by Marian Tee
I fell on the counter and began rummaging. A slip of paper caught my eye, an appointment note that had the date encircled---
~~~~
I tore out of my visions with a gasp, and I could only nod in thanks as I took the glass of water Katarina held out. The icy cold water relieved the irritating and burning sensation in my throat. Even now, I could feel the sting of smoke on my eyes, the way the heat cooked my skin, and the pain, oh God, the excruciating pain.
Katarina didn’t say a thing, only watching me patiently, carefully.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She froze. “A year then? A month?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t think I could ever say it enough. “You don’t even have a week.”
“Oh.” Her eyes turned glassy with shock. “I s-see.” She leaned back against her seat. “But these visions…” It was my first time to hear her sound so hesitant. “They don’t always happen, yes?”
I nodded vehemently. “We can do something to stop it.”
“Yes. Definitely.” But she didn’t sound like she believed me.
I bent my head down, and it was all I could do not to let my shoulders droop even as the weight of my guilt became heavier and heavier.
Even now it was unclear.
How it would happen, why it had to be her, what it had to do with me…
But one thing was certain.
Whatever happened, her death would be my choice.
I would choose whether she lived or died.
“Lady Zari?”
My head jerked up. “Y-yes?”
“Were you always able to prevent your visions from happening?”
I almost didn’t answer, but in the end, I knew I had no right to withhold the truth. And so I whispered, “No.”
“Then I really may die.”
“Yes.”
“And I have barely a week left?”
I nodded.
“Then…if that’s so…could you please give me Alexandru back while I’m still alive?”
Chapter Five
ALEXANDRU
They set out early to hunt the next day, him and his pet, with Katarina to serve as their medic along with Erou and his team of enforcers. If anyone asked, the official answer was that Zari’s Master simply wanted her with him to ensure he was on hand if she ever fainted again.
He turned over his shoulder and saw Zari and the baby vampire talking in low whispers, their heads bent. His lips tightened. He was not the kind of man to stand by and just watch his pet, his woman – and Zari was his, will always be his – be seduced by another man.
But this was different.
She had been different, ever since she stepped out of the door, white-faced and unwilling to talk to him. Katarina had managed a smile for him, but her eyes were glassy. He had seen that look on her once, and it was the day before she had left him. She was hiding something from him again, and he had a feeling it was a secret she shared with Zari.
“Talk to me.” He sat on the edge of the tub, washing Zari’s back.
His pet only shook her head.
“Don’t make me force it out of you.”
“I’ll hate you forever if you do.” She looked up at him, and he was stunned to see in her eyes that she did mean it.
But he saw something else, too.
Guilt.
And that was when he realized the demon already had its claws in its next victim.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hunter.” His voice was chilly as he acknowledged Katarina even before turning to look at her.
Katarina winced. “Ouch.”
He knew it was an attempt to regain their old camaraderie, but it didn’t work.
Her smile faded.
Once, such a sight would have been heartbreaking. He could remember the days when just the thought – the memory – of it would have made his chest tighten. And that had been as recent as a month ago, Alexandru thought. But now it did nothing to him. Now, he knew that he had changed as well. Now, he realized that for so long a time, he had clung to the memories – even when the love had faded – out of pride.
He no longer loved her.
Katarina.
He could say it freely now, and it did not hurt.
Alexandru turned to her, blindly, his chest heavy with regret.
Their eyes met, and a stricken look crossed her face. No. She walked past him, nearly running.
He went after her.
She deserved that from him now at least.
Katarina, wait.
Don’t call me that. Her voice was a sob in his mind, and Alexandru’s fists clenched. Even though she no longer had a claim to his heart, it did not erase the fact that she had been a large part of his life. He didn’t like seeing her hurt, would never stand by if he ever saw her in pain.
Katarina---
I said, don’t call me that. Call me a hunter, call me a bitch – call me anything but that if you can’t say it like you used to.
They were in the woods now, the same woods that he had torn past in order to reach his pet when she had been trapped in her nightmares. It was one of the greatest hazards of being a soul seer. Visions lent more power to nightmares, turning them into murderous weapons.
Ahead of him, Katarina stumbled.
He was by her side in a second, knowing that a skilled huntress like her would only lose her footing like that for one of two reasons. She was dying…or she had her heart cut off, the way she had cut off his when she had left.
Slowly, he helped her up. Katarina, I’m sorry.
She closed her eyes tight. I don’t want to hear you say it.
I no longer have to.
She released a strangled sob. How can you be so sure you won’t love me again?
I know---
But you haven’t given me a chance---
I know. He spoke with both certainty and remorse because he did not want to give her any false hope.
Did you ever love me, Alexandru? She was crying now, beating his chest. I feel like such a fool. You didn’t really love me, did you? You only told yourself you did because you needed me while you haven’t met her yet – your heartkeeper---
She sagged against his chest, her tears soaking his shirt.
Perhaps I did need someone to save me from myself all those years, but do you not realize? It could have been anyone else, but my heart chose you.
Katarina released a keening cry at his words.
So, yes, if you need to hear it, I loved you. With every thought, every beat of my heart, I loved you---
Katarina sank to her knees, and he followed her, cupping her face so she would see in his eyes that he spoke the truth.
I love you, too, Alexandru. I never stopped, so how can you stop---
“Because you left me.” This time, he spoke the words out loud, not to hurt but to have her hear the truth and make her realize just how big the hole she had left in his life – the hole he had been unable to fill until his pet stumbled into his life, a half-naked slave who ended up stealing the heart of her owner.
“If you had not left, we would have been happy together. But you did, and somewhere along the way, it faded. And I hadn’t known until today, until it was completely gone…” He looked into her eyes. “…and I realized that my heart already belongs to my pet.”
ZARI
“You’re not going after them?” Erou asked.
I shook my head, not even looking their way as I heard their footsteps fade.
Erou stopped walking. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly. “All this time, you’ve been talking to me about silly things---”
I reddened. It was the truth. I had babbled endlessly, just so I wouldn’t think about the fact that Alexandru and Katarina were walking side by side – and there was nothing I could do.
And then she ran away, I thought nastily, leaving him no choice but to---
I paled when I realized where my thoughts were heading.
Again.
Was this how it started, I wondered crazily. Jealousy, vindictiveness, and finally murder? If I thought about it now, I couldn’t see myself killing Katarina simply because Alexandru loved her. I just couldn’t. But what if I did end up doing it? I was already changing, unable to recognize myself. Who knew how much worse it would get?
“Lady Zari? Is everything all right?”
I forced myself to nod. “Let’s not wait for them,” I muttered. “They know where to meet us.” I started walking, not bothering to wait for him.
Faster and faster I walked, trying to outrun the guilt, but it was impossible. It dogged my footsteps, and its weight grew heavier on my shoulders as we neared the hospital where I had the vision.
I shouldn’t be doing this alone. Master should be with me, but where was he now? Back with his trollop, the woman who had left him first. Why couldn’t he understand that I was the better choice?
The hospital loomed before me, decrepit and abandoned still, but now I saw it with new eyes.
No one would know if I did it here.
No one---
STOP IT, ZARI, STOP IT!
I covered my ears and closed my eyes, willing everything to be blank.
“Lady Zari?” Erou demanded.
But no one would know if you did do it here. You’re a good girl. Everyone knows you’re a good girl. Why won’t you just do it and end your problems?
I shook my head wildly. Why was I thinking such thoughts? Why?
“Zari?” But the voice didn’t belong to Erou this time.
It was Alexandru.
My eyes flew open.
I almost cried out in relief until I saw her.
Jealousy, vindictive, murderous, evil, screamed inside of me like a banshee.
I knew then that the visions were true.
I will kill Katarina, sooner or later, and then it would be over for all of us.
I had to be free of Alexandru. I had to make sure I never saw him and Katarina together, and I prayed that it would be enough to stop this poisonous feeling inside of me from spreading.
My decision made, there was only one thing left for me to do.
Spinning around, I threw myself at Erou and kissed him.
Chapter Six
ALEXANDRU AND ZARI
The worst things in life always seemed to happen in slow motion. He had learned this in the hundreds of years he had spent hunting down outlaws and seeing comrades fall in battle, often without warning.
None, however, had been as excruciatingly slow and so agonizingly painful as seeing his pet suddenly fling herself into another man’s arms and place lips that should have only been his on another man’s mouth.
“NO!” Alexandru did not hesitate. In the blink of an eye, he was there, throwing the younger man aside. Erou flew through the air, landing over a dozen feet away, his back hitting the second floor window of the hospital before crashing back to the ground.
If he had been human, he would have been dead.
Fury iced his veins, threatening to unleash the demon side of him that Alexandru always kept chained. With a curse, he turned his back on Erou. He dared not spare the other man a glance, and that alone was already an act of mercy. If he took another look at the baby vampire, Alexandru knew he would end up killing Erou Damaschin.
His head snapped towards Zari. “Why did you do it?”
He was angry, Zari realized shakily. But under the rage, she saw something else – pain. Her heart broke at the sight of it, but she knew this was how it should be. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she ended up killing Katarina just because she couldn’t stand the thought that Alexandru didn’t love her.
“I want to be free---”
He whitened. A second later, and he had her in his arms, his mouth covering hers, his lips swallowing the rest of what she had to say. Kissing her hard, he snarled in her mind, Never. I will never let you be free of me.
She tried to struggle away, tried to wrench her mouth from his, but it was no use, Alexandru no longer bothering to temper his strength even the slightest bit. She opened her mouth to scream, but he only used it to drive his tongue inside, further deepening the kiss.
Only when she gasped for breath did he lift his mouth. But he didn’t let her go, his arm even tightening around her waist as, without taking his gaze off her, Alexandru commanded, “Leave.”
He didn’t turn around to ensure that his order was obeyed. It was already a foregone conclusion because with the mood he was in, only the world’s greatest fool would have dared disobey him.
Zari couldn’t believe it. “Lord Erou!” she screamed.
But Erou had already started walking away, and the other enforcers trailed behind him.
Her head snapped towards Lady Katarina, and she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that the other woman was also walking away. “Don’t you want him back?” she shrieked.
“Enough.” Alexandru’s harsh voice had her head snapping towards him, and Zari gasped when she saw the lust glittering in his eyes.
“I should have done this the moment you started pushing me away,” Alexandru rasped.
Her eyes widened, her Master’s words the only warning she was given before he sank his fingers into her hair, gripping her in place before his mouth slammed down on hers again. She gasped into his kiss, stunned at the speed in which her body betrayed her. She had been wet the moment she felt his touch, but now she was soaking, the wetness even dripping down her legs.
“No!” She beat his chest, trying to shove him away. “Let go---aaah!” Zari screamed as he pulled her down to him, and he fell to the ground while she fell on top of him. His arms slackened slightly, and she took advantage of it, crawling away.
Her heart raced madly as she tried to escape. She mustn’t let him make love to her. If she did, her love for him would reach unparalleled heights, and so would her jealousy, her vindictiveness---
And then she felt it, fingers circling her ankle just before she was pulled back.
“Noooo!” she screamed.
“You can scream all you want, my pet, but it won’t do you any good,” Alexandru growled. “Your screams aren’t out of fear…and everyone knows it.”
“Shut up!” She didn’t dare look at him, only thrashing and kicking. She managed to land a kick, and when he grunted in pain, she tried to crawl away again. The skin on her knees was starting to feel tender, but she didn’t stop moving---
Alexandru grasped the back of her dress shirt.
“Let go---”
Riiiiiip.
The sound and feel of her clothes being ripped off had her body trembling in fear, anger, and something terribly akin to excitement. When Zari felt her jeans being ripped off next, the fabric no match for a half-demon, half-vampire’s strength, her pussy only quivered and became even wetter. She knew then. Alexandru was right. She wanted this.
“Come back here.”
She bit back a moan, only realizing then how much she had missed hearing the seductive purr of his voice. Even so, she still struggled, thrashing wildly as he yanked her back---
She gasped, eyes flying open as she slammed back into him, still on her knees, and her bottom connected with his bulging arousal.
“Noooo!” Excitement and fear colored her screams as Zari felt Alexandru positioning himself behind her, heard Alexandru unzipping himself. Dazed with desire, she looked around them, wondering if they really were doing it here, in the middle of a freaking ghost town, and in broad daylight.
She shrieked again when she felt his hand on her panties. A moment later, he ripped it away from her---
“Jerk! Bully! Bastard!”
But her Master only laughed, a rich dark sound that spoke of his arrogance and knowledge of her. “You can say whatever you want, my pet, but we both know this will tell the truth.” And as he spoke, he slid one finger into her without warning, thrusting all the way down, until his finger was knuckle-deep inside of her.
“Aaaaah.” Her ba
ck instinctively arched in response, bringing her bottom up even as her entire body tensed and shook.
Seeing her naked response, the way her breasts shook at the smallest movement, snapped Alexandru’s control. With his free hand, he grasped her bra from the front---
“No!” But the word came out a moan.
---and he ripped it away in a second.
She screamed, but it only seemed to excite Alexandru even more, with the way his breathing had become harsher. She could feel his big strong body shaking harder, too, and she wondered dizzily if he would really force himself on her. And would it really be force? Would it really be rape when she was so wet---
She had her answer in a heartbeat.
His cock shoved into her without warning, big, long, and hard as a rock.
Zari screamed. “Bastard!”
Alexandru only laughed, pulling his cock out and then thrusting it back inside her hungry pussy.
His laughter incensed her, but his arrogance aroused her. She tried to struggle away from his pounding cock but every time she did, he only pulled her back to him and drove his erection harder and deeper into her.
“I hate you!”
He pounded into her harder, eliciting a gasp from her, and Zari’s back arched once more. “I can see how much you hate me,” he taunted. Gripping her by the hair, he forced her head to the side so he could lean forward and kiss her. She tried to bite him, but he was too fast and he punished her by reaching for her breast and pinching her nipple hard.
She gasped into his mouth, and she gasped again as he kept pinching her nipple while his cock plunged into her relentlessly. “Bully!” She spat the word out even as her throat tightened and her body quivered. Oh God, she was close!
And he knew it, too.
The knowledge worked like an aphrodisiac, triggering his own orgasm, and his balls tightened. “Be glad that I want you too badly to punish you,” he gritted out. “Because if I had the strength, I’d like to fucking leave you here, aching and hungry for my cock until you begged for it---”
“Never!” But the way she was already pushing her bottom towards his cock belied her answer.