The glass she’d previously thought black in the dim lighting now appeared as a swirling mixture of all different kinds of colors, some she’d never seen before. Small flecks of metallic dust shimmered as they caught the light shining up from the middle of the floor. She was suddenly taken aback by the beauty now surrounding her.
She abruptly halted, and stared around the room in apt wonder. The sudden cessation of motion drew the attention of her cellmate, who sat up on his cot and opened his mouth. She held up a hand to silence him, and sharply turned her head toward the door. With her now-enhanced hearing, she picked up the sound of quick, heavy footfalls in the corridor outside the room.
Kaelyn’s gaze met Caleb’s, and she noticed that his own heightened senses had alerted him to the prowler as well. He swung his legs swiftly over the edge of the cot and quickly joined her, his lithe form tightly coiled in anticipation. She had no idea what to expect, but experience had her leaning toward the dire.
Kaelyn’s heart raced double time, the rushing sound of her blood filling her ears as her chest rose and fell, short and quick, with each ragged breath. Then the latch clicked. Her stomach flip-flopped, and she shot out a hand reflexively to clench onto the sleeve of Caleb’s t-shirt. The heavy glass door swung inward. “Tyrian!” she shouted in a strangled, emotion-filled voice.
Throwing herself forward, Kaelyn crashed against Tyrian like a tidal wave breaking against a cliff face. She couldn’t find the words to describe the emotion that welled up at the sight of him, but even that was incomparable to the feelings that rocketed through her at finally finding herself back in his arms. He held onto her like a lifeline, crushing her to him with an almost sweet sort of pain. His presence surrounding her in the vivid flesh physically, mentally, emotionally floored her. It overwhelmed her to the point of overflow; tears streamed in rivers down her face.
Tyrian released Kaelyn, but he didn’t back away. With his large, slightly calloused hands, he cupped her cheeks and swiped at the tears still cascading from her eyes. He met her forehead gently with his own, his emerald gaze locking her in a stare that held more emotion than they could ever voice. She raised her hands and gripped his wrists, unable to keep the smile from her face as they stared into each other’s eyes.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Tyrian finally asked, his heavily accented voice made even more prominent by the thick emotion laced through his low tone. He’d probably meant the question to be reprimanding, but the look in his eyes and the way he desperately clung to her made it seem more like pleading.
“In all fairness, I did warn you,” Kaelyn whispered, remorse for more than his worry over her entering her gaze.
Tyrian clenched his jaw, and breathed out a heavy sigh. He pulled back from her slightly, and slid his fingers back into her hair. After gently cupping the base of her skull with his hands, he tilted her head back. Now she stared up at him at full height.
“Are you all right?” he asked solemnly, his gaze turning serious.
Resting her palms against his pecs, Kaelyn then offered him a small, affirming nod. “I am now,” she breathed with absolute honesty. It seemed remarkably foolish to her now that she’d ever considered not trying to find him when she’d first arrived there. She chalked it up to inexperience: they’d only met a couple of weeks before, and had spent what amounted to about two and a half evenings together. Despite their permanent, irrevocable bond to each other, she had to admit that she still didn’t know very much about Tyrian, the man. She planned on correcting that deficiency the first chance she got.
Tyrian lifted his gaze from Kaelyn’s, and lit upon the person standing apprehensively behind her, the entire reason for his coming there. Anger and helplessness warred behind his eyes as he took in the sight of the boy he’d looked after since adolescence, tragically altered into the very being he’d vowed to destroy. Kaelyn hadn’t even thought to consider how that reunion would play out: Caleb, now a Vampire hybrid, and Tyrian, the Vampire Hunter who had been more than a father to him for the greater part of his life.
Tyrian rested one arm around her shoulders and drew her to his side, much as he had during their brief encounter with Slade in his Boston brownstone. He swallowed heavily, composed himself, and addressed the kid.
“Caleb,” he almost seemed to choke out, “I’m so sorry.”
Caleb widened his eyes slightly. He raised one hand to rub the back of his neck, shoved the other into the front pocket of his low-hung jeans, and dropped his unnaturally blue gaze to the ground.
“Not your fault. I was the one who let him sneak up on me.” His tone belied his disappointment in himself.
Tyrian took two long strides forward, leaving Kaelyn standing on her own in the doorway, and placed one heavy hand on his Page’s bony shoulder. Caleb lifted his eyes and locked them with Tyrian’s, a sort of tortured hopefulness openly discernible within them.
“The Druid is the one to blame, only him,” Tyrian spoke with clear conviction. “Do not wear that burden as your own.”
Caleb visibly collapsed in relief.
In the short time she had known him, Kaelyn had come to the realization that Caleb felt no greater burden than an unwavering desire to make Tyrian proud of him. He hid it furiously behind a show of sarcastic indifference, but she’d seen it in his actions, heard it in his words. He felt indebted to the man, bending over backward to ensure he retained his usefulness. She got the impression that he was afraid of being cast aside in the event that, for whatever reason, Tyrian deemed that he was no longer needed.
He could brush off his trepidation about his predicament to anyone but the man standing in front of him right now. Tyrian’s acceptance lifted a visible weight from the boy’s shoulders, and it would play an essential role in helping him through everything yet to come as a result of his change.
Caleb shifted uncomfortably under the Hunter’s scrutiny. “Can we get out of here now?”
Tyrian nodded, and returned to Kaelyn’s side. He laced his fingers through hers.
“What about Cynric?” Kaelyn asked suddenly. The memory of the last time someone had attempted to rescue them froze her to the spot.
Something like dark appreciation flashed across Tyrian’s face, and an almost cruel smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Starla is handling him.”
Caleb seemed to radiate giddy anticipation at the prospect. “No shit? Can I watch—”
“No,” Tyrian succinctly cut him off. “We’re leaving right now.”
He took a step out of the room, but Kaelyn, her hand still intertwined with his, pulled him up short. She’d gone completely still. As soon as she’d seen her mate, she’d known deep down that all of the new experiences she felt resulted from their bond. It had laid her open like the petals of a blooming flower, spreading her out in all kinds of directions she’d never known before. One of those currently screamed at her that something, somewhere, had gone horribly wrong.
“Kaelyn?” Tyrian entreated. He lifted her chin, bringing up her eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat, dread blossoming up from some uncharted region within her. She instantly responded, wrenching her hand from his and taking off down the corridors of the mine at speeds she didn’t know she was able to achieve. If she’d thought clearly, she might have wondered how she knew where to go, spurred forward single-mindedly by the horrible feeling in her gut.
She broke out into the twilight of midday in the open air of the Vampire realm, and came to an abrupt halt. A fierce battle was raging over a broad field of uncountable corpses. It was spread out as far as she could see, a distance infinitely farther than her eyes could once have covered. It took a conscious effort to focus her gaze back to the more immediate vicinity. She couldn’t fully process what she saw, due to the unfamiliar forms of the realm creatures scattered about the lively battlefield, and the persistent pull of the feeling that had drawn her to this very spot. This feeling once again urged her forward, to wade into the battle, just as her mate and his Page cau
ght up with her.
Kaelyn ignored the shout of her name from the mouth of the mine. Pure instinct drove her to duck and weave through the throng of combatants around her. Swords and claws flashed by her, inches away from cleaving into her flesh, but still, she pushed forward. She had come so close, she could feel it clawing at her insides, propelling her through the last wall of bodies and into an open section of the field.
No bodies lay there. Either this stretch of the blood-soaked sand had been cleared, or she’d just come out the other side of the monstrous battleground. The latter seemed unlikely; what she’d seen from the mine’s entryway had given her the impression that the battle stretched out for miles. Unfortunately, she also had no idea how fast she had traveled, or how far. She could just as well have crossed to the other side of the realm, for all she knew.
After slowing to a stop, she zeroed in on the beacon that had brought her there.
Four Vampires knelt in the sand, the body of another laid out between them. Dragging through the sand on suddenly sluggish feet, Kaelyn slowly made her way over to them. The Vampires flashed four sets of brightly colored eyes up at her as she approached, but she felt no fear. Despite the guarded look of open menace they cloaked her in, she seemed to know that they would not harm her.
Her assessment proved well-founded when the Vampire lying in front of the others raised a hand to wave them off, and locked his aged violet eyes with hers. She stopped suddenly, and recognition crashed through her.
“You are Kaelyn,” the Vampire croaked. He waved her closer.
She took another hesitant step forward and blurted out, “I know you.”
Immediately, he gave her a fang-toothed smile. She suspected it would have struck her as very warm had it not been laced with pain. “I am your uncle,” he confirmed. “We finally meet, face to face.”
Kaelyn paced the remaining steps to his side, dropped to her knees next to him, and raked her eyes over his weathered form. Several deep gashes littered his body, and when she noticed a gaping hole in his chest, she almost gasped. She remembered reading that a Vampire could only be killed once its head had been removed, but she found herself doubting that he could recover from such a grievous wound. She turned her worried gaze up to lock onto his somehow still vibrant violet one.
“You’re hurt,” she uttered lamely, suddenly choked up for some unperceivable reason. She had never met this man before, regardless of the persistent feeling of familiarity she felt when she looked at him.
He smiled sadly, and slid his gaze over to one of the four Vampires surrounding him. He suddenly grasped the other’s hand in an iron grip and said grimly, “It is my time.”
The faces of the entire assembly tightened, a helpless grief shining from every pair of startlingly vivid eyes.
Kaelyn shook her head.
“No,” she declared, her tone low and firm. “I’ve already watched one family member die today; I won’t watch another.”
Kaelyn reached down and swiftly drew the knife from the holster at the Vampire’s side. After placing the open blade against her palm, she cut deeply into her flesh, and winced as a fresh stream of crimson flowed forth from the wide gash. The four Vampires around her immediately jumped back, and stared widely at the sight of her blood. Not pausing to consider the consequences, she swiftly placed her bleeding hand directly over the prone Vampire’s open chest wound.
“Kaelyn!”
She jumped at the sound of her name behind her. Tyrian and Caleb had finally arrived. After steeling her resolve, she concentrated on the task before her. She could do this. She chose not to dwell on how or why she knew it, but she felt absolute confidence in her ability to achieve her goal. In her peripheral vision, she registered movement as Tyrian shot forward, and she tensed in expectation of him ripping her away.
The orange-eyed Vampire intercepted Tyrian, holding him back with a single hand on his chest. He shouted, “Wait! Her blood, it is healing him!”
Kaelyn stared in open wonder at the wounds all over the Vampire’s body pulling together and closing, including the one beneath her hand. The Vampire’s gaze met hers, giving her a look that certainly now mirrored her own. His jaw went slack; he seemed at a loss for words.
Her eyelids drifting suddenly somewhere between closed and open, Kaelyn smiled groggily. “What do you know? I do have a super power.”
Then her world abruptly went pitch black.
Chapter 17
Tyrian traced his gaze over the defined lines and angles of his mate’s sleeping face. He lifted his hand, and brushed a stray strand of her hair with the backs of his fingers. Kaelyn leaned into his touch and fluttered her eyelashes gently, a soft sigh escaping her slightly parted lips. He drank in every nuance of movement, committing all of her to vivid memory. She parted her peach-colored lids, revealing slightly dilated hazel eyes. No matter how much he might have wanted to vent at her, contentment engulfed him.
“Tyrian,” she said in a breathy voice. He watched her bunch her forehead together in a frown as she focused in on his face. He must have looked sullen, because she suddenly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Expending great effort, he schooled his features into a mask of displeasure, and pinned her with a disgruntled glare. “I’m just wondering if there will ever come a time when you will not indulge in activities which cause me incredible grief and worry.”
Recognition dawned on Kaelyn’s features, and she propped herself up on the bed coverings. He’d flatly refused to lay her on the hard slab of a bed El’on had provided for him. Instead, he had demanded some softer form of cushioning for his delicate mate. To his surprise and pleasure, Li’on had bustled him into an expansive, ornate bedroom, complete with a heavenly-looking mattress covering an equally large, ornate bed.
“Is that Vampire all right?” she asked, concern coloring her gaze.
Tyrian slowly slid his eyes closed, heaved a haggard sigh, and shook his head. “He’s fine. Don’t change the subject.” He glared at her pointedly.
To her credit, Kaelyn appeared truly remorseful. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, tucked her chin, and stared up at him with big, hazel doe eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then she slid her small, warm hand over his clean-shaven jaw. He could not stay mad at her anyway, but when she stared up at him so openly, holding him so completely in her beautiful gaze, he melted. Any remaining walls around his heart crumbled into dust as he well and truly accepted his unconditional love for the creature lying before him.
Tyrian felt the muscles in his face constrict involuntarily, drawing his lips into a wide smile that he felt deep within his soul. Kaelyn smiled warmly back up at him in response; he let her draw his face down to hers, and she claimed his lips with her own. He stayed there for a long moment, drowning in the slow, steady burn that spread through him from her kiss. Then he reluctantly pulled back, and swallowed heavily to clear his throat.
“I believe you,” he proclaimed in a suddenly husky tone. After rolling away from her and onto his back, he cast her a sideways glance. “Just not sure if I forgive you.”
She narrowed her eyes; then a slow smirk slid across her face. He’d removed everything but her simple black bra and panties before laying her beneath the covers; now he silently patted himself on the back for his forethought. It meant he had far less to remove now.
She curled herself slowly and deliberately onto her hands and knees, prowled over to him, and slid her scantily clad body against his side. Now she raised one lone digit and traced the line of his jaw. Trying not to shiver, he let her turn his face toward hers.
“I could make it up to you,” she offered in a sultry voice, which had dropped an octave and taken on an airy quality.
“I’m listening.” Each syllable rolled thickly off his tongue at the lurid way she slid her darkened hazel eyes over the length of his still fully-clothed form. She caught her lower lip between her teeth once more, the connotation of the action shifting jaggedly into the realm of debauchery.
&n
bsp; After bracing one hand on Tyrian’s chest, Kaelyn slipped one leg over his hips and brought herself up to hover over him, every inch of her sensuous body a hair’s breadth from touching his. She slowly lifted her gaze up to his, and locked eyes with him through thick, dark lashes. His breath hitched in his throat as she brought her lips down to caress the pulse point in his neck.
“How’s this?” she whispered. Her hot breath fanned over his over-sensitized skin, sending a fine tremor through every nerve ending in his body.
“It’s a start,” he replied, the sound resembling a growl. It had an instantaneous effect on the Medium perched atop his chest; her heady scent dragged him into almost delirious arousal. When she dug her small hands underneath his black t-shirt and slid upward, exposing the skin of his chest and abs to the warmth of the room, he nearly lost all coherent thought.
* * * *
Kaelyn’s body blazed.
Her newly heightened senses had enveloped her in a swath of sensations that left her practically keening with need. The feel of Tyrian’s skin against her palms, while enjoyable before, had grown infinitely more intense. She felt as if someone had plugged her directly into an amplifier and cranked the sucker up as high as it would go.
She rolled her eyes back into her head at the sensation of Tyrian gripping the backs of her bare thighs. Electricity flared through her, sending her heart racing.
“This is real, right?” she breathed. The last time they had come together had been almost as intense, but only a figment of their joint imagination. She desperately needed a flesh-and-blood real encounter this time.
“Does it feel real?” Tyrian asked, his breath whispering past her left ear, making her shiver and sigh. He lifted them up into a seated position, and she took full advantage: she dragged his shirt up over his head, and let it fall from her hand. He settled her more comfortably into his lap and attacked her throat with his lips, his teeth, and his tongue, lavishing the lower left side relentlessly.
Immortal Sleepers Page 23