Hotblood (15 page)

When the Nether laughed the blood in my veins caught on fire. I stared at him needing to see past the darkness. I was halfway standing when I found my view of the Nether blocked by the Hound. It was very tall. I gazed into its ruby eyes then sank back down to the ground. I closed my eyes and realized my head was resting on the warm and silky hide of the creature. I didn’t have any room for terror; that would come later. At that moment I pressed my face against the coat, grateful for the strong scent of it. I heard the voices of my dad and the Nether, but I blocked it out and listened with rapt attention to the beating heart of my father’s hound.

It could have been minutes or hours, but at one point, I felt his gaze on me as piercing as my dad’s had ever been and then he was gone. I blinked and sat up feeling like a spell had been broken. The hound gazed at me while one by one the torches went out, but the hound’s eyes still glowed ruby red.

“
Dariana, come on.” My dad helped me to my feet and supported most of my weight as we walked over the rough ground. My mind wasn’t functioning. I moved, but I couldn’t really feel the end of my limbs or the top of my head.

“
Dad, you have some very weird neighbors.”

He chuckled low. “It goes with the neighborhood. That went fairly well, all things considered.”

I blinked. “Oh, did you think so?”

“
It wasn’t my idea to bring you, but his curiosity is satisfied and he’ll move on now.”

“
Oh.” I felt something then, a lurch in my stomach at the idea of my nightmare leaving without so much as saying hello to me. I shook my head but only felt dizzier. It was real, it could talk, but it hadn’t taken me. Had it really even noticed me, cowering behind my father? I thought I felt his gaze but how could I be sure? I shook my head again and stumbled over a branch, losing my grip on my dad as I fell to my knees. My dad helped me to my feet and walked even slower with me towards the road. It was a relief to step out onto the white gravel.

I couldn’t get over it. He was real. Was he really going away? I looked up to ask my dad but hesitated. Maybe I didn’t want to hear the answer to that. When we got back to the house, only my dad and I were left of the neighborhood ‘walk-around-in-the-dark-with-cloaks-and-torches’ group. When we were inside, I saw a light coming from the kitchen. I walked in and was glad to see food on the table. I ate while my dad sat beside me, looking into the darkness.

“
Dad, are you going to talk about it? I didn’t know it was a different language. Your hounds are a little intimidating.” My voice was breathless, but I forced myself to focus on my father’s face. This would be good for me.

“
Yes, it’s a lovely language if you like that kind of thing. Most of it was formality. Greetings between Nether are always interesting. He treated me like a full Nether. I’m not sure if that’s good. After he finished complimenting me on my pets, he spoke of you, and I am nearly certain he almost admitted to having something to do with your having a soul.”

I stared at him and blinked. “You sound like a lawyer.”

He sighed. “Well, he’s worse than I am. Have you ever seen an animal like that? I’ve never seen one up close.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it was like something out of a nightmare.” I grinned at him and realized I was getting a little bit loopy. I was tired and my self-control was completely hammered.

“
You did very well. I shouldn’t have worried about you.”

I shrugged. “It was more your hound than anything else. I’ve never seen creatures like that either.”

“
No, they’re not exactly domesticated. Drink this,” he held out a bottle and I downed it, chasing it with the autumn. It didn’t taste as brilliant to me, not now that I knew what death really smelled like. For a moment I almost wondered what he tasted like, but then I was limp as my father carried me up the stairs to bed.

When I woke up I stared at the ceiling. The night before I had wanted so badly to run to the Nether, to taste his darkness or whatever his substance was. It terrified me that I could be filled with so much desire for something so wrong. He wasn’t anything like my father who gave up meat so he could avoid killing and enjoying death. Of course, I had no idea what he was really like. I hadn’t been able to talk to him; I’d been too paralyzed to even think at the time, much less talk. It seemed like a pity I had come so close to my own nightmare without managing to say so much as a word.

Why would my brother, someone who loved me, take my soul? And why would a creature of night give one back to me? It didn’t make any sense. How could I know what was good or evil when the best person in the world could do the worst thing? Had Devlin known about the blood lust? Had he known what kind of a monster I’d grow into? Is that why he’d taken my soul— because there was something essentially wrong with me? No. However bad I was, it wasn’t right to do that to someone, not even the monsters.

That morning, Ethel was even quieter than usual.

“
So does that happen often?” I asked. When she gave me a blank look I shrugged. “You know, mysterious horsemen and a neighborhood walkabout?”

I could have sworn I almost saw her smile before she frowned at me. “Certainly not, young lady. We do not approve of any kind of after midnight callers. I hope you’ll have learned some decent manners before you go back to that Sanders place.” She sniffed and gave her knitting her full attention.

“
Sanders, right. Do I really have to go back there? After everything that’s happened I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”

“
You are going back to that world, Dariana. Your mother has shown remarkable restraint allowing you an entire summer away.”

“
A summer isn’t long enough for me to be prepared to go back to that world. You don’t know what it’s like, Ethel. There’s no color or life there. My mother is cold, as cold as her house. It’s like living in a mausoleum. I don’t understand why she really wants me back. She hardly looks at me when I am there.”

“
Things change,” she said briskly. “Your mother is not going to be the same woman you remember. She has great need of you.”

“
Yeah. I’m sure she does. It’s not just my mother; it’s all of them; Snowy, Osmond, and… everyone. I am not the same person. How am I supposed to act normal, to not get angry and do some damage? I don’t want them to see me like that. I don’t want him…” I clenched my teeth and bent over my knitting with renewed concentration.

“
The boy you dream?” She asked with the sensitivity of a baseball bat. “The only other thing you dream is Nether. What are the chances of him being normal? It’s likely that he’ll be as dangerous as you, in different ways. It won’t matter much though. Your mother’s not about to let some strange boy associate with her daughter.”

“
My mother won’t let?” I stared at Ethel until she snorted and really did smile.

“
Looks as if you’re up to the challenge, whatever it is. If you’re not afraid of facing your mother, then your destiny probably belongs as much to yourself as anyone’s does.”

She tucked her knitting in her woven basket and started chopping vegetables. I hated that I had to go back to my mother when school was over, but she had custody. Strange that something like legalities should have any weight in this crazy world where souls could be taken, stolen, where there were things like Netherkind.

That evening my dad took me hunting and he explained that we would go outside the borders to hunt in the woods where we’d met with the Netherkind. It was twilight, the light of the day faded while I followed him into the trees. We stopped for a moment while my dad listened for something. I looked at him, so at ease in the woods, and couldn’t help the sigh.

“
I’m sorry, dad.”

He looked at me. “Sorry? What do you have to be sorry for?”

“
You’re a vegetarian. You don’t like killing things. I’ve really messed up your whole summer.”

“
I know I seem like someone so different from you that I couldn’t possibly understand what you’re going through, but there are times when I’ve lost control, when I’ve smelled blood and lost myself in the hunt. Remember, it’s from my side of the family that you inherited blood lust.”

I looked at him thoughtfully. “You like blood?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I used to. I still do or would if I let myself. I came to a point where I decided I wanted, no, needed to overcome that part of me. I’m not certain if that was the right decision. Sometimes I wonder if it’s going to build inside of me and come out in uncontrollable ways.”

I stared at him for a moment then broke out laughing. “Oh, come on, dad, that’s sweet of you to say, but really, I can’t see you ever losing it.”

He gave me a slight smile. “I’ve lost control more times than I’d like to remember. You should have seen me when I met your mother.” His smile faded, and I turned away. I still didn’t understand how two people so different could ever get together.

He grinned suddenly, and I saw the silver glow of his eyes before he turned and ran. I followed. At first I struggled to keep up, but after awhile I picked up the scent; something wild that made me forget trying to keep up with my dad. Instead I simply moved with him. We flew through the trees as the scent grew stronger, then as we neared it, there was a different scent: fear. My mouth watered as we chased it. A shadow flickered in front of us, and the smell carried me along beside my father. There was a ravine that we followed. We raced along the top of it, dodging branches as we neared the heart that beat so rapidly. I could feel the shift in my father, the way he moved away from me through the woods, slightly angled as we gained on the terrified animal. I grinned and pushed down harder against the ground, the feeling like flying as I ran. I got my first clear glimpse of the hide, dark in the shadows.

I lost my head and leapt for it in the move that had worked so well with the coyote but apparently wasn’t ideal when tackling wild boars.

I had one hand on the hoof, while I held my knife with the other hand, then it turned, and before I knew it my blood was glistening on its tusks while I gasped, still holding onto my knife. Someone was yelling my name, but the smell of blood, my blood made sound really far away. Everything grew more and more dim until my dad’s silver eyes came into focus. I smelled more blood while the pain in my stomach filled me for two eternal breaths before I fell into darkness.

When I woke up in my bed, my dad was sitting in the chair, but he didn’t have a book. He watched me. I looked back for a long time before I dared to look down at myself. My whole body was covered in white bandages. I swallowed and looked back at my dad. The silence was getting very heavy when he came over to me and brushed my hair back from my face.

That’s when I started to cry. It hurt but when I was finished I felt better. I pulled away embarrassed.

I swallowed hard. “It hurt.” That was only a slight understatement. “How many days have I been unconscious this time?”

His slight smile was at odds to the tension still in his face. He looked exhausted. “It’s morning, you had your accident last night. You’ll have to spend today in bed to make sure everything’s healing properly, but after that we’ll go hunting again.”

“
Are you crazy? I’m not going hunting again.”

“
When you go back to Sanders, I want you to get used to hunting at least once a week. You can go with Satan. It’s the best thing I can think of to make sure you stay in control of your blood lust.” He held up his hand when I started objecting. “It’s either that or risk hurting your friends and family.”

“
Why can’t I stay here? How can you want me to go hunting after I almost died?”

My dad was quiet for a long time. “If I don’t make certain you’re healthy, someone else will do that for me.”

“
What are you talking about? You think my mother is going to insist on my hunting? That’s not going to happen.”

“
The Nether made it clear that you didn’t look as well as he’d hoped. It’s my responsibility to see to it that you know how to take care of yourself so that you are not left at the mercy of the merciless.” His voice was hard this time, and I could guess how much he hated saying that.

“
Oh, you didn’t mention that last night. The Nether threatened to take care of me if you wouldn’t and that involves me hunting? Who does he think he is?” My voice roared the last bit and my father smiled then sighed.

“
There are worse things, Dari. There are always worse things. Get some rest.”

I felt like a child in bed all day as my father came and went, reading to me bits of Greek he’d translate and try to get me to discuss, but I wasn’t in the mood. I had too many things in my head that I didn’t want to think about. I spent so much energy on not thinking, but I couldn’t help myself. The worst thing I thought about was Lewis. I’d forget to concentrate, and I’d start to picture us meeting. My fantasy invariably ended with me covered in blood and a look of unforgettable horror on his face. I stabbed my knitting needle through the lumpy stretch of loops a little too hard and gasped, feeling it through my bandages. I breathed shallowly as I set my knitting to the side.

“
Dari, I have something for you,” my father said from the doorway. I was certain he’d have another Greek quote but instead he presented me with a wicked looking dagger that flashed as it seemed to catch all the light in the room and reflect it back to me.

“
Oh, it’s a knife.” I took it gingerly and examined the swirling carving on the handle.