Dark Redemption (15 page)

         
Kate snatched the bag out of the air. Passing it from one hand to the other,
she studied the deep purplish fluid as it sloshed back and forth, mesmerized.

         
Her incisors lengthened, pricking at her tongue. Her throat burned with thirst,
her every instinct screaming for her to tear into the bag and douse the fire
within her blood. Katerina screamed even louder, calling her everything but the
kitchen sink. Yet still, she hesitated. 

         
She thought of the first time Alexander had handed her a bag and told her to
drink it. The horror and indignity she’d felt. She thought of the countless
transfusions, performed in a futile effort to keep her dark side at bay. Most
of all, she remembered Dominic, smiling with love and understanding as he
encouraged her to drink the blood he’d stolen for her. Her heart ached, remembering
how she’d conceded in an effort to keep herself from killing him. Fat lot of
good it did. He was still dead.

         
Kate sniffed, blinking back the sting of tears.
“No, thanks.
I’m good,” she said, tossing the bag back to Massimo. Katerina wailed in
protest.

         
“Bullshit,” Massimo snarled. “You’re thirsty. I can see it in your eyes. I can
see it in the tension in your jaw and the way that your hands shake when you
move.”

         
Kate bit her lip, tasting her own thin, anemic blood. “I don’t want it.” She
sighed. “Just leave me alone, Massimo.”

         
“No.”

         
Kate glared at her obstinate cousin.
“Why not?”

         
“Because you’re better than this.”
Massimo indicated
her pathetic state with a wave of his hand. Whether he meant Kate’s physical
appearance or her mental state, she wasn’t quite sure.
Probably
both.

         
Kate shook her head, “No, this is pretty much it.”

         
“Like hell it is!” Massimo roared at her, causing her to jump out of her
skin.  “You’re Katerina-fucking-Cacciatori. You’re a fighter. Get over
this roll-over-and-die shit and get even.”

         
Kate blinked at him. “What?”

         
“You heard me. They hurt you? Hurt them back. How the hell do you expect to get
your revenge if you’re too weak to fight?”

         
The man had a point. Living was a nightmare, but revenge? Now
that
was a
dream she could get on board with. Did Massimo know he was encouraging her to
kill his best friend?
Meh
, not really her problem.

         
Blood from Massimo was the perfect solution. She wouldn’t give Alexander the
satisfaction of providing her blood and she could grow strong enough to kill
him. Come hell, shit, or high water, she would make Alex pay for everything
he’d taken from her.

         
“Give it to me,” she said quietly, holding her hand out for the bag.

         
Massimo chuckled, slapping the plastic container into the palm of her
outstretched hand. “That’s my girl.”

         
Kate popped the cap off and took a swig. A swig turned into a swallow, which
quickly turned into chugging like an alcoholic falling off the wagon-- hard.
Katerina
sighed
her relief from within as the
delicious heat spread through her veins. Sucking the bag dry, Kate smacked her
lips in satisfaction. That’s the stuff.

         
“Feel better?” Massimo asked with a cocked brow and a knowing smile.

         
Kate gave him a sheepish grin.
“A little.
Got any
more?”

         
Massimo chortled. “Of course I do. I’ve got my own wet bar for the times I’m
too lazy to catch the fresh stuff.”

         
Kate shook her head at him. “Of course you do.”

         
“Hey, judge not, my little lush.
Especially, if I’m going to
feed your habit.”
Massimo waved his index finger at her. “I’ve got my
conditions, though.”

         
Kate narrowed her eyes at him. Of course he did.
“Oh yeah?
What are they?”

         
Massimo grinned. “I want my trail running buddy back.”

         
Kate laughed.
“Deal.”

         
“Well, Princess, go powder your nose or whatever the hell it is you do, and get
ready to eat my dust.”

         
“In your dreams,
cuz
,” she tossed over her shoulder
as she headed into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

         
Life might never be worth living again, but she had reason enough to live for
the moment. She’d get her revenge or die trying.

Chapter
15

After
running the mountainous trails of the compound for hours, Massimo took Kate to
the fitness center to work off the rest of her steam. Or so he said, Kate suspected
it might have more to do with keeping her alive and out of her room. There
would be no hiding in the corner and starving to death on Massimo’s watch.

“What
are we doing here? Unless, of course, you want another round in the ring with
the champ,” she joked.

“Cuz, please.
I taught you everything you
know,” Massimo scoffed.

“Care
to make a wager?” Kate challenged.

“Nah.
I don’t hit girls,” Massimo
said with a smirk.

“Liar,”
Kate argued. “You beat the shit out of me my first night in the ring.”

Massimo
grinned. “You’re not a girl.”

Kate
laughed.
“Oh, no?
What am I then? I feel like I need
to send out a public service announcement to anyone I’ve ever dated.”

Massimo
scowled at her like she was crazy. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Kate
shrugged.
“If you say so.”

“I
do say so,” Massimo said in a tone that banished all thoughts of further
argument.

          
Kate sprinted up the path toward the fitness center, Massimo trailing several
yards behind her. He was fast, but she was faster. All that bulky muscle
weighed him down.

         
“I’m catching up,
cuz
,” Massimo called after her, his
words coming between clipped breaths.

         
“In your dreams, slow poke,” Kate tossed over her shoulder, picking up the
pace.

         
“You suck,” he shouted as the gap between them spread.

         
“No, you suck. I swallow,” Kate cracked.

         
Massimo’s choked laugh caught Kate by surprise. “I most definitely don’t suck
and I sure as hell don’t want to hear about you swallowing.”

         
Her cheeks burned when she realized the double meaning behind her thoughtless
entendre.

“
Ewww
, so not what I meant. You suck people’s blood. I
swallow from the bag. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“My
mind lives in the gutter. Get over it. I can’t help it if you’re an idiot,”
Massimo said with a smirk. “You walked right into that one.”

Kate
rolled her eyes. “You’re such an ass.”

“Let’s
skip the insults and just get down to business.”

“Alright.
Bring the pain,” Kate said
with a nod, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet like a boxer.

“You
don’t know the meaning of pain yet,
cuz
,” Massimo
boasted. “I’m going to make you bleed.”

Kate
gave her cousin a sad smile. “I’m counting on it.”

She
was. She needed it. Whether running the trails of the compound until her feet
ached and her lungs burned or going a few rounds in the ring with Massimo, the
physical pain of their times together provided her only respite from emptiness
of her hollow existence. They were the only times she felt alive, the only
times she really felt anything at all. Physical pain was better than nothing.

Stripping
off his shirt, Massimo ducked into the ring and held the ropes open for Kate to
do the same. Massimo assumed an offensive stance and circled Kate with an
arrogant grin. With a solid right hook, she knocked that smirk off his face,
even if only for a moment. Massimo crowed his approval, but tightened his
guard.

With
a powerful jab, his huge fist slammed into her left eye. The gym around her
exploded with lights and colors like the Fourth of July. Katerina snarled to
attention from within. Kate gave her some slack, letting her loose on a short
leash. Her control over her inner demon had improved immensely, one benefit to
drinking so much bagged blood. She was stronger, no longer a slave to her
thirst, but empowered by it.

         
Katerina glared at her cousin through the puffy slit of her eye as the swelling
around it receded. Massimo smirked back and attacked with heavy-fisted hooks,
one after another. Katerina deftly dodged his swings and drove a solid uppercut
into his belly. Massimo let out his breath in a sharp, little
oomph
as
her fist connected with the rock wall of his abs. He was stronger, but she was
faster. If he wanted to win their match, he’d have to catch her first.

         
Dancing around the ring, Katerina grinned as she waited for him to move in for
the attack, so she would ambush him again. The vampire loved to play these
violent games with her cousin. Massimo was a primal creature, much like herself,
controlled by raw emotions and overpowering desires. He had no qualms about
hitting a girl or taking a beating himself. She could fight dirty and beat the
shit out of him, then he could turn around and dish it back out to her. They’d
heal and move on to fight another day. In her eyes, it was the perfect
arrangement.

         
Her head snapped back as Massimo landed a couple of quick jabs, each blow
punctuated by the sound of crushing bone. The pain was intense and explosive,
but fleeting. Katerina reveled in it, for it made her feel alive. Kate hid
behind it, for as long as she felt physical pain, it detracted from the
emotional pain.

         
Blood spattered on the mat from her mangled nose. The offended bone and
cartilage throbbed as her nose knitted itself back together. Katerina snarled
and lunged for Massimo, but Kate dragged her back, forcing her back into the
prison in her mind.

         
Her dark side couldn’t have all the fun. Kate needed to blow off some steam
herself. Imagining Alexander’s face on Massimo, Kate went on the attack. She
released the fury she felt toward her traitorous ex-best friend, treating
Massimo like a punching bag designed solely for the purpose of her personal
stress relief. 

Massimo
grinned and took it like a champ. Then again, he wasn’t right in the head. Kate
knew why she was so screwed up, but what the hell was wrong with him? He seemed
to actually enjoy this.

“What’s
your deal, Massimo?”

Massimo
cocked a dark brow at her. “What do you mean?”

“It’s
like you actually enjoy the pain,” Kate said, her fist crashing into his right
eye.

“So?”
Massimo said with a shrug, grinning back at her with one swollen eye. “So do
you.”

“Yeah,
but I do it to detract from the pain I feel inside,” Kate explained. “Why do
you?”

His
face grew serious, melancholy even, for the first time since Kate had met him.
“We all have our secrets to keep and our crosses to bear. Perhaps, I too use it
to escape the pain inside.”

Kate
studied her cousin with new eyes. What could’ve possibly hurt this battle axe
of a man so badly? Whatever it was, it had to have been pretty nasty to scar a
vampire like Massimo. With a sympathetic smile, she nodded her understanding.
She might not know how or what, but she understood all too well.
“Fair enough.”

All
thoughts of sympathy for whatever secret plight held Massimo in its jaws went
out the window when his huge fist smashed into the side of her face. Kate bit
her tongue on impact and her mouth filled with blood. Yeah, this was therapy
enough for her.

Chapter 16

Kate
followed Massimo into the Grand Council room, keeping her eyes on the floor as
she shuffled behind him. She couldn’t bear to look at all of the eager vampires
in the sea of onlookers. The room hummed with their excited chatter as their
eyes followed her progress.

The
day she’d been dreading had arrived. The Council had convened to discuss
Alexander’s reinstatement and now assembled to announce their ruling on the
matter. Kate couldn’t make peace with the fact that her future rode on their
decision, as though she was no more than a piece of chattel to be bartered or
gifted. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter what the council decided.
She was master of her own destiny. Maybe if she said it enough, she’d start to
believe it.

         
Massimo led her across the stone floor, past the rows of dark suits lining the
aisle between the dark wooden benches of onlookers, and up the dark wooden
staircase to her place at the Grand Council table.

         
Massimo pulled out a blood-red, plushly upholstered chair for her, right next
to her grandfather. Gustavo Cacciatori looked up at her, his lips curved into
his typical half smile. It set Kate’s teeth on edge.

         
“Welcome home, Katerina,” Gustavo said, inclining his dark head to her in
greeting. His shrewd gaze left her feeling bare and exposed, as though his
sharp eyes pared her to the bone. Kate may as well have all her secrets
tattooed on forehead, for she felt sure her grandfather saw them all.

         
“Thanks, grandfather,” Kate said, proud of herself for not choking on the word.

         
Ignoring the tension between the two, Massimo dropped into the chair on
Gustavo’s opposite side. Leaning back in his chair, he
propped
his feet on the glossy tabletop in front of him. Gustavo’s dark eyes narrowed
fractionally. His sharp gaze cut Massimo’s casual arrogance in half with a
single glance. Kate never thought she’d see the day.

         
Pressing his lips together in a contrite, sheepish expression, Massimo folded
his legs neatly under the table. Gustavo turned away in silence as the side
door opened. The eight Grand Council members filed in and assumed their seats
on either side of Kate and Massimo.

         
Four male vampires and four female vampires, all dressed in crisp black. They
looked to be in their thirties and forties, but the council members were all
well over five hundred years old. Kate glanced at the dour woman to her left,
giving the woman a wan smile. The woman’s lips twitched in what might have been
a smile. At least Kate was going with that.

         
Gustavo lifted his right hand and the room fell silent. “Bring the subject,
Alexander Ambrogio, forward.”

         
Every neck in the crowd craned to watch as the double doors in the rear of the
room opened. Alexander, in all his golden perfection strode down the aisle. His
honey colored hair was flawlessly styled. His black and white suit impeccably
tailored to fit his strong, lean body. Kate watched him move with his
characteristic leonine grace to stand before the council’s table.

         
She’d never hated him more. Beneath all that cultured perfection was a
heartless demon, a ruthless killer. She wondered if the rows of guards in the
room would stop her if she tried to rip his throat out. Even if, it still might
be worth a try.

         
“Alexander Ambrogio, when last we convened, you were stripped
of your position and title due to your failure to fulfill your duties as
captain of the guard and Katerina’s ordained
tutore
.”

         
Alexander’s eyes burned into Kate’s. Kate looked away to study her fingernails.

“Yes, Maestro.”
  

         
“With the safe return of Katerina, you have petitioned the council for
reinstatement.”

         
Kate avoided meeting the heat of his amber gaze, but could feel it nonetheless.

         
“Yes, Maestro.”

         
Gustavo cleared his throat, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table in
front of him. “Yes, well, the council has reviewed your petition for
reinstatement, as well as the facts surrounding the princess’s rescue.”

         
Kate held her breath and waited. What would she do, if Alexander was reinstated
as her
tutore
?

         
“After much deliberation, the council has decided to grant your petition,”
Gustavo announced. “You are hereby reinstated as captain of the guard and tutore
to the princess, Katerina Cacciatori.”

         
Kate sucked in a sharp breath through her nose
. No.

She
glanced at Alexander, whose golden features glowed with satisfaction. He winked
at her. She gave him her best go-to-hell glare.

         
“Let it be known, Capitano Ambrogio, is entitled to all the rights and
privileges of his station. He has earned the gratitude of the council and our
kind.”

         
“Hoorah!”
Male voices barked in unison. The rows of
suited guards simultaneously slapped the sides of their thighs and saluted
Alexander. Alexander returned their salute,
then
bowed
to Gustavo and the Council.

         
“Thank you, Maestro. Thank you, Council,” Alexander said, inclining his head in
gratitude.

         
Kate glanced at her grandfather and was stunned to see a genuine smile flash
across his dark features. It was as incongruous on his face as a frown on a
Happy Meal.

         
“It is my pleasure, Capitano. I trust I’ll be welcoming you into the family
soon enough. I expect that wedding sooner rather than later.”

         
Alexander quirked one golden brow at Kate.
“Then trust
you shall have it, Maestro.”

         
Gustavo nodded in approval.
“Very well.
Dismissed.”
He raised his hand again and the crowd buzzed
with excited chatter.

         
Kate closed her eyes and tried to wrap her mind around the implications of the
council’s ruling. She’d pretty much been given to Alexander like a piece of
land or a corporate car. Signed, sealed, and delivered. As far as the vampires
were concerned, she was his.

         
“Shall we, my love?” Alexander’s teasing voice came from behind her. She hadn’t
heard him approach.

         
Kate turned to face him with a low snarl. Ignoring his outstretched hand, she
rose to her feet and followed him down the stairs and through the crowd.
Alexander grabbed her hand and Kate tried to shake off his grip. Grinning at
the crowd who shouted felicitations and congratulations to them as they passed,
Alexander held her in a vise-like grip that bordered on painful.

         
“Come now, Katerina, don’t be like that,” Alex muttered under his breath.
“Smile and wave to your adoring public.
We’re supposed to be
in love.”

         
“Yeah, and you were supposed to be my friend,” she growled back as they weaved their
way through the crush of bodies. “Nothing is turning out quite the way it was
‘supposed’ to now, is it?”

         
“It will, my love, just wait and
see
.”

         
Kate scoffed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

         
They cleared the crowd and made their way through the castle, heading in the
direction of Kate’s quarters. Kate jerked her hand out of Alexander’s and
stormed ahead of him.

         
When she reached her door, she tried to shut it behind her and bar Alexander
from entering, but he blocked the door with his body. Kate released an
exasperated sigh and trudged farther into her sitting room. All she wanted was
to put as much space between her and Alex as possible.

         
His hand clamped down on her shoulder right before she reached the door leading
into her bedroom. Kate’s head snapped back as he whipped her around and slammed
her into the wall. With a low hiss, she glared at him and tensed to strike
back.

         
His other hand entrapped her left arm, wrenching it out to expose her mutilated
forearm to his gaze. Kate could practically see his blood boil beneath his
golden skin as he studied her handiwork through narrowed eyes.

         
“What the hell is this?” He hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes flashing
with rage.

         
“You took my ring. You said I’m yours. You think you can easily erase
everything Dominic and I had together. Well, you can’t.  This is your
permanent reminder of who I really belong to. You know, just in case you
forget,” Kate snarled, taunting him with her tone and challenging him with her
eyes.

         
Alexander’s long fingers closed around her throat, firm, but
not constricting.
His lips brushed her ear. “Now you listen to me,
Katerina. You are mine,” he whispered, his voice low and dangerous.

His grasp tightened, not enough
to cut off her airway completely, but enough to make it difficult for her to
draw an adequate breath.
“Whatever it is you thought you had with Ridolfi was a lie. This,” he growled,
pressing the length of his body against hers, “is real. You can carve his name
into your forehead for all I care. I will take pleasure in burning it from your
skin, just as I will take pleasure in purging him from your memory.

“No
matter what you say, no matter what you do, the fact remains. You belong to me.
And I will have you.”

         
Kate shivered at his words as his breath teased her ear. His hands slid up to
grip her jaw, forcing her to meet his gaze. His eyes were dark, his pupils
dilated with thirst and arousal.

         
His mouth assaulted hers, his lips slanting down over hers in an overpowering
kiss of dominance. Kate tried to lock her jaw, clamp her teeth shut and bar his
tongue access to her mouth.

         
He squeezed her jaw and forced her to open beneath his punishing kiss. Their
mouths danced in a battle of fangs and tongues, Kate on the defensive as she
tried to fend off his advance.

         
His touch infuriated Kate. His kiss delighted and excited Katerina. The two
halves of her psyche warred against each other, one begging for more as the
other fought with all her might to push him away.

         
With a low snarl, Kate sank her fangs into the tender flesh of his tongue,
drawing blood. Alexander growled in his throat, grinding his body against hers.
His blood tasted sweet and wicked on her tongue. Though Kate had hoped to drive
him away with the pain of her bite, both Alexander and Katerina seemed more
aroused by her actions. The blood-thirsty demon within her purred with pleasure
as she drank in the essence of golden vampire.

         
Strange visions flashed before her eyes. Kate knew she saw inside Alexander’s
mind, siphoning a piece of his soul.
Darkness, hatred, cold,
lust.
Shadowy images.
Pleasure.
Dominic in pain…

         
Kate gasped.
What the hell?
Alexander must have sensed her invasion into
his mind, because he shoved her away, throwing her to the floor like a rag
doll.

         
“What did you see?” Alexander roared, swiping at the blood on his mouth.

         
Kate shook with a combination of shock, bloodlust, and Katerina’s arousal.
“N-n-nothing,” she stammered, wiping his blood from her lips. She wanted to
swish and spit with a whole bottle of mouthwash to wash away the taste of pure
evil on her tongue.

         
“Tell me what you saw,” Alexander demanded, towering over her with his hands on
his lean hips.

         
“Nothing,” Kate insisted, regaining her composure. “Just shadows.”

         
Alexander raked his hands through his long golden hair, making the ends stand
in odd directions. He shook a finger in her face. “This isn’t over. You are
mine. Never forget that.”

         
Her
tutore
stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. Kate
stared after him, long after the door closed. It couldn’t be. It was
impossible.

         
She’d watched in horror as Alexander put a bullet in his head. She’d felt his
pulse fade away. She’d held him as he’d died. And yet, what she saw in the
shadows of Alexander’s twisted mind made her question.

         
Was Dominic alive?