Replica (The Blood Borne Series Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  He gave me a short nod. “I understand. I’m sorry.”

  That caught me by surprise, and a smile curved my lips as I put my hands on my hips. “Imagine that. A man who apologizes. Lea should snatch you up.” Still, he was a reminder that all men might not fit into my very narrow lens. But now was not the time to get philosophical.

  He grinned and started to say something, then paused abruptly. I knew he’d just been alerted to something.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Vehicles. Coming this way.”

  “How far?”

  “Outside of town but approaching fast.”

  “It could be Baran’s transport. He was trying to put a rush on it. The more road we put between us and the village before daylight, the better.” I could hear the low rumble, but without binoculars or night vision goggles, I couldn’t do anything. “Where’s Lea?”

  He nodded to my right. “She’s on the hill with the thorn in your side.”

  “We need to get her. Now. If it’s Baran, we won’t have much time.” Without giving him a chance to answer, I jogged over to a Humvee that had stopped at the corner of a nearby building. A man got out and looked around before his gaze settled on me. It only took a few seconds for me to recognize my friend.

  “Baran,” I said softly as I started toward him.

  He pulled me into a hug, thumping me on the back. “I never expected to see you again.” His gaze shifted and I realized Lea was standing behind me.

  “Have you heard of a facility that is conducting experiments? Human experiments?”

  “We are always hearing rumors.”

  “Anything I can count on?”

  “What kind of story are you pursuing?” he asked.

  “It’s better you don’t know. And hopefully I can get it shut down before you ever do. Did you get everything I needed?”

  “Yes.” He led me to the truck and showed me a bag on the passenger seat. “Laptop, tools, weapons, explosives, GPS locator, maps, and satellite phone. Food and water in the back, a few extra goodies just in case.”

  “You are amazing to get this together in such a short time,” I murmured. “Now you and I are even.”

  But he scowled. “After everything you did to help my family, we will never be even as long as you draw breath.”

  I put my hand on his arm. “Thank you, Baran.”

  He nodded and walked toward an idling truck as I grabbed the bag and pulled out the GPS. “Now, we have a real chance of finding this place.” I grinned at Lea. “We can plug in the coordinates Hades gave me.” My gaze landed on Antonio. “Do you still want him to come with us?”

  Her eyes darkened. “Yes.”

  “Then he can drive so I can back up my busted computer onto my new one. I estimate we’ll be there in about seven hours. Lea, you wait in the back and stay hidden.” I grinned at her. “And maybe take a nap. With Ivan.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. “I’d keep Ivan up front with me, but I don’t want to leave you alone, and I sure as hell don’t trust Antonio with you. Which means Ivan goes in the back.”

  I expected an argument, but she got into the back and dragged Ivan with her. Then she stopped and studied me with a strange look on her face.

  “Rachel?” she asked, her voice heavy.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t let Antonio get to you.”

  I scowled. It was too damn late for that.

  CHAPTER 25

  LEA

  The back of the truck was littered with wooden boxes, a few blankets and what looked like a large rug rolled up against the cab. Using a foot, I pried the rug open and spread it across the surface.

  “You look like shit, Lea.” Ivan put a hand under my elbow as the truck lurched forward. I would have shaken him off if I could have spared the energy. I had nothing left in the gas tank, and I’d be lucky to get into the truck without help.

  I let my weight drop and he helped lower me to the thick rug on the bed of the truck. My wounds ached, the bite marks from the werewolves burning with a fire I couldn’t put out. An ordinary werewolf bite would have been healed by now. Whatever Stravinsky was doing, his new weapons were dangerous even to me.

  Ivan sat behind me and scooted so my shoulders were against his lower back. “The fact you aren’t arguing with me is rather concerning.”

  “Ivan.”

  “What?”

  “The Cazador is going to come at me soon. When he does, don’t interfere. Even if he kills me.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Promise me you won’t interfere between him and me.”

  “Fine, I won’t save his scrawny ass from you.” I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

  My discussion with Antonio had gone poorly at best, but my point had been made and that was all that mattered.

  As soon as we were out of sight of the others, his fist slammed into the side of my head. The lack of blood and the injuries my body fought to heal on the little bit of blood I’d managed to take from Rachel made me human-slow.

  Still, he’d take a cheap shot and I couldn’t have the conversation I wanted from a position of weakness. I went to one knee, grabbed both of Antonio’s ankles and jerked him to the ground. I climbed up his body with the drive to feed so strong it gave me the energy I needed to move faster than he could react.

  I pulled back at the last second. My mouth hovered over the throbbing vein in his neck while I kept both his hands trapped deep in the sand. “You see, Cazador. You aren’t strong enough to keep her safe. And if she turns from me now because you tell her she is bound to me, you will strip her of my protection. Imagine an army of vampires, Cazador, coming for you and her. And no one to stand between.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me, puta de sangre!” he snarled.

  Blood whore. I hadn’t been called that in a long while. I leaned in and nipped the skin on his neck, breaking it open. Sweat beaded on his face. I smiled, though the pain of not feeding on him all but seared my throat.

  “You see? Not so tough. Fragile is actually a good word for you and your oh-so-tearable skin.” I tightened my grip on him even as my strength faded. I had to end this conversation fast. “I still hold the deal I offered you.”

  “I’ll make no deals with a monster.” He tried to head butt me, but I avoided the blow.

  “Until this is done, we work together. When the other vamps are dead and gone, I will lay my heart bare for you to take. A clean blow. Just as I promised.”

  He went still below me. “Lies.”

  Time to lay it all on the table.

  “I was a Cazador, Antonio. I hunted the monsters before I became one. And now I use their strength against them. When the time comes, I will not fight you. But until then—” Using the last of my reserves, I jerked up to my feet, yanking him with me. “Know your place in the food chain and keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  He took a few steps back, but I had to give credit where it was due. He didn’t run. “And if I tell her that you bonded her soul to yours? That she is damned as long as you live?”

  “She’ll believe me over you. You are on her shit list, my friend. I saw into her mind and she does not want you in her life,” I said, hoping to hell the first part was true. The second was a lie. Rachel’s thoughts regarding Antonio were at best, complicated and at worst, intrigued. The fact that I could read them at all without bringing her to the edge of death was confirmation of our bond.

  But we just had to get through this mess before I told her. Besides, if we played it right, maybe I was soon to be the last vampire if I had my way. Which would leave only one final bloodsucker for Antonio to kill and no need for Rachel to know anything.

  Ivan brushed a hand over my head and I cringed from his touch. “Do not get fond of me, mutt.”

  “Too late. You need to feed still?”

  I curled tighter around myself. “It can wait.”

  “I can smell the hunger on you, Lea.
You can’t hide from me.” He put his arms around me and spun me around so I was straddling his lap. I found myself staring right into his eyes. This was not the plan.

  “Damn you,” I whispered as he tipped his head back, offering me his throat. I closed my eyes, fighting the urge. With Rachel, there was friendship and a growing trust.

  With Ivan, I wanted more than I had the right to ask for. The more I leaned on him...the more I would need him.

  “There is a chance I will see your memories,” I said, struggling to find a reason not to feed on him, but instantly regretting that one. I had no plans to drain him—although I was hungry enough I might lose the ability to stop. My attraction to him was stronger than I cared to admit, which left me open to another type of bonding.

  “I doubt that. We’re trained to lock them away from vamps for fear of releasing information about our packs. Safe houses. Number of members. Weaknesses.” His chartreuse eyes locked on mine. “You won’t see a thing.”

  The smell of his skin and the blood pumping just under it were too much for my hunger. Even though he was healing too, I knew I could take a little from him without weakening him. It would get me through the day, and I could feed again when we stopped after sundown.

  I sunk my teeth into his neck without touching him anywhere else, doing my best to keep it clinical and distant.

  Ivan was having none of it. He wrapped his arms around me, his hands soft and gentle, urging me closer.

  No, this couldn’t happen. I dug my fangs in hard enough to make it hurt, tearing and grinding instead of only puncturing.

  “I didn’t know you liked it rough. You’d make a good wolf,” he mumbled as his hands grabbed hold of my ass and jerked me toward him, pressing me against the rather obvious attraction in the front of his pants.

  His blood hit my tongue, the first werewolf blood I’d ever taken, and all thoughts of holding back fled.

  Now I knew why vamps would seek out the werewolf packs. An ounce of human blood powered me for a few hours, but an ounce of werewolf blood would last days. I took four gulps and pulled back, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth.

  “Thanks.”

  He grinned at me. “Anytime, but that’s not a proper thank you.” His lips were on mine in a flash, demanding and sweet at the same time, the taste of his blood in my mouth making the kiss that much more pleasurable. I clung to him, wanting it all, knowing it was a bad idea. Knowing also he was strong enough to stand with me.

  Knowing he didn’t hate me, didn’t loathe what I was. Unlike Calvin.

  Calvin.

  His name snapped through me as surely as if I’d been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. I pulled back, all but scrambling away from Ivan. “I need to rest.”

  He tried to kiss me again, but I slid the rest of the way from his lap. I did not want more attachments than I already had. It was bad enough I’d bonded myself to Rachel. I knew that bond would at least be sundered with my death. But to start having feelings for the wolf? I glanced at him, and he grinned at me.

  Part of Rachel’s memories surfaced in my mind—a discussion she’d had with Ivan. About his past, about what drove him.

  I steeled myself not to feel what I was about to do. “Your wife was beautiful. But I think you need to work on keeping your memories to yourself.”

  Ivan paled and his whole body shook. “No.”

  I turned away from him. “I warned you. I’m not one of the pansy-ass vamps who stalk your people. They were weak enough to be blocked. I will not be blocked from your mind.”

  He slammed me into the floor without warning. I let him, knowing him well enough to know that after the rage faded he would hold his distance from me. He pinned me the same way I’d pinned Antonio, arms to the sides, his mouth next to my neck, teeth bared.

  “One bite and I could tear your head off,” he snarled, his body quivering with barely suppressed anger.

  I snorted. “I let you tackle me, Ivan. You’re good at what you do, but with your blood coursing through me, there are very few who could match me.” I turned my head, pressing it against him until he got off me. He slumped in the corner, acting as if I’d whipped him soundly.

  “Why, why would you say that?”

  The truck hit a particularly bad bump, sending us both sprawling and opening one of the boxes.

  The glittering silver stakes that spilled across the rolled-out rug cut short any answer I might have given them.

  “Fuck. Maybe Rachel isn’t your friend after all,” he said, picking up a stake and rolling it across his knuckles. He looked over his shoulder at me, just the corner of one eye visible.

  Damn him for being so fucking sexy when I needed to distance myself from him.

  I made myself sit. Act like nothing bothered me—neither what I’d done to him nor Rachel’s failure to mention she’d acquired more vamp-killing equipment. It made sense, we were going after vampires and the surest way to kill them was a silver stake. Yet I felt...betrayed. She should have told me.

  The night faded around us, and the canvas covering of the truck slowly lightened up. Neither of us moved or spoke.

  God, what a mess. A Cazador who wanted me dead in the worst way, and was threatening to tell Rachel about the bond I’d forced on her before she was ready. A lovesick werewolf who had played on my sympathies and long-buried desires while he sought to revenge his dead wife. Then there was Rachel and our tenuous friendship. Add to that the fact we were driving into enemy territory filled with rotting werewolves, shadow men, and vampires old enough to make me look like a child.

  The day didn’t feel like it could get any worse.

  I put a hand to my forehead. “What day is it, Ivan?”

  “What?”

  “The day of the week. Which one?”

  He was quiet a moment. “Monday.”

  I laughed, unable to contain it. Why was I not surprised? I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes. Might as well sleep it away and hope that Tuesday would be a little bit better.

  One could hope.

  CHAPTER 26

  RACHEL

  After Lea and Ivan climbed into the back, Antonio gave me a strange look, and I suddenly felt like a specimen under a microscope. But I could tell Lea had whipped him good. That thought filled me with more smug satisfaction than I cared to admit as I walked past him and around the front of the truck.

  “You’re driving, so why are you still standing there?” I climbed into the cab and pulled my bag strap over my head.

  Without a word, he got in and turned the engine over and waited.

  I put my bag in the middle between us to set up some boundaries. When I realized he hadn’t started driving yet, I started to get snippy. Then I realized I hadn’t told him where to go.

  What if Ivan was right? What if my anger over Antonio was distracting me enough to put us in danger? I reminded myself I’d fought off werewolves with him at my back. I might not like him, but I knew I could count on him in a fight. Like it or not.

  I dug Hades’s coordinates out of my bag and plugged them into the GPS. “We need to head out of the village, then northwest.”

  He nodded and started to drive, keeping his attention on the road.

  I narrowed my eyes. Why was he being so uncharacteristically quiet? I set the GPS next to him so I could focus on the problem of transferring files over from my salvaged hard drive.

  After I hooked up my phone to the charger Baran had included, I pulled out the new laptop first, “new” being a relative term. It was refurbished but functional.

  Next came what was left of my laptop. I used one of Baran’s screwdrivers to open the pieces. Unbelievably, the hard drive looked intact. That boded well.

  I opened the new laptop, replaced its hard drive with my old one, and held my breath as I rebooted the computer and opened the drive.

  “Thank God,” I muttered under my breath when I saw everything was intact. I grabbed one of the thumb drives from Baran’s bag, inserted it into the USB port
and transferred the files.

  “You seem to know what you’re doing.”

  It was a statement, not a question, and my gaze jerked up in surprise. “My first two months in war-torn desert country taught me if I had computer issues, there was no Geek Squad around the corner to take care of things for me. So I learned to do it myself.”

  He didn’t respond to that, but snuck glances at me as I finished the transfer and swapped the old hard drive for the clean one. Once I had it all together, I went through my messenger bag to make sure everything else was in there.

  “Your friend just happened to have supplies?”

  “He just happened to have my supplies.” I shot him a sardonic grin. “I was on the move a lot. I found it helpful to have emergency backups scattered around.”

  “Why would that man bring you a Humvee as well as all the other things you requested and deliver them within hours?”

  “Have you ever been in a war zone, Antonio?”

  His shoulders rolled back. “I am at war every day.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not a war of your own making, real war. Ugly and deadly, where people hate each other for no reason other than the color of their skin, a line on a map, the possession of a fossil fuel, or a belief in different gods—a violence that sweeps across a land and destroys everything and everyone in its path. That is war. Not your grudge match with Lea.”

  I turned more to face him. “I’ve stared into the faces of the victims. The children who watched their parents die. The man who lost his arm and can no longer work on electronics to feed his children. They are the ones who pay the price for the decisions of a bunch of assholes in suits. I’m sick of it.”

  “And how does Baran play into this story about a man who lost his arm and can no longer work on electronics?” A pleased grin lit his face. “I can put things together.”

  “How Baran plays into it is no business of yours.”