Catch

by Annie Nicholas

  Not a minute later, the door splintered open and Rurik stepped inside. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and a splatter of it marred the pale skin of his chest. He still wore the same outfit he danced in on New Year’s—a pair of tight, black pants with no shirt. Maybe less time had passed than I thought.

  He knelt next to me. “Rabbit.” Relief visible in his face, he pushed the curls from my cheeks. “All will be well.” His lips pressed against my forehead for a short kiss. “Tane and Colby’s forces have taken over this complex.” A dark storm of anger thundered within his eyes as his gaze slid to my back. He licked his lips as he stared at what must be a mess. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Which him did he referred to? Ah heck, he could go kill them all. I wrapped my hand around his. “Check on that guy in the corner before you go on a murdering rampage.” My flip comment brought a small sardonic smile to his mouth. “I want you to feed from me first so you can heal.” He raised his wrist to his mouth to open a vein.

  “Wait.” After all the noise and action, nothing stirred from the corner. Dread settled in my gut. “I don’t think my nerves will let me until you see if he’s okay.”

  “Fine, except I smell death.” He sighed and crossed the room in three steps then removed the clothing that covered the person. “We’re too late.” His soft voice carried more than regret, it carried recognition.

  “Who?” I grimaced as I tried to lift and turn my head. Eric sat slumped against the wall, his throat torn out. I wasn’t any kind of forensic expert, but I could tell he’d been there a while. They must have thrown the clothes on top of him. The smell released from under the fabric roiled over me and I retched. Nothing came out. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. I heaved again, and this time Rurik cradled my head. “I can’t feed here. Get me out.”

  “It’s going to hurt.”

  “I don’t care.” After last night, I understood pain.

  He frowned and his eyebrows drew together. With a gentle touch, he slid one hand under my shoulder. The brush of his fingers on my open wounds sent an electric fire through my nerve endings.

  I cried out. “You’re right, it’s too much.” My mind raced. The smell of rotting flesh grew stronger. God, I was such a wimp.

  “I can block some of your pain, but I’d have to link with your mind.”

  “Yes, yes, do it. Just get me out of here, Rurik. Please.” Tears welled in his eyes. Any doubts about him fostered in my dark hour left my belfry like a colony of bats. “I’m going to kill Luckard.” Like his hands, his mind touched mine with an expert’s ease. The trauma of this ordeal destroyed what mental shielding I usually sustained. I didn’t have any special abilities, any human could do it with practice and concentration. My thoughts were so scattered I couldn’t spell my own name.

  His presence surrounded me and soothed all the aches with love. I breathed easier.

  He couldn’t take it all away but made it tolerable.

  He lifted me in his arms and sped me from the room. Outside the door we ran into a tall, dark haired woman.

  She appraised us with cool amber eyes. “My Master asked me to check on your status, Ms. Bence.”

  “You can tell your Master to shove—“

  Rurik managed to cover my mouth with his fingers. “She’s been hurt and I’m very displeased. I need a place to tend to her wounds.”

  “I’ll relay the message.” She reached for a radio hooked to her belt.

  “No, you’ll accompany us to a room and guard our backs while she feeds, Gwen.” Who? How did he know her name? She’d pulled her long brown hair into a tight braid that hung to her behind. Almond shaped, hard eyes stared at him then she nodded and led us downstairs to a worn couch. “This should do.” She stood with her back to the wall and rested a hand on the gun holstered on her hip next to the radio.

  Rurik sat with me on his lap. He bit into his wrist and offered me a fix.

  I glanced at Gwen.

  Tall and strong, her attention was to the entrance.

  With the tip of my tongue, I tasted the temptation, hating the satisfaction it provided.

  “Bashful?” Rurik’s incredulous question made me jump. “Do you want me to ask her to leave the room before you bleed to death?” He whispered, an undertone of frustration apparent.

  Gwen ignored us.

  Good, I couldn’t bear an audience. I wanted to nod but the sweet scent of his blood drew my attention. My hunger roared to life, cutting off all thoughts. On the edge of starvation, I jerked his wrist to my mouth. If I was bound to Tane why did I crave another’s blood?

  I pressed my mouth to his wrist and drank. The heat of his blood couldn’t compete with the burning heat on my cheeks. Each salty swallow eased some of the hunger, not all of it though. These last few weeks something seemed missing like an essential vitamin. I knew what now.

  Tane.

  My gut clenched and I pulled away from Rurik. “Enough.”

  “You haven’t even begun to heal.”

  Gwen faced us. “Time to go, she says she done.” With a stiff jerk of her head, she gestured for us to follow and marched deeper into the building. Wooden stakes attached to the back of her belt caught my attention.

  “Bitch.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Rurik, he rarely swore.

  He took my face between his hands. “I can’t shield you indefinitely. My strength wanes, I haven’t fed and my daylight rest took place in the trunk of Gwen’s car. Feed some more, at least until you’re healed enough to tolerate the pain.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “You’ve been missing a full day.”

  I’d been unconscious most of it. “Luckard?”

  “Escaped, but the others have been caught or killed.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ll hunt him down.”

  “Did you say a combination force of Tane and Colby’s men did this?” He grinned. “I have a growing appreciation for your ex-boss. He used a cell phone to somehow find you.” Rurik, like most old vampires, understood technology as well as my late grandmother. I’d caught him trying to turn on the television with the portable phone once. “Tane attempted to contact his people with his mind, but the drug still flowed heavy in his blood. He couldn’t tell them the exact location and Colby lacked the forces to storm the place. He and Archios, Tane’s second-in-command, worked out a deal.”

  “Who’s Gwen?”

  “She manages Tane’s security.”

  “I bet after this she’ll be unemployed.”

  “Tane never thinks he needs security. He’ll be lucky if she doesn’t quit.” He chuckled and offered his wrist.

  How did I explain I had enough of his blood in my system and I needed Tane’s? It felt like treachery. I sighed. “Take me home. Please, baby.” Something in my expression made him frown. He stood and carried me in the direction Gwen went. We found her standing in a doorway, her back to us, watching what went on inside. Her muscular, thin arms crossed over her chest.

  A beast growled and screeched from the room. My heart skipped a beat. Its cry awoke my primal instinct to run. Instead, Rurik pushed past Gwen and carried me inside.

  Crouched on the floor a vampire twisted the rod loose in Tane’s flesh. “Brace yourself, Master.” Long brown hair hid his face as he knelt.

  Tane stood above him doing his impression of a pincushion with the four rods sticking out of him. He widened his stance and grabbed onto an unfamiliar Nosferatu warrior.

  I scanned the room and saw another securing Luckard’s accomplices. Fear gripped my gut. How many of these ubervamps were there? I barely survived two in Budapest and in the last twenty-four hours I’d seen four. An empty foreboding made me hug Rurik closer. My grandmother used to call it a shadow passing over your grave. I believed her.

  An inhuman scream came from Tane. His fanged mouth opened unnaturally wide as the long haired vamp slid the bar from his master’s body.

  The paint on the walls should have curled from such a sound, I knew m
y ears wanted to, and I covered them with my hands.

  Then the pain hit.

  Rurik almost dropped me as the shock flung me into a spine-cracking arch. It burned.

  It tore. It hurt. Agony was my only focus. From my shoulder across to my side, almost as if they tried to pull the steel bar from my body instead of Tane’s. My arms flung out as I joined my howls to his screech.

  Like a floodgate crashing closed, the pain stopped.

  My throat ached from my cries, all I could manage was a whimper.

  Rurik gathered me into his arms and hugged me tight. “What’s wrong?” I’d never heard my lover so close tears.

  A metal bar clanked to the floor and Tane gasped. “What is she doing here? Gwen, I sent you to get her out.” His voice cracked with strain. “I’m trying to shield you, Rabbit.” I twisted around to face my personal demon. The vampire at his feet stood to face me. Handsome features and intelligent eyes made me think of Rurik. They could be of the same clan.

  “Rurik took over the search and brought her here.” Gwen spoke from behind me, her statement a matter-of-fact.

  Thick, dark blood oozed from the closing wound in Tane’s side. I could smell it.

  Like buttered toast, it made my mouth water. Our eyes met and without speaking, I knew he understood how I hungered.

  The loving arms around me tensed.

  I turned to see betrayal and rage surge over Rurik’s face as he glared at Tane.

  “You—” A growl built in Rurik’s throat. “She’s bound to you?” The despair carried in his question echoed my own feelings.

  “Take them to the house, Gwen. Archios will help set me free.” Tane signaled to the vampire next to him, who appeared lost in his thoughts.

  He stared at me then blinked before bending to work on the next bar.

  Gwen placed her hand on Rurik’s shoulder. “Follow me.” He shrugged her hand off. Anger radiated from him in waves. I half expected him to toss me to the floor.

  “My flesh has melded to the metal,” Tane snapped. “I can’t block the pain forever.

  Not in my state. Stay if you want to make her suffer more.” In a nebulous silence, Rurik spun and led Gwen from the room, pressing me to his dead heart.

  Chapter Six

  Naked, I knelt in a deep marble tub filled with a few inches of bloody water. Rurik had cut the last strap from my dress and we’d left the scraps on the bathroom floor. His skin had taken a waxy hue.

  He refilled a large plastic cup from the tap and poured it over the lash wounds on my back again.

  I hissed at the sting. “You need to feed.”

  “That’s usually my line.” He refilled the cup. Since the injuries weren’t healing he wanted them clean. The effort to block some of my pain painted his face. “Maybe if you take some of my heart’s blood you’d mend.”

  “No!” Twisting at the hip, I glared at him. I didn’t have a clue what he was offering but I wouldn’t take anything more until he fed. “Gwen?” I called her name. She’d parked her ass in a chair in the bedroom connected to this bathroom.

  “You hollered?” She poked her head around the door and grimaced. “That’s nasty.

  We should get her a doctor.”

  Worry filled Rurik’s eyes as he glanced from me to Gwen. “Is one available?”

  “Master Tane keeps one on retainer for the mortals.” I’d recognized Gwen wasn’t vampire—her word choice, saying mortals instead of humans, set off a little alarm in my head. Over the past few years I’d learned to not ignore it.

  “Send for one.”

  Gwen nodded and began to leave the room.

  “Wait. Take Rurik with you and get him…” What? Someone to eat? “Uh, nourishment.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You won’t do her any good if your powers wane.” Gwen signaled for him to lift me out of the tub. “Come on, now. Place her on the bed. We have plenty of volunteers to drink from. Unless you want me to send one in here?” We both answered. “No.” Watching Rurik take sustenance from someone else would be as pleasant as a root canal.

  Gwen chuckled. “Let’s go.” She left.

  Using the edge of the tub, I stood. My legs wobbled, but he steadied me. One slow motion at a time, I stepped out of the black, shiny tub. A small family could have bathed in it.

  “I wish I could block more of the pain.” He assisted me to the bed and lifted me onto it. Even uninjured, I’d need a stepladder to get on it.

  I bit my lip and grimaced as a sharp ache shot across my abused flesh from the sudden movement.

  “Sorry.” He looked ready to chew nails. “I hate this.”

  “Call the doctor then feed. Come back to me refreshed.” I lay prone on the thick, chocolate brown bedding. What happened to yesterday? We played in the gardens and enjoyed life, carefree…happy. Today a new chapter in our life opened, a terrible one, which starred Tane. “I’m going to need you.” Those words would have killed me to say a year ago, yet I’d grown. He’d helped me understand the difference between standing alone and standing together. With him at my side, I could weather anything. Even this.

  I watched the door close and sighed. Nobody wanted me to look at my back. It hurt too much to twist and examine it in the mirror, however with a handheld one I’d at least get a glimpse. One sat on the vanity. I edged off the bed and waddled over. The small, silver mirror felt heavy in my hand. I turned and faced away from the larger mirror. With a little aim, I finally witnessed the carnage.

  They did put me through a meat grinder. Did I have any skin left? The doctor would need to work a miracle to sew me back together. There’d be one huge scar once he was done. No more of those backless dresses Rurik loved, and no more bathing suits. A lump swelled in my throat as I fought back the tears.

  Was I vain? Sure. My looks helped me through some rough parts in my life. I didn’t rely solely on them, still they helped. Would Rurik have been attracted to me in Budapest if I had looked different?

  The door opened and a Nosferatu vampire stepped into the bedroom.

  I dropped the handheld mirror. It tumbled to floor and shattered, just like my life. I tried to cover my nakedness with my hands. To say the least, my efforts didn’t accomplish much.

  Tane entered with two others of his clan and glanced at the broken shards on the floor. “Don’t move. You’ll cut your feet.” He turned to his entourage. “Leave us.” They left without comment except the one who entered first did smirk in my direction before following his commrades.

  In silence, Tane and I stared at each other. I tried to cross my arms over my breasts, but my sliced arm wouldn’t cooperate. It was hard to look confident without clothes.

  “Where’s Rurik?” He sauntered toward me.

  “Gwen is showing him where to feed.” I retreated, but the step jammed a small spike of mirror into my foot. A yelp escaped me.

  Tane held me close in his arms before I could blink. “I told you not to move.” He stood in the center of the broken pieces. “You’re so infuriating.” With a swift scoop of his arms, he picked me up and carried me to the bed. “Let’s get you healed.” I rolled onto my side and glared at him. His dark eyes reflected no emotion, yet anger radiated from his body like heat. He wore a pair of black sweatpants and nothing else, not a mark on his skin where the steel bars had pierced him. Broad, muscled shoulders bulged with tension as they met a well-defined chest. His waist didn’t taper to his hips like Rurik’s though. He had a bulkier build. Where Rurik reminded me of a panther, Tane made me think tiger—big, strong, and dangerous.

  I pulled a corner of the blanket and covered my front, but it left my backside exposed.

  He snatched my foot and yanked out the shard of mirror from the sole. “Like you don’t have enough holes in your hide.” The bed sank as he crawled onto it. “Give me your arm.”

  “Why?”

  His eyes narrowed and a muscle in his jaw ticked as he clenched his jaw. Rage must be storming inside of him. Betrayed and imprisoned by one
of his kind. The anger wasn’t at me, nevertheless I was the focus. Tane ruled all the vampires in the world, which made him the strongest. Not the best idea to piss him off.

  I gave him my injured arm, the one Luckard cut with a blade to test our blood ties.

  “Squeeze my hand.”

  I tried to wrap my fingers around his, but even with Rurik dampening my pain they wouldn’t move much.

  “Luckard cut the tendons.” His eyes met mine. “It hurt when he did it.”

  “No shit.” I withdrew my hand. He’d felt the slice of the blade too. “Can we just get this over with?”

  One corner of his thin mouth lifted. “I wish it could be that easy. If I let you feed, the injuries will close up and heal quickly. With this amount of damage, there will be a lot of scarring if done incorrectly. You might lose the use of your hand.” I wanted to be whole again and realized at what lengths I’d go to be healed properly.

  “Do you know how to do it right?”

  He rolled his eyes.

  “Of course you do, the mighty Tane’s been a vampire since the time of dinosaurs.” I exaggerated, but knew I was close. What’s a few thousand years?

  His chuckle caught me by surprise. I couldn’t remember if I ever heard him laugh before tonight. It made him more human. He licked his lips. “T-Rex, my favorite.” The small amount of humor in his eyes changed his face. It went from intimidating to warm in seconds. He lay next to me and took my arm again. “I’ll have to lick the wound.

  Something in the Nosferatu saliva helps with the healing. The stronger the vampire, the better the results.”

  My heart took off at a gallop as I watched him bring my injury to his mouth. His tongue slid inside, however he never broke eye contact with me. Drawn into his gaze, my vision tunneled and only the dark pits of his eyes existed. I shuddered as he took a long slow stroke.

  Tell me if it hurts. His voice sounded in my thoughts. It broke whatever trance I’d allowed myself to fall into.

  “Don’t do that.”

  He stopped and quirked an eyebrow. “The tendons may not reconnect.”