His face darkened, and he suddenly seemed livid. But then, all in an instant, his expression cleared, and he smiled again. “Although,” he said lightly, “now is not the time to talk about that. I mentioned my goal, yes? But I did not explain it. So, I will say: my desire is for vampires to rule over humans. We would not need to have laws, or take precautions when it comes to our feeding habits. None of that would be necessary. Finally – for the first time in the history of the world – we would reign supreme. There would be no questioning our authority.”
He looked carefully at Blake. “But then,” he said, “of course there would be room in our hierarchy for people like you. I want to reward power; not punish it.”
Blake was floored. Whatever she had expected this man – this vampire – to say, she hadn’t been expecting any of this.
Vampires ruling over humans? A hierarchy of blood demons with no laws among them? Feeding in the streets and –
It was as if her brain suddenly walked into a brick wall. No laws? No feeding regulations? This was starting to sound familiar.
Not to mention the fact that Jarvis had mentioned Julius Hall’s name. Julius was the one who had brought this situation to Blake’s attention in the first place. He had mentioned rogue vampires feeding in the streets, leaving bodies behind. And he had asked for Blake’s help.
Blake narrowed her eyes, staring Jarvis down. “There are vampires running wild through the city,” she said coldly. “They’re killing with no regard for their people’s laws. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now would you?”
“Ah, yes,” Jarvis replied, his dark eyes flashing gleefully. “Of course I do. Those vampires do what I tell them to do. And, of course, whoever survives the ‘law-makers’’ wrath will be handsomely rewarded.”
Blake glanced at Andi, feeling acutely anxious about her safety. The young woman was trapped in a room with two vampires, and though Blake was going to do everything she could to protect her, she was scared that she would be hurt.
Or worse.
Andi finally met Blake’s eyes. There was no pleading in her gaze, no request to be saved. She just looked at Blake. But there were oceans written in her expression.
Jarvis smiled again. “Ah, yes,” he said, observing the direction of Blake’s stare. “You have a soft spot for this girl? I inferred as much, considering the fact that you rescued her twice thus far, and are now attempting a third feat.”
“Let her go,” Blake said, trying to keep her voice composed. “You have no reason to keep her. You got me to come to you, just like you wanted. So let her go.”
“Well, now,” Jarvis said in that same slow drawl, “that’s where you’re wrong. I do have a reason to keep her. You haven’t agreed yet to join me in my endeavor. Of course, I didn’t think you would consent right away – but still, I need my bargaining chip, don’t I?”
“There’s nothing that could make me agree to what you’ve proposed,” Blake argued. “At least, if you let her go, I’ll have no reason to kill you yet.”
There was quite a bit of amusement in Jarvis’s smile, this time. “I suspected you’d say something like that,” he told her. “I’m something of an expert when it comes to predicting human behavior. My mother told me I should have been a psychologist – but bah, the work-to-life ratio hardly seemed worth the income.”
With a quick movement, he snatched Andi out of her seat, ripping her bonds with a single jerk. Blake raced towards him, but the emerald flames in the grate were leaping wildly into the room, and Jarvis had already dived headlong into them with Andi in his clutches. Both he and Andi disappeared from sight.
And then, all in an instant, the fire was gone. There was nothing but black ash scattered over the carpet, and the sound of Andi’s brother sobbing behind his gag.
***
Blake just stood there, staring disbelievingly into the empty grate.
Andi was gone. Just like that. Gone.
Blake yanked her phone out, searching desperately for Andi on the tracking app. But her signal had disappeared.
“There is a simple way to remedy this situation,” a voice stated, nearly causing Blake to jump out of her skin. She had forgotten that there was anyone else in the room.
“Mr. Jarvis drew up some papers a while back,” the man with the slicked-back hair informed her. “As soon as he knew he would be wanting your assistance, that is. Now, if you just sign the papers, I can contact him and have him bring the girl back. It’s as easy as that.”
“As easy as that,” Blake echoed in a hollow voice. “Tell me – what’s your name?”
“Alexandre,” the man replied. “Alexandre LeGrim.”
“Is there anyone else in the house?” Blake asked.
LeGrim smiled faintly. “There isn’t,” he answered. “However, I think you’ll find me a formidable adversary on my own.”
Blake scrutinized him for a moment. It was true – he was enormous. His rock-hard muscles bulged against his shirt, and she could even make out the throbbing heartbeat in the thick vein that ran down his beefy neck. He may have proved calm in demeanor thus far, but she had a feeling there was a whole other side to him.
A formidable adversary? Blake had no doubt about that.
“Well,” she said, “let’s have at it, LeGrim. I’m not leaving until you tell me where he took her.”
“I don’t know where he took her,” he replied. “I won’t be able to tell you until you sign the papers.”
“Is that so?” she asked.
“It is.”
“Then I suppose it’s you who pays the price.”
He frowned severely. “Is that really the way you want it?”
Blake didn’t answer, opting to spring into action instead. She was fast, that much was true, but so was LeGrim. He dove to the right as she lunged for him, and she nearly lost her footing, spinning on her heel at the last second to pursue him in the opposite direction. At first, she thought he was going to jump out of the window, but as it turned out, he was just grabbing an ancient-looking iron lance from its place on the wall above one of the bookshelves.
He turned with the lance, striking out at Blake. She deflected the blow, trying to wrest the weapon away from him, but he was too strong. So she pushed her hands against his shoulders and jolted him with a surge of electricity, sending him reeling back into the bookshelves.
The shelves were smashed to bits, and ripped books flew everywhere. Blake fixed her eyes on the lance in LeGrim’s hands, and red laser beams shot forward, mincing the lance into three useless hunks of metal and singing LeGrim’s shirt in the process.
He shot down out of her line of vision, rolling on the floor and putting out the burning embers in his shirt. Then he leapt up and barreled towards Blake, catching her in the midsection like a linebacker, plowing her into the wall behind them and shaking the house to its foundations.
The blow had done damage, she could tell. She was physically stronger than most humans, but she wasn’t as strong as a vampire, and she suspected that she might have a few broken ribs. Breathing was difficult as she shot another jolt of electricity into LeGrim, sending him flying once again.
As her panic and her ire grew, she heard the crashing of storm clouds over the house, rollicking against each other with a severity that matched her own emotions. She saw the flash of lightning; and then, a split second later, the roof was on fire.
LeGrim glanced up at the roof with the first sign of alarm he’d evinced so far, then looked back at Blake, obviously wondering how to diffuse the situation. All Blake knew was that the roof could give way at any moment, so she did the only thing she could think to do. She still needed LeGrim for information, and she wasn’t about to leave him behind – so she put her shoulder to his chest and shoved him like a sandbag, across the floor and out the window.
She kept herself on top of him as they fell through the air, that way she was on the right side of things when they hit the ground. LeGrim crashed against the concrete driveway without a sound, an
d Blake dug her knees into his abdomen, glad to be able to cause him a little extra pain.
“Very agile of you, to be sure,” LeGrim choked breathlessly, “but did you intend to leave the human behind?”
“Goddamn it,” Blake muttered, remembering Andi’s brother.
The flames had already completely engulfed the roof, and it was beginning to collapse against the top of the house. With a single bound, Blake leapt up to the window of the study she’d just left behind, diving through the fire into the blazing room.
Aaron was still bound to the chair, but it had been knocked over while Blake and LeGrim fought, and the young man seemed to be choking on smoke behind his gag. Blake didn’t have time to undo his bonds, so she dragged the chair to the window.
There was no way she could jump out of the window with Aaron without risking killing him. Especially with these potentially broken ribs. The young man might very well end up a bloody pancake in the driveway.
She looked down at LeGrim, who was still standing on the concrete.
“This is probably a stupid question,” she said, “but will you catch him if I throw him?”
“This is probably a stupid answer,” he replied, “but yes, I’ll catch him.”
Blake grunted with effort as she hefted the chair through the burning window, tipping it over and sending it plummeting down towards the ground. She could hear Aaron screaming in fear behind the gag, but as he’d promised, LeGrim caught him.
With another leap, Blake was down on the concrete, helping LeGrim to put out the flames that had caught hold of Aaron’s sleeves and trouser legs. By the time they were done, it looked like the young man had passed out.
Blake and LeGrim simply stood, breathing heavily, looking down at the unconscious boy.
“Well, that was certainly something,” LeGrim remarked tonelessly.
Blake surveyed him carefully. “Why did you help me?” she asked.
LeGrim flashed a smile, then replied, “Why did you ask me to?”
Blake thought for a moment. “I really don’t know,” she said. “I guess, for some reason, I just thought you would.”
LeGrim sighed heavily, eyeing the burning house. “I suppose someone should call the fire department.”
“Well, don’t look at me,” Blake said. “That’s your job, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” LeGrim replied in a dreamy, nonchalant sort of voice. “Not that I’ve ever really liked my job very much.”
Blake narrowed her eyes at the vampire, unsure what to make of his comment.
“You know,” he said, “I’m actually rather glad that you didn’t sign those papers. Tonight’s turn of events seems to have made me doubt the things I thought I believed in.”
“Meaning?” Blake inquired.
“Meaning,” LeGrim echoed, “we have our work cut out for us to find Miss De Luca, and I think we had better get started.”
Blake stared at him in disbelief, but he just smiled. “Of course,” he added, “we should probably bring this young man to a hospital first.”
Epilogue
The next day, Blake walked alone into Shadow City Medical Center. She wasn’t there to see Aaron, he’d been checked out the night before and sent off with a clean bill of health. Well, as clean as it could be, anyway, considering the fact that he abused drugs on a daily basis. Now he was at Blake’s house recuperating from the shock of the previous evening. She had let him stay on the condition that he wouldn’t use while under her roof. Albert was keeping a close eye on him.
As for Blake, she’d X=rayed her ribs at home, and had concluded that they weren’t broken, just bruised. She had a few burns from the fire, but they would heal in time.
She didn’t know yet what to make of Alexandre LeGrim’s pledge to help her find Andi, but so far, he hadn’t given her any reason to doubt him. They’d parted ways the night before, and he’d promised to contact her within the next forty-eight hours. Blake was inclined to think that she’d never hear from him again, but she supposed it was better than getting murdered by him at Maxim Jarvis’s house.
She rode the elevator to the fifth floor, nodding to a few smiling nurses as she passed them in the corridor. When she walked into room 556, she saw a man in a long white jacket, with a grey balding head and wire-rimmed spectacles, standing beside the bed and writing down a few notes on his clipboard.
“Dr. Marlowe,” she said in a business-like tone. “May I ask how she is?”
The man turned to look at her with the same frown that he usually wore, sighing almost inaudibly.
“She’s quite the same as always, I’m afraid,” he replied. “No improvement; no change of any kind.”
He gave Blake a serious look. “It’s been thirteen years, Miss Turner,” he said in a voice that was half-kind, half-scolding. “Why do you keep coming here?”
“I’d like a minute alone with her,” Blake replied simply, her tone a little snappish.
Dr. Marlowe nodded in concession, not looking pleased, but well aware of the fact that he was in no position to deny Blake’s request. He left the room without another word.
Blake snapped the door shut behind the doctor, then walked to the bed and sat down in a chair beside it. She looked at the young woman lying in the bed.
She was very pretty, tall and blonde, just like Blake. But she had lain in this bed for so long, her once-lithe frame was now sunken and wasted. She was only a shell of what she’d once been, and Blake couldn’t tell anymore if there was anyone left inside.
Her name was Logan. Blake’s baby sister. She’d been in the helicopter crash that killed their parents, and she had been in a coma ever since.
For thirteen years. She would have just celebrated her twenty-sixth birthday in April.
This was the person for whom Blake had designed the Lazarus Lozenge: the tiny magic bean that was supposed to wake Logan from her coma. The thing that had caused the reactor at Biotech to explode, turning Blake into . . . well, whatever she was now.
“Hey, little sis,” she said, squeezing the young woman’s hand and wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m sorry I keep coming back without any good news for you, but I tell myself that it’s better than leaving you alone.”
She sighed deeply, leaning against the bed and staring into Logan’s empty face. “I miss you,” she murmured, laying her head down for a moment on her sister’s frail shoulder.
Then she straightened up, clearing her throat and wiping her eyes again. “I really messed up this time, sis,” she said. “I finally met someone I care about, and I completely fucked it up. Now she’s gone, and I have absolutely no idea what to do.”
She sighed again, even more heavily this time, then gazed out of the window on the opposite side of the room. The day was bright, with the sun shimmering on the leaves of the maple trees in the courtyard beside the parking lot. A tiny sparrow flew past, singing an indecipherable song.
Blake felt a strange pressure on her fingers, and she looked down with knitted brows at her hand that was still holding Logan’s.
It couldn’t be. It was impossible.
But then, so clearly that she couldn’t for one moment believe her eyes were playing tricks on her, she saw Logan’s fingers curl loosely around her own, trying to grasp them.
“Logan,” she tried to say, though her voice got stuck halfway up her throat. “Baby sis,” she said, a little more loudly.
Logan’s fingers didn’t move again, but Blake couldn’t deny that they had moved. They had.
“Please come back,” Blake begged, tears starting in her eyes again. “I need you, Logan. I need you to come back.”
The young woman was still now, just as still as she’d been for the past thirteen years; motionless and utterly silent. It was an almost unbearable feeling, this complete stillness, when contrasted with the recent flexing of her thin and fragile fingers.
Blake heaved a sob that nearly choked her, laying the top half of her body on the bed beside her sister. It was all too much.
She’d been alone, all alone for more than a decade. She had finally found someone – finally found someone she . . .
She couldn’t stand to think about what might be happening to Andi right now. What Jarvis might be doing to her. That was almost worse than seeing Logan lying here, dead to the world.
Blake cried for a few long minutes into the thin cotton hospital blanket, feeling more lost and lonely than she could ever remember feeling. No matter what happened, she always had a plan, some kind of escape route. Something that would fix things.
But there was no solution, this time. Alexandre LeGrim might contact her, or he might not. Either way, chances were that she would never see Andi again.
One of her lighter sobs was interrupted by an odd and indistinct tapping sound. She looked up in confusion, feeling angry that someone might have come into the room to bear witness to her moment of weakness.
And yet, there was no one there. No one there, but still that faint, indiscernible tapping.
Her head swiveled towards the window, and she saw a sparrow there, perched on the metal ledge beneath the glass. It was tapping its beak against the windowpane.
Blake stared at it for a moment, and it stopped tapping. It seemed to be staring at her.
With a despondent sigh, she lay back down on the blanket, which was still damp from her tears. But not five seconds later, the tapping resumed.
She sat up again, looking towards the window. The little sparrow was still there, tapping its beak against the glass. When it saw Blake watching it, it stopped tapping, and was still.
Blake watched it for a long moment, and then it began to tap again. More loudly this time, almost like a woodpecker against the bark of a tree.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.
It continued to peck at the glass until Blake rose from her seat. Then, and only then, did it desist.
“Are you trying to tell me something, little bird?” Blake asked.
The bird chirped loudly, then flew in a circle around the window. It settled back down on the ledge, singing for Blake.
“All right,” she said with a half-hearted smile. “I guess we’d better both get going, then.”
Voltana & the Rogue Vamps (The Voltana Adventures Book 1) Page 9