She slumped against his arm, pulling him off balance. Then she reared up, slamming the back of her head into his face. He grunted, his hold loosening enough for her to pull free. As she left what felt like half her hair in his fist, she growled and spun her leg up, ramming it into his gut.
He staggered back. His eyes completely black, he stared at her for a second, rage turning his face red. Blood from his bullet wounds covered the front of his white T-shirt, making it stick to his chest, and now also dripped from his nose. His tongue swept out, licking it off his lips. “You’re gonna pay for that one, girly.” His hands fisted. “You’ll die screaming for mercy.”
Nix shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Tobias appeared at the top of a rise, heading her way at top speed, when he was tackled by yet another vamp. He rolled to his feet, going into a fighter’s stance as yet another vamp ran up to help his buddy. He appeared to be holding his own against the two vampires he fought—though all three showed signs of battle with blood and dirt covering them—and Dante had managed to stay out of the grasp of his vamp. She put her attention back on the bloodsucker in front of her. “You really think you can take me, akĥ khantu?”
He bristled at being called a carrion eater. She hoped her false disdain based on a long-lived prejudice would keep his outrage amped up and hopefully cause him to make a fatal mistake.
He came at her again and caught hold of her jacket. She twisted out of it, leaving it hanging in his grip, and slammed her foot into his knee. His leg crumpled beneath him with a satisfying crunch of bone and he went down.
He yelled and lurched forward, reaching for her. She dodged him, but he managed to grab hold of the hem of her jeans. Her momentum carried her forward then to the ground. She braced her fall with her hands, her eyes widening as her momentum almost face-planted her into a small barrel cactus. With a lithe twist, she turned onto her back and kicked the vamp as he pulled himself up her body.
One knee caught him in the chin. His head rocked back but he kept coming. She slammed her fist into his jaw, grimacing at the hard smack of bone on bone, and wincing again when he turned his head, catching her knuckle with the tip of one fang.
He caught her wrists in his hands and held her arms at her sides. His tongue did a slow lick over his fang, and his eyes narrowed. “Less than human but more than demon.” His slow grin was malevolent. “I’ve never done a half-breed before.” He licked his lips, the action bringing an image to her mind of Princess Leia facing Jabba the Hutt. Disgusting vermin.
“And you’re not going to have one now.” Tobias’s voice was hard. He yanked the vampire off her and tossed him several feet away. Then Tobias pulled Nix to her feet. “You all right?”
“Fine. I had him.” She watched the vamp pick himself up and turn toward them. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw two more heading their way. “We got more company,” she said with a lift of her chin.
He turned his head. “Damn it.” He looked at her again, indecision in his stance, written on his face.
“I’ve got this one,” she insisted. Without waiting for his response, she turned to meet her foe’s attack with a fist to his gut.
Tobias hesitated long enough to watch the vamp double over. Nix’s knife made two quick slashes and the vamp’s neck was sliced from ear to ear. She let him fall to the desert floor.
Tobias turned toward the two vamps coming at him, knowing the one she’d just dropped would be too busy bleeding out now to be any further threat. From the corner of his eye he saw Nix head toward MacMillan. Tobias was amazed that the detective was still standing, though he was bloody from being punched in the face. His vamp was toying with him, like a devil with a saint.
Nix would take care of that.
Tobias bent his knees in a fighter’s stance. “Just what game are you playing?” he asked, looking at the vampire on his left. He was small of stature and thin, stronger than he looked, even for a vamp. Dark hair and eyes, swarthy skin. A stranger to look at, but familiar to Tobias even with the new face and body.
Natchook slowed and stopped. He wore a satchel at his side, the strap crossed over his body. He kept one hand on the top of the bag. “The same game I’ve always played. Anarchy is the only effective law of the land. Lasting peace can only be achieved through chaos.” He shook his head, his lips curling into a sneer. “You never could see that though, could you, my friend?”
“We are not friends. We never were.” Tobias clenched his fists. He could hear the sounds of fighting from behind him and resisted the urge to look. To let himself be distracted at this moment could prove to be a fatal mistake. He had to trust Nix’s skills and ability to take care of herself. And now that she’d gone demon, he’d have to worry about her sanity.
God above, he hoped she could come back from this. If she went insane because of him and his obsession, if Natchook took away the one person on this planet who mattered the most to him…
Natchook clasped his hands behind his back. “You don’t understand. You never could.” He leaned forward slightly, the light of fanaticism brightening his eyes. “Sacrifices have to be made. Leader Vardan was one of many, with many more to come.”
“Like Braithwaite? And Dumond and Amarinda? Pickett?”
Natchook gave a slight incline of his head. “They all served their purpose in their own way. Amarinda was…collateral damage. She wasn’t involved, though I would have welcomed her to the cause. But she was getting too close and I am not about to let anyone ruin my plans. Not now.”
Tobias held back the relief he felt at hearing Rinda hadn’t been mixed up with this insane bastard.
Natchook went on. “And Braithwaite… Well, he was useful, since he was a member of the council. But his loyalty wavered. He outlived that usefulness.” He paused. “You’re on the list of sacrifices to be made. No surprise there, I think.”
On one hand it was gratifying to know he’d made that much of an impact on the other man, but on the other hand…not so great to be on someone’s hit list. “Yeah, I figured that out when you stopped and waited for me to catch up to you.” Tobias shifted his gaze to Natchook’s crony who was starting to inch his way to Tobias’s right. “Just what was at Braithwaite’s that you had to kill him for it?”
“What, you expect me to tell you all my plans?” Natchook rolled his eyes. “The villain spilling his guts only happens in the movies, my friend.” He lifted his chin. “Not that I’m admitting to being a villain. I do what’s necessary and nothing more.”
“Humor me.” Tobias crossed his arms, striving for an indifferent attitude toward the crony who was now behind him. In truth he was less concerned about an attack from the rear than he was with the bad guy leaving Nix and MacMillan alone. He needed to keep these two vampires’ focus on him.
Natchook reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a black box roughly the size of a cell phone. It had several small dials and what looked to be a couple of retractable antennae. “Braithwaite was holding on to the research Amarinda had done on the rift and the schematics for this little thing, but we couldn’t find them at his house. He said he’d hidden them off-site and wouldn’t say where, even when I started skinning him.” His eyes reflected his enjoyment of the act. “But no matter. I have this”—he waggled the device—“and can reverse engineer another one.”
“That’s what you’re using to open a mini rift?” Tobias frowned. It seemed such a simplistic machine. And a hell of a lot smaller than he’d thought it would be.
“It doesn’t look like much, does it?” Natchook stroked his hand across the top. “It’s amazing how such a little gadget can do such a wondrous thing.” His eyes glittered, lips stretching in a broad grin. “Ain’t technology grand?”
“Just what is it you hope to achieve?” Tobias knew Natchook’s goal on their home planet had been to overthrow the government and ensconce himself as some sort of dictator. The assassination attempt had succeeded, but instead of the people rallying around Natchook they had cried for his death
. So he’d fled, Tobias on his heels.
“I told you. It’s about what I’ve always wanted to achieve. It doesn’t matter where we are, my goals have never changed.” Disdain flattened his mouth. “Humans are weak and easily distracted. They’re so concerned about the politics of things they aren’t keeping their eyes on the ball. I’ll have my chance to run things the way they should be. The way I want them to be.”
“You couldn’t screw up our world, so you thought you’d try this one?” Tobias dropped his hands to his sides, hyper aware of the vamp behind him inching his way closer. Another few seconds and he’d be back in a fight to the death with these two. “You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that.”
He heard MacMillan groan and glanced around in time to see Nix pull the vamp off the detective. Blood streamed down MacMillan’s shoulder from a bite but he was steady on his feet. The vamp hadn’t been able to take enough blood—MacMillan would be fine. Well, fine as long as he and Nix could take care of the guy. Tobias put his attention back on Natchook.
“You just can’t ever leave well enough alone, can you?” Natchook paused, his eyes narrowing. “What name is it you go by these days? Tobias?” He smirked. “That’s rather a girly-man name, isn’t it?”
“And what’s your name now?” Tobias paused for effect. “Sally Sunshine?”
Instead of getting a rise out of him, Natchook only laughed.
Tobias shook his head. “This is a new world, Natchook. We’re guests here. You have no right to—”
“Don’t stand there, drowning me with your two-bit morality.” Natchook scowled. He slipped the small rift device back into the pocket of his jacket. “I have the right to do whatever I feel is necessary. It was my birthright to lead.”
“Just because you have royal ancestors doesn’t mean squat. If you look hard enough, I’ll just bet you find that a lot of our people have ties at some level or another to the royal family. Hell, I think I had an eighth cousin twice removed who was the son of a grand duke. But we chose democracy over monarchy centuries ago.” Before Tobias could say anything more, the vamp behind him attacked. Tobias staggered forward. Expecting Natchook to take advantage, he was surprised when the other man took several steps away from him. And as teeth sank into the side of his neck, Tobias had to turn his attention to the vampire on his back. He punched his fist into the vamp’s face, but couldn’t get any real power behind the blows.
Without hesitation he straightened his index and middle fingers and jabbed backward as hard as he could, right in the vamp’s eyes. The vampire shrieked in pain and dropped off Tobias’s back. Tobias whirled around and with a quick twist of his wrists broke the vamp’s neck. He let the body drop to the ground, knowing the vampire would die within seconds without a fresh infusion of blood to help him heal.
He lunged at Natchook and slammed him to the desert floor. Before he could sink his fangs into his old foe’s throat, Natchook got his feet between them and catapulted Tobias into the air. Tobias hit the ground, hard, several yards away. He rolled to his feet and charged forward, catching Natchook in the midsection and knocking him down again.
Tobias managed to get in a couple of blows before Natchook twisted, getting on top of Tobias to straddle him. His fist to Tobias’s jaw twisted his head to the side. As fangs slid deep into the side of his neck, Tobias growled and tried to buck Natchook off him.
Natchook raised his head, holding Tobias in place with one arm across his throat, and opened his mouth wide to bare fangs stained by Tobias’s blood. “You’re a pathetic weakling, Tobias. This is what comes…” He leaned close. “…from not drinking live,” he whispered. “You. Are. Nothing.” He leaned back slightly, his laugh low, full of disdain. He bent forward again, his black eyes reflecting Tobias’s image.
“Hey!” Nix stood a few feet away, blood dripping down her right arm, a long gash across her left cheek. Her eyes glowed with demon fire, horn buds parted her bangs, and the structure of her face was harder. Alien.
Tobias felt dread ice through him. She was as fully demon as he’d ever seen her. Would she be able to return to her humanity with her mind intact?
“Get off him, you son of a bitch.” Her slender hands clenched at her sides.
“You just wait your turn, girly. I’ll be right with you.” Natchook turned his attention back to Tobias.
“Get out of here,” Tobias told Nix. “Go.”
“I got your back, remember?” Her breasts rose with her deep breath, then she ran full tilt at Natchook, spreading her arms and diving through the air like a linebacker sacking the quarterback.
With a growl Natchook caught her and tossed her aside as if she were weightless. She slammed into the unforgiving bulk of a large boulder. She grunted with the impact and groaned as she hit the ground.
Natchook bent to Tobias again, drawing on him strongly. Tobias felt himself growing weaker, even as he continued to struggle. Finally Natchook stopped and got to his feet. He stood a moment, looking down at Tobias. “You’re as weak as you ever were,” he said. Incredibly his voice seemed to hold a note of regret. “We could have done great things together if you just had more stones.”
Tobias tried to rise, managed to get himself up on one elbow before the blood loss made everything go black. As he succumbed he heard Nix’s low cry.
Stirring, he wasn’t sure how long he had been out, but felt someone patting his cheek, hard, then heard MacMillan’s voice. “Come on, sleeping beauty, wake up. Damn it, Tobias. Wake up!” Another smack, this one even harder.
Tobias opened his eyes and grabbed MacMillan’s wrist as he prepared to slap him again. “How long have I been out?” he asked as he struggled to sit up.
MacMillan helped him. “Less than a minute, I think.” He glanced around. “I don’t know where he is.” He looked at Tobias, fear darkening his eyes. “He took Nix.”
Tobias braced his hands on the ground and tried to push himself up, cursing when in his weakness he fell back to the ground.
MacMillan muttered a string of cuss words and rolled up his sleeve. He thrust his wrist under Tobias’s nose. “Here.”
Tobias looked up at him.
“You need blood, right? Otherwise…” He shook his head. “We’re all done for.”
Tobias met the detective’s eyes. “You may need to stop me.”
“Right.” MacMillan’s jaw tightened. “Just do it.”
Tobias grasped his wrist in both hands and sank his fangs in deep. Within seconds he felt strength returning, oxygen rushing to his organs, his muscles. He let go of MacMillan. “You all right?”
“Dandy,” he said with a slight grimace. “Find Nix.”
Tobias got to his feet.
“I’m here.” Nix’s voice came from behind him and he whirled around to see her standing several feet away. She looked frail, human, even with the demon peeking out of yellow eyes.
Natchook had one hand wrapped around her waist, the other cupped her chin. Blood smeared her throat, stained the front of her shirt. The same blood that rimmed Natchook’s mouth.
Tobias went cold. Then hot. He took a step forward but stopped when Natchook tsked him. “Be very careful what you do next, Tobias.”
Tobias froze and focused on Nix. She blinked slowly, her head lolling, clearly only upright because of Natchook’s hand on her chin. Tobias could ascertain her heartbeat, but it was faint.
And growing fainter with each passing second.
She might be greatly weakened, but she was still scrappy. “Is this what he was like before? Hiding behind a woman?” She scoffed, the sound faint and dry. “No wonder he botched things up.”
Natchook’s hand moved to her throat, choking off her words. “I really don’t care to hear the prey trash talking the hunter.” His gaze never left Tobias. “You can save the girl or you can chase me. Which is more important—her life or your revenge?” He quirked his brows. “Your choice. Seems you never can protect the ones you’re supposed to.” With a low laugh, Natchook let go of Nix. As sh
e collapsed to the ground like a marionette whose strings had abruptly been cut, he spun on his heel and ran.
There were no choices here. There was only one thing to do. Tobias ran to Nix and dropped to his knees, single-minded attention on the woman he loved. He drew her carefully into his arms and cradled her against his chest. With a trembling hand he brushed sweat-dampened hair away from her soft cheek.
Her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes were once again the chocolate brown he loved, all trace of the demon gone. “You all right?” she whispered.
He gave a choked laugh. She lay dying in his arms and her concern was for him? He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her dry lips. “I’m fine, sweetheart.” He swallowed. “God, I’m sorry. So sorry. I should’ve been watching out for you.”
MacMillan knelt beside him, though Tobias was barely aware of anything outside of the woman in his arms. For once the detective had nothing frivolous to say. Tobias spared him a glance and saw the devastated expression on MacMillan’s face. He truly cared about Nix. Tobias actually felt a bit comforted that the other man joined him in his misery.
“It’s not your fault.” Nix’s voice rasped from her ravaged throat. “You couldn’t have known he’d go after me.”
He shook his head. “I should have known.”
“Where is he?”
Tobias shoved aside the guilt for the moment. Nothing would be achieved by letting his culpability distract him from the situation at hand. Nix needed him. Now more than ever. He nodded in answer to her question. “Don’t worry about him, sweetheart.” He spared a quick look at their surroundings. The other vamps were all dead and of no further threat. “You’re safe now.”
“We’re safe.” Her unfocused glance traveled to MacMillan. “You okay?” Her attention focused on his wrist. Her fine brows knit in a frown. “You’re bleeding.”
“Don’t worry about me, darlin’.” When her gaze went to the blood on his shoulder, he gave a lopsided grin. “My first, and second, vampire bite.”
Tobias felt her tense in his arms. “He’ll be all right, sweetheart.”
Kiss of the Vampire Page 24
