B006P1R39O EBOK (9 page)

Though she knew it was a silly thing to worry about, it did bother her. What if one of those people that walked by, just happened to be a vampire?

“Come in!” Kathrina called out.

Kathrina was troubled to see a stranger follow Nicole into the room.

“How are you feeling?” Nicole asked.

“Better,” Kathrina answered, never taking her eyes from the man that stood behind her sister.

“This is Jordan Anderson … he’s very interested in talking with you,” Nicole told her.

Kathrina acknowledged him with a slight nod of her head.

“I’m sorry to bother you while you are still recovering, but it’s extremely important that we talk.”

“What is it that I can do for you?” Kathrina had been in a foul mood all day, and right then, all she wanted was to be left alone. At least she didn’t want someone in her room that she didn’t even know.

“First I want to apologize for what happened to you.”

“You’re a slayer!” Kathrina’s eyes turned hard.

“It was a mistake. I hope you understand.”

“So what do you want from me?” she asked.

“I just want to help you. I know that you are planning to attack a coven of vampires. You are going to need all the help you can get,” he explained.

“Go on,” Kathrina urged.

“There are several of us and we could add to your forces significantly.”

“Tell her the rest,” Nicole prompted.

“We can also help you destroy Luciano … the vampire that held you hostage,” he added.

Kathrina felt her chest tighten. She stared at Jordan, unable to say a word.

“There is no way that the three of you can do this without help,” he told her.

“I will not kill Luciano.” Kathrina finally spoke. “Why would I want to destroy him when he saved my life … after your people tried to kill me?” she reminded him.

Jordan cleared his throat. “There’s something that you should know about this vampire.”

Kathrina said nothing, but waited for him to continue.

“Maybe you should be the one to tell her,” Jordan said to Nicole.

Biting her bottom lip, Nicole looked at Kathrina with uncertainty.

“Well I wish someone would tell me something.” Kathrina frowned.

With a deep sigh, Nicole stepped to her bedside and took Kathrina’s hand in hers. “If we kill Luciano, the curse will end. That means that those we care about would be cured.”

Kathrina shook her head. “That’s a myth!” I read the Book of Anu, and there is nothing like that in it.”

Shocked, Nicole stared at her.

“I’m sorry,” she told Nicole. “I didn’t want to risk telling anyone that I’d found it.” Kathrina was shamed by the half-truth. It was true that she’d felt it was too much of a risk to let others know about the book, but part of her had wanted to keep the words of the vampire to herself. It almost felt as if those words were for her alone.

“Where is it now?” Nicole asked.

“It was only partially translated so I sent it to a language expert. Omar’s vamps took it when they killed him.”

Nicole shook her head, her disappointment evident. “You should have confided in us. We could have helped you.”

“I know … and I’m sorry,” Kathrina apologized. “But I’m telling you that killing Luciano will do no good.”

“Are you sure? Is that what is in the book?” Nicole wasn’t convinced. “Remember … you only read part of it.”

Kathrina hesitated. It was true that she’d never gotten the chance to read the entire book translated, so she wasn’t absolutely sure. “No,” she told Nicole, “but what I did read and what I’ve learned from Luciano … I don’t believe it would cure anyone if we killed him.”

“I just don’t understand why it is so important to protect him.” Nicole frowned. “He was going to kill you.”

“She has that Stockholm syndrome … where the victim becomes attached to their captor,” Jordan offered the explanation.

For just a moment, Kathrina had to wonder if the slayer was right. Could that be why she felt compelled to defend Luciano? As quickly as the thought entered her mind she dismissed it. There had been a connection between them, even before the night that he’d taken her from her father’s house. She was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t something to what Luciano had said about their souls being connected somehow.

“You’re wrong,” she told Jordan in a matter of fact tone. “I just don’t believe it.”

“You really do not understand the true extend of Luciano’s evil … do you?” Jordan asked her.

“Enlighten me.” Kathrina gave him a frigid smile.

“He is the one that killed your mother … not Omar.”

For several moments Kathrina was unable to say anything. Each word that Jordan spoke seemed to take forever to penetrate her shock.

Kathrina’s dark eyes turned black. “I don’t believe you! He had no reason to kill my mother.”

“How can you be so sure of that … why are you defending him?” Nicole was clearly confused by Kathrina’s reaction.

“She’s still under his spell,” Jordan tried to explain, speaking as if Kathrina wasn’t there.

“Excuse me!” Kathrina glared at him. “I was never under any kind of spell. Besides … how would you know anything about my mother?”

“There’s a lot about the ancients that you don’t know.” Jordan stepped closer to her bed.

“And why should I believe that you are in a position to know these things?”

“I have read an entire translated version of the book. He admits that he was part of a campaign to kill all born vampires. He views them … you as an abomination.”

Kathrina felt the wound to her heart more profoundly that she cared to admit. Could it be true that he’d never viewed her as a woman, only as a means to an end?

“There’s more,” Jordan continued. “Luciano became friends with your mother … when he failed to make her his feeder, he encouraged her to seduce your father.”

“Why?” Kathrina still couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Because he knew you would be the result of their union … and he needed you.”

With every word the slayer spoke, Kathrina felt her heart grow heavier.

Jordan reached out and took her hand. “After you were born, he killed your mother so that the wolves would not discover your existence. But you were taken away before he could come for you. That’s why you were taken to the wolves … in their realm he has no power.”

“And all of this is in the book?” Kathrina swallowed hard.

Jordan shook his head. “No, that part is just information that we have acquired over the years. We have always kept tabs on Luciano because he is the most dangerous of all immortals.”

“If there is any chance that this is true, and we can end the curse … we must try.” Nicole leaned down next to the hospital bed. “We must try and save them.”

Kathrina could not dismiss the pleading in her sister’s voice. She knew what Nicole was really saying. They must try and save Alec, Darrien … and her cousin Summer.

What if he was telling the truth? What if they could save those that she loved from the curse of eternal darkness? Could she kill Luciano then?

She knew that at least part of what she was hearing was true. Lex, her adoptive grandfather had told her how Donavan left her to be raised by the wolves so that she would be safe, but he’d believed that the danger was from his brother, Omar.

But Luciano didn’t kill her when he could have!

That was the part that just didn’t fit.

“Let’s concentrate on Omar first,” Kathrina directed her words to Nicole. She didn’t want to commit to anything concerning Luciano yet. Not until she knew why he’d kept her alive.

* * *

Kathrina rolled over for at least the hundredth time that night. No matter how she tried, she just could not get comfortable. Not only was the bed nearly as hard as the floor, but she couldn’t keep away thoughts of Luciano.

How could she have been so wrong about him?

The memory of his touch sent a tingling sensation over her entire body. Squeezing her eyes shut, Kathrina tried to chase away the image of his eyes the first time she’d kissed him.

Yes there had been shock, but there had also been tenderness. Had she only imagined that warmth because that is what she’d wanted to see?

The door to her room squeaked as it was slowly pushed open. Kathrina pretended to be asleep so that the nurses would not insist on examining her wound. Forcing herself to breathe slow and evenly, she waited for the nurse to finish her routine.

The last few nights they had been less intrusive when making their rounds. Since she no longer had an IV, the nurses tried not to wake her. They would check her pulse and gently insert the thermometer in her ear. Within a couple minutes the nightshift nurse would be gone and she wouldn’t be disturbed again until morning.

Kathrina waited for the nurse to grab her wrist and check her pulse, but there was nothing but the sound of someone moving around in her room. She opened her eyes to slits, hoping to catch a glimpse of the nurse without giving away the fact that she was still awake.

Kathrina’s eyes flew open. She was instantly flooded with mind-numbing terror. Red luminous eyes hovered just inches from her face. She knew she should scramble from the bed and run, but she was paralyzed from fear.

Though dressed in nurse’s scrubs, the creature’s furious eyes gave her away. The vampire hissed at her, but Kathrina knew that she wouldn’t try and feed from her. Her blood was deadly to most vampires. It was only Luciano that could feed from her without destroying himself.

The syringe that the vampire held in her hand was the mode of destruction. They were going to poison her, but their plan was foiled by the fact that she no longer had an IV. The vampire had probably been trying to think of a way to slip her the poison without being noticed, but then Kathrina gave away the fact that she was still awake.

All of these thoughts raced through Kathrina’s head as she rolled from the bed. She was still weak and in no shape to fight off an attack.

The vampire moved too quickly to see. She was on Kathrina, the needle poised inches from her throat. Kathrina grabbed the vampire’s arm and tried to hold back the syringe, but she wasn’t strong enough.

Suddenly the vampire squealed in surprise as she was lifted off of Kathrina. She heard the sound of shattering glass and the building seemed to come alive with the shrill of alarms.

Kathrina blinked rapidly, trying to digest what she was seeing. Lucinao was there, holding out his hand to her. She grabbed it and let him pull her to her feet.

Everything seemed to fade away, the sirens - the commotion in the halls - everything but the sight of Luciano silhouetted by the moonlight that was streaming in from the broken window.

He turned toward the window, ready to flee.

“Luciano,” she breathed.

He stopped and looked back at her. Without a word he leaned down and brushed her lips softly with his.

“They told me bad things about you,” she spoke up quickly, not wanting him to leave yet.

He stared down at her, his eyes still shining with the light of the immortal. “Do you believe them?”

Kathrina opened her mouth, but she couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what she believed.

Without another word, he leaped toward the broken window and disappeared into the night sky.

* * *

Every night Luciano hovered outside the hospital window - searching his soul for those elusive answers.

Should he go away and never return, or should he follow through with his original plan?

Could he take her life now?

Each night he would watch her sleep, longing to go to her but knowing that he shouldn’t. Tonight the urge had been so strong that he hadn’t been able to resist. He’d only meant to be with her a few minutes - long enough to touch her angelic face - listen to the comforting sound of her breathing.

Everything had gone wrong. When he’d opened the door to her room and seen the vampire, he’d been filled with the same black rage that he had on the night she’d been shot. He could have killed the vampire without making such a mess, but his temper had gotten the best of him again.

He had let her live, and now they would come after her nonstop. By sparing her life and sacrificing his own salvation, he had placed himself in danger, but that didn’t matter. Maybe he should be destroyed; at least it would mean some kind of end to his torturous existence.

The longer he was imprisoned by darkness, the more putrid and black his soul became. It was just another reason why he should disappear from her life forever. His only other choice would be to feed on her - ingest her life essence and the light that was imbedded in her soul.

She was being fed lies - and maybe she even believed what they were saying. Regardless, the truth was much darker than any fictitious story they could come up with.

Kathrina opened the heavy double doors and stepped inside the old church. The chapel was spectacular, with its massive arches and stained glass windows, but she could sense an undertone of darkness that seemed completely out of place.