I heard Liam's voice, "Master, I apologize for taking so long. But this woman—" he spat the word "—wasn't cooperating with me."
I stood on tiptoes to see who he was with. Callum was too tall, so I only got a flash of Liam's shiny hair.
A woman's voice came, familiar. It was Fyfe. "I'd forgotten how irritating Liam is."
"Well, I'd forgotten how domineering you are," Liam responded nastily.
I heard the rumble of Callum's voice, but I couldn't make out specific words. I rocked back on my heels and waited.
"Do you know if Dahlia is…all right?" Liam asked.
Moving to the side of the doorframe, Callum revealed me. Liam's face visibly relaxed. Fyfe was next to him, quite inexpressive. Her dirty blonde hair was dripping from the ends, more brown than blonde from the wetness. Callum rested his back on the edge of the frame so he could see both of them and me. I walked across the middle of the room and closed the distance between us. He moved his hand to take mine, and I entwined my fingers in his and stood close. I looked up and saw Liam's dark eyes roam over our hands.
"Mr. Knightley, I hope this suffices as a payment of my debt," Fyfe said, bowing her head.
"It does," Callum said. "Thank you, Fyfe."
She lifted her head and smiled bitterly. "I hope you know that you were the best master I've ever served. I still regret leaving your side all those years ago."
Liam grunted. Callum said nothing.
Fyfe's head swiveled to look up and down the hallway. She glanced back at us. "Damien is just a few doors down. His plans are nearly finalized. My idea—" Liam coughed and she glared at him "—our idea, is to wait until both of you are in there. Most of his people will be with him, so that makes containment easier. It's most likely going to be a bloodbath." She looked straight at Callum. "I just want her to be prepared for this."
Callum squeezed my hand slightly. "She'll be fine."
A sound echoed down the hallway Liam and Fyfe were standing in. We all gave each other panicked looks. Fyfe put a hand on Liam's shoulder and shoved him into the room with Callum and I. Callum moved back and closed the door as fast and as quietly as he could. Liam stumbled into me, and Callum's grip in my hand was the only thing that kept me from falling. Callum's other hand moved Liam against the wall beside the door. Once Liam steadied himself, leaning heavily on the wall, we exchanged looks. All of us waited with bated breaths.
I heard Fyfe's voice outside the door. Another voice cut her off, deep and definitely male. The door handle moved a bit, as if someone's hand was resting on it. My eyes bore into the handle like it was the only thing in the world. If whoever was holding it pushed down, the door would open. Given that it was supposed to be locked, that wouldn't be good.
The door handle moved down and the door opened partway. I let out a small sound. The three of us were on the other side of the door, not visible yet. A man stepped into the room and swept his eyes from corner to corner, finally landing on Liam, Callum, and I. It was someone I'd never seen before, probably one of Thanatos' vampires. He was older, more worn around the edges than most of the vampires I'd seen.
"Well, well, well," he said in a growling voice. "What do we have here?"
I swallowed and looked at Callum and Liam. They were in the middle of trading significant looks. Liam nodded at him.
Before I could register what was happening, the unknown vampire opened his mouth and started yelling Damien's name. Callum let go of my hand, reaching under my jacket and shirt and removed the stake Fyfe had given me outside from the small of my back. In a blur of speed, he was driving that stake underneath the vampire's ribcage and up into his heart. The words died on the man's lips and he gaped in surprise. Like Dario had done, he began shriveling up. Callum yanked the wood out of his chest and watched him dissolve into dust.
In less time than I would have thought, the vampire was gone, only a small scattering of fine ash left on the gray floor. It was my second vampire death. I think I was beginning to grow accustomed, because I felt blank and almost normal.
Callum turned sideways, the stake in his right hand. His eyes were the deepest of greens, glittering in the firelight. He moved towards me, and I was mesmerized by his movements. Such dangerous perfection.
Liam touched my shoulder, and said, "You okay, sunshine?"
I nodded dazedly. "Yeah, I'm good."
Callum came up beside me. I looked down at the stake. There wasn't a trace of blood or ash on it. Lifting my shirt again, Callum tucked it back into the waistband of my jeans. His cold fingers brushed my skin and I shivered slightly.
Fyfe peeked into the room. "Glad that's taken care of," she said casually. "I think it's time that Liam and I go. The others are waiting."
Liam bowed his head to Callum. When he turned to me, he flashed me a grin. I found myself smiling back. On his way out, he patted my cheek and said, "I'll come to your rescue soon, sunshine. Try not to get yourself killed before I do."
My smile dropped and his widened. He left, and the door was shut and locked behind him.
I turned to see Callum kicking the ash around so it became barely noticeable that a vampire had been killed right there. He looked at me, his eyes fading back into their usual emerald colour.
"I guess we wait now," I said.
He nodded once. "We wait."
I went to where we had been sitting before and slid down the wall. Callum came over and sat down beside me. I brought my knees up to my chin and wrapped my arm around them. Turning my head to rest one cheek against the tops of my knees, I peered at Callum. "A lot of people are going to die tonight, aren't they?" I asked.
"I'm going to try my best not to let anyone on our side die, but yes, the plan is to kill, not to injure," he replied. His words were light, soft. I think it was for my comfort. "Unfortunately, it's the only way."
"Because if you don't finish them off, they'll just heal and come after us again, right?"
"Right."
I heaved a sigh. "Okay."
"One thing that is both good and bad is that Thanatos is not here at the moment. He has business in Europe and cannot be bothered to oversee your transformation from human to vampire. These are Damien's words, of course. Personally, I think he's afraid of you."
"Well, that's good," I said.
"For now, yes. But when he discovers all of his vampires are dead, you can only imagine what he is going to react. You saw how furious he was when I merely scared Damien and his group at that motel."
I grimaced. "Oh, yeah. That's going to be a pleasant experience."
He smiled softly. "We will worry about him later." Running a hand through his waves, he sighed. "This should all be over soon. I'm sorry that this is the part of our world that you have to experience. It's not all bad, you know? There are some truly wonderful things, things that don't evolve around death and destruction and—"
Half of me was listening to his words and half was watching the way his lips moved when he spoke. I surprised myself by imagining the feel of those lips on mine. Perhaps it was the foolishness of love and lust, the spur-of-the-moment heat of desire, but it suddenly didn't matter that we were trapped in an empty room with danger waiting for us. Maybe it was the adrenaline talking. Maybe it wasn't. I didn't care.
"—I can show you the most amazing things. Things you've never seen. I suppose…well, I suppose I won't unless…unless you do want to…Well, do you want me to show you?" he was saying, having some difficulty phrasing it properly.
Removing my arms from around my knees, I moved so I was sitting close beside him. He looked startled at my sudden movement, eyes a bit wide.
"What was your question?" I breathed.
My fingers touched his mouth as he answered. "Do you want me to…show you?"
I leaned in, letting my fingers fall from his lips. My mouth was so close to his that when I replied, our lips touched ever so slightly. "Yes," I whispered.
He pulled away a bit. "Yes what?" he whispered back roughly.
My
hands brought his head back down to mine. "Yes, I want you to show me."
I pulled him towards me and our lips met. Cold met warmth. Ice met fire. I closed my eyes and kissed him. It was different this time, more urgent, more intense. I sent my hands behind his head and pressed him harder against me.
My head was floating, and I felt lightheaded. At first I thought it was from the kiss, but then I realized that I'd stopped breathing. I broke away, gasping for breath. Not a moment had passed before Callum lifted me onto his lap with ease, leaned his face down to mine, and kissed me again.
His mouth tasted like a candy I'd never tried before; sweet, exotic. His hands traveled down my back, moving me closer to his body. Without breaking the kiss, I moved so that I had a leg on either side of his, knees touching the cold floor. It put my face a little above his, so I moved my hands around from the back of his head and held his face in between them.
I felt a small pain on my lower lip and realized I'd nicked myself on Callum's sharp teeth. He inhaled sharply, deepening the kiss, feeding off of that tiny cut with fervor. I let him because I was more preoccupied with savoring the feel of his lips, his tongue, his hands, all of him. He wasn't aggressive, still treating me gently even as we let the walls between us fall, but there was a passion in the way he kissed me. We kissed as if our time was running out, and perhaps it was.
The sound of a door banging open filled the silence of the room. Callum and I froze with our lips still together.
A furious growl came from behind me. It was Damien. He let out a wordless yell. I smiled against Callum's lips, and I felt him smile back. Arms grabbed me and yanked me upwards, setting me on my feet forcefully. I looked sideways at Damien, fingers touching my lips lightly. His eyes had gone completely black, face livid, mouth set in an angry line. I'd seen Damien irritated, pissed even, but I'd never seen him this mad. It frightened me right down to the core. My instinct was to run, just like any good prey faced with a predator. But that wasn't an option, so all I did was stand there.
"Sorry to interrupt," he spat maliciously, staring hard at Callum who was still sitting against the wall. "But it's time."
Somebody grabbed my arm. I whirled frantically, automatically pulling away. My back hit another person. Looking around, I became aware of the fact that I was surrounded by at least ten vampires. Most looked excited, but a couple looked positively bored. I picked Rhiannon, Camille, and Thanes from the crowd of faces. Rhiannon flashed me a fanged smile, then reached out and gripped my arms. A couple of others moved in on me, grabbing me so I couldn't move. I struggled, but it was no use.
Damien turned to me. He just looked at me for a long moment. His anger flared into something different, something more. Someone behind me cleared their throat as the seconds ticked by. Damien blinked slowly, focusing himself, then turned to Callum. "I hope you enjoyed that, my dear Mr. Knightley, because that's the last time you are going to touch her."
Callum's eyes met mine. He smiled and replied, "Well, I certainly hope that is not the case." He stood up, unhurried, keeping his body loosely pressed against the wall.
A coy smile touched my lips. I looked at the floor to avoid Callum and the others' eyes. I could feel a blush creep into my face. Jesus, I was about to be killed and I was embarrassed. I looked back up and forced myself to meet their eyes.
Damien's nostrils flared when I raised my eyes to his black ones. "As much as I'm interested in this conversation, we have things to do before the sun rises," he said in a low and controlled voice.
One of the hands holding my arm tightened its grip. It yanked me in the direction of the doorway, pulling me along effortlessly. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a flash of Rhiannon's long, dark hair. She put her other hand on my back and shoved me out into the hallway. The hallway was empty, bare, and eerie with the fire flickering in the torches mounted on the wall. Rhiannon forced me to the left, the opposite way from the stairs that led to safety. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others follow us.
She squeezed her hand on my arm and pulled me backwards when we came to a door about ten feet away from the one we had just left. It was identical to the rest of the doors in the corridor. Rhiannon's hand dropped from my back and closed around the door handle, yanking it downwards, opening the door.
Where the previous room had been vacant and bleak, this room was full and lavishly decorated. The colours were overwhelming at first glance, filling my eyes with red, gold, and black. Damien had draped the walls in rich red velvet. Gold thread lined the edges of the velvet, shimmering in the light of hundreds of candles. Wax had dripped down the length of all the candles, pooling at the base of each one. There were candles on the tables, on the floor, on the walls. They bathed the room in deep yellow sparkles, illuminating every surface.
Damien walked passed Rhiannon and I, coming to a standstill in the middle of the room. He opened his arms and turned in a half-circle. "What do you think?" he asked as he spun.
Callum spoke from somewhere behind me. "You have outdone yourself, Damien," he answered, sarcasm in his voice.
Unfazed, Damien focused on me, and said, "Well, this is a special occasion, and a special occasion deserves the best."
Everyone else filed into the room. More people entered after them. Thanatos' vampires, I presumed. In all, including Damien, I counted eleven of them. I looked at Callum, and he was surreptitiously taking in his surroundings as well. He was being flanked by five of the vampires. He noticed me looking at him and sent me a look that told me to be cautious. We didn't exactly know what Damien had planned, or when Liam, Fyfe, and the rest of them would come, so we needed to stall.
Damien gestured to one of the men guarding Callum. "Chain him up," he said.
Leading Callum to the left side of the room, the vampires pushed him down on the floor. Metal chains hung from the walls, glinting silver in the candlelight. One of the vampires slipped gloves over his hands and lifted the manacles that dangled off the end of the chains. Another man grabbed both of Callum's wrists and held them out to the man with the manacles. He clicked them on with such speed that made it clear he had some sort of expertise.
I think everyone in the room was well aware that Callum could escape whenever he wanted. He was going along with all this, though, because of me. He didn't want me to get hurt, since all it took was a quick bite or a snap of my neck to kill me, and because he was surrounded by so many vampires, he probably wouldn't get to me in time.
When the thick, metal manacles touched Callum's skin, he hissed sharply. The gloved man let the chain drop with a sick smile twisted on his face. Callum let out a pained sound and stared at his wrists. I could see his skin turning red under those chains.
"Silver," I whispered.
Damien replied, "Yes."
There was pain written all over Callum's face, and he was no sissy, so I knew it had to hurt badly.
Wrenching my arm out of Rhiannon's slackening grip, I went to Callum, dropping on my knees. I took both of his hands and laid them on my lap. Unraveling the piece of cloth from the wound on his arm, I exposed the cut Damien had given him earlier. The cut began dripping blood on the floor. I tucked an end of the torn shirt underneath each handcuff to put a buffer between the silver and his skin. He raised his face to mine, still tight from the pain, but grateful.
"Get up, Ms. Simon," Damien ordered irately.
Angry, I stood quickly, whirled around, and pointed a finger at his chest. "You," I snarled, "are really starting to piss me off."
Thanes coughed somewhere in the crowd.
Damien's haunting eyes turned cold. "I don't have to make this a pleasant experience for you, Ms. Simon."
I raised my eyebrows. "Pleasant?" I repeated incredulously. "If you'd call watching vampires torture and attempt to kill various people you care about pleasant, then, yeah, this is the best fucking time I've ever had."
Everyone became still, immobile, waiting to see what Damien's reaction would be. It took a few seconds for the smile to spli
t across his face. "I'm going to enjoy having you around, Dahlia." He used my first name to make a point.
Running a frustrated hand through my hair, I turned my head away from him and closed my eyes. "Jesus," I breathed.
He walked around the room, fingers trailing across the velvet of the walls, the tops of chairs and tables, the glass of the curio cabinets displaying fragile-looking antique pieces. I followed his movements with my eyes. He stopped when he reached a long, tall wooden table with an elaborate gold tablecloth hanging over it. At the head of it, there was a satiny gold pillow.
Damien patted the pillow. "Come here, Ms. Simon."
I stared at the pillow with wide eyes. If I got up on that table, he would bite me and it would be over. The stalling part of our plan was supposed to last longer than this.
"Ms. Simon," Damien said more sharply.
I jerked my eyes up to his face. "I told you I wouldn't die willingly, Damien."
"You did say that."
"So, I'm not coming over there voluntarily," I said.
His lips curled into a smile, and he said, "I was afraid this would happen." He stroked the fringe of the pillow in thought, the smile still naked on his face. He raised his other hand and gestured to the crowd of vampires. "Thanes, Camille, Rhiannon, I believe you have some unfinished business with Ms. Simon."
Turning, I saw the three of them step forward. Rhiannon looked positively delighted. Camille's expression reflected Rhiannon's expression, but was less obscene. Thanes just grinned. They came to stand near me, too close for comfort.
"I thought we had an agreement, Thanes. We stay as far away from each other as we can tonight," I said to him.
"What can I say?" He replied, shrugging. "I've changed my mind."
"You guys seem to be doing a lot of that," I muttered quietly.
Thanes walked behind me. He took off my leather jacket carefully, folding it over his arm. I was thankful I was wearing a long T-shirt underneath it to help cover the gun and the stake. There must have been a couple unnatural bulges, but no one said anything, so I didn't either.
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