“False alarm.” I snagged the notebook and slid it into my jacket while her back was turned. “Ready to find Cain?”
Mimi turned to me, and jumped up and down while clapping. “Oh, can we? Yes, lets.”
She busted out of the lab as if there wouldn’t be vampires lurking about. I felt the book under my jacket, hoping that hidden within the pages were clues to the mystery I was searching for.
Taking our time, we peered around the corner of the main hall, when the elevator dinged.
“Hide!” Mimi whispered-yelled and ducked into the first cubical.
I knelt down and hid under a table. The detective stepped into the hall, holding a crossbow armed with stakes. My mouth fell open. He looked left and right.
“Who is it?” Mimi mouthed.
When I looked again, he was gone. I put my finger to my lips, too afraid he’d hear me if I spoke. Vampires or not, I figured he’d shoot first, and take names later.
“No, please don’t!” I heard a guy beg after something clattered to the floor. Was that Julia’s brother, Luke?
At the high-pitched squeal, my blood chilled. Bolting around the corner, I skidded to a stop and froze. Just beyond, the detective stood towering over a girl. Flames crawled over her outstretched arms before she was engulfed into flames and crumpled to the floor. At his feet lay Julia, unconscious, and his bow was trained on her.
“NO!” I yelled, running to stop him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JULIA
“Julia? Julia!”
Someone shook my shoulders. I sucked in a startled breath and opened my eyes. Phil’s smile brightened my view as he tucked something in his pocket. “Phil?”
He grabbed his chest and sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God.”
I jerked upright and fell over, my limbs weak like spaghetti. My entire body shook, though I wasn’t cold. “Did we start over? Why are you here?”
“Start over?”
I touched my mouth looking for fangs. The left canine pierced my fingertip. “No! It can’t be. I died.”
The same dingy walls surrounded me, choking me. We hadn’t started over like when I’d killed Cain. We were still here, still in the middle of the nightmare. I clutched at my neck, gasping for air though I technically didn’t need to breathe.
“Whoa there, Parker. Take your time. I have no idea how long you’ve been out.”
The odor of singed vampire flooded my nose, and I canvased the dusty scene. Several piles of ash littered the floor. Mimi stood over the one I knew used to be Alora. In her hands was Alora’s talisman.
“Put that down,” I hissed.
It tumbled free from her fingers and sunk into the ash, not making a sound.
Then I remembered Nicholas.
“Oh no…” Rolling to my knees, I crawled toward the net. The stake he’d used to kill himself lay neatly in the middle of his ashes, surrounded by his glittering perfect teeth.
“No!” I shrieked, reaching forward, afraid to touch what was left of his body.
Phil knelt down next to me and put his arm over my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“He did it,” I mumbled. “Sacrificed himself to save… Luke!” I scanned the room for my older brother. “Where is he?”
“I’m right here.” Luke limped over, his eyes wide. He still had huge gashes in his neck where Alora had pierced him with her talons. “I think.”
I stood and hugged him. “What happened?”
“Alora put that stuff in your neck, and I thought you were dead. Then Nicholas stabbed himself—” Suddenly a splitting headache hit and the scene changed before my eyes. The vision showed Alora standing over my unconscious body as she clutched her necklace and stared downward at the flames consuming Nicholas and all the other vamps in the room.
“No,” she called out, reaching for him. “Hold on, Son! Hold on!”
She pulled the wooden knife from her cleavage, and snatched up my limp arm, slicing into it. Blood dripped off of me, pouring onto the ground.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!”
She tugged me, dragging me across the floor toward him when a cat-like scream filled the air.
Black fur blurred past, leaving a jagged hole and blood in its path across Alora’s back. She dropped my body and swiveled around.
“You!” she cried, morphing into a black cat herself.
The two tumbled and screeched in a black ball of terror, clawing and biting. Piles of fur fluffed into the air following them. Then one pinned the other on her back.
Simultaneously they morphed into women. Alora straddled Scarlett’s small frame, pinning her arms to her sides.
“I win!” Alora seethed. “Neither you or anyone else can overpower me. Not even your seer.”
“Your over confidence will be your undoing,” Scarlett said while out of breath.
“My confidence has brought me to this place.”
“Is that smoke coming from your breasts?”
Startled, Alora sat up and checked her skin. When nothing was smoldering, she sneered at Scarlett and dragged her hand over the talisman, petting it. “I will find your little seer and I will exploit her while you burn in hell, witch!”
Hatefully, Alora reached forward and began to choke Scarlett’s neck. Trapped inside the vision, I willed Luke to do something, to stop her. Instead, he crawled over to me and shook my shoulders.
“Julia, wake up. Please.”
Then there was a pop and a shriek. Luke turned just in time to duck out of the way of Alora’s flaming body as it flew across the room. With a soft shush, she collapsed into the wall and crumbled to the floor in a smoking heap.
“I told you you couldn’t break the rules.” Scarlett dusted off her hands and straightened her singed dress. She picked up the dagger off the floor and walked forward.
Luke held out his hands, eyeing Scarlett in fear. “No! Don’t!”
Then the vision faded.
Luke’s face came into focus. “Then the whole room of vamps was in flames, except that one.”
He pointed to the ashes on the ground next to where I was just laying a moment ago. I stared at the spot, the spot Scarlett was standing in in the vision and full-body shivered.
“Did you kill her?” I asked my brother.
“I did it,” a husky voice said from the doorway.
I swiveled around, my eyes meeting Harry’s.
“She was standing over you with a stake in her hand. Sucks she was just a girl, but I knew what she was. I had no choice.” Harry walked over with a crossbow slung over his shoulder. He lowered his head. “I didn’t find Nicky anywhere. Tell me I wasn’t too late.”
My body trembled as my mouth parched, reminded all over again that Nicholas was in fact dead. My small voice trembled as something pricked in my eyes. “He took his life to save my brother’s.”
Harry bowed his head. “My dear boy.”
He bent over and reached forward. I slapped his hand away. “Don’t you dare touch him! You can’t have his teeth!”
“I don’t want the teeth…” He let out a long sigh and wiped off a tear. “I just… I can’t believe it.”
I looked away and glared at the ashes, angered at what happened, at what he did. “If he would have just…” waited.
Who was I kidding? There wasn’t time to wait, otherwise, I would have lost Luke. Now, when I needed the ritual the most, the only person who knew about it was dead. A sob lodged in my throat, and I wanted everyone to leave me alone.
“You’re bleeding!” Luke pointed to my face.
I wiped the blood off with my fingertips and looked at my hands. Seems fitting I’d cry real blood. My weakness caused this, my greed, and mostly my inability to listen to reason. I dropped to the floor and hovered my hands over the ashes, wishing my love for him would bring him back.
“Why?” My body convulsed, unable to hold in the sobs anymore.
He was suffering in hell and there was nothing I could do to save him. The
bloody tears continued to pour from my eyes, but I didn’t care. I’d live forever with the guilt of what I’d done to Nicholas and Sam.
“Let’s go,” I heard Phil whisper to Luke. The door closed softly behind them.
My body shook as I knelt over Nicholas’ ashes sobbing. “I’m so sorry, Nicholas. This is my fault. I’m so sorry.”
The stake he’d murdered himself with brushed against my fingertips, and I wished I could take his place. I lifted the stake and rolled it in my palm. Maybe Scarlett was right. Maybe there’d be forgiveness on the other side if I ended the evil, if I ended me.
I unbuttoned the coat and pressed the hilt into my skin, feeling the wood pierce me. Raw pain distracted me from the hurt writhing inside me, and I welcomed it. I closed my eyes and pushed harder, wanting to draw out the pain as long as possible. The hot blood gushed over my chest and down my legs. Fire began to burn at the edges of the stake where it touched my heart. I would end it, but I wouldn’t be quick.
Something on the ground crackled, like that of a fire, but I didn’t look. I deserved this pain. I deserved to die slowly.
Heat pressed into my face, growing with each second. I opened my eyes, annoyed with the distraction, and looked down. Inside the puddle of blood, flames erupted, boiling the liquid.
I backed away as the ash and teeth began to swirl in a vortex. The air pulled harder as the whirlwind grew in power, swirling and churning. I backed away, feeling it yank me forward. Was this the end? Was the basement going to collapse like it had when I was in the cave?
I opened my arms wide, welcoming it, hoping to start over, when the wind stopped.
“Julia?”
I refused to open my eyes, knowing my mind tricked me. It couldn’t be the sound of his glorious voice. I had to be dreaming.
“Julia,” Nicholas said again, his voice raspy.
Unable to stop myself, I opened my eyes in hope. Lying naked on the floor, covered in ash and blood, Nicholas lay on the floor, whole and unbroken. He lifted his hand to me. “Please tell me it’s you.”
I dove forward, ready to crush him in my arms, when he gripped my shoulder and held me up.
“Are you crazy?” With his other hand, he yanked out the stake lodged in my chest and tossed it across the room. “What are you doing?”
Speechless, I blinked at him in astonishment. Here he was, back from the dead, and I almost ruined it by accidentally stabbing myself. “I don’t know …”
He cracked a weak smile and touched my face. “Well don’t ruin this before I can touch you again.”
I collapsed into his arms. “How did you get back? How did this happen?”
“I don’t know… one minute I was…” He trailed off and glanced around the room. Wherever he was, it didn’t sound horrible. “I’m here, I guess. Home.”
I ran my fingers over his face, over his lips and stubbly skin. I couldn’t fathom asking him about what hell was like. My eyes drifted downward, catching a full view of his manhood. Then they darted away.
“Oops… sorry.” Biting my lip, my cheeks heated.
“Looks like I’m having trouble keep my clothes on, too.”
I giggled and looked around the room, spotting the poncho. I handed it to him. “We’ll find you something better upstairs.”
“Nicky?” Harry asked from the opened door. “Is that you?”
Nicholas sat up, and turned toward the stranger’s voice. “Harry?”
“Oh, my boy!” Harry ran into the room and pulled Nicholas to his feet, hugging him like he were his own son.
“How’d you get…?” Nicholas trailed off.
“I didn’t know about any of this shit until yesterday, but… hey, I’m here and I can see. And…” He stopped and looked at the two of us, perplexed. “I probably should let you two talk things out first, shouldn’t I?”
I shrugged. Yes, we had a lot of things to talk about, but we also had a cage full of vampires that I had no clue what to do with.
Nicholas’ gaze landed where his mother once stood. He reached over and pulled the talisman out of the ashes. We both stared at it.
“You should have it,” he said quickly, holding it out to me.
“Oh, no,” I shook my head. “You should.”
“I’m no good if you’re dead.” He cracked another smile.
“We can make more,” Phil said from the doorway. He held up a notebook. “We just need the seer’s blood.”
“What?” I asked.
“Ying and yang, good and evil mojo kind of stuff.” Phil shrugged. Then he gave me a pointed look. “Nice of you to tell me you knew the ritual.”
“Oh, right. Sam!” I slapped my forehead and looked around frantic, trying to place what we needed exactly. “I just accidentally figured it out, but Alora said something about needing Katie’s blood.”
We all stared at her pile in the corner, and I regretted bringing up her name.
Phil stepped forward with a frown. “Blood or not, Mimi says we need the teeth and ashes. You took the teeth. I saw you.”
I sucked in a breath. They were in my locker at school. Maybe that would be enough.
“Tell me you have her teeth at least,” Phil said tersely.
“I do.” I marched from the room, trying not to think of all the piles of ash that littered the hall. “And my shirt… maybe there’s ashes on the fabric.”
“What?” Phil grabbed my arm and swung me around.
“I might have enough on my clothes. I took them off because they stank of her.”
“Then get them. Now!”
“Okay.” I held up my hands in surrender. “Give me a second.”
“We don’t have a second.”
Nicholas walked past, and gave Phil a dirty look. The poncho, wrapped around his waist, barely covered his ass. “I’m going to get something to wear.”
“That would be good.” Phil smirked.
“Stop it,” I said before Nicholas could respond. “We don’t have time to argue.”
I looked down at the dingy coat covered in ash and blood, wondering if I should change, too.
“Julia.” Phil moved closer to me. “Just hurry.”
“Okay.” I joined Nicholas in the elevator. As the doors slid closed, he clasped my hand in his and squeezed.
“I’m sorry…” I started to say.
He turned to me and grabbed me, laying his lips on mine, hard and wanting. His kiss sent rockets roaring through my stomach. He quit abruptly and stared down at me. “If you ever kiss him again, we’re through. Do you hear me?”
I nodded sheepishly, before he laid another on my lips. This time it was even better, and if it wasn’t a life and death rescue mission for my best friend, I doubted I would have let him change alone.
~|~
Within fifteen minutes, I returned to the basement with the ash-covered shirt and Sam’s teeth. The group faced off on either side of the hall, staring at one other. Nicholas stood next to Harry, wearing a heather grey T-shirt and jeans. My gaze traveled over his body, resting briefly on his beautiful smile and rugged features. Reincarnation looked good on him.
Phil, who bobbed his knee like a chain-smoker with a nic-fit, sat close to Luke and Mimi.
“So, how long have you been a vampire?” Luke asked.
Nicholas sighed, then his face lit up when he spotted me. He straightened. “Good. Let’s get on with this.”
I held out the shirt and the teeth. “I guess we need Katie’s blood, too.”
“Or not,” Nicholas said quickly. “We can try mine, then try yours.”
I sighed.
“Just do it!” Phil said, flapping his hands.
“Well, she’ll be naked, so…” I produced a robe. “I think we should do it in private.” Instantaneously, the guys’ heads in the room whipped around toward me. “Can we keep our hormones in check? Geez.”
After piling the shirt and teeth in the torture room, Nicholas slit his hand and dripped the blood onto the shirt. We waited, watching. Nothin
g happened. I followed with my blood afterward with the same results.
“Maybe they have to be tears,” I said softly.
Phil swiveled to me, his jaw clenched. “I highly doubt we’ll get any tears from Katie unless we burn her Louboutin’s.”
Mimi gasped. “No!”
“Let’s not freak out,” I said, holding up my hands. “We’ve got a plan B.”
“Freak out?” Phil slapped his hands at his side. “If you’ve forgotten, my girlfriend is in hell!”
Nicholas let out a long annoyed sigh.
Phil moved to him, getting in his face. “What? That’s not important to you?”
Nicholas shrugged. “I wasn’t in… hell.”
Phil blinked at him, astonished. “What?”
“I wasn’t heaven either. It was… nice.”
Phil threw up his hands and cussed, before he started pacing. “I don’t give a rat’s ass where you were. We have to bring her back.”
“Hey.” I stood between them. “It’s settled we’re bringing Sam back, but if that means Katie, too, then I need to subdue her with something,” I said firmly. “I’m not babysitting her for an eternity.”
“There’s more sleeping serum,” Mimi offered.
I turned around. “I might have said ‘sure’ if it worked.”
“It did work. We had to give you the antidote to wake you up,” Mimi produced a vial. “Believe me. Once she’s out, she’ll be out for centuries.”
I bit my lip, reminded of Slide’s silent plea. Could I bring him back, too? Katie was his sire.
“Fine. Get everything ready.”
After assembling everything we needed, I stood over Katie’s ashes and imagined how pissed she’d be once she woke up. I held a blanket in one hand and a net in another while Phil held the electric prod. Mimi stood off to the side with the syringe filled with sleeping serum.
I nodded to Nicholas. “Ready.”
He sliced his hand and squeezed his fist, dripping his blood over the ashes. Once again nothing happened.
“I knew this wouldn’t work,” Phil mumbled under his breath. “Dude, you have to want her to come back.”
Nicholas glared at him. “I don’t want her back, so you’re SOL, I guess.”
Blood Wars: Book 4 (The Talisman Series) Page 30