by Bella Klaus
Her burgundy eyes glimmered with warmth, and she wrinkled her pert little nose. “Men can be such creeps,” she said with a broad smile. “Frederica Nadasdy, how do you do?”
I swept my gaze down her tailored, floor-length coat that looked like it cost more than every hotel room in the building—excluding the fifteen percent discount for booking online. There was absolutely no way in Heaven or Hell that this elegant pair had stopped fifteen miles from Logris for a romantic night in a two-star hotel.
“I’ll tell you what’s creepy,” I said.
Her brows rose in question and she pressed her full, pink lips into what she probably thought was an innocent smile.
“The amount of CCTV in these establishments.” I cracked open the can of coke, spraying tiny droplets of cool liquid over my fingers. “They’re riddled with security cameras. Did you know some of these hotels broadcast live feeds on the internet?”
As the vampires exchanged nervous glances, I took a lengthy swig of Coke.
Both of them grimaced, but it was too early to exhale a sigh of relief. I guzzled down the liquid like it was nectar, forcing myself not to wince at the chemical aftertaste, and didn’t dare to remove my gaze from the female vampire’s nose.
“Let me escort you to your room,” she said.
“No need,” I replied. “I’m waiting for my boyfriend.”
She glowered at me for several moments before tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes. “You’re that girl.”
“No, I’m not,” I said through clenched teeth.
“The Neutral who turned His Majesty.” She turned to her companion. “That cow who thought she was engaged.”
My heartbeat doubled, sounding like massive fists pounding against my ribcage. The male vampire’s lips curved into a broad smile, and his dark chuckle made every hair on the back of my head stand on end.
“Do not think a few mouthfuls of aspartame will save you,” he hissed.
I caught a glimpse of reddening irises, and the cool liquid in my stomach churned. This was no longer just a case of a delicious-smelling girl. It was personal because I was the woman who had desecrated their king.
“There’s a bounty on your head,” the vampire female drawled. “You’re wanted by both the Council and Their Highnesses. Come with us, or we will inform the enforcers of your location.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered.
“Your heartbeat says otherwise.” He wrapped a hand around my arm.
I threw my head back and screamed.
The vampires froze, and everybody in the lobby turned around.
“Let go of my bloody arm,” I shouted at the top of my voice. “I’m not going anywhere with a pair of pervy swingers.”
The receptionist who I waved at earlier disappeared behind a door and brought out a security guard who was as tall as he was broad. I pressed my back against the vending machine, wishing I had the power to turn to smoke or melt into a puddle.
One large human didn’t have a chance against one vampire, let alone two, but the people sitting in the lobby and those who had just stepped out of the elevators paused to watch the spectacle. I prayed to every deity within the realms of my imagination that the vampires would go away.
Jonathan stepped through the automatic doors, holding his smartphone. “Hey.”
Every taut muscle in my body loosened with relief. “Darling.” I jogged around the vampires and wrapped my arms around his narrow shoulders. “You kept me waiting.”
“What’s going on?” He drew back, his gaze falling onto the vampiric pair.
I turned to face them, hoping that the presence of another supernatural would make them back off, but they stared at him, looking unimpressed. My throat thickened. They probably thought he was another null and a pathetic one at that. Only I had seen the extent of his terrifying power. Guys like Jonathan were the reason the Council wanted to cull fire wielders at birth.
“Come along.” He snaked an arm around my waist and walked me to an online check-in machine that dispensed credit-card shaped keys.
My insides thrummed with trepidation, and the imaginary curls of vampire smoke tightened around my neck like a noose. I wanted to tell Jonathan that we should leave, but the vampires would overhear and trap us somewhere without CCTV. Besides, Jonathan probably wouldn’t let them follow him to the Flame and risk them reporting the location of the very people the Supernatural Council wanted to kill.
Without a word, he walked me to the elevator and placed his key in a security panel, which opened the sliding doors. As I stepped inside, I glanced over my shoulder to find the large security guard blocking the vampires from following. My teeth worried at my bottom lip. It was still too early to relax.
The doors shut, and the elevator rose. I turned to Jonathan and said, “Those people were—”
“Vampires,” he replied with a nod. “I sensed them in the carpark.”
My brows furrowed, and I stepped out of his embrace. “Since when?”
“Since their limousine pulled in, I suppose.” He raised a shoulder and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his duffle coat. “Their driver is also a vampire.”
My breath turned shallow, and a hot dagger of betrayal sliced through my heart. From start to finish, those vampires must have been speaking to me for fifteen minutes—ten, if my brain had warped the duration and made it seem longer. Jonathan had sensed them in their car and hadn’t come out to confront them until now?
Angry, prickly heat crept across my cheeks, and my heart pounded with the urge to finish what I had started when I’d knocked him down to the floor. But I held myself back. Those vampires weren’t likely to give up and might even bring reinforcements. I needed Jonathan to help fight my battle.
“I suppose you had problems with making the booking,” I said, trying to keep the hatred from my voice.
He shook his head and blew out an exasperated breath. “The coupon code I found online didn’t work, so I had to google another.” A chuckle burst from his narrow mouth. “You wouldn’t believe how many of these sites generate scam coupons just to get you to click their affiliate links.”
I nodded along with him, holding back the acid simmering in my belly. If I told him what I really thought, I wouldn’t stop. “Right,” I said in my calmest voice. “Then you had to clear your browser. You know, to get rid of those pesky cookies.”
The corners of his pale eyes crinkled with a genuine smile. “You do that, too?”
One of the controls holding back my temper snapped, and the words spilled from my lips before I could stop them. “What would your high priest have said if those vampires dragged me to their limousine and drained my blood?”
Jonathan’s face paled, and his features went slack. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”
“Save it,” I snapped. “We’re in this mess because you grabbed me against my will.”
He flinched, and had the nerve to stare at me with betrayed eyes. His lips parted, presumably to utter an excuse, but the elevator pinged, and the doors slid open.
I turned to find the vampire pair standing side by side in the hallway, each sporting fanged grins.
Chapter Twelve
I stumbled back, my heart clenching with shock. How on earth did the vampires track us to the fourteenth floor? The vampire male swaggered toward us, running his tongue across his bottom lip, and then licked the tips of his fangs as though priming them for feeding.
“We meet again, delicious,” he drawled.
“It was rude of you to leave without so much as a goodbye,” said his female companion with a fangy grin.
Bile rose to the back of my throat. These vampires were treating my fear as a joke—the first game of a hunting party that would culminate in my death. I pressed my back against the elevator wall and pushed all the magic I could muster into my hands. If either of them so much as touched me, I would sear the top layer of their skin with my flames.
Jonathan raised both ha
nds, throwing out a trail of crackling black flames that wrapped around both their necks. I sucked in a breath through my teeth as his fire engulfed their bodies. Both vampires staggered back with blood-curdling screams, flailing their arms through the air as they tried to put out the flames.
Thick black smoke billowed from their burning bodies, and alarm bells rang across the hallway and through the elevator speakers. I rushed to the metallic control panel and stabbed at the button to close the doors, but they remained stuck.
Jonathan glanced at me over his shoulder. “Take us back to the ground floor,” he shouted over the loud alarm. “Hurry!”
“It’s not working,” I shouted back. “This had to be some sort of fire protocol.”
“Blast.” Releasing the flames from his hands, he wrapped his fingers around my forearm and yanked me out of the elevator.
My foot slipped over the vampire’s fallen stiletto. I would have fallen but Jonathan dragged me forward, making me stumble for several steps before I could right myself. All around us, the hotel room doors opened. Guests in various states of undress stuck their heads out of their doors and turned their gazes toward the pair fallen by the elevator.
I glanced over my shoulder to find that they had stopped burning but now lay in a smoldering pile.
A tall man stepped out clad in a pair of blue boxers and white socks. “What’s going on?”
“False alarm.” The words tumbled from my lips.
I turned to Jonathan, who glanced from side to side, seeming to be checking the room numbers. He slowed and reached into the pocket of his duffle coat.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
He pulled out the hotel card. “Now that we’ve already checked in, it’s non-refundable.”
“We can’t stay here.” I tugged at his arm.
“What are you talking about?”
“The scent of my blood keeps attracting them. We were only safe in the car because it was an enclosed space and we were on the move.” I tugged on his arm. “Please. We’ve got to keep moving.”
Jonathan glanced at the other end of the hallway, where a crowd had gathered around the charred vampires. I couldn’t tell if he had killed them or just made them pass out from the pain, but we had to get out of here in case word of a spontaneous combustion reached the internet and enforcers came to investigate.
“Alright.” He slipped the hotel key back into his pocket. “We’ll try some other place, but it won’t be as nice as here.”
Exhaling a long breath, I jogged toward the fire exit with Jonathan keeping up with me on my right. There was absolutely no way in hell I would accompany him to any kind of hotel. Now was probably the best time to ditch him, but he had mentioned earlier that the vampire couple had come in a limousine and that their driver was also a vampire. I had to stick close to him for protection… at least until it was safe to escape him.
The fire door opened into a concrete stairwell with narrow windows that overlooked the busy M25. Maybe it was the enclosed space, but the alarms seemed even louder here. I hurried down the stairs with my hand on its metal handrail, taking the steps two at a time. Outside, tall floodlights illuminated the motorway’s hard shoulder, while headlights and brake lights created patterns of light that made the highway seem like something out of a movie.
Whatever became of the vampire pair, I hoped they would stay down for long enough to let us escape. Jonathan wasn’t at my side, so I turned around to find him still standing at the fire door above me, placing his hands over its steel hinges.
“What are you doing?” I shouted over the alarm.
He turned around and grinned. “Melting the metal locking mechanism so the vampires don’t follow.”
I paused, sputtering out a breath of incredulity. “And trap the humans on the fourteenth floor?”
Jonathan jogged down the stairs toward me with both shoulders raised in an exaggerated shrug. “It’s done, now. You’re the one who said we had to get out of here.”
Clenching my teeth, I turned and hurried down the stairs. Jonathan was a piece of work. I’d never met someone so single-minded and selfish. We continued down several flights in silence, passing with people stepping out at the lower floors to see what was happening. Only a few people continued down the stairs ahead of us, and when the fire bell stopped, they turned back, presumably to return to their rooms.
“What do you think that means?” I asked Jonathan.
“False alarm?” he replied.
I gulped. “Or our two friends upstairs already recovered.”
“No way.” He grabbed my arm. “My black fire attacks are the most powerful in the Flame. When I go at it with my full strength, they never get up.”
I swallowed back the bitterness gathering in the back of my throat. “Like how you attacked Macavity?”
His lips thinned, and he continued down the stairs without a response.
Anger burned through my veins. Macavity hadn’t even been trying to hurt him. Jonathan just hurt the cat because he got scared, then he continued hurting him to take control of me. One day, I hoped he understood what it was like to feel the pain of those black flames.
The ground floor was another concrete space with double fire doors secured by horizontal metal handles. After pushing it open, we stepped into the cold evening and let the door slam shut behind us.
We stood within a paved courtyard between the side of the hotel and another building. Cars rumbled from beyond the buildings, and we glanced from side to side, looking for the way to the parking lot. On our left and right were two alleyways that led around the hotel. Fluorescent wall lights illuminated a row of six-foot-tall metallic trash cans usually found outside supermarkets, and a cool breeze carried the mild scent of rotten food.
Jonathan pointed to the left. “This way.”
A smoky presence filled the space from all directions, making all the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It felt like three more vampires, but with so much adrenaline surging through my system, it was hard to tell.
“Someone’s coming,” I whispered.
“I feel them, too.” Jonathan placed an arm around my shoulder, tucking me into his side.
“Let go.” I pushed my fire into my hands. “We can’t be wrapped up in each other if we’re going to fight.”
“Alright,” he said, sounding a little hurt.
Someone clapped, the sound echoing across the courtyard’s wall. I turned in a circle, trying to spot our stalker, but he or she kept to the shadows.
“Fire mages?” the stranger asked in a deep, rumbling voice.
I gulped. This wasn’t the vampire Jonathan burned. It had to be the driver.
“Wait until he makes a move,” Jonathan whispered.
I gave him a sharp nod and held out my flaming hands.
“When you incapacitated a vampire lord and lady, you also made yourselves the enemies of the Noble House of Tennison. Have you heard of it?” The speaker didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “My master also called the enforcers, who are on their way, but I can help you.”
“Ignore him,” Jonathan hissed.
I ignored Jonathan and continued looking for signs of the speaker. So, I was right and this was the limousine driver. He had no doubt picked up my scent and was bluffing about the enforcers. Even if the vampire lord was furious at having been burned, he would still want me captured so he could exact revenge. Hell, when Lazarus had dragged me back to the mausoleum, the first thing he wanted to do was drink my blood to heal his wounds from the fight.
A shadow lengthened, making my breath catch in the back of my throat. Was that him? He probably wanted to drag me back to heal his masters and get a little taste for himself. I would have shouted out that my blood was cursed, but it would have no effect.
After several heartbeats, a tall, broad figure emerged from around the corner, clad in the black suit of a limousine driver with golden buttons and a flat-topped cap with golden trim.
“Here I am,�
� he said. “Ready to make a deal.” It was hard to see his features beneath the broad brim of his hat, but his pale skin glowed in the artificial light.
“What do you want?” I said.
Jonathan stepped in front of me. “Don’t negotiate with those monsters. They only want to violate you.”
I clenched my teeth at the irony and flared out my fire, making him step back and raise his hands higher.
“Call it a truce and an offer of assistance.” He raised his glove-covered hands in surrender.
While the vampire driver continued making promises to whisk me away from an impending confrontation with the enforcers and his furious masters, Jonathan whispered, “Call for help.”
“Who?”
“There’s a phone in my pocket that contains only one number. Call them, and a team of mages will get these vampires off our backs.”
“Dear girl,” said the limo driver. “Come with me and I will keep you safe from those who wish to exploit your gift.”
Annoyance prickled over my skin. Who was this vampire trying to fool? Not wanting to waste time asking Jonathan how long it would take for the team to arrive, I slipped my hand into the pocket of his duffle coat only for my fingers to brush a wad of damp tissues.
Disgust rippled through my insides, and I yanked my hand away. “Where’s your phone?”
“Trouser pocket.” Jonathan stretched out both arms, pointing out his palms toward the exits like a flaming scarecrow.
“Call them yourself,” I whispered, “I’ll fend the vampire off with my magic if he comes close.”
“But you don’t have any offensive power,” he said with a whine.
“Stop wasting time and call them,” I hissed.
Jonathan hesitated a moment before slipping his hand into the front pocket of his pale jeans. I pushed enough flames into my palms to ward off the talkative vampire, and made my expression fierce. Jonathan was either overconfident or a complete opportunist. I blasted as much fire as I could into my hands to cleanse my fingers of Jonathan’s snot. What kind of man would want a girl to rifle through his pockets during a stand-off with a hungry vampire?
