The man who had followed her. He walked slowly toward her along the aisle, and as he came, she felt a fetid coldness unlike anything she had ever known before, a fear that went beneath her skin, a terror that was far deeper than any dread of death.
He came, closer and closer ...
And with him, the feel of darkness. A haunting of the grave. Cold, black ...
Evil.
He moved Nari aside and came to Jordan. He reached out gloved hands, and stroked her face, and she shrank inside, horrified. She would have screamed with revulsion and the deepest horror in her soul, but the sound would not come .. .
"h.e.l.lo, Jordan!" he said softly.
And he pulled off the dottore mask.
She gasped, so stunned that for a moment, the fear left her.
"Steven!" she whispered.
Yes, Steven, and not Steven. Steven had laughed; he"d been kind, his features had been touched with life and color and ...
His eyes now seemed to glow red, and his face was taut; his mouth, so p.r.o.ne to a smile, was caustic and cruel.
"In the-flesh, shall we say."
"It"s impossible. I-we-they-"
"You dug up my grave, and there I was. Jordan! Come now! Another corpse, burned to a total crisp, easily pa.s.sed as mine."
"I ... no!" she whispered. "You were ... a cop! You were compa.s.sionate-"
"Good?" he inquired. "Not at all. I was bored, and I was afraid that my wanderings in Europe-since my release-might be noticed. I didn"t want to be noticed. Not then. Oh, there was a Steven Moore. And he was a right decent fellow, as they might say. I enjoyed him-and his very moral and righteous family-very much. Then I took his name and came to New Orleans. And met you. You really were incredible. So much pa.s.sion and love of life and humanity all rolled into such a perfect little package. Of course, you turned out to be more of a pain than I had imagined but... well, all"s well that ends well, right?"
"How does it end, Steven?" she asked coldly. She realized then that he had been the end; she had been shocked beyond belief. And now . ..
She couldn"t fight him.
Only hate him.
"Well, the only way possible, of course. You will join us. Us! The true strength within our kind. You"ll become a hunter. Stronger, better, than you ever were before. You"ll join me now. Ah, Jordan, remember what was? It will be better. You little fool! Falling for my wretched, pathetic enemies! They are nothing, nothing against the kind of feast, and satiation, and thrill that you can know. We are the masters. The predators. And you will join me. They had me imprisoned in a steel vault in Yugoslavia for the longest time. Then there was an earthquake. The kindest people came to rescue me. I was starving. My rescuers provided the most delicious meal. I wandered, met up with dear Nari again . . . and found you. It seemed so easy. Nari got to Jared. Jared has nearly killed Cindy. And though you eluded me at the party-and in your room, and through the streets-you"ll not elude me this time. I have missed you, my love, and now. . . now we"ll be together." He started to lean toward her, as tender a lover as he had ever been.
But his mouth opened. His fangs dripped, oozed with saliva. They were immense, longer, ridiculously long, and sharp. She watched them. She closed her eyes, clenching her teeth, waiting, praying ...
He gave out a startled sound, ripped back from her. Jordan"s eyes flew open.
Another shadow had descended, a shadow so large, winged and menacing, it seemed to cover all the church.
Ragnor.
He had drawn Steven from her but now the two faced one another.
"Get away from her," Ragnor said.
"It is Steven," Jordan got out. "You were right."
"Steven, yes, and no. Hagan, get the h.e.l.l away from her."
Steven laughed. "You really didn"t know it was me? I"ve gotten good. You couldn"t get into my mind. You thought I was still deeply buried from the last time we warred. No, I"ve been drinking blood-so much of it! I have a power even you can"t imagine now."
"I"m telling you one last time-get away from her."
"No, brother, this one is mine. I"ve always been able to take your women."
"Brother?" Jordan whispered, working furiously at the knots binding her to the altar as the two men stared one another down.
"Half brother," Ragnor said. "I should have known. He has spent the last thousand years trying to destroy me."
"She has no interest in you, brother. I"m telling you-I"ve always had the ability to take your woman."
"You mean Nari? Well, she didn"t prove to be such a treasure. But this woman, Hagan?
No, you"ll never take her."
Ragnor smiled at her. She felt something flood within her at the sign of a.s.surance, and of faith. With a shrug, he extended his wry grin to the man he called Hagan-the man she had known as Steven.
"You"ve spent your existence being jealous of me. This time, it"s going to send you on.
Not to Valhalla, but to the Hel, or h.e.l.l, or whichever in truth you care to call it, after all these years."
"I don"t think so."
"I do. The old rules have been broken too many times. This time, you will die your second death, and it will be over."
Jordan shrieked in both pain and surprise as Hagan reached for her, his grip so strong that it broke the ropes tied around her wrists and ankles, burning her flesh, nearly breaking bone. He drew her to stand before him. He lifted her hair. She felt the heat of his breath.
His teeth were lowering. "Watch brother," he whispered. "As I take her .. . for eternity."
She saw, just below her, a small puddle of the holy water that had fallen before. It had pooled between two tiles in the ancient floor.
She slammed her elbow back into his ribs and ducked for the water. Not enough! Still, as he roared, ready to restrain her again, she splashed the little droplets into his eyes.
He roared with pain.
She was free. She raced forward, straight into Ragnor"s arms. He caught her shoulders, met her eyes.
He moved her carefully aside.
Ragnor walked toward Hagan. He sensed the movement, and went flying upward toward the ceiling, landing on the rafters. Ragnor followed him. With a sudden, fierce shriek Nari went flying after Ragnor.
He threw her back down. She landed hard on the floor. A ma.s.sive wave seemed to move across the ceiling as Hagan cried out to the others. "Seize him, kill him, take him, you fools! I am half blinded."
Before the others could rise, Ragnor had returned to the floor. As Hagan"s followers came after him, he caught them one by one. He took them by their heads and shoulders ...
Twisted.
Dropped the pieces.
Someone came flying out from a side altar after him, brandishing a sword. The creature never reached Ragnor.
Lucian slipped down from the rafters, seized the attacker by the neck, took the sword, and ended him quickly.
Others suddenly began to appear. Jordan ducked down, for it seemed as if the ancient church was filled with bats.
Bats, wings, noises ... a chattering, soft at first, then growing in a crescendo.
The door to the church was suddenly flung open.
Sean Canady came in, vials strapped to his chest, a sword at his waist, and buckets in both hands.
He threw water in a swinging, upward, arc.
Screams of agony echoed so loudly that Jordan covered her ears, praying. She looked up just in time to see a shadow forming, coming for her ...
She turned and fled toward Sean, ripping one of the vials from the holder on his chest.
She tossed the holy water at her would-be attacker. She watched, still amazed, as he shrieked ...
And decomposed.
The noise suddenly died away.
The floor was littered.
With freshly dead ...
And decaying bones. Then a ma.s.sive flutter, like wings, seemed to vibrate the entire structure. She looked up. The ma.s.sive shadows of Ragnor and his brother met again and again. Sean started to move forward.
Lucian was suddenly at his side, holding his arm.
"No. Ragnor must finish this himself."
The shadows came back to the ground.
The two men stared at one another in fury.
"Who wants to live forever?" Ragnor inquired quietly.
Hagan let out a roar and rushed him. It was a mistake. Ragnor was ready. He bowed his frame and caught his brother by the head as he would have b.u.t.ted him into the wall.
There was a twisting sound. Sickening. Horrible. Then all that Ragnor held was bone that fell from his hands to the floor, becoming dust.
He stared at his hands.
There was a sudden motion at the side of the church.
Jordan turned to see Nari, ready to slip away. She raced to the door, breathing heavily, ready to face the woman.
She realized she had no weapons.
Ragnor had come down the aisle. Nari turned to him. "Ragnor! How can you forget what we were?"
"Time, my dear, has had a wonderful effect on that. Then again, there was the fact that you betrayed me- with my brother-trapped me, and tried to kill me."
"Ragnor-"
"Throughout history, Nari, every time you"ve escaped ..."
"But Ragnor, you can"t!" she whispered. She walked to him, placing her hands on his chest, looking up into his eyes. "Ragnor ..."
He lifted his arm and wrapped it around her. like the others in the room, he had worn a Carnevale cape.
It covered Nari as he cradled her to him.
Then he dropped his arm.
A great pile of dust fell to the floor.
Ragnor turned to Lucian. "It is over," he said softly.
Lucian nodded.
"I"ll deal with the local law enforcement," Sean said, indicating Roberto where he lay on the floor, just coming to.
Ragnor inclined his head in agreement. He kept walking down the aisle. He reached out a hand to Jordan, just far enough away so that she would have to take a step forward to accept.
"You are different, you know."
"Oh?"
"A thousand years worth of different," he said softly. "Take my hand?"
"Where will we go?"
"We"ll have to see," he told her. "You"ve wanted the truth. Confessions. There are lots of them I can give you now."
She inclined her head. "At the least, it must be interesting listening."
"I didn"t intend to talk all night."
She smiled and reached for his hand, then hesitated.