Tempest of Vengeance (38 page)

“I’m sure she loved you just as much,” I
blurted. Then I bolted, before I lost it completely.

* * * *

Later that evening, Devlin came upstairs and
settled in bed with Lash and me. I had just finished relating to
Lash the crashing and burning of my big plan.

“I’m sorry. I tried again as well,” Devlin
said with a sigh as he settled himself on my chest. “I also got
nowhere.”

“Isn’t there some spell?” Lash mentioned
casually. “I can’t believe there isn’t something that demon could
do to make Danial remember the man he used to be.”

“Titus said the memories themselves are
altered. If Danial had forgotten, there are spells that could be
used. But he said it is like a bone that was shattered, and grew
back together. There are some small shards that ended up in the
wrong place—”

“Can’t Titus re-break them, then?” Lash
interrupted. “It works for bones.”

“But not for minds,” Devlin replied with a
grimace. “Titus said he was amazed Danial came back as much like
himself as he did. He said it is usually much worse, and to count
our blessings.”

Easy for Titus to say. He isn’t the one
who’s been forgotten.

* * * *

The next morning, Lash awakened early as he
usually did, and got dressed to do his rounds, giving me a kiss to
say he would be back later to shower with me. But in his eyes was
an unspoken question. I nodded my answer. He nodded once, then left
without a word.

After he left, I waited a good ten minutes,
then disentangled myself from a still sleeping Devlin. Dressing
quickly with purpose, I went downstairs and made myself some cereal
and a bagel. My new routine was familiar and comforting, something
I’d found a respite the last few months. Any other morning that
would have been a good thing, but not today.

I slipped in a tape on my ancient Walkman as
I sat down, glad it was one of the things I’d brought to Dev’s home
earlier on, when I’d first began doing work for him. I’d never
listened to music at Danial’s, but there was no phone here I had to
answer. So far I’d resisted Devlin’s offer of an iPod, though I
admitted when my old machine went, I would likely take him up on
his offer. Working in Devlin’s study had its drawbacks, being so
close to the dungeon. I didn’t want to hear anyone screaming. Or
any other noises coming from in there, for that matter.

I ate breakfast listening to some Concrete
Blonde’s
Jesus, Please Forgive Me
, trying to put myself in
the mindset for murder. I’d never killed in cold blood before,
never killed anything except in self-defense. But this morning, I
was going to.

Chapter
Thirteen

Gathering my courage, I put my dishes in the
sink, and went downstairs to the basement, and then on to the
dungeon.

Ulysses was there, sleeping. He sensed me as
I entered, opening his eyes and baring his sunken face in a rictus
smile. “So Danial doesn’t remember you,” he said with malice.
“Poor, pathetic girl. It must hurt to have lost the love of a great
man like him.”

“Save your insults,” I replied scathingly.
“I’m here to give you some blood, if you have the strength to get
to me and take it. I want your help, if you’re strong enough.”

His face went blank in an instant. “Why would
you help me?”

“Because I was a victim of Devlin just as you
were. Just like Diana was. If he’d left me with Danial, or with
Theo, I wouldn’t have all the pain I have now. I wouldn’t be
hunted, I wouldn’t have been in hell the past year. I want it to
end.”

“What do you want from me?” he asked,
suspicious.

“Take enough of my blood, and go to his room.
It’s at the top of the stairs, to the left. No one is about, and he
has no guards. Stake him as he sleeps. He’s a heavy sleeper; he
won’t even hear the door open—”

Ulysses looked eager now, but also crafty.
“What do you want for your help in freeing me, Sarelle? You know
I’d kill him given any chance, so you must want something besides
that.”

“Two things,” I said quickly. “I’ll need your
blood the rest of my life. I want your word you’ll give it to me,
for as long as you live. I can’t live without regular doses, or
I’ll die, from what Danial and Devlin did to me. And Danial will
have nothing to do with me now. I don’t want to die.”

“I swear it,” Ulysses said, nodding. “And the
other?”

I looked at Ulysses. “Give me your word you
won’t hurt anyone else in the house if I free you, including me. I
love my daughter, she is innocent, and I don’t want anyone here
harmed, or any continuation of this vendetta of yours. My son T is
not to be harmed, or Elle, or anyone else besides Devlin. I’m sick
of blood and death and loss. I’m sick of this whole Vampire world,
of always being in the darkness, of always being fed on! I want out
of it, to just live somewhere quietly until I die. You can come to
me, and give me the blood on a regular basis, but otherwise I want
no more of any of it. Venus will come with me, and she and I can
disappear. I have some money hidden away.” The sincere bitterness
and hate in my words were almost thick enough to choke me, but I
got the words out with effort.

Ulysses narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t have
thought you’d have it in you, to kill your lover. You Oathed to him
again willingly, or so I heard.”

“He took it by force.” I paused, then pushed
the last of my speech out. “I’m in love with his best friend, and
he’s in love with me. Devlin forbade me being with him, unless I
gave him the Oath. We want to be free of Devlin, so we can just be
together, the two of us. But he can’t bring himself to do it. They
have too much history together. I’m not strong enough, not to
mention Dev could probably stop me with just his mind.”
You’re
rambling, wrap it up.
“Once it’s done, Lash will protect me,
and Venus. It might not be a great life, but it will be a good
enough one. I want this fucking choker off my neck. I’m tired of
being owned.”

Ulysses gazed at me, considering. “I saw the
way Lash looked at you, how he touched you. It’s fact that you’ll
never get that choker off any other way except by Devlin dying. But
why should I trust you, Sarelle McGarran?”

I took a deep breath, my feeling of betrayal
as I spoke the words making me nauseous. “Because I understand you
wanting revenge for your sister, for what he did to her, and later
Diana. Dev’s hurt a lot of people thoughtlessly. You risked your
life, even became vampire, to try to even the score. You sacrificed
yourself for her, in a way. I respect that, even if I’m horrified
by the means you used, and the lengths you went to.” In a softer
tone I added, “Your sister is alive, and unturned. Once you kill
Devlin, she will awaken, and be free of him. He told me this
himself, so it must be true. She’s in a room by herself, under a
spell, as she has been for over a month.”

When I mentioned that Diana was alive, his
eyes went wild with hope. Then fear smashed down. “Why did he not
kill her?”

“He planned to. V stopped him. It’s only
because of my daughter that your sister lives.”

Ulysses nodded. His words when he spoke were
emotional. “I give you my word, Sarelle, the same word I gave
Diana, that I would avenge Heather,” he said, his green eyes locked
on mine. “I will only harm Devlin.” He paused. “Lash, Venus, and
you should leave Hayden today and disappear, at least for a few
years. The Rulers will know you and he played a part in Dalcon’s
death. I’ll give you my protection, but I know enough not to trust
Samuel.” He paused again. “There is a werebear living here by the
name of Jerry. He’s been feeding me information this whole time.
When you feel that you need more of the blood, call Hayden and ask
for him, only him. Say that you are Heather and that you need a
visit soon from me. He’ll contact me immediately. Just call,
whenever you need the blood. Within a day I can come to you, or you
can teleport to me here, or some neutral ground, whatever works
best.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“Set me free,” he whispered seductively
through the bars. “And I will set you free.”

“Come to me,” I said nervously, swallowing
hard. “And please be gentle when you feed from me. I’ve been bitten
so often for so long that now it always brings me pain, not
pleasure. Devlin also took a lot from me last night, so please
don’t take too much, or I’ll lose consciousness.”

Ulysses got up with ease, walking across the
cell towards me.
Danial didn’t come close to draining him,
though he’s clearly much weaker.
Did Devlin give him some
human blood, to keep him healthy?
Afraid but determined, I
opened the door with the key Lash had left for me this morning, and
set Ulysses free. He stepped outside the cell, then stood before
me, staring at me.

I trembled under his steady gaze, but didn’t
run.

“I’ll feed from you after I kill him,” he
said finally. “And then only if I need to. I’ll need your help with
Devlin, and if you’re too weak, you won’t be able to give me
assistance. He is far stronger than I am now.”

This wasn’t part of my plan. “What do you
want me to do?”

“Distract him,” Ulysses instructed. “Go into
the bedroom first, ahead of me. If he’s awake, pretend you want
him, whatever it takes so you have his full attention. Otherwise,
he may sense me. Yell ‘now’ at the opportune moment. I’ll come in,
and kill him.”

“Okay,” I said, offering him a sharpened
stake that Lash had left for me near the base of the dungeon
wall.

He took the stake, then to my surprise, he
kissed my hand. “I’m sorry, for what I did to you. Understand that
this was never about you. I had to get revenge for my sister.”

“I understand,” I said coolly. “Please follow
me.”

I went ahead of him, creeping up the stairs.
Ulysses waited outside the door I indicated, motioning for me to
act.

I entered the room, walking quickly to the
bed. I caressed the shoulder of the sleeping form. “Devlin, are you
sleeping? I need you—”

Ulysses burst through the door with an evil
smile, stake in hand.

The door slammed shut behind him. Ulysses
whirled to throw the stake, as Lash hit him with enough force to
knock him across the room into the sliding glass doors. The stunned
vampire grabbed the curtains as he fell. As planned, they came down
with the sound of tearing cloth, letting sunlight flood into the
room. Devlin, hidden under two heavy blankets on Lash’s bed, was
protected. Ulysses was not.

He shrieked, his skin already smoking, trying
to get out of the light. Lash picked up the vampire’s smoking form
with his gloved hands as I opened the glass doors. He tossed
Ulysses out through opening onto the large deck into the snow,
pulling off the thick black curtains Ulysses was desperately trying
to cover himself with in the process. Ulysses screamed louder, over
and over, as his skin began quickly to flake off, then to burn and
crisp. The burning vampire tried to get past us to safety, but Lash
with a snap of his wrist curled his whip around him, then dragged
him back into the sun, holding him beneath its light as more and
more smoke poured off him, his skin blazing alight as if he’d been
dipped in gasoline.

“Scream for me!” Lash hissed loudly, with
brutal satisfaction, holding Ulysses with his whip. “You’re so fond
of burning people, have a taste of it yourself!”

“Why?” Ulysses shrieked, his lips peeling,
melting. “Why, Sarelle?”

“Because you hurt my daughter, and the people
I love,” I shouted at him. “I don’t need a reason better than
that.”

“Dalcon deserved it, he deserved—”

“Elle was
innocent
!” I screamed at
him. “I would have killed you just for that, you bastard! Just for
even trying to hurt her like that, for thinking it! You sealed your
fate when you hurt her!”

“No! It can’t end like this! I can’t fail my
sister, I can’t! Argh! Argh!”

Ulysses screamed for a long time, his
vengeful cries becoming desperate shrieks, his skin blackening and
burning, melted fat sizzling and bubbling on the deck. Finally, he
collapsed, first to his knees, and then completely to the deck
floor. He kept burning, kept smoking, the stench sickening. An hour
later, all that remained of him was a large black scorched mark on
the deck floor, and a diminishing pile of ashes, blowing away in
the gentle wind.

Lash coiled up his whip, looking sadly at the
burned parts of it. The braided leather had charred from the heat
and broken in places. “I’ll have to get a new one,” he said with a
sigh, looking sorrowful. “This one’s had it. Vampires burn too hot,
even for the heavy duty protective spells Titus put on this.”

I hugged him, and kissed him. “I’ll buy you
one, Lash,” I murmured gratefully, holding him. “Thank you for
helping me kill him.”

“I told you if you ever needed my help, it
was yours,” he hissed tenderly, kissing my cheek. “Though I wish
you had just let me kill him in the cellar, and not risked
yourself. A full clip or two of the explosive bullets would have
done it, weak as he was.”

“I wanted to see him burn. He had it coming,
Lash. I remember Devlin’s screams. I hear them sometimes again, in
my nightmares. And I remember how we found Elle...”

Lash looked down at me, his expression
searching. “I was worried for a minute, Sar,” he hissed. “You
sounded like you were really going to do it, let him kill Dev, and
run off with me. I heard some truth in your words.”

“I had to sound believable,” I said, averting
my gaze. “I needed him to come willingly. We’d never have gotten
him up here where we could get him into the sun unless he thought I
was going to help him.” I paused. “And there was some truth to my
words. Some of the bitterness I feel in my situation is real. I did
admire Ulysses a little, for going after his sister’s killer,
despite him being human and Devlin being a Ruler, and so powerful.
But I could never have been anything but an enemy of someone who’d
done what he did to Elle. There was no other way for this to end. A
bullet was way, way too quick and painless for him.”