Status: Under construction

Blood Sacrifice

Ari



It was cold outside, the last bits of biting wind washing off as spring was nearing an end. It had been a freezing winter and spring still tasted like ice and snow. Ari didn’t feel cold, but she knew that it was cold. She could tell by the kind of wind that was blowing through the garden.

Rows of roses and beautiful flowers decorated one of the several gardens on the property. This particular garden had gravel leading all the way to a stretch of old columns and vines stretching up the columns. Old, Greek statues stood at different parts of the walkway. Benches were situated alone the stonewall looking over the vines and the lower part of the gardens.

Footsteps echoed through against the walls as Ari walked up to the end of the columns. There was a brick square with trees stretching over the top of the columns, a statue in the middle of the small area overlooking the rest of the property. Ari flicked her hair over her shoulder as she stepped up next to the statue, looking out.

Wind ripped up the ridge and tore at Ari. She didn’t budge, though her hair was snapping. She leaned against the statue and looked at the windows that had light in them. They burned like coals after a fire had been smudged out, a quiet glow.

“Look’s beautiful, from up here, doesn’t?” Ari looked to her right. Tyler was at her shoulder in a second, his chest touching her skin lightly but firmly enough to announce his presence. He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were focused on the house, watching the lights. “I missed seeing it all week.”

Ari grit her teeth. “You pushed too hard.”

“I have to push to get you to look at me, sometimes.”

“That isn’t true.”

Tyler stopped looking at the building and looked down at Ari. His eyes were dark in the light. He was still dressed in all black from sweeping the Tombstones all week. “Isn’t it?”

Squaring her shoulders, Ari turned around. Her face was gentle as she looked up at Tyler. They were chest to chest. She could smell everything on him. The smell of the Tombstones, his own personal smell and the scent of a fresh meal in his veins. “I look at you all the time,” Ari said gently. “Just when no one else can tell.”

“Including myself.”

“You already push it in public. Imagine if you knew how often I watched you.”

Sighing heavily, Tyler’s hands found a soft grip on Ari’s waist. She could fill the heat of his fingers through her shirt, and she shivered lightly under the touch of his hands on her. They were firm and comforting. “Tell me,” he whispered, bending down and asking the question against her neck. Ari closed her eyes for a moment, feeling his breath and the rough hair that made his beard on her skin. “When do you watch me, Ariadne?”

It was hard to breathe but Ari compiled a list in seconds. “When you leave with your unit, I watch you from my window. You’re always the third in line, right behind your captain and whoever is leading your unit- sometimes it’s me.”

“And?”

Ari’s hand ran up his arm, gripping the back of his neck as he brushed his nose up her neck, nuzzling her. “And when you take blood from the vein, you always murmur something kind first. I watch you when you practice, and I know that you are better with a shot gun than you are with a pistol, just as you are better with a sword than a knife.”

With Tyler’s breath hitting her neck and his hands pulling her waist to meet his, Ari felt the fangs in her mouth throb. Sometimes they did that when she was hungry or felt desire, the distinction between hunger and lust sometimes blurred. “Do you know why I’m better with a sword?”

His lips were against her ear and one hand was running up her side. “Because I allow you to be,” she purred, tilting her head back as one hand of his came to grip the side of her neck, his thumb running along the edge of her jaw. “No one else your rank is allowed to touch them.”

“That isn’t why I’m good with them.”

“You’re good because you were born to be good.” She felt him smile as he pressed a gentle kiss to her neck. For a monster of the night, sometimes he was delicate with her. She enjoyed that. “And because you’re sword is also an extension of me. You fight well with me.”

“Too bad you don’t let me fight against you.”

With a low growl that got stuck in her throat, Ari pushed him hard against a pillar. His hands dropped to his side as she glared at him, her nose scrunched and one corner of her lip curled up, a single fang visible. She was vibrating with irritation but Tyler leaned against the column, watching her.

“You know why I don’t.” Tyler shrugged a shoulder. He was beautiful. He had always been beautiful. Ari knew that even as a human, he was a handsome man. There was something about him that exuded charm, so much so that at first, a lot of the members of the Stats- the upper class- loved him. Now they hated him, partly because Ari's rumored favoritism. “If you had a shred of respect for me, you wouldn’t make me do those things.”

“You know as well as I do that no one makes you do anything.” Ari’s expression changed and became balanced and calm. Whatever she was thinking was no longer visible to the world, but Tyler watched her all the same. He was almost invisible in the dark, dressed in all black. The only things uncovered were his hands and his head from the neck up. “Do you think I should make it easy on you, Ariadne? Do you think that I should just do as you say, and not test you in front of them? It would be odd, wouldn’t it, if I always did what you. Suspicious, really.”

Ari turned her back on him. “What’s suspicious is how time after time, I haven’t killed you. I’ve killed others for less.”

Tyler was pressed against her back again. His hands were on her hips, pulling her back to press against his chest. She could feel every muscle through his shirt, ever contour and even one of his thicker scars. “The others you’ve killed were not me, were they?”

Whirling, Ari faced him. Her hands were holding his face an inch away from hers. She had the blank expression still, her brown eyes slightly squinted, scrutinizing his face. “No, they were not.”

Roughly, she pulled his mouth to hers. Ari kissed him savagely, not caring if her fangs opened his lip, not caring that the amount he was pulling her into him should have shattered her body. Tyler could break her into a thousands pieces and she would put herself back together and let him do it again. But he would never break her. He would die for her first, and they both knew it.

With blood on his lips, Tyler began to kiss along her jaw. Ari jumped and he caught her, legs wrapping around his waist as he pushed her against a pillar. Her hair was a satin curtain, falling to shield their faces from the moonlight as he left his blood on her skin, scarlet imprints.

At her throat, Tyler left wet, open mouth kisses. Ari made a sound between a purr and a moan, both animal and the human in her reacting as his tongue traces a spot over the soft flesh of her neck before biting down softly, the blood from her body gushing into his mouth.

Only a single scarlet tear escaped Tyler’s lips as he groaned into her throat, taking long, slow draughts.

If anyone of the coven saw a Drak- a lowly vampire from nothing- biting into her neck and blood sharing, they would have killed him at her feet. Ari wouldn’t have been killed, but she would never be taken seriously again. Many suspected that Ari Dimitrikova was sleeping with Tyler, but most of them thought she wouldn’t sink down the level of blood sharing.

Pulling away from her neck, Tyler looked up at the moon. His pupils were dilated and the blood from his mouth ran into the stubble on his chin and down his throat. Ari bent her head, running her pink tongue quickly up his throat, cleaning the blood and placing her mouth on his. Ari could taste the blood in his mouth, the raw plasma that went from her to him. Ari could taste his anger, his fear and his love and she wanted all of it, she wanted to consume it.

Biting down hard on his lip, Ari drank him in. She kissed him just as much as she swallowed the kiss, her tongue burning hot against his. His hands were the only sun that she had felt in years, burning her skin. She ran her fingers through his hair pulling at the ends as if she could rip some sort of divinity out of him. His fingers were twisted in her hair, pulling her mouth ever closer to his.

A sharp sound caused Tyler to drop Ari and appear several feet away, leaning in the shadows. Ari leaned against the pillar braiding her hair absently as she stared at the glowing lights beneath her, listening to the crunching footsteps of someone approaching.

“What a lovely night to look at the stars,” Con breathed out in a singsong voice. He was swinging an umbrella around by its curved handle as he stopped by Ari, who rolled her eyes. “Oh wait, you can’t see the fucking stars because it’s about to rain.” On cue, thunder sounded in the distance. “Ground praetors are coming this way. Let me walk you in and keep you dry, love.”

“You’re a good friend.”

He opened the umbrella. “The best.” Con glanced towards where Tyler was staring, expression totally blank. “East end is empty,” Con informed him. “I would hurry, Drak boy. Never know when someone is accidentally going to forget to distract East watch.”

“Is that a threat?”

Ari answered for Con. “It was not a threat, mon cheri. Go.”

Without another word, Tyler was gone. Con looked at Ari with brows raised. The first few heavy drops of rain began to fall, hitting the umbrella with harsh sounding droplets. “You all are fucked.”

*

Jonathan was sitting on the balcony edge, dressed in silk pajama pants and no shirt. His skin was glowing in the moonlight, back muscles flexed as he leaned over the book in his lap. A small, white teacup made of bone china with a floral pattern on the rim was delicately placed in a saucer next to him, precariously balanced on the edge of the railing.

Delicately, Ari sat down next to him, swinging her legs over the stone railing and looking down at the ground far beneath them. They were on the top floor, overlooking the long stretch of land behind the Towers. Like the night before, storm clouds were rumbling in the distance, lightning flashing purple in a thick cloud.

In the back yard, Lenore was walking slowly, pointing out things to the three girls trailing behind her. They were dressed in the traditional white of humans tied in a bloodship. Though they were not yet permanent, they were barefoot, their feet already dirty from walking around the garden on Lenore’s tour.

Over the past week, Ari had seen the three a few times. They popped up in random places such as the indoor pool or the lounge room, their expressions drinking in everything about their new life. Ari didn’t pay particular attention to them half of the time, since she saw the white dresses everywhere every day. There were over fifty bonded bloodships within the coven itself. Ari got used to the ghosts with faces and without names.

“Any reason why you watch these three in particular?” Ari was swinging her feet back and forth.
The black dress that she wore was dangerously short and modern. Unlike a few of the Stat women, she bounced back and forth from old clothing that was heavy and made of velvet and fine silks, and modern clothing that was light and thin. Her thigh sheath was visible, the end of a ring dagger pressed against her skin.

“You know why.”

“Sure, she looks a little bit similar to Thalia. But you realize Thalia had lighter hair and was taller, no? Her face is the same but…” Ari shrugged. "That girl could never be Thalia." Ari's expression was deadly. "Ever."

“Her eyes are different,” Jonathan offered. “I am well aware of the differences between the girl and... Thalia” Jonathan hadn’t looked up from the book. Ari made an irritated sound and snatched it from him, tossing it behind her and hitting the shut door. He sighed and looked at her. “Must you always have my full attention, sister?”

“Yes. Because lately you give yours to a scrawny little blood faucet from the Tombstones. You’re aware how unhealthy that is? She’s in a grace period to be in Nikolai’s- rather large- harem, Jonathan. I do not understand the fascination.”

“Just curious.”

“Curiosity kills.”

“We’re immortal.”

Ari glared. “She isn’t. Shall I break her neck to show you?”

Like the storm coming ever closer and picking up the wind, Jonathan’s face clouded over. His voice was a few octaves lower when he said, “That is unnecessary.”

“I was joking.” Ari touched her brother’s cheek fondly, melting away the dark look that crossed his features. Ari worried about him. Too often did the things he failed at haunt him. Thalia's ghost haunted them both, and now there was a human look alike about the Towers “I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt you, stupid.”

“Forever is a long time, Ariadne. We’ve done things to hurt one another before. I’m sure we’ll do them again eventually.” He smiled softly at her and she dropped her hand. “Besides, I’m not the only one who gives attention where it isn’t deserved.”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Does Tyler enjoy the short dresses and revealing thigh sheaths? I’m sure he does more than any of the other men- many of them, who are worthy- if you asked me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Which is why you must be told. You tread a dangerous line. Don’t you think if Nikolai believed what the others whispered to him, he would do worse than kill the Drak?” Ari clenched her teeth, vein in her jaw flexing angrily. “You know I don’t speak from an offended point of view. I don’t dislike him.”

“You dislike him for me.”

“That is true.”

Silence fell between them. Rain was in the air. When Ari licked her lips, she could taste it. Rain had changed over the years. Once upon a time, it had been fresh and new. Now it was rotten and foul, the air always poisoning the rain. Lenore led the girls quickly back inside before they were soaked to the bone.

Neither Jonathan nor Ari made a move to go inside. They sat silent and still, moon-painted gargoyles on the balcony. Next to each other, they looked so similar. They had similar problems, too, but different sides of the spectrum. Ari was savage and loved savagely. Jonathan was resigned and loved darkly.

When the first few drops of rain fell, they didn’t move. Ari looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. It was rare she got to feel the rain. Sun showers used to be something of a blessing, when she was a young girl, many years before. She was over two hundred somewhere, but stopped counting. Now she was timeless and sitting on the edge of a building with the rain beating down on her.

Jonathan sat next to her, just the same. He closed his eyes too and hummed lightly, the only outward sign that he was enjoying the rain. He didn’t seem to mind that his cup was overflowing with rainwater, or that his book was being soaked.

A tap on the glass made moth of them turn in time with one another. Con was standing at the glass, gesturing for them to come inside. Peeling herself from the balcony, Ari slinked inside of the house, Jonathan right after her. Both moved with feline grace, the smaller of the pride moving after Con.

The dress stuck to Ari’s body, a black oil on a tan canvas. Her hair hung in solid black ringlets as she continued to follow her friend, casting her eyes down the stairs to wear Lenore was reaching the top, the three Ghosts behind her. She flicked her eyes away easily, but she saw them pause and stare at her passing figure, the dress hiding nothing now that it damply clung to her skin.

“Lenore,” Jonathan greeted from behind Ari. Ari glanced at the Ghosts who were all zeroed in on her brother. Ari followed their gaze and almost laughed. Jonathan was standing there shirtless with silk pants soaked through, clinging to him and hanging low on his hips. The beads of water probably looked like diamonds to them. Ari looked away, creeped out as she caught the scent of attraction from the three humans. “How are you?”

“Doing well, thank you for asking, your highness.”

Jonathan smiled. “Ladies.”

Ari caught up with Con, who glanced sideways at her. “Why is he putting on the charm? It isn’t like any of them are particularly interesting.”

Con was too perceptive, sometimes, so Ari rolled her eyes. “Does the word ‘hunger’ mean anything to you.”

“The word hunger means several things to me. One, my craving for blood, obviously. Two, my craving for the female anatomy, which I sometimes get confused with the first. Three, my hunger for ending life. Four-"

“Con,” Jonathan said, behind them once again. “If you don’t stop talking, I’m going to jump off the building.”

“Go ahead, prince. Not like it’ll do you much damage.”

Nikolai’s study was dark when Con opened the door, letting the two siblings in. Lightning lit up the room with the occasional blue flash. Other than that, there as a low fire smoldering in the fireplace and two large candles dripping in wax were above the door. Ari nearly rolled her eyes at the dramatic darkness, knowing how much Nikolai preferred candlelight to electric light, though they were in a modern age.

Wooden walls made up the study, which was larger than many of the bedrooms used for humans or Draks in the Towers. An ancient wooden table study near the door with papers strewn across it, some of them in different languages dead to the world. A heavy desk sat near the window and bookshelves line the wall across the room from the fireplace.

Inside of the office lingered the smell of fresh blood. Ari glanced across the room to where a red, velvet chaise was posed by the fire. One of the little humans was lounging on the couch, her white dress pale against her ebony skin. Her hair was black and flowing, tossed across her face to hide her expression. There was no blood anywhere on her, and the patterned mandala of Nikolai Dimitrikova was visible on her shoulder. Ari’s mandala was only two line changes different than Nikolai’s and Jonathans was only two lines and a curve different than Ari’s.

Nikolai leaned on the desk. He was dressed in dark dress-pants and a black button up shirt, rolled halfway up his arms. His face was dark and patient as Con left and shut the door. Con Westerling was rarely an errand boy, so Ari knew whatever it was important if Nikolai had asked him to retrieve them.

“What am I going to do with you both?” Jonathan and Ari exchanged glances, confused. “You both walk around looking like that, with every part of yourselves outlined and visible and yet….” He spread his hands. “You deny all suitors.”

Ari flicked her damp hair over her shoulder, smiling coyly at him. “We were taught to pick only the best, father.” She spun around to the table, her fingers running over the papers. “Maybe if you found me a beautiful prince from somewhere where you were from.”

“To dream, my dear.” Nikolai turned his amused expression onto Jonathan. “And what’s your excuse, Jonathan? Ari, I get. Her ego is the size of this empire and her attention span has the weight of teaspoon.” Ari growled and he ignored it. “But you? You are the man I have taught you to be.”

“Did you really call us here to talk about our love lives, father?” Jonathan turned to look at Ari. His expression had something dark flash across it. She stopped tracing the table and lightly approached him, taking her side by him for support. “I’m sure it was something extremely important.”

“Since I did skip out on the meeting with the Cortez coven, last week.”

Nikolai stared at her and lightning flashed behind them. Ari tried not to wince at the contortion of his expression. “Why wasn’t I aware that you weren’t there? What were you doing?”

Ari waved her hand. “Oh, you know. Training, that sort of stuff.”

Stuff?” Ari winced at the tone he was using and glanced at Jonathan, who now looked guilty that he had looked to her for help to get Nikolai off the topic of love and relationships. “That meeting was an important discussion between an alliance with another coven, now that there has been a change in leadership, Ariadne. That stuff, as you so neatly put it, is the job that comes with the title of being my daughter.”

“I understand.”

“You do not!” His tone had shifted from raging to cool in a second. Ari relaxed. It was always that way. She had to bear the brunt of his anger for a few moments before it passed into cool temperature of formal phrases and lack of affection. “However, we will discuss the issue of your punishment later.”

“Punishment?”

That was new.

“You don’t take your position seriously in a time it needs to be taken seriously, Ariadne. I must stop being lenient. I called you to here today to discuss a very large issue at hand. I need to trust that after all these years, you’ve learned something from me.” Ari’s face became solemn as she nodded once. “Good, because this coven will need many good leaders to head it.”

“Why?” Jonathan’s interest shown through his voice. “Does this have anything to do with your trip to Dies Irae?”

Ari made a face and muttered, “It is called Day of Misery.”

Both of the men ignored her comment. Nikolai nodded, sighing heavily. “There is a very serious issue at hand with the MacLeoir coven. My visit with Ailsa was cordial but unpleasant all the same. Very unpleasant. I fear that she wants a war.”

“Fear or know?” Jonathan asked.

Nikolai grimaced. “I know, Jonathan.”

Lightning followed the silence.
♠ ♠ ♠
Ari and Tyler sitting in a tree.

Con is the vampire equivalent to Varys, if you're a Game of Thrones fan. Well, that's partly true. He would never betray his friends for power. Ever. But he certainly is the lord of whispers.

Thalia is an important name. You will know her story later on. But she is pivotal in the sibling relationship between Ari and Jon.

Con

-N