by Michelle Fox
He held me in place for a long moment and then abruptly let me go. I stumbled and dropped to one knee as I lost my balance.
My hand went to the hilt of the dagger. “When will my father return?” I pulled the dagger out of its sheath and keeping it hidden against my side, I pushed myself back up to my feet. A loose plan began to take shape in my mind.
“It’s four hours until sunrise,” he said his voice strained. He wasn’t really paying attention to me and appeared more focused on gaining control of his own blood lust.
“He’ll be gone that long?” I infused my voice with surprise trying to hide the relief that I would have so much time.
Ivan gave a curt nod.
Hoping the vampire had more blood lust than brains, I walked over to him, my hips swaying seductively as I went. He froze as I approached, confusion flashing across his face. I smiled and bit my lip in an effort to sell the lie I was about to tell. The small gesture always ignited Kristos’ desire and I hoped Ivan wasn’t immune. From the way his gaze locked on my mouth, he wasn’t. Good. I needed him to forget that just a minute ago I’d wanted nothing to do with him.
I put a hand up to his neck and pulled him close. “Maybe when my father is done with all this master race business you and I could...” I trailed off and kissed him.
His arms wrapped around my waist and he groaned against my lips. Before I could lose my nerve, I thrust the dagger into his eye as fast and as hard as I could.
He fought me during the few seconds it took for the dagger to breach his brain. One hand clawed around my neck and squeezed until it felt like my head would pop off. His other hand yanked on my hair threatening to scalp me with brutal strength alone.
With a garbled yelp, I pressed the button. Immediately he went limp and fell to the ground, mouth open in a silent scream. For a moment, I just stood there hand on my throat, trying to take in what I’d just done. Then, with grim determination I went to where he lay and sliced the edge of the dagger against his throat. Black blood oozed up like tar, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t chance Ivan telling Devon what had happened or coming after me. I had to make a clean get away. So I sawed and hacked at his head until I separated it from his body. My wrists throbbed with the effort by the time I was done and I was pretty sure I would be sore later.
With Ivan dispatched, I wiped the dagger on his pants along with my hands and then dragged his body off behind a trailer. I’d thought that maybe vampires turned to dust when they died, but if they did, it was a slow process. Ivan’s head I just kicked and rolled along to the spot where I’d dropped his body. I didn’t want to leave any obvious evidence. Let Devon wonder what had happened.
The last thing I did before I left, was lift Ivan’s wallet. There wasn’t much cash in there, about fifty bucks, but between that and the credit cards I should be able to get somewhere.
I ventured into the dark tunnels that had brought me to Devon’s lair, pausing to quickly vomit. While I’d handled Ivan’s decapitation better than Arlo’s, my stomach was still delicate about the whole thing.
With one hand on the wall and the dagger clutched in the other, I tried to remember the twists and turns we’d taken on our way down. It didn’t matter if I found the exact manhole we’d used, I just needed to find a way out, any way out would do. I was way past being picky.
Please just let me get out of here and somehow find a place to hide where Devon can’t find me.
What seemed like forever later, I got lucky. I could hear the rumble of traffic overhead and a metallic clang as vehicles bounced over what I decided must be a loose manhole cover. Picking up my pace, I tracked the sound and sighed with relief when my hand bumped into the rungs of a ladder. I sheathed the dagger and began to climb.
Something heavy rumbled over head, a truck or a bus, and I winced as the vibrations telegraphed from the street down the ladder. It sounded like I’d found a busy street, maybe too busy for me to safely climb out of the manhole.
At the top of the ladder, I pressed both hands against the cool metal of the man hole cover and pushed. It shifted ever so slightly, but resisted my efforts to lift it up and to the side. A horn blared and the weight of a car passed directly over the man hole. More horns sounded along with screeching wheels and then another truck rumbled through.
I thought about moving on and looking for another way out versus poking my head out of the ground for a game of human Frogger. Neither option sounded appealing, but I decided I would at least get the man hole cover off so I could see what my options were. Or weren’t as the case may be.
Mustering all my strength I heaved the man hole cover up. I wasn’t strong enough to lift it, but I could raise it high enough to tip it over. It rolled off the hole and dropped to the street with a booming clang. I risked a peek out and promptly ducked as a delivery truck came barreling down on me. I watched it pass over head along with the steady stream of cars that followed, wondering how the hell I was going to climb out without being hit.
At least I’d managed to catch a glimpse of my location, but that didn’t mean I had any idea where I was. I knew so little of New York City’s geography that my ignorance might actually end up killing me at some point. All I could tell was that I’d managed to find a very busy road.
I risked another peek and realized I was next to a crosswalk, one with a light. At some point there would be a red light and the traffic would stop. I just had to wait it out.
It was the longest light in history.
I could have grown and harvested crops in the time it took for the light to go red. It probably had something to do with the tiny cross street that had hardly any traffic. When the light finally changed, I started the process of hoisting myself up. Despite all the people milling about, no one gave me a second glance. This also meant no one offered to help. Giving the throng of people a dirty look, I pulled my torso out and planted one knee on the pavement preparing to pull the rest of me out.
At the same time, a phantom hand grabbed my ankle and with one powerful yank I was falling back into darkness.
I screamed even though I knew no one would come rushing to save me. I couldn’t help myself. The freefall only lasted a few seconds though and I landed in the hard embrace of strange arms.
“Going somewhere, daughter?” The low hiss of my father’s voice filled my ears. He squeezed me tight. “You thought I wouldn’t notice Ivan was gone? You’ve been blood bound to how many of us now and still don’t understand how it works?”
I remained silent even though he shook me a bit. Fear and anger crashed through me, vying for space. I had come so close to escape only to fail. The damn blood bond would be my downfall so long as my father was alive. I thought of the dagger then and my fingers spasmed involuntarily reaching for it.
Maybe I had to die, but now I knew my father did too.
Keeping a tight grip on my arm, he dragged me back through the dark labyrinth to his lair, which had become a hive of activity while I was gone. Two new trailers had arrived and there were people there unpacking all sorts of equipment. One box was labeled ultrasound equipment and several others bore the name of a pharmaceutical company. They must’ve come in from another tunnel system as I’d neither seen nor heard them during my getaway attempt.
“What’s happening?” I asked as he shoved me back toward the trailer I’d been imprisoned in earlier.
“My plan is falling into place. You see, I’ve found a way to be efficient.” He smiled, lips curling into sharp points on either side of his angular face. “You have one womb but many eggs. With a hundred surrogates, I will have a small army within twenty years.”
“You’re going to take my eggs,” I said, my eyes wide. I hadn’t seen this coming. Egg donor to vampires was not something I’d ever thought to add to my resume.
“As many as I can get. One hundred just to start.” He waved a hand toward a group of men in surgical scrubs. “I have a medical team all set.”
“What do they think they’re doing? Did you tell them the truth?”
/>
“No of course not. It’s a secret government project with generous funding. Patriotism and money lower the ethical bar so that no one asks too many questions.” We had arrived at the trailer now and he opened the door. Before I knew it, I was tied up on the bed again.
I yanked on my chains even though I knew they would hold. I couldn’t help myself. “Where are you getting the surrogates?”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, completely relaxed as if he hatched evil diabolical plans on a regular basis. Given what I’d seen so far, he probably did. “Why so many questions, daughter? Surely the details don’t interest you?”
“Just trying to understand,” I said lamely. In truth, I hoped to learn something that would help me escape again.
“Well, if you must know, the surrogates have been harder to find than you. It’s a niche industry. I couldn’t find enough to pay for their services so I’ve resorted to recruiting women with my own methods.” He winked at me and my stomach sank when I realized he had captured them with his eyes.
“Where are they now?” I hadn’t seen any of these women in the lair, just an assortment of medical professional and people carrying boxes.
“They’ll be here when we need them,” he said. “Right now, we’re focusing on getting you to make as many eggs as possible for our project.”
I grimaced suddenly feeling like a prize mare. Pulling on my bonds again—it was beginning to be a compulsion—I said, “You don’t have to tie me up. It’s not like you can’t find me wherever I go.” I held my breath hoping the ruse would work a second time.
He shook his head. “Maybe if you hadn’t killed Ivan I would have considered it, but you showed your hand there, daughter. You’re too ruthless for me to turn loose. I’ll keep my head, thank you very much.” He put a hand in his pocket. “Oh and I found something you might like to see.” He tossed a crumpled piece of newspaper on the bed.
I squinted at it. “What is it?”
“A news story about your protector Kristos. I know you think you’ll see him again and it seems he did survive the car accident.” He flashed an evil grin and adjusted the chains holding my hands overhead so that I could rest them at my side and reach the newspaper. “Read it and understand, you are mine.” He leaned over me then and planted a kiss on my cheek, his mouth cold and hard.
I cringed, my lips curling in disgust, but he was gone before I could say anything. With a sigh I smoothed out the newspaper. He’d said Kristos had survived, but, as much as hope filled my heart, I had a strange feeling that wasn’t good news. Daddy Dearest had been too happy about it, which didn’t make any sense.
It turned out my instincts were right. Kristos may not have died when my father snatched me, but he did not live much past that moment. My heart sank when I saw a picture of a fireball in the sky. A caption underneath said, “CEO Kristos Anastos died yesterday in a helicopter crash near the site of Med Enterprises’ new headquarters.”
My chest convulsed as if I’d been hit and tears dripped from my eyes. Had Kristos been trying to find me?
The article went on to say that he’d held a short press conference about the new building and the company’s hopes for its future home. Then he’d boarded a helicopter which exploded for some unknown reason. Police and the FAA were investigating, but foul play was not suspected.
Hands shaking, I smoothed the newspaper over and over, finding the repetition soothing. I hadn’t felt our bond since the car accident, but I’d held out hope that he was still out there looking for me. I knew he could survive a bullet, but an explosion wouldn’t leave anything behind to regenerate.
I had to face reality: Kristos was gone.
Oh God.
I balled up the newspaper and threw it as hard as I could. “Damn it.” The tears kept pouring out, a silent procession of pain. I scrubbed at my eyes with my fists trying to stuff it all back in. This was not the time to fall apart. Not if I wanted to survive.
I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as I considered my options. Mostly I didn’t have any so long as I was kept tied up and so long as my nightmare of a father was alive. I would never be free until he was dead.
But how to kill him with my hands tied?
I still had my dagger. Somehow they’d missed it not once but twice now. I had some slack in the chains around my wrists, but I didn’t have the strength of a vampire. I’d gotten lucky with Ivan, managing to find a weak spot that I could use to distract him.
But my father didn’t want my body, he just wanted my eggs. Probably the last thing he would want to do is knock me up with old-fashioned sex, it would ruin his plans. So that meant seduction was out. To boot, I had a feeling the rest of me was disposable and if I wasn’t careful I would outlive my usefulness after his little baby army had launched.
Once I was used up, what would he do with me? Make me a vampire? My gut said he wouldn’t want that. Yeah, I might be under his control for however long, but I would fight him tooth and nail. My escape earlier was just a hint of the hell I would raise and I doubted he’d missed that fact. Not much incentive for him to make me stronger and faster.
With those thoughts swirling around in my head, I drifted into a light sleep, the exhaustion of the night’s events finally catching up to me.
Chapter Sixteen
Much later, I woke with a start when a heavy hand covered my mouth. Instantly my eyes went wide and I flailed, my hands trying to peel the fingers off my mouth. They were as strong as iron and immovable, which meant only one thing; Vampire.
“Myra, shh,” came a familiar voice. “It’s me.” The hand lifted and my mouth was free.
Blinking I stared at a wishful dream. He couldn’t be real. Kristos was dead. There was no way he could be standing there, but I reached a hand out anyway and touched him. He was solid as a wall.
“Kristos, is it really you?” I whispered.
He nodded. He looked tired, I noted. His skin was even paler than usual as if he hadn’t fed in a long time, but his eyes brimmed with their usual vampire Jedi mind tricks. Once again, I felt as if I was in a free fall; my body moving up, my stomach dropping down like a roller coaster hitting the crest of a hill just before it hurtled back down to earth.
“I thought you were dead. I couldn’t feel you.” I ran a hand along his shoulder, my eyes wide with wonder.
“My death was staged. I had plans to do the same for you, but then the car accident...” He trailed off and made a helpless gesture with his hands. “As for our blood bond, the bedrock is like static. Enough interference to make it hard to track anyone let alone tell if they’re alive. I’ve been searching for you since you were taken and didn’t feel you until last night.”
I nodded. “I tried to escape. I made it to street level before Devon caught me.” For whatever reason the bedrock hadn’t interfered with Devon’s signal. Maybe linked DNA made for a stronger bond.
“Has he fed from you?” Kristos reached out and tilted my chin up examining my neck.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good.” He reached up and ripped the metal ring out of the wall as if it was a knife cutting soft butter. “Let’s go.”
I balked. “No.”
My resistance surprised him. “If we don’t go now, I’m not sure we’ll get out. It’s almost dusk, Myra.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand. The rules are different between us. He doesn’t have to take blood from me to bind me. I am his blood. He’ll find me wherever we run.”
He blinked as he considered my words. With a decisive nod, he said, “You’re right. You may not be a vampire, but you have enough of his blood to be bound to him.”
I looked up at Kristos. “We have to kill him or I’ll never be safe.”
“Do you know where he sleeps during the day?” Kristos went to a window in the trailer and pulled aside the shade to peer out into the underground cavern. “We have to find him before he wakes. He’s stronger than me.”
I shrugged. “
He has to be here somewhere. He’s spent too much time building this to not sleep here. Besides he won’t want to be far from me, especially after I almost got away.” Struck by the memory of how my bond with Kristos had been a two-way connection, I said, “Wait a second. Let me try something.” I closed my eyes and searched for the link between my father and me. It didn’t come as naturally to me as the bond with Kristos, but I did find it. I had to think of how much he creeped me out, how afraid I was of him to bring it to life. The bond throbbed within me like an unwanted blood blister and the sensation made me wince.
Raising a hand, I pointed. “He’s out there. I think I can find him.”
Lacking a key and, apparently, the strength to break steel, Kristos draped the chains around my neck and we left the trailer. The underground cavern appeared to be deserted, although I knew better. There had to be other vampires down here, the stillness just meant they weren’t awake yet. The sun kept them at bay for the moment, but night would be here soon. Too soon for me to dawdle. Breathing in the damp, subterranean air, I closed my eyes and held my hand out like a dowsing rod.
Following the pull of the invisible strand linking us, I led Kristos to a dark corner of the underground hide-out. There was no trailer here, but a small shed, the kind people used to store lawnmowers. Given the lack of grass underground, I didn’t doubt its true purpose was more nefarious. I tried to open the door, but found it locked.
Kristos motioned for me to step aside and simply tore the door of its hinges. Inside, my father lay on a small bed, hands folded neatly over his chest as if he was ready for his funeral. I pulled the dagger out of its sheath and made to step inside, but Kristos held me back.
“Let me do it, I’m faster and stronger.”
I wanted to protest, but he was right so I handed over the dagger.
Kristos did the blurry run thing vampires do when they move faster than the human eye can track them. In less than a second, before my heart could even finish a full beat, the dagger was thrust into my father’s brain.
He shuddered as the holy water melted his central nervous system but, to my immense relief, didn’t wake. Kristos removed the dagger and used it to hack at his neck same as I had done to Ivan, except being stronger, it only took him about thirty seconds.