Blood and Kisses

chapter 17



“What is the ritual of power?” Gideon shouted, as they dashed through the rain to the car Mina had lent them.

Thalia ripped open the heavy passenger-side door and jumped into the white, classic Cadillac. The massive door clicked shut under its own weight. Her T-shirt was soaked through. She pulled the clammy fabric away from her skin, but when she let go, it simply adhered more closely to her chilled flesh. Her ponytail dripped water down her back. She leaned forward to protect the red leather upholstery. Gideon slid into the driver’s seat. He was barely damp. Typical.

Thalia rummaged through the glove compartment for some tissues. She found a small pack and began to blot her wet neck. “It’s a series of spells intended to determine the strength of a witch’s powers. It used to be a kind of witches’ duel, but it’s not done much anymore.”

“I’m surprised they agreed. They already had their pick.”

“The Champion has always been hereditary. It’s never been decided by vote, my guess is they want to silence the critics. They probably figure I’ll lose anyway, so why not let me spin my wheels.” A tear eluded her control and slid down her cheek. It mingled with the raindrops she’d missed. Damn, when did she get to be such a crybaby? Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

Gideon placed a large hand on her shoulder. “Spirit said you’ve faced pretty tough problems in the past, and the gods know you’ve saved my life enough times. I would have bled out after we fought the rogue, if you hadn’t got me home so quickly and sewed me up. I know you can handle this.”

Thalia hung her head. She could feel her nose pinking. “Don’t forget I had to augment my powers with some of your energy.”

“Which you gave me back in spades when you saved me the second time.”

“I didn’t save you.”

“Yes, you did. Oh, I would’ve lived, but if I’d succumbed to the Claiming...I might as well have been dead. You brought me back from the edge and gave me the strength to hold on.” His voice was firm, and although less than convinced, Thalia smiled, glad for the vote of confidence.

Silence stretched between them like a rubber band. Thalia occupied herself with mopping her face and blowing her nose. She flipped down the visor. No mirror. Just as well. She didn’t even want to think about what she must look like. She smiled inwardly. What did it say about her that with all that had happened, she was still worried about her looks? Although, with a face like hers, she didn’t know why she even bothered. Clean and neat, her mother always used to say, that was all anybody could expect.

Gideon started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. “Why couldn’t they perform the ritual tonight?”

“Tomorrow is the solstice. Timing is everything in spells of this nature.” Her shirt was starting to dry, and she waved the hem in front of the air conditioning vent to help it along.

“I think it’s brave of you to take the chance. You could have simply given up.” His voice was nonjudgmental, but Thalia sensed that while he couldn’t understand how much the Championship meant to her, he respected her commitment.

Thalia sighed. She felt like she’d gone three rounds with Muhammad Ali. “What choice do I have? I have no family left. The Championship is my life.” She smiled, sadly. “Besides, my mother would have wanted me to do it. She loved this community. She felt there was nothing more important than serving others. Lily on the other hand”—she laughed—“Would’ve told me to tell them to go to Hell. To ditch this town and start over somewhere else.” A pang struck her in the chest, stealing her air. This was the first time she’d thought about Lily without thinking of her murder. It felt good to remember her as she’d been, but at the same time it was like admitting she was truly gone.

Damn it, Lily. Why’d you have to go off with a strange man? What were you thinking? The anger faded, leaving only an aching void in the place her spirited cousin had once occupied. Lily would never have worried about being cautious. She’d been too busy living to think about dying. And strong, God, she’d been strong. She never would have let the community push her around. She would have shaken Rochester’s dust off her feet and never looked back.

“I wish I could be like her,” Thalia continued as if she’d never stopped speaking, “but I just don’t have it in me. It wouldn’t do any good to run from this anyway. Assuming he has the prophecy, and he must because why else would he be focusing on people who know me, there’s no reason to suppose he wouldn’t follow to force me to come back.” She thought out loud, as she slipped the ponytail holder off her wet hair and raked her fingers through the heavy strands in an ineffectual attempt to dry it. “I guess you’re stuck with me for now.”

“There are worse people to be stuck with.”

“Thanks.”

There was another long silence, but it had a comfortable, easy feel to it, as if no more words needed to be said. The windshield wipers squeaked as they did their job, and rain streaked and beaded the tinted windows. Thalia was reminded of the first time she’d ridden in a car with Gideon. It seemed so long ago now. Had it only been four days? She peered at his handsome profile out of the corner of her eye. He appeared to be concentrating on the traffic, competently navigating the rain slick streets with the deftness of a man who did everything well. Who would ever have imagined how much she would come to trust and rely on him in such a short time? Don’t get used it, she reminded herself. You’re perfectly capable of handling life on your own. And you’re not alone anyway. You’ve still got Spirit.

Spirit. No doubt he was curled up on one of the Gideon’s beds right now. “Can we stop and get Spirit before we head to the Tomb?” When had she started to think about the bar using the vampire name?

“I think we can risk it. Do you have enough energy to cast an invisibility spell on you both?”

“I think so, but I’ll only need to cloak myself. Spirit has his own powers, and one of them is invisibility.”

Gideon nodded. “Good. The Tomb will be crawling with cops.”

A lone raindrop sparkled like a diamond in his thick hair, and Thalia successfully fought the urge to brush it away. She folded her hands in her lap. It was better if she didn’t touch him. But, oh how she wanted to. She forced herself to remember how much it hurt when he’d pulled back from her in the kitchen. Her throat ached. She would be a fool to court that kind of pain again.



The rain seemed to have cleared the city streets. For the most part, they were the only ones on the road as they traveled to the Tomb. They’d dropped Spirit at Mina Shaw’s house. Spirit had insisted it was his place to go over the preparations for the ritual of power and ensure everything was done correctly. He didn’t say it, but Gideon got the feeling he was afraid someone might tamper with the spells.

The police had been watching the house, but it had been only a matter of minutes to slip inside and retrieve the familiar, who had escaped the police’s notice by literally vanishing.

Gideon had wanted to get Thalia some dry clothes, but her suitcase had been taken. His own clothes were still in his closet, probably because the police had already examined them and found nothing. Gideon had vaporized the blood-soaked clothes from his earlier encounter with the rogue. A decades-old amendment to the Code required careful disposal of blood. Vampires didn’t shed hair or skin cells. No vampire DNA could find its way to a crime lab. Nonetheless his clothes were much too big for her. So they’d stopped at Wegmans and bought Thalia a dry shirt emblazoned with the Lilac Festival logo. There had only been a few left, as the festival was in May. He glanced at her. She looked great in purple. Her hair had dried and, freshly brushed, it shone with the glossy highlights of a raven’s wing. He clenched the steering wheel. He ached to touch her, could already imagine the feel of her hair sliding through his fingers, but held back, reminding himself of the consequences.

He checked the time on his watch. Almost one a.m. He hoped the rogue hadn’t already chosen another victim while they’d wasted their precious time with witch politics.

After Thalia challenged Heath, they’d left the community to gossip, drink punch, and eat cookies. For people who thought the end of the world was coming, they sure had an odd way of showing it. Gideon pushed his lingering anger aside and focused on the confrontation he hoped was coming. This had to end, and quickly. He couldn’t afford to become any more attached to Thalia. If anything happened to her, the beast would be almost impossible to contain.

He’d thought about trying to convince Thalia to stay with Mina while he checked out the Tomb, but he didn’t dare. His earlier vision returned to torment him. Her delicate body, sprawled on the indifferent ground, devoid of life, forsaken like so much jetsam cast onto a beach. No. He didn’t dare leave her alone.

Gideon found a parking spot on the street a few blocks from the Tomb. The plan was to cloud the mind of anyone they encountered, make them seem like just another couple. They couldn’t afford to waste Thalia’s energy.

He couldn’t remember ever taking more than a day or two to enforce the Code. Who the hell was this rogue?

As if he’d conjured him, a low moan issued from a nearby alley. It sounded like a man in the throes of wild sex, but Gideon was not deceived. He grabbed Thalia’s hand and sped around the corner in time to see a bent figure drinking from the neck of a man in a black leather jacket.

He wrenched the misshapen creature away from the man, who leaned drunkenly against the cement wall, a silly grin on his handsome face. A good sign. They’d caught the rogue before he’d claimed the man’s life force.

“Paul!” Thalia ran to the vampire’s prey and supported him before he could slide down the wall. “We need to get him to a hospital.”

The creature he had yanked off the mortal looked like a walking skeleton. His wrinkled, yellow skin hung off his wasted frame like a hand-me-down suit. He had only wisps of coarse hair on his bald skull. The creature grinned, showing pointed bloodstained teeth. “You don’t recognize me, do you?”

It was true. Gideon could not recall this decayed remnant of a man. But as the vital blood from his youthful victim circulated through the rogue’s ancient veins, a transformation occurred. His flesh began to plump out. His sallow skin took on a wholesome glow. His crooked spine began to straighten. His shrunken body grew up and out.

Soon, a man Gideon did recognize stood before him.

“Akos.”

The man he despised more than any being in the world, next to himself. His nemesis. The man who had shown Gideon what he truly was. “I thought you were dead.”

“Far from it.”

The emaciated arm swelled in Gideon’s steely grasp. Muscles strained beneath his fingers. Akos would soon be strong enough to be a danger.

His old enemy laughed, a dry, rusty sound like a broken-down car refusing to start. “What are you going to do? You’re a wanted man, and the police will be by any second. Not time enough to take care of me and the boy.” He waved a hand in his victim’s direction.

Thalia had lost the fight to keep the man upright, and he’d slithered to the flooded pavement. Thalia pushed his head between his knees and forced his thighs up to his chest to aid his stuttering heart in its quest to push blood to his brain. Her face, blanched with concern, could not compete with the man’s waxen complexion. Gideon could hear the thready, irregular beat of the man’s heart. His cells, deprived of oxygen-rich blood, were dying. The man stood on the very threshold of death. He needed blood and fast.

Offering his blood might turn him, and Gideon had no idea what witch blood might do to him or how to get it in him. There was no time to spare. A hospital was his only chance.

Akos, flush from his aborted meal, but not at full strength, and without the augmentation of the Claiming, would be a fool to attack Gideon now.

Gideon flung the ancient’s wrist away and turned his back on his age-old rival. He stooped to gather the victim up in his arms.

Akos rushed him. Gideon spun and planted a sidekick in Akos’ middle, knocking him across the alley. He hit the wall of the next building and slid to the wet ground. Before he could rise, Gideon scooped up the dying man, grabbed Thalia’s hand, and teleported them directly outside the nearest hospital.



The suddenness of their arrival outside Highland Hospital’s Emergency Department startled Thalia. Disoriented, she froze, taking in her new surroundings.

“Get help!” Gideon said, urgently. “Tell them he got into a fight, and his opponent cut his throat. Go!”

Recovering her scattered wits, Thalia sprinted inside. Seconds later, she ran back out with two E.M.T.’s and a gurney. Paul lay on the curb, his jacket pillowing his head, barely conscious, a hand pressed to the wound at his neck.

Gideon was gone. She didn’t bother looking to see if he hid nearby. His presence affected her on a cellular level. She always knew when he was near.

He had left her.

She drew a deep breath, feeling strangely abandoned.

No doubt he’d gone back to find the man he’d called Akos. She needed to get back to him. Who knew how much energy he had expended teleporting?

Grunting with effort, the E.M.T.’s loaded Paul onto the gurney and rushed him inside. She trotted alongside, the soles of her sandals slipping on the shiny floor. She placed a hand on his forehead and uttered a quick healing spell under her breath. With any luck, it would keep him alive until they could transfuse him. They came to the doors that led to the E.R. and Thalia stopped, saying a prayer for good measure as the door closed behind them.

A kind and helpful man, Paul didn’t deserve to die for the crime of knowing her. None of the victims had deserved that—not Kimmy, or Sarah, or Grace, and certainly not Lily.

Lily. Tonight she’d met the animal who had taken her cousin from her.

Rage replaced guilt, pouring through her like water over High Falls. She was not to blame for their deaths, Akos was. It was Akos who had stolen their futures, ripped them from loving families. He alone was to blame. He was every bit as insane and evil as Gideon said the rogue would be.

She thought of Gideon, somewhere out there, perhaps fighting Akos at that very minute, alone and drained.

She wandered back outside into the small adjacent parking lot. The rain had stopped, but the air, still thick with moisture, clung to her, weighing down her clothes and hair. “Think, think,” she said out loud, pacing as she examined her options. She didn’t even have money for a bus or a cab, and even if she did, they might be on the lookout for her.

She turned over the spells she knew in her head and dismissed any that would take too much power. She didn’t want to be too weak to help when she found him. If only the grimoire weren’t locked in Mina’s Cadillac. Finished mulling over her choices, Thalia came to one conclusion.

She would have to steal a car.