Charleston Past Midnight (21 page)

“Got a handle on this one, mate. Go. We’ll follow as soon as possible. And Severin, watch your back when you get there. He’s a slippery wanker.”

Don’t I know it.

As I get up I nod at him and hope that it’s not the last time we see each other. We stare into each other’s eyes, having been through so much together. The bond we share is akin to brotherhood and we both know it. I detect the first faint golden glow of pre-dawn rising off the river just before I trace to her. I didn’t count on Valdon’s ability to trace to a new locale from reading someone’s thoughts alone.

The only thought burning a hole in my skull is that he’s in for one savage battle.

Chapter Twenty-One

Present Day, Noon

Seville, Spain

“D
amn it, Severin!” I’m furious as I shout into the silence of the opulent space. Filled with nervous energy I restlessly stalk back and forth across the cavernous bedroom.

My emotions are roiling with concern for Kiana as well as Severin’s safety. I’ve seen only a sampling of that freaky ass vampire’s supernatural strength and I know that it will take a monumental effort to take him down, assuming that’s even a remote possibility.

I feel like a caged tiger. The heavy drapes completely cover the windows from floor to ceiling yet there is still a trace of sunlight that trickles in at the base, barely illuminating a sliver of the immaculately tiled floor. I’m not stupid. There is no way I’m going ‘exploring’ on my own, especially in an unfamiliar home. For all I know the other rooms could have airy verandas that are wide open. No, the decision is clear. I’m staying put. But he’s going to get a piece of my mind when he returns.

From behind me a low, distinctive voice cuts through my thoughts, so chilling that it causes me to jerk back in surprise. “We finally meet in person, Calla.”

Oh no, oh hell!

My first thought is that I don’t want to turn around, that I want to scream at myself to wake up, but that’s not even a remote possibility.
Oh God, Severin! Where are you?

Time to face the music, girl, because this nightmare has sprung right to life.

Ever so slowly I turn around to face the cunning vampire, knowing that I’m about to engage in the fight of my life.

I try to focus only on his intimidating eyes because to take him in as a whole is simply too overwhelming. He’s massive and his detached, stoic demeanor is petrifying. He looks like he’s just stepped off a battlefield in Russia—a lethal commander who lives for the fight.

His long arm extends toward me. “Take my hand Calla. Come with me willingly and I will not destroy him. You have ten seconds to choose before I take away the option, which you can assume is more than generous on my part.”

My eyes drop down toward his tapered fingers. If he’s making me that offer then it means that Severin is still alive!

Fuck that! He’s may be a bad-ass killer in his own right but I’d bet money that he’s never crossed paths with a West Virginian with absolutely nothing to lose. No, I had to claw my way out of those mountains and I’ll be damned if this arrogant leech is going to dictate my future to me!

I smile sweetly and purr, “Thanks, but as
you
can assume I’m already taken, and well, what can I say,” I rake my eyes up and down his black designer suit, “you simply wouldn’t measure up, if you know what I mean.”

I can tell by the way his eyes flare for the briefest moment that my words have stung.
Good, there’s plenty more where that came from. I’ll never be his bitch. He’ll never use me!

His hand slowly drops and his handsome face tilts to the side. “Ah, I know your kind, so very spirited. But that doesn’t last, not with me, beauty. You just took away any allowances I was willing to make for you. Now you will watch him die at my very hands.”

I’m about to tell him to go to hell when a low voice coming from the shadows behind him says in a deadly tone, “You really shouldn’t go about make promises to beautiful women that you’re incapable of backing up.”

Severin!

Before I can process how thankful I am that he’s returned, I shudder as Valdon whips around to face him. In a scary, almost serene tone he says, “So be it. This is where you will die.”

“Try me.”

I slink back, frightened, as the two skilled vampires begin to circle each other in a slow, deliberate prowl. The eyes of each man are matte black, laced with blatant hatred. Severin looks positively evil with his fangs out and his mouth open.

Never looking away from his opponent, he calls out, “Calla, trace to my bedroom. Do it now!”

No way in hell I’m leaving him here ….

I gasp as Severin takes the initiative, launching at Valdon in a seemingly explosive move. He grasps the vampire by the throat but is almost effortlessly pulled away as they begin to grapple with each other for control.

My back hits against the ornate post of the canopy bed as I unconsciously move away from the wreckage that’s unfolding before me. Severin is like a snarling panther on the attack as over and over again he strikes with extreme precision, but Valdon is skilled, managing to shift away before anything connects.

“Go!” Severin yells at me so ferociously that my neck hairs stand on end.

No! Mustn’t leave him ….

The violence pounds on, with Valdon tackling Severin at the midsection before tossing him hard into the right side of the fireplace. I hear Severin grunt from the blow and bite my lip as pieces of gray marble fall to the tile floor behind him. Severin lowers his right shoulder and guns for his enemy headlong, connecting with his stomach as they wrestle for dominance.

Just then I am blindsided by a vision so vivid that I’m nearly brought to my knees from the realism of it. I’m on the lawn of Severin’s property, and I’m clinging to Valdon with everything I have. I’m screaming in agony because we’re both burning ….

As quickly as it came it’s gone and I’m tossed back into reality in time to see Valdon lift Severin up high above his head and slam him down to the tile floor in an astonishing move that has to have required unimaginable strength. Severin must have hit his head hard because he’s out cold from the severe blow.

Valdon’s not looking at me but I can see from his profile that he’s smiling cruelly. He strides toward the fireplace, right arm extended upward to reach for a lethal looking sword that is perched on two slim, steels brackets fastened to the wall.

All at once, everything I’ve ever tried to suppress comes rushing at me: the twins who taunted me mercilessly my entire childhood, the neglect and indifference of our mother, my shattered dream of becoming a physician, and the most painful one, the loss of my beloved brother. It all combines to form a pinnacle of angst directed right at Valdon.

Before I know it I’m sprinting straight for the evil vampire, determined to stop him from murdering the one man I’ve ever loved. Sword raised high above his shoulders, he is poised to deliver the death blow to Severin’s head.

I launch into him and remember Severin’s instructions to me about tracing:
It’s not ever the distance, it’s the focus that enables us to trace.

I do just that, ignoring his sound of surprise and the clink of the sword as it hits the tile. We connect hard. With my arms banded tightly around him, I squeeze my eyes shut and hope to God that my time conversion is correct because if it isn’t dawn yet where we’re headed, then Severin and I are both doomed. If it is, then I will be the only one to die, and in order to spare Severin’s life, I can accept that.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Just Past Noon

Seville, Spain

I
pry my eyes open and stare across the tiled floor that my cheek is pressed tightly against. Ignoring the pounding in my skull, I shove up on my arms and scramble to my feet. I panic, realizing that I’m alone.
Where the fuck are they?
Fear lances through my chest as thoughts fly through my overloaded brain. Suddenly a chilling thought slithers up my spine …. No, she wouldn’t. If I’m still alive, it can only be for one reason—she got him away from here.

Oh, fuck no, Calla!
I sway forward with fear for her, knowing that we had an agreement to always meet on the lawn of the house, should anything ever go wrong. I know that it’s already past dawn there, which is tantamount to a death sentence for them both. I hurry to reach for my sword that is lying on the floor at the tip of my boots. As soon as I have it clutched in my palm I trace back to our home, south of Charleston, hoping by some freak miracle that she is somewhere else, somewhere safe. The gnawing feeling in my gut tells me otherwise.

* * *

Clutching my rapier, I arrive on the porch of the plantation house, shielding my eyes with my forearm as I edge back into the shadows the roof provides. I hear her desperate cries and lower my arm. A howl escapes my lips at the macabre sight that is not but two hundred yards away from me. Calla is fighting to hold onto Valdon with everything she has and they are both
burning. Oh my God! Must get to her!

Without hesitation I trace to her side and shout in agony as the searing heat from the sun leaves me feeling like I’ve been thrown headlong into a pool of sulfuric acid. She is smoking and her skin is blistered and beginning to char.
Holy fuck, I can’t believe she’s still conscious!

“Leave!” I scream to her as I grab for his arm, determined to get a firm tether on him and finish what she started … his destruction.

Having used her last reserves of energy to keep a rein on him she collapses to the ground inches from my feet.

No time!

Her dire condition spurs me on. He struggles to get away from me so he can trace, but that’s not on my agenda. No, his fate is sealed … by
me
this time. I have him by the front of his shirt and see that he’s in just as bad a state as Calla. With a resounding roar, I swing my right arm back and deliver the blow, allowing the sharp blade of my rapier to slice directly into his neck. As the blade connects, an anguished cry of defeat falls from his burned lips. My aim was true but the blade fell short by three inches. I’m not taking any chances that the asshole could
ever
regenerate. I slide the blade out of the oozing mess and with another hard slice on the opposite side his head is lopped right off, tumbling six feet down to roll on the thick grass.

Flinging my sword to the side I quickly scoop up Calla, who is whimpering in agony. I can tell that I’m too depleted to trace both of us so I do my best to race the slight distance back to the safety of the house.

Come on … hang in there, Calla! Don’t give up on me when you’re so close!

I kick the front door open with my boot, take three strides into the cool safety of the dim hallway and strive not to collapse. With her clutched in my arms I back up against the tattered wall and slide down to the wooden floor. Her face is tucked tightly into my shirt and I’m so scared I’m about to lose her. Her burns are severe. I groan as my eyes roam her singed hair and nearly unrecognizable scorched shoulders
. Fuck! Need to get her blood, asap!

“Calla.” My damaged voice comes out in a harsh rasp.

She tries to tilt her head up but is too weak to accomplish the task. I shift my right arm slightly, which allows her to lean her shoulders back. Seeing her seared face I wince and stifle a sob. I’m sure that I don’t look much better, but I would lie out there until death came if it would spare her this pain.

Her eyes are mere slits as they find mine. Her burned lips tilt up just a fraction of an inch before her mouth cracks open.

“Even.” She struggles to push the single word out.

I frown in confusion and wonder if she is delirious.
Where the fuck is Ambrose and the rest? Damn it, we need them!

I do my best to soothe her, trying to stay as still as possible to not cause further damage to her ravaged skin. “Shhh, it’s all right,” I offer quietly.

I see the determination in her eyes as she tries again, struggling through the pain to tell me carefully and with fierce determination, “Now we’re even. Just saved your ass, my love.”

I stare down at her, completely dumbfounded by her beautiful, tenacious spirit. At that moment I know we will make it. We’ve been through too much to let it all slip away now. No, we’re both fighters.

I have to know. “Why, Calla?”

Her eyes soften. “Couldn’t lose you.”

I tense and resist the urge to crush her to me. The love I have for her is unfathomable and I plan on showing her the depths of it for the rest of our existence together.

In a flash Ambrose and Alina arrive before us.

She gasps, taking in our condition, and he immediately reacts, bending low in a blur of motion to gently lift Calla out of my arms. The moment he’s upright with her they’re gone. I know that he will feed her to aid in her body’s regenerative process. I’m about to keel over onto my side when Alina leans down to help lift me up.

Once I’m half standing, mostly leaning into her, I whisper, “I got him.”

Her eyes widen at the unbelievable news. Before she begins to walk me toward the hidden elevator she whispers, “I never doubted you would one day, Severin.”

“I’d be a headless pile of ash if it wasn’t for my girl.”

She smiles as we step carefully into the steel enclosure. “You’re quite lucky to have found her. She’s simply divine.”

I lean against the cool wall, thankful for its support as I say, “That she is.”

The doors open at the lower level and she assists me to the sofa, where I gladly collapse in an exhausted heap.

“You need nourishment, Severin. Please drink from me to repair your wounds.”

I nod, knowing she’s right. She slices her slim wrist with a fang and lets her blood flow between my dry, parted lips. She is careful not to touch her skin to my mouth. Feeding is a sensual act and the only reason I am taking blood from her for the very first time is that we both know there is no other option. Ambrose will likely have to give a hell of a lot of his to bring Calla back from the brink. I’ll have to tell him how grateful I am … for everything.