It was the only chance they had.
“What are we doing here?” Killean asked as Andre and Simone exited the other side of the car. Killean tracked their every step around the vehicle.
“We’re here to crash a wedding,” Joseph said and rubbed his hands together. “It’s the happiest of occasions, for those who are invited and those who aren’t.”
He waved his hand at the Savages gathering around them with their chained hunters. About half of the Savages held yellow poles with two prongs on the end that looked like giant cattle prods; the others carried dart guns. These must be their other ways of controlling the hunters that Joseph mentioned.
Looking away from the Savages, Killean inspected the fifty or more vehicles in the lot that didn’t belong to the Savages. There could easily be a hundred or more people inside.
“You plan to slaughter an entire wedding celebration?” he asked.
“Yes,” Joseph said. “Or at least I plan for the hunters to slaughter them. We may get a taste, but this is their playground, Killean, and don’t forget it. Everyone here knows not to sample the treats unless I say it’s okay. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” Killean replied. “But there are too many people here. How will you explain all the bodies? I doubt the hunters will make clean kills.”
“Part of the fun is how brutal a starved vampire is.” Joseph sighed and licked his lips. “It’s almost as pleasurable to watch them kill as it is to kill. A tragic fire will explain the massacre. The arsonist blocked all the doors before setting the place ablaze. The police will have to come up with their own suspects and reasons for why no one escaped out the windows.”
Andre stopped beside Joseph and yanked Simone to a halt when she attempted to keep walking. She jerked briefly against the chains before bowing her head. Her fingers picked at her hands in a nervous, jittery movement. Then she lifted her head, and he heard her sniffing at the air from behind the hood. Killean extended his hand for the chain; Andre smirked at him.
“Give him his toy, Andre,” Joseph commanded.
Killean gave Andre a lethal stare, promising death as he took Simone’s chain from him. Blood spilled from the skin she’d pulled back on her hands; the sweet scent of it caused Killean’s nostrils to flare as a new emotion swirled within him, pity. He’d never pitied anyone before. He did not possess compassion for others, but hunter or not, Simone didn’t deserve this, no one did.
“Let’s go,” Joseph said.
Killean almost balked as the last of his morality reared its head. So far, he hadn’t killed anyone who hadn’t at least somewhat deserved it, but the people in this building were innocents. He wouldn’t kill anyone here, but passive or not, he would still be a part of the brutality about to unfold.
He glanced at the thirty plus Savages gathering closer and the twenty-five hunters they’d brought with them tonight. There were far too many for him to try running for it now with Simone. He would have to wait until the bloodlust was on all of them before he could chance an escape.
The only problem was, he didn’t know what he would become once he entered that building and the massacre began.
“Make sure the other doors are blocked, the phone line is cut, and no one has slipped outside for some recreational fun,” Joseph commanded five of the Savages before turning to Killean with a wicked smile. “It won’t do us any good to leave witnesses or to let one of our meals run away.”
“None at all,” Killean murmured in agreement.
“Come, let’s have some fun!”
Chapter Ten
Killean rested his hand on Simone’s elbow, drawing her closer as Joseph led the way through the cars toward the building. Careful to make sure she didn’t accidentally hurt herself, he guided her through the obstacles in their way. Her chains and those of the other captives rattled as they walked while the music played and the crickets chirruped.
He memorized the layout of the building and searched for exits, but he didn’t see any options on this side other than the door and windows. He wouldn’t have a better idea about more exits until they were inside and he could see the design of the structure more clearly. No matter what, all the other doors were being blocked and would be useless, so it would have to be a window or this door they used to escape.
“This place has no security system,” Joseph said as he stepped onto the wheelchair ramp. Killean guided Simone onto the wooden walkway behind Joseph. “I had some of my men check it out a couple of days ago after I saw the couple’s joyful announcement in the newspaper. I did some research online and discovered they have a guest list of over one hundred. People really do share too much about their lives nowadays.”
“They do,” Killean agreed as more silhouettes passed behind the curtains.
The newlywed couple was utterly oblivious that the happiest day of their lives was about to become their last. Life was all so fragile and uncertain, even for an immortal.
A few short weeks ago, he’d been set in his course and sure nothing could derail it. Now he was as far from that course as he could get and marching toward something that, if Simone weren’t here, he would fight to the death to stop. But he’d done all this for her, and he would make sure she never had to bear the guilt of what was about to take place inside. That guilt would reside solely on his shoulders.
“The idea of ruining someone’s most special day was too much for me to resist,” Joseph said.
“I understand,” Killean replied.
Joseph smiled at Killean over his shoulder as he rested his hand on the knob. “I knew you would. And now the party can start,” Joseph said as he pushed open the door.
The annoying twangs of the Chicken Dance had Killean fantasizing about killing the DJ when he stepped inside with Simone. Laughter and music flowed freely around the large, open room. The revelers gathered in the middle of the dance floor stepped back to allow the bride and groom to take center stage when the song changed to something more romantic.
The bride’s dress spun around her as the groom twirled her across the center of the dance floor. Her radiant smile made her glow while the groom beamed down at her. Killean moved stiffly out of the way to let the other Savages file in behind him. He felt torn between the surreal beauty of this moment and the temptation of the thundering beats of the hundred hearts pumping blood through all these veins.
So much blood, so much death, and so much innocence crowded this hall.
He wanted to tear them all apart and feast on them. He longed to scream at them to run and save them all.
The conflicting emotions battering him made it difficult to think. Death and power, he yearned for them with an intensity bordering on madness. But he’d stepped into the realm of lunacy when he walked away from the Alliance and willingly turned himself into a monster.
There is no saving the soul of a demon.
And that’s what he was, a demon. As a vampire born to two vampires, he’d always been closer to the demon DNA that initially spawned the vampire and hunter lines. There was less human in him than a turned vampire, but he’d maintained some of his morality to fight the Savages for centuries.
If there’s no saving the soul of a demon, then why fight it anymore?
His gaze fell on Simone, standing motionlessly at his side. Maybe he couldn’t save himself, but he could and would save her. Keeping his eyes on her, Killean reined in some of his bloodlust, but he couldn’t get his fangs to retract.
He could protect her, but how did he protect the people in this building?
He had no answer for that question.
When more Savages and their captives filed through the door behind him, they finally drew the attention of a couple of men standing near the edge of the dance floor. In short-sleeved dress shirts and slacks, two of the men wore loosened ties while the third had no tie and the top buttons of his shirt undone. Flushed with exertion and booze, their faces were red beneath the white lights encircling the wooden beams running across the cathedral ceiling of the
hall.
The three men stood with their mouths gaping as they took in the spectacle of a group of men and women holding the chains of others in hoods. Then the tieless one nudged the others and said something to them.
“What about cell phones?” Killean whispered to Joseph. “They can easily call the police.”
“There’s not much cell service in this area, but we’ve jammed it just in case. They’re not calling anyone.”
Which meant Killean wasn’t either. Not like there was anyone he could call. With no idea where they were, he couldn’t give an address to Ronan, and calling the police would only bring more victims to the party.
Killean quickly took in his surroundings. There were over a dozen windows in the place; the ones behind him, six across the way, and more behind the bar that was to the left of the dance floor. The DJ had his equipment set up on a small stage at the far end of the hall, opposite the bar.
The three men shook themselves out of their stupor and started toward them. One of them pulled out his phone, but he didn’t dial anything, probably because he was reluctant to draw the police to his friend’s wedding.
Run you idiots, Killean thought as the men stopped before them.
“I’m sorry; this is a… uh… it’s a private party,” the tieless guy said as he stared at the hooded figures.
“Is it now?” Joseph purred.
One of the men took a small step back when the door closed behind the last Savage. Killean gazed over the crowd of vampire heads; most of them were in the building. A few remained outside, either looking for stragglers or keeping watch.
The three guys glanced nervously over the group, and the one with the cell punched a number into it. He lifted the device to his ear, frowned, and pulled it away to stare at the screen. When the men first approached, their eyes held the glassy sheen of alcohol, but now the fog was clearing as apprehension etched their features. The man with the phone hit some buttons again, held it to his ear, and paled before lowering it.
Killean refrained from shouting at them to bust out the windows and flee as Joseph turned toward him and handed out a key. “You’ll need this.”
He forgot about the humans as the key to Simone’s freedom was slipped into his hand.
“It’s time for you to go,” the tieless guy said, but he didn’t sound as confident.
“We don’t plan to stay long,” Joseph assured him, and the men exchanged a look.
Glancing over his shoulder, Joseph’s eyes met Killean’s before going to the other Savages.
“Turn them loose,” Joseph commanded.
Before Killean could react, the hoods were removed, the chains unlocked, and the gags untied. Twenty-four of the twenty-five hunters sprang forth. The three men didn’t have time to shout a warning before some of the starving hunters pounced on them. Inhuman snarls filled the air as muscle crunched beneath fangs and the men released garbled cries. With the humans to distract them, the hunters didn’t turn on their captors but ran toward the people surrounding the dance floor and the bar to the left of it.
The music was so loud the celebrators didn’t become aware something was wrong until three of the hunters launched onto the back of a woman standing near the dance floor. They tore at her flesh as they dragged her beneath them.
The woman’s screams were drowned out by the music, but those closest to her staggered away from the blood spilling across the floor as the monsters bit at her arms and neck. The scent of blood permeating the room grew stronger than the alcohol and sweat that greeted them when they entered.
Simone twitched and whimpered beside him; her fingers flexed as fresh blood slid from the skin she’d torn from her hands. Her hunger beating against him only enflamed his until he felt as crazed as the Mad Hatter.
“Turn her loose, Killean.”
So caught up in the massacre, and his growing thirst, Killean had forgotten about Joseph and the other Savages. When his gaze focused on Joseph, he saw the suspicion in the other’s eyes while they surveyed him and Simone.
You have to let her go. But if he did, he’d never be able to save her.
Against his back, the heat of the other Savages pressed closer when he didn’t immediately react to Joseph’s command. Humans ran for a door marked stairs and another one behind the bar. Their shouts grew louder as they banged on both of the blocked doors. Some of them were so panicked, they ran for the door behind Killean, but the Savages blocked their exit.
Someone bashed a chair into one of the six windows lining the wall across from him. Glass shattered, but before the man could leap out, a hunter tackled him around his legs and brought him down on the broken shards. The scent of the man’s blood spilling across the glass sent the hunter into a frenzy, and instead of using his fangs to feed, he tore at the man until he was licking the blood off his drenched hands.
The DJ fled, but dance music continued to blast from the speakers as the man bolted for a door behind his equipment. The Savages took him down before he could make it to the exit.
The blood, the killing, the screams, and pulsating music were combining until Killean’s thoughts centered on one thing…
Death.
He set Simone free.
Chapter Eleven
Scents and sounds bombarded Simone from every direction, but the blood… oh, the blood. It was so tempting, and it was everywhere. The screams matched the beat of her heart as movement came from every direction. She didn’t know where to go or what to do first as her head bounced back and forth.
She didn’t see people, all she saw was an end to the fire scorching her veins. She wanted to sink her fangs into everything.
She didn’t realize she was running until her feet skidded out from under her and her ass hit the floor with a thump. Her breath exploded out of her and her teeth clacked together; she stared dazedly at the red coating the floor and her.
Then the scent of all that red hit her. Saliva pooled in her mouth, and strange sounds issued from her as she realized she’d fallen in a puddle of blood. Unable to stop herself, she brought her hands to her face and started licking the blood from her palms.
A shiver of delight raced down her spine when the delicious, warm taste of it hit her tongue and slid down her throat. She licked faster and faster, cleaning the blood from her skin as she turned her palms before her. Finally, she was getting the chance to feed, but the blood wasn’t enough to ease the hunger shredding her insides.
Dropping her hands, her gaze locked on a man when he fell in front of her. His chin banged off the floor and blood spurted from his broken flesh. Mine! Eat. Feed. Ease. STARVING!
Killean couldn’t tear his eyes away from Simone as she crawled through the blood toward the man two of her fellow hunters had taken down. If she kills him, all of this will have been for nothing.
“When do we feed?” one of the Savages asked Joseph.
Joseph’s gaze flicked to the Savage, and his eyes deepened to a ruby color. “When I say you can,” he sneered. “These people are for the hunters, and it still might not be enough to turn them. The hunters are stronger and resist becoming one of us more than most after they feed. Many of the other captured hunters were starved and set free to kill more than once before they finally broke.”
Killean realized Joseph was talking to him when he felt the man’s stare boring into the side of his head. He forced his gaze away from Simone. “Interesting,” he murmured to Joseph, but not at all surprising. Since their creation, hunters had killed vampires; they would not easily succumb to the manipulations of these Savages no matter how much torture they endured.
“But they all eventually broke, and they’re so worth it when they finally succumb,” Joseph murmured as he surveyed the slaughter with obvious glee. “They’re so much more powerful than a normal vampire turned Savage. Of course, they’re not as strong as us purebreds, but they’re still magnificent to watch.”
Killean had seen the power of a turned hunter in Kadence and Nathan after they transitioned. Would Si
mone and the other hunters possess special abilities like Kadence and Nathan? Or were the twins unique?
And he would not call these hunters magnificent to watch. This was the worst of vampire nature, and it disgusted him how badly he wanted to take part in it.
He focused on Simone as he tried to calm his tumultuous emotions. She reached for the man who had fallen before her, lifted his arm, and sank her fangs into it.
No! The denial screaming through him was not only because he didn’t want her to kill, but also because seeing her feed on a man twisted his insides into a ball. She’s mine!
It was supposed to be his blood she drank, not some stranger’s.
Killean didn’t stop to think how irrational his thoughts were considering he planned to free her from here, return her to her people, and never see her again.
Joseph gestured some of the Savages forward. “Stop any humans from escaping out the windows, but no sampling,” he ordered. “Anyone who takes even a nibble will be destroyed.”
The Savages spread out through the room as more humans broke out windows, but those people were brought down by hunters or pushed back by Savages. The groom had backed the bride into a corner behind the bar and was using a stool to bash at the hunters closing in on them. On his next swing, a hunter ripped the stool from him and tossed it aside.
Joseph was focused on watching the Savages pushing and pulling the terrified humans back into the room. He smiled cruelly when one of his flunkies couldn’t resist sinking his fangs into the throat of a young woman in a fluffy pink dress.
“Now, it’s time for me to play,” Joseph said and glided across the room toward the Savage.
Bound by Darkness: The Alliance Series, Book 3 Page 7
