Final Days (26 page)

Winds began to swirl, and
whipped around them.  Windari might be frozen, but some of her powers escaped to stir the air, her rage manifesting in wind that rocked the shores behind the house.   Sand began to blow.

“Tell me where you have Alisa,” Tamesine repeated forcefully.

Still, Windari fought her.  Sweat rolled from her brow and ran into her eyes, down her nose and across her lips and chin.  

Koen watched as she broke.  The words were staccato and spit at Tamesine with venom.

“South America.  Brazil.  The address is inside the cell phone in a file called Home.”

Even though she was still frozen,
Windari’s body began to shake.  Tamesine kept her hand on Windari’s shoulder for a few more moments and then commanded, “Sleep.”  Windari fell where she stood, crumpled on the floor.

“I suggest you b
ind her and I will put a spell on the locks.”  Tamesine looked at Eillia.  “I learned that from you and Park when you did it to me in Alaska.”

Eillia shook her head and smiled, then hugged Tamesine.  “It all worked out well for you. 
For us.”

Johnson came up to Koen and showed him the screen on
Windari’s cell phone.

“Got it.
  We’re going right away, aren’t we?”

“Immediately.
  Get everyone in the car and call the pilot.”

He walked over to Eillia and Tamesine. 

“Tamesine, you have a home with me for as long as you wish.  You have given me back my life and I can never repay you for this.  Thank you, both of you, for helping me find her.”

Eillia nearly lost it watching
this strong man with tears in his eyes.

“Go.  Get her and bring her home.  Tamesine and I need to get back to France.  We have a wedding and celebration to plan.”

He hugged them both again, and joined his men in the car to go to Brazil, end a nightmare, and save his woman.

TWENTY THRE
E
 

Martin gave her the dinner he’d spent the past hour preparing, but she looked up at him from her pallet, then rolled over away from it. 

This wouldn’t do.  She
had
to eat.  She was so thin.

“Come on.  I brought banana pudding.  You love this.  At least eat the bananas.  I know
they’re your favorites.”

“Too
…hard,” she croaked out.

He didn’t know what was wrong with her.   She’d told him months ago that she was sick and dying, but he’d thought it was a ploy to convince him to release her.  He would have done so instantly if he had the ability to.  But he
still couldn’t do anything but follow the Madame’s will.  Madame Mercury owned him.

It broke Martin’s heart because he was pretty sure he was watching her die, just as she’d told him she was.  This beautiful, sensitive woman was dying because he could not do anything
to help her.  He was bound by Madame Mercury, but he hated the awful bitch, the noxious woman who did this to him and this woman he’d fallen in love with over the past several months.

He’d done all he could to take care of her, but she was getting sicker and sicker.  Martin had to help her to stand now, and she couldn’t really hold the magazines he brought for her anymore.   He stayed to read them to her, but her interest seemed gone.  And he had to feed her, the little he could get her to eat. 

He hoped that man on the phone would get here soon.  If he didn’t, it would be too late.  And he hoped like hell the man might be able to free him from whatever fucking hold the Mistress had over him.  He wanted to go home.  He wanted to see his son, and go back to work, and just be able to live again.  And he really didn’t want to watch Alisa die.  If he did, he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to forgive himself.

“Come on,” he urged. “Just try to drink the milk.”

She didn’t move. 

Martin gave up.  It was time.  Nothing he could do now would convince her. 

He picked up the tray, started to leave, then paused.  “I think the man is coming.  Alisa, I think he’ll be here.  He’s coming for you.”

Again,
with no response from her, he left quietly.  He didn’t see the tears slipping down her cheeks.  It didn’t matter now.  As much as she wanted to see Koen again, her condition was so bad, their life together was already finished.  She couldn’t make love with him again.  All it would do now would make him inconsolably sad that they’d missed their final moments together.  Alisa thought that, at this point, it might have been better if he never found her at all.  

The tears continued while s
he thought about being with him that last time.  How they’d finally declared their love for each other, then made love in a way so different than the other times, because now they knew they belonged to each other.  How she’d decided to let him know about her condition because she was sure he would want to be there with her until the end.   How she planned they would live a lifetime in the months left.

She didn’t know if her medications would have really helped her stay healthier longer, but it was useless speculating now.  Her body no longer understood her commands to it.  On her good days, she could manage to sit up and even stand, with Martin’s help. 
But not now.

Koen, I love you, deeply and forever.  Forgive me.
 

She finally fell asleep as those thoughts rolled over and over in her mind. 

Sometime later, she didn’t know how much, but it hardly mattered since time meant nothing to her here, she heard voices.  Someone was yelling.   From her dream state, she felt hands on her arms, pulling her up, cradling her. 
Martin, it must be. 
She tried to say his name.

“
Mah…mar…tin.”  Her eyes opened and someone looked at her, smiling.  Not Martin.  A dream.  Koen, smiling, perfect white teeth, his eyes filled with tears. 
What a beautiful dream.

The helicopter landed too slowly for Koen, and he toyed with the idea of jumping from the damn thing.  They’d already had to
overnight at a hotel because of daylight, which delayed him almost beyond his ability to cope. 

He knew where she was, he ha
d to go get her.
 
Now!  

But the intense tropical sun had stared unblinkingly as he hid himself behind solid walls until
darkness fell. 

They finally arrived outside a big, rusted shed-like building that hadn’t been in use for many years.  It cut an ugly silhouette against the forested landscape surrounding it.  It was isolated and manned by two of
Windari’s blood-bonds. 

They were no threat for a first blood like Koen. He swept the first one away as
the blood-bond stood outside prepared to defend the building.  

Once Koen and his team entered the building, the light dropped off, the interior barely lit by infrequent bare bulbs hanging haphazardly o
n wires from the high ceiling.  The large area appeared to be empty until he noticed some items parked around a pole near the back.

Koen moved with vampire speed to the pole, where he saw another man leaning over a bundle on the floor.  The smell was acrid and sour.  He grabbed the man and threw him away from the bundle to
crashland on the hard concrete a good fifty feet away. 

The bundle moved and moaned.  Koen’s heartbeat threatened to
fell him, it raced so fast, as he knelt and pulled the blanket away. 

Tears poured out of his eyes as he gathered the emaciated woman in his arms.  The love of his life, the only woman he ever called mate.  Alisa. 
Finally back in his
arms.

She looked horrible
and beautiful at the same time
.  
Her condition was worse than he could have imagined, and he’d imagined some awful things.

“Sweetheart,” he said tenderly.  “Alisa,
it’s Koen.”

Her eyes opened, unfocused, and he saw her try to smile, then the eyelids dropped and stayed there.

“Baby, I’m taking you home.  You’re going to be okay now.”  Koen made the decision right there that, whether she had any idea what he was or not, she needed his blood to heal.

The blood-bond that had been with her started to stand and Koen nodded to Johnson, who grabbed the man and hauled him over to Koen.

“What the fuck have you done with her?  Why is she like this?”

“She’s sick, sir.  I don’t know why, but I promise you I’ve tried to take care of her.  Honestly, I wanted to
get her out of here. 
I tried to
.  But I had no choice.  We were all trapped here by a woman who is, well, I don’t know what she is, but she isn’t normal.  God, I’m so grateful you finally came for her.  She’s dying.”

“I see that,” Koen said, using his fangs to rip open his wrist.  “I’ll deal with you later.  If I find out either of you hurt her, you’ll die an ugly death.”

Sealing his wrist over her mouth, Alisa did not fight him at first.   A few moments after he begun, she began to choke, her eyes opened, and her hands came up to grab his, but there was no strength in them.  He could see she wanted to fight, but couldn’t.

When some
color began to return to her face, she became more aware that someone was there.  Suddenly her eyes began to move back and forth, focusing on his face.  The moment she realized that the man holding her was Koen, that he was really there, holding her, her eyes lit up.    Her hand felt like rubber as she tried to push his away from her mouth.

“You can’t be here.  I’m dreaming again.  Oh.”  She paused and tried to put her hand on his cheek, but couldn’t raise it that high, so Koen lifted it and held it to his face.
  Her hand was ice cold.

“Oh.  I didn’t remember right.  You are so much more beautiful than I remembered,” she said.

Koen buried his face against hers, brushing back her tangled hair.  “You’re all right, my love.  I’m taking you  home right now. 
Right now.”
   His voice broke on those last two words.

He lifted her carefully, keeping the filthy blankets wrapped around her because he thought she must be cold, considering how her hand had felt.   As he passed Johnson, he glanced at Martin.

“I don’t know what I want to do with you.  Not until I find out if you hurt her.”

Alisa’s eyes opened and landed on Martin, then shifted them to Koen.
  His blood had already improved her ability to speak.

“No.  No, Koen, he was good to me.  Martin took care of me. 
He wouldn’t let Brian hurt me. This wasn’t Martin’s fault.”

Satisfied, Koen moved closer to Martin.  “Look at me.”   When Martin did, Koen undid
Windari’s commands.

“You are free to go back to your life.  You will remember nothing about these last months.  When you arrive home in Chicago, you will tell your family and friends that you don’t know where you’ve been.  Until we arrive there,
sleep until you hear my voice say ‘awaken Martin.’”

The man dropped for the second time to the concrete, and Johnson motioned for two of his men to collect him and get him on the helicopter.
 

The second blood-bond, who Alisa had called Brian, waited beside another member of Johnson’s team.  He looked like bad news to Koen, but since Alisa said he hadn’t hurt her, he would release him from bondage as
well.   But the way she said that Martin hadn’t “let” this man hurt her upset him.

“You,”
Koen said to the surly blood-bond.  “You are free from any blood compulsion to return to your life.  You will remember nothing about anything that happened after you met your mistress.  And you can make your own way home from here.” 

Koen carried Alisa out of the building and
carefully loaded her into the helicopter, holding her close the entire time.  Once they were seated in the back, he kept his lips against her forehead and whispered, over and over, “I love you, baby.”  He intended to spend the rest of his life making sure she felt loved and safe every moment.

Alisa sighed from her dream.  Koen was holding her and telling her he loved her.  She lived for her dreams.  Her imminent death made it okay now to live in her mind.  It was all she had left since her body wasn’t working anymore anyway.  So she nuzzled up to his warm body and just listened to her dream lover tell her, over and over, how much he loved her.
 
It wasn’t the worst way to die.

TWENTY FOUR

Alisa was dreaming again and this time, her little puppy was licking her face.  She batted at the wet tongue and her hand landed on soft fur.

Oh, this was a
lovely
dream.  The puppy whined and put a paw against her chest, lying right on top of her.   She opened her eyes to see his huge shiny eyes staring straight into hers. 

This was her most vivid dream yet.  She brought her hands up to curl her fingers into the cream-colored fur and they worked perfectly.  Holding up one hand in front of her face, she moved the fingers back and forth quickly.   They moved effortlessly with no pain. 

When she looked around her, she was in her own bedroom, warm and safe.  She
smelled
good!  All she needed was Koen and this would be the dream she wanted to have just as she died. 

Oh, please
, she thought,
don’t let me waken.  Let
this be my last memory!

Samson squirmed and snuggled in closer.  Living the dream, Alisa pulled him up under her chin and kissed his forehead over and over.

“I’ve missed you, little dog.  I’ve missed you so much.”   And although he seemed much bigger than the last time she saw him, she knew it was the puppy Koen had bought her so long ago.

A laugh interrupted the silence from the doorway and she raised her head.  Her dream lover was smiling as he leaned against the door jamb.

“I love watching you.  I could never tire of it.”

He walked over to her, his eyes locked on her and got onto the bed, pushing the puppy lower as he took her face in his hands.

“How do you feel?”  He asked.

Alisa shook her head.  “
Like all the Gods in the world got together and decided to give me the perfect gift.  Memories of how I used to be, of you.  I wonder if there really is a heaven, because if there is, I think I’m already there.”

She pushed herself upright.  “This feels so real.”

“Baby, this
is
real.  You’re home.  I found you and brought you home.  You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

She knew it wasn’t real because her body was perfect.  Everything worked. 
It didn’t matter now.

“If you say so.
Come closer.”

Koen scooted up until every part of his body pressed against hers.  She kicked off the light blanket over her legs and rolled over to wind them around his.

“Look at me, able to crawl on you.  I missed this.”  Her voice cracked.  “I missed this most of all.”

She lowered her head and kissed him, immersing
herself in the feel of his tongue moving in her mouth, his hands sliding across her cheeks, his cock responding and pressing against her belly.   Somewhere she heard the pup whining below her. 

This seemed so real!
 
The details of her life so
perfect, the physical sensations, Koen.
 
So real it almost hurt to know it couldn’t be.

He
lifted his head and pulled her upright.

“Baby, I searched for you every moment you were gone.  You have to know that.  You’re my world.”

“I know that.  I don’t blame you.  I would have come back to you, if I could have.  But we have this perfect moment.  I could wake any second, so could you just make love to me?”

Instead, Koen got off the bed and came around to her side. He lifted her out of the bed and carried her through the door, out into her living room, past all the things she loved in her apartment, and onto the balcony. 

A warm gentle breeze lifted her hair.

“Does this feel like a dream?”

“It has to be,” Alisa answered him, although he was right.  This felt so real, looked so real,
seemed
so real.  “But it can’t be.  Koen, I never had a chance to tell you the reason I ran away from you.  I’m sick.  I’m dying, Koen.  I have a condition called ALS, and it is incurable.  While abducted, my condition has gotten much worse.  I can’t walk anymore, or even stand very well.  I’ve lost most of the use of my hands.  I have trouble breathing sometimes.  I’m dying in South America.  So this…”

She held up her hand and wiggled her fingers.  “This
isn’t real.  It can’t be.”

“Unless I had a secret that I never had a chance to tell
you
.”

The door to her apartment opened
, keys jingling.  Koen carried Alisa back in from the balcony.  It was Lauren, coming through with two canvas bags.

“Hey, you’re awake.  Hi, lady.  You scared the shit out of all of us,” Lauren said when she saw Alisa in Koen’s arms.  “You look a whole lot better.”

Alisa felt confused.  What was Lauren doing in her dream?  She really liked the pretty florist, but she hadn’t ever dreamed of her.

Lauren set the bags down.  “You’re wondering why I’m here.   Koen needed some daylight help while you were recovering.  I volunteered since he doesn’t know anyone else here in the city that knows what he is.  Let me put these things away.  Koen had me get three tubs of your favorite ice cream.”

This felt so real. 
How could it be?

Koen placed Alisa on the sofa and
sat close to her.

“It’s okay, you really are home.  You can believe it.”

Alisa looked around the room, at the puppy waiting in the hall, at Lauren putting groceries away in her kitchen, at Koen sitting here holding her still with his hands on her thighs. 
Was it possible?
  Was she wrong that her condition had worsened so much?  Was
that
the dream?

“Baby, you look so lost.  I need to tell you something.
”

Lauren said something. 
Something strange.  That nobody else in Chicago knew
what
he is.  That’s what the crazy lady had said, that Alisa didn’t know
what
he is.   A memory struck her suddenly of Koen coming to her in South America, of blood dripping from his wrist, of the taste of blood in her mouth.  Her eyes sought his.

“What did Lauren mean by she’s the only one who knows ‘what’ you are?
”

“That’s what I need to tell you.  I was planning to wait until you were stronger
, until you were completely recovered.  But I can see you’re confused by the fact that you are not sick now, and it’s keeping you from believing that you are really home.  I need to tell you this so that you will believe me.”

Alisa felt sick at her stomach.  What could he tell her that was so serious?  What could explain her improvement when it was impossible?

“Baby, you know I love you, right?”

Alisa nodded.  “I do.  That’s the one thing through all of this that I trust.”

“Okay.  I told you I’m allergic to sunlight, but there is another reason I can’t go out into a beautiful sunny day.  And you are a pretty analytical person, so you’re going to have some trouble with this.  But what I am telling you is the truth, Alisa.”

Alisa’s eyes lifted to Lauren, who leaned against the opening to her kitchen.  Lauren nodded and gave her a comforting smile. “
I can vouch for him.  It’s all true.”

“Baby, I am something more than human.  I have gifts
normal humans don’t have.  I am immortal, or nearly so since there are very few things that can kill me.  I have abilities that help me control much of the world around me, including humans.  I can heal a sick or injured human with my blood, which is why you are well now.  Before we left South America, I fed you my blood and you began to heal right away.  That’s why you feel so well.  I also need to take
in
human blood for nutrition, but, as you know, I can and do eat a lot of food.  And sunlight, I didn’t lie about that.  It burns me and with enough exposure, it
can
kill me.  Believe me, I know this sounds crazy to you.”

Her eyes moving between Lauren and Koen, Alisa didn’t blink.
  Quiet, she dropped her gaze, started to speak and then stopped.

“So, I noticed you didn’t use the word vampire,” she finally said.

“Yeah.  Although that is what I am, what my people are, your cultural idea of a vampire is so wrong, I wanted to introduce the term after I explained exactly what we are.  Alisa, I am a first blood vampire.  By that, I mean I was born vampire, not made by converting a human into one, which is something that can be done.  It’s who I am.  I am not dead.   We don’t sleep in coffins, we don’t live underground, we don’t kill people.  We are
not
demons or evil.  On a basic level, we’re still human, with a lot of incredible enhancements that let us live long, amazing lives.”

She was quiet again for another minute and he could see her sorting through his words. 

“I have to say I didn’t see this coming.  Although I really don’t feel as if I’m still dreaming, this is making it a little harder for me to believe that.”

“You are awake
, I promise.  You’re well now, and I expect you to be with me for many centuries to come.”

Now he was making her head spin.  “Whoa.  I am only half letting myself believe you because I can walk, I can move, I can talk and breathe again.  So if this
is
a dream, I really don’t want to ever wake up.  None of it matters anyway.  Even if you are telling me the truth that you’re some kind of a monster…”

“No, baby.
  Vampires are not monsters.  In fact, we’re more reasonable people than most you meet.  We’re good people, Alisa.   Just bigger, stronger, faster, sexier, and we live forever.”

Something else was bothering her now.  He’d said she was no longer ill.

“So your blood healed me?”

He nodded.  “Percy told me about your condition.  You were really sick when
we got back here.  I gave you some of my blood in Brazil, but I just thought you were sickly then from poor nutrition and being imprisoned so long.  Percy came to see you and he told me you were extremely ill, and it was fatal.  I fixed it immediately.  You won’t be dying soon, baby.  I couldn’t allow that.  You need to become my mate.  It’s a lifelong position and we live

very
long lives.”

“So you’ll make me a first blood vampire too?”

“I will convert you using my blood into my companion with nearly every benefit of being a first blood.  But first blood vampires cannot be made.  We are born.  And we are a great deal more powerful than normal vampires.”

“So how do I fit into the life of a vampire?”

“Oh, baby.  You are the woman I have waited ten centuries for.  You’re my mate, Alisa.  I will convert you, and we will have amazing sex every night for the next ten or twenty centuries.”

Lauren coughed into her hand.

“And with that, I am out of here.”  She walked over to the sofa and laid a hand on Koen’s shoulder.   “Oh, I’d forgotten how hard you guys are.  Anyway, Alisa, honey, I’m so grateful you’re okay and not dying.  I would truly miss you.  I need to tell you, this is a good man.  He has an incredible family that you will love, too.  So, keep your mind and heart open.  Your world is now a thousand times grander than you ever knew it could be.  I’ll see you soon.”

Grabbing a satchel decorated with three
-dimensional fabric flowers, she left quickly.

Koen’s eyes caught Alisa’s.  “All that matters is that we are together and we love each other.  Do you agree?”

Alisa moaned.  “God, yes.  Listen, I’m overwhelmed and thunderstruck.  I don’t know what I believe, except I do believe in you.  So…”

Koen shot up and threw her over his shoulder, his hand sneaking up her nightgown to caress her buttocks.

“It’s been too long.  I know one thing that we need to do right now.  Nothing should convince you better that you’re home, you’re safe, you’re loved, and that this is all very real.”

Samson had jumped back into the middle of the bed while they did human things,
but he cleared out when the big man came down on the mattress after he gently dropped Alisa there.

“Can I get inside you?”  He asked.

“I really wish you would.”  She answered.

The nightgown was discarded so quickly, Alisa didn’t even notice when he took it off her, but she lay beneath him as she brought her arms up to circle his torso and caress his strong back.  She could feel her
own ribs too easily as her fingertips moved past her body.

“I’m painfully thin,” she whispered.

“You’re beautiful.  We’ll make love, and then I’ll order an obscene breakfast and we’ll eat until tomorrow night.” 

He stopped talking as his mouth got busy nipping at her neck.

“Are you going to bite me?” she asked breathlessly, and found she was intrigued and curious.  Suddenly, the idea seemed at once dangerous and sensuous.

“Not until you’re ready.  Not tonight.  But you will find that sex and blood are a combination that will drive you over the edge of ecstasy faster than anything.  Someday, and soon, I want to feel you feed from me while you come.  And oh, God, I want to do the same.”