The Tomb of Blood

by Britney Jackson

  “I said that thirteen hundred years ago, Alana,” Erik reminded her. He groaned as she rubbed herself against him. He opened his mouth to finish what he’d intended to say, but before the words could spill from his mouth, she kissed him. Her hands sank into his hair, her fingers scratching at his scalp, as her lips covered his. He pulled back, panting, and said, “I don’t love you anymore.”

  Alana’s eyes narrowed. “Oh? Then, why are you dreaming about me?”

  “It must be the orchids,” Erik said, leaning back against the headboard of his bed, trying to keep a safe amount of space between their lips. “Whoever is behind these murders—they’re leaving blue orchids with the corpses, just like the blue orchids that I used to give you…just like the one from that memory.”

  A slight smile pulled at her lips. “Why do you think she’s doing that?”

  Erik frowned. “She?”

  Alana leaned closer and whispered, “Maybe she wants you to notice.”

  “Why do you keep saying she? Is it a woman? The person behind this?” Erik asked. Then, a look of frustration came over his face, and he sighed, “Why the hell am I asking you? You’re not even here. You’re dead. This is just a dream.”

  Alana just smiled at him. “I should go. Someone is waking up.”

  “What?” Erik sputtered, his brows furrowing. “Who?”

  Alana glanced at the wall, as if she could see right through it. “The woman with red hair. The one who smells so…delicious. She had a nightmare.”

  “Rose?” Erik said, frowning. “How do you know about Rose?”

  Alana ignored the question as she climbed off of him, still watching the wall with her head tilted to the side, as if she were watching a movie unfold before her, rather than staring at a solid, stone wall. She turned back toward him, finally, her lips curving into that seductive smile that she wore so often. “Goodnight, Erik,” she murmured. “I’ll see you soon.” And then, she vanished.

  —

  Erik stepped out of the bedroom and immediately collided with Rose.

  “Ow,” she grunted as she slammed into his chest.

  Erik caught her against him, grasping her shoulders to steady her. His brows furrowed as he glanced down at her. Her long, red hair looked disheveled and tangled, as if she’d just woken up and hadn’t yet brushed it, and the skin beneath her eyes looked dark and sunken, like bruises. “Rose?” he mumbled.

  She pressed her palms against his chest to steady herself. “Sorry,” she muttered, rocking back on her bare feet as she looked up at him. She frowned as she noticed that he was already fully dressed, wearing a black, silk shirt that he hadn’t buttoned up all the way and a pair of black, leather pants. She dragged her hand through her messy, red hair. “I was just on my way down to the library.”

  Erik stared at her, his eyes wide. “You’re awake,” he mumbled, frowning at her red-and-black, flannel pajamas. “She said that you would be awake.”

  Rose scowled at him. “Um…who said that I would be awake?”

  He blinked, as if he’d just remembered that she was standing there. “No one,” he muttered, shaking his head dismissively. “Where were you headed?”

  Her frown deepened. “I literally just said that I was going to the library.”

  His lips twitched at her sassy tone. “In the middle of the day?”

  Rose crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrows. “Is that not allowed?”

  “It’s not advised,” he corrected. “Have you even looked in a mirror?”

  “No,” Rose said, clearly offended by his judgement of her appearance. “I was going downstairs to get a book, not to audition as a supermodel.”

  “You look like death,” Erik added bluntly.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Like I said, I’m just going to get a book,” she said between clenched teeth. She tilted her head to the side and lifted her eyebrows. “But since you insist on rudely questioning me, maybe you can explain to me where you are going at this time of the day and why you’re already dressed.”

  His smile faded. “I…uh… I had a dream,” he said vaguely.

  “Like Martin Luther King, Jr.?” Rose asked dryly.

  “No,” he said, scowling. “Not that kind of dream.”

  Rose’s eyes softened in understanding. “Was it a nightmare?”

  “Kind of,” Erik said, frowning at the memory. “It was…unsettling.”

  She nodded. “Mine, too.”

  He blinked. “She was right about that, too,” he mumbled to himself.

  Her brows furrowed. “Um…once again…who is she?”

  Erik glanced down at her again, blinking slowly. “I need a drink,” he muttered. Then, without saying another word, he turned and walked past her.

  Rose watched him with a frown as he headed down the stairs. Feeling more than a little confused by his strange behavior, she followed him downstairs, bypassing the hallway that led into the library and following him into the kitchen, instead. She watched as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and opened it. He tilted it up, drinking straight from the bottle. “Erik, are you okay?”

  “Yep,” he said after finishing half the bottle in one, continuous gulp.

  “Because you don’t seem okay,” Rose added suspiciously.

  Erik set down the bottle and leaned over the counter, staring blankly at the newspaper clipping that he’d left in the kitchen the night before. He didn’t actually seem to be reading the article, just looking at it, as if his mind were somewhere else. “Do you really think that this—these murders, I mean—is someone trying to challenge Aaron?” he asked suddenly, still not looking at her.

  Rose watched him with a frown, wishing that she knew what Erik’s strange behavior was really about. “I’m still new to this being-a-vampire thing. I don’t know much about vampire culture or vampire colonies or…Aaron, for that matter,” she reminded him, “but I have studied ancient cultures for years. I’ve studied war after war after war. And publicly defying a leader’s law in that leader’s own territory? Well, that’s pretty much the definition of an act of war.”

  “Vampire culture is more animalistic than human culture,” Erik said.

  “Many animals are territorial and aggressive. Killing in another animal’s territory is usually perceived as a challenge of dominance,” she said. “It still fits.”

  Erik nodded. “It’s just…the only female leader that I know of is Talulah, and the vampire colony that she leads is up in Canada. So, I can’t imagine why she would challenge Aaron. I can’t imagine why anyone would, for that matter.”

  “Um…what does being female have to do with anything?” Rose asked.

  “I honestly can’t think of any female vampires who would be arrogant enough to challenge Aaron,” Erik continued, as if Rose hadn’t said anything. He frowned and added under his breath, “Well, maybe Alana. But she’s dead.”

  “Hello? Earth to Erik,” Rose called, waving her hands. When he finally glanced up at her, his green eyes wide, as if he were startled by the fact that she was even listening to him, she asked, “Why are we assuming that it’s a female?”

  “I…” Erik stammered, unsure of what to say. He knew that he couldn’t tell her that Alana had said “she” in his dream and that everything else Alana had said in his dream had been right. That would sound insane. “I…have a hunch.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “A hunch?”

  “Yeah, a hunch,” he muttered irritably. “Just trust me, okay?”

  Rose scowled suspiciously at him. “Um…okay,” she said, lifting her eyebrows. “Since we’re assuming, for some reason, that the person behind this is a woman, what makes you so certain that no women would challenge Aaron?”

  “I only know of one woman with the power and the army to challenge him,” Erik said, “and like I said, she’s not interested, nor does she have enough of an army. Or enough power, for that matter. As far as I know, the only person who has ever been arrogant enough to challenge Aaron’s authority is A
lana.”

  “Alana challenged Aaron?” Rose asked, surprised.

  “Not…officially,” Erik clarified, his brows creasing. “She never made any outright declarations of disloyalty, and she certainly never declared war. But Alana never agreed with Aaron’s rules, and she didn’t exactly keep that a secret.”

  “And he didn’t kill her for that?” Rose asked curiously.

  “I guess he did, eventually,” Erik said. “He was the one who killed her.”

  “Hmm,” Rose mumbled, frowning thoughtfully.

  “Alana was extremely powerful, even for a telepath,” Erik sighed. “She had so much experience with mind-control that she could be in and out of your mind before you had any idea. Unlike Kallias, she had no qualms against abusing her power, and…obviously, people with no limits are more dangerous. She hated Aaron’s rules. She spent her human life following orders, so when she became a vampire, she just couldn’t handle being told what to do or what not to do. And she always believed that she was more powerful than Aaron. It wouldn’t surprise me if she were behind something like this. I mean…if she were still alive.”

  “What about the other woman?” Rose asked curiously.

  His brows furrowed. “What other woman?”

  “You told me once that Alana had another lover,” Rose reminded him, “and that this other woman is currently Aaron’s second-in-command.”

  “Oh, you mean Kara,” Erik realized. “Kara Unnarsdóttir.”

  “Maybe she feels the same way about Aaron as her ex-girlfriend did,” she suggested, shrugging, “or maybe she just grew tired of being Aaron’s second.”

  Erik shook his head. “No, that’s not like Kara.”

  “Are you sure?” she challenged. “It has been thirteen hundred years.”

  “I’m sure,” he assured her. “Kara’s not the power-hungry type. She’s a warrior, not a leader. She prefers to do her work behind the scenes, in the shadows, in secret. Ruling just isn’t her style. She’s too much of a rogue for that.”

  Rose tilted her head to the side, considering that. “Okay. Then, maybe she is doing it for Alana. Aaron killed her ex-lover. Maybe she wants revenge.”

  Erik snorted, “That’s not really Kara’s style either. I mean, yes, Alana and Kara were together, but their relationship was always a bit…dysfunctional.”

  “Well, yeah. Obviously,” Rose said. “Alana was a sociopath. If sociopaths were capable of functional relationships, they wouldn’t be called sociopaths.”

  He scowled at her snarky remark. “The point is: Kara wouldn’t do that. At one time, I think she might have. At one time, Kara would have done anything for Alana. But by the time I became a vampire, their relationship had…changed. Their relationship was so full of bitterness and hatred. And…really hot sex.”

  Rose wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. Just when I thought you might actually go a full three minutes without saying anything perverted,” she complained.

  Erik grinned. “You know me better than that.”

  “That I do,” she agreed, shaking her head in disapproval.

  “If anyone is challenging Aaron, I can almost guarantee that it’s not Kara,” he said. “Kara is a Viking. She respects strength and bravery, and because of that, she respects Aaron. It was one of the many things that Alana and Kara fought about. Alana never understood Kara’s loyalty to the Tomb of Blood.”

  “Rose?” called a low, groggy voice from the door. “Are you all right?”

  Rose turned around, sighing as she noticed Kallias leaning tiredly against the doorframe. “You shouldn’t have come all the way downstairs. I’m fine.”

  “She had a nightmare,” Erik provided unnecessarily.

  “I know,” Kallias said, wiping his hand over his face, as if he could wipe away the dark circles beneath his eyes or the paleness of his face. “I felt it.”

  “Right,” Erik said. He took another swig of whiskey. “The blood bond.”

  Kallias frowned at Erik for a moment. “What are you doing awake?”

  “He had a bad dream, too,” Rose said, “but he’s being weirdly secretive about it. He’s also acting really strange and talking about this unknown she.”

  Erik set down the whiskey bottle and glared at her. “Thanks a lot, Rose.”

  She flashed a sarcastic smile at him. “You’re welcome.”

  Kallias continued to stare at Erik with that unnerving gaze of his, that intense look in his wide, brown eyes, the look that usually meant he was reading someone’s mind. His eyes widened in shock. “You dreamed about Alana again?”

  Erik shot another glare at Rose. “I hate you sometimes.”

  She smiled. “The feeling’s mutual.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Erik told Kallias. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey and sighed, “I’m just going to go watch the news.” He stormed past Rose, toward the door that Kallias was currently blocking. When Kallias stepped out of the way, frowning at Erik’s grumpiness, Erik stopped and glared at him. “And stop reading my mind, asshole,” he grumbled before leaving the kitchen.

  Kallias blinked. “You’re right,” he told Rose. “He is acting weird.”

  She shrugged. “If his dream really was about Alana, it’s understandable.”

  “Yeah,” Kallias said, staring in the direction Erik had gone. “I guess so.”

  Rose stepped away from the counter and walked toward Kallias. The tile floor felt cold beneath her bare feet, and her muscles felt heavy and slow as she walked. When she reached him, she raised herself on her toes and looped her arms around his neck. Kallias’s hands immediately went to her hips, resting comfortably on the bare skin between the waistband of her pants and the bottom of her pajama shirt. “You should have stayed in bed,” she said again. “I’m fine.”

  He scowled at her. “You should be in bed. You’re a vampire now, Rose. You have to rest during the day. If you don’t, it takes a toll on your body.”

  She leaned back on her heels, her long, wavy red hair falling behind her shoulders. “Yeah, I’m aware that I’m a vampire, actually,” she sassed. “It’s kind of hard to forget when I have these in my mouth.” She flashed her fangs at him.

  A faint smirk tugged at the edges of his lips, and then, before she could react, he lifted his hand and slid his finger over one of her fangs, slicing it open.

  Her nostrils flared at the scent of his blood. Her blue eyes darkened as she glanced down at his hand, watching as a drop of blood surfaced on his fingertip. Hunger burned in her throat. “Why did you do that?” she panted.

  “If you’re not going to sleep during the day, then you should at least feed,” Kallias said, tilting his face forward so that his lips were close enough to kiss, “so that you can heal from the damage that the sun is doing to your body.”

  The hunger and desire seemed to overtake her, all at once, and without thinking, she licked the blood from his hand. She moaned softly at the taste, feeling the sudden thrum of energy, her body responding to the blood bond that she shared with him. Then, as the animalistic side of her seemed to awaken, taking control, she pulled his face closer to hers and pressed her lips against his.

  Still not quite used to this side of her, Kallias groaned in surprise at her eagerness, but despite his momentary surprise, his body responded instantly. He stepped forward, pressing her back against the door, his hands tightening around the soft, sensitive skin of her hips. He groaned again as she nipped hungrily at his lips with her fangs, causing a painful wave of desire to sweep through his body. When he felt her fingers at the waistband of his pants, undoing the button, he grasped her wrists and leaned forward, his body pressing harder against hers. “Do you really want to do this? Here?” he growled, his lips curving into a grin.

  Rose moaned and trailed her lips down his neck, planting soft, gentle kisses over the tattooed skin of his neck, tracing the vibrant, colorful flames with her tongue. “Yes. Yes. Yes,” she whispered against his skin. “Now. Please.”

  He tilted his head back
, groaning as she grazed his neck with her fangs.

  “Hey, guys, try not to make a mess on the counter!” came Erik’s voice suddenly, bellowing from the living room. “I’m making biscuits in a few hours!”

  Rose pulled back, her eyes widening, as she came crashing back down to reality. “And…suddenly, it doesn’t seem so urgent,” she muttered, grimacing.

  Kallias groaned in frustration. “I vote we evict him. What do you think?”

  “I heard that!” Erik yelled.

  “No!” Rose hissed at Kallias. “You know he can’t take care of himself!”

  “I heard that, too!” Erik growled.

  —

  Rose was casually sifting through her underwear drawer, trying to decide between two different pairs of panties—a comfortable, blue pair or a slightly prettier, black pair—when Erik barged into the room. She held the towel tighter around her soaked body, clutching the panties in her hand, as she glared at him.

  “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that Emma and Geoff are here,” Erik began, frowning at her half-naked, dripping-with-water state. “Nice towel.”

  “I will kill you,” Rose growled.

  “If you’re trying to decide which pair of underwear is sexier,” Erik began, leaning against the doorframe with a smug grin, “the answer is neither.”

  Her bright blue eyes narrowed at him. “Get out.”

  “Seriously,” he continued, as if he had a death wish, “no matter how turned on Kallias is when he starts undressing you, once he sees those hideous panties, he will lose his erection, and it will run away and never come back.”

  “That’s physically impossible,” Rose stated. “Also, you’re disgusting.”

  Erik glanced past her, studying her underwear drawer a little too closely. He sighed, running his hand over his face, as if her complete lack of sexiness exhausted him. “Rose…do you have a pair of underwear with a cat on them?”

  “It’s the Cheshire cat,” she said defensively, “from Alice in Wonderland.”