“Of course.” That much, Shay meant. The healthier all of them could remain, the less interference they’d have from Simon and his buddies and the lower their chance of dying from a miscarriage or a pregnancy complication. Vampires would not take any of them to a hospital; they’d toss them in the river. She wanted no more visits from the scary Frank Greisser.
Plus, she might not be a practicing physician but her whole life had been devoted to saving people and finding healthier ways for them to live. This was a different playing field than the one she’d had in mind for her career, but the idea remained the same.
Simon moved to the door of the next cell. “Tina, wake up.”
The woman rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly. “Wh…what?”
Shay knew the second that the girl remembered her circumstances. Her back straightened, her jaw clenched, and she pulled a bed pillow in front of her and held it like a life ring.
This was Shay’s first chance to get a good look at the woman without her face buried in that same pillow. She was lovely, with olive skin and black curls that tumbled in a tangle below her shoulders. Only the pinched look in her dark eyes gave away the stress. And she couldn’t be more than fourteen years old, barely old enough to have a child. She was still a child herself.
Shay would castrate Jon Lachey before she killed him.
“What d’you want?” The girl’s voice was stronger than Shay would have expected, given her obvious fear, and her accent was native New Orleanian. “Who are you?”
Simon smiled, a chilling sight. “Let’s just say I’m not a man you wish to cross. First, meet your neighbor, Shay. She’s also pregnant, but more important, she’s a doctor. She’ll be monitoring your health and the health of your baby.”
The look Tina gave Shay was narrow-eyed and accusatory. “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping them?”
Shay tried to keep the snark to a minimum and remember how scared and disoriented her first day here had been—and she was more than twice this kid’s age. “I’m in a cage here too, right? I’m not here by choice either. But I’ll help you however I can.”
Tina blinked away tears. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
“You two can get better acquainted later. Now, Shay, I wish to speak of your friend Nik Dimitrou.”
She frowned. “I told you, I haven’t seen him since high school. High school was a long time ago. I’m your older, experimental case, remember?”
His response was sharp as the crack of a gunshot. “You will not be insolent unless you want to die. Do you understand?”
Shay nodded. She had to keep her smartass commentary to herself.
Simon looked back at the other vampire for a moment, and the man nodded. He pulled one of the armchairs from the seating arrangement in the middle of the warehouse floor and dragged it to the door of Shay’s cage. He positioned it so Simon could be comfortably seated while antagonizing her about a boyfriend who’d dumped her and disappeared sixteen years ago.
“Thank you, Michael.” Simon fluffed the seat cushion and Shay watched the other vampire amble back to his spot on the sofa. So they could communicate telepathically? Interesting.
“So, Shay.” Simon placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, reminding her of something predatory—and hungry. “Do you know where Nikolas Dimitrou currently lives?”
Clearly he had something to do with this Murphy guy and the place called Penton. But she only knew that because she was a good eavesdropper.
“No. He left Newman High School when we were juniors, although he was a year older than me.” Shay’s homeschooling had allowed her to skip a grade. “I have no idea where he went after he dropped out of school.” Because if she had, she would have ripped him a new one for dumping her without so much as a backward glance.
Simon leaned back. “Well, then, you’ll be happy to know a reunion is at hand. I just spoke to Mr. Dimitrou, to inform him of your role in our breeding program. He was quite surprised to learn that you were here with us.”
Shay shrugged, hoping to end this farce. “Nik Dimitrou is nothing to me.”
In fact, he was a sour, angry memory of someone she’d cared about but who cared nothing for her. Beyond sheer curiosity, she had no desire to see him again. She didn’t want him mixed up with these vampires, however.
“That’s not the impression I got.” Simon gave her an assessing look.
“Look, Nik Dimitrou wouldn’t go out of his way to save me if you’re wanting some kind of ransom or reward. You’re being delusional.”
His face hardened. “Here’s what happens when you’re acting like a bitch.”
Simon stood and unlocked Tina’s cage, and her wide-eyed fear was palpable. He sat next to her on the bed and took her right hand in his left, then wrapped the fingers of his right hand around her forearm, raising it to his lips.
“No!” Tina struggled, and Shay ran to the common wall of their cages. Simon’s fangs flashed in the light as he licked Tina’s forearm, then disappear into her flesh.
Ohgodohgodohgod. “Stop it! She’s just a child herself.” Shay’s voice came out shrill and panicked. “It’s bad for the baby. She’ll…she’ll lose too much iron.” That probably wasn’t true but it was the first thing that came to mind. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, I promise. Whatever you want.”
Simon had been taking deep pulls from Tina’s arm. As for the girl, she had begun to moan. And, if Shay had to guess, she was feeling anything but pain. Which was just creepy as hell.
Simon withdrew from her arm, gave the puncture wounds a small lick, and turned blue, hooded eyes to Shay. “I’ve never drank from a pregnant woman before. Her blood is incredibly…” He struggled for words, his voice slurred. “Intoxicating. Will it really hurt the baby?”
No, jackass. Vampire feeding and general bloodletting is advised for all pregnant women. “It’s dangerous for the mother and the baby. Really. I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt her because of me.”
Shay knew they were vampires. In theory, she knew they drank blood—that the shortage of unvaccinated human blood had caused some kind of food crisis in the vampire community. But she hadn’t seen one feed. It made this whole thing real in a way it hadn’t been before.
They would not use her baby for food or for breeding. They. Would. Not.
She’d die first.
“Just remember that this one pays if you misbehave.” Simon sighed, gave Tina a regretful look, and let himself back out of her cage. Tina crawled to the head of her little bed with glazed, hooded eyes and parted lips, like she’d just had the best orgasm of her life and wasn’t sure how it happened. If Shay had to guess, that summed up the situation exactly. She is a child.
Simon stopped beside Shay’s door. “Michael here will be taking first guard watch on evenings I’m unavailable. One of us will take you to examine each of the women as soon as your supplies arrive—definitely within the week.”
Shay couldn’t help herself. “What about Nik Dimitrou?” Was he really some kind of psychic from the rebel group fighting against Frank and Simon and their allies? That seemed too bizarre, but, then again, this whole situation was bizarre.
Simon’s lips curled in a sneer that sent chill bumps up Shay’s arms. “We’ve told Mr. Dimitrou that he has forty-eight hours to save you. With him under our control, it could give us the leverage we need to keep this program going and end the rebels’ little war.”
Shay returned to sit on her bed, watching Simon and Michael talk softly before Simon made his exit. She couldn’t imagine any reason in the world Nik Dimitrou would come to her rescue, so he probably wouldn’t show up. That might be a good thing. Because it sounded as if Nik wouldn’t be their salvation.
As a psychic, he’d simply give Simon more power.
Chapter 9 * Mirren
For a man who could barely stand upright a few minutes ago, a man who’d almost been assassinated by a hired set of fangs, Aidan was hauling ass from where he’d met them at the edge of the old medical clinic
parking lot. Mirren had no trouble keeping up with him—at six-foot-eight, he could outwalk even the speediest vampire. Will, however, was struggling.
“Slow down, A.” Mirren looked back at Will. “You’re leaving Junior in the dust.”
Vampires could heal just about anything except removal of a heart or head or a serious fire. But an attack on Penton had mangled Will’s right leg so badly that even after rebreaking and setting it twice, it still had failed to heal properly. Penton’s resident playboy—well, before he’d found his mate, Randa—had been left with a permanent limp.
“I’m fine.” Will shot a glare at Mirren, but his jaw unclenched a little after Aidan slowed down.
“When did Krys wake up? Has she said anything? Has she been able to feed?” Aidan shot out questions faster than his stride. He hadn’t been this energized since the accident.
Mirren and Will exchanged looks, and Mirren hoped the worry he saw in Will’s eyes wasn’t mirrored in his own. This wasn’t a matter of accompanying their friend and leader to see his mate; this was an intervention. A benevolent kidnapping. Whatever you wanted to call it.
A damn lie. That’s what it was, and it made Mirren a fucking turncoat. No way around it.
“Don’t know for sure.” Mirren kept his voice noncommittal. Will couldn’t lie his way out of a bed, so he hoped the younger man understood the keep it zipped look Mirren had sent his way.
They walked toward the Penton Clinic, or what was left of it after a fire and a couple of grenades had done their worst. A Tribunal ally who managed to slip through their patrols would consider it a killing blow to taking out Penton’s leader and two senior lieutenants in one attack, so they moved in shadows, stopping at each corner as they got closer to the building to scent the air and scan their surroundings.
Finally, they reached the front door. The entrance had been retrofitted with steel doors that entered into a lobby area filled with chunks of plaster, hanging wires, dust, and more shadows. The less used it looked, the better. The faint smell of burned electrical systems and smoke still hung in the air.
Mirren locked the door behind the others and followed them into the gloom. This part, he and Will had planned, even rehearsed. Will would lead the way and Mirren would take the rear. As soon as Aidan saw Krys, he’d know his best friend had lied to him in a way that would hurt him the most.
As Will had pointed out, however, a lesser lie wouldn’t have brought Aidan here. Krys hadn’t awakened; if anything, she was weaker. The woman hadn’t moved in months and they’d been keeping her nourished with a daily supply of intravenous infusions of unvaccinated blood donated by most of the scathe’s human familiars. But this standoff, or whatever you wanted to call Aidan’s refusal to act, would end up killing both of them.
Will used a flashlight to illuminate their way to the back office in the central hallway. When the clinic had been functional, Aidan had kept an office here, and the light-safe subsuites below the basement level had been maintained for guests.
Will knelt, his movements awkward due to his leg, and worked the intricate sliding wooden puzzle that unlocked the opening to the basement level. They descended carefully, and Mirren closed the hatch above them once his head had cleared the opening. At the bottom of the ladder, Will flipped a switch to illuminate the basement floor. It showed little signs of the fight that had taken place in the town, except that it was empty. Once, it had been filled with foodstuff for Penton’s humans, plus basics like batteries and candles. All survival materials had been moved to the town’s underground shelter called Omega.
Mirren hoped to hell the whole community would never again have to flee underground, but Omega had been rebuilt and reinforced, just in case. They had also double-timed the work on the new training center to make it secure as a fortress.
“Okay, you ready?” Will opened the hatch to the subsuites and stood with his feet on the top ladder rungs descending into the subbasement.
“What do you think?” Aidan was wound tighter than a hangman’s noose. “Holy hell, would you hurry it up?”
Will gave Mirren a pointed look and descended the ladder. Originally, there had been a dozen well-appointed suites stretched along the hallway below, but the far end of the corridor had collapsed in one of the explosions. Six rooms remained undamaged and were again set up for visitors or anyone needing secure quarters, and the tunnel collapse had been partially cleared. Krys was in the first room on the right, in a queen-sized four-poster bed with an IV in her arm.
Earlier today, Will had overseen some modifications, and Mirren had checked out the setting before they’d retrieved Aidan from his perch in the woods—and just in time. Not much scared Mirren, but his stomach muscles tightened at the thought of how close Aidan had come to dying at the hand of some two-bit vampire.
Now, in the softly lit room where Melissa or Hannah brought fresh flowers each night, a second, narrower bed had been tucked into the corner, not visible until one fully entered. Around the sturdy iron bedrails, in three places, lengths of silver-laced rope had been tied. Everything was set.
Most nights, Krys was tended by Melissa Calvert, another of Penton’s vampire inner circle. During the day, one of the Penton humans—often, Melissa’s husband, Mark—did nursing duty. Before she’d been turned vampire following an attack last year, Mel had been Aidan’s and Krys’s familiar. Today, Melissa had agreed to leave the dirty work to Mirren and Will, but not without a warning: “If this doesn’t work…if Aidan lives and Krys dies, he will never forgive you,” she’d told Mirren. “Never.”
Mirren got it. If he’d been spared at the cost of his mate Glory’s life, he didn’t think he could live with it himself, much less forgive whoever forced it to happen. Hell, he loved Krys and respected her. He’d respect her even if she wasn’t his best friend’s mate. But Krys wasn’t a strong vampire. If nothing changed, Aidan’s master vampire nature would slowly kill her, no matter what he wanted. In the meantime, they’d have another six months or a year or more of misery and Aidan would be just as wrecked at the end. Worse, Aidan would give up in some attempt to save Krys and they’d both die.
This way, with Aidan forced out of commission, maybe they’d both live. And if only one of them could survive, God help him but Mirren would choose Aidan whether he received forgiveness or not.
Will opened the door to the suite and disappeared inside. Mirren followed close behind Aidan, who stopped at the foot of the bed.
“Krys?” He watched her a moment, with Mirren looking over his right shoulder. Behind them, Mirren tracked Will’s movement as he closed the door and stood sentry in front of it.
Aidan didn’t turn. “I don’t see any difference, Mirren. Did Melissa actually see her waking up?”
Krys’s heart-shaped face remained as pale and unmoving as porcelain, her dark auburn hair almost sable against the white bedding. The hand into which the IV needle had been fixed remained as still as it had been since she’d been brought into the room.
Finally, Aidan turned, his blue eyes troubled. He looked at Mirren, then slid his gaze to the corner, where the empty bed awaited. In two heartbeats, those eyes lightened to an arctic, icy blue. “What the hell are you doing? You lied to me?”
He tried to shove Mirren, and Mirren wished his friend had been strong enough to move him, but he wasn’t. Further proof this intervention was needed.
“Aidan, something had to give,” Will said from the doorway. “You’re getting weaker and Krys isn’t getting stronger. We had to do this.”
Damn, but Aidan’s eyes got downright creepy when he was this pissed off. At least he’d pointed those icy daggers toward Will for the moment.
“This? By this you mean tying me to that bed? Well, forget it. Fuck you both.” He edged around Mirren and charged at Will, but they’d been prepared for this. With Mirren standing behind Aidan, it was easy to slip his right hand around Aidan’s throat and pinch the vagus nerve tightly between his thumb and index finger before his friend could prevent it.
>
Aidan struggled but slumped back against Mirren as the oxygen deprivation set in. Mirren had to keep pressure on the nerve; otherwise, that little trick wouldn’t work more than a couple of seconds on a vampire. It was mostly panic; they didn’t have to breathe, but it was a hard habit to break.
Still, time was limited.
Will helped drag Aidan to the bed and made quick work of tying him down. “Seems like we just did this with Nik,” Will said, wincing as he knelt next to the rails and secured the ropes. His bad leg popped and crackled when he stood again. “Okay, that should do it. Well, except for the temper tantrum. Should we gag him?”
“Are you fucking crazy?” Mirren finally released his fingers’ grip on the nerve in Aidan’s neck and stepped back. “Once he calms down, he needs to talk to her. It might help both of them.” Besides, the guy deserved to give their asses a good chewing.
Aidan stirred, and mumbled something a few seconds before his eyes, almost white now, popped open and his focus speared Mirren like a bug. “Scaoil mé anois, nó beidh mé a mharú fucking agat.” His voice rasped but grew stronger the more he cursed.
“What’s he saying?” Will’s voice drew that wintry glare in his direction. Mirren would swear the younger vampire flinched.
“Let’s just say Aodhan has reverted to his native language and is not a happy vampire.”
Will leaned over Aidan. “I’m going back on patrol. Listen to Dr. Mirren. He’s smarter than he looks.”
“Get the hell out, Junior. I can take it from here.”
Mirren kept the scowl on his face until Will had left, then pulled a wooden chair from the corner to sit next to Aidan. Aidan was yelling now, still in some garbled form of language from his native Ireland, watered down from a couple of centuries in the South. Mirren crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. It creaked beneath his weight.
At least two or three minutes passed before Aidan finally wore himself out.
“You done?” Mirren noted the slight darkening of Aidan’s irises. At least now they were recognizable as some pale shade of blue; he was calming down.
Illumination (The Penton Vampire Legacy Book 5) Page 8