by Mara Leigh
Standing, I clap Gray on the back. “Don’t you think it’s worth a shot? We need to try everything we can to find her.”
“It’s a fool’s errand.” Gray narrows his eyes and shakes his head. “I’m shocked you could be so stupid, Astrid. You’re supposed to be a professional.”
Red spots rise on Astrid’s pale cheeks, but that’s the only clue that the head of security is angry. “Do you have a better suggestion, Grayson?”
“Look for her!” he shouts. “Search the fucking city! That vamp already told us that Pike didn’t take her to Xavier’s. So which is it, Astrid? Do you trust her word or not? Because if Kwana’s telling us the truth, Selina’s not there!”
I nod in support. “Gray’s got a point.” My mind bounces like a ping-pong ball, bashed back and forth by fear and anger. Nothing feels right to me tonight. The entire world tipped on its edge when my love was taken, and it’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to smash down the walls, to take this building, the entire city, apart brick by brick until I find her.
“Showing us the way into Xavier’s compound is part of the deal we made with the prisoner,” Astrid says calmly.
“So capturing Xavier’s your priority?” Gray asks. “Not finding Selina?”
“Xavier held Selina captive for over a year,” Astrid replies. “He tortured her. He’s done it to others. He needs to face justice.”
“But Selina’s not fucking there!” Gray yells.
His anger transfers to me. Turning, I punch the wall and my fist goes straight through and into the lobby. “Fuck. Sorry.”
“It’s just a couple of layers of drywall,” Astrid says. “It can be fixed.”
Through the hole my fist made, I see two of Astrid’s security team members in the lobby, flanking Kwana. Another dozen security officers follow them. I turn toward the others. “She’s coming.”
“This is a wild goose chase.” Gray shakes his head. “Selina’s in danger, and we’re wasting time.”
I’ve never seen Gray lose his temper, never seen him in anything less than total control over his emotions, and the display further unnerves me.
The door opens and Astrid shakes Kwana’s hand. “Ready?”
She nods, but her lips tremble. “If Xavier finds out I showed you—”
“We’ve got your back.” Astrid adjusts the holster she’s wearing over her leather blazer. Her holster is loaded with at least a dozen wooden stakes. With a vampire serial killer on the loose, no one will look sideways at a woman openly armed with stakes.
“Everyone ready?” Astrid asks, and Malcolm strides over to join the group.
“Fuck this!” Gray says. “Fuck you all. I’m going to look for Selina.” He turns to me. “You coming?”
“I…” I look toward Astrid, then Kwana, then back to Gray. “We don’t know where to look for her.”
“Fine!” Gray glares at me. “I’ll find her myself.”
He pushes past the security team and into the lobby alone.
“Let’s head out,” Astrid says, like she’s unaffected by Gray’s outburst or quick departure.
The moment we’re outside the FJS building the team spreads out, spacing themselves in small groups along both sides of the street, some of them disappearing from my view entirely. But if I know anything about vampires I know that just because I can’t see them, it doesn’t mean they’re not there.
As we walk through the nearly abandoned downtown streets, Kwana changes her route and doubles back a few times.
“I… It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the city,” she says, her voice shaky. “I was down there for six years. And when we came out last night I was part of a group. I was following, not leading.”
“Just concentrate,” Astrid says firmly, but not harshly. “Trust your instincts. You know the way.”
After leading us around the city for nearly two hours, Kwana stops short.
“What is it?” Astrid asks.
“This is it.” Kwana points a trembling hand toward a construction site. “The entrance is down there. In the subbasement.”
I lean close to Astrid. “Selina told me she came out in an alley, somewhere downtown.”
“Kwana says there’s more than one way in and out,” Astrid answers. “But she only knows the way she came.” She turns to her team. “Check for cameras and guards.”
I pace along the construction fencing, trying to release my pent-up energy. Should I have gone with Gray? What if he’s already found her? What if he’s in trouble?
I stare through a gap in the fencing but it’s hard to see much. Based on the crane overhead, it looks like they’re ready to start the above-ground stories of this future condo building.
Light rain starts to fall, and I tip up my face, letting the cold dampness soak my skin. The sky erupts in light, followed by thunder, and the clouds burst with a heavy downfall.
Astrid’s team members return, and I dash back to find out what they’re saying to her.
“Cameras are disabled,” a short, stocky vampire reports. “There’s no security team on site. I’d say we’ve got at least fifteen minutes before someone comes to check why the camera’s failed.”
“Let’s go, then.” Astrid gestures for Kwana to show us the way.
Kwana leads us to the back of the site and then jumps over the twenty-foot fencing.
“What?” I turn toward Astrid, but she’s already jumped, too. Her team follows.
Shaking my head, I punch a hole in the plywood, break it apart, then pry open a space in the metal fencing behind it. I can jump twenty feet, but not without a run to build power and who’s got time for that? When the space is wide enough, I step through, but a wire tears the back of my shirt, scratching my skin.
The last of Astrid’s team disappears from view and I head to where they last were. Damned vampires. They move too fast and jump too high. At least I can match them in strength.
I glance down. They all jumped down a future elevator shaft at least four floors deep. If I jump, my ankles will shatter.
Finding iron scaffolding rungs along one side, I use them like a ladder and quickly descend a floor at a time.
The team is at the far corner of what will be a parking garage once the building’s constructed, and as I approach, Kwana turns her head toward me in alarm.
I realize my heavy footsteps are shaking concrete loose from the ceiling, leaving a small trail of pebbles behind me.
“It’s through there.” Kwana points to a steel door.
Astrid tugs on the handle, but it’s locked.
“Let me.” I tear the door off its hinges and toss it onto the floor, and the sound echoes through the cavernous space.
The shallow room contains a series of drainage pipes that disappear under the concrete, likely leading to the sewer system.
“It’s back there.” Kwana points to wall on the right.
The FJS security team takes out wooden stakes and, wearing thick leather gloves, they adjust the silver handcuffs that hang off their belts.
Astrid leads Kwana toward the spot. “Where’s the door?”
“It was right here.” Kwana shakes her head as she runs her hands over the wall. “I swear it was here.”
“The wall here is new,” Astrid says. “Look. The cement is darker in this section, and the blocks don’t line up.”
“Let’s take it apart,” one of the vampires says.
“We don’t have time,” Astrid replies. “Someone will investigate the downed security cameras soon. We’ll come back tomorrow night.”
My uncertainty about whether or not I should have gone with Gray disappears. I am meant to be here. “Get out of the way.”
Astrid and Kwana step back. I take off my jacket, wrap it around my fist, and then slam the concrete. The concrete brick I strike crumbles, and I take out more bricks the same way. Once enough are gone, I start pulling them out, and they reveal a steel door.
I clear more of the wall and then tear the steel door from
its hinges. Behind it is a huge pile of rocks and rubble. My entire body strains with the effort of pulling out a monstrous boulder, but then more rocks fall to fill the space I created.
“They’ve collapsed the tunnel,” Astrid says. “It’s no use.”
I pull out another rock, then another, but they’re quickly replaced by other ones falling. I pause, shaking my head. Astrid is right. I pound against the rocks.
The pain in my fists is excruciating. I don’t care.
“Rock! Stop it!” The sound of Astrid’s voice barely penetrates my anger and the sound of rocks crushing under my fists.
“The building is shaking!” she yells. “If it collapses, we’ll all get buried down here.”
I thrust both fists against the rocks one final time, then rest my forehead against a stone stained with my blood.
Willing my hearts’ rates to slow, I struggle to catch my breath and calm down. The only lead we had to find Selina is a literal dead end.
Chapter 5
Selina
I wake in darkness, my heart rate high, my body hot and humming, and wetness pooling between my legs.
Holy shit!
I scan the room to make sure Pike’s not here, then close my eyes, not sure whether I want to forget or relive the dream I just woke from. The very erotic dream I just woke from. I don’t think I could forget it if I tried.
The dream is still so vivid in my mind, it’s like the events are happening now. I can almost feel the padding on the wall against my cheek as Pike, in the dream, positioned me spread-eagled, facing the wall of the cell, my chains taut, my back arched with my ass pushed back.
In the dream, Pike’s hard body bent over mine, his mouth on my throat as he fed, and his hardness pressed against my ass and my sex. I didn’t fight him in the dream. Instead, I yielded, let him feed from me willingly, and the act brought me to a state of rapture, as every ounce of blood he hadn’t yet consumed rushed down to my slick sex.
Pike offered me his wrist, and I bit down, gulping the most glorious elixir, building both my strength and sexual desire. And while I was still feeding and the wound was open, he pulled his wrist away and bathed my body in his blood.
His blood on my skin was like a hot massage oil, simultaneously soothing and exciting every inch of my body, and I writhed in pleasure and anticipation, rubbing back against his hardness, wanting him more than I knew I could want anything.
In the dream, Pike’s huge, rough-skinned hands cupped my breasts. They squeezed and kneaded and teased my nipples, and somehow he had more than two hands, because while the first two remained on my breasts, another one cupped my sex, and long thick fingers stroked through my folds. And the heel of his yet another hand pressed hard against my mound, nearly lifting me off the ground, his fingers circled my entrance and flicked over my clit as his hands, everywhere at once, pinched my nipples.
“Fuck me,” I yelled in the dream. “Fuck me hard. Take me like an animal.”
And he did. Somehow his hands stayed on my breasts and my clit while another clamped over my mouth. The hand on my mouth pushed a thick finger between my lips at the same moment that an impossibly huge cock drove into my pussy from behind.
I sucked hard on the finger as the cock relentlessly pounded inside me, as fingers continued to pinch and tease my nipples and fondle my clit, and another set of hands gripped my hips, tugging me back to meet each thrust. Pike consumed my body, used me for his pleasure, but it was my pleasure too. Pleasure like I’ve never known, never thought attainable.
As the cock continued to drive inside me, so hard, so fast, so deep, I came, over and over and over, as if orgasms were my new state of being, as if my climaxes would never stop. I could barely see, barely breathe, there was nothing but his thick cock filling me as my pussy contracted around it, hundreds—millions—of explosions going off in my body and mind as I lost control of my limbs, as my torso convulsed and bucked within the constraints of the chains, his hands all over me and his huge body pressed against my back as he rammed hard inside of me.
Panting, I come back to the present and realize my mental reenactment of the dream brought me to another orgasm. I squeeze my legs together to draw out the contractions.
What is wrong with me?
Shame overtakes my pleasure as the climax ends and my breathing rate slows. Is this Stockholm Syndrome? Is it working? Is Pike’s strategy of feigned kindness, of making me as comfortable as possible, actually working?
Is that why I’m sexually attracted to a monster?
Sitting, I lean back against the padded wall, and the chains clank as I settle. There’s no chance these will ever break. There’s no chance I’ll get out of this bondage without his help.
Just like the restraints in Xavier’s dungeon, there is no escape.
I only got out of there because my restraints were left open. Left open by Pike. On purpose?
Again, I consider his motives. At the time, the only logical explanation was that he wanted a hunt—that he wanted to chase me—because there was no way he’d have been so careless as to leave them open by accident.
Are we still playing that game? Did he give me a few weeks of freedom intending to capture me again?
Back in Xavier’s dungeon he said that if he ever fucked me I’d want it. That I’d beg him for it. Is that his goal? Holding me captive, treating me with kindness until I cave?
In that scenario, meeting Rock and Gray, my sexual experiences with them—feeling true sexual pleasure for the first time—could that have been part of Pike’s plan?
Now that I’ve experienced that kind of pleasure, I crave it. I need it like I need blood, and Pike’s put himself in a position to be the only one who can provide either.
My insides squeeze, thinking back to the dream.
But that theory’s crazy. All of it. There’s no way Pike could have planned everything that’s happened to me since I escaped. And if he wanted me for a fuck toy, he could have just taken me out of Xavier’s dungeon and brought me here right from the start.
When it comes to Pike, the only thing I’m sure of is that I’m not sure of anything.
His appearance and demeanor are terrifying, ferocious. I know he’s capable of brutality and yet…he’s been so gentle and kind, bringing me a vein to feed from, giving me my space down here.
And he did help me escape from Xavier’s dungeon, there is no questioning that at this point, and when he took me from the warehouse—took me from my friends and the men I love—he also took me away from vampires who had wooden stakes aimed at my heart.
The curtain parts and Pike steps through the opening.
My heart gallops, and it’s not just fear.
Terror, anger and lust mix inside me in a potent combination that leaves me confused and breathless. My hatred for Pike and my utter fear are now mixed with highly erotic feelings, plus grateful ones. Pike did save my life. Possibly twice.
As he steps further into the space, I’m overwhelmed by the sound and scent of his blood, and the power of the thick hot fluid coursing through his body overtakes my mind. I can’t hear anything else, smell anything else, taste anything else.
Pike takes a step toward me, and I lick my fangs and squeeze my legs together to relieve the tension. Or perhaps to increase it.
Please. I try to regain my sanity. This vampire is a monster. He’s hurt you. He’s holding you captive. Get a grip on your libido and smarten the fuck up.
Chapter 6
Pike
My cock is like a steel rod. The sight of her, the sound of her heartbeat and the scent of her blood—combined with her unmistakable arousal—are too much to bear. If she were any other woman I’d take her right now. I’d relieve this need hammering inside me, relieve her obvious need, too.
But I won’t touch Selina. Not without her invitation. And that invitation’s not likely to come.
I watched her, so turned on in her sleep and her daydreams after. But those dreams weren’t about me. She dreamed about the l
arge human, or that fancy vampire who’s so hot for her. Her desire was not, is not, will never be for me.
“Why?” she asks, her voice raspy, like she’s just woken.
“Why what?”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“I told you. To keep you safe.”
Her eyes narrow and her expression hardens. “It doesn’t make sense. You let me escape from the dungeon. If your plan was to trap me down here, then why let me go in the first place?”
“The situation has changed. You’re in grave danger.”
“No shit! From you!”
I step back, blinking against the pain of her words. She’s not entirely wrong. The attack at the warehouse was my fault, and she was almost captured. Xavier’s Guard must have followed me there another night and discovered her. I got careless.
“Xavier is the danger,” I say softly.
“And you’re one of his Guard!”
“Not anymore.” And now they want me dead, too. “I told Xavier you were dead once. He won’t believe me again.”
“Liar.” Her expression shows that she’s thinking. “You were with the others when they attacked.”
I shake my head. “I saved you from them.”
She blinks a few times. “If Xavier wants me dead, why am I still alive? I had stakes at my heart.”
When I crashed into that warehouse, I wondered the same thing. And my only conclusion chills my bones. “Xavier doesn’t trust anyone else to kill you,” I tell her. “Or he wants to watch it happen. He wants to see you suffer.”
I shudder at the memory of what I’ve seen Xavier do to others. Even if I didn’t commit any of those murders, I was complicit. Selina called me a monster, and it’s true. I was a monster, even as a human, and now I’ve literally become one.
She tips her head to the side as if considering my words, then stands and leaps forward. Her chains clank as she hits the edge of her range. “You can’t hold me here. My friends will come for me. They will kill you.”
“If I let you go, Xavier will kill you.”
