Predatory

by Alexandra Ivy

  She blinked. What the hell did that have to do with anything?

  “Some believe that beauty stimulates primal brain circuits. It’s not a response anyone can control any more than they can control their reaction to cocaine.” He shrugged. “And if the beauty is extreme, it acts as an overdose and—”

  “People die.” She remembered the feeling of her heart slowing, faltering, almost stopping. “I can’t believe it.” But she did.

  “The beauty of the Second One’s face attracts its victims, its eyes hold them captive while it kills.” He turned to face the fireplace, his back straight, tension radiating from him. “In two hours you won’t be able to look at me. If you try, the Second One will kill you. I’ll be Medusa in reverse.”

  She swallowed her fear as she stood. “Then I won’t look at you.” Even though I want to so badly it hurts. “I . . . I have to take a shower, change clothes.” She raked her fingers through her tangled hair. She couldn’t think. Clothes. She didn’t have any, and she couldn’t see herself returning to Felicity’s condo anytime soon.

  “The bathroom is down the hall to the right. There’s a lock on the door.”

  Left unsaid was that a lock probably wouldn’t stop a determined vampire. But Cassie was too desperate to shed her bloody clothes, to scrub the blood from her body to care. “Clothes?”

  “The closet across from the bathroom. Zareb . . . entertains a lot. You should find something to fit you.”

  Cassie nodded even though he still faced the fireplace. She grabbed her purse and scurried down the hallway. From the closet she grabbed a top, pants, and a pair of shoes that looked as though they’d fit, then locked herself in the bathroom.

  A little of her tension eased away as the hot water sluiced over her body. Cassie scrubbed until her skin felt raw, until not a speck of blood remained. And she thought about Ethan.

  What she’d felt when she looked at him, the yearning, wasn’t the same as what she’d felt for Zareb. Yes, she understood that in both cases she was reacting to the Second One in them, but still, it had felt different with Ethan—more personal, more . . . something.

  Once out of the shower, she used the dryer lying on the counter for her hair and then pulled her makeup bag from her purse. The makeup, the hair, they were important. They gave her confidence, and confidence along with a few weapons would be all she’d have tonight. And Ethan. A vampire. Funny, just when she’d thought she had life figured out, it had given her a swift kick in the behind.

  Cassie was still thinking about her reaction to Ethan as she dressed in her borrowed clothes and then returned to the living room. Head down, lost in thought, she had almost reached the couch before the complete silence hit her—no greeting from Ethan, no hisses from the cat, not even the crackling of the fire. She looked up.

  Vampires, lots of them, stood in the shadows at the edges of the room. Motionless, silent, they watched her from gleaming eyes, hungry eyes. Except for one. He wore sunglasses and had a hoodie that hid most of his face. Which was scarier, what she could or couldn’t see? Her breath caught in her throat.

  Zareb broke the silence. “Ethan told me what happened to both of you.” He pointed to a bag he’d set on the coffee table. “I stopped at McDonald’s. Ethan already ate.” He didn’t offer to explain.

  A vampire stopping at McDonald’s. That should make her laugh, but all Cassie could do was shudder at the thought of all those silent killers listening as the water ran—imagining, hungering.

  “My children and I will be paying a visit to Eternal Rest as soon as Ethan’s change is complete.” The predator lived in Zareb’s voice, his gaze. “You’ll stay here with the cat.”

  Cassie opened her mouth and said what was probably the most stupid thing she’d ever uttered.

  “No.”

  Chapter Five

  “Did she just defy you, Zareb?” Darren’s voice was quietly mocking.

  Ethan frowned. Darren wasn’t one of his favorite vampire brothers. He’d killed too often with too much enjoyment, and now the Second One was close to claiming him permanently. It made him eager for violence wherever he could find it. At least he’d had the sense to wear his sunglasses and hoodie.

  “Can you allow that to go unpunished?” Darren injected a fake note of concern into his voice.

  Ethan ground his teeth. He’d gladly separate Darren’s useless head from his shoulders. The jerk wanted to see Zareb hurt Cassie. He lived for causing pain.

  One glance at Cassie assured Ethan that she recognized the danger too. He crouched. When had his mind made the decision to defend her against his maker?

  Zareb didn’t even glance at Darren. “Your need to see blood flow is much too obvious. Do you really think you can manipulate me, Darren?”

  “Of course not.” Darren sounded nervous as he moved farther into the shadows.

  Zareb’s smile never reached his eyes. “I didn’t think so.” He looked at Cassie. “And why do you think you should come with us?” His expression gave away nothing.

  She fixed her gaze on the middle of his chest. “If someone found Ethan’s home and attacked his friends, then who’s to say they don’t have a list of where all of you live? I don’t think Cat and I would do a great job of defending the old homestead.”

  “I’m certain that Cat is a ferocious warrior.” Zareb’s lips tipped up in a brief smile.

  Ethan relaxed a little.

  “Besides, they killed my friend. I want . . .” She took a deep breath. “I need to be there to see that they’re punished.”

  Zareb nodded. “I understand the hunger for vengeance.”

  She corrected him. “Justice.”

  He shrugged. “Call it what you will. You deserve to see them punished.”

  “You’re letting her come?” Ethan narrowed his eyes. Amazing. His maker didn’t do crap like this. Stupid. Who took a human into battle anyway?

  Zareb moved toward the door. “Yes.”

  Ethan didn’t even try to explain away his need to protect her. “She’ll die.”

  “It’s her choice.” Zareb’s expression said the decision was made.

  Ethan glared as he watched his maker head for the door. “Do you still keep your weapons in the same place?”

  Zareb paused. “Yes. You’re going to arm her? Excellent idea. I’ve learned that the least capable among us often perform extraordinary feats given the right incentives.” Then he left. The other vampires disappeared after him.

  “And sometimes the ‘least capable’ have skills that could put your butt in the ground.” Her mumbled response was almost lost in the slamming of the door.

  Ethan would have smiled, but he was too pissed to find anything funny right now. “You’d be a lot safer here.”

  Her gaze challenged him. “I’ll be a lot ‘safer’ if I operate under the assumption that hiding isn’t an option until these animals are stopped. Because from what you’ve told me, they’re very good at finding people, and a false sense of security could kill me.”

  Cassie was wrong. She hadn’t seen what they’d be facing.

  He reached for another argument. “What do you fear the most, Cassie?” Whatever it was, he’d use it to convince her to stay away from Eternal Rest.

  “Having to cook dinner for my whole family? World’s worst cook here.” Her smile was small and tight, but at least it reached her eyes.

  “Right. Won’t have to cook Garrity dinner.” He searched his mind for a clue to her real fears.

  Then he remembered her words when she’d seen the bodies of his neighbors: “I’ve been afraid of the dead all my life.”

  “Death. You’re afraid to die.” He knew he sounded triumphant. “If you go with us, there’s a good chance it could happen.”

  She ignored him.

  Frustrated, he watched her pull on a borrowed jacket. If she was determined to go, he’d have to give her a weapon, for all the good it would do. Ethan turned to head down the hallway. He pulled open the door to the smallest bedroom, stro
de to the walk-in closet, and took the key from the hook beside the door.

  “Wait.” Her voice was right behind him. “Did you just get that key off the wall? I didn’t see a key there.”

  “You weren’t supposed to see it. A cloaking spell. Zareb wears many hats. Sorcerer is one of them.” He hoped he sounded as angry as he felt.

  He could sense her rolling this latest bit of weirdness around in her mind. He yanked open the door and turned on the closet light.

  “Wow.” Her hushed exclamation said it all.

  “Wow, indeed.” He stepped inside the huge walk-in closet and studied the hundreds of weapons lining its walls. “Can you shoot a gun?” As he spoke he lifted a small handgun from the wall.

  “Yes.” She reached past him and chose a different one.

  He frowned. “Why not the one I picked?”

  “I’ve practiced with this one.”

  He watched as she chose ammunition and deftly loaded the gun. She shoved it into her purse.

  Ethan studied her. “You’re different from when I first met you.”

  She didn’t answer, just lifted a knife from the wall, chose a sheath, and strapped it to her thigh.

  “That’s a big-ass knife.”

  “That’s why I like it.” She started to turn away.

  “This is the real you, isn’t it? So who was that person back in the funeral home?”

  Her eyes looked flat, expressionless. “I killed the binder, didn’t I? Oh, and I still don’t know what a binder is.”

  “You got lucky. Who taught you how to use a gun and knife?”

  “My grandfather.”

  He picked up on the slight hesitation before she said “grandfather.”

  Ethan had a gut feeling. “Does your grandfather have anything to do with your fear of death?” Maybe she’d seen him die. That could be traumatic for a kid.

  He needed to know, and he was prepared to stand here until she told him. Ethan didn’t have a clue why knowing was so important to him. This whole not-having-a-clue thing was getting old fast.

  She met his gaze, and for a moment he thought she’d refuse to explain. But then she sighed and looked past him. “I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of dead bodies.”

  “Why?”

  Cassie hesitated, and he could almost hear her inner battle.

  “I’d like to know.” He tried to soften his voice, but he hadn’t done soft in a lot of years. His “soft” probably sounded like an angry growl.

  He told himself that she knew his secrets so it was only fair that he know hers. But that wasn’t the reason at all.

  “My grandparents lived on a farm. Once a year my parents would leave me with them for a week. I loved the animals and all that space to play. My grandmother spoiled me the whole time I was there. My grandfather was a scary man once my parents had gone, though. He never touched me, but I saw how he treated his animals, how he treated Grandma. Even though she was afraid of him, she begged me not to tell my parents, because if he got mad he’d have one of his ‘spells.’ She swore he was a good man, just crotchety in his old age. I was young, so I believed her.” She still wouldn’t look at him. “When I was ten years old, my grandmother died. She’d been sick, and one afternoon my grandfather came in from working in the fields to find her dead in her bed. He told me to go into the room and say my last good-byes to her. I was frightened. I refused.”

  Ethan watched her raise a shaking hand to push back a strand of hair.

  “He’d always been about staying strong and controlling situations. When his dogs didn’t obey him, he tied them to a tree. When Grandma didn’t obey him . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t really know because she never told me, but I suspect it must’ve been bad for her to fear him that much. He’d taught me to hunt, to know my way around most weapons by the time I was eight. He saw my refusal to go into that room as weakness. His cure was to chain me to my grandmother’s bed, close the bedroom door, and leave me alone with her corpse for two days.”

  Ethan couldn’t believe his explosion of fury. He hoped the man was still alive so he could kill him. The Second One murmured its approval.

  “He released me on the third day. The first thing I did was to run all the way to the next farm and call my parents. They came and took me away. I never saw the old man again. I refused to talk about him, but a few months later Mom told me that he’d been committed and that he would never hurt me again.” She laughed softly. “It was too late, though. That particular horse had already left the barn.” Cassie finally looked directly at him. “But after what happened in the funeral home, after what they did to Felicity, you can count on me to do my part tonight.”

  “Is he still alive?”

  “No.” Then she walked away. “Let’s get going before your maker sends someone to see what’s keeping you.” She didn’t glance back as she walked into the living room. She stopped at the door. “Did you feed the cat?”

  He almost smiled. Almost. Such an ordinary question in the midst of extraordinary events. “Yes. And Zareb took care of the litter box.” Something he’d never thought to see his maker doing. He would’ve taken a picture and loaded it onto YouTube if he hadn’t thought that Zareb would kill him.

  Ethan had stopped to pull a hoodie from the closet. His change was almost complete. From this moment until the Second One retreated, Cassie couldn’t see his face. He pulled the hood far enough forward so he was hidden in shadow. On the way out, he picked up his sunglasses.

  She frowned. “The Second One?”

  He nodded.

  Then they left. Cassie didn’t say anything until they were in her car. “No one waited for us.”

  “We’ll meet up near Eternal Rest. They’ll all come in their own cars. They’ll park a few blocks away and wait for Zareb to give instructions.”

  “Cars?” She smiled. “I’m disappointed. I thought vampires would have a sexier way of getting around than that. I know you don’t do the dematerializing thing, but how about flying? Do vampires fly?”

  “No.” Ethan knew she was trying to sound calm, but he could hear her quickened heartbeat, sense her tension. “If we could do all the things myths say we can do, we’d have conquered the world centuries ago. We have preternatural speed and strength, enhanced senses, and our own specific gifts. And if you belong to my bloodline, you have the Second One.”

  She remained silent for a few minutes, and Ethan was hopeful that she’d run out of questions. She hadn’t.

  “I was in the shower when you explained things to Zareb. So how did you end up in that glass coffin? And please tell me what a binder is?”

  He kept his attention on the road. He didn’t want to repeat the story, but she had a right to know. “I was in Jersey when they caught me.” He wouldn’t go into details about the chase, about how the hell they even found him. “They shot me up with something to keep me weak until they got back to Eternal Rest. Then they took my clothes and dumped me into the coffin. I was still too weak to do anything when the binder came in with his freaking headstone.” Where had they found someone like him?

  “They? Who are ‘they’?”

  “I don’t know. Some kind of hunters.” Human, but not human. And they’d brought beasts with them. His mind skittered away from thoughts of the beasts.

  “So explain ‘binder.’”

  Ethan could feel her gaze on him, but he didn’t turn to glance at her. He couldn’t take the chance that she’d see his face. “A binding spell bends someone to your will, makes them do what you want them to do.” He shook his head. “But I’ve never seen or felt anything like this. Tony brought in his headstone, set it next to me, and suddenly I couldn’t move a muscle. I was like that for days.” He’d fought, tried to at least twitch. Nothing. He was a mind trapped in a useless body. He’d never admit how terrified he was. “I don’t know where Garrity found someone that powerful.”

  Cassie nodded. “The etching on the tombstone showed you wrapped in chains and a lock on the coffin. So h
e made you feel exactly what his drawing depicted.”

  “I don’t know why they wanted me, or why they put me in a glass coffin. I need answers.” He hoped he would get those answers tonight.

  Even though Ethan suspected that Cassie had more questions, she stayed silent for the rest of the drive. He parked her car three blocks from the funeral home. His car was still in Jersey. At least he hoped it was.

  Once out of the car, Ethan moved close to her. Her emotions touched him—fear, sorrow, anger, determination. He’d tried to stay clear of the feelings of others in the past. Nothing good came from allowing yourself to be sucked into the maelstrom of human emotions. Involvement made you careless, vulnerable.

  He recognized the risks. But this time he couldn’t resist. Ethan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Whatever goes down when we get there, Zareb will want me to go in first because I have the big guns tonight. He’ll follow me in. He’ll choose a few others to go in with us. The rest will stay outside to deal with guards or anyone trying to flee.”

  “What about me?” Her expression said that if they planned to tuck her safely behind some tree, they could just forget about it.

  “I want you between Zareb and me. It’ll be the safest place. You know what I can do. And Zareb is old enough to remember the pharaohs. Hell, he might’ve been one. He has crazy survival skills.”

  She nodded, her whole body tense.

  He couldn’t help himself, Ethan reached over with his free hand and slid his fingers along her clenched jaw. “I’m here.” Stupid words. They’d mean nothing to her.

  She drew a deep shuddering breath and relaxed into him. “Thanks.”

  And that one word made him feel . . . good. No matter what they’d find when they reached Garrity’s, or how much the Second One’s need for violence pushed at him, right now, with her human warmth pressed against his side, he was content. Not a word anyone would use to describe him.

  Ethan stilled as he felt the familiar touch in his mind. Zareb could get into his brain without Ethan even knowing he was there, but his maker always announced his presence as a courtesy.

  Ethan listened to Zareb’s message and then spoke to Cassie. He made sure he didn’t look at her as he talked. “Zareb just did some mental messaging. He’s already at Eternal Rest. Armed guards are scattered around the place. People are moving things out in a hurry. Guess they figure they might get company. He’s not going for sneaky. As soon as we get there, we’ll go in.”