Help me! she thought frantically.
“Yes, by all means help her, Slayer,” the Outcast laughed, and she realized she’d cried the words aloud. He suddenly grabbed her arm and shoved her in front of him like a shield. “How useful you’ve been to me twice now, fledgling,” he mocked, holding her in place with one arm around her waist while he reached around her with the other to slash at Eli. His hand groped over her. “Delicious,” he breathed in her ear. “I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a shame I don’t have more time to appreciate you as you deserve.”
Eli roared furiously and Renee fought to get away, her skin crawling at the Outcast’s repulsive touch, but she was helpless. Her body was no longer her own. She felt the Outcast in her mind searching for the path she used to speak to Eli and she ruthlessly cut off the contact. She had already messed things up enough without giving this beast a mental path to attack on, too.
What a strong little girl you are. He laughed in her mind. I almost regret killing you. Say goodbye, fledgling. And he shoved her forward just as Eli’s sword came down.
But as soon as he released her, Renee regained the tiniest measure of control over her muscles and threw herself hard to one side, missing the razor-sharp point of Eli’s blade by less than an inch before slamming into the ground. Using instincts she didn’t even know she possessed, Renee shot a mental bolt at the fleeing Outcast, trying to send him the same shattering agony he’d sent her, hoping to slow him down as Eli leapt over her in pursuit. Then she collapsed, utterly spent.
The next thing she knew, Eli was leaning over her as she lay sprawled on the ground. His dark gaze searched her face anxiously. “What happened?” Renee asked hoarsely, her head a bright ball of pain. “Did you get him?”
Eli let out a sigh which might’ve been relief or exasperation as he knelt at her side. “No, little one, he escaped.” Then he took her shoulders and pulled her into a sitting position. “Why didn’t you leave when I told you to?”
The movement aggravated her splitting headache but the pain was insignificant compared to her shame at what she’d unwittingly done. Renee let her lashes fall again, not wanting to see the censure in his eyes. She knew exactly whose fault it was that the Outcast had gotten away. “I’m sorry,” she whispered tonelessly. “I thought I could help.”
Eli sighed again and touched her cheek. She winced at the unexpected soreness there. She hadn’t even realized she’d hit her head on the pavement when the Outcast had thrown her aside.
“Don’t apologize. The fault is mine, too. I should have prepared you better for this.” He touched her temple and she opened her eyes at his silent demand. His face was stern. “You must never, never approach me when I’m fighting,” he said, his harsh tone leaving no doubt this was a command he would see obeyed. “You endanger yourself needlessly and I don’t need your assistance. Do you understand, little one?”
She nodded but deep inside she was starting to feel angry. He’d left her standing on the dance floor like an idiot and she’d still come sprinting to his aid, and even though things hadn’t turned out like she’d intended, was it too much to ask to get a little credit for trying? She sat up and shoved his hands away, ignoring the new bolt of pain piercing her tender skull.
“Little one, little fledgling, little girl,” she grumbled bitterly. “Anyone would think I was either three years old or three feet tall. Will you please stop calling me that?”
Eli helped her gently to her feet. “What should I call you, then?” he asked, only raising an eyebrow when she pulled away from him as soon as she was standing. “Xena the Warrior Princess with an empty wine bottle? Buffy the Vampire Slayer come charging to the rescue without her trusty wooden stake?”
She glared at him to hide how much his mocking dismissal of her attempt to help him stung. “Here’s a thought. How about my name?”
He shook his head. “Too easy,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist to steady her when she swayed. “Are you all right?”
She knocked his arm away and put her hand against the wall instead. Now that the danger had passed, the horror of what she had just witnessed was starting to sink in. She didn’t want to think about Eli swinging his sword with such deadly precision and beheading the Outcast, but the image would not leave her mind. The first time she had heard him call himself a Slayer she’d blocked out the graphic violence of the term. She couldn’t block it out again. A man had died in this filthy alley tonight, died by Eli’s hand, and he hadn’t even flinched.
What kind of man killed so coldly?
She struggled not to think about it. “Don’t talk to me for a while, all right?” she said, closing her eyes and covering them with her hand. “Just take me home and don’t talk to me. Please.”
Eli frowned as he looked at her standing there with her head down, her brilliant catsuit dirty from her impact with the pavement and her dark hair escaping its elegant twist. An impressive bruise was already darkening on her cheek. He had intended to lighten the mood with his teasing, but his plan had clearly backfired. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “It was brave of you to try to help, Renee.”
She didn’t look up. “I helped the wrong person,” she whispered, self-disgust lacing her tone. “If not for me he wouldn’t have gotten away.”
Eli was silent. He couldn’t deny it, but he shouldn’t let her think the fault was completely hers. There was no way he could have foreseen what had happened tonight. When he’d escaped from her in the dance club, he’d had no idea he would run into Caen. No way of knowing Renee would track him down and try to battle at his side. The sire-fledgling bond had been too much for Eli to fight and he doubted even the strong psychic blocking techniques he’d taught her would have done any good at all.
From the moment Caen had recognized Renee, it had been too late. She shouldn’t beat herself up over something she’d never had a hope of controlling.
She looked completely miserable standing there. His heart constricted. Eli pulled her into his arms and rocked her gently, taking the clip from her hair and running his fingers through the loosed tresses.
“Don’t apologize,” he told her again. “It’s not your fault he got away, Renee.” He massaged her scalp and felt her tremble against him. “He has eluded me many times, but I promise you he won’t elude me forever. I will find him again. Believe me in this. Leave it at that and let it go.”
Renee nodded against his chest and he pressed a gentle kiss to her hair. “Let’s go home,” he murmured. He didn’t summon the mist this time but flew slowly with her in his arms, telling himself she needed the comfort.
But deep inside, Eli still shook from the aftermath of her involvement in the battle. When she’d appeared in the dead-end, his heart had stopped. It was his nightmare, Renee exposed to Caen again, and his dread and fury had exploded when she’d refused to leave. He’d felt her uncertainty and fear, but still she’d refused to leave him alone. Her determination to even the odds against him. She hadn’t the slightest idea that he’d stacked the odds in his favor long ago when it came to battle.
Sweet heaven, she was brave. He didn’t deserve such loyalty.
Eli brushed her thoughts gently, not wanting to alert her to his presence in her mind, and winced at the vivid memory of his sword parting the first vampire’s head from his body. It replayed over and over and he realized Renee had never seen death before. Despite everything he’d told her about Outcasts and the League she hadn’t fully understood what their war meant until now. She had seen him kill and something innocent in her had died. He wished to the heavens that she had never seen him that way, but it was the truth of who he was. Not the laughter, not the wisecracks, but the man who killed without regret.
And to make everything infinitely worse her true sire had found her. He shuddered and held her tighter. The nightmare wasn’t over. Now that Caen knew she’d survived the Change, he might very well search for her again and try to take her for his own. He had clearly lusted for
her and even if he hadn’t, what Outcast wouldn’t want a thrall to control?
Eli shuddered again at the memory of Renee placing herself before his blades at the Outcast’s bidding despite her struggles to resist. Eli had known Caen’s game at once. To kill him, Eli would have had to kill Renee first. Eli hadn’t done it, as Caen had gambled he wouldn’t.
Why hadn’t he done it?
Renee was Outcast-born. The wisdom of ages told Eli it was only a matter of time before she joined them. Why hadn’t he forced himself to cut her down to get to his prey? Ronin would have done it without blinking. Diego likewise would have if he was certain no other options remained, and no guilt would torment him. But could Eli truly contemplate slaying this fledgling he had cared for over the last month for the simple sin of her birth and the crime of being forced to stand in his way? He closed his eyes as he started the descent to the cemetery.
He was very afraid the answer was no.
* * *
Something’s coming!
Renee woke with a gasp, her heart hammering against her ribs. The sensation of imminent danger overwhelmed her. Terror pressed hard in the center of her chest, burying her beneath a crushing weight of dread and helplessness. Something’s wrong—something’s coming! The certainty pounded in her brain, driving out every thought but one.
She had to get to Eli. She had to warn him and make up for last night’s dismal failure.
Renee tried to leap from the bed but her body wouldn’t obey. Her legs tangled in the blankets, trapping her on the bed. Her limbs trembled violently. The memory of the Outcast stealing her body and her will swamped her and panic swallowed her for a moment before she understood the cause of this terrible lethargy—it must still be daylight outside. Eli had warned her she’d be weak during the day, but she hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
She couldn’t let it stop her. The horrible sense of danger kept growing. She struggled free of the blankets and tumbled from the bed, hardly noticing when she hit the stone floor hard enough to bruise. It took three failed attempts to pull herself up before she accepted that there would be no getting to her feet. She would have to crawl even as everything in her demanded she run.
The simple act of opening her door left Renee gasping and drained. The few feet separating her room from Eli’s yawned before her like miles. Only the increasing sense of danger, of wrongness, kept her from giving up right there.
Somehow she made it to his door. She struggled to her knees to reach the handle, her hand shaking, her entire body trembling with effort, and when she finally managed to turn it she tumbled inside and landed in a crumbled heap in the doorway.
“Eli,” she tried to scream, but it came out as a whisper.
But he heard it. Eli sat straight up in bed and flung the covers back. Renee had one tantalizing glimpse of a long, muscular leg before a pair of black pajama pants appeared out of nowhere and covered him, but she was so terrified his nudity hardly registered. She barely had time to wonder why he didn’t seem to be affected by the day weakness before he was kneeling beside her.
“What is it?” Eli demanded, grasping her shoulders and lifting her from the floor to look anxiously into her eyes. “I feel your fear. What’s happened?”
“Something’s coming,” she gasped, wishing she could scream it. Desperation welled up inside her. She didn’t know what was happening but she knew their time was almost up. “Can’t you feel it? Something’s wrong!”
Almost before she finished speaking, the first tremor shook them. Eli caught her against him and shielded her with his body as the floor heaved and they were thrown into the wall. Any attempt to speak or hear was impossible in the sudden roar as the earth convulsed around them.
An earthquake—and they were trapped beneath the ground! Renee was too frightened to even scream. She’d thought she’d been prepared to face an earthquake when she moved to San Francisco, but the reality was much more terrifying. What if the walls collapsed and crushed them? What if Eli’s home was exposed and the sunlight found them? What if the fissure connecting them to the outside world closed in the shifting? What if—
Before any other horrid thoughts arose to torment her, Eli moved. Still holding her tightly to his chest with one arm, he stretched out his other hand and pressed it to the stone wall, fingers splayed, eyes closed in intense concentration. Almost at once, the shaking stopped, even though Renee still heard the rocks around them groaning and breaking. Eli glowed with the intensity of his effort. That sensation of incredible power radiating from him had never been more intense. It surged around him with such strength, her teeth chattered and she was certain her hair stood on end. She wasn’t sure what scared her more—the earthquake, or watching Eli control it.
Still, what if his great strength gave out before the tremors stopped? Nightmare visions of being entombed in stone filled her head. Trying to force them away, she hid her face against his bare chest and prayed for it to be over.
And finally, it was. The silence that fell was complete but for her rapid, terrified gasps. Eli wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair gently.
“Shh, little one,” he murmured, and to her surprise Renee thought he sounded fatigued. It was the first time he’d ever sounded anything but invincible, supremely confident, and it scared her almost as much as the earthquake had. She clung to him and tried to stop shaking. “Shh, it’s over now. You’re safe. It’s all right.”
Eli rocked her until she calmed a little as he sent his senses traveling through the stone surrounding his home, checking for damage and feeling the tension still lingering in the earth around them. This had been a big quake and it wasn’t over yet. There would be aftershocks. He began weaving safeguards around his lair, strengthening the hasty protection he’d thrown in place during that first violent tremor. He felt Renee relaxing little by little against him and unconsciously rested his cheek against her soft, tousled hair as he worked, comforting her as he would a frightened child.
When he’d made them as safe as possible, he noticed for the first time just how intimate their embrace had become. During the quake he’d crushed her against him, drawing her onto his lap and covering her body with his to protect her from any falling stones. Now that the danger had passed, neither of them had put any distance between them, and he was abruptly aware that this was no child he comforted. Renee wore only a short satin gown and he wasn’t sure which was softer, the satin or the bare skin of her arms and shoulders brushing his chest. The gown had ridden up high on her thighs and he ached to brush his fingertips along the skin revealed there. The scent of her hair filled his senses and the soft press of her breasts against him made him catch his breath as he remembered the wild, reckless, and wonderful dance last night.
A reluctant smile curved his lips as a blaze kindled deep inside. In all the times he’d dreamt of her coming to him in here, he’d never once imagined anything like this.
Well, that wasn’t quite true. The earth had moved.
Eli shook his head sharply to clear it. It was dangerous to think of her that way, dangerous and unfair. Renee deserved better than a sire who couldn’t control his lustful thoughts.
She was almost limp in his arms with day-sickness and the aftermath of her fear and he concentrated on that to distract himself from how insanely good she felt against him. His arms tightened for a bare instant, but he made himself shift her away. Still, he kept his arm around her shoulders to keep her from slipping to the floor.
Only then did it hit him. Renee had woken during the day! She’d felt the danger approaching even in her deepest sleep—not only that, but she’d found the energy to do what was necessary to ensure their safety. It was unbelievable she’d managed to make it here at all. She was barely more than an infant in vampire reckoning, a fledgling a mere few weeks old. She should have been completely immobilized at this hour.
She was more powerful than she knew. She had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was capable of surviving on her own now, but Eli
shoved the thought away at once. He still had much to teach her.
No. He would not let her go yet.
Eli cupped her chin in a gentle hand and smiled down at her, banishing the thought of her leaving and living on her own in his surge of admiration for the remarkable feat she’d performed. Although he was certain the quake would have woken him within seconds, he had no doubt her early warning had saved considerable damage. “Thank you for waking me, little one. Tell me, how did you know the quake was coming?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just woke up and I felt…wrong.” Her lashes lowered as though it was too much effort to keep her eyes open. “I had to get to you,” she whispered.
The knowledge that her only thought when she’d felt the danger had been to reach him warmed Eli more than he wanted to admit. He caught a glimpse of the tiny passion mark on her throat and his groin tightened as he remembered putting it there. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to forget how very good she’d tasted and how well she’d fit in his arms. He had to stop thinking about that dance!
She sighed and Eli felt her weakness, the effort it took her simply to stay awake, and he latched onto the problem with relief. Not only did it give him something concrete to concentrate upon, it also meant she wouldn’t be trying to seduce him again anytime soon. He thanked the heavens for that because right now he wasn’t sure he could say no.
Sleep. She needed sleep, and he needed a cold shower. Eli stood and scooped her up into his arms. She snuggled against him and his feet tried to turn toward his bed instead of the door. He scowled and corrected their aim. “You’re exhausted,” he said, reminding himself more than her. “I’ll take you back to your room. You’re too weak to try to walk.”
But Renee shook her head at once and wrapped her arms tight around his neck. The tremors that had finally started to fade once more shook her body. “Please let me stay with you,” she whispered, even her voice trembling. “Don’t leave me alone. What if it comes again?”
Amelia Elias - [Guardian's League 02] - Outcast Page 13