Phoenix Rising (Book 5 The Kindred Series) (2 page)

Blinking back his tears, his head bowed as for a moment his own grief swelled over Devon's wrath. His hands were shaking, his heart thumped heavily in his chest. Devon was as good as dead without her, he knew that, but was he willing to unleash a monster on this earth in order to save him? Was he willing to help turn Cassie into a creature that could destroy them all?

Or she could save them all, and though Chris was frightened about what might happen; he also had a lot more faith in his friend than she'd ever had in herself. She harbored darkness inside her, he knew that, but he also knew that she was inherently good and she was in love with Devon. He and Devon may have become friends over the past few months, Julian and Devon may share a bond, and Devon may love Annabelle, but those relationships were nothing compared to his relationship with Cassie. The Devon he'd become friends with would have despised himself if he had hurt them, but there was nothing left of that Devon.

This could be the worst decision of his life, but he honestly didn't see what choice he had. He could only pray that if this worked, his best friend wouldn't rise up and drain him dry shortly thereafter. One way or another, things would be resolved tonight, and he was fearful that he wouldn't survive to see the end of it.

He didn't know how he felt about that. He wasn't ready to die, but a part of him had always suspected that his time would come far sooner than he hoped it would. He'd always denied it, especially to Cassie as he'd sensed her anxiety and resentment over the knowledge of what they were, and he'd tried to be strong for her. Ultimately Cassie had been right, a fact that had just been hammered home with her untimely, vile death. It was probably his fate now too. He didn't know how they would escape The Elders, the monster Halflings hunting them, and Devon. It seemed an impossible feat.

Julian and Annabelle were both staring at him. In the moonlight their eyes were unblinking and as hostile as a hungry coyote. Chris couldn't help the shudder that raced through him. They looked so primitive, untamed, and lethal. But they were nowhere near as lethal as Devon, they could
never
compare to him in the state that he was in, and he had Cassie's powerful Hunter blood fueling him.

He briefly contemplated running. He didn't. If there was even a glimmer of hope that they could get through to Devon, then he was determined to try. For Cassie. Julian's eyes were those of a predator as Chris hesitatingly approached them.

Dropping down by Cassie's side, Chris ignored the blood coating her body as he took hold of her hand. It was smooth and still warm in his grasp. It was difficult to believe that she was gone, that she would no longer laugh and talk with him. No longer smile and fight and play with him. Tears burned his eyes; he swallowed the lump that had formed in his chest.

He squeezed her hand as he enveloped it in both of his. "I love you." He focused his attention on Julian. "What do I have to do?"

"If this works, she'll require blood,
fresh
blood." Chris hid the shudder of revulsion that slid through him but he couldn't stop the cold chill that crept up his spine. Julian's eyes relentlessly held his, Chris finally broke the stare as he nodded and turned away. He tried not to focus on the gash in her midsection, but his gaze was irresistibly drawn back to it. There was no fixing that, no matter what Julian believed. But Chris found himself hoping that he was right, that Julian's blood would somehow magically fix the damage that had been done to her.

He couldn't stand the spectacle of her unblinking eyes anymore, they should be closed. She should be at peace, she deserved that much. He was leaning forward, his fingers just mere inches from her eyelids when her eyes snapped open. Chris fell back; a startled yelp escaped him at the same time that a scream tore from Cassie.

CHAPTER 2

Julian burst into motion as Cassie bolted upright and knocked Chris back with her swinging fists. She opened her mouth to scream again but he slid his hand over her mouth to cover the sounds. She shook her head vehemently as she fought to break free of his grasp. She shrieked against his hand as she kicked and swung her arms against his hold. Wrapping his arm around her ribcage, Julian pulled her against his chest and held her firmly. Her slender body bucked against his, her fingers clawed at his hand as her body convulsed.

Blood spilled from the deep gashes she ripped into his arm but he didn't care. It was the most exquisite thing he'd ever felt as it meant she was alive, or if not alive in the human sense, at least she was with them again. He was seized with the urge to cry as he held her against him. At one time he'd been concerned about what she might become; he couldn't seem to find that concern now. He didn't ever want to let her go, but she wasn't his to keep, she never had been. She was his to see through this though, and he was determined to make sure she survived.

"Annabelle!" he called.

Annabelle was frozen by the window, but his barked command propelled her into action as she raced across the store to them. "What is going on?" Chris demanded. His eyes were locked on Cassie as she continued to buck and convulse against him. Annabelle grasped hold of Cassie's legs and pinned them to the ground as her cries increased in intensity. "Is this
normal
!?"

"The change is agonizing," Annabelle whispered.

"But
this
painful?" Chris demanded.

Annabelle shook her head. "Chris this isn't a change that's ever been attempted before. She's a Hunter and its two Elders bringing her back."

"So the answer is no. That was all you had to say, just no."

"I don't know Chris!" she cried.

"She'll be fine." Julian grated through clenched teeth. Cassie's fingers curled around his arm and clenched down. Julian grit his teeth as she thrashed against him. "She'll be fine."

Though it had been centuries ago, Julian clearly recalled the torture of his transition. The pain that had clenched his muscles, twisted his insides into knots, and broke the bones in his lower back from the force of his spasms. Though it had only lasted for forty minutes, at the time it felt like an eternity.

He yearned to take this away from her, but there was nothing that he could do. Unfortunately all of them had to suffer through the torture of what was done to their bodies, and their insides, in order to gain immortality. She bucked again and continued to scream against his hand as her whole body arched off the floor. Chris recoiled as she flopped limply onto the ground.

The scent of her assailed him as Julian buried his face in her hair. It was such a mixture of himself and Devon within her that he could barely sense her own essence anymore. But then, there hadn't been much of her blood left within her after Robert's brutal assault.

"Please forgive me," he murmured against her ear as he cradled her. "Is there anything you can do?" he asked Annabelle.

She shook her head as she gripped Cassie's legs. "No, I can only heal physical wounds; I cannot take a person's internal pain from them."

Chris's head turned slowly away from them as he focused instead upon the window. His eyebrows drew together as he frowned. Leaping to his feet, he dodged the debris on the floor as he raced across the room. Cassie screamed against Julian's hand again as she twisted to the side. Her cheeks were florid, sweat poured down her face and coated her clothes. Chris skidded to a halt by the window and roughly pushed the curtain aside to gaze out at the road.

"I didn't realize Devon had given her so much blood," Annabelle murmured. Julian met her troubled gaze. "He has to know that she's still alive, right?"

Is she? Julian wondered though he managed to keep the words to himself. This was a bad enough mess without adding his doubts to it. Cassie screamed again and kicked her legs with enough force to knock Annabelle's grip free from one. Annabelle winced and shook her hand before she seized hold of Cassie's leg again.

"He has to, right!?" Annabelle demanded.

Julian adjusted Cassie and kept her pinned down as he bit into his wrist again. Fresh blood spurted into his mouth. Before she could attempt another scream he shoved his wrist into her mouth. "Julian!" Annabelle hissed disapprovingly.

"We have to make sure it's enough," he reminded her.

He knew Devon would be infuriated that he was sharing his blood with Cassie, but they had to make sure that she got through this transition, that she wasn't trapped in between. For a second there was no reaction from Cassie, and then she grabbed hold of his arm and bit down.

Julian started in surprise as fangs she'd never had before sank into his wrist. Fangs that never should have been present this early in the transition, but were. Just what would she become?

Matthew's vision of her had revealed a monster, a creature surrounded by blood and reveling in the destruction that she rained down upon them, a creature that Cassie would never want to become.

He almost pulled his arm away from her, almost took the flow of life from her lips, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was terrified of Matthew's vision but he was even more terrified of losing her. It was probably one of the most selfish things he'd ever done, but nothing was going to stop him. He had just found her, he'd just realized that there was
some
humanity left in him and that he
could
truly love someone else; he couldn't lose it all now. He just couldn't.

They would deal with the consequences of his actions later, no matter what those consequences might be. He just hoped that he wasn't helping to create a monster that couldn't be destroyed. But if he didn't do this it was likely that Devon would destroy them all anyway, or that she would get caught in between and really become a monster.

Julian shoved that thought away. Visions had been proven wrong over and over again. They were only a glimpse of the future, not a guarantee, and he was determined that Matthew's vision wouldn't come true. All that mattered right now was that she survived the transition.

She drank with hungry, pulling gulps that left him shaken and lost. He struggled against the waves of pleasure that surged up and tried to bury him beneath the endless joy that filled him. He could sense her anguish and thirst, but even more than that he could sense the endless joy she took in consuming his blood, in having it fill and sate her.

Unable to stop it, a small moan of delight escaped him. It was the first time he had allowed his mind to open to another vampire during the blood exchange process. He was unable to let go of her, unable to break the precious connection between them, even if she'd already taken enough blood to ensure her safety through the transformation. An intense sense of possession began to build inside of him. Though she didn't belong to him there would always be a connection between them and in those few seconds he chose to pretend that he could keep her.

He would always love her and it killed him that she would never be with him, never be his. His fingers curled into her silken hair as he drifted into the ecstasy she emitted, and the love that she had for him. Even if it wasn't the same as the love she had for Devon. He allowed himself to be lost to the woman that had claimed his heart.

He could keep her. His hands tightened in her hair, he closed his eyes as the thought flitted across his mind. Human's were vulnerable during the transition, he could seize hold of her mind and make her think that it was him she loved, make her stay with
him
. He so desperately yearned to, and yet he knew that he never could. It wouldn't be real and he loved her too much to abuse and manipulate her in such a way. He could keep her, but he would hate himself forever if he decided to do so.

"Julian! Julian!"

His eyes flew open and he blinked Annabelle into focus. "Julian stop! She has enough for the change. She is
not
yours!"

Anger and hurt tore through him as a small growl escaped him. He knew that she wasn't his. He
knew
that. It didn't mean that he had to like it though. Gradually he got enough control over himself to pull away from her. She moaned and her eyelids briefly flickered up to reveal the striking amethyst azure color of her eyes.

She was still alive, even if she couldn't be his she was still
here
with him. She wasn't dead as they had all feared and that was all that mattered even though they didn't know what this change would do to her. No Hunter had ever been changed, and Cassie had already been an oddity amongst The Hunter race. She was volatile and extremely powerful as a human, as a vampire she could become something truly unstoppable.

He knew that he couldn't keep the apprehension from his face as he met Annabelle's gaze. Cassie's cries and screams increased in intensity, he covered her mouth again as he tried to keep her as silent as possible. No one outside of these walls could know she had survived; The Elders would try to destroy her if they did.

"It's essential we keep her quiet. They'll come in here if we don't," he told Annabelle.

Annabelle nodded; she held Cassie's legs more firmly to the ground as Julian tried to stifle her cries without harming her.

"We have a bigger problem."

Julian had completely forgotten about Chris. Now the boy's hushed words drew their attention to him. What could possibly be a bigger problem than this? Chris's eyes were as big as saucers; his face had taken on the hue of a corpse. A crushing sense of impending doom settled over Julian. He'd never seen the kid look like that before and they'd been in some pretty crappy situations.

"What is it?" Annabelle whispered.

"Devon doesn't realize that she's not dead, well not
completely
dead anyway."

Annabelle exchanged a confused look with Julian. "That makes no sense," she mumbled. "They have shared blood, Devon should know that she's not truly dead."

"That may be so." The hoarse tone of Chris's voice scared Julian more than the terrified look in his eyes. "But as I told you before, that
thing
outside is not Devon."