Frost Burn

by Erica Stevens

  He met the startled eyes of the vampire across from him before he wrenched vehemently backward, taking the heart with him. Dropping it to the ground, he crushed the heart beneath his foot and spun toward Drew.

  The man Quinn had been holding fell in a heap upon the ground. Quinn gasped; her hand flew to her mouth as another shudder ran through her. Distracted by the life force racing through her, she didn’t have enough time to get out of the way as Drew dove at her. His arms wrapped around her waist, a startled cry escaped her when they crashed to the floor and bounced across its hard surface.

  Panic tore through him as he raced across the floor toward them. Drew didn’t appear to be at all thrown off by what she’d done to his friend as he scrambled to get a firm purchase of her.

  Recovering from the influx of life she’d sucked from the other vampire, Quinn released a rapid fire of blows into Drew’s face. His nose and cheek caved from the force of her fists, but it didn’t knock him free.

  Grabbing hold of her hair, he lifted her head up and smashed it into the floor. A bellow of fury tore from Julian when the scent of Quinn’s blood permeated the air. Her fingers tore chunks of skin away from Drew’s face as he lifted her head and bashed it into the floor again. A cry escaped her; she briefly lost her purchase on his face. It was all Drew needed to strike at her.

  Red suffused Julian’s vision when Drew’s teeth sank into her neck, and a scream of agony erupted from her. Her hands flattened against Drew’s chest; Drew’s body began to twitch and shake. There wasn’t enough power left in her to kill Drew, or knock him free though. Drew’s throat worked as he eagerly swallowed her blood.

  It felt like an eternity had passed since her fight with Drew started, but it was only seconds before Julian snatched hold of his neck and jerked him backward. With a mighty heave, he flipped Drew over his shoulder and sent him flying across the room.

  He crashed into the back wall with enough force to shake the building. Dust and debris rained down from the rotting and sagging ceiling, the decaying building gave a low groan but held firm. Drew slid down the wall to land on his head. Julian’s muscles rippled as his lips skimmed back to reveal his fangs.

  Quinn scrambled to her feet behind him. Her skin was whiter than normal, but she was steady on her feet. “Are you ok?” he demanded.

  “Yes.” She wiped the blood away from the already healing tears in her neck.

  Julian stalked forward as Drew started to get his bearings. Before he could get back to his feet, Julian flew at him, lifted him up and slammed him into the wall again. His lips twisted into a leering grin, his hand traced over Drew’s chest and stopped over his heart. Drew squirmed within his grasp; his feet kicked against the wall.

  “I am far more than a hundred years older than you,” Julian murmured as he began to push his hand leisurely into Drew’s chest. Drew’s mouth dropped, strangled sounds escaped him as his ribcage began to cave in. His hands tore and beat at Julian’s arm, but he barely felt any of it. “That was your first mistake. Your second mistake was touching her.” Drew’s cries became more fervent, his legs kicked rapidly against the wall as Julian mercilessly inched his hand forward at an excruciatingly slow pace. “Your biggest mistake was harming her.”

  Drew’s ribs gave way completely, leaving the tender flesh of his heart exposed. Julian smiled grimly at him; his hand encircled Drew’s heart and he gave a gentle tug. There was no color left in Drew’s face; his mouth opened and closed as rapidly as a baby bird’s looking for food.

  Julian leaned closer to him and gave another subtle tug on the heart; coldness engulfed his body as he continued to toy with Drew. This was the part of himself he’d been trying to keep under control for the past two years. This awful, merciless piece of himself that relished in the thrill of death and missed the torment he’d once gleefully handed out.

  There was no burying it again now. Now it had been set free to do as it pleased. He relished in the freedom that came with finally allowing this sinister piece of himself to rule again. Drew’s eyes rolled back in his head as Julian crushed his heart within his chest and tore it free. It hadn’t taken anywhere near as much time as he would have liked it to, but he wasn’t going to expose Quinn to anymore brutality than necessary. He callously dropped the heart on the floor and stared down at it.

  Bracing himself for what he’d see from her; he turned guardedly toward her. He didn’t think he could stand it if she looked at him with disgust or fear. Lifting his head, he met her gaze. He’d expected to see revulsion in her eyes, but it wasn’t reflected there.

  Instead, he saw an understanding and acceptance of what he was, what he could do. His skin felt alive, the thirst for more blood and death pulsed through him in waves he was certain were going to bury him. She hadn’t turned against him now, but if he returned to the vampire he’d been, she would. She was too good for that, too good for him.

  Even still, all he craved was to touch her right now. He didn’t understand how he knew it, but she could calm him. She could ease this swamping feeling of barely controlled destruction pulsating through him.

  He took a step toward her, but the low moan of the last beaten vampire on the floor drew his attention. Julian’s bloodlust notched up again. There was one more to be destroyed before he could go to her. The beaten vampire released a hysterical laugh as he stared at Quinn.

  “What’s so funny?” Julian snarled.

  He rapidly strode forward and stopped in front of the man on the ground. The man didn’t notice him as his eyes remained on Quinn. Julian knelt down and grabbed hold of the man’s chin, jerking it toward him. “What is so funny?”

  The man still wouldn’t look at him. “Vampires have been looking all over for her… and I didn’t realize… it was Quinn,” he got out in between hitching bouts of laughter broken up by wracking waves of coughing. The blood pooling in the man’s mouth from his internal injuries sprayed outward and dribbled down his chin.

  Julian turned toward Quinn; she looked as confused as he felt. Moving closer, she studied the filthy, bruised and swollen face of the man lying on the ground. Then, her forehead cleared and her mouth dropped.

  “Seanix?” she gasped.

  “I’m a little different now,” the man giggled.

  “What happened to you?”

  “I think that’s fairly obvious,” he said with another manic laugh. “The same as you.”

  “When? How?”

  “A couple of years ago. I was on a truck run in Alabama when I got jumped by a group of guys. I woke up later as this thing.”

  Quinn’s hand pressed against her mouth as she gazed at the man in sorrow. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Chuckles rolled through Seanix, he wiped at his mouth but only succeeded in smearing blood from one side of his face to the other. His eyes flashed from red to brown and back again as tears began to roll down his cheeks. Julian almost thrust the disturbed man away from him, but he found even he couldn’t be so cruel to the pathetic vamp.

  “I don’t think Seanix made it through the transition with his mind still completely intact.” Julian had already known Chris, Melissa, Zach, Lou and Luther had arrived before Chris had spoken.

  He didn’t turn to look at them when he replied, “It happens sometimes, the trauma of it can destroy an already fragile mind.”

  Seanix began to laugh louder, his arms wrapped around his belly as his laughter shook his slender frame and more blood sprayed from his mouth. Julian released his shirt and moved away in order to avoid the spray.

  “I’d thought we’d missed all the fun,” Melissa said dryly as she stepped over a body. “But apparently this guy is a barrel of laughs.”

  “Yeah.” Julian ran his fingers through his hair as he studied the man before him. It felt cruel to kill someone who so obviously wasn’t all there, but Seanix couldn’t be allowed to live either, not in this condition.

  “If I’d known it was Quinn they were looking for I would have told them. They would have let me have
Angie if I had!” Seanix burst out through his fits of laughter and sobbing.

  Any sympathy Julian felt for the man vanished. His hand shot out and wrapped around his throat as he shoved him into the ground. “What do you mean by that?” he snarled.

  His anger didn’t break through to Seanix as he continued to chuckle like a clown high on pot. “They wouldn’t let me have Angie, wouldn’t let me turn her, wouldn’t let me near her. They told me lookie but no touchie. They said I was too young, they said I had to earn her, but they would bring her here, tease me with her, and let me know what I could have if I brought them people and helped them to find the vampire. The one of the prophecy. They wouldn’t let me touch Angie; they’d sit her there, just beyond my grasp, and then they would take her away again. Then, when they realized you were in town.” His eyes fell on Julian. “They said I couldn’t see her anymore. As awful as it was to have her here, it was far worse not to be able to see her.”

  “Oh, Seanix,” Quinn breathed as she stepped forward and knelt at his side.

  Julian went to grab her hand, afraid to let her anywhere near this man after what he’d just said, but she shot him a look and shook her head. Julian’s upper lip curled into a sneer; he kept his eyes focused on the man, ready to tear off his head if he so much as twitched in her direction. Ignoring the blood, Quinn rested her hand comfortingly on his cheek.

  “I wouldn’t have wanted them to hurt you Quinn, but I missed her so much.” His laughter had completely vanished, now only sobs shook his slender frame. “I would have given anything to be able to touch her one more time. I loved her with everything I am.”

  “Shh, I know,” Quinn said soothingly. “She loves you very much too. She’s missed you terribly over the years.”

  “She would have stopped loving me if she ever remembered what they made her witness here. I would have done anything to get her away from them, even…”

  “Turn me over if you’d known,” Quinn finished when he closed his eyes and curled into a tighter ball.

  “Yes,” he moaned.

  “Who is looking for me?”

  “All of them are. All of the vampires believe you’re the key to taking their power back. They won’t stop. They will find you. No matter where you go, they won’t stop until they find you.”

  A shiver of dread swept down Julian’s spine, he pressed closer to Quinn as his gaze shot over the building. Scully’s group and this group of vampires vanishing from this area wasn’t going to help keep her hidden, but then vampires were never known to stay in one area for long. Settling somewhere for too much time was a good way to get discovered and killed. If either group had been in contact with other vampires, outside of their tight nest, it was more than likely that neither group would be giving a daily update of their locations.

  It would be best if he could talk her into leaving, but he doubted she would relent and he didn’t know where he would take her. Canada was out, as long as someone hunted her, he couldn’t take her there and risk putting the young Hunters and Guardians in jeopardy.

  “Do they think I’m in this area of the country?” Quinn asked nervously.

  “As far as I know they’re not sure where you are, exactly.” Quinn’s shoulders slumped; she rubbed Seanix’s arm reassuringly. “We came here a month ago; they discovered my only picture of Angie right before then, and thought it would be fun to meet her.”

  Choking sobs wracked him. “Oh Angie,” he moaned. “I tried to convince them she meant nothing to me, but they knew I still loved her, and they made us both pay for that love.”

  “Seanix…” Quinn whispered but the man continued to speak over her.

  “The prophecy is spreading around the vampire community like wildfire. Whoever finds you is going to have a lot of power to force those to do their will. They’ll have a bargaining chip no one has had these past couple of years.”

  Another reason why vampires had to be monitored more closely, Julian decided. He’d always hated the prophecies that traveled throughout the vampire community. Someone would have a vision, and some of the others amongst them would run with it until it was almost unrecognizable from its original spoken words, but the general gist would still be there. These prophecies, rare though they were, could get the vampires riled up and cause a lot of chaos.

  There had been one issued by a fledgling Seer, four hundred years ago, who had proclaimed the humans would wipe out the vampire race within the year. Many vampires hadn’t believed it was possible, but the ones who did worked themselves into a frenzy and created turmoil amongst the community. They became more careless in their kills, more relentless in their pursuit of humans and in doing so they had threatened to expose all vampires.

  The Elders had eventually managed to stamp it out and had killed the Seer who issued the prophecy. It had been doubtful she’d ever had the vision to begin with, and was believed she’d had a bone to pick with the human race.

  Whoever had received this vision had seen enough to reveal at least part of Quinn’s ability, and the momentum behind the prophecy was growing amongst the community he’d excommunicated himself from. A community he may have to infiltrate again in order to keep Quinn safe.

  He believed in what they’d been doing these past couple of years. However, they’d been more focused on trying to find more Hunters and Guardians and get them to safety so they could be trained. Instead of being trained to kill every vampire they came across like they had in the past, they were now learning to differentiate between those vampires who were killers and those who weren’t.

  They’d mistakenly assumed this would be enough protection, but there weren’t enough Hunters and Guardians left in the world, and it would take more time for them to rebuild their population than it would for the vampires to rebuild theirs.

  Someone had to put a stop to it; he just wasn’t sure how to go about doing so without getting them all killed.

  “Do you know the exact wording of this prophecy?” Julian inquired in a gruff voice.

  Seanix’s eyes rolled toward him; Julian saw the growing insanity within their depths. “A vampire, not born of vampire blood, will burn like the sun the life from anyone she touches. If used correctly, she will become our greatest ally, our savior.”

  Quinn shuddered beside him. Julian rested his hand reassuringly on her arm, but he could still feel the tremors running through her. Seanix’s gaze fell to the body Quinn had sucked the life from. “He may not be a pile of ashes, but I’d say the life was burned from him.”

  “They’re certain it’s a female?” Julian inquired.

  “Yes,” Seanix answered.

  “Shit!” he hissed.

  “Shit is right,” Seanix said. “They’re a bunch of brutal bastards. It’s a stupid prophecy. How could you not be born of our blood, Quinn?” The maniacal laughter escaping him echoed through the spacious building and more blood spurted from his mouth.

  “Seanix, please stop,” Quinn urged. “We’ll take you to see Angie, but you’ll have to be calmer when we do.”

  Julian bristled over her words, his fangs pricked as he turned to look at her. This man couldn’t be allowed to live; he’d already stated he would do whatever it took to get to Angie, including handing Quinn over.

  He would do whatever it took to keep Quinn safe, including killing Seanix, and if it made her mad at him then so be it.

  “She’s dead, Quinn.” Julian froze at Seanix’s sober words. “They killed her.”

  “No, she’s at the bar…” Quinn’s voice trailed off, her mouth parted as she seemed to realize that the gunfire could have easily pierced through the wall and into the bathroom. “She went in the bathroom.” She spun toward Julian. “She’s fine!”

  Julian grabbed hold of her hand when her eyes took on the feral look of an animal backed into a corner. Red began to seep into her irises as tears pooled in her eyes. “Easy,” he coaxed as his fingers stroked over the back of her hand.

  “No, she’s not fine,” Seanix murmured. “She�
��s dead. I felt it when she left me.”

  “Seanix, I’m so sorry. We’ll get you out of here…”

  “No,” he whispered. “There’s nothing left for me. Please don’t make me leave here, please don’t make me live anymore.”

  “Seanix…”

  “Angie was his mate, Quinn. They may not have had the chance to solidify the bond, but it was still there,” Julian said kindly in realization. His hand wrapped more firmly around hers as he tried to make her understand. “The vampires here must have suspected something along those lines too and used it to torment him. There’s no life for him anymore, not without her.” A tear slid down her face as her head bowed.

  “Let me go to sleep Quinn, please,” Seanix begged.

  She brushed back a strand of his filthy brown hair and tucked it behind his ear. “She loved you so much, Seanix. She was lost without you.”

  “I was lost without her too,” he murmured. Quinn tenderly wiped away the tears rolling down his face, cleaning it of the dirt caked to his cheeks. “I want to sleep.”

  “You will,” she promised. Julian expected her to step away and leave him to deal with it. He moved forward, but she turned toward him instead. “Do you mind?” Confused by the question, he frowned at her. Then he looked at their entwined hands as she lifted them off the ground. “I don’t have enough energy left in me to do this on my own.”

  His eyes flew back to hers. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll take care of it.”

  “No, it should be me. I’m his friend. I owe him this, but I need your help to do it.”

  “Whatever you need,” he answered honestly.

  She brushed aside another strand of Seanix’s hair before resting her hand on his cheek. “If you don’t fight it won’t hurt.” Seanix nodded and curled into a ball. “Sleep now; you’ll see Angie again soon.”