The Celestial Kiss (27 page)

“Good.  Because I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”  He leaned in to kiss my forehead.  I let my eyes flutter closed; there was no winning this conversation.  For now, at least, it was over.  Just in time, too because that was when the screaming started. 

We turned at the same time, and I saw the wolf barreling for us at top speed before anything else could come into focus.  James stood up so fast that if I had still been leaning against him, I’d probably have fallen into the fountain.  I rose too, but James was like a lightning bolt even with on two feet.  It was several seconds before I caught up to where he stood intently focused on the wolf who stood anxiously at his feet.  They seemed to be communicating, despite the fact that they were making no noise.

James spared me a glance and just barely had time to command “Stay here” before he took off at a sprint.  I waited, breathless, as I watched his form grow smaller and smaller, until he was swallowed up by the dense night forest.  I had no idea what happened, but the screaming continued to pierce the air, the throaty sound of intense pain giving way to fear and then to anguish, each scream tearing loose from somewhere deep and cold and terrifying.  My heart was beating too hard; I wiped sweaty palms on my jeans. 

I jumped at a sudden flash of movement in the trees and immediately hated myself for it.  Someone laughed, and a chill swept over me like ice over water.  I knew that soulless sound all too well. 

Xian was behind me in an instant, and I jumped again at his touch.  It was just a hand brushing hair from my neck, but he may as well have stabbed me between the ribs.  I turned to face him, forcing my fear down within me.  His face was smooth and calm.  The rage I had seen earlier that night had disappeared, and he seemed as impassive as ever.  His eyes, such a dark blue they could have melted into the night sky were it not for his pale face, looked hungry.  “I did that for you, Lilith.  Remember that.”

“What did you do?”  I wanted to step back, to be out of his reach, but I didn’t want him to see me do it. 

Xian looked at me with something like pity and patted my cheek.  I cringed from his touch.  “One dead and one turned.  This is the first night he has refused me, Lilith.  On the second night there will be two dead and two turned.  Each night you’re away from me, I’ll kill and turn them accordingly.  Think about it, darling.  Is your life
really
worth all that?”  A smile tweaked his lips. 

I didn’t know how to answer that, but it didn’t matter.  He was gone in a matter of seconds, leaving me to contemplate the question in silence until a hulking wolf rushed by, nearly knocking me off my feet.  It wasn’t James but he was close behind, a small figure draped across his arms.  My cheeks warmed at the sight of his bare chest, at the thought of that woman pressed up against my naked…what was he, really?  My boyfriend?  It was ridiculous, but it was a thought that I couldn’t push away.  A few weeks ago, I’d more or less been that girl.  He’d held me like that against his warm body, and I had missed it.

All longing disappeared when he was close enough for me to see that he was covered in blood.  My stomach dropped at the sight of it.  “James?”  I called, my voice wavering with panic.

Julius appeared at my side.  “Go to the cellar.”  He commanded, quickly and fiercely.  “The last door on the left is Delilah’s.  Tell her what happened, and run.”

I nodded, without even contesting the fact that I didn’t know exactly how to get to the cellar or what had happened. 

I ran, stumbling over my own feet as my vision cut back and forth between where I was going, the lifeless figure in James’ arms, and the day the King had been killed. 

Delilah’s door gave way under my assault, swinging open to find her sitting up in her bed, cross-legged and slack-jawed.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry to frighten you,” I panted, too breathless to be bitter.  “Someone’s hurt.  James is bringing her in now.”

The anger slipped off her face.  Delilah was on her feet in an instant, rushing to a dresser standing on the far wall.  “What happened?”  She demanded.

“I…I don’t know.” 

She spun and fixed me with a look that could only be described as doubt.  Xian’s warning tickled my neck. 
Kill one, change one
. 

“She may have been attacked by a vampire.”

Delilah stood up slowly, looking rightfully exhausted.  I’d pulled her from bed in the thick of night, and still she was hardly dressed under her robe. 

The woman lying on the bed was pale and shaking, inches from death.  I didn’t doubt she could feel it breathing down her neck.  I’d seen this, what the woman was going through, so many times I couldn’t even count them, but it still made me sick…  With fear, with nausea, with rage.

“Well?”  James demanded, in a tone I’d never heard him use with anyone other than me.  He was so angry, I could practically see him quaking with suppressed fury.  The line of his jaw seemed composed of steel.

He’d blessedly put on jeans, but I still couldn’t look at him long.  Even under a thin coat of dried blood, the sight of him shirtless made me squirm, and not in a bad way.  And yet, he was so irate that he wouldn’t have noticed.   

“She was not as lucky as the other one.”  Delilah said, glancing at the figure clutching the bed sheets between her bloody fingers.  She wouldn’t let Delilah near her, and so Delilah had kept a small distance, her voice and gestures much softer than I’d have expected.  They could do nothing for her now, anyways.

The other one...  The woman who Xian had killed.  She thought the dead one was lucky, that this young woman who was writhing in agony had been dealt a fate worse than death.  I didn’t disagree.

“We have to kill her.”  Julius said, stepping further into the room.  He’d been leaning against the wall, watching everything with such a calm disposition that I wondered where his head was.

I turned to shoot him a disgusted look for talking about killing the woman who was right there, but he didn’t care.  In truth, she was so consumed by the pain that I doubt she even heard him.  Or cared.

James said nothing, his dark eyes following the girl’s every move, the labored rise and quick fall of her chest.  She was groaning in agony, her breathing labored as she fought to take the last gulps of air she would ever need.  Every once in a while, when the pain reached a crescendo, she’d scream again.  I’d not heard a single word escape her lips.

“I should put her out of her misery now.”  Delilah bowed her head in respect toward James, who stood motionless as a statue. 

His eyes found mine, and then turned back to the victim, who was screaming again.  I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep her shrill cries from seeping into my bones, to no avail.

He nodded swiftly, and Delilah moved to the bed in an instant.  Her sharp face was neutral, but I saw a hint of compassion somewhere in those hazel eyes. 

“Stop!”  My voice was surprisingly strong, much more so than I felt.  I had been debating on whether or not to say that aloud, and wasn’t even entirely sure I was going to until it was already out in the air. 

Delilah glared at me and then turned to James for approval, but he had eyes only for me.  There were so many things on my mind I couldn’t even think of which to say, and so many things in his eyes I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.  “Lilith?”

“Don’t kill her.”  I could feel both Delilah’s and Julius’ eyes boring into me, but all I cared was that James was looking.  “Please.”

“It is unfair, but instinct will dictate her actions.  I can’t turn her loose.”

“So don’t.”  I wasn’t sure where my brain was headed, but I let my tongue keep moving, words rolling off of it that even I didn’t expect to hear.

“What would we do with her?”  His voice was soft, placating.  He was trying to make me see reason or logic.  We couldn’t do anything
but
kill her.  “Behind these lines, she is a threat to us.  And we cannot let her loose.  One life isn’t worth a hundred.”

“I’ll take responsibility for her.”  I said in a rush, before even considering the implications of that.  “If we spare her life, we may earn her loyalty.  I can help her.”

“Lilith,” James looked sad, “You can’t control her.”

“Come on, James, this is ridiculous.”  Julius said, his harsh voice jarring my attention.  “Kill the broad and get it over with.”

James ignored him in that impeccably stoic manner of his, and I reached for his hand.  I could feel it shake so I wrapped it between mine, offering him the warmth that came from a wild vein of optimism.  It was a ridiculous hope at best, and I knew it was dangerous to even
think
this could work, but I had to try.  “I can help her James.  You have to trust me now.”

James watched my face a long moment, and then he nodded.  “Ok.”

“Ok?”  Julius snarled, wheeling around to face James as if he was insane.  For agreeing with me, he probably was.  “What makes you think she won’t rip your throat out the first chance she gets?  Or Lilith’s…Janna’s?”

“There are two ways this can turn out, Julius.”  I managed to stay calm, despite my disgust with him for being so ready and willing to kill.  “She can heal, be grateful we helped her, and offer us her loyalty.  Or she can decide she hates us for not killing her, try to kill us, in which case you can release her from her misery.  Please, let me do this.” 

Julius seethed in silence, but he knew he’d lost.  I didn’t need his permission when I’d already been given the King’s.  “You’re both dismissed,” James said calmly, looking from Julius to Delilah, who shook her head in disbelief.  She threw her hands up and left, and Julius turned and stalked out after staring at him for a furious moment.

James crossed to the nightstand and grabbed something from the silver tray Delilah had left there.  Some kind of herb, it looked like.  But as he approached the woman in the bed, she screamed and thrashed out, nearly catching him with her cruel nails.  I stepped closer and took the root from his hand, inching towards the bed.  The woman watched me, her jaw set in a defiant line, and as I got close she made a move for me.  James whipped me out of her reach before her nails could do much damage.  They left a trace of blood on my arm, but I was more surprised than hurt.  I shook loose of James and pressed forward. 

“This will help,” I told her, fighting to keep my voice soothing rather than insistent.  “I know that you don’t trust us after what just happened, but you don’t have many options.”

I took one step closer, my palm outstretched.  The woman moved hesitantly, her eyes sidling from my face down to the green thing in my hand.  I thought she was going to take it, but then she grabbed for me again.  This time her nails pierced the delicate skin at my wrist, and James dragged me back to assess the damage.  It was deep, but not even close enough to require stitches.  A scratch, in the grand scheme of things.  The cup on the tray caught my eyes and I grabbed it, holding my wrist above it until a stream of my blood had pooled at the bottom, turning the silver red.  I set it back on the tray with the root and watched the woman from a safe distance, James’ arm slung protectively around me. 

She looked savage with a tangled mess of hair, her face covered in dirt and her clothes covered in blood.  And yet something in her eyes was different…solemn.  James led me toward the door with a hand on the small of my back.  “It’s better warm.”  I told her in a delicate voice, glancing at the cup.  Her eyes followed my gaze, and I ducked out of the room with James.

He said nothing, and I followed him to the nearest bathroom, hesitating a minute outside the door.  When he began rooting through the cupboards, I ventured in.  James gestured towards the countertop, producing a bottle of peroxide and a thick roll of bandages.  I braced my hands against the counter and pushed myself up, allowing James to pour the peroxide down my arm.  Small white bubbles beaded along the length of the cut.  I stared at it a moment, trying to grasp the gravity of what I’d done, and looked up to see that James was watching me as though he had something to say.

I hefted a sigh.  “There’s more where that came from.”

James was still quiet as he began winding the cloth around my wrist.  When he was done, he ripped the end off with his teeth and tucked it underneath.  It was at least an inch thick; he’d certainly taken no chances of it unraveling. 

I grabbed a wash cloth from the basket by the sink and ran it under warm water.  He watched me, stoic, as I wiped the blood off his chest.  Thankfully, none of it was his and it only took a minute.

We walked to my room in silence, both of us too drained by what we’d witnessed to attempt small talk. “I’m not going to let her keep hurting you.”  James finally said after we’d stopped in front of my door.  “If that happens again—”

“Xian was here.”  I cut him off before he could tell me that it was only a matter of time before he killed the woman whose life I’d pleaded for. “When you went out into the woods, he came to me.  He said every night, he will kill one more and turn one more.  Tomorrow, he will kill two and turn two.  The day after that he will kill three and turn three.  And after that-”

James cut me off just by grabbing my hand and tracing a circle on my palm.  I looked down and watched his finger swirl over my pale skin, tears burning my eyes.  It wasn’t fair.  None of it.  I couldn’t let more people suffer through what I’d just witnessed.  I wouldn’t.  “Lilith,” James said quietly.  I looked up slowly, and the tenderness he directed at me was too much.  I leaned into him, resting my head against his chest. 

His heart beat in my ears, a song so sweet it only made my eyes burn more.  “Stay with me tonight?”  I managed.

James obliged, wrapping me into his arms, my body cocooned against his on the pillow top.  We stayed like that the rest of the night, together in complete silence.  It may have been my imagination or an echo in the back of my mind, but I thought I could still hear her screams.