Weaken the Knees (The Immortal World Book 6)

by Shannon A. Hiner

  No outward sign of a vampire among them. The group was larger than Will expected to find. He’d thought the ones who’d carried Rene off had been no more than five, and the group had split. But following that western route had led their group directly to this camp’s nonexistent doorstep.

  Can you feel her? Serena sidled up next to him, her light feet making no sound.

  He shook his head slowly, still scanning the camp carefully. That doesn’t mean she isn’t here.

  Wade’s mind spoke to him from a few feet back. No offense, Will. But she probably wouldn’t answer you.

  He used to think he liked Wade. He quelled the urge to turn around and snarl. The temptation lingered in his throat however, and he didn’t dare breathe or even speak for a moment.

  Serena’s small hand touched his arm. When he glanced at her, she smiled and looked back at the camp. She was Sending now, throwing out mental feelers for Rene. If the other vampire was in the camp and conscious, she would certainly answer her best friend. After a moment Serena frowned. Turning troubled eyes on him, she shook her head.

  Wade’s movements weren’t as silent as Serena’s, but he managed to come up next to them without alerting the occupants of the camp. Still, William winced at the crackling twigs.

  They’ll think it’s deer or a rabbit. Don’t worry. Wade’s eyes took in the camp from his new vantage point. What are you thinking? Got a plan?

  Will’s jaw ticked.

  That’s a no. Wade sighed mentally, the feeling of it wafting through their minds like a summer breeze.

  We need to be sure she isn’t here. Will nodded a head back to their other companions. Think they’re up for a fight?

  Wade shrugged. I don’t think any of us would mind a little payback.

  Five minutes later, they flowed out of the trees like shadows until they each stood before a tent, simultaneously ripping the canvas from its moorings. The wolves woke within seconds. Some on four legs already, others transforming rapidly. Their snarling and snapping maws filled the camp and woke those whose tents hadn’t been torn into. Will hadn’t attacked a tent; he was moving through the camp swift and silent, searching for any sign of Rene.

  Only one tent remained untouched after the first minute. It drew Will’s eye like the sparkle of diamond among coal. He moved toward it, avoiding the rest of the fight. He wanted revenge as much as the others, but he wanted her more.

  When he was a few feet from the tent, the front flap was nosed open by a dark reddish brown wolf. It didn’t notice him at first as Will slowed and sidled closer to the side. The wolf watched the fight with slowly widening eyes. Its hackles rose and Will expected to see it join the fight. Strangely it shrank back, eyes trying to follow the rapid flow of the vampires’ movements.

  He knew the moment it smelled him. It startled, jumping to the side and causing a tent stake to come up and half the tent to collapse. Dark gray eyes, reflecting green in the heavy moonlight, darted to Will’s face.

  “Where do you keep your prisoners, wolf?” Will demanded. “Tell me and I will leave without destroying you.”

  The wolf teetered. Will felt like he could almost hear the mental argument the thing was having with itself. Fight? Or run?

  Run.

  It took off in the opposite direction like a bullet. Will tore open the tent and found it empty. Rene wasn’t in the camp.

  But that wolf. That wolf had acted so strangely, almost guilty. And it was running away. Where might it lead him?

  All this filtered through Will’s head in approximately two seconds. Two seconds for the wolf to get a head start. He was already thirty yards off. Will hissed under his breath and took off after the canine.

  They flew through the forest. Dodging low branches, fallen trees, gangly shrubs, and surprise boulders. Will kept hot on his trail. He was closing the space between them. The wolf didn’t seem to realize it at first, running with abandon, but he must have caught another whiff of vampire. His dark red ears tilted back briefly and suddenly he put on more speed.

  Damn, but he was fast.

  Will might never have caught him, except the wolf stumbled suddenly and went tail over teakettle, rolling a dozen feet and laying stunned and bruised in a heap. He was on the wolf inside of one of the canine’s rapid heartbeats, lifting the dazed beast and slamming it back against the side of a house. A house? How far had they run to be near civilization again?

  “Wolf,” he snarled. “Where have you taken her?”

  The canine whined, struggling against his grip. Will needed to find a way to make it turn back into a human. How badly would he need to injure it?

  His hand tightened around its throat. Something shot at him from the left. A few hundred pounds slammed into him with incredible momentum and sent him, and whatever was attacking him, into the side of a house.

  The wall caved under their combined momentum. Will and his attacker crashed through the house and into someone’s living room. On his feet in less than a second, Will thought he’d moved fast enough, but the giant fur ball was already on him again. Flashing white canines and eyes like ice shards flew far too close to his face for comfort. He grabbed the creature around the neck and held it back from him, tossing it with all his strength up through the roof.

  He jumped up through the hole in the roof to follow the beast, and found the damned thing waiting for him. It was fast, and clearly more experienced at fighting vampires than the other one. Will dodged the wolf’s next attack. Barely. Damn, this was going nowhere. What a waste. These wolves probably weren’t even involved in the attack on Abandon. They didn’t smell familiar at all. He dropped back through the new hole in the roof and ran across the house.

  The wolf followed, crashing into furniture, snapping at Will’s heels. Ridiculous. He turned on the wolf, trying to grab it again. The thing was too fast.

  He didn’t have time for this game. Throwing one last snarl at the canine he disappeared, shimmering back to the forest outside the camp. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been away, but the other vampires were gone now, the remaining wolves were in human form, attempting to pick up their scattered lives.

  Fists clenching at his sides, Will tamped down the unexpected guilt at the sight. The werewolves attacked first, killed how many vampires in Abandon? They deserved everything they got back and more.

  A whisper shot through the forest. His name.

  He turned to follow it and saw Serena about two hundred yards away, barely visible through the trees. She beckoned to him urgently. Will gave the werewolf camp one more glance over. Rene wasn’t there, he knew that. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that these wolves could lead him to her. Grinding his teeth together, he shimmered from his spot on the edge of the forest to where Serena stood.

  “Are you all right?” She glanced him over, noting the bits of drywall and insulation sticking to his clothes.

  “Fine. Everyone else?”

  “A couple of us are a little banged up, but nothing irreparable. Wade’s not happy.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  “He’s pulling rank. Says it’s time to go to Hadrian.”

  “Serena, she might not be here, but don’t you think these wolves could lead us to her?”

  She shook her head. “You know wolves aren’t like us, Will. The packs don’t interact much. That’s why we’ve always been stronger, we band together. They probably have never even met the pack that attacked Abandon.”

  “You want to give up too.”

  “No, I want to change tactics.” She obviously saw the annoyed looked he didn’t try to hide. “It’s been days, the trail is cold. We need a new plan.”

  “I want to talk to Wade first.”

  “He’s not going to like it.”

  “I couldn’t care less.”

  Chapter 20

  The burn on her ankle still ached, but it was only a reddened scar now. Still, weakness made Rene’s movements slow, measured. Energy had to be allotted in advance. She saved it for when the werewolves
appeared at her cell door. Days and nights passed where she saw no one and nothing. They let her go four days in between meals. Unbearable. Yet, what choice did she have? After the first dying human had been delivered and disposed of she thought she might be strong enough to shimmer.

  Indeed, her form had wavered, causing the air to ripple and shudder in just the right way, but she couldn’t get any lift off. Her mind went back to the Catacombs of Genocide. To the deposit of rock the prison was built into. The densest material on Earth. Vampires couldn’t shimmer through it. What they’d thought to be a form of magic turned out to be nothing more than a physiological ability. An ability with limits.

  If there was one thing Rene despised, it was being limited.

  And underfed.

  And exposed to sunlight.

  Okay, obviously she hated a lot more than just one thing. God, she couldn’t even choose what she hated most. Being weak. The common denominator of all those conditions. She despised her own weakness.

  She’d thought she had it bad before, being unable to bring herself to hunt. Pathetic. Another form of weakness. Weakness of character. She hated the Rene that couldn’t even bring herself to bite a perfectly healthy human because she was scared. If she could travel back in time, she’d bitch slap that Rene and force feed her. She’d have been stronger at least, when the wolves took her. It would have made a difference.

  She was pretty sure future Rene was going to hate present Rene too. She had to stop lying to herself.

  Everything leading up to her capture had been a trap. Designed for a cocksure, brash vampire with an overinflated ego. Her. Specifically. Why did they want her was the real question? She sat in the cell and rotted day in and night out, and no one had the decency to tell her why. Why Rene? Who had she managed to piss off in this shitshow game of chance?

  Losing count of the days came early. She just didn’t care. It had been more than a week, less than a month . . . what did it matter? Nothing changed.

  Until it did.

  Clinging to the stone wall one sunset, her face pressed against the warm rock of her cell, she heard movement through the barred grate of her window. Many feet, hundreds of paws, the scent of werewolf intensified. It was a testament to how long she’d been held captive that the scent no longer sent her stomach rolling. Yips and barks turned to human-sounding conversations and four paws turned to two feet. Excited voices reveling in the closeness of their packs, meeting old friends and setting up camp. The small presence of about fifteen wolves the compound normally supported grew exponentially for the next few days. Every few hours another group would emerge from the surrounding forest and be welcomed to the fold.

  The red wolf, the one they called Lionakis, began leading tours of the prison. Or rather, the one-attraction menagerie. Rene was suddenly a star. Everyone wanted to see the captive leech. At first she put on a show. Hissed, bared her fangs. They loved it. And she’d never felt less human, more beast in her life. Soon she’d just gone back to her corner, pretending not to notice the parade of wolf Alphas and their courts.

  Whatever they were up to, she wouldn’t be their entertainment. They could stake her to a sun-drenched pole and she wouldn’t even open her eyes for them. Through the bars, she caught snippets of their conversations. The more invisible she acted, the more they slipped. The blood moon was approaching in a matter of days, and all the packs of North America were gathering as one to celebrate. Lionakis was promising entertainment like they’d never seen before. A sickening knot in the pit of her stomach told Rene she wouldn’t escape unscathed.

  With the packs came the howling. What had been an occasional act only the days before became a constant chorus. She could tell how full the moon was and it’s exact position in the sky by the quantity and direction of the howls. All through the night and most of the day too, as soon as the moon was up, the wolves were showing off their vocal chords.

  If she ever managed to get out of the cell, she was going to rip out as many wolf throats as she could get her hands on.

  A couple days before the blood moon, Silas left the camp. She knew, because she didn’t get fed that day. Or the day after. Her throat felt like a pile of razor blades every time she swallowed. And it was so dry she had to swallow every few seconds. It was all she could do not to whimper. What she wouldn’t give for that cold, lifeless, donated blood now. She’d kill for it. She’d die for it.

  ∞∞∞

  All the arguing in the world had gained him one more night and no more answers. Wade won the argument, though neither of them were happy. The Acrien leader had lost another night, and Will was losing hope.

  They arrived in Genocide a few hours before dawn to find the city eerily silent. Fletcher’s was deserted. No one walked on the sidewalks. Shops were dark and locked up. The Venaygo headquarters at the center of town was the same as always. Golden walls were lit by spotlights, the glowing ‘V’ on the side a beacon in the night. Walking through the open front door provided no more answers. Sarai Westcott, clan secretary, wasn’t at her desk. No one was home. In the whole city.

  Strains of music drifted through the opposite door.

  Serena gasped suddenly and their entire group turned to her. “The Gathering,” she said. “In the attack and the tracking, I totally forgot. It must be tonight.”

  The annual Gathering was an all-night event taking place in the Main Hall in Genocide. A ball on the first floor, and a bazaar on the second floor gallery. Immortals from all over the world, not just vampires, attended to mingle and sell crafts.

  Wade sighed. “We’d better head over.”

  “Don’t you think we should wait?” Serena asked.

  “No, I think Hadrian will want to see us right away. There will be questions as to where we were all this time as it is.”

  “Wade,” Serena said. “We’re not exactly dressed for the Gathering.” She motioned to her black and tan hiking clothes, dirty and rumpled from their trek. None of them looked any better either.

  “I really don’t think he’s going to care what we’re wearing, Serena.” Wade’s voice was firm and irritated. He must have been anticipating the dress-down Hadrian Catane would administer.

  Serena glared down at the floor, staying back a few paces as Wade gathered the others and proceeded out the back door so they could go around the side of the building to the Main Hall. Will stopped beside her and nudged her shoulder with his own.

  “Okay?”

  “He treats me like a silly little girl sometimes, I swear.”

  “Aren’t you about one hundred and fifty years older?”

  “Yes,” she hissed.

  “Maybe you should try treating him like the little boy he is, then.”

  She glanced up at him, blue eyes wide and suddenly she grinned. “Will, I feel like I don’t tell you often enough how terrific you are.”

  He nodded. “Yes, it’s the curse of my life to be under-appreciated.”

  Smiles fading, they both looked down at the ground as they followed Wade and the others. “She doesn’t hate you, you know,” Serena said softly.

  Will swallowed but didn’t respond.

  “She doesn’t,” she said again. “I think she’s a little scared of you, to be honest.”

  He laughed.

  “No, really. Not scared of you like you’d hurt her, I mean not physically, you know, but . . .” she hesitated, “Will, how much do you know about her human life?”

  “Next to nothing, except the little I’ve inferred.”

  “I don’t know everything, but from what I’ve gathered, Tanner saved her from something much worse than vampires. Most days I think she’s just this side of sane, and the only thing keeping her here is pretending what came before doesn’t exist. I don’t even think Rene is her real name.”

  “None of this is adding up to why she would be afraid of me.”

  “Oh Will, you don’t hide your feelings at all well. And if she’s barely hanging on to her sanity, do you think she could handle all the cr
aziness that comes with love?”

  He thought of the words he’d said to her only a week before. The look on her face as she heard him. As if he was the most terrifying thing she’d ever faced. He closed his eyes briefly. Serena was right.

  “Give her time,” she suggested.

  “For any normal person, the last twenty years would have been more than enough. Excessive.”

  She smiled. “But she’s not any normal person, is she?”

  “No,” he said. And he’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted her, craved her.

  Wade and the others were waiting at the door for them. When Will and Serena mounted the steps, Wade swung open the doors and they strode in as a group.

  The previously loud room went silent. Brightly lit and full of color, the hall glittered as the entire assemblage turned to take in their small party. Dressed in ball gowns and suits from every culture and age, the hall was packed to the gills. A whisper began to work through the crowd. Someone had recognized the Acrien vampires. Relief, suspicion, worry ingested the room.

  “Elliot.” The voice rang out from the gallery above, ricocheting off the oak doors as they shut behind them. Hadrian Catane stood in the gallery looking down on them from his pristine white suit. “Report. Now.”

  Wade split off and the rest of their group stood awkwardly.

  “Rynquist!” Nearly as loud as Hadrian, with all the authority and expectation of compliance.

  Will glanced up at the gallery to see the glittering sapphire form of his leader staring down at him. The sharp quality in her voice put him on edge. He nodded to Serena and moved toward the massive staircase to his right. The crowd didn’t part for him like it did Wade Elliot. A subtle reminder that he wasn’t a leader. For all Wade’s young age, he garnered loads more respect in this room. Thankfully, Will was tall and able to navigate the pressing bodies with relative ease.