Blood Curse (Pulse #8), page 2
Kalina smiled against herself. Everybody knew about the insecurities of Samson's latest paramour. The girl had once been Octavius' mistress and, though well-intentioned enough, wasn't exactly known for her mental stability.
“Excuses, excuses,” Jaegar fell to his knees and began to help Kalina dig Samson out of the sand. Kalina felt his presence next to her – as powerful as an electric shock. How could he make her feel like this, even after all this time? His presence was still wildly intoxicating to her, filling her with a hunger as powerful as bloodlust, driving her mad. She wanted him so badly, now – enough to push him down into the sand and sacrifice all the power of her Life's Blood if it meant being with him as fully, as viscerally, as she wanted to be. She needed him – she needed him. But she had to focus on the mission at hand. Octavius was in trouble, and they had to save him.
In a few minutes, the full body of Samson – broad-shouldered and massy – was free of the desert sands.
“Take this ring,” Kalina took a Life's Blood ring from where it lay above a pile of vampire ash. “You'll need it.”
Samson wiped the sand from his body. “I never thought I'd be saying this,” he said gruffly, “but thank you – Kalina, and thank you Jaegar. Credit where credit is due, I suppose.”
“Speaking of giving thanks,” Kalina replied, “I should be thanking you. You say you know where Octavius is.” Her voice faltered, as it always did when she said that name. Was her love for him that obvious, she wondered? Even after all that had happened between them, even after the impossibility of them ever being together, Kalina still felt a wild care for him. He was the one she couldn't have – the one she'd had to give up. And the bitterness of their several partings still stung at her.
“He's strong and smart,” Samson said. “Nereti won't break him, I know it.”
“Kalina...'” Jaegar's voice was low and urgent, and she saw that there was a darkness in his eyes.
“What is it?” She felt her stomach plummet. “Do you know something I don't?”
“Kal,” he brushed her cheek with his fingertips. “Kal, I'm sorry. Nereti...well...you know how she is. She is the most ruthless of vampires, the embodiment of pure evil. She is the worst a vampire can be. And I just want to make sure you're prepared. I just want to make sure you can deal...”
“What are you talking about?” Kalina swallowed down the worry, down the fear. “What's happening to Octavius?” She gulped. “It's bad, isn't it?”
“As a matter of a fact...”
Another voice came up behind her – familiar, too. Max was striding across the sands, Justin by her side.
“Mom?” The word was still strange to her. “How did you and Justin get here so fast?”
“We were already on our way here when you called. There was a major crisis in a nearby town. A whole community of ancient vampires – Octavius' old friends, Consortium associates – were slaughtered.”
“No...”
“The thing is...” Max looked worried. “Nobody but Octavius knew where they were. They were hidden – even I didn't know their exact location until I found the ash. I heard the story from one survivor. The only survivor. Five vamps came – wiped out the village completely, vampire and human alike. An inside job.”
“You can't mean...”
“Octavius,” Jaegar nodded. “She must have turned him.”
“No...” Kalina bit back her tears. It couldn't be true – it couldn't be! “Octavius would never do that. He'd rather die than rat out his own.”
“Maybe he didn't have a choice,” Max said.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe he was tortured. Glamoured. He might not be himself,” Jaegar said. “I know you want to see him again, Kalina, but be sure you know what you're looking for. The Octavius you find might not be the one you lost.”
She could not deal; she would not deal, now. She would not deal with the tears stinging at her eyes. “Then let's stop wasting time talking here and let's move. We need to find him!”
“He's in Morocco,” said Max. “Near Fez.”
Samson nodded. “That's my intel, too.”
Kalina wiped away the tears.
“Then that's where we'll go,” she said. “Now!”
Chapter 2
They travelled faster than ever before. Back in the old days, Kalina remembered, she and Justin had to be carried – Stuart and Jaegar and other vampires transporting them in their arms. They'd been slowed down by the extra weight. No longer. Now Kalina could run like a vampire could run, gliding over the sands and the waves of the sea. She was no longer dead weight, a mortal imposition on vampire strength. She was powerful in her own right, fast, not a vampire but a strange hybrid third thing, neither fully mortal nor fully unnatural. And she loved it.
This was her favorite part of Life's Blood, this feeling of power. This feeling that she could keep up with Jaegar and Samson, that she could hold her own, that she no longer had to be protected but indeed was the one doing the protecting. It filled her with excitement, with joy. She was no damsel in distress any longer, she thought gladly. She was a Carrier like her mother, a creature full of power. The feeling was intoxicating, rich, overwhelming. She had been able to fly as a Carrier for some time, but things felt different since her resurrection. Her powers were stronger still as if her brush with death had served as an electric jolt, forcing her into new life.
And a new life it was, Kalina thought, half-bitterly. So much had changed in such a short span of time. Her dreams of college, of a normal life, were not merely postponed – in all likelihood they would be put off forever. Stuart remained with Maeve at his side at the Greystone Winery in Rutherford, California, helping to fend off any vampire attacks or incidents in town. Kalina had brought some of the Carriers they had saved from Nereti's sacrifice there. Many of them were too young to be able to protect themselves, but some of the older ones had begun to awaken to their strength. Like Sydney. Dark-eyed and hollow-cheeked, Sydney was the oldest of the Carriers to have survived Nereti's purges, and the memory of what she had seen, what she had been through, haunted her always. But she used her frustration, her rage, as a means to an end: she was constantly demanding to be taught more, to learn more – how to spot vampires, how to fight like vampires, how to kill them. “I want them all turned to ash,” Sydney had said, much to Stuart's chagrin. Stuart, who had the knowledge and experience of a vampire even while mortal, was the perfect tutor for them. But his guilt about his old life still remained.
And of course Justin. Newly turned, Justin was going through a different kind of trauma. Poor Justin, Kalina thought mournfully. He had always been the normal one, the sane one, the human one, clinging to his normalcy. He hadn't wanted any special talents. He hadn't wanted any special powers. He had just wanted to go about his business, spending time with the family and friends he loved, keeping them all safe. And now he was forced to live forever as a vampire, walking the earth as a creature he despised, knowing all the while that Carriers like Sydney looked upon him with hatred and fear because of that hunger he was not sure he could bring himself to control. Every day was a struggle for him. Justin and Max flew silently at Kalina's side.
But Kalina couldn't think about that now. She had a new concern to occupy her – the fate of Octavius. He was in captivity, now, held by Nereti and her vampire army. And she did not even dare to think about what Nereti might be doing to him. What tortures, what glamours, might this most powerful of all vampire queen know? How might she try to break him, to make him her creature? And if what the others said were true... No...Kalina could not bring herself to think the words! Octavius could not have been responsible for the massacre near Fez! He could not have been responsible for all those deaths, the slaughter of his beloved friends, his allies. Octavius was a soldier, he was a man of honor – he was the most honorable being, man or vampire, that she knew. He would never...
And yet when they arrived at that village, sand blowing across the dunes, Kalina felt the chill that meant only one thing. Death. All the houses were empty; ash was scattered on every threshold. And Kalina felt something more than that, more palpable than that. The feeling of death was all around her, searing into her skin. She swallowed, gulped, forced herself to hold back the tears. It was as if the dying vampires had left some sort of psychic mark here, memorializing their own deaths. The air was full of ghosts. The ghosts of majestic, ancient vampires, as noble and as powerful as Octavius, his loyal peers.
His victims?
“What happened here?” Kalina felt her voice quivering. What did she expect, she asked herself? Did she expect the walls to answer her?
Samson sniffed the air. “Murder,” he said darkly. “Murder most foul.”
“A surprise attack.” Jaegar looked down, and they all watched as the dune winds blew away the last of the dusty footprints in the cave. “I've heard of this place, Kal. The cave – there was a reason that the vampires chose it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It held precious treasure,” Samson cut in. “Treasures deemed priceless to vampires. So the Consortium members here met to guard it.”
“What kind of treasure?” Kalina asked him. What kind of treasure could possibly be important enough for vampires to devote their entire existence to guarding it?”
Samson looked down at his feet, shuffling. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable, grunting harshly. If vampires could blush, Kalina thought, he'd be blushing now. “You tell her,” he snapped, turning to Jaegar.
Jaegar looked confused at first, but Samson gave him a pointed look. “Oh. Oh.” He looked at Max and Justin. “I need to tell you in private, Kalina. Let's go for a short walk, shall we?”
Kalina was uncertain. “It'd have to be fast, Jaegar. I really don't like knowing that Nereti is fully awakened, that her power is restored. She's out there – she wants revenge – she has Octavius, and...”
Jaegar grabbed her arm and started walking, yanking her alongside with him. “We'll be back shortly,” he called over his shoulder to the others. “Try to see if you can't find out anything else about what's going on.”
No sooner were they out of sight, deep within the labyrinthine cave, than he pushed her up against the cavern wall, pushing her arms up above her head, kissing her wildly, passionately. “Oh, Kal,” he murmured. “You have no idea how much, how long, I've wanted to do that. Oh, how I've been waiting for you. Not a word – no notice – nothing to say. You simply...got up from the dead, took a shower, ate, grabbed your stakes, and said “let's go.” You said ‘let's go to Octavius’ and left us in the dust.” Bewilderment and pain crossed his face, but Kalina could still see the unmistakable impression of love and desire.
“I mean...after all we've been through! After you put me through the grief of seeing you dead, you could at least have spent some time safe at home. Letting me hold you. Letting me touch you. Letting me take you, getting as close as we could get to bringing our bodies together.” He groaned aloud. “I barely got a chance to touch you before you were off. Tell me, Kalina, what happened?”
Kalina shook her head, trying mournfully to explain. “Things are different now,” she tried. They were different – now that she realized how limited was the time she had. Dying had clarified things in her mind. Made her realize how important it was to stop Nereti before she carried out her plans of destruction. “Jaegar,” she gently touched his face. “Believe me, I love you. I love you so much, and sometimes I think there's nothing I want more than to let you have your way with me. But it's like – when I died and came back, ever since then all I've been able to think about was stopping Nereti. I keep thinking -that must be why I've been given another shot at life, when all those other Carriers died. To stop her. And I can't fall short of the mission now.”
“It was whatever was in that vial your mother gave you to drink – the miracle blood or whatever it was...from the doctor's box we found in China.” Jaegar took a step back. “What else is different now? Besides the gliding, the faster flying, what else have you noticed is different?”
“I've been single-minded,” Kalina admitted. “About Nereti. But also...” It felt good to admit it out loud. “My...desires. They've been stronger, lately.” It was true. Her vampire strength had brought with it a new vampire hunger – a new desire she could not control. “This.” She pushed Jaegar back against the wall, twisting him around to hold him off the floor, raising her lips higher until they were brushing the top of his jeans. She unbuckled his belt, slid it off, unbuttoned his jeans, feeling beneath the denim the hard force of him, waiting with desire for her. She would have to give in, now – now that he had awakened it. Her desires were too strong for her to bear.
“Kal...” Jaegar put a warning hand on his shoulder. “That vision of you just now is something I want to cherish for the rest of my life – your mouth...there...” Jaegar closed his eyes, shuddering. “But I can't. Not here.”
“You think it'll destroy the Life's Blood?” Kalina's voice was rough with desire.
“No – I think the rules are pretty straightforward,” Jaegar said. “But....when we do go that bit further, I want to do it right, Kalina. I want to do it to you, too.”
“No!” Kalina's aggression surprised her. “No...” She laughed softly. “Funny. Ever since I woke up from the dead...I've been feeling...like I want to conquer. Take everything. Like I want to go after what I want. Like...I want every man here to submit to me. Like Nereti.”
Jaegar's eyes lit up, and a wickedly wide smile shot across his face. “I like how you take charge, Kal!”
“I'm not so sure...” she admitted. “I'm not sure what it means.”
She slowly let Jaegar slide down the wall while she ran her tongue up from his navel to his chest, letting her lips linger on his. He captured her kiss, kissing her back with a wild hunger. In the heat of his passion his fangs appeared, sharp against his lips.
He jumped back and took a deep breath.
“I'm sorry, Kal. I'm having a hard time...keeping my cool...”
She smiled softly. “Keeping your cool, yeah.” She knew as well as he that if they were in a nice bed, in their own bed, with all the time in the world, she would submit to him. They would not be able to hold themselves back.
She said nothing, but deep down she knew she was having a hard time keeping her cool, too. This new awakening had brought with it a new hunger. But was it a hunger she could control?
Chapter 3
What was going on? Kalina felt heated, flushed, pink and hot with desire as never before. A few moments ago, all she had been able to think about was her mission, her need to find Octavius and destroy Nereti, no matter what the cost. But now something new, something strange, something utterly foreign to her, had come over her. It was desire, but not like desire as she had known it before. That desire was something she had gotten used to – a mortal, human need. This was something different. Wild like bloodlust, it was – an animal hunger that threatened to take over her, to consume her, to make her its slave. All she wanted to do was make Jaegar submit to her, bodily; in mind too, make him her creature. Deep down some rational part of her tried to fight the desire. This is crazy, you have work to do, you love Jaegar, you don't want to conquer him....but these small sounds were lost amid the pulsing of her Life's Blood in her veins. Suddenly it was as if nothing in the world mattered but this desire. They walked back to the cave, and Kalina felt the blood so hot within her. Her face was flushed, she knew; Jaegar could read the desire on her face. All of her senses were alert; all of her nerve endings were fired up.
What are you doing, Kalina, this is crazy...
She was hyper-sensitive to his touch. Every brush of his skin against hers, every hint of his flesh so near her flesh, sent her into a wild ecstasy. She could smell him, too – a distinctive vampire smell, the sweet and musky smell of danger, of manhood, of power. She wanted nothing more than to tear off his clothes, rip them from his glistening, taut chest and lick every part of his body, take him and taste him...
“Jaegar...” Her blush grew hot upon her face as she looked down. “Jaegar, please, I can't wait...” Her voice trembled. “If I don't satisfy this right now, I'm...”
Jaegar's hand was tight upon her shoulders. “What are you saying?” His growl was low and throaty.
“I need you, Jaegar,” she whispered.
His brow furrowed at first in concern and confusion, but as the full force of her words struck him his expression gave way to one of joy and deep desire.
“What are you saying?”
“I need you now.”
“We have to go back to the others,” he forced out, his voice husky with need. “We need to...”
She was hot – so hot – her skin burning, her face burning, her whole body burning for him. She could not stop herself from kissing his neck, his shoulders, pressing her tongue lightly against his chest underneath his shirt.
“Kalina,” he groaned. “Oh, Kalina...wait...I'll tell the others you decided to break for the night. We'll go to a hotel, check us all in...get a room to ourselves…” His voice trembled and he could not finish the sentence.
He went back to the others inside the cave, leaving Kalina alone. Sweat pearled upon her body. Inside, she was burning with lust. What was happening?
Then he had returned, quickly telling Samson and the rest that Kalina was overcome with a side effect of her resurrection and needed to get out of there fast and to the closest hotel to rest. So, in record time, without question because everyone didn’t know what to expect with Kalina coming back to life, they packed up and flew – at vampire speed – to the nearest hotel. It all happened in such a flash.
“Kalina…” Max said, trying to feel Kalina’s forehead. “You look alright, but your eyes… they’re glazed over and overly wide like you’re seeing something. You have a… obsessed look.” Max looked over at Jaegar, who was looking everywhere else besides Max’s eyes. Almost like some vampire beau who was a little embarrassed to be in the same room with the mom of the woman he was about to deflower.
