Roxy had to sit on me to keep me from throwing myself out of the car every time Raphael was forced to come to a stop. I swore and thought seriously of cursing her - just a little one - but in the end Raphael and Roxy ignored my sobs and pleas and threats and drove us to Christian's home.
What Sebastian thought, I had no idea. He didn't look very lucid, and to tell the shameful truth, at that moment I didn't care what he thought, In fact, I would have been more than willing to trade him for Christian's safe return.
"Good evening, Mrs. Turner," I told Christian's housekeeper as we stood on his doorstep. "You remember Raphael and Roxy from earlier today, of course. This is a friend of Christian's." I waved toward Sebastian, apparently lying dead in Raphael's arms. "He's... um... he's not feeling very well at the moment, and Christian asked if we'd get him settled in one of the bedrooms."
Evidently Mrs. Turner's impression of Christian's eccentricities covered two near strangers appearing at the door with her employer's girlfriend and a nearly dead man, because she didn't even bat an eye as she stepped back and allowed us in. Oh, she blinked a bit once she got a good look at my eyes, but she didn't faint or run screaming from the room, so I figured we were well ahead of the game.
"Will Mr. Dante be along shortly? There is a young lady waiting to speak with him," she said as we started up the stairs.
I stopped on the first stair. "Oh, really? What sort of a young lady?"
"It's a good thing you're not denying your fate any longer," Roxy called from the top of the stairs. " 'Cause that's the most jealous 'What sort of a young ladyI I've ever heard."
"Christian has been" - torn from my side... held prisoner... forced to endure who knows how many torments - "detained. Is this something I can help with?"
Mrs. Turner looked doubtful. "The young lady said Mr. Dante had asked her to repair some damage done to a floor in the wine cellar."
The Guardian! I'd forgotten all about her. Drat, what a time for her to come and put a cork in the conduit to hell.
"If it will make you feel better, I'll have a talk with her."
Mrs. Turner didn't look as if she'd feel a whole lot better, but I guess she figured I was the lesser of two evils, because she nodded and bustled off to dust something. I limped as quickly as I could up the stairs.
"This is all I need, a Guardian hanging around just when I need to focus on saving Christian."
"You don't know that anything happened to Christian," Raphael pointed out as he carried Sebastian into Christian's bedroom.
I trailed behind, wringing my hands and wishing I could scream and yell out my frustration and worry. "Oh, sure, he's in a house filled with ghost and vampire hunters, not to mention at least one demon and a triumvirate capable of destroying any of us without breaking a sweat, and I have nothing to worry about? Cow cookies! Christian sacrificed himself for Sebastian; I just know he did. And now he's in trouble and I have to go save him. So if you don't mind setting Sebastian down on the bed, I'll get him tucked in and then be on my way to rescue the man I love." I headed for the door as the last word left my lips.
"What about him? You can't just leave him like this. Even I can tell he's not going to last much longer," Raphael said as he set Sebastian down. The Dark One lay limp and exhausted on the bed, too weak to move.
I stopped at the doorway. Blast. I knew he was going to call me on that. "He needs blood."
Roxy and Raphael looked at Sebastian doubtfully. I waved my hand toward him. "It's obvious; I can feel his hunger from here. One of you is going to have to allow him to feed."
"Feed?" Roxy yelped. "You mean... feed?'
I tsked. "It's just a little blood. Think of it as a donation to a worthy cause. Look, I don't have time to stand around explaining it to you. I have Christian to go save."
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Raphael asked as Roxy stared at Sebastian in horror. The latter moved in feeble protest under her gaze. "You barely made it out of there on your own; how do you expect to find Christian and free him - that's assuming he isn't staying there of his own free choice?"
I was across the room and in front of Raphael even before I could draw breath. "Christian is strong. He would never yield to the triumvirate. Never!"
"Not them," Sebastian whispered, his voice a frail reed of sound. I glanced down at him, the tatters of his shirt making it possible to see his ribs clearly outlined beneath the tautly stretched skin of his chest. His breathing was labored and slow, much slower than it should be. His sunken, hopeless eyes begged me for a release to his nightmare. I was torn between the need to rush out and save Christian, and helping the friend I knew meant a lot to him.
I stood next to the bed, hesitating, knowing that if I didn't do something, Sebastian would slip away. He needed help, and I couldn't turn to either Roxy or Raphael for that help. They simply did not understand.
I hope you're all right, Christian. I hope you understand that I have to do this first.
Sebastian moaned a wordless protest as I sat on the bed next to him.
"You need blood," I told him quietly, rolling up my sleeve. Roxy moved away from the bed, giving us room as I offered my wrist.
Sebastian closed his eyes, his lips thinned into a tight line.
"Come on," I said, shaking my wrist beneath his nose. "I'm offering this to you of my own free will. Please take it. Christian would want you to."
His breath hissed through his teeth.
"I want you to."
He turned his face away from my wrist.
I squished his lips apart and shoved the delicate flesh of my inner wrist up against his teeth. "For God's sake, I've never had to beg anyone to drink my blood. Now will you just take it!"
His hands fluttered against the bed. "Not you," he mumbled against my wrist. "Beloved."
"Oh, for heaven's sake..."
"What's wrong?" Roxy asked as I straightened up.
"He won't feed off me. I think it's something to do with the fact that I'm Christian's Beloved."
"Glad to know you've finally seen the light," Roxy said, then tapped her chin as she thought. "You know, I think he's right. You haven't Joined with Christian, have you?"
I shook my head.
She continued chin tapping. "That makes sense. Once a Beloved is claimed, you go into kind of a holding zone, a limbo as far as other Dark Ones are concerned. You're not Joined, so you're not a Moravian, and yet you're not quite human because you've completed all but a few steps of Joining."
"There's just the last one remaining," I admitted. "Wait a minute - what do you mean I'm not quite human?"
"According to what Christian wrote in one of his books - you really need to read them; you're sadly ignorant of even the most basic Dark One lore, and that's bound to be a handicap when you're married to one - your blood is actually like poison to any other Dark Ones."
I gaped at her. "Of all the ridiculous things I've ever heard! My blood is not poisonous!"
"Not to Christian, no, but just you dribble a bit on poor Sebastian's lips and he'll be stiffer than a three-day-dead dog."
We all looked at Sebastian. He lay so still, so lifeless he almost looked as if he were already dead. I couldn't leave him like that, I just couldn't. Not only would Christian not want his friend to suffer; I couldn't allow it. Not when there was a way to help him.
"Now what will you do?" Raphael asked. I turned toward him and smiled.
He was out even before he saw the punch coming.
"What do you think you're doing?" Roxy gasped as Raphael hit the floor. She looked from his massive body to my small fist. "And more important, how did you do it?"
I grabbed one of his arms and nodded toward the other one. "Come on, help me - he won't be out for long. I used a spell to add some wallop to my punch, but it doesn't last long. I'm not very good at casting spells."
Roxy grunted as we heaved Raphael's torso up onto the bed, his head lolling next to Sebastian's thigh. I rolled up his sleeve and dragged his arm up over his head. "Dinner's served," I told Sebastian.
He looked from the wrist in front of his mouth down to the unconscious man lying half-on, half-off the bed.
"You don't have any other choice," I told him. "I realize you feel weird about dining off of someone who helped save you, but I won't force Roxy, and you turned me down. It's Raphael or nothing."
Sebastian nodded, his reluctance evident even as his lips parted.
"Raphael is going to be so pissed at you," Roxy said, her eyes wide as she watched Sebastian's fangs sink into Raphael's wrist. "I mean, majorly pissed. We're talking world-class pissed here."
"Tell him he has to take a number," I said, pulling the rag doll keeper from beneath my sweater and setting it carefully on the floor. "There are a lot of other people who were angry with me first. I might as well do this while Sebastian is filling up."
"Do what? What's that doll?"
I explained about the ghost Guarda had Summoned as I chalked out a circle.
"Wait a second, if she Summoned the ghost and bound it to a keeper, how can you do anything for her? I thought there was some rule that said first come, first served."
"There's another rule that I like better," I said as I pulled out a small pair of scissors, a length of ribbon, and the bottle of holy water. "Finders keepers."
Roxy hesitated for a moment, then came around to where I had drawn a circle.
"Is Raphael going to be all right with him?"
I glanced over to the bed. "Sebastian."
The Dark One's eyes opened, and I was startled to see they were a clear, true blue rather than the grayish black they had first appeared. His lips caressed Raphael's wrist.
"Don't take too much; he's one of the good guys. All right?"
He managed a small nod.
I sat down before the circle and snipped a long strand of my hair.
"I don't mean to be rude, but do you... er... trust him?"
"Yes." I glanced up at her. "I thought you were an expert on the Dark Ones. You of all people should know that Sebastian feels a sense of obligation to Raphael. He would never harm him."
"Oh. I guess you're right. It's just that Raphael's a friend, and I don't want to see him... er... drained dry, for lack of better word."
I smiled. "He won't be. Sebastian will take care."
"You can feel that?"
I nodded. "I can feel it."
"Okay." With one last glance at them, Roxy sat down beside me. "So how do you 'finders keepers' this ghost?"
I set the keeper in the circle, my strand of hair laid across the doll's neck. "I've never actually done this, so I'm not sure if it'll work or not. Theoretically it should, but who knows?"
The ribbon was used to bind the doll's hands behind its back. I dug into my bag until I found a length of plum-colored cloth wrapped around a long silver object.
"That's gorgeous. What is it?"
I held it up so Roxy could see the figures of two lovers entwined on the top. "It's a hatpin, really, one of the old-fashioned kind. A wizard friend of mine made it for me. I use it for spells, though."
"Cool. Does he take orders?"
I shook my head, glanced over to make sure Sebastian and Raphael were all right, then sketched a binding ward and closed the circle, the keeper and my hands within it. Using the hatpin, I pricked the doll's heart.
"This pin pierces your heart, I see, so let it now be bound only to me."
"Wow, magic," Roxy said, her eyes huge.
I snipped the ribbon binding the keeper's arms, signifying the spirit's bindings to Guarda being destroyed. "Threads your body first entwined, now find you are bound to mine."
"Why do spells always have to rhyme? I mean, it makes for some fairly bad poetry."
"It gets worse, I'm afraid," I told her as I wove the strand of my hair into the ragged, twisted cloth that made up the doll's hair. "As I am now part of thee, so you will answer only to me."
Roxy groaned.
"Last one."
"Good. I don't think I could survive much more. You really need to take a couple of poetry classes before you do this again. I'm thinking something along the lines of an ode would help."
I used the hatpin to prick my finger, pressing the drop of blood into two marks on either side of the circle. "With my blood I do command you to heed my call and stand."
"Oh, that was so lame - Hey! It's working!"
I pulled my hands from the circle as the air within turned opaque, first light gray, then darker, until the image of a small girl in Victorian dress shimmered in the air:
I grounded the spirit. "What is your name?"
"Honoria Entemann."
Roxy blew out a low whistle.
"Honoria Entemann, do you wish to be Released?"
I swore tears glittered in her ghostly eyes. She hugged the ghostly image of the rag doll to her chest and nodded. "Please."
I stood up, traced the ward of protection, and sprinkled ginseng all around the spirit, focusing my mind and speaking the words of Release. With my eyes closed, I summoned every last ounce of will to urge the spirit to move on.
"That was interesting. Is it actually supposed to do something?"
I opened my eyes. The teary-eyed ghost still stood before me. I swore under my breath and carefully stoppered the ginseng.
"Yes, it's supposed to do something, but I don't have time to figure out what went wrong. Esme, I Summon you."
Esme materialized before us. "Oh, my, you've sneezed up another one! What an adorable, sweet child! Where did you come from?"
Honoria threw herself at Esme and sobbed.
I limped over to the bed. "I didn't Summon her; I cut her loose from Guarda. Are Joy and the others all right?"
Esme stroked Honoria's head. "Yes, she's fine. She beat Antonio three hands in a row at strip poker, but I don't think he minded much. Jem decided to pierce his tongue, but something went wrong and now it's gone missing."
I blinked. "The piercing stud?"
"No, his tongue. He's most vexed about it, too."
I took a deep breath and pushed from my mind the thought of a disattached ghostly tongue. "I tried to Release Honoria but didn't have any luck, and I have to go save Christian just as soon as I talk to Sebastian and figure out what's holding Christian there, so if you could just take care of her for a bit..."
"I'd be delighted to. Come, little one. I have the most amazing thing to show you. It's called a television, and if we're lucky, Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be on BBC 2..."
Their forms evaporated as I gently touched Sebastian's head. "I think that's probably enough."
Slowly he pulled his mouth from Raphael's wrist, his tongue giving it a final flick as he gently released the arm.
"Wow," Roxy breathed, looking at the faint twin puncture marks on Raphael's wrist. The marks dissolved into nothing as we watched.
I eyed Sebastian. He still looked awful, but at least his skin had lost the grayish cast. "Rest for a minute; then I need to talk to you."
His eyes drifted shut.
Roxy and I managed to get Raphael onto the armchair next to the bed. I covered him up with a blanket, and quickly ran downstairs while Roxy stayed behind to watch over Raphael and Sebastian.
She looked up as I set a plate of pound cake and a glass of apple juice next to Raphael for when he woke up. "You know, I used to think this whole Dark One world was so fascinating, but I have to admit, it's a bit freaky seeing a vampire drinking your friend's blood."
I put my hand on Raphael's forehead and opened my mind up to him. I'm not very good at sensing people's emotions, but he didn't seem to be in any distress. "I think he's okay; Sebastian was careful. Raphael probably won't even know what happened unless you tell him."
She looked faintly sick. "Think I'll pass on that."
I glanced at Sebastian. He was watching us now, his eyes the clear blue of a summer sky, a faint flush of color on his cheeks.
"Can you talk?"
His throat worked as he nodded. "A bit."
He had an accent, but one that sounded slightly different from Christian's. More French, perhaps.
Roxy winced at his words. "Ow. Sounds like you're gargling glass."
I agreed, but felt little remorse in questioning him. I had done what I could to tide him over until he could be helped properly; now it was his turn to help me. "Did you see what happened to Christian when he went in to rescue you?"
He shook his head, lifting one fragile hand to touch his eye. "Couldn't see. Blind."
"Oh, I'm sorry. But you can see now, yes?"
He nodded.
"You do know that Christian saved you?"
His lips stretched into what must have been a smile, but just looked terrible with him so emaciated. "Yes. Knew he would. Brothers."
I stared. Christian had never mentioned a brother, other than having lost one when he was young. "Christian is your brother?"
He shook his head, his long fingers fumbling with the cloth until he found the area over his heart.
"Oh, I see, he's the brother of your heart. Well, good, then you understand why I'm so concerned about him. Is someone holding him?"
Pain filled Sebastian's blue eyes. "Didn't know. Hadn't thought he'd come back so soon."
"Who? The person who captured you? Is that who has Christian?" The air in my lungs seemed to thicken until I couldn't draw a breath.
Sebastian's throat worked as if he had a hard time saying the word. "Asmodeus."
My blood froze solid. Now I was not only not breathing; my heart had stopped as well. It was amazing I could still think. Then again, perhaps I was delusional. Perhaps I had just imagined that Sebastian had named the demon lord, the being who had once been a man and now ruled a dark army of such power that even wizards and mages feared to meet with them. Yes, I'm sure that was all it was - a mistake. Sebastian hadn't just spoken the name of one of the most frightening beings in all of existence.
"A demon lord." I exhaled, air suddenly finding its way into my lungs again.
"Oooh, I've read about them in Christian's books. They're bad news."
The knowledge of what Christian must be going through was dark in Sebastian's eyes, bringing tears to my own.
"I am not going to leave him there to suffer as you have suffered," I vowed, closing my hand around his fingers. His hands were weak, but I could feel the strength that they once held. "You have to help me, Sebastian. You have to tell me everything you know about Asmodeus, and how he came to be in cahoots with Eduardo and Guarda." I grabbed the tattered remains of his shirt and shook it to drive home just how serious I was. "You must tell me exactly what happened to you, how they caught you, how they kept you so weak you were unable to escape or even answer Christian's call, and most important, you have to tell me everything you can remember about Christian saving you!"
"Allie, honey, I think you're choking him. I know you're deafening me, and if you don't want Christian's housekeeper to come running to see what all the yelling is about, I'd suggest you lower your voice as well."
I looked down at Sebastian and realized I had gripped the cloth in such a way that he was strangling. He made no protest, though, just watched me as if I had a right to throttle him.
"I'm sorry," I said, releasing his shirt and smoothing it down. "I didn't mean to yell at you. You don't have to look at me like that; I'm not blaming you for what happened."
"He wouldn't have been there but for me," Sebastian replied, his voice a raw croak. I couldn't tell if it was with the pain of knowing Christian had felt him worthy of a sacrifice, or if I had damaged his throat while I was shouting at him, but either way, I couldn't let him suffer needlessly.
Roxy hurried over to Raphael when he moaned in his sleep. "I think he's about to wake up. He looks pissed even sleeping."
I nodded to let her know I heard her, then turned back to Sebastian. "Christian isn't the type of person to stand in the shadows and not right a wrong," I said slowly, smoothing the blanket over his chest.
"Rozzy?" Raphael tried to sit up, rubbing his face. "What happe'd?"
"I told Allie you were going to be mad. Are you okay? You look a bit blurry-eyed to me."
Sebastian's fingers picked fretfully on the blanket. I patted his hand. "Especially when someone he cares for is in trouble. Christian has so few friends, I know they mean everything to him; he would move heaven and earth to help those he loves..."
Especially someone like a woman who could redeem his soul.
"Feel blurry-eyed. What hit me?" Raphael was sitting up straight now, shaking his head and feeling his jaw gingerly.
I looked at the pain in Sebastian's eyes and was filled with shame at my own selfish desire that kept me from Joining with Christian, as I should have. He had said all along that once we were Joined, we would be more powerful together than we were separately, and yet he'd never pushed me to take the last step, never once made me feel pressured into doing it. He seemed happy with me just as I was, and yet I knew that it was my fault that he was trapped in that house, and I was sitting here safe and sound with Sebastian.
"Uh, that would be Allie. But she had a really good reason for decking you."
"No," I swore, my fist tightening around a handful of blanket.
"You didn't have a really good reason?" Roxy asked. She peeked at Raphael out of the corner of her eye. He was trying to stand, and after three tries he at last made it to his feet. "Er... I thought we were ixnay on the ampirevay eedingfay."
"We are. I had a very good reason for striking Raphael. I'm saying no, I will not let Christian suffer because of my stupidity."
"If you punch Christian like you did me, you have a hell of a nerve saying you won't let him suffer," Raphael complained, wiggling his jaw.
"She put a spell on you to make her punch more powerful," Roxy said helpfully. I glared at her. "What? I didn't want Raphael to think he can be bested by just anyone."
"That's reassuring to know. Now, if one of you would care to tell me why it was necessary to knock me out, I'd be grateful."
"I needed to feed," Sebastian said simply. "You saved me."
Raphael's yellow eyes darkened as he stared at Sebastian. "I what?"
"See? I told you he was going to be pissed!"
I held up my hand to stop Raphael. He had a bit of a "wild bull about to charge" look in his eyes. "Raphael, I'll explain it all to you later. Christian is my number one priority now. All right, Sebastian. I want everything, every last thing you can remember. Start at the beginning, when you were captured, and don't leave out a single, solitary - "
The door to the bedroom burst open in a huge blast of wind. I stiffened as the wind swirled around us, bringing with it a familiar scent.
"You fed my blood to a vampire? You knocked me out and fed my blood to him? Without even bothering to ask me how I felt about it?"
"Oh, Allie, child, we have trouble," Esme said as she spun through the door, caught in the spectral wind.
"You stood by and let her knock me out and feed me to the vampire?"
"Well, honestly, Raphael, what was I supposed to do? She's bigger than me, and she knows all sorts of cool spells. And besides, it's not like you need all that blood. Didn't your mother ever teach you to share?"
Honoria clung to Esme, her ghostly gray eyes huge with terror. I looked from her to Esme's pale face and worried eyes.
"It's my blood! I don't think it's asking too much to have a say in how it's dispensed!"
"Trouble?" I asked, the word weak on my lips. I didn't want to know. I just didn't want to know.
"I think I'll have that explanation right now, Allie," Raphael growled, stalking toward me.
I had as much on my plate as I could deal with. One more thing...
"I'm sorry, dear, but it seems the demon is back. The lower part of the house is filled with demon smoke. And I think the basement has been sucked into H-E-double-toothpicks."
... would break me.