The Last Guardian Rises (The Last Keeper's Daughter) (33 page)

She pushed back from him, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I was so afraid I’d never see you again.”

“I never stopped looking for you.” He ran his finger along her jawline.

She reached up and touched his face, a deep furrow creasing her brow. “Your hair,” she whispered. “It’s so long. How?”

He pressed her to his chest. “Just let me hold you. I’ve been in hell without you.”

“I’m so sorry about that stupid fight, and then getting sick. Did I ruin your ceremony? I told Liam not to call you.”

He’d forgotten they’d been arguing the night she vanished. “What happened to you?” He relaxed his arms around her, enough to bask in the beauty of her face, but kept his hands resting on her arms. Never again would he let her out of his reach.

“I don’t know. I must have eaten something dodgy. I’ve never felt so sick.” She leaned back in his arms. “I had this horrible dream. I was trapped with my father.”

Without their blood bond, he was adrift in the sea of her emotions with only her words and body language to rely on. It was excruciating for him to not balm her fears through the bond.

“Apryini.” With two fingers he lifted her chin and waited until her eyes met his. “How long have you been gone?”

Hesitant and perhaps a little scared, she answered. “Gone? I wasn’t gone. I was only asleep a few hours, I guess.”

Krieger’s jaw muscle clenched.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lily tried to scoot back from him but he wouldn’t allow it. “Why do we…” Lily hugged herself. “Why can’t I feel you?”

She didn’t know their bond was severed. Relief and wrath flooded his being. Right now he wouldn’t think of the punishment he’d inflict upon the person who’d separated him from his Lily and destroyed his vampire blood that had flowed through her veins.

“I’m right here.” He cupped her face with his hand. “Do you know where you were?”

“In my dream?” He nodded. Her fingers played with one of the buttons on the shirt she was wearing. “It was just a bad dream, nightmare.” She seemed nervous suddenly. “Can we talk about something else?” 

“No.” He stilled her hand with his. “You disappeared, vanished. I’ve scorched the earth thrice over searching for you.”

“That’s not possible,” she said slowly.

Was she speaking to her disappearance or his searching for her? He didn’t know, and really didn’t want her to know the extent of his efforts, so he ran his thumbs back and forth across her palm. “You’ve been gone for over six months.”

“Six months,” she repeated. “No, it was just a few minutes.” Lily’s face showed disbelief. “Just a dream, like my other dreams except he was talking to me, and…”

“He?”

“Six months,” she whispered. “Oh God, does Martha think I’m dead?”

“I kept it from her and Jo. I told them we were traveling. They think we’re in Italy and France.”

“I’ve never been.”

He watched her, unwilling to take his eyes away from her, afraid that she’d disappear again. Not here, he thought, it can’t happen here inside a room of iron and steel. Unbidden, Henry’s words came to him. “
I’d chain her to my side
.” Now that their bond was gone, would she still want him? “Tell me what happened.”

Her large eyes met his. He could see the terror in them, and cursed again that he could not offer her comfort through the bond.

“My father was there.”

“Azazel?”

“I think he just gave that name, but it’s not his true name.”

“I see. What did he look like?”

“I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. “He could look like anyone, I think. He was the man in my dreams. He said he sent them to me somehow.”

“But you thought Grigori was that man. Did he look like Grigori?”

“In a way, for a while, but his appearance changed when mad to something harsh, and then he glowed with a light that I thought would kill me.”

“You and Grigori both spoke of sensing a being, of it awakening? Was it him?” Could it be the darkness they all felt?

“No.” She bit her lip, thinking. “My father,” her voice faltered. “God I hate to think of him that way. He felt like nothing. I mean, he did something to me. I didn’t have all my senses there.” She grabbed his shirt. “I never want to go back.”

This was maddening but he didn’t want to press her too hard. “Where were you?”

A hard line formed across her brow; how he wanted to kiss and ease away her tension, her fears.

“The man.” She closed her eyes. “My father, he said that he was imprisoned within the eighth ring. It was strange there, like in my dreams, haunting and beautiful, alien, and so lonely, so quiet, like we were the only things living there.”

He wanted to feed from her, to wrap his body around hers, to protect her and comfort her and take away her fears. “How did you escape?”

“Is there any wine?”

The bond is no more, trance her
. “No,” he said out loud to his thoughts. “Tell me how you escaped first.”

“I didn’t.” She gave him a sideways glance. “He seemed to weaken and then I woke up on the ground.” Even without the bond, he knew she wasn’t telling him everything. “I need to clean up.”

“The bath.”

“No.” She swung her legs off the side of the bed. He bent to lift her, but she pushed his hand away. “No, I’m fine. I need a shower.”

Krieger took her small hand in his; she took a few steps, stopped and emotionally crumbled before him.

“My mother was there.”

He scooped her up and into the bed in one swift motion and cradled her in his lap, kissing the salty tears running down her face. “Apryini, your mother is dead.”

“I know,” she wept against his chest. “She was there, though, and she hugged me and I want to see her again.” Her body shook with grief.

There was nothing for Krieger to do but gently rock and stroke her back until she’d cried out her grief.

“You can’t go back.”
I won’t let you go back.

She wiped her face and stared into his eyes like she was trying to see through to his soul. “My mother’s spirit may be trapped inside.”

“There is no such thing as spirits. The dead are gone to us, all of us.” His hand cupped her face. “He is deceiving you. Manipulating you with his games. Don’t believe his lies.”

She sawed her lip between her teeth. “The blood bond.” Lily ran her hand over his chest. “It’s gone, isn’t it?”

Krieger groaned inwardly. “Two months ago I felt my blood boil.” He cupped her chin, tilting it up. “I felt my blood inside your body destroyed. I thought—” He reined in his anger. “I thought I’d lost you. I never gave up hope. Never.” He covered her lips with his, needing to reclaim her. When she struggled slightly, he kissed her neck.

“And the mark?” she asked, her voice breathy.

“No more,” he answered.

“He said I wasn’t a slave.”

“You were never and will never be a slave.” Krieger worked hard to keep his anger from her.
I will kill him an inch at a time.

“He said he was getting stronger.” She shook her head. “None of it makes any sense.”

The shock of Lily being alive was ebbing and the desire to reclaim her was causing his nature to rear its bestial head. “A shower,” he said huskily.

“I’m free now.” Lily must have seen the look in his eyes. She leaned back a fraction. “Of your mark.” She reached up and ran her hand around his neck pulling him towards her. “Months, has it really been months?”

“Yes.” Six long months.

“It’s only been hours for me.” She kissed him deeply, passionately. “I need you.”

He carried her to the shower, placed her on the counter, turned on the water, unbuttoned his jeans and stepped out of them. He stood as her eyes roamed over his naked body.

“You’re taking a shower with me?” she teased.

“I am,” he said matter-of-factly.

“You aren’t going to let me out of your sight, are you?”

He lifted one eyebrow and growled.

Lily was flustered. “I love you.” She slipped off the counter. “This feels different.” She laid her hand over her heart. “You aren’t the same.”

Krieger reached for the hem of her shirt. She back up. His fangs dropped down and he threw his head back and roared with frustration. Her eyes widened. He wanted to tell her not to fight him, instead he moved at vampire speed and lifted the shirt fast at first, and then slowly up her body. “I am the same. My love for you is unchanged.”

“I never got my wine.” She backed into the steam, wary, not taking her eyes from his, as he followed and closed the door.

“Later,” he said. “When we bonded before you had no choice.” He rubbed a soapy washcloth over her shoulders, her arms, down to her stomach and up to her breasts. “Bond with me again.”

“I love you,” she breathed, “but…”

Hunter / Merlin

Hunter stepped off Mathers’ porch feeling like soiled laundry. Robotically he acknowledged the guards and continued to the path. Standing off to the side waiting for him was Lucien, looking equally discontented with the situation.

“How does she look?” Lucien asked. He didn’t need to specify who.

“Caanan thinks she’s physically healthy.” Mentally, well, only time would tell that. “The king texted me – once they are done with their reconciliation he will brief me on her whereabouts.”

“Reconciliation,” Lucien repeated the word, elongating all the syllables.

Since he’d become a Merlin, Hunter had access to knowledge not known to him before. He no longer saw Lucien as just the king’s henchman and liked to think that the two of them were forming a bond. He was a good man. True, he was a hard man, but he was also a man of honor and someone Hunter was beginning to rely on greatly. He didn’t need any special powers to know how much Lucien had suffered with Lily’s disappearance and how much the slayer wanted to be with her now. There was nothing he could do about Lucien’s feelings for Lily, but he had vowed to one day free Lucien from the horrible curse Faye had laid upon him.

The rest of the walk to Hunter’s car was in silence. He leaned against the hood, looking towards Mathers’ cabin as the chimney smoke spiraled up to the sky. A gunshot pierced through the night air and echoed around them.

“He chose the best path,” Lucien said. “Charon will be waiting for him now.”

When did the best path encompass killing oneself? He thought of his father, or the man he’d thought was his father, choosing to end his life. Had he been presented with such an untenable choice? Who could say? Whatever had occurred would remain an enigma. But tonight, Hunter knew Mathers had chosen the easiest path. Why extend one’s life to only experience pain and suffering? For that was what awaited him at the hands of the king. Hunter had kept Mathers’ involvement from Krieger as long as possible. Hadn’t enough blood been shed? And tonight when he’d confronted the doorman there had been no denial.

“He baited Merlin,” Hunter said. “Pushed him to use the dark magic.”

What crimes would one commit to regain a loved one? What would he do if Meirta were threatened? His mother’s words came to him, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’

One of the royal guardsmen stepped forward and slapped his forearm against his chest. Hunter had seen this type of salute before – was it from the Roman era or another time period? He made a mental note to ask Lucien one day. 

“Mathers is no more.” The guard bent slightly at the waist, waiting for his orders.

“Plant that damn twig he had potted and bury him beside it,” Hunter directed. The guard spun on his heels and went back to execute his order. “Wait.” The guard stopped. “Place the tree in a spot where it will thrive.” The guard nodded and proceeded on his way.

“Mathers is lucky he left this world so peacefully,” Lucien said.

Lucky was not the word that Hunter would have used. Nor peacefully. “I’ve seen enough flailed bodies piked.” Hunter willed his limbs to move even though they were almost numb from fatigue. How had Merlin endured so long? “Let’s get back to my office so we can discuss what you found.”

Lucien swung his sword off his back and walked around to the passenger door, dropping the pack he was carrying onto the floorboards and easing his large frame inside the car. Hunter had expected him to fly, but when he looked over at Lucien he could see he was not alone in his weariness. It’s relief, he thought. Relief that Lily has finally been found, and she’s alive. “How was Brazil?” he asked.

Lucien used the lever under the seat to push it back. “Good. I had no trouble obtaining the information. Amazing how accommodating the Church can be.”

Especially when a certain sect of that Church sponsored an orphanage which specialized in the relocation of Others. Hunter likened their discoveries to a domino design. The first tile tipped was when the king had requested Hunter research Eva Gray, the wife of King Beline, and a Father Flannery, the priest Krieger had encountered on the island with King Carlos.

He looked out the car window as he drove past home. The lights were on, Meirta must be up. He would have to tell her tonight before he lost his nerve. 

“You have proof?” Hunter asked. Now that they were back on blacktop he pressed the accelerator down.

“I do.” Lucien hung on to the ‘oh jesus’ strap. “We are the only two people alive who know.”

Hunter knew what Lucien was implying. He laughed from exhaustion, from everything that had occurred tonight. “You forget that Meirta is a Minder. She would find out, one way or the other.”

“Oh, brother.” Lucien threw his head back against the headrest. “I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of her wrath when she did.”

“No you would not,” Hunter concurred. He slowed down now that they were back at the castle and veered left to the underground garage.

Not able to think inside the cluttered tower that had been Merlin’s, Hunter had relocated most of Merlin’s books to his office, conveniently located two doors down from the guards’ monitoring station where Krieger had given him the assignment of tracking down information regarding the wife of King Beline. It had taken him days to sort through the contents of the tower. There were specimens in jars that he didn’t look at too closely, small mountains of vellum inscribed with notations, a tattered robe, a wand which crackled with energy whenever he was within an arm’s length of it – he’d had the king place it inside the safe – and some things he’d left in place deciding that they could wait till a later date to sort.