I woke with a start, catching my breath. Sweat coated my forehead and neck in beads, and I swatted at it with the comforter.
Thwack.
I paused, listening. The room was dark. I was pretty sure the door was still locked, as per my mother’s orders.
Good thing I have a bathroom in my suite.
Thinking it to be my imagination, I lay back down against the pillows and closed my eyes.
Thwack.
I sat up. What was that? It struck again, and I put a direction to the sound.
It’s coming from my window.
Crawling out of bed, I crossed the room and peered outside just as another rock struck the glass. I jumped, and pushed the window open. Ice cold air rushed inside and I hugged myself, staring into the night. There was no moon out, no blood red light to illuminate the grounds. Not that I needed it – I could see just fine. At first, I didn’t notice anything amiss. My side of the house was lined with tall hedges and trellises baring overweight rose bushes, the musky scent of which floated up to my nostrils. I inhaled deeply, not realizing how much I had missed the smell of real roses.
“Sloane!” a voice hissed.
I looked down. Leo was very well concealed within the foliage. I’m not sure I would have seen him if not for my enhanced sight.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, keeping my voice down. “I thought the Scarlet Guard had you.”
He waved my question away. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered back. “I’ve come to bail you out.”
Hope flooded through me. I looked at the antique clock hanging on my wall. It was nearly 5 a.m.
I smiled. Just like old times.
Leo and I would sneak out of the house all the time to get into mischief. We never did anything bad to anyone. Our late night outings consisted mostly of harmless pranks, especially around Halloween.
Of course, sneaking out of a high security mansion was going to be a different problem.
“How am I supposed to get down?” I asked. “The drop’s too far.” Actually, it wasn’t, at least for a vampire, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Jump,” he said, holding out his arms. “I’ll catch you.”
“No way!”
“Come on, Sloane. Please?”
I pursed my lips and sighed. I couldn’t piss off my mother more than I already had, not to mention I had a death sentence hanging over my head. At this point, all things considered, sneaking out of the house sounded pretty good.
I swung my legs over the side and Leo got into position. “Ready?” I asked.
“Yep.”
Bracing myself, I pushed myself off the window ledge and dropped, landing neatly in his arms.
“Good catch,” I said as he sat me down.
He grinned. “All those hours spent in the gym are starting to pay off.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on. I know a way out.”
I smirked. Leave it to Leo to outwit the Scarlet Guard.
He led me around the side of the house, and we paused to peer around its edge. A multitude of Scarlet Guards paced the yard, scythes at the ready.
“How on earth did you manage to get in?” I asked. “They’re everywhere.”
“Nope.” He wriggled his brows at me. “Not quite.”
We crept alongside the house, sticking to the shadows and making sure to keep hidden behind the brush. Something putrid wafted through the air and I plugged my nose.
“Sick,” I said, sticking out my tongue. “What is that?”
Leo looked at me oddly. “You mean you can smell that from here?”
That’s right! My sense of smell is more honed than his.
I shrugged it off. “Don’t you smell it, too? I don’t see how you can’t, as terrible as it is.”
Leo grinned. “All part of the master plan.”
We turned the corner, where the smell was ten times stronger. I chanced a peek above a bush; the septic tank had apparently exploded. There wasn’t a guard in sight.
“Did you...?” I pointed, covering my mouth.
He nodded, looking very pleased with himself. “A little bit of dynamite, you know, to shake things up a bit. Apparently, there’s only so much shit the Scarlet Guard will take.”
I snorted. “Nice pun.”
“Thank you.”
Glancing around, Leo and I sprang from the bushes and ran across the lawn straight into the forest surrounding the property. We darted through the trees, not daring to speak in case a stray guard was nearby. At last, we came to the wrought iron fence. Leo’s Jeep was parked just on the other side.
“Come on,” he said, locking his hands together as a makeshift step. “I’ll help you over.”
I stepped onto his clasped hands and he hoisted me up. Gripping the top of the bars, I pulled myself up and over, dropping down on the other side. Leo jumped up, the muscles in his arms flexing, and easily did the same.
I quirked a brow, impressed. “You weren’t kidding about working out.”
He held his arms up, a devilish smile on his face. “Like what you see?”
“Didn’t say that,” I said, crossing my arms and looking away before he could see me blush.
He laughed as we got into the Jeep and sped away. Leo kept his headlights turned off until we had discreetly merged on to the highway, then we whooped and hollered about our “grand escape.” Though we had managed to actually get off the property, I knew it was only a matter of time before they discovered I was missing and came after me.
Leo pulled up to the playground we had been reunited in only hours earlier. Upon seeing it again, memories of all the time we had spent playing there as kids resurfaced, and some of my fear abated. We had so many memories together, Leo and I, almost a lifetime’s worth. And yet despite the comfort the playground brought, my spine was rigid, my shoulders tense as I looked around. “Don’t you think we should keep driving? The Scarlet Guard is supposed to come for me at dawn.”
“Why?” Leo asked, opening up my door.
I made no move to get out, warring with my instinct to just hop in the driver’s seat and peel out. “My mother –” I made a disgusted face “– thinks I could have been infected while I was over there. She wants to test my blood at dawn.” I looked sharply at Leo. “When the Scarlet Guard was interrogating you, did you tell them I had been bitten?”
Leo smiled, looking very smug. “Not a chance. I just told them I’d come here to think, and had run into you. They asked me some more questions, I fed them some more bullshit, and we all went home.” He paused, studying me as I started chewing on my lip, nervous. “Relax. We all know how being turned into a vampire works. They’re just being paranoid.”
When I still didn’t get out of the Jeep, he offered me his hand. “Come on, for old time’s sake. We’ll stay here for a little while, then I’ll drop you back off at the mansion before they ever know you’re gone. Besides, you have nothing to be afraid of. It’s not like you’re actually a vampire.”
I’m glad it was dark, because he definitely would have seen me turn about three shades paler.
Leo finally reached down, taking my hand and looping his fingers through mine as he tugged me out of the Jeep. “Come on, Sloane. You need a break, admit it. I could hear your mother all the way in the other wing.”
“The vampires in the Red Sector probably heard her.”
He chuckled. “She’s got some lungs on her, that’s for sure.”
“Thanks for busting me out,” I blurted.
Leo squeezed my hand, throwing me a sidelong smile. “Don’t mention it. That’s what best friends are for, right?” He turned, looking at me harder this time.
Self-conscious under his gaze, I tried pulling away but he resisted, keeping a firm grip on my hand. His expression turned stony. “You didn’t say you had been bitten. Why didn’t you tell me the truth when I asked if you’d been hurt?”
“Because I wasn’t,” I said, bristling at his accusing tone. “It’s not a big deal, okay?”
Leo
studied me. “I know you, Sloane. Better than you know yourself sometimes. Something’s got you worked up, and I don’t believe for a second it’s just about what happened tonight.”
I clenched my jaw, looking away, but he gently turned my chin back toward him. “What really happened in there?”
I hesitated and took a deep breath. My heart was beating so loud, I could feel it in my head.
“I was captured.”
Leo’s eyes bulged and I thought he might flip out, so I hastily continued. “There are more than Rogues over there, Leo. There are… vampires, like us.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean they can talk and reason. They even look like us.”
“You mean like Dracula?”
“I’m serious!” I said, punching him lightly in the chest. “And that’s not all. I found out they’re creating a super-virus, one meant to wipe out the human race. It’s supposed to be twice as contagious as the bubonic plague.”
“You mean the Black Death, the virus that wiped out two thirds of Europe back in the Dark Ages?”
“The very same, only ten times worse. I saw records of the experiments myself.”
Leo stared at the ground, brooding. I was worried he wouldn’t believe me when he asked, “How did they come up with this weapon?”
I chewed on my lip. “I… found a file on my brother. I think they experimented on his corpse.” It was hard to say, thinking of my brother being poked, prodded, and dissected. “They found something in his blood that allowed them to create the virus. It’s why they wanted me.”
“Your birthmark,” Leo murmured. “That’s how they recognized you.”
I nodded, opting not to mention what I’d learned about the Mark of the Creator. I didn’t even know if I fully believed the history behind it myself. “Please believe me. We have to warn everyone before it’s too late.”
Leo stared at me, seeing the truth in my eyes. He nodded curtly, grabbing my arm. “We should tell the Scarlet Guard immediately.”
I pulled back on his hand, planting my heels in the ground. “I can’t. I have to go back to the Red Sector.”
Leo whirled around. “What? Why?”
“Think about it, Leo.” I took him by the shoulders. “My brother and I am the key. If they found out I was missing, they may spook and launch the attack earlier.”
He shook his head. “I just got you back. No way in hell am I losing you again.”
“We have no choice!”
“Yes, we do!” he shouted, shaking me once. “I thought you were dead, Sloane! I can’t go through that again.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’ll come back.”
“What if you can’t? What if they find out you’ve been gone, huh? What then? What if they kill you?”
I swallowed against the knot in my throat. “Then that’s the chance I’ll have to take.”
But at least you now know about the virus and the other vampires.
Leo shook his head and tried to pull me away again, but I resisted.
“What is it?” He sounded exasperated. “Why are you so eager to go back?”
I looked away. “It’s just…”
“What?”
I took a deep breath, struggling to put what I wanted to say into words. “If I don’t go back, we won’t be the only ones in danger.” My voice became smaller and smaller. “They’re… different. Some of them are, anyway. Almost like…”
Leo gawked at me. “Have you actually grown to care for some of those monsters?”
“They’re not monsters! Some of them are kinder than a lot of the humans I’ve faced.”
“Sloane, listen to me. There’s a condition, where the captive starts sympathizing with the captor. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome.”
“No! It’s not that.” Or was it? I felt so lost, confused by Leo’s accusations. When did I grow to care so much for the vampires? They were supposed to be the enemies, weren’t they? They had taken my life, my freedom.
“Why are you protecting them?” Leo hissed.
Exactly what I was wondering.
My throat had suddenly gone dry. “Rook’s down there, you know,” I whispered.
Leo took a sharp intake of air. “You saw him? Was he a prisoner, too?”
“No.” I shook my head. “He’s…” I bit my lip, my heart thundering in my chest. He’s been turned. Like me.
Should I tell Leo the truth? Hearing the hatred in his voice, I wasn’t sure if that was the smartest idea.
Leo watched me, eyes sharp, as he waited for me to elaborate.
I forced myself to meet his gaze, hoping I could mask the fear struggling to push through my expression. My voice was barely audible when I spoke. “He’s been turned.”
Leo’s eyes widened as a mask of pure horror spread over his face. He swore loudly, and I flinched. “It doesn’t matter then,” he said. “If he’s one of them now, he’s the enemy, pure and simple.”
I blanched. The word “enemy” felt like a knife stabbing straight into my heart. Oh, Leo. There’s so much more I want to tell you.
I resisted the urge to bolt through the woods and down the hole right then and there. “I have to go back,” I said, turning. “I can’t wait around for you to understand.”
Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me to him so forcefully that I had to throw my other hand to his chest to keep from slamming into him. He cupped my cheek in his palm, stroking my face with his thumb as he leaned in, so close I could feel his breath on my lips. My heart leaped to my throat, my face burning, as his eyes locked with mine.
“I can’t lose you again, Sloane,” he whispered, his normally strong voice now raw and strained. “It would destroy me. I… I love you.”
Shock shot through me, and I gasped right before he brought his lips down hard on mine, pressing me close to his chest. I felt the contours of his muscles beneath my fingers, tasted the depth of his emotion with his hungry kisses.
I didn’t think about it. My body responded to his without my mind’s direction, leaning into him, wanting to be closer though we were pressed as tightly together as we could be. I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him back with a fervor matching his own. I felt alive with desire; every fiber of my being tingled with the desperate need to feel an emotion other than guilt, resentment, or fear. More than anything, I just wanted this moment to last forever, to blot out the sorrow of past tragedies.
His mouth drifted from my lips, brushing butterfly kisses down my neck and along my collarbone. I sighed with desire, my blood burning my skin. My mouth tingled as my teeth began to ache, and I felt the scorching need to become part of him.
Leo… my Leo...
I wasn’t sure how it happened. Time slowed as I tucked my head into the crook of his neck, smelling the sweat forming on his skin as his hands tangled in my hair. The perfume of his blood, like honey and chocolate and sugar, drifted up to me, and I moaned, kissing a vein that popped out along his neck.
Leo groaned deep in his throat, and that’s all it took. Without realizing what I was doing, I opened my mouth and bit, feeling his shock as he shuddered beneath me. Blood, warm and sweet, flowed into my mouth, and I drank steadily as Leo at first tried to pull away, then leaned into me, grinding his hips against mine.
Memories of our lives together accompanied his blood, like watching a slideshow: the two of us dressed up for the Homecoming dance (we often went as each other’s dates, completely as friends only); us surrounded by our group of friends at a burger joint, laughing and hanging out after a football game; Leo trying to “pop a wheelie” on his bicycle and failing miserably while I laughed hysterically in the background. Some of the images were foreign. I saw Leo standing beside his father, watching something through a two-way mirror. I followed their gaze, read their fear, as a Rogue leaped for the bars, its fangs bared and eyes glowing like embers.
I awoke from my bloodlust with a jolt, gasping as I ripped my fangs from Leo’s neck and. He sagged, a dreamy
haze covering his eyes, which were slowly clearing as I backed away from him. I covered my mouth as blood – my best friend’s blood – dripped from my lips onto the ground.
Leo blinked a few times, slowly raising a hand to his neck. “What happened?” he asked in a husky voice.
I froze, my wide, terrified eyes watching as he saw the blood smeared across his palm. “What the…” His voice trailed off as the color drained from his face, and he lifted his eyes to mine in disbelief.
“You’re… you’re one of them.”
My breath came in ragged gasps as I shook my head, trembling. “I’m so, so terribly sorry, Leo. I’m so sorry.” I said it over and over again, all the while backing away.
Inside, I was falling apart. No, not Leo. How could I do that to my best friend?
The tips of my fangs raked across my bottom lip, giving me a slight lisp when I spoke. Behind me, a chorus of birds came to life as dawn’s first light colored the sky yellow. I hadn’t realized how long we had been out here.
Slivers of sunlight crested the horizon, and I squinted my eyes against the bright light. Warm rays kissed my face, pleasant at first, then growing uncomfortable as the sun regained its strength with the start of a new day.
What was happening? Why did my skin feel like I had rolled around in poison ivy? Vaguely, I remembered a dinner conversation with Aden: “Vampires can’t handle direct sunlight. You won’t light up like a diamond, but you’ll burst into flames if you’re exposed for too long.”
How long was too long? A minute? A few seconds?
“Sloane?”
I looked up, startled. Leo was standing right in front of me, staring me down. My breath caught as I saw myself reflected in his eyes. My irises weren’t brown – they were blood red, almost on fire as they caught the sun’s light.
The image of the Rogue, with its red hot eyes, tormented me.
You’re a monster, just like it.
I let out a horrified gasp. “Forgive me, Leo.” Then I fled into the woods without looking back.
He shouted my name, a terrible, agonized wail, but I didn’t stop. It only increased my desire to get as far away from him as I could.
I can’t risk hurting him again. Next time, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.
The Scarlet Dagger (The Red Sector Chronicles, #1) Page 21
