by Ann Lory
D’Angel’s smile was smug. “Oh, he’s probably fine and safe…in the twenty-first century.”
Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief and said a silent prayer of thanks. D’Angel’s skirts swished as she walked. She examined Alyssa curiously.
“You really do love him, don’t you?”
“I’d try to explain it to you, but since you understand nothing of the emotion, I won’t waste my breath.”
D’Angel laughed. “I’m going to enjoy your death.” But just as quickly, the laughter faded. “You turned my brother against me.”
Alyssa shrugged, “It was only a matter of time before he left you, D’Angel. It just happened to be sooner rather than later.”
The woman’s eyes flashed and she backhanded Alyssa, sending her head whipping to the side. “He loves me, but you have twisted his thoughts, made him betray me. Why didn’t you just go away and lick your wounds like all the others?”
“I vowed your death on the blood of my family. Guess I’m just difficult that way.”
D’Angel returned her glare, but slowly she began to grin, cocking her head as if someone had whispered something delicious into her ear. She clasped her hands together before her, delight glowing in her eyes. “Oh, I have a wonderful surprise for you, Alyssa. My favorite plaything is here. Finally!”
A door on the opposite side of the room opened, the hinges squeaking loudly; then the metal panel crashed against the wall as a man was shoved into the room. His hands were bound with what appeared to be silver chains; she could smell his flesh burning, heard the taunts of the other vampires as they shoved him to the ground.
The man lashed out at them with his legs, growling and snarling. Alyssa couldn’t see his features in the shadows where he lay sprawled, raging at his tormentors.
They kicked him repeatedly, laughing, jeering. Alyssa bit her lip; she wanted to demand a halt to their cruelty, but knew it would only egg them on to hurt the stranger even more.
D’Angel sauntered toward the door, fastidiously lifting her skirts as she bypassed the drama. “Leave them.” After her men filed out, D’Angel followed, shutting in Alyssa with the stranger.
As soon as the door clicked shut, the shackles fell away from Alyssa’s wrists. She scrambled back on the platform.
“There’s a stake to your left, my sweet one. He hasn’t been fed in a while, so you may need it.” D’Angel laughed maliciously through the door, the sound grating to Alyssa’s ears. Then she and her men were gone.
Alyssa stared hard into the shadows where the man lay. At first, she couldn’t see much more than the shape of him. Then, between one blink and the next, she saw them. Red eyes that glowed at her. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Alyssa’s hand scrambled for the stake D’Angel had mentioned; her fingers closed tightly around it.
A growl came from the other side of the room and Alyssa stood, moved around the platform, carefully keeping close to the wall behind her. She saw the shadows shift around the man, and the red eyes moved higher until she thought he was standing at full height now. Alyssa lowered herself into a fighting stance, the stake flashing forward.
“I don’t want to have to kill you, bud, but if you attack me, you’ll leave me no choice.”
“What chance do you think you’d have against me?”
Recognition of his voice stabbed through her. Her throat tightened with sorrow. Was this another trick?
“Who are you?” Her voice quivered.
He moved then, a rushing blur that slammed her against the wall. She screamed, shoved him enough to raise a leg, and jabbed a vicious kick to his chest. He went flying across the room.
He rose to his feet, laughing softly. “What if I promise not to hurt you? I don’t want to hurt you; I want you to stop my pain.”
Alyssa pushed hair from her face. “My stake in your heart’ll stop your pain. Come and fall on it, and save me the trouble of beating the shit out of you to do it.”
She heard a choked breath. “Alyssa?”
Alyssa squinted, wanting to believe her previous suspicion was right, but she didn’t dare lower her guard. “How do you know my name?”
He moved into the moonlight.
Alyssa thought her heart stopped.
He caught her when she stumbled, overwhelmed with happiness and grief. He was here, alive, holding her. And he was a vampire.
She clutched his face in her hands, drinking in the sight of him. “Justin?”
He yanked her into his embrace, almost suffocating her, but she didn’t care; she hugged him back just as vigorously. Tears coursed down her cheeks, sobs filled her chest. Finally, they pulled away. The red glow of his eyes had changed to black. A pang struck her as she remembered a time when his emerald eyes had matched her own, remembered her brother as he once was.
“All this time, you were…”
He nodded, his own emotions clearly as overwhelming as hers. “They told me you were dead.”
She shook her head. “I’ve been searching for D’Angel and those that killed you, Mom, and Dad.” She tucked a lank lock of hair behind his ear. “I wanted to avenge my family. I’ve been lost so long without all of you.”
“I’ve been a prisoner here the entire time. D’Angel,” he sneered. “I’ll kill her and every last one of them. We have to get you out of here. I won’t stand for her to play her games with you. ”
Her heart clenched at the venom in his words. “What did they do to you, Justin?”
He looked away. “I won’t discuss it, Alyssa. I can’t.”
Alyssa let it go. She was thankful he was alive, no matter what he had suffered. He was changed forever, of course, and not just because he was a vampire now.
“Don’t worry. Damian and Christian will be here soon. I know it. They’ll help us get out.”
“Who are they?”
Alyssa took a deep breath. “Vampires.”
He hissed, his eyes glowing red again in an instant. He clutched her arms painfully. “You run with vampires?”
She shook off his hold. “They’re not like D’Angel and those bastards who follow her. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but not all vampires are evil. I didn’t believe it myself, either, at first, but Damian and Christian are good men. They’ll help us.”
Justin flung himself away from her, his breaths harsh and ragged, his hands clenching and unclenching. His rage filled the room, weighing heavily on her. She reached for him, but he growled, and she fell back.
“Don’t! I hunger, Alyssa. My anger only adds to my need to feed.”
She ached for her brother. His world was already chaos, and she’d added to his burden. Stepping in front of him, she offered her wrist to him. “Take from me, Justin. I offer my blood freely.”
He roared, glaring at her. “I won’t be able to stop, Alyssa. And I won’t be able to live with myself if I killed you.”
She moved closer. “I trust you. You’re not like the monsters who made you.”
He glared furiously at her for a long moment. At last, he carefully took her wrist. She watched as he lowered his head, felt his teeth sink into her flesh. As he drank from her, she rubbed his head, crooning softly to him the way she would a wounded animal. She stifled her tears.
She had her brother back, and she had Damian. If they could get through this night, she’d never ask for anything more ever again.
* * * * *
Damian knew the instant Alyssa was taken. He tried to reach the plantation house in time, but knew it was too late. He sped into the house, rushing Christian like a linebacker.
He grabbed the younger vampire by the throat, shoving him against the kitchen wall. Christian hissed, his fangs elongating.
“Why did you not protect her?”
Christian tried to speak, but Damian kept squeezing, his fear and outrage overtaking him. Christian let go of the hand at his throat and swung at Damian. Damian blocked it, but didn’t see Christian’s other hand move. Damian reeled against the center island.
; Christian’s coughs and gasps filled the room as he steadied himself. “You didn’t tell me you’d enhanced her strength and made her your servant, Damian.”
Damian’s body was strung tight with tension. “She is not my servant.”
“Regardless, I didn’t know how strong she was, and she caught me unaware. I would’ve stopped her otherwise. You know that.” His dark gaze held Damian’s, and Damian felt a twinge of guilt at his treatment of the other man.
Damian snarled. “I know.”
He moved outside and breathed deeply. Alyssa’s scent lingered in the air along with the others, but they were already gone. There was no avoiding what had to be done. The time had come.
He motioned toward Christian, who was watching him warily, blood trickling down the side of his face from the cut on his head. “We have to get her back before it’s too late. There’s no telling what she’s being subjected to, if she’s ‑‑” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought, to picture Alyssa dead. His gut roiled. If she was harmed in any way, he’d kill his sister happily, then face the dawn and the hell that awaited him.
Christian stepped to his side, grasped Damian’s forearms. “Where to and when?”
Damian lowered his head and thought for a moment. “Just outside of Rome. The year she turned. It was her favorite year, or so she’s always said.”
He gave Christian the date and year, his power surging into the other vampire. They were surrounded by clouds and whirled through time. When he lifted his head to face the palazzo that D’Angel liked to call home, his insides went cold.
Everything was silent, the building dark. She wasn’t there and clearly hadn’t been for a while.
Where the hell had she taken Alyssa?
Chapter Twenty
Alyssa wrapped her arms around her brother as D’Angel’s men worked at prying them apart. They’d appeared soon after her brother had finished feeding.
Justin punched Roberto in the face and was rewarded with a blow that tossed him in silent heap to the floor.
Roberto sneered. “Stupid boy!” He reached down and pulled Justin up by his hair. Alyssa lunged for Roberto herself, but was pulled back and held by two other vampires.
She forced herself to act like a weak mortal, biding her time when she could unleash the strength Damian had given her, even with the amount of blood her brother had taken. Both she and Justin had thought surprise would be the best tactic ‑‑ but they wanted to save it for D’Angel. What was that old saw? Chop off the head of the snake, and the body would follow, right?
She couldn’t wait to test the truth of it on the female vampire.
Alyssa felt one of the vampire’s lips brush her hair; she shuddered. “D’Angel wants you both to appear before her. You’ll go quietly, or I can make you obey.”
She straightened as her brother found his footing; then they were led out of the cell through winding passages and up flights of stairs until they reached what appeared to be the main receiving area.
D’Angel sat in a large chair with red velvet cushions. She looked like a young queen on her throne, ready to greet her court. Alyssa had to fight not to sneer. Then she and Justin were shoved to their knees before D’Angel. Alyssa lifted her chin defiantly.
D’Angel’s fingers steepled under her chin, her gaze thoughtful. She wore a tight-fitting leather corset over a low-cut black top. Her shoulders were bare and the strings of the corset were loose at her breasts, showing ample cleavage. A pair of snug black pants hugged her long legs, black boots to the level of her knees. No, Alyssa thought, she didn’t look like queen. She looked like a pirate whore.
“So, Justin didn’t kill you, after all. But what’s this? You don’t look very happy to have been reunited.” She tsked in disappointment. “I thought it would be a pleasant surprise.”
She left her seat and walked to Justin, roughly dug her fingers into his hair. Her grin was wicked and calculating. In the blink of an eye she ripped the shirt from his torso, then stood in such a way that Alyssa couldn’t see what she was doing. “You know, Alyssa, when I took your precious sibling, he was still mortal. Can you imagine how happy I was when I brought him here to play with him a while? No?” Her grin grew feral. “Then let me show you.”
Alyssa gasped as images flooded her head, courtesy of D’Angel. Her brother, still human, on the beach and pumping furiously into D’Angel, her cries of pleasure urging him on. Alyssa recognized the deserted stretch of beach as part of the vacation spot that had altered their lives forever. It seemed D’Angel had fooled Justin as thoroughly as the rest of the family, believing in her honeyed lies, the temporary ecstasy to be found between her thighs.
Alyssa tried not to see more, but the memories kept running. She saw when her brother had awakened after he’d been borne away on the heels of their parents’ deaths, witnessed his despair when he thought his entire family was dead. Heard as he begged D’Angel to release him. The nightly rapes he endured as he tried to resist her, as she touched his skin, her nails raking the flesh from his back. How his pleas had quickly turned to threats to kill her. The scorching fire as he’d been bitten repeatedly and forced to drink until he’d been irrevocably turned.
Anguish filled Alyssa at the thought of her brother’s torture. She tried to look at Justin.
D’Angel moved aside, and for the first time, Alyssa saw the scars that marred his chest and back. He refused to meet her gaze, but held his head up.
“But was he grateful with what I gifted him? No, he fought me even more.” D’Angel leaned down to kiss him, but he turned his head away, his lips curled in disgust.
She laughed and slapped him. “My sweet Justin, so defiant to join us, so resilient in his determination to not take a life.”
“Oh, I’d take yours, D’Angel,” he spat.
She waved her hand, obviously dismissing his words, her gaze now focused squarely on Alyssa. “However, you’ve become quite the thorn in my side. I was certain you’d be like the others and either stay hidden, licking your wounds, unable to tell anyone the truth, or go mad and end up in an institution. It’s so much fun that way, you see. To leave a survivor.” She licked her lips. “The guilt, the pain, the anguish. So very delicious.”
She looked amused. “But, no, you were different, Alyssa. You trained, hid, tracked us. Killed my newly made men. Managed to avoid those I sent for you.” All amusement left her face as anger now radiated from her. “Then you turned my beloved brother against me. For that alone, I will enjoy watching the light leave your eyes, laughing as my hands steal the breath from your body.”
Alyssa and her brother remained silent. It wasn’t time to act yet. They watched as D’Angel circled them before she returned to Alyssa and waved her men away.
Alyssa was released, saw three vampires drag Justin back. She didn’t move, but braced herself and concentrated on D’Angel’s face as the woman stood before her.
D’Angel’s eyes widened with glee. “Now, Alyssa. Now you die.” Her hands flashed, but like lightning, Alyssa blocked the blow and, using the speed and strength Damian’s blood had given her, surged upward and struck D’Angel across the face while her body propelled itself into the vampire. The force behind both blows sent D’Angel soaring across the floor and ended with her in a tangled heap.
There was a moment of stunned silence, but it was quickly replaced by rage.
D’Angel raised a hand as her men reached for Alyssa. She dabbed at the blood flowing from her mouth and nose. “He didn’t.”
Alyssa raised her chin in challenge. “Oh, but he did.”
Rising from the floor, she stood seething, facing Alyssa with murder in her eyes. Then she screamed and launched herself across the room.
The women came together in a flash of fury.
* * * * *
Damian looked across the rolling fields of Ireland. The fear radiating from the village across the moors filled the night air, coating his lungs with the stench. Evidently the villagers knew evil resided there ever sin
ce their lord had been defeated.
His mouth set in a firm line as he turned toward the keep that his sister rarely visited. Light flickered through the windows.
“I wouldn’t have thought she’d come here; she hates Ireland. But, of course, she thought to confuse me.”
Christian lay on the ground, weak. “Why does she hate this country?”
Daman shrugged, feeling weak himself. Jumping from year to year and place to place took a lot of energy. “An Irish warrior almost defeated her here in this time, and ever since, she’s hated the lot of them.”
“Then she’s going to love us.”
Damian nodded. “Surprise is our best weapon. There won’t be many with her, seven or eight at the most. D’Angel keeps her men scattered throughout the world and time, taking only her favorites with her wherever she goes.” He looked toward the village. “First, we feed. We’ll need to replenish our strength before we face them.”
They made quick work in the village, taking several people, drinking sparingly of each, but heartily overall, then sent the villagers on their way with altered memories that did not involve either man.
They shifted to mist and made their way toward the castle, penetrating the walls of the keep. Damian could hear D’Angel’s shrieks, Alyssa’s grunts of pain. He sped through the corridors until he came to the room the women fought in.
His breath stumbled at the sight of Alyssa fighting D’Angel. They were a flurry of movement and agility. The men present were engrossed in the fight, eagerly calling out for D’Angel’s victory, except for one who was held immobile on his knees. His dark head was forcibly bent by Diego, but he strained against his captor, shouting encouragement to Alyssa.
Jealousy twisted in Damian’s belly; briefly, he wondered who the man was, why his voice seemed somewhat familiar, but then he got down to business and quickly streamed toward Roberto, D’Angel’s favorite. Damian wrapped particles of himself around the other vampire, leaving Roberto unable to scream or to transform as he was propelled and twisted into the air, the mist choking him. Damian intensified the pressure until Roberto’s head was wrenched from his body; then he plowed his fist through the man’s chest. The remains exploded into dust.