“All of it. Everything that’s happened since my dad died. Probably most of what happened before then too. I can’t help but feel like all I’ve done since we met is make your life more difficult.”
“That’s not true.”
I didn’t bother to contradict him but I didn’t know what else he wanted me to say. I crossed my ankles, looking down at the drop again as I released a heavy breath.
“I need to understand what they did to you.” Magnar reached over and took my hand, turning it so that he could inspect the silver cross on my skin. There was no caress in his touch as he tilted my wrist to see the mark more clearly so Idun allowed it. But the feeling of his hand on mine still sent tingles racing across my skin. “I’ve never seen this before.”
“I told you; it was Idun. She bound me to your enemy because she’s cruel and it amused her to do so. She knew you were there, she made me look right at you before I...” The memory of Fabian’s lips against mine made me shudder in disgust and ache with desire in equal measures. It wasn’t fair. Why plant those feelings into me? It was like she wanted me to go to him now, to abandon Magnar and take up with those he hunted. It didn’t make any sense. I’d sworn to help her end the vampires so why do this to me? To us?
“So she laid claim to your body in the same way she halted me when Valentina betrayed us?” he asked and I could hear the relief in his tone.
I nodded, wanting to leave it at that. To just pretend that she’d taken my limbs hostage and used them without my permission. But it was so much worse than that and he deserved to know.
“At first that was all it was but once we were married, once this mark appeared, it’s like I...” My bravery stuttered out and I bit my lip, afraid to tell him the whole truth.
“Like you what?” he prompted but his tone was gentle and understanding.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to tell him the whole truth. Or at least as much of it as I understood.
“Like I want to be with him. To be in his arms and give every part of myself to him. I want to feel his-” I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the foul words from pouring out. “But I know that I don’t really,” I added quickly as I felt the tension building in Magnar’s posture. I couldn’t bear to look at him and see what my confession was doing to him. “All I really want is to hunt him down and kill him. I want him to burn for all the terrible things he’s done... but when I saw you standing over him, about to finish him...” I shook my head, unable to rationalise what I’d done.
“I should have done it. Perhaps his death is the only way you’ll be free of him.”
“Maybe,” I agreed although the idea of a world without Fabian still filled me with dread. “But in that moment I feared for his life like it was worth more than my own. I felt certain that his death would break something in me which I’d never get back.”
The silence stretched between us and I finally dared to turn and look at him.
His brow was furrowed with concern and he seemed lost in thought as he gazed out over the ruins. As the sun continued to rise, the rich bronze colour of his skin almost glowed and I drank in the sight of him as my heart rate finally settled.
With him close to me I didn’t feel like I was second guessing myself anymore. Fabian paled into insignificance. This was real. He was real.
Butterflies danced in my stomach as I continued to stare at him and his gaze slowly slid to meet mine. An inferno raged in his golden eyes, blazing hungrily as he drank me in.
“And did you mean what you said to me before we left?” he asked carefully, like he wasn’t really sure if he wanted to hear my response.
“Yes,” I breathed. The answer was easy as I looked into his eyes and the fractured parts of my soul knitted themselves together just for the chance to be with him.
The wind blustered around us and my hair swept across my face. Magnar caught it and pushed it back behind my ear, his hand cupping my cheek. I leant into his touch, wishing I could do more as I felt Idun’s will urging me to move away.
I fought against her as I looked into his eyes and his thumb brushed across my lips. My skin tingled beneath his touch and desire built in me, sweeping from the pit of my stomach right down to the tips of my toes. I wanted him unlike I’d ever wanted anything. He was the most desperate desire of my heart but it was as though the whole world was working against us.
His arm grew tense as Idun pushed against him too. His hand slid from my face as he was forced to pull away. His fingertips skimmed a pattern down my neck and my throat bobbed as I fought to stay still. He managed to trace a line over my collar bone, finally touching the skin above my pounding heart for half a second before he dropped his hand.
“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Callie,” he said, his voice rough with longing. “I’ll do whatever it takes to free you of this curse.”
I opened my left hand in my lap and frowned at the silver mark on my skin. I hated it. It felt like the touch of a monster, branded onto me like I was his belonging. It killed me that Montana had the same bind to Erik Belvedere. That she was as trapped by him as I was by Fabian. What right did those monsters have to try and claim us for their own? Like we were possessions instead of people. As if our own wants and feelings were irrelevant.
My hate for the vampires burned hot in my blood. What was it with immortal beings believing themselves to be so superior? Our lives may have been shorter but they held so much more meaning because of that. Each breath could be our last. Each moment could change our fates. And I’d be damned if I was going to let them take what little time I had on this Earth and mold it to their desires. My life would be my own again, no matter what I had to sacrifice to claim it.
Magnar ran his finger over the cross on my palm and it burned angrily in response. I snatched my hand away, forming a fist as the pain flared in my blood. I squeezed so tightly that I could feel my nails cutting into my skin and a trickle of blood dripped onto the white dress.
“I just don’t understand why Idun wants to hurt us like this,” I muttered. “Why she’s doing this to us... we’ve devoted our lives to her cause. Why would she be so cruel to those who are trying to help her?”
“I have been asking that question ever since she tied me to Valentina. I don’t understand why she chooses to punish her most loyal followers. She claims to be testing my devotion but I have never wavered from my path. Allowing me some small measure of happiness would not mean that I’d abandon my hunt for the Belvederes. If she can see into my soul as she claims to then she would know that that is the truth. So I have no answer for you.”
I turned over his response in my mind as I looked back towards the horizon and the sun spilled over the edge of the river in the distance. I watched it for several achingly beautiful moments before the clouds began to build in the sky and it was hidden from view. Valentina. I ground my jaw as I thought of that bitch and all she’d done.
She’d gone beyond turning her back on the slayers and becoming their mortal enemy; she was leading the Biters. At least the Belvederes were making some attempt to protect humans from their kind. The Realms might have stolen our freedom so that they could take our blood but at least our lives were fairly safe under that system. If Valentina and her followers got their way then humans would be hunted. Prey to monsters who far outmatched them.
“Would you hate me if I killed your fiancée?” I asked, giving Magnar half a smile.
He laughed as he leant back, resting his weight onto his elbows. “Are you jealous, Callie?”
“A little,” I admitted. “She is very beautiful.”
“She’s a vampire,” he replied, his features written with disgust.
“She was beautiful before she was a vampire,” I replied, remembering the girl he’d shown me in his dream.
“She pales to insignificance beside you. And in any case, I managed to avoid marrying my betrothed for over a thousand years,” he replied. “You married yours within the day. Perhaps I have more reason for concern than you
.”
I snorted with amusement. “I had no choice about that. And I did try to fight it until Idun forced my hand.”
“And yet you wouldn’t let me kill your husband.” The way he said the final word sent a shiver of fear along my spine. I glanced down at my hand and pulled the wedding ring from my finger, glaring at it as I tried to deny the part of me which wished to keep it on.
“No,” I agreed and I wasn’t really sure what else I could say to that. I didn’t understand it myself so how could I expect him to?
“Did he...” Magnar hesitated as if he wasn’t sure whether to finish his question and I raised an eyebrow inquiringly. “I only wanted to be sure that they didn’t harm you while you were held?”
“No. I probably did more harm to them; they were just trying to convince me to go along with the wedding. They seemed to really believe it could have helped them break their curse. And I can’t help but wonder if they were right about it, shouldn’t I be willing to make that sacrifice? For the good of all the humans?” I held the wedding ring out in front of me, intending to drop it into the ruins but I couldn’t force myself to release it.
“I cannot believe the answer to the curse lies in whoring yourself out to a monster and carrying his demon children,” Magnar growled and I turned to look at him again as I returned the ring to my finger.
“Fabian isn’t a monster!” I protested before I could slam my mouth shut.
Magnar’s gaze dropped to my wedding ring and rage flared in his eyes. He pushed himself to his feet and strode away from me without another word.
“Elder?” I called, a tear slipping from my eye as that damn word left my lips instead of his name. I pushed myself to my feet and took a step after him.
“Don’t follow me,” he growled without turning back and his command hit me like a punch to the gut.
I tried to fight against it and managed to take three steps after him, my feet feeling like they were weighed down with lead. I attempted to lift my foot again but it was impossible.
My lungs felt like they might burst from the pressure of the force which worked against me. I staggered back and a sob escaped my lips as I dropped down to the floor once more.
Tears fell from my eyes and I hugged my knees to my chest as the cold wind whipped around me. I shivered as it battered against me, easily pushing through the thin material of my dress and chilling me to my core.
The sun climbed higher in the sky beyond the clouds but I was trapped where I was, unable to move back inside while Magnar’s command immobilised me. Rain began to fall in a persistent drizzle, slowly soaking me and mixing with the tears on my cheeks. I grew colder but I still didn’t move. I couldn’t. And the knowledge that my body had once again been snatched from my control sent fear pounding through me. But there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was wait.
The storm raged on around us and still none of us moved as the goddess's new powers surged through our veins. It was as though every remaining member of the clans was frozen by the grief of my father’s death. Each man, woman and child down to the stable boy I’d brought back from my travels were still as we mourned and Idun poured her strength into us.
I could feel everything like it was the first time my body had experienced it.
Every inch of my skin was more sensitive, every sound more defined. Even my eyesight was sharper.
My gaze fell on Venom which was still grasped in my hand and I noticed my ring finger straightening before my eyes. I’d broken it as a child and it hadn’t set right but now the dull ache I always felt from it in the cold was gone.
Strength surged through my muscles like a tide. I felt sure that I could rip a man in two with my bare hands if the notion took me.
The land grew darker as the storm built and my mother’s sobs finally came to an end. It seemed the sky was mourning our father’s passage as much as we were.
I forced myself to rise as a huge flash of lightning lit up the heavens.
In the distance, beyond the row of tents across the plain, I saw a figure approaching.
I had never seen the Golden Whore for myself but I knew her as soon as my gaze landed on her. Venom hissed her name like a curse in my ear. Clarice. I held the blade loosely in my right hand as she advanced across the plain.
Julius stepped to my side, holding his own blade at the ready and I moved to retrieve Tempest from where I’d left it thrust in the ground. Though I had used all of my strength to drive the blade into the dirt only hours before, removing it was as easy as breathing with my newly gifted muscles.
I began to move between the tents, making a bee-line for the place where I’d spotted the immortal harlot. I’d lost sight of her without the lightning to illuminate the plain.
I swung the two blades in lazy circles as I advanced, getting a feel for the way they moved as I wielded them at once.
“Do you think they’ve all come?” Julius asked darkly as he moved at my side. I could tell his thirst for vengeance was as powerful as my own.
“I hope so,” I growled.
The power of the goddess flowed through my veins like lava, heating me to my core despite the fact I strode shirtless through the pounding rain.
We made it beyond the tents and stood at the edge of the plain, waiting for the monsters to strike.
“Show yourselves!” I bellowed. “You four beasts of the night who play with lives and souls like they’re worthless. Come and let us see your unnatural faces!”
The night seemed to grow deeper as I felt the gods pressing close, their eyes glued to our actions as they waited for the battle to commence.
Someone moved behind me and I turned my head as Valentina stepped forward to take position on my left. As I caught sight of her eyes, I could see the power of the storm swirling within them. It seemed the gods had included her when they’d bestowed these enhancements to our gifts. The power of the Clan of Storms raged within her unlike ever before.
She raised her arms and electricity hummed in the air as she harnessed the fury of the storm. Lightning flashed blindingly across the clouds and four figures were illuminated on the far side of the plain, their porcelain features etched with uncertainty as they assessed us.
My gaze fell on Erik at the left of the group and my lip curled back in a feral snarl. I lifted Venom slowly, pointing the blade at his heart and sending him a silent promise.
“Is this all that remains of the great race of slayers?” Fabian called, his voice laced with amusement as he began to draw closer.
Our mother moved to stand on Julius’s other side, four slayers to face four vampires.
Behind us, those remaining members of the clans gathered too. Even those who had no business fighting stood with us; old warriors whose warring days were long passed waited shoulder to shoulder with children who were barely strong enough to wield a blade. Mothers stood with their babes in one arm and a weapon in the other. Even Elissa and Aelfric joined our ranks, clutching blades they had no idea how to use while glaring at the vampires with all the rage of seasoned warriors.
The total was likely less than two hundred, a fraction of our numbers from just days ago. But the goddess had blessed them all and we stood against our enemies, stronger than ever before.
Beyond the Revenants I could make out a moving shadow filled with their foul creations. As I’d expected, they’d wasted no time in siring more vampires and I felt a pang of pity for whatever town had fallen prey to their curse.
I turned to meet my brother’s gaze and saw raw power brimming through him too. The gods had been generous with their gifts, spreading them amongst my people and giving us the chance to meet the vampires on equal footing.
“I will follow you to the end, Brother,” he growled, lifting his sword higher in anticipation of my command. These were my people now. My father’s death had made me their Earl. And they waited on my command to slay these beasts.
“For our father,” I said fiercely and Mother’s gaze hardened as she nodded. “For
Earl Mallion!” I bellowed for all of our people to hear.
A resounding battle cry met my own and I took off across the plain, sprinting faster than I’d ever run before.
The storm raged and the rain poured upon us in an unyielding cascade of freezing droplets but I didn’t feel the biting cold the way I should have. My very skin seemed to be alive with energy, creating heat where there should have been none and saving me from suffering beneath the torrent.
The Revenants seemed to notice something was different about us and all four sets of eyes were drawn to me as I led the line against them.
Fabian was closest to me and he was the first to break ranks and run to oppose us.
I smiled bitterly as I raced to meet him, ducking beneath him as he leapt for my throat. He spun to stare at me in surprise as I swung Tempest straight for his neck. He twisted away from me but I already had Venom waiting to block his retreat.
Fabian leapt aside but not before the blade carved a line along his forearm. He hissed in pain as the wound sizzled and the air was tainted by the stench of burning flesh.
I didn’t miss the look of horrified wonder that filled his eyes. I guessed no one had gotten that close to killing him in a long time.
I roared at him as I pushed my advantage and he tried to lunge at me again. He caught my right arm in his iron grip, his inhuman fingers tightening in an attempt to break my bones. Before he could do more than bruise me, I swung my other arm at his face, Venom’s hilt still grasped in my fist.
My knuckles connected with his jaw and he was thrown off of me, crashing into the mud six feet away and skidding through it. When he regained his feet he was covered from head to toe in filth and bright red blood still dripped steadily from the wound on his arm.
Fabian bared his teeth at me and I bared mine right back as I began to advance.
“What are you?” he hissed as he retreated a step.
“I am your death,” I replied. I leapt forward, swinging both of my blades in a vicious arc.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 80