Tears of Blood (The Blood Chronicles) (29 page)
Read Tears of Blood (The Blood Chronicles) Online
Authors: Tamela Quijas
“No, he hasn’t.” her heart beat wildly against him, her fear obvious. Squeezing her hands, he disengaged her arms, and stepped forward.
“You’re trespassing.” He said in a low and ominous tone. “You’ve entered my home without consent, and you’re not welcome.”
Kevin smirked, growling slightly as he made to push past the man. As he grabbed at his shirt, Amado turned and flashed hooded eyes at him, stilling the urge to bare his fangs. Instead, he growled and pushed the man back, nearly making him loose his footing. Wiping a gloved hand over his eyes, Kevin blinked before refocusing on the lithe figure.
“I want what’s mine.” He stated hotly. “You had your fun with her, so I want her back.”
“She’s not yours to take.” Amado remained deliberately calm, ignoring the taunt in the other’s voice. “Besides, I’m certain she doesn’t want you.”
“She doesn’t realize what she wants.” Kevin protested with a sidelong glance and uncomfortable chuckle. “She’s funny like that.”
Amado sighed heavily. “Meghan, do you want to go back to your ex?”
“Definitely not!”
“There’s your answer,” Amado supplied with more calm than most men would have had.
“She ain’t coming with me because you poisoned her mind.” Kevin accused outrageously.
“You and I know that isn’t true.”
“It is!” He bellowed in return, his eyes dancing bizarrely. “I know my girl, and she wouldn’t turn on me unless you twisted her thoughts!”
“You don’t understand Meghan at all.” Amado contradicted, hearing her
harrumph
of disbelief.
“Look,” Kevin’s wheedling voice was grating on the nerves. “I only want my Meg.”
“She’s not leaving with you.”
“I can make her leave and I can make you go away.” He hissed darkly. “I can make it where you’re nothing but a memory.”
“I’d like to see that.” Amado answered easily.
“You won’t have time to see anything.” Kevin laughed maniacally. “Do you think you can keep her here in this fancy dance hall? Soon, there ain’t going to be much of this place left.”
“Dear Lord, what have you done, Kevin?” Meghan asked suspiciously, remembering the smell of gasoline sticking to him.
He guffawed before he shrugged. “I just pulled a little insurance, Meggie.”
She raked her hand through her hair, scowling. “What did you do?”
Kevin snickered. “I learned a lot out on the street, Meg, like how to set fires, bright things that’ll make a building go up like a match.” He backed away, his madness dancing in his eyes as wildly as the coattails of her worn jacket. Defiantly, he stared at Amado, laughing maniacally. “In a little bit, the whole warehouse is going to go up like dry pine needles.”
Amado snarled and Meghan sensed the violence that threatened to burst from him. She placed a comforting hand on his arm and drew his attention to her.
“This is my problem,” she whispered. “I have to erase the demons from my life, and you can’t interfere.”
“Are you certain?” He asked. “I can end this now.”
“I can’t let you.” She stated firmly. “I don’t want you to solve my problems, Amado. I only need you to stand by my side.”
“If matters get out of hand,” he breathed heavily.
She didn’t permit him to finish. “I understand.”
“Stop talking to him!” Kevin shouted abruptly, his hands waving wildly about him. He paced back and forth, spinning in circles before coming to a halt.
“We’ve stopped.” She soothed, suspecting he might become dangerous if provoked.
“Come with me, Meggie.” He pleaded in a half-crazed tone.
“We don’t have a life together, anymore.” Her tone remained gentle as she tried to reach his troubled mind.
He shook his unkempt head and smiled brightly at her, his expression hopeful.
“You can come with me, and we’ll find a home. We can be together, like we’re supposed to be.” He lifted his face to the rafters of the warehouse, looking at the exposed beams, before his wild eyes went back to her. “We can get a place better than this. We can be happy and I can love you better than him.”
“I don’t want you, Kevin.” She almost wept for him, remembering the fresh faced boy he’d been in high school.
“Come on, Meggie.” He said cajolingly. “Don’t you recall how good we were?”
“I prefer not to remember.” Her voice was oddly soft as she made the admission. “I don’t love you anymore, and you need to leave me alone.”
“You can,” he insisted frantically. “You can love me again.”
“No, Kevin.” She kept repeating the word
no
, hoping her refusal would get through to his demented mind. “My heart belongs to another, and I could never love you.”
“You did, until he came along.” He snapped back at her, and she envisioned the face that frightened her most, where his eyes danced to a wild tune and high color rose to his cheeks. “You love this man? He teaches dance, damn it! He’s not a man, like me!”
“He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be, Kevin.” She managed in a soft and nonplussed tone. Amado’s fingertips brushed her shoulder, wordlessly comforting her as he allowed her to deal with her own demons.
“Him?” He questioned derisively. “He’s nothing but a fucking pretty boy, that’s all he is!”
“I’m granting you the opportunity to leave.” Amado’s words were calm and rational, compared to the madness slipping from her ex-husband. “Leave my home, and Meghan, before I summon the police.”
“I ain’t going nowhere without Meggie!” Kevin screamed.
“She’s not going with you.” He argued smoothly.
Slowly, Kevin reached into the inner pocket of his coat, his crazed gaze never leaving Amado. Watching him through narrowed eyes, he questioned what the vagrant would pull from the tattered remnants, most of the pockets frayed. He didn’t have long to wait as the man pulled a heavy item out and pointed the gleaming weapon at his former wife.
“If I can’t have you, Meggie, nobody can.” He mumbled viciously.
Purposely, Amado placed himself between Meghan and the gun. He towered above the taller man, his presence becoming more pronounced as he lifted his chin and straightened his shoulders. Violence radiated from him in a great wave, and he inhaled a needless breath as he stared directly at Kevin. Snarling, his fiery red eyes glowing, his teeth flashed.
“Wh…what the fuck are you?” He stammered, disbelief contorting his features.
“I’m the last face you’ll ever see.” Amado retorted in a deeply guttural voice as he lunged, his fangs seeking the pulsating jugular at the human’s neck. Wildly waving the gun, a blast resounded as he screamed in horror. Another shot followed, Kevin’s shrieks turning into a gurgling rush as a loud explosion rocked the ground floor, sending flames shooting across the floorboards and up the staircase.
Above Amado’s angered growls and Kevin’s screams of terror, despite the fiery blasts surrounding her, Meghan pressed a hand to her chest. Gasping, her breath burning and bubbling in her lungs, blood streamed over her hand and between her fingers. Slowly, she started to crumple. Feeling as if she were part of a nightmare, she fell to the floor.
Chapter Twenty
Flames burst from the upper windows of the warehouse building, showering shards of splintered glass across the pavement, while orange tongues greedily licking at the dark sky. Chesca screamed, running toward the structure, tears streaming from her eyes. Frantic, pushing past the throng of spectators, she leapt for the dance studio door, desperate to find Meghan.
“You can’t enter,
cherie
!” Heavy hands dragged her back, and she kicked and shouted, her fists flailing. Hauled against a rock hard chest, her breath escaping her panting gasps, she yelled her friend’s name while damning her rescuer.
“You don’t understand, Sebastien!” She screeched, the sound of the flames, burning wood, and falling brick filling the air. “Meghan’s inside!”
“You don’t know this for certain!
“She wouldn’t leave without me!” she protested, twisting about and staring up at him with wide and horrified eyes. “If she did, she would’ve come directly to the store.”
“Are you convinced she’s still inside?” He asked solemnly, refusing to lift his gaze to the inferno.
“She knew I was coming, Sebastien.” She sobbed. “She would’ve been waiting for me.”
A crowd gathered, and the distant wail of the fire engines sounded in the distance. The building stood as a beacon in the nighttime sky, the bright glow illuminating the entire street. Frantic, Chesca stared up at Sebastien, her body quivering. Heavy tears streamed down her face, becoming garish trails of black on her ivory skin.
“Meg can’t get out,” she cried. “She’d be confused by the blaze, and not know which way to turn. She’ll be so lost, Sebastien!”
“Hush, child.” He soothed, although his heart felt it were breaking. The building was engulfed, hungry flames leaping from every window and black smoke and ash blowing in the wind. “There’s not anything we can do for her. “
“I can’t let her die that way!”
There’s nothing we can do, Chesca.” He repeated soothingly, wiping away the streaks of makeup. “You can’t go inside….”
“We can,” a harsh voice interrupted. “We’re the only ones that can enter that mess.”
Inhaling heavily, smoke filling his chest, Sebastien looked angrily the figure beside him. He couldn’t prevent his disgusted glower, the reaction automatic, as he glared into the blood-filled eyes of the creature.
“We can’t interfere with what is destined.” He commented sharply, his skin reflecting the singing heat of the devastating flames.
Declan Balthazar stared into his eyes with brazen disregard. “Sometimes, the rules of destiny have to be broken.”
Sebastien scowled darkly, his internal need to wipe Declan’s kind from the earth outweighing the horror blazing before him. “My vows prevent me from meddling in mortal matters.”
“Sebastien, what does he mean?” Chesca pulled away from his comforting embrace and intently examined the face of the two men, who closely resembled each other.
The stranger turned toward her, his expression intent. “He can walk through the flames, unscathed.”
“Hold on.” She stared from one to the other. “What the hell do you mean?”
Declan smirked, and the action’s bitterness made her frown. “You work with a wizard, child.”
“Nah,” she denied with a shake of her head. “Sebastien’s just a pagan, who believes in the purity of life, and we all need to return to nature.”
“Tell her, DeClerq.” He barked, and knew precious time was wasting. “Tell her what you are.”
“Sebastien?” She lifted her streaked countenance to his, really looking at him for the first time since their acquaintance. Her coworker’s jaw, his face glowing in the firelight, tightened.
“I’m a wizard, Chesca.” He admitted solemnly. “I’m a centuries old wizard who weaves disgusting little spells, and hunts down the immoral vermin plaguing the streets.”
“And he can walk through fire.” Declan supplied easily.
“But, you can’t, Balthazar.” He pointed out roughly. “Your type incinerates in the midst of a blaze, as I well know.”
He smirked and managed an offhanded shrug. “After all these centuries, do you think I care anymore?”
“What are you talking about?” Chesca snapped.
“You won’t understand.”
“Do you think I do what I do, and don’t believe in a world beyond humanity?” She asked angrily. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, Sebastien, and I want the truth. If you’re a damn wizard, what is he?”
Turning, she found herself staring into eyes as dark as the night, lit with a fiery red blaze that wasn’t a reflection of the shooting flames behind them. Smirking, he tilted his chin and opened his mouth to her inquisitive look.
“Oh shit!” She managed as he revealed sharp fangs.
He ran his tongue over the pointed tips, before his analytical regard lifted to the scorching flames. “He can enter the building.” He didn’t turn to Sebastien, instead indicating him with a jerk of his chin. “Your associate has the power to find your friend, and bring her to safety.”
“But the blaze…”
“Tell her DeClerq.” He commanded. “Tell her that you can battle flames with ease, and won’t burn.”
“Is this true, Sebastien?”
He exhaled heavily. “It’s correct, but it’s against everything…”
“You’d let Meghan die?” She accused in a quivering voice. “Your conscience would allow you to let her die in there, alone, and trapped?”
“She’s not unaccompanied.”
Chesca took a quick look at the vampire standing before her.
“Amado won’t leave her side.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve known him since before his creation.” He managed with a cynical smirk. “Despite being one of the undead, and lacking a heart, his love will prevent him from leaving her.”
“I can’t save a vampire,” Sebastien countered tightly. “My job is to eradicate your kind’s disgusting presence from the world, not make it a point to rescue one.”
“What about Meg?” Chesca clutched at his arm before pulling back, the heat rising from his flesh singing her hand.
His foam colored eyes gazed deep into her soul, and he could sense the breaking heart within. Nodding, more to himself than to her, he walked away. He pushed past the crowd of onlookers, before walking into the blazing structure with Declan at his heels.