by Renee George
Cradling Tyr’s head into his lap, Nathan rocked. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here now. I’m here.” He placed his wrist against Tyr’s lips. “Feed.”
Tyr licked Nathan’s skin over the vein offered like a dog submitting to his master before sinking his fangs into the fragile flesh.
He felt Guillermo’s shoulder brush against him. “What’s wrong with him?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
A woman’s voice carried through the darkness. “The blood bond is more heightened in this place and time.” Torches along the upper part of the walls flared in succession, lighting the entire room. At the far end, sitting on a throne of gold, a beautiful creature with long plaited white hair, and eyes that were as black as obsidian, inclined her head.
“Welcome to my home.” She sat back, tattooed symbols rippling with life against her pale skin. “You will have to forgive my lack of etiquette in greeting you. Bringing you here has taken more from me than I imagined it would.” Her voice, lyrical and seductive, slithered across Nathan’s skin like satin.
Tyr finally calmed.
Nathan disengaged his wrist. “Who are you? And why are we here?”
“I am your past, your present, and your future.”
“Oh Lord, I’m having A Christmas Carol nightmare.”
“I know not of what you speak, Father, but the nightmare has yet to begin.”
“Father? Bekah? But…”
“You are in my time now, Father, and I fear my influence is not without its limits. I must be brief. The child, Bekah, she was born with my soul and with my soul comes power. Great, wonderful, and terrible power.”
Screams sounded from outside the room, and a heavy thumping at the large wooden doors. The woman tried to stand, but crumpled back onto her throne. Guillermo stepped back toward the opposite wall while Tyr stood between Nathan and the threat on the other side of the door.
“Our time is short. They will break through my barrier soon and I will not be able to protect you.” She held out her slender hand and produced three iridescent crystals. Yellow, pale purple, and blue, the stones were bright with shimmering lights. “These are the libilis. The crystals do not exist in your time. They were destroyed shortly after my mortal death. This I have seen. Each of you will take a stone as one person cannot carry more than one through time. They are the only things that can save me. Save the child.”
Nathan took the yellow crystal. “How can this save Bekah?” It felt slick, oiled, as he rolled the multi-faceted stone between his fingers.
Tyr took the blue stone and Guillermo the last.
“They are the only objects potent enough to harness her power. Without them, destruction and death will follow her, she will not be able to control her abilities. The future of vampire-kind will be lost.”
The libilis began to glow in each of their hands. Nathan clenched his fist around the stone. “Uh-oh. Glowing’s never good.”
As a fine mist formed around them, the woman inclined her head. “You must get the stones to Bekah. Without the libilis all is lost.”
Turning to Guillermo, Nathan shook his head. “I’m getting a little sick of the whole ‘all is lost’ speech.” Before they completely disappeared into the dense fog, he couldn’t help but wonder what the future would hold.
* * *
Lilith staggered from her throne as the doors burst open and a group of men barged into her chamber. She fell to the floor, drained and exhausted. Bringing Nathan, Tyr, and Guillermo to the past had used nearly all her magic.
“Where are the stones?” the leader demanded. His long, black hair brushed the floor as he dipped low, yanking Lilith’s head back. “Your tyranny ends today, Lilith. No longer will we allow you to sacrifice the humans to further your own ends. Your cruelty must be stopped.”
She chuckled, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at him defiantly. “Poor Garanth. You have not defeated me. You will kill me tonight. It is fated. But I will be reborn.” She coughed, blood dripping down her chin as she felt an invisible hand squeeze her heart. “I will live, and I will crush you all.” She spat in his face and smiled as the last breath left her body.
One of the other men fell in behind their leader. “What does she mean, Garanth?”
“Brothers.” The vampire, Garanth, gathered his men, eleven in all, into a circle around the fallen woman. “We must be strong. Lilith has seen the future, and it is our duty to stop her from bringing her plan to fruition. We must devote ourselves to nothing else.”
“Only we know the truth. The truth of her evil plans. She will not be satisfied until she either rules us all or destroys us.”
“Then it is settled.” Garanth held out his hands. “We must devote every day to our survival, with a single purpose. We must stop Lilith from being reborn to this world.”
The eleven men placed their hands with Garanth’s.
“Brothers.”
“In truth,” one of the men added.
“Brothers in truth,” they all agreed.
Chapter Three
A cool breeze brushed against Nathan’s skin as he reappeared next to a dumpster in an alley with the yellow stone in hand. Guillermo and Tyr weren’t with him anymore. Probably back at the house.
It was dark outside and by the moon’s position there was still plenty of night left. He looked again. Had it been a full moon when he’d left? Did it really matter? He needed to get back to the mansion. Needed to save Bekah. But first, he needed to figure out where he was.
The city felt different, smelled different, cleaner somehow. He lifted the lid to the dumpster. All the trash was compacted into little red boxes. Nathan sniffed. Nothing. The alley had been swept and there were no homeless huddled in dark corners for warmth.
“This has got to be the cleanest block in the whole damn city,” he muttered, making his way to the street. When he stepped out to cross, a speeding vehicle hovering three feet off the ground nearly ran him down. “What the hell?”
He looked down to the end of the block. A woman stood on the corner, waiting. Nathan hurried to where she stood. “Hey, lady, can you tell me what street this is?”
She turned and looked at him, and he could sense the fear rising in her. “Please. Don’t come near me. I have pepper spray.”
What a mess he must look. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that he wasn’t wearing any shirt or shoes, only a pair of jeans and the top button wasn’t even done. “I know I look strange, but I’m a doctor. I was, uh…” How could he possibly explain? “…mugged. The man stole my wallet, my clothes, my cell phone…”
The tension around her eyes eased and her shoulder dropped slightly. “You poor man.” She pulled a tiny flat square from her small clutch. “I’ll call the police for you.” She held the device to her mouth. “Metro PD.”
Nathan waved his hand. “No police. Please. I just want to know where I am.” And why cars are floating above the ground and a cell phone looks like one of those new micro mp3 players.
She swiped her thumb across the tiny screen, confusion written on her face. “Did you get hit on the head? This is Broadway.”
Looking around, Nathan shook his head. Nothing about this area looked like Broadway. Maybe he wasn’t in Kansas City any more. Maybe the stone, which grew warmer in his hand, had somehow taken him someplace else. “Broadway in… New York?”
“I think you really did get hit on the head. You’d better get that checked out.”
“So, Kansas City then.”
“Yes, of course, Kansas City.” The pity in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. He sounded crazy, even to himself. “Is there anyone you want me to call for you?”
“No. Thank you. Just point me in the direction of Valentine.” This was not the Kansas City Nathan had left behind just a few short minutes earlier.
* * *
There was a definite sense of relief as he jogged up Valentine Road. The scenery looked unchanged and familiar. Thank God. He couldn’t wait to see
his family. Even though it had been less than an hour, it was beginning to feel like an eternity. And during that time, something had gone horribly wrong in the city. He was no physicist, but all he could figure was that by going to the past, they’d somehow changed the present. But they hadn’t done anything to affect time. Or at least he didn’t think so.
Lights were on at the mansion, Nathan could see them from the road. He approached the iron gates blocking the driveway. They didn’t open. Weird.
He pushed the intercom. “Hello? Can someone open the damn gate?”
An unfamiliar deep masculine voice came over the com. “Who’s asking?”
Cold and irritated, Nathan was in no mood for games. “Uh, the fucking owner.”
“You have the wrong house, buddy.”
“Where the fuck is Guillermo?”
“You know Guillermo?”
“Yes, I know Guillermo,” Nathan said, tightlipped. “Who I don’t know is you. If you want to keep your job and not go back to being some vampire’s toy, you’ll open this goddamn gate.”
“Name?” There was some uncertainty in the man’s voice now.
“Nathan Greer, asswipe. Now, do I have to ask you to open the gate again?”
The iron hinges creaked as the gate slowly swung open. As he walked up the driveway, tired and cold, a woman came running down the path in a blur of motion. She threw herself at Nathan so quickly he barely had time to even try to defend himself against her. “Nathan. Oh Goddess. Thank the Goddess. Nathan.” She sobbed into his shoulder.
“Nadine?” He gently pushed her off him. She wore a black leather jacket, T-shirt, and blue jeans. In all the time Nathan had known her, he’d never known her to wear anything but latex. “Nadine.” Tears tracked down her face. She looked soft, broken. Nothing like the Nadine he’d grown to loathe. “What…”
“I’m so glad you’re back. Everything has gone wrong since you’ve been gone. Everything.”
“I’ve been gone less than an hour. What could have possibly happened?”
“An hour?” She shook her head. “Nathan, you’ve been gone for twenty-five years.”
“That’s not possible. I was in my room less than an hour ago. Then Gui, Tyr, and I were sent somewhere in the past and given some stones to bring to Bekah. Bekah! Is she all right? Please tell me she’s okay.”
“She’s… She’s fine.” There was a bitter quality to Nadine’s voice, but for once it wasn’t directed at Nathan.
“Thank God.” Nadine took his hand and pulled him toward the mansion. “Where’s Guillermo?”
“A lot has changed, Nathan. Guillermo is at the club. But we need to talk before you see him. And I have something to show you.”
When they entered the house, Nathan was filled with a sense of dread. Nadine led him to the basement door and pain began to flood his body. “No. I… I can’t. I can’t go down there.”
“You must.” Anguish covered Nadine’s face and liquid pooled in her violet eyes. “What you’re feeling is nothing compared to what he’s feeling.”
The door opened and the pain nearly doubled Nathan over. It was Tyr. Nathan could sense him, the pain was agonizing, but his thoughts were confused, muddled. He managed a whisper. “Why can’t I hear his thoughts?”
“I keep him drugged. It was the only way.” Her voice caught. “It was the only way to keep him from doing terrible things to himself… to others.”
“Terrible…”
“He tried to dig his own heart out, he ripped flesh from his own bones, and when he couldn’t kill himself, he killed others. He just went mad with the hunger. A hunger that couldn’t be satisfied with anyone’s blood but yours.”
Shock drove Nathan to his knees and he tumbled down the stairs.
“Nathan!”
“I’m okay,” he managed. “How… how did this happen?”
“He fought it. He fought the hunger hard. He went months in pain, always with hope that you’d come back. Bekah promised you’d come back. But it just got to be too much, even for him.” Nadine helped Nathan regain his feet. “You have to help him, Nathan. Help him or kill him. And if it comes to that, kill me as well.”
In that moment, Nathan realized, Nadine really loved Tyr. Not as another conquest, but real love. He’d never seen her look so vulnerable, so real, or so beautiful. He smoothed her dark hair. “The pain is crippling. I don’t know that I can walk on my own. Will you help me?”
“Yes.”
The room was at the far end of the basement. Nadine opened the steel door with multiple locks and carried Nathan into the room. Tyr lay clean and naked on a padded steel bed, shackled at both his wrist and ankles, blankets wadded and on the floor. His hair had been cut short and healing bite marks decorated his shoulders. A morphine pump with three bags of fluids trailed down to an IV tube poking into his right arm. Nathan understood. The vampire metabolism was very fast, and for the drug to be effective, it would have to be constant. Nadine had understood this as well.
Tyr stared up at Nathan, his mind fogged, unrecognizable. He didn’t move as Nadine brought them closer.
“Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years he’s been like this?”
“Yes.” Nadine choked back a sob. “He begged me to kill him. I couldn’t. They all think he’s dead. But… I couldn’t do it.” She set Nathan on the pad next to Tyr. “Please. Please help him. Help me. I know you don’t owe me a thing, Nathan. I know. But please.”
Even if Nadine hadn’t asked, hadn’t pleaded, Nathan would try. Tyr was his, but also, he knew, Tyr was Nadine’s. She had protected him, cared for him, kept him safe from himself and others. She’d carried this burden for a quarter of a century without anyone knowing. She wasn’t the same person she’d been. Or maybe she’d never been the person he thought she was.
The sharp twisting pain in Nathan’s gut was unbearable. He wanted to crawl from the room, to get away, far, far away. He searched for some lucidness in Tyr’s mind, something that showed the vampire still existed beneath the shell of his withering, pale body.
Nothing. It was as if he’d been wiped clean on the inside. “I can’t move, Nadine. Place my wrist over his mouth.”
Without hesitation, Nadine extended Nathan’s arm over Tyr.
“Prick the vein.”
Again, she followed his instructions. Blood dripped onto Tyr’s mouth. The vampire moaned as his lips parted.
“I’m not going to be able to stop the feeding once it begins. I’m trusting you to do this. His mind is gone, and I don’t know if I can bring it back. But I can ease his pain. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Could he trust her? Would she let him die to save her lover? The blood bond between Tyr and Nathan had happened when Nathan killed Tyr’s former master. If Nathan died, would it transfer to Nadine? Would Tyr be free? Or would it kill them both? He would take the risk. He may not owe Nadine, but he owed Tyr. “Place my wrist to his mouth.”
As the blood made its way into Tyr’s throat, the larger man swallowed. Instinctively he began to suck. Nathan could feel Tyr’s fangs extending, digging into his wrist, deepening the wound. The Viking’s arms pulled at the shackles, trying to reach for Nathan, but the pain was still great, terrible.
“It’s awful. Oh God, so bad.”
“What is, Nathan?” Her hands stroked Nathan and Tyr’s hands simultaneously. “Tell me. Tell me what’s happening.”
“It’s the pain. It’s unrelenting.”
“It’s working. Can you see, his muscles, they’re beginning to relax.”
She was right. The stabbing in his gut lessened, becoming a dull ache as Tyr’s sucking grew stronger, more vigorous. Nathan probed Tyr’s mind, searching for anything, a glimmer. “Something’s wrong. The pain is better but I still can’t hear his thoughts. Take him off the drip.”
“Are you sure…”
“Yes. Take him off.”
Nadine rushed to the other side of the bed and unplugged the pump. “I don’t want to take the li
ne out of his arm. It took forever to find a vein that would hold.”
Exhausted, Nathan nodded. “Okay.” It would take a few minutes for Tyr’s system to burn out the drugs. “I need to hold on. Just a little more time.” He felt weak, tired, a new pain building in him, his own hunger from being drained. “I can do this.”
“What can I do? Anything?” Nadine draped her hands across his shoulders. Maybe if you take my blood, it can sustain you.”
“No.”
“Let me help.” Panic edged into her voice as she put her wrist to his mouth, her veins plump with a fresh blood.
Pushing her arm away, Nathan shook his head. “I… I need you to be strong.” He could hear his words slurred, drunk with blood loss. “I’m not going to last much longer.” He tried to pull his arm from Tyr’s mouth, but the teeth sunk deep, to the bone. “I can’t…”
Nathan saw more than felt Nadine’s finger’s enter the side of Tyr’s mouth and pry his jaw open, his arm dropped, limp, as he fell backward onto Tyr’s stomach.
“Is he…”
“I don’t know,” Nathan mumbled. Still pain, though less. Tyr’s mind still fogged -- that hadn’t gone away. “I need Guillermo.”
Small delicate boned hands soothed his cold skin. “He’s not how you remember him. None of us are.”
Still weak, but able to move again, Nathan crawled his way up the hard bed. Tyr grew stronger on the inside, but his mind remained muddled, disordered. Was it too late?
He stretched across Tyr’s massive chest, skin to skin. Instinct told him that Tyr needed to be touched. He half expected Nadine to protest as he rubbed his palms down arms and sides, caressing, kneading the taut muscles. Instead, she mirrored his movements, stroking his back and shoulders.
“What are you doing?” he asked, but didn’t draw away from her. He let her hands move down to his waist as she reached around and unfastened the top button on his pants.