by Sarah Black
Again, my neck prickles. Eyes wide, I watch the bus turn a corner, who got off? Heart pounding, I strain to keep facing forward, using only my peripheral vision to check for threats. Four blocks. I can easily run that, but I don’t want to bring attention to myself. I can’t afford to.
My steps clack along the pavement as I turn down Second Street, the rush of water teasing my ears and the fragrant smell of the Delaware greeting me. A sense of false safety coats my skin at the familiar sensations that overload me. I anchor myself to those. Who knew the smells of the center city would be so welcoming?
What was once a square now begins to light up as the sky glows purple and pink. I’m so close I can taste it. Though the closer I get, the more in danger I feel. My stomach clenches as I pick up speed. My eyes dart from one person to the next, seeking out Valentino amongst the masses.
But along them, as the streets grow dense and Saturday night comes alive, shadows move between them. My steps falter, my pulse picks up.
I’m not safe.
I can feel it in every cell of my body, down to the marrow. My neck prickles in fear. My eyes dancing along the crowd. In the distance a guitar player begins a slow melody amongst the chaos. I can feel the blood rushing in my ears, pounding at my eardrums.
I force my feet to move. Ahead, my eyes finally catch on Valentino’s green gaze, lit from within where a supernatural fire burns. Memories of the night I first saw him surface, hinting that something wasn’t quite right there.
Did I see him with a woman? Yes. But were they fucking?
I trip over my feet as fear roots me to the sidewalk. I didn’t see him fucking her. I never did. I did, however, see something far darker. More sinister. His eyes catch mine, holding them as the memories trickle to the forefront of my brain. My blood pulses and yet sings with this truth.
Vampire.
I take a step back, my memory replaying over and over again, blurring the crowd before me. He was drinking her that night.
Why did they think I’d be safe with him? I dart down an alley, my feet slapping the pavement. Damn him for screwing with my head, for altering me until I forgot, only to remember now when I need someone.
I choke on a sob. Maybe having a coven at my back isn’t such a bad idea. Now that I can feel the vampire chasing me, along with someone else.
Something else. Something worse.
I switch directions, going down yet another alley and coming closer and closer to the river. My body twitching at where I can find safety. Back parking lots and side streets all merge into a city labyrinth. I know my way from point A to B, but these only confuse the senses while disorienting the mind.
I stumble out, the sun sinking further. I dart toward the garage, throwing my body behind a car. I hold my breath, hoping that my pounding heart stops beating wildly.
“Come out, come out.”
I tighten the strap on my duffle, pulling out my baton and gripping the wooden handle with white knuckles.
“I can hear your heartbeat.” His words whisper over the garage, piercing me like an ice pick to my skull.
It isn’t Valentino either. I shuffle back, darting toward another car. Testing the handles as I go, but only the older cars. I can’t afford for an alarm to give away my location.
“I can smell your fear.”
I wipe the sweat from my forehead. I can smell my fear too, and I resist the urge to demand why this person is after me. Because deep down I already know.
An elevator sits ahead. I listen for steps but hear none. Can I make it to the elevator? Lock myself inside a steel box? And then what?
Call for help.
It’s all I see here. I won’t hide where there are actually people. I won’t risk it. I swallow back my fear and clench my muscles. The lights blink on the elevator, counting down.
Three.
Two.
One.
I take off running for all I’m worth, charging toward the elevator as the doors open. Each step a position indicator. A sob of anguish erupts from my chest as the doors snap open. I’m so close.
I throw myself through just as they begin to close. A scream rips from my throat as arms lock around me like a band. Spinning into the elevator just as it dings shut.
I kick out as noises like an injured animal fall from my lips. Tears blur my vision.
“Would you calm down?” A hand reaches out, slamming the button to pause our lift as arms release me.
I spin, pushing myself against the opposite wall. My eyes land on Valentino, his arm snapping out to roll up his designer sleeves, annoyance radiating from every one of his pores. Words fail me as his stare pierces me.
“Are we going to do this now?” He raises one calm, dark brow, waiting for me to answer. I don’t. “So be it.”
“You took my memories.”
“Is that what you are truly angry about? The reason you ran away from me only to be followed?” His voice rises with each word, his body thrumming with anger. “To say that was stupid would be an understatement.”
“And running into the arms of a vampire isn’t stupid?” Horror blanches my face as the blood rushes out. The weight of my situation settling on me.
I’m a blood witch. He is a vampire. I swallow the bile in my throat. What do I mean to him? Does he know?
“You have no reason to fear me.” Except his fangs lengthen, probably because of my fear, fear he assumes is solely for him. It isn’t. I’m more worried about our circumstances here. What would he do if he found out what I truly am?
I lick my dry lips, my run parching me. “That isn’t it,” I lie.
He snarls, stalking toward me in the confined space. “Lie.” His eyes blaze brighter as he leans down, his hands slamming against the wall of the elevator. “You have mere moments before your stalker finds us in here, Penny, I suggest you start talking.”
“I have nothing to say to you. You stole from me.”
“For your own safety!” he roars in my face, his power thrumming over me, weakening my knees. “You were running on mortal behaviors. Mortal thoughts. If you saw what really happened that night your mind would break.”
“I’m not weak.”
“Then prove it. What do you fear?” He leans into me. Despite myself, a fire burns under my skin, rippling out from his proximity.
I shake my head. “I can’t.” I made a promise. One I will keep.
“What will it take for you to trust me?”
“Time.”
“So be it.”
A thump rattles the elevator as terror again tickles my neck. “Can he get in?” I glance to the top of the steel cage.
But Valentino isn’t watching the steel lid, his eyes stay on me even as another thump shakes the walls.
“I’ll keep you safe, Penny, this I promise.”
My eyes catch his, observing his sincerity. “Why?”
He shakes his head. “What do you fear?”
I suppose we’re stuck at an impasse. I shake my head, refusing to answer.
“Why did you get off the bus?”
Another thump, but this one with a squeal of steel. “It wasn’t safe.”
He raises a brow at that. “It wasn’t safe off the bus either.” This time a fist slams through the steel ceiling above us, yet Valentino doesn’t startle like me. “Time’s up, kitten.”
Valentino grabs me, his hand punching through the steel door while he one handedly opens it. Above us, the body roars but not before Valentino throws me through then grabs the stuck hand, yanking my stalker down, metal squealing around him. Trapping him. A black coat hides his face, one Valentino doesn’t allow me to get a look at before he climbs out after me.
Again, he grips the steel doors, closing them before kicking the box. Grinding steel echoes all around us with each kick. Until, finally, the box dips, then again. Valentino climbs into where my struggling stalker tries to wiggle out of the elevator.
But he will never get out, not as Valentino rips apart the coils with his bare hand
s. He has but mere moments before he throws himself to the ground next to me.
Everything happens in minutes. Too quickly for me to even begin to process. His screams surround us before fading into the sounds of the city.
I sit frozen on the ground as Valentino crouches before me. “I need you to trust me, Penny.”
My head turns slowly to look at him. My eyes wide as what I begin to register as shock seeps into my system. “Why?”
He brushes a hand along my neck, flicking my hair away. His fingertips graze the artery that lies just beneath. I don’t move, but not out of fear. No, his touch teases me, relaxes me, arouses me. His eyes close, a groan slipping past his lips.
When they open again, they glow with an unearthly light. “I cannot harm you, kitten. I can only sip from a willing donor.” He inhales long and slow. “While your body may be willing, your mind is not. Come on.”
14
Mind reeling, we exit the garage. The world around us is bustling and thriving. Moving at its leisure, unaware of anything that occurred moments earlier. It begs the question how many times this shit occurs unseen and unheard? Though the screams were loud, how do they go dismissed?
Because people only hear and see what they want to.
Valentino tucks me at his side as we pause on the busy street. His eyes scanning and ever alert as he pulls out his phone. Punching numbers far too fast for my eyes to follow.
“Silas, I need clean up.” Valentino rattles off the address while the man on the other end curses him for making a mess. Valentino doesn’t look the least bit remorseful for making the other do his bidding. In fact, the twinkle in his eyes and the smile on his lips hold a teasing note.
It’s a reprieve from the seriousness of what just occurred. The horror that threatens to overcome me at any moment. To sweep me to the ground until I’m nothing but a pitiful child once more.
Poppy was right, we really are opposites. I cry with false bravado. Able to deal with those of human origin, but not supernatural. While she is more than likely out here kicking ass and taking names. Yet that isn’t always true, my moments come at random. Dealing with the guy hitting on me in the club and of course fighting back with my baton.
Bravery exists inside me, I just need to pull it out. Give it definition and motivation.
Valentino’s palm rests on my back, the lights of Genesis blaring from the corner blocks away. Even from here the line to get in can be seen as a bouncer nods to some while shaking his head to others.
“How does he decide who gets in the club?” Now that I’m more aware, I realize that not everyone in Genesis is probably aware of who the owners are.
Valentino shifts uncomfortably. “In time.”
“Do you view secrets as a game?” My body was beginning to relax against him. His hold tightening to wrap around my waist.
“After so many years, everything becomes a game, kitten.” I can’t tell if it’s the playboy talking or his honesty.
“Do you often run into the parking lot naked?”
“Is that what you saw?” he teases, but his body still holds that underlying tension. We aren’t quite safe. Not yet.
“That’s what I saw.”
He hums, acting as though he has no idea. I don’t know what he’s capable of. But the power that rolls off him, though subdued, holds malice that I wouldn’t want to cross.
A pinch settles in my hip, subtle but enough for my steps to falter. The moment of calm dies away as fast as it had come. Until a searing pain etches across my side. Frantic, I pull my shirt up to reveal only unblemished skin.
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure.” Another searing pain, this one on my opposite hip. Only this time a thin mark stretches around my body from hip to abdomen. The line deepens as the moments pass, and with it the bloom of a bruise.
“What the hell is that?” Valentino’s hands are on me, poking the scar while pedestrians look on in concern, their eyes full of speculation and judgment.
But none of that matters. “Oh God.” The realization dawn on me with horror. “I know how Poppy knew I was hurt.”
My body freezes for one precious moment until my mouth floods with a pulse of adrenaline. I swing my duffle around, yanking out my phone.
“How?” Valentino shakes me, trying to bring me back to his level. “Penny.”
But I’m lost as I dial Poppy’s number, the first ring rolling over to the next, unanswered as pain deepens in my gut.
“No.” I hit call again, my muscles waking up as I dart down the street, my legs moving only from the need to do something. “No,” I reiterate, as the next call goes unanswered. “Not you. Not you.” I push down the need to fold in upon myself and drive forward, my speed increasing faster than I’ve ever been before.
I dash across the street, tires squeal and horns honk their calls, echoing through the night.
Arms grip me tightly and I lash out, my magic flaring to life as it dives inside of Valentino. His blood is mine to take. Mine to use. Blood thrumming with power and magic so deep and ancient it would surely grant me the ability to get to Poppy faster, to heal the injuries we are somehow sharing.
His green eyes widen, his head shakes. A blip to my secret shared without words. “What is it?” he grinds out, his eyes seeing me differently now.
I pull myself back to reality, my body shaking with the effort. But I need to get to her. Save her. “Poppy is in danger. I can feel her.”
I shift my hips swiftly to the side, dislodging his grip, and spin on the ball of my foot before following the pulse of her magic. Behind me, I can feel Valentino. His steps quiet, yet his blood thrums with power and a need to release some of it. It pushes against me with a sweet lullaby. One that takes everything in me to resist.
Ignoring him, my eyes land on Genesis, the streets crowded with people shouting and laughing. I can’t hear beyond their voices. Searching for the one I need.
A sting steals my breath, my hand slapping to my neck. “No.” I spin to Valentino, panic etched on my face. “Vampire.”
His eyes flicker to my hand, his own moving mine away. Seafoam green eyes widen, and I don’t need to ask what he sees there. I can feel the ripple of flesh disturbed from where it should be.
“Find her,” I implore, already dialing her phone again. She won’t answer, but there’s hope that I can hear the ring. That he can hear it.
Together we sprint across the last street, time is of the essence. Though we are sharing injuries, I know in my heart that there is only so much one person can handle. There is only so much that the body can heal. Even shared between two with the price of magic.
Just as a rubber band snaps when pulled taut, when we get close to her my body strives to run faster without a hint of caution just to get to my sister. My steps falter along the side of the building where the side street stretches into another labyrinth of alleys and walkways.
I take one small step toward an alley, and Valentino’s hand shoots out alarmingly fast. His fist bunches in my tank and my neck prickles with awareness. Gone is the desire that flares within me at his every touch, now replaced with something far too dangerous. My heart skips, stutters, and stalls. The pain of its revolt pinching my chest just as deeply at the searing pain at my neck.
The dark alley looms before us, ominous and threatening, reminding me far too much of another alley long ago.
“Stay.” His voice is nothing but a harsh whisper. This is vampire beneath the layers of a man. That control upon his powers is slipping as it radiates off of him in waves, and my knees shake as they combat him.
Through it all my sister’s phone rings and rings. The haunting melody of her ringtone echoing off the walls of the alley only to drift back to me like a guillotine. Hacking with a dull blade at my neck.
“No.” Everything feels wrong, the air thickens with foreboding that has nothing to do with the vampire before me. Valentino’s head whips back to me, his eyes practically glowing in the faint moonlight.
&n
bsp; I take a step away. His eyes are truly glowing, the green bright in the night. Like beacons in the ocean.
A scream sounds from a voice I know all too well. Adrenaline freezes me to the spot as nightmares rear their ugly heads. Of blood splattering the ground, running in rivulets toward the gutter. Necks torn out, exposing arteries that should never see the light of day. A man and a woman wrapped around each other in their final moments as glassy eyes stare at us. Unseeing the unharmed.
Not her, not her. This can’t be happening again.
“I can’t lose her.” My voice sounds gritty and foreign to my ears. The pain that memory brings tearing through to my soul.
Valentino’s eyes dim, and with a sad look he damn near disappears. A soft wind flutters the stands of purple hair that float about my face, leaving me standing there to stare at the spot where Valentino once stood. Fear freezes me until I shake down the walls with each pinching pain in my neck.
My legs move as though I’m walking through a swamp, pushing against a barrier I cannot see but only mentally feel. I swallow past the lump in my throat. The mouth of the alley sits but a few feet before me. The next block over feels like a mile away, where young adults laugh and drink. Unaware that something hides and lurks in the dark nearby.
My eyes breach the wall, landing on a piece of chipped red brick. Fear slows me down as I wrestle with the need to pretend the world is as it should be, even if I know better.
A grunt drifts to me on a breeze. A cry. Something slapping metal rings around me.
Then her cry reaches my ears and it’s as though the spell lifts from me. Muscles bunch and flex as I turn the corner, my sight resting on my last family member—Poppy. I lunge toward her, ignoring the slam of a body as it hits the wall and chips fleck down like rain around me.
My knees slide on the wet, dirty pavement, my mind struggling to come up with what I’m seeing. The horror lain bare before me is worse than any nightmare I could imagine.
“No, no, not you too.” I tear off my duffle then my shirt, bunching the latter to hold it against her throat where an open wound sits. The jagged pieces of her flesh are knitting together, our close proximity creating a cycle of magic that zings between us, healing her faster. Yet her pupils retract as her breath strains, those blue eyes staring at me, so like mine in every way.