Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4) (19 page)

I had almost lost my guardian, my friend. I w
ould not cry, I would not cry. Elizabeth may have broken me in that basement but they would be the last tears I shed. We made it out and I would make Elizabeth and Caligula pay for what they did to my dog, for what they did to those girls and what they tried to do to me.

When their blood soaked the ground, when their ashes were scattered in the northern winds I would bask in the glory of my kill. The Blood Countess would truly know what a blood bath
was when she met the point of my sword. Conry bristled at my agitation, stirring to look for what caused it. He needed to rest as much as I did. I ignored the pain in my chest and slid down in the pillows, curling up with my guardian. I fell asleep petting him.

15

The temperature dropped and I shivered. Conry had moved away during our nap taking his warmth with him. I tried to scoot closer to him and the heat I felt radiating off his body when I realized we weren't in Kansas- or Cork- anymore. The familiar grey of the between surrounded us. Conry had regained enough strength to stand guard. The comfort I usually felt here escaped me. Even as my body absorbed the energy, healing itself in the process, I was on edge. Elizabeth could find me here and as much as I longed to see my sword glistening red from her blood I wasn't ready.

The grey began to shift. Stones took shape in the fog. I felt my chest tighten as the light flickered out and the thatched roof gave way to damp stones. I was back in that room. Medical equipment hummed and beeped in the bac
kground. Panic momentarily gripped me, rooting me to the spot at the foot of the metal table that I was strapped to hours ago.

I willed myself to move. The iron cuffs still wore a coat of my crusted blood from my attempts to free myself. I w
ould not end up strapped to that table again. I forced my feet forward, one step, then another and another until I was running out of the cell. The soft glow of candlelight pushed at the darkness. Fully aware of how unarmed and unprepared I was to face my captors I continued to walk toward the light.

The hallway opened into another stone chamber. Unlike the cell where they held me there was no iron anywhere. Thankful for small favors I stepped through the narrow opening. Dead end. The room, if you could call it that was barely six by six. A well took up most of the floor, there was hardly enough room to walk around it. If it hadn't been for the light emanating from the sconces on
both sides of the doorway I would have fallen in.

I stepped closer, surprised to find i
t filled with water instead of sealed with a cement cap once city water had been brought in. I bent down, about to dip my hand in the water when ripples moved across the surface. I jumped back, not wanting to get caught by whatever lurked in the well. Knowing the homeowners it was probably a fucking piranha pit.

A hand broke the surface, gripping the top of the well for support as the rest of the body followed. I watched in horror as eyes peered out of the water like an alligator in a Louisiana swamp. As more of her body rose out of the well it became obvious the water wasn't water at all. It was blood. Red rivulets ran down her naked body as she stepped out of her bath and onto the stone floor. She reach
ed for me, calling my name.

"Maurin." Her bloody hands gripped my arms and I jerked backwards, slamming into the stone wall. The i
mpact vibrated up my spine, rattling my head and snapping my jaws shut. I bit my bottom lip and cursed as I tasted blood. Elizabeth sucked in a breath, hoping to catch a taste of me on the air.

"Maurin." This time my name was a command. Her voice was deeper, stronger and I felt compelled to move t
oward it. "Maurin, wake up."

I shot up out of the nightmare and into Mason's arms gasping for air. I shook my arms until the sleeves of his p
ajama top were at my elbows. My mind wouldn't accept this reality until I felt it with bare hands.

I shoved his shirt up and pressed my palms against his back. The skin on skin contact helped me find my center. We stayed like that for a while, my head buried in the crook of his neck, as he supported himself with one hand on the mattress while the other stroked my spine.

His smell was heady and intoxicating, spicy like pipe tobacco soaked in whiskey. It was masculine and incredibly erotic. I took one last deep breath, pulling in the sensory memory as I pushed away.

He watched me scoot back against the wall with a grin that said he knew the effect he had on me. The grin faltered when he saw the haunted look in my eyes. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, offering a thanks instead of the explanation he wanted.

"I told you I would come for you. Even if it's to pull you back from the shadows in your mind, I will come for you." 

The intensity of his gaze overwhelmed me. My face warmed from the blush that crept into my cheeks. If I could have moved further from him I would have. It wasn't smart to be this close to Mason, he was an entirely different kind of dangerous. One I wasn't equipped to deal with at the moment.

With
nowhere to go since my back was already pressed against the wall, I turned my head enough to avoid the kiss he moved in to deliver. His lips grazed my cheek. Cinnamon scented breath warmed my neck as he chuckled over my attempt to evade his advance. My heart skipped a beat, thankfully my brain put on the brakes.

"Do you have a phone I could use? I really should call Aidan."

He dropped his head, resting it on my collar bone and the sigh he let out had me shivering. It wasn't because I was cold. "He knows where you are. We sent word to the Council once we settled on a location."

"Still, he must be worried. I should call him."

"Oh he's definitely worried." He gave a devilish smile, winking as he produced a cell phone from his pocket. The sleeve of his shirt that I wore had slipped down, covering my hand and I shook my arm to free it so I could take the phone. "I like the way you look in that shirt. It suits you."

I knew he would follow anything I said with something along the lines of liking me out of his pajamas better, so I chose not to say anything. I took the phone and punched in Aidan's number, surprised I remembered it since I had him on speed dial.

"Aidan." There was a long pause and then he said my name, his voice shaken. "It's me. Yes, I'm okay."

I waited for a pause in the jumbled rush of questions and professions of his feelings for me. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here. No, they don't think it's a good idea
to go back to my apartment."

"You can stay with me." Mason kn
ew full well Aidan could hear him.

"Yes that was him. No. Aidan, did you hear me accept the offer? I'm going to hang
up now." Mason laughed, obviously he heard the other side of the conversation as well.

"Maurin wait, don't hang up. I'm sorry. Feckin' hell." His accent was thick and I picture
d him raking his hands through his recently cropped hair in his frustration to say things that wouldn't make me hang up on him. He let out a breath and I mimicked him. "We lost communication a couple minutes after you went inside. I wanted to call it off and pull you out of there but Cash wanted to give you a chance. He was confident you'd get the job done, said it would turn into a blood bath if I went in there and you could get hurt." I winced at his choice of words. "I shouldn't have listened to him. I never should have let you go in."

I wanted to reassure him, let him know I really was okay. The pain in his voice was hard enough to hear but the hint of fear mixed in broke my heart. Telling me all of this was important to him. He wanted me to know he look
ed for me, that he wouldn't have stopped until he found me. I may have lost hope that I would be rescued but not once did I doubt he was searching. Still, rather than interrupt him to tell him I knew he wouldn't have stopped looking for me, I let him get it out. I gave Mason a withering glare and pointed at the door when he muttered something about how you'd think Aidan was the one who was tied up and tortured. He didn't leave, so I turned my back to him while I listened to Aidan.

"But then you came out, so we followed the car back to your apartment. I was already waiting for you at the door by the time the ghoul got out. I don't know who worked that glamour, only the fae can work one that strong. Can't ima
gine what fae would risk crossing your father by creating a glamour in your image.

“
One whiff of that rotting puss bag and I knew it wasn't you. I have been going crazy ever since. We questioned the driver, Cash roughed him up a bit. A lot truth be told but he was compelled, there was no breaking it. Jesus, Maurin, we forced our way back into the house. Caligula was gone by the time we got back. Tore the fecking place apart and never found the entrance. I thought I lost you. Then the Council calls and tells us to meet your father and that
hunter
back at the mansion. Turns out we wouldn't have been able to break the wards on the entrance even if we could have seen it. You were on that table with an iron spear sticking out of your chest. And then they took you from me!"

"Aidan."

"No, don't Aidan me. I told you, you weren't ready to go against him. That he would be prepared for anything and everything. I knew better than to let you go in there alone. You would have died.”

"It was a good plan. I could have handled Caligula. What we weren't prepared..."

"Bollocks, it was a horrible plan. You almost fecking died!"

I kept right on going like he didn't cut me off. Normally I'd put him in his place for that and for yelling at me like he was currently doing but in light of recent events and the blame he placed on himself I g
ave him a pass. "What we weren't prepared for was the henbane and--"

"Henbane?"

Would he ever let me finish a sentence? I was about to revoke his pass. Mason chuckled at my irritation. Why the hell was he still here? I threw a pillow at him. "Think Romeo and Juliet."

"That's certainly one way to describe it
," Mason muttered.

"Would you shut up
," I hissed.

"What?"

"Not you, Aidan. I was talking to Mason."

"Mason is it? You're on a first name basis with the hunter now?"

That almost sent the hunter into a fit of laughter. "Tell him we've been on a first name basis since you came to my office wearing those knee high boots to tempt me out of that necklace."

"And it worked to. Now shut up or get out."

"You're in my bed, hardly in a position to order me out."

"Maurin." Aidan ground out my name.

I threw another pillow at Mason and he motioned to lock his lips.

"Maurin." I could tell through the phone that Aidan's teeth were clenched and his jaw twitch
ed.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "
Ignore him." I gave Mason a pointed stare, making sure he kept his lips locked. "What I've been trying to say is we weren't prepared for the Blood Countess. We thought Caligula killed the girls but it was her."

Something gnaw
ed at me, something Bathory said. "Did you know she was here, Aidan?" Mason leaned forward, very interested in his answer.

"You need to come back to Salem. We have to talk to the Council. If Elizabeth Bathory is responsible
--"

"Did you know she was here?"

"I lost her after Reykjavik. I followed her trail of bodies back to the states but there was no sign of her in Salem. My team, your team, has been hunting for her this whole time."

"And you didn't think five girls drained of their blood might be something she was capable of? That she was worth mentioning?"

"No, you found the necklace. Everything pointed to Caligula. This isn't how she normally kills, it was too clean."

"You weren't convinced he was guilty before. Did you know Caligula was her sire? That she can absorb power through blood?"

"Of course not! I never would have allowed you to go in there if I knew that. His line was supposed to be dead. Maurin, please, you need to come home."

"She watch
ed you. She saw me with you. It set this whole thing in motion."

"Maurin
, come home. We'll go to Agrona. Get the team together."

"I can't just jump back to Salem. It's not safe for me in the between right now."

"Why? Kellen wouldn't--"

"What do you think she
is doing with my blood, Aidan?" The conversation wore me out. I had been in and out of consciousness for the last few days - or was it a week now since I went to Caligula's - but I was exhausted and the wound in my chest started to hurt again. The iron seriously slowed the healing process. I wanted a bath, a meal and a nap. In that order. "Listen, I'll figure out a way to get back to Salem. We'll talk with the Council. I promise. But I'm still not a hundred percent. I can't remember the last time I ate something and I'm exhausted. I need to eat and then go back to bed."

"Alone?"