Crave

  He strode into the bathroom and grabbed a blood bag from the ice bucket. At least her question about Sam proved that she didn’t know what had happened to him, what Gabriel had done. If she’d known, she wouldn’t still be here. If she’d known, she’d have let him die that night he’d been poisoned. Gabriel tore open the top of the thick plastic bag with his teeth, then poured a stream of the cold blood down his throat. He suppressed a shudder. He’d lied to her. Cold blood tasted more than weird. It tasted wrong. Dead. But it did the job—bagged blood had kept his family alive for years now. Maybe that was why his enjoyment of life had dimmed, as Shay had pointed out. That, and Sam.

  But the blood was enough. As he drank it down, he felt his body finish its recovery.

  “When you’re in the death sleep, do you dream?” Shay asked when he returned—reluctantly—to the main room.

  She really did see him as something completely other, and that wouldn’t change, not because they’d talked a lot, not because they’d kissed. Humans could never be trusted to understand his kind, to accept how similar they truly were. It helped to think that. It reminded him of his anger, his need for vengeance.

  “Yes, I dream. I’m not so different than you,” Gabriel snapped. “You want to think of me as some unnatural creature, so—” He forced himself to stop. He sighed. “I dream the same way I always have, the same as when I was a little boy.”

  “Oh,” Shay said in a small voice. Gabriel felt as if he’d just kicked a puppy. She’s a piece of the plan. Soon I can let her go, he reminded himself.

  “I’ve had enough blood,” he announced. “I’m strong enough to leave.”

  Shay immediately stood up, twisting her hands in front of her. “Okay. That’s great.” She began gathering up all her strange little purchases, shoving them into the plastic bag in a nervous haste. “Well, I hope you make it back to your family safely. I have to take Martin’s car. I’m sorry.”

  Gabriel’s heart sank. She thought he was going to let her go.

  Not a possibility. He needed her to bring his captors to him—him and his family. He needed her to achieve the revenge he burned for, the revenge he deserved. “Shay.”

  She looked up at him, hope in her eyes. “Yes?”

  “You’re coming with me.” There was no better way to say it.

  “What?” Shay paled. At least that was better than her blushing. Last night when the blood had flooded her face, he’d wanted her so badly, even knowing that a taste would destroy him.

  “I’m taking the car, and I’m taking you,” he said. “So you can either walk out there on your own. Or I’ll put you in myself.”

  CHAPTER

  TWELVE

  SHAY STARED OUT INTO THE DARKNESS flying by. Her head rested on the cool glass of the Range Rover’s window, her body curled as close to the passenger-side door as she could get it, within the restraints of her seat belt. She wanted to be as far away from Gabriel as possible.

  She’d thought she cared about him. She’d thought she’d actually known him in some deep way. She’d been so, so wrong.

  A cluster of lights—gas stations, fast food places, probably a mini-mart—flashed past. The buildings looked the same as the ones she’d seen soon after they’d gotten on the highway, and a few more exits down, she’d see another set that was almost identical.

  Hours had passed since Shay had walked herself over to the Range Rover. There’d been no way she was going to let him, Gabriel, put her inside. If he’d touched her, Shay thought her body probably would have ignited, that’s how furious she’d been.

  How furious she still was. Why was she huddled up in the corner like some sad little girl? Shay straightened up and whipped her head toward Gabriel. He didn’t react.

  “I just want to remind you of a few things,” she burst out. “I broke you out. I set you free. And you, you used me as a human shield! You hid behind me like a coward.”

  Gabriel opened his mouth.

  “No. Still talking,” she snapped. “You took me prisoner. And I went out and got blood to save your life. I didn’t have to. I could have driven away, just left you there. You would have died. We both know it. But I came back. God, I nursed you. I fed you when you couldn’t feed yourself. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “You left a few things out,” Gabriel shot back, without looking at her. “You let me free—after your parents took me prisoner. They turned me into a cow, a blood-producing cow. I was only kept alive because you needed something from me. That was the beginning. I didn’t start this.”

  Shay gave a harsh bark of laughter. “What are you, five years old? If we’re using that logic, I didn’t start it either. I haven’t done anything but try to help you!”

  “You’re human; that’s all that matters,” Gabriel spat. “My family has to live in hiding. All my kind does. Because of you. If humans believed, truly believed, we existed, we’d be slaughtered. All of us. Don’t think there would be any trials. We aren’t human. We have no rights. Not even the right to live.”

  “All humans aren’t identical. I’m not Martin. And Martin isn’t all humanity,” she told him. She couldn’t bear to bring her mother into the conversation. Not that she expected him to listen. She was human, and he had his mind made up about her, no matter how much evidence she could lay out that she and Martin had treated him in exactly opposite ways.

  “You sound like Sam!” He gave his head a vicious shake. “I’m not letting another human walk away unpunished.” Gabriel finally looked at her then, his eyes glittering with emotion. “They’ll come for you. We both know that. And when they do, I’ll be ready.”

  “They?” Shay repeated. “You mean …”

  “Your mother. Your famous doctor. They’ll come.”

  It was as if he’d reached out and slapped her. “I’m bait?” Shay gasped.

  “What did you think?” Gabriel said.

  Shay knotted her hands in the hem of her sweater, trying to hold in the terror that had suddenly speared her. “What are you going to do to them? What are you going to do to my mother?”

  Gabriel didn’t answer. It was the worst response he could have given.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Shay screamed.

  “You know what she did,” Gabriel replied. “What do you think should happen?”

  Shay felt most of her anger drain away. It was replaced by slimy, cold despair. “Doesn’t it matter why?” she asked. “My mother did what she did to keep me alive. Because she loves me. She loves me more than anything else in her life, and she didn’t want me to die. And Martin loves her, so he wanted to save me. Obviously the way he did it was wrong, but—”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. He couldn’t care less whether you live or die. He wants to figure out what makes me work, and then he wants to synthesize it and sell it for a billion dollars and win a Nobel Prize for his scientific breakthrough.” Gabriel’s voice was as cold as ice. “I spent a lot of time with Martin, you may recall.”

  “You don’t know him. It’s not like you could read his mind,” Shay snapped. “You assume all humans are evil.”

  “I didn’t have to read his mind,” Gabriel said. “You’re just so used to being special that it never occurred to you that he was using you for his own purposes.”

  Shay gasped. Nobody had ever been so nasty to her before. Or maybe nobody had ever been so honest? She knew Martin wanted his breakthrough. But he also wanted to cure her. Definitely he had some kind of freakish God complex, but the fact was that he had tried to cure Shay on the way to getting his Nobel Prize. Whatever other bad things drove Martin didn’t change that basic truth. Gabriel was wrong. His view of the whole world was skewed by hatred.

  “God, you really are that far gone, aren’t you?” she said. “You hate humanity so much that you can’t even believe in love—”

  “Love wouldn’t justify them taking my freedom and harvesting my lifeblood,” Gabriel cut her off. “Love is the excuse people use for doing stupid, dangerous t
hings. Selfish things.”

  He was angry now, as angry as she was. He probably thought she should be terrified, locked in a car with a furious vampire. But Shay didn’t care.

  “You never had time to be human—you were taken when you were so young. You clearly can’t understand what human love is,” Shay said. An image flashed through her mind, as if in response. Gabriel hiding that little girl, giving up his human life to save hers. “What happened to the boy who saved Elena? He knew what it was to love someone more than he loved himself.”

  “Keep talking, and I’ll gag you,” Gabriel said, his voice ragged.

  He’d do it. Shay knew he would. He was going to use her as bait. He was going to kill her mother. Gagging her was nothing compared to that. Talking wouldn’t do any good anyway. Nothing she could say would change his hatred.

  Escape. That was her only hope. Hers and her mother’s. Shay turned and stared out the window again. Escape. To save herself. To save her family. But how? Gabriel had regained most, if not all, of his strength. She’d been in him. She knew how powerful he was.

  She had to try something anyway. Anything. So what if it killed her? She’d rather die than be the cause of Mom’s death. Not that that was especially noble of her. She was a walking dead girl. What did it matter if she died a little sooner? At least it would be for a reason, for love, rather than because her body finally just gave up.

  First things first. And first was getting out of the Rover, which meant getting Gabriel to stop. She couldn’t hurl herself out of the speeding car even if she’d wanted to. Gabriel had control of the door locks.

  He was determined for vengeance. But he wouldn’t kill innocents to get it. In her gut, in her soul, she knew that. She might end up dead, but Gabriel would not kill someone who hadn’t harmed him.

  Yeah, and my gut and soul have really been on target so far, she thought sarcastically.

  Shay stared out the window for almost an hour. She didn’t want to try anything too soon after the fight, after the threat. She was sure Gabriel would be suspicious anytime she asked to stop, but he would have been on high alert right after that.

  Eventually she twisted around in her seat. “I need a restroom,” she mumbled. He didn’t answer. God, she hated that. She was right here in the car with him. He could at least acknowledge that she existed.

  “I said, I need to go to the bathroom,” Shay said, much more loudly.

  “When I see a place,” Gabriel answered. The next exit had signs for a couple of gas stations, a Wendy’s, a Taco Bell, and a Subway. He blew right past it.

  “Didn’t you see—” Shay began.

  “When I see a safe place,” Gabriel told her.

  “You could have guarded the door,” Shay said. While I screamed, and screamed, and screamed, she silently added. Gabriel didn’t comment. Surprise.

  They passed three more exits. All of them with signs announcing at least one place that would have a bathroom. Shay pulled a Gabriel. She didn’t comment. She wasn’t going to shout. Or beg. She was going to wait and see what he did. Although, now she did kind of have to pee.

  He breezed by another likely exit. Shay clenched her teeth together. She wasn’t going to let him win the no-speaking game.

  Finally, two more exits down, Gabriel pulled off the highway—and into an almost deserted rest stop. Men’s room. Women’s room. A couple of beat-up vending machines. And lots of scrubby grass. Crap. Now what?

  Gabriel pulled into a parking stop directly in front of the women’s bathroom. “I will be guarding the door,” he said as he flipped the master door lock. At least he’s not going to come in with me, she thought. She walked into the bathroom, hoping he couldn’t tell her knees were a little wobbly. He’d scared her, but that didn’t mean he had to know it.

  Except he could smell fear. And he noticed everything. At least he used to.

  Shay entered the stall farthest from the door. She might as well pee, since she was there. When she’d finished, she reached for the toilet paper. There was a scrap about as big as a hangnail—perfect. In the scheme of things, not such a biggie. She made do with one of the paper toilet seat covers, then washed her hands and did a quick survey of the room. There was a small window in the back wall.

  She walked over to it. What was the point of trying to bolt? There was no one around to help her, and she’d need help. She stood up on her toes to get a better view, and her heart began fluttering with a happy dance. Or a scared-shitless dance. Or some combo of the two. Across the scrubby grass, behind some scrubby trees, Shay glimpsed what she was almost positive was a truck. There was another parking lot back there. Probably more trucks. At least a couple of guys should be napping in the backs of their rigs.

  Good thing Sick Girls are skinny, she thought as she slowly started sliding the small window up. Gabriel would tell her to stop thinking of herself as a Sick Girl. It had actually seemed like he cared last night—

  Shay pushed the thought away, as the window gave a soft creak of protest. All Shay could do was pray that Gabriel hadn’t heard it. Which was stupid. Of course he’d heard it. She just had to pray that he didn’t know what had made the sound.

  Got to at least try. Shay hauled herself through the window, arms shaking. She fell to the ground, then shoved herself to her knees and scrambled to her feet. She locked her eyes on the faint shine of the side of the truck and ran.

  Shay’s hair whipped out behind her as she lengthened her stride as far as she could. This wasn’t anything like that day on the track. There was no feeling of freedom and power and joy. She was running like a prey animal would, heart skittering, taken over by instinct and adrenaline.

  She hadn’t even reached the midpoint of the wide stretch of grass before she heard Gabriel behind her, coming up fast, fast, fast. It was hopeless. But Shay wasn’t going to give up. She was used to pain. Every day for years she’d had to fight the pain and weariness of her body. She leaned forward and forced her legs to pump harder, ignoring the jolts of fire in her calves.

  Close. He was so close. She could hear him breathing, panting. He was right behind her. Shay dropped to the ground and rolled. Gabriel charged past her, but only a few steps. Then he spun, and a second later, he was on top of her, using his body to pin hers to the damp ground.

  Gabriel pressed one hand over her mouth as he glared down at her. Shay met his gaze. He’d caught her, but that didn’t mean she was his. She still had her own will. “You’re going to stand up now,” he told her, voice tight. “You’re going to walk back to the car with me. Aren’t you?” When Shay didn’t respond, Gabriel grimaced. “Aren’t you?”

  Shay had her own will. But she didn’t have a choice. He was bigger, faster, stronger. Shay felt as if she had no strength left. When Gabriel moved away from her, pulling her up with one hand, she didn’t resist.

  He turned her around so she was in front of him. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, the other still across her mouth. Together they walked back toward the parking lot. When they were almost there, Shay’s knees buckled. Only Gabriel’s arm kept her from falling to the ground.

  It’s not just fear, she realized. The exertion of her escape attempt had used up all the power Gabriel’s blood had given her. She needed another transfusion. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to take a single step without it, not even with Gabriel supporting most of her weight.

  “Stop faking,” Gabriel ordered. “I’m not letting you get away again.”

  She laughed, a bitter sound. Figures that he would be the only one in the history of her life to accuse her of faking. No one else would dream of saying such a thing to the Sick Girl.

  The Sick Girl. The dead girl.

  Gabriel turned her in his arms, staring at her face. The set of his jaw relaxed, his expression growing gentle as he seemed to get it, to really see her, Shay, for a moment. He lowered her to the ground, then he raised his wrist to his lips and slashed through his skin, opening a vein for her. He knelt beside Shay and held his bleeding wrist
out to her.

  No. She wasn’t going to take his blood. She didn’t want him inside her. The only reason he wanted her to feed was because dead bait was useless. Let me die here, she thought, turning her face away from Gabriel, even while the scent of his blood drew her. It was as if she could almost feel the warmth of it in her body, nurturing her, reviving her.

  “You have to drink. You’re about to pass out,” Gabriel said.

  “No.”

  Gabriel didn’t bother arguing. He used one hand to imprison her head, then he brought his wrist to her lips until her mouth was wet with his blood. The taste of it, the little rush of life, was too much for her. Her body wanted it. And her body took it.

  An electric shock went through her, then Shay was with Gabriel. Was Gabriel.

  His eyes were closed. He was deep under, his legs and arms heavy. Not restrained. Asleep. Shay’s own thoughts felt distant, the way they always did when she was receiving his blood.

  She became aware that someone was shaking Gabriel. Maybe had been for a while. He tried to open his eyes, but his lids felt weighed down. “Gabriel, get up!” The voice was low and urgent. Familiar. Shay wanted to obey it—Gabriel wanted to. But the death sleep had already claimed him.

  “Gabriel,” the same voice growled. Then he felt—and heard—a sharp slap to his cheek. He fought to open his eyes, and his eyelids cracked enough to see Ernst crouched over him. He hauled Gabriel up to his feet, keeping an arm wrapped around him to support him.

  Not weak, Shay’s own thought whispered. Tired. So tired.

  A scream rang out in the family’s main sleeping cave, and the smell of blood overwhelmed him as he came more fully awake. Ernst was crying.

  “Don’t look. There’s nothing we can do. Come, my son.” Ernst urged Gabriel toward one of the tunnels leading deeper into the warren of caverns. The caves in Greece, Shay managed to think. Not the ones where they study the bats.

  “Some back there have awoken,” a man yelled. “They’re escaping!”

  “Let them go,” another man answered him. “Finish the others.”