Blood Burned

PRAISE FOR PULSE

I devoured this book. From the moment

I received the review copy in the mail, I
couldn't put it down until I was finished.
Mystery

and

romance

clouded

the

beginning.  The  vampire  hunks  are  more
than  sexy,  they're  complex.  No  wonder
Kalina  can't  choose  between  them.  I  can
see Kalina as a real teenager on the brink
of  adulthood.  Her  grief  for  Aaron's  death
felt real. Then her elation in finding Stuart,
someone  close  to  Aaron,  who  reminded
her  of  Aaron,  felt  real.  Her  discovery  of
who  she  is  felt  real.  Some  of  the  situation
was  comical,  especially  sensitive  topics
(Kalina  trying  to  deal  with  her  hormones)
was  handled  with  a  sense  of  humor.  The

I love this book. From the beginning,

you  are  drawn  in  by  the  imagery  and  the
emotions,  the  sense  of  longing  in  the
characters as they meet. Right away, there
is mystery and romance. The book begins
in  the  rain  as  a  vampire  watches  Kalina
run  from  her  car  to  the  library.  There  is
something  very  romantic  yet  primal  about
Kalina's first meeting with Jaegar, her dead
ex-boyfriend's  half-brother.  Shortly  after,
Kalina meets Stuart, the other brother. Both
brothers are vampires, as was Kalina's ex-
boyfriend  Aaron.  The  dialogue,  rivalry
between brothers, plot twists, and action is
so  well-planned  and  carried  out,  you  can
visualize this as a movie. If you love young
adult vampire romance books with a strong
kick-butt  heroine,  this  book  series  is  for
you.

Teen Book Reviewer

Loved it! Very exciting storyline, can't

wait for the next one....

Ariana, early 20s.

Pulse is fast paced and intriguing, the

story has twists at every turn and the
ending leaves you open mouthed and
wanting more. Kailin did a wonderful job in
creating this vampire world.

Melissa Silva, The Bookshelf

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Blood Burned (PULSE #3)

Published by THE EDGE

THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup LLC

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval
system, without the permission in writing from the publisher
except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews.

For information, please contact:

THE EDGE at Sparklesoup

P.O. Box 60834

Irvine, CA 92602

www.sparklesoup.com

First Edition.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN-10: 1597489433

ISBN-13: 978-1597489430

DEDICATION

This book series is dedicated to all the nameless

volunteer  blood  donors,  my  doctor,  and  nurses  at  Las
Colinas  Medical  Center  in  Texas  who  helped  me  pull
through  when  I  had  suffered  extreme  blood  loss,  blacked
out, and nearly hit my head on the floor. Your team gave me
bags of blood for transfusion, which helped restore me to a
level of safety.

My body craved the blood to keep alive, yet the thought

of having to receive the blood from others because my own
body couldn't generate it fast enough, made me empathize
with vampires like Jaegar and Stuart.

When faced with death by blood loss, you realize how

precious that blood in your veins and that beat in your heart
are. Thank you blood donors around the world for providing
this pulse for me and everyone who may at one point or
another require your gift.

Sincerely,

Kailin

Prologue

Kalina screamed. Every wound in her body - recently

healed but still sore where Mal had thrust in those needles,
one by one – began to scream too, in an agony that
doubled her over and forced her to swallow down her tears.

Jaegar, no!

This wasn't happening, she tried to tell herself, forcing

herself to breathe as normally as possible. This wasn't real.
But through the connection she and Jaegar had forged, she
could see all that Jaegar saw, feel that all that Jaegar felt.
She saw Aaron, strapped down to a table next to Jaegar –
his eyes wide with terror and rage. She began to shudder,
uncontrollably, as she saw Jaegar begin to froth at the
mouth and tremble, as Mal began to inject him with the
entire contents of a vial of Kalina's blood.

Kalina knew what would happen next. She had been

warned many times of the danger, of what was destined to
happen if a vampire drank Kalina's blood without receiving
the  gift  of  her  love,  if  the  blood  was  taken  unwillingly,  if...
Stuart  had  warned  her,  once,  in  a  time  that  seemed  like
decades  or  centuries  ago,  that  it  was  better  for  Kalina  to
attempt suicide than it was for her to allow any vampire to
drink down droplets of her blood. It would make any drinker
of  the  Life’s  Blood  into  the  most  powerful  creature

imaginable – and the most dangerous. The vampire would
be invincible – for a time, even entirely immortal – his limbs
refusing  to  cede  to  even  the  harshest  silver  or  stake,  his
skin unpierced, his eyes still shining with cruelty. But worse
still, the drinker would grow mad. The power of Life’s Blood
was  too  strong  for  any  vampire  to  handle  except  the  one
that  the  carrier  had  designated  her  true  love  –  it  would
overwhelm the senses, overwhelm the mind, overwhelm any
hint of rationality or reason, replacing it instead with cruelty
and chaos.

And now it was happening to Jaegar.
He had promised to love her, always. He had

promised to protect her. He had nearly given his life for her
on so many occasions, fighting off so many vampires that
had come in search of Kalina's blood – camps of individual
bounty hunters, enemies of the orderly Consortium, and
now at last Mal himself. And he had at last been caught, at
last surrendered.

Maybe...Kalina closed her eyes, refusing to let the

tears spill out. Maybe Jaegar would be strong enough to
resist the pull of her blood, strong enough to keep his mind
intact. Maybe it would be possible – because he loved her,
because he had promised to love her...

She flashed back to the moments they had shared

together. She remembered him when they first met, their
angry, flirtatious banter, the way she had smiled so sweetly
as she teased him, the way he had affected innocence after
using compulsion to get close enough to kiss her. The way
they had trade barbed insults hiding only the softest of

feelings, the sweetest of compliments. And they at last had
succumbed to their feelings that one night in the Sunrise
Motel, coming closer, ever closer, to what their bodies told
them they wanted, they needed more than anything...

And then Octavius had come into the picture, had

clouded everything. He had stolen her heart, and with it any
chance that she could love Jaegar as truly as he needed to
be loved in order for the spell to work for him, in order to
turn Jaegar human. Kalina had moved on – she knew – and
yet she had continued to care for Jaegar so deeply, so
strongly, that their minds were connected in telepathy after
their exchange of blood. She had drunk from him; now she
could feel his thoughts.

And she felt within herself what it was Jaegar felt, his

thoughts spilling over into her, his mind coming alive within
her own. She felt the cold needle prying into her own arm,
puncturing  her  own  flesh.  She  felt  her  blood  slowly
simmering  into  the  veins  –  she  felt  the  taste  of  it,  which
began  with  a  delicious  shudder  in  the  vein  and  then
somehow echoed itself on the tongue – the hot, sweet taste
of  her  own  blood,  like  elderflower  and  vanilla,  like
honeysuckle  and  sandalwood,  a  perfume  that  intoxicated
her  even  as  she  resisted  the  taste,  the  sense,  the  smell,
even  as  she  told  herself  that  this  was  wrong  –
disgusting...no,  it  wasn't  her  thoughts  at  all.  It  was  Jaegar
whom she sensed within her soul, it was Jaegar's fear, his
desire; it was Jaegar who relished the delectable sensation
of her blood filling his veins, his nose, his mouth, his throat,
overwhelmed by the flavor and the texture of the delicacy.

The desire took over his senses. The darkness

clouded this mind, sank into every pore of his body, turning
his  thoughts  ugly  like  the  hideous  monster  he  was  to  be.
This was what he had been waiting for. This is what he had
always  wanted.  He  had  forced  himself  to  stop  –  out  of
respect  for  Kalina,  out  of  a  desire  to  be  chosen,  to  be
made  human  –  and  yet  as  the  blood  flowed  into  him  he
knew with a certainty deeper than death that he had wanted
nothing  more  than  this  particular  sensation,  this  particular
overflow of desire.

Kalina felt his thoughts running through her, sparking to

her brainwaves as if they were her own.

The blood filled him with delight, with a love unbounded

by  restraint.  He  loved  the  blood,  loved  its  strength,  its
power. Almost  as  much  as  he  had  loved  Kalina.  How  he
had  wanted  her  –  in  those  days  when  he  had  been  good
enough to respect her, to wait! How he had longed for her –
how  he  had  forced  his  fangs  to  remain  behind  his  lips,
when he wanted nothing more than to sink them deep into
the  milky  whiteness  of  her  throat!  How  he  had  longed  to
force her down onto a satin bed and do to her what he had
done to so many women in the day – so many women who
would never think to refuse him, from whom he could gulp
down cupfuls of pleasure, who would in return thank him for
showing them sensations they had never heretofore known.

And Kalina had refused him! Moreover – she had

mocked him, offering herself to him only when it was too
late, when it was clear that she did not want him, but was
only using him as a mediocre substitute for Octavius, who

had  broken  her  heart.  Jaegar  had  only  ever  been  a  poor
second  choice  for  her,  a  meager  substitute  for  Octavius
and  his  centuries  of  experience,  of  wisdom,  of  skill  in  the
arts of sensuality.

Kalina could feel Jaegar's anger prickle and then burn

at this thought.

How dare she! How dare she! She felt him shudder.

That silly girl – that idiotic jejune twit – had dared to refuse
him! Jaegar! Who had conquered the hearts and limbs and
loins  of  girls  for  over  seven  hundred  years!  And  he  had
been  such  a  fool,  hadn't  he?  Fool  enough  to  play  the
gentleman,  to  wait  for  her  to  consent,  to  wait  for  her  to
submit. When what he had always wanted was right there in
front of him, for him to take, for him to pluck! How easy it
would  have  been  to  grab  hold  of  her  wrists,  to  force  her
down  to  her  knees  before  him,  to  pull  her  hair  back  and
expose  the  snowy  nakedness  at  her  neck,  to  break  that
delicate skin with the full force of his fangs!

And yet he had held back!

No, Jaegar,

Kalina pleaded,

you're stronger than this!

Please, I know you are! You're too strong – please be
stronger than this! Don't let this darkness...

But it was no use. Jaegar could not hear her. He only

lay upon the dank, sterile chair, struggling against his
bonds, as he felt the familiar effects of Life’s Blood at last
overtake him. His heart began to pump blood again, the
dead, black blood clotted in his heart at last moving through
him. He began to breathe – his chest heaving for the first
time in seven hundred years. Air was cool and fresh to him

time in seven hundred years. Air was cool and fresh to him
– it was like a drink of water for which he had been parched
for so long that the agonizing need had become habitual to
him, a native part of his existence. He felt the world around
him in a new light, a new way – the air was something he
could

breathe

, partake in. Excitement made his heartbeat

grow faster – and faster and faster until he thought it would
speed up like a spinning top into a blur of nothingness. He
grew  warm  –  not  just  the  pale  anemic  warmth  he
experienced  when  feeding  on  a  human's  blood,  but  a
proper  warmth  that  gave  color  to  his  cheeks  and  to  his
extremities.

And then Jaegar stopped.
Could it be – was he a human?
Could it be that Kalina had really loved him, all this

time – even through Octavius, even through Stuart and
Aaron – loved him enough to have turned him human from
this distance, even in this condition? The thought of Kalina
loving him, choosing him, made his heart soar for a brief
moment. It was a happiness he thought he would never feel.

“No!” Aaron was shouting, over and over again, but

Jaegar drowned out the sound. “No!”

Mal was standing over him, a proud and triumphant

expression stern on his face. In a single, smooth motion, he
cut down Jaegar's bonds, and slinked out – vanishing into
the ether.

Was he free? Was he human? Jaegar began to twitch

his fingers – feeling the strange sensation of blood
complicating the reflexes of his muscles. He stood,

staggering at first, until strength returned to him fully. He
walked over to the window, where it was boarded up, and
instinctively – without thinking – tore the boards from the
window.

Aaron screamed as sunlight flooded the room, pouring

over Jaegar in a burning frenzy.

But it did not touch him.
It did not kill him. It did not even, as it had done when

Jaegar wore one of the Life’s Blood rings, pain him – a
pain like a slow and throbbing eternal sunburn, the pain he
had learned to get used to in order to live among humans,
during the day. This was entirely natural.

Could it be? Was he human? Had Kalina loved him

that much? Did he dare to hope?

There was only one way to find out. Jaegar's eyes

scanned the room quickly, until at last Jaegar had found
what he was looking for.

He took a rusty nail and, wincing, drew it across his

palm. A streak of blood appeared there, flowing loosely out
of the wound.

And then it stopped.
The blood vanished; the wound healed – the slender

incision vanishing into a sea of flesh.

He was not human. Kalina had not loved him. After all

he had done for the bitch, after all he had sacrificed for her
– after all he had given up – she had still not loved him! She
had still maintained the audacity to refuse him!

He grimaced, a cold grimace that turned into the smile.
Next time, he thought. Next time he would drain the

Chapter 1

“No,” Kalina was whispering, “no, no, no!” She had

curled  up  on  the  floor,  contorting  into  herself,  a  small,
quivering  ball  of  flesh.  It  was  too  much,  too  much  to  bear.
First Octavius had left her – whispered his love to her and
then told her it was best if they part, for her own good, he
had said! And moments later, she had heard this missive
from  Jaegar,  the  telepathic  connection  that  she  had  once
thought of as a blessing, but which now was proving to be a
curse.

She could hear Jaegar's crazed voice echoing in her

head.

You little bitch – you think you can get away from

me? Stupid slut...I will find you, I promise you! And this
time I'll finish what I started. I'll make you enjoy it, you
little...

Stop! Stop! Jaegar!

“Stop!” Her emotions overflowed her capacity for

telepathy,  and  she  began  shouting  the  words  around,
screaming into the air. “Stop it, please! Make it stop!” She
was  shaking,  sweat  dripping  into  the  carpet  beneath  her.
“Oct-” She clapped a hand over her mouth. She could not
call Octavius now, not moments after he had left her, after
he had broken her heart. He needed to track down Mal – he
needed  to  focus;  he  probably  already  knew  what  had
happened  to  Jaegar,  for  the  two  men  shared  a  telepathic
bond  of  their  own.  She  couldn't  slow  him  down  with

entreaties for him to comfort her.

“Kalina!” Stuart's voice echoed through her head as he

rose. “What's going on?” His voice was so kind, so soft –
so much like Jaegar's, as Jaegar's voice had once been,
whispering words of love into her neck and shoulders and
thighs.

“Jaegar...” she whispered, shaking so hard she

couldn't force the words out. “The vials – my blood...”

“What vials?”
“Mal – Mal took the vials.”
“Of your blood.” Stuart was kneeling before her, now,

his hands squeezing her shoulders tightly, trying to force her
into something like rationality. “The vials of your blood.”

“Yes!” Kalina shuddered.

You stupid girl – are you going to be a cocktease for

my brother? Just like you were for me?

She raised her hands to her ears, forcing them over

her, trying in vain to drown out the sound, a sound that there
was no way to drown out, no way to destroy, a sound
entering the very center of her soul.

“He drank...” Kalina looked into Stuart's eyes, unable

to bear the pain of what she would have to tell him next.
“Mal forced him to drink.”

“Forced who?”
“Jaegar!” Kalina began sobbing, brokenly, into Stuart's

shoulders. “He forced Jaegar...”

“He forced Jaegar to drink your blood?”
And then Kalina saw it. The stark, clear, agony

overwhelming Stuart's features, the fear as with every

second of understanding that passed, Stuart's brother was
lost to him, more and more...

“Is he okay?”
It was a stupid question. They both knew it was a

stupid question. But Stuart could not stand to give up hope.

Slowly, with agonizing finality, Kalina shook her head.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “Oh God, Stuart; I'm so

sorry...”

Octavius would have been able to fix this, she thought.

Octavius – with his dark, piercing eyes and olive skin, his
wisdom, his elegance, his strength, his ability to make her
feel that all was safe in the world, as long as she was in his
arms...  Octavius  had  connected  with  her  body,  with  her
blood  –  with  her  mind  –  providing  her  with  the  strongest
experiences of telepathy she had ever known, experiences
as extraordinary as they had been erotic. But he had gone
now, and she might never see him again. Last time he had
fought  with  Mal,  Mal  had  almost  killed  him,  even  with  the
most powerful vampires in the world – the Consortium – at
his back. And now they were dead, and Octavius might as
well be.

And Jaegar was gone too.
Another wave of pain broke over Kalina, and she

pressed her face to the cool marble floor, unable to
withstand the heat and agony overflowing in her heart.

If only Octavius hadn't sent her back here to Rutherford,

told her – begged her – to choose another, one of the
Greystone Brothers, the vampires he had made, whom he
loved enough to entrust with the woman he loved. Octavius

had told her only they could keep her safe – but if he hadn't,
then maybe Aaron and Jaegar would still be here...

“Mal has turned Jaegar...” Kalina whispered. “He's on

Mal's side now.”

“No,” said Stuart quickly. “I know – I know I've accused

him of a lot,” said Jaegar, “But he is my brother. He is not
evil.”

“Stuart, I'm sorry, but...”
“He's strong! He could have withstood the sickness,

the madness – I know he could!”

“Stuart, no!”
“He can fight it!”
“Stuart!” Kalina fell silent. “I can hear him in my head.

Hear the things he says to me. Filthy, cruel, sick, horrible
things...he wants to drain me dry, to kill me, to force me
to...”

“No!” Stuart's eyes widened. “That can't be. That's not

the Jaegar I know. That's not...that's not my brother. He
would stake himself before he let anything, anything happen
to you.”

Kalina calmed herself. At least now she could speak

clearly. “Whatever is in Jaegar's body now,” she said softly.
“It's not the Jaegar we know. It's not Jaegar at all.”

Stuart's mouth turned grim. “Then there is no hope?”

Stupid bitch – of course there's no hope! I've wanted

to do these things to you ever since I met you, ever since I
first saw your hot little body jogging along...

Kalina felt bile rise in her throat. “I am sure,” she said.

“Jaegar...Jaegar is dead.”

“I understand.” Stuart grimaced. “Then...we must do to

him...what we must do.” She could see him straining
against his own pain, willing himself to be strong.

“We must.”
“And Aaron?” Stuart's voice cracked. She did not think

he would be able to hear any more bad news, especially
concerning his little brother.

“I don't know,” said Kalina. She searched her

brainwaves for a sign – she could see only Aaron as
Jaegar had last seen him – his eyes wide with fear and pity
for his brother. “He's still alive, I think,” said Kalina. “And he
hasn't been turned, either. Mal must want him for
something.”

“Ransom?” Stuart asked. “Or...his nose.”
Aaron was the finest winemaker of any vampire. His

famous nose for blood had made him priceless to Octavius
– and even more priceless to Mal. Mal wouldn't risk driving
Aaron mad – Kalina thought – not if the madness would
interfere with Aaron's senses.

“You think he's looking for other carriers?” said Kalina.

She shuddered. “You think there

a r e

other carriers out

there?”

“I don't know.”
Images flashed through Kalina's mind – a table,

surrounded by vampires- a meeting, Aaron in chains.

She spoke as if possessed. “A vampire meeting!” she

shouted. “Mal is having Aaron smell the blood, my blood,
under vampire oath. To prove...”

“That it's Life’s Blood?”
“The real deal, yeah.” Kalina's voice shook as softly as

an echo.

“And then he'll want to sell off the rest of it...” Stuart's

voice trailed off. “And send Jaegar after you.”

“I'm the only carrier,” said Kalina mournfully.

“But...where do we go? What about Justin – and Maeve?”
Neither her brother nor her best friend knew how to defend
themselves against vampires.

“I don't know,” said Stuart. “The Winery – the Winery

isn't safe. It's been breached – Jaegar has an invitation
there. It's his house – we can't rescind it. You can rescind
the invitation to your house...”

“Then let's drive there.” Kalina forced herself to her

feet, leaning heavily on Stuart's arm. “As fast as we can!”

Stuart nodded curtly, forcing his face into neutrality.

She knew he wouldn't let her see his pain. His stoic reserve
was what she admired most about him – that impenetrable
strength that conquered all emotions.

Stuart walked her to the car, opening and closing the

door for her with gentlemanly reserve. What a lifetime it had
been,  thought  Kalina,  since  Stuart  had  last  come  to  the
Calloway residence. He had taken care of Kalina when she
blacked  out  following  the  exhaustion  of  learning  about
vampires – taken care of her for two whole days, watching
over  her  and  bonding  with  her  brother,  Justin.  They  had
been  dating,  then,  and  everything  had  been  new  and
exciting, their relationship filled with so much promise! And
then  they  had  screwed  it  up,  both  of  them.  Stuart  had

withheld  vital  information  from  her  –  the  curse  of  her
virginity,  her  destiny  to  remain  chaste  if  she  wanted  her
blood to be able to engender humanity in vampires – and
sucked  blood  from  Maeve,  which  had  made  Kalina  so
jealous  –  Maeve  could  give  her  boyfriend  what  she  could
not. And Kalina in turn had screwed it up too – leaving him
for  Jaegar,  then  leaving  Jaegar  in  turn  for  Octavius,  so
overwhelmed  was  she  by  the  novelty  of  her  emotions,  the
power of a vampire's embrace.

How simple things had been at the beginning, Kalina

thought as they began driving. How beautiful it had all been
– and how easy!

She placed her hand slowly, tentatively, in Stuart's – a

friendly gesture – trying somehow to express her anger, her
sorrow, her pain for all the difficulties that had passed
between them.

He took her hand and squeezed it.
“It'll be okay, Kalina,” Stuart said. His voice was only

shaking slightly. “We'll save them,” he said. “Aaron and
Jaegar both. I promise.”

“Of course we will,” said Kalina, forcing herself to

smile.

But she knew, as they drove on into the night, that

neither of them truly believed it.

Chapter 2

They conducted the drive home in silence. The car

sped through a night as thick and black as a starless sea,
the  screech  of  the  tires  the  only  sound.  Kalina  leaned  her
head  on  the  window,  feeling  the  cool  glass  press  against
her  cheek.  She  could  feel  Stuart  beside  her,  his  hands
clenched on the wheel, feel the pain he was trying too hard
not  to  express.  She  might  not  have  had  a  telepathic
connection with him, but nevertheless she was able to feel
in some small measure what he felt, a reflection of her own
agony times a million fold. Could this really have happened
to  Jaegar?  Stuart's  Jaegar  –  their  Jaegar  –  her  Jaegar?
That funny, arch trickster who had caused so much trouble,
and yet was always with the best of intentions, whose heart
was truly good despite his pretension to wickedness.

Kalina sighed heavily, and the sigh filled the car. She

watched the road speed on out the window and blinked
away her tears.

“Stop,” she said. “We…we should go to Maeve's

house, first. To warn her.”

“What?” Stuart's face was a mask of concern. He

turned towards her.

“Mal...when I was imprisoned – he looked into my

head. Trying to find the people I cared about. To use
them...against me. I don't want anything to happen to her.”

“I understand.”

He spun the car around instantly, the screech hot on

the  pavement.  Good  old  Stuart,  Kalina  thought.  He  was
always so quick to do the right thing; it was always so easy
for  him.  Even  with  everything  that  had  happened  between
them,  with  all  the  chaos  and  the  trouble,  he  knew  exactly
what the right thing was, and how to do it. Kalina sighed. If
only  her  own  thoughts  were  so  simple,  as  straightforward
as  Stuart's.  Her  mind  was  so  racked  with  guilt  and
confusion – she had been so overwhelmed by her feelings
– that there was in the end nothing for her to do but force
the tears out of the corner of her eyes and try to stay calm.
This was her fault, she felt.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Stuart's voice – so calm,

like warm milk – broke the silence.

Kalina sighed again, then shrugged. It was too hard to

voice her thoughts.

“You okay?”
His concern was so deep, so well-meaning. Even

through his own pain he was thinking of her. She knew she
had to trust him with her thoughts.

“I think so,” she said. “I mean...everything that's

happened...”

“I know.”
She shot him a weak smile. “It's just – things were a lot

simpler before I met you guys.” She looked down.

“It's hard to tell what you're thinking,” said Stuart. “You

get this look on your face – you're so far away.”

She was in the recesses of dreamland, that labyrinth

Octavius had taught her to walk in, searching telepathically,

calling out his name...

“Funny,” said Kalina. “Jaegar wouldn't have said that.

Octavius...they can read my mind. If I let them. But you...”

“We haven't made that connection,” said Stuart. She

could see his lips whiten with the faintest hint of jealousy.

“No, not yet,” said Kalina. “But...why? I mean, I drank

Jaegar's  blood.  But  with  Octavius...it  was  before  that.  I
hadn't  even  drunk  his  blood  when  we  were  able  to  start
communication. And  it's  not  like  it  was  with  Jaegar.  With
him  it  was  always  fuzzy,  like...like  talking  underwater,  I
guess. But with Otavius...so clear!”

“You and he had...have...something special,” said

Stuart. “It's not normal.”

“When are vampires ever normal?” Kalina stared out

the window.

“Even

for

vampires.”

Stuart

began

look

uncomfortable. “Normally,” he said. “The telepathic
connection is done only through blood – like you and
Jaegar. You drank his blood, so you were able to connect
with his thoughts.”

“And Octavius?”
“You are the Carrier of Life’s Blood,” said Stuart. “The

rules for you are not like the rules for everybody else.
Nobody knows quite what you are. Half human – half
vampire? But you're not a dhampir like Aaron...not a halfling
in the technical sense.”

“I'm a mystery, I guess,” said Kalina. They fell silent.

She spoke up again. “And you and Maeve? Can you share
thoughts too?” Kalina flushed to remember how stupid and

jealous  she  had  been  about  Maeve's  relationship  with
Stuart.  She  had  asked  Maeve  to  give  blood  to  help  save
Stuart's life – yet when she saw the two of them together,
partaking  in  that  bloody  ritual  from  she  was  excluded,  the
pain  of  her  necessary  exclusion  had  clouded  her  better
judgment.  “Don't  worry,”  said  Kalina  quickly.  “I'm  over  all
that now. I'm not mad – I mean...I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too,” said Stuart. He looked closely at the

steering wheel.

“I talked to Maeve. She and I – well, we're best friends

again!” Kalina smiled. “She's a good friend.”

“Yes,” said Stuart. “I can imagine she would be.” Stuart

sighed. “I'm glad. That – we did not hurt you.” He shook his
head.  “No,  Maeve  and  I  were  never  able  to  talk
telepathically.  Not  all  vampires  have  that  ability  –  only  the
strongest. And even then they have to share blood...it is so
rare.  But  again,  I  must  say,  I  think  it  is  a  question  of  your
blood.  Life’s  Blood  does  some  incredible  things  –  and
there is so much about the subject that vampires don't even
know!”

“Do you think...” Kalina's voice trailed off.
“Do I think what?”
“If I drank your blood, I mean. Do you think we'd get a

connection – telepathically?”

Stuart looked up. “What?”
“I want to be able to reach you,” said Kalina. “Wherever

you are. In case...” She flashed back to Mal's dungeon – the
terror, the smell of the damp and the sound of the mice
scurrying underfoot. She shut her eyes, trying to drown out

the image. “Now that Jaegar's gone – it's too dangerous if I
can't communicate with you.”

“That makes sense,” said Stuart, but his voice was

wary.

“I just...if Mal comes after us...” Kalina's eyes began to

water. The very thought of Mal – his cruel smile – his
sadistic glee in torturing her for hours upon hours – made
her begin to shake.

“It's all right.” Stuart leaned in closely, putting an arm

about her shoulders. His touch calmed her; his eyes were
warm and full of love. They made her feel safe – protected.
“I won't let that happen to you again, Kalina. I promise. Even
if it means...” He took a deep breath. “I want you to drink,”
he said. “But please – please don't hate me...afterwards.”

Kalina raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Just do it!” Stuart snapped. “Before I change my

mind.”

He bit into his wrist; Kalina could see rivulets of blood

emerging from the wounds. “Drink!” Stuart's voice was
harsher than she was accustomed to – hot and angry with
desire.

She closed her eyes and inhaled. The scent of the

blood was intoxicating; it swamped her nostrils, her mouth,
her whole world. Against herself, she leaped upon him –
forcing him to swerve the car to the side of the road –
pressing her lips into the cut, drinking down every droplet of
the blood. She could not see; she could not hear; she could
not think. She could only moan softly as she lapped up each
trickling droplet, turning her lips a dark shade of purple as

she rubbed her cheeks and lips against the cut.

At last she opened her eyes, only to see Stuart's face

contorted in something like agony. She stopped
immediately. Had she hurt him? Killed him? She forced her
mouth away from the wound, shuddering with the effort.

“Stuart? Are you all right?”
“Don't talk.” His voice was harsh and cold.

“Just...don't...talk.”

They sat in silence for a while, Kalina clapping a hand

over her mouth. At last Stuart turned towards her. “I am
sorry,” he said. “For my behavior just then. But – the
sensation of you...there. It was...overpowering. I was afraid
if I allowed myself to open my eyes, to see – hear – smell
you – I would not be able to restrain myself.”

His eyes remained closed.
“Right now, I want nothing more than to bite you back,”

he said. “My desire for you has been multiplied a
thousandfold.” He sighed deeply. “Right now, I want you
more than anything – and I can't – I

can't

have you. And it's

killing me that I can't.”

“Stuart...” Kalina said softly.
“No, I agreed to this! I told you you could have my

blood!”

“You knew it would do this to you?”
He nodded. “A worthwhile price to pay for your life.

An...exercise of my willpower.” He scoffed. “No, you’re
Octavius’… had been from the start. Your heart – your
mind. The last time my brother and I tried to keep you from
Octavius...we were wrong to do so. We kept you from your

destiny  –  for  our  own  selfish  reasons.  Love,  bloodlust  –  I
don't  know.  We  betrayed  our  maker.  It  was  unforgivable.
But  I  can’t  help  this  want,  Kalina.  I’m  fighting  it  with
everything I’ve got.”

His eyes were still squeezed shut.

Stuart, can you hear me?

She probed softly.

Somehow his concern for her, his self-sacrifice, made her
feel closer to him than ever.

Yes...

The sound was tentative, afraid.

Stuart, open your eyes.

No answer.

Stuart, look at me. It's okay.

She squeezed his hand. At last, tentatively, he let one

eyelid flutter open. She could see the darkness of desire in
his eyes.

We'll work on this together, okay? You and me – both

of us. We'll make sure you can control this. I'll help you.

Stuart nodded.

I need you with me. I can't lose you, too.
Okay.

This time his telepathic voice was strong and deep. He

broke  into  normal  speech.  “Look,  Kalina  –  I'm  not  like
Jaegar is – was. I don't act on impulse. But that does not
mean  my  desires  are  any  less  strong  –  any  less
pronounced  than  his.  My  blood  seeks  yours.  It’s  the
strongest hunger I’ve ever encountered.”

“I am the Carrier,” said Kalina.
“It started before I met you,” said Stuart. “It began when

Octavius first heard of you – first began seeking for you –
this  longing.  He  is  my  maker  –  I  feel  what  he  feels,  want
what  he  wants.  My  desire  for  you  is  a  reflection  of  his  –  I
know this. When Aaron sent me his message to come back
to Rutherford to protect you, I was already half in love with
you.  Then  I  met  you,  and  you  were  the  dream  I’ve  always
had  of  the  woman…  but  you  were  already  Octavius’.  He
had mentioned you over and over again how he must find
you.  Logically,  I  know  this.  But  it  does  not  make  the
sensation for me any less real – any less agonizing...”

She cut him off, reaching out a hand to touch his hand,

to show…

He jumped away from her, opening his eyes, his fangs

elongated. “Don’t touch me!”

“I’m sorry!” Kalina gasped. “I want you to know how I

feel…”

I understand, please don’t or I can’t help what I’ll do

next.

Before Kalina could blink, Stuart was poised on top of

her, his arms encircling her, his fangs bared. His eyes were
filled with deep desire so great it kindled Kalina’s already
burning skin. Kalina could feel his blood within her react
with her hormones, stirring up her latent desire for him, his
touch, his kiss.

She looked into Stuart’s eyes, and felt her mouth

parted and her tongue lick her lips in anticipation.

“Oh,” Stuart groaned. “Octavius will kill me…”
Octavius’ name brought some sense into Kalina’s

mind. Then it brought pain…he no longer wanted her. She

Chapter 3

At last Stuart and Kalina arrived at Maeve's house. It

was after midnight, and Kalina worried what would happen
if  it  was  Maeve's  mother,  rather  than  Maeve  herself,  who
answered  the  door.  How  could  Kalina  explain  away  the
blood on her shoes – the blood stains trickling at the end of
her  mouth,  Stuart  –  who  looked  even  more  vampire-like
than  ever  with  the  blossoming  of  his  desire.  They  had
kissed  passionately,  his  mouth  tasting  hers,  while  he  held
her close, his face strained with his strong need. She had
kissed  him  fervently  back,  all  her  pent  up  feelings  for  him
combined with her need to comfort him. Finally, not being
able to hold back, he darted out of the car panting…before
Kalina could blink.

Now she stood far apart from Stuart, whose eyes still

held hers with unspoken desire and longing. Kalina turned
to look ahead. She mustn’t think of what just happened or
both of them would never get to Maeve’s. At the corner of
her eye, she saw Stuart flinched, now telepathically-
connected to Kalina, being able to see in her mind’s eye
that passionate scene.

Please Kalina, you’re torturing me. Think of

something else.

She thought of the task ahead. It won’t be easy telling

Maeve about everything. She sighed and rang the doorbell.

Here's to hoping, right?

She said to Stuart. He

nodded  curtly  back  at  her.  Kalina  could  see  how  hard  he
was  trying  not  to  let  her  see  his  ferocious  desire  for  her,
despite  his  kiss,  and  she  tactfully  looked  away.  She
respected  his  efforts,  even  as  she  could  not  deny  the
sensation  of  being  so  hotly  –  so  tantalizingly  –  desired
thrilled her. The kiss did nothing to quench this desire…but
to fuel it. Above all things, however, she felt compassion for
Stuart, for his predicament. Octavius had said once that if
any vampire was to become human, it should be Stuart –
he  had  never  wanted  to  shoulder  the  burdens  of  blood  or
immortality. Could she love Stuart the way he needed to be
loved  in  order  for  the  spell  to  work?  She  would  have
drained  herself  dry  if  it  meant  giving  Stuart  any  chance  at
humanity. He deserved it – perhaps he deserved it most of
all.  His  goodness,  his  self-sacrifice,  so  often  went
unacknowledged  in  the  presence  of  his  flashier,  sexier
brother Jaegar.

I guess we all go for the bad boys, Kalina thought to

herself, and then straightened up, hoping Stuart had not
heard her thoughts. He did not seem to change expression.

At last Maeve answered the door. “Guys?” She

furrowed her brow. “What's going on?” She caught sight of
the blood on Kalina's shirt and Stuart's sleeves. “Holy...are
you guys okay? Come inside.” She ushered them in.
“Mom's passed out upstairs.”

“What is it this time?”
“Diazepam.” Maeve rolled her eyes. “At least you have

someone used to playing doctor.” She gave a wry laugh.

“What's going on, Kalina? You vanished for the last week of
school. The principal said you were at a math Olympiad –
but...that didn't sound like you, somehow.”

Kalina had always wanted to be a history major.
“I...” Where could she begin? How could Kalina even

start to regale Maeve with the tales of Octavius – how he
had taken her to Paris and Rome, made her fall in love with
him, offer to... how she had lost him – how could Kalina tell
her about Stuart and Jaegar and Aaron and everything that
had happened since they last talked.

“I just...can I sit down?” Kalina said at last.
“Of course!” Maeve rushed to get Kalina a chair.
“Let's just say,” said Kalina, “my trip was cut short.

Because of a vampire. A very dangerous vampire. A
vampire called Mal.”

“Please,” Stuart cut in. “Kalina – you've had to deal

with enough for one day. Do you mind...would it be better
if...I explained?”

Kalina shot him a grateful smile.
Stuart was far better able than Kalina was to contain

his  emotions  –  indeed,  Stuart  was  better  at  being  stoic
when the moment required it than anybody else Kalina had
ever  met.  He  spoke  in  a  crisp,  clear  monotone,  telling
Maeve about Kalina's visit to Octavius, the arrangement the
Greystone  Brothers  had  made  with  Octavius,  about  the
murder  of  the  Consortium  in  Rome  and  Kalina's
subsequent  abduction  in  Paris.  Kalina  sat  staring  at  her
lap,  her  hands  scratching  and  fidgeting  at  each  other.
Stuart told the whole story – as clearly and accurately as he

could  –  but  there  was  so  much  he  left  out!  The  beauty  of
that first night in Paris, after the opera – the way Kalina had
succumbed  to  Octavius...  the  romance,  that  kiss  upon  the
bridge  –  Kalina's  fear,  her  pain,  her  torment  as  she  had
slowly come to realize her love for Octavius.

“Kalina?” Maeve was saying. Kalina whirled into

action.

“What? What is it?”
“Are you okay? You just...you went really red all of a

sudden.”

“Yeah, I'm okay.” Kalina looked down. “It's just been a

really rough couple of weeks.”

Stuart at last came to the conclusion of his story.
“Wow,” said Maeve, staring out into space.

“Just...wow.”

“So you see,” Stuart concluded. “You must be as

vigilant as possible. You cannot open your door to anybody
– and never, above all things, invite anybody you do not
know in. Tell your mother to do the same.”

“My mother's never awake,” Maeve rolled her eyes.
“Mal is as dangerous and invincible as creatures of

your nightmares,” said Stuart. “He is mad – as a hatter –
and willing to stop at nothing to get to Kalina. And this puts
you in danger, too. Because Kalina cares for you.”

“Kalina, I'm so sorry,” said Maeve, putting her hand on

Kalina's knee. “You must have gone through so much.”

Kalina was struck at Maeve's selflessness. She was

the only friend in her old social circle who stuck by her when
she grew distant and closed herself off following Aaron’s

death. Kalina couldn’t handle the fake friendships she had
developed  over  the  years  with  some  of  the  girls  on  her
squad  and  circle.  Maeve  was  the  only  true  friend  that  she
had, and it took Aaron’s death to find out. Had somebody
told her, Kalina, that she was in grave danger because of
her friend's blood, she would have been furious – seeking
somebody  to  blame  for  her  predicament.  But  here  was
Maeve,  more  concerned  with  Kalina's  captivity  than  her
own safety. Maeve had always been such a good friend –
and Kalina had taken her for granted for so long, accepting
unquestioningly  that  Maeve  was  happy  to  cede  to  Kalina
the  spotlight  in  everything  –  cheerleading,  academics,
popularity.  Kalina  looked  down  and  resolved  to  try  to  be
more like her best friend.

She saw Stuart and Maeve sitting next to each other

and smiled to herself. Perhaps she was wrong to be
jealous, but she could certainly see these two kind, selfless
people making a life together. It was a happiness she felt
both deserved.

Stuart continued explaining the Life’s Blood mythology

to Maeve.

“Wow,” said Maeve again.
“So you see – who it is that Kalina loves is of the

utmost importance. For she will fall in love with a vampire –
she must.”

“So, you're destined to love a vampire!” Maeve's eyes

opened wide. “That's so trippy!”

Kalina colored, unsure of what to say. “It's...a family

thing,” she said at last.

“A family thing?” Maeve furrowed her brows. “I thought

you were...”

“Adopted? Yeah, I am. But my birth parents – my birth

family. I'm from this, like, long line of vampires and
humans.”

“Together?”

Maeve's

eyes

widened

further.

“Having...

sex

?”

“And vampires-turned-humans,” said Kalina. “Because

of the Life’s Blood.”

“Wow.” Maeve considered. “Is that why I had to give

Stuart my blood, then? Why you couldn't do it?”

The memory of how useless, how angry Kalina had felt

came  back  to  her  and  turned  her  cheeks  crimson.  But
Kalina  forced  down  her  jealousy.  “Yes,”  she  said  softly.
“That is why. I would have given Stuart my blood if I could.”
She  took  Stuart's  hand  and  squeezed  it  tightly.  “For
everything  he's  done  –  he  and  his  family  –  I  would  have
gladly given Stuart my blood.”

Stuart smiled back at her, gratefully. He had found it

easier, it seemed, to quell his desire when Maeve was in
the room. At that moment, Kalina felt that whatever strange
relationship she and Stuart had was something more than
mere friendship. It was a blood bond, the bond of true kin –
a loyalty that had transcended this era, transcended time. It
was the loyalty of the days of Stuart and Jaegar's lives, the
Medieval chivalry in which a knight would serve his lady with
no hope of romantic reciprocation, only the courtly ideal.
Knights would stand by their ladies. Jaegar and Stuart were
knights from the Middle Ages, and that chivalrous love for

their chosen lady, Kalina, had not diminished through the
ages. Knights would stand by their king. Kalina thought of
Octavius, then, and sighed. The pain of that wound was still
fresh.

“I hope Jaegar and Aaron are okay,” said Maeve – a

bit awkwardly.

She's taking this so well,

said Kalina to Stuart. She let

him feel her relief. She had been so afraid Maeve would be
angry.

She's strong,

Stuart replied.

You're lucky to have a

friend like her.

“I know,” said Kalina out loud.
“You know what?” Maeve turned to her.
“I'm lucky,” said Kalina. “To have a friend like you. I

just…don't want you to get hurt. For my sake.”

“Well,” said Maeve, “How do you protect yourself?”
Kalina and Stuart exchanged looks.
“So you don't get hurt,” said Maeve. “I want to know

how to kill one of these things. If I'm in danger, the least I
want to do is fight back. I want to know how to use a stake –
or garlic – or mirrors, or whatever it is you use.”

“A stake,” said Stuart and Kalina, in unison.
“Okay, a stake then,” said Maeve. “Point is, I just want

to make sure you can leave me alone without me getting
myself killed. Teach me- whatever it is you know. Self-
defense.” She laughed. “Karate. Something.”

“Well, you're a cheerleader,” said Kalina dryly. “You’re

athletic and quick. That's a nice start.”

But she could hear what Stuart was thinking, and she

felt  the  same  thing.  She  could  teach  Maeve  self-defense,
and  it  might  be  enough  to  stave  off  a  few  of  the  less
experienced  vampires  –  enough  to  get  rid  of  the  average
bounty hunter or newborn looking for someone to suck dry.
But if Jaegar or Mal came along, Kalina knew, there was no
fighting either of them and expecting to come out alive.

And all would surely be lost.

Chapter 4

So it began that Kalina remained for a time with

Maeve. It was a simple matter getting permission – Kalina
explained to Maeve's mother that she didn't want to remain
alone in the house when Justin was away, given what had
happened  to Aaron  and  Maeve  –  and  Maeve's  mother  in
turn  replied  with  a  long,  slow  nod,  only  slightly  dulled  by
haze. She wasn't sure that uninviting Jaegar from her house
would work – Stuart warned her that the process was tricky,
and  often  required  a  full  mental  self-possession  that  he
wondered  aloud  if  Kalina  possessed  when  it  came  to
Jaegar.

“Deep down,” he said gravely, “you care for him. You

want him to come into the house – but as the Jaegar you
know. The Jaegar you remember. The Jaegar you...” His
voice trailed off and he looked down. “The Jaegar you
love,” he said at last, forcing himself to sound as light and
casual as possible.

“I understand,” said Kalina. The idea scared her. Could

her feelings really so interfere with her powers of self-
defense? If she couldn't even keep Jaegar out of her own
house, how would she expect to fight him off when the time
came – how could she expect to stake him if she had to?
She didn't want to think about it. The thought filled her with
disgust, with dread. And yet she knew there was a chance
it would come to that. She would want so badly to help

Jaegar, to turn him back to the side of the good, to
convince him to look into himself...but, as Stuart reminded
her, his face grim and full of despair, every second that she
spent reasoning with him was another second giving him
the option to kill her.

She tried to shut him out of her mind, so afraid that he

would be able to see her location, to find her.

Kalina

, the voices came at night.

I will find you. I will

taste you. I will drink you. I will suck you dry.

And she woke up in tears.
All the same, being with Maeve made everything feel

better. Somehow having Maeve around, with her soft brown
eyes  and  sweet  disposition,  was  like  having  some
grounding  in  the  real  world,  one  foot  in  the  land  of  safety
and happiness. When they were sitting on Maeve's terrace
drinking  lemonade,  weeding  together  in  the  back  garden
and feeling the cool January breeze ripple over their faces,
it  felt  like  there  could  be  no  vampires  in  existence  at  all.
This was the real world, Kalina thought, the world she had
left  behind. A  world  of  garden  weeds  and  lemonades,  of
Maeve's  Cape  Cod-style  cottage  and  cups  of  tea  in  the
morning.

And then Maeve asked if they could start practicing

self-defense.

“Maeve...” Kalina hated the idea. It meant somehow

that all this was real – that Maeve really was in danger, that
they were both really and truly in danger. She shook her
head.

“It's not going to change anything,” said Maeve, “you

know that. If we forget about the vampires, it doesn't mean
that they'll forget about us.”

“I know,” said Kalina darkly. That night they went out

into the garden, practicing moves that Kalina knew Maeve
would need to defeat any vampires.

“Okay,” said Kalina, “so it's like this. You need to be

able to use a stake in both hands.”

“But I'm right-handed.”
“Doesn't matter. If a vamp pins you down with one

hand, you need to be able to use the other. I like to try
throwing the javelin with both hands – it helps my aim.”

Kalina showed Maeve all the tricks that Stuart had

originally  taught  her  –  the  seemingly  innocuous  water  gun
loaded  with  holy  water,  the  sharp  crosses  -  a  Catholic
variant  on  the  ninja  star  –  and  of  course  the  stakes
themselves,  sharpened  and  primed  to  sink  deep  into  the
heart of any vampire brave enough to challenge them.

Maeve was an easy enough study. Her years of

cheerleading  had  made  her  athletic,  lithe,  and  strong.  But
she  did  not  have  Kalina's  blood  in  her  –  the  Life’s  Blood
that  gave  her  properties  of  a  vampire.  She  was  only  a
human, resolutely a human even at her strongest and most
hardworking.  It  was  a  fact  that  gave  Kalina  pause.  She
even found herself being snappish to Maeve, impatient with
Maeve's errors, her difficulty learning, her mistakes.

She wasn't used to humans, she realized. She wasn't

used  to  human  error  –  human  slowness,  humans  making
mistakes.  She  had  almost  come  to  think  of  herself  as  a
vampire  –  as  the  Carrier,  child  of  humans  and  vampires

alike – she was given entry into the world of the
supernatural; she had been able to pass into the

Bibliotheque Supernaturel

in Paris. She hadn't even

spoken

to a true human in weeks. Suddenly Maeve –

stumbling  over  a  karate  move;  tripping  up  over  her  own
stake,  missing  the  target  on  an  accuracy  and  aiming
exercise  –  seemed  so  strange  to  her,  so  foreign.  So
i mpossi bly

human

! Kalina found herself instinctively

irritated at Maeve's failures. No wonder vampires found
human beings such easy prey, she thought! They really
couldn't defend themselves at all!

Kalina immediately chided herself for her thoughts.

She was only scared, she told herself – afraid for Maeve,
afraid for all the humans she cared about. And yet, through
all  this,  Kalina  could  not  help  but  feel  that  there  was
something  different  about  her,  something  changed.  She
had gone so deeply into the world of vampires that she had
become  one  of  them;  humans  were  strange  to  her  –
different.

She remembered then what Octavius had said to her

about her humanity. He had been so eager to get her away
from the world of vampires, to let her grow up, get an
education, get a life of her own outside of the world he had
forced her into. Was this what Octavius had feared?
Divorcing her from her human life, her human compassion
– forcing her to feel like this kind of outsider, always?

And yet Octavius was too late. Now Kalina had the

worst of both worlds – torn between the safe and serene

beauty of the human world, and the dark mystery of her
vampire life. She felt that both worlds were now foreign to
her, both strange, and yet she could not fathom either of
them.

“What's up?” asked Maeve, as they sat on the porch

after one of their latest workout sessions.

“There's this guy,” Kalina began, sighing heavily.
“A guy? Spill...”
“When I was away in Rome.Another vampire...the one

who made Jaegar and Stuart. And Aaron.”

“Something happened between you two?”
“I don't know,” said Kalina. She sighed. “I mean – it did

happen. I mean...oh, I don't know what I mean! He was the
reason the others found me – he sent for me. He'd been
searching centuries for the Carrier. And he took me away
with him.”

“He

kidnapped

you? Kalina – that's awful!” Maeve was

both angry and concerned. Why didn’t you try to tell me…
why did I just found this out now?

“No, it wasn't like that. He just...he was a perfect

gentleman. He asked for a week of my time, no strings
attached.”

“And you

went with him

?”

“I had to find out about my heritage – about Life’s

Blood. And...it was the best week of my life. We went to
Rome – to Paris! We saw the world! We talked about
music, opera, philosophy, art...it was like a dream.”

“Opera, huh,” said Maeve, looking down. “Exciting.”
“We saw

Tosca

at the Opera Garnier in Paris! We

“We saw

Tosca

at the Opera Garnier in Paris! We

went to the Ancient Roman Forum! We had gelato – well, I
had gelato – in Piazza Navona at night. We walked through
the streets of the city...oh, Maeve, it was amazing!”

“Sounds it,” but Maeve's voice was dull, even hollow.
“We're – we're in a complicated place right now,” said

Kalina.

“How old is he?”
“He was twenty-seven when he was turned...”
“

Twenty-seven!

”

“But he's around two thousand years old now.”
“Kalina! He’s as old as Justin…” Maeve rose before it

sunk in. “He’s two thousand years old?”

Kalina sighed, remembering how Octavius brought

everything  to  life  for  her  in  Rome.  “He  was  there  when
civilization  was  formed,  long  before America,  long  before
everything you and I have ever seen. He has seen and done
so much. And when you see him…he must have been the
model  for  all  those  ancient  statues  you  see  from  Roman
times. He embodies masculinity itself. Every scent of him,
his voice, his eyes, his body…”

Maeve raised an eyebrow. “I hope you didn't do

anything stupid.”

“No – I mean...we…”
“Did you have sex with him?” Maeve asked.
Kalina was taken aback by Maeve’s bluntness. “I think

I’m in love with him!” Kalina's voice shook. “We didn’t go all
the way. We couldn’t, not with my Life’s Blood, not with the
spell, but he knew how to make me feel…um…satisfied.”

Kalina bit her lip, feeling awkward talking about what she
and Octavius had in front of Maeve. “Only – he said...we
can't be together. Because he can't become human.”

“Why not?”
“Because it's too dangerous! He can't protect me! He

thinks it's unfair to take me away from the human world.”

“Well,” said Maeve. “He's right.”
Kalina was shocked. “

What

?”

“He is!” Maeve put her hands on her hips. “With all the

crazy stuff you've been going through lately, the last thing
you need is

another

vampire to worry about. Last time we

talked, you were dealing with Stuart and Jaegar – not to
mention Aaron – and now you're in love with some

other

vampire? I mean, Kalina, make up your mind! If Octavius
said to forget him…forget him.”

“It's not as simple as that!” But Kalina knew how silly

her explanations would appear to an outsider. “He may say
to  forget  him,  but  my  whole  body,  mind,  and  blood  seek
him,  seek  Jaegar,  Stuart,  and  even  Aaron.  The  reason  I
was in love – or thought I was – with Stuart and Jaegar and
Aaron – it was because of Octavius! He's their maker! His
blood was running through them...they feel what he feels for
me. It may be because of the combination of their original
blood  with  Octavius’  which  caused  this  attraction.  I  don’t
know.  All  I  know  is  that  I  have  blood  that  attracts  these
vampires to me, and I’m attracted to them too…”

“That's crazy!” cried Maeve.
“It's not crazy,” Kalina pleaded. “It's just how this

is...Life’s Blood will attract vampires to me, and I will fall in

is...Life’s Blood will attract vampires to me, and I will fall in
love with one of them, turn him human…”

“Look,” said Maeve. “This – this vampire thing – it's

threatening all of us...the last thing you should be doing is
worrying about saving them!”

“But what about Stuart?”
“Stuart?” Maeve's face fell. “Well, Stuart's different.

And he hates being a vampire – he thinks it's evil, cruel,
horrible...he wants to be human! Doesn't that just prove my
point?”

“What point?”
“That vampires are evil.”
Kalina's face fell. How could she tell Maeve that she

was from vampires? Didn’t she already told her she was
from a line of vampires-turned-humans or did Maeve
refused to see her as anyone or anything other than same
old Kalina, just one of the girls at school?

“Look,” she said. “I've gotta go to bed, okay? I'm tired.”
“Fine!” Maeve looked away. “If you want to put your life

in danger, I'm not going to stop you!”

“Fine!” echoed Kalina.
“I just think you're being really stupid, okay?” said

Maeve. “You're putting all our lives in danger because of
your obsession with vampires!”

“It's not an obsession!” cried Kalina. What has gotten

into Maeve? She was supportive when Stuart was around,
but now? Didn’t Maeve hear anything she’s been telling her
about Life’s Blood? Having it run through her veins is both a
blessing and a curse. “I can't help it. Look, they came after
me, okay?”

me, okay?”

“Because you're so special!” Maeve scoffed. “Oh, I'm

sorry – I forgot! You're the Carrier! So you're the most
super-special, super-important snowflake in the world!
Everyone loves you – because you're the Carrier!”

“It isn't like that, Maeve! I never wanted this. For

goodness sakes, you knew Aaron, too, and had I known or
anyone  known  he  was  a  vampire,  I  would  never  have…
Look, Maeve, I love you and all, but this has nothing to do
with  me  being  special.  It  has  everything  to  do  with
accepting me for who or what I am. Accepting who Aaron
was,  too,  and  Stuart.  I  didn’t  know Aaron  was  a  vampire,
neither  did  you,  and  yet  we  all  loved  him  and  accepted
him.”

“I wouldn’t if I knew he was one…and he brought

danger to Rutherford and everyone I cared about…” Maeve
started then she lifted her hands in a sign of “enough!” and
headed for her bedroom.

Kalina trudged up the steps to the guest room and

went  to  bed,  trying  to  quell  her  anger  with  the  counting  of
sleep.  Perhaps  no  human  would  understand  the  effects
Life’s Blood had on vampires. Humans, in general, have a
hard  time  believing  there  were  vampires  at  all.  Until  they
actually  see  one,  then  they  believe…like  Maeve.  But  then
Maeve  had  resorted  back  to  trying  to  deny  there  were
vampires. Stuart was fine with her – they had shared blood,
and  he  appeared  human,  but  in  reality,  he  was  just  as
vampire as Jaegar, Octavius, and even Mal. Kalina shook
her  head.  No  wonder  why  supernatural  creatures  thought
humans  were  weak…humans  refused  to  see  the  truth

humans  were  weak…humans  refused  to  see  the  truth
before  them  before  it’s  too  late.  Their  minds  refused  to
open up to see if there were possibilities out there beyond
their  common  beliefs.  So…vampires  not  as  good  as  the
Greystone Brothers and Octavius could easily come along
into Rutherford, pick off each human, even openly attack a
group  of  cheerleaders  and  still  get  away  with  it.  With  that
kind  of  mentality  of  denial,  how  can  people  defend
themselves against them…the vampires… when they don’t
even believe in them?

The stress of waiting for something to happen, of

fearing  about  whatever  was  about  to  happen  with  Mal  or
Jaegar  or  other  vampires  who  had  descended  on
Rutherford,  was  getting  to  sweet  Maeve  and  Kalina.  She
was strained with anxiety.

As she began to fall asleep, drifting into dreamland,

she heard a voice.

Kalina.

She stirred.

Octavius.

Chapter 5

May I come in

? Octavius asked her. Kalina knew it

wasn't  anything  he  had  to  ask  –  for  Kalina  had  given  him
permission  long  since  to  enter  the  world  of  her  mind  –
those  secret  places  and  recesses  where  her  thoughts
danced and twisted within her. She had loved him; she had
opened  herself  up  to  him.  And  yet  he  would  not  enter
without her word.

Yes.

She had missed him so much – wanted him so badly.

Every  day  without  him  had  been  filled  with  the  same
strangling  uncertainty,  the  same  grief  –  undisclosed,  held
so  tightly  within  her  that  she  thought  she  would  burst.  She
had  woken  up  mornings,  sobbing,  missing  him,  bowled
over by a grief so profound that rising itself felt beyond her
– and she had forced herself beyond it anyway.

She had not allowed herself to be weak for him, no, not

ever for love. She had not allowed herself to falter. But now,
as she saw Octavius before her, the full memory of what
she had been missing struck her, and Kalina shuddered.
Her slender frame shook with emotion.

Octavius was as handsome and beautiful as she

remembered him. His hair was still long and dark brown,
tinged with light rays of copper and gold. His eyes were still
the color of burnt pecans – soulful and mysterious – and his
skin still smooth and marble, the color of milky coffee.

Kalina felt her whole body respond to the sight of him,
curling around her desire, filled with love.

Where are you?
I cannot say.

Octavius looked grave.

I am afraid the

information is too dangerous to place in your mind, in
case Jaegar...Mal...

I understand.

Oh, she understood! Her rational mind

understood! But at his refusal Kalina felt a pang of sudden
sadness that cut her to the quick.

Have you found him?

Kalina couldn't bear to say the

name – either name. She was afraid speaking it aloud
would bring them forth – invading her mind, her body, her
soul.

No.

Octavius' face was stony and downcast.

I wish...I

wish I had. I have been tracking signs of them all across
Europe.

You think they're in Europe?

Jaegar and Aaron – across the sea – so far from her!

Kalina's pain redoubled.

I have found hints...
Are they..

Kalina did not say “dead,” but Octavius

heard her. It was telepathy, after all, and she could hide so
little from him; this was not the realm of normal speech.

I believe Aaron is alive.

Kalina's heart leaped.

Mal wishes to keep Aaron alive to search for other

Carriers. It appears that it is rumored that there are others
– and they have distracted Malvolio for the time being, as

is the sale of your blood. He believes that by selling off
the vials he has now, he can create a loyal army who will
in turn come for you – rather than risking the adventure on
his own.

Does that buy us time?

Kalina's heart began to pound as she remembered the

prison – her pain – her fear.

Not enough.

Kalina began shaking, the pain of her loss and her love

overwhelming  her.  In  a  few  quick,  straightforward  steps,
Octavius  came  towards  her,  taking  her  in  his  arms.  He
smelled so good, so powerful, like the musk of a forest after
the rain. In real life his heart did not pound, but in her dream
she  could  hear  his  heartbeat,  flickering  and  pounding,
ultimately alive, beating in synchronicity with her own.

Don't worry, my darling,

said Octavius.

Aaron will be

safe  for  the  time  being.  His  nose  is  one  of  the  most
powerful  skills  a  vampire  can  have.  Mal  is  not  stupid
enough to throw that away in a fit of rage – angry though
he  may  be. As  long  as Aaron  is  useful,  he  will  remain
alive.

And Jaegar?

The name shook her to the core.

I am sorry.

Octavius stroked Kalina's hair softly.

long as...ever since he became invincible, he has
developed his own powers of telepathy. He can no longer
be located with a simple prick of the mind, as it were. He
has learned to block himself off from his maker. I do not
know where he is.

Could he be...here?

Octavius sighed. His face contorted with pain.

I know

how he feels about you, Kalina. I know what he wants. He
will want to come after you – with or without Malvolio. Mal
removed all traces of his inhibition, his humanity – and,
as much as he hated to admit it, Jaegar always had some.
He never violated you – as many vampires would have –
in either sense of the word.

He sighed.

You have been

lucky, Kalina – not to encounter these types of vampires.
They...they are truly monsters.

At last Octavius could resist it no longer. He cupped

Kalina's face in his hands, letting his fingers trail slowly
down her cheeks. She moaned at the touch, closing her
eyes and allowing his fingertips to brush past her lips, her
nose, her eyelids. Her lashes fluttered under him.

I do not want you to live in fear, Kalina,

said Octavius.

I care too deeply for you for that. You cannot be a prisoner
of your fear – of my fear – of this story and this saga. If I
had wanted to keep you mired in these vampire troubles, I
would not have…

His voice trailed off, racked with

irrepressible pain.

I have asked my best guards from the

villa in Beverly Hills to look after you.

Bodyguards?
You will be safe. These are the best men in America.
Can you trust them?

She knew her Life’s Blood would

complicate the situation of any vampire. Would they try to
steal her for themselves, as the Greystone Brothers had
done?

They know you are mine

, said Octavius.

They will not

try anything with you.

Yours?

The world hung upon the air! Kalina's heart leaped at

it. She had wanted for so long, so badly, to be “yours,” to
belong body and soul to Octavius – he had rejected her. He
had loved her too much…or maybe he had not loved her
enough...

Always

, Octavius’ voice was shaking.

But he had left her! Kalina could not bring herself to

believe it. Even after what he had said, about breaking it off
with her for her own safety, Kalina could not believe it. If he
had only loved her enough, if he had only wanted her
enough, if he had only cared for her enough, then nothing
else would have mattered! He would have risked everything
for her – never mind the cost!

That is not true!

Kalina started.

What isn't?

He had heard her thoughts. In this realm of dreams

there was such a fine line between thought and speech,
between what was hers alone and what was theirs.

If I had loved you less,

said Octavius,

I would have

been selfish. I would have wanted you with me. But...I love
you too much to let you sacrifice your life – your self -your
beauty and intelligence and youth and potential – for a
vampire like me – a worthless vampire. I love you too
much to let you down – to become human and in doing so
lose my ability to protect you – and those like you – and

those you love.

But...

Kalina's voice trailed off. Surely this could not be

the answer! Surely this could not be the ending! Love
conquered all – she

knew

love conquered all – and she

could not fathom a world in which love could ever be
impossible.

I am reminded,

said Octavius – softly –

of a poem. A

poem written by one Richard Lovelace.

A poem?
You like poetry, don't you, Kalina?

In Paris and in

Rome he had read her the works of Tennyson and
Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot and Coleridge, sitting by the
Seine, walking in Piazza Navona. It had been some of the
most beautiful time of her life.

I do.

Octavius gave a deep sigh and recommenced

stroking her hair.

TELL me not, sweet, I am unkind
That from nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.

When Octavius finished the poem, there were tears in

both their eyes.

Kalina...
Octavius...

Their voices melded together in a single symphony of

love.

I thought you didn't want me

. Kalina's voice was fierce

as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.

I thought I

was only a fling to you – something stupid and
inconsequential. I thought you didn't want me – didn't
need me – didn't love me...

That could never be true!

She reached up on her tiptoes in order to be able to

gaze  more  fully  into  Octavius’  eyes.  They  were  filled  with
love  and  pain,  the  overwhelming  and  astonishing  force  of
his emotion. It bowled her over. It overpowered her. Kalina
felt that she had been struck by lightning, that the very force
of  his  being  shook  her  to  the  core.  She  traced  circles
across his cheek and lips with her fingertips.

I want to be with you, Kalina,

he was saying, and she

could feel the truth of his words within her, deep within her
soul. She knew them to be true; the truth of the words could
be heard in the rhythm of her heartbeat, the flow of her
blood, the gasping of her sighs.

I want to be with you as I've

never wanted anything in the whole world. I will never lie to
you, Kalina. I can't lie to you. I can't be with you – I cannot
deny this. But nor can I deny how much I want...I need...

She could wait no longer. Desire ran hot within her.

Then show me

. She swept upwards on her tiptoes and let

her  lips  brush  against  those  of  Octavius.  He  started  back
for  a  moment,  surprised. And  then,  overpowered,  beyond
himself, he gave in to the sweet force of her kiss, opening
his lips to hers. She began unbuttoning his shirt; he slipped
her  nightdress  off  her  shoulders,  and  as  they  kissed  they
lost themselves and each other in that nebulous and astral
realm of dreams, of night, of desire.

Was it a dream – or not a dream? Kalina was

delirious, lost in Octavius, lost in her love, in the psychic
pleasure that bound them together, in a world of night, and
sleep, and stars.

Chapter 6

Kalina woke up the next morning in a haze. What had

happened  last  night?  Her  body  was  aflame  with  desire  –
hot with memory. She remembered not a concrete, discrete
event  but  rather  a  series  of  disparate  images  –  a  hand
upon her thigh; lips upon her shoulder; her hands tangling in
a sea of hair. She remembered too individual sensations –
pleasure  at  once  harsh  and  soft,  desirous  and  delirious  –
remembered  losing  herself.  Had  it  been  a  dream?  Kalina
looked down. There, upon her flesh, were a series of small
bruises – dark clouds of purple flesh set against her snowy
skin.  No  –  it  had  been  real.  All  of  it.  Her  encounter  with
Octavius – mired in darkness, mired in pleasure – a dream
that had inflicted itself upon reality. She had longed for him
– how she had longed for him! -and he had heard the voice
of her desire and so he had at last come to her, in the night.

She could not breathe. Could such a thing have really

happened to her? Suddenly Kalina felt more removed from
the  human  world  than  ever.  How  could  she  even  explain
such a thing to Maeve, who had already sensed that Kalina
was  losing  her  connection  with  the  human  world  and  its
mores. How would Maeve react to these news – news of a
dream, that was not all a dream. She sighed as she put on
her  dressing  gown.  The  silk  felt  cooler  than  ever  to  the
touch; it was only then that she realized how scorching hot

her flesh had been.

“I'm coming in!” came a voice, as Maeve

flung open the door. Kalina gasped and quickly
shut her dressing gown

“What are you doing?” Kalina looked down

hurriedly. “Don't you knock?”

“Time for school,” said Maeve. “I don't care if

you

did

get into Yale – you still have to graduate.”

The envy in her voice was apparent, although it
was clear that she was doing her best to hide it
from Kalina.

“Today?School?” But school wasn't until the

first week of January. “Oh, God! School!” How
quickly the time had gone by. She hadn't even
remembered. “Like, now?”

“Like, five minutes ago,” said Maeve,

throwing down a pair of jeans on the bed. “Come
on – some of us can't afford to be docked tardy
marks.”

Kalina scrambled into her jeans. It was the

first time she was going back to school since she
had  left  on  her  fantastic  voyage  with  Octavius.
How  different  everything  had  seemed  then!  How
would she sit in her seat, listen to teachers lecture
– when she had spoken to Renaissance men and
Ancient Romans directly! When she had seen so
much more of the world than she could ever have
imagined!  How  could  she  sit  in  the  lunchroom,

pretending to worry about cheerleading and
popularity contests, when all that mattered to her
now was the voice of Octavius echoing in her ear.

It had meant so much to Octavius that she get

an education, that he not come between her and
the life she would have lived had she not met him.
Yet high school seemed so far away now.

They arrived at the high school only a few

minutes late; Maeve had driven past more than a
few stop signs on the way. “Worth the fines,” she
muttered, as they parked and Maeve scrambled
for first period calculus. They stopped briefly on
the stairs.

“Who are those guys?” Maeve frowned. “New

security guards or something?”

Kalina recognized them instantly They were

vampires – ferocious vampires, able to withstand
the  sun.  She  glanced  at  the  seal  of  their  rings  –
Octavius’  men.  So  the  ones  he  had  promised  to
send to protect her had materialized. One of them
gave her a reverent nod – almost, she thought with
not  a  slight  hint  of  amusement,  like  a  knight
nodding to his queen.

“Probably some businessmen or something,”

said Kalina. “Or drug dealers!”

Maeve conceded the laugh – a small sign

Kalina had been forgiven for their argument of the
night before. Then she looked around, nervously. “I
don't

know,”

said

Maeve.

“These

guys

seem...weird, somehow.”

Kalina knew she could no longer lie to

Maeve. “They're Octavius' men, I think.”

“Octavius, your....?”
Ex-boyfriend?Boyfriend? Even Kalina didn't

know at this point. She sighed deeply. “He said
he'd send them to protect me – to protect us.”

“Since when?” Maeve sputtered.
“Since last night.” Kalina admitted.
“Last night?” Maeve looked confused. “What

happened last night?”

“Octavius visited me,” Kalina tried to explain,

knowing ever more how much stupider she
sounded by the day to a human. “In my sleep – in
my dreams. We communicate that way.
Telepathically.”

“You do

what

?” Maeve put her hands on her

hips. “Kalina – that's ridiculous. Are you sure you
didn't just have a dream?”

“No – it's not like that!” Kalina protested.

“Octavius and I – we have this telepathic
connection. We can talk to each other in our
sleep, or in our minds. Whenever I need him, he's
there.”

“So why isn't he here himself, instead of

sending these goons?” They clearly made Maeve
uncomfortable; she shuddered. “I don't get it.”

“He's in Europe,” said Kalina. “I don't know

where – he's hunting down Mal. He sent his best

where – he's hunting down Mal. He sent his best
men to keep us safe – he wants the best for us.”

“Well, they can protect you,” said Maeve, “as

much as you want. But listen, Kalina, I don't want
any vampires following

around. I don't see why

one vamp is any more trustworthy than any other.”

“But it's Octavius,” said Kalina. “It's different

with him.”

“Yeah, like it was different with Stuart? Or

different with this Jaegar guy – who suddenly
wants to kill you?”

“It's...complicated. Jaegar was like Stuart, but

drinking my blood changed him. You know I told
you there’s something special about my blood…”

The tension between the two of them was

mounting;  Kalina  could  sense  Maeve's  tension,
her anger. The day did not improve. A mysterious-
looking  exchange  student  in  one  of  their  classes
bore  clear  signs  of  vampirism,  as  did  the  men
sharing  a  cigarette  beneath  the  bleachers,  the
coach mysteriously submissive to their presence.
Wherever  they  turned,  they  saw  the  black-suited
men, making stark eye contact with Kalina before
retreating  into  silence  and  watchful  quietude.
Soon  they  even  began  making  Kalina  feel
uncomfortable.  She  would,  for  all  that  she
appreciated the protection, have much rather had
Octavius there to protect her in person. There was
something  in  the  harsh  eyes  of  these  security

vampires  she  did  not  altogether  like.  They
regarded  her,  it  was  clear,  with  a  sense  of
superiority – they were loyal, but she was to them
Octavius'  treasure,  valued  because  Octavius
valued her, and while they would defend her to the
death,  they  wouldn't  take  orders  from  her  –
wouldn't leave, even for Maeve's sake. They took
orders  only  from  Octavius,  and  Octavius  had
ordered  them  to  shadow  her  every  move.  Their
proprietary gaze made Kalina shiver.

They met up with Stuart that afternoon.
“Well,” said Kalina, her voice shaky. “What

shall we do now?”

“The Stomping Ground?” asked Stuart. The

converted winery had been one of the most
popular places for Kalina and her friends to go in
days gone by. It seemed so long ago.

They headed over and ordered two

cheeseburgers,  Stuart  surreptitiously  bringing  his
own  flask  of  vampire  wine.  Kalina  could  see  a
table  of  two  more  men  next  to  them,  ordering
nothing  but  two  sodas  they  had  left  untouched.
Vampires, clearly.

“I heard from Octavius,” said Kalina. Maeve

made a face, but she continued. “He says he's
pretty sure Aaron's alive.”

Stuart looked relieved. “I've been trying to

establish a telepathic connection with him, but...”
His voice trailed off. Stuart didn't have the vampire

strength of Jaegar or Octavius.

“He'll keep us posted,” said Kalina.
But as she looked at the vampire guards,

staring  at  them  over  their  intact  sodas,  she
couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt. Is this what
Octavius thought of her? A thing to be protected –
to be shielded from the outside world? Someone
who couldn't be trusted on her own? Her feelings
of  uncertainty  grew  worse  as  the  days  passed,
and  she  did  not  hear  from  Octavius  again.
Perhaps  he  had  only  wanted  her  body  –  to
release himself of stress – and then vanish again.
She felt her doubts mount as the days wore on, as
Octavius did not respond to her calls, and his men
stared  stony-eyed  at  her  in  the  school  corridors,
behind the bleachers.

And all the while, she heard Jaegar's voice

calling intermittently in her head.

I will find you, Kalina, my love. And when I

do, you'll wish I had killed you long ago.

Chapter 7

The following day Justin came home from his

medical conference. He set down his bags in the
doorway  and  knocked  loudly.  “Hello?”  He  called
out.  Kalina  rushed  downstairs  to  greet  him.  She
had  gotten  his  text  message  and  eagerly
prepared to meet him after school. After all, it had
been  nearly  a  month  since  she  had  seen  her
brother. He had left in early December to attend a
medical  conference  –  one  that  suddenly,
inexplicably,  his  employer  had  decided  he
absolutely  could  not  miss,  a  conference  that  had
turned  into  an  offer  to  attend  a  three  week  long
seminar  in  Chicago.  Kalina  knew  that  Justin's
sudden,  meteoric  career  progression  had  been
helped out by Octavius, who had used compulsion
to ensure that Justin would not notice Kalina's long
absence, but she was proud of him nonetheless.
She  felt  that  Octavius  was  only  securing  for  him
the  successes  that  his  hard  work  had  led  him  to
deserve.

“Justin!” Kalina called out, rushing down the

stairs. She enveloped her brother in her arms.
“How are you doing? I missed you so much when
you were away!”

“You're getting bigger and taller by the day!”

Justin joked, picking his sister up in his arms.
“How was your trip with Stuart? In Aspen.”

“Yeah, Stuart...” Kalina couldn't believe how

much  had  happened  since  she  and  Justin  last
spoke.  She  hadn't  even  told  Justin  about  the
breakup  –  let  alone  vampires,  Octavius,  or
anything  else  that  might  make  an  older  brother's
head explode...

“Were his parents nice?”
“Yeah, sure!” Kalina looked down, trying to

hide her blush.

“I tried a couple of times, but I couldn't get

through when I tried to call you. I figured reception
must be pretty bad out there. I shouldn’t have let
you go by without me, but you’re eighteen now
and…” Kalina saw the guilt on Justin’s face.

“It's a ski lodge,” said Kalina. “The chalet's in

the middle of nowhere, seriously...I would have
called or written, but we don't even have internet
access there.”

“Total wilderness,” Justin laughed. “Well, I

hope you had a nice time. And – erm...” He began
pacing the room. “Well, a

safe

time, if you know

what I mean. I know Stuart's a great guy – I trust
him completely – but my head wasn't exactly
screwed on straight at that age, if you know what I
mean.”

“First of all,

ew,

” said Kalina, glad to have

even the most unsavory of topics to stall the

conversation, “secondly, don't worry. You're not
going to see me wheeled into the maternity ward
anytime soon.”

“Good – because I would worry...”
“I'm

responsible!”

Kalina

protested.

“Besides...you don't have to worry. Stuart and I
aren't – I mean we...we're not...”

“You broke up?” Justin reached out a hand to

pat Kalina's shoulder.

“It's okay, we're still...”
“Are you okay? Do you want me to go, like,

beat him up or something? Because I would, you
know! Nobody messes with my little sister!”

Kalina laughed. “It's okay,” she said. “It was

my  decision.  I'm  not  heart-broken  or  anything  –
and  Stuart  and  I  are  still  really  good  friends.  It's
just  –  we  were  more  like  friends  than  anything
else,  you  know?  And  it  just  became  more  and
more clear the more time we spent together.”

“I won't lie,” said Justin, “those are definitely

words a brother wants to hear. What happened?”

“There's...someone else,” said Kalina. “There

was someone else I had feelings for. I just felt, like
– you know – my blood was calling out
for...somebody else.

“For somebody else?” Justin looked concerned.

“Kalina, what do you mean?”

“It's hard to explain,” Kalina looked down. “It's just...it

has to do with my blood, you know – and maybe I'm just –

well – I'm meant for somebody else.”

“Somebody else in particular – or just somebody else

generally?”

Kalina took in a deep breath. “I'm not dating anybody

right now, if that's what you mean. But...haven't you ever felt
that with somebody, Justin? A real blood connection?”

Justin sighed. “For somebody else?” Justin looked

concerned. “Kalina, what do you mean? Like a soul
connection?”

“It's hard to explain,” Kalina looked down. “It's just...it

has to do with my blood, you know – and maybe I'm just –
well – I'm meant for somebody else. Like a soul
connection.” Except vampires don’t have souls so the
connection is through blood and the essence of life or soul
in the blood.

Justin drew in a deep breath. “I should have known this

would happen one day, Kalina,” he said.

“What would happen?”
“You're curious about your birth parents, aren't you?”

Justin looked down. “All this stuff about blood – blood
connections – I should have seen it sooner. I know I'd be
worried...”

“Look, Justin, all that stuff about vampires...”
“Vampires, yeah!” Justin laughed. “For over twenty

years I've thought of myself as a man of science – a rational
person. But all this stuff going on lately...it's stuff I can't
explain. Shadows of men in trees. Mysterious presences –
things I sense but can't

know...”

“It's real, Justin,” said Kalina, quietly. “And I think I'm

part of it. I think I'm connected to it.”

“Vampires?”
“I've seen them. I've fought them off. I've looked them in

the eyes. They've...they've been coming after me...”

“Kalina, are you crazy?”
“It's

real

, Justin. There's something about my blood,

Justin! Something different. Something special. Something
that's been sending vampires after me.”

“How did you...”
“When I was in Europe.For that math competition. I

went to a library – looked up some records...”

Justin sighed. “You know what I've always told you,

right? That you were the cutest little baby our parents had
ever seen – that they simply had to adopt you the moment
they saw you?”

“Yeah.”
“That's the story. That's the true story. But it's not the

whole story, if you know what I mean.”

“So my blood...”
“Listen, Kalina. It's not your fault. You didn't cause all

these attacks – these vampire attacks. And people –
vampires included, have to take responsibilities for their
own actions...”

He was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

Kalina shot up. “Don't open it,” she said. “Don't invite...let
me see who it is first, okay?”

“Okay.”
Kalina breathed a sigh of relief as she peered through

the peephole. It was Stuart.

“Come in,” she said, quickly shutting the door behind

them. “Justin, you remember Stuart, don't you?”

Justin looked a bit confused – Kalina had, after all, just

finished telling him the story of their breakup – but he shot
Stuart a smile.

“I've brought some food,” said Stuart. “I thought you

could use a proper meal.”

“Stuart is such a good

friend

” said Kalina emphatically,

and Justin nodded.

“I hope you don't mind,” said Stuart, turning to Justin. “I

brought this along from our cellars. 1910 vintage –
Cabernet Sauvignon.”

“19...

” Justin started.

“Something special,” said Stuart. “Don't feel obliged to

open it now – I've brought a simple bottle for dinner....” He
produced one of vampire wine.

I'll need this if I'm going to be around you all the time,

Kalina. Unless you want a repeat of what happened in the
car.

She smiled and squeezed his hand.
“Nothing for me now, thanks,” said Justin. “My beeper

could go off at any moment.”

Dinner cheered Kalina up somewhat. It was nice being

all together again – Justin, Kalina, and Stuart. The two boys
got along admirably together, Kalina thought. Almost like a
real family.

After dinner Stuart began looking uncomfortable. At

last, when he returned to the living room, he turned to Justin.
“Sir,” he said. “I would normally ask the parents' permission
for this sort of thing....but in this instance – I hope it's not
inappropriate…”

“What?” Justin furrowed his brow.
“The – ah – the senior promenade is coming up – and I

would love the honor – I would be honored – to escort
Kalina...” his voice trailed off.

The prom! Kalina had almost forgotten – the biggest

dance of the year had seemed so insignificant against so
much else that had been going on in her life.

Justin looked confused – almost as confused as

Kalina  felt.  Never  had  she  heard  of  any  prospective  date
asking parents – or brothers – for permission. Stuart really
hadn't  gotten  in  step  with  the  times.  Nevertheless,  there
was  something  endearing  about  his  nervousness  and
gentlemanly ways.

“Well,” said Justin, “Kalina's eighteen. She can make

her own decisions on the matter. I won't stand in anyone's
way. It's really up to Kalina. Although...” he laughed. “I'm
flattered that you think I have such a say over what Kalina
does and doesn't do. She's still my little sister, after all.”

“I'd love to!” Kalina couldn't help laughing – even

giggling. “I'd love to go to the prom.” It was the first normal
thing in her life since Europe, since Octavius, since Mal –
the first real, genuine, exciting, normal, teenaged thing. She
couldn't have predicted her own gleeful response.

“Well, dude,” said Justin, shifting uncomfortably,

“guess you've got your answer then.”

When Stuart had left, Justin sat down next to Kalina,

producing a box she had not seen before. “I meant to give
you this for your eighteenth birthday,” said Justin, but we
missed this opportunity – we were both away...I'm sorry
about that. But Mom and Dad – they gave it to me to give to
you...until you were eighteen...”

He produced a beautiful garnet pendant with an

antique burnish-brown ornate oval frame on a narrow chain
–  simple  yet  elegant.  “It  was  around  your  neck  when  you
were a baby, in the orphanage. Mom and Dad didn't want
to tell you you were adopted – they were going to tell you
when you turned eighteen – but when they died I thought it
was right to tell you then... All that stuff you said about your
blood  got  me  thinking.  Because  –  there  is  something
different about you. When you were two years old – you hit
your head. Needed stitches. But you...something was weird
about your blood type. Dad decided to treat you himself, in
the end – because the hospital couldn't get its paperwork
together  –  your  blood  type  kept  showing  up  all  over  the
place...”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Kalina asked.
“We didn't want you to feel different,” said Justin.

“Whatever weird thing was going on with you – you seemed
healthy enough – and we didn't want to make you feel like a
freak or something – especially when you were so young.”

Kalina's mind raced. Could she have handled this – all

that terrible truth – at the age of two or three? How about
nine or ten? Thirteen? She sighed – even now, Life’s Blood
was too much to take in.

Chapter 8

The next few weeks passed by in a bit of a haze. The

vampire security guards had gone from being an intrusion
to  an  accepted  part  of  life  –  and  although  their  cold  eyes
and  constant  watchful  presence  gave  Kalina  a  bit  of  a
shiver she eventually got used to them, and tried to ignore
their stealthy presence in her corridors, in her classrooms,
at the bleachers or the Stomping Ground. They seemed to
use  compulsion  on  the  others  –  escaping  their  notice  –
although  Maeve  often  complained  of  a  bitter  cold  every
time  they  entered  the  room  –  but  Kalina  could  see  them.
Nevertheless she managed to ignore them and participate
in  life  as  fully  as  she  could.  She  scrambled  to  finish  her
homework,  her  routines  for  the  cheerleading  team's  next
game, and soon it was time for senior prom, late in March.

“I can't believe it,” said Maeve, who was going with an

artistic senior called Joe Ellison, “I feel so

old

!”

And then the night was upon her, and it was time for

Kalina to get dressed and get ready herself for the prom.

A knock came at the door. When Kalina opened it, she

saw Stuart, looking as she had never seen him before. He
was much more handsome, with a sultry smile in his eyes.
His  tuxedo  was  elegantly  cut,  old-fashioned  –  the  sort  of
dapper  and  suave  suit  that  would  have  seemed  so  out  of
place in the present day were it not for Stuart's incredible
beauty,  which  rendered  anything  that  might  have  seemed

strange in a high school setting to nothing more than
licensed eccentricity.

Kalina for her part had dressed all in black, in a sea of

foaming  velvet  that  tapered  off  above  her  breast,  leaving
her  neck  and  shoulders  swan-like  and  uncovered. Above
her breasts she wore a shimmering necklace, studded with
a  single  diamond  gem.  She  had  received  the  box  in  the
mail – a necklace with a message.

For a rite of passage –

and a chance for you to lead a life as beautiful as you are.
-O.

The necklace had, as if by magic, conspired to go

perfectly with the dress.

When Stuart's eyes fell upon her, Kalina could hear the

swift intake of breath, sharp and heady.

“Say hi for the camera – Kalina, Stuart!” Justin waved

a camcorder in their faces; they laughed awkwardly as they
stood next to each other, fidgeting as they tried to force the
corsage onto Kalina's wrist.

“Adult or no adult,” Justin whispered to her, “You're still

my little sister. And I want to put these in the family
scrapbook! Stuart, smile!”

They had agreed to go to the prom as friends – just as

friends. But as the two of them stared at each other, taking
in the beauty that had washed over them like a purifying
wave, Kalina began to feel an old, familiar desire in her
breast, a sense of closeness to Stuart that went beyond just
friendship.

The night, too, passed as if by magic. They were lost in

a sea of silk and velvet dresses – set apart by their beauty
from the rest of the high school crowd, the way a precious

from the rest of the high school crowd, the way a precious
stone is set apart in the gems of a necklace. Kalina barely
noticed the jealous stares coming their way, of girls eyeing
Stuart, and boys staring at her from head to toe. She could
barely keep her eyes from gazing into his, they seemed
made for each other tonight.

Stuart was the perfect escort, trained in the

gentlemanly  and  chivalric  arts  for  centuries.  He  kissed
Kalina's  hand  and  danced  with  her,  bowing  before  each
number (ballroom dancing he found easy; he swayed with
some slight discomfort to the jazz and swing numbers, and
bowed out entirely for the late-night R&B). He brought her
punch and greeted all her friends warmly, at once making it
seem that he cared for all of them deeply – because they
were  Kalina's  friends  –  and  yet  never  allowing  them  to
release Kalina from her position of first priority in his mind.
He  spoke  to  Maeve  and  Joe  Ellison,  asked  the  right
questions  –  about  life,  interests,  college  plans  –  and
behaved  with  perfect  charm  and  decorum.  There  was
something  to  be  said,  Kalina  thought,  for  this  brand  of
gentlemanliness.  Stuart  seemed  so  much  older  and  more
mature than all these other boys – so much wiser – certainly
he was much more mature than Aaron had been....

Aaron! But Kalina couldn't think about that now. She

had forced herself to tear her mind from Jaegar and Aaron.
Jaegar's fate was sealed, she knew, but perhaps there was
hope  for Aaron  yet  –  she  prayed  for  him  nightly,  but  had
resigned herself to the fact there was nothing she could do.
In  the  wake  of  her  return  to  Rutherford  and  the  arrival  of
Octavius'  security  detail  it  has  begun  to  get  easier,  to

Octavius' security detail it has begun to get easier, to
forget, to live normally. But every now and then Kalina felt
the familiar, sharp pain of losing Aaron for a second time.

They danced a final dance on the floor – to the slow

strains of “New York State of Mind,” and Stuart held Kalina
close to his chest, stroking her hair softly, murmuring the
sounds of the song into her neck as they swayed closely to
the rhythm.

“Come outside with me,” Stuart whispered, leading her

by the hand to the terrace outside the hotel where the prom
was being held. The cool spring breeze drifted over them,
carrying the scent of magnolias and jasmine on the porch
into their nostrils.

The moonlight struck Kalina, whitening her breast and

her shoulders. She stopped, framed against the magnolia
plants, bathed in moonlight and the perfume from the
flowers. Stuart stopped short, too, struck by her beauty.

“Kalina, I..”
“I know...” There was so much to say between them –

so much which had been made so complicated. For a
moment, a brief, fantastic, glimmer of a moment, they could
pretend – they could forget all that and go back to that
brilliant moment when all was new and glorious, when they
had first kissed...

“I've waited for so long – to see you look at me again

like this...” Stuart's voice was low and soft. “I could only
wish...”

“Stuart.” Kalina's voice was trembling. “I feel so much

for you – Stuart – I do...and if I could love you enough – feel
whatever it is I'm supposed to feel...to make you human – I

whatever it is I'm supposed to feel...to make you human – I
would. I swear it, Stuart, I really would. If I could choose –
dictate my own feelings, my own heart, I swear it would be
you...”

He caught her hand and pressed it to his lips.
Kalina was overcome. Maybe it was because of all the

closeness they had shared these last few weeks, maybe it
was  because  of  the  romantic  evening,  maybe  it  was
Octavius’ blood in him, maybe it was because deep down
in  her,  she  truly  loved  him.  Against  herself,  without  even
thinking about it, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed
him  on  the  side  of  the  mouth,  somewhere  between  his
cheek and his lips, and then somehow the chaste kiss slid
down in the direction of his mouth.

“Kalina,” Stuart pulled back, surprised. The kiss had

been gentle – soft – like the slow breeze of a summer
morning or afternoon, but yet Kalina found her heart
beginning to beat faster, nevertheless, the sweetness of the
kiss heating and boiling until there was desire, too, heaving
with each of her breaths.

He kissed her again, harder this time, with a direct,

straightforward desire that thrilled her, shook her to the
bone.

She loved Octavius – she knew she loved Octavius –

and yet in his absence it was so easy, in her loneliness, in
her  empty  heart,  to  turn  to  another  love,  another  set  of
feelings.  Octavius  had  told  her  they  could  never  be
together. Not with Mal around, not when Octavius was the
only  powerful  vampire  left  of  the  consortium,  and  the
responsibilities  that  went  with  that  burden.  There  was  so

much  emotion  rising  in  her...she  needed  someone  there,
someone  to  kiss,  to  want  and  to  be  wanted  by.  Octavius
had not returned to her since that dream – she knew what
he  wanted  of  her  –  to  move  on,  to  make  a  new  life,  a

beautiful

life without him, a life unencumbered by the

impossibility  of  their  love.  Was  it  possible,  Kalina
wondered as she kissed Stuart, to love two people at once
–  or  three  or  four  –  to  love  different  things  in  different
people? Before she'd started dating, when she was young
and naïve, Kalina had believed that the only love was one
that  was  sure  and  true  and  lasted  forever.  But  her
experiences  with  the  Greystone  Brothers  and  with  Jaegar
had complicated all that. For she knew that it was not the
case. She had strong, powerful feelings for Jaegar and for
Stuart,  for  Aaron  and  for  Octavius,  love  and  desire  and
friendship  and  gratitude  and  need  and  want  all  conflicting
with  each  other,  desires  ricocheting  off  the  inside  of  her
heart  like  Ping-Pong  balls.  Was  it  because  she  was
bonded  by  blood  to  these  vampire  brothers  and  their
maker, bonded by love and destiny?

And Stuart had done so much for her! If it was only a

question of that, only a question of deserving, Stuart would
surely win. He had given up so much for her –

put up

with

so much for her – he had given her his blood to ensure her
safety, at the risk of driving himself mad with desire. If only it
was possible, she thought mournfully, to simply choose
whom one loved, to turn all these conflicting feelings and
desires onto one person – like a spotlight – and decide that

they would all be focused on one person, enough to
engender true, real love.

He deserved to be human, Kalina thought. More than

any of them.

He deserved so much more than that. She had to give

him a chance.

Their kiss was interrupted by a sharp, piercing

scream. It echoed through the night – the sound coming
closer in the form of a young girl – Jeanette Willow, from
history class – her aquamarine dress torn to shreds and her
knees stained with blood and dirt.

“It's Ed,” she cried. “Ed!”
Ed Marlowe was Jeanette's long-term boyfriend.
“We were in the woods – you know...just...” Jeanette

wailed. “And this thing came at us – animal...person....teeth
–

sharp

teeth, I don't know if he's....”

She began wailing.
“We need to get you out of here,” said Stuart in a low,

sharp whisper. “Jeanette, call the hospital. Now!”

In a flash, he had grabbed Kalina and was flying with

her through the skies, the woods, the wind whipping at the
speed  of  light  against  them.  Kalina  saw  the  whole  of
Rutherford  below  them,  until  at  last  her  house  was  getting
bigger  and  bigger  beneath  them  –  coming  closer  and
closer  –  and  then  her  feet  touched  the  ground.  Kalina  put
her hand on the hand rail to steady herself.

“Stuart...”
“Kalina – I'm sorry – the guards...he must have gotten

past Octavius' guards.”

“Do you think it's....”
“I don't know...”
“Maeve!” Kalina shouted. “Please – Maeve! She'll be

alone – a target – I

know she's a target.

”

“I can't leave...”
“Go!” Kalina looked up. “I can defend myself – Maeve

– please, she really can't....you know where she is – her
blood, your blood....”

It was true. Maeve and Stuart shared a blood link, she

knew. And Stuart would know how to protect her.

“Are you sure?”
“I'm sure.” Kalina began unlocking the door. “Come on,

now! Go!”

Stuart nodded and vanished into the darkness.
Kalina opened the door.

Chapter 9

Kalina looked around. The house was dark, empty.

Justin was gone. He must have gone back to the hospital,
she reasoned; if there had been vampire attacks tonight, he
would need to be on duty to provide blood transfusions, to
provide support. She swallowed hard. The house seemed
bigger than ever in the dark and in the emptiness. The wind
whistled through the corridors; the gauze of the curtains
fluttered like a trapped butterfly. The place felt cold; she
shivered, feeling the sensation tremble from the nape of her
neck to the base of her spine.

“Hello,” she called, in a breathless whisper. Fear

choked her, stifling her voice. “Hello, is anyone there?”

She could not bear the silence – an expectant silence

that whispered promises of danger, of desire, of death.
She felt a presence in the house – a nameless, formless
fear – and tried to banish it.

“Hello!”
Justin was gone. Maeve was gone. Stuart was gone.

And the house was empty. And yet there was somebody
there...

Kalina climbed the steps to her room on tiptoe.

Nobody was in the house, she reasoned. Nobody could be
in the house! It had been locked...She tried to push the fear
out of her mind as she swung open the door to her
bedroom.

And then she saw him.
He was sitting on her bed, swinging his feet along the

floor. He looked so much like he had looked when she last
saw him – the same dashing, careless beauty, the same
primal power in his shoulders and neck, the look of a man
who had killed and could kill, who knew what he wanted and
would take it at his desire. It was Jaegar.

“So, you've picked Stuart, then,” he said, with strained

nonchalance, a hint of sadness.

“Jaegar...”
Her voice caught in her throat. He looked around the

room and she knew at once what he was thinking; she felt
his memories pervade her own, his voice invade her head.
He  sent  images  to  her  through  the  vines  of  her  mind  –
images  of  the  last  time  they  were  alone  together  in  the
room. They had started by kissing -it had been just kissing
at first – and then he had been undoing her bathrobe, his
lips  against  her  stomach,  and  they  had  come  so  close,
achingly  ever  closer,  to  consummating  their  desire.  How
she  loved  him  then,  desired  him,  and  how  he  loved  her…
before Octavius.

Kalina froze, the memories flooding her brain. He had

stopped, then – they had stopped – so afraid of what would
happen if he drank her blood, of the madness that would
flood his mind, overcome his restraint – the madness of
evil. He had stopped – they had stopped – and now here
he was before her, his worst fears realized.

He threw back his head and laughed, an evil, eerie

laugh that froze Kalina's blood. He gazed upon her with

sure, direct eyes. She knew exactly, without question,
without denial what it was he wanted to do to her; she knew
he would not hesitate any longer.

I have waited long enough.

He rose and came towards her. She felt the familiar

power of compulsion clouding her brain, a power Jaegar
had sworn nevermore to use upon her, the compulsion
relaxing her impulses, strengthening her desire.

The chemistry was electric.

You want me, Kalina.

And she did want him, at once; her body shuddered

involuntarily  with  desire,  as  he  came  to  her,  wrapped  his
hands  around  her,  drew  her  down  to  him.  She  was
sleepwalking,  walking  as  if  in  a  dream,  his  voice  and  his
body and his hands all echoes from a not unfamiliar past.
Their chemistry had been real, once; now, ignited by magic,
it was overpowering.

He kissed her; she tasted blood on his lips and still

succumbed, allowing him to press her down upon the bed,
into the softness of the satin sheets, slide the silk and velvet
of her dress down her body revealing her lacy black bra set,
kiss her breasts, his eyes dark with desire, his lips curved
into  a  wicked  smile  of  appreciation.  He  trailed  hot
smoldering  kisses  slowly  down  her  body.  She  felt  only
desire. Then his shirt was off, and she felt his warm chest
hard  against  her  chest  as  his  mouth  kissed  her
passionately. “The wait only increased my desire for you…”
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, her natural resistance
cried out; her conscious brain ignored it. She was gazing at

Jaegar as if through a fog, a haze of pleasure.

She moaned softly as he sank his teeth into her,

puncturing the smooth expanses of her neck, sucking down
mouthfuls of blood – more than he had taken from the vial,
more than Mal had given him, at last consummating the
desire that had echoed through him for centuries...Jaegar’s
face was in ecstasy, drinking Life’s Blood from the very
source!

No – no!

Kalina's eyes shot open; her senses returned to her.

She screamed, a deafening scream that turned into a wail,
and pushed Jaegar away, gaining just enough time to roll
across the floor.

Think, Kalina, think

. She grabbed a stake and aimed

it, ready to send it straight into Jaegar's heart. She couldn't
bear to kill him; she had to kill him; she couldn't bear to die.

But he was too strong for her. He took hold of her

wrists,  gripping  them  tightly  until  the  stake  fell  limply  from
her grasp. The sun was rising outside the window, a bloody
boil  of  light  that  should  have  fried  him,  should  have  killed
him.  But  he'd  tasted  her  blood  now.  He  no  longer  had  to
fear the sun. It no longer pained him.

“Oh, Kalina,” he whispered into her neck. “Silly girl –

you silly girl to resist me. How all I think about is you. Why
can’t I stop thinking of you? It’s like a madness. You’re the
only woman who had refused me, who I have wanted more
than immortality itself. You’re the only one I had defied my
maker for and would have killed my brothers for.” He kissed

her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “Join me.”

“What?”
“I still want you, you know. You silly, maddening little

witch – you've driven me crazy. I still want you – so much. I
don't want to kill you. I just want you – all of you – all night –
all day – every day.”

“Jaegar, please...”
“Even the compulsion doesn't hold you,” he laughed.

“Our  chemistry  is  explosive.  Can’t  you  feel  it?  I  know  you
can.  Even  now  I  can  read  your  desire  for  me,  hear  your
heart  pound  faster  for  me,  feel  the  heat  rising  up  in  your
body. There's so much of you – so much strength, so much
power I want to drink down. Remember, don't you? In this
very room. You asked me about becoming a vampire. Well,
now I want to make you one. I could turn you, you know –
you'd  scream  with  pleasure  you'd  enjoy  it  so  much  –  turn
you, and then we could make love for centuries – We can
really get it on vampire to vampire, without having to worry
about hurting you or breaking the spell...”

“Jaegar, please! Don't...”
“You love me, don't you? Not enough to turn me human

– but enough to make your weak human heart shiver at the
thought of killing me. No, you won't kill me, Kalina. I can feel
it. I can feel your heartbeat. I can hear your thoughts. Your
desires. How much you want. Me.”

“I don't want you! Not like this.”
“You do. You know you shouldn't – you know you can't

– but you do...”

“I don't,” Kalina cried. “I don't!”

“You do!” Jaegar’s mouth was on Kalina’s, his tongue

lashing onto hers, sensuously stroking every part of her
mouth, tasting her as though she was a delicacy. When she
responded back with a soft moan, he deepened the kiss,
not holding back his passion.

“Oh Jaegar…”
“Don’t you want this with me forever, Kalina?” he

growled. “Because I do.”

Kalina was so deep in the haze of desire, she could

barely think. The compulsion, Jaegar’s delicious masculine
smell, her blood attracted to him even more now that he’s
had more of her own blood, kept her from responding.

Jaegar smiled a slow wicked smile, the silver of light

hitting his unearthly beautiful eyes. “I knew you’d like this.”
He paused. “I just didn’t realize how much I’d like this, too.”
His  mouth  assaulted  her  mouth,  grabbing  hold  of  her
tongue and piercing her tongue with the tips of his extended
fangs. Kalina’s eyes flew open for a second with the sharp
sting,  which  gave  away  to  waves  of  pleasure  as  Jaegar
sucked on her tongue. When his mouth let go of her tongue,
Kalina  couldn’t  get  enough.  She  found  herself  licking
Jaegar’s  fangs,  which  made  him  close  his  eyes  savoring
the sensation.

Jaegar led her to her bed and laid her out, drinking in

the image of her looking at him with heated desire. “God,
you’re  more  beautiful  tonight  than  I’ve  ever  seen  you,”  he
said,  looking  like  the  old  Jaegar  for  a  moment.  “You’re
finally  going  to  be  mine,  and  the  spell  is  going  to  be
broken.” He kissed her cheeks, her lips, her collarbone and

was headed to Kalina’s smooth soft neck with his
elongated fangs when all of a sudden, quick as lightning,
Kalina rolled to her side, and sprinted across the room to
the door.

“I won't be forced into this, Jaegar. If you turn me, I

swear to God I'll be by your side for all eternity – hating
you.”

“I don't need your love,” Jaegar scoffed. “Only your

blood, only your body.” He smiled that slow wicked smile
again. “We can make this purely physical. I wouldn’t mind.”

Stuart, help me.

“Octavius' men will be coming soon,” Kalina's voice

shook. “If you leave now, you might escape them...”

Jaegar laughed.
“They're on the way to fight you. And kill you. And I

swear to God I will fight you too. Every step of the way,
Jaegar.”

“Fight me?” He sniffed at her. “Fight me –

, really?

Well, I suppose that would be...arousing, at least...”

As he approached her, his fangs poised to pierce her

flesh once more, the door opened, flying nearly off its
hinges. Stuart strode in, followed by three of Octavius' men,
three of his strongest vampires.

“Brother dearest...”
But it was too late. In a flash, Jaegar had vanished;

before Kalina could register what had happened, the three
vampire security guards had followed him, leaving Stuart
and Kalina alone.

“Stuart,” Kalina whispered. “Oh my God, Stuart...” She

swayed and then fell, collapsing in Stuart's arms, weak from
the blood loss.

“He bit you?” Stuart pressed his fingers to stop the

wound. She could see every muscle in his face tensing,
trying not to drink down the intoxicating liquid.

“Yes...he used compulsion – he's stronger than...” Than

Stuart? “than before.”

He gathered her in his arms. “Rest here,” he

whispered. “You're safe now.” But as he rocked her, Kalina
began to feel that she would never be safe again.

Chapter 10

Kalina and Stuart sat for some time longer, staring into

each other's eyes. Kalina could feel the cool and piercing
force of Stuart's gaze passing over her. His arms were
wrapped tightly around her, a pressure that meant safety,
meant life.

“Stuart,” she whispered.
His eyes traveled all the way over her body, followed

soon by his fingers, tracing the tips of her wounds, the
gaping puncture marks. He inhaled deeply and Kalina knew
what he was thinking, what he was feeling, the nigh-on-
impossible attempt to rein in his desires.

“I want to heal you...” he whispered. But healing would

require a sharing of blood – and she knew from the heat in
his lips and his eyes that even Stuart could not manage to
hold back.

“Kalina...I. Want. You...” She could see his eyes fixed

hot upon her neck; she could feel his eyes searing into
where Jaegar had left a hole. She sighed.

He was panting, although no air could have traveled

through his frozen lungs. But exhaustion had sent him into a
frenzy  –  he  had  rushed  to  her  when  she  first  sent  him  the
telepathic  message  begging  for  his  help,  and  now  she
knew what he knew: that finding her lying there, her clothing
torn,  her  blood  displayed  before  him,  was  more  than  he
could stand.

“I'm sorry...” he tried, as his fingers traced the borders

of Kalina's lips. They were bruised now, and swollen from
Jaegar's kisses, and as he let his fingertips shiver up to the
bottom lip Kalina remembered that mere moments before
they had been kissing – so slowly and softly on the dance
floor. Everything had seemed beautiful then; everything had
seemed fine and wonderful and above all things…so safe.

Stuart moved in closer. He drew her lips roughly into

his – more roughly than she had ever seen him do in the
past – and forced her shoulders tightly against his fingers,
drawing her against his chest. He struck a bruise,
inadvertently, and Kalina moaned with a slight pain, melded
with her unwilling desire.

“Kalina...” he drew away. “I'm...”
“You're what?”
“Did he...” Stuart looked down. “Did Jaegar...hurt you?”
“Hurt me? A bit – we...”
“I mean...”
Of course. Kalina bit back her rage. The question of

sex was on his mind – it was on all their minds –
impossible to separate from the nectar of her blood, from
the cocktail of hormones and passions and frenzies that
had drawn them all together.

“He was,” Kalina almost spat out the words with

contempt. “A perfect gentleman.”

“He didn't...”
“He didn't have the time.” Kalina looked up. “He used

compulsion on me – a bit...at first – I started to...before it
wore off...”

Stuart stiffened.
Kalina knew what he was feeling; she didn't even need

telepathy  to  confirm  her  suspicions.  Stuart  was  angry.
Angry  that  his  brother  –  his  cocky,  beautiful,  arrogant
brother – could get further with Kalina than he, Stuart, had.
Their  chaste  kisses  and  moonlight  dances  had  been
nothing  -nothing  to  what  Jaegar  had  so  easily  taken.  For
that was how Jaegar operated. He wanted things – he took
them. And  even  evil  –  Jaegar  was  able  to  taste  so  much
more of Kalina's soft flesh than he was...

Kalina looked up and she was frightened by what she

saw in Stuart's eyes. There was jealousy there, through and
through, a white-hot anger that seared through to her very
soul.

“It was compulsion” she insisted. “I couldn't help it!”
“I know you couldn't!” Stuart's voice was angry now –

his rage seeping through his self-control. She could see the
images flashing through his head – her thoughts and
images of her with Jaegar at the Sunrise Motel, which
Stuart had so easily glossed over – of Jaegar's mouth upon
her shoulders, her hips, her breasts...

She had chosen Octavius over him. She had chosen

Jaegar  over  him.  She  could  feel  his  rage.  He  had  been
good  –  the  best  –  the  most  deserving  –  always  the  quiet
one, always kind to her and chivalrous and honorable – and
he felt that deep down in parts of herself she could not even
fathom  she  wanted  none  of  that.  She  wanted  white-hot
anger  and  white-hot  passion,  burning  through  her;  she
wanted to be overwhelmed, to lose herself and her mind in

the power of her desire.

And he had been so good to her. And he had most

deserved her.

And she had not loved him.
“Stuart!” Kalina cried, but her moans were silenced as

he thrust her down onto the floor and began kissing her with
a series of rough kisses, his teeth lightly pricking at her lips.

“I want you so much,” he was moaning – into her neck,

her shoulders, her stomach. “I want you so much – I want
you more than they do – I need you...your blood, your body,
your life...your soul...”

“Stuart, what are you...” But she could not stop him.

She did not want to stop him. In the force of his passion she
was lost at last; his desire for her overwhelmed her,
enchanted her, at last consumed her until she was not sure
in the darkness of the night and their tangled limbs what
was her desire and what was his.

“I've waited for you, Kalina,” he was whispering now.

“I've waited for you so, so long...”

Kalina closed her eyes, letting the waves of pleasure

pass over her.

“I haven't been selfish, Kalina. God knows I haven't

been selfish. But I want to be selfish now. I want you – I want
to be like

him

, want you like he does, make you feel like he

does...”

He wanted her to himself; he wanted to slake the

desire that had been building within him for the months
since she had first known him. He had warned her that one
day, early in their relationship, at the Stomping Ground, that

he had more desire, more darkness in him, than she could
ever dream of. Next to Jaegar he had seemed so quiet, so
meek; she had almost disbelieved him. But she saw it now,
the darkness in his eyes, in his touch and gaze and above
all things in his mouth, hot on hers; she felt at last, like a
coiled spring released.

Compulsion had clouded her mind before with Jaegar;

now, the lines of connection were clear.

Yes. I want this, Stuart. I have always wanted this. I

want to see this passionate side of you.

She did not know it was true until she had thought it

into existence, and then she knew it. She still loved
Octavius, missed Octavius, ached for Octavius – the world
he had shown her, when she could be a woman instead of
a girl, in the world instead of in a small town. And she could
not have loved Stuart, not in the small and domestic way
she thought he wanted.

But now...
She couldn't think of Octavius now. She had promised

him, for their sake, to give him up, to love another...she
wanted to give Stuart a chance. She wanted to love him.

And then her mind was clouded again, not by

compulsion but by sheer pleasure, as Stuart began tearing
Kalina's ball dress from her body, removing her bra, her
stockings – ripping them into shreds in his passion.

“Stuart...”
She remembered the lessons Octavius had taught her

in Paris.

Stuart – I want to...but I don't want to break the spell.

She grabbed hold of his wrists and rolled him over,

stretching out the length of her body above him, kissing his
neck, his shoulders.

There are other things we can do, Stuart.

She heard his smile pierce through her thoughts

before she saw it.

I want to...
I want to..

And then words failed them, and pleasure consumed

them, and it was dawn before Kalina opened her eyes
again.

********

Which one of them had killed Gerard – had been

responsible,  had  killed,  really,  Marilee?  It  was  a
conversation Stuart and Jaegar had had many times – time
and time again, a conversation peppered with fierce blows,
with  wrestling  in  the  dirt  and  filth  of  the  graveyard.  They
were  brothers  –  but  for  nearly  two  centuries  they  had  not
been  brothers,  until  Aaron's  death  had  forced  them  into
something like an unquiet peace treaty. Since Gerard had
died – since Marilee had committed suicide in grief at the
death  of  her  husband  and  the  accusations  –  they  had
always  regarded  each  other  with  clear  suspicion.  One  of
them had killed Gerard – it could have been either of them
to commit that act of parricide.

After all, they had both loved Marilee. They had both

longed  for  her  –  that  forbidden  beauty,  their  father's  new
wife. She had been so young, so sweet, with flaxen hair and
red  cheeks  that  spoke  of  days  spent  out  in  the  fields,
together at the frontier of the world. How beautiful America
had seemed to all of them then – going West – a thousand
sunsets and nights across the American plains together. Of
course they had both loved her – how could they not! And
how  could  they  have  not  hated  their  father  –  their  father
whose pretty young wife was the only woman they could not
have,  a  woman  their  father  could  love  every  night  in  the
room next to them...

Jaegar grimaced. He could not think of Marilee now.
He had fled into the night – he had been so close, with

Kalina – so close to tasting her, to wanting her, to
consuming her into nothingness. Her love had brought him
back to humanity, once; it had brought him close enough to
Stuart again that the two of them could look each other in
the eyes like brothers, with one hundred years' worth of
forgiveness upon them.

Three of Octavius’ men were chasing him – he

recognized them. One had severed his finger that night in
the fields, intending to leave him to burn at sunlight as
punishment – stripped of his ring he would have been
broiled alive in agony, had it not been for Kalina, who found
him. How he realized then how much she meant to him.

Jaegar sized up the other two men. One had chained

him to the wall in Octavius’ dungeon. The strongest
vampires in the world – a Mongol soldier, a former Roman

gladiator, a trained Aztec warrior.

They had been some of the strongest vampires in the

world.

But they had not tasted Life’s Blood, Kalina’s blood.
It took him only an hour to kill the three of them, an hour

strewn with limbs and blood, with the wailing of final death.
Thousands of men had tried, and failed to kill them.

And now it took Jaegar only an hour.
He inhaled the sharp air of dawn, and looked upon a

sunrise – in complete silence, complete, delirious silence –
without any pain, the slow burn at last vanished for the first
time in seven hundred years.

Chapter 11

Kalina slept deeply that night. The chaos of the whole

evening  –  from  her  kiss  with  Stuart  at  the  prom,  to  the
trauma with Jaegar, to the passion she had experience with
Stuart  afterwards,  had  overwhelmed  her.  Combined  with
severe blood loss – a loss she had barely even registered
until  it  was  almost  too  late  –  the  events  of  the  preceding
twelve hours had combined to drain her emotionally as well
as physically. When at last she and Stuart had finished, she
fell asleep against him, a sleep so deep that Stuart could
not even telepathically connect to her dreams. He pressed
her  shoulders  softly  –  no  answer.  He  stared  at  her  –  the
drained,  pale  white  figure  before  him  –  and  realized  what
he should have seen before, when his mind was clouded by
desire.  She  had  been  injured  –  seriously  –  by  Jaegar's
attack; they had both forgotten it in the heat of the moment,
but  now  he  could  see  everywhere  the  scratches  and  bite
marks Jaegar had made upon her.

Stuart sighed and bit into his wrist, letting a few

droplets  of  his  blood  trickle  out  onto  Kalina's  lips.  In  her
sleep she moaned and sighed, arching her back and neck
so  that  the  delicate  taste  could  be  sucked  down  into  her
neck. He sighed with her pleasure, seeing her give a low,
sensual  cry  –  deep  in  the  mind  of  sleep  –  as  her  cuts
gradually  began  to  heal,  lines  and  scratches  evaporating
into a sea of creamy white flesh.

It was easier now, Stuart thought. It had been terrible –

in  its  beauty  –  being  with  Kalina,  being  so  close  to  this
exquisite  young  woman,  losing  himself  in  her,  and  yet
unable to bite her, although the smell of her blood – fresh
and  loose  –  had  filled  his  nostrils,  crowded  over  his  mind
and soul and sanity. How he must love her to constantly be
with her and yet not be with her. Kalina was like the ladies
he swore to love and protect back in the Middle Ages when
he was a knight. Yet she was much more, and he couldn’t
help falling for her, her smile, her bravery, her fragility, her
spirit, her resilience to all the grief she’d experienced, her
intelligence, her beauty, and especially her capacity to love
generously.  She  seemed  endless  in  her  ability  to  love
others,  even  monsters  like  himself  and  Jaegar.  She  was
Humanity itself.

Not many vampires would have resisted, Stuart knew

bitterly.  He  was  one  of  the  few  –  the  lucky  few  –  to  retain
enough  of  his  humanity  to  avoid  killing  her.  Enough  of  his
humanity  to  avoid  experiencing  the  greatest  pleasure  he
could  possibly  know.  But  he  had  gotten  to  know  her,  like
Aaron had, and he knew he couldn’t just take her.

Kalina looked almost peaceful as she slept, the stress

now banished by the power of the vampire blood coursing
through her veins. Stuart gazed tenderly at her and began
stroking her hair, feeling the delicate strands – like strains
of silk – rustle beneath his fingers. Her soft full lips slightly
opened as her sweet warm breath flowed in and out. He
loved kissing those lips, loved tasting them over and over
again last night. He leaned down and kissed her forehead,

wishing some of her warmth could be transferred to him.

Brother.

Stuart whipped up.

I can hear you now, brother. I've had her blood. She's

had yours.

No, Jaegar wasn't in the room – not physically. But

Stuart could sense his presence everywhere, and the
knowledge prickled him with anger. It was his brother as he
had always known him best – remembered him most – the
voice in his ear telling him all the things he didn't know or
want to know about himself – about the woman he loved.

Hello brother.

The voice was filled with smiles – a

lascivious grin in the middle of the tones.

How is our

sleeping princess doing? Did you tire her out?

You are not welcome here, Jaegar.

Stuart shut his

eyes tight, willing his brother out.

And at last – you did it. I wouldn't have thought you

had it in you. I wouldn't think you had enough vampire in
you to bed the girl. But you did.

Stuart's head echoed with

Jaegar's laughter.

But not enough, eh Stuart? Not enough

to take her blood. Not enough to take her virginity.

Jaegar

gave a mock sigh that sent shivers up and down Stuart's
spine.

If only she'd been...if only you'd been stronger, eh,

brother?

Go away, Jaegar. You are not wanted here.
Oh, I think I am wanted. By her, brother. By her. Did

you feel how she kissed you later after I'd left her – I left
her all nice and ready for you. I left her aflame, turned on,

overwhelmed by desire, wanting passion...that girl needs
a strong vampire. A vampire who can match her. Not a
weak do-gooder with water instead of blood in his veins.

Stop it – just stop it.
She has fire in her blood, Stuart. I can tell you this. I

know. She has fire in that Life’s Blood of hers, and it burns
my throat when I drink it down but it feels so good – it
tastes so good – I would do it anyway, gladly. Believe me
brother. It is not like the taste of that virgin we shared in
Paris back in 1792 – you thought she was willing, didn't
you? You never suspected I used compulsion on her...

No – no!

Stuart closed his eyes tighter, but he knew

the voices in his head had reached too deeply within his
soul.

Better than that flaxen maiden we shared in 1472 in

Germany – the Rhine – before you went good. Back when
you were interesting. Back when you didn't try to control
this force within you – this power!

I was another man then.
You were a vampire then, my brother! And now she's

going to leave us both – can't you understand that? Leave
us both and go back to Octavius. The same Octavius who
imprisoned me and you alike, who left me for dead – who
treated our feelings with so little care that he demanded
we sacrifice Life’s Blood for him. For him! For that silent
philosopher! What a waste – he'll get every night in bed
with that little Kalina...and we won't get a taste. Unless you

help me... You always wanted to be included, didn't you,
little brother? You always wanted me to invite you along in
my reindeer games. Well, now you can.

Stuart felt his skin prickle and he knew what Jaegar

said. He knew his desire was as strong as Jaegar's – as
desperate a need. He had wanted her – God knew he
wanted her – and she had denied him. He forced himself
back into the realm of morality; he would not do it!

I will not take her blood against her will, Jaegar. I will

not take her against her will.

What a pity. We could have shared her. Brothers

share, don't they, Stuart? You shared her with me before...

You never tasted her – she never let you taste her.

Stuart begged, pleaded for an echo of his brother inside
this monstrous new voice.

It was only Mal – Mal who forced

you...Mal who destroyed you.

Mal gave me the greatest of gifts.

Jaegar laughed.

am free. Free of guilt, of pain. Of all restraints.

He killed the Consortium – do you think you're safe

from him.

He's the most powerful vampire around. For now. I've

drunk a lot of Kalina's blood – Mal's vials, and then some
from that hot little neck myself...and I'll get stronger and
stronger. And soon Octavius won't even be a paltry
second…

You won't get her.

Stuart rose, chasing shadows as he

scanned the room.

I won't let you touch her. I won't let you

taste her.

We'll have to see about that, won't we, brother? Last

night – she wanted me. She wanted me as much as I
wanted her. We have a bond, brother. She broke through
my compulsion. Did she tell you that? She broke through
my compulsion – and yet she was still hot in bed with me.
Letting me touch her – stroke her – taste her. I've had her
blood and she's had mine. No other vampire in the world
can say that much. Not even Octavius. And that old man
is just a passing fancy of hers. Like you. I can feel her
thoughts now, Stuart. I know. I can feel her desire for me.
Nor will I doubt or deny mine for her. I want her – that rug
inside her veins. And I will have her.

Octavius will not allow...
Octavius? Ha! That old fool released her – let her go.

Told her to choose one brother. He couldn't keep her
safe. He couldn't keep her happy. Now she can choose
whomever she wants. Will she choose you – sweet, gentle,
impotent Stuart...or will she choose me?

Stuart punched the wall, scraping his knuckles in a

single whirl of fury.

If she ever loved you,

Stuart

concentrated harder.

She despises you now. Who you are.

What you've become. You've become a monster – like
Mal.

A monster?

Jaegar's cackle filled the room.

I'm

becoming a god!

And Kalina?
Kalina? Well, dear brother – let me tell you exactly

what  I'll  do  to  her. A  sip  here  –  a  sip  there  –  a  suck,  a
nibble,  a  taste...until  she's  almost  drained  –  sweaty  –  in
bed with me. And then I'll turn her – and feast on her again
and  again  –  every  night  in  our  blood-drenched  bed  –
while you scrabble for rat blood and vampire wine out in
the cold!

You wouldn't!
Why not?

Jaegar scoffed.

It's what Father did to

Marilee

Don't you talk about Marilee.

White-hot rage clouded

Stuart's vision.

Don’t you dare talk about Marilee.

Try and stop me, little brother. I'm at the Winery. Are

you bold enough – are you stupid enough – to think you
can best me?

Stuart stopped cold.

If I don't see you tonight at the Winery – I'll return to

Kalina. I'll take her. I'll have her. And if I do see you – well,
I'll give her another day. Another day to run.

So this is what Jaegar intended. A fight to the end. To

the death.

The gauntlet had been thrown down. There was only

one thing to do.

I will fight you, Jaegar. I have been waiting to fight you

for centuries. For Kalina. And for Marilee.

And then Stuart's thoughts went black, and Jaegar

vanished, and as Kalina murmured into morning and dawn
struck the pillow, Stuart's mind was engulfed in darkness.

Chapter 12

He woke up with Kalina in his arms. She was soft,

encircled  by  his  arms  and  legs,  so  pliant  and  smooth
beneath  his  fingers.  He  woke  up  to  the  smell  of  her,  the
lingering perfume from prom the night before mingled with
the  delicious,  intoxicating  scent  of  sweat  and  passion  –
bolstered  up  by  a  hint  –  just  a  hint,  but  such  a  tantalizing
one – of her blood. She moved softly in her sleep, giving a
low moan as she turned into him. She wanted him, Stuart
realized, as she unconsciously buried her face in his chest,
brushed  her  fingertips  against  his  shoulders.  She  needed
him. With her eyes still closed, still asleep, she kissed his
bare  chest,  while  running  her  fingers  along  his  rock  solid
stomach. Did she love him? Stuart sighed. He couldn't say
– that much was true. And yet she had loved him last night –
given herself to him so entirely and completely that he could
not doubt the veracity of her kisses, her moans, her sighs.
She had loved him – then. Would she love him now?

He kissed her awake – softly, slowly, beginning with

his  lips  on  her  shoulders  and  then  trailing  them  through
every  part  of  her  body.  She  was  naked,  and  in  her
nakedness  there  was  no  shame,  no  embarrassment,  only
glorious freedom, like Eve at the dawn of the world. Would
his  death  be  enough  to  save  her?  One  day  –  that  was  all
that Jaegar would give her. One day. Would it be enough?

Stuart shuddered as fear overtook him; the movement

startled Kalina into wakefulness.

“What is it?” she said, groaning as she raised herself

up on her elbows. “What's happened?”

“Kalina...” His voice said it all. His one word, the

invocation of her name, was so full of love and passion that
Kalina stopped short.

“Stuart...” she whispered back. “What is it?”
How could he tell her? How could he say goodbye? He

swallowed back his grief and began stroking the side of her
face  –  as  tenderly  as  possible,  careful  not  to  mar  the
creamy  smoothness  of  her  cheeks.  If  she  had  loved  him
enough,  perhaps  it  could  have  all  gone  to  plan.  Perhaps
she could have made him human. Perhaps they could have
shared  together  the  life  he  had  always  longed  for,  always
dreamed of, have more nights and days like last night. Last
night  with  Kalina  was  pure  happiness.  Leaving  Kalina
would be his only regret. But it was too late to think about
that now.

She was the best of him; she brought out the best in

him. She brought out the best in all vampires – the humanity
that  they  all  longed  for,  Stuart  was  convinced,  they  all
secretly  desired  more  than  anything  in  the  world.  She
brought  out  his  ability  to  love  and  be  loved,  to  do  things
unselfishly,  to  staunch  his  fierce  desire  for  blood,  for
destruction, for death. Her effect on all vampires had been
tremendous.  Her  blood  was  truly  the  blood  of  Life,  Stuart
thought. It was the blood that meant vampires could dream
– just a dream, but a dream nonetheless, of being humans
again.

Kalina must be protected, Stuart knew. Whatever the

price. Whatever the cost.

Even if he were the cost.
“Thank you for last night,” said Stuart slowly, raising

Kalina's fingers to his lips. “I am sorry...if I frightened you. I
did not mean to lose control. I never mean to lose control.”

Kalina smiled and planted a quick kiss on his lips. “I

like it when you lose control,” she said. “Don't worry – I
enjoyed it. Every minute of it.”

Stuart could not look her in the eye. He knew this part

would be the hardest of all.

“What is it?” Kalina lifted his chin up so that her eyes

reflected his. “What's wrong?”

“I heard from Jaegar last night, Kalina.”
“What – when?”
“When you were sleeping. He came to me

telepathically. Now that you and I have strengthened our
blood bond, and Jaegar is bonded to you – he can come
again to me, speak into my mind as never before.”

“What did he say?” Kalina frowned. “What does he

want?”

“He has challenged me, Kalina. To a fight to the death.

And his terms are...his terms may give you a chance to
live.”

“Terms? What terms?”
“If I do not fight him, he comes for you tonight.”
“And if you do fight him?”
“Then when I am dead, he will give you one day. One

day to run.”

“When you are dead?” Kalina tightened her grip on his

wrists. “Stuart, what are you talking about? Please – tell
me...”

“I cannot dream of besting Jaegar in combat, Kalina,”

he said. “You know that. We both know that. My brother far
outstripped me back when we were both but vampires; with
Life’s Blood in him, he is unbeatable.”

Kalina's lips began to tremble. “Last night,” she said

slowly, forcing back the tears. “When Jaegar came to me –
I wanted so badly to believe...that he wasn't all bad, after all.
That there were still traces of the real Jaegar – my – our
Jaegar there that I even allowed him to kiss me. But now...”

“But now,” sighed Stuart.
“This isn't Jaegar,” said Kalina, her voice shaking. “I

know this isn't Jaegar. This – thing – that would be so cruel,
so monstrous, that would force us to make these
impossible choices. This is not the man I cared for. This is
not your brother.”

“This is exactly my brother!” Stuart spat, his voice

beginning to take on the tones of rage. “Of course it is –
this is how he was all along...I knew it....”

“Stuart, what are you....”
“I reconciled myself to him – as was necessary. After

Aaron was thought dead, we were forced into an alliance
for your sake. But I have never forgotten our estrangement. I
have never forgotten what happened to Marilee.”

“Marilee?”
“A woman we both loved,” said Stuart shortly, without

looking at her. “A woman whom Jaegar caused to die.”

“Jaegar killed her?”
“Not directly. He killed our father.”
Kalina started. “What?”
“I cannot prove it. Perhaps it will never be proven. But I

know.

I know.

He was found dead days after Jaegar and I

argued over Marilee.”

“Why would he kill...”
“Marilee was my father's wife. Aaron's mother. We

both loved her – she loved our father. She allowed herself
to be turned – willingly! - in order to be with him.”

“Someone would be willingly turned?”
“She gave birth to Aaron – and then had Octavius turn

him when he turned eighteen – for Marilee could not bear
the idea that her son would grow older than she.”

“I see.”
“And then our father was murdered – oh, Jaegar will

never  admit  it  –  he  says  always  that  it  was  I  who  did  the
deed.  He  mocks  my  self-control,  tells  me  that  at  the  most
crucial  moments,  I  abandon  it...”  Stuart  sighed.  “But  he
killed our father; I know it in my soul. And then Marilee could
not  bear  the  thought  of  eternity  without  him.  And  so  she
walked  into  the  sun.  Without  a  ring.  Without  a  shawl. And
she  burned  –  and  we  watched  her  burn.  The  Jaegar  you
knew was...an aberration. His love for you made him good
–  for  a  while.  But  perhaps  Mal's  interference  has
transformed him into what he always was, only stronger.”

“I can't believe that,” said Kalina. “He seemed so

good.”

“I would stake myself,” said Stuart, “before being force-

fed your blood. I can promise you that, Kalina.”

“You can't go!” Kalina cried. “Stuart – you can't...”
“I must.” He kissed her hand. “I have no other choice.

There is no other way.”

“There must be another way – some other way!”
“If I could...”
“If we left now – you and me – together.Went into

hiding. Went east to New York – or back to Europe – then
maybe he wouldn't find us...”

“And then he would go after Justin, Kalina. And then he

would go after Maeve. He will not rest until he has found you
– and he will kill anyone that gets in his way. This day I can
give you. These twenty-four hours. Use them well. Use them
wisely.  Get  Justin  and  Maeve  out  of  town.  Jaegar  and  I
have  had  this  date  from  the  beginning  –  since  my  father
died. Since Marilee. It is about you, Kalina, but it is not only
about you. You must not blame yourself. It was a fuel to the
death that had been in the works long before we met you.
Long  before  we  fell  in  love  with  you.  Both  of  us.  If  such  a
creature  as  Jaegar  is  possibly  capable  of  love...”  Stuart's
voice trailed off. “If he is capable, Kalina, then perhaps you
made him so.”

“I can't let you die like this, Stuart! I can't leave you.”

She  began  kissing  him  –  his  neck,  his  shoulders,  all  over
his  body,  wrapping  herself  up  in  the  blanket  as  her  body
began to shake and shiver from the pain. “Stuart – I'm so
sorry...it's  all  my  fault...all  my  fault...my  blood  –  my  stupid,
cursed, blood.”

He held her steady until at last her sobs had quieted.

“It is not your fault, Kalina,” said Stuart. “Remember

that. You must always remember that. You are not to blame.
Now listen to me, Kalina. You must listen to me. You must
pack  as  quickly  as  possible  –  get  out  of  this  place.  Bring
Justin  with  you,  and  Maeve.  Get  them  out  of  Rutherford
tonight. I will meet Jaegar at the Winery. I will do...I will do
my best. Perhaps it will not be so bad after all. Perhaps I
will  be  able  to  defeat  him...it  will  be  fine,  Kalina  –  do  not
worry – perhaps there is hope.”

“But Stuart!” Kalina threw her arms around him. “I can't

risk it – Stuart. I don't want to risk it. Not when my feelings
for you are so...I want to love you, I want my vampire love to
be you.”

He kissed her forehead.
“If only we had more time, eh?” He gave her a weak

smile. “Then perhaps you could have loved me.”

“I love you now,” she said fiercely.
“But true love is a more complicated thing altogether,

my darling.”

Kalina sighed.
“Listen to me, Kalina, darling.” He drew her shoulders

into him, pressing his lips against hers, trying to express all
his love, all his ardor with a single kiss. His words came to
her in fits of telepathy.

Even if I die tonight, I will die

knowing that I spent my last night with you – knowing that
you cared for me, that you trust me. For although I am a
monster – like Jaegar, like other vampires, all other
vampires – with you I can be a man, the man I always

dreamed  of  being.  You  have  made  me  feel  more  alive
than  I  have  felt  in  centuries...more  alive  than  I  have
felt....even  when  I  was  a  man  with  a  heartbeat  and
drawings of breath. And I will always be grateful to you for
that.  I  don’t  think  I  have  ever  loved  another  woman  as
much as I love you.

He moved his lips away from hers; she drew in breath

sharply.

“I can't let you go...” she whispered.
But it was too late. He had gotten out of bed, now, and

was packing for her – taking clothes and shoving them into
the suitcase that still lay under her bed from her trip with
Octavius.

“I cannot let you die,” he said.
He stopped and turned to her.
“If you need money,” he said, “take this ring. It will be

worth something.”

She felt the familiar shape drop into her hand. This

was the Life’s Blood ring – the ring that allowed him to walk
in the sunlight unharmed.

And together they knew that he would walk in no more

sunlights.

“I can't accept this,” she whispered.
“You must.” He cupped her face. “Kalina, I have

already died once before. This time it will be for something
worthy.”

She turned her face away.

Chapter 13

Stuart sighed as he took the road down to Greystone

Wineries. It was a road he had traveled many times before,
but never did the tiniest elements of things seem as clear to
him  as  they  did  right  now.  The  leaves  were  sharper,  their
definition cutting against the evening sky. Sunset had come
over him – the faintest pink glimmer vanishing in the horizon
as inky expanses of night clouded out even the stars. The
rocks  beneath  him  felt  rough  through  his  boots;  he  could
hear  every  footstep  and  every  crunch  of  every  leaf
deafening him as he walked. Was this to be his last night
on earth? He looked up at the night and there was nothing
there to comfort him, to console him.

The road took him through the outskirts of town,

through the quieter parts of Rutherford. There were no lights
here,  no  chain  stores,  no  gatherings  of  students  as  there
were in the center, in places like the Stomping Ground and
the  high  school.  It  was  better  this  way,  Stuart  thought.  He
was  not  sure  he  could  bear  the  sight  of  anything  that
reminded  him  of  how  much  life  had  to  offer  –  and  how
quickly it would be gone.

Another crunch upon the leaves; another footstep –

and every step Stuart took towards the wineries was a step
towards death.

You are doing this for Kalina

, he told himself.

Remember the woman you love. Whatever you do, you

must remember the woman you love.

He gazed out into the distance.
He remembered that when he was a young man, and

afflicted  with  despair,  he  used  to  go  into  church.  These
were Medieval churches, then – the great and Gothic stone
monoliths that dotted the English countryside in those days,
with the great and intoxicating smell of incense and candles
and  sacred  stained  glass.  He  used  to  pray  for  the
intercession  of  Blessed  Virgin  and  of  all  the  saints  –  his
favorite  was  Saint  Michael,  who  was  the  archangel  of
justice.  He  had  felt  then,  seven  hundred  years  ago,  that
prayer brought him closer to the divine, something at once
unfamiliar  and  all-encompassing:  paternal  warmth  and
eternal power.

It had been nearly seven hundred years since he had

allowed himself to pray. He saw the steeple of Our Blessed
Lady of the Candle in the distance, and bowed his head.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

He had killed – murdered – again and again; he was a

monster with a lust for blood he could not control. If Adam
had rendered all mankind sinful, then Octavius had
rendered Stuart as a vampire more evil still – two times the
original sin.

And yet...Stuart could not help but wonder – if in his

hour of need, his most sincere prayer, the Lord would not
open His heart and His doors to him now. He knew he had
transgressed – unwillingly, unknowingly, but transgressed
all the same, become something inhuman, monstrous,
trailing the sickly line between human and divine, a line only

Jesus Christ was meant to straddle – he had learned all
this in church. When he had been allowed to enter church.

Stuart thought of Father Botticelli, the only vampire

ever to be allowed to enter a church – for he had been a
priest when he was turned, and thus his soul had already
been promised to God. He felt envy added to his litany of
other sins.

Stuart stopped at the doors of the church. Closing his

eyes tightly, he pressed at the doors. They swung open at
his touch.

He stared at the empty threshold for a while, praying,

willing, begging something divine to let him through.

Father, please.

As soon as he took a step he knew it was fruitless. He

felt the awesome power of something beyond him rock him,
shake his bones into an agonizing chaos, and then throw
him backwards into the dirt, an electric current running
through his dead veins.

No, even now – even with his sacrifice – he was a

dead thing, an unholy thing, fit only to be banished. It would
not stop him – Stuart would not let it stop him.

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been

seven hundred years since my last confession.

He rushed at the door, feeling its punishment come

upon him once more.

There was no use. It was too late. Seven hundred

years too late.

He finished his prayer in silence and walked onwards.

If Kalina had loved him, if her Life’s Blood had allowed

him  to  be  human,  he  would  have  been  able  to  enter  a
church again. He would be able to receive communion – to
pray – above all things to confess and be forgiven, his soul
clean and worthy of heaven. And then he realized perhaps
death  was  the  greatest  gift  Jaegar  could  give  him.  If  he
could no longer be a human, then he wished no longer to be
a vampire. And if protecting Kalina – not because he loved
her, as a man loves a woman, but only because he loved
her  as  Christ  had  taught  him  to  love  all  men,  was  the  last
thing  he  did,  he  might  perhaps  have  ended  his  life  with
something worthwhile – something real.

Something human.
No, Jaegar could not turn Kalina into a true vampire -

Stuart could not allow him. He prayed again that these
twenty-four hours would be enough time.

The first thing that struck Stuart as he entered the

Winery  was  the  silence.  Everything  was  quiet  –  an
enormous,  overhanging  quiet  that  stifled  the  air  out  of  the
room. For a moment, Stuart stopped in panic. Had it been
a  trick  –  to  take  Stuart  away  from  Kalina,  leaving  her
exposed  so  that  Jaegar  could  go  after  her  on  his  own?
Stuart  shuddered.  No,  he  thought  –  Jaegar  could  easily
best Stuart – in front of Kalina , if need be. There was no
reason to go through all this trouble. And besides, Jaegar
would have relished the planned execution of his brother.

He heard a whistling whirl shudder throughout the

room. Stuart rounded to find Jaegar sitting calmly in
Gerard's old armchair. He looked content, peaceful,

businesslike, as their father had, as if he ought to be
smoking a cigar or chewing on a pipe.

“Jaegar...” Stuart growled.
“Hello, dear brother.”
It was the first time Stuart had seen Jaegar since he

had been turned by Mal. Stuart could see the differences,
subtle though they were. Jaegar's eyes were colder and
harsher, now, glinting with evil. He had the same beauty, of
course – the same marble loveliness that had drawn all the
attention away from Stuart and towards his more seductive
brother – but now evil was more palpable than ever.

“I always knew,” said Stuart softly. “That this is what

you really were.”

“Tut tut, Stuart!” Jaegar pretended to be offended.

“Aren't Christians supposed to forgive? Oh, wait – I forgot –
you're not really a Christian, are you? I rather say you've
been...excommunicated!” He laughed a great and hollow
laugh; Stuart shivered.

“I have come, said Stuart.
“Sit, brother.” Jaegar motioned to another chair; Stuart

felt his knees buckle under him as a chair sped like
lightning under his legs, prompted by Jaegar's telepathy.

“See what I can do!” Jaegar smiled. “Exciting, isn't it?

Remember when you and I used to try out new powers,
Stuart? When we were first vampires? Those were good
days.”

Those were days without the pain, without the guilt –

the newborn days of vampires. Stuart remembered them as
both the blackest and the happiest days of his life. He had

never been crueler; he had never been less encumbered by
guilt.

“It seems like only yesterday that Father sat there,”

said Stuart. He could not look at his brother “And now what
has happened to us?”

“Our father kept us in check, I suppose,” said Jaegar,

looking out the window. “Ah, well – we were rowdy boys,
weren't we?” His face darkened. “I always loved you, you
know,” he said. “You were always my brother. Despite your
folly – your naiveté. You were my brother.”

Stuart sighed. “You were my brother,” he admitted.
“Perhaps I cannot blame you, after all,” said Jaegar.

“After all, we had only the same misfortune – to fall in love
with the same beautiful woman.”

“Kalina...”
“Delicious – intoxicating Kalina.”
“Perhaps you are not to blame at all.”
For the first time since Jaegar's visit the night before,

Stuart began to feel a twinge of relief. Had Kalina been
right – had Jaegar's initial humanity shown through; had her
love been able to conquer the effects of her blood?

“Then again, perhaps you are.”
In a flash Jaegar was on top of Stuart, lashing out like

a snake snapping at its prey. Stuart gave a loud cry as he
rolled to one side, parrying the attack.

“Well done, my boy,” said Jaegar. “Not such a fool

after all.”

Stuart responded with a blow upon the face.
He always knew how it would end. Even with his

punches, his blows, his attempts to wield the chains of
silver he had bought, he knew there was no hope for him.
Jaegar was better, faster, stronger; he was high on Life’s
Blood, and its evil coursed through him – a heart pumping
for the first time in centuries.

Stuart was no match for him.
And then he was disarmed, pinned upon the ground,

with his neck exposed and Jaegar's fangs – bared and
enormous, coming ever closer to the scratches on his
neck...

Chapter 14

Stuart closed his eyes, waiting for Jaegar's teeth to

sink down into his neck, waiting for death, waiting for
oblivion. For a moment that hung into eternity, this death did
not come. And then he heard Jaegar's voice, high-pitched
and cruel, break through the silence. “It doesn't have to end
like this,” said Jaegar. “You are my brother, after all. There
is another way...”

“What are you talking about,” Stuart spat out through

gritted teeth.

“You could taste her too...” Jaegar laughed. “You could

taste that sweet nectar you want so badly. You could have
everything you ever wanted. You can be strong like me.”

“I will not side with you, brother!”
“You must...” Jaegar grinned. “You will. After all, you'll

have to make the choice very – very soon...”

As he lowered his fangs, the room was disturbed by a

loud crash.

“Kalina?” Stuart leaped up as Jaegar looked away,

distracted. Kalina had overturned one of the tables to
cause a distraction. She stood firmly before them, a stake
clenched in her hand, staring straight ahead.

“Go on, then,” she said to Jaegar. “Come and get me

– like a real vampire.”

“Well,” said Jaegar. His face had drained; she had

surprised him. “This is getting interesting.”

Stuart closed his eyes and concentrated.

Kalina – what are you doing? I tried to give you a day

to live – one day – I tried so hard to save you – why didn't
you let me save you?

I'm sorry.

Her telepathic voice was full of pain.

couldn't let anyone else die because of me – for me. I told
Justin – Maeve – told them to get out of there, convinced
them to leave...but I stay, tonight. And if I die...

His heart swelled at her bravery. With her lips pursed

together and the look of fixed concentration on her face as
she held up the stake, she reminded Stuart of one of the
famous paintings that he had seen of Joan of Arc at battle –
courageous, humble, strong.

********

Saying goodbye to Octavius had been the hardest

thing  Kalina  had  ever  done.  She  had  done  her  best  to
forget  him  since  his  instruction  to  her  to  do  so  –  the
realization of the impossibility of her love. And yet when she
sent  him  her  telepathic  message,  she  found  tears
streaming down her cheeks, as she had imagined – just for
a  second  but  a  second  so  glorious  that  her  imagination
seeped over into reality – that they could be together, that
the situation could be otherwise.

She had seen Jaegar and Stuart fight so often, work

out their sibling rivalry in a series of brawls and duels. But
this time it was different. She had seen the murderous glint

in Jaegar's eye – the fear mingled with resignation in
Stuart's gaze. She knew Jaegar had struck to kill – and that
he would not let up until one or the both of them are dead.

“Good,” said Jaegar. His voice was light and strange.

“Perfect timing – she's here! Now we can begin the test.”

Stuart and Kalina started in unison. “What test?” they

asked together.

“To see,” said Jaegar. “You seem to love this vampire

– such a changeable woman, aren't you Kalina? Yet you
seem to love me, too. Has that changed? Or has last night
with Stuart made you forget all about me?” He grinned. “Tell
me, which one of us Greystone Brothers make the better
lover?”

In a flash he was on top of Kalina, her stake strewn

across the room and her wrists throbbing under his tight
grip. She might have been able to fight him off before, but
now that he had been turned her own blood overpowered
her.

“No...” Kalina whispered.
“Let's see if you really love Stuart as you say you do...”
Suddenly Kalina found herself thrown back against

Gerard's old arm-chair.

“Don't move,” said Jaegar, and instantly Kalina felt

compulsion bind her limbs together to the chair; she could
not even scream. Her vocal cords too had seized up.

Then in another flash Jaegar had grabbed Stuart, and

knocked him to his knees at Kalina's feet.

“What are you doing?” Stuart rounded on Jaegar,

staring at him with brotherly hatred.

“I'm giving you a gift, brother,” said Stuart. “I'm offering

you that which you have fantasized about for years and
years – that delicious, savory drop...seize the day, vampire!
Seize the night. Stop being so noble.”

“What are you talking about?” Stuart growled.
“Drink!” Jaegar laughed. “I want you to drink, little

brother. An experiment! How fun! Let's see what happens.
Maybe you'll become human – as you always wanted. Or
maybe =- probably – you won't. You'll become like me.”

“I won't do it.” Stuart forced out each word as Jaegar's

fingers encircled his neck. “I won't let it happen.”

“Then how will you know?” Jaegar feigned sincerity. “If

she really loves you? If she is worth giving up your life?”

“It's a biased test,” said Stuart. “It won't work. She's not

giving her blood freely. Like with you – that wasn't a test
either.”

“It was a test!” snapped Jaegar. “A test I am glad to

say I failed.”

“No!” Kalina at last regained the strength to speak.

“You were forced to drink my blood. And the blood from the
vials was taken against my will – it wasn't the same thing at
all! That blood was tainted – with anger and fear, Jaegar,
with pain! If you had drunk from me directly first....maybe
you would have become human again.”

She caught Stuart's eye and knew this was the only

hope – distracting Jaegar, convincing him, wheedling him
away from the evil that had so caught his brain.

Jaegar had stopped short. For a moment something

like regret appeared on his face. “Never mind,” he said.

“Why would I want to become human – when I now have all
the human qualities I desire – daywalking for instance – but
I can still remain a vampire if I wish it?”

“Because it means you can be with Kalina,” Stuart said

quietly. “Jaegar, please – I know you loved her! I know you
once loved her so much that you were willing to become
human, to grow old with her, to have a life with her. It is what
we all wanted, Jaegar. It is what I wanted...”

Jaegar turned his face away. Kalina's heart jumped

within her – was there hope in Jaegar after all?

But before Kalina could finish her thought, Jaegar was

upon her again. He had an iron grip on the back of Stuart's
neck with one hand and his other hand wrapped in Kalina's
hair, pulling it backwards, exposing her neck. He pushed
Stuart closer and closer, using his nails to make a tiny cut in
Kalina's neck.

Kalina could see Stuart inhale sharply the intoxicating

element of the blood.

“Look at that beautiful neck, little brother,” said Jaegar,

pushing Stuart's head ever closer. “And that magnificent
pulse. I daresay I always thought – and still think, even with
my heightened senses – that Kalina has one of the most
lovely necks I have ever seen.” He trailed it slowly with his
gaze.

Kalina could sense the hunger in Stuart's eyes; he

squeezed them shut and she could still hear his desire.

No no I won't I won't do it smells so good no like

violets no no I won't I want want it. Want. Want it want her –
no! - want...

no! - want...

“No!”

shouted Kalina, forcing herself and her limbs free

of her compulsion. But Jaegar's grip was too strong. “I won't
give you my blood like this, Stuart. It isn't a true test. You're
not giving Life’s Blood a chance. You're forcing us into this
– you're forcing him to become like you, like Mal! Jaegar,
please!”

But Jaegar remained cool and implacable. “But I've

always wanted him to turn into me, my darling,” said
Jaegar. “I've always wanted that – since we were little.
That's what caused such strife between us two brothers. He
was nothing like me. But now we can be as twins.”

“I will never be like you!” Stuart shouted. “Seven

hundred years – and I have done everything in my power to
be nothing like you.”

“At least I'm giving you a chance,” said Jaegar. “A

chance to be human with your love. Just to see – although
I'll kill you anytime. And that will drive you mad, my dear
brother. Knowing that you had a chance with her – and you
still failed. That I'll get her in the end anyway.”

“Stop it!” Kalina cried. “I loved you, Jaegar. I loved you

so much I would have given you my blood – you would have
been made human. I thought I loved Octavius, but every
time I’m near you, I can’t help wanting you, needing you.
You said yourself our chemistry is explosive. You’re the one
my blood cries out for. I just didn’t realize it.”

Jaegar froze. A look of longing – fleeting and

ephemeral – passed over his face.

“But you've destroyed that love, Jaegar. Destroyed it

with your cruelty. I care for you still. I care for your brother.
Enough with the torturing – the killing – the death the pain. It
stops here, Jaegar. It stops with me. End it – for all our
sakes.”

For a moment, Jaegar's eyes had misted over with

pain, but then the pain was gone, and Kalina could see only
cruelty there.

“Drink,” Jaegar whispered again, forcing Stuart's lips

into the wound he had made. “Drink.”

Want want no do not want want want...

The madness in Stuart's mind began to drown out

everything else, until Kalina could hear nothing but his
desire.

Chapter 15

Kalina closed her eyes, waiting for that familiar feeling

–  at  once  intoxicating  and  terrifying  –  of  Stuart's  teeth
sinking low into her neck. Not two days earlier she had felt
Jaegar    –  felt  its  horror  mingled  with  the  desire  it  had
inadvertently  awakened  in  her,  and  her  feelings  were  no
different now. As her heart began to quicken and then slow
in  terror,  she  felt  her  breath  turn  shallow;  her  body  was
tensed to receive the penetrating force of his kiss.

Compulsion began coming over her – both Stuart's

and Jaegar's – and she could taste Stuart's own
compulsion – for Jaegar had hypnotized him – on the tip of
her tongue.

No,

she whispered to herself.

No – I can't...

She wanted to live! To live! This was Life’s Blood –

after all – the blood of life, and life coursed through her, and
she could not give it up. She could not give it up – give up
her own life, and along with it Stuart's, Jaegar's, all those
who relied on her for some hope of salvation from their
vampiric fate. She wouldn't allow it.

Something like adrenaline rushed through her; it took

her over. She felt at once that she were riding a stallion – a
wild  horse  swift  and  uncontrolled  –  bucking  over  savage
terrain,  taking  her  with  it,  a  passenger  upon  her  own  fury.
She  did  not  think;  she  could  not  think.  Something
monstrous  and  unknown  reared  up  in  her  blood  and
trampled her veins and her thoughts into nothingness.

Suddenly she stood, casting off Stuart as lightly as she

would a feather upon her lap. And then she was facing
Jaegar. Her hands found his chest and then she pushed
hard.

He flew from the force of her blow, falling backwards

across the room, slamming with a heavy thud into the wall.

For a moment there was silence. Stuart and Jaegar

both turned to her, expressions of shock upon their faces.
And Kalina saw her face too reflected in theirs, a mirror of
her own confusion. What had happened to her? What had
she done?

“What?” Stuart whispered, softly. She could see that

compulsion had left his gaze; he was sane now – his kind,
blue eyes staring out at her with their customary softness.
Jaegar was nursing his wounds against the wall – he bled
where she had hit him, and from where he had scratched
against the wall. His cuts began to heal one by one, but he
remained savagely still, staring at her.

“What have you done?” Jaegar asked.
“The blood...” Stuart whispered.
The Life Blood? Kalina rounded about, gaining time to

grab  her  stake.  Was  this  what  had  made  her  so  strong?
Was  this  what  made  her  whole  line  so  strong,  the  Life
Blood that pulsed through her, had pulsed through Carriers
like  Tess  and  Johanna,  a  whole  line  of  girls  descended
from  that  first  union  between  human  and  vampire  –  some
strange  thing,  not  human,  not  vampire,  something  in
between.

“The blood...” Stuart whispered again.

And then it hit her. Life’s Blood could turn Stuart

human. It could turn Jaegar human. It was the blood of

Life

–

not of this – this death, destruction, violence. It wasn't her

blood that did this.

It was her.
A vampire made human. Kalina's heart began to beat

faster. Was that what she was deep down? A vampire
turned by true love – the love of a mother for her child, of a
wife for her husband – into a human? Mortal – able to
breathe, to possess a heartbeat – and yet so very strong,
so very dangerous like a vampire?

Kalina felt the blood-knowledge course through her,

and then she knew it completely, with a surety that had
been buried within her veins for years.

She was a vampire.
The Life’s Blood wasn't what made her strong. It was

only what made her human. She was the daughter of
vampires who turned human.

“Stand back,” she said, staring Jaegar down. “And

don't you dare move.”

He hung back warily, waiting to see what she would do

next. Even now, at the height of his cruelty, he was still
beautiful – that impossible beauty that had fell her the first
day they met, that had led her into such constant confusion,
that had led her into such heated desire...

“What did you do?” Jaegar asked. “You can...” His

moment  of  weakness  faded,  and  his  high,  cold  laugh
returned.  He  arched  an  eyebrow,  his  manner  turning  as
cold  and  cruel  as  steel.  “Not  just  content  to  sleep  with

vampires, are you? Now you have to be as strong as a
vampire.”

The insult stung; he of all people knew her confusion,

her pain, her indecision when it came to Octavius and the
Greystone Brothers.

“I am a vampire,” said Kalina. “Part vampire. A

vampire made human.” She had, for a moment, a brief and
terrifying  moment,  overcome  the  effects  of  Life’s  Blood  in
her. And so she knew – with a glimmer of hope so faint it
barely registered at all – that perhaps Jaegar could too. “A
vampire  held  back  by  Life’s  Blood.  Until  I  overcame  it  –
used my powers...” She had to think quickly – what would
work? She had almost convinced Jaegar before. She shot
Stuart  a  look  –  half-apologetic,  half-warning.  She  knew
what she had to do. “And so can you.”

“Overcome the Life’s Blood?” Jaegar scoffed. “Why

would I want to?”

She knew what she would have to do was risky; there

was no choice.

“Because you loved me, once,” she said softly.

“Because  you  loved  me  so  much  –  and  I  loved  you.”  She
took a step closer to him, feeling Stuart's eyes settle upon
her,  feeling  his  pain  even  as  she  knew  there  was  no
alternative  to  save  the  both  of  them.  After  last  night  with
Stuart, after what she had begun to feel for him, she knew
doing this would hurt him more than anything – her cruelty
bringing  out  the  worst  of  his  fears  and  sibling  rivalry.  But
there was no other way. She could hear his pain pounding
in  her  ears,  although  she  knew  he  knew  what  she  was

doing.

She took hold of Jaegar's shoulder, trying to practice

compulsion  the  way  he  had  practiced  it  so  often  on  her.
“Didn't you love me, Jaegar?” She whispered into his ear,
his neck, his shoulders. “Once?” She pressed him lightly up
against the wall, feeling him sink into the rough stones. She
placed  her  lips  against  his  and  began  kissing  him,
transmitting  all  her  pain,  her  love,  her  anger  into  him.
“Remember  when  I  found  you  in  the  vineyards,  Jaegar?
That time that you realized that you loved me.” She kissed
him  again.  Was  this  what  a  vampire  did,  to  create
compulsion? Lying – with the truth buried deep inside like a
hidden  gem.  “That  you'd  protect  me?”  She  tried  to  show
longing  in  her  eyes,  a  longing  she  felt  but  didn't  dare
express – he recognized the danger and she did too. She
ran  her  fingers  up  and  down  the  smooth  marble  length  of
his face.

“I came back here for you, Jaegar,” she said. “I'm here

for you, Jaegar. Fighting for you. TO save you. I can't give
up on you. Not when I know the real Jaegar is within you
somewhere – deep inside you. I can't give up on you,
Jaegar. After all, you never gave up on me. You still haven’t
given up. You do still want me, do you?”

The real Jaegar

had

to be there, deep inside this cruel

facade he was putting on. Jaegar remained stoic and still
against her touch – was his silence evidence for a
struggle? “All those things you said to me – in the past few
days. You didn't mean them, did you?” Her voice was
wheedling, calm, consoling. “I know you didn't mean them.

You couldn't have. Not the Jaegar I know.” She brushed her
fingers over his eyelids; they fluttered closed. “Not the
Jaegar I love.”

She heard Stuart gasp. She knew he knew what she

was  doing;  it  didn't  make  it  any  easier.  “I  know  the  real
Jaegar.  You've  let  me  see  him  –  vampire  or  no  vampire.
You've let me touch him. You've let me love him, deep in his
heart, where there is still love, still humanity, still pain.” She
let her fingers trace down to his chest, his silent chest. “That
is  why  you  love  me.”  She  kissed  him  again,  and  then
withdrew, staring him in the face, straight on.

“If you turn me, Jaegar, I promise – you'll lose that in

me. You'll lose me forever – more finally than if you killed
me. I won't be the woman you love anymore. And then you'll
never be human.” She took a deep breath. It was now or
never. “If you love me, Jaegar, let me go. Forget about me.”

She could feel Jaegar's fist clench beneath her. His

face was a mask of pain and conflict. This was not mere
compulsion. She had struck through to the very core of his
soul. Instinctively – with a power that seemed to go beyond
his will, he reached out a hand and stroked her face. Like
the old Jaegar would have done. The good Jaegar.

“Kalina,” he whispered. “I, I...” His voice trailed off. He

swallowed hard. “I can't...”

He turned to Stuart, forcing the words out. “Take her

out of here!” His voice was brusque and hard, but it was not
anger she heard. “Before I...” He couldn't finish his
sentence; he contorted with the full force of his agony.
“Hurry.”

Chapter 16

As Stuart carried her through the cloudless night

Kalina found that she could not move. She was stunned –
shaking  even  as  her  body  remained  rigid,  still.  Stuart's
arms,  clasped  closely  and  tightly  around  her,  were  not
enough to make her forget even for an instant the sight of
Jaegar's face as it contorted before her, the features trying
independently  of  their  own  to  align  themselves  with  either
evil  or  good.  What  had  she  expected,  after  all?  Kalina
flushed, glad that the night covered her shame from Stuart.
Did  she  expect  that  her  love  would  serve  as  a  balm,
magically turning Jaegar back into the witty, jocular boy she
had  once  known?  That  the  sadistic  creature  that  had
haunted  her  dreams  would  crumble  and  fall  away,  leaving
the  real  Jaegar  innocent  and  whole  in  his  place?  No,  it
wasn't  so  easy.  Stuart  had  seen  Jaegar's  darkness  even
before the turning, and Jaegar was more complicated than
that. It was what had most attracted her to him at first – this
complication. Now, it filled her with shame. Her love had not
been enough – or had it?

He had let her go. It had taken every effort in his body,

but he had let her go. He had set her free – begged Stuart
to take her away before he could attack her again. He had
let Stuart live – his brother, whom he had sworn to kill. He
had let Kalina live. Kalina sighed at last, the air escaping
her body all at once in a fluid rush of icy-cold wind. She

hadn't expected all three of them to leave the Wineries
alive. It was a small mercy, she supposed. They were still in
danger – they all were. But she had delayed the inevitable a
little longer. Stuart was alive a little longer – and Jaegar...

Jaegar! Was there some hope for him after all? She

had felt the soft touch of his fingertips on her skin, a touch
that suggested love, truth, goodness. It had been so brief –
that goodness had vanished. But it had still been there.
Jaegar had overcome the influence of her blood, just like
she had.

Just like she had. As she flew through the air, Kalina

looked  down  at  her  body,  her  fingertips,  her  legs,  her
shoulders. Was this the body of a vampire? She flexed her
toes  and  fingers.  Was  this  what  being  a  vampire  felt  like
Could  she  have  been  one  all  along  –  and  never  noticed,
never thought...

That was what Life’s Blood carriers were, after all.

Vampires  –  or  dhampirs,  halflings  –  made  human.  Kalina
thought.  Did  this  mean  she  could  do  what  she  had  seen
Octavius do – fight hordes, protect herself truly, fend off the
enemy? If an average vampire was made more powerful by
Life’s  Blood,  could  she  not  perhaps  harness  it  –  use  it  to
her advantage?

She could hear Stuart's silence; his pain was palpable.

She turned to him as they rushed over Rutherford. The
houses looked so tiny in the distance – was this her old
life? So small, so insignificant, in comparison to what had
come before?

“Stuart...” she said softly.

“What is it?” He did not look back at her. She knew he

was avoiding her gaze, refusing to confront what had
happened in the house.

“Stuart, I'm sorry...”
“For what?” His voice was clipped. “You did nothing

wrong.”

“I did what I thought would save him.” Her voice rose a

notch higher. “Your brother.”

“You did what you could.” He still did not look at her.
“It was the only way I could think of – to get through to

him. We share a blood bond. I could hear his thoughts, feel
his feelings. He still has feelings for me.”

“I share a blood bond with him too,” said Stuart, a

moment too quickly. They settled down by the side of the
road with a thud. Kalina regained her balance and they
continued walking. “And he loves you very much. I know it
too.”

There was silence between them, passing like a

shadow. At last Stuart broke it.

“He is trying to fight this,” he said. “To his credit – he is

trying. He does not want to be cruel to you. But Life’s
Blood...”

“Life' s Blood,” Kalina sighed.
“His love for you has become an obsession – as

unquenchable as it is dangerous.”

“I know. And...believe me, I know that! I know the real

Jaegar would never do something like that to me. If he
weren't under the influence, I wouldn't stand for it. You know
that. No girl would – or should! Not like that.”

She wondered if she weren't trying to convince herself,

too. She felt the attraction to him even now – the memory of
his former self – combined with an irresistible draw towards
this new incarnation. She would never act on it – she knew
as  much  –  but  there  was  something  attractive  about
Jaegar's  obsession  with  her,  his  madness  –  an  intensity
she  had  never  before  experienced.  It  disgusted  her  and
horrified her; she refused to acknowledge it!

It was only the Life’s Blood that made him cruel – it

wasn't his fault. And thus it wasn't her fault, either, if she had
felt a spark of electricity when she kissed him again.

“I will not lie to you, Kalina. It did hurt me – to watch. To

watch the two of you...” Stuart looked down. “The intensity, it
felt real.”

“It had to,” said Kalina. “I used my real sorrow, real love

– not romantic, but

something –

to try to convey to him...to

get through to him...”

“I understand,” said Stuart, but she could hear in his

voice that understanding was an effort for him. “I know you
did it for the right reasons.”

But did he

feel

it, instinctively? Kalina blushed again.

“Even so,” she said, “I shouldn't be kissing him. I know I
shouldn't.” She laughed softly to herself. “You're the most
noble vampire I know, Stuart. And the kindest. And one of
the most noble and kind people I know – I won't dare say
you're one up on Justin, but you're awfully close...but I know
how it looked to you.”

“You did the right thing,” said Stuart. “The brave thing.

You tried to get him to listen to you. You told him to let you

free – to move on. And that was the bravest thing you could
have done. And his love for you was strong enough to let
him give us both time.”

Her heart leaped in spite of herself. Kalina couldn't

look at Stuart, couldn't admit that his words had brought up
a secret happiness within her. He loved her – and his love
was strong... He loved her, and she had said she loved him
too! She sighed. Every time she thought she had made a
decision, something else came to threaten her
complacency. Perhaps that was a natural result of being
around so many vampires.

Or of being a vampire.
Kalina turned to Stuart. She sighed. “Stuart,” she said,

looking  own.  “I  –  I  have  something  for  you.”  She  had  kept
the ring he had given her – unable to bring herself to pawn
it,  to  confront  the  reality,  or  even  the  possibility,  of  his
imminent death. She dropped the ring into his palm. “I think
you'll need this after all, huh?” she said, forcing out a smile.
“And  I'm  so  glad  of  that.”  She  could  see  the  Life’s  Blood,
encapsulated  within  the  ring,  give  his  skin  a  special  glow
where it touched it.

“So,” said Stuart gravely. “After all that, I didn't even get

a chance to thank you”

“Thank me?” Kalina should have laughed. “For what?”
“For saving my life.” Stuart was not smiling. His

expression was serious, even severe; his gaze pierced
straight into Kalina's soul, and made her feel as if he could
see her thoughts.

“For doing what I'm supposed to do, you mean,” said

Kalina,  trying  to  lighten  the  mood  with  a  smile.  “For
standing up to Jaegar – for the people I care about?” She
scoffed.  “No,  Stuart,  don't  thank  me  –  please  don't  thank
me.  You  shouldn't  have  had  to  risk  your  life  at  all.  You
shouldn't  have  had  to  be  there  for  me  in  the  first  place.
Whatever was happening with you and Jaegar.”

“Ah, yes, our feud,” said Stuart darkly. He dropped his

gaze quickly.

“Your feud – your

stupid

feud!”

“It has been going on for centuries.”
“You think he killed your father.”
“I know he killed my father.” Stuart sighed. “

Our

father.”

“But are you sure?” Kalina cut in quickly.
“What do you mean? Of course I'm sure!” Stuart

responded almost too quickly. “It must have been him –
who else...who else could have....”

“But do you know for

sure

?”

Stuart conceded there was no proof. “He accuses me

of having done it – the nerve.”

Kalina raised her voice softly. “Remember when

Maeve was attacked,” she said. “Right after our first date?
Remember that?”

“I remember,” said Stuart stiffly.
“I was so sure that it was Jaegar who had done it – he

let me think it was. So sure. And then it turned out it wasn't
Jaegar after all. It was some random bounty hunter come to
get his hands on Life’s Blood – as it turns out. Remember
that? I was wrong...”

“I don't see...”
“Maybe you were wrong, too!” Kalina pleaded. “Maybe

he wasn't as bad as all that – before...before Mal turned
him. And what if he's good – deep down, truly good? He
broke through the Life’s Blood for a moment; perhaps that
was enough time. Perhaps there is a chance for him after
all, for Jaegar to turn back and to break the spell. If we work
together -you and me and Jaegar together – we can fight
it.”

Stuart stopped short. “What do you mean?” His voice

rose higher. “What are you planning to do?”

Kalina said nothing.
“Kalina?”
“We can't leave him,” said Kalina. The moment she

said it she felt there was no choice. “Not when he's broken
through – he's made progress. We've seen it.” Her eyes
shone with the power of her intensity. “There's hope. Stuart
– listen – there's hope!”

Chapter 17

Kalina grabbed hold of Stuart. “Listen,” she said,

tightening her grip on his arm. “We have to go back.” She
sighed and shook her head. “We can't just leave him. Now
that we know...the real Jaegar's in there somewhere. Deep
down.”

It was charitable hope, but Kalina knew that she was

feeling  something  else,  something  she  didn't  dare  share
with Stuart. His words had reawakened her old desires, her
old loves, and as she spoke she felt that she saw the image
of  Jaegar  as  he  was  once  before  her:  affable  and  kind,
witty  and  charming,  with  that  mischievous  streak  that  at
once  had  intrigued  and  infuriated  her.  He  had  fascinated
her  from  the  very  beginning  with  his  easy  beauty  and  idle
charm.  When  she  thought  she  had  lost  him  –  she  had
mourned him deeply – mourned a love that had gone deep
to her bones without her even realizing it. He represented
for her all that was dangerous – all that was passionate. It
had  reflected  her  love  for  Octavius  –  in  his  inaccessibility
and maturity that totality of which all of them: Stuart, Jaegar,
and  poor  vanished  Aaron,  were  only  a  part.  She  knew
rationally that what she loved in the three brothers was the
trace  of  Octavius  within  them;  yet,  now  that  she  had
resigned herself to losing Octavius and his love, promised
him  to  move  on  to  one  of  the  brothers  –  a  more  sensible
option  –  what  she  felt  for  Jaegar  somehow  felt  more

powerful, more real. Was he the true heir to Octavius’ blood
–  and  therefore  her  heart?  Certainly  Octavius  had  thought
so.  He  had  infinite  power  and  patience  for  Jaegar  –  he
hadn't  even  killed  him,  despite  Jaegar's  disloyalty  on  the
part of Life’s Blood. He had cared for Jaegar too deeply for
that, with a paternal sensibility he had never shown truly to
Stuart or to Aaron. In terms of the warrior hierarchy, Kalina
knew,  Jaegar  was  truly  Octavius’  heir:  strong,  wild,
passionate,

bad

but never evil.

Until now.
No, Kalina thought to herself. No – that couldn't be.

She had seen Jaegar's soul when she had tried to convince
him  just  now  in  the  Winery,  had  felt  the  power  of  their
electrifying  kiss  spider  out  through  her  veins.  She  couldn't
feel  what  she  were  feeling:  this  love,  this  power,  this
passion,  if  it  were  in  fact  true  after  all  that  it  was  only  evil
that  remained  in  that  callous  and  beautiful  shell  that  was
Jaegar. There had to be the real Jaegar there, too.

She could not love evil, after all. And she loved him.
She turned to Stuart. “Please!”
His face was implacable, his pain and anger masked

by his rational thought. “We cannot,” he said, and it was
clear that the effort of these words choked him. “Not when
you know how dangerous he is – he can be. He almost
killed us both, Kalina. And in the one moment he was able
to break free, he told you to go. So go. You told him to stop
loving you, to forget you. SO let him stop. Let him go.”

Was that really what Kalina had wanted? She had

wanted to live – but she felt suddenly, irrationally, that to die

in Jaegar's heart was to die for good, so truly did his love
sustain her. “That's the thing, Stuart,” said Kalina. Her voice
felt hollow and empty. “I know that. I

know

all that. And I still

want  to  go.  It's  stupid,  it's  stupid  to  go  back,  and  yet  with
Jaegar it is the only thing I can do. I'm the only one who can
get through to him, Stuart; what if I'm the only one who can
get him through this? And what if I'm the only one who can
save  him?  If  anyone  could  do  it  –  it  would  be  me.  I'm
responsible for this. It's my blood within him – what if I can
harness that blood? Control it! I got through to him before –
and  he  showed  himself.  Our  Jaegar.  The  person  we  both
care about. And he let him go. I could feel it telepathically –
how much he's fighting the control this blood has over him.”

“It's impossible!”
“It's not impossible, Stuart!” Kalina cried. “Listen to me

–  just  listen,  please!  What  happens  if  we  don't  go  back?
He'll stay bad, without our help, and he'll keep trying to track
us  down  –  and  then  he'll  catch  us,  and  kill  us,  and
everybody that we know and love and care about with us.
And  when  we're  dead  –  guess  what?  He'll  stay  like  this:
evil, deranged, insane, forever.”

“Or he'll turn you into a vampire.” said Stuart. “And then

you'll be with him – forever – forced to confront that evil
every day of your soulless life. He won't stop. I've seen
Jaegar when he's obsessed – and it was never as bad as
this. He'll stop at nothing to get to you.”

“I know – but...” Kalina's voice trailed off. “It's

Jaegar

Stuart. There's hope for him. Please.” She thought back to
the Winery. If she had gotten through to him once – why

the Winery. If she had gotten through to him once – why
couldn't she get through to him again? And whatever power
she had unleashed back there – it would keep them safe,
protected, strong. “Did you see what I did back there,
Stuart? I was able to break through that compulsion. I was
able to fight Jaegar back – physically as well as psychically,
Whatever power I have with the Life’s Blood – I will use it. I
can use it.”

“I know,” said Stuart. His face was cloudy with pain and

uncertainty. “I know.” He gathered her into his arms, holding
her tightly. She could feel his strong muscles press close
around her, making her feel as she always did when she
was around him: warm, safe, protected. She didn't want to
let the feeling go.

He whispered his words into her neck. “You're

something else, Kalina. Something extraordinary. Special.
A human with the strength of a vampire – a girl with the
heart and soul of a lion.”

She sighed. “I don't know why,” she said. “Or what it is.

Why I am the way I am.”

He stroked her hair softly as she spoke. “When I was in

Paris with Octavius, we went to the

Bibliotheque

Supernaturel

to research my upbringing – to figure out who

I was, where I came from. The myth about the Chinese
scientist and his daughter – it was true. A vampire-turned-
human mated with a human proper – and over time more
vampires entered the line – it seemed every female carrier
was destined to fall in love with one of those vampires. And
that's who my parents are. Half-humans, half-vampires.”

“Octavius told you all this?”
“I found some papers in the library – from the

orphanage where I was put up for adoption. A collection of
record. And...it's funny, isn't it? Me and my crazy feelings for
all  you  vampires.  Maybe  it's  just  my  blood  talking.  The
carrier  seems  to  get  stronger  and  stronger  –  the  more
vampires  that  enter  the  bloodline,  I  guess.  That's  why  I'm
attracted  to  vampires,  maybe.  Just  the  survival  of  the
species  –  my  natural  desire  to  choose  the  most  powerful
mate possible to reproduce with.” She gave a bitter laugh.
“Gross, isn't it? My ancestors fell in love with the strongest
vampires they knew. And their blood got stronger over time.
And  that's  why  I'm  so  strong.  That's  probably  what
happened  back  there...I  don’t  know.  There  isn’t  anyone
around  like  me  so  I  couldn’t  ask.  Generations  upon
generations of effort. That doctor in China, that ancestor of
mine, who wanted to give humans the strength of vampires,
in  order  to  fight  vampires,  may  have  succeeded  at  last.
Because  I'm  here  now  –  and  I  can  control  Life’s  Blood,
rather than letting it control me.”

Stuart held her more closely.
“So am I a human in love with a vampire?” Kalina said.

“Or am I a vampire that this blood allows to be – just barely
– human? Am I in love with another species – or just
looking for my own kind?”

Stuart turned away. His expression terrified her. It was

not one of love – but for a moment it had become one of
repulsion, one of fear.

“Stuart?” her voice began to tremble. “Stuart – what is

it? What's wrong?”

He wriggled out of her grasp – jerking away a bit too

quickly.  What  had  happened?  Had  she  frightened  him  –
disgusted  him?  She  let  her  face  fall  in  shame.  “What's
wrong  with  me  finding  out  who  I  am?  Realizing  it  –  my
strength, my power...”

But Stuart's face remained downcast. At last he looked

up with her, forcing his face into something like composure.
“I am happy for you, Kalina. Truly I am happy for you.”

“But that’s not all is it?”
“I am happy for you,” Stuart repeated stiffly.
“But...?”
Stuart sighed. “But I am also worried. It is I imagine a

boon to our cause for you to have vampire strength. But will
you suffer too from the other...tendencies of a vampire. Will
your having overriden your blood give you those same
desires?”

“What?” Kalina was aghast. “No, of course...I mean, I

don't think so. I've never wanted to drink anyone' s blood, if
that's what you're asking. Just – I mean, your blood. And
Octavius and Jaegar's. But that's different. It's vampire
blood.”

“But you wanted it?”
“It tasted...I mean – of course I wanted it!”
“I see.” Stuart turned away.
“Do you think instead of human blood, I crave vampire

blood? But Maeve drank your blood too, and it didn't make
her a vampire?” Yet as Kalina thought back to the vigor and
passion with which she had sucked the vampires' blood,

she wasn't altogether sure she wasn't being disingenuous.

“I just – I just don't want you to lose your humanity,” said

Stuart. “You can understand that much.”

“Right,” said Kalina, putting her hands on her hips.

“Because that's what you love about me, isn't it?”

“Isn't what?”
“That I'm human.”
There was a long pause, a pause that filled Kalina with

agony.  “Yes,”  said  Stuart  gravely.  “I  suppose  it  is.”  He
looked up at her. “I will not lie to you, Kalina. I despise my
own vampire nature. All that I see as human in you – your
life,  your  light,  your  passion  –  makes  me  love  you,  for  it
reminds  me  of  a  world  I  thought  gone  forever.”  He  began
pacing swiftly. “If you are truly turned into a vampire – if you
become a vampire like Jaegar – I don't know how...” he let
his voice trail off. “I don't know how I'd feel.”

“I see,” said Kalina stiffly.
“It – it would change things.”
“But I'm not a full-fledged-vampire,” said Kalina, jerking

away from him. “I'm not even sure I am a vampire. I mean, I
don't know what I am. Vampire-turned human. Halfling.
Something in between – something different. Humans -
vampires – former vampires...”

“But your strength,” Stuart could not resist speaking.

“It's vampire strength.”

The horror in his voice said it all.
Kalina felt anger overwhelm her, an anger mixed with

pain and shame. “I can't

help

it,” said Kalina. “I didn't

ask

be born such a freak!” Her voice had turned into a shout. “I

don't know what I am, Stuart, but whatever it is – you'd
better accept it. I can't change it. And you know what? I
wouldn't if I want to. It's not my humanity you'd miss, Stuart,
but yours.”

Tears of anger welled up in her eyes. “I'm going back

to the vineyard.”

So, Jaegar was right all along. Stuart had only wanted

her blood, her humanity, nothing more. His love for her was
only a misplaced love for the life he had once lost. How
could she have been so stupid?

She had never felt more like a vampire than she did

right now.

Chapter 18

“Kalina, stop!” Stuart's voice echoed through the

garden. “I'm sorry, really I am.” She could hear the sounds
of footsteps coming towards her, but she refused to turn
around. She couldn't bear to see his face. “I didn't mean all
of that – really I didn't! I was just angry – frightened.
Freaked out, even. To see you...knowing you'll have to go
through what I went through.”

“Sure,” said Kalina under her breath. She kept walking

straight ahead until at last Stuart caught up with her.

“I didn't mean it.”
“Yes, Stuart,” said Kalina. Her voice was clear and

determined. “Yes, you did. You meant it more than you
realize.”

“What are you talking about?” Stuart's eyes were wild

with  pain.  He  knew  how  deeply  he  had  hurt  her,  and  how
much too he had given away of his secret fears and desires
–  desires  he  wouldn't  admit  even  to  himself.  As  Kalina
regarded him her anger faded. She rather felt sorry for him.
He wanted so badly to be human, to extricate himself from
the agony of his vampire nature. He had never adjusted to
becoming one – it always seemed that he was ill at ease in
his  own  skin,  as  if  the  transformation  of  his  body  had  not
merely  turned  the  bones  to  steel  and  the  blood  immortal,
but also changed so substantially the nature of the body that
it was no longer Stuart's at all; his eyes shone out prisoner
from this cage Octavius had put him in.

It was a struggle for Stuart, she knew, and Kalina could

not help but feel compassion for him. How could he not fall
in  love  with  her,  she  reasoned.  For  so  long  she  had
represented Stuart's last and best hope – that he might win
her  love,  and  in  so  doing  free  himself  from  the  curse  that
had  afflicted  him  for  so  long.  Even  as  now  her  vampire
nature filled Kalina with a sense of wonder and excitement
– it filled Stuart with memories of what he hated most in the
world: himself.

Kalina looked Stuart straight in the eyes. As she

looked  at  him,  she  saw  within  his  eyes  the  pain  of  over
seven  hundred  years  of  killing  –  of  senseless  deaths  and
the fight for survival. The guilt of each man and woman he
killed hung heavily upon his soul. He had spent the first part
of his vampiric life unable to control his impulses – crazed
enough to commit murder. After all, vampire wine had not
yet been invented in those days – there had been no other
choice.  He  had  thought  about  killing  himself  –  she  could
see this in his eyes – but he had been unable to do it.

She felt his pain – his whole life story – seep into her,

overwhelming their telepathic connection.

There had been no choice for him. He could not enter

a church – he could not pray to the cross that had meant so
much to him. He could not confess his sins. To commit
suicide was in the Catholic faith a sin – but so was murder
– and for Stuart there had been no escape. To walk in the
sunlight would be to go straight to Hell – or into a soulless
nonexistence – a thought so terrifying even Stuart could not
face it. He had been able to control his impulse to commit

murder, and yet he could not confess his sins, purify himself
for a world that, if it was to come at all, was a source of
even greater terror for him.

“What would you do?” asked Kalina. “If you were

human.”

“The first thing?” Stuart's eyes crinkled around the

edges.  “I  would  enter  a  church,”  he  said.  “I  would  go  to
confession. I would recite the names and ages and stories
of  all  those  I  had  wronged,  had  killed.  And  I  would  seek
pardon  for  each  crime.  And  at  last...my  soul  would  be
free...”

Kalina had considered herself a religious person – she

and Justin had both been raised Catholic – but somehow
the sheer force of Stuart's fervor struck her. This was a
religiosity of the Medieval age – a surety in the power of
redemption and the cross that seemed to no longer exist in
the world of Rutherford, California.

“And then what?”
“Perhaps I would spend my life in prison for my crimes

– though no jury would believe me sane enough to convict
me. Perhaps I would marry...” (marry

you

, he did not say),

“bear children, lead a happy life. And then I would receive
the gift of a good death – and a good life – and a clean soul
when I head to the hereafter.”

“Do you still believe in the hereafter?” Kalina asked.
“I do,” said Stuart. “There are things beyond the earth

and the sky – why should there not be a God?”

The sky hung moonless and dark over them.
“If there is a God,” said Kalina, “why doesn't He

interfere to stop vampires? To stop evil?”

Stuart took a few steps further. “Why doesn't He stop

evil humans?” he asked. “Or wars – or plagues – or
famines? Perhaps we vampires are just another blight upon
a fallen world.”

They walked together in silence.
“Sometimes after my parents died,” said Kalina, “I

used to wonder whether God existed – because he had let
two  such  good  people  die  –  on  a  mission,  no  less!  The
church  said  they  were  martyrs,  but  I  still  found  it  hard...all
this  that's  been  going  on  with  vampires  makes  it  even
harder to believe.”

“It makes my faith stronger,” said Stuart. “Knowing how

much more there is to the world than mere humanity.”

“You'd think you guys would have all the answers,” said

Kalina. “Around for so many years – you'd think you'd figure
it all out.”

Octavius had always seemed so wise. Even now her

heart cried out at the thought. Octavius!

“I think we have more time to get muddled,” said

Stuart. “And that's all. But even in the agony of being a
vampire – there are moments that give me hope, in faith. In
my love for my father. In Aaron.”

They fell silent. Aaron's disappearance had weighed

heavily on them both. Together they hoped and prayed that
he  was  still  alive  –  felt  that  surely,  surely,  if  he  died  they
would  feel  it  telepathically,  and  knew  Octavius  was
searching  for  him  all  over  Europe  –  and  yet  they  had  not
spoken of him often since his disappearance. It seemed to

hurt too much. It was easier to shut it out of their minds.

“Do you think Aaron's...you know...”
“I hope so,” said Stuart. “You saw Jaegar, in your

mind's  eye,  when  he  was  turned.  If  something  similar
happened to Aaron, I feel sure we would know it. Besides,
his  nose  is  too  strong  to  be  addled  by  the  madness  of
Life’s  Blood  –  and  certainly  too  valuable  to  be  rendered
useless through murder. No doubt Mal is keeping him alive
and well until he can track down all the potential carriers he
can.”

“Do you think others are out there?” asked Kalina.

“Other carriers – my cousins – fourth cousins – sixth
cousins – other members of this line of vampires?”

“I don't know,” said Stuart. “I feel sure there is nobody

else quite like you in the world.” He took her hand. “Whether
it is your blood than makes you so or not.”

“You can't help it,” said Kalina. “You're attracted to the

blood. You all are. Even Octavius found the smell...”

But her voice trailed off. She couldn't stand to think of

Octavius either. Every time his name crossed her lips she
remembered again the beauty and poetry of those few
weeks in Europe, and all else seemed so small to her, so
distant; she could still smell the bougainvillea on the
balcony in Rome – hear the music from the opera house in
Paris....

He had been so strong, so sure. She felt her blood cry

out to him, buoyed by the pain of her memories; suddenly,
her body began shaking, as if the calling of her blood had
attracted an equal and opposite response.

Kalina.

She gasped as she heard the voice. It was that same

soft familiar refrain – the sound of the beloved – that forced
her heart up into her throat and cut off her breath; she could
have swooned at the sound.

Octavius.

Was this a dream – or was it real? She had not

expected to hear from him again after their final encounter
– the way he had vanished after that, leaving nothing but the
necklace behind.

Where are you?

She sent him a mental picture of her surroundings –

the forest outside the outskirts of Rutherford.

I have come to fight Jaegar.

Octavius’ voice was slow and sure inside her head. He

had never sounded more like a true warrior – sure and
strong – than right now.

I cannot let you fight – nor can I send Stuart to his

certain death. It would not be chivalrous. I am the
strongest of you; I am the strongest vampire left alive on
your side. I will fight – and I will win. I will kill Jaegar –
though it pains me to do so – for nothing would pain me
more than to lose you.

He did not allow his tone to vary, but she could

nevertheless sense his love throbbing through his words.
She felt shaken to the core. She had not expected to hear
from him, and yet his presence flooded her brain, until she
could not even see Stuart standing before her.

“What is it?” Stuart was asking, but he seemed to her

to be oceans away.

You can't fight Jaegar....
I must. For you. He has been sending me telepathic

challenges for days – I thought I could find Aaron first,
have my men hold him off, but it is too late...I have come
to fight him. He wants to eliminate me – to become the
most powerful vampire in the Consortium. To have you. I
will not allow him to do so...

Not alone.

Kalina could picture him, walking slowly

through the vineyards of Greystone Winery, approaching
the big stone house where Jaegar was waiting for him.

I'm coming with you.
No, Kalina, you can't...

But she severed the telepathic link. She knew that

nothing he could say or do would stop her. They belonged
together, and now that she knew where he was, and that he
was in danger, nothing would separate them.

And she could not let Jaegar kill Octavius. But she also

could not let Octavius kill Jaegar. Not yet – not when there
was still hope.

“Octavius messaged me,” she said to Stuart. “He's

going to the winery. Jaegar has challenged him – he's gone
to face him down: a battle to the death. We have to hurry –
quickly! Before one or both of them is dead.”

She grabbed his hand. “Let's go,” she said.
“As you wish.” Stuart wrapped his arms around her

and began launching into flight once more, as they sped

Chapter 19

He was there when they arrived. Kalina's heart leaped

instantly.  She  had  heard  Octavius'  voice  in  her  head,
imagined his chiseled face and strong body so often in her
fantasies that he had seemed real to her, but nothing was
more intense than seeing him in the flesh. Her heart began
to quicken in her chest, beating so loudly that she knew the
other  vampires  would  be  able  to  hear  it;  her  face  was
covered in a blush spreading out like a blooming rose from
her lips. He looked like he always did – so handsome, so
full of life and passion; that her breath caught in her throat.
He was standing at one end of the vast living room; Jaegar
stood before him, poised and ready to strike. But as Kalina
entered, and Octavius turned to look at her, time seemed to
slow to a halt, so that Kalina could spend hours meditating
upon every aspect of his incredible beauty in the timeframe
of a heartbeat. He was dressed impeccably – she smiled
to herself as she thought of Octavius’ vanity; if this was to
be his last day alive, he would at least go out in style. He
wore  black  leather  pants  under  a  charcoal-colored  dress-
shirt;  his  jet-black  hair  had  been  pulled  back  off  his  face,
showing  his  chiseled  cheekbones.  The  light  refracted  off
his silver stud earring, sending a glare into Kalina's eye.

She remembered how she had played with the earring

in Rome – impishly nipping at it to distract him. He had
been so beautiful then – he seemed even more beautiful

now. As he turned to look at her, Kalina could see a brief
flicker of love evident on his face – flitting across his stern
expression  for  just  a  moment:  time  enough  to  give  her
hope.  He  loved  her  –  she  knew  he  loved  her  –  and  the
surety of that fact obliterated all else. How she had missed
him!  Even  now,  the  slow  cool  breeze  carried  his  scent  to
her, intoxicating her. She wanted nothing more than to rush
into his arms, to climb into his lap. She felt the very essence
of her blood calling out to him, burning with a dark fire. She
remembered  his  protestations  –  his  portrayal  of  the
impossibility of their love.

“Jaegar,” Octavius was saying slowly. “You will not

harm Kalina. As your maker – I command you.”

Jaegar let out a high, cold laugh. “As my maker!” he

shouted. “As my maker! Oh, you should know – you of all
vampires, Octavius, should know how much your role as my

maker

means to me! I want to hurt her for your sake – to

spite you! To drink her for your sake. I can feel your blood
calling out to her – your blood in my veins. I can feel your
desire for her within me; I feel that same desire, Octavius!
And if you think I'm just going to let you

have

her, stand by

and let you take that delicious nectar from me – well,
Octavius, maker or not, you are mistaken!”

“You fool,” Octavius said, his voice dripping with

contempt  even  as  it  concealed  a  raw  layer  of  pain  at  the
loss of his progeny. You can control this – if you could only
find  the  strength  in  yourself!  When  I  was  your  age,  my
powers  had  matured  enough  to  allow  me  to  control  my
emotions,  my  vampire  lust!  Your  brother  has  managed  to

exercise  such  self-control  –  a  strength  you  clearly  do  not
understand! You laugh because he cannot fight like you can
–  but  in  his  restraint  he  has  proven  himself  a  stronger
vampire  than  you  will  ever  be.  His  control  is  what  makes
him powerful, Jaegar; not this savage monster that reigns in
you!  The  most  powerful  of  vampires  know  how  to  control
themselves.”

“Oh, well that's just unfair!” Jaegar gave a mocking

smile as his voice was rich with irony. “Comparing me to

Stuart!

Bookish, shy, serene, weakling little Stuart!”

“And why shouldn't I?” Octavius smiled back, giving

Jaegar a taste of his chilling calm. “He's been a vampire as
long as you have, Jaegar. And yet his actions prove him to
be  far  stronger  than  you.  His  treatment  of  Kalina  only
affirms  that  in  my  mind.  Strong  vampire  men  always  treat
women  with  the  utmost  respect,  especially  their  chosen
eternal love. Perhaps I chose the wrong heir – those many
centuries  ago.  Perhaps  I  should  have  considered  him  my
true successor.”

“How dare you!” shouted Jaegar. “Do you not see my

strength?”

Octavius swiftly shifted tactics. “Remember, Jaegar,”

he said slowly. “You were not entirely out of consideration –
you have not lost this battle yet, though you swiftly will if you
keep up this madness.”

“What are you talking about?” Jaegar scoffed.
“Kalina had not decided – had she? Which brother she

would choose.” Kalina could see Octavius wince as he
spoke – he had not entirely mastered his jealousy. “She still

spoke – he had not entirely mastered his jealousy. “She still
had  hope  for  you  –  that  you  might  become  good  after  all.
That  was  why  she  came  back  –  because  she  sensed,
perhaps,  some  inkling  of  a  heart  in  you,  some  glimpse  of
humanity that is lost to the rest of us.”

Jaegar looked up, awestruck, at Kalina. “That just

means I'll have to convince her harder!” said Jaegar,
grinning and showing off his row of sharp teeth. “Maybe
killing you will do the trick – convince her she's lost me for
good!”

With that he leaped towards Octavius, his fangs

poised to sink deep into his maker's flesh.

“No,” Kalina tried to cry, but the noise caught in her

throat. Stuart placed a warning hand on her shoulder.

“Do not interfere,” he said softly. “Not yet – you may yet

do more harm than good if you get between two vampires
as intent on death as they.”

Though Octavius had far more experience than Jaegar

–  thousands  of  years  that  rendered  to  him  infinitely  more
vampire  strength,  Jaegar  was  alive  with  Life’s  Blood,
intoxicated by its qualities – at once stronger and more full
of confidence, of bravado and swagger. He laughed in the
face  of  Octavius’  careful  feints  –  rushing  at  him  with  pure
liquid adrenaline shining in his eyes. He took risks – he left
himself  uncovered  –  breaking  all  the  rules  of  vampire
fighting  even  as  the  power  of  the  blood  allowed  him  to
escape from Octavius’ learned technique unscathed.

“You've grown strong, my boy,” said Octavius, his voice

thick with disappointment. “It is a pity that it was this terrible
blood that gave you such strength!”

blood that gave you such strength!”

“Don't you dare lecture me,

master

!” Jaegar shouted.

“It is I who am the strongest one now! You will call

master now!”

And then they were locked in combat again, in a brutal

symbiosis that seemed to Kalina to have no beginning and
no  end  –  only  blood,  brutality,  death.  First  Jaegar  threw
Octavius against a table, shattering it in two. Then Octavius
responded  quickly,  brandishing  the  broken  table  legs  as
stakes,  stabbing  Jaegar  in  the  shoulder  –  just  enough  to
draw a torrent of black blood out of the wound. They were
relatively evenly matched; they knew each other's moves –
each other's ways – Octavius’ precise technique matched
by Jaegar's brute and primal strength.

Kalina held her breath. The idea of Octavius dying was

unthinkable to her, yet how could she bear to see Jaegar
killed, now that she suspected there was some good in
him, the possibility of redemption.

“Stop,” she whispered, “Both of you, please stop.” But

her  words  had  no  meaning,  so  locked  were  they  in  the
ferocity  of  their  combat.  Stuart  brandished  his  stake  and
motioned  for  Kalina  to  get  behind  him  –  waiting,  if
necessary,  to  begin  the  fight  anew.  It  was  a  fight  Kalina
never wanted to begin.

The fight continued on for some time. There were

moments  when  it  seemed,  with  a  thickening  dread  in
Kalina's heart, that Jaegar had won, but Octavius was able
to  use  his  centuries  of  training  and  find  an  acrobatic  way
out  of  Jaegar's  death-grip.  There  were  instances  where  it

seemed Octavius’ fists were closed tightly about Jaegar's
neck, but then he too would break free. Then at last, with
horrible certainty, Kalina saw Jaegar throw Octavius to the
ground and stand over him, his fangs poised for the final
encounter, and she knew then that the battle had been won.

“No!” she cried out, and her voice mingled with Stuart's

own cry of despair.

She rushed forward, brandishing her stake, forcing her

body against Jaegar's, trying to harness that power she
had used before at the Wineries.

It worked. A blinding flash lit the room, and Jaegar was

thrown back against the wall, shaking the very foundation of
the house.

“Kalina...” Octavius looked up at her, his eyes full of

love and gratitude.

“Blood against blood,” Kalina muttered, her eyes fixed

on Jaegar. “Now it's me you'll have to listen to.” But before
she could take another step, she heard a familiar laugh
from the doorway.

“Brother!”
It was Aaron – but not Aaron as she remembered him;

impish and kind, silly but well-meaning. This was an older
Aaron – more subdued. He was free – for a moment,
Kalina felt the glorious sensation of hope – but then she
saw Mal beside him. Aaron sauntered into the house.

The room went quiet. She knew the other vampires –

even Jaegar – were all thinking what she was thinking. Had
he been turned, like Jaegar, after all? Was this the real
Aaron? She could hear Stuart's mental agony pounding in

her ears from across the room.

“Come in,” Aaron said lightly to Mal, and the levity of

the invitation was terrible. As he came closer, Kalina could
see his eyes red with malice – this wasn't Aaron at all! His
cherubic sweetness had been turned sour by evil; this was
less Aaron than Jaegar was Jaegar, so completely did he
seem to be consumed by the Life’s Blood.

A note of pain struck Kalina's heart. After all this – was

this the end? She had mourned Aaron before, thought him
dead before, but to lose him a second time seemed
unthinkable to her. They had shared so much - he had
helped her through her grief when her parents died, shared
the sweetness of high school life with her in a way none of
the other vampires could fathom – and now he had become
a monster. She shuddered.

“Aaron,” she whispered, but she knew it was too late.

Chapter 20

“Well then, Kal,” said Aaron. His voice was steely and

emotionless. “Looks like we decided to pay you a visit.” He
scanned the room. “And you” he turned to Jaegar “and you”
- he turned to Stuart - “Still going after my girl when I'm not
around. Tut tut – bad form!”

Even in this new transformation, he still retained the dry

sense of humor. But gone was the jovial innocence of the
old Aaron; this was only a monster with the same face.

Octavius was standing beside her now, brandishing a

stake  in  each  hand,  set  to  defend  Kalina  with  his  life  if
necessary. It was time to mentally force herself into defense
mode. She had known fighting Jaegar would be difficult –
hopped up as he was on Life’s Blood – but fighting Mal too
would  be  impossible,  especially  if  Aaron  as  well  had
ingested  the  blood.  The  even  match  had  just  been  turned
on its head.

“Aaron,” Stuart's voice cracked with pain. “You don't

want to hurt Kalina. You don't want to hurt your brothers –
your maker.” He stepped forward, trying with all his strength
to reason with Aaron, to find his little brother in those cold,
red eyes. “You're our family, Aaron. You're our little brother.
Please. Remember the oath you made us swear, Aaron -to
protect Kalina from harm? You swore it too – we all swore
to it. Even Jaegar. Vampire's oath. The oath of the
Greystone Brothers. The highest oath we could ever swear

or think of swearing. Remember that. Even Jaegar
remembers that.”

“Do I?” Jaegar shot them a cold grin, but Kalina could

see the wariness in his eyes. Seeing Aaron so afflicted had
gotten under his skin, bringing out a note of humanity in his
eyes Kalina hadn't seen since before the Life’s Blood.

“Here we are!” Mal's voice sent waves of trauma

through Kalina as she remembered the last time she had
heard it – when she was being tortured in that dungeon
beneath the Seine. “All the brothers here at last. And two of
them on my side.”

“By force, not choice!” Stuart called out, his bravery

clear on his face.

“That just leaves you.” Mal turned his gaze upon Stuart.
“How could you?” Kalina's voice shook. “He's just a

boy!”

“I didn't.” Mal grinned. “I didn't need to force him. He

drank that blood of his own free will. Once he got a nice
whiff...he just down it. I didn't expect it – I wanted to keep his
nose pure. But now that he's done it...”

“Aaron...” Kalina's throat had gone dry.
“He wanted to be big and strong. Like his brothers.

Stronger  than  his  brothers.  He  didn't  want  to  kowtow  to
Octavius  –  to  let  Octavius  dictate  who  got  the  girl.  Looks
like  he  never  forgave  you  for  chaining  him  up,  Octavius!  I
guess loyalty only goes so far.”

“He was never in my steps!” said Octavius gravely. “He

was never one of my soldiers. He was free – with the
exception of that one mission – to do as he wished. I turned

him only at his mother's request – I would never have done
it otherwise. He was too young, too immature, to be made
a vampire. I regret my decision to grant Marilee that favor.”

“Or you regret the competition.” Jaegar turned his gaze

on Kalina; his face was filled with desire.

Kalina became acutely aware of all four vampires

staring  at  her  –  their  faces  hot  with  desire  for  her…and
longing.  The  sensation  of  her  blood  had  become
overwhelming;  she  felt,  for  the  first  time,  like  a  particularly
tender  piece  of  meat  –  and  for  the  first  time  was  even
afraid of Stuart and Octavius.

“Really!” Only Mal had remained free of this desire.

“I've  never  seen  a  room  of  vampires  so  entranced  by  a
woman!”  He  laughed.  “Okay,  maybe  I  have.  There  have
been  other  Carriers,  after  all! And  my  Tess…  Luckily  I've
drunk enough of them to get used to the smell. But the little
bitches always go for the strongest. Natural selection, right?
So – Kalina – which one of these brooding, handsome men
makes you want to –

ahem –

reproduce

”

“How dare you!” Kalina shot back.
“Aaron wants to be the strongest, doesn't he? Does he

make a good impression now?”

Kalina could have rolled her eyes! How stupid of Aaron

–  how  indicative  of  his  immaturity  –  that  he  would  be  the
one to willingly succumb to the blood. She could sense that
there was no hope for him now. Jaegar still retained his true
nature,  raging  against  the  Life’s  Blood,  because  it  had
been  unwillingly  inflicted  upon  him.  But Aaron  –  that  was
different.  He  had  welcomed  it  willingly. And  so  the  Blood

had overtaken him completely. “How could you, Aaron?”
she said.

Aaron stood strong before her. “So I could be strong

enough...to do this!” In a flash he had turned on Mal,
punching straight though his chest.

Kalina's lips contorted in a grim smile. The upside of

vampires  going  crazy,  she  supposed,  was  that  they  were
willing  to  compete  with  each  other.  So,  that  was  their
weakness  –  at  least  she,  Octavius,  and  Stuart  made  a
united front.

But her smile vanished as Mal wrested himself away

from Aaron. His wound began healing up instantly. “Really,”
Mal said. “Trying to turn on a vampire centuries older than
you are! How stupid of you...”

“No!” Stuart shouted, but there was no hope. The terror

in Aaron's eyes made it clear what Mal was about to do. In
a few agile steps Mal had gone over to Aaron, and took
him firmly by the shoulders.

“How dare you defy me!” he growled. “Stupid boy...”
“Kalina!” Aaron was shouting – gasping - “Don’t be

mad at me. I wanted to get stronger to fight Mal for you. I'll
always, I'll always love...”

But Mal had already twisted his head, and with a loud

crunch the bones broke, just as Mal thrust a stake into
Aaron's heart.

Kalina’s mouth opened in shock. It happened so

quickly, she could not believe it. She had seen a staking
before, but none seemed as gruesome as Aaron's, as he
aged rapidly – into the middle-aged, the old, the aged man

he had never had a chance to be, until at last he was a
desiccated corpse before them, a corpse that split apart
almost instantly into ashes.

He was dead.
The room echoed with silence.
“No!” Stuart cried at last, rushing into the ashes,

picking them up and letting them run through his fingers.
“No!”

Kalina felt the pain as well – rocking through her,

coursing over her. She tried to tell herself that Aaron was
already gone, but it was no use. She felt tears come over
her again, even as she blinked them away.

“Well, that makes your choice easier,” said Mal.
“No!” Octavius roared, as he rushed towards Mal.

“No!” His fury had boiled over now – and now he was at
Mal's throat, forcing him against the wall, towards the stone
fireplace. For a moment, it looked as if Mal was cornered,
and Kalina held her breath – her eyes squeezed shut,
praying.

But in a flash, Mal's hand had inched for the fireplace

poker, and no sooner did Octavius begin pressing his
stake into Mal's flesh than Mal picked up the poker and ran
it straight through Octavius.

For a moment Kalina's heart stopped and her world

went black.

But the poker was steel, not wood, and Octavius thrust

the poker from his body, his anger only further roused. But
the blow had weakened him, and no sooner did he take a
step than he collapsed at Mal's feet. Mal laughed, his red

eyes narrowing as he prepared to take the final blow!

“No!” Kalina rushed between them, focusing all her

strength as she thrust Mal off Octavius, shielding her lover's
body with her own.

And then another body was there, guarding her, and as

Kalina looked up the sight took her breath away. Jaegar
was standing over her, protecting her from Mal's wrath, his
stony face once more alive with light and courage, even as
the pain of his brother's death was splayed out all over his
face.

“What?” Mal looked briefly confused – only for an

instant, but it was enough. Stuart had rushed towards him,
thrusting his stake deep into Mal's back, piercing his heart.

“That's for my brother, you bastard!” he shouted.
Mal staggered backwards, falling against the fireplace.

He pulled the stake out of his heart, letting it fall to the floor.
Blood poured from the wound in bilious black barrages, but
he did not turn to dust.

“How many times do you think I've been staked, eh?”

he said. “I’ve had Life’s Blood in me for centuries. Not like
weak Aaron, who only had it for an hour. And you – Jaegar
– what are you doing...fool...” Blood dribbled from the
corners of his mouth.

Stuart backed away slowly. Octavius had already

healed from the poker, and was standing next to him, his
body tensed and poised for battle.

Mal leaped at Kalina, grabbing hold of her wrists. She

screamed instinctively, trying to summon the strength she
had used twice before with Jaegar. But Jaegar had leaped

forward, separating the two of them, and thrust Kalina
towards Stuart.

“Get her out of here!” he shouted. In his hand was an

antique sword – one Kalina had seen hanging upon the wall
above the fireplace many times before, but had never seen
used. Until now.

“Jaegar...” It was the Jaegar she knew and loved, free

of the Life’s Blood. Her joy overpowered her.

“Go!” he shouted, as he brought the sword down upon

Mal, slicing him cleanly through the torso until only a few
shriveled ligaments held the body together.

“No!” hissed Mal, and before Kalina could scream she

saw a stake pointing through Jaegar's back, thrust through
his heart.

Jaegar moaned in agony – it must have just missed

the heart – and Mal withdrew the stake, ready to strike
again.

In an instant Kalina was between them, the stake

caught in her hands mid-thrust. The three of them gasped in
collective astonishment. Only a vampire could move that
fast.

“So, it's true,” muttered Mal. “The Carrier has truly

inherited the vampire's strength. At last. What a delicacy
you must be...”

Before Kalina knew what had happened, her world

was going white and dark at the same time. Mal's teeth
were fast in her neck, biting down, until nothing made sense
and she saw stars above her vision.

Stuart and Octavius had grabbed Mal, then, and had

pushed him across the room, but not before Kalina caught
sight of her own blood streaming across the floor, pouring
from a severed artery in her neck.

She made a small sound, but collapsed back against

Octavius. “Drink!” he shouted, tearing into his own flesh with
astounding ferocity. “Drink!”

The blood nourished her, and within moments her

strength had returned to her, as Stuart began binding Mal
with silver chains.

“Hurry – they won't hold him long...” Stuart was

shouting.

Kalina sat up. “Where's Jaegar? Is he okay?” She

caught sight of a crumpled mass on the floor. “Jaegar!”

She rushed to him, reopening the wound Mal had just

left.

“Kalina, are you sure?” Octavius stared at her.
“I know what I'm doing. He's broken through – it won't

hurt him.”

She held him fast to her neck; as if in a haze, Jaegar

began lapping at her blood, sucking it at first slowly and
then more and more rapidly. Suddenly he stopped and
pushed her away, violently.

“What's happening?”
He crawled across the floor, violently gagging. His

whole body seemed to be changing. His face gained color;
his eyes grew duller. For a moment Kalina was seized with
terror. Had she misjudged the whole thing? Had she turned
him once again?

But then he looked up.

And Kalina knew instantly that she was looking into the

eyes of a human. Gone were his fangs – it was evident
from his smile. Gone was his bloodlust. In its place was a
look of pure love. She wasn't sure what it was yet – a love
so strong it defied categorization. She had believed in him.
Trusted him. Cared for him. And whatever it was – it was
enough to save him.

Stuart was torn between joy and despair: joy for his

brother, rage and envy that his brother was achieving the
dream that he, Stuart, had always wanted. He was shaking.

“Kalina!” Jaegar rushed to Kalina, enveloping her in a

hug, his eyes full of unshed tears.

“Get out of here!” Stuart was saying. “Those chains

won't hold Mal much longer...” Mal was already struggling
against the masses of silver. “Hurry!”

“Go!” Octavius too displayed his jealousy clear on his

face, but he wasn't about to let it stop him from doing his
duty.

“I can't leave you!”
“You can't leave

him!”

Stuart said. “He's human now –

he's in danger here! You must protect him!”

Jaegar was looking about him, his eyes filled with the

glorious vision of a world seen anew through human eyes –
his expression dazed.

“I won't lose another brother,” Stuart said. “It's time for

me to reach my full potential...” his words were fraught with
meaning. “As a vampire. I must allow myself to be strong.”

“Don't let him kill you!” Kalina begged. “Flee, first, both

of you!”

Stuart pressed her hand briefly to his lips, and then

pushed her towards the door. “Leave, quickly.”

“I love you, too!” she protested, and even now she

wasn't sure whether she was talking to Stuart or Octavius,
or to both of them at the same time.

As Kalina and Jaegar exited the house, they heard the

sound of Mal at last breaking free of his chains, and of
Octavius and Stuart, fighting on...

They rushed together in the night – their hearts

pounding,  for  the  first  time,  together.  Kalina  could  feel  his
wrist,  his  heart  beating  in  time  with  hers  –  their  breath
panting  together  –  their  pulse  alive  for  the  first  time  with
excitement, and joy.

And fear.

Epilogue

Time had glided by with silver wings. In the days that

had  passed  between  now  and  the  time  they  had  fled  the
Greystone  Winery,  Kalina  felt  that  she  were  somehow
participating in the discovery of a new life – Jaegar's. The
transformation that had happened on the Winery floors had
changed  Jaegar  entirely  –  more  than  Kalina  could  ever
have imagined. He had not merely lost his fangs and pallor,
but somehow his soul had seemed to change as well; it had
flown straight back into his body, lighting up his face with a
smile so radiant Kalina felt that it would blind her.

There had been some guilt, of course, in the

beginning. Jaegar had thought back upon his actions, done
during his crazed period under the influence of Life’s Blood,
and he had come to her on the first morning with the air of a
penitent  –  trying  to  explain  what  had  happened,  trying  to
rationalize  it  even  to  himself.  She  knew  that  even  now  he
could  not  quite  look  her  straight  on  in  the  eye  –  he  had
promised he would spend his life making it up to her.

A lifetime, Kalina had thought. A promise that meant

eternity for a vampire. Did it mean more or less now, that
his life was constrained by human measures?

They caught up with Justin and Maeve outside of Los

Angeles. It had taken a not inconsiderable amount of
explanation

–

including

assuaging

Maeve's

very

pronounced fears and talking a shocked Justin out of a
catatonic state – but Kalina had managed to bring them up

to  speed,  even  as  she  proved  to  them  the  full  extent  of
Jaegar's  cure.  They  walked  together  in  the  sunlight  –
Jaegar  bathing  in  the  ecstasy  of  the  rays  upon  his  slowly
reddening flesh – and Jaegar tore in deliriously into his first
pizza – ever.

“Bet these weren't around when you were turned,” said

Kalina, laughing.

“I've missed out on so much!” he exclaimed. But he still

did not meet her eye.

They spent their days in Los Angeles on the beach,

soaking  up  early  summer.  It  was  what  Jaegar  had  most
wanted to do – on the one hand, it meant more time in the
sun for him, while on the other, he noticed that Maeve and
Justin  seemed  more  comfortable  around  him  in  the  day,
when  they  could  be  sure  he  was  cured  of  his  vampiric
affliction.

But all was not sunny in Kalina's mind. Worry about

Stuart and Octavius, who had not turned up since their
flight, still clouded her mind. Neither had tried to contact her
telepathically – yet she felt sure they could not be dead.
She had felt an acute psychic pang when Aaron had been
staked in front of her; she knew she would feel something
similar, if not worse, were anything to happen to Octavius or
Stuart. And yet why hadn't they contacted her?

Romantic issues, too, troubled Kalina's mind. What did

it mean, she wondered, to have turned Jaegar human? It
was the prophecy, wasn't it? That Jaegar was her true love
– only true love could turn a vampire human. And yet she
wasn't entirely sure what it was she felt for him. She cared

for him, certainly, and was attracted to him – although out of
caution they had done nothing more than kiss chastely on
the  cheek  and  hold  hands  since  their  escape  –  but  no
amount of Life’s Blood could make Kalina forget Octavius
and  the  feelings  she  still  had  for  him  –  so  strong  they
overwhelmed  her  even  now.  If  she  had  turned  Jaegar
human,  why  did  her  heart  and  mind,  her  very  soul  still  call
out to Octavius? And if she loved Octavius so much – would
she  be  able  to  turn  him,  too?  Was  she  really  in  love  with
Octavius  then?  Or  did  she  imagined  herself  to  be?  She
obviously  loved  Jaegar,  but  since  becoming  human  and
without  his  vampire  ability  to  attract,  that  attraction  of
wanting to tear his clothes off as soon as he was near her,
was not as strong. Was she only in love with him if he was a
vampire?”

Her thoughts ran often to Stuart. She thought he loved

her only because of her Life’s Blood, but he loved her more
for her humanity. They had shared so much together, the
fear of evil Jaegar coming after Kalina, the night of the
Prom, and how Stuart had finally acted on his passion for
her, leaving her wanting to experience more of this side of
him...

She sighed and turned to Jaegar. They sat together on

the beach, stretched out in the open air. Jaegar relished the
sensation of the sun – not the weak and painful blistering of
being outside under the influence of the ring – almost as
much as he relished eating human food. Maeve and Justin
had gone out on the third sandwich run of the day, mostly
for Jaegar's benefit.

“I don't have automatic muscle regeneration now,”

Jaegar laughed. “I'll get fat!”

But his muscles were as tight as ever – if they had lost

their superhuman sheen. He had his shirt off, and she could
see his rippling abs against his perfect chest. He was still
gorgeous  beyond  any  human  she  knew.  He  looked  up,
seeing Kalina’s gaze on him. He moved closer, enveloped
her  with  his  arms,  and  pulled  her  to  his  chest,  where  he
stroked her hair and cheeks, his fingers warm against her
skin. He kissed the top of her head. “Turning human hasn’t
diminished  my  love  for  you  at  all.  In  fact,  I  love  you  more
than ever, Kalina. I see you for the beautiful, strong and…”
he growled, “outright sexy woman that you are.” He kissed
her on her lips, “How did I get so lucky to have you choose
me?”

His fingers entwined with hers as he murmured into her

hair sweet words of love and held her tightly. She smiled,
so happy the old Jaegar she loved was back. The ocean
lapped at the sand and they both gazed out at the horizon.
Jaegar leaned in to kiss Kalina…

Suddenly, a dark shadow flitted across the sand – so

quickly that a blink of an eye erased the image. Kalina
sprang up, immediately – her vampire instinct taking over.
She sniffed the air, conscious of the subtle hint of blood –
vampire blood.

She felt a hunting instinct rise up from within her – the

desire to chase this unknown shadow – and before she
knew it she was running at superhuman speed, faster than
the human eye could catch, across the beach.

And then she realized that Jaegar was running too.
They both stopped short in surprise.
“What – what was that?” Kalina shuddered.
“I...don't know.” Jaegar looked down. He had turned

human – he wasn't supposed to have any vampire abilities.
“I thought I lost all my abilities.”

“I don't know either.” Kalina hid her gaze. “I mean – it

sort of worked...right? You don't have cravings anymore, do
you?”

“No!” cried Jaegar indignantly. “Of course not! Only...”
“Only what?”
“It didn't work. Fully. The Life’s Blood didn't work fully.”

Which means you didn’t love me enough, either.

Kalina could still hear his thoughts – or thought she

could.

“Look, Jaegar, you know how I feel...I care about...”
“

All of us

, yes,” said Jaegar, his face torn. “I know. You

care about us all.”

“Even Aaron.”
“Right.” Jaegar turned away.
Their conversation was interrupted by that same

vampire smell – the return of the shadow. It slowed to a
walking pace and then Kalina could make out the face with
a leap of her heart: Octavius!

He looked battle-worn, but even in his weariness he

was  beautiful;  his  exhaustion  had  not  stopped  him  from
dressing,  as  ever,  with  impeccable  style.  Kalina  felt  her
blood once more calling out to him, turning her cheeks hot
with  embarrassment.  She  went  to  him,  embracing  him

lightly – but didn't dare to do more in front of Jaegar.

“What news?” said Jaegar, a little too curtly.
“Thank God you're alright,” said Kalina. “I was so

worried...”

“I'm afraid I have some bad news.” Octavius gave a

stiff cough.

“Stuart!” Jaegar and Kalina cried in unison.
“Mal...is stronger that we'd hoped,” said Octavius. “We

fought  in  that  house  for  two  days  and  two  nights  –  every
time  we  thought  we'd  subdued  him,  he  broke  free  of  his
silver. We took turns standing guard over him in the last –
but he got to Stuart when he was most weary. He wanted to
spite Stuart – to spite me and what I stand for, what Stuart
stood  for  –  the  Consortium  and  peace.  He...he  force-fed
Stuart some of the Life’s Blood.”

“What?” The color had drained from Kalina's face.
“His control over Stuart – it is final.”
Jaegar's earlier anger had vanished, replaced with

pain. “I remember turning,” Jaegar said slowly. “It was the
most horrible feeling in the world. It twists your mind.
Whatever – whomever you love becomes your enemy. You
cannot even reason with yourself – reason stops existing.”

“It will be worse for Stuart,” said Octavius. “He has

always denied himself – as a vampire – to an unhealthy
extent. He has not fed his bloodlust properly in centuries.
And all that rage – pent up inside him for so long – like a
coiled spring...”

Kalina remembered what Stuart had told her, once.

That his goodness only made him ten times as dark as

Jaegar  –  in  the  innermost  chambers  of  his  subconscious.
That  it  made  him  all  the  more  dangerous.  She  hadn't
understood  what  he  meant  then.  She  was  understanding
better now.

“You saw what he was like when he saw Jaegar made

human,” said Octavius. “He was devastated. All that anger,
all that pain – I fear for what will happen now that it will be
unleashed.” He turned to Kalina. “You are not safe. You
have vampire strength – but without Aaron and Stuart – and
with Jaegar weakened, only I can guard you...”

“Jaegar – he still has his powers!” Kalina blurted out.
“What?” Octavius furrowed his brows.
“He's turned – but his powers remain.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded mutely. “I guess it didn't work all the way –

or something.”

A note of hope in Octavius’ eyes vanished quickly as

he  focused  on  more  pressing  matters.  He  gave  a  hollow
laugh.  “How  incredible,”  he  said  softly.  “You  are
extraordinary  –  whatever  you  are.  But  even  so  –  we  must
get you out of the country, immediately.”

Out of the country

. To Europe – Europe! With

Octavius – to freedom, to safety, to the man she loved.

For a while. Until Mal found them – or Stuart – until

things started to go wrong, until Maeve and Justin were
once more in danger. Kalina sighed. It was impossible.

“No,” said Kalina. “No.” It was now or never. “I'm tired

of running. Of being protected. I want to go back to
Rutherford. I want to finish school, and go to Yale in the fall. I

want  to  protect  Justin  and  Maeve  –  and  protect  you.
Whatever's back there – whoever's back there – Stuart, Mal
-  I'll  face  them.”  She  took  a  deep  breath,  sadden  by  the
thought,  especially  remembering  how  Stuart  had  stood  by
her, protected her, and faced Jaegar knowing how it would
be  his  sure  death,  just  so  Kalina  could  live  another  day.
Stuart had turned, and she remembered how he once said
he would rather stake himself, die, than turn into a monster
like  Mal.  The  Greystone  Brothers  had  given  so  much  for
her, Aaron… his life, now Stuart. Stuart had told her turning
was far worse than death. Her heart ached for him, yet she
knew Stuart would be affected worse than Jaegar. She had
to do something. She was the Carrier, and with that, came
powers…powers she was just beginning to realize. Kalina
looked  straight  ahead.  She  knew  what  she  had  to  do.  “I
have to find Stuart.”

********

PULSE continues in

Blue Blood - Book 4 of PULSE

Blue Blood

(Book 4 of PULSE)

Coming

March 8, 2011

Join us for the virtual release party on

March 8, 2011 at:

http://www.kailingow.wordpress.com

Prologue

Annette Binoche stepped out of the cab and had her

first taste of a Manhattan sidewalk beneath her feet. Staring
up  at  The  New  York  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  a  cool
breeze  rustled  through  her  long  dark  hair  and  tickled  her
nostrils.  This was not the hot and lazy breeze of the bayou
back  home  in  New  Orleans.  It  felt  different.  Smelled
different. Even tasted different.

Despite her jeans, warm black sweater and leather

jacket the chill in the air squeezed through the collar at the
back of her neck, traveled down her spine and left her skin
tingling all the way down into her boots.

The excitement of this new adventure added to that

tingling  sensation.  She  pushed  through  the  doors  of  the
back  entrance  of  the  Opera  House  and  went  in  search  of
the head seamstress. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the
gloom,  she  glimpse  the  grand  stage  through  a  door  left
ajar.

Her desire to find the seamstress was overtaken with

the need to view the splendid stage she’d long dreamed of.
The silly childhood fantasy of singing to a full house had her
heart pumping with envy. It was majestic and unending.
The ceiling seemed to go on forever and she couldn’t even
see to the back seat of the top balconies.

“Can I help you?”
With a start she turned to the unexpected voice and

faced a small elderly gentleman who smiled politely.

“I’m looking for Mrs. Henley. She came down to

Louisiana a while back to visit with my mom and liked my
abilities as a seamstress and suggested I come up here to
work for her.”

The old man’s smile broadened and Annette realized

she was rambling, but just couldn’t stop. “I may be only
eighteen, but I’ve worked at my mother’s dress shop since I
was thirteen and my mother has been a great teacher and
even though I lack formal training, I know I can do this…”

“Right through there,” he said as he pointed to his left.

“Up the stairs, second floor, third door on your right. She
should just be getting back from her lunch.”

With a tight and nervous nod, she turned on her heel,

repeating his directions in her mind over and over again.

Her heels echoed up the steps and the cool chill at her

back followed her. She turned to glance behind her and
could have sworn her breath frosted in the air. The echo of
her steps reverberated in an odd cadence that didn’t quite
match the pace of her steps.

Though her body shivered, her hands were clammy

and heated. Her fingers reached for the cross hung at her
neck.  Her  index  played  repeatedly  over  the  rubies  that
formed  a  rose  pattern  at  the  center  of  the  cross.  Her
breathing  soon  returned  to  normal  and  she  proceeded
while  remaining  cautious  and  aware  of  the  sensations
around her.

“Mrs. Henley?” Annette asked upon reaching the

correct door.

A pleasantly plump woman turned and grinned. “Miss

Binoche? Is that you?”

Annette realized her frumpy seamstress clothes back

home were a far stretch from her fashionable, meant to
impress New York attire. She’d gone out of her way to
assure her clothes didn’t make her stick out like a tourist.

“Don’t really understand why a pretty girl like you wants

to come and stick your fingers with pins and needles, but
I’m sure happy to have you.”

“I’m happy to see you again, Mrs. Henley, and I look

forward to doing my best work for you.” Annette gave her a
warm hug and kissed her cheek. “Mother says hello and
wants to thank you once again for being so gracious as to
allow me this opportunity. You have no idea what this
means to me.”

Mrs. Henley waved the compliments and pleasant

words aside. “Nonsense, I need a good hard working girl
that has the imagination as well as the work ethic you have.
I have one girl who left to get married and three who
dumped me once the school year resumed.”

Annette smiled and nodded, pleased to be given such

praise and responsibility.

“You’re not going to go off and get married, are you?”
“Heaven’s no.”
“And you’re not going on to college, right?”
At this, Annette hesitated. She had once dreamed of

attending a performance art school. Finances had not really
allowed such a dream for now, but this was no doubt a step
in the right direction. “Not for quite a while, if at all.”

“You know with all that pretty dark hair and soft