“Tatiana is the only one who can touch her.”
“She was with that human.”
Hey! Fin bristled. I’m more than just ‘that’ human. I’m at least a ‘the.’
“You’re risking a lot on a bunch of assumptions! That human may not have touched her at all.”
“Nice to see they’re rushing to free us,” Fin muttered.
Hannah shot a look his way. “Now that I’m stuck in here, and one of them touched me, they’re worried they are all going to get killed by my mother. The last time someone kidnapped me and held me for ransom, she wiped out the entire family.”
Fin let out a low whistle. “Then they’re morons for not releasing you straight away.”
“I know.”
By now Randall was at the bottom of the stairs. Through the bars, Fin could see only one person had finished the journey with him: Douchebag from the entryway.
Fin wanted to punch them both in the face. At least once. Probably more than that.
Okay, definitely more than that.
“So, I see you’re awake,” Randall said.
Hannah stood up, but kept an arm’s length from the gaps in the bars, presumably in case Randall reached in to touch her again. Maybe she was sensitive every time. That would suck.
“No thanks to you,” Hannah said.
“Look, if you just agree to help me, I’ll let you go. No harm done.”
Fin snorted.
Hannah laughed, the rusty sound making him want to curl his toes. But he was a guy, and guys didn’t curl their toes at the sound of a woman’s laughter. Fin stood up.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Hannah asked.
“All you have to do is sign some paperwork, and you’re free to go.”
“Free?” Hannah shook her head. “I wouldn’t define being dead as the same thing as being free.”
“No one ever said anything about killing you.” Randall flashed his even white teeth. Fin gathered the guy was handsome, but all he could see was the calculation in the vampire’s red-purple eyes. He didn’t think the man’s good looks were working on Hannah, either.
Both Randall and Douchebag were ignoring Fin completely, all their attention on Hannah. He was more than happy to be a wall decoration for now. He’d act if one of them stepped foot inside the cell. Not that he was sure he could take on a vampire, but he knew a thing or two about hand to hand combat. It had been one of his and Byrne’s favorite pastimes: Fin trying not to die while Byrne got himself back into shape.
“What did my mother tell you about my ability?” Hannah asked.
“That you absorb people’s memories,” Randall said.
Douchebag took a step away from the cell. “Memories? What the fuck? You didn’t say she was some kind of real freak.”
Randall looked back at the servant. “She’s in the cell, she can’t touch you.”
Hannah locked gazes with the servant, who slunk back to the far side of the hallway. “I don’t just take some memories. I take all of them. Everything you’ve ever thought about or done, everything that’s left a lasting enough impression on your personality; those things are absorbed. So I know all about your plan, I know all about your pathetic past. And aside from that, I may be a freak, but I’m not stupid. There is no way you’d do this to me and let me live. Because if I even breathed a word to my mother that you touched me, you’re dead.”
She shrugged. “You’re all dead.”
“Kill her now, and just forge her signature,” Douchebag growled.
Randall slapped him so fast, that if Fin hadn’t heard the crack, he might have thought he’d imagined it.
“The document has to have her scent on it; and her scent has to be all over the estate, or the duchess won’t believe Hannah was here long enough to do it.”
“And what’s to stop me from just leaving?” Hannah asked.
Randall stepped closer to the cell bars. If he expected Hannah to flinch or step back, he was disappointed. Randall pointed at Fin. “Him.”
“Him?” Hannah echoed.
“Me?” Fin said.
“We’ll let him go if you do everything we say.”
“Oh, so now I’m going to survive? Before Hannah was going to be the one to live.” Fin rolled his eyes. “Make up your fucking minds. Your plan is so bullshit I can smell the stink from here.”
Randall’s face flushed pink, which Fin assumed was the leech equivalent of red-cheeked rage. “Who the fuck are you to talk to me like that?”
Fin laughed, because it would make the vampire even angrier. “I can talk to you however I bloody well want.”
“You’re just a pathetic piece of meat.”
Fin pouted. “Oh, you really hurt my feelings with that one.”
“I wouldn’t keep arguing with him,” Hannah said to Randall. “He can literally do that all day long.”
Fin nodded. “It’s a talent.”
Randall unlocked the door and gestured at Hannah. “Get out.”
She planted her feet. “No.”
“Get out, or I’ll kill him.”
Fin sniffed. “You could try.”
“Get. Out.”
“No.”
“I will give you one more chance—”
Something about Hannah’s answering smile was off. “Make me.”
Randall darted forward and grabbed Hannah’s arm. Nothing happened. He looked at her, mouth gone slack. “What?”
Hannah’s face turned hard. She formed her hand into a flat blade, and then slammed it forward, into Randall’s stomach. His shirt tore with the force. Hannah angled her arm upward and Randall’s eyes bulged in his head. He screamed and thrashed to get away, but she had locked her other hand on his shoulder.
“See, I’ve already taken all your memories.” Her voice was almost conversational, like she shoved her hand into someone’s gut on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe she did. “You haven’t accumulated enough new ones to debilitate me in the few hours you’ve been away.”
Randall gasped. “But—”
Shit, Fin’s mouth was hanging agape, but he didn’t care. He’d had no idea that Hannah was so strong, even for a vampire. To punch through someone’s stomach...to hold them in place while they fought to get free...
“This punishment is far kinder than anything Mother would have dealt you,” Hannah said, and Fin had the awful feeling she was speaking the truth.
Then she pulled her hand back.
In her gore-coated palm she held Randall’s still-pumping heart. Blood pulsed from the wound and Randall stared at her hand before slowly collapsing to the floor.
Douchebag was pressed against the wall, face a mask of surprised horror. Fin sprang forward, over the spreading puddle of blood. He grabbed the arm of the servant and threw him into the cell. The vampire was too stunned to struggle.
Hannah just stood there, heart in her hand, blood splattered on her shirt. Frozen in shock.
Fin waved a hand at her face. “Come on, Hannah. We need to get moving. Before the others realize what’s happened.”
She held the heart out to him.
Thanks, but I don’t want it.
“I killed him.”
Fin kept his face blank and nodded. “Great work, let’s move!”
Sensing she wasn’t really with him, Fin seized her arm and dragged her from the cell, slamming the door shut and engaging the lock behind them. Adrenaline surged through him, and he shut his eyes, willing his heartbeat to steady. He needed to come up with a plan. He’d had no idea Hannah was capable of something like this. She was staring now, first at him, then at the heart in her palm.
He had a feeling she’d had no idea she was capable of that, either.
Then, from somewhere upstairs, he heard screaming. And a roar.
Fin gave Hannah a gentle shake. “I think Byrne’s here.”
Chapter 40
Skarva City
Byrne was going to hav
e to go full bear soon, if the odds didn’t improve. Six to one against him. Against humans, that was a no-brainer. He’d easily take on six and walk away with barely a scratch. Well, maybe a few scratches. But six vampires? One were? Even with his height, musculature and strength, they weren’t good statistics. Plus, if he had to go bear, in a room full of leeches, it would leave him vulnerable. He could shift quickly, but there was always that moment where he was in that pain-filled state of not-human and not-yet-bear. All someone needed was a silver knife or even a good grip around his head and that was it. Bye bye, Byrne.
Three years ago, he would have welcomed that end.
But not anymore.
The thought startled him, and sensing his distraction, a vampire rushed him with a growl. Byrne slashed out a clawed hand. It tore the man’s chest, stripes of blood appearing instantaneously. The force of the blow threw the screaming vampire into the wall. The plaster cracked and the bloodsucker slid down onto the marble floor. The wound would heal quickly. On a nearby pedestal, a vase wobbled.
Five vampires moved toward Byrne; three men and two women. They were arguing, yelling instructions that contradicted each other. All had that icy stink Byrne associated with leeches, except Hannah. Her scent was somehow muted and not really unpleasant.
The vampires all wore extremely well-tailored clothing, and looked to be in perfect health. Whatever people said about the Deadly Duchess, she took care of her own. Although, it appeared that now they’d turned on her, kidnapping her daughter within her own estate. Byrne couldn’t see how an insult like that would go unpunished.
He kept his back to the double front doors as the remaining five vampires converged on him. The one he’d knocked into the wall stayed down. Maybe he’d broken the leech’s spine. Three leapt at the same time, and Byrne batted two of them out of the air with clawed hands. One got through his guard, and kicked him in the gut. Air rushed out of his chest, but he stayed upright, relaxing his diaphragm through the pain and need for air. But the vampire threw him off balance, and the bloody leech punched him in the face. The crunch of his nose breaking sounded around the high-ceilinged foyer, and tears sprang to his eyes.
It hurt.
Roaring, Byrne wrenched the leech’s neck at an awkward angle, snapping it. Blood trickled down his face from his nose, ran over his lips. The metallic taste infiltrated his mouth as the vampire collapsed boneless to the floor. The bastard wasn’t dead, but at least he was out of the game. His purple eyes watched Byrne, rage clouding their depths.
Byrne grinned, a blood-smeared baring of teeth. “Oops.”
He drew the wooden knife that he’d stashed in his waistband, and held it out in front of him, guard up. “You know what this is,” he said to the four remaining vampires, his deep voice loud.
That made the other four pause.
“The next person who attacks me is going to get stabbed with it, so I would reconsider your actions and just bring Hannah and Fin to me.”
Four sets of eyes focused on the knife.
“We already told you, Lady Hannah isn’t here.” This came from the vampire collapsed on the floor next to him.
“And I already told you, her scent is fresh.” His voice dropped to a growl. “That means she’s still here.”
If anything had happened to her or even Fin...especially Fin, since it was Byrne who’d made the human come here...
One of the two women spoke. “Look, we don’t want to hurt you. If you just go, then we can forget this ever happened.”
Forget this ever happened. Hah. Byrne had been let into the foyer under the pretense of an older were coming to greet an older vampire. Rank and title didn’t matter in these situations; vamps and weres who’d seen a few millennia were expected to call on each other when in town. It was a leftover of the Civil War days, when entering your territory probably meant an act of aggression, rather than just a social visit.
Normally Byrne ignored the unofficial protocol, but had used it to his advantage this time. After he’d entered the building and casually asked after Hannah and Fin, the attendant had said no one by those names was here. He’d have to wait to speak to some Randall guy. Byrne had called the attendant out as a liar. Only an idiot would say that someone wasn’t there when they clearly were; especially considering that weres had sharper senses of smell than leeches. And no one had a sense of smell like a bear.
The attendant hadn’t taken his accusation kindly, and then five other vampires had descended on the foyer, violence clearly on their minds.
The downside was that Byrne hadn’t been expecting to walk into a fight. Lia had just said Hannah and Fin would need help getting away, but that it would be fairly easy. She’d said that if Byrne showed up at the right time — that time being when she’d told him to head over to the estate — then Fin and Hannah would have freed themselves and be ready to go. Hopefully they got their asses here soon.
Because Lia hadn’t mentioned anything about those six to one odds or getting his nose broken, although to be fair, the nose was already healing.
The door behind Byrne banged open, slamming into him and sending him stumbling forward. Half-turning to face the newcomer, he dropped his guard, and one of the female vampires leapt on his back, wrapping an arm around his throat, as if to either choke him or snap his neck. But she wasn’t as strong as him, so there was little chance she’d succeed in her plan. Byrne just pried her arm away.
The door slammed shut with a bang, then a female voice shouted, “What is going on here?!”
The woman on Byrne’s back stopped struggling, and the other vampires halted in place, stock still. Even the one on the ground next to Byrne, who couldn’t move due to his broken neck, looked panicked.
Byrne turned slowly to see exactly who’d just come through that door.
A tall woman with deep brown skin and bleached blonde hair glared around the entryway. Her mauve gaze locked with Byrne’s and she frowned. “Who the fuck are you?”
From deep in the building came the sound of running footsteps; someone was heading toward the entryway, rather than away, Byrne guessed. He sure hoped it was Hannah and Fin.
“Name’s Byrne.” Still holding his attacker’s arm away from his throat, and with his other fist clenched around the knife, he couldn’t offer a hand to shake. He gave a helpless little shrug instead.
The newcomer levelled her gaze on the blade. “You do know it’s all kinds of illegal to bring wooden weapons into a vampire estate?”
Byrne slammed his head back, and the woman behind him let out a whoosh of air as his skull connected with her face. More crunching. At least it wasn’t his nose his time. She dropped from his back, hands clinging to her smashed features. He’d feel bad, but then, he didn’t.
Before he’d been captured and imprisoned all those years ago, Byrne had strongly believed that a man should never hit a woman. Not under any circumstances. But a century of being tortured had changed him, and now if someone attacked him, then they got back what they gave. Sex, gender, they were immaterial. If they left him alone, he’d leave them alone. Still, he’d never hurt a woman who hadn't attacked him first though, that rule remained.
“Well, it’s not exactly polite to attack a visiting were, either,” Byrne muttered.
“They wouldn’t just attack you without reason.”
“I was here looking for some friends.”
“Friends?” Her tone indicated she thought it was surprising that he could even have friends.
Bitch.
“Friends. Their names are Hannah and Fin. These leeches say they aren’t here, but I can smell them.”
The woman’s brows furrowed. “Hannah? As in Lady Hannah?”
“I just dropped her off a few hours ago...”
Incredulity spread across her face. “Here?”
“Yes. I can smell her. She’s still here, but they say she left.”
The woman glowered at the vampires in the foyer, who’d begun edging
toward the doors. “Lady Hannah was here and no one thought to send me a message?”
The man on the floor groaned. “You were on leave. Plus, she left already. Randall took care of it.”
“Randall? Took care of it? What does that even mean? Why would Lady Hannah come here only to leave right away?” No one answered, or met the vampire’s gaze. Byrne thought she was rather impressive in her building rage. “Then why does the bear say she’s still here?”
The woman with the broken nose glared over her hand. “I don’t know. She left to go find the duchess.”
“Lady Hannah came all the way from the Oberona Mountains only to leave the same day?”
By now the footsteps were so close that even the vampires noticed. The blonde woman whipped her head toward the sound, and Byrne followed her gaze. Hannah and Fin came rushing around a corner. Fin was clutching his ribs, and he skidded to a stop upon seeing Byrne surrounded by vampires. Hannah slowed as well, half-hiding behind the human. Byrne stared.
Was Hannah holding a heart?
The blonde vampire took a half step forward, face alive with surprise. “Lady Hannah?”
Hannah stepped around Fin. “Montrose?”
The shock vanished from the vampire’s mauve eyes and she gave Byrne a black look. “If someone would like to tell me what is happening here, I’d be much obliged.”
“Don’t ask me,” Byrne said. “I came here looking for those two,” he pointed at Hannah and Fin — why the woman was holding a heart when she couldn’t stand to be touched by anyone was a bit of a puzzle — “only to be attacked by these six.”
Montrose sighed, and it was a long-suffering sound. “At least tell me whose heart that is?”
“Mr. Randall’s,” Hannah said, holding out the organ, as if offering it to the other vampire.
Chapter 41
Pinton City
The drawing room was large, with a fireplace at one end, and a coffee table, sofas and an arrangement of aesthetically pleasing chairs, all in various shades of gold and cream, offset from the grate. Settled on one of the sofas, Dante crossed his legs and regarded the pianoforte at the other end of the room. He winced. He’d spent the better part of a century here trying to master the bloody thing; but when one had little ability to comprehend emotion, it was difficult to produce something that relied so heavily on experiencing the turmoil of music.
Bitten (The Graced Series Book 2) Page 18
