Endless Chase (21 page)

Katya quickly reset her bow, notching another bolt as she hurried closer. “You are a murderer.” She fired again. This one went straight through his chest.

Vasili fell to his knees, murder in his blazing red eyes. “This is not finished,” he growled. He yanked both bolts from his body. Blood sprayed in all directions and he spat blood as he struggled to his feet.

Standing four feet from him, she stared into his soulless eyes, her bow at the ready.

“Yes, it is. This is for Afanas Markova and Marya Markova and everyone else you’ve slaughtered for your own gain.”

He pounced just as she fired and her bolt went wide. She heard the heavy
thunk
as it sank into a tree and cursed her rotten luck. He hit her hard, taking them both to the ground. Her crossbow flew several feet away. A knife appeared in his hand. Katya jammed her hand into the wound on his neck and an unholy shriek sprang from his lips.

He sliced downward with the blade. She barely managed to jerk her head out of the way. The blade glanced off the thick gold cross that sat over her heart, deflecting it so that it hit her shoulder instead.

In the distance, she detected yelling mixed with the sounds of fighting. A human scream was abruptly cut off. A wolf snarled and another howled.

At least some of the Dalakis brothers were on the move. Grateful for that small blessing, she fought for her life. Using the strength in her legs, she managed to shove him off her, rolling to her feet. Vasili pushed himself to his feet. Katya stared in horror as the wounds in his throat and chest began to close before her very eyes.

108

Endless Chase

“Somehow the sedative did not work on you.” Vasili seemed more fascinated than upset.

Katya drew the knife from her boot, wondering how in the hell she was going to kill him with this small blade. He was truly a monster, seemingly indestructible.

“That makes you even more intriguing,” Vasili continued. “Give yourself up and I’ll make it quick. Otherwise it will be long and painful.” His lips parted, his fangs glistening white as a grotesque grin split his face. “Personally, I’d enjoy the second option, but the choice is yours.”

“If you want me, you’ll have to come get me.” She clutched her weapon in her hand, not taking her eyes off him. With his speed, he could be on her in a fraction of a second.

“You cannot kill me,” he taunted, spinning his knife through his fingers. The blade flashed in the moonlight, a promise of death.

“But I can.” A heavy
whoosh
ing sound split the night. Vasili started to turn, but it was too late. The four-foot blade hit the side of his neck and kept going. Blood sprayed in every direction as Vasili’s head was separated from his body. Katya stared in disbelief as Chase stood, legs braced apart, the huge sword held in both hands.

Blood-splattered, he was like an ancient warrior come to life. Chase’s eyes glittered as he lowered the bloody sword. Katya couldn’t look away from the fearsome sight.

“Is he alive?” Chase moved toward Cristofor.

Katya sprang forward, dropping to her knees beside the lifeless body. “He should be.”

Chase kept a watch on the forest as another scream ripped through the night.

“Well?”

Her heart was slamming against her chest as she placed her fingers against his neck, searching for a pulse. It was impossible to feel anything with the heavy pounding of her own pulse echoing in her ears. What if she miscalculated? What if the vaccine and the poison in the dart reacted differently in a full-blooded vampire? What had she done?

“Katya?” She heard the strain in Chase’s voice, the agony of not knowing.

“I don’t know.” She bit her lower lip and started to lower her head to his chest.

Cristofor’s eyes flew open, his lips peeling back. Eyes glowing, fangs protruding, the promise of death blazed in his dark gaze. He took in everything in one glance and grunted, rolling to his side before propping himself up with one hand. He pinned Katya with his green-eyed glare. “What the hell happened?” His voice was hoarse, his words biting. “I could hear and see everything, but I couldn’t move.”

Relief surged through her, making her lightheaded. “I don’t know,” she confessed.

“You’re much heavier than I am, and a full-blooded vampire. Maybe you needed a stronger dose or maybe less. You’ve been out about three minutes.”

Three minutes—such a short time, but a lifetime.

109

N.J. Walters

Zane strode from the woods, his long strides eating up the distance. Lucian and Stefan followed a bit more slowly behind him. “What the hell happened? Those two were hit and fell like a ton of bricks. It was all I could do to keep the humans out there from decapitating them.”

Katya was glad for the interruption. Anything to keep from having to face Chase after what had just happened. Members of his family had almost been killed because of her. Like some avenging angel, he’d swooped down in the end and saved Cristofor’s life, hers as well. He’d saved all of their lives. She wasn’t certain that even the Dalakis brothers could have defeated a monster like Vasili. She was glad they hadn’t been required to put it to the test.

Her fingers were still wrapped around her knife and she relaxed them, letting the weapon fall to her feet. She didn’t need it anymore. It was finally over. After so long, she thought she’d feel something more. Some sense of satisfaction, of peace, of closure.

Something.

A shiver raced down her spine and she tensed. A sensation of danger washed over her and she swiveled her head toward the woods. There was someone out there.

Tomas Sullivan stepped out of the woods, gun in hand, firing as he came.

The vampires reacted as one, speeding toward the woods, but even they, with their incredible speed, were too late. Katya screamed, throwing herself in front of Chase. She felt the rush of the bullet as it grazed her shirt, passing her by. It hit Chase in the chest, the force so great it knocked him from his feet.

“No!” The scream burst from her lungs. She hit the ground hard, stone and dirt scraping her skin. Ignoring her superficial wounds, she scrambled to his side, slamming her hands over the pulsing wound.

The door burst open and Delight raced out, Cassidy and the other women close behind her. “Chase!” She screamed her brother’s name, falling to her knees beside him.

“What have you done?” she yelled at Katya.

Chase managed to raise his hand, touching his sister’s face. “No,” he whispered, and then coughed, blood burbling from his lips. “Not her fault. My decision.”

Katya felt her heart breaking. Chase couldn’t die. He couldn’t. How could she live without him?

“Inevitable.” Chase’s voice was growing weaker with each word he spoke.

Katya sensed the men all gathering around them and knew Tomas was dead. But it was too late. The damage had been done.

“Dying eventually.” Chase coughed. His breathing was little more than a wheeze.

“You know how fragile we humans are.”

Stefan shoved her hands to one side and slapped a piece of cloth over Chase’s chest, pushing down hard on it. Katya recognized it as Stefan’s shirt.

Delight gasped. “What are you saying?”

110

Endless Chase

Chase’s hand fell back to the ground and Katya clasped it between her two palms, ignoring the blood that stained her palms. She’d had blood on her hands for the past year.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. His skin felt so cold. Or maybe it was she who was cold.

“Headaches for months. Brain tumor.” He coughed again, this time spitting up blood. “Was going to tell you. Wasn’t time.”

How could she not have known? Katya was screaming on the inside as bitterness filled her. Why Chase? Why not one of the evil souls who had come here tonight with no other purpose than to kill and maim innocent people? If only she’d taken his blood earlier, there would have been a blood connection between them. She would have sensed something, would have known.

“We can get you treatment. Surgery.” Delight was chafing her brother’s arm.

Lucian sat behind her, his arms around her waist as if to comfort and strengthen her at the same time.

Chase released a deep sigh. “Too late now.”

He slowly turned his face toward her. His hair was matted against his skull and his usually vibrant blue eyes were dull and lifeless. Katya didn’t even try to hide the tears rolling freely down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. If anyone had to die, it was supposed to be her.

“Katya.” His voice was so low she wouldn’t have heard him if it weren’t for her enhanced hearing. He tried to say more, but just didn’t have the strength, sinking into a stupor. His eyelids fluttered closed and his mouth went slack.

An idea came to her then. It was crazy. Insane. It probably wouldn’t work, but anything was better than sitting here watching Chase’s blood pump from his body.

“Get out of the way.” Her voice was deeper, more guttural. She felt her fangs elongating and descending.

“You’ve done enough,” Delight spat at her.

“I’m his only chance.” She focused on Cristofor. “He only has a few seconds left.

You know that. Let me try to convert him.”

“It’s never been done,” Cristofor said slowly. “I’ve never heard of a hybrid vampire converting a human. And I’ve certainly never known a female to convert a male. That’s not the way it’s done.”

She could hear the faint edge of hope in his voice and pounced. “What do we have to lose?” She held out her bloody hands. “Let me try.”

“I should be the one to attempt it. I’m stronger,” Cristofor insisted as he crouched next to Chase.

Katya shook her head. “He may love you as a brother, but I have a deeper emotional connection to him. He’s the one for me. Do you understand what I’m 111

N.J. Walters

saying?” Time was running out while they debated this. She was the only one who could do this.

“He’s your mate.” Cristofor swore under his breath even as Delight protested.

Katya knew the Dalakis family all understood the implications of that statement. There was only one mate for a vampire and that connection was stronger than any other.

“Yes.”

Cristofor glanced at his brothers. In that split second, they seemed to come to an agreement between them.

Lucian tightened his hold on Delight, pulling her out of the way. “Hurry,” he urged.

Katya blocked out everyone else as she lifted Chase’s limp body, cradling it against her chest. Leaning down, she sank her fangs into his neck. She almost moaned when his blood hit her mouth. Rich and thick, it ran into her body, absorbed into every cell until Chase was a part of her. She’d never felt anything like this before in her life.

There was no time to question the difference, to savor the sensations. Chase’s heart beat once. Twice. Then stopped.

Ripping her shirt from her shoulder, she gouged at the knife wound that was still seeping. Lifting his head, she pressed his mouth against it, letting her blood trickle between his lips, and hopefully down his throat. “Drink,” she commanded, her voice no more than a hoarse whisper.

Using all her strength, she grabbed control of his mind, using the connection that now existed between them. She begged and pleaded with him to drink. Yelled and screamed. It was all in her mind, but it was as real as if she was doing it aloud.

She was losing him. She needed more strength.

Her eyes met Stefan’s and she did something she’d sworn she’d never do again—

she opened herself up to him, to all of them. Katya didn’t care how much it hurt. She didn’t care if they killed her with their surge of power. As long as Chase drank, as long as he lived, anything was worth the sacrifice.

Her body bowed back as energy surged through her, their power joining hers in the fight for Chase’s life. Her mind went blank, but she kept Chase’s head cradled against her. Every cell in her body was focused on one task.

She heard Delight crying, heard several of the men cursing and knew she had failed. She felt them withdrawing from her mind, one at a time, resigned to the inevitable.

Despair overwhelmed her and she grabbed on to the power they fed into her, stealing more, focusing it more finely. Determined, she wrapped the tendrils of her mind around the threads of their power, keeping it in a stranglehold. She would not let go, not until there was no life left in her body.

They fought her, sending spears of pain through her skull. She didn’t care. Physical pain was nothing in comparison to the reality of Chase being dead. Through the 112

Endless Chase

overwhelming agony that pounded in her skull, she felt it. A whisper of a sound, the lightest beat.

Tipping back her head, she screamed. “Chase! Come back to me.”

The tiny sound came again. This time stronger. She began to laugh and cry at the same time. There was no fighting her now as the family all sent their combined power through her. She could hear their voices in her head, encouraging Chase to drink.

His lips moved against her shoulder, slowly at first, then harder. Chase surged upward, latching on to her suddenly, swallowing mouthfuls of life-giving blood. She would have let him drink forever, would have given up her last drop of blood for him.

It was Delight who leaned over and forced her brother to release his grip on her. As his head lolled back, Stefan carefully peeled back the makeshift bandage, peering beneath it briefly before slamming it back in place. The hole in Chase’s chest was already beginning to close and Katya knew it would soon be sealed and on the way to healing as good as new.

Katya shut her eyes for a brief moment, her hand going to the cross that was visible through her torn shirt. A heavy scar marked the gold where it had deflected Vasili’s knife. Father Patrescu was right. The amulet had protected her against evil. She sent up a prayer of thanks to God and whoever else was listening.

Lucian shouldered in beside her, sliding his muscular arms beneath Chase and lifting him. Sitting in the dirt, covered in blood, she watched as he carried Chase inside the castle. His family would take care of him.