My healing ability must have somehow… used that to our benefit.
I could feel my heart beating frantically. Fuck, it sounded like a freight train hammering inside of my chest.
We were connected.
That thought gave me a chance.
Moli shifted, drawing my attention back to her.
She seemed tired, exhausted even.
And she was cold.
“Moli?” I asked.
She looked down at me and smiled. But, the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Why did he let her?” she asked.
Moli was alone, tired, and exhausted.
And… she was hungry again.
I could feel that need, pounding through her mind.
Blood.
Drink her blood.
Moli’s fangs slid out farther as she groaned in preparation.
My mind shifted, sliding down the connection into hers.
I saw myself through Moli’s eyes.
She wanted to hit me until there was nothing left but a bloody mess on the ground.
“He was dead inside,” I answered, speaking directly to her mind. “Maxwell died when Darla was murdered. He willingly gave his Mother power and responsibility…”
Moli screamed... and didn’t stop.
“You left me!” she howled.
That first punch hurt… a lot.
She hit me four times… before I slipped deep enough into her mind to ignore the pain.
“You bastard!” Moli screamed, horrified that Maxwell had abandoned her.
Because… that is precisely what he had done.
While she raged, my mind eased deeper into hers.
Usually, as Maxwell, I would have been able to do this easily. But, my body was exhausted from healing itself from crashing and then dying. And, now Moli was doing even more damage.
My only chanced was to slip in deeper. So, like a thief in the night, I slipped further into Moli’s mind, hoping that she wouldn’t kill me before I found…
Her connection.
It was thick and robust. A crimson line that connected to Moli to her Master, the vampire that had created her.
Moli stopped hitting me, moaning, she opened her mouth wide, as she prepared to strike.
“Where are your children?” I made my body murmur. It was really more of a twisted gurgle, but I strengthened the words with my mind. My lip was smashed and bloody, and I had bit my tongue, but I pressed on.
Wrong question.
At precisely the right time.
Moli froze. Her body became paralyzed with grief and sorrow. Visions of little dead bodies tortured her soul, along with the bloody remains of a daughter lost to miscarriage.
“Dead,” she whispered. I felt the answer dripping through her mind.
Then, her soul spasmed.
“You bastard!” she screamed, backhanding me. “This is ALL your Fault!”
The blow nearly snapped my neck.
Enraged, Moli’s taloned hands wrapped around my neck and began squeezing.
- 23 -
I couldn’t breathe. Moli was gripping my throat too tightly.
It was time to hurt her.
I switched to seeing her only with my mind. There, I envisioned a blade of emerald flames appearing in my hand. The saber spat and snapped with power, splattering the ground around me with liquid flames.
The blade wasn’t as clean and pure as Claire’s mental swords.
But it would have to do.
Otherwise, I was about to die again.
Raising the saber over my head, I brought it down on Moli’s bond to her Master, slicing it in two with ease. It split open like a rotten watermelon, leaking evil black fluid all over Moli’s soul.
She screamed in pain, throwing me out of her mind.
Moli stumbled off of me, almost landing in the fire, as she rolled, screamed and moaned in pain. She clutched her head and shrieked in unending pain. Moli was a newborn vampire fledgling.
Cutting her Master away… meant her death. Moli wasn’t strong enough to survive on her own.
But I had my own problems.
Moli had made a mess of my face.
I could barely breathe. My nose was shattered, my cheekbones were broken and splintered, and one of my eyes were already swollen shut.
But, if I didn’t continue with my plan… she would die.
My feelings--and Maxwell’s--were so entwined that I needed her to live.
Fighting to breathe, I dragged myself over to her, finding her by her screams of pain, more than anything else.
Her foot was the only thing I could reach.
I grabbed onto her ankle.
Moli snarled at me. Her eyes were crimson flames.
I forced her mind open enough that I could slip into her soul again.
“Mājhē,” I commanded. That surprised me almost enough that I stopped. I had meant to say mine. But, then I decided that mine was Maxwell’s word. Mājhē was an arcane term that meant mine, but it also meant “be mine” at the same time.
Moli wasn’t going to die if I had anything to say about it. I didn’t care if she was a vampire or any other type of monster.
Moli was mine.
Maxwell and I were both in agreement to that fact. Maybe someday I would have enough memories and feelings of my own, that I could live without his connections and thoughts.
But, right now, today… I needed her.
She fought me, every step of the way.
Her vampiric bond flapped in the ether, unattached to her Master anymore. Instead, it was gushing like a firehouse, allowing bits and pieces of her mind to just dribble away.
Grabbing that broken leash, I forged a new one from me to her… attaching Moli’s soul to mine. It was an invasion into her life. A blatant rape of her individuality and ability to choose her future. But, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a future because Moli would kill me.
Right now, I needed to break the wild horse, turning her into my servant.
“No!” she screeched as her body twisted and spasmed.
Then, an angry vampire was on top of me.
Moli grabbed the back of my head and smashed it into the ground.
I saw stars.
“Mājhē,” I mumbled, pressing harder and deeper into her soul.
She slammed my skull into the ground again.
Darkness filled my eyes, and I blacked out for a second.
If Moli won, I died.
So, I leaned on all of my… on his… training to keep fighting.
Mother had forged my magic with pain.
“Mājhē,” I hissed, strengthening the bond, by crushing her will power. My mind was like a vise around her soul, squeezing relentlessly.
“No!” Moli screeched. “Die you fucker!”
She raised my body up high, determined to crush my skull with a final blow.
She would die, turning into dust if I didn’t succeed. But, that wouldn’t matter, because my skull would be crushed. I doubled my healing ability could bring me back from that.
Moli dying was unacceptable.
My head started descending downward.
Time slowed.
With nothing left to do, I squeezed so hard with my thoughts that Moli stopped… shuddered and collapsed.
Blood began leaking out of her mouth, and her eyes rolled up into her head.
I could barely see, my remaining eye was only open a slit. I dragged myself on top of her, pressing as much flesh as I could to hers.
“Sabamiṭa karā,” I insisted, barely conscious. Asking her to be mine wasn’t working. It was time for her to submit.
Moli quivered.
“Sabamiṭa karā!” I screamed at her stubborn soul, splattering her face with my blood.
Moli convulsed under me.
Then… she began to cry.
“Stop… please,” Moli moaned.
- 24 -
“Mājhē,” I insisted, wracking her mind with the only word that I could cohe
rently think of anymore. My vision blurred, and I hung onto her for dear life. I felt like a lousy, piece of shit, as I leashed Moli’s soul, entwining tethers of power around it with every word.
“Mine,” I whispered, as Maxwell’s word fell out of my mouth. Stubbornly, I wove bonds of power, of control, and from my side, of love.
Moli rejected them all.
But… I had succeeded.
Letting her die would have been a better choice.
But, I wasn’t ready for her to join Darla yet.
Just thinking about Darla awoke an ached deep within me. She was a ghost in my mind, haunting the remnants of Maxwell that still floated to the surface when I was hurt, or stressed.
“Good,” Moli whispered, feeling my pain emanating through our bond.
I slipped off of her.
“Do not hurt me, or yourself,” I ordered, making it a command.
“Fuck you, Maxwell,” she croaked, turning over and glaring at me.
“They all died, because of you, you coward,” she hissed. “All my beautiful children.”
Her words cut like a knife.
I felt like my soul was bleeding in pain. Why did Maxwell’s history hurt me so much? He was dead and gone. I was someone new.
Someone better.
“Good,” Moli muttered. “I want you to hurt. You fucking bitch.”
Moli slammed into my memories, ripping through them as she drew Maxwell’s last, foolish choices into the light of the day. I could have stopped her, but I chose to let the pain flow.
She watched as he surrendered his life to his Mother.
Moli witnessed Maxwell choosing to hide in my flesh instead of living in his own. She saw the decadence, the sexual opulence, and the drugs. His pleasure flowed through her, as she remembered her own pain.
“Coward!” she screamed. “You fucking coward!”
I couldn’t argue with her. Maxwell had been a coward, hiding from his responsibilities and the women and children that he loved me.
I sobbed next to her, overwhelmed with guilt.
They hadn’t been my choices, but I was still paying for his terrible decisions.
Moli scuttled over to the other side of the room, moaning in pain.
Maybe I should have let her kill me.
“Yes,” Moli hissed. “Yes, you should have.”
Leaning back against the wall, I tried to regain my composure. Maxwell had made terrible mistakes, but I had been reborn when I chose to let him go.
What the fuck was I going to do now?
“Die,” Moli offered.
Shuddering, I stood up and raised my mental shields.
“Coward,” she hissed, refusing to look at me.
Breathing hard, I walked out of the cave. It was cold outside, but at least Moli wasn’t out here with me. The largest moon was high in the sky while the other two were hidden tonight.
Not knowing what else to do, I prayed.
It was a new reaction.
I didn’t ask for help, or anything else. I just poured out my pain to anyone who would hear.
Maxwell’s poor decisions had led us both to this exact spot. But, dying wasn’t an option. Lexi was in danger.
I wasn’t going to fail her. Not again. She was Maxwell’s daughter, and someday, she might be mine.
“Pretty words,” Moli hissed from behind me. “No action.”
I turned my head and looked at her. She had snuck out of the cave and crouched like an angry cat in the shadows.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But, dying isn’t an option for me. And, I’m not letting you die either.”
Moli hissed at me like an angry Siamese cat.
Her thoughts were of blood and death.
Mine.
“How did this happen?” I asked her.
Moli didn’t answer.
But, in her mind, I saw…
Moli’s despair and anguish nearly overwhelmed me. I saw her, as she found each of her dead children after the Citadel had been attacked.
Not one of them survived.
Not even our baby in her womb.
She miscarried… even though the child’s destiny was to live.
Shock filled my mind.
Moli had buried them.
Mother had returned… in my body. Instead of loving her, and helping Moli cope with her loss, Mother had cursed her. Calling her... slut, tramp, and whore. Mother cut Maxwell’s bond with Moli and the others.
Then… Mother had forced Moli out of the Citadel, divorcing her from any support or love.
Moli’s mind broke.
She tracked down one of Maxwell’s lovers and forced the vampire to kill her. Moli could still feel the cold sting of the vampire’s initial bite, followed by a slow, painful descent into death.
That should have been the tragic end top Moli, except, decades ago, Moli had traded power for a lean on her soul. And, the debt was still unpaid.
Instead of letting Moli slumber in eternal bliss, or damnation, the demon sold Moli’s debt to a Lord of Hell who was willing and anxious to purchase Moli’s obligation.
Katelin. The Dark Lady of Shadows.
My stomach cramped, and my head started pounding.
Maxwell’s ex-wife owned Moli’s soul.
It nearly broke me.
Katelin was alive and ruling Halovra. Her metal blood-drenched pyramid reigned supreme over the City of Cults, Ezcaltiel, and its thousands of fanatical cultists.
Maxwell’s ex-wife hated him. She wasn’t interested in Moli sleeping in the relief of death. Katelin hated all of my wives. Every last one of them.
So, Katelin paid the vampire to raise Moli as an undead monster.
Then, my ex-wife turned Moli loose on Nagon.
- 25 -
“Oh God,” I whispered, appalled at the situation that Moli was in. Katelin was ruthless and full of hate. She would never willingly surrender the debt on Moli’s soul.
Moli grimaced.
“Maxwell was such a fool,” I groaned.
“Yes,” Moli agreed.
I could feel that she wanted to taste my flesh.
Bloodlust poured over Moli’s soul, beating away at the bond that I had forged.
I looked at her and wondered…
Would the children have survived, if he hadn’t been such a coward? Moli’s memories were hazy. It was hard to determine the time frame of everything.
In the distance, I heard a wolf howl. It was a mournful melody that touched my soul.
This had to end.
I wasn’t Maxwell.
Not anymore.
His decisions had been awful, horrible, and tragic.
But I wasn’t going to live in the past. Not anymore. It was time to move forward.
Standing up, I grabbed hold of her bond to me.
Moli shook when she felt my hand on her soul.
“When I was Maxwell, I did terrible things.”
“Yes,” Moli interrupted. “You did.”
“Hush,” I instructed.
Unable to speak, Moli glared at me.
“I am someone new,” I continued. “I will not spend all my time reliving his mistakes. Lexi is alive and in danger.”
Moli quivered.
It was a tiny reaction, but I felt Moli’s worry for Maxwell’s daughter, hidden deep inside her soul.
“I will save her,” I announced. “But, I can’t do it and fight you every step of the way.”
Shuddering, I reaffirmed my commitment.
“I love you,” I whispered. “I remember everything that we did together, but I am no longer Maxwell. Choose now, death or life.”
“Death,” she hissed.
My Lady of Bones Page 8