To Crave a Blood Moon

by Sharie Kohler

  Sebastian marked him instantly: the golden dovenatu from Istanbul. A vengeful light glittered at the centers of his eyes. Apparently he had survived the explosion… and was pissed as hell.

  “You’re alive,” Sebastian announced, his voice thick and guttural, teeth gnashing. The words rang with deadly calm—a direct contrast to the wild stretching, turning, tightening of his muscles, readying to battle.

  “Yeah.” He carried a backpack over one shoulder, but tossed it aside as he squared off in front of Sebastian. Wind whispered through the night, lifting the dovenatu’s dark blond hair.

  In an instant, he shifted, muscles straining, swelling against his clothes, his face blurring into felinelike lines. “But you’re not.”

  They sprang for each other, bodies a hiss on the wind. Only one thought churned through Sebastian as he smacked into hard flesh and bone. He had to win. His own fate didn’t even register.

  If he lost, the bastard would find Ruby and destroy her. She needed him. He wouldn’t fail.

  25

  Ruby breathed heavily from where she sprawled on the mattress. Her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths, air sawing from her lips and nose as if she could not draw enough inside her. Heat smoldered through her, flaming her insides raw.

  Sitting up, she blinked free of the grogginess in her head and glanced at the digital alarm clock. Seven P.M.

  Rolling onto her back, she beat a fist against the mattress, arching in agony. She should be unconscious. Dead to the world.

  “Damn it, Dwayne.” The dosage must have been off. She had to endure this awake and aware.

  No light permeated the room, but she didn’t need to be outside to know that dusk had fallen. Moonrise was on her.

  With a moan, she curled into a tight ball and clutched her twisting belly. Was this how it was supposed to be? Was it supposed to hurt this much? Did she have this to look forward to for the next three nights?

  Every month? Every year?

  A sob scalded her throat. She flipped to her stomach and buried her mouth in the mattress to muffle her scream as her limbs twisted, tore, grew…

  One name welled up inside her, exploded from her lips in a voice she didn’t even recognize, too thick and garbled to be her own.

  “Sebastian!”

  Writhing, she strained, bending her spine as her body turned itself inside out.

  Worse than the pain, than the unbearable pulling and stretching, was the building hunger. The burn in her blood. The devouring of herself.

  Squatting on all fours, she turned her head side to side, inhaling deeply through her nose. Her fingers flexed on the cold cement floor. All at once, the earth became a live, pulsing thing beneath her. The woods surrounding her house were soaked with life that beckoned. Everything reached through the walls, seeking her, calling her awake, urging the hunger on.

  Her nostrils flared. A familiar scent reached her—Adele.

  She was close. The only human within miles and Ruby zoned in on her. Springing to her feet, she sniffed harder, drawing air into her lungs. She surged forward, breaking through the door as if it were cardboard.

  Wood splintered, but she could not stop to care, to worry, to do anything besides follow her nose, her bloodlust.

  And hunt down Adele.

  “You’re good,” the dovenatu announced, springing to his feet after Sebastian had just sent him colliding into a tree.

  “Not the easy kill you were looking for?” Sebastian taunted.

  “I’ll kill you soon enough.” He shook his arm, which dangled oddly, clearly broken from the impact. Giving it a turn, he set it back in place and began circling Sebastian. “What do I call you?”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “Occasionally, I like to know the names of those I kill. At least, those I especially enjoy killing.”

  “And why am I so special?”

  A scar ticked white at the corner of his lip. “You took someone very important from me.”

  Sebastian stilled, his guard slipping. “The bomb?”

  “Yeah,” he bit, voice sharp as cut glass. “The bomb. You know all about that, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I do,” he responded, understanding at once why this dovenatu had followed him here. This was personal. He wouldn’t quit until one of them was dead. “Too bad about that,” Sebastian said before launching him an uppercut to the jaw. The hybrid’s head snapped back.

  Straightening his neck and facing his adversary again, the dovenatu’s eyes glittered with black hatred. “She was fifteen years old,” he ground out. “For her, you’ll die. In great agony.” His gaze skipped to the house. “You and the lycan bitch that you’ve paired up—”

  Sebastian struck him. Again and again, determined to kill, destroy, win. Whatever it took to protect Ruby.

  The dovenatu staggered, falling. Straddling him, Sebastian pounded him into the earth, one hand moving to the silver nitrate-covered blade at his belt.

  Pulling it free, he plunged it into his enemy’s chest. The bastard slapped his hand around Sebastian’s fist, clutching the grip as he fought to push it deeper.

  The dovenatu gasped, spittle flying from his lips as the blade wedged itself deeply, striking a rib. Still he fought, clawing Sebastian’s hand.

  Sebastian clung, knowing he couldn’t let go… couldn’t lose Ruby.

  A scream shattered the evening.

  He froze, looking wildly from the dovenatu to the house.

  “Adele?” he shouted.

  Another scream. Then another. Agony filled the sound. Terror.

  And then he knew.

  “Ruby!” Somehow she’d broken through the door.

  Releasing the dovenatu, he ran for the house, forgetting all about the dovenatu out for his blood in his panic to save Adele, to save Ruby from a total descent into darkness. Before he lost her forever.

  Ruby inhaled great gulping breaths, fighting against the terrible twisting within her body. Air hissed out between her teeth at the burn consuming her.

  Adele screamed, backing as far against the bedroom wall as possible. She held up a hand, feebly, as if that would keep Ruby away. “Ruby! Don’t! It’s me! Your friend!”

  Ruby knew that, but the knowledge paled, faded to nothing beside the dark, clawing hunger.

  She slid a step closer, her gaze feasting on the pulse hammering against Adele’s neck, jumping against the tender skin. Sweet, ripe life. So sweet, so tempting. Too much for her to resist.

  In that moment everything else vanished. Everything but her need, her thirst for flesh, for blood.

  Adele slid to the floor, her back against the wall, knees rising to her chest. Her colorful skirt pooled around her in a wide fan.

  Her whimpers scraped the air, a soft and steady hum that gradually penetrated the fog.

  “Ruby… no, no.” Adele buried her head in her bent knees, fingers white and trembling where they clutched.

  Adele’s fear washed over her. Black terror. It seized Ruby by the throat so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Her stomach cramped from the ache of it. Wave on bitter wave… a heavier surge even than the demanding hunger.

  Stopping hard, she shook herself. And looked down.

  She caught sight of her hands… fingers that more resembled talons with their long nails. The sight made her wince.

  Horror surfaced… mingling with Adele’s terror.

  Not Adele. Not her best friend.

  Moaning, she buried her face in her strange, alien hands, willing for the torment to end.

  “Ruby?” Adele whispered.

  Ruby looked out from her hands, gazing at Adele’s tear-streaked cheeks, and felt her friend’s fear all over again.

  “I can’t,” she said, her voice thick in her mouth, rough and strange. “I can’t hurt you. Please don’t be afraid.”

  Her hunger faded to a dull ache, and realization dawned with blinding clarity.

  I can’t feed on anyone because their pain will be mine.

  The fact struck he
r with such force that she gasped, dropping her hands. To hurt someone was to hurt herself, bringing their agony down on herself. Even her new lycan instincts wouldn’t permit such a thing.

  “Ruby?” Adele whispered again.

  “I’m okay,” she choked, sliding one step nearer.

  Adele flinched, her eyes uncertain.

  Ruby’s stomach cramped at her friend’s lingering fear. “Adele, it’s me. I’m okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Adele’s expression relaxed, a slow smile spreading over her features as she finally understood. “You can’t, can you?”

  Ruby shook her head, relief flooding through her, chasing the last of the dark hunger into shadow. Adele’s happiness filled her, and it was sweet.

  She might be forced to turn every moonrise, but the bloodlust would not rule her. She might be a lycan, but she still possessed free will.

  Feet pounded up the stairs.

  Then Sebastian was there, in the doorway, his gaze wild. He grabbed hold of Ruby as if he expected her to launch on Adele in a raving fit.

  “Sebastian,” Adele called, but he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze crawled over Ruby with furious intensity as she stood calmly still in his grip, not even resisting the hard hands on her arms.

  “Ruby,” he breathed, staring at her in wonder. Awe. Relief. And something else. Something Ruby had never felt before. “You’re not…”

  A monster. A killer. The thing you’ve spent a lifetime hunting.

  She nodded. “I know. I’m okay.”

  His gaze continued to drill into her. “Of course.” His expression of wonder turned to understanding. His mouth curved into a stunning grin. “You’re an empath. You can’t kill anyone. Not without suffering, too. Do you know what this means, Ruby? You’re saved.”

  Saved.

  And she didn’t need him.

  She nodded. Sebastian’s hands on her arm softened. She glanced down and closed her eyes at the sight of his hand, masculine, strong, beautiful.

  Her flesh was sinewy, lightly dusted with hair, a grayish-brown next to his tanned hand. The sight was just… wrong.

  Her fingers drifted up, brushing the strangely taut skin of her face. The monsters she had left behind in Istanbul flashed across her mind. She was that now. She shut her eyes tightly against the thought.

  “Hey.” Sebastian’s voice bit out. “Don’t. Don’t close your eyes.” He gave her a hard shake, his anger, determination, sinking into her.

  She opened her eyes to look at him.

  His gaze settled on her, eyes as dark as slate, the centers glowing white light. “This is you now. Accept it. Live with it. Don’t hate it—don’t. This does not define you. You’re…” His voice faded, mouth working. Emotion swelled in him, sweeping over her in a warm, tender caress. It was there again, that indefinable feeling. Something she’d never felt before.

  But it felt good.

  Before it disappeared.

  She gasped, surging in his arms. Black fury. It swamped her like an icy cold douse of water. So cold she hissed from the killing sting. She turned, twisting in Sebastian’s grasp, listening to the ominous fall of footsteps, shivering where she stood at whatever drew near. Stalking them with unhurried menace.

  “Oh, God! Sebastian. What—”

  His fingers tightened on her arm, his body tensing. “He’s coming. Get behind me.”

  26

  “So this is where you rushed to.” The dovenatu dropped a shoulder against the door, plucking at the bloodied mess of his shirt. “We were in the middle of something.”

  Sebastian positioned his body in front of Ruby motioning Adele to the corner of the room. Dragging air into his lungs, he released himself, arms stretching out at his sides as he let the beast surge forward.

  With a savage smile, the fair-haired hybrid pushed off the door, laughing harshly, the sound cruel and mirthless. His gaze dropped to his ruined shirt. He fingered the shredded hole where the knife had penetrated. “This is the last blood of mine you’ll spill.” In his eyes, a vast coldness.

  His gaze slid to Ruby. “Seems a bit passive for a lycaness.”

  “She’s not like them,” Sebastian bit out, his words thick and tangled in his mouth. “Leave her be.”

  “Lycans are all the same.”

  “She’s not one of them.” Sebastian’s chest lifted on a heavy breath.

  “Not soulless, unholy aberrations?” he mocked.

  “And what are you? Don’t tell me.” Sebastian snorted. “You were amassing an army of lycans for some noble purpose.”

  “Well, you took care of that, didn’t you? Too bad you didn’t finish me off. You’ll pay for…” Something flickered in his gaze, the faintest hint of life, of fire in the depths of cold. “You’ll pay for her.”

  In a flash, the hybrid transformed, face blurring as he launched himself at Sebastian.

  Ruby’s guttural scream filled his head as he crashed through the upstairs window. The dovenatu’s body pressed heavily on him. Pain lanced his neck, stunning and intense, as they fell in a shower of glass. Black spots danced before his eyes. Their bodies tore apart as they tumbled down the roof.

  Sebastian hit the earth with a teeth-shattering jar. He flung his hand to the spot on his neck where he felt incredible pressure. His fingers met sticky warmth—and a large, jutting piece of glass. With a growl, he pulled it free of his jugular, gurgling at the hot gush of blood.

  With one hand pressed to his neck, he struggled to a sitting position even as the blood ran hotly from his body. He needed time to regenerate. More time than he had. Time this bastard wasn’t going to give him.

  Leaves and dirt crunched. A pair of legs stopped before him, filling his vision.

  A soft click echoed on the night, reverberating on the air like the thrum of a wire.

  Sebastian looked up, the simple move shooting agony through him.

  The dovenatu gripped a shiny silver lighter in one hand. “I gave a great deal of thought about what I would do to you when I found you. The entire flight over here, that is all I thought about.” His lips twisted in a savage grin. “I wanted it to be extra-special for you.” With a flick of his wrist, he opened the lighter. The tiny blue-orange flame flickered. In his other hand, he clutched a small bottle of lighter fluid. “Figured death in flames would be the most appropriate. Suitable, all things considered.”

  Grunting, Sebastian shoved to his knees. He pressed harder at his neck, as though that could help, could staunch the flow and restore him.

  Facing his enemy, his thoughts drifted to Ruby, emotions a burning rush inside him at the thought of leaving her alone to face this merciless bastard.

  Run, Ruby. Get away. He hoped she read him, inferred his emotions correctly. Hear me, Ruby. Run. Run. Don’t make my death have been for nothing. Get away.

  At that moment, a truth asserted itself. Maybe the only thing in his life he ever knew to be true. Absolute and unwavering.

  If Ruby lived, he could die.

  Her life meant more to him than his own. He’d be okay with dying. His gaze dropped to the twisting blue-gold flame. With ending it like this. As long as she lived.

  His gaze lifted, stared into the other dovenatu’s face, into cool eyes. Vengeance. No mercy there.

  Lighter fluid rained down on him in a swaying arc, splattering his jeans, soaking him to the skin. The pungent oil stung his nose, the black odor rising up. Death mingled with the coppery aroma of his own blood. He followed the single spray as it squirted a path over his body, unable to move. To resist. To even run from it.

  “She didn’t do it,” he ground down against his teeth, swaying, trying desperately to stay upright on his knees. “She wasn’t involved. Let her go. Leave her be.”

  “Is that what matters to you right now? Her life?” He cocked his head, eyes glinting a glacial blue.

  Sebastian managed one jerky nod.

  “Good,” he bit out. “After you, I’ll finish her. Know that.” He drew a ragged breath. “Know my
pain as you die.”

  After you, I’ll finish her. The words dug a blade to his heart, greater pain than the wound in his neck. A greater pain than he had ever known. “No!”

  He lurched forward in a desperate surge of strength, diving for the dovenatu’s legs, hoping to take him down.

  The bastard sidestepped him. With a snap of his wrist, he tossed the lighter high in the air. Sebastian twisted his neck to watch as it descended.

  A muffled howl reverberated inside him. Slowly, sinking, winding… the scream rippled through him.

  Dimly, he realized the scream was not his own. But it might have been, for the terror it lodged in his heart.

  Ruby.

  She charged from the house straight toward him, fully formed, her lithe lines undulating like a lioness in movement beneath her tattered clothes. For the first time in his life, the sight did not strike deep contempt inside him. Because it was Ruby.

  Their eyes met, clung. Her pewter gaze wild with terror. For him.

  The lighter struck his shoulder and bounced, skidding down his body, sparking, igniting with a sharp hiss, then a deafening roar.

  In a swoosh, flames erupted everywhere, engulfing him. Devouring his scream.

  Ruby staggered, nearly losing her footing at the sight of the inferno rushing Sebastian in a roaring wind of red and gold.

  She forced her legs to work, pushing ahead, over the torment, over the burn, the damned burn. Determined to reach him, help him, save him. To push beyond the agony. The searing pain turning him to ash—death and ash if she did not do something.

  Blood dripped from her nose in a steady trickle, running thickly into her mouth. Uncaring for herself, she hurtled past the dovenatu. Dropping to the ground, she flung herself over Sebastian, beating him with strange new hands that were not her own, that belonged to some other creature of night and darkness.

  “What are you doing?”

  She registered the voice, the clipped accents, knew it was the dovenatu… the one who lit Sebastian afire. She should run, fight him… something. Something. Anything but ignore him.

  Flames surrounded her fingers, rose up, licking her wrists and arms. The smell of smoldering flesh filled her nose… and pain filled her body.