Lure (Marko Delacroix #3)

by Alaska Angelini

  “Well, did you find her?”

  Footsteps pounded behind me and I glanced over my shoulder. “Yep.”

  “Well? Where is she?”

  I was too annoyed to answer. My head was starting to hurt and my throat burned for blood. Her blood. I wanted the next tie. I wanted to mark her twice.

  A group of vampires wearing short, tight dresses stepped out of my way, cringing back at my aura. I let it pour from me with every ounce of aggression I held. Damn Tessa for interfering with my need for peace. Yet, she was my salvation. She’d make me feel better. If only I could get her under my control and back with me.

  “Music. Is she at the club? The one Marie took her to a long time ago?”

  “Yes,” I said lowly, moving faster.

  The entrance rested ahead and I stopped, pounding my fist into the heavy metal. The male vampire who worked the door took one look at me and swung it wide, letting me and Hunter stroll past. Lights flickered, red and blue, beaming and spinning around the room. The strobe resting on the dance floor had the crowd appearing to move in slow motion. I scanned the space, grasping our connection and letting it pull me deeper within the large space.

  “This place is huge.” Hunter moved in next to me, peering around the two-story room. I kept quiet as I eyed Boyd’s gang in the back. The way one of the vampires tensed, I knew where she was. It drew me faster and sent my rage to blistering heights. I hadn’t forgotten about Boyd’s manipulating ways. He’d already tried to get Tessa’s blood on more than one occasion and I didn’t put it past him to do it again.

  Laughter died as I walked up the four steps and took a left. It bought me to a sitting area nestled in the back. Perched on a black leather chair, sipping on a drink, was none other than Tessa. Four vampires rested at her feet, kneeling. She glanced at Hunter and me and continued her story without missing a beat. They looked enamored, fixated on nothing but her. The vampires who had been watching the show were already gone at my presence.

  “So, I walked around the corner and all of a sudden, I heard a woman whispering. Now, mind you, this wasn’t just any woman. I’d heard her whisper before.”

  “When you were down here. When you went to your human. She is you.” I watched a dark haired vampire lean a little closer in his enthusiasm, never breaking his focus on her face.

  “Correct, Dillon. You’re such a good listener. It was me. But when I heard her tonight, it was different. I had control of her. So, I walked around the corner and way off in the distance, at the end of the street, was none other than…” her head tilted, “who wants to guess?”

  “Me.” Boyd rose higher on his knees, but his ass never left the heels of his shoes.

  “Go ahead.” The French accent was almost gone and I couldn’t believe how good her English had gotten in such a small amount of time. I narrowed my eyes as I got closer. I knew this version of her was the true vampire resting within. It made me cautious to see what she’d done.

  Tessa watched my movement, stealing glances at Hunter. Patiently, she waited as Boyd fiddled with his hands, seeming to think.

  “Was it Marko? Marie? Nooo….Sayer!” he burst out.

  “Wrong,” she smiled. “Anyone else want to make a guess?”

  The men didn’t take their eyes off her and I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on.

  “I’ll tell you.” She reached over and gripped a trash bag to her left, pulling it closer to the end of the small table resting beside her. “You see, my human, Hunter, he’s very important to me, as you all now know from my stories. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. Nothing I wouldn’t do for anyone who meant a great deal to me.” Anger started to work its way into her tone and her features tightened as she brought the bag to rest on her lap. It covered the simple black dress she wore, exposing her pale calves.

  The bag opened at her pull and I jerked my face back at the smell of blood. Humans wouldn’t have detected it, but it was simple enough to pick up for a vampire. It was a few hours old and spoiled from the temperature of the surface above.

  “Father Moretti, here,” she said, removing his head by his hair, “tried attacking me on the street. Threatening me, saying I’d hurt my human. Me, can you believe that? I’d never do anything to harm Hunter. As will none of you.”

  Hunter’s hand latched to my jacket and I barely caught him as his knees gave out and he almost crashed to the ground.

  “Tessa doesn’t know,” I said lowly. “She doesn’t understand.”

  A ragged inhale racked his chest and I managed to help him stand.

  “This is a clear warning to anyone who thinks about hurting him or accusing me of the same thing. I’ve heard your whispers during my outings. You’re not even safe from your own thoughts. Mess with what’s mine and the next head in this bag will belong to one of you. Or all of you. I don’t care if you’re a member, a slave, or a priest. I will kill you if you get near him. Now, leave me, my human and our leader has come to join me,” she said, flicking her wrist.

  The men scattered to their feet and froze as they spun around, spotting me. “Go,” I snarled. They didn’t wait to obey as I passed them. Hunter tugged against my grip and I let him go, watching his actions cautiously.

  “How could you? God, Tessa….how could you! He loved you. He…” His fingers raced through his lengthening hair and he stopped mid-stroke, pulling at it as he head lowered. “Jesus, I can’t believe what you’ve done. I…think I’m going to be sick.” Deep breaths left him as he came back up and paced back and forth. I shook my head, narrowing my eyes at Tessa. She was clearly confused. And hurt by his behavior.

  “Are you allowed above ground?”

  Her shrug as she stood had me snatching her by the arm and pulling her to me. “Love you or not, I will not hesitate to punish you for disobeying. I asked you a question. Answer.”

  “No. I am not.” Her eyes left mine, moving to Hunter, and she dropped the bag to the floor. The action caused another sound to come from his lips. His hand slammed over his mouth as he raced to the side, becoming sick in a trashcan. Sadness mixed with anger on Tessa’s face. I could feel her conflict. The lack of her attention left me gripping her harder to bring her back to what we were talking about.

  “You’re hurting me. Let go,” she said, pulling.

  “No…I don’t think so. You are not to go above ground. Ever. Not until I can go with you and make sure you’re stable enough.”

  My brain was getting fuzzier, but not to the point where I couldn’t control myself. I loosened my grip, letting her jerk free. Immediately, she went to him, trying to reach out to his arm. The flinch as he scrambled away from her had her lips parting. Slowly, she brought her hand to her mouth, only to extend it out to him again.

  “Aren’t you happy?” she rushed out. “Hunter, look at me. I thought you said you liked my protection. You said…” Her head lowered and a small trace of anger surfaced on her face as she looked up. “I said I’d take care of you. You’re going to be my slave. I wanted to...”

  A look of disgust crossed his face and he continually shook his head. It left me puzzled as to what was going on between them. Something was off. Not right. Especially with their tie. Or, ties. Had they made their second mark yet?

  The bass died off as another song began to play. I crossed my arms over my chest, watching the two of them. Tessa was becoming more upset, where Hunter was getting angrier by the second. I walked forward, focusing on Tessa. “I’m only going to say this once. Go above ground again and you’ll force me to put you in lockdown. Now, tell me how you got past the guards? I have one at every exit. Did you kill one of them, too?”

  “I might have,” she said, quietly.

  It only caused Hunter’s jaw to clench, repeatedly.

  “This is your warning,” I continued. “Hunter will have to fend for himself if you get put away. He’s forbidden to ever return to the top, so you’ll be left to worry about whether he dies without your protection. We both know he’ll try to escape an
d when he does, they’ll kill him. They’re ready, Tessa. Waiting for him to become accessible. They want their chance to taste his blood and they’ll take it at the first opportunity. Do you want his death on your hands?”

  I held still as Tessa’s face grew serious. But Hunter’s reaction worried me worse. His eyes scanned the area like a caged animal, only to lower while he moved deeper into his thoughts.

  “No, I don’t want that. I just want him to love me. He doesn’t love me and it’s making me mad. He won’t even let me get near him half the time. He…” Her eyes went back to him and I couldn’t stop myself from blinking past the shock. Something was definitely wrong. She sounded like me.

  “Have you completed the second tie?”

  Her head shook as she tried to reach for him again. Hunter stepped away from her quickly, turning to me. “I’m not ready for the second tie.”

  “No?” I moved in as close as I could to him, inhaling deeply. It didn’t make sense. He should be going as crazy as I was to have her. Yet, he clearly didn’t want to be around her. Not now, and from what Tessa said, clearly not before.

  “Why would you wait this long? I thought this is what you both wanted? You were going to start your future. That’s what you said,” I said, getting louder with anger.

  Silence had me raising my hand, questioningly. Hunter glanced at Tessa and couldn’t disguise his negative reaction to her presence.

  “Hunter. Answer me.”

  Narrowed blue eyes shot to me. “I’m just not ready, okay? I need time.”

  Again, he got quiet.

  “Hunter, we’re talking vampire bonds here. As your leader, I’m telling you to explain.”

  “Goddammit! I don’t give a shit about talking bonds with you. My uncle, a priest, is dead! His head is in that fucking bag. Killed by the woman I...” He paused. “Who am I kidding? She hasn’t been Tessa since you first forced your blood on her. She’s…evil. Cruel. You all are. There may be moments, like right now, where she’s trying to be…something good for me, but she’s not! For once, I want to wake up without her hovering over me to rip my throat out. She does that, you know.” He pulled the necklace out of his shirt. “If I didn’t have the rosary on, she’d kill me. All I wanted was to be with her. Happy, like I’d always dreamed of. But this isn’t the way. This…her,” he said, gesturing angrily, “she’s a…she’s…”

  The honesty left me speechless. Relieved, but shocked, nonetheless. Where I should have felt sorry for him, all I experienced was the greed I harbored to have her myself. It lasted until I took in the tears rolling down Tessa’s face. As much as I wanted to bask in the moment, I had bigger responsibilities, ones my position made me aware of.

  I pulled a pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket, lighting one up. The inhale was deep, casting white smoke into the air at my equally forceful exhale. I took another drag, contemplating what to do about the situation. I needed to talk more with Hunter. It was too late for him to leave here. He knew too much. He’d have to stay. But what the hell was I going to do with him? He’d fight it out and try to escape. If I had him killed…Tessa would hate me forever. The longer she stared at him, the more hurt she was appearing. But it wouldn’t last. That pain would turn to anger. I knew that for a fact. When it did, things wouldn’t be good for him.

  “We three need to talk.”

  “Start talking then,” Hunter snapped. “It’s not like I have anything else better to do down here. I could probably go to bed, but I’m sick of passing time that way. It’s a nightmare either place.”

  “You’re upset because you’re grieving,” I said calmly. “You need to try to look past that while we figure out what is going on right now.”

  Tessa walked closer to me. “Let’s take this back to the room. I need the quietness. I’m getting...not good. My head.” Her hand lifted as she blinked heavily. I knew she was at risk of fading out again and the more upset she became, the bigger the possibility was.

  I dropped the cigarette to the floor, grinding my foot against it as I followed her and Hunter through the large room. We all stayed quiet until we were sweeping past her door and she was shutting it behind us. Hunter immediately turned his back to us. I stepped closer to Tessa as she wrung her hands and seemed to catch herself on what she wanted to say.

  “What’s wrong, ma minette? Something besides your bonding is bothering you. I can feel it.” I kept my voice down, allowing Hunter to try to relax. Tessa opened her mouth, only to shut it. Finally, she sighed.

  “I keep hearing a name in my head. It repeats and I feel its presence coming closer.”

  “A name?”

  “I don’t want to say it.”

  “It’s Sayer,” Hunter bit out. “She asked about him earlier. She still doesn’t remember who he is.”

  Dread settled in my chest and I didn’t want to think about him. He was getting closer. As her maker, she’d feel that.

  “He’s the one who turned you, Tessa. But you have no reason to be afraid. I won’t let him hurt you. I promise.”

  “You can’t promise her that,” Hunter said, spinning around. “You can’t promise that! You don’t know what he’s capable of. He could very well take us to Dallas with him. He’ll rape us all over again. Every day, until he decides to finally put us out of our fucking miseries.”

  “Rape?” Tessa’s eyes flared and black began to vine through the green.

  “He won’t hurt you,” I said, turning her to make eye contact with me. “Marie can see the future. Your future is here. Margo won’t remove you. You’ll stay here, Tessa. You’ll be safe.”

  Her head shook. “I don’t think so.”

  “I promise you. Both of you will stay here. I won’t let Sayer take you. You have my word.”

  Hunter kept his head down as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Unless he kills you first. Then we’ll be doomed. We’re doomed being here anyway.”

  “Enough,” I growled. “Sayer isn’t going to kill me. Now, enough with this. Let’s talk about the bond. You both have one tie. Correct?”

  “Yes,” Tessa answered.

  “Is there anything besides Hunter’s…lack of feelings that stand out to either of you? Anything maybe you’ve overlooked, by chance?”

  “If we overlooked it, how do we know?” The rage Hunter projected had me getting defensive. He was walking a very thin line and I didn’t have the patience to deal with it right now.

  “I…saw something. Of us,” she said to me in a soft voice. “I see lots of things with us lately.”

  “You do?”

  She swallowed hard, glancing at Hunter, but returning to me. “Yes. We were together. All the time. Things were...not always good.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. I was going through times much like you are now.”

  “I know.” Tessa licked her lips and stepped closer. “What I saw. It goes together with what I’ve noticed.”

  I couldn’t stop my brow from furrowing at her words. She was somewhat lucid now, but I could see the darkness laced within her eyes. She wouldn’t be thinking clearheaded for long.

  “Hunter wears his rosary all the time.”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed. What are you trying to get at, ma minette?”

  Tessa licked her lips and I could see her searching through her thoughts. “It’s kind of blurry. Very hard for me to see things clearly. Why can he when I couldn’t? I remember a church. And my hand…it was burning when I held Hunter’s dagger.”

  My stare shot up as it hit me. She was right. The only time Tessa had been able to hold the rosary was when she didn’t believe. But I knew Hunter believed in God very much. The relic put off power. Power that went against vampires. Yet, it wasn’t burning him or making him sick. And he still had the dagger at his waist.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered, walking closer to the bed and the human. “Maybe…” my stare went to the floor as my mind raced. Why could he? It was as if they weren’t bonded at all, yet I knew the tie had completed. They’d
both gone through pain. I saw it. But Hunter wasn’t obsessed like me, either. What was happening between them? I could smell her in him stronger than ever. Her blood remained, but…

  “Hunter, can I taste you?” I walked to the edge of the bed as his eyes cut up angrily. “I won’t bite you. Just a small cut. I want to see something.”

  “No.”

  “It’ll only take a moment.”

  “I said no.”

  He turned his glare on Tessa and I knew he was upset that she’d told me.

  “Hunter, please.” Tessa went to the other side and he looked back between us. It was the same expression he wore before. The caged animal. And maybe he was.

  Chapter 18

  Hunter

  With Marko on one side of me and Tessa on the other, I quickly withdrew my dagger, flying off the bed. There was no way I was going to let them come near me if it meant they were after my blood. Tessa, I hadn’t mind feeding via my arm, but there was no way I was letting Marko have a taste. Then he’d have power over me. I was done with having anything to do with these monsters. The last thing I wanted was for him to control me, too.

  “Aren’t you at all concerned why you’re not more infatuated with your future Mistress? You were so ready to love her, but you don’t. Not like you should. I want to see the reason.”

  Closer, Marko came, and I raised the dagger even higher. “She killed my uncle. I have every reason to be upset. Now, get back. It’s not going to happen. If Tessa needs to be fed, I’m okay with that, but never you.”

  Marko’s jaw tightened and he brought his hand to his head, closing his eyes. When they reopened, the black color was back.

  “I don’t want to have to read her thoughts to experience you. It’s not the same. I have to taste you myself.”

  “Why does it matter?” I scooted more to the side of the room as Tessa came around.

  “It’s not right,” he stressed. “Something is going on with one of my vampire’s blood and I’m the leader. I have to get to the root of the problem. That means, I have to taste you. You’re a part of our world now, Hunter. Like it or not, I rule this place. You obey me, and I say get the fuck over here.” The last was so deep, it made the hair on my arms stand up. The constant fear and uneasiness was getting to me, making me even more unstable. “You can come willingly,” he threatened, “or I will take it from you. Your choice.”