Once Bitten, Twice Burned

by Cynthia Eden

  The guards hit the ground and tried to roll in an attempt to put out the fire.

  But that fire wasn’t dying.

  Neither was Sabine.

  As he watched, she rose. Covered in those flames, she rose. The fire was flying out from her body, hitting guards, seeming to deliberately attack them while none of those red-orange streaks were coming at him.

  Because his phoenix was controlling her fire.

  He’d never see anything more beautiful or more deadly, and he knew that he never would again.

  “Shoot her!” Wyatt screamed. “Shoot her until she goes down!”

  The remaining guards were trying to shoot, but the SP tranq couldn’t penetrate the wall of fire around her.

  Ryder’s eyes wanted to sag closed, but he forced his gaze to stay open. Sabine had the strength right then. This was her moment. She could . . . “Get . . . away.”

  Through the flames, he saw her head turn toward him. Her hair seemed to be floating in the fire, and a rough brush of wind—hot wind—whispered over his skin.

  “Now’s . . . your . . . chance,” he managed. He wouldn’t be able to stay conscious much longer. But he didn’t have to last long, just until she escaped. “Go!”

  And she did. Sabine—his phoenix—turned and rushed into the woods. The flames around her dimmed as she reached the trees.

  “Shoot!” Wyatt yelled.

  More SP tranqs were fired at her.

  But Sabine disappeared into the woods.

  She’d gotten away. Hell, yes.

  His head fell back against the ground. Ryder stared above him. The sun. Big and bright, and, right then, fucking gorgeous.

  He could always think clearly when the SP tranq hit him. He just couldn’t move his body an inch. It took all of his strength to keep his eyes cracked open just a few minutes more.

  Vampires were supposed to hate the daytime. It made most of ’em weaker.

  Not him.

  The tranq was doing that all by itself.

  Then he couldn’t see the sun. Not because his heavy lids had finally closed, but because Wyatt stood above him, blocking the view. “Don’t worry,” Wyatt assured him. “We’ll get her back. I’m sure that last shot hit its mark.”

  No!

  Wyatt offered a smile. “Perhaps if you cooperate fully with my experiments, I’ll even let her visit your cell once more.”

  Ryder tried to turn his head so that he could look over and see the woods. Sabine had gotten away. Wyatt was a lying sack of shit. He was—

  A guard was carrying Sabine’s limp body from the trees.

  “Oh, didn’t I mention?” Wyatt murmured. “I had guards waiting in the woods. Just as a precaution. They had orders to dose her with the SP tranq until she went down.”

  Son of a—

  “When you wake up,” Wyatt told him, “you’re going to be very, very hungry.”

  His lashes were closing.

  “Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to drain you nearly dry. For science, of course.”

  Science could fuck off.

  His eyes closed.

  I’m sorry, Sabine.

  He’d promised her freedom. One way or another, he’d find a way to keep that promise.

  Sabine was naked.

  When Ryder opened his eyes, she was the first thing he saw. What a damn fantastic sight. His body hardened and he lunged for her.

  Only to be yanked back—before he could touch that smooth skin of hers—by the heavy chains that wrapped around his wrists.

  Sabine flinched. She lifted her head, and her eyes—dark once more, no longer flaming red—met his.

  His memory flooded back. The escape. The fire. Her. “You didn’t get away.”

  She just stared back at him.

  Hell, did she even know who he was?

  She’d pulled up her knees. Wrapped her arms around her legs. Sabine was shielding her body from him.

  A good idea, because the lust cutting through him was already reaching a fever pitch, after just a few seconds.

  Physical lust . . . and bloodlust.

  Because he didn’t just remember their failed escape attempt. He remembered being strapped down. Remembered Wyatt shoving needles in his arm and draining his blood. Draining and draining until it had felt as if there was nothing left inside of him. Until Ryder was just a hollow shell. No blood.

  After that kind of torture, he should have been no more than a beast. A wild creature that only wanted to feed. That was what Wyatt had wanted him to become.

  Ryder backed away from her, retreating until his shoulders hit the wall. Won’t attack her. Can’t.

  “I . . . fed you.” Her voice was hushed.

  Ryder blinked, not sure he understood.

  Sabine lifted her wrist. He could see the narrow slice that cut across the faint line of blue veins. “I fed you while you were asleep. I thought I’d be able to, ah, control you better that way.”

  Ryder could only shake his head. That had been too risky. When it came to a starving vampire and feeding, control didn’t exactly apply. And when he was unconscious, anything could have happened. “You remember me this time.”

  Her hand dropped. Went back to curl around her knees. “It’s been five days since we tried to get out. My memory—I didn’t lose all of it this time, and what I did lose, yes, it’s back.” Her gaze was stark. “I died again.”

  He wanted to touch her, and, despite the blood she’d so generously given to him—I can taste her. There’s a sweetness in my mouth—he wanted to sink his teeth into her delicate neck and drink.

  Sabine wasn’t safe with him. She needed to be in another cell. Needed to be far away.

  “Wyatt said that sometimes I’ll remember who I am. Sometimes I won’t. If I—if I die enough, he thinks I’ll totally lose myself . . .” He saw her throat move as she swallowed. “Wyatt said—”

  “I don’t give a shit what he said!” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have snarled the words. Her flinch had shame knifing in his gut.

  And realizing that, dammit, he was naked, too.

  Playing a new game, are you, Wyatt? What, now the guy wanted them to fuck?

  Ryder sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm his fury. His gaze flew around the cell. Same room. Same inner pit of hell. But if he was back there, then that meant Wyatt and his cronies had retrieved Jim Thomas. If the guy was still at the facility, then maybe he could use him.

  “I think Wyatt wants me to lose myself. To just become the—the phoenix.” Her shoulders were hunched.

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  Her gaze met his. “Yes, it is.”

  She was so beautiful that she made him ache. Beautiful, strong, a creature of myth.

  And Wyatt had stripped her and tossed her into a cage with a bloodthirsty monster. All for his twisted science.

  Sabine’s voice was husky as she said, “Wyatt told me that I will die, again and again, and rise in the fire . . . rise until the only thing left is a monster that just kills and destroys everyone in its path.”

  Wyatt was a talkative bastard, in addition to his million other sins. Heaving out a heavy breath, Ryder walked to her. The chains trailed behind him. He needed more blood in order to be strong enough to break those chains.

  “I can’t pretend this isn’t happening. My life . . . everything’s changed.” She shivered and glanced at him. “And you know the worst part?”

  Having a naked vampire standing over you, wanting a bite of you so badly his mouth is watering?

  No, she didn’t realize how desperate he was becoming. Maybe he could play the caring role a bit longer. If he was lucky. If she was.

  Her eyes squeezed closed. “I’ve been to hell.”

  He didn’t speak.

  “When I died, I-I remembered this time. The fire is so hot. It surrounds me. Burns and burns and burns and it has to be hell. I go to hell.”

  He reached for her arms. Pulled Sabine up to her feet. “No, love, this cage we’re in, that’s hell
. And, I swear to you, we will be free.”

  She shook her head. “We tried, we—”

  He kissed her. His lips brushed over hers, silencing the tangle of her words. He wanted to thrust his tongue deep, to sink into her, but if he pushed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull back.

  With her, his control was too weak.

  So he kept the kiss simple. A bare press of the lips. A soft caress against her mouth.

  Just enough to give him a taste.

  Just enough to have him hungering for so much more.

  Then his head lifted. “Don’t be afraid.”

  She stared back at him. Such big, dark, beautiful eyes. But then, he’d thought her eyes were beautiful even when they burned with red and gold flames. Sabine swiped her tongue over her full lower lip and confessed, “They wanted me to use my body to seduce you.”

  Seducing me wouldn’t be hard. No way had she missed the big erection pointing toward her.

  “They said that if you answered my questions, if I got you to tell me your secrets, that I’d be let go.”

  He wanted her mouth again. Because he wanted it, he stepped back. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

  But she shook her head. “They’re lying. All Wyatt can do is lie.” Her gaze met his. Her cheeks were flushed. “He’s not human. I shot him in the chest—” Breaking off, she spun to face the mirror. Her hands slapped against the glass. “I saw him get shot in the heart! His men must have seen it, too! He’s not human!” Now she was screaming.

  He grabbed her shoulder. “Stop, he’ll come—”

  She whirled and wrapped her arms around him. “I want him to come.” The rain of her hair covered her face as she turned her head toward him. “They only let me see you because I promised to seduce you. To learn your secrets.” She gave a quick shake of her head. “But I won’t betray you. I just wanted to help you. You helped me, you were the only one who did.”

  “Sabine . . .”

  “I knew that you’d need my blood.”

  She’d come to save him?

  “Maybe now that you have it, you’ll be strong enough to get out.”

  He heard the guards coming. Wyatt had realized his little plan had just gotten screwed.

  But Sabine hadn’t.

  “Come back for me, okay?” She tried to smile. If he’d been human, Ryder was sure that smile would have broken his heart. “When you’re free, promise to come back for me.”

  The guards wrenched open the door. They came in with their guns up. “Step away from her!” Wyatt shouted.

  Ryder turned toward him. Bared his fangs. “Why don’t you come and make me?”

  Wyatt merely smiled back. “Fine. She’s behind you. I’ll just have the guards shoot until the bullets blast through you and penetrate her flesh again and—”

  “How do you want to die?” Ryder asked him, genuinely curious as he made his plans. “It’s going to be a slow death, but do you want me to start by cutting your flesh away? Or—”

  “Death doesn’t come so easily to me.” Wyatt’s mouth tightened. “If it did, do you think I’d be here?”

  Interesting response. “So that’s a yes for cutting your flesh away?”

  The doctor’s cheeks flushed dark red with what Ryder suspected was raw fury. Not so clinical now, are we? “Let Twenty-Nine go,” Wyatt snapped.

  Twenty-nine?

  “That’s me,” Sabine muttered, sounding disgusted. “Because I’m not a person anymore. Just a number.” Then she walked around Ryder.

  The hell she was just leaving. He grabbed her arm. “Don’t go with them.”

  She gave him a faint smile. “I was wrong about you. For a vampire, you aren’t so bad.”

  Yes, I am.

  “You’ve got a real killer bite, but there’s more to you than just that.” She searched his gaze. “Don’t forget me,” Sabine told him. Then she shrugged away his hand.

  His gaze followed her. So hungry and wild and, he knew, desperate.

  Wyatt shrugged off his lab coat and offered it to Sabine. He pointed to the guards behind him. “I want her transferred to the second facility.”

  A second facility? Hell, no. “Sabine!”

  She looked back at him.

  “You’re not a number,” he snapped.

  She was so much more.

  Her head inclined. “And you’re not a monster.”

  Then she left him. The guards led her out of the room, and Ryder noticed they were careful not to touch her skin. Probably because they were afraid she’d fry them.

  He hoped that she did.

  Wyatt didn’t exit the room. He stood in the doorway, lingering after the others were gone. “Were you the first?”

  Ryder glared back at him.

  Wyatt’s lips tightened. “Don’t you understand what I’m trying to do?”

  “You’re trying to get your kicks from torturing paranormals?” Yes, that bit was obvious. He more than got it.

  “I’m trying to cure us!” Hushed, as if he were afraid someone, somewhere, might overhear.

  Ryder slanted a glance at the observation mirror. “Us?” Sabine had been right, but then, he’d suspected that truth for a long time. When Sabine had fired her gun, Ryder had seen the truth with his own eyes. Her bullet had plunged into Richard Wyatt’s chest.

  But the guy was still alive. Humans didn’t recover so quickly.

  “No one’s in the observation room,” Wyatt said, voice rough. “Do you think I’d risk talking while others could hear?” Wyatt bent down and yanked out a pair of jogging pants from a duffel bag at his feet. “Fuck, put these on.” He tossed the pants to Ryder.

  Raising a brow, Ryder yanked on the pants. “Guess that little naked scene didn’t work quite as you wanted, huh, asshole?”

  Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “You think you’ve helped her? If you’d had sex with her, maybe gotten lucky enough to get her pregnant, you would have helped us all.”

  “Guess I’m not a helper that way.” Ryder gazed back at him. “What happened to the whole, ‘I’m not interested in birth, but transformation’ bit?”

  “That was before,” Wyatt replied flatly.

  “Before?”

  “Before I knew just what you were!”

  “The fangs and blood-drinking didn’t give me away?” Ryder asked, baiting. “And here I thought we’d long ago established that I was a vamp. Your science really must not be that good.”

  The flush deepened on Wyatt’s face. “I knew you were a vamp, but I didn’t know you were the first.”

  “Back to that, are we?”

  “A child with your DNA, Twenty-Nine’s DNA—that would be a transformation.”

  Or an abomination, depending on the person you asked.

  Wyatt yanked a rough hand through his hair. “Don’t you get it? We need a cure!”

  “I’m not sick. I don’t need anything.” He’d never been sick. Never would. A vampire didn’t—

  “I’m not the only one who did experiments.” Hushed. And yes, Wyatt tossed a nervous glance over his shoulder. Thought the big boss wasn’t worried about someone overhearing him. “Some of those experiments, they went damn wrong.”

  Ryder forced a shrug. “Then I bet you terminated them.” Wasn’t that the guy’s MO? To terminate his failed experiments? When he’d broken free, Ryder had caught the scent of death. Bodies. So many.

  A rough laugh escaped Wyatt. “Sometimes, it’s harder to terminate experiments than you think.” His eyes blazed at Ryder. “Imagine vampires who didn’t retain their humanity. Vamps who were just killing machines, beasts with fangs and claws that have only the most basic of primal instincts—the instincts to kill and feed.”

  Ryder didn’t let his expression alter. He did casually pull on the chains, testing them.

  “Those aren’t going to break.” Wyatt waved his hand with a disgusted air. “It’s a new metal, one we’re having to use on another subject, too. Subject Thirteen has proven too strong.”

  �
��Subject Thirteen,” Ryder repeated. So the mad doc was giving them all numbers now. “What’s he? A vamp? A shifter?”

  Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “Cain’s like Sabine, of course.”

  A phoenix.

  “Just stronger,” Wyatt shook his head. “I’d hoped that Cain—Subject Thirteen—might be able to stop the—”

  “The vampires? The ones who’ve gone all primal on you?” Ryder cut in, voice mocking. His gaze lasered in on Wyatt’s. “All vamps have fangs and claws. That’s not exactly a newsflash.” He raised his own growing claws. “So forgive me if I don’t give a shit.”

  “These vampires are different. Don’t you get that? Every tooth is sharpened to a killing edge. Every tooth is a fang.” Wyatt bit out these words. “Their claws are long, black, sharper than knives, and they never retract. The vamps stay in killing form, day and night, and the hunger they feel can never be quenched.”

  Ryder’s brows climbed. “Sounds like someone made the wrong kind of monster.” Bastard, is this why you took my blood? To make more of them? Because the world needed more monsters.

  “You could be the cure for them. Maybe the cure for all vampires.” Wyatt wiped a hand over his sweaty forehead. Huh. Looked like the doc was starting to fray at his edges. “You are the first, aren’t you?”

  “No, not even close,” Ryder said, voice as mild as could be.

  Wyatt frowned at him. “Liar. You think I don’t know? I saw what you did to Donaldson—”

  “And where is he?” Ryder had to ask. He was vaguely curious about the guard. He’d tried to reach out to him a moment before and felt nothing.

  “Dead.” Said without a hint of remorse.

  Figured. “And the doc? Thomas?” Ryder hadn’t tried to link with him yet. He wanted to wait until he didn’t have an audience.

  “Jim Thomas is a test subject now.”

  Poor human. Yes, Ryder was almost feeling sympathy for him.

  “Those vamps,” Wyatt muttered. “We have to find a cure for them.”

  “Yes, well, good luck with all of that.” Ryder crossed his arms over his chest, and the chains rattled. “Maybe if you’d let me the fuck out of here . . .” And if you gave me Sabine . . . “Maybe then I’d be in more of a helping mood.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “The blood they were given—the blood wasn’t pure enough. That must have been why they had the breakdown with their cells.”