Blood Curse Page 23

  "Okay, I got it,” Jake grumbled. “We're dealing with a souped-up demonic bastard. I'll side with you this once, but if my brother doesn't make it out alive, neither do any of you."

  "We're getting everyone out,” Seta promised.

  Jake nodded. “So what's the story? What exactly are we up against?"

  Seta answered. “Alfred Dunn's son, Patrick, was a child molester. Eron killed him and Alfred hunted him from that day on until he died from old age. Apparently, Alfred learned of some dark magic which allowed him to plan his reincarnation. He made a pact with the devil and was reborn as one of his granddaughter's twins."

  "That's sick."

  "Vengefulness tends to make people crazy.” Seta gave Jake a pointed look before looking at Rialto. “Are we ready?"

  "We have to be,” Rialto answered, staring at the house intently. “She's slipping away.” He looked at Christian, who had untied Jake and was helping him to his feet. “Are we all together on this?"

  "Yes,” Christian answered. “What's the plan?"

  Aria struggled to see behind her while Carter taunted Eron with a fork-like tool. “Leave him alone! Haven't you hurt him enough?"

  "Not nearly enough,” Carter said and gave Eron one more poke with the tined instrument in his hand before coming back to the table. He stopped and threw his head back, sniffing the air. “Ah, they've arrived."

  "What are you talking about?"

  He looked down at Aria, mouth curved into an evil grin. “Didn't you realize you were bait? I can't have vampires knowing my secrets, hunting me down while I try to perfect my serum. I must kill all of you, thanks to Curtis and his idiotic notion that he should let you view my journal."

  Aria glared at Curtis, who had yet to utter a word or look her in the eye. “Why do you hate vampires so much?"

  "Because that one killed me.” Carter pointed to where Eron hung from the wall. “Once I reached Hell I became a member of Lucifer's special army. It's my job to stop the vampires and preselected bitches like you from destroying our kind."

  The man was completely insane, Aria decided. “You're really psychotic."

  "Psychos only think they've seen the devil,” Carter said with a wicked smile. “He flows through me.” Carter turned for the door which would allow him to exit the basement laboratory. “Watch them, Curtis, and if you help them in any way you will be a ball-less traitor, more so than you are now.” He laughed as he left the lab.

  Aria glared at Curtis with all the strength left in her. “I'm dying, Curtis, and the only man I've ever loved will die too, and it's all your fault."

  "I'm sorry,” Curtis cried, finally raising his head to look at her. “I didn't mean for this to happen. I was trying to help when I gave you the journal."

  "Why didn't you just tell me your brother was insane?"

  "Because there are two souls in me, Aria, and they battle each other every day."

  "What the hell is he talking about?” Jonah asked, his words laced in pain. “He's as crazy as the other one."

  "He's Alfred Dunn,” Eron rasped, his voice barely audible. “I finally figured it out."

  Aria started to ask Curtis if that was true, but a wave of dizziness washed over her and she blacked out. But not before realizing the drops of her blood spilling into the bucket beneath the table were coming much slower.

  "You know, it would've been really great if you'd let me bring some of my weapons,” Jake said angrily as the four crawled through the living room window, staying vigilant as they entered the house.

  "Shut up, Porter,” the three vampires said in unison while they studied the room. Besides a large heap of books, some ratty old furniture, and statues of demons and humans in various sexual poses, the room was bare.

  "Porter and Christian, find the basement and get everyone out. Seta and I will handle Carter. He probably already knows we're here."

  "Score one point for the vampires,” Carter said, stepping into the room. “Now excuse me while I kill you."

  He threw his hands up and chanted something that sounded dark and menacing before fire sprang to life in his palms. He hurled the flames toward them, but Seta quickly stood in front of the group and threw up her hands, redirecting the flames back at Carter.

  Christian and Jake ran to the left, leaving the room in search of the basement as Rialto and Seta stayed behind to battle.

  "A witch, eh?” Carter asked after shielding himself from the fire. “You'll be fun to kill."

  "You'll die trying, anyway,” Seta retorted and threw a ball of energy at Carter, ramming him against the wall and pinning him there with an invisible weight.

  "She's fading!” Rialto cried, feeling Aria slip deeper away.

  "Go to her!” Seta shouted over the roar of energies spiraling around her. “You're of no use to us if you're both dead. Save her and save yourself!"

  "Will you be all right?"

  "Yes! I can hold him off by myself for a little while."

  Rialto ran out of the room, following Aria's scent to the basement below. He entered the subterranean room to find Christian removing Eron from where he hung on a wall. Jake Porter stepped over the body of Carter Dunn's beaten twin and started to remove his brother's manacles.

  Aria lay on a metal table in the middle of the room, two tubes in the side of her neck leading to a bucket below the table. She was bleeding to death. “Aria!” Rialto ran to her and stared down at her in horror. Her skin had begun to darken when he'd left her earlier, but due to the blood loss it was now a deathly pale. Her lips were dry and cracked, and dark rings had formed beneath her eyes.

  "She had already lost too much by the time we arrived,” Christian said apologetically as he approached them. “I don't think putting her blood back into her will help. Her organs have most likely started to shut down. There's only one way to save her now."

  Rialto nodded, understanding he had a choice to make. He either saved Aria, or he died with her. “My mother needs help."

  "Of course.” Christian gestured for Jake to follow him, and together they left the lab, Jake helping his brother to walk.

  "What are you waiting for?” Eron asked from where he lay on the floor. “Save her."

  "It's not my choice. It's hers,” Rialto answered as he removed the tubes from her neck and covered the holes with his hand, feeling her barely throbbing pulse.

  "She's nearly gone,” Eron rasped.

  "I know,” Rialto said, feeling tears well into his eyes. He held Aria's hand in his much larger one and spoke her name. Her eyelids fluttered open, widening when she saw him standing over her.

  "Rialto.” She tried to smile, her green eyes sparkling with a hint of tears as they met his somber brown ones. “I knew you'd save me,” she said weakly.

  Rialto swallowed past the ball of emotion lodged in his throat and shook his head. “You've lost a lot of blood. We were too late."

  "But you're here now.” Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “You can save me now."

  Rialto's head and heart ached with the choice being forced upon him. He'd only sired one other vampire, and she went mad. Antonia hadn't deserved what happened to her, and the thought of the same thing happening to Aria clawed at his insides.

  "I'm not Antonia,” Aria said, seeming to read his mind. “I want the gift."

  "It's not a gift, Aria. It's a curse."

  "Rialto—"

  "Listen to me.” He bit his lip, knowing he didn't have much time to search for the right words. Instead, he looked into her trusting eyes and spoke from his heart. “I love you, Aria. In the two centuries I have walked this earth, I've never felt a love so pure and strong. I don't want to let you die, but whether or not you stay with me isn't my choice."

  "Rialto—"

  "No, wait.” He placed a finger over her parched lips and prayed for the time he needed. He could feel her fading away quickly. “I can save you if I share my blood with you, but by doing so I'll turn you into what I am. You'll be a predator, Aria. You will have to drink
human blood to survive, and you may eventually be forced to kill. If you can handle the knowledge of that, then I will save you right now. Can you handle the loneliness of outliving everyone around you? The thought of being a monster, an outcast? Can you live in my darkness?"

  Aria smiled so weakly it ripped away a part of Rialto's heart. “ I—” She swallowed, although her throat was undoubtedly dry, trying to finish her sentence. “I finished the dream, and I figured out what Seta meant too, about my mother giving birth to me out of love. She loved my father, and she had his baby despite the risks. I love you, Rialto, and I want to have your baby despite the danger, despite whatever we will go through to protect her. And you're not a monster. I would be honored to be what you are."

  Rialto smiled, blinking back tears. “Are you sure?"

  "Yes, now save me, Rialto. Save us both and save our future child. I want to spend forever walking beside you in the twilight."

  Rialto nodded and lowered his mouth to the holes in her neck, suckling what was left of her blood, praying there was enough left for the transition.

  He sipped from her until she hovered just over death, and then he quickly brought his wrist to his mouth, cutting a narrow gash across the skin. He lowered his wrist to her lips and fed her from it, allowing her to drink the nectar from him that would give her exactly what she'd asked for. The promise of forever with him by her side.

  He started to feel dizzy as she greedily devoured his blood, but he didn't have the heart to pull away. She had lost so much. The more he could give her the better, he thought, as blackness engulfed him and he faded into darkness.

  "Leave me."

  "Not a chance in hell,” Jake muttered as he half-drug his brother toward the room where the vampires and the demon were fighting. “Kick your pansy ass into gear and let's get out of here."

  "Leave me and help them. They have to get out before the police come, and I have to be here to explain this mess."

  "You want me to help a bunch of bloodsuckers?"

  "That vampire hanging on the opposite wall from me was so hungry he ached, but according to that son-of-a-bitch psycho, he wouldn't touch any victims that were brought to him. They're not the bad guys here."

  Jake muttered a curse as he lowered his brother to the floor. “I can't just leave you."

  "I'm the detective on this case, and there are vampires killing the murderer. Vampires, Jake. How am I supposed to explain that?” Jonah shook his head. “Look at me. I've been beaten to a pulp. I can't just waltz back in to work like nothing has happened. Just be a good little brother and do as I say. Leave me here. I saw gallons of blood and all kinds of satanic crap downstairs. The department will believe me when I say I don't remember a lot if they find me here like this, and with all the evidence they'll find in this place, I won't have to explain much of anything. I can let them draw their own conclusions."

  "They're going to want to know how you happened to come across the killer in the first place. What are you going to say? A demon possessed man kidnapped you right out of your car?"

  "Aside from the demon part, that'll work. The killer was on to me, and he got me before I got him which is pretty much true. It'll bruise my ego, but it's better than telling them about the vampires and spending a long vacation in the loony bin."

  Jake cursed, knowing his brother was right. “You're banged up pretty bad, Joe."

  "Then hurry the hell up and clear out of here so I can call myself an ambulance."

  Jake nodded and made his way toward the room where the fighting was going on. There was a loud ear-splitting crack as he approached, and he threw his arms in front of his face to block out the blinding light. He heard a woman scream, followed by evil laughter, and knew the vampire-witch was losing the fight.

  "I hate demons,” he muttered as he looked at his defenseless hands. He didn't even have rock salt or holy water with him.

  The light faded and he looked in the room to see Carter Dunn standing over the witch's fallen body. Christian was on his knees, spouting out Latin with his hands clasped together under his chin.

  "What the hell?” Jake muttered, knowing Dunn could easily kill the vamp and then he'd be the only one left to defend the rest of them. And he didn't have any way of trapping the demon so he could perform an exorcism, either. He'd be dead before the first few words were out of his mouth.

  But as he watched, he was surprised to see Dunn look toward Christian in fear as the vampire continued spewing out Latin. A halo of light formed around Christian, the witch and, more to his surprise, himself.

  Roaring, the demon made a lunge for the vampire, but the halo of light burned through his skin and forced him backward.

  Seta rose, renewed strength blazing brightly in her eyes as she raised her hands and used magic to pin Dunn against the wall.

  Christian opened his eyes, stared straight ahead at Dunn and in English thanked the father, the son and the holy ghost.

  With a high-pitched scream, Carter Dunn turned into flame and then fell to the floor as a pile of assorted charred limbs.

  Jake looked at Christian and found the vampire smirking at him, amused by the shock he knew was etched on his face.

  "What the hell was that?"

  "The power of prayer,” the vampire responded matter-of-factly. “If you wouldn't mind, Mr. Porter, we will need some help getting our friends out of here."

  Jake could only gape at the vampires as they passed him to collect their friends.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rialto blinked, the grogginess of the day sleep beginning to evaporate. He didn't recall making it back to the soft bed he was lying in. His last memory was of feeding Aria . . .

  Aria

  He sat up, taking in his surroundings. He was in Christian's home beneath the church. “Aria!” He called as loudly as his voice would allow. The sound of running feet echoed in the hallway moments before Seta and Christian entered the room.

  "You're awake!” Seta exclaimed, joy prominent in her voice.

  "Yes, I'm awake. Where is Aria? Is she alive?” His heart constricted in his chest, threatening to cease beating if she hadn't survived.

  "Yes!” Seta cried, kissing his cheeks and forehead. “I was so worried about you. You gave her too much blood and passed out. I had to feed you myself, and the both of you have been at rest since last night."

  "Come on.” She grabbed his hand and led him through the hall to the next bedroom where Aria lay sleeping on top of the bed, her skin browned by his blood, her lips a deep crimson.

  "She has not awakened yet?"

  "No. It's barely nightfall,” Seta said as she pulled two chairs beside the bed and gestured for Rialto to sit next to her.

  "What if she wakes like Antonia?"

  "She won't,” Christian assured him, approaching from behind to rest his hands on his shoulders. “It is not her fate."

  Rialto breathed deeply, trying to soothe his nerves. The images of the night before assaulted him. “Oh my God, what happened? Did you kill Carter? Where's Eron?"

  Seta looked sad for a moment, but quickly waved the emotion away. “Eron was so injured we had to put him in the earth."

  "He died?” Rialto's heart plummeted to somewhere near the bottom of his stomach.

  "No!” Seta quickly shook her head from side to side “He has reached the age where he can go underground for long periods of time. The earth will heal him and he will rise stronger."

  Rialto released a breath of relief. “And Carter?"

  "We destroyed him. He almost overpowered me, but Christian saved us all with his prayers. Between my powers and Christian's faith, we took him out.” She looked over at Christian and smiled. “But, he wasn't Alfred Dunn, as we had believed."

  "Then who was he?"

  "Patrick Dunn. Alfred made a deal with the devil to bring back both he and his son so they could be together again."

  "So Curtis was Alfred?"

  "It appears so. That's what h
e told Eron, Aria, and Jonah before he escaped."

  "Escaped?"

  "He was unconscious before Christian and the Porters left the lab. Eron could barely move, and you had passed out. He got away before we destroyed his son, or brother, or whatever he was, and made it back to you."

  "Is he a threat to us?"

  "I don't know. He was sick enough to deal with the devil, requesting to be brought back to life through his own granddaughter's body. Jonah said he'd made a comment about being two souls. I believe the old soul, Alfred, is fighting against the new soul, Curtis."

  "Well, let's hope the new soul wins the fight."

  "Amen,” Seta murmured. “On the bright side, I don't think Jake Porter is going to chase Christian out of his church again. We seem to have his gratitude."

  "I guess he's pissed his brother got pinned to a wall."

  "Apparently. It takes the heat off of us for a while, anyway.” She patted Rialto's leg and stood. “She'll wake soon, darling."

  Seta and Christian left him beside Aria's bed, waiting for her to rise. He felt beads of sweat pop out on his forehead and lowered his head into his hands, unable to bear the wait. “Please let her be all right,” he prayed as he waited for the results of what he had done.

  "Rialto?"

  He looked up to see Aria sitting on the bed, glorious in her newly darkened skin which was offset by the long white gown Seta had dressed her in. Her eyes had deepened to a blinding shade of emerald.

  "Aria?” Rialto sprang from the chair to stand at Aria's bedside and hugged her to his chest before pulling away to look her over. “How are you? How do you feel?"

  "Better than ever.” Her smile lit the room. “And terribly hungry."

  Rialto felt panic start to set in as images of Antonia devouring a whole village ran through his mind.

  "Relax, Rialto. I'm not that hungry."

  He laughed at the look in Aria's eyes. “I forgot that you will be able to see inside my head so clearly now. And that part of the changing includes you waking hungry. I must take you to feed, and the cycle will be complete. You will be a vampire. You must drink from a living mortal, Aria. Can you do that?"