I knew he was right. Raven had told me from the start he couldn’t love anyone, and his silence on the intercom earrings only drove the point home. Still, hearing it from someone else plunged my heart into my stomach
“Imagine how he’ll feel when he realized he held the secret to a day life with him all along.”
“It’s not true, Zen. Raven would not do that to anyone.” Leah’s vehement denial did nothing to soothe me.
Brett dragged me into a small cell and, keeping a bruising grip on my upper arm, sat on a cot next to me.
“You know,” he stroked a finger lightly down my cheek, “it doesn’t have to be this way between us. We can make the process of creating a new race a whole lot less…” he paused as if searching for the right word “…clinical.”
I found enough strength to jerk my head away from his hand.
He tightened his grip, “Your father–”
“He. Is not. My father,” I ground out.
Brett laughed. “You’re feisty, Zen. I like that about you.”
“There is nothing about you that I like, Brett. I hope you burn in hell!”
“Be reasonable,” he murmured. “If you leave with me, right now, we can cut Roger out of the equation and create our own little army.”
“To sell off to the highest bidder?” He was batshit crazy.
“Look around, Zen. Find a weapon,” Leah’s voice whispered through my brain.
The room held only the cot I was sitting on. Lighting fixtures were suspended above a twenty-foot ceiling, and the bare walls held no control switch for them. There was only one outlet tucked along the back wall to the small cell I was being held in. “You could have anything, Zen. Money, power. Our children will be immortal…” Brett’s voice turned seductive.
Lifting my chin and pinning his gaze with mine, I bit out, “All I want is my freedom. And hers.”
In a blur of speed Brett had me on my back, straddling me with my arms pinned above my head. His lips parted, revealing his fangs as he lifted a chain I hadn’t seen and cuffed first one wrist, then another. As he moved to my ankles, I tried to knee him, only to have my legs pinned by his while he secured my feet to the bottom of the bed.
While my ankles were cuffed together, my arms were spread out wide. I screeched as Brett lifted the bed and placed it against the wall so that I was essentially standing upright, arms outstretched, while bound to the cot. He kicked two pots that had been hidden under the bed to each side and then pulled a knife from his pocket and sliced each of my wrists, pulling a scream from my lungs.
Fire burned through my arms as my blood began a loud drip into the metallic sounding pots placed under them. “You son of a bitch!” I bucked against my restraints even though the pain only intensified and drips came at a faster clip.
“Now, now,” Brett chided. “We don’t want all of your blood. Just a nice slow drip for about an hour, then we’ll stop the bleeding and let you recoup for the next round.”
“Talk to me, Zen!” Leah’s voice sounded frantic. “What the hell is going on?”
I didn’t know how to answer Leah’s questions, but I knew she was my best bet for getting the hell out of there, so I asked, “So this is to be my life now? Chained up to a cot in a dank cell while you bleed me then let me recover enough to keep giving you blood? I’d rather die!” The vehemence in my last statement frightened the hell out of me, but it was true. I’d rather die than spend my life as a lab experiment.
“Holy hell!” Leah whispered through my mind. “We’re going to get you out of there, Zen. Just hang on.”
“I’ll be back in about an hour.” Brett sneered.
“I have an idea,” I breathed, hoping Leah would hear.
“Are you talking to me, Zen?” Leah asked.
Brett turned. “What idea?” he asked skeptically.
I cleared my throat, hoping Leah would take it as a yes. To Brett I asked, “Can you turn off the lights?”
“No chance, sweetheart,” he said as he walked toward the door.
Waiting until I was sure Brett had left, I called out to the girl. She answered immediately.
“You can speak quietly, I have exceptional hearing,” she said.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Always.” I could hear the despair in her voice.
“What did they do to you? Your hands, your teeth?”
“I have been like this for always.”
“I know they have given you a name, but what would you like me to call you?”
She was silent for so long that I thought she hadn’t heard me. Finally, a faint voice answered, “I do not know.”
“Is there anyone else here?”
“No. I am the last one left.” This time there was a definite note of sadness to her reply.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I promised.
“To what end? If you did manage to get free and walk into my cell, I would kill you.”
Shocked I said, “I don’t understand?”
“Neither do I. I cannot be around humans without ripping them to shreds. It, and the fangs and claws, appeared a few months ago. Since then…” A sob escaped her. “I kill everyone. I just seem to…have to.”
I wanted to ask who and how many people she had killed, but the question wouldn’t get us any farther to freedom, so I swallowed it back. “I know people who can help you.”
“I can’t be helped,” she cried softly. “I can only be destroyed.”
“No! That’s not true.” Anything more that I would have said was cut off by Brett’s returning footsteps.
“Water,” I said quickly, my voice barely audible. “Can you at least bring me some water?”
Halting at the door, Brett turned to me, indecision clear on his face.
“Please,” I begged, hating myself for it. With a single nod Brett left, returning moments later with a glass full of water. I reached for it, only to be stopped by the restraints. Brett pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the cuff on my left arm, thrusting the cup into it. I pressed the rim to my lips and took a slow sip and then tossed the glass on the wall outlet, splintering it to shards.
“What the fu—”Brett began, just before the lights shorted out, plunging everything into darkness.
Raven pounced, coming out of the darkness like a dark predator. Brett turned a moment before the bone crushing impact of the two vampires sent us all sprawling to the floor. I cried out as a sharp stab of pain reverberated through the arm that was still restrained. For a brief moment Raven’s eyes met mine, and while I blinked back the pain, Raven’s gaze turned lethal. He ripped the restraints from my arm and ankles and rolled the fight away from me.
The sick sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing drew a shudder from me as I watched the lightning fast moves of both men as they battled each other. My world slowed down, it seemed that each blow was laid out so that I could clearly see the vicious strikes, one by one.
“Get out of here!” Raven yelled, just before Brett’s fist slammed into his jaw, sending blood and sweat spraying the air.
I cradled my battered arm to my body and scuttled toward the open doorway, jumping when my hand hit the shards from the broken glass.
Raven’s howl brought me back to the battle. He was bleeding. Both men were, but his wounds seemed particularly gruesome. Once again he shouted for me to leave, but the words came out garbled and he coughed up blood as he spoke.
Brett took another crushing blow from him, and Raven was able to spin out of the way before he could retaliate.
Summoning every ounce of courage I had, I sliced the broken glass from the base of my earlobe to my collar bone. Both men froze as my scream pierced the room. In a blur of speed Brett was on me, his mouth greedily swallowing down the blood that spilled from my neck before the last of it spilled. My stomach twisted in disgust as my mind processed what was happening. Just as suddenly as the attack began, he was gone. Brett hit the wall with a thunderous force that cracke
d the concrete, but he rose instantly and came at me again.
His eyes had turned all black, no white present at all as he barreled right through Raven and latched onto me again. I couldn’t even waste enough energy to see what had caused the splintering noise across the room.
With a sick, wet, sucking sound, Brett ceased his feeding and simply slid limply to my side. As I fell backward to the floor, I saw Raven wielding a long, sharp-looking object. In one swift swing, he brought it down on Brett. I opened my mouth to scream as Brett’s head tore away from his body and bounced across the room, but no sound came out. I had no breath left.
Raven was a watery vision in front of me, his face contorted with worry and maybe a little bit of panic. I was no longer thinking clearly, so it was hard to be sure. “Zen! Dammit, Zen, you stay awake!” he ordered.
I blacked out and then came to as Raven blew breath into my lungs. I choked and gagged on my own blood he lifted me into his arms. I had a brief moment of thinking he was taking me into the shadows and a nano-second of realizing I didn’t care.
He brought his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath wash upon my skin. “The girl,” I said. “Get the girl out of here!” My vision began to waver.
“I can only take one at a time and I’m taking you.” Raven stood while I struggled to get out of his arms.
“No!” I protested. “The girl goes first. Any human on the planet would know to protect the child first!”
“I’m not human!” he growled.
“But I am.” The edges of my vision began to fade, but I fought against it. “If there is any humanity left in you, Raven, please take the girl first.”
Raven set me down, turned without a word, and left. I heard the girl shriek and then the tearing of flesh before Raven swore, and the bone crunching echo ended the child’s protest. I should have told Raven what she’d said, that it was built into her to attack. It was the last thought I had before I passed out.
Chapter 29
I had the light sense of weightlessness along with faint flashes of light. Voices echoed all around me, but they were muffled, as if coming from a great distance. Struggling to peel my eyelids open sent a stab of sharp pain into my skull but brought clarity to the voices.
“She was dead for less than two minutes.” I heard Raven speaking; his voice was quick and strained.
So I was dead? Am I still dead? Did Raven turn me? The thoughts oozed through me as thick as maple syrup. There was no alarm, no concern, just casual wonder in the tone of my inner thoughts.
Something foul filled my nostrils, and my eyes flew wide. When did I close them? A pinpoint of light sliced through each eye in turn.
“Zen?” The foul smelling scent returned and I flinched away from it. “There you are,” a calm feminine voice crooned, and I realized it was Alli.
Focusing my hazy vision on her revealed that she wore a white lab coat, and panic consumed me. I struggled feebly to get away until I heard Raven.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
“The girl?” I asked. “Is she alright?”
“She’s safe,” someone distantly answered.
“Is she going to be okay?” Leah spoke and I turned toward her voice. She stood near the doorway, her long hair pulled back in a tight pony tail, stomach swollen with pregnancy. She was armed with a very large looking gun in a holster at one thigh and a long knife strapped to her other. Her fingers were intertwined with Ian’s, who offered me a reassuring smile and a nod. If they were all here, then surely I must be safe.
Alli began checking the various machines and tubes running into me, stepping aside so that Raven now filled my view.
Willing my arm to reach for him, I managed, “You’re bleeding.”
He smiled and swiped at the blood on his mouth. “Not mine,” he said, “yours.” His smile faded into something darker when he said, “I had to give you CPR.”
That set off a little alarm in my head, but I was too weak to contemplate it. The sharp sting of a needle in my arm burned its way into me and filled my mouth with a slightly metallic taste. It sapped the last of my energy and I gratefully allowed it to steal my consciousness.
* * * *
Soft light filled the room that I woke in. Lifting my right arm brought my attention to the steady ticking of an I.V. pump to my left. I was weak, sore, and my mouth felt like I’d swallowed a beach. I opened my mouth to speak but only managed a raspy sound from deep within my throat. It was enough to attract Raven’s attention. He stood from the chair beside my bed and placed his palm on my forehead. Opening my mouth again only brought forth the same sickly sound. Raven held a straw to my lips and I drank, greedily letting the ice cold water wash away the sand that seemed to fill my mouth.
“Better?” He smiled.
“Much,” I said. “Where am I?”
“At Ian’s estate, in your room. You spent the first two days in the infirmary before I convinced Alli to let you rest more comfortably here.”
“And the little girl?”
Raven sighed. “She is safe with a neighboring wolf pack. It’s seems she’s some variety of hybrid, and she isn’t as inclined to attack a wolf as she is everyone else. They will take care of her and teach her to control the beast inside her.”
Relief flooded me. “Good. I’d like to see her sometime.”
Raven shook his head. “That’s not going to happen anytime soon. She has a tendency to shred anything other than wolves. She did leave a message, though.”
“What?” I asked tentatively.
“She said you’d asked her what she wanted to be called.”
“I did.”
“Jen. She wants to be called Jen to honor you.”
Tears stung my eyes.
Silent moments passed before Alli gently interrupted. “Raven, remember what you promised me.” I turned toward Alli.
“He hasn’t left your side.” She turned to Raven. “And Lucas still wants a blood sample. We don’t yet know what the effects of Zen’s blood will be.” Alli’s voice held concern, but Raven flashed her a look of warning.
“Blood?” But I knew the answer before I finished the word.
It’s your second chance, Zen, a new experiment. You get to be the first human whose blood will give vampires the ability to walk in the day and live past the rising sun. Roger’s words echoed through my head. Raven gave me CPR. I was spewing blood. He must have drunk some during the process.
“It worked?” I asked as tears clouded my voice with worry.
“So far.” Raven gave a slight bow accompanied by a smile.
“So I guess I wasn’t a complete failure for Roger after all,” I said, my voice full of bitter regret.
“Roger didn’t live long enough to find out. Ian arrived shortly after you left the cave. It didn’t take long to find you from there.”
“My mom?” I had to force the question from my throat.
Raven’s eyes shifted to Alli, and she gave him a slight nod before bowing her head.
“I’m sorry, Zen.” He cupped my face in his hands, and I felt the first hot tear spill down my cheek.
“W-was she part of this?” I stammered.
Raven sighed. “I don’t know.”
And I never would find out.
Chapter 30
I took comfort in the fact that I’d helped to save a little girl who was now safe in the hands of a wolf pack alpha that Leah personally knew named Joaquin Wildhorse. And while I couldn’t see Jen, he promised Leah would receive regular updates on her care. I did, however, need to grieve. For the family I’d lost but never really had, and the life I thought I once led. It would never be the same after this. Betrayal seeped into the void left behind by my parents’ legacy of deception, although I wasn’t really sure where my mother fell within the web of lies. No matter, the damage was done, and my life would never be the same. What confused me the most were my own feelings about everything that had happened in the past few months. Just because I wasn’t wha
t I was created to be didn’t mean I was any less of a person. Hell, if anything, I felt stronger because of it. Shouldn’t I have been more upset? With abundant time to think, one thing became clearer, though. I wanted love. Not just companionship and great sex but heart-stopping love. I needed it, and more than that, I deserved it. Raven could be many things to me, but he could never love me. Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to say before our car got pushed off of the road? Love is a weakness.
I had survived hell on earth and would look back fondly at the time Raven and I were together, but it wasn’t enough. I would build a new normal life for myself and resolved that the next man I fell in love with would love me in return.
Once I was deemed strong enough to get around on my own, I found myself sitting in the family room of the most powerful vampire in North America. Ian and Raven were assembling one of the three cribs they would need for the impending birth of Leah’s triplets. It wasn’t going well. “Son of a bitch!” Raven yelled as the screwdriver slipped for the third time, cutting his hand.
“The babies can hear you,” Leah chastised, while barely controlling her own laughter. “Besides,” she added with a scowling glance toward the window, “as loud as you are, the paparazzi will hear you.”
“Can’t we hire someone to do this?” Raven failed to keep the grin off his own face, lightening the mood once again.
“In our day we would have built them from trees that we cut down ourselves,” Ian replied calmly while he twisted a bar upside down and back again, trying to match it up to a rail.
“That’s why they call it progress.” Raven huffed but went back to securing the last screw in the frame. The screwdriver slipped yet again, and I found myself joining Leah’s infectious laughter.
“I’m sure the next two will go easier,” Wilson assured him.
Raven tried to conceal his smile behind a scowl and crawled across the floor to me, holding out his offended hand. “I just may make you nurse this back to health.”
I rolled my eyes.
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