by C. L. Quinn
Eillia found herself riveted on this unexpected addition to their group that Marc, for a strange reason he could not justify, felt he could vouch for. Whatever that reason, she felt the same way. There was just something about this man…
“Go on,” she urged.
“He kills, for money, yeah, but it’s more than that. He enjoys the kill. I watched his face once, when he received an assignment. I’ve seen a lot of nasty people in my life, but the look in his eyes, the cold joy, the inhumanity. He’s your real enemy. Your friend is in so much more danger now.”
Marc closed his eyes. Fuck the world, he’d lost her, and somehow put her in worse danger. If he didn’t know that he would need everything he was to help find her and save her, he thought he might lose it permanently. Even in war, he’d never really thought anyone was truly, truly, evil. Now, if this man was what Taggert thought he was, he just didn’t want to know that. He wanted his innocence back. He wanted peace. That would have to wait.
Marc stood. “Eillia, I’m going into one of the bedrooms and try to reach her.”
She nodded. “I was going to suggest that, as soon as you had enough to eat. Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I can’t wait. As soon as I reach her, and wake, I’ll find you guys. Well, no, that isn’t right, is it? You guys have to go to ground for the day, don’t you?”
Park was curled up on the couch, her eyes closed, leaning against Bas. She groaned. “I already need to. I’m exhausted.”
Bas pulled her closer. “We all are. Yeah, Marc, we need to sleep, but you guys are in too much danger if you leave here. You need to stay in this suite. Even though we neutralized the people in Lamont’s facility, we don’t know for certain that there isn’t anyone else out there.”
“I’ll spell the opening of this room, so no one will want to enter. You and Taggert can take one room, Bas and Park will take the second, and I guess I’ll sleep with the snore King here.” Eillia smiled at Koen when she said that.
“Ha, ha. I do not snore, and you wouldn’t know if I did. My lovely mate has never mentioned it.”
“She’s tactful. Anyway, let’s all go down for the day and meet back here when we’re rested. But Marc, if you find out where she is, you mustn’t attempt to go for her on your own. If this Claude is as bad as Taggert believes, you will need us. You understand?”
Marc nodded. “Yeah, I do. I don’t want to risk losing her again so I’ll wait for you. Taggert, you ready to turn in?”
“I’m going to finish this and make a few phone calls. Don’t worry, they have nothing to do with the vampires or Lamont or Claude.”
Eillia stood, stretched, and walked towards one of the rooms. “Goodnight, then,” she said and disappeared. She was just as tired as Park, but she was going to listen to anything Taggert did. She had a good sense about him, but caution was always wise.
A full half an hour passed before Marc could finally drop into a sleep deep enough to allow his mind access to Tamesine. When he finally felt himself inhabit the spirit world, the landscape bore no resemblance to the one that he’d seen so many times before. This one was dark, colorless, nothing but black sand beneath his feet, shifting unsteadily, and a sky with thick black clouds and only a narrow band of white at the horizon line. She was there, several yards distant, sitting on the black sand, naked, as usual.
He looked down at himself as he walked over, clad once again in his torn jeans. He didn’t want the denim between them, but there were greater concerns now.
She knew he was there.
“Marc,” she said, quietly, as he dropped down behind her and pulled her body against his. His hands automatically curled around her waist, the thumbs resting just under her breasts.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m still a prisoner, but I think you know that. And more so than before, because I think he has a drug that works on me now. I can’t come awake, no matter how hard I try.”
“We’re coming for you again.”
“I hoped so.” Tamesine laid her head back against Marc’s chest and buried herself into his warm body. “I don’t think I can save Frank. This man, this assassin that has me now, he means to make me convert him, and I cannot do that. Whatever happens, I cannot let this man become more powerful. I can stop him, but I have to let go of the two things he has control over. Frank’s fate, and mine. My life doesn’t matter. No matter what he does to me, I will not allow him to convert. He can drink my blood, and likely will, but I will not convert him, so my friends will be able to kill him easily.”
“Where are you? I’ll come for you immediately.”
“You can’t. It’s day and you need the vampires.”
“Not really. One of Lamont’s people is with me. He’s human and we can travel right now.”
“Marc, no. This man may be only human, but he’s evil personified. He’ll kill you both with no hesitation.”
“Yeah, we’ve met.”
“Oh. All right, then you understand.”
“Why does everyone keep asking me if I understand? I’m pretty damn smart, Tam, I got this.”
“It’s a vampire thing. It’s just the simplest way to verify that a compelled person will comply as we want them to do. Habit, my dream companion.” She paused. “I miss you.”
Marc could feel tears begin to threaten. Tears? He wasn’t an emotional man, except for the fractured memories. He didn’t know how to respond.
Sliding his hands up, he cupped her breasts, and let the thumbs move back and forth across her nipples.
She moaned. “What I wouldn’t give to have sex with you one last time. But I won’t risk you. Marc, if you have the time, I’d like to take you on that journey you need to take, help you fix your pain.”
“We’ll do that someday. Just not today.”
Tamesine twisted out of his arms and turned to face him. “There may never be another chance.”
Their eyes locked, and Marc was startled at what he told her. “Then I don’t want to go on, either. I’ve been given years that I should never have had. I should never have survived, any more than my brothers who came home in body bags. I should have done so too.”
“How dare you think to rob me of meeting you? Do you know what you’ve done for me?”
He shook his head, a sly smile that held more sorrow than humor curled his lips. “Given you some great orgasms?”
Tamesine got up on her knees and pulled him up, her hands buried in his hair, and smiled back, but her smile was soft. “That, yes, which I appreciated very much. But more than that, you gave me hope again that I could be completely well. I really didn’t think that was possible. Marc, you have a destiny in this world. You’re back safely for a reason. Take the time to find it.”
“Not until you’re safe. Do you have any idea where he’s taken you?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure where, I think we’re still in the air, but as I began to reawaken at one point, before he shot me up with that new drug, I heard him tell someone on a phone call that he hated round trips. I don’t know what that means.”
“I do. You’re on your way to L.A. Lamont had a lab there, too.”
“Ah, then that’s it. He needs a really secure place to hold me if he’s going to try to do this forced conversion. And a staff of security loyal to the cause. I’m so fucked.”
“We’re coming.”
“Okay, but, Marc, not alone. Please promise me.”
He didn’t hear her, his mouth was buried beneath her hair, his teeth nipping against her neck. “Your friend fed me. It tasted like ass. Would it be different if you did it while we’re having sex?”
Tamesine could barely speak, her body already thrumming, the dream too real, and not real enough.
“No, not unless you were vampire.”
“Hmmm,” he moaned as he pushed her back against the shifting sands and continued his journey south. Just as he reached her belly, he woke.
Sitting up suddenly in the darkened room, Marc blinked at t
he unfamiliar grayed objects in the hotel. Taggert snored softly in the full-size bed to his left. He dropped back, frustrated and anxious. He wanted to get to her now, but he couldn’t. His hand slipped over the weeping end of his cock. Damn!
FIFTEEN
Tamesine glared at him, a single guard with a rifle just outside of her cell door. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get her power to behave. She could feel it, just on the edge of her mind, but it was blocked. Her own blood had been required to focus the serum, and it was working well. Smiling, she looked down at the floor of the cage he held her in, bound heavily from five separate points, her legs and arms to each of four corners with chains that looked unbreakable, a leaden collar around her neck so heavy she had difficulty keeping upright. For some reason, he hadn’t put her back out yet.
It was a mistake, she was smiling because she could feel her power push against its bonds, and she knew now. The serum did work, but eventually, it wouldn’t. Her spirit amulet was already untangling its hold. Claude was going to die the moment she freed herself.
A thunderous sound drew her attention and she lifted her head to see a door like that of a small airplane hangar slide sideways, and three men entered. They wore white coats and carried boxes by handles, and they were human.
She had no doubt why they were there and why she was awake.
“Good evening, Ms. Tamesine. I’m Cedric,” the tallest of the three said as he approached.
“Civility. A pleasant greeting. I appreciate the attempt before you slice me and bleed me.”
“We’re only doing our job. We don’t have any more choice than you do.”
“Sure.”
Cedric motioned to the guard to step back, and when he did, Cedric used a key card to disengage the locking mechanism on the door and it popped open with a deceptively small snick for such a heavy door. Handing the key card to one of the other men, Cedric nervously entered as the other two men in white coats stayed outside, and the one with the key card pushed the door closed to relock it.
Tamesine watched Cedric stop several feet from her, moisture on his brow making a slow path down his temple.
“I’m serious. I have a wife and two little girls. Twins. Cacie and Carly. That man kidnapped them a week ago and told me that if I didn’t want to see them next with bullet holes in their heads, I would do everything he needed without question.” His eyes were moist now. “Please, I won’t hurt you. But I don’t have a choice.”
Tamesine could see that. This man was terrified.
“I won’t give you any trouble.”
He didn’t move closer. “I’m supposed to tell you that if you kill me, he’ll just keep sending others. Those two out there, they’re back-ups. He wants your blood, but he wants as little of the serum in it as possible. He doesn’t want your blood tainted. You understand? As long as I’m taking your blood, he’s going to have us keep you awake.”
Her eyes on his, Tamesine did understand. He was letting her know that there might be an opportunity to fix this. But she would have to be careful. While she was willing to die to keep Claude from becoming vampire, she didn’t want this man’s family to die, too.
“He’s such a beast,” she whispered. Cedric nodded and walked up to her, then knelt to set his box on the floor of the cage.
“I’m to take several liters, then we will feed you to help healing.”
“I need to feed on human blood, too, to heal. Are you feeding me, too?”
Shaking his head slightly, Cedric reached into the case and extracted a sleek stiletto. “He didn’t tell me to.”
Tamesine lowered her head and looked at him as she spoke.
“You should feed too,” she whispered.
“What?” he responded.
“It will make you stronger, faster. Briefly, but it might be helpful. If you can, take in at least half a liter, but no more than one. It will make it possible for you to protect yourself if you need to.”
Without responding, Cedric pulled several one liter flasks from the bag. “We should begin.”
One feeding would not complete a conversion, so Tamesine was going to allow this extraction of her vampire blood. She wanted to give her friends a chance to get to L.A. and rescue her, but if they didn’t come in time, she was committed to finding a way to end her life so that she would stop Claude and whatever jacked-up plans he had.
Or anyone else like him or Lamont in the future.
It struck her that this wouldn’t be an unexpected finale for a life that had gone wrong almost from the beginning. Although her memories of her earliest years were lost in the fog of trauma, she knew they were bad enough to send her into the mental tailspin she had only recently been trying to crawl out from.
She smiled as she laid her head against the floor while Cedric sliced her wrist and bottled her blood. Sometimes providence traveled its path unwavering, and she thought that perhaps that was exactly what it was doing in her case. It might be nice to be finished. Suddenly she remembered Marc saying the same thing to her, and it broke her heart.
No. No! She would fight to stay and be well…to go home to that little boy who would need her more and more as his life progressed. Caedmon loved her, needed her, and she needed to be there for him. She would be there for him.
“I’m finished,” Cedric said, breaking the silence.
“Finished,” Tamesine repeated, as she sat back up. “But I’m not. Do as I recommended, Cedric, take some of the blood. I am going to need you.”
The man paused as he lifted the final vial to place it carefully into the bag. “I don’t know…”
“Take some of the blood,” Tamesine repeated, pushing the compulsion, and Cedric nodded.
“Good. Now go, and tell no one what I suggested.”
Cedric got up quickly, and left after the man with the door lock-release let him out. Now, only the single gunman remained. Tamesine gave him her most sensual smile.
“Lovely weather we’re having, aren’t we?” she said, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. It was apparent he intended to remain detached, but she watched his eyes roam across her state of undress and he smiled back.
This, Tamesine knew how to do. Men fell for her like their shoelaces were tied together.
“Would you come over here for a minute? Just to talk?”
He stepped back. “Um, I’ve been warned not to look you directly in the eye or get too close.”
Tamesine leaned forward, well aware that one breast would be fully exposed when she did. His eyes dropped there and lingered, then moved up and landed directly in her gaze.
“I can’t imagine why,” she said earnestly. Bingo. “When you are asked to shoot me again, you will agree, but you will not do it. If they are not in the room, you will tell them that you have shot me if they ask. You understand?”
The guard nodded. Tamesine took a long, deep breath. Good, it was a start. Once the drug was weak enough in her system, nothing would stop her. She would escape, kill Claude, and call Eillia, in that order.
“The doctor mentioned food. Soon, I hope? I’m starving.” Suddenly, Tamesine realized that she really was.
Claude almost giggled.
“Here, doctor, here, put the vials here.”
Cedric opened the bag holding Tamesine’s blood and placed each of the vials in front of Claude.
As excited as he was, he opened one and sniffed.
“It’s going to, and excuse the pun, but, it’s going to taste quite vile.”
“Yes, sir,” Cedric agreed, stoic. He had nothing to say to this monster who threatened his family. No, not threatened. Endangered, because Cedric was quite certain this man did not leave witnesses or loose ends. He was certain that they would all be killed before this was finished. Which is why he did do exactly what the vampire had suggested. And he could confirm for Claude, the blood did indeed taste awful. But he hoped it would give him a fighting chance to save his family.
“Any suggestions on how to make it more palatable?”
“No, sir. You just need to drink it.” Like Cedric would attempt to make this more pleasant for the bastard. “I recommend you just down it quickly.”
It was a horrible recommendation, but it gave Cedric a micro-second of satisfaction.
Claude remained clueless to Cedric’s attitude, and grinned at him. “Well, thanks for getting the first dose. Here we go.”
With pursed lips, Cedric watched Claude attempt to chug the viscous fluid. The smell alone was pungent enough to inspire heaving. Claude struggled, and nearly lost it several times, but he did ultimately manage to keep it down, many times the volume that Cedric drank.
When Claude doubled over in pain about ten minutes afterward, Cedric was unsurprised. From what he knew about these conversions from human to vampire, the process reorganized the DNA and was very painful. Claude would need a steady infusion of Tamesine’s blood, in large volumes, so the entire process would be at once fascinating and horrible to watch.
This psycho would be much more powerful if he could pull this off and Cedric knew they couldn’t allow him to make that change. He prayed that the vampire would be able to prevent it, and would do everything in his power to help her.
Now, standing back as Claude knelt on the floor, his head touching the tile, the vomited blood all around his head, Cedric forced himself to remain expressionless. There was nothing he could do to help Claude, anyway, and that was assuming that he had any interest in doing so, which he did not. Claude had no friends, family, or even staff that would care if he died right there on that floor. The armed gunmen were paid to protect him, and as long as the paychecks were coming, Cedric knew they would do so, but if Claude choked to death on blood that he should never have ingested, they would stand by until he was dead, and walk away.
He prayed he would be able to find and save his wife and daughters if that happened. Leaning against the wall, he closed his eyes and tried to drown out the retching that seemed to reverberate through the room.