Blood Legacy (PULSE Vampire Series #6) (2 page)

He would never let her truly love him.

Kalina sat down on the bed, and then her mind went next to Jaegar. Not the cocky, fun-loving Jaegar that she knew, but the terrifying, passionate Jaegar that had come to her when hopped up on Life’s Blood, no longer willing to subsume his desire for her beneath a veneer of gentility. Trying to seduce her, trying to make her his – filling her with longing and terror mixed together.

A feeling she still couldn’t shake.

And here, too, there were memories of Stuart – Stuart who had been willing to risk his life for her, who had been willing to risk his humanity. To fight Jaegar to the death – to save her…

Kalina shut her eyes, trying to will the memories away. So much had happened now – so much she’d never recover from, no matter how hard she tried. So much love. So much pain. She grew furious with herself – why couldn’t she just
decide
? Why couldn’t she just make her choice and be happy with it? She could have that normal life – just stick with Stuart, live a human life, go to Yale, get married to a good, kind man who loved her…

That was the choice her blood had made, after all.

But not her heart. Her heart had told her that Stuart wasn’t the answer. Staying in the human world wasn’t the answer – especially not when her lips had started to grow thirsty at the smell of human blood. There was some other destiny waiting for her. There had to be.

Suddenly, Kalina sat up, sniffing the air. Her blood began to prickle, her skin tingling. A familiar sensation – one she had come to know all too well. It meant that another Carrier was in the area.

A Carrier – in her house? She sprang to her feet. Had Max returned from Europe already?

“Max?” she called softly, tiptoeing towards her door.

The door opened, and Kalina gasped.

“
Justin
?”

Chapter 1

K
alina’s mouth dropped wide open.

“Whom did you expect – the Queen of England?” Justin laughed. “Of course it’s me. You think I don’t keep this house pretty darn well locked up, considering all the dangers out there?” He strode into her room, blithely unaware of the look on her face. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be spending the night at Stuart’s? He’s not here, is he?”

“No,” Kalina shook her head quickly. “Listen, Justin, you didn’t feel anything just now?” She looked him up and down, frantically checking for any signs of a change. But, other than looking slightly stronger and healthier, Justin seemed no more vampiric than he ever did. But her blood was burning, her heart beating with a frenzied beat. No, Kalina thought – this was
definitely
Life’s Blood she was sensing. And it was definitely coming from him.

“Feel anything – like what?”

“Like…this heat, coming over you. This feeling in your blood – I can’t explain it…”

Justin sat down next to her on the bed. “Kind of hot, you mean? Because I’ve been feeling a little weird – I just figured I was coming down with the flu…”

“Justin, listen to me. When you walked in right now, my blood did something weird. Something...like it recognized your blood, and I started to get all hot and flushed and my heart started beating really really fast and I
felt
something. Something I only feel when I’m around Max. Or another Carrier.”

“I don’t get it,” Justin said. “You think Max is here?”

“She
is
here,” Kalina said. “Or at least, a part of her is…”

Justin’s eyes widened with understanding. “Her blood,” he said, nodding. “When I was injured, she gave me her blood…”

“It worked, didn’t it? It healed you, but…”

“But now I have Life’s Blood in me,” Justin finished her sentence.

“Impossible,” Kalina whispered. But she knew it wasn’t impossible at all. Far from it. She shuddered. If Max had been able to turn Justin into a Carrier, that meant that he was in danger, too.

“I’ve never heard of a male Carrier before,” said Kalina. “Max always made me think it was impossible.”

“Who knows what Life’s Blood is capable of doing?” said Justin. “Every time we think we understand it, it starts to surprise us.”

Kalina flushed as she thought of her new vampiric hunger. Apparently her brand of Life’s Blood was even more surprising than everyone else’s. But she said nothing. Justin was nervous enough about being around vampires – the last thing he needed to hear was that his own sister wanted to eat him for lunch.

“That’s just it,” said Kalina. “We don’t know what Life’s Blood really is. We don’t fully understand what it can and can’t do. It’s part of us now. Which is why I’m here. And not back at the Greystone Winery with Stuart.”

“You mean you two…?”

“Uh huh,” said Kalina. “I tried, Justin, I really did. But for goodness’s sake, I’m
eighteen
. I can’t get married. I can’t have kids. I certainly can’t settle down when there’s Carriers out there who need saving. I don’t care
what
Octavius said – it’s my problem now, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Justin said after a pause. “I’d hoped…”

“What, that I’d stay with Stuart?” Kalina couldn’t help snapping. “Sorry, I know you liked him and all…”

“Not that,” said Justin. “I just meant that I’d hoped you’d be happy. Whomever you chose. I hoped that choosing somebody, that getting away from those vampires – that things would start to get easy for you again.”

“They won’t,” said Kalina. “They never will, Justin. I know that now. I told Stuart that I cared for him, that I
must
have loved him or I wouldn’t have been able to turn him. But that it wasn’t enough. My heart was telling me no.”

“How did he take it?”

“Not great,” Kalina admitted. “But not badly, either. I mean – he wants to stay here, to study to become a minister, to live this normal happy life. And I gave him a chance to do that. Just…not with me.”

“He really loved you,” Justin said.

“I know,” Kalina looked down quickly. “But that turned out not to be enough. And anyway, Justin – when we were in China, at that old doctor’s house. I found something. This box – it was like it was calling to me or something. But I can’t open it. It’s got some sort of lock on it – and I get the sense it’s not the sort of box I’m supposed to smash open with a hammer. I think Max or Octavius might know how to get it open – or what it is.”

“But who knows where they are?” Justin sighed. “Last time we saw them even
they
didn’t know where they were going. Who knows if they’ve got any leads on the Carriers by now?  They can’t come all the way out here just to look at a box – time’s running out for those girls. Who knows how much food or water Mal left them with? If someone doesn’t find them soon, they’ll die!”

“Which is why I’m not suggesting they come out here,” said Kalina. “I’m suggesting we go
there
. I want to leave tonight, Justin.” It wasn’t just the box, Kalina knew. She had to get away from this town, away from all these memories of her past…a past that didn’t want her any longer. “I can fly to Ulan Batuur and find out where Octavius has gone to from there. Or I can try to reach him with telepathy…”

“Can’t you reach Jaegar?” Justin asked, but Kalina said nothing, flushing suddenly. She hadn’t been able to reach Jaegar telepathically since Stuart had turned – it was clear to her that Jaegar had chosen to cut off their communication. Now she didn’t even know where he was…

“Listen, Justin,” Kalina began. “I just want you to know that I know that this is something I have to do alone. I’ve risked your life too many times, and it’s not something I want to do again…”

“Nonsense,” said Justin. “You’re my little sister, and where you go, I go. Besides, if what you say is true, and if I have Life’s Blood in me, then I’m much safer being around a girl who knows her way around a stake than sitting here on my own…”

“You have a point,” Kalina admitted. But she hated the idea of bringing Justin any closer to danger than he was already. Already she had nearly lost him, and the thought of losing him for good made her feel nauseous.

“Come on, sis,” Justin said. “We have to go. I only have one condition for you.”

“What’s that?”

“We fly the
normal
way. Cramped seats. Uncomfortable twelve-hour flights. I love you, but I do
not
want you doing that vampire-drag with me half-way across the ocean. Makes me sick.”

“Careful,” said Kalina. “Now that you have Life’s Blood in you, who knows? You might be able to start flying yourself.”

Justin looked a little green at the thought. “I hope not, sis,” he said, “because I’m pretty happy with normalcy.”

They packed their bags, and as dawn was setting out over the horizon, they headed downstairs, suitcases in tow. Crickets had just finished their night song; crows were welcoming the morning. Kalina breathed a sigh of relief. They were going – she’d get away from this town, away from Stuart, away from her feelings of confusion. Anything was better, she thought, than being near Stuart, seeing how much she had hurt him. She needed time to cope with her decision.

But then she sensed him – her smell preceding her sight. She sniffed the air, and hunger flooded through her. Stuart’s car was pulling into the driveway, stopping so short that the tires screeched.

“Hey, slow down!” Justin called out.

Stuart emerged from the car. Kalina rushed to him, only to see that he was bleeding profusely from a gash on his right shoulder. Before she could think about what she was doing, Kalina was at his side – speeding like lightning across the front yard – her mouth upon his wound. The taste of him, the feeling of his blood upon her tongue, was unlike anything she had ever tasted before; her skin was warm with desire, her whole body trembling with pleasure.

Stuart was moaning softly as her fangs entered his skin, his eyes closed and his eyelids fluttering with longing.

“Kalina, what the
hell
?” Justin was standing at the doorway.

Kalina came back to herself. She stepped away in shock, covering her mouth as her cheeks blushed bright red with shame.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what just happened. I saw the blood and I wanted to…” She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, looking with horror as bright red streaks came away on her knuckles.

“Did you just…” Justin was gaping at her.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kalina snapped.

“But you just…”

“It’s a thing.”

“You’re not a…”

“No!”

“But you just…”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” Kalina couldn’t help shouting at Justin. Not being able to control her bloodlust was embarrassing enough, but to lose control like that in front of
Justin
? Stuart, meanwhile, was looking at her with adoration. Her instincts towards him had only made him love her more. How could she bear such kindness? And yet, as she stared at him, her former love was mingled with her present hunger. She had made her decision – she didn’t want to be with Stuart. But as long as he was before her, his blood so sweet, like chocolate or fine wine, how could she remember that choice? She wanted nothing more than to sink her teeth into him, to devour him whole.

She looked intently at the floor. “I wanted to heal you,” she said glumly.