My hand jabbed into his throat, hit his larynx and he coughed and spluttered, doubling over. He made a strangled sound and dropped to his knees.
It gave me the opportunity to kick him in the face and I did, harder than I would have with anyone else, because he was a vampire and I wanted it to have an effect on him.
His head snapped to the side and I was sure I would have broken a tooth. A fang if I was lucky. That wouldn’t go down well, fangs were hard to replace. Vampires didn’t do dentists.
Blade was fighting in a blur, and I could only make out shapes now and then. Both vampires were still on him, but he was giving them a run for their money. I didn’t know at which point more vampires were going to come for me. I glanced at Masselli who stood a good distance away. His face was dark and brooding, but his eyes were on the fight with Blade. Maybe he didn’t think I could go anywhere.
I glanced around the vampires surrounding me, and they were all active and watching me. They still didn’t move, but they could now. And I realized that this wasn’t about letting me go, or not knowing I was loose. If I ran, if I tried anything, they would come after me and there would be no chance I was going to break through this one. I didn’t know what to do.
Blade seemed like he was managing, although the fighting still carried on.
A hand shot out from the fray and grabbed my wrist. I panicked. The grip was hard and it hurt my wrist. Fear grabbed hold of me, and I felt that familiar hum that I’ve started associating with dematerializing. The only time I could do it was if I thought my life was in danger. It was an involuntary reaction. But I was happy to know it was coming.
Everything started dimming around me, and the next moment everything was quiet. I fell to the ground – still had to perfect my landing – and I hit concrete. I put my hands out but I wasn’t quick enough, and my head hit the floor just above my left eyebrow.
I heard the sound of my attacker falling too and I whirled around, crouched, ready to attack.
It took me two seconds to realize the other vampire was Blade. He was on his hands and knees, gasping and panting. He had a black eye, his lip was bleeding and he held himself like he was fragile and going to fall apart.
“What the hell was that?” he asked.
“I’m sorry,” I said and lay down on the floor. I looked around me, and groaned.
“I thought you couldn’t dematerialize. Where are we?”
“The gym where I work. I keep coming here when I dematerialize. It’s like my safe zone or something. It only happens when I’m in a life-or-death situation. I told you.”
He nodded. Maybe he remembered. Or maybe he just heard what I was saying.
“How did you follow me here?” I asked.
“I grabbed your wrist and then you dematerialized. It pulled me with you because I can dematerialize. Normally I would be pissed at you for breaking up a fight but I wasn’t winning and we were outnumbered.”
He rolled down laying himself on the floor and took deep breaths, making strangled sounds every time he did.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m going to have to take a day or two, but I’m fine,” he said. I was guessing a broken rib by the way he was trying not to move when he breathed. His black eye was already starting to lighten. The broken bones would take the longest.
“So, Masselli. You really know how to choose your enemies, don’t you?” Blade said a moment later.
“I know. When I get in trouble I do it properly. What now?”
“Well, I don’t know if they know where you stay, but they’ll find out eventually if they haven’t already. You’re going to need backup. These guys are professionals and they’ve been around a lot longer than me and you. What did you do to get this guy after you?”
“Killed his brother,” I said. Somehow it was easier to say it this time, but that might have been because I was still in shock. The adrenaline was still pumping through my system and I was still trying to figure out which way was up after dematerializing. I felt like I’d been spun around and around a couple of times and the room was spinning.
Blade whistled through his teeth. “Well, that usually pisses people off.” I chuckled without emotion.
“I don’t know enough vampires that will be able to have my back,” I said. “I’m going to have to get hold of Carl, see if he has more of you lying around.”
Blade turned his head to me and I noticed his eyes were back to their washed out color.
“More of me?”
“Yeah, scary, dangerous, eager for a fight… that type of thing.”
His face darkened like what I’d said had been offensive to him, but I didn’t pay attention to it. I was just happy that we were alive and as far away from those guys as we could get. It wasn’t going to last long, I knew that. Whatever tonight’s purpose had been for Masselli, one thing I knew: he’d managed to scope out my capacity for fighting, and if this hadn’t been the end, the next time would be. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would just shoot me in the head and get it over with. If he got hold of me there would be a lot of pain. And I wasn’t a fan of pain.
I had to get in touch with Carl as soon as I could.
I had the gym keys on my bike keys. I’d done that the last time I’d dematerialized into the gym and I’d had to wait for Phil to come and unlock for me. I unlocked the gym, let us out and relocked it. Blade would have been able to get out without me, but after the attack he was set on staying by my side every moment.
“What about my bike?” I asked. “It’s on the other side of town.”
“Let’s get home first. Then I’ll go there and fetch it for you. If you don’t mind me riding it.” He added the last in a sarcastic voice that was enough for me not to want to let him do it, just because of his attitude. But I agreed because I wanted my bike back, and because there was no way I was going near downtown again tonight.
We walked a short distance and then I called a taxi. We drove the rest of the way. The driver was human so we kept to ourselves. When we got off at the apartment, Blade ordered me to go up and lock the doors. Like locks ever kept vampires out, but I didn’t say anything. I went upstairs and did as he told me, and he disappeared.
It took him half an hour to get home. I sat facing the door the whole time and I heard him coming. When he opened the door, he looked at me.
“Easy, it’s just me,” he said in a low voice. Whatever my face was showing, it must have been threatening.
“It’s been a long night,” I said. Blade nodded.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I have eyes around the neighborhood. We’ll know if they’re close.” I didn’t ask him what that meant. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know as much as I just didn’t want anything to do with all this anymore. In every thriller the hero was running for his life, but it really was a lot of hard work, and I didn’t want to do it anymore.
“I’m going to find Carl as soon as the sun is up,” I said. “You think Masselli’s goons will be on my trail?”
Blade thought for a moment. “I don’t think he sent those two. They may have been trying to get on his good side, but that wasn’t professional and they knew nothing about you. This time round was professional. You’ll be okay in sunlight. But we better get backup and fast if we want to make it through another night.”
I nodded. I understood what he meant. This wasn’t going to drag out. Come tomorrow night we were probably going to be neck-deep in war, and whether we were ready or not just depended on how much I could arrange while the sun was up. And while Blade could stay awake. I had to remember that sunlight was his off-time, too.
I knew what I had to do, but I wished I could go home just for a little bit. I missed Connor. I wanted to see him. I wanted something that resembled a normal life. I wanted to go back to the days when I thought that what I was doing was the right thing, and it didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.
Chapter 5
If I wanted to get a head start on this war at all, I
had to make my plans now, while the sun was up. That meant that I had to reach whoever I could before nightfall, so that I would live through the night to see another day. And not lose anyone along the way.
That always scared me more. If I died, well, then it wouldn’t matter. But if the other people died it was more guilt on me, and I’d had about enough for one lifetime.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Carl’s number but it rang until it rolled over onto voicemail.
“Call me as soon as you can,” I said into the phone and hung up. I needed him to help me with this war. If there was anyone who knew the people in this town, it was Carl. He could help me. And he still owed me after what I’d done for him in Fort Atkinson.
I went to the academy first. Phil was there, waiting for a group class to get ready so they could start their training. They all looked between thirty and forty, and they were doing classes before work. The one thing that kept the academy running was the odd hours we offered lessons.
Phil glanced up at me and raised his eyebrows when he saw me.
“I thought you’d be MIA for a while,” he said.
“I am, but I need to find Carl. I can’t reach him and he usually always answers.”
Phil shrugged. He seemed distant and agitated.
“What do you want me to do about it?” he asked. “I have the same number, and I doubt he’ll come to me if I ask. He likes me even less than he likes you, and that’s saying something.”
I sighed. “I just really need to get in touch with him.”
“So go to Aspen,” Phil said. He turned to his class and he was ready to start his session.
“Is everything okay?” I asked. Phil was usually very kind and gentle, especially toward me. He’d been the one that had helped me through my darkest patch when I’d felt like the world was falling apart around me, and I would lose my sister forever. He’d been the one that had saved my life, all our lives. It was out of character for him to be so off.
“Let me know when you’re ready to join real life, and then we’ll see what we can arrange by way of a job for you. But your appearing every now and then just to tell me you’re leaving again isn’t working for me or the academy. You have more students that you cancel than anything else.”
“You’re mad about my job?” I asked, feeling like I’d somehow missed something.
“I’m mad because you were supposed to be reliable, and you’re not,” Phil said. “If you’re ready to make a commitment, then by all means, I’ll be here. But you can’t keep dropping students under the academy’s name.”
I nodded, feeling myself switch off until the outside was nicely numb so I couldn’t get hurt.
“Got ya,” I said and my voice was hard.
“You can’t be mad now, too,” Phil said. But I didn’t answer him. Instead, I turned around and walked away.
Okay, so maybe I was messing around the students, and I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing for the academy. Maybe, as a business owner that just didn’t work for Phil. I understood that. But this wasn’t exactly like I was taking off to do scrap booking. This was my life, and if I didn’t do this, it wasn’t going to be a life much longer. People were trying to kill me. But at least, if I was dead, Phil would know whether I was coming back or not.
I got onto my bike and started it, turning the throttle hard so it roared into the morning with the fury that I felt.
I had to find Carl. That was all that mattered right now. The rest, I could worry about after this was over, and I was still alive. And if I was dead, well, then it wouldn’t matter.
Phil was right about Aspen being able to reach Carl rather than him. Carl just didn’t like him. No one really knew why. I wasn’t even sure Carl knew why he disliked Phil. But I didn’t want to go to Aspen. Besides it being daylight and she would be sleeping now, being more vampire than human, I didn’t want to disturb her. And I was reluctant pulling her into my mess. She’d been kidnapped before because of me. I couldn’t go through that again.
I just had to wait for Carl to call me back and hope it wasn’t too late.
I looked at my watch. The sun was out; Connor would probably be asleep already. But I wanted to see him. I wanted to go home. I wanted all of this to be behind me. I turned down the road and drove the short distance home. The shutters were down as they should be and I opened the garage door and rolled my bike inside.
After I waited for the door to close, I opened the door to the kitchen. I closed it quiet and turned around to face the room.
Connor sat at the table with his head in his hands, his fingers sticking into his light hair. It stuck up in tufts and even though I’d only seen him a short while ago, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.
“Babe?” I asked, and he lifted his head, looking at me like he didn’t register. “Are you alright?”
He moved slowly, lifting his head, dropping his arm, leaning back in his chair. His face was weary and his eyes were a deep ocean blue and they seemed haunted. My stomach lurched and I was terrified something had happened, that somehow they’d gotten to him.
I rushed to him and sat down on the edge of the chair opposite him, leaning on the table.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked at me without answering, not catching onto my urgency.
“Talk to me, Connor,” I said and my voice was strained with the effort to stay calm. My heart thundered in my chest and my ears were ringing. I was heading toward full on panic and nothing had even happened. This wasn’t a good sign.
“Please,” I added and tried not to sound like I was begging.
“You know, I was wondering when you would come home,” Connor said when he finally spoke, and it was so calm it threw me off guard.
“What?”
He shrugged. “How long is it going to be this time?”
I shook my head slightly, as if it would work to sort the confusion out in my mind. “What are you talking about?”
“The fact that your life doesn’t just take you away from me emotionally anymore, but also physically. First to Fort Atkinson, and now you’re living with another vampire so that you’re safe? Don’t you think I can keep you safe?”
I sighed and dropped my head into my hand in much the way Connor had done.
“This is not about keeping me safe, Connor. This is about keeping you safe. I’m staying out of everyone I love so that no one gets hurt except me if it comes down to it. Do you think I can afford to lose you? Or Aspen again? Or Joel? I’ll never forgive myself.”
“You have practice in that,” Connor said and his words hit me like physical punches.
“That’s not fair,” I said. It was a low blow. I did have experience in not being able to forgive myself, but I was working on it.
“You’re right,” he said. “Sorry.” His tone of voice didn’t make me believe he really was sorry for saying it, but I dropped it because I didn’t want to go into facts that had memories attached to them that hurt.
“Why are you mad at me?” I asked. I still didn’t understand the problem.
“Maybe it’s because I’m supposed to be the man in your life, but you’ll never let me do what a man does for you. You don’t let me protect you. You don’t let me help you fight your battles. You turn to other people for it.”
As he spoke I could see him getting angrier.
“These people are professionals, Connor. I can’t let you fight this fight with me. I don’t even know if all of us who are involved are going to make it out alive!”
He jumped up so fast his chair fell backward and his anger was suddenly so intense that I could feel it crackle in the room around me.
“And what if I was willing to die for you? Would that mean anything to you?” he shouted.
“Connor, please,” I said, not trying to keep the pleading tone out of my voice now. “Just calm down. I can’t go through this, not now. I just need to sort this out and make it go away, and then I’ll be back. We can leave then. We can go away
and start a new life somewhere else, where we can be a regular couple.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“You would do that for me?” he asked, his voice suddenly low. “You would leave Aspen behind?”
I opened my mouth to say yes, and then I realized what I’d just said. I didn’t know if I would leave Aspen behind. My life had been about protecting her, and in a way I still felt like I had to stay. Connor nodded after I hadn’t said anything for a couple of seconds.
“That’s what I thought,” he said and started walking down the passage.
“Connor,” I called after him.
“Go, fight your battles, Adele. I can’t do this anymore.”
He slammed the bedroom door with a bang that shuddered through the house. I sank in on myself, dropped my head in my hands and let myself fall apart.
I didn’t stay home for much longer than that. As soon as I was ready to face my life again, I got up and walked to the bathroom. I was angry that I’d let myself feel something. I was even angrier that I’d cried. I hated crying. Crying to me was weakness, and I knew it wasn’t supposed to be that way – everyone was entitled to break down now and then. But I didn’t see it that way. Not for me.
When I looked at myself in the mirror I didn’t recognize the woman that stared back at me. My eyes were swollen from crying and I looked like a haunted version of the person I used to be. My green eyes were bloodshot and my dark hair was tangled. The scar down my neck seemed as angry as I was.
I left the house and when I drove away I didn’t look back. I didn’t know what was going on between me and Connor anymore. I didn’t know where we stood and I didn’t know what was going to happen once it was all over. But what I had to focus on now was staying alive. If I made it out on the other side, I could try and figure out my personal life – or what was left of it. If I died, well, then it wouldn’t matter.
I tried Carl’s number again. Still no answer. I was starting to get frustrated. He usually wasn’t this difficult to get hold of, and of all the times in my life I’d had to deal with him, now was when I needed it the most.
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