Thorne finally met her gaze. His eyes cleared. He nodded. “Medichi! Get Horace here. Now!”
“On it.”
Thorne pinned Kerrick in his arms, lifted him high onto his lap, and supported his chin. Alison took him to her neck, positioning his fangs. His face was slack but she had new ascended physical power now. She drove his fangs into her vein and because he was completely powerless, she directed her blood into his mouth. She used her hand on his neck to direct the flow down his throat.
Horace appeared a moment later. “Oh, dear merciful Creator,” he cried. Despite the severity of the wounds, he settled in immediately and laid his hands over the shredded abdomen. “He’ll need surgery as well … if we can bring him back.”
Alison merely nodded then closed her eyes.
Kerrick, she whispered over his mind. Come back to me. Do you feel my blood within you now? The power singing through your veins? Come back to me. I need you. Please, Kerrick. You must try. Horace is here tending you.
She eased the flow. Talk to me, Kerrick.
Silence returned.
She entered his mind and traveled very deep but found only darkness.
Panic seized her.
You must try, my darling, she sent deep into his mind, into his soul, into the remnant of his consciousness.
Then she knew what she had to do and the timing now made complete sense. There’s something you must know. We’re having a daughter, you and I. She will have such power but she will need her father to help order her mind and to train her. You must come back to me, to us. We can do this … together … you and I … for our daughter.
She drew out of his mind. She pressed her hand to his chest and sent gentle pulses into his lifeless heart.
She couldn’t lose him.
“Darling,” she said aloud and in his mind, quietly so she wouldn’t hurt the men around her. “You must return to me. Please, Kerrick, come back to me. Can you feel my blood in you now, making you strong, renewing your life?”
She could sense the Warriors of the Blood weighing in, Thorne, Medichi and Luken, Santiago and Zacharius, Jean-Pierre. “Your brothers are here. We’re with you, Kerrick. Thorne holds you against me.” She smiled suddenly. “How powerful Thorne is and so incredibly handsome. He has a real aura of command. He would make a terrific breh for me, don’t you think?”
The gasp all around her could no doubt be heard a mile away.
But from a great distance, from so deep within her own mind that she doubted what she was hearing, she heard him. Thorne? Never. You’re mine. Mine. Suddenly she felt a deep draw at her neck, and then another and another.
Joy rose up, a fountain within her heart, higher and higher. Tears flowed, her hands shook.
“He lives,” Thorne cried, still holding him firmly against Alison. “He lives.” Tears now fell from Thorne’s eyes. “Jean-Pierre. Get an ambulance. He won’t survive dematerialization, not in this state.”
“Oui, boss.”
The warriors gave a shout. After several minutes, Kerrick’s eyes opened and he pulled away from Alison’s vein. He looked at her. I love you, he sent then winced.
She could barely see him for the tears that swam over her eyes. She nodded, smiled, and found his lips. She tasted her blood on him and kissed him hard.
“Welcome back,” she whispered.
Another shout rang out.
Horace kept his hands above the wounds, the powerful glow from his efforts spreading light over Kerrick’s face.
Alison could see the pain in his eyes as he struggled to breathe. “We’re … having a daughter?” he whispered.
She nodded as she wiped the tears from her face. “How’s that for ascension?”
He held her hand but suddenly his face twisted in pain.
Thorne cried, “How we doin’ on the ambulance, Jean-Pierre?”
“Five minutes.”
“Hold on, brother,” Thorne said, his hand on Kerrick’s shoulder.
Kerrick nodded, but his breaths were shallow, his skin clammy, so very pale.
Alison glanced at Horace. The healer’s face dripped with perspiration.
The sound of a distant siren allowed Alison to take her first real breath.
* * *
Marcus still held his bloodied sword at the ready. His gaze swept the rotunda, back and forth, back and forth. If a new attack came, he would be prepared and he could alert the others. His free arm was flexed, tight, tense, and he held it in back of Havily, protectively. Luken had long since joined the mass around Kerrick.
He glanced down at Havily, who stood next to him, one arm wrapped around her stomach. She held her fingers against her mouth as she looked at Kerrick. Tears drenched her eyes. “He saved us,” she said, her voice trembling. “All three of us.”
“Yes, he did.” Bastard. Now he owed him one.
Emergency techs entered the building on a run, a gurney with them, even a doctor in tow who shot orders left and right. Kerrick’s arms were hooked up in lightning speed to bags of blood and clear bags that contained who the hell knew what. Again with preternatural speed the team streaked in the direction of the ramps leading outside. Alison and Thorne both went with them.
Havily turned toward him. “I wanted to thank you, Warrior Marcus. I would have died here tonight without your protection. I am … most grateful.”
Marcus looked into light green eyes and felt his soul drift into dangerous territory. He had been avoiding this moment from the first time he arrived on Second and caught her honeysuckle scent in Endelle’s office. He had never wanted to be this close to her but here she was addressing him, her lips parted, her eyes shimmering with tears. She shook and he did the only thing that made sense—he folded his sword to the bedroom he used in Thorne’s house then slid an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her against him, letting the warmth of his large male body comfort her.
He had kept her safe. Just as Luken had, but she hadn’t turned to Luken. She had turned to him.
Oh, shit, she felt incredibly right in his arms. His bold vampire nature lit up, like a switch thrown at a baseball stadium. This was his breh. She belonged to him, to no one else.
No one else.
He felt her fingers slide just beneath the front of his weapons harness, curling around the leather, holding on. She trembled. She drew back and looked into his eyes. His gaze fell to her lips and a completely improper idea took shape, one he couldn’t seem to resist.
He leaned closer to her until his lips found her mouth. When she didn’t retreat, he pressed and licked, he pushed seeking possession, demanding admittance.
He pushed again.
Her lips parted. He thrust his tongue deep, staking out the territory of her mouth.
His arm snaked farther around her waist and conscious thought, choices, decisions began to disappear. His ascended nature and his vampire aggression took over. The beast in him awoke, slowly at first but gaining speed in quick measures.
Growls poured from his throat. Soft moans returned from the woman, hungry sounds that cranked him up. He started forcing her back, through a doorway leading to another rotunda, this one dark and private.
Back and back he pushed her. A soft mewling sound bled from her throat. Deeper into the room he shoved her. With his right thigh between her legs, he lifted her up with each step he took until at last her back hit a solid surface, a wall.
Once he pressed his body up against hers, a wild frenzy took hold of him with only one thought in his brain—he had to get inside her, push his cock in deep, make her his.
She panted against his neck, willing, so willing. Her fingers tore at his harness. His hands tugged at her dress. He caught the fabric up around her waist. He ripped her thong to pieces. He reached for her leg. Oh, God, he was almost there.
Suddenly he flew away from her and fists pummeled him. She screamed. Oh, God, his woman must be in trouble. He had to get to her, to protect her.
He fought hard, punching at whatever body got close and he had
just enough awareness to know that more than one warrior pulled at him and hit him.
“No, Luken, don’t!” she shouted. “Medichi, stop!”
Luken must be hurting her and what the hell was Medichi doing? Growls erupted from his throat. He saw only red.
Distant phrases flew over his hearing: What the hell happened? Keep him away from her! He’s out of his mind.
He pushed at the arms and legs now pinning him. He had to get to Havily, to keep her safe, to take her back to his home, to Bainbridge, to his bedroom. He had to keep her there, with him, guard her, protect her.
He shoved a body off him. He caught sight of her, a wildness in her eyes as Jean-Pierre held her back. He would kill Jean-Pierre for touching her. He had to get to her. He crawled toward her now, dragging a massive body along with him. The creature on his back was so heavy. He tried to push him off but couldn’t. He crawled a little more, his knees scraping over the marble, probably bleeding by now.
Something flipped him over then the last thing he saw was Luken’s ham-like fist flying at his face. The last thing he heard was Medichi’s voice crying out, “It must be the goddamn breh-hedden. Again. Holy shit! It’s a fucking epidemic!”
* * *
Crace stood in the center of the Commander’s peach orchard, his heart shriveled in his chest. Small moon-like lamps floated in the air, illuminating the freestanding patio. What had begun as a great adventure upon his initial arrival in Phoenix Two—indeed, what he had believed would be the most significant moment of his life—had essentially turned into a fucking nightmare, one that seemingly would never end … except perhaps now.
As he met his deity’s gaze, he felt nothing, just a vast cold emptiness in his chest. He didn’t even sweat.
“Why so despondent, brother ascender?” the Commander asked, a faint smile on his lips.
Yes, he supposed despondency had layered ice over his sweat glands and emptied his heart and lungs of all sensation. So why the fuck did the Commander smile?
“Warrior Kerrick lives,” he stated, reminding his deity why it was that a smile made no sense right now.
“Damn shame, of course. But look how close we got. I haven’t been able to get that close … ever. Just once successfully, to Kerrick’s wife and children, but that hardly counts.”
Crace sighed. He knew he was going to die. He’d failed his deity time after time over the past three days. His execution stood in the wings, waiting for the Commander’s pleasure.
“I must say,” the Commander said, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes narrowed. “I believe this experience has been very good for you. I think you’ve grown. When you arrived, you were so glib, so sure the task would be simple. Frankly, I thought you a fool. But right now your mind has a proper attitude. Yes, I believe you’ve grown.”
Crace held back another weighty sigh. “These are very kind words, master.”
The Commander released his hands, turned, then sat down on one of the stone benches. “You must learn patience, my dear Crace, as I told you from the beginning. You must learn to take the long view of such things. I strive to remind myself that you are not even two centuries on Second Earth yet. A few more centuries, given the level of your powers, will do much to sharpen your abilities and give you a sense of peace within your life.”
Much chance of a long view of anything.
“You are not sweating as you usually do.”
“A man does not sweat when he’s certain of death.”
“Then you should always remain certain of death, my friend.”
Crace now stood dead center of the orchard and of the patio. Commander Greaves was a man of subtlety and not easily read. However, Crace understood something right now. “You mean to keep me alive.” He was absolutely shocked.
“You are still of much use to me. I would be foolish to dispense with so much acquired knowledge.” He narrowed his eyes. “I had intended to end your service to me but I was and still am rather impressed with this last scheme you concocted. It should have worked. I believed it would. We were neither of us prepared for Kerrick’s ability to survive. He shouldn’t have but then Alison was involved and she is far too powerful.” He shook his head. “You see, even I am surprised. And I am never surprised.”
Hope floated to the surface of Crace’s heart and eased the tight knot in his chest. He drew a real breath, the first since the ambulance had departed from Madame Endelle’s palace. He’d been in the wings, waiting and watching, protected by the Commander’s superior mist as he observed the work of the death vampires. When the most insidious part of his plan unfolded, when the newly created ascender actually fired on Warriors Luken and Marcus, he couldn’t believe his luck. Even when Warrior Kerrick intervened and took the blast instead of the other three, he’d nearly revealed his position by shouting with triumph and joy. Then the worst had happened. Alison had brought Warrior Kerrick back to life. He still couldn’t believe the bastard lived. The blast should have taken out all four ascenders. So much power among the warriors. No wonder the Commander aimed most of his effort at trying to bring down the Warriors of the Blood.
He offered a simple bow. “I am yours to command, my master, now and forever.”
The Commander rose. “Ah, I simply adore your manners, quite perfection. I believe Julianna has taught you well.” He took Crace’s arm and wrapped it about his own. “But come, we have plans to make. Unfortunately, it would seem the gods have for the moment favored the Guardians of Ascension—but the tide always turns, and that, my dear Crace, is the real nature of life—the tide always turns. We just need to give it a loving nudge. In the meantime, I fear we have another ascension to prepare for. My Seers have been very busy. This time a mortal with wings.”
Crace stopped walking. “A mortal with wings? But … that’s impossible.”
Greaves fell still. “The very same thing I said about Alison when I learned of the extent of her abilities. But come, let us see Harding. He will desire sustenance by now as well as a reason to overlook our little invasion of Endelle’s palace. And if you like, you shall have sustenance as well.”
Crace shuddered.
Yes, he would like sustenance.
Yes, indeed.
A good friend speaks what no one dares to say.
—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 22
Alison cut the tags off a new silk blouse, a green blouse she had purchased earlier at a pricey Scottsdale Two shop. She had worn a similar blouse the night she had first met Kerrick, the night she had been introduced to the world of ascension, to the world of the vampire.
A sob caught in her chest. She willed away the spasms yet the tears remained. They fell, streamed, ran down her face. Her nose was a mess. She kept blowing her nose, shaking her head, cutting off tags.
She had erred and she didn’t know how to make things right, how to move forward.
Havily had let her stay in her town house, in the spare room, just as she had once promised. Alison had needed new clothes, so she had gone shopping. Such a normal thing to do, especially after she had almost killed her boyfriend.
Her throat hurt. More tears splashed all around the bedroom.
Three days had passed. She had spent three days at the hospital, chained to Kerrick’s bed, willing him to get better hour by hour, even after the chance of his dying had long since passed. She had willed his healing to improve, she had begged Horace to come to the hospital and use his healing powers, she had consulted with the surgeons, she had gone to the hospital chapel and begged the Creator to speed his healing, to make him well, to make things right, to erase the past, demolish the night of her ascension celebration, to forgive her, forgive her, forgive her.
Kerrick would live. After taking a hand-blast to the abdomen, he had come back from the dead. He’d survived surgery. He would live to fight another day.
Now she bent over a pair of DKNY jeans, her favorite. Tears plopped, darkening the denim in grief-stricken polka dots. She cut
off more tags. She hiccuped as she straightened. She folded the jeans over a hanger. She shoved the hanger into the closet. Looked at all the new clothes. She whipped around and folded more tissues from the box in the bathroom. She sounded a horn with her nose and wiped. She wiped some more.
Kerrick had almost died.
The thought broke her. She dropped to the carpet between a double bed and mirrored closet doors. Great rolling sobs charged out of her body. Heavy waves of grief and regret punched the air.
What a fool she had been to have thought Second Earth would be different for her.
Havily appeared in the doorway. She rushed forward and called to her in a sweet repetitive flow of words, “No, no, no, no, no.” She dropped beside her and surrounded her with her arms. “Don’t cry, ascender. Don’t cry. He lives.”
“I almost killed him. I almost killed him.”
“He lives.”
“He died.”
“You brought him back.”
Alison rocked.
Havily rocked with her, whispering tender words in her ear, “He lives, he lives, he lives.”
Alison hiccuped again. She honked into the tissues. She rocked a little more. She shifted toward Havily and met her gaze. “I can’t be with him, can I?”
“Of course you can.”
“No, I can’t. I have too much power. I should have known. I should have known.”
* * *
Havily folded a fresh tissue from the bathroom and wiped Alison’s cheeks. She thought, I feel this way, too, like I could fall on my face and sob like a baby.
She shouldn’t feel so desolate, not after what happened, not after Marcus had morphed into a crazed beast, not after he’d tried to have his way with her against the wall of the third rotunda of Madame Endelle’s palace, right in front of the Creator and everyone.
She didn’t understand her attraction to the man at all. He was the antithesis of what she desired for her life. She wanted a man who felt as passionately about Second Earth as she did, about desiring to make a significant contribution to the improvement of society and certainly to the ending of the war.