Blood Rules (Blood Immortal Book 2) Page 9

  “Enough of you!” I screamed. “You’re nothing! You’re pathetic! You hold onto life like a greedy child who won’t let go of his favorite toy, long after the toy has outlived its usefulness. What’s the point of living when all you do is sit in your castle, alone, with no one to care for you and nothing but trinkets to keep you company?”

  “You know nothing,” he hissed.

  “I think I do,” I shouted back. “You were afraid to die. You saw men fall around you and you knew your time would come, and you did the only thing you could think to do.”

  “Stop this,” he warned, his voice raising in pitch.

  But there was no stopping me. I had found a weakness, and I would do everything I could to exploit it. “You were just a scared boy, fighting a grown man’s battle. You were terrified. Probably pissing your pants. Men were bleeding, screaming, vomiting blood and you had to find a way out—alive. And you used your magic, even though you knew it could get you killed anyway if anybody noticed what you were doing. You enchanted the sword and used it to cut your way out of the throng. You might even have killed some of the men on your own side, but you didn’t care so long as you survived. Isn’t that right? Tell me if I’m wrong.”

  The muscles in his jaw jumped and twitched as his eyes narrowed. “You’re a clever little witch, aren’t you?”

  “Not half as clever as you think you are,” I spat back. “You’ve spent five hundred years honing your power, putting more and more of it into that sword. The sword that saved your life. Only now it’s become your life, hasn’t it? You can’t survive without it. You’ve only lived a half-life all this time because so much of you is inside of that thing. That silly, stupid, useless sword.”

  “Useless? I’ll show you how useless it is.” He leveled it at me—but suddenly aimed at my mother.

  She screamed. Her head snapped back, eyes wide and staring as he tortured her.

  “Had enough?” he asked, but his eyes were on me. He was talking to me.

  “Yes!” I shrieked. “Let her alone!” He shrugged, then lowered the sword.

  She slumped over but remained standing, still suspended as I was.

  “Maybe next time, you’ll hold your tongue,” he snapped. “You might not care about your life, but I know you care about hers.”

  “Why don’t we settle this once and for all?” Konstantin called out. “You and me. Leave them out of it.”

  “I would love to. You have no idea how much I would. But it doesn’t work that way,” Ivan replied. “You see, you’re not the one who purchased the sword. This had nothing to do with you.”

  “I’m her Nightwarden,” Konstantin snarled.

  “Yes, yes, I’m sure you are, and I’m sure that means something, but not to me. To me, she’s the one who took what was mine. She’s the one who deserves ultimate punishment for this.”

  “She didn’t know it was yours!”

  “She should’ve known it was somebody’s! Something like this doesn’t find its way to a peddler’s cart by sheer accident. If she’s half the witch she thinks she is, she would’ve felt its power and known it was nothing for her to trifle with.”

  “I didn’t know,” I said, even though I knew it didn’t mean anything.

  He didn’t care. All he wanted was revenge.

  And Konstantin couldn’t save me from that.

  “If I were you, I would say my goodbyes now.” Ivan leveled the sword at me. There was an evil gleam in his eyes.

  “No!” Konstantin lunged.

  It all happened at once. A bolt of bright, white light leapt from the tip of the blade and sailed through the air, coming at me.

  My mother’s screams pierced my ears.

  I closed my eyes and wished she didn’t have to see what was about to happen.

  I wished I’d had the nerve to tell Konstantin she was right. I did love him. He would never know.

  I was ready to give up my life. Mother’s scream turned into a shriek.

  The bolt never touched me. I waited for it, wondering why it hadn’t hit yet. I dared open my eyes.

  And I saw why I was still alive.

  “Konstantin!” I screamed when I saw him lying there, flat on his back beneath where I hovered.

  He had taken the bolt for me.

  His eyes were wide open, staring up at the sky. Seeing nothing.

  I screamed until my throat was hoarse, until my voice broke and all that came out was raspy screeching.

  I would never stop screaming. My life was over.

  He had died for me. It was pointless because, without him, I had no life. There was no living.

  If Ivan had a shred of pity in what was left of his heart, he would kill me, too. Nothing could be worse than living without Konstantin.

  And he knew it, too.

  “My, my, my. I must admit, even I hadn’t foreseen that,” he chuckled, shaking his head when I looked up at him through eyes filled with tears. “I knew he wanted you—anyone could feel it—but the fact that he was willing to throw himself in front of you like that? I underestimated his speed, as well. I suppose there’s still room for surprises even when one reaches my age.”

  “You twisted monster,” my mother wept.

  Konstantin was hers long before he was mine. Her grief was enormous, pulling heart-wrenching sobs from her.

  “You cared nothing for him, so don’t pretend otherwise,” the sorcerer sneered. “Our kind has little concern for theirs, and you know it.”

  “Konstantin… Konstantin…” I kept watching, waiting, hoping.

  He couldn’t be dead. It wasn’t possible. He was a vampire, not much could kill him.

  I had no idea what had come out of the sword, though, and I couldn’t forget that. There was no telling what had happened to him.

  Tears dripped from the tip of my nose and landed on his chest.

  “This is much better than what I originally had in mind,” Ivan sneered. “I was going to kill you, but he helped me work out a much better punishment. Now, you have to live with the knowledge that he died for you.”

  “I love you,” I whispered, trying my best to ignore the sorcerer’s ugly words.

  All I wanted to remember just then was the few sweet hours I had spent in Konstantin’s arms, loving him without knowing I was.

  I would never feel that sort of peace and comfort and safety again. I was sure of it. Why didn’t I tell him when I had the chance?

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be moving on. Oh, before I forget…”

  My mother and I floated to the ground.

  The moment my feet touched stone, I fell to my knees at Konstantin’s side and took his face in my hands. It was so cold. Hard as stone.

  My mother wrapped her arms around my shoulders and wept against my neck.

  Konstantin’s unseeing eyes stared up at me.

  And blinked.

  I was sure I had imagined it—

  —until he blinked again.

  My mouth fell open, and a cry of joy threatened to burst from my chest.

  He shook his head ever so slightly.

  He wanted the sorcerer to think he was dead.

  I turned my face toward my mother’s, burying it in her neck. “He’s alive,” I whispered in her ear. “Don’t react. He’s alive.”

  She raised her head slightly, turning her eyes toward him, and her arms tightened around me until I almost yelped.

  “Count of three, we take it from him,” she murmured.

  I nodded.

  “What did you say?” Ivan called out.

  “One…two… three!”

  We moved in unison, throwing our arms straight out, concentrating our power on the sword.

  He screamed as it flew from his hand and skittered across the rocks—he watched it, then his head swiveled back in time to see Konstantin flying at him, claws extended.

  He tried to throw his arms up in time to throw a spell, but he was too slow. Probably out of practice, used to the sword doing the work for him.


  Konstantin leaped onto him, pulling his head to the side with one sharp jerk before tearing his throat out and shoving him to the ground.

  Ivan’s body writhed while his blood jetted into the air, glowing bright red even against a dark sky.

  Magic blood. Dark magic.

  Konstantin stepped away from it as if by instinct.

  “Do you see?” my mother whispered, clutching me to her.

  I nodded. I saw everything.

  The way his body went back to its old form, withered and stooped. Then, older. And older still. Centuries old. His face caved in on itself, his hands turned to nothing but bones before dissolving into dust. Within seconds, dust was all he was.

  The wind picked him up and carried him away.

  Konstantin was still breathing hard, heavy, staring down at the place where the sorcerer’s body had fallen. He looked up at me.

  “Konstantin…” I wept, running to him and throwing my arms around his neck. “Don’t ever do anything like that to me again!”

  “Like what?” he asked as his arms circled my waist.

  “Like pretending you were dead!” I was laughing and crying all at once as I tried to process what just happened.

  All that mattered was he was alive, and we were together, and there was no more danger.

  Until he pulled back, holding me at arm’s length. His face was smooth, unreadable. “Monika, I wasn’t pretending. I did die.”

  15

  Konstantin

  Monika reeled. “You what?” she whispered.

  “Died?” Marissa joined us. “You’re sure? You weren’t just stunned or something?”

  “No. I’m sure of it. I died. And I came back.” I tried to read Monika’s feelings, but they were too wild and conflicting to make sense of.

  “How is it possible?” she breathed.

  “I don’t know. It wasn’t a conscious decision. I was dead, then I wasn’t. I jumped in front of you, and the bolt hit me, and just like that, it was over. I knew it was over. I felt my body die—one second of agony, like my insides burst into flames, and it was over. I went away. But then, you were holding my face in your hands, and I saw you. I was back. I know it sounds crazy,” I added, looking at Marissa. “But it’s true.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  The back door to the shack swung open. “I’m sure you could make sense of it if you gave it a little thought, Marissa.”

  The three of us turned in the direction of the voice.

  Monika and Marissa gasped at the sight of three tall, imperious witches standing in the doorway.

  They were each beautiful, and each anywhere from twenty-five to two-hundred-and-fifty years old. There was no way of telling, though I would’ve bet they were older rather than younger.

  “Esme. Serena. Maeve. What are you doing here?” Marissa sounded shaken up.

  Who were they?

  “The High Council,” Monika muttered under her breath.

  I understood the apprehension. I had come back to life, and for what? For them to order my death? I looked down at her and tried to smile.

  “I suppose I have to accept what’s coming to me,” I murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Just know that I love you, no matter what happens.”

  “I love you. Please, don’t let them take you from me. Not when I just got you back.” I kissed her forehead and looked around.

  The wind had died when Ivan died, and the environment had become calm and tranquil. Even the ocean had settled to its usual strength. I turned to take one more look at it before the inevitable occurred.

  “What brings you here?” Marissa asked.

  I turned back to see her walking to them with her hands outstretched.

  She took each of their hands in hers and bent, touching her forehead to them in turn.

  Monika did the same.

  The three of them looked at me.

  “We came for him,” the witch in the center announced. Long, white-blonde hair flowed down her back and over her shoulders to the waist of her deep blue robes.

  All three of them wore robes of that color, I noticed.

  Funny the things you notice when you’re about to die. Again.

  “Why him, Serena?” Monika tried to position herself between us. “He’s done nothing wrong.”

  “He broke our laws,” the dark-skinned witch on the right announced. Her eyes were like burning embers, and they glowed as she stared at me.

  I returned her stare. I wouldn’t back down.

  “Esme, please. All of you, you must understand.” Marissa shot me a look of despair. “He had no idea of what I was doing. He’s not at fault. It was all my responsibility, and I’ll take the punishment for it. I only wanted to—”

  “We know what you wanted to do,” announced the third witch, who I assumed was Maeve. She pushed back her flaming red hair and settled her hands on her hips. “We’re aware of everything that’s happened here, and leading up to this night.”

  “The disturbance the three of you caused tonight—four, counting the sorcerer—was impossible to ignore,” Esme explained. “We understand the circumstances, and what brought all of you here. It is our duty, after all.”

  “Of course, of course.” Marissa’s voice cracked.

  I sensed her panic, and her determination to keep me alive.

  I had never respected her quite so much, even if it was her fault we came to such an end.

  Marissa continued, “I don’t have to explain it to you. But all the more reason for you to understand the situation and why things happened as they did. He was not at fault. He’s never done anything but serve me well.”

  “Except for one thing.” Serena came to me, gliding gracefully, looking like she floated above the rocks. I wouldn’t be surprised if she really did float. “You fed from Monika after you were aware of the change. Isn’t that so?”

  No use denying it when she knew the truth. “Yes. I did. This evening.”

  “He had to! He needed his strength!” Monika cried out.

  Serena held up a hand, but never broke eye contact. Her eyes were almost as silver as her hair. They seemed to probe me, searching my thoughts, prying out the truth. “You did it when you knew it was against our laws. We could almost excuse your behavior up to this point, since you were not aware of the switch, but the conscious decision to feed from a witch other than the one you were sworn to protect…”

  “I understand,” I murmured.

  “So, you realize there is no real excuse for this? You weren’t in your final moments, dying of thirst.”

  “That’s correct.”

  Her eyes narrowed a bit. “You won’t try to defend yourself?”

  “There’s no defense. You’ve already made that clear. The decision is yours.” I wanted to look at Monika, tell her how sorry I was, explain that I was taking the punishment in the hopes that she wouldn’t have to. Anything to ease her suffering. I had already put her through enough.

  I didn’t want to break eye contact with Serena, however.

  She blinked. The corners of her thin mouth quirked up into what looked like it could be a smile if she tried a little harder. “Very well. I appreciate your honesty, as I’m sure the Council does. You’re free to go.”

  “He’s what?” Marissa gasped.

  Serena looked back. “I said, he’s free to go.”

  “Just like that?” Monika asked, almost smiling in disbelief.

  “Just like that.” Serena turned back to me. “Because of what you did here tonight.”

  “What I did?”

  “You sacrificed your life for Monika,” Maeve explained. “She was moments from death, and you nobly threw yourself in front of her to protect her.”

  “It wasn’t duty which made you do it,” Esme smiled. “It was love. And that should never be punished.”

  “You paid the ultimate price.” Serena took my hands in her long, lean, powerful ones. I could almost feel that power pulsing into me. �
��We saw, and we stepped in.”

  Stepped in. Her words became clear. “You brought me back.”

  She nodded. “We brought you back.”

  Maeve walked to where the sword had come to rest. It looked like any ordinary weapon—and much older than it had before. The metal was rusted, the handle was cracked and splintered.

  Ivan’s power was gone, and so was the enchantment placed on his weapon.

  “Rest assured, this will be destroyed,” Maeve grimaced as she examined it.

  “Good. I hope I never see another sword,” Monika murmured, rubbing her arms.

  “What about Marissa?” I asked Serena in a low voice.

  Her eyes shifted in Marissa’s direction, then back to me. “I think she’s suffered enough. She watched her daughter nearly die. And she felt genuine anguish when you passed into the next realm. She’s learned her lesson.”

  “I’m glad,” I smiled.

  She stepped back to join her sister witches. “When we said you’re free, we meant it in every way,” she added.

  “Every way?”

  The three of them nodded in unison.

  “We’re releasing you from your duties as Nightwarden. You’re free now to live as you wish.” When Serena smiled, her face was radiant. “Do not waste this opportunity.”

  “I won’t.” It was almost too good to be true. Free. Still a vampire, but free to do as I wished.

  She looked at Monika. “And neither should you,” she advised.

  “I promise, I won’t.”

  Esme looked at Marissa. “Tomorrow, we’ll go about the process of securing a new Nightwarden for you and will contact you for the ritual of awakening back at The Fold. We trust your new one won’t be deceived as this one was.”

  Marissa winced, but replied, “You have my word.”

  That seemed to be enough for them. They stepped back into the shack and closed the door without a word—when Marissa opened it, the room was empty again.

  “I can’t believe it. I can’t. That’s it. It’s over?” Monika looked at me, halfway between a laugh and a sob.

  I swept her up in my arms.

  “It’s over. Everything’s over, except this.” I wrapped my fingers around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a deep kiss, sweeter than anything I had ever tasted.