by Michelle Fox
I had to face reality: Kristos was gone.
Oh God.
I balled up the newspaper and threw it as hard as I could. “Damn it.” The tears kept pouring out, a silent procession of pain. I scrubbed at my eyes with my fists trying to stuff it all back in. This was not the time to fall apart. Not if I wanted to survive.
I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as I considered my options. Mostly I didn’t have any so long as I was kept tied up and so long as my nightmare of a father was alive. I would never be free until he was dead.
But how to kill him with my hands tied?
I still had my dagger. Somehow they’d missed it not once but twice now. I had some slack in the chains around my wrists, but I didn’t have the strength of a vampire. I’d gotten lucky with Ivan, managing to find a weak spot that I could use to distract him.
But my father didn’t want my body, he just wanted my eggs. Probably the last thing he would want to do is knock me up with old-fashioned sex, it would ruin his plans. So that meant seduction was out. To boot, I had a feeling the rest of me was disposable and if I wasn’t careful I would outlive my usefulness once his little baby army had launched.
Once I was used up, what would he do with me? Make me a vampire? My gut said he wouldn’t want that. Yeah, I might be under his control for however long, but I would fight him tooth and nail. My escape earlier was just a hint of the hell I would raise and I doubted he’d missed that fact. Not much incentive for him to make me stronger and faster.
With those thoughts swirling around in my head, I drifted into a light sleep, the exhaustion of the night’s events finally catching up to me.
Chapter Sixteen
Much later, I woke with a start when a heavy hand covered my mouth. Instantly my eyes went wide and I flailed, my hands trying to peel the fingers off my mouth. They were as strong as iron and immovable, which meant only one thing; Vampire.
“Myra, shh,” came a familiar voice. “It’s me.” The hand lifted and my mouth was free.
Blinking I stared at a wishful dream. He couldn’t be real. Kristos was dead. There was no way he could be standing there, but I reached a hand out anyway and touched him. He was solid as a wall.
“Kristos, is it really you?” I whispered.
He nodded.
He looked tired, I noted. His skin was even paler than usual as if he hadn’t fed in a long time, but his eyes brimmed with their usual vampire Jedi mind tricks. Once again, I felt as if I was in a free fall; my body moving up, my stomach dropping down like a roller coaster hitting the crest of a hill just before it hurtled back down to earth.
“I thought you were dead. I couldn’t feel you.” I ran a hand along his shoulder, my eyes wide with wonder.
“My death was staged. I had plans to do the same for you, but then the car accident...” He trailed off and made a helpless gesture with his hands. “As for our blood bond, the bedrock is like static. It provides enough interference to make it hard to track anyone, let alone tell if they’re alive. I’ve been searching for you since you were taken and didn’t feel you until last night.”
I nodded. “I tried to escape. I made it to street level before Devon caught me.” For whatever reason the bedrock hadn’t interfered with Devon’s signal. Maybe linked DNA made for a stronger bond.
“Has he fed from you?” Kristos reached out and tilted my chin up examining my neck.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good.” He reached up and ripped the metal ring out of the wall as if it was a knife cutting soft butter. “Let’s go.”
I balked. “No.”
My resistance surprised him. “If we don’t go now, I’m not sure we’ll get out. It’s almost dusk, Myra.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand. The rules are different between us. He doesn’t have to take blood from me to bind me. I am his blood. He’ll find me wherever we run.”
He blinked as he considered my words. With a decisive nod, he said, “You’re right. You may not be a vampire, but you have enough of his blood to be bound to him.”
I looked up at Kristos. “We have to kill him or I’ll never be safe.”
“Do you know where he sleeps during the day?” Kristos went to a window in the trailer and pulled aside the shade to peer out into the underground cavern. “We have to find him before he wakes. He’s stronger than me.”
I shrugged. “He has to be here somewhere. He’s spent too much time building this to not sleep here. Besides he won’t want to be far from me, especially after I almost got away.” Struck by the memory of how my bond with Kristos had been a two-way connection, I said, “Wait a second. Let me try something.” I closed my eyes and searched for the link between my father and me. It didn’t come as naturally to me as the bond with Kristos, but I did find it. I had to think of how much he creeped me out, how afraid I was of him to bring it to life. The bond throbbed within me like an unwanted blood blister and the sensation made me wince.
Raising a hand, I pointed. “He’s out there. I think I can find him.”
Lacking a key and, apparently, the strength to break steel, Kristos draped the chains around my neck and we left the trailer. The underground cavern appeared to be deserted, although I knew better. There had to be other vampires down here, the stillness just meant they weren’t awake yet. The sun kept them at bay for the moment, but night would be here soon. Too soon for me to dawdle. Breathing in the damp, subterranean air, I closed my eyes and held my hand out like a dowsing rod.
Following the pull of the invisible strand linking me to my father, I led Kristos to a dark corner of the underground hide-out. There was no trailer here, but a small shed, the kind people used to store lawnmowers. Given the lack of grass underground, I didn’t doubt its true purpose was more nefarious. I tried to open the door, but found it locked.
Kristos motioned for me to step aside and simply tore the door of its hinges. Inside, my father lay on a small bed, hands folded neatly over his chest as if he was ready for his funeral. I pulled the dagger out of its sheath and made to step inside, but Kristos held me back.
“Let me do it, I’m faster and stronger.”
I wanted to protest, but he was right so I handed over the dagger.
Kristos did the blurry run thing vampires do when they move faster than the human eye can track them. In less than a second, before my heart could even finish a full beat, the dagger was thrust into my father’s brain.
He shuddered as the holy water melted his central nervous system but, to my immense relief, didn’t wake. Kristos removed the dagger and used it to hack at his neck same as I had done to Ivan, except being stronger, it only took him about thirty seconds.
I watched my father’s head roll off the bed and thud to the ground with a sense of both horror and satisfaction. It was done. He was dead. I didn’t have a father once again, only this time I was happy about it.
“This is too easy,” I whispered to myself unable to believe this nightmare was over. I looked over my shoulder half expecting to see Devon there, a mocking smile twisting his lips, but the cavern yawned behind me, empty and silent.
Kristos wiped the dagger clean and handed it back to me. “The old ones think they are invincible and that leads to mistakes. I would have never been so exposed in my sleep, but Devon probably believed he was untouchable.”
Clumsy from the press of the chains on my shoulders, I pulled out the flask of holy water and worked to refill the dagger. “He really thought you were dead and that no one was coming after me.”
Kristos shrugged. “That was his first mistake. I am not an old one, but I’ve survived longer than most. Devon underestimated me.” He paused to reach out and take the dagger from me, holding it for me while I put the lid back on the flask of holy water. “His second mistake was forgetting I could walk during the day.”
“Thank God for mistakes,” I murmured tucking the flask into the small of my back and holding my hand out for the dagger. I quickly sheathed the weapon and the
n eased the chains off my shoulders, letting them fall to the ground. Their weight made my neck ache. “By the way, I think the key for these might be in his pocket.”
He nodded and went to look. I watched as he rummaged through the dead vampire’s pockets, grateful that I couldn’t see much gore from my current viewpoint. My stomach was not as delicate about vampire decapitation anymore, but I didn’t want to provoke it.
A second later Kristos pulled the key from Devon’s pocket and quickly unlocked the chains, which fell off my wrists and hit the ground with a sharp clang. Together, we turned to leave the shed and then froze as we heard a voice call out, “Devon?”
Kristos looked at me, concern in his eyes. “It’s dusk.”
Which meant we weren’t alone and this wasn’t over yet.
“What do we do?” I whispered.
“Run.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me after him.
We skirted the shadows around the perimeter of the cavern, aiming for the opening that would take us into the maze of underground tunnels. Before we could slip away into darkness, someone found my father’s remains and the alarm went out. The place was crawling with people now. Judging by the smooth fluidity and speed of their movements, they were probably all vampires, way more than I’d ever seen before. Devon must have called them in as backup while I was stuck in the trailer.
I looked at Kristos with wide eyes and he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t panic, no one’s seen us yet.”
Just as he finished saying that, a cry went out. We’d been spotted. Franklin, the vampire who’d been with Devon when he first captured me, zoomed over to us, his face a feral mask of fanged anger. He wrapped his hands around my throat and tried to drag me away with him. I twisted in his grasp, hoping this would be the one time I managed to overcome vampire super strength. Sadly, I didn’t break free and instead hit my head against a piece of jagged stone sticking out of the wall.
Stars exploded behind my eyelids and I just stood there blinking stupidly while Kristos kicked the vampire in the stomach with enough force that he had to let me go or lose his balance. Of course, that didn’t stop him for long and he came right back at me. Kristos stepped between us and smashed his fist into Franklin’s nose.
Snatching up my hand again, Kristos took off dragging me behind him. My brain was still too scrambled to process everything that had happened let alone keep up with the pace Kristos had set. I stumbled and fell, gravel biting into the palm of my hand.
Kristos muttered a swear word under his breath and scooped me up like a helpless baby. Cradling me in his arms, he did his best to run, but there was no denying I slowed him down. Franklin not only caught up to us, but passed us by and turned around to face us head on.
Kristos slowed down. “Devon’s gone, let us go.”
Franklin sneered. “Devon may be dead, but his plan is very much alive. I’m not letting her go. Not until she fulfills her purpose.”
He rushed Kristos, forcing him to drop me. I hit the ground, crying out as my spine slammed into hard rock. My head took another hit too and felt like a bruised melon. Kristos and Franklin fought like a UFC match on fast forward. Everything was a blur of violence that moved too fast for me to see it properly.
Kristos smashed Franklin’s head against the wall. I blinked and they were rolling on the ground. Their fighting stirred up dust and spit out rocks as they scuffled in the dirt. The other vampires had spotted us now and circled around, advancing on me.
I pushed myself into a sitting position and crab walked back to the wall so there was something solid at my back. Brandishing the dagger, I said, “Stay back.”
A tall, lean vampire wearing a black motorcycle jacket advanced on me. “You think a knife will stop us?”
“It stopped Devon, didn’t it?” I flashed a smile meant to show I wasn’t afraid. “Did you want to follow in his footsteps?”
He paused mid-step, gaze searching my face as if he wasn’t sure of the truth. I averted my eyes to avoid being captured and caught sight of another vampire sidling up to me from the opposite direction. They weren’t the only ones either. I was outnumbered easily twelve to one.
Shit.
“Kristos,” I called out. “You might want to finish up.”
Kristos paused for a second, his arm wrapped around Franklin in a headlock and took in my predicament. He gave a curt nod and tore Franklin’s head off. Then he whirled around and ran off...away from me.
“Kristos,” I screamed. What the hell was he doing? He hadn’t stood by me this long to abandon me to my fate now.
The other vampires laughed, pleased to see that my sole protector had disappeared. They started to close in on me faster. My heart pounded in my chest and my breathing quickened. This was the end. There was no more escape.
One of them leaped for me and even though the guy was a blur of super speed, I managed to lodge the dagger into the vampire’s belly before he laid a hand on me. Apparently it didn’t bother him much because he just smiled, but then I pressed the button, flooding his gut with holy water. That got his attention and he fell to the ground, screaming.
“Who’s next?” I asked, my voice full of fake bravado. I’d managed to refill the dagger after we’d killed Devon, but there was no way I had enough holy water to take on everyone. I was in a fight I couldn’t win. Maybe that was why Kristos had run off, although I couldn’t believe he would desert me after everything we’d been through.
The remaining vamps all looked at each other, uneasy, but I was too tempting a morsel and they came closer yet. A female vampire with blond buzz cut hair reached for me next. I batted her hand away with the dagger, and when she was close enough, I gasped as I recognized her. “Samira?”
She snickered. “I thought maybe you had forgotten about me.”
“Was my Dad your master?” I asked curious to know if that’s who’d been pulling her puppet strings.
“No,” came the short reply and then she lunged for me.
I jumped back and managed to sink the dagger into her eye as it widened in surprise. There was a popping sensation as the blade broke through her eyeball to the soft brain beneath. With a certain amount of satisfaction I hit the holy water button. “Pay back’s a bitch,” I said remembering how she’d kidnapped my mother and then tried to take me.
Samira was too far gone to say anything. She began to twitch as her nerves melted. Losing control of her body, she fell back, her face a twisted mask of pain. Sagging to the ground, she flailed there like a turtle flipped on its back.
The other vampires hesitated now. They had me cornered and were stronger and faster than me, there was no denying that, but how to catch me without risking a hit had them stumped. Lucky for me, I don’t think any of them knew I was out of holy water. My little moment of revenge had led me to hold the button down longer than necessary, giving Samira an extra big dose. If I had more than a teaspoon left, it would be a true miracle.
A motorcycle sputtered in the distance, the sound causing the vampires to look at each other in confusion. The tunnels under New York were not a place anyone expected a biker rally. We all turned to look toward its source as it roared louder and louder. Kristos zoomed into Devon’s lair on a sleek black motorcycle and turned toward us. Raising one hand, he aimed a gun at the vampires surrounding me and began to shoot with unerring accuracy.
Pop-pop-pop. Heads exploded around me, bursting like bloody fruit.
I cowered on the ground not wanting to sustain collateral damage, which always seemed to be my specialty in these situations. The motorcycle came to a stop in front of me, purring like an angry lion.
“Get on,” Kristos shouted.
I nodded and started to clamber onto the bike behind him. Just as I was about to settle into the seat rough hands grabbed me and yanked me back.
I screamed and thrashed, trying to break free, but the grip was strong as steel. A gun muzzle pressed against the side of my head.
“Be still,” barked an angry voice in my ea
r.
I froze, as did Kristos.
“You’re not the only one with a gun, Kristos,” said the vampire who held me. “You have to shoot her to get to me. Doesn’t sound like a good plan.”
“Let her go and I’ll let you live,” said Kristos his voice dark and tight. His eyes never left mine and I felt him stir inside my head.
“Go away and I’ll let you live,” countered the vampire.
“What are you going to do with her?”
The vampire squeezed me. “That’s none of your business, but I’m sure you can imagine. A child of The Maker would make a good bride.”
“I’ll kill you the first chance I get,” I hissed.
That made my captor laugh. “You can try, little girl. I’ll enjoy punishing you for your transgressions. Or maybe I’ll just keep you naked and tied up for my convenience. Or perhaps I’ll whore you out to the highest bidder.”
I closed my eyes and shuddered. If that was the future that awaited me, let me die here and now. I opened my eyes and stared hard into Kristos’ as I mouthed the words ‘do it.’
Next thing I knew, Kristos had stormed into my head with his gaze. The invasion hurt and I gasped, but quickly realized he was giving me instructions. He wanted me to lean to the side to try and give him a clear shot. It was going to be Arlo all over again. I lunged against the arms holding me, hoping just this once to be strong enough to take on a vampire. The vampire’s grip on me loosened a fraction and I shifted maybe a half inch in the direction Kristos had wanted me to go.
That must’ve been all Kristos needed as he took the shot. Suddenly I was free and running to leap onto the back of the bike. I didn’t look back to see what had happened to the vampire, but I knew he wasn’t incapacitated when a bullet ripped across my side.
I screamed and arched back as another bullet grazed my temple. Tightening my arms around Kristos, I shouted, “Go, go.”
He hit the gas and the motorcycle bucked between our legs as it shot forward. I prayed we were faster than a vampire on foot. Prayed this nightmare would end before I died. I was losing blood. It oozed through my shirt wetting my skin so that the breeze felt cold.
