Bite the Bullet (Bitten Book 5) (18 page)

“Thank you.”

I had no idea why he was thanking me, so I dipped my chin in acknowledgement and followed the others out the front door.

As we walked to the car, Asher asked, “What was that about?”

I shrugged. “I have no clue. He may be honest, but he’s odd.”

The winter air was icy as we climbed into our vehicle. Conner, Duncan, Luca, and the other vampires had vanished into the darkness, probably returning to wherever they’d parked their SUV.

Asher started the car. “Yes, but can he help?”

It was Kerry who answered. “Yes, he can. He’s right when he says it’ll take more than a sword or a gun to kill Cornelius. The soul eater is incredibly powerful, made even more so by devouring the souls of witches and other supernatural beings. I’ve never heard them called
animavore
before. I’ll need to do some research, but I’m sure my mother’s library has something that can help us too.”

Now we just had to depend on another soul eater, Cornelius’ twin brother, to help us kill him.

And hope that Rhys didn’t turn on us once that was done.

K
erry and Finn
arrived just before ten the next day, armed with information about the
animavore
. They also looked worried.

Whatever they’d learned, it was bad.

We gathered in Conner’s library because the table there was larger than the one in his office and we needed the space. Kerry began pulling books out of her bag, most of them old leather bound tomes with symbols carved on the spines.

“Rhys wasn’t lying when he said there was a ritual to killing an
animavore
.” Kerry began. “And we will need him to complete it. The only way to kill a soul eater is with the help of another. At least that’s what I’ve read in these books so far. I won’t stop looking for an alternative,” she promised.

“Damn,” Donna murmured.

“Yeah, it gets worse,” Kerry continued. “It seems
animavore
are created by a dark warlock. It requires an incredible amount of power and a blood sacrifice. I won’t go into details because it’s extremely disturbing and I want the rest of you to be able to sleep tonight, even if I can’t. Anyway, not only are they damned difficult to create, they’re even harder to kill. The
animavore
are the closest I’ve ever seen to being truly immortal.” She began opening the books to marked pages and passing them around the table. “I didn’t get to read all of the information in these books last night, so I need you to go to the marked sections and see what you can find. Seven heads are better than one.”

“Hm, I wonder if Rasputin was one of these soul eaters,” Donna murmured, her eyes fixed on the text in front of her.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Kerry replied. “But right now, we need to figure out how to at least contain one, just in case Rhys turns out to be a traitorous bastard.”

I began reading the hand-written book in front of me, struggling with some of the language and the penmanship.

“When was this written?” I asked Kerry, pointing to the pages.

“The late fifteen hundreds,” she answered. “Why?”

“I’m having difficulty reading some of this. The script and the language are so different. It’s like trying to read Shakespeare.” And as much as I loved to read, I struggled with the Bard’s plays.

Donna chuckled under her breath.

“I’ll look at it,” Asher offered. “I lived it, so I might have an easier time understanding.”

I nodded and handed over the book, taking the text that Asher held out in exchange. At a quick glance, I saw that it was in Latin and shot him a dry look that had the corners of his mouth quirking.

“Well, at least this is printed legibly,” I joked, feeling somewhat inadequate.

Asher immediately sensed what I was feeling and looked up at me, his blue eyes serious. “We all have our strengths, Shannon, and yours compensate for my weaknesses.”

He went back to the pages of the book, skimming through them with ease. I glanced up to find Donna and Kerry smiling dreamily at me.

Yeah, so my vampire was a sweet talker.

“Don’t get all girly,” I mouthed at them, which only made their grins widen.

“I think I found something useful,” Asher announced, interrupting my staring contest with Donna and Kerry.

He pushed the book to the center of the table and we all stood, leaning in so that we could see the pages.

The book was larger than a modern hardcover and the pages were yellowed. On one side there was a large drawing of a circle with symbols in equal increments around it. There was text on the other side.

“It’s a trap,” Kerry stated after reading for a few minutes. “And it will dampen his powers.”

Asher nodded. “That’s what I’m understanding from the writing.”

Kerry turned the page and hummed in her chest. “Some of the ingredients I’ll need will be hard to find.” She looked at Conner, then me. “It will take me at least three weeks to get a few of these things. Will that work for your plans?”

I bit back a scoff and let Conner answer. I may have some advance knowledge of the situation we were facing, but he was the brains of the operation.

“That’ll be fine,” he replied.

When everyone began to scoot the chairs back to leave, Kerry asked, “Where are you all going? We need to look through the rest of these books in case there’s more information we need. This isn’t a TV show where we find one big clue and rush off to save the day.”

I held out the Latin text to Asher. “I think you’d better read this one.”

I took another text from the stack next to Kerry and settled back down into my chair. Asher and I sat shoulder to shoulder as we read, our arms occasionally brushing. The library was hushed, the only sound was the occasional murmur and the whisper of turning pages.

Eventually I stopped to stretch my arms above my head, my brain full of more information about magical creatures and evil beings than I ever needed to know.

Glancing at my watch, I winced. “Isn’t Rhys coming at one?” I asked.

Conner and Asher looked up. “Yes.”

“It’s a little after noon. We should probably grab some lunch and get ready for his arrival.”

Last night after we’d arrived back at Conner’s, we’d gathered in the study, all of us, including Kerry, Donna, and myself. Over cups of tea or glasses of wine, we spent a good hour discussing what we should share with Rhys.

Then we spent another hour talking about what we should keep to ourselves.

He would be here soon and then we would see exactly how helpful his involvement was going to be in formulating our course of action. If nothing else, his knowledge of the inner workings of Cornelius’ mind might prove to be useful.

“Leave the books on the table,” Kerry suggested. “We’ll come back up here and continue our research after Rhys leaves.”

I suppressed a groan. I never minded the tedious jobs when I worked for the security firm, but this was different. There was very little I could do according to what I was reading. I didn’t possess magical abilities as Kerry did and most of the texts were based on spells and potions that I would never be able to create.

Once again, I was feeling ineffective, and I loathed it.

As everyone migrated out of the room, Asher grabbed my hand. “Wait just a minute.” Once the library was empty, he looked down at me. “I can feel your frustration, Shannon. What’s wrong?”

Apparently, I’d allowed my mental shields to slip while I focused on deciphering what I was reading. “I just don’t see how reading these books will help me contribute to the plans we’re making. I can’t cast spells or make potions. I’m not a witch like Kerry and what I’ve read so far requires both of those skills.”

Asher arched an eyebrow at me. “This is why it’s important to learn to read other languages,” he murmured. “I’ve found some interesting information in the book you couldn’t translate.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “We’ll discuss it during lunch. I’m sure everyone will want to know.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “One thing though.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Tonight, unless the house is being attacked by the Faction, you need to feed. You’re too young to go more than a couple of days without blood. You could lose control and attack Kerry or Calder.”

Since the day I’d woken, I’d only drunk from Asher a few times. I’d been wondering when I’d need human blood.

“Okay. So how does that work? Will I drink blood from a human or do you have blood on hand? If you bring in a human, it needs to be someone willing, because I refuse to put the whammy on some poor person who has no clue what’s happening.”

Asher looked at me in shock. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Feeding,” I answered, wondering why he seemed so surprised.

He took me by the shoulders. “Shannon, we’re mates. When a vampire finds their Chosen, they only need to drink from each other.”

“You mean I’ll feed you and you’ll feed me?” I asked, not quite sure if I understood. “I thought vampires needed human blood to survive.”

Asher shook his head. “Not always. Ours is a symbiotic relationship on a physical and emotional level. We are connected in every way possible.”

That brought up another set of concerns. “So what happens if one of us is hurt or—” I paused because I hated to say it, much less think about it. “Dies?”

“Either of us would survive, but the loss of a mate is…agony. Most choose to meet the dawn, especially if their Claimed had been with them for a long time.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that what you would do?” I asked.

He lifted a hand and touched my cheek. “Most likely.”

“No,” I snapped. “If something happened to me, not that I think it will based on the visions I had when you turned me, you better suck it up and keep on living. Especially if we have children. They’ll need you.”

“Is that what you would do?” he queried quietly.

“Is that what you would want me to do?” I shot back, my voice harsh. “Kill myself?”

Asher shook his head. “I’d much rather we live for an eternity together than have you die to be with me.”

“I’d rather have that too,” I replied. “I do know that neither of us will be dying any time soon.”

“Exactly how much of our lives did you see in your visions?” Asher asked, wrapping an arm around my waist and leading me out of the library.

“I’ll tell you about some of it later tonight,” I promised. “I don’t want to give too much away. It’ll ruin the surprises.”

He squeezed me tightly. “But you know.”

“So?”

Asher chuckled as we walked downstairs to the kitchen and I smiled at the sound.

My vampire didn’t know it yet, but he had many years of happiness in front of him. Centuries, actually.

C
onner’s housekeeper had
made sandwiches for us, and we sat around the dining room table, talking about information we’d found.

I told Kerry she would be better off reading the book I had because it had a lot of spells and potions. She agreed, but told me that I wasn’t getting out of research duty.

Before I could argue, Asher interrupted.

“How old is that Latin text, Kerry?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m not quite sure, but I think it’s a handwritten copy of an original text from several thousand years ago. Why?”

“It seems to be a…chronicle of sorts. The creation and study of
animavore
. I’m not completely certain, but I think it might have been written by the original creator of the soul eaters.”

Kerry’s eyes grew wide. “Why are you just mentioning this now?” she asked, her voice strident.

“Do you think it’s possible?” Asher responded.

She nodded quickly. “Yes. I’ve heard rumors of its existence, but I never thought my mother would have a copy in her personal library!” she exclaimed. “Oh my Goddess, that’s fucking incredible!” Turning to Finn, she cried, “Do you know what this means?”

He shook his head, clearly amused by her excitement.

“That the old biddies in the coven will definitely want to get rid of me now.” She said it with a grin.

I shook my head as I ate my sandwich. Kerry always seemed to get a thrill out of riling up the older, more conservative members of her coven. In fact, I thought she went out of her way on occasion to do it.