Along Came a Spider tt-3

by Kate Serine

  “You know,” I mused aloud, “maybe you should leave me alone with her, Nate.”

  The shadows haunting him gathered in a tumultuous cloud. “No way.”

  I motioned for him to join me a few feet away and turned my back to Red so I could whisper, “She’s worried about you.”

  Nate frowned. “Worried about me?” he repeated. “She’s the one in the hospital bed. Why the hell would she be worried about me?”

  I put my hand on his arm. “She is concerned about the pain this is causing you. She loves you so much that your pain is her pain—and she has enough to deal with right now. I need you to be strong enough to trust me and let me see if I can help her.”

  Nate’s black gaze bored into me for a long moment before he finally nodded. He went to Tess and whispered lovingly into her ear before pressing a tender kiss to her lips. “I’ll be right outside.”

  As soon as he left, I pegged her with a sharp look of rebuke. “So, who’s keeping secrets now?”

  She glanced toward the door, her expression uncharacteristically pained. “I couldn’t let him know, Trish. He’d go through the fucking roof. I haven’t got anything concrete yet—just images and impressions that have been coming to me in dreams. But I think Vlad is coming for me. He’s pissed that I haven’t come after him in spite of all the stuff I know you and Nate have been hiding from me.”

  My eyes widened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Are you serious?” she drawled. “You’re the worst liar in the world, Trish. I’ve never seen anyone with a worse poker face. And Nate evades like nobody’s business when he’s hiding something. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what you two were up to. So I played along to see what would happen—especially after I found out I was pregnant. I might be reckless with my own life, but there’s no way I would put Nate’s child in harm’s way.”

  “I’m sorry, Tess,” I said. “We should’ve given you more credit.”

  “Yeah, well, we’ll chat more about you and Nate keeping all this from me later on,” she assured me. “But right now, you need to help figure out what Vlad’s up to. This shit’s getting too personal and I can’t take on that sadistic bastard on my own right now.”

  I nodded. “I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to keep you and your baby safe.”

  Red huffed, then pressed her lips into an angry line. “This is bullshit,” she muttered. “I’m not some goddamn damsel in distress. I should be the one doing the protecting.”

  I squeezed her hand. “Tess Little, you have spent almost two hundred years protecting us. It’s time to let some of us return the favor.”

  The look of gratitude she gave me was so unexpected, my lips were trembling a little when I locked onto her gaze once more. This time when the connection started, she didn’t fight it.

  I plowed through her memories, blushing a little at the glimpses I caught of her most intimate moments with Nate. I was glad to see that her pregnancy hadn’t put a damper on their sex life, though. At all. Damn. I was beginning to wonder if I’d get a glimpse of anything helpful regarding the problems with the pregnancy when I suddenly found myself drifting. No, not drifting . . . floating. My entire body grew warm as love and peacefulness enveloped me. So much love. I’d never felt such contentment. Then I hiccupped.

  What the hell?

  I peered in deeper. It was only then I realized it was no longer Red’s thoughts I was reading but those of her unborn child. A smile tugged at my lips. He was anxious to come out and greet his parents, whose love he felt so intensely. I shuddered at the force of that love, tears coming to my eyes. He was going to be one very lucky boy.

  But then there was a sudden disturbance in that perfect, all-

  encompassing cocoon of love. A ripple of hatred, fear, and jealousy hit me so hard, it physically knocked me back, but I didn’t release the connection in spite of Red’s hiss as a contraction hit her hard.

  “It’s all right, little one,” I cooed in my thoughts. “Don’t be afraid. You’re safe.”

  “Talk to him, Tess,” I said aloud.

  “Him?” she echoed. “Him, who? Vlad?”

  She started to look away, but I took her face in my hands, keeping her from breaking the eye contact. “Talk to your son, Tess—he needs to hear your voice.”

  “Son?” she said, her voice a little tight. “We’re having a boy?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  She shook her head, looking a little dazed. As she began to rub her tummy and talk to her son—albeit, a little awkwardly at first—I continued searching.

  Suddenly a monstrous face, twisted and distorted with fury, loomed before me, making me cry out in surprise. I clamped a hand over my mouth when I felt Tess tense so I wouldn’t alarm her further.

  The face smirked and then it was no longer just a face but the whole man, his perfectly sculpted physique at odds with his hideous, batlike visage as he prowled toward me. His lips curled into a grotesque smile. It was only then that I recognized him from our encounter in the alley.

  “Vlad,” I breathed. “My God.”

  His smirk grew. “Beautiful, aren’t I?” he snarled. “Have you ever seen a face like mine?”

  Only in my nightmares.

  “What the hell happened to you?” I asked, my heart pounding with fear as he edged closer and began to circle me like a predator coming in for the kill.

  “I have become a product of my environment, Beatrice,” he snapped, spreading his arms. “I am a creature of the darkness, a man denied what he needs to survive and left to become a monster!”

  I shook my head, not understanding. “You brought this darkness upon yourself. You turned Red’s love into hatred by your actions.”

  He snarled, snapping at me like a wild beast and beating at his chest. “My actions,” he hissed. The circle he walked around me was growing smaller with each pass. I turned with him now, careful to keep him before me. “It is not my actions that have brought me to this. I tried to protect her, tried to warn her . . . but she wouldn’t listen. They never listen. I call and no one hears!”

  The guy was obviously descending into madness, his rant not making much sense. “Vlad,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “What is it you want from Red? What is it you want from me?”

  He rushed me with a roar that sent me stumbling away, but not quickly enough. He grabbed me by the throat and walked me backward until we were standing in what looked like a basement or cellar. It was dark, but I didn’t need light to know we were not alone; there were others lurking in the shadows, their eager, bloodthirsty hisses making my skin prickle with fear.

  But I didn’t have time to dwell on the quiet shuffling in the shadows. Vlad’s breath reeked of death when he shoved his face close to mine. “Do you know what it’s like to never have a voice, Beatrice?” He didn’t wait for my response before he barreled on. “I was portrayed as a monster in my story. I never was given a voice to tell my side of the tale. I was portrayed as a villain, a fiend!” His expression twisted with bitterness and disgust. “But who does Stoker let speak? That simpering idiot Harker. Harker! That changed when I came over. The ones who loved me made it so. I was transformed into a man—not just a monster.”

  Whoa. Dude was way gone. . . .

  “Have you ever loved completely?” he asked, his voice taking on a haunting sorrow at the sudden shift in topic. “To want so desperately to be seen for who and what you truly are, only to be misunderstood?”

  “Yes,” I said, thinking of Nicky and his anger over my revelation about Juliet. To him, I had become a monster who had sullied the saintly image of his wife. “Yes, I know what it’s like.”

  Something changed in Vlad’s expression then—it was twisted with sorrow and desperation. “Come to me, Beatrice,” he pleaded, repeating the phrase he’d been calling out to me. “You are the one I need. Come to me.”

  It was disconcerting to see a man known for his power and prowess reduced to such a pathe
tic, despondent specimen, but I was feeling a little short on sympathy considering the hell he’d been putting everyone through. “I’m not doing shit for you until you leave Red and the baby alone.”

  He roared with rage and shoved me away. “You cannot deny me!” he fumed. “You have tasted the blood; it courses through your veins even now. Tell me, Beatrice, how did Nicky Blue’s blood taste on your tongue when you bit him? How did it make you feel? Did you come for him, little one? How many times?”

  I blinked at the surreal Hannibal Lecter moment we seemed to be having. If he so much as hinted at Chianti and fava beans, I was outta there. “How did you know about that?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the fear that was choking me.

  He chuckled, a dark, grating sound that made me shudder, and was on me again in an instant. “You are mine, Beatrice. I have tasted you. And you have tasted me. We are one.”

  I shook my head. “Bullshit.”

  He ran a finger down the length of my jugular, his fetid lips close to my ear. “Come to me, Beatrice. Free me from this prison of darkness, and I will keep the spiders at bay. They will never plague you again.”

  Shit. He knew about the spiders, too?

  “You know what it’s like to be in a prison of darkness,” he continued. “How long did they lock you away in that room after you saw the spider and lost your little innocent mind?”

  I began to tremble as he spoke, the memories of that horrible time all too real. The closeness of the cellar, the terror that made my heart beat so frantically in my breast. My heart began to thunder again now as the fear flooded my veins.

  “How long did your father listen to your screams, Beatrice?” Dracula whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face away. “How long did you claw at the walls of your dark prison, desperate to escape the madness?”

  Sweat trickled down my back, making me shudder. “Piss off,” I spat, sick of playing games with this bloodsucking sociopath. I ducked out of his hold and backed away. “You think throwing my past in my face is going to make me come to you? You’ve been tormenting one of the only people who ever gave a damn about you—and putting her unborn child in jeopardy! And you dare to ask for my help? Fuck you! You want me, you’re going to have to come and get me, you candy-ass leech.”

  He charged then, his long white fangs glistening with saliva and poised to strike. With a gasp of horror, I broke the connection, stumbling back and tripping over a chair, overturning it in my haste to get away.

  Red’s eyes were wide as she peered down at me on the floor. “What the hell just happened?”

  Good question.

  I was trembling so violently, I had a difficult time pushing myself to my feet. “I think I might’ve talked Vlad into leaving you alone.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me, no doubt wondering what I was leaving out. “Yeah?”

  I forced a smile and nodded. “I think he’s probably going to be moving on.”

  She gave me a knowing look. “Just like that.”

  I nodded again, my smile feeling a little grotesque. “Here,” I said, slipping the bracelet of Lavender’s hair from my wrist and sliding it onto Red’s. “Take this, just in case I’m wrong. Lavender gave it to me for protection, but I think you need it more than I do.” When Red looked like she was about to protest, I bent and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Just take it. Don’t make me kick your ass.”

  She grunted. “As if.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lavender wasn’t thrilled about my handing over the enchanted bracelet to Red until I told her what had transpired while I was communing with Dracula somewhere in the miasma of Red and her baby’s thoughts.

  “Let Seth and me take you home,” she said.

  I shook my head. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just take a cab to Nicky’s.”

  She and Seth exchanged a glance at the mention of Nicky’s name. “Trish—”

  “I’ll be fine,” I told her, exhaustion suddenly making my limbs as heavy as concrete. “I’m sure Nicky will be back soon.”

  “Well, at least let me make you another bracelet before you go,” Lavender huffed, clearly not pleased with my stubbornness.

  “Thanks, Lav,” I said, surprised by how tired I sounded, “but I need to find out where Dracula is. And if getting into his head—and letting him into mine—is the way to go about it, I’m just going to have to take that risk.”

  Lavender cast a pleading look at Seth, but instead of trying to talk me out of going, he just took me by the shoulders and bent down a little so he could look directly into my face. “Call us if you need anything,” he ordered. “No matter what, no matter when. We’re going to hang out here a little longer so Lav can keep an eye on Red.”

  I nodded. “Keep an eye on Nate, too,” I said. “He’s in a pretty volatile state right now after what I’ve told him.”

  Yeah, it had been loads of fun for all of us to have to play one big round of truth or dare with Red. The rules of the little game were crystal clear: We could either tell her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or dare to lie to her again and risk a serious ass-kicking by one righteously pissed off, hormonal, pregnant Tale.

  We went with truth.

  None of us had much of a warm and fuzzy feeling after that, but at least I felt like I’d done what I could to deflect Vlad’s wrath away from Red and focus it wholly on me.

  Fuck. Me.

  The cabbie who drove me back to Nicky’s refused to drop me at the doorstep, apparently having heard that the house belonged to a man of Business. So the asshole dumped me at the gates and left me to trudge up the long driveway to the front door. Thank God I hadn’t bothered locking the door when I’d left. I figured Lavender’s spell would keep out anyone who had a dark purpose for being there.

  Sasha greeted me at the door as if she owned the place, purring loudly as she wound around my ankles. But before I could scoop her up for a little comfort cuddle, she took off like a shot and disappeared down the hall.

  With a sigh, I went upstairs, desperate for a little sleep, and found myself hoping that my dreams would be the same old nightmares—at least I knew when I woke up from those I wasn’t going to be attacked by something waiting in the shadows.

  To my surprise, I wound up in Nicky’s bedroom instead of the guest room down the hall. I was so tired and so lost in my foggy thoughts, I wasn’t even sure how I got there. But once I stepped across the threshold, my desire to have Nicky there with me hit me so hard, I could hardly breathe. I’d always prided myself on my strength and independence, but—damn it!—I wanted him with me, holding me and pressing his sultry kisses to my skin. I wanted to hear his voice telling me that everything would be all right. And I wanted to hear that he loved me, that we had a future together.

  I swiped angrily at the tears stinging my eyes. Shit!

  Exhaustion completely taking over now, I lay down on his bed and kicked off my shoes, then pulled the down comforter over me, inhaling deeply and letting Nicky’s masculine scent envelope my senses.

  A knot in the center of my chest tightened as I pictured the look on his face just before he’d stormed out. I wished I could take him in my arms, soothe away the pain he was experiencing at finding out the truth about his beloved wife, but I knew it was something he’d have to work out on his own. There was nothing I could do but wait and hope that he didn’t let his fury and heartbreak over Juliet’s actions affect how he felt about me.

  Of course, who the hell knew how he felt about me? He hadn’t put it into words. There was no question that he was attracted to me, that he cared about me, but did it go beyond that? He was leaving soon and had tried to deny the attraction between us because he didn’t want me to be hurt when he left. But that only told me he wasn’t a total asshole—not that he was in love with me.

  I tossed and turned for a few minutes, trying to get comfortable on Nicky’s bed and not having much luck. After an hour of sleeplessness, I finally realized that no matter how I shifted pos
itions, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep without Nicky there. With a huff, I threw off the comforter and sat on the edge of the bed, letting my legs dangle over the side. I put my hand to the back of my neck and rubbed at the knot of tension there, then rolled my head a few times.

  “To hell with it,” I muttered. “Might as well go watch some—”

  A sudden pressure around my ankle cut off my words with a gasp.

  Oh, Jesus.

  My gaze snapped down and I cried out in terror when I saw the hand encircling my leg. I tried to pull my leg loose, but the grasp was relentless, the bony fingers digging into my skin through my jeans. I drove my other foot down the inside of my calf over and over again, trying to pry the fingers off, but they dug in, holding fast.

  “Oh, God!” I whimpered, frantically searching the darkness for something I could use as a weapon and continuing to pull against the hold on my leg. I glanced at the bedside table and leaned forward, jerking open the little drawer and rummaging through it in desperate haste. My hand had just closed around the familiar heft of the grip of a gun, when I pitched forward and face-planted on the carpet.

  To my horror, I started sliding backward, the unseen assailant dragging me under the bed. I screamed and twisted onto my back, using my other leg to brace against the bed to keep me from sliding under even further. From the shadows came a low growl, and the pull on my leg increased, the joints in my leg straining to the point of pain. I gritted my teeth, straining with all my might, knowing if that thing pulled me under I was doomed. I had to stay out here where I at least had a fighting chance. With trembling hands I aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger. But I heard just a click in response.

  Shit! Safety.

  I flipped the safety off and fired into the darkness. The sharp crack of the gun split the air. I heard the bullet strike something, but I couldn’t tell if the savage growl I heard in response was from the creature being hit or just becoming righteously pissed. Unfortunately, it jerked harder and I felt something pop in my hip as a fierce pain shot through me, bringing me toward the edge of blackness. Screaming now in rage, I unloaded the rounds, firing rapidly into the shadows under the bed, hoping like hell that one of the bullets hit home.