by K. A. Linde
Beckham nodded his head at Gerard before slipping out of the front seat and helping her out of the back. They left Gerard with the idling car. Reyna linked arms with Beckham as they walked down the street.
“I didn’t think I’d miss the city,” she told him. “I always hated it after my uncle abandoned us.”
“It’s easier to be anonymous in the city.”
“As if you’ve ever been anonymous.”
He cracked one of his rare smiles. “I can blend into the darkness, Little One.”
Reyna rolled her eyes at him and walked with him down the rest of the alley. He knocked on a side door. When nothing happened, he tried the handle and crushed the lock on his way inside.
“Wait,” Beckham said, holding his hand up to her when she moved to follow him.
She stilled with her foot about to cross the threshold, and then she smelled it.
“Oh God,” she whispered. “Blood.”
The tangy rusty smell permeated the air. Even before she was all the way into the safe house, she could smell its pungent aroma. This was one of the larger safe houses. They’d been hoping to find upwards of fifty people in this place. Reyna was terrified to see what was waiting for them.
Still, she couldn’t just stand there and wait. She steeled herself for what she was going to see. Processed it ahead of time and tucked it away safe and sound. She hung on to Beckham’s strong will. Then she walked forward, pulling the door closed behind her.
Bodies lay sprawled on the floor. So many bodies. Piled on top of one another and haphazardly arranged. As if someone had killed them then thrown them aside like trash. In comparison, the other murders had been almost…civil. Throats slit and cryptic messages.
This was grotesque. Deep puncture wounds in their necks and arms and wrists. As if multiple vampires had been let loose in a feeding frenzy.
Reyna covered her mouth. “Oh my God.”
Beckham didn’t say anything. He just strode into the room and observed what had happened. Reyna felt like her feet were buried in cement. Staring at all the dead bodies made her feel queasy. She would never get used to the blood and death. These had been people. Living breathing people and vampires had just mutilated them. They had no care for the lives these people had been living. Humans were just food. Nothing more.
She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and see what Beckham was seeing. She took in the number of bodies vaguely and the way they were arranged. She focused on the bite marks. The sheer number of bite marks.
“This is either a newborn or starved vampire. Or both,” Beckham said, pointing out a young woman with eight visible bite marks on her.
“How…how can you tell?”
“Most vampires go for the throat. It’s the easiest and most effective spot. Newly made and starved vampires have no conscience whatsoever. They’re merely eating machines. They ravage prey until their system is full of blood. Then they begin to return to themselves.”
“How horrible.”
A scream pierced the air. Reyna’s head snapped to the back stairs. She darted after Beckham, who moved at vamp super speed. She had just made it to the top stair when she saw Beckham struggling with a stray vampire. How dumb could the thing be to still be here.
She looked beyond it and saw a group of Elle members protecting the children behind them with a human barricade. Her heart went out to them. How long had they been enduring this? Watching the others die one by one and not knowing how long they could hold the vampire off.
“It’s okay. We’re going to get you out of here,” Reyna reassured them.
Whimpers and cries were heard, as relief flooded their systems. A few broke into tears as the fear relented. The children collapsed into waiting arms. A few whispered thank-yous were spoken.
Finally, Beckham restrained the vampire and Reyna reluctantly glanced away from the poor children. Beckham had his hands on either side of the vampire’s face, prepared to snap the neck of the foul beast who had murdered so many, who had clearly been sent here by Harrington to finish off his dirty work.
But when she made eye contact with the vampire, she gasped.
“Beckham, no!”
His eyes locked on hers in confusion. The vampire snarled angrily, trying to break Beckham’s hold.
“What?” Beckham demanded.
“It’s…it’s Brian.”
Chapter 16
Reyna’s heart shattered into pieces. Her body felt as if it were going to collapse. She couldn’t seem to process what she was seeing. The worst horror of all horrors before her.
Brian.
Her Brian.
Her oldest brother.
The protector of their small family.
She couldn’t fathom what she was seeing. It was a mirage. She was lost in the desert desperate for a drink and imagining an oasis. Only the oasis was a rattlesnake ready to strike. To wreck her and devour her and kill her.
“No,” she whispered.
She was amazed that words were even possible. When all she felt was despair. Not just that Brian was a vampire. A vampire she could handle. She could understand him becoming a vampire. She’d thought about it enough herself. She was dating one. Hell, she’d been employed by them, kidnapped by them, lived with them, loved them. Vampire wasn’t the problem.
Starved. Newborn. Murderer.
The words circled her conscience. Obliterated all other thought. Her brother was a starved newborn vampire who had murdered all the people downstairs. If she and Beckham hadn’t reached him, he would have killed the rest. Killed the children.
Monster.
She’d accused Beckham of it before. But this…this was what an uncontrollable monster looked like. Killing without purpose, unable to be reasoned with, or stopped without force. This was the vampires of nightmares she’d always been taught. And now…it was her brother.
“Reyna!”
Her eyes finally lifted to Beckham’s. He must have said her name multiple times. The look of frustration was clear on his face. She’d been adrift. Unable to process anything. Suddenly it all rushed back. She saw the people cowering in the corner and Beckham still working to restrain Brian and smelled all the blood.
“Call Gerard,” he snapped.
“Just don’t kill him.”
“Do it.”
Then Beckham smashed a fist into Brian’s face and half-carried, half-dragged him back down the stairs. Reyna watched them leave, her heart in her throat.
But she needed to listen to Beckham’s orders. They needed Gerard. She pulled out her cellphone and held her finger over the number three. He’d come get them just like Katarina and Philippé.
She slid the phone back in her pocket and then tried to channel Beckham’s calm. But it was gone. Completely out of reach. As if her own emotions still roaring in her ears kept her from feeling him. She couldn’t even sense him downstairs. All their hard work and in a time of crisis she felt nothing.
She shook her head and tried to drown out the chaos. There were people here. People who needed her help. One foot in front of the other.
“Okay. Who’s in charge here?” Reyna asked. She stepped forward. No one moved from their positions. “All right. It’s okay. We’re going to get you out of here safe and sound. We have a safe place for you to go to. Other survivors are there.”
Her phone buzzed. She checked her pocket and saw a text from Gerard letting her know he was out back.
“Okay. We need to get moving. The van is here to pick you up.” Reyna counted off the number of people and prayed the van would carry everyone. “It’s going to be a tight fit, so the children will have to sit on laps.” She gestured for them to move forward. “Please, cover the children’s eyes as much as you can. No one should have to see what we’re about to pass, but definitely not children.”
Each adult picked up at least one child in shaking arms and pressed their little heads into their shoulders. Reyna reached for the last little girl. The girl hugged onto Reyna when she scooped her up. Reyna rested her head on the girl’s as she carried her downstairs with the others. She sure hoped that none of them tried to sneak a peek. This wasn’t like seeing presents before Christmas. This was seeing death and destruction that would stay with you a lifetime.
They all hustled out of the house and into the frigid temperatures. Gerard was parked in back. Reyna hurried toward him and deposited the little girl into the backseat.
Reyna smiled sadly at her and then backed up as the rest of the survivors piled into the black van they’d selected from the garage for this very reason. One woman clasped her hand and murmured her thanks before getting inside.
Once the van was full to capacity, Reyna closed the sliding door and came around to the driver’s side. “You know where to take them?”
“Yes. Where’s the boss?”
“Dealing with another issue. Come back for us when you’re done. If we leave before then, I’ll text you.”
Gerard nodded once, taking orders from her as easily as he did from Beckham. Then he left her standing alone in the sludgy brackish water. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and promised herself she wouldn’t cry. She couldn’t lose it. She still had to figure out what the hell they were going to do about this. How they were going to deal with Brian being turned.
Harrington had done this.
And he had done it to her.
Once again, he had outmaneuvered her.
She drew her hands down her face.
With a shuddering breath, she returned to the safe house. Beckham had piled the bodies into a corner. Somehow, they looked even more gruesome that way. As if she and Beckham were moving furniture to clean the carpets. Except the furniture were people and the carpet was covered in a thick layer of blood. That was never coming out.
Brian was unconscious and tied to a chair. His head lolled forward against his chest. His emaciated figure shocked her. He’d always been a broad guy. Both he and Drew were made of packed muscle on wide frames. Even when they’d gone hungry, they’d never really been skinny. And she could see under his baggy clothes that he was wasting away to nothing.
“How is this possible?” she whispered. “It’s been, what, three weeks? Just three weeks since he was captured?”
Beckham nodded. “It’s the virus. Vampirism wreaks havoc on the body. It completely re-forms the body. It has to be able to give us the strength, speed, and hearing. The first week is most important. You have to be fed, and fed regularly, while the body grows and mutates. You are burning energy at such a high rate that, if not fed properly, the body eats away at itself.”
She clutched at her chest. His body was eating away at him. Dear God!
“How long do you think he’s been like this?”
“More than a week at least. He was on his last leg. I’ve seen it before.”
The way he said it made it sound personal.
“You’ve done this before?” she whispered.
He clenched his jaw. The only sign that he didn’t like how easily she could read him. “It’s a form of torture. We did it to our enemies or in interrogations. It’s a power play.” He paused and then continued, “It’s what was done to Sydney.”
Reyna sucked in a harsh breath. “She came out stronger for it.”
“That’s why I respected her.”
“She was uncommon?” Reyna guessed.
Beckham’s curt nod was enough to confirm everything she feared. Sydney was the exception. Her strength was rare. It was more likely that Brian was broken and might never recover from this.
“What do we do?” she demanded, shucking off all the fear and moving into action.
“Blood. He needs a lot of blood.”
“Where do we go? A blood bank? The hospital?”
“It’d be better to bring him back to Washington’s, where we can monitor him.”
“We have enough blood there?”
“Genevieve keeps us well stocked. You know his blood type?”
“Of course. He’ll be okay on the drive back?”
“He’ll be unconscious for a while,” Beckham said with a hint of regret.
“You did what you had to. Now we have to do what we can to save him. Harrington won’t win this.”
Beckham didn’t say anything for a moment as they both observed Brian. “Do you want to tell Drew and Laura?”
Reyna inhaled sharply. “No. No, I don’t want anyone else to know what he’s going through if I can help it.”
“Okay.”
Reyna loved that he didn’t argue with her. He didn’t try to comfort her. He didn’t try to soften the blow. They both knew it was dire. There was no use lying.
Chapter 17
Reyna called Gabe while they waited for Gerard to return with the van. He answered on the third ring.
“What?”
“We have an emergency here. We found Brian.”
“That’s great, Reyna! Why is that an emergency?”
“He’s a vampire.”
“Fuck!”
“And starving and…he did some things he’s not going to like if we can get him back to himself. We have to take him home to get him fed. Are you coming?”
“No. I can’t. I think this is going to take a while anyway.”
Reyna sighed. “Okay. Well, call when you want us to come pick you up after your meeting.”
“Will do. Take care of yourself. I’m sorry about Brian.”
She choked back her anger and tears. “Me too.”
She hung up the phone.
“Gabe is staying,” Beckham said. “That’s probably for the better.”
“He’s going out on a limb for us.”
“If I haven’t heard of this contact of his, then he’s not legendary.”
“You think very highly of yourself.”
Beckham brushed a kiss to her forehead. “With good reason.”
Pompous ass.
When Gerard arrived, Beckham untied Brian and handed Reyna the ropes. Then he tossed Brian over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. They piled into the van. Beckham tied Brian up in the backseat just in case and then they were off. Reyna kept glancing over her shoulder at Brian, watching him breathe softly. She wanted to brush his dark hair out of his eyes. Comfort him the way he had always comforted her. But it was a risk. She didn’t want him to wake up and attack her, without even knowing who she was.
There’d been absolutely nothing in his eyes when she’d looked into them. He’d just snarled and screamed like the monster he was. Completely lost to the virus. He hadn’t even recognized her. She had been just another blood source. Not his sister. Not the girl he’d raised into a woman and fed and clothed and protected and taken care of for much of her life.
She turned away sharply as her heart ached for the brother she felt slipping away behind her. She hoped the long road ahead of them would be worth it.
* * *
—
Beckham dragged Brian’s body into an empty bedroom upstairs. He upgraded from rope to chains just to be sure Brian couldn’t get free when he woke up. In fact, he seemed a little too comfortable with tying someone up.
“How many times have you done that?” Reyna asked.
Beckham clicked the lock into place. “Many many times.”
Beckham winked at her as he left her alone in the room. She sank into a chair against the wall and watched Brian until Beckham came back with a cooler full of blood. Reyna’s eyes rounded.
“That’s a lot of blood!”
“He’s going to need this and more. I just sent Genevieve out for some.” Beckham set the cooler down. “A positive, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How did he and Drew end up with such a common blood type and yours is so incredibly rare?”
“I ask myself that every day.”
It was only a few minutes before Brian finally woke up. Reyna jumped to her feet as he roused. Beckham must have hit him really fucking hard for him to be out for over an hour. She didn’t want to think about it. But at least he was awake.
He was no better than when they’d first gotten him though. He woke up with a fiery vengeance. He snapped and snarled and yelled. He tried to kick and bite and claw his way out of the chair. But with the chains in place, he wasn’t going anywhere. Especially not as malnourished as he was.
“You should go downstairs,” Beckham told her.
“No, I want to be here for him.”
Beckham’s eyes were black and depthless. His hardened mask was in place. And for the first time since she’d found Brian, she delved into Beckham’s emotions. He was practically projecting them into her. She could feel the hardened exterior, the savage beast within. She could practically taste the ferocity on her tongue. Feel the thing he had to become to handle this.
And feel that he didn’t want her to become it. He was doing this to protect her. As much as he worried for her fragility, he didn’t want this to ruin her fragile human heart. He’d promised to break it. But only him. Not this. Never this.
She swallowed and nodded. No words needed to be spoken. They were on the same page.
She stepped through the door and tried to close herself off to the sounds coming from the room down the hall.
* * *
—
It was hours and hours before the others finally returned. Reyna had retreated to the farthest corner of the house. She was sure she could still hear Brian’s screams. Or maybe that was just in her head.
“Hey!” Jodie said, skipping into the room. “We just had the best day. Wait…what’s wrong?”
Reyna shook her head. She didn’t want to repeat the words. She’d been trying to forget them all day. Despite the screams.