A sound caught my attention. I glanced over Narelle’s shoulder and spotted Saul waving his smoky whip over his head, before striking down the four men surrounding him. The vampire either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.
“So you lured me here to suck my blood, is that it?”
“Ah, if only it were that straightforward.” Narelle shook her head and her blue spiked hair didn’t move an inch.
“Why are you doing this, then? I thought you cared about Conrad.” I really hadn’t seen this coming.
“I care about Rad. A lot more than he deserves!” she screamed, rage contorting her otherwise pretty features. “But he doesn’t care about me. All he ever talks about is ‘Ebony this, Ebony that’. After what Cam did, I thought he would forget about her. But no, his interest never faded.”
Something awful dawned on me. A realization so sick I felt like throwing up. “You were working with Cam as well, weren’t you?”
Narelle shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it working, as much as manipulating his hatred for Rad. I’m really good at that.”
“I can’t believe—”
“Don’t change the subject. I haven’t told you the punch line yet.” Narelle stomped her foot like a toddler. “He’s so obsessed with the little whore that he wanted me to turn her at the haunted house.” She snorted, as if disgusted. “Can you believe that?”
A sick sensation inched up my throat. I didn’t want to hear any of this. Not only was her admission too horrid to bear, but to realize Conrad was willing to turn Ebony into a vampire without her permission or knowledge was a whole new level of fucked up.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “So you’re going to kill us because you’re jealous?”
“Better people have killed for less. You don’t know what it’s like to be every man’s sexual Novocain. After a while, you start to develop the itch to destroy them.” She looked me in the eye. “They’re quick to accept sex, but never offer more.”
“Poor little vamp girl just wants some love, huh?”
“Shut it, bitch.” When she struck this time, her fist pummeled into my stomach.
I doubled over and she took advantage of the weakness by kicking me in the face. I fell to my knees and she was suddenly behind me, dragging me up by my sweater’s neck. She secured my wrists at the small of my back, holding them so tightly my bones rubbed together.
“Do you want to hear a funny story?” She leaned into my ear. “Everyone thinks Ebony’s tiny heart stopped before I checked her pulse, but I heard her final heartbeat and didn’t do a thing about it. She died in my arms.”
A wave of blood and gore slammed against my chest from the other side of the fence.
“Sorry,” Saul said, before spinning around to slice another man in half with his sword.
Narelle laughed in my ear. “Your backup isn’t going to be much help. My vamps will keep him busy while I deal with you.” She licked the side of my neck. “After I’m done here, I’m heading straight to the police station so I can make a meal outta your sexy boyfriend.”
I tried to squirm out of her vise-like grip.
“I’m going to take great pleasure in fucking him while I suck him dry. I love werewolf blood, and I’ve wanted a taste of his since the first time I saw him.” Narelle licked my cheek. “Actually, I think I might convince him he’s in love with me. Wouldn’t that be fun?” She ran the tip of her tongue over my jaw. “I can finally have a man all to myself.”
The rage swimming inside my veins was so close to the edge I wanted to rip her fucking head off. But I needed to focus on the one thing of real interest in her statement. I forcefully swallowed all of the hatred. “How do you know he’s at the police station?”
“Oh, a little birdy told me.” She laughed and I felt some of her saliva hit my skin. “No, that’s not accurate, because he’s a big birdy.”
“Shapiro.” My mind was buzzing. Papan had said the detective smelled like a familiar vampire. “You bit the detective, didn’t you?”
“Guilty as charged,” she murmured, kissing my neck. “I have to admit, he wasn’t much of a challenge since he already despised the wolf. I just coaxed him into action.”
“What’re you hoping to get out of this?”
She removed a hand from my wrists to wrap it around my hair, twisting until she pulled on my scalp. “I’m going to be the Queen of the Vampires, and all I have to do is hand you over.”
“What?”
“You didn’t think I was going to keep you, did you? I just want a taste”—she pulled on my hair, forcing my head back enough to expose my throat—“before they arrive.”
Narelle held me steady as she sunk her fangs into my skin. She pressed the front of her body tight against my spine, sucking down my blood so quickly lightheadedness overwhelmed me.
It took all the energy I had to raise my left foot and smash it on top of hers. Her fangs slid from my skin and her grip loosened enough for me to bounce my head back, and into her face. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but I heard her nose crunch.
Narelle stumbled back, ripping hair from my scalp.
I spun around to face her. My vision wavered as she rushed forward with strands of hair still tangled in her hand. She knocked me to the ground and landed on top, exposing one intact fang, the other was cracked.
I smacked my palm underneath her chin, whipping her head back. “How long have you been controlling Shapiro?”
Blood dribbled down the side of her mouth, and the bottom of her face looked dislodged. She groaned, pressing her hips down against mine while she popped her mandible back into place.
“Answer me!”
She opened her mouth but all that came out were jumbled grunts as her jaw dropped out of place again. I slammed my fist into her face but she wrapped her bony fingers around my neck and thwarted my attempt at another strike. I bucked my hips several times until I managed to push her off. She’d hidden her secrets well, none of us suspected her involvement. Jealousy and anger drove her to such extremes that she’d been the puppet master behind Cam and Shapiro.
Her behind-the-scenes manipulations end tonight.
I clawed at the dirt, trying to get to my feet.
“Noooooo!” she yelled, reaching for my leg.
I kicked her in the face and stood. Then slammed my foot into her chin hard enough to make her jaw fly into the dirt. She crumbled, face first. Saul manifested on the other side of the fence—popping out of black smoke—and I took a step closer.
“Did you kill them?”
He nodded, but his eyes darkened. “Look out!”
I spun just in time to catch the flying arrow with my shoulder. I staggered, but kept both legs apart to stay on my feet. I reached for the tip embedded in my skin but all I could feel was the fletching.
“Don’t pull it out,” Saul yelled.
The back of my foot hit something and I looked down. Narelle had grabbed my leg.
I tried not to concentrate on the sudden rush of pain because the arrow had impaled my shoulder and was sticking out of my back. I didn’t want to think about what kind of tissue or muscle damage it had caused.
My vision blurred and Saul was there to catch me before I collapsed. “There’s no time for passing out,” he said. “We have to fight, or they’ll kill us both. Do you understand me?”
As hazy as I felt, I managed a quick nod. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, because there was only Narelle. Who shot me?
“Good.” He wiped the hair from my face. Saul helped me straighten, and took my hand. The warmth of our connection flowed into me instantly, helping replenish some of the energy the shoulder strike had taken.
“Connect to the power grid to keep your stability,” he said.
“Don’t I need to reach it first?”
“No. You can draw from here.” He disappeared into a wisp of s
moke, which coalesced on the other side of the fence. “Come on, you’re running out of time.” He reached into thin air and pulled out the whip, spinning away to wrap the end around the neck of an approaching man dressed in leather.
I took a step with the intention to join him when something enveloped my calves. It was Narelle again. She hugged the bottom of my legs so hard I wobbled, unsteady on my feet. I leaned over—huffing and puffing away the pain—and slammed her face with my right fist hard enough to push her off and hurt my hand. I followed it up with several kicks to the face, until she was lying flat on the ground.
My vision blurred for a second but I forced my legs to move, and headed for relative safety on the other side of the fence. Saul might claim I could find strength outside the fenced area, but I didn’t want to risk him being wrong.
As I reached for the cut chain links, a bolt shot straight through my left hand. I cried out, because this time the pain was instant. A pale hand grabbed the end of the fletching and yanked it out without care or consideration. The motion forced me to spin around, and I came face-to-face with Duff. My fingers itched to grab the silver dagger but I was swaying from the blood loss streaming from my hand. I seemed to be losing so much, my tattoo was covered. The crimson drops that hit the dirt were instantly swallowed.
“We don’t want you to OD on this stuff.” Duff studied the dart he’d yanked out of my hand. A small crossbow—very similar to the one I owned—hung at his side. His tongue peeked between his lips to lap at the blood on the tip. “Your essence is divine. Troy was right. One taste of your blood is not enough.” His pupils weren’t blue anymore, had been swallowed by cerise.
“Yeah, well, he died trying to get more.”
Duff chuckled, but the humor didn’t reach his eyes.
“What the fuck do you want this time?”
“The same thing I wanted before,” he said with a shrug. “Except this time it’s going to be a lot more painful. You’ve pissed her off. She’s done with playing nice and has decided to do this the more painful way.”
“What did you inject me with?” I shut my eyes for a moment, both from pain and because his image kept splitting into two. I shook my head, trying to shake the effects.
“A very special concoction,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m going to put this beasty out of her misery.”
Duff strolled to Narelle and as he crouched, pocketed the crossbow. Another, thicker silver bolt appeared in his hand. He held it above the vampire’s heart and stabbed her chest. Narelle screamed.
I wanted to look the other way, to run, and even started towards the chain-link fence, but didn’t feel like I could trust my feet to move in the right direction. So I stayed put.
Dark blood gushed from Narelle’s heart and dribbled over her tattoos, concealing the colorful designs. Duff’s hand hovered over the fletching, and without having to touch it, managed to stab it deeper. A deafening high-pitched whine erupted and the vampire exploded in a cloud of blood, gore and ash. Adding to all the other shit I was already wearing.
I sucked in a painful breath and got my bearings. If I made it past the fence and into the crossroads, I was sure I would find sanctuary. Not only from what lay beneath, but by rousing the Tailors. I ran, but stopped when Duff stepped in front of me. He was stealthier than a vamp and just as fast. He seemed to have all of Oren’s abilities.
“Where are you going?”
I stepped back and glanced at the fence. Saul brandished his smoky whip, and now also held his samurai sword—snapping with one hand and slicing with the other. Countless men rushed him, but weren’t the leather-wearing bloodsuckers. These men all appeared to be in similar stages of decomposition, so they weren’t fast. There had to be at least a dozen already cut down to pieces at Saul’s feet. Still, they kept coming, relentless in their attacks after clawing their way out from their dirt graves.
“The demon can’t help you now.”
I turned back to find Duff’s eyes glowing brighter. I sidestepped but he moved with me, as if anticipating my actions. He stood in my way and as much as I wanted to run, I wasn’t going anywhere until this asshole got out of my way. I caught my breath as the pain in my shoulder intensified, almost bringing me to my knees and making everything go black for a few seconds.
“Come willingly and there doesn’t have to be any further bloodshed.” Duff’s fingers twitched and a new bout of pain struck me. Son of a bitch! He was manipulating the arrow, driving it deeper into my shoulder. Just as he’d done to Narelle.
“No,” was all I could manage between gritted teeth.
His grin widened and his fingertips twitched faster.
A gasp tore out of me as the head punctured completely past the skin of my back and came out the other side. I was temporarily blinded by the agony and dropped to my knees.
“Sierra, get up!” Saul was handing out impossible instructions.
“What about now? Do you surrender?”
“Never…” I needed a distraction.
“Duff, stop playing games and bring her over here!” a female voice yelled.
He sighed. “Let me have some fun with her first.”
It was now or never. I got to my wobbly feet and made a clumsy attempt to slam my uninjured shoulder into Duff’s midsection, but he snagged the back of my sweater and pulled me up before I could. The movement tore the fabric around the arrow and I gasped. He dragged on the sweater again, and all I could do was move with him.
“Saul,” I whispered, sneaking a glance his way.
He turned to look at me, bright blue eyes shadowed with concern. I threw his concentration off and the undead creatures swamped him, dragging the demon under.
“No.”
“Sierra, Sie—” a muffled voice echoed before being drowned out by a thumping car door.
Great, now this concoction was making me hallucinate.
“You’ve had enough fun for one night, Duff,” the woman said.
Duff forced me towards a parked car near Saul’s BMW.
A tall brunette wearing a tailored festive yellow dress stood in front of the car. Black pantyhose gave her a stylish edge and her straight hair skimmed the tops of her shoulders. She had blue eyes, thin lips and a scowl that reminded me of posh characters in period pieces. Her skin was pale and glowed vibrant, even in these surroundings.
She looks so out of place.
I knew who she was. She might look older than the memory Oren had shared with me, but there was no denying this was Jacinta Mills, the callous head of the Alliance.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sometimes if you want the job done properly, you have to oversee it yourself.” Her cultured accent seemed vaguely Australian.
The closer Duff dragged me, the more my stomach dropped. I couldn’t stop thinking about Saul. Was he all right? What had those zombies done to him? Damn, why hadn’t I used my dark patch? Were those damned bolts fucking with my head, or was I just slow?
I met Jacinta’s eyes and found nothing but cold determination. This woman had a mission, and nothing—or anyone—was going to stop her. But what was she here to do? Was she going to kill me herself? And knowing Duff was not just Alliance but also Obscurus confused the situation.
When we reached her, she grabbed my jaw with cool fingers and turned my face this way and that. A distasteful pout hardened her features. “You are the spitting image of Pepita. I’m going to take an insane amount of pleasure in snuffing you out. Disease killed her before I got the chance. She was lucky.”
This woman was worse than I’d expected. What kind of demented bitch would say something so cruel? I tried to force my face away but she gripped my chin harder.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, young lady.”
I clenched my teeth and forced myself to glare into her cold eyes, while contemplating all of the ways I could make her
suffer.
“I’m going to do to you what I should have done to her,” Jacinta said.
“I thought the order didn’t go live until the end of the month.”
“Yes, well, I changed my mind.”
“Why do you hate me so much?”
She intensified her grip. “I hated you before you were born.”
“Because I’m a reminder that Oren loved my grandmother and not you?”
Jacinta released her grip long enough to slap my face, making my ears ring. “Your grandparents were delusional, and didn’t know the first thing about love.”
“Yet, after all these years, you’re still jealous.” It was never a good idea to bait a scorned lover, but I couldn’t help myself. This woman had caused a lot of problems for Grandma and Oren. If she was going to take her revenge out on me, I wanted to hit her where it hurt.
She smiled before delivering another slap. “You are a foolish girl.”
“That’s probably your first mistake. I’m not just a girl!”
Jacinta considered me with a glare. “You don’t deserve to inherit the immense amount of power Pepita illegally acquired. That’s why I’m going to take it.”
“Get in line,” I spat. “There are plenty of freaks wanting to do the same.” Was it possible that in spite of her worldly experience, and having the demented Duff by her side, she also didn’t know my grandmother had already moved on? It made sense since Mace didn’t know, either. My Strophalos was drenched with blood so no one could see it.
Actually, my fingers weren’t twitchy for the grid. Had the bolt severed my connection?
“Has the poison had enough time to do its job?” Jacinta asked Duff.
“It’ll take at least another hour to seep into her very soul and separate the spook catcher power from the rest of her.”
I tried to shake him off but for an old, skinny dude he was very strong.
“That’s fine. We’ll just take her with us.” Jacinta released my chin and headed for the car. “I know just the place to conduct our business.”
As I struggled to keep my feet grounded, a line of lightning arcs across the top of the chain-link fence caught my eye. When the sparks hit the ground, Mace shifted from energy to man a lot faster than the last time I’d seen him.
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