by Anna Abner
“They’re flaunting their power,” Lukas agreed. “They want to prove in graphic cruelty exactly what they can do to us.”
“Why?” Ali asked, a little pale at the news. “Why in bloody hell would they take a bunch of children?”
“They want to scare people,” Connor said grimly. “It’s a terror attack.”
“That’s what the news is calling it this morning,” Roz said, clicking through several sites on her phone. “The authorities are sketchy on the details so far. No one official is saying anything other than the bare facts, but everyone else is going nuts on conspiracy theories. We need to get back to the city and try to track them before they do something else.”
“Something worse,” Connor agreed. “Let’s pack up, secure the house, and leave in thirty.”
“I’m ready now,” Roz said.
“Good,” Connor said. “Then you can help me with Volk. Grab half a dozen blood bags.”
Roz reluctantly followed him into the garage.
In the dim interior, Maksim Volk stood tall, arms at his sides. Though the vampire had his hands bound behind his back, when Connor stepped too close, they wrestled. Volk landed a hard head-butt, and came frighteningly close to squashing Connor’s balls with his knee.
“Relax,” Connor ordered, punching him twice on the side of the head. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
Volk laughed maniacally as Connor shoved him to his knees upon the cold concrete floor.
“We’re going away for a few days, but you’ll be safe here. I’m leaving plenty of blood,” Connor said.
“You can’t leave me in here! Sergeant, listen to me.”
Roz felt sorry for him. The guy had been tortured countless times for decades, had been the whipping boy to Oleksander, and had gotten his ass beaten yet again. Now, he was confused and at Connor’s mercy.
Volk turned his head and stared at her with pure hatred behind his eyes. She was so used to seeing his sardonic mask that his real, human emotions frightened her. She briefly considered calling her power just to feel safe.
“You know it’s not right, keeping him drugged and tied up,” Roz said.
“You want to kill me, sergeant?” Volk spoke directly to Connor. “Better men than you have tried.”
“You won’t die,” Connor assured. “You’ll crave blood until you cry, but you won’t die. Before I go,” he added, “Ali, bless her loving heart, thinks you care about her. Me? I think you’re a no good son of a bitch. But she thinks you’re redeemable. Prove her right.” He started for the door.
Suddenly, Volk was lucid again. Maybe. “We’re the same, Connor! You can’t chain me up like a monster, you hypocrite!” Volk strained against his bindings, blood spurting from both wrists and running down his arms in thick, red rivulets.
“Let me out of here, Connor! You can’t do this to me. You might as well chain yourself up right next to me because you and I are cut from the same cloth.”
Ushering Roz out, Connor locked the door closed, sealing Volk in until they could return.
“You’re no better than me. We’re the same, brother!” His muffled voice followed them into the house. “We’re the same!”
#
The scene of the morning’s carnage was roped off for blocks around and guarded by uniformed cops. Roz couldn’t get close enough to catch any signs or evidence, but witnesses were pouring photos and videos of the scene onto social media, and Roz pieced what she knew together.
Three men with olive skin, dark hair, and huge muscles had stopped the bus on a quiet street, forced their way onboard, eaten from, and then abducted every person on the bus. There were hints of ritual bloodletting and satanic cults. Even more about a new terrorism cell operating in the States.
“There’s nothing here,” Roz decided, turning from the crime scene to face her friends. “I want to sit down with the online reports because I don’t see how we could track them from here.”
“You’re good at that stuff,” Connor agreed. “But I want to look around the neighborhood a little longer.”
“If you don’t need me,” Lukas said to Connor, “I’m going back to the hotel with Roz.”
“Yeah, no problem.” Connor glanced down at Ali. “You want to hang out with me? Keep me from doing anything stupid?” he teased.
Ali twined her arm around his waist. “I’d love to, babe.”
“Shall we?” Lukas asked, offering Roz his arm.
Accepting his offer, she slipped her hand onto his bicep. “Let’s go, bear boy.”
#
Lukas rolled down the window of the truck and leaned into the warm air. There were too many scents buffeting him, he couldn’t possibly differentiate, which sometimes was a relief. As Roz drove them east out of wealthy, landscaped properties into rougher neighborhoods and then the edges of Tropicana and all the resort properties, he relished the sensory overload.
She hung a left onto the Strip, headed toward Le Sort through throngs of traffic when he spotted a blonde woman in a white blouse weaving through traffic, and a jolt of recognition passed through him.
“Stop the truck,” he barked, already opening the door.
It was her.
He couldn’t stop, couldn’t control his forward momentum.
“Lukas,” Roz gasped. “What is it?”
Forcing himself to face her, Lukas grabbed her hand, maybe too hard. “Roz, it’s her. It’s her, and I can’t let her slip away again.”
There. That was all the time he could waste in the truck. Releasing Roz, he leapt from the vehicle while it was still rolling, threw himself over the hood of a sedan, and took off down Tropicana toward the last place he’d seen the vampire.
Find her, find her, find her… With each huff and puff of breath, he repeated his mantra.
The vampire caught sight of him over her shoulder and bolted. Into a casino, then out the far side, down the street, and into another casino. Boots pounding on concrete and then carpet, Lukas was gaining on her. He didn’t dare shift in public, but his bear was right under the surface screaming to catch her.
She crossed the casino floor and sprinted through the hotel lobby. Some kind of conference was being held, though Lukas didn’t care which one. The hallways became more crowded. The vampire zig-zagged from room to room, down halls and once up an escalator at top speed.
She slammed through a door marked employees only, Lukas on her heels. Beyond it was a staging area for the conference. Extra chairs and tables. Crates of s.w.a.g. and table linens. Lukas plowed through the next door into a dark storage area and knew almost instantly that he’d been tricked again.
She wasn’t here. She hadn’t come through the room. Her scent evaporated.
Lukas spun and shouldered the door, but found it barred from the other side.
“Nice try, big guy,” the vampire taunted him through the metal. “You can’t catch me that easily.”
Furious, Lukas roared and threw himself against the door.
#
Roz ran until her pulse pounded and she couldn’t catch her breath, but she didn’t dare slow down. The vampire was fast, and Lukas faded further and further from sight until he was just a head above the crowd.
She raced down a hallway, chasing them by feeling at this point, because she couldn’t see either of them, but with only one door at the end of the passage, she took a chance and shoved trough the portal labeled employees only.
Roz ran directly into the blonde vampire, knocking her face against the other woman’s unyielding shoulder.
The walls rattled as if the far doors were under attack. Then the beast on the other side of the barrier snarled his rage.
“Lukas,” she panted.
“Oh,” the vampire said, holding Roz by the arms, her fingers allowing no give, “you know gorgeous in there?” She laughed coldly. “He is pretty, isn’t he? Such a beautiful mouth. After I drank him, I made use of that beautiful mouth.”
Ignoring the vampire, Roz tried desperately to collect her com
posure and gather her power around her like a shield.
Lukas pounded on the door, a relentless bang, bang, bang punctuating nearly every word Roz spoke. “If you hurt me, he will track you to the ends of the earth, do you understand?”
The vampire pushed Roz against the wall, pressing the length of her body against Roz’s. “You think I’m afraid of him? Carly ain’t afraid of anyone.” She sneered. “What is he, anyway? He’s not completely human. Not just anybody could survive my drink.”
Roz’s magic stalled. Whether it was the stress or her sprint through a casino or the sour fear infecting her, her power remained dormant.
“If he gets through that door,” Roz warned, “he will kill you. Letting me go unharmed is the best choice you have. The life you save will be your own.”
The vampire flattened Roz’s head and spine against the wall. “I’m not afraid of him or you.”
The banging and roaring ceased for a handful of seconds. Into the silence, Carly smiled and dipped her head toward Roz’s throat.
With a crash and a thud, the wall beside the locked door exploded. A wrought iron bench catapulted through the drywall, spewing plaster and bits of wood over both women. Lukas barreled through the gap, whipped the vampire against the far wall. Picking up the bench as if it were a javelin, he threw it like a spear. It hit her across the upper body, pinning her so tight to the wall, she gasped to breathe.
He turned on Roz, his eyes glowing amber. “Are you alright?” He cupped her face in both hands, and only then did Roz realize how badly he was shaking.
“I’m fine,” she assured. “She didn’t hurt me.”
His forehead dropped lightly against hers. “I thought…”
“I’m okay.” She ran her hands up his heaving back to clutch him tight. “I’m fine. Lukas, nothing happened.”
A new voice declared, “Unbelievable,” in a snide tone. “You really need to stay out of my way.”
Lukas straightened, shielding Roz, but she peeked around his flank and found Marta Karloff standing in the dark doorway surveying the pinned vampire.
“It’s you,” Lukas growled. He’d stiffened so tightly, Roz frowned from him to Marta.
“What’s wrong?” Roz demanded.
But they both ignored her, neither taking their eyes off the other.
“Hello again, beast,” Marta said with a snarl in her voice. “Still bleeding?”
A growl rumbled through Lukas’ chest.
Roz was floored. “You cursed him? Why?”
“Because he’s an abominable creature. No better than a feral dog. Every monster needs to be put down. Every shapeshifter. Every vampire. Every freak in the world.”
Before Lukas could pounce and get smacked with more magic, Roz stepped around him and smirked.
“Sorry, grandma, but I broke that curse days ago. Maybe you should brush up on your skills.”
Marta sneered right back. “Well, aren’t you coming up in the world?” But she didn’t sound very impressed. “You’re even stronger than we feared.”
“I knew it,” Roz exclaimed.
But while she was busy celebrating, the older witch cast a hex on Lukas. A big one.
It exploded onto his torso. An X like the first hex, but so much bigger it burned through his shirt and filled his entire chest. The force of the spell knocked Lukas off his feet, and he landed hard on his back screaming in pain.
Roz called her power, relieved when it burst up from her belly and spread out.
“No,” Roz panted. Blood poured from Lukas’ wound. Too much blood. No.
She faced Marta. “Stop,” she began.
“You don’t scare me, little girl,” Marta said, waving her off. “In fact, why don’t you freeze?”
A wave of power hit Roz, covering her in invisible ice. She couldn’t move her arms or legs, couldn’t twist an inch. She glanced down as Lukas’ blood spread across the floor toward her sandals.
Roz fought the spell with all her might and managed to say, “Your.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Marta laughed meanly. “You’re not strong enough to fight me. In fact, how’d you like a hex of your own?”
Tightening every muscle she could still control, Roz squeezed her eyes shut, pictured her magic like a hurricane-force wind blowing out of her and directly at Marta’s chest. She gasped, “Heart.”
Marta stuttered a step, her expression falling into dismay. She clutched her chest, opened her mouth, and then collapsed into a heap.
Immediately, Roz could move again. She spun and fell upon Lukas.
“Are you okay?” she asked, running her hands over his blood-soaked shirt.
“Where’s that fucking witch?” Lukas struggled to sit up, pale as death, but no longer marked.
“Dead,” she said. “When she died her curse was broken, thank God.”
“Did she hurt you?”
“No, I’m okay.” She glanced over her shoulder at Marta’s body. “I don’t think the Coven is going to like this. We’ll definitely be on their shit list now. They might even send another letter.”
“God, I hate witches,” he said, climbing to his feet.
“Well, not all of them, I hope,” Roz said, slipping both arms around his waist.
“No,” he agreed, “there’s one I’m quite fond of.” He kissed the top of her head before turning his attention to the squirming vampire still trapped against the wall.
Roz knew he would kill Carly, and she didn’t want to witness it. Instead, she bent over Marta’s body.
There was a tussling, a whimper, and then the sound of Carly’s feet kicking the wall.
Was Roz fulfilling her prophecy? Killing Marta Karloff must be part of taking over the Coven. But what else would tip Roz into fully re-directing the organization? What else must she do, whether purposefully or in the heat of the moment, to protect the people she loved?
And Lukas, she realized with a pang, was one of those people.
When she looked up, the vampire was a limp doll in Lukas’ arms.
“You have to take off her head or remove her heart to kill her,” she said. “Otherwise, she’ll wake up looking for revenge.”
“I don’t want to kill her.”
Roz blinked. “Why not? She murdered your family. She tried to murder you. She’s most likely murdered countless others.”
Roz rarely wished people dead—she’d have rather let Marta live if the woman had given her any other choice—but some creatures needed to die. Roz counted Carly among them.
“Killing her is too easy,” he said. “I want you to cure her infection, and I want her to live the rest of her human life knowing what she’s done.”
“I can’t cure the infection.”
Lukas grunted. “I think you can.”
#
Lukas could not stop shaking. The vampire in his arms was a foul and horrid creature he needed to escape.
Maybe he should have simply torn her head from her neck, but the idea of her suffering was more satisfying than taking her life. He would suffer the rest of his life from his memories of that night. Why shouldn’t she?
The drive to the Le Sort was quiet. Only once did the vampire start to wake and Lukas was forced to choke her out again to keep her manageable. He had no doubt, if he let her wake up, she’d tear him and Roz to shreds. The best-case scenario would be—she’d escape. Worst-case—she’d kill Roz before leaving.
Lukas carried the vampire into the elevator as if she were nothing more dangerous than a drunk friend in need of help.
The suite was quiet and empty. Neither Connor nor Ali had returned from their scouting exercise yet. Good. He didn’t need any distractions, and neither did Roz.
He laid the woman on the floor just inside the door and checked her breathing. She’d live.
“You can do this, Roz,” he said as the door clicked shut behind her. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I tried a bit with Sara,” Roz admitted, “but it was too chaotic
. I don’t know how far I can take it without killing her.”
“I don’t care if you kill her,” Lukas assured. “Go as far as you need to. But try.”
She didn’t appear convinced.
“For me,” he added, knowing he was playing on her emotions, but unable to stop himself. He needed her to do this. Just being in the same room as this creature was making his skin crawl and a gag reflex to trigger at the back of his throat.
“For you.” She knelt upon the floor and then crossed her legs. Furious magical energy whipped to life around her, ruffling their clothes, and making Lukas’ fine hairs stand on end.
“Purge the infection,” Roz hissed.
Power infused the room, changing the atmosphere on a molecular level. Blood, black as tar, oozed from the vampire’s nose and mouth.
“You’re doing it,” he breathed.
He’d never witnessed anything as terrifying or as fantastic as Roz fully accessing her power. As the magic swelled, she rose onto her knees, her hair floating around her. But it was her eyes that shook him the most. They glowed neon blue, bright as candle flames in a dark room.
“Purge.” Even the tenor of her voice vibrated at a different frequency.
The vampire began to seize, her arms and legs thumping erratically while her head twitched and her mouth poured black blood.
Roz’s words emerged from between her lips as pink squiggles of raw energy. She screamed, in pain or victory, he couldn’t tell, but something like a bomb blast hit him, and he was thrown back against the sofa.
When he sat up, the magic was gone as if it had never existed. Roz made eye contact with him for a fleeting moment before she collapsed onto her side in a dead faint.
#
Roz didn’t necessarily want to wake up. She was warm, comfortable, and her bed smelled like Lukas. It was only that strange fact that forced her eyes open. She wasn’t in a bed at all. Lukas lounged on the suite’s sofa, cradling her in his lap, her head tucked under his chin.
“Shh,” he breathed, his large hands circling her back and hip. “You’re safe.”
He must be tracking her pulse and breathing. She inhaled, allowing herself to calm down. But the last thing she remembered was blowing so much magic at Carly that Roz’s skin had sizzled and her chest had felt split in two.