"You bit me. Remember?" She hoped this would convince him.
"But it took three bites from Trent before I changed completely. Three," he said again.
She lifted a shoulder. "I don't know what to tell you. I thought you knew how this worked." For a moment Tim looked unsure, but then his eyes hardened. "I suppose it doesn't matter. You're like me now. We can be together."
"Why do you want me at your side?" She had to ask. They'd always been good friends since they were young, but had only dated four months. In that time, surely Tim realized there hadn't been any sparks, but then she hadn't realized the relationship's doom until Derek had showed up.
"You really don't know." He looked perplexed. "I love you."
She hadn't expected him to declare his affections. Sure, she knew he cared about her. She cared about him, too, had even contemplated sleeping with him with the hopes their relationship would flourish into more. Now she realized it had been a stupid idea. When Tim declared his love, she had no doubt he believed it to be true. His emotions were heightened like hers were. The line of love and being in love could have easily become blurred.
"You're my girlfriend," he said.
"I know." She had to stick to the plan. She had to make Tim believe she was on his side.
"Say it," he demanded.
Her brows furrowed, not understanding what he meant.
"Say you love me," he clarified. His features were a mixture of hope and longing. The vulnerable Tim broke through for a moment.
Tears sprung to her eyes. "I love you." She didn't really lie. She did love him. She just didn't love him the way he wanted her to. She wore an earpiece and everyone on the vampire hunting party heard her declaration.
"You don't lie very well," he said with a heavy sigh. His eyes changed color, turning dark like shards of black marble. The kindhearted boy she grew up with was gone.
"We're friends too," she reminded him, hoping he would see she wanted to help him.
He ran a hand through his hair. "Friends," he said the word as if testing the truth of it. He met her gaze. "I want more. Come with me and I'll show you how it can be with us."
"What exactly does that mean?" she asked.
"We take what we need." He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Feed off the humans and move on."
"Dear God, do you not hear yourself? You were human a few days ago and now you act like you don't remember. Do we go on a rampage and rip peoples throat's out? I don't want blood on my hands."
He chuckled. "You'll change your mind if you want to survive. It'll become easier. It did for me."
She shook her head. "That's the thing. I don't want it to." She had to convince him to stop the killing. He didn't ask to be changed any more than she had. Why should she be offered a chance for a future, but not him? She stood and reached for his hand. "Please, let me help you. You don't have to feed off of anyone. There's another way."
"Another way?" He pulled away from her. "Who have you been talking to? The hunter? He'd sooner end your existence than help you."
She'd made a mistake. She shouldn't have spoken of another way when she was supposed to be afraid and wanting him to help her. The game was up.
Tim's eyes narrowed as he searched for the threat. His body stiffened and she didn't have to turn around to know Derek stood behind her. Tim's features hardened into a snarl of frustration and his fangs elongated again. "I'll be back for you," he told her.
"I don't think you will," Derek spoke and he came into her line of vision. Tremayne had moved to the other side of Tim.
She glanced around her and frowned. None of the patrons in the restaurant seemed to notice the disruption or that two of the men surrounding them sported medieval weapons—Tremayne with a broadsword and Derek with his crossbow.
Tim's lips curved. "She's mine, you know."
"No, she's not," Derek spat.
"We'll see." He tilted his head as he studied Derek. "She's been bitten, hunter. Surely, you've seen the change in her by now." Tim's gaze shifted to Tremayne who had inched closer. Tim's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, obviously picking up on the 'I'm not human either' vibe from Tremayne.
"That's right, vampire." Tremayne grinned, showing his fangs. "I'm a blood drinker, too."
Tim's gaze riveted to Sloane. "He's the one who finished what I started. I smell him on you."
"We can help you, Tim," she implored. "Please come with us."
"No." He backed away from her as if she asked him to shave his head and join a cult.
"You're surrounded," Tremayne told him, his voice even tempered, but with a note of finality. It didn't sound like a threat, but it didn't leave any room for negotiation either.
Tim smirked with a chuckle. "Do you think so? Did you truly believe I wouldn't have an escape plan in place? I can't tell you how disappointed I am that I had to use it." He clapped his hands and everyone seated in the restaurant, including the patrons at the outside tables, stood. "Now!" Tim shouted. The patrons turned in unison like animatronics soldiers. Tim glanced at Sloane one last time. "I have something you want," he told her.
"Tim, don't go." She tried to push her way around the people under Tim's spell. They reached toward her, pawing her with outstretched hands.
"You know where to find me," he said.
"Tim! Wait!" She tried to go after him, but a woman grabbed her arm, holding her back.
Tim flitted, disappearing within the crowd.
"What's happening?" She glanced at Derek as she broke free from the woman clasping her arm. "Are they vampires?"
"They're glamoured," Tremayne answered. The people kept coming at them with trancelike intent, their grip like steel. Tremayne motioned to Cassandra. "Let's put them to sleep, shall we?"
She nodded and used the Vulcan-like pinch and the patrons dropped where they stood. Tremayne flitted around to the back of the crowd and started there. Derek and Wade did there best to do the same. Sloane would have to learn this little trick. Just one of many techniques she still had to master.
It wasn't too long before sounds of snoring filled the air.
"Will they be all right," Sloane asked with concern, her gaze landing on each of the victims Tim had manipulated. Men, women and children…no one had been spared.
"They'll wake up with a slight headache and bit embarrassed perhaps, but they won't remember anything else." Derek placed his hand on her shoulder.
She glanced at him. "I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?"
"We didn't catch Tim."
"It's not your fault. He's progressed farther with his abilities than we thought he would."
"Too fast," Tremayne said as he approached them. "I would almost believe someone is helping him."
Derek shook his head. "We eliminated his brother and the maker. There was no one else."
"Now where do we hunt for him?" Wade stepped over a snoring man to reach them. "He won't fall for a trap so readily next time."
"Tim said something to me." All eyes turned toward Sloane. "He said he had something I'd want and I would know where to find him."
"Do you know what he's talking about?" Derek asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know what he has that I would want, but I do know where we'll find him. Whenever we were together his goodbye was always the same: You know where to find me."
Wade threw up his hands. "Please, the suspense is killing me. Where?" This won Wade an elbow jab from Cassandra. "Ow." He rubbed his chest.
Sloane ignored their antics. "Tim is going home."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Derek stood in the archway of what would have been a young girl's room. Sloane sat on the bed decorated in pink fluff and frill. Stuffed animals were piled at one end waiting for their owner to return.
Sloane held a doll with long blonde braids against her chest, but it was the stain darkening the carpet that held her fascination.
"Tim's father remarried eleven years ago and he had a child with his new wife," she told him with
out looking up. "This is…was Kylie's room." Her voice choked and she inhaled deeply. "She just turned ten a month ago." She placed the doll on the bed and looked at him. "Kylie was only ten."
He sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how difficult this would be for you. You knew Tim's family, cared about them."
She pushed away from him and shook her head. "No, you're not understanding. Yes, I'm sad Kylie's gone, my heart breaks for her, but the memory of her is like a distant dream." Her attention shifted to the bloodstain at her feet. "It's her blood. All I can think of is how her blood would taste. It's filling my senses, making my mouth water."
His brows furrowed. "Sloane…"
She held up her hand. "Don't tell me everything is going to be all right." Her eyes were bright with worry. "My reaction is scaring the hell out of me."
"Let's find, Tremayne." He took her hand, not wanting her to argue with him. He fought monsters, brought them down and ended their sorry arses. She warned him of what she was capable of doing and still he hesitated to do what was expected of a hunter. He should have staked her and dusted her, but for the first time in his life, he couldn't follow through. Whatever the connection he had with Sloane, he couldn't pretend it wasn't there. He'd move heaven and earth to keep her safe. A corny declaration, but he meant the pledge.
They strode down the hall to the parents' bedroom, where the gore and destruction was far worse. The parents had put up a fight. They did not give up their lives so readily. Most likely because they had a little girl in the other room they had wished to protect, but in the end they were not strong enough.
Sloane by all means was not his child, but he could understand the need to protect, even if it meant his own demise. "Tremayne?" he called for the vampire's attention.
Tremayne turned to face him. He took one look at Sloane and he was at her side with a quick flitted movement. He gripped her shoulders, forcing her to peer into his eyes. "You are fine. You will listen to me. This is old blood, tainted and not for you."
Derek had no doubt the vampire was using glamour to force her into submission. It was a necessary evil and he wouldn't interfere.
She nodded. "Tainted blood. Not for me," she repeated in a singsong voice.
"Say it again," Tremayne insisted.
"The blood is tainted." Her hand went to her mouth as if she were about to be ill. "Excuse me." She whirled on her feet and flew for the door.
"Take her outside," Tremayne told him. "She needs to clear her head."
Derek nodded. He found her in the hall, leaning against the wall, hunched over and gripping her knees.
"I hate this. I hate being like this." She glanced at him with tear stained cheeks.
"You're strong-willed. You'll get through this." Only he wasn't sure if he was saying so for his benefit or for hers. Maybe it was a little of both.
"Will I?" she snapped and stood up straight. "Is Tremayne going to follow me around and keep me in line every time I slip up? Is he going to glamour me into not wanting to suck people dry?" Her gaze shifted to his neck and he fought the urge to cover the area where she'd bitten him earlier.
"You won't be abandoned," he said firmly.
"And Tim?" Her gaze met his. I know in my heart he needs to be eliminated, but I can't help but remember him before… He was kind and this vampire came in and changed him. Made him a monster. And I'm one, too."
"We all have the potential of being a monster. Even humans can be evil. Craving blood is not what defines who you are. It's how the blood is obtained that labels you a fiend or not." His brows furrowed. How had his way of thinking changed? A monster is a monster no matter the pretty package. His father's words came back to taunt him. He swallowed hard and ignored his years of training. He took a step toward her. "I have your back, Sloane. Your compassion will win out and you'll learn to control the urge."
"How can you be so sure? What do you know about me, Derek? Kissing and making out behind the bleachers when we were teens and now sharing a few precious moments between the sheets, doesn't give you the insight to who I really am. You don't know me anymore than I know you."
He didn't let her heated words affect him. She was trying to push him away and he wouldn't let her. "I know you better than you think. I witnessed you in action when you stood up to a vampire with only a frying pan for a weapon. I saw a woman who wept when her dog had been hurt. I see a woman who bravely met the man who had bitten her, but still hoped to save him. I may not know everything there is to know about you, but those qualities are damn well good enough for me."
She took a ragged breath and let it out with a whoosh. "Well then…" Her hand swept a stubborn strand of hair away from her eyes.
"I'd hate to break up this tender moment," Wade said and they both turned to find him standing in the hall next to the bathroom door. "I think I've found something you'll want to see," Wade said and stepped aside with a wave of his hand.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sloane's stomach clenched into a knot of dread, but she forced her feet to move. She stepped inside the bathroom, decorated in blue accents—towels, decorative soap and shower curtain were all different shades of blue. It was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the message scrawled on the bathroom mirror in dark red. It wasn't blood, but nail polish. Her hand reached for the bottle sitting by the hand soap. Candy Cane Red, the label read. This was the polish she had bought for— She stared at the scrawled words. Do you want her back?
"Omigod. He has Kylie." Sloane's voice was a hoarse whisper. She fished out her cell from her pocket ready to call Tim, but Derek placed a hand over hers.
"No." Derek shook his head. "If he has her, she's dead or he's made her like him."
"How can I take that chance? My God, she's only a child."
Derek's gaze riveted to Tremayne's. "Tell her."
The vampire didn't look unsympathetic, but his words were straightforward. "I'm sorry, but Derek's correct. Tim has shown very little control and a child is too tempting to a newly made Nosferatu."
Sloane made eye contact with Wade, but he lifted a brow with a look that clearly stated, you've gotta be joking.
"You saw the blood in her bedroom," Derek reminded her.
"The blood." She pushed by Derek and sprinted to Kylie's room.
Derek and the others were close on her heels. She hunkered down on her hands and knees to examine the blood. She inhaled. The scent filled her nostrils, strong and…familiar. "It's not hers." She looked over her shoulder and met Tremayne's curious expression. "I know it's not hers. Tim forced me to drink from him. This is his blood." She stared at the dried blood, a large pool that had spread through the carpet fibers. "He died in this room." The realization hit her. "Maybe he was in here trying to save Kylie. Maybe Kylie got away from the vampire that attacked Tim and his family."
"You're making a hero out of Tim when he's incapable of being one," Wade insisted, but even his voice held a note of uncertainty.
"He wasn't always a fiend!" she snapped. "He was a young man who loved his sister. You didn't see him with her. He took care of her. He would have died for her."
"He may have saved her from an attack, but the vamp who ravished this family would not have let her go," Derek said. "As soon as he was finished with Tim, he would have gone after Kylie." He looked to his brother. "I thought you said everyone was accounted for except for Tim."
Wade cleared his throat. "You saw the blood." He gestured toward the floor. "We assumed the vamp…you know…devoured her. Like you said she was only ten, she hadn't matured..."
It wasn't a sloppy assumption. Sloane knew this from what Derek had told her. Some vamps didn't just drain the children; they devoured them, leaving nothing behind. She swallowed back the dread, not wanting to believe what Wade hinted, but the alternative didn't sit well either. How could a ten year old survive when all the adults in the family had been either turned or drained dry?
Derek strode to the window that had been left op
en. The pink frilly drapes blew softly in the wind, both graceful and haunting. He glanced outside, where he would be able to see the backyard. "Maybe she did get away." Derek pointed. "There."
Then she remembered. Perched on the lower limbs of a large oak tree, sat a wooden structure. Tim and Trent had built the tree house for their sister last year for her ninth birthday. "Could she have hidden in there?" Derek asked and she knew it was for her benefit. Clearly, everyone had written the child off for dead. She could have kissed Derek for the effort.
Tremayne moved closer to the window. His light eyes narrowing in on the tree house sitting among the leaves like a child's playtime haven. "Hmm… I'd like a closer look, but I believe the tree house is lined with—"
Sloane didn't wait for Tremayne to finish. She flitted in a whoosh of wind. The frilly pink curtains whipped around, slapping Tremayne and Derek in the face, their curses following in her wake.
Tremayne called after her, but she was beyond hearing his warning.
She didn't climb the tree. She leapt with ease to the lowest limb where the tree house sat, but once she touched the door to the tree house, sparks flew. She screamed and fell back, her arms flailing in the wind before she landed on the ground with such force it knocked the breath out of her.
"Sloane!" Derek called to her. He slid to a stop and plopped down beside her, his features a mass of concern.
Burnt flesh hit her nostrils and she grimaced. She sat up and stared at her blistered palm. Her flesh showed signs of healing, but it didn't stop it from hurting any less. "What happened?" Confusion knitted her brows as she glanced at the tree house above her.
Tremayne hunkered down on the other side of her and took her hand, giving it a once over. "If you had waited," Tremayne said with a note of annoyance ringing through, "I was about to tell you the tree house might be lined with aspen. Thanks for confirming my suspicions." He indicated the burnt flesh as evidence.
"Okay, I'm assuming aspen burns vampires," she said as Derek helped her to her feet, being careful to hold onto her elbow and not her hand.
Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) Page 15