by Nora Roberts
Glenna hesitated. Full disclosure, she decided. Honesty and trust had to be bywords of their little battalion. “He’s a vampire.”
Going pale again, Moira pushed to her feet. “Why would you say that? He fought them, he saved my life. He’s even now down in the kitchen, inside the house. Why would you call him a monster, a demon?”
“I didn’t, because I don’t consider him either. He’s a vampire, and has been one for over nine hundred years. The one who made him is called Lilith, and she’s the one we need to worry about. He’s Hoyt’s brother, Moira, and he’s pledged to fight just like the rest of us.”
“If what you say…He isn’t human.”
“Your cousin changes into a horse. I’d say that makes him something more than human, too.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Maybe not. I don’t have the answers. I do know Cian didn’t ask for what happened to him all those years ago. I know he’s helped us get here, and he was the first one out of the house to fight for you when we saw you in the fire. I know how you’re feeling.”
In her mind Moira saw what had been done to her mother, heard the screams, smelled the blood. “You couldn’t know.”
“Well, I know I didn’t trust him initially either. But I do now. Completely. And I know we need him to win this. Here. I brought you some clothes. I’m taller than you, but you can just roll up the pants until we get you something that fits better. We’ll go down, have a meal, talk some of this through. And see what goes.”
It seemed they would eat in the kitchen, like family or like servants. Moira wondered if she could eat at all, but found her appetite huge. The chicken was fried juicy and crisp with heaps of potatoes and snap beans.
The vampyre ate little.
“We’re gathered,” Hoyt began, “and must gather more at some point yet to be known. But it was to start with us, and so it has. Tomorrow we’ll begin to train, to learn. Cian, you know best how to fight them. You’ll be in charge. Glenna and I will work on the magicks.”
“I need to train, too.”
“Then you’ll be busy. We’ll need to find our strengths, and our weaknesses. We need to be ready when the final battle takes place.”
“In the world of Geall,” Moira said, “in the Valley of Silence, in the Mountains of Mist. On the sabbot of Samhain.” Avoiding Cian’s eyes she looked at Hoyt. “Morrigan showed me.”
“Aye.” He nodded. “I saw you there.”
“When the time comes, we’ll go through the Dance again, and march to the battleground. It’s five days’ walk, so we’ll need to leave in good time.”
“Are there those in Geall who’ll fight with us?”
“Any and all will fight. Any and all would die to save our home, and the worlds.” The burden of it weighed down on her. “I have only to ask.”
“You have a lot of faith in your fellow man,” Cian commented.
She looked at him now, forced herself to meet his eyes. Blue, she thought, and beautiful. Would they go demon-red when he fed?
“So I do. And in my countrymen, and in humankind. And if I did not, I would order it so. For when I return to Geall, I must go to the Royal Stone, and if I’m worthy, if I’m the one as there is no other, I will pull the sword from that sheath. And I will be queen of Geall. I won’t see my people slaughtered by what made you what you are. Not like lambs. If they die, they’ll die in battle.”
“You should know that the little skirmish you came through tonight was nothing. It was nothing. What were there? Eight, ten of them? There’ll be thousands.” He got to his feet. “She’s had nearly two thousand years to make her army. Your farmers will have to do more than beat their plowshares into swords to survive.”
“Then they will.”
He inclined his head. “Be ready to train hard, and not tomorrow. Starting tonight. You forget, brother, I sleep days.”
He left them with that.
Chapter 9
Glenna signalled to Hoyt, and left the others to King. She glanced back toward the kitchen, down toward the hall. She had no idea where Cian had gone.
“We need to talk. In private.”
“We need to work.”
“I won’t argue with that, but you and I need to go over some things. Alone.”
He frowned at her, but nodded. If she wanted privacy, there was one place he could be sure of it. He lead the way up the stairs, wound his way up to his tower.
Glenna wandered the room, studied his work areas, his books and tools. She went to each narrow window, opened the glass that had been put there since his day, closed it again.
“Nice. Very nice. Are you going to share the wealth?”
“What is your meaning?”
“I need a place to work—more, I’d say you and I need a place to work together. Don’t give me that look.” She waved a hand at him as she walked over to shut the door.
“What look would that be?”
“The ‘I’m a solitary sorcerer and don’t care for witches’ look. We’re stuck with each other, and with the rest. Somehow, God knows, we have to become a unit. Because Cian’s right.”
She walked back to one of the windows, looked out into the moonstruck dark. “He’s right. She’ll have thousands. I never looked that far, never thought that big—though, Jesus, what’s bigger than an apocalypse? But of course, she’ll have thousands. We have a handful.”
“It’s as it was told to us,” he reminded her. “We’re the first, the circle.”
She turned back, and though her eyes stayed level, he saw the fear in them. And the doubt. “We’re strangers, and far from ready to join hands in a circle and chant some unity spell. We’re uneasy and suspicious of each other. Even resentful when it comes to you and your brother.”
“I don’t resent my brother.”
“Of course you do.” She pushed at her hair, and now he saw frustration as well. “You drew a sword on him a couple of hours ago.”
“I thought he—”
“Yes, yes, and more gratitude for rushing to my rescue.”
Her dismissive tone insulted his chivalry, and put his back up. “You’re bloody welcome.”
“If you actually save my life at some point, my gratitude will be sincere, I promise you. But defending the damsel was only part of it, and answering that was only part of why he very nearly fought you. You know it, I know it, and so does he.”
“That being the case, there’s no need for you to babble on about it.”
She stepped forward. He saw with some satisfaction his wasn’t the only back up now. “You’re angry with him for letting himself be killed, and worse, changed. He’s angry with you for dragging him into this, and forcing him to remember what he was before Lilith got her fangs into him. All of that’s a waste of time and energy. So, we either have to get past those emotions, or we have to use them. Because as it stands, as we stand, she’s going to slaughter us, Hoyt. I don’t want to die.”
“If you’re afraid—”
“Of course I’m afraid. Are you stupid? After what we’ve seen and dealt with tonight, we’d be morons not to be afraid.” She pressed her hands to her face, struggled to even her breathing again. “I know what has to be done, but I don’t know how to do it. And neither do you. None of us do.”
She dropped her hands, went to him. “Let’s you and I be honest here. We have to depend on each other, have to trust each other, so let’s be honest. We’re a handful—with power, yes, with skills—but a handful against untold numbers. How do we survive this, much less win?”
“We gather more.”
“How?” She lifted her hands. “How? In this time, in this place, Hoyt, people don’t believe. Anyone who goes around talking openly about vampires, sorcerers, apocalyptic battles and missions from gods is either considered eccentric—best case—or put in a padded cell.”
Needing the contact, she brushed a hand down his arm. “We have to face it. There’s no cavalry coming to the rescue here. We are the cavalry.”
> “You give me problems, but no solutions.”
“Maybe.” She sighed. “Maybe. But you can’t find solutions until you outline the problems. We’re ridiculously outnumbered. We’re going up against creatures—for lack of a better word—that can only be killed in a limited number of ways. They are controlled or led or driven by a vampire of enormous power and, well, thirst. I don’t know much about warfare, but I know when the odds aren’t in my favor. So we have to even the odds.”
She spoke the kind of cold-blooded sense he couldn’t deny. The fact that she would say it was, in his mind, another kind of courage. “How?”
“Well, we can’t go out and cut off thousands of heads, it’s just not practical. So we find the way to cut off the head of the army. Hers.”
“If it were so simple, it would already be done.”
“If it were impossible, we wouldn’t be here.” Frustrated, she rapped a fist on his arm. “Work with me, will you?”
“I haven’t a choice in that.”
Now there was hurt, just the shadow of it in her eyes. “Is it really so distasteful to you? Am I?”
“No.” And more than a shadow of shame in his. “I’m sorry. No, not distasteful. Difficult. Distracting. You’re distracting, the way you look, the way you smell, the way you are.”
“Oh.” Her lips curved up slowly. “That’s interesting.”
“I don’t have time for you, in that way.”
“What way? Be specific.” It wasn’t fair, she knew, to tease and to tempt. But it was a relief to simply be human.
“Lives are at stake.”
“What’s the point of living without feeling? I feel for you. You stir something in me. Yes, it’s difficult, and it’s distracting. But it tells me I’m here, and that being afraid isn’t all there is. I need that, Hoyt. I need to feel more than afraid.”
He lifted a hand to brush his fingers over her cheek. “I can’t promise to protect you, but only to try.”
“I’m not asking you to protect me. I’m not asking you for anything—yet—more than truth.”
He kept his hand on her face, bringing his other up to join it in framing her as he lowered his lips. Hers parted for him, offering. So he took, needing as she did, to feel and to know.
To be human.
It was a slow simmering in the blood, a lazy tightening of muscle, a flutter of pulse—hers and his.
So easy, he thought, so easy to sink into the warm and the soft. To be surrounded by her in the dark and let himself forget, for a moment, for an hour, all that lay before them.
Her arms slid around him, linking his waist as she shifted up on her toes to meet his mouth more truly. He tasted her lips and her tongue, and the promise of them. This could be his. And he wanted to believe it more than he’d ever believed anything.
Her lips moved on his, forming his name—once, then twice. A sudden spark flared, simmer to sizzle. The heat of it rippled over his skin, burned into his heart.
Behind them, the fire that had gone to embers flared up like a dozen torches.
He drew her back, but his hands still lingered on her cheeks. He could see the fire dance in her eyes.
“There’s truth in that,” he whispered. “But I don’t know what it is.”
“Neither do I. But I feel better for it. Stronger.” She looked toward the fire. “We’re stronger together. That means something.”
She stepped back. “I’m going to bring my things up here, and we’ll work together and find out what it means.”
“You think lying together is the answer?”
“It may be, or may be one of them. But I’m not ready to lie with you yet. My body is,” she admitted. “But my mind isn’t. When I give myself to someone, it’s a commitment for me. A big one. Both of us have committed quite a bit already. We’ll both have to be sure we’re ready to give more.”
“Then what was this?”
“Contact,” she said quietly. “Comfort.” She reached a hand for his. “Connection. We’re going to make magic together, Hoyt, serious magic. That’s as intimate to me as sex. I’m going to get what I need, bring it up.”
Women, he thought, were powerful and mystical creatures even without witchcraft. Add that dose of power and a man was at a serious sort of disadvantage.
Wasn’t her scent still wrapped around him, and the taste of her still on his lips? Women’s weapons, he decided. Just as slipping away was a kind of weapon.
He’d do well to arm himself against that sort of thing.
She intended to work here in his tower, alongside him. There was good, strong sense in that. But how was a man supposed to work when his thoughts kept drifting to a woman’s mouth, or her skin, her hair, her voice?
Perhaps he’d be wise to make use of a barrier, at least temporarily. He moved to his worktable and prepared to do just that.
“Your potions and spells will have to wait,” Cian said from the doorway. “And so will romance.”
“I don’t follow your meaning.” Hoyt continued to work.
“I passed Glenna on the stairs. I know when a woman’s had a man’s hands on her. I could smell you on her. Not that I blame you,” Cian added lazily as he strolled into and around the room. “That’s a very sexy witch you have there. Desirable,” he added at his brother’s stony look. “Alluring. Bed her if you like, but later.”
“Who I bed, and when, is nothing to you.”
“Who, certainly not, but when’s another matter. We’ll use the great hall for combat training. King and I have already begun to set up. I don’t intend to end up with a stake through my heart because you and the redhead are too busy to train.”
“It won’t be a problem.”
“I don’t intend to let it be. The newcomers are unknown entities. The man fights well enough with a sword, but he’s protective of his cousin. If she can’t stand up in battle, we need to find another use for her.”
“It’s your job to see that she can, and will, stand up in battle.”
“I’ll work her,” Cian promised. “And the rest of you. But we’ll need more than swords and stakes, more than muscle.”
“We’ll have it. Leave that to me. Cian,” he said before his brother could leave the room. “Did you ever see them again? Do you know how they fared, what became of them?”
He didn’t have to be told his brother spoke of their family. “They lived and they died, as humans will.”
“Is that all they are to you?”
“Shadows are what they are.”
“You loved them once.”
“My heart beat once as well.”
“Is that the measure of love? A heartbeat?”
“We can love, even we can love. But to love a human?” Cian shook his head. “Only misery and tragedy could follow. Your parents sired what I was. Lilith made what I am.”
“And do you have love for her?”
“For Lilith.” His smile was slow, thoughtful. And humorless. “In my fashion. But don’t worry. It won’t stop me from destroying her. Come down, and we’ll see what you’re made of.”
“Two hours’ hand-to-hand, every day,” Cian announced when they were gathered. “Two hours’ weapons training, every day. Two hours’ endurance, and two on martial arts. I’ll work you here at night. King will take over in the daylight when you can train outdoors.”
“We need time for study and strategy as well,” Moira pointed out.
“Then make it. They’re stronger than you, and more vicious than you can imagine.”
“I know what they are.”
Cian merely looked at her. “You think you do.”
“Had you ever killed one before tonight?” she demanded.
“I have, more than one.”
“In my world those that would kill their own kind are villains and outcasts.”
“If I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
He moved so quickly no one had a chance to react. He was behind Moira’s back, an arm around her waist. And a knife at her throat. “Of co
urse, I wouldn’t need the knife.”
“You’re not to touch her.” Larkin laid a hand on the hilt of his own knife. “You’re not to put your hands on her.”
“Stop me,” Cian invited, and tossed his knife aside. “I’ve just snapped her neck.” He laid his hands on either side of Moira’s head, then gave her a little nudge that sent her careening into Hoyt. “Avenge her. Attack me.”
“I won’t attack the man who fought at my back.”
“I’m not at your back now, am I? Show some spine, or don’t the men of Geall have any?”
“We’ve plenty.” Larkin drew his knife, crouched. Began to circle.
“Don’t play at it,” Cian taunted. “I’m unarmed. You have the advantage. Use it—quickly.”
Larkin lunged—feinted, then slashed. And found himself flat on his back, with his knife skittering over the floor.
“You never have the advantage over a vampire. First lesson.”
Larkin shook back his hair and grinned. “You’re better than they were.”
“Considerably.” Amused, Cian held down a hand, helped Larkin to his feet.
“We’ll start with some basic maneuvers, see what you’re made of. Choose an opponent. You have one minute to take that opponent down—bare-handed. When I call switch, choose another. Move fast, and hard. Now.”
He watched his brother hesitate and the witch turn into him, using her body to shift him off balance, then hooking her foot behind his to send him down.
“Self-defense training,” Glenna announced. “I live in New York.”
While she was grinning, Hoyt swept her feet out from under her. Her ass hit the floorboards, hard. “Ouch. First request, we get pads for the floor.”
“Switch!”
They moved, they maneuvered, grappled. And it was more game and competition than training. Even so, Glenna thought, she was going to have her share of bruises. She faced off with Larkin, sensed he would hold back. So she sent him a flirtatious smile, and when the laugh lit his eyes, flipped him over her shoulder.