Fall of Darkness (The Chronicles of Darkness) (33 page)

Would he have told her the truth? Had he
changed his mind about her along the way? Did he have feelings for her? Or was
it all a game to him?
I may not understand why I’m here with you now, but I
know I want to be here more than anywhere else in the world.
Were they the
words of a man torn between duty and heart, or the ploy of a smooth talker
meant to bring her guard down?

Kate had thought he was too good to be
true, had questioned his motives in pursuing her from the beginning.
Would
it help if I told you I was a deadly assassin, sent here to kill you?
he’d
asked. Was he truly that arrogant? Or had he been inadvertently trying to tell
her the truth?

Remembering the tender way he’d held her
and kissed her, the fiery passion with which he’d made love to her, it all
seemed so real to Kate. Kate thought of the way he’d pled for her hand in
marriage, as though he wanted nothing more.

When I look at you, I yearn for things I
would never have imagined wanting in a million years. You make me actually want
to live forever, so long as every single moment of forever will be in your
arms.

Every time I pull you near, I never want
to let you go. With every breath I take, I long to shelter and protect you,
love and cherish you, for the rest of my days. I wish I could build you the
castle of your dreams and slay the dragons that shadow your darkest fears, to
be the knight of your heart.

You make me long for a family of my own,
a house full of children with your eyes and smile. You make me want to be a
better man, for each and every day I am all the better for having loved you.
You make me want to laugh, love, shout, cry… you make me want to live, as I have
never hoped to live before.

Marry me, Kate. I’m so hopelessly in
love with you. Let me love you forever. If you’ll but give me your hand, I
promise to give you the world
.

Kate could still hear his voice, smooth
as velvet, caressing her with the tenderness of his words. Their mere echo sent
shivers down her spine. Had she thrown away the love of her life because she
was a coward to trust him? Or was it all an award worthy performance by the
world’s most talented actor?

Not that it mattered. She’d lost him
either way. The question was no longer about Dominic’s intentions. Or his love.
It was about whether she could make a life with Alex. Could she let go of her
past, never knowing if she’d made the right choice?

Alexander had been her rock through the
storm that destroyed her human life. He’d been her only friend and shelter as
she lost everything. Her friends, her family, her humanity, and her love. All
gone.

Her golden
tutore
had been
patient and supportive, understanding to a fault. He would do anything to
protect her, give anything to love her and be loved in return. Kate loved him,
she really did.

Not the way she loved Dominic. Dominic
was her poison and her only antidote. He was an addiction, a burning need she
couldn’t deny.

Marrying Alex would be a wise, healthy
decision. A hell of a lot healthier than wallowing in self-pity, dreaming of
what might have been, and pining after a man she couldn’t have. She should move
on, build a life with Alex, but could she live with her decision. Would it be
fair to him?

            Kate
sucked in a deep breath, tasting the chilly air before letting it out in a huge
sigh. That breath derailed her train of thought. She knew that smell. It was so
painfully familiar. With a sniff, she confirmed her suspicions. The fresh scent
of Eucalyptus. The earthy smell of werewolves.

Chapter 30

Kate scrambled through the snow, kicking
up a cloud of the icy powder with her frozen feet and damp skirts. Hell-bent on
putting as much space between her and certain death, she raced like a woman
possessed. She came to a screeching halt as a score of enormous wolves closed
in around her.

Spinning in frantic circles, Kate
discovered the massive beasts surrounded her on all sides. The powerful band of
wolves ranged in color from shades of cream and grey to brown and black. Kate
searched their ranks for Dominic, unsure if she hoped to find him among them or
not.

Dominic wasn’t there. Or if he was, Kate
didn’t recognize him. Which was impossible, she’d recognize him anywhere, in
any form. An unwelcome wave of disappointment flowed through her. But his
absence was probably a blessing in disguise. It would hurt so much more if he
took part in killing her himself.

 A man cleared his throat behind her.
Kate whirled around at the sound. Giovanni Ridolfi stood before her, not as a
wolf, but as a man.

“Hello, Kate,” Giovanni said with an
arrogant smirk.

Kate’s hand ached to wipe that
self-satisfied look off the smug bastard’s face. “Giovanni, long time no see. I
see your nose healed quite nicely. Come back to have it broken again?” she
asked sweetly.

Giovanni chuckled, rubbing the bridge of
his nose with his knuckles. “Maybe. Where’s your guard, Kate?” he asked,
inching closer as he spoke.

“Not far,” she lied.

“You lie, but that’s nothing new for
you,” he said, watching her through the slits of his narrowed eyes. “Our spies
witnessed you leaving your lands alone. I never thought I’d see the day the
Cacciatori guard would leave you unprotected.”

Kate hadn’t realized she’d wandered so
far. Was she really off Cacciatori lands? Alex was going to be pissed. If she
lived to see him again.

Assuming the defensive stance Alex had
taught her, Kate tensed, ready to fight. Katerina awakened, a low snarl
building in her chest.  Kate’s darker self didn’t appreciate the proximity of all
those wolves. The demon cried for their blood.

Giovanni clicked his tongue, shaking his
head in disappointment. “Now, Kate. It doesn’t have to be like that. You can
come quietly, you know.”

Oh, Kate knew. There were two options:
A) She could fight. Go out like a hell cat with teeth and nails bared. She was
outnumbered. She would die. B) She could go willingly. They would kill her
anyway. She would die. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Either way she would wind up dead.
Option A offered at least a shred of dignity in death, but Option B sounded
like a hell of a lot less effort for pretty much the exact same outcome. More
importantly, Option A would get her killed now, while Option B might buy her
some time, maybe even time for an escape or rescue.

Option A also meant Katerina would come
out to fight. Kate had kept her bloodthirsty demon-self under control for so
long, she wasn’t sure what would happen if she let her loose now. She could
bring the prophecy to fulfillment. She could bring the end of the world. Not
chances she was willing to take.

Kate relaxed her stance. Alex was going
to be mad at her, so was Gustavo, not to mention Massimo. In one night, she’d managed
to foil twenty five years of concentrated efforts to protect her.

With one thoughtless move she’d
delivered herself into the hands of the werewolves.  What was she thinking,
insisting on being left alone away from the house? Wandering off as though she
wasn’t a key piece in the chess game that was the war of immortals? She may as
well have wrapped a big fat bow around her waist and dropped herself on the
werewolves’ doorstep, with a note declaring, ‘Here I am, Katerina Cacciatori,
take me.’

Head bowed, Kate stepped forward. “I’ll
go quietly,” she conceded.

Giovanni produced thick metal cuffs and
slapped them onto her wrists, tightening them until they pinched the sensitive
skin beneath. He dropped to one knee, binding her ankles with similar shackles.
Kate resisted the urge to slam her knee into his perfectly healed nose, just to
see if she could break it and maybe wipe that look from the asshole’s face.

Giovanni snapped his fingers and a broad
wolf of sleek silver moved forward into the circle. The silver wolf dropped
down on his haunches at Kate’s feet. Giovanni secured her shackles to a thick
leather belt around the wolf’s middle and tossed Kate onto its giant back like
a sack of potatoes. She released an indignant ‘oomph’ as the impact knocked the
air from her lungs.

With her backside aimed less than
gracefully to the sky and an exceptional view of the ground sweeping by below
her, Kate rode off into the night on the back of a great silvery wolf. All the
while praying Alex would come looking for her… and soon.

Cold and weary to her anemic core, Kate
sagged in resigned capitulation against the rough wooden post to which she was
bound. The uncompromising metal of her restraints chafed the skin at her wrists
and ankles, a constant, blistering reminder of their presence. The frozen
ground gnawed at her feet to the point of numbness, her high heels lost
somewhere along the way.

Her teeth audibly chattering, Kate shivered
against the icy wind that ravaged her skin. Shrouded in thick fur coats, her wolfy
captors remained blissfully ignorant to her plight. Not that they’d care if all
her toes fell off from frostbite. Kate still wasn’t sure vampires could get
frostbite, but she had no desire to find out.

In a few short hours it would no longer
matter. The wolves had passed sentence on her. Kate would burn at the stake in
the morning light, a symbolic sacrifice in honor of Victoria Ridolfi, the human
woman who’d prophesied Kate’s redemption of the vampires during her own
execution.

            The manner in which they positioned
Kate promised a phenomenal view of the impending sunrise over the ridge. Her
last sunrise. Kate tried to drum up some fear or even sadness as the end drew
nearer with each passing second, but couldn’t.

Her life had ended a long time ago.
Dominic was gone. Kate Murdock was dead. Katerina Cacciatori was a demon
vampire with an unquenchable bloodlust, definitely not the person Kate wanted
to be. The wolves were doing her a favor by ending her miserable existence.

            Kate was tired of trying,
tired of fighting, tired of the constant thirst clawing at her rapidly
evaporating resolve. She’d tasted human blood, and somewhere, deep in the
depths of her very soul, had changed because of it. With each swallow, Katerina
had gained a foothold within her fractured psyche. Kate could feel her power
growing within, the darkness spreading through her system like poison.

Nothing but a lone sliver of humanity remained
in the shadowy reaches of her heart. Kate refused to take another person’s life
or soul to sustain her, but Katerina had no such qualms. Kate would rather die
than do what she must to survive, but she feared her darker side would win out
in the end.

            Then there was Dominic. Oh,
Dominic. Kate was tired of trying to live her life without him, of pretending
her heart wasn’t broken into a million pieces. As one of the monsters he despised,
she was just another abomination he would hunt and kill without remorse.

If Dominic were here, he’d probably take
pleasure in killing her himself. That thought hurt most of all. More than the
realization of what she’d become, more than living her pathetic life without
him. Kate could not bear the thought of his hatred, especially for something so
far beyond her control. Damn Giovanni for telling her.

            Speaking of that rat,
Giovanni, where was he? Kate hadn’t seen him since their arrival on the icy mountain
top, tucked somewhere in the Apennine mountain range of central Italy. Kate
hoped wherever he was, the bastard was cold. Very, very cold.

The tight circle of unnaturally large
wolves guarded her with assiduous resolve. They stood at rigid attention with
their backs to her, ready to face any would-be hero who might come dashing to
her rescue. The dark irony of it all amused her. Would they guard her with such
dogged diligence if they knew her death would be a welcome reprieve from the
living death her existence had become?

Several times before her capture, Kate
had considered rising to meet the dawn. The wolves had merely made the decision
for her. On the bright side, at least she would no longer be burdened by the
obligate shame of contemplating suicide. Maybe she was giving to her inner
drama queen, but she didn’t care. It was her funeral and she’d cry if she
wanted to, damn it.

Guilt surfaced amid her dismal thoughts.
She wasn’t being fair. Alexander strived with infinite patience to make her see
how life was well worth living. Even without Dominic. Even as a vampire.

Alex, who so badly wanted to make her
happy, had promised her an eternity of his tender devotion, a life full of
family and security. He would settle for the shattered remnants of her heart.
The fact it would never be enough saddened her. A love much stronger and deeper
eclipsed the affection she felt for Alex. She cursed herself a fool for ever
having loved Dominic, for loving him still.

In her heart she knew, she could never
marry Alex. It wouldn’t be fair to him. As if she would live to make that
decision.

Kate sensed a sudden tension among the
wolves, their pulses rising in anticipation. Something was coming. With a slow,
steady inhale, she searched the air for a hint of what approached. But in her
heart, she already knew.

The fresh aroma of mint and eucalyptus
laid siege to her senses. Her heart fluttered in traitorous anticipation of her
own. She would recognize his scent anywhere. Unwelcome images of playful
laughter, unbridled passion, and tender loving danced tantalizing circles in
her mind, uncoiling ribbons of unwelcome longing in her chest.

Kate pressed the bittersweet memories
aside with vicious self loathing. Association, that’s all it was. She scrambled
to fill her mind with painful memories of hurt and anger, distrust and
betrayal. He hated her, would kill her himself if given the chance. She pulled
herself erect in forged stalwartness and awaited his impending arrival with as
much dignity and grace as she could muster.

            An enormous male wolf with a
short, sleek ebony coat approached from the south. Stalking at a leisurely pace
toward the ring of wolves, the black wolf drew closer with each powerfully
muscled movement. This wolf stood more than a full head higher than the tallest
in the pack and was nearly twice as broad. The others dropped their heads in
deference, acknowledging the arrival of what could only be the alpha male.

The wolf held her gaze as he approached
with the slow gait of a predator. The heated fury blazing in those painfully
familiar brown eyes burned all the way down to her soul. The silver leader of
her guard rumbled in question at the alpha when he broached their circle.

A ferocious snarl of rebuke rose from
the alpha. With a whimper, the challenger withdrew. The alpha growled a low,
gravelly sound deep in his chest. Kate’s canine guards melted into the shadows
of the night.

Alone in the moonlight, the wolf held Kate
captive with his penetrating gaze. Kate trembled under the intensity of his
stare. He stalked leisurely toward her.

The wolf’s shape shifted as he neared,
quivering as he changed form, becoming more human with each passing second. He
came to stand erect as paws became hands and feet, and smooth olive skin
replaced midnight fur. Kate watched in fascination and horror as the image of
monstrous wolf gave way to breathtaking man. Dominic.

Kate’s breath caught in her throat. The
menacing wolf was almost preferable to the magnificent man standing before her
in silence.
Almost. At least the sight of the wolf hurt less.

Kate tried not to wince as Dominic
studied her, his dark eyes hard and calculating. He paced slow, methodical
circles around the place where she stood. His features, with the exception of
those full, sensual lips, were harsher, more angular than before.

Gone were the boyish tousled locks she’d
once tangled her fingers in amid the throes of passion. His thick black hair had
been shorn to a scalp grazing length, making him look darker, harder, and
though she’d never have believed it possible, sexier. Kate’s fingers itched to
reach up and stroke the bristly texture that matched the growth of shadow at
his jaw. 

Despite the cold, the nude man seemed unaffected
by his state of undress. Dominic wore his nakedness like a cloak of confident
male perfection. His body appeared harder than before too. Impossibly lean and
more chiseled than ever, he looked as though he’d eaten nothing but hardship
since Kate last saw him. He was every inch the battle-scarred warrior his
reputation claimed him to be.

Kate dropped her gaze to study the
bluish skin of her toes peeping out from under the ruined hem of her skirt. Her
body throbbed with awareness, roused by the memory of how each and every one of
those rock hard muscles felt beneath her hands and against her body. It took
all her strength to keep her eyes on the ground.