Blood: Under the Skin Book 1

by K. B. Ladnier

  “You’re not fine! Do you know how many times you broke your hands, your face, and your shoulders? Thirty-six times, Vex! I counted every time I heard a crack. So, don’t you tell me ‘you can stop fretting’.” I added that last part in my best British imitation of him.

  “That was awful, pet. Worst representation of me yet,” he gave me a mock affronted look before smiling.

  “Shut up and let’s get you up.”

  Sloan and Hollis helped me lift him from the ground, Hollis undoing the shackles for him when he was standing.

  Vex held his hand out to Hollis. “Thank you. Both of you,” he said looking back and forth between my two men. “If you hadn’t helped, I fear what I would’ve done to Lucy otherwise.”

  Hollis shook his hand, giving him an easy smirk. “We’re glad we were here.” He let go and rubbed the back of his neck. “As strange as this all is, we’re just glad that Lucy has some answers about her past and that you were just trying to protect her. As badly as it was executed, by taking her the way you did, I understand the intentions behind it and can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same.”

  “I thought it was a rather ingenious idea,” Vex replied proudly.

  “This coming from the guy who named his favorite weapon Betty,” I joked.

  His facial expression shifted to horror. “Shite! Betty!” He felt around in his back pockets, coming up empty. “That bastard! If I lost her, there will be hell to pay!”

  Without another word, he raced from the cell, leaving Sloan and Hollis looking between the open doorway and me with confused expressions.

  I waved my hand dismissively with a chuckle. “Don’t ask. Come on,” I started walking out of the cell, knowing exactly where Vex was going to look for his prized hammer. “We better help him find Betty before the sun comes completely up and we’re stuck here for another day.”

  As the guys followed behind me through the corridor, I heard Sloan ask Hollis, “What’s a Betty?”

  Thankfully, Vex found his silver tipped hammer quickly, showing the guys exactly what Betty was. Sloan had laughed, finding it absolutely entertaining when Vex kissed the handle. I laughed when Sloan tried to touch it and Vex smacked his hand away like he was a child before pocketing it while giving Sloan a suspicious look.

  Hollis just shook his head at our shenanigans and began corralling us to the exit, wanting to get on the road and back to the station before dawn.

  Luckily, all the agents who had followed him and Sloan waited in their cars while we were inside, stashed extra bags of donor blood in their glove compartments. Vex and I immediately loaded up on the blood. He said he was still a little fuzzy from the after effects of the BloodLust, but the Blood he was given would help shake it off within the next couple of hours.

  I was relieved at that, glad to see that his mind hadn’t completely broken from the fuckery Bellamy had placed on it.

  When we had exited, I saw Diego leaning against one of the cars and rushed to his side to hug him. I got a few weird looks from Sloan and Hollis, but they understood that Diego and I had built a friendship while in the compound.

  We quickly got back on the road, Vex and Sloan sitting in the back so I could lean back in the passenger seat. It did my heart good to hear Vex and Sloan talking quietly to each other, obviously becoming fast friends. I had a feeling they would with how similarly playful they both tended to be. Sloan’s was a bit more of a cheerful and happy kind of playful, while Vex’s version teetered on the line of loony playful.

  Hollis’ hand grabbed mine from beside me, squeezing it gently. “You doing okay, Lucy? You’ve been quiet since we started driving.”

  I nodded and turned my head to smile at him. “Yeah. Just soaking in everything that’s happened. It feels weird to be going home finally. How is everyone? Claudia, Ricky, Randi?”

  Hollis chuckled. “Randi called every day to check and see if there were any updates. She wanted us to let you know when we found you that you still have your job and to just take whatever time you need before coming back. She missed you.”

  “I missed her, too. Thank you for keeping in touch with her. I was afraid I’d lose my job for disappearing without a word.”

  “Nah. She loves you and wouldn’t do that,” he replied, bringing my hand up to kiss my knuckles lightly.

  “And Claudia?”

  “Ha!” shouted Sloan from the back seat. “You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t glue herself to you when you get back. That woman is a damn dictator! A little scary even.”

  I giggled. “Sounds about right. I’m guessing she was ready to grab some pitch forks and go hunting down whoever took me?”

  Hollis snorted. “Forget the pitch forks. She was ready to set off nuclear missiles. She stormed into the station demanding to be part of the search and rescue. Made one of my colleagues uncomfortable enough he stepped as far around her as he left the room as he possibly could. Bishop Bentley doesn’t get uncomfortable, so that says a lot.”

  “Really? Who is he?” I asked, curious how my tiny glitter demon friend could scare even an STF agent.

  “A bull shifter. And a scary effin one at that,” replied Sloan.

  “A bull shifter? Really?” Vex asked excitedly.

  “Yep. I wouldn’t even mess with him,” Hollis added.

  “Claudia should be there when we get back. She refused to leave when we told her we had an idea of where you might be. Not even Abraham could make her move.”

  I laughed, loving my best friend even more for her unwavering loyalty.

  The rest of the drive was a mix of silent conversations and me in and out of sleep. I knew I needed to rest when we got back; otherwise, I’d be useless in helping them figure out where Bellamy was planning to execute his siege.

  When we got to the station, I was immediately enveloped in a bone crushing hug from Claudia.

  “Don’t you ever, ever, ever, ever do that to me again! Do you hear me?” She bellowed at me angrily.

  “You’re breaking me, Claude. Wanna let up a little on the squeezing?”

  She immediately let go. “Oh! Sorry! You must be exhausted. Who took you? Why did they take you? Were you hurt?” she bombarded me with questions, but Vex was the one to step up to answer.

  “That’d be my doing,” he replied politely. “Sorry to have worried you about Lucy, but I swear I did it for her protection.”

  I shouted in surprise when Claudia reared her fist back and delivered a solid punch to Vex’s nose.

  “Claudia! Don’t! He’s my maker!”

  Vex held his nose while it gushed blood, not looking in the least bit upset. In fact, he looked rather amused. Claudia shook her hand out and looked up at me with wide eyes and her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish.

  “W-what? Wait. Maker?” She said, pointing at Vex.

  Sloan’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter at Claudia’s face, handing Vex some tissues to wipe his nose.

  “Yes! He took me because he thought he was protecting me from his maker, the real bad guy in all this.” I took Vex’s face in my hands to inspect his nose, but it was already healing and the blood was stopping. Thank God, he was an older vampire. A broken nose took at least a few hours to days for younger vampires like me.

  “Oh! Well. Whoops. Sorry maker dude,” she said with an embarrassed shrug, her tone apologetic.

  “It’s fine. That was a good punch,” he said happily, tossing the soiled tissue into the trash and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

  Hollis cleared his throat, gaining our attention. “Lucy, you and Claudia should go to rest. We’re going to start figuring out where Bellamy might be heading to set off his vampire army. That is, if you don’t mind staying up for a bit to help us, Vex?”

  “I could do that,” Vex responded. He leaned down and kissed my temple. “Go rest, pet. You need it.”

  I bobbed my head and gave him a quick hug before releasing him. Hollis walked over and kissed my forehead. “See you in a couple of hours, baby. He�
�ll be fine with us.”

  “Yeah,” added Sloan as he slung his arm around my other side. “We’ve gotta indoctrinate him into the Lucy Love Nest we’ve got going on. Just some manly banter, maybe some arm wrestling and light hazing. No biggie.”

  I elbowed him with a grin. “Play nice, fuzz butt. No hazing!” I said pointedly with my finger poking at his chest.

  “Alright, fine! Just take the fun out of everything!” He smacked his lips to mine in an obnoxious kiss and followed the other two to the debriefing room.

  Claudia looped her arm through mine and started leading me to where the extra coffins were that the vampire STF agents used when they pulled longer shifts.

  “Sooooo …” she started, her voice playful and accusatory. “Lucy Love Nest, huh? Is Vexie now part of your harem of hotties? Cause if so, I want all the details of how this happened so I can go back to pretending to hate you for it.”

  I laughed and shook my head at her. “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got time! I’m still awake enough to push my coffin right up next to yours and have this be my bed time story.”

  “Alright, but no interrupting!” I scolded her.

  “Yes! My lips are sealed!”

  There was a good chance I’d get no rest today. Claudia not interrupting was about as likely as vampires no longer needing blood to survive.

  She’s lucky I loved her.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I ended up resting the entire day, not realizing how tired I’d actually been.

  When I stepped from the coffin I was using, the one Claudia had slept in was empty. She awed over the story of what I’d been doing the whole time I was gone, completely blown away as much as I was about how I came to be a vampire and why Vex had to leave me behind. While some of my stay there would probably haunt me for many rests to come, the memories of getting to know Vex were enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

  It amazes me how much had changed in the dynamics of my life within such a short period of time. It felt like forever ago that Sloan and I were sneaking around, screwing each other’s brains out for fun. Since Hollis came into my life – well, our lives – it was like everything was falling into place. Having Vex here with me now as well, put those pieces together, holding them firmly in place. I’d never felt so whole and loved before, and it was an amazingly exhilarating feeling.

  I walked into the briefing room to see Vex and Hollis huddled together at one of the tables with some of Hollis’ men. Sloan was passed out in one of the chairs in the corner, his head lulled to the side and drool escaping from the corner of his mouth.

  I chuckled at him and made my way over to the table with the others, Hollis immediately wrapping his arms around me when I stepped between him and Vex.

  “Hey beautiful. Did you rest well?” He asked.

  I yawned, sighing with a smile before I answered. “Yeah, I think so. Where’s Claudia?”

  Vex’s hand started rubbing circles on my lower back. “She went to fetch a change of clothes for you and her when the sun went down. Said something about getting a broom, too. Why on earth would she need a broom?” His nose crinkled in confusion.

  The look was so damn cute on him that I laughed and reached my arms around him to hug him at the waist. “She probably said Abraham. That’s her maker.”

  “Oh! Well that makes a lot more sense.”

  Everyone laughed at poor Vex’s expense.

  “What are you guys doing?” I asked, looking over all the scattered papers on the table.

  “You guys can go take a break. We’ll go over this more in a few hours,” Hollis said to his team. They filed out of the room after a round of the usual “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Hollis pointed to one of the papers on the table that looked like a map, but wasn’t one with roads on it. “Vex says that Bellamy planned to start the siege around the Central Park area right at sundown two days from now. The problem is, he didn’t specify to him how they would start from there if there are no buildings to hide hundreds of vampires right up until sunset. It got me thinking that they weren’t necessarily going to need buildings to start from there.”

  I wrinkled my brows. “I’m not following.”

  Vex pulled the map Hollis pointed at closer, tracing his fingers along some lines. “These are the sewer lines beneath the park. The sewers are the perfect hideaway for the mass he has waiting. They’re dark, interconnected between each other underneath the whole city, and have many exit points. It’s the perfect plan, yet it’s one we can foil. That is, if he hasn’t changed his plan. We may have the advantage if he thinks either you are dead and I’m back to his obedient servant, or I am dead and you know nothing of his plan. In his mind, he’s probably already won.”

  I stared at the map, understanding what he was getting at. Bellamy still had no idea what happened with us in the compound. He’d never see us coming if we attacked before he did.

  “That’s brilliant!” I exclaimed excitedly. “You guys have really been thinking this through.”

  “We haven’t stopped since you went to rest,” Hollis explained. A loud snore came from the corner Sloan was sleeping in. “Well, Vex and I haven’t. Sloan was falling asleep standing so we made him take a nap. Took a good hour of convincing him, though.”

  “Yes. Your wolf lover is stubborn. He doesn’t listen very well.” Vex said, eyeing Sloan over his shoulder.

  “You’re just mad because he tried sneaking that damn hammer of yours out of your pocket while you weren’t looking,” Hollis added with a smirk.

  “Betty is not something I’ll share with either of you! Lucy? Yes. She loves you and that damn wolf too much for me to be selfish enough to try and take her away. But Betty is mine!”

  I giggled at how territorial he was getting over his prized weapon, standing on my tip toes to kiss his cheek. “Yes. She’s all yours. I’ll have a talk with Sloan about leaving her alone.”

  “I knew I made a good choice when I made you, pet. You may be the only one I’ll ever let touch her.”

  I smiled wide, knowing that if he was willing to share that stupid hammer he’s obsessed with, he must truly care about me.

  “You two are strange,” Hollis said with the shake of his head.

  “You love us,” joked Vex.

  Hollis pointed at me. “Her? Yes,” then pointed at Vex. “You? I like, but don’t think that means I’ll cuddle with you when Lucy decides to have a Lucy Love Nest sleepover.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Who the hell decided that that was going to be a thing? Lucy Love Nest? Come on!”

  “Well seventy-five percent of us in it are vampires. Vampires congregating together make a nest. You’re Lucy and we all love you. I think it fits.”

  “You would,” I groused at him. “You’re just as bad as Claudia with the weird necessity to nickname everything.”

  The doors to the briefing room crashed open. Claudia entered the room with her hands out wide to her sides. “Did someone say my name? Cause I have arrived!”

  Sloan jolted awake with a snort and fell out of his chair, jumping to his feet the second he hit the ground.

  “I’m up! I’m awake! What’s happening?”

  “You got a little something there,” I motioned to the drool on his face, trying my best not to laugh.

  He wiped at his mouth in confusion, a look of embarrassment crossing his features when he saw what it was. He turned a glare on the approaching Claudia, who currently had a large duffel bag slung across her shoulder. She set it down by my feet when she got to us.

  “Brahm is on his way up. Had to deal with a call from one of his managers at the club in Las Vegas,” she explained. “There’s a change of clothes for everyone. Especially you.” She said that last part to Vex.

  I was so out of it from finally being back with my guys and needing some rest, it hadn’t occurred to me that Vex had yet to change out of his clothes from the night before. He was still wearing the same jeans and leather jacket, both o
f which were torn up in some places and the jeans were stained with blood.

  “Why didn’t you change into something while I was resting? The STF has extra sweats you could use.” I motioned at the ones I was wearing. They were a bit too big on me considering they were Hollis’, but at least they were clean and my ass wasn’t hanging out.

  He gave me an affronted look. “Pet, as beautiful as you look in just about anything, do you really expect me to wear those hideous things? I’m a leather and jeans man. Not sweats. I’d sooner walk around naked than wear those.”

  “No!”

  “Don’t!”

  “Yes, please!”

  Hollis, Sloan and Claudia all said in tandem. It wasn’t hard to guess who said what.

  Vex’s face fell in disappointment. “Well, fine. Ruin my fun.”

  Claudia leaned down and unzipped the bag, handing everyone something to change into. When she got to Vex, she had clothes in her hands that looked similar to what he had on, plus a shirt, though.

  “Don’t worry, Vexie,” she said with a wink. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t wear just anything. Abraham had these stashed in his wardrobe, so I nicked them.”

  “For God’s sakes woman, I don’t know whether to strangle you for the infernal nickname, or kiss you for giving me decent clothes!”

  “I vote just a nice hug,” I said innocently with my hand held up.

  “Make that two votes on that one,” a voice said behind us.

  I pivoted to look around Vex’s hulking form and saw Abraham walking towards us. I smiled and stepped around Vex to envelope him in a hug. He responded with one of his familiar bear hugs I hadn’t had in a while, his expensive cologne flooding in through my nostrils.

  “Hey, Brahm. How are you?” I asked as we pulled away from each other.

  He gave me a megawatt smile that I had no clue how Claudia resisted. The man was a walking symbol of sex.

  Abraham always wore finely tailored slacks, white button up shirts with the top buttons undone and Italian leather dress shoes. My favorite detail was his suspenders, though. Something that was usually hidden beneath a suit coat or on old men looked positively seductive on his slender, yet muscular chest. His hair was a rich, chocolate brown, cut in a way that gave him a fifties vibe, which apparently was one of his favorite eras. His jaw was lined with a six o’clock shadow and his piercing red eyes were shadowed by long dark lashes.