Slayer's Kiss: Shadow Slayer, Book 1 (33 page)

“What does this have to do with Kara?” Julian demanded.

“
Protecting Teras’s daughter.
That’s all Gavin spoke of when he came to me, asking me to leave the Shadowland and make a home on Mercury Island. He was obsessed with the vow he’d made, but after all these years, Ailexon doesn’t really care about Deanna’s brat, does he?”

Gable shook his head, answering his own question. He turned his cold gaze to Kara. “And then Gavin saw you. He saw you and he wanted you. You weren’t simply the child of his old master hidden away from our world, but a female ripe for the picking. Once he said he was moving to the city to be near you, I knew I would lose him if I couldn’t keep his interest.”

“Keep his interest?” Her brows rose into the wet hair across her forehead. “He’s never going to forgive you when he finds out what you’ve done. You’ll lose him forever.”

Gable laughed. “You’ve barely known him two weeks, little princess. My brother was a great warrior when we were young.
Gavine the Gruesome
was feared to the darkest corners of the Shadowland. Why else would Teras have enlisted his help to lead his army?”

Gavin’s gentle face flashed in her mind. “I don’t believe you.”

Gable regarded her with a frown. “I thought you would ask him for help and tell him about the markings. Or our dreams.” He smiled when he said the last part as if he’d had a private peek into her soul. “You really haven’t held up your end of the bargain…though I can’t say I minded entering your fantasies. You’ve cast your dream self with a wonderfully tight—” He was interrupted by the rumble of Julian’s low growl. The tension in Julian’s body radiated out like a tangible force.

Memories of the dreams decayed in her mind. “You disgust me.”

He shrugged. “Now, perhaps, but I was your first taste of the divine. You didn’t seem to mind so much when I was taking you over and over. And all you had to do to stop it was tell your noble protector. That was part of the game. But you didn’t want it to stop, did you? And you didn’t want Gavin to have a place in your life beyond your bedroom.” He shook his head. “You could never make my brother happy. He’ll be better off when you’re gone.”

“Trust me, she’s not going anywhere.” The chill in Julian’s voice could have turned the rain to hail.

“You still think she carries your child?” Gable chuckled. “Julian Mercés,” he said grandly, “the oldest living half-breed. The eternal optimist. I’m sorry, mutt, we’ll soon be cashing in on the bets that you wouldn’t last another year.”

“I don’t need much more out of life—only enough time to kill you.” With that, Julian shot forward, faster than Kara’s eyes could track, his sword clashing with Gable’s in a crash as loud as cymbals.

Julian’s eyes glowed red like smoldering embers as he hacked at his enemy’s weapon. The two men were light on their feet, almost graceful, as they fought to the death on the small splotch of an island in the middle of nowhere.

Julian’s head was turned slightly, trying to keep Gable in his sight with his one good eye. Gable lunged, swinging his blade in a long arc just inches from Julian’s chest. Julian sidestepped the blow and spun, catching Gable on the forearm.

Gable jumped back and smiled, glancing briefly at the gaping cut on his arm. The gash looked like two red lips parted for their lover. “Not bad for a Cyclops, half-breed. But your aim is off.”

Julian kept his body between Gable and Kara, but Kara was watching for an opening to strike Gable without getting in Julian’s way.

“I expected more from the only mottled-winged man in creation,” Julian mocked. “It’s disappointing, really. Gavin had such high hopes for his long-lost brother. What will he think when he finds out you’re as crazy as your father?”

Gable growled, and his wings flexed. Instead of running at Julian, he surged forward without his feet even touching the ground. Julian met him in the air, their swords clashing again and again, as each man put everything he had into the blows.

The rain stung Kara’s eyes as she looked up at the battle raging before her. How could she help when she couldn’t even get off the ground? Julian’s black hair was dripping down his back and his silver wings were poised like a raptor in flight. His strong muscles flexed and bunched with each strike, but the way he carried his head to the side left a blind opening for Gable.

Gable struck fast, plunging his sword through Julian’s side with a crack of bone and sinew. When he yanked out the long blade, Julian reeled back, just as Gable brought the sword around again, his broad swipe catching Julian at the base of his throat and following through. Like a puppet cut free of his strings, Julian’s head toppled to the side as his body crashed to the earth.

Kara blinked as Julian hit the ground chest-first, bouncing once before he came to rest. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing when the blood leaked slowly from the stump at his shoulders. She dropped her sword and ran to him.

When she rolled him over onto his back, his head followed like a dog on a long leash. It draped across his shoulder, facing sideways, held on by nothing more than a leftover scrap of sinew. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating. She wanted to cup his cheeks and tell him she loved him, but she couldn’t bring herself to touch his face…it wasn’t in the right spot.

She knew she should get up. She should defend herself from the monster. But she didn’t care. A tortured sob tore from her chest as she knelt over Julian’s headless body. She grabbed his limp hand and brought it to her cheek as the rain pelted her face. She felt the same skin stretched over his smooth knuckles, the same fingers that had played over her body, but already the cold wind was chilling his flesh as the last of his lifeblood seeped into the stony black soil.

“Shhh,” whispered Gavin’s soothing voice from behind her as he brushed the wet hair from her eyes. “I know it hurts. Kara, look at me.”

Kara turned toward him, meeting his eyes and wishing he could take away the pain. Abbey. Now Julian. What was the point of living if there wasn’t anyone left to live for? “He’s gone, Gavin.”

He smiled softly. “Yes, but you won’t think of that now. Rest, Kara. Lie down beside him and you will see him soon.”

Kara’s thoughts slowed like the hardening lava in the distance. She welcomed the numbing fog rolling across her mind, masking the unbearable things that lay under the thick gray blanket of mist. “All right, Gavin.”

She stretched out beside Julian, curling toward his solid body and resting her head against his bloody chest.

“That’s a good girl. Close your eyes, Kara.”

Kara’s eyelids fluttered closed, catching a metallic glint in Gavin’s hand the instant before her body relaxed into Julian.
No!
her mind screamed, pushing back at Gable’s energy, jolting her out of her slumber with the equivalent of a bolt of lightning.

Before Kara could even make sense of it, she swept her foot out with superhuman speed, catching Gable off guard and knocking the sword from his grip. The next instant, she was on him, her hands wrapped around his throat, tearing at the same wound Julian had inflicted on him.

Gable flashed, drawing Kara through the thick tar of time, but she held on like a leech, her fury giving her substance when she would have faded away. They emerged a dozen yards from Julian’s body, her fingers still sinking into Gable’s muscle, ripping him apart bit by bit.

Gable grasped Kara’s head in his clawed hands and shot into the air. She wrapped her legs around him in a python’s grip as his talons sank into her skull, rending bits of hair and scalp from the bone as he tried to pry her off. The pain was like acid eating away at the twists and curls of her mind, as if he had poison in his fingertips and it was dissolving her brain with barbed tentacles of agony.

She was going to die and had room for only one thought—she was taking Gable with her.

She felt the sharp vertebrae of his spine just beyond her reach and clawed harder. He couldn’t scream or breathe—she’d completely torn his throat out. He angled his wings and dove for the ground, smashing his body down on hers with enough force to almost burst her lungs. Kara went limp, her body in shock and her scalp hanging down in shreds.

When Gable rolled off her onto his back, grasping at his neck with his hands, Kara’s eyes followed the motion. Air bubbled up from the fist-sized hole in his throat. She could see the edge of his vertebrae protruding through the mangled flesh.

Kara reached behind her and pulled Jaxon’s knife from her waist. She rolled toward Gable in one smooth motion, curving her arm like a sickle as she heard a voice bellow from the sky, “
Kara!
No!
”

She plunged the blade straight through Gable’s searching fingers, into his exposed spine, and twisted, hearing the pop as the bones separated from one another. His body spasmed, every muscle going rigid before Kara dug the short blade deeper, using all her strength to sever his head from his shoulders.

“
No!
” Gavin screamed from behind her, landing so hard, he stumbled. His gray wings inadvertently brushed against her red-stained face as he crawled over his brother’s body and snatched up his head, cradling it protectively against his chest.

With the sound of a thousand rushing streams, warriors descended from everywhere, drops of rain flying from the tips of their feathers with every beat of their wings. Kara looked away from Gavin, away from the shock and agony on his face as he held his brother’s blond head in his hands.

She crawled past warriors’ feet and swords being sheathed and curled up next to Julian again. Resting her battered head against his chest, she linked her fingers through his, closed her eyes and finally fell to sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kara stretched out in the grass, staring at the sky through a canopy of leaves. “So, I guess things are looking up, Jules. Jaxon’s spine is completely healed and the construction company finally got Abbey’s property cleared. We don’t know when they’re going to start building the new house, but honestly—” her voice dropped to a whisper, “—I don’t think she’s in any hurry to leave my place.” Kara smiled, thinking of Abbey tucked under Jaxon’s protective arm as they dropped her off to visit Julian then flashed out of existence.

The patches on Kara’s scalp had long since grown back, but Abbey’s witch blood wasn’t helping her heal as quickly as a Demiáre. The layered red hair falling to her chin wasn’t the only mark left by her time on the island, even if the other scars were harder to see. That day had wounded them all.

Kara hadn’t attended Gable’s funeral, but she heard it was a small event. Nothing like Julian’s. All the ladies of the Mercury Clan had returned home for Julian’s interment, and every warrior attended. Kara had never seen anything like it.

They’d lit huge pyres, but instead of burning Julian’s body, they entombed him in a stone casket filled with the earth from his ancestral home and buried it under his special tree. Aiden had promised her that doing this would give Julian the best chance of regenerating. His expression had told Kara he didn’t believe it was going to happen, but she chose to take comfort in his words. If the head hadn’t been completely severed, there was always a chance.

She felt closer to Julian here, under his tree. She wanted to think he could hear her. And who was to say he couldn’t?

“Unfortunately, we haven’t found Pibby yet. I’m still hoping one of Abbey’s neighbors took him in and is too in love with him to respond to the fliers. I’m not going to stop looking until I know for sure. But…that isn’t all I came to talk to you about.”

She propped herself on her elbow and ran a hand over his stone. What she had to tell him wasn’t going to be easy. “I know how much you wanted a child. Aiden told me after…well, after you went away. And it didn’t happen.”

She took a deep breath to keep her voice from quaking. She wasn’t ready for children and on most days she would have been pissed if he’d gotten her pregnant, but she couldn’t deny there had been weeks after she’d lost him when she wished she still had a piece of him to hold on to.

“Just come back. You hear me? Come back and we’ll talk about what the future could hold. About children. I mean, not right away,” she added hastily, “but someday. I haven’t quite wrapped my brain around it yet, but it seems like time is something I won’t be running out of soon.”

Kara felt Gavin’s presence just moments before he alighted on the small patch of grass beside her. “So it’s true?” he asked.

She stood and slowly turned toward him. She’d missed him so much it hurt to look at him. He still paid the rent on the apartment in town, but he didn’t leave the island, and he avoided seeing her when she made her weekly visits to Julian’s graveside. “What’s true?”

His blond hair shone in the sun and his hazel eyes were as mesmerizing as ever. “That you’re free, princess.”

Kara looked up at him and stilled. He hadn’t called her
princess
since the day she’d killed his brother.

“Free. Yeah. If that’s what you want to call it.” Funny. Being alone didn’t feel that freeing anymore.

She splayed her toes in the grass, staring down at her feet like she was enthralled by the sight. It was hard to meet his eyes. “I’m not pregnant. I had my first real ‘season’ last week. Jaxon helped me through it.”

“Did he…?” Gavin began, his brows drawing down.

Kara waved her hand. “Oh, heck no. He didn’t mate me or whatever you call it. He just helped me through it and Abbey helped
him
when it got rough.”

Gavin nodded. He must have had experience with what it was like to be around a female in season. It wasn’t pretty.

“But other than that,” Kara continued, “I don’t feel any different. I was expecting more.”

The side of his mouth quirked up. “One season doesn’t mean you’ve reached maturity. You’re still young yet, princess. Don’t rush your life.”

Easy for him to say. He could zap people with his hand, and all Kara could do was detect him doing it. Maturity couldn’t come fast enough, in her opinion. “It’s good to talk to you, Gavin. I’ve missed that.”
I’ve missed you.

His half-smile melted away. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come to you sooner.”