The female’s eyes lifted, then dropped. “Hello.”
That right there was the reason Melody didn’t feel bad about being rude. Most of the time it was missed on these beings. “Go on. No, don’t.” This was so stupid, but Rell wasn’t around to ask, and Quution was too busy brooding over some perceived grievance as far as Xen, the new number thirteen, was concerned. “I have a question. And this will determine whether you join Team Meladonna.”
She’d had to call her and her second-tiers something besides “hey, you” but Meladonna’s Minions was firmly shot down by Santi. The more Melody was around the female, the more she respected her. Santi was going to get a helluva flower delivery on Administrative Assistants’ day. She’d already planned to go buck hunting and bag one for each sibling—with her own bare hands and fangs. They’d never had the glory that was venison.
Back to Zerta. She’d lost her focus after the female gave her name. Honestly, she didn’t care. Rell had given her the power reading on each applicant. Zerta was ambitious but not power hungry, lightning fast, and ferocious. She was also intelligent, naturally aggressive, but not blindly so.
“Say you’re into this guy, but you’ve gone through a change since you met.”
Zerta lifted her midnight gaze. “Like emerging from your chrysalis?”
“Not exactly. No, kind of. Have you done that?”
“My metamorphosis is not upon me yet.”
Huh. “Okay, so you meet this male, then do your chrysalis thing, and he’s all ‘you’ve changed.’ What would you do?”
“Eat him.”
If only it were that easy. “What would you do if he thought the new you was so much better?”
“Eat him.”
So…this was going nowhere. “Is that what your breed of demon does?”
“Yes.”
“I bet that makes life easier.” Melody tapped her fingers against the stone chair carved out of the wall.
“It can be…difficult.” Zerta sat back on her heels. The swirls under her skin moved in hypnotic patterns. “The male aids in the metamorphosis, awaits the change, impregnates us once we emerge, and gives himself over for food. Life beyond that, to my understanding, is work to provide for the next generation.”
“Yeah. It is.” Minus the baby, Creed had done the same as a male of Zerta’s species. The baby in this case was her position. She dedicated her time to it, sacrificed her personal life for it. The stasis she and Creed were in would be tolerable if she thought there was a chance for them at the end. They couldn’t keep coming together for sex; they both wanted too much from the other person, and the other person kept failing to deliver.
“You know what, Zerta, welcome to the team. Think about betraying me and I’ll eat you myself.”
Zerta bowed her head in respect. Melody ran through the chant to connect them. Done. She’d clear another applicant the next day. She wanted an army underneath her…so she could live longer, all by herself…
Melody’s chest seized, like a vice gripped it. She gasped for breath and palpated her torso. Intact.
Zerta was giving her a curious look. Melody snapped her mouth shut and waved her along. The demon rose to her six and a half feet and left the cave. Melody collapsed to her knees. The pressure released, and she sucked in air, blew it out, sucked it back in.
What the hell was that?
Tears sprang to her eyes like she wanted to cry. Not just cry, but sob for days at the loss of Creed.
Lose Creed?
Yes. It’s exactly how she’d thought losing Creed would feel: debilitating, suffocating, excruciating.
Was he severing their bond?
Fury lifted her horns off her head, her lip curled over her fangs.
Sever their bond without talking to her, would he?
In an instant, her old apartment surrounded her. Familiar smells bombarded her. Fyra’s smokiness. Creed’s masculine scent mingling with her own. Her front door had been repaired. How would she feel seeing her old bedroom with all the pink camo her mother barely tolerated?
Her chest constricted again. She doubled over with a cry. It was like the bond was a nerve and someone had stretched it thin and used a dull scissors to attempt to sever it.
Why would Creed do this? She used her anger, fueled it with hurt, and straightened.
The front door burst open. Fyra’s fingers sparked and her eyes were both wild and excited, like she’d been waiting all day to fry something. “Oh, thank the darkness! We thought you might show up here. I stayed while Quution went looking for you.” Horror infused her expression. “Melody, they have him!”
Melody doubled over in pain, clutching her chest, wheezing.
Fyra hovered over her and slapped her back like she was choking. “You have to hurry, Mel. Creed’s parents totally got one over on him. Quution went to the underworld to find you, and I stayed back to be supreme badass of the compound.”
“Where is he?” she rasped. Creed’s parents were behind this? A propane tank could have just as well been turned up inside of her, fueling a rage like she’d never known.
Her skin tightened. She didn’t have to look to know she resembled a bodybuilder mid-competition. Her gums throbbed as her fangs grew to a length far longer than they’d ever been. Sharp stabs of pain ignited from where her claws dug into her skin from clutching her stomach. Her horns were primed and ready. She needed to kill, and she had a target. But no location.
Frya had backed up from her. Where Melody thought to see fear in the demoness, there was only a glint of approval.
“That’s it, Mel. It’s ass-kicking time. I don’t know where they took him. No one knows. Follow your bond.”
“They’re trying to cut it, to imprison me in the underworld where they think I’ll be weaker and they can get to me.” She could barely talk around her teeth. If she were to look in a mirror, she’d probably find all her teeth had sharpened to a point.
To follow her bond to Creed in the human realm, she’d have to run or drive. Neither was a good option, and it’d take too long. She imagined her cave. From there, she could transport close to Creed.
When she arrived home, Quution was inside, spinning around like he was looking for her. Stryke must’ve found him.
“I know,” she snarled and concentrated. He opened his mouth to say something. She held up a hand to cut him off. Stilling herself, she delved as deep mentally as she could go.
Where was he?
She closed her eyes. Normally, when moving from place to place in her new life, closing her eyes would be a total newb move that could get her killed. But she needed to find him.
The steady thrum of her bond was still there, faint and halting from the damage it’d sustained. Killing Creed wasn’t enough for what they were doing. They wanted to make him suffer and use him. They wanted to make her suffer and incapacitate her.
The Circle was behind this, working with his parents like before when they’d tried to grab Ophelia. They couldn’t have her, and Creed came with a bonus of revenge.
Where was Creed?
She envisioned grasping the bond and towing herself along its imaginary length. Her corporeal form wavered. Almost sensed him.
Another blast of pain shocked her.
She cried out and lost the connection. “He’s in so much pain,” she gasped.
“Here.” Quution crammed his fingers on either side of her temple. “Concentrate.”
She released a shuddering breath and let her eyes close again. The path cleared. The energy of the bond shone like the yellow brick road. She jumped on and flew down it.
As soon as she lost Quution’s touch and the scent around her changed, she opened her eyes.
Torchlight.
Still in the U, as Fyra called it? No. She shivered. A breeze curled around her.
Outside. With no clothes, her bare feet sunk into a few inches of snow. She tensed to prep against the cold and searched through the night.
He was here.
Shadows m
oved farther ahead in the trees. Creed’s anguished cry rebounded off the trunks.
Rage, her dear friend, crashed back, but her mind was clear. She couldn’t storm in. Any vampires would flash away. They could finish off Creed before she reached them.
Think. Creed couldn’t flash or he’d be gone already. Warded cuffs? Too injured?
She crept forward, using the benefit of her small stature and her old skill set. She was hunting vampires tonight. Carefully choosing each footstep, she ducked and wove through the branches. Tasting the wind, she altered her path so she was downwind and they couldn’t easily pick up her scent.
More pain ripped through her chest. She had to hurry, but paused long enough to let the worst of it pass. As soon as she was close enough to see three shadowed figures, she made her move.
Throwing her arms out to each side, she walled off any route of escape. Branches intertwined themselves. New roots birthed from the ground to weave between the trunks.
If she had sleeves, she’d roll them up. It was them or her; she wasn’t leaving until she was done or dead.
Storming into the clearing, she roared a battle cry. Creed was stretched between four solid trees, metal shackles glinting at his wrists and ankles. His shirt had been cut open, his weapons stripped. The tang of his blood in the air stoked her fury. Her horns extended to their full height, her hair lifting with the energy.
Two vampires she guessed were his mother and father stood over him. The demon who planned this deliberately used his parents. They were just as cold and heartless as any purebred and likely wouldn’t question using their son to gain favor, probably thought Creed was weak enough to back down from hurting his kin.
Maybe he had been, but it wasn’t out of weakness. It was because he was the opposite of those who birthed him. Melody glared at them. Their faces, so much like Creed’s own, were full of shock, then they spotted her. Disbelief.
The figure with his back to her twisted around. A vampire, a male she’d never met, but with ink-black eyes. Possessed.
“I told you she’d come,” a familiar garbled voice came from the male.
“Vita, you grudge-carrying bitch,” Melody purred and stalked toward them. Vita could not have possessed this male without his consent. He would die tonight.
How’d that work, again? She’d kill the male, Vita would get sucked into the underworld?
Yes, then she’d hunt the demoness down and destroy her there. First, save Creed.
Creed groaned and turned his head. His blue gaze pinned her and was full of warning.
“Don’t, Mel—”
“Silence him!” Madame Archambault hollered. His father raised a stake above Creed’s chest.
“No!” Vita yelled and threw out a hand.
Melody should’ve yelled it, but she couldn’t get past a parent being willing to do that to a child. Her mother wouldn’t win any Mom of the Year awards, but she’d never tried killing her. Mentally altered everything she thought about herself, which was not insignificant, but not murder. And her own father, well he worked with what he had, and he’d had a girl who’d just wanted to be with him.
Her mental pit of rage shrunk. No, no, no. She couldn’t afford that. She needed the rage.
Her gaze swept down Creed’s ravaged body. Every muscle was tight with agony, a wound in his temple seeped blood, but his eyes were clear and he was trying to broadcast a warning. His mouth worked but no sound came out. They’d silenced him. She commanded a vine to slap that damn stake out of Master Archambault’s hand.
Creed’s father narrowed his gaze on her, so full of hate.
A growl started deep in her belly, emerging only to grow louder. She raised her hands up as her volume grew. Roots erupted from the ground to wrap around the three vampires’ ankles.
The male twisted to lash out. Metal glinted in his hand.
A gun? Who brought a gun to a demon fight? She whipped a vine around his wrist and severed it. The gun dropped, still gripped in the vampire’s hand.
The male screeched, his eyes flickering back to a rich brown before the endless black overtook them.
When Vita had a firm hold back on her host, Melody taunted her. “Recognize that move, Vita?”
Vita hissed. Oily demonlets sprang up around Melody. Don’t let them touch you! Rell’s warning echoed in her head. Before their little claws scraped the flesh of her calves, she cocooned them like she had before.
“You’re a one-move wonder, Vita.”
The possessed vampire flashed his fangs, and after her time in the underworld, it was far from menacing.
She could be a one-move wonder, too. Looping a vine around the neck of the vampire Vita was in, she jerked it tight.
The eyes flashed back to brown, the pain enough to bring the male vampire around. She ordered the vine to tighten until his head toppled from his shoulders.
As the body fell, she caught Creed’s movement. He was shaking his head no.
That didn’t make sense? One down, two to go, right? His parents hadn’t flashed away yet, and she’d use their delay to end them.
The next sound brought back memories of the night Melody staked her first and only vampire. She’d assisted, really, but she’d been too close and gotten sucked into the underworld.
The portal that formed around the downed vampire was so much like her mental pit of rage. Creed’s mother smiled grimly. Too late, Melody realized that they’d cut his restraints as she killed the other vampire. Madame Archambault shoved her son into the portal.
This time, Melody’s scream ripped from her. “No!” She went to jump after him, but changed her trajectory and leaped over it. Madame Archambault’s mouth gaped open. With grim precision, Melody stabbed her with a horn, spun, and gutted Master Archambault with the other.
Creed’s parents dropped. The portal snapped closed, and the sense of urgency prompted her to go after him. But she needed to deal with these two worthless creatures.
She booted Creed’s mother in the stomach. The female snarled, then collapsed. The poison must be starting to work its magic.
Rummaging through the female’s ornate dress, she located a phone stuffed in the female’s corset. She punched in the first number she remembered.
“Hello,” Grace answered, her voice full of caution.
“Don’t hang up!”
“Melody? Oh my god, are you—”
Melody didn’t want to hear it. She was in enough emotional turmoil and just hearing Grace brought all the hurt rushing back.
“Listen, Grace. Someone needs to track this phone and get here as soon as possible. I don’t know where I am, but Creed’s parents are here, and they’re injured. They tried to destroy our bond. I think they want to use him as a host. Hurry, before they get away.”
She inhaled to spew more directions, but Grace interjected. “Knock them out.”
“What?”
“So they don’t flash. It’s harder when injured, but not impossible, especially for primes. Beat them until they don’t move, then go after Creed.”
Her sweet friend had a brutal side. Grace started talking again, but Melody couldn’t risk more time. As she hung up and dropped the phone on the ground, she wove roots around the two writhing bodies.
Incapacitate them. She brandished a claw, then frowned. Why wasn’t she killing them?
Now would be a good time, and she was definitely enraged. But she’d made a conscious decision to turn them over to the authorities. It wasn’t up to her to dole out justice to the vampires, and it’d prove her growing control. Besides, she didn’t want his parents’ slaughter between them. Deserved or not, it would just be weird no matter how estranged they were. For that, she’d take the extra two seconds to smash their heads together.
***
Creed landed with a thunk in a dark room. The putrid stench gagged him. He rolled over to dry heave.
Wait. He could roll over. His limbs were free, but the heavy weight of the metal shackles were around each wrist. And he could
probably talk since he was retching noisily, but it was too late to warn Melody that they’d wanted her to kill Franklin Alda, the third vampire. He’d been the plan B if they couldn’t sever his bond with her and use him as a host. Alda’s death would suck the possessing demon back into the underworld and take Creed with. A crafty way to get Creed away from her if their plan failed where they could finish the spell.
Where was he?
Something scraped to his right. He jumped up, not bothering to wipe his mouth. Had Melody jumped in after him? His parents’ and the demon’s plan was to get her and Creed both in the underworld where they could use their full power without the buffer of a host.
His Melody had stormed in, in all her Meladonna glory. Poisonous, terrifying, and starkly beautiful.
Her image was burned into his retinas and that was all he saw. So black. He’d never been in a part of the underworld that didn’t have a torch lit. There was no moon, no streetlights, no ambient light source. Pure darkness.
His pupils were probably blown so wide, no iris was visible. He resisted putting his hands out as feelers.
More scraping from his right. The crunch of dirt. A brief flare of light that blinded him. He snapped his eyes closed.
Shit. He forced them open, but he was back in the dark.
Were those footsteps? He shuffled to where he’d seen the light. When he reached the spot, he felt along the wall. Nothing but more dirt and stone.
Hold on. Was that a seam?
Muffled sobs came from behind him.
He spun around, keeping his back to what must be the door.
“C-Creed.”
“Melody?” She’d transported to the same place as him? He looked around, to no avail. He had no clue where in the room she was.
“Oh god, Creed. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I should’ve been more cautious.” Should’ve known how vindictive and cunning his parents could really be.
“I don’t want this anymore.”
“It’ll be all right.” He scooted around the wall, feeling his way by hand and going slow. “We’re together. It’ll be all right.”
Creed (New Vampire Disorder Book 5) Page 18