That got me moving. I yanked the door open and we hurried into the hallway. Marsh was up ahead, about four yards away, pointing to an area on the wall. There was no one else in sight, but I could hear noise coming from the main corridor.
“Hurry,” I said pushing toward the front. “Marsh, did you notice any handle or anything inside?”
“Yes, it would be right about here.” He pointed to one area on the wall.
I knelt, feeling around to try to find any sort of opening. The next moment, Nate had a thin pencil beam of light aimed at my fingers. He had a miniature flashlight on his key chain. I glanced up at Archer, expecting him to order Nate to douse the light, but he said nothing, just stood in front of the beam to block it from the hallway. It didn’t take long with the concentrated light to see an unnatural indentation.
“Wait—” Archer started to say, but I had already, gingerly, reached.
Luckily, there was nothing there but a button. I decided to chance it—if the Souljacker had set a trap, then too bad; I’d be right in line. But as I pressed it, all I heard was a soft click and then the door slid back, revealing the entrance to the room Marsh had been talking about. I rushed in, Archer and Nate right behind me.
There, on a concrete slab stained with old, dried blood, strapped down with leather restraints, lay Dani. Her eyes were closed, and her neck had two fang marks in it, but she was still breathing. Archer was already by her side, working at the restraints tying her down. Near the table was a concrete counter with a sink in the center. There were rusty instruments on it, medical instruments that looked left over from some tortuous experiment.
I left Nate to guard the door and ran over to the slab. As I cradled her head, calling her name as I tried to bring her around, Archer managed to get her arms free. He went to work on the leather binding her legs.
“Dani? Dani…wake up. Dani? Can you hear me?” Not knowing what else to do, I slipped my purse off my shoulder and rummaged through it, bringing out a vial of a particularly strong perfume. It wasn’t to everyone’s tastes, but I liked it. Honeysuckle and rose, with hints of orange and jasmine. It was a vividly floral scent. I opened it up and wiped some on her nose. Her nostrils flared and then she coughed and shook her head as her eyes fluttered open.
“Dani, wake up. Please. Are you okay?” I reached down to examine the marks on her neck. Someone had fed on her, that was obvious, but she was still pink enough to tell me that not much blood had been drained away.
“What…where…” She struggled to sit up and I helped her, rolling her to a sitting position.
Archer was almost done with the last restraint when Nate suddenly shouted and raced over toward us. A black mist was seeping into the room from one of the inner walls. As it began to coalesce into its physical form, I recognized Charles. The Souljacker had returned, and he was carrying a set of surgical instruments. He had come for Dani’s tattoo.
Chapter 31
The Souljacker stood there, clad in dark jeans and a dark turtleneck. Charles had been a quietly handsome man, but now he seemed to have an allure to him, a magnetism that was difficult to ignore. His hair had grown wavy through the transformation—it had a silken sheen to it that made me want to reach out and touch it. But his eyes had lost the gentle glow that had made Charles always seem approachable and caring. Instead, there was an unnatural shine to them, and a look that I hadn’t seen in too many other vampires’ eyes—a darting, almost rabid look. Predators notwithstanding, usually vampires were in touch with reality to some extent. The Souljacker was not.
Dani’s scream echoed through the room as she scrambled to get off the table. Her gaze was fastened on Charles. “Get away from me, get away!” She clutched the wound on her throat, and stumbled behind Archer.
It was then that I realized we hadn’t brought anything resembling a stake. Except…I pulled out my dagger. “Keep away from her.” It occurred to me then that if he were unarmed, he couldn’t attack me as long as I was wearing my dragon scale pendant. And my blade would work as good as a stake—silver dragon scales? Perfect, as long as I struck his heart directly.
The Souljacker paused, staring at the dagger, then up at me. I felt a pull as he locked his gaze with mine, but luckily, I was a succubus and had a glamour of my own. It didn’t cancel out other charms and bewitchments, but it went a long way toward easing their effects. I managed to wrench my gaze away and shoved the dagger out a little further.
“I warn you, stay back.” Without turning—you never wanted to turn your back on a vampire—I shot a question to Archer. “What the hell do we do now? He’s between us and the door.”
Archer held out his hand. “Give me your dagger. Just do it, and move Dani back against the wall. You too, Nate.”
I handed over my dagger and slowly began to edge toward the back wall. Nate moved in, standing in front of us. I wanted to tell him to get behind me—I was less likely to get hurt than he was, but then I saw the wristlet I had fastened on his arm and let it be. He wanted to protect us, and the dragon scale on the wristlet would help keep the Souljacker away from him.
“Flank Dani,” I whispered to him. “One on each side. Don’t let him in to get at her.”
He nodded, moving into place.
Archer took a step toward the Souljacker, then another, holding the dagger like a champion fencer. He had a perfect touch, I could tell the blade was balanced lightly in his hand, ready to pivot in whatever direction he needed it to.
Charles hissed, staring at the blade. He glanced beyond Archer to once again catch my gaze. Then, I realized he was trying to force Dani to meet his eyes. He had fed on her once and she was still under his influence and in a weakened state. It wouldn’t be too hard for him to draw her in again.
“Close your eyes, Dani.” I shifted to stand between Charles and Dani, so she couldn’t see him. “Keep your eyes closed. He’ll have less impact on you.”
“I can feel him trying to draw me in.” Her voice wavered, like a station flickering in and out.
Archer suddenly lunged, catching the Souljacker’s hand with the tip of the dagger. Charles let out a muffled howl. He sounded like a wounded animal, primal and frustrated. The dagger couldn’t kill him unless it pierced his heart, but the silver had burned, and for vampires, silver burn was like a cold white lightning bolt, jarring and painful.
Charles suddenly vanished, dissolving into a black mist.
Archer darted away as the mist bore down on him, raising the dagger to the side of his head to keep Charles from being able to grab him by the throat. But the mist moved past him, headed toward the three of us.
“Watch her,” I shouted to Nate. “Here he comes. Dani, hold tight. Keep your eyes closed.”
Dani was whimpering. “I can feel him in my head.”
“Start singing. I’m not kidding—it will disrupt his ability to divert your focus.”
Still crying, she began to sing. It was a children’s song, a silly skipping song about frogs, but right now, it could have been the national anthem and done the trick.
“That’s it—keep going.” I shifted again as the mist neared, and, reaching for my throat, I bared my pentacle, holding it out from my chest so he could see it. If vampires could even see in their mist form. I had no clue about that, having never had the need to ask before.
Whatever the case, the mist stopped about a foot away from me. Archer had swung around and now came charging toward us, dagger out. But before he could reach us, Charles took form again, whirling toward the oncoming demon. He darted to the side, toward the table Dani had been tied down on, and Archer screeched to a halt. If he’d kept on, he would have skewered me.
I was about to suggest we run for the door when Nate screamed and stumbled to the side as the Souljacker sent a rusty scalpel that was on the counter into Nate’s bicep. The blood was flowing freely, but it didn’t look like Charles had hit an artery. But Nate was doubled over, cursing at the shock of pain.
I tried to push Dani further behind me,
but the Souljacker picked up a wooden stool and used it to knock Nate to the side, hitting him over the head with it. So much for dragon silver—it couldn’t protect against regular attacks unless it was worked into actual armor. Nate shouted as he went down, but the Souljacker was incredibly fast—vampires had most of us beat when it came to speed. He hit Nate again, bringing the chair down hard across his back.
Archer was racing full tilt toward Charles, but once again, the vampire anticipated him and—like some mad bullfighter—gracefully stepped aside.
I grabbed Dani and headed for the door, but, in a blur, Charles was there to meet us. He grabbed Dani’s other arm and we began a horrible tug-of-war, with me trying to wrest her away from his grasp. Dani was struggling, trying to muster up a curse, but most of her witchery relied on charms and talismans, rather than on spoken commands.
Marsh blinked into view, directly next to Charles, and screamed in his ear, but the vampire merely took one mild look at him and went back to attempting to drag Dani out of my arms. I tried to hold on but vampires were strong, far stronger than most mortals or even Fae or Weres, and he finally managed to rip Dani away.
“Lily! Help me!” Dani slashed at him with her fingernails, raking her hand over his face. She left a long row of gashes, but he didn’t even blink an eye.
I held out my arm with the wristlet on it and went barreling toward them. “Leave her alone, you freak!” I launched myself through the air—not the most graceful of moves—and landed against them both, smacking him hard across the side of his face with the wristlet. He shrieked again, shoving me back with a push so strong that I went flying against the concrete slab Dani had been tied on, hitting my side on the edge.
I couldn’t breathe, I had landed so hard, and slid to the ground, moaning as my ribs shifted just oddly enough to tell me that one or two might be broken. Then, a second later, the pain set in and I doubled over, trying to catch my breath.
Archer had edged closer during my interaction with Charles and now he lunged forward, catching the vampire with my dagger. He shoved hard, driving the blade into the Souljacker’s back, but unfortunately his aim was off and he missed the heart. As Charles let go of Dani and whirled around, Archer managed to keep hold of the blade, pulling it free.
Dani was scrambling to run, but with one lunge, the Souljacker grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet. She screamed again, trying to kick him in the balls. I wanted to shout to her that it would do no good—not against a vampire—but I could barely breathe, let alone talk.
As he shifted his grip to her throat and hoisted her a good six inches or more off the floor, she began to sputter. Archer swung again, this time hitting closer. He tried to fall on the blade, to disrupt the Souljacker’s grip on Dani, and while he didn’t hit square against the back of the heart, he did get Charles’s attention, pulling away again before the vampire could grab something to hit him with.
Dani once again dropped to the ground and she scrambled away, half crawling, half running. She managed to reach me by the table and I tore off my other wristlet, shoving it at her.
“Put this on, now!”
She fumbled for a moment, but managed to get it strapped around her arm. “How are we going to get out of here?”
Nate was struggling to stand, looking so woozy I knew that he was out of it as far as helping us went. There was no way he could manage any sort of attack, let alone a defense, and I was grateful I’d thought to give him one of the wristlets.
“Well, he can get his hands on us, but we can burn him with the silver. But if this keeps up for much longer, the racket’s going to attract something much worse. And if he gets away, he’ll only be that much more determined to target us. Twice burned, you know.” I was trying to think, frantically scrambling from idea to idea.
Archer grunted. “The hell with it. You two grab Nate and get moving. Go as fast as you can back the way we came.” And then he charged, driving forward. This time he wasn’t aiming for the Souljacker’s heart, but instead, he body-slammed him, knocking him to the ground.
I grabbed Dani and we struggled to our feet. Limping, this time because of my ribs, we staggered over to Nate, and Dani managed to pull him up, draping his arm around her shoulder. The extra chi I had drawn from the weretigers was keeping me up and moving, but it couldn’t guard against the pain that the concrete table had inflicted, though it flashed through my mind that if I hadn’t topped off at the filling station, so to speak, I would be out cold right now.
We headed toward the door, past Archer and Charles, who were struggling on the floor. Archer had demon strength of some sort, though I wasn’t certain how strong and resistant chaos demons actually were, but I had to believe he could make it through this and get out safely.
Dani was trying to keep it together. Nate was mumbling incoherently—the lump on his forehead where the wooden stool had hit him was as large as an egg. And I was just trying to breathe deeply enough that I didn’t faint. We approached the door, hurrying as fast as we could, and I yanked it open, but shadows outside drove us back. There was someone out there—and they were headed our way.
“Crap. What do we do?” I glanced around, frantic. The only other exit was nailed shut.
“Get back,” Marsh said, popping in again. He moved in front of us, but I knew that all he could do would be to try to scare whoever was headed through the doorway.
As we watched, five figures silently entered the room, all men. Four of the men were wearing dark suits—fancy, designer wear, and hats that hearkened back to Marsh’s era. One of them was wearing sunglasses, and as he removed them, Dani let out a little cry. I gasped as the man stepped forward, a cunning grin on his face. It was Greg, standing there full as life.
“Well, hello there. Thank you for collecting our package,” he said, motioning to the three men who were dressed like he was. They headed over to where Archer and Charles were fighting and dragged them apart, yelping as Archer slapped one with the blade. But they weren’t interested in the chaos demon. Instead, they grabbed hold of Charles and dragged him over to stand in front of the other man—a man I recognized from his picture.
Dressed in a white suit beneath a dark coat, Terrance Schafer looked up at his son, and began to weep. “Charles, I’ve come to take you home.”
Chapter 32
“You can’t mean to leave him alive—do you know what he’s done?” The words were out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying.
Terrance turned toward me. “I don’t believe we’ve met, but I want to thank you for keeping my son occupied till we could collect him. We’ve been tracking him for some time, but he’s a cagey one, aren’t you, boy?”
The Souljacker struggled against his captors. “Let me go! You don’t understand, you have no idea what you’re doing—they taunt me—they’re calling me. If I don’t gather them back, they’ll leave me forever. I have to have them back; they’re what make me real. It’s so stark in my mind, all black and white with no color except for the bloody red that flows forever through my thoughts.” His voice was mesmerizing, it spiraled around us like a sinuous tendril of mist.
Terrance regarded his son with a quizzical look. “I really expected them to make more progress at the hospital.”
“Hospital?” I couldn’t help it; this was the most surreal scene I could imagine. “Your son was in an institution for the criminally insane. He’s a vampire, Terrance. He’s gone over the edge, beyond the pale. He’s murdering his former clients so he can steal his art back. What don’t you understand about this?”
Terrance slowly crossed the distance between us. I struggled to stand up straight, unwilling to show weakness to the man’s face. He was as deluded as his son if he thought he could bring Charles around.
“My son may have made some bad choices in life, but we can rectify this one. He can come out of it.”
“Choices? He didn’t choose to become a vampire. In fact, your son isn’t your son anymore. Don’t you understand what vam
pires are like? That they aren’t…” I stopped, suddenly aware that Greg and the other three vamps were staring at me, obviously too interested in what I was about to say. I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat. Maybe, just maybe, they’d let it pass.
It was then that I noticed Marsh was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished. Fine guardian he was, I thought, but then I brought my thoughts back to focus on keeping myself alive.
Terrance began to bluster, but Greg motioned to him and he fell silent. I suddenly realized that Terrance wasn’t the one in power here, but Greg. Which could prove highly problematic. He moved forward, his gaze fastened on Dani.
“It’s been a long time, Dani. Too long. I’ve missed you, my wife.” He stopped a few feet from us, and his gaze moved toward Dani’s wrist, where my silver wristlet wrapped around her arm.
She stood, frozen, Nate’s arm still draped around her neck as she tried to hold him up. “Leave me alone. You aren’t my husband.”
“I recall we took vows. Made promises.” Again his voice was silky smooth, but behind it lurked a hook, a sensuous lure that I understood all too well because, as a succubus, I had that same ability. I had used it in the past, but for so long now, I had hidden that side of myself away, unwilling to draw in anybody against their will.
“Vows that ended at death,” Dani said, pulling back.
Nate tried to step in front of her, but I moved to Dani’s side and eased him back. It was obvious we weren’t going to be able to run at this point, so I made him sit down to rest. My own ribs were aching, and I coughed from the pressure they were putting on my lungs. Archer hurried over, a worried look on his face when I let out sharp note of pain.
“Lily…”
“It’s all right.” When he started to protest, I shook my head. “I said I’m all right.” Don’t show weakness. My years on the road were coming back to me.
Souljacker: A Lily Bound Novel Page 25