brows rose then he chuckled. “So fierce, but so young.”

  Rick’s head was pulled painfully back until it rested against Klaus’s right shoulder. He winced again. The rich smell of cool and rotted earth rose from Klaus’s body. “You’re sworn not to take my blood, you son of a bitch...”

  “So it would seem.” Klaus nodded. “However, you are here to take mine.”

  “What?” Rick watched from the corner of his eye. Klaus shook back his long ragged sleeve, baring his emaciated left forearm. Rick’s eyes widened and his blood turned to ice. “Oh, Hell, no! I am not drinking vampire blood!” He twisted sharply and felt his hair tearing free. He got his feet under him to rise.

  Klaus growled and released Rick’s hair. Rick lunged to his feet. Klaus’s arms snapped out in a blur of speed. He grabbed Rick’s right wrist in one hand, pulling Rick’s arm back and twisting the wrist viciously.

  Rick felt the bones of his wrist near the snapping point from Klaus’s strength and jerked to a halt. “Damn it!”

  Klaus yanked the wrist up sharply then pressed a palm against Rick’s elbow for leverage. He pulled, twisting and locking Rick’s entire right arm straight out behind his back.

  Rick was forced back down onto his knees with his head bowed to the floor to keep his arm from dislocating at the shoulder. He couldn’t move, his shoulder would go or his arm would snap.

  Klaus bent over him to snarl in his ear. “You forget—I hunt vampires older and more powerful than you.”

  “Goddamn you, Klaus, let me go!” He could feel a sweat from fear forming along his spine.

  “Be done with this foolishness.” He twisted Rick’s arm a fraction more. “Do not make me harm you needlessly.”

  Rick felt his arm trying to tear from the socket. A small sound of pain escaped his lips. He shook his head “I can’t let you do this, Klaus... I won’t drink your blood.”

  “You can not stop me,” Klaus said softly. He twisted Rick’s arm a fraction more and dislocated the arm with a wet pop.

  Rick shouted with the sudden and brutal wave of pain. He felt his sight dissolve into blackness from the shock and collapsed.

  Kneeling, Klaus released Rick’s now useless arm. Wrapping his arm around Rick’s chest, he lifted the stunned, younger vampire, propping Rick against his right shoulder. Rick moaned then sluggishly tried to pull away. Lightning fast, Klaus released his embrace to wrap his right hand around Rick’s throat, holding him against his shoulder.

  Rick grabbed for the hand around his throat with the fingers of his one working hand and scrabbled for purchase.

  Klaus clenched his fingers tightly, cutting off Rick’s air. “You have no choice. Be still,” he said in the younger vampire’s ear.

  Rick tried to breathe past Klaus’s fingers around his windpipe and choked. “Not drinking...” He wheezed for air. “Your blood.”

  Klaus eyes slid to focus on the strugglin
g, younger vampire and he raised his left arm to his serrated mouth. He bit. The ancient vampire’s blood flowed thick and black. Klaus shoved his wounded arm against Rick’s mouth.

  Rick threw out his hand to stop the descending arm, but the elder vampire was too strong to resist. The open wound came in contact with his mouth. He came up on his knees and fought to turn his head away with his lips tightly closed. Klaus’s blood smeared across his mouth and dripped from his chin.

  Klaus shifted his hand from Rick’s throat and grabbed his jaw. “You will drink.” Klaus’ fingers dug into the muscles in Rick’s jaw.

  The pain from Klaus’s fingers was excruciating. Rick moaned. Klaus pressed harder, nearly dislocating his jaw. His mouth popped open. Klaus shoved his wounded arm tight against Rick’s sharp teeth while other his arm pinned Rick against the older vampire’s body. Blood filled Rick’s mouth. Thick, sweet as honey and potent as expensive whiskey... He spat.

  Klaus pressed his arm tighter, tilting Rick’s head back. “You will drink.”

  Blood flowed in a heavy stream down Rick’s throat and into his airway. He choked. He was forced to swallow or drown. He swallowed. The blood hit his stomach and churned. The raw power of Klaus’s blood caused warm waves to race from his stomach into his veins. He felt himself losing control of his body from the potency. I’m getting drunk... He could feel drowsiness flooding through him. I am drunk... Rick couldn’t stop himself from swallowing again.

  The younger vampire’s body became limp as the old blood infiltrated his body. Klaus released Rick’s chin and wrapped a supporting arm around Rick’s back, holding him upright against his shoulder like a child. Rick swallowed again. His eyes were dilated wide and clearly out of focus. He was barely conscious. Abruptly, Klaus pulled his arm away and Rick sighed. Blood, thick as syrup, ran down his chin. His shirt was black with it.

  Klaus swiped his tongue across the gash on his arm. It closed instantly. “Now, young vampire, let us see how you react to a fresh dose of what made you Vampire.” He pushed Rick onto the floor, shoving him face down. He frowned at the odd angle of Rick’s shoulder. Coming up on one knee, Klaus grasped the arm he’d dislocated. With brutal efficiency, he popped the joint back in place.