Consumed: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 8

by Davies, Brenda K.

  “I’ll never let them touch you, and I’ll kill anyone who tries it.”

  The fevered tone of his words eased some of her wariness, but she hesitated before handing the keys over to him.

  “Thank you,” Mike said. Clasping her elbow, he hurried her through the cages until they stood outside Jack’s.

  Jack’s eyes burned with rage when he crawled toward the door of his cage. “You took your sweet-ass time killing them,” he muttered.

  “Glad you’re alive too,” Mike replied and slid the only silver key on the ring into the lock. He’d try the other keys if it didn’t work, but he was hoping the silver key went with the silver cages.

  “More of those fuckers are going to be coming for us.”

  “I know.” Mike turned the key, the lock clicked, and the door swung open.

  Jack crawled out and rose with a groan. His hand went to his back as he remained stooped over like an old man. Rising, Jack groaned again and cracked his back. “You okay?” he asked Mike when his eyes focused on the bullet hole in his shoulder.

  “Fine.”

  “I thought she was going to shoot you.” Jack gave Mollie an irritated look; she scowled back at him and gripped the strap of her rifle.

  “Me too,” Mike admitted. “Jack, this is Mollie; Mollie, this is one of my best friends, Jack.”

  “So, he’s a vampire too?” she asked, eyeing Jack like he were about to eat her.

  “Yes, but you’re safe with him,” Mike promised before focusing on Jack. “Check the other dead security guards for keys, and if you find a set, start turning vamps and humans loose.”

  “You can’t let more vampires loose!” Mollie protested.

  “We have to,” Mike replied. “They’re as innocent as you or me in all this. Plus, some of them could be helpful against the bastards trying to hold us here.”

  Mollie opened her mouth to argue further, but the words died in her throat. If these vamps were also innocent in this, she couldn’t leave them here, even if they survived on blood. She ate things others thought were disgusting too.

  Yeah, your obsession with pickles on pizza is totally the same thing as drinking someone’s blood. But it didn’t matter; she couldn’t leave them caged.

  Jack stepped closer and pitched his voice low. “You want all the vamps out?”

  “Only the ones who don’t look half-starved,” Mike whispered back.

  “Will do,” Jack said.

  “If there aren’t any more keys, keep watch. We don’t have much time before more Savages arrive.”

  “No, we don’t,” Jack agreed before jogging away.

  “Doug!” Mike called into the cages.

  “Back here!” a voice called from the other side of the barn.

  Mike reclaimed Mollie’s arm and led her toward the voice.

  “Do you know everyone here?” Mollie demanded as she jogged to keep up with Mike’s brisk pace.

  “Jack and Doug are two of my best friends; I briefly met the bartender at the bar we were taken from, but everyone else here is a stranger.”

  “Hmm,” Mollie grunted when they stopped outside another cage.

  The blond-haired man inside, Doug she assumed, smiled at her. Mollie didn’t smile back.

  “Mollie, this is Doug; Doug, this is Mollie,” Mike said.

  “Hi,” Doug greeted.

  “Hey,” Mollie muttered.

  “It’s a good thing you were able to get free.”

  “Yeah,” Mollie said.

  She shifted her stance as she studied the barn. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact she was standing next to a vampire, while surrounded by cages full of vampires and humans. It was all surreal, yet Mike’s warm body against hers, the jingle of the keys, and the hopeful faces gazing out at them were all very real.

  If this was what their captors were doing to them, and if they were all monsters from some horror story, then what were they doing with Aida?

  Mollie swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked away her tears. She would find Aida and get her free of this mess, and they would deal with the consequences of it all afterward. Together, the two of them could get through anything.

  “I’ve got another set of keys!” Jack called from somewhere amid the cages.

  “Good!” Mike called back as he swung open the door to Doug’s cage. Doug climbed out and stretched his back as he rose to stand before Mike. “I need you to keep watch for more Savages. They’ve got to be on their way.”

  “I will. Should I take Mollie with me?” Doug asked.

  Mike contemplated this as Mollie scowled at them. If Mollie were with Doug, she’d be away from the rest of the vampires who were set free. However, he hated the idea of having her out of his sight, and he didn’t trust anyone to protect her as fiercely as he would.

  That realization startled him as he trusted Jack and Doug with his life, just not hers.

  “No, she’ll stay with me,” Mike finally said.

  Doug looked surprised but hid it when he replied, “I’ll be by the doors.”

  Mike watched as Doug weaved through the cages. Vampires and humans reached out to him as he passed while Doug mumbled apologies for no keys and dodged their hands.

  Mike kept Mollie close by his side as he set to work freeing the humans and vampires closest to them. He didn’t fully trust any vampire outside his close-knit family, but he had to hope some of them would prove to be allies. No matter what, all of them would be a distraction to the Savages who’d put them here.

  He skipped over the vamps who were too thin and unable to control the red of their eyes. Mollie edged closer to him when the livid shouts of those he left behind filled the barn, but he didn’t regret his choice. Getting out of this mess and keeping Mollie safe was what mattered most.

  “Mike! Jack! There are lights on the horizon!” Doug called from the front of the barn.

  Mike froze, and lifting his head, he examined the numerous cages filling the room. Between the two of them, he and Jack had managed to open almost half the cages, but there were still so many to go, and they were out of time.

  “Shit,” he hissed, and twisting the key in the lock, he set LeNae free.

  “Getting closer!” Doug yelled.

  Mike glanced at Mollie’s round, frightened eyes. She’d taken the rifle from her shoulder and held it against her chest. If she weren’t involved in this, he would set a few more of the prisoners free, but he couldn’t risk her being caught again.

  “We have to go.” Taking her elbow, he tossed the keys to a whimpering human pleading to be set free and rushed Mollie toward where Doug stood in the middle of the double doors.

  The headlights from the approaching vehicles were only a few hundred feet away.

  “Jack, we have to go!” he bellowed into the shadows.

  “Heading for the side door!” Jack yelled. “Meet you outside!”

  Mike didn’t look back at those who remained trapped, holding Mollie close against him, he plunged into the brisk night air.

  Chapter Ten

  Adrenaline coursed through Mollie as she slung the rifle over her shoulder and followed Mike out of the barn. Her heart sank when she got her first good look around and realized only a wide-open field stretched before them. A few hundred yards away from them, the field became woods, but they’d be open targets if they ran across the field. That hadn’t stopped some escapees from sprinting across it.

  Two of the vehicles broke off to give chase to the dozen or so men and women fleeing across the field. One of the vehicles was a pickup truck with two Savages standing in the back, holding rifles. The Savages shouted as they lifted their guns and aimed at the escapees. Shots rang out and shrieks resonated from the runners as two of them went down.

  The other vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, surged toward the front and skidded sideways in the field. Dirt flew up behind the Jeep as it raced to block the runners from the trees fifty yards ahead of them.

  “Oh no,” Mollie whimpered when the truck
ran over a woman.

  “Shit,” Mike muttered.

  He pulled Mollie toward the side of the massive barn where at least the building covered them from the approaching vehicles. Jack waited there as vampires and humans fled into the field on the other side of the barn. Except, this field was much smaller, and only a hundred yards separated them from the woods beyond.

  “We’ll never make it,” Mollie whispered.

  “We only have to be faster than the slowest ones, and we’re faster than all the humans,” Jack said.

  Mollie paled, but Mike knew Jack’s assessment was right.

  “I need to carry you,” he said to Mollie.

  “What?” she demanded, stepping away from him.

  “I’m a lot faster than you.”

  “You’re injured; let me do it,” Doug offered.

  “No!” Mike snapped. The angry response not only astonished him but caused Doug’s and Jack’s eyebrows to rise. Doug had a point, but it didn’t matter; the idea of anyone, including his best friends, touching her was not something he could tolerate. He had to get her out of here. “I will do it. Mollie?”

  Mollie stared at the three of them. She hadn’t missed the hard edge of Mike’s voice or the surprise on his friends’ faces, but she didn’t have time to ask about it. She disliked the idea of anyone carrying her, but she hated the idea of dying more.

  “Fine,” she relented.

  Before she could ask how this was going to work, Mike stepped before her, placed his hands on her hips, and lifted her off the ground as easily as she plucked a flower. Mollie gasped when she found her chest crushed against his.

  “Shouldn’t I go on your back or something?” she asked when the intimate contact caused a shiver of desire to run down her spine.

  “If they start shooting at us, my body will protect yours.”

  His words caused a strange sensation to run through her as unexpected tears pricked her eyes. This man, this stranger, this vampire planned to use his body to shield her from bullets that could kill them both.

  “Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered.

  Mollie did as he said and draped her arms around his neck.

  “Let’s go,” he said to Jack and Doug.

  Mike clasped Mollie’s nape with one hand and placed the other in the small of her back before sprinting away from the barn and into the field with Jack and Doug at his side. Lowering her head, Mollie turned it on his shoulder to stare at the world whizzing past them.

  The whipping wind made her feel like she was riding in a convertible with the top down. The sensation would have been freeing if it weren’t for the screams and gunshots peppering the air. Mike’s powerful body flowed beneath her as he zigzagged to avoid any bullets coming their way. When she shifted her hold on him, the blood from his bullet wound seeped onto her palm, and she yanked her hand away before she hurt him.

  “Almost to the woods,” he said.

  Mollie tried to turn her head to see the woods, but the wind whipping her hair into her face stung her cheeks and eyes. When she turned back, the air blew her hair away from her eyes. More gunfire pierced the night, and behind Mike, the earth churned up as bullets riddled the ground.

  Mollie suppressed a scream when two of the runners threw out their arms as they tumbled to the ground. One of them tried to crawl forward, but another round of bullets ended their movement. Mike’s muscles bunched beneath her, and before she knew what was happening, he leapt into the air.

  Mike’s foot came down on top of the split rail fence, and he launched himself off it as a fresh round of gunfire pierced the air. Holding Mollie closer, he bent partially over her to keep her protected as he propelled himself off the fence and into the woods. Not expecting the embankment on the other side, his front foot came down awkwardly and twisted.

  Mollie cried out when his leg gave out. From the corner of his eye, he saw Doug grab a tree branch, but Jack bounced off the ground as he tumbled ahead of them and out of view. Mike staggered and almost caught himself before his other knee gave out and he plunged forward.

  Mollie bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming when they hit the ground. Her breath wheezed out when Mike’s heavy weight came down on top of her before they rolled over. The rifle bounced against her back, dirt and rocks battered her, but Mike kept hold of her when they flipped head over heels down the embankment.

  Mike grunted when his back crashed into a tree, but better his back than Mollie’s. When they started to roll over again, he thrust his body to the side to ease their downward plummet. Mollie burrowed her head in his shoulder; her fingers clawed his back when the movement caused him to come down on top of her again while they skidded down the hill at an alarming speed.

  Slipping his leg between hers to keep her trapped against him, he released his hold on her and smashed his hands into the ground over her head. Dirt and rocks tore up beneath his fingers as their momentum slowed but didn’t stop.

  Spotting a tree on his left, he lifted his hand from the ground and swung out to grasp it. His palm slammed against the trunk, and his fingers dug into the bark. One of his fingers broke from the impact, and his wounded shoulder screamed in protest, but he didn’t release the tree. Jerked to a halt, a muscle in his shoulder tore, but it was the least of his concerns as he took a minute to catch his breath and survey their surroundings.

  They’d come to a halt halfway down the steep embankment. Some humans and vampires were still tumbling past him while others were running down the hill at a sideways angle to keep their footing. One human was bent around a tree, their spine broken from the impact and their awful moans mingling with the gunfire above.

  He searched for his friends in the chaos, but he didn’t see Jack or Doug anywhere. Thankfully, their trackers were also nowhere in sight... yet.

  Lowering his gaze, he stared at Mollie’s bent head as she panted against his shoulder and clutched at him. A tenderness he hadn’t known he possessed took over when he brushed the hair back from her forehead. He had to see her eyes and know she was okay.

  She lifted her head from his shoulder, and their gazes met. Like the first time he saw her, the striking color of her eyes stole his breath from him. Without thinking, he bent and kissed her forehead. The action was entirely out of place but felt so natural it was as if he’d kissed her a thousand times before, and he wanted more. He inhaled her sweet apple scent as it mingled with the earthy aroma of the freshly turned up dirt surrounding them.

  Mollie’s breath froze when his warm lips caressed her skin. Vampires kissed others? Of course, they did in the books and shows, but in real life? It seemed impossible, but then maybe she was hallucinating this.

  No, she was not hallucinating the weight of his body against hers or the firm press of his thigh between her legs. She was not imagining his enticing scent of cedar with the faint hint of cigarette smoke. She definitely was not hallucinating her body’s utterly inappropriate response to him as her nipples hardened and the urge to rub herself against his thigh hit her.

  When his lips moved from her forehead to her cheek, Mollie turned her head, so their mouths were only a few inches apart. She shouldn’t want him to kiss her, yet she did. He was more enticing than a KitKat bar. Perhaps he was only doing this so he could drink her blood, but when his breath tickled her lips, she didn’t care what his reasons were.

  She found herself staring into his turbulent, royal blue eyes while he gazed at her with a look of awe that more than matched hers while their breath mingled, but their lips didn’t touch. She wanted to end the torture of this near kiss by lifting her lips to his, but she couldn’t break the moment as the rest of the world faded away until it was only the two of them.

  A spatter of much closer gunfire drew their heads toward the top of the hill as more screams rent the air. Their captors were coming.

  Mike suppressed the snarl seeking to tear free. He would destroy every one of these bastards for what they’d done, but first he had to find somewhere safe for Mollie. Relea
sing the tree, Mike braced his feet apart as he rose and extended his hand to Mollie.

  Mollie clasped it, and he helped her to her feet. Their tumble had caused her shirt to pull down and expose the top of her simple black bra. The rifle had almost come off her back. She adjusted her shirt and the gun as headlights flashed over the top of the embankment and a truck rolled to a stop.

  The glow of the headlights lit the tops of the trees and reflected off the ground. The shadows they created came alive as they slithered across the forest floor in such a way Mollie had the insane idea they were demons rising to drag them into the pits of Hell. Too late.

  “They’re coming,” she breathed.

  “This way.” Keeping a firm hold on her hand, Mike led her at an angle toward the bottom of the hill.

  Chapter Eleven

  “We can stop to rest here for a bit,” Mike said.

  Mollie glanced at her watch to discover it was nearly two in the morning. They’d been running, walking, and running some more for the past five hours. And once her adrenaline started to wane, she felt like she’d crawled for the last hour, but onward they trudged.

  Occasionally, they would hear or see someone else making their way through the woods, but Mike didn’t approach any of them. He’d set the others free as a distraction and to possibly fight against their captors, but he didn’t dare trust them enough to approach them. He hadn’t seen Jack or Doug at all, and it had been an hour since he’d heard or seen anyone else.

  Mike glanced at the woods surrounding the small stream he’d stopped beside. A grouping of thick tree branches from a red maple dangled in the water. Mike pulled back some of the branches and peered into the small space created beneath the limbs. The thick vines and brambles mixed in with the tree branches and leaves would further shield them from anyone passing by. The aromas of water and fish would mask their scents.

  He’d prefer it if they didn’t stop until sunrise when the Savages would be less likely to be out, but Mollie was barely lifting her feet anymore, and the grumbling of her stomach grew increasingly louder. He could carry her again, but he would be better able to defend her if his hands were free, and he didn’t think they’d come across a much better hiding spot than this one.