The Vampire Who Loved Me

by Theresa Meyers

  Dmitri lifted a brow, looking at her with new respect. “Seems the imprint agrees with you, fledgling.”

  “Perhaps it’s not the horrible thing everybody seems to think it is.”

  Dmitri glowered at her, then turned his huge shoulder to her, effectively blocking her out of his conversation with Achilles, but Beck could hear it loud and clear all the same as Dmitri’s voice buzzed inside her head.

  Are you sure she won’t pose a problem for you?

  I can handle it.

  “Hello. Standing right here. And I can hear what you’re saying.” They both turned and stared at her.

  Dmitri’s gaze grew darker, nearly soulless, and Beck fought off the urge to take a step backward. “I’m concerned that, as a newly imprinted fledgling, you will pose risks to your mentor. If you are harmed, he’ll suffer as well. I want to be sure I’m not taking unnecessary risks with my captain and best friend’s existence. That okay with you?”

  Beck shrunk a little inside herself. Dmitri could be intimidating. She hadn’t considered how the imprint might impact Achilles’s ability to do his job.

  Achilles stepped in between them. “Moot point. I’m not leaving her.”

  Beck peeped out from behind Achilles’s massive shoulder. “Besides, who knows, maybe our powers are going to be even greater together.”

  Dmitri pinned her with his gaze. “That may be, fledgling, but with greater power comes greater responsibility. I know Achilles’s weakness, but I do not know yours.”

  “Her greatest weakness is being a know-it-all. She’s too reliant on that big brain of hers.”

  Dmitri’s mouth tipped up at the outside edge, and a little bit of humor danced behind his eyes. “That’s yet one more thing she has in common with Kristin, then.”

  Beck’s chest constricted at the thought of her best friend who was married to Dmitri. If they weren’t successful in destroying Vanquish, Kris wouldn’t die of the aging process, but her husband would. She knew Kris well enough to know her friend would never be the same again.

  “Look, my big brain got us into this mess. It’s my responsibility to help get us out of it. Especially if Margo’s been possessed by this Eris chick.”

  Dmitri’s eyes rounded. “Eris?” His gaze flicked to Achilles.

  Achilles nodded. “Paints the project in a whole new shade of terrifying, doesn’t it?”

  Dmitri rolled his shoulders. “You should have told me before I went to the council.”

  “I didn’t have time before you went to the council.”

  “It matters little at this point. Your directive is still the same. Take out the entire complex. Save what mortals you can. And eliminate the researcher.”

  “We’ve got one more wrinkle,” Achilles said.

  Dmitri’s brows drew together. “What?”

  Achilles turned to Beck and jerked his head in Dmitri’s direction. “Tell him about the production process.”

  Beck swallowed hard. Before, when she’d told Achilles, it had just been another fact, another bit of information. Now she could see how potentially disastrous it could be. “If Margo’s already shipped samples to production facilities, the virus could be ready for distribution nationwide within a week, two tops. There’s no way we could find it all.”

  Dmitri visibly shook and he clapped a hand on Achilles’s shoulder. “Go, brother, and be damned careful. Be sure the explosion is contained. Even so, I want you all well away from it before it blows just in case the virus is released.”

  Achilles turned and held out his hand. “Would you be willing to brief my team on what we might encounter?”

  Beck grasped his hand, wishing he saw things as more than just an imprint between them that would vanish once she was mortal again. “Of course. Let’s go.” He gave her fingers an affectionate little squeeze and then they were transported.

  Beck blinked. She’d never been in this section of the clan complex before. The hallway seemed far older than the rest of it. “Where are we?”

  “Out near the Space Needle,” he explained, keeping hold of her hand, as he walked north down a long corridor. Water trickled in dark slimy paths down the concrete pillars. It looked nothing like the clean modern portions of the clan complex she’d been in earlier.

  “Just how far does the complex go?” she asked, glancing around with interest. The dark hallway was punctuated by shafts of light coming from above. Skylights created from cracked small squares of glass in greens and blues allowed the light, but they were obscured in places by patches of concrete where the missing glass had been filled in. Beck stepped around a pile of rusting piping.

  Achilles shrugged. “Twenty-five city blocks, more or less. It was built when a fire took out most of the city in the late 1800s. When they rebuilt the city a whole story above the old city streets, we helped out and made the complex our own. This is what’s left of Seattle downtown circa 1889.”

  The hallway ended in a pale olive green metal door that looked like it had been salvaged from an old army barracks. The small room, no more than twenty-feet square housed a long wooden table and a wall of high-tech computers, hardware and weapons Beck had never seen previously.

  A curl of dark smoke, followed quickly by three more preceded the appearance of four vampires that Beck had not met before all decked out in what looked like black military fatigues.

  The tallest one, with black hair cut short and sparkling blue eyes, stood with his legs braced wide apart, and locked his gaze on Achilles. “Reporting in, Captain.”

  Achilles placed a hand on his shoulder. “This is my security team. James, tactical.” The blue-eyed vampire smiled at her.

  Achilles moved to the next one in line who had broad shoulders and dangerous tigerlike topaz eyes. “Slade, explosives,” Achilles said. Slade nodded once.

  Beside him stood a guy who looked like a Russian tank. His dark blond hair was buzzed military short and his eyes were such a pale green they reminded Beck of frozen ice. “This is Mikhail, firearms.” Mikhail just stared at her, unnerving Beck.

  “And lastly, Titus. Communications.” Titus, who was slighter than the other three, but no less muscular, winked, his dark brown eyes brilliant.

  “Team, this is our intelligence lead on this mission, Dr. Rebecca Chamberlin.”

  All five male gazes swiveled in her direction. A whiff of something musky tinged with cedar filtered into the air. Beck’s best guess was that the scent was testosterone, but with vampires, who knew?

  “The mission tonight is search and destroy. Objective—the labs on the sixth floor of Genet-X Laboratories.” A small black laptop phased onto the table, the screen showing photos of the campus. “We need to evacuate the building. Titus, hit the fire alarm system and give us a five-minute countdown. That should clear out as many personnel as possible. Whoever is left will be collateral damage.” He shot a glance at Beck when she sucked in a gasp of air. “Live with it.”

  He turned to Slade. “I want charges set to take out the storage area, and all labs on the sixth floor connected to producing the vaccine.

  “Rebecca, where are the best entrance points and where is the vaccine stored?”

  Beck leaned in to get a better view of the monitor. She pointed at the stairwell that accessed the area closest to the storage vaults. “This way has locked doors, but would take us there the fastest.”

  “Locks, no problem,” offered up James. He smiled at her. “Any laser grids or security pads?”

  “Security pad on the vault access, with fingerprint scan. If they haven’t changed the code, I can still access it. The only trick will be getting the fingerprint. I’m sure my access has been pulled.”

  “Did Margo touch the vial with her bare hands?” Achilles asked.

  Beck turned looking over her shoulder at him. “Yeah, actually, she did.”

  “Perfect. James, pull a set of prints off it and make the skins ASAP.”

  Beck phased the vial into her palm and reluctantly handed it over to James. “Be car
eful with it.”

  James evaporated in a puff of dark particles.

  “Mik, we’ve got a possession to deal with. Not wholly vampire. I want DMDs and silver bullets in all weapons.”

  “What are DMDs?” Beck blurted.

  “Dead Man’s Darts. Tranqs filled with dead man’s blood.” Mikhail’s voice was far deeper and more graveled than Beck had expected. His green stare was deep and penetrating, making Beck shiver.

  Slade bumped Mikhail aside with his shoulder and took a look at the screen. “C-4 or nitroglycerin shots?”

  Achilles tapped a key bringing up a schematic of the building’s floor plan. “We only want to take out the sixth floor. Not the whole building.” Slade nodded.

  A cloud of dark smoke knitted into the broad shoulders and blue eyes of James. “Here’s those skins, Chief.” He handed soft translucent bits of fingertip-sized flexible plastic to Achilles and the vial to Beck. Beck phased the vial back to its hiding place before anyone could ask questions.

  “Perfect.”

  “Rebecca, once we’re inside we’ll need you to tell us the access codes.”

  “Wait. What do you mean tell you? I’m going in with you.”

  Again five pairs of very male, very vampire eyes stared at her as if she were a lone plasmid circulating in a petri dish. “What?”

  Slade turned his gaze to Achilles. “She isn’t coming in, is she?”

  He said “No” just as Beck answered “Yes.”

  “Look, the timing on this has to be perfect or the security grid will kick in. If you want to get into that vault, you’re going to need to know exactly what you’re looking for. And maybe it’s a guess, but unless any of you here have been a vampire less than five years, anybody bumps or cracks one of those vials before we get out and they’re going to turn into dust sooner than later.”

  “How lethal is this stuff?” Titus asked Beck, his mouth a serious line.

  “Very. It took Vane out in less than two minutes.”

  Slade whistled long and low and Mikhail glowered, his thick brows knitting to a deep V as he clicked the clasps on his pack. James drummed his fingers on the table. “Are we going in with haz suits on?”

  Achilles nodded. “Given what the doc has seen, I think it’d be best.”

  James grunted, then phased in six black hazard suits completed with face panes. He handed them out, but when it came to Rebecca she held up her hands. “Thanks. Don’t need one.” James’s gazed flicked to Achilles.

  Achilles shrugged. “Doc knows what she’s doing, let her go with it.” The suit evaporated into the thin air.

  “Suit up and transport on my count in five. Everyone link up. Follow Doc’s lead.” Achilles touched his watch, setting a countdown, yanked on his suit then held out his hand to her. Beck grabbed his hand and held it hard. One by one his team grasped the person’s shoulder in front of them, making it look like some bad boy conga line ready to kick ass.

  “Ready to fly, Doc?”

  Beck nibbled on her lip. “Not like we have a choice, is it?”

  Once she was transported, she landed with a thud when they hit the wet grass, the moon a thick crescent overhead in the dark sky. They crouched low to the ground.

  “From here on out, mind link only.” Everyone in the team nodded.

  Do you think she can even flux yet? Beck heard James’s voice loud and clear in her head.

  Captain wouldn’t have her with us if she couldn’t, Slade answered back.

  She sure wasn’t worried about fluxing. Beck wondered how in the world she could sneak into Genet-X with five enormous male vampires and not have security bat an eyelash.

  But by now she should’ve known vampires weren’t like anyone else. They moved more like shadows than men. One minute they were at the edge of the fencing, the next they were up against the wall. Beck pushed herself to move quickly, just as Achilles had taught her. The exertion was exhilarating.

  The men jumped in turn up the vertical wall to the sixth story in one enormous leap, hanging out on the ledge like a murder of crows waiting for her to join them. Beck crouched, bunching the muscles of her legs and looked up, putting all her focus on making it to the group waiting for her. She released the spring coiled tight inside her and shot upward, the night air stinging and cold as she flew to the sixth floor. Ichor pumped hard and fast through her.

  Clinging to the concrete with her fingertips, she glanced over her shoulder down at the six-story drop. Her legs wobbled.

  Whoa there, Doc. Put your eyes on me, Achilles said in her head as he grasped her upper arm, pulling her closer to the warmth of his body. Everything grew steady and stronger within her, a fresh flood of power pumping through her at his touch.

  Beck grinned. That was cool! He returned her smile and touched her curls. Hang on, we’re going to flux and phase into the building.

  She nodded. Even knowing the plan, it still shocked her when five enormous men suddenly evaporated into nothingness.

  You sure you’re ready for this? Achilles’s voice tickled her ear.

  You bet. She focused on becoming lighter than air and found she could no longer see her hands holding on to the concrete wall in front of her. She pushed through the wall, letting the thick gelatinous feel of it slide around her as she moved. The lab looked exactly the same as it had when she’d left it, except for the large black scorch mark that marred the floor where Vane had disintegrated.

  She glanced around, but saw no one. A bubble of panic welled up in her chest.

  An invisible large warm hand curled around her upper arm in a firm grip. While she couldn’t see it, she could definitely feel it, and from the sparks traveling through her she knew it was Achilles. We’re all here with you. Where are the storage vaults?

  Storage vaults are through that door to the right, she answered.

  Good. James, pull the fire alarm then follow Doc to the vaults. Titus, start the countdown and tap into their security center. Block the security cameras and any sensors they’ve got out in the halls on this level. I want us in and out of here in ten minutes. Slade, start setting the explosives. The vault, this lab and the next one over get the hardest hit.

  The beeping of a code being punched into the security pad sounded. Up against the walls. Someone’s coming in! Beck screamed in her head, knowing they all heard her.

  The door opened with a swish of air. Margo entered, dressed in street clothes, rather than a lab coat. Get what you need, then go away, Beck muttered in her mind. The door suctioned shut. Oh, no. The realization that everyone could hear what she thought came a nanosecond too late.

  Margo turned, her gaze vividly blue and trained directly where Beck stood. “Leave? Why would I do that when I came here for you, Rebecca?”

  Chapter 16

  Six vampires reappeared instantly, filling the room. Achilles stepped between Beck and Eris masquerading as Margo. “You’ll go through us to get her.” The edge of Achilles’s voice was sharper than a blade.

  Margo’s skin started to sag, looking eerily like it was melting, then peeled off in long strips. A blonde Eris wriggled out of what was left of Margo, leaving the discarded human body boneless and pooled on the floor.

  Bile, hot and acidic, surged up Beck’s throat.

  She swallowed hard.

  Eris’s clear blue eyes rested intently on Beck, sparkling with pleasure. “While that’s tempting, Achilles, I have another use for all of you that’ll leave me far more satisfied. What I want right now is Rebecca. Without her you don’t have a chance of fighting off Vanquish.”

  “Open fire!” Achilles yelled, and simultaneously cupped his hand over the back of Beck’s head and shoved her to the floor, putting himself between her and the goddess. The air above her whizzed and chattered with flying silver bullets and darts as Slade, Mikhail and Titus opened fire from behind them.

  Eris shivered but, undaunted, she continued walking slowly and steadily toward Beck and Achilles, her eyes twin points of electric blue flame.


  A series of fire alarms wailed to life. Out in the hallways the quick shuffle of footsteps and screams could be heard as people hurried from the building, their fear thick in the air.

  “Did you do that just for me?” Eris asked with false sweetness. “I do so love panic.”

  “Hardly.” Achilles held up a hand signaling the men to stop their fire.

  The bullets and DMDs had torn her thigh-high black patent leather boots and a red skintight satin jumpsuit but left her untouched. Her voice boomed through the lab, causing test tubes to rattle and the windows to vibrate. “Stand aside, Achilles.”

  “Screw you.” Achilles reached into his back pocket.

  Eris held out a hand and the lab tables began to shudder and shake, then lifted and slammed against the walls, clearing her path. “Give. Her. To. Me.”

  Achilles’s eyes narrowed into green daggers. “Not a chance.”

  Her eyes glittered. “Fabulous. I haven’t felt you this angry in ages. I’ve missed your rage, Achilles. It’s delicious.”

  “Don’t push your luck, Eris.” Achilles fingered a length of chain, small links of a brass-colored metal interlaced with silver ones, and palmed it in his gloved hand. “If you touch her, I’ll string you up and return you to Gormorlath.”

  Eris’s eyes narrowed, her beautiful features growing hard. “Don’t insult me, vampire. No one will imprison me again.” She lifted her chin in disdain.

  He let a loop of the metallic chain slide from his fist, the hiss of links sliding against one another sounded ominous. “Wanna bet? I’ve got a chain with your name on it.”

  Her blue eyes strayed to the chain, moving slightly as they followed the swing of it. Her blond hair rose, the ends of it writhing about like snakes, but she took a step back. “Keep the bitch. But be warned, Achilles, when I release my new plague among the vampires, you’ll be among the first to die and she’ll be left a halfling to do my bidding.”

  She turned on the spot, vanishing into a dark cloud that dissipated into nothingness.