Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (42 page)

I waited to hear his answer but the dark tunnel was suddenly silent. It was
as though I had been listening to their conversation through a partly open door
and someone had abruptly closed it. I looked down the corridor and saw a tiny
crack of light. Was that the way out?

I walked to the crack and put my eye to it. What I saw amazed me. There was
a void—a vast, dark, black pit writhing with half-seen things. Things that were
faceless and nameless, things with muscular, writhing coils and a bottomless
hunger to devour every living thing.

The soft , whispering sound of the nameless things slithering over each
other sent a cold chill down my back. I didn’t dare to look at them too long.
Instead I cast my gaze across the void and saw a small lighted square. Inside
it, no bigger than ants, were Gwendolyn, Addison, and Corbin. By listening very
hard, I could just barely make out what they were saying.

“I’m sorry, Addison,” Corbin said. “But the spark of life in her has gone
out. It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not.” Gwendolyn said, sounding grim. “There is a way. I can bring
her back…I can go after her and get her.”

“What are you talking about?” He gave her a warning look. “You’ve already
opened a door to the Abyss once, Gwendolyn. You don’t dare do it again.”

“I have to,” she said. “I’m the reason she’s dead in the first place. If I
hadn’t broken that bond…”

“Yes, get her!” Addison grabbed her hand. “Please…
please
go get her!”

“I’m going. Just leave me alone and let me concentrate.” Her voice was
sounding fainter and the little square of light was growing dimmer. I felt
something pulling me away, some tug from deep within that wanted me to go, to
travel the opposite direction down the long, dark hallway.

I left the crack and its view of the bottomless pit and its many monsters
and turned away. Far down, at the other end of the tunnel, I saw another light.
This one had a warm, golden glow that seemed to beckon to me. I took a step
toward it and heard soft, sweet music. A gentle breeze blew out from it and
curled around me, it was warm and delicious, filled with the scent of growing
things and fresh baked bread, the scent of my grandmother’s favorite perfume…the
smells of home. I took another step…and heard someone calling my name.

“Taylor…Taylor…” It was coming from the other side of the hallway, from the
crack I had pressed my eye to—the place where I had seen the pit. I didn’t want
to go there again, didn’t want to see the nameless things down in the depths. I
kept going, heading toward the warm, golden light. But then the voice called me
again.

“Taylor, come back,” it said and it sounded vaguely familiar.

Reluctantly, I turned toward it. Who was it and what did they want?

Retracing my steps, I went back to the cracked door and put my eye to the tiny
sliver of cold light once more. This time I saw not a square of light but a
single figure, standing there alone in the darkness on the other side of the
pit. Gwendolyn.

“Open the door,” she called to me, her voice echoing across the vast, empty
space. “Open up, Taylor—I know you can hear me. I need you to come back.”

I put my lips to the crack.

“Yes, I can hear you. What if I don’t want to come back?”

“Come back anyway,” she insisted. “You’re not done living yet—not by a long
shot.”

“Maybe I am,” I said stubbornly. “I see another door here—it’s got warm
light and soft music. It smells wonderful—I want to go there.”

“No!” She sounded panicked. “No, don’t go there, Taylor—it’s not time for
you to go there yet. Stay here—come back with me.”

“Why should I?” I demanded. “I hardly know you.”

She ran a hand through her long black hair in agitation.

“I can’t stay here long or I’ll get trapped. Look, don’t just come back for
me—come back for Addison. She loves you so much.”

“She’d want me to be happy,” I argued through the crack. “I think I’d be
happy in the place behind that other door. In fact, I
know
I would.”

Gwendolyn took a deep breath and paused, as though thinking what to say.

“Yes, you would,” she said at last. “You’d be very happy. But you know who
wouldn’t be happy?
Victor.”

His name hit me like a blow to the heart. Victor. How could I have
forgotten about him? The siren song of the open door and the golden land beyond
was so strong it seemed to have wiped everything else away from my mind.

“Victor?” I whispered.

“Yes,
Victor.”
Gwendolyn stamped
her foot impatiently. “He
loves
you,
Taylor! He risked his life to get to you. I should never have broken the bond
between the two of you because you
belong
together.
Come back for him. Come back
now!”

Her words finally made me decide. I had to go back. But it was easier said
than done.

I pushed against the door, pushed with all my might. It seemed to be stuck
fast. I took several steps back and ran against it, ramming my shoulder against
its plain wooden panel. Suddenly, it swung open.

I stumbled out and my foot slipped on the loose rocks and gravel. Just
outside the door, the ground tilted away sharply, a fact I hadn’t noticed
before. A steep, short slope was all that separated me from the vast blackness
of the pit.

On the other side of the pit, Gwendolyn was crying my name. I screamed and
stretched out my arms, reaching for something—anything—but there was nothing to
hold on to. I was slipping, sliding toward the pit. Already I could see the
eager tentacles of the nameless things reaching up to me, reaching out to grab
me and drag me down forever and ever into an eternity of endless night and damnation…

Suddenly another door opened right in front of me—right at the edge of the
pit. Gwendolyn was standing there, holding out her arms to me. Somehow she had
crossed the vast distance to catch me. I fell into her arms and she grabbed me,
holding on for dear life. Something dark and cold and slimy curled around my
foot and I shrieked and writhed in her grasp.

“No!” she shouted in my ear. “No, Taylor, don’t let go! Hang on to me.”

I grasped her, panicky tight, and she leaned backward, pulling me away from
the thing that wanted me.

“Come on!” She pulled harder, trying to drag us both into the moonlit night
I could suddenly see below her, as though I was looking down from above. The
night where my lifeless body lay on the ground and Gwendolyn lay beside it,
barely breathing. Addison was pressing her bleeding wrist to my lips and crying
and Corbin was rubbing her shoulders.

For a moment, I felt the tentacle tighten around my foot. And then I kicked
out and the cold, hungry grip slid away—we were free.

Gwendolyn seemed to feel it at the same time.

“Good,” she yelled. “Now come on—we have to go back while we can.”

We dived forward and I saw my own body getting closer and closer. We were
sliding forward and at the same time, Gwendolyn was fumbling with the door.

“Have to…close it…all the way,” she panted in my ear. “If I don’t…”

And then I was falling…falling into myself. Falling until everything
changed directions and I was looking up at Addison instead of looking down at
her. The familiar taste of her blood—faintly sweet and strawberry flavored,
burst across my tongue and I swallowed convulsively.

I heard Addison say, “Oh my God—she’s all right! Look, she’s breathing—I
really think she’s going to be all right!”

I could see the moon overhead and somewhere a wolf was howling, long and
low and lonely.

I’m going to be all
right,
I told myself, feeling both wonder and worry at the words.
Oh Victor, I’m going to be all right. I came
back for you. I came back…but will you still want me?

Chapter Twenty-eight—Victor

“Is Taylor okay?” I asked anxiously, clutching
the phone to my ear. “Please tell me she’s all right, Corbin.
Please.”

“She is well and resting comfortably,” he said
soothingly. “In fact, she has already had a pint of blood and two cheeseburgers
today. Apparently, though the bond between you is broken, the effects of the
prophecy still hold true.”

“Whose blood?” I asked, immediately jealous. I
didn’t give a damn about the cheeseburgers, but the blood… “Who is she drinking
from?”

He sighed. “From Addison, unfortunately. I do not
like it but my beloved consort will have it no other way.”

“I don’t like it either,” I growled. I knew there
was nothing but friendship between Taylor and her best friend but still…taking
blood was a very sensual act. I wanted to feel Taylor’s fangs deep in my throat
again, not hear that they were buried in someone else.

“Come and feed her yourself, then,” Corbin said,
making it sound like the easiest thing in the world. “I am certain she would
like to see you.”

“Right…” I said sarcastically. “I don’t think so,
Corbin. I’m sure she’s seen enough.”

“If you are referring to your beast—”

“Hell, yes, that’s what I’m referring to,” I
snarled. “She saw me at my worst. In my cursed form. You know that female weres
won’t even
associate
with a cursed
wolf? Let alone mate with one—they’re too afraid to pass the curse on to their
offspring.”

“Taylor is
not
a were,” he said softly. “But she is a not fully a vampire, either. She is
something wholly new and different. However, there is one thing that I don’t
believe has changed—the way she feels for you. Truly, you should come and see
her.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. I wanted to believe
him, I really did. But honestly, how could she want to be with me again after
seeing what I became when the curse overtook me? Corbin might not have been
freaked out but he was a fucking four hundred year old vampire—not much was
going to get to him. Taylor on the other hand…

She’ll hate me now. Or I’ll disgust her.

There was no way I couldn’t and not just because
she’d seen me as the beast. There were…other factors to consider now. I rubbed
my tingling cheek and sighed. I didn’t want to see that look on her face, that
fear and pity when she saw me. Didn’t want to hear the anxiety in her voice as
she talked about how nice it was to see me again but how she really had to be
going now.

“Victor?” Corbin’s voice on the other end of the
phone pulled me out of my unhappy thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m here.” I sighed. “Look, I just…I can’t
right now. Okay?”

“As you wish,” he said coolly. “Is there anything
you want me to tell her?”

“Tell her…tell her I said I hope she, uh, gets
well soon,” I said, feeling like an idiot. Damn, I sounded like a lame-ass
greeting card! But I really didn’t know what else to say.

“I’ll pass on your message,” Corbin said.
“Goodbye, Victor.”

“Goodbye,” I said but he had already hung up.

I should go to her,
I thought, putting down the phone.
For a minute I really thought about it…but then I looked in the bathroom mirror
and pushed the thought away.

The brand on my cheek was still fresh and raw and
very, very visible. It twisted the right side of my face into a permanent
sneer. Fucking disfiguring, that was what it was. Being a were I could heal a
lot of things but being burned with a silver brand wasn’t one of them. This was
my face now…it was how I was going to look for the rest of my life. I wasn’t
vain about my appearance—I’d never been male model material. But at least I
looked normal before. Now I was a monster inside and out.

I couldn’t ask Taylor to deal with that. Couldn’t
expect her to still want to be with me now that she knew about my beast and I
looked like a fucking freak. Not to mention what had happened between us the
night we had sex. I was ashamed of the way I had acted that night—
deeply
ashamed. I knew I had to confess
it to her eventually but just…not now. It was one thing too many. There were
simply too many obstacles between us now. Too much keeping us apart for us to
ever get back together.

“I’m sorry, baby,” I whispered, looking away from
the mirror. “So fucking sorry about everything.”

* * * * *

Taylor

“Of
course
he
doesn’t want to see me—not after what happened.” I took another sip of the lime
freeze Addison had gotten me from Bo’s, our favorite little ice cream shop on
Florida Avenue. The tart neon green concoction had always been my favorite but
it couldn’t console me for the loss of Victor.

Addison sighed
impatiently.

“Look, I told you, he
doesn’t think you forced him. In fact, I kind of got the impression he thought
it was the other way around.”

“What? But
I
was
on top of
him.
So there’s no way he…” I shook my head morosely. “Anyway,
it’s been over a week and he hasn’t called or come to see me. Obviously he
doesn’t care anymore—not that it matters.”