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Blue Blood

PULSE 4

 

Book 4

kailin gow

 

 

Blue Blood (PULSE #4)

Published by THE EDGE

THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup LLC

Copyright © 2011 Kailin Gow

 

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Do NOT post on websites or share this book without permission from copyright holder, as it is a copyright violation. We take piracy seriously. Fines of copyright violation is the penalty of over $250,000.

 

All characters and storyline originated and is an invention from Kailin Gow. Any resemblance to people alive or dead is purely coincidence.

 

For information, please contact:

 

THE EDGE at Sparklesoup

P.O. Box 60834

Irvine, CA 92602

www.theEDGEbooks.com

First Edition.

Printed in the United States of America.

 

ISBN-10: 1597489441

ISBN-13: 978-1597489447

 

DEDICATION

 

This book series is dedicated to all the nameless volunteer blood donors, my doctor, and nurses at Las Colinas Medical Center in Texas who helped me pull throgh when I had suffered extreme blood loss, blacked out, and nearly hit my head on the floor. Your team gave me bags of blood for transfusion, which helped restore me to a level of safety.

My body craved the blood to keep alive, yet the thought of having to receive the blood from others because my own body couldn't generate it fast enough, made me empathize with vampires like Jaegar and Stuart.

When faced with death by blood loss, you realize how precious that blood in your veins and that beat in your heart are. Thank you blood donors around the world for providing this pulse for me and everyone who may at one point or another require your gift.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kailin

 

 

 

Prologue

The sun had gone here. It wasn’t like it was back home – the harsh yellow light of California, with its bracing blaze. Here, the sun was softer, if it existed at all, peeking out shyly from behind the fat, white clouds. The breeze was fresh and cool; Kalina could smell pine and fir, the sticky-needle smell of the East Coast. It was peaceful, she thought. Different. This was not Californian heat, Californian sun – the scorching sweaty heat she associated with the vineyards, with Jaegar, with the musky smell – as warm and sweet and dark as chocolate – of Vampire Wine. No, this place was cool, quiet, safe.

“And if you come with me,” the tour guide was saying, “you’ll be able to see Connecticut Hall, the oldest building on campus. Built between 1750 and 1753…”

1750 and 1753. Once, those numbers would have seemed so arbitrary, historical numbers picked out of a hat, meaningless labels from a time long ago. But now Kalina found herself wondering against herself – where was Stuart in 1753? How about Jaegar? Octavius? Were they here in America, to see it being built? Or were they in Europe, in foreign lands, in fetid deserts or shivering tundras…

Concentrate, Kalina, she whispered to herself, biting her lip. Touring Yale, leaving California behind, was supposed to help her forget. It was supposed to clear her head – the cool New England weather taking the place of the heat and sweat and madness of Rutherford, of the vineyard. But as the tour guide kept talking, pointing out each new building, each prestigious statue, all she could think was does Jaegar know this building? Did Stuart meet this man? Was Octavius here when this was built?

The other students on the tour were giggling and whispering with each other; a few dedicated ones were taking down notes, scribbling every detail of every date as if it were to be the subject of their first test. For them, Yale was the culmination of a life’s dream and a life’s work; twelve years of school, SAT scores, perfect grades, and hastily attained accolades. And now they had been accepted, and Kalina could see the fulfillment, the joy, on all of their faces, the feeling that entering Yale’s campus was, for them, like entering the next stage of their lives -- fresh with possibility, with opportunity, with adventure.

A year ago, Kalina thought, she had felt like that too. Her quest to get into a good college, to be the best, had been the most important thing in the world to her. She had spent hours in the library to inch up her grades by a tenth of a point; she had spent hours in the gym toning her figure for cheerleading with the hopes of obtaining an athletic scholarship. Had somebody told her that in a year’s time she’d be accepted into Yale, and unable to feel anything, she would have laughed in their face.

But here she was, staring enviously at the other students, angry at them – against herself – because they could be so happy, so excited. They were on the verge of the greatest adventure in their lives.

Kalina had already lived through hers. She’d discovered her Life’s Blood, that strange quality that had made her irresistible to vampires, and yet had drawn her in equal measure towards their world, their passions and desires. She’d fallen in love – with a dream, with a memory, with four vampires whose blood-bond with each other had called her to each of them in turn – and known fear, known death.

“Did you hear that?” Justin whispered. “You can take up Tibetan Pali here! Wouldn’t that be great! Mom always wanted you to be familiar with your culture…”

But she could only manage a nod before turning away.

She would never be free, she knew; she would never be truly safe. But the only thing she could do was try to move on.

“Where’s the dining hall?” one student asked with a tremulous grin.

The tour guide smiled back. “Right this way,” she said – “if you’ll just come with me.”

The dark, neo-Gothic buildings jutted above them – spires and gargoyles casting shadows on the gravel path. Kalina could have smiled. This is where you’d expect to find vampires, she thought to herself, not in the bright, terracotta-roofed houses of Rutherford, California, with its sun, its shine, its sea.

The sun had begun to set, and the tour guide hastily ushered them through an archway.

“The a capella group does a lot of singing here,” she started. “It’s a Yale tradition. Sometimes…”

But her monologue was interrupted by a scream – a piercing sound that tore through the evening air like a lightning bolt. Kalina felt her heart stop. She knew that scream, that sound. She’d heard it before – too many times – in Rutherford, a scream of fear, confusion, and utter terror: what is that thing?

They had all started rushing to the source of the sound – the tour guide, the students, instinctively running towards one of the more secluded quads. There, lying upon the grass, was a young woman, her Yale sweatshirt stained with blood, two gaping holes in her neck…

Stuart. Kalina felt it before her conscious mind had processed the information.

No sooner had the thought struck her than she heard that same, familiar voice in her head – once so soft, so sweet and lilting, now filled with mocking hate.

Kalina. The voice laughed. I’ve come to claim you, my love.

She whipped her head around, looking frantically – past the girl, who was being attended to by a growing crowd of students, past the others on the tour, who were shifting uncomfortably in their sneakers, searching for something in the sky, in the air, in the shadows…

Nobody The voi there.

It had been a month since Kalina had last seen him, and in that month the days had dragged on and the nights had seemed endless. She had gone into hiding for a while, but in the end she returned to Rutherford to face him, to face Mal – hoping that the same magic she had exerted on Jaegar, saving him from the curse of the Life’s Blood, would work on his brother too. She hoped that she would be able to save him. But he was gone – along with Mal – and there was nothing she could do but wait, wait for him to come back, to decide he was ready to claim her for his own…and fight him every step of the way.

Kalina had always known he would come back. But she didn’t think it would be here at Yale. She hoped that this would be her chance at starting over, at trying to have a normal life – buying time before Stuart returned.

See you soon, Kalina. His voice was right there with her, whispering into her ear, burning into her brain; she shuddered at the thought.

You’re not safe here, my love. You’re not safe anywhere.

And then she sensed that he had vanished; her muscles relaxed. He was gone, fled the area – for now. But he’d come back, she knew it. He’d find her when she least expected it, pin her down, sink his teeth into her, let go at last of all his propriety, his self-restraint, and do what he wanted.

Kalina felt uneasy, even sick…that Stuart could so easily invade her thoughts with his threats. He could work his way into her mind drawing upon the connection they’d shared before he was turned. He could invade her brain, her thoughts.

She wanted to curl up, to scrub her skin clean in the shower, hide under the covers of her room at the New Haven Inn, lock the door, sprinkle the sheets with holy water.

But that would be running, it would be hiding.

She reached into her bag, fingering the stake that she’d kept there, just in case, feeling its sharp edge prick against her fingers.

So, she’d need it after all.

Chapter 1

 

Justin came running up to Kalina, his face shiny with sweat. “What’s going on?” His voice was hoarse and raw.

“Stuart’s back.” The words seemed to come from a place far away, far from Kalina – her feelings, her thoughts. “He’s come for me.”

“What?” Justin shuddered. “After all this…”

“I’ll handle it,” Kalina said quickly. “Don’t worry. I’ve stopped one turned vampire; I can stop another.”

“But Kal…”

Before Justin could finish, a loud ping interrupted their conversation. It was coming from Justin’s pager.

“The hospital wants you,” said Kalina. “You don’t want to let them down on your first week.” Justin had arranged for a transfer for a few weeks at medical school in New Haven while Kalina was going through her Yale visit and apartment-hunting. If everything worked out, he would transfer permanently to New Haven when Kalina started school in the fall. His version of the story was that New Haven had a better hematology program, but Kalina was sure that professional development had very little to do with it.

“I can’t leave you!” Justin sighed. “What kind of brother would I be if I did that?”

“A fired brother,” said Kalina. She knew Justin just wanted to protect her, but his presence here was cloying, even suffocating. She needed time and space to think, to process what was happening to her. And if there were any dangers lurking, it was much more likely that she’d need to save Justin rather than the other way around. He had warily accepted the presence of vampires, but even now her brother was shaky with a stake. “Listen, Justin, I want you to take it, okay? I want you to go. I’ll meet you after; I promise. Just text me when you’re done. I’ll go back to the New Haven Inn and take it from there. I promise – no vampires. I’ll be back before the sun goes completely if I leave now.”

Justin scrunched up his face, trying to decide what to do next. “Fine,” he said at last, letting out a deep sigh. “But if anything happens to you…”

“It won’t be your fault,” said Kalina.t>

When Justin had finally gone, kissing and hugging her and reminding her at least ten times to text him when she had arrived safely at the hotel, Kalina breathed a sigh of relief. It was easier without him, to rest calmly, alone with her thoughts. Alone, she could think back to the events of the past few months – the transformation of Jaegar, what had happened to Aaron, Stuart’s turning – without having to hide her pain and grief, without having to stay strong for Justin’s sake.

Kalina felt tears sting at the corners of her eyes. It was Stuart who had taught her how to defend herself against vampires, using whatever advantage her Life’s Blood had given her. Now she would have to use everything, every defense, every offense against Stuart himself, her tutor, her love. Probably just the New England wind, she told herself. She walked through the campus – already slowly returning to normal, the injured girl already wheeled away in an ambulance, the excuses seeping through campus like spilled wine (it was alcohol poisoning; she had a bad trip on acid and attacked herself; her boyfriend had a bad trip on acid and attacked her). Boys and girls her own age were playing Frisbee on the quad, warm inside their college hoodies. Through the windows of the library she could see other students, students just like her, hunched over their books, making notes on neatly lined paper, chewing the ends of their pens and pencils just like she did, getting ink on their lips.

This wasn’t for her, Kalina thought; she had been stupid to pretend otherwise. Even if she managed to somehow live through matriculation, Kalina’s life would never be like theirs. She’d never get to sit through a history class on the Renaissance, not without thinking of Octavius and their night together in Paris, and of their adventures on the moonlit streets of Rome. She’d never listen to a debate on whether the supernatural existed – a raucous argument in a science class, perhaps– without feeling that somehow she knew the answer, she knew the strangeness of what was out there.

She would never be like them again.

By the time Kalina reached the New Haven Inn, the sky had gone completely dark. She fingered her crucifix as she picked up her keys from the front desk, eliciting a curious look from the concierge, and entered the room. She felt the same familiar chill that came now anytime she entered a new place – the same fear – but a quick check of all the closets and corners assured her safety for now. She double-locked the door, closed the shutters, and curled up in the middle of the bed, willing herself to fall asleep, to give her mind over to the exhaustion that had been tapping at the back of her consciousness all day.

I will find you – Stuart’s voice still echoed in her head, and she couldn’t tell whether or not it was only a memory – I will take you, Kalina.

Stuart’s voice, so soft now, but so cruel and cold and calculating, carried her into a dreamless slumber.

When the telephone rang, Kalina’s eyes flew open, her exhaustion extinguished by adrenaline.

“Everything okay?” she muttered as she picked up the phone. Any call now, she knew, could be the news that she most dreaded hearing.

It was Justin. “I’m fine,” he said. “Are you?”

“Fine – for now.”

“Listen,” said Justin. “Can you get to the hospital? Like – tonight?”

“What’s going on?” Kalina sat straight up.

“Something’s happened…” Justin’s voice was hollow. “Get a cab; I’ll pay for it. Have the hotel order you a taxi – can you do that?”

Kalina eyed her stake. “Sure.”

“I’ll see you here soon.”

And without even saying goodbye, Justin had hung up; the phone silent and dead. Kalina sighed as she threw it in her purse. She didn’t even want to think about what emergency could be on the horizon now – another murder, another abduction, another thing to blame on her. Every death was on her now, Kalina thought – the longer she waited before facing Stuart; the more people would die in the meanwhile.

The half-hour it took to get to the hospital seemed like forever. Every step was fraught with terror – leaving her room, entering the taxi (was the driver safe? Did he look suspicious?), the long drive down secluded alleyways, Stuart’s voice whispering in her ear the whole while.

I’ll get you soon Kalina. When you least expect it. And you won’t be able to stop me.

When Kalina entered the hospital lobby and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she stopped short. Fear had turned her skin so pale she looked unearthly; her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot; her lips were drained of color. Was this what Stuart had done to her?

A wave of righteous anger rose up within her. Stuart was getting to her – she was letting him get to her. She couldn’t let him continue.

Before she could finish her thoughts, Justin came running into the lobby, still wearing his hospital scrubs. “So glad you’re here!” Justin enveloped her in a hug. “I’ve been waiting – worried…”

“We hit some traffic,” said Kalina.

“Listen,” Justin sighed. “You might want to sit down for this.”

“Another vampire victim?” Kalina sat, settling into a splendidly uncomfortable hospital chair. “I can take it.”

“Not a vampire victim,” said Justin. “Just – a normal junkie we picked up off the streets. At least – that’s what I thought at first.”

“What do you mean?”

“I overheard the others talking – Dr. Smoots, he’s the head hematologist—was saying it was like nothing he’d ever seen before. There was something strange about this girl, about her blood. It didn’t…fit.”

Kalina felt a familiar chill – she only knew of one other case that has caused such confusion with doctors. Hers. Her own blood – the Life’s Blood coursing through her – began to prickle and heat.

Justin sighed. “And then I saw her – unconscious, lying on the bed, but I could see her face.”

“Okay?” Kalina couldn’t breathe; the prickling in her blood was getting stronger, rising, rising to a boil. “I don’t get it.”

“She looked like you, Kalina!” Justin spit out the words in a single, breathless sentence. “Just like you. The resemblance – not just like a cousin, or even a sister. Like a twin. Older, maybe – and more beat-up; she looked like hell. But it was…it was like I was looking at you.”

Kalina shuddered, as what felt like a bolt of electricity pulsed through her, rushng through her body, burning up her veins. She had felt similar things in the past, when her blood had connected with Jaegar’s, with Octavius’. But she’d never felt anything like this. Her whole body was shaking, trembling from the jolt.

Life’s Blood. She knew it with the truth of blood-certainty.

“Where’s the girl now?” Kalina forced out the words.

“Gone,” Justin said. “Dr. Smoots called me into his office – I tried to get away, but by the time I made my way out of there she’d just…gone.”

She must have left not too long ago, because the air around Kalina, especially down the hallway, which the girl had most likely traveled down minutes before, made her blood burned, and she could feel blood rush through her face causing her to flush pink.

“Hey, you okay?” Justin asked.

“Yes,” Kalina said, steadying herself. She had never felt this sensation before, not with Octavius, Stuart, Jaegar, and even Aaron. “Even after she’s gone, I could still feel her presence here.”

Justin and Kalina looked at each other.

Life’s Blood was that strong, and now Kalina knew how vampires felt around her.

But who was this girl?

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Justin and Kalina returned to the hotel in silence. She knew what he was thinking, knew that Justin was wondering – just as she was – about the identity of the mysterious girl in the hospital bed. Justin’s story had unsettled her enough – the idea of a twin, a look-a-like, in the very same building – but what had truly thrown her was the sensation that had entered into her blood, the burning surety that she was in the presence of Life’s lood, not her own, but that of another, a stranger. Kalina knew that the Life’s Blood within her was strong; it recognized its own, just as it had recognized its desire and love in Octavius and the Greystone brothers.

At last, when they had locked themselves safely in the hotel room, drawn all the curtains and closed all the shutters, and checked every last corner for danger, they sat down across from each other on the bed, and tried to make sense of it all.

“You don’t think…” and Kalina said the question she knew they had both been thinking, “the orphanage, you know. Maybe they didn’t keep good records? Or maybe there wasn’t another one, at the orphanage…but my parents…my birth parents.”

“You think you have a sister?” Justin sighed. “You think…I have another sister?” He laughed lightly, the shock finally hitting him. “I mean, that’s crazy. But – then again – what isn’t crazy when it comes to you, Kalina?”

Kalina shot him a soft smile. “I know,” she said.

Justin inhaled. “Mom and Dad always told me that you were the only one,” he said, “that you had no known family anywhere in the world. They would have told me if there had been another sibling in the orphanage; the orphanage couldn’t have known…”

“But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one,” said Kalina. What was the alternative, then? That there had been another daughter, one who had never made it to an orphanage? One that her biological parents had been able to keep? She had always imagined that her parents were dead; what if they had only abandoned her? She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

“Listen,” said Justin. “Kalina, I did something, okay? I did something that – well, let’s just say that if anyone finds out about this, I could lose my job. So, don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Of course,” said Kalina, as Justin withdrew a thin manila folder from his briefcase. He handed them to her, his face stony and expressionless.

“You stole her medical records?” Kalina almost shouted. This was so unlike quiet, rule-abiding Justin; she could have laughed.

“It was important,” said Justin, somewhat sheepishly. “If it involves you, and your life – well, I’m making it my business.”

Kalina couldn’t help but smile. Shy, over-protective or not, Justin was the best older brother any girl could ask for. As a thin crimson blush spread over Justin’s cheeks, Kalina considered him thoughtfully, running her eyes up and down the length of his face. He was handsome, even in his awkwardness, his stiff, shy way of being embarrassed about doing the right thing.

“You need a girlfriend,” Kalina decided.

“What?” Justin’s eyes grew large. “Where did that come from?”

“I need someone to distract you,” she said. “From worrying about me. To let you live your life – without risking your job. I can take care of myself. I’ve got the help of others – people like Jaegar…”

“Live my life?” Justin sighed. “This is my life, Kalina. I’m your brother, your guardian. Caring for you is my life.”

“That doesn’t mean…”

“Besides,” he continued, “I’ve got work.”

“There are lots of cute nurses and doctors in the hospital,” said Kalina. “I’m sure a smart guy like you could find something.”

Justin turned bright red, muttering something under his breath.

“What?”

“Who’s to say I haven’t?” said Justin, a little louder this time.

“What?” Kalina jumped up. “What? And you didn’t tell me!”

“I’ve been looking around,” said Justin. “Over the summer – you know – keeping things casual. Seeing a few young ladies, here and there.”

“A few?” Kalina raised an eyebrow. “Do they know about each other?”

“They know I’m keeping things casual – for now. I’ve got too many responsibilities to be in a reionship.”

“So, you’re willing to leave all these women in Rutherford to take care of me at Yale? I don’t know, Justin – not the best trade.” It was good to laugh with her brother again.

But Justin grew serious. “Listen, Kal,” said Justin, “I promised Mom and Dad I’d take care of you. Because you’re special. Everything about you – from the necklace they found on you when you were a baby to the weirdness in your blood charts. I don’t know what they knew…”

“They knew about vampires? You think they knew all that and didn’t tell me? Tell us?”

“I don’t know what they knew,” said Justin again. “I’ve been rereading Mom’s journal, since we came out to New Haven. And in one of the entries around the time they adopted you, Mom talks about you being the “key to end it.” I don’t know what it means, but I have to find out, to know as much as possible. You’re my sister, my only family. If anything happened to you,” he sighed, “I’d have no one.”

Kalina enveloped him in a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders. “Don’t worry,” said Kalina. “I can take care of myself. But you, you’re the one I’m worried about.” She let out a deep sigh. “You need to take care of yourself, too. This Life’s Blood; it gives me powers. But you….if they wanted to get to me, any of them, all they’d have to do is find you, take you – and I’d do anything to protect you, to save your life. You know that. They know that. So please, be careful. For your sake – and for mine.”

Justin smiled. “Look, I may not be a vampire like your boyfriends... ex-boyfriends…”

“Ex-boyfriends,” said Kalina, quickly. As far as she was concerned, she – like her brother – wanted to keep things casual. Her responsibilities were too great for her to be tied down, to vampires or humans, despite the fevered dreams that kept her turning at night.

“But I’m pretty handy with a stake, okay?” Justin grabbed one from the bedside table. “See, I’ve been practicing. And I’ve been working out at the gym.” He showed her a couple of moves that she had taught him.

Kalina laughed. He wasn’t bad, after all, she thought, watching him make his quick, mechanically-trained movements. He was a smart boy after all, she thought, like her parents – his biological parents – as bright as they were. But were they bright enough to have figured out the secret of Life’s Blood.

“Justin,” Kalina said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Can I see Mom’s journal? I mean, would you mind?”

Justin stirred. “Of course,” he said. “It’s as much yours as it is mine, now.” He went to his suitcase, taking out a thin leather-bound volume. “This covers the years right after your adoption,” he said. “There are other volumes in the suitcase.”

“Must be heavy, lugging all those suitcases around.” They’d been going from hotel to hotel over the past few weeks as Justin searched for a more permanent apartment in the area, within easy walking distance to the Yale campus.

“It’s a reminder,” said Justin, “of the bigger burden I carry.” He blushed again. “Always to take care of my little sister.”

Kalina smiled. “Thanks,” she said, squeezing his hand, before giving him an enormous hug, holding him tightly.

A knock sounded at the door.

They stiffened immediately, straightening up from the embrace. Justin tightened his grip on his stake; Kalina took another from her purse. She placed the journal under the tightly-wrapped covers of the bed and walked to the peep-hole.

“I’ll…” Justin began, rising.

“No!” Kalina made it clear that she would not be moved on this point.

She peered through the peep-hole and then gasped, before laughing with relief.

“Who is it?”

But before Justin could finish his words Kalina was fumbling with the lock, opening the door, allowing herself to fall into Jaegar’s arms, feeling his lips hot on her own, his arms cool against her flesh. She stepped back as he kissed her more and more vigorously, tightening his grip on her, allowing herself to respond, slowly, at first, and then with the full flower of her desire.

She almost didn’t hear as Justin muttered an excuse about the hotel bar and mealtimes, seizing the manila folder and stumbling out.

“Where’s Justin?” she murmured, about five minutes after he had gone. Five minutes in which she had been delirious with happiness, with safety, with the feeling of bliss that meant being in Jaegar’s arms.

“He went to have dinner!” Jaegar laughed, whispering into her ear and tickling her earlobes with his lips. “Didn’t you hear him?”

“No!” Kalina couldn’t help laughing too. Everything seemed so much better, so much safer and more certain, now that Jaegar was here.

“Hungry?” asked Kalina. “After all, you can eat food now…maybe we could get burgers?”

“Hungry, yes!” Jaegar said, nudging her neck, bringing his lips to her cheek, her forehead, her eyes and lips. “I’m starving…” He picked her up and pushed her down onto the bed. “For you.” He trailed his kisses up and down the length of her body, ending with her lips. She inhaled the scent of him: warm, delirious, intoxicating.

“Did I tell you,” murmured Jaegar, as his mouth found the hidden corners of her body, nudging up against her clothing, “just how delicious you are to me?” He laughed. “Even without my bloodlust, I still want you so much – just smelling you, getting close to you, gets me so…I can’t stop thinking about how much I want you.”

“Jaegar,” she kicked off her shoes, helped him unbutton his shirt. “What is it about you that…” But before she could finish, Jaegar had removed her blouse, and was working on loosening the hooks of her bra. “It’s only been a few days – but it seems like weeks.” She missed his touch, his caress, the lightness of his fingers; together they fell into each other’s arms, until at last they had both stripped to their underwear. She felt her fingers hot upon his back; she felt his arms so tight around her ribs. She could feel his urgency, his desire. She knew that he wanted to go further, wanted to give in at last to the desire that all but consumed them both.

She had nothing to fear, after all. Now that Jaegar had been turned human, her Life’s Blood could no longer corrupt him. And it was her love, wasn’t it, that had made him human? Surely that meant she was free at last, free to give herself up to him, to give in to what they both wanted so deeply.

She could see the love in his eyes, shining t with such intensity that they seemed to contain all the love in the world. “I swear,” Jaegar was whispering, “I love you so much, Kalina. You’re my woman…and I waited so long for this…I’ve waited for centuries to find you.”

Kalina closed her eyes and lay back upon the pillow, waiting for surrender, for the sweet consummation of her desires.

“Jaegar,” she allowed her eyelids to flutter open.

What she saw shocked her. She stopped, mid-sentence, and shot up straight, her hand clapped tightly over her mouth.

Jaegar had fangs.

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

“No! No!” Kalina cried. “No, it can’t be.” She’d seen Jaegar turned human right in front of her, seen his fangs retract and his face fill with color, heard the beating of his heart and felt the softness of his breath upon her cheeks. She’d seen Jaegar become human; she’d watched it happen, her Life’s Blood restoring him to true health, although he had the speed of a vampire, a benefit of Life’s Blood. But at least he was human. And now here he was again, fangs intact.

Memories, images rushed through her of the short time they’ve been together just now. He hadn’t eaten; his skin was so cold – she hadn’t noticed a heartbeat. All things she had ignored in the heat of the moment, but which came back to her at once. So, Jaegar had been a vampire this whole time, as they had kissed, taken off each other’s clothes, come so close to…

She had hoped that it would be safe; she could be with him, as a human, doing what she could never risk doing with a vampire.

“It’s okay, Kalina,” Jaegar was comforting her, wrapping her in his arms – so cold, now! Why hadn’t she noticed the cold before? “So it didn’t work. I guess the reversas only temporary, or something.” He looked down. “It’s never happened before, that a Life’s Blood carrier has been able to do what you’ve done, fall in love with more than one…” He sighed and bit his lip. “Maybe it’s better this way,” he said. “I can protect you like this, protect Justin, in a way I never could if I were human. I had my chance to experience what it was like to be human for the first time in seven hundred years, even if it was only for a few days. And yes, it’s true, I loved it. But not because I was human, Kalina. But because I was with you, because I could be with you without being afraid of my bloodlust. I want to be with you, human or not. I only want you.”

Kalina felt plump tears rolling down her cheeks. She consciously knew that there was nothing she could have done, but she still felt nevertheless like she had failed him, like somehow her love wasn’t truly strong enough to save him. Perhaps Jaegar was right – her feelings for Stuart and Octavius complicated matters, and maybe that was the reason behind Jaegar’s transformation back into a vampire: the failure of her love. “But I do love you,” Kalina murmured, “I do!”

Jaegar pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. “I know, darling,” he whispered, “I know.” He sighed, giving a little laugh as he did so. “There’s the irony, I suppose. No matter how much we love each other, the universe may never allow us to, ah… be together.”

He curled up in the bed beside her, his cold skin against hers. She felt his body grow tight against her and listened for a heartbeat, feeling only emptiness against his chest. Her desire had cooled now, as the moment had passed, but in its place she felt a soft, loving warmth; she wanted nothing more than to let him hold her in his arms, feel his smooth caress on her hair.

She turned over, looking straight into Jaegar’s eyes. She could see the tears standing at the corners of his gaze, blood-streaked tears that were slowly beginning to roll down his cheeks. She wanted to kiss them away, kiss his eyelids, his forehead, his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Jaegar,” she whispered. “I want to forget everyone else…”

“Octavius,” said Jaegar, darkly.

“Octavius, yes,” said Kalina, “and Stuart. I know Octavius gave me up – that it was impossible – he wanted me to forget him and I have, in part. But Stuart…I keep thinking it’s my fault that he’s been turned.”

“Mal turned me before he turned Stuart,” said Jaegar. “And you were able to get me back from the brink.” She could feel him swallow his jealousy. “Maybe you could do the same for him.”

“If I offer him my blood,” Kalina whispered, “wilingly, with love – instead of him forcing it from me. Maybe it would save him, somehow…”

“Or maybe he’d just kill you!” Jaegar cut in. “Look, I know what he’s feeling, what he must be going through right now. I’ve been there. The madness. I’m surprised he’s lasted this long, that he hasn’t given into his desire yet, tracked you down already.”

“He’s here,” said Kalina. “I heard him, telepathically. He attacked a student on the Yale campus today. I tried to find him, but he was gone. He claimed me – in his words – whispered in my ear that I was his. He’s trying to torment me, to scare me, like a cat playing with a mouse. Still so polite, you know? Still sounds like the same old Stuart.”

“Only…bad.”

“Still so in control.” Kalina sighed, letting Jaegar hold her even closer.

“That’s what is scary,” said Jaegar. “That control is just a dam waiting to burst.” He lifted her chin lightly, looking deep into her eyes. “Kalina, I’ve already lost the only other people I love. I’ve already lost Aaron. I can’t lose you too. And if I lose you to Stuart – then I know I’ll lose you both. Everyone I love – gone, dead. You can’t sacrifice yourself like that, Kalina. You can’t risk it.”

“But what if…”

“Don’t go to him, Kalina!” Jaegar’s voice grew more and more urgent. “I’ve never wanted anything more than this – to keep you safe. To keep you with me. I’ll fight him if I have to. But I won’t let him hurt you.”

“No, not yet,” said Kalina. “Don’t fight him. He hasn’t come for me yet – he’s biding his time for some reason, waiting.” She squeezed his hand. “We need to worry about a defense, about keeping the people I love safe in case Stuart – or Mal – shows up. Justin or Maeve – what about them? Mal could use them to get to me.”

“Octavius is taking care of Mal,” said Jaegar. “They’re the two strongest vampires – they have the oldest feud. Octavius will do what he can. And considering all that Mal’s done – destroying the Consortium, all Octavius’ friends, friends he’s known for centuries, not to mention hurting you, I hope it’s Octavius that manages to get rid of that blackguard.”

“Where are they now?”

“In Europe. Mal’s recovering from the duel; he’s on the run, trying to regain strength. Octavius has engaged some of his best men to follow the scent. They’ll find his weakness; get to him before he gets to you. He told me…” Jaegar gritted his teeth. “He told me to send you his best.”

Kalina felt a familiar pang. She knew it was best not to think of Octavius, of the time they had shared, of the impossible love she knew she had to give up, but even with Jaegar holding her in his arms it was hard not to think of the beauty and grandeur of Europe, of those weeks they had shared in Italy and France.      

“What was it like,” asked Kalina. “Spending time with Octavius as a human – you know, before you became a vampire?”

Jaegar turned away, fixing his gaze on the curtains in the hotel suite. “The same, really,” he murmured. “Except, without the bloodlust. It was strange, being a human among vampires. I felt the way you must have felt. Like meat. I knew they were Octavius’ men, and I trusted them, but the way they looked at me….I knew what they wanted with me. It was strange. Scary, even.”

“I guess you know how it feels, huh?” said Kalina. “Remember when we first met – you treated me like prey.” She laughed. “You were such a jerk back then,” she said.

Jaegar gave a sheepish nod, his eyes still not meeting her. “I know,” he said. “I still thought all humans were just…prey. And then I met you. And that made all the difference in the world.”

*******

Jaegar remembered well how Octavius’ men had treated him, how they had eyed him, their bright, gem-gleaming eyes narrowing with desire. They had been his friends once, when he was a vampire, as Octavius’ second-in-command and his colleagues, comrades-at-arms; now, he knew they were his natural enemies, his predators. They wanted to bite into him, to savage their way into his bloodstream, to consume him. They wanted from him what he had been so used to wanting; he could see in their eyes the same desire that had ravaged him the first time he saw Kalina in the rain outside the Rutherford Library.

He had never been afraid, not truly. In nearly one thousand years Jaegar had always believed fervently in his ability to, at the end, overcome any obstacle, defeat any foe. He had never – even when going up against Mal – doubted his ability to fight to the death for what he cared for.

Until now.

It had only taken a week in Octavius and his men’s company to realize how dangerous it was to be a human. The joy of being able to breathe, to taste food, to feel the sun without pain had all vanished; in its place Jaegar felt only fear, fear that he could not protect himself or his family, fear that – having lost Aaron and Stuart, he would lose Kalina, too.

In the end, it had not been a difficult choice. Jaegar had wrestled with it, at first, raged against what he knew he had to do, violently punched the walls of Octavius’ dark cherry wood guest bedroom, paced through the corridors of the mansion. But in his mind there was no doubt that he had only one choice if he wanted to save the woman he loved.

And so he prepared himself a last meal, the sumptuous roast chicken that he had so loved to tear into when he was a boy, and a knight, in Norman England. He watched the sun rise one final time, and enjoyed the sun as he knew he could never truly enjoy it again. And then he went into Octavius’ chamber, kneeled at his master’s feet, and once more pledged his services, once more asked Octavius to be his maker, his sire, his lord.

Dying hurt even more the second time around. Jaegar felt his blood turn dry and his body shake and shudder until it was not part of himself at all, but rather a dead thing which he inhabited by sheer accident. The scent of death filled his nostrils, but he could feel his fangs sharp and slicing on his tongue.

He was a vampire once more.

But he could never reveal to Kalina the source of his transformation, his return into the fold. He could never let her live with the guilt that he had given up his humanity for her.

She could never know.

 

Chapter 4

 

Jaegar turned to Kalina, massaging her shoulders with his strong, sure fingers. “Come on,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll talk about something else. We’ve always been used to living this way, you and I. Me a vampire, you a human. Nothing will have changed.”

“I thought…” break/>

“Come on,” said Jaegar again. “Kal, let’s get ourselves some dinner.”

“Get me some dinner, you mean,” said Kalina bitterly, getting dressed and tidying herself up to go out. She put on a navy blue Yale sweater, jeans, and boots. “Where to, Mr. Been There, Done That. Any suggestions where to go?” she asked, leaning up to Jaegar and playing with his hair. They kissed long and slowly.

“Hmm,” Jaegar said finally breaking off. “Just because I can’t eat doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy sitting at a nice restaurant now and then. Besides I enjoy watching you eat. You savor your food…watching you eat is almost sensual, Kalina.” Jaegar winked. “I get quite a pleasure imagining how good the food tastes just by watching you.” He traced a finger along her cheeks. “Kalina, I’ve known so many women throughout the years, but you are a rarity. You enjoy life, savoring every moment. You take every opportunity to learn, to explore, to open your eyes to what could be. It makes a vampire like me feel alive. Life’s Blood or not, that alone makes you so attractive so alluring to us vampires.”

“Come on,” he said again. “We have to get you some food. There’s a place I remember from fifty years ago – a little restaurant that serves New England clam chowder and butternut squash. Solid Northeastern fare.”

“We’re not in California anymore,” Kalina laughed as they made their way down the street strolling arm-in-arm in the direction of the restaurant.

“Last time I was here,” said Jaegar, “It was 1958, and pretty little girls like you weren’t allowed on campus. It was all-boys, in those days, blue-blooded scions of wealthy families who’d gone to schools like Andover and St. Paul’s – jackets and blazers. I looked so young, you see – it was easy to blend in with them, to pretend I was a student…”

His voice trailed off.

“And then?” Kalina asked.

“And then I did things I wasn’t proud of,” Jaegar said quietly, and the conversation turned to silence. “But now you’re blue-blooded too!” he said again, almost too brightly. He pointed at Kalina’s Yale sweater – the school’s navy blue colors. “Fifty years ago, not a woman in this place.” He laughed. “But now, a smart girl like youyou can wear jackets and blazers with the best of them.”

Kalina snuggled up to Jaegar. His body was cold, she knew, but curling up against him gave her some psychological warmth. “While I’m here,” she said. “I guess I’ll need them. Although I don’t officially move out here until I graduate from school, I’ll miss Rutherford. And Justin.” She sighed.

“Justin?” Jaegar furrowed his brows. “I thought Justin was coming out here too. Wasn’t that the plan? For him to get an internship?”

“Yes.” Kalina looked down. “That’s the plan.”

‘But..?”

“If he gets the permanent transfer, I guess he’ll do it,” said Kalina. “He’s afraid of leaving me here by myself, leaving me in danger. Afraid of being a bad brother, of not doing enough for me. But I think he’d be happier, so much happier, in Rutherford. Justin’s not like me; he doesn’t love to travel. Rutherford’s his home. He drove two hours to college in order to be able to stay living in Rutherford, taking care of me. And I think – he’s being awfully secretive about it – but I’m pretty sure he has a girl over there too. I didn’t know about that before. But I’m sick of people making sacrifices for me. I didn’t ask for it.”

“Tell Justin he can go back to Rutherford,” said Jaegar quietly. “If he wants. I’ll take care of you. I’m a vampire again; I’m stronger than any human can ever hope to be – no offense to your brother. I’ll protect you.”

“But what if…?”

Kalina had a world of questions: what if they broke up – were they even dating? – what if her college life took her away from him, what if Stuart came back, what if Octavius…

But Jaegar silenced her with a kiss. “I’m here now,” he said. “I want to stay with you. There’s nothing more in the world that I want. Whatever happens.”

He took her into his arms, encircling her with his frame, his strength. He looked deeply into her eyes. “You don’t know how much I love you, do you?”

“Jaegar,” Kalina said. “I have a feeling…” but her words were cut off with a lingering kiss from Jaegar.

She felt herself melting into him, cleaving to his power, letting his beauty once again intoxicate her. In his arms, she could pretend. She could pretend that everything was simple, was normal. She could pretend that everything was going to be okay. Darkness covered them like a cloak, and the anonymity was thrilling. Nobody knew who they were here. They weren’t vampires, weren’t humans, weren’t carriers. They had no past, no responsibilities. They were only two lovers, kissing on a New England street, with nothing before them but their passion.

And then they heard the voice, ringing in both their ears.

So you’re back, brother.

Kalina jumped back. It wasn’t until now that she had realized how like Jaegar’s voice Stuart’s was – how similar – how easy it was for a sound to change from loving to cruel…

It looks like you’ve wasted no time getting to her, my brother. Just like always – you always get what you wanted. Even if you had to take it from your little brother first. And she was mine first, you know – before she ever was yours…taking Kalina from me was unforgivable. You knew how much I wanted her…

Jaegar whirled around, scanning the darkness. “Where are you?!” Kalina could sense his fear. Once, Jaegar had been easily the stronger vampire, the one who would always vanquish his quiet, unassuming little brother in any argument. But now Stuart was drunk on Life’s Blood, and there was no such surety. Stuart was stronger, now; they could both feel it.

“Show yourself!” Jaegar cried out. “Or keep on hiding yourself away like the coward you are!”

“No, brother,” Stuart gave a smooth chuckle. “This time, I’m the one to set the rules. You’ll see me when I want you to see me.” Stuart’s voice grew softer, more caressing. “And Kalina, I must remind you – this is all your fault.”

“What?” Kalina shot back.

“You always wanted me to break out of my shell – always encouraged me to find myself, to know myself. Don’t hold back, you said! Well, I’m not holding back any longer my dear, not anymore. Jaegar knows, doesn’t he, what I was like before Vampire Wine flowed through my veins? Jaegar remembers the Dark Knight, doesn’t he?” Another laugh came echoing through the darkness. “Don’t you, brother?”

“What’s he talking about?” Kalina tensed. “Wait!” But they both felt the rushing of wind, the rustling of leaves, and the silence. Stuart was gone.

Jaegar stared straight ahead, his lips pursed with fear.

“What’s he talking about?” Kalina pressed. “The Dark Knight – what’s that? What does that mean?” But she could see that Jaegar’s mind was elsewhere – his gaze wandering in another century, another land, another time.

“Seven hundred years,” said Jaegar hoarsely. “That’s how long it’s been – and it’s so easy to forget. So easy to cast off those old days, to dismiss them as another existence. You’ll never live so long – you’ll never know…”

“What?”

“I’ve always spoken of Stuart as holding back. But that wasn’t true. He suffers – suffered, from guilt, Stuart did. Guilt because of who he was back then. He doesn’t speak of it, never did. Not to you, to me, to anybody. When he was in Octavius’ army, when he was first turned, Stuart was high on bloodlust, as high as I was, if not more so.” He sighed. “We did many terrible things in those days. To other vampires, as Octavius commanded us, but also – no, Kalina, mostly to humans. Expendable humans. Women, often. They always thought Stuart was so beautiful, with his boyish looks, that alluring angelic sense of goodness in his eyes that turned out to be a lie. He used his aristocratic bearing to seduce tavern wenches and peasants’ daughters, ravishing women before draining them dry…”

Kalina blanched. She had always thought of Stuart as the good vampire, the one who had drunk Vampire Wine, who had quenched his thirst in the vineyards.

“Not always,” said Jaegar, reading her thoughts. “We were vampires before Vampire Wine existed. We had to live somehow. We had to survive. We did what we did…” Jaegar drew in breath sharply. “I always thought Stuart was the good one. When Vampire Wine was invented, he redeemed himself – whereas I always remained proud of my vampire nature, in love with it, in bondage to it, until you…”

“He was redeemed once,” said Kalina quickly. “We can redeem him again.”

Jaegar shook his head. “It’s too dangerous,” he said. “The Dark Knight – the warrior Stuart was – was formidable; with Life’s Blood in his veins, he would be more evil still. I at least had spent my evil energy, my bloodlust; when I was turned, so much less had been repressed. In Stuart’s case, he has nearly five hundred years of pent-up desire to let out…and it’s too dangerous for you to go near him, go near that. He’s smarter than I am – he always was smarter. More devious.”

“But he must be suffering!” Kalina cried. “When you were infected with Life’s Blood, you suffered, didn’t you? Raging against the effects of the poison? Trying to stop yourself from going bad, all the way bad! How do we know Stuart isn’t suffering too?”

“I have no doubt he is,” said Jaegar gravely. “He is most likely in torment, letting the evil seep into his veins. He doesn’t want this…to hurt humans, to hurt you.”

“How can you let this happen?!” Kalina shouted.

“I’m his brother!” For the first time, Jaegar looked truly angry. “Do you think I don’t suffer as you do? Knowing there might be a way – knowing the risk is too great! We have always been rivals, Stuart and I always hated each other. But we are brothers. I loved him. I always said I loved Aaron more – we both did – for Aaron was innocent, not party to our blood-quarrels, our anger. But I had seven hundred years by my brother’s side, our anger borne out of our blood-bond, out of our love. I love my brother, Kalina. I loved my brother enough to stand aside when it was he that you loved first, although I wanted you just as much in the beginning. I may have denied it – but…he and I are one. And I feel his love for you, twinned with my own, and that combined love – the love of the Stuart I once knew and the vampire I am now – has convinced me that what Stuart, what my brother, would really want is for me to save you from the monster he has become.”

“And what about the others?” Kalina said. “If Stuart really has become the Dark Knight again, what about all the innocent people he’d kill? He’d go on a rampage!”

“And what if it was Justin?” Jaegar shot back. “If you get close to him, the humans he’ll target will be the ones you love. He’ll try to play with you, to seduce you with mind games. He’ll go after Justin, after Maeve. He has the upper hand!”

“He can’t!” Kalina cried. “We have something he doesn’t. We can both use our blood bond with Stuart against him, to sense his whereabouts, predict his movements. And you’ve been through Life’s Blood. You must know its weaknesses.”

Jaegar shook his head. “I only know of one,” he said. “You.”

As he spoke, Kalina felt the familiar prickling and burning in her blood, the sensation of Life’s B

Life’s Blood was near.

Jaegar looked up, confused. His eyes darted around.  It was Life’s Blood – he knew the smell all too well – but it wasn’t coming from Kalina.

“Quick, that way!” Jaegar took Kalina’s hand and together they followed the feeling, the pulsing sensation that had overtaken Kalina’s blood, that was throbbing within her, that was calling to Jaegar, too – as Kalina knew it must call to all vampires.

They turned off the main street and into one of New Haven’s dark alleys – a dumpster-filled back of some dive bar swarming with fake IDs and cheap liquor.

Halfway down the alleyway, the scent vanished; the pain coursing through Kalina stopped, suddenly, as if it had never existed at all.

“What’s going on?” Jaegar looked around… but in her blood Kalina was sure what was happening. The girl from the hospital. The girl with Kalina’s face and needle-marks in her arms. She was near, and Kalina had to find her…

And then darkness came over them, a figure made out of darkness, a shadow knocking them down, attacking them, a stake shimmering in hand…

Stuart? No – the figure was too small, too lean.

Kalina drew her own stake. “Stop!” she cried.

And then she was looking at her, or looking at herself – a mirror reflection, but a distorted one, like looking through a yellowed, cracked looking-glass in a carnival funhouse. The woman staring back at her was Kalina, but not Kalina – the same large eyes, the same full lips, slim nose – but older, thinner – the bony, ill-proportioned body of a junkie, with haunted eyes and a grimmer expression.

“Oh my…”

But before Kalina could finish putting together her thoughts, Jaegar had swooped down upon his attacker.

“Jaegar, wait…”

And then Jaegar had turned his assailant to face him, and he saw her face.

He stopped short, jumping back from the woman. “Kalina?” His voice was trembling.

“Who are you?”

“Get away from the vampire!” The woman’s voice was hoarse, ragged. She spoke haltingly – wherever she was from, English wasn’t her first language. “He’s dangerous –he’ll kill you.”

“I know he’s a vampire,” said Kalina, trying to calm the woman down. “He’s my vampire.”

The woman’s eyes opened wide in astonishment.

“I know what he is,” said Kalina. “I love him anyway. He’s never hurt me – he never will. Whatever you think you’re doing – you’re not.”

“He’s a vampire,” repeated the woman. “He must die.”

“Not this vampire,” said Kalina. “If you want to fight him, you have to get through me.”

The woman stood down, clearly more confused than angry.

“Who are you?” said Kalina again. “You’re like me – your blood…you can feel it, right? Who are you?”

The woman was silent for a while. “Max,” she said at last.

“Are you a carrier, too? Of Life’s Blood?”

Kalina saw Max blanch and panic. “How do you know about that?” She saw Max’s eyes fix upon her necklace – the ruby heart that Kalina had worn since her days at the orphanage, her one memory of her biological parents. “Where did you…”

Before Kalina could blink, Max had sprung upon Kalina, seizing the necklace and tearing it off her throat with a single, forced movement. And then she was gone, leaving the night as empty as it had been before.

“My necklace…” was all Kalina could say.

“I’ll go after her!” Jaegar began running. “I’ve got super strength – there’s no way she could outrun me…meet me at the hotel!”

“But Jaegar…” Kalina called after him.

“Stay safe – I’ll follow her scent.”

And with that, Jaegar too vanished into the night.

 

Chapter 5

 

Kalina wrapped her scarf tighter around her shoulders. No sooner had Jaegar vanished than the wind had begun to blow harder, chilling her veins. Kalina began breathing hard. How had she managed to get herself alone in an alley like this, on a night like this? She could feel the icy rush of danger, the knowledge that Stuart was there, was watching her. He’d just been waiting for a moment like this, a moment ripe for him to take her alone, to conquer her. She sensed his presence – tentatively, at fear, her sensation mingling with her fear, and then at last realized it was inevitable. The chill in her blood was inevitable.

He was here.

“I thought you’d have come sooner!” Kalina said out loud, trying to sound braver than she felt. “What took you so long?” She tightened her grip on her stake, willing Jaegar and the mysterious Max to return soon.

“My apologies.”

Kalina whirled around to face him and then stopped, shocked. What she had expected to see was a wild-eyed, blood-stained Stuart, a nightmarish creature of madness. Instead, the Stuart that was leaning against the alleyway wall was smooth, polite, even charming. He was dressed in a black shirt that had come half-unbuttoned; she could see the loose flow of his black slacks. She remembered how traditional Stuart always used to look- wearing a suit and te to even the most informal of occasions. Now, he looked as if he’d just been dancing away the evening at one of New Haven’s nightclubs. Kalina felt a familiar pang of longing as she stared at him. This handsome creature, this beautiful man – this was the man she had once kissed on her doorstep back in Rutherford, who had once taken her to the Senior Prom.

There had to be hope, Kalina thought quickly. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Stuart, not after everything else she had been through. She had saved Jaegar after all, hadn’t she?

She would remain calm, she told herself, collected – not resort to violence unless she needed to. She would help Stuart see the light, to rediscover his own humanity. She had to keep believing that. As she stared at Stuart’s lithe, smiling frame – so much looser now, so much more relaxed than the tense, guilt-ridden boy who had once loved her – she knew that she could never give up on him, never give up on that shining glimmer in his green-brown eyes.

“Stuart,” Kalina gasped, but before she could finish Stuart had swooped across the alleyway, gathering her into his arms – his grip at once tight and caressing. She felt the swell of compulsion within her – Stuart was trying to subdue her, mesmerize her into submission. It was almost working…

She pulled away quickly. “Stuart, Stuart,” Kalina began, trying to keep her voice soft, trying to keep Stuart calm. “I’m so sorry about everything.”

“Hush now!” Stuart’s voice was light, even carefree. When Jaegar was under the influence of Life’s Blood, he had become a madman, enraged with passion. But Stuart seemed almost completely unconcerned. He didn’t even seem evil, Kalina thought – his eyes were almost kind, as patient and sweet as they had ever been. What if there was some hope – some chance…

“I have no regrets,” Stuart said. He caressed the side of her face; Kalina could feel her cheek tingle.

“What?” Could it be? Was Stuart over-mastering the noxious, toxic influence of the Life’s Blood within him?

“I know what happened,” said Stuart, almost genially. “I know you chose Jaegar. I know he became human. And for the first time in my seven hundred years as a vampire, my own chance at becoming human – at fulfilling my long-held dream – has been extinguished. It has never been bleaker for me, Kalina.”

She could see the sadness in his eyes as he continued. “So, I had no regrets when Mal poured the Life’s Blood down my throat, into my veins. It took the pain away. It took away the worry, the longing, the desire. It took away that constant battle that I was always raging with myself – my vampire nature against my human side. It allowed me to accept my fate as a vampire, not some mere half-breed aping humanity.”

Stuart gave a sad smile. “You see, Kalina,” he continued. “It looks like Life’s Blood hasn’t made me ill. It has cured me. It has cured me from ever wanting to become human again. It has cured me of my obsession with Life’s Blood, with you. Cured me of my need to steal my humanity from your veins.” His smile flowered, growing crueler. “That doesn’t mean, of course, I’m not still attracted to you – that I don’t still wish to have my way with you…”

Kalina took a step back, but before she could run, Stuart had wrapped her once more in his arms. His grip was tighter now, leaving red marks on her wrists and arms, as he took off running, setting both of them in flight, high above the streets of New Haven.

It was no use struggling, Kalina knew. If Stuart dropped her, she would fall hundreds of feet to the earth. Her chances were better if she waited. Still, her body wanted nothing more than to throw off this imprisoning grip, to escape. She could feel fear rise in her throat, taste it in her mouth.

“Where are we going?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“Somewhere private,” said Stuart lightly. “Where we can be alone. I’ve purchased a place nearby, a winery. Not California wine, out here, but parts of New England…”

“I don’t suppose you need grapes to make Vampire Wine,” Kalina said bitterly.

“Oh, I’m through with Vampire Wine,” Stuart laughed. “The wine I drink now comes from the veins of pretty little girls like you. But I like wineries – walking in the vineyards, operating the press. One of those things from my human life that I’ll never lose, I’m afraid.”

Stuart flew so fast, they landed before long in what Kalina noted worriedly looked like a remote stretch of land, far from any hint of civilization in the Connecticut countryside. They were at the door of an old farmhouse, creaking and unlocked. Stuart kicked the door open.

“Welcome home, my dear,” he said.

The place was cozier on the inside than on the outside. It had been furnished in the classic New England style – filled with quilts and pine wood.

“Shall I make you some tea?” Stuart asked; with such smooth sincerity that Kalina began to shiver. This preternaturally calm Stuart was almost more unnerving than the madman Jaegar had become. “Don’t try to escape, please – I’d hate to have to set the dogs on you.”

“No tea, thanks,” said Kalina, her eyes scanning the cottage for an escape route. She heard the loud, savage barking of dogs from outside and gulped – hard.

“Are you sure?” Stuart smiled at her. “I keep milk and sugar on hand for all of my human…ahem…guests.”

Kalina didn’t want to think about how many guests actually left Stuart’s cottage.

“So,” Stuart rounded the room, turning on the lights, “how did you enjoy your Yale tour? Thinking of going to Big Blue after all?”

Every minute that Stuart kept talking to her in that airy tone of voice was another minute for Jaegar to find her, Kalina thought. As much as Stuart’s blithe manner unnerved her, the best thing to do, she figured, was keep talking.

“Thinking about it,” said Kalina. She laughed bitterly. “We figured it would be safer than Rutherford.”

“It’s not a bad commute from here,” said Stuart. “And of course, this will be much more comfortable when I get the place renovated. You won’t have to live in one of those nasty dorms. You’ll have much more space. And I’m happy to cook you breakfast.”

Kalina’s jaw dropped open. “What?”

This wasn’t what she had been expecting.

“When you move in here, I mean,” said Stuart. He laughed. “I always dreamed of having a real life with you, taking care of you, providing for you, fulfilling your every needs…while you fulfill mine, Kalina.”

Was he joking? Serious? Kalina scanned his face and could find no sign of mirth. “I thought you said you weren’t in love with me anymore,” said Kalina, as carefully as she could.

“I’m not,” said Stuart. “But being a vampire is terribly lonely. And I do still have my appetites. Certainly, you’d rather live with me than get sucked dry, don’t you think? I can have any girl, Kalina, but I want you.” He smiled. “You’ve got spunk, you’re gorgeous, sexy, interesting, and Jaegar wants you.”

“Stuart!” She had no idea how to reach him, how to approach him. The polite veneer of this new Stuart was even more terrifying than the monster Jaegar had been – divorced from all sense and reason. “What…makes you think I’d move in with you?”

“It seems like the logical option,” said Stuart pleasantly. “If you move in with me – and perform all necessary, ahem, wifely duties to my satisfaction, I can guarantee that your friends and family will be safe. If not, well, it’s terribly easy for me to simply sink my teeth into your brother’s neck, and drain out every last drop of blood from his body. Not to mention your friend Maeve. She’s awfully good looking – a great body. And she did like me. You can tell a lot about a person when you’ve shared her blood. Including her location…I know where she is right now. And I could find her very easily. If I weren’t, say, distracted. By you…”

Kalina felt her blood run cold. Jaegar had been right after all. In this calm, collected figure, there was not a hint of the Stuart she had known and loved. She was in the den of a monster, and there was no way out.

 

 

Chapter 6

 

Jaegar dashed through the night, tearing through the darkness. The wind whipped at his back; he darted towards shadows, one after another vanishing as he approached. The mysterious Max was either very good at hiding, or she had managed to shake him off long since. Jaegar whirled around, looking into every corner of every alleyway. But there was no sign of anyone there.

Jaegar furrowed his brow. The scent of Life’s Blood, so powerful, so intoxicating, had vanished now, and the night was empty. How had she managed to get so far away so quickly? Even Kalina, with Life’s Blood coursing through her veins, didn’t have the power of superhuman speed.

“Hello,” he called out to the darkness, but there was no answer. Max had vanished, taking with her any hope of solving the mystery of her identity. Who was this mysterious woman – who looked so much like Kalina, a Kalina haunted by so much more pain, more sadness. Could this enigmaic Max have been Kalina, under other circumstances?

Jaegar knew that Kalina was adopted, that the situation of her true parentage, of her birth, was still mysterious. Was it possible that Kalina could have relatives out there, relatives that even she didn’t know about? The orphanage in Nepal…that was a lead that went nowhere. Even if Kalina was in that orphanage, that didn’t mean any other siblings had to be there.

For all Jaegar knew, there could be more carriers of Life’s Blood out there, many more. To his shame, the idea gave him a certain thrill. Life’s Blood had lost much of its effect on him after he’d been exposed to it and then made human again, but he was a vampire after all, and still drawn to the blood’s siren call.

Jaegar sniffed the air, trying to track down that familiar smell – so like Kalina’s, and yet so different – a strange distortion of the perfume he knew so well. But it was futile. Max was gone.

And what had she wanted with that ruby necklace? She had looked so surprised when her eyes had fallen upon Kalina’s neck – so shocked – as if the necklace had meant something to her…

Thinking about necks made Jaegar hungry. He hated the feeling. For those few, blessed weeks, Jaegar had been human, free of bloodlust, able to eat and drink like a normal man. But now he felt that insane hunger growing again, a hunger that he had learned to control centuries ago, but which now felt as new and as terrifying to him as in the days when he had first turned vampire. He needed blood – and quickly.

He wouldn’t hurt anyone, Jaegar tried to convince himself. He wouldn’t do any serious damage. He’d just take a little blood – just a bit, from a girl attracted to him, who would willingly do whatever he asked.

Almost unconsciously, Jaegar found himself making his way towards Club Night, one of New Haven’s seediest joints. He felt himself brush his way into the crowd, feel that familiar sense of pride and triumph as, one by one, the girls on the dance floor stopped to gasp, to stare, to linger their gazes upon his beauty. Seven hundred years and this feeling of power never got old. Before Kalina, he had never had to try to woo a woman.

He knew Kalina loved him – although he knew too how conflicted her feelings were, for him and for his brothers and maker – but this was different. There was no love in the eyes of the women fixed upon him as he made his way upon the dance floor, began swaying his hips to the music. This was just pure desire, naked and simple, a lust that matched his own.

A fair trade, he said to himself. They’d get what they wanted from him; he would get what he needed in return.

He found one girl in particular, a slender blonde college student dressed in what in other centuries could only be described as a corset, fitted tightly over a black leather miniskirt. All he had to do was glance in her direction, give her a tiny, imperceptible nod, and then she was his, dancing towards him, letting their bodies sway together in the music.

Memories of Kalina flashed through his brain, but he forced himself to ignore them. He was a vampire now, and he needed blood to survive – and Kalina’s blood was too dangerous to taste twice.

This is what he had to do to stay alive. He had never more than tasted Vampire Wine; the liquid was noxious to him. And, old vampire or new, he wasn’t about to start quaffing the stuff now.

“Want to get out of here?” he whispered, and the girl nodded, her intentions clear upon her face. He could feel her heart flutter against his empty chest.

He led the girl into a dark corner of the club, where they wouldn’t be seen. “Ready for something a little…different?” he asked her, staring into her eyes, concentrating his power, his ability to seduce…

In a few moments he could see compulsion cloud her face; she was willing and waiting for him. Not too bad, he thought – as long as he could stop himself from taking too much. In the morning, she’d think she just had a particularly raucous hookup, nothing more.

She sighed contentedly as he sank his teeth into her neck, drinking down the nectar, sucking it into himself, feeling its strength and fire line his veins. How long he drank he could not tell. He would stop, he told himself, in just a moment – just a moment longer…

“Jaegar?”

The voice broke his reverie, and Jaegar jerked up in time to see his conquest turn pale and stagger against the wall.

“I’m…not…feeling well…” she murmured, before collapsing in the corner.

“What…the hell are you doing?”

It was Justin, Kalina’s brother, his face wide with astonishment and horror. He was holding a stake in his hands – trembling, but strong.

“Go back to your dormitory,” said Jaegar to the girl, as softly as he could. “Clean yourself up. You won’t remember a thing about tonight, understand?”

“Understood,” the girl replied in a breathy whisper, rising and tottering – dream-like – through the dance floor, towards the exit.

“I thought…” Justin’s mouth was gaping open. “I thought…”

“It didn’t work,” said Jaegar shortly. He didn’t want to have this conversation right now, especially now that his food source was getting away.

Had Justin not intervened, would he have stopped in time? Jaegar didn’t want to think about that either.

“Mal? Did Mal..?”

“No, Mal didn’t turn me,” said Jaegar with annoyance. “I’m not evil – I’m just hungry.”

“And that’s why you’re cheating on my sister?”

“Would you rather I ate your sister?” Jaegar shot back. Seeing Justin’s dumbstruck face, he felt a bit guilty, and adopted a softer tone. “Listen, I need to eat. That’s just how it works. I wasn’t going to hurt her – she wasn’t going to lose any more blood than she would at a blood donation…”

“You want me to believe that?” Justin’s eyes narrowed.

“I didn’t want to risk Kalina’s life by feeding on her. Her blood is different, we both know that. I’m trying to protect her.”

“You’d better be,” said Justin. “Because if you break her heart, I’ll put a stake through yours.”

“More likely she’ll break mine,” said Jaegar, giving a sad hollow laugh. It was true, after all. The only thing that could save Stuart was Kalina unlocking her pent-up love for him – and if he knew Kalina at all, she’d stop at nothing in order to turn him back. Even if it meant reawakening that love.

“Where is she?” said Justin. “I thought she was with you.”

“I…had an emergency,” said Jaegar, deciding to leave the issue of Max for later. “We’re meeting back at the hotel.”

“Let’s go,” said Justin, coldly. “Only, listen up – if you so much as think of trying to bite me…”

“I won’t bite you,” said Jaegar. “I’ve fed already. Besides, you’re not really my type.”

“Oh, that’s heartening.” They walked faster in the evening cold. “And my sister is?”

“Your sister can take care of herself,” said Jaegar. “And I’m here to protect her too.”

“She may be eighteen,” said Justin, “but that doesn’t make her any less my kid sister, do you understand me? She says she trusts you, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re a vampire. You’ve been turned evil before…”

“I would die,” said Jaegar slowly, “efore letting anything happen to your sister.”

His voice was serious; he could tell that Justin believed him. With a reluctant nod, Justin turned away. “Fine,” he said.

They reached the hotel room, and Justin fumbled for his keys. He turned the handle and opened the door.

“What the…”

“Where is she?” Justin cried.

Jaegar could only look back at Justin with incredulity and fear.

Kalina wasn’t there.

 

Chapter 7

 

Kalina thought hard. What could she do? That cold, cruel monster sitting so pleasantly in his armchair, smiling at her – that wasn’t the Stuart she knew and loved. Even as he sipped from his wine glass – whose blood it was that filled the cup Kalina didn’t want to know – and whistled old operatic arias, Stuart was – Kalina knew – planning the myriad of ways in which he could torture her, keep her under his spell. Once, he wanted her blood, and he wanted her, loving her for his chance for humanity. At least she knew that. But now he wanted nothing but to play with her, as a cat plays with a mouse, and she found this desire more terrible still.

How could Stuart, who had once wanted to be human so badly that his desire had almost destroyed him, now turn his back completely not only on Life’s Blood, but on any chance of returning to his former self?

“What is it, my sweet?” asked Stuart airily.

“Nothing,” Kalina said quickly. “On reflection, Stuart, I think I’ll take you up on that cup of tea.”

He stopped for a moment, confused, before smiling broadly. “Of course, my darling. Sugar or milk?” he asked as though they were at high tea.

Kalina smiled right back, grimacing inwardly. “Both, please.”

The false pleasantries bought her some time to think. She had saved Jaegar, after all – there had to be some way for her to save Stuart! But it was only once Jaegar had drunk her blood – blood willingly given – that he was set free, that he was made human. Kalina wondered if she could turn Stuart back the sam way! If she truly loved him, as deep down she knew she did, then surely him drinking her blood would save him?

But now she was in a situation entirely new to her. She was with a vampire who had no interest in Life’s Blood. How could she get him to taste her, to drink down the blood she hoped against hope would cure him, when he no longer had any interest in being cured? The Life’s Blood Mal had fed him against his will had destroyed his craving for it forevermore – and with it his craving for her.

She would have to seduce him.

“So, Stuart,” said Kalina, as brightly as she could, as he set down the cup of tea before her. “If you don’t love me, it does seem terribly silly to keep me here, all locked up.”

“I didn’t say quite that,” said Stuart, sighing lightly. “A part of me will always love you, I think. But it is only my obsession for you that has gone, clearing my head, leaving me to feel free at last. I no longer feel mad, consumed by madness nor by desire; no longer do I feel that any moment without your blood on my teeth is torture.” He smiled, showing his row of glimmering fangs. “But I’m still fond of you, my dear. I still want to keep you around. Like a pet, perhaps! Something to keep me company. Not to mention,” Stuart gave a little laugh, “how much it would irk my poor dear brother to be separated from you. He’s not used to not getting what he wants, you see. He’s not used to being refused. When we were boys, why, it was always he who had the upper hand. He was the eldest, you see. The one with all the power. But not anymore. Now I have the one thing that my older brother really wants, the one thing that matters to him! You’re the first woman to ever change Jaegar –and change him you did, quite literally.”

He took another gulpful of blood from the cup; Kalina sipped her tea, feeling the cup tremble on the saucer.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean he really loves you. When Life’s Blood filled his veins, when it took away all his inhibitions, then it became clear what my brother truly wanted. And it wasn’t your pretty soul, or your personality he cared about then,” he spat.

Kalina flinched, but recovered. She had to stay calm, to stay on-mission. If she wanted to save Stuart, she had to convince him to drink her blood. “And when Life’s Blood took away your inhibitions,” she said softly, edging closer to him on her seat. “What did you want then?”

Stuart’s eyes flickered downwards, breaking her gaze.

“After all,” she said, her voice as smooth as milk, “for so long, you wanted nothing more than to turn human. You were even willing to fall in love with me – so desperately in love with the Carrier – in order to get it…”

She saw Stuart’s jaw twitch involuntarily, and knew that she had hit a nerve. She felt her heart tremble faster within her chest; felt fear knock her breathess. Every word she spoke, every step she took, could be the key to saving Stuart – or the cause of the destruction of them both.

“I liked the idea of being human,” said Stuart. “Or at least I liked it once. Now, I find the whole affair ridiculous! Why turn human – when it would deprive me of all my abilities, all my powers? When you can do all the things a vampire can do – why ever even dream of giving it up?”

Kalina gritted her teeth. She had to get through to him, had to convince Stuart that his love for her, his humanity, were not yet dead. She concentrated on her own feelings, listening to the beating of her own heart, trying to bring back the memory of her own love for him, unlock her own desire. She remembered him kissing her on the porch that first night after their date, remembered how dashing he had looked waiting for her at prom night, feeling the pang strike her heart. She had to feel it, too, if this was ever going to work.

“I don’t think that’s true,” she said. She reached for Stuart’s hands and placed them underneath her sweater, right above her breasts, letting him feel the heartbeat racing through her body. She shivered at the touch of his cold hands, warmed by her heat. “You wanted a pulse, didn’t you? A heartbeat running through you – your heart to beat like mine.”

She studied his face closely for any signs of desire. At last she found what she had been looking for – a slight tremble in his lips, betraying his longing.

“You have to admit it,” she moved even closer, letting the smell of her Life’s Blood fill his nostrils, sensing his response, “that there’s nothing more intoxicating to a vampire than Life’s Blood, even now.”

She could see the burning of desire in his eyes – a flicker, like a candle, at first, that grew into a roaring fire as she leaned into him, his hands still cool on her breasts. She saw his fangs begin to lengthen; she saw him close his eyes. It was now or never, she knew. She had power; she had the upper hand, and she needed to use it – or lose Stuart forever.

She placed her lips to his neck and began kissing him, feeling him recoil – at first – in shock, before giving in to her touch, her desire for him. She reached his lips and felt his mouth open beneath her. “I want you to kiss me, Stuart,” she whispered. “Kiss me like you’ve always wanted to, like you’ve always dreamed of doing…”

Her heartbeat was growing faster, too; if this seduction was working on Stuart, then it was also working on her. “Like that night, after the prom, when you came back to my room. Remember that?”

Stuart looked up at her, his eyes upon her – almost transfixed – frozen with desire.

Her patience wore thin.

She grabbed him, kissing him with all the passion she could sumon up, warming his icy lips with the force of her desire. And at last he was kissing her back, responding to her touch, ripping the buttons from his shirt and slipping her blouse off again. The New England cold froze through her, at first, but then she was hot, hot with desire and longing, hot with her sensation of Stuart’s desire for her.

She had to do this, had to convince him.

And deep down, where she wouldn’t admit it, not even to herself, she knew she wanted to.

She could feel him groan softly beneath her. “I’m yours,” she cooed, arching her neck back so that he could see the full creamy whiteness of her throat. “All yours.”

She could feel his kisses trail up from her breasts towards her neck, towards the pulsing vein throbbing with her every movement. And then he stopped, his fangs perched over the spot.

Clever – she could hear his voice in her head, although he remained silent. You certainly are bold.

Had he realized her plan?

Sorry, Kalina – I’m afraid I’ll have to pass – as tempting as you are…

She froze.

 

Chapter 8

 

Stuart did not stop kissing her. Instead, he trailed his lips up and down the length of Kalina’s body. She felt her heart beating faster and faster, her fear so palpable in her throat that she could taste it, bitter and strong, upon her tongue. She could feel her heartbeat shaking her to her core, so overwhelmed was she with a combination of terror on desire. What would happen if this didn’t work? Kalina hadn’t thought so far ahead. She thought of Maeve, of Justin, of what they would look like with their blood drained from their bodies. No, whatever happened, Kalina could not let this happen to them. But what was the alternative? Spending eternity trapped as Stuart’s pet, his housekeeper, his pretend wife? She knew that any hope of normalcy was gone forever. How stupid she had been – to imagine that coming to Yale would mean the start of a new life! There would never be a new life for her; she knew that now. As long as she had Life’s Blood in her veins, vampires would come looking for her. Stuart, Mal, and Octavius – it didn’t matter.

She let Stuart take ove, letting herself be seduced by his kisses once more as she felt him unzipping her jeans, sliding her trousers down to her ankles. Was this it? Was this the moment? She felt him kissing her inner thighs – felt the prickle of his lips, the sharp iterations of his fangs. Had her telepathy been mistaken? Kalina closed her eyes and waited for the bite, trying to hide her desperation as Stuart’s fangs loomed above her sensitive, pale skin.

The bite never came.

“That’s enough for now,” said Stuart affably, withdrawing. “You should put your clothes back on.”

Kalina stopped, shocked. She could have kicked herself. Of course Stuart wouldn’t be easy to seduce. Even as a good vampire, Stuart had the strongest willpower of any vampire she knew. She’d experienced it firsthand. It was what had made him weak as a vampire. But now, with his evil awakened by Life’s Blood, Stuart’s willpower had become his strength, and he could use it to torment her. She’d offered herself up to him, let herself become vulnerable, let herself love him – and now she was even more under his power than before! What would it take for Stuart to bite her?

She would have to redouble her efforts. In a flash she had grabbed hold of Stuart’s shoulders and sat him down upon the couch, sitting on top of him, straddling his lap. “Really, Stuart!” She tried to sound seductive, to mask the desperation in her voice. “What happened? Did Life’s Blood wipe out your virility?” She gave a little laugh, hollow with fear. She knew Stuart was especially sensitive to these kinds of insults; she had seen Jaegar lob them at his brother often enough. “I remember you being a bigger, badder vampire before the Life’s Blood?”

She saw that her words had struck home.

“What happened to the vampire I used to know, Stuart? The one that came home with me after Prom Night? And now, it’s like you have no passion at all, no release. It’s like dating a human!” She gave him a sultry stare. At once she began to feel the power of Life’s Blood – primal, passionate – coursing through her. She had vampire blood in her veins, after all! Why shouldn’t she be as good at compulsion, at mind games, as her vampire companions? For so long, they had used their seductive vampire natures against her, confusing her, making her blood boil with desire?

This time, it was her turn.

“I wouldn’t push me if I were you,” said Stuart in a chilly tone, with enough anger hidden beneath his smooth veneer for Kalina to be sure that she’d gotten to him. “My dear girl, one push too many, and you may unleash something you’ll regret. Have you ever wished you were never born, Kalina? Bese I could make you wish that, very – very easily.”

In his eyes there was a glimmer of danger, of passion so dark that it made even Octavius, even Jaegar, pale beside it. So, this was the Dark Knight that Jaegar had spoken of. But why hadn’t the Life’s Blood released him? Or was the real Stuart in there somewhere – keeping the Dark Knight in check…at the cost of his own desire for Life’s Blood?

Kalina tried to find some trace of the Stuart she used to know in those eyes. “I missed you, Stuart,” she whispered, keeping her voice soft and lilting. “My good friend. My champion. My good knight. I missed you so much…” She could feel the truth in her words sear a hole in her heart. When Jaegar had turned bad, it had been Stuart who was so faithfully at her side, taking care of her. And now he had sacrificed his own humanity, his own self, to save her.

Overcome with compassion, Kalina reached out her hand, smoothing her palm against Stuart’s cheek. She saw him – instinctively – lean into her hand and close his eyes, his face a picture of anguish. There was something there – there had to be!

“Please,” she whispered. “Stuart – I missed you so much.” She felt tears, hot with desperation, trickling down her cheeks, stinging her eyes. “Please come back.”

She could see it when she looked at him: Stuart’s three personalities battling with each other inside his eyes. There was the cold, calculating Stuart who was tormenting her, the empty, emotionless shell. But deeper still there were two forces battling for control, resulting in this strange coolness – the Dark Knight, primal and passionate, and the good Stuart, the human Stuart, the man she’d once loved and still loved. Stuart’s mask and self-control were stronger than ever, but she had to risk it – had to risk unleashing the Dark Knight in order to get Stuart back.

“Feel something for me again,” she said. “Listen to my heart. It’s what I feel for you.”

His face was filled with pain.

“It’s okay, Stuart,” said Kalina. She looked into his eyes, surprised as ever by his beauty, although she had seen it so many times before. She tried to use compulsion on Stuart, concentrating on making him listen to her, making him hers. “Drink from me. I want you to drink from me.”

Stuart closed his eyes tighter; his jaw was tense, firm, under such tight control…

“I want you to, Stuart, really!” The compulsion grew stronger, prickling her blood; she could see him shaking with temptation. “Drink from me.”

“No!” His voice rose higher.

“Drink!” The telepathy between the two of them was stronger than ever; she knew her voice was echoing in his ears, in his brain. Drink!

“No!” This time, the voice was unearthly, wailing, wretched – full of pain. “No!”

Drink.

“Can’t you see?” It was Stuart’s voice – somehow – beneath all that agony. “It won’t work!” His telepathy said the rest: You don’t love me.

So, that’s the real reason Stuart had been holding back, the good Stuart holding back the Dark Knight within. It wasn’t that he’d lost his taste for Life’s Blood. It was his fear – the fear that had always held Stuart back, always kept him in the shadow of his brother – that Kalina never loved him as much as she loved Jaegar, as much as she loved Octavius. He had always been the trustworthy one, the loyal one, the dependable one, so easily forgotten…and even now, Stuart knew it. And even now, he feared it. And yet she felt her love for him within herself, so strong that she knew it was real, it had to be real.

“It is real,” Kalina whispered. “I’ve always loved you. I’ve always loved all of you. And if the spell worked on Jaegar – it will work on you too. You’re connected to me. You – Jaegar – Aaron – Octavius…you’re all connected to me. You’re part of me. You’re who I am. And I love you for that.”

“And what if I don’t want to turn human?” It was the voice of the Dark Knight, now, battling with Stuart – strange and cruel.

“You want this, don’t you?” Kalina motioned at her neck, exposing the bare whiteness to his fangs. “Drink…It will make you stronger, faster, better. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let your fears hold you back! Just drink me! Want me!”

Stuart’s fangs shot out once more. Between the Dark Knight’s desire and Stuart’s love, she had convinced him at last, tempted him at last. If this didn’t work, she knew, Stuart would be stronger than ever. It was a last-minute gambit. But it had to work – there was no other way. Kalina closed her eyes, waiting for the final bite, as Stuart’s mouth hovered over the spot he so wanted to kiss, so wanted to sink down into.

A bony hand stopped him as it wrapped around his throat. It was small, strong, and unmistakably feminine. Stuart staggered backwards, rearing up at the attacker.

Kalina recognized her immediately. “Max?”

 

Chapter 9

 

Kalina rolled over to get a good look at the woman who was standing before her, stake in hand, raised high above Stuart’s shirtless frame. Her eyes were full of a cold and righteous anger – eyes with flecks of gold in them that had turned to metallic silver by the sheer penetrating force of her gaze. Kalina knew immediately what this enigmatic Max was after. The way she was looking at Stuart – with a hatred so primal that seemed to burn along with the blood in her veins – said it all. Stuart wasn’t a person to her – wasn’t the kind, troubled gentleman that Kalina still saw somewhere deep down inside her. No, Max was looking at Stuart the same way she might look at a wolf or coyote that dared approach her land. Stuart was vermin to her; he was prey.

“Now, wait a second,” Kalina heard herself saying, stammering as she did up the buttons on her blouse. “Hold on – don’t do anything rash – I can explain!” Explain? Why did she have to explain anything to this mysterious interloper who always turned up at the most inconvenient times? What did she want? Kalina’s eyes fell on the ruby necklace around Max’s neck, the same glittering jewel that had been stolen from her hours earlier. “And what are you doing with my necklace?”

She made a motion to snatch it back, but Max was too quick for her. She darted out of Kalina’s reach, still keeping her stake pointed clearly in the direction of Stuart.

Stuart, for his part, was gob smacked, rendered silent with shock and amazement. He kept looking at Max – that familiar nose, those familiar eyes, that unmistakable height of her cheekbones – and back to Kalina again, overcome by the resemblance. “Who are you?” he asked, his voice hollow. “What’s going…”

“That’s none of your business, vampire,” Max said. She spat out the word with apparent disdain. “You stay put, or I promise you, this stake will run straight through you.” Max was a tiny woman, even smaller than Kalina, but h bravado made it clear: Max meant business, and even Stuart wasn’t about to call her bluff. “You,” she turned her gaze to Kalina, and Kalina felt Max’s glare fix straight into the depths of her soul. “You’re coming with me.”

Kalina’s heart leaped. She had so longed to meet Max, so longed to track her down, to get answers. But she couldn’t leave now, not when she’d been so close to saving Stuart, to tempting him into drinking the Life’s Blood that could have cured him. She couldn’t leave Stuart the way he was now; controlled by the Dark Knight. It would be like leaving Stuart – the real Stuart, the one she loved – to die.

“I can’t go with you,” she said. “I need to stay with Stuart.” She knew it was risky – that she was just as likely to let Stuart kill her, to risk the wrath of the Dark Knight, as she was to save him. But there was a chance. Kalina had seen the goodness in Stuart’s eyes. She couldn’t let go of that chance, not even if it meant finding out who Max really was. “Who are you?” she asked again. “You can answer me – I’m not a vampire.” She looked back at Max and refracted that steely gaze back onto her, meeting Max’s cold eyes with a penetrating stare of her own.

She thought she saw a small, sardonic smile escape from Max’s lips. “You do realize you were about to be bitten by a vampire, right?” Max said, her voice dripping with irony.

“I do,” said Kalina, simply. She didn’t need to explain herself or Stuart to anyone else.

“Let me guess,” Max rolled her eyes. “This vampire is yours, too?”

Kalina wanted to blush. Not four hours ago, Max had seen her kissing Jaegar in an alleyway, and from the way Max was looking at her, she’d certainly formed an opinion about Kalina’s romantic proclivities. Kalina felt a touch of anger. What right did this woman have to interfere with Kalina’s decisions – to judge her for it? It was hard enough to deal with her feelings for the Greystone brothers and Octavius without some mysterious intruder with Kalina’s own face coming in to complicate the picture.

“As a matter of a fact,” said Kalina, determined to stand her ground. “Yes, he is. They both are.” Out of the corner of her eye, Kalina saw Stuart’s face contort with jealousy.

“And they’re both bad for you,” said Max. “You’re consorting with…dead things, with animals.” Kalina saw Stuart raise a bemused eyebrow.

“They’re dangerous, Kalina. And you need to get out a saw e – away from as many vampires as possible. Do you understand me or not?”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who you are and what you want with me?” Kalina picked up the lamp that had been sitting on the table next to the couch: a heavy, marble base. Not an ideal weapon, she thought, but useful enough in a pinch.

“I don’t have time to explain everything to you!” Max’s voice broke into exasperation. “They’re coming!”

“Who’s coming?” Kalina insisted.

“The others!” Max strode over to Kalina and, before Kalina had any time to register what was happening, Max had wrested the lamp base from her hand with lightning speed. Kalina gaped as Max seized hold of her wrist in a tight vice grip. Max was preternaturally strong, preternaturally fast. If she wasn’t a vampire, then what was she? “I don’t want to do this to you,” said Max, “but I’m not interested in risking my life in order to hear about your boyfriends. If you don’t come with me easy, I’m going to have to do this the hard way.”

“You can’t take her!” Stuart had stood up, now, and anger was blazing in his eyes. “I won’t let you take Kalina away from me!”

“Stuart, don’t!” Kalina cried, but it was too late. Stuart had clamped his hands down on Max’s arm, twisting it violently – almost enough to break it. “Stuart, wait!”

Max had rounded around to face Stuart, her dark eyes matching Stuart’s gaze – exhibiting no pain, no fear – only a grimace of frustration. “You want to play, vampire?” she whispered. “Let’s play!”

In an instant she had loosen her arm from Stuart’s grip and kicked him squarely in the gut, sending him backwards across the room. Kalina watched in astonishment. Who was this mysterious woman – stronger than any human, if not any vampire, that Kalina had seen? Max had regained control of her stake, lifting it high above Stuart’s chest…

“No!” cried Kalina, but her cry died on her lips. Max had gone through with the swing, sending her stake deep into Stuart’s chest. Stuart coughed, spluttering, blood accumulating at the sides of his mouth. “No…” Kalina whispered again, before bolting into a run across the room. She had to go to Stuart, had to get close, had to feed him Life’s Blood, had to save him…

“Stay back!” Max commanded. “You willnot run to him, girl!”

“Like hell I’m not!” Kalina shouted back, pushing Max aside as she knelt at Stuart’s side, kissing his face. He was still alive, still panting. Kalina felt the wound, confused. Max’s aim had been precise – sending the stake straight into Stuart’s heart. It would have killed any vampire in an instant, transforming his body into dust and ash. But Stuart was still alive although she could feel his life force ebbing away beneath her.

“Kalina!” Stuart whispered, and in his eyes she could see the Stuart that he was once, the gentle Stuart that she had once loved. “I do love you,” he whispered. “Still…” His eyes sloped shut; his body slackened into death. In an instant, he was gone, and the Life’s Blood that had sustained him ceased to flow through his veins. Was it her Life’s Blood, that had allowed Stuart to die this way? He had died as he had always wanted to live – like a human; the human death in exchange for the life that had been denied him.

“Stuart…” Kalina clasped a hand to her mouth, feeling the tears start to gather at her eyes, collecting into viscous drops. “What did you do?” She looked up at Max, who was staring at the body with satisfied triumph. “I loved him…” This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to save him, to let him loose from the bondage of the Dark Knight, of the polluted Life’s Blood. If Max had only waited a few seconds longer, Stuart might have been turned human…

“Why did you do that?”

“To save your life!” Max yanked Kalina’s wrist, dragging her upwards. “If you hadn’t been so stubborn – we need to get out of here! Don’t you hear me?”

“I’m not leaving Stuart here!” Kalina sobbed! “I’m not leaving!”

“You just signed your own death-warrant,” said Max, gritting her teeth. “Don’t you have any idea how stupid you’re being? I came here to save you, you stupid little girl, and instead you’re going to get us both killed.”

But Kalina didn’t hear her. She had wrested herself away from Max’s grasp, instead running over to Stuart to hold his body so tightly, listening at the wound in his chest – covered in his blood, in her own Life’s Blood coursing through him – hoping, praying that she might hear a sign of life in the corpse. “Stuart,” Kalina whispered. “I always loved you, too.” She touched his hair with her fingers, rocking him in her arms. The tears ran down her cheeks and fell on his cold skin.

“Suit yourself,” Max said at ast, her jaw clenched and tight. “But anything that happens now is on you, do you understand me?”

Kalina was lost in her grief, kissing Stuart’s eyelids, whispering promises – apologies in his dead ears. And then she heard the door open.

“Get your stake!” Max tossed her a spare one out of her bag. “You asked for it.” She sighed deeply. “They’re here.”

 

Chapter 10

 

Kalina whipped around, but it was too late. Outside the sounds of dogs barking had ceased. There was only silence. The chilling sensation that had just swept into the room, turning her Life’s Blood to ice, was all she needed to know. She recognized the feeling – of being in the presence of pure, unmitigated evil. She could feel her Life’s Blood shiver within her veins. She had felt like this before, once. But then she had been kidnapped, shut up in a torture chamber deep beneath the Seine River. She had hoped to never experience that sensation again.

But here he was. Mal, with his thin-lipped grin and penetrating eyes, had swept into the room, and was looking at Max and Kalina with lascivious glee, flicking his tongue over the contours of his teeth.

Kalina froze. She shot a quick look at Max, who was staring at Mal with palpable hatred, her jaw clenched tight, her stake firm in her hand. As much as she hated Max right now – and the sight of Stuart’s slumped-aside body out of the corner of her eye made her hate Max even more – Max was the closest chance she had to survival. She’d already seen the horrors that Mal was capable of. And she had seen Max fight. The woman was a badass with her attitude, strength, and amazing fighting ability. Kalina now knew what that word meant, and Max was it.

“Now do you understand?” hissed Max through clenched teeth. She too shot a look at Stuart’s body with something like regret.

Kalina could have kicked herself. How could she have been so stupid? She had no way of knowing that Max was a friend, not an enemy. But if she hadn’t been so stubborn, they might have gotten out safely in time. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, Stuart…but she couldn’t think about that right now.

“Well, well, well,” Mal’s voice was eerie and cold, echoing through the drafty rafters of the farmhouse. “Two Life’s Blood carriers – together! Whatever did I do to deserve this? It must be my lucky day, Leonardo!

For a moment, Kalina thought that Mal had gone mad, that he had started talking to himself. Life’s Blood was known to drive vampires crazy, after all. But then she saw the other figure – a shadow with silvery-white hair – standing in the doorway, perched upon the threshold.

“Come in!” Mal gave a high-pitched laugh. “Come on in, Leonardo. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You’re an invited guest – in my house.” His eyes fell on Stuart’s body. “Looks like the old owner doesn’t need it anymore!” He shifted his gaze to Kalina. “Guess he couldn’t handle the Life’s Blood, hmm? So few really do.”

Leonardo stalked in from the cold, the door slamming shut behind him, blood on his hands. The dogs. Stuart’s dogs. He had silenced their barking forever. Kalina gulped. Apparently Leonardo was just as cruel as Mal.

He looked about thirty years old – handsome with cheekbones as high and sharp as mountain ridges and lips full enough to suggest that life had once breathed upon them. Mal had not ruffled Max’s stone-still composure, but at the sight of Leonardo, Kalina saw Max’s very visible intake of breath. Mal was scary enough on his own, but two Life’s Blood vampires were an unbeatable prospect.

“Max!” Leonardo bowed deeply, his voice gentle and chilling with false formality. “I haven’t seen you in…ah – how long has it been?”

“Not long enough,” said Max, spitting out each word with slow-burning contempt. Kalina could see Max’s fingers fumble slightly with the stake she was holding. Did they know each other? Kalina eyes flitted back and forth from Max to Leonardo. Perhaps there was more to Max’s fear than enemy numbers.   

“Leonardo,” began Mal. “I want you to meet the other carrier. Her name’s Kalina. Yes, she’s the girl I’ve been telling you about. Quite a beauty, isn’t she? And very clever. Able to put up a fight – or get her men to. She managed to get a team of vampire brothers to protect her. Three brave boys and their maker – following after her like dogs in the hope of getting a taste from her …”

“How dare you!” Kalina shouted, forgetting her fear in her anger.

“Have I struck a nerve?” Mal smiled with pretend astonishment.