The hot blood may still run laps through my veins,

Though what confronts me is a mile-high ice-escarpment.

From Song of False Hope by Otto Orban

Translated from the Hungarian by George Szirtes

 

Chapter Nineteen

 

It was nice to find that time was not my enemy, and that Kieran made an excellent landing site. Considering my glorious vision decided to transport me through whatever realm of hell I was in and deposit me headfirst through trees at a whipcord speed, I was lucky to be alive. I even told myself that as each branch slammed into and over me like a father beating a recalcitrant child until I pummeled to the ground.

Unfortunately, Kieran wasn’t lucky enough to come away unscathed, as I took him out with me when I dropped out of the sky like a giant rock and fell on top of him. He was gracious enough not to complain when the two of us landed in a heap in the middle of the nearest thorn bush.

Either Murphy really had a bug up his ass against me, or one of Ashlan’s tree women were the jealous sort. I wasn’t certain which, because after my wild ride through the vortex of doom, I was sent headlong through the whipping post of an elm and then deposited amongst the coarse vines and thick bramble. It wasn’t a very nice thing to do, if you asked my opinion. Which of course, no one was. And I’m sure, come the morning, I’d have the bruises on my ass to prove it.

I looked down at Kieran as my breath returned to me in a hard rush. “Sorry,” I finally managed when I could finally draw enough breath to speak with.

“It is truly quite all right,” he said as he sat up with me in his lap. He leaned in closely to me and breathed deeply, his eyes fading completely black as his hands clutched my arms.

“You are covered in blood and the smell of death…” his voice faded, and he shuddered against me. There was the faintest whisper through my mind as I heard him say, “Father…” and his voice was both a blessing and a plea. Then he clung to me, burying his face in my neck as he inhaled the scent of me deep into his lungs.

I could feel the desire rolling through him, the deep-seated hunger. The overwhelming need to feed. Images flashed from his mind to mine. A million faces and bodies in various stages of undress, the delectable kiss of blood from this willing offering of blonde hair, or that of red hair, a petite figure with small supple breasts; his teeth buried in her thigh, a tall, lanky brunette; fresh blood upon large tits where he purposefully let her blood flow, just to lick it off.

And then the image of a dark shadow dressed in a scarlet dressing gown; his long gray hair glistening in the slow burning light of a wall sconce. I could feel the pull of power from Kieran as it danced through me. I could taste his hunger and the dark lick of need like raspberry syrup upon my lips.

My body clenched with it; every pulse a firework begging for release. Kieran’s breath was hot on my neck as he nuzzled me, licking the thundering beat of my throat. “I feel him, smell him on you,” he growled against me. “How is this possible?”

I tried to speak, to tell him of my journey; the visions with the Wanderling. But the words would not come out. My throat was constricting as Kieran’s hunger roared through me, and I was choking on his demand.

He growled at me in frustration, his body hard and rigid against mine, his face still buried in my neck, breathing in the blood scent of his Father. Without warning, he flipped me to the ground, hands trembling as he reached for my skirt, shoving it up to my waist. I cringed when I felt his hands upon my panties, tried to reach for his arms, but he shoved my hands away, pinning them in the grasp of one hand, before I could keep him from tearing the panties off of me with the other.

“I will take you, Rihker, your body and your blood. The Father will not have what is mine.” His voice had grown angry, filled with loathing. I didn’t understand his madness, but his need and hunger were overriding my senses.

He spread my legs, and I heard him unzip himself from his pants. My heart slammed against my ribcage like a locomotive out of control as he positioned himself above me. I was overloading on shock, too stunned to move, too lost in his need to make him stop. He was going to force himself on me, and I could do nothing to stop him.

This was not how I wanted things between us. Not how I envisioned we would end. Because Prophets help me, if he did this, we would certainly be over. There would be no further continuation to whatever I had considered with him.

I was shaking inside with fear, anger and Kieran’s hunger as I looked into the fathomless darkness of his eyes. His face had gone marble-smooth, and all emotion had escaped him. There was only the irrational hunger flowing from him to me by our bond of blood. And I was out of time, as I felt the heavy head of his cock at my entrance.

In panic, I shoved at him with all of my power, screaming his name with every ounce of Light I could envision.

I watched, fear coursing through me, as I called my power to my hand. In the charged silence that passed between us his eyes ignited into a crimson flame, their center a searing chartreuse the exact shade of red as mine as my power flowed from the core of my being, slamming full force into his heart.

Horrified I could feel it like a rope being flicked about the air, the whip-crack of power flashing through us like a bolt of lightning. But there was nothing I could do to call it back as the currents of flame and fire coursed through my skin. I channeled all of my power directly into him though our blood bond until he yelled out into the darkness, “The Light…oh, God, the beautiful Light,” before finally collapsing on top of me with a sigh of pleasure.

His breath had grown haggard, and his pulse raced against my hands as I held him against me. I knew I hadn’t killed him, since he still breathed; though I knew he didn’t need to. We were leaning against an old oak tree in a small clearing within the forest; its bark rough against my back as a small opening in the canopy above allowed the moon to shine down upon us. Dragon and Mercy had carried us away from our light show--apparently I’d scorched the earth around us in my attempt to keep from being raped.

Kieran still wasn’t quite himself yet, and it had been a good twenty minutes since I’d zapped him. I still had no idea what my power had done to him. All I could think to do at the time was call the Light. Apparently, I’d force-fed it to him.

I remembered Ashlan saying that Kieran had wanted to warm himself by my Light. I guess I’d left him feeling quite toasty, if his sigh of completion was any indication. If you asked me, it wasn’t a good thing.

“How is he?” Mercy asked as she squatted down beside me to check on her master. There was concern marring her pale face, and her eyes held worry for the first time that I’d seen.

“He seems to be only resting, but his heart is racing, so I’m not entirely sure,” I said as I brushed a lock of Kieran’s hair away from his chiseled face. If he didn’t stir soon, I was going to get really nervous.

Mercy nodded and made to rise. I grabbed her wrist. “Mercy, why didn’t you stop me? Or at the least, why haven’t you tried to kill me by now?” I asked, wondering about our initial conversation when first we met. She didn’t strike me as the kind of Vamp to forgive or forget. Since I’d very nearly fried her boss, you would think she’d be a little pissier about it.

She looked at me carefully, then at Kieran before turning to stare off into the forest. I could hear a deep sigh rumble through her as she replied, “You came to my rescue, Rihker, and offered me your care, and like as not, Kieran was going to take what was not freely offered. Had you not stopped him…” her words trailed off, no further explanation being needed between us.

I stared at her in utter shock, my mouth hanging open. It was certainly the last thing I would have expected to come out of her mouth. Mercy was a hardass, and she didn’t seem the type to let something like zapping her master with Light go unpunished. I started to say so, but she put up her hand to cut off my words.

“I have offered you a reprieve, Rihker. I cannot say that it will happen again, so do not count on it. There may be a time that you may earn a punishment, and I will let it stand. But for now, this one you did not earn,” she said as she stared directly at me, a small understanding passing between us.

Somewhere deep inside the twisted little Irish bitch were still a few morals. Somewhere. I should count my blessings that she’d found them tonight.

I watched her retreating back as she wandered off to check the perimeter of our area. Kieran began to stir against me. Slowly his head moved from side to side and his lashes flashed as though he were wandering through REM sleep. Then suddenly he took a massive breath and sprang forward, his eyes wide open, gasping in several lungs full of air.

“Are you okay?”

He sighed heavily before turning towards me. “What the hell did you do to me, lass?” he asked, scorn and anger dripping from his voice.

I looked at him sheepishly, unsure what to say. I hadn’t meant to hurt him, but really, he was trying to rape me.

“I’m waiting for an answer, Rihker.”

“I believe I sun-kissed you. At least, I think that’s what the Pixies call it.”

“Sun-kissed,” he said skeptically and I could feel the weight of his gaze as it raked over me with disdain. “You are not even sure? You just sent your power into me in a rush of unchecked emotion, not knowing what it would do?” His voice was growing angrier, if that were possible, and he had turned to face me so I could see the black circling his purple eyes.

“Don’t take that tone with me,” I said the first stirrings of indignation rushing through me. “If I remember right, you were the one about to Vamp out on psycho-ness and rape me. Remember?” Now I was getting pissed. What the hell was wrong with him? It’s not like I intentionally did it. Besides, he had a thousand years to control his hunger and bad habits. What the hell was his excuse?

I stood up and brushed the leaves from my skirt. This was ridiculous. I’d been on this fucking wild goose chase all night. It was bad enough I’d been literally to hell and back, but to have the one guy that I actually wanted something to do with try and rape me and then get pissy because I zapped him with a little Light to keep him from doing it, well, fuck this. I was so out of here.

“Rihker. Wait.”

“Shut up, Kieran,” I said as I started to walk away. “I’m going home. You can sit there and die--again--for all I care. I got the information I came here for. I spoke with the Wanderling. And now I’m going home.” I stomped off, not waiting for his reply. “Maybe Dragon will be nice enough to help you find your way. That is, if you can’t make it by yourself, heap big Vampire that you are,” I added snidely as I walked out of the clearing. I was pissed. Only Gimlit would be capable of easing me out of my bad mood, and unlucky for everyone around me, Gimlit wasn’t here.

I grumbled for about a hundred yards, the Werewolf brothers at my back keeping an even pace with me and saying nothing. Somewhere in the darkness, Kieran, Dragon and Mercy were bringing up the rear. As far as I was concerned, it was a good place for all of them.

This night was so far up on my list of shit that I just wanted to get home and slam a big glass of tea, curl up on my couch and be left the fuck alone. I’d had enough of all of it. I couldn’t wait to get back to Gimlit and tell him about my meeting with his infamous Wanderling and get his take on the whole death-mare that her voodoo cocktail had caused me to envision. Maybe he could help me decipher what it all meant.

But I did not want a rendition of any of the rest of the evening. Kieran and his band of vagabonds needed to give me some serious space, or I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions. He had me so pissed off I was considering throwing the lot of them out of my house and telling the Silent Court to do their own damned dirty work--the consequences be damned.

I made it about ten more paces, the leaves from last autumn still churning up beneath the angry stomp of my feet as an uneasy feeling settled over me. I could hear the slow chirp of crickets and night owls cry out at our passing as we made our way beneath the burdened down arms of maple and elms. Then it all went silent, like a wand had been passed and the world had been stolen of sound.

The Were brothers froze behind me, cocking their heads as they listened to a pulse of the earth that I could never hope to hear. Glancing at each other, they slowly made their way to my side, each step through the grass and bracken silent and precise.

They formed a circle around me, a ring of protection, as they carefully looked out into the still and watchful night. “What is it?” I whispered, almost too afraid to speak. My heart had resumed a staccato that I was certain would be fatal if this night continued in this mien. I mean really, how much could one poor muscle take?

The earth-shattering growl of the creature as it tore through the bushes in a lumbering gait, its path directed at the four of us, proved to be the final straw. All I saw through the haze of darkness were dark gold eyes making a beeline for me as my three protectors went into Werewolf mode and a bear the size of a Mac truck galloped through the nearest bushes, straight at me.

“Holy fucking shit!” Someone shouted--I think it was me--as the sound of bones popping, skin sliding and Werewolves growling and howling filled the night. I could hear Kieran and Dragon in the distance shouting, but they weren’t going to make it to me in time.

The bear was bigger than any grizzly I’d seen on any Discovery Network program, and it had teeth as big as one of my fingers. At the rate it was loping towards me, those teeth were going to be ripping off an arm in about five seconds if I didn’t do something. Anything, rather than stand there with my damned mouth hanging open.

“Light!” I yelled, palms open, fingers spread tight with need. Don’t fucking fail me now, I thought as I screamed for my power. The bear was five feet from me when I threw the first ball of light it at it.

It hit it just to the right of its neck above its massive shoulder and the bear staggered. “Oh, shit,” I swore as I looked at the Weres, who’d just finished changing. The Were brothers were still shaking out their fur as the bear righted itself, seemed to gather its wits long enough to calculate what had happened, and rising up on its hind legs, roared its anger into the wind.

I could literally feel the heat from its breath blow the loose tendrils of my hair back from my face, it was that close. “Son of a bitch!” I yelled, the bear all but glaring at me, its sharp teeth glistening with spittle.

I thought about the Light again and whipped another ball at it, this one hitting it directly in the chest. The bear roared in pain--at least, what I hoped was pain. So I did it again.

The Were brothers had finally started to move as I shot three more orbs at the damned thing. In unison, they dove at the mammoth beast, one springing for its jugular, one for a wildly swinging claw and the other for its chest. The bear lost its balance in the flurry of growling, snapping teeth as it was overpowered with the weight of the wolves.

I stood back in silent awe as I watched the wolves tear the bear to pieces. They were like three children, each one gnashing and ripping into the flesh as though it were a Christmas morn and the bear were their very own present. I could only blink in startled silence as the wind carried the screams of the dying beast off into the night.

I don’t think my heart beat normally the entire journey back to my house, but at least it was a very silent journey. I kept glancing at the wolves, their silver fur bright with the tint of blood in the waning light of the moon that followed us. Kieran thankfully had said nothing else to me, though he tried on several occasions, finally letting it go at Dragon’s gentle persistence. He really was a smart cat; maybe Kieran could learn something from his silence.

We met Gimlit at the front door, an expectant look on his face as he took in the sight of the blood-covered wolves, my blood-soaked clothes and three very silent Vampires. “We need to talk,” I started to say as I made my way up the porch; my irritation, I was certain, rolling off each step I took.

“I’m afraid it will have to keep, mistress,” he said, his voice low and serious.

I looked at him with worry and a bit of frustration piercing my lips as he continued, “I’m afraid you have been summoned. Your Queen wishes to see you.”

Well, bloody hell! Could my night get any worse?

Don’t answer that, because I really don’t want to know.