Blood Shadows (25 page)

Kristina’s arms shot out in front of her instinctively, the palms of her hands making contact with his chest to push him away. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him—hell, what living, breathing female could resist?—but he was just…well, King Kong. And she felt like the maiden sacrifice tied to a pair of pillars in a foreign, foreboding jungle. “Can we slow down?” she whispered.

He tilted his head slowly to the side. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head adamantly. “Nothing. I mean, it’s just that…you just got here.”

“So?” he said.

“So—”

“So, you’re still afraid of me, aren’t you?” He reached for her hand, lifted the palm to his mouth, and pressed a gentle kiss right in the center. And then he slowly trailed his lips down her wrist, nicked her vein with his fangs, and swirled his tongue over the trickle of blood, sighing in pleasure. “We’re not fragile humans. We don’t have to do this carefully…or slowly.”

Kristina pulled back her hand. “I know.” Her mind raced for a way out—well, not so much out, but for a pause. “It’s just—”

He began to sink his fangs into her flesh, startling her with the intentional pain he was allowing her to feel. Then just as quickly, the sensation vanished and turned to pleasure. Kristina groaned and squirmed in her chair. “Ramsey…Ramsey! Stop.”

He withdrew his bite and rocked back on his heels. “Where is your bedroom?”

Kristina swallowed. “Ramsey, hey…look.” She reached down and boldly grasped his face by the jaw, tilting it upward. He didn’t release her wrist. “Look at me,” she demanded.

His vivid hazel eyes met hers, and she knew she was in trouble if she didn’t think of something fast. “Tonight is just…I’m not completely here…my head is somewhere else.”

Then let me take care of that.
He spoke to her telepathically. And why not? He was a male in the house of Jadon, right? Of course he would have access to the common, central bandwidth. But then again, it didn’t feel like a common bandwidth—it felt more intimate—like something he had forged just between the two of them…

By taking her blood.

Oh shit
, she thought. She was letting him in—in ways she wasn’t even remotely prepared to handle—without even knowing it; and he was controlling everything that happened between them with some really smooth moves, almost like it was deliberate.

Calculated.

But why?

Ramsey didn’t need to take advantage of her innocence as a vampire—or even her ignorance of some of their ways. She was a willing participant, at a reasonable pace, that is. Right there with him. Clearly interested.

“Ramsey,” she breathed out, almost sounding desperate. “I’m…it’s…the clinic, you know? Everything going on with Nachari tonight. I just can’t relax.”

Now this brought him up short. His fangs receded, he pulled back to make unbroken eye contact, and his countenance all at once became serious. “The clinic? Everything going on with Nachari?”

She frowned then, confused. “Of course…I mean; you have to know what’s happening tonight.”

He froze for a moment, just the slightest hesitation, and then he immediately relaxed again. “Yeah, of course, but I’m…surprised you are so deeply affected.”

Kristina drew back in surprise. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She felt almost offended. “Nachari means a lot to me, and his
destiny
could die tonight.” She stiffened. “And if something happens to Deanna, then Nachari is lost forever, too. So yeah, of course I’m
deeply affected
.”

Ramsey’s brow furrowed, and he slowly licked his lips, only this time it was more contemplative than seductive. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, sounding genuinely remorseful. “I’ve been a real…asshole.”

He stood up, walked to the couch, and sat back down. And then he extended his hand to her. “Come sit with me, Kristina.” When she hesitated, he frowned. “So we can talk—just talk.”

Kristina eyed him warily. He seemed very sincere, and she was genuinely relieved. She got up slowly and took a seat next to him, still watching him attentively. “Thanks,” she whispered.

“How long have you known about Nachari’s
dest
—Deanna?”

Kristina shrugged. “I don’t know. Kagen called all of us together to talk about a week ago—not long after my brothers found out.” She thought about whether or not to share this next bit of information. “But you know, I actually met her before then—I ran into her the day she arrived in Dark Moon Vale, but my brothers don’t know that.” She sighed. “It’s not like I knew who she was—I didn’t—but I did know that something weird was up because she had some really weird connection to Nachari.”

He cleared his throat. “Really? And…why…what makes you think so?”

She tilted her head to the side warily. “You’re not gonna tell Marquis, are you?”

Ramsey shook his head with annoyance. “No. Of course not.” He looked beyond her for a second before bringing his eyes back to meet hers. “Nothing we say is ever between anyone but us. What made you think this girl was connected to Nachari?”

Kristina sat up straight then, remembering that day in the meadow. “Because she went straight to the spot where Nachari had died—where he flatlined trying to save Napolean—and she was like rocking back and forth in the dirt, rubbing her hands in it and stuff, crying like her life had just ended…like she’d lost her best friend or something. It was really weird.” She decided to leave out the part about her confronting Deanna and threatening the poor girl—thinking she might be connected to the Dark Ones.

Ramsey appeared stunned—far more than he should have been. So she had kept a secret? It wasn’t like Ramsey wasn’t keeping a few of his own right now…with her. “Does that make you angry?” she asked, a bit surprised by his reaction.

He grumbled, “No…no. I’m just—” He brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his jaw. “Um…I’m…trying to remember the date: You know, when we all found out that she was actually his
destiny
.”

“Oh,” Kristina replied. “You mean Nachari’s Blood Moon? The night my brothers practically surrounded Deanna and corralled her like a horse—damn, I feel sorry for that girl. I mean, not ’cause she’s with Nachari, but that had to be some crazy it-shay.”

If a ghost had entered the room, stood before them, and asked Ramsey to share a spot of tea, the seasoned warrior could not have looked more stunned. Silence filled the room for nearly sixty seconds before he finally came back to his original question. “Right…right, but I don’t know why the date is eluding me.”

Kristina shrugged. “I don’t know—it was the twenty-fifth, like nineteen or twenty days ago. I know because my brothers are keeping very close track of the Blood Moon, you know, Nachari’s thirty days.”

Ramsey started to speak, and he actually stuttered.

Stuttered.

He tried again. “You know, I’m not always privy to all the fine details—things that don’t really matter much in terms of security—like what exactly makes Deanna’s conversion so risky…”

Kristina was the one stunned this time. She had always thought of Ramsey Olaru—all the sentinels, really—as incredibly smart, capable men. Ramsey was acting almost clueless. And that just did not make sense. “Well, it’s never been done before,” she said. “So, of course—”

“Conversion of a male’s
destiny
has never been done before?” he interrupted, sounding dubious.

Kristina felt like she was talking to a Martian.

“
Medical
conversion,” she emphasized. “Doing it when the male is unconscious and unable to help out or do it himself.”

“So, he’s still…he hasn’t woken up, then?”

Kristina frowned. She was positively stumped. “Are you okay?”

He face tightened with irritation. “I’m just saying that anything can happen, any moment, you know.” He sat back in an obvious attempt to collect himself. “That’s what we’ve all been praying for, anyhow. Being Nachari’s family, you would probably hear—even before Napolean.”

“Yeah,” Kristina said, “I guess so.” And then she frowned. “But I imagine Kagen would inform you and Napolean telepathically, like…the instant it happened. If Nachari woke up, that is.”

Ramsey grew quiet. It was almost like he was afraid to open his mouth and say anything else ridiculous. He shifted nervously in his seat, and for the first time since the self-assured sentinel had arrived, he seemed completely off balance. No longer in control.

Absolutely shut down.

And really, for Napolean’s second in command,
what…the…hell?

Saber knew he must have sounded like an idiot, but he just didn’t care. He had asked every question he could think of without directly arousing the girl’s suspicion, and if he thought he could have gotten away with it, he would have pierced her mind for further information and scrubbed her memories afterward. But in his current state of agitation, he might just leave a trace of the invasion in his wake—a kernel of the darkness he wasn’t able to control or contain behind. And the moment the Silivasis saw Kristina next, they would pick up on the errant energy.

Since killing her, at least right now, was not an option, Saber had to be careful: Not only did he need both Salvatore and Oskar’s permission to snuff the girl out for good, but it appeared as if they might just need her in the future to feed them more information about Nachari and his
destiny
—to keep them informed.

Informed…

The word sounded like a joke.

They hadn’t been informed at all!

Nachari Silivasi’s
destiny
had waltzed into Dark Moon Vale, been revealed beneath a Perseus Blood Moon—and just why in the hell hadn’t any of his dark brothers seen that damn sky or the moon, anyhow?—and claimed by his older brothers before the sons of Jaegar had even the slightest chance to get to her.

And now they were performing a conversion? Medically? In Kagen’s clinic?

What in the hell was going on—this changed everything! If she died, the Silivasi brothers—not to mention Napolean—might be provoked to seek vengeance; and he and his brothers would be caught completely unaware. If she lived, Nachari might somehow find a way back to her. Saber knew that the pull between a male from the house of Jadon and his
destiny
was beyond powerful. It defied all the laws of the universe—including common sense and reason.

Son of a bitch.

Just how incompetent was Salvatore?

And as for that damn, bizarre, divining Cube of his—someone needed to blast the thing into oblivion, plant one end of a stick of dynamite in the cube and another up Salvatore’s ass. Because both were utterly worthless!

Saber stirred in his seat, trying to think of a plausible way to get out of there—to get back to the colony and inform his brothers as to what the hell was really going on above the surface. He turned toward Kristina, who looked a bit confounded, not caring if he came across abrupt or abrasive. “Baby girl,” he said, lacking his normal finesse, “I absolutely hate to do this, but something’s come up—and I’ve gotta go.”

Kristina rose from the couch as if she couldn’t get far enough away from him fast enough. “Really? Like what?” Her voice was harsh and staccato.

“Something,” he said.

“Oh…I see. So, I can tell you everything, but—”

“Business is business, Kristina. Don’t go there.” He hesitated. “Please…I’ll be back.”

She laughed sarcastically then. “Yep, and if Braden shows up, you’ll disappear. And if something comes up, you’ll just walk out. So, I guess you say when, you say where, and you say how long—and I just jump when called?”

Saber stood up. He didn’t have time for this shit. “Girl, you’re bringing too much drama into all of this—this is supposed to be fun, nothing more, remember?” He sauntered over to her, bent down, and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back, Red.” He fingered her hair and smiled. “Besides, you knew the deal from the beginning, right? Responsibilities come first.”

Kristina slapped his hand away. “Whatever, Ramsey. Just go.”

It was meant sarcastically, but Saber could play dumb as well as the next guy. “Thanks, sweetie,” he murmured.

And then he simply disappeared.

Kristina flipped off the empty space where Ramsey had just stood.