by Lucinda Dark
Chapter 39
Barbie
When he slept, there was nothing about Torin that screamed ‘dangerous.’ No, in fact, when he curled against the pillow I’d managed to wedge between us as a buffer while I slowly crept out of bed, he looked almost innocent. Youthful. Like any other teenage boy. It physically hurt to stare down at him as I dressed and slipped from his room.
I’d done something irreversible. I’d thrown caution to the wind and let myself be taken in. Not just by Torin, but by Maverick as well. Revenge should have been my number one priority, but those two boys had complicated things. I shook my head as I strode down the silent hallway, heading back to my own room on the other side of the hotel.
My mind was a cluster of ‘what the fucks’ and ‘holy shits’ and I couldn’t make out what I was feeling except confused. It wasn’t until I had gotten to my room, that I finally decided to do something about my confusion. Perhaps this was as simple as actually caring about the men I’d slept with. I hadn’t cared the first time I had sex, but Torin and Maverick were different. They knew my past—my darkness—and they accepted it. When they’d found out about my demon, they’d been pissed, for sure, but they hadn’t left. They hadn’t given up on me and they weren’t dead yet.
Yet. That word slammed around my skull like a sharp boulder. Everywhere it hit left a gouging wound that seeped and reminded me what that word actually meant. They weren’t dead. Yet. But if they stayed—if they continued down the path I refused to let myself stray from and they did it with me—how long would they have left?
I was so absorbed in my own agonized thoughts that I didn’t smell the blood until it was too late. My hand on the knob, the door already partially open. The light from the hallway spilled across a scene far too familiar to my eyes. One I had hoped to avoid ever having to see again. Flashes of the same scene nearly a year ago spiraled through my mind. My mother’s prone body bleeding out in our foyer. My father’s shouts. My brother’s cold, dead eyes.
“I was wondering how long it’d take you to get back.” A pale figure dressed in an elegant pantsuit sat on the bed farthest from the doorway.
My first response was to slam the door and then upchuck everything I’d eaten in the last twenty-four hours. As much as I wanted to do that, though, I couldn’t seem to pull my gaze from Olivia’s lifeless body or the way her head lolled to one side, revealing the deep wounds in her throat. Her skull was pillowed on the woman’s lap—a familiar woman that I couldn’t quite place—but it was her neck that I was focused on. One thing was for certain. The woman was a vampire. Blood oozed from the open gouges in Olivia’s throat and at the same time dribbled over the woman’s lips as she licked her mouth clean.
Olivia… My heart squeezed tightly in my chest. She’d just been with Ben hours earlier. Had it truly been just hours ago? I shook my head and pushed the pain down. I shoved through the doorway and dove for the duffle bag at the end of the first bed. Mine. If I could just get to my swords, then maybe—
Olivia’s body was tossed to the side as if she were nothing more than a broken doll and cool, strong fingers gripped my wrists, stopping me from my objective. I didn’t even have to think before reacting. I reared back and slammed my forehead into the vampire’s nose. A sharp, startled cry escaped her as her hold loosened. I didn’t think about the pain I’d just caused myself. I didn’t have the luxury. Instead, I ripped myself away and snatched the zipper of my duffle. I got it halfway down and the handle of one of the swords in my grasp before she was back.
“You little bitch,” she growled, baring her bloodied fangs.
She was about to find out just how much of a bitch I could be. I jerked the blade up and slammed the handle across her cheek, knocking her away as I scrambled across the bed and down onto the floor where Olivia had landed. Ducking down and pressing my fingers to her neck, I breathed a sigh of relief. Her pulse was weak and faint, but still there. A blessing I hadn’t expected.
Claws locked into my hair and dragged me away. Arching my arm back, I slammed the pointed tip of my sword into the vampire’s thigh from behind and twisted with a bloodthirsty smile as she cursed and choked on a scream. Talons sank into my arm, going deep. Blood rushed over my skin and down to my hand. I switched grips immediately and spun out of the woman’s hold, slamming into a dresser.
Fire spread up my arm, as it throbbed in agony. When I looked down, I blinked and gagged. It wasn’t just blood—her talons had sunk past my muscle and shredded my forearm in long strips when I’d yanked myself away.
“And here I thought you’d be easy prey,” the woman said.
Raising my head, I was at least pleased to see that her leg was still smoking—the wound I’d given her not closing thanks to the blessing of my swords. “So sorry to disappoint,” I panted. Even as my body trembled in pain and sweat slicked down my spine, I dove forward. I had to ignore the pain in my arm or else Olivia and I were both dead. Swiping left and then right with the blade, the woman dodged my attacks too easily. Her leg made her slower, but only slightly. Fear took root in my chest and spread down throughout the rest of me.
Shadows appeared in the doorway behind the vampire. More. I needed to move faster. I slashed across the woman’s throat, but she was already gone. Having moved faster than my eyes could see. I needed … power… I reached for Satrina’s abilities. Fuck the consequences, I thought. Life or death. Here and now. I would kill this creature and send her back into the ether.
No, Barbie, wait! Satrina’s warning came at the same time as chains slammed down on my internal reach. The dark power I’d been seeking was abruptly yanked from the grasp of my fingertips. You can’t. Not here.
Satrina! I screamed her name. We had a deal! The fear I felt curdled into panic as two more vampires entered the room, moving to flank my enemy. Give me the power! If I didn’t have it, I was as good as dead. My eyes flashed to Olivia’s body on the ground. We both were.
Trust me, she whispered as my sword was knocked from my grasp and strong arms slammed me into a wall, locking my limbs into place. I struggled, opening my mouth on a scream for a split second before I thought better of it. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t cry for help. If I did—it would only bring more humans, more casualties. I had to protect them. I couldn’t let anyone else die here.
“Stick the fleshsack,” the woman behind the vampires holding me grit out, “and let’s get the fuck out of here. Don’t let Torin see this.”
Torin—these people—my mind raced with the knowledge. I cried out when a needle was jammed into my neck and the burn of medicine entered my system. The world grew blurry. Darkness seeped into my head. My body went slack and my limbs lost the ability to move, before I was picked up and tossed over a hard shoulder.
I’m sorry, Barbie, but this is for the best. We can’t let them know just yet… Satrina’s words were the last thing I heard as I slipped into unconsciousness. Whatever her reasons, though, if Olivia died because she’d gone back on her word, I’d find a way to rip the bitch from my soul and set her aflame.
Chapter 40
Maverick
Burning. I was burning alive. My flesh fell off my bones in hard clumps of skin. Blood poured from my eyes. The fire raged. Fuck, it fucking hurt. Worse than anything I’d ever imagined. I couldn’t see what it was. Couldn’t smell it or feel anything but the tidal waves of heat that licked across my body. I sank into the crater of my soul as the rest of me caught fire and went up in smoke.
I was the dust in the wind…
I was the clouds in the sky…
I was nothing and everything…
I was no more and yet … immortal.
You are not immortal, a voice spoke up. One I didn’t recognize. You are merely changing.
Who the fuck are you?
There was a pause and then a low chuckle. Ahhh, the audacity of youth, how I have not missed it, the masculine tone said more to himself, I suspected, than to me. I am the being you carry with you, he said, returning his attenti
on to me.
Being? My thoughts were muddled. I couldn’t seem to reach into my mind and remember what he was saying. It took several moments for me to remember the medallion. You’re the monster inside the medallion? I clarified.
I am, he replied. I am curious about the one my power might be granted to. Tell me, what do you seek?
That was easy, I thought. Power, I said. I need to be stronger.
Why? he asked.
Why does it fucking matter? I snapped. Will you give it to me or not?
The creature rumbled—the sound like an angry earthquake. It would do you better, child, to know your tongue and to whom you wield it against. With my medallion comes a great price. I want to know what you will pay to gain the power you seek and what you will do once you have it. Many men much braver than you have come before and fallen under the weight of my abilities. They have been crushed in the avalanche of my flame and torn asunder by my claws. Will you be the same and be crushed or will you burn with the flames and be reborn?
In my consciousness, I couldn’t escape his mad fucking rambles, nor could I understand a lick of it. I just want power, I said, to protect those I care about. I have to protect… I let my words drift off. I didn’t want to say her name. I couldn’t say why, but to admit that I was willing to go this far for one person was a terrifying thought.
There was a beat of silence, and then he said, Interesting.
I didn’t know what that meant. So? I pressed. Will you give it to me?
I will think on it, the voice replied.
Think on it? I wondered. What was there to think about? He would either give me the fucking power I needed, the kind I sought or he wouldn’t. It wasn’t goddamn rocket science.
No, he replied—having obviously heard my thoughts—it is far more dangerous than the science that has taken the modern world. Everything has rules, but unlike science, when you break the rules of magic—the consequences extend beyond life and death. Think on that a bit more when you wake.
When I woke…?
The door to my hotel room slammed open and I jerked up in bed. The light was flipped on, and Torin stood in the doorway. “Fucking Christ!” I snapped, shielding my eyes. “Tell me you didn’t fucking run naked through the goddamn hotel?”
“Is Barbie here?” Torin’s voice was raw and as I looked back at him, it was only then that I saw the pallor of his face. I thrust the covers off me and stood up.
I snatched up a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from my opened bag and thrust them at him before checking the hallway. Closing the door and flipping the lock I turned back to him just as he was sliding the shirt over his head. “No, Barbie’s not here,” I said, gesturing around the room. “Obviously.”
“I’m sorry for startling you.” He sucked in a breath and released it. “I had a strange dream and I don’t know what came over me.”
“That makes two of us,” I muttered more to myself.
He frowned my way. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Come on, we’ll check her room.”
Torin nodded and then waited as I grabbed a pair of jeans as well before leaving the room. As we strode down the hall, I turned and looked at Torin out of the corner of my eyes. “Is there something you want to say?” he asked, keeping his head facing forward.
I huffed out a breath. “Not at all,” I said. Barbie’s door came into view. I quickened my step a split second before Torin’s hand shot out and locked on my elbow, drawing me up short. I scowled as I looked back at him. “What the hell are—” I stopped, mid-sentence, at the expression on his face. His eyes were blown wide, red glowing from the depths.
“I smell blood.” He whispered the words and then abruptly dropped my arm and disappeared. I turned, finding him already several paces away—at Barbie’s door. He shoved the thing open and I took off running, heading for him. I skidded to a stop just inside the room.
Torin was bent over Barbie’s friend—Olivia, I recalled. Her face was pale and her throat was obviously torn. “Is she…?” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know.
“She’s alive,” he grunted. “Just barely. Call an ambulance.”
I’d already dialed the wrong number and pressed send before I remembered that we weren’t in fucking America. Quickly hitting the red button, I looked up the emergency number for Italy and dialed that, relaying all of the information we had—there was an American student who’d been attacked—to the woman on the phone. I was giving her the hotel address when Torin abruptly jerked his head up and flashed to the doorway, shoving me forward before disappearing into the hall and slamming the door behind him.
“The fuck?”
“Sir, can you stay on the line? Sir?”
I didn’t even answer her but, instead, hit end and moved to the door. I tried the knob and found the door jammed. “Tor?” My hand squeezed the knob, turning with a sharp force that I knew was more strength than I should’ve had, but I didn’t stop to think on it.
Go slow, a niggling voice warned me. I paused, casting a glance back on the girl laying prone on the floor. Even though I felt guilty, there was nothing I could do for her, now that an ambulance was on the way. Something had obviously alerted Torin. Whatever was happening with him took precedence. Cracking the door, I turned and pressed my back to the wall as I pulled it inward and looked out. Torin’s body was turned my way, but he didn’t look at me as he faced whoever had arrived.
“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.
“Master Torin, your father requests your presence immediately,” a masculine voice replied, cold, impassive.
“Is he the one who also ordered the attack on my classmate?” Torin’s eyes narrowed.
“All will be explained in due time, sir,” the stranger said. “Master Arrius does not like to be kept waiting.”
Torin’s hands turned into fists at his sides. “No, of course he doesn’t,” he spat. The redness—still startling every time I looked at it—never dimmed. When he flicked those eyes my way, I froze. “I have an ambulance coming to deal with the girl,” he said, speaking to the man. “I assume that is acceptable?”
“Whatever happens to her now is acceptable,” the man replied.
“Then she was merely a means to an end?” Torin growled. “To capture my attention?”
His questions were met with frustrating silence. Then, “The car is waiting, sir.”
“Fine.” Torin didn’t look at me this time as he marched forward, disappearing from my view. I locked my legs and pressed my back hard against the wall as I waited. As soon as their footsteps were out of earshot, I bolted from the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. I’d already given the emergency line the room number. The girl—Olivia—would be fine. Torin, on the other hand… and Barbie—it hadn’t escaped my notice that while we’d found her friend, she’d been missing from the room. I had to follow Torin. Without a doubt, wherever he went would lead me to her.
I reached up and fisted the medallion against my chest, feeling the thick metal heat against my skin. I could only fucking pray that when I found her, we weren’t too late.
Chapter 41
Barbie
Consciousness did not come in slow increments, but instead with the full force of a bucket of ice cold water being splashed over my head. I gasped as my eyes shot open. The wet strands of my hair slapped my cheeks and I quickly shook them from my vision.
“Wonderful, you’re awake.”
Gritting my teeth, I snapped my head up even as I yanked at my restraints. Tight rope woven in a figure eight pattern held my arms immobile behind my back. My right arm was sore, but someone had obviously treated it while I’d been out. Fabric tightened against my skin as I tried to move my arms. Whatever drugs they’d injected me with were obviously still in effect because even though I was awake, my reaction time was a bit slower and the longer I stared at the bitch, the more my arm seemed to throb.
“And you’re a vampire cunt, what’s new?” I replied. An elegant golden
brow lifted over ice blue eyes. Her familiarity from before clicked. I’d seen her at Torin’s party. She had been the woman hitting on Maverick by the pool. I bared my teeth at her. “So,” I said, “care to tell me what this little kidnapping adventure is for?”
“I think you know, dear,” she replied. “Arrius was quite curious to see what human girl had entranced his son.” She tsked, shaking her head. “He wasn’t pleased to learn that you were also a hunter. I suppose you’re the one that killed my dearly departed Delia?”
“You would suppose right,” I said. “But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be seeing her again real soon.”
The woman hummed low in her throat. “We’ll see.” Dropping the bucket she’d obviously used to splash cold water on me, she stepped back and leaned against a crumbling stone wall. Encrusted to the side of it was a rounded object that looked suspiciously like a human skull.
In fact, as I looked around, there were many of them. The whole room—more of a tall chamber, really—smelled like dirt and decay. Where the fuck were we?
I hadn’t realized I’d asked that question aloud until the woman answered. “The catacombs of Rome,” she said. “The old burial grounds and subterranean passageways that those of the religious ilk preferred to use. Truth be told, burning bodies was always cleaner, especially in my day.” I frowned at her. It was rather difficult to tell her exact age. She looked to be about twenty-five, thirty at the oldest—but the appearances of the dead were deceiving. “I would think twice about trying to escape,” she continued. “This place can be a labyrinth for those who don’t know their way around. Who knows … maybe I’ll set you free, little mouse, and see if you can find your way out of the darkness.” She grinned, flashing her fangs.
“No thanks,” I deadpanned. “I don’t see that as fair. I’ve got two healthy legs and you … how is your leg doing? I see it’s stopped smoking.”