Of Blood and Passion (33 page)

Fear swept through her. “I don’t know what to do, Micah. I don’t know how to save him!”

“Shh, sweetheart. Let’s think about this, shall we? Think back to Sakamoto’s. Tassard was hurting you. Do you remember that?”

“Yes.” She’d wanted that asshole on his knees, and badly.

The trouble was, she didn’t want Micah on his. Maybe if she concentrated on what she did want…Arturo saved…

Closing her eyes, she did just that, willing Micah’s life force into Arturo. “Let go of his hand the moment you start feeling anything, Micah. I can’t be certain how fast it will come.”

Seconds later, she heard Micah’s, “Whoa.”

“My turn,” Kassius said.

Quinn struggled to shut out the pain, concentrating only on saving Turo. She continued to pull. “Micah?”

“I’m okay, just…hungry.”

“I’m ready, sorceress,” Kassius said.

As before, she willed life force to fill Arturo. The hand Quinn held twitched and she gasped. “I think it’s working.”

“Not enough,” Bram replied. “My turn.”

“No.” Lukas’s voice. “You’re still wielding scalpels. Let me go first.”

Suddenly, Arturo’s hand gripped hers in return.

Quinn gasped. “It’s working!”

“Ax? Dammit, man,” Bram exclaimed. “You scared the shit out of us.”

Quinn released Arturo’s hand and turned her head to watch as Arturo slowly sat up. His gaze swiveled to her, his dazed eyes clearing as he stared at her, filling with joy.

“
Tesoro.”
He lifted his hand slowly. Cool fingers stroked her cheek. “You live.”

“So do you.” Tears filled her own eyes. “What did you think you were doing, giving your life for mine?”

He bent over her, covering her lips in the most tender of kisses. “Loving you,” he said quietly. “Just that.”

Lifting her arms, she curled them around his neck and held him close, deepening the kiss. As his hands stroked her hair, his tongue sweeping against her own, the last of her pain washed away, strength sweeping through her in its place.

“I would say both procedures were a success,” Kassius said dryly.

Micah began to laugh. “Hell, yeah.”

Arturo pulled away, smiling down at her with such tenderness, sparking such a rush of tenderness in return, that she feared her chest couldn’t contain it all. He held out his hand to her and slowly helped her sit up. Belatedly, she realized she was stark naked but for the blood coating her abdomen.

“Any pain, Quinn?” Bram asked, all brisk doctor.

“No. I feel good.” She grimaced. “Though clearly I could use a wash cloth and some clothes.”

Bram smiled. “That’s what post op is for. Even I can’t perform surgery through clothing. Lay back down, Quinn, and I’ll clean you up, then we can get you out of here.”

Bram’s words had her noting, for the first time, where she was. The cave beneath Gonzaga. Memory slammed into her with blunt force, making her gasp. Cristoff had stabbed her with Escalla, stealing her power, Zack and Jason were missing, possibly both dead. And Rinaldo.

“Quinn?” Bram asked worriedly.

“
Amore?
”

“Rinaldo.” Tears stung her eyes as she met Arturo’s gaze. “They beheaded him.”

Arturo pulled her against him and held her tight, stroking her hair. “We knew he’d not survived.” Kissing her temple he pulled away.

Quinn met her friends’ gazes, saw the grief in their eyes. And the hunger.

“He died a warrior’s death,” Kassius said. The pupils in his eyes had gone white. “It was what he’d always wanted.”

“Poor Mukdalla.” She ached at the pain her friend would suffer.

Micah’s eyes were white-centered with hunger as well, and suddenly she understood. In saving Arturo, they’d depleted themselves. “You need to feed. All of you.”

“Not from you,” Arturo growled.

“No, not from me. Go. I’m okay.”

“Ask any of the Slavas in the tunnels,” Bram said. “Lukas, have Deb bring clean clothes and food for Quinn.”

Without argument, Kassius, Micah, and Lukas filed out. But she knew Arturo must need blood, too.

“Go,” she told him. “Eat. I’m fine.”

He hesitated only a moment, then squeezed her hand. “I will not be far.”

“Go.”

He did.

“Lie down, Quinn,” Bram said with cool professionalism once Arturo had ducked out. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

She did as directed and he pulled a damp towelette from a plastic package and began wiping the blood off her abdomen. It always twisted her mind to see modern convenience items in this place. Then again, she’d heard him talk of clamps and scalpels, so he’d clearly had surgical supplies brought in at some point.

She tried to keep her mind on innocuous things, but quickly failed, and the thoughts and memories that threatened to cripple her rushed back in. Rinaldo.
Zack.

“Are you okay?” Bram asked.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly, tears filling her eyes. “I feel like my emotions are going to crush me.”

“You’re worried about your brother.”

“Yes. And Jason. And Mukdalla.” Her chest felt as if it would cave in beneath the weight. How did people live like this?

“Try to think of something else. If you’re interested, I have some excellent whiskey upstairs. Alcohol isn’t the best answer to most problems, but it’s an excellent one in a case like this.”

He was right. She had to find a way to put her worry and grief behind a strong wall of denial and leave it there or she wouldn’t be able to function.

“Were you the one who stole me out of Cristoff’s throne room?” she asked Bram as he continued to clean her up.

“Yes. Once he’d stabbed you, Cristoff left, along with his entire contingent of guards. Those of us whose loyalty has faded slipped away. I grabbed you, brought you down here, and began sewing you up.”

“Where did Cristoff go?”

Bram tossed the wipe aside and grabbed another. “I have no idea.”

Deb came in carrying clean clothes in one hand and a bag in the other. “I made you a sandwich, sorceress. I hope that’s okay.”

Quinn looked to Bram. “Doc?”

“As far as I can tell, you’ve healed, Quinn. Between the magic, the bites Kassius and I gave you, and your own sorcerer’s strength…” He shrugged. “If you’re hungry, eat.”

She turned to the Slava woman. “Thanks, Deb.”

The woman smiled warmly, then turned and left.

When Bram was finished, Quinn rose and dressed, then dug into the food. As she ate, she lifted her hand and tried to call one of the discarded towelettes to her, but it wouldn’t come. Cold dread trickled through her veins. She closed her eyes and tried to form a bubble around herself, and failed that, too.
Had he taken it all?
No, not all. She still had her death touch.

If only she’d renewed the magic when she had the chance, during that short time she’d had her full Blackstone power. Maybe she still could.

She forced herself to finish the sandwich even though she could barely taste it. When she was almost done, Arturo returned, looking his dashing self once more. He sat beside her, pulling her against him, as his friends returned, one after the other.

When they were all back, Quinn rose to her feet. “I’m riding for the Focus.”

“Now?” Micah asked.

Kassius frowned.

Arturo shook his head in quick denial. “No,
tesoro.”

But she wouldn’t be swayed. “I need to renew the magic.”

“You don’t know if you can,
cara
.”

“Cristoff has probably already headed there to do just that,” Bram added.

“We don’t know,” she told them, her gaze moving from one vampire to the next. “I had a chance to renew the magic earlier and chose to go after Zack instead. Rinaldo is dead as a result. I owe this to him, if nothing else. If Cristoff has already renewed the magic, then I won’t be needed. But if he hasn’t…or he can’t…then I intend to try.”

“Quinn…”

The ache in Arturo’s voice had her turning to him. “I have to save the ones I can.”

“Let’s find Zack,” he said quietly.

“No. Not now, not yet. The magic is failing and I won’t forsake everything, and everyone, for him. Not again.”

Chapter 37

T
hey rode back to Neo’s, Micah in the lead, Kassius and Lukas bringing up the rear. Arturo and Quinn rode in the middle, sharing one mount. Arturo had not been willing to release her, even to ride.

He brushed his jaw against her silken hair, the scent of sunshine filling his senses. Glamoured again, she didn’t look like herself, but she smelled as she always did and felt as perfect as always in his arms as she leaned bonelessly against him.

She was tired, exhausted. But he knew she fought sleep, her mind and heart in turmoil. Her emotions pummeled him—the terrible grief, the fear for her brother, the crippling anger at her own failures. Worse, by far, were the moments when her emotions eased off, moments that were growing longer and longer. Because he knew what she was doing—slowly, brutally, trying to lock away her heart once more. She didn’t want to feel the terrible pain, he sensed that clearly, and he understood. But the only way she knew to escape it was to retreat back behind her walls, to stop caring. And that was the last thing he wanted for her, because behind those walls she would find only isolation and loneliness and a place where love would never reach. A place he could not go.

“What do you think Cristoff will do with his newfound power?” Lukas asked. “Nerian was said to have subjugated a large part of the human world, but that was millennia ago. I’m not sure any vampire could manage that, not with the firepower humans possess these days.”

None of them answered, for none of them had any idea. Cristoff had been the most powerful vampire in Vamp City before he came into the Black Wizard’s magic. The thought of what he might become had the ability to terrify.

“Levenach is actually the one who gave Nerian all that power,” Quinn said sleepily. “And, Cristoff, for that matter.”

Arturo slid his hand up and down her arm. “By creating Escalla?”

“No.” Her fingers rested on his forearm. “The sword didn’t automatically convey the power to the wielder. Levenach added that tidbit out of spite.”

Micah glanced back. “Did you learn that from the Black Wizard’s memories?”

“No. At least, not when he and I shared a body. When Cristoff stabbed me, I was briefly transported back to the day Nerian stabbed the Black Wizard. I don’t know if it was memory or vision, but Levenach was there.”

Arturo met Micah’s startled gaze. “We would hear this story,
cara.
”

“Sure. Oddly enough, the two old wizards used to be friends. Levenach and Remus. But in his latter years, Remus, the Black Wizard, lost all patience with the human race, and much of his conscience. Some of the things that he did out of spite and annoyance were truly horrific. Levenach lost patience with Remus and decided he had to die. He enlisted the aid of Nerian, the Black Wizard’s trusted vampire friend, to stab him with the enchanted sword. The Black Wizard was furious, of course, especially when he realized it was Levenach who’d put Nerian up to it. Impaled on Escalla and dying, the Black Wizard cursed Levenach and his heirs, stripping them of all their magic. That so enraged Levenach that he uttered the counter curse that any vampire who stabbed Remus or one of his heirs with Escalla would acquire his incredible power. He guaranteed that any vampires who came into possession of Escalla would immediately begin searching for sorcerers to stab, hoping to steal that power.”

“He wanted the Black Wizard’s line hunted to extinction,” Micah murmured. “And he’s come close to succeeding.”

Quinn nodded, her hair brushing his chin. “They were just a couple of angry old men with far too much power.”

Arturo looked at her curiously. “Did either of them reveal how to break the curse?”

“Yes…I think? I remember Levenach saying that neither curse would break until Escalla was destroyed. The Black Wizard added that it would only happen by drinking the heart blood…and power, I think…of the one. I’m not sure what that means.”

“Who’s the one?” Micah asked.

“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “I hope to hell it’s not me. I don’t think it is. Levenach’s last words were,
And the one will know.”

Arturo’s hold on her tightened even as his brows drew together. The meaning was no more clear to him than it was to Quinn.

They were almost to Neo’s when the ground began to shake, though not quite close enough to make it in time. As one, they pulled up. Arturo held his breath, praying none of them stood within a sunbeam when the light broke through.

Quinn straightened in her seat, partly pulling away from him. “I’m trying to call up a bubble,” she said with frustration. “But I can’t do it!”

Light suddenly exploded all around them. Arturo’s flesh began to sting, but, thankfully, none of the sunbeams stood within ten feet of their little group.

“Damn,” Micah muttered. “They’re everywhere.”

As far as the eye could see.