Kara dropped her arms, resting her hands in her lap, as her intense, blue eyes softened with sadness. “How could anyone else understand,” she sighed, “how painful it is to love Alana, if they haven’t done so themselves? How could they possibly understand how she rips apart everything good that’s inside of you?”
Erik leaned forward. “I know you don’t understand why I do what I do. But I miss the friendship that we used to have. I want to fix things between us.”
Kara snorted, “You just don’t want me to make you sleep in the floor.”
He laughed, “That, too.”
She rolled her eyes, suppressing a smile. “Fine. You can sleep in my bed, but just know: if you touch me at all, you’ll lose the body part that touched me.”
Erik smiled. “It’s already starting to feel like old times.”
—
Alana didn’t pull away from the woman’s neck until she sucked the last drop of blood from the woman’s body. She sat up, still straddling the woman’s hips, and wiped the blood from her lips with her fingers. Then, she licked the blood off of her fingers as she climbed out of the bed. She reached out and grabbed the pink, silk robe that she’d slung over the chair beside her bed.
She turned toward the doorway as she covered her naked body with the robe and tied the sash around her waist. “Did I give you permission to watch?”
The man straightened in shock, his eyes practically bulging. “Uh…I’m sorry,” he squeaked as he stepped forward. His clumsy, nervous movements knocked over a vase beside the door, and when it shattered into a million pieces on the white, marble floor, he stared down at it with wide, terrified, gray eyes.
Alana rolled her eyes. “Why must humans be so annoying?”
“I’m s-so s-sorry,” the man stuttered. “I will replace that.”
Alana scowled at him. “It’s yours. I’m using your home, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” the man mumbled. “I’ll…clean it up, then.”
“Yes,” Alana said irritably. “You most certainly will.”
The man’s face contorted with terror. “I swear I didn’t mean to watch,” he said, his voice shaking. “I was coming to deliver a message, and I saw you, and I just…couldn’t look away. I don’t know why. It just keeps happening.”
“It’s because you’re a human,” Alana informed him, rolling her eyes, as if he should’ve known that. “Have I mentioned lately how much I hate humans?”
The man gulped audibly. “Y-yes,” he stammered. “A few times.”
“Good,” Alana said as she sat down in the rocking chair and crossed her bare legs. She watched the way the man’s gaze darted down toward her soft, pale thighs. She smiled seductively at him. “If I catch you watching me like that again, I’ll make you claw out your own eyeballs. That sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
The man immediately redirected his gaze back toward her face, his gray eyes widening. He clutched his chest with his hand as his heart began to race.
“No, no, no,” Alana chided, as if she were speaking to a small child. She leaned forward in her chair, resting her bare feet against the cold, marble floor, as she offered him a sickeningly sweet smile. “You need to stop that. Right now.”
The man’s blotchy-red skin turned ghostly pale. “S-stop what?”
Alana waved her hand at him. “The heart thing,” she said impatiently. “I can’t have you dying on me. I still need you. So, slow down that heart rate.”
The man blinked in shock. “You want me to…slow down my heart?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?” Alana asked irritably.
“I…I can’t control my heart,” the man sputtered, his brows furrowing.
Alana raised an eyebrow. “Do you need motivation?”
“No! No!” the man said, taking a step back. He inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled slowly, desperately trying to slow down his pulse before Alana decided to help him. After a few moments, he noticed her smiling at him.
“Ah, that’s better,” Alana praised, applauding him.
As he stared worriedly at the terrifying, beautiful vampire, he reached up and loosened his tie, hoping it would allow him to breathe a little easier. “Uh…like I said, I apologize for interrupting your…meal…but I have news.”
Alana leaned back in the rocking chair, her pale blonde hair falling behind the chair as she stared up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “You better make it quick,” she said. “The sun is rising, and I need my beauty sleep.”
“Uh…it’s about your ex-lover,” the man said uneasily.
“Which one?” Alana asked with a soft laugh. “I have millions.”
“The empath,” the man answered. “Erik Olafsson.”
Alana leaned forward, her dark blue eyes wide. “Where is he?”
“The Tomb of Blood,” the man said uneasily, “according to your spies.”
Her dark blue eyes flashed with frustration. “I knew Kara was lying to me,” she sighed, looking away. “Aaron admitted him? Even after all he’s done?”
“Apparently,” the man said. “He’s not alone either.”
Alana nodded. “Erik never goes anywhere without Kallias.”
“The young vampire is with him, too,” the man added.
Alana looked up at him, her eyebrows lifting. “Young vampire?”
“The powerful one,” the man provided. “Rose Foster.”
Alana smiled. “Oh, good! I like her! And I hate her. Simultaneously.”
The man stared blankly at her, not sure what to think of that. “Er…well, it appears that she’s already managed to stir up trouble at the Tomb of Blood.”
“Of course she has,” Alana laughed. “She can be quite…fiery.”
“Apparently, she attacked someone,” the man said, “with telekinesis.”
Alana clapped her hands together, her dark blue eyes widening with delight. “Oh my! This is getting exciting!” she squealed. “What happened then?”
“Nothing,” the man answered. “According to eyewitness accounts, the vampire that she attacked was unable to retaliate because she was…protected.”
She nodded, as if she’d assumed as much. “By her boyfriend, of course.”
“No,” the man corrected. “By Kara Unnarsdóttir.”
Alana froze, her dark blue eyes widening. “Kara protected her?”
The man nodded. “I was told that she is also your ex-lover.”
A frightening, dangerous growl echoed through the room as Alana narrowed her eyes at him. Before he could even react, Alana was suddenly in front of him, her fingers wrapped around his short, brown hair, dragging him down to eye-level with her. “That is the second time you’ve made that mistake.”
The man trembled in terror. “W-w-what m-mistake?” he stuttered.
She moved her face closer to his, until her lips and bared fangs brushed against his face. “Never refer to Erik Olafsson or Kara Unnarsdóttir as my ex-lovers,” she growled, her blood-scented breath falling against his face. “They are not, nor will they ever be, ex-lovers. They are mine. Always. Do you understand?”
The man nodded nervously. “Y-yes. Of c-course. I’m s-so s-sorry.”
Alana released his hair, watching as he stumbled backward and fell flat on his butt. She crossed her arms as she waited for him to return to his feet. “Your heart is racing again,” she said coldly. “You have one minute to fix it.”
The man was practically hyperventilating by the time he climbed back to his feet. He leaned heavily against the beautiful, ornate doorframe, clasping his hand over his white, button-down shirt, feeling his heart pound against his palm. As he tried to slow down his breathing, he watched Alana pace the marble floor, the silk robe swaying around her small, delicate figure as she walked.
“I didn’t expect this,” she muttered under her breath. She continued to pace, her brows furrowed in concentration. “Why would Kara protect Rose?”
“Er,” the man began nervously, another jolt of fear shooting th
rough his veins as Alana’s dark blue gaze shifted toward him. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you concerned about who is protecting the young vampire?”
“Because I need her,” Alana said simply. “She turned me down once, but I haven’t given up on her yet. She and I have a lot in common, and I’ve seen her darkness. It’s…impressive. Rose’s power would be incredibly useful to me.”
“But she is on Aaron’s side,” the man pointed out. “Besides, isn’t Kara the least of your worries? Rose Foster is protected by a telepath and an empath.”
Alana waved her hand dismissively. “Erik will come to my side before this is all over. I am sure of it. Kallias won’t be a problem either, as long as I keep him away from me. But if Kara is protecting her—that complicates things.”
“Oh,” the man said, watching as Alana returned to the chair. She fell into the chair, leaning back, the robe falling open to reveal the soft, alabaster skin underneath. He watched as she leaned her head back and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Leave me,” Alana said, waving her hand. “I need time to think.”
“Of course,” he said, eager to get away from the terrifying vampire.
“Don’t forget to get the corpse out of my bed,” Alana reminded him.
He glanced at the woman that Alana had killed. “Right,” he muttered.
—
Rose jerked upright in the bed, her blankets pooling around her waist. Her heart raced so rapidly that her chest ached with each beat, and droplets of cold sweat dripped from her hair onto her forehead. Her wide, blue eyes darted around the room, and she sighed in relief as she realized that the dream was over.
“Bad dream?” asked a familiar, lilting voice.
Rose turned toward the office chair beside the bed, blinking in surprise as she noticed Kara leaning back in the chair, her long, fair-skinned legs propped on the bed, crossed at the ankles. She wore a pair of black shorts that—after looking closely—Rose realized were actually boxers and a thin tank top that clung to her muscular stomach and her small, round breasts. Rose blushed and redirected her gaze toward the vampire’s face. “Uh…why are you awake?”
Kara continued to stare at her in the dark room, and for once, she didn’t wear that cocky, flirty smile that she wore so often. She looked tired and sickly, Rose realized. Still beautiful, of course, but sickly. Dark, purple circles lined her eyes, like deeply sunken bruises, and her piercing, cornflower-blue eyes looked flatter than usual, sadder, almost…dead. Her black-and-blue hair fell in messy waves around her bare shoulders. “I believe I asked you first,” she murmured.
Rose glanced down at her hands, which lay entangled in her lap. “Yeah. Bad dream,” she sighed, avoiding Kara’s knowing gaze. “What about you?”
The chair squeaked softly as Kara shifted her legs, uncrossing them and crossing them again. Rose glanced down at her own legs as she felt Kara’s foot brush against them. “Same as you,” Kara answered, “except it wasn’t a bad dream. It was pleasant, actually. Ha, pleasurable is probably a better word for it.”
Rose blushed, her eyes widening as she understood. “Oh…”
Kara winked, allowing that seductive, flirty smile to return to her face.
“Uh…” Rose stammered, her face still flushed. “So, if it was a…pleasant…dream, why does it look like you’re trying to stay awake?”
The smile faded. “Because it wasn’t a dream. Not really. It was Alana.”
Rose frowned at the sadness in Kara’s voice. “What do you mean?”
“She likes to do that. Get into your dreams. Control them,” Kara sighed, staring blankly at the wall, as if she were lost in thought. Her intense, light blue gaze shifted toward Rose. “Manipulate you while your mind is at its weakest.”
“But…doesn’t she need to be close in order to do that?” Rose asked. “Kallias has to be in close proximity to someone in order to control their mind.”
Kara’s gaze shifted toward Kallias who lay, still asleep, on the other side of Rose. “Kallias is powerful, but in some ways, he’s less experienced. He uses his abilities sparingly whereas Alana uses hers every time she has the opportunity.” She sighed and returned her gaze to Rose. “Besides, the mind is vulnerable while we sleep, and if she already has a connection with your mind, like she does with mine, she can control your dreams across greater distances.”
Rose nodded in understanding. “A connection…like a blood bond?”
“Yep,” Kara said, leaning further back in the chair. It looked as if the chair could fall at any moment. “You can never really break a blood bond. The connection is always there, coming back to haunt you long after you’ve broken the bond. And I have been bound to Alana more times than I can count.”
Rose watched the nonchalance in Kara’s body language, noticing how it seemed so authentic. And yet, it wasn’t. She knew it wasn’t. Deceiving people came so naturally to Kara that she was trying to do it even now, when she was clearly in pain. “Does she do this to you a lot?” Rose asked sympathetically.
“It depends,” Kara sighed. “Sometimes, she’ll go decades or centuries without messing with me. But then, she starts doing it every day. Every dream is about her. About us. Until eventually, I seek her out. She needs me to want her.”
“She needs your attention,” Rose realized. “She can’t let you forget her.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Kara agreed. “But it’s never enough. The entire world could worship her, and it still wouldn’t be enough to undo the damage.”
Rose nodded. “Elise told me about that…about Alana being a slave.”
“Elise only knows some of it,” Kara sighed, staring blankly at the wall again. “Alana used to tell me what they did to her. Back when things were different between us. We’d lay in bed together, and she’d talk about it. They really screwed her up, but…I thought she was getting past it.” She laughed bitterly. “That was before she showed her true colors. I was so naïve back then.”
Rose’s chest ached at the bitter pain that cut into Kara’s voice. Kara didn’t have to admit it. It was clear in her voice. Kara had truly loved Alana once.
Kara’s piercing, blue eyes shifted back toward Rose. “It’s your turn.”
Rose frowned. “My turn?”
“I told you my dream,” Kara stated. “Tell me yours.”
Rose shifted uncomfortably, blushing as the movement caused Kara’s foot to brush against her bare thigh. “Technically, you didn’t tell me your dream,” she corrected. “You just told me it was Alana and that it was…uh…pleasant.”
A wolfish grin spread across Kara’s face. “I’ll tell you every detail, if you want, from the color of the blankets down to the way she screamed while I…”
“No, thanks!” Rose squeaked, cutting her off before she could finish that sentence. She ran her hand through her messy, auburn hair. “I was just…”
“Just trying to get out of telling me about yours?” Kara finished for her.
Rose sighed. “Yeah,” she admitted, her gaze falling to her hands.
“Hey,” Kara murmured soothingly. She dropped her legs and leaned forward in her chair, resting her enclosed hands on her thighs. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want. It just… It seemed pretty terrible. You were whimpering, and your body kept tensing up, as if you were in terrible pain.”
Rose swallowed. “I dreamed about the night I died.”
Kara stared at her. “Was it a vampire that killed you?”
“Not exactly,” Rose mumbled. “Did you know Theron?”
“I’ve heard of him,” Kara answered. “Is he the one who killed you?”
“Kind of…I guess,” Rose said uneasily. “I mean…I would have died eventually because of what he did. I should have died because of what he did.”
“But you didn’t?” Kara asked. She leaned back in her chair, nodding. “Oh, right. I remember. Aaron said that you killed him and fifty other vampires.”
Rose felt her chest tighten at the memory.
“Yeah.”
“How?” Kara asked. “How could a human kill so many vampires?”
Rose shrugged. “You’ve seen what I can do.”
“I’ve seen you stop a bullet with your mind,” Kara said, “and throw a vampire across the room without touching him. You have telekinetic abilities.”
“Kallias said that Aaron has killed vampires like me,” Rose said.
“I doubt anyone is like you,” Kara said quietly, so quietly that a human wouldn’t have heard her. “But yes, according to the stories, Aaron killed the few vampires with telekinetic abilities that he came across. But I don’t want you to worry about that. I swore that I would protect you. I won’t tell Aaron what you can do, and if he tries to kill you, I will stop him…no matter what I have to do.”
“Why?” Rose asked curiously.
Kara stared at her for a few moments, as if she were considering whether or not to answer the question. “Because you stopped that bullet. You could have just let it hit me. You had no reason to stop it. It wouldn’t have killed me.”
“But it would have hurt you,” Rose said.
Kara tilted her head to the side. “That’s such a strange thing to care about,” she said. “No one has ever done anything like that for me before.”
Rose frowned sympathetically. “That’s terrible.”
“No, it’s not. It’s normal,” Kara argued. “But you… You’re not normal.”
“I don’t want you to protect me,” Rose insisted. “I stopped that bullet because I didn’t want it to hurt you, not because I wanted something in return.”
Kara’s brows furrowed. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
Rose blinked at the raw sincerity in that statement.
“How did you die?” Kara asked again. She leaned forward, her intense gaze drifting down toward the thin, sleeveless shirt that Rose had worn to bed. She raised her hand to Rose’s shoulders and pushed aside the strap of the shirt, causing Rose to shudder as her fingertips brushed Rose’s bare, freckled skin. Kara’s brows furrowed as she traced her fingertip over Rose’s skin. “Was it this?”
The Tomb of Blood Page 28