Supernatural. Part 21

"What about you?" he said as he smoothly deflected her probing. "What are your secret dreams?"

"To be a mother to Laylah," she confessed without hesitation. "Although I suppose it's two centuries too late to claim such a role. I'm not sure she'll ever understand why I had to leave her."

"You had no choice."

"That doesn't mean she'll be prepared to forgive me."

"She'll forgive you."

She met his steady gaze, desperately needing to believe him.

When she'd handed her baby over to the witch who had promised to keep her hidden, Kata had felt as if someone was ripping out her heart.

Only the absolute belief that it was the only way to keep Laylah safe had given her the courage.

Still, the fear that Laylah would never understand why she'd made the choice to give away her baby had gnawed at her for endless years.

"How can you be so certain?"

His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brus.h.i.+ng her lower lip. "Because when she traveled to London she risked everything to come in search of you."

A tentative hope warmed Kata's heart. "Did she?"

"Nothing could stop her." Uriel smiled wryly. "And, of course, she refused to leave London until Victor had sworn he would stop at nothing to rescue you."

She smiled, s.h.i.+fting to brush her lips across his mouth as she savored his words of comfort, allowing them to heal a portion of her heavy guilt.

"Thank you," she murmured softly.

A peaceful silence settled between them before Uriel lifted himself on his elbow to study her with a brooding gaze.

"Music," he said abruptly.

She blinked. Okay. That seemed a little random.

"What?"

"I love music and when I have the opportunity to travel to my private lair in Wales I spend my time learning to play a new instrument." He shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. "I have nearly mastered them all."

Kata hid a smile, oddly charmed by the embarra.s.sment that he couldn't entirely disguise.

"Why was that so difficult to share?"

"Because my brothers would be merciless," he muttered. "Victor would no doubt insist I walk around strumming a d.a.m.ned harp."

Her laughter filled the glade at the image of Uriel with a harp in his hands. His resemblance to a celestial being would be unmistakable.

"Hmmm. I see your point," she admitted.

"Of course, if you were to join me in my lair I would be happy to . . ."

He bit off his words as an unmistakable chill pierced the air.

"Uriel," Kata breathed, scrambling to her feet to tug on her forgotten gown.

"I sense it." He was swiftly at her side, pulling on his jeans and T-s.h.i.+rt before s.n.a.t.c.hing up the long, extremely sharp sword. "Vampire."

There was another burst of cold, and Kata hissed in horrified disbelief.

No, it couldn't be.

Not even her s.h.i.+tty luck could be this bad.

But even as she tried to convince herself it had to be some ghastly mistake, the familiar sense of doom settled in her heart.

"Marika."

"Impossible."

She clenched her hands, a combination of hatred and fear blasting through her.

"It's not a stench I would forget," she hissed. "Not ever."

Uriel muttered beneath his breath, his gaze surveying their surroundings with the intensity of a trained warrior.

"Then she must be part of the illusion."

Kata s.h.i.+vered with disgust. "No, not an illusion. A nightmare."

"Kata." The sound of her sister's taunting voice drifted through the air.

Uriel leaned down to steal a brief kiss, his face a tight mask of determination.

"Keep her distracted."

"What?" Without answering, he was flowing toward the trees. In less than the beat of her heart he'd disappeared among the shadows. "d.a.m.n."

Alone and feeling like the mouse about to be cornered by a cat with vicious fangs and a nasty att.i.tude, Kata forced herself not to bolt as Marika stepped from behind a large rock.

Uriel told her to distract the b.i.t.c.h, and by G.o.d, that's what she would do.

"Ah, there you are, sister dearest," Marika purred, a taunting smile curving her lips. "Did you miss me?"

Kata swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.

Not surprisingly seeing Marika was like looking in a mirror.

Same dark hair and eyes, same pale skin and curvaceous body that was currently covered in one of the satin designer gowns that Marika adored.

What was surprising, however, was that she looked as well-groomed and sophisticated as if she'd just stepped off the pages of Vogue.

Dammit.

She was supposed to be dead and even now suffering some grim torture in the bowels of the underworld.

Was there no justice in the universe?

"You really should learn how to stay in your grave, Marika," she gritted.

Marika gave a toss of her dark curls, prowling forward with an expression of blatant antic.i.p.ation.

It was a look that always came before the pain.

Hours and hours and hours of pain.

"What's the fun in that?" she demanded.

"The fun is that I would be rid of your miserable existence forever. The mere thought makes me giddy with joy."

Marika halted mere inches from her, her frigid power wrapping around Kata like chains of ice.

"What happened to my sweet Kata who prayed every night that her sister would be returned to her?"

Kata clenched her teeth. She wouldn't flinch, she wouldn't flinch, she wouldn't flinch . . .

Her chin tilted, her expression defiant. "She realized that her sister had become a monster."

"A monster?" The dark eyes narrowed in suspicion as Marika leaned forward, sniffing the air around Kata. "So says the woman who reeks of her vampire lover. Where is he?"

Kata swore. So much for being a distraction.

"You know, Marika," she said, desperate to keep the demented woman's attention locked on her. "It took me awhile, but I realize now that becoming a vampire wasn't what made you evil."

"No?"

"No, it's your lack of anything resembling a heart."

Marika's shrill laughter sent a chill down Kata's spine. Dear G.o.ddess, it was bad enough that the woman walked around with her sister's face without adding a creepy cackle.

"Kata, if I didn't have a heart would I have made sure that we would be kept together even after death?" Marika pressed a hand to her unbeating heart. "What could be more sentimental?"

"That was selfishness, not sentimentality. You were only trying to protect your own skin by forcing Sergei to bind us together."

"True. Now, however, I have a much more basic reason for appreciating the spell."

"And what's that?"

With a pout, Marika stretched out a hand to run a crimson nail down Kata's cheek, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

"I'm feeling a little peevish at my unfortunate death. I was, after all, destined to rule the world," she complained. "Let's hope a few centuries of punis.h.i.+ng you will help ease my disappointment."

Her churning fear was briefly forgotten as a flare of pure relief raced through her. She didn't know what the h.e.l.l was going on, but at least Marika believed she had died.

It gave her hope.

"Tell me, Marika, was it Laylah who struck the killing blow?" she asked sweetly.

The dark eyes flashed with fury. "The b.i.t.c.h got lucky." Kata smiled. "Do you believe in karma?"

"I believe that the sins of the daughter must be paid by the mother." Marika lifted her hand, her fingers curled to slice her claws through Kata's tender flesh. "Starting now."

Braced for the blow, Kata was unprepared for the flash of movement from directly behind Marika. Thankfully, her crazy-a.s.s sister was equally oblivious and, even as she swung her hand toward Kata's face, Uriel was slamming into her with bone-breaking force.

Kata stumbled to the side, struggling to keep her balance as the two predators. .h.i.t the ground with enough force to split the earth. Uriel managed to land on top, his fist slamming into the back of his opponent's head with a sickening crunch.

It wasn't a fatal blow, but it should have been enough to put the female vamp out of commission for a few minutes. Instead Marika turned with a fluid motion and sank her fang's into Uriel's throat.

Kata's heart faltered as Uriel grabbed Marika's hair and ripped her from his flesh, his blood gus.h.i.+ng from the wound. His roar of pain echoed through the glade, sending animals fleeing in terror.

Barely aware she was moving, Kata had s.n.a.t.c.hed up a large branch that was nearly hidden in the gra.s.s and was charging forward. At the same time, Uriel was lifting his sword and with one sharp motion he was plunging it into Marika's heart.

Kata halted, shuddering at the sight of her sister sprawled on the ground with a ma.s.sive blade sticking out of her chest.

She hated the miserable, s.a.d.i.s.tic creature with every fiber of her being, but it was still disturbing to see the image of her sister pinned to the ground like something from a horror film.

Waiting for Uriel to finish the kill by cutting out the vampire's heart, Kata sucked in a shocked breath as Marika grasped the blade with both hands and yanked it from her flesh.

It shouldn't have been possible. Such a wound should have paralyzed her at the very least. Not even the most powerful demon could shrug off a huge, gaping hole in the center of their chest.

Caught off guard, Uriel was barely able to yank his sword from her grasp and hastily rise to his feet before she was launching her attack.

He swung the sword, cursing as Marika dodged the blow and struck him across the face. She wasn't as strong as Uriel, but she still packed a h.e.l.l of a punch. And worse, it seemed as if nothing could hurt her.

Uriel's head snapped back, and Marika was once again at his throat, almost as if she intended to gnaw through his neck.

And maybe she did.

Evil b.i.t.c.h.

Tightening her grip on the branch, Kata grimly marched forward. She wasn't stupid enough to believe she could hurt a vampire with a stick, not unless she managed to stab it through the cold-blooded leech's heart, and with her luck she was more likely to stick it through her own. But she was feeling like the last gazelle at the watering hole and the weight of the branch in her hand gave the impression she wasn't completely helpless.

Stupid, but necessary if she was going to be able to concentrate enough to conjure a curse.

Fiercely she blocked out Uriel's terrible wounds and his losing effort to hold off Marika, who was not only weirdly immune to her injuries, but clearly in the throes of a crazed bout of bloodl.u.s.t.

Instead she turned her mind inward, focusing on the small spark of power that smoldered in her soul.

It was the same power that she used to heal, but instead of allowing the energy to flow from her in a soothing, fixed stream, she instead twisted it with the dark impulses that lurked in every creature, and held it in a tight knot until she unleashed it with a savage burst.