"No," I said, my eyes on Raphael. If I was going to be killed, I wanted the last thing I saw to be him.
But I really didn't want to be killed.
Dominic pressed the gun harder into my neck until I flinched with the pain. Raphael's hands tightened on his arms, and I thought sparks were going to come flying from his eyes, but he didn't move. I smiled at him and hoped he saw the love and admiration in my eyes.
"Get in the boat, Joie," Dominic said, grabbing my arm.
What worked once might work twice, I figured. I blew Raphael a kiss, then lunged in the direction Dominic was pulling me, throwing him off balance. His gun slid out of his fingers and bounced on the wooden dock. I slammed my foot down on his, then brought my knee up into his groin. As he screamed and doubled up, I plucked the brooch from my blouse and stabbed him in the eye with it.
"Ew!" I squealed at the sensation of soft, squishy eyeball on my fingers, and jerked my hand away. Dominic screamed as he fell to the dock, one hand clutching his eyes, the other on his groin. I spun around to help Raphael, but he had disarmed Milos in one smooth move that sent the gun flying into the water, and Milos crashing into the nearest boat. There was an ugly thud when his head cracked against one of the wooden seats. He didn't move after that.
"Are you all right?" Raphael asked as I raced over to where he was checking on Milos. "Where's the other gun?"
I looked back over my shoulder. Dominic was still writhing and wailing on the edge of the dock. "It must have gone into the water as well. Is he dead?"
"No, just unconscious. Come." He grabbed my hand and pushed me toward the nearest boat. "Get in. I'll get you out of here, then come back for the two of them. There's nowhere they can go with the police at either end."
I put on the brakes. "No."
He frowned down at me. "Joy, don't be obstinate. I know you want to help me—"
"No, it's not that. I get seasick. I didn't think I would on a quiet river like this, but I did the other day. I'll walk; you take the boat."
He sighed and grabbed my wrist again, hauling me toward the narrow path that ran the length of the river. "I have never in my life met a woman who is so contrary and argumentative," he said.
"Yes, but you love that about me," I answered, suddenly feeling incredibly happy. We had escaped! We were going to be together! We would have a deliriously happy life together—once I made Raphael understand he was never to keep anything from me again. "Go on, say it, you know you want to."
He stopped long enough to pull me up to his chest. "Yes, I love you, you maddening woman. You're stubborn and obstinate and resistant to any form of common sense, but I love you more than I had ever thought possible, and no one is going to take you away from me."
His lips were closing on mine when a noise behind us made the hair on my neck stand on end.
"How touching," Dominic rasped as he staggered toward us, blood streaming from one eye. I must have broken a toe or two when I stomped on him, because he was limping heavily. I assume the kick to his noogies hadn't done him any good, either, because he was walking hunched over like an old man. The gun he held clutched in one hand made any satisfaction in his condition moot, however.
"He must have been lying on it," I said apologetically to Raphael.
"You," Dominic spat, his mouth twisted in a snarl. The madness in his eyes was clear now. I wanted to cling to Raphael, but knew he had a better chance of disarming Dominic if I backed off a bit. I sidled away, Dominic's eyes blazing at me. "You have laughed at me, and mocked me, and spurned my attentions for those of him—" He waved the gun at Raphael, then suddenly fired.
"NO!" I screamed, lunging for Raphael, but Dominic was faster than he looked. He slammed the gun into my face, sending me flying backwards. I crashed into the wall and lay numb for a few seconds, too stunned to do anything but wait for the burst of pain to reach my brain. It hit and left me gasping and retching as I dragged myself to my knees.
"Raphael." I knew the pathetic whimper was mine, but it didn't seem to belong to me any more than the haze of pain that nearly blinded me. All that mattered was that I get to Raphael. I crawled toward Dominic as he stood above a silent and still Raphael, pointing the gun at his chest and ranting in a high, insane voice.
"No one will doubt my power now. No one can. They laughed at me just as you laughed at me, but now I will be vindicated. AH will fear my power and know me to be the true master of the dark! I will take my place with the great ones, and they too will bow down before me. I will rule the dark world, become what I was meant to be. No longer will I be burdened with this mere mortal's body. I will be invincible!"
"I am afraid there can be only one way to be rid of your human body, but as you are determined to do so, I will be happy to oblige you." Christian's voice was like a cool drink of water on a hot summer day. He appeared out of the shadows, walking toward Dominic, the power and deadly menace surrounding him making the air crackle. His eyes had changed, had deepened in their blackness if that was possible, allowing a glimpse into the endless torment that held him in its eternal grip.
I used the distraction to scoot closer to Raphael, praying with all my might that he was still alive. Red stained his left side, spreading across his stomach.
"Oh my God," I sobbed, touching him gently, unsure of what I should do to stop the bleeding. I didn't want to press on the wound if it would make it worse. "Oh, God, Raphael, please don't die. I need you. Please don't die."
His eyes opened at the sound of my voice. They were dulled with pain and anger, but they were his lovely, lovely eyes and I wept all the harder to see them. I pressed his hand to my lips and started repeating every prayer I knew.
Dominic cried out and stepped backward as Christian stalked him. The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end as I watched, unable to look away, unable to tear my eyes from the terrible weapon of retribution that Christian had become.
"You wished to see the great ones? Behold! I have touched eternity. I have walked the earth in darkness only, never to know the warming touch of the sun upon my flesh, never to have a family, a lover, friends. I have lived in silent torment wishing I had the strength to end the nightmare of my existence, but failing because I am cursed to live damned and shunned, an abomination to every living thing. Do you still wish to join me, little mortal?"
"Joy." Raphael was trying to prop himself up. "Help me up, baby."
"Don't move," I told him. "You'll make the bleeding worse. Should I be pressing on it? Will it hurt you if I do? Oh, God, Raphael, you've been shot!"
He pulled himself up into a sitting position, panting with the effort, his beautiful eyes glazed with pain. "Have to protect you."
"No, my darling, you don't have to. Don't move anymore, you're making it worse! Just sit still. Christian is here. He'll take care of Dominic."
"That's who… have to… protect you," he gasped, his face pale with the strain.
Dominic screamed something in a language I didn't understand. I put my hands on Raphael's shoulders to keep him from moving, and glanced over to where Christian was backing Dominic against the wall. Teeth, long and sharp, flashed in Christian's mouth. He stalked his victim as a panther would an insignificant rodent, slowly, without wavering, sure of the outcome.
Evidently, Dominic was sure as well, for he suddenly raised his gun and began firing at Christian. The noise of the gun being fired in the large open chamber was deafening, each gunshot echoing until I had to cover my ears to keep from screaming.
A terrible, high-pitched shriek ripped through the echoes, setting new ones bouncing off the walls, rippling through the air in one long, endless cry of death. When the noise stopped, I opened my eyes. Christian held Dominic a good two feet off the ground, one hand closed around his neck, his head tilted at an unnatural angle. With a flick of his wrist Christian sent Dominic flying. He hit the wall and slid down it like a soggy rag doll.
I gagged. Raphael tried to move, but I held him down.
"Don't move, my love.
Oh, God, the stain is getting bigger. How long will it take the police to come around the other end? Raphael, please don't try to move!"
His hands were tight on my waist as he tried to shove me aside. A shadow fell over the two of us.
I looked up, tears streaking my cheeks. "Christian, can you help him? Please, will you help him? He's been shot, and I don't know what to do. Please help us."
Christian held his hand out for me, his face closed and impassive. I thought he wanted me out of the way so he could help Raphael, but when he pulled me to my feet, he didn't take my place. He just stood holding me.
Raphael snarled and tried to shift himself. "She's mine, Dante."
"No! Stop him! Raphael, you're going to kill yourself if you keep trying to move!" I struggled against Christian, but the arm he had around my waist was like steel. He looked from Raphael to me, his eyes deep wells of suffering. One finger traced the welt on the side of my face where Dominic had struck me with the gun, a drop of blood clinging to his finger. He looked at it for a moment, then brought it to his lips.
"I have allowed this to go on long enough. It is at an end."
I looked in his eyes and knew he would do nothing to help Raphael.
Unless I bargained for that help.
"Please help him," I cried, my lips trembling as more tears spilled down my cheeks. Raphael grunted with pain as he tried to get to his feet. I held my hands out to him, but Christian would not let me move. "Please," I begged. "I love him so much, Christian. Don't do this to me; please don't make Raphael suffer."
By some miracle of willpower, Raphael dragged himself to his feet, one hand clutching his side as he panted, leaning drunkenly against the cave wall. "You can't have her," he said, his voice low and rough. "She's mine."
Blood seeped up from between his fingers. I moaned at the sight of it, and willed Raphael to look at me.
"I love you," I told him. "I always will. Nothing will ever change that."
He lurched away from the wall toward us, but was slammed backward when Christian lifted his hand.
"Leave him alone, God damn you!" I shrieked, and turned to pummel Christian.
"He already has, Beloved."
I looked back at Raphael. He was slumped against the wall, bright red smeared against the light-colored stone behind him, his body shaking with the effort to stay upright.
"She's… my… love," he said, his eyes on me. "Not yours. Never."
"Come with me, Beloved." Christian's voice was like velvet sliding on my skin. "I will make you forget him. I will give you everything you want. I will be everything to you."
Raphael took a step away from the wall. With a flick of his eyes, Christian sent him flying across the room.
"NOOOOO!" I screamed. Raphael lay halfway across a bench, his belly and chest bright with blood. He raised himself up on one arm, his head hanging, blood dripping from a cut on his temple.
I closed my eyes, unable to bear seeing him hurt, then turned in Christian's arms. "I will come with you."
"No, baby."
I ignored Raphael's low cry, watching as Christian's eyes flared to life.
"I will come with you and live with you for however long you want me to, but you have to save Raphael first. You have to save him and let him go and promise never to harm him."
Christian's eyes searched mine.
"You have to save him now, and swear to me that you won't ever do anything to hurt him. Ever."
"Baby, don't leave me," Raphael called hoarsely to me, sliding down the bench to the floor. I sobbed while my heart shattered into little pieces, my nails biting into my palms as I watched the man that I loved die.
"You would do this for him?" Christian asked. "You would give him up?"
"So that he might live? Yes. I would do anything for that."
"I won't let you go." Raphael's words were the merest whisper, but they cut through my heart like a razor. I didn't look at him. I couldn't look at him. There was no way I could save him unless I gave myself to Christian, unless I bartered myself for Raphael's life.
Christian's eyes narrowed. "Everything you've said, every protestation and objection you've made—you say to Join with me will damn you; you would risk damnation for him? Would you sell yourself for his life?"
"In a heartbeat," I answered. "He is more precious to me than life. Please, Christian. Help him before it's too late."
Christian stood silent for a moment, then released me and walked over to where Raphael lay. When Raphael tried to raise his hands, Christian squatted next to him, placing a hand on Raphael's side.
"He is dying."
A moan slipped out of my lips, fresh tears burning down my cheeks. "Save him," I begged.
He placed both hands on Raphael's side for a few moments, then brushed his thumb across Raphael's forehead, leaving a long bloody smear. Raphael twitched, then slid the rest of the way off the bench, onto the floor.
I watched, a silent scream of anguish so deep there was no end to it building inside me. He was dead.
With him died my heart.
"I feel your pain, Joy, but you allow yourself to suffer needlessly. He is not dead, simply resting. I sent him to sleep so his heart would slow down. I cannot correct all of his injuries, but I have repaired enough of the damage that he will recover with medical attention."
My relief at his words was so great that I dropped to my knees, my arms wrapped around my waist.
"Thank you," I said, my eyes on Raphael's still form, unable to say anything else. "Thank you."
He walked over to me and held out a hand. I looked up at him, unwilling to take it, but knowing I had to keep my part of the bargain. "Do we have to go now? Can't I stay with him just a little longer? Just until an ambulance comes for him?"
Christian took hold of each arm and hoisted me to my feet. He held one of my hands in his, rubbing Raphael's blood off my fingers. "With you as my Beloved, I would see to it that you lived in eternal happiness, untouched by any of the emotions which trouble mortal man." He glanced over to Raphael, then raised my hand to his lips. "Tell him for me, please, that for the first time in a very long life, I truly find myself envying a human."
I stared at him for a moment as the full meaning of his words sank in. He wasn't going to take me. He was sacrificing himself for us. I knew that Christian honestly believed he was giving up all hope of his salvation. I blinked back more tears, then pressed my lips to his in a gentle promise. "I swear to you that I will find her. I will find your true Beloved. You won't have to spend the rest of eternity alone."
He set me aside gently, a faint mocking smile curving his lips. "This once I will not object to help from a human." He looked at me intently before making a courtly bow. "Be happy, Beloved."
I met his dark gaze, filled with longing and resignation and despair.
"I'll find her," I promised, then turned and ran to Raphael.
I didn't see Christian melt into the shadows of the cave, but heard his beautiful voice as it echoed back to me. "I will hold you to your promise. I, too, wish to know what it is like to be loved above all else."
The words reached me as I knelt over Raphael, one hand holding his, the other stroking his face. His skin was warm, his pulse was slow but steady, his long brown lashes resting peacefully on the taut skin of his cheeks.
"I love you, Bob," I whispered to him.
His fingers tightened around mine as voices from the far side of the cave echoed down to us, calling to find out if we were all right. The police had finally arrived.
"Love you, baby," he murmured.
High in the night sky a beautiful voice etched into the heavens the song of a brave warrior and a beautiful maiden, and their love so true it could not be destroyed, not even by death itself.
I smiled at my warrior as I waited for help to arrive.
* * *
Epilogue
« ^
To: Joyful
From: Roxanne Benner
br />
Date: November 5, 2003
Subject: I'm baaaaaaaaaack!
Hi Joy (and Raphael)! I'm back home, and boy do I have a lot to tell you! You're not going to believe what happened to me after I left Germany… but I'm going to tease you and make you wait for it. Are you waiting? Am I driving you nuts? Good. Now you know how it feels. Hahahahahah!
I'm glad to hear you guys made it to London OK. What's Raphael's apartment… sorry, FLAT look like? 'Roomy and near a big park' doesn't tell me much. Take pictures.
And speaking of him, I'm happy the tattoo wasn't touched when they dug that bullet out of his gut. A scar you can live with, but if that tattoo was ruined… well, I'm just glad it's not. How long will it be before you know if Interpol is going to throw him out of the organization for going off on his own to find the vampire murderers? I can't believe they yanked him off the case in the first place. I mean, didn't he have Dominic and Milos pegged all along? It wasn't his fault if someone messed up the evidence; he knew it was Dominic, they should have listened to him, not forced him to take a leave of absence. Is he still in denial about Christian, or has he finally given in and admitted that there are Dark Ones? Must be tough living with an infidel unbeliever. Still, all's well that ends well, eh? You got your man, Inspector Bartos has Milos locked up safe and sound, and I got… heee! Nope. Not going to tell you yet. Waiting, waiting, waiting…
OH! I got an e-mail from Christian! Who knew Dark Ones were Internet savvy? He said he was going to send me a sneak peak at Book Thirteen, and was even going to name a heroine after me. Too cool, huh? I hope you're doing everything you can to find his Beloved, although I don't have a clue how you're going to go about it. Maybe you should put an ad in a London paper asking to interview single women? Or how about this—write a book about vampires so steamy that it will bring Christian's Beloved out of the woodwork. I even have a title for you: A Girl's Guide to Vampires. Brilliant, huh? Yeah, I know. I should be in marketing.
Work is the same old same old, no fun without you, but I'm not crying in my coffee. Want to know why? Ha! I just bet you do. Keep waiting. That's a hoot what your mom said about Bradley, BTW. I always said he was no good. I hope they take his license away. There's just no excuse for drunk drivers! Can we say LOSER? Sure we can!
A Girls Guide to Vampires Page 34