02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn

by Lindsay J. Pryor

The tension in the room nearly squeezed the life-breath out of her as Caleb narrowed his eyes. She took another wary step back, dropping her hands from her rucksack ready to defend herself.

  He held his penetrating gaze on her for an uncomfortable second longer than was necessary before he looked across at Hade and cocked his head towards the hallway behind.

  Hade nodded then disappeared from sight, reappearing seconds later with a small figure.

  She looked tired, worn and tearful, with no characteristic mischievous bounce in her brown eyes. Alisha stayed perfectly still a few feet away, her gaze on Leila hesitant.

  Leila heaved with relief but as she stepped forward to greet her, Caleb caught her by the upper arm with a powerful, commanding grip. Electricity pulsated through her, the impact of his touch startling her to stillness.

  ‘Do what you came here to do,’ he said. ‘Reunion later.’

  Leila’s gaze snapped to his as she instinctively tried to pull her arm free. ‘And then what?’

  Alisha broke the silence. ‘Just do as he says, Leila. Please.’

  Leila glanced across to her.

  ‘Please,’ Alisha pleaded more quietly, her wide eyes reddened from crying.

  Leila wavered for only a moment longer before pulling away from Caleb. She slipped her rucksack from her shoulders and unzipped the main compartment. She slid out the book and grudgingly held it out for him.

  Caleb flicked through the pages then looked back at her. ‘You can read this, right?’

  She didn’t dare tell him she was a little out of practice nor that she had never, technically, carried out any of the spells at all. But she nodded. ‘Yes.’

  Handing the book to Hade, he stepped up to her.

  Leila instinctively backed up against the sofa, her heel catching the base as she grasped the soft leather. Warily holding his gaze, she knew she’d strike back if she had to, but she wasn’t stupid enough to instigate it. And she wasn’t stupid enough to jeopardise Alisha. A little bit of humility had to be the order of the day; the rest she’d work out from there.

  ‘And you can perform the spell?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  He grabbed her wrist, held her hand up to expose her protest rings – one gracing her thumb, the other her little finger – engraved silver bands that danced in the artificial light. They were the ultimate sign of defiance against the social acceptance of his kind, worn by those who stood against the so-called consangs’ steps towards political acceptance. Vampires could never and would never play a role in any decisions that affected humans, and she unequivocally and unashamedly believed every human being had a responsibility to see to that.

  He barely looked at them as his eyes narrowed on hers. ‘Your sister assures me you’re smart, but you coming here wearing these makes me think otherwise.’

  Leila tried to pull her wrist away but he held it fast, his closeness intensifying the subtle scent of alcohol and smoke that mingled intoxicatingly with the musky woody undertones of his aftershave. ‘I’m not going to hide how I feel just because I’m here.’

  There was a hint of an amusement in his eyes, but it never reached his lips. ‘I hear you’re not our biggest fan.’

  Her unease escalated as he searched her eyes. A light perspiration swept over her. He couldn’t know what she was – not just by looking.

  She held her breath, her heart throbbing painfully. The flutter of excitement she felt in her chest disturbed her. But she forced herself with every iota of willpower not to look away from those intimidating green eyes. Worse still, behind the aesthetics there was something more than the emptiness she expected – something beyond soulless, heartless windows. Within those eyes that should have looked dead, there was something deep, poignant and entrancing.

  She swallowed harder than she would have liked, hating the way her body responded immediately to his. She knew it was wrong – deeply and horribly wrong on too many levels. But she still found her gaze wandering down to the top two unfastened buttons of his shirt, a gap that revealed a tantalising glimpse of smooth, honed chest. She lingered on his full but masculine lips, his strong jaw, before sliding back up over his perfectly formed nose to his eyes. Beautiful eyes that lingered coaxingly on hers for another uncomfortable couple of seconds before he finally pulled away.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ he said, retrieving the book from Hade before leading the way back down the hallway.

  Chapter Two

  Leila tentatively entered the bedroom alone with Caleb.

  The vampire she’d been summoned to save lay on his back on the king-sized bed directly ahead. Clearly unconscious, a worrying sheen of perspiration engulfed him despite his subtle shiver. His body was frighteningly pale, exacerbated by the dark sheets that covered him to mid-chest, his arms exposed by his sides.

  She glanced nervously at Caleb. The anxiety was as evident in his eyes as she was sure it was in her own. ‘He looks really sick,’ she said quietly.

  ‘He is.’

  ‘How long has he been like this?’

  ‘Sixteen hours.’

  She gripped the book tighter against her chest. ‘What if this doesn’t work?’

  His gaze snapped to hers, eyes menacing at the prospect she might fail. ‘You said you can do this.’

  ‘He might be too far gone.’

  ‘If my brother dies tonight, your sister dies – slowly and painfully.’

  Leila narrowed her eyes at the injustice of his threat. ‘Have you any idea how hard it is to bring a vampire back from this?’

  ‘Your sister gave me her word that this would not be a problem for you.’

  ‘Under duress.’

  ‘Are you telling me she lied?’

  Leila stared back down at the dying vampire. ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Jacob. Jake.’

  She took a wary step closer.

  Jake was almost as handsome as his brother, but his closer-cropped dark hair gave him a harsher edge. His lips were narrower, his lashes and eyebrows finer. His toned body was bulkier – too bulky for her taste, unlike the athletic litheness of Caleb.

  Leila stopped at the side of the bed and placed her book and rucksack on the covers. She took out her Kit Box and glanced back over her shoulder at Caleb. ‘I won’t be able to concentrate with you watching me.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you alone with him.’ Caleb strolled around the opposite side of the bed and pulled up a chair. Turning it the wrong way, he straddled it, his arms resting on the back as he watched her every move.

  Leila knelt by the bed. It had been eighteen months since their grandfather’s death. And, until that night, eighteen months since she’d run her fingers over the hard but worn blue canvas cover. Eighteen months since she’d traced her fingers over the gilded title: Purification.

  If it hadn’t been for her grandfather, she would never have known about her talent. A talent he’d helped her hone as she’d read and interpreted the words contained within his archaic texts. Texts he emphasised the importance of again and again alongside her need to protect herself and her sisters from them.

  He called them vampires too, and he knew the truth about them. Truths he had learned from his descendants and from the prophecy books he’d held in his charge. Books he then left to her. Books for her to safeguard and keep from all but her own eyes. Books useless to anyone without an interpreter to impart the words.

  And somehow they’d tracked her down.

  She turned the heavy cream pages and read the small cursive handwriting. None of the books were reproduced. They couldn’t be because their power was in their uniqueness. A power that could only be evoked by a speaker endowed with the talent.

  Fingers numb, hands trembling, the pages seemed to blur as she tried to remember where she had found the section earlier. It had seemed so much easier to locate without a virtually dead vampire in front of her and his uncompromising brother, less than six feet away, clearly not in the mood for failure.

  Fumbling through the pages,
she finally stumbled on it. She traced the text with her fingers, struggling to focus as she interpreted each word and symbol. Thumbnail to her teeth, she scanned the diagrams.

  If her grandfather could see her now, preparing to save a vampire’s life – the ultimate sacrilege for her kind – she had no doubt he’d be horrified.

  Rubbing her hair back from her forehead, she detected light perspiration equally dampening her palm. She reached for her wooden Kit Box and turned the brass key. As it opened, the various sections spread out. Tiny drawers and compartments revealed a variety of objects as a rich aroma of herbs and spices filled the air. She took out a small white ceramic bowl and clutched it in her hand whilst she continued to trace her fingers along the text. Reaching back into her box, she took out three tiny jars and emptied a small amount of powder from each into the bowl.

  ‘Do you have a match?’ she asked.

  Caleb took his lighter out of his pocket and strolled around the bed to give it to her.

  She accepted it and tried flicking it into action but the damned thing eluded her, worsened by her trembling hands.

  He took it back and flicked it into operation with ease.

  She held the bowl up to him. ‘Light what’s in the dish, will you?’

  He did as he was asked. The contents quickly burned, a sweet and woody odour filling the air. Seeming to sense that his close proximity had broken her concentration again, he handed her the bowl and stepped away, resuming his seat opposite.

  ‘I take it he drained the victim from the neck?’ she asked, keeping her attention on the book.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Right side or left?’

  ‘Left.’

  She ran her finger along a few more lines then reached into the box for three sprigs of herbs and a small pewter charm. After laying them on the bed beside the book, she closed the box and put it on the floor out of the way. She stood and bent to unzip her boots. She pulled them off along with her jacket and cardigan. Picking up the dish in one hand and the sprigs and charm in the other, she climbed onto the bed.

  Hesitation and apprehension swamped her as she uneasily and cautiously sat astride Jake’s hips. Her gut churned at the proximity, let alone the intimacy of the act. Sitting back on her haunches, thighs pressed against his, she kept her back straight as she gazed warily down at the dying vampire. Laying the sprigs and charm on the bed beside him, she placed her fingers in the dish.

  Caleb caught her wrist in an instant, startling her. ‘Take them off,’ he commanded.

  She glanced down at the silver rings. ‘Silver may harm you, in your vampiric state, but Jake is beyond that now.’

  Caleb tightened his grasp. ‘I said, take them off.’

  Leila frowned in defiance as their gazes locked. But, as he let her wrist go, she reluctantly relented and slid the rings off, putting them on the bedside table next to him.

  Forcing herself to refocus, she placed the tips of her fingers back in the dish. She rubbed the contents across the left side of Jake’s neck, down his chest, and ended the unbroken line in a hook beneath his heart.

  She reached across to pull the book closer, frowning deeply as she struggled to recall some of the inflections as she read. Placing a sprig above his head, one upon his heart and another beneath his feet, she put the charm on his forehead. Exhaling unsteadily, she held the flat of her palms an inch above his chest.

  Jake flinched, seemingly scowling as if he sensed something.

  ‘You might want to grab something he can throw up in,’ she said. ‘His body should expel the bad blood if this works as it says it will.’

  Caleb reached for the black bin beside the bedside table and placed it next to the bed.

  Leila tensed her spread fingers as she lowered her palms an inch closer to his heart. Feeling the heat emanating from within her, heat that would flow down into his body, she braced herself. Not betraying a word, she silently recited the incantation. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands flat against his skin, skin that felt like cold clay, as she recited the confirmation three more times.

  She stopped. Withdrew her hands. And opened her eyes.

  There was silence.

  Nothing happened.

  She glanced anxiously at Caleb, her pulse picking up a notch. But his attention was firmly on his brother. She took a breath to steady herself before spreading her fingers over Jake’s heart again. This time she applied more pressure as she recited the words with more conviction – a hushed whisper that would be nonsense to anyone but her. With every iota of energy in her, she willed it to work, her eyes tightly shut as she kept her focus on letting the energy flow through her.

  She repeated the incantation again, and again, ending with a resounding draw of breath before she opened her eyes.

  Jake lay perfectly still.

  Too still.

  He stopped trembling.

  Stopped shivering.

  She frowned. He was too far gone. Or she had read the inflections wrong. Or the herbs had been too old. Or her positioning was out. Her gaze snatched to Caleb as she tried to contain her panic.

  But Caleb’s gaze didn’t flinch from his brother as the seconds ticked away, the atmosphere thick enough to be static.

  ‘I did what—’ she began, but suddenly Jake flinched.

  His chest expanded as if in a desperate grasp for air. He started trembling beneath her again then convulsed.

  Leila flinched and recoiled off him. Backing off the bed, she retreated against the wall as Caleb grabbed hold of his flailing brother.

  Straddling him, pinning his hands to the bed either side of his head, his legs to the mattress, Caleb held Jake down with impressive strength as he glared across at her. ‘What the fuck is happening?’

  She shook her head, her pulse racing. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. I followed the instructions—’

  ‘You’ve never done it?’ Caleb momentarily turned his attention back on his brother, who was convulsing more violently now, before glaring back at her. ‘Exactly what spells have you performed?’

  She shrugged, struggling for an explanation.

  Despite the force of Jake’s spasms, Caleb continued to hold him down with ease, held him until he gradually calmed, the convulsions easing.

  Jake wrenched free of his brother, stretched over the side of the bed and vomited thick, black blood into the bin. Gasping, he fell onto his back, scanned the room as if confirming his bearings then frowned at Caleb now sitting on his haunches. Closing his eyes again, he smiled. ‘Hey, Caleb.’

  Caleb smiled in return, just briefly, his lips parting to reveal a glimpse of perfectly aligned neat white teeth, a hint of elongated incisors. ‘For fuck’s sake, Jake.’

  Jake languidly turned his head to look at Leila and frowned. ‘Who’s she?’

  ‘She saved your life.’

  Jake stared up at the ceiling. ‘I feel like shit.’

  ‘You’re lucky you feel anything at all. How many times have I told you to pull back, huh? You’ve always got to push it that one step further, haven’t you?’

  Jake grinned. ‘What do you expect? No just wasn’t in her vocabulary.’ He eased himself onto his elbows to examine Leila more closely as Caleb pulled off the bed.

  ‘Then a little self-control wouldn’t go amiss, Jake.’

  ‘Easing up on the lecture wouldn’t go amiss either.’ He narrowed his eyes questioningly. ‘Leila?’

  Leila frowned in confusion.

  The door burst open.

  ‘Jake!’ Alisha lunged through the doorway and threw herself onto the bed on top of him, flattening him, despite her small frame. Her fair hair covered her face as she eagerly kissed him on his lips, his forehead and his cheek.

  Perplexed, Leila watched her sister until realisation, disbelief and then horror slammed into her.

  ‘Easy, tiger,’ he said softly, brushing back Alisha’s hair. ‘I haven’t been gone that long.’ He glanced at Caleb. ‘Have I?’

  ‘Over si
xteen hours. Like I said, you’re lucky to feel anything at all.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re okay,’ Alisha declared, her eyes glossing. ‘I told you she could do it,’ she said to Caleb. ‘I told you she’d make him better.’ She smiled up at Leila. ‘Thank you.’

  Chapter Three

  If the betrayal had stabbed her any harder or faster, Leila would have bled. She knew the answer, but the question still fell out as the facts unfolded before her. ‘What is this?’

  Alisha suddenly stilled. She bit into her bottom lip as she looked at her sister sheepishly. ‘Listen, Lei, I can explain.’

  Taken over by more rage than she was sure was healthy for a human being, Leila spun on her heels. She pushed past Hade now marking the doorway, her bare feet slamming against the floorboards as she stormed back into the living room.

  Alisha hurried after her. ‘Lei, I’m sorry.’

  Leila spun to face her. ‘I don’t want to hear sorry. I want you to tell me I’ve got this wrong.’

  Alisha lowered her gaze.

  ‘How long has this been going on?’ Leila demanded quietly.

  ‘A while.’

  ‘A while?’

  Alisha shrugged. ‘Two months. Nearly.’

  ‘Two months? You’ve been involved with a vampire for two months? You?’ Leila could barely say it as she lowered her voice. ‘And you involved me?’

  ‘I had to. I had no choice.’

  ‘No choice?’

  ‘You saw the state he was in. I panicked. But then I remembered about the book and what you could do. I couldn’t just let him die. I had to say something.’

  A kick in the gut would have been preferable. ‘It was you? You told them about the book?’ Leila marched up to her, her voice hushed. ‘You told them about me?’

  ‘I had to.’

  ‘You betrayed us? Our family? For him? Have you any idea how dangerous this is? Have you any idea what I’ve been through tonight? I thought they were going to kill you. How could you lie to me like that?’

  ‘I didn’t lie to you. I just made it sound different to how it was. Lei, I wouldn’t have brought you here if you were in danger.’