Once Bitten, Twice Burned

by Cynthia Eden

  The observation room was empty. The dead silence from the other room told him that no one was watching him then.

  Because you’re off torturing Sabine?

  He wanted to bellow again with his fury. Instead, he closed his eyes. He sucked in a deep breath, and he tried to reach her with his mind.

  He’d taken her blood twice. The psychic link should exist between them now. Their blood link. Not all vampires could forge those bonds with their victims.

  He wasn’t all vampires. Wyatt, you fool, you should have left me the hell alone.

  Now Wyatt would die. Everyone who’d helped him would die.

  Because Ryder wasn’t some fresh vamp who’d been newly turned.

  I am ancient. I am power.

  I am death.

  And he used all of his power right then, trying to reach out to Sabine, to make sure that she was still alive and—

  A wall of flames.

  He couldn’t reach her mind. He could feel her. The fear. The fury. But there were flames stopping his mind from connecting to hers. The blood link between them wasn’t strong enough to get past the flames that shielded her mind.

  His hands clenched into fists as his eyelids flew open. No one had ever been able to escape his blood link. Not demons. Not witches. Not djinn or shifters.

  But the flames just burned brighter in his mind’s eye. There was no getting to Sabine. He couldn’t reach her.

  He wondered if anyone could.

  Ryder forced his hands to unclench. If he couldn’t get a psychic link to Sabine, then he’d just have to get a physical link with her. She could resist the blood bond but others wouldn’t be so strong. Humans were particularly susceptible to the link.

  Oh Thomas . . . And Ryder pictured the redheaded doctor in his mind. Jim Thomas.

  The doctor’s blood beat in Ryder’s veins. Blood that didn’t satisfy. That just made him hunger all the more for Sabine.

  He couldn’t question that growing hunger, not then. He had to focus on his escape.

  Jim Thomas. He felt the doctor’s presence instantly as he locked on the terrified human. He’d bitten other humans while he’d been at Genesis, but the rage had been in control then. Ryder had bitten, drunk, and killed.

  This time, his control had been stronger. He’d left the humans alive. The better to use them.

  Wyatt didn’t understand the monster that he had in front of him. Didn’t understand the power of the beast. Despite all of the security and guards, Genesis wouldn’t hold Ryder.

  Not now, now when he had his own prey to help him escape.

  Ryder closed his eyes once more as he focused his energy. Darkness, just for an instant, then . . . then he was seeing through Thomas’s eyes. The blood link was very strong. Humans. Sometimes they had their uses.

  Thomas was in a white room. A redheaded woman with a stethoscope draped around her neck stood before him. Patching up the wound on his throat? The bastard was lucky he’d gotten such a light bite.

  If I hadn’t wanted to keep you alive, I would have ripped out your throat.

  Thomas stiffened and whimpered, and Ryder knew the man had heard his thoughts.

  That’s right, human. I’m in your head. I can read your mind. See every fear that you’ve ever had.

  Thomas opened his mouth. “The vampire—he’s—”

  Shut up. Ryder’s instant command.

  Jim Thomas’s lips clamped together.

  The doctor in front of him frowned. “Are you all right, Jim?” Her voice was clipped, a tight NY accent. Old money. Her fingers smoothed over his bandage. “Did the vampire hurt you anywhere else?”

  I have no other wounds. Ryder pushed the thought into Thomas’s head.

  “I-I have no other wounds,” the guy said instantly.

  Ryder felt the pulse of the human’s surprise. And his fear. The fear was like a thick fog in the man’s head.

  That’s right, Jim Thomas. I’m in your mind, and you won’t be able to get me out. I am in control. You should never have walked into my cage.

  Because now the doctor was his bitch.

  Thomas whimpered.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I think you need a sedative.”

  No, Thomas getting knocked out for the night wouldn’t suit his purposes at all.

  Get up.

  Thomas jumped off the exam table.

  Tell her to fuck off. Ryder smiled, and kept his head down. It wouldn’t do for any of the cameras to catch his expression. No one was watching now, but Wyatt would no doubt review the footage from his cell.

  “Fuck off, Vivian,” Thomas said as he shoved by the other doctor.

  Her gasp followed him.

  Thomas was appalled at himself. Flushing. Shaking his head.

  Oh right, because saying that makes you feel bad, but torturing vampires and shifters—you don’t ever feel a bit guilty for those crimes?

  Thomas’s heart raced faster, and, surprise, surprise—Ryder did sense guilt in the man’s mind. Guilt and the dark knowledge that if Thomas didn’t do his job, Wyatt would go after his wife. His unborn child.

  So you let us all suffer in order to keep them safe?

  Thomas had no answer, but maybe that was because he couldn’t speak. Ryder had frozen his tongue and mouth. All Thomas could do was walk down the long hallway, glancing to the left and the right so that Ryder could learn the schematics of the facility.

  Come to me. Ryder shoved the thought into Thomas’s head and knew it would be a compulsion. Cut the surveillance feed from my room. Open the door. Get me the hell out of here.

  And Thomas rushed to obey. A puppet on a string. A puppet with no will. No control.

  Oh, that wasn’t technically true. Thomas’s mind was still functioning. Ryder could feel his psychic screams but . . .

  You can’t stop me.

  Not with the blood link in place. No one could stop him.

  The human went into the surveillance room. A guard turned toward him with a smile. “Hey, doc, heard that bastard vamp took a bite out of you—”

  Go for his throat.

  Thomas attacked him. Punching and clawing. The guard wasn’t expecting the attack, and because of that, Thomas’s rather feeble hits were able to take the man down.

  Thomas, you should try working out sometime. It wouldn’t kill you. Ryder smiled. But I might.

  Thomas left the guard sprawled on the ground. A few taps of his fingers across the keyboard disabled the surveillance on Ryder’s cell.

  Ryder lifted his head. Now, he didn’t care if anyone saw his grin.

  Come to my cell. Get the damn door open.

  Because he needed out of there. Ryder had to get to Sabine before Wyatt and his sadistic band of scientists tried more of their experiments on her.

  Thomas all but ran back to him. The guy’s fingers trembled as he swiped the key card over the control panel. The lights flashed green. The door opened.

  Ryder lunged forward. He grabbed Thomas by the throat. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Ryder asked as he slid from the human’s mind.

  Thomas whimpered. The guy did a lot of that.

  “I could kill you right now,” Ryder whispered to him. It would be so easy. A jerk of his hand would snap the human’s neck. Or he could use his fangs to rip open the man’s throat.

  Jim Thomas’s eyes were wide and desperate. “P-please.”

  Ryder threw him across the room. Thomas’s back slammed into the wall. “Hope you like the cell.” He stepped out of that containment hell. Shut the door. Heard the whir of the lock click into place.

  I’m letting you live. Be fucking grateful. Thomas would be able to go back to his wife.

  Ryder was being merciful. A fairly new concept for him. And he didn’t even know why the hell he was bothering.

  The child. The whisper came from inside of him as he hurried down the hallways. You know what it’s like when a child grows up alone.

  Yes, he knew all too well.

  He inhaled as he ran,
pulling in all the scents around him. The cold scent of antiseptic. Bleach. The rotting stench of death. So many dead bodies. Wyatt had been a busy man.

  He inhaled again. Caught the wilder, woodsy scent that Ryder knew came from shifters—that scent drifted from upstairs.

  But the scent of fire . . . the scent of woman . . . the sweet but rich scent that he’d come to associate with Sabine—that scent came from dead ahead.

  Ryder rushed forward. He expected to walk right into the room that housed Sabine. Instead Ryder entered an observation room. Two white lab coat–wearing bastards whirled toward him when he entered. Three seconds later, they hit the floor, unconscious.

  Ryder looked out of that tinted glass. Another two-way mirror. He stared at Sabine. She was strapped to a table, while a guard headed toward her. The man had a gun in his hand.

  Donaldson. Ryder recognized the guard instantly, and not just because he had a blood-soaked bandage at his throat. The guard’s bitter blood flowed within Ryder. The man—with his too short hair and tight, furious features—stared at Sabine with hate.

  Are you pissed because I took a bite out of you? Ryder shoved the thought right at the guard. As with Thomas, forming the link with this human was effortless. All he’d needed was the blood, and, of course, to actually let the humans keep living long enough to use the link.

  Donaldson stiffened.

  That’s right. I’m inside of you now. There’s no getting away.

  The guard’s trembling hand lifted the gun. This guy was stronger than Thomas had been. There’s no use fighting.You’re not powerful enough to stop me.

  “Please, don’t!” Sabine yelled as she yanked against the straps that held her down.

  Ryder could easily read Donaldson’s thoughts. She’s not human. The bitch deserves this pain. She’ll hurt, she’ll die, then she’ll come back again.

  It’s not like she can ever really die.

  The guard’s thoughts enraged Ryder. No, Ryder pushed into Donaldson’s mind as he grabbed the cell key card off one of the fallen doctors at his feet. She won’t die, and you won’t hurt her. So stop pointing that gun at her. Point it at your own damn self.

  Ryder swiped the key card at the control box on Sabine’s cell. The lights flashed, and he ran into the room.

  He found Donaldson standing near Sabine’s restrained figure. The guard had the barrel of the gun pressed against his own chest. Donaldson’s eyes were wild, and he screamed, “Stop! Stop me!”

  Sabine wasn’t screaming. She just stared at the guard in wild horror.

  Then she looked at Ryder. Her lips shook. “What’s—what’s happening?”

  He rushed to her. Yanked away the restraints and pulled her into his arms. “You’re safe.”

  She shook against him even as she wrapped her arms around him and held Ryder as tight as she could. As if she’d never let him go.

  No one had ever held him like that. Most were too eager to escape him.

  She knows what I am. What I can do. What I did to her.

  And still she wants me? His chest ached. My second chance.

  His arms curled around her. “I’m going to take you out of here.” Take her out, then come back to destroy the place. Wyatt wouldn’t get away with his sick experiments any longer.

  She nodded against him, and her silken hair brushed over the side of his neck. He inhaled her scent, bringing it even deeper into his lungs. The scent soothed the fury that had been boiling to such a dangerous degree within him.

  “I want to go home,” she told him, the words a whisper. She’d longed for her home before.

  He eased back just enough to stare down at her. She didn’t seem to realize it yet, but her “home” wasn’t going to be a real option for her, not anymore. She’d changed.

  The humans at her “home” hadn’t.

  But he found he couldn’t crush the faint hope in her eyes.

  Then her gaze darted to the guard and her dark eyes widened in alarm. “What is he doing?”

  “Can’t stop!” Donaldson yelled before Ryder could speak. “He’s in my head.”

  Ryder pulled Sabine up to her feet. “Forget about him.” He wouldn’t give the order for the guard to shoot. Not until Sabine was out of the room. No sense in her seeing that blood and gore.

  But I’m not letting you go, Donaldson. You put a gun to her head. You were about to shoot her, both in my cell and now, with her tied down like an animal. Do you think I’ll let you live after this?

  Tears leaked from Donaldson’s eyes. No, the man didn’t think he’d be living past these last few moments.

  Ryder pushed Sabine toward the door. “Come on.” He didn’t know how long they’d have before his escape was discovered. An alarm could ring out at any second.

  But Sabine stopped walking. The woman froze against him. She looked over at Donaldson, then back at Ryder. “He doesn’t . . . why is he pushing the gun against his own heart?”

  Because I’m telling him to do it, love. And as soon as you leave the room, I’ll tell him to pull that trigger.

  Ryder shrugged. “Maybe he just can’t live with the crimes on his soul. Bet he’s played attack dog for Wyatt plenty of times.”

  And he had. Ryder could see the memories. So many dark, terrible deeds. Donaldson had killed before. Shifters. Witches.

  As long as they weren’t human, did you think their deaths didn’t matter?

  Donaldson gave a faint nod.

  Wrong answer, bastard. They mattered.

  Sabine’s fingers caught his hand. Squeezed. “Whatever you’re doing, stop.”

  He blinked at her in surprise.

  “Don’t be like them. Don’t kill just because they do.”

  So misguided. He wasn’t killing because the humans had started a battle. He was killing because that was his nature. You didn’t tell the snake not to strike, and you didn’t tell the vamp not to kill.

  “Promise me,” she said, shaking her head and still refusing to move when he gave her a harder shove. “Promise that you won’t kill him. Just leave him here, lock him up in this cell, and let’s go.”

  Ryder didn’t like to make promises that he couldn’t keep. In fact, he never made a promise unless he was sure that he could follow through on his words.

  Others had broken their vows to him. They’d paid. In blood.

  “If you don’t give me your word,” she hesitated, then said, “I won’t leave with you. I-I’ll find my own way out. I’ll stay until I’m sure you’re gone, sure that you won’t kill him, then I’ll escape.”

  He lifted his hand. Stroked the silk of her cheek. Watched with interest as her pupils dilated. Sabine had such a fast, primal response to him. Did she realize that?

  I have the same response to her. “My love,” he breathed the words, “that man was about to put his gun to your heart and pull the trigger. You don’t need to feel sorry for him.”

  Her gaze searched his. “It’s not him I care about. It’s you. Be better than the ones who hold us here.”

  He wasn’t better. Would never be. She just didn’t understand who he was yet. What he was. Despite what he’d done to her, she didn’t understand.

  Sabine stared up at him, hope struggling desperately to shine in her eyes.

  He found he couldn’t destroy that hope. “He won’t die by my hand. Not right now.”

  But when he came back to Genesis, once Sabine was safe . . . Ryder lifted his head and met Donaldson’s wild eyes. I will come back then. I will make you suffer. The bullet would have been too fast anyway.

  Donaldson grew even paler.

  Stay here, Ryder ordered him. Don’t take a step until I come back and tell you to move.

  The guard’s whole body tensed as his muscles locked down.

  Sabine’s breath heaved out. “Thank you.”

  He liked her gratitude, but he’d be taking more than just a “thank you” from her.

  His fingers twined with hers as they hurried from the room. Donaldson didn’t call out a
fter them. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything unless Ryder ordered him to do so.

  Now you know what it’s like to be helpless. As Ryder had been helpless when he’d been forced to watch Sabine die right in front of his eyes.

  Their footsteps raced down the hallway. To the left. To the right. A guard stumbled out, directly in front of them.

  Ryder caught the guy. Grabbed him, then punched him out with one hard knock of his fist. Too easy. The humans were his prey now. Nothing could stop him.

  No one.

  He’d be free, and Sabine would be at his side.

  Then those at Genesis would be the ones to scream and beg.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sabine didn’t know where they were going. And as long as Ryder was getting her out of the pit that reeked of death, she didn’t care. Her heart slammed into her chest and her lungs heaved as she rushed to keep pace with Ryder.

  The guy was fast. But then, he was a vampire. She figured superhuman speed must be part of his package. Not a bad package to have, once you looked past the whole blood-drinking and fangs bit. He pulled her hand, yanking her toward a metal door on the right, and then they were rushing into a narrow stairwell. She stumbled inside with him, and the door clanged shut behind them.

  “How much longer are we—” she began but Ryder pushed her against the nearest wall and put his hand over her mouth, effectively cutting off her words. She stared up at him, too conscious of the loud drumming of her heart, the sound seeming to fill her ears.

  “More guards,” he whispered the words against her left ear. Barely a breath of sound. She could have sworn she felt the light rasp of his tongue on the shell of her ear, and Sabine stiffened. Not with anger or disgust but with a sudden stab of desire that she hadn’t expected.

  It was strange. Her body felt primed, too tense, aching, and it had felt that way ever since Ryder had taken her hand and pulled her off that exam table.

  She hadn’t thought anyone would be coming to her rescue. Sabine certainly hadn’t expected a vampire with fierce eyes and bloodstained clothing to rush to her side.

  But he had.