“Do you know who I am?” I asked through clenched teeth, the growl deepening in my throat. “Do you know WHAT I am?” I let all my power, all the emptiness of the kill, and all my rage flow from me. It combined with Patrick’s clear, cool essence of death and Dean’s warm primal hunger. I wrapped my right arm in the thought of Dean and the Pack, feeling the familiar tingle as my fingers transformed, growing golden blond fur. My nails stretched out into long silvery claws and my eyes burned to what I knew would be the purest silver.
Marabelle shivered, watching my metamorphosis. Turning pale-green and finally frightened eyes back up to my face, she begged for her life with a pleading glance. My face heated with rage and my mind settled, the peace of death overwhelming me.
“The Blushing Death,” she whimpered.
Smiling down at her with menace in my gaze, I jerked her head harder. She was right. I was the Blushing Death. I was Fertiri. I was Eithina. I was even the Golden Anidae. I was a killer. At the end of the day and after all else was said and done, I was me. No one and nothing could take that from me but me. I wouldn’t lose that perspective again.
“I’m the last thing you’ll ever see,” I said, cold and calm. I brought my claws down across her throat, spraying my arm and her pretty pink dress with her blood. I slashed her again and again until her head dangled from my hand by her hair. Her body lay limp and headless, a stark contrast of crimson and a mountain of pink tulle against the white marble floor.
Glimmering a few feet away, the glint of light reflecting on metal caught my eye. I let my hand shift back to human and grabbed the Smith & Wesson from the floor. I held Marabelle’s head by her hair in my left.
I tossed Marabelle’s head between Jarvis and Raiden, her dulled green eyes staring at nothing as it rolled. Her head rolled unevenly across the floor, sticking in places where her neck, dripping blood and gore, touched the marble. Blood, smearing a red demarcation line, reinforced Raiden and Everett’s position around Enza.
Jarvis froze, his fist hovering above Everett as his other hand clutched the kid’s neck. Marabelle’s eyes stared up at him, blank, dead. Turning pain-filled eyes to meet mine, Jarvis snarled, lips curling. He dropped Everett, his shoulders squaring. I was tired. I didn’t have another fight in me.
Raising the gun at Jarvis’ determined expression, I fired twice. Bullets punctured his chest, piercing his heart with the hot silver. He dropped to his knees with his palms open and eyes resigned. Skin and muscles peeled away from bone and all the water left his body. What was left was a corpse appearing as if it’d been dead for the last two centuries, crumbling to dust.
Regret burned in my chest as I exhaled. Jarvis’ death was a waste of a good vampire. I’d kinda liked him.
“Take his head,” I ordered Raiden and Everett over my shoulder. I stepped over Jarvis’ disintegrating corpse and plugged two rounds into Marabelle’s chest, just to be sure. As her body disintegrated to dust, I listened to growls and the grinding sounds of teeth on bone as they gnawed Jarvis’ head from his body.
Like a cold fog looming overhead, the colony hovered, swarmed, waited. I centered my power into a tight ball at the core of my being. I couldn’t let them jump us. We wouldn’t stand a chance if the entire colony came at us at once.
I shoved power out with everything I had. Blood, both dead blood and my blood, rose from the floor, springing into a solid wall around us.
The blood wall of protection beat with every tick of my heart. So much blood, mine, Soraida’s, Enza’s, Marabelle’s, and now Jarvis’. The wall swirled with shifting shades of crimson as all the blood answered to me. Expanding beyond the room, the protection wall seeped through the walls of the house. Hisses of angry vampires reverberated through the marble tomb as I forced them farther and farther away from us. They knocked and beat on the blood to get through but it was mine. The wall was me, mine to control and wield. It was Patrick, and it was Dean. My shoulders finally slumped as the wall hit fresh air.
“Ev . . . shift. You’ll heal,” I said in a tired and defeated tone after he limped over to me and rubbed against my leg. Whining, he turned his head back to Enza, still clutching her knees in the corner. “You need to heal before we can get the hell out of here and she won’t tell.”
I strode over to Enza and crouched down in front of her. I placed my hand on hers and she jumped, almost out of her skin at my touch.
Glancing up at me with tears in her eyes, she whimpered, “They’re dead. You killed them all.” She didn’t stammer so I was pretty sure she’d be okay.
“I did.”
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am,” I answered her with confidence and a crocked smile. She may not have known about all this craziness that I carried around with me, but she knew ME. Her gaze was like a laser boring into me, searching for something she recognized. Shaking, she took my hand in hers.
“Yeah, I do.” She sighed. “Can we go home now?”
“Well, we can go to the hospital, but, yeah, let’s get outta here,” I said, helping her to her feet. I turned to find two naked men waiting for me.
“What’s the plan?” Everett asked with a relieved smile. He rotated his forearm at the elbow where Jarvis had broken his front leg.
“We need to get her to a hospital and probably fake a car accident or something. Any ideas?” I asked as we made our way to the door and out into the hall. The blood wall had cleared a path for us. Everett picked Enza up and carried her out as she clung to him like a princess in a fairy tale. It was sweet really.
“Ms. Sabin, it would be my pleasure to arrange an accident for you,” Raiden said with the first smile I’d seen crest his lips since I’d met him.
Chapter 19
Everett parked the car at the curb but didn’t turn the ignition off. We sat in silence for a long while as I stared at the modern structure and the stillness that fell over the house.
Cordero Salazan was dead. I shouldn’t feel so apprehensive about going into his house. His precinct might search for him but no one would ever find him. The desert is a very big place.
I was done. Done with Vegas, done with running, and done ignoring my responsibilities back home. I wanted to be done with this mess but there was one last thing I had to do. There was something in that house that belonged to me.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Everett whispered in the soft stillness before dawn.
“I’ll only be a minute,” I said, opening the car door.
“But we’re breaking into a cop’s house!”
“A cop that I killed a few hours ago,” I said in a harsh whisper.
Had it really only been a few hours? It all seemed like a lifetime ago. But the caked and dried blood on my body reminded me just how recent his death had been.
“I have more than a simple B&E to worry about. Plus, I have a key. So we’re not breaking in. Just entering,” I finished, stepping from the car.
“Daaahhhllliiiaaa,” he whined as quietly as he could so his voice wouldn’t carry through the open door.
“You don’t have to go with me. I should only be in there a minute. Just stay here,” I ordered, closing the door on him. He slouched back into the driver’s seat and pouted. It was better for him to stay in the car anyway. He would just slow me down.
I walked up to the front door, drawing the house key I’d swiped from the fake rock from my pocket. I slipped it into the lock and said a silent prayer that nothing was waiting for me on the other side. It had been a long damned night.
Shoving the door open, the obsessive, neat-freak stillness that had once given me the creeps seemed almost peaceful. The blood spatter on the couch was a nice touch to the décor.
I moved through the empty dark house without hesitation. My eyes adjusted to the low light and the sliver of dawn slipping over the privacy wall. Mak
ing my way directly to Cordero Salazan’s office where the hum of my Gladius called to me, I reveled as magic coiled through my mind and body.
The blade glowed faintly in the lights streaming in from the windows overlooking the pool. My eyes were transfixed on the wall as the power from the Gladius sang in delight with each step forward I took.
“Time to go home, kitten.”
I reached out, stroked the cool blade like a lover. Its power tingled against my fingertips and up my arm, singing with magic. Sliding my fingers down its blade and over the etched hilt, I wrapped my fingers around the handle and removed it from the wall. The sword was so light, sailing through the air like twisting light in my hand. It fit perfectly in my grip, moving to my will as my power mingled with the sword’s magic. I knew in my gut that it belonged to me.
Walking into Cordero Salazan’s bedroom, I ripped both pillowcases from the pillows on the bed. I wrapped the blade in the 800 thread count sheets and tucked it under my arm.
“Let’s go home,” I said as I stalked out of the bedroom. I left the house and all of Cordero Salazan’s secrets behind, wiping my fingerprints from everything as I went.
Chapter 20
I hid around the corner and waited until visiting hours were over. I wanted to sneak in to see Enza before I left and say goodbye.
Her mother finally left but only after the nurse nudged her out. Waiting until her mom and Nurse Ratchet were out of sight and down the hall, I snuck into Enza’s room and closed the door. She glanced up from her magazine and grinned at me. I was relieved to see the smile on her face. I’d had a real fear she’d never want to see me again.
“Hey,” she rasped, closing the magazine and dropping it on her lap. Her voice was still hoarse from screaming, and the sound of her sultry rasp tugged at my gut.
“Hiya,” I said. I plopped down on the bed next to her, careful not to jostle the IV still in her arm. “How ya feelin’?”
“I’m ready to get outta here,” she said as she flicked her index finger across the IV tubing.
She’d lost a lot of blood in the car crash and had broken a few ribs. She was bruised up pretty bad and just starting to turn a lighter shade of purple. She was on the mend and soon those bruises would turn a pretty shade of green.
“I bet.”
“Where’ve you been? I’ve been waiting three whole days to talk to you,” she chastised me.
For the first day and a half, I slept and tried to heal my own wounds. The second day, I packed and gave away what wouldn’t fit on my bike. The third day, I’d had to talk to Barry. I wanted to make sure Rupert had healed both physically and mentally. Marabelle and her colony had done some awful things to him. I’d had to make sure the Pack would survive. I knew now they wouldn’t. They needed an Alpha, a real Alpha to take care of them. Fast. They needed someone before a shit of an alpha moved in and took advantage of them, or worse, tortured them like Marabelle and Cordero Salazan had.
“I had a few things I needed to get straightened out before . . .” I hesitated.
“Before you left,” she finished for me with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Yeah,” I said, fidgeting with my fingers in my lap and picking at the leg of my jeans. “It’s time.” She shouldn’t be in the hospital and she shouldn’t be involved in anything that had to do with my life. It was time for me to go home and better for her the sooner I went.
“So, uh,” she started. “Those people that you said Soraida was mixed up with . . . not drug dealers . . . huh?”
“No, not drug dealers,” I said. “She was mixed up with people like me.”
“You’re better than they are,” she said, peering up at me from under her lashes. She was smiling at me with a bright encouraging light in her eyes. “I love you. You know that, right? I know that this probably has something to do with the big rift between you and your parents but if they saw how brave you are and how respected you are? They’d understand.” She jerked me into her arms, embracing me. I should have been the one comforting her. The first hot tear trailed down my cheek and I turned my face into her neck as I clung to her.
“I love you, too,” I whispered into her hair.
“Now, go home and fix whatever hot mess you’ve created for yourself and call me when you get there,” she ordered, letting me go. “You’re gonna be all right,” she said with confidence and a quick nod as she brushed a tear from her cheek.
“I think I will be.”
I woke up bright and early, almost before the sun was up. The light over the horizon was still gray as I opened the front door of Enza’s house. I was going to miss this place. The house and Enza had been my home for a time but I had my own life to get back to.
A heap of crinkled clothing, unshaven five o’clock shadow, and scruffy unkempt hair, lay across the front stoop, blocking my path. Asleep, Everett’s limp body seemed peaceful but unprotected. He was wedged against the house with a duffle bag under his head like a pillow. His scrawny, lanky body curled into a ball.
“Everett, what are you doing here?” I snapped, already agitated. It was early. I had a long ride ahead of me. And I hadn’t had any coffee. At the sound of my sharp voice, he jumped to his feet like the agile predator he was. I didn’t like talking first thing in the morning, especially before the sun was up. Having to reprimand a wayward werewolf wasn’t top on my list.
“Take me with you,” he said, groggy and surprisingly demanding. His navy blue eyes were wide and his expression desperate. “Please.”
“Ev,” I breathed.
“There’s nothing left for me here.”
“You won’t have a job and Dean’s Pack is different than what you have here. Hell, Columbus is different than here. It snows there,” I said, grasping at anything I could think of to make him see reason. “Do you even own a coat?” No matter how many reasons I listed for him to stay, my Eithina voice kept whispering, He’s ours. Bring him home.
“I don’t care,” he said, straightening his back and thrusting his shoulders back. “I’ll buy a coat. I want to go with you.”
There was a little piece of me that was proud of him for standing up for himself, voicing what he wanted. Another piece of me was pissed beyond belief that he was ruining my plans.
“All I’ve got is my bike,” I started but he cut me off.
“That’s okay,” he said, grinning from ear to fucking ear. “I brought my car and picked up a tow trailer last night.” He snatched up his duffel bag from the front stoop and strode to the car. Parked along the curb was a ten-year-old Honda with a tow trailer hooked up to the rear fender. I guess I had a traveling buddy.
“Well, if you’re driving then I need some coffee before we head out. Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” I asked, resigned.
We drove for a full day straight, sleeping in shifts, stopping on the second evening at a motel along the highway somewhere in Illinois. Everett was antsy from being cooped up for so long and needed to run. Shifting with him, we ran through his first field of tall grass and corn.
The grass and ground across the field were wet under my paws from the previous day’s rain. Water sloshed between the pads of my paws as we chased a rabbit into the corn stalks. Everett wasn’t surprised at my change but waited patiently for me to keep up on unsteady legs. As the night wore on, I got better. By dawn, on a full stomach of rabbit, quail, and field mice, Everett curled up under a tree and fell asleep. I curled around him to shield him from the cool April air and closed my eyes.
My Eithina breathed a sigh of relief.
We were safe, full, and on our way home.
Chapter 21
“Leave the motor running and don’t you dare drive away from this spot. I’ll be out in a minute,” I ordered.
Everett gawked at me with wide eyes.
Parked in front of Damsel, I was ner
vous. More nervous than I wanted to be or admit and I snapped at him. I turned to glance out the passenger window and a familiar face smiled back at me with a wide unabashed grin. I smiled back at Nova’s radiant face and felt just a little relief as some of my anxiety disappeared.
Nova jerked the door open, the metal squealing under his strength. Ripping me from the passenger seat, he clung to me in a gigantic hug. I laughed, feeling light and free for the first time in so long, I couldn’t remember.
“Nova, put me down.” I giggled as he spun me around. I couldn’t help the smile that forced my cheeks up.
“Not a chance, my little flower,” he said, hugging me tight. “You might get away again and I can’t let that happen.”
A soft growl reverberated in my ears from the other side of the car and Nova froze. I glanced over my shoulder, across the roof of the beat-up Honda Civic at Everett in surprise.
“Don’t you touch her,” he growled, his top lip curling up in a threatening snarl. He stood in the open driver’s side door with his hands on the roof as if he’d hop over it to get at Nova. His eyes flashed the sea-foam green of his wolf as if ready to pounce to protect me.
I smiled and patted Nova’s shoulder so he’d put me down to placate the kid. Columbus wasn’t Las Vegas and Ev had a learning curve to overcome.
“Everett, this is Nova,” I said with reassurance. “Nova, this is Everett.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Nova said, his most charismatic smile gracing his beautiful face. Nova was the kind of beautiful that artists dreamed of to shape in clay or marble. The line of women waiting to get into Damsel, due in part to the club itself, but it was also due to Nova. His devious yet delicious smile, his bright blue eyes, hair the color of polished obsidian, and the lean yet muscular line of his body made every woman in line think less of the man beside her. With that smile, Nova made everyone feel as if they were the most important person in the world. Everett was no different.
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