Amaury's Hellion

by Tina Folsom

  And now she’d talk to Delilah about it. The woman seemed to have her head well screwed on, and maybe Delilah would help her figure out how she could teach Amaury the lesson he needed to learn before they could start their lives together.

  With a determined move she took the towel and wiped her face dry then looked in the mirror. A loud thump startled her. She listened, but a second later everything was quiet again. She let her hand run through her locks before she turned back to the door and unlocked it.

  The moment she opened the bathroom door and stepped out, she heard a commotion in the front of the house. A shriek from Delilah and some muffled grunts mixed with the sound of heavy items hitting the floor made her rush down the corridor.

  Nina reached the living room a few seconds later. The picture greeting her made her heart stop in shock. Delilah struggled to get out of the grip of a man who Nina instantly recognized as Johan, the vampire who had attacked her a few nights earlier. Carl, obviously in an attempt to help her, was fighting against two others whose backs were turned to Nina.

  She gasped. One of the men snapped his head around and spotted her. He released Carl, leaving his companion to deal with him. In shock, she stared at the man who approached her now and who she’d first met at the nightclub: Luther.

  There was a curious expression on his face, almost as if he was surprised to see her here.

  “Now look at that. Amaury’s little tart.”

  At first it appeared he had little interest in her. But then she took a step back, and he was suddenly on her. Nina didn’t dare move. When Luther inhaled a deep breath, she instinctively knew it wasn’t a good sign. A flicker in his eyes confirmed that her luck had just changed. She cursed Amaury. Had he not brought her to Samson’s house for her safety, she wouldn’t be in danger now.

  “Who would have thought?” He took in another breath. “Yes, two birds with one stone. Lady Luck is on my side tonight. At first you were just an annoyance to get rid of, snooping around in my business, but now … your value has just gone up.”

  Luther took a curl of her hair and twisted it around his finger. Nina turned her head so it slipped out of this grip.

  “You’re gonna pay for this,” she warned him, feeling she had to be brave.

  He let out a bitter laugh. “I’ve already paid a long time ago. Now finally, I’ll get something in exchange. I think Amaury will regret having made you his mate, and so will you. He’s turned you into a target.”

  Nina’s chest tightened.

  By making her his mate, Amaury had handed Luther another bargaining chip. If he wanted revenge on Amaury, what better way to take it out on his newly bonded mate? She glanced past him where Delilah had given up her struggle against Johan who held her arms behind her back. She realized instantly what Luther was planning to do to both of them, her and Delilah. Her fear tightened her throat, making her unable to speak.

  Luther looked back over his shoulder. “Tie her up. This one too. We’re taking both.”

  Johan grunted and tied Delilah’s wrists with duct tape. Nina kicked Luther into his shin when his attention was diverted by Carl who still struggled with the other intruder.

  “Don’t, Nina; it’s not worth it,” Delilah warned.

  “Bastard!” Nina screamed the moment Luther pinned her against the door frame, glaring at her.

  “Try that again.” The challenge in his voice carried a menacing warning, a clear indication that he wanted to inflict pain.

  Behind him another figure moved.

  “Nina?”

  Her ears were playing tricks on her. The voice Nina heard belonged to a dead man. She shook her head trying to clear her mind, but then the man came into view behind Luther. No, it couldn’t be true. He was dead. She’d buried him a month ago, buried his charred body.

  “Eddie?”

  Luther released his grip as Eddie pushed in. “Nina! What are you doing here?”

  “Eddie!”

  She was dreaming. Eddie was alive. How?

  “But, you died.” She touched his arm, looked at his face. It was Eddie, but he was different. He looked stronger than before, and there was a strange glint in his eyes. His skin was clearer than before. No pimples, no sign of blemishes, when just before his death he’d been fighting a bout of acne.

  Was her mind playing tricks on her?

  All of a sudden, a movement she caught from the corner of her eye distracted her from perusing the man in front of her. Nina whipped her head to the right. Carl had scrambled to his feet and held a stake in his hand, as he jumped toward Eddie, intent on killing him.

  Without thinking, she pushed Eddie out of the way and took Carl’s impact. The wooden stake, while blunt, drove into her arm. It didn’t penetrate deeply, but nevertheless managed to break through a layer of muscle. Blood dripped from her. She clamped her good hand over her injured arm, trying to press hard against the stabbing pain. To no avail. A dull ache coiled through her body.

  When she looked up, she saw her brother’s face before her, his eyes red and sharp fangs protruding from his lips. Reality hit her harder than the stake had seconds earlier: her baby brother was a vampire. And not only that, he was working for the bad guy. For Luther who now restrained Carl.

  “Oh, no, Eddie.”

  His fangs came closer and closer. Nina felt her knees buckle as nausea overwhelmed her.

  “Please, no.”

  Would her own brother kill her? It was too much for her mind to handle. Black blotches appeared in front of her eyes. She wouldn’t faint, no, she couldn’t. She wasn’t some weak girl who’d fall …

  Thirty-three

  The light from the open door spilled onto the sidewalk. Samson stormed up the front steps to his home just ahead of Amaury.

  The hallway and living room were scenes of destruction: overthrown furniture, broken glass, and blood. Amaury’s stomach twisted painfully. He inhaled sharply, and the scent of Nina’s blood hit him.

  No!

  He stumbled into the room, almost tripping over Samson. On the floor lay Carl, a heap of torn muscle and blood, but he was breathing, his eyes open.

  “Where’s Delilah?” Samson asked.

  Carl’s response was a gurgle. “Gone.”

  “And Nina?” Amaury’s throat was so dry he could barely talk. There was no response from Carl.

  Behind them the rest of their colleagues charged into the house, Gabriel barking commands.

  “Zane, Quinn—check upstairs. Yvette, Ricky—take the back of the house. Oliver, we need you here.”

  Samson knelt next to Carl who’d lost consciousness, blood pouring from his stomach wounds. Why they hadn’t outright killed him, Amaury couldn’t figure out.

  “He needs fresh blood. Gabriel, we need a donor.”

  Before Gabriel could answer, Oliver pushed through the door. “You’ve got one.”

  Without hesitation he crouched down and pulled back his sleeve.

  “Carl has never bitten anyone,” Samson explained.

  “Well, he’s just gonna have to bite the bullet now, won’t he?” Oliver placed his wrist at Carl’s lips.

  “He won’t be able to. One of us will have to open your vein for him.”

  Oliver nodded at Samson and stretched his wrist out to him.

  “Thank you. But Gabriel will have to do it for you,” Samson said and motioned Gabriel to approach.

  Amaury instantly realized why. As a blood-bonded vampire he didn’t take blood from anybody else but Delilah. Even just piercing Oliver’s skin to open the vein would make him taste some of his employee’s blood. Samson’s body would reject the foreign essence, making him sick in the process.

  Gabriel took Oliver’s wrist and set his fangs, piercing the skin. A moment later, Oliver placed his wrist at Carl’s mouth again and let the blood drip between his lips. The red liquid ran into his mouth, and seconds later Carl’s lips latched around the wound. He started suckling.

  “Nothing in the back of the house,” Ricky announced as he
and Yvette came back into the living room. “No sign of them.”

  Amaury exchanged a terse look with Samson. Their mates had been taken, and any blood-bonded vampire would give his own life to have his mate returned unharmed. Never in the last four hundred years had he ever thought he’d feel what he felt right now: devastation. Not even the pain he’d experienced in his head all these years could compare to it. Nothing felt as painful as knowing Nina was in the hands of a madman.

  “We need to find out what happened and where he’s taken them.” Samson glanced in Gabriel’s direction.

  “I’m sorry, Samson: I can’t lock onto Carl’s memories while he’s unconscious. We need to wait until he comes to.”

  Amaury shook his head. “We don’t have time. Nina is injured. I smelled her blood.”

  He paced nervously. What if the injury was life threatening? He could heal her with his blood, but he had to get to her. He needed to do something.

  “She must have been fighting him when he took them. Always the fighter,” he mumbled to himself. He cast a look at Samson who stood motionless next to Gabriel.

  “How can you be so calm?”

  Samson’s lips pressed into a thin line. “It doesn’t help either Delilah or Nina if we lose our heads. That’s not how we can save them.”

  Amaury huffed, but kept his next comment to himself.

  Samson put a hand on his shoulder. “I know exactly what you feel right now. I’m going through the same thing.” For a moment the pain was evident in his hazel eyes. Yes, he suffered as much as Amaury did, if not more. Not only did Samson stand to lose his mate, but also his unborn child. Even without his gift, Amaury recognized the pain in his friend.

  He clasped his hand over Samson’s. “I know.”

  “Upstairs is clear.” Zane and Quinn entered the room. “It must have all happened downstairs. Nothing was disturbed upstairs. No sign of forced entry.”

  “You mean they let him in?” Samson asked.

  “That’s what it looks like.” Zane nodded at the door. “It doesn’t look like the front door is damaged.”

  There was a loud groan from the floor. Everybody’s eyes snapped to Carl who’d released Oliver’s wrist and coughed.

  Samson dropped down to his level. “Carl, we nearly lost you.”

  “I couldn’t stop them.” Carl’s eyes lowered in shame.

  “How many were there?”

  “Three. Luther, I recognized him, and two others.” His voice was still weak.

  “What happened?”

  Carl swallowed and accepted Samson’s help to sit up. “Miss Delilah was in the living room when I heard the front door open. By the time I ran into the hallway, they’d already stormed in and grabbed her.”

  “Where was Nina? Was she fighting them? Is that how she got injured?” Amaury interrupted.

  There was a pissed-off look on Carl’s face when he answered. “Oh, she was fighting alright, but not against them.”

  “What?” Samson looked from Carl to Amaury.

  “No, you’re lying!” The implication buried in Carl’s words conjured up images that twisted a knife in Amaury’s gut.

  Carl scrambled to his feet. “I never lie. I was fighting one of them, and she was talking to Luther. And then the one I fought saw her. They knew each other. When he was distracted I tried to stake him, but she threw herself in between and saved him.”

  Amaury gasped. “No. You must be wrong.” Nina wouldn’t betray them. He would have felt her treachery, sensed her deceit if there had been any in the heart.

  “I’m not wrong,” Carl barked. “She took my stake in her arm to save him. She was all worried about him, screamed ‘Oh, no, Eddie’—”

  “Eddie?” Amaury’s heart knotted.

  “Her brother?” Samson asked.

  Amaury nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. His mate had betrayed them and taken her brother’s side. “She wouldn’t do that to me. She wouldn’t.” But she had. There could be no doubt now. Why had he not seen it?

  “Was that why they didn’t kill you, so you could tell me what she’d done?” Was that her last cruel deed toward him?

  Carl shook his head. “Luther left me alive to give you and Samson a message.”

  Samson faced Carl. “What’s the message?”

  “His words were: Vivian needs company.”

  Amaury felt as if his guts had just been ripped out. For the first time he could see a physical manifestation of Samson’s pain. His friend’s knees buckled, and he had to grip Gabriel’s arm to stay upright.

  Zane’s and Quinn’s inquisitive stares landed on Amaury. They knew Samson wasn’t in any condition to answer. “Vivian is dead.” Luther was planning to kill their mates. But then, if he wanted to kill Nina, wouldn’t that mean she wasn’t on Luther’s side after all? Or had his plan changed after he’d realized that Nina was now Amaury’s mate? Had she in fact been on Luther’s side in the beginning, but by bonding with him signed her own death sentence?

  “I know where they are,” Samson suddenly said. “Let’s go.” He stepped toward the door, only to be blocked by Gabriel and his New York crew.

  “No.”

  Amaury instantly took Samson’s flank, getting into battle position. Why would their colleagues stop them from rescuing their women?

  “Get out of my way, Gabriel.” Samson’s voice was a snarl.

  “Can’t do that. It’s too close to sunrise. Whatever you’re planning, we won’t have enough time tonight. And besides, we’re not going in without a plan.”

  “He’s right, Sir,” Carl’s voice came from behind. Samson and Amaury turned to him.

  “If he wanted to kill Delilah right away, he would have done it here. There’s a reason he left me alive to tell you.” Carl paused. “He’s going to wait until you get there, so you’ll have to watch when he kills her.”

  Samson nodded slowly.

  And Nina—was nobody thinking of Amaury’s mate? Were they all convinced that she was a traitor? Amaury wasn’t. He couldn’t allow that thought to take residence in his mind. If Luther wanted to kill her, it could only mean one thing: she wasn’t on his side after all. Or was it all a big deception? Had Carl misunderstood? Was he planning to kill only Delilah and not Nina?

  Nina, where are you? Talk to me.

  He reached out to her with his mind, but there was no reply. She should hear him. There were only two reasons why she wouldn’t reply: she either refused because she was with Luther, or she was dead. Amaury couldn’t accept either reason.

  Thirty-four

  A familiar voice broke through the fog.

  Nina, where are you? Talk to me.

  Then another voice, this one closer. “Nina, can you hear me?”

  Nina opened her eyes. The light around her was dim. She found herself lying on a cold stone floor.

  “Thank God, you’re okay,” Delilah said. Nina took her helping arm to sit up. Her side hurt. She looked down at her arm. There were traces of encrusted blood on the spot where Carl had caught her with the stake, but the wound had closed and healed.

  “Where are we?”

  Nina glanced around the dark room. It was made of stone and concrete without any windows and only a few wall sconces for light. There was one heavy-looking door, no furniture or decoration. If she had to guess, she’d say it was underground.

  “I don’t know. They blindfolded me on the way here. But we were in the car for over half an hour, maybe longer.”

  Nina gave Delilah a cautious look. She didn’t appear to be upset with her, when she had every right to be so. After all, she’d prevented Carl from killing one of the vampires, her brother.

  “How’s your arm?”

  “I think it’s fine. It seems to have healed already. How long was I out for?” Judging by the state of her injury she guessed at least two days.

  “Only a couple of hours. Your brother healed the injury.”

  So she hadn’t imagined it all. Eddie was alive, and he was a vampire—a vampire work
ing for the other side. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  Delilah squeezed her hand. “I understand.”

  Nina shook her head. “I couldn’t let Carl kill him. He’s still my brother.”

  “Nina. Please, I would have done the same in your situation. I had a brother once, too. I would have done anything to save him.” There was a faraway look in her eyes before she snapped back to the present. “Now we just have to convince Samson and Amaury of your innocence. They think you were working for Luther all along.”

  Nina swallowed the shock of Delilah’s statement. Amaury thought she was a traitor? Yet he’d bonded with her? It didn’t make any sense.

  “When did you talk to him?”

  “On the way here.”

  “They left you a cell phone?”

  Delilah chuckled softly. “Of course not. I communicated with Samson via our bond.”

  Her expression must have been utterly confused, because Delilah clarified, “Telepathically. All blood-bonded couples do it.”

  “Oh.” She’d never heard of such a thing. “You mean I can do that with Amaury?”

  Delilah nodded. “I’m sure he’s already tried to reach you, but you were out cold.”

  “I’m normally not the person who faints.” Nina, the self-confessed vampire fighter, had to faint when push came to shove. How embarrassing.

  “You were injured; you had a lot to deal with. The shock of seeing your brother. It was just too much for you. Sometimes our body just tells us when we’ve had enough.”

  Delilah seemed calm considering the situation they were in.

  “I didn’t know Eddie is alive ...”

  Delilah squeezed Nina’s hand. “I know that now. But when our guys got back to the house they found Carl—”

  A bolt of guilt shot through Nina. “Carl—oh God, Luther killed him. I’m so sorry.” She pushed back the tears.

  Delilah shook her head. “Carl’s alive. But he told them that you fought on Luther’s side when you defended Eddie. That’s why they believe you’ve betrayed us.”