by Michelle Fox
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 worked to refill the dagger with holy water. “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 then eased the chains off my shoulders and let them fall into the dirt. 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 vampires now, way more than I’d ever seen before. Devon must have called them in as back up 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 suit vampire, 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 slammed 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, he 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 head lock 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. These vampires weren’t out to make babies like my father had been. No they were out for blood and I doubted I would survive their thirst.
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 stumpe
d. 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 of the holy water. If I had more than 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 ear.
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 seared 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.
“I’m hit,” I yelled.
Kristos nodded that he heard me and made the bike go even faster. We were in the tunnels now and I couldn’t see anything in the dark. My arms began to shake along with the rest of me as the injuries I’d sustained took their toll. I was losing my strength with my blood and pain wracked my body.
“We have to stop,” I said, but I couldn’t make my voice loud enough to be heard. Closing my eyes, I pushed myself into the bond hoping to get his attention that way.
“It’s not safe yet. Hang on,” he said over his shoulder. He moved but I couldn’t see what he was doing. It felt like he was searching his pockets for something. Then I saw a little red light in his hand. He was holding something. As I watched, the light went from red to green and a loud boom sounded behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see a strange lightning flash underground.
Kristos took a hard right just as a ball of flame rolled down the tunnel after us. Its heat licked at my back. I cowered against him. It took everything in me not to lose my hold on him and fall off the bike, bouncing into the darkness.
The ground beneath us changed, rising up instead of being flat and a moment later we flew out of an access tunnel into the night. I sagged against Kristos as he brought the bike to a stop.
“What was that?” I looked back into the tunnel, expecting to see flames, but there was only quiet darkness. You would never guess there’d been a baby factory in process down there somewhere. Or that it had just all gone kablooey.
“There were propane tanks. I rigged a bomb.” He turned off the bike and put down the kickstand.
“Oh. So is that where you went?” Kristos never ceased to amaze me. He always had a plan. Too bad this last one didn’t look like it would work out so well for me.
“Yes.” He swung his leg off the bike and started to examine my injuries.
“I thought you left me.” I tried to get off the bike too, but instead of standing, I sank down to the ground. I couldn’t feel my legs so much anymore and more blood gushed out of the wound in my back.
“I took a risk. We were outnumbered and needed to change the game. I would never leave you, Myra. I thought I was fast enough.” A grimace of regret flashed across his face.
“You were fast enough, but I think I might be leaving you anyway,” I said dully. I wasn’t a doctor, but even I knew it wasn’t good that my limbs had gone numb. My vision was cloudy as well, full of dark spots that only allowed me a partial view of Kristos. He was so damn handsome it made my heart ache.
“No, Myra, not yet,” he said gently helping me stand.
But he didn’t have any say in the matter. A strange, weary heaviness filled me and I felt my heart stutter in my chest. There wasn’t much time now. “I’m sorry, Kristos.” I put a hand on his cheek wanting to touch him one last time. He’d worked so hard to save me and I was going to die anyway. “I’ll miss you.”
He gently lowered me to the ground. “Hush. It’s all right.”
I wanted to ask him how. I was about to die the kind of death no one woke up from. There was no going back now. “I should’ve changed a long time ago,” I managed to gasp out. “I was afraid. I didn’t know what I wanted.”
Kristos put a finger to my lips. “I know. I’m sorry it turned out this way.”
“Me too.” Breathing hurt now, forcing me to take smaller and smaller breaths. My eyes drifted shut despite my efforts to keep them open. I could feel the darkness opening up and preparing to swallow me. I thought of my mom with a pang. Would she be okay without me?
“My mom,” I whispered.
“I’ll see to her,” Kristos said.
I couldn’t see him anymore even though I managed to open my eyes. There was just darkness now, nothing else, but his hand squeezed mine. I was alive, barely, but still there and he was with me. That made it better.
Then the dark washed over me in an unstoppable wave, sweeping me out into oblivion as it passed. I knew nothing more.
Chapter Seventeen
I was rocking. A soft, lulling motion that jostled me into consciousness. I tried to open my eyes, but it was too hard. I gave up and retreated into nothingness. The rocking brought me back, but I couldn’t break through the heaviness holding me down to fully awaken.
Time passed. Somehow I knew that. There were sounds now with the rocking. Jazzy music. Doors opening and closing. A ticking sound that I found irritating.
A hand touched me, squeezing my shoulder gently.
I groaned.
“Sleep,” wh
ispered a voice that instantly reassured me. I obediently drifted off, dreamless except for disconnected flashes of Kristos bent over me, concern on his face. In one of them I felt his fangs pierce my neck followed by the draw of him sucking my blood and it seemed I could hear him calling my name over and over. Whether they were memories or hallucinations, I couldn’t say. I didn’t have the energy to fret about it either. All I could do was drift, lost in myself.
The next time I woke, I was cuddled around someone. My eyes opened this time. Before they snapped closed again, I caught sight of a car with tinted windows. Outside it was dusk.
Something wet and warm pressed against my mouth. “Drink,” came the soft command.
I drank, hesitant sips at first which soon gave way to giant greedy gulps. Blood filled my mouth, rousing my hunger. The need to eat roared to life with a ferocity that would’ve frightened me if I hadn’t been in a stupor. It tasted so good, I moaned as I drank.
“Enough. Sleep.”
I whimpered in protest and fell asleep again.
“Myra, wake.” The deep voice rushed my ears and shivered through my body.
I woke fully this time and sat up. We were still in the car, racing down an unknown highway. It was dusk again or maybe still, I couldn’t tell. Outside, palm trees and ocean streamed by in a surreal vacation landscape.
I looked to the man who had spoken. He looked calm and composed as ever. “Kristos?” My voice was slurred. My mouth felt funny, like I’d had a dozen root canals back-to-back.
“Yes.” He pulled me against his chest as I began to slump, weak as a newborn kitten.
“What happened?”
“You died.” He kissed the top of my head. “And now you live again.”
I was silent for several long minutes. “You changed me.” The little flashes I’d seen in my dreams must have been memories then.
I felt his nod. “Yes.”
“Is it over now?” I tensed afraid he would say no.
