Pierced [Pain & Love 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

Home > Other > Pierced [Pain & Love 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) > Page 12
Pierced [Pain & Love 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 12

by Ashlei D. Hawley


  “Why were you looking for the vampire?” Lydia asked Jade quietly. The anger in her voice was evident, no matter how soft and even she kept her tone.

  “You’ve been doing bitch work for the Hunters for years.” Jade’s words were accusatory, her tone making no attempt to hide her own ire. “I want to stop them. I thought we had a better chance with a vampire who hasn’t been neutered by the bastards.”

  “Neutered, how?” Leigh asked. He didn’t feel the sibling argument was worth his concern, but the mention of their power being incapacitated had him intrigued.

  “We can’t transform,” Jade acknowledged, though Lydia would have kept the information private. She didn’t trust the vampire, and she certainly didn’t trust Mallory. The only one she had trusted was the wise woman, and she’d basically set up a group trap, bringing together three people Lydia hadn’t wanted to know her business.

  Leigh was surprised, but his face remained impassive as he received the delicate information. Dragons who couldn’t transform would have difficulty healing and controlling their powers. He wondered how long they’d been weakened.

  “And how can I be of assistance to you?” he questioned.

  “We need you to help us kick the shit out of the Hunters,” Jade retorted. “Obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Leigh agreed wryly. Instead of continuing the conversation, Leigh moved to the couch and sat beside Mallory, crossing one leg over the other in a contemplative pose.

  “So,” Leigh finally continued. He figured they had time to kill until the coming night, when they would undoubtedly have to face the Hunters again. “Let’s talk.”

  * * * *

  Luke, Annette, and Junior had reached the family cabin after failing to convince Heddy that she should go with them. She’d told Luke she had things to attend to, and no amount of cursing or arguing on his part had dissuaded his stubborn mother. He’d felt something telling him that she was right, but he didn’t have to like it.

  Sometimes, he hated being psychic.

  Annette had gone to the twenty-four-hour store to stock the empty fridge with food and Junior had set to arranging the beds with clean sheets and blankets so they could sleep. Luke sat on the back porch, staring out at the water as he contemplated the events of the night.

  He felt like he’d lost his daughter. His only girl, his sweetheart. What had driven her to accept such a course as her only option of action? Had she honestly thought she could just come home a monster and everything would be fine?

  Luke’s dark thoughts ran around on themselves, consuming and confusing like a forest fire within his mind.

  He hadn’t been too hard on her. It wasn’t like the time when she’d come home with a tattoo though he’d specifically forbidden them, or the irritation she’d inspired in him when she’d gone for an impromptu night drive and had crashed the first car he’d bought for her three days after her seventeenth birthday. This went beyond rebellion or the folly of youth. She’d destroyed her life, destroyed herself. Luke didn’t even know who she was anymore.

  Hearing a noise behind him, Luke turned. He expected to see Junior or Annette, but instead he locked gazes with a man so nondescript he may as well have been faceless and nameless. Just by looking at the perfectly styled hair, perfectly pressed clothing, empty eyes, and doll-like smile, Luke knew him as a Hunter.

  So they’d known about the cabin. He’d hoped they wouldn’t, and his psychic power had failed him. Usually, it was danger he could sense and predict. The cabin hadn’t held the feel of a threat. It was a bad night for his talent to fall short.

  “Junior, run!” Luke shouted as he drew his off-duty weapon—a reliable old Glock he’d carried for years—from its holster on his belt. He didn’t usually carry so openly, but he’d decided it was a good night for it.

  With a human adversary, Luke would have ordered his target to stand down or risk taking a shot to the leg. He knew that a Hunter wouldn’t back down to such a threat, so he did what he hoped anyone in his position would do.

  He unloaded his whole clip into the bastard’s chest.

  Hearing his father’s warning, and the report of his weapon discharging multiple times, Junior did the opposite of what he was told and ran toward the scuffle. He was intercepted by another one of the Hunters, and he didn’t check his strength when he flung his fist out for a solid hit. The Hunter barely flinched and his smile didn’t falter.

  When the Hunter returned the hit, Junior was afraid he’d had his jaw broken. He groaned through the pain and tackled the Hunter around the waist, driving them both through the threshold of the living room door and slamming them into a solid oak table. The wood buckled beneath them and one of the legs snapped off, tumbling them to the side. Junior grunted in pain as the Hunter drove an elbow into his ribs. He coughed and dug his feet into the floor, seeking leverage, and rammed his head into the Hunter’s chest.

  Trying to go for his side holster, Junior fumbled his weapon and dropped it on the carpeted floor with a muffled thud. The scuffle continued and Junior took the Hunter’s forearm in his mouth and bit down as hard as he could. He knew it had to hurt because he drew blood and tore flesh, but the Hunter gave no sound or other indication that he felt any pain from the injury.

  Junior swept his hand around, seeking his gun as he held onto the Hunter’s arm, worrying at it until he had to turn and spit a mouthful of blood onto the light green carpet. He chanced a quick glance around, and saw that his gun was in the most inconvenient of places.

  The Hunter continued to smile as he pressed the gun to Junior’s side and pulled the trigger.

  Three more shots rang out to echo the sound of the Junior’s gun discharging. The Hunter slumped over. Two bullets had become lodged in his upper torso and one had taken the top of his head off before it punched into the wood of the far wall.

  Junior grunted in pain, doubling over and curling around the stomach wound. The bullet had gone fully through, and a rapidly expanding pool of blood warmed him through his sticky clothing.

  “Dad,” Junior said through clenched teeth. The pain spread through him like acid. He’d never been shot in work, but he’d just got his ass beat by one of those bastard Hunters. At least the man was dead, though it would be a small comfort to him if Junior followed him not long after.

  “We need to go.” Luke was in a panic as he saw his son rapidly losing blood on the floor of their cabin. Their cabin, which was supposed to have been safe for them. They needed to get to the hospital. Junior would be fine if they could just get there.

  Flipping out his cell, Luke called for his closest friend on the force, Craig Taylor. They were two hours away from home, but Craig was hell on wheels. He’d blare the siren, hit the lights, and be on scene as quickly as possible to deal with the two dead Hunters. Luke didn’t want local cops getting the wrong idea when he and Junior left the cabin and the scene of a crime.

  Craig had been to the cabin before, so Luke didn’t need to give him directions. While they spoke, Luke took off his button up overshirt and packed it against the front of the wound. He removed the casing from one of the small pillows on the couch and put it against the other side. Ending his call with Craig and letting the phone fall, Luke pulled his belt off. He slipped the belt around Junior’s waist and cinched it tightly, causing the younger man to grunt in pain, but he nodded in agreement of the necessity for the action.

  Junior felt like he was about to black out, but his father’s steadying arms made the agonizing trip to the front yard much less difficult.

  Luke belatedly realized Annette was still gone with the truck.

  Swearing, Luke punched 911 on his cell. He’d intended to make the call on the ride to the hospital, but they needed immediate transportation. Deciding that he would call Annette to check where she was after talking with dispatch, he described their situation and Junior’s injury. He made sure to note that if his wife got to the cabin before the ambulance they would go in the truck, but asked for one to be sent, anyway. Howe
ver they could get Junior to Emergency, he would take it.

  With time moving at an agonizing pace, they waited.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mallory felt twinges of discomfort sabotaging any calm she could have hoped for throughout the day. Long before dawn, her Gran had covered the windows in two of her spare rooms, the bathroom, and the hallway that connected them. She and Leigh were confined to these rooms during the daylight hours, but it wasn’t the day that Mallory was concerned with. She yearned for the night because the longer the sun was out, the more powerless she began to feel. Her Gran had gone to sleep around four a.m. and still slept. Lydia and Jade had gone to get some sleep and collect their sister, Daria, after they’d spent two hours discussing what would be done, and if they would do it together.

  “The wise woman told us to seek you.” Mallory didn’t like how Jade addressed her Gran, nor did she like that Gran hadn’t consulted her about bringing the Dragon sisters into association with her family.

  “I understand that.” Leigh was frowning as he considered the extended amount of time he would have to keep Mallory in vampire form. He didn’t want to go against what the so-called wise woman had decreed, and the fact that Heddy was Mallory’s grandmother made the connection seem all the more important.

  “We don’t need their help,” Lydia hissed as she drew Jade back by the arm. “We do things by ourselves.”

  “No, you do things by yourself,” Jade retorted, angrily jerking her arm out of her sister’s grasp. They didn’t talk to each other much beyond that.

  “We have to go after the Hunters.” Mallory was resolute about the necessity of eliminating the Hunters in their area.

  “More will come.” Leigh wanted to sigh over the futility of arguing the logic of attacking a group that would replenish itself like a swarm of insects that could never be fully eradicated.

  “But maybe they’ll know not to screw with us,” Jade suggested. “And if we can get the Hunters’ lock off of our power, maybe we can scare them off for good. No way are those dicks going to hang around with three full-grown Dragons ready and willing to defend their territory.”

  “That’s a tall maybe,” Leigh countered.

  “And what about Henry?” Mallory didn’t want to give his name the honor of being on her tongue, but something about Henry’s absence had been bothering her since the fiasco at the Hunters’ compound.

  “Something came up,” Leigh guessed. “There were several Hunters that weren’t eliminated. Maybe they attacked him. The most likely thing is that he returned to my home and has been waiting there for us, worried to no end.”

  “Leigh.” Mallory’s voice was full of disbelief and frustration. How could he think there was a chance that Henry had simply gone wuss about a potential fist fight? There was something very wrong with how that situation had gone, and she was pissed that Leigh was trying to brush it off. Their history didn’t excuse Henry’s incompetence.

  “Henry doesn’t matter to us right now,” Leigh declared in a testy tone. “What matters is figuring out if we’re actually planning on going up against the Hunters and, if so, how? We need to get them altogether. A night attack won’t be successful. They hunt at night.”

  “So we get in at night and wait until they get back,” Jade offered her suggestion, sounding much less interested by the minute with the way the conversation was going.

  “Would that work?” Mallory asked. She sounded surprised, both at the suggestion and the fact that she was even considering it as valid.

  “Not a chance,” Leigh protested. “They’ll have security increased exponentially after the…episode.” He cleared his throat and didn’t look at Mallory, but he knew she stiffened with discomfort at even that slight reminder.

  “So we offer them something?” Jade tried to propose. “Something that will be sure to get them all there together at once.”

  “They’ll see it for a ruse.” Leigh’s frustration made its way into his tone.

  “They don’t hunt every night.” Lydia finally made a helpful contribution. “Two nights a week, it’s interrogation time.” It hurt her to say it out loud, to know what she’d been accomplice to, but it was a viable option that she had to get out there. Admitting her own attachment to the knowledge was the first of many penances she would have to pay. The look on her sister’s face was just the beginning of the pain she’d endure for what she’d done.

  “Interrogation.” Mallory repeated the unsavory word, disliking it in her mouth as much as Henry’s name. “What does interrogation involve?”

  “It isn’t pleasant,” Lydia answered bleakly. “That’s all I know. I was never a part of them personally.”

  Thank God, Jade thought to herself. She couldn’t have borne it if her sister had actually, physically hurt innocent people because of her ill-advised involvement with the Hunters.

  “So interrogation will take place tomorrow night?”

  Lydia looked at the clock and said wryly, “Tonight, actually. If we’re going to take the Hunters on their turf, we need some sleep, and we need some supplies.”

  “What supplies?” Mallory questioned as Lydia stood. She pulled her sister up, as well. The other woman followed only slightly grudgingly.

  “We’re going to burn the fuckers.” Lydia’s eyes were scary, glittering like gold and just as hard. “Last I knew, vampires don’t take too well to heat, so we’re going to have to protect the two of you somehow.”

  “What about whoever’s being interrogated?” Mallory asked in concern. “What are we going to do about the innocent people inside?”

  “We get them out,” Jade said with a firm nod. “And everyone else is ash.”

  “We’ll need to meet up with Henry, to get his assistance. This time, he’ll go in with us.” Mallory didn’t like Leigh’s suggestion, but the more people they had to help, the better off they would be. Sadly, Mallory didn’t know if Henry would be able to help them. At best, he might be hindrance. She didn’t even want to consider what he could be at the worst.

  “So, you do your thing, we’ll do ours,” Lydia told Mallory and Leigh as she began pulling Jade toward the door. “And tonight, we end these bastards.”

  “It won’t be enough,” Leigh predicted somberly. “They’ll come back.” His reminder was met by a cocky grin, which was mirrored on the face of both sisters.

  “Yeah, but they’ll know who not to fuck with then.”

  “We’ll have Dragon form back,” Lydia said, agreeing with her sister. “I’d be surprised if they tried to restake their claim on this town knowing there are vamps and Dragons to fight for their place.”

  With her hopes buoyed by the sisters’ determination, Mallory gave them a nod and clung to the tenuous optimism their words gave her. The sooner they dealt with the Hunters, the sooner Mallory could try to find a way to fix her messed up life.

  The Dragon sisters left and the vampires waited for the night to come.

  * * * *

  With the waiting had come worry and now that the day had resigned them to prisoner status within Heddy’s home, Mallory felt she could either sleep or go insane. She’d wanted to wait for her Gran to awaken so she could talk to her, but wanted the old woman to get as much sleep as she could.

  She thought about calling her family, but wanted them to have some time without the reminder of what she’d become to adjust to her new status in life. Maybe they weren’t even thinking about her, she worried. They could be contemplating packing up and moving out of the city, or even out of the state to get away from her. What would she do then? Would her family really abandon her like that?

  The terrible thoughts chased her to the bedroom, where she curled up on her side and pleaded for sleep to come. Her mental state seemed to be deteriorating by the hour, with worries looming over her like mountains and poisonous thoughts snaking around and destroying any calm she could hope for.

  She’d thought dreams would be a welcome relief to her increasing panic, but she was granted no solace wh
en she found herself once again occupying headspace with Marlyna.

  Trying to force her way out of the dream, Mallory realized it was impossible. She’d never tried to escape a vision before, but the power held her with invisible chains, rooted to the knowledge she would be forced to receive.

  There was no sign of Leigh in this vision. Marlyna was alone, sitting in a small room on a burgundy couch and reading a handsome leather-bound tome. Mallory felt boredom envelop her. The words were blurring and her head hurt. She was trying to do something important by reading the book, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Her focus was slipping away, and fear slid in to take its place.

  “Calm, dear one. Calm yourself.”

  Mallory expected it would be Leigh who was coming to soothe Marlyna, but she instead found herself looking into the dreamy green eyes of Henry. Recognition flared in two separate parts of her consciousness. Mallory felt suspicion and noted the differences between past and present Henry. The dark sweep of luscious hair was longer and tied back at the nape of his neck, the clothing looked like something that would be at home in a Renaissance festival, and his overall demeanor seemed gentler. Marlyna regarded him with hope and trust, two things Mallory would never have placed in Henry from the first time she’d met him. But looking out through Marlyna’s eyes and feeling the sense of conviction Henry was able to impart upon her, Mallory could see how convincing the old vampire could be.

  “It isn’t working, Henry.” Marlyna chewed on her thumbnail as she voiced her concern, pleading with Henry as she met his gaze. “What’s wrong with me?”

  “We still have a chance to reverse the sickness,” Henry assured her. “You should only have to receive blood once or twice more before the Munetero will be kept completely at bay. It should not have lasted this long.”

  “Maybe we should talk to Leigh about this.” Marlyna’s hesitant suggestion was met with a sad frown from Henry. He knelt in front of Marlyna, much as Leigh had previously, and Mallory was disturbed by the similarity of the position and the vast differences of everything else in their relationship. Henry brushed an errant strand of gold from Marlyna’s cheek and spoke in a gentle tone.

 

‹ Prev