The Stone of the Eklektos

by Britney Jackson

  “Well, this makes me feel tons better about meeting him,” she muttered.

  “Obviously, he made quite a few enemies because of this,” he continued. “If vampires weren’t so afraid of him, and of Alana, of course, someone probably would have killed him long before the day I decided to go after him. Even I was hesitant to go after him, but I couldn’t ignore the number of people that he killed. Too many human women were dying. I had to do something to stop it.”

  “Who is Alana?” Rose interrupted.

  “She was his lover,” he answered. “I’ll get to her in a minute.”

  She nodded. “So, you decided to kill him?”

  “I didn’t see another way,” he said, shrugging. “When I found him, he was sitting on the hillside with two corpses lying in the grass behind him, two women that he’d killed earlier that night. I didn’t think I had a choice at that point. I couldn’t look at those women whose lives had been taken so soon and do nothing. I assumed that Erik was just like most vampires: evil and murderous. I thought we were all the same. I had yet to even accept that I was different.”

  She frowned. “But he was different?” she guessed.

  Kallias scowled at the memory. “He was weeping. I didn’t realize it at first, and when I did, it just confused me. He was a grown man, a monster, and he was weeping. I had been expecting a fight. I thought that there was a good chance that he might even kill me. I was starved, after all, and he’d fed…and fed again…and fed again… But he didn’t even fight. He knelt before me, like a criminal that had been sentenced. He told me to kill him, that he wanted to die.”

  She nodded in understanding. “And you couldn’t kill him like that.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I can’t kill anyone like that. It’s not who I am. Besides, I could hear his thoughts, and I realized that I’d been wrong in my assumptions about him. I had assumed that he was like Theron, that he tortured to gain power or because he was insane, that he murdered because he enjoyed killing them. But that wasn’t true. He did all of that because he had no choice.”

  “There is always a choice,” Rose argued.

  He glanced at her. “No, you don’t understand. You are making the same assumptions that I did. I don’t mean that he thought that he had no choice. I mean that he literally had no choice. He was under the control of a telepath.”

  “A telepath?” she repeated. “There is someone else like you?”

  He scowled. “Please don’t compare me to Alana.”

  “Alana,” she said, nodding. “His girlfriend. She is a telepath?”

  “Was,” he corrected. “She’s dead now. But yes, Alana was a telepath, and Erik loved her. She was the vampire that turned him. She controlled him.”

  Rose was horrified. “His girlfriend forced him to do those things?”

  He shrugged. “There is much about Alana that even I do not understand. I know that despite the fact that she controlled Erik and forced him to do her bidding, Erik still sympathized with her. He still loved her. He told me that he understood why she did what she did. He understood her problems, her pain. The curse of being an empath, I suppose. Anyway, I have never actually enjoyed killing. I enjoy fighting but not killing. If I can find a way around it, I take it.”

  “And you did?” Rose assumed.

  “I am a telepath, just like Alana. All I needed to do was break her control over his free will, and then, he was free of her,” Kallias explained. “So, I did. And Erik didn’t even realize that it was possible to resist blood, so I taught him how. It took a while, but eventually, he completely weaned himself off of blood.”

  She grinned. “And then you married him and lived happily ever after.”

  He grimaced in disgust. “Now, what kind of person goes and says something like that?” he complained. “I’m going to have nightmares now.”

  Her head fell back against the leather seat as she laughed, her smile reaching every part of her face. Kallias caught himself glancing at her just to see that smile, to see the way it beautifully brightened her features. He clenched his jaw and shifted his gaze back to the road, frustrated by how much she affected him. He didn’t understand what she was doing to him.

  After a while, long after she’d stopped laughing, she said, “You’ve saved people: Erik, me, other humans… Yet, you still don’t see the good in yourself.”

  “Erik saved himself. I just gave him the chance to do it,” Kallias said uncomfortably. “And you… Well, you saved me, too, remember?”

  Rose snorted, “Not quite as gallantly.”

  He looked at her. “You helped a starved vampire, knowing that it could cost you your life. That seems courageous to me. Foolish…but also courageous.”

  She stared at him, her lips curling at the edges into a surprised smile.

  They turned sharply onto a roughly paved road that was so dark that even with the headlights illuminating the road ahead of them, Rose could still barely see. It had been growing increasingly darker for quite some time. The moon gleamed in the sky, peeking through the clouds and casting a blue glow over the surroundings, but a young forest lined each side of this particular road, creating a canopy of leaves over the car that blocked the light of the moon. The road curved between the trees, swerving and winding through the dark woods.

  “Well, this looks like a nice place…to be murdered,” she muttered dryly.

  He chuckled, “It looks ominous, I know, but believe it or not, it’s safer within these woods than it is in the urban areas. The plant and animal life in these woods will mask your scent. Theron will have a harder time tracking you here.”

  “I bet that’s what you tell all the girls before you murder them,” she said.

  Kallias laughed, amused by her strange sense of humor. The trees began to veer farther away from each other as the woods gave way to an opening of grass. At first, Rose could see nothing but grass and the paved road in front of them, but then, as the car slowed to a stop between a black motorcycle and a red car, the headlights illuminated a two-story stone house directly in front of them.

  “That’s your house?” she asked. When he nodded, she said, “It’s big.”

  His lips twitched. “I suppose so.”

  From the white light cast by the headlights of the car, she could see that the house was made up of a combination of dark gray and light gray stones with an oversized, darkly-stained wooden front door. Rose vaguely recognized the style. It looked similar to many of the historical homes from the 1700s and 1800s, but something seemed different about this home. It looked very strange.

  She laughed when she realized what it was. “No windows?”

  “Sunlight kills me, so it’s safer without them,” he said, shrugging.

  “But your house looks freaking weird without windows,” she laughed.

  He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get inside.”

  Rose nodded, but as she turned, she noticed the gleam of the red car outside her window. She scowled as she noticed its flattened, sleek style. “Oh, for goodness sakes, please tell me that’s not a Ferrari,” she complained, grimacing.

  He pulled the keys from the ignition. “I told you that Erik’s car makes mine look practical,” he laughed. He opened his door and climbed out of the car.

  The driver’s door closed with a thud, and the light cut off. Rose froze, blinking at the darkness. She heard the trunk open and bags shifting. She reached out, blindly grasping for her door handle, but before she could find it, the door suddenly opened, nearly causing her to fall out sideways into the grass. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, steadying her. It was Kallias’s hand. She recognized his touch somehow, as if her skin had memorized the grooves of his hand.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you still in the car?” he asked impatiently.

  She glared blindly into the darkness, not sure whether she was actually glaring at him or at a random tree or bush. “I can’t see, genius,” she said irritably.

  Kallias glanced around, noticing for the
first time that there was no light outside whatsoever, no light from the moon and stars, no light from the car, and no light from the windowless house. “Oh,” he mumbled. He reached into the car and grasped her wrist. He helped her out of the car. “Come on. There you go.”

  Rose started walking toward where she remembered seeing the house.

  “There’s a car there,” he said at the exact same moment she ran into it.

  “Dang it,” she grunted as she stumbled back. She might have fallen on the ground if Kallias had not been right behind her. His hands came up to grasp her elbows as her back crashed against his chest, her butt against his legs. She shivered as his breath fell against her ear. “How did the stupid car get in the way?”

  “It wasn’t the car’s fault. It didn’t move. You’re the one who decided to venture off by yourself,” Kallias chuckled, his words vibrating against her ear. He placed her back on her feet. He took her by the arm. “Come on. I’ll help you.”

  “Great. I can’t even walk without your help,” she complained.

  He laughed, and she shivered as his breath tickled her ear. He led her through the grass, his body brushing against hers. “I could just carry you.”

  “Oh, yeah, that would be much more dignifying,” she snarled.

  “Step up,” he warned, his voice so close to her ear that it startled her.

  His hands pressed against both of her arms, his body behind hers, as he guided her up the steps. Despite the cool, crisp air, she felt overheated because of their combined body heat. Well, she was blaming it on the body heat, anyway. There may or may not have been other things making her feel overheated.

  “Why don’t you have porch lights?” she complained.

  “Porch?” he repeated with a scowl, as if she were speaking another language. Then, he nodded. “Oh, like a veranda? Yeah. I don’t have one of those.”

  “And no lights either, apparently,” she added bitterly.

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry. There are lights inside.”

  “I sure hope so,” she muttered. “I don’t want to fall into any coffins.”

  Kallias snorted at her. She felt his hand tighten around her arm as he pulled her to a stop before she could run into the door. He lifted her hand and placed it on the doorknob. “There is the door. Go on inside, and I’ll get the bags.”

  As soon as he left her, she suddenly felt the cold chill in the air and the unease of the darkness. She decided that she should hurry inside. She turned the doorknob and stepped inside, the hardwood floors clunking beneath her tennis shoes. She sighed in relief when she saw that there were lights. The soft golden glow of torch-like lamps along the wall illuminated the foyer. Her gaze settled first upon the plain walls that lacked posters or pictures or personalization.

  But then, as she scanned the foyer, her eyes settled upon the stairs, a steep set of stairs that were made of thick, dark hardwood. Her eyes widened as she saw what was lying on top of those stairs…

  Rose screamed and ran, slamming the door behind her.

  18

  The Lost Cause

  Almost as soon as she slammed the door closed, she felt Kallias suddenly beside her again. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly. His hands skimmed her arms and her neck as he searched for injuries. When she felt his hands near her chest, she brushed them aside, glaring in his general direction. He froze, scowling at her. “What happened? You screamed.”

  She just stood there, blinking in the total darkness.

  He shook her. “Rose! Tell me what’s wrong!”

  “I just saw something I didn’t want to see. That’s all,” she mumbled.

  “What do you mean that’s all?” he snarled. “I thought something had happened to you. You didn’t even scream like that when Theron tried to kill you.”

  “Something did happen!” she said. “My eyes are scarred for life now!”

  “What the hell are you…” he trailed off, blinking at the door. Then, as he understood, he suddenly threw his head back and started laughing hysterically.

  Rose glared at him as she impatiently waited for him to finish laughing. Well, actually, she was glaring at a large pine tree ten feet to his right, but Kallias assumed that the glare was meant for him. “Why are you laughing?” she snapped.

  He grinned, choking back another fit of laughter. “I see you met Erik.”

  She blanched. She heard Kallias turn the doorknob only a moment before the golden light from the house flooded the steps outside. She scrambled after him as he stepped inside. “Wait! You really don’t want to go in there right now…” she trailed off as she stopped just inside the doorway, blinking in shock.

  A man stood at the bottom of the stairs, pulling on a pair of black leather pants. The black clothing contrasted starkly with his fair skin. He looked to be a couple of inches shorter than Kallias, which meant that he would still tower over most people. His shoulders and hips were narrow, but his muscles were perfectly defined, despite his slender frame. A large, intricate dragon tattoo covered his torso, starting near his right collarbone and ending near his left hip. It was a standard European dragon, winged and standing on four legs. The dragon was solid black with electric blue eyes, and it breathed blue flames. His hair fell messily around his face in thick blonde waves, obscuring his bright green eyes. Like all vampires, the man looked eerily perfect, as if he’d been painted or sculpted.

  “There was a woman. A naked woman. They were naked,” Rose stated.

  “Oh, did you want to see her again? Naked?” asked a lilting voice.

  Rose recognized that strangely accented voice from their awkward phone conversation. She scowled at the blonde vampire. One corner of his lips curved upward into a teasing smirk, and his bright green eyes studied her, sparkling with amusement. “No. That’s not at all what I was asking,” she muttered, frowning.

  “She is in an upstairs bathroom, probably cleaning up,” Kallias answered absently, as if it were totally normal for him to know that. He sighed at the blonde vampire. “The stairs, Erik? You have a bedroom…with a door…that locks.”

  Erik shrugged. “We were headed there. We just didn’t make it that far.”

  Kallias rolled his eyes, as if he’d heard that answer before.

  “Besides, having sex in the bed gets boring after a while,” Erik continued as he snatched his discarded black shirt off of the wooden stairway railing.

  “It’s never boring if you do it right,” Kallias muttered.

  “Says the guy who hasn’t brought a woman home in decades,” Erik said.

  Rose scowled at them. “Are you two really bickering about sex?”

  The two vampires fell silent and looked at her, their expressions blank. Rose nearly laughed because the sight reminded her of two dejected children who had just been scolded by their mother for fighting over a box of cereal.

  Erik flashed Rose a charming smile, no doubt the same smile he used on every single woman he encountered. “You must be Kallias’s lover. Rose, isn’t it?”

  She stared blankly at him. “No, I must not be his lover…since you know, there’s no actual reason for you to assume that I am,” she corrected sassily. “Also, I think the term that most people use in this time period is girlfriend.”

  Erik threw his head back and laughed loudly. “I like you already.”

  Rose shot Kallias a worried, questioning look.

  Kallias leaned toward her and explained, “Erik has this thing for spunky women. So, when you sass him, you’re basically just encouraging him.”

  “Crap,” Rose muttered.

  Erik stepped forward and extended his hand. “I am Erik Olafsson. It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, his voice lilting and soft, with practiced courtesy.

  Rose stared down at his proffered hand, her eyes widening in horror as she realized that he intended for her to shake hands with him. “I am not touching that hand,” she informed him with a grimace. “I don’t know where it’s been.”

  Erik glanced do
wn at his hand and nodded. “Fair point.”

  “I think the problem is that you do know where it’s been,” Kallias teased.

  Rose covered her ears. “Ugh! No! I’m trying to forget what I saw!”

  Erik frowned at her. “What’s the big deal? It was just sex, and we were practically finished anyway. Well, I was finished. She was still…well, you saw.”

  Rose glared at Erik who, unlike Kallias, actually looked taken aback by her outrage. “What do you mean by just sex?” she exclaimed. “Sex is a big deal!”

  His green eyes studied her curiously. “You’re a virgin.”

  Rose glared at Kallias. “You told him?”

  Kallias winced at her mistake. “No.”

  “It was just a guess,” Erik said, grinning. “But thank you for confirming.”

  Her face reddened. “Crap,” she said again.

  “How can you be a virgin at your age?” Erik asked incredulously.

  “At my age?” she repeated, her tone clipped. Her eyes narrowed at the obnoxious, blonde vampire. “I’m twenty-three years old, not eighty!”

  Erik shrugged. “Twenty-three is pretty old. I was two years younger than you when I died, and I had already slept with hundreds of women by then.”

  “You realize you’re not really the standard of normal, right?” Kallias said.

  “My sex life is none of your business,” Rose snapped.

  Erik snorted, “Don’t you mean your lack of sex life?”

  “Either way, it’s none of your business,” she said between clenched teeth.

  Erik took her completely by surprise when he suddenly leaned in and sniffed her, as if she were a candle or some kind of scratch-and-sniff sticker.

  She pulled back. “What are you doing?!”

  “You’ve never been attacked by a vampire before?” he asked, frowning as if he found that difficult to believe. “Before Theron attacked you, I mean.”

  “No,” she said slowly, her brows furrowed. “Why?”

  He stared at her, his eyes darkening. “Because your blood is appealing.”