“Uh, yeah? Well, here’s a tip. Flowers work well. They say, ‘Hi, here’s a present.’ Fire, ummm, not so much.” The stake was in her hand. Dripping blood.
Leo’s black stare drifted to Simon. “You sure this is the side you want to choose, buddy?”
Before he could speak, Dee growled. “Buddy? Hell, Simon, tell me you don’t know these freaks.”
A laugh from Leo. Should have been a warning. It was. “I’m the one who changed Simon, and Katya—”
Katya smiled. Don’t go there. Don’t!
“She’s the one who gave him his first vampire fuck.”
Oh, great. Like he needed this shit. “Let’s just kill ’em, okay?” The talk was part of Leo’s technique. The way to distract. To weaken.
Dee glanced at the redhead. “How about that.” She fired Simon a hot stare. “Bad taste. You go for killers? Cause Katya, I’ve heard about you.” The Russian liked her bloodbaths, so that was no surprise.
“I didn’t screw her, Dee.” The bloodlust had been riding him hard when Leo had brought him in to the pack. But he’d fought the dark temptation and Katya.
Katya wasn’t the kind of vampire he wanted. Dee was. “I’m not like them.” Could she see that?
Her eyes held his a second longer. “I know.”
“Bitch.” Katya pulled two knives from the sheaths on her hips. “I’m going to cut your head off.” Fifty years and the woman’s accent still rolled Russian.
A sigh from Dee. “Bring it.”
Katya lunged forward, knives up, fangs bared, she went in quick for a brutal attack and—
Dee drove her stake into the vampiress’s heart.
Katya fell to the ground.
“Next.”
He blinked. No, she hadn’t just said—
Vince screamed and barreled toward her. Oh, right, rumors said Vince and Katya had been an item since his change.
Dee scooped up Katya’s knives. Sliced fast and deep.
Another body hit the ground. This one, um, minus a head.
“You ready?” Dee asked a no-longer grinning Leo. “Or do you want to make things interesting and try to run?”
Yes. He’d been right about her. She’d be more than strong enough to kick Grim’s ass. The Born Master would go down.
This nightmare could end. Finally.
Sirens wailed in the distance. The cops were coming. So someone had finally noticed the giant ball of fire that was eating its way into the night?
“More will come for you.” Leo spat on the ground.
One shoulder lifted. “Let them.”
“You and the traitor—you’ll both die, screaming.”
“Uh, wait, let me guess.” A pause as she held up her hand. “Begging for death? For mercy?” A hard shake of her head. “Not my style. Didn’t do it the first time, won’t be doing it the second.”
Bright red lights filtered through the smoke. The loud blare of a fire truck’s horn had Leo jerking. “It’s not over.”
“For you, it is.”
Simon’s knees hit the dirt. “Dee…” Too much pain. Too much. Mateo’s claws had dug too deeply into his chest. He glanced down now, finally, and—bastard almost took my heart.
This wasn’t good. “D-Dee…” He tried to call her again.
But Dee, with her slightly scorched hair, shot forward and slammed her fist into Leo’s face.
Then Simon slammed face first into the ground.
Chapter 10
He woke on a gurney. A mask covered half of his face and some crazy woman had her hand pressed hard to his heart. Simon’s hands jerked, snapping through the binds that held his wrists in place.
“Wow, easy!” That hand pressed harder. The woman stared at him, hazel eyes steady. “You go jumping up, you’ll ruin all my fine work.”
He heaved up anyway, and winced at the pull of—stitches? Yeah, she’d sewn up his chest.
“I didn’t do anything for the burns.” No, he didn’t want to look at those, but the woman, an EMT, trailed her fingers down his arm.
Pain pulsed through him and Simon sucked in a hard breath.
“Easy.” She glanced over her shoulder at the swarming cops and the firefighters with their blasting hoses. Then her eyes came back to him. “I stitched you up to stop the blood loss. I figured the burns would heal either before or on your next rising.”
Rising. A vampire term. So the lady with the curly brown hair knew what he was.
“I gave you blood,” she said, leaning in close and pointing to a bag that dangled near his head. “It took four bags to wake you up.”
“You mind giving him some room, Samuels?” Dee’s annoyed voice.
Simon almost smiled. Almost.
The EMT did.
“Jeez, I swear, if I didn’t know you were screwing that charmer, I’d think you were hitting on my vamp.”
Her vamp? Since when?
Serious progress.
Samuels eased back and Simon got a good look at his Born.
Soot marked the right side of her face. The ends of her hair had been scorched, so the cut was even more screwed than normal. Her lips were red. Her eyes big and dark. And when those eyes landed on him, horror filled them.
“Oh, hell, Simon, I didn’t know it was this bad.” She jumped into the back of the ambulance and hurried to his side. “What the hell were you thinking? Vamps can’t jump through fire. You know the skin of a vamp burns too fast.”
A weakness. One of only a few his kind possessed.
Her breath came out in a long hiss. Her fingers hovered over the red, raw flesh.
He caught her hand. “Don’t look at it.”
Her gaze rose. “Your face…”
Then he remembered the flash of agony along his cheek.
But her eyes only flickered for a moment, then held his. “Tough guy, aren’t you?”
Like this was the worst that had ever happened to him.
Not even close.
“You’ve got to stop trying to protect me.” Her fingers lifted and brushed back his hair. Simon knew his hair had to be singed like hers. That, too, would vanish with the next rising. “You know I’m stronger than I look,” she said.
A hell of a lot stronger. “You killed them all?” A guy could hope, because those assholes were trouble.
Her hand fell away. “No, your sire’s still breathing. Kinda, anyway.”
He flinched. This was the last thing he wanted. “What? Why? And where the hell is he? Humans are here!”
“Easy.” Why was everyone telling him that?
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Tony has him. He’s taking him to a private holding cell.” Her eyes returned to his. “Can’t really have him blending with the general population in jail, now, can we?”
Not unless they wanted a slaughter.
Someone slammed the ambulance doors. The siren shrieked on, wailing over his head. “I can’t go to a hospital! You know what will happen once they get a good look at me.”
She crouched and locked her fingers with his as the ambulance took off. “We’re not going to the hospital.” Her eyes didn’t waver. Didn’t look at the skin on his face that he knew had to look like it had been touched by hell.
“Then where?”
A faint curve lifted her lips. Samuels watched them, but said nothing as she fiddled with the bags of blood, one of which still drained into Simon’s veins. “We’re goin’ to that private holding cell. Tony still needs his proof that I’m innocent, and before the sun rises, Leo will give him that proof.”
“You think Leo will turn on Grim?” He managed a hard shake of his head. Pain knifed through his body, white-hot agony snaked up his arms, but he was getting stronger. Every second, he was getting stronger. “Never gonna happen.”
“Aw, but you don’t know just how persuasive I can be.” A bigger smile, one that showed the tips of her fangs.
He swallowed.
“Grim,” she repeated the name, as if tasting it. “That the name of the fr
eak after us?”
“Yeah.” One of his names, anyway. When you lived as long as Grim had, the names changed over the centuries. “He’s not an easy mark. You’ve never come across another like him.” He had to warn her. The fight wouldn’t go down like others had in her past.
“Huh.” A pause, too long, then, “If you haven’t been bullshitting me, and I’m really a Born—”
“Oh, Christ,” the whispered exclamation came from a suddenly wide-eyed Samuels.
“—then I can make that bastard Leo talk. One way or another.”
Yes, she could.
He fell back against the gurney. “It’s not bullshit.”
“No,” soft, thoughtful. “I don’t think it is.” Her fingers traced up the edge of his arm, carefully skirting the bright red blisters. “Where do you fit into all of this? Their side? Mine?”
His gaze darted to Samuels. He didn’t know her. Didn’t trust her.
He caught Dee’s fingers. Brought them to his lips. “I’m with you, babe.” That simple—he fit with her.
She hesitated. He knew she didn’t trust him yet. But she would. Soon. Even if he had to step through fire for her once more.
Simon closed his eyes, pushed back the pain, and wondered who Grim would send after them next.
“You burned for me,” she said, her voice barely reaching his sensitive ears.
He didn’t open his eyes. “I told you, I’m with you.” Hers. If she only knew.
Dee didn’t speak again. Neither did he.
The ambulance stopped at an old factory on the outskirts of Baton Rouge. A train whistle echoed in the distance and the scent of rain carried on the wind.
When Simon climbed out of the ambulance, Dee tried really, really hard not to wince. The wounds were healing, almost right before her eyes, but, oh, damn, they were vicious.
And the man was standing. No, walking, as if he hadn’t just been comatose, with second-degree burns covering a good portion of his body.
Vampires.
He saved me. Again.
“Dee!” Tony’s voice. Demanding and a little nervous. Since he was human, he should be nervous. Very nervous.
She walked toward him, with Simon at her side.
I’m with you, babe.
If only things were that simple. If only she didn’t think the man still had secrets that could come back to bite.
Tony shoved open the doors to the factory. Rats squeaked and Dee was pretty sure about six roaches ran over her feet.
Oh, hell.
“Got him chained in there.” He jerked his thumb toward a room on the left. “He’s waking up, and even the blood loss isn’t going to slow him down for long.”
Her chin lifted. She’d managed to get some good swipes in before the cops pulled up, and she’d managed to knock out Leo just in time. She’d been the only one left conscious when the uniforms swarmed with their guns, so she’d been able to make some bullshit explanations, fast.
Lucky for her, Tony had been on the scene, barking orders and getting the cops he trusted—two charmers—to take the bleeding Leo into custody.
She’d leaned in close to Tony at that scene. Too many ears had been there, so she’d had to be careful, and she’d told him, simply, “My proof.”
He’d done the rest. Cleared the area. Taken Leo to the new “interrogation” room that had been cleared for supernaturals. Made sure that Samuels was there to treat Simon.
Simon.
Tony eyed him. “I can’t believe you took up with a vampire. I mean, seriously, Dee, a bloodsucker? Come on, I thought you had standards. You know that you and I could—”
Her stare shut him up. “Let’s get this over with, okay? I want my name cleared and I want to find out if more jerkoffs are gonna be coming to attack.” He didn’t know. Tony thought she’d just had one really kick-ass fighting night because she’d had those before.
You were getting stronger.
What would Tony do, when he saw what she’d become?
Growling, she shoved by him and went after her prey.
Leo stood in the middle of the room, his arms lifted and held in thick chains so that he dangled a good foot off the ground. The chains were hooked up to some kind of pulley, and one of the charmers stood near the master machine, sweat coating his brow.
“Bitch.”
Her brows lifted as she faced Leo. “Aw, you’re trying to sweet-talk me.”
He snarled and tried to lunge for her.
Stupid move. Even he wouldn’t be strong enough to break those chains.
He spun a bit, looking like a fish on two big hooks.
Leo’s teeth snapped together. “You should have killed me. I’m gonna get free—gonna come after you! You should have killed me!”
“Don’t worry, you’ll die.” From Simon. Hard. Cold. Ice.
“You. You fucking bastard! You think you found your damn golden ticket, don’t you? Think you can get away just because you’re screwing the new queen bitch?”
“Queen bitch?” Tony asked softly. “That’s…ah…different for you, isn’t it?”
“The bloodlust will get her,” Leo screamed. “Only a matter of time, then she’ll fuck like crazy and she’ll drink from any fool she wants. Drink, drain, and fuck—and you’ll be just as screwed as before!”
Dee flew at him. Not deliberate. Not really. She’d just seen the stiffening of Tony’s body and—
And, shit.
She launched at the vampire and slashed her claws down his chest. He howled and the blood flowed.
And the scent tempted.
Dee began to shake.
“What the hell? Dee? Dee, you’re not—”
She turned toward Tony and knew that her fangs were out. Fangs, claws. Bloodlust.
“Fuck!” Tony scrambled for his gun.
Simon punched him, a driving, brutal punch right in the jaw. Tony staggered back, hit the wall, then the ground.
Snick.
The two charmers had their weapons out and aimed.
“Won’t do you any good,” Simon told them, coming forward and—what? The guy was blocking her. Shielding her. Again. Kind of sweet. Kind of—“You know bullets won’t stop us.”
No, but Dee wasn’t exactly excited about testing that idea. She’d been shot as a human, could still remember the fiery blast, and didn’t want to go through that again, thank you very much. “Don’t even think about firing at me,” she told the charmers, aware of Leo laughing softly behind her. Laughing—freak.
“Hold your fire.” Tony rose slowly, rubbing his jaw. His gaze traveled over her. “Dee?” His dark eyes snapped to Simon and fury hardened his face. “You did this to her.” He had his gun out and aimed in an instant.
Simon, bastard, spread his arms wide as if to say, yeah, I can take it, so—
“Not to her!” Tony roared.
Damn.
Dee grabbed Simon’s arm and shoved him.
The bullet tore into her shoulder.
Her eyes squeezed shut. Still hurt like a bi—
“Dee!”
Her eyes cracked open. Tony ran toward her. “I didn’t mean—”
Simon caught him, lifted him by the throat. “You. Never. Shoot. Her.”
Um, he just did.
“I was aiming for you, asshole!”
More wild, loud laughter from Leo.
Screw this. “Lower the bastard,” she ordered. The charmer near the switch hesitated. “Lower him.”
A choked gasp. Tony’s face began to purple and the whir of the pulley filled the room.
“Simon.” Dee kept her voice soft. Too much tension. Too much rage. Simon walked a fine edge, and one push…“Simon, I want you to let him go.”
He dropped the cop.
Tony heaved, trying to suck in air.
Dee licked her lips and fought to ignore the throbbing in her shoulder. The bullet had gone straight through, she’d heard it clang against one of the metal pipes behind her. At least she didn’t have to worry about di
gging the thing out.
Just the blood loss. She had to stop that.
And she had to forget the pain. If Simon could stand there, with the hell he had to be feeling, then, somehow, so could she.
“Dee?” Tony’s voice, hoarse. Sad.
She couldn’t deal with him then.
“They’ll all turn from you now,” Leo taunted. She faced him. His feet touched the ground. “Every one you care about—they’ll turn away. They’ll see what you are, and they’ll come to kill you.”
Zane.
“You’ll be the one hunted now. You’ll be the one who’s scared and desperate and—”
She stepped forward. Smiled a bit. Then sank her teeth into his throat.
There was an instant of revulsion. Of horror. Of what-the-hell-am-I-doing.
Because she didn’t want his blood. Not like she’d wanted Simon’s. Didn’t want his taste in her mouth.
She’d longed for Simon. No revulsion. No fear. She’d been desperate to take from him.
This—this was just business.
And the woman inside, the woman who’d feared and hated vampires for so long, she shuddered and a scream rose in her throat.
Can’t do this. Can’t live like this. No. No.
Images came to her then. Flashing one right after the other.
Leo, covered in blood and grime, standing on an old battlefield. A sword lay cradled in his hands. The dead surrounded him and a wild smile stretched his face.
Dee forced herself to take more. Keep. It. Down.
Leo, drinking a woman dry as she screamed and screamed—a woman in a long, flowing white dress, with her hair so long and loose around them. A tall man with bright blond hair, braided on the sides, watched, a smile on his lips. “The first blood taste is always the sweetest.”
Leo lifted his head.
“Want more?” the blond man asked.
A quick nod, but a tear leaked down Leo’s cheek.
“Don’t worry, your wife doesn’t even feel the pain now.”
Laughter.
Madness.
Rage.
Pain.
She ripped her mouth away from his flesh. Her lips were wet. Blood trickled down Leo’s neck. His eyes had gone glassy and the guy had stopped laughing. Finally.
“The voice is quiet…” Leo spoke, a whisper.