Drawn to the Vampire (Blood and Absinthe, Book 4) (27 page)

Luke sank to his knees, feeling Kit’s agony in his body. She was in full sunlight as in a golden cage, beating her fists against a wall of darkness, sobbing wildly, without restraint.

He was powerless to save her or to save her brother. He was powerless even to comfort her.

“Kit!” he shouted, but the sound didn’t seem to reach her. He stumbled to his feet, his heart breaking in two, and called out again, “Kit!”

It was no use. She didn’t hear him. How could he help her? What could he do to—

He buried his face in his hands, and felt the kiss of metal against his cheek.

The ring. Demeter’s ring.

As a vampire, he couldn’t sacrifice himself to save Peter. Only a human could do that.

His fumbled with the silver band, placing it in his outstretched palm.

“Demeter,” he began, his voice shaking. “Demeter, I pray thee, grace this poor creature with thy presence.”

In the past, the goddess had always come to him, wherever he was. Now Luke found himself in a thick fog, the goddess herself almost obscured by mist.

“Where’s Kit?” he asked sharply, moving towards Demeter until he could see her more clearly. “Where are
we
?”

“A place of transition,” she answered him. “The place where souls live before being born. Kit is right where you left her. No time will pass for her as long as we’re here.”

His hurry and impatience fell away like a cloak.

“You know why I called you,” he said quietly.

The goddess inclined her head. “I know. I grant you your humanity, Luke Cadris, because you have learned what to do with it.” She sighed. “But my heart aches for Kit. Her grief at losing you will hardly be less than what she feels for her brother.”

“I know. And yet…what else can I do?”

“Nothing else. Nothing less. I won’t be able to appear directly to her, but I will try to visit her in her dreams, to offer comfort.”

“Thank you for that.” His dead heart swelled with gratitude, and then with love—an overflowing love that seemed to contain all of humanity, all living things—and then—

His heart was beating.

He fell to his knees as life pulsed through him.

“My lady,” he gasped. “I will go directly to Hades if that is what is required. But before I go…if I could…”

“You can say goodbye to Kit. I place no restrictions on you, Luke. No conditions. You are subject to all the laws of humanity now, including free will. If you choose not to go through with your sacrifice, you will hear no recriminations, except from yourself.”

The hum, the pulse, the thread of life was in his veins. For four hundred years he had known life only through the blood of others. Now, at last, he had the gift of life to offer someone else.

“How can I reenter the underworld? I’m human, now.”

“The ring you used to call me will invoke other gods. You can use it to go before Hades if you choose.”

Luke took a deep breath, feeling a sudden burning as living oxygen filled his lungs. “Thank you, my lady—for everything.”

He blinked, and the fog was gone. Kit was before him again, beating her fists against the invisible gate. Despair was in every line of her body.

He hesitated for a moment, and then he stepped into the light.

It was warm on his skin. Gentle.

Slowly, hesitantly, he reached out to put a hand on Kit’s shoulder.

* * *

When she felt the touch she whirled around, ready to tear the head off of whomever had interrupted her. She had to get back in there somehow, had to save Peter from Hecate’s clutches…

Her heart stopped beating.

“Luke,” she whispered, her eyes huge as she stared at him, standing before her in the sunlight. “What—how—”

“I can’t stay long,” he said, his voice husky.

Kit closed her eyes tightly and opened them again. Luke was still there, wearing sunlight like a cloak. She reached out a shrinking hand and touched him.

He was real.

“Please tell me what’s happening,” she whispered. “You…Peter…none of this makes any sense.”

“I can get Peter back for you,” he said.

There was so much love and strength in his eyes…and something new. Something so beautiful it hurt to look at him.

“How…”

“Demeter made me human again. It’s what I’ve wanted for a hundred years, but I never deserved the gift. Not until you.”

“Human,” she said, hardly able to grasp it. “Oh, Luke…and this means we can save Peter, too?”

She watched him take a deep breath. “I can save him. The gods of the underworld will accept a sacrifice, but it has to be a living sacrifice.”

Understanding crashed in on her. “You’re going to trade yourself for Peter.”

He nodded.

She grabbed the front of his shirt. “No!” she cried. “There has to be another way. I won’t lose you, Luke!”

He pulled her into his arms, murmuring comfort into her hair. She buried her face in his chest and felt his beating heart. “It’s not fair,” she said, brokenly. “Why would they give you your humanity only to take it away again? Why would they give you life just so you could lose it?”

He took her by the upper arms and pushed her away, gently, so he could look into her eyes. “Because that’s what it is to be human.”

She could feel his love pouring over her like a tangible thing, a light that sang along her nerves and through her veins.

“No,” she said, unwilling to accept it.

“I only wanted to live so I could die by your side. But this…this is an even greater gift. More than I ever deserved. I go to death gladly, for Peter’s sake and for yours. I love you, Kit. Now and forever.”

She stared at him, seeing the certainty in his eyes, the conviction that he was doing the right thing. The darkness that had tortured his soul was gone. The way he looked now…he was like an angel. She had to accept this. Had to let him do this. Had to—

No!

She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him desperately, tasting the salt of her tears even as she tasted Luke. His tongue tangled with hers as he pulled her close, so close she could hardly breathe, as if he were trying to make them one body, one being, one soul.

When they finally broke apart he rested his forehead against hers. “Kit—I have to go now. If I stay any longer I’m afraid I’ll never be able to leave you.”

“Then don’t leave me! We’ll find another way—”

“Kit,” he said, and his voice was so full of love something inside of her broke. “My heart is yours. Always.”

He backed away quickly, pulling off the ring he wore on his right hand.

“Hades, I call to thee—let me stand in thy presence!”

He started to shimmer, his body shining like a cloud burning in the sun.

“Luke!” she cried out. “Luke!”

Another second, a flash of light that almost blinded her, and he was gone.

* * *

Kit fell to earth like a bird shot out of the sky, like a puppet whose strings have been cut, leaving nothing but broken bits of wood.

Let me die too. Please, let me die too.

But death did not come.

Her heart continued to beat, her lungs to draw breath. There would be no release.

She thought about trying to help death along, but she knew that was no answer. Even if suicides did go to Hades, as Luke had said some believed, the gods of the underworld would never let her be with Luke.

Wherever he was, he had gone where she couldn’t follow.

Everything that was alive in her had gone with him. She felt like a dead thing, a dried husk. She lay still and listened to the voice of her beloved echo in the empty places.

After a long, long time she became aware of another voice calling to her, calling her by name.

Peter.

She opened her eyes, and saw her brother kneeling by her side. Relief flooded into his face.

“Thank God. Where are we, Kit? What’s going on? The last thing I knew I was being sucked back into hell, and then I was here.” He gripped her hand. “You saved me twice, little sister.”

“It wasn’t me,” she said dully. “It was Luke.”

“Luke?”

He didn’t know about anything that had happened. He was looking down at her with a hundred questions in his eyes, and Kit couldn’t bear to answer them. She had been ripped in two, and she couldn’t…she couldn’t…

Suddenly she was crying, hanging onto the front of his shirt. After what seemed like a lifetime the tears slowed, and she took a deep, shuddering breath.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you cry,” Peter said gently, brushing her hair away from her face. “Won’t you talk to me, Kit? I know I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but as you reminded me not too long ago, I’m your brother and I love you.”

They were sitting on a headland with their backs against a standing stone, looking out at the Atlantic. Peter put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Then she told him. The story took a long time, but Kit was in no hurry. What was there to hurry for, ever again? The sun had risen to its zenith by the time she finished, and she and Peter sat in silence for several minutes.

“I’ll go back,” he said finally. “I can’t let someone else die for me, Kit—especially not the man you love.”

Kit sighed. “You know that’s no answer,” she said. “Even if you found a way to get back there, he would just go back again to save you. Do you plan to spend the rest of your life exchanging places in the underworld with Luke? And anyway, I don’t think they’d let you. There are so many rules—”

Suddenly she scrambled to her feet. A flicker of anger had ignited in her, flaring quickly in her bruised heart. She began to pace back and forth in the afternoon light.

“God, I’m so sick of this crap. Sick of being messed with. Sick of being called, and commanded, and sent forth, and sent away. Sick of losing people I love.” She stopped, facing Peter with her hands on her hips. “Most of all I’m sick of other people making the rules. Even gods.
Especially
gods. Luke said once you let other people make the rules, you’re already defeated.”

She took a deep breath. “
I won’t be defeated.
If they think I’m just going to sit here and take it, they’ve got another think coming.”

“Okay,” Peter said slowly. “I’m with you, Kit, but what exactly can you do about it? How can you go against Hades?”

Her hands curled into fists. “There have to be forces out there more powerful than hell. Come on, Peter, help me! You’re the one who knows this stuff. I’ll go to the ends of the earth, the bottom of the ocean, anywhere I—”

Peter’s head lifted suddenly, and Kit knelt down beside him. “What?” she asked quickly. “You’ve thought of something. I know you have.”

He was looking at the dark gray swell of the Atlantic. They could hear the waves crashing against the shore below them.

 “The ocean,” he said, and Kit’s eyes widened.

“The ocean,” she breathed. “God, I should have remembered. Luke talked about water magic, and the ocean, too. He said the gods of the sea don’t live by the same rules that bind those of the earth or the underworld.”

She gripped Peter’s arm. “How do I tap that power?”

But Peter was shaking his head. “You can’t. There’s a reason you don’t hear about humans petitioning the gods of the ocean. They’re incredibly powerful, but they don’t usually interfere in mortal affairs. When they do, it’s not usually a good thing…for us, anyway. The ocean is—”

“Wild, cold, and treacherous. At least that’s what Luke said.”

“He was right.”

“But sometimes unimaginably generous.”

“Maybe. Maybe once in a decade you can catch her in a good mood. There are legends about humans who’ve succeeded. It’s part of the lore I learned. But—”

Kit pulled her brother to his feet. “This is my only chance, Peter. Who were you talking about when you said
her
? Catch
her
in a good mood?”

“Thalassa. The goddess of the sea.”

At the sound of her name, Kit tasted power on the air. She trembled with it, and even more, with a strange sense of kinship.

“How can I reach her?”

“You have to go far out into the ocean, down to the very depths. Into the abyss. Thalassa knows everything that happens in her realm. The lore books say that if you call to her, she will hear, and if she’s in the mood, she’ll allow you to come to her.”

Kit frowned. “Which is just another way of telling me it’s impossible. Human beings can’t survive the pressure at those depths. Even if I managed to commandeer a nuclear submarine or something…”

Peter hesitated, and Kit saw it. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

“You have to tell me, Peter. If you can help me you have to do it.”

“There’s a spell I could cast,” he said slowly. “It’s one of the few really powerful spells I know. I’ve never actually used it, though.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s a spell of protection for travelling underwater. It will let you breathe, and allow you to survive the cold and the pressure of the deep ocean. It will also give you speed as you swim, incredible speed, so that you can reach the great deeps in time.”

“In time?”

“The spell lasts less than a day. It may only last a few hours. Kit—”

She folded her arms and glared at him. “You’re going to do it.”

Peter ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe I could teach the spell to you. Then you could cast it on me, and I could go.”

“No! Luke’s mine, Peter. If you try to stop me, I’ll—”

Peter took her by the shoulders. “I’m your big brother,” he said quietly. “I can’t help trying to protect you. But I’ve known you your entire life, and you’ve always been as stubborn as the devil. If you’re sure you want to try this, I’ll help you.”

Kit looked out at the ocean, the great swells patterned with light and dark as clouds chased each other across the sun. How dark was it in those waters? How cold? What creatures awaited her there?

Fear caught at her heart, but only for a moment. She thought about Luke, about what he had done for her, and she felt her strength returning. She was a warrior. The man she loved had been taken from her. Was she going to cry about it like a little girl? Or was she going to fight?