Bite. Part 26

The girl screamed and bucked in her captors' hands as the blond female priest drew the point of the knife down her chest, just

barely drawing blood.

"Go." Galahad growled.

Taking a deep, desperate breath, Caroline charged through the gate, aware even as she leaped that he had plunged in after her.

She emerged into Reals.p.a.ce at a dead run, Galahad roaring his war-cry at her heels. The vampires jerked toward them. Carline's

full attention locked on the grail, she started chanting the first words of Soren's spell.

Black triumph flashed over the priestess's face. "Yes!" The blonde bared her teeth, threw the knife aside, and conjured a power blast.

s.h.i.+t, the cultists had been expecting them. Caroline had to break off the chant to call a s.h.i.+eld.

But even as the priestess's blast bounced off her magical barrier, something hit her hard from behind in a magical a.s.sault that sent

agony slicing into her skull.

Galahad bellowed.

Caroline spun, ready to defend herself, but Galahad was already charging the three armored vampires who'd hit her from behind.

She started to send a blast toward the nearest of them, but another spell hit her like a fastball pitch to the skull. The world

pinwheeled as she went flying.

Caroline hit the stone floor with a teeth-rattling jolt. Struggling to rise, she lifted her head to see a ring of vampires closing in on her. Their hands glowed and smoked with magic. Desperately, she turned to look for the grail. If she could just hit it...

But even as she spotted the gleam of gold in the priestess's hand, the cultists opened fire.

G ALAHAD saw Caroline go down under a hail of power blasts and roared a denial. Surrounded by vampire warriors, there wasn't a d.a.m.n thing he could do to save her. Fear clutched at his chest with burning fists. He sent the nearest b.a.s.t.a.r.d's head flying with a single stroke of his sword and lunged toward her. Sensing something else coming toward him, he thrust his sword up in a parry. His frenzy gave him strength, and he knocked the vampire's blade aside, then buried his own in the man's chest so hard his victim's feet left the ground. Jerking his sword free, he ducked, avoiding another vampire's wild swing.

But there were just too d.a.m.n many of them, and he knew it. At least thirty armored vampire warriors had gated in behind them the minute he and Caroline had entered. Even he wasn't good enough to take them all.

They'd been royally suckered.

Somebody dove for his legs. Galahad dodged aside, but a second warrior slammed into his hips, knocking him hard to the ground. He tried to roll away, swinging and kicking, but two of them landed on top of him. "That's it, f.u.c.ker, you're done!" somebody sneered.

"I'm going to rip out your hearts, you wh.o.r.eson b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" he roared, but then more of them piled on, crus.h.i.+ng the air from his lungs. Brutal fingers clamped over his sword arm while others grabbed his left wrist. He felt his helmet being pulled off, but there wasn't a d.a.m.n thing he could do about it. The steel rim raked the side of his face with a vicious sting. Hot blood rolled. He managed to choke in a breath. It smelled of old blood and rank bodies.

A female hand reached in and wrapped around his face. Before he could sink his fangs into her palm, she shot a blast into his head. Fire ripped along his nerves and the world went white.

G ALAHAD came to naked, hanging in midair. Caroline was cursing steadily, viciously. For a moment, he felt a spurt of joy that she was still alive.

Then he opened his eyes and sucked in a breath.

She'd taken the girl's place on the altar. They'd stripped her of her armor-and apparently her powers, because one of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds was fondling her breast, and she hadn't fried him.

But she badly wanted to. That was evident from the rage and terror ringing in her voice. "Get your stinking hands off me!"

"Oh, I don't think so." The blond woman smirked down at her as the other vampires laughed. She held Geirolf's Grail in one hand and a dagger in the other.

"You've got very pretty t.i.ts, witch." She hefted the knife, grinning. "At least for the moment."

Furiously, Galahad fought the spell holding him, but he couldn't move at all. He knew they'd left him alive only so he could take

Caroline's place on the altar when they'd finished with her.

The original victim lay bound and gagged on the floor off to one side. Evidently they were saving her for dessert.

The priestess bent over Caroline with the knife, crooning obscene threats the way another woman might promise pleasures to a

lover.

Galahad's desperate, bitter gaze fastened on the grail. They'd been so d.a.m.n close. If only she'd been able to complete Soren's spell. h.e.l.l, if only he could work magic...

He'll be your conduit.

Galahad jerked in his bonds, remembering Soren's prediction that they'd Truebond. That's it! Hope shot through his chest.

The cultists knew Magi couldn't work magic, so logically they hadn't bothered to place a nullification spell on Galahad. If he

Truebonded with Caroline, she'd be able to send the spell through the link with him.

It could work. Soren had implied it would work.

But...a chill stole over him as he thought of what contact with his mind might do to Caroline. It could destroy her as thoroughly as

the witch's knife.

But what choice did they have? If there was any chance at all, they had to take it. He'd simply have to protect her somehow.

a.s.suming, that is, they could form the bond. It would be easier if Galahad had been the one to change her into a maja, but since

he hadn't been, he'd need some other way to reach her.

Closing his eyes, Galahad sought inside himself, searching his mind for some trace of her.

"Arrhhh! b.i.t.c.h!" Caroline screamed.

He flinched. Running out of time...

Don't think about that.

Caroline. Caroline arching beneath him, her eyes vague with the hot pleasure of her rising o.r.g.a.s.m. The scent of her, pure

femininity, the taste of her mouth, of her s.e.x. Her wicked sense of humor. The terrified courage on her white face as she'd prepared to jump through that gate.

Caroline.

There she was-a delicate, ghostly presence in his mind. A fragile link, formed unconsciously when they'd made love.

That had better be enough.

Concentrating hard, Galahad sent his mind flying out along it, reaching desperately for her. He hit some kind of resistance-the blanking spell-but he forced his way through.

Contact.

When he opened his eyes, a ring of fanged faces grinned down at him, gloating l.u.s.t in their eyes. Sick terror gripped his soul,

mixed with a woman's helpless vulnerability. He could feel the pain of cuts slas.h.i.+ng across Caroline's sensitive b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They're going to kill me, she thought in horrified despair. They're going to torture me to death and kill me...

Galahad sent his thoughts into the swirling terror that held her. Caroline!

Galahad! How did you...? What are you doing?

We've got to Truebond, Caroline. If we bond, you can send the spell through me.

I can't! They've taken my magic! Galahad, they're going to kill me!

Despite his own fear, he sent a wave of calm authority along the link. No, no, listen. n.o.body can take your magic, they only put a

dampening spell on you. But there's no spell on me. If we Truebond...

I can send the spell through you! Oh, G.o.d. We've got to do it now! She gasped as the knife raked over her flesh again. The cut was shallow, but the sting was vicious and terrifying. Jesus, Galahad!

Reach for me, Caroline!

The link snapped into place with an almost audible click.

T HE touch of Galahad's mind was like standing on the edge of Niagra Falls-a great, pounding mental presence, ancient and profoundly alien. Come to me, he whispered in her thoughts. The Truebond alone isn't enough. You've got to be within my mind to work the spell.

Despite her fear of the cultists, she knew a moment of even greater terror. The vast weight of his mind could rip hers to shreds. There was no way she could survive.

Sharp pain sliced across her ribs, and Caroline jumped against the hard hands that held her. "I'm getting hungry, Marilyn," one of the male cultists said over her head. "Quit playing with that knife and plunge it in. We'll feed while she dies."

"Patience, Roger," the priestess purred. "This is the best part."

And once they finished with her, Galahad was next. She was the only chance either of them had. With a mental howl of terror, Caroline plunged through the Truebond and into his consciousness. Images bombarded her, too fast to process-faces she didn't recognize, whirling past like leaves in a hurricane; a blade biting deep into a man's neck; the reek of spilled intestines; a castle burning around her; flames leaping and crackling as heat seared her skin; a woman's throat beneath her mouth, the give of flesh yielding to her fangs; someone's s.e.x gripping her c.o.c.k; Morgana's voice purring lewd instructions; her own laughter...

Drowning, blinded, Caroline screamed.

"Listen to the gutless little s.l.u.t," Marilyn laughed. "I haven't even started yet, Maja. Just wait."

But she knew in a moment it wouldn't matter. Galahad was destroying her.

Caroline! His voice spoke in her mind. She felt him fighting to protect her, to block the memories, to s.h.i.+eld her from the black