Lucius takes my arm and looks into my eyes. And we blur in an instant. I’ve never travelled like this, but it still doesn’t feel like we’ll get there in time.
I try to send Bri a message. I’m coming. Hold on.
Her messages are fading, getting dimmer. Hard to breathe in here. The human man locked me down here and has a gun. But I have a plan.
“She’s getting weaker!” I cry out to Lucius. Cars and scenery stream by as we enter the Phoenix outskirts. “We need to go faster.”
“This is as fast as I can take you,” he replies.
And then we’re there. The broken-down house that Bri showed me in her mind. Her car is there, along with another vehicle, an old pickup truck.
“She’s in the basement,” I hiss. But then I hold up a hand. “The other human is inside there.” I point to the shack, a dilapidated iceberg alone in this ocean of dry grass and tumbleweed.
Lucius nods. Smells the air. “He’s alone, so far.” He closes his eyes. “But a vampire is coming.” He goes still, then snaps into action.
“Who is it? How far away?”
“Ten miles or so. I’ll slow him. You go get Bri.”
But I’m already inside, even as Lucius raises his arms and closes his eyes, scanning the area with his mind.
As soon as I enter the dark house, I catch my breath. There’s a human lifting the hatch. I can read from his memories that he’s been told by the incoming vampire to strap Bri down like the rest of the women, so the vampire can auction off her last blood tonight, too.
I fly over to attack, and just as I do, Bri is there. She’s at the top of the ladder and she has in her hand a shard of broken glass all wrapped up in gauze.
She screams and slashes at the man’s arms, over and over. He shoves her, and she falls backwards to the floor of the basement room.
“Fuuuuck!” He roars, dropping his gun, stumbling. Blood runs thin and fresh from the wounds. “I’ll kill you, bitch!” He scrambles around, cursing, looking for his gun.
But Bri’s up already, clambering the ladder. She’s fast and determined, and in a second, she’s past him and to the door, limping and still running like hell. My crazy little human actually fought her way out of this! I’m as impressed as I’ve ever been, but I’m not going to take any chances.
Just as the human man’s fingertips brush his weapon, I slam into his body, feeling pure pleasure as I drop him to the floor and hear a bone crack in three places. His shrieks are music to my eyes. I whir into action, tying him up with his own clothes.
Then I fly to the woman I love.
“Bri!” I roar. I pick her up in my arms and blur with her out to the fresh air, where she gasps. At first, she struggles, then she recognizes me and softens in my arms.
“Alain?” She’s so shocked to see me, and then the most beautiful smile breaks out on her face. “You came!” The smile fades. “Is this real?” She blinks and coughs.
“Yes, it’s real, baby, it’s real.” I kiss her cheeks, her forehead. Her lips, but briefly.
I gesture to Lucius. Downstairs. They need help.
He nods. The vampire will be here in a minute. He’s Karl’s ally. He’s alone.
Bri looks at the things in her hands, like she’s remembering what happened. She shudders and tosses the makeshift weapon into dry bushes. “The other women. They’re down there, and they need help. They’re dying!”
“I know, we’re getting them, I promise. Lucius is down there. He’ll stabilize them until the ambulance arrives.” I imagine Lucius will work whatever skills he has to extend their lives and erase their most painful memories.
We hear the whoo of sirens and see lights a few miles off—the ambulances and police are near. Suddenly Slash and Martin arrive with Tiberius.
But someone else has also arrived: The new vampire. Karl’s friend.
He blurs up in a burst of speed and hisses his displeasure at seeing me and Bri. The others. His eyes dart around, and he assesses the situation.
I don’t recognize him. But I’m more powerful than he is, especially with my allies. This time I don’t want or need to do it alone.
We work as a team, and in mere seconds, we have him pinned, all of us vampires standing over him, pressing him to the ground.
“Who are you?” I hiss, showing my fangs.
He fights our grip. “None of your business.”
“Karl is dead,” I tell him bluntly. “And your human friend will tell us everything we need to know.
His pupils narrow.
“Speak!” I roar.
But he won’t. He closes his eyes and shutters his mind, effectively keeping us out.
“Did Karl make you?” I ask.
He doesn’t respond. He goes still now, breathing slowly, almost going into a kind of torpor.
“Who else is working with you?”
But he’s out.
“I’ve seen this before,” Tiberius looks at me. “It’s a way of slowing down the body, almost hibernating. He must have studied with a Zen master.”
“We need the information he has.” “We need to know if the operation was just him and Karl or if there are more of them. Are there more women anywhere? Who else knows about this?”
Bri calls out, “Alain, you need to waken his mind.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You can. The way you speak with me. You can do it. Just try.”
She looks at me with such confidence and pride that my heart bursts.
“All right.” The sirens are getting louder as the cavalcade of police approach. We have less than a minute to finish this and get out.
I take a deep breath and push at his mind. Wake up. Tell us what we need to know.
It’s like pushing on a wall of stone. A mountain of steel. There is no response.
Awaken.
I push with all my might, and suddenly his eyes burst open. He stares at us, dazed, with terror and a growing recognition of what is to come.
“Who else is working with you and Karl?” I demand.
“No one.” He says the words slowly, as if they’re pulled from him with great force, like he doesn’t want to let them go. But they come anyway. ”No one else. Just the human here.” He twists his lip. “The other two human helpers are dead.”
“Which vampires are coming for the LD auction?” I force his brain as hard as I can.
“Don’t. Know.” He weakens. “At least ten of them. List…is…at Karl’s lair.” He flashes me the image. Karl’s’ old lair is underneath that beat up house, where we killed him.
“Is that all?” I stare into his mind. But I know it is.
“Just do it.” He closes his eyes.
I end him the way I ended Karl.
I grab Bri in my arms, checking that she’s okay. She’s breathing hard, her eyes wide, but she seems uninjured. Still, I can’t put her down. I keep holding her, touching her face, her arm. As if constantly reassuring her—and myself—that she’s whole.
The police cars are pulling into the drive that leads to the property, so I speak to the others, even while holding Bri. “I’ll leave with Bri. Martin, Slash, help clean up the body. Tiberius, get Bri’s car out of here, now.” I dart my gaze around. “Fast.”
I look at Lucius, who’s emerged from the underground basement of horror. I don’t tell him what to do; he’s too powerful for that. He’ll tell me what he plans to do--we’re lucky he’s here helping us at all.
“I’ll stay behind,” Lucius says. “I’ll tell the police what they need to know and wipe the rest of their memories of this. Make sure the women get safely to the hospital.” He pauses. “I had to wipe them, too.” He sounds regretful. “I only left partial images of being kidnapped and of Wallace and the dead human, but I removed everything about vampires and the blood. With luck, they’ll recover without PTSD. The human here will go down for the kidnapping.”
“Thank you.” I send him my complete gratitude and lower my head for a second. Without him and the rest of m
y allies, I couldn’t have done this.
And definitely, I couldn’t have done it without Bri.
In seconds, we’ve cleared the scene—just in time for the swarm of law enforcement.
Lucius will play the innocent bystander, convince the police that he happened to come by this place and found the women. He’ll convince them to believe him and wipe any evidence to the contrary from their minds, as well as wiping the necessary memories from the human helper. We may be required to help close out details later, but this is the critical moment.
It’s risky and beyond complicated, but Lucius is the only one powerful enough to manage it in such a large group without loose ends. His touch, from his miraculously long life of practice, is cleaner and more effective than most other vampires.
And my only priority right now is Bri.
Chapter 25
Bri
“You’re awake.” His voice is low and calm.
I blink and look around me. I’m back at Alain’s house. “What happened?” I sit up. “The women!”
“Are in the Mayo hospital in Scottsdale. They’re stable. They’ll recover. You will, too.”
“What about the vampires who were bidding on the auction? The Last Drop auction?”
“We got the list from Karl’s lair. Lucius and his team are rooting them out as we speak. I don’t think they’re going to be attending any more such auctions.” His voice is dark. “He won’t tolerate that kind of behavior in or near his area of ownership.”
I shudder. But I’m relieved, too. “Good.”
I move, and my wrist hurts. “Ow.” I rub it where the wound is almost healed.
“Isn’t it improving? I’ve been—I mean…” He breaks off.
I raise my eyebrows. “Yes, it’s better. It was you, right? Helping it heal? I thought it was a dream. You said you never wanted to see me again.”
He averts his gaze. “I, ah. Wanted to make sure you healed properly.”
I don’t want to hope, but this gives my heart cause to beat faster. “Why?”
He changes the subject. “You called me.” He sounds confused by the whole thing. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Neither did I. But it was the only chance I had, so I’m glad it worked.”
“So am I.” He looks at me, and I can see the concern in his face.
He may have said ugly things the last time we spoke, but he still cares for me. I can feel it. Felt it in my mind before, and I feel it now.
I flush and look away. “You saved them.” I cough, and he hands me a bottled water.
“No, you saved them first. You found them,” he corrects me.
“But I couldn’t do it alone. If you hadn’t come, it would have ended badly.”
“We made it happen together.”
“So maybe we work better together than apart.”
“Bri, you’re right. We do work better together.” His voice sounds genuine. Like he means it.
“That’s not what you said last time.” I’m glad he recognizes my contributions, but his past words are like rocks in my soul. If we have any chance, he needs to really mean what he’s saying.
He gets down on his knees next to me and takes my hands. “Bri. I don’t deserve it, but I’m asking you for a second chance.” He gazes up at me earnestly. “Please.”
“Why should I?” It’s what I’ve wanted. But I need to be sure. This is so critical, so important, that I can’t afford to fall for him a second time. Losing him again would kill me.
His voice is low. “Common sense says it’s a mistake. Experience tells me it’s bound to be a failure. Yet I…” He shakes his head. “I just don’t want to be without you. It’s that simple.”
“You said we were over.” The words still hurt.
“It wasn’t because of you, Bri. It was because of me.” He lets my hand go, then takes it again. “I almost got you killed, not once, but three times. If I’d just listened to you. About how much K. means to you. About your ideas. Worked with you, instead of trying to order you around. To meet my expectations.” He pauses. “I thought you were better without me, so I said what I needed to say to drive you away. I just didn’t know how badly it would hurt.”
I remember the things I said, too. “I guess I should have listened to you, more, too. Trusted you more. It was my fault about Karl.”
“No.” His voice is firm, but kind. “The only one at fault there is Karl. Not you. Never you. All of us were doing our best, imperfect as it was.”
I don’t speak.
He squeezes my fingers. “When we first got together, at the club. I said I don’t make wishes because I can make all my dreams come true. But that was a lie. Right now, you’re part of my dream, Bri. And I can’t get what I really want without you.”
Tears come to my eyes. “Alain.”
He reaches up and takes my face in his hands. “You said you loved me. Did you mean it?”
There’s a note of hope in his voice.
I’m terrified, but I decide to take a chance and step off the cliff. I nod. My voice is trembly. “Yes. I do. You’re part of my dreams, too.”
“I love you.” His voice is firm. “And I believe that if we work together, I can keep you safe. I can keep doing my work even better with you there to inspire me and greet me. And I’ll do the same for you, Bri. I’ll help you and inspire you—or at least I’ll try. I can do better.” He touches my face. “Will you let me try?”
I nod. The tear rolls down my cheek. “I will. I want to be with you. As long as we can.”
He grabs me into his arms. Kisses me. Touches my hair. “Thank God you said yes.” His face is full of joy, as much as I probably feel.
I put my hands onto him. “I don’t care how long we have. I just want to be together. Even if it’s just a few years.”
A muscle clenches in his jaw. “There’s a thing I can try. It’s difficult and rare, and often fails but I could attempt to revert to my human form, with the right treatments.”
“But it might not work?” My eyes widen.
“No, it most often does not.” His voice is low. “But if you ask, I will try. You deserve to have someone by your side, who can go out during the day with you. Get old with you.”
“No, I don’t want you to take the chance. No!” I put a hand on my chest. “Besides, you know I’m not a day person.” I smile up at him.
There’s a brief silence. “Maybe I could…” I tilt my head. “Become like you?”
“Bri.” His face is earnest. “I said once that I’d never want to try to turn a human into a vampire again. The truth is I would give up anything to turn you—except it fails more than half the time. Humans often die in the process. I don’t want to risk losing you like that. I won’t chance it. You’re far too valuable.”
“Oh.” I look down.
“I’d do it if you were in mortal danger, and there was no other way to save your life.” He takes my hands in his. “Bri, I know your disease is progressing. If it ever gets to a point where…” he shakes his head, “the doctors think…” he trails off, as if he can’t even contemplate the idea. “If there’s no other option, then I’ll consider it.”
“I want to be with you as long as I can.” I squeeze his hands. “So if we get to that point, I want you to do that. To try.”
“It wouldn’t be easy. When a human first becomes a vampire, it takes time to learn to handle your new existence. To master the blood lust. If I made you—“ he pauses, until I look directly at him. “You would really need to accept me as your Master. For at least a century. Until you equal my power and gain the ability to temper it.”
That idea isn’t repugnant. In fact, it’s turning me on.
“I might like that.” I smile.
“You wouldn’t always like it.” His face is somber. “And you’d have to do it anyway. It’s more than kinky sex. It’s letting me guide you as a novice vampire.”
“I’d like that.”
“I’d be your master, Bri.�
�� His voice is stern. “In all ways.”
I meet his gaze. “I’m okay with that.” I smile. “Maybe that could be fun, even if I’m not immortal.”
“You make a compelling argument.” He raises a brow. “I like the way you think.”
I touch his hand. “You know what, Alain? I have a crazy feeling that things are going to work out somehow. And I don’t care what happens, anyway—I just want to be with you, no matter what.”
I can’t believe I’m saying this. But as the words come out, I know it’s true. All of my life was preparing me for this moment. No more giving up on things I want. I’m grabbing this with both hands and never letting the fuck go.
“Okay.” His voice is hoarse. “We’ll make it happen. Say yes, Bri. Say you’ll be mine, and we’ll figure it out.”
Alain
We haven’t yet made a decision on what to do. And I know I have to make a lot of changes to my attitude and behaviors to really deserve this gift I’ve been given. Luckily, I have lots of time to make it right.
But knowing we’ve chosen each other gives me incredible strength and joy. I can see it in her face, too.
Tonight, we’re celebrating at my house, with champagne…and a little BDSM. She’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and she’s never looked hotter.
Of course, soon she’ll be naked. And I plan to push her submission tonight, the first start of having her accept me as her master. Good thing she likes it that way.
“One of the best parts about choosing to be together,” I tell her, running my hand over her thigh, “is that we can do this. Any time we want.” I brush my fingers over the crotch of her jeans.
She sighs and spreads her legs a little. “That is a really good point. Tell me more about it.” She leans into my body.
“I could do that. But first you’d need to get naked.” I bite her ear. “And get down on your knees in front of me. Now that you’ve agreed to fully submit to me.”
“All that for just a little conversation?” She reaches down and cups my cock through my pants. I’m already rock hard, straining against the fabric. Dying for her body.
Her Vampire Temptation (Midnight Doms Book 8) Page 21