The Stone of the Eklektos

by Britney Jackson

  He ignored her. “His fangs went in pretty deep. I think they hit bone.”

  “Erik, you’re staring at my hand like you want to eat it,” Rose told him.

  His lips curved into a smirk. “It does look very appetizing.”

  “All right. That’s it. Give me my hand back,” she demanded.

  “Does this hurt?” Erik asked. Then, he squeezed her hand tightly.

  “Ouch. Owww. Freaking owww,” Rose complained, cringing in pain.

  Erik nodded. “He cracked one of the bones in your hand. You will need vampire blood to heal from that. No offense, but I’m not feeding you my blood.”

  “No offense, but even if you tried, I wouldn’t drink it,” Rose countered.

  He didn’t release her hand. “Still. I need to stop the bleeding, at least.”

  She scowled. “Please, tell me you’re not… Oh, for goodness sakes.”

  Erik lifted her hand to his mouth before she even finished talking. He held her hand tightly as he licked the wound. He groaned involuntarily as he tasted her powerful blood. It tasted sweeter and better than any blood he had ever tasted. He tasted the power that flowed through her blood, felt it strengthening him after only one drop, and he wanted more. He needed more. The hunger that had plagued him for hundreds of years burned stronger than ever before. When all traces of the fresh blood were gone from her skin, he dropped her hand and took a step back, breathing harshly as he waited for the hunger pains to ease.

  “Are you all right?” Rose asked worriedly.

  Erik licked his fangs. “You taste really good.”

  “Wow. That makes this less awkward,” she muttered sarcastically.

  He smiled. “I mean it. If I still killed humans, you’d be dead right now.”

  Rose frowned at him. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”

  “Yeah,” he answered easily. He handed her the phone and then walked over to where she’d fallen and grabbed her dagger from the floor. He returned to her and handed her the silver dagger than now looked more crimson than silver.

  Rose took the dagger with her healed hand, wincing in pain as she wrapped her hand around the handle. Rethinking that decision, she switched hands, moving the dagger to her good hand and holding the phone in her sore hand. “We need to find Kallias quickly. I didn’t like the way that vampire talked.”

  “Yeah,” Erik agreed. “We’re close. He is further into the building.”

  Rose cast another glance at the pile of dead bodies in the corner of the room. Her heart broke in sympathy all over again. “You can’t save everyone,” she mumbled to herself, repeating the words that Kallias had said to her several days before. “This is what he meant when he said that. Sometimes you’re too late.”

  “People like you and me feel too much,” Erik said, “and it’s a curse.”

  She frowned at him. “Why would you group me with you?”

  “Because you understand exactly what I mean,” he answered. “Believe it or not, you and I have something in common. We both care too much.”

  “I don’t think I have anything in common with you,” Rose argued.

  “We do,” Erik insisted. “We feel too much, and we always get hurt.”

  She froze, stunned by the truthfulness of that statement.

  He placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her away from the horrific scene in front of her. He gestured toward the door that opened into another room, further into the building. “Let’s go find Kallias,” he suggested.

  She nodded and followed as he led the way into the next room. The next room seemed darker and colder than the previous room. Rose held the phone out in front of her, shining the flashlight around the room to ensure that she wouldn’t run into anything or unknowingly stumble across another horrific scene.

  “Where is everyone?” Rose whispered as they walked through the room.

  Their footsteps echoed loudly on the concrete floor of the empty room.

  “I’m not sure. I think they are all in the basement. But…it’s strange. Kallias smells closer than the other vampires,” Erik commented, frowning.

  When they reached the other end of the room, Erik nudged open the door. It seemed to open into a narrow hallway. Once they stepped into the hallway, however, and Rose flashed the light of the phone around the room, she realized that they were actually in a stairwell. Erik led the way down the stairs that led down into a basement. He seemed to grow more nervous and fidgety as they descended the stairs. By the time they reached the last step, standing in front of a large steel door that opened into the basement, he looked pale and sickly.

  Rose grabbed his arm to stop him. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  He turned back toward her, his brows knitted with worry. “You’ll see.”

  She frowned at him, puzzled by his reluctance to answer, as he opened the door into a warmer room. She turned off the flashlight as she realized the room was illuminated completely by a fireplace in the corner. The room seemed far more lived-in than the other rooms with stray chairs, clothes, and bags lying around, and weapons tossed in the floor. She followed Erik into the basement.

  Rose knew something was wrong the moment she saw the puddle of blood on the floor. Her eyes followed the trail of blood that led from the doorway of the basement to the other end of the room. She froze as she saw him.

  Without thinking, she took off running toward him. “Kallias!” she cried, falling to her knees in front of his injured body. “Kallias! Wake up! Please!”

  Dark, blackish-red blood coated nearly every inch of his skin. His black shirt was torn in hundreds of places where he had been stabbed or cut, several of the tears directly over his heart. Two chains held him against the wall, each one linked around one of his arms. His brown hair fell like a curtain over his face, and his normally golden-colored skin looked ashen with a frightening bluish tint.

  Rose tried to pull the chains free. “We’re here. Everything will be okay.”

  “Rose,” Erik said softly as he came to stand right behind her.

  She continued to jerk at the chains. “Erik, help me with these chains.”

  “Rose,” he said again, finally gaining her attention. He looked hesitant and anxious. “Kallias could have broken those chains, if he were conscious.”

  “But…” Rose stammered breathlessly. “But he’s not conscious.”

  Erik ran his hand through his blonde hair. “But at some point, he was.”

  Rose felt dread sinking in her chest. “Erik… What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying,” Erik sighed, “that someone was here to stop him from breaking free.” He gestured toward the empty room. “So, where are they now?”

  “You’re saying that someone’s still here,” she realized.

  Erik glanced around the room, as if he expected to suddenly see someone standing in the empty room. “I’m saying,” he said, “that we are surrounded.”

  Her eyes widening, Rose spun back toward Kallias. She braced her hands on each side of his face. “Wake up, baby. We need to go. Please, just wake up.”

  Erik scowled as she touched his face. “You know, you really shouldn’t hold your wrists that close to an…” He paused, wincing as Kallias suddenly turned his face and sank his fangs into her wrist. “…an unconscious vampire.”

  Rose blinked in shock as Kallias mercilessly sucked blood from the arteries in her wrist, even though he appeared to still be unconscious. Her breath came in quick, harsh pants as the endorphins began to take effect. Her entire body felt overheated, and euphoric sensations washed over her in hot, pleasant waves. It never even crossed her mind to pull her wrist away from his mouth.

  “Whoa,” she mumbled as she began to feel pleasantly disoriented.

  Erik wrapped one hand around her upper arm and the other around her wrist. He roughly pulled her away from Kallias, holding her several steps away from the unconscious vampire. Rose continued to stare at the blood on Kallias’s lips and face as he fell forward limply again.
Erik sighed as he glanced down at the blood pouring from her wrist. He leaned forward and licked the wound, purposely getting a mouthful of her blood this time. He groaned as he swallowed the powerful blood. Rose turned slowly to grimace at him as he licked her wrist.

  A harsh, gurgling cough drew her attention back to Kallias. He leaned his head back against the wall and coughed again. Blood trickled from his mouth. He opened his eyes slowly. His brows furrowed as he saw Rose. “Rose? How…”

  She smiled and bounded toward him. “Kallias! You’re awake!”

  She didn’t make it more than two steps before Erik tightened his grip on her arm, jerking her backward with so much force that it sent a sharp jolt of pain through her shoulder. “Didn’t you learn your lesson?” Erik grumbled at her.

  Kallias continued to stare at her as if she were a hallucination. His eyes widened as he slowly licked the blood from his lips. “Did I bite you?”

  Rose shrugged. “A little,” she admitted.

  His eyes narrowed at Erik. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “It’s not like I fed her to you,” Erik muttered indignantly. “She is the one who put her hands in your face. I don’t know what she expected to happen.”

  Rose turned and scowled at Erik. “Oh, of course. I am supposed to just know that vampires can bite people while they’re asleep,” she complained.

  “Not asleep,” Erik corrected. “Unconscious…specifically because of injuries. Our bodies run on instincts when we’re unconscious to keep us alive.”

  She glared at him. “Well, I didn’t know that,” she muttered.

  “No, Erik,” Kallias growled. “I mean, why the hell is she here?”

  “To save you,” Rose snapped, “obviously.”

  He coughed, choking on his own blood. “You have no idea…what you have walked into.” He gasped for breath. “You have to get out of here right now.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s too late for that,” Erik said, glancing toward the door.

  “Oh, it is definitely too late,” Theron agreed.

  24

  The Awakening

  Icy dread unfurled through Rose’s veins as she heard that familiar, accented voice, a voice that dripped with cruel, sadistic amusement and turned her stomach. She turned toward the sound of his voice, her face paling at the sight of Theron. She watched as Theron approached slowly, taking deliberate steps toward them as he rolled up the sleeves to his white button-down shirt.

  Her eyes widened in horror as she noticed the dark red spots of blood, splattered and sprayed all over his white shirt. She glanced back at Kallias, noticing his many bleeding wounds, as her mind put together exactly what had happened before they arrived. A wave of scorching anger washed over her.

  When she turned back toward Theron, she found him standing directly in front of her. That sense of dread continued to build inside of her as she noticed several vampires filing into the basement behind Theron. The vampires remained near the door, not interfering, but their presence confirmed Erik’s suspicion that they were surrounded. Any hope of escaping this basement alive dissolved.

  “Ah, Rose, I knew I smelled your delicious scent,” Theron sneered in her face. He leaned toward her and sniffed her neck. “It is so nice to see you again.”

  She resisted the urge to cringe, refusing to give him the satisfaction. “Nice isn’t the word that comes to mind. I was thinking more along the lines of highly unpleasant. But hey, you were close.” She patted him on the arm. “A for effort.”

  His dark eyes narrowed at her sarcastic smile. He glanced down at her hand that rested on his arm, and then, without warning, he snatched her wrist and twisted it, a faint smile curling at his lips as she cried out and fell to her knees.

  “Stop!” Kallias rasped. He pulled weakly at the chains around his arms.

  Theron leaned forward and hissed in her ear, “I especially look forward to picking up where we left off.” His eyes raked her body with cold interest, that sickening smile curling at his lips. “I will be sure to make it highly unpleasant.”

  Nauseating horror swept over her as that night replayed in her mind.

  With absolutely no warning, a loud gunshot suddenly echoed through the room. Rose felt the painful grip around her wrist loosen and fall away, followed by a loud thud. Rose turned toward Theron, her brows furrowing as she found him lying on the floor, unconscious. Blood poured from a hole in the center of his head and pooled on the concrete floor beneath him. Rose turned toward Erik, raising an eyebrow, as she saw him standing a few feet away from her, holding his black handgun out in front of him, with a smug grin on his face.

  Before she could even react, she felt her arms snatched back behind her as one of the vampires grabbed her, and she watched as two other vampires grabbed Erik and forced him to drop the gun. Erik continued to grin as the vampires restrained him, one vampire holding each arm. He seemed entertained.

  “You had to have known that wouldn’t work,” Kallias muttered.

  Erik shrugged. “Sure, I did. I just wanted to shoot that psychotic asshole in the head.” He smirked at Kallias. “You’re welcome for that, by the way.”

  Kallias rolled his eyes, but the action seemed slow and weak. “Thanks.”

  Rose heard metal clicking together as the vampire handcuffed her wrists behind her. She winced as he tightened the handcuffs. “You’re not supposed to tighten them that much. You’ll cut my wrists. Don’t you know anything?”

  “Then, I’d suggest you be still,” the vampire growled lowly in her ear.

  Rose noticed that no one had bothered to handcuff Erik, but then, she realized that he would have just broken the handcuffs if they had. For a vampire, breaking metal was as easy as ripping paper, which begged the question: Why hadn’t Kallias broken his chains? She glanced at Kallias, frowning worriedly as she noticed the bluish tint of his skin and the blood that trickled from his mouth.

  As soon as the handcuffs were secured around her wrists, the vampire that held her joined the two vampires restraining Erik. The three vampires were male, and like all vampires, unnaturally attractive. The vampire that had seized her was the smallest of the three, a lean man with sandy blonde hair. The other two, a pale, brunette man and a darker-skinned, black-haired man, possessed wide, intimidating frames. Based on appearance, most would assume that Erik stood no chance against them, but then, vampire strength was supernatural, not physical, so, appearance meant nothing. Still, Erik made no move to fight them.

  Rose heard the clicking of heels behind her and spun around to look at the approaching vampire, her hands stuck awkwardly behind her back. She blinked in shock as she saw the impossibly beautiful woman that approached them. The woman’s perfect bronze complexion glowed in the light from the fire, and her raven hair fell neatly behind her ears. Kallias had told her that the woman would survive, but it still felt strange to see the woman in perfect condition, as if Kallias had not run her over with a car. The woman knelt beside Theron’s body.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Erik Olafsson,” she said with a thick Spanish accent. She lifted her hand to her mouth and sank her fangs into her own wrist. Then, she placed her wrist against Theron’s open lips, waiting as her blood filled the unconscious vampire’s mouth. “Now, Theron will be angry when he wakes, and your dying friend is evidence of what Theron does when he’s angry.”

  Rose’s eyes widened, icy fear making its way through her veins. “Dying?”

  “Yes, sweetie. Dying,” Sofia said. “Vampires cannot survive everything.”

  “Says the person who survived being run over by a car,” Rose muttered.

  Erik cocked his head to the side. “Do I know you?” he asked Sofia.

  She smiled seductively at him. “You have known me. Several times.”

  He nodded slowly. “We’ve had sex,” he realized.

  She scowled at him. “Yes. I am Sofia Pérez. Don’t you remember me?”

  Erik winced. “Well, you see, I have never been the best at rememb
ering the names of the women that I’ve had sex with,” he explained with a guilty smile.

  “That’s an understatement,” Rose muttered.

  “León, Spain. 1669,” Kallias managed to say, his voice weak and raspy.

  “I had sex with a lot of women in 1669 in Spain,” Erik said.

  Sofia narrowed her eyes. “We had sex in a brothel,” she offered.

  Erik frowned at her. “You were a whore?”

  Sofia bristled. “No,” she snarled. She rolled her eyes and explained, “I was only there to find food for my boyfriend. He preferred his women slutty.”

  “I can see that,” Erik said, smiling as he stared at her breasts.

  Her brown eyes narrowed dangerously. “Excuse me?”

  “Erik, you really don’t have room to call anyone slutty,” Rose advised.

  Erik grinned. “She thinks I’m a slut,” he bragged to Sofia.

  Sofia rolled her eyes again. “We also had sex in the carriage and in a back alley and in my dead boyfriend’s home. You don’t remember any of that?”

  Erik frowned at that. “Dead boyfriend?”

  She crossed her arms. “Yeah, you killed him to stop him from killing all of those women. You spared me because…” She smiled. “…I was a victim, too.”

  He glanced down at Theron’s body and then back at her. “Clearly.”

  “He would have killed me, too, if I hadn’t helped him,” she pouted.

  “Oh! I do remember you!” he realized. He grinned. “You were…skilled.”

  She flashed that seductive smile at him. “I still am.”

  He sighed disappointedly, “Ah, well, that’s just a tragedy.”

  Sofia frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I hate killing women that are good in bed. It seems wrong,” Erik said.

  Rose rolled her eyes at the conversation. “Even your morals are immoral.”

  Sofia glanced at the vampires that still held Erik securely. “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think you will get the chance to kill me anytime soon.”

  A slow, cocky smirk curved at the edges of his lips. “Are you sure about that?” he taunted as he shifted to grasp the arms of the vampires behind him.