Forsaken (Vampire Awakenings, Book 10)

by Brenda K. Davies

  His shoulders heaved as he bowed his head and gazed down at the blood dripping from his hands. Most of the blood belonged to the vamp, but some was from where his knuckles split open during the fight.

  Turning back to the vamp, he took in the pummeled remains of its face. He’d beaten the man so badly it was impossible to make out any of the thing’s features. A gurgled noise escaped it, and blood spilled from between its lips.

  “Turn away, Aida,” he said.

  “Julian—”

  “I don’t want you to see any more of this,” he said more brusquely than he intended.

  It was a little ridiculous for her to turn away now when she’d already seen so much, but he was barely in control of himself, so she did as he asked. The cold air caressing her skin was nothing compared to the ice encasing her soul. Not only had she been attacked by a vampire again tonight, but she’d also witnessed how close Julian was to becoming one of the things she hated most.

  She winced when bones crunched, and she suspected he was either tearing the vamp’s heart out or ripping off its head. The wind flowing down the alley tickled her face as it blew her hair around her. At the far end, people rushed past the opening. They were probably fleeing the bar and the possibility of fire. She rubbed at the goose bumps covering her arms and prayed no one looked down the alley.

  CHAPTER 22

  “When you opened the door, you set off an alarm,” she said over her shoulder. “The police and fire department will be here soon. People are evacuating the bar.”

  Julian crushed the vamp’s heart as he glanced around the alley. Both ends opened onto streets; he couldn’t carry the body out either way, especially not to his left as a growing number of people milled about on the road. The other way offered a few doorways, one of which led down a set of stairs. He didn’t know where those doors led, but he didn’t have any other choice.

  Bending, he grasped the vamp by the back of its neck and lifted its torso off the ground. “Go back inside,” he told her.

  “Julian—”

  “Don’t look,” he interrupted when she started to turn toward him. “You’re freezing, Aida. Go back inside. I’m not going far, and I’ll be back soon.”

  Before she could reply, he closed his hand around the vamp’s neck, lifted him, and dragged him down the alley. If anyone were to see them, they’d probably assume he was helping his drunk friend down the alley.

  He searched for cameras as he walked but didn’t see any before he carried the vamp down the stairs. It was a little too late to look for them now, but he was too far gone earlier to consider the possibility someone was recording them. If he discovered any, he would take care of them.

  Grasping the doorknob, he wasn’t surprised to find it locked. He almost twisted it off and shoved the door open, but he couldn’t trigger an alarm, so he double-checked for cameras before dumping the vamp’s body in the stairwell. In the shadows of the stairs, the body was unnoticeable, but a search would uncover it. He’d have to run interference if it became necessary.

  Aida rubbed her arms and shifted her feet as she waited for Julian to return. When he ascended from the stairwell, she retreated into the room to find a towel or something he could use to clean himself.

  Stepping back inside the bar, she discovered Kyle and Cassidy speaking calmly with the humans who’d come this way in the hopes of fleeing out the back. Aida didn’t have to hear what they were saying to know they were using their ability to manipulate the humans’ minds. She stayed to the shadows as she searched for a towel. She discovered one near the remains of the table and snatched it off the floor as the humans turned and headed back into the bar.

  It wasn’t until water landed on her hand that she realized she still had snot and tears coming out of her like she was a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. And now that her adrenaline wasn’t pumping as much, the discomfort of the pepper spray was sinking in. She used the towel to wipe her face, but more tears spilled free as soon as she finished.

  When the back door opened, she turned as Julian entered again. Before he could make it more than two steps, she stepped in front of him and used the towel to wipe the blood splatters from his face.

  “Don’t,” he said and clasped her hands. “You shouldn’t touch this stuff.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m touching the towel then,” she said and pulled it away when he tried to tug it from her hands. “You can’t see what you’re doing.”

  “Aida—”

  Whatever he was about to say died away when a bull of a man appeared in the doorway. Aida recognized Rick, the manager of Addy’s. He’d probably been busy evacuating everyone out the front door until now.

  “What happened here?” Rick demanded.

  “Someone went out the back door, Rick,” Cassidy said. “They triggered the fire alarm.”

  “What did they do to the door?” Rick asked as he took in the dented door.

  “Apparently battered it with something to get outside,” Cassidy lied smoothly.

  “Why would they do that? It’s an emergency door.”

  “Who knows why anyone does anything. He also trashed the room for no reason. Some people are destructive assholes,” Kyle said.

  Kyle crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the room. Then, his eyes landed on Aida and Julian. Aida shoved the towel into Julian’s hands. “Wipe your knuckles off,” she whispered from the corner of her mouth.

  “What are you two doing back here?” Rick demanded of them before focusing on Aida. “And what happened to you?”

  She’d just been tossed around by a vampire and was still suffering from the effects of pepper spray; she had to look awful. She was at the bar often and friends with two of Rick’s star employees, so they knew each other well enough to talk when they ran into each other. However, judging by the way his eyes narrowed on her, he didn’t trust her.

  Aida started to respond when Julian said, “You never saw us.”

  The calm tone of his voice and the swell of power oozing from him caused Rick’s eyes to take on a glassy look that made Aida’s skin crawl. She hated the way vampires could manipulate the minds of others. It was such a horrible invasion that people were helpless to fight.

  “We were never here. Someone came into this room in search of something to steal. When they finished, they trashed the place before battering the door and fleeing.”

  Julian pushed open the battered door, and clasping Aida’s hand, he returned to the alley. Blood stained the bricks across the way, but it was one of many stains in the alley, and it was already dry. He doubted the police in a city as big as Boston were going to do much investigating into a vandalism and robbery case where no one was injured and nothing was taken.

  They’d probably want to search the alley, but he would take care of it. He drew Aida against his side as he took up a position outside the door and waited for the police to come out. He couldn’t take the chance they might find the body, and he didn’t want Aida anywhere near the thing.

  She trembled as she leaned into him and rubbed her eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she replied, even though she was miserable. She yearned for a shower, the coat she left inside, and… “Oh, my purse! It’s in the back room, and so is my pepper spray!”

  Cassidy and Kyle were stepping outside when she announced this. “I’ll get it,” Kyle said and retreated inside.

  He returned with her purse and handed it to her along with her empty can. She dropped the pepper spray into her purse; she had more at home. She also had some other knives, but her favorite one remained buried in the vamp’s foot. No matter how much she loved that knife, she was happy to leave it where it was.

  “What about the pepper spray in the back room, it’s probably still lingering on the air?” she asked.

  “We’ll take care of it,” Julian said.

  She was still wary of allowing herself to get emotionally attached to him, but she couldn’t resist resting her hand against his chest to soo
the him. He’d killed for her tonight, and she had no doubt he would do it again.

  She’d sworn she wouldn’t let him in again, but it was growing increasingly difficult to keep her heart protected. He brutally murdered that vamp, yet his touch was tender as he rubbed her arms to warm her.

  “We’ll take care of everything,” he promised. “I’m going to keep you safe.”

  She didn’t doubt that.

  “What happened?” Cassidy asked.

  At the end of the alley, a police car and fire truck sped past with their lights flashing. Doors slammed shut, and the crowd fell further back as the officer approached to herd them away,

  “I’ll tell you later,” Julian said. “For now, we have to keep them out of this alley.”

  CHAPTER 23

  “I have no idea who he was,” Aida said over an hour later. She sounded as if she’d eaten sandpaper, and her throat was raw, but she was alive.

  All the emergency personnel had left. Rather than deal with trying to get everything reopened, Rick allowed everyone back inside to get their things before closing the bar for the night.

  Kyle and Cassidy had finished helping to close the place and rejoined her and Julian in the alley. Because there were no dumpsters in the alley, it didn’t stink. Julian wanted her to go home, but she wasn’t leaving him alone to deal with this.

  He hadn’t encountered any difficulty in sending the police away, but he remained wound too tight. She could sense his barely leashed control, and while she didn’t fear for herself, they might be in trouble if someone else wandered this way.

  “I’ve never seen him before,” Aida said as she huddled deeper into her jacket. “I saw everyone who was in the bar, and he wasn’t one of them.”

  “We would have known if another vampire entered,” Cassidy said as she blew on her hands and shifted from foot to foot.

  “He came out of the men’s room when I was leaving the bathroom.”

  “He broke the window in there,” Kyle said. “The police told Rick they think that’s how he got inside. Because of the bathroom, there’s no cameras in the hall, but Rick’s going to install some now.”

  “Why would he come in through the bathroom and not the front door?” Cassidy asked.

  “Who knows why Savages do anything they do,” Kyle said.

  “He wasn’t a Savage,” Julian said. “Or at least he wasn’t a full-blown one. He didn’t smell.”

  Cassidy stopped shifting to stare at him. “Are you sure?”

  Julian stared at the back of his hands as he held them out before him, but his broken knuckles had healed, and the once battered skin no longer showed signs of a fight. He’d taken another life, and once they disposed of the body, there would be nothing left to show for it. Then he recalled Aida in that thing’s grasp, and he resisted stalking down the alley to beat it all over again.

  His gaze fell on Aida. He savored the gentle curve of her cheek and striking beauty while he regained control of his murderous impulses.

  “I’m sure,” he said. “We all know how bad those fuckers smell. I was as up close and personal as it gets with him, and he didn’t smell.”

  “But he was trying to kill me, or…”

  Lines marred Aida’s brow as her gaze traveled to the back door. It was chained and padlocked from the inside until they could get someone down here to fix it. She replayed the details of the fight in her head. He so easily could have broken her neck, and he’d been infuriated enough to do so, yet he hadn’t.

  “Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill me,” she murmured.

  “What do you mean?” Julian demanded.

  He’d seen her in its grasp, if it wasn’t trying to kill her and it wasn’t a Savage, had he murdered an innocent vampire? Then his gaze fell on the bruises on her neck. The imprint of the prick’s fingers were clearly evident against her pale skin.

  No, no matter if the vamp was a full-blown Savage or not, it attacked her and was not innocent.

  Aida’s eyes were sympathetic when they met his. “I have no doubt he planned to kill me or do something else to me, but when he grabbed me, he went straight for the back door. I think he planned to take me somewhere else before doing God knows what to me.”

  The idea of what could have happened caused Aida to shudder, and she leaned against Julian when he rested his hand on her shoulder and pulled her closer.

  “That would make sense,” Cassidy said. “He wouldn’t want to be interrupted. Maybe he didn’t smell like a Savage because he was just getting started in his killing. To avoid being seen, he came in through the window, and you happened to be walking by when he came out of the bathroom.”

  “I’m a magnet for random violence.” She’d tried to sound flippant, but it fell flat.

  “We should get you out of the city,” Julian said.

  “Why?” she demanded. “It was one random attack. Unfortunately, people are victims of random violence every day. It’s my bad luck my attackers also happen to be the living dead.”

  Kyle and Cassidy scowled at her as Julian said, “We’re not dead.”

  “Okay then, mortally challenged bloodsuckers.”

  “Oh, that’s much better,” Kyle said and rolled his eyes while Cassidy chuckled.

  “Vampire or not, I’m not leaving my life here behind. I already did that once, and I refuse to do it again. The fact my attacker was a vampire doesn’t change anything.”

  “Aida—”

  “I’m not leaving, Julian. I busted my ass to build what I have here, and I’m not going to lose it because of some fucking vampire.”

  Julian decided to let it go, for now. If something else happened, he wouldn’t hesitate to take her away, even if she hated him for it.

  “It is odd you were both attacked when we’ve never had a problem before,” Cassidy said.

  Julian shot her a look as Aida frowned at him. “Someone attacked you?” she demanded.

  Cassidy winced and tilted her head back to inspect the buildings with far too much interest.

  “It was nothing,” Julian told her. “I had a run-in with a Savage on my first night in the city.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because it was nothing to worry about.”

  She glowered at him as she folded her arms over her chest.

  “Do you think they have anything in common?” Kyle asked. “We’ve been here for three years and never had a problem before.”

  “I don’t see what they could have in common,” Julian said. “Plus, the vamp who attacked me was a Savage. Non-Savages and Savages don’t usually intermingle.”

  “Yeah, because the Savages usually try to kill them,” Cassidy said.

  “Exactly. I think it was a pretty shitty coincidence.”

  Aida really hoped so. Her gaze drifted down the alley to the stairs where the body remained hidden. This time, when she shivered, it had nothing to do with the cold. She wished this was the closest she’d ever been to a dead guy, but she’d been a lot closer before. Still, it didn’t get any easier to be around them.

  She pulled her attention away from the stairs and focused on Julian. “I’m sorry you had to kill tonight.”

  “Don’t be, because I’m not. I’ll gladly do it again if it means keeping you safe.”

  Aida ducked her head and fiddled with the ends of her sleeves as she tried to think of something else to say. Thankfully, Kyle spared her from having to say anything more.

  “What are we going to do about the body?” Kyle asked.

  Julian glanced at the stairs before looking at the sky. They had a couple of hours before the sun came up; the city wouldn’t get any quieter than this. “I’ll retrieve it,” Julian said.

  “And do what? Carry it through the city?” Cassidy asked. “If it wasn’t a Savage, it’s not going to burn away when the sun hits it.”

  “I can’t leave it in the stairwell,” Julian said. “Someone will find it.”

  “We’ll throw it in the river,” Kyle said.

&n
bsp; “And how do you plan on getting it to the river?” Cassidy asked.

  “Uber?” Kyle asked with a grin. “I’ll give the guy a great rating.”

  “Haha,” Cassidy said.

  “We’ll steal a car and take the body out of the city to dispose of it.” Julian looked to the end of the alley as headlights illuminated it before a lone car crept past. “We’ll change the driver’s memories, and no one will ever know we took it.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Aida said.

  CHAPTER 24

  “No,” Julian said.

  “You’re in this mess because of me; I can at least help you get rid of the evidence.”

  “We’re in this mess because he attacked you.” Aida started to protest, but he held up a silencing hand. “I’m not changing my mind on this. You can argue, but you’re not coming with us, and fighting about it is only wasting what’s left of the night.”

  Aida glanced at the sky and clamped her mouth shut. He was right; she couldn’t move as fast as a vampire, and she definitely wasn’t as stealthy as one. “You’ll be careful?”

  “Always,” Julian said with a smile that didn’t completely reassure her.

  “I’ll help you,” Cassidy offered.

  “I’d prefer if you took Aida home,” Julian said. “Vampires can’t get into the apartment, but I’d prefer it if she wasn’t there alone.”

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Aida protested.

  “It’s not a babysitter,” Julian said. “It’s company. Do you want to stay in the apartment alone right now?”

  No, she didn’t, but they needed all the help they could get with this. “I’ll be fine,” she said with an airiness she didn’t feel.

  “It will go faster if it’s just the two of us,” Kyle said.

  Aida got the feeling he didn’t want his twin involved, and Cassidy must have thought the same thing as she scowled before telling him, “An extra set of eyes is always useful.”

  “Fine.” Kyle threw his hands in the air. “We have to get this done now, or we’re going to end up in prison, and I am far too good looking for that.”