She threw her spear at Kane with far more speed than she’d known possible. Kane lunged out of the way, but she didn’t go after him again; she ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over the side. A shelf two hundred feet below had stopped William from plummeting all the way to the bottom of the valley and onto the jagged boulders lining the lake.
His head, twisted to the side, faced a direction that never should have been possible. Blood, seeping from the back of his head, had begun to form a scarlet puddle in the snow. One of his legs was bent behind his body; more blood spilled from where his broken femur had pierced through the flesh of his thigh.
The spear Kane had thrown at him was still embedded in his shoulder, but the broken spear he’d fallen over with had pierced through his chest, close to his heart. It might have pierced his heart she realized with a wave of misery so intense she almost fell to her knees. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she had to believe he was still alive and that the spear had missed.
A choked sob escaped her, if there was a small chance he was alive, she was going to help him and no matter what, she would not leave his body down there. Bending, she grabbed hold of the edge of the cliff in order to lower herself over it. A hand snatched her arm, jerking her back before she could go over. A red haze suffused her vision; she turned on Kane with the fury of a hellcat kicking and spitting as she clawed at his face and battered his shins.
“I’ll kill you!” the scream tore from her already raw throat as she threw herself at him, shoving him into the cave wall.
He grabbed at her arms, shoving them down to her sides. Before she could gather herself enough to go back at him, he backhanded her across the face so hard her cheek split open and blood spilled into her mouth. Her hand flew to her cheek; she staggered back and crashed into the rocks.
He leapt at her, clutching her arms. Tearing her away from the cave wall, he threw her to the floor. Tempest bit back a cry as her hands and knees slapped off the stones. Scrambling forward, she tried to regain her feet, but he grabbed hold of the hood of her cloak and yanked her backward. Her fingers clawed at the brooch and cloak cutting into her neck in an attempt to tear it away from her body.
Before she could get the brooch to let go, he lifted her within his arms. His powerful grip crushed her ribcage as he squeezed her. Tempest kicked her feet, trying desperately to connect with some vulnerable part of his body. Swinging her head back, a bellow escaped her when he managed to dodge a blow that would have shattered his nose.
With a sound of disgust, he threw her away from him and onto the floor. Tempest’s fingers scrabbled over the rocks, trying to find some purchase as he grabbed hold of her feet and pulled her toward him. With a brutal jerk, he flipped her over. Her head cracked off the rocks; her vision blurred and pain exploded in her skull.
She fought to stay conscious as he grabbed hold of her wrists with one of his hands and bashed them into the floor with enough force to break a knuckle in her right hand. She tried to buck him off, but his weight upon her was too much, his grip on her stronger than iron.
“No!” she screamed at him, squirming within his grasp as he leered down at her.
His lips skimmed back to reveal his fangs. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you,” he murmured as he ran his fingers over the front of her shirt.
Bile filled her mouth; she gulped it back as she renewed her battle to get away from this monster. The slapping of feet bounced off the cave walls. His head lifted as Moira and Abbott rushed out of the shadows toward them. Moira swung her spear out, but Kane grabbed hold of it with his free hand and jerked it from her grasp.
Lifting the spear, he released Tempest’s wrists to swing the weapon at Moira. It cracked against her back, knocking her to the floor. He swung it at Abbott next. Abbott tried to jump out of the way, but he couldn’t avoid his legs being knocked out from under him. His head hit the rock with a solid thwack that made Tempest cringe. He lay, unmoving on the ground.
Tempest sat up, her fingers hooked into claws as she dove at Kane. She dug her nails into his cheeks, raking away strips of skin from his face. She’d been aiming for his eyes but he’d moved at the last second, making her miss the mark. This time he didn’t slap her, but drove his fist into her face so forcefully that her nose shattered from the blow, and she swore she felt a jagged line run through her broken cheekbone. Her head shot back, blackness swirled up around her, looking to embrace her within its endless depths.
The world vanished as she fell back against the floor. She had no idea how long she’d passed out, but when she came to, cold air brushed over the flesh of her chest. A moan escaped her; her head pounded as if a woodpecker had gotten inside and mistaken it for a tree. It took all she had to concentrate on her surroundings. Finally able to keep her eyes open, she turned her head to find Kane still sitting on top of her. She blinked at him, trying to clear the hazy fog of her vision but he blurred before her, becoming two and then three.
It wasn’t until his hand fell on her breast that she came back to life again. She slapped at his hands; strangled sounds escaped her blood-filled mouth as she beat at him. Lifting his hand to slap her again, Tempest braced herself for the blow. She couldn’t afford to lose consciousness again.
His hand was on the downward swing when a figure loomed over the top of him. It took her a minute to realize that the fiery red eyes, blood soaked face and clothes belonged to William. A snarl escaped him as he lifted the spear he’d ripped free from his chest and drove it through Kane’s back.
Kane arched forward on top of her. His eyes rolled back in his head; his fingers scrabbled at the broken end of the spear piercing his heart. Gurgled sounds of distress poured from his mouth along with his blood.
Bending low, William rested his mouth near Kane’s ear. “Remember that moment I told you about in the prison. This is it. I’ve never missed a heart before; I missed yours on purpose last time, you prick.” With that, he twisted the spear, turning it within Kane’s chest before grabbing his shoulder and shoving his limp body off her.
The red bled from William’s eyes, leaving them their exquisite blue again as he collapsed onto the ground before her. “Are you ok?” he demanded, grabbing hold of her hands and dragging her toward him.
She took hold of his cheeks, tears of relief and joy spilling down her face. “Yes, are you?”
He collapsed in her arms before he could answer her. “William!” she shrieked grabbing at him and rolling him over.
His eyes were closed, his mouth parted. Her hands scrambled over his blood soaked clothes as she tried desperately to wake him again. Alive, she knew it, but so badly beaten and bruised he may not stay that way. The gaping wound in his chest continued to bleed; his leg was twisted awkwardly, and now that she was closer, she could see the bone still piercing through his skin. He’d torn the other spear from his shoulder, but blood continued to flow from the hole that went all the way through him.
“How did he manage to climb up here?” Abbott muttered from above her. She lifted her head to look up at him. His nose was scrunched up as he rubbed at the back of his head.
“I don’t know,” she said. She couldn’t imagine the amount of agony he must have endured, or the determination it would have taken him to accomplish the climb, but her heart swelled with more love for him. “But he needs blood, and we have to get him out of here.”
She bit into her wrist and pressed it against William’s bloody lips. “Tempest!” Abbott hissed.
“It’s ok,” she whispered, brushing back strands of William’s hair from his bloody face. Even battered and broken, he was still the most magnificent man she’d ever seen. He reflexively swallowed when the blood pooled into the back of his throat. The taste of her blood and his own instincts caused his fangs to lengthen against her skin. A sigh of pleasure escaped her when he bit down. “Good,” she murmured, leaning over him to press a kiss against his forehead. “Take as much as you need.”
Moira emerged, limping from the sha
dows. Moira’s brown eyes flickered; her eyebrows shot up when she spotted Tempest’s wrist pressed against William’s mouth. Maybe what she was doing wasn’t something commonly done amongst vampires, but she didn’t give one damn what they thought about it.
“Are you badly injured?” Tempest inquired.
Moira blinked at her question, but her gaze remained locked on the two of them. Finally, she rested her hand against her side. “I’ll heal.”
“We have to go,” Abbott urged.
“Help me with him,” she said. Adjusting her hold on William, she kept her wrist against his mouth as she moved carefully out from under him.
Abbott claimed William’s feet and Moira came to stand by his head to help her with his arms. Together they carried him through the cave toward where they’d left Achilles. She really hoped the horse was still there. It would be difficult for them to carry William through the snow without the horse, but she would do whatever it took to get him to safety.
- CHAPTER 30 -
Over the next two days, they trudged endlessly through the snow. They spent the first night in the cave she’d shared with William what felt like months ago now, but it had only been a little over a week since she’d stepped out into the blizzard. So much had happened since then, so much gained and lost, but they were still here, and they had managed to save at least some lives, and hopefully he’d learned something that would be of use to his brother-in-law.
At night, the lonely cries of the starving and lethal vampires would echo over the land, but she never spotted them within the shifting, snowy landscape. The children struggled through the snow, but though she wished she could put them on Achilles with William, she couldn’t risk injuring the horse. All of the adults switched off carrying Agnes and none of the children complained.
William sat slumped in the saddle; he had yet to regain consciousness. She tried not to dwell on the terror filling her at the prospect of him never waking again, but with every passing minute, the fear grew stronger. She alternated feeding him her blood with the blood of the animals they managed to track and capture. The loss of her blood had started to drain her; it was becoming more challenging to trudge onward and to keep her head up, but she’d do everything she could to keep him alive.
They arrived at another town on the eve of the second night. Glancing up and down the empty streets she wondered if this was the town William had told her about. She didn’t intend to go into the basement of the prison to find out; she’d had enough of prisons for a lifetime. Helping her with William, she, Abbott and Pallas carried him into one of the homes at the end of the road and placed him on the couch. Moira and one of the other vampires led Achilles to the small stable across the street before returning to the house.
Tempest knelt at William’s side; her fingers brushed his hair back from his forehead as she watched him. In the cave, she’d cleaned the blood from his body and changed him into what remained of his clothes from the saddlebags left with Achilles. The blisters and burns had faded from his skin, but the bruises from his battle remained. She stroked her fingers over his cheeks, worry gnawing at her gut, as he remained unmoving.
“You have to come back to me,” she whispered and bent to kiss his cheek. She nuzzled against him, inhaling his scent. “I need you.”
“Tempest.” She turned to find Abbott hovering in the doorway of the living room.
“What is it?”
“Someone is coming.”
Her heart plummeted into her stomach; she leapt to her feet and rushed toward the door as the last of the sun faded behind the horizon. Had they been found? They didn’t have it in them to put up another big fight; they were all exhausted, hungry and battered. She’d fight to the death to keep William protected; she just didn’t think it would be a long fight.
She pressed her face against the window in the door to stare out at the darkening street. The jingle of saddles drifted to her before the first man rode into view. Her hands pressed flat against the door; the other vampires hovered by her back as the men and women riding by continued on their trek. She was so busy praying they would go past, and keep on going, that she didn’t notice the patches on their sleeves until they were almost halfway down the street.
A strangled cry escaped her; spinning away, she tugged the patch William had given her, and that she’d reclaimed from Pallas, free of her cloak. Running toward the front door, Tempest flung it open and leapt down the porch stairs.
“Wait!” she cried, her voice strangled by hope and distress.
The startled glances of those closest to her caused them to jerk their mounts away from her. “Careful!” one of them barked.
“The queen, I must speak with the queen!” she gushed as she grabbed at the boot of the vampire who had yelled at her.
He raked her with a scathing glance. She’d washed the blood from herself, but she’d had no clothes to change into. She’d tried to button her ruined shirt the best she could, but her ripped, torn and bloody clothing weren’t helping her right now, and neither was her frantic behavior. The cloak, and what remained of her clothes, covered most of her flesh, but she still felt exposed. She tried to steady herself and compose her features before speaking again.
“Please,” she begged. “I know where her brother, William, is!”
That caused more of a reaction. A murmur went through the crowd toward the front of the line. The horses stopped moving; from somewhere up front the talk became more excited and agitated. The front three horses fell out of line and trotted down the street toward her.
Human, she realized as the three men stopped before her. They were so close that when they stopped the breath from their horses puffed against her shoulder and blew her hair back. Two of them were blond, and the other was the largest man she’d ever seen. So large she wondered if giants actually did walk the earth.
“Where is he?” she focused on the blond man who had spoken the demand.
Something oddly familiar about him caused her mind to search frantically through her memories. Then she realized what it was, saw the family resemblance in the sparkling blue eyes. “Daniel?” she inquired.
He kicked free of the saddle and dropped to the ground with grace beyond what she was used to from a human. He strode toward her; his eyes narrowed and his shoulders thrust back. “How do you know my name?”
“William told me about you,” she murmured, fighting the urge to throw her arms around him. She didn’t think he would much appreciate a filthy, battered vampire he didn’t know grabbing hold of him and sobbing out her relief. “This way.”
He glanced back at the other two humans and jerked his head at them to follow him. Behind him, more vampires dismounted and came forward as she led the way into the house. Stepping back, she gestured for them to enter the living room before her. Some of the vampires escorting them crowded into the hall behind her. Their gazes fixed warily on the village vampires who watched them with the same expression of distrust.
“William!” Daniel shouted and raced toward his motionless brother.
He fell to his knees beside him; his hands carefully ran over William’s body as he searched for injuries that had already mostly healed. There was still a hole in his chest, and his shoulder, but the one in his shoulder no longer went all the way through, and the muscle and bone had mostly repaired themselves. She’d set the bone in his leg back into place. It had mended, along with the flesh around it. The two deep gouges running down his chin had left faint, puckered scars on his flesh, but his growing beard had already covered those.
“What happened to him?” the other blond-haired man demanded as he spun toward her.
His blue eyes followed her as she edged past him to stand beside Daniel. Daniel’s nostrils flared; his jaw clenched as he watched her. Despite the anger and distrust pouring out of him, she felt his love and concern for his brother as he kept his body defensively positioned before William’s unmoving figure.
“What happened?” he growled.
“So m
uch,” she whispered as she held her hand out to him.
He watched her guardedly while the others pressed closer to her. She knew they would attack her if she made any sudden movements. She unfurled her hand to show Daniel the patch in her palm. Taking it from her, his fingers ran over the material before he focused on her again.
“William told me to find a member of your family, to give you this, and to tell you, banquet tree, so you would know you can trust me.”
The other blond haired human inhaled a harsh breath, some of the wariness faded from his handsome face as he glanced between her and William. Daniel stared at her before rising to his feet to stand over her. Slightly taller than William, he was of a leaner build. The aura of authority surrounding him was somehow out of place with his youthful age. This man may be human, and young, but he carried himself as if he was far older. He had the unmistakable air of a leader.
“Tell me what happened,” he commanded.
Stepping closer to William, she took hold of his hand and enfolded it within hers before she began to fill Daniel in on what she knew.
***
Sitting on the floor, Tempest kept her head on William’s chest as the first rays of the sun began to illuminate the dawn. Daniel and Max were sitting in chairs on the other side of the room; their chins were on their chests as sleep had finally claimed them an hour ago. Timber snored loudly from the small loveseat his massive body was awkwardly draped upon. His feet, hanging over the end of the loveseat, touched the floor. She didn’t know how much food it would take to fill that man, but she imagined it would be a whole farm.
After she’d revealed what she had to them, Timber and Max had taken a handful of the king’s soldiers with them to check out the prison down the road. When they’d returned, they’d confirmed what she’d feared; this was the town of Chester. She couldn’t shake the sick feeling in her stomach at the thought of the bodies of those helpless vampires down the road.