by Scott, Amber
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Chapter Fifteen
“Shouldn’t we be leaving? Running?” Sadie asked, yanking her hand out of Lyric’s grip. She had no time to freak out over seeing Holly’s hair sparkling like fire, or over seeing long fangs from the corner of her vision before Lyric whisked her away. She had time for panic.
“No. What we should be doing is hiding, waiting,” Lyric said. “This alley will do as well as any other dark mall corner in the bright daylight.”
Sadie backed against the concrete wall, wariness creeping over her skin. His eyes were blacker than black. Obsidian. Steely. “Wha-what are you?”
Lyric cocked his head, smirking. “Can’t you guess?”
She did and her skin crawled with fear. Elijah was right. She wasn’t ready for wolves. Or vampires. “Why did he make you take me?” she asked.
“Because an enforcer is interrogating him and Holly as we speak and he wants you safe.”
Sadie swallowed against the dryness in her tight throat. “Now what?”
“We wait. I do my best to feed in what is happening, and if Elijah asks, we’ll leave.” He nodded his head toward a chrome-laden motorcycle parked nearby.
Sadie balked, and almost let him know she wouldn’t be getting on anything so dangerous, thank you very much. But the thought evaporated with his next words.
“If you think Elijah returns your feelings, you’re wrong.”
“Excuse me?” She tried to sound offended.
Lyric prowled a semi-circle around her, his boots scuffing the pavement in an eerie rhythm with her pounding heart. The oily stink of the loading corridor mingled with a candy-like sweetness she surmised must be his scent.
“Elijah is a seeker,” he said. “He can’t help triggering lust in the primitive areas of your limbic system. He tries but he can only shield so much.”
Sadie attempted a scoff. “It isn’t lust.”
“Don’t lie to yourself. He fills your thoughts, distracts you from logic. His every move seems a flirtation meant solely for you. You’ve imagined it all. His mouth on your skin. His voice calling your name. Only your name. Pure lust, toying with your inhibitions. But sadly, he doesn’t return the feeling.”
The cold concrete absorbed the sweat from her palms. Sadie shrugged but couldn’t meet him in the eye. Was she so transparent? So cow-eyed over Elijah?
“Don’t blame yourself.” Lyric slunk closer. “You’re only human after all. Once you change, your lust will recede and you’ll see Elijah for who he is. Another immortal man, flawed as any other being on the skin of this world.”
How could Elijah have handed her over to this vampire? “You sound like you hate him.”
“Elijah? No. Not hate. He’s my friend, my brother. Do you have siblings?” His steely gaze darted over her features and settled at her throat.
Sadie nodded, wishing the lump in her throat would dislodge. “Then it’s me you dislike.”
He smiled. “No, sweetling. I have nothing against you, or any human, for that matter.” He leaned his head in and inhaled, closing his eyes. “But I can smell the mouth-watering aroma of your blood pumping through your veins.” He opened his eyes. They appeared lit from within, glowing the darkest, deepest crimson.
Sadie trembled, preparing to claw those eyes out if he so much as touched her. Elijah’s words echoed in her head. Trust him.
Despite her fear of him, what Lyric said struck home. Hadn’t Elijah apologized for using her lust against her? Were the dreams of him all those months because of what he was and not a crush at all?
Lyric watched her with heavy lidded eyes, their glow becoming searing red. “It’s not so long ago that I flirted with liquid bliss such as yours and while I know it would destroy everything I am, everything I’ve worked to get back, your blood sings to me, begging me for one last chance.”
Sadie’s mouth went dry. Her knees quaked. Clapping both hands, Lyric backed away. Sadie braced against the wall, ready for an attack. But he only regarded her a long moment, then strode away.
“Here comes your angel now,” he called past his shoulder.
Sadie glanced about, searching the sky, the corridor, the metal door for some glimpse of Elijah. In an instant, he arrived. She knew the heat and vibration of his transport and spun around. “Sadie,” he said.
She almost went to him but stopped, remembering the lust Lyric warned her about. Those kisses weren’t real. They were tactics. Skills used to placate and distract her. She should feel mad over them.
“Thank you,” Elijah said to Lyric, sending him a look Sadie wasn’t certain how to describe. Part desperation. Part gratitude. And something more.
“What is it?” Sadie said. “Tell me what happened.”
Elijah shook his head. “Holly’s hurt. I have to get her to Astrid. Lyric will keep you safe. I promise.”
“Hurt? How? What hap—.” But he’d already gone.
The unmistakable roar of a motorcycle punctuated Elijah’s departure. Sadie forced her feet toward the feeder and his bike. He tossed her a pair of aviator goggles. She eyed them a moment before giving up and donning them. Her imagination lit with fear, scenes of Elijah and Holly battling who knew what.
“Will you at least tell me where now?”
“The less you know the better. Suffice it to say, as far and as fast as we can go. But if you want to survive any of this,” he said, revving the engine, “you’ll need to get that wild pulse under control. You’re like a fucking tracking beacon on every immortal radar within six decibels.”
Lyric’s motorcycle made Jen’s mustang feel like a golf cart. The sculpted metal and leather hugged the road so sleekly, so quietly, Sadie imagined they were gliding on air. And then they were. Lyric veered a sharp right, forcing the bike airborne.
“Hold on tighter.”
She didn’t need any further encouragement. She locked her arms around his hard waist, and shut her eyes tight. Her body tensed. A ripple went through her, leaving a cramping pain in its wake.
“Don’t close your eyes,” Lyric called.
Wondering how he knew she had, Sadie forced them open, fighting to breathe, to stay calm. She didn’t want to shock him. The goggles helped tame her hair, but seemed to magnify every city detail as it suddenly shrank away.
Another shudder quaked through her muscles. Her arms locked tighter, shaking.
“Are you cold?” Lyric called again. But before she could so much as shake her head no, he made a sharp turn. “Hellfuck.”
Even if Sadie wanted to know what he was cussing over, she couldn’t ask. As soon as the pain left her and she caught her breath, it knocked out of her again, a new wave punching through her.
“Try to relax. You won’t fall. I swear it. It’s a simple matter of gravity propulsion and steam. You’re safer on this with me than in your own vehicle.”
Sadie tried to answer but only got a grunt out. Each new shudder hit more painfully, appeared faster on the last’s heels. Jesus. What was happening to her? Was Lyric doing something to her? Was someone else? She wanted to go home. But the idea of home seemed foreign and far away.
She wanted Elijah.
“Can you walk?” Lyric asked, his voice distant.
Sadie realized they’d come to a stop. And that she’d been squeezing her eyes shut. The pain released from her muscles and she opened her eyes. They were parked outside the sprawling mocha colored stucco home Elijah brought her to yesterday. Only yesterday? Cacti and mesquite trees dotted otherwise barren landscape. She got off the bike, Lyric helping her. “Where—?”
“The safe house.”
“No, I thought—.” A new grip of pain racked her, bending her over. Her sharp gasp felt detached. So did Lyric’s arms as he scooped her legs and cradled her shoulders.
“It isn’t far. Elijah and Holly are here. You need a healer.”
“I need a hospital,” Sadie said between gasps. She curled into a tight ball, uncaring if he dropped her. “Dactor. Histspital. Pleassse.”
“Getheliyjah,” she slurred. The confusion scared her nearly as much as the pain. “Pleathe.”
“He’ll come to you soon,” Lyric said, wiping the back of Sadie’s neck.
Liar. Sadie wanted to lash out, knock his hand away. She didn’t want to trust him no matter what Elijah said. Maybe Lyric would kill her. Maybe this pain was his methodology and Elijah was none the wiser.
“Uncurl,” he said, gently pulling her legs outward. A cold cloth on her face irritated her skin. But she couldn’t move. It was all she could do to breathe and to beg. “Please.” A doctor would give her something. Some sort of medication. “Please.”
“Astrid will be here shortly,” Lyric said.
“No. Elijah.”
“Shhh. Astrid is a healer. She will help,” Lyric said.
The shards of glassy pain broke again, stinging, jabbing. Sadie cried out. So much worse now. Why wasn’t he here?
The mattress shifted. A new pair of hands on her sent her mind reeling. A wonderful new scent she couldn’t place soothed her senses. Not quite sage and not exactly earth. Somewhere in between. Whatever it was, it calmed her. The pain edged back. Sadie found her chest able to hold more air. She gulped it in, preparing for another shudder. But it didn’t come.
Moments passed until she could open her eyes and let them adjust to the dim light. Elijah’s deep blue-brown orbs met hers, concern shadowing them. She exhaled as his hands pressed over her back, her legs, pulling her limbs free of her fetal pose until Sadie lay supine.
“Where is Holly?” Lyric asked from behind Elijah.
“With Astrid, below,” he said, putting a hand on Sadie’s forehead. “What happened to her?”
“It’s the transformation,” a woman said, appearing in the doorway and gliding in. Her cropped white hair made her grass green eyes all the more startling. She joined Elijah at the bed and glared at Sadie.
Astrid, Sadie presumed, wondering at the woman’s icy demeanor. Was it personal? She didn’t care. More pain was coming. She imagined her throat muscles too clenched to speak, but tried. “Sei-zures?”
“Turns out, accessing dormant DNA smarts a bit,” Lyric said from his repose against the far wall.
“How bad will it get?” Elijah’s voice sounded rough, pained. Did he blame himself for this? Or was there something else wrong? Was he hurt?
“It’s better now,” Sadie said. Now that she’d calmed down. At least she hadn’t shocked Lyric and herself out of the sky. She’d been terrified. It was like the electric currents were on the inside now. And another storm of it was gathering, sending sweat dripping down her neck.
“I doubt ibuprofen or even Demerol will help her now. This isn’t human pain.” Astrid turned to her. “May I?” she asked, showing Sadie her hands.
Sadie nodded, biting down. Elijah moved aside and Astrid pressed her hands to Sadie’s sweaty temples, her eyes closed, her lips curled downward.
Lyric slipped out, presumably to check on Holly. Sadie lay as still as possible, waiting for new pain.
At last, Astrid pulled back, wiping her hands on her long skirt. She turned to Elijah. “What have you done, Elijah?”
“What I had to. Please, Astrid. I promise a full explanation. After.”
Sadie tried to sit up. “I think it stopped. I can go now.”
Astrid turned her attention back. “Leaving would be stupid. You’re still very much human. Whatever it is you’re becoming—.”
“Holly thinks she’s a messenger.”
Astrid’s eyebrows shot up. “Be that as it may, her body is in dramatic flux.”
“The pain?” Elijah asked.
The woman shrugged. “It could last weeks. Months. I can’t tell. It could be intermittent or ongoing.”
Sadie refused to believe her. Already, the pain receded. That had to mean something.
Elijah scrubbed his hands over his face. Dark circles showed under his eyes. Worry creased between his brows. “What can you give her?”
Crossing her arms, Astrid’s lips thinned. “I can’t give her anything.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Sadie asked, pricked with irritation.
Astrid narrowed her eyes on Sadie. “In my realm, insinuations like that can get you killed. Fast.”
A chill ran through Sadie and her anger climbed. Screw this. She sat up, wincing against the protest her muscles and bones gave. She ignored the pain and stood up.
“Stop,” Elijah said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “There has to be something you can do, Astrid.”
“Nope. Nothing I can do.” Astrid smiled coldly. “Of course, there is something you can do, Elijah.” She spun on her heel and left.
For once, Sadie related to how Ben felt around Cynthia. Like shoe sludge.
Elijah stalked after Astrid and Sadie followed, ready to demand they leave now or she would on her own. But within two steps, a new shudder struck, sending her curling onto the cold floor. She gritted her teeth, refusing to moan through the pain. She forced her eyes to stay open and stared at the door, swearing the moment this passed, she would walk out of here.
Familiar buckle laden boots appeared in the doorway. Then Elijah was at her side, picking her up, laying her on the bed. The pain ebbed back. Elijah put both hands on her face. “How bad is it?”
She managed a nod, hating anyone seeing her like this, but most of all him. He searched her eyes but his were closed off, revealing no emotion.
She missed the Elijah from her dreams. The one who rained kisses over every inch of her bare skin. The one who begged her to open her eyes. She missed the graze of his lips, the tickle of his wings. His hands driving her wild.
Knowing the truth about her lust for him, knowing it was his power, she still couldn’t suppress wanting him.
Elijah took in her visage and pulled back. “Sadie, I cannot keep kissing you.”
“Wow. Um, you sure know how to make a girl feel special, Elijah.” Sadie sat up, the pain gone. Embarrassed over her reaction, she tried to pretend she didn’t know he saw her lust for him. “I didn’t think we’d really practice playing boyfriend girlfriend. I mean, between being chased by immortals and watched by human haters, I think I can actually manage my family wondering who you are.”
“You don’t understand. There’s more to it than that,” he said, standing.
“Don’t worry, I already know.” She’d had enough of his ‘more’. “Lyric explained how it works.”
“Look, I can’t prevent your attraction to me. I shield you as best I can but, for whatever reason, it’s more difficult with you. Once you’ve transformed, this feeling will go away.”
Yeah. So Lyric had already pointed out. Remembering how good leaving here had sounded, Sadie got up. “If you know I can’t help it, I mean, if you’re used to women falling all over themselves over you, then you should know how to handle rejecting it with a bit more finesse.”
“My magnetism is usually manageable. Your change must be affecting it.”
“Well, now I know better,” she asked, heat flashing over her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to embarrass you or anger you. I think it will help if you understand.”
“Understand what? That it’s all in my head?”
“I can make any woman I choose desperate to be with me. I am built to seek and therefore attract. I’m a hunter. I convey through matter, I fly through air, have brute strength. It’s who I am.”
Really, she didn’t blame him. Astrid’s contempt had gotten under her skin. “So noted. I’ll get over it. What I won’t get over is being treated like scum by your friend. I won’t stay here.” Not even with him.
“Who? Astrid?” He laced his hands behind his head. Dismay filled his eyes. “It isn’t you she hates. It’s the cha
nge.” He paused. “She believes there is a remedy for your pain.”
Sadie’s chest ached. “I don’t understand. Why would fixing my pain inspire hate?”
“Not hate. Fear.”
“Why would helping me scare her? Actually, who cares? Let’s get whatever pain med she has and leave.” But her leg muscles began pricking in glassy jabs. “There has to be another safe place to wait it out.”
He shook his head. “In all my life, I have never encountered anyone like you, Sadie.”
Before she could ask what he meant, the new shudder set its teeth in. Sadie bit down, suppressing the urge to collapse where she stood. Elijah approached her carefully. The shards crept upward. His sage and woodsy scent reawakened her craving. He cupped one cheek, his eyes unfathomable but heavy-lidded.
The inches between them sucked away. “How badly does it hurt?”
For a suspended moment, Sadie wondered which pain he referred to. The cramping of her muscles, or the longing to taste him once more? Elijah bent his head and slowly touched his lips to hers. The craving in her belly expanded, pushing the pain away.
“Forgive me,” he said against her lips.
His lips parted hers and his tongue swept pleasure inside. He nipped at her lower lip, making her gasp. Sadie laid her hands on his chest, so hard and contoured under the thin cotton. God, he was beautiful. Fuck, she wanted him.
One hand came around and gripped her ass, pulling her hips against an erection so hard it hurt. Her pain whispered away, soothed. The aftermath intensified each new pleasure sensation. Sadie wound her arms around his neck and abandoned herself. Elijah scooped her up.
She moaned.
He carried her to the bed.
Part of her remembered his warnings about his magnetism. She pushed the thoughts away. She tore at his shirt, yanking it off. Elijah helped, tossing it aside. Sadie pulled at his shoulders, hating the brief broken contact. He returned to her, settling between her open legs and gliding his hardness against her core.