Death Waltz Read online

  “Liasare,” his voice startled her for she had felt that serenity her cove always seemed to bring to her. “I can tell you’ve found your place. This is where you’ll go whenever you think you’re in a dangerous situation and you need to keep your wits about you. This place, love, will protect you. It always has, and it always will. It’s yours and yours alone. Call it forth and use it often. Do it during busy times of the day so you don’t have to search for it. Bring it to the forefront of your mind, so it’s ready and waiting for you whenever you need it. Understand?”

  “Yeah, I do, Jurek.”

  “Your place will serve and save you.”

  She sat up and smiled. “I love my place. Can I tell you about it?”

  “Yes, I’d love to hear of it.”

  So she did. When she finished he said, “Someday, I will find your cove for you and take you there. I want you to see it in person.”

  “No, Jurek.”

  He gave her a questioning look.

  “It’s always been my most perfect place. What if I went there and the real thing disappointed me? I would rather have my place be the way it is in my mind, than face that. I have my own cove forever, untouched by anyone but me.”

  “I think you’re right. Work on pulling up your cove all the time. It has to be there, waiting for you, almost as though you barely need to think of it. Okay?”

  “You got it.”

  He tested her repeatedly for the next several days, until she was able to have it at the tips of her fingers. It hadn’t been that difficult because Liasare had all but lived in that cove from the time she was thirteen until she was about twenty-two. She’d finally reached the age where she could cut her awful mother out of her life and move beyond the terrible things she’d said and done to her. Once she crossed that bridge, she was able to move on with her life and not look back. Her cove had been put in the back of her mind, like an old friend, always there if needed.

  Later that day they were sitting together when his head slanted at that strange angle. She began to recognize it as either he was giving serious thought about something, analyzing something, or something was troubling him.

  She reached out and touched his thigh and asked, “What is it?”

  A dark mask of fury had come over his face. “I have just been summoned by the Triumvirate.”

  “Yes, what is that, by the way? You’ve mentioned that name before and I meant to ask you about it.”

  “I’ve no time for explanations now. I’ll tell you when I return.”

  He flashed out of the room, anger pouring off of him like hot lava from a volcano.

  Liasare sat and stared at the empty place he had just vacated, not knowing what had happened or what to expect upon his return.

  She waited for hours ... and hours. By the time he returned, which was well past midnight, she was a jumbled mass of nerves. She had nearly twisted her hands to death, and her stomach felt like a million butterflies had gone to war and for some reason, none of them would give up.

  Chapter Five

  The crash of the door opening was her first clue something was terribly wrong. The noise had startled her and she was already on her feet when he stormed into the room. Without saying a word, he headed straight for the counter where the liquor was kept. Grabbing a glass, he poured three fingers of tarynyac, a brandy-like drink favored by Praestanis. He downed it in one swallow. He refilled his glass and repeated his actions. Liasare gasped. It wasn’t Jurek’s drinking that shocked her. He imbibed frequently, but did so because he enjoyed the taste. This was something different altogether. He was drinking to drown himself, calm his nerves, or numb them.

  When he went for the third glass, Liasare spoke up. “Are you going to continue down this path of destruction, or are you going to fill me in?”

  He never turned to face her, but downed another glass instead. When he set the glass down, she noticed his trembling hand. She’d never seen him react this way and that small tremor sent a prickle of fear creeping down her spine.

  “Alaric, please talk to me.” She walked up to him and put her arm around him pressing herself into his back. His tense muscles screamed at her, alarming her. In all the time they’d been together, in all the hell they’d been through, she’d never seen him react this way. Whatever had happened was bad ... very bad.

  “You’ve always been here for me. You saved me Alaric, brought me back from hell. I was locked inside of that mental prison of mine. You brought sanity back to my life. You brought love into my life. We’re a team Alaric. Tell me what’s upset you so much.” She rested her cheek against his chest.

  In a broken voice that she’d never heard before, he answered her. “Quite honestly, I don’t know where to start.”

  “Why don’t you try at the beginning?” she softly suggested.

  He snorted. “When you hear what I’m about to tell you, you’ll despise my very existence Liasare. You’ll wish you’d never met me.”

  “How can you even possibly think that?”

  “Because I did it. I’m the one who destroyed Earth.”

  He moved to dislodge himself from her grasp, but she only tightened her hold on him.

  “What does that mean?”

  “The pandemic Liasare. I’m the one responsible for it.”

  Her arms fell to her sides in shock. He could have knocked her over with a feather at that point.

  He walked across the room, still unable to look at her. He bowed his head as he stretched his arms out and leaned into the wall.

  She stared at his back, momentarily frozen with surprise at his revelation. In one of those blinding moments of clarity, she knew Jurek must’ve had a damn good reason for doing what he did. Knowing what she knew about him, she knew with great certainty, he would never have done anything so heinous as that unless he’d either been forced or had some other sound reason. She loved this man. No, she felt much more than mere love for him. Liasare also realized that she would forgive him for anything.

  Jurek felt her hands on his shoulders, and then he felt them encircling his waist. When she pulled him next to her body, he nearly broke down.

  “I can’t ask you to love me, knowing I am a murderer.”

  “It’s much too late for that. Besides, I too, am a murderer Alaric. I want to hear all of it. Why you did it. But I also want you to know that you must trust me enough to tell me the worst of the worst. I’m your mate and I won’t judge.”

  He swiveled in her arms so quickly if she hadn’t been holding on to him, she would’ve fallen. His head was buried in her neck and she felt his shudders for the longest time. Soothing him as best she could, she promised him she would always be there for him.

  “I didn’t jump on this train only for the good times, you know. I’m in it for the good and the bad.”

  “I don’t deserve you.” She felt and heard his muffled voice as he spoke.

  “Well, I feel the same.” Running her hands through his hair, she asked, “Would you like to sit down?”

  “Yeah, because this is going to take awhile.”

  “If I get you another tarynyac, will you promise to sip it?” she smiled.

  “Yes.”

  She walked over to the counter, refilled his glass, and brought it to him. Then she grabbed his hand and tugged him to the couch.

  “You already know how the Xanthians kidnapped my father and sister. The Xanthians said they’d release them if I would steal the virus and find a way to cause the pandemic on Earth. That was a simple thing really. That’s when I first saw January.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She was working as in intern at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. That’s where the virus specimens were stored. Tak, Ludo, Marik, two others, and myself broke in and stole the most virulent strains of hemorrhagic smallpox from their lab. That night, we passed January in the corridor. I immediately knew she wasn’t human. She didn’t at the time.”

  “That must have been before she found out that her fath
er was a Vesturion.”

  “It was. That was also why your mother despised her.”

  “I know. My mother is a bitch anyway. But she was brutal to January. So you saw her in the corridor?”

  “Yes, we passed her and I could communicate through telepathy with her. I told her to leave. Gods, I almost killed her. She got that damn disease, you know. And then you ... I could have killed you too!”

  “Sshh! You didn’t even know me then. I was what, nine at the time? Go on with your story.”

  “So we got the virus, aerosolized it and released it all over Atlanta, including the airport. I don’t know if you remember it, but it was one of the busiest airports on Earth at the time. Within a couple of weeks there was an epidemic and then a few weeks later they had a pandemic on their hands. Liasare, because of me, almost seventy percent of Earth’s population was wiped out.”

  “But what about your father and sister.”

  “Those fucking Xanthians reneged on their deal,” he spat. “They refused to release them. That’s when I went to the Guardians because I knew they had experience in getting around the Xanthian security, which is basically impossible. I should know, because I designed their prison security system myself.”

  “Okay, I’m lost here.”

  Jurek jumped up and started pacing. “Liasare, for years I worked as a mercenary. That was the basis for LSE. After Larensa died, I became sort of a nomad. I roamed the universe and did some unsavory things, most of them centered on debauchery. I don’t really care to revisit that part of my life with you, but suffice it to say, it left me unfulfilled, always searching for something more. That’s when I decided to become a gun for hire and LS Enterprises was born. I did quite well, as you can imagine, and Lare-Stell Base was created. You’ve probably guessed it was named for Larensa and Stellan.”

  She nodded as she had already figured that out. “Why a mercenary?”

  “I was angry. I was an asshole. I was powerful. I wanted to show my ass. I don’t know. I wasn’t a very nice person.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t want to make any excuses for my behavior with you. I didn’t start turning my life around until I met January. She brought something out in me that I couldn’t explain at the time. My mother began to visit me ... first in dreams and then in visions. I think she was preparing me for you ... trying to get me to change. She must have known you would never accept me the way I was back then. Larensa’s death, my upbringing, my father’s abandonment of me ... I don’t know. I was a fucking asshole. There’s no other way around it. How many times have you said so yourself ?” He smirked at her.

  “Well, there was that,” she admitted with a rueful smile.

  “So I designed this amazing security system for the Xanthian prison, but when Rayn Yarrister, Rowan’s oldest son was taken prisoner, his mate Maddie was somehow able to break him out. That’s how I got the idea to go the Guardians for help in getting my father and sister out. I didn’t give them a choice. I took January as collateral.”

  “Collateral? You mean when you kidnapped her?” she asked in shock.

  “Yeah. I was a real prick about that too. Rykerian nearly lost it because it was right after they found each other. You know how Vesturions are. I thought he was going to go crazy. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I do now.” His eyes penetrated hers as he gave her a knowing look. “I felt the same way when I couldn’t find you for three days. I wanted to die.” His voice was ragged with agony.

  Liasare hugged him before she could stop herself. “Alaric, in my dreams when I’ve seen you suffer, it was more than I could bear. I would destroy the universe to save you. Do you hear me?”

  “That’s quite a statement, love. Don’t you think that’s going a bit overboard?”

  “No! I would do anything for you. I swear I would.” Her eyes blazed with golden flames and Jurek knew she spoke the truth.

  “I said it before, but I’ll say it again. I don’t deserve you.” His lips crushed hers before either of them could say another word. Instant fire burst between the two of them, but they both knew they needed to put their passion on hold. There was too much to discuss right now.

  “I know, I know. Don’t say it.” Now she rubbed his bottom lip for a change and he started laughing. “I can see why you like doing this so much,” she smiled. “Okay, so what happened afterwards?”

  “Well, I kept January at Lare-Stell for a while and that’s when we became really close friends ... like brother and sister. Both of us were puzzled by it. We didn’t understand the closeness we felt between us. But the Guardians eventually got my sister out although my father sacrificed his life in the process. It was the only noble thing he’d ever done. The thing of it all is my father hated my guts for killing my mother. I thought that somehow saving his ass would make him love me. How fucked up is that? And my sister, Zulietta, is the most selfish person alive. I destroyed Earth for two people that didn’t give a rat’s ass about me. I did it because somehow I thought I could make amends for killing my mother.”

  “But how could your father be killed if he was Praestani?”

  “No, he wasn’t Praestani. My mother fell in love with an Entarian. He had no power. When they mated, she bestowed the gift of longevity on him. He aged like a Praestani but he didn’t possess Praestani powers. When she died, he left me and went back to Entara. Years passed before he married another woman and had my sister Zulietta. I doubt you’ll ever meet her. I haven’t seen her since the Guardians freed her. It’s a good thing, though. You’ll be spared from her selfish behavior.”

  “Dear God, Alaric. I’m so sorry you went through that. You’ve carried this guilt your whole life for your mother’s death and now for this. Don’t you see? You were as much a victim as the ones on Earth who lost their lives. It’s time you stopped beating yourself up over this and move on.” She grasped his hand and laced her fingers with his, pulling him back down to the couch.

  “Liasare, how can you not hate me after all I’ve done?”

  She looked at him and brushed his hair off his face. “There were so many days I wanted to strangle my mother. I just wanted her to tell me how sorry she was that I was disfigured instead of telling me how awful I looked. Who does that shit to their kid? I lived with that every day, but I had my brother to keep me sane ... to keep me from losing all hope in myself. You didn’t have that. Your mother was gone and you blamed yourself. Then when you finally found happiness and love, you lost that love to the product of your love. And then your son died too. I can’t begin to imagine that. To top that off, your father left you and you never had him around. Then you think you can finally redeem yourself in his eyes, and even that doesn’t work out. Your actions have huge consequences, but the wrong ones. I would bet your sister doesn’t even care about what happened to her father or the population on Earth either. You carry enough hate for yourself Alaric. You don’t need any more. I could never hate you anyway. I told you that earlier and I meant it. I just want you to believe it.”

  He stared down at her hands as they held his and said, “I still don’t believe I deserve you.”

  “Then consider us even because I’ve never felt I deserved you either. Even when you pissed me off to no end.”

  This time it was her lips that crushed his. She sucked his lower lip into his mouth and ran her tongue across it. He groaned into her mouth as his tongue met hers. “Don’t ever stop kissing me Liasare. Your mouth was made for this,” he whispered against her lips.

  She finally pulled away from him and asked, “Wait. Is that the end of the story?”

  “I only wish.” She suddenly felt his body tensing with anger again and saw that his beautiful lavender and silver eyes had turned into orbs of obsidian. Through clenched teeth, he bit out, “My best friend for most of my life has betrayed me ... betrayed us. Tak has gone to the Triumvirate and brought forth a challenge. He claims that you don’t have the true power and has challenged us to demonstrate it in front of the Praestani people. The Triumvi
rate has to act and has issued a summons for us to present ourselves as mates.”

  “I don’t understand. What is the Triumvirate and why does this anger you so much? Why can’t we just show them?”

  “No, Liasare, it’s you who doesn’t understand. The Triumvirate is a three person governing body that is the representation of the people of Praestan. This won’t be just a quick show and tell and a bye-bye. What the people are now demanding is that we have a ceremony that will include a true mating and sharing of power.”

  “Oh. Is this like a wedding, because if so, I’m good with that? I love you Alaric and I’ll do whatever it takes to show them.”

  Jurek looked at her and then down at his lap. He took a deep breath and looked back into her eyes. She noticed the obsidian was changing into lavender, indicating his anger was dissipating.

  Smiling, she said, “It’s okay Alaric. We’ll make it work.”

  “Liasare, you really don’t understand. What they’re demanding is for us to show what you and I have shared between us ... intimately.”

  Her eyes widened in alarm. “You mean we have to have sex in front of everyone?”

  “No, not that. But we have to share our power Liasare ... intimately, like we do when we make love. Are you following me? This will be very intrusive. We will be on display for all of Praestan to see. Do you understand now?”

  She swallowed, but her throat had become so dry, it was with great difficulty. “I ... why do they want us to do that?” she asked in a small voice.

  He wrapped her in his arms and said, “Because my traitor of a friend has claimed that this power doesn’t exist. He did this to get back at me Liasare. Tak’s pissed off at me and he knew this would be the only true way he could get back at me without repercussions.”

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry Alaric. This is all my fault.”

  “Your fault? How? He was my friend. And now you are going to face humiliation because of him. I’m the one who is sorry. So fucking sorry. I won’t make you do this. You won’t have to do this.”