Consumed: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 8

by Davies, Brenda K.

  “He threw you to them!” Mike spat.

  “I know.” Mollie kept her tone as calm as possible. She couldn’t let Mike see how irate the knowledge made her or how unsettled she was by the incident. Instinctively, she knew both of those things would send him over the edge. “But you told me the killing of humans and innocents is what turns a vampire Savage. I don’t want that for you. You can’t kill him.”

  A fraction of Mike’s rage eased when he realized she was telling him to stop because she was concerned about him and not the human filth in his hands.

  “He’s not innocent,” Mike snarled.

  “No, he’s not,” Mollie agreed. “But he is human, and his death will affect you.”

  Mike wouldn’t experience any guilt over destroying Holden; however, her safety was his primary concern. He knew vampires who had killed humans and maintained their humanity, but they’d all experienced discomfort from the sun afterward, and he couldn’t be hindered in such a way while they were caught up in this mess.

  Besides, he didn’t have to kill Holden to protect her, but they might encounter other humans who would pose a more significant threat to her and who would have to be eradicated. If he killed those people too, he would be walking a treacherous line between retaining his humanity and losing it. Gazing at Holden, another idea for the bastard occurred to him.

  He eased his grip on Holden’s head, lowered him to the ground, and released him. Bloody streaks from his hands marred Holden’s pale face. Shifting his hold, Mike kept his hand on Holden’s neck. He resisted squeezing until Holden’s head popped from his shoulders. Holden wheezed as he leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees.

  “Gather your things, Mollie; we have to go,” Mike said.

  When his hand started constricting on Holden’s nape, Mike focused on Mollie as she lifted the rifle and inspected it. Seemingly satisfied with it, she slid it over her shoulder before gathering the quilt, folding it, and tucking it under her arm.

  Holden’s toes scraped the ground when Mike hauled him to the front of the cave and outside. “What… what… are you going to do to me?” he panted while Mike dragged him across the sand.

  “Nothing you don’t deserve,” Mike replied as turned toward Holden. The man was easily a good five inches shorter and seventy-five pounds lighter than him, but Mike felt no sympathy for the weaker human. “Since you like sacrificing those weaker than you, I see no reason not to do the same to you.”

  Seizing Holden’s arm, he pulled it forward and ripped the makeshift bandage from it. Holden squealed when Mike grasped his healing flesh and pulled it apart until blood spilled free. Next, he tore the bandage from Holden’s neck.

  “The gunshot will draw others here, and they’ll find only you,” Mike said as Holden’s blood spilled down his arm and dripped onto the sand.

  “Wait! No!” Holden cried, his eyes rolling in his head. “You can’t leave me here! I’ll follow you! I’ll tell them where you went, and I’ll—”

  Holden stopped speaking when Mike lifted his head to look at him. “Are you threatening me?” Mike growled.

  Mollie didn’t breathe as she waited to see what Mike would do. She’d felt a snapping in him with Holden’s threats, and she didn’t think her interference would stop Mike from killing him this time. When Holden’s eyes rolled toward her, Mike stepped in between them and blocked Holden from her view.

  “Are. You. Threatening. Me?” Mike bit out each word.

  “No… I… you… you can’t leave me here!” Holden cried. “You have to keep me safe! I’ll follow you!”

  Mollie winced; even without seeing Mike’s face, she knew it was the wrong thing to say. “Mike—”

  But he was already speaking. “Remember, the louder you scream, the faster they’ll find you.”

  “What?” Holden sputtered.

  A cruel smile curved Mike’s mouth before he stepped back and rammed his foot into Holden’s knee. He watched impassively as the joint gave way and Holden crumpled to the ground like the sack of shit he was.

  The quilt fell from Mollie’s hands when she clapped them over her ears to block the sounds of Holden’s tortured screams, but it did little good.

  Mike crouched before Holden and rested his hands on his knees. “Keep screaming,” he murmured as Holden’s tear-filled eyes met his. “They’re on their way.”

  Rising, Mike ignored Holden’s cries as he snatched the quilt up along with the discarded cup and pot that had contained Mollie’s water. Next to the pot and cup lay two dead rabbits covered in sand. He’d dropped everything on the beach when he heard the gunshot. He slid the cup and pot onto his belt and made sure they couldn’t bang together.

  Mollie didn’t resist Mike’s arms when they wrapped around her, but she couldn’t stop herself from cringing when she recalled the ease with which he’d unleashed such brutality. Holden’s screams had died down, and his hands were grasping at his ruined leg. She briefly met his gaze before closing her eyes. She couldn’t see anymore, and she didn’t want to be here when the others came for him.

  Clasping the quilt against Mollie’s back, Mike slid his hand around her head and tucked it into his neck. Then he ran.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Mike ran until the cliffs gave way and the land turned to flat beach stretching toward the woods before he veered back into the thick forest. Mollie hadn’t spoken since they left Holden behind. Her hands dug into his back, and her face remained in his neck as her shallow breaths tickled his skin. At first, she trembled against him, but that ceased when they entered the woods.

  Mike cursed himself and his lack of control. She never should have seen that brutal side of him. He should have kept it hidden from her, especially after those two fuckers attacked her, but after witnessing what Holden did and hearing his threats, all sense of control vanished.

  He’d only managed to keep himself from killing Holden because of her, but he hadn’t controlled himself enough. He was not naturally a violent man, it was always a last resort, but he hadn’t hesitated to kill when he saw those vampires clawing at her. And no matter how much he wished she hadn’t witnessed it, he would not hesitate to kill or maim for her again.

  Judging by the position of the sun, he’d been running for a couple of hours. When they first entered the forest again, he’d eased his speed but continued to lope across the ground. The reminder he could have lost her caused him to cradle Mollie closer.

  Mollie’s rumbling stomach, and his need to speak with her and hopefully repair any damage he may have caused between them, slowed him to a walk before he stopped. Mollie clung to him for a minute longer before her legs unlocked against his sides and she slid to the ground. She kept a hand on his shoulder when her legs wobbled, but once she was steadier, she released him.

  She kept her head bowed while he gazed at her. Mike’s heart twisted. He ached to clasp her chin and kiss her; instead, he stepped away.

  “I lost your food and water, but I’ll get you more,” he said as he examined the section of woods they’d stopped in. To his right, he heard the flow of the waves against the shore, but they were at least a quarter mile away from the ocean.

  “Thank you,” Mollie murmured as she stretched her cramped legs.

  Though what he could do, and how remorseless he could be, unnerved her, she couldn’t deny she missed being held against him. Once her revulsion and alarm over what happened faded, she’d found herself comforted by the effortless way he moved across the land and the flow of his muscles against her. While he ran, the trees were a blur and the wind tugged at her hair, but no branches touched them as he dashed around any obstacles in his way.

  Lifting her foot to her ass, Mollie bent forward to stretch; resting her fingertips on the ground, she examined Mike while he patrolled the area. He looked as lethal as he had while standing before Holden. The echo of Holden’s screams in her ears and the strain radiating from Mike caused her to drop her foot to the ground.

  She saw nothing out of the
ordinary in the trees as the birds chirped and a squirrel raced through the branches of a pine, but he saw far more of this world than she did.

  “Is anything out there?” She was not in the mood to be attacked by vampires again, and she wasn’t fond of humans right now either.

  “No,” Mike said, but he continued to prowl like a guard dog protecting its property.

  “Those vampires in the cave, they weren’t Savages, were they?”

  “No.”

  “But they would have killed me; I felt that from them. They were unraveling…”

  Her voice trailed off when she recalled the unraveling she’d sensed in Mike too. He would have killed Holden if she hadn’t intervened. And though Holden was probably dead by now, and that death was, in a way, because of Mike, even if he hadn’t been the one to end Holden’s life.

  What he’d done to Holden was one of the cruelest things she’d ever seen, but he’d done it to protect her and because of what Holden had done to her. He wouldn’t have sacrificed Holden if Holden hadn’t tried to sacrifice her first. She felt confident Mike wouldn’t turn his brutality on her.

  “They were starving,” Mike said. “They probably would have killed you. Maybe not on purpose, but they were losing control of themselves.”

  “Thank you for stopping them.”

  Mollie’s breath caught when his head turned toward her. As his striking blue eyes met hers, the vulnerability in his gaze confused her and tore at her heart.

  “They never should have gotten so close to you. I should have gotten there sooner,” he said.

  “Mike—”

  Mollie gasped as, before she could finish her sentence, he closed the distance between them. His hands on her shoulders were tender when he pulled her closer to him.

  “It will never happen again,” he vowed and bent his head to hers.

  His breath caressed her lips as his mouth hovered above hers. Tingles of anticipation raced over Mollie’s skin. The hair on her arms and nape stood on end as his nearness caused all her nerve endings to come alive. After what she saw him do today, she should step away and put some distance between them. She didn’t move.

  When Mollie didn’t shove him away or tell him to get lost, Mike closed the distance between them and claimed her mouth. He should get away from her, he should make sure their bond never progressed beyond the small steps they’d already taken, but walking away from her would take far more control than he possessed.

  His arm snaked around her waist, and he lifted her against him until the enticing evidence of his erection pressed between her legs. Unable to stop herself, Mollie whimpered and squirmed against him in a desperate attempt to get closer.

  Suddenly, she hated the clothes between them as her fingers tugged at his shirt and her heart hammered in anticipation. This man could break her in two, and they were caught in a nightmare, but in his arms, she’d never felt more protected or cherished.

  Mike’s fingers threaded through her hair, and he deepened the kiss until her apple scent burned into his nostrils. Her tongue and lean body were all he could feel as the taste of her ingrained itself on him. She was everything he’d ever wanted, everything he’d been missing over the years, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

  The cracking of a stick pierced through the fog of ecstasy Mollie weaved around him. He tore his mouth away from hers when he recalled they were standing in the woods, where anyone or anything could find them. A low growl reverberated in his chest as his grip on her tightened.

  “We have to keep moving,” he whispered.

  A rush of fear buried Mollie’s disappointment as she recalled where they were. “Yes.”

  * * *

  “Oh God.” Mollie bent over and rested her hands on her knees. Breathing shallowly, she fought the nausea rolling through her, but her head still spun like she’d taken ten trips on the tilt-a-whirl at a carnival. “Oh God, no.”

  Mike rested his hand on her shoulder while he gazed in disbelief at the sight before him. Out of everything he’d expected to encounter, this had never crossed his mind. And he had no idea what to do about it.

  “Gives credence to that whole Island of Doctor Moreau theory, doesn’t it?” Mollie asked, unable to contain a bitter laugh.

  Mike had to agree with her.

  “We’re so screwed,” she whispered.

  “No matter what, I am getting us out of this. Come on.”

  Mollie took another deep breath. Get it together. You have to be strong for Aida. And at least this discovery will make it easier to find her.

  Mollie focused on that hopeful realization as she tried to pull herself from the bleak pit of despair sucking at her soul.

  Rising, she met Mike’s gaze before turning her attention to the lighthouse they’d left behind yesterday. In the rays of the setting sun, the rotting building appeared more ominous as she realized their journey had taken them in a complete circle of what she now realized was an island.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Standing at the top of the lighthouse again, Mike surveyed the land that he now knew was an island with a more critical eye. They were stuck on an island, but where was it located? Were they off the coast of Canada, or maybe Maine... or somewhere else entirely? And how far were they from the mainland?

  Most importantly, how could they get off this berg of land?

  He hadn’t seen any boats in their travel, but they’d stayed away from the cliffs throughout sections of the island. He’d missed many areas of the shoreline to remain hidden in the forest, and the boats may be located there. There had to be boats somewhere, but he had a feeling they were heavily guarded.

  “It will be easier to find Aida now,” Mollie said as she gazed over the treetops to where Mike had said there was a building beyond the barn. “If she’s still alive, she’s in that house or building or whatever it is out there.”

  Mike rested his hand on her shoulder to give her some comfort as he sensed her sorrow beneath the words “if she’s still alive.”

  “And if Jack and Doug are still alive, we’ll have an easier time locating them than I anticipated,” Mike said. “Plus, we can’t be far from the mainland. I’m not sure which direction land is in, but the water separating us from it can’t be too big; the Savages wouldn’t be able to traverse it otherwise.”

  “Three bright sides, what about the bad?”

  “It’s not a large island. I suspect the reason we haven’t encountered many others is they’ve stayed more to the woods while we’ve been sticking to the cliffs for a while. I’m sure some have gone down the cliffs in search of a hiding place, and others are probably dead, but a fair amount of vampires escaped with us.”

  A hollow pit formed in Mollie’s stomach when she realized what he was saying. “And all those vampires are going to be hungry.”

  “Many will feed on the animals.”

  “Why weren’t the ones who attacked me today doing that?”

  “Because animal blood isn’t as good as human blood, and some, even if they’re not killers, will refuse to drink it until it’s too late for them. They also probably didn’t realize we were on an island and might have believed they had a chance to get somewhere with a higher human population soon, so they decided to hold off on feeding. Or they could have been further gone than anyone realized when they were set free, and animal blood no longer satisfied them.”

  “So that means there may be others who were further gone, feel the same way, and we’re trapped with them.”

  “Yes.”

  “Great,” she muttered.

  “There’s more,” he said reluctantly. He hated to deliver more bad news to her, but she had to know everything.

  “What?”

  “I covered a lot of ground earlier, but this island isn’t very big. With this many vamps and humans running around here, the animal population is going to dwindle. It will take a while, and not all the vamps will kill the animals they feed on, I don’t, but others will. However, we have no idea how long we�
��re going to be here, so we need to prepare for the worst.”

  “Hope for the best; expect the worst.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. So, we need a plan to get off this island as soon as we find Aida and your friends. We also need a boat, which should be easy to find,” Mollie said sarcastically.

  “And those boats are probably well guarded.”

  “Beautiful. Can we build a raft and shove our asses off this rock?”

  The idea of being adrift at sea on a makeshift raft while baking under the sun until she croaked, was near the top of her list of ways she did not want to die, but it was better than being breakfast for some starved vampire in this hellhole.

  “We have no rope or cut wood we can tie together,” Mike said.

  “Stop being practical,” she muttered.

  Mike chuckled, but he didn’t find anything amusing about their situation. On the horizon, the sky turned a vivid shade of red when the sun dipped out of view. “We have to leave now if we’re going to make it to the rock shelter before nightfall.”

  Mollie followed him from the lighthouse and back outside. She didn’t say a word when he lifted her and held her against him. The only way they would reach the shelter before night descended was if he ran there with her. Besides, after what they discovered about this place, she craved being in his arms again.

  She buried her face in the hollow of his neck and inhaled his tantalizing scent of cedar and the fresh water they recently washed in. They’d located another stream before arriving at the lighthouse, or maybe it was the same one as yesterday, and stopped to clean themselves with the water. Mike had left her hidden in a pine tree while he went to boil water for her and hunt some food. He’d come back in less than an hour with another squirrel and a pot of water.

  She’d eaten while he kept a lookout, and it had eased the hunger in her belly, but she felt another hunger waking as he ran and his thickly muscled body flowed effortlessly against hers. Mollie pressed closer until as much of her body touched his as possible.