Blood Curse (Pulse #8) (17 page)

          “You two?”

          “Fighting off vampires together sure brings you closer, huh?” Maeve' smile was sparkling.

          “I know how that feels,” said Justin, putting a gentle hand on Kalina's shoulder. “We're closer as a family than ever.”

          Max came over to Kalina. “You will get through this, Kalina. I know how hard it is, losing someone you love. I have done it more times than I can count. But I promise, every day gets easier.”

          Kalina could not imagine how it could get easier. How would she ever be able to say goodbye to Jaegar?

          “You passed out for a long time,” said Octavius. “In that time, we did what we could to honor Jaegar's memory. There is an urn in the Greystone family mausoleum – that testifies to his honor in battle.”

          Max kissed Kalina's forehead lightly. “Maybe you might find it helpful to say goodbye, too?”

          But she couldn't do it. Kalina spent hours in front of the crypt, in front of the photograph of Jaegar surrounded by lilies and roses, and found that she did not have the words.

          At last, as the sunset spread across the sky and cast its rosy shadow on the grass, she tried to reach out to him, telepathically; one last, desperate attempt at love.

         
How could you do this? How could you be so stupid? You gave your life – but at what cost? I can't go on without you. I can't be the Carrier without you. I know you wanted to be the hero, but I wish you'd stayed with me instead. I know it's wrong but I do. You died too soon, Jaegar. You died before I could tell you everything. Before I could tell you how much I loved you, how strongly I really felt about you, about us. I can't handle my love for you. It's too strong. When I saw that ring in your bag, I thought it was an engagement ring. And all I could think was...I would have said yes, Jaegar. I would have said yes to you.

           
She heard a rustling in the bushes and looked up. For a moment she had hope that her words had summoned him. But there was no one there. No Jaegar by her side.

          Alone she walked through the fields, toward the Greystone mansion. She wanted Max, her mother. She wanted Justin. She wanted to mourn in the arms of her family.

          But when she entered the house, it was Octavius she saw.

          Kalina could not hold back her tears. She ran to him. She sobbed, at last, letting him feel all her pain, all her anguish, all her utter exhaustion at all that she had lost.

          Jaegar was gone. Octavius was here.

          There was nothing standing in their way.

          She only wanted to forget her pain.

          “Please,” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around him. She took his face in her hands. She kissed him violently. “Please, make me forget.”

          She could see the desire in his eyes. She wanted him to unleash it at last.

          They kissed with hungrier and hungrier motions; soon, they had stripped down to their underwear; soon, they were lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, his chest against hers. Oh, how she wanted him like this! How she wanted to feel him inside her in reality, and not in her imagination!

          “Please,” she said again.

          “Are you sure? Do you want this?”

          “I know I do.”

          “You know the consequences?” It was his General voice – authoritative and firm.

          “I do.”

          “And even knowing them?”

          “I'm more sure than about anything in my life.”

          “And do you love me – as I do you?” Octavius’ voice wavered there.

          “I have always loved you.”

          “And Jaegar?” His tone turned dark.

          “He's gone!” She couldn't bear to think of it.

          “And you love him still...” Octavius' voice was hollow.

          “I loved him, I don't deny it,” Kalina said. “But when I saw you and Nereti together – the jealousy, the pain I experienced, it made me worried about the love you might have for me. I love you, Octavius – but could I not ask you, whether you love me completely, too? You enjoyed being with her a lot...”

          “It was entirely one-sided,” Octavius said. “I thought only of you when I was with her. But with you and Jaegar – it was more than that. You truly loved him. It should have been him.”

          “Don't say that!” She wanted to forget Jaegar, forget her pain. “I could make you human, Octavius. I could end your suffering.”

          Octavius gently shook his head and touched his fingertips to the sides of Kalina's face. “I'm sorry, Kal. I heard you at the grave. I didn't mean to listen to your thoughts. I came to look for you – I heard everything, telepathically. And I'm so afraid, if we do this, and if I'm not the one, it will turn me into a cruel beast like Mal.”

          “You are the one!”

          “I want to be
sure
Kalina. Sure that this isn't just a rebound for you. I will wait for you.” He kissed her deeply. “As long as I have to. Forever, if I have to.”

          She reached up and touched his lips.

          “Will you give me some time?”

          Soon, she would know herself. Soon, she would move on. Soon, she would be able to love him, completely. But forgetting Jaegar wouldn't be that easy.

          A sparkle caught Kalina's eye. She looked down and gasped. Octavius was holding out the ring.

          “I found this, with Jaegar's....with the ash.” he said. “I took it into my laboratory to do some research. And Kalina, there's something you should know...”

Epilogue

         
G
liding through the air. Slicing through the sky. Faster than a thousand horses, swifter than the swiftest chariot. Nereti was whipping through the sky. She could feel her pursuer. She could feel the breeze on her skin as she grew near. This strange man who was able to hurt her. Octavius? It couldn't be – she'd left him behind. It had to be someone else.

          This vampire was as swift as she was. But how could it be? Nobody was as swift as Nereti, the great Empress. The Queen. The Dark Fey.

          Once, she had been of another kind. She had been a pixie, then, a Dark Fey, and the most powerful pixie in Feyland. But her power had not been strong enough. She had wanted more. Then she had discovered that human blood – the blood of mortals beyond the Crystal River – could add to her power. The iron in human blood would turn the green blood of the pixies a dark red, giving them new stamina. They would be beautiful, like the Winter or the Summer Fey. For beauty was power, wasn't it? Wasn't it? That's what she'd always thought. That's what she'd always believed. That was why the Fey utilize glamouring as a strong magic…to provide the illusion of beauty or power.

          She had sent a pixie scout beyond the crystal river, so many centuries ago, to abduct a human virgin girl, ripe for the sacrifice. A girl with caramel skin and dark ravens'-wing hair, with chocolate eyes and full, full lips. A girl desired by all the men in the village. But no mortal man could have her for his bride. Death would claim her.

          Nereti had not known about the curse. She had not known that the peasant who loved the young woman most of all would go to a local alchemist, to beg him to put a spell on his beloved: that only her true love would be able to have her, while all who loved her for her body would be  made monstrous in her eyes. She would not have bit into the girl's neck if she had known. She would not have been such a fool.

          The girl had fought her off, of course. The girl, named for the beauty of the jade stone, was as hard as her namesake. She had not given up easily. But in the end she had succumbed, with the words that haunted Nereti now.

          “You may have my blood, demon, but you will never have my strength. You are a demon, and no human blood will turn you human. You will forever live in darkness. May you never walk in human lands with ease again. You will not feel the light of the sun nor the light of love. My beloved swore he would protect me with this curse; may his protection extend now to all of my kind. Since you have taken my blood to the point of death, you will have his curse. But never will you have the enchantment of love. Only love can break the curse.”

          What foolishness, Nereti had thought, sucking the blood greedily as the girl had died.

          She had gone to the mirror. She had rejoiced in her new self: her new skin, her new hair, her new chocolate eyes. She now had the mortal girl’s beauty.

          Then she had opened her mouth. Then she had seen the fangs. The fangs had sliced into her lips, making her bleed red.

          Then she had felt the hunger. The need. The insatiable appetite that had become a curse. That sent her into human lands, desperate for food, desperate to cross the Crystal River into the land whose heat and light she could no longer withstand.

          She had led raiding parties, at first. Gone back and forth. Stolen more virgin girls known for their beauty and youth. Figured their sacrifice was worth it, if it meant more power.

          Then the wolves had gotten to her. Now ordinary wolves, but the ones filled with fey magic, from Feyland…a special breed known as the Wolf Fey…more shifters than werewolves, shifting to human form and to beast, larger than any wolves known in the Crystal Realms. Those blasted werewolves, meddling where they weren't wanted. Prattling on about the dignity of human life. They'd banished her, once and for all, from the Crystal River and from the Feyland that was her home.

          She would get back there one day. There, she would rule. That was her plan, all along. It was she that had compelled that doctor from China to create the Carriers – posing as a young apprentice. She had put the idea into his head. A being capable of vampire power without vampire curses. A new breed of vampire for her army. How could she have known that they would turn to the side of the humans, of their protectors?

          Still she had hope. It was why she could not bring herself to kill Kalina, as often as she'd had the chance. These Carriers were the secret to restoring her old self, the pixie self, the self without these terrible cravings...

          The self Octavius might have loved.

          No, she did not love. She was a Queen, above all that. Then why did she feel this pain? Why did she miss him so badly?

          She would think no more of it.

          She was close to the Crystal River, now, with the ring in hand, the ring that would allow her to cross up....the river was shining before her.

          “Hold it.” A cocky male voice. The voice of a mere youth.

          “What do you want, minion?” she snarled. “How were you able to follow me to this place?'

          “It's Jaegar to you, Your Highness.” The Pursuer. He was the one chasing her through the air just now. His words were dripping with sarcasm. “Maybe this will explain it.” He flashed her a ring of his own... “Looks like diamonds are a boy's best friend, huh? Especially magic diamonds like these. Made with crystals from the Crystal River, right? I did my research.”

          “How did you get that?”

          “Let's just say I'm good with my hands?” Jaegar said. “And that's nothing compared to what these hands are going to do to you. You hurt and almost killed everyone I love. Now, it's time for my revenge. So you're not going to cross, my dear. Not if I can help it. It's time for you to pay for what you've done.”

A growl almost inhuman, came from a space on the other side of the icy river. No mortal eyes can see beyond the river to see the enormous brown wolf, one that had shifted, crouching there, ready to pounce.  A werewolf.  A guardian. Werewolves and vampires had always been at odds with each other.  No, even at war with each other. This one was also fey. One of the wolf fey from Feyland. And he was determined to stop her from passing through from the mortal world to the land of the fey.

          “Who are you to stop me, wolf!” Nereti sneered.

          “The Prince,” the wolf shifted into a very handsome tall and muscular young man with chestnut hair and hazel eyes. He appeared to be in his early 20s, as a human. Nereti had seen and ruled many mortal and vampire men before, but this wolf fey was quite extraordinary. His broad shoulders and confident stature reminded her of Octavius, yet his kind eyes brought Stuart Greystone to mind.  As he stepped forward past the border of the Ring of Ice protecting the portal between Feyland and the Land Beyond the Crystal River, his shape became more solid and his voice boomed loud enough to announce his entrance. “I am Logan, the Wolf Fey Prince, and guardian of these borders.”

          Jaegar’s blue eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. “Damn, what do they feed you over there, genetically-enhanced dog food?”

          Logan took one look at Jaegar and smirked. “More like ground minotaurs and an occasional vampire or dark fey, as we call you guys, over there.”

          “I thought werewolves were fictional,” Jaegar said, scratching his head.  “Of all the years I’ve been a vampire I’ve never encountered one…until now.”

          Logan laughed. “My ancestors did an awesome job spinning that tale and making us into some kind of legend out here.  The stories began long ago when one of our wolf fey began transforming into a wolf and then was seen walking upright like a man, while still in transformation.” Logan peered down at Jaegar. “I travel back and forth all the time between Feyland and The Crystal Realms, but I haven’t seen you before.”

          “That’s because I’ve never been this close to that portal there, what is it? A wall of ice?”

          Nereti was peering at the wall, where icicles formed a circular ring.  “I see the Winter Lands there. Feyland, the origin of magic, the birthplace of mine.”