Fight For Me

by K. A. Last

  Behind the throne, another stone door slid open. The grating sound echoed through the cavern. It seemed no one could come and go without being noticed. A vamp stepped through and made his way down the steps towards us. Lilith stiffened beside me.

  “There’s been another sighting,” the vamp said when he reached Lucas’s side.

  “Hello, Cain.” Lilith smiled her sweetest smile.

  Cain grunted at her and faced Lucas.

  “And let me guess, she got away?” Lucas folded his arms and stood at his full height. He was tall, and pretty menacing. I didn’t like the thought of going up against him.

  I glanced around the room and wondered how many other hidden doors there were, and how many vamps could burst through them at any moment, adding to the already populated space.

  “You know she’s fast, Lucas. And she’s smart,” Cain said.

  “Of course she is. She’s had hundreds of years of training to outsmart and defeat people like you,” Lucas said.

  “Then how are we supposed to catch her?”

  Cain looked at me for the first time. He had the kind of face that would look angry no matter what sort of mood he was in. I didn’t recognise him, but as soon as his lips curled back into a snarl, it was clear he recognised me.

  “You,” he said. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  I smiled with my lips closed. “Like I keep telling everyone, I’m already dead.” My comment angered him further. Why was he angry with me in the first place?

  “You’ve got a pretty smart mouth on you.” Cain got right in my face. “Matthew ripped you up pretty good. After what that little bitch and her brother did to Tyler, you deserved it … If she hadn’t have gotten in the way, Matthew would’ve finished the job before she dusted him, too.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. None of those names are familiar.” I took a step back. Cain was way too close for comfort.

  “Who turned you?” Cain said.

  “Look.” I raised my hands in defence. “I really don’t know anything. I have no memory of my life before I met Lilith.”

  She slipped her arm through mine and gripped it tightly. We both could sense everything was about to turn bad.

  Lucas frowned and narrowed his eyes.

  Things weren’t looking too good for me.

  Lucas laughed. His shoulders shook, and his voice resonated off the walls. Most of the vamps in the room turned their complete attention to him. He laughed so hard he leant forward and rested his hands on his knees. When he straightened up, his features took on a seriousness again. I was definitely in trouble.

  “Well, this is interesting,” Lucas said. “Either you really don’t know, or you’re pretending to be ignorant. Which is it?”

  “Shit,” Lilith whispered under her breath.

  I had never seen so much fear in her eyes—ever.

  “I’m getting the feeling that maybe it’s time for us to leave,” I said.

  “I don’t think I want you to go anywhere.” Lucas took a step towards me and that’s when Lilith sprang into action.

  She pulled on my arm and I had no option but to follow. She wasn’t letting go. We raced across the cavern, Lilith practically dragging me, batting vamps aside on her way through. I punched one vamp in the face when he tried to grab my free arm. He flew through the air and smacked into one of the pillars.

  We reached the right side of the raised area, and for a moment I thought Lilith was going to run into the wall. Before we could smack into it, she stamped her foot on a section of the floor and the wall opened. I had one second to register that this part of the floor was slightly different to the rest, and then we were in the wall and blanketed in darkness.

  Lucas’s angry cries penetrated the stone. “You will pay for this, Lilith. Come back.”

  “I don’t care anymore,” she said.

  Lilith hadn’t let go of my arm. She dragged me farther into the blackness. It was so dark, even my heightened eyesight couldn’t make anything out.

  The stone wall grated. “I’m coming after you, Lilith. You better run faster.” Lucas’s voice was closer, no longer muffled by the wall between us.

  “I hope you know where you’re going,” I said.

  “Of course I do. I’ve been a vampire a lot longer than Lucas, and this is my city. I know this place better than he does. Most days he forgets that.”

  We rounded a bend in the narrow passage then turned again. I trailed my fingers along the wall. It was so dark. We went down a set of steps and hooked to the right, creeping along another passage until we reached the end, which was covered with a metal grate. I hooked my fingers through the holes and looked into another tunnel. Light seeped through the darkness, enough so we could see what we were doing. Lilith grabbed my shoulders and turned me around so my back pressed against the grate. She cupped my hands so she could stand on them, and I lifted her off the ground. She searched the stone ceiling then slid her finger into a small hole.

  Stone ground against stone as an opening formed in the ceiling. Lilith hoisted herself up and through it in one swift motion.

  “What’s with all the secret passageways?” I said.

  “Would you get up here before Lucas finds us?” Lilith stretched her hand down and I grabbed hold, pulling myself into the space above.

  The ceiling, which was now the floor, slid closed beside me. Lilith took off along the cramped passage and I thought we were backtracking, but what did I know? I had no idea where we were, and no hope of finding my way out.

  Lilith stopped at a junction point and the familiar smell of sewer wafted to my nose. She had to be kidding—she knew how much I hated the sewers. When I looked out of the hole the passage made in the stone, I was greeted with my least favourite thing in the city—a sewer tunnel.

  “Come on, pretty boy. Time to get your feet dirty.” Lilith jumped out and landed in the trickle of muck below.

  I stayed where I was and sat on the ledge of the passage, dangling my feet over the side. “I’m not getting in that until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

  Lilith kicked sewer water at me and scowled. “Can we discuss the reason for our fleeing once we’ve actually fled? Come on.”

  She turned and walked along the tunnel. I waited until she’d made it to an access platform before jumping down to follow, but my feet never touched the ground. An arm encircled my throat. Luckily, I didn’t need to breathe. My feet scrabbled against the wall. Lilith heard the noise and glanced over her shoulder, her expression changing from annoyance to anger in a split second.

  Lilith ran towards us and my attacker jumped, pulling us both out of the tunnel. I landed on my back in the sewer muck with the vamp on top of me. Curses flew from my mouth dirtier than the water.

  “Don’t you touch him,” Lilith said, kicking the vamp.

  Cain and two other vamps joined us. They flanked Lucas like faithful bodyguards.

  Lucas stepped forward and placed his finger under Lilith’s chin, raising it slightly. He looked her in the eyes and said, “Why did you run?”

  I got to my feet slowly. If Lucas thought I was going to take off, it would only make things worse.

  “Josh might have a history with Charlotte, and I figured you’d want to keep him. I’m protecting the only thing I have left … since you’re so bent on taking everything from me.” Lilith swatted his arm away.

  Charlotte? Who was that? I wanted to ask, but I thought it was best to keep quiet.

  “Oh, this is interesting.” Lucas rubbed his hands together. “It seems Lilith has her eye on someone.”

  “Shut up,” Lilith said.

  Cain snarled and it drew my attention to him. Yep, I definitely didn’t like the guy.

  “And I don’t want to take everything from you. I want you at my side,” Lucas said.

  “You want me as your slave, you mean.” Lilith gritted her teeth.

  “You’re not even curious, what it would be like?” Lucas ran a finger down Lilith’s
cheek and I wanted to punch him. “You should be proud of me.”

  “I’m a lot of things, but proud is not one of them.” Lilith took a step towards Lucas, and I had to stop myself from pulling her back. “You may have them falling at your feet now, but you know I could take you if I wanted to. I could walk in there and they’d be putty in my hands. This is my city, and you’d better not forget it.”

  For a second I thought I saw fear in Lucas’s eyes. “Now, now, Lilith, we can play nice.”

  “I’d prefer not to,” Cain growled, and I suppressed a laugh. Something told me laughing wouldn’t be the best idea.

  “All right, how about this?” Lucas clapped his hands. “Since lover boy here knows our dear Charlotte, you can bring her to me. Then I might think about leaving your boyfriend alone.”

  “You will leave him alone,” Lilith said.

  “I’m not making any promises. But I am letting him go—for now. If you can bring Charlotte to me, he’ll have a better chance. If you don’t, well … I don’t need to tell you what I’ll do to him.”

  Lilith clenched her hands into fists. “I don’t like threats. Come on, Josh.” She turned away and headed along the sewer tunnel.

  I didn’t hesitate to follow. There was no way I was hanging around Lucas any longer than I had to. I wanted to clarify exactly who Charlotte was, but I kept my mouth shut, waiting until we were well away from Lucas. He and his vamps seemed pretty eager to get their hands on her for some reason, and call it a hunch, but I didn’t think those reasons involved them being friendly.

  TEN

  Grace

  Saturday morning

  I’d made Archer help me search the forest for about an hour, but Seth had left no trace behind. Maybe I’d been seeing things, thinking he was there, wanting him to be, but he really hadn’t been. But Archer had seen him, too. In the end, I’d given up and climbed back into the car, where Ryan had fallen asleep in the back. I did my best to push Seth from my mind, which wasn’t easy. Since he’d gone, I’d spent half my time thinking about him. The other half, I thought about Josh.

  We’d been driving for what seemed like forever. I wasn’t used to driving long distances. Usually if I wanted to be somewhere, I orbed. My heart sank at the memory of orbing. I had to remind myself constantly that things didn’t work how they used to. I misted—glowing balls of light would never surround me again. Now I was one of the fallen, I’d only ever be surrounded by darkness.

  “Coffee break?” Archer said.

  I rolled my head to the side and stared at his face, washed with the glow of light from the dashboard.

  “Sure. But I’m having tea?”

  “It’s an expression, Gracie.”

  “I’m up for a stop.” Ryan yawned from the back seat. “I’m hungry.”

  Archer pulled off the freeway and guided the car along the exit ramp to the service station. We parked in front of the café, and the crisp early morning greeted us when we got out of the car. The sliding doors to the café whooshed open as we approached, and I shivered at the too-cool air-conditioned interior. The buzz of voices welcomed us after so many hours in a car with my brooding brother, and listening to Ryan’s snores.

  We stood in line in silence, waiting to place our order. Archer’s thoughts turned to Charlotte again, but that was old news. He was always thinking about Charlotte.

  You’re always thinking about Josh, he burst into my head. Sometimes, the twin connection thing was annoying. Actually, on second thought, you think about Seth more.

  I frowned and turned my back to him, facing the counter. After I’d ordered an English Breakfast tea and some cinnamon toast, he grabbed a coffee, an apple and some yoghurt. Ryan went with fruit toast and water.

  “What’s the plan?” Archer asked once we were seated at a table by the window.

  “Don’t you have his address?” Ryan asked through a mouthful of toast.

  I stared out the window at the cars coming and going. It was busy for such an early hour, full of trucks refuelling at the service station, and families with cars packed to the brim, going away for the school break.

  “Yes, I do.” I turned my attention back to the boys. “I hope he’ll be there, but we have to be prepared for the chance that he’s not. Mr Chase said the place had been empty.”

  “Then what?” Ryan shrugged his question.

  “Then … I don’t know. If something’s happened to him, maybe someone will know something.”

  “Who, Gracie? The local vamps? I don’t really like the idea of waltzing in and torturing the first vamp we see for information.” Archer paused. “Actually, that sounds like a fantastic idea.” He pointed his spoon at me, and yoghurt slopped onto the table.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of his next door neighbour, but we can torture the vamps if you want.”

  Ryan laughed and had another bite of toast. “What if Josh doesn’t want to be found?”

  “I don’t want to think about that right now.” I nibbled my toast then set it down on my plate. All this talk about whether we’d find Josh or not had suppressed my appetite. But Ryan was right. It was a big city, one massive haystack with two sharp, pointy fangs in there somewhere. If Josh didn’t want to be found, it was going to make everything that much harder.

  Archer whistled through his teeth and I looked up, following his gaze out to the car park. A shiny red Porsche Boxster pulled in and a graceful, masculine figure stepped out. I liked red, and the shade of the car matched the top I was wearing perfectly.

  “Who is this tool?” Archer said.

  “One with a nice car.” Ryan threw a napkin at Archer. “Clean up your mess.”

  As I watched the man walk towards the glass doors, I caught my reflection in the window. My delicate porcelain features stared back at me. No matter how many times I looked at myself, I still wasn’t used to the change in my eyes. Before I’d fallen they’d been a perfect sapphire blue, like the stone in my ring had been, but now they were a lot darker, almost black.

  A face appeared above mine in the window, surprising me. A pair of deep brown eyes, framed by short, messy blond hair, gazed at me. My heart beat faster because, for a split second, he looked like Seth. I wanted to smile, but when I realised whom it was I faltered.

  An angel from my past stared at me through the glass, a smile touching his lips. I didn’t want to look away, but I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t seen Michael for longer than I cared to think about, and the last time we’d spoken I’d told him I’d probably never forgive him for what he’d done. Even though he hadn’t hurt me like Seth did, he’d still played a part, and I didn’t know if, even after all this time, my heart was ready to forgive him.

  When Seth had made the decision to fall, to leave me behind, Michael had known, and he hadn’t tried to stop him.

  He should have stopped him.

  I stared at the table, wishing I were anywhere else but right there, with Michael walking through the doors and towards our table. I wasn’t ready to face him, but it looked as if I had no choice.

  Michael slid in beside me.

  Archer raised his eyebrows. “And can I help you?” he asked, giving him the once over.

  “I think the question is can I help you?”

  “I highly doubt that,” Archer said.

  “Hi, Grace.” Michael nudged my shoulder.

  I had to admit it was nice being in his presence again. Michael and I shared a special bond I’d never had with another angel. He was like my protective older brother—even though I already had one of those—but better. He understood me, and everything I’d been through, right from the beginning.

  I looked into Michael’s eyes and couldn’t help smiling. His eyes were filled with a divine light that only I could see and, as mad as I was at him, it was hard to stay that way. I realised I’d missed him.

  “Hey, don’t look at my sister like that,” Archer said. “Who are you, and what the hell do you want?”

  “To help.” Michael placed his
hand flat on the table, and a soft light glowed underneath it. The light burst upwards, falling around us in a dome.

  I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, but no one had.

  “What did you do?” Archer asked.

  Michael smiled. “Protective field. No one will know what we’re talking about. They can hear us, but it won’t be anything interesting.”

  “Cool,” Ryan said.

  Archer scowled. His attitude and nasty voice didn’t faze Michael.

  “I’ve been watching Grace for the past few months,” Michael said. “There are so many angels—a lot of them never get to meet each other over the course of their existence, but Grace … everyone knows Grace. She’s the one who defied Heaven to protect a vampire.”

  “If only it were that simple,” I said.

  “Yeah, I know.” Michael laughed. “Charlotte was an angel. A vampire turned her, now she calls herself a Blaze. Her blood is all-powerful, yadda, yadda, yadda. She turned your human boyfriend, now he’s a vamp with special blood, too. Josh isn’t answering your calls, you don’t want to think about Charlotte because she didn’t tell you the truth, and now you’re on your way to find them because you think something is wrong. Did I miss anything?” Michael sat back in his seat, a smug smile plastered over his face.

  “No one can argue with any of that.” Ryan looked at me across the table.

  I sighed. “Actually, you didn’t mention Seth.”

  Michael’s smile fell away. “He’s safe at the moment.”

  “Yes, but where is he?”

  “Angelica took him to the In-Between.”

  “Why haven’t you gotten him out?” I asked.

  “I can’t.” Michael shrugged. “He’s a fallen angel, and she’s the Guardian. She’s doing her job.”

  “You’re an archangel, for crying out loud. Surely you can do something.”

  Michael shook his head. “Angelica has plans. She’ll release him eventually. You need to be ready.”

  “You’re an angel?” Archer interrupted. “I didn’t think you were supposed to reveal yourselves to humans. Ryan is human.”