by Elena Lawson
I didn’t want to waste too much time, so I didn’t bother with makeup or shaving. I didn’t want to waste a single minute I had available to me to spend with my guys. But the shower had been necessary. After the ménage with Frost and Ethan, I’d been in dire need of one.
“You didn’t need to do that,” I grinned up at Blake as he set a tray down over my lap on the couch. While we were busy in the bedroom, he’d ordered me my old favorites. Chinese chicken fried rice, egg rolls, and those thin greasy noodles I liked to slather the red sweet and sour sauce on. A half-filled glass of what looked like whiskey rested in the corner.
“I did,” he replied. “You look too pale. Is he not feeding you there?” Blake ground his teeth and I saw that same dangerous glimmer I’d seen in his eyes a thousand times before. He was not happy. I instantly wanted to reach out—to soothe him—but I knew he wouldn’t want that, either.
“Yes. It’s just—well, it’s underground. It’s like a cave. You know I don’t do well in small spaces,” I said, popping an enormous forkful of noodles in my mouth, moaning at the sweet and salty flavor.
“A cave?” Ethan asked from his seat beside me, leaning forward to bend over his knees, his brows furrowing. I could see the gears and cogs in his mind turning. “And how long did you say it took for you to get here?”
I thought about it. I was asleep for most of the drive, but Azrael had said it would take about six hours, hadn’t he? “Azrael said it was a six-hour drive.”
His brows lowered even more, and he rose to go to the desk in the corner of the room and pushed the button on the tower to turn on the computer there. The three screens powered up and he began searching for more information.
“He’s keeping you in a cave?” Frost growled, some of the malice making its way back into his expression and tightening his muscles. His face reddened. Oh shit. Azrael would be back to get me soon. I couldn’t have him arriving to a raged-out Frost.
I winced. “Yeah, but it’s not like a normal cave. It’s really big. Even has an underground hot spring inside of it. And I have a room with a bed and a fireplace. And there’s even a whole fucking lab in there. Like with hospital equipment and stuff.”
Surprise won out over fury on Frost’s face as he cocked his head at me. Then he grinned. I was confused as to why he was happy all of a sudden when Ethan said from the desk, “Got it.”
Got what?
“You just gave us your location, Rosie,” Frost said, smiling so big I could see teeth. He never smiled that big.
Blake even smirked, nodding at Ethan. “Well done,” he said to Ethan.
I had been smiling along with them, but then reality set in. “It doesn’t really matter,” I told them. “I made a deal with him. And even all four of us together may not be a match for him. And besides, he has others there, too. I’ve only run into one, and I didn’t leave him alive, but who knows how many other vampires he has in that place?”
“Plus, he can compel us,” Blake said, frowning again.
I suddenly lost my appetite and set the tray down on the coffee table, but not before removing the glass of whiskey and taking a long swallow that burned all the way down to my belly. I grimaced. Oh yes. I needed that.
“Not if we get the jump on him,” Frost interjected.
“Not worth the risk,” I hissed. “I won’t allow any of you fuckers to put yourself in danger over me. Not a goddamned chance.”
Ethan moved into the living area, stepping around the thick central beam where a low fire burned in the electric fireplace. He crossed his arms over his chest and the bulge of his biceps beneath his elbow-length sleeved had my thighs squeezing in need of him all over again. I really hoped Azrael would let him come with us…
Ethan could provide a perfect distraction for me in my carved stone room. It was a big bed. I could share.
“Rose, it’s really not your choice,” he said, staring down at me apologetically. “We’re going to fight for you just like you would fight for us.”
My face fell. “You’ll die, Ethan. All of you.”
He inhaled deeply and inclined his head. “We might,” he said quietly. “Or we might not.”
Idiots. All of them. Thinking they could take on a fully mature thousand-year-old vampire. There was a line between confidence and stupidity, and they were getting dangerously close to crossing it.
There was one vital thing they all seemed to be forgetting though, and as much as I didn’t want to stay in that fucking cave bent to Azrael’s will, it made it bearable.
“What if Azrael is right?” I asked them, posing the question to Ethan since he was the one who agreed that what Azrael was trying to do could potentially work. “What if my blood can help vampires everywhere? What if it can cure you? Make you able to walk in sunlight again?”
Ethan’s gaze darkened and Blake stalked back to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of whiskey, his jaw tight. They didn’t like being tempted with it. I would bet they wanted to be able to see and feel the sun again more than almost anything else, except maybe not having to live off blood.
“I seriously fucking doubt that,” Frost grumbled.
I rolled my eyes at him.
“I’m with Frost,” Blake said, his smoky voice rolling over us from the kitchen.
“Yeah, well I agreed to be Azrael’s test subject,” I reminded them. “I’m not fucking happy about it, but I’m also not going to just dismiss the possibility because I don’t believe it’s possible. If I could give you guys back the sun…” I trailed off, my throat burning. “If I could take away your thirst…”
I didn’t even know vampires existed until Mom told me when I was eight.
I didn’t know I could compel, or that I was faster and stronger than any other human person I’d ever met until then, either.
I didn’t know I was the last surviving Vocari until just days ago.
Anything is possible.
Ethan knelt in front of me, placing his hands on my knees, prompting me to look into his kind steeped-tea eyes. “You have to remember we chose this,” he said, his expression pained. “I won’t say there’s a part of me that doesn’t regret it, but our choices led us back to you.”
“But Ethan—”
He shook his head, silencing me. “I’m not disagreeing with you,” he told me, and I heard both Blake and Frost growl on either side of us.
Ethan cut them each a look, daring them to speak against him in that quietly lethal way he had. “There is a chance that Azrael is right, and I do think it should be explored. But not at the expense of your freedom. Your safety.”
I leaned forward and rested my forehead against his, breathing in deeply, allowing his smooth, crisp nautical scent to relieve some of the tension in my shoulders.
“What is it you’re proposing?” Frost all but shouted, rising in a fury as he raked a hand through his hair. “That we just let her remain his captive?”
I hated this.
I wanted happy Frost back. The one who was waiting for me in my driveway with a devilish grin and open arms. I wanted the crease in Blake’s forehead to go away and for darkness in Ethan’s eyes to fade.
Ethan ground his teeth. “No, I’m not. What I’m saying it that maybe—”
“What?” Blake barked. “That fucker is going to be back here any minute and he’s going to try to take her. What are we going to do about it?”
I gently removed Ethan’s hands from my knees and stood, practically shaking with all the emotions my body was trying to contain. Fury. Fear. Frustration. Sadness.
“Stop,” I said, my tone not leaving any room for argument. “Just fucking stop it. I’m going with Azrael and that’s it. He said he would let me go when he was done with me.”
I didn’t mention the bit about how he didn’t think I would survive long without his protection, afraid that may only cause them to worry more about things they couldn’t control.
“And you trust him?” Blake sneered. His tone almost accusatory now.
&nb
sp; I threw my hands up. “I don’t really have a choice.”
“But what if you did?” Ethan asked me with placid expression and monotone voice that gave away nothing.
What did he mean by that? What was he going to do?
My eyes widened and I was about to demand he explain what he meant when a loud buzzing came from the small intercom box by the door. My heart began to pound, and a cold sweat broke out over my chest.
Frost’s fists clenched his gaze hardened.
“No,” I warned him. “Get ahold of yourself.”
That only seemed to make him angrier until I softened my tone. “Please,” I asked more gently, and he deflated, though his face was still tinged red.
“You better have a plan,” Frost muttered to Ethan under his breath with a flicker in his eyes that spoke of murder.
For Ethan’s sake, I hoped he did.
But for the sake of us all, I hoped they would see reason and just let me go.
Blake stalked over to the buzzer and hesitated, throwing me a fearful look that made my heart physically hurt. Blake was never afraid—of anything. He was the most battle hardened of us all. He had to be—living with the monster he had for a father had not only made him take an interest in professional fighting, callusing his exterior. It had also done something to him inside. Callusing his heart and mind, too.
Finally, Blake tore his gaze from me and jammed the button. We could all hear the door downstairs swing open and the slow, measured steps of Azrael as he ascended the stairs.
Each footfall made the weight on my chest grow. I was not looking forward to getting back in that coffin with him. Not one fucking bit.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself in check. I didn’t need to give away to the guys just how affected I was by all of this. I practiced slow breathing to steady my heartbeat, knowing they could hear it clear as day throbbing throughout the open space of the apartment.
The door opened and Azrael stepped inside.
11
I’d almost forgotten how he commanded attention from a room. The moment Azrael shut the door behind him, it was as though he’d sucked up all the air from the space, leaving it difficult to breathe. His vampiric energy made my skin bristle and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Azrael’s detached expression shifted as he took us in, a growing anger clear in how he pressed his lips into a hard line. “I see,” he said, as though we’d just had a conversation. I noticed then, how his eyes were fixed on Ethan’s, and Ethan’s on Azrael.
It seemed like they were having a conversation because they were. Ethan was speaking to Azrael from his mind.
And whatever he said was bad enough to shake Azrael’s calm façade.
I didn’t like this.
I really didn’t fucking like this.
What had Ethan been saying to him?
“Ethan?” I hedged, my body tensing for a fight I knew I’d lose. I was so glad I had my stakes strapped to my thighs again, even if they were the shitty wooden ones. My hands twitched to grab them, but I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t finish. Maybe the katana would be better? I had it strapped across my back. Maybe it would be easier to behead him?
Nah. I still wasn’t good enough with the katana to use it in an actual fight.
Azrael turned his attention to me, and the corners of his eyes drew down. “You just had to tell them…”
It took me a moment to understand what he was talking about.
I’d told them where Azrael’s underground cave was. Shit.
I had my stakes drawn in half a second, but it was too late. Before I could even lunge for him, Azrael was a blur of movement in the apartment. A blow to my chest sent me sprawling backward until I was crashing into and over the back of the couch, rolling until I was a heap on the plush carpet, my back aching from the impact.
I was back on my feet in seconds and I gasped at what I found in the entryway. Blake, Ethan, and Frost surrounding Azrael, each in a different fighting stance—but all frozen. Completely unable to move. And Azrael, grinning wickedly at them as though they were mice caught in his trap.
“Azrael,” I croaked, barely able to breathe. “Please…”
No. No. No. This was my fault. The fucker can read minds, Rose! What did you think would happen after you led them to his secret lair?
Stupid!
We stood like that for what seemed an age, both of us locked onto each other’s gazes, neither moving an inch. And all the while my guys stood like sentinel gargoyles, as though carved from stone. The only indication that they were alive the burning fires in each of their eyes.
Azrael sighed deeply and peeled his eyes from mine, seeming to decide something. I held my breath, deciding in that moment that if he killed them, I’d attack, and I wouldn’t stop until one of us was dead.
I readied myself for the fight of my life, clenching my jaw, my hands tightening on my stakes. Ready to charge.
“You will forget where my dwelling is,” Azrael said instead, and I let the breath I’d been holding leak out between my lips. “You will not look for it. Even if Rose tells you where it is, you will not hear it. You don’t know where I’m keeping Rose and you’ll never find it.”
Straightening his jacket, Azrael cracked his neck and shuddered. “Now,” he said, in a calmer tone, his sights set on Ethan. “We were discussing your proposal…?”
Holy shit.
I knew when Azrael released his hold on them because they all sort of relaxed. Just a little—a slight lowering of the shoulders and bending of the spine.
“Will you agree to it?” Ethan asked as though nothing in the last few minutes had even happened. Frost and Blake seemed confused and stepped back from Azrael, glancing around—likely trying to figure out why they were standing so close all of a sudden.
They’d put it together any second now.
Blake spotted me in the living area, breathing hard, my hair a mess from tumbling over the couch. “Rose? What are you doing over there?”
“How did she—” Frost started, but cut himself off, turning back to Azrael with a renewed fury. “What did you do?” he roared at the older vampire. “Why did you compel us?”
Azrael waved his hand as though to wordlessly say ‘oh, nothing to worry about.’
“Frost,” I said, swallowing, my eyes fixed on Azrael who was silently daring me to give him a reason to cut them all down. “It’s not important. Leave it.”
Frost stepped another couple feet back from Azrael, and I thanked whatever stroke of luck made him listen to me. I went to join him and reached down to take his hand, surprised when he held mine back. Frost wasn’t the type to show affection in front of someone he didn’t know.
“In answer to your request,” Azrael resumed his conversation with Ethan. “I’ll…consider it…if she cooperates.”
Ethan turned to me and winked.
I was so confused. “And my other request?”
Azrael pursed his lips, considering Ethan the way a physicist might consider a particularly difficult math equation. “I’ll allow it,” he said finally. “But if you cross me…”
“Yeah, I get it,” Ethan said, nodding. “You’ll kill me.”
“Maybe,” Azrael replied. “Though I am also fond of other forms of punishment. Lobotomy has its charm, for instance. But then, so does the complete and utter shattering of a mind—forcing someone to relive their darkest moment over and over again until they end it themselves.”
My stomach soured.
He could do that?
I wasn’t sure why I was surprised, but the thought of him doing any of those things to my guys sent my heart slamming in my ribcage and my blood rushing in my ears. Frost’s grip on my hand tightened.
“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping away from the warmth and comfort of Frost.
“Ethan was just filling me on his very interesting line of work,” Azrael mused. “I could use someone with his…expertise.”
Blake glared
at Ethan, his knuckles bone white. “What did you do?” he hissed at Ethan.
Ethan didn’t even glance in Blake’s direction, instead he turned to offer me a half-hearted smirk and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Looks like you’re stuck with me,” he said, and his smile broadened.
12
After Ethan explained to the guys to move all of his appointments and rushed to fill a bag with a few of his things, we were ready to go.
I still couldn’t believe Ethan was actually coming with us. I was both utterly relieved and so fucking scared and pissed at him for putting himself in the line of fire for me. I had no doubt in my mind that if Ethan stepped out of line or even attempted to attack Azrael in his own home that the older vamp would dispose of him.
I’d seen the way he ended the vampire that attacked me in the corridor just the day before. He was without remorse. And he’d acted so fast I wasn’t even sure if he’d thought it through or had just went for the throat.
I shivered at the thought.
At least Ethan was the most level-headed of us. So long as he behaved himself and did as Azrael said, maybe both of us could get out of this alive.
The other guys, however, were far from pleased with the situation. Now, not only was Azrael taking me with him to a place they would now never be able to find, but he was also taking Ethan.
“When will you bring them back?” Blake asked, his voice gruff and gray eyes flashing in the moonlight on the stoop. His hand tightened on my shoulder and I had a feeling I would need to pry myself free if I was going to be able to leave.
Azrael paused midway across the road and turned, considering. His gaze flicked to Ethan and something in Ethan’s eyes told me he’d already spoken to Azrael about this, just in a way that only Azrael could hear. I would have to ask him what the fuck they were talking about and why he was leaving the rest of us in the dark when we got there. “Depends,” Azrael responded. “Maybe a week. Maybe a month…”
“That’s not good enough,” Frost growled, his white blond hair glinting in the moonlight.
Azrael, unperturbed, leveled his icy gaze on Frost. “It depends on them,” he told Frost, inclining his head in the direction of Ethan and me. “So long as I get what I need, I see no reason I can’t agree to your friend’s joint-custody arrangement.”