by Mary Hughes
“What about the ancient? Couldn’t he have made her like you?”
“Ancients only share blood on the rarest occasions. Besides, really old blood is dangerous. Unless you have centuries to learn how to control it, it can drive you insane.”
We lay together in silence for a moment. Then I said, “Thank you for telling me. I know that wasn’t easy.” I kissed him as sweetly as I knew.
Then I straightened and looked him directly in the eye, so he’d be able to see the truth in my face.
“But I’m nothing like Adelaide. I’m not a member of your household, if you even have one. You have no responsibility for me.”
“But I…I have feelings for you. You matter. If I could offer you marriage…but I can’t. Besides, you deserve so much more. A mate. A family. I can’t give those to you.”
“Hey.” I laughed mildly. “I’m thirty-nine. Menopause is years off.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean I can’t father children.”
“Sure you can.” I searched his face, so serious. “Vampires can reproduce. Elena has children. Nixie. My sister is pregnant a second time.”
He shook his head. “Vampires only have one mate, and they only have children with that mate. Mine was Adelaide. One and only, Alexis.”
My heart broke—for him, for myself. I’d always wanted a family, and from the yearning in his voice, he did too.
But sometimes we have to make sacrifices for those we lov…those we were insanely attracted to. “But what if I didn’t want…didn’t expect mating or children? Couldn’t we just be together?”
Hope lit his eyes for a moment. Then he slumped. “No. Even for you, especially with you, I can’t.”
Something fell in me too. “Why not?”
“I loved Adelaide…love her. But when you and I have sex…” His voice dropped to less than a whisper, more of a guilty breath. “I forget her.”
My heart leaped. I made him forget her.
I almost pushed it. Almost said, “It’s okay” or “That’s natural” or “It’s part of the grieving process.”
But something kept me silent.
Later, I understood those words of “comfort” would have been for me. Reassuring myself that he’d get over her or past her or whatever would make me feel less like second-hand merchandise.
Then, it was simply something inside me that said Listen. Listen to him.
So instead of saying something to make me feel better, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“I haven’t tried to put it into words before. But I guess…I guess it’s because I failed Adelaide in life. If I take a wife now, if I start a household…if I marry you, I’ll forget her. And I’ll not only have failed her in life, I’ll fail her in death.”
“Oh, Luke.” My throat felt thick.
I was sad for myself, sad that something beautiful between us would never get the chance to grow. Sad for the us that would never be.
But mostly, my heart cried for him. I wanted, needed to find a way to help him.
Help him—no matter what cost to me.
If I could only figure out a plan how.
Luke lay with Alexis and realized he felt better. Lighter. Putting the reason he hadn’t remarried all these centuries into words was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
But now that he had, he realized the truth of it, and felt strangely freed. If he’d never met Alexis, he’d never have realized the full truth.
And his heart would never be torn.
He was coming to care deeply about her. She was brave and good, a wonderful doctor, and highly empathetic, despite protesting feelings weren’t rational.
But when he was with her, he failed his wife. Again.
He sighed. “But now you can understand why I can’t help you annex your um, delivery system.” Code for poisoning Luther. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you while you’re in my care—deliberately courting trouble is out of the question.”
Actually, the idea gave him fits. Bad enough he’d failed protecting Adelaide, failed to keep Sarah Jane from being taken.
But to deliberately put Alexis in harm’s way?
He shuddered.
Slam.
The sound came from the door as a dent appeared in it, from a massive hit to the other side.
It had begun.
He sat up, gently sliding Alexis to sit next to him. He’d failed Adelaide, and she’d died. Centuries of the toughest training he could endure was to ensure that horror never happened again.
Yet it was. The minute Luther broke that door down.
Luke took stock of his situation from habit, ticking off vital facts. Maybe two quarts of thinned blood to distribute around two hundred pounds of muscle, brain and bone. If he used it for action his brain would dull; if he used it to think his reaction time would slow. Luther and at least two goons were outside. Alexis was here and Adelaide was still dead.
Ah, there it was. The contrary doctor was now first. At least until his incompetence killed her too.
Elias said what had happened to Luke’s pretty, frail wife that day in 1711 was a combination of inexperience, youth and bad luck. Luke had nodded and trained even harder.
All his training, all his centuries.
Useless.
Alexis would die because he was inadequate. Elias was wrong. Luke was older now, experienced, yet this was exactly like Adelaide, where he couldn’t save the woman he loved…
Oh God. Did he love Alexis?
His heart hiccuped. What did it matter?
Luther would break down the door. She’d die here, because Luke had proved once and for all how worthless a protector he was.
But at least he hadn’t deliberately put her in harm’s way. That was some comfort, right?
Right?
Cold, seeping through Luke’s breast, told him he was wrong. There were worse things than dying—like dying without trying everything.
Alexis rose and faced the door. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll let myself get captured. You try to escape.”
“No.”
She turned to him wearing her obstinate face. He recognized it from first seeing it in the ER, twenty-seven hours and a lifetime ago. Beautiful, caring Alexis.
“Luke, I’m going to get taken, whether you escape or not. But if you try to escape, at least one of us has a chance.”
She was right. Either she was taken and he escaped, or he fought to the death before she was taken. It seemed there was no way for Luke to be the hero, the protector in this one.
He’d never understood the modern woman’s need to be independent, didn’t understand Elena and Nixie. But he was beginning to see, with Alexis, he didn’t have to understand. Just accept.
And if he accepted, what did that mean?
The banging intensified. The door began to bend away from the frame.
Accepting…it freed him, his thinking. He hadn’t protected Adelaide—but she hadn’t protected herself either. Alexis was right, you couldn’t shield your loved ones from everything…and there it was.
That was his problem all along—he constantly thought shield, when his training showed him he was so much more. Had so many more options.
What if, instead of being the shield, he drew the enemy away, like honey to the fly? Or attacked in secret, like a ninja sword? Or shot an arrow from afar—or, or, or.
He knew war. And espionage was part of it, getting inside your enemy’s flank and stabbing quick and deep.
Alexis’s plan had merit.
Although if he told her that, she’d never let him live it down. Ah, hell, he’d let her, if they survived.
So. He couldn’t shield her from all harm, but he could make sure she didn’t face danger alone. She might come out of this alive, but only if he had her back.
And if
he didn’t let her make an overly complex plan, because no plan survived meeting the enemy.
Although if it came to a fight, he’d bring it. Last time, at Emerson’s, he’d been prepared to fight to the final death—although in reality, he wasn’t prepared for death so much as courting it. This time he would fight even harder, because paradoxically, he had something to live for. Alexis.
“All right,” he said. “Your original plan. Let’s do this. But we’re doing it my way.”
She spun with a savage grin. “Yes sir, Mr. Master Vampire, sir.”
For the first time, he felt like a master. He owned it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We waited for Luther’s minions to wear themselves out, then, the minute the electrical field was breached, Luke misted out to find the vampire poison and my medical kit.
I waited inside the room.
Naked.
Hey, I was a potential vampire mate to Luke, which meant his brother would be attracted too, right? It’d give me a moment’s advantage while his blood all dropped from brain to balls.
At least, that was what I hoped.
The door busted open a moment later, jamb warped and impromptu shoe wedges shoved loose.
Luther stepped through the gap—and stopped, eyes burning bright red and roving over my nude form. Two big vampires stepped through behind him. I recognized one by his sail of a nose and eau-de-testosterone cologne as Luther’s bodyguard.
They did the stepped-on-a-rake, whacked-in-the-face stop too.
I suppressed a grin. Our plan was proceeding perfectly.
Luke and I, in coded words and whispers underneath the slam of the battering ram, had mapped out each aspect, including expected timings. Three seconds for Luke to mist to the lab, thirty to find the poison.
The uncontrolled variable was his time to find my bag. Sure, we could have just dosed Luther with his own poison, but then all he’d have to do was inject himself with his own antidote.
A few extras from my bag would liven things up.
Chances were the bag was in the lab—Luther knew I kept my medical notes on the tablet inside. So, call it another fifteen seconds to find it. Another three to mist to wherever I was, probably back to the torture room since they’d be expecting Luke to try to rescue me. Fifty-one seconds total.
I only had to distract Luther for that time.
Luther ah-oo-gahed, eyes popped, for two seconds, a full second more than our plan called for. I pretended to be startled and pressed a hand to my breasts, really plumping up the cleavage, and got him to tongue-loll for two seconds more. Yay me.
Naturally, that was the last thing to go right.
He clamped his eyes shut and willed down the teeth and the pants bulge. When he opened his eyes again, they were still bright but a golden hazel instead of red.
Two steps brought him within grabbing distance. I started to step back but he was fast. He clamped my wrist in a hand like iron and hauled me toward the doorway.
Crap. I was hoping he’d tell me to put on my clothes first. That would’ve been good for another minute at least.
“Tell me where Luke is.” Luther yanked me out of the room. “Where your friend and her child are.” The minute we were through the door he spun so I was flush with his snarling face. “Tell me, before I let Owun beat it out of you.”
“Do your worst.” I bit my lower lip and tried to look frightened. Yeah, cheesy, but I was playing to his tie-me-to-the-railroad expectations, to keep him from realizing where the true threat was coming from.
He glared down. “You’ll talk after I get the hypnosis enhancer into you.”
Okay, there’s cheesy, and there’s you gonna go there? Really? I said, “Pfft. Didn’t that backfire on you enough the first time? We MC folk eat your hypnosis enhancer for brunch.”
“Why, you…” His eyes bled rage before he closed them like Luke’s blood search, and then he shoved me down the hallway—not to the torture room, but toward the lab.
I dug in my heels, trying to hold back. The lab? That was where Luke was. Worse, I’d lost track of the seconds elapsed. The plan had imploded and was now about to explode unless he could mist out.
As Luther pushed me through the door I hoped fervently that Luke was clear, but a motion caught my eye, him diving behind a workstation. His misting must’ve gone on the fritz again. Should have forced him to take more blood, although I was a bit woozy. The poison—or at least a vial of something—was in one hand, but either he hadn’t been able to search for my backpack yet or hadn’t found it.
Luckily I’d seen him from the corner of my eye and didn’t give him away by turning my head or reacting. Luckily too the workstations weren’t mere tables, but the solid kind with cabinets underneath that would hide him. And luckily Luther wasn’t using his blood positioning sense to find him in the lab—no, actually that wasn’t luck because I’d distracted him by spinning a knee to his gonads.
It was a bad move for getting close enough later to inject him, but we’d simply have to figure something out. I hate going off-book, improvising, but Luke was apparently right when he said no plan survived meeting the enemy. He’d hold that over my head for the rest of our lives.
If we lived through this, I’d let him.
Luther pushed me away from him. I used the momentum to stumble farther into the room, pulling attention from Luke.
It allowed Luke to scrabble around from workstation to workstation. When Luther strode after me into the room, Luke sneaked out.
Okay. Now I only had to stay alive long enough for Luke to find the kit. Thirty seconds and counting. Twenty-nine, twenty-eight…
The rational solution was to give up Lizelle and Una. Luther couldn’t do anything with the information, because we’d have him where we wanted him in twenty-five seconds.
Twenty-four, twenty-three.
I found myself not wanting to be rational. I wanted to hurt Luther the way he’d hurt my friend and her daughter.
Stick to the plan. Or what was left of it. Nudity had distracted him a few seconds. What would distract him more than sex?
Well, yeah. Talking about himself. He’d be anxious for someone to appreciate his genius.
“So, your experiment with Una—you’re trying to make her a living vampire?” Fourteen, thirteen…
Vampire healing must’ve unfortunately reshelled his nuts. He sauntered nearer in an almost exact copy of Luke’s easy gait, but overlaid with a slimy purpose. One blond brow arched. “Una?”
“Lizelle’s daughter. John Umbras’s daughter.” Ten, nine, eight…
“John,” Umbras spat. “That’s my mundane name. I’m Owun Umbras to the true people.”
Whoa. True people? In his own way, he was like vampire rights crusader Zinnia—in a demented, homicidal way.
“Right. People of the night, fight, fight, fight.” I turned from Owun back to Luther. “But what, living vampire, augmented human? All with vampire blood? That’s genius.”
Three, two, one…nothing.
“Thank you, my dear.” Luther took my chin in his fingers, as long and strong as Luke’s, but this strength was cruel.
Plus one, plus two… It took everything I had not to jerk away, but to smile.
He said, “I knew you, with your medical expertise, would appreciate mine.”
Plus four, plus five, plus where the hell is Luke…?
Pop. He appeared suddenly with my backpack, startling me.
I twitched.
Luther, in contact with me, caught it and started to turn.
“Wait! I’m so impressed with your genius…”
But I’d already lost his attention. Luke barely had time to drop my bag and the poison behind a workstation before Luther saw him. I hope that’s a plastic vial… Luke covered the clunk by shouting as he strode toward us, in true heroic fashion, “Releas
e her, you vile monster. It’s me you want.”
Cheesy, but playing to Luther’s expectations. Luther would rise to a one-on-one with Luke, distracting him from me. I’d slip in with my needle…
Luther didn’t play. He signaled his minions. They jumped Luke, who, down on blood and injured, had his hands full.
I was horrified. This wasn’t the plan…except it was. Luther was distracted because he was watching Luke battle five minions at once. I was the female tidbit, useless except as a thing to fight over. With all attention on Luke, I crept toward my backpack.
Only to have John—or Owun to call him by his “true” name—block my progress with an overly intimidating stance.
He didn’t scare me, but that fists-to-hip, jutting jaw stance meant he was primed to get physical. He obviously expected me to cower. The mean glint in his eye meant he’d enjoy it.
And then I thought, well, why not? I couldn’t afford to get hurt so I played into his expectations.
I “fainted”, complete with hand to forehead, “I don’t feel so good” and a twirl before dropping to the floor with a whump.
To my astonishment, it worked. John/Owun made a disgusted noise and went to join the fight. He thought I was no longer a problem, a non-entity.
Everyone had lost interest in me.
I was able to crawl across the floor unseen, using the workstations to hide my progress.
My medical kit was leaning against the one nearest the door, the vial of poison sitting next to it. Plastic, thank goodness.
Unzipping drew the attention of one of the vampires. But Luke heard or saw and immediately tackled the guy like a football linebacker. He went from defense to offense so fast I’d have been dizzy if I were the bad guys. He was truly magnificent.
I put together a syringe with Luther’s vampire poison. Then, from my own stock, I added a touch of serum that…well, ever heard of the herpes virus? This was akin to the mini-chromosomes left in nerve cells that caused new breakouts and…let’s just say if it worked, Luther was going to be one unhappy vampire.
Now, to get close enough to him to deliver.
Luke was caught between two vampires. A third and fourth were pounding him into the floor.