Blood and Kisses(42)

Gideon woke and frantically swept the warehouse with his gaze.

Thalia was gone.

Panic lifted him to his feet. A muffled cry from a far corner turned his head. He ran to the sound and found Heath encased in a sticky, black cocoon. He knelt and ripped it open.

The mage fought his way out of the vile, stinging stuff and braced himself on his hands and knees, choking and gasping for air.

“Where has he taken her?” Gideon demanded.

“They just left,” Heath spit out between coughs. “He said something about the alley.”

Of course, Akos wouldn’t want to ruin his chances to fulfill the prophecy. He would stay nearby.

“Are you all right?”

Heath nodded. “But he drained my magic.”

Gideon put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Get the police.”

Heath nodded again and began to rise to his feet. Gideon went to the door of the warehouse and listened for a moment. He could hear voices. Akos was speaking just around the corner.

Gideon vaulted to the top of a nearby building and used the rooftops to circle around until he was on the building on the other side of the alley.

Something hit the wall across the alley. Probably a piece of gravel. Thalia raised her head.

Gideon was here. She had to be ready.

She held her breath as she watched him jump from one building to another.

Akos followed her gaze and laughed. “Ah, company. Right on time. I guess it’s time to take my leave.”

No. He couldn’t teleport. Thalia surged forward and grabbed his ankle. “You’re not going anywhere.” He drew back his other foot to kick her. “Go ahead, kill me now!” she bit out through gritted teeth. “You’ll never fulfill your prophecy.”

“Tell the Champion to let me go,” he called into the darkness. “She doesn’t have much time.” He jerked his foot in an attempt to free himself.

Pain stabbed through her, and her head swam, but she shifted, determined to maintain her hold. She felt around with her other hand for something—anything—to use as a weapon and struck something cold and cylindrical.



Gideon leaped to the ground. Thalia lay on the dirty, buckled tarmac; her face strained and her chest pitched as she struggled to keep hold of Akos’ leg and stop him from teleporting. She was obviously in pain and seemed unable to get up.

He stepped forward, trembling with the effort of restraining his rage. A drop of cold rain, then another, landed on his shoulder, but his attention never wavered from his enemy. He grabbed Akos by the upper arms, digging his fingers into the ancient’s ropy muscles.

Thalia fell back, panting. The sight of her pale face and shivering body snapped Gideon’s control. He shook Akos like a dog, hard enough to break a mortal’s neck. “What have you done to her?”

Akos smirked. Water slicked down his long black hair and dripped off his bulky shoulders. Gideon’s hands must have bruised his flesh with crushing force, but he seemed undaunted. “She’s as good as dead.”

Gideon growled. Reason gave way to the fury and fear that burned within him. He seized Akos by the throat, squeezing so powerfully he could feel the bones of his enemy’s spine. He would have pulverized the throat of a younger, weaker vampire, but the rogue just laughed.

Akos drew back his leg, perhaps to kick Gideon away, but stopped short. He choked. There was horrible sucking sound, and the end of a metal rod, flickering with the unique blue light of Thalia’s magic, flowered from his chest. He looked down at the blood-coated pole, his eyes rounded in surprise.

“I may be dead, but so are you,” Thalia said from behind him, her face a vengeful mask.

As his hands rose to clutch the rod, Akos crumpled in on himself like a fire-brittle log, shattering under the assault of a poker. Soon he formed a pile of gray ash. The rod fell with Akos’ remains and hit the ground with a crash. The pouring rain beat the little hill of ash into mud and began to carry it away.

Thalia balanced on her knees for a moment, arms out, palms up to the rain, letting it wash away the blood on her hands. Her ponytail holder had broken, and her hair clung to her cheeks like tiger stripes.

Gideon swept her off the wet asphalt and widened the hole in the side of the warehouse. He stepped through and laid Thalia on the dry floor. The scent of her blood hung rich and potent in the stale air. What had Akos done to her?

The door burst open.

A half dozen or so police officers piled into the room led by Cole and Poole, their weapons drawn. Rain beat at their backs and spattered the dusty concrete. “Get down on the floor, Damek. Get down! I said get down!” Cole repeated, her features tight with purpose.

Gideon had no time for this. “Get out,” he commanded, his voice the roar of a wounded animal, the compulsion in his tone so powerful the police officers grabbed their heads as they ran from the building.

Gideon sank to his knees and cradled Thalia’s head in his lap. She panted, her chest heaving as she fought for air, her porcelain skin coated with a fine sheen of perspiration.

He examined her, letting his mind float through her body, studying her systems one by one. What he saw terrified him. She had only a matter of minutes before she bled out internally. Even if he teleported her directly to an operating room, no earthly power could save her. He could feel her life force ebbing.

He had seen every kind of injury in his vast life, but he’d never been so helpless. He felt as if he were stuck in some cruel nightmare from which he was unable to wake. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t end like this.

But it was.

“God, it hurts,” Thalia whispered. “Can’t breathe.”

A tear streaked down her cheek. She writhed, moaning in the dust. Through their mental link, he could feel the pain that scoured her body. Her face was paper-white with agony. She clutched at his hand. “I love you, Gideon.”

He had been unable to absorb her earlier confession, but this time her words found some receptive part of him and stuck.

She loved him.

Thalia loved him.

His chest ached, but his feet and hands felt numb. How could he lose her when it seemed like only yesterday that she’d been born?

The monster broke free. His claws descended. His fangs extruded, but the demon only cried his pain to the skies. His roar recoiled through the building like a cannon backlash. And he recognized that Thalia had been right all along. There was no monster, merely a man. A man who would give anything to go back and have the chance to watch Thalia grow old, to have her for even just one year, one month, one day, one hour, more. Fear had given birth to the creature, a fear for which he no longer had the luxury. “I love you, too.”

Thalia smiled weakly. “You don’t have to be nice.” She coughed, drowning in her own poisonous blood.

“It’s the truth.”

“Okay,” she said, but he could tell she didn’t believe him, that she imagined he was only trying to comfort her. He damned the world that had convinced her she was unlovable.

She shook uncontrollably. Her skin felt like ice. She was slipping away, and there was nothing he could do.

Death had finally beaten Gideon Damek.

Anguish wracked his large body. He didn’t want to be without her. Couldn’t face the endless years alone anymore.

He made a decision. He couldn’t turn her. But he could take away her pain. He could make her last moments a time of joy for them both. He would take her blood.

“Lie back,” he said. “I can’t stop the bleeding, but I’ll take away the pain.” He lowered his mouth to the translucent skin of her throat.

As his teeth scraped her skin, she realized his deadly intent. She placed a weak hand on his chest. “Gideon, no. Don’t. You’ll die. And it doesn’t hurt so much anymore.”

“I don’t want to live without you.” The words hung unvarnished in the air. There was no compulsion in his tone, no pretense, just complete and utter truth. He held her gaze, urging her to believe.

Thalia gasped. Acceptance finally dawned in her crystalline eyes, but still she held him back. “You’ll be fine.” Her voice broke.

“I won’t do this against your will, but you should know I’ll walk into the dawn before I’ll spend another worthless minute without you.”

“Oh, Gideon.” Her eyes were sad. Tears sparkled in the corners. She hesitated, then closed her eyes and turned her head, baring her soft throat to him with a sigh.





Chapter 22



Gideon’s mouth was a flame on her skin. His fangs pierced her artery, and the pain that wracked her body vanished. Her body softened, welcoming his touch. A seething world of exquisite rapture unfolded around her. It mimicked the pinnacle of sex, but never ended, peaking over and over again. She cried out her joy, wrapping her arms around him. At last she understood Lily’s fate. If this was death, who wanted to live?