Summoning Sebastian (24 page)

“I don't know. But it's something, or he wouldn't be trying this.” I flinched as another brilliant stab of pain tore through my arm. God, this hurt. It was going to kill me if we didn't do something. I could tell that much. And that wasn't my plan.

“We have to go ahead with the experiment.” Roland sounded resigned now. “If we don't, we lose Sebastian and Nim both.”

Colin's gaze locked to mine. He looked… God, he looked scared. I had seen that look on him so rarely, and it made my stomach sink. “If we do, we still might.”

“But if we do,” I said carefully, “there's a chance both of us will come out of it.”

He shook his head. “I hate this.”

Do it.
Sebastian's voice inside my head was stronger than ever. I was surprised the other two vamps couldn't hear it trickling out of my ears or something.
Do it. Try to save yourself, Nim.

I nodded. Colin quirked a questioning brow at me. “Sebastian?”

“Yes. He says to do it.”

Colin looked at Roland. Roland met his gaze, then turned to me. “Then we will. As soon as the sun goes down, I'll tell Armand we have to do it immediately.”

Another spear of pain took me. I closed my eyes. When I could open them again, I said, “How long?”

“Maybe an hour. Can you make it?”

“I can try.”

I pushed myself up from the floor and stretched out on the bed. If I was going to pass out, or die, I could at least do it somewhere comfortable.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“T
he vampire race should never have been recognized as anything other than an aberration. Not a race at all, but individuals who are infected, and who want nothing more than to spread their demonic plague.”
—American Society to Preserve the Human Family

I
blinked awake some time later. Somehow I'd drifted into a near-sleep, even with the pain. It surprised me, but then again it didn't. I was utterly exhausted—had been for a long time. The pain just drained me to the point where even it couldn't keep me awake anymore.

Dusk was approaching. I could feel it, whether because I had a vampire's spirit inside me or because I'd just gotten attuned to it over the past several months hanging out with vamps, I didn't know. Probably the former, because it felt like yet another itch, bonding to the already unbearable pain, itching, and throbbing that affected every line of ink on my body.

I sat up. Colin was sitting on the bed next to me; Roland was nowhere to be seen.

“She went to talk to Armand,” he said, and I nodded. He reached out to clasp the back of my neck. “Any better?”

“No.”

Gently, he drew me into his arms, stroking my hair. It didn't help the pain, but it made me feel better. I closed my eyes and tried to zone out again.

It didn't work this time. The pain was getting worse, and more pervasive, affecting not only the lines of the markings but everywhere else on my body. It reminded me of the pain I'd experienced when I'd fought the magic of the vampire stone. Made sense, particularly if Sebastian's essence contained remnants of the stone.

The thinking didn't help distract me. I felt myself shaking, and Colin's arm tightened around me. Vaguely, I heard the door open and realized Roland had returned.

“They're prepping,” she said quietly. “How is she?”

“Not good,” I answered for myself. Then, “Sebastian,” I said out loud.

Colin, probably thinking I was trying to explain, said, “Yes. We're going to—”

I waved him sharply to silence. “I'm trying to talk to him,” I managed. “We were communicating before.”

Roland took another step closer. “And now?”

“I'm not sure. I'm not hearing him right away. I wanted to tell him we're about ready…” I clenched my teeth on another wave of agony.

We all fell silent. Colin and Roland stared at me, waiting for me to provide some evidence that our ventures so far hadn't been a complete disaster. No pressure.

Sebastian.
I tried the summons from inside my head this time, thinking it might be easier for him to “hear” me.
Bastian. Please. Where are you?

I'm here.
The response was faint.
I'm sorry. I'm trying to…
The words faded, leaving behind a series of images by way of explanation. He was straining to keep himself bound to my skin. If he lost his concentration, lost his hold on the mystic ties keeping him stable, he was afraid he would kill me. The images he offered were less than encouraging: me exploding into a shower of blood and flesh, scattered bits of bone. It wasn't a scenario I wanted to get involved in.

Or…and apparently there was another option, which somehow Sebastian could put together now that he was in the middle of the web of magical forces, the prison-cum-refuge created by the lines of the symbols on my body.

There was a way to just…let him go.

Do it.
Sebastian's voice had come back, making firm words instead of just amorphous images. A word flashed into the back of my mind, formed of the pointy characters of Linear V, a combination of symbols I hadn't seen before. In the stew of knowledge, intuition, magic and the residue of the vampire stone in my blood, Sebastian had found an answer.

It was a shitty answer.
No,
I told him. That word would scatter him harmlessly, bonding some of his substance to mine, joining the remnants of the stone that still swarmed inside me. The rest of him would simply be absorbed, then scattered, exhaled through the action of my breath, filtered out through the natural mechanism of my bloodstream. It wouldn't be fun, or quick, but it wouldn't kill me. It was sort of a back-door mechanism, created by the alchemists who had put together this web of magic and power in the first place. To be used as a last resort, or to expel the substance of a vampire who had deliberately invaded another human body.

No,
I said again. Vaguely, I heard voices around me: Colin and Roland discussing the possibilities in quiet, logical voices. Whatever prepping was going on in the laboratory, it would be over soon, and they had to make a final decision

But this wasn't their decision. Neither was it Sebastian's. It was mine. And goddammit all to hell, I was
not
coming this far just to have everything that was left of Sebastian get breathed out of my mouth and pissed and sweated out of my body like some kind of invading toxin. He was
alive.
He was
mine.
And he was going to be mine again, solid and whole and…just
mine.

My eyes snapped open as I shut down the connection to Sebastian. He could just shut the fuck up. He kept sacrificing himself, or trying to, or insisting everyone and everything else was more important than he was. Well, he'd given his life to protect the whole world—no way in hell he was going to do it all over again just to protect me.

It'll kill you.

Motherfucker, he was still talking inside my head.
You don't know that,
I shot back.
Maybe if I was still human, but I'm not anymore. Not a hundred percent.

Nim, I—

“Shut the fuck up!” I said it out loud, and not exactly quietly. Colin and Roland, who'd been continuing to confab in low voices, both clicked their mouths shut and stared at me, part taken aback, part expectant.

I clenched my fists in the sheets next to me. “We need to go
now
. Whether they're prepped or not. He needs to come out
now
, or neither one of us is going to make it through this.”

Colin asked no questions, though Roland looked like she wanted to. But Colin—my wonderful, glorious asshole boyfriend, just bent and picked me up and kicked the door open.

“Which way?” he asked Roland, and Roland pointed.

And down the corridor we went.

I
t shouldn't have been a surprise to see Gregor still lurking around the laboratory, poking at machinery and confabbing with the Asian guy and the Cossack as they set meters and shifted levers. Still, I didn't know what it meant in the context of what we'd discovered about Gregor's motives. Did it mean Gregor had won Armand over to his side? That Armand had been on Gregor's side from the beginning? That they were both going to try to stop us? That Armand still didn't know what Gregor was really up to? The swarm of uncertainty made my diaphragm tight and shaky, which made it hard to breathe, which made it hard to focus on not focusing on the pain I was trying to ignore.

On the other hand, the state of Gregor's face, still raw and suppurating from the holy water I'd flung at it, was strangely satisfying.

I shifted against Colin's chest, briefly thinking about asking him to put me down. But the movement made me feel like all my skin was peeling off my body, so I gave that plan up immediately. Let the vampires deal with the other vampires. I just wanted to get this over with. I just wanted Sebastian back.

We'd entered the research end of the lab, where Gregor had broken Sebastian's bottle. The machinery was on the other side. I could see now that there was a door between the two halves of the warehouse-like area. I hadn't noticed that earlier, but I'd been dealing with Gregor at the time. This door was metal, with red warnings in English and Russian. NIL ZA.
Nil za
everything.
Nil za
yourself, Armand, you fucker. Colin started toward the door, his arms firm around me, holding me close against his chest.

“Where are you going?” This was Armand. His tone was firm, almost hard.

“It's time,” Colin stated. His voice was brittle. He had that tone that nobody, anywhere, ever, ignored. Except possibly me, because I'm that way.

There was a hesitation from Armand, proving that even he wasn't entirely immune to Colin in a bad mood. “We're not prepared. We will call you when we're ready. That was the arrangement.”

Roland joined the fray. “Our situation has changed. Gregor made sure of that. The injuries he caused to Nimuë make it necessary to proceed immediately.”

Gregor made a strangled sound, like he was about to speak, probably to defend himself. Armand cut him off with a sharp movement of his hand. “We can talk about this in my office—”

“No. We can't.” Colin shoved forward, past Armand. I ducked against him to keep from hitting the other vampire. I didn't much want to touch him. I was closer to Gregor than I wanted to be too. “Open the door.”

“We're not—” Armand started.

Colin was having none of it. “Open. The
fucking
door. Now.”

Gregor jumped forward, grabbing at Roland. Armand, caught between two assaults, glanced from Gregor and back to us, and in the moment he was distracted, Colin shoved open the door to the other half of the laboratory. He continued to shove his way in, though Armand grabbed at him as we went past, catching the back of Colin's shirt for a split second.

“Get your fucking hands off me,” Colin growled. “Turn that machine on. Now.
Right the fuck now.
”

I'd seen Colin in some rages before. Some serious ones. This was several orders of magnitude higher than anything I'd seen from him before. Even Armand seemed taken aback. He moved into the back part of the laboratory. A moment later, the ever-present vibrations of the Steampunk Lego construction ratcheted up several notches. The sound, the shaking, all sent my pain up several levels. The bits of Sebastian imbedded in the ink on my skin were trembling too. It felt like ants crawling under my skin.

Suddenly I couldn't stand to be touched. I shoved at Colin's chest. “Put me down put me down put me down.”

He looked at me in surprise, and I think he was about to protest, but something in my expression must have gotten across my desperation, because he gently tipped my body down, depositing my feet on the floor. I promptly went to my knees, bending over and starting to dry heave. It was like my body had no idea how to respond to what was happening to it. I couldn't blame it.

Then I heard Gregor's voice behind me, and a sound that was probably his footsteps and Roland's as they entered the room. “Get your fucking hands off me,” Gregor growled, then, “She has no right. No right. I will
end
you, Armand, if you let this happen.”

I looked up, my stomach still wrenching. Nothing was emerging from it, though, and the convulsions made it impossible for me to hold still. Everything inside me was turning upside down, sideways, tying itself into knots. The sound from the apparatus had risen until the pitch was so high, I could barely hear it. It was like the high drone of a mosquito, but a mosquito the size of a semitruck. Everything was vibrating, buzzing, from the floor beneath me to the very air. I swear I could feel the liquid inside my eyeballs shaking.

Gregor and Armand were facing off. Roland stood a step or two away from them, her hair disheveled, part of her shirtsleeve hanging where it had been torn. Gregor's face, where he'd been burned with the holy water, looked like somebody had punched it, bursting the suppurating blisters and burns. The blood on Roland's right fist solved the question of who'd done it, as if there'd been any doubt.

“You are not in charge of this facility,” said Armand tightly to Gregor. “You never have been. I have given you some leeway because of how this project involves you and your brother, but you are overstepping your bounds.”

“Brother?” Colin questioned, looking at me, then at Roland when I didn't offer an immediate answer. I leaned over again, resting on knees and elbows. No position alleviated the pain. Nothing stopped the intense crawling of the inked lines on my skin. Sebastian was gathering, his substance coming together. It was more than just him, though, somehow. Pictures were flashing through my brain. I couldn't tell if they were coming from Sebastian or if they were somehow stimulated by the machine, which was now running full-tilt. Pieces of the stone that had been left behind in my bloodstream? I wondered. Whatever it was, it felt
solid
, not like the wispy ghost-substance that was all that was left of Sebastian.

“You promised!” Gregor was howling at Armand. “You
promised
you would do what you could!”

“I've done everything I can. I'm under no obligation—”

“You are!” Gregor reached out to Armand then, and I could see something clenched in his fist. He used it to strike Armand in the side of the head, sending the other vampire sprawling on the floor, where bits of shattered blue glass still lay. Puddles of blood began to grow beneath Armand as he tried to gather himself. He seemed more off-balance than he should have been from a simple slug to the face.

Gregor swung his hand again, the lump of whatever it was still clenched tight in his hand. I realized then that it was a stone, the same color and general shape of the vampire stone, but smaller, and distinctly pointed on one end. For a split-second, I saw it as a normal stone, then suddenly my vision shifted, and it was surrounded with a spinning aura of blue-and-white light. Vertigo hit me so hard, I almost fell, even though I was still kneeling on the ground.

Pieter
. I wasn't sure where the voice came from. It didn't sound like Sebastian, but it had to have been. Except maybe it wasn't. But in that instant, I knew that the stone in Gregor's hand was all he had left of Pieter, just as the swimming, gaseous cloud in the bottle had been all I'd had left of Sebastian. He'd followed a different process to consolidate what he'd been able to reach of his brother, but the result was much the same: he had something of the dead vampire's essence, and he wanted to bring Pieter back. Had Armand known the stone even existed? No way to know. And, at the moment, I couldn't have given fewer fucks if my life depended on it.