Bound By Blood (22 page)
Authors: Amanda Ashley
“I am afraid it is too late for that.”
Zack muttered an oath at the sound of the familiar voice.
Sherrad put Kaitlyn behind him, then slowly turned around.
“How very clever of you to find her,” Nadiya said. “I am afraid I underestimated your resourcefulness.”
“We’re not leaving without her,” Zack said. “So you can move aside and let us pass, or I’ll rip your heart out. And believe me, I know how to do that.”
“I did not come alone,” she said imperiously.
Zack crossed his arms over his chest. “Bring ’em on, witch!”
He had no sooner said the words than Nadiya vanished from sight and a dozen men—both vampires and drones—swarmed into the room.
Chapter 33
There was instant pandemonium as Zack and Drake were surrounded by a dozen men intent on destroying them.
Zack summoned his power, felt it flow through him, making everything seem sharper, brighter, as he changed into his wolf form. Fangs bared, he sprang at the nearest vampire, felt a rush of exhilaration as he tore out the man’s throat. The smell of blood and death rose in the air, exciting the beast within him. Returning to his human form, he ripped out another vampire’s heart and tossed it aside. A split second later, he resumed his wolf form and attacked another man. This one was human. Easily killed.
He had no idea how Drake was doing, didn’t have time to check on Kaitlyn, but he knew she was alive. He could hear the rapid beating of her heart, smell her fear above that of the men trying to kill him.
He turned to confront another man, felt his foot slip on the bloody floor, heard Kaitlyn’s scream as he went down. Snarling and snapping, he sank his fangs into the man’s ankle and jerked him off his feet. Before the man could recover, Zack crushed his windpipe.
Caught up in the lust for blood, Zack killed another man and destroyed another vampire.
In a momentary lull, he glanced around the room, noting that there were only three vampires still standing. He looked for Sherrad and saw him standing amid a pile of bodies at the other end of the room. Kaitlyn’s father was splattered with blood from head to foot, his eyes wild, his lips drawn back over his fangs.
Zack grinned. Kaitlyn was right. Her father could be scary.
The three remaining vampires pulled back. They glanced at each other, their expressions uncertain.
Zack resumed his human form. “Come on,” he said, motioning them forward. “Let’s finish it.”
“She can fight her own bloody battles,” the tallest of the three said, and vanished from sight.
Zack grinned at Sherrad. “One for you. One for me.” He lunged at the nearest vampire, his hand penetrating the man’s chest, ripping out his heart, before the vampire knew what hit him.
The last vampire glanced from Sherrad to Zack and vanished from the room.
Zack took a deep breath, the urge to kill fading. He glanced at Sherrad, but the vampire was looking at his daughter.
Zack swore under his breath. Dammit! What must Kaitlyn be thinking? How would she ever think of him the same way after what she had just seen? The fighting had been brutal and bloody and he had gloried in it, would have killed a dozen more to protect the woman he loved.
Fearing what he might see, Zack turned around.
Kaitlyn stood with her back pressed to the wall, her face fish-belly white. Drops of bright crimson glistened wetly in her hair, on her face and her clothing. A drone lay at her feet, his neck broken. Had she killed him? Lord, he hoped not.
Sherrad approached his daughter. Taking hold of the iron bolt in the wall, he jerked it free, then, ignoring the chain dangling from her ankle, he pulled Kaitlyn into his arms. She sagged against him, her face buried against his chest, her shoulders shaking with the force of her tears.
Were they tears of relief, Zack wondered, or regret for killing a man? He shook his head. Whether she wanted any more to do with him or not, she was safe and that was all that mattered.
Sherrad looked at Zack. “Let us go.”
“You go on. I’ll take care of the bodies.”
Sherrad nodded.
A moment later, Zack was alone in the basement. He picked up two of the bodies and carried them up the stairs, came to an abrupt halt when he reached the living room.
Someone—most likely Nadiya—had killed the elderly couple who owned the house. Their bodies lay side by side on the kitchen floor, both drained of blood.
Zack stared at them for several moments. He hadn’t killed many people in the course of his existence as a vampire. Sure, there had been a few early on, before he learned to control his strength and his hunger. And a couple of hunters he had killed in self-defense. But he had never killed wantonly.
“You’re going down, Nadiya,” Zack muttered. “Sooner or later, you’re going down.”
Every dark cloud had a silver lining, he mused as he dropped the two dead vampires on the floor. Thanks to Nadiya’s cruelty, he wouldn’t have to bury the bodies. He found two cans of gas in the garage and carried them inside. He used the first can to douse the bodies of the vampires, splashed the second can on the floor of the living room and the kitchen, and set fire to the place.
He stood outside for several minutes, watching it burn, before transporting himself back to Wolfram Castle.
Kaitlyn stood in the shower, eyes closed as the hottest water she could stand sluiced over, washing away the blood and tissue that had splattered over her. Never in all her life had she imagined her father was capable of such violence, such brutality. She had seen Zack destroy Marius, of course, but still—the scene in the basement had been like something out of a slasher movie. So much blood and gore.
And she had killed a man.
She washed her hair twice, her body three times, and wondered if she would ever feel clean again.
Stepping out of the shower, she dried off, then pulled on a furry bathrobe. Too restless to sit still, she paced the bedroom floor, unable to dispel the images of Zack and her father from her mind. She had grown up among vampires and never known they were capable of such carnage. She had watched her father change from a cat to a man and back again and thought it cute. But there had been nothing cute about Zack’s transformation into a wolf. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of him as he battled one attacker after another. In wolf form or his natural form, he had fought with a kind of lethal beauty that had been as mesmerizing as it was horrible.
She was half vampire. Was she capable of such violence? The thought that she might be was frightening. She had rarely tapped into her vampire half, never tested the limits of her powers. True, she had killed a man tonight, but it had been swift and she had taken no pleasure in it. The fact that it had been self-defense made it only nominally easier to bear. She wondered if he had a wife and family, tried to tell herself it wasn’t her fault, but Nadiya’s. But the man was still dead, his blood on her hands.
She had collapsed in her father’s arms when the battle was over. He represented home and security, but even as he had stroked her hair, she had been wishing it was Zack holding her tight, Zack whispering words of comfort in her ear.
Now, alone in her room, she tried to come to grips with her mixed emotions. It was disconcerting, knowing that Zack and her father could kill so quickly, so efficiently. Still, it was comforting to know that the two men she loved the most could protect her, even when the odds were stacked against them. She knew the horror of what she had witnessed—the grotesque images of torn flesh, the sickly sweet smell of blood and death—was forever burned into her memory. And yet, the horror of it would fade, in time.
The one thing she would never forget, she thought as she crawled into bed, the one truth that would forever remain engraved in her mind and her heart, was the knowledge that they both loved her enough to risk their lives for her.
Drake and Zack were sitting in the main hall when Elena entered the room.
“How is she?” Drake asked.
“She’s asleep.”
“Did you have any trouble removing the shackle from her ankle?”
“No.” Elena shuddered. “I threw it away.”
Drake nodded, his arm wrapping around Elena’s shoulders as she took a seat beside him.
“Was it awful?” she asked.
“Awful?” Drake glanced at Ravenscroft. “What do you think?”
Zack shrugged. “I found it kind of exhilarating myself.”
Elena stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Exhilarating?”
“Yeah. I guess that doesn’t make me a very nice guy, but I don’t care. I’ll rip the heart out of anybody, male or female, who hurts Katy. And that includes Nadiya and anyone else she sends against us.”
“You should have seen him,” Drake said, a note of admiration in his voice. “I have never seen anyone fight like that.” He clucked softly. “One minute he was a wolf, ripping out throats, and the next he was a vampire, ripping out hearts.”
Elena shuddered. “Sorry, but I’m glad I missed it. Don’t get me wrong,” she added, looking at Zack. “I’m glad you were there, I just don’t think it’s something I’d want to watch . . . although that changing into a wolf thing must be something to see.”
Zack looked at Sherrad, one brow raised in amusement. “Scarier than a cat, that’s for sure.”
Elena grinned.
Sherrad scowled at him.
“So,” Zack said, “what’s our next move?”
“What do you mean?” Elena asked. “Kaitlyn’s home safe. It’s over.”
Zack glanced at Sherrad, but said nothing.
“It is not over,” Drake said quietly. “It will never be over so long as Nadiya lives. She must be punished for her treachery. And Lucien, as well.”
“What do you mean to do?” Elena asked.
“I mean to confront them both.”
Elena stared at her husband, her lips pressed tightly together.
“I cannot let this go,” Sherrad said, seeing her disapproval. “The Fortress has been governed by the Sherrad family for thousands of years. My grandfather and my father fought to defend it. I will not surrender it without a fight.”
“We can leave here,” Elena said. “Go somewhere else. To America. Or Canada.”
“You and Kaitlyn will be no safer there than you are here as long as Nadiya wants revenge. Next time she might vent her hatred on you. We were lucky to get Kaitlyn back alive. I will not risk her safety again. Or yours.” He looked at Zack. “Have you nothing to say?”
“I think you’re right. I’m not sure how you plan to do it. Two against twelve wasn’t so bad. Two against Nadiya and Lucien’s army? I don’t know. That might be a stretch, even for me.”
Chapter 34
Lucien sat in what had once been Drake’s chair on the dais in the council chamber of the Carpathian Fortress, his hands gripping the arms as he stared at the two men before him.
“Where is Drake now?” he asked curtly.
Gavril, the taller of the two, shook his head. “I do not know. We were lucky to get out of there alive.”
Lucien’s gaze shifted to Emilian. “Do you know where he is?”
Clearing his throat, Emilian shifted from one foot to the other. “I left shortly after Gavril.”
“And the girl?” Lucien asked. “Where is she?”
Emilian shrugged.
Lucien leaned back in his chair. Why had he ever listened to Nadiya? What had made him think they could pull this off? They had been safe only as long as Drake believed his daughter’s life was in danger. All bets were off now.
Nadiya appeared as soon as he dismissed Gavril and Emilian. “It seems we need to come up with a new plan.”
Lucien shook his head. “Why should I listen to you? You had the Sherrad heir and you lost her. I doubt we will get another chance at her.” He stood and began to pace the floor. “I thought you were going to kill her,” he muttered, talking more to himself than to Nadiya. “But it is better this way. Sherrad will be angry, but since his daughter is unharmed, he might . . .”
“Stop babbling, you coward!”
“This was a stupid idea from the beginning,” he snapped. “I never should have let you talk me into it.”
“You wanted this place as much as I!”
He stopped pacing. “I say we get out of here while we still can.”
“And I say we stay!”
Lucien shook his head. “Sherrad has his daughter back, but he will not just forget what we have done. Sooner or later, he will return and demand retribution.”
Nadiya took several slow deep breaths. “And you will give it to him.”
“Are you out of your mind? You do not expect me to meet him in combat? One-on-one?”
“Of course not,” she said, smiling. “I will make sure you have plenty of backup.”
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