Forbidden Taste: A Vampire Romance (Immortals)

by Jennifer Ashley

  “On their way,” Alejo said. “I sent for EMTs, just in case. They’re heading here now.”

  Alejo was good at anticipating situations. “Great. Thanks. I’ll keep you posted—”

  The line went dead. Not because Alejo had hung up—Mariah’s entire cellphone cut off. The air that had been seeping through the old AC system in the building also stopped.

  The cries in the room ahead of her where Cai and Septimus were rounding up the vamps went silent, as though someone had thrown a muffling blanket over everyone within.

  “Cai!” Mariah called, worried. “What’s going on?”

  Her last word died under a wave of death magic so vast the air left her lungs. Mariah found herself on the floor, struggling to breathe, dizziness overcoming her.

  “Cai!” she tried to shout, but it became a strangled whisper. It was already dark, but her awareness was snuffed out like a pinched flame.

  Chapter Seven

  When Mariah could drag in her next breath, she was outside. Not in the parking lot, but on a concrete surface studded with air-conditioning units and pipes. Moonlight and the lights of the buildings that rose around this one flooded down on her, and she heard the rush of traffic far below. She realized groggily that she was on the roof of the building full of vamps.

  She tried to raise herself on her elbows, and groaned. Being knocked out and transported here had sapped her of strength. Mariah’s stun gun and quiver of stakes were, not surprisingly, gone.

  Her telepathic powers were still intact—if vamps or a demon had brought her up here, they hadn’t touched her. Not out of caring, she understood. If they knew about her curse, they hadn’t touched her so that they could somehow use her telepathic ability for their own benefit.

  Mariah managed to wriggle herself around and sit up but it didn’t help. Her head spun, her lungs aching with the weight of dark magic.

  Something soared over her. Mariah cried out and dropped back to the concrete. She heard a rush of wings and then a nightmare landed not far from her, its form blotting out all light.

  Mariah had fought demons before. They were more unruly than vampires and very clannish and unpredictable. Samantha and Tain kept Samantha’s clan under control, but others didn’t recognize Samantha’s authority. It was an ongoing battle for the paranormal police to round up demons who enjoyed terrorizing humans or just being pains in the ass.

  Those were garden-variety demons. They were susceptible to stun guns, and once they sobered up in the demon drunk tank, many turned shamefaced and just wanted to go home. Such demons usually took human forms outside their demon realms and held jobs in places that didn’t mind hiring death-magic creatures.

  The demon who spread its wings and snarled down at Mariah was different. Its power radiated across the roof, obliterating light, life, hope. An Old One, come to downtown L.A. to command a gang of vampires.

  Whatever the vamps in the building beneath her thought, this demon didn’t give a crap about them. It was using them in a game of some kind, and when the demon was finished, it would snuff out the vamps as easily as crushing ants underfoot.

  “Why are you here?” Mariah called to the demon. “Los Angeles isn’t open for you.”

  For answer, the demon sent a wave of death magic at her. Mariah saw it race across the roof, a wedge of darkness that would suck every bit of life out of her and leave her a dried-out corpse.

  She got to her knees and struggled to crawl away, trying to get herself behind something, plunge over the roof—anything to keep that inky darkness from touching her.

  She threw herself behind a tall air-conditioning unit, her face scraping concrete, her gloves ripping. She knew that hiding was futile—the demon’s magic would just go around the barrier. The death magic was a controlled net, not a mindless bullet.

  But Mariah’s death didn’t come. She heard the demon snarl in sudden rage and frustration, and lifted her head from the ball she’d curled into.

  The death magic had halted as though it had crashed into a wall. Another wave of magic, equally as dark, but edged with red, held it back.

  Mariah inched her way out from behind the AC unit, her knees and hands stinging beneath her torn pants and gloves.

  Cai stood just outside the door that led into the building, his hands at his sides. He’d shed the leather jacket somewhere and his loose shirt moved in the night wind. He didn’t make any gestures, didn’t laugh evilly—he simply stood, his arms tight, fists balled, while power stronger than any Mariah had ever felt held back the demon’s magic.

  The demon roared. He struck again, this time at Cai. Mariah yelled in distress, unable to do anything to stop the attack.

  Cai simply watched the demon’s magic come. He held up his hand as the darkness flowed around him, and he quickly became lost inside a black whirlwind.

  Mariah couldn’t see him, but her telepathic senses did. Cai stood in the middle of the vortex, a point of calm in the storm. His hair, which had been tamed by his shower, now whipped every which way.

  Cai raised his hand. The darkness shattered, the demon’s death magic vanishing, and Cai stepped forward.

  The demon switched all his attention to Cai, forgetting about Mariah. Mariah was like a mouse in the corner, something to squash later.

  The demon didn’t speak, but its voice, directed at Cai, thundered into Mariah’s brain. Who are you to come into my realm?

  “Your realm?” Cai asked with derision. He ran one hand through his disheveled hair, making him look animal-like again. “This huge city is no one’s realm. I would have felt that as soon as I awoke.”

  Mariah shivered at his relaxed tone. Don’t make the nice demon angry, Cai.

  Mine, the demon insisted. The vampire who controls it and the demon matriarchs who think they run it are nothing. I am Kajet, god of death.

  “Of course you are. I am Cai, vampire from Perusna, a city of the Etruscan league. I have no realm, but this one is starting to look good.”

  I have created an army, the demon thundered. The streets will run with the blood of those who oppose me.

  “I like blood,” Cai returned equably. “Most vampires do. But I like it fresh from the vein, not off the street. Why kill so many?”

  Mariah felt the demon’s contempt. We are death-magic creatures, you and I. We feed on death.

  “I’ve heard that many times from demons and vampires to justify the fact that they simply like to kill,” Cai said, his disdain clear. “Waste of energy. If you are so addicted to death, I can arrange for you to die.”

  The demon sent a flash of fire at him. Cai doused it with one flick of his fingers.

  Mariah felt the demon’s surprise and then disquiet. Kajet drew back, reassessing Cai and his strength.

  “You are old, demon,” Cai said. “How old? Where do you come from?”

  The dawn of time.

  “No such thing,” Cai said easily. “All ancient demons claim to be as old as time, but you aren’t. You were born in a specific year and a specific place. You’ve lived this long because you learned how to fight and survive. But you’re not mythical.”

  I am Kajet, the demon snarled. I have always been.

  “No, you just don’t remember. I was born when the Italian states were the land of the Etruscans, before the Romans destroyed us. You came from someplace, Kajet. We all do. Even the Immortal warriors were born.”

  Kajet said nothing. Mariah heard rage in his thoughts, and also confusion.

  Cai didn’t turn to Mariah, but his attention moved to her. “Where would you say, Mariah? Where do you think he comes from?”

  He kept his words neutral but the push at her mind gave her Cai’s intents. He wanted her to read the demon.

  Mariah sucked in a breath. Seriously? Reading an Old One was always risky and Mariah wasn’t a high-level telepath. She could get pulled in, lost, killed.

  You can do it, Cai’s thoughts came to her like a caress. You are stronger than you know.

  Where the hell we
re Septimus the mighty vamp and Tain the great Immortal warrior? Superheroes—never around when you needed them.

  Cai was expecting Mariah to be a superhero. Right here, right now.

  He had to be crazy. His long sleep must have warped his brain.

  It’s all right. I’ll be with you.

  Cai’s warmth surrounded Mariah, bolstering her. He believed in her, which spread a small amount of peace through her heart.

  The demon was recovering. He ignored Mariah and turned to Cai, his assessment over. The magic he drew within himself was massive and deadly, which could destroy Cai in a heartbeat.

  Mariah couldn’t let that happen. Cai had rushed up here to save her life, though she technically was his enemy, constantly threatening to imprison him. Cai was keeping Kajet’s attention from her, giving Mariah her chance to read the demon and so find something that would help Cai defeat him.

  The demon gathered his magic around him, ready to hurl it at Cai, and Mariah dove into his thoughts.

  Darkness, lust, greed, and above all hunger. The demon was ravenous. Demons fed on life essence the way vampires fed on blood. They made humans their slaves as vampires did, addicting them to the high they got from giving up their life essence to their masters.

  This demon had been around for millennia and needed more and more life to keep him going. Cai had learned to feed on less, taking more strength from each feed, but this demon only wanted to gorge himself.

  He had come out of his hell dimension to Los Angeles, Mariah saw, because the millions of bodies had attracted him. He could feast.

  She was blasted by his hunger, his need, his fear of starving. He planned to grow bloated on the life essences in this city and then recede to digest them.

  Recede to where? Mariah looked past the mind-pounding hunger to thoughts behind the demon’s barriers. A talented telepath would see past them instantly—for Mariah it was like cutting a path through a jungle.

  He’d retreat to a demon realm. It was empty there—only Kajet inhabited it. The others had died or dispersed to other clans.

  He’d driven many of them away, Mariah saw as she went further in. Killed or terrorized them. His own people.

  Mariah had a flash of a young man, handsome in a brutal way, with his hands around a woman’s throat. Her eyes were mirrors of his, and she was crying. She wore a linen sheath like those Mariah had seen in ancient Egyptian art, and her mouth worked. Mariah couldn’t understand the language the woman spoke, but she heard the gist through Kajet’s thoughts.

  Father. Please, no!

  The woman’s terror wrapped around Mariah, pulling her into the whirl of the demon’s madness. She tried to jerk away, but the tendrils of dark memory clung.

  “No!” Mariah screamed, speaking the words of the young woman in Kajet’s head. “Father, please stop! You’re killing me …”

  “Father,” Cai repeated, his voice going flat.

  The image of the Egyptian girl ripped away, and Mariah was plunged into another vision just as vivid. But not the demon’s. The sense of tearing hunger vanished to be replaced by simple grief.

  She saw through Cai’s eyes the limp body of his daughter, bloody and bruised, murdered by humans. Mariah’s heart twisted along with Cai’s as he cradled the girl against his chest, weeping with his loss.

  “Cai,” Mariah whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  The grief vanished. It was replaced by rage so powerful that it blasted Mariah from Cai’s mind and left her gasping on the hot surface of the roof.

  “You fed on your own daughter?” Cai shouted at Kajet. “You fucking shit—” He broke off into a stream of language Mariah didn’t understand.

  Cai spread his arms and launched himself and his dark magic at the demon.

  Mariah struggled to her feet. She knew that what little self-defense she’d mastered in her police training would do nothing against an ancient demon and an Old One vampire out for the kill, but she felt helpless huddling in place. She could run for Tain and Septimus if nothing else.

  Cai and Kajet disappeared into another cloud of darkness. This time, Mariah couldn’t see through it even with her telepathy.

  If they fought too hard, would they both disintegrate on a wave of death magic? And would that death magic flow out to kill everyone within its radius?

  What if Cai alone died? The demon would destroy them all.

  The worry about the demon’s power faded to nothing against the sense of loss that struck Mariah at the thought of Cai dying. The compelling man with the golden eyes and wicked smile would be gone forever, an empty hole where he’d been. Even if she couldn’t have him, Mariah wanted to know he’d be out there, alive and free, given another chance at existence.

  She jumped at the touch of a hand on her back then blew out a breath in relief when she saw Alejo. He was alone, though. No backup in sight.

  A roaring wind had sprung up to whip around the roof, clouds gathering in long black tatters. Mariah’s hair swirled about her face, and she dragged it from her eyes with numb fingers.

  “Where’s Tain?” she yelled over the noise. “The Immortal with the swords?”

  “Battling about a hundred vampires,” Alejo answered. “He and Septimus. Backup’s taking a while. L.A. traffic.”

  “They won’t get here in time.” Mariah steadied herself on her feet. “We have to finish this.”

  Alejo stared at her. “What do you expect us to do? Arrest them?”

  “No.” Mariah groped into the inner pocket of her jacket, fumbling through her torn gloves. “But maybe we can slow them down a little.”

  She pulled out the ball she’d tucked into her pocket when she’d gathered her weapons at the station. Alejo knew exactly what it was, and his eyes widened.

  “Containment spell,” he said, breaking into a grin. “I owe you a drink.”

  “I thought you had a hangover,” Mariah returned.

  “I feel better!” Alejo laughed. “Let’s get this done. We can at least hold them until the cavalry arrives.”

  “It’s not strong enough for two powerful death-magic beings,” Mariah warned him. “We’ll have to separate the demon from Cai.”

  Alejo studied the black murk around the battling pair. “How do we do that?”

  “I don’t know.” Mariah dropped the ball into his hand. “You’re the shaman. I’ll distract him. You toss the net.”

  “You’re crazy—you know that?”

  “I’ll welcome any better ideas. Come on. We have to do it now.”

  Mariah started across the roof at a jog, not acknowledging Alejo’s exasperated look.

  Her heart pounded with worry. Cai was powerful, the most powerful vamp Mariah had ever met, but he wasn’t throwing the demon down and stomping on him. Cai battled for his life now, the demon as formidable as he was. Eventually, Cai would make a mistake or weaken, and that would be it.

  Mariah had no idea how she was going to distract a demon like Kajet. All the focus in that cloud was on battle. She felt Kajet’s intense concentration on Cai, and Cai …

  … Had his awareness on Mariah. He saw her, knew what she had in mind, and wanted to stop her. His anguish at the thought of the demon killing her cut through the thick fog of magic.

  But if I don’t stop the demon, he’ll destroy everything in his path, including you, Cai. Mariah hadn’t mistaken the hunger in the demon, his terrible need for life essence any way he could take it.

  Mariah picked up a length of metal pipe that had been left as scrap. It was heavy, but small enough for her to lift.

  Her line to Cai’s thoughts showed her where the demon was in the darkness around the fighting pair. Mariah hefted the pipe and got herself behind the demon.

  “Hey, ugly!” she shouted, and threw the pipe at him.

  The piece of metal flew through the glittering darkness and hit the demon square on the back. With a roar, Kajet turned, ready to flatten Mariah.

  “Now!” Mariah shouted.

  Alejo was already kneeli
ng on the other side of the roof, breaking open the spell ball. Mariah saw his lips move as he cast the spell, his shaman magic like a soft white light in his hands.

  Cai had stumbled back, the darkness dispersing as the demon’s attention shifted from him. His face was ashen, his hair in his face, his golden eyes gleaming in fury.

  The containment spell, meant to throw an impermeable fence around a death-magic creature, flew toward the demon.

  The demon wasn’t there for it. He’d twisted with remarkable speed, shot across the roof, and seized Alejo. Mariah screamed. Cai was already heading for them.

  Kajet lifted Alejo high into the air. Alejo jerked out swear words in Spanish as his bones crunched in the demon’s grip.

  The demon took two running steps to the edge of the roof and hurled Alejo toward it. Alejo shot out his hands as he tumbled, trying to catch himself, his face holding both fear and fierce determination. He hit the edge of the roof and went over.

  Cai was there. He lunged over into emptiness, boots jammed behind the foot-high ledge around the rooftop, and grabbed Alejo by both hands.

  With strength only vampires had, Cai hauled Alejo back up to the rooftop. He dragged the man over the lip of the roof and rolled him onto the flat surface, well back from the edge. Safe.

  Alejo moaned and cradled his arms over his stomach, his eyes closing in relief and pain.

  “Cai!” Mariah yelled.

  The demon struck Cai around the middle, carrying them both to the edge. Cai, his eyes like glowing suns, raked his hands across the demon’s leathery face.

  The demon grappled with him, the two balancing as they fought. No more magic clouds—they fought with fists and kicks, Cai raining blows on the demon as fast as the demon twisted and clawed at him.

  They would both fall. Kajet could fly—he was a winged demon. Some vampires could fly as well, but not all, and some demons couldn’t either. The first thing Mariah had learned when she’d joined the paranormal division was that death-magic creatures didn’t always have the same abilities. One size did not fit all.

  Mariah dove for the spell ball that Alejo had used, but the ball was broken, the spell spent. It had dissipated when it couldn’t find a target.