Damned if I Don't (The Harker Trilogy Book 2) (18 page)

Edie

As much as I don’t want to admit it, Jude’s making sense. The earnest look in his eyes seals the deal and I’m lost to him. Even if we both die in the Void, at least we’re together.

“Okay,” I whisper. “Okay.”

He kisses my hand one more time, the feathery touch of his lips sending shivers down my skin.

“But you have to promise that you’ll have a drink of my blood,” I tell him.

Jude’s eyes snap open and he looks at me. “Edie.” I know it pains him to drink my blood, but we have no other choice in this moment.

“Please. I don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side, and I want to make sure that we’re at full strength.” Because I know I’m sure as hell not.

He’s silent for a few moments before he turns my hand over, palm up. He bares his fangs and plunges into my wrist. His mouth still locked around my wrist, Jude gets to his knees, bringing him closer to my lips. He parts with my hand, his tongue lapping the skin to seal it closed before he catches my own mouth and possesses me one last time.

Like the first time we met Anthony in Dallas.

And, like in Dallas, it is just as hot as it was then. My blood mingles with our saliva, and the strangely erotic action sets my core on fire.

“For good luck,” he whispers.

“You too,” I tell him back. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

The one word resonates in my mind as I sigh deeply and close my eyes, trying not think about first and last times, and nevers. All that matters is now, and I have to be prepared for what lies ahead, even if I don’t like it.

“I’m going to go through your mind,” I tell Jude. “A lot like what I did with Reiko earlier—I need to access the
bad
Void through you. And then maybe I can find Anthony from there.”

“See?” he says with a grin. “You need me.”

I slip my hand out of Jude’s, and concentrate on that part of my soul that is in touch with the Void. Where Anthony is waiting for me.

“Ready?” I ask.

“Yes,” comes his answer.

I take his hand again, dive into that evil part of his soul that makes up the Void, and we’re both lost to the oblivion.

***

“Bravo, Harker, for bringing my brother with you.”

I open my eyes and I’m back at that precarious cliff edge overlooking an ocean of blood. The coppery scent of it fills the air, making my eyes water. Electricity makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I remember how much I hate this place and how much it freaks me out. And now I’m willingly back here to face the one vampire that I’ve sworn to kill for five months now. We’re not on familiar ground here. We’re in the territory of Evil.

My hand is still clasped in Jude’s, and I’m relieved to notice that my left arm is in this ethereal state with me. I’m going to need all my limbs here with me.

“Edie,” Jude whispers. His eyes are forward, a hard steely look in them as he sets his strong jaw.

I follow his gaze and I see the source of the jeer I heard. Anthony is standing about twenty yards from us, hands clasped behind his back. There’s a huge grin on his melted features. Even though I’m fully healed here, his face is still melted as if he were in a bad fire a long time ago, the side of his face drooping like candle wax.

I hope to fuck that Jude was the one who did that to him.

On his knees beside Anthony is the Progenitor, bound hand and foot with silver chains as well as a gag around his mouth.

The old man’s eyes are wild, begging for help.

Now that he has our attention, Anthony bares his fangs at us.

“So good to have you here, Harker.”

He claps, each pop echoing in the Void, making the Progenitor flinch with the noise. The sight of the old man reduced to this, breaks my heart. The man I met and nearly died for in Dallas was prouder and stronger than this. I know Zhi and Maria said the events of that night had taken their toll on his sanity, but this is something completely unexpected to me.

My stomach twists in sympathy.

“You wanted me here,” I say. “Why?”

“You’re always in such a rush, Harker.”

“I have a brother-in-law who’s dying,” I say. “I’d like to be there for him if possible.”

Anthony throws back his head and laughs. Jude tenses up beside me, like a coil ready to spring.

Do I have my old sword in this realm? If it came down to it, would we stand a chance against him?

Anthony shakes his head, clucking his tongue. “Tut, tut, Harker. I can read you like an open book. No wonder Alejandro has fallen in love with you. I heard about it from my sources, but I never believed that my brother would do such a thing. Your actions against me in Dallas confirmed it for me, brother.”

Jude sucks in a deep breath. “It’s Jude,” he corrects icily.

“
Jude.
Right.” Anthony puts a hand to his chin, acting as if he’s thinking about that. “Funny, because for about five hundred years, you were Alejandro. Scourge of the Spanish Inquisition. You killed so many innocent people. So many people begged for their lives. You even killed a few Harkers. Some of your
lover’s
ancestors. Does she know that?”

I’m determined not to let the accusations bother me, even if they are true.
He’s just trying to drive a wedge in between us. Jude is a different person than the man Anthony’s talking about.

Still though, there’s an ache in my chest.

Five hundred years of death and violence sure brings a lot of baggage.

“I see that I’ve affected the Harker in quite a profound way,” Anthony says. “That’s not all that he’s done, you know that, right? You think that your love for him exonerates him of
who he was
?”

“Stop,” I whisper.

“He’s a monster. Just like me. Just like this old man here.”

“Stop it,” I say, stronger this time.

“And Alejandro will still be a monster when all this is said and done.”

“STOP IT!”

With my words, I unleash my pyrokinesis that I’ve been keeping bottled up inside. I can’t hold it in any longer. The fire leaves me like a tornado of death, hurtling through the Void towards Anthony and the Progenitor. I scream in warning, not wanting to kill the old man, even though I’m not sure he would die in reality.

Jude launches into play at that moment, like a tiger pounces on his prey. He moves with that super quick vampire speed of his, running towards the Progenitor to get him out of the way of the vortex. The column of fire blocks both of them from view before the tornado explodes like a miniature atomic bomb.

The force of the blast throws me to the ground and for a brief, horrible moment, I think it’s gotten them.

“JUDE!” I scream.

“Edie!” comes back his answering call.

I let out a breath, relieved. I didn’t mean to unleash my power like that, and I can see that my power is just as strong here as it is in the real world.

I don’t have time to celebrate. Fingers come from behind me, grabbing me by the throat and powerfully hauling me up. Fangs sink into my neck, tearing the skin. I scream again, only this time it’s from the agony of the bite. My feet dangle uselessly, and I can’t get a get grasp on the hand around my neck to get free.

“
Edie
!” Jude yells again. I see him get to his feet, to run our way, to fight Anthony like he did in Dallas.

“Stay there or I snap her neck too,” Anthony warns, his breath hot in my ear. “I learned your fighting tricks a long time ago, and I know that you’re just itching to get to me.” Thank fuck he’s stopped feeding on me though. “Good Harker,” he croons to me. “I was waiting for you to use up your power. You’ve given me everything I’ve ever needed.”

Not everything.

Now would be a good time to discover if Glimmer still works in my temporary hand here. I’m exhausted and tired, but I focus all of my energy into the palm of my hand, wishing for it show up.

At first nothing happens, and in the stalemate we’re in, no one moves. Then I feel the
shick
of the blade going through my hand, and I want to sob in relief. Glimmer didn’t leave me. She’s just been waiting here for me this entire time.

“Anthony,” I say, “when you die, can you figure out some way of telling me where vampires go?”

I don’t even wait for an answer. I kick backwards, my dangling feet connecting with his knees. I put all of my strength into the kick, knocking him to the ground. I shriek, spinning around with my sword, catching Anthony’s own arm in the blade’s path. His right arm flies, spraying blood in a 180-degree arc before it lands on the ground.

An arm for arm, asshole.

Anthony only gets a grunt out before I attack again. Tired and injured as I am, I put everything I have into my martial arts, meaning to get him in any way I can. And for the first few seconds of combat, I think that yes, there is a chance.

But then Anthony recovers enough to read my movements, even though I’m trying not to telegraph them. He dodges each sweep of my sword, and Glimmer doesn’t hack off any more of his limbs. In fact, he’s
smiling
as I attack him, which just sends me into a frenzy. My shoulder and neck scream in protest, but I ignore it.

I have to get him. Have to kill him.

I am the Harker. This is my destiny.

I feel a presence beside me, and Jude joins the fray, complementing every one of my punches. For every gap my movements create, he’s filling them in, pummeling Anthony. He’s fed on my super-charged blood. He’s ready to kick some Anthony ass.

We’re going to end his reign of terror.

For a second, I think we are going to succeed. That we’ve taken some heavy losses, but we’re going to emerge victorious from all of this.

But Anthony has had a drink of my blood too, and the brothers are evenly matched, even though the bastard is injured and missing an arm. That doesn’t seem to matter. The man is a wall.

I swallow, feeling the pyrokinesis build up in me again. It’s there, roiling just below the surface of my consciousness. I call to it, trying to coax it out. I can’t concentrate too much on it, or I’m going to get distracted in our fight and get killed, but I manage to call it forth.

“Suck on this, asshole!” I scream, throwing a wall at Anthony.

The fire catches him, throwing him backwards about ten feet. He lands on his back, huffing in exertion. I don’t hesitate. I’ve seen it too often in movies, where small talk causes bad things to happen. I’ve been manipulated by him long enough.

I have to kill him now.

I lunge towards him, throwing my body towards him. I hold my blade out in front of me, meaning to drive it through his chest, when he unexpectedly rolls away from me. My blade drives into the ground, the impact jarring to my body. I hiss in pain as my arm and shoulder lock up.

Then I see what Anthony had been doing all along. He was trying to get me to push him in this direction. He grabs something from behind a rock, and streaks towards the Progenitor.

It’s my left arm. The one that he tore off in Dallas. A second Glimmer has been summoned in that hand, as with arm that’s attached to my body, . And, too late, I realize what he’s doing with it.

“Edie!” Jude yells after me. “
Edie!
”

The blade of the hand that Anthony holds, plunges through the chest of the Progenitor. The old man makes a muffled noise through his chain gag before his eyes roll into the back of his head.

No. This can’t be fucking happening.

Anthony has killed the Progenitor.

Everything takes on a surreal tint as I realize that’s exactly what’s happening. I manage to get the tip of my blade out of the soil and call it back into my hand, but it’s too late.

No. Please, no.

Anthony’s laughing as he tosses aside my arm and bites into his wrist. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Harker,” he says. He bites the Progenitor’s neck as the old man’s body still twitches as his lifeblood leaves him. He presses his wrist to the wound, making their blood mingle.
Our
blood, I realize, as Anthony had bitten me minutes before.

The blood of the Progenitor, Harker, and Successor combine as one.

This is the ritual we’d tried doing in Dallas. And it is now completed.

I sense the change in the air as soon as Anthony grins back at me. Power emanates from him, growing in pulsating waves, trying to choke me. Lightning cuts across the sky, throwing everything into high contrast for a split second.

In this moment, glowing with power as he ascends to his title as the Progenitor, he looks absolutely insane.

“Edie,” Jude grunts. There’s an urgency to his voice, something that I can’t place. But I can’t tear my eyes away from Anthony. Not now.

“I can play you like a violin, Harker,” Anthony says slyly. “And you performed
perfectly.
” He licks the wound in his wrist closed. “You know, I tried drinking your blood back in San Antonio from your arm, but it didn’t do the trick. And I couldn’t perform the ritual without the Harker’s sacred sword.”