Shit. This night just kept getting better and better.
The male vamp’s head tilted to the side as if considering me or sizing me up and while I couldn’t see his facial expressions I felt confusion coming off him. Did he expect someone larger, or perhaps a man?
I lunged at him, taking advantage of his hesitation. My height made it easier to hit him low and knock him off balance. He swung his arm out and it just barely brushed the side of my cheek, yet I knew it would blaze red later. I swiveled and nailed him with my elbow while reaching for one of the silver blades tucked into my protective suit. He stumbled back, giving me just enough room to hit him square in the chest with a rounded kick.
He sprang to his feet snarling, jumped at me and pinned my shoulders to the wall. “You’ll pay for that, bitch!” His fetid breath against my face made my stomach churn.
“Doubt it,” I spit back at him.
He threw his head back and laughed.
I brought my knee up and thrust it into his groin. He buckled over. I thrust my arms up and out, throwing his hands off my shoulders, then grabbed the back of his head and dragged it to my knee. I heard the satisfying crack of bone but he wheeled, grabbing my arm and twisting it until I spun around with my back to him. He let go of my arm and pushed me. I pulled my hands up to try and brace myself. He moved quickly, using his body to keep my face shoved into the crumbling concrete.
“I like to play with my food,” he growled.
“I’m not on the menu.” I put as much conviction into the words as I could with my lips pinned to the wall, my hands fumbling to release a knife from its sheath as I spoke.
He spun me to face him. “Wanna bet?”
I flipped my blade up and gripped it in my fist, ramming it up into his heart. “Yeah.” I felt the warmth of blood ooze down my hand and watched the expression in his eyes change from shock to horror to lifelessness as his body sank to the floor.
I heard a whimper coming from the corner of the room. Human or vampire I didn’t know but I sure as hell wasn’t about to take any chances.
I retreated to the doorway and picked up the shotgun that had been knocked out of my hands in the initial attack.
I pumped the shotgun again as I cautiously slid back into the room. I had barely taken one step when the high-pierced screech of a woman assaulted my ears. I felt the impact of the concrete under my back before I realized the thin vamp had pinned me down. Definitely a vampire then, humans weren’t that strong.
My shotgun skittered across the floor and into the blackness. She grabbed both of my wrists in her hands so that I couldn’t get to either my Glock or my blade. She squeezed my wrist until I thought my bones would snap under the impact. I slid my right leg over hers and rolled so that we were reversed and I now straddled her. She still held one of my wrists but the other had slipped free when we flipped over. I took a swing at her and landed a solid blow to her jaw.
She recovered quickly and used the wrist she still held to try and pull me to her while baring her fangs and taking a snap at my neck. I used my free hand to jam my knuckles into her throat. My fingers slid through the thin skin and into things more slimy and my stomach wretched in protest. I pulled my hand out and the large sucking sound it made as is came out of her flesh caused more bile to rise in my throat. I felt myself fly backward as she thrust me off her and retreated into the blackness. I fell into what felt like shelves, which told me the room was somewhat small, possibly a storeroom. I stood, wiping the goo remaining on my fingers on my jeans, and took advantage of the moment to catch my breath. I freed my other gun from its holster. It only had lead bullets but that would be enough to slow her down.
It would have to be.
I slid another blade from it sheath in my vest so that I had weapons in both hands once again. I saw a shadow move toward me from the doorway. I raised my gun and fired toward it, the sound echoing off the walls in deafening waves.
I felt air rush by me, whipping up the vile scent of the cellar along with the metallic scent of fresh blood.
Shrieking laughter filled the room. “You missed me, bitch.”
Before I could fire again toward the sound of her voice she was upon me. I spun out of her way but she had already anticipated my move and was once again in front of me. I wheeled again and kicked out with my foot. It was hard to make anything out in the dimness of the room but I thought I knocked her off her feet. Yet before I even regained my balance she stood in front of me again. I lashed out at her with the blade, missed, spun and sliced again, yet each time she stood before me.
It felt as if she were everywhere all at once. I couldn’t make a move without her expecting it and blocking my way. I felt a tug on my shirt, then the cloth and metal of my protective vest ripped away as easily as tissue paper. She knocked the gun out of my hand so I sliced at her with the blade and heard the sizzle of silver meeting with vampire flesh. I stood with my back against the wall. I saw her shadow descend on me so I slashed out again. I didn’t want to sink the blade into her until I was sure it would hit her heart. Otherwise, she’d have my knife stuck in her and I would be left without a weapon. I heard her hiss as she lunged at me again. She bent low at the last second and knocked my feet out from under me. I hit the floor hard and felt my head bounce off the concrete. I blinked my eyes to clear the tears that had formed when I hit the ground and realized my knife was gone. Then her fangs sliced through the flesh on my neck and I heard her eagerly sucking the blood from my veins. The pain was searing but I refused to scream. I would not give her the satisfaction. I kicked, hit and bucked until my arms and legs felt too heavy to lift. I felt the pressure of something lying across my legs, holding them steady so I was unable to kick anymore. She was leaning across me with her elbows propped painfully on my chest, making it difficult for me to take a full breath.
She fed hungrily, her throat making gurgling sounds as she greedily drained me of blood and life.
I grew colder and faintly heard Ian’s words from our earlier conversation whisper through my mind.
…A newborn vampire will feed until their meal is dead.
She was a newborn vamp and by her appearance, she had not fed in days, perhaps weeks. I fleetingly wondered which one of us would die first, her from feeding, or me from blood loss.
The pain and cold fell away and I felt my eyes close, but I didn’t care. I wanted to sink into the heaviness of my body and let go.
“No!” The sharp sound of Ian’s voice snapped me back to the present, and this time, instead of fear, I felt anger. I didn’t want to die in this dank and vile subterranean hell! I would not succumb to the weight of sleep pressing upon me.
Suddenly I could breathe again. I took in one long, rasping breath, then another and another. The pain increased but I was too weak to open my eyes. I felt something cold drape over my face and a shiver snaked down my spine. My mouth filled with warm liquid and I tried to spit it out.
“You must drink, My Love. You have lost too much blood.”
I tried to talk but that just let the fluid stream down my throat until I gagged on it.
Blood.
It was blood that spilled down my throat.
Ian’s blood.
I forced myself to look at him and saw Ian’s eyes, dark as night with points of light. It was his power flowing from him into me. I’d seen his eyes full of that power once before, when I’d first met him.
I couldn’t speak so I opened the link between us. “Ian. No.”
“You will die if you refuse. Our bond allows my blood to heal you.” Ian kept his wrist locked over my mouth. “Think of coffee.” He smiled then. A warm smile, but I saw fear around the edges of his mouth and eyes. Fear for me.
So I thought of coffee and I drank. The searing pain was so intense I couldn’t pinpoint where exactly it was radiating from, yet it subsided a few moments after I swallowed the first thick drink. His blood flowed through me and chased the chill away. My stomach twisted in revulsion but I took a deep breath thro
ugh my nose and forced my body to accept his blood. I realized I was shaking uncontrollably and knew I was in shock. My head lolled to the side and I saw the body of the vampire, at least what was left of her. Her head, body and torso were twisted at odd angles. She looked like a macabre baby doll that had been carelessly tossed aside. And then I saw her eyes. They hung wide open in a permanent state of surprise, but what I noticed the most was a lack of color. I could see the pupils surrounded by the whites of her eyes like something had drained every bit of color from her.
I turned back to Ian only to see another shadow loom up behind him. I managed a gurgled squeak.
It was enough. Ian covered me with blinding speed and angled his body over the front of mine. “Young Joaquín.” Ian acknowledged him, his voice deep and ominous.
The lights went on and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust.
“Leah?” Joaquín stood in the doorway, looking down at me.
“Oh my God!” The blood drained from Joaquín’s face and he looked like he was going to vomit as he tried to snatch Ian’s arm from my mouth.
“What the hell are you doing to her?” Joaquín demanded.
“Saving her life.” Ian tried to push Joaquín away but sitting on the floor next to me left him at an awkward angle.
“She’s not a vampire!” Joaquín’s eyes showed too much white.
I shook my head numbly.
Ian moved his wrist from my mouth and answered for me. I couldn’t quite make my voice work right. “She is not.”
“You drank his blood?” Joaquín’s voice came out as barely a whisper.
Ian began to explain that his blood would help heal me but Joaquín found his voice and cut him off. “I wasn’t talking to you, you bloodsucking bastard!”
“My blood will soothe her pain and help heal her wounds.” Ian bit into his other wrist and offered it to me. “You would have me allow her to suffer to spare your delicate sensibilities?” he roared angrily.
Silence hung over the room like a dark shroud. I tried to find my voice but really, what could I say?
Horror swept over Joaquín’s face as he tried to process the sight before him. Me, the woman he wanted, or thought he wanted, not only covered in blood but also swallowing it straight from my ex-lover’s vampire wrist. Maybe once the supernatural community became more visible in society someone could write a book on what is and isn’t socially acceptable in the vampire community. I’d buy one.
I pulled away from Ian’s wrist and tried to swipe my hand across my mouth to wipe away the blood I could feel drying there, but my arms refused to obey my command and hung limply across me. The only movement of my body was the convulsions that shook me uncontrollably. My vision had started to fade around the edges. I wanted to talk to Joaquín and tell him I hadn’t needed Ian’s blood. Reassure him I didn’t need Ian for anything, but the words only came out as a garbled whine. Ian tried to shove his still-bleeding wrist back in my mouth. I tightened my lips and managed to move my head away a small fraction. Everything grew dim. Sight, sound, even movement seemed to slow until I was left with only a murmur of many voices, like background music you can hear but not really make out the words. Short snippets of movement, sights and sounds strung loosely together so none of it made sense even though I knew what was happening.
Sirens, squawking radios, frantic voices.
Trails of faces, some I knew, like Sam, Ramirez and Ian, Joaquín hanging around the fringes of activity. Some I didn’t know, medics and cops.
The warmth of many blankets laid across me, hands lifting me onto the gurney, the fresh air brushing across my face as I was wheeled outside. Ian’s hand, cool, gentle yet never releasing his grip on my fingers, even when I was jostled into an ambulance and sped across town to the hospital, Alli’s hospital. She was waiting for me, Wilson at her side until they rolled me into an exam room. Alli pushed both Wilson and Ian aside and ordered them to the waiting room, forcing Ian to release my hand with kind assurances. Their faces were replaced with impossibly bright lights that had me straining to cover my eyes. Then the cool sting of morphine as it entered my bloodstream and invited the dark to swallow the unbearable light.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I squeezed my eyes tight and tried to bury my face to muffle the thwack … thwack … thwack noise that seemed to flow in time with the pounding in my head. I allowed one eye to open just a sliver and was greeted by a large yellow sunflower with a happy face drawn on it. Above the petals the balloon read “get well soon” as it tapped a steady beat against the wall beside my bed. I forced one arm out and slowly picked up the pencil sitting on the nightstand. I extended my hand further, hampered only slightly by the IV tube attached to it, and managed to snag the piece of ribbon attached to the balloon. I pulled it closer to me and pierced it with the pencil. It deflated quietly and drooped to the floor. I closed my eye again and pulled my hands back under the blanket.
“You always did wake up a little grumpy.” Alli perched on the side of the hospital bed. “You gave us quite a scare this time.”
Her voice caught just enough to make me open my eyes. No matter how I felt, Alli didn’t deserve to have to worry about me. I took a deep breath and the stench of hospital antiseptic assaulted my noise. “I look…” I cleared my throat and tried again. “I look that bad, huh?”
She shrugged. “Better than that balloon.” She smiled but it didn’t hide the lines or dark patches around her eyes that told me she hadn’t slept in too long.
Wilson came in carrying two cups of coffee. A stocky man followed him. “I hope one of those is mine.” I made an attempt at a smile but it came out like a crooked scowl.
Wilson set the cups down quickly. “Not unless the doctor says it’s okay.” He ran his hand across my forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“A little woozy.” The stocky man who’d come in with Wilson stood silently behind him. I waited for an introduction but none came. He must have been an auditor from Internal Affairs. It wouldn’t be unusual for them to shadow Wilson after such a personal attack on his daughter. His clothes were rumpled as if he’d been in them for quite some time. His hair was white-blond and in just as much disarray as his clothes. His face was a mash of curiosity mixed with disbelief.
I started to sit up but Alli’s hand on my shoulder kept me down. “I just gave you another shot of morphine. Believe me, it will be your best friend for a couple of days.”
Alli explained that I’d needed stitches to close the wound at my neck; apparently my vampire was a messy eater and had sliced a hefty line across my throat, although it wasn’t as deep as they had initially feared. I had a mild concussion, a couple of bruised ribs and a sprained wrist. I hurt like hell everywhere, but their main concern was a loss of blood that the IV attached to my arm was steadily dripping back into me.
The bastard doctor refused to let me have coffee yet, spluttering some shit about caffeine, which left me in a bad enough mood already, so when the stocky man who’d followed Wilson in walked to the side of my bed, way too close for comfort, I pulled my head away. He moved closer until his fetid breath pressed against my face. “Get the hell away from me.” I shifted to put a few extra inches between us. IA or not, he didn’t have the right to encroach on my personal space.
The man smiled crookedly and cocked his head. “So you know I’m here.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I looked to Alli who glanced between Wilson and me, an alarmed expression on her face. “Who is this?” I asked looking to the man beside me.
I heard Alli gasp and Wilson rushed to her side. “It’s Alli,” Wilson said gingerly.
I shot him a look. “Of course it’s Alli; I’m talking about this guy here.” I jabbed a thumb toward the stocky man who kept looking at me oddly.
“Only Wilson and I are here, honey.” Alli walked toward me. She put her arm out to brush a strand of hair from my face and her hand went right through the head of the stocky guy. I let out a high-pitched shriek and bol
ted away so quickly I fell off the other side of the bed and onto the floor. The man laughed, both Wilson and Alli rushed to me and alarms started wailing because I’d pulled out whatever wires had been hooked up to me. Through it all I saw the man rise slowly, still laughing. He turned toward the door and it was then I saw that what was left of the back of his head was just a mass of bloody meat. I squirmed and writhed away from Wilson and Alli, scuttling toward the farthest wall.My head spun from the cocktail of pain killers I’d been given. Spirits had always appeared less than alive; not exactly translucent but not solid either. If this was a Spirit, it was a variety that I had never seen before.
Nurses ran into the room, some toward the blaring alarms on the machines that were once attached to me and others to help Wilson and Alli restrain me. I felt a sharp prick, and then a tingle of heat coursed through my veins.
I closed my eyes and let the morphine and whatever else Alli shot into me carry me back to sweet oblivion.
* * * *
Through the haze I heard hushed tones and angry whispers. I tried to force my eyelids open but I couldn’t quite bring myself fully awake. I couldn’t move my arms or legs either so I gave up on trying to open my eyes and instead concentrated on listening. I could hear Ian, his voice deep despite his quiet tone, and Joaquín, his voice not quite as deep as Ian’s but definitely masculine, strong with just a touch of accent from his Native American ancestry.
“I didn’t do anything to cause that,” Ian protested.
“The hell you didn’t. The doctors think she had some type of psychotic breakdown. I didn’t tell anyone about you feeding her your blood but if that’s what caused…”
“I do not know what caused her reaction. Do you think I would sit here and let her suffer if I knew how to fix it?” Ian’s voice rose with his anger. “They are keeping her sedated and have her tied down like an animal, young Joaquín; I would never risk her like that!”
The Order of Chaos Page 11
