Vivi Anna - [Valorian Chronicles 04]

by The Vampire's Quest

  Duncan licked his lips but stood his ground. “You don’t scare me. I’ve taken down bigger and meaner vampires than you.”

  “I don’t want to fight you, Duncan. What happened before was unfortunate, but it’s over.”

  “It’s not over until you’re gone.”

  “That won’t change the fact the Sophie doesn’t want you. You won’t get her by default. It’ll be her choice.”

  “I don’t care anymore.” He smirked. “She’s used goods now, anyway.”

  Fury swirled through Kellen like a typhoon. Tightening his fists, he leaned forward, preparing to smash Duncan in the face. But something in his periphery caught his eye.

  Everything, including people, tables and chairs started to waver behind Duncan. As if caught in heat waves, they rippled back and forth.

  His stomach dropped and his heart lurched into his throat. It couldn’t be happening. Not here. Not now. Oh God! Please no!

  As if in slow motion, Kellen swiveled toward Sophie. She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly getting wider by the second. By his actions, she knew.

  He grabbed her hands. “Get out! Grab Olena and Frank and get out!”

  Like a coward, Duncan took that moment to attack.

  His first punch landed squarely across Kellen’s jaw. He felt the blow all the way to his feet. But it wasn’t enough to take him down. Kellen was too pumped up on adrenaline to fall.

  Kellen successfully blocked Duncan’s next punch, then, pinning both arms to his body, he sandwiched the lycan in a bear hug. Duncan struggled but Kellen kept him there. “There’s a bomb, Duncan. You need to get out. Now.”

  “What? You’re insane, vampire. Your disease has finally taken you over the edge.”

  “Listen to me, asshole,” Kellen bit out. “This place is going to explode. We need to get these people out of here.”

  Duncan looked around, panic slowly starting to take root. “I don’t believe you.”

  “I don’t care what you believe.” He let Duncan go, pushing him back. The lycan stumbled, then landed on his butt on the floor.

  Kellen swiveled around and started to shout, trying to be heard over the thumping music. “Everyone get out! There’s a bomb!”

  Thankfully, he saw Sophie herding Olena and Frank to the door. Mentally, he shouted to her to hurry, there wasn’t much time. He could already feel the blast waves rippling through the room. The explosion was going to be devastating. A lot of people were going to die. He prayed to God that Sophie wasn’t one of them.

  Some people paused in their movements and glanced at him. He yelled again as he moved toward Sophie, keeping her in his sight, too scared to lose her in the crowd.

  “Get out of the building! There’s a bomb!”

  This time some people heard him loud and clear. Panic flashed across their faces. They started toward the exit, some ran, others walking fast.

  It wasn’t long before alarm swept the room, and, like a herd of cattle, the patrons rushed the exit, pushing and shoving in their manic urge to get out. He didn’t blame them—he wanted out just as much. He didn’t want to die after all that he’d been through, and after finding Sophie. It would be a cruel irony.

  Kellen moved with the crowd, keeping his eyes on Sophie. She was just about at the door. He sent a silent prayer for her to hurry. He couldn’t survive if something happened to her. He wouldn’t want to.

  The air pressure around him started to drop. His head throbbed, his heart pounded. He could barely breathe. It was happening.

  The timer had reached zero.

  Looking up, he watched Sophie as her hand pushed at the exit door. It opened and she started through, but before she was gone she turned and met his gaze. And in her eyes he saw everything he needed to. She loved him—and would for an eternity.

  “Sophie,” he whispered.

  She disappeared out the door.

  Shouts behind him turned his head. He saw Duncan standing near the dance floor, looking around in confusion, others brushing past him to get out of the building. He was making no effort to get to an exit. Their gazes met, and Kellen pushed back through the crowd toward him.

  “Come on, Duncan!”

  In a flash of white, blinding light, and with a pulse-pounding metallic roar, everything around him exploded.

  Chapter 27

  Everything was black. Sophie struggled to wipe at her eyes. Was there something covering them? She wiped until finally, blessedly, pinpoints of light pierced the darkness. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision.

  Someone was talking to her, but Sophie couldn’t make out their words. It was all garbled, as if spoken underwater. Turning her head, she tried to find the person speaking to her, but everything was blurry.

  Hands held her head. A spot of white light swung back and forth before her eyes. She lashed out at it, but other hands grabbed her arms, pinning her so she couldn’t move.

  “Sophie? Sophie? It’s Gabe. You’re going to be okay.”

  His voice came to her as an echo. Was she in a cave? Why couldn’t she see him?

  “Take her to the hospital. I’ll search for the others.”

  What others? Sophie struggled against her restraint. Then it hit her like a sledgehammer in the stomach.

  The club. The bomb. Olena and François.

  Kellen. Oh, her wonderful vampire, Kellen.

  “Kellen!” she shrieked and fought against the leather straps keeping her down on the stretcher.

  Gabriel’s face came into view. He cupped her face, his eyes were glassy. Had he been crying? “You need to relax, Sophie. They’ll take you to the hospital. You’re injured. You need to heal.”

  “No,” she moaned, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Olena and François are alive. They have been taken to the hospital, as well.”

  “Kellen. I want to know where he is.”

  Gabriel stared her in the eyes for a moment, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. The action told her everything she needed to know.

  “Take her to the hospital.”

  As the medics wheeled her toward the ambulance, she kept her gaze on Gabriel. He watched her until they lifted her into the vehicle. His head down, he walked away and into the destruction that had once been the Casa de Musica.

  She screamed and sobbed and kicked in fury. The medics tried to calm her, but she wasn’t listening. A rage ripped through her without mercy, tearing and stabbing at her. She called to Death to take her, to end her pain. But the bastard didn’t. She struggled futilely until she felt a prick on her arm, and the darkness took her once more.

  Smacking her lips and groaning at the horrid taste in her mouth, Sophie opened her eyes to the white ceiling and muted lights above.

  She was in a hospital. She’d recognize the smell of disinfectant, medicine and sweat-dampened cotton sheets anywhere.

  Craning her neck, she looked around the room. A yellow flannel curtain surrounded her bed, so she didn’t see much but the IV stuck in her hand. The constant drip of the fluids from the bag made her head ache. It echoed in her ears like loud, crashing cymbals.

  Without moving too much, she tried to gauge her injuries. Looking down the length of her body, which was covered by a white flannel blanket, she noticed the lump under the sheet near her ankle. She obviously had a new cast on it. She likely re-broke the healing bone trying to scramble out of the building with about fifty people pushing on her back.

  Shifting a little to get comfortable, pain ripped over her torso. She guessed one or more ribs were broken. She likely had a ton of bruising and maybe a few lacerations.

  She closed her eyes against the memory of broken glass and wood, and flying pieces of cement and other materials raining down on her. The sound of the explosion rattled in her head again. Biting down on her lip, she tried to stem the tears from gushing. She’d been lucky to get out alive.

  Others hadn’t been.

  An image of Kellen flashed in her mind and her heart compressed so tightly she struggled
to breathe. Groaning, she took in air. But she felt like dying. The pain of his loss seared through her deeply, burning her to the bone. God, it hurt so badly, she dug her nails into the palms of her hands to combat the agony.

  But she knew nothing could possibly lessen it.

  The curtain around her bed rustled then parted. Gabriel came through.

  “Hey.” He patted her leg as he sat on the edge of her bed. “Do you need some water?” He reached for the plastic cup on the swiveling table attached to her bed.

  She shook her head and turned so he wouldn’t see her tears, her pain so clearly etched onto her face. “How long have I been out?”

  “Twelve hours. The doctor says you’re going to be fine. You’re such a quick healer he suspects you’ll be on your feet in a day or two.”

  She remained silent. She didn’t care one way or another whether she healed or not. It all didn’t matter. Without Kellen nothing mattered.

  “Olena is already out. She’s a tough cookie. François, on the other hand, is still in intensive care.” He sighed. “A witch’s physiology is much like a human’s. Harder to heal.”

  “Please leave, Gabe. I don’t feel like company right now.”

  He grabbed her leg and squeezed, getting her attention. She turned toward him, intent on telling him to go to hell.

  “Kellen’s alive, Sophie.”

  She frowned at him and shook her head, unable to form any coherent words. He couldn’t possibly be telling her the truth. Was this his idea of a cruel joke?

  Sliding off her bed, he grabbed the curtain and pulled it back. There was another bed beside hers. Kellen lay there under the blankets—still, eyes closed and hooked up to three machines.

  Her heart leapt into her throat. Struggling with the tube sticking out of her, she rolled over in her bed, intent on getting up and going to him. But her limbs weren’t agreeing with her goal. They were leaden and stiff from severe bruising.

  Gabriel pushed her back into the bed. “He’s alive but unconscious.”

  She stared at the oxygen mask fitted over his nose and mouth. “He’s not breathing?”

  Gabriel shook his head. “I think that possibly he’s in a self-induced coma, meant to heal. I’ve heard of vampires doing that when their injuries are too severe.”

  “What kind of injuries?”

  He paused and she knew he was gauging how much information to share with her. “He has a punctured lung and a lot of internal damage. The doctors are uncertain of exactly what they can do for him.”

  She rolled onto her back, and sighing, shut her eyes against the constant well of tears. Kellen was alive. She had to grasp onto that, even if his unconscious state gave her no relief. He was alive and she wouldn’t let him die, no matter what.

  She opened her eyes and looked at Gabriel. He was watching her intensely. Sorrow swam in his eyes. “What else? I know you’re keeping something else back.” Her voice sounded flat in her ears.

  “Duncan’s dead.”

  Pressing her lips together, she tried to keep the grief inside. More tears rolled down her temples to drip onto the pillow. She never loved Duncan, but the pain of his death stabbed her inside. He had been a friend once, and a member of her pack. No matter his last actions and words, he deserved her grief. No one should have to die like that.

  Gabriel patted her leg, but she felt as though he did it as much for himself as for her. He had known Duncan, had been friendly with him and even spent some nights running together in the park. They hadn’t been close like brothers, as Gabriel hadn’t been one of the pack, but there had been some camaraderie, enough that the pain of his death had to cut him inside, too.

  “It looks like Kellen tried to get to him, but he was too far back in the crowd to save. A ceiling beam fell on him and broke his back.”

  Words failed her. She nodded, letting him know she understood his pain and thanked him for telling her.

  “Your father’s chomping at the bit to see you.” She opened her mouth to protest, but Gabriel patted her leg and continued, “I’ll tell him he can’t stay long.”

  “Thank you, Gabe.”

  Standing, he moved forward and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “You’re welcome. Heal yourself, Sophie. Concentrate your energy on that. Everything else can come after.”

  After he left, she wiped at her eyes. She didn’t want Leon to see her wallowing in self-pity. Not with Duncan’s death so new. Her father would be grieving hard for him. He had been one of his favorites.

  The curtain parted again, and Leon came through; his expression was stoic but his eyes told the truth. She could see the immense sorrow in them.

  He stood awkwardly at her bed. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay. I’ll heal.”

  He lifted his hand as if to touch her leg through the blanket, but lowered it again. It had always been so hard for him to express his emotions. She felt sorry for him that he couldn’t grieve the way he should. Raising her hand, she reached for him.

  Surprised, he grasped her hand, and she saw that his eyes were wet with unshed tears.

  “I’m sorry about Duncan. I know how much he meant to you.”

  He nodded, pressing his lips together. “We lost another pack member, as well. Bianca. She was so young.”

  “It could’ve been a lot worse if Kellen hadn’t sensed it in time.”

  Still gripping her hand in his, Leon glanced over at the next bed where Kellen lay. He stared at him for a few moments, then turned back to Sophie. “He saved your life. And I heard he tried to save Duncan, as well.”

  “He’s a great man.”

  “I’m beginning to realize that. I’m sorry it comes too late.”

  More tears trickled down her cheeks. Her emotions were too high to stop them. “It’s never too late. When he wakes, you can tell him yourself.”

  He nodded, but she could tell that he didn’t share her optimism about Kellen’s fate. “I’ll let you sleep.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back, then lowered it to the bed. “I’ll come by tomorrow. Sleep and heal, my daughter.”

  Too choked up to speak, she just nodded. He turned and went to close the curtain separating her and Kellen’s beds.

  “No. Please leave it open.”

  He glanced once at Kellen, then back to her. Giving her a small smile, he left her bedside and exited the room.

  When he was gone, she wiped her eyes again. He was right, she needed to heal. She couldn’t help anyone if she was drowning in her own self-pity in a hospital bed. She had to be strong.

  Turning her head to the side, she watched the rise and fall of Kellen’s chest; the whooshing sound of his breathing machine was like a nail in her heart. She needed to get strong again. She couldn’t help him fight to live if she was weak.

  Unfurling her hand from under the blanket, she reached out toward him, her fingers stretching as far as they could go. If only he could feel her, then he would know how much she longed to have him in her arms. Without his touch, she was already starting to grow cold. How long would it take for her heart to freeze solid?

  Chapter 28

  It was hot and wet in the jungle. The light misting of rain kept everything damp, soggy with warm moisture. With each step Kellen took along the path, mud squelched beneath his boots. Alone he trudged, unsure of where he was headed. But he knew he was waiting for something.

  Anticipation reverberated in the warm, humid air.

  As he walked, the mournful call of a gibbon pierced the eerie evening silence of the forest. He turned toward the sound, hopeful of getting a glimpse of the agile ape swinging through the trees. But as he moved, another sound echoed behind him.

  He swiveled on the path, his heart racing. A lone shape moved through the fog that enshrouded the jungle. Eyes wide, he watched as a majestic auburn-colored wolf sprang out of the gray mist and padded toward him.

  Sophie. She found him at last.

  He didn’t know how long he’d been waiting for her, bu
t it seemed like a lifetime.

  With a stout heart, he waited for her on the path. As she neared, her form started to shift. A set of legs lengthened as another set receded. Her body elongated and the shiny auburn fur disappeared. She was a vision of pale, perfect skin over a long and lithe body. Her long, glorious red hair cascaded over toned shoulders to just cover her rose-tipped breasts.

  She took his breath away. He didn’t deserve someone as exquisite as Sophie. Noble, remarkable, steadfast Sophie. His Sophie. How did he ever get so lucky?

  Smiling, she came to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing the heat of her body against his. When he looked down he noticed that he, too was naked, in the strange way things work in dreams. Because this had to be one. Where else could a reckless man like Kellen be so blessed to be with a woman like Sophie? Surely not in a reality he knew of.

  With hands molded to her back, Kellen leaned down and kissed her. Sweeping his tongue between her lips he teased her, reveling in the way she moaned into his mouth. She tasted of the air, and water, the dirt and leaves, everything magical and beautiful about nature.

  He ran his hands down her back to the firm swell of her buttocks. Gripping her cheeks, he hauled her up his body. Conjured from his mind, a stone wall appeared behind him and he pressed Sophie against it. Spreading her legs, she wrapped them around his waist, her mouth still feasting on his.

  He loved the feel of her in his arms. It felt right, perfect, as if they had been chiseled from the same chunk of stone. If he could have held her like this for the rest of his days he would, but he knew it wasn’t to be.

  There was something he needed to do first, before forever came.

  “My Sophie,” he murmured into her neck. The silk strands of her hair brushed his face as he nibbled on her skin. “I’ve waited so long for you.”

  “I’m here, Kellen. I’m yours. Tonight, tomorrow, forever.”

  He cupped her face with his hands. Keeping her gaze, he took her mouth, hard, fast. With a passion he’d never felt before, he nibbled and nipped at her lips and tongue, eager to taste her, eager to take her. A sense of urgency rushed over him—as if these were the last moments of his life.