"No! He's mine!" she shouted, summoning all the benevolence within her soul and holding it out to him. "Come back to me!"
For an agonizing moment, Eric's body continued to disintegrate, spilling out into the room, and then she felt his soul reach for her. She lunged for him, wrapping her arms around his body, pulling him toward her as she opened herself completely to him, calling him back to her, just like Cicatrice had done to her grandmother for all those years. The pain howled through her, trying to rip her apart. Eric! Accept me!
Eric shuddered, and then his arm went around her, locking her against him. He buried his face in her neck, holding her desperately against him as the wind roared around them. NightHunter to vampire, and vampire to NightHunter, they solidified their bond and promised eternity. As they clung to each other, their energy mixed, two halves of a whole weaving together, balancing itself out until it had encircled them in a sphere of protection. The evil, howling spirits battered at them, tearing at their clothes, screaming in fury that it couldn't get past the barrier of their pure love. It spun away, searching for another victim...and then everything became silent.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. She was shaking violently, and she could feel that Eric was as well, but he was solid against her, and there was no more pain or cold. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and pulled back. Eric's face was ashen, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his skin was solid.
They both looked around. The walls and ceiling were solid ash, held together by a whisper. Behind them, Cicatrice was hovering in midair, a shocked look on his face. Eric flicked his index finger, and everything simply disintegrated. The walls, the ceiling, and Cicatrice himself, leaving them in a room that was open to a sky filled with the oranges and yellows of a sunset. It poured onto Eric, but no smoke rose from his flesh.
He held her tightly, his fingers tangling in her hair, as if he was terrified she would disintegrate in his arms. "You bound yourself to me," he said, his voice raw. "You protected me with your love." He held out his arm, watching the sun glisten harmlessly across his skin. "You protect me even now."
"I know."
His gaze swept her face, as if searching for answers he couldn't fathom. "You're independent. You don't do things like bind yourself to men for all eternity. It's not your thing."
She smiled, tears filling her eyes as she noticed the gaping wound in his chest. "I'm entitled to make an exception for the man I love. Is that okay with you? I mean, I know you're a self-proclaimed player and all that—"
"Shut up, honey." He grinned and then kissed her. Hard, passionately, and emphatically, leaving her absolutely no doubt as to how he felt about it. She kissed him back without reservations, her entire heart singing with joy for the man in her arms.
After much too short of a time, he pulled back, brushing the hair back from her face. "Tristan," he said. "We have to get to him. He's on the roof."
At his words, they both looked up again, at the sunlight streaming through the missing ceiling. At the same moment, they both realized what the sun must be doing to his brother. Eric swore, and lunged to his feet. He staggered, and went down on his knees, his hand going to his chest. "Cicatrice's efforts are going to leave a mark, I think," he said.
"Battle scars are sexy." Her heart squeezing tightly at how bad a shape he was in, she slipped his arm over her shoulder. "Come on, big guy. You can do it. If you make it to the roof, I promise I'll have sex with you."
He cocked his head, studying her for a brief moment. "Did you use that line on me before?"
"I did."
He grinned, a lascivious light gleaming in his eyes. "As I recall, you fulfilled your promise, so yeah, that works for me." His arms tightened around her shoulders, and he surged to his feet, staggering only slightly. "Let's go get my brother."
Chapter 25
"Stop."
At Skye's sharp command, Jordyn and Eric froze as they stepped out on the roof.
Skye was crouched over David's body as if she were a predator ready to attack. David's skin was seared, and smoke was rising from his chest. Blackened blood was dripping from his shoulder, from which the stake still protruded. Tristan was on his side next to them, his eyes closed and his body still. There were holes all over Tristan, and a pile of bloodied stakes was on the roof beside him. There was white powder in his wounds, as if Skye had been treating them.
"Tristan?" Jordyn couldn't keep the fear from her voice. "Is he dead?"
No. I would be dead if he was.
But even as Eric said it, she felt his doubt. Was she so connected to Eric that she could sustain him now, even if Tristan died?
There was danger emanating from Skye, something so fierce that Jordyn felt it prickle over her skin. She looked nothing like the sweet child Jordyn had once known. She looked like a killer, poised to attack.
Beside her, Eric's muscles tensed, and he shifted his weight away from her, giving himself space to fight if necessary.
"Who hurt David?" Skye's eyes went back and forth between them, her body poised to attack.
"Skye. It's me. I'm not going to hurt you." Urgency pulsed at Jordyn, and she began to walk across the roof. "We need to help them."
Skye didn't move. "Tell me what happened." Her voice was low and deadly.
"David stabbed both of us," Eric said, slowly moving alongside Jordyn. Despite his weakened state, he was keeping Jordyn slightly behind him, putting himself between the two women. "I needed to stop him to save Jordyn, but I didn't want to kill him. He's the only one who knows how to cleanse the poison." His voice was steady, but Jordyn felt his tension as he glanced apprehensively toward Tristan. "David's a vampire."
Jordyn sucked in her breath, looking sharply at Eric. "What? He stabbed you? And he's a vampire?" Betrayal rushed through her, and she stopped, staring down at the man who'd been her best friend. His eyes were closed, and his chest wasn't moving. "David?"
Skye nodded. "I know he's a vampire." She suddenly relaxed, and she sat back on her heels. "He's dangerous," she said, as she sheathed a knife that Jordyn hadn't even noticed she was holding. "I had to make sure what side Eric was on. My friend Richard and I have been trying to stop David for a while, but it's been impossible to get him in a situation where he was vulnerable. He's murdered so many," she said softly. "All in the name of honor, but terrible things nonetheless." She looked up at them. "Do you guys happen to know where Richard is? He never came by the house to check on me. I'm worried about him."
Eric cleared his throat, and Jordyn's throat tightened. "Skye, Richard's—"
Skye's face paled, and she held up her hand. "No." Her voice broke. "Don't say it. I can't hear that right now." She lifted her chin, but that didn't hide the glistening of tears in her eyes. "You bastard," she hissed at David. "How could you hurt him?"
"David was the one who attacked Richard?" She thought of the poor man and how crazed he'd been. David had done that to him? Her David, the one who had dragged her to safety so many times when her father had drunk too much, had hurt good people? Jordyn's chest ached with betrayal as she stared down at David. "What happened to you?" she whispered. "What happened to my best friend?"
He didn't respond, but Skye stood up, her body lithe and muscular, and apparently entirely recovered from being almost dead. "Tristan needs earth," she said briskly, wiping the back of her wrist across her eyes. She looked at Eric. "And so do you."
Jordyn didn't move. "What about David?"
Skye and Eric looked at each other. "I think we leave him," Skye said.
"What?" Jordyn stared at her. "He's our friend!"
"He's not anymore. He hasn't been anyone's friend for a long time." Skye walked across the roof toward her, and Jordyn noticed that there were scars on her throat, old scars, not the ones David had healed. Terrible things had happened to Skye since the last time they'd met. "Some vampires retain their humanity. Many become crazed killers. And some..." she gestured at David. "Become worse."
"Worse?" Sadne
ss filled her, and she knelt beside him, taking his hand. "David," she whispered.
"Get back." Eric's voice was heavy with warning. "Don't go near him."
"Jordyn." Skye knelt beside her, taking her hands. Skye's fingers were cold, too cold, making Jordyn realize that Skye wasn't actually in as good a shape as she'd first appeared. "This is a new battle for us," she said softly. "Your grandmother was a great NightHunter. She understood the nuances of vampires and creatures of the night. David believes that NightHunters should destroy all vampires. Once he became a vampire, he believed it was a gift from the NightHunters to enable him to destroy the vampires. He's merciless and cruel, and he's destroyed all values of what the NightHunters stand for."
Tears filled Jordyn's eyes. "How many people has he killed?" She had to ask. She had to know.
"Over a hundred that I know of. And not all of them were vampires. Some of them simply aided vampires. Some of them were great NightHunters who had been bitten so many times that their blood was mixed." She held out a note. "He came here to kill you, Jordyn."
Jordyn took the paper and looked down at it. The note was scrawled in David's messy handwriting that she knew so well. Skye, my beloved Jordyn has become like her grandmother. I have to destroy her before she bonds with Cicatrice or Eric and strengthens them. I've gone to your old house to find her. Prepare a burial site. My heart bleeds for what I have to do, but I will not stray from my mission.
Jordyn crushed the paper in her hand. "He did read the rest of the book. He was waiting to see what side I would choose."
Eric nodded. I love you, Jordyn. You are the bravest warrior I have ever met, and I will stand by you as you rebuild the NightHunters, as they were meant to be.
Tears filled her eyes. I love you, too.
Skye wrinkled her nose. "Are you guys doing that mental telepathy thing? Because it's really rude, you know." Then she held out her arms. "Welcome home, Jordyn. We have a lot of catching up to do, including sorting out the mess that David has turned the NightHunters into."
Welcome home? Was she going to stay in the town she'd run away from so long ago? She looked up at Eric, who was using the side of the chimney to keep himself upright. He looked so handsome and dangerous, a lethal predator ready to wipe out any monster at any moment, despite the fact that she was pretty sure he might collapse if she sneezed on him.
I'm your predator. He grinned. I can even do the magic without losing my mind, thanks to you. Why would I go anywhere else? You know you belong here, and so do I.
Tears filled her eyes, and suddenly, all the tension she'd been holding in her body since the day she'd walked away so many years ago finally vanished. She was home, and this was where she needed to be. "Okay," she said. "I'll stay." She leaned forward to hug Skye, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw David move.
They both spun around as David drove the stake right toward her heart, his eyes etched with agony. "I'm so sorry, Jordyn—"
All three of them reacted, grabbing stakes from the pile by Tristan and throwing them. The three stakes hit him in quick succession, driving him back into the sunlight. His eyes rolled back in his head and he reached for her, as his skin caught fire. "Jordyn," he gasped. "Don't abandon me."
"He's too weak to withstand the sun," Skye said, her voice cold, but heavy with emotional pain she couldn't hide, because David had been her savior as well as Jordyn's when they were kids. "He'll die from it."
An overwhelming sense of loss filled Jordyn as Eric wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the shield of his body. She leaned back against his warmth, tears flowing down her cheeks as she watched the man she'd loved so dearly writhe and twist in the sun. "I'm not abandoning you, David," she told him, her fingers burning from the stake she'd thrown at him. "I'm giving you back your freedom from the hate that's destroying your soul."
David caught fire as Eric's arms tightened around her. He drew her back into the shadows as the man who had once been her rock turned to ash and drifted away on the evening breeze.
With David's attempt to murder her, the cycle was complete. Every man she'd trusted had betrayed her.
Every man, except one, the man who had taught her what true love really meant.
***
Jordyn paced restlessly outside her grandmother's old shack. It was past dark, and she was antsy. Eric had taken Tristan to ground somewhere in the depths of the swamp after they'd left the mansion, and he hadn't returned. He'd touched base with her mentally a few times, but it wasn't enough. She needed him to be with her. Badly.
Skye looked up from where she was sorting bottles of powders. "You need to relax, girl. He'll be here."
"It's been three days." She rubbed her arms, unable to shed the anxiety growing in her body. She felt as if a part of her was missing, stripped from her. "I'm not a patient person."
Skye laughed. "Maybe you should think about letting him turn you into a vampire, so you can go bury yourself in the earth with him."
Jordyn glanced sharply at her. "What? I could do that?"
Skye's smile faded. "You don't want to consider that, Jordyn. There's no way to predict how you'll react. David—"
"I know what happened to him." She sat down and hugged her knees to her chest. Her muscles were shaky, and she felt restless, unable to sit still. "I know he was a good man. He was my best friend."
Skye sat down next to her. "Jordyn, he was evil before he was turned into a vampire. The conversion didn't change him. He was that person all on his own."
Jordyn rested her chin on her knees, rocking back and forth as she digested that information. He had tried to kill her. There was no way to deny it. Whatever had happened to him had changed him irrevocably. "He was no longer the person I grew up with," she acknowledged. "There was nothing left of the David I knew." She picked up an old bone from one of her grandmother's long-abandoned altars, running her finger along the smooth surface. Talking about David helped distract her from Eric, but he was still in the back of her mind, her need for him radiating through her like a hunger that couldn't be sated. She hadn't slept since he'd left. Night had been the worst, when the grief of their separation weighed down on her so heavily. Even now, with dusk not quite here, the loneliness was sinking its claws into her. "Do you know what happened to David that made him change?"
Skye shook her head. "He was like that when I came back six months ago. I don't know what happened. I'm still trying to figure things out. Richard and I were—" She stopped, her voice breaking again.
Jordyn glanced at her. "Were you and Richard a couple?" Skye hadn't spoken of Richard since David's death, and she'd changed the subject every time Jordyn had mentioned it.
She shrugged. "I miss him," she said simply.
Jordyn nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Me, too." Skye was quiet for a moment, spinning one of Oba's gris-gris bags in her hand. "I have to tell you something," she said softly.
Jordyn glanced at her, alarmed by the edge in her friend's tone. "What?"
"I'm not sure he's dead."
Jordyn frowned. "Richard?"
Skye laughed softly. "I wish. No, I'm talking about David. Some of his vials were missing this morning. I know where I put them last night when I was sorting through his stuff, but this morning, they were gone."
Dread crept down her spine as she recalled the feeling of that stake coming toward her. "But we saw him burn up."
"I know. The logical explanation is that someone who was aligned with him is seeking to continue his mission." She hesitated. "But my gut tells me that something was off about what happened at the mansion. I'm not sure what. I've just..." She fisted the bag with sudden determination, and looked at Jordyn. "I've seen a lot of things since I started working with David, and having him affected by the sun wasn't one of them."
"But aren't all vampires affected?" But even as she asked it, she thought of Eric, who hadn't been touched by it since they'd used the rings. Eric. I need you. How are you? How is Tristan?
There was no re
ply, and she pressed her palm to her chest. The gold ring burned in her heart, easing some of the anguish.
"On some level, yes, but it varies." Skye chewed her lower lip. "I just have a feeling this isn't over, Jordyn."
Jordyn took a deep breath. "Of course it isn't over. It's just starting. Whether David's alive or not, there are still vampires out there killing people, and NightHunters who are on our side, and others who aren't." She swept her hand across the swamp, where the murky water was sitting in ominous stillness. "But I'm ready."
Skye grinned. "Me, too, girl." She hopped to her feet and picked up a jar. "I'm going to go experiment with this one." Her smile faded. "Tristan needs more than the earth. I need to find a way to help him, or he's going to be in trouble. He's too close to the edge to handle it on his own."
Jordyn stood up, eager for a distraction from her thoughts about Eric. "I'll help—"
"No." Skye shook her head. "I've got this. You keep searching your grandmother's stuff. The woman was a legend. She must have more information somewhere." She paused. "I'm glad you're back, Jordyn, and I'm really pleased that you believe that not all vampires deserve to die."
"Of course they don't." She met her friend's gaze. "But some do, don't they?"
Skye nodded. "Yes, they do." She paused, assessing Jordyn. "Are you okay? You want me to stay?"
"No, Tristan needs your help. You can go. I'll keep going through my grandmother's things. I'll find something." She put her hand over her heart again, needing that contact with Eric.
Skye smiled. "Okay. See you later."
"Good luck with David's lab." Jordyn hugged herself as she watched Skye disappear down the path leading to the house. Her friend moved with a grace that she didn't remember. Skye, like David, was more than she seemed, and more than she had once been.
David. She turned to look out across the swamp, glittering beneath the night stars. "If you're out there, David," she said to the night. "Find your way back to who you once were. We need you." As she said it, she couldn't suppress the whisper in her mind that if David was alive, he knew all her secrets. He could target her in a way no one else could. How much had he stolen of Oba's knowledge? Enough. With great sadness, she realized that as much as a part of her wanted him to still be alive and able to come back to her, she knew that in truth, she had to hope with every fiber of her being that he was well and truly gone forever.
Not Quite Dead (A NightHunter Novel) Page 32