Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(49)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Storm gazed at her for a few seconds. “I was buckling my belt behind a hedge in the park when she popped into view holding that rock.”

“You were supposed to put Laurette and that rock somewhere safe, not bring it around this place.”

“I don’t see the world in shambles, and that stone wasn’t going anywhere until you were safe.”

Okay, that just earned him more points than he’d know how to use. “Thanks, but what if Tristan had gotten the stone?”

“He’d have had to kill me to do that, and I’m not so easy to kill.” Storm reached behind his neck and untied a leather cord, lifting the amulet from inside his shirt. “Give this back to Nicole when you see her.”

Evalle stood still while he leaned forward to tie the cord at the back of her neck. His lips brushed her cheek before he lifted away. He ran his hand down to her shoulder, and she flinched when his fingers touched the slash cuts from Kizira’s bullwhip nails.

To keep from moaning, she gritted her teeth.

Storm moved around behind her. “Your back’s a mess. We need to get Adrianna to draw out the Noirre venom again.”

“I’d be happier to owe a loan shark,” Evalle muttered.

Storm sighed. “Don’t move, and I’ll ease the burn.” He waited until she nodded to put his hands on her back.

Heat, then a wonderful numbing sensation, raced across the nerves just beneath her skin.

When he finished, Storm kissed her neck this time.

In spite of worrying that someone might have seen the intimate touch, she smiled.

Heavy footsteps pounded in her direction. Tzader strode up to her, but his glare blasted Storm, who returned it with a look of what’s-your-problem?

Before anything erupted between them, Evalle intervened. “I need to grab a shower, get some sleep and take care of a few errands before I meet with the Tribunal.”

Tzader broke off from the visual posturing with Storm and addressed her. “Think you can stay out of trouble between now and midnight?”

Evalle considered what she’d just decided a moment ago. She didn’t want to lie to Tzader, but neither did she want to share what she was planning to do. Trouble was a mild way to describe it. “What, and give up the only thing I’m good at?”

THIRTY-EIGHT

The world swirled and blurred in Laurette’s milky vision the minute she took the hand of the man Evalle had called Quinn.

He squeezed Laurette’s fingers and said, “We’re almost there.”

She expected to wake up any minute and find out that she’d fallen in Piedmont Park and hit her head and that all of this had been a bad nightmare. But when her feet touched solid ground next, she was wide awake and still clinging desperately to some guy she’d bet would answer to the name Quinn. “Are we there yet?”

“If you live in a charming cottage with blue shutters and a large pottery vase next to the front door, I’d say we are.”

She could only see blurry light. “It’s my home, but I may need some help getting inside.”

The sound of him moving around was followed by the familiar squeak of her front door opening. He took her arm with gentle fingers and led her slowly inside. “How impaired is your vision?”

He had a kind voice full of understanding, but Evalle had already told her no one could fix her eyesight. Laurette wouldn’t whine. “It’s manageable now that I’m inside.”

“Take this.” He pressed a cell phone into her palm. “I know this has been a harrowing experience, but you are part of the Belador family now. Can you find the number five in the middle of the keypad?”

“Yes.”

“Press that to call me when you’re ready to talk about a companion dog and adapting to the changes you’ll be facing. We won’t leave you to face them alone.”

“Thank you.” She needed him to go now or she was going to break down in front of him. The rock had certainly seduced her, because she felt the loss of her vision as acutely as when she’d lost her granddad. On top of that, she couldn’t quiet the urge to see Vyan again, but he was where he wanted to be.

She would be happy for him and remember the way he’d made her smile. Remember the way he’d stepped between her and danger.

Remember his kiss.

“Thank you for bringing me home, but …” Go away.

“I sense that you’re ready to be alone. I’ll leave, but I’ll expect your call soon. And know that you can call any time, day or night.”

She just nodded because she couldn’t push any words out of her tight throat. When the door closed, she gave in to the pain expanding in her chest. A sob broke free over everything she’d lost. But she’d found out why her granddad had never come home. He’d been a Belador. They spoke of him as if he was a hero. He used to tell her the Barrett women were strong, that her ancestors were warriors. Warriors!

She was a Belador.

A blind one.

And Granddad would have been frowning at her right now for giving in to despair. She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

Suck it up and act like my granddaughter. She could almost hear him saying that.

Having practiced recently, in anticipation of her vision being all but gone, she stuck the cell phone in her pocket and felt her way across the room. She might not be able to create her signature designs on the large pottery anymore, but right now she needed to sink her fingers into the clay and feel her granddad’s spirit surround her again.

At the door to the basement, she put a hand on the rail along the stairs and worked her way down. She’d reached the bottom landing and had taken two steps into the room when she heard someone’s sharp intake of breath.

Her own breathing was suddenly short and frantic. “Who’s there?”

“’Tis I.”

Fear pumped with the blood slamming her heart. “Who?”

“Vyan.”

Impossible. “What are you doing here?” Her heart raced for an entirely different reason now.

“I don’t know.” He sounded lost, which cut through her thrill of happiness over finding him here.

“I’m so sorry. You weren’t supposed to get stuck in this time period.”

“What did you tell the rock when you sent the Kujoo away?” His footsteps moved toward her.

She thought back on her exact words, the ones she’d chosen based on what Vyan had told her. “I asked the rock to send all the Kujoo tribe wherever their hearts desired. I thought you would go home with the others.”

Had she condemned him to this world by not being more specific?

He chuckled and touched her hands, folding them inside his. His scent met her next breath. “I knew you were a wise woman, and my heart is wiser than my head some days. I did not know where I wanted to go, but I did not want to return with Batuk to war, nor did I like leaving you alone either. It seems my heart chose to stay here.”

“You’re happy about this?”

“I believe I will find happiness here I have not felt for many years.”

She wouldn’t have been able to see through her tears even if she had unimpaired vision. “You are a gift I never expected to receive.” Getting used to being blind was not going to be easy, but now she didn’t fear the darkness with Vyan staying in this world. She couldn’t believe he was really here.

He took her hand in his. “I asked for a gift as well but was denied.”

A deep voice boomed into the room. “No, my faithful Vyan, you were not denied. I merely waited to see if you were truly content to remain in this time and still wished to give up your immortality before I granted your request.”

Vyan was silent for a moment. “If I return to my home with the other Kujoo, I will be expected to pick up a sword again. My family would still be dead. What would be the reason to continue life there? None that I can think of. But I have managed for two years and know I can survive here. More than that, I can start anew here.”

Laurette wiped at her wet eyes. “You really don’t want to go home?”

“My heart would miss you.” He lifted his voice. “I am ready to trade, Shiva.”

“To trade what—” Her words were cut off in a gasp when bright light flashed through the room. She covered her eyes with her hands. Warm fingers clasped hers and pulled them away from her eyes.

Crisp details of everything in her studio flooded her vision. Vyan’s happy face was completely in focus. “What happened? My eyes … I can see. Oh, Vyan, I can see!”

His warm eyes—warm brown human eyes—crinkled with happiness. He cupped her face with his hand. “When I could not escape Tristan and Batuk to come back to you and make sure you would be safe, I told my god Shiva I wished to offer my immortality in trade for your eyesight. I did not want to leave you alone and blind. I expected to die at the battle with the Beladors, but I still survived. I do not wish to live another eight hundred years—only as long as you live.”

Tears streamed down her face. “I’m a Belador descendant. You’re sure you want to stay here with your enemy?”

“You will never be my enemy.” He leaned in and kissed her softly, a tentative touch that gave her the confidence to kiss him back.

She could feel her granddad’s blessing flood over her.

THIRTY-NINE

Evalle hadn’t worn dress clothes for anyone, but tonight was important. She had to look her best. Wanted to look her best. The simple brown pants and jacket probably looked better on the chipped-up mannequin in the used-clothing store, but she couldn’t have come in here wearing her battle gear.

Cool air swam around her face and arms, a welcome change from the heat bombarding Atlanta outside.

Murmurs drifted to her ears, nothing specific. Chatting littered the serene air in the church below the balcony where she hid. The small group gathered in the main vestibule waited with reverence. She’d never been one to pray, but she sometimes wondered if those who did were heard.

She cut her eyes sideways at the dashing elderly man on her left. Was she good or what? Just look at that rockin’ cleanup job she’d done.

Grady wore a gently used black suit she’d gotten from the same secondhand store. He sat as straight as a general waiting to meet the president, but he was holding himself erect in anticipation of a wedding march.

She’d brought his clothes and a shaving kit she’d pieced together to the upstairs bathroom that served the balcony of this church on busy Sundays. Not much traffic up here at a small Wednesday night wedding.

Watching the clock down to the minute, she’d laid out everything for Grady in the bathroom, shaken his hand, then shut the door.

He turned his clean-shaven face toward her. The smile he bestowed on her was worth the sanction she’d face for this if she got caught shaking hands with a Nightstalker for personal reasons, but she was feeling pretty good about her position among the Beladors.

Why not make someone else’s dream come true?

Grady leaned toward her. “You must always believe, no matter what. Tzader and Quinn won’t let anything happen to you. Neither will that Injun.”

She smiled at Grady’s newest slight. Storm was not an “Injun,” but Grady wanted to get a rise out of her to keep her mind off the Tribunal. She smiled at him. “I’m not worried.”

Much.

His granddaughter’s wedding would start any minute now. The minute they were done she’d make the eight-mile ride back to downtown with him clinging to her bike. He’d gotten lost after being freed from the Kujoo this morning and spent hours finding his block around Grady Hospital.

All the shaving and changing to clean clothes would go away as soon as he glimmered back into his ghoul form.

But he’d have the memory for as many decades as he remained a Nightstalker, which could be a very long time. Her heart pinched at the waves of happiness she felt coming off him.

After she made sure he was safe back near the hospital, she’d have two hours to spend with Feenix. She’d take her little darling on a bike ride out where he could squeal in delight as much as he wanted and no one would hear.

Grady’s fault. He’d got her thinking about making good memories.

Then, she’d have to get past Go with the Tribunal, but Brina had said she’d be there.

The room below quieted when the piano music stopped and Grady leaned forward, anxious to look over the edge of the balcony where his granddaughter had planned an intimate affair.

He started to fade. He stared at his hands, then turned panicked eyes to her.

The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Grady or risk his half-life in any way. Evalle opened her mouth to speak, but the wedding march struck up.

It was the look of anguish on Grady’s face that ended all debate. She couldn’t live with that as the last memory of him if there was a chance that she would get sent away tomorrow by the Tribunal.

Hoping this would not harm him, she reached over and grasped his hand.

Relief and gratitude poured from his body. He squeezed her fingers and leaned over to whisper, “I prayed for a miracle and God sent me you. I’ll talk to him about the Tribunal.”