Lisa gasped and halted midstep. Bending forward, she clutched her belly with her free hand as her face contorted with pain.
Concern rose as Taelon gripped his chest. What the srul was he doing? Neither one of them was in any condition to confront a houseful of probably hostile vampires or immortals who likely wouldn’t want them to abscond with his sister.
I’m okay, Lisa told him mentally. Stop looking like you want to kick yourself in the ass.
You aren’t okay. And you should be the one kicking me in the ass. You shouldn’t be here. I’m putting you in danger.
I’m carrying an alien baby, Taelon. I’ll be in danger everywhere I go. Stop worrying about me so we can see what’s up with your sister.
We should come back when I’m stronger.
She bit her lip. You aren’t getting stronger, honey. You’re getting weaker. Did you really think I hadn’t noticed?
Of course she had. She noticed everything about him, just as he noticed everything about her.
Tucking her shoulder under his arm, Lisa steadied him while he continued to clutch his chest. You said Amiriska is here now. Tomorrow she might not be. And we can’t wait for the cavalry to arrive because there isn’t one. There’s just the two of us. Tomorrow you might be weaker. Tomorrow I might be in labor. It’s now or never.
She didn’t wait for him to respond, just trudged forward.
Taelon tried not to lean on her as they made their way up the sidewalk to a large front door.
It opened as they reached it, swinging inward to reveal three figures, all clad in black. More rose in the room behind them, but Taelon saw only the three directly in front of him, his gaze zeroing in on the smallest.
Amiriska stared up at him, her pretty face pale, her bright green eyes glistening with tears.
Marcus, the vampire who had visited their motel room with Roland, stood close behind her. A second man, several inches taller, stood beside him. Both faded into the background like shadows as Taelon gazed down at his little sister.
A cry escaped her. Cupping her hands over her mouth as though to hold back more, Amiriska stared up at him as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Tears spilled over her lashes and raced down her cheeks.
Taelon’s vision blurred as his own eyes filled. She was alive. Riska.
Amiriska lunged forward, threw her arms around him, and began to sob.
When Marcus reached for her, Taelon stiffened. His hand tightened on Lisa’s shoulder, ready to shove her behind him.
But the other man grabbed Marcus’s arm and held him back. “Wait.”
When the men made no further moves toward them, produced no weapons, and issued no threats, Taelon cautiously released his hold on Lisa, wrapped his arms around Amiriska, and hugged her tight, uncaring of the increased agony it spawned in his chest. She was alive. His baby sister was alive.
Ducking his head, he rested his cheek on her hair and wept.
Lisa’s heart sledgehammered in her chest as she divided her attention between Taelon and the men inside the house. There was no doubt in her mind that Taelon had found his sister. And his sister looked good from what Lisa had seen of her before she hugged Taelon and burst into tears.
No more than five feet tall, Amiriska appeared healthy and didn’t behave as though she was being held against her will. Marcus, the vampire Roland had brought to their motel room, stood behind her and started to interfere with the siblings’ reunion, but the taller man held him back.
Pain ripped through Lisa’s abdomen. Wincing, she shifted and unobtrusively leaned the long weapon she’d been holding behind her against the outer wall of the house where the men hopefully wouldn’t see it. The baby kicked hard. Rubbing a hand over the mound of her belly, she returned her gaze to Taelon and hoped like hell none of the men inside intended them harm. When she’d given the bay window a quick glance, she had seen a hell of a lot of black. She was too short to peer past the tall men blocking the doorway—Marcus was six foot one or thereabouts and the other she guessed was six foot eight or nine. But a rough guess yielded a couple dozen men and women lurking somewhere behind them.
Vampires? Immortals?
She didn’t know. But she was pretty sure one semiautomatic rifle wouldn’t hold them all at bay if they decided to strike.
The taller man leaned to one side and caught her gaze. “Are you all right?” he asked, his deep voice flavored with what she thought was a British accent tinged with a hint of something else.
Her fear multiplied. This guy had to be a vampire. He radiated power like the sun radiated heat.
She gave him an abrupt nod. When her hair blocked her view, she released her tummy long enough to brush it back and tuck it behind one ear.
Something like surprise flickered across his handsome features.
“Ami?” Marcus said softly, distracting her. His brow furrowed with concern.
Amiriska leaned back and looked up at Taelon. “How is this possible?” she asked in a choked whisper.
Taelon cupped her face in one hand and shook his head, too overcome with emotion to speak.
“Ami,” Marcus repeated, keeping his voice low, “who is this?”
Keeping one arm around her brother, Amiriska offered Marcus a watery smile. “He’s my brother.”
Marcus’s eyes widened, as did those of the man beside him.
Taelon eyed both with suspicion. He tightened his hold on his sister. Then his gaze seemed to lose focus. He blinked several times in quick succession and listed sideways toward Lisa.
She gasped as his green eyes abruptly rolled back in his head as his knees buckled.
“Taelon!” she and Amiriska both shouted at the same time.
His sister locked both arms around his waist and braced herself, miraculously keeping him upright despite her diminutive size.
When Marcus and the other man started forward, Lisa grabbed the rifle and aimed it at them. “Stay back!”
They halted.
Marcus slid Taelon’s sister a look. “Ami…”
“I’m okay,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’ve got him.” Her red-rimmed green eyes caught and held Lisa’s. “He’s heavy as hell though, so I don’t know how much longer I can hold him.”
Heart racing, panic building, Lisa looked from Amiriska to the vampires and back. “Can you help me get him to the car?” She knew the chances of the vampires just letting the three of them waltz away were slim to none, but… hey, she had to try.
Marcus took a step forward.
Lisa aimed the rifle at him. “I said stay back!”
Though he raised his hands in surrender, a muscle leapt in his jaw.
“Seth,” Amiriska said, her words a little strained. “A little help, please?”
The taller man raised a hand, palm out toward her.
Amiriska sighed, the strain leaving her face as though her burden had lightened. She met Lisa’s gaze. “It’s okay. Marcus is my husband.”
Lisa gaped at her. “What?”
“Marcus is my husband. And Seth there”—she nodded at the supertall one—“is like a father to me. You and Taelon are safe here.”
Like a father? Lisa shook her head. But they were vampires.
Dismay rose. Were the books and movies right? Could vampires hypnotize humans and trick them into doing their will? Had they done that to Amiriska? Had they made her believe they were her family so she would do their bidding without question?
Seth shifted, catching Lisa’s eye. “We aren’t vampires. We’re immortals. And Ami is here of her own free will. No one is forcing her to remain with us.”
Marcus snorted, though he kept a watchful eye on Lisa’s weapon. “If anyone tried to force Ami to do something she didn’t want to, she’d kick his ass.”
“Hell yes, I would,” Amiriska declared with a watery chuckle as she shifted Taelon a little bit in her arms. “What’s wrong with my brother?”
How was Ami even holding him upright? She was half his weight!
A
chilling thought intruded. Had they turned Ami into a vampire?
“We aren’t vampires,” Seth repeated.
Shit. He wasn’t reading her mind, was he?
“Yes, I am.” He looked at Ami. “He was tortured.”
Ami’s face paled, then filled with fury. “What? Where? By whom?”
Seth’s lips tightened. “By the medical personnel Gershom controlled at the base. He and Lisa were both held captive there and escaped the night we blitzed the place.”
Lisa just stared at him, so confused she didn’t know what to think.
Ami looked at Marcus. “We need to get him inside.”
Marcus moved so fast he became but a blur of motion, plucking the rifle from Lisa’s grasp before she could even stiffen in surprise.
A cry of fear escaped her.
Marcus stilled and handed the weapon to Seth. “I’m sorry. I had to do that. Your hands are shaking, and I can’t risk you accidentally shooting Ami or Adira.” He took a step toward the siblings.
Instinct driving her, Lisa swiftly shifted to stand in front of them—a short, big-bellied, trembling shield that even she knew would do little to slow him down if he tried to hurt Taelon, but damn if she wouldn’t try.
Marcus’s features softened. “It’s okay. You’re both safe here. I love Ami and would give my life to protect her. I just don’t want her brother to die in her arms here on the front porch before I even have a chance to meet him. Please step aside and let us heal him.”
Movement down by his knees distracted her.
Bright orange curls preceded a plump face as a toddler pushed her way between Marcus and Seth and stopped in front of them.
Lisa stared down at the child.
The lovely little girl stared back with curious green eyes, then grinned. Reaching up, the child wrapped a tight fist around one of Lisa’s index fingers.
All of Lisa’s fear and anxiety fell away like water slipping down a drain. The pain in her stomach eased. The damn tears that threatened receded. And she felt… good. She felt safe.
“Step back, Adira,” Amiriska said softly. “Give Mommy and Daddy some room.”
Mommy and Daddy? This was Amiriska’s daughter? Taelon’s niece?
Marcus stepped out and bent as though he intended to toss Taelon over his shoulder.
“Watch his chest and abdomen,” Lisa said as Adira tugged her out of the way.
He paused. Tucking one arm beneath Taelon’s knees and wrapping the other around his back, Marcus lifted Taelon as easily as he would a child, taking care to jostle him as little as possible.
Lisa’s anxiety rose once more as she watched him carry Taelon inside, Amiriska close on his heels. She looked up at Seth. “Please, don’t hurt him.”
He sent her a kind smile. “We won’t. You’re both safe here, Lisa.”
“How did you know my name?”
“I’ve been searching for you ever since you went missing, hoping to free you.”
“I don’t even know you.”
He nodded and backed away. “The story is a long one. Come inside, please, and let us heal you both. Then we can talk.”
Unwilling to let Taelon out of her sight, Lisa stepped into the house.
The little toddler—Adira—continued to cling to her finger.
Seth closed the door behind them, sealing them inside.
The interior of the house was huge. On Lisa’s left lay a dining room that boasted a long, gleaming table with at least thirty chairs pulled up to it. On her right and stretching out in front of her was an enormous living room. When Marcus and Amiriska strode through it toward a hallway on the opposite end, Lisa followed. Her heart began to pound once more as two to three dozen men and women rose from a multitude of sofas, love seats, and wingback chairs. Every man was over six feet tall with broad shoulders. All but one or two of the women were petite like Lisa and Amiriska. All wore black. All watched Lisa with piercing eyes. And all were within arm’s reach of the shitload of gleaming katanas, shoto swords, daggers, and sais that littered almost every available surface.
Lisa hadn’t been this terrified since the night she and Taelon had escaped the base.
The toddler tightened her grip on Lisa’s finger.
Again, Lisa’s fear drained away. Or most of it, anyway. And when it did, she realized that the men and women weren’t watching her with malice or leers or nefarious intent but with curiosity and… concern?
“Melanie.”
Lisa jumped when Seth spoke. She hadn’t realized he was right behind her. The man made no sound at all when he moved!
A pretty brunette Lisa’s height left the crowd and moved toward them, her brow furrowed. A handsome man, as tall as Taelon’s six foot two or three, his black hair falling beneath his shoulders, followed on Melanie’s heels.
Another woman who must be nearly six feet tall stepped around… a large, partially gift-wrapped box surrounded by torn paper and curly ribbon?… and approached Seth. As soon as she reached his side, she slipped her hand into his.
Marcus and Amiriska continued down the hallway and ducked through a doorway.
Lisa hurried to catch up with them, the toddler trotting along beside her.
When she stepped through the doorway, Lisa’s eyes widened as she took in a spacious, very modern infirmary.
How big was this freaking house?
A wall that was tiled to about waist height, then double-paned glass above with blinds in between that could be closed, divided the room into two sections. The section on the left boasted a row of neatly made beds bracketed by comfortable-looking chairs and bedside tables. Large-screen televisions hung on the wall opposite them. Beneath the TVs, shelves bore an assortment of electronic gaming devices, chessboards, tattered decks of cards, and a large selection of books.
The section on the right looked like a hospital operating room. Every surface gleamed, antiseptically clean, beneath lights so bright they hurt her eyes. Several surgical or exam tables occupied much of the floor space but, nevertheless, allowed room for a conglomeration of medical machinery Lisa couldn’t identify.
Marcus gently lowered Taelon to the nearest table.
Lisa pushed forward and took one of Taelon’s hands. He was so pale, the rise and fall of his chest shallow. And the heat pouring off him indicated his fever had risen.
Seth motioned to Melanie and the long-haired man behind her. “This is Dr. Melanie Lipton and her husband, Bastien.” He then gestured to the tall woman. “This is my wife, Leah. Ami already introduced Marcus.”
Melanie grabbed a pair of vinyl gloves from a nearby box and looked at Seth. “You said he’s been tortured?”
“Yes.” Seth moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed beside Marcus.
Amiriska stood at the head of the bed, brushing the hair back from her brother’s forehead. “I still can’t believe it,” she whispered. Tears spilled over her lashes as she met Lisa’s gaze. “I never thought I’d see any of my family again.”
Before Lisa could respond, Melanie stepped up beside her with a pair of oddly angled surgical scissors in one hand.
Marcus glanced down at the toddler who still clung to Lisa’s finger. “Adira, honey, go play with Michael in the living room while we help Mommy’s brother feel better.”
“Okay, Daddy,” Adira replied, her pretty face somber.
Fear and anxiety returned with a vengeance as soon as the child released Lisa, seeming to grow with every step the child took. As everyone else focused on Taelon, Lisa’s heart began to race. Her breath quickened. Her grip on Taelon’s hand tightened.
Melanie cut away Taelon’s shirt, then peeled away the bandages. Gasps and swears filled the room as she revealed the long, angry red incision that bisected his chest and abdomen, as well as the mass of other markings the butchers at the base had left on him.
Fury darkened every face.
Amiriska continued to gently comb her brother’s hair back from his face as she met Seth’s gaze. A muscle twitched in he
r cheek. “I want to kill the bastards who did this.”
“We already did,” Seth said.
“Then bring them back so I can kill them again.”
“Would that I could,” he muttered.
Melanie cut the rest of Taelon’s clothing away, then draped a towel across his hips.
Amiriska bent and pressed a kiss to Taelon’s forehead—tears still streaming down her cheeks, nose red—and backed away a step.
Everyone else took a step back, too.
Everyone save Seth. “Lisa,” he said.
Her whole body trembling, she looked up at him.
“You’ll have to release him.”
Incapable of speech, she shook her head.
“Please. It will make healing him easier if you aren’t touching him.”
She wanted to comply but couldn’t seem to make her hand let go of his. Tears welled in her eyes.
Amiriska rounded the table. Covering Lisa and Taelon’s clasped hands, she gently disengaged Lisa’s grasp, then twined her own fingers through Lisa’s and held on tight. “It’s okay. Seth is going to help him.”
Lisa forced a nod but didn’t step back.
Amiriska stood close, her shoulder and arm brushing Lisa’s. “Go ahead.”
Seth rested one hand on Taelon’s chest and the other on Taelon’s forehead.
Amiriska frowned. “He received these wounds at the base?”
“Yes,” Lisa responded.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. They should’ve healed by now.”
Lisa swallowed past the lump in her throat. “He said the same thing. He’s worried that… whatever the doctors at the base did to him may have permanently damaged his ability to regenerate.” Lisa’s attention remained fastened on Taelon and Seth. Her breath caught when Seth’s hands acquired a golden glow.
She felt more than saw Amiriska look at her. “You know what my brother is?”
“Yes.” Astonishment rippled through Lisa as the incision in Taelon’s chest lost the angry red coloring and began to shrink, the flesh miraculously knitting itself back together. Her eyes widened. Another of those painful cramps ripped through her abdomen. The baby kicked hard and shifted, as though she felt it, too. Wincing, Lisa leaned forward slightly and rubbed her belly with her free hand.
The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1) Page 20