“If we hurry, we can catch up to Rachel and your other friends. We have a few hours left of dark.”
I ignored him, dropping to my knees beside Mac as the world spun and sparkled, the injury to my head anything but healed. I was about to change that right now. “Thanks.”
“Don’t hurt me,” he whispered.
“You betrayed Ivan and his pack—” I brushed his hair back, “—didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
I dropped on him and buried my fangs into his neck hard, grinding them through muscle and tendons, deliberately keeping the pleasure from him. He screamed, but I slapped a hand over his mouth, holding him down while I drank him down, letting his werewolf blood heal my injuries at light speed.
His memories cascaded over me, most of them of his life in the barracks here, of the borderline sadistic things he’d happily done. But then came the memories of his pack life before...of how much he’d resented Ivan and wanted his wife. How he’d been the one to betray them all and how he’d started kidnapping the pack for Stravinsky, then deliberately took the rest while Ivan was gone.
To hurt the enforcer as much as he could.
In short, Mac was the asshole of assholes. I was glad I’d killed him—and even happier I’d made it hurt. As soon as he was dead, I checked his body for weapons. I took his gun and the spiked club. It was smaller than I’d thought it would be, just a black club the size of a police baton studded all over with half-inch silver stakes. I held it up, looking past it to Calvin. He blanched.
“I’m on your side, Lea. I’m fighting with you.”
“You tackled me.”
“If I hadn’t, his blow would have embedded you with more of the stakes in that club.” He pointed. A part of me knew he was right, I’d seen Mac’s memories of that incident too.
“Three strikes and you’re out. You’ve had two, so in other words—” I tipped my head to the door, “—don’t fuck up again.”
CHAPTER 32
RACHEL
All hell had broken loose, keeping me busy enough not to think about what Stravinsky had said about me being Lea’s servant. I knew she’d played the situation to grab an edge—and I had played my part—but deep inside, I also knew he was right.
But I had to focus on getting out of this melee. I wouldn’t be anyone’s servant, least of all my own, if I didn’t survive.
While General Hamm was here, it was obvious the men he’d brought with him weren’t real soldiers. They were poorly trained, poorly coordinated, and out of their element against a vampire, a werewolf, a Cazador whose hands were still bound, and me.
We were making good progress, but I noticed a group of men moving toward an open garage door I hadn’t noticed in the back corner—and an armored vehicle, specially equipped with nozzles and hoses attached to big tanks. The engines revved.
I was fighting off two guys, but Antonio was closer to the tank. “Stop them!”
“Busy, mi amor!” he shouted as he fought off two men with several good kicks since his hands were still bound.
Lea cut a path of blood and destruction as she made her way across the room, getting closer and closer to Stravinsky. After disposing of my two attackers, I got close enough to Antonio to cut his zip tie.
Lea finally made it across the room to Stravinsky, but I didn’t hear what she said—I was too busy watching Calvin tackle her just as a tall guy with arm muscles the size of my thighs swung a thick silver club covered in spikes square against Lea’s head.
I’d seen her take many hits before, but this was different from all the others. Her body went limp and I released a scream as Ivan roared in anguish. I started to rush toward her, but Antonio grabbed my arm and held me back as a new wave of guards rushed through the open garage door.
The muscled man scooped up Lea like she was a rag doll, her bloody head drooping over his arm. Ivan hesitated, torn between wanting to go to her and staying to fight, and released another roar.
I lost sight of her as we fought off the fresh guards, not an easy task since we were out numbered five to one. I fought off my rising panic. Lea had looked dead. I reminded myself vampires were hard to kill, but she was defenseless. Calvin had followed them and he wasn’t to be trusted. If she wasn’t dead, she would be soon. I had to get to her.
Especially before the bombs went off.
Oh shit. How much time did we have left?
We also needed to stop that tank, but I couldn’t do it with this gaggle of asshats in my path.
A new burst of rage channeled into energy, and I took out three men as Antonio and Ivan cut down the men surrounding them.
I had a clear shot to both the garage and the hall Lea had disappeared down, but who to follow? My head told me to try to save the village, but I felt a strong tug toward Lea.
Was it because of our friendship, or did I really have a supernatural bond to Lea that superseded everything else? It pissed me off to think she’d tricked me into something so permanent without my approval, but I’d deal with it later.
I had to get to her.
I heard the first explosion as I bolted across the room.
I gasped and shot a glance toward Antonio and Ivan.
“Time to go,” Antonio said after his fist connected with his last attacker’s temple, sending the man crumpling to the floor.
“I have to go after her,” Ivan said, but I grabbed his arm.
“This whole place is going to blow, Ivan. We have to get out now.” But even as I said the words, I felt the same urge.
“Lea…”
“Is a vampire. She’ll survive this too.” If she was still alive, but I had this weird sense that she was. “We’ll come back and find her.”
He started to protest, but another explosion shook the building and sent a chunk of the ceiling crashing to the floor.
Ivan’s mouth pursed, but he nodded and we ran toward the garage. Shots rang out, ricocheting off the concrete walls. I ducked behind a tool bench and tried to assess the situation. A group of men were on the other side of the garage—a concrete tomb that could fit half a football field—hidden behind several pieces of machinery, but as soon as they realized we weren’t shooting back, they began to advance, sending a wave of bullets toward us.
Antonio cursed next to me. “They took our weapons.” He shot a glance toward Ivan, who was hiding behind a transport truck.
Ivan held up his empty hands.
Shit.
Blade still in my hand, I was prepared to take out the first man who rounded the tool bench. I press my back to the cool metal, waiting to make my move.
Only the first threat came from the opening behind us. Two men stood in the doorway, smiles curling their lips as they lifted their weapons to fire.
Instinct took over and I threw my knife at the one on the right. The blade lodged in his throat and surprise filled his eyes as he reached for it, dropping to his knees.
His friend turned to him in shock, giving Antonio the opportunity to follow my lead. He leapt at the guard, slitting his throat and sliding his gun across the smooth concrete floor. I caught it and peered around the side of the bench to take stock. I had no idea how many bullets were in the clip, but knew I had to make each one count. I saw three men across from me. I ducked back around the bench as bullets sprayed toward me. I took a deep breath, then peeked around the side again, aiming for the man on the end.
He fell as I ducked back to safety.
Several shots went off beside me, and I swiveled to see Antonio shooting a semi-automatic rifle while Ivan wielded a handgun.
I swung around to shoot again, taking out a man less than six feet away.
The gunfire cut off abruptly, and I glanced at Antonio. His jaw was set and his eyes glittered with anger, but they softened when he glanced down at me. “Let’s go.”
The temperature in the garage had risen and smoke now filled the room behind us, burning my lungs.
I nodded and got up to make a break for the exit, but an anchor bolted my feet to the floor,
my body insisting I run back into the fire.
“Rachel!” Antonio shouted. “Come on!”
I tried to take a step forward and fell to my knees, fighting the urge to turn around and run toward Lea. “I can’t,” I said in a panic. “I have to go back for Lea.”
“Mierde,” Antonio spat out in dismay. “The bind is calling her.”
“Shit,” Ivan said, looking torn himself. “It means she’s still alive.”
“She’s not alive!” Antonio shouted. “She’s already dead, and for you to go after her would mean certain death for you too!” He looked furious. “I know you want to save her, but the bind works both ways and you know it. If Lea’s actually alive, what will she do when she finds out you let Rachel die trying to get to her?”
Flames flicked at the space behind us and the lights flickered.
“We have to go!” Antonio shouted. “The door is electrical, and we won’t be able to get the garage door open once the power is out.” The large garage door was at the end of a twenty-foot-wide and thirty-foot-long tunnel, and appeared to be our only way out.
“Fuck,” Ivan growled, then grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder.
But the urge to fight him was overwhelming. I kneed him in the stomach as I beat on his back, trying to evade his hold.
His arm pinned my legs tight against him as a new terror rose inside me, eclipsing the fear of being crushed underneath the walls and ceilings of the collapsing building.
The large garage door groaned in protest as it opened in a jerky movement.
My pulse pounded in my head, exacerbated from hanging upside down. “We’re not going to make it!” And part of me—a part that freaked the shit out of me—didn’t want to make it. Not without Lea.
“We’ll make it.” Ivan’s voice was a low rumble.
I fought him with every step he took, even as he ducked to make it under the partially opened door.
Then it crashed to the ground with a thunderous noise that sent panic through me.
Ivan continued to run, not stopping until we were several hundred feet from the building. As soon as he let me slide to the ground, I bolted toward the building. He grabbed me around the waist and hauled me back.
“This is for your own good, mi amor,” Antonio said as something smashed against the back of my head.
Bright streaks flashed in my eyes, followed by darkness. As my consciousness faded, I heard Ivan’s voice, drenched with relief. “If she’s fighting this strong, we know Lea’s still alive.”
CHAPTER 33
LEA
A sharp pain sliced through my head that had nothing to do with my own injuries and everything to do with Rachel’s. I stumbled and pressed a hand against the wall closest to me as the building rumbled like a beast in the throes of death. I had no doubt the explosions were Rachel’s work.
“If we don’t hurry up, we’re going to fry like Sunday chicken.” Calvin grabbed my arm and jerked me forward.
“Did you ever feel me when we were bound?” I didn’t look at him as we ran down the corridor.
“No.”
That’s what I’d thought. In all the years I’d worked with Calvin, I’d never been able to sense where he was, or if he was hurt. To be fair, I’d never had this strong of a bond with any of my servants. I’d heard of bonds this powerful between vampires and their servants, but hadn’t really believed it until now.
I didn’t need Rachel’s scent to find her anymore. The pull toward Rachel was too strong. A secondary explosion rocked the building and the lights flickered, dimmed, and went out.
Calvin grabbed my hand and led the way. “The main garage is full of idiots with guns. If we go out the side exit, we’ll avoid the worst of them.”
“Last chance, Cal.” I whispered the words, knowing full well he heard me. Some gut instinct compelled me to say it.
We took a left at the next T-intersection, kicked open a locked door and there he stood in front of us.
Stravinsky.
“What a good pet you are, Calvin,” he murmured, the weight of his words crushing the air out of me.
Calvin dropped his head, shook it once. “No, I didn’t...Lea, I didn’t know he was here. This was an exit. I know it.”
Stravinsky laughed, the sound echoing in the rounded-out room. “That’s what I let you believe. I made you, Calvin. I can get inside your head whenever I want.”
Calvin’s head jerked up. “No, that’s not true. Peter never controlled Lea.”
Stravinsky smiled. “May I point out, you have neither Lea’s fortitude nor her mental strength. From what Peter said, she fought him from the beginning, her faith in her quest giving her all she needed to deny him. While your anger, confusion, and quest for revenge make you weak and easily manipulated.”
“Calvin.” I said his name with as much emotion as I could. “Calvin, he doesn’t own you.”
Stravinsky tipped his head to the side. “You want to use him as a prize? See who he comes to? Who can break his mind first?”
Calvin’s eyes shot to mine and I shook my head. “No. He is my friend, no matter how much hate he carries for me.”
The words seemed to soften something in Calvin, but Stravinsky snapped his fingers. “To me, Calvin.”
Cal took a step toward his master, stumbled a bit and then took another as an explosion rocked the foundation under our feet. This was not the time for our contest of wills.
“Calvin—” I didn’t lift a hand or try to manipulate him with words, knowing him well enough that it would send him the wrong direction. “You fight him on your own, then come with me and we’ll take them down together. I will not force you, not even in this.” I took a step back. Rachel’s heartbeat tugged at me, the steady thrum that hummed along the bond the only thing that gave me hope that Ivan and Antonio were keeping her safe.
I took another step back and waited. We didn’t have a lot of time, but this was one of those moments that couldn’t be rushed.
“Kill her,” Stravinsky snarled.
Calvin tensed and so did I. I held my ground. “We can take him, Cal.”
Just the truth, nothing more.
“You...know me better than I thought.” Calvin grinned over his shoulder at me, and for the first time in years I saw the life in him. Ironic, now that he was dead.
I held out a hand and he slapped his palm into it, jerked me forward and threw me at Stravinsky. I shot through the air, yanking a stake from the top of my boot as I came down on the vamp.
Except that one second he was there, and the next he wasn’t.
“You think you’re the only one full of werewolf blood, Lea?” Stravinsky was on the other side of the room, and I hadn’t even seen him move. It was normal for humans not to see vampire movement. But vamp to vamp, both of us loaded with werewolf blood? Shit, how old was he?
A cold chill ran down my spine. Stravinsky waved to me, but I spun around and ran the way we had come, away from whatever trick Stravinsky had planned for me.
Call it a hunch, but—
The explosion behind us sent Calvin and me flying out the door and down the stretch of hall, our bodies tumbling and then smacking onto the cement. I rolled onto my back, away from the fire, putting out the flames burning the back of my shirt. Calvin reached over as if to pat one out and then pulled his hand back. “That would be stupid.”
“Yeah, flammable, remember?” I rolled to my knees and led the way.
Technically Calvin had struck out by taking me to Stravinsky as he’d done.
But I’d let it slide...because this was Cal and I wasn’t sure I could kill him even though I’d promised. There was too much history, too much shit between us. And not enough time to make any sort of rational decision.
Rachel was moving away from me, though not quickly. That meant they were on foot, which was good and bad.
Calvin kept close, but said nothing about me taking the lead. In less than a minute, I had us back in the main garage where we’d started.
&nbs
p; Bodies lay where I’d left them, the big-ass truck was gone and there was no sign of anything moving. Of course, that wasn’t to say we were in the clear. “Can that main gate be opened?” I pointed at the oversized steel-plated door that cut us off from the outside world.
“Yes, but even now, I couldn’t do it on my own. The hydraulics are out with the power.”
I followed him to the mechanism. He pointed at two sets of chains with links thicker around than my forearms. “Those are the backups. They pull them with forklifts if something goes sideways.”
I grabbed a chain in each hand and tipped my head back. “Get to the door.”
His eyes widened. “You aren’t Superwoman, Lea.”
“Do it,” I snapped. There was no time to fucking argue.
Calvin headed to the door and I took a deep breath. This was going to be a test even for me. I thought about Ivan and Rachel; they were waiting on me, so it was now or never.
Teeth gritted, I leaned back, putting my body, muscle, and heart into this. If I didn’t get out, Rachel would die. I knew in my gut that more trouble was coming our way; she was going to need me.
I couldn’t let her down. Especially not now that she knew the truth about the bond. With a scream, I hauled the chains a foot, then another, then another. There was nothing but the pull of metal on my skin, the pain of muscles being pushed beyond limits, followed by the snapping of something in my left shoulder. A joint maybe, I wasn’t sure.
“Lea, I’m through. You’ll have ten feet,” Calvin yelled.
It would have to be enough. I gave the chains one last jerk, let go and bolted for the door with all I had.
The steel door raced to the ground as I dove toward it.
It was so close the back of my shirt got caught behind me.
“Lea, you’ve been holding back on me all these years.”
“Shut up, Cal.” I was on my feet and running toward Rachel before I’d even finished speaking. She was close.
And as pissed as she’d ever been.
I ran across the sand, about three hundred yards before the building behind us exploded into the night air with an eruption that sent shock waves across my skin.
Replica (The Blood Borne Series Book 2) Page 19