by Amy Richie
I knew the place. “I’ll be there.”
“I look forward to it.” The click of the phone rang loudly in my ears.
I stared at the silent phone for way too long. I knew I needed to change and get to the alley before he got there. I wanted to be able to know exactly when he got there rather than have him jump out at me.
I couldn’t stop staring at that phone, though. I wished Rueben was there. He would tell me what to do. Then again, if Silango really was in the city, it was probably better that Rueben was gone. Besides, I already knew what I needed to do.
I pulled my jeans off quickly and found a black pair of pants to wear instead. I also changed into an all-black long sleeved shirt. He would still be able to see me clearly, but I felt better knowing I could sink more completely into the shadows.
I tried not to look back as I was leaving my apartment. I knew all too well that this could be the last time I saw my beloved home. It wasn’t the best place I had ever stayed, but I had been free here. I had learned to accept what I was, even without Marcus.
* * * * *
The moon hung brightly in the night sky, splashing enough light on the earth to allow me to see clearly down the narrow alleyway. This was where he had told me to meet him, but so far, he was a no show.
I kept my senses pulled close to me, to keep myself safe. The sounds were typical of the city’s alleys. A few stray cats fought over a morsel of food. Pans clattered and banged as a nearby restaurant cleaned up for the night. A slow steady drip sounded on the pavement; Leaking water–maybe.
The smells were expected, too; alcohol; sex; blood; gunpowder. These concrete walls had seen their share of illegal happenings. I could smell the blood the strongest, along with the rotting garbage. The garbage because it was so abundant and the blood just came with the territory.
I pushed myself further into the shadows. I tried to settle myself more comfortably, but I didn’t relax. How could I relax?
My ears pricked and my shoulder tensed as a new sound came close to the alleyway; the ragged heavy breathing of an adult male. He was a vampire–that much I was sure of, but I couldn’t be sure if it was Marcus.
My heart sped up even when I tried to slow it like Rueben had showed me. I hadn’t seen Marcus in more than six years. Would he be changed?
I swallowed my breath back and held it in my lungs. I could hear better if I wasn’t breathing and right now, I needed to be able to hear everything. Marcus was trying to kill me; I couldn’t let myself forget that.
Marcus had always tried to protect me, the entire time he had known me. The very first night I had seen him was because he was trying to save me from Ryan.
I often agonized over why he had ever agreed to marry me. He told me it was because he loved me and he never once regretted it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he was telling the truth. I thought it must have been just to protect my reputation.
Then, in London, before I had ever become a vampire, Marcus had tried to protect me from the truth. He never wanted me to know what he was, or to become a part of that world. It was my own fault that I was now.
I didn’t regret it, though. I loved Marcus and the life we had created. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend a normal human life with anyone else. How unfulfilling my life would have been if I had never known Marcus.
This wasn’t just his world anymore. I belonged here, too. I wasn’t going to let Silango take that from me. No matter what else happened tonight, I wouldn’t let Silango win.
Sitting there alone in the pitch-black alley, I thought I heard Marcus’s voice–how it used to sound.
“Claudia, it’s time to wake up.” I felt his hand sliding across my stomach.
“I don’t want to get up,” I groaned happily.
“You’re going to meet Kiera today, and all my brothers.”
My eyes slid open. “What if they don’t like me?”
“What’s not to like, besides the red hair?” He chuckled lightly at my mock hurt. I raised my head to meet his lips, unable to wait for him to kiss me.
The reality of the situation came crashing down around me when a cold hand grabbed hard onto my upper arm. I jerked back hard, flinging myself too hard against the wall behind me.
“Omph,” I grunted as my head made a hard impact.
“Claudia,” he hissed my name.
My heart tried to betray me by practically leaping out of my chest. I had missed Marcus, but this wasn’t him, not really.
I hadn’t really thought this plan out very well, I realized with dread.
Realizing that it wasn’t the best idea to have him hovering over me, I quickly stood up. His massive dark form was still standing high above me, but I couldn’t see his face. Irrationally, I wanted to see him.
He took a step back and the moonlight illuminated his face. My heavy breathing was the only noise left in the alley. When our eyes met, it was like no time had passed at all.
My mouth fell open slightly and tears sprang to my eyes. I saw his hand move slightly. He was reaching out to me. I went to him willingly. I couldn’t even try to stop myself.
All my earlier worries flew away when he wrapped his familiar strong arms around me. Everything that I had been afraid of for the past six years faded away as he stroked my hair.
I buried my face in his chest. I had known he would come back for me; I knew he would never hurt me. Marcus loved me and I loved him. He promised that he would always…
He jerked me away from him in a quick movement. I didn’t even have time to react before he slammed my head into the wall behind us. The last thing I saw before everything went dark were his eyes. They had changed to a glowing red color.
Chapter Forty-Four
The sound of the ocean broke through my fog first. Then, the smells started to seep through. There was a wet musty smell, and something was rotting nearby. The dirt and rot blocked out any other smells.
Before I opened my eyes, I became aware of someone breathing beside me, a heavy labored breathing. Someone was right next to me and from what I could tell, we were both lying on the ground.
What had happened? Where was I? I opened my eyes to a dark place. I was laying on my stomach so I couldn’t see much more than a crude wooden floor.
When I tried to roll over, I was stunned to find out that I was tied up. Why couldn’t I remember coming to this place? My head ached when I tried to think too hard. What was the last thing I could remember?
I had been in my apartment, watching the news. Then I was going to meet…Marcus! Everything came flooding back all at once. Where had he taken me? Why had I trusted him?
I pulled frantically at the ropes that had my hands banded behind me. It was easy to pull myself free and I quickly got my legs free as well.
Once I was sitting up, I could see things more clearly. It was dark, but light enough from the moon for me to see reasonably well. I glanced once at the person that was beside me.
I could tell it was a woman because of the long hair, and I could see the rise and fall of her body as she breathed. Her clothes were dirty and torn and the blanket over her wasn’t much better. I didn’t have time to worry about her, though.
I was in a small shed somewhere, judging by the size of the building. There were no sounds of traffic or people outside, so we were no longer in the city. I could hear the ocean nearby, but I couldn’t tell if we were still in the States or not.
Certainly I hadn’t been out for that long. He wouldn’t have had time to take me out of the country. He wouldn’t have been able to get me on a plane if I was unconscious, either. He was good, but not that good.
So, we weren’t in London. I was glad for that; that city intimidated me. Everything bad in my life had started there. This way, too, I would have Silango at a disadvantage.
As quietly as I could manage, I rose to my feet and hurried over to the one window. It was small and dirty, but I was confident that I could fit through it if I needed to. I pressed my face to the glass to try to get a
better idea of where I was.
The scene outside didn’t offer many clues. All I could see for miles were trees. There were no other houses around; I couldn’t even hear a single car, so that probably meant there were no roads near us, either.
Even if I could escape, which way would I run? If I tried to run blindly through unfamiliar woods at night, Marcus would overtake me easily. I had to have a better plan than that.
I could just wait here for him to return–which I knew he would–but again, that would give him all the advantages. There was nothing on quick survey inside the shed for me to use as a weapon. I bit hard on the inside of my lip. Which was worse, sitting here waiting to be killed, or getting caught out in the woods?
A soft moan beside me brought my attention back to the woman who was beside me. I had been too concerned about myself to worry about anyone else. Now that I realized she was alive, I dropped back to my knees beside her.
There had to be a reason Marcus had her here, too. Maybe it was his next victim. I hoped that now that he had me, he would just let this poor woman go.
When I kneeled back beside the woman, my eyes had adjusted better to the light and I could see that her hair wasn’t red at all. It was a dark, almost black color that flowed thickly down her back.
Confusion made my heart speed up to double time. “Are you okay?” I whispered frantically.
The woman moaned again and shifted so that I could see her face more clearly. I choked back my shock at seeing the lovely face of Sylvia.
“He’s been ordered to kill you and Sylvia.”
“Oh, no,” I whispered. “Sylvia,” I nudged her shoulder. At least she wasn’t dead, but there was a deep red gash across her forehead and down past her eye. I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t already healed.
Why was she so dirty? How long had Sylvia been here? I sucked in a quick breath. How long had Marcus known where I was?
“Sylvia,” I nudged her again, harder this time.
“Hmm?” she moaned softly, but didn’t open her eyes.
“Wake up, Sylvia. It’s me, Claudia.”
“Claudia?” she croaked.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“So, he finally got to you, too?” She opened her eyes.
“How long have you been here?” I sat there mutely as she tried to sit up. “Did he hurt you?”
“Marcus.” The single word sent shivers up my spine. “He’s been watching you. I knew he couldn’t resist for much longer.”
“How long have you been here?” I repeated my earlier question.
“Since we left London.”
Shock slammed into me. “What?”
“I’ve lost count of the days, the weeks.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Do you really think he didn’t know where you were? Did you think you could hide from him?”
“He’s kept you here for six years?”
“If you say so.”
I wiped furiously at the sweat that had begun on my upper lip. This wasn’t possible. Marcus could not have kept Sylvia prisoner here for that long. I just couldn’t believe it.
“You look terrible,” I said without thinking.
Her beautiful hair was plastered to her head in some places and stood out in others. Her skin, which had always been on the pale side, now looked almost grey. Her once vibrant eyes were now dull and sunken in grotesquely.
“Thanks.” she laughed without amusement.
“Do they…does he feed you?”
“Not as much as before, but, yeah, he’s not trying to starve me to death.”
“But, why keep you alive here? I mean, if he wanted you dead–why not just do it?”
“I’m sure he was trying to lure you here.”
“I didn’t even know you were here, or I would have come.” I caught my lip between my teeth. “How could Marcus do this?”
She looked at me with a grimace that further distorted her face. “Silango.”
“Why does Silango want us dead?” I just couldn’t understand what he had done so wrong to him. We never even saw him.
“I don’t think it’s him who wants us dead.”
“Yes it is. Rueben said he ordered Marcus to kill us.”
“But I think he got his orders from someone else.”
“Who?” My eyebrows drew down darkly over my eyes.
“Neleh.”
“Neleh?” This wasn’t the first time I had heard that Neleh was probably behind this whole thing. “I don’t understand. Who exactly is Neleh?”
“Neleh is,” she paused, trying to come up with the right word, “the leader of all vampires.”
My eyes narrowed. “All vampires?” She nodded, but her forehead was lined. “I thought Kiera was.”
“Kiera created Neleh.”
“So that made Kiera in charge. Neleh had to do what she says. Kiera wouldn’t…”
“Kiera felt guilty for changing Neleh, so she ordered her guard to protect Neleh and do as she tells them.”
“Kiera still wouldn’t let her kill us. Marcus said the Letrells are protected.”
“They are–and everything they created. But, Silango doesn’t answer to Kiera.”
“Marcus told me all of this, but he didn’t say anything about Neleh. Was she in the war, too?”
“I’m not sure when Neleh was created. But now, Neleh loves power. She has almost all of it; because of her guard, there aren’t many who will defy her.”
“Except the Letrells.”
“Because of Kiera’s order and also because she doesn’t control the guard that controls the Letrells.”
I sat back, beginning to understand at last. Sylvia sat back again, her energy spent.
“Have you heard from David at all?” she asked with half closed eyes.
How often had David crossed her mind in all this time? The nights when she only had her thoughts to keep her company, she must have wondered where David had gone. When she had thought she was going to die, she must have longed to see him just one more time.
“I haven’t heard from him at all,” I regretted having to tell her.
She snorted softly. “That’s what Marcus told me, too.”
“Was he,” I shrugged a little, “you know, was he nice to you?”
“He didn’t talk to me very much. He tried to stay away.” I nodded, knowing that any tears now would only make me weak. “I’ve known Marcus for a long time. He’s so different now. You can hardly recognize him.”
“I saw him.”
“Silango has ordered him to do things before and he was always mad, every single time; but he always just did as he was told. This time, he is trying to fight Silango’s order. He can’t do it, Claudia. It’s driving him crazy.”
“It’s going to end: soon.”
“The only way to end it is for Marcus to kill me and you.”
“Or,” I said more loudly than I intended, “I could kill Silango.”
Her head snapped backwards in her surprise. “What did you say?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
“Not ever seriously.”
“What choice do I have?”
“When Marcus comes to kill me, you can run.”
“And I’ll be running the rest of my life.”
“Then stay here and die.”
I had no intention of doing that, either. I had to get Sylvia out before Marcus came back.
“We have to get out of here.”
“There’s no point,” she said dejectedly.
“Yes there is.” I grabbed at her arm, but she barely responded. “We have to at least try to get away. We can’t just lay here and let him kill us.”
“I’ve tried to get away.”
“So, try again.”
“He always brings me back here. If not him, then one of his…partners.”
“Partners?” I stopped moving for a second. “What partners?”
“Other warriors of Silango.” she shrugged as if i
t didn’t matter.
“Is that who did that to your face?” I was relieved to know that Marcus hadn’t hurt her so badly and then left her here to die.
“Yeah. The last time I tried to escape. That’s when they stopped feeding me as often. Now they just keep me weak, only giving me enough to keep me alive.”
The coldness in her voice disturbed me. What had they done to her? “Well, I’m here now. Between the two of us, we’ll be able to get away, I’m sure of it.”
She made no attempt to move as I scrambled to the door first. I tried the latch, but almost immediately I heard a low growl outside of the door. I looked back at Sylvia, but she only raised one eyebrow.
I went to the window, but I didn’t try to open it. I didn’t want any of the warriors to come any closer. I needed to figure out a plan first.
“They’re still out there, aren’t they?”
“Yeah.”
“How many?”
“Half a dozen, maybe.” She leaned her head against the dirty wall.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight six warriors by myself, and Sylvia didn’t look like she was going to be any help. How were we going to get away? I had to think of something, and fast, before Marcus came back.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered after I fell back to my knees beside Sylvia.
“We’re going to die.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Marcus is going to kill us.”
“He won’t.” I denied it even though I knew it was the truth.
“He won’t be able to stop himself.”
“He hasn’t done it yet,” I pointed out.
“He’s been fighting it for too long,” she said sadly.
“He’ll keep fighting it, Sylvia, for as long as he needs to. And then I’ll… I’ll do what I need to do.”
“You really think you can kill a guard,” she sneered. “You’re a third generation, Claudia.”
“I’ll do what I need to do,” I repeated through clenched teeth.
“And he’ll do what he needs to do.” She nodded towards the door.
It shocked me to see that it had opened without me realizing it. There in the doorway stood Marcus, and he was glaring at us.