“Is it safe to be out here in the open?” I asked, watching crowds of people walking around us and worrying that any one of them could be a demon in disguise waiting to pounce. The air was much colder than it had been the day before, and I found myself wishing that I had something a little heavier than a hoodie on. “What if one of them sees us?”
“They won’t come out in the day like this. None of them would risk exposure in the light. They only move at night.”
“Are we still in danger when we leave here? Are they going to stalk us until they find us?” I asked, the spot on my back that had been cut itched at the thought.
“Doubtful. Demons possess very little power on the other side of the veil, in Velum Mortis at least. That’s not to say they aren’t or can’t be dangerous, but they mean very little to vampires over there. They’re like vermin in the City of the Dead. You won’t find many of them there, and the ones who do dwell in the city wouldn’t risk the wrath of King William by doing anything to draw attention to themselves.”
“Good to know, I guess,” I said, wondering if I’d be facing the wrath of King William soon. The fact that I didn’t know what he wanted with me or how he even knew of my existence plagued my mind.
A man wearing jeans, a red shirt, and a leather jacket approached us.
“This is Daniel,” Stellan said as the man stopped in front of us, flashing a quick smile in my direction.
“Sorry about yesterday,” Daniel said. “Royce can be a real dick sometimes.”
It was then that I realized this had been the less-douchey one of the two we’d encountered at the restaurant.
“Funny coming from you,” Stellan said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Daniel asked.
“You were kind of dick-ish when I summoned you, were you not? I believe you indicated that you didn’t understand why I was contacting you and you were kind of snarky about it.”
“That’s just because it was a text. You can’t read tone in a text, am I right?” he asked, glancing at me. I nodded with a faint, put-on smile and looked away. “She knows.”
“Sure,” Stellan replied dryly.
“What’s up with this one anyway?” he asked and tilted his chin toward me. “Why are you traveling with her kind?”
“Just get us to the portal.”
The three of us quickly walked back to Nearly Dead and Dancing. Well, I walked quickly anyway. They walked at a normal pace, but I struggled to keep up with their exceptionally long legs.
Taking an alley, we cut between two buildings and around to the back of the club. Daniel pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, and motioned for us to head inside.
We moved down a long hallway past a couple of offices and supply rooms until we got to the large wooden door we had entered the club through the night before.
“I’ll go down and make sure the coast is clear,” he said. “Be right back.” He pulled the door closed behind him.
“Do you trust him?” I asked.
“Not really, but it was either this or go on a road trip back to Edgington City.”
“How does that work, by the way?”
“How does what work?”
“This whole veil thing…”
“We don’t have time for this right now, Syd.”
Syd. Not a nickname I usually enjoyed, but somehow it coming from his lips didn’t offend me so much.
“Fine,” I said through nearly gritted teeth. I realized my questions annoyed him, but how did he expect me to act after everything that happened in the past twelve hours or so? It was all so much to process.
“I will explain it all. Just not right now.”
A moment later the door opened and Daniel popped his head through. “You’re good to go. Nothing but a couple of rats down there. Come on.”
We moved down to the tunnel. Nothing but near-darkness and stillness greeting us.
Stellan handed me the bags with my clothes and food in them that he had been carrying since we’d left the hotel.
“You need anything else?” Daniel asked.
“No,” Stellan replied. “We’re good.”
“I’m assuming you’ll be summoning your beast,” Daniel said.
Stellan nodded in response.
“I’ll leave you to it then,” he said and made his way up the steps and disappeared from sight.
A loud whistle that echoed off the walls escaped Stellan’s lips. I couldn’t see very far in front of us, but the darkness from the tunnel seemed foreboding and like danger was lurking in the shadows. The unmistakable sensation of eyes watching us unnerved me.
Stellan’s back stiffened as he placed a hand in front of me as if to shield me from something I couldn’t see.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“We’re not alone,” he responded in a low, even tone. “Cyrus should be here soon.”
“Let’s go back upstairs,” I said, almost desperately. “We can figure out another way.”
I was met with silence just as movement in the shadows caught my eye. Something scurried toward us, but it wasn’t a rat. It was much too large for that. The breath caught in my throat at the sight of what looked like the demon who had attacked me, but he wasn’t alone. Five more followed close behind and nearly surrounded us.
“Why did you attack me over this uncivilized dog,” the one who approached us first hissed. “I’ve never known you to congregate with one before.”
“It’s none of your concern, but if you don’t turn around and leave us alone, you’ll be answering to King William. He’s commanded me to bring her to him and if you prevent that from happening, well…” Stellan said, the corner of his mouth turning up into a cocky grin. “I might like to see that.”
Wait… Is he saying he wants them to attack me?
“Awfully bold coming from a vampire who could barely hurt a flea.”
“Guess you didn’t learn after the beating I gave you last night, flea?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “I no longer suppress myself on this side of the veil. The king lifted my punishment after I helped return him to his throne five years ago.”
“Hm,” the demon said, raising his finger to his chin. “You’re lying. You may have gotten the best of me, but it’s because you caught me off guard, not because your abilities have been restored. I’ve been hit by vampires far weaker than you at your fullest, and they hit harder than you did last night.”
“Try me then,” Stellan said, an air of confidence coating his words.
I swallowed hard and touched his back, desperate to remind him that I was there and that I also probably could not defeat a fucking demon who wanted to eat me.
What all the talk of suppression and full abilities meant was beyond me, but I wasn’t willing to just stand by for whatever was going to happen next.
“Let’s go,” I whispered, moving my hand to his firm forearm.
“Get them,” the demon commanded.
A second later they descended upon us and the breath that had caught in my throat would surely be my last.
14
Stellan
I can’t take them all, I thought to myself. The demon was right. I had technically lied to him about the status of my abilities in the hopes that they’d back off. It was true that Liam had told me I could discontinue the suppression after he’d returned to the throne, but I didn’t trust myself without it. Didn’t trust myself to not immediately go on a binge that would cost countless humans their lives. The lie was a futile attempt, but I couldn’t outright tell them I was weak either.
And the fact that he claimed I was weak when I had struck him only spurred the belief that something wasn’t right when I had taken the antidote. Maybe he was only boasting in front of his friends, but it worried me either way.
They rushed at us as I backed up, pinning Sydney against the wall behind us. I couldn’t take them all, but I would try my damnedest to keep them from getting to her by using my body as her shield.
One leapt at me, connecting with my fist and went flying backward. The display stopped the others momentarily, but it was a short-lived reprieve.
Sydney grasped my sides, pulling her body close to mine. The sound of her breathing came quick and fast, and her heart thudded like a drum beating in her chest. I stood firm, waiting for the next one to attack.
Two of them ran toward me. Bracing my body, I let them slam into me as another one ran to the left and tried to yank at Sydney’s arm. The two who had fallen to the ground upon impact scrambled to their feet and grabbed at my arms in an effort to expose Sydney further, but I wouldn’t give up so easily.
Teeth clamped down on my arm, though my coat kept them from breaking through to my skin. Pushing my arms forward with all the strength I could muster, I tried to shake them loose, but was unsuccessful. The other three demons raced forward.
“I won’t let them get to you,” I yelled to Sydney. Whether she could hear me or not, I didn’t know, but if she could, I needed her to know I wouldn’t give up on protecting her. “Hold on to me, and don’t let go.”
If she just held on to me, then I’d know she was still okay, would know they hadn’t gotten ahold of her and dragged her away somehow.
She screamed, causing rage to stir from deep within me, and though I had taken the suppressor the night before, electricity stirred. If I could only harness it…
A hard blow hit the side of my knee, causing my leg to give out.
One of the demons laughed, and said, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall… The better they taste.” A clawed finger lingered near my face as the other demons held me in place. The pointed tip dragged over the skin just below my right eye, digging into my flesh as it went along.
Just then, a growl cut through the chaos, chilling me to the bone. One by one, the demons turned me loose and faced the darkness. Clawed paws scratched at the cement, signaling that something was coming at us fast.
That something, I knew was Cyrus.
He stopped just about twenty feet in front of us, exposing his teeth through bone-chilling snarls and growls. Lunging forward, he had two of the demons caught between his teeth before they’d ever had the chance to run. Shaking them violently, he tossed them aside, and swatted another with his big clawed paw, ripping its flesh.
Cyrus was like family to me, but even I found myself frozen at the destruction playing out in front of me.
Demon blood splattered the walls, limbs littered the tunnel.
Sydney screamed, snapping my attention to her.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, turning to examine her.
Her wide eyes stared at me in disbelief, but no words came from her mouth.
“Cyrus,” I yelled, my voice booming through the tunnel as I focused my attention on him. The hair on his back stood on end, but he stopped and inched toward us, his eyes darting around, likely tracking any other demons who might be lurking about.
“He’s going to kill us,” Sydney screeched.
“Come on,” I said, ignoring what she’d said. I grabbed her waist and hoisted her onto his back, grabbed the bags from the ground, and took my place behind her. “Home,” I commanded, jolting his attention away from the demon carnage lying around us.
Cyrus took off in a gallop and leapt forward.
A scream burst from Sydney’s throat just before we plunged through the portal, emerging back in Velum Mortis a few moments later.
I should’ve immediately headed to the king, especially after the ordeal we’d just been through, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I needed to know that she was okay, determined that I wasn’t turning her over to anyone, not even the king. I knew in that moment that I would give my life to save hers, and there was little doubt left after the encounter with the demons that she was mine. History be damned. There was a first for everything, and she was it.
She was quiet for the rest of the quick journey back to my home.
Her skin was as pale as a ghost when I helped her down off Cyrus’ back.
“Out back,” I said, motioning for Cyrus to leave us for a little bit. He eyed me as if he were trying to tell if I was serious or not. Picking up the bone he’d left the day before with his teeth, he scurried outside, leaving the two of us alone.
She sat down on the couch as I closed the door behind Cyrus.
“I’m sorry,” I said, moving close to where she sat, but not sitting down myself.
“Just let me go,” she said, desperation coating her words. “Take me home. Please.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” I responded. “You’re not safe there.”
“And I’m safe here? With you?”
“You’re safer with me than with a pack of wolves hunting you,” I said sternly, trying to convince myself more than her. “They won’t give up so easily.”
“And those demons will?”
“Yes,” I said. “They won’t come here.”
She sighed and looked away. “I guess I have mommy dearest to thank for all of this. If she hadn’t done what she did, I wouldn’t be here now,” she said, her hands trembling almost violently as a tear dripped down over her cheek. “Maybe my life wouldn’t have gone to shit if she had just cared even a little bit about me.”
Kneeling in front of her, I took her hands in mine and helped to steady them. Looking deep into her eyes, I wished I could bring her peace, wished I could take away everything that had ever brought her pain.
But why couldn’t I? As a vampire, I possessed the means to erase anything about her past that she wished, but more than that, as a man, I had the means to show her what it meant to have someone truly care about her.
If she were my mate, which I believed she was, I knew I would never hurt her. I would never risk drinking from her, even if her blood would taste the purest and the sweetest of them all.
The only way to truly know, to truly be able to protect her and to bring her comfort was to take the antidote and discontinue the suppression. I would move ahead with the plan I’d concocted earlier before we’d left New York.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to endure since you came under my protection.”
“Protection? Is that what we’re calling it? Cause I’m pretty sure you abducted me and you’re going to turn me over to someone who may or may not have good intentions, who may or may not hurt me. And that someone is a vampire who also happens to be your king… And you want me to believe you’re protecting me? Forgive me for being skeptical.”
“I am protecting you, whether you want to see it or not.” Shaking my head, I said, “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to know that your mother sold you out, and that she’s the reason you’re here with me in the first place.”
“I’d like to say it’s shocking, but it’s not,” she said, relaxing back into the couch cushions. “This isn’t the first time she’s used me to pay her debts, but it will be the last.”
“What do you mean? You’ve been abducted before?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but she promised me to one of her drug dealers who was also the owner of a strip club outside of Medford. That’s where we used to live before I got away from her and moved to Edgington City. In exchange for letting her off the hook, I would work for him at his club once I turned eighteen, and by that, I mean the day I turned eighteen was the first time I took my clothes off for a roomful of men. I did that for two years, all the while hating myself while others profited off of my body and I could barely afford to eat. Turns out, she didn’t learn her lesson and stole drugs from him again, but this time, he wasn’t content with taking the tips I made until the debt was paid,” she said, darkness passing over her eyes as her face went nearly blank, her pain palpable. “It was made very clear to me that he was going to own me in every sense of the word or I was going to have a dead mother.”
“You mean…” Rage coursed through my body as I listened, ready to hunt down every scumbag who had ever hurt her, starting with this prick ex-boss of hers. But more than
that, I wanted to take her into my arms and kiss the pain away.
“Yeah… Either I’d shut my mouth and take it or I’d have her death hanging over my head, and truth be told, as much as I hated her most of the time, I never wanted her to die, and I was smart enough to know that if he killed her, he’d probably kill me, too, just to shut me up. Not so sure how I feel about all that now, since I’m probably going to die anyway once you turn me over.”
“Need a drink?” I asked, wanting to reassure her that Liam would never hurt her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t privy to what he had in store for her, but I was not going to willingly turn her over. I’d have to talk to him first and explain the situation. Surely, he would understand, considering he had found his mate only five years ago. A blink of an eye compared to the long lives vampires live. It would still be fresh in his mind what it felt like to finally find her and the lengths they’d gone to in order to be together.
“God, yes… What do you have?”
“Vodka, probably. Maybe whiskey.”
“Either is fine. I’m surprised you have alcohol at all. You never order it when you come in to the bar.”
“I’m not much of a fan of the taste of alcohol, but I do enjoy the way it makes me feel. Has a warming effect.”
“Vampires don’t really get drunk, do they? As many as I’ve served, I’ve never noticed it have much effect on any of them.”
“Normally, it doesn’t get us drunk, but it is slightly intoxicating to me now.”
She raised her eyebrow as I handed her a glass with a little bit of vodka in it.
“Before you ask, I’m not at my full strength at the moment.”
“Is that why you changed?”
“What do you mean?”
“You left the door open when you went in the bathroom last night, before you went out and got that stuff for me. You turned your back, but I could still see you in the mirror. Something changed then, like you had shrunk in on yourself.”
“Yes, but I’m surprised you noticed.”
Into the Storm (Vampires of Velum Mortis Book 2) Page 8
