Out of Time (36 page)

King laughed softly. “Waiting for me.”

“Waiting to tell you to go to hell, I’d imagine. In fact, it would be my pleasure to give you a hand with that,” Simon said and pulled the trigger.

The first bullet was high, and the door jam next to King’s shoulder exploded in a shower of splintered wood. King didn’t flinch and started forward. Simon strode forward meeting King step for step, the distance between them swiftly closed.

The second bullet hit King in the shoulder and knocked him off stride, but only for a moment. Simon fired again and again; both bullets hit King square in the chest. The impact stopped King in his tracks, and his shoulders rolled forward as he struggled to keep his legs under him.

The metallic click of trigger against empty chamber told Simon he’d run out of bullets. He tossed the gun aside and reached for his stake. King staggered, and Simon lunged forward, prepared to drive the wood into the bastard’s cold heart. But King’s reflexes were too fast, and his hand shot out and held Simon’s forearm in a crushing grip.

King’s face twisted into a mockery of a smile. “Pathetic,” he sneered and squeezed Simon’s wrist. The bones almost snapped under the pressure, the stake fell uselessly to the floor. An icy pain shot up his arm. King tossed him aside.

Simon crashed into the wall. Ignoring the screaming pain in his wrist, he pushed himself up.

King watched, clearly amused and pleased to have a chance to play with his prey before the kill. “I wasn’t going to kill you,” he said calmly, nearly recovered from the onslaught of bullets. “I thought it might curry favor with Elizabeth to keep you alive, but I think I’m going to enjoy listening to you beg for mercy. Not that you’ll get it,” he added with a grin.

He stepped forward and hit Simon with a brutal backhand that sent him rolling along the wall.

Spikes of pain lanced through Simon’s temples, but he regained his feet. He stood tall and as firmly as he could. “You do know you’ll never get what you want.”

King stalked closer. “I always get what I want.”

“You’ll never have Elizabeth.”

“I already have her,” King said, punctuating the statement with another cruel blow.

Simon could barely stand. It took all his energy to keep from giving in to the welcoming darkness that slowly pressed down on him. He lifted his chin and met King’s eyes. “You don’t. You might kill me—”

“I think I will.”

“But I’ll take the one thing you want with me to my grave,” Simon said, finding an untapped well of strength in the force of his words. All of his weapons had been useless against King, except for one. It was an astonishing epiphany—simple and pure. Father Cavanaugh had tried to tell him, and he’d been too stubborn to see it. Elizabeth had given it to him, and he’d denied its power. Until now. “Her love will always be mine.”

King’s mouth twitched with anger, and his fists clenched. Eyes once black now glowed an unearthly yellow. Bulging veins popped out on his neck and sharp white fangs curved over his lip. Face to face with one of the creatures he’d searched for all his life, Simon wanted nothing more than to destroy him, to obliterate the grotesque perversion of life.

“She will love me!” King snarled. “As I love her.” He grabbed Simon by the arms and held him in a vise-like grip.

Simon shook his head. “I feel sorry for you.”

“For me? You’re the one that’s about to die.”

Simon managed a weak smile. “But I’ll die for love.”

King’s eyes flashed brighter, but Simon kept on. If this were his final piece, he would say it. “You’re not even capable of it. You may exist forever, but you’ll never live. Not even for a moment. You’ll never know how love feels.”

A deep, demonic growl rumbled in King’s chest and he bared his fangs, prepared for the kill, but drew up short as a voice rang out in the darkness.

“King!”

The vampire turned. Sebastian Cross stood only a few feet away. King threw Simon against the wall and then advanced on the old man. He’d barely taken a step when Sebastian tossed the contents of a glass jar at King. A wave of clear liquid splashed onto King’s face. Instantly, his skin began to burn from the powerful acid. Acrid smoke billowed off the burning flesh.

King roared in fury. With reflexes far too fast for the old man, he grabbed him and sank his teeth into the soft flesh of Sebastian’s neck.

Simon’s heart leapt into his throat and tried to struggle to his feet, but he couldn’t stand.

Soft, gurgling sounds and the fetid smell of burned skin filled the small warehouse. Sebastian clutched the front of King’s jacket in a futile effort to push him away. Ever increasing splashes of blood fell at their feet.

“No,” Simon called out helplessly.

The acid had burned away the side of King’s neck and the bulging vein ruptured. All the blood he drained from Sebastian poured out of the gaping hole.

With a furious snarl, King tossed Sebastian aside. Still gripped in the dying man’s hand, King’s front pocket tore away.

Simon started toward his grandfather, dragging himself across the floor, desperate to reach him.

King stumbled toward the door. Smoke danced off his face as the acid continued to eat away at him. He pushed himself out the door and staggered into the driving rain.

Fueled by rage and unyielding pain, King made his way down the uneven planks of the dock.

“Jesus, Boss!” one of the henchman cried when he saw King through the rain.

“Get this thing moving!” King bellowed.

“What happened to you?”

“I said,” King raged, grabbing the man by his shirt, “get this thing moving.”

The man paled but quickly nodded and called out to the others. “Get the bow line! Cast off.”

King shoved him away and boarded the boat as the men set into action, untying the mooring lines and pulling in the gangplank. In a maniacal fury, he threw open the door to Elizabeth’s room. She whirled around and gasped at the sight of him.

“You will love me,” King growled as he stalked closer.

Disgust and fear flashed across her face, spurring his wrath. Her hand moved quickly to her throat. He saw the gleam of a jagged shard press against her neck.

She pushed the makeshift blade to her skin. A trickle of blood slid down her pale neck. “I’ll die first.”

King froze. The demon strained inside him, barely reined in. It could smell the blood. Wanted to taste it. But his soul still held on.

He lunged forward and gripped her wrist, wrenching her hand away from her neck. She struggled against him, and his mind clouded over as his own inner battle raged on. He shoved her away, and she fell back onto the bed. How easy it would be to take her now. To feel her pulse ebbing into his. To take what she wouldn’t give.

He looked away from her for a moment and caught sight of himself in the mirror. His soul gave him that gift. But now, it was more than a curse. There was no hint of the man he once was in his reflection. Grotesque burns left his skin slagging off the side of his face. The white of his cheek bone, scoured by the acid, shone through the blistered mass. The skeleton of the beast.

Elizabeth took advantage of his distraction and bolted for the door, but King grabbed her before she could make it past him. He spun her back into the room, but she wouldn’t stop fighting. She tried to get past him, hands clawing, grabbing for anything she could in a frantic attempt to escape. Her fingers curled around the base of the hurricane lamp, and she swung it at him. King pushed her back and leapt out of the way.

The lantern crashed to the floor. Oil spilled out onto the carpet and caught fire between them. The flames spread quickly, slithering along the floor like a mass of snakes. The wall of flame licked higher and higher between them. Thick smoke filled the tiny room.

Between the flashes of orange and red fire, King saw Elizabeth. She was trapped inside the room, imprisoned by a wall of flame.

She coughed and covered her mouth, but the smoke was too thick. Frantically, she tried to ward off the searing heat and find a way past the flames, but it was no use. The flames were too high, the fire too strong. There was no escape. She was going to die. She stopped struggling and lifted her head, and her eyes met his.

Beautiful, defiant and alive. Something stirred deep inside him. A cold, dead heart struggling to beat.

In that moment, her life meant more to him than his own. The battle was won.

King stepped into the flames.

“Grandfather,” Simon gasped as he managed to pull himself up and stumbled to Sebastian’s side.

The older man was alive, barely. He coughed as blood bubbled from his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

“Why did you come here?” Simon asked desperately and tried in vain to stop the blood that oozed from the wound in his neck. “Don’t move. I’ll get help.”

Sebastian’s eyes focused on Simon, and he managed to lift his hand to touch Simon’s. “Too late for that, my boy.”

“No!” He couldn’t watch him die. Not again.

Sebastian gasped for breath and another coughing jag wracked his body.

“Grandfather.”

Sebastian squeezed Simon’s hand. “My watch,” he said. “Put my watch in my hand.”

“No, you—”

“I can’t die here. I have to return to my own time.”

“You’re not going to die,” Simon said fiercely.

Sebastian managed a weak smile. “I wish I could have seen you grow into such a fine man.”

“Don’t say that.”

Sebastian’s eyes drifted over Simon’s shoulder, seeing something far off and undefined. “We’re running out of time. The watch.”

Simon’s hand trembled as he pulled the gold watch from Sebastian’s pocket. He placed the watch in one hand and saw the other held a scrap of black cloth torn from King’s suit and resting in his palm was the scarab ring. In that instant, he was that ten year old boy at the foot of the stairs again.

“Do you have your watch?” Sebastian asked. “You need to be ready. The eclipse is nearly here.”

Automatically, Simon pulled out his watch and showed his grandfather.

Sebastian nodded in approval. “Good lad.”

Simon dropped it back into his jacket pocket and covered Sebastian’s hand with his own. “I told you to stay in the room.”

Sebastian shook his head. “I’ve had a good life. Yours is just beginning.”

“No.”

“Running out of time,” Sebastian said, his eyes glassing over for a moment. “Simon…”

“Yes?” Simon said, leaning closer.

“You made a fine man. I’m so very proud of you.”

A sob escaped Simon’s throat.

“Now go,” Sebastian said his voice barely a rasping whisper.

Simon hesitated, his heart severed in two.

“Go.”

King stepped through the flames. Struggling to breathe, Elizabeth stepped back until she pressed herself against the wall and could go no further. Flames covered King’s arms. He quickly shed his burning coat and grabbed the comforter off the bed. Wrapping it around her, he lifted her into his arms. Elizabeth pushed weakly at his chest, but the smoke was too much for her and she started to lose consciousness.

Simon’s words echoed in his ears: “
You may exist forever, but you’ll never live. Not even for a moment. You’ll never know how love feels
.”

His existence hadn’t amounted to anything, until this one moment. What he’d been searching for wasn’t something to be taken at all, but something to be given.

King cradled her to his chest and plunged back through the wall of flame. Kicking the door open, he stepped out into the driving rain. The water slowly doused the small fires that burned away at his clothes.

His men shouted and tried in vain to put out the fire in the cabin, but it was too late. The flames had grown too strong. Soon they’d eat their way though the floor and ignite the barrels of rum in the ship’s hull.

King crossed the deck to the railing, his precious burden still in his arms. He pulled back the blanket from her face, and the cool rain began to bring her around. Elizabeth looked up at him, her eyes bleary and unfocused.

For the first time in his life, as man or demon, he understood what it was to be alive—to love someone. “Tell him,” he said. “I do know how it feels.”

Without another word, he lifted her over the railing and tossed her into the sea.

Simon ran out of the warehouse. The boat was already a hundred yards from the dock and moving further into the night. Simon paused, his heart pounding against his ribs. How could he have waited so long?

A bright, orange flame shot up from the boat’s deck. And another. The boat was nearly engulfed in fire. Simon ran toward the water, tossing his jacket aside. Heavy waves broke against the sand, crashing down with a deafening roar. Icy cold spray stung his cheeks as he fought against the power of the sea. His legs felt like lead weights in the thick salt water. Just as in his dream, the boat drifted further away. This was the moment his nightmares became reality.

“Elizabeth!”

He was in up to his waist when a blinding light burst on the horizon, quickly followed by a thunderous boom. Simon’s heart stopped as the explosion shattered the night. Fire blossomed on the sea. Burning embers rained down, snuffed out as they hit the cold water. Waves crashed into his chest, and he stood too stunned to move. Flames engulfed the ship. Burnished scarlet flickered on the dark ocean—a bonfire slowly consumed by the watery depths beneath it.

His nightmare played out before his eyes in red and black, but there was no past, no future, nothing by this endless abyss. He stared out blankly as the sea swallowed the fire and the remains of the ship sank below the waves.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there. It didn’t matter anymore. Time ceased to have meaning. With nothing to look forward to and only regrets to look back on, Simon slowly turned back toward the shore.

Debris washed around him. Broken pieces of a life he might have had tumbled at his feet. His legs as numb as his heart, he stumbled on the sand. Was this what a living death was like? He’d been willing to die for her love, but he couldn’t face living without it. Gentle waves lapped at his feet, silently mocking his wish for a tidal wave to come and swallow him whole.