The key? He wanted the key. He’d tried to take it that first time we’d tangled outside the office building.
“You tracked me for the key?”
“I need it.”
“I was unconscious. You could have taken it.”
He blinked down at me as if the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.
I sat up against the rough bark of the tree he’d propped me up against. “You need to work on your thieving skills.”
Yes, taunting a Vladul wasn’t the brightest move, but anger was like a hot coal in my chest, and the throbbing headache wasn’t helping at all.
He held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
“No.” I lifted my chin. “If you want it, you’re going to have to take it off my dead body.”
His expression hardened. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
A fission of fear shot down my back. “Why do you want it?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Did he know what it did? How far away from the Claw camp were we? Would anyone hear me if I screamed? Did they even know that I was missing?
I needed more information. “How long have I been out?”
His brow furrowed as if he was thrown by the change in topic. “Not long, maybe ten minutes.”
So, we couldn’t have gone too far, and Ash or Sage would have noticed I’d gone AWOL; they seemed to have one eye on me at all times. Were they looking for me, or had the Feral Claws taken up all their attention?
Wait, where was I?
Metal cages stood open behind the Vladul.
Cages …
I met his gaze. “What was in the cages?”
His smile was tight. “Feral Claws.”
The pieces fell into place. Nate’s insistence that he get the cure first. He’d lied and said that it was to help Feral to the east of the forest, when all the time the Feral had been here, trapped in cages. Family? Friends? He’d probably thought he was keeping them safe. But barely ten minutes from camp? Not a wise move.
Focus, Eva. “You let them out to cause a diversion.”
The Vladul nodded. “I had to get to you somehow.” He pressed his lips together. “Now, please, just give me the key, and you can go back to your friends, help them prevent more deaths.”
“What the fuck do you care about how many innocent Claws die?”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“And I don’t want to know. Like I said. If you want the key, you’re going to have to take it.”
My hand hovered at my pocket, over the slight bulge of my penknife as he stalked toward me. That’s it, fucker, come closer. He came to a standstill and crouched right in front of me.
“Last chance,” he said.
“Fuck you.”
He made a grab for me, hands going for my throat, for the leather strap that held the key to me. I wound an arm around his neck, yanking him close enough to inhale his odor, crisp and clean, then slipped the penknife from my pocket, bringing it up to slam into his side in a series of short, sharp jabs.
He grunted in pain, and I shoved him away. He staggered back, clutching the wound, eyes wide with shock, and I ran.
I didn’t get far.
He grabbed my hair, yanking me back and smashing me into the tree trunk I’d just been propped up against before pinning me to the bark with a hand at my throat.
His irises were ringed in crimson. “I really wish you hadn’t done that.”
And then he bit me.
The shock numbed the pain for a second and then my blood was on fire, limbs thrashing as I tried to get away, away from the bite, the sting, the fire. I pressed at his wide shoulders, needing to push him away, but my hands slipped, useless against his granite presence. He was like a wall, unyielding and cold. He was like a parasite, desperate and hungry.
Cold.
So cold.
Images flitted through my mind, purple velvet and golden hair, the creamy column of a throat and a resonant female laugh. The clatter of hooves followed by the baying of an angry mob, and then the slash of a knife and a starlit sky. So bright. So cold.
So cold.
“No!” A voice brimming with rage pulled me back into myself, and the Vladul was gone.
With nothing to hold me up, my body slid to the ground, limp and weak and tingling as if trying desperately to summon a spark. My breath was shallow and fast. Not enough oxygen. Not enough blood to carry the damn oxygen.
Two figures fought to my right. Metal clanged, curses, growls, and hisses were traded. Vanilla … Logan.
I closed my eyes. Logan, thank God. He’d come to save me, the fragile human. Laughter bubbled up my throat as death hovered at my back.
Too weak.
“Eva! Oh, God.” Sage’s heat enveloped me as he tugged me away from the chilly earth and cradled me to his chest. “Eva, stay with me.”
Something fluttered inside me, an errant, lonely flame. It flickered with every breath, leaning toward Sage.
His hand was on my cheek. “Please, open your eyes.”
Dammit, I was trying, but my lids were lead weights.
“We need Ash,” Logan said. “Find Ash. I got this.”
“What the fuck?” Kira’s voice drifted on the wind.
The air whispered across my skin, leaves crunching far away. We were running. Floating.
“Ash! Ash, where’s Ash?” Sage sounded frantic, his heart hammering in my ear.
Hush, it’s okay. We’re okay.
Don’t go softly into the night, Eva.
Tobias?
“Logan said you could help her.” Sage’s gravelly voice shook with emotion.
Cedar wrapped itself around me and warm, dry lips brushed over my parted ones. Sweet breath. Ash’s sweet breath and Sage’s warm arms. He sealed our mouths, and the heat of euphoria washed through me, tingling through my limbs and dispelling the pins and needles. My shallow breath evened out and my eyelids fluttered open to see his dark lashes brushing my cheek and the frown marring his forehead.
“She’s awake,” Sage said. “Thank God, she’s awake.”
Ash broke the healing kiss and pulled back enough to scan my face. I reached up to touch his cheek as strength flooded my limbs, as the flame that had ignited inside me roared to life, stretching upward and outward.
Sage gasped. “Eva … I feel your flame.”
“Bring him through!” Kira’s voice was wound tight with rage.
Fists meeting flesh was followed by a grunt.
They had the Vladul. “I can stand. I need to see.”
Sage carefully lowered me to the ground, and Ash’s arm went around my waist to steady me. My body pressed to his side for a moment, my hand braced on his taut chest, I looked up at him and nodded. His mouth was turned down, his murderous gaze on the creature held captive behind Sage. One moment, just a moment for my knees to realize they weren’t made of jelly.
Another punch, another grunt.
“Kill him,” Kira said softly.
“No!” I stepped around Sage to see the silver-haired Vladul, bloody and on his knees.
He met my gaze with dark violet eyes. He was flanked by two huge Claws and Kira stood behind him, blade at the ready. Her face was spattered with blood, and her body seemed to vibrate with rage.
I met the female’s eyes. “He’s mine.”
She gritted her teeth, lip curling to emit a low, menacing growl.
“If he doesn’t cooperate, you can have him.”
She nodded and lowered her blades.
I walked up to the Vladul and crouched in front of him. “You’re in the shit now, Vladul. These Claws are ready to rip you to fucking shreds, and I’m half inclined to let them.”
He met my gaze steadily, unflinching, unafraid. “I almost killed you.”
The fuck? He sounded … sorry. No. He couldn’t be sorry; he was a coldblooded killer.
“Listen very carefully. If you w
ant to live, you’ll tell me exactly why you want the key, and you’ll tell me everything you know about the internal security of the Genesis Foundation.”
He cocked his head. “You plan to infiltrate the Foundation.”
I arched a brow. “My plans are none of your concern.”
He tucked in his chin. “I’m not afraid to die. But I am afraid to leave my people under Malcolm’s rule.” He raised his head. “I’ll tell you what you need to know. I’m not the enemy. I didn’t come here to hurt anyone.”
“You almost fucking killed her,” Sage growled. “Look around. Look what you did.”
He kept his eyes on me. “I needed the key.”
Yeah, so he kept saying. “Then why the fuck didn’t you take it and run when I was knocked out?”
He faltered, his mouth parted as if searching for the words. “I … I don’t know.”
He was lying. He knew, he just didn’t want to say. “Kira, can you set up an interrogation tent please. I just … I need a minute.”
“With fucking pleasure,” the beta Claw said.
I turned away from the silver-haired Vladul, my eyes searching for the dark-haired Fang that had saved my life. I spotted Jace carrying a sobbing Benji. He raised a hand and then diverted direction to a purple tent, the boy clutched tight to his chest. Oh, God. I hope the boy’s aunt was all right.
“Ash says Logan is back at our tent,” Sage said.
Once again, Ash knew what I needed, they both did. “Thank you.”
I headed toward our tent, weaving past the carnage, the broken, battered remains of a mini war that, thank God, hadn’t claimed too many lives, and skirted the dead bodies of the Feral that had been released into our midst.
The tent came into view, still standing by some miracle. I ducked inside to find Logan wiping blood off his bare chest. He looked up sharply as I entered, his mouth parted in surprise, and then he closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose before turning his back on me.
“I thought you were dead.” His voice was so soft I barely caught the words.
But I’d seen the flash of relief on his face just before he’d shut it down and turned away. A lump formed in my throat because that look couldn’t be found on a face that didn’t care. He cared. He fucking cared, and if not for him, I’d be dead. So close, I’d been so close. Another minute, another half a minute and the Vladul would have drained me.
I walked up to his back and then wrapped my arms around him from behind, pressing my cheek to his spine. His shoulder muscles bunched.
I sighed, because why was he fighting this? “You saved my life. Thank you, Logan.” I pressed a chaste kiss to his back and then released him and stepped away. “I’m going to be interrogating the Vladul in a few minutes. I’d like it if you could join me.”
I slipped from the tent without waiting for a response, without waiting for him to turn to face me, because even though Logan couldn’t speak lies, I was done with seeing the lies pasted on his face.
He cared. He fucking cared.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Elias
It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be, but it was. I’d seen it, felt it, and I’d almost killed her. Once her blood had hit my tongue there had been no stopping. Sweet, so fucking sweet, like nectar, like life. She tasted like life, and I’d almost killed her. The thought turned my blood to ice. Thank God the Fang had stopped me when he had. I could have fought him off easily. He’d been strong, but no match for my Vladul strength, especially with her blood coursing through my veins. But killing him would have alienated her further. He was important to her, they all were. And this was bigger than us all.
Did she know? No, she couldn’t, how could she? She was something else, something new, and if I was going to understand it, I’d need to convince her to let me go with them wherever it was they were headed.
I needed time.
The chair I’d been tied to was a flimsy affair. The ropes were nothing, but I sat still and silent, ignoring the blazing Claw eyes on me filled with hatred, and ignoring the reek of pheromones that promised death.
She would come, and somehow I would make her understand.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kira stood outside the white tent they’d put the Vladul in. She’d wiped the blood off her face but hadn’t changed her stained clothes.
“Once you have what you need, then we kill him,” she said.
I inclined my head. “Once we have what we need, we kill him.” I resisted the urge to touch my neck, the spot he’d sunk his fangs into, the spot that Ash had healed with his kiss. “Can you ask Jace to bring the radio too please?”
Her brows shot up.
“We need to let Noah know what’s happening.”
She nodded before striding off. I stepped into the tent where two Claws stood glaring at the Vladul. His silver hair looked groomed and sleek despite the tussle, and there wasn’t a speck of blood on his face, despite the beating he’d received. No cuts, and no swellings. Damn, he healed fast.
Make the interrogee at ease, throw them off guard. Ah, there you are, Dad.
I crossed my arms under my breasts. “What’s your name?”
He looked surprised by the question. “Elias.”
Elias. It was a nice name. Too good for one of the likes of them. “I’m Eva.”
The air shifted behind me, and the scent of cedar alerted me to Ash’s arrival. He walked past me and took a position to the left of Elias, about a meter away. Logan entered a moment later and pulled out a chair from the small table to the right, turned it around, and sat on it, arms resting on the backrest. Jace and Sage entered a second later.
“You have the radio?” I asked Jace.
He frowned. “Was I supposed to bring it?”
Kira obviously hadn’t crossed paths with him. “Never mind.”
“We’re good,” Sage said to the Claw sentries, and they ducked out.
Sage and Jace took the sentries’ places at the entrance.
Elias took in the getup. Was that a slight smile on his face?
I crossed my arms under my breasts. “You think your predicament is amusing?”
He dropped the smile. “No. Of course not. I apologize for almost draining you. I meant to take enough to heal the wound you inflicted, but your blood is … intoxicating.”
“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”
“I simply wanted the key.”
“Why?”
This was where he’d dig in his heels, except this time he didn’t.
“To overthrow Malcolm,” he said. “He’s the Vladul leader and our self-professed king.” His lip curled in disgust. “He believes humans should be cattle, to be bred and used as we see fit. He believes Vladul should rule over all other supernatural races.”
“And I suppose you don’t?” Logan said.
Elias’s gaze flicked to the Fang. “No. I don’t. That isn’t who we are. It isn’t who we were meant to be.”
Ash made a sound of disgust and shook his head in disbelief.
“We know who you are,” Logan said. “We’ve seen the evidence for the past few decades.”
“Yes, under Malcolm’s rule,” Elias insisted. “Malcolm has the power because he has the key, what we thought was the only key, to the Genesis Foundation. He can shut it down or make it run. The key accesses the mainframe and can bypass any password or code. If the masses defy him, he can shut us out of the Foundation and leave us to face the Feral in the outside world, or he can program the Feral we have collared to attack us. The Vladul need sanctuary, and just like everyone else, we want to live, so we do as he says and follow his orders handed down by his minions. They call themselves The Enlightened.”
“This is bullshit,” Logan said.
But there was something in the Vladul’s tone, in his eyes, that sparkled with truth and sincerity. “Let him speak, Logan. I want to hear this.”
Elias focused on me, his violet eyes wide and clear in the lamplight. “Many centuries ago the Vladul were t
he protectors of humanity.”
Logan let out a bark of laughter.
For fuck’s sake. “Logan, please …” I turned to Sage. “Do you know anything about this? The djinn have been watching our world forever, right?”
Sage’s chest rumbled. “I can’t say. I’ve been a watcher for just over a century. The Vladul didn’t exist to your world then.”
“Like I said,” Logan drawled. “Bullshit.”
I shot Logan a flat look, then jerked my chin at Elias, indicating he continue.
Elias’s jaw flexed; he took a shallow breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth as if grounding himself. “I know it must seem preposterous to you, but it’s true. There was a royal bloodline, there was peace. We coexisted with humans and kept them safe from other supernatural predators. In exchange, humans donated their blood to us. We were the landlords of small villages all over the world. We were the aristocracy of that age, and humans accepted us because they needed us. But then times began to change, technology emerged, and humans created new weapons. They began communicating along vast distances, and their need for our services decreased. The queen wanted to withdraw from civilization, to find a new home where we might live off the blood of animals. But her advisor, her right-hand man, didn’t agree.”
“Your leader, Malcolm, I presume,” Logan said.
“Yes. He’d been building a resistance beneath the queen’s nose. A band of Vladul who believed they were the superior race and that humans were cattle. In this time of uncertainty, he was able to rise and overthrow the queen. He not only murdered her but also every Vladul who carried the royal blood, professing that he had freed the Vladul of the shackles of servitude to the creatures beneath them.” He paused for a long beat. “The Vladul you know of are the ones that came after. The ones ruled by Malcolm. The ones that raped and pillaged and killed and were finally forced underground when humanity, with its vast numbers and shiny new weapons, turned against them. The few that remained evolved and procreated and became the Fangs that your new society finally welcomed into the fold. But Malcolm is back now. With the world weakened, with humanity decimated and the other supernatural races on the brink of extinction, he has the upper hand, and I have to stop him. I need that key.”
For the Power (For the Blood Book 2) Page 15