“Do you have a girlfriend, Nathan?” Abby inquired.
“I don’t think now is the time to discuss relationships, Abigail.” Vicky smiled at the back of her twin’s head while contemplating choking her.
Brian hugged Abby and subtly shook his head at her. It was the wrong move to make as Abby’s shoulders went back.
“Oh wait, you hunters have an engagement ceremony of some sort, don’t you?” Abby inquired.
“They do,” Vicky said.
“That’s right,” Abby said and slapped her forehead. “I’d forgotten Kadence told us the elders picked their partners for them.”
Vicky knew she hadn’t forgotten anything; Abby was up to something.
“Will they choose a bride for you, Nathan?” Abby inquired.
“That’s their plan,” he replied crisply.
“You must be excited about that,” Abby said. “Weddings are happy occasions.”
“This really isn’t the time,” Vicky told her.
“Why not? We’re alone down here, and no one wants to think about what has happened above. Plus, I find it fascinating to learn about other cultures; I did want to join the Peace Corp, remember?” Abby asked.
“I do,” Vicky said, but she kept waiting for whatever trap Abby was setting to spring.
“And now I have an opportunity to learn more about the hunter culture that I find fascinating.”
You’re so full of shit, Vicky thought as she met her sister’s sweet smile. She hoped she’d kicked Abby a time or two in the womb. Abby had a large heart, and Vicky knew these questions were coming from a place of love, but she’d give anything for this to end.
“Plus, learning new things is a good distraction from what might be lurking ahead,” Abby continued.
“It’s easier to hear a possible threat if no one is talking,” Brian grumbled.
“I meant lurking in our futures, not ahead of us down here. From everything Vicky said, there is no threat here,” Abby replied.
“There’s been no threat, so far,” Brian said.
“I don’t want to think about those children and hunters and what happened to them,” Abby said.
Vicky couldn’t argue with her, but she wished Abby would ask about something that didn’t involve weddings.
“Will they choose a bride for you soon?” Abby asked Nathan.
“Yes, Abigail,” Vicky interjected. “The elders will soon choose the perfect, virginal bride for Nathan. Though why anyone would want to marry someone without testing the goods first, is beyond me.”
Nathan dropped his head into his hand and rubbed his forehead to ease the hammering that started there hours ago. Duncan and Brian both snickered before discreetly coughing into their hands. Asher wasn’t as discreet as he laughed loudly, and Logan muttered an agreement.
“You must be looking forward to marriage,” Abby said to Nathan, as if Vicky had never spoken.
“Yes, because all men want a wife who will cook, clean, rub their feet, say yes to their every whim, and never speak out. How exciting for him, how thrilling for her.” Vicky realized jealousy colored her words and everyone could hear it, but she’d had enough of it all.
“And what if they both suck in bed? Could you imagine how miserable that relationship could become? I mean, sex isn’t everything, but no one wants to walk around in a permanent state of sexual frustration. I’ve seen the show, Snapped; I’m pretty sure that’s why 95 percent of those people went bonkers.” Vicky couldn’t get herself to shut up as her exasperation poured out. “Besides, I never understood why someone wouldn’t experience a few different men or women before settling on the one. The idea of only knowing one man for life sounds boring to me.”
“Hey!” Abby protested.
Vicky knew she’d struck the nerve she was aiming for to distract her sister. She actually didn’t find it boring; to each their freaking own, but this inquisition had to end.
“Of course, I didn’t mean you,” Vicky said with a wave of her hand. “You couldn’t help being boring; Brian ruined you when you were fifteen.”
“Hey!” Brian protested, and his head swiveled toward her.
“Well, you did,” Vicky said with a flutter of her lashes. “After she saw you, Abby forgot all other guys.”
“You make me sound like a pedophile.” Brian’s gaze went beyond Vicky to the others. “For the record, I never touched her when she was fifteen, and we didn’t become mates until she was twenty-one.” He glared at Vicky before turning away from her.
Brian guided Abby forward as her attention remained on Vicky. Behind Nathan, Asher and Logan both stifled their laughter while Abby and Vicky glared at each other.
Nathan might have found the interaction between the twins amusing, in some ways it reminded him of his relationship with Kadence, but he wasn’t thrilled about being the center of Abby’s questions. Not when he finally had Vicky at his side again and just wanted to take solace in her presence.
Vicky willed Abby to stop, but when Abby’s gaze shifted back to Nathan, Vicky’s temper started to boil.
“Will your engagement be soon?” Abby asked, and Vicky heard a tenor of fear in her voice.
“If the elders had their way, the ceremony would be tomorrow,” Asher said.
Vicky’s breath caught; she struggled to keep her face impassive after this revelation, but Abby must have seen or sensed something as she stretched a hand toward her, but Vicky avoided it. If she took comfort from Abby now, she would burst into tears and never stop crying. She refused to let that happen. Her eyes had been wide open when she deepened her relationship with Nathan, and she would not break over her choice.
“But Nathan told them no,” Logan said. “I’m beginning to understand why.”
Nathan met Logan’s eyes over his shoulder. Logan was focused on Vicky, but then his attention shifted to Nathan. He didn’t know what to expect from Logan, but his friend shrugged.
“Nothing will ever be the same after today, and believe me, I’m in no rush to return to the marriage chopping block,” Logan said. “I’d prefer a little more time between fiancées, but I suspect the elders are planning to try marrying me off again soon.”
“I think they’re going to marry us all off,” Asher muttered and pulled at the collar of his sweater.
Vicky buried the excitement that leapt to life at the revelation Nathan told the elders no to the engagement ceremony.
It might not mean anything for you. He’s dealing with enough right now without adding marriage to it. Of course, he would want to put the ceremony off until everything gets straightened out, Vicky told herself.
Unfortunately, Abby didn’t seem to agree as she turned and gave Vicky two thumbs up. Vicky rolled her eyes at the dorky display, grateful Nathan hadn’t seen it. Brian shook his head at his mate as Vicky and Abby simultaneously stopped walking.
Unprepared for the sudden halt, Nathan barely avoided smacking into Abby’s back, but Logan didn’t stop himself from bumping into Vicky. He stepped hastily away as Vicky scented the air and her nose wrinkled.
The search of the tunnels had proven futile night after night, but tonight, they weren’t so lucky.
CHAPTER 39
“Duncan!” Vicky hissed. “Come back!”
Ahead of them, Duncan stopped and turned toward her.
“What is it?” Nathan pulled a handgun from the shoulder holster he put on before leaving the stronghold. He unhooked a crossbow from his side and touched the bolts tucked into one of his inner coat pockets. When he scented the air, he caught a hint of refuse on it.
The idea of beating and killing something flooded his system with adrenaline. Since learning about San Fran, he’d needed to unleash on something, and he might have his chance.
Then, his gaze landed on Vicky and his bloodlust eased as his instinct to protect her became greater than his one to unleash violence. Stepping closer to her, he turned to face the tunnel ahead of them as Duncan crept toward them. Brian nudged Abby behind him and toward
Vicky.
This time, when Abby reached for her hand, Vicky took it. They held on for a second before releasing each other.
“Savages,” Vicky whispered as she removed a stake from an inner coat pocket and unhooked the crossbow from her side. Abby armed herself with two stakes.
Something clattered behind them. Logan and Asher both drew their weapons as muffled laughter followed the clatter. Asher turned his flashlight off as he crept into the shadows they already traversed.
Vicky kept her flashlight on and slid it into her pocket, the denim material muffled the glow, as the stench of decay became more potent. She had excellent night vision, but the idea of being plunged into the darkness unnerved her. Besides, the Savages’ vision was as good as hers; the dark wouldn’t hide them from their enemies.
The clacking of teeth from the tunnel ahead sounded more like one of those windup denture things than a living creature. Vicky knew a Savage was making that noise, but she couldn’t help picturing a lipless monster ahead of them, gnashing its teeth together while it chewed on hunks of decaying flesh.
She shuddered at the mental image as she aimed her crossbow at the tunnel ahead before turning to watch Asher fade deeper into the shadows behind them.
Nathan stepped closer to her, his chest pressing against hers as she stood with her back to the wall. They both kept their arms extended and their weapons aimed at whatever enemy came from either direction.
Through their layers of clothing and flesh, she could feel the steady beat of his heart. The reassuring rhythm of his pulse lulled her until the need to taste him struck her. Her head spun with the impulse; she almost swayed on her feet as hunger caused her fangs to lengthen. This was entirely the wrong time and place, but it took her another minute to get her craving under control.
So doomed, she thought as her fangs remained extended.
Muffled laughter pulled her attention to where Asher had vanished. Logan knelt on the concrete floor ten feet away from them with his crossbow aimed into the shadows as a woman cried out.
“Hey, man,” a drunken voice slurred from the dark.
“Shut up!” Asher commanded.
“Not cool,” the drunk said, and the woman laughed.
“Get out of here!” Asher hissed at them.
Then, from the shadows, two people staggered forward with Asher following behind. The humans came to an abrupt halt when they spotted the group gathered within. “What the…?”
The man never got the chance to finish his question as, from ahead of Duncan, a monster burst out of the tunnel. It may not be the hideous beast she’d imagined it to be, but Vicky had never seen a Savage who looked so… insane!
The saliva running down its chin mingled with the blood coating its lips to create a macabre, pink beard. Its teeth clacked, clacked, clacked as it spun toward Brian and Abby before lunging at Duncan who punched it in the temple, knocking it to the ground. It landed there with its appendages extended like a bug splattered on the windshield of a Mack truck.
Before any of them could react, another Savage leapt from the shadows, followed by another. Like spiders, the Savages tried to skitter up the tunnel walls before gravity won out and they fell to the floor only to bounce back to their feet. And like spiders escaping an egg sac, there seemed to be an endless parade of them. So far gone in their hunger, they were more like rabid animals than any rational being.
Shock held Vicky immobile for precious seconds before her survival instinct kicked in. She fired her crossbow at one while Nathan started shooting his gun. Some of the Savages shrieked as the bullets pierced their flesh, but only a couple of them dropped.
The human woman screamed and turned to flee as three Savages raced toward her. Logan staked one, and Asher kicked out the knee of another, but the third pounced on the woman’s back, slamming her onto the concrete.
The human male howled, and his hands flew up to the sides of his head. He tore out chunks of his hair as he staggered away from the vampire sitting on his girlfriend’s back.
“Fucker!” Nathan threw aside his empty gun.
“Help her!” Vicky shouted at him.
Everything in him protested the idea of leaving Vicky unprotected, but doing nothing went against who he was.
“Shit,” Nathan snarled, and breaking away from her, he shoved past the still howling man to race toward the Savage.
Another creature came at him from the side as they swarmed over the tunnel. The shouts and grunts of the others reverberated in the tunnel as they battled back the increasing horde.
The Savage sank its fangs into the woman’s throat as Nathan grabbed its shoulder and yanked it back. The vamp spun on him, jaws snapping and blood spraying from its lips. Nathan had never seen one so out of control before, but he didn’t hesitate before plunging his stake into the creature’s heart and shoving it aside.
One glance told him the woman was dead. Spinning back, horror filled him when he realized more Savages were flooding the tunnel, and Vicky was lost within the swarm. There had to be at least three dozen of them.
Maybe, if they’d been ordinary Savages, they could take them, but these things had no reason and no survival instinct, as he watched one charge head-on into the stake Logan held out. Starved to madness, nothing would stop these vampires from feeding.
“Vicky!” he shouted.
The swarm parted enough to reveal her with Brian, Abby, and Duncan. Firing their crossbows and guns, Asher and Logan fell in beside him as still more Savages filled the tunnel. Breaking away from his friends, Nathan ran toward Vicky as one of the creatures wrapped its hand around her forearm. The right uppercut she unleashed knocked the Savage’s head back.
With the monster’s throat exposed, Vicky lunged forward and sank her fangs into the neck of a beast that was once an ordinary woman. The blood filling her mouth tasted and felt like sludge as it slid down her throat. Rearing back, she ripped the woman’s jugular out.
She’d done some revolting things in her life, but this ranked up there with Duke. She spat out the flesh, but the rancid stench of the woman lingered in her nostrils even as the strength of the woman’s blood coursed through her. Adjusting her stake, Vicky plunged it into the Savage’s heart before tearing it out and kicking the woman away.
She’d prefer not to do that again, but she would if necessary. Using the back of her arm, she wiped the blood away from her mouth as Nathan arrived at her side. She glanced at him, expecting to see revulsion over what she’d done, but there was none as he grasped her arm and pulled her closer to him.
“What is wrong with these things?” Abby demanded as she kicked out the leg of a Savage running at her. Brian swung his fist into the vamp’s chest, tore its heart free, and tossed it aside.
Duncan bent down and gripped the legs of another Savage. The vamp squealed as Duncan lifted it off the ground and battered it against the tunnel wall. Bones shattered with a crack, and the vampire’s shrieks ended.
“Why are they so mindless?” Abby panted. “I thought Savages were smart, or at least controlled.”
“They are,” Brian replied.
“They were given enough blood to make it through the transition, but they’ve been starved since turning,” Vicky said. “They won’t have any reason again until they’ve glutted themselves on blood and death.”
The sadness in Vicky’s eyes tore at Nathan when she uttered her next words. “I’ve been there. I understand that hunger, but they’re farther gone than I was.”
“I’m getting you out of here,” Nathan vowed as they were pushed further back by more of the creatures.
“I know some of these people,” Duncan grunted as he snapped the leg of a Savage trying to tear the flesh from his arms. “They’re part of the last group we were going to see.”
“Joseph was building another army, and he was using these people to do it,” Vicky said.
“Joseph’s here,” Nathan growled. “He turned them loose on us.”
Vicky hadn’t been afraid of the
Savages, but cold terror filled her when a steely glint came into Nathan’s eyes. She clasped his arm to keep him from plunging into the horde. It would be suicide to try fighting through that.
When his gaze swung back to her, the protests she’d been about to utter died on her tongue. Straightening her shoulders, she readied herself for a bigger battle. She would not let him do this alone.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
Nathan glanced at Vicky and the Savages blocking their way. Alone, he’d attempt to carve his way through them, but he wouldn’t take Vicky with him. His need to get revenge on Joseph had fueled him for months, but now he realized that his love for her had become stronger. He didn’t know when it happened, but she had become the most important thing to him.
If something happened to her, it would push him into a pit of despair.
“Joseph’s not here!” Brian shouted.
A Savage leapt onto his shoulders and perched there like a gargoyle. Asher shot a bolt through the creature’s heart. It toppled forward and spasmed on the ground before going still.
“I’d sense Joseph if he were here,” Brian said. “This isn’t a big enough crowd to keep him hidden from me.”
“Fall back!” Nathan yelled.
Vicky cried out when a Savage seized her hair. A bellow erupted from Nathan before he realized he was going to shout. Grabbing the Savage’s wrist, he battered it against the wall and pulverizing bone until the monster released her.
Lifting the Savage over his head, Nathan brought it down across his knee, nearly breaking the vamp in two. He didn’t know where he found the strength to do such a thing, and he didn’t question it if it kept Vicky safe.
Another Savage leapt at him but changed its course in midair to go for Vicky. She ducked and swung her stake into the creature’s belly as Nathan gripped the back of the vamp’s head and shoved its face into the wall.
The shrieks of the other human who accidentally stumbled into this abruptly silenced, and the excited chatter of the Savages filled the air as they tore into the man with the frenzy of piranhas scenting blood in the water.
Bound by Vengeance (The Alliance, Book 2) Page 23