“Mon Chéri,” she whispered, holding the tears at bay.
Her heart ached as memories bombarded her. Clear as a sunlit day, the agony was as fresh as if it had just happened. Travis was gone. Chéri was gone. And all she had now was herself.
Evan stood and walked into the bathroom. She threw water on her face and then brushed her hair. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she told herself to keep it together. She couldn’t afford a meltdown. Not now.
Her thoughts drifted to William. The sun would set soon. Most of the people in the enclave would head off to bed. She could sneak down and see him. Maybe bring him something to eat and some water. Not that Lou would allow her to. But he had told the guards down there to give her access. So what Lou didn’t know…
“Dammit, Evan. What the hell are you doing?” She stared at herself long and hard. Why was she putting herself on the line for him? How could she let him get into her head? After everything that had happened, was she really that weak? That stupid? Helping William around this place was bound to get her killed.
“Evan?” Tommy’s voice sounded from the doorway.
She wiped her face with a towel and then walked into the room. “How’d you get in here?”
He held up a card key.
“Does that open every door?”
“Yup. It’s a master key.”
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I came by to see if you maybe wanted to go eat.” He held out a chain with food chips on it.
Her stomach growled loudly. She snatched the chain and slung it around her neck. “Why not?”
“Cool.” Tommy gave her a wide, lopsided smile.
She shoved her feet into a pair of boots and followed him into the hallway. “Where’s Peter?”
“Uh… He and I aren’t talkin’ right now.” He glanced away sheepishly.
“What happened?” She sighed. The brothers were always at it about something.
“Doesn’t matter. But we can eat with his family anyway.”
She drew her brows together. “His family?”
They reached the elevator. “Yeah, you remember, Alexa. Short, curvy, mouth like a sailor?”
“Sure,” replied Evan.
“Yeah well they got together about six months after you disappeared. Have a kid. He’s one.”
“Seriously?”
Tommy chuckled and nodded.
“Wow. I never saw that comin’.”
“No one did,” said Tommy.
They exited the elevator and walked into the lobby. It was full of people. People talking or reading. Kids running around or playing games. Guards joked and spoke with each other. Everywhere she looked, there were people.
“Hey, Evan,” Joe caught up with them. “How are you adjusting?”
“Great. Thanks for asking.” She pushed her hair behind her ear.
“That’s great. I’m about to head to work. Maybe after we can play cards or something.”
The words to decline his offer hung on her tongue. Her thoughts turned to William and for a fraction, guilt struck her. How could she play cards when he was stuck in a cell?
“Maybe. I’ll see how my leg is feeling.”
“Cool.” He beamed as he walked away. “Tommy, you’re invited too. I still owe you a whooping from the last time we played.”
Tommy chuckled and raised his hand to wave.
She watched Joe jog away and her gut clenched in guilt. The feeling that she was betraying William overpowered her. It was a stupid feeling. She wasn’t married to him.
A toddler zoomed in front of her on a tricycle almost knocking into a potted plant. “Dang, it’s full in here,” she mused.
“Yeah, it gets this way at dinner time. Most other times people are working or sleeping. Kids are at school or helping do chores. Dinner is the one time that everyone gets together. Then it’s lights out by ten.”
“Sounds like a prison.”
“It’s keeping the peace. Without rules, this place would be in chaos in days.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Dinner consisted of ham and potatoes. There were a variety of vegetables and for dessert was something she hadn’t seen in years. Pudding.
“Slaves aren’t allowed to eat pudding,” she said.
“Really? Why?” asked Tommy.
“They’re put on strict diets for health reasons.” She turned in her food chip and headed for a table with Tommy.
“I wonder if that will change though,” she said. “The restrictions on diets, I mean.”
“Why?” Tommy shoved a forkful of ham into his mouth.
“Haven’t you heard? We are being set free.”
“What do you mean, set free?”
“So, I was in Chicago and the coven lord there had set all her slaves free. About a year or so ago she uncovered a giant warehouse of humans that had been used in an underground blood market. She gave them a choice. Go free, or stay and be allowed to choose who they wanted to work with.”
A strange expression crossed his face. “You’re serious?”
“Totally. I was given the choice myself a dozen times, but they always sent me back.”
He chuckled. “I can’t imagine why.”
She slugged him in the shoulder. “All I did was talk to the other slaves. Tried to get them to stand up for themselves. Tell them there were places they could go for refuge. Like here. Apparently that wasn’t something the Vampires liked.”
He laughed again and then his smile fell.
“What?” she asked.
“You were in Chicago?”
“Yeah, why?”
He swallowed. “Nothin’.”
He pointed to a booth in the corner where Alexa sat with a baby in a high chair. She waved them over and they slid into a booth.
A tingle raced up Evan’s spine. Tommy refused to meet her eye.
“Hi,” said Alexa. “Wow. I can’t believe you’re sitting here. I’ve been listening to the boys bemoan your disappearance for so long it’s just so weird that you’re back.”
Evan swallowed, unsure of what to say. “Uh… thanks?”
“This is Petie.”
Evan looked over at the baby and every muscle in her body tensed. Dark hair and large round blue eyes. Just like Chéri.
“How old is he?” She cleared her throat in an effort to keep her barely contained emotions at bay a bit longer.
“He just turned a year last week.” Alexa spooned mashed up food into his mouth.
A year. Just like Chéri would be.
Petie smiled at Evan and gave her raspberries, spitting baby food all over his face.
Alexa laughed. “He loves to do that. I swear he gets more on his face and clothes than he does in his stomach.”
Evan couldn’t tear her eyes away from Petie. The chubby, happy baby face filled her with a bone-deep sense of longing to know where Chéri was.
“May I?” Evan asked.
Alexa handed over Petie’s plate and spoon. “Be my guest. Do you mind watching him while I go grab a shower? I have work in thirty minutes.”
Evan smiled. “Not at all.”
“Great. Thank you so much.” Alexa picked up her own empty tray of food and stood.
“You want me to take him to the nursery?” asked Tommy.
“Would you?”
“Sure, Evan can come with us.”
Alexa squeezed Evan’s shoulder. “I think I’m gonna love having you back.”
Evan nodded and looked to Petie. She scooped up some food and held it to his lips. Petie opened and gummed the orange mash before spitting it onto his tray.
* * * *
Thirty minutes after Evan and Tommy had dropped off Petie and played with him for a while, Peter came to Evan’s room to get them for a meeting. Evan was pissed at Peter for what he’d been doing to William but having played with his son for over an hour made her keep her mouth shut. For the time being at least.
The trio made their way to the lab area of the com
pound and were met by Lou and Nicholas.
“Feeling better?” Lou asked.
“Yup.” She rubbed her leg and tried not to fidget. Lou would notice if she fidgeted.
“Good. We have something we need from you.”
Nicholas held up a small vial. “This is the blood you got off the vampyr downstairs. I’ve analyzed it. It’s nothing I’ve seen before.”
“So he was telling the truth then?” asked Tommy. “There are demons here?”
Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s possible. But the question is, if the demons are attacking like he said, why would he have a vial of their blood?”
“Maybe he collected it,” Evan offered.
“But why would he do that?” Peter’s tone held an animosity that she’d rarely had directed toward her before.
“Why are your panties in a wad?” she asked. “I didn’t do anything to you.”
Peter scowled.
“What do you think?” Lou asked Nicholas.
“I think it very well could be demon blood. And if it is, and he’s telling the truth, we’re in bigger trouble than we originally thought. Demons aren’t beings you can reason with. They’d rather obliterate the Earth than negotiate our existence.”
“Can you do anything with it?” asked Lou. “Like you’re trying to do with the vamp cure?”
“It’s possible I can try to make a virus, only deadly to demon DNA, but that would take time. On another note, I have what I think maybe finally be a cure for the vamps.”
“Can we test it?” asked Lou.
“If we have a subject to test on.”
“Do we have any vamps here?” asked Evan.
“Not at the moment,” replied Tommy.
“That’s easily taken care of,” said Lou. “We’ll get a party together tomorrow to go down to Los Angeles and round up a few.”
“What?” Evan turned on her uncle.
Her uncle’s gaze leveled on her. “I understand that you’ve not had to live this life for a while, baby girl, but you need to see things for how they are here. We are trying to help those things. To bring them back to their humanity. Humanity that was robbed from them by the Vampires.”
“No, Lou. Not by the Vampires, but a few Vampires. Not all of them are like that. But even so, how can you round up vamps like cattle and use them like this?”
Lou stepped closer to Evan and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I’m doing this for you. For Peter and Tommy. So you kids can have a future. A future that doesn’t include hiding and scrounging. A life where you don’t ever have to worry about being kidnapped and sold again. To ensure that future, I have to kill a few people. I won’t lie about it, and I won’t apologize for it. And whether or not you agree with how I do it, I’m not going to stop.”
She had no words. What was there left to say? All she could do was nod her head and comply. Her uncle was right. She didn’t agree with what he was doing and how he was doing it, but it was no good to argue. All she could do was go along until she could get herself and William to safety.
“Okay.” He patted her shoulder. “Tomorrow, Peter, you and a group of raiders will go down to Los Angeles. We only have room for three more vamps right now so that’s what you’ll pick up.”
Peter nodded.
“Good. Let’s everyone get some sleep and we’ll start again with the vampyr in the morning. Evan, I want you to get him to tell us everything he knows about the demons,” said Lou.
Evan swallowed and nodded. She needed to see William before then. She needed a game plan.
* * * *
The door to William’s room opened, and he smelled Evan before she’d even entered his space. His swollen left eye obscured his view of her, but he could still make out her form. She flipped the light switch and a small bulb popped to life in the corner. She closed the door behind herself and turned to him. Shock registered on her face. She stormed over to him. “What the hell?”
“I’m fine.” He tried to get to his feet but was unable.
She rushed to his aid and helped him up. “Who did this to you?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’ll heal soon anyway.”
She searched his face. “It does matter. Tell me who did this.”
He stared at her. She looked as beautiful and radiant as ever. Her peachy skin and blue eyes stood as a testament to her all-American appearance. He gave her a tight smile, and her posture softened.
Her gaze held his intently. She lifted her hand and brushed the hair from his face. “Why did you help me get here? I know you say it’s because you needed to find out about the weapons, but you could have called Danika and told her where the enclave was and they could have flown Roth and the Tracking Squad out in a couple hours. But you didn’t. You carried me to the gate.”
“It was the right thing to do.”
She shook her head. “You could have driven off. Not waited to see if they’d gotten me. You risked yourself. Why?”
She stepped closer to him and laid her palm in the middle of his chest. His mind reeled with the situation. It couldn’t be real. She couldn’t be standing here talking to him like this. She hated him.
“I told you. I was following you. It’s my job to be here. To try and get the humans to help us fight or to find out if they had weapons.” He swallowed hard.
She stared at him for a minute and ran her thumb over his cracked bottom lip. Then she spun around and headed for the exit. “I’ll be right back.”
She banged on the closed door and a guard let her out. William drooped against the wall and blew out a heavy breath. He tried to run his hands through his hair but couldn’t because it was so tangled.
Ten minutes later there was shouting in the hallway, and then the door burst inward. Evan carried several items and was followed closely by the guard.
“Those aren’t allowed,” said the guard.
“Then why don’t you run tell on me?” she snapped. She slammed the door on the guy and headed for where William stood.
She looked him over and then held out a thermos. “It’s water,” she said.
He ran his leathery tongue over his cracked lip and took the thermos. He drank greedily, and the water went down with a burn.
“Here.” She set down the extra things on the floor and pulled a sweatshirt from the pile. “It isn’t as fashionable as you’re used to, but it’s clean.”
He took the gray hoodie from her. “Thank you, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
“Of course you can,” she said.
He held up his shackled hands.
She nodded once. “Right.”
She marched to the door and banged on it. The guard glared at her.
“Take off his handcuffs,” she ordered.
“Not on your life,” the guard replied.
In a flash, Evan grabbed the guard by the shirt and pushed him down in the hallway. She grappled with him and flipped him on his stomach with strength she shouldn’t possess.
“Get off me,” he yelled.
More yelling ensued from outside the hallway and there were several sets of heavy steps. Evan hopped to her feet, a key ring in her hand. She moved to William and undid both wrists as the two guards raced into the room.
They raised their guns and pointed them at William. His eyes connected with Evan’s, and she gave a slight nod.
The shackles fell away, and he turned his wrists and rubbed at the chafed skin. Evan threw the keys at the guards’ feet.
“Get out,” she said. “I can handle it from here. Oh!” She walked to the pot in the corner and sat it at their feet. “You can clean this while you’re at it.”
The men exchanged a look. “It’s your funeral,” said one of them.
They gathered up the keys and pot and backed out.
“That wasn’t smart,” said William.
She turned her icy gaze on him. “Why?”
“Because they’ll tell and things will get bad for you. Bad for me as well.”
“You
let me deal with my uncle.”
“It’s not your uncle I’m worried about,” he replied.
“Then who? Peter?”
“Forget it.” She could be so stubborn, and if he told her about her cousins, who knew what she’d do.
She picked up a washcloth and poured some of the water from the thermos onto it. He tracked her movements as she lifted the washcloth to his face and hesitated. Their eyes connected, and she licked her lower lip. The movement, though subtle, made his desire stir and his pants grow too tight.
She patted his eye with the cloth, moving in so close that her breasts smashed into his chest. His arousal spiked higher, and he cleared his throat and tried to move his hips backward in an effort not to have his erection show.
“Don’t pull away,” she said. “I can’t reach your eye if you do.” She moved her hips so they came in contact with his and leaned in to dab his eye again but stopped.
Her hand hovered in the air near his face. Embarrassment scoured his skin. He wanted to say something to release the tension between them. To apologize for his body’s reaction to her nearness, but his voice wouldn’t work.
After a minute, he realized she didn’t move away. He lifted his right hand and set it on her hip. She still didn’t pull away.
He ran his left hand up her arm and around her back. Every fiber told him they shouldn’t. The danger they were both in was enough. If her cousin found out about this, he’d kill William for sure.
“We shouldn’t,” he said.
“Of course we shouldn’t,” she said. “You’re everything I’ve hated for the past ten years. But somehow when I look at you I don’t see a Vampire. And the way you look at me… No one has ever looked at me that way before. At least no one who meant it.”
“I mean it.”
She pressed her lips to his forcefully, and he pulled her closer. She tasted sweet like peaches, and her lips were soft against his. He parted her lips with his tongue, and she moaned into his mouth making his head spin. He’d waited months to feel her touch, to kiss her lips and hold her in his arms, but this wasn’t how he wanted it. Not here in a room like this.
He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “We can’t do this. Not here.”
Vengeance of the Demons Page 11