by Lisa Kessler
“Shut up, whore!”
“Let her go!”
This time the command didn’t come from Calisto. He turned to find an elderly priest standing in the doorway.
The robed man held up a hand and enunciated each word. “Brother Mentigo, in the name of God. Let her go.”
“God?” Jose laughed. “Monsignor, I will be a god. Why should I fear Him? You have no power over me. Soon, no one will.”
Calisto stepped to the right, moving out of the path between the old priest and his deranged missionary. His eyes locked on Kate’s. He could get to her faster than Jose could see, but he wouldn’t chance it, not with Jose’s blade pressed against her jugular vein.
“God has power over us all, Brother Mentigo. He will forgive you if you repent. Come, I will pray with you.” The monsignor took a step forward, offering his hand.
Jose pressed his fingers into the long cut along her abdomen. Kate gasped, her legs buckling.
“Both of you stay back!” Jose shouted.
Calisto froze where he stood, and the monsignor slowly lowered his hand.
“This is not your fault, Brother Mentigo,” the old priest said. “I never should have sent you here. The Night Walker has clouded your mind and lured you to thirst for his dark power. Give up this dream. God has a higher plan in store for you, my son.”
“You know nothing! You’re just an old man praying that God will welcome you into his heavenly gates. You knew about the Night Walker’s power and you chose to let it slip through your fingers. I will not make that same mistake.”
Calisto watched Jose’s hand tighten on the blade at Kate’s throat. Staring into her eyes, Calisto finally allowed himself to peer into her mind. Her thoughts were clear.
I don’t want to die.
He lunged at Jose with inhuman speed, knocking him to the ground, and punched him so hard that he felt Jose’s jaw crumble with the force of the blow. Kate fell, gasping, and the pungent scent of blood exploded through him.
Calisto, help me!
Turning around, he lifted Kate into his arms. Blood pumped out of her severed artery at an alarming rate. Her battered body broke his heart. The stab wounds and the cut on her abdomen could be mended with his blood, but he feared the damage to her neck, her jugular vein, might be too severe. What if she still bled internally?
If he offered his blood into her body to heal the internal injuries, she would be changed forever.
“Call 9-1-1!” he screamed at the monsignor.
The old man disappeared down the stairs as Calisto stared back into her eyes, blood-filled tears sliding down his cheeks. “I cannot lose you again, Kate.”
“I love you,” she whispered. Her hand rose to touch his cool cheek, wiping away his tear before falling back to her chest again.
He bent to kiss her forehead, and a searing pain shot through the back of his left shoulder. Calisto turned to see Jose’s hand draw back again before his blade bit into Calisto’s arm. He held Kate in one arm and shoved Jose with the other, sending the man flying back into the other wall.
Calisto wished he had fed. His strength dwindled and his wounds healed much slower than they should. And now he was losing blood. Carefully he put Kate down, resting her back against the closet. Her eyes widened, and Calisto spun around just as Jose rushed him, knocking him to the floor.
Jose sliced into Calisto’s chest viciously with his razor blade, but it wasn’t the razor that Calisto fought to keep away. It was Jose’s disfigured, gaping mouth.
The more Calisto bled, the more the monk struggled to drink the blood. And the more blood loss he suffered, the weaker Calisto became. Finally, Jose managed to close his mouth around a wound in Calisto’s wrist. Grabbing Jose’s hair, he yanked him back. How much had he taken? Was it enough to change him?
He couldn’t take that risk.
Summoning up the last of his strength, Calisto rolled over, pinning Jose on the floor underneath him. With his eyes glowing crimson, he plunged his hand through Jose’s ribcage and tore out his still-beating heart. The madman gurgled beneath him, his hands dropping to the floor. Calisto watched the life drain from his crazed eyes before he turned his attention to the still pulsing organ in his hand. Did it any of his immortal blood hide within its chambers?
With his back to Kate, Calisto lifted Jose’s heart to his lips and drank, emptying it of what little blood remained in the chambers before dropping it back onto Jose’s lifeless chest. Surely the immortal Night Walker blood couldn’t change Jose’s body without a heart to pump it through his veins.
Calisto heard a weak moan and spun around, hurrying back to Kate’s side. Her chest rose and fell with shallow, raspy breaths. She looked deathly pale. Blood still oozed from her wounds, painting the white closet door a vicious red.
He was losing her.
“No!” he screamed, lifting her into his arms and cradling her. “Please Kate… Stay with me. Please. Do not leave me.”
He wept and opened his mind to hers. She barely clung to consciousness as he whispered into her mind. I love you.
I don’t want to die. Please, Calisto, don’t let me die.
He drew back to meet her eyes, searching them for answers. “Do you understand what you are asking, my love? If I do this, you will no longer be human. You will be a Night Walker.”
Fate brought us together. It was supposed to be different this time. Her eyes pleaded with him. I don’t want to leave you. Not again.
He opened the collar of his shirt, his heart heavy with guilt and sorrow. He never wanted this dark life for her. Would she grow to resent him for stealing the sunshine from her life? Did she really understand how this would change her?
He was too selfish to hesitate.
Using Jose’s blade, he made a deep cut into his shoulder and cradled her head close to him. He placed a tender kiss to her ear and whispered, “Drink, and live forever.”
Her lips felt like heaven on his skin, but he didn’t feel a pull at his veins. Was she already unconscious?
He held her tighter, closing his eyes, praying she would drink. Suddenly he felt her mouth come alive, sucking, drinking him into her injured body. Calisto fell to his knees, feeling her blood soak through his pants as he held her tight. His body screamed with hunger the more she drank from him. He stroked her hair tenderly, and watched as his blood mended her mortal wounds.
He prayed that her mind and heart would remain unchanged. He couldn’t bear to see the madness in her eyes that had haunted Lukas centuries before.
Drink from me, she whispered into his mind.
Calisto kissed her shoulder, trembling with temptation. Not yet.
He felt her strength returning, her body clinging to his, no longer weighing heavily in his arms, and finally Calisto’s heart rate calmed. Fate would not steal her from him this time. Her destiny had changed. Forever.
…
The pain faded away, and she realized Calisto held her in his arms while she drank. She never imagined she could be so thirsty. His blood made her feel warm all over, her skin tingled, and her lips ached for more.
She wasn’t sure how, but she communicated with him without speaking. She only thought her words and he seemed to hear them and answer directly back into her mind. There weren’t words to tell him how much she loved him, but she thought if he drank from her, maybe the feelings in her heart would pass through to him.
But he wouldn’t drink, and now she felt him trembling. Was she making him weak? Kate pulled away, but he held her close, his voice echoing in her mind.
Do not worry for me, Kate. Drink deeply and be strong.
She nodded against him, taking more of his blood into her body, making him part of her. Her arms slid around his waist, clinging to him as his blood filled her mouth again and again.
“In the name of God, what have you done?”
Kate turned to see the old priest, the one Jose had called a monsignor, standing in the doorway. Without a word, Calisto rose to his feet, still cradling h
er in his arms. She rested her hand over his heart, amazed to find the wound she had just drunk from already healing.
“What I have done has nothing to do with God.”
“Does Kate know she has sold her soul to the Devil himself?”
Calisto laughed, shaking his head. “Is that what you believe?”
The monsignor looked at Jose’s dead body and back to Calisto, raising the cross around his neck. Calisto glared at the leader of the Fraternidad as he carried Kate past the priest.
“Your cross has no power over me, Monsignor. And I am no one’s servant, least of all Satan’s.” He stopped and turned back to face the priest once more. “If you wish to blame someone for what has happened here tonight, I suggest you reflect on your own actions.”
“I was trying to save her from this fate,” the monsignor said.
“I had no intention of making Kate a Night Walker. My only wish was to love her for all of her life. I never would have stolen the sunlight from her. You and the madman you sent made this necessary. Because of your effort to meddle in my affairs, innocent blood has been spilled again, and for what purpose? Is my existence worth so much to you and your church? Perhaps now you will finally leave me in peace.”
Calisto started down the stairs. Kate heard his heart pounding in his chest and felt his strength ebbing, but he didn’t allow it to show.
I can walk, Calisto.
Rest, he whispered into her mind. I need to get you away from here.
The monsignor called after him, “If I am to blame, then why have I not met the same fate as Brother Mentigo and Brother De Cardina before him? Why am I still alive?”
Calisto glared over his shoulder at the monsignor and growled. “Because there are worse punishments than death. Live with your guilt, old man. May it rot in your heart and kill you slowly for many years to come.”
…
Calisto didn’t stop again. Every step made his body ache, and the sunrise threatened to steal what remained of his strength. He struggled and forced himself to keep moving, clutching Kate close to his chest. Once he reached the beach, he stopped and lowered her to the ground.
She looked up at him with concern in her eyes. “You’re weak.”
Calisto nodded. “There is much I need to tell you, but the sunrise is too close. We have to take shelter.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I need to rest and then I will feed,” he said, hoping he masked the true depth of his exhaustion. He wasn’t sure he had the strength to move the rock face to get them inside his underground resting place.
Kate nodded. “Where do we go to rest?”
Calisto raised a shaky hand and pointed at the entrance to a small cave in the side of the sandy face of the cliff. He took her hand and led her into the darkness. When they reached the back of the cave, Calisto leaned against the wall, resting. Kate felt the rock that barricaded their entrance, exploring it as if she were looking for some kind of secret handle. He stumbled beside her.
“There is no key or latch and it is too heavy for humans to lift without a crane.”
“Then how do we get inside?”
“I will roll it aside,” he said, moving to the right side of the boulder. He wasn’t at all sure he could budge the stone in his weakened state, but he had to try.
“Can’t we just stay in your bedroom below the house?”
“No. The monsignor knows where I live. If he comes to search for us he will eventually find the room and us, and if the sun is still in the sky, I am not sure you would survive being exposed to it. I will not take that risk.”
What usually seemed easy was now practically impossible. Finally he managed to shove the rock aside far enough for them to crawl through.
Kate moved through the opening first, before he followed her into the darkness. Panic seized him for a moment when he tried to replace the boulder across the mouth of the cave. He didn’t have the strength to move it.
Then Kate stood beside him, digging her feet in the sandy soil as she pushed with him. He didn’t have to ask. She was simply there for him. He no longer walked alone in this world. The realization stunned him. Never again. Gradually, with her help, they rolled the boulder back into place.
Calisto sank to his knees, no longer able to stand. He couldn’t remember a time when he had ever been so exhausted. He felt Kate take his hand and slowly forced his exhausted eyes to open.
“Just leave me. There is a bed at the end of the cavern.”
“I’m not spending another day without you,” she whispered, hooking his arm around her shoulder. “Come on.”
Calisto struggled to his feet, leaning on her to maintain his balance. They made their way through the darkness toward the dimly lit cavern. The tiny oil lamp he left burning sat on a small alcove he carved out of the cave just across from the antique bed. He saw his reflection in the mirror on the wall and grimaced. His face looked pale and gaunt, and his hair lost its inhuman luster.
“I look as dead as I feel,” he whispered as Kate helped him down onto the bed.
A tender smile lit her features as she pulled his boots free. “Everyone is allowed to get tired once in a while. Even you.”
He brought his hand up to caress her cheek. Her skin already felt cooler to the touch. Less human. “I am so sorry, Kate.”
She lay down beside him, staring into his eyes as she spoke. “I made this choice. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“You have no idea what I have cursed you with.”
“As if sharing forever with you could be a curse.” She took his hand, entwining her fingers with his.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
“Now you’ll have forever to tell me… ” Kate kissed his lips and whispered, “Rest now. You have a lot to teach me once the sun goes down.”
He opened his arms, holding her close. “While we sleep your body will die… ”
He tried to warn her about the changes she would find when she awoke, but the sun rose over the earth, draining him.
“Then I’ll die in your arms.”
He smiled and kissed her hair, lifting his head to take one last look at her beautiful face. She was already lost to the sun, but the soft smile on her lips warmed his cold body.
“You have my heart forever, my love.”
His head settled back on the pillow, his arms holding her close as the sun stole his final breath from his body.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kate shivered, her heart picking up a slow rhythm. The echo of a lone wolf’s mournful howl haunted her as her eyes fluttered open. Seeing Calisto leaning up on his elbow, looking down at her with his lips curved in a sensuous smile, banished the residual loneliness of her dream.
She reached up to cup his cheek. “This is much better than waking up to a note that you had out-of-town business.” She pulled him down to kiss her lips and murmured softly, “I’m going to like waking up with you.”
Calisto smiled and nibbled at her lower lip. “This is the first time I have ever awakened to find a beautiful woman in my bed.”
“Ever?” Kate arched her brow.
“Si. When I was mortal I spent my life as a priest until I met you. We met in the shadows, but we never got the chance to drift off in each other’s arms. The day I confessed and gave up my vows was the day Tala… ” His words drifted off as he bent to kiss her again. “Waking to see your face is the greatest gift I have ever received.”
Before she could reply, Calisto got out of bed and slid one arm under her neck and the other under her knees. Kate shivered, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Where are we going?”
Calisto smiled, carrying her from the room. “I have a hot bath ready for you.”
Kate peered around behind them and cringed, closing her eyes. The bed was a mess, the white sheets stained and rumpled. Calisto hadn’t been kidding the night before when he told her that her body would die while they slept. No wonder
she’d felt wet and cold when she woke up.
“I did all that last night?”
Calisto kissed her forehead as he lowered her feet to the floor of his large marble bathroom. “It wasn’t you, my love. The Night Walker blood banishes all of the remains of your humanity while your body is transformed.”
She wanted to crawl under a rock. Instead, she stepped down into the sunken tub. The hot water felt good on her cool skin. “I’ll clean it up. I don’t want you to have to.”
“Look at me.” She met his eyes and he lowered his voice. “Please do not be embarrassed by this change. It is like being born again to the night. Nothing more.” He kissed her. “Rest here while I clean up and feed.”
Kate settled into the steaming water, watching Calisto’s naked form disappear into their bedroom.
Their room.
She rested her head back against the marble tub and lifted one hand out of the lavender scented bubbles. Her skin didn’t look any different. She spread her fingers, turning her hand back and forth before letting it slide back into the warm water. Last night seemed like a bad dream. Under the water, her fingertips slid along her abdomen, searching for the deep cut Jose had made, but her skin felt smooth. She reached up to her shoulder for the place he’d stabbed her, but again, the wound wasn’t even tender.
Was she really immortal now? It seemed impossible. She closed her eyes, drifting off in the warm bathwater.
She sat up when Calisto returned. He stripped the sheets from the bed and bagged them. She tried not to remember the death she’d seen in the bed. Blood, vomit, and she didn’t even want to think about what else. Her wounds were healed, and the fact that she could hear something as soft as sheets sliding off the mattress was evidence that her hearing was enhanced now too.
What else could she do?
Calisto?
Instantly, he leaned against the doorway. His hair hung loose around his face, and the view only got better as her eyes slid down his muscular frame. He wore a pair of jeans and nothing else.
“You heard me.” Kate slid a little lower in the tub.
He nodded, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile. “Of course I did. Your mind reached out to mine.”