Darkyn - Night Lost Part 23

Alex recalled all of the cats running around the castle. There were dozens, and half of the females were pregnant. He probably encouraged them to breed to provide him with a steady supply. And she was going to puke if she kept thinking about it.

"When the Brethren held me prisoner in Rome," Richard said, "they refused to let me feed. I endured the deprivation as long as possible, but in time it became apparent that I had to feed on something or wither away. My choices were limited to the rats that infested the catacombs, or the stray cats I a.s.sumed had wandered in from the city streets to feed on them."

"I'd have picked the cats," she admitted.

"Their bodies contained a greater quant.i.ty of blood, so I had to feed less often." He bared his pointed, feline teeth in a grotesque smile. "It wasn't until after some years of feeding on them that I discovered the Brethren had deliberately put both types of animals into the Kyn cell block."

"Jesus. Why?"

"They wished to see how feeding on animal blood would affect us." His pupils expanded to black diamonds as he limped toward her. "I expect there was some hope of soul saving or reformation involved initially. Then it seemed to become some form of entertainment for them."

"And h.e.l.l for you." Despite everything she felt about the high lord, Alex experienced a small twinge of sympathy. "Nothing but cat blood ever since, right?"

"Not entirely," Richard told her, "I have never told anyone this, but I have managed to control my condition by also drinking a little human blood each day."

That supported her theory, and may have explained why Richard's Kyn DNA had remained dormant instead of being replaced by the feline-adapted DNA. "How little?"

"A teaspoon in every feeding, or a single swallow from a human. Any more than that makes me violently ill."

"Who do you get the blood from? eliane," Alex guessed, remembering the tresora's penchant for high-necked blouses.

"Providing me with s.e.x and blood are part of her duties." He made it sound like secretarial work.

That clinched it. "You know, you're a total jerk with women, but we'll save that chat for another time. I have an idea, if you want to hear it."

He leaned against her dissection table. "Tell me."

Alex explained why she believed the blood of stray cats Richard was forced to live on had caused the Kyn pathogen to alter his DNA, the reason behind his physical mutations. "I think I can reverse it, too. You'll have to stop feeding on feline blood."

"Do you propose to starve me, as they did?"

"No." Alex checked the refrigeration unit, but saw her human blood supply bin was empty. She couldn't remember using the last unit, but she had been wrapped up in her research. "I want to inject you with a serum. It'll be human blood mixed with a small amount of feline blood. If that works, I'll add some Kyn tranquilizer to the next batch."

"Why must you tranquilize me?"

"I'm pretty sure this is going to make you feel sick, so the tranquilizer will slow down your body processes and help keep your reaction to a minimum. The presence of the feline blood should force the pathogen to digest the human blood cells. We'll have to take it slow, but by decreasing the amount of feline blood with each dose, I think we'll wake up your Kyn DNA and put the changeling process in remission."

He looked at her for a long, silent moment. "By doing this, you will save me."

She didn't want his grat.i.tude, or the credit for what she was about to do. "You saved yourself, Richard. If you hadn't ingested human blood daily, you would never have held on to your humanity, such as it is, for as long as you have." She hit the intercom.

"Korvel, I need a unit of human blood, please."

One of Richard's servants delivered the bag of blood and, after giving the high lord a frightened look, hurried out of the lab.

"How many humans did you slaughter this time?" Alex asked as she prepared the serum.

"I cannot say." He bared his arm for her and watched as she injected him. "What does it matter?"

"Humans are our friends. We like humans. And if we kill all the humans, we don't have any dinner." She withdrew the syringe and sighed. "I hate being a vampire. It's really freaking out my brother. Have I mentioned that?"

Richard got up quickly from the stool and turned his back on her. "I can feel it moving in my veins."

"It might make you puke." She looked around for an empty container. "Just relax and let it happen."

"Let it happen." His voice dropped to a low growl. "I am done with letting it happen. It should not have happened. Not to me. I am king."

The anger startled Alex. "Richard? Look at me."

He looked. His pupils had shrunk down to slivers, and his fangs shot out of his mouth, three times longer than Alex had ever seen them.

"Right, this is not working." She grabbed the bag of blood, but it was marked as human, type A. She took a sip from it and immediately spit it out. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it, this isn't human blood. What the h.e.l.l is going on?"

"You think to poison me." Richard whipped out his arm, sending a row of beakers and a microscope cras.h.i.+ng to the floor. "I am king. I will never die."

"Then let's go for calming down the king," Alex said softly, not moving. "Someone gave me the wrong bag, Richard. That's what's making you nuts. Hang on, and I'll-"

"b.i.t.c.h." He picked up the edge of a table and turned it over. Her computer exploded in a fountain of sparks, and the cracked console of the a.n.a.lyzer began spitting out sample strips. The high lord tore out of his cloak and dropped onto all fours, where his twisted body a.s.sumed a new, powerful configuration.Alex backed away, turning to run.

From behind Richard leaped at her, latching onto her back with his curved claws and dragging her to the floor. His hot breath burned the back of her neck as he held her head down with one paw and began ripping at the back of her lab coat with the other.

"Richard." Alex could feel his erect c.o.c.k jabbing at the seat of her trousers. Something sticking out from the side of his shaft penetrated her clothing like sharp thorns, and she remembered an article she had read about male cats having barbed organs.

She'd tear out her own throat before she let him put that inside her.

Alex screamed, throwing her head back and smas.h.i.+ng it into Richard's teeth. He roared, digging his claws deep into her shoulder and ripping at her flesh. She tried to throw him off, but he had her pinned too well.

"My lord," a cool voice said. "Forgive me."

Alex felt Richard stiffen and fall over, and scrambled out from under his weight. A pressure dart planted in the center of his back wiggled back and forth.

"Doctor." eliane put aside the tranquilizer gun and helped Alex to her feet. "You are badly injured."

"No s.h.i.+t. I think I owe you a huge apology." She looked over the tresora's shoulder to see Korvel and Stefan rush in. "I think someone gave me pure feline blood instead of human. It made him do this."

"Who?" eliane demanded.

"Lady Elizabeth," eliane said. "She wishes him dead."

"You have no proof," the captain said.

"She told me that she'd kill my brother if I found a cure for Richard," Alex said, groaning as she tried to feel how badly the high lord had ripped up her back. "Does that work for you?"

"Why did you not tell me?" Korvel demanded.

"Like you'd have believed me." She was dripping blood all over Richard, and saw his lacerated lips heal under the crimson splashes. "Wait a minute." She dropped down and wiped her blood from his face with her sleeve. All the hair around his mouth came with it, and the split in his upper lip disappeared. "Pick up that microscope and see if it's still working." Through the shrinking tunnel of her vision, she groped for a box of slides Richard had knocked to the floor.

"You are hurt." Korvel reached for her.

"I'll heal. Take him out of here... and get me some human blood..." She saw eliane's hands appear in front of her, and sighed as she fainted into them.

Nick led Gabriel past the curious eyes of the travelers in the crowded, six-berth couchette compartments and through the back of the car. "I think it's up here."

Few tourists bought tickets for the Occitan's expensive first cla.s.s, preferring the cheaper reclining seats in second cla.s.s. The younger travelers gravitated toward the partying, college-dorm atmosphere of the shared couchettes. But Nick didn't mind paying double the fare plus the extra supplement charge so that they could have one of the lower, two-berth rooms. Gabriel needed privacy as much as she did, and that always came with a price tag.She found their compartment nestled in the back of the very first car, which, aside from two well-dressed businessmen, seemed deserted. "Here we go." She steered Gabriel in through the narrow door.

He stood still. "I confess, I have never slept on a train."

"You need to get around more." She took his hands and used them to show him the room by touch. "There's a sofa here, and two bunk beds up top, near the ceiling. The bedding isn't the greatest, and you'll probably have to curl up, but they're pretty comfy. Soap, towels, washbasin. The bathroom is at the other end of the car."

"Is there a place you can dine?" he asked. "You've not had anything to eat."

"I grabbed something while you were sleeping back at the inn," she told him. "I can get something from the attendant when he comes around later." She checked the compartment locks before stowing their bags in the tiny corner cabinet. "This door has a security latch on it that can't be opened from the outside, even by the train attendants. We'll keep that locked." She went to the window and looked out at the station platform. She hadn't seen anyone suspicious, but she wouldn't relax until she got Gabriel out of France. "I don't think anyone was on the lookout for us."

He came up behind her, reached out, and with uncanny precision pulled down the window shade. "I think we are safe here. All we have to do is occupy ourselves until the train reaches Calais."

Nick leaned back against him, letting the heat of his body melt the tension out of her muscles. "What have you got in mind?"

He guided her over to the small sofa and pulled her down next to him. "We should talk."

"About what?" She tugged down the zipper on the front of his jacket and slipped her hand inside.

He promptly took it out and raised it to his lips, brus.h.i.+ng a kiss across her knuckles. "You."

"Not much to tell." Nick s.h.i.+fted closer.

"I want to know more about you," Gabriel said as he put an arm around her. "You said that you've been alone for ten years. You lost your family when you were only sixteen?"

"Yeah." Nick needed to change the subject. "I don't like talking about that, okay?"

He nodded. "Then tell me about the Golden Madonna. I have some knowledge of art; perhaps I know of it."

Nick started to get up, but he held her in place. "Gabriel, you couldn't possibly... It's all tied up with bad stuff that happened a long time ago. I just need to find it. That's all."

"But what is it, Nicola? A painting? A triptych?"

"No." She sighed. "The Madonna was this statue that my stepdad found buried under our house. The original owners built it on top of a bunch of old ruins. After this bad rain, Malcolm-my stepdad-found the edge of a wall in the garden. It ran under the house, so he started digging in the cellar to see how far it went. I think my mom was worried about the stability of the foundation or something."

"What did he find?"

"Well, a lot of old Norman stuff from when they came over and kicked Saxon b.u.t.t. They built an outpost on top of a Saxon keep they burned down. The Saxons made that from parts of this really old Roman fortress. It was all in layers and stuff.

Malcolm took pictures of everything he found and then covered it back up."

Gabriel frowned, "Why?""He didn't like messing with things. He was afraid of archeologists finding out about the site, too. He thought they were glorified looters." How silly that seemed now, considering what had happened. "The only thing Mal ever brought up from the cellar was the Madonna." She blinked back hot tears. "I don't know why, but it fascinated him. He tried to find out where it came from and who made it."

He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "What did it look like, this Madonna?"

"I only saw it once; Malcolm kept it locked up." She described the statue, and added, "It didn't do any good."

"Someone stole this statue from your home?"

"Yes, and I want it back. I've been searching for it ever since." She bolted off the sofa. "I think I am hungry. I'll go get something to eat and be back in a few minutes."

Gabriel came after her, putting his hand over hers and making her close the door. "Did the thief kill your parents, Nicola?"

"I told you-"

He whirled her around. "Does the murderer have the Madonna?"

"Yes. So the Madonna could be returned to her shrine. Only I don't know where her shrine is." Was that her voice, so thin and cold? "So I'm looking through all of them. Any chapel, church, or holy place I can get into, I search. I'll find her someday." She shoved at him. "Satisfied? Or do you want to hear how they were tortured before they were killed?"

"Your parents were tortured?"

"My stepdad wouldn't give up the Madonna. Not until he..." She refused to sob. "Hey, we could compare notes, see if it was worse than what the holy freaks did to you."

"That is why you've been releasing the Kyn." The compartment filled with the scent of evergreen as Gabriel moved toward her.

"What is done to us is the same thing that happened to your parents."

Revulsion filled her. "No. It's not the same. They weren't... You don't understand." She covered her face with her hands.

"Please, Gabriel, I can't talk about them anymore. Please stop asking me questions."

"Forgive me." He bent down and kissed the tears from her face. "I only want to understand better what has happened to you."

His breath warmed her cold lips. "You can trust me, Nicola. I swear it."

If only he knew. "I trust you as much as I can, Gabriel." Nick burrowed against him, needing his warmth as much as she needed air to breathe. "Come to bed with me."

Gabriel held her at arm's length. "But I have upset you, and made you weep."

She brought his hand to her heart. "Start kissing here, where it hurts."

A short time later Nick was breathless, half-undressed, and wedged between Gabriel and the sofa. She watched him expertly tug her jeans and panties down the length of her legs. "There are two perfectly good beds in here, you know."

He tossed her clothes out of his way. "Both of us will not fit on one berth. So unless you wish to gaze at me from afar-"

"Floor's good." Nick took the cus.h.i.+ons from the sofa and pushed them together into a makes.h.i.+ft mattress. "I kind of miss the spiders, though."

He sat up, went still for a minute, and then grinned. "There are several dozen living in this car. Shall I summon them?""Don't you dare." Laughing, she tackled him. "I love you, but the bug thing is really... not so... great." Had she just blurted that out? She had. No wonder he looked as if he'd turned to stone, and acted as if she'd sucker punched him. "It's the dreams. You know how women are. We get emotional about stuff like that."

"Not you, ma mie." He pulled her down until only a whisper separated their lips. "Tell me again."

"It's not-"

"Tell me again." Gabriel rolled over, tucking her under him. "Tell me when I'm inside you."