Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked

stand, alarmed at how pale his face had grown. How much blood had he lost?
    “Kaderin, he’s bleeding all over my temple,” Riora said. “And by the way, Valkyrie, you owe me for a skylight.” Riora turned from her. “Scribe? Where are you? Scribe!” And then they were gone.
    “Are you going to be able to trace us?” Kaderin asked.
    “Of course,” he grated, but he was barely able to get them back to her flat.
    Stubborn vampire. He’s been hiding how weak he is.
    In the bedroom, his legs gave out. When she helped him to the bed, he fell back but clenched her wrist. “You’re not going without me.”
    “Your sword arm is injured. You won’t be able to defend yourself in a battle.”
    Sebastian said, “You’ve waited a thousand years, you can wait two more days.”
    She shook her head. “I’d be taking you into a war where you are the enemy.”
    “I’ll take that chance, Katja. Do not do anything until I heal.”
    She hesitated, then said, “I won’t go until you’re healed.”
    He nodded, then passed out immediately.
    She meant what she’d said. There was no way he could accompany her. A vampire on a battlefield with an army of Valkyrie? Not going to happen. Her own sisters would likely try to kill him.
    But she was not leaving him when he needed her. For the last two nights, when not chaining her up, he’d been a hero to her. He’d salvaged the competition for her, given her the finals, and then won the key. Not to mention that he’d saved her life.
    And then, when faced with the choice of her happiness over his own, he’d chosen hers.
    At every turn, he made her feel protected, cherished. And she would respond in kind.
    Her relief when she’d found out she wouldn’t forget him was staggering. What did that say? What did it mean that she was as delighted about that fact as she was to be going back for her sisters?
    Before she used the key, Kaderin would contact the coven and let them know she was okay, though she was sure they’d already felt her return. She would see Sebastian mended, giving him as much blood as he could drink.
    She’d waited a thousand years. Two or three days wouldn’t matter in the great scheme of things, would it?

    Sebastian woke feeling incredible.
    A warm, sleeping Valkyrie was draped over his chest, and he clutched her to him, amazed by all that had occurred. Memories trickled in from that hellish haze after he’d lost her, but he pushed them away.
    Because he’d gotten her back.
    All that mattered was that he had Kaderin safe with him.
    He’d gotten her back.
    When she didn’t wake, he slipped from the bed to go shower and to examine his arm. He stood, waiting for the black dots to cloud his vision but saw none. The bones in his upper arm and elbow felt as though they had already started to knit, and he could tell the shredded skin and muscles were connected, at least. He might not even need the sling she’d fashioned for his arm.
    When he returned, showered and dressed, she was awake.
    “I’m going to be healed by tomorrow,” he told her. “We can go for them at sunset.”
    “Sebastian, once we get close enough to my sisters, they could kill you themselves.” She looked away. “They would not hesitate as I did.”
    “I’m going with you. There’s no question of it. What if you don’t make the door? Then I definitely will lose you.”
    “Even if we wait for you to heal, you can’t defend yourself without risking one of my kind.”
    He drew his head back. “I would never hurt them.”
    “I know that,” she said quickly, “but they’ll want you dead.”
    “I’m going, Katja. It must be so.”
    She studied his face for a long moment, then exhaled with a subtle nod. She turned her back to him, drawing her hair over one shoulder, baring her beautiful neck. “Then you have to be strong.”
    He swallowed tightly. “You’re inviting me to drink you?”
    She said over her shoulder, “You have been for a day.”
    And I’ve missed it? He joined her in the bed, turning her to face him. “No wonder I feel so damned good.”
    She glanced up from under a blond curl, and said in a throaty voice, “ How good?”
    He stilled. “Remarkably.” Even with his body so beaten, his cock swelled in anticipation. “Tremendously.”
    “We’d have to be creative,” she said, with her eyes already flashing silver. “So we don’t hurt your arm.” Her idea of creative was to strip off his shirt that she’d slept in, then lay back at the foot of