“That’s true?” she blurted.
“Who knows?”
He was the most enigmatic, confusing, and complicated man she’d ever met. She found she actually kind of liked it.
Chapter Four
Abby hadn’t realized he’d pulled to the side of the road until he put the truck in park. “Why do you think life radiates differently from me?” she asked.
He turned toward her, his hand only inches from her shoulder, but he didn’t touch her again no matter how badly he wanted to. “That’s the way it is with some,” he replied. “This is it.”
He pointed out the window behind her. Abby’s gaze remained riveted on him for a minute more as she tried to bolster her courage before turning to look out the window. Her heart sank at the sight of the building he’d pointed to. Its roof sloped downward in the middle, as the process of falling in on itself was well underway.
Boards and plywood covered all the windows and the front door, which was partially ajar and sagged on its hinges. The Addams family would have run away screaming from this place, but her notoriously meticulous sister had been here, or was at least associated with someone who had been. Vicky could spend hours in front of a mirror doing her hair and trying to decide on an outfit. If there was a mirror in this place, it wasn’t used for primping.
Before college, Abby had been much the same way as Vicky, but when school started, studies and friends had taken her focus instead of styled hair and a perfect tan. The same couldn’t be said of her twin though. Vicky had always maintained her tan, never had a chip in her nail polish, her hair was perfectly styled, and her clothes were always immaculate. Abby berated herself for not paying closer attention to what was going on in her sister’s life.
“Did Vicky ever come here?” she croaked out.
“I don’t know,” Brian said. “It could be someone else, a friend or an associate perhaps, who owned the jacket and came here. What did she say about her boyfriend?”
“Just that his name is Duke and he’s a lot of fun to be around. It was full daylight the one time I saw him, so he wasn’t a killer, and Vicky never would have dated him if he smelled like garbage the way other killer vampires do, like you did the first time we met…”
Brian winced at the reminder of what her first impression of him had been. At her tender age, she’d most likely believed him to be a monster. She might still believe him to be a monster. It had been years since he’d killed those human hunters, but he didn’t know if the smell lingered on him or if it had faded away with time. Only born vampires like Abby could scent a vampire who killed humans. It was one of the many traits turned vampires didn’t possess.
“But he wasn’t right,” she finished.
“Is anyone?”
“No,” she admitted. “But I hated the way he stood on the curb across the street, waiting for her while we finished our drinks. She didn’t go running out to him, Vicky doesn’t run anywhere, but I could tell he expected her to drop everything to join him.”
Brian studied Abby’s delicate features as she stared at what could only be described as a crack house. Judging by the smells wafting from it, more than crack had been going on in there. He glanced around the quiet street. He didn’t want to take Abby into that building, but leaving her in the truck wasn’t exactly a great option either.
He scented the air. His ears strained to detect any hint of noise from somewhere, but the night remained eerily quiet, except for what was going on in that house. Leaving her here may just be the lesser of the two evils, he decided.
“Stay here,” he said.
He climbed out of the truck but before he could shut his door, she was already out of the vehicle. He stalked around the front of the truck to join her. Taking hold of her elbow, he tried to steer her back into the truck, but she resisted him.
Abby thrust out her chin as she stubbornly dug her heels in. “If Vicky is in there, then I’m going inside and you can’t stop me.”
“She’s not in there.”
“If anyone she’s ever met is in there, I’m going.”
He stared down at her resolute expression before glancing at the dilapidated house once more. He cast a glance over his shoulder, noting the shadows coalescing over the street as the moon slipped out from behind the clouds. Nothing moved, but this wasn’t a place where normal humans walked the family dog at night, at least not if they were expecting to live for long.
Turning back to her, he noted she was five shades paler than she had been. She took a step away from him, but he kept hold of her elbow, drawing her back against his side. “I’m going—”
“I know,” he replied. “But you will be standing by my side as you do.”
He gritted his teeth against his need to take her away from this place. If he did, she would only come back here the first chance she got, and she would leave his ass behind in order to do so. He could call Stefan and tell him what was going on. Her brother-in-law would come, drag her away, and Brian could continue his search for Vicky without the temptation of Abby and the risk to her life. She would be safe if he handed her over to her family, but she would likely hate him and would definitely turn against him.
What did it matter if she hated him?
It mattered; that was all he knew right now.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at her again. “You must be prepared for what we’ll find in there.”
“I know what we’ll find,” she said in a hushed voice. “I can smell too, maybe better than you.”
“You purebreds, always so smug.”
She forced a smile, but no color returned to her face. “We try.”
He kept hold of her arm, staying slightly ahead of her as they walked up the cracked and broken sidewalk to the sagging wood stairs. The steps creaked beneath his weight but held firm enough for him to allow her to climb them too. He kept his senses attuned for anyone moving within the shadows. He doubted someone would be capable of attacking them here, but he wasn’t about to take any chances with her.
He shoved aside the sagging front door. From within, he heard a sensual moan that stopped him in his tracks. Abby should not be in here. Seeming to guess at his thoughts, she planted her feet before he could spin her around and take her back outside. His hand twitched toward the phone in his pocket. He didn’t know where her family’s place was in Maine, but he knew it wouldn’t take Stefan much time to get here if Brian told him what was up.
Her eyes followed the movement of his hand toward his pocket and narrowed on him. “Don’t even think about it,” she whispered.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“I’ll be gone, and on the hunt for Vicky on my own, before any member of my family can show up to stop me.”
Brian’s jaw clenched as they stared at each other. If she got hurt because of him…
He broke the thought off. She wasn’t his responsibility, and the only reason he was here was because of her and her sister. He may have led her to this place, but only because she’d asked him to. She was a full-grown, purebred vampire who was far more lethal than she appeared. Still, he couldn’t shake his impulse to protect her.
Turning his attention back to the building, he studied the shadows as the scents of urine, feces, body odor, and sex filled his nostrils. Beneath it all, he smelled the acrid aroma of some human drug that ate away at their souls as they eagerly dosed themselves with more.
“She never would have been here,” Abby whispered. “She couldn’t know someone who would be here.”
“I may not always get the exact location, but I definitely get the general vicinity right. Someone from the apartment we just left is either here right now, or has been here recently.”
Her hand shook when she brushed back a strand of pale hair from her eye. He glanced down at her plump breasts, swaying beneath her sweater. He may have no choice about bringing her in there, but he could at least make sure she had more clothes on when he did so.
“Come with me,” he commanded briskly.
&nbs
p; She didn’t have a chance to respond before he was pulling her back out of the building. “I told you I’m not leaving!” she protested, and tried to jerk her arm free.
“We’re not leaving,” he told her. “I just have to get something before we can continue.”
Abby reluctantly allowed him to lead her off the porch and back toward his truck. If he tried to force her to leave, she’d kick him in the balls so hard they’d never come back down again. Then, she’d go into that building by herself while he was still trying to figure out if he was now a female.
He didn’t lead her to the cab of the truck but around to the back of it. After he released her, she watched as he grabbed a duffel bag and pulled it toward him. Jerking the bag open, he tugged out a windbreaker and returned to her. She frowned at the jacket when he held it out to her.
“I’m not cold,” she muttered. He glanced pointedly down at her breasts before thrusting the jacket at her again.
With furrowed brows, she glanced down at her chest to where her nipples pressed against her shirt in the cool fall air. Heat blazed into her face as she snatched the jacket from him and slipped it on. She’d been in such a rush, and so annoyed with Jasmine for trying to get her to stay, she’d forgotten to put a bra on. The jacket nearly fell to her knees when she tugged it into place. She shoved the sleeves up to keep her hands free.
It’s better than before, Brian decided before taking hold of her again and returning to the building.
Abby took a deep breath and walked beside him into the pit of despair. She’d never smelled anything as bad as this place in her life, and she’d grown up with a bunch of boys who considered disgusting smells great fun. Ian had proudly shoved his stinking, sweaty sneakers into her face more times than she cared to recall, and Aiden had thought it hilarious to put his younger siblings into a headlock after going for a twenty mile run.
She’d give anything for Ian’s stinky feet right now.
Vicky wouldn’t hang out with anyone associated with this place; she simply wouldn’t have. Abby kept trying to deny it, but Brian’s confident words kept ringing in her mind. Ian and Aiden called him a vampire GPS. Maybe his internal satellite, or whatever it was he used for navigation, had been blocked by the moon or something unexplainable this time and had brought him to the wrong place.
Her breath caught and her arm jerked in his grasp as they stepped into a sunken living room littered with people and vampires. She could instinctively pick her kind out in the crowd, but then it wouldn’t have been difficult as three-quarters of them were feeding on the passed out humans sprawled around the room.
Bile rushed up Abby’s throat. She took a step away before determinedly thrusting her shoulders back. She’d face this; she’d face anything if it meant finding Vicky. One of the vampires fell away from his food source. His eyes rolled back in ecstasy, and he wiped the blood from his mouth.
Abby was still trying to process what she was seeing when Brian gestured toward a set of stairs. Keeping her close to his side, he led her up them. At the top of the stairs, she heard the low sounds of someone having sex from a room at the end of the hall. After three years of living in a dorm, she knew those sounds well. She peered into the rooms as they passed each one, dreading and praying they would find Vicky inside. She didn’t know how she would handle finding Vicky here, but at least she would have found her.
Brian kept Abby away from the room at the end, unwilling to have her see what he knew was going on inside. Peering into the room, he spotted the couple having sex. Neither one of them were the one who had drawn him here. Ducking back, he hooked his elbow through hers and pulled her back toward the stairs.
“She’s not here,” she whispered.
“She’s not,” he agreed as he led her down the stairs.
Her shoulders sagged, but whether it was from relief or despair, he didn’t know. All he knew was he had to get her out of this place. He was beginning to wonder if he wanted her around her sister. Her twin had gotten herself mixed up in some pretty nasty shit if this was the type of vampire she’d become involved with.
Rumors about these new drug houses popping up in some cities were circulating amongst some of the seedier vampires he used as informants. They’d all laughed the rumors off at the time, but nothing about this place was cause for laughter. Most vampires knew these kind of places were not tolerated or allowed by their kind.
He was propelling Abby toward the front door when she abruptly broke away from him. “Abby!” he hissed when she turned a corner and stalked toward the back of the house.
“I’m not leaving until we’ve looked everywhere,” she tossed over her shoulder.
He hurried to catch up with her as continued resolutely onward. “Abigail!”
She stopped at the edge of another room, her gaze scanning over the people and vampires gathered within. He arrived at her side just as a voice within the room murmured, “Vicky?”
Brian’s head shot in the direction of the filthy vampire in the corner. He grabbed hold of Abby’s arm when she started toward the vampire, tugging her back.
“Can’t be you,” the vampire slurred.
Abby jerked on her arm, but Brian held firmly onto it. “Let go of me!”
“You’ll stay by my side,” he commanded gruffly.
She glared at him, but relented when he started to lead her across the room toward the man. “It really is you,” the vampire murmured when they stopped before him.
“My name is Abby; you know Vicky?”
“You’re Vicky.”
Brian kept hold of her arm when she knelt before the man. He’d have her jerked away from him and the vamp’s throat in his hand before she could blink, if the bastard tried anything. Abby seized hold of the man’s stubble-lined cheeks when his head lulled to the side. She ignored the filth covering him as she pulled his head toward her.
“Where’s my sister?” she inquired. The vampire groaned and his lids drooped closed. “Hey! Wake up!”
“He said you were with them, Vicky,” the vamp murmured. “No one comes back from where they go.”
Heedless of the fact his clothes could stand on their own, Abby grabbed his slimy coat. “Who said that? Who is them?” she demanded with a sharp shake. “No one comes back from where?”
His head snapped back and forth with each of her jolting shakes, but he remained unconscious. “Wake up!” she yelled at him.
“Abby, it’s useless.” Brian rested his hand on her shoulder, determined to draw her away, but she fought against his hold on her.
She peered closer at the man, trying to see past the dirt and grime streaking his features but she didn’t recognize him. Perhaps he’d been one of Duke’s friends or even one of Vicky’s new ones. She jerked away from Brian’s grasp and pulled back her hand. The slap she delivered to the vampire’s cheek reverberated in the room. Her hand stung from the impact, but he showed no reaction to it.
Brian’s eyebrows shot up when she slapped the vamp. Mother Teresa wouldn’t have done that. “Well now,” he murmured.
Abby felt no remorse about hitting the unconscious man; she would do whatever it took to find Vicky. Pulling her hand back, she hit him once more. His fangs extended, but he didn’t awaken. Before she could hit him again, Brian plucked her off the ground and swung her behind him so fast she didn’t realize she’d moved until her feet hit the floor.
Brian’s corded muscles rippled before her; his eyes blazed like the fires of Hell as he snatched the vamp by the throat and lifted him into the air. Abby gaped as he pulled the man back and slammed him into the wall.
The building vibrated around them. She glanced nervously at the ceiling as bits of dust and debris rained down on them. This place looked like the next breeze would blow it over, never mind an irritated vampire bashing another against its rotten walls. Around them, some of the people grunted and moved, but nobody ran away like any sane human or vampire would have done.
“I’d retract those fangs if you want to live,” Bria
n snarled at the vamp in his grasp.
The man blinked at him blearily, and then his fangs retracted. “Now,” Brian continued, his fingers digging into the vamp’s throat deep enough to draw blood, “where is her sister?”
The vampire’s bloodshot eyes swung toward her. “Vicky?” he croaked.
“Yes, where is Vicky?” she asked eagerly.
The vampire’s eyelids sagged and fluttered back open when Brian smashed him into the wall again. Abby glanced nervously around as the floor beneath her feet vibrated. “You’re right here,” the man replied.
“No, I’m not Vicky.”
“Yes, you are.” Abby’s heart sank. He was too far gone to understand she wasn’t Vicky. “You went with them. No more. Gone away now.”
Those words caused her heart to lurch in her chest. She took a step closer as the man started to ramble incoherent sentences. Brian’s arm shot out to press against her chest and keep her held back. He gave a warning shake of his head at her. Abby sighed impatiently; she’d grown up in a home full of overbearing and overprotective men. She certainly didn’t need it from him too, but experience had taught her it was best to pick her battles. Now was not the time nor the place for a battle of wills against Brian.
“I did leave,” she said to the vampire in Brian’s grasp, “but I decided to come back. Do you remember where I went?”
The vamp’s head dropped before it shot back up. “Doncha ya know?” he slurred.
“No, I ah… I forgot.”
He smiled as his head lulled forward once more. “Good times then.”
Brian gave him a brisk shake, but the man’s head remained on his shoulders. Without any remorse, Brian opened his hand and dropped the unconscious man to the floor. His lips curled in disgust when he glanced at his hand before wiping it on his jeans.
“Come.” This time there would be no breaking free of his grip as his hand felt like a steel vise around her elbow.
“Shouldn’t we bring him with us?” she demanded. “Maybe once he sobers up he’ll be able to tell us more!”
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 117