Blood Life Seeker (22 page)

He didn't move from where he was standing, looming over me, his head though was turned to the side, looking at the floor. Finally, he turned his gaze back to me and there was fire in his eyes, no other word for it. Just pure flames of orange fire.

“What's with your eyes?” I asked mesmerized.

He closed them and kept them shut for a good minute then opened them to look back at me. Gone, no licking flames of hot light.

“
The
Iunctio
fears you, Lucinda.” His voice was strained, whisper quiet, as though he didn't want anyone else to hear. “I had not thought their concerns were justified until now. You are indeed the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor,
but you are in fact more.” He paused, considering his words with care. “I am not only the Enforcer for the
Iunctio,
I am also their Scout. It is my job to investigate, shall we say, any indication of the Prophecy's commencement. I was sent here to see if you were merely a cog in the wheel, or the whole machine.”

I swallowed. “What do you think I am?”

“Honestly? I do not know. You are the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor,
but you are more. I fear for you that this
more
is what the
Iunctio
seeks. And if it is, they will kill you. They will not hesitate, there is no negotiation, no leap of faith.”

“What will you tell them?”

He turned away from me then. I could tell he was still breathing, actually it looked like he was having trouble getting enough air in, from the rise and fall of his shoulders.

His voice when it did come was even more strained than before. “I am bound to them until I leave. I can leave, but it would appear unusual to do so right now, during an investigation.” He paused and did take a deep breath in. “But I am bound to you through the
Sigillum
, I cannot betray you even if I wanted to.”

“
That's
a conflict of interest. Why would they have sent you to investigate me?”

He turned back to me and gave me one of his boyish smiles. “They do not know we have shared marks. They are not aware of the conflict of interest.”

Naughty boy. “How will you hide it from them?”

“I may not be able to eventually, any way, but for now only those of my line are aware and I control them.”

“Michel knows, he could use it against you.”

“To do so would be to endanger you and therefore his position of power, his life. I do not think Michel would see it as a worthy tool for revenge.”

How convenient.

“So what now?” I asked.

“Now. We wait for Michel. If he can come for you, find you and save you without causing too much trouble, then I can leave and tell the
Iunctio
something they will believe.”

“You can't just let me go and make a story up, can you?”

He shook his head. “It would be a lie.”

“
But, it would be a lie telling them I am nothing more than the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor
.”

“Oh, I will be telling them you are more than that, just not what they think.”

“What then?”

“
I will tell them you are the strongest Nosferatin I have seen, more than just the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor,
but not enough to rule the Prophesy alone. It is close enough to the truth for them to believe it, I almost do myself. They may decide to keep a close eye on you, but they won't sign a death warrant on that. Despite their fear of the Prophesy, they fear the loss of a Nosferatin more, they fear the loss of their power base. Since you joined with Michel the
Iunctio
has grown stronger.”

“What do you mean? Because of my powers?”

“Yes. Every joined Nosferatin adds to the
Iunctio's
power, as they add to the collective power of all Nosferatu. It has been centuries since they had received a gift as powerful as yours. They crave you Lucinda, yet they fear you. It is a fine line, but one you will have to tread.”

I didn't know what to say to that. I did know that my arms had now gone to sleep and I had pins and needles in my toes, slowly working their way up my legs. I shifted slightly in the chair to get more comfortable, but failed. Gregor came over immediately and began to loosen the ties.

“You don't complain much, do you, little Hunter? Most would have demanded release by now.”

“I didn't want to interrupt.”

He laughed, making a few strands of his hair come loose from the clip and slide down the side of my face as he leant over me to untie my arms. I could smell the shampoo he uses, strawberries or raspberries, I couldn't quite tell. They went nicely with the chocolate coated ice cream. I inhaled deeply and sighed.

He pulled back and cocked his head at me, raised his eyebrows. “What?”

I licked my lips, what the hell. “You smell of chocolate covered ice cream and raspberries, or maybe strawberries, I'm not sure which.”

He stilled with a small smile playing on his lips. “Maybe I have been too hasty removing your ties. There could be possibilities here.” And he raised his hands to place them on either side of the chair back, by my shoulders and slowly leaned in. His eyes never leaving mine, my eyes transfixed by the silver flashing in his. I didn't fight him, when his lips met mine. I should have, but I didn't. I wanted him to kiss me, like I'd never wanted anything else before. I wanted to see if he tasted as good as he smelled, if I could lick him and taste the chocolate or strawberries. If I could nibble and feel like I was having a decadent dessert. And I wasn't let down. He was all of those things and more. And I wanted it, all of it.

But thank God for small miracles, because right then Michel barged through the door in a swirl of iridescent light.

Of course, it didn't look good, did it? I was tied to a chair and flushed, Gregor had been standing over me, taking advantage of my position. What was Michel supposed to think?

He came towards us like a raging tornado, lost in the swirl of colours, just a funnel of power churning the air before him. He hit Gregor, more than he hit me, but it was enough to tip my chair back with such force that I felt, as well as heard, the loud crack as my forearm broke on my left side. I screamed, but the sound was lost in the battle that raged before me.

I'd landed sideways to the room, on my arm, but facing back towards the kitchen and dining area, right where Michel and Gregor fought. Any attempt to reposition myself, off my broken arm, was excruciating and impossible. I had to contend myself with lying perfectly still and taking short, small breaths in that didn't make me move my shoulders. You've no idea how much of your body moves when you breath, especially when your heart is in your mouth and your breathing is ragged from fear and pain.

All my concentration was on not moving my shoulders, remaining still and taking small breaths, so several minutes had passed before I was able to think coherently and realised that Michel was going to kill Gregor. Gregor was holding his own, I don't think you become the Enforcer for the
Iunctio
without learning a few tricks. And I'm guessing, some of that power the
Iunctio
has from my joining and the joining of others like me, was being channelled into Gregor right now, because he shouldn't have been able to fight Michel the way he was.

Michel is perhaps the most powerful vampire alive. If I am the strongest Nosferatin in centuries, which I don't quite yet subscribe to, but it is a little hard to deny, then his power boost on joining with me was the biggest any kindred vampire had ever received. I knew it at the time. The joining with me had more than doubled his original power base, something that hadn't happened before then. Michel had been strong before, now he was a force to be reckoned with.

But, Gregor was holding him off. This was perhaps the most beautiful and yet so frightening thing I had ever seen in my life. Gregor didn't spin like Michel, I think that is peculiar to those kindred vampires who have joined. When Michel fought Max a few weeks ago, they both spun in a dance of twin tornadoes. Splendid in the magnificent light display, dancing a devilish tango. Now Michel spun, sending flashes and spikes of light in a multitude of colours around the room, but Gregor was simply a blur.

Wherever Michel spun to next, Gregor simply vanished. He stayed one step ahead of the storm by a mere fraction of a second. So fast, even with my enhanced vision, I was unable to keep up with the movement. One second he was there, the next gone and reappearing for a flash of split second somewhere else. To only disappear again and then repeat the action over and over and over again. They would never tire of this, I thought and yet neither of them was landing a blow, was succeeding in hurting the other. It would have been laughable if only I could have breathed in enough to do it.

I'd managed to settle my breathing. There was nothing I could do for my heartbeat though, it was on its own. So I just worked on ignoring it pounding in my chest, reverberating around my body and centred myself on each slow, shallow breath in and each slow, shallow breath out, until I could think clearly.

Michel. Stop.
I threw the thought at him.

Nothing, just a swirl of chroma glowing in the room.

Michel listen to me, it's a test, a trap. They want you to lose control, so they have an excuse to kill you. To kill us. Please stop.

Still nothing, not even a blip on the colour wheel turning before me. No pause, no hesitation, just continuous strobes of colour dancing before my eyes.

Michel please! Listen to me! Stop! Don't do this, you're killing us!

I noticed it then, a small hesitation, not enough for Gregor to take advantage of, but enough for me to realise Michel had heard. I wasn't at all sure if Gregor was getting my thoughts, I was throwing them at Michel, but I was also shouting them in my head. Theoretically, Gregor should have been able to hear them. I was hoping he could.

Michel slow down and Gregor will stop too!

OK. The moment of truth. I talked before of someone taking that leap of faith, of either a Nosferatu or Nosferatin taking that first step towards trusting, towards a chance to work together for peace. I had meant me. I was quite prepared for that first treacherous step, but I wasn't prepared for anyone else to take it with me. I just didn't think that was possible, but here I was asking Michel to take that step and hoping Gregor would too. Idealistic, me? Bloody oath.

I do not trust him, ma douce
.

I let my breath out in a rush and gasped at the pain down my arm, then cringed at the pain the gasp had caused. A few precious seconds passed before I could think.

Trust me.

How ironic. He had only hours before said he didn't trust me. I had no idea at all if he could again and would now. But what else was there to do?

The swirls of colour continued to dance, the blur of Gregor flashing before my eyes, making dots of white appear behind my eyelids each time I blinked. I was starting to feel nauseous and it wasn't from the pain in my arm. Although now that I think about it, that was doing strange things to my equilibrium too. Still, Michel did not stop.

I felt a weight centre in my heart. He didn't trust me.

Why won't you listen to me, you've listened before?

No hesitation, still a determined swirling pursuit across the room.

You have been tricked, ma douce. You do not know what you are saying. This is the trap. You are the trap.

Oh dear God. He was going to keep doing this until he had killed Gregor. Not so long ago, I would have cheered from the sidelines, but now? Now, a part of me screamed at the thought of Gregor dying. Did I love him? No, I didn't think so. Could I? Yes. But, that was irrelevant. What mattered to me was he did not deserve to die. Even now there was Light amongst the Darkness before me. Both in the swirls of brightly lit colour from Michel and in the flashes of brightness as Gregor moved across the room out of his reach.

They had both moved a little further towards the Light because of me, neither deserved to die. But how to stop this now?

Please Michel. Stop! For me?

Je suis
désolé
, ma douce.

No.

No reply, just a ramp up in speed of the tornado tower in front of me. Gregor faulted, his speed still unfathomable, but not enough and Michel went in for the kill.

I don't really know what happened next, I was blinded by the lights and colours in the room. And by the pain in my chest, so heavy, so crushing, so frightening in its intensity. I felt my world fall away from me, not just the room and its technicoloured splendour, but my life as I knew it. Michel didn't trust me. Did that mean he no longer cared? Gregor was about to die. Did that mean I failed as a Nosferatin and didn't bring him to the Light?

The thought of Light is probably what did it, but it certainly wasn't conscious. It simply began to build in me, slowly at first and when my body responded to it's internal glow, more quickly. Until I felt it brimming and pouring over the top of me, still contained within my body, but as though it was filling me up so full, that waves were splashing over the side of my shields, my mental walls, like a cup being filled too high with water. But this water was bright, shining, glowing, burning, sparkling, streaming around my mind and body until I could hold it no more and didn't want to. Why should I be only one to bask in its glory?

I thrust it out into the room and let it wash all over them. I had never thought I was more powerful than Michel, that was just not simply possible. He is a very old vampire, Master of the City, joined to the most powerful kindred Nosferatin in centuries. He had strength and power before I gave him mine, so it was unbelievable that I should be more powerful than him. But, as it happens, I am.

My Light burst through, stopping them both in their tracks. I did what neither vampire was capable of, I landed the first blow. Michel was no longer a swirling stream of colours, Gregor no longer a blur of speed. They were both immobile in a wash of brightness that had stilled their hearts and stopped their breath. It wasn't as though the whole room had immobilised, hung in suspension in the air. I could still hear the fridge whirring in the corner, still see a small drop of water drip from the faucet above the sink, but the vampires were dead still. Not vampire still, Nosferatin still. I held them both in the cusp of my hand, metaphorically speaking. It was more like a simple thought could have crushed them. But I had no intention of crushing them, I just wanted them to damn well listen to me.

“Now, both of you will stop for just a minute and listen to me!”

I didn't like talking to their backs, so I turned them towards me so they could look me in the face. It was a bit awkward, I was lying on my side, if I'd had the energy, I would have used my Light to right the chair, but I was tiring. This Nosferatin Light thing was hard work.

“I will not lose either of you tonight.” I looked at Michel. “Michel, I love you, but sometimes you think you know more than me and quite frankly, that's starting to piss me off just a little. I am not who you think I am. I don't quite know what I am yet, but it's more than that and whatever it is, there are things I know, so deep down inside me, I think they have been there before time itself began. Trust me, like you once did.” I flicked my eyes to Gregor. “Gregor, I wish I'd met you before all of this, there is more to you than you let people see. I see it, I don't quite know what exactly it is yet, but it's worth fighting for, worth living for. I will not let you die, but you have to meet me half way. You know what you have to do Gregor, I want you to trust me too.”

OK. So, they couldn't answer me. Gregor can't even speak in my mind and Michel couldn't, because I'd frozen his, only allowing my words to penetrate the Light I had them suspended in. So, now was the moment of truth, again, but this time so much more was hanging on its outcome. I couldn't hold them much longer, I was sweating profusely and a small tremor had started down my body, making my arm spasm and the fracture hurt like a bitch. That alone was causing my concentration to waver.

“I'm going to let you go. Please don't let me down.”

I lowered them gently to the floor. Yeah, they'd been hanging, suspended in mid air, I hadn't even realised until that moment - wow - and pulled my Light back towards me. It washed over me, easing the pain slightly and rejuvenating my energy, enough to stop the trembling and allow me to relax, just a bit, just enough. I had closed my eyes when it came flooding back in. It's intense, rather like an orgasm, but not quite as intimate. When I opened my eyes and saw the looks on both vampire's faces, I realised it probably
was
that intimate for them. Oops.

Both had collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily, their pulses in their necks thundering along, faces flushed - a neat trick for a vampire - and eyes glazed in the afterglow of my power. They looked a little funny from my angle, still on my side on the floor, which made me realise I really wanted off my arm now.

“Can someone get me out of this, please? I'm really sore.”

Both heads sprung up in unison and blazing eyes of indigo and violet, and silver and platinum took my predicament in. I bit my lip and waited.

Michel was the first to try to get to his feet, but only managed a half rise from the floor and then collapsed again. Shit. What had I done to them? Gregor actually reached out to stop his fall, Michel grabbing his hand automatically. Both of them ending up leaning against each other for support. I smiled, only moments ago they had been prepared to kill each other, now they seemed to be holding on to each other for grim death.

“Maybe if you crawl, stay close to the ground or something, but one of you has to move me, I think I might pass out soon.”

They looked at each other and actually rolled their eyes in unison.

“What's wrong with you guys?”

“
Ma douce
, it has been a long time since I have shared anything remotely like that with Gregor. Allow us our moment of shared memories.”

What the hell?

Gregor laughed. I'm not sure if it was at me or because of what Michel had just said, or maybe at the memories they shared. I was starting to realise these two had been more than just friends once. Huh. I glared at them both, which is no mean feat considering my position on the floor and the pain in my arm.

“OK. OK.
Ma douce
, we are coming.”

They both crawl-glided over to me. At least they were getting a bit more of their otherworldliness back and made the movement seductive and beautiful. I didn't complain, I wanted something of my old world back right then, the ground had somehow shifted a little in the last few minutes.

They started untying my restraints, neither bothering to avoid touching my skin. Stroking here, a light touch there, a shot of warmth and heat shooting up my body.

“Stop it,” I breathed, the words coming out in a whisper.

“Stop what,
ma cherie
? Untying you?” Gregor had that wicked gleam back in his eyes. He was definitely enjoying himself again.