Blood Wars: Book 4 (The Talisman Series)

by Brenda Pandos

  “You’re playing with fire,” Nicholas growled.

  “A game I know all too well,” Phil said. “Get rid of the girl and face me like a man.”

  “You’re in danger, Phil,” Nicholas warned. “Look at her. She can’t control herself.”

  Rage flooded me again and an uncontrollable urge to punch things ripped through me. “Bullshit! I’m not going to feed on my friends.”

  Sam glanced backward and eyed me suspiciously while Phil stood firm, keeping his eyes trained on Nicholas.

  “Let’s go,” Sam whispered.

  Fear puffed in my face, forcing the anger to slip into the backseat. The desire to suck them dry revved the gas pedal attached to my stomach.

  Then Mimi wiggled from Nicholas’ grip and bolted from the door, clinging onto Sam’s legs. Phil moved to train his beam on Nicholas, but rational thought was no longer part of my mind. I wanted them—all three of them—and I wouldn’t wait for permission. Within seconds, I had them in my arms and we were flying into the night’s sky.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Put us down!” Phil yelled. “Now, Parker!”

  “I will. I just don’t want them following,” I lied.

  The three clung to me, breathless. Their terror added to the already insatiable smells they emitted and the desire to take a sample while in flight rolled through me. I needed a place to land far from Nicholas’ reach in order to savor my catch.

  “There’s my house,” Sam said, her voice shaky. “Right there.”

  Perfect.

  I dipped downward and watched them tumble to the lawn, hoping for broken legs or something else just as tasty. Sam dug her nails into the soil to get away from me, and she would have if I hadn’t a firm grip on her foot. Red light crossed over my hand and a growl ripped from my throat from the pain as acrid smoke rose from the gash. “What the—”

  Within seconds, the wound zipped together and pink skin covered any evidence of an injury.

  Phil stood a few feet ahead of me, his legs poised to run, finger on the trigger of his pen. A bandage peeked from under his sleeve, evidence of the painful present I’d given him earlier. I wasn’t gentle. “It’s okay, Parker. I know you’ve sampled the buffet, just get a hold of yourself.”

  He whipped out a bag of blood from his pocket and threw it toward me. I snatched it from the air and downed the contents before I could process their movements. The precious seconds gave Sam and Phil time to slip inside the house with Mimi in tow.

  “Better?” he asked from the doorway.

  I unclenched my fists from the bag as a settling feeling pushed deliciously into my muscles. “Yes. Thank you.”

  I flew forward, ready to claim her entryway as home plate. Instead, my body ricocheted off an unseen barrier covering the front door—like bullet proof glass.

  Shaking my head, I stood in the walkway and worked to clear my vision. “What the heck?”

  Phil breathed out a sad sigh. “I can’t let you in, Parker. Not like this.”

  I quickly scanned the night’s sky. My dinner was getting away, and Nicholas was coming. I could feel him.

  “What? I’m confused,” I lied. Let me in, now!

  “I’m sorry. It’s…” He grunted and held his head. “Stop doing that.”

  Sam held onto Phil’s arm, while Mimi watched on from over his shoulder.

  Inching forward, I raised my palms. “Please. They’ll find me. I can’t go back there.”

  “Why not?” Mimi asked.

  “Because they just want to lock me up. Alora’s their Queen now.”

  Mimi barked out a sarcastic laugh. “And you’re going to allow that?”

  I squinted my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You have far more power than you realize, Daughter of Satan.”

  Her words drove a dagger into my still heart. Satan? “I’m not…”

  “You will be,” Phil interrupted. “Once you taste a soul. I should end this now.”

  “I haven’t killed anyone.” I gulped.

  “Yet.”

  “But you were sober—”

  “With the right motivation, yes… I overcame. But you? With your power? You have no reason to do the right thing.”

  Beyond flying and tasting everyone’s emotions, like before, I didn’t feel very powerful. I couldn’t even lure them from the house.

  The air clung with their rancid disapproval, and I grew sickened that I’d actually planned to devour them earlier. “I didn’t know this would happen.”

  “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Phil’s hand shook as he clicked on his laser pen.

  Sam stayed his hand. “Don’t.”

  Phil let out an angry breath. “Leave before I change my mind.”

  Then it all hit and the truth stung. He didn’t come to save me. He came to kill me and every other vampire before things got out of hand. I backed away from him. “Then why don’t you just finish it?”

  Sam was sobbing now.

  “I should,” he said darkly without looking at me. “You’re on your own. Don’t make me regret letting you live.” He grabbed the knob and yanked.

  “Wait. Please…” I begged before he closed the door completely. The click of the lock sealed my fate. I was alone to fend for myself with no one to trust.

  Slipping out of sight, I scanned the starry sky, feeling the air charge with excitement. They were close. I had to leave. Where could I hide?

  “Julia,” I heard Nicholas’ whisper on the air, soft and sweet. Sickeningly sweet. “Stop running.”

  The hair on my neck stood on end. If I thought before was bad in the trust department, now was worse. Surrendering wasn’t an option.

  The abandonment unleashed something inside me and my spine flexed and crackled, and oddly my hands curled in on themselves. A shriek flew from my lips as my body began to shrink and sprout hair all over at once. I pressed my eyes shut and fell on my haunches. Then with another cat like cry, I pounced out of my pajamas and into the tree line.

  I kept a wide-eyed watch on Sam’s yard as a group of them appeared one by one on the grass. Nicholas walked over and picked up my clothing. He sniffed my shirt, then swiveled in a circle, staring into the trees where I hid.

  A growl tore from his throat as his eyes darted around. “She’s figured it out.”

  “What out?” Slide asked. He sported his orange Mohawk again.

  “How to be feline, what else?” Nicholas barked. “I need Katie. Now!”

  “But what about Mimi and the other two?”

  Nicholas’ head whipped around. “They’re not important now!”

  “But they know—” he started.

  “Of course they do. They used to be one of us which will all be for nothing if we don’t find Julia…” He balled the fabric in his hands and grunted.

  Slide dipped his head and turned to leave when a red X of flames licked across his neck. He held both sides of his head, gasping for air. “Not again!”

  “What?” Nicholas breathed in fury. “Where’s your—”

  Slide fell to his knees and his head tumbled clean off.

  “Idiot!” Nicholas turned around and faced the house, pulling up his hood and securing a mask over his face.

  Slide’s headless body writhed on the ground and he sizzled like bacon in a skillet, consumed by flames. The three around him pulled on their hoods and sidestepped around him. One by one, they began to glow and combust into flames. Within seconds the four were nothing but hollow shells. Teeth rained down as if from heaven and skittered among the ashes.

  A jolt hit my furry chest, and I sucked in a quick breath. Strength filled my muscles again. Was there a connection between siring vampires and my strength?

  Nicholas exhaled hard and glowered at the three lone humans standing in the doorway. He scooped up the teeth in the ash.

  “You’ll pay for that, Sam.”

  “Will I?” She flipped the laser and pointed it just at his toes. “What makes you think I wo
n’t do the same to you?”

  A cat-like shriek escaped from my lips sounding like a, “no!” and I jumped from the bushes. My fur burst at the seams as my limbs elongated, revealing pink skin underneath. My bare feet hit the grass. A new terror flowed through me as I stared at my clothing on the ground a few feet ahead.

  I slipped into the bushes just as quickly as I’d emerged from them. Nicholas turned around but not before Sam’s red line breezed over his shoulders. My breath hitched in my throat, expecting the love of my life to follow Slide’s hasty exit from this world. Nothing happened.

  “Julia?” Nicholas breathed. He moved toward me, unfazed at what Sam had tried to do to him. “Please. Don’t run.”

  Sam clicked her pen off and on, and tried it again. “Why doesn’t it work?”

  Phil cussed. “He has armor on.”

  I covered myself with my hands. “Stay back.”

  “Come with me. Please,” he said softly.

  I ground my teeth together. He’d escaped the laser’s light, but how? Details from the past waded through the river of desire—about what he’d told me when we were in Harry’s office. Venom had impervious powers against certain elements, and could strengthen weapons and protect vampires against being staked.

  Hope crawled through me. I could do the same. I could protect myself.

  “I’m not going back in your cage,” I hissed.

  “Come on. There’s no cage. You can roam the house freely until you get control over your urges.”

  I shook my head, smelling the lies. “You don’t think I can read you? That I don’t know what you’re feeling?”

  His spine stiffened. “Let me explain.”

  “I trusted you with everything and now, you’ve turned me into a monster. It was never about Cain, or about us. It’s always been about your mother and her desire to rule.”

  Nicholas rolled his eyes. “If you’d just listen—”

  “I’m done listening.”

  I turned on my heels and flew over the trees. Nicholas tried to follow on the ground below me, but from the fear and frustration the feline took over. I gave him the slip in the redwood forest near my home.

  CHAPTER SIX

  After a grueling day spent within the dark recesses of a burned out redwood stump, willing myself to stay in cat form, the sun finally set. A dead raccoon lay covered in flies just outside the opening. Animal blood didn’t suffice my appetite like a human’s did, but at least I could think more rational over my cravings.

  Crawling from my hole, the desire to find another animal snack flickered through my kitty mind. I skulked along the trail, watching everything scurry from sight. Apparently, they’d had dealings with predators before.

  My mind kept whirring with what had happened and what I’d remembered Nicholas telling me from the past. I knew I should return to human form, if I hadn’t of lost my clothes. That in itself was puzzling. Scarlett had morphed from cat to human form many times without ending up naked. Why couldn’t I? She could also read minds, which was a total loss for me.

  The biggest thing I’d decided was avoiding the title: Daughter of Satan. Somewhere below my insatiable appetite, I felt remorse, and vampire or not, I had morals. I didn’t want to kill.

  My paws padded down the trail close to my home, and I emerged from the tree line. A giant dumpster filled with furniture and sheetrock poked out from the top in broken bits, reminding me that everything, including my humanity, was gone.

  Climbing up a nearby tree with ease, I leapt onto the second story and slipped behind the tarp into my room. New carpet and a soft blue paint decorated the walls—a room I’d never enjoy. To my disappointment, there weren’t any of my clothes hanging in my closet.

  I morphed into human form again and my stomach rumbled in hunger from the expended energy. The days and nights had blended into one long unending nightmare, and I wanted it to end. A fluttering of a nearby heart and the scent of Oil of Olay mixed with a hint of curiosity filled the air.

  “Breakfast,” I murmured and moved to the window.

  Below, our nosey neighbor tiptoed across the lawn. Gripping the wooden window sill until it flaked in my hands, I warred with my cravings. I could already feel the warmth of her essence running down my throat. Maybe if I snuck up on her, knocked her out, and took one sip, she wouldn’t remember a thing.

  “You can do it, Julia,” I coached myself.

  Her frail body was in my sights before I could stop myself.

  At the crackle of the leaves under my feet, my neighbor whirled around. “Julia? Where are your clothes?”

  Caught, I merely smiled before I tapped my knuckles against her forehead. Her head snapped backward and a sickening crunch followed. Then she crumbled before me to the ground.

  “No!”

  I leaned over her, trying to right her head from its awkward angle. The fluttering inside her chest slowed and stopped. Dread washed over me as I applied compressions. Her ribs busted under my hands as if they were toothpicks.

  A nearby siren startled me. I lifted her body and flew to the second story, bringing her inside. All I could think about was the delicious blood pooling in her legs, at the waste. Guilt scourged through me.

  Once you taste a soul, Julia. It’ll be over for you, Phil’s voice said in my mind as I rubbed a tentative finger over her wrist.

  Damn it! I hadn’t had a chance to drink, let alone take her soul. Now what?

  My stomach bunched in hunger as my limbs began to shake in withdrawals. Liquid began to trickle down her legs and dripped on my new carpeting, distracting me. I moved her into the bathroom and dropped her in the tub. Her head flopped to the side and she stared at me, vacant and sad. A small wound on her arm bubbled with red nectar from the gods. I lifted her skin to my lips.

  “Don’t,” Nicholas said from behind me.

  I squealed and pulled the shower curtain off the rings to cover myself. “Get out of here!”

  And as if an invisible vacuum had turned on, his body floated off the ground and zipped from the bathroom out of sight. At the crash, I rounded the corner. In the wall was a human shaped hole.

  “Holy crap, Nicholas! When my parents—” I stopped. Somehow in my transformation, I’d forgotten about them. Were they being held hostage at the mansion? Were they blood slaves, or worse, new vampires too?

  “Don’t worry. They’re fine where you left them.” The sarcasm bleached the air, and I almost gagged.

  My anger flared. “If you hurt them.”

  “You’ll what? Take care of them like you did for what’s-her-name rotting in your tub?”

  “Shut-up.”

  “Are you done going rogue?”

  “I’m not rogue.”

  He tsked. “This is exactly why we don’t let newborns out on their own. It’s dangerous.”

  “I’m not dangerous!” My voice echoed against the houses further down the block.

  “Step away from the body and invite me in.” He gritted his teeth and dusted the grime off his jacket.

  “Why?”

  “Because… she’s dead and you can’t drink dead blood.”

  I scowled, hating that he kept treating me like a child. “I’ll deal with her.”

  “When?”

  I huffed. “Tonight.”

  “I don’t trust you.”

  “Why is this such a big deal?”

  “There are consequences if you don’t follow the rules. That’s why.” He leaned forward. “All things a sire teaches his fledgling.”

  I glared at him, envying his prior experience. “Yeah, but I sired you.” The immature words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  “Come on, Julia.” He gave me a look.

  “Save it.” Racked with guilt, I disappeared into the bathroom and returned with the body. “Here. Take her if you’re feeling so saint like.”

  He frowned. “Not funny. Let’s go.”

  I stepped backward into the house. “I’m not going with you.”

&nbs
p; “Julia!” he growled. “Rule number one. You dispose of your kills. Rule number two…”

  “I’m not a killer.”

  He smiled mischievously and dropped the body. “What do you call this?”

  “An accident.”

  He moved to touch me, pressing his hands on the invisible barrier between us. “Please, let me in.”

  His gaze pulled at me, and I couldn’t help but walk forward and poke my head out of the window. Smiling, he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. His finger trailed down my neck to my arm, then to my waist. “See? This isn’t all that bad. Just let me teach you.”

  I sucked in a breath, mesmerized by his amazing touch. I wanted this. I wanted him. And I needed help. Then his lips were on mine, hungry and hard. The shower curtain crinkled as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me from the window, crushing me to him. Imagining the old days, I let go of my fears while the electricity hummed through my body.

  “I love you, Julia,” he breathed between kisses. “I did this for us. So we’d be together forever.”

  I held close to those words, to the fact we could travel anywhere and we didn’t need jobs, to the invincibility, to the immortality. That’s what I’d wanted, too. Well, not the bloodsucking part, but maybe we could make this work. We could be discrete with our blood needs and invest in a blood bank.

  Below us, a dark sedan drove slowly past the house and parked, interrupting me when I’d just about planned the future. A guy with a flashlight exited the vehicle. I sniffed before thinking, catching his yummy scent on the air. Then the evil me reared her hungry head.

  “And we’ll start our training with him.” Nicholas gave me an evil look.

  The stranger’s scent thickened as his heart pounded harder. I imagined playing with him, making him afraid, listening to him beg for mercy.

  Nicholas’ soft lips tickled my ear as he turned me so I’d face the stranger. “He’s alone. Vulnerable.” He tugged at the curtain, trying to pry it from my hands. “How can any man resist a naked woman?”

  I clutched the curtain. “I don’t want to do it like that.”

  “Then wear the curtain. Just go.” He pushed me off the edge of the roofline.