Reunion (10 page)

He signalled to his brother, telling him in code what he planned to do. It only took a glance at Marise to see she wasn’t following at all. Her eyes were wide with confusion.

He gestured in the direction of the next tomb over. She looked there and then back at him. He motioned with his fingers that they were going to run there. She nodded.

Taking hold of her hand, he pulled her up so she was crouched beside him on the grass, ready. He signalled his brother and watched as he ran in the other direction, drawing the hunter’s fire. He counted, waiting, always patient as he needed to be.

The second Tynan was almost at the point he had planned, he ran with Marise, silently slipping from tomb to tomb. He stopped behind one, pressing his back against the cool stone. Poking his head out, he smiled when he saw the hunter behind a tomb, still firing at Tynan. This hunter wasn’t as clever as he had first thought. Any vampire hunter worth his salt knew that a vampire could easily run at a speed human eyes would find difficult to register, meaning Tynan was toying with him by running at an almost human pace.

He released Marise’s hand and motioned for her to come closer. She did, her body pressing close to him, making him ache to touch her. He nodded towards where the hunter was hiding. She frowned and then grinned, revealing sharp canines.

Jascha watched Tynan’s progress and the second the hunter had his back fully to him, he ran with Marise tailing behind. He had precious few seconds before the hunter realised what was happening. It would be enough to get Marise the chance she needed to kill the man.

He just hoped it wasn’t going to hurt too much.

Keeping in front of Marise, he blocked the hunter’s view of her, just as he had planned, giving her the best chance possible.

Marise’s eyes widened when Jascha growled in pain and stumbled forwards, his hands coming up. Her heart clenched and her throat tightened. She choked on her feelings and pressed on, shutting down her breathing. Jascha growled again and she sprinted past him, not even glancing at him as she attacked the hunter.

The hunter’s face was a mask of shock as she appeared from nowhere. She roared and launched herself at him, slashing across his throat. He fell into the gravestone and went to reach for the crossbow but she knocked it away with her foot. She grabbed his throat, digging her claws in until blood flowed from the wounds. Bringing her hand away, she licked the scarlet liquid off her fingers and frowned hard at him.

It didn’t taste human. He tasted almost like a vampire.

Someone had changed him, done something to him, but who and what?

Jascha moaned behind her and her anger came back full force, mixing with her fear and intoxicating her until she lost all restraint. She stared at the man in front of her, his dark eyes full of certainty with a hint of satisfaction that only fuelled the feelings inside of her. Growling, she slashed across his throat, unleashing all of her feelings. The surety in his expression turned to alarm as the blood began to spill in rivulets, trickling down his neck and pooling around his collarbone before sliding onto his chest.

“Where did you come from?” she said, hoping he would be more willing to answer her questions now that he was sure he was facing death. “What happened to you?”

He smiled in a way she didn’t like.

It was full of ‘you’ll see’ and it sent a shiver through her.

Anger getting the better of her, she grabbed his neck and choked him, trying to get an answer out of him. He continued to smile calmly, staring straight into her eyes, his expression unwavering.

“Tell me!”

There was an almost imperceptible twitch in his look and then he slumped against the headstone.

His eyes went glassy, fixed on her in a sightless stare.

She pushed him away from her and released him. Her gaze dropped to his chest and she frowned at the knife protruding from it. He had killed himself. She couldn’t believe it. He had killed himself to avoid answering her questions. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she glared at him. What kind of human was he? If he was human.

Her eyes widened when she remembered Jascha and she turned on a pinpoint to face him.

Her heart lightened and warmed when she saw that the bolts had missed their target, and walked over to him. She eased down to kneel beside him where he rested against a gravestone. He grimaced and clenched his jaw as he yanked a bolt out of his left shoulder. She pulled the one in his right arm out and tossed it to the floor.

She didn’t look at Tynan when he stopped beside them.

“You all right, little brother?” he said, concern in his voice.

Jascha nodded. “Better than I’d expected.”

Marise realised that he had planned to be her shield, to hide her and protect her from the vampire hunter. She sighed and brushed the backs of her fingers across his cheek, letting him know that she was grateful for what he had done but at the same time he had worried her sick. She had feared that she was going to lose him now that she had just found the courage to love him again.

She helped him to his feet and then looked down at the body of the vampire hunter.

“We need to get it to headquarters for an autopsy... we need to know what we’re dealing with,” she said, her eyes unmoving.

Tynan bent over and picked the body up, slinging it over his shoulder. Blood spilled from the hunter’s throat onto the ground. She took the bandage from her arm and tied it around the wound to stem the bleeding. They would need as much of his blood as possible so they could run tests. It soaked the bandage and slowed to a steady drip. It wouldn’t be long before it stopped bleeding completely. It was best they waited so they didn’t leave a trail back to their home.

Marise looked at Jascha, raised her hand again and tentatively touched his wounds. Her eyebrows furrowed and she met his eyes, not hiding how concerned she was about him and how scared she had been. He smiled and brushed his fingers across her cheek.

Her earlier conversation with Tynan came back and she realised she had never made a decision about what she was going to do. Could she be a Law Keeper and a lover at the same time? Would the others accept it? She stared into Jascha’s violet eyes, willing him to make up her mind for her. A single look or word was all it would take to bring her to a decision.

His smile widened, his eyes brightening with affection and tenderness.

She had missed the way he could do that, look at her and show her all the love he held for her. She had missed his smell, his taste and his touch. She had missed all of him.

She couldn’t continue on alone anymore. She had to at least try and see if she could balance being a Law Keeper and a lover.

Holding her hand out to him, she waited for him to take it before speaking.

“Come with me.”

He frowned.

“When I take the body to headquarters,” she said. “Come with me.”

He continued to frown for a few seconds and then the confusion in his eyes became incredulity. He opened his mouth but she answered his question before he had voiced it.

She kissed him.

W
hen Marise had left the Venia mansion it had been with a lighter heart and a new found love for her home. The return journey to the Law Keeper headquarters near Vilnius had been shorter than the outward one. With Jascha there and so much catching up to do, it had passed like minutes rather than hours.

She looked across at him as he walked beside her, carrying the body of the vampire hunter. They had placed it in a body bag back at the mansion and had kept it in the boot of the car during the journey. Jascha’s gaze slid across to meet hers and she smiled at him, trying to cover all the feelings colliding inside of her. She was no longer scared of her family’s home—she was petrified of this building instead.

Her eyes ran over the cold grey stone of the mansion. It was dark and foreboding against a backdrop of cloud strewn night sky. The moon was nowhere to be seen and the only light was that coming from one of the ground floor windows. The rest were dark, making them look like the hollow eyes of the building.

Jascha moved past her and stopped by the door, watching her. She managed another smile. This time he seemed to see straight through it. He walked back to her, dumping the body at her feet, and his look melted into one of concern. Marise caught his hand to stop it as it rose and held it tightly, squeezing it and taking comfort from his touch. She wanted him to caress her cheek as much as he did, but she was afraid that someone might see. She still didn’t know how to break things to her comrades.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice a little shaky and giving Jascha all the evidence he needed to pin down her feelings.

His thumb brushed against the back of her hand and then he stepped closer to her, bringing his body into contact with hers.

At this distance, he would easily be able to sense the bones of her emotions, enough to truly know how she felt.

She glanced at the house to make sure that no one was watching and then moved into his embrace, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes. She reached out a little, latching onto the feelings she could sense in him and using them to comfort and soothe her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her hair. She didn’t feel as strong as she had done when she had left this place to visit her home and discover who had attacked Timur. With Jascha being strong for her, she was letting herself be weak, relying on him to help her through.

He smiled when she stepped away from him and looked into his eyes.

She was strong. Her gaze dropped to the sleeve of her jacket. The servants had done an admirable job of repairing it, and although it would never be the same again, it was still her shield and it still gave her power and conviction. She wore this uniform for a reason. She had been chosen because of her strength and sense of duty. She wasn’t weak, she was just in love, and it was something that could make her stronger too. Her desire to return to Jascha, to protect him, would be another part of her shield now—it would give her the strength to do her job, regardless of the danger it involved.

Picking up the body, she carried it towards the house and knocked on the door. It opened within a few seconds, revealing the familiar low-lit interior and the Caelestis Law Keeper. He raised an eyebrow when he looked past her and she knew he had noticed Jascha.

Marise thanked him with a nod as he stepped to one side and gave her room to enter. She walked into the house and went straight to the library on the ground floor. As expected, the Vehemens and Tenebrae Law Keepers were there, sitting in the armchairs near the large fireplace with their noses in books. She had never seen two men study as much as they did.

“Mission completed. I have brought back his body as evidence. I tasted his blood... whatever he was, he wasn’t all human. There was a trace of vampire in him.” She dumped the body down on the mahogany table in the centre of the room.

Both men rose from their seats, placed their books down, and came over to stare at the body. She swallowed hard, waiting for someone to mention her company. None of them did.

“Is everyone here?” she said.

The Vehemens shook his head. “The Aurorea have called Daemon home... some business about the prophecy. Serge has been asked to investigate Ineru’s escape from exile and see if it was assisted or not.”

She noticed his pause and frowned at him. It wasn’t like him to stop halfway through a report.

“And Natyla?” she said, watching him closely.

His eyes flickered with something for a moment and then all emotion disappeared from his face as though someone had wiped it away.

“Natyla has been called back to Budapest. She has business to attend to.” There was a darkness in his voice that made her look at Jascha.

She had heard something similar in his a thousand times. A hint of jealousy. It was probably just her imagination. Eduard would never be jealous. He never showed any feelings at all.

He picked the body up. “We must see what has been done to this man.”

She watched him go and then caught the eye of the Caelestis Law Keeper, Vincent.

“He was in a fight and his target escaped, disappeared. Natyla apparently got in the way, misjudged her attack and caused Eduard’s injury. He has not spoken to her since.” Vincent shrugged in a way that said it was all he knew.

Marise could swallow that easier than the thought of Eduard being jealous. He had always been the kind of man you didn’t cross and definitely didn’t get in the way of during a fight.

“Who is your friend, little Marise?” The amused tones of Balthazar drew her attention to him. The Tenebrae Law Keeper was leaning back in a wooden chair beside the table, his dark eyes boring into her. He had always been the only one of her comrades to unsettle her. Quiet, secretive and with a vicious streak a mile wide, he reminded her of what the humans called serial killers. There was a blackness inside him that made him the perfect Law Keeper. Here was a man that no emotion could touch.

“He is my child and elite guard of Venia,” she replied flatly, not letting her feelings come to the surface as they wanted to.

He scrutinised her a moment longer and then stood, brushing his jacket down. He gave a disinterested glance towards Jascha and then left the room.

“Eduard will be ready for us by now,” Vincent said and then walked away.

She looked at Jascha. He raised his eyebrows.

“Friendly aren’t they?” he said with a smile.

“This isn’t the barracks, Jascha. This is the way we are expected to be. This is what it means to be a Law Keeper.”

His smile widened and he pushed her hair behind her ears. She was surprised that he didn’t say anything. She had been expecting him to crack a joke, or reassure her that she wasn’t like the others, she wasn’t heartless as Tynan had told her the other night.

She held his gaze, searching his face for a sign of what he was thinking. He closed his eyes, stealing their light from her world and dipped his head towards her. She didn’t stop him when he kissed her. Instead, she responded in kind, teasing his tongue with her own and showing him that regardless of what happened here today, she loved him and wanted to be with him again.