Tempt Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines Book 9)

by Lisa Olsen

  “Right then, you two ready?” Lilias asked, rising to her feet.

  “I think so,” I nodded. “But, um, could you maybe tell us how this works?” I couldn’t help but ask, thinking if I knew what to expect it might be less terrifying.

  Lilias nodded. “It’s really very basic. I’ll do a spot of preparation here, setting the ritual into motion. Then I’ll call for the sacrifice, that means you.” She pointed at me. “You’ll lay down on the ground there and then I’ll call for the hand of fate, that means you.” She pointed to Rob. “You’ll wait for my signal – that’s very important. When the time comes, I want to you jab this wooden rod into her shoulder here beneath the collar bone.” Lilias pressed a finger to his shoulder in demonstration.

  “Wait, what?” I blinked sure I had to have heard her wrong. Why we were only hearing about this tidbit now?

  “You didn’t say nothing about this before,” Rob growled, his eyes snapping with anger.

  Lilias’ hands came up as she took a step away from Rob’s anger. “It’s for her protection. When you stake Anja, her body will go into torpor. It’ll be so busy reacting to the wood that it won’t pay attention to the knife right away. As long as you don’t get near her heart with the stake, she’ll be fine. Just try not to puncture her lung, that’ll take longer to heal.”

  It made sense in a twisted sort of way, but Rob had that look about him again. “I don’t know about this,” he muttered.

  “Then what happens?” I prompted, wanting to get any more surprises out of the way.

  “Then, Robby takes the knife and cuts out a piece of your heart like we talked about, and put it in this bowl.” She held up the abalone shell. “I’ll take it from there.”

  “How will we know if it worked?” Carys asked and Lilias shot her a pointed look.

  “You’ll know. Now let me prepare.” She knelt in front of the stones, her eyes closing.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” Rob muttered, his eyes on the wooden rod. The compulsion I’d given him only covered the cutting into my heart, and this new bit of violence started to erode his calm.

  “I can,” Bishop said, his voice low, but full of resolve.

  “What?”

  “I’ll do it. I was the one who cut into the other vampire, I know how it’s done,” he offered.

  “No, you’re fucking not going to cut her,” Rob snarled, his arm wrapping around me protectively.

  “We don’t have time for this, guys,” I said, darting a look at Lilias, who still sat with her eyes closed.

  Bishop didn’t back down, if anything he took a half step closer to me. “I love her too. If you can’t do it, I’ll be the one to make the sacrifice. It’s what she wants.”

  Carys gasped at the admission, her eyes wide and gleaming in the darkness.

  “I’m the one she wants to save, not you,” Rob retorted. “I’ll bloody well be the one to stand beside her and see this done.”

  Bishop’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Then do it and stop whining like a girl about it.”

  “Guys!” I yelled, my eyes on Lilias who now stood, the knife in her hand. “We seriously don’t have time for this. Bishop, thanks for the offer but we’ve got it covered.”

  “Everybody out of the circle who’s not participating!” Lilias announced in a ringing voice. Bishop shot me a final, worried look and I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile before he left the circle with Carys in tow. “Let the sacrifice approach,” she said simply, and I moved to stand before her, letting out a long breath to keep my lip from quivering. Lilias laid the gleaming knife against the side of my throat. “Do you submit of your own free will?”

  Cripes, did I? “I…”

  “I do.” Another voice rang out as a figure appeared at the edge of the trees.

  Holy buckets, it was, “Jakob? How did you…?”

  The Ellri boldly strode into the circle of stones to stand by my side. “I knew you would never come to my bed of your own free will after how I’ve wronged you. When I learned that Carys was to join you, I knew something must be up, as they say. I followed you here.”

  “You went to his bed?” Rob demanded, his emotions whiplashing back to anger.

  “No!” I gasped. “Well, I mean yes, but nothing happened. Not really.” That wasn’t the pressing issue for the moment. “Jakob, please don’t get involved. Can’t you understand we need to end this thing once and for all?”

  “I understand more than you think,” he smiled, reaching out to touch my cheek with the back of his fingers. “I will do this, let it be my sacrifice,” he declared, and Lilias rolled with it, her eyes bright in the uncertain light.

  “Decide quick, people. Who’s doing the cutting?”

  Carys looked ready to step forward, but Jakob’s gaze swung to me. “My Anja will be the one.”

  “Me? No, I can’t,” I protested. No matter how much I’d wanted to end him when I found out about the curse, I couldn’t actually carve his heart out, even if he asked me to. Or could I?

  “You must,” he smiled, leaning down to kiss my cheek, his words meant for me alone. “Progeny or not, I would not willingly place my heart beneath Carys’ dagger. You are the only one I trust to take only what’s needed. I submit of my own free will,” he added, much louder.

  We all goggled at him, and I could only stare in mute fascination as he took my place, lying down on the loamy soil, his expression serene as he unbuttoned his shirt.

  Unperturbed by the change of events, Lilias continued with the ritual. “Let the hand of fate approach,” she called out. Rob backed away, staring down at Jakob as he stepped out of the circle. I approached Lilias, who once more laid the knife to my throat. “Do you submit of your own free will?”

  “I do,” I replied, my words hardly more than a breath.

  In one fell swoop Jakob had offered me everything I desired, salvation and revenge wrapped up into one. For all his faith about me taking only as much of his heart as was needed, I had my own doubts. This man was my Sire and I’d wanted him dead. I’d stood beside him, pencil in hand, plotting his murder in cold blood, and now Lilias set the wooden rod into my hands, giving me permission to exact that vengeance. Not even permission, it was expected of me. No one standing around the circle would say boo if I accidentally took too much and ended Jakob’s life.

  The rod felt impossibly light, despite the silver tip, little more than a twig. If I grasped it too hard it might snap and I forced myself to hold it gently, like an egg. This man had caused me a world of pain and there he lay, trusting me with his life – and I didn’t want that trust.

  “This won’t work,” I murmured. “I don’t love him.” There was a time when I would’ve willingly flung those words at him like a weapon, but now all I felt was pity and sorrow that it had come to this.

  The corner of Jakob’s lips tugged up in amusement. “But I love you, Anja, from the moment I first beheld your delicate beauty. And that love has only grown as I learned to appreciate your strength and goodness. Only your hand will do.” His eyes held mine for a long moment before he let out a long, drawn out sigh, looking up at Bishop who stood next to the circle. “Brace yourself, Ulrik. This may sting.”

  “No!” Guessing what was coming next, Carys rushed forward, but Rob caught hold of her with difficulty, keeping her out of the circle.

  “You can’t help him now, only one thing can,” Rob hissed.

  “Jakob, no, it’ll kill him!” Carys broke Rob’s hold on her even as Bishop staggered to his knees, a low cry of pain issuing from his lips as Jakob released his compulsion over her. Awash in emotion, Carys wept as she gathered Bishop up in her arms, his face deeply etched with suffering as he felt the full brunt of the curse for the first time in centuries.

  I was already three steps closer to where Bishop fell before I realized I couldn’t leave the circle and I ran back to Jakob, falling to my knees beside him. “Can’t you stop the compulsion after the curse is broken when it’s safe? What if he doesn�
�t survive this?”

  “If this fails and I die, it will be the same,” he said gravely. “If I am merely diminished, I will be unable to remove the compulsion for some time. It seemed a kinder cruelty this way.”

  Lilias chanted low and unintelligible in the background, and Bishop seemed to recover slightly after a few seconds, sitting up to watch the proceedings from Carys’ lap. Now there was even more at stake. How could I even contemplate killing Jakob when it might kill Bishop at the same time if the ritual didn’t work?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Rise now and let the hand of fate deliver the sacrifice.” I had to do it now, I didn’t want to think about what might happen if we lost this opportunity. “Rise now!” Lilias commanded, and I forced myself up on my knees.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, grasping hold of the slim wooden rod. Almost falling with the motion toward him, I pierced his flesh. Jakob gave a weak gasp, in too much pain to draw breath in again and scream, his eyes rolling up into his head as he lay there pinned to the ground.

  Lilias pressed the knife into my hand. “The heart, hurry now.”

  The knife nearly slipped out of my nerveless fingers, but I caught it, gripping the hilt tightly. “You can do this… you’re a strong, confident vampire,” I murmured, wavering on my knees and for one terrifying moment, I thought I might pass out. But then my hands moved, almost as if someone else controlled them, and the knife plunged into his chest, severing bone to reach the delicate treasure guarded beneath.

  The scent of his blood was overpowering, and the need to taste it nearly destroyed my resolve. Instead, I gritted my teeth and pried open his chest cavity, which gave way easier than I’d thought it would. Somehow I’d forgotten his heart would be beating, and I watched in sick fascination as it pulsed slower and slower, the torpor settling in.

  “Take the sacrifice now!” Lilias hissed, jarring me out of my daze, and I sliced off a hunk I thought would be enough of a sacrifice without killing him. Looking to Lilias for approval, she gave a satisfied nod and held out the abalone bowl. With a sickening plop, the piece of his heart hit the shell and I sank back on my heels, closing my eyes tightly as a wave of nausea swept over me.

  I couldn’t make out the incantation she chanted, the words blurry and indistinct, but I felt the tingle of magic in the air. She laid the shell on the makeshift altar, leaning back when the contents spontaneously burst into flame. Snapping the necklace free from her throat, she held the brass key over the fire, and I watched as it was consumed by the flame, dissolving into ash that fell into the shell.

  The ring on my finger flared with sudden heat and I looked down to see it glowing as bright as an ember, searing my skin. The shriek from Carys told me the same was happening to her, but no matter how I scrabbled to tear it free, I couldn’t take it off. All I ended up with was singed fingertips for my efforts. But then it faded as the flames died out, and I looked up to see Bishop lying beside Carys, his chest rising and falling slowly, very near unconsciousness. Why was he still so weak? Hadn’t it worked? Was this all for nothing?

  A blinding flash lit up the night sky, and I was blown off balance by a crack of deep thunder that echoed through the clearing like a bomb had been detonated. For long seconds, I couldn’t move as my body throbbed with power, and then everything went completely still.

  Still dizzy with residual energy, I pushed myself up on my elbows, even as Maggie and Tucker rushed to my sides to help me up. My view obstructed, I couldn’t help but wonder, was everyone alright? A painful groan let me know Bishop was at least still alive, even though I couldn’t see through Tucker’s well meaning torso.

  Rolling onto my shoulder I saw Rob laid out on the ground with Lee by his side, and I stretched my hand out toward him. “Are you okay?” I asked, worry overtaking me that he’d been hurt worse than I had and been in less shape to handle it in the first place. I was almost afraid to ask; I couldn’t take another defeat, not after everything we’d been through.

  Rob sat up, a dazed look on his face. “Besides feeling like I relived the Blitz? Yeah, I feel…” He took a long, slow breath, his head cocked to one side. “I feel… pretty damn good.”

  My head fell back in relief, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes before I realized we weren’t all out of the woods yet. “Jakob?” I swallowed back a lump of fear, fighting my way up to a sitting position even though my muscles wanted to stay put for a week. “Did Jakob make it?”

  There was no response.

  “Jakob?” His chest lay spread open, exactly as I’d left him, the wooden rod preventing him from bleeding out in the interim. “What do I do?” I looked to Lilias, who rested on her behind, drinking out of a slender, leather-clad flask. “If I take him out of torpor he’ll bleed all over, right?”

  “He will,” she nodded, taking another deep pull on the flask. “But that’s the only way to restore him as well.”

  “Okay, so if I pull it out, then I can give him some of my blood to heal him, right? Maybe if I give him some, and Carys and everybody pitches in a little…”

  “You can’t give him your blood,” she insisted. “No blood from any of his line, it’s too powerful.”

  That would’ve been good to know ahead of time. I would’ve been a goner for sure if it’d been me on the other side of that knife.

  “What about mine?” Maggie asked in a small voice. “I’m not related to him and there’s nothing special about my blood.”

  “N-n-no,” Tucker immediately objected. “Y-you don’t have to d-d-d-d… you’re scared of vampires drinking your b-b-b-b-b…”

  “It’s alright, Tucker,” she smiled. “A lot has changed since I was bound to Jasper. I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, trying to catch her gaze. “I know Jakob would never hurt you on purpose, but he’ll probably be in a lot of pain when I wake him up. If he’s too rough… we might be able to stop him while he’s weak, but he’s an Ellri. I honestly don’t know what could happen.”

  “Then stand ready with that rod and you can torpor him again,” she replied with a smile, though I could tell from the fast patter of her heart that she was nervous about it.

  “If you say so,” I agreed, wrapping my hand around the base of the stick. “Lee?”

  “I’m right behind ya, darlin’,” he drawled. “If he gets outta hand, I’ll help ya wrangle him.”

  “D-don’t do this, Maggie,” Tucker pleaded, catching up her hand, and she gave it a brief squeeze before pulling it free.

  “It’ll be fine,” she smiled serenely, settling down beside Jakob, her wrist poised over his lips. “I’m ready.”

  I pulled the stake free from his shoulder in one swift movement, immediately handing it off to Lee. The terrible wound in his chest bled like crazy once his heart started beating again. Jakob’s head tipped back, lungs filling with air which he promptly expelled in a mighty roar of agony.

  “Jakob! Here drink,” I called out, placing Maggie’s wrist against his mouth. At once his fangs snicked out and sank into her flesh, not at all gentle and she cried out in pain.

  “Shh, Maggie, it doesn’t hurt,” I crooned, adding a layer of compulsion where Jakob lacked the finesse to. She quieted instantly, but a pucker of worry settled over her brow. “Jakob, can you hear me? That’s Maggie you’re drinking from, do you hear me?” Bending close to his ear, I tried to make him hear me. “I know it hurts, but it’ll get better, I promise. Try not to take too much, okay?”

  I couldn’t tell if my words got through to him or not, his mouth worked, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed again and again. I counted beside them, biting my lip when he showed no signs of slowing. The gaping hole in his chest started to close slowly, much too slowly and it fast became apparent that even if he drained Maggie dry, it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Jakob, you have to stop,” I said, desperate to catch his attention. “We’ll find you some more blood, but you have to let her go. Jakob?”

  He didn’t acknowledge
me in any way, his eyes still pressed tightly shut.

  “T-take my blood,” Tucker cried, prying Jakob’s jaw open to release Maggie’s wrist and thrusting his own in its place. I wasn’t sure if Jakob would like the taste of werewolf blood, but he clamped down on it without skipping a beat. Maggie fell back weakly, and I caught her, using my blood to stop the wound at her wrist.

  “Are you alright?” I asked, searching her face carefully in case I had to give her some of mine, but she gave me a wan smile.

  “I’ll be fine, I need to rest a while is all.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve had worse before,” she nodded, and sadly, I knew if any human knew her limits when it came to blood loss, it was Maggie, thanks to her time with Jasper.

  “Tucker? How we doing, are you okay?” I prompted, turning my attention back to them. He hunched over, in obvious pain, but didn’t make a sound. “Tucker?”

  “I c-can take it,” he replied, jaw set until I compelled the pain away for him too.

  We went through the same thing when Tucker started to grow weaker, Jakob neither slowing nor acknowledging my attempts to get his attention as he drank. Lee stepped up to change places with him, the old shifter gritting his teeth against the sting. Fast running out of options, I looked around for inspiration, and that’s when I saw them – the flickering lights in the darkness.

  A long procession of candles stretched past the paddock and into the woods as the gypsies approached. Single file, they marched into the clearing, the tongues of fire casting their features in sinister shadows. But they didn’t come with pitchforks, ready to take us all down while we were weak and vulnerable. Instead they approached, one by one, to kneel before Jakob, offering a cup of blood.

  Not a giant brimming cup, more like a shot glass’ worth, but combined, it did the trick. At first, it took Rob and I both holding Jakob down to get him to let go of Lee’s wrist, but after a few shots of blood, he began to comprehend that we were still feeding him. By the time a half dozen of the gypsies had passed, Jakob’s eyes were open, and he lay half reclined across my lap, accepting the offerings with a grave nod before he tossed them back.