Blood Lust

Chapter 44

Kate threw up her arms to cover her head and made herself as small as possible as Aarón attacked the vampire, and they disappeared down the other side of the alley. Then the screams and the fighting faded to the background. She crawled out from behind the dumpster to Darius's side. His body was already beginning to crumble to ash, but he was intact enough that she could roll him onto his back.

Tears streamed from her eyes down her cheeks once again. This was all her fault. She should have just gone to the catacombs right after Cyrille left. If she had just listened to him and Celeste, Darius wouldn't have even been there. Khalid wouldn't have found her, and that vampire wouldn't...

She looked down the alley where he and the werewolf had disappeared. Was he a vampire? Yes, he had to be. She smelled the venom and saw the fangs, but... his power was so strange. It felt like vampiric magic at first glance. It was strong and potent, centuries older than it should have been, but definitely vampire.

Until she mentioned Charlie, or Rhiannon, or whatever they wanted to call that stupid dragon, and his magic flickered. But the flicker did not compare to what she felt when she looked into how he repelled the archangel from ripping out his soul. Just like Aarón and Danika, she could feel his soul in there, protected by his mate. And she could feel the nullifying effects of the Ancient-killer bullet lodged in his abdomen, eating away at his magic and preventing him from healing.

And in the void left by the parasitic power of a vampire was... something else. Something much stronger and a thousand times more volatile. If she didn't know better... Kate almost thought it was... dragonkin magic...

"Kate!" Danika's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin. Her friend was at her side the next second, taking her hand and gripping it tightly. "There you are! Oh my God... What the hell is going on?"

Kate looked back down at Darius. Every second that passed a little more of him crumbled away. Soon, he would be nothing but a memory. "Envy sent his Counsel puppet after me," she answered in a dull, emotionless tone. "Your old boss was with him. Aarón went after him."

"What? Why is he here?"

"I don't know. He said my aunt was in Paris, but I don't think he actually knows anything."

The blood drained from Danika's face as Kate's words clicked. Kate just stared at her guardian of the last five years. He'd be so good to her, and all she had done in return was give him attitude and sarcasm. He loved her like family, and she... she never once told him how thankful she was to have him in her life.

"Kate," Danika shook her hard. "Katie, snap out of it. We have to get out of here! You know what it means if your aunt is here. You know she would have come without backup. Which means..."

Templars.

Kate's head cleared in an instant, and she was able to focus on the one thing she was good at. Running. "The catacombs," she said, getting to her feet and checking on the fluttering spark of life growing inside her. It was reacting to her emotions, but it was strong, and relief washed through her. "They can't follow us through the gates."

Danika just nodded, took her hand, and they started running back towards the main street and the entrance of Tentation. Before they turned the corner, Kate looked back at the dead werewolf one last time. Thank you, Darius. For everything.

The patrons had emptied out of the club like ants, feeling from the violent brawl of demons inside. But, judging by the sheer volume of shrieking coming from the club, Khalid was somehow still alive. Kate had to admit that she was impressed. Even though incubi and succubi weren't exactly the best fighters out of the various breeds of demons, an entire club full of them should have been able to take care of one djinn.