Integrity: Book One of the Destine Series

by Laurie D'Ghent

  Without stopping or hesitating at all, Integrity flew at Evan as he sat on the couch. She pounced on top of him and began attacking him in every way she could—hitting, kicking, biting, even ramming him with her head. Animalistic noises burst from her lips. Evan quickly restrained her wrists in one hand and clutched at her with his other arm, limiting her movements drastically. Fear mixing in equal parts with her rage, her inability to free herself or even inflict any more damage increased the frenzy she had fallen into. Expletives and crude language rushed from her mouth in a torrent as she struggled to get within biting range. She felt herself being drawn away from the object of her wrath and found herself in the grasp of both Paul and Bowman. She knew they were speaking to her, even yelling, but she could not understand what they were saying, nor did she want to. The two guards ended up forcing her onto the floor and pinning her arms and legs. She continued to scream, her words now forming sentences. “You fed! You killed someone! You murderer! Who? Who did you kill! Murderer! Scum bag! You fed!” She continued in this strain until exhaustion began to win out. Her words softened, then trailed off all together. Tears ran down her face, though she felt no sadness or despair, only a numbing, dull anger. Paul and Bowman relaxed their hold on her and allowed her to sit up, though their hands still hovered over her limbs, ready to restrain her once more. She rubbed the blurring wetness from her eyes and focused once more on Evan, who remained seated on the couch. She thought she could see red lines crossing one of his cheeks where she had dug her fingernails in. “You fed.” She said this, a sickness crumpling her stomach, staring at him with hate. Her voice was not loud, though there was a firmness to it that expressed her still strong feelings, despite the fact that she was not in control of herself. “Who did you kill?” Evan made no response. “Is that why you were gone so long?”

  Evan locked his gaze on her and leaned forward. The guards both tightened down on her arms as her whole body tensed, but she made no move toward her prey. “How long do you think it takes to drain a human?” he mocked her. She lunged forward instinctively, but the guards held her in place and she regained control. “Yes, I fed. And, no, that's not what 'took me so long.' I had to drive several towns away to take your dog to the vet. We're keeping a low profile, remember?”

  “How is killing someone keeping a low profile?” Integrity spat back at him, her eyes still running over from the intense emotion under which she labored. Evan merely sneered at her query. “Who'd you kill, anyway?”

  “The vet.” He seemed overly pleased with himself. “Unfortunately, I didn't think to wait to get directions on the medicine for the dog's ears, so you'll have to read all that tiny little print.” Integrity lunged at him once more, and the guards dragged her to her feet and away from her aggressor.

  Integrity, Paul, and Bowman all trekked to her quarters. Bowman hovered around the door, then stepped back into the kitchen area, closing the door behind him. Integrity paced the confines of her room, glad for the respite that anger gave her. “Who does he think he is?” she ranted. “I can't even go to McDonald's, but he can kill a vet?” She knew she should keep her voice down, that her angst would only add to Evan's pleasure, but she was still not in complete control of herself.

  “Integrity, please, calm yourself.” Paul moved toward her, speaking in a low tone. “I mean, really, what did you expect? We're vampires, after all.”

  She spun on him, a pain lodging between her ribs. “So that makes it okay? That vet had friends, family, people that cared about her! Now all they have is pain and unanswered questions. People depended on her! What makes you think that's okay?”

  Paul shrugged. “Look, that's just the way it is. Do you feel guilty every time you eat a burger? That cow had other cows depending on it, too, you know.”

  Integrity felt an intense urge to punch Paul in the face, but she restrained herself and stalked into the bathroom, instead. She slammed the door, and turned on the fan and the water in the bathtub. As the minutes passed, her feelings melted from anger into deep grief, thoughts of her parents beating into her consciousness relentlessly. Her thoughts tumbled from disgust with Evan, to disgust with vampires in general, to disgust with herself. What made you think they were normal? Why did you let your guard down? They're vampires! Of course they're going to kill people! Did you think that things had changed? That Evan wasn't a monster? That they all aren't monsters? He killed, and he'll kill again. She sank to the floor, her legs shaking enough to worry her. He took everything from you, she reminded herself. And now he knows just how much he hurt you. He's won. You let him win. She swallowed, her throat feeling raw. As she regained control of herself, she sat up to shut off the water before the bathtub overflowed. She laughed bitterly. The tub can't overflow if you never plug the drain, genius.

  Đ

  Integrity stayed in her room for as long as she could stand to the next day, but her grumbling stomach and indignant personality forced her to venture forth in search of cereal. She tried to act naturally, but felt as though she were failing miserably—she moved too slow, she moved too fast, she was too loud, now she was too quiet. She thought she was safe, and turned to slink back into her cave; Evan stood between her and her doorway.

  Trying to appear nonchalant, she stepped to the side, hoping to simply walk around her obstacle. He stepped with her. She stepped in the opposite direction; he followed. She couldn't help but sigh. She looked at him impatiently. “Don't you feel bad for the poor little cow that gave that milk? Now it's calf will be all hungry,” he sneered. She hesitated for only a moment before throwing the cereal in his face. He peeled his sopping shirt away from his chest and called her a dirty name.

  “Thank you,” she replied coldly, then walked back into her room, heart pounding. I thought for a second there he was going to hit me. Still, the look on his face was worth it.

  That afternoon Integrity was walking down a dirt path, Bowman in tow. Despite the crystal clear sky and gentle breeze that hinted at spring, Integrity's thoughts were dark and angry. Any satisfaction or even acceptance she had felt about her current situation had evaporated with Evan's latest dining experience. She once again considered running away, but knew it was pointless—she had nowhere to go, and little hope of evading recapture. She kicked a dirt clod in front of her, booting it along every few feet.

  Integrity glanced around her and noticed a set of large hills nearby, diseased-looking pines covering the face of the nearest. “Can we go up there?” she asked, squinting back at Bowman. The guard grunted, so she moved toward the trees, taking his noncommittal response to be affirmative.

  The distance from the rented property, along with the scant cover provided by the pines, provided the opportunity for Integrity to make good her escape, though she knew it was futile. She was still musing on whether or not she should run, just to irk Evan, when she heard a rustling behind her. She turned. “Bowman?” she said softly.

  Bowman turned to look behind them and saw the group of people walking steadily toward them. He squinted at them, for a moment, then said shortly, “C'mon.” He led her back down the hill, off to the side so that their path would not intersect that of the strangers. Though he was keeping his rate slow, Integrity could see he was tense from how stiff his back was. Her palms started to sweat.

  The pair lost direct sight of the group, so it was an unpleasant surprise that they had altered their course to draw nearer to Integrity and Bowman. Integrity couldn't be sure she heard him the first time, but when he barked, “Run!” again, she had no doubt. Not sure what to do, but trusting his judgment and fighting skills, she took off, sprinting toward the house. She could hear nothing behind her, her breathing and pounding pulse drowning out all else.

  The muscles in her legs started to burn. Why'd you stop exercising? she yelled at herself. “Oh!” Stupid sagebrush. Pay attention, or you'll fall flat on your face next time.

  She was still berating Nevada's state flower when she found herself falling to the ground. Just a moment before impact s
he realized that someone had tackled her from behind, their arms still tightly grasping her legs.

  Heart racing, thoughts of impeding death by a revolutionary swimming around her thoughts, she fought to free one leg, then kicked the man viciously in the face. She scrabbled to her feet, only to be dragged down once more. “Paul!” she screamed, knowing she was too far away, knowing he wouldn't hear her. Something solid connected with her stomach and the air whooshed out of her lungs.

  There were now four men surrounding her, more running toward them full tilt. She automatically surveyed the situation, looking for a weak link, while the men shifted their weight back and forth and watched her. She had just decided to attack the shortest, though stockiest, man, when she was grabbed from behind once more, her arms pinned tightly to her sides.

  The person began dragging Integrity backwards, further away from the rented house, closer to the hill. She jumped off of the ground, hoping that the extra weight would break the person's grip, but to no avail. She dug her heels in, twisted and turned, lunged, went slack, but the person continued to make progress away from the direction she wanted to go in. Come on! Where are you guys when I need you? Protect me already!

  After traveling several hundred feet, the pair stopped and Integrity felt herself and her captor turning to face the opposite direction. She continued to struggle, but her motions slowed when she saw someone a few strides away. At a gesture from the man before her, the arms restraining her relaxed. Sensing her captor's grip relaxing, Integrity wrenched away, still staring at the newcomer. Gathering her thoughts, she murmured, “Ben?” At his familiar smile, she stumbled forward into his waiting arms. “What's going on? What are you doing here? How did you get out of jail?” She scrubbed her face on the shoulder of his coat, hoping the slight pain would clear her muddy thoughts.

  “You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you?” he murmured, his face brushing across her hair. “But come on, we must hurry. We don't want them to catch us, do we?”

  Integrity laughed, her voice catching. “No, that we do not.” Suddenly remembering that they weren't alone, Integrity turned to look behind her. “Who are . . .” She trailed off, gazing at the rough-looking men behind her.

  Ben turned her back toward him. “Don't worry about it. They're here to help.” He wrapped one arm around her waist and began leading her toward the hill. “We've got a jeep on the other side. Let's get out of here.” Integrity smiled at him, trying to quiet her nerves and ignore the presence of the half-dozen men following silently behind them. It's Ben. What could go wrong?

  Đ

  The group cleared the top of the hill, revealing a glimpse of a mud-splashed jeep below. Integrity walked down the hill, trying not to slide on the loose rock, praying she wouldn't fall and make an idiot of herself. She let herself breathe a sigh of relief as the ground leveled off and people began piling into the jeep. People sat or stood in places she wouldn't ever have considered, and she was grateful when Ben opened the back door for her and gestured for her to climb in. She scooted over to the far side, Ben sat in the middle, and an unknown man sat on the other end of the bench seat. The car started up, and the jeep jerked away from the hill, the driver obviously in a hurry.

  The wind whipped across her scalp, and she reached up to hold her hair down reflexively. She smiled sheepishly when Ben caught her. He almost had to shout to be heard. “When did you cut your hair? I like it!”

  She grimaced. “When we came out here. I don't really like it. It makes me look like a boy.”

  Ben laughed. “You could never look like a boy. How do you think we found you so easily?”

  “How did you find me?” Integrity was grateful for the loud jeep and the wind whipping past them, hopeful that it deterred anyone else from listening in to their conversation. She still wasn't very happy to have all of these strangers with them, even though Ben obviously trusted them.

  “It took a long time. We've been looking ever since they took you from Westmarch.”

  “Wait a minute. How did you escape?”

  He gave her a wry smile. “I was hoping you wouldn't ask that.” When she raised her eyebrows, he continued, “I could have escaped at any time. I just stayed there because you were there.”

  You probably misheard him, she told herself firmly, trying to quell her racing heart. It's the wind. Just move on. Keeping herself collected, she said, “Anyway, how did you find me? The whole point of coming here was so that no one would find me.”

  The jeep lurched as it bounced over a rock, and Integrity slammed against Ben. She muttered an apology as she straightened, blushing. Ben just continued the conversation. “We've been looking for a long time, following leads, that sort of thing. We actually found you by accident. It was the dog.”

  “The dog?”

  “It's not every day a vet just disappears, is it?” He gave her a half smile. “Humans always mess up, there's always something to follow, or at least somewhere to start.” He shook his head. “That just reeked of vampire. All we had to do was look at the notes, then start asking around for a one-eyed dog. Simple.”

  The reality of her situation beginning to sink in, Integrity glanced behind them nervously. Although they had left the dirt roads, there were no cars in sight on the long stretch of asphalt. “Um, Ben?” she almost yelled to be heard. “Shouldn't we be taking back roads or something? They're going to come after me.”

  “They won't even know that you're gone yet.”

  Integrity swallowed, her mouth feeling dirty from all of the wind. “Of course they'll know by now!” she insisted, feeling an urgent need to make him understand. “Bowman was with me! He'll have been there and told them everything by now!”

  “Would you relax?” Ben reached over and squeezed her hand, causing her heart to jump. “We took care of . . . what did you say his name was again?”

  Integrity's heart jumped again, this time in an unpleasant way. What do you mean you 'took care of' him?” I don't think I want to know the answer. She felt nauseous, and she suspected it wasn't from the car ride, no matter how bumpy or how fast the driver took the turns.

  Ben raised an eyebrow at her. “What does it matter? He was just a vampire.”

  “Was?” She swallowed hard, but there was no saliva to help it along and she felt as though she were forcing gravel down her throat. She saw that Ben was studying her closely, and, though his face was neutral, there was something in his eyes that said he wasn't pleased with her reaction. She wanted to pull herself together, to please Ben, but her heart was thudding painfully. “Ben, he wasn't like that. He wasn't a bad guy!” She felt the words, like cold lumps of oatmeal, falling out of her slack mouth.

  Ben, forehead wrinkled, blew air out of his mouth and leaned back against the seat. He shook his head. “What did they do to you? He's the enemy! They kept you prisoner! And you're defending him?”

  Integrity could feel tears pooling in her eyes, and she wiped them away angrily. Pull yourself together. Don't freaking cry in front of him!

  Chagrined, Ben leaned closer to her once more, his face relaxing. “I'm sorry,” he said directly into her ear, keeping his voice as low as he could. “Who knows what you've been through. It's probably just the shock of it all.” Integrity sniffed, swiped at her eyes once more. Ben wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him.

  Integrity wanted to say something, wanted to apologize for being such a mess, but she didn't know what to say, so she just sat there and stared at her hands, clenched in her lap. Bowman, dead? She couldn't grasp the concept, wouldn't let herself do so. Bowman couldn't die. It just wasn't feasible. You just misunderstood. They left him somewhere tied up, and Evan and Paul will find him in a few hours and everything will be fine. A shudder ripped down her spine. But then he'll know. They'll come for me. Fear clutched at her throat, making it hard to breathe. What'll Evan do to me if he finds us? What will he do to all of us? She looked at the people in the car with her, the weight of Ben's arm seeming to press down m
ore and more. What will he do to Ben?

  Đ

  The jeep pulled to a stop, too quickly, in front of the chain-link fence. Dust swirled forward, obscuring Integrity's view. Someone jumped down from the back of the jeep and moved toward the fence. As the dust cleared, she saw the man push a large gate to the side. The jeep moved forward, then stopped in front of a small, single-story building. Everyone began climbing out of the vehicle, so Integrity scrambled out, hoping she wasn't too much in the way. The driver reversed out of the gate with ease, turned, and shot off down the road once more. The man drug the gate back into place and laced a heavy chain around the support poles. “Integrity?” She turned to look back at the building, and Ben gestured for her to come toward the open door. Ben ushered her through before him.

  The building was lit with bare, yellow bulbs that altered the colors of everything. Immediately inside the door, a metal staircase led below ground level. Integrity could see two of the men from the jeep leading the way. She eased herself onto the first step, praying that she wouldn't fall and take everyone down with her.

  At the base of the stairs, an overly narrow hallway stretched before her. She started to feel claustrophobic and shrunk in on herself, hunching her shoulders to make herself as small as possible. She suppressed a shudder. Knock it off, she berated herself. Sure, it's no castle, but at least you're not surrounded by legions of the undead. Quit whining.

  The men in front of her walked to the very end of the hallway, past a handful of metal doors and one expanse of wall that looked newer than the rest. They pushed their backs against either side of the hallway. Integrity hesitated, not sure what she was expected to do. Ben placed a hand lightly on her arm and she moved to the side, as far out of the way as possible in such small quarters. He slipped past her and the two men, flipped open a small box, and punched in a code. A small shoosh accompanied the lock sliding back, and Ben pushed the door forward, turning to give her a reassuring smile.