“There is no point in having a car like this. It’s excessive,” she muttered.
“And fast,” Erik added. “And it helps me pick up women.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Like you need help,” she scoffed.
He grinned. “Was that a compliment, babe?”
“A compliment for what?” Rose asked. “Your attractiveness isn’t an accomplishment. It’s just a benefit of being a vampire. And women only flock to you the way they do because of that pheromone or whatever that vampires have.”
“Pheromone?” he laughed. “What the hell does that mean?”
She rolled her eyes. “You should pick up a book every now and then.”
“Yeah? Well, I guess I don’t have time to read because I’m too busy having sex. You know…that thing you know nothing about?” Erik countered.
She grimaced. “Sex is not an accomplishment. I don’t know why you feel the need to brag about objectifying women and treating them like conquests.”
“You think I objectify women?” he asked in a tone of disbelief.
“You only want them for sex, right?” she pointed out.
“They only want me for sex!” he said defensively.
“You’re a womanizer,” Rose said.
“Ouch,” he laughed. “That’s not fair! I appreciate women. I appreciate women a hell of a lot. And I happen to greatly enjoy expressing my appreciation.”
“Of course…because giving someone orgasms is the only way to show them that you appreciate them as a person,” Rose muttered sarcastically.
“If you had ever had one, you would feel differently,” he countered.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a jerk.”
“Sure,” he agreed, smiling at her. “But I’m growing on you, aren’t I?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted. She stared out the window, watching the water mold to it like a second layer of glass. “Thank you for…understanding.”
He glanced at her. “I don’t really have a choice. I feel what you feel.”
“I’m so stupid,” she muttered. “I knew better than to fall in love with someone who would never love me back. He is a vampire, for goodness sakes.”
Erik’s grip seemed to tighten around the steering wheel. “You don’t know anything about loving someone who will never love you back.”
Rose glanced at him curiously. “What do you mean by that?”
“I loved someone who would never love me back. I know unrequited love when I see it, and it doesn’t apply in your case, babe,” Erik said harshly.
“Are you saying that you think he loves me?” she scoffed. “I know for a fact that he doesn’t. He gets angry when he thinks that’s even being suggested.”
“Of course he does,” Erik said. “If he were to ever admit that he felt something for you, there would be no going back, no stopping what he started.”
Her brows furrowed. “No stopping what?”
“The relationship. Love,” Erik provided. “And ultimately…pain.”
Rose seemed hurt. “He thinks I would cheat on him…like Phoebe?”
“He told you about her?” Erik asked in shock. “He never talks about her.”
“Uh…it wasn’t exactly intentional,” she muttered.
“No, it’s not the possibility of unfaithfulness that scares him. That’s not what I meant,” Erik answered. “It’s something definite, something unpreventable.”
“Death,” Rose realized.
Erik nodded. “He watched the only person that he ever loved die. She died right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. That is the only thing in this world that has ever broken Kallias. I have watched him endure all kinds of pain, and he’s never wavered. But her death broke him.”
She swallowed uneasily. “He thinks I’m going to die?”
“You will die,” he said. “Eventually. Because you are human, and humans die. Even if you survive tonight, if you survive Theron, if you survive whatever other enemies you have out there…you will still die of something eventually.”
“I’m twenty-three,” she told him. “I won’t die of old age for a long time.”
“It’s long to you,” he scoffed. “To us, a few decades are nothing.”
Rose sighed. “So, you think he’s afraid? That doesn’t sound like him.”
“It’s true. Nothing scares Kallias,” he admitted, “except this.”
She stared at him. “What makes you think he feels anything for me?”
“Think? I don’t think. I know,” Erik corrected. “And I know for the same reason that I wasn’t surprised when you told me that you loved him. I feel what you feel. And…I know how love feels.” His jaw tightened as he said that.
Rose chewed on her lip, contemplating whether to believe that or not. Ultimately, she decided that she couldn’t. If for no other reason except to protect herself from pointless heartbreak, she could not let herself believe that he loved her. She knew that they never had a chance together anyway. It didn’t change the fact that she would do anything for him, though. Nothing could change that.
She sighed and peered out the passenger’s side window, trying to make out the surroundings through the blurry downpour outside. “How much longer?”
“We’re almost there,” he assured her. “There’s no traffic through here.”
“Why not?” she asked curiously, trying to keep her mind off of Kallias.
“There’s no reason for anyone to come back here,” he answered easily. “No good reason, anyway. Almost all of these buildings are condemned and abandoned. That’s why so many vampires congregate here. There are plenty of places to hide during the day. One of us always checks these streets at night. We have to clean out entire groups of vampires from these buildings every few days.”
“Was Kallias the one checking these streets tonight?” Rose asked.
Erik nodded. “Yeah. He should’ve been fine. No one can hurt Kallias.”
“Except for Theron,” she corrected.
“Yeah. Except for Theron,” he agreed. He looked at her and tilted his head toward the silver dagger in her hand. “Do you know how to use that?”
Rose followed his gaze toward the dagger. “Yeah. It’s not exactly a complicated weapon. Just stick it in them when I get the chance, right?”
He broke into a wolfish grin. “That’s usually the man’s job,” he quipped immaturely. He lifted an eyebrow and snorted, “Unless you like to use…toys.”
She gaped at him. “Ugh. Wow. Don’t you have any limits?” she asked, grimacing in disgust. “And do you really think this a good time for dirty jokes?”
“It’s the perfect time,” he told her. “Laughter eases tension.”
“Maybe,” she admitted. She wrinkled her nose. “But still.”
“But…yes, if you’re put in the position that you need to use it, which will probably happen tonight, just stab. Don’t aim for the heart or the head or the eye because none of that is enough to kill a vampire, and as a human, you sure as hell don’t have time to aim. So, just stab. Don’t think. Stab,” he advised her, suddenly very serious. “Your only goal is to slow them down long enough for me to kill them. Take any more time than that, and they’ve killed you already. Understand?”
She nodded. “Slow them down. Got it.”
Erik parked the car on the side of the road. “Good. Because we’re here.”
23
The Suicide Mission
Cold, dingy streams of water flowed down the sidewalk, the gutters unable to keep up with the steady downpour. As Rose stepped out of the car, the icy water filled her shoes through the holes, soaking her socks and feet. She shivered and pulled the hood of her hoodie higher on her head, even as the cold rain thoroughly drenched the thin, black hoodie and the clothes underneath.
Erik rounded the car and joined her on the sidewalk. His blonde hair dripped with water, matted to his forehead. The water rolled off of his leather pants, but the rain thoroughly soaked his black shirt
. Despite all of this, he seemed unaffected by the icy rain. He didn’t even grab his leather jacket out of the car.
Along that street, several large, rundown, abandoned buildings stretched before them, as far as Rose could see. As if the entire situation didn’t make Rose anxious enough, she couldn’t help but notice that, in the downpour, those abandoned buildings that set next to each other, each one dark and foreboding, looked like the setting of a horror movie. She swallowed uneasily and wiped the water from her brow as she tried to see through the water that blurred her vision.
Erik pointed toward the end of the street. “It’s that old warehouse.”
Only one streetlight worked on that street, and the dim light cast by that solitary, flickering streetlight didn’t reach that far. So, no matter how hard she tried to see the building, she saw only darkness. Sighing, she followed Erik as he trudged toward the building, the water sloshing around her shoes with each step.
He glanced back at her as they walked. “Are you all right?”
“I can’t answer that question yet,” Rose said numbly. She could barely hear her own voice over the splattering of water on the ground and the roar of water rushing toward the storm drains. “Ask me again when we find him.”
Erik nodded understandingly. “Just stay close to me, okay?”
Rose shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie to keep them warm as she fell into step beside him. She wrapped her fingers around the sheathed silver dagger. “So…” she said awkwardly as she attempted to think about anything other than the fact that the person she loved was possibly dying. She laughed, “Emma fights vampires, too? In a dress? And high heels?”
Erik snorted, “Yeah, and she’s quite good at it, too.”
Rose slid as the rubber sole of her shoe hit a slick, cast iron, manhole cover, but before she hit the pavement, Erik’s hand grasped her elbow and roughly jerked her upright. Her head spun as she tried to regain her balance.
“Careful,” Erik said, his fingers still tightly gripping her elbow.
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly. “There’s too much water on the ground.”
He glanced at her drenched tennis shoes. “You should’ve worn boots.”
“Right…because I have so many of those lying around,” she muttered.
He chuckled at her sarcasm. “Just try to stay on the concrete.”
“That would easier if I could see the concrete,” she grumbled.
“Oh,” he said, blinking, as if he’d just remembered that humans didn’t have night vision. “I think there’s a light behind the building. We’re almost there.”
“Okay,” she sighed. She trudged through the rain beside him, his hand on her elbow, guiding her down the dark street. After a few steps, they turned the corner and started walking through a narrow alleyway between two old, rundown buildings, both built of unpainted, concrete blocks, the same type of block that Audrey remembered from her dream. A dim light glowed at the end of the alley.
Erik’s fingers suddenly tightened around her elbow, jerking her to a stop. His eyes widened as he stared down the alleyway, his nostrils flaring. He growled a long string of foreign words that Rose didn’t even remotely recognize.
“What did that mean?” she asked loudly. “Also, you’re hurting my arm.”
He frowned at her elbow for a moment, and then, he opened his hand, releasing her arm from his painfully tight grip. “Oops,” he muttered.
“What language was that?” she asked curiously. “Old Norse?”
“Yeah,” Erik said. “I would translate it for you, but it’s too vulgar.”
She frowned at him. “You’ve never had a problem with that before.”
He snorted, “I don’t mean that it’s too vulgar for me to say. Nothing is too vulgar for me to say. I meant that there are no English words vulgar enough.”
“There are some pretty vulgar words in the English language,” she said.
He grinned. “Not vulgar enough for a Viking.”
She rolled her eyes. “You give your people a bad name.”
“Thank you,” Erik said. He cast another wary glance down the alley.
She scowled. “So, was there a reason for these vulgar words, or did you just reach your limit on how long you can go without saying something R-rated?”
He glanced at her, suddenly serious. “Do you smell anything unusual?”
“I smell rain,” she muttered, “except it smells more like battery acid.”
“Is that all?” he asked. “You don’t smell anything…terrible?”
Rose inhaled deeply. She almost choked as she breathed in some of the water running down her face. But then, she did notice the foreboding scent, buried beneath the smell of rain and wet concrete. “What is that?” she asked worriedly.
“Rotting flesh,” he answered bluntly. “There are many corpses nearby.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “Many? How many is many?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I do know what it means. If there are many corpses, there are many vampires. Geoff was right. This is suicide.”
She exhaled shakily. “I have to try. I can’t just leave him here.”
His eyes softened sympathetically. “I know,” he said with a weak smile. “Don’t worry. Kallias is basically all I have left. I’m not ready to lose him either.”
She blinked at him, stunned that a dangerous vampire would make such a vulnerable confession, but then, Erik did seem more comfortable with vulnerability than the others. A side effect of his empathic abilities, she assumed.
Erik pulled a black handgun from his belt. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah,” she said sarcastically. “I’m always ready for a suicide mission.”
He grinned. “That’s the spirit.”
She followed him down the dark alley. “A gun is your choice weapon?”
He shrugged and gave her a cocky grin. “I’m all about speed.”
“I assumed you’d go with the battle-axe,” she teased. “Viking style.”
He snorted, “That would be an interesting sight. Carrying around a battle-axe through modern-day New York. Do you think Kallias carries swords?”
“I saw him use one once,” Rose said. “It was Theron’s.”
“Kallias is unbeatable with a sword. Unfortunately, they’re a little hard to hide under clothing,” he joked. “Oh, and by the way, I never used a battle-axe.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “Sword for you, too?”
“Battle-axes are heavy, and I was small,” he confirmed.
“Yes, I, too, categorize six-foot-whatever as small,” she said sarcastically.
“Six feet, four inches,” he provided. His lips curved into a flirty smile. “Would you like a part-by-part measurement as well? I can tell you that, too.”
“Ugh,” Rose said with a grimace. “No, thanks.”
“And I was small for a Viking,” he said. “I was tall but too skinny.”
“I wish I had that problem,” she muttered under her breath.
Erik scowled at her. “You realize that people like your boobs, right?”
She rolled her eyes at that. “But bullets don’t kill vampires, do they?”
“No, but they slow them down,” he explained. “All I need is time.”
With no warning, Erik suddenly pushed Rose against the wall, next to a dumpster that hid her from the end of the alley. He slowly placed his forefinger against his lips, motioning for her to stay quiet, the intensity in his green eyes conveying the seriousness of the situation. He took a step back and frowned toward the end of the alley, his entire body tense and alert. He tilted his head, similar to the way an animal might tilt its head after hearing an interesting noise.
He mouthed, “Stay here,” and then moved so quickly that he seemed to disappear. He stopped at the end of the alley and pressed his back to the wall.
“It was one human,” complained a gruff voice. “I’ll get you another one.”
“It’s
not about the human. It’s the principle of the matter. You shouldn’t have taken her from me. I earned her fair and square,” another man whined.
“Earned?” the first man scoffed. “What are you even talking about? You smiled at her, and she followed you back here. You didn’t earn anything. You took her, and then, I took her from you. We’re vampires. We take what we want.”
“It was disrespectful,” the second vampire insisted.
“Oh, stop whining,” the first man grumbled. “You sound like a human.”
“I smell a human,” the second vampire said suddenly. “A powerful one.”
Both vampires immediately fell silent. Before they could act on the realization, Erik turned and fired six shots, each bullet hitting another part of the two vampires’ bodies. Both vampires collapsed on the pavement, blood pouring from their wounds, staining their dingy clothes. Erik moved as quickly as possible, standing before them before they could realize that he was not part of their group.
The stocky, bald vampire had already begun to climb to his feet, despite the profusely bleeding wounds in his thighs. Erik shoved the blade of his dagger into the vampire’s chest and kicked him back, causing the vampire to fall flat on his back. He pressed his knee to the vampire’s chest, holding him down, as he shoved the blade of his dagger through the vampire’s neck, slicing off his head.
After Erik finished off that vampire, he turned toward the thinner, black-haired vampire, but only a puddle of blood remained on the pavement, where the vampire had been. He cursed and rushed back to the alley, where he’d left Rose.
Rose squealed as the black-haired vampire shoved her into the wall.
The vampire clutched her shoulders, leaning heavily against her as his wounds continued to bleed. “You smell good,” the vampire slurred, his eyes fluttering as he tried to stay conscious. His fangs hovered near her throat. “I didn’t get a chance to feed tonight. I’m sorry, lady, but I’m going to have to kill you.”
With one of her hands still shoved in the front pocket of her hoodie, she gripped the handle of the dagger tightly and jerked it out of her pocket. As the vampire went for her throat, she shoved the dagger into the side of his head. She thought she saw surprise flash through his eyes before he stumbled backward, his eyes rolling back. But he never hit the ground. Instead, he fell against Erik.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 66