Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy, Book One) (19 page)

"I’ve saved your life twice now,
jackass."

He flipped her off, confirming he heard
her.

"Vile creature," a cool, crisp voice
said.

She turned, surprised to see the middle-aged
woman in grey robes and sharp brown eyes.

"But he did save you," she allowed. "There’s
something in that."

By the austere clothing and stern features,
Katie assessed she was in some kind of religious convent.

"Come. We’ll feed you real food. You needn’t
worry about him," the woman said in her crisp voice, leading her
down the stairs. "He can’t come in the walls."

"Is this a holy place?"

"It is."

"Will he burst into flames or something?" she
asked.

The woman chuckled. "No, we’ll just kick him
out again."

Katie trailed the fit woman through the
hallway, past her room, and down a second corridor. The scents of
fresh bread and some sort of meat cooking nearly nailed her to the
ground as she rounded the corner. The woman led her straight into a
small cafeteria with rustic tables and benches, an open fireplace,
and a sagging buffet table along one wall. The windows were open
with no glass, and heavy iron chandeliers hung from thick wooden
rafters and were burning real candles.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"Have a seat. This is a Sanctuary, one of
four remaining in the human world."

As soon as she sat, another woman in similar
robes with a flushed face appeared, serving tray in hand. She
placed warm rustic bread, whipped honey butter, and water before
her. Katie bit into the bread, determined not to eat like a heathen
that would shame her sister. At the first taste, she wolfed it and
three more pieces down until the edge of her hunger
disappeared.

"Wow," she murmured, and gulped her water.
"What exactly is a Sanctuary?"

"We're like the Switzerland of the immortal
world. All four Sanctuaries are neutral territory, governed by
Death," the woman said with a small smile. "Any immortal who comes
must check their weapons --and their talents --at the door, or be
rendered dead-dead by Death. Only the Ancient Ones and Death may
pass with their powers intact. We normally expel the Ancient Ones.
They disturb the order here."

Katie sat back with a contented sigh, gaze
dropping to her arm. She frowned. Rhyn had never hurt her until
then. Granted, he wasn’t exactly himself at the time, near dead,
starved, weak.

She’d never thought a creature like him weak.
Yet she’d felt it when their bodies touched. His guard was down,
and she’d felt just how weak he was despite taking her blood. She
knew he could’ve taken so much more, made himself stronger by
bleeding her dry. He didn't, instead taking only what he needed to
survive.

"He brought you here," the woman said, her
eyes on Katie’s bandaged arm. "We have a member of the healing
guild on staff, but her skill wasn't old enough for you. We did
what we could. You’ll have full use of your arm, even if it's
scarred."

"I’ve gotten so many…marks…the past couple of
weeks. Don’t think another really matters at this point."

The woman’s gaze dropped to her neck, and
Katie caught the troubled look in her eyes before she hid it. There
was reason to fear the Ancients, especially
this
Ancient,
who seemed to have no alliance to anything good or bad and was so
unpredictable. At least he’d thought enough of his blood monkey to
bring her here, if only to keep her healthy so he had a food
source.

She frowned, troubled by her thoughts. Rhyn
was weak but drew only what he needed to survive; he was both
hunter and hunted. He’d claimed her, whether in a fit of jealous
fury after hearing Kris’s name or for some other purpose. In her
mind, dragging a human around seemed like a pretty serious
liability.

She didn’t understand him. Or this world. Or
why she couldn’t just go back to her life and be normal again. Her
throat tightened. Willing herself not to cry, she pointed to her
neck and said instead, "Do you know what this means?"

The woman hesitated and took a slice of
bread, toying with it.

"You’re his mate," she said at last, as if
this should mean more than it did.

"I know. So?"

"You’re
his
mate.
"

"Assume I never knew this underworld existed
before a little over a week ago."

The woman studied her for a long moment. The
second woman with the flushed face returned with a plate heaped
with half a cooked chicken smelling of garlic and spices, rice, and
fried plantains. Katie dug in, unconcerned with the woman’s silence
while there was food in front of her.

"If it helps, I’m allegedly special somehow,"
she prodded.

"Of course. You were born an immortal's mate.
Still, you'd have to be something more to attract an Ancient."

"Why?"

"It’s just the way things are," the woman
said. She paused then shook her head. "I’m Daniela."

"Katie."

"Welcome, Katie. Your mate dumped you on me
in the middle of the night. I knew he was an Ancient --a powerful
one --but he wasn’t much for talking."

"Yeah, he’s like that. Drags me around the
world without telling me where or why we go anywhere," Katie
said.

"You said you’ve known him a week?"

"I’ve known him a few days. I was introduced
to this world a few days before that. I don’t know anything about
either."

"Very, very unusual. No Ancient would…"

Katie held her breath, awaiting the awful
news. Daniela shook her head again and smiled.

"What’s so significant about being his mate?"
Katie asked.

"It’s hard to explain to an Outsider. There
are only so many immortal mates born into the human race, far fewer
than there are immortals. It was believed that no Ancient would
ever take a mate, because none ever have. For all other immortals,
they get only one shot at a mate in its life cycle. One mate.
That’s it. Many immortals go extinct without taking a mate at all.
They wait so long, they forget they can have one, or they choose
not to have one, or they simply just don’t."

"Why would any Ancient creature choose
me?"

"I don’t know. I’m sure he knows."

"I’m not so sure about that," Katie said with
a shake of her head.

"There is the theory that the mates of
Ancients are predestined like those of other immortals, that if the
Ancients don’t find their mates during the mates’ life cycle, they
never will."

"That’s kind of sad."

"Yeah, it is."

"I buy into this preordained theory. Rhyn
wouldn’t saddle himself with a blood monkey he had to actually take
care of voluntarily. Doesn’t seem like the type who wants to be
slowed down by a liability like that," Katie mused.

Daniela shrugged.

"Or he wants to use me for my talent," she
added. "I could see that."

"Unlikely, since he only gets one, unless he
planned on dying dead soon. If he doesn’t die-dead, he’d have to
spend eternity with you. Maybe it is predestined. He’s the least
friendly Ancient I’ve ever met."

"He’s been in Hell for a long time," she
replied. "Wait, did you say
eternity
?"

"Of course."

A familiar headache started, and she stuffed
the last few bites of food down her throat, feeling ill for a
different reason. She hadn't been able to keep a job or a boyfriend
for more than a few months, let alone an eternity!

"You got whiskey?"

"We make our own alcohol. It’s closer to
brandy."

"Bring it out."

As if on cue, the flushed cook returned for
her plate, and Daniela ordered the brandy and two glasses.

"I don’t get this whole free will thing,"
Katie complained when the cook returned. She poured herself amber
liquid and took a long swallow. "It’s not really free if the choice
is made for you."

"The immortals must give humans a choice.
It’s Immortal Code. They’ve been working for millions of years to
get around this one; they’re quite crafty at it. You may have
wished your life to be different or made some statement in anger.
They’re better than lawyers when it comes to taking things out of
context, and there are no judges keeping track of what really
happened."

"It’s a sham."

"It exists to protect mortals, and in many
cases it does. In some, it doesn’t. Just depends on the
immortal."

Katie wasn’t sure if the homemade alcohol was
stronger than normal or if her weakened state made her more
vulnerable to its effects. After two shots, she felt woozy.

"Are there any benefits to being an Ancient’s
mate?" she asked.

"Prestige. You move to the head of the
immortals’ hierarchy. Immunity to Death, children with magical
powers --"

"
Children?
"

" --protection from enemies, a really
comfortable lifestyle, and some mates even are able to tap into
their immortals’ talents."

Eternity. Children.

She couldn’t have one day without some sort
of surprise or other? As if sensing her distress, Daniela poured
her another two shots of brandy.

"Where are we?" Katie asked.

"In the Caribbean on an undeclared
island."

"Undeclared?"

"Protected by magic. No one knows we’re here,
except those seeking refuge."

"Is refuge…free?"

"Always. We sell our liquors and also are the
beneficiaries of various immortals. The Ancient Andre, who became
dead-dead recently, left us his fortune, as have many others before
him."

"I met him. He seemed like a good man.
Ancient. Whatever."

"He was the glue that bound the Council That
Was Seven. Seven brothers with one common immortal father and seven
separate mothers. Their father fought the Dark One and left his
children to carry the torch. Only, the siblings couldn’t ever get
along. It was said two of them turned on the others, aligned with
evil, and only Andre had the power to kill any of the others. He
was their elder, the peacemaker, and the executioner. He sentenced
both brothers to Hell for eternity."

"Sasha and Rhyn," Katie said quietly,
touching her throat again. "What did they do?"

"They turned on their brothers and against
humans and the order of good. Massacred millions. The human race
barely survived. The legends are thick in every culture, from
floods to plagues to volcanoes and the ground rising up to swallow
people, to the influence of men who slaughtered whole nations for
entertainment."

"They did all that?"

"According to the legend. Sasha was the first
to align with the Dark One, and Rhyn…"

"Rhyn what?"

"They say he went mad when the woman he’d
chosen as his mate chose Kris instead. She died at Rhyn’s hands.
The legends don’t say what happened, but after Rhyn killed the
woman, he tried to kill Kris. Andre stopped him, and Death made him
disappear."

"How awful," Katie breathed. "Does that mean
your theory about mates is wrong, if they fought over one
woman?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to know. Maybe
she was an Ancient's mate, too."

Rhyn was a mass murderer, a creature who had
tried to wipe out the human race.

The story didn’t sit well with her. It
explained his and Kris’s palpable animosity, but it didn’t explain
why Rhyn was a prisoner. Or how Sasha swayed Jade. Or how Andre
died.

Or why Rhyn kept her around, unless it was
purely for her ability to make him immune from the magic of other
immortals.

She drank more brandy, a familiar sense of
panic deep in her chest. It and impending doom had been with her
since meeting Gabriel. Her headache pulsed and she felt hot from
alcohol.

"Think I’ll go for a walk," she murmured.
"Thanks for the talk. Mind if I take this?"

Daniela filled her glass with two more shots
and smiled. Katie raised the glass in a salute and left. It was
muggier than she was used to, the air clinging to her already hot
skin. It was near dusk, with the sky growing dark in the distance.
She made her way to the wall, needing to feel the cool ocean
breeze. Rhyn was gone, and she leaned against the wall.

A hand took her brandy and flung it and the
glass over the wall. He wasn’t gone after all. She glared at
him.

"You’re not allowed in here," she told
him.

"You’re not allowed alcohol."

"If I didn’t keep learning how insane this
world is every second of the day, I wouldn’t have to drink!"

His eyes glinted rather than flashed, his
copper skin tight across perfect, chiseled features. He didn’t have
Kris’s noble look or Andre’s delicate features. Rhyn was a wild
animal with a wild beauty, harsh angles and planes, a body built
for survival. He said nothing, and she offered her good wrist.

"You’re weak," he scoffed.

"So are you."

She dropped her arm and gazed up at him,
troubled and lightheaded.

"You don’t look like someone who could kill
millions," she murmured. "Then again, I saw what you did at the
Arch." She shivered involuntarily. "Did you really almost
annihilate the human race?"

He said nothing and mirrored her position,
leaning against the wall in what she knew was irritated
mockery.

"I don’t believe it," she went on.

"You’re a fool. I killed over a hundred of
Sasha’s creatures at the Arch with only a fraction of my power. You
think I can’t do the same to a bunch of weak humans?"

"You can’t hate humans so much if you chose
me as a mate. Why did Sasha send his creatures after you?"

"I took you from him and escaped. He’s pissed
and wants us both back. Probably heard you’re my mate."

His silver gaze went to her neck and flared.
She didn’t know what that meant. His eyes slid away to the
distance.

"Is it your duty to protect humanity?" she
asked, cocking her head to the side.

"More or less, as long as they’re not in my
way."