by Elena Lawson
Dick.
“You still good with cars?” I asked Blake, turning back to face him, suddenly exhausted and eager to get moving.
He nodded. “Last I checked.”
“Good.”
He lifted a brow but said nothing. Likely Blake would just tell me to buy a new one—that Betty was on her last leg, but I was certain there were ways I could bribe him to fix her up for me.
“Shall we?” I said, gesturing to the bike.
Blake removed the matte black helmet from the strap on his bag and passed it to me. “You really shouldn’t be riding in a skirt,” he said, his eyes drawing a sizzling line down my legs to the combat boots strapped to my feet.
I took the proffered helmet and sighed. “Just don’t crash, mmkay?”
Blake’s jaw clenched. “Get on,” he growled.
Yes, sir!
I had to adjust the straps a bit but managed to get the helmet to fit snugly enough on my head. Then I climbed onto the seat behind Blake as he started the engine. My hands came around Blake’s middle and he flinched. When I breathed against the back of his neck, his hair rose, and his body shuddered.
“Visor down,” he commanded, and I did as I was told, swiping down the veil of hard plastic.
We watched Betty pull out of the parking garage and Blake revved the engine. The vibrating roar settled into a rich purr as we followed them out into the night.
Getting out of the north end of downtown was a nightmare. It was a damn good thing I wasn’t driving because I’d have pulled some highly illegal shit to get us out of the thick, honking, blinking traffic and onto the I-85. I felt like we were all sitting ducks in the tightly packed streets.
I could have sworn I felt the presence of other vampires near us, but it was hard to tell the difference between them and my guys. I couldn’t be sure. Either way, I would be happy once we were away from this place and out onto the open highway—though that brought with it its own troubles.
At least here there were bystanders—thicker than the teeth in a comb. And traffic cameras. Most vamps wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to attack us in full view of the public eye. There were laws about that sort of thing. The oldest of the vampires dealt with the ones who broke those laws. From what I knew there was a sort of hierarchy. A matriarchy if I wasn’t mistaken—with the head honcho of the lecherous race the eldest changed female vampire known to the world.
All I knew was that whoever Queen Bitch was, she must have some serious pussy game to control that many vampires…since apparently, she couldn’t even compel.
There was a break in the traffic up ahead and within a few more minutes we were moving again—at a pace that had me grinding my teeth—but moving, nonetheless. We watched Ethan turn Betty onto a side street ahead of us and followed. What were they doing?
We were supposed to head straight for the I-85 and out of the city.
I felt a vibration in the chest area of Blake’s leather jacket and faintly heard a cellphone ringing. He was still driving, so I unzipped it and reached my hand inside to dig around for the phone. It was warm against his chest, and I had to bite my bottom lip to stop myself from exploring other areas beneath his clothes.
Clearing my throat, my hand closed around the cell in his slim pocket and I pulled it out and saw the caller ID said Frost. I hit the green button and slid the cell under the base of the helmet so I could hear him.
“Hey,” I said before he could speak. “Why did you get off the main road?”
“It’s on the radio,” he replied. “An accident up on I-85—that’s why the traffic is so bad right now. We’ll take the I-20 instead.”
I didn’t know this area all that well, but I didn’t like the look of the route we were taking. There was hardly anyone else on the road, or the sidewalks. I mean, I didn’t expect there would be at one in the morning, but we were meant to stick to the main streets and get straight onto the highway from downtown. “Alright,” I said hesitantly. “Just hurry it up, will you?”
“Will do,” he replied in his gruff voice before the line went dead. I put the cell back where it was and zipped up Blake’s jacket. Opening the visor of my helmet a bit, I shouted to Blake, “There’s an accident. We’re taking the I-20 instead.”
He nodded that he heard and sped up, matching Betty’s new, quicker pace as we maneuvered through the side-streets on a roundabout path to get to the other way out of the city.
We turned down a one-way and up ahead, past Betty’s big black ass, I could see the shine of headlights on what looked to be the street that would take us to the exit ramp. I blew out a breath. The buzzing in my blood that had begun earlier was quickening again. Even though there was barely a breeze and the night was warm, the tiny hairs on my thighs stood on end. My skin bristled.
Shit. There was a vampire. And not one of the three that were with me. This one was fucking old. I craned my head all around, trying to spot him. Trying to see if he’d spotted us. But the fucking helmet made it near impossible to see anything more than what was right in front of me.
“What is it?” I heard Blake call back to me and I reached down between my legs to draw out a stake.
I undid the clip and wrenched the helmet off. “We’ve got company,” I said in a low voice, knowing he would hear, and hoping my voice was low enough that wherever the vamp was, he couldn’t. “We need to get off this street.”
The one-way was vacant save for the truck and Blake’s bike. Tall brick walls closed in on us from either side. Nothing more than fire-escape ladders clung to the sides. Closed, curtained windows and the electric humming of air conditioners dotted the identical apartment buildings all the way up to the top. No sign of the vamp.
Blake flashed his headlight at Betty and revved the engine again. “Hold on,” he called back to me and kicked the Diavel into a higher gear. We sped passed Betty, closing the distance between us and the open mouth of the exit.
I fumbled and dropped the helmet, leaning forward and tightening my thighs on either side of the seat to keep from falling off. I held the stake down at my side with a vise-like grip and peered back at Betty. I could just make out the shadows of Ethan and Blake in the cab as they too began to speed up.
I whipped my head around, finding we had only another block or two to cover. When I looked back, my stomach pooled with dread and my body came alive with the spark of adrenaline. A lit match to the gasoline in my veins.
A third shadow had joined the other two. Except this one wasn’t in the cab—this one was standing on the road in front of them. The headlight obscured any detail I may have been able to pick out about him. The shadow was tall and thick. In a braced stance with its arm bent as though about to swing.
My mouth fell open in a high-pitched gasp. I’d meant to shout. To scream. To tell them to stop—but it all happened so fast. Once second Betty was barreling down the one-way street headlong after us. And the next my ears were filled with the sickening sounds of screeching tires, broken glass, and the deafening crunch and groan of metal as the truck wrapped around the immovable object planted in its path.
“Stop!” I shouted, finally finding my voice, but Blake only roared. A guttural, pained sound that flowed into my ears like poison and tainted me on the inside—making my heart pound harder against my ribcage.
He didn’t stop.
I flung myself from the still-moving bike, tucking my body into a roll. I hit the damp asphalt with a scraping thunk and rolled, pain exploding into my knees, my arms, and all up my side. Finding my footing after rolling half the distance, I swayed a bit before the double vision settled and drew my other stake.
Betty was a gnarled mess in the road. Her hood was concave, as though they’d wrapped her around a pole instead of a creature made from the same substance as me. Smoke wafted up from the hood in plumes and tendrils, filling the air and my nose with the reek of hot metal and engine grease. Fuck. I couldn’t see through it to see if Ethan and Frost were alright.
And the vampire was gone.
“Frost?” I shouted, hearing the screech of braking tires as Blake pulled around to turn back, shouting something I couldn’t hear. “Ethan?”
“They’re dead.”
I whirled around and raised my stakes, ready to impale the fuck out of the bastard, but he was quicker. He was so much quicker I couldn’t even fathom the movements he made. Hands came around my face—covering it with something soft and wet.
A sweetness wet my lips and I pulled in a hard breath. The ether-like smell clogged my nostrils and numbed my throat. I tried to fight him—I scratched and pounded on the arms holding me, but it was like clawing at solid steel. Even when the wetness of his blood started running down my hands, he didn’t so much as flinch.
The double vision returned as I whimpered into the chloroform-soaked cloth and had to watch, helpless as twin Blake’s leapt from their motorcycles, murderous intent in their glittering eyes—fangs bared. I had no doubt Blake would have fought with everything he had to get me out from the clutches of the creature that’d captured me…had it not been for the shadow that swooped down from above, dual blades drawn as it rammed him into the wall.
No.
I couldn’t see him anymore. And the sounds of the street were growing distant, garbled. A lone tear streaked down my face. Somewhere behind us a horn honked. And somewhere in the blinding light of the intersecting street ahead, a woman was screaming.
My body weakened, and even though I was screaming inside. Cursing and seething and aching. I could do nothing as my it gave in to the chemical and sagged against the ancient vampire behind me. My arms fell limp against my sides and my head lolled back, eyelids fluttering closed.
“That’s it,” the vampire crooned. “It will all be over soon.”
20
Where the ever-loving fuck am I?
I awoke in stages. First a twitch of my fingers. Then the scrape of my bare legs against something soft—like animal fur. Blinking away a sticky residue, I tried to take in my surroundings, but the dizziness made me immediately shut my eyes again. My stomach lurched and I found the strength to move just enough to vomit over the side of whatever weird fuzzy thing I’d been laid out on.
Once my stomach was finished heaving, I dragged a leaden arm across my mouth, wiping away the disgust from my lips. My lungs seared with each breath, and there was an uncomfortable feeling in my nose like someone had stuffed wads of tissue up there. But when I prodded the area with my fingers, there wasn’t anything there.
What happened?
Why couldn’t I remember what—
It came back in broken pieces. Holding tight to Blake as his Diavel roared down the one-way street. Betty’s headlights right before she crashed into a pillar of ancient flesh. My back against a stranger as he held me with an iron grip—smothering me with a chloroform-soaked cloth.
“Fuck,” I cursed, trying to move. I needed to move. I scanned the room and found it was lit only a roaring fire blazing in a hearth of stone. The flickering orange light hurt my eyes and my head throb. I was on a…bed of some kind. Though in place of blankets there were animal skins covering it in a thick, lush pelt.
What the hell?
I swallowed, wincing as my throat squeezed painfully, dry and feeling as though full of razorblades.
I have to find the guys.
I had to make sure they were alright. That they weren’t here.
Maybe the other vampires had left them alone. It was me they wanted, right?
And then I remembered the words of the vampire as he whispered into my ear, they’re dead. My stomach dropped and my heart rose to my throat, choking me as it thudded hard and fast there. No. They could’ve survived that crash. And Blake…Blake only had one of them to contend with—he could have beat him.
Yes.
They’re ok.
They’re ok.
It was what I needed to tell myself to be able to keep moving. To do what I needed to do to get out of this godforsaken place and find them. I reached between my legs and left around the leather straps there but came up empty. My stakes were gone.
I had to stifle a scream as I lifted my body from the bed—the sound coming out like a hiss instead. Something in my foot had broken and it hadn’t set right as it healed.
Pain shot up through my calf and I had to bite down hard to stop the sounds from escaping my lips, my eyes watering with the effort of containing it.
Gripping one of the tall wooden bedposts I hobbled over to the fireplace and reached out for the metal poker with shaking fingers. It felt so heavy. Like a bowling ball instead of a thin stick of metal with a pointed end.
I had the distinct feeling I’d been out longer than I thought. Chloroform shouldn’t have kept me knocked out this long—but who knew how many times they’d held that rag to my face while I was passed out? By the burning in my lungs, I would guess more than once.
The hairs on the back of my neck pricked and my blood chilled.
“About time,” the deep voice crooned form the shadows near what looked to be a doorway at the other end of the space. “You can put that down now,” he said, and I could just make out the shape of his arm as he gestured to the poker gripped in my right hand and pointed at the floor. “It really isn’t any use to strugg—”
“Where are they?” I snapped, crying out when I tried to move too quickly toward the asshole whose voice, I recognized to be the same as the one who knocked me out. “What have you done with them?”
“Not even a little curious why you’re here?”
What?
“I said, where are they?”
If he said they were dead, I’d rip his fucking head off.
He crossed his arms and an annoyed guffaw sound before he moved like a breeze into the light—almost like he was hovering on air. Not constrained by the laws of gravity.
Who the fuck is this guy?
As the light of the fire fell over his features, I quickly dropped my head. I’d seen enough to know that he was tall—slim but built well. The vampire had a long mane of waving russet brown hair, strong cheekbones beneath his flawless pale skin and lips any woman would kill for. That was where I’d stopped. If I’d looked into his eyes…I had no doubt he would’ve had me bent to his will in an instant.
He was beautiful.
And terrifying.
The decay of time held no sway over him. He had to be hundreds of years old but didn’t look a day over thirty.
My compulsion would be no match against a vampire as old as I sensed he was. I’d never felt anything like it—this haunting, bone chilling feeling. He must’ve been older than any I’d ever encountered. The aura of timelessness pulsed off him in bloodcurdling waves.
Again, that voice in my head asked, who are you?
“Azrael,” he said.
The fuck?
“You curse a lot.”
I gasped. He could read my thoughts. Oh my fucking god he can ready my thoughts. I shook my head to clear it, staring at his lower legs in horror. Okay. Didn’t know that was a thing. Apparently, it is. Digest. Get over it. Move on.
The guys. I still needed to know where the guys were. Then I could kill this fucker and be on my—
“Your guys are perfectly fine. Out searching for you as we speak, I’m sure.”
“But you said—”
“Yes, well I originally thought it would be wiser to kill them, but when you reacted so violently to that idea, I thought perhaps I should leave them alive—I’d rather a cooperative Rose than a feisty one.”
Cooperative?
“Yes. Pliant. So long as you do what I ask of you—they will remain alive and safe.”
“Get out of my head,” I growled, vibrating now. I wanted to lunge at him. To attack. The guys would be going mental looking for me if what he said was true. I needed to find them.
“I don’t lie.”
“Get the fuck out of my head,” I said, almost lifting my head, but remembering it was too dangerous to look him in the eye.
How was
I supposed to get out of here when this bastard could anticipate my every move? It was hopeless to even try.
“Then you should listen to what I have to say.”
I ground my teeth. The violation of knowing someone was rooting around in my mind—tampering with private thoughts and feelings made me see red. No one had ever violated me like this. Not ever. And yet I was powerless to stop the invisible assault.
“I’ll get out of your head if you put the poker down,” he said as though speaking to a child. “And promise to hear me out.”
I didn’t see that I had much choice. “I’m listening,” I said, but my grip only tightened around the metal handle of the poker. There was no way in hell I was going to lower my only weapon. Not a chance.
“Very well,” he said, folding his hands neatly behind his back, a note of impatience in his deep baritone. “I’ve brought you here for a purpose, Rose.”
I cringed at the casual use of my name, but more so at how it managed to sound like a caress on his lips—and how it made my mouth go dry.
“May I?” he asked, gesturing to a high-backed leather chair several feet away from where I stood.
I moved back several steps until I was leaning against the bedpost and nodded. He took a seat and I averted my gaze, careful not to allow his eyes to lock onto mine. He moved like water. Pouring himself into the seat like I’d pour whiskey into a rounded glass. I itched to see the expression on his face—to try to discern his motives—what he was thinking.
What he was planning.
But I’d be damned if I let him take control of me. I dropped my head, my eyes trailing along the swirling pattern in the thin rattan carpet.
My pulse quickened. This thing before me was the epitome of vampire.
The epitome of a monster.
I wanted nothing more than to end him.
“So much fury in so small a package,” he said in a low, rumbling voice, more to himself than to me.
“Well?” I snapped. “Start talking.”
I was done waiting. Done playing this little game of cat and mouse. He caught me. Bravo vampire fucker. Cue applause.