Chapter 18

He came for me!

The house she'd lived in for most of her life was shaking, under attack by vampires, filled with the smell of magic, and she was grinning like a silly schoolgirl at the thought of Julian Alcott coming to rescue her.

Focus! she scolded herself.

Sure, she'd sort of beaten him to the punch, but it was still a nice thought.

Through the walls, she heard Lux's panicked voice saying, "Ms. Voss, we have to go now. Shea can track her down, but we can't lose you. The hunter has the car ready for you."

Somewhere else in the house, someone was cursing furiously in what sounded like French, while someone else shouted, Someone's leaving!

She had a job to do, and she was going to do it. Gritting her teeth, she pulled Kova after her, but he stopped abruptly at the door to Tante Mina's workshop. His lips curled back in a grimace as he recoiled. "Her magic protects it," he said. "Please hurry."

Leaving him behind, she dashed into the workshop, where the air still smelled of tea with honey, her aunt's light perfume, and the musty decaying smell of Mina's magic. And mixed into it was something she almost missed at first.

Her blood.

Frowning, she approached Mina's workbench and found several corked vials of thick red. Uncorking them bowled her over with the scent of dhampir blood—her blood. Had she drawn blood while Scarlett was unconscious? The deviousness of it paled in comparison to the sense of violation.

She had to laugh at herself. If Julian's insane story was true, then the woman who'd raised her, becoming almost an adoptive mother, had not only been lying to her for her entire life, but had magically engineered her death not just once but at least six times through dark magic that tethered her soul and forced her to reincarnate again and again.

And she was upset about some stolen blood?

Priorities, Scarlett. She didn't know what Mina intended, but she didn't intend to leave the option. She grabbed the vials, then yanked open the refrigerator in the corner of the room. There she found several mixtures inside, but no more blood.

Her stomach churned as she closed the door. Kova's voice startled her so badly she yelped. "Unplug it. Make sure she can't use any of it," he said.

She nodded and pulled the big appliance away from the wall before unplugging it. Then she surveyed the shelves. Where the hell did she even start? The shelves were heavy laden with books and journals. Several large leather-bound books lay open on the workbench, and she froze when she saw one that was propped up on a stand, a red ribbon laid between its pages.

Her head swam as she approached. For a split second, she saw those terrible black tendrils again, slithering across the walls, over the pages, and a voice whispered in her ear.

That's not for you, little one.

Gritting her teeth, she went to the book and started flipping the pages. That strange voice hissed in her ear again, and she whipped her head around to find that no one was there. Still, there was an unpleasant sensation of crawling over her skin, and she was sure that she would look down to see spiders skittering across the pages.

With shaking hands, she turned the pages back and forth. Something urged her forward, and then a single word caught her eye.

Brigitte.

There in Mina's neat hand, that name again. Written beneath a strange geometric drawing, surrounded in paragraphs of scrawled cursive German that she didn't understand. That name, the one Julian told her she'd borne—no, not her, the woman who looked like her—the one that his lover had carried.

And pinned to the page with a little sewing pin was a lock of red hair, coiled neatly and tied with a red ribbon. Her throat closed off as she bowed her head to sniff at the page. Amidst the smell of old paper and Mina's perfume was Scarlett's scent. And stranger still…the faintest hint of Julian Alcott, as if he'd touched the lock of hair.

Panic swelled up in her chest as she reeled back from the page. Confusing images swirled through her head, red eyes and tangled spiderwebs and broken bones and dripping blood and flames and then it was all too fast, too loud, too bright to comprehend. She pressed her hands to her face, gasping for air.

"Scarlett!" Kova said sharply. "Look at me."

She couldn't catch her breath. This was too much. She was losing her fucking mind, that was what was happening.

"Scarlett," he said again. "Just like when we went running in the woods. You have to breathe."

Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on a blank screen. These dreams, fears, memories, whatever they were…they existed only in her mind, or at worst, somewhere in the past.

When she opened her eyes, her heart still raced, but she could see clearly again. She closed the spellbook and held it close to her chest. "What else?"

"As much as you can carry," Kova said. His head snapped around suddenly, and he said, "Julian, wait?—"

Julian burst through the door, then stopped dead in his tracks like he'd been shot. The silver bracelet exploded away from his skin in a rain of metal shards, and he dropped to his knees. His fingers dug into the floor, his back arching terribly.

She left the book and fell to her knees next to him. "What's wrong? Julian?"

His head lifted, and his eyes were pure black. Veins of bruise-black bulged across his brow, down his arms. He stank of blood, but it was Carrigan Shea's.

"It's her protective wards," Kova said. "Julian, get out."

The older vampire convulsed, then coughed up blood onto Mina's pristine rug. All those years of hating this man without seeing him faded away, and she was overcome with the need to help him, to protect him. She clasped his cheeks and gasped at the ice-cold skin beneath her palms. His eyes met hers.

"You're okay," she said. "We'll get you out of here." She rose, offering her left hand to him. When he clasped it, a shock radiated up her arm, and she felt the world shaking beneath her feet. He stumbled as he rose, and put his arm around her as she helped him to the door. "Kova, hold him while I get the books."

The other vampire grabbed Julian as she bolted back into the workshop. Now inspired, she swept books from shelves, stacking them onto the huge grimoire. As she rifled through her aunt's things, she could hear a voice scolding her. But this was no spell, no strange manifestation of a curse. This was merely her conscience wondering if she would give up her aunt's trust for a bunch of vampires.

She ignored it and hefted the stack of books, joining Kova and Julian at the door. "Where do we go?" she asked.

Kova had Julian's arm slung around his shoulders. Between the battered Russian vampire and the magic-tangled Elder, they were a pitiful pair. "I have no idea." Then he raised his eyebrows and shouted, "Sasha. Gde ti?"

Another male voice called out, somewhere outside.

Kova nodded. "I don't know the voice, but he says to come outside. You have another Russian with you?" he asked.

Julian nodded, tried to speak, and then groaned. Scarlett staggered under the heavy stack of books, but said, "Take the back door just in case."

A familiar dhampir smell washed over her just as she emerged into the hallway. A glint of Marlee's bronze-kissed hair caught her eye as the other hunter barreled into her, sending the books flying. "Not so fast," Marlee said, her voice flat. "I remember Seattle, too."

"Get off her," Kova shouted.

"Get him out," Scarlett said, writhing under the other woman. "I can take her. She can't hurt me."

Marlee grabbed a handful of Scarlett's loose hair, then slammed her head onto the floor. Stars exploded in her vision. When did the other woman get so strong? Marlee let out a scream of pain, though Scarlett hadn't touched her.

With a groan, Kova grabbed Julian by the collar and dragged him down the hall.

"The mistress says you have to stay," Marlee said. "She told me not to kill you." She pulled up and smacked Scarlett's head again, and it was only the plush carpet over the hardwood that kept her from cracking like an egg.

Cold air whipped around them, and Scarlett peered through blurred vision to see black tendrils snaking over Marlee's skin, like when Shea had attacked her in the woods.

When Marlee's grip on her loosened, she drove her knee up into the woman's belly and boxed her ears. In a scrambling pile of limbs, the two dhampir woman fought down the hall, bouncing off the walls and the floor in a clumsy dance.

Marlee got enough distance to throw a vicious kick into Scarlett's chest, and something cracked there. As she gasped for air, Marlee dove on her, throwing her back against the nearest wall. Those strange markings on her neck were glowing now, and her eyes were eerie and dark.

"Marlee, please," Scarlett pleaded.

"Lux said you have to stay. You can't go with the vampires," Marlee said.

"Since when do you do what the witch says?" Scarlett said. "You don't answer to Armina Voss." A firm hand closed around her throat, sealing off her airway.

"You have to stay," Marlee said again. She started to haul Scarlett back, but she froze, her dark eyes flickering as if a light bulb was struggling to illuminate behind glass. "What…I don't…"

"Let me go," Scarlett said. Her voice rose, and she wound up for a vicious punch to Marlee's face. Her fist cracked into the other woman's brow, splitting it in a spray of blood.

Marlee yelped and let her go, but when her head snapped up, her eyes were dark again. "You have to stay. You?—"

"Get back!" Scarlett said. She kicked Marlee in the belly, sending her flying back. The markings on her arms flared bright and angry, just as Kova's did when Mina was angry with him. Something in Scarlett ached to see the other woman that way.

"Scarlett!" Kova called from outside. "Fuck, I'm going back in."

"Stay!" someone else shouted.

She left Marlee still wailing in pain, then gathered up the fallen books, praying that Kova had gotten the grimoire.

As she ran through the living room, she heard a familiar female voice. It was Stella, her soft light voice at odds with the angry timbre of her words. The house began to tremble, and shadowy threads burst up from the floor as they moved.

Stella's voice rose, and then she heard a chorus of clipped shouts and screams, amidst curses of is that the fucking sun?

A male figure bolted for her, and she braced herself for impact. But when she saw the glinting red eyes and bronze hair, she was relieved. Paris grabbed her arm and shouted, "Let's go!"

"Julian?"

"Safe," Paris snapped. Close on her heels, he chased her out of the house.

As they burst from the door and into the yard, a brilliant orb of light was spinning over the yard like a pyrotechnic display. Through the blinding light, she caught the silhouettes of several other strange figures dashing for cover.

Looking back, she could see Stella standing at one of the broken windows, hands working rapidly to cast the spell.

Clever little thing.

"Kova! Bring her back!" Stella shouted. Bolstered by magic, her voice was impossibly loud, even sending a shiver down Scarlett's spine.

From down the driveway, Kova ran for her. His skin was blistered, his eyes full of regret as he said, "I'm sorry, I can't?—"

Paris growled, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him to the ground in a chorus of cracking bone. "No," he said, as if he was scolding a naughty puppy.

Safira was at one of the vehicles waving them closer. Blood stained her hair, and one arm hung useless at her side, but she was still on her feet, waving frantically to Scarlett.

Scarlett ran for her, not turning back when Paris let out a laugh and said, "Come get her."

The scent of Julian's blood drew her forward. Even more powerful than her need to escape was the need to see that he was safe. He had come for her, he had risked himself to free her, and…

She dove into the back seat of the SUV, accidentally driving her elbow into Julian's chest. There was a snarling chorus of Russian, followed by the vehicle rocking on its wheels. The rear hatch lifted, and Misha tackled Kova inside. As Paris leaped into the passenger seat, Safira peeled away.

Stella had run out to the yard, pressing her hands to her face in anguish. She disappeared in the rearview mirror, and Scarlett turned to check on Julian. He lay frighteningly still. She brushed his hair away from his brow, wincing at the dark marks. "He's not breathing," she said, her voice shaking.

"Yeah, he doesn't do that anymore," Paris said drily.

Right. Vampire. She stroked his cheek softly. "Can you hear me?"

The faintest rumble in his chest, but nothing else. Thin tendrils of black swam under his skin like invading parasites. Terror swept through her.

"Jesus Christ," Paris muttered. "Get Dominic on the phone."

There was a noisy phone call filled with swearing, which Paris cut off with a shut the fuck up that managed to sound jovial.When he confirmed that they were all accounted for, he simply said, Go home and wait for instructions.

While he spoke, she realized that in the chaos, she'd ended up with Julian's head in her lap, and she was stroking his hair like he was a stuffed animal comforting her through a nightmare.

A voice rumbled at her ear. "What happened to him?"

She yelped in surprise and looked up to see Misha looking over the seat from the cargo space. One soot-streaked hand still pinned Kova's face to the floor, though he'd quit fighting.

"Armina's workshop has all kinds of protections to keep vampires out without her permission," she explained.

"But he had the bracelet," Misha said.

"I guess it wasn't strong enough. As soon as he walked in, it was like he got shot," she said.

Kova wriggled and said, "You can let me up."

"If you try anything, I'll snap your neck so fast you won't even feel it," Misha said amiably.

"Got it." Kova groaned and sat up, peering over the seat. He smiled at Scarlett weakly, then peeked at Julian. "Is he going to be okay?"

Misha's eyes glazed over, glinting with a silver sheen. His nose wrinkled as if he smelled something foul. "It looks bad. I really don't know."

"Fuck," Paris swore. He gripped the wheel and cursed in French, smattered with English before he turned back and said, "Julian, you stubborn prick."

"He got hurt because he came to get me," she said quietly. She frowned and looked around at the rest of the vampires. They were all disheveled, sun-blistered skin marked with cuts and bruises. "All of you did. They grabbed me, and you all just picked up and came for me?"

"Yeah. That's what family does," Paris said.

Family.

In less than forty-eight hours, the messy cluster of vampires surrounding Julian Alcott had treated her better than the people she'd known all her life. Tante Mina had threatened her, let her lackeys hurt her; and Julian had come for her. Through the blistering sunlight and all his doubts. No hesitation.

Her throat tightened, and she didn't dare to speak lest the emotions burst out of her like a flood. She was startled when Kova put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. He spared her a smile, nodded, then folded his arms over the seat. "You know the witch will be furious."

"I don't give a good goddamn if she's furious," Paris said. He glanced at the clock. "We're going to cut it close, but I'd rather we went home. Head to Infinity to meet us."

"Not home," Safira said with a lilt in her voice.

Paris glanced back at Scarlett. "Not with her."

"I thought I was family," she said mildly.

"It's not you. I want to be sure Armina isn't tracking you somehow," he said. "And she already knows where Infinity is, given that she sent you and your other hunter friends to attack us there."

Guilt pooled in her belly, but she nodded. "Fair enough."