Revenge in Vein, The Complete Series Read online

  As if he could sense her wish, Aldric pulled his mouth from hers and trailed his lips across her face, down her jaw to her neck. She dropped her head back, clutching him to her as if she’d never let him go again.

  “Is this what you were doing while my people died?” Aldric whispered. “Spreading your thighs for one of your slaves in your precious orchard?”

  Shock fell over her body like a bucket of ice water even as humiliation flamed to life in her cheeks. Saule shoved Aldric’s chest, desperate to get away from him. He let her go, standing there with the familiar frost in his visage once again. He was barely even breathing hard.

  “It’s so easy for you to get lost in your own selfish pleasures,” Aldric sneered. “What do you care if others suffer?”

  “You know nothing of what I care about!” Saule hissed, furious when a sob threatened to break her voice. It seemed her emotions were doomed to be battered about all day, hit from her daughter to Aldric like a bird caught in a hurricane.

  “I know that you keep me prisoner here--refusing to let me return to earth even for what little time it would take me to fulfill my promise.”

  Confusion shaded her humiliation and she shook her head. “What are you talking about? What promise?”

  Aldric crossed his arms, looking at her with scorn in his cold eyes. That look made her clench her teeth, angry at how much it affected her.

  “A pisky lies in an iron cage waiting for me to release him. He suffers daily because you cannot think past your own petty revenge to let me return and free him.”

  Saule’s mouth fell open, outrage and surprise warring for a place in her emotions. “I knew nothing of this pisky!”

  “And you didn’t ask, did you?” Aldric shook his head. “You just assumed I wanted to go to earth for my own pleasure. It must be difficult for you to imagine caring for anyone other than yourself--caring for promises you make to those weaker than you.”

  Anger flowed through her veins like magma, just waiting to erupt. Saule clasped her hands into fists, fighting the urge to hurl Aldric from Sky Mountain and let him fall down the slippery slope into Dausos, the realm of the dead that lie just on the other side.

  “Go free the pisky,” Saule ground out, fighting to keep her temper under control. “But if you are not here when I rise to take my ride tomorrow, I will find you.” She stared into his eyes, letting her power fill her until she could see the glow of it reflected on his skin. The bastard didn’t look away, didn’t even flinch, though she knew he would see spots long after he turned away from her. With one last scathing look, she whirled on her heel and left the orchard.

  Chapter 2

  Aldric grunted as his fist connected with the rough bark of the tree. Apple blossoms fell around him in a sweet pink cloud, the fresh scent reminding him of her. He clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. No matter how hard he hit the tree, he could not rid himself of the feel of her flesh under his palms. No matter how much he tried he couldn’t block out the memory of her moan, the way the sound had slid over his skin, hardening his flesh until he nearly went mad with the urge to throw her to the ground take her like a heathen.

  His body betrayed him. No matter how much he hated her, no matter how much he wanted her to suffer for what she’d done, he could not seem to keep his eyes from following her every move, his hands from reaching to touch her, or his cock from aching with the need to be inside her again. It seemed there was no end to how badly his first plan of revenge had backfired. Having tasted her once, he could no longer live in blissful ignorance of just how right she had felt in his arms.

  “Why does she not punish me?” he growled, turning to her horse as if the animal held the answers. As always, the beast shifted uneasily, prancing sideways to get farther away from him. Aldric snorted. He was used to that reaction from animals, having been a vampire for over two hundred years. It amused him that even in his new cursed human form he still made the creature so nervous.

  He thought back to the moment his heart had begun to beat again. Lying there on the floor of the Unseelie sithen, dazed in the wake of one of the most powerful orgasms he’d ever experienced, it had taken him a ridiculously long time to register his resurrection. When he’d finally realized what happened, shock and despair had closed over him. Saule had been so angry, her rage pressing against him like a wall of iron. There’d been no doubt in his mind that he’d finally pushed the deity too far.

  But his punishment had never come. The beating he’d expected, the pain and humiliation that he’d earned, had never been meted out. Saule had brought him to the Sky Mountain, her heavenly home and she’d treated him . . . well.

  Aldric raised his eyes from the orchard, farther up the slippery high hill to where Saule’s temple rested at the peak. Everywhere he looked there was the decadent opulence that only a deity could afford. Golden pitchers sat on pedestals just outside the huge open doors, gathering the sunlight that the goddess would pour over the world as she rode across the morning sky. The white marble walls sparkled with veins of gold, the thick brocaded carpets glittered with honey-gold threads. Everywhere he looked it was as if the sun had insinuated itself into the very rocks of the Sky Mountain.

  He didn’t understand Saule. He’d done everything he could to make her suffer. For the love of Zemnya, he’d taken her daughter, the Evening Star, and turned her into a vieschtitsa. True, the flower maiden had asked him to do it, but even if Saule knew that, she should still be furious with him. Aldric stared at the temple. So why did she continue to put up with him? Why did she look at him with those sad, hopeful eyes? Why did she speak to him with patience and only a hint of the anger he knew she must be feeling? He clenched his hands into fists at his sides. Why couldn’t she just once react the way she was supposed to?

  Emotion filled his rejuvenated heart and he turned away from the shining marble. Stalking to the edge of the mountain, he glared down the slope. Here and there he could make out souls of the dead, those poor men and women who had not been fortunate enough to ride the smoke of their funeral fire into Dausos and were forced to climb the mountain themselves. He stared at them, at their fingertips bloodied by the arduous climb, wishing he could help. In his mind, each person had the face of one of his fellow villagers. Watching the suffering on their faces took him back to Lithuania, back to the last time he’d been forced to watch helplessly as his people suffered. It had been the last time he’d stood in her temple before his death.

  “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still love her.”

  Startled by the sudden voice, Aldric whipped around to find Perkunas, god of thunder and justice, standing just a few feet away. His red hair and thick beard were a match in color to Aldric’s own, shining like fresh blood in the light of Saule’s temple. The long white tunic he wore was edged with gold that matched the shining metal bands on his arms and wrists as well as the winged helmet that crowned his head. A short vest of thick brown fur covered his chest, held up by a strap going over one shoulder. His ax shone bright silver at his side, always ready.

  The sight of the god so close to him stole Aldric’s human breath. There wasn’t a warrior in all of Lithuania that wouldn’t have given his right arm for the honor of meeting the great Perkunas. He immediately stood to attention, bowing his head slightly in respect.

  “Saule gave me permission to leave Sky Mountain to keep a promise I made to a fey,” Aldric said calmly.

  “I know,” Perkunas nodded. “Now do as I asked. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still love her.”

  Anger swelled in Aldric’s throat. Only his respect for Perkunas kept him from giving voice to the rage inspired by his audacious demand.

  “I would never love a goddess who promises to defend her people and then leaves them to die.”

  If Perkunas was taken aback by the venom in his tone, he did not show it. He stared at Aldric with the disapproval of a parent surveying an unruly child. “You judge her without knowing her,” he said evenly.

  Al
dric fought the urge to fidget under the god’s disapproving stare. Even two centuries as a vampire had not immunized him to the awe of being in the presence of Perkunas. Here was a true warrior god, one who sent lightening down on his enemies. If only Perkunas was responsible for defending and not just punishing, Aldric was certain he would have protected his village. As it was, there was no doubt in his mind that many of the men who had destroyed his people had been struck down by the righteous lightening of the thunder god.

  Aldric furrowed his eyebrows. It bothered him that Perkunas seemed to disapprove of him. “I was her priest. I knew her as well as any mortal could.”

  “You loved her.”

  Again, Aldric fought the urge to vent his anger at Perkunas’ assertion. “As all priests love their goddess,” he said stiffly.

  “You know that is not what I mean,” Perkunas chided him. “You loved her as a man loves a woman. Saule does not ask that her priests remain celibate, and yet you chose not to share your body with any other woman.”

  There was no judgment in his voice, no hint of amusement, and yet Aldric found himself fighting not to blush like a young boy. He looked away, pain bleeding over his hate and anger. An image of himself in his youth, gazing with love and adoration at a mural of Saule in her orchard filled his mind’s eye. What a fool he had been, what an utter fool. How he wished he could go back in time and take a blade to the boy he’d been. He would cut the heart from his chest and make him watch it wither and die--just as it had after he’d given it to her.

  “Yes.” That one word seemed to echo through his soul, a stone thrown in a lake of pain, rippling out through his entire being. “I loved her.” He looked back at Perkunas. “She did not care.”

  “She did not see,” the god corrected him. “Saule is a goddess, but she is not perfect.”

  “No, she is not.” Aldric straightened his spine, drawing his anger around him until it boiled away his pain. “I stared at a mural of her battling the forces of darkness, praying to her to come fight for her people.” He swallowed hard past the lump in his throat, still struggling to overcome the despair he’d felt all those years ago. “She never came.”

  “She gave you your life back. Does that mean nothing to you?”

  “I chose to become a vampire so I would be strong enough to punish her for her lies. She made me a human again so she could hold me prisoner here on her cursed mountain, tormenting me by making me her slave.”

  “You are not her slave,” Perkunas scoffed. “I’ve been watching. She treats you with nothing but kindness, despite how cruel you are to her.”

  Aldric tensed, a sudden suspicion sending icy tendrils of fear down his spine. “Have I angered you? Is that why you’ve come?”

  Perkunas shook his head. “On earth you punished those who destroyed your village, so you have not earned a punishment from me for that. What you did to Valkyrine, you did at her request.”

  He tilted his head at that last one and once again Aldric was disgusted to find himself fighting not to blush. Something about the god seemed to revert him to the naïve child he hadn’t been for over two hundred years--and he didn’t like it.

  “And as for how you treat Saule,” Perkunas continued, “she brought you here of her own free will. If she wishes to deal with you herself, I will not intervene.”

  “I will not intervene.”

  Perkunas’ words echoed in Aldric’s skull and he frowned.

  “You sound like Saule,” Aldric muttered. “She is always insisting that it is not her place to intervene in the wars of men.”

  The thunder god shrugged. “She doesn’t lie. If the gods were to get involved in every war, the earth would be destroyed in the fury of our battles. A god’s power is too destructive to be unleashed in such a way. Better that we choose small ways to help, individuals to assist.”

  “But Saule used to fight,” Aldric pressed. “She used to ride her chariot into battles, slaying the enemy with her sword as she cut a swath over the battlefield.” His voice took on a faraway tone as his mind floated back into the past, to the stories he’d heard as a child and then passed on as a priest. “Surely you must remember the battle of Kaunas?”

  Perkunas nodded. “Of course. Saule was in rare form that day. There was not a single enemy left for me to track down after darkness fell.”

  Aldric stared into the distance without seeing anything. He could almost feel the texts in his hands, his fingers caressing the old paper as he read about Saule and her fierce protection of her people. Images of his goddess had danced in his head, shining with the light of the sun, the drops of her enemies’ blood shining like rubies on her golden skin.

  “She has fought for her people since that day, Aldric,” Perkunas said gently. “You cannot tell me you did not hear of her battle with Alklha? The monster nearly swallowed the sun--”

  An image of the monstrous Alklha, its giant wings scraping against the sky as it fought to swallow the heavenly bodies of the moon and sun, filled Aldric’s head. A shiver ran down his spine, a natural reaction to have when thinking about a creature of such darkness. Even the black god Chernobog would have to be careful or else lose a hand to a creature like Alklha.

  “I am not saying that Saule never fights for her people,” Aldric acknowledged grudgingly. “She fights when it suits her.”

  Perkunas sputtered a laugh. “And when does it suit anyone to take on a beast like Alklha? Listen to yourself. You speak nonsense and do not realize it.”

  “Saule used to fight with us against our enemies whether they were human or monster. Why does she now claim that she has no place fighting in the wars of men? I was loyal to her, my entire village was loyal to her. Why did she let the Russians destroy us? How could she listen to our pleas and not come? What kind of a goddess sits in her golden palace while her people die beneath her?” He reached behind him, grabbing his braid and wrapping it around his fist until the pain took the edge off his growing frustration. “Why can Saule not have your loyalty? You remain as constant as the seasons, striking down the wicked and meting out justice. I have witnessed more than one death at the end of your lightening and it is glorious.”

  “Such flattery. I am pleased to have earned such praise.” Perkunas shot him a teasing glance. “And yet it was Saule you chose to dedicate your life to.”

  Aldric paused, his eyebrows rising to his hairline. “I meant no offense. Of course if I had known then what I know now, I would have pledged my loyalty differently. You are much more deserving of--”

  “Relax, I am only joking. Going into the service of a deity is a very personal decision and it would be insulting for me to suggest you had chosen wrong.”

  “I am more than suggesting it,” Aldric said bitterly. “I am saying it outright.”

  Perkunas rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “I cannot answer your questions, Aldric. I do not know why Saule changed her ways.”

  “Perkunas, our people need someone to fight for them.” Aldric tried to keep his face and voice calm as he appealed to the thunder god. “You could send me back to earth, free me from Saule’s enslavement. She would not dare to go against you.”

  “Nor would I dare to go against her,” Perkunas pointed out. “You know what they say about a woman scorned.” He shook his head. “Saule will release you when she believes the time is right. It is not for me to say.”

  “She intends to keep me until I forgive her,” Aldric growled. “And that will never happen.”

  “You amaze me, Aldric,” Perkunas said, shaking his head. “In all my days, I have never known anyone who managed to hold onto such hatred for such a long time. How is it that time has not eaten away even one iota of your animosity for Saule?”

  “After what she--”

  “The destruction of your village was a tragedy that no man should have to live through,” Perkunas interrupted. “But, sadly, it is a tragedy that many have. I have struck down men who’ve committed such crimes, and I have seen their victims years later. They m
ourn, but they move on.” He shook his head, a frown pulling at his lips. “How does your hatred stay so fresh?”

  Images floated through Aldric’s mind, but he hesitated to speak. He had never told anyone about the ghosts, had never thought anyone would believe him. But perhaps . . .

  “My people come to me in visions,” he whispered.

  Perkunas frowned harder. “Visions?’

  Aldric nodded, unease tightening his nerves. “I started seeing them years after my death at the fangs of the vampire. They came to me when my thirst for vengeance started to wan.” He stared into Perkunas’ eyes, willing the god to understand. “They stare at me, waiting for me to avenge their deaths.”

  “Did your fellow vampires also see these ghosts?’

  Aldric shook his head. There had been times when a ghost had appeared to him in the presence of Anton, Kurt, Bronislovas, or Vincentas, but none of them had ever shown any sign that they saw the ghost. Most times they asked Aldric about his change in mood, looking around without even pausing when their gaze passed by the specter.