Kissed by Darkness (12 page)

He did for half a second before his mouth came crashing down on mine, his hard body pressed up against my softer one as he molded himself around me. Fire surged through me, chasing the darkness. Electricity tingled through my body, desire so strong I thought I’d die from it. Darkness, fire, the little sparkles grew brighter. There was only me and Inigo and our breaths, our mouths, our bodies.

I wrapped myself around him, burying my fingers in his silky hair. His skin nearly burned me with the heat of him. I gave myself over to his kiss, to the feel of him, losing all sense of time as I fell into the sensation of him. And then there was darkness.

***

In a cave under a plateau in a desert land, I sat, feverishly clutching a golden amulet. The blue stone in the middle glowed weakly, barely lighting the dank earthen walls around me. I’d spent nearly all my remaining energy painting the story of our dying race on the walls of this cave. One day a city would be built on this plateau, a city that would be the center of a thousand conflicts. I, however, would not live to see it.

I swiped at my forehead, my hand came away slick with sweat. The sickness ravaging my body was finally winning, taking over a little at a time. Soon, there would be nothing of me left at all.

The Key was closing. I could feel the protection of its power slipping from me little by little. Soon it would be beyond my reach and the sickness would take over. The last High Priest of Atlantis would be no more. Instead there would be a ravening beast, hungry for blood and for violence.

I’d already witnessed so much violence. Shocking to a man who’d spent his entire life devoted to peace. I clutched the amulet tighter to my chest and felt myself slipping in and out of time. “I am now become Death.” I smiled weakly. I would not be the only one in history to utter such words. I could see this as I had seen so many other things in my lifetime.

And I had become death. I had done my duty as High Priest all too well and now Atlantis and all her people, the last of the full-blooded Atlanteans, lay buried beneath an ocean of rock and lava. I had stopped the disease in its tracks, but at such a cost. Now Varan and his Warriors had only to find and destroy the few humans still carrying the disease, the Nightwalkers. This world would be safe only when every last one lay dead.

I closed my eyes, breathing in the rich scent of earth and sent a prayer winging to gods who refused to answer. It wouldn’t be long now. Surely Varan would come soon with the news that the last of the Royal Bloodline was safe. Only then would my work be done and I could turn the Key over to its new Guardian, my only son, and end this existence with some shred of myself intact.

Please let it have worked. My fingers twitched against the dark blue of my robes, twisting and scrunching the rich fabric. It would take a miracle, but perhaps Varan could deliver that miracle. The most important thing of all was the Bloodline. The Royal Bloodline must be saved. To save the future, to save all that was truly Atlantis, the Bloodline must survive.

There was a scratching sound at the entrance and Varan entered, eyes wild, blood streaking his muscular body. “Quickly, my lord, we must leave. They’ve tracked us!” I hastened toward him, but it was too late. A rumble from outside told the story. A landslide. We were buried inside the cave. The half-blood Warriors and their human allies had done their job far too well.

Varan swore. Anxiously, I gripped the younger man’s arm, “Tell me Varan is it done? Did you succeed?”

“Yes, my Lord Danu. The Bloodline is safely hidden, and the humans and my people hunt the last of the Nightwalkers. There is only the Key.”

A faint blue light pulsed in the absolute black of the cave. I clutched the amulet, fevered eyes drinking in the dying light. “I am sorry, Varan. So very sorry.” He and his descendents should have been the Guardians of the Key until the time was right for it to be reunited with the Bloodline. The last part of the plan had failed.

The only hope now lay with future generations. Perhaps there would be a distant son of Atlantis who would one day discover our tomb and become the Key’s Guardian. That was how I had designed it, after all. But still, sorrow clutched at my soul, a soul already far too faded.

I felt Varan smile, if a bit sadly and grip my hand in his. Softly he whispered, “It is all right father. I forgive you.” I wasn’t sure I could forgive myself.

The faint blue light finally went out. The rich, metal tang of blood filled my mouth as the sickness at last took over my body. There was no one to hear Varan’s screams
.

***

I sat bolt upright in bed, a scream ripping at my throat. Barely holding it back, I sat for a moment, gasping for breath and trying to collect myself. A dream. Just another stupid dream. I had been the priest this time. I could still smell dirt and the taste of blood lingered in my mouth.

I tried to recall some of the other details from the dream. I had a bad feeling the cave the priest and Varan had been trapped in was a little too familiar.

I closed my eyes and brought the details into focus: smooth floor, rough dirt walls, and an earthenware jar leaning against a low flat stone. A beautiful mural painted along the back wall. Yes, it was the same cave, the cave where the knight from my other dream had found the ancient bodies, where he’d been attacked by a corpse that should have been dead for thousands of years.

The attack, the ocean colored eyes, the dusty tabard, the familiar face, it was all clear. I knew for sure now who I’d been dreaming about, or at least who the knight was. I was also fairly certain that it was no dream.

I scrambled to the edge of my bed and yanked open the drawer of my nightstand. I dug around until I found the card I was looking for and pulled it out. Jack Keel. It made all too much sense. Jack had been a Templar Knight, a Templar who’d been transformed into something that was more than human, yet not quite vampire. Jack was the knight in my dream. He had to be. But who was the priest and how did he fit in?

I needed to talk to Jack. I needed to find out for sure if what I was dreaming was real and what it had to do with me. I yanked down the covers and that’s when I saw I was still wearing my black T-shirt. The one I’d been wearing last night. The one I’d had on when Inigo kissed me.

I gaped at my bare legs. No jeans. I double checked. Panties firmly in place, thank the gods. I was alone in my bed, no sign anyone else had been in it with me. Granted, it was hard to tell. I flopped about in my sleep like a fish. My bed pretty much consistently looked like it’d been hit by a hurricane.

I hesitantly reached out and felt the extra pillow. No heat, but that didn’t exactly mean anything. I leaned over and took a deep whiff. Just the scent of my shampoo, nothing else.

What the hell had happened? I racked my brain, but came up totally blank. He’d been giving me a massage. I’d gotten all hot and bothered. I felt my cheeks heat. Yeah, definitely hot and bothered, and I wasn’t the only one. He’d picked me up, held me against him. We’d both been very aroused, no doubt about that. We kissed and then … nothing. I couldn’t remember a damn thing after that.

OK, yeah, I’d been hotter than a furnace and ready to go.
That
I most definitely remembered. In fact, I was getting a little overheated just remembering it, partly from embarrassment and partly from my overactive libido. But that was all I remembered. I couldn’t remember anything after that kiss. In fact, the kiss itself and everything leading up to it was a little fuzzy. The more I tried to remember the details, the fuzzier they got.

There was something about his eyes. What was it? I tried to call up the memory, but it refused to come, retreating deeper into my mind.

I shook my head. No use prolonging the truth of the matter. Something really weird had happened. I just wasn’t sure exactly what kind of something. I wasn’t even sure how far we’d gone, though I distinctly remembered being ready to go just about as far as two people can go. I just wasn’t sure if we’d gone there. In fact, I couldn’t even remember taking my clothes off.

Shit. Kabita was going to kill me. And when she got done killing me, I was going to kill Inigo. After I made him tell me exactly what happened between us. I wasn’t stupid. Satisfy your curiosity
first
then commit murder and mayhem.

But first I had an appointment with Cordelia. After that, I had a date with a Sunwalker. He just didn’t know it yet.

I couldn’t help but smirk just a little. This was going to be interesting.

Chapter Ten

I didn’t even have to wait for Cordelia to buzz me into the building. The minute I hit the door, I heard the latch release. It was kind of scary how much I was getting used to her spooky prescience. I wondered vaguely if other people had weird friends, or if I was just unusually blessed.

I was also apparently getting used to the precarious stacks of odd objects around her apartment. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the addition of a rather large collection of books on ancient Egypt if not for the fact they were topped by an enormous amethyst geode. I’d always wanted one of those.

“Cool amethyst.”

She grinned happily. “Why thank you. Bastet likes it.”

Of course Bastet liked it. What was I thinking? “Um, yeah. I’m sure.” Probably she liked to scratch her back on it or something. I couldn’t imagine cats cared one way or another about crystal geodes.

I held my hand out until my palm was about six inches away from the crystal. I could feel the heat radiating off it, as though it were a living thing.

I caught Cordelia giving me a funny look. “You feel it.”

It wasn’t a question and I didn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about. “Yeah, I can feel it.” I rubbed my fingers together. They were tingling a bit. “When I’m near gemstones I can feel … ” I hesitated, unsure how to explain what I could feel. “I feel heat from them. Not quite like body heat. More like … energy. It’s sort of warm and tingly. Sometimes it’s warm and fuzzy and other times it feels almost … jagged? Discordant, I guess.” That sounded all kinds of dorky.

“Of course you do.” Cordelia led me into the living room jammed with the usual assortment of oddities. “It’s your nature to attract the energy in the things around you. Since gemstones in particular help focus and channel energies, you feel their energies most strongly. And amethyst is, after all, your birth stone.”

She was right about that. Spooky, since I’d never told her when my birthday was, but right. I wondered how she did it, then decided that some things were just better left unknown.

Bastet had draped herself over the mound of pillows on the couch. She gave me a haughty glare as I dropped into the only free chair. Seriously, that cat had issues.

Cordelia did the usual shuffle with some stacks of papers and books and what looked like a star chart before dropping into the seat across from me. Neither of us spoke as she poured us both a cup of tea from the pot that was already waiting. Sometimes silence was comforting.

The first sip of hot tea liberally spiked with milk and sugar made me sigh happily. So, it wasn’t coffee, but it would do. The spicy tang of ginger and lemon hit my nose, giving me the sudden urge to bake molasses cookies.

“Tell me.” It was all I needed to hear. I told Cordelia about the dreams I’d been having, about the hunt and the weirdness with the darkness. I told her about Inigo and about how I couldn’t remember what happened between us.

“I think there was something about his eyes.” I frowned down at my cup. “I just … I can’t remember what it was.”

“His eyes?” She tucked both legs into a lotus position and leaned forward eagerly. I noticed her toenails were painted electric blue.

I shrugged. “I think I wasn’t supposed to see it, whatever it was. But I did. Only … well, now I’m starting to think it was all a dream.”

Bastet strolled over and hopped up onto Cordelia’s lap. The cat stared at me with those great yellow eyes of hers, unblinking. It was incredibly unnerving. Cordelia sipped her tea, deep in thought as she stroked Bastet’s fur. “No, it wasn’t a dream. Bastet agrees. It was very real.”

I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Of course Bastet agreed. “Why can’t I remember?” I leaned forward, a little embarrassed. “I can’t even remember if we, um, you know,
slept
together. I should remember that. I mean, if we did it or not.” God, I was acting like a sixteen year old. Idiot. “I’m pretty sure we didn’t, but not absolutely sure.”

Cordelia frowned. “Well, that I can’t answer. Whether you and Inigo had sex or not is not clear to me. Or to Bastet. We don’t think that’s the important thing.” Not important? Was she nuts? “We do think that there’s a reason you can’t remember what you saw. We believe
that
is the important thing, what you must focus on.” I doubted Bastet cared one way or the other, but I was willing to go along with it.

“And that reason would be?”

“Part of it is Inigo’s energies. They are … different.” She frowned for a minute then continued. “It’s also what I told you before, Morgan.” Her voice was soft, gentle like she was trying not to scare me. “You’re … changing. Something in you is waking up.”

I swallowed. Hard. I really didn’t like the sound of that. “What does that mean? What’s changing?” I couldn’t be turning to full vampire. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not after three years. You either changed right away or you didn’t. I was supposed to be immune. I really, really did not want to have to drink blood.

She reached over and squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry, Morgan. Bastet seems to think that whatever it is, it’s a good thing.”

I glanced at the cat still perched on Cordelia’s lap glaring at me. Fantastic. I felt so much better.

“So, my memory loss or whatever is part of this change?”

“Possibly, yes. Along with the oddness, the otherness, of Inigo’s energy and the sudden increase in your own abilities.” Her fingers skimmed Bastet’s fur and the cat let out a tremendous purr. “It’s the new abilities that particularly convince us that it’s not just the vampirism taking hold. It’s something else. Something more.”