14
I SCREAMED.
Matthias staggered backward. The knife protruded from his chest. His heart. He pulled it out with effort and it clattered to the floor. He fell to his knees.
“No—Matthias!” I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He was going to die right in front of me. There was pain and anger in his eyes as they locked with mine. I braced myself to watch him explode into ash and fire, gone forever.
But nothing happened.
Instead, Matthias fell forward onto his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his chest, forming a small pool. He didn’t die. He didn’t disappear. He was still here, long past the time when he should have been destroyed. A silver blade through his heart—Kristoff hadn’t been playing around. He’d been aiming to kill. Matthias looked dead, but he wasn’t.
Kristoff picked up the dagger from the floor and wiped the blade clean on a cloth. “Looks like you were wrong. You’re still immortal, just like me.”
My eyes widened as I fully understood what I’d just witnessed. Whatever pain he’d faced, whatever weakness he’d felt after drinking my poisoned blood—it hadn’t been nearly enough to strip away his immortality.
I didn’t know how much damage he could take before he’d actually die. Maybe there was no limit. Maybe he couldn’t die at all. Ever. Suddenly the thought of living an eternity was infinitely scarier than dying young.
I went to his side and touched his face. There was a flicker of life in his eyes, but other than that he didn’t move. I forced myself to look at Kristoff, feeling fear toward this man who seemed very reasonable in the way he spoke, but was able to inflict pain or death on others without a second thought.
“That wasn’t necessary.” The words felt thick in my mouth.
He sat down on his throne again. “He thought he was vulnerable now and I wasn’t sure either way. There was only one way to find out. Consider it an experiment. My daughter’s unfortunate death has given both of us the chance to live forever.”
Icy fear surged through me as I thought about Sara. “That’s why you took his daughter. Are you planning on giving her to the Amarantos Society so they can follow in your footsteps?”
His brows drew together. “What kind of a monster do you take me for?”
“That’s a loaded question.”
“The Amarantos Society aren’t on my side and have proven this by letting me stay trapped, comatose, locked away in a coffin for three decades. I owe them nothing.” He glanced over my shoulder. “Bring her in.”
I thought he was talking about Sara, but someone else I wasn’t expecting came into the room. Her red hair was the first thing I saw.
Jade, the dhampyr. She was now dressed only in a black bra and panties, her body much thinner than I would have guessed from the first time I’d seen her. She didn’t fight against the vampires who held her.
I gasped out loud at the sight of her unclothed. Unlike Declan, who’d received many scars from fighting vampires and getting injured, stabbed, and shot over the years, Jade’s scars were up and down her arms and thighs, small white puncture marks from where she’d been fed upon all of her life. It made my heart twist for her pain—a different pain from what Declan had experienced, but no less traumatic. I wondered then how much of her insanity had been caused simply by being a dhampyr and how much was from the horrors she’d had to face.
My sympathy quickly turned to alarm.
Declan had been on his way to find her when he left last night. It would have been his first stop. Maybe she was already gone by the time he reached the amusement park again.
“You have her here so you can drink from her,” I said quietly. “You saw in Matthias’s mind how he planned to use her blood to regain his strength.”
“Yes, I did. And I will drink from her, but I haven’t yet. I feel quite well at the moment, but it’s a good thing to have a backup plan.” He waved his hand toward Matthias and the thugs brought Jade toward him where he lay on the floor. “Her blood will help him regain his strength from this new injury. It’s the least I can do.”
I eyed him warily, but stayed silent. That was it? No more suffering for the person responsible for imprisoning him all these years?
Kristoff took his dagger out again. The men held Jade still as he drew the sharp tip over her inner forearm and blood welled up immediately.
“Don’t hurt her,” I managed to say.
Kristoff flicked a glance at me. “I wouldn’t dream of it. She’s too valuable to harm. Just like you are.”
This didn’t set my mind at ease one tiny bit.
Jade was forced to bring her bleeding arm down to Matthias’s mouth. Jade didn’t make a single sound this time and it worried me that she’d lost her will to fight.
I hadn’t. Not yet.
“Okay, Kristoff. What do you want me to do?” I asked point-blank.
“Patience, Jillian.”
“I’m fresh out of patience. Here’s the problem—whatever you want to do with me, you don’t have much time. I’m dying. The Nightshade—the poison in me—it’s killing me.”
He didn’t react to this other than templing his fingers and studying me. “I didn’t read that in Matthias’s mind.”
“I guess he doesn’t give my mortality a lot of thought. All I know is I don’t have a lot of time left. So whatever you want me for, whatever will help me get my nieces safely back home, you better speak up now.”
He was silent for so long that I began to worry I’d gone too far, broken too many rules, said too much. I was overvaluing myself, thinking he wanted me to live when really all he’d done was ask his thugs not to give me any more bruises.
I couldn’t believe my original plan was to march in front of him and get him to bite me. This was not a man who lacked control. He had it to spare. Standing within six feet of me—the usual distance it took to get a good sniff of the Nightshade—he showed no sign that my scent affected him at all. He’d never be weak enough to bite me. He’d never lose that much of his control knowing what he did about my blood.
And it wouldn’t really make any difference if he did. He’d still be immortal.
This was a hopeless situation and I didn’t know what I could say or do to make it turn out any differently. I wasn’t the type of woman who relished the thought of a man swinging in to save me when I’d gotten myself into trouble, but I desperately wished that Declan would storm in here, guns blazing, and save us all.
He didn’t.
“Well?” I asked after a long moment had passed. “Are you going to tell me what your big plan for me is? Why you kidnapped my nieces?”
“I’m surprised it isn’t obvious.” He leaned forward a little. “There’s someone I want you to kill.”
I blanched. “I’m not a killer.”
“I know.” He smiled. “Which is why it will prove to be an interesting experiment.”
Matthias had his tests. Kristoff had his experiments.
I licked my dry lips. “Who is it?”
“The leader of the Amarantos Society you spoke about earlier. He’s an enemy of mine whom I anticipate will try to stand in my way now that I’m back. I want him dead, and I want to see if you can do it for me. You will retrieve the ring he wears as proof of his death. In return, your nieces will be released safely with no idea that anything happened other than a fun night of movies and games in a distant relative’s big house.”
“I get him to bite me and that’s that.”
“Yes.”
“What’s the catch?” Although it sounded horrible and dangerous and not something I wanted to be a part of, it was fairly straightforward.
“The catch is that I’m not entirely convinced you can do it, based on what I’ve seen of you in my brother’s mind.” He reached forward to touch my cheek and I tried not to flinch away from him. “You’re too soft. Too sweet.”
I looked down at the vampire seated on the floor, a large patch of blood on his chest. He looked pale and gaunt and near death. His gaze met mine weakly.
“Soft and sweet?” I asked him.
“You are,” he replied.
“I can help give you the strength you’ll need. Look at me,” Kristoff said and the moment I turned back to him he locked gazes with me. My heart sank as I expected to immediately be taken under by his mental influence. I hated to think what he could make me do when I had no choice in the matter. He looked deeply into my eyes and I waited to feel the warm wash flow over me as he took control of my mind, but it didn’t happen. His pale brows knit together.
“I can’t—” Kristoff frowned before clarity entered his light gray eyes. “Oh Matthias, what have you done now?”
“Only what I had to.” Matthias had fully sat up, his hand pressed against the wound in his chest. I wondered how long it would take to heal or if being stabbed through his heart was the same as anything else he’d been through. It seemed more severe to me, but I wasn’t an expert on vampiric injuries. His face was paler than normal and coated with a sheen of perspiration.
Jade sat next to him, her knees pulled up to her chest, her head down. She rocked gently back and forth and she was mumbling something, but I couldn’t make out what it was.
Kristoff put a hand under my chin and forced me to look at him again. “My brother continues to surprise me. I didn’t see this. It must be very new.”
I pulled back from him. “What are you talking about?”
“Matthias has claimed you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“Only once in a vampire’s existence can we claim a human. Claiming is typically reserved for a favored blood servant or a human lover who refuses to be sired. It’s a bond that can be broken only with death—his or yours. And since he can’t die, it’s an eternal bond.”
I stared at him with growing shock. He wasn’t f*cking with me—his expression held only sincerity. This was real. “How did this—when did this—”
“Last night,” Matthias said wearily.
I looked down at him still kneeling on the floor. “Why would you do that?”
“Yes, I’m curious, too.” Kristoff slid his dagger back into a sheath that hung from his belt. “Are you in love with her?”
I held my breath even though I already knew the answer to that. He didn’t love me. So what the hell was this?
“She was dying. She wouldn’t have survived the night. I saw the life leaving her right in front of my eyes. It was a rash decision on my part to save her. I bonded our minds and she drank my blood to seal the deal.”
I was about to argue that I never did anything of the sort when I remembered the glass he held to my lips. I was so out of it I didn’t even register what I was drinking. After that, the pain disappeared.
Clarity rapidly set in. “Are you saying that because of what you did I’m not going to die because of the Nightshade?”
Matthias studied me for a long moment. “You can still be killed. But you won’t die from the poison inside you or from any other human disease or weakness. And no other vampire apart from me can influence you anymore.”
“Only you.” I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“That still sounds dangerous to me.” I stared at him, stunned by all of this. He’d claimed me so I wouldn’t die. I was bonded with him eternally. I didn’t know how I felt about that. Angry that he hadn’t told me or asked my permission to do something so major, but—also grateful that he’d given so much in order to let me keep breathing. I needed time to let this all settle in. Unfortunately, time was a luxury I didn’t have.
Matthias slowly pushed himself up to his feet, and I could tell it caused him great pain. Even after drinking the dhampyr’s blood again—and I didn’t know how much he’d had—he was going to need a lot more recovery time.
Kristoff watched him, his brow creased with concentration. “I think I understand why you really did this. You saved her because of what she is and what she can do. You thought you could use her to destroy me. If she was dead she’d be no use to you. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Matthias glared at him. “I can’t hide anything from you.”
“You’re right, you can’t.”
Of course that was why he’d done this. I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of it myself.
I wanted to feel used, but I was still filled with a strange gratitude toward him that he’d use up his entire wild card on me. It was a generous gift with dubious motivation behind the giving. And in the end, it hadn’t helped at all.
“We’re through here,” Kristoff said, nodding at his thugs who moved in. “Take my brother away.”
They grabbed Matthias and dragged him out of the room.
I clenched my fists at my sides. “What are they going to do to him?”
He raked a hand through his dark blond hair as he watched his brother’s departure. “Don’t worry about Matthias. He’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t convinced of that. Kristoff had spent thirty years locked away somewhere. An ineffective knife through the heart didn’t seem like it was nearly enough to even the scales. Matthias was in trouble.
“You didn’t say yes to my request,” Kristoff said. “Unfortunately, since Matthias has claimed you I can’t give you any extra influence to help in the task. But it still needs to be done.”
“You think I’ll fail.”
“I’m hoping you’ll give it your best shot.”
He made it sound like a piano rehearsal rather than premeditated murder.
I crossed my arms tightly. “And if I don’t agree to this, you’ll kill Meg and Julie.”
He looked at me as if I’d grown another head. “I don’t kill children, Jillian.”
Frustration rose inside me. “I don’t want them to get hurt.”
“All I’m threatening with your nieces is to keep them away from their mother. They’re in no danger here. I love children. And if you’re making these assumptions based on what you know about the immortality ritual—”
“I am.”
“I told you that it was Matthias who was the one responsible for that death.”
“I don’t blame him for what happened.” Tears burned at my eyes. I had to stay strong, but I felt off balance and extremely vulnerable. “He was forced into a situation he never would have chosen for himself and bad things happened.”
He cocked his head. “You care about him, don’t you?”
“I care about a lot of people.”
“Like Declan.”
I froze. “What?”
“When I saw him in Matthias’s mind, it was a surprise. I never knew Monica was pregnant. Then again, I didn’t have much of a chance to know of it before I was locked away without blood for all those years.”
Fear pushed away every other emotion I was fighting against. “Where is he?”
“He’s been here since last night.”
It felt as if someone had clutched my heart and squeezed. “What have you done to him?”
“He’s very dangerous, Jillian. You know that, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “He’s not.”
“Yes, he is. He was in a rage when he was brought here to see me. Uncontrollable. His dhampyr nature has taken hold of him very quickly and can’t be reversed. My men wanted to kill him outright, but I told them not to. I knew you’d want to see him.”
Declan was here. I hadn’t wanted to believe he’d been with Jade when she’d been taken, but that was what had happened. I felt sick at the thought that he’d been here all this time and I hadn’t known it.
“Come with me. There isn’t much time.” Kristoff walked out of the room, leaving me standing there, stunned. I had to run to catch up to him. A couple thugs fell in behind me along a hallway and down a flight of stairs to the basement that had cold cement walls and no luxurious décor like upstairs. A large iron door stood in front of me and one of the vampires opened it up so Kristoff could walk through.
It led into a large room that looked like a hospital room—all white and steel, sterile and cold. Declan lay on a narrow bed, restrained, with his arms and legs strapped down. There was a leather strap across his bare chest and neck. An IV unit was next to the bed and a clear liquid dripped into the tube attached to his arm. His eye was closed.
I ran to his side. My hand shook as I touched his face. “What is this? What happened to him?”
Kristoff’s jaw tightened. “As I said, he was difficult to control. He had to be subdued before he could do damage to himself or to others.”
“Declan . . .” I whispered. “Can you hear me?”
After a moment his eye opened slowly and he looked up at me. “Jill . . . you’re here . . .”
“I’m here. It’s okay now.”
“This isn’t okay.”
I almost smiled, I was so relieved to see he was still alive. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I was an a*shole leaving you last night, but seeing Noah like that . . .”
“I understand.” I did. I’d felt hurt and betrayed and that combination had messed my mind up and almost pushed me into Matthias’s arms completely, but now everything seemed so much clearer.
“No, it was wrong. I shouldn’t have left, but I was afraid I’d hurt you. It’s inside me, this rage. I can’t control it anymore. I never could have lived with myself if anything happened to you.”
“So instead you ran off to meet—” I glanced over my shoulder at Kristoff, looking so eerily like Matthias that it continued to throw me off. He watched us from the doorway.
“My father,” Declan said.
My attention returned to Declan’s face. “For the record, you look nothing like him.”
“You’re right. He has fewer scars.” His glimmer of a smile faded. “He told me he won’t hurt you.”
“So the rumor goes. Who would have thought that he’d be such a friendly neighborhood vampire king?”
He laughed a little humorlessly. “I don’t think friendliness has much to do with it. I had to agree to something first.”
I felt myself tense. “What did you agree to?”
“Jill, it’s my fault you were dragged into all of this in the first place. If I hadn’t shown up the minute you were in the lobby, Anderson never would have grabbed you. I pushed him too far and he reacted.”
“I thought we were over this. It happened. Shit happens and we deal.”
He swallowed and I slid my hand over the leather strap across his chest. It was tight and strong. He wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t understand why this was necessary. He seemed fine. No violence. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone.
“Declan only wants the best for you, Jillian,” Kristoff said. “So we were able to come to an understanding.”
My guard went up. “And what understanding is that?”
“He is extremely self-aware for his stage of dhampyrism. It’s likely due to the serum his adoptive father kept him on for so long. It’s delayed this necessary step.”
My gaze moved to the IV that I’d assumed was some sort of medicine. “What are you giving him? What is that?”
Declan looked up at me, his brow creased. “It’s poison.”