Black dawn (28 page)

...
and
he kissed her mouth like raindrops falling on cool water.

Maggie clung to him desperately and kissed back.

Where they touched they dissolved into each other.
Then she felt him tremble in her arms and they

were
both lost.

It was like the first time when their minds had joined. Maggie felt a pulsing thrill that enveloped her entire body. She could feel the pure line of
communication open between them, she could feel
herself lifted into that wonderful still place where
only the two of them existed and nothing else
mattered.

Dimly, she knew that her physical self was falling
forward, that they were both falling, still clasped in each other's arms. But in the hushed place of crystalline beauty where she
really
was, they were
facing each other in a white light.

It was like being inside his mind again, but this
time he was there opposite her, gazing at her di
rectly. He didn't look like a doomsday weapon any
more, or even like a vampire. His black-lashed
golden eyes were large, like a solemn child's. There
was a terrible wistfulness in his face.

He swallowed, and then she heard his mental
voice. It was just the barest breath of sound.
I
don't
want this
Yes, you do,
she interrupted, indignant. The nor
mal barriers that existed between two people had
melted; she knew what he was feeling, and she
didn't like being lied to.

-to end,
he finished.

Oh.

Maggie's eyes filled with sudden hot tears.

She did what was instinctive to her. She reached
out to him. And then they were embracing in their
minds, just
as
their physical bodies embraced, and
there was that feeling of invisible wings all
around them.

Maggie could catch fragments of his thoughts,
not just the surface ones, but things so deep she
wasn't sure he even knew he was thinking them.
So lonely
...
always been lonely.
Meant to be that
way.
Always
alone ...

No, you're not,
she told him, trying to communi
cate it to the deepest part of him.
I
won't let you be alone. And we
were
meant to be like this; can't
you feel it?

What she could feel was his powerful longing.
But he couldn't be convinced all at once.

She heard something like
Destiny
. . .
And she
saw images of his past.
His father.
His teachers.
The nobles.
Even the slaves who had heard the
prophecies.
They all believed he had only one pur
pose, and it had to do with the end of the world.

You can
change
your destiny,
she said.
You
don't
have to go along with it. I don't know what's going to happen with the world, but you don't have to be
what they say. You have the power to fight them!

For one heartbeat the image of his father seemed to loom closer, tall and terrible, a father seen through the eyes of childhood. Then the features
blurred, changing just enough to become Hunter
Redfern
with the same cruel and accusing light in his yellow eyes.

And then the picture was swept away by a tidal
wave of anger from
Delos
.

I am not a weapon.

I know that,
Maggie told him.

I can choose what I am from now on. I can choose what path to follow.

Yes,
Maggie said.

Delos
said simply,
I
choose to go with you.

His anger was gone. Just briefly, she got the
flicker of another image from him, as she had once before seeing herself through his eyes.

He didn't see her as a slave girl with dusty hair
and a smudged face and coarse sacking for clothes.
He saw her as the girl with autumn-colored hair
and endlessly deep sorrel eyes-the kind of eyes
that never wavered, but looked straight into his
soul. He saw her as warm and real and vibrant,
melting the black ice of his heart and setting him
free.

And then this image was gone, too, and they were
simply holding on to each other, lapped in peace.

They stayed like that for a while, their spirits
flowing in and out of each other.
Delos
didn't seem
inclined to move.

And Maggie wanted it to last, too. She wanted to
stay here for a long time, exploring all the deepest
and most secret places of the mind that was now
open to her. To touch him in ways he'd never been
touched before, this person who, beyond all logic,
was the other half of her. Who belonged to
her.
Who was her
soulmate
.

But there was something nagging at her consciousness. She couldn't ignore it, and when she
finally allowed herself to look at it, she remem
bered everything.

And she was swept with a wave of alarm so
strong it snapped her right out of
Delos
's mind.

She could feel the shock of separation reverber
ate in him as she sat up, aware of her own body
again. They were still linked enough that it
hurt
her just as it
hurt him. But she was too frightened
to care.

"
Delos
," she said urgently. "We've got to do some
thing. There's going to be trouble."

He blinked at her,
as
if he were coming from
very far away. "It will be all right," he said.

"No. It won't. You don't understand."

He sighed, very nearly his old exasperated snort.
"If it's Hunter
Redfern
you're worried about-"

"It's him-and Sylvia.
Delos
, I heard them talking
when I was in the wardrobe. You don't know what they've got planned."

"It doesn't matter what they've got planned. I can
take care of them." He straightened a little, looked
down at his left arm.

"No, you can't,"
Maggie said fiercely. "And that's
the problem. Sylvia put a spell on you, a binding
spell, she called it. You can't use your power."

CHAPTER
17

H
e stared at her for an instant, his golden eyes
wide.

"Don't you believe me?"

"I wouldn't put it past Sylvia to try," he said. "But
I don't think she's strong enough."

"She said she got special ingredients. And she
said that nobody else could take the spell off."
When he still looked doubtful, although a bit
more grim
, Maggie added, "Why don't
you
try it?"

He reached down with long, strong fingers to pull
at the fastenings of his brace. It came off easily,
and Maggie's eyebrows went up. She blinked.

He extended his arm, pointing it at the wall, and
drew a dagger from his belt.

Maggie had forgotten about the blood part. She
bit the inside of her cheek and didn't say anything
as
he opened a small cut on his wrist. Blood welled
up red,
then
flowed in a trickle.

"Just a little blast,"
Delos
said, and looked calmly
at the wall.

Nothing happened.

He frowned, his golden eyes flaring dangerously.

Maggie could see the concentration in his face. He
spread his fingers.

Still nothing happened.

Maggie let out her breath. I guess spells are invis
ible, she thought. The brace was just for show.
Delos
was looking at his arm
as
if it didn't belong
to him.

"We're in trouble," Maggie said, trying not to
make it sound like
I told you so.
"While they
thought they were alone in here, they were talking
about all kinds of things. All Hunter cares about is
getting you to help him destroy the humans. But
there's been some big split in the Night World, and
the witches have seceded from it."

Delos
went very still, and his eyes were distant.
"That means war. Open war between witches and
vampires."

"Probably," Maggie said, waving a hand vaguely.
"But, listen,
Delos
, the witches sent somebody here,
an ambassador, to talk to you.
To try to get you on their side.
Hunter said they've got one of the Wild
Powers on their side already-the witches, I mean.
Are you getting this?"

"Of course,"
Delos
said. But now his voice was
oddly distant, too. He was looking at something Maggie couldn't see. "But one out of four doesn't
matter. Two out of four, three out of four-it's not
good enough."

"What are you talking
about?" Maggie didn't wait
for him to answer. "But, look. I know the girl who
came to talk to you. It's the girl I was with on the
rocks, the other one you saved from
Bern
. She's
Aradia
, and she's Maiden of all the witches. And,
Delos
, they're looking for her right now. They want
to kill her to stop her from getting to you. And she's my
friend."

"That's too bad."

"We've got to
stop
them," Maggie said, exasperated.

"We
can't."

That brought Maggie up short. She stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying we can't stop them. They're too
strong. Maggie, listen to me," he said calmly and
clearly, when she began an incoherent protest.

That's the first time he's said my name out loud, she thought dizzily, and then she focused on his
words.

"It's not just the spell they've put on me. And it's
not just that they control the castle. Oh, yes, they
do," he said with a bitter laugh, cutting her off again. "You haven't been here very long; you don't
understand. The nobles here are centuries old,
most of them. They don't like being ruled by a pre
cocious child with uncanny powers. As soon as
Hunter showed up, they transferred their loyalty
to him."

'
BUt
-"'

"He's everything they admire.
The perfect vam
pire, the ultimate predator.
He's ruthless and
bloodthirsty and he wants to give them the whole
world
as
their hunting grounds. Do you really think
any of them can resist that? After years of hunting
mindless, bewildered animals that have to be ra
tioned out one at a time? With maybe the odd
creaky
slave for a special treat
? Do you think any
of them won't follow him willingly?"

Maggie was silent. There was nothing she could
say.

He was right, and it was scary.

"And that isn't all," he continued remorselessly.
"Do you want to hear a prophecy?"

"Not really," Maggie said. She'd heard more than
enough of those for one lifetime.

He ignored her. "My old teacher used to tell me
this," he said.

"'Four to stand between the light and the
shadow,

Four of blue fire, power in their blood.

Born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision;
Four
less one and darkness triumphs.'"

"Uh huh," Maggie said. To her it sounded like
just more of the same thing. The only interesting
thing about it was that it mentioned the blind
Maiden. That had to be
Aradia
, didn't it? She was
one famous witch.

"What's `born in the year of the blind Maiden's
vision?"' she asked.

"It means all the Wild Powers are the same age,
born seventeen years ago,"
Delos
said impatiently. `But that's not the point. The point is the last line,
`Four less one and darkness triumphs.' That means
that the darkness is going to win, Maggie."

"What do you mean?"

"It's inevitable. There's no way that the humans
and the witches can get all four Wild Powers on
their side. And if there's even one less than four,
the darkness is going to win. All the vampires need
to do is kill one of the Wild
Powers,
and it's all
over. Don't you see?"

Maggie stared at him. She did see what he was
saying, and it was even scarier than what he'd said
before. "But that doesn't mean we can just give up,"
she said, trying to puzzle out his expression. "If we
do that, it
will
be all over. We can't just surrender and
let
them win."

"Of course not," he said harshly. "We have to
join them."

There was a long silence. Maggie realized that her mouth had fallen open.

"...
what
?"

"We have to be on the winning side, and that's
the vampire side." He looked at her with yellow
eyes that seemed as remote and deathly calm as a
panther's. "I'm sorry about your friends, but there's
no chance for them. And the only chance for you
is to become a vampire."

Maggie's brain suddenly surged into overdrive.

All at once, she saw exactly what he was saying.
And
fury
gave her energy. He was lightning-fast, but she jumped up and out of the way before he
could close his hands on her.

"Are you out
of
your mind?"

"No

"You're going to
kill
me?"

"I'm going to save your life, the only way I can."
He stood up, following her with that same eerie calm.

I can't believe this. I ...
really
...
can't
... believe this, Maggie thought.