Reckoning (2 page)

“Drop your guns,” he commands.

“Not going to happen.”
 
Ordin’s head jerks to the side, nodding his approval at Faeus.

Sensing the attack, Roseline braces as the man dives.
 
The sound of splintering bone echoes through the room as he slams against her.

Gabriel sucks in a haggard breath before unleashing a fresh chorus of ghastly shrieks.
 
Roseline moans, unconsciously leaning toward him.
 
Her hands flutter at her sides with agitation.
 
Gabriel needs her.

Playing off her weakness, Arthes takes aim from a crouched position.
 
The dart pierces her flesh with surprising ease.
 
Her jaw slackens as she stares down at the feather protruding from her sternum.
 
Fire torpedoes through her veins, charring each cell.
 

A feral snarl tears through the room as she swoops down and yanks Faeus upright by his neck.
 
She curls her fingernails into his flesh and tosses him overhead.
 
His fragile spinal column snaps and his broken body slumps to the ground.

“No!”
 
Sias dives too late.

Arthes flies at Roseline, the sight of his murdered brother engraved in his mind.
 
He springs into the air, his leg poised to slam into her stomach.
 
Roseline waits, calculating his arc.
 
The instant his foot connects with her chest, her fingers wrap around his knee and twist.

Like a popping cork, his knee releases from its socket.
 
Her image blurs as she twirls to retrieve his gun and takes aim.
 
Toxic chemicals gush into his carotid artery from the dart protruding from his neck.
 
Foam bubbles over his lips as she releases him.

A single dart slams into Roseline’s heart and an odd weightlessness appears to settle over her.
 
Burning pain contorts her face as her legs buckle under the second darts force.

She claws back to Gabriel, her nails ripping from their beds.
 
She entwines her bloodied fingers with his, resting her face against his chest as his screams fade into rasping moans.

His initial transformation is nearly complete.
 
For the next phase he will need blood…human blood.

“Excellent shot,” Ordin boasts, clapping Sias on the back.

Enraged, he turns and slams Ordin into the wall, his eyes darkening with anger.
 
“You disobeyed my orders.”
 
Sias’ hand sweeps back to encompass their fallen brethren.
 
“
This
is your fault.”

Ordin’s smirk falters.
 
Two have fallen.
 
One will soon follow.
 
His lips mash together as he nods, shamed.

Sias’ chest heaves as he releases Ordin and slowly turns back to Roseline.
 
He knees pop as he crouches before her.
 
Glassy eyes shift to stare up at him.
 
“I am truly sorry for this.
 
If I had known you cared for him…” Sias trails off, his aged face etched with regret.

He shakes his head, disgusted.
 
How could they have known she was trying to save him?
 
Is it even possible for an immortal to love a human?

Roseline’s lips part and breathy words escape.
 
Leaning closer, Sias strains to hear her.
 
“I will find you.”

Her body falls limp as she succumbs to the tranquilizer.
 
Her head rolls to the side, cradled in the crook of Gabriel’s arm.
 
Enael steps forward, the pain from his bruised arm and back slowing his steps.
 
“She’s the one, isn’t she?”

Sias rises slowly.
 
“Perhaps.”

“Do you think she knows?
 
About him?” Enael asks, stooping low to look at the couple.
 
Gabriel’s face still pinches with agony, but a calm has come over him, as if he can sense Roseline’s presence.

  
“Only time will tell.”
 

Chapter 2

Pain envelopes her.
 
Darkness binds her.
 
Thirst drives her.
 
Roseline surfaces from her drug induced slumber, disoriented and incapacitated.
 

“Hello,” she calls to the empty room.
 
No answer.
 
Fear niggles at her mind as she looks about.
 
The ceiling hangs like a murky veil overhead.
 
The finer details blur together.

 
A chill air nips at Roseline’s scorching skin.
 
Drops of sweat glisten as they bead against her forehead.
 
Her stomach twists in queasy knots, limbs hang limp by her side, weighted and cumbersome.
 

Roseline’s head swivels easily enough, but her body seems rooted to the floor.
 
Her heart pounds in her chest, knocking frantically against her rib cage.

Something is very wrong.

Closing her eyes, she relies on her other senses.
 
Roseline’s nostrils instantly flare at the tangy aroma that hovers just under her nose.
 
Saliva pools in her mouth.
 
The alluring scent battles with the dank dungeon air, overwhelming her senses.

She licks her lips and moans.
 
Heat pools in her belly as the blood electrifies her body.
 
A single drop of human blood from her lip sets her world alight.

The weight on her chest lessens.
 
The shade covering her vision brightens perceptibly, but one drop of blood is not enough for a complete healing.
 
She needs more.

“Rose?”

The voice echoes through the vast outer room.
 
Adrenaline thrusts Roseline from the floor.
 
She perches precariously on a sconce attached to the wall overhead.
 
An intense flash of déjà vu nearly topples her to the ground.
 
Gripping small notches in the mortar, she fights to remain upright.

Footsteps approach from the room beyond.
 
“Sadie was beginning to worry.
 
Is everything-” the voice falters.

“William?” she calls, blinking furiously to see through the dim haze.
 
His scent rises above the damp musk, sweet, familiar and safe.

“Oh God,” he moans.
 
The soles of his sneakers squelch in a stream of blood trailing along the floor as he falls back against the cell bars.
 
“You did it, didn’t you?”

Straining her ears, Roseline searches for a hidden enemy.
 
All she can detect is a single heartbeat.
 
Leaping to the floor, her legs buckle under.
 

“Rose,” William races to her side, skidding through a vast puddle of blood.
 
His pants soak through as he pulls Roseline upright.
 
She blinks, wincing at the cut over her left eye.
 
“What’s wrong with you?”

Roseline shakes her head as tears threaten to spill over.
 
So much is wrong, but she knows if she talks about it, her doubts will tumble out in an avalanche.
 
“I’m fine.
 
Just a little disoriented is all.”

William releases his hold of her slender waist and backs away.
 
Revulsion contorts his face as he gazes at the blood lining his arms, stained from the tattered remains of her dress.
 
“Is this from Gabriel?”

“Some of it,” she nods, absently.
 

Her befuddled mind works hard to piece together memories from before she awoke: a lifetime of happiness squeezed into a few short months while living in Chicago.
 
Vladimir’s punishment when she returned to Romania.
 
Fane’s daring rescue to save her life.
 
Sadie’s healing blood that rejuvenated her. Gabriel’s last moments of human life. Her failure to save him from capture.
 

Anger rips through her, burning through some of the poison still lingering in her veins.
 
She shifts her fingers, testing their flexibility, pleased with the improvement.

“And the rest of the blood?”
 
William presses, snatching Roseline away from her thoughts.
 
His gaze refuses to settle on any one place, certainly not on her.
 

She cannot blame him for fearing her.
 
If their roles were reversed, she would already be planted at the town square trying to thumb a ride back to America.
 
“Mine.”

His head whips around.
 
Buried under a splattering of dried blood, William spies two small marks along her artery that have begun to heal over.
 
“Whoa,” he cries, thrusting back from her. “Gabriel bit you?”

Roseline shrugs off his disgust, wincing at the pain in her shoulders.
 
She will need to heal before she leaves, but that will take precious time that she does not have.
 
Gabriel’s trail is probably already going cold.
 
“He had to feed.”

Blood drains from William’s face.
 
A sickly green settles into his cheeks.
 
“Oh, that is so gross.”

“He would have died without it,” she replies, undisturbed by the churning sounds in his stomach.
 
“I just hope he got enough.”
 

William swallows hard. His nose wrinkles with disgust.
 

“That is a fact of life for Gabriel now.” A voice from behind them calls.

Together, Roseline and William jerk upright as Nicolae materializes from the shadows.
 
His brilliant green eyes narrow, surveying Roseline’s surprise.
 
“You should have heard me long before I entered the dungeon.”

He should never have been able to get within the boundaries of the tunnel without her knowing it.
 
Her enemy has snuck up on her again.
 

“Dude, you just gave me a heart attack,” William gasps, clutching his chest.

 
“You turned Gabriel?” Nicolae questions, ignoring William’s theatrics.
 

“Yes,” she nods.
 
“The transformation has begun.”
 
He studies her face.
 
A tick at the corner of her eye is the only hint she betrays of her anger.
 
“They took Gabriel.”
 

Just saying the words makes it all real.
 
A weight settles in her chest and a sour taste defiles her mouth.
 
Grief envelopes her voice while anger sharpens it like a double-edged sword.
 

Nicolae nods, visibly sweeping the room with a critical gaze.
 
Although there has been an effort to conceal a struggle, some trace evidence remains.
 
“Do you know who kidnapped him?”

“Hang on a second,” William interrupts, struggling to keep up with the conversation.
 
“Are you saying someone attacked you? Is that why you’re all…” he struggles to find the words as his hands flap toward her like a drunken flying bat.
 

Roseline’s lip curls with anger.
 
“They drugged me.”

“Is that even possible?”
 
William questions.

“Apparently.”
 
She grips the wall, pulling herself upright.
 
Without its support, she would surely tumble right back over.
 
“I have to find him.”

Nicolae ducks beside the far wall, tracing a line against the floor.
 
His fingers come up smudged with filth and blood.
 
A single hair sticks to his finger.
 
He pauses to examine the strand.
 
“Do you recognize this scent?”
 

Offering his hand, Roseline eyes Nicolae cautiously.
 
Only a short time ago, he was her enemy, a status only amended due to her fight with Vladimir.
 
Can she really trust him now?

Dipping her head low to his hand, Roseline inhales the scent.
 
She recoils, nose crinkling with disgust.
 
“Yes.
 
I know it.”

William stretches up onto his tiptoes to look over Nicolae’s shoulder.
 
“Is that a human hair?”

Roseline nods at William.
 
“It belongs to one of the men I killed.”

 
He backs up against the opposite wall and sinks to the floor, rubbing his hands down his pants leg, as if he were the one with the man’s blood on his hands.
 
Calling her attention back, Nicolae stares fixedly at Roseline.
 
“There’s something else.”
 
He draws the hair up to his nose.
 
“Wet goat?”

“Yes,” she nods, pressing back against the wall.
 
Her fists clench at the memory.
  
“They were dressed like monks.”

“I don’t get it,” William says.

Roseline casts as glance over at him.
 
“Monks make their robes from goat hair.
 
Scratchy, nasty stuff.”

“Aren’t monks supposed to be passive?” William interjects again.

“Not always,” Nicolae fans away from Roseline to speak directly to William.
 
“You’re thinking of Buddhist monks.
 
They believe in peace.
 
These monks must be different, if they are even monks at all.
 
We have no way of knowing.”
 

He glances over at Roseline, noting her struggle to remain upright.
 
White fingers claw into the wall, wedging her in place.
 
“These men are obviously highly trained, and they know quite a lot about your kind.
 
That means they are a danger to you…and Gabriel.”

Roseline hunches her shoulders, unwilling to allow her worry to consume her.
 
With Gabriel’s transformation left incomplete, he is fragile.
 
Death might still swoop in to claim him.
 
If she let it, her grasp on reality could easily slip.
 
She cannot risk that.
 
Gabriel needs her.
 
If he were to die…

“They know far more about me than they should.”
 
Roseline exhales deeply, lifting her face to meet Nicolae’s gaze.
 
“Whoever they are, I’m going to find them.”