It wasn’t my fear or anger or pain.
It was Charlotte’s.
It was our blood claim at work.
I jumped to my feet, the need to do something inescapable. I looked around the room again, like it could help me, but there was nothing but darkness and sleeping vampires.
I brought up her contact information on my phone and hit call. It rang only once before being transferred to voicemail. I tried again. And again. But the same thing kept happening.
It was then I remembered she’d blocked me.
With a roar of frustration, I squeezed the phone in my hand until I heard the plastic groan.
The pain was still tingling through my system, but in the next instant, it was gone. Like it had never been there. With it went my only connection to Charlotte.
“Fuck!” I bellowed into the dark room.
I ran my hands through my hair, trying to make my sleepy brain focus. There had to be something I could do.
But what?
I was stuck in this fucking room for another five hours at least.
I had no idea where Charlotte was.
I had no idea what happened to her.
I had no idea how I could help, only that I had to try. I had to do everything in my power to find her and save her. Because deep down in the pit of my stomach, I knew she was in serious trouble. This wasn’t just a simple accident or mishap. Something truly awful had just happened, and I was absolutely fucking useless.
I yelled again, trying my damnedest to scream the frustration out of my body, but it didn’t help. I knew nothing would.
With another roar of frustration, I cocked my arm back, ready to launch my phone across the room when I stopped myself. The only resource I had was this little over-priced piece of technology. There had to be something I could do with it. Someone I could call.
And then it hit me.
Where in the fuck was that douchebag Ashton?
Didn’t I pay that motherfucker to keep her safe?
The fury blazed a trail through my veins as I pulled up his number and dialed. When he didn’t answer, I almost launched it across the room again. Instead, I scrolled back through my phone and found his personal number. One I wasn’t supposed to have but did anyway. He answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Where the fuck are you?” I screamed into the phone.
Silence. “Excuse me?”
“I pay you to fucking watch her and I want to know what the fuck you were doing today that was so important you couldn’t keep one little human woman safe!”
“Who is this?”
“The asshole who employs you!”
“Hausle?”
“Yes,” I spat. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”
Regret doused the edges of the inferno inside me, but it wasn’t enough to quell the flames. “What the fuck for?”
“Charlotte dismissed me a few days ago. I thought you’d want to know that.”
I swear I fucking saw red. “What the fuck do you mean, she dismissed you? She doesn’t fucking pay your salary, I do. If anyone is going to dismiss you, it’ll be me!”
He was quiet as he let me finish ranting. “I can’t guard someone who refuses my services.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because she could just call the cops and have me removed from her apartment. What the fuck was I supposed to do? She told me she didn’t need me anymore. I tried to talk her out of it, but her mind was made up. I called you a bunch of times to see what you wanted me to do, but you never answered or got back to me.”
I reached up to grab a fistful of my hair, tugging viciously as the anger at myself swamped me. Despite how much I wanted to deny it, the asshole was right. He couldn’t legally guard her if she sent him away. But why the fuck would she send him away?
I shook my head. “I need you to go to her apartment. Right fucking now. Something happened and I can’t get to her.” Those words burned so bad it felt like they’d blister my tongue. The fact that I had to rely on this dickhead to help her instead of doing it myself really fucking rankled. But if it helped Charlotte, I’d do anything.
“I can be there in ten minutes.”
“Make it five,” I said before hanging up.
I looked at the bright screen for a long time, my brain racing through all the options available to me, but they were few. Too fucking few.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed before plowing my fist through the drywall.
The chalky dust rose like a cloud around me, but I ignored it. My knuckles were also bleeding, but I ignored that too.
I started pacing the floor, kicking a stray vampire out of my way in the process. I dug my fingers back into my hair and pulled, hoping the pain would trigger something. That I’d have some kind of epiphany or bright idea that I could use to fix this problem.
Knowing Charlotte was out there somewhere, scared and hurt, made me want to tear the whole fucking building apart brick by brick. I searched for that connection to her, dug as deep as I could go, but there was nothing. Whatever had been happening to her was over now.
It was then that the most horrific thought crept into my head. It snuck in slowly, tiptoeing through my thoughts and filling my veins with ice.
What if I’d lost that connection with her because I’d lost her? Permanently.
What if that’s what it meant when the tie had been severed?
What if I’d just witnessed her last fearful minutes?
“Motherfucker!” I screamed as I punched another hole in the wall, this one twice the size.
I’d never felt so out of control and helpless in my life. Not even on the night I lost my entire family did I feel like this.
And if I hadn’t been trying to drown myself in liquor, I might have been there.
If I hadn’t been hiding in this seedy bar, I would have been just one floor below her. It would still be daylight outside and that would hinder me, but I’d risk a few burns if it meant I could do something to help her.
But, no.
I was a selfish, self-centered, pathetic bastard. And I was stuck in this fucking bar while she was fuck knows where.
I’d always known her life was fragile.
Precious.
When I’d forced her out of my world, I’d only done it to protect her. To save her from my kind. How fucking ironic that the next threat to her safety would be at a human’s hands.
But wasn’t that just fucking like Charlotte? To find trouble every damn place she went.
My phone rang, and I almost dropped it in my haste to answer. “What?”
“She’s not answering the door.”
“Then break it down.”
He paused. “I’m not paying to have that shit replaced.”
“Don’t worry about the fucking money! Just find her!”
“All right, give me a second.” There were a couple quiet moments before there was a loud bang and the sound of wood splintering. “Okay, I’m inside. I’m going to look for her.”
“Check everywhere.”
I waited on the line for the longest couple minutes of my life. My eyes squeezed shut as I fucking prayed for the first time in centuries.
“She’s not here.”
I opened my eyes as dread started to leak into my gut. “Call her phone. See if you can reach her that way. And search around the building. Search every alleyway in the neighborhood if you have to. I want you to canvas the whole fucking island if that’s what it takes.”
“I can’t do that by myself, Hausle.”
“You must know others! Call them and get them there now. I’ll pay triple their normal rate. Just fucking find her!”
I hung up the phone and seriously thought about chucking it again but knew I couldn’t afford that. I stood there in the middle of the lightless room as the self-hatred gathered, filling me to the brim and leaking out my pores.
This was all my fa
ult.
If I’d never dropped her off, she’d be home safe in my apartment right now.
If I’d never confronted her the other night, she never would have sent Ashton away.
If I’d never been such a vile piece of shit to her, she wouldn’t have blocked me.
I’d never felt so helpless. So frustrated. So useless. So scared. So fucking angry with myself.
It all swirled and pulsed inside me, making my head pound and my insides twist so violently I felt like I’d be ill.
My phone rang, and I answered it without looking. “Yes?”
“She isn’t answering her phone, and she’s not anywhere around the building. I’m going to start canvasing. Do you think she would have left on foot? Or by car?” Ashton said.
I almost said I don’t know again before I stopped myself.
Sure, I didn’t know her friend’s last name, or what her favorite subject in school was, or the town where she grew up, but I knew her.
I knew every single freckle on her face. I knew exactly the way her voice would break when she laughed too hard. I knew how to decipher every emotion in her eyes with just a look.
I just had to think.
“Um, foot. She wouldn’t waste money on a car service.” I felt confident in my answer, but I hoped like hell I was right.
“Okay then, we’ll start here and branch out. I’ll call you if I have any news.”
“Okay, just find her.”
I waited three hours for that phone call.
One hundred and eighty minutes.
Ten thousand eight hundred seconds.
And each and every one had felt like a fucking lifetime.
In that time, I’d prayed, I’d cursed, I’d raged, I’d begged. None of it helped, though. Because I was still stuck here while Charlotte was hurt somewhere. I refused to even entertain the thought that she might be worse than just hurt.
“We found her,” Ashton said, clearly out of breath. “She’s not in good shape, but the ambulance is on the way.”
I gripped the phone so tight the screen cracked against my face. “What happened?” I asked, terrified of the answer I would receive.
“Best I can tell, it looks like a mugging gone wrong. Her purse is spilled open next to her, wallet missing, and she’s beat pretty bad.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“She’s unconscious.”
My heart stopped in my chest. “Is she breathing?” I asked so quietly I’m surprised he heard me.
“Yeah, that’s the first thing I checked.”
The blood started pumping through my veins again as I took a calming breath. “Stay with her until the ambulance gets there. Call me as soon as you know where they’re talking her.”
“On it.”
I hung up the phone and stood in the middle of the dark room, my thoughts a riot in my head. Relief, so profound it made my knees weak, washed through me as I realized she was still alive.
I hadn’t lost her for good.
But she was hurt. I didn’t know how bad, and I had no way of knowing until the fucking sun set and I could walk out of here without burning alive. But the second it slipped past the horizon, I was gone.
My feet itched to run to her, just like my hands ached to hold her.
I swore in that moment I’d never let anything bad ever happen to her again.
No matter what I had to do, no matter what it cost, I’d make sure she was safe. I’d make sure she was never scared or hurt ever again.
Chapter 11
Charlotte
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I knew that sound.
I’d heard it way too often recently.
I didn’t even need to open my eyes to know I was in the hospital. I was sure there was an IV in my hand and tubes in my nose. Just like I knew that was my heartbeat making that annoying rhythmic sound nearby.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were almost completely swollen shut. I wondered what else was damaged this time.
I let out a big breath, noting the way it made my ribs ache, and had at least part of my answer. Searching through my hazy memories of the last few minutes with that jerk in the alley, I just barely remembered him kicking me before everything went black.
I closed my slitted eyes and tried to go back to sleep. To let this nightmare fade to black again, but unfortunately, I was wide awake. Unconsciousness would have been a welcome reprieve from my own thoughts in that moment, but it didn’t seem like I was going to be that lucky.
I wondered how I got there. And who found me. And how long that had taken.
I wondered how long I’d have to be in the hospital this time. Or if there was enough vampire blood still left in my system to speed up the healing process.
I wondered if he knew…
No.
There was no way he could know I was in the hospital right now. Not that it mattered. He’d made himself perfectly clear. I wasn’t worth the trouble. And really, who could blame him? Apparently, if it wasn’t a vampire trying to harm me, it was a human. I wasn’t safe anywhere, with anyone.
The world had never been a scarier place for me. And damn it, I was so sick of being afraid.
As I lay there, trying to breathe evenly and ignore the pain that was slowly creeping its way past the meds, I wondered what would happen if he did find out I was in the hospital again.
Would he come see me?
Probably not.
It wasn’t like this latest threat to my life was in any way his responsibility. Why would he bother?
But I wished he would.
I wished he’d stalk into my hospital room like he always did. Throw his weight around, make a few demands, probably say something rude, and then whisk me away.
I wished he’d take me back to his place again. Where I’d actually felt safe.
I wished he’d hold me until I felt better. Until I wasn’t so scared. Until I forgot about all the reasons my life was a mess and just let myself get lost in him.
Instead, all I had to look forward to was checking out of the hospital on my own and returning to an empty apartment.
I squeezed my bruised eyes closed and imagined he really was there. The daydream was so vivid, I actually thought I could smell him. The crisp scent of his body wash was simultaneously like a balm and a bomb. It soothed me, but it also wrecked me.
A single tear leaked out of my eye and trickled down my battered face, and I let it, too tired to care.
“Don’t cry, love.”
My eyes snapped open the second I heard his voice.
I turned my heavy head to see Alexander sitting next to my bed, his eyes soft and his face creased with worry.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice shaky with emotion.
“I came as soon as I could.”
“But how did you know?”
He gripped the shirt over his abdomen, his face full of anguish now. “I felt you. Your fear, your anger, your pain.” He spit the last word like it tasted bad. “I had to come.”
So, this was just about the blood claim.
Our connection had alerted him to my latest near-death experience, and he’d come to see it for himself. It was nothing more, and I tried to tell my poor heart that, but she was thumping away anyway.
“Well, now you’ve seen that I made it, you can go.”
He was quiet for a long time. “Is that what you want?”
“It’s what you want,” I fired back.
He frowned. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. So, you can go.”
His frown deepened. “You’re not okay. Your nose is broken, your ribs are broken again, your skull is cracked, and your face is covered in bruises.”
“None of that is your problem.”
“Let me help you. I can give you my blood and you’ll be healed within minutes.”
His soft, kind words, the concern etched on his face, even the way he gripped the arms of the
chair like he was barely holding himself together. It all just served to piss me off.
What right did he have to come here?
Didn’t I tell him I didn’t want to see him anymore?
Did he think that didn’t apply to hospital visits?
The anger and pain swirled inside me until I couldn’t tell which was which. My hands clenched into tight fists and my whole body started shaking.
“I thought I wasn’t worth it,” I spat.
He jerked back. “What?”
I pointed a finger right at his face. “You said I wasn’t worth it, so what changed?”
He shook his head slowly. “I never said you weren’t worth it. That’s the farthest thing from the truth. I meant it wasn’t worth risking your life just so I wouldn’t have to lose you.”
My ribs were protesting loudly as my chest rose and fell with my sharp breaths. I was trying to understand what he was saying, but these words didn’t align with his words from that night. And his actions today sure as hell didn’t make sense in light of how he’d acted even just the other night.
I was so confused, and in so much pain, both physically and emotionally. It was draining, and I felt the tears building in my eyes before another one slipped out.
He leaned forward to catch it. “Please, don’t cry. It kills me to see you cry.”
I leaned away from his touch, even though it hurt to do so. All I wanted was to climb into his lap and let him hold me until everything was better. But that wasn’t an option. And that made me mad all over again.
“Then stop making me cry!”
He flinched and looked away. I thought he’d get up and leave, but instead, he dragged his chair closer to the bed. “Charlotte, my actions of late have been reprehensible. I’ve made so many mistakes in the past couple of weeks, it would take me hours to list them all. And even longer to apologize for them. But I am sorry.”
He reached out to trace one cool finger along the back of my hand. “I know I hurt you when I sent you away, and I’m so sorry for that. I was terrified that if I didn’t get you away from me and my world, I’d lose you permanently. In my mind, it was better to remove you from my life and know that you were okay somewhere far away from me than it was to risk something happening to you again.”
Blood Line Page 9