Night's Cold Kiss (24 page)

He checked her pulse again. Her heart beat erratically under his fingertips. Then it faltered and stopped. He was too late.

“No,” he growled. “You can’t go.
I won’t let you.”

Christian tilted back her head, pinched her nose, and breathed air into her lungs. Oberon moved into position for pulmonary massage and together they worked to keep the blood pumping through her body so the Aeternus enzymes would have enough time to trigger the DNA mutation.

Suddenly she sucked in a large breath and coughed—Christian felt her heartbeat pick up under his fingertips resting on her throat.

“Now—” Oberon said, moving back, “give her some more juice.”

Christian bit into his wrist and held it against her lips. This time she drank—and drank deep. He could feel the pull as it flowed into her, jolting her system. Finally he had to pull his arm away before she took too much.

He sat back on his heels and sighed, then looked at Oberon. “Now it really starts.”

“She’s got a long fight ahead of her.” Oberon glanced at Christian. “Give me your cell before you go—I want to call this in.”

Christian tossed his cell phone to the ursian before gathering Antoinette’s almost weightless body into his arms. His bones, while knitted back together, still hurt to put his
weight on, but he gritted his teeth and carried Antoinette out of the charnel house of a sewer.

Christian parked the SUV half on the curb, not caring about anything but getting Antoinette inside. Kavindish opened the door and Christian walked straight past him and paused at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m going to need you—and lots of blood.”

“Yes, sir,” the butler said.

“Send Susan up to settle Antoinette.” Christian climbed the staircase toward Antoinette’s room. He eyed the shattered door and continued on to his own suite.

He carefully lay her down on the bed, supporting her head and brushing her blood encrusted hair away from her face. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me,” he whispered against her cheek.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Christian?” she croaked and passed out again.

Susan entered a few minutes later and froze. “Shouldn’t we get her to hospital, sir?”

“They can’t help her now.” Christian took the bowl from Susan’s shaking hands and placed it on the bedside table before taking the frightened girl firmly by the shoulders. “She’ll go through horrific pain in the next few hours, maybe even days. Her body is going to tear itself apart from the inside out. If she makes it—and I say
if
because I want you to be prepared there’s a good chance that she won’t…”

He stopped and swallowed, not sure if he could face the fact himself. “If she does makes it through she’ll be Aeternus, but it’s going to be rough and it’s not going to be pretty.” Christian squeezed her arms. “Can you deal with that?”

The girl’s eyes filled with tears but then she glanced at Antoinette, squared her shoulders, and lifted her chin. “Yes, sir.”

“Good girl.” He gave her arm a pat. “First we need to get her cleaned up and see how bad the wounds are.”

Kavindish walked into the room carrying a cooler, which he opened to reveal several bags of blood.

“I’m going to need more than that,” Christian said.

“I have already ordered several more units to be delivered within the hour,” Kavindish said. “You’ll need your strength if you’re going to get her through this.”

Christian clasped the butler’s shoulder. Not once had he regretted saving Kavindish from death by embracing him at Meuse-Argonne during World War One, but never more so than right now.

“Okay, Susan, get some warm water and let’s get this blood cleaned off. Kavindish, we’ll need bandages and clean gauze.”

Susan returned from the bathroom carrying the steaming basin and dipped a hand towel into it. She stood there looking down at Antoinette, as if unsure where to start.

“You start at her feet and I’ll start from the top,” Christian said.

She stared at him with her head tilted slightly to the side, and then her eyes focused. Christian nodded encouragement at the girl as she bent to work.

By the time they’d finished, Susan had needed to refill the bowl with clean water a dozen times. Kavindish helped to dress the wounds, and there were a lot to dress. Dante had done quite a number on her. If they were going to give her a fighting chance, they had to stop any infection from taking hold until she’d been through the change. Everything teetered on a knife edge now—it could so easily fall either way; the next few hours would be crucial.

As Christian sat on a chair beside her bed, Kavindish held out a glass of blood. “She’ll need feeding soon, sir. You’d best be prepared.”

“Thank you, Kavindish—for everything.”

“It’s not going to be easy, Christian.” Kavindish dropped his formality—his friend, not a servant, stood before him. “Her body will most likely reject the change. She was probably too far gone.”

“I know, but I had to try.” Christian looked at her sleeping face. “I couldn’t lose her too, not without a fight.”

“I know, old friend.” Kavindish clasped Christian’s shoulder for a moment and understanding passed between them before the servant in him returned. “Will there be anything else, sir?”

“No. I’ll stay with her.” Christian backed into the chair and downed the contents of the glass Kavindish had handed him. It was tasteless and he almost gagged on the second glassful, but Kavindish was right, he needed all his strength for the ordeal ahead.

To embrace someone, one feeding of Aeternus blood wasn’t enough. It was a long and difficult process for both the embracer and embraced. Antoinette would have to be fed often from his bloodline to replenish the Aeternus enzymes while the change took place. Christian settled in for the first watch.

“How is she?” Oberon said from the doorway.

Christian wiped his palm across his chin and looked at his watch—it had been only a couple of hours, but it felt like an eternity.

He turned to Oberon. “No change yet, but she’ll need feeding soon.”

As if to prove him right, Antoinette whimpered in her sleep and began to thrash. Christian sat on the bed and pulled her toward him, then opened his wrist and forced her mouth against the bloody wound. She twisted her head from side to side trying to avoid it but he held her tighter so she couldn’t fight him. Finally, she began to suckle and electricity surged through as his blood flowed into her. It only took a little before she slipped back into a coma.

“How often will you have to do that?” Oberon asked.

“Every couple of hours or so, but she’ll take more and more each time.”

Aeternus physiology was different and the awakening change happened without the need for an external blood
source, but it was still quite difficult and excruciating to go through.

However embracing was much more extreme—the human DNA had to be dramatically altered and that was why most humans died. They couldn’t survive the transition.

“We Animalians can’t convert humans—you have to be born of an Animalian parent.” Oberon looked down at the now peaceful Antoinette. “I don’t think I’d like the burden of what you’ve done.”

Christian understood. It could be seen as a gift or a curse. Would Antoinette thank him or hate him for what he’d done to her? Would she become an Aeternus, or turn into a dreniac like Carolina? Only time would tell—he’d have to wait to find out. But first she had to live. And that was more important than anything else.

“So how did it go?” Christian changed the subject. “Did they find anything?”

Oberon’s broad shoulders sagged. “Apart from all the photos of her and Lucian Moretti?” He walked to the bedside and looked down at Antoinette’s sleeping form. “I’ve warned Moretti what we’ve found. But I’d like to go up and check on his security arrangements myself.”

“I can’t believe Dante is still alive,” Christian said.

Dark anger flashed in Oberon’s eyes, his hands into fists. “I just wish we’d caught the bastard.”

Rage smoldered hot and heavy in the pit of Christian’s stomach. “When I do, I’m going to make him suffer for this.”

Oberon continued to look at Antoinette. “Do you know, she was never cowered by me, no matter how much I tried to intimidate her. She’s one of the gutsiest humans I’ve ever come across. I don’t know a lot of humans, or parahumans for that matter, who could’ve survived the kind of torture Dante subjected her to. And to think of the hard time I gave her.”

“She’s a licensed Venator—she’s used to dealing with unreasonable monsters.”

“Touché.” Oberon’s face cracked into a tired grin. “Well, if we turn anything else up I’ll call you. But for now I’ve got
a friend looking into this parahuman disappearance thing Viktor’s sister told us about. Maybe there’s a connection.”

“Maybe.” Christian started to rise but Oberon held up his hand. “I can see myself out.”

A piercing scream jolted Christian from sleep.

“It burns,” Antoinette shrieked, scratching at the skin on her arms.

The maid, Susan, stood on the other side of the bed. “No, miss, don’t do that,” she said, trying to keep Antoinette from ripping any more bandages off her wounds.

She’d had already succeeded in reopening a couple of the gashes and fresh blood wept from her arms.

“Nooooooo,” Antoinette screamed and backhanded Susan across the room.

The poor girl hit the wall and slid into a crumpled heap on the floor. Kavindish flew to her side.

“Is she okay?” Christian asked, holding Antoinette’s wrists as she struggled.

“Yes, sir,” Kavindish said. “I’ll take care of her.”

He helped the dazed maid to her feet and checked her eyes.

“We’re going to have to restrain Antoinette,” Christian said. “Hold her still for now and I’ll feed her.”

Kavindish moved to the bed and pinned Antoinette’s arms to her side while Christian opened his wrist again. Holding her head, Christian forced her to take his blood until, finally, she became quiet. When he got her settled again, he looked up to find his mother standing in the doorway.

“What’re you doing here?” Christian asked. He didn’t need her telling him how irresponsible he’d been, like she had when he’d embraced Kavindish during the war.

“I’m here to help,” she said, coming to the bedside.

The butler deliberately avoided eye contact and bent over Susan.

“She’s going through the change fast,” Christian said, “too fast. Her body will tear itself apart.”

Lilijana nodded once then put her hand on Antoinette’s forehead. “Christian, she’s burning up.” She whipped back the covers.

He felt Antoinette’s forehead himself. Her temperature had shot up in a matter of seconds as her body reacted to the fresh influx of his blood. “Kavindish, get all the ice you can lay your hands on and bring it up here—if we don’t get her temperature down, her organs will liquefy.”

Christian ran into the bathroom and turned the cold faucet on full. Kavindish arrived with buckets of ice then raced away to fetch more. Even the worse-for-wear maid came in carrying a bucket. Christian’s opinion of the human girl shot up a few more notches.

“Dump it into the bathtub,” he said as he lifted Antoinette’s blazing, unconscious body from the bed. Ice floated on the surface of the water as Kavindish dumped in another bucketful.

“Get more,” Lilijana ordered, standing in the doorway.

Christian carefully lowered Antoinette into the icy water. Her eyes flew open and she thrashed against the chilly touch, screaming loudly as she fought against him, her heart pounding so rapidly, he thought it would burst through her chest. Somehow he managed to get her submerged and keep most of the water in the tub as Kavindish returned with more ice. Thank God for the butler’s Aeternus speed.

“She must stay in there until the fever breaks,” Lilijana said.

Christian nodded, feeling fatigue wash over him.

“Go—rest,” Lilijana said. “I’ll take the next feeding.”

Christian shook his head. “She needs my blood.”

“She needs to feed of your bloodline, Christian.” She brushed his hair away from his eyes, something she hadn’t done since he was a boy. “If you keep pushing yourself like this you won’t have the strength to do either of you any good.”

She was right. He let his mother hold Antoinette’s head
above water. He needed sleep and blood—the worst was yet to come.

Antoinette tried to open her eyes but they hurt. Where was she? Where was Dante? Panic slammed into her and she tried to get her bearings. Everything ached. Her body seemed to be encased in an icy sheath yet her insides cooked. Voices babbled all around, and she screamed at them to be quiet. The sound just rattled around in her head and she couldn’t understand a word.

Hands pulled at her. She fought them off, hitting and kicking out. As she got rid of one, another took its place. Monsters, they looked at her with red hateful eyes and distorted faces, staring at her, leering at her. Her stomach wrenched as one of the creatures dug its hands in and twisted her organs.

“Nooooooo,” she screamed. “Leave me alone, don’t touch me…”

“Ssshh,” a familiar woman’s voice soothed.

“Mama?” she cried.

“There, there my child,” her mother whispered, smoothing Antoinette’s hair. “Ssshh…just feed baby…that’s a good girl, drink deep.”

Pain squeezed her entire body as Antoinette grabbed her mother’s hand and drank from it. Oh, what nectar—what heaven. It chased away the pain as she drank her fill until everything drifted away and she slipped back into cool sweet darkness…

Christian opened the bathroom door to see Kavindish holding Antoinette’s upper body above the water while his mother sat on the side of the tub, her wrist clasped to Antoinette’s mouth as she stroked her hair and whispered soothing words.

“The fever is breaking, we can take her out of the tub now,” Lilijana said.

Antoinette’s hair was damp and clean; someone had washed it. Christian looked at Susan, who wore a new bruise on her cheek. Poor girl looked like she’d gone a few rounds with a prize fighter, yet she continued to stay.

“Stand back,” he said to his mother and he lifted Antoinette’s naked body from tub and carried her to the bed.

The bandages had become a soggy mess and he cut them away with scissors. The wounds beneath had healed over and were now just pink puckered scars. Soon they too would fade.