A Hunger Like No Other

34

I've come for Emma," Lachlain bellowed, standing in the shadow of Emma's home, Val Hall, which looked to be the face of hell.

Though the fog was cloying, lightning fired all around, sometimes corralled by the many copper rods planted all along the roof and the grounds, sometimes by the scorched oaks crowding the yard. Annika stepped out onto the porch, looking otherworldly in her rage, her eyes glittering green, then silver, and back. Wraiths flew about her hair, cackling.

At that moment, he couldn't decide whether this bayou shrine to insanity or Helvita was worse. Nïx waved happily from a window.

He fought not to reveal how weak he was becoming. Bowe had wrapped his wounds tight, but his limbs were still weakening. Lachlain had forbidden Bowe or anyone else in the clan to accompany him to Val Hall, fearing this would devolve into a war, but he still sensed them in the forest all around.

"I'm taking Emma from this place tonight."

Annika tilted her head as if to see him better. Emma did that, too. Emma had gotten it from this woman. "Never would I give my daughter to a dog."

No man had in-laws like these.

"Then trade me for my brother."

Garreth bellowed in Gaelic from somewhere inside, "Goddamn it, Lachlain, I just got into this house."

"Or take both of us. Just let me talk to her." He had to see if she was healing.

"The Accession is nigh, and you want us to imprison the Lykae king and his heir?"

Regin hurried to her side. She spoke in English, but with words he didn't understand, calling this a "slam dunk," admonishing Annika, "Just take it to the hoop, Shaq."

Annika's voice rang out. "She made her decision when she returned to her coven. When hurt and afraid and unthinking, she chose us. Not you, Lykae."

That pained him terribly, her choice. Not only had she decided to leave him, she'd decided to stay away from him. But what right did he have to her after what he'd made her suffer? He hid his pain. "Do I go in, or do we go to war?" Just to see if she's healing.

She looked past him, scanning the grounds, no doubt sensing their numbers. She tilted her head again, lifted her hand to the wraiths, and his path was cleared.

He limped into the darkened manor, seeing dozens of Valkyrie, curled up on chairs, hands on weapons, perched atop the stair railing. He fought not to gape at the sheer malice these fey beings exuded. For the hundredth time, he marveled that Emma had been raised among them.

They didn't restrain him. Did they know he wouldn't hurt them? Or did they want him to attack so they could slaughter him? He'd bet the latter.

Within two minutes of his entrance, he was shown to the cage in the damp half-basement that housed his brother Garreth. He didn't resist even when the door clanged shut behind him.

Garreth stared at him as though seeing a ghost, then ran a hand over his face. "Do my eyes betray me?"

Lachlain's happiness at seeing his brother was overshadowed by worry. "No, it's me."

Garreth rushed to him, grin in place, and whaled slaps on his back. "Well, brother, what have you gotten us into now?"

"Aye, it's good to see you as well."

"I thought you were…When they said you'd taken Emma, I thought they were mad. Until I saw her, saw you'd marked her." He frowned. "Marked her hard, no?" He shook his head. "Ach, anyway, it's good to have you back. Under any circumstances. I've so many questions, but that can wait. You need news about her?"

At his nod, Garreth said, "She's injured, Lachlain. She has gashes down her side, and she could no' drink though she was…she was about to die in just the first couple of hours."

Lachlain flinched. Claws into his palms, he rasped, "What saved her?"

"An i.v." At Lachlain's frown, he explained, "They gave her blood through a tube that fed it straight to her veins. They think she's stabilized, but the gashes will no' heal. I suspect whatever got her had poisoned claws. Maybe a ghoul, but I doona know."

"I do." Lachlain ran his hand through his hair. "Demestriu did this to her. I saw it all."

"I doona understand—" Garreth broke off. He shot to his feet, then his entire frame grew still and tense. "Lucia?"

Lachlain glanced up, saw her descending the stairs. She tilted her head so her hair covered her face. The moment they saw she'd been crying, Garreth's face grew grave, his eyes riveted to the archer.

"She's no' better?" Garreth asked.

She shook her head.

Lachlain clutched the bars. "She heals when she drinks from me."

Garreth raised his eyebrows at that. "You let her…?" To Lucia, he said, "Then let Lachlain go to her."

"Annika forbids it. He's not to go near her. Emma sees things that aren't there, mumbles nonsense as though she's gone mad. Annika puts the blame squarely on his shoulders."

She was right to. While Lachlain struggled with his guilt, Garreth asked, "What does she see?"

"Emma says that Demestriu was her father, and he put her in the fire, so she killed him."

"She—did."

Both of them swung their heads toward him.

What if he's my father?

"She did. She killed him."

Lucia shook her head. "Sweet Emma? Kill the most powerful and deadly vampire ever to live?"

"Aye. He hurt her. Do none of you believe her?"

Garreth gave him an incredulous expression. "Demestriu's finally dead? Because of that wee thing? She's as fragile as eggshell."

Lucia added, "Lachlain, when she finds a moth inside and tries to free it—well, if she accidentally dusts its wings, she's distraught for an entire night. I just don't see her killing this fiend on his home ground when Cara and Kaderin have failed to do so on a field of battle. And Furie, the strongest of us? If Demestriu could be killed by a Valkyrie, then surely she'd have done it."

"You doona know her as I do. No' anymore—"

"Then what does she mean when she says Furie is alive but shouldn't be?"

"She's been imprisoned by the Horde. Demestriu never expected her to live this long."

Lucia swayed, barely perceptibly. In a smaller voice, she asked, "And when she says Kristoff has her blood?"

"They're first cousins."

Her lips parted in surprise. "Furie lives…" she murmured.

"If you doona believe me, there's a video of the entire fight. I left it with Bowen, a member of our clan."

Garreth stopped gaping at Lachlain and turned to Lucia. "Go get it. For Annika to see."

She raised her eyebrows. "You want me to go to the clan?"

Garreth said, "Tell them I sent you, and they will no' hurt you. I vow it."

Her chin went up. "I know they won't succeed in hurting me. But you're sending me, who'll be carrying a bow, among your people. They will not thank you for it."

Lachlain saw that his brother's eyes held much feeling for the archer, but Garreth still snapped, "I would do it myself. But I canna since I've been put in a cage after coming to your rescue."

She flushed as though with guilt, then finally said, "I will retrieve it and review it. Then give it to Annika, if it is as you say."

Lachlain strained against the bars. "Damn it, that will take too long. Can you no' just take my blood for her to drink?"

"Annika forbids it. I am…sorry."

When she left, Garreth continued to stare at the door. "Lucia will be quick about it."

"How long have you known she's yours?"

"A month now."

"I wondered why you were so eager to remain." Lachlain surveyed the cage, eyeing it for weaknesses. He'd escaped far worse to get to Emma—he wouldn't be stopped now. "You've no' told her?"

"Lucia's tricky. And I suspect she's a runner. Tell her something she does no' want to hear and she'll disappear. And she feels no love for me. She's the reason I'm here in the first place. She suffers agonizing pain when she misses her target—that's why she's so bloody good. Annika set a trap, baited it with Lucia missing and screaming in pain, and I ran headlong. I should have known there was no way she'd miss again. You've never seen a creature shoot as she—"

"I have a good idea," Lachlain said dryly, pulling his shirt aside to show him the healing wound on his shoulder.

Garreth clearly didn't know how to react to that. His brother shot by his mate.

"I harbor no anger toward her." Lachlain strained to stretch the bars apart, unnerved when they didn't budge. How had he gotten this weak? Yes, he was riddled with injuries, but he'd never found a cage that could hold him. Unless…"They've reinforced these?"

"Aye." Garreth rose and grasped the same bar Lachlain was struggling to bend. "These creatures ally with the witches. Annika told me nothing physical can bend these."

When they both couldn't budge the steel, Lachlain dropped his hands to pace, examining the cage for any alternative, desperate to get to her. He crossed to the one cement wall and pounded his fist against it. Too thick to dig through.

"I canna believe she shot you," Garreth grated. "When we get out of here, I'll—"

"No, I doona care. Especially since you seem to accept that my mate's a vampire."

He gave Lachlain an exasperated expression. "I would no' give a damn if she was a Fury, as long as you are content with her. And it's clear you are."

"Aye, but I have to get to her," Lachlain said, testing the cement floor.

"At least we're no' chained," Garreth offered. "When they open this door, we can attack."

Lachlain stabbed his fingers through his hair. "I'd prefer to be only chained. I'd take off my hands before I let Emma suffer any longer."

Garreth eyed him, and Lachlain knew he'd said the words without the slightest reservation.

"Trust me, Garreth, it is no' so bad as this feeling—"

Emma whimpered in pain, and he could hear the sound as clearly as if she'd shrieked. He growled in answering pain and lunged into the bars.

The bars were protected, the wall and floor solid cement…

He slowly lifted his head, eyes focused on the ceiling. "I can dig through."

"Lachlain, I doona think that's wise. This house is centuries old and gets battered as you would no' believe."

"Doona care."

"You might care that all three stories are tongue-and-groove construction—one piece falls, it'll be like a domino effect. War, hurricanes, and constant lightning have made it unsound. I doona think Val Hall can take a Lykae biting through the first floor."

"Support it while I'm gone."

"Hold the floor? If I canna, you could be hurting both our mates. This place could come crashing down."

Lachlain slapped him on the shoulder. "Be sure that you doona drop it."

Time was running out. He let the beast have its way with the ceiling, slashing through the wood, digging with its claws, and pulled himself up into the cool house.

On his knees on the floor, Lachlain shook himself, struggling for control. Looking back down, he said, "You can handle this?"

"Just doona be too long," Garreth gritted out. "Oh, and Lachlain?" He was already straining. "Doona kill Wroth, a big black-haired vampire, if you see him about. He's the one who helped Emma with the idea of the blood straight to her veins. One of Kristoff's Forbearers. We owe him for Emma's life."

Lachlain snapped, "What's Kristoff's goddamned interest in her?"

Garreth shook his head. "No. I think this Wroth did it to have his union with Myst recognized."

A Valkyrie unified with a vampire?

"He seemed a lot saner than they usually do. Now, go!"

Lachlain leapt to his feet. He followed Emma's scent easily, moving through the expansive mansion, and stalked straight to her floor. A red-headed Valkyrie was just leaving Emma's room with a towering male. A vampire. Lachlain's first instinct was to attack him, but he stifled it. That had to be Wroth, the one who'd helped Emma, and her aunt Myst.

Wroth comforted Myst, brushing tears from her face. A vampire comforting another? Suddenly Wroth's head jerked up; Lachlain flattened himself against the wall. Wroth scanned the area with narrowed eyes then clasped Myst to him to trace them away.

As soon as they'd disappeared, Lachlain raced to Emma's room. Inside, her bed was empty. Of course, she must be under it. He fell to his knees, jerked up the bedding. Not under it. When he glanced around, he saw Nïx standing in the adjoining sitting room with Emma in her arms.

"Nïx, bring her to me. I can heal her."

She stroked Emma's hair. "But your blood comes with a price. One so young as this dreams of wars she's never seen, feels injuries that would have killed her ten times over."

He shook his head, not wanting to believe.

"She dreams of fire." Nïx sighed. "Forever, forever fire."

Emma appeared frail, her skin and lips pale as snow. Her cheekbones stood out sharply. One look at her, and he was sweating with fear for her.

Nïx leaned down to rub her nose against Emma's. "Emma of the three. And you don't know it yet. Emma of the three hacked him in three. What do you have in your little hand? Darling girl. He's supposed to get you a ring." With effort, Nïx pried the ring from her hand and tossed it to him. He slipped it on without interest. Why the bloody hell wouldn't she give him Emma as easily?

"You gave her the Instinct. It shines like a star in her, radiating. She can see where you marked her as yours."

Impossible…

"She will never lose it." Nïx petted her forehead. "She is all of us. Emma of the three."

"Nïx, what will make you give her to me?"

"What would you do for her?"

His brows drew together at the absurd question. "Anything," he rasped.

She studied him for long moments, then nodded firmly. "You have work to do, Lachlain. Give her new memories to fight the old."

He held out his hands for her, forgot to breathe…until Nïx finally handed her to him. He clutched Emma to his chest, but she didn't wake, and when he glanced up again, Nïx was gone.

Quickly, he crossed to the bed, laying her down. He cut his arm with his battered claws and placed it against her lips.

Nothing.

He sat next to her and shook her. "Goddamn it, Emma, wake up." She didn't. Her lips parted, and he saw her fangs were dull and small.

He sliced his thumb and worked it between her lips, cupping her head with his other hand. Long moments passed. Then she grew very still, as though even her heart stopped.

She took, just barely. After a moment, she raised her hands to his chest, clutching him. He drew his finger from her, and when she latched on to his arm, he threw his head back, closing his eyes with relief.

Even as she drank, he pulled up her nightgown and the bandages beneath to check her leg and side. Already healing.

When she'd finished, she blinked open her eyes and threw her arms around his neck, weakly squeezing him.

"Why did you go, Emma? Was it because of what I said about Demestriu?"

"Had to go. Lachlain," she said, her voice faint, "he's my…he was my…father."

"I know. But that does no' explain why you would take that step."

She pulled back from him. "Nïx told me just before I left for Paris that I was on the verge of doing what I was born to do. I recognized it just as the vampire reached out his hand." She shivered. "I know it's hard to believe, but I-I killed Demestriu."

"I saw. I have the whole confrontation on tape. Lucia's going to get it from Bowe as we speak."

"How'd you get it?"

"Ivo had been taping Demestriu. And I took it from Ivo." At her frown, he added, "When you were in Demestriu's lair, I was already in the castle."

"You killed Ivo?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

"Oh, aye. With pleasure."

"Are you angry that you didn't get revenge on Demestriu?"

"I'm angry that you went alone. I understand it was your fate, but doona leave me like that again." He put his hand behind her head and pressed her to him. Her body had grown so warm and soft.

"How did you find Helvita?"

"I followed you. Emma, I'll always come for you."

"But how can you be right with me? Knowing who I am?"

He made her face him. "I know who you are. I saw everything that occurred, and we have no secrets between us now. And I want you so badly my mind canna comprehend it."

"But I can't understand this. I was his daughter."

"Seeing him with you eased some of my rage. I'd thought he gloated every day about what he'd done to me and for taking my father's life and his ring. He scarcely remembered these things, he was so twisted. And the kindness he showed you at the end…it meant much to me."

"But he took so much from you."

"Lass, he's given to me as well."

She gave him that shy look. "M-me?"

He nodded. "I dinna go mad after those years of hell, but I was just shy of it when I thought of losing you."

She whispered, "I saw it, Lachlain. That hell. I know what happened to you."

He dropped his forehead to hers. "I wish to God…I wish you had no'. That kills me inside, knowing I cursed you with that memory."

"No, I'm glad now that I have it."

"How can you say that?"

Her bottom lip trembled. "I would never want you to go through that alone."

He gripped her shoulders. Brows drawn, he rasped, "My God, I love you."

She gasped. "I love you, too. I wanted to tell you—"

"If you felt the same, then why did you no' come back to Kinevane? To me?"

"Because it was day in Russia."

Welcome realization hit him. "So it would be day in Scotland."

"Exactly. It was only my second time ever to trace—the first was just before I went with the vampire—and I didn't trust myself to land perfectly in the sunproofed rooms. I knew it was just after midnight here."

"I wondered when you'd learned to trace." His tone low, he admitted, "I thought you'd chosen your aunts over me."

"No, I was trying to be smart, cold, logical. And besides, I've decided no one's going to force me to choose anyone over anyone." She wagged her finger at him. "Including you, Lachlain. Not again."

His lips curled. "You're going to keep me on a short chain, are you no'? Especially now that I know what happens when you get displeased with someone."

She play-punched his arm, but when her hand met the wet fabric of his coat, her eyes went wide. "You're hurt. Worse than I thought." She shot to her feet, but he eased her back down.

"Give it time. I'll heal, just as you're doing. Your leg's already better."

"But let me get a bandage for you." She looked him over. "Your hands? Your chest? Oh, Lachlain."

He wasn't ready for her to leave this room, especially not without him. "Doona worry." He kept her hand in his. "Now that I ken that you love me, I'll hold this over you and make you take care of me."

She fought a grin and lost.

"So what else do you see?" He coughed into his fist. "In my memories." This could get tricky.

"They're mostly connected to me," she said, clearly hedging.

Still tricky. Could she see him when he handled himself while imagining his mouth between her legs? "And…?"

"I see things from the past. And I see you admiring my underwear." She blushed.

"Can you ken why this would make me uneasy?"

"It makes me so as well! I think I would die if I saw you with another woman."

"Are you jealous, lass?"

"Yes!" she cried, as if she couldn't believe the question. "While you've been running around growling 'mine,' I've been silently saying it right back at you."

This got better and better. "I think I like you jealous and possessive. But I doona like what's available to you in my mind. What more have you seen?"

So she detailed memories of him on a campaign, of him with her in the hotel room, of him admiring her arse, the necklace. Nothing to embarrass him so far. "Have you seen me kill?"

"No."

"Have you seen me release into my own hand?"

Her eyes went wide. "No, but…"

"But what?" When she wouldn't tell him, he nipped her ear. "Tell me."

With her face buried in his chest, he barely heard her whisper, "I want to." Her admission sent a spike of heat through him.

"Do you, then?" His voice had gone husky. As she nodded against him, he realized that though he was injured—had been feeling damn near dead—she could stir him to life. "You've only to tell me what you want."

"But I don't want to see certain things. Like you…with another woman."

"Now, this I am no' concerned with. You take my memories, and none before you were memorable in the least."

"I don't know…"

"I do. Every event you described was pivotal to my thinking of you. I remember all of them clearly, even over so much time." When she frowned, he explained, "I think you wake up too soon. That day by the stream, I grieved for no' having you, but afterward I swore to myself that nothing would stop me from finding you. I vowed that I would no' wait for you—I would seek you to the ends of the earth. And in the hotel when we were together, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to claim you, go to any lengths, even if they were no' honorable. I realized that night that you can make me craven for you."

"A-and the others?"

"The necklace? That entire journey home I slept with it in my hand, renewed in my belief that I'd see you wear it one day. And the night I stared at your arse—and you do have an arse I will be thinking of often—I joined you in the shower. When I took you under the water, you whispered in my ear that you dinna think you could live without me."

"I did?" she breathed.

"Oh, aye, and I thought that I'd give anything to hear it again. So rest easy on that score, love. I think this is like mind reading, and a lot of couples I know do that." He frowned. "Though those are usually reciprocal. Will you share things with me as though I had this talent? To keep no more secrets between us."

"No more secrets, Lachlain."

"And we set about getting past my…our memories?"

She nodded eagerly. "We will—"

"Emmaline!" Annika shrieked. Regin, behind her, rolled her eyes at the sight of them together. "Get away from him!"

Emma gasped, seeming embarrassed to be caught in bed with Lachlain. Then her expression turned defiant. "No."

"You can't mean this. We will discuss this when you're better." To Regin, she said, "Take him from here." Her voice was laced with disgust.

Emma tensed. "Don't touch him, Regin."

"Sorry, Em." She drew her sword and swept to the bed in a blur, her sword point under his chin before they could blink. He tensed, but with his injuries and Emma thrown over him, he couldn't react quickly enough.

"Put—the sword—down," Emma said.

"You're out of your head, kid. Why do you want to be with him when you have nightmares about him?"

Annika added, "You need to move away from this…this Lykae."

"I'm keeping"—her eyes flickered—"this Lykae."

"But the nightmares—"

"Are our business." When Regin pressed forward, Emma bit out, "I said no." She backhanded her with phenomenal speed.

Regin flew across the room. Lachlain shot up, head light, and threw Emma behind him. But instead of attacking as Lachlain expected, Regin wiggled her jaw and smiled brightly. "Sixty-five years I've been trying to teach you to move like that."

All of them were insane but for Emma.

Regin spoke to another Valkyrie on the wardrobe who'd come from nowhere and sat blowing bubbles with chewing gum. "Check her out. She didn't telegraph her punch. Finally, I can relax a little."

Annika clasped her hands. "Emma, please be reasonable."

Emma tilted her head at Annika. "What's going on here? The house should've been ruptured by your lightning."

Lachlain suspected Annika couldn't say a lot about this situation since she was now related by marriage to a full-blooded vampire. "Aye, Annika, why no' tell her why a Lykae does no' look so bad right now?"

When Emma frowned at him, he said, "She's agreed to recognize her sister's marriage to Wroth. I think she's figuring that anything is better than him."

Annika gave him a look of pure spite.

"You know what?" Emma said to Annika. "I can see that you're going to accept this—unbelievable, but I can see it. And I'm going to keep my head down and not ask too many questions—"

"Christ! Garreth!" Lachlain shot to his feet, weak and stumbling. Dragging Emma to his side, half carrying her, he lurched out of the room and down the stairs. Regin and Annika followed, demanding to know what was happening.

Inside the half-basement, they found Wroth alongside Garreth, grappling to hold up the ceiling.

The vampire's voice was incongruously calm when he asked, "What kind of idiot would find this a worthy plan?"

In an astounded tone, Lachlain said to Emma, "Your family's adding in-laws like him?"

The vampire's gaze fell to Lachlain's hand clutching Emma's, and he raised an eyebrow. "Indeed."