Ironic Sacrifice

by Brooklyn Ann

  Again she found herself with the vampire Delgarias. Again he looked up at her and smiled. And again he shook his head and pointed, this time to the left and she was blown away under the currents of a phantom wind.

  Then it happened. There was a tug on Jayden’s psychic line, a feeling that it had grabbed something. It was so sudden that she nearly dropped the connection in her surprise. Slowly shades and colors crept into her vision.

  Radu lay on a stone slab in a cavernous chamber deep underground. The room was full of cobwebs and ancient debris, chunks of rotting wood, crumbled bits of rock. A thick layer of dust lay like a blanket over everything. The stone walls were spotted with a patina of scorch marks, chillingly familiar.

  Jayden drew her power closer to Radu’s still form. Her mind brushed against his. She slipped under the very surface of his thoughts.

  Radu had been sleeping for five hundred and seventy three years…but now he was preparing to wake, to face the world again…and to seek—

  Jayden gasped as she suddenly realized where Radu was. He had been resting under the ruins of Castle Nicolae this entire time!

  Radu’s eyes opened, and narrowed. It was like he could see her! His mind clenched on to hers like a vice. In a way, he had. His force built up like rumbling thunder, and he shoved her out. She slammed back into herself with such force that it was like being thrown against a wall. Black spots danced across her vision and her inner sight faded like a dying sun.

  Seconds later, her eyelids fluttered open and she placed a shaking hand over her pounding heart. She had found Radu!

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Jayden awoke, Razvan’s side of the bed was empty. She hoped he’d only gone hunting rather than having left again for Spokane. It would be agony to wait that long to tell him her revelation. She practically leapt out of bed to open the closet door. She wanted to look her best when she told him what he had been longing for centuries to hear.

  After an eternity of deliberation, she settled on a dark green velvet dress. The matching shoes were uncomfortable, but it was a gorgeous outfit. Her hands shook as she buttoned up the dress and imagined various scenarios of Razvan’s responses to the news that found Radu.

  She longed to see him smile and give a sign of the enthusiastic boy he used to be. Maybe he would sweep her up in his arms and say, “Jayden, I knew you could do what all others have failed. I am glad I chose you. Will you stay with me forever?”

  Jayden paused and made a face. No, that was a little melodramatic. He would likely be a little more formal, maybe kiss her hand and bow before saying, “Jayden, you have done me a great service, however may I repay you?”

  No, too polite for him. The most likely case would be that he would incline his head slightly and favor her with his sinister smile and a pat on the head. Still, she knew he’d be overjoyed. Jayden frowned in self-disgust at her naked desperation for the slightest scrap of affection from him. She didn’t dare allow the fantasy of the three words she ached to hear: “I love you.”

  After what felt like the longest hour of her life, Razvan returned home from his hunt.

  “So what is this momentous news you have for me?” Razvan asked once they were alone in their room.

  He smiled down at her. He was so handsome it nearly made her heart stop.

  “I’ve found Radu!” she said, unable to conceal the pride from her voice. Now he would feel something for her. She looked up at him in happy anticipation for his reaction.

  The vampire’s face paled. All semblance of expression vanished. For a moment he resembled the corpse he was fabled to be.

  “What?” he whispered.

  “He’s still in Romania, sleeping beneath the ruins of your family’s castle.” Jayden smiled, pleased at his surprise. She must have succeeded far beyond her expectations. “Oh, Razvan, he’s going to wake soon!”

  He moved forward in a flash and grabbed her arms. “How do you know of my family’s castle? How do you know any of this?” His grip was like a vise.

  Jayden was suddenly nervous. She knew he would be surprised, but he seemed almost angry. Still, she took a deep breath and plunged on, hoping he wouldn’t break her arms. “I used my power to see into your memories when you slept. Eventually, through your visions of Radu, I was able to make enough of a connection with him to sense his location. He’s been under those ruins all this time. You both have suffered so much and—” She moved to embrace him and he thrust her away. She looked up at him in hurt confusion.

  As his eyes narrowed and turned to that eerie glittering black, her throat went dry. Yeah, he was pissed.

  “You invaded my mind?” Razvan growled.

  Jayden took a trembling step back. She didn’t expect him to see it that way. “Y-yes, but…but I only wanted to help.”

  “I didn’t ask for your help,” he snarled. “And if I had, I certainly wouldn’t want you to have gone about it in such a sneaking, invasive manner!”

  “I’m sorry!” she said, fighting back tears. “I didn’t mean to…to…” Jayden stumbled over her words. She did mean to invade his mind. She just didn’t mean to make him mad about it.

  Razvan didn’t seem to care either way. He turned away from her and strode to the door.

  “We will discuss this later,” he said over his shoulder before the door slammed with a crash that nearly shook the house.

  What the hell just happened? Jayden sank to her knees and gave in to her burgeoning tears.

  ***

  Razvan strode up the stairs, fists clenched so tight his nails drew blood. He passed Silas in the living room. Silas opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but Razvan held up a hand to ward off his questions and continued out of the house.

  She knows, his mind repeated in time with his rapid steps down the frosty road. She knows everything! Never in all of his centuries of existence had he allowed anyone to know of his past. To know the pain he’d suffered, his foolishness in killing the woman that Radu loved, rather than exposing her as the woman who’d betrayed him. His mistake had caused the deaths of their parents and until now, no one had ever known that Razvan had been the one to set in motion the events of their destruction.

  Even after nine hundred years, he heard his own voice: “Let’s go to the village, Radu.” If they hadn’t met their birth-family and formed a centuries-long bond, his parents would likely still be alive, and his twin wouldn’t be in a coma of grief.

  His breath made transparent clouds before him as he walked down the steep hill. Razvan shivered and wished he’d brought a coat. The cold wouldn’t kill him but it was damn uncomfortable. When he reached 15th Street he looked north, then south, having no idea where to go, only that he needed to be alone, that he needed to think. His feet continued to carry him south, and then west until he found himself in front of the Powder River Saloon.

  Razvan grasped the smooth elk antler handle and the door opened with its signature groan. The bartender, a pretty older woman he didn’t recognize, greeted him and was quick to bring a cup of coffee. Though the bar was practically abandoned, she seemed to sense that he wanted solitude and returned her attention to a football game on TV after he paid, giving him a small chiding remark over his lack of a coat.

  He wrapped his hands around the hot mug, grateful for its warmth. He still couldn’t believe Jayden’s audacity in invading his mind, in doing what all others feared to attempt. With Selena, Silas, and countless other psychics, he’d fed them his blood and revealed to them only his happiest memories with his twin, never letting on to the truth that it was his fault that Radu was missing.

  But Jayden knew. Jayden, the half-mad waif he picked up in a stinking alley and committed to the dangers of his world. Jayden, a woman who was so powerful that she had been able to connect to a vampire’s mind through another’s. His lips curved in a rueful smile. Despite his anger at her violation, he was impressed.

  He sighed and reached into his pocket for his pipe and tobacco and unwittingly, his mind crept back to her reve
lation. Jayden’s eyes had been so open and shining with adoration as she told him what she’d done.

  As he loaded and lit the pipe, a low, throbbing pain began to pulse in his gut. Razvan frowned and shifted uncomfortably on his bar stool.

  He’d been a little harsh with her, he admitted, taking a deep draw on his pipe. She had truly been trying to help him. Jayden didn’t know that four hundred years ago, Silas had made enough of a connection to Radu that it was obvious he wanted nothing to do with his twin or that after another three hundred years Razvan finally reconciled himself to that fact.

  Yet now Jayden had discovered his brother’s exact location. It was hard to believe that Radu had been under the ruins of their old home all this time. Though in retrospect, it made sense.

  When his coffee had cooled a moment, he sipped the acrid beverage to warm his lips. Yes, he had been overly harsh with Jayden. In truth, another emotion had overridden his anger at her intrusion: fear. A low growl built in his throat at the debilitating emotion, but it would not leave. The facts continued to haunt him.

  It was possible that Radu was still furious at him for killing the woman he loved. If his twin knew that there was a woman Razvan cared about…. He shook his head in a futile attempt to ward off fear’s icy fingers. Suddenly he wasn’t so eager for Radu to awaken. Jayden was already in enough danger from Selena… yet another folly from his past.

  He would have to apologize to Jayden…but not too much. After all, perhaps his behavior towards her would be useful in dampening her dangerous infatuation with him. And as much as her adoration pleased him, he would have to resist succumbing to her charms. Razvan sighed and took another draw from the pipe, mentally tracing the curves and hollows of Jayden’s body. Such a thing would be easier said than done.

  The bar door emitted its gravelly groan and Razvan was mildly surprised to see Max stroll in. He hid a smirk from the aging mechanic. Had Akasha been carrying tales?

  “Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here!” Max said jovially as he plunked down on the barstool next to him.

  It seemed his presence was a happy accident. The man’s cheeks were flushed from the cold, but his heavy breathing was somewhat alarming. The vampire decided to stay with him for awhile.

  As he listened to Max’s tirade about the inefficiencies of the local parts store, Razvan tapped out his pipe and formulated his apology. It was difficult, for apologies were not something he was accustomed to.

  ***

  Jayden’s heart leapt in surprise when Razvan came into the library. She’d been hanging out with Akasha and struggling to read in a vain attempt to shut out the pain of Razvan’s angry reaction to her confession. And now was the moment. He was going to send her away, she knew it. It was time to go back to the streets and cold sleepless nights in her car.

  He dipped his head and shoulders in a stiff bow. This time she could detect no sarcasm in the gesture, but there was something else.

  “I apologize for my currish behavior earlier. I overreacted.” His words were as rigid as his stance and gave the impression of a rehearsed speech. “I would also like to thank you for locating my brother. I am certain the information will prove useful in time. You have my gratitude.”

  He favored her with another overly formal half-bow and left the room before she could form a response.

  Akasha’s mouth hung open and the book she held looked in danger of falling off her lap. “What the fuck was that?”

  Jayden forced a weak laugh. “I don’t exactly know.”

  Her friend blinked at her with amethyst eyes that were so penetrating Jayden confessed the story of how she entered Razvan’s mind and found Radu. When she finished she shook her head and said, “And after all that time being in his head, I still can’t figure him out.”

  Akasha gave an indifferent shrug. “He’s always been a mystery. I think he prefers it that way. But I know he likes you so don’t worry, he may be pissy for awhile, but he’ll come around.”

  As it turned out, Akasha was wrong. Razvan avoided her for the next two weeks. The vampire spent most evenings in Spokane. The few times he was around, he treated her with deferential courtesy when she spoke to him and otherwise ignored her. Max and Akasha observed Jayden’s futile attempts to mask her hurt with growing outrage, whereas Silas seemed to grow more cheerful every evening. If his kindness to her had not remained during their training sessions, Jayden would have suspected that the Lord of Coeur d’Alene didn’t like her. But his regard seemed to have grown, which made his joviality in the face of her pain all the more confusing.

  ***

  After the evening worship session, Selena summoned Lionel and Michael, her two most trusted apostles. She allowed them to remain on their knees a moment longer than necessary, reveling in their loyalty and adoration. At last she bade them to rise and held up her arms for one of them to remove her ceremonial robe.

  As Michael gently untied the sash, she shrugged out of the garment and spoke, idly tugging on a lock of hair. “The deadline has arrived and our enemies have failed to deliver what we have demanded. They must be punished. Who will go forth and deliver our wrath?”

  “I will, my lord,” they both chorused and fell to their knees.

  Such devotion was music to her ears, but she had already chosen her emissary.

  “Rise, dear Lionel,” she said and stroked his short blond hair, enjoying the sight of such a powerful male bowing to her.

  Michael’s lower lip jutted out petulantly, and Selena suppressed her amusement. He would be placated when she related the details of her commands to Lionel.

  As her chosen apostle departed to fulfill his mission, Selena turned to Michael, placing a gentle hand on his cheek. “You see now? I have much greater plans for you.”

  Michael rose and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. “Indeed, my lord, and I shall be overjoyed to obey.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Razvan’s fingers dug into his palms deep enough to draw blood. He had found the spy. A mirthless laugh escaped his lips as he flew over his city, towards his prey. He was a fool. Doubly so, since not only had he not considered that particular vampire, but also because it had taken him so long to figure it out. Snowflakes blew into his eyes, but they didn’t burn half as much as his rage to think of the danger Jayden had been in.

  He drifted closer to his quarry, fangs bared in predatory anticipation. Flesh would tear and blood would flow. The traitor would be nothing more than a butcher’s leavings before he would be satisfied…if ever.

  Razvan reared up, ready to dive upon his victim when his heart suddenly seized up in his chest and searing pain exploded behind his eyes. The Mark between him and Jayden flared up, shrieking in urgency. Something was happening to Jayden.

  He swerved east so abruptly that a gust of wind sent him twisting through the air in a sickly spiral. For a moment Razvan didn’t know what was up or down. Clawing madly at the wind, he regained equilibrium. With a deep breath, he concentrated on the Mark. Nothing indicated that Jayden was hurt or in danger, but the sense of urgency hammered at his psyche with an ever increasing tempo.

  Casting a regretful look over his shoulder at the spy, Razvan resumed his flight back to Coeur d’Alene. The matter would have to be dealt with later. For now, Jayden needed him. Unfortunately, the December wind was against him and he had to fight for every inch of distance. Teeth gritted against the biting cold, Razvan only hoped he could get to her on time.

  ***

  Monday evening, Jayden was surprised to see Akasha wander past the dining room and into the kitchen to grab a beer. Silas was hunting and Razvan was gone —again. She thought she’d been alone.

  “What are you doing home?” Jayden asked, putting down a book on Romanian history. “I thought you had to work.”

  Akasha opened her beer and slumped into the chair across from her. “I had a splitting headache earlier, so Max is covering for me. The winterization rush is almost over so we’ve been pretty dead,” she added defensively
. “Is Razvan in Spokane again?”

  Jayden couldn’t hold back a sigh. “Yeah.”

  Akasha gave her a sympathetic look that nearly brought a lump to her throat. “Well, he is the Lord of Spokane and that’s a way bigger city than Coeur d’Alene, so I imagine he’s twice as busy as Silas.”

  “Yeah, but why doesn’t he take me with him?” Jayden hated the frustration in her voice. “I mean, I’ve never even seen his home. What if he’s got someone else there?”

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Akasha said quickly. “Actually, I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t something else going on. Razvan’s always been an evasive bastard, but lately Silas seems to be taking a page from his book….”

  Jayden didn’t hear the rest of it. Images were superimposed upon her sight, and she closed her eyes and was sucked into a vision.

  She saw inside the shop area of Resurrection Wrenches. Max’s back was turned to her. He was bent over the engine compartment of a little Honda, grunting and cursing as he worked. Something crept up behind him. He turned and dropped his wrench. His scream echoed against the cinderblock walls.

  The vision faded and she opened her eyes to see her friend staring at her with a small perplexed frown.

  “Akasha!” Jayden cried. “We have to get to your shop now!” She bolted up out of her chair so fast that it crashed to the floor.

  “What?” Akasha asked looking at Jayden like she lost her mind.

  “Something’s happening! I heard Max screaming. We have to go now!” she ran out of the dining room without looking back.

  Akasha needed no further urging and beat Jayden to the garage door. She grabbed her keys as Jayden got in the passenger side of the Roadrunner and pushed the garage door opener. Akasha got in and the engine roared to life. She barely closed the door before she gunned it into reverse. Metal squealed as the Roadrunner shot out of the garage, scraping its roof on the slowly opening door.

  As the car catapulted down Cherry Hill, Jayden wondered fleetingly if Akasha would kill them both before they made it to Resurrection Wrenches. When they reached 15th Street and the speedometer climbed to sixty in the 25 mph residential zone, cops were added to her worries. By the time they reached Sherman Avenue and Akasha ran the red light as she turned right and swerved, narrowly missing a Dodge Ram, Jayden hardly noticed. She was overcome with a sinking dread that they were too late.