Darkyn - If Angels Burn Part 24

He nodded and sat down beside her. "When it came, it took everyone: kings, dukes, barons, priests, villeins, thieves.

We had to give up our swords and dig graves."

Her hand crept over his. "Did you get sick, too?"

"I did." He remembered that distant, horrific day when he had come home from the funeral for Thierry and Gabriel, weeping and sweating and wishing he were dead. His page had already died, so a spit boy had been dispatched from the scullery to help him remove his coat and tunic. The boy had run away shrieking. "After I buried my friends, I was struck down with the same malady. I remember three days of fever and sickness, and then I died."

"You think you died."

"I know I did. I clawed my way out of the ma.s.s grave in which I had been buried." He stared at the boxy gray marble tomb across from them. Angels had been carved into the heavy slab sealing the entrance. "The villeins, the priest, our families-what was left of them-were waiting for me. Fortunately Gabriel and Thierry had already risen."

"Mike, they made a mistake," she said, and squeezed his hand. "You were probably in a deep coma, and they didn't know, and they buried you alive."

"We thought that, because it did sometimes happen in our time, but the people waiting for me were not happy.

Thierry came and held them off with his swords, but the people carried torches, as well, and chased us into the forest.

Thierry's cousin became separated from the others, and we disarmed him and tried to talk to him. He called us 'dark kyn' and said that we were sent to feed on the living. That we had to burned."

"They were a superst.i.tious bunch."

Michael could still see the terror on the young man's face as he spit curses at them. "Thierry grew angry, and then his eyes changed and he had fangs in his cousin's throat. It was wrong, and I tried to pull him away, until I smelled the blood. There was no thought, only a terrible need. Then I was on the other side, biting into Thierry's cousin and drinking his blood."

Her hand withdrew from his. "The cousin didn't make it back out of the forest, I guess."

"No one did, until Gabriel and Thierry and I learned what we were and how to control ourselves. It took time, Alexandra. We were well-trained warriors, but we were also terribly ignorant about the simplest things. None of us could read or speak anything but our dialect. In our experience, nothing like our rising had ever happened before."

"That's why you a.s.sumed it was a curse."

"We tried to kill each other, but we discovered that we wouldn't die. Every wound healed; we couldn't even drown.

Of course it had to be a curse. All we could do was wait in terror for Satan to summon us to do his bidding. The Dark One never showed up, however." She was drawing away from him. "You must understand that the church had taught us everything we knew. It condemned us as demons. Our families paid mercenaries to hunt and kill us. Then there were our needs. The need for blood was so strong that it made us monsters."

"Let's skip that part. How did you find the other Darkyn?"

"Thierry, Thierry's wife-Angelica-and her brother Gabriel and I had found each other after we rose. We banded together and hid until we could arrange sanctuary." The old bitterness rose inside him. "When our families realized that they would never catch or kill us, they sent messengers to bargain. The dirty secret of their dark kyn had to be concealed, had to go away, or our presence would be reported. The church would send the Brethren to execute us and our families. Anyone who had dark kyn was considered to be of tainted blood. Indeed, some of them later rose to walk the night with us."

Alexandra looked up at the full moon. "Why do you avoid the daylight? It doesn't burn you into ash like in the movies."

"We are nocturnal by nature." He sensed some movement outside the cemetery gate and allowed his focus to shift.

"Sunlight irritates our skin and eyes and makes us languorous. We are slower to heal, and our talents do not work as well. Nor does l'attrait."

"Le what?"

"The attraction-what you call our scent." He lifted her hand toward his face and breathed in the scent from her forearm. "Yours is... il sent comme la lavande."

"Is that French for 'You stink'?"

"It means 'lavender.' "

"Huh." She sniffed at her wrist. "I thought I smelled more like a grape Popsicle."

"L'attrait is not truly noticeable unless you feel strong emotions, use talent, or hunt. Then, my dear doctor, you smell." He dropped her hand. "You do not have a single ounce of poetry in your soul, do you?"

That hurt a little. "Wasn't a big priority in medical school." She sniffed. "You've got roses. Phil smells like honeysuckle, Thierry like gardenia, and Marcel like a mowed lawn. Is it only nice scents, or are there Kyn running around who smell like rotten eggs and dog puke?"

A laugh burst from him. "Only nice."

"You make people forget. What kind of mind tricks can the others do?"

"Talent is a private matter. We may know of another's talent, but we do not discuss it." He saw her belligerent expression. "Very well. You are aware of my talent, and Phillipe's. My friend Gabriel could summon and control huge swarms of insects."

"I'll pa.s.s on meeting Gabriel, then. What about marriage and kids?"

"I do not understand."

"Do the Darkyn marry humans? Do they adopt children? You know, have as seminormal a life as possible?"

"We abstained from having relationships with women until a few rose and we discovered we could turn others."

Michael was leaving out the reasons for their abstinence, but didn't think Alexandra was ready to hear that part of the story. "Our tresori are human, and some provide pleasure for us, but relationships and children, even adopted ones, are dangerous. I suppose you could say that we avoid them."

"Why? I mean, I understand not wanting to love someone who is going to get old and die on you, but how could anyone stand living forever alone?"

Michael imagined a future without Alexandra in it. The power and control and position for which he had worked so long now seemed cold comfort. "The Brethren are more than willing to torture humans as well as Darkyn. If you loved someone, like a son, or a husband"-he looked into her eyes-"would you wish him to endure what I did? If he was human, he would not survive it."

"I see what you mean." Her eyes went to the gate. "Someone's coming."

Michael watched the young woman finally enter the gate and walk slowly toward them. "She is drawn by l'attrait."

He rose and held out a hand. "Come here, cherie."

The plump young woman had dressed entirely in black for her visit to the cemetery. Heavy silver chains wreathed the sagging waistband of her cheap vinyl pants, and crosses and pentagrams dangled from plastic thongs hanging from her pudgy throat. The heavy white-and-black makeup she wore didn't quite disguise her round, childish face.

Michael took the black knit cap from her head, freeing her short, spiky black hair. "Tell me your name."

The girl gave him a dreamy smile. "Edith. I hate it. I make everyone call me Death."

"You can hypnotize her that fast?" Alexandra asked.

"No. She was already seeking this. I merely extended an invitation. Observe." To the girl, he said, "Edith, why are you here?"

"I come here a lot. I like it. The dead people don't make fun of me." She drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"They're lonely, like me."

"After tonight you will not feel alone." He began unb.u.t.toning the high-necked gothic blouse she wore. "Is there any other reason?"

"I wanted to see the roses. They smell so beautiful." Her unfocused gaze wandered to Alexandra. "Are you lonely, too?"

"G.o.d." She got to her feet. "I can't watch this."

"You must, Alexandra." He put his hand on Edith's cheek and turned her to face him, then gently closed her eyelids with his fingers. Bloodl.u.s.t pulsed inside him, harder and heavier because Alexandra was so close, but he remained in complete control. He slid one arm around the girl's waist. "She's young and healthy, so what I do now won't harm her. We never hunt the sick or the elderly. We never take more than they can spare."

"You're such a considerate sucker."

"Please." The girl nestled closer, leaning her head against his shoulder, exposing her throat. "Please."

"I will not harm her, I swear it to you." Michael bent his head and put his mouth to that fair stretch of skin, but he kept his eyes on Alexandra. She stood only a few inches away, tense, her eyes narrowed. "She desires this as much as I do. You have felt the pull of l'attrait, Alexandra. You know the power, the pleasure."

"And the pain." Her hands fisted at her sides. "Go ahead. I won't run away. Just keep your word."

Edith's skin was so delicate that he didn't have to bite hard. The girl gasped and melted against him as blood welled from the two punctures into his mouth.

Still watching Alexandra, he drank.

It was nearly dark when John came back from the police station. A tall, harried-looking man in a white lab coat was waiting in front of the church. When he saw John getting out of the rectory's car, he walked right up to him. "You're Father Keller, right? Alex's brother? Not much of a family resemblance."

"I am." John didn't recognize him, but a.s.sumed from the coat and the stethoscope slung around his neck that he was a doctor. "Where is Alexandra?"

"Sorry, I don't know." He gave John a slightly exasperated look. "I'm Dr. Haggerty, Charlie Haggerty. Alex and I have been seeing each other, at least, until she took off this last time. I don't hear a word from her for weeks, and then I get this weird phone call from her office manager yesterday."

"Alex called Grace?"

Dr. Haggerty shook his head. "A friend of hers from Atlanta, Leann Pollock, did. Alex evidently asked her to do some kind of research, but then she dropped off the face of the earth again. Leann's been trying to get hold of her.

Grace is working for another doctor now, but she still picks up Alex's messages. She called me all frantic about Alex again." "What sort of research did Alex need?"

"Grace didn't know." The doctor ran a hand through his bushy hair. "Is that why she closed her practice? Is she moving to Atlanta?"

John thought of how oddly Alex had behaved the night before he left for Rome. "She hasn't told me about her plans."

"Me, either. Look, I love Alex a lot, but she's pretty screwed up, and she won't let me help her. I know she looks up to you; maybe you can talk to her." He handed the note to John. "That's Leann's phone number. If you do find Alex, tell her I'm sorry I'm bailing, but I've got to get on with my life, you know?"

John held out his hand. "Thank you for contacting me."

"No problem." Dr. Haggerty shook his hand. "Alex is a great surgeon, and a terrific lady. This stuff she went through... well, I hope you can do something for her."

John went to the rectory business office and called Leann Pollock. The chemist sounded just as puzzled as Dr.

Haggerty.

"Alex called me when she came into town a few days ago. She said she needed a bunch of CDC archive data for this research paper she was writing on fourteenth-century plagues. She also asked me to get a copy of all the inoculations the Peace Corps gave us before we went over to Ethiopia," Leann told him. "I've got it all here. Is she back in Chicago?

I called her office, but the lady who answered the phone said her practice was closed."

Alex had closed her practice? Impossible.

"She's actually at a medical conference right now." John grabbed a pencil. "I'll be in town myself, and I'd be glad to pick up the information for Alex. May I have your address?"

Leann gave him the address and directions on how to find her house. "I usually get home from work by six, so stop by anytime after that."

"Thank you, Ms. Pollock. I'll see you tomorrow night." John switched lines and placed a call to the archbishop's office. "I need to speak to the archbishop," he told Cabreri. New purpose made his voice strong and sure. "I'm taking a leave of absence, starting today."

The scent of roses slowly loosened the knot in Alex's stomach. She forced herself to watch Cyprien feed, observing the process, the details, how it worked. How his pupils contracted, the precise place he bit the young woman, and how he formed a seal with his mouth while he drank the blood. He didn't tear into Edith's neck or hurt her; in fact, he held her very carefully. Almost tenderly.

Idiot. Alex didn't think too much of Cyprien's only-too-willing donor. Dressing like Morticia and calling herself Death.

She'd walked right into the hands of Death. Death was now sucking the life out of her body, and from the expression on her face, she was loving it.

Alex felt cold and detached. If she'd seen Cyprien do this a couple of weeks ago, she would have wrenched him away from the girl, kicked him unconscious, and screamed for the cops. Now she felt sure he would keep his control, and his promise not to hurt the girl.

Because if he didn't, he was going to lose a kneecap.

I will not harm her.

If Alex was to learn anything about the Kyn, she had to see this. She had to deal with it, to reduce it to simple, clinical terms. It wasn't romantic, of thrilling, or t.i.tillating, like in the books and the movies. It was like watching someone drink a milk shake. No, she could watch Cyprien feed on this stupid, stupid woman and learn from it but otherwise feel nothing.

Nothing except this little niggle of outrage over the way he was groping her.

The problem wasn't the biting, or the sucking. Cyprien didn't just bite and suck. He touched Edith's face, her shoulder, her dumb spiky hair. His other long, beautiful hand was stroking up and down the length of her back in a gentle, soothing caress.

The unnecessary touching was seriously getting under Alex's skin. "All right, Prince of Darkness, that's enough."

Cyprien didn't stop immediately, but he lifted his head a few seconds before Alex would have kicked him. Twin trickles of blood ran from the punctures in the side of Edith's neck, to which he pressed a handkerchief.

"You see? No harm." His fangs were still out, so he lisped a little. "She'll be tired tomorrow, and thirsty, but her body will replace what I took in a day."

"The plasma, yeah, but the blood cells take six weeks." Alex came over and pushed the handkerchief aside.

The punctures had stopped bleeding and two dark red clots had formed over the wounds.

"No harm, Alexandra," Cyprien said softly, insistently.

"We'll see about that." She checked the younger woman's pulse, found it strong and steady. "Edith, can you hear me?" A slow, heavy nod. "She's still zoned out from whatever you did." Alex shrugged out of her jacket and wrapped it around the younger woman.

He shrugged. "That is the effect of l'attrait. When we depart, it will disperse and she will be herself again."

Alex put an arm around the girl's lax shoulders. "Oh, no, we are not leaving her like this in a cemetery."

Cyprien made no fuss about driving the girl to the duplex where she lived. He seemed distantly amused by it all.

"This is not necessary, Alexandra. She would have come to her senses a few seconds after we left. She is not enraptured with me."