Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1)

by Jenny Allen

  She had to make a decision. Lilith swerved to the last inside door and slammed it behind her. There were no interior locks. I suppose they figured that anything able to make it past the unnaturally large security guard shouldn’t have to bother with pesky interior locks on the doors. She wedged her body against the door as her pulse raced. Every breath was a fight for oxygen as her mind scrambled for an answer, a weapon, a way out, anything.

  Spencer slammed against the door. “Yeah run and hide, bitch.” The door rattled and Lilith lurched forward. If she could just hold the door until Chance got his ass out of that room. What was taking him so long? Her blood pounded so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t tell the difference between it and the sound of Spencer’s beating fists on the door.

  Talking wasn’t going to magically shake some sense into him, but she had to try. “You fucking idiot.” Okay, not the most calm opening ever. “Ashcroft is just using you as a pawn. He wants to expose us to the world. We’ll all be hunted down like monsters. Even you. You dumb son-of-a-bitch! He just told you what you wanted to hear. You think he actually gives a crap about you? He just needed you to get close to the family.”

  “Liar!” Spencer snarled and shoved the door so hard that she flew forward, slamming her shoulder into a lab table. She spun around just in time to see Spencer come crashing through the door. His beady, bloodshot eyes narrowed on her with the same hate and disgust she’d seen in Ashcroft’s eyes. Lilith scrambled backward, her eyes scanning the room for anything she could use as a weapon.

  “You’re a lying bitch. Ashcroft is the only one that gives a shit about me. He wants me to be strong like him. He’s shown me his secrets. All he wants is your family dead for what Gregor’s done. Your father’s the true monster! He’s the one that eradicated an entire family line! You just want to finish his work. You’d butcher us both if you had the chance.”

  Lilith backed around the table, keeping it between her and Spencer. “You’re fucking delusional. You’re a loyal peasant dog to him, nothing more. You aren’t his blood, his family. He’s not going to share any real secret with you. He’s just playing you, using you and when he has what he wants, he’ll slice you up just like your sister.”

  “Lilith!” Chance’s voice boomed down the hall and it made her pulse slow down a touch. While her eyes snapped up to the open door, Spencer made his move, taking advantage of her momentary distraction, and lunged around the lab table.

  Lilith sprinted for the door with everything she had. A shot pierced the air and her shoulder lit up in searing agony. The adrenaline kept her moving, but she could feel blood running down her arm. She hadn’t seen the gun on Spencer, but she should have expected it. At least he wasn’t a great shot. She dove for the open door, making herself the smallest target possible.

  Footsteps pounded closer as she clawed her way back up to her feet. She ran for the cover of the security desk, but didn’t make it. Spencer was too fast. He tackled her to the ground, her bruised and bleeding shoulder slamming into the cold, unforgiving floor. Spencer turned her over and slammed a fist into her gut. It knocked the wind right out of her. She couldn’t gather the strength to fight him off when she was struggling just to breathe. At least it wasn’t her face this time. She didn’t have much time to be grateful.

  “I’m tired of this fucking game. You are too much trouble to keep. Ashcroft will understand.” Spencer jammed the gun up under her chin, his face all contorted in pure hatred. He barely even looked human. Tears welled in her eyes as the gun pinched her skin. Where the hell was Chance?

  “You think he’s just using me?” He jammed the gun harder bruising the muscles in the bottom of her jaw. Tears slid down her cheeks at the excruciating pain and the knowledge that she was going to die. No head butt was gonna save her this time. “He already taught me the secret of his power. I can feel the pain and the terror on you flooding my senses.” A smug grin crooked his vicious mouth. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath like he was savoring the moment. When he opened them again, there was a clear, deadly determination in them.

  Lilith squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable as she struggled to breathe. All she could think about was Chance and her father. There was so much she wanted to say to both of them.

  A shot cracked through the air, but the blinding pain never came. Blood splattered against her face, shocking a scream out of her. When she looked up, nothing seemed to make sense.

  Spencer’s red rimmed eyes looked up from his bloody chest, and caught Lilith’s eyes in a moment of pure panic that somehow resembled the man she’d once known, the one that cared about his family. He toppled to the side, slamming against the linoleum with blood quickly pooling around him. Lilith shoved his legs off her in a panic and scrambled backward until she was against a wall. She couldn’t take her eyes off Spencer’s. She was dimly aware of Chance storming up, looming over him. Spencer just stared at her with his shocked, desperate face. She glanced up at Chance where he stood over Spencer, a menacing grin of pure hatred on his face so cold that it made her shiver. Without any hesitation, he trained his gun on the back of Spencer’s head and fired. Blood splattered across the gleaming linoleum. She was close enough that a fine mist covered her jeans. Spencer shook one last time before his mouth dropped open in a gasp and the life drained from his eyes.

  Lilith’s knees drew up and she hugged them close. She just stared at Spencer’s lifeless body in complete shock. Brain and skull fragments littered the ground as his blood poured onto the floor. The quickly growing pool almost reached her sneakers and she scrambled away from it as if it was poison.

  “Lilith!” Chance’s voice was a shock. She swung her head up toward him, her eyes refusing to focus. That was almost her blood flooding the hallway. She blinked through the haze in her brain and stared at Chance like she’d never seen him before. He stooped down and grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet. “We have to get out of here now! I put three more clips in Ashcroft, but the fucker won’t die! He’s still slicing up the Doctor and healing like some circus sideshow freak. We have to get to Gregor! There’s something he’s not telling us.”

  When she didn’t move, he squared off in front of her. “Are you okay?” There was a stiff impatience in his voice that made her frown. There was a mixture of emotions in his touch but she was too screwed up to actually figure out what they were. “Lilith. We have to go. Now!” He hauled her toward the door, leaving her struggling to keep her feet underneath her.

  Seconds later they burst out of the lab doors and were racing for the car. As soon as the cool night air hit her skin, her brain began crawling out of the panicked haze. All the answers to her questions about Ashcroft’s blood were dead with Dr. Nichols. How the hell do you kill something that won’t die? What the hell had Gregor created? She felt like she was stuck in a cheesy horror movie with some slasher in a hockey mask that won’t die no matter what you do. But this wasn’t a movie; it was real life and real death.

  Spencer was just as dead as his sister now. She should be rejoicing that at least one of their problems was solved, but some part of her still mourned the loss of yet another family member. Spencer was a malicious monster, but his pathetic need for approval was just sad. He was so desperate for attention that he colluded with a sadistic serial killer to butcher his family. How had no one seen it? How had she not seen it? If only someone had, maybe Miriah, Malachi and Spencer would still be alive.

  Lilith stole glances at Chance while they ran for the car like she’d never really seen him before. Yes, Spencer deserved to die, but that look in his eyes, that cold, unemotional reaction to taking a life, any life, scared her. Yeah, he’d saved her life, but she didn’t want it like that. The cold, calculating stare as he put a bullet through Spencer’s brain while he lay there defenseless, it reminded her too much of her father. Dammit. Why the hell should she be defending the sick monster that almost killed her twice?

  As soon as they crammed into the rental car, Chance s
lammed the car in reverse and peeled out of the parking lot. Thankfully, the lab was in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses to describe their car pulling away from a murder scene. Lilith’s heart was still pounding as her logical mind took over, running through all the evidence they’d left behind. Somehow she doubted even Cohen would be able to cover this up. Gregor was gonna have to pull out the big guns on this one. At least it was a lab their family owned.

  Lilith dug out her phone and dialed Cohen’s number. There was no answer. “Cohen, there’s a murder scene at Goditha Labs. It’s still extremely hostile. If you can, keep everyone clear of it. The last thing we need is a bunch of cops getting themselves killed. We need to talk.” She hung up and jammed her phone back in her pocket as Chance swung the car around a corner.

  Once they were a good fifteen miles from the Goditha Labs, Chance finally broke the silence. “What the fuck was that, Lily?”

  For the first time since the lab, she really looked at Chance. His jaw was clenched, hazel eyes narrowed, nostrils flared, knuckles white from holding the steering wheel in a death grip. Oh yeah, he was beyond scared. He was pissed.

  “I…don’t know. It’s impossible. Nothing can heal that fast.”

  Chance swerved through traffic as Lilith braced herself between the dash and the window. Her chest felt tight as memories of her earlier car crash flashed through her head. He finally brought the car to a screeching halt in a downtown parking space.

  “Dammit, Chance.” Lilith leaned forward trying to breath and slammed a fist against the dash. “Are you trying to kill me too? Seriously? It may have escaped your fucking memory but I just barely survived my last car crash today!”

  For a moment he just sat there, staring out the windshield and she suddenly realized that something was very wrong. The tension sang through the air, twisting her stomach in knots.

  “Yes I realize that. I was there when you almost died. And I’m not talking about Ashcroft.” When he turned in his seat to look at her, all that anger and fury came with him, weighing on her like a lead noose. Her heart leapt up into her throat as a deep blush crept across her cheeks. Part of her was terrified, but part of her liked the anger, craved it, which only scared her more.

  “What the hell is going on with you? You see Ashcroft’s wrecked body torturing that doctor and your reaction is to move closer? Panting like you want to join in?”

  She flinched back in her seat. She didn’t want to admit it but Chance was right. Part of her felt drawn but it wasn’t desire. Still, being forced to face the fact that it had any effect on her at all besides disgust and terror made her want to throw up and crawl under a rock. It wasn’t right. None of it was. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. She couldn’t admit it out loud. Just voicing what she was feeling terrified her. Anger worked better.

  “Well you would be the judge wouldn’t you? Why don’t you tell me about that heartless look in your eyes when you shot Spencer’s head off? Certainly didn’t seem to bother you any, so what the fuck do you care?”

  His eyes went impossibly wide. Just before the anger there was a flash of guilt. “Are you fucking kidding me? That man, family or no, engineered the death of his own sister, kidnapped his father and put him on a silver platter for this freak, killed his brother-in-law, and nearly beat you to death! Hell, he was just about to put a bullet through your brain, Lilith! What the fuck did you want me to do? Distract him with a song and dance routine? Do not even sit there and tell me you’re feeling sorry for him.” Chance slammed his hands against the steering wheel, channeling his rage.

  She knew he’d never hurt her, but she still flinched. He was right about all of it. Somehow, seeing him hunched over the steering wheel, fighting with himself as much as he was with her, took all the wind out of her anger. She couldn’t think of a single response. There was no escape. Well, besides bailing out of the car and running off like some temperamental teenager.

  “Lilith. You really need to talk to me.” The words were snapped, harsh, and they just seemed wrong coming from him. Before she knew it, tears were welling in her eyes as she struggled to breathe.

  That seemed to take the wind out of him, well, at least most of it. When Chance spoke again, his voice was filled with gentle concern more than anything else. “Look. I’m worried about you. You’ve been acting strange ever since Cohen fed you. Not to mention that your face had a nasty bruise covering one side when I finally got in and shot the bastard in the head. And now…” His eyes flickered, a mixture of desire and fear that made her heart sink.

  Lilith reached for the visor mirror and when she flipped it down, surprise didn’t even begin to cover it. Not only was there absolutely no bruising, her skin was flawless. Supermodels would kill for her perfectly unblemished complexion. Even her eyes seemed a little brighter and her lips a little plumper, like she’d just spent all day in a spa, not getting the crap beat out of her. How was that possible? She frantically pulled at her shirt. The deep seat belt bruise was completely gone. With a rising panic she yanked the shoulder of her t-shirt down her arm. The bullet wound was just a pink dimple in her skin. What the fuck?

  Then it hit her. Cohen. It had to be Cohen’s blood. That’s why she reacted the way she did when Nichols started screaming, when Chance blew up in a rage. Cohen had said that any strong emotion would do. She was sure that Spencer’s death right in front of her probably contributed a hell of a lot. “It’s the blood. Cohen’s blood. I tried to tell you earlier. What he is, they feed on energy to stay alive, and it helps them heal. He told me it’s an extremely rare side effect, but it’s been happening to me. I can feel emotions like something tangible. I need to know more from him.”

  The fear began creeping back into his hazel eyes and that sight made her eyes well up again. She couldn’t stand him looking at her like that. Not Chance, not now. She stared out the windshield as tears slipped down her cheeks. “Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of monster. I’m not Ashcroft! Just fucking drive.” She wasn’t going to start slicing people up. God, the whole thing terrified her. She felt like an alien in her own body.

  Lilith actually flinched when his fingers brushed lightly over her arm and slid down to take her hand. “Lily.” The soft tenderness in his voice just made her angrier. She shoved his hand away.

  “Don’t touch me! I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” The venom in her voice surprised even her.

  Chance wasn’t putting up with it. He waved her hands away and she fought against him. “Lily.” She dissolved into tears as she tried to bat him away. She didn’t want him to touch her. He finally pinned her arms against her chest and leaned in close. “Stop. I know you aren’t Ashcroft. You scared the crap out of me and when I came out of that room and saw Spencer with his gun under your chin…” His eyes fell for a moment as he searched for the right words. “All I could think of was making sure that he never hurt you again.”

  When she stopped pushing against his grip, he slowly released her arms and very lightly, cupped her chin. The fear was still there, but it was outweighed by determination and traces of desire. “You are not a monster. I just need to know what’s going on. It’s just something we have to deal with, together. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She wanted to be angry, but her voice just fell into quiet sadness. “Something already has! Don’t you get it? Cohen may have saved my life, but it’s changed me. Even Ashcroft knew it. He said I smelled different. What if it’s not temporary? What if I’m like this forever?” Lilith pulled back as the panic took over, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I just want to go back to my normal life, investigating stupid crime scenes. A world where Ashcroft doesn’t exist.”

  “You can’t go back.” His tone was sharp again, but not with the same condemnation. Instead, it was familiarly close to patronizing. “Suck it up, Lily. You have got to get yourself together, find your balance. Ashcroft is still out there and we have to find a way to kill him. This has been a nightmare for everyone, but you cannot fall apart now. I
need you to be strong. I need you, Lily.” She managed to stop crying and wiped at her eyes. He was right, she couldn’t fall apart now. “Look, we’ll figure this out, but for now, knock it off and don’t make me smack some sense into you.” The amused tone in his voice coaxed a smile out of her.

  Lilith nodded as she continued to wipe at her cheeks. She could break down later. Assuming there was a later, of course. Assuming they didn’t all die at the hands of some immortal monster that got his jollies by torturing people.

  “Do you think it’s possible that Ashcroft is healing the same way you are?”

  Her logical brain kicked in instantly, giving her the cold calm she desperately needed right now. All those tears and emotional baggage slid down to the confining depths, leaving her free to think. One of these days she might have to really deal with the entire contents of that deep dark pit, but not tonight. “As far as I know, Cohen is the only one of his kind up here and he certainly hasn’t been attacked. Plus, healing a bruise or even a small bullet hole is one thing, healing half your missing head, actually generating new tissue is a whole other ball game. I just don’t see how it’s even possible.”

  “Well it looked pretty damn possible from where I was standing. If these effects are permanent though, he could have fed at any time, right? Maybe the effects build up over time with regular use?”

  “Technically, I suppose. I think he’d have to drain a whole family line to pull off those special effects though, even if he was drinking regularly. Maybe certain strong emotions are more potent than others? It still doesn’t explain how fast he is, or strong. My senses are a little more heightened but I don’t feel any quicker and I’m definitely not any stronger. Not to mention, how did he survive being changed into a vamp in the first place? It’s supposed to be theoretically possible, but no one’s ever seen it happen, until now. We need to talk to Cohen and Gregor. Cohen first though, I need some answers now.”