The Blood of Caine

The Book

Freya found herself standing outside Caine's bedroom, hesitating. She thought about what had almost happened between them and how much she had wanted it to happen. How much she did want it to happen. She wasn't sure if she could walk into his library and be alone with him again without feeling that lust. She pushed the feeling away and knocked. She heard his voice permit her entrance from the other side of the door.

Caine was waiting for her, he looked ready to travel, "I've found it," he announced.

"It?"

"The Book, and you and I are going to retrieve it."

"Oh, okay," she was both relieved and disappointed.

"But quickly, we have an hour till sunrise."

Caine took her hand and led her out his room. Out the castle and into an SUV. He started the engine and drove straight down the Bourgo Pass. He drove so fast, Freya was pressed into the seat.

"How did you find it?" Freya asked.

"I thought long and hard about how we were going to get it back then I remembered the blood seal I had put on it. So that I would be the only one able to open it," he was speaking quickly, "so I thought, if they hadn't managed to break it I'd be able to find it."

"You mean they haven't actually opened it?"

"No but they are trying to sever my connection to it, I can't scry the book for longer than a minute."

"Why?"

"They've put something over the blood seal and, I must admit, it causes my body much pain, whatever it is."

"Oh."

Caine stopped the car outside the church, "I only saw the room it was in and I remembered the church then linked it all up with what you told Dmitri about how ironic the element of surprise can be."

Freya smiled, "So we thought they'd moved it, but they were expecting us to think that so they really didn't?"

"Exactly!"

He grabbed a crossbow off the back seat, leaped out of the car and jogged towards the old building. Freya followed, she was pleased to see that she and Caine thought similarly. Caine flung the door open then walked inside, ready to fire the crossbow. Freya drew her gun. Being in the church was painful but Caine was too determined to even look like he was in a little bit of pain.

For a while nothing happened and they'd made it down the stairs to the room that contained the book. That was where Hell reared its ugly head again. Caine shot a wolf in mid-leap while another crashed into Freya. The wolf bit into her throat and tore through her trachea, she got the gun into an adequate position and fired. The bullet ripped through the wolf's chest. Its blood spewed from the wound and over Freya's face then the wolf was a woman. Freya heaved the body off and got up to see Caine struggling with a tall, cowled figure. Her throat had healed so Freya fired another shot into its back. It sped off, leaving Caine to nurse a very bad wound. Blood soaked his shirt and Freya ran to him. She unbuttoned it to see the gaping hole in his chest.

"Caine, are you..."

He gripped her wrist and said, "I'm fine, the bastard just missed my heart."

Freya looked at the size of the wound and wondered how it was possible that Caine's attacker had missed, then she noted that the wound wasn't healing, "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded and got up as if to prove a point. He staggered over to a podium to find the Book of Blood resting on it. There hadn't been much of a fright which - Freya reckoned - meant there was worse to come. Caine touched the symbol that had been carved into the cover - his blood seal- and winced.

"Silver," he hissed, "they couldn't break the seal but they've bound my symbol with silver."

Freya narrowed her eyes, "That's like cutting of your own bloody nose to spite your face."

Caine picked the book up and made a dash for the front door, Freya ran after him She found him leaning against a wall emptying the contents of his stomach. At first she thought it was the consequences if being in the church for so long then she took the fact that he'd been stabbed into consideration. The only problem was that the same thing had happened to her and she hadn't been ill, she'd almost died but she hadn't been ill. She placed her hand between his shoulder blades and asked if he was alright.

"I'm...fine. I think," he said unconvincingly.

"Caine we need to get back, the sun's rising."

He nodded and allowed her to lead him to the SUV, he also allowed her to drive. Freya arrived at the castle just as the sun peaked over the horizon, she got out the car and managed to just about drag Caine to Vlad'd study. He'd turned grey and he'd been hiding one of his hands the whole trip, Freya couldn't figure out why.

Vlad rushed to pull out a chair for him and Caine sat clutching his chest. Freya had taken the book away from him and put it on Vlad's desk.

"What happened?" Vlad demanded.

"We were attacked by something," Freya replied.

"By what?" Vlad was getting excited, "There is no possible way even a blood witch of the highest order could achieve this!"

Caine shook his head, "Not... not a blood witch."

"Then what?" Lillith asked.

Caine's face contorted into an awful expression of hatred and pain, "A vampire." All went silent.

Eventually, Vlad broke the silence, "Who? Who did this to you? They will pay with their life!"

"Didn't see," Caine seemed to be gasping for air.

Freya stepped towards him and his eyes rolled back in his head. The chair toppled with him and the thud was one of the loudest things Freya had heard. Caine wasn't moving and there was no way of testing whether he was dead or alive, because that's a disadvantage of being undead. Nobody knows if you're really dead or not.

Vlad vaulted over the desk to his friend's side while Lillith placed her hand on Freya's shoulder. Both of them stared intently at Vlad as he went about checking whether Caine was alive or not. Only he knew how to do this, he looked up with a sorrowful look in his eyes and shook his head.