Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) Page 2

  Ducking down, I shifted back into my regular form. Icy wind blew across my bare skin, and I inhaled a shocked gasp. The halo of fire encircling my neck solidified to something brittle like pumice stone. With a snarl, I yanked it over my head and tossed it aside.

  As soon as it smashed against the roof, I shifted back into a phoenix to watch the one-sided battle below.

  “Stand down, Kresnik,” a voice shouted over a megaphone. “You are surrounded and outnumbered.”

  He held onto his sides with a hollow laugh that reminded me of wind howling through a tunnel. “That’s what you think.”

  I clacked my beak. What the hell was he talking about?

  Kresnik tilted his head up toward the statue of Lord Nelson, and the blood in my veins turned to sludge. It was as though his original body drew him like a magnet. I glanced over the square, where enforcers continued to launch their attack from behind the wards.

  Where were his followers? Kresnik couldn’t have absorbed them all. Were they still inside the other locations throughout London he’d set up as traps, or did Kresnik deem them useless against the enforcers?

  Just as Kresnik reached the base of Nelson’s Column, he fell onto his hands and knees, panting, unmoving, his head falling to the ground. The fire of his fingers spread through the gaps between paving stones, reaching the enforcers and turning the ground beneath their feet into pools of lava.

  Their screams made my stomach lurch, and I jerked my head away. Guilt formed tight knots through my insides. It was too late to save them, and I couldn’t face seeing them die.

  Thunder roared—at least that’s how I interpreted the sound, but when a cloud of powder and debris engulfed Trafalgar Square and flew through my flaming body, realization hit me like a clap of lightning.

  That sound didn’t come from freak weather.

  It was the destruction of Nelson’s Column.

  Knowing Kresnik, he had probably absorbed all those attacks to release them in a gigantic burst. Clouds of detritus obscured the entire square, and I stepped to the edge of the roof, ready to take flight in case the explosion had affected the wards.

  A hand threaded through my feathers, yanking me into a hard chest. “Good girl.” Kresnik ran a rough palm down my back. “I commend you for waiting so patiently for your master. Now, it’s time for us to fly to the Realm of the Gods.”

  As the dust settled, the face that grinned down at me didn’t belong to an ifrit or the younger, more sinister version of Father Jude I’d been tricked into resurrecting. It didn’t even belong to the red-haired man Kresnik had morphed into a day later.

  Kresnik was now an exact replica of the sun god whose features had graced the portraits in Kenwood House. Dark skin, blazing amber eyes, high cheekbones, and an unearthly beauty that could only belong to an immortal.

  A tight fist of terror clenched my insides. This was the body of Prometheus.

  Chapter Two

  Before I could pull my magic back into my chakras and shift into my regular form, Kresnik pumped me with so much power that I cried out. This time it was hotter, more determined, more potent.

  My fiery plumage expanded, and I grew several inches in height and girth until we stood at eye level.

  “Much better,” he drawled. “Now you’re a mount better suited to a being of my stature.”

  Without bothering to turn into an ifrit, he grabbed beneath my beak with his bare hands, not even wincing as his immortal flesh burned, and turned my head toward the east, where a streak of purple and green hung above the high-rise buildings of Canary Wharf like a concentration of aurora borealis.

  A shudder ran down my spine. Before, Kresnik had the soul of a Greek god trapped in the body of a mortal. He was the real thing, now, and could regenerate.

  “This is where we’re headed,” he snarled. “My people and I have spent days opening this rift into the Realm of the Gods, and it’s the first time I’ve entered it with a physical body.”

  “Huh?” I squawked.

  “I warn you not to struggle during the flight. The nature of magic has changed over the eons, and I can’t guarantee your survival if we don’t concentrate.” He punctuated those words with a threatening shake of my beak.

  I clenched my jaw, wanting to claw at his new body until his bones snapped. With the amount of his magic flowing through my flames, I couldn’t even caw at him to bugger off.

  My heart sank into the pit of my belly. I had no choice but to wait until something else distracted him before trying to escape.

  Kresnik swung a leg over my back, mounting me like he’d already broken my spirit and I wasn’t a creature that would burn him to ash if given the chance. Wrapping one hand around my neck with a grip that threatened to cut off my air, he smacked me hard on the side, even though the action was unnecessary.

  I could understand the spoken word, and even if I wanted to ignore him, I was completely under the control of the new power coursing through my flames.

  My body launched itself off the edge of the portico, and my wings spread. We flew over the rubble covering Trafalgar Square, over the demolished fountains, the lions, and even the statue of Charles I across the road.

  Not a single enforcer stopped us, and nobody shot up into the sky. The air didn’t even thicken as we passed the border of the square and flew over Charing Cross.

  “Wonderful,” Kresnik drawled out loud. “You see how the Supernatural Council trembles behind the wards of Logris. They sent weaklings to apprehend us, and they’ve all perished.”

  “Did you kill Valentine?” I asked, hoping that the new surge of power had reconnected our minds.

  I stared down at the landmarks we passed—Victoria Embankment, the Royal Festival Hall, the Oxo Tower, the Millennium Bridge—all of them reminded me of places I’d dined with either Valentine or Beatrice.

  A scream caught in my throat. Something had happened to Valentine as he’d followed us over Hyde Park, and Beatrice… I had to focus on what was happening right now.

  “Hello?” I shouted into my head. “Can you hear me?”

  When he snorted, I took that response as a yes.

  We passed London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, before rising over Wapping toward Limehouse, where the glowing rift drifted over the patch of river that bordered Canary Wharf. I supposed this was why he had fought alone. His people were too busy carving through realms and readying Kresnik for his grand departure.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  Kresnik yawned in my ear.

  Annoyance made my flames flicker, and the pulse between my ears pounded loud enough to drown out the roar of the wind. The least he could do after stealing my free will was to boast about his grand plans like any decent villain.

  “What’s wrong?” I snapped. “Do you think you’re too high and mighty to answer now that you have an immortal body?”

  Pain washed through my meridians like acid, making me scream.

  “Keep your thoughts to yourself, Hemera, and I might let you live once you’ve completed your task,” he snarled into our bond.

  “I thought you wanted to steal my magic.”

  The hand gripping my neck tightened. “My magic. And if there was a way we could bring you ungrateful children into the world without your free will, believe me, we would have done it.”

  I tried once more to pull my magic back in, but Kresnik’s fury bled through my meridians with a force greater than my willpower. Bitterness burned the back of my throat. “But you needed us intelligent and aware to train our power so we could develop that magic for you to steal.”

  He chuckled. “Did Valentine tell you that? You’d never come to such a conclusion by yourself. I’ve looked into your mind, and a lustful little creature like you can’t think beyond where she’s getting her next cock.”

  The flames of my cheeks grew hotter, and my throat burned with outrage. Kresnik was referring to the time he’d searched my mind and found memories of my first blowjob.

  M
y feathers ruffled. “Those images were a trap set by Valentine to distract anyone who tried to invade my mind.”

  “Of course, it was,” he said with a snicker. “And I didn’t witness you gobbling at him beneath a glass table.”

  An annoyed breath hissed through my beak. Why was I letting this asshole distract me from what really mattered—stopping him from entering the Realm of the Gods to carry out the task he’d killed Aurora for failing?

  Kresnik didn’t just want his immortal body. He’d been searching for the eagle who had consumed his liver.

  “Do gods all keep their divinities in their internal organs?” I asked.

  “Who told you that?” he snapped. “Hades, I suppose?”

  A retort tumbled to the forefront of my brain, but I pushed it away. Squeezing my eyes shut I focused on pulling my magic back into my body, only for Kresnik’s power to shove it back down my limbs. My flames flared, and molten agony shot through my meridians.

  “Stop,” I cried into our bond.

  “I told you what would happen if you tried to interfere,” he snarled into my ear. “When we reach our destination, I will punish you to within an inch of your sanity.”

  The air surrounding us stilled, and a bolt of something whizzed overhead, landing in Kresnik with a hiss. Some of the magic controlling my body loosened, and I turned to find Kresnik trying to pull a javelin of firestone from his chest. I banked to the left, trying to shift him off my back, but he clung onto me with his muscular thighs.

  “Stop this insolence, or I will make you suffer an eternity of pain,” he roared.

  A growl rumbled in my chest. The bloody bastard already threatened to rob me of my sanity. I had nothing to lose.

  Kresnik and I barrel-rolled through the air with me trying to buck him off and Kresnik fighting to stay on my back.

  “Miss Griffin,” Hades shouted from a distance. “Remain still.”

  Righting myself, I stretched out my wings so that we glided back toward the Tower of London. Kresnik slammed his palm into the base of my neck, but more javelins raced through the air before he could force his magic into me.

  They landed in Kresnik with several wet thuds, sending out sprays of blood that sizzled in my flames. I swept low, keeping my wings perfectly straight so the invisible attackers could get a better shot.

  Multicolored light filled the edges of my vision. I glanced over my shoulder to find the aurora borealis racing toward us. My beak parted to let out a shocked squawk. Whoever was controlling the rift’s dimensional magic was determined for Kresnik to reach the Realm of the Gods.

  “These attacks are futile.” Kresnik gurgled. “In this body, I’m impervious to harm.”

  Magic slammed into us from above, filling my vision with vivid purples and greens that burned my eyes and a magic that felt like Kresnik’s. It was both cold and angular and vicious, feeling like it would pluck the feathers off my bones. Cold panic raced through my insides, and my heart somersaulted to the back of my throat.

  If I ever survived this, I’d be in the Realm of the Gods, completely at Kresnik’s mercy, and with no-one to help me stop him from retrieving his divinity.

  Kresnik wrapped his arms around my neck. “Fly, damn you. Flap those worthless wings, or you’ll die.”

  The magic tearing at me was too powerful, too heavy, too determined. With one almighty heave, it pushed me off course.

  I landed hard on my side, my head bouncing against a rocky surface. My body shattered, and before I could register any pain, my consciousness winked out like a snuffed candle.

  Cool liquid dropped onto my forehead, filling the crevices of my eyes, and heat warmed my bare skin. My head throbbed the way it did that Christmas I mixed red wine with chocolate liqueurs and combined that with Baileys. I turned my head to the side, letting the wetness spill to the hard surface.

  Either this meant I was dead, I’d fallen out of the rift, or Kresnik had carried out his threat to make me suffer an eternity of torture. I hoped it wasn’t the last.

  I cracked open my eyes, and bright light burned my retinas, making me wince and squeeze them shut. So, I was in an interrogation room or lying in direct sunlight. Since I was naked and there were no straps restraining my body, I guessed I’d landed somewhere exposed to the elements.

  “Come on,” I rasped through a dry throat.

  The next time I opened my eyes, I squinted up into a shaft of rock that stretched to the sky. The light streaming down hit the walls, lighting it up with the greens and purples and indigos of the rift.

  “Shit.” This certainly didn’t look like London.

  Rolling to my side, I took in my surroundings. I was in a cavern of some sort, and it was about the size of Grosvenor Square. At the far left of the space, stalactites hung from the ceiling, some as long as eighteen feet, others growing diagonally into the cave’s craggy and uneven walls.

  On the other side lay the most pristine turquoise pool. Its surface was still, seemingly shallow with moss-covered rocks dotted about, forming stepping-stones.

  I rubbed my dry throat, promising myself that no matter how much thirst clawed at me, I would not touch that water. It was probably guarded by the Greek god version of zombies.

  “Are we even in the Realm of the Gods?” I muttered under my breath. This could be a pocket dimension or an enclave within any of the Factions of Hell.

  Beyond the water stretched more walls, and the only way out seemed to come from the shard of light up above. I took a deep breath, readying myself to shift.

  “Sleeping beauty awakens.” Kresnik’s voice echoed through the chamber.

  The sound hit me like a jolt of adrenaline. I scrambled to my feet, glancing from side to side.

  Kresnik emerged from behind a stalactite that had formed a column, clad in a white tunic that barely covered his balls. Snatching my gaze away, I wrapped a hand over my breasts, held out the other, and covered it in flames.

  “Stay back.”

  Kresnik rolled his eyes. “Must you be so dramatic, Hemera?”

  “It’s Mer—” I clamped my lips shut. Why the hell did I want this murderous asshole calling me by my preferred name? He needed to die, now.

  Pushing my magic outward, I shifted and charged him with my wings outstretched. Kresnik vanished, leaving me skidding on my talons. I spun around to find him standing by the water.

  “Stop this nonsense at once,” he snapped.

  A harsh cry tore from my beak. This was futile. There was no way to land a punch on a being who could teleport. Not without the speed of a vampire. I uncurled my wings and leaped, pointing my head toward the sky.

  Strong arms wrapped around my neck, squeezing it in a choke-hold. “If you don’t behave yourself and shift back into a woman, I will pluck out every feather before extinguishing you in the pool of Zeus.”

  The scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils, I glanced down to find the skin on his arms sizzling, but he didn’t so much as hiss from the pain. I thrashed, kicked, and flapped, but Kresnik gripped tighter, cutting off my air.

  Panic spiked, and palpitations resounded through my chest. At this rate, I would faint, leaving myself vulnerable to Kresnik’s fury. If I wanted my revenge, I would have to attack while he was distracted. Or if I couldn’t escape, I would wait until he fell asleep.

  Lowering my wings, I drifted to the ground, landing on my outstretched talons.

  “Good girl.” As he released his grip on my neck, the seared flesh of his skin regenerated, turning pink and then bronze. He nodded with approval. “Now, change back.”

  My jaw clenched. Something about this situation was off. Surely with his immortal body, Kresnik should have sustained more damage? Why did he regenerate when Hades had been reduced to ash?

  I stepped backward toward the water, shaking my head. In this phoenix form, I wasn’t so vulnerable and at least had the power of flight. As a woman, I was only half his size and significantly less powerful.

  He exhaled a long sigh. “Hemera—”<
br />
  I screeched.

  “Listen to your father,” he said in a voice as sharp as a whip.

  My beak clacked shut. I breathed hard, wondering how on earth he’d managed to subdue me with a few words.

  “Good.” He folded his arms across his chest. “We reached the Realm of the Gods, but something went wrong.”

  I folded my wings behind my back, waiting for him to speak. Kresnik remained silent for several heartbeats, staring at me, leaning forward with his brows raised. Perhaps he was drawing out the suspense. Perhaps he wanted me to turn back to a woman and ask for details. Either way, I’d be damned if I did anything he wanted.

  His features twisted into a rictus of fury. “Tiresome creature. I ought to twist your neck and drown your writhing corpse into the water.”

  A sharp breath hissed through my nostrils. In less than five minutes, he’d already revealed the psychopath lurking beneath the facade of parental authority. This seething lunatic was the real and only Kresnik.

  “Hemera,” he said with a tired sigh. “We’re stuck here.”

  I tilted my head to the side.

  “The passage back to London that my people created has vanished.” He spread his arms wide, and when I still didn’t ask for more information, he continued. “I expect that enforcers arrested them in Canary Wharf and have already carried out their executions. If we don’t work together, you’ll never reach Valentine.”

  If I had hands, they would curl into fists. If I had fleshy nostrils instead of two slits in my beak, they would flare. My feathers ruffled. How dare this monster invoke the name of the man I loved to manipulate me into helping him return to take over Great Britain and beyond?

  Did Kresnik think I’d be desperate enough to ally with him and doom the world? It was only a matter of hours before he got tired and fell asleep. Then I would escape and see what I could do to return home and leave him behind.

  I walked to the boulders at the edge of the pool, found myself a suitable perch, and settled.