Rebirth of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 6)

by Bella Klaus

  “You wanted the power to defeat your enemies, and I’m giving it to you,” I said from between clenched teeth. “These are your memories, and the other part of your soul.”

  Stones tumbled, wood cracked, the floor buckled as Valentine’s smoky magic fought against mine. My body fell against his, feeling like we were plummeting through the air. I didn’t dare open my eyes in case something distracted me from restoring Valentine.

  I pushed and pushed and pushed my magic until I’d emptied my chakras, ignoring his guttural roars to stop.

  Magic crackled and popped, filling my senses with the sound and smell of fire until my consciousness plunged into a well of silence.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The snap and pop and roar of a fire pulled me out of unconsciousness, as did the acrid stench of smoke. I scrambled to my feet, my heart clenching tighter than a fist. Dull pain spread across my chest and up my throat. It wrapped around my windpipe like a garrote, threatening to cut off my air.

  A thin coverage of ash stretched a radius of seven feet around where I stood. It was large enough to accommodate someone Valentine’s size, but the flakes were already scattering across the wildflower meadow.

  White flakes settled on the greens and pinks and purples and yellows, and the scent of burned grass and smoke fumes mingled with that of the flowers.

  Several feet behind me stood a fifteen-foot-high pile of broken beams, roof thatching, and flames. I placed a hand over my mouth, tearing my gaze away from what was left of that beautiful cottage. Mrs. Meg would have escaped the wreckage, wouldn’t she? What about Valentine?

  “Valentine.” I could barely say the word. What if I’d burned him while unconscious?

  My mind conjured up Valentine resurrecting as a vampire-plant hybrid with mossy hair and green skin. As I shook off that thought, a faraway glint of light caught my eye from beneath something I hadn’t seen in the pocket realm before.

  On the other side of the meadow stood a massive yew that looked like it was made up of a clump of a dozen trees growing close together to form a single mass. Its bare branches grew outward before arching toward the ground to form loose cages.

  My brow furrowed. What was it doing here all of a sudden? Had my magic summoned it or was it the true form of Mrs. Meg? I darted across the meadow, through knee-length flowers, upsetting butterflies and bees and dragonflies as I ran toward the tree and stopped beneath its canopy.

  A lush scent filled my nostrils, making me gag. It was too thick, too sweet, too woodsy, and made my stomach roil with nausea. I wiped a palm over my mouth and searched for the source of that chink of light.

  Lying beneath two low-hanging branches was the soul star, its surface mostly covered in dirt. I picked it up, wiped it against my leggings, and held it up to the light. None of the smoky magic from before swirled within its depths. Whatever had happened to Valentine, he was whole, complete, and in possession of his nucleus.

  A curl of his magic brushed against my wrist.

  “Valentine?” I whirled toward the tree.

  “Mera,” he replied in a broken voice.

  On trembling legs, I edged toward the mass of trunks with my hand over my racing heart. If he survived the restoration of his soul, why was he hiding from me? I bit down on my bottom lip, bracing myself in case something I’d done to him caused his body to disfigure.

  The massive trunk bent and twisted and dipped, seeming like an endless forest encased in a single tree.

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  When he didn’t reply, the butterflies in my stomach rioted. If Prince Draconius rose from what was left of his ashes looking as young as Valentine, would Valentine end up the same age as Kain? My chest tightened and I swallowed hard. Whatever happened, he was still the man I loved.

  As I rounded another thick trunk, I found Valentine standing against another with his posture sagging with defeat, and his chin dipped toward his chest. He was as tall as ever, but a curtain of black hair covered his face.

  “What are you doing?” My steps faltered as the pulse in my throat jumped hard enough to break through the skin.

  Valentine looked exactly the same, down to the 1920s suit.

  He didn’t reply for several moments, and his gaze was downcast, with thick lashes sweeping toward high cheekbones that radiated the warm copper of his skin. If I hadn’t burned him, then he must have awoken and decided to walk away.

  In a voice I could barely raise above a whisper, I murmured, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I don’t deserve you.”

  The words galvanized me into action, and I closed the distance between us and forced out the word, “Why?”

  Valentine jerked his head to the side as though the sight of me hurt his eyes. “No amount of apologizing could ever make up for my transgressions.”

  My throat thickened, and my breaths became shallow. Valentine was never this sorrowful or ever wallowed in so much guilt, so where was it coming from? His preternatural self only noticed his wrongdoings after experiencing their consequences.

  Valentine without his soul nucleus would never admit to any mistakes, so I could only assume he was back to normal. That, or he’d decided I was more trouble than I was worth. Or he’d remembered seeing me step into a limo on my way to dinner with Hades, or the time I’d offered myself up to Irdu as a pet?

  Either way, I couldn’t leave this tree without knowing.

  “Can you explain what you mean?” I asked.

  “I’ve put you through the worst torment imaginable,” he rasped. “And I can’t guarantee I won’t hurt you again.”

  My stomach plummeted. “What?”

  Valentine stared at me through eyes as blue as lapis lazuli, the white flecks in his irises expanding like rain clouds. “I had no idea you were suffering the entire time we were apart—”

  “Valentine?” I had to stop him from completing that sentence. He spoke as though his last memory was in Beatrice’s hospital room, just after he’d discovered my memories had been violated. “We’ve moved on from this, don’t you remember? It wasn’t your fault.”

  “That was only the beginning of your pain.” He stared down at me, his brows creased.

  My breath came in shallow pants. “If you’re building up to telling me we’re over, I won’t accept it.”

  He exhaled a weary breath. “I’m far too selfish to let you go.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” I asked.

  “How will I atone for everything I’ve done to you?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I remember,” he replied through clenched teeth. “Everything from floating over my body, seeing you arrested, searched, stripped, primed for execution.”

  “No,” I whispered. Captain Zella had kept me unconscious that entire time, and I only had a vague idea of what they’d done to me from the few words she’d shared and Aunt Arianna’s magical transmission in my jail cell. “Weren’t you stuck in that white dreamscape?”

  “When they found you guilty and decided to keep you alive for a second trial, a force pulled me into that void. The moment I entered, the memory of the past days vanished.”

  My throat thickened. “That must have been when they removed your heart.”

  He nodded. “Now that I’m whole, I can access the memories of being a preternatural.” Pain flashed across his features, and his gaze slid away from my face. “Kresnik didn’t exaggerate when he said I had debauched you. It was an unforgivable debasement.”

  My jaw dropped. “You died for me.”

  Valentine turned back to me, his mouth slackening in disbelief. I stiffened, trying to stop myself from flinching. It wasn’t like I was suggesting that he’d earned the right to my body through his sacrifice. Most of the things I did with his preternatural self were tame compared to some of juicier details from Beatrice’s exploits.

  “You don’t understand,” he said.

  “What?” I whispered.

&nb
sp; “When I…” Valentine closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils. “The way I treated you in the Flame—”

  “You had to convince Kresnik that I was your slave.”

  His jaw tightened. “I enjoyed them.”

  A sigh heaved from my lungs. He had been in a jar at the time of those events—none of them were his doing. “Valentine, you were a soulless preternatural.”

  Valentine finally met my gaze with eyes as solemn as a wintry sky and raised his hand to the side of my face. He slid the pad of his thumb over my cheekbone and said in a voice thick with emotion, “I’ll make things right. I will sacrifice the world for you and never demand a thing in return.”

  Warmth filled my heart and spread across my chest. It almost felt like we were back together, if only he could let go of his guilt.

  I lowered my lashes to Valentine’s cupid-bow lips, my mouth yearning for his touch. Despite his words, I wasn’t sure if he would reject my advances if I rocked forward on my heels and kissed him. Valentine seemed to need my forgiveness, even though he hadn’t done a thing wrong.

  “Everything you did was for my protect—”

  “I took advantage of your love.” His voice trembled with rage. “Treated you worse than a paid courtesan when you’re the purest, most precious creature—”

  “You’re putting me on a pedestal,” I said with another sigh.

  He shook his head. “Impossible.”

  I placed my hands over his heart, which thrummed beneath my touch, and I let my gaze sweep up from his lips to his eyes. The white in his irises receded, replaced by the tiniest hints of violet.

  “Our physical relationship accelerated, but we were going to get there eventually,” I said with a lilt of hope.

  The old Valentine would have smiled at my comment, but he only tightened his lips. “And keeping you subdued with thrall when I could have hidden you somewhere safe? Leaving you in that closet to get abducted by the Demon King because I was too preoccupied with destroying Kresnik?”

  “Did you know Hades was about to resurrect?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  I slid my hand over his chest, around his shoulder, threading my fingers through the silky hair at the back of his head. Days ago, I might have raged at Valentine for some of the decisions he’d made as a preternatural but I had experienced first-hand the extent of Kresnik’s murderous drive for power.

  “I can’t fault you on the thrall because Kresnik would have searched for me anyway the moment he realized I still had my phoenix power.” My other arm slid around his neck. “And it wasn’t like I didn’t also make mistakes.”

  “Mera,” he said, his voice weary. “Don’t make excuses for me.”

  “You’re too hard on yourself.” I pressed my body against his.

  His magic thrummed against mine, but it didn’t wrap around my senses or engulf me as usual. He also didn’t hug back, an indication that he was still wallowing in guilt.

  “Listen to me.” I raised myself up on my tiptoes, pressing a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “There’s only one person I hold responsible for our relationship troubles.” I kissed his other side. “And we’re going to kill him together.”

  “No,” he growled. “I won’t let you risk—”

  I placed a soft kiss on his lips.

  Valentine drew back and frowned. “Mera, we’ve only just reunited. I can’t lose you.”

  “I’m not the powerless Neutral from three years go.” I dropped back onto my heels. “So much has happened recently that I’m not even the same woman you met in the Crystal Shop in October.”

  His eyes softened, and the corners of his lips curled into a smile. “I never get tired of seeing your phoenix.”

  Perhaps he remembered the time we made love in the dreamscape, and my alternate form burst out during my orgasm then reduced him to ash. I’d have to work out a way to keep that under control in the real world.

  “We’re equals,” I said, meaning every word. “That means you stop trying to cosset me.”

  He drew back, staring down at me through darkened eyes, now tinged with a hint of red. “Do you know how many supernaturals will want to possess you? Even before you made me whole, I lusted—”

  “My flames can burn anyone who gets close,” I said. “Stop putting me in prisons and locking me up under the guise of protection because it never works.”

  A muscle in his jaw twitched. It was the same expression of annoyance his preternatural self made when I broke through the ward of the penthouse and when he caught me out of my room in the Flame.

  I pursed my lips. The more my power grew, the more aggravating I would find Valentine’s overprotectiveness. Sliding my hands down his shoulders, and resting them on his pecs, I asked, “Do you remember what you once said to me in the taxi on the way to the Notting Hill safe house?”

  “Refresh my memory,” he replied.

  “If I could unlock my power, I wouldn’t need your protection.” My fingers curled into the thick fabric of his jacket. “That was back when you thought I was just a fire mage. Now, I can shift at will into a phoenix, fly, and throw missiles.”

  He raised a brow. “And Kresnik?”

  I exhaled a long breath. “If he comes near me, I’ll reduce him to ash. That last time when he caught me, it was because I wanted to distract him from Beatrice and Kain.”

  He raised his hand to the side of my face and slid his fingers over my cheekbone as though feeling that I was real.

  “Now, will you give me the freedom of an equal, or are we going to stand under this creepy tree all day and argue?”

  Valentine scooped me into his arms and flew me across the wildflower meadow, and my stomach made an excited flip. I leaned down, marveling at the pattern of colors below.

  “You can still fly?” I asked.

  A chuckle reverberated in his chest. “I forgot for a moment that I wasn’t supposed to be able to do that.”

  I relaxed against his broad shoulder and pressed a kiss on his cheek. “What else can you do?”

  “My power feels the same as it did when I was a preternatural.”

  “You could turn to mist,” I said, my voice breathy with awe.

  “Being incorporeal in battle has its advantages.” He landed on a patch of tall poppies and set me onto my feet.

  Valentine’s lips descended on mine with a gentleness that sent sparks of pleasure thrumming across my nerves. They were soft at first, as though this truly was our first real kiss since we’d discovered the truth about my memory of the breakup. His lips moved against mine in a series of caresses that heated my desire and made my blood simmer.

  I parted my lips to moan, and his tongue slipped into my mouth, making the kiss deeper, devouring, infinitely more decadent. Kissing Valentine while he was alive and with a physical body wasn’t so different from kissing his preternatural self—both men burned with passion, except the man holding me in his arms was more restrained.

  Maybe after nearly killing me once, he feared losing control, but there was no need for holding back. I wanted Valentine—needed him. Returning him to life was all I’d ever dreamed of during the hardest of the days. Now that I had him, we could finally begin our lives together.

  I pressed myself flush against his body, and his hot pulsing erection pressed back. When I moaned, he swallowed the sound with a kiss. My hands clawed at his jacket, trying to tear the thick fabric off his body and the blood in my veins heated to a boil.

  Valentine growled, and one of the hands encircling my waist slid down to my ass. “Morata…”

  Sparks of elation exploded through my chest and settled low in my belly. He hadn’t called me that since rising from the ashes. Giving up on removing his jacket, I slipped a hand beneath the garment and ran my fingers down the tight muscles of his abdomen. Heat radiated against my palm, increasing in intensity as my fingers grazed his waistband.

  Valentine drew back, panting hard. The white flecks in his eyes were now a deep re
d, and I swore his incisors were lengthening into fangs. “Before we go any further, I have to say a few things.”

  “Later.” I reached beneath his belt.

  He wrapped his hand around mine, pulling it away from his waistband. “My mind is still sorting through the jumble of events, and most of it feels like a vivid dream.”

  I nodded, my brows drawing together. Everything, including the time I spent in Valentine’s soul, had been as real as the waking world.

  “I haven’t been myself since the blood lure affected my free will, and I’ve spent the past few weeks splintered, but there has only been one constant in the midst of all the danger and the chaos.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “My love for you,” he replied, staring at me with darkening eyes. “Your unending faith and acceptance. Mera Griffin, I love you without restraint. What I feel for you is as unwavering as it is relentless, and I won’t face the battle ahead without knowing what awaits us at the other end.”

  Emotion surged in my heart, filling it to bursting, and the backs of my eyes stung with the onset of tears. “Valentine—”

  He placed a finger on my lips. “Please let me finish.”

  My tongue darted out to lick the digit.

  “Behave yourself,” he growled.

  “Sorry.”

  Valentine lowered himself onto one knee, plucked a poppy from the ground, and fashioned its stalk into a ring. “Mera Griffin, will you marry me?”

  I gazed down into glittering eyes more beautiful and varied than any amethyst. A starburst of crimson seams ran beneath their surface, and their pupils widened, seeming to commit my face to memory.

  “But I already said yes three years ago,” I murmured.

  “Three years ago, I proposed to you at the end of a perfect courtship,” he said, his voice solemn. “What’s happened between us proves that I am no longer that man.”

  I flung my arms around Valentine’s neck. “The answer is always going to be yes.”

  Valentine pulled me onto his lap, his hands encircling my waist. He slipped the poppy ring on my finger and pressed a soft kiss on my knuckle.