by Jade White
It would be interesting being deep in the bowels of his enemy’s headquarters. The boys at the bar would get a huge kick out of hearing about it. Asher got the feeling he wasn’t really supposed to talk about it or Rita and her family might get into trouble. They were allowed to try and fetch the map, but it didn’t say anything about using a vampires’ help.
Chapter 7
Once they made it to the order, he was surprised how small the building was. He’d never seen it before and standing in front of it, it felt small. It was just a regular office building with brick siding and three stories. There wasn’t a sign and no distinguishing features. It looked like every other boring office building in town. There were plants on all sides and flowerbeds. There was a gazebo where he imagined the order met in their strange rituals to have company picnics. The thought made him laugh and he turned to see Rita looking at him with raised brows. He realized she wanted him to be completely serious, which he thought might be difficult, but he’d definitely try.
“Okay, we have to get past the guard and the cameras. Once we’re past those obstacles then we’ll need to get down the tunnel to where they keep the map and that’s where we’ll face the skeletons. I’ll throw the powder on the skeletons. I don’t know how many there will be. Dad said he thinks it will be two, but they could have added more over the years.”
“How the hell could he know that, Rita?” Asher asked thinking it was super specific information to know about the order.
“Dad used to be part of the order. It’s not a big deal, let’s focus on the task at hand, Asher.”
“What?” He made his voice go up high so she knew he was making a big deal about the one fact she’d forgotten to mention. She ignored him.
“I’m going to have to hit the cameras we’ll be passing before we can move from the woods,” Rita said and pulled out a slingshot and some strange ammo he didn’t question. She aimed and fired hitting the first one perfectly. There was another one right above the head of a guard. The guard looked like a normal businessman just reading the newspaper outside the building, but they knew better.
She aimed and hit it, but something fell off and the guy turned around to find out what it was. The man didn’t really get in a hurry as he waddled over to the piece on the cobblestone leading up to the gazebo. He was going to blow their cover once he made his way over to it. It was time for him to take action.
“New plan,” Asher said and he tore off towards the guy and pulled down the mask that Rita hadn’t seen him grab from Esmerelda’s. It was weird, painted with green swirls, and a long nose on the front. He looked silly he knew, but the guy wouldn’t know who attacked him. He ran at him and looked him in the eyes clutching both his arms. The man gasped and his eyes went wide. Once Asher locked in, he relaxed and let his body go limp as he spoke to him quietly.
“You never saw us, we weren’t here. The cameras are working the way they should, and you really wanted to just stand over there staring at the wall for three hours. You told me you did.” He could tell the guy was tranced; he just stared at him. When he released his arms he slowly walked over to the wall and faced it. Asher signaled for Rita to come over, and she looked furious with him.
“What the hell was that?”
“Plan B,” he said smiling and they ran alongside the building until they could see the windows to the basement.
Asher busted one out and cleared all the glass before helping Rita through. They were lucky there weren’t any guards downstairs; there was nothing but a copy machine and what looked like a row of filing cabinets. It was a strange place to keep a magic map that would tell them where all the vampires in the town were.
Rita took a running start and headed for the cabinets. Asher thought she was going to run into them but she leapt at the last minute and jumped behind them. He followed her and found himself in a long tunnel. There were torches on the side he could see as his eyes adjusted. The walls were dirt, meaning the tunnel really was just dug underground and hopefully was stable.
“So what did your dad wear in the order?”
“No, we’re not talking about this at all. I’m sorry I mentioned it. Just forget that I said anything at all about it, okay?
“Should we light one of these?” Asher put his hand on one of the torches.
“No,” Rita said, “I don’t want them to know we’re coming. Keep your voice down, Asher.”
They moved through the tunnel in silence and it all looked the same to him. The tunnel went on forever. As they walked, every three feet had a torch on the side. He felt a bit like they were in The Mummy and was going to tell Rita that but she stopped suddenly and he ran into her. Taking the opportunity, he pulled her hair back and kissed her neck. She leaned back into him for a minute drawing in a sharp breath and then she hit him.
“What?” He rubbed his cheek.
“Concentrate, we’re here.”
"Oh," he said, still rubbing his cheek. He looked around him slowly. The room wasn't huge. It wasn't even really a room. More like the hallway had widened a bit. But at the end of the room he could see the map. He rushed toward it and Rita followed.
"This is perfect," he said, lifting it.
"Too perfect," Rita said looking around.
"Let's go," Asher said. He took a step back toward the doorway and Rita put a hand on his shoulder.
"Stop," she said.
"What?" he said.
"Them." Rita pointed at the walls to either side of the map and he saw movement.
Bits of sand rolled down the wall and there was a creaking sound, like old stairs in the nighttime. Like mirror images of each other the skeletons came out of crevices in the wall just big enough for their bodies. First the right foot, then the left settled onto the floor, a cloud of dust coming up around them.
"Oh," he said. "Them."
Rita pulled out the powder Esmerelda had given them and held it in her hand as the skeletons turned their naked skulls toward her. Each skull spun to the left, like a small dog waiting for a treat and, with a loud thud, both skeletons turned toward Rita and Asher. She seemed way calmer than he was; the skeletons really freaked him out.
"So, what's your plan?" Asher asked.
"This will give us two minutes. So we'll freeze them and run."
"Okay," Asher said, the map in his other hand. "One,"
"Two," she said.
"Three." The powder arched through the air, glittering as it rained over the skeletons, which took one last step each and then creaked to a stop.
"Is it safe?" Asher asked.
"Let's go," Rita said.
Asher hugged the map to his body as they ran past the skeletons and back into the hallway. What they hadn’t counted on was the boulders that rolled in their path. He hadn’t even heard them fall but they were there.
“What is this Indiana Jones bullshit? This wasn’t part of the plan.” Asher turned towards her since they only had two minutes and any delay wouldn't help them.
“Don’t you have like super strength,” Rita asked.
“I’m not the Hulk. No, we don’t have super strength. We're just a little stronger than you. A very little.”
Asher studied the boulders. There were two and they fit perfectly in the hallway from floor to ceiling. Obviously, it was arranged that way so people couldn’t get out if they managed to get past the skeletons. They had to have already let a minute passed.
“They're going to be hard to move, but if we can roll one away from the other than I think we can squeeze around. There’s no way we have more than forty seconds to do this.”
***
Rita tried to remain calm. She’d been pretty brave in the face of the scary ass skeletons, but they really creeped her out, and now that they were trapped and in their path, she was scared again. It was important they didn’t panic. She ran up and pulled one of the torches off the wall jamming it under one of the boulders.
“Get one of them, Asher,” she yelled when he just stared at her and didn’t mov
e. He started and then went to grab one of the torches doing the same thing she did. “Now push.”
They did and nothing happened. It didn’t move an inch. “Okay,” Asher said. “You push on both of these and I’ll push the actual boulder.”
They tried it and Rita’s chest leapt when it moved just a little bit. She could see Asher was really putting effort into it. His muscles were rippling all up and down his arms. Then she heard the clinking of bones moving and rubbing together.
“They’re coming, hurry!” They both pushed, groaning and struggling. Rita looked behind to see the skeletons making their way towards them, they were walking but still closing in. Finally, the boulder rolled and she eyed the crack it made. “Can we fit through there?”
Asher looked back. “We don’t have a choice, go, go, go.” He was yelling, so she moved and squeezed herself through the small opening careful not to push the boulder back towards him. She made it through and then turned to hold her hand out for him. He gave her the map and then started to squeeze himself through. The clinking was getting closer and he wasn’t moving as fast as she thought he should.
“Asher come on.” He was stuck and she could see the panic in his eyes. She moved forward and started pulling at him. He wasn’t getting through because of his wide, sexy shoulders. She wished they were scrawnier.
“It’s got me,” he yelled and his body jerked as the skeleton pulled him.
She couldn’t see them but she kept pulling until she had his top half through the crack. She cringed as the boulder ripped his shirt open and tore into his skin. The rest of him was coming; his leg was the only thing left and she could see bony fingers wrapped around his knee. The bag of bones was strong but she kept pulling and he kicked back with his other leg.
“Shit,” he screeched, “the other one is biting me.”
At that moment his leg broke free and they fell. Rita scrambled to get up and took off running with the map hoping he was right behind her. She probably should have checked to see if he could run, but she turned and saw he was behind her. They made it out of the tunnel and leapt over the filing cabinets. They didn’t stop until they were both out of the window and sitting in the dirt outside the building. They looked in not seeing the skeleton twins and Rita wondered how far they could come out of their tunnel.
She looked at Asher, who was grinning at her but bleeding heavily from the leg and she pulled him to her. Kissing him hard she wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her tongue in his mouth. The adrenaline had excited her and surviving had her relieved, she just needed him for a minute and then she was fine.
He’d moved his hands up her legs and already had his hands on her breasts when she pulled back. It would be smart not to try and get off outside the order when they’d just fought their skeletons and taken a map, but he looked so good she couldn’t stand it. She pulled his shirt off up over his head and kissed his neck. Her mouth moved down over his hard chest and she sucked on his nipples enjoying the hissing sound he made when he enjoyed something.
She moved her mouth down his stomach and stuck her tongue in his belly button causing his hips to jerk. She ran her hand up his thigh and over his erection. He was already hard for her and it made all the blood rush to her core. She was wet and wanted him as bad as she had the first time, and as bad as she had in the dream. He unbuttoned and unzipped her pants, pushing his hand inside them. His fingers found her heat and started to stroke as she kissed him with need. He pushed one inside and curled it, causing tingles to spread from her sex and up into her stomach.
She sucked on his neck as she moved against his fingers; it wasn’t enough. She pulled his hand from her pants and stood, taking them down one leg and following with her panties. Rita wanted to be able to get dressed in a hurry. She undid his pants and freed his cock stroking it twice in her hands before guiding it to her opening and sitting down hard. She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him as he turned them so his back was against the building and then she rode him fast once again, feeling the desire to be bitten, to be completely taken. She moved her mouth to his neck as her orgasm built inside of her powerfully; she knew it was going to be massive. Moving her mouth to his ear she whispered, “bite me Asher.”
He did, he groaned and sank his teeth into her neck causing her to come immediately. She screamed and rode him while he sucked her neck and came deep inside of her. Both of their bodies shivered with pleasure and she came again almost immediately, digging her nails into his shoulders. It was too much and the pleasure was so immense, tears squeezed from her eyes. Once they’d calmed down and he’d started to lazily suck instead of the intense feeding he’d been doing, she stood, letting him fall from her and pulled up her pants.
“Let’s go.” She started walking and left him in the dirt probably wondering what the hell her problem was. There was no reason to talk about what happened, it would just ruin the animalistic moment between them.
The guy was still facing the wall and no one had come to investigate why the cameras weren’t working. They made their way back into the woods and then took a minute to catch their breath. The map glowed slightly and Rita clung to it as tightly as possible. They started back towards the house so they could tell her family the good news.
They made their way through the woods and back to the car. She thought they were going to make it without talking about the celebration sex they’d just had, but then Asher cleared his throat.
“Okay, so you clearly wanted it that time. You can’t deny there is something between us, Rita, there’s something going on here.”
He reached over and tried to hold her hand. She jerked away from him, the last thing she needed was a vampire trying to get into a relationship with her.
“Fine, the hand holding was just me fucking with you, but I like being with you, Rita. I want to be near you and it’s not just the sex. I could totally sit around with you before and after it, too,” he said and she could see he was smiling from the corner of her eye. “I could be your boyfriend, you know. I would make a good boyfriend. Despite my obvious sexual skills, I make a mean risotto. You would die if you ate it.”
“This is not the time for this conversation, Asher. Let’s just try to get my family out of trouble and make it to the house in one piece, okay?”
He tried to hold her hand again and she smacked it hard so he jerked it back. Starting the car, they headed back to her parent’s house. All they had to do now was call Grant and give him the map.
The Final Chapter
They pulled up in front of the house and none of the lights were on. Rita opened her car door and closed it quietly and Asher did the same. The house was quiet, too quiet. Something didn’t feel right to Asher. He looked over at Rita and could tell she felt it, too. They moved slowly towards the house. The door was unlocked but not open. They moved inside and split up, walking through all the rooms on the first floor. They met back up in the living room and shook their heads. There wasn’t anyone.
There came a low moan from the basement. It sounded like Rita’s dad. They both moved quickly towards the basement door. Asher put his ear on it and heard Tater’s voice. “Turn him around this way, Larry.”
“Shit, those two giant tool bags are here.”
“Who?” Rita’s eyes were wide and she was shaking a bit. He wished he could help her relax, but he wasn’t sure what they were about to walk into.
“Grant’s men, we’ve got to go give them the map.”
They rushed down the stairs and found a bloody scene. Rita’s dad was hanging from the ceiling with blood streaking down his face, and Greta was close by on the table he’d seen her on when her mother was cleaning her. She was bloody again and she appeared to be asleep or passed out. Rita’s mother was tied up to a chair near the stairs; she looked like she hadn’t been touched. Asher hoped they’d gotten there fast enough where they hadn’t done anything to her.
Larry and Tater looked positively giddy as they stood near Rita’s dad taking turns punching hi
m in the face. Rita tried to rush forward but Asher grabbed her arm and stopped her. He knew the two big bastards were hard to take down, and they needed to think very hard about their actions.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” Asher yelled. “We have the map, look.” He pointed to the map in Rita’s hands. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Grant told us if you hadn’t come back by ten o’clock we should start torturing people.”
Asher saw Rita make her way over to her sister and looked at the clock next to the table. It wasn’t near ten o’clock so the assholes certainly hadn’t listened to their boss on what they should be doing with the family.
“It’s eight o’clock,” Rita said, lightly slapping her sister’s cheeks and whispering her name.
“We got tired of waiting.” Tater laughed long and low.
“Call Grant, you idiots, call him right now.” Asher’s blood ran hot, his fist clenched at his sides, and he felt his fangs come out. He didn’t want to have to try to fight the giant shifters, but he would. Tater looked annoyed but he pulled his phone out.
“Boss, there’s a vampire here wants to talk to you.”
“Grant, why would you let these goons torture this family? I have your map, we have what you wanted.”
“They sometimes do what they want, Asher.” Grant had a smooth voice, he scared Asher just listening to him. “How do I know you haven’t just brought me some fake map to keep your little girlfriend’s family from me?”
“Because we fought skeletons and boulders to get this stupid map; come and see it yourself.”
“Very well, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Tell those two to stop whatever they’re doing.”
“Grant is on his way and he said you better stop what you’re doing.” Asher pointed at the two big shifters.
