Destined Blood

by Tessa Cole

  Now. Go now.

  The other feral leaned into the window, snarling, but someone yanked it away. I gasped in a shallow breath and shoved at the feral’s dead weight pinning me, but couldn’t move him one-handed. I really didn’t want to put my Glock down, but if I was going to get out of the SUV, I had to move the feral.

  Out the front windshield, I could only see Marcus and hoped that meant the guys were moving the fight closer to the key. Somehow I knew it hadn’t manifested yet, but that didn’t mean Logan wasn’t already set and waiting, ready to grab it the moment it did while the guys were still fighting his ferals.

  Something crashed against the bottom — now side — of the SUV, making it rock. Shit.

  Gasping, I set down my Glock, heaved the feral’s head and shoulder into the space between the seats, and retrieved my sidearm. I shot at the windshield six times, trying to make enough of a hole to get me started, since windshield safety glass was hard to kick through and even harder if it hadn’t already been broken.

  I kicked again and again as fast as I could, fighting to get the glass to peel away and create an opening large enough to crawl through.

  A feral rushed toward the front of the SUV, its gaze locked on me. Marcus grabbed it by the back of its torn and filthy shirt and yanked it off its feet. Again I consider the M4 in the back seat. I didn’t want to leave it behind, but there was no way I’d have time to search for it.

  Still fighting for breath, I half crawled, half squirmed out the windshield, the hole barely big enough for my body, the glass pebbles biting into my palms.

  Marcus had decapitated the feral who’d been about to attack me, but another one had tackled him to the road.

  “You were supposed to leave,” Gideon yelled at me. He stood in the middle of the road, light blazing from his eyes, a match to the light making up his sword. None of the guys had gotten far from the SUV, with Kol the farthest, at the mouth of the path leading into the park.

  “Don’t think I didn’t try. I know I’m best suited to fight this fight from a distance.” I drew in a strained breath and fired at a feral lunging for Jacob’s back. The buzz made me twitch, and I hit the feral’s shoulder and not its chest. Thankfully it still stumbled long enough for Jacob to wrench around and decapitate it.

  “So you were going to disobey an order and not leave?” Gideon impaled a feral and grabbed the arm of another about to slash at Marcus.

  “Are you really having this fight now?” Kol asked, dodging the claws of one, then another.

  Free me. Now.

  The pressure of the key billowed, and I gasped, clutching my chest. It still wasn’t the agony of before, but it wasn’t much of an improvement. “We have to get to the key.”

  “Officer Shaw, take cover in one of the buildings.” Gideon jerked his chin toward the closest high rise lobby door. “The rest of us, in the park.”

  I bolted toward the lobby door, my chest burning from the pressure and lack of air, but half a dozen ferals broke away from the guys and chased after me.

  Crap. I was as much of a target as the guys.

  Marcus swore and ran toward the group going after me. Gideon barreled toward me as well, shooting a light strike at the feral closest to me as he ran. It wasn’t enough to kill it, but the blast made it stagger long enough for me to jerk close enough to guarantee my aim and shoot it in the heart. And I had no choice but to stand and fight. All the ferals were faster than me, and with almost no distance between us, there was no point in running away.

  The feral I’d shot dropped with a flash of blue lightning, but now I was surrounded by the remaining four.

  One slashed at me. I jerked away from it into the claws of another, who sliced rents into the back of my vest.

  Marcus yanked that feral out of reach and killed it.

  Almost time. Find me. Free me.

  “New plan.” Gideon reached the pack and impaled another feral. “Officer Shaw in the center.” His tone was all business, but I could tell by the waves of searing heat sweeping through the air that he was pissed.

  Yeah, well, this wasn’t how I’d planned for my evening to go, either. My shoulder and forearm burned from the wounds I’d already received, and blood once again oozed from shallow cuts on my cheek and neck. And God damn it, I could barely breathe.

  I shot another feral in the chest to slow it down and bolted toward the park as Marcus and Gideon finished off the other two who’d attacked me. Jacob and Kol fought to clear a path for me, but there were still too many. Jeez, how the hell were there so many?

  I jumped over the body of a dead feral, lying in a pool of blood on the asphalt, and its hand jerked out and seized my ankle.

  Ah, shit. The damned thing wasn’t dead.

  Chapter 20

  I crashed to the road, the feral’s grip a vise around my ankle, and somehow managed to not smash my face against the asphalt or lose my Glock with the impact. I wrenched around and the feral snarled at me. It grabbed my leg with its other hand and sank its teeth into my calf.

  Pain screamed through my leg. I kicked it in the head, and its teeth ripped from my flesh and shredded my jeans.

  Shit shit shit.

  I shot the feral in the head before it could bite me again. Blue lightning exploded around it, but I scrambled to my feet, not waiting to see if the enspelled ammunition had actually killed it.

  Around us, all the ferals who hadn’t been decapitated or shot in the head groaned and hissed and climbed to their feet.

  “I’m beginning to really hate this guy,” Marcus snarled.

  Gideon decapitated the feral closest to him, but another at his feet dug its claws into his thigh. “Just get to the key.” He shoved the feral off him, the creature’s claws ripping his fatigues and drawing blood.

  Now. Now.

  I fought to run down the path. The pressure in my chest was so heavy I couldn’t catch my breath, barely managing shallow gasps.

  Trees crowded close, casting heavy shadows, and even if there had been more than a barely seen sliver of moon in the sky, the path still would have been dark.

  A few feet down the path a streetlight, made to look like an early 19th century wrought-iron street lamp, flickered on then went out.

  The pressure squeezed tighter, and the whole row of streetlights flickered on and went out.

  Now. Free me. Join me. Kin.

  “I’m not your kin,” I hissed at Ibizual. “Your kin tried to claim me, and I killed him.”

  Ahead, the path ended in a T-intersection, and the trees opened up to a grassy embankment with a steep incline down to Unity Lake — a crater formed from an eruption of powerful nephilim and angelic magic during the war that had been turned into the lake.

  Light shimmered at the top of the embankment, red and pulsing and radiating evil, dispelling any doubt I might have had that the archnephilim and Ibizual were kin. The power felt the same, an inky, consuming darkness that made the remnants of the archnephilim’s brand pulse on my biceps.

  More ferals crashed through the bushes, the stream of monsters never ending. They all rushed toward the shimmering light, a pinprick at chest height.

  Jacob grabbed two and yanked them into a fight. Kol tackled another, and Gideon cut down two more. Marcus barreled into the bushes, blocking the way for four more.

  I scanned the area for Logan. He had to be close by, waiting for the last minute to rush out with his enhanced vampiric speed and grab the key.

  A feral broke free from Jacob. I shot at it, missed, and the Glock’s slide clicked back. Out of ammo. My thoughts whirled, taking a split second to figure the possibilities. All the guys were caught in fights with multiple ferals, and I wasn’t going to have enough time to eject the Glock’s magazine and replace it.

  I dropped my Glock and drew my sword, sweeping it at the feral at the last minute. The blade dug into the creature’s shoulder, drawing a howl, and it batted the weapon aside and dug its claws into the front of my vest.

  The pressure in my che
st exploded with ferocious power, stealing my breath. My knees buckled, dropping me to the ground. The movement ripped off my vest, still caught in the feral’s claws, but saved my neck from a slash by the feral’s other hand.

  My attention jerked toward the manifesting key of its own volition, and my pulse sped up.

  The key had fully formed, now a small red jewel, pulsing with so much power it made my buzz scream in defiance.

  “Shaw. Get the key,” Gideon yelled. He blasted a light strike at the feral attacking me, the force of the blast tossing it back into a tree trunk.

  I scrambled to my feet. Another feral rushed toward me. I was going to get there first, but just barely, and I had no weapon to defend myself with once I had the key—

  No, not true. I had a light strike that might be powerful enough — if, God, it was working again — to slow it down long enough for the guys to help me.

  I thought the words of the combat spell, unable to draw enough breath to even hiss them as I dashed out of the trees onto the embankment. The power and evil from the key churned my stomach. I didn’t want to grab it, didn’t want Ibizual’s power touching my skin. But I couldn’t let the feral get it.

  And where the hell was Logan?

  With gritted teeth, I seized the key. Its magic burned into my palm, drawing a scream and making my stomach churn. I wrenched up my other hand to shoot the light strike at the feral leaping toward me, but blinding agony exploded in my chest, and the key tumbled from my hand, my fingers suddenly numb.

  Gideon screamed, and a blaze of white light flashed through the park.

  The muscles in my legs gave out, and my momentum from running heaved me forward. I tumbled down the embankment and crashed into the gravel path skirting the edge of the lake.

  Now I really couldn’t catch my breath. The pressure was replaced with an agony that leached the strength from every cell in my body.

  I strained to get up, to move, to, hell, look at the top of the embankment to see if one of the guys had gotten the key. But I could barely move, barely breathe.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice screamed that I’d been shot, that I needed to apply pressure, get help, but I couldn’t get my thoughts to focus enough to take action.

  Gideon scrambled down the embankment and frost instantly formed on all my exposed skin. His expression was filled with horror and panic, illuminated by the glow from his eyes.

  “No. God, no.” He slammed his hands against my chest and pressed down hard, shooting white lightning through me. “Jacob! Marcus!” His voice cracked with desperation. “Kol!”

  “The key,” I gasped. Did you get the key? I lost the key.

  “Jacob!” Gideon’s body shook, and he panted with frantic gasps as a hint of heat whispered through his brand.

  “Essie, no.” That was Jacob, but I couldn’t turn my head to see him.

  Marcus tumbled down the embankment. “We have to get her to Amiah.” But his gaze jumped to the ground around me, and he collapsed to his knees beside me.

  Every breath was agony, gurgling in my lungs.

  “No time, there’s no time.” Gideon yanked me into his lap, clutching me to his chest. “I can’t lose her, please, God, not her, too.”

  “Fly. Now,” Kol said from somewhere above me.

  “She’s bleeding too fast,” Jacob growled.

  A chill shuddered through me, making me colder even with Gideon’s fear already frosting my skin. It sliced agony through my chest, and danced darkness at the edge of my vision.

  “The key—” I couldn’t get my mind past losing the key. I coughed, and the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth.

  Gideon’s gaze jumped to Jacob. “Turn her into a vampire. You have to turn her.”

  “I’m not a master.” Jacob grabbed my hand, his expression just as desperate as Gideon’s. “Can the brand sustain her?”

  “No, not enough. It won’t be enough to get her to Amiah. Marcus, please,” Gideon begged. His grip on me tightened, and the pain started to bleed into a frozen numbness, the darkness creeping further across my vision. “I can’t lose her. I can’t.”

  “Even if she’s that one in a million susceptible to lycanthropy, she’ll die before the change hits her.”

  “No,” Gideon gasped, a sound too quiet, too broken. “Please, no.”

  I coughed, more blood slicing agony through the numbness. The darkness filled most of my vision, and all I could see was Gideon, panting, desperate, tears streaming down his cheeks. He clung to me and crumpled forward, his forehead pressing to mine and enveloping me in the brilliant white blaze from his eyes. His scent of springtime, fresh and green and warm, swept around me and entwined with the darkness, dragging me toward it.

  “Essie, please. Don’t die. Please.”

  “I can heal her enough to get her to Amiah.” Kol shoved Marcus aside and dropped to the gravel beside me.

  “Incubi don’t have healing magic,” Marcus growled.

  “Not that we like to tell anyone, but just like I can take energy, I can give it.” Kol reached for me, but his gaze was locked with Gideon’s, asking permission. “I’m willing to pay the cost.”

  “Whatever it takes,” Gideon said.

  I coughed again, slicing more pain through me, and more blood filled my mouth. The darkness swelled over my vision, and I was floating in a heavy, black, numb nothingness.

  Kol’s warm hands captured my face. The frost instantly melted at his heightened body temperature and my eyes jerked open. Suddenly I was drowning not in black nothingness, but black warmth with a flicker of hellfire.

  His lips brushed mine, and a whisper of heat slid into my mouth, cutting through the heavy numbness. Agony roared through my chest, and my muscles convulsed. Kol’s grip on my face tightened, forcing me still, and his kiss grew fierce, crushing against my lips.

  The whisper of heat flared into a thick thread. He shoved his tongue into my mouth, forcing it open, and dug his fingers into the hinge of my jaw to keep it open. His heat turned into a flood, and I thrashed against the agony, desperate to escape the pain. But it kept growing until my entire body was on fire, burning and wailing.

  “You’re killing her,” Marcus growled.

  “He’s not,” Gideon said, his voice tight. Light snapped from his eyes and lightning from his magic cut through his brand.

  The flood turned into an ocean, and I was choking, drowning on Kol’s power just like I’d been drowning on the archnephilim’s power when it had tried to possess me. Fear clenched tight around my heart. This was too much like the attack from the archnephilim. I had to get away. Had to stop this. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t let him take me, couldn’t let him possess me—

  “Don’t fight me, Essie,” Kol gasped against my lips.

  I fought my panic to accept his magic, but I couldn’t concentrate past the pain to do anything other than try to breathe.

  He groaned, the sound tight and pained, and his fingers dug into my cheeks. The heat snapped from drowning to sensual and the agony swept into bone-melting desire. I gasped, and his magic poured down my throat without resistance. My muscles went limp and my head spun. I ached with need, with the promise of Kol’s magic, knowing that this was just a glimpse of his power, just enough to get me to relax.

  It lit up every nerve, and I was suddenly hyper aware of his lips, firm and demanding on mine, his tongue fueling a need within me, and the heat from his hands on my cheeks, seeping into my skin. I also thrummed with awareness of Gideon, every frantic breath that shook his body against mine, and his strong arms clinging to me, desperate to protect me. I ached with a yearning for Gideon that I’d been trying to ignore since his brand had formed on my arm. I had to know him, to be with him. I knew in my soul I belonged with him.

  The brand said so.

  Fate had decided and permanently bound us together.

  Of course my body right now also said I belonged with Kol. God. I needed him, needed his hands on more than just my face, needed his lips
on more than just my lips. My pulse raced with desire and anticipation, and his heat swelled low within me.

  I opened my eyes, not realizing I’d closed them, and stared into a hungry darkness filled with hellfire. His gaze captured me completely and held me hostage, promising me satisfaction. Then his eyes rolled back, the power of his magic vanished with a gasp, and he collapsed onto the gravel path beside me.

  “Kol—” I tried to reach for him, but my body wouldn’t obey my commands and my head was spinning too fast. The darkness now threatening my vision was warm and heavy and comforting, and the agony in my chest was still there, but half of what it had been… maybe. I couldn’t tell, because my body was so focused on the aching need brought to life by Kol’s magic.

  Marcus grabbed him and rolled him over. He was pale and sweat slicked his face and neck, but he was still breathing. Thank God.

  Gideon tightened his grip on me and stood, cradling me against his chest. His wings swept out with a flash of white light and he leaped up, caught the air, and pulled us into the sky. Kol’s soft sensual darkness blanketed me, and I drifted, only half aware of the wind in my face, Gideon’s strong arms around me, and his soothing scent.

  My thoughts slid from flying to the archnephilim trying to pull wings I didn’t have from my body. A part of me, I guess the angelic part, ached knowing I didn’t have wings and I’d never be able to fly like this, while the human part was relieved. It would kill me to know I had the ability to fly but couldn’t without endangering my life.

  Between one blink and the next we landed in front of the garage, and Gideon ran inside screaming for Amiah, his fear and heartache making me cold and fogging my vision.

  I knew it had taken longer than a few seconds to cross town, that I’d passed out, but even just coming to that conclusion was like thinking through water.

  Amiah and her assistant met us in triage. Gideon set me on the closest bed, his clothes soaked with my blood, and Amiah shoved him out of the way. The assistant — Cassey? — inserted an IV into my arm, while Amiah cut open my shirt and grabbed something from the tray beside me. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t understand her words. Her tone was sharp, and I couldn’t figure out if she was angry with me or not.