But he knew she wanted him. He wasn’t sure she needed him the way he needed her, but he could work on that. She liked him, and for now that was enough.
He pulled into the first spot in front of the gym, the bright fluorescent lights shining on the sidewalk.
“Fuck,” muttered Charlie.
Dean and Lucian both tensed. “You see trouble?”
“No. I see Courtney getting fired. Do you have any idea how high my electric bill is already? Those lights need to be off at night.”
Lucian exchanged a look with Dean but kept his mouth shut. He reached for his sword as they climbed out of the big SUV. When he was in public places, he would use his long overcoat to hide it and force himself to remain in human form, but he didn’t bother to hide anything now. He needed to be ready.
One of the nice things about modern society was how accepting they were of strangeness. If they saw a monster holding a sword and walking down the street, they would automatically assume it was some crazy dude wearing really good makeup.
A few hundred years ago, the villagers would be racing after him with pitchforks.
Charlie looked at Dean and Lucian’s outstretched weapons. “You think it wasn’t Courtney who left the lights on?”
Lucian checked for any sign of movement inside the gym. “I’m being cautious. I suggest you do the same.”
Charlie held up his silver knife. “Already there.”
Lucian had extra swords Charlie could borrow, but the ex-SEAL was better trained with a knife.
“I’ll go first,” said Lucian. Luckily the human didn’t argue. It was hard enough for most mortals to accept they were nowhere near as strong as a vampire or myotis, but it was even more difficult for former military to accept foreign leadership.
The doors were glass and pulled open. The handles looked metal, so Lucian gave them a quick tap with his sword, looking for any signs of a trap. No sparks flew, so he touched it briefly with his bare fingers. No shocks or sudden explosions. Always a good sign.
Lucian pulled the door open and stepped inside. Luckily nothing jumped out at him, but he wasn’t expecting a surprise attack from this angle. Because of all the windows, it would be impossible for anything to hide behind the door in the time it took him to get to the door.
He tilted his head, signaling the other two to enter.
Charlie studied the door. “It wasn’t locked?”
“Nope.”
Charlie tightened his lips as he scanned the empty gym.
Lucian saw Dean’s nose twitch as he sniffed the air and he took a deep inhale. The familiar metallic scent filled his nostrils. “Shit.”
“What do you two know that I don’t?”
Lucian walked forward, sword ready and in swinging position. “There’s blood. A lot of it.”
“Son of a bitch. I’m gonna kill the bastards.”
Charlie started to run forward, but Dean stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Easy.”
The girl was in the office. The smell of death was overwhelming this close, but Lucian knew he had to make sure the entire building was clear.
A quick glance told him exactly why Courtney never had a chance to lock up and turn out the lights. From the looks of it, she hadn’t been killed for food. Her blood was everywhere, soaking into the floor and covering Charlie’s computer and wall.
Lucian had done his fair share of carnage and knew effort was put into this. They wanted to make Charlie hurt.
Courtney was crumpled in a limp heap, surrounded by her own blood. Her eyes stared vacantly at the wall, and her skin had a strange blue tint brought on by the blood loss.
It never got easier. He’d seen her smiling and flirting just a day ago. Now she was nothing. Just an empty shell of a person.
For a brief moment, the image of Ella laying lifeless and surrounded by blood filled his mind.
He looked away. Nothing good would come from dwelling on it now. He would have to push any sympathy out and deal with it when he had time. He scanned the room once more. Some of the blood was dried; other sections were wet puddles. Courtney hadn’t gone quickly.
They made sure her death lasted.
He ground his teeth until his jaw ached.
“How’s it look in there?” asked Dean as Lucian walked out.
“How the fuck do you think?”
Charlie pushed his way to the office and Lucian turned to watch him. “You sure you want to do that?”
The human’s face was expressionless. “She was my responsibility.”
Lucian nodded. It was always hard to lose a friend, and Lucian understood exactly how it felt to have a life on his shoulders. “I’m going to continue the sweep. You stay with him,” said Lucian to Dean.
After five minutes, Lucian finished his patrol and came back into the main gym area. Dean scanned the windows as Charlie sat on the floor, elbows resting on his knees and his back up against the white wall.
“I’m sorry about Courtney.”
“Why did they do it?” His voice sounded as though he’d just swallowed a handful of sand, but his eyes remained steady. “Was it because they think I killed one of their guys or because they wanted to get to you?”
“Hard to say. This is how these guys communicate. Through blood and murder. The world they come from is dark and dangerous and violent. Now that they have a foothold in your world, they’ll do anything to keep it.”
“She never stood a chance. She’s one of the fittest and strongest girls here, but there weren’t even any defensive wounds on her.”
“This is a populated area. There’s always a chance they made sure she couldn’t feel it to stop her from screaming.”
Charlie met his eyes for the first time since seeing the body, and Lucian finally got a glimpse of his rage. “Don’t bullshit me. I know the rules now, remember? They could’ve just ordered her not to scream. They didn’t just kill her. They butchered her.”
“Guys!” called Dean from the front. “We’ve got a problem.”
Charlie jumped up as Lucian stepped forward to look at the opening door to the gym.
“Problem” was an understatement.
Three vampires strode into the building as if they owned the damn place, which was even more disconcerting because vampires usually ran at the sight of a myotis in full form.
These vampires were either complete idiots or they knew something Lucian didn’t. Considering their faces and bald heads were covered in tattoos that symbolized their victories and age, he didn’t think they were all that stupid.
The three vampires all looked the same, with the same dark eyes, large build, and bald heads. The only distinguishing features were their clothes and slight variations in tattoo placement. The seeming leader stood in front of the other two, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. His short sleeves showed off the ink on his arms.
The native vampires shunned tattoos. They wanted to fit into society and pass as human. Tattoos would be too easy to identify if they ever ran into someone they hadn’t seen in fifty or so years. These guys definitely weren’t from around here.
“Fuck,” muttered the leader. “I wasn’t expecting to run into Leather Face.”
Lucian narrowed his eyes as Charlie stepped forward. “You son of a bitch,” he screamed as he ran at the vampires.
Lucian held out the flat side of his sword, halting Charlie’s charge. “Give me one good reason not to kill the three of you where you stand.”
The vampire cocked his head. “One reason? How many people do you think are sleeping soundly in that building over there?” He pointed across the street to a three-story apartment complex. “Ten? Twenty? Let’s be conservative and say ten. That entire place is rigged with explosives and if Gido here,” he set a hand on one of his minion’s shoulders, “presses this button, that building is going up in flames.”
“All this for a human? Seems like overkill.”
“We came here for the human. His girl was the one who told us about the new crowd he’s bee
n running with. Makes sense, though. A normal mortal wouldn’t exactly be walking around with a stake, would they?”
Charlie’s lip curled. “Don’t you even fucking mention her. She never hurt a goddamned fly, you bastard. None of those people have done anything to you!”
Lucian’s lips tightened as he kept himself from reining Charlie in. He’d expected the ex-military man to remain calm under pressure. Able to stand up to the challenge of the vampires.
Maybe Charlie wasn’t the one with the problem, though. Maybe he should be feeling more pain. More anger.
But he couldn’t. He’d seen it all before, and the past few years of fighting against the rebel vampires had taught him exactly what they were capable of.
Was he really so far removed from humanity?
“So what is it you want from us? If you come at me, I’ll kill you. Bomb or no bomb.”
The leader smiled. “You don’t even remember me, do you?”
Lucian made sure none of the confusion showed on his face. “You know vampires. After you’ve killed one, they all look the same.”
“Funny. You didn’t seem that calm when I had your girlfriend underneath me.”
Oh, God. How couldn’t he have seen it? He’d never get the image out of his mind. Coming back for Ella that dark night and seeing her trapped beneath a vampire.
He’d been smiling, just like he was now. The smile of a creature who genuinely enjoyed inflicting pain on others.
“Was that you? I almost forgot about that,” he lied. He couldn’t let the vampire know his weakness.
He hated to think of Ella like that, but it was partially the truth. She was his vulnerable spot. If anything ever happened to her, it would be as if someone physically ripped his heart from his chest.
He wasn’t going to play any more of this vampire’s games. “If you want to fight, fight. If you want to go, go. I’ll find you soon enough anyway.”
“You hadn’t found me yet.”
“I thought the whole breaking your neck thing established that you are firmly beneath me on the food chain. Now get the fuck out.”
The vampire shrugged indifferently. Lucian tried to decipher whether he was truly unafraid or whether he was just trying to look calm and collected in front of his people.
“I’ll be seeing you, I guess.” He made a swirling motion with his finger, signaling for his men to follow him out.
Dean growled as they turned their backs to them, not showing even the tiniest hint of fear. This wasn’t how these things were supposed to go.
Lucian would face the murderers. Lucian would kill the murderers. Simple.
None of this bullshit with bombs and hostages. How the fuck was he supposed to look Charlie in the eyes? He’d promised to keep Ella and him safe, but this was the kind of shit he pulled Charlie into.
Dean took a few steps forward to get a better look at the car the vampires were driving. “No plates. I can try to track it tomorrow. There are probably some cameras on the street I can wire into.”
Charlie rubbed a hand through his hair. “We aren’t going after them?”
“Not if they really have that building rigged to blow. Somehow, I don’t think killing all those people in the blink of an eye would be a problem for them.”
Charlie let out a loud scream and threw his knife, firmly embedding it up to the hilt in the white drywall of the gym.
“Right there with you, dude,” muttered Dean.
The air shifted right before a giant boom knocked out all the gym windows and sent the three of them flying backward.
Shattered glass sprinkled down on Lucian as he sat up, staring at the crumbling and burning remains of the apartment building across the street.
Ella opened her eyes. Ugh. Was it six o’clock already? Mornings were evil.
She rolled over to glance at her alarm clock and frowned at the time. It was only three thirty. She was never up this early. She and Clara both tended to sleep like the dead.
She rubbed her eyes and fell back on the bed, but right when she removed her hand from her face, one of the shadows moved.
She jerked up, holding the sheet to her chest.
“It’s me,” said the deep, husky voice. Lucian.
She let out a pent-up breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Good grief! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she yell-whispered. Reno, otherwise known as the worst guard dog ever, sat happily at Lucian’s feet.
“Can I take a shower? I didn’t want to wake Clara, so I figured your bathroom would be better.”
Ella shook her head as she pushed the covers back. She was dressed modest enough in a T-shirt and pajama pants, but she still felt Lucian’s eyes rake over her. “Is there a particular reason you can’t shower at your place?”
“You’re not there.”
She decided not to dignify that with a response, and hopped off the bed. She flipped on the bathroom light and turned back to Lucian when a gasp caught in her throat. “You’re filthy! And human. Doesn’t that hurt?”
He met her eyes and she realized he wasn’t completely in his human form. His eyes were big black pools, not even a hint of white showing. “It doesn’t hurt around you.”
“Liar,” she whispered. “You don’t have to do this, you know. I’ve seen what you look like. I won’t run screaming.”
“Can you just move out of the way so I can get in the shower?”
She pursed her lips as she looked him up and down. Something had happened. Something bad. Part of her wanted to know and part of her didn’t. “Is Charlie okay?”
“He’s alive. A lot of other people aren’t.”
Ella took a deep swallow. “I’m sorry.”
Lucian didn’t wait for her to move, pushing past her and into the green and gray decorated bathroom. “For a second there, I thought I might be just as bad as them. When there was just one dead girl. Charlie was pissed and almost broke down. I just stood there. Upset but still in control, you know?”
Ella nodded, though she didn’t truly have any idea what he was talking about. She held her breath as he continued, not wanting to interrupt him in even the tiniest way.
“And then—” He looked down for a moment before he pulled his shirt over his shoulders, leaving him in just his shoes, jeans, and the two pounds of dirt and dust that covered him. “I tried to save them. I got to a few in time. Even saved two dogs. But there were so many who didn’t make it. Now I know I’m not like them.” His voice held a strange, wistful tone.
“You’re jealous?” she asked.
He looked up at her, his terrifying eyes surrounded by sadness. “It would be nice to not feel anything, wouldn’t it?” The side of his mouth hooked up in a crooked grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’d probably never think like that.”
Ella stepped into the bathroom and touched Lucian’s hand. She didn’t hold it. Just placed her fingers over his. “Everyone feels that way sometimes. It’s the ones who feel the most who wish they could turn it off.”
Lucian moved forward, leaning down and inhaling her scent. “How can you even bear to look at me?”
She grinned and tilted her head back to meet his eyes again. “I’m not sure if you’ve seen your daughter, but I basically look at you every day.”
One of Lucian’s palms ran down the side of her face before cupping the back of her head. She was just inches from his lips and all she could think was how soft they felt against her in comparison to his rough hands.
“Tell me to leave and I will,” he whispered against her.
She could’ve laughed at the gentlemanly words. Instead, she stood up on tiptoe and covered his mouth with hers. He met her kiss with untamed ferocity. His lips were hot and hungry and they seemed to devour her whole.
But she wasn’t scared. She pulled him closer, fingers gripping into his shoulders. His tongue urgently invaded her mouth and she moaned at the primitive rhythm. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her off her feet, and he maneuvered her out of the
bathroom.
“Baby,” he muttered as he moved his mouth from her mouth to her neck.
“Mmmm?” She moaned as his teeth found just the right spot to nibble.
“Your bed’s about to get dirty.”
She let her head fall back as she laughed. As second later, she was falling through the air and on the mattress. She expected him to immediately follow, but all she felt was cold.
The click of the door closing sounded and she looked up into the darkness of his silhouette against the bathroom light. She heard the unmistakable sound of his jean zipper sliding down and the rustling of his pants and boots coming off. She couldn’t see any details, but the idea of him being completely naked and ready for her caused her mouth to go dry. She bit at her bottom lip.
The mattress dipped as he rested one knee on the edge, followed by both his hands until he straddled her.
She reached one hand up to run along the ripples of his chest. “I wish I could see you.”
“I can see you,” he whispered. He placed a soft kiss on her temple as one of his hands played with the hem of her shirt. “I can see the gold in your eyes.” He kissed her right on the bridge of her nose. “I can see there are little dots on your shirt.” He lifted the material and moved down her body to lay a kiss on her stomach.
She moaned and lifted herself up, allowing him to pull the shirt over her head, leaving her only in panties and pants.
Lucian groaned as the shirt fell to her side. “I can see your amazing breasts.” He covered the rosy tip of one with his hot mouth as his fingers teased her other nipple. Ella arched off the bed at his touch.
His rock-hard erection rested against her. Ella suddenly needed him inside her. Well, maybe not so suddenly. They’d been building up to this from the moment he showed up at Charlie’s gym.
He moved to the other nipple and her hands fisted in his hair. She wrapped one leg around his tight butt, positioning him right at her opening. She tilted her hips just the right way as his teeth gently squeezed the tip of a breast. The multiple jolts of electricity almost caused her to jump off the bed.
“Please,” she murmured.
“Please? Are you ready so quickly?”
Beauty and the Shapeshifter (Evil Rising Book 5) Page 18