The crimson flame in the window of one soul

Merged

From The Fall of Jericho, Henri Volohonsky

Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear

& Larissa Volokhonsky

 

Chapter Eight

 

“What the fuck have you done to me?” I was finally able to scream the words at him once my body stopped shaking. I felt like a million explosions were erupting beneath my skin and every neuron and synapse was on electrical overload.

Pissed didn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. I was seething. How dare he do this to me? Whatever it exactly was. I didn’t even really begin to know or understand what this blood exchange meant.

“I have merely given you back some of the strength you have shared with me.” The cool aloofness in his voice was so complacent, I wanted to punch him. “Be careful, lass, your anger does not become you,” he told me as he pulled me to my feet.

As far as I could tell, the view standing up was definitely no better than it had been from the floor. But I was finally able to get my bearings, since my head was now clear and no longer throbbing, or spinning out of control.

I turned and glared at him. “You don’t know the first thing about my anger, pal. And stop reading my mind, or you’re really not going to like the transmissions,” I told him as I walked to the bars. I pressed my face to them as I tried to see out and around the dungeon area we were being held in, but it was filled with too many shadows.

Kieran’s presence behind me made me turn back to him. “As you wish, Rihker, but know this,” he said with an arch of his brow. “You are now tied to me. You possess the same ability to read my thoughts as I do yours. It was you who chose this path. Not me.”

“I chose this path? How the hell do you figure that?” This was one Vamp that was really beginning to push my buttons. Blame me for him making me drink his blood. Yeah, right!

“Make no mistakes, Rihker, you chose to save my life. So you only have yourself to blame. Without your blood, I probably would have died on the floor of this cell. And because you chose to save me, I thought it would be only right to do the same.”

He was now standing directly in front of me. Hovering. Filling the small space with the enormity of his presence. “I merely gave you back your strength in an expeditious manner so that we can rid ourselves of these surrounds, and find my people.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I glared at him suspiciously. Call me crazy, but I highly doubted Kieran ever did anything without an ulterior motive. “So Mr. I Have All The Answers, how the hell are we going to get out of here now that we’re both up to par in the strength department?” I pulled on the door of the cell behind me, knowing it was locked up tight, but still needing to do it just to be certain...or to keep from choking him.

I was certain the damned dungeon had probably been constructed at the beginning of time and no one probably had a freaking key. It seemed the kind of place you would throw people and easily forget about them.

“I thought you would blast it open,” he said matter-of-factly.

I could tell by the cool sincerity in his eyes that he truly thought this was a possibility. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. In fact, once I started laughing, I couldn’t seem to stop.

Pretty soon I was bent over, clutching my knees and holding my side as my good hard laugh started to ache, and tears formed in my eyes. “You’re totally serious, aren’t you?” I finally squeezed out between gasps.

“I’m glad I could be so amusing. Forgive me if I find no humor in this matter.” The sneer and the downward cast of his eyes were pretty good hints that he was getting annoyed with me.

Clearing my throat as I stood up and wiped the water that was leaking from my eyes, I said, “It’s not like I can just stare at the door and make it go poof, ya know.”

“And why not? You seemed to have no problem sending Mercy across a room in your fit of anger.” He was now glaring at me like I had done something wrong, and I could tell by the way that he blanked his mind that he did not want me to know what he was thinking.

“For your information, I was not having a fit. And if you’d keep Goblin-mutt on a leash, she wouldn’t have pissed me off.”

“While we’re down here debating the extent of your antics, Rihker, my people bleed.” His voice had gone deep and shallow. Cold, even. And I could almost see myself reflected in the darkness of his empty black eyes. Pretty pathetic, when the monsters make you feel bad for them.

“Fine. But you’re far from out of the darkness on this binding thing,” I said as I turned toward the cell door. This conversation was so not over. Right now we needed out of here, so I was willing to table it for a later fight.

Somehow I needed to blast the damned door open. Small feat, that. So, with a disgusted sigh, I turned towards the cell door. I rolled my shoulders and twisted my neck, getting a good pop out of it as I shook away some of my annoyance. I concentrated on gathering all of my anger into power. Focusing, I tried to call the moonlight to my hand.

And nothing happened.

I stood there like an idiot, begging the Darkness, the Moon gods to come to me. I called whatever dark creature would heed my request to send the stupid ball of power to me so I could just get the hell out of that cell. I even prayed. And nothing freaking happened.

No tingles went through my fingertips. No currents shot up my arm. I stood there and waited for the supernova of light to flux from my fingers, all to no avail.

Kieran said nothing while I racked my brain for chants, pacing in a small circle. I threw my arms out towards the cell door with everything I could think of. Finally, with a huff of despair, I turned towards where he was leaned against the opposite wall, frustrated as hell.

Like a blur, he grabbed me by the shoulders, flung me against the bars of the cell and buried his fangs in my neck. He didn’t even lessen the pain of his attack. He just tore into me like I was a piece of fresh meat and he was the starving monster.

The jolt of the attack caught me so off-guard I felt my whole body surge with anger. And that’s when I felt it, the light coursing through me, surging in my veins like a lit explosive. I had the power. Now, I just had to focus it.

Kieran had stopped drinking from me and had closed the wound at some point--I wasn’t even sure when. But he still had me in his arms, pressed against the cell doors. His body lined tightly against mine, and he was very happy to be there.

“Open the door, lass,” he breathed against my neck and I shivered. And it wasn’t because I was cold. Damn, but the man pushed my buttons in oh so many places.

I flung the ball of light that had formed in my hand against the cell door and the door burst open, falling to the floor in a thud as though it were never attached.

Kieran’s lips found mine in a deep, consuming kiss that stole the remainder of my breath and as he released me, he said, “Now let us go find my people.”

I didn’t have enough air or I’d have made some snarky comment. Once again, he’d left me speechless.