Vampire Apocalypse #2 Cataylst

Laree Bailey Press

www.YAParanormalRomance.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

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CATAYLST VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE #2

By H.M. Ward

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright © 2012 H.M. Ward

All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 1

Kahli’s mouth hung open. A million different
thoughts ran through her mind. Was Will serious? Did he really mean
what he said? Staring wide-eyed, she blinked at him for a moment
and when he didn’t elaborate, Kahli asked, “Kill the king and
queen? Are you insane?”

Will didn’t even glance at her, or answer
right away. It was as though he actually considered her question.
He seemed off-kilter since the crash—more than he should have
been—but she wasn’t sure why. Continuing to stare at the cave
ceiling with a vacant look in his eye, Will threaded his fingers
behind his head and he laid on his back close to the fire.

After a moment, his blue eyes glanced at her.
His pale skin had healed and only a trace of stubble on his jaw
marred the smoothness. Will’s voice was low and serious when he
finally spoke, “Maybe, but it’s the only way to ensure we survive.”
He took a deep breath, adding as he looked away from her, “You and
I are linked. Can’t you feel it? Do you know what that means?” He
pressed his eyes closed and focused on controlling the hammering of
his heart. Will knew damn well what it meant.

Kahli shook her head, her bright hair falling
over her shoulders, “I’m not sure anymore. Some things I learned
about as a child were nothing but legends, while other things seem
to be true.” Her brow pinched together as she thought about it. The
world was different than she thought. Before she met Will, she’d
never seen a Bane or even heard of one. In the short time since
they fought the wolves at the Empire house, she’d learned that
nothing was as she thought. Her world had been filled with hunting
and killing Trackers, trying to find any shred of evidence that her
mother was still alive. The best scrap of information came from the
King, but since he was trying to rip her throat out at the time,
Kahli didn’t get to ask questions. She considered Will and his
question, deciding that there must be more to it—that their linking
must have been what was making him act so unusually.

After a moment, Kahli shrugged, adding,
“Besides, what I knew was about vampires and you’re not one. Not
totally. A linking is something that happens between a vampire and
the consort. You’re not a pure vampire.”

His gaze cut to hers. It met and held, making
Kahli’s stomach twist. The intensity of that look made her shiver
inside. She tried not to think anything, not consider how she felt
about him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Will replied. “It’s
enough. Being Bane doesn’t shelter me from the effects of your
blood. While it healed and strengthened me, it also connected us.
When I came to, I saw you bleeding out on the ice.” He sucked in
air, but there was never enough—not when he was thinking about
Kahli with the massive hole in her neck. Will sat up, and stared
into the fire. “I had no choice.”

“What are you saying?” Kahli asked.

Will’s eyes darted up and met hers. He didn’t
want to say it, he didn’t want her to know, but she had to. If he
didn’t tell her, she would figure it out at some point anyway. It
was impossible to hide. Even now, he could see she sensed something
was bothering him, that he wasn’t acting the same—and after
that—how could he?

“When I tried to heal you nothing worked,”
Will explained. “I slashed my hand and poured my blood over your
wound, but it was too deep. You’d already lost so much blood. I
couldn’t wake you and your body was so cold, Kahli. I thought I
lost you.” His voice was barely a whisper by the time he stopped
speaking. The sadness in his eyes was palpable. He held her gaze,
softly, like he wanted to apologize for so many things, things he
couldn’t say. He glanced away and said it, “I did what I had to do.
I couldn’t lose you again.”

The golden light from the fire flickered
softly as it bathed Will’s face in rich tones. She’d never seen him
look so haunted. A premonition crept through Kahli, making her skin
prickle. Her lips were parted as she listened. Horror filled her
veins with ice, creeping up her spine. He did something to her,
something he regretted and now they’re linked
. Is that what he’s
saying? It can’t be.

“What did you do?” she asked, but she already
knew. Her revulsion to him, to vampires, to their kind was
tantamount in a single act. Her heart pounded, slamming into her
ribs as she waited for an answer. When she couldn’t take it
anymore, she said, “Tell me, Will. Now.”

“We’re blood bound, Kahli. You fed me your
blood to save me. I did the same thing—” he couldn’t look at her
when he said it, and turned his face back to the fire. “I force-fed
you my blood, enough of it to heal the wound and keep you
alive.”

Kahli knew it. She could feel him, Will’s
thoughts, brushing against the inside of her mind. It was like a
subtle breeze, one that barely lifted a wisp of hair, but could
still be felt as it slipped across her skin. Once Kahli recognized
the sensation, it didn’t matter what she did, she couldn’t push him
out—she couldn’t make it stop.

“That’s what this is?” she asked, her finger
pointing to her temple. “That’s what I feel?”

Will stared into the fire watching the red
and gold flames flicker. Kahli got to her feet and stood, moving
away from him, horrified. He could feel it. He could feel
everything.

“You can feel me? My thoughts?” The statement
fell from her lips in a hushed whisper. Her heart was pounding so
hard.
Could he feel that, too?
Did he know how terrified she
was right then?

Glancing up at her, Will nodded once. “I can.
But it’s not one-directional. My thoughts are visible to you,
especially if I’m emotionally agitated, like now. It’s more than a
sensation, Kahli. The blood linked us. I can see your thoughts.
Your dreams flicker behind my eyes when you sleep. It’s a direct
link to your mind, and mine.”

Kahli’s face blanched. “Linked us?” Will
nodded. The pit of her stomach felt hollow. Kahli wrapped her arms
around her waist, pulling them tighter to make the panic stop.
There was no way being linked to Will was ideal, but there was
another vampire she was concerned about, “And the King? Are we
linked the same way?”

“Not unless you drank his blood.”

Relief washed over her and the death-grip on
her arms loosened a little. Kahli leaned forward slightly, taking a
breath, and shook her head saying, “Thank, God.”

“Indeed,” Will replied. He stood and walked
over to her, stopping just out of reach. “However, you have to
realize, that had to be the King’s intention. If your blood wasn’t
so powerful, they would have consumed more. That’s what I couldn’t
tell you before. The first drops the magistrate consumed nearly had
fatal side-effects. They weren’t used to human blood like yours.
You nearly killed them, which is why I’m concerned about the King.
He drank from you, didn’t he? I mean, he didn’t just rip open your
throat and not taste you, right?”

Kahli’s stomach twisted when she thought
about it. “The King was hard to resist. I couldn’t think around
him. It felt like I was drugged.” A flush reddened her cheeks. Will
was watching her, but she couldn’t look at him as she said it. “He
bit me, and I let him.”

She pressed her lips together hard, her gaze
vacant like she was reliving the nightmare, and she was. The images
and sensations blazed brilliantly in her mind, making her shiver in
response. Kahli smoothed her hands over her arms, trying to chase
away the fear. She stared into space as she spoke, “For a second, I
was able to think. I don’t know why. I realized what was happening
and that if I didn’t do something...” she sucked in a breath and
looked up at him. “I stabbed him, Will. The King wasn’t at my neck
for very long, but he did drink from me—way more than a drop.”

After everything that had happened, she
didn’t want to second-guess Will, but they were connected now and
it didn’t make her feel more secure. It made her feel vulnerable.
He knew exactly what she was thinking. He could sense her thoughts
and had access to everything inside of her mind. It wasn’t
something she wanted with anyone. Ever. It was too much. There was
no time to process things, no time to react to what had happened.
They’d both been so close to death. While losing Will wasn’t an
option, she didn’t mean for this to happen, either. It was partly
her fault that they were linked. Kahli wondered if Will could sense
her apprehension mingling with the cold fear in the pit of her
stomach. It was trying to creep up her throat and choke her. Her
fingers clamped down onto her forearms harder, trying to contain
the panic that was rapidly growing.

Will placed his hands on her arms, and looked
down into her eyes. His voice, earnest, pleading almost, “I won’t
hurt you. I promise.”

Kahli’s chest tightened. He knew what she was
thinking. “Why can’t I read your thoughts so easily? I feel you
there, inside of me,” she lifted a hand, pressing her fingers to
her temple and looked up at him, “but your thoughts are muddled. I
can feel them, like breath on my skin, but there’s no meaning—just
feelings without words.”

“I can control the link a little a bit. While
you slept, I had time to figure out how to seal off my thoughts. As
long as I control it, you won’t hear my musings, like I hear
yours.” As he said it, Kahli started to twist out of his grip, but
he held onto her. “Please, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t do
this on purpose. I couldn’t lose you. I did it to save you. Please,
you have to trust me on that.”

“You’re asking me to trust you—completely and
totally—but you’ve shut me out of your head, meanwhile you can
rummage through mine whenever you like?” They were nose to nose,
Will’s fingers tightly gripping her arms, holding her in place.

“It’s not like that.”

“Then, what’s it like? Because it’s like that
for me” She looked into his face, breathless. Her heart pounded
like she’d been running, and was unable to catch her breath, “Will,
how am I supposed to trust you? Normally, trust is earned. Things
and thoughts are shared. Friends confide in each other. There’s no
way for me to do that with you. You just know everything. It gives
you power that I don’t have. It’s not a friendship anymore. I don’t
know what it is, but the linking has changed things. You can see a
million things that can paralyze me. How do I know you won’t use
them against me?”

His voice was beseeching, “Trust me like you
did before. Nothing’s changed with that.”

“You’re wrong!” she said. “Everything has
changed. You know everything about me and I know next to nothing
about you.” Pressing her eyes closed, she snapped her mouth shut
and looked away. The tension in her arms kept her muscles corded
tight, but she no longer tried to pull out of his grip. There was
something about having his hands on her that she liked. She could
feel his strength, his desire to protect her, but Kahli couldn’t
get past the link. A one-sided extension of trust wasn’t a
friendship. She would have never told him some of the things she
knew he could see. Her heart constricted like a hand was squeezing
it in her chest.

“What do you want me to do? Kahli, I’ll do
it. Anything.” Will looked at her smooth skin, as she tried to get
control over her emotions. They pounded into him. He knew how much
she wanted to run away from him. He could feel it.

“Prove it.”

CHAPTER 2

Looking up at him, Kahli licked her lips.
They’d become dried and cracked. The movement stung more than it
helped.

Will watched her, his attentive gaze
unwavering. He was silent, breathing in long slow breaths, but
Kahli could feel his pulse. She knew he was nervous, scared even.
But, he blocked everything else from her. She didn’t know why he’d
be afraid of her. Or, maybe, he blocked her for another reason, but
Kahli wasn’t about to ask.