Blood Curse (Pulse #8) (11 page)

          “Lies!” growled Nereti.

          “Never lost a battle, have you, Nereti?” Kalina felt herself growing in confidence. “Until now?”         

          They went on fighting, attacking each other with a hungry violence. Skin met skin, bone met bone; the crunch of bodies slamming against bodies echoed over and over again throughout the chamber.

          It went on for hours – but Kalina felt no pain. Her body was bruised, perhaps some bones had been broken, but she could hardly feel them. She was in a new place, a new plane of consciousness. Her Blood had made her strong; nothing else mattered. She was protected by the Blood.

          At last, Kalina felt a powerful blow aimed directly at her chest – Nereti had kicked Kalina squarely at the heart, sending her flying backwards with a blow so strong that Kalina shattered the rocks that barred the entry to the cave.

          She was on the floor, at the feet of Jaegar, Max, and the others.

          “Kal!” Justin cried in relief.

          “No time!” shouted Max. “Our turn.”

          They ran through the new opening to the cave towards Nereti, brandishing their stakes, ready to fight, ready to destroy.

          Kalina was reeling. For a moment she felt dizzy, vertiginous, as the force of the blow realigned her consciousness.

         
Stay strong, Kalina. Stay alive.

          But another pair of hands was upon her now, pulling her out of the rubble, helping her to her feet, hands at once soft and so, so strong. Hands that were holding her tightly, caressing her, making her skin cry out in ecstasy.

          She turned to see the source of such pleasure.

          Her mouth fell open in surprise. His eyes, blazing and dark, were fixed upon her with a look of utter love – one that made her weak at the knees, even now. 

          Even now, she loved him.

          “Octavius?”

Chapter 13

         
P
ain, everywhere. Pain, searing through her skin, her muscles, her spine. Pain, tearing at her limbs, racking her bones apart, sawing through her brain so decisively that for a moment Kalina could not breathe, could not see, could not even think. She had never felt such agony before. The vertebrae in her back were crying out – had she broken her back, she wondered in horror? She couldn't move; she was completely paralyzed, every limb refusing her command.

          But none of that mattered now.

          Everything had stopped.

          Octavius was looking into her eyes, and everything had stopped. Nothing else could matter now. The battle was raging on outside her field of vision; Max and Justin, Samson and Jaegar were fending Nereti off in the distance, but she could hardly even think of that. All she could think about was the fact that at last, at last, Octavius was with her. His blazing, dark eyes were gazing down upon her, their expression unmistakable and full of love. His hair, long and matted, shining like a colt's flank, was falling down over her face, lightly caressing her skin as the hairs moved in the dank breeze of the caves. His hands were tight and firm upon her skin, eliciting the familiar sigh, the familiar moan of pleasure that she could not resist surrendering to him every time he drew near. Oh, how she wanted him!

          She could forgive him everything, she thought. She could forgive him his time with Nereti, the passion the two of them had shared, his betrayal: she would forgive him everything, if he would only hold her tighter. If he would only kiss her the way he used to – the spicy darkness of his mouth upon her own.

          “Octavius?” she heard herself whisper. “Octavius, my love – what are you doing?”

          She hoped that her voice might bring him back to himself. If he heard her, she thought desperately, if he recognized that voice, then maybe he could break the spell, maybe he could recognize the love she still felt for him, and which he had once felt so strongly for her.

          One by one, she felt her vertebrae heal – the power of Life's Blood coursing through her to repair every bone, sew up every wound, a sudden sting that made her wince with pain as tears came to her eyes. Her body was preparing itself for another fight.

          But as she raised herself up on her elbows, gazing into Octavius’ mesmerizing face, she noted with a pang the familiar glassy look in his eyes – the dull, dazed look of enchantment.

          No! She wouldn't let him give in – she wouldn't let him succumb to Nereti's wiles. Deep down, she knew, Octavius was still the same man; he was still the vampire who loved her. He had caught her, hadn't he? He had held her, when she had needed him?

          She placed one hand on either side of his face; she  leaned her forehead against his, making sure his dark, unfathomable eyes caught every angle of her own. She took him in, hoping that he could read within the intensity of her stare all her love, all her desire, all her need.

          His pupils began to dilate – as though, Kalina thought with some strange hope – a switch had gone off in him; as if in an instant he had gone from dullness to conscious thought.

          “I...” his voice was vague, disembodied. “...I don't know why I'm holding you like this.”

          She watched his eyes dart back and forth; she watched the stoic look upon his face change into something like pain. She felt his confusion, the conflicting forces that seemed poised to rend him in two. She wanted to comfort him, to take away all his pain, all the conflict that dogged him now.

          “Octavius,” she whispered, feeling the welling tears overflow the measure of her eyes, snaking their way down the sides of her cheeks. “Oh, Octavius!” She leaned in to kiss him all over: his forehead, his cheeks, his hands, wanting so badly to let her lips tend towards his lips. “My love, I never thought I'd see you again.”

          The emotion was too great for her to bear. She could not control it. At once she was weeping, sobbing, crying out as if she would never stop. Nothing else mattered now – nothing but the feeling of his flesh on hers; nothing but the man she loved, and thought she had lost, so close, so far, but
with her
, at last. That was all that mattered, she thought desperately. He was with her.

          Then she began to feel something strange. Beneath her palms, his cheeks felt – warmer? No, that was impossible – vampires were cold, always, cold like the frozen caves of the North. But what she felt was unmistakable. It was warm skin, warm, solid flesh – the flesh of mortal love, mortal heat, mortal desire.

          “I...” Octavius’ words were still so confused. “I don't understand. My blood – it's moving – it's pulsing – it recognizes yours.”

          “What?”

          “It's stronger – it's the strongest blood of all.” He was looking at her with a fixed and intense expression. “It's so much stronger than
hers.
”

          Then it hit Kalina. Then she understood. Understood why she had been able to predict Nereti's movements, to match her blow for violent blow as they fought. Nereti had been filled with Kalina's blood – she had drained her almost to death back at the ruins in the desert. It might have made her stronger – but it also had opened in her a new weakness. Kalina's Life Blood had affected Nereti, to be sure, but it hadn't simply given her new power. It had also given her a bond with Nereti, a bond unlike any other. Kalina was different from the other Carriers, after all. She'd had Nereti's blood in her from birth. And now Nereti had her blood, too. A double-bond of blood, stronger than any other that had ever existed. It was as though they were twins, dark mirrors of one another, two sides of the same coin.

          One good. One evil.

          Or so she hoped.

          “Octavius...” Her voice was growing desperate now. “Octavius, my darling, my love, do you remember me?”

          For a long time he looked at her, his gaze ever more intense, staring at every single one of her features, staring into her eyes, as if trying to recover the vanished images of a dream. He began to shake his head – a long, slow rotation – but stopped, his mouth slightly parted, his eyes still so direct upon her. “Yes,” he whispered at last. “Yes, I do.”

          She could not stop herself. Before she had even taken in his words, she had flung herself upon him. She was kissing him, kissing him so hard and so violently, kissing him as she had never kissed him – or anybody else – before.

          At first he was reluctant. He did not push her away, but he did not return her kiss either. He remained stoic and still, considering.

          But her warmth kindled his. At once he grabbed her, his fingers twisting in the obsidian darkness of her hair, pulling her towards him, kissing and kissing her with a hungry mouth, his desire palpable in every motion, every electric collision of their flesh.

          “Remember this?” she breathed, barely able to break away from him long enough to answer the question.

          He pulled her in for another kiss, even more ravenous than before, his lips violent and voracious upon her own. “How could I forget?” he whispered. “My love, my heart.”

          “Did you forget me?” she couldn't help asking. “All that time you were with...
her
, with Nereti. Did you forget I existed?”

          His eyes were full of pain. “It was the only thing that kept me sane,” he growled. “Nereti had me under her control – she controlled my mind, my body, my limbs, everything about me. It was like I was drugged, in a haze or a fog, not the master of my own body or even my own thoughts. But deep down, I knew. Deep down, I knew that she could never control my heart. Even when I couldn't remember your face, your voice, your name, my heart remembered the memory of you – remembered that there was someone I loved, outside of this wretched world of me and her – remembered that there was something worth maintaining my sanity before.”

          “But you and she...”

          “I never spoke of you to her. I never wanted her to suspect that I had some element of consciousness outside her control. I was afraid that if she knew another had my heart, she would try another spell, one that would make me forget you entirely. So I went along with her deception – to keep you safe, to keep all of you safe. Sadly, so many noble vampires of the Consortium were sacrificed in her wicked wake. For that, I will forever bear the guilt. I will bear the burden of that regret, along with the ashen remains of the sacrificed, for all eternity. I will bear the searing memories of the time I spent in Nereti's bed – the wild pleasure and the deadly shame. Her pull was overwhelming – this I will not deny. But it was wicked, through and through – and every moment I spent with her I was aware I was in the presence of the greatest evil, of the Mother of Vampires.”

          “The Mother of Vampires?” Kalina's mouth fell open. “What does that mean?”

          “She is the oldest vampire ever born. Born, not made. Not like the rest of us. That is why Carrier blood is so strong – it contains the blood of this ancient type.”

          “How did you learn this? I've never heard of a vampire being born.”

          “Nor had I. But when I was with her – in bed – in moments of her greatest pleasure, she showed me telepathic glimpses of the world she had come from, the world of her origin, an ancient world utterly unlike our own, where all the myths we can imagine are but the most prosaic realities, and their myths so much greater still than any which we can think of. When she – when she climaxed, she revealed it to me.”

          Kalina grimaced. She didn't like thinking about Octavius and Nereti, giving one another pleasure in that way.

          “What is this place?”

          “Not of this earth, Kal. It is a realm of magic, of fantasy, of beings with teeth and blood-lust, where vampires are more of an abomination than they have ever been in this realm....”

          He was cut off by a shout from the caves. Nereti had pinned Justin and Jaegar to the wall of the cave. They were crying out, wriggling against her superior strength, as she readied her hand to plunge into the chest of one or the other, to pull out their heart.

          “No!” Kalina cried in horror.

          But Octavius was faster.

          In a lightning-flash he had knocked the others aside, placed himself squarely in Nereti's path.

          It was only when her hand was deep inside his chest that Nereti realized what she had done.

          “Octavius?” Now it was her voice that was full of confusion.

          Nereti stopped, and stared, her hands overflowing with blood.

          “No!” Kalina cried again. The horror, the anger was too great. She was flying through the air, ready to attack, ready to defend.

          Her mind had gone blank.

          She would save Octavius.

          That was all she knew.

Chapter 14

         
F
or a moment, everything was still – horribly, preternaturally still. All Kalina could hear was the sound of the cave – the dripping of water deep within the belly of the cavern, the hollow wind rustling lamely through the labyrinthine corridors, the lonely scratches of mice and other beasts in the furthest reaches of the cavern's depths. For a moment, Kalina's mind went blank.

          She was focusing on the littlest things, on the strangest things. She was focusing on Octavius’ face, and the look of pain in his deep and blazing eyes, on precisely how his nose curled so slightly at the base. She was focusing on Nereti's porcelain countenance, on the way Nereti's left eyebrow was arched upwards in shock as she took in the full force of what she had done: as she realized that her hand was wrist-deep in Octavius’ chest, gorging with blood that overflowed up her forearm, staining it dark, wine-dark.

          “No...” Kalina whispered in horror, feeling the pounding in her own chest grow louder, ever louder, with despair. Octavius had saved Justin and Jaegar's life – but at what cost? Was this how it was going to end –
could
this be how it ended – Octavius murdered by the woman who had already taken so much from him, who had already made him her slave?