Frost Burn (The Fire and Ice Series, Book 1) (16 page)

Quinn’s stomach turned. “He sounds like a monster.”

“He was, but so was I back then.” The relentless hold of his stare made her realize he was judging her, gauging her reaction. She didn’t know what he expected to see from her, but she couldn’t fail him. “We were both monsters.” The underlying current in his flippant tone made her realize this was far more important to him than he was letting on. “And we both enjoyed it.”

“I’ve seen what vampires are capable of.”

Julian sat up in the chair, folded his hands before him and rested his elbows on his knees. “You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg, Dewdrop; I can assure you of that much. What Devon and I did all those years, together, are things you probably can’t even imagine. Then one day Devon came across Annabelle. The only problem was Annabelle loved a human, Liam. Determined to destroy their love, Devon turned her into a vampire, and everything blew up in his face.”

Despite the lethal light in his eyes, she found herself drawn into his story. “What happened?”

“Annabelle turned out to be Devon’s downfall, or at least that’s what I considered her at the time. The night Annabelle turned, instead of becoming a mindless killing machine who turned on Liam like Devon had hoped, she slaughtered a field of cows. Devon found her there. He realized that instead of destroying her, she’d retained the characteristics that had made her good as a human. She made him realize
he
could be better. He stopped killing and stopped drinking human blood. After a couple of years Annabelle went to Liam, told him everything, and changed him when he agreed to it.”

“What became of them?” she asked.

“Annabelle and Liam have been mated ever since he turned. Devon remained a boring do-gooder. I hated him for it.”

“Why?”

“Why would I like him? He’d been my best friend; he’d helped to mold me into the monster I’d become, and then he walked away from it all because of a
girl
. I became determined to break him as punishment. I bided my time and I waited; Devon may have been good, but he was still stronger than me. Then he met Cassie, and I saw my opportunity to take him down by taking
her
down.”

The challenge in his gaze only intensified. “I see,” she murmured.

He rose to his feet and walked with the lethal grace of a puma across the room. Quinn remained frozen as he stopped before her and rested his hands on the counter beside her again. The tantalizing scent of him engulfed her; she became mesmerized by the eyes burning into hers. “Do you really see, Quinn? Do you really understand what I was? I tried numerous times to kill Cassie, in order to destroy him. I missed my friend, but even more I wanted to destroy the good in them and the love between them, because I’d been engulfed in the evil, death and blood for centuries.”

“What happened?” The bare whisper of her question probably wouldn’t have been heard by a human.

“That’s a horror story for another time.”

She grabbed hold of his arm when he went to turn away. The powerful muscles of his forearm rippled beneath her hands, the warmth of his flesh sent little tingles into the palm of her hand. She ignored the attraction blazing to life between them.
I will not look at his lips,
she chanted in her head.

“If you want to know about me then you’ll tell me what happened,” she said.

He glanced pointedly at her hand. “I could already know about you.”

It was a tactic meant to unnerve her, and it did, but she refused to release his arm. It was also a challenge. He was trying to see if he could drive her away; she wasn’t going to let him. “But you don’t.”

His eyes were callous as he stared at her. “Not yet.”

“Maybe not ever.”

He leaned closer to her, the mantra in her head kicked up as his mouth hovered only inches away from hers. “Dewdrop, you’re a mystery I’m going to solve no matter what it takes.”

Were there bones still left in her legs? She didn’t think so as his words caused his lips to brush over hers before he stepped back. “The Commission was determined to try and create new Hunters.” He walked away from her as he spoke and over to the table. He didn’t return to his seat but rested his fingertips on the table and turned to face her. “They felt the best way to do this was to use a current Hunter and an Elder, if they could get their hands on one. Cassie had no abilities when she was a Hunter, a perilous rarity amongst your kind. They were determined to capture her if they could, but they knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to take her
and
Devon.”

“So they went after you?”

“They took me. I never saw those bastards coming.” The flash of red in his eyes revealed more about his fury than the growl he emitted. “A Hunter with telekinesis and some members of The Commission teamed up to take me down. They drugged me with something strong enough to knock out ten elephants and took me to a hidden laboratory under a school in upstate New York. There they locked me up and they waited.”

“Waited for what?”

“For Cassie. For their fun to begin. And then they unleashed every torture they could think of upon us. They were trying to get Cassie to turn into a monster, and I was their vampire pincushion. The only one we had to talk to was each other; we helped to keep each other sane while we were in there.”

“And you fell in love with her?”

His head tilted to the side, his hair fell across his forehead. “I did,” he confirmed.

“Did she fall in love with you?”

“No. She loves me, she always will, but she never could have fallen in love with me. After being in there with her though, I finally understood why Devon had walked away from what he’d been and allowed Annabelle to go to Liam. I understood everything about him. Including the realization I would let Cassie go.”

“Why?”

“Because she was never mine to have. She’s Devon’s mate.”

Quinn’s gaze slid to her window. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say. He’d been through hell and back; he’d been locked away like an animal, tortured, and he loved a woman who didn’t love him.

“Don’t be, I’m not. Being in there was awful, but if it hadn’t happened I may have killed her or died myself. Instead, I got my best friend back; I got more friends and a family out of it. I also realized that blood and death doesn’t have to be my life. Loving her gave me a whole new life, a better one, and I wouldn’t change anything that happened in order to bring me to this point.”

She still felt as if she should comfort him in some way, but he didn’t look upset. He was an ancient man who was extremely aware of who and what he was. A man who was perfectly accepting of the twists and turns his life had taken.

“What is this mate thing you keep talking about?” she inquired.

“It’s an intense bond between vampires. They’re soul mates and can’t be separated from each other once the bond is completed through the exchange of blood and sex. If one mate dies, so does the other.”

Quinn’s hands wrapped around the edge of the countertop. “I see.”

“And I came to see Cassie was the same thing to me as Annabelle was to Devon. She showed me how to love again.”

“And maybe one day you will find your mate.”

A snort escaped him; a smile curved his luscious mouth. “Doubtful, but I’m quite content with living the single life. I may not be a killer anymore, but I’m certainly not a saint.”

“That’s for sure,” she muttered.

He released a small laugh before dropping into the chair again. “Now Quinn, I’ve told you my secrets, it’s time to hear the rest of yours. How did you become a vampire?”

“I’m sure you have plenty more secrets.”

“You’ve only asked for some of them, and I’ve already told you that if you would like to know every horrid, juicy detail of my life I will happily reveal all to you one day, but not today. Quit stalling and tell me, or I will take the answers from you.” His eyes burned as he leaned toward her. “I am not playing a game; I won’t allow my friend’s lives to be placed in jeopardy. I gave and now so shall you, one way or another.”

Quinn bristled over his highhanded attitude, but he was right. She’d asked for him to reveal his secrets, and he’d done so. For her to not return the favor was wrong but she’d been determined to never go down this road again. “I don’t like threats.”

“I don’t like to give them, but I know you understand.”

“I do,” she said.

“Now I’m guessing the vampire with mind control got to your cousin before they arrived at your door that night.”

“You think they knew what we were.” She’d always suspected that, but it was the first time she’d said it aloud.

“They knew what you were,” Julian confirmed. “Or at least what your family was. I highly doubt they knew what
you
were. You wouldn’t be standing here if they did.”

She shuddered at the idea. “How would they know we were Hunters?”

“The vampire with mind control was older; he’d have to be to accomplish what he did, but he somehow figured out you were Hunters. For years, many vamps didn’t look for Hunters and Guardians because The Elders had told them they were all wiped out during The Slaughter. With the death of The Elders, most now know it wasn’t true. How many of them came into your house?”

Her gaze went beyond him, but she didn’t see the wall there, she saw an entirely different scene. “Six.”

“What happened once they were inside the house?”

She closed her eyes and shuddered. Her hand instinctively went to the scar at her temple, her fingers traced over the puckered flesh. “They killed Barry first, and then they came for us. My power wasn’t as strong then, but I managed to give one a good enough zap that I sent him through the wall. The next one came at me with a bowie knife over a foot long. He sliced me across my temple first and slammed the handle of the knife into my skull. I was still trying to get my bearings from the blow, and I’m pretty sure a fractured skull, when he cut me from my lip to under my chin.”

Her fingers slid over the faded scar there. “I don’t remember falling, but the next thing I remember is him leaning over me and that knife plunging into my flesh, pinning me to the ground.” Her hand fell upon the scar beneath her sternum; she rested her hand there as the agony of the moment slid back over her. “Then he took my hands and pinned each one of them to the ground with nearly identical knives like I was nothing more than a bug. I will never forget his face, those eyes, or one single detail about him. I
will
find him one day, when I’m stronger, and I will make him pay for what he did to my family. I
will
destroy him.

“I laid there and listened to the slurping sounds of him
feeding
on me. The screams of my loved ones filled my ears, but there was nothing I could do as my blood seeped out of me and the world faded away,” she said. “And then I don’t remember anything else until I woke again. Dead.”

She stared at him but he knew she didn’t see him; he was certain the only things she could see right now were the memories of that night. Memories he’d glimpsed when he’d first touched her. The color had faded from her already pale skin; her eyes were shadowed. Like blood, crimson had bled into the whites of her eyes again and the gold of them had red flames flickering around the edges once more.

“The vampire who attacked you gave you his blood,” he prodded when she remained mute.

Quinn shook her head; her hand fell away from her stomach. “No. Apparently being born a vampire and a Hunter was enough for me to transform without having an influx of vampire blood. It wasn’t an easy one.”

“None of them are,” he murmured. “But I imagine without that influx it must have been brutal.”

Going on his own experience with how excruciating the transformation was and the strained look on her face, he imagined it had been far worse for her. Julian rubbed at his forehead as he tried to process what she’d just revealed. Six hundred years and he’d never heard of anything like this; six hundred years and he was still able to be surprised. It would have been amusing; however, this situation was anything but.

“Do you have any other abilities, besides being able to master souls?”

“No, it’s the only thing I can do.”

“What happened when you woke?” he inquired.

Her forehead furrowed, the red of her eyes deepened further as her fingers rubbed at the scars on her palms. “It was still night when I woke again. I was still pinned to the floor. I remember everything being strangely quiet and loud all at once. I’d died listening to the screams and I woke to the booming tick of a clock on the second floor of the house. My head throbbed; my skin felt as if someone had peeled a layer of it off. I could feel my blood congealing at my back but more than that I could smell the blood of everyone else…”

“And you were hungry.”

A muscle twitched in her cheek, tears pooled in her eyes before she blinked them away. “I was hungry,” she said in an ashamed whisper. “I felt like I was being consumed by flames, as if the hunger was eating me alive from the inside out, and there was nothing I could do to sate it. My fangs dug into my lips and tore at my mouth. A part of me knew what I’d become, all I cared about was stopping the incessant burn though. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, I succeeded in ripping my right hand over top of the blade still embedded in the floor. It tore my hand open further, but I didn’t care. I was mindless, crazed.

“I pulled the other knife from my left hand, and then the one from my stomach. Before I knew what I was doing, I crawled over to Betsy, and I began to feed. I took what little was left in all of their bodies before turning to what was still drinkable on the floor. I was like a wild creature, a
monster
.”

“You were a newly turned vampire who already had a thirst for blood before you were turned. There was nothing you could have done to stop what happened, Quinn. Stop blaming yourself for it.”

Her strangely colored eyes were pitiless as they met his. “My uncle raised me like one of his own; he loved me like I a daughter. He protected me more than either of his children. It wasn’t a clock I heard upon waking but the faintest beat of his heart. A beat I stopped when I sank my fangs into his neck.”

This wasn’t shocking to him. He’d seen many a new vampire awaken and go on a rampage. The only two he knew who hadn’t gone straight for human throats were Annabelle and Cassie. If there had been puddles of human blood and bodies lying around them, it may have been a completely different story, at least for Annabelle. Cassie only had one mission upon waking and that was getting to Devon.

“Was your uncle going to survive his injuries?” Julian inquired.

“What does that matter?”

“It matters because it means you didn’t kill him. Maybe he was still alive when you got to him, but you are
not
the reason he’s dead now. I know you don’t want to hear this; I know you’ll continue to blame yourself, but just keep reminding yourself you didn’t kill him. Maybe one day it will sink into that thick skull of yours. If those vampires had never walked into your house you would still be human, well mostly, and your family would still be alive. You’re not to blame here,
they
are.”

Her face remained impassive; he knew it would take more than his words to get through years of her self-inflicted shame, but he would do everything he could to help her stop blaming herself for things far beyond her control. “Was he going to live?”

“No.”

Her response was stony; a muscle twitched in her cheek when he rose to his feet and deliberately advanced on her. She was exposed right now in a way she never had been before; he was afraid she would bolt if he approached her too quickly. Thankfully, she remained where she was and didn’t pull away from him when he took hold of her hands and held them out before her. His thumbs traced over the two-inch long scars marring her flesh. The scars ran across the centers of her palms; they had faded enough that they weren’t raised up anymore. He turned her hands over and saw the same faded lines on the other side.

The pain and helplessness she must have experienced caused anger to swell within his chest. He would gladly help her find the vampire who had done this to her. What he would do to that vamp would make what was done to her look like a day at the carnival in comparison. He’d make the man watch as he leisurely carved him into pieces; make him see parts of himself no one was ever supposed to see, and no man ever wanted removed.

“Why didn’t the scars heal during your transformation?” he inquired.

Her hands twitched in his, but she didn’t try to jerk them away. “They started to.”

He studied her as he waited for her to explain, but realization dawned on him. “You didn’t allow your flesh to heal.”

“I gathered the bodies of my loved ones, and took them to a nearby lake to bury them by the shore.” Her voice was flat when she said this, but a single tear slid down her cheek. “I returned to the house to gather what I would need, but the sun came up before I could go. Trapped there with the realization of what I’d done, I put the knives back into my palms and stomach as I waited.”

“Why?”

The haunted look in her eyes pulled at his heart when she met his gaze. “Because I deserved it.”

Julian’s hands clenched around hers. He didn’t argue with her though, she wasn’t ready to believe she hadn’t deserved it. “Did the police come?”

“No one came, not for me.”

He would have come for her, but he kept the thought to himself. He didn’t even know where it had come from. “When did you leave?”

“At nightfall and I never looked back.”

His fingers traced over her hands again. “How long did you keep these wounds open?”

“I reopened them every day for a month.”

“Quinn…” he breathed.

“They are my reminder of what I must do, the mission I have, what I have lost, and the atrocity of the acts I committed.”

“They’re your punishment.”

“Yes.”

“Do you still reopen them?” he demanded. She shook her head but wouldn’t look at him. “When was the last time you reopened them?”

“Six months ago.”

She’d spent five and a half years reopening her wounds; years atoning for sins she never should have been made to pay for. He would do everything he could to make sure she never had to experience something like what she’d already suffered ever again.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” he told her honestly.

“Don’t,” she whispered. Her lower lip trembled but she stalwartly held back her tears as she shook her head.

He clasped hold of her cheeks with his hands and leaned forward to kiss her forehead, her nose, her cheeks, before finally pressing a chaste kiss upon her lips. “I can’t take it away from you but I will make sure it never happens again.”

A single tear slid down her cheek. “You can’t promise that.”

“Yes. I can.”

The fire slid away from her eyes as her gaze searched his. “No one else can ever know what I did.”

“I have to tell Luther and the others what you are. They need a better understanding of your ability, and what we may be up against if someone else were to realize what you are.
No
one else will ever know about the events that transpired after your transformation.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. Lifting her face, he kissed her tenderly on the lips again before pulling her into his arms. He held her against his chest as she buried her face in his neck and leaned into him. She didn’t let another tear fall free, but he could feel her sadness in the limpness of her body and the fingers digging into his back as she cuddled closer.

“Do you mind if I tell Luther your last name? He won’t let anyone know you’re alive. It’s definitely better your family line remains dead to any other Hunters or Guardians.”

“You don’t trust them?”

“I don’t trust many people, but I
do
trust Luther and the others with my life. I know they will keep you safe, and I think it would be good if Luther knew as much as he can about you.”

She bit on her lower lip when she looked up at him. “It’s Martin.” He smiled as she gave another sign of trust in him. “And yours?”

“Aasen.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Unusual.”

“It’s Swedish.” He tugged at his hair. “I told you this was all natural.”

Her chuckle caused pleasure to spread through him as she rested her head on his chest again.

***

“She’s a what?” Chris slumped onto the bed in Luther’s hotel room. “Is that even possible?”

“Apparently it is because she exists,” Julian replied. He stepped out of the room and glanced down the street toward the increasingly packed parking lot of Clint’s bar. He hated the idea of leaving her there unprotected, but he had to speak with the others about what he’d learned tonight. She would be fine on her own, but he still much preferred to have her in sight.

“Now I don’t feel like as much of a freak,” Zach said.

“She’s not a freak,” Julian snarled. “And if you ever call her that I’ll tear your tongue out through your throat.”

Zach’s eyes widened, he took an abrupt step back. “Julian behave,” Melissa admonished. “He’s only kidding, Zach.”

“No. I’m not. And if you think I am then just try me.”

An awkward silence descended over the room. He could hear the increased heartbeats of those surrounding him. Maybe his reaction had been a little too volatile, but he continued to stare at Zach. Luther covered his mouth and gave a little cough before stepping forward. “It’s fascinating indeed, but we’ve dealt with a Hunter turned vampire before. This isn’t so different. I’ve never heard of a vampire being
born
before though.”

“No one has,” Julian said. “It’s never happened before, at least not to my knowledge.”

“Did you ask Devon about it?”

“I spoke with him earlier. He has no knowledge of it ever happening either.”

“How is it possible that she survived? Wouldn’t her mother’s heart have stopped beating when she was turned?” Chris asked. “Wouldn’t Quinn have died too?”

They all looked to Luther. His mouth pursed as he tapped his foot on the ground. “As a Soul Master she may have been able to pull on the life force of her mother, which could also explain her rapid growth in the womb.”

“She could have done
that
, as a fetus?” Melissa asked in disbelief.

“It’s possible, and most likely what she did, since she was born with a heartbeat.”

“Wow, just wow,” Chris breathed. “It explains why you felt so much more power coming from her. Is her Soul Master ability the only one she has, or is she able to do other things, like Cassie?”

“It’s the only thing she can do,” Julian confirmed.

“Good,” Chris said. “I’ve known Cassie my whole life; the things she can do still unnerve me a little.”

Cassie’s ability had unsettled him in the beginning too, it still did. No one should have that much power, but if anyone could handle it, it was Cassie. “If the vampires learn about Quinn, they’ll come after her with everything they have. If they also learn what Cassie is capable of, they’ll see her as a way to counteract Cassie,” he told them.

“Wait you don’t think Quinn would be able to kill Cassie, do you?” Melissa demanded.

Julian shook his head. “No, I don’t. She doesn’t have that much power, but that won’t matter to them. They’ll see her as a Hunter turned vampire who they might be able to get their hands on. One that they might be able to twist to their way, and a Soul Master is a powerful asset to begin with. You’ve seen what she can do. Imagine if that power was warped and fueled by death and blood. Quinn is good at heart, but we all know how brutal a vampire can be, how they can twist and manipulate things. And if they’re unable to bend her to their will, they’ll kill her.”

Chris shuddered at his words, Julian’s hands fisted, but he managed to keep his temper over such a notion covered up. Or he believed he did but when he turned his head, he found Melissa watching him with assessing eyes. Luther lifted his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose as he spoke, “With her knowledge of the Hunter line and her strength, she’ll be a double threat if the vampires get their hands on her.”