Stripped (Wolves of Mule Creek #2)

by Katharine Sadler

  Yet he had. He admitted he was acting against his better judgment, which either meant he wanted something from me or he wanted to kill me slowly. I wasn't sure which was better. “I thought they were real cops when I left with them. I never would have gone if I'd known. I made you a promise and they broke it, not me.”

  Leopold sat across from me, back stiff and straight, eyes narrowed. “I know. They told me everything, right before I drained them dry.”

  My heart stuttered, and I worried for Rixton. Later, I would feel sorrow for Jeremy and Melanie, but at the moment all I could feel was fear and an odd numbness. “They're dead?”

  He nodded. “You have friends in strange places, Abby. Or you did.”

  “What about Alice? Is she here?”

  He sighed, pursing his lips in a false expression of sadness. “Such a beautiful woman. Very weak, unfortunately. I'd had such hopes for her.”

  “She's… She's dead?” My heart twisted. Had I come here for nothing? He'd already killed her? Killed her just because she was someone in my orbit?

  “She couldn't handle my needs,” he said. “I have a voracious appetite.”

  Bile rose in my throat, but I pushed it back down. Grief and fear would do me no good here. If I couldn't save Alice, I could at least make Leopold pay. Okay, I probably couldn't make him pay, but maybe I could get information for the pack. If I managed to get away from him alive, I'd be able to tell them what he was up to. It was a long shot, but the only plan I had. I straightened and faced him. “She was my friend.”

  He shrugged. “And now she's dead.” He leaned in and met my gaze, his eyes boring into me. I felt the compulsion taking hold, felt it latching on, but I also felt my body rejecting it, fighting it, my stomach roiling, my limbs shaking. I let my expression go slack, hoping to convince him I was under compulsion before I really was. He sat back, smirking. “Tell me everything that happened from the time you left me until this moment.”

  I opened my mouth and spoke as though I had no control, but I managed to hold some things back, to lie about others. The compulsion was there, stabbing my guts and giving me a headache, but it wasn't controlling me completely. I told him the wolves hadn't trusted me, had kept me in a cage. I told him they were in a bad way and were talking about leaving Mule Creek. I told him the wolves thought the vamps wanted to take over the pack territory because they were no longer able to fit in among the humans, that vampires feared the humans. I played against his narcissism.

  Leopold listened to my story, rapt and grinning, until I got to the part about the wolves' opinion of the vampires. Then his expression became angry, disgusted, hopeful. “Those wolves are idiots,” he said, pacing. “We're going to make that territory into a temple, a capital, a promise land for all vampires.” He grinned. “But their opinion might suit our plan, might help us destroy their little pack.”

  “Why do you want it?”

  “Because of the water,” he said. “There is water there that can make vampires stronger than we've ever been before, it can make us unstoppable.”

  “That's amazing,” I said, wide-eyed. “And the wolves don't even know what they have? You'll chase them off the land and you'll become the most powerful vampire in the world.”

  Leopold rubbed his hands together and smiled, his gaze distant as he considered his future. “Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Drinking the water directly from the village well does nothing. When I found Alice in the woods, I thought I might be able to get it through her blood, but I drained her dry and nothing.” I had to work to keep my expression wondering and awed at those words. “The only way we can get the full benefit is through the wolf blood. The blood of wolves who have drunk from the village's water supply.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “Completely by accident. When the packs split and some wolves moved from Mule Creek to Aspens Whiten, we had the pleasure of partaking of their blood and we discovered it gave us untold power. For a while, we sent Alpha and his pack to drink the water of Mule Creek, but Axel got suspicious and Alpha was too chicken to keep sending his wolves there. We've managed to convince wolves to leave Axel's pack from time to time and lured the ones who've left on their own, but it's not enough.”

  “So, once you have it, you're just going to share it with all the vampires of the world? Whoever comes to Mule Creek?”

  Leopold sat next to me, taking my hands in his. “Not at all, dear. My coven and I are going to keep it to ourselves. The wolves will be the source of our blood and our power and they will be our servants. They will serve us and we'll rule over all the vampires in the country. We'll be the enforcers of the vamp world. There are some bad elements among our kind and the council wants them rooted out and destroyed before they cause more trouble.”

  “You'll be a king,” I said, my voice breathy like I was impressed and not disgusted by that idea.

  He nodded. “I'll be the emperor and you will be my consort. You aren't a vampire, so you can't be my queen…” He stopped and looked me over. “But you're not human, are you? Your blood tasted so strange, unlike anything I'd had before. What are you?”

  “Part siren,” I said, the words mechanical as though I were still under his compulsion.

  “Really?” He leaned in and sniffed me. “I wonder if your blood might carry the effects of the Mule Creek water.”

  I shoved away from him and tried to get up, but his arm shot out and he caged me in with one hand on the armrest of the couch. His gaze met mine, but I pinched my eyes shut. “Open your eyes,” he cooed. “I want to see your pretty eyes, Abigail.”

  I pulled the wooden stake I'd carved, during a pit stop on my way to Leopold's place, out of my purse and shoved hard against his arm. He must not have been expecting me to fight back, because his arm gave and I broke free. He toppled forward and I lunged with the stake, aiming for the center of his back.

  He moved so fast, I couldn't track him. One moment he was falling forward on the couch, the next he'd twisted, lifted me, and tossed me against the wall. I slammed into the wall, the air knocked out of me, and then hit the floor almost as hard. I tried to focus on Leopold as he stalked across the room toward me, but my vision was blurry and I hadn't caught my breath. Fear was making my heart race and my breath harder to find. I remembered what Julie had told me, fear was my biggest enemy. If I let fear win, I was dead.

  I pulled in a deep gasp of air and my vision cleared long enough for me to see Leopold's hand shoot out, aiming for my neck. I rolled to the right and stood, stake in hand.

  Swaying on my feet, my back screaming for me to just be still, I held that stake out in front of me and, when Leopold came for me again, I thrust forward hard. I felt the stake hit and I lunged into Leopold's attack, pushing against the stake with everything I had.

  He laughed. “You think that puny splinter can hurt me? I'm a god compared to you. I can snap your neck as easily as I take a breath.”

  He allowed himself to be impaled on the stake, moving toward me and wrapping his arms around me. I must have missed his heart by a mile.

  I fought against his grip, but his teeth pierced my skin in a painful jab and then he was sucking the blood from me, each pull on my veins more painful than the last, like liquid fire was being injected into my veins with his bloody kiss. It hadn't hurt so bad the first time he'd bitten me, but maybe he'd been gentler. This time, he was sucking blood from my body like someone trying to suck a too-frozen milkshake through a narrow straw.

  I wanted to scream, but I needed to focus. There was no one to save me but myself. There'd never been anyone but me to save me. I was stuck in Leopold's embrace, but I could move my hands. I grabbed the end of the stake and yanked. It moved and Leopold stopped sucking my blood long enough to step back and pull the stake from his own body. He threw it across the room and was back on me before I'd gotten more than two steps away from him. I'd tried to move faster, but I was sluggish and weak and my vision was starting to fade. I suspected I was dying, but I couldn't must
er the energy to care. I was so tired. I couldn't fight anymore.

  There was one question, though, that was tapping at my brain. One thing I wanted to know before darkness enveloped me. “Can you taste the water in my blood?”

  He stopped sucking and looked at me. He seemed honestly curious, but also blood drunk and woozy himself. He licked his lips and considered. “No,” he said. “No. You aren't a carrier.” His words were slurred, confused. He smiled a slow smile. “Which means I have no more use for you, Abigail. I would have liked you to be my consort, but you taste too good for me to stop now.”

  He bent to shove his teeth back into my neck, but I slipped between his arms and dropped to the floor. The sudden movement made my head spin and my stomach heave, but I kept going. I had no other choice. I crawled between his legs and to the other side of the room, moving as quickly as I could. I knew he was faster than me, knew I couldn't fight him, but I had to try. I couldn't let him take all the blood from my body without a fight.

  I spun, trying to find the stake, but Leopold was on me, lifting me under my arms again and shoving me hard against the wall. The sudden movement and the shove against the wall caused my stomach contents to rise and there was no stopping them. I vomited on Leopold's face in an upchuck worthy of the Exorcist. Leopold dropped me and I fell to the floor where I threw up again and again until my stomach was empty and I was dry heaving.

  I heard someone shrieking and screaming and I wanted to tell them to be quiet, because the noise was making my head ache, but I had to stop heaving first. I remembered the way Zane had gotten me to calm down, the soft words he'd spoken to get me to breathe and stop heaving. I remembered the feel of his hand on my back, and drew in a deep breath and then another until my stomach had calmed.

  “That's it, sweetheart,” Zane said, my imagination so vivid I could swear I felt his arms around me. The screaming had stopped and someone was lifting me and carrying me. It was either a delusion or a vampire, neither of which I needed to be awake for, and I was so very tired. I closed my eyes and let the cool darkness take me away from it all.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “There she is,” Zane said. He was leaning over me, but his face was a bit blurry. I blinked and he came back into focus. God, I loved his face.

  “Am I dead?” I asked.

  He smiled and brushed the hair away from my face. “No. You came close, had us all worried, but you pulled through. Doc is re-thinking her long-held belief that humans are weak.”

  “I'm not feeling particularly strong at the moment.” But I didn't feel as bad as I thought I should either. I looked around and saw that I was in a bare room, and there was a needle in the back of my hand, a needle connected to a tube that ran up to a bag of what I assumed was saline.

  “We're just re-hydrating you,” Zane said. “We almost went to Aspens Whiten for blood, because we didn't want to accidentally turn you into a wolf, but Doc figured you'd be okay with fluids.”

  “Zane was going to go to Aspens Whiten anyway,” Julie said, her face appearing next to Zane's. “But your vitals improved as soon as doc got the saline in you.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Zane pushed a button and the head of the bed lifted until I was in a sitting position. The room was packed. Carly was there with Zed, and so was Axel and Aron and Payne. Even Clarissa was there, looking slightly bored.

  “We were hoping you could tell us what happened,” Zane said. “When we got there, you were on the floor next to Leopold, who was covered in some black stuff and screaming like he was dying.”

  “He was dying,” Axel said. “He died a couple minutes after we showed up. What did you do to the guy?”

  “I threw up on him.” Even in my weakened state, I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Is that what killed him?”

  “He also had a hole in his chest,” Zane said. “Either the vomit, the hole, or a combination of the two killed him.” Zane's expression hardened, but only a little, like he couldn't be truly mad at me. “Why did you run out that way? What were you thinking going to see Leopold?”

  Julie shifted, causing me to look at her. “I told them about you wanting to go after Leopold,” she said. “That's how they found you.”

  I looked back at Zane. “I had to try to help Alice.” I met Carly's gaze. “He'd already killed her, sweetie. I'm so sorry.”

  Carly slapped a hand over mouth and turned to Zed, who wrapped his arms around her as she shook with sobs. My own eyes stung with tears as the reality that we'd never see Alice again sunk in. I swallowed hard. I had important things to tell them.

  “Once I knew I couldn't help Alice, I wanted to know what the hell his end game was with the town. I figured he might bite me to renew the compulsion, but he'd still want to use me as a spy, so he wouldn't hurt me too badly. I just didn't want him to hurt anyone else, and I didn't think…Well, I was wrong.”

  “You could have been killed,” Zane said. “And then he would have hurt other people anyway.”

  “Well, I wasn't. And I found out a few things that…” I considered what I'd learned from Leopold and figured it probably wasn't good news, no matter how I spun it. “You should know.”

  I filled them in on what I'd learned from Leopold. When I was done, everyone settled into a stunned silence. “Well that's shitty,” Zane said. “No wonder the council was supporting the vamps. I bet they love this idea of having more powerful vamps to corral the less powerful, rogue vamps.”

  Axel frowned. “But why would they support making a psychopath like Leopold the most powerful? That's pure insanity.”

  “Because the council doesn't give a shit who gets hurt,” Clarissa said. “As long as the vamps are reined back in.”

  No one seemed to have an argument for that.

  “We need to find out what's in the water that makes it so special,” Julie said. “Do you think Doc could do that?”

  “We can ask,” Axel said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in close. “If we can figure out how to change the water so it doesn't help the vamps anymore, we can get the council and the vamps off our backs.”

  “We'll have time,” Aron said. “My sources in Aspens Whiten say the vamp coven has devolved into chaos with Leopold dead. There's no one else strong enough to lead and they're all fighting each other for the top spot.”

  “We could sell your blood,” I said.

  Everyone in the room spun and looked at me like I was crazy. “You need money, they want your blood. It's no different than donating to a blood drive.”

  “Except we'll be making our vamp neighbors incredibly, unbeatably strong.”

  I shrugged. “Not if you sell them the blood after you've figured out how to change the water”

  “That's a lot of ifs,” Axel said. “But it's not a bad idea. I'll talk to Doc and see what she can come up with.”

  Axel and the others left. Julie told me to call her if I wanted to hang out or chat. I'd miss her almost as much as I'd miss Zane when I went back to Denver.

  Zane sat on the edge of my bed and laced his fingers through mine. There were dark circles under his eyes and his handsome face was haggard. “How are you feeling?”

  “I'm pretty tired,” I said, mostly lying. I figured if I told him the truth about how good I was feeling, he'd insist on cooking for me or showing me around the pack village or something that would mean he was awake with me when it was clear he needed to be sleeping. “Do you want to climb up here with me and find something to watch on T.V.?”

  The television was tiny and so high up on the wall that it would be hard to make out the characters on the screen. I doubted Zane would be watching it very long before he passed out, anyway. He climbed onto the bed and arranged himself so that he was spooning me but he wasn't in the way of the tube running into my hand. It was a small bed, but we fit as long as we snuggled tightly together. “I was so worried about you. I can't lose you, Abby.”

  My heart clenched. I grabbed the remote and clicked the power b
utton. “What are you in the mood to watch?” I flicked through the channels, finally settling on reruns of a popular comedy series. Zane was out before the first commercial break. I watched the show with half my brain, and I soaked in the feel of him around me, his deep breathing, the scent of him, with the other half of my brain. I wanted to enjoy every moment and brand him on my memory so when I was alone in my new apartment in Denver, I could imagine he was there with me and maybe I wouldn't hurt so much.

  The show had ended and another one had started when Doc walked into the room. She wasn't much older than me, with a kind face and the limitless energy you expect from the best doctors. I put a finger to my lips and slanted my eyes at Zane when she walked in.

  She smiled and silently checked my vitals. “Looking good,” she whispered. “We can take the saline bag away if you're ready?”

  “Sounds good to me,” I whispered back.

  She unhooked me from the bag and stepped away. I slipped out of Zane's arms. He was out cold, not moving and completely dead the world. I followed Doc out of the room and into her office next door. “Thank you,” I said.

  “Of course. I'm glad you're okay.” She handed me a bag with my clothes and purse. “How are you feeling?”

  “A bit woozy. But good. I'm actually starving.”

  “You should get something to eat,” she said. “Zane should still have some food at his house. I can keep an eye on him until you get back.”

  “I wanted to ask you a quick question before I go.”

  She sat on the edge of her desk and gave me her full attention. “Shoot.”

  “Has Axel asked you about looking into the water source and what makes it so empowering to the vamps?”

  She nodded. “It's a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I have a friend in medical research and I'm hoping he might be able to figure it out or know someone who can.”

  “What about blood?” I asked. “There's something in me, maybe in my blood, that reacts badly with the vampire venom or saliva and, when I vomited, whatever that black stuff was that came out of me was fatally toxic to the vampire.”