Erik caught the vampire and beheaded him with one quick swipe of his dagger. Rose grimaced and turned her head to the side as the vampire’s sticky blood sprayed across her face. The severed head fell to the ground with a thud before Erik finally dropped the body. He knelt and placed his boot against the severed head to hold it still as he pulled her dagger out of the side of the vampire’s head. He held the dagger out toward her. Dark crimson blood coated the blade.
“You did good,” Erik told her.
Rose reluctantly took the dagger from him, her eyes wide as she stared at the thick blood that coated the blade. Her gaze darted back toward the body that lay on the ground in two pieces. The blood on the pavement mixed with the rain, sinking into the pavement in patches of black. “Thanks,” she said hollowly.
“Are you all right?” Erik asked, raising an eyebrow.
She wiped her hand across her face, attempting to wipe off the mix of blood and water that left her skin feeling sticky and dirty. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“If you need to puke, hurry. They would’ve heard the gunshots,” he said.
“I said I’m fine,” Rose grumbled. “Wait. Why did you just say they?”
Erik closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “The vampires inside.”
“There are vampires inside?” she sighed worriedly.
He opened his eyes. “A lot of them. There are too many scents for me to discern, but I would guess somewhere between ten and one hundred.”
“That’s a narrow window,” Rose muttered sarcastically.
Erik lifted his dagger to his mouth and licked the blood off of the blade, as if it were the most normal reaction in the world. He groaned softly at the taste.
Rose grimaced. “Okay, I can handle the beheading, but that is just weird.”
He licked his lips, and his green eyes seemed dark now, dilated and flashing with hunger, as he looked at her. He tilted his head, his gaze on her neck.
Rose instinctually covered her neck with her hand. “Are you all right?”
He blinked. “Yeah. Sure. Just hungry,” he said nonchalantly.
She followed him as he dragged the vampire’s dismembered body toward the end of the alley. “Yeah, Rose, I’m fine. I’m just thinking about killing you. No big deal,” she mocked, lowering her voice and adopting an accent to mimic his.
He snorted, “My voice isn’t that low. And you screwed up my accent. I’m Norse, not British. I lived in Britain for a while, but I don’t sound like that.”
“Well, since no one alive—well, no human, anyway—knows exactly what kind of accent Vikings had, you can’t expect me to get that part right,” she said.
Erik rounded the corner of the alley, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he dragged the body. He stopped behind one of the block buildings and dropped the body near another vampire’s corpse. A flickering streetlight illuminated the small area behind the building. He turned toward her and said something in his language, a smile tugging at his lips. The unintelligible words lilted melodically. His accent sounded thicker than it did when he spoke English.
She scowled at him. “Was I supposed to understand that?”
He grinned. “I said, ‘This was our accent.’ I also said, ‘Nice breasts.’”
Her eyes narrowed. “I regret even asking.”
“Well, they would be nice,” he amended as he opened the door to the abandoned building, “if you wore clothes that actually let us see them.”
“There are no words to describe how much of a jerk you are,” she said.
“Bacraut,” Erik said, speaking another word that she didn’t understand. He tossed one of the bodies inside the building and added, “That word does.”
“Don’t you have to burn the bodies or something?” Rose asked quietly.
“We don’t have enough time,” he said. “Are you ready to go inside?”
She glanced at the wide-open door. “Why haven’t they attacked us yet?”
“I don’t know,” Erik admitted. “But it is probably not a good sign.”
She swallowed. “Do you smell…” she trailed off. “Is Kallias inside?”
His entire body seemed to tighten at that question. “Yes, I think so.”
She frowned, noticing his uneasiness. “What are you not telling me?”
Erik looked at her. “I smell his blood,” he said reluctantly. “A lot of it.”
“Oh,” Rose said. Her heart raced, and her stomach twisted with dread.
“Hey,” Erik said as he took a step toward her. He placed his hands on her face, calming her with his abilities. “We will save him. I promise. All right?”
She nodded as her pulse began to slow. “We have to.”
Erik nodded in agreement and stepped back. He opened the door of the building again, and then, he motioned with a tilt of his head for her to go inside.
Rose stepped into the cold, block building. Her stomach turned as the stench of death filled her lungs. Outside the building, in the downpour, the scent had barely been noticeable, but inside, it was sickening. The room was so dark that she could barely see in front of her, and when Erik closed the door, she could no longer see at all. She shoved her hand into her pocket and grabbed the phone.
“Rose,” Erik warned, his voice still behind her. “Don’t look.”
Ignoring his warning, Rose snatched out the phone and turned on the phone’s flashlight. When she held it out in front of her, she gasped at the terrifying sight. Her eyes widened in horror, and her stomach lurched. “Erik?!”
“Yeah, I know,” he said sadly. He stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm her. “Just…try not to look at them, okay?”
She did try, but the eyes can be cruel when it comes to truly horrific things. Rather than sparing you from the trauma of the situation, they seem to focus on it, and you feel unable to tear your eyes away. But, then again, Rose thought, maybe it’s better to see it…because you don’t feel if you don’t see it.
Erik’s boots echoed on the concrete floor as he stepped past her, making his way over to the pile of corpses on the floor, discarded like trash. He knelt in front of them, pushing them off of each other. “They tied their hands,” he realized, his voice no more than a soft growl. “There was no point in that.”
Rose tried to force her feet to move forward, but she couldn’t.
Erik ripped the rope off of their hands, even though it did no good now. “Fucking monsters. They enjoy scaring people? Well, I’ll show them what…”
“You will show us what?” asked a low, eerie voice.
Erik stood and turned toward the voice, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Rose followed his gaze and shined the flashlight in that direction so that she could see. Across the room, a door stood open, leading into another dark room, and in front of that door, a man stood. The man crossed his arms, and his large muscles bulged under his sleeves. His dark clothing blended with the color of his skin, causing the flash of white fangs to look even more distinct in the darkness.
He covered his face with his hand. “Turn off that light, bitch.”
“Why does everyone have to resort to that word?” Rose complained.
“Who are you?” Erik asked the vampire, his tone dark and low.
“I am Darius,” he said with a slight smile. “And you are Erik Olafsson.”
Erik frowned. “How do you know who I am?”
“Everyone knows of Erik Olafsson, the fearsome lapdog of the infamous Alana,” the vampire mocked. “But people are saying that you’ve gone soft.”
Erik’s jaw tightened. “You should choose your next words wisely.”
“Honestly, I don’t think you’re that scary,” the vampire continued. “You’re always hiding behind someone. Alana. Kallias. And now, who is this human woman? Bringing her wasn’t a wise choice. How could she possibly help?”
Erik shrugged. “I don’t know. I think she could kick your ass.”
“Kallias,” Rose repeated in surprise. “You know
Kallias. Where is he?”
Darius looked at her and smiled. “Dead. Just like you.”
The vampire moved across the room so rapidly that Rose didn’t realize he was coming toward her until he was already behind her, jerking her back against him. He held her immobile, one arm wrapped around her arms and chest. Rose cringed as she felt the prick of his two razor-sharp fangs against her neck.
“Why do you smell so powerful?” the vampire murmured.
Rose winced in anticipation, silently praying that he wouldn’t bite her.
“You’re her, aren’t you? The one Theron wants?” Darius asked worriedly.
Before Rose could answer, Erik jerked the vampire away from her with so much force that it caused her to fall face-first onto the concrete floor.
Erik shoved Darius to the ground and jumped on top of him to hold him still. But before he could shove the dagger into the vampire’s neck, the vampire overpowered him. He tossed Erik across the room, causing Erik to hit the wall with so much force that it cracked the block behind him and broke several bones.
Having dropped the phone, Rose grasped blindly on the floor, hoping her hand would connect with the dagger she’d dropped. But before she could find it, Darius shoved her back down onto the floor. She grunted in pain as her back hit the concrete. The vampire straddled her hips, and he wrapped his hands around her throat. Her head spun as he clutched her throat, cutting off her air supply. Her lungs ached for oxygen, and waves of tiredness swept over her.
“What scares you more?” the vampire mocked, a hint of satisfaction in his dark, cruel voice. “The possibility of me bearing down just a little harder and snapping your pretty little neck? Or the possibility of never breathing again?”
Her body had begun to feel weightless, and her eyelids felt heavy.
Erik pulled the vampire off of her and shoved him into the floor. He pointed his gun at the vampire, but before he could shoot, the vampire was back on his feet. Darius attacked Erik, shoving him into another wall. The gun hit the floor with a clang. Darius kicked Erik several times and then picked up a broken chunk of concrete and slammed it against the side of Erik’s head. Erik staggered and grasped his head as blood poured down the side of his face, matting his hair.
The vampire returned to Rose. He jumped on top of Rose again. He cried out as Rose suddenly shoved her dagger into his chest. She gripped the dagger with all of her strength and pulled it roughly out of his chest before plunging it into him again. But before she could stab him again, he growled and pinned her hands to the floor to stop her. The vampire groaned as blood poured from one of the holes in his chest, the dagger’s blade still stuck in the other.
“You’re going to pay for that, pretty girl,” the vampire sneered.
Darius bared his fangs and went for her throat. Rose managed to cover her neck with one of her hands as he briefly released them, and she cried out as his fangs sank deeply into her hand, instead. A cracking noise echoed through the room as his teeth ripped through her hand. His fangs ripped her skin even more violently as they came out of her hand. She whimpered at the pain and then blinked in shock as she realized why his fangs had left her hand. Erik held the vampire by the hair, the blade of his jagged dagger against the vampire’s throat.
“What are you waiting for? Get off of her,” Erik snarled.
The vampire stood slowly, holding his hands out on either side of him.
Erik reached around and jerked the silver dagger out of the vampire’s chest and tossed it on the floor beside Rose. The vampire slumped weakly as blood began to pour from the second wound. “Kneel,” Erik demanded harshly.
“What?” Darius said weakly. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it.”
“I will. But when and how I kill you is my decision, not yours,” Erik snarled. He sliced the vampire’s neck, but not deeply enough to sever his head from the body. Erik growled, enunciating each word, “On. The. Ground. Now.”
Darius crumbled to his knees, whimpering in pain. Erik walked around him, careful to keep the jagged blade of his dagger against the vampire’s throat.
Rose pulled herself to her knees, clutching her bleeding hand against her chest. She watched Erik warily, wondering why he hadn’t killed the vampire yet.
Erik’s eyes darkened with dangerous rage. “You like scaring people?”
The vampire stared up at him, his brown eyes widening. “Please. Don’t.”
“I am sure those humans begged as well, but you didn’t care,” Erik said.
“Please, it’s not like I killed them by myself. Please,” Darius sobbed.
Erik stared coldly at him. “I suppose I don’t care either.”
He placed his hand on the vampire’s shoulder and projected terror to the vampire. He didn’t hold back at all, and the force of the torturous emotion actually caused Erik to fall to his knees as well. Erik then dropped the dagger and braced both hands on the vampire’s face as he continued to unleash horrific fear.
Rose stared at them in horror. She’d never seen this side of Erik before.
Darius didn’t try to fight against Erik because he could no longer even think about fighting. His eyes widened in fear, and his skin looked ashen. He trembled violently. He opened his mouth and screamed the most blood-curdling scream that Rose had ever heard, so full of fear and desperation that it made her stumble back in shock. For a moment, she felt so afraid that she considered running. The vampire fell forward and clutched his chest as if he were in pain.
Erik still didn’t release him. “Vampires can have heart attacks, too.”
Rose realized that she actually felt terrified of Erik now. She had accepted the violence and killing because there hadn’t been any way around it, but this was too much, too terrifying. She pulled herself to her feet and forced her feet to move forward, rather than back, taking one hesitant step at a time toward Erik.
“Erik?” she called loudly, trying to speak over the vampire’s screams.
Erik didn’t even seem to notice. He just continued to torture Darius.
“Erik, I think you’ve made your point,” she said nervously.
Erik still didn’t seem to hear her. He was too absorbed in the emotions.
Rose glanced down at the floor as her shoe touched something. She noticed the black handgun at her feet. Erik’s gun. She knelt and picked it up hesitantly. She glanced back at the murderous vampire that now lay in the floor, sobbing, as Erik tortured him mercilessly, and she walked toward them.
She thought she saw relief pass through the vampire’s terrified eyes as she pressed the gun against the side of his head. She looked away before she pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the building so loudly that Rose jumped at the sound, even though she’d caused it. When she looked back at the vampire, he lay on the floor, unconscious, blood pooling beneath his head.
Rose turned hesitantly toward Erik, expecting to see that dark, deadly fury that had been in his green eyes a moment ago, but instead, his eyes looked blank. He just stared at her for several moments, blinking slowly, as if he were shocked.
“I had to stop you,” she explained. “I couldn’t watch you do that to him.”
Sadness pulled at the corners of his eyes. “I scared you,” he realized.
Rose nearly laughed at the understatement. “A little, yeah.”
Erik leaned forward, still on his knees and flipped the vampire over.
“What are you doing?” she asked, worried that he wasn’t finished.
“You didn’t kill him,” Erik stated impassively. “He is only unconscious.”
“Pieces of his brain are on the floor,” she muttered skeptically.
“He can still heal, if I don’t do this,” Erik explained. Then, with no further warning, he plunged his hand into the vampire’s chest and jerked it back out, literally ripping out the vampire’s heart. Blood and bits of flesh coated his arm as he clutched the heart, blood pouring from it and the vampire’s body. He dropped the heart on the floor beside the body
, and he lowered his head in shame.
“You can say it,” he said without looking at her, “that I am a monster.”
Her eyes softened. “I don’t think you’re a monster,” she argued. Her eyes darted between Erik, who knelt on his knees, his shoulders slumped and his head down in shame, and the vampire’s body that lay limply in front of him, now with a large hole in the chest. “Do I think that you went too far? Absolutely.”
Erik looked away, his brows drawing together as if he were going to cry.
“But,” Rose continued, “I also think that your anger came from a good place originally. You felt compassion for those people, and there is nothing monstrous about compassion. Yes, I do think that you got out of hand, that you forgot who you were for a moment. But I don’t think that makes you a monster.”
He looked at her, his green eyes wide with shock. “Why are you so kind?”
She blinked, stunned by the question. She just shrugged.
He stood up slowly and tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. “Thank you,” he said, his voice full of emotion. “I consider you a friend now.”
“You…what?” she sputtered at the strange statement.
“I hope you know that I take friendship very seriously,” he added.
She stared at him, at a complete loss for words. “Umm…okay?”
He glanced down at her hand. “Your hand is bleeding.”
She followed his gaze, noticing the blood dripping in the floor. “Yeah.”
He grabbed her wrist and then took the phone out of her hand.
“Uh…I kind of need that,” Rose mumbled, her frown deepening.
“I have to heal your hand,” he explained, turning her wrist with his blood-coated hand. “I can’t focus with the scent of your blood in the air.”
Rose grimaced as his hand left a layer of cold, sticky blood on her wrist. She frowned as he eyed her injured hand hungrily. “I think I’m all right, actually.”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 67