I shook my head as I plucked a paper towel from the dispenser. I wiped away the lipstick from my cheek carefully to keep the collateral damage on my face to a minimum. “I have no doubt that you believe every word you say, Heather.”
“Good. Then we have an understanding, here.”
I tossed the paper towel into the nearly overflowing wastebasket and continued to fix my makeup, keeping a wary eye on Heather in the mirror. “Sure, as long as you realize that if you lay a hand on my date again, I’ll make flowers grow out of your ears and warts cover every inch of your body. Big, hairy warts.”
The change in Heather’s expression was almost comical as I watched the condescending smirk practically flee from her face. Her mouth even dropped open in surprise for a moment, matching the widening of her blue eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.” I put away my lipstick and retrieved my compact from my purse, keeping as calm an exterior as I could, still not turning to meet her gaze full on. For an attention hog like Heather, me practically ignoring her had to make her crazy.
“Fairy Freak.”
“Silver Sequined Slut.”
I swear, I could hear her blood boiling with anger. Made me kind of proud of myself. “This isn’t over,” she finally announced, her voice low and sharp as a razor’s edge.
I cast her a sideways glance as I powdered my face. “I wouldn’t expect it to be. But if you don’t mind, I need to finish here so I can get back to Liam. My date.” I emphasized those last two words just to tick her off.
It worked, because she stomped out of the room in a huff, just as Amy came out of the stall to wash her hands. “Did I miss something?”
“Nothing important.” I finished my face and took a final look in the mirror. You couldn’t even tell there’d been a lipstick mishap. I smiled at my reflection and squared my shoulders. I couldn’t help it. Putting that ho-bag in her place felt good. I know, I can be shallow sometimes.
Amy dried her hands and we left the room. Heather glared at me as I passed her outside the restroom, but I ignored her. Well, mostly. We found Will, Jason, and Darla by the punch bowl, but Liam was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Liam?” I tried my best to keep my voice calm, but I knew some concern filtered through.
Will shrugged. “We thought he was with you.”
“I’m sure he’ll turn up. Maybe he went to the restroom as well.” Darla drained the last of the punch in her cup and threw it in a trashcan. She grabbed Will’s tie and pulled him with her toward the dance floor, a sultry smile curving up the corners of her mouth. Jason and Amy followed suit, leaving me alone.
I surveyed the gymnasium, fear at Liam’s continued absence settling low in my gut like a pile of lead. Lights flashed and music thudded in my ears, matching the thump of my pulse at it rose alarmingly. Something is wrong.
I made my way to the far end of the room, toward the last direction I’d seen Liam heading. A large wooden double door met me as I rounded a small corner. With one last glance around, I pushed it open and stepped through, shutting it quietly behind me.
An endless white hallway loomed into view, opening up to reveal the rest of the school. Emergency lighting dotted the expanse in little bursts, casting the space in an eerie glow. Doorways led to other doorways in a maze that, not being a student, was entirely unfamiliar to me. But something told me that Liam was in trouble, so I squashed down my nervousness and cautiously stepped forward, my heart racing. The dull throb of the music in the gym followed me down the hall, but I could still pick out the echo of my footsteps as I walked.
With each doorway, I paused. If there was a window, I peered through the darkness. I jiggled each doorknob I found, but all the rooms appeared to be locked up tight.
“Liam.” I didn’t yell, but whispered hoarsely. It was probably a useless endeavor, but shouting would just bring too much attention. And until I knew what exactly was going on, I wanted to keep everything on the down low.
I rattled another door handle, disappointment pinging in me when I found it unyielding. Perhaps I was being foolish. Liam had said that nothing was wrong, that he would be waiting for me when I returned. Maybe I’m overreacting.
Just as I was about to give up and turn back, the next door handle turned and the door clicked open. I don’t know how many doors I’d tried, or how far I’d come, but I no longer heard the muffled music from the dance. This door had no window, so I opened it very slowly, the hairs on the back of my neck coming to full attention.
“Hello?” I swung the door wide, darkness swallowing up any hopes of seeing the interior. “Liam?”
One more step and a hard shove at my back sent me stumbling wildly into the dark room. My hands shot out in front of me as I went down hard, dropping my purse. The cement floor met me with a loud crack of my hands and knees. Pain radiated through my body and I cried out. The sound of evil laughter registered in my ears as the door slammed shut, leaving me in total darkness.
My breath came in gasps as I scrambled to my feet, trying hard to ignore the ache in my hands and knees from the fall. Fear wrapped itself around me and squeezed, making me panic. Stay calm, Sora.
I felt around with shaking fingers until I found the door. I tried the knob, but it was firmly locked. Of course. As my breathing calmed down, I took a small step backward. The tips of my fingers glowed brightly in the darkness as I focused my thoughts on the magic within me. I released a stream into the door, expecting the shatter of wood as the door gave way. Instead, I got a large zap of magic in return that blazed up my arm. Little pins and needles pricked at me and turned my arm into a numb and useless blob.
“What the hell?” Fear wrapped itself around my voice and squeezed, making it come out much shriller than normal as my heart tried to burst out from my ribcage.
I used my other hand to feel in front of me until I found the door. I placed my palm on the cool wood and closed my eyes. The wood hummed beneath my hand, like it had been infused with some kind of power. A magic door lock?
A muffled groan reached my ears and froze me in place. The room was so dark, I could barely see my hand in front of my face and had no way of knowing who or what was in here with me. “Is someone there?” Though I was going for an angry shout, the shaking of my voice betrayed my fear. My response was another groan, this one louder. “Liam?” His name sounded strangled as my throat tried to close up on me.
“Sora.” Pain infused the voice speaking my name faintly in Liam’s rough whisper.
My good hand shot out blindly as I searched for a light switch. Surely, there had to be some kind of light source in this room. My haste made me fumble and a few items clattered to the ground noisily. “Just wait, Liam. I’m coming.” Finally, my fingers located what felt like a switch embedded in the wall. I flipped it up and light flooded the room.
Relief washed over me as I blinked against the spots that danced before my eyes. I cradled my useless arm against my body as I turned, another pain-filled groan echoing in the room.
But my relief was short lived, because the sight that greeted me stopped my heart and lungs from working properly at all.
Liam lay propped against the far end of the room, a large metal pipe sticking out of his right shoulder.
Chapter Four
“Lord and Lady! Liam! What happened?” I lurched over to Liam’s spot on the floor, panic making the thoughts in my head go berserk. Dark red blood dripped from the end of the metal pipe as it protruded from his shoulder. The red goo ran down the dark leather of his jacket and pooled into a puddle on the floor.
“Gareth,” he croaked, his face contorted in a grimace of pain. “Need…to…get…help.” He was way paler than normal, his lips dry and cracked. I could tell that just the act of talking took major energy.
Who’s Gareth? I crouched in front of Liam, shaking out my useless arm to get the blood flowing again. “I tried. There’s a magical barrier keeping the door locked. My magic won’t work.”
His head lolled to
the side as he focused his gaze on me. “Take…out.”
I frowned, confused by what he wanted. His eyes darted over to his shoulder, pleading with me to understand.
I stared at the pipe, which I now noticed was more like a metal rod. My mouth went dry as I really noticed how much blood he’d lost. “I…I c-can’t, Liam. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Please...try.” His voice broke, and it went straight to my heart, making it ache in despair and burn with affection. I had to do something. “Silver…hurts.” I inspected the rod again, seeing the bright silver peek through the red of Liam’s blood. I guess the whole thing about silver being toxic to vampires was one movie detail that happened to be true. But what the hell is a silver rod doing here?
I gave my hand one last shake as the feeling returned. I rocked forward onto my knees. The cement was cold on my skin as I reached with tentative fingers for the metal rod. Liam jerked as I made contact and moaned loudly. A tear slipped from one of my eyes. He’s going to die, and it’ll be my fault.
I gripped the piece of metal and pulled. Liam yelled in pain as his body arched forward. This gave me a chance to realize that the rod was also sticking out his back, having gone all the way through. The slick blood made my grip falter, and I fell backward onto my butt. The damn thing had only moved a few inches.
“I can’t do this, Liam. I just can’t.” Tears were flowing freely down my face, now, and I roughly wiped them away with the back of my hand.
“Please,” he pleaded again, his voice husky and faint.
I took a deep breath. I’d been through too much to wimp out now. He needed me, and I didn’t have time to be a crybaby. Wiping my bloodied hands on my skirt, I crawled to my knees again and gripped the piece of metal tightly. “This is going to hurt,” I warned him.
Like ripping off a bandage, I gritted my teeth and yanked the rod free with one long motion. It popped out of Liam’s shoulder with a wet sound that made my stomach roll with nausea. He screamed as the metal exited his body, then his head lolled forward until his chin dug into his chest. A fresh flow of blood accompanied the wound as I dropped the rod and it clattered to the ground.
I frantically searched the room for something to staunch the flow of blood. Our prison appeared to be a supply room, filled with shelves of cleaning products and other maintenance paraphernalia. A pile of rags peeked at me from one of the lower shelves across the space. I quickly grabbed them and kneeled at his side, pressing the cloth to his wound.
Liam hissed through his teeth as I applied pressure to his shoulder. The metallic smell of blood in the room was so thick it made me want to choke as bile rose into my throat. I coughed. Liam managed to look at me, his eyes glazed in pain.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he attempted a smile, his head lolling forward limply.
I laughed nervously and forced a weak smile of my own. There’s just so much blood. I peeled bag the rags soaked through with red and replaced them with fresh ones. “Aren’t you supposed to be a quick healer, Mr. Vampire?”
He lifted his head jerkily and a grimace of pain contorted his face before he could answer. “Lost too…much…blood. Need more…to…heal.” His chin fell into his chest with a moan.
Great. Here I was, trapped with a wounded vampire that could most likely break the door down if he hadn’t lost a gallon of blood. Could this night get any better?
Remembering my purse, I glanced over my shoulder to the door. Sure enough, my clutch was on the floor. So was my cell phone. My purse had apparently fallen open during my earlier floor dive.
“Here, hold this.” I placed Liam’s opposite hand over the rag to hold it in place while I crawled on my hands and knees over to my phone. Hope sprouted in my chest when I picked up the device, only to come crashing to the floor as I realized the screen had been shattered. Tiny cracks spider-webbed out in all directions, leaving my phone useless.
“No, no, no!” I pressed buttons randomly and held the phone to my ear in the hope of hearing a dial tone or getting some kind of sound. It lay dead in my hand. I threw it back to the floor, where it busted apart with a loud crack.
“Useless piece of junk!” I pulled myself to my feet with a grunt. Liam groaned again, his hand falling away from where I’d laid it over his shoulder. The blood flow had grown sluggish, but still ran in a lazy river down the front of his jacket.
I wracked my brain trying to come up with a plan, wringing my hands while thinking. Something Liam had said earlier scrambled to the forefront of my thoughts. What was it? Oh, yeah. He needed blood to heal.
My gaze touched every corner of the room for a tool I could use as an idea formed in my brain. The metal blade of a paint scraper caught my eye, where it rested next to some cans of used paint. I scooped the tool up and settled beside Liam on my knees.
This has to work. No matter how much I’m freaked out by this, it has to work. Lord and Lady, help me.
“Liam, I need you to look at me.”
His head bobbed as he tried to meet my gaze with little success.
“Stay with me, Liam. I have an idea to help you.”
He finally managed to hold his head up enough to see what I was holding. His eyes widened with the realization of what I was about to do. “No, Sora.”
I nodded and my fingers fumbled to remove the sharp blade from its housing. When the blade was finally free, I turned the piece of metal over in my hands, the edge of the blade catching what light there was in the room in a reflection. I gulped, the truth of what my idea entailed hitting me like a ton of bricks. No wimping out now, Sora Starwind.
I inhaled a deep breath in the hopes that it would calm my jangling nerves. No luck. My hand shook as I placed the edge of the blade next to my wrist. With one last glance at Liam, I sliced the blade across my skin in one swift motion. Pain blossomed outward and up my arm as blood welled in a line and dripped down my arm to the crook of my elbow.
The blade clattered to the hard floor as I held my bleeding wrist up to Liam’s face. “Here. Drink.”
He tried to move away, his dark eyes pleading with me. “No, Sora. I can’t. Not…this way.” He clamped his mouth shut in a firm line.
Irritation prickled up my spine at his resistance. “Liam Crawford, I need you to not die on me, you hear? You need to heal, and this will help you. So man up and drink!” I shoved my wrist against his lips.
His eyes widened at my outburst, but his nose also twitched as the scent of my blood hit his nasal passages. He reluctantly parted his lips and the first drops entered his mouth.
At first, his mouth was tentative against my wrist. I winced a bit and closed my eyes as I concentrated hard on not giving in to the overwhelming urge to hurl and rip my hand away. But then the sensation changed. His tongue explored the sensitive skin as he suckled my wrist with fervor. A huge wave of euphoria zinged through me as one of his fangs scraped gently against my skin. I moaned, my muscles turning to rubber as my breath faltered.
Liam sat up straighter and pulled me across his legs. My rag doll appendages complied as I settled into his lap and leaned into his embrace, my head on his shoulder. He pressed my arm against his mouth harder, his lips taking what I had freely offered. His other arm wound around my back, and his fingers trailed up my neck into my hair. I gasped, his mouth causing all kinds of little sparks to go off along every nerve ending in my body.
My eyelids fluttered as the room became a little fuzzy around the edges. I did notice that Liam’s color had returned to a more normal state. He pulled my wrist away from his mouth and traced the cut with his tongue back and forth in a lazy loop. The gentle touch of his tongue was like a white fire along my skin. I squirmed against him. “Liam,” I whispered against his throat.
With one last swipe of his tongue, he turned his head and gazed into my eyes. The brown depths were murky, tinged with red. “My saliva should help heal the wound,” he rasped, his voice rough like sandpaper.
I whimpered, my body still tingly. He moved until his lips we
re inches from mine. His breath feathered over my mouth. “You saved me. Thank you.”
Drowning in sensation, I closed the distance between us. Our lips touched softly at first, then more demanding as Liam wound his hand in my hair and pressed me firmly against his mouth. The fingertips of his other hand trailed up my arm, leaving goose bumps in their wake before he laid his palm over my cheek.
I was foggy from loss of blood, but more alive than I’d ever been at the same time. Boldly, I traced the outline of his bottom lip with my tongue. A hint of a coppery taste filled my mouth. I should have been icked out at the fact that it was my own blood I was tasting. Instead, I was intrigued. Intrigued, and apparently aroused.
A low growl left Liam’s lips as I dipped my tongue into his mouth, the tip caressing one of his fangs. I’d never done anything like this before, but instinct seemed to take over. And let me just say, this kiss blew the earlier one clean out of the water. I laid my hand on his shoulder, delving under the collar of his shirt to touch the smooth skin I could reach. Liam gasped and pulled back, his eyes blazing with a fire from within. “As much as I’m enjoying this, we really need to get out of here.” His fangs receded as he spoke.
He traced the tip of his thumb along my lower lip and I shivered. Frustration curled through me at the fact that I knew he was right, but even more because I didn’t want this little interlude to end. “We should stay until you’re healed.”
“I don’t think that’s a problem.” He pulled aside the material of his shirt beside my hand. Behind the hole in the fabric rimmed with dried blood was pink, perfect skin. “It seems that blood from a living, breathing fairy is pretty potent stuff to a vampire.”
I gazed in wonder at the completely healed wound. My blood did that? Whoa.
I made a noise of dissatisfaction as Liam gently pushed me from his lap and climbed to his feet. He offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet as well. I noticed the slit on my wrist had all but disappeared. Though my legs were wobbly, I managed to remain upright. But that didn’t stop Liam’s brow from furrowing in concern.
Hell House Books 1-3: The First Three Hell House Novellas in One Box Set Page 11