CHAPTER 36
Aida kicked him in the knee and darted to the side when the movement knocked him off balance. She limped awkwardly forward before she succeeded in freeing herself of her other shoe. Lifting her skirt, she sprinted down the hall but only made it ten feet before a hand entangled in her hair and yanked her back.
Another hand slammed over her mouth to cut off her scream. The hand in her hair let go; it encircled her throat as she was plucked off the ground and smashed into the wall.
Not human!
She was small and didn’t weigh a lot, but no human could have lifted her with such ease. Adrenaline coursed through her veins so forcefully she felt flayed by it. She swung her feet as she continued to try to run or kick him or draw some attention to them.
Then she recalled him speaking with Nicolette earlier. If he’d planned this, then he might have commanded Nicolette to make sure no one came back here. Shit! Shit! SHIT!
She clawed at the hand on her throat, and blood oozed between her fingers, but he only smiled grimly at her as his red eyes bore into hers.
“Calm down,” he commanded.
His power wormed its way into her brain like a parasite devouring and destroying everything it encountered. Renewed strength surged into her, and she wiggled in his grasp while she twisted to break free.
“Stop fighting me,” he ordered.
Aida’s brain screamed at her to continue kicking and screaming, but she went limp as his words and his power wormed their way into her mind. She whimpered, but it was the only sound she issued, and she hated herself for making the noise.
“Much better,” he said as he lowered her to the ground.
Adrenaline continued to flood her system, and her feet twitched with the urge to run, but she remained standing helplessly before him.
“You are a beautiful little thing.” He ran a finger over her bottom lip. “I’m not sure what you see in Julian, but I understand what he sees in you. I’m going to enjoy this so much more than I thought I would.”
When his gaze lowered to her breasts, she couldn’t suppress another whimper as the lust in his red eyes made his intent clear.
“Did you enjoy the present I sent you?” he asked.
She had no idea what he was talking about, so she kept her lips clamped shut.
“Answer me,” he commanded.
Aida bit her lips as she fought his command, but she lost in the end. “What… what… present?”
“My little gift to you in the bar? He was supposed to bring you outside to me so we could get to know each other better, but Julian ruined that. However, I did get to learn how much he cares for you, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to make him suffer the most by using that knowledge.”
“You had the vampire attack me in the bar?”
Gerald gave her a wicked smile. “What can I say? I enjoy toying with those I’m going to kill. And I am going to kill your boyfriend. Besides, I’m not going to tangle with three vampires. It cost me a lot of money, or actually it didn’t as Julian killed him before I had to pay him, but it was worth it. I also sent a present to your boyfriend.”
The blood drained from her face as, for a frightening second, Aida assumed he meant he’d sent someone after Julian too, and then he continued speaking.
“When I learned he was coming to Boston, I called an old friend of mine and asked him to follow Julian, but he decided to try playing with him.”
“The Savage who attacked him when he first arrived here,” she muttered.
“Yes. It was too bad he was impatient and got himself killed.”
Every frantic beat of her heart caused it to pound against her ribs until it felt bruised, but she couldn’t move. How long had this thing been stalking Julian and them if he knew about Kyle and Cassidy too? She had to warn Julian, but she had to get away first, and she couldn’t figure out how to do that.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered.
“Julian knows why.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Of that, she was certain.
“Oh, believe me, he knows what he did, and if he can’t remember, then I will jog his memory. Originally, I planned to grab you, use you, and kill you,” Gerald said.
Bile rose in her throat at the idea of this thing inside her; she’d die before she ever let him rape her. She didn’t know how, considering her body was useless right now, but she would find a way.
Gerald leaned closer, and she almost threw up on his five-hundred-dollar shoes when he pressed his lips against her ear to whisper. “Then I saw how much he cared for you, and I realized it would be much more fun if you killed him.”
“That will never happen!” She pictured shoving her hands into his chest to get him away from her. All she managed was a twitch of her fingers.
He laughed as he leaned away from her again. “Never say never, my dear.”
He skimmed his knuckles down her throat and between her breasts. An inward shudder racked her as involuntary tears pooled in her eyes. She hated herself for those tears, but she hadn’t felt this helpless since she was on the island.
Except, this was so much worse. Then, she’d at least been able to use her body; now, she was nothing more than a puppet. Then, there was no Julian. And though she swore she would never harm him, this fucker had control of her and could make her do things she wouldn’t normally do.
“Oh, don’t cry,” Gerald murmured as he wiped away the tear sliding down her cheek. “It’s so unbecoming. Besides, I’m not here to fuck you now. We’ll have fun afterward, I promise, but we’re going to play with your boyfriend first. Now, tell me, since you’ve been friends for years, what is the worst thing he ever did to you?”
Aida kept her mouth closed against her response as she gazed at the painting over his shoulder. If she focused on the artist’s use of red to emphasize the wrath of his subject, then she could almost ignore the hand fondling her breast. If she admired the broad, sweeping strokes of his brush, then the hot breath against her cheek wasn’t as repellent.
“Answer me,” he commanded, and clasping her cheeks, he pinched them cruelly together as he jerked her head toward him. “Tell me, what is the worst thing he did to you? There has to be something; everyone hurts the ones they love. Tell me what he did to make you cry.”
The rest of the hallway faded away as his red eyes filled her vision. Don’t answer him! Her brain screamed this at her while her tongue worked weirdly in her throat.
She tried not to respond, but she couldn’t stop herself. “He left for four years, and I never heard from him.”
“Aw, you poor thing. Did it break your heart?”
Julian, she whimpered, hoping he would somehow sense her terror, but if it was a distance thing and he was at her apartment, then they were probably too far apart. She’d give anything to punch this guy, kick him, beat him, or tear out his throat with her teeth; instead, she found her mouth opening to answer him again.
“Yes.”
“How could anyone forsake you?” Gerald murmured. “He never should have done that. We’ll make him pay.”
“No,” she whimpered.
“Oh yes, my lovely little doll. This is going to be such fun. Now, listen carefully to me.”
The last of her resistance melted away as he continued speaking. Like a beautiful, haunting melody, his words wove their way into her mind. Her brain stopped fighting as he seized control of her mind, and his power overwhelmed her.
When he finished speaking, he released his hold on her. “Stay here.”
Like a well-trained dog, she remained standing in place. He retrieved her shoes and walked back to hand them to her. “Put those on.”
Aida slipped her heels back on her feet.
“You are going to forget all about our little conversation and what transpired here. You’ve simply been showing me all these beautiful paintings. Do you understand me, Aida?”
“Yes.”
“What have we been doing?” he asked.
“Looking at all the paintin
gs,” she said.
“Wonderful!” He clasped her shoulders and drew her close to kiss her cheek before releasing her and stepping away. “Time to wake up now, Aida.”
She blinked and looked up at Gerald as he pointed to the painting behind her. “I’ll take this one.”
Aida glanced at the painting on the wall before smiling. “The artist is becoming one of my favorites.”
CHAPTER 37
Julian arrived as she was turning off the lights for the night. Aida grinned as she ran over and threw her arms around his neck. Lifting her off the ground, he crushed her against him. “How did your day go?” he asked.
“It’s a lot better now,” she told him. “But it was good. How about your day?”
The joy on her face lit his heart in ways he hadn’t believed possible until recently. “I started doing some freelance IT and analytics. It’s time I get back to work.”
“I didn’t know you were looking for work.”
“If I’m going to live in this city, I’m going to have to find a way to support myself. It’s not cheap here, you know, and I doubt Kyle and Cassidy will put up with me freeloading off all of you.”
She laughed as she stepped back. “You’re not going to mind-meld our landlord?”
“Mind-meld?”
“It’s a thing, and you know you can do it.”
He laughed as he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close again. “No, I am not going to mind-meld your landlord.”
She rested her hand on his chest and leaned against him. “We’ll have to go out and celebrate.”
“I’d rather go home and celebrate with you.”
He couldn’t resist kissing her again but broke it off when the door to the storage room opened and Nicolette strode out. She froze when she spotted them, and Aida pulled away from him.
“This is not the place,” Nicolette said sternly.
“I’m sorry,” Aida apologized. “It won’t happen again.”
“Hmm,” Nicolette huffed.
“I have to get my things,” she said to Julian.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” he told her as Nicolette continued to give him the eye.
Julian waved to Nicolette as Aida hurried into the back, and he walked out the door. Stepping outside, he dodged a couple strolling down the street as they enjoyed the warmer air of the first day of May.
He walked to the end of the block before turning and heading back toward the gallery. He had just arrived again when the door opened and Nicolette stepped outside. She gave him another stare before stalking down the sidewalk.
Through the windows, he watched as Aida finished turning off the lights before walking over to the door. She had her head bent as she searched for something in her purse before pulling out her keys. She smiled at him as she set the alarm and exited the building.
“You sure you don’t want to celebrate?” she asked while she locked the door. She pulled on the handle to make sure it was locked before putting her keys in her purse and turning to him.
“Oh, I intend to celebrate,” he said as he pulled her close and kissed her. “But I plan on it being just the two of us when I do.”
“That sounds like the best kind of celebration to me.”
• • •
Julian woke to the weight of legs straddling his thighs. Still groggy, he couldn’t figure out what was going on until he realized Aida was on top of him. A lazy smile spread across his lips. When she passed out earlier, he assumed she was finished with him, but obviously, she wasn’t.
He went to grasp her hips when he realized she was muttering something.
“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t,” she whispered frantically. “I have to. I have to. I have to.”
He frowned as he settled his hands on her thighs; she must be having another nightmare. Her hair tumbled around her bare shoulders to shield her breasts; her eyes were open, but the glassiness in them made it clear she wasn’t registering anything.
Could people sleep with their eyes open? He had no idea, but she must be doing something like that as she stared unseeingly at him.
“Aida—”
“Why did you forsake me?”
“What?”
What kind of a question was that, and why was she using such an old-fashioned word?
“I have to. I have to,” she muttered.
“Aida, listen to me. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I have to,” she moaned.
The forlorn tone of her voice broke his heart, and the sadness behind those two words rattled him more than her strange conversation and deadened eyes.
“It’s okay,” he soothed as he rubbed her thighs. “You’re okay. You’re here, with me. You can wake up, love.”
He was afraid to grab her and shake her awake; he’d heard somewhere you shouldn’t wake a person who was sleepwalking, and maybe this was some strange form of sleepwalking. Whatever it was, he couldn’t take the chance of harming her by doing the wrong thing.
“I have to. I have to. But I can’t,” she whimpered. “Do it!”
The voice that snarled out of her with those last two words was more like the voice of a demon than a human. A chill ran up his spine as she continued speaking in that distorted, animalistic tone.
“You must be punished for what you did.”
“What?” he demanded as those words caught him off guard.
He put his hands under him to sit up… and that was when he saw the stake in her hand as she lifted her arms over her head and grasped the weapon in both hands. Thrown off by the sudden emergence of a stake, he reacted slower than he should have as he fell back and twisted to the side to avoid the blow aimed at his heart.
But it was already too late.
“No!” Aida screamed as she plunged the stake into his shoulder.
Julian forgot all about the pain that came with having the stake plunged through his flesh before digging into his bone as her screams resonated through the room. She released the stake to slap at the sides of her head while she whipped it back and forth. He had no idea what was wrong, but she was falling apart.
“Aida!” he yelled as he used his good arm to grasp one of her hands and pull it away from her head. His other arm remained useless as whatever she’d struck in his shoulder had paralyzed something inside it. “Aida, listen to me!”
The door flew open, and light flooded the room. Julian hissed when Aida’s naked body was illuminated. Before the intruder could see too much of her, he spun her to the side and threw the blanket over her as she continued to scream and batter herself.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kyle shouted as he ran into the room behind Cassidy, who had taken two steps through the doorway before stopping.
Julian struggled to restrain Aida with his one hand, but she was like a wildcat beneath him as she thrashed and screamed. When she tore a handful of hair from her head, a moan escaped him as blood trickled from her scalp.
Unable to grab her other arm, he shifted to put more weight on her. If he put much more on her, he might hurt her, but she was already doing that to herself. Releasing her hand, he grasped the stake and tore it free as she raked her nails down her face. Blood streaked down her face as she peeled her skin away.
“Oh, Aida, no,” he whispered.
He caught her wrists with his hand and pinned them to the mattress. Being restrained only made her kick harder as she bared her teeth before shaking her head back and forth like something possessed her.
“Help me with her,” he commanded.
Kyle covered the five feet of distance in less than a second and grabbed her ankles to pin them to the mattress.
“Did she do that to your shoulder?” Kyle demanded.
“Yes,” Julian said as he maneuvered so he could pin her arms down with his knees and free his hands.
His shoulder hadn’t healed enough for the feeling to return to his fingers, so it remained hanging limply at his side. Aida kept her eyes squeezed shut;
she’d given up on trying to break free and lay limply beneath him as she panted for air and whimpered.
“What is the matter with her?” Cassidy asked as she came to stand beside the bed.
“Aida, look at me,” Julian said.
“I… I can’t. I have to. I can’t. I have to,” she repeatedly muttered before screaming again.
Julian placed his hand over her mouth as her hips bucked beneath him. She was only a mortal, yet the strength running through her was far more than he expected.
CHAPTER 38
“What is wrong with her?” Kyle demanded.
“I don’t know,” Julian said.
“Do you think someone will call the cops?”
“If they do, we’ll handle it then.” Julian leaned closer to Aida. “Aida, look at me.”
Her eyes remain squinted closed as her muffled screams reverberated against his hand. Veins in her forehead and temples throbbed as she strained against his hold. Sweat stuck her hair to her face as her heart accelerated to dangerous levels.
At a loss for how to calm her, Julian decided to do the one thing he didn’t think he’d ever do to her. His powers swelled within him while he spoke to her.
“Aida, look at me,” he commanded.
Her eyes remain closed, but she collapsed onto the bed and sobs tore from her. She tried to rip her legs away from Kyle as her head thrashed from side to side. Julian tried pushing deeper into her mind, but the more he probed, the more it felt like a brick wall was falling into place before him.
“Take control of her mind,” Kyle said.
“I’m trying,” Julian told him. “It’s not working.”
“How is that possible?” Cassidy breathed.
Julian didn’t know how that was possible, and then the answer hit him with a sickening jolt. “Someone already has control of it.”
Cassidy’s hand flew to her mouth. “What do we do?”
With the unrelenting intensity of the ocean, fury built within him as he stared at her bloodied face and the tears streaking her cheeks.
“I can’t,” she whimpered against his hand.
The fury pulsated through his veins and vibrated his cells until every one of them was screaming at him to kill whoever did this to her. He’d tear their arms off, rip away their legs, and leave nothing but a bloodied torso before removing their heart from their chest and crushing it.
Forsaken (Vampire Awakenings, Book 10) Page 20
