“The password is…” She paused. Damn, she hated to admit she’d used his pet name for her as a password since she’d spent so much time pretending it pissed her off. Really, she thought it was funny. It was the first nickname she’d ever had. “The password is veranda.”
The phone’s glow caught his smile, then his scowl. “Here, you type it in.”
“But you’ve got both hands free and I only have my left—try again.”
He closed his eyes, and his chest rose and fell beneath her. “I can’t. Here, I’ll hold it, and you can punch in the letters.”
Weird. Maneuvering her left hand, she did as he asked, then scrolled to the flashlight app and clicked on the icon. A brilliant light came off the back of the phone. “Take it,” she said. “I can’t see anything but your pretty face.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s a dirty shade of gorgeousness right now.” He turned the phone over, and Randa watched his eyes as he followed the beam of light above them. Shifting his head an inch to the left, he squinted past her shoulder toward their legs. “Hm.”
Not helpful. “What do you mean, hm? What’s the situation?”
He laid the phone on his chest, and she was glad he hadn’t turned the light off yet. They needed to save the battery, but she didn’t feel as panicked when she could see him.
“One end of a support beam’s wedged across our legs, and the other end’s propped against a part of a broken beam above us. We probably have enough vampire power between us to shove the beam off our legs, but it would bring everything down. We’re gonna have to wait until the cavalry arrives.”
Randa felt panic bloom in her gut like an unfolding flower. “Which ‘cavalry’ will find us first—our people or Matthias’s?”
Will didn’t answer. His gaze had grown distant, and she badly wanted to know what he was thinking. The only way to get him to open up might be for her to do it first. She would not be taken hostage.
She rested her cheek on his chest again. “If Matthias finds us, I’m going to make sure he kills me—just warning you.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, but she knew he could hear her. “I hate being a vampire. I’m not good at it. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time or how to gauge what I can do. Feeding grosses me out. I’m intimidated around you guys who are so good at everything. I felt that way growing up around all my brothers, trying to be as good as them, trying to be a good little soldier like them. And now I have to do it for eternity. So if it isn’t Aidan coming through the cave-in first, don’t try to save me from Matthias.”
Will didn’t say anything, so Randa shifted her head to see his face. His eyebrows were bunched so tightly he had crinkles between them, and the muscles in his jaw clenched and released. “None of us knows how to be a vampire the first few years; give yourself time.” His voice dropped, grew hard. “If you think I’ll let Matthias touch you, forget it. He’ll have to tear me to pieces to get to you, and I don’t think he will. If he finds us first, I’ll go with him peacefully on the condition you go free. He’d consider that a good deal.”
It was Randa’s turn to stare. Will had obviously been abused by his father and, at least on some level, was afraid of him—with good reason, as near as she could tell. “Why? You don’t know me that well. You don’t even like me—and don’t get me wrong, I know I haven’t given you any reason.”
Will finally lowered his gaze to look at her, and the fierce light in his eyes softened. “I like you, Randa. I…You intimidate me with all your training—look how you pushed me away from that grenade when I hadn’t even figured out what it was. When I feel threatened, I get competitive and act like an asshole.”
She intimidated him? Randa searched his face for a twinkle in his eye or an upturn of his lips, but they weren’t there. “So I’ve been a bitch because you intimidate me, and you’ve been an asshole because I intimidate you?”
He grinned, then winced when the gesture stretched the reddened skin on his cheek. “We are a couple of pathetic losers.”
“Damn straight.” Randa knew she shouldn’t be smiling. The world was literally about to cave in on them, and they had a fifty-fifty chance of rescue by a murderous sociopath. And yet, here she was, smiling.
Will clicked the flashlight app off, and they rested in the soft light from the illuminated phone screen.
“If you go to settings and type in the password again, you can set that light to stay on. It won’t drain the battery too fast, and I don’t think I can stand the dark again.”
Will moved the phone toward her left hand, which was resting on his shoulder. “Here, you do it.”
“I don’t think I can maneuver it left-handed.” She’d always been hopeless with her left hand. Ambidextrous, not so much. “You have both hands free.”
Another big sigh. “I can’t.”
He was Mr. Computer Wiz, architect, engineer, good at everything. Why was he being so pigheaded about her stupid cell phone? “What do you mean, you can’t? What’s the—”
“I can’t spell without sounding it out, and I didn’t want you to think I was stupid, OK? Shit.” His voice dropped so low she had to strain to hear. “Don’t tell Aidan. Please don’t tell Aidan.”
The exit room was silent but for the soft thud of earth hitting earth. Another piece of the matchstick palace had fallen somewhere.
Randa tried to process the admission, but couldn’t. It made no sense. “Will, you are the smartest person I’ve ever met, but you know that. Help me understand.” And if he was pulling some joking crap, she was going to forget her vow to be nicer.
He didn’t answer for a while, and she settled back down, with her head tucked under his chin. He ran his hand up and down her left arm, shoulder to elbow and back up to shoulder, but she didn’t think he even realized he was touching her. He was a million miles away from this cave. She wanted to understand him, but he had to let her in, and she didn’t know how to make him. “Talk to me, Will.”
“I flunked first grade—how stupid was that?”
Randa held her breath, willing him to go on.
“I couldn’t learn to read. Dad tried to beat it into me. Mom tried to defend me. They fought all the time. He’d lock me in the basement—this was all before he was turned vampire. I didn’t see words the same way the other kids did.”
Understanding finally dawned. “You’re dyslexic?”
Will looked at her finally, a long, steady gaze before he nodded. “I know that now. I heard something about it on the news and started doing some research. But I was a kid in the 1950s from an upper-class family, the son of a prominent New York attorney. Nobody knew what dyslexia was. I gradually learned to cope, to fake my way around things, to get by enough so my father only made fun of me instead of beating the shit out of me. I like computers because they’re so graphic intense.”
Randa thought of her own childhood, growing up with a by-the-rules father whose only way of raising five children by himself was to treat them as another army unit. She’d always beaten herself up over not being as strong or fast as her brothers, but her dad had never made her feel that way. He’d never belittled her. She never felt as if she measured up, but now, listening to Will, she realized she’d done that to herself. Blaming her dad had been easier than seeing the flaw in herself.
“Thank you for telling me. I won’t tell Aidan, but you should.”
He gave a bitter chuckle. “Not so intimidated by me now, are you?”
God, how could his self-image be so totally wrong? And how could she have misjudged him so badly?
She hated Matthias Ludlam. If she got a chance, she’d kill him herself for screwing up his beautiful son so badly.
“Will, I’m in awe of your strength. I mean”—she lifted her head to look at him, willing him to meet her gaze—“you are an amazing person, and I always thought it was because you had everything handed to you. Now I realize it’s because you made yourself what you are, through strength and smarts and determination. I’m sorry I’ve been such a b
itch.”
He gave her his old cocky eyebrow lift, but it was shaky around the edges. “And I’m sorry I knocked you out and left you on the sofa before I went to rescue Mirren.”
OK, so he’d had enough soul-searching and was ready to hide behind his humor again. Now that she knew it was his defense mechanism, she could deal with it. Aidan had been right when he’d paired them up to…
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
Their rescue was within reach, and neither of them had realized it. “Call Aidan. You need to call Aidan.” Randa’s heart rate sped up. They could get out of here!
Will stared at her. “Do you have a concussion or something? What the hell are you talking about? There’s no cell service this far underground.”
Randa’s mouth dropped open. He honestly had no idea what she meant. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“You’re becoming a master vampire.” Just like that—she’d said it twice. Then he made her repeat it, just to make sure he didn’t have dirt and concrete dust plugging his ears.
She must’ve misunderstood Aidan. “Why didn’t he tell me this big news? I mean, shouldn’t I know if I was turning into some kind of supervampire?” It was ridiculous. Except the more Randa tried to explain, the more he thought about a couple of nights ago when he’d been able to alter Ethan’s memories, and the kid at the ice-cream shop. Later, he’d been able to not only scent vampires in the woods from greater distances, but also to tell what scathe they were from.
Shit.
Randa’s eyes were so bright they practically glowed in the semidarkness. “You should be able to communicate mentally with Aidan—you’re blood-bonded to him already. Try it. Try talking to him.”
Will frowned and tried to send out a mental yoo-hoo to Aidan, but he couldn’t concentrate with Randa lying on top of him, staring at him all disheveled and sexy and, well, excited. Her lips were parted, and in the gloom, he could imagine that tousled brown hair was a deep, sexy red. Plus, she was waiting for him to perform like some kind of trained seal with fangs, and he didn’t have a clue how to do it.
“Stop looking at me. I can’t do this if you’re watching me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Meet Will, the self-conscious master vampire.” But she tucked her head under his chin and closed her eyes, smiling.
He took a deep breath and still couldn’t concentrate. “Turn the phone off for a minute to help me focus.”
Randa slid the Off arrow, and in a few seconds, they were plunged back into darkness. Will cleared his mind and visualized Aidan. Can you hear me? Aidan? It’s Will.
He waited a few seconds, tried it again, and was so startled to hear an answering voice he moved enough to send a new flurry of dirt down on them.
Will? Where are you? Are you both OK?
“Man, this is some weird shit.”
Randa shifted on top of him. “You hear him?”
“Yeah.” Will closed his eyes and focused again. We’re pinned under a support beam. It’s holding on by a thread, so you’ll have to be careful coming in. We’re to the left of the tunnel from the steel doors, just inside the exit room.
Aidan’s voice came in and out like a bad radio signal—probably because Will wasn’t very good at this yet. Or hell, who knew? Maybe this was normal. Will’s knowledge of master vampires was rudimentary, at best; he’d never expected to be one. He wasn’t even sure how one became a master vampire—only that Matthias bragged about being one.
We’re already digging from this end but have been going slow so we don’t dislodge too much. Hang in there. Any sign of Matthias?
Sharp pains shot through Will’s skull, but he focused. No, it’s caved in at the top. We can’t see the hatch.
I’ll warn you when we’re close. We might have to collapse it on you and dig you out. Randa OK? You hurt?
Shrapnel for two, plus something was wrong with his lower leg—as in, he wasn’t sure it was still there since he couldn’t feel it. No point in sharing that. They’d deal with it when they dealt with it. Minor injuries, both of us. We’ll need Krys.
OK, you’re going to have a headache from this—too much talk, too soon. But good job, Will.
Aidan’s presence disappeared, like a soft whisper that left a vacant spot in his skull—a vacant spot quickly filled with pain.
“OK, you can turn the phone back on.” Aidan had been right. A jackhammer was beating into his skull, shooting shards of pain into the back of his eye sockets.
“What did he say?” Randa’s eager face shone in the cell phone light. “What did it feel like?”
“Like Michelangelo’s sculpting a new masterpiece on the inside of my eyeballs.” Will closed his eyes and tried to convince the pain to recede. “They’re already digging. I was able to tell him where we are. Now, we wait.”
He pondered whether or not to tell her they might have to be buried for a while since the darkness freaked her out a little, but she needed to know. “When they break through, they might have to let everything come down on us. Be prepared.”
Her heart sped up, vibrating against his chest. “I can’t do that. I can’t be buried under—” She tried to move, and a rain of dirt came down on them.
Will shook his head to dislodge the latest rain of debris and locked both arms around her waist. He had to calm her down, or she really would bury them. “It will be OK. Can you imagine how much dirt Mirren can move and how fast? Maybe he’ll get Glory to lift the whole mess off us in a second or two.”
“But we”—her breath came in sharp gasps—“we won’t be able to breathe. Oh God, I can’t do this.” She tried to move again, but Will tightened his grip.
“Shh…” He held her in place with one hand and stroked her back with the other, avoiding the sore spots. “Randa, we don’t have to breathe.”
She raised her head, a look of confusion on her face. “What?”
Good, he’d gotten her attention. “Vampires have to breathe to stay up and moving, but it won’t kill us if we get buried. We’ll just go unconscious until they dig us out, kind of like daysleep, and then we’ll wake up.” Or at least that’s what Mirren had told him in the two years it had taken the scathe to excavate this nest of tunnels and safe spaces in the red clay–laden soil beneath Penton. And Mirren wasn’t prone to making jokes, so it had to be true.
“Are you sure?” Randa’s eyes were wide, on the verge of panic again.
“I wouldn’t lie about impending death.” On impulse, Will cupped her jaw in his palm and lifted his head to brush her lips with his, just a feather of touch. Their gazes met, and Will knew they’d turned another corner tonight. She knew the worst about him and hadn’t judged him harshly.
Well, not the worst. She’d never know he’d been sodomized by force with what amounted to his father’s approval, had been forced to beg for it. Although, he’d as much as admitted it to Cage. Surely there was some sort of implied rule about shrink confidentiality.
“Kiss me again. Take my mind off being buried.” Randa shifted a little higher on his chest and twined the fingers of her free hand into his hair.
“You sure are a bossy woman.” He slanted his mouth on hers, and the force of her response rocked his head back against the ground. Her lips were hot and wet, her mouth open to his. Their warm tangle of tongues slowed and deepened. His fang nicked her lip, and she pulled away, her pink tongue slipping out to touch the blood.
Will turned his head to the side, exposing his neck. “Feed from me, Ran. Try it this way.”
“I don’t…I can’t…”
“Try it. Do it now.”
Her lips hovered over his throat, her heart pounded against his chest, and she’d have to be totally clueless if she didn’t feel his cock pressing hot and hard against her thigh.
“Are you sure?” Her breath sent hot puffs over his neck. The woman was going to drive him crazy.
“Stop stalling, Randa. Do it.”
Her tongue swept a small path across the side of his n
eck, and he sighed as she finally bit. Damn, but it felt good to be a feeder. He’d never fed anyone before and had only heard how it was the next best thing to an orgasm. As she pulled at his throat, a fiery tingle shot through his veins, heating him from the inside out and settling in his groin.
When Randa groaned against his throat, he had to visualize computer diagrams to keep from coming. If Mirren Kincaid dug him out with a wet spot on the front of his pants, he’d never hear the end of it.
She pulled away, licking the punctures to heal them. When she looked back at him, her eyes were slightly unfocused. “Damn.”
He grinned. “Ditto that. We’ll have to—”
A crash to Will’s right, the caved-in spot nearest Omega, killed any thoughts of sex, although it was a subject he planned to revisit. Another crash sent a rain of debris on them.
“Will, I can’t do this.”
Yeah, well, he wasn’t wild about the idea, either, but it was going to happen regardless.
Another crash and the support beam on their legs nudged to the right.
He grasped her tightly as the beam across their legs fell with crushing pain. “Tuck your head and hold on. This baby’s coming down.”
Aidan lifted a chunk of rebar and threw it aside. The hallway of Omega was lined with piles of dirt, broken concrete, steel cable, and more dirt. They’d been digging for two hours since the beam over Will and Randa had given way, with no sign of them so far.
“Shift excavations to the left,” he told the team of scathe members and humans, who were taking turns digging and resting. Well, except Mirren. The guy was a machine, taking the heaviest debris and hauling it out of the way. He hadn’t stopped. Aidan remembered a time not so long ago when Mirren had questioned his choice in putting so much faith in Will. Since Will had rescued Mirren and Glory, first from Matthias’s silver-barred jail cell and then again in New Orleans, the big guy had changed his opinion. Will drove Mirren nuts, but he liked him anyway.
“You sure they’re going to be alive after being buried this long?” Aidan had no experience with buried vampires, but Mirren insisted they’d live.
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