by Karen Lynch
My mind struggled to grasp what my eyes were seeing. How did he…?
The truth hit me like a truck, knocking the air from my lungs and sending spikes of fear into my brain. I opened my mouth to call for help, only to find myself rendered mute by a hard hand. The street blurred, and I found myself in the alley, pressed face-first against the building and unable to move or call out.
“Sara,” he hissed against my hair. Terror threatened to choke me as the image of my father’s mutilated body swam before my eyes. Oh God no. Please, not like this.
I screamed into Eli’s hand and struggled wildly to twist out of his hold, but his grip was like steel bars holding me fast. He laughed softly in my ear and pressed his body against my length. “You’re a fighter. I like that.” I could hear the excitement in his voice, and his body responded to my fear. My heart threatened to explode from my chest.
“As soon as I looked into those beautiful green eyes of yours, I knew I had to have you. Those other girls, they simper and fawn, and they would do anything I asked of them. But you… you are different. You are an orchid in a field of dandelions.” He ran his free hand along my throat, and I whimpered. “Now, you are mine, little flower, and I cannot wait to taste your sweet nectar.”
His words sent shudders of revulsion through me. Pinned between him and the wall, his scent assailed my nostrils, and I almost gagged at the sickly odor that permeated his skin. It had been faint at first, camouflaged by expensive cologne, but the longer he held me, the stronger it grew. I found a fox once with a badly infected cut. Eli reeked of that same stench of rotting flesh and death.
“I just have to know one thing first,” Eli whispered and spun me around to face him while keeping me silenced with his hand. In the weak light of the alley I could see him as he smiled at me almost tenderly. “How did you do it? How did you break the compulsion? No one has ever resisted my will before.”
He started to lift his hand from my mouth, and I sucked in a deep breath to scream my head off. He tilted my head, forcing me to look into his eyes. “One thing, little flower. If you call out, I will rip your little boyfriends to shreds. You don’t want that, do you?”
My eyes widened even more, and I shook my head frantically.
His lips parted in a smile, and I watched in horror as two curved snake-like fangs grew from his mouth, gleaming in the pale light. In that moment I knew what a mouse felt like when it looked into the eyes of a rattlesnake. The mouse knew it was going to die, but it was too mesmerized with fear to move.
When Eli lifted a hand to my face I tried to jerk away from the inch-long black claws where his fingernails had been. He touched my cheek lightly, and I shuddered at the feel of the cold, hard claws on my skin.
“Now tell me how you resisted me and I promise your friends will not be harmed.”
“I–I don’t know.”
He sighed impatiently, and his clawed hand moved down to brush against my throat. I swallowed convulsively. “I’m not lying. Please… I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed, and he stared down into mine. “I think I believe you. Hmm, can it be that you don’t even know what you can do? It makes me wonder what other charming little talents you might be hiding.” He licked his lips and gall rose in my throat at his meaning. “What a delight you are. To think I almost settled for one of those insipid blondes.”
He put his mouth to my ear, and his words sent waves of fresh terror through me. “I am going to savor you, little Sara. I had planned to have you now, but why rush when we can take all the time we want later.”
“No…”
“But I think a taste first to whet the appetite.” His face lowered as he forced my head to one side, baring my throat. His lips touched my skin, and his tongue lapped at the spot where my pulse beat. Blackness swam before my eyes.
“What is this?” he murmured and sniffed as if he was trying a new wine. His tongue touched my skin again. “You taste like – ” His head whipped up, and his eyes glittered like he had just been served a favorite dessert. “You’re a – ”
“Now that is no way to treat a young lady,” said a deep masculine voice from the other end of the alley. The voice was cold and menacing and the sweetest sound I had ever heard.
Eli moved so he was backed against the wall with me dangling in front of him like a ragdoll. “You are very brave, my friend, but you will move on if you know what’s good for you.”
“I have been told that I don’t heed orders well.” The shadows shifted, and a tall shape moved forward into the meager light. He wore the jeans and navy blue sweater I’d seen him in earlier, but over them he now wore some kind of leather harness that crisscrossed his muscled chest, holding an assortment of knives. Behind his right shoulder I could see the handle of what looked like a sword strapped to his back. I was so happy to see him that I almost sobbed his name.
Eli stiffened and let out a hiss. “Mohiri!” Fear crept into his voice, and my dazed mind wondered what on earth scared a vampire.
Nikolas chuckled, and I felt a tremor run through my captor. “I see there is no need for introductions. Good. I hate to waste time on formalities.”
“Stay back or I will rip her apart.” Eli’s hand was at my throat now, the icy claws biting into my skin. I was afraid to breathe and risk being sliced open. I froze and focused on Nikolas’s face, praying he would save me from this nightmare. For a second his eyes met mine, and I saw barely controlled rage in them. I glimpsed something feral and lethal simmering below the surface.
“A bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Nikolas quipped, but steel laced his voice. He took a step forward, and Eli jerked in response.
“Her death will be on your hands, Mohiri.” Eli’s claws pressed tighter against my throat, and warmth trickled down my neck. He shuddered at the scent of warm blood beneath his nose, and I could tell he was about to lose it. Nikolas would never reach us before those fangs tore my throat out.
Nikolas’s expression never changed. His voice grew deeper, colder, and I shivered at the power radiating from him. “Do it and it will be your last act, vampire.”
Eli quailed, but he did not loosen his grip. I could sense the struggle inside him. He was afraid, but he craved my blood. Would he stay and fight for his prize or run for his life?
“Brother, how like you to sneak off and sample the sweets by yourself,” drawled a male voice from above. “And look at the trouble it has brought you.”
Dread filled me as I looked up at the figure standing on the fire escape above our heads. Eli’s grip on my throat loosened, and he sighed with relief against my hair.
“Come now, Joel. You know I always save some for you,” Eli’s voice rang with triumph, and the hope I’d felt a minute before died. What chance did we have against a pair of vampires?
Joel laughed and leaned against the metal railing. “I think I deserve a little more than a nibble this time. Mmm… she looks like a tasty little bit.”
Eli caressed my cheek. “This one is mine.”
“No!” I shouted, twisting out of his hold. For a second I was free, and my eyes immediately flew to Nikolas. His body tensed to spring.
Eli snatched me back against him just as Joel landed softly beside him. I found myself flanked by two snarling monsters, and my newfound courage floundered.
Nikolas drew a long lethal sword and faced them with no trace of fear on his face. In that instant, I knew that no matter what happened, he would not desert me. For whatever reason, he had risked his own life for mine, and live or die, we were in this together.
“You can’t take us both and save her,” taunted Eli. “She will die, and your efforts will be for naught.”
A ghost of a smile passed over Nikolas’s face. “Then I will have to settle for killing only you.”
If Eli reacted to that statement, I did not see it. But I thought I detected a small quiver in his voice when he said, “Bold words for one outnumbered.”
Before Nikolas could
reply, a new voice cut through the tension in the alley. “Sara?” called Roland, followed by Peter shouting, “Sara, where are you?” My heart constricted, and I had to bite my lip to keep from calling out to them. I couldn’t drag them into this and watch them die beside me.
Eli’s head jerked a little, and Joel’s eyes darted from Nikolas to the alley entrance.
Nikolas laughed harshly. “Do you smell that my friends? I believe the odds just changed.”
I shot him a horrified look. Was he planning to use Roland and Peter as decoys to draw the vampires away from us? I would rather die than watch my friends get hurt because of me.
“Come, brother. There are sweeter meals to be had,” Joel said, not taking his eyes off Nikolas.
“No,” Eli spat. “I want this one.”
Nikolas shifted, and his sword gleamed wickedly. “Release her or die, your choice. And you’d better make up your mind very soon.”
“Sara, damn it where are you?” Roland sounded frantic. They were closer, almost at the mouth of the alley.
Eli’s hold tightened convulsively, and I let out an involuntary cry.
One of my friends shouted, but I couldn’t tell who it was. I heard a commotion in the street, followed by a growling noise that made my hair stand on end. Oh God, what is that? I didn’t want to think about what horrors Roland and Peter could be facing now, too.
I couldn’t see the street, but I heard something big run into the alley. Eli let out a screech unlike anything I’d ever heard and lunged for the fire escape, pulling me with him like I weighed nothing. When he reached for the metal ladder, my gut twisted because I knew if he made it up the fire escape I was dead. Once he reached the roof he could easily jump to the next building, and there was no way Nikolas would catch him. I’d rather die here in this alley than be tortured at the hands of a vampire.
Behind us, I heard snarls and the sounds of a battle as Nikolas engaged the other vampire. There was no time to wonder who was winning that fight because I was fighting for my own life. I scratched and kicked and struggled futilely to break free from the vise-like arm around my waist. Eli’s other hand snared the ladder and pulled it toward us.
He made it almost to the first landing before he shrieked in pain and jerked backward violently. Hanging from the ladder with one hand, he lashed out with his feet at whatever was coming at him from below. He could have thrown me at his attacker to save himself, but he held on, determined to keep me while I screamed and clawed like a wild cat. The ladder groaned as the thing below tried to pull the vampire to the ground. Eli kicked at it with a force that would have killed a human, but it held on. Whatever it was, it was as strong as a vampire. The thought of something that powerful terrified and thrilled me at the same time, and I twisted my body to see what it was.
The creature had to be almost seven feet tall, even while slightly hunched over. It stood on two legs, and it was covered in dark, bristled hair with broad shoulders and clawed hands and feet. My eyes lifted to its face, and I sucked in a sharp breath at the yellow eyes, short pointed ears, and long snarling snout that revealed the biggest teeth I’d ever seen.
Werewolf! My mind struggled to come to grips with what my eyes were telling it. I was face-to-face with a real live werewolf. I knew vampires and werewolves were mortal enemies, but what were the chances of me ending up in the middle of a battle between the two in an alley in downtown Portland?
The werewolf’s terrifying gaze met mine, and I saw savage intelligence in his amber eyes as his powerful jaws clamped down on Eli’s calf. As the deadly fangs tore through his flesh and bone, Eli screamed in pain, and his arm around me tightened until I gasped for air. With a bloodcurdling roar, he kicked at the werewolf with his other foot, and the force of the blow sent the wolf staggering backward. It was all Eli needed to pull us both up to the metal landing.
He lay there panting for several seconds before he struggled to stand on his ravaged leg. Through the grate, I saw the werewolf recover and jump at the ladder again. Eli saw it, too, and pulled me toward the stairs. I looked at the distance between us and the wolf, and my heart plummeted because I knew it would never reach us in time. Werewolves were powerful creatures, but their bodies were not designed well for climbing. And once we got to the roof, Eli would have healed enough from his leg wound to carry us both away from here.
Eli sped up the stairs. I grabbed for the rail to slow our ascent, but he was too strong. At the last landing he paused to adjust his grip on me. “Now it’s just you and me,” he said with a triumphant leer as he started up the narrow ladder to the roof.
We were almost to the top when Eli let out a pained screech and stopped climbing. I looked down, hoping to see the werewolf latched onto Eli’s leg again, but the creature was two landings below us. Eli gasped and struggled to hold onto me and the ladder with one hand while his other hand tried to reach something behind him. My eyes followed his movements until I saw the silver hilt protruding from a smoking hole in his side. I watched him grasp the handle of the knife, then yank his hand away, screaming as the pure silver scorched his skin.
The fire escape shook below us as the werewolf drew closer. Please hurry, I begged him silently, and I could have sworn he looked right into my eyes and sped up.
Eli saw him coming and abandoned his attempts to remove the knife. He reached for the roof two feet away. I did the only thing I could think of to stop him. I stretched out my hand and grasped the hilt of the knife. Pulling it free, I twisted and swung at the vampire. I didn’t aim. I just tried to make contact, anything to slow him down, and I felt a bolt of satisfaction when the knife sank into the soft flesh of his shoulder.
His scream of rage and pain was like a thousand nails on a chalkboard. He shook me violently, and I dangled away from the fire escape, three stories above the ground. Far below, I saw Nikolas’s furious face as he reached for another knife. At his feet lay the decapitated body of the other vampire.
Nikolas drew back his hand to throw the knife, but he stopped when he saw me hanging above the ground. He was afraid Eli would drop me if he wounded him again.
“Do it!” I screamed. I didn’t want to die, but I would rather fall to my death now than let this monster carry me away to rape and torture me. My voice turned pleading. “Nikolas… please.”
His arm moved so fast I barely realized the knife had left his hand before it whistled past me to embed itself in Eli’s other shoulder. The vampire moaned in pain and scrabbled to maintain his grip on the ladder. He looked up at the roof, then stared fearfully down at the werewolf who was now at the bottom of the ladder directly below us. He was out of time.
The fury and hunger in his eyes when he glared at me sucked the air from my lungs. “I will have you,” he rasped right before he let me go.
Time seemed to stand still. In one suspended moment I was dimly aware of the werewolf’s roar, of shouts below me, and the smoking dagger in my hand before time sped up again.
Chapter 5
“Sara! Sara, can you hear me?”
“Is she – ?”
“She’s breathing.”
“Christ! Did you see what he did?”
“I-I couldn’t reach her, Pete.”
“Forget that now. Let’s get her out of here.”
Strong arms picked me up and cradled me against a warm chest. I opened my eyes to see a familiar face above me.
“Roland?”
“She’s awake,” Roland said hoarsely, and I heard Peter whisper, “Thank God.”
Roland sat me on a bench at the bus stop near the building and knelt in front of me. Peter sat next to me, and I let myself lean against him. The world was coming back into focus and along with it, my memory. I pulled my knees up against my chest as my whole body shook, and I began to sob uncontrollably. I hadn’t cried in front of another person in years, but it now felt like a long-sealed dam had burst open.
Roland rose and sat on my other side. He put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his warmth. �
��You’re safe now.”
I let him comfort me for a minute before I pulled away from him. My dad used to hug me all the time, but since his death I shied away from most physical contact. It provided comfort, but it also gave you a false sense of security. I used to feel safe when my dad held me, like nothing could ever hurt either of us. Letting someone get that close to you only opens you up to more pain when they’re gone.
“No one is safe,” I croaked between hiccups. I was such a fool. I knew what was out there. I knew there had been vampire sightings in Portland, and still I came and nearly got all of us killed. I shuddered and buried my face in my hands, wondering if I’d ever feel safe again.
“Shit, Sara, I’m so sorry,” Roland moaned. “If I had any idea something like that would happen, I never would have brought you here.”
“It’s my fault.” Peter’s voice was full of regret. “If I had stayed with her…”
Roland glared at Peter. “I was gone for five minutes. What the hell happened, dude?”
“It–it’s not his fault.” What could a teenage boy have done against a vampire? Then I remembered Nikolas fearlessly facing down two vampires, armed with nothing more than a sword and a bunch of knives.
“Where is Nikolas?” At Roland’s confused look I said, “In–in the alley. He saved my life.”
“I’d say. He ran over and fucking caught you!” Peter exclaimed. “You fell thirty feet, and the guy caught you.”
“I remember falling, but that’s it.” How was it possible to catch a person falling from that height? How was I still alive after that?
“Probably better if you don’t remember.” Roland’s eyes took on a haunted look. “Seeing you fall like that… I never want to feel like that again.”
“So he caught me and left?” I could not keep the tremble from my voice. He’d saved me from a fate worse than death then just… disappeared?