The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  “That’s not what I’m thinking at all,” Erik said with a frown.

  But Rose didn’t seem to hear him. “But how do I make myself stronger?”

  Erik sighed and climbed to his feet. He walked over to Rose and caught her by the shoulder, forcing her to stop pacing the room. He placed both hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. “I don’t think you’re weak, Rose. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. You’re one of my best friends, and even though we argue and annoy each other to death, I care about you.”

  Rose stared up at him, blinking in surprise. “I care about you, too.”

  “Do you really want to know what I think?” Erik asked slowly.

  She nodded. “Please,” she breathed, pain burning in her azure-blue eyes.

  “I think you’re describing love. Explosive. Overwhelming,” Erik said. “I think that resisting what you feel for Kara is only going to hurt both of you.”

  “But not resisting it would hurt Kallias,” Rose said, her brows furrowing.

  Erik sighed, “Pain is part of love. You can’t have one without the other.”

  “I’d rather hurt myself than either of them,” Rose said, a sad, desperate note in her voice. “How do I make it so that I’m the only one who gets hurt?”

  “I don’t think there is a way to do that,” he said, shrugging. “I’m sorry.”

  Unshed tears glistened in her bright blue eyes. “I can’t hurt anyone.”

  Erik sighed, and he tightened his grip on her shoulders, using his abilities to soothe her fear and pain. “What did you say to Kara afterward?” he asked.

  Rose shook her head. “I’m afraid I hurt her,” she said worriedly. “She acted like I didn’t, but I can feel her emotions…because of the blood bond.”

  He dropped his hands and nodded. “I can feel her pain, too, even from this distance,” he sighed. When he saw the horrified look on her face, he offered her another sympathetic look. “Relax. Kara is as strong as it gets. She’ll recover.”

  “I don’t want her to recover,” Rose said sadly. “I don’t want her to have pain to recover from, and I sure as heck don’t want to be the one who caused it.”

  “Her feelings for you are what caused the pain,” he told her, “not you.”

  Rose moved to sit down on the bed. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

  “Okay,” Erik sighed. “The truth is…you underestimated her feelings for you. You were so worried about hurting Kallias that you never considered her.”

  She leaned forward, burying her face in her hands, as the pain threatened to spill out in tears. “I never wanted to hurt either of them. I hate myself for this.”

  “Don’t,” Erik said. He leaned against his dresser and crossed his arms. “You care deeply about both of them. That’s your only crime, and it isn’t one.”

  “I could apologize to her,” Rose said, “or would that just make it worse?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s a warrior. So, she has a lot of pride.”

  Rose straightened, but the pain still pulled at her face and shoulders. “I should probably get downstairs,” she sighed, “before Kallias…” she trailed off.

  Erik pushed away from the dresser. “I’ll come with you. I need to see if the pizza’s here yet anyway. And if Kallias is too much of an ass, I’ll step in. I can calm him down when no one else can,” he said, as they walked toward the door.

  Rose stopped him before he reached the door. “Thank you,” she sighed.

  Erik winced. “Oh, don’t thank me yet,” he said hesitantly. “You’ll regret it soon enough.” When she gave him a quizzical look, he exhaled shakily. “I might as well tell you before you figure it out on your own. I slept with your best friend.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “Audrey already told me,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “No one shares inappropriate, personal details as fast as she does.”

  “Oh,” Erik said, blinking. “Well, I won’t…break her heart or anything.”

  To his surprise, she laughed, “I know.” She waited in the hall, outside his room, watching as he closed his bedroom door. “But she might break yours.”

  Erik froze. “Wait,” he said, his eyes wide. “You’re worried about me?”

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” Rose said, as she spun around and headed toward the stairwell. When Erik caught up with her, she shot him a worried look. “I have one more question,” she said nervously. “Is there any blood on my face?”

  Erik let out a short, barking laugh. “Oh, yeah.”

  —

  As Rose and Erik descended the stairs, the sound of heated voices—two low, accented, male voices—grew louder and louder. Rose exchanged a look with Erik, her eyebrows lifting, and he just laughed. “Kallias and Aaron?” she assumed.

  “I told you,” he laughed, holding up his hands. “Total chaos.”

  Rose pulled up short when she noticed the two beautiful women in the foyer. She recognized one of them easily—just from her thin, delicate figure, clad only in a lacy, black dress, and the long, yellow-blonde curls that flowed around her lace-covered shoulders. “Elise?” Rose asked, watching as Elise turned toward her with that familiar, friendly smile. Rose didn’t recognize the brunette woman, who stood behind Elise, quite as easily, but something about her seemed familiar.

  “Rose,” Elise murmured warmly, her French accent as smooth as ever. Her high-heeled, black boots clicked against the floor as she stepped forward and planted two chaste kisses on either side of Rose’s face. Her hands curled around Rose’s arms as she leaned back to look at Rose, her blue-gray eyes sparkling with amusement. “I see you and Kara have been busy.” She gave her a knowing smile.

  Rose blushed profusely and ran her fingers over her lips, attempting to wipe off the blood that remained on her face. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

  Elise had already moved on past Rose, so that she could greet Erik as well. To her surprise, rather than kissing Erik chastely on the cheek, like she’d done with Rose, she kissed him on the lips, instead. “It’s nice to see you again.”

  Erik blinked in surprise. Clearly, he hadn’t expected the kiss either. He recovered quickly, though, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips. “You, too.”

  Rose watched them with a raised eyebrow. “Umm…okay,” she mumbled awkwardly, her gaze shifting toward the young, brown-haired woman who stood behind Elise. “How many vampires are here, exactly? And why are you here?”

  Elise tilted her head to the side, her long, curly hair falling over her arm. Her glossy lips curved into a playful smile. “Aren’t you happy to see me, Rose?”

  “Of course I am,” Rose laughed. The commotion in the living room grew louder. “But I doubt everyone came all the way to America, just to save my life.”

  Elise nodded. “Yeah, that was mostly just Kara. She was boarding that plane whether Aaron agreed to it or not. As soon as she realized that the Assassins of Light were as close to you as they were, she was determined to come help you.”

  “Oh,” Rose said, her chest tightening at the realization. She’d assumed that Kara had come for another reason, that it had just been a coincidence that she showed up when she did. The realization that Kara had been so worried about her only made her feel more confused and guilty about Kara’s feelings for her.

  “The rest of us are here on a mission,” Elise continued. She placed one hand on the railing of the stairway, her bracelets jingling as they clanged together. “And I think there are ten of us, but I’m not totally sure. Kara arranged the team.”

  The sound of shattering glass resounded throughout the house.

  Erik glanced toward the living room, his eyes widening. “I’m going to go calm things down before they break the house,” he muttered, “or worse, my TV.”

  Rose watched him with a frown as he disappeared into the living room. Her gaze shifted back toward Elise. “What kind of mission?” she asked curiously.

  “I don’t know
all of the details,” Elise said regretfully. “Kara does, but she only tells us the bare minimum. But I will tell you what I do know: apparently, the Assassins of Light are planning to attack some of the vampire colonies, but Kara’s not exactly sure how or when, yet. We need to stop it before it happens.”

  Rose frowned worriedly at that. “Yeah. Definitely,” she agreed.

  The small, younger woman, who stood behind Elise, continued to study Rose with a frown, her big, brown eyes narrowed. “I remember you,” she realized, her voice lilting with a Norwegian accent. “You’re the one who can stop bullets.”

  Rose glanced at her, and she suddenly remembered where she’d seen the woman before. “You’re an Assassin of Light. Nina was your name, wasn’t it?”

  Nina shrugged her shoulders, which caused the strap of her backpack to slide down her arm. “I’m not one of them anymore. I’m one of you now.”

  “That explains why you look different,” Rose muttered, trailing her gaze down the woman’s physically-perfect body. She shot a questioning look at Elise.

  “Aaron turned her,” Elise explained. “I’ve been helping her…adjust.”

  “Adjust?” Nina laughed. “What is there to adjust to? I love it! Blood. Sex. No curfews. No rules. This is the life that I’ve always wished I could have!”

  Rose exchanged an amused look with Elise.

  “It seems she was a bit…sheltered,” Elise sighed, “as a human.”

  Nina rolled her eyes. “Sheltered is an understatement,” she grumbled. “On my eighteenth birthday, I snuck out to meet some friends at a club, and my brother showed up with a gun. Like an actual gun. I mean, he didn’t kill anyone or anything, but just having him there with a gun on his hip ruined my social life.”

  Rose tried to suppress the smile twitching at the edges of her lips. “But you were an Assassin of Light,” she said, confused. “Don’t you hate vampires?”

  “My family did,” Nina said, “but I don’t know. I never really understood why they made such a big deal about it. How can you hate a species for existing?”

  Rose nodded. “So…you’re not upset that Aaron turned you? At all?”

  “Well, I thought he’d killed me,” Nina explained, “so I was pretty thrilled that I woke up at all. And Aaron said that he’d protect me from my family, so…”

  “Do you really think that your family would hurt you?” Rose asked.

  “Based on what they believe,” Nina sighed, “definitely. They believe that vampires are demons. They think you’re evil and unredeemable. Well, no. They believe we’re evil and unredeemable, I guess. I still haven’t gotten used to that.”

  “Aaron brought Nina along, mostly to protect her,” Elise explained. “But he also wants her to try to think of any more information that might help us.”

  Nina shrugged. “I already told him everything I know,” she complained.

  Elise turned back toward Rose, studying her with a curious smile. “By the way,” she said slowly, “you left the Tomb of Blood before I could thank you.”

  Rose frowned. “Thank me for what?”

  Elise leaned against the railing of the staircase and offered Rose a sweet smile. “According to the story Kara told me, you stopped Osiris from killing me.”

  “Oh,” Rose said. She shook her head quickly. “No, no, not really. Kara saved you. But then, Osiris tried to kill her, and I guess…I kind of…saved her.”

  “Still,” Elise said warmly, “you killed my would-be killer. So, thank you.”

  Rose blushed. “Uh…anytime,” she said shyly. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

  “I saw his corpse when we were cleaning up,” Elise said. “It was…quite the sight. I have to admit: it made me curious. How exactly did you kill him?”

  Rose shifted nervously on her feet. “Honestly, I…don’t remember.”

  “Hmm,” Elise murmured with a thoughtful frown. “How strange.”

  Erik stepped out of the living room, his bright green eyes wide. When they glanced questioningly at him, he just held up both hands and shook his head. “I’m just going to go upstairs,” he muttered. “Even I can’t calm those two down.”

  Rose laughed, “Maybe I should try. At least neither of them will kill me.”

  “Enter at your own risk,” Erik said playfully. As he walked away, heading up the stairs, he muttered, “We really should have left an ocean between them.”

  —

  “You could’ve knocked, asshole,” Kara said, as she heard the door open.

  Erik laughed and closed the door behind him, watching as Kara searched her bag for something in particular—a book, apparently. “Don’t pretend to care.”

  Kara smirked. “True,” she said. She leaned her leather-clad hip against the dresser. “I’m going to do whatever I want to do, no matter who is around.”

  “Of course,” he snorted, watching as she flipped open an old, worn-out book and flipped through it. “I’ve only heard a portion of the conversation that Aaron and Kallias are having, but I take it you’re staying here for a few days?”

  “No idea,” Kara said distractedly. Her dark hair fell around her face as she read over a passage in the book. “I’m a warrior. I just do what I’m told.”

  Erik laughed, “You never do what you’re told. That’s kind of your m.o.”

  “Fair point,” Kara chuckled. She closed the heavy book with a loud thud. “It’s almost sunrise, so I assume, at this point, that we’re not leaving tonight.”

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Kallias isn’t a big fan of any of you, I don’t think, but he’s not heartless.” He slid his hands into his pockets and leaned against the door. He sighed, “I was just wondering: how have you been? Since Alana…”

  She looked away. “Pretty screwed up in the head,” she muttered. “You?”

  He nodded. “Same,” he sighed. “It’s easier when Rose and Kallias are around, but when I’m alone, it…messes with me. I keep having these nightmares, waking up in tears. I have sex to stave off the loneliness. I drink too much…”

  “It’s a Viking thing,” Kara quipped. “We’re all emotionally screwed-up.”

  “I’ve even been spiking the alcohol with my own blood,” Erik admitted quietly. “That taste of blood—it makes the hunger worse. But I just want to feel numb for a while.” He crossed his arms and sighed, “I haven’t told anyone that.”

  She reached into her bag and pulled out a small, metal flask. “Why not?”

  “Kallias would be so disappointed,” Erik said. He stared at the hardwood beneath his boots and shook his head. “He has so much self-control. He doesn’t lose control because he’s smart. He’d never do something as stupid as what I do.”

  Kara walked over to him and held out the flask. “It’s spiked with blood.”

  His bright green gaze shifted up toward her and then down to the flask in her hand. He reached out and took it from her. “Thanks,” he said slowly.

  She shrugged. “I think we have to deal with the pain however we can.”

  “Yeah,” Erik sighed as he unscrewed the cap. He sipped the whiskey, his eyes sliding closed as the blood affected him. “So, you and Rose—you finally…”

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “She told you?”

  “She didn’t have to,” he said. “You won’t break her heart, will you?”

  “How could I?” she said quietly. “Her heart belongs to Kallias.”

  “I don’t think it works that way,” Erik muttered, taking another swig of the blood-spiked whiskey. “I think the heart is unrestrained and uncontrollable.”

  Kara rolled her eyes playfully. “Of course you do. You’re sentimental.”

  He laughed at her teasing. “What do you want, Kara?” he asked curiously.

  She didn’t even have to think about it. “Rose.”

  He shrugged. “And…don’t you always go after what you want?”

  “Usually,” Kara admitted tiredly, “but I also respect what Rose wants.”

  “
That’s good,” Erik said, “because I don’t think she’s had many people in her life that did respect what she wanted. But…do you know what she wants?”

  “I can feel what she wants,” Kara said with a frown, “but she won’t admit it. And until she does, I have to…” She shrugged sadly. “What else can I do?”

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it?” he scoffed. “Get her to tell you what she wants.”

  “Oh?” she said, crossing her arms. “And how do you suggest I do that?”

  “By doing what you do best,” Erik said with a sly grin. “Seduction.”

  A slow smile spread across her face. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

  He lifted his eyebrows at that and took another sip of the flask. “I don’t think empaths really get to pick sides. I think we just sympathize with everyone.”

  She nodded. “I should get downstairs. I have a message to deliver.”

  “So, er…” Erik paused, a grin twitching at his lips. “Was the sex good?”

  Kara rolled her eyes. “Get out,” she said, as she opened the door and shoved him into the hall. Already a little drunk, he barely caught his balance. She stepped out into the hallway as well and closed the door behind her, raising her eyebrows at him, as he burst into hysterical laughter. “Lightweight,” she muttered.

  —

  Rose used her telekinetic abilities to stop a vase, just before it would have smashed into Elise’s head. Elise shot her a grateful look, and one of the other vampires snatched the vase out of the air. But Kallias and Aaron just continued fighting, unconcerned with the innocent bystanders they might kill in the process.

  Aaron rolled his eyes. “I could kill you, if I wanted to,” he scoffed. “The only reason I let you get away with this kind of behavior is because I respect you.”

  “Let? Let?!” Kallias yelled. “This is my home! You have no say here!”

  “I have say everywhere,” Aaron muttered. “I’m the oldest vampire alive.”

  Rose sighed as she listened to them argue, exasperated with their inability to agree on even the smallest issues. Just as she turned to leave, intending to check on her brother and her friends, she felt that intense awareness tingling over her skin again. Her entire body reacted as the scents of violets, leather, water, and blood filled her senses, as she heard the soft thudding of boots against the floor.