Love and Bloodlust: The Sacred Objects

by Melinda Clark

  Avery stood back observing Nadine set up the candles on the dining table and Rose bringing her a large mixing bowl. The dirt from a potted plant and the table salt went into the container. Avery kept hoping over and over that this would work while shuffling her feet across the floor in an attempt to keep herself busy.

  Moments later Talon reappeared in the doorway holding up a clenched fist. He had been mulling over what this all meant while he had been on his errand. In order for this Cain guy to get stabbed with the dagger, either he or Avery would have to get close to him. Very close. Talon looked over at the woman that had stolen his heart. She was tough, but she was still just a human. He knew this would be too dangerous for her to attempt, but he couldn’t tell her that. He couldn’t stop her from doing what she wanted. The best he could do is just be there with her to save her ass from getting killed by an Ancient.

  Talon bore his eyes into the witch as she approached him with a bowl in her hands. The witch met his gaze, and he could sense fear, but it did not reflect in her chocolatey eyes. She held out the bowl just within his reach as he emptied the gray contents of his hand. When Nadine walked away from him, Avery approached.

  “I don’t know if I like this,” he whispered his fears to her.

  Avery reached out to his bicep in reassurance, “I’m not a fan of magick either, but at this point, it seems like our only option.”

  It wasn’t the magick that made him uneasy at the moment, it was the thought that if something went wrong, he couldn’t get inside the apartment to help her. Their full attention was drawn to the table as the wicks of candles lit themselves.

  “Avery, I need one more thing from you,” Nadine brought the knife and bowl over to them.

  Talon’s eyes widened as he realized what the witch had wanted. “NO.” He unconsciously tried to come into the apartment, but an invisible wall blocked his way.

  Avery looked between him and the witch with confusion, “What?”

  “She wants your blood. I’m telling you, I don’t like this,” Talon commented.

  Nadine confirmed his statement, “It is blood magick. This is a curse that is only completed with the blood of the one who intends on using the dagger.”

  “Then use mine,” he growled, his anger getting the better of him as he exposed the tips of his fangs and his sight flooding over with red.

  Avery turned to look up at him and slid her soft fingers up the sides of his stubbled face. “It’s okay,” she cooed. He tried to reign in his emotion as he was drawn to her smiling face.

  Her voice and the stroke of her hands on his face calmed him back into seeing clearly again. She focused her eyes on his, and he got the message. It has to be me. Avery turned from him, the scent of her shampoo wafting up into his face. Talon grit his teeth as she held her hand out and the witch cut across her palm. He turned away as she squeezed her hand over the bowl, her sweet-smelling blood mixing with the other ingredients.

  Nadine dipped the blade of the dagger into the mixture and returned to the table, placing it in the center of the circle of candles. “Here goes nothing,” she sucked in a breath. “Stand back.”

  Rose backed away, but Avery edged closer from where she was standing in anticipation. The witch pulled the book closer to herself and started reading in Latin. Avery glanced back to Talon, whose icy blue eyes were fixed on the ritual like a hawk. His expression reminded her of the predator he was, and she let her gaze wander over the rest of his gorgeousness. She felt bad for him as she knew it killed him to not be able to come inside, but maybe it was a good thing this time around. He almost lost his cool there. The witch’s chanting became louder, drawing her attention back to the circle, where the blood mixture on the blade of the dagger went up in flame.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” Avery bluntly asked, but was hushed by Rose.

  When Nadine stopped speaking, the flame on the candles smothered, and the dagger was left with a clean, shining blade. “That’s it,” she handed the dagger over to Avery. She reluctantly accepted it, thinking it would still be hot, but it was not.

  Rose snuck up on the witch and whispered, “Good job baby. I knew you could do it,” before planting a kiss on Nadine.

  “Knew it,” Talon murmured from the doorway.

  Avery watched their interaction with surprise and confusion. But how could she not have known Rose preferred women?

  “I don’t mean to bug out on you so early in the night, but Nadine and I kind of have plans,” Rose explained as she put on her jacket and looked between Avery and Talon. “You two should have a date night too. I think we all deserve it.” As if knowing what Avery was thinking at that moment, she added, “Don’t you dare do anything without me.”

  Avery held her three middle fingers together toward Rose and gave a toothy grin, “Girl Scout promise.”

  The two girls disappeared quickly out into the hall past Talon. Avery rooted around in her room and came back out into the living room with a thin, sheathed sword fastened to her back and her heavy black pea coat on. She shoved the dagger into her shoulder bag with her cell phone and rooted through the papers on the table. Avery had done the research and confirmed with her source that some of these locations were legitimate starting points for finding answers. In her mind, there was no time for ‘date night’ when she could just as easily start her mission now.

  Talon watched in admiration as his warrior-woman went to work, equipping herself with various weapons, shoving them in her bag and in curious places in her coat. As good as spending more time with her sounded, he knew that they couldn’t fully relax until all was said and done. He watched her facial and body expressions in amusement as he could clearly see her wondering if she had forgotten anything. She seemed to have decided she was ready and edged up next to him to lock the apartment door behind her.

  “I thought you promised,” he teased.

  “Only counts if you were actually in the girl scouts.”

  Talon chuckled to himself as he followed Avery out to his car. He noticed her hands already turning pink in the biting, night air as she spread out a scribbled-up map on the hood of his Mustang. He hovered over her shoulder at the angle that best blocked her from the gusts of wind, and studied the paper portrayal of the city with interest, “So where should we go first?”

  “You should go to The Odyssey. I’m going to Shooters.”

  Talon’s voice dropped an octave with dead seriousness, “You mean split up.”

  Avery paused a moment upon hearing his tone, “We only have forty-eight hours and this way, we can cover more ground in less time. It just makes sense.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Talon, I’m fully capable of…”

  “I know you’re capable. I know I can’t smother you,” he paused, realizing he was starting to talk about things that shouldn’t matter. “Give me your phone.”

  “What for?” Avery questioned, but handed it over anyway.

  Talon started tinkering with Avery’s phone and simultaneously handed her his car keys. “Here, take my car. I can get around faster on foot than you.”

  Avery reached her slender fingers out of the keys. Talon jokingly pulled back, though his words were weighted, “Treat ‘er well.”

  “Hey! I haven’t crashed her yet,” she snatched the dangling keys from him and smiled with triumph.

  That beautiful smile had a way of captivating him, and before he could help himself, Talon had pulled her face up to meet his. She hummed sweetly in his mouth as he kissed her with urgency. When he released her lips, he leaned his forehead against hers, playing with a soft strand of hair that covered part of her cheek.

  “Seriously though… please be careful.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she breathed.

  Talon handed Avery back her phone, prompting her to look at the screen and see his name and a phone number. She bounced he head back up in surprise, “When did you get a phone?”

  “When I finally had someone I wanted to talk to,” he planted a
kiss on her forehead and vanished. “Call me if you need me.”

  Cain sipped on a wine glass filled with a dark red liquid, looking into the terrified and still eyes of the girl splayed over his large, dining table. She should have been grateful to be of use to him. Instead, she annoyingly cried and pleaded, as if her human life had any meaning or worth whatsoever.

  His eyes averted to the new presence in the room that sat at the opposite end of the table.

  “Is the job done?”

  “Yeah,” Gunner responded.

  That was fast. Maybe it was worth it to save the life of this child of his. He could see the young vampire’s eyes dilate while looking upon the feast, and graciously gestured, “Help yourself.”

  Gunner held a glass under the freshly slit wrist of the woman and sat back in his chair, putting his feet up for comfort. “They didn’t see it coming until it was too late. They ran around screaming and pushing each other, too drunk to put up a decent fight.”

  “Your people showed some restraint, I assume?”

  “Before they bleed out entirely, and their heart stops, we give our blood. Though, I don’t see why we are choosing quantity over quality at this point,” Gunner remarked.

  Cain ignored his insolence and scoffed, “It’s true we need to convert those that already possess a fighting spirit, but we still need fillers. Those that are simply one of a whole and will not question orders given to them.”

  “Good thing I was able to completely manipulate that feisty, rich kid. I will use him as my secret weapon against the traitor and that slayer bitch,” Gunner gloated between drinks.

  Cain watched Gunner with slight amusement. Hunters of his children. He would track down every slayer in this city and destroy them. Cain’s thoughts drifted to the young woman he lured into that alley. He knew from the pull of her energy, and the unmistakable smell of the blood and ash of his children, that she was one of them. She must have been the one Gunner spoke of, as her scent was not only the dead but of a living vampire on her skin as well. He should have killed her right then, but at the moment something within him felt more curious than vengeful. Maybe it simply interested him that she consorted with her enemy in more ways than one. A menacing smile twisted his mouth, as he recalled her terrified face, the sweet smell that was her adrenaline, and her brilliant green eyes seemingly recognizing him and calculating her next move. With her kind of spirit and prowess, he thought it might be a waste to simply kill her. But there were also things about her that reminded him of someone that he used to know.

  CHAPTER 17

  Talon took a pause in the fully packed, dirt parking lot of The Odyssey; a nightclub where most of the elder vampires hung out, trying to lure drunks and pill-induced college students off the dance floor and into the private rooms with them. Elders had a more sophisticated way of doing things than new vampires did, as they could control their bloodlust better. He could hear the music thrumming inside, but when he walked up to the entrance, he found the door was locked. This set off warning bells in his head. Talon rammed the door with his shoulder, breaking the frame. His eyes quickly adjusted to the flickering of strobe lighting and a collective strong smell overwhelmed him. He quelled down the burn in his throat as his eyes raked over the randomly splattered and pooling blood around the human bodies littering the dance floor.

  Avery parked the Mustang in a downtown parking lot and prowled down the alley west of Michigan Avenue, toward Shooters bar. Avery had known this area to be a predatory hotspot because it was constantly filled with young college students, but she now suspected this location to be a vampire nest as well, however small. She had been contemplating the entire drive here as to whether or not she should accept Talon’s proposal for her to move in with him. Though it scared her, would it really be that bad?

  To her unnatural satisfaction, she could see two pale men leaning against the back of the building as she approached. She pushed her personal life to the back of her brain and put the hunt in the forefront of her thoughts. She stopped walking just feet away from the two vampires, allowing them to come to her as they sensed her presence.

  They drew near to her, as expected. “Hey, honey. Looking for a fun time?”

  “Looks like I found it,” Avery mocked.

  The vampires spoke in low tones to each other. “She looks good enough to eat, doesn’t she?” “Sure does.”

  They circled her on both sides. Avery threw her arms up in front of her chest, gesturing for them to come closer, “Well, come and get it, boys.”

  As the first vampire came toward her, Avery pulled out her Fang-of-Baelin and stabbed him in the chest with a twisting motion. He turned to ash. She whipped around to face the other.

  “Now you can have me all to yourself,” she winked.

  The vampire growled and kicked her weapon from her hand as she lashed out at him. He spun and kicked her in the chest, knocking her onto her back on the gravel. Note to self: cut back on the cockiness a bit. Avery did a leg sweep, taking down the vampire. When he tried to get back up, she punched him in the jaw, sending him back to the ground on his face. She stomped him in his lower back a couple times while unsheathing her sword. Avery swiftly impaled the vampire through his shoulder and removed it slowly.

  “Well thanks for the workout, but I’ve got some questions for you,” Avery breathed.

  The vampire hissed and grabbed at the puncture, “Why does it burn?!”

  “Oh, that? It’s a new thing I’m trying. I soaked my sword in vervain. It’s supposed to weaken you and slow your healing process. By the looks of that wound, I’d say it works.”

  The vampire growled angrily at Avery and struggled to get up. She kicked the creature in his groin, and he lost his breath, flipping over on the ground and holding himself. She raised her sword again when her phone started vibrating in her shoulder bag. Avery sighed and ran her sword through the vampire’s stomach, causing him to screech in pain. He continued moaning as Avery rested her hand on the hilt, leaning on the sword while answering her cell.

  “Hush, I’m on the phone. Hello?”

  Talon’s voice was on the other end. “Hey, it’s me.”

  Avery suppressed a smile, “Miss me already?”

  “Normally that would be cute, but what I’m looking at is putting me in a grim mood.”

  Avery’s tone lowered, “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s been a massacre of humans at the club.”

  Shit. We’re too late.

  Talon continued, “They haven’t been fully drained. It looks like they intended to turn the lot of them.”

  “You might wanna take care of them before that happens,” Avery commented.

  “Ah shit. I gotta go. I’ll meet you at my place later okay?”

  “You mean our place.”

  There was a moment of silence over the phone before Talon stuttered, “You mean you’re going to…”

  “We really need to do some grocery shopping though, because I can’t live off of bag blood like you do.”

  Another brief silence before he responded, “I’ll see you at home later then. Bye.”

  “Bye,” Avery giggled before putting the phone back in her bag. She couldn’t help but wonder why he would ask her and then sound so shocked that she agreed to it. A whimper brought her back to her senses. Avery flipped her personality switch once again and looked down begrudgingly at the bloody, grunting mess of a creature at her feet.

  “So, buddy, what do you know about a massacre at The Odyssey meant to turn a bunch of people?”

  The vampire spit up at her. Avery pulled the sword from his gut and slid it back into its sheath. She grabbed the weakened vampire by his collar, pulling him up to his feet and pushed him against a nearby dumpster with a loud, echoing bang. She shoved four of her fingers into his wound and tore at his flesh.

  He shrieked in pain, “An Elder wants a vampire army! He wants to make this town ours.”

  “What’s his name?!” Avery drove her fingers deeper.
r />   The vampire screamed again, “I…I…He’ll kill me!”

  Avery removed her bloodied fingers and pulled a second Fang-of-Baelin from the inside of her jacket. She laid the tips of it over his heart, “I will kill you. Don’t make me ask again.”

  “He’s older than a lot of us. Dark hair and eyes. Wears a gothic cross around his neck.”

  No way. Could he have survived? Avery grit her teeth, “Where do I find him?!”

  The vampire ceased resistance. His panicked face froze, and his pupils grew wide. He pushed his body forward into the weapon, becoming ash.

  “What the hell?!” Avery dropped the blade and shook off the debris that stuck to the blood on her hand. A suicidal vampire; that was new. Self-preservation was their thing; most would squeal on their own mothers given enough threat. There was obviously something very powerful at play here.

  Avery stashed her sword in the two-foot-wide alley between buildings and went into the bar. After washing her hands in the sub-par restroom, she ordered a couple shots of tequila and sat in a booth off to the side of the action. The bar blared with music and was riddled with bodies grinding against each other. It was a sensory overload. She could hardly hear herself think. She slammed back both her shots consecutively and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

  Avery instantly picked up on a target and tracked him to the bar, where he began wooing a tall redhead. She watched as the two shuffled through the crowd toward the back of the bar. Avery pushed her way through the bodies in pursuit, trying to maintain a three-second gap between their steps and her own. The two disappeared behind a beaded curtain into a back room. As Avery parted the curtain into what she assumed was a VIP area, her world went black.

  A sharp, throbbing pain in the back of her head woke her. She felt a chill on her skin and that she was sitting upright, her chin pressed uncomfortably into her chest. She tried to move but found she couldn’t budge her arms or upper body at all. She willed open her eyes, her vision blurry. She could make out a light source above her, a singular bulb. The colors were dull, and mostly in shades of brown around her. She breathed in the air; damp, musky, and earthy. A basement, maybe? She tried to move her body again, now feeling the gritty texture of its restraints. Her vision corrected itself as she looked down at her body. She was tied to a chair. And no wonder she was cold; she had also been stripped of her coat and sweater leaving her in just jeans and a tank top. Struggling to break the ties around her wrists, Avery frantically searched the room for something to help her. She was indeed in a basement that had no windows and multiple beds. By the growing commotion above her and a pulse of music, she assumed under the bar. She caught sight of a familiar shoulder bag, the one with her weapons and phone in it, in the corner. Next to that, was her sword in its sheath. Avery rocked the chair back and forth, trying to ride it to the corner of the room. Wait a minute, this chair might be rickety enough to….