by L. E. Wilson
A good vein was hard to find, but she finally found one in her leg she thought would work. The voices screamed around her, but she ignored them. Or tried to. They didn’t want her to shoot up. They hated it when she did it, because she couldn’t hear them anymore when she was high. Of course, that was the whole goddamned point. They were the reason she’d gotten into this shit to begin with, so they could just fuck off.
The shaking eased off as she jerkily pushed the plunger down. Leaning back against the wall, her body became light as a feather while sinking down into the pavement at the same time. She almost didn’t remember to pull the needle out of her leg, but she managed, dropping it next to her as her eyes slid closed and blissful peace and quiet descended upon her.
The thought crossed her mind that maybe she should’ve found somewhere where she’d be safer before she did this, but she’d barely managed to stumble back here before fully succumbing to the sickness. A last tear slid down her cheek at how low she’d become, even as relief flowed through her.
Her stomach suddenly revolted out of nowhere and she barely leaned over just in time. There wasn’t much in her stomach, but what was in there was ejected quite effectively. By the third time she got sick, her stomach muscles were so sore she could barely straighten up again.
It would be okay. She’d just sit here for a bit, and she’d move somewhere else before it got dark.
It would be okay.
Chapter 11
Christian cracked the door open, then immediately recoiled from the light coming through the opening. But it was only streetlights, not sunshine. Pushing it open wide enough for him to get through, but not so far that casual passerbys would see the dead bodies lying within, he squeezed through the opening and closed the door firmly behind him. He stood just outside, getting his bearings as he looked around and tried to figure out where the hell he was.
A couple of guys stumbled into him as they passed by, their eyes on a pair of scantily clad girls leaning against a building on the other side of the street.
“Oh! ¡Perdóname!” the shorter one exclaimed. His eyes widened comically as he looked up, up, up to Christian’s face. Grabbing his friend by the arm, he yanked him along with him and down the street, not slowing down until they far away from Christian.
Interesting. Did he look that bad?
As he started down the crowded street, he figured that he must. People cleared a path for him, and by the fear in their eyes, he didn’t think it was because he stood a good head taller than most of them, even the men.
Large palm trees swayed overhead on the night breeze, their trunks crammed into the tiny spaces between the clubs and restaurants. Red lights lit up the sidewalks, and girls much like the ones his human friends had been ogling held up the walls of the one and two story buildings in a solid line. The majority of the people were brown skinned and he caught more Spanish words here and there, usually along the lines of the few curse words he knew.
He stepped over a college age female passed out on the edge of the sidewalk, such as it was. At least he hoped she was passed out. Her friends stood to one side of her, laughing and carrying on, at least until they caught sight of him. Then they left her to her fate, backing away directly into the street as he passed. A taxi laid on its horn, swerving to miss them and just barely sideswiping another car as the driver shook his fist out the window. He didn’t stop, but took off to where he was going, as did the car he’d hit.
Christian knew of only one country where the driving was that reckless. He must be in Mexico. A border town by the looks of it. Tijuana if he were forced to guess. How the hell had he gotten here? And how was he ever going to find his female in the midst of all of this chaos? She could be anywhere by now.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to catch her scent, but all he could smell was hot dogs and corn from the vendors that lined the street, and something that smelled like the stench of a wet, mangy dog. Or at least what he imagined a mangy dog would smell like.
One of the women caught his eye. Her hair was light and sort of reddish and she had large tits and long legs just like he liked. As he got closer, she eyed him up and down and smiled. But to his surprise, his cock only showed a very mild interest. In spite of the hair, she was just all wrong. Her skin was too dark, her eyes the wrong color, and though very pretty, she smelled like cumin. With an apologetic smile, he moved on.
More girls lined the street. And though his entire body was one large throbbing, painful hard on, his mind, and his cock, lusted after only one female. Considering she’d been the center of his dirty fantasies, and even dirtier reality, since he’d been taken, he wasn’t really surprised. Once he’d had her, he’d be on to the next one, as usual.
He walked about another block before he stopped and looked around again. Maybe he’d gone the wrong way? Crossing the street, he headed back the other way. He’d walk up and down this street until the sun rose if he had to. Maybe when the people started clearing out a bit, he’d be able to catch a break as to which way she’d gone.
But he would find her.
Chapter 12
Josiah sat at the small desk in the spare bedroom just down the hall from the master. A keyboard was on top of it, and on the wall in front of him were numerous feeds from the security cameras that Leeha had had installed in her many places of interest. But there was only one screen that he was interested in at the moment.
He typed in a combination of letters and numbers and hit the enter key again, but the damn thing still wouldn’t give him access to rewind the security tape. He could watch the live feed, but he couldn’t manipulate the tape. And he needed to be able to scroll through the tape, because what he was looking at right now was an empty room. An empty room with no vampire inside of it. And that meant Luukas’ Hunter had escaped, and Josiah needed to find out how that had happened, and where he was now.
Throwing himself backwards in the chair, he stared at the screen. Password. Password. What the fuck was Leeha’s password? He’d tried all of the obvious ones. Why the hell hadn’t he paid more attention the few times he’d been in here with her?
Linking his hands behind his head, he swiveled in his chair…back and forth…back and forth…his forehead furrowed in thought. Leaning forward again, he typed in the name of Leeha’s adoptive father and punched the “enter” key with the tip of his finger.
Bingo. He was in.
Quickly, he found the keys to back up the tape. Scenes flew past, all of an empty room. How long ago had he gotten out?
He slammed his finger down on the key that would stop the tape. Hitting play again, he watched the vampire lean up against the stripper pole. But where was the stripper? And why was he out of his “viewing room”? Backing it up a little more, he went past more scenes of an empty room, stopping when he saw movement. The vampire was running from the room. Hitting rewind one more time, he found what he’d been looking for.
The human slut was on her knees in front of the one-way mirror, and the fucking glass was opening, lifting up from the floor. But she was nowhere near the controls, and no one else was in the room. How was she opening it?
Grabbing the headphones off of the table, he stuck them on his head and turned the volume up. Her soft, lilting voice came through strong and clear, almost like he was in the room with them.
“Ah. There you are. Don’t be afraid.”
“Get away!” the vamp yelled at her.
What was his name? Christian?
“Get the fuck away from me…Please, hurry.”
Poor guy sounded like he was in really rough shape. Josiah smiled at the thought.
“Why are you way back there? Come on. We’re getting you out.”
Josiah stopped the day, searching the picture on the screen. Who the hell is “we”? She was the only one there.
Backing the tape up a little more to see if maybe someone had come in with her and then left again, he confirmed that she was indeed the only person that had entered the room. Was she talking to he
rself? No. She was definitely talking to someone other than the vampire. Maybe the bitch had a few screws loose, or was hallucinating or something. Wouldn’t surprise him, living a life like that.
He watched the tape over a few times, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Not that it mattered much now. He sighed and leaned back in the chair again. He shouldn’t be obsessing like this. Who cares if the stupid vampire had gotten out? He’d be sizzling like a fajita in the Mexican sun soon enough.
Except it did matter. It mattered because his love would not have wanted this to happen. Leeha had gone through a lot of stress and planning to get back at Luukas and the ones closest to him for exiling her. But her plan had failed, and instead of spending their immortal lives miserable and alone, they were all finding happiness. Finding the mates they were fated to have. What were the damn chances of that happening? Especially now?
And what had they done to repay her for that happiness? They’d killed her right in front of him. Took his maker. Took the only female who had ever understood him. And for that, he, Josiah, would see that they paid. All of them. Luukas and his witch, Keira. Nikulas and his Emma. And especially Aiden. Even that British pussy had found his mate, and with a fucking demon inside of him! Of course, she was a witch so she could deal with it. They were all witches…
Josiah suddenly jerked straight up. Son of a bitch.
They were all witches.
That was the loophole in the curse Keira had done! That’s why Luukas and his bastards were finding their mates, making them even stronger than before. Somehow, Keira had snuck that in as a way to break the curse. It had to be! They just had to find their mates, who were all witches, of course. And surprise, surprise, they all somehow happened to be in the right place at the right time to find their vampire mates.
He watched the slut come in and kneel in front of the mirror again. Watched her nod and say yes, and then watched the mirror wall begin to rise. This time, he continued to watch after Christian had gotten out and attacked the girl. He hadn’t bothered before, assuming he had killed her. But now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing her body in the later scenes. Josiah’s eyes shot open wide as Christian was lifted off of the girl by an unseen force and flung across the room.
Well, well, well. Didn’t that explain a lot?
“Gotcha, bitch.”
Picking up the phone, he secured their private jet to fly to Mexico. Those two would not be having their happily ever after. As a matter of fact, they wouldn’t be leaving that foul country.
The jet touched down at the Tijuana International Airport just after sundown. Josiah waited patiently in his plush leather seat until the plane came to a full stop. He sat still as a statue other than a small twitch under his left eye. That one small movement belied his otherwise calm demeanor, giving away the excitement that had been building inside of him since he’d seen the surveillance tape.
After weeks of doing nothing other than skulking up and down the halls of his home mourning the loss of Leeha, he finally had some direction. After weeks of floundering amidst the chaos that had accompanied her death, he was finally getting his feet under him. He had something to do. Had a plan of sorts taking shape in his head.
Better than that, he’d had the most amazing dream. Leeha had come to him, and she’d looked so evil and so beautiful. She’d leaned down over him as he reclined in his seat, and one hand had reached up to caress his cheek while the other had stroked the length of his cock. Her long, red hair had fallen around his face. He could still smell it. She’d smiled at him, her head tilting to the side, and she’d said many things to him. She’d thanked him for avenging her. She’d told him he was correct, that he must kill them all. All who had turned on her. He was the only one she trusted, she’d said. The only one.
She’d told him she would come to him if he did this for her. She’d come to him and show him how grateful she was. And when he’d first opened his eyes, he’d seen her standing in the aisle in that sheer white gown he’d so loved. Only there was no blood marring the sheer material. She’d smiled at him with those luscious red lips. Then she’d kind of flickered, and she was gone.
He glanced across the seating area at the idiots who had accompanied him on this little adventure. Directly in front of him was Philip, his seat facing Josiah’s on the other side of the small table between them. Philip had been working on the same Sudoku puzzle or some such shit since they’d left Canada, passing the time with his shaved head bent low and his brows screwed up in concentration. He hadn’t said a word the entire flight.
Sitting beside Philip was Andy. Andy’s chin was resting on his chest and his fingers were laced over his protruding belly. He appeared to be dozing, if the mucus-filled snores coming from him were any indication. Andy was quite a bit older than both Josiah and Philip, having been reborn as a vampire over a hundred years before. But he was a quiet soul, and seemed content to let others lead. With his slight build and average intelligence, he wouldn’t have been Josiah’s first choice to accompany him, or second choice, or even the twentieth for that matter, but he and Philip were all that he had.
Sleepy and Dopey over there. They were his backups if shit got real. Great. But as they were the only ones from Leeha’s colony that hadn’t run off once she was no longer there to feed their disgusting appetites, he didn’t have any other choice.
A bell chimed twice from above and the lights flicked on, indicating it was safe to remove their seatbelts and move about the aircraft, but no one bothered to get up as they waited for one final announcement.
“Twelve minutes until full darkness. Please remain on the plane until then. Another announcement will be made.”
The windows were all sealed to prevent any accidental vampire burnings, so they had to depend on their human pilot to let them know when it was safe to disembark. Josiah unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled his bag from the overhead. Sleepy and Dopey continued as they were.
Josiah wasn’t expecting to be here very long. His mission was simple: Find the witch and the vampire, kill them both, and go home. Mission complete. He knew that Leeha would want him to do this. If she had found out about the loophole in the curse before she had been taken, she would be doing this exact same thing.
Once he got home, he would begin to make plans. He couldn’t spend the rest of his immortal life wandering around like a ghost mourning the dead. Life would go on, at least for some.
Chapter 13
Christian pushed his dark hair back off his forehead. Damp with sweat, it stuck straight up where he left it. It was so fucking hot, and there were still hours to go before the sun came up. He’d found her, finally, in an alley behind what could only be described as a “questionable” restaurant. Well, not her, exactly, but evidence of her. He knew she’d been here and that she’d been using. Her scent hung heavy in the air, and when he looked closer, he found a few strands of her distinctive hair stuck to the rough brick of the wall. A needle was lying on the pavement next to a small piece of foil. It also looked like she’d gotten sick. A wave of sadness went through him as he stared at the evidence of her addiction. He wondered why she did it, because somehow she didn’t strike him as the type who was in it just for the high.
Walking in tight circles around the area where she’d been sitting, he searched for signs that would tell him which way she’d gone. It didn’t take him but a few seconds to find her trail. He must’ve just missed her, and she couldn’t have gone very far yet.
Picking up his pace but staying at human speed so as not to spook the locals, he set off after her. His head was down, his eyes sweeping back and forth across the alley searching for any visible signs of her having passed this way.
He didn’t stop to think why he was obsessed with finding the woman who had become the star of his fantasies. Something was driving him on, some instinct, and it was trying to tell him that she was a game changer, but Christian wasn’t listening to that voice inside. He just needed to find her. Once he foun
d her and talked her into bed, which he had no doubt he would, she’d be out of his system and he could get his ass back to Seattle. His friends were probably out of their minds with worry. Maybe he should call them and let them know he was all right. Yeah, he’d find a phone and call them.
Just as soon as he found the woman.
His tongue touched his bottom lip. He could still taste her sweet blood. Could still feel her body underneath his, even though it had only been there for a split second. A deep sound that was something between a moan and a growl rumbled through his chest. His mind went off into fantasy world, imagining all of the ways he would make her scream his name when he found her. He wondered if she was a natural redhead? Her brows were the same color as her hair, but they could be dyed to match, right?
Turning a corner, he glanced up without really seeing anything, so absorbed was he in his musings about her hair. If he’d been paying attention, he would’ve noticed the lack of people on the street in front of him. Would’ve noticed the rundown condition of the buildings. And maybe he would’ve heard the rush of air behind him as a bat wrapped in barbed wire came flying at the back of his head.
But he didn’t notice any of these things. He did, however, feel that barbed wire imbed itself into his skin as the weight of the bat cracked into his skull. Vampire or not, that was one hell of a hit. Enough to throw him off just long enough for his attacker to rip the bat out of his skull and take another swing. This one caught him along the temple and face, and he toppled over in slow motion, the drama of it all enough to make even the most seasoned wrestler jealous of his acting skills. Only he wasn’t acting.
Christian hit the hot pavement hard, landing half on his side and half on his back. Blood ran into his eyes to mix with the black spots he was seeing.