Blood Evolution (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Kimberly Adkins

  “I was right to watch you so carefully all this time. I could not allow you to make the same mistake I did. With time and penance, you will come to see the ultimate power of our God and find solace in the comfort of our beliefs.”

  Once more, she roughly slammed my figure against the stone and, as my head snapped back, I heard the bones shatter in my skull.

  I will not exaggerate the circumstances of my death; I felt no physical pain when it happened. My heart was screaming for Aziza as my vision darkened, in an ever-widening circle, until blackness covered all.

  The last thing I recall, before I slipped into the cursed darkness, was the way my mother’s teeth felt as she bit into my flesh.

  Chapter Six

  He realized with crushing disappointment that she did not remember him. It was too much to hope for, of course. The shock must have delayed her natural response to his intimate attentions. For that brief amount of time, he had allowed himself to believe that she welcomed his affection, and he wished with fervent desire that he could live in those precious moments of ignorance forever.

  He must find his voice; he must strive to make things right between them in any way she required. He could not survive one more night with the knowledge that he might have to face an eternity without her at his side.

  “Alana.” He tried her name aloud and it felt like a kiss as the word passed his lips.

  He would have promised her anything. He would have done anything for her. But, as they stood in the blood of the slaughter with Death hanging on their shoulders, it was impossible to tell what she needed amidst the chaos around them.

  She took a step back, perhaps finally realizing the danger of her situation and the possible repercussions of her assault against him. There was a smart mixture of fear and anger in her eyes, but he could sense something more behind the surface emotions that made up her initial reaction.

  “Who are you?” She tilted her head slightly to the side, a puzzled look overtaking her expression. She glanced around the room carefully before she continued.

  “Why didn’t you…why didn’t you eat me, like you did these others?”

  It was difficult for Amon to answer immediately, because he was still enraptured by his consumption. In all his years of existence, he had never taken another immortal with the curse and he had hoped in this instance that he would not experience the full effect that always gripped him as his old blood merged with that of his prey.

  His hope was shattered as the vivid, miserable memories of two lifetimes flooded through his veins and into his mind, with a type of overpowering intensity he had never experienced when he drank from a mortal. Amon had clear flashes of their indoctrination into the cult--or what they believed to be a cult at the time. He had an even clearer understanding of their intentions and what they had planned for Alana.

  “They would have killed you. I did what was necessary to stop them. I promise you, it was the only way.”

  “Are you going to do the same to me? I can see that you are like those others, but there is also something vastly different about you.” She suddenly came closer to him and looked up into his eyes.

  Amon realized that she could not see as well as he could in the dim light. Her bold approach to ascertain his intentions sparked an instant wave of lust that threatened to take over his entire being.

  He could not allow that. He must earn her trust and give her every opportunity to remember on her own so that he could be sure the truth of their destiny was not just a manipulation of his desire.

  Though the urge to take her in his arms consumed him, he extended a slow and steady hand, silently praying that he had the moral strength to offer his assistance and honor the words he was formulating in his head.

  “I can protect you, if you allow it. You have no reason to trust me, but if you take my offer I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to ensure your safety.”

  Alana hesitated for only a second, her amber eyes full of questions as she carefully considered his words. He held his breath, determined not to give in to false hope as her gaze softened. It happened so swiftly that he didn’t dare acknowledge it, but he thought he saw belief in her eyes as she settled her fingers in the palm of his hand.

  Amon was instantly besieged by a vision from the past, and the full force of the memory slammed through his body as though he had been physically struck. He could hear the sound of a waterfall in the distance; he clearly saw the crescent moon and star on her forehead as she took his hand in exactly the same way he remembered.

  “Good.” She lifted her chin and he could feel the same determination coming off her that he had sensed when he followed her to the warehouse. That sign of strength reminded him of their attempt to be together so many lifetimes ago, and he felt his heart come alive again.

  “Good,” she repeated, almost to herself, while she nodded her head. “Because I intend to find my brother and you just killed the only people I know who could have led me to him.”

  Edward Yale, he thought silently to himself. Amon felt a terrible moment of selfish joy when he learned the identity of her mystery man. It was immediately followed by regret, until he recalled an image of the fourth immortal behind the crates.

  “There was another here tonight,” he explained as he pulled her in the direction of the fallen observer.

  He could have released her hand and she probably would have followed him into the shadows. He should have released it just to be sure she felt some personal sense of strength from her own decision to accompany him.

  The truth of it all was that he could not bear to let go of her again.

  If she should choose to flee, he could easily pursue her, but to what end? They had nothing between them if she did not trust him. He obsessively monitored the pressure he placed on her fingers, in constant anxiety over the reasoning that too much might frighten her and too little could seem weak.

  She tightened her grasp on her own accord as they crossed the warehouse floor. The blood on the smooth cement had become tacky and their passage echoed in the cool air with a sickening smack after each step.

  The scent of the cold, decaying blood made him nauseated and he was eager to be away from it as quickly as possible, though he would always carry the experience in his memory as if he had known the fledglings their entire lives.

  He could not sense the presence of the unconscious observer or hear his slow heartbeat any longer, so it was with no great surprise they found the hiding place empty. He reasoned that if the missing follower was Alana’s brother, then they knew he still lived.

  But if he was not…

  “We must leave here at once.” Amon suddenly became alert, listening for evidence of an approaching intruder. There was no doubt in his mind that the survivor would have reported back to the temple with news of this interference. And when they investigated the scene, his handiwork would obviously be all over their fallen comrades.

  His only hope for reprieve could be his own damnation if he was not extremely careful. The sun was preparing to rise in the east, though no cresting illumination was visible to the naked eye, and he could feel it in his veins as his blood began to warm. His inability to withstand sunlight was the single worst symptom of the infection. The precious blood that made them immortal was itself vulnerable in such a basic way.

  He was aware that the effects of the blood differed slightly among those afflicted, and some could tolerate small amounts of exposure with the proper covering. But none that he knew of could take the sunlight full on. He had inherited his mother’s tolerance for the light just before the sun crested the horizon and the glow it left when descending, but anything stronger meant his death as surely as it did for every other victim of the infection.

  This was their only chance to escape and they would not be able to return to either of their dwellings. Amon knew it was only a matter of time until they tracked him to his resting place, now that he had revealed himself at the warehouse, but they certainly knew where Alana resi
ded. Returning to her home was a risk he couldn’t afford to take if he intended to fully honor his promise to protect her.

  “Wait!” Alana balked as he guided her out of the warehouse and onto the dirty sidewalk in front. “We need to find my brother! I’ll go without you if you won’t help me, but know this now: I will not let you stop me.”

  Even as she attempted to push past him in her desperation, pictures formed in his mind, ideas that could have been memories or dreams. He knew it was a side effect of the blood he had taken from the two young immortals. He felt their nocturnal community within the compound that housed the God.

  Of all the things he had experienced during his long existence, remembering someone else’s life as if it had been his own was the most unsettling.

  “I can help you, and I will.” He stood with his feet firmly planted. “But I need to rest soon. We will not lose time, I assure you. Where your brother is right now, they are all resting, too. We need to find a place of safety that neither of us has been to before, preferably before the sun comes up.”

  She paused for a moment and seemed to take it all in.

  “Then it’s true that none of you can go out in the sunlight? I thought maybe it was just a rule or something. You know, to make the brotherhood seem a little more sinister to outsiders.”

  “It’s a brotherhood, now?” Amon almost laughed at the newest incarnation of structure for the followers. Over the centuries, they had reinvented themselves many times over and he often encountered word of their reformations, though he never chose to seek any of them out.

  “It doesn’t matter what they call themselves,” she answered him darkly. “It took me months to follow the trail my brother left behind and, let me tell you, it was almost non-existent. I can’t stop now, not when I am so close to finding him. If you truly can help me, I will wait with you tonight. But if you can’t, I will be on my way while you crawl into your coffin.”

  The sun was nearing the horizon and the heat had become almost unbearable. He could not allow her to go into the compound alone, not when there was the chance that some of the followers could be mobile, albeit in a sluggish manner. But, her words stung him deeply, past the hot, physical pain he felt streaming through his veins from the impending sunrise. She thought him a foolish member of that society, she did not understand he had rejected them long ago and that he had done it for the love of her.

  Amon had nothing left to lift his spirit, after all those years of solitude, except the belief that their love was the last true magic left in the world. And he had to believe now, more than ever, that something deep inside her would remember him, if Fate were to have a hand in this at all.

  “Alana, please listen to me,” he placed his fingers on her shoulders with tenderness and gently pulled her closer so that she could see his face clearly through the gloom of her human perception. “I can see scattered pieces from the minds of those men back there in the warehouse. If you come with me tonight, it will give me time to ‘remember’ more of what they knew and we will have an invaluable tool at our disposal when the time comes.”

  “You keep asking me to trust in you and, though my mind tells me I must be mad, something in my heart compels me to stay with you. How can this be, when I don’t even know your name?”

  She moved so close to him that his body responded instantly to her proximity. His fingers slid off her right shoulder and down the back of her blazer, his palm feeling the contour of her spine beneath the velvet as her loose strands of hair skimmed the sensitive skin on the back of his hands.

  “Your heart knows,” Amon dared to whisper, tempting fate as he lost himself in the memory of a time when she once called him with such familiarity. He knew he should appear as a monster to her, how villainous it was to hold her here on the sidewalk with his arms around her when her brother was in danger, when he should be her dark knight in shining armor. He deserved her doubt by his very actions and he braced himself for the rejection that she must issue to such a scoundrel.

  “I don’t think my heart knows anything, except how to beat so hard it hurts when you put your arms around me. I can’t explain why I believe in you, but there are a lot of things I can’t explain about all of this. Take us some place safe, but just for tonight, ok? ”

  Alana swirled from his grasp so suddenly that Amon was stunned. He was out in the open far later than he ever should have been and he knew the effects of the sunrise were clouding his judgment, but the way she lingered in his arms a moment before had made it impossible for him to move.

  He longed to tell her that one night would never be enough, that he would prove his love to her for an eternity if she allowed it, but he must force himself to focus on the task at hand. Amon carefully considered all their options in his mind. There was an old estate on the outskirts of the warehouse district, overgrown and secluded of course, but he arranged for the owner of the bed and breakfast to keep it that way. He paid her handsomely on a monthly basis for every room in her establishment, though he had never actually stayed there at any time. It was just one of the havens he had set aside for a situation like this. It was also the nearest to their present location.

  The river was the best way to lose anyone who might be skilled enough to track them. Amon had taken many late night cruises of a similar nature, so he was adept at piloting many different types of appropriated watercraft. Alana allowed him to set her gently inside the rocking boat, with no sense of hesitation in her manner once she had made the decision to accompany him. Though the coming sunlight drove him relentlessly, her complete trust during their retreat raised his hope beyond any expectations he could have envisioned just a few hours ago.

  It was amazing how wild the banks grew almost the instant they left the city limits, but he had little time to wonder at the savage foliage as they sailed along the muddy edge of the Mississippi river.

  The pain throughout his body was overwhelming as he eased them into a tiny, muddy inlet.

  A rotted wooden post and two twisted steps were the only evidence they had located the path. As soon as he helped Alana off the skiff, Amon shoved the small boat out of the cove, watching with forced patience as it caught the current and continued downstream.

  The trail was overrun with brambles and gnarled shrubbery, enough so that anyone who might have come across this place by chance would not have continued their exploration.

  Alana followed him closely, letting him bear the brunt of the errant limbs that lashed out during their passage. But, he had no care for his comfort, only for opening the way so Alana would remain unmarked by the wilderness.

  The ancient house was beautiful in all of its decadent bayou glory, even with the chipped paint and missing spokes on the porch of the veranda. Velvet curtains hung in the windows, likely a deep and lush red once, though they had faded to pink over the years of his absent patronage. He felt a pang of guilt that something so fine should have been left to wither away at his request and vowed to have the establishment restored to all its former magnificence if they made it out of this together.

  When we make it out of this, he silently assured himself. He had waited far too long for this opportunity to fail now. He had asked Alana to believe and now he must do the same.

  An impressive marble lion stood watch at the edge of the warped stairs and Amon tipped him over with ease to locate the key he had asked to be secreted there. Though he could have easily gained entrance into the house by his own means, he was reassured that the owner had carried out their agreement to the letter, including the location of the door key. It was a good sign that she had fulfilled all of his other requests as well.

  He turned the lock and they entered the foyer. Worn and threadbare antiques spotted the receiving area, but they lent the room a comfortable feel of home as he walked up to the grand staircase in the center of the room.

  Alana joined him and he saw her eyes shift nervously to the darkened doorways that lined either side of the main floor.

  “We are alone here,�
�� he assured her and offered his hand again, though it was not necessary to guide her anymore.

  She slipped her fingers into his palm, then covered his hand with her other one. She lightly ran her thumb across the back of his knuckles and smiled a little as she looked up at his face.

  “Have you ever had a really strong feeling of déjà vu?”

  “Every day,” he answered honestly, as even at that moment the memory of her lips on his nearly overtook his senses.

  “I think I must be very tired, but I keep remembering what it feels like for you to kiss me. I know it’s a strange admission, though not as strange as the things I have witnessed tonight by far. You haven’t though…kissed me, I mean.”

  I have kissed you! A thousand times! I have loved you every night for centuries and, somehow, deep inside your core, you must feel that!

  His heart screamed silently for her in desperation and, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew she felt something. The multitude of tiny signals from her could not be coincidence, but he must continue to show restraint. As surely as he loved her, he must have evidence that left no doubt about her place in his life.

  “You seem exhausted, too,” she finally sighed, as if shaking the thought. “Your brow is all furrowed. Maybe it would be a good idea if we rested for a bit.”

  Alana removed her right hand from the top of his and gently caressed the same cheek she had so readily slapped just a few hours before. He relished the contact of her fingertips on his skin and closed his eyes to better employ his sense of touch. She stroked his jaw line tenderly and then raised one finger to his forehead. He could feel her absent-mindedly tracing the symbol for infinity on his brow and he swayed on his feet as he realized, for the first time, what icon he would have worn as a Chosen One in the temple.

  He needed time to think. It was a joke, really, all the centuries of planning for this night when they would be together again. Now what he found himself with was a few hours to win Alana’s heart, save her brother and defeat the darkest evil the world had ever known.