Scions: Resurrection

by Patrice Michelle

  “My name is Jachin Black. Get in the front and put on your seat belt,” he growled as he turned onto a road that led to the Shawangunk mountain range.

  Ariel shrugged out of her jacket and moved to the front passenger seat. Jachin didn’t say a word or even glance her way once she’d snapped the seat belt closed around her.

  Turning on the light in the car so she could see him better, she refused to be ignored. She didn’t give a damn if he was flooring the hell out of the vehicle. She wanted to know where he was taking her.

  “I said, where are you taking me?” she repeated in a slow monotone while manipulating her fingers in gibberish sign language. She finished with her middle finger straight up.

  “To fulfill the prophecy,” he said, cutting his gaze her way.

  Chapter 4

  A t the sight of Ariel flipping him the bird, Jachin couldn’t help the amusement that teased the corners of his lips upward. He turned off the light and returned his gaze to the road.

  “You’re certifiable,” she said, lowering her hands. “Did you forget to take your pills today?”

  His gaze snapped to hers. “Your spunk and sarcastic attitude will either keep you alive or assure you a quick death. Bravado isn’t enough. You reek of fear.”

  Her brow furrowed. “What human doesn’t fear vampires?”

  “You wrote a book about them,” he countered. At first he thought her fear was due to everything that had happened to her the last few hours, but the alarm he smelled went deeper, perplexing him.

  “Because I had to,” she shot back.

  He met her gaze, suspicion kicking in. “Explain.”

  She folded her arms and settled in her seat, her mouth set in a stubborn line.

  Anger rippled through him when she refused to speak. He gripped the steering wheel so tight the round frame took on the indention of his fingers.

  “Does this have to do with the prophecy? Tell me, Ariel!” he ordered.

  Tension hung in the air between them like storm clouds churning in the sky, ready to let loose the gale building inside.

  A loud boom resounded, quickly followed by a bright flash.

  The road shook as it exploded in front of them, the asphalt buckling.

  Jachin’s chest tightened in fury at the sight. Avoiding the flash of fire and the new hole in the road, he jerked the car in the only direction he could—to his left and into the mountainside. Turning right would have taken them straight down a sheer canyon.

  Upon impact, his head slammed against the car’s door frame. White spots floated before his eyes. His groggy, disoriented mind vaguely wondered if Ariel had magically tampered with his side air bag, disabling it, before he lost consciousness.

  Ariel trembled when the car stopped shaking. She glanced at Jachin to see if he was hurt. His forehead was bleeding and he appeared to be unconscious. She leaned over and had just felt his slow pulse when a car pulled up behind them. Sobbing her thanks to the heavens for Good Samaritans, she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car.

  Her first thought was to ask the people to call an ambulance for Jachin, but reason returned as a blond-headed man flipped on his car’s interior light and rolled down the passenger window. “The road’s a mess. What happened?”

  Ariel blinked back stinging tears and coughed at the smoke in the air. “I don’t know. Please, I need your help.” She pointed to Jachin’s car. “That man kidnapped me. I need to get to the police department in town right away. Can you take me there?”

  The man glanced at Jachin’s crumpled vehicle, then got out of his car. “Is he dead?”

  Her heart hammered as she followed his probing gaze. “No…I—I don’t know. He’s knocked out, I think.”

  Without a word, he motioned to his driver. The tall, dark-haired man with small, beady eyes got out of the car at the same time a black sedan with three more men pulled up behind their car.

  Something wasn’t right. A sudden sick sensation bottomed out in her stomach.

  Instinct told her to run. Run like hell!

  She turned to bolt away, but the blond man grabbed her arm and yanked her against his thin frame. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, then turned to the dark-haired driver. “Get rid of it, Thad.”

  She began to struggle against her new captor’s tight hold. “No, you can’t! He’s still inside.”

  He turned a cold smile her way. “I know.”

  The car lights behind her illuminated the pure evil in the man’s smile. Excitement reflected in his eyes, making her skin crawl.

  Disbelief washed over her as Thad proceeded to push Jachin’s car all the way across the road, pieces of crumpled headlight glass crunching under the tires. He lifted Jachin’s car up on its side and her throat closed. He’d done it without help, as if the vehicle weighed no more than a bicycle.

  That could only mean one thing.

  “You’re all vampires.” Ariel’s gaze snapped back to the man holding her arm. Her breathing ceased and she watched in horror as his incisors elongated.

  He gave her a pleased smile. “Now we’ll be the ones turning you over to Braeden.”

  Was this Braeden a vampire? She had to assume he was. Is that what Jachin had planned? To hand her off to another vampire? Panic rippled through her, knocking the breath from her lungs. “No,” she croaked, renewing her struggles with more vigor. She growled in frustration when the tip of her shoe bounced off the man’s shin as if she’d kicked him with cotton.

  The dark-haired man gave Jachin’s car one last shove and the vehicle rolled over the mountain edge. Her stomach pitched with each sickening crunch of metal and breaking glass as the car tumbled down the ravine. There was no way Jachin would survive, yet she couldn’t help but scream his name. “Jachin!”

  The futility of her situation overwhelmed her. But she knew she’d be a fool to stop fighting. If she were going to die, it was better on the mountain road then as some vampire’s torture toy.

  “Let me go!” She yanked hard, trying to pull free, but the man’s grip only constricted around her upper arm.

  “Stop your whining, you pathetic human.” He shook her so hard dizziness soon followed. Ariel ceased her struggles and took deep breaths to regain her equilibrium.

  When the earth shook and the night sky lit up from an explosion in the ravine below, she jerked around. Tears streamed down her face. The one man who could’ve saved her was gone.

  Two of the three vampires from the black sedan stood at the edge of the road. One of them had a grenade launcher on his shoulder and was pointing it toward the ravine. She realized that the car hadn’t exploded yet—that the bastards were trying to nuke it.

  “Leave him in peace!” Fury made a rush of adrenaline sweep over her, and she managed to break free of the blond vampire’s tight grip. She’d only taken a couple of steps before he grabbed her around the waist and clamped his teeth on the side of her neck from behind.

  The terrifying sensation of his bite holding her in place, fangs ready to plunge deep, conjured images of her grandmother’s scarred throat in Ariel’s mind.

  She froze her movements and began to pant, her heart thumping at a rapid pace.

  The man removed his teeth and nuzzled her throat. “That’s my girl,” he whispered in her ear. “You’d better keep in mind who owns you now.”

  A deafening rumble woke him. Jachin shook his head to clear it and realized two certainties before he opened his eyes: he was upside down, and the smell of leaking fuel meant he had mere seconds to get the hell out of the car.

  His head throbbed from the wreck and smoke burned his eyes, blocking his view. He listened for Ariel’s heartbeat and inhaled to detect her scent.

  Nothing.

  She wasn’t in the car, nor was she in the close vicinity. He’d sense her if she was.

  He pushed his seat-belt latch and grunted in anger when the damn thing didn’t release. Gripping the strap tight, he braced against the smashed car frame to keep from falling and yanked
the seat belt.

  Metal ground and creaked as the latch gave way. Breathing hard, Jachin locked one leg and continued to brace himself while using his booted foot to kick the crumpled door’s broken glass completely out.

  Smoke burned his throat as he pushed himself through the opening. Glass shards cut into his hands while he used the ground for leverage to pull the rest of his body out of the car. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Jachin squatted and catapulted his body into the air as far away from the car as he could.

  He landed with a heavy thud and started to run, but an explosion behind him slammed him to the ground like a giant’s hand squishing a bug flat. Heat and glass flew over him as he tried to regain his breath. While his lungs heaved, his sight blurred and his hearing disappeared for several seconds.

  Once his vision cleared and his ability to hear returned, he forced himself to stand on unsteady legs and stumbled farther away from the wreckage.

  Another explosion slammed him to his side on the ground. Pain shot up his hip and spine from the impact. Jachin jerked his suspicious gaze up the ravine in time to see two men standing at the top with a grenade launcher.

  He recognized Vlad and Aaron from his clan. Car wheels squealed as a vehicle near the men drove off.

  His stomach burned with fury. He knew they’d taken Ariel. The moment his gaze met Vlad’s and Aaron’s, the vampires disappeared from the side of the road.

  Letting out a battle roar, Jachin curled his fingers into the grass and dirt before he took off up the hill. He had no clue if his weapons had survived the crash, but he didn’t care. If those pricks touched Ariel…

  He clenched his fists, pissed at himself for caring so strongly for the human’s safety. His thoughts about Ariel had somehow turned more possessive in nature, going way beyond the prophecy.

  On his way up the hill he caught sight of his black backpack lying on top of a clump of weeds. A deadly calm washed over him as he swiped the bag and slung it over his shoulder without interrupting his fast gait.

  Once Jachin reached the road, he crossed it, pulled his backpack on both shoulders and grabbed hold of the rocks and shrubbery on the side of the mountain. Determination fueled his climb, his movements fast and assured.

  Jachin was gone. Ariel sat between the two vampires in the front seat of their car as they drove up the mountain road, her heart hammering. They’d driven for a few minutes when Thad stared past Ariel and addressed the blond vampire. “We don’t have a lot of time before sunrise, Sethen. Where to?”

  Sethen nodded toward the road. “Another mile up the road there’s a turnoff to the left. I’ve scouted out places we could wait out the daylight if we needed to. There’s a cave a few turns up.”

  Ariel dug her nails into the palms of her hands. She needed something to keep her from shaking all over. Even the tiny bit of pain helped a little to distract her thoughts from what could possibly happen to her once she was alone in a cave with a couple of vicious vampires.

  Several minutes later, Thad parked the car at the base of an incline that led to a cave opening. Sethen opened the door and dragged Ariel out of the seat by her arm. When her feet hit the ground, she stumbled and her tattered shirt tore some more.

  “Stand up,” Sethen growled, jerking her to a standing position.

  “If you’d let go, I can walk on my own two feet,” she snapped.

  The man snorted and spoke to the driver. “Pull the car out of sight of the road. Then meet me in the cave. Vlad, Aaron and David will just have to find another place to hide out until the sun sets.”

  The cave smelled stale and musty, as if its past critter inhabitants had abandoned it. She couldn’t see a thing in the cave’s deep recesses, so she jumped and let out a gasp of fear when Sethen’s hands landed on her shoulders. He turned her to face him while shuffling shoes approached from behind her.

  “This human’s too mouthy. Much as I’d like to rip her throat out, this isn’t about taking her blood. But we can teach her a lesson.”

  Thad gave an evil chuckle. “I’m all for that.”

  Sethen’s grip slid to her upper arms and he yanked her against his bony chest. As he leaned close and ran his fangs along the column of her neck, her heart seized.

  Bravado quickly evaporating, Ariel took a breath to scream. When the vampire plunged his fangs deep, excruciating pain flooded her throat. Her vision blurred and a gasp of deep-rooted fear escaped.

  Another pain slammed into the back of her neck as Thad sank his teeth into her skin, as well.

  Ariel screamed at the same time her knees started to give way. Her heart skipped several beats and her breathing turned frantic. The terror, the pain was just too much. She swayed, on the verge of collapsing, when Thad tensed behind her.

  His tight bite slackened and a jolt of heat radiated at her back as if from him. He withdrew his fangs from her neck right before an invisible force pressed her forward and a bright light filled the entire cave.

  Sethen released his fangs, his eyes widening in disbelief as he glanced down at his chest. His entire body began to shake, then crack, splintering into a thousand tiny fissures across his skin. Brilliant white light filtered through the cracks as if he were burning from the inside out.

  Her stomach pitched at the thought and Ariel jumped away, screeching. A sudden energy pulse and a rush of heat sent her stumbling right before Sethen’s body exploded in a flash of fire.

  Bits of burning ash lit up the space in front of her, a thousand fireflies floating in the air. She quickly turned to see Thad was gone, as well.

  Once the tiny sparks of Sethen’s and Thad’s ashes settled on the cave floor, dimming to black, she cast her shaky gaze to the cave entrance and tried to blink past her terror.

  The dawn’s light, barely breaking the sky, outlined a tall man holding a gun aloft.

  Before she could speak, he shoved his gun in a holder at his waist and closed the distance between them. “We must move deeper into the cave or I’ll end up nothing but ash, too.”

  Ariel’s heart leapt at the sound of Jachin’s voice and the reality of her situation kicked in. Her legs gave out and her vision began to blur. The vampire caught her before she hit the floor, sweeping her up into his arms.

  “I didn’t know pulser weapons could make a person combust like that.” Her voice trembled as she stared at the ash remains on the ground.

  “Only with a specific body chemistry and the right catalyst.”

  Indirect sunlight began to filter into the shadowed recesses of the cave, filling the space with dim light. As Jachin carried her farther into the cave, she noted the partially healed gash on his forehead. She was amazed he’d survived rolling down a mountain in a crushed car, even with a vampire’s ability to heal.

  Relief at being rescued slowed her breathing to an even keel, yet she couldn’t get Sethen’s comment about taking her to Braeden out of her head. Jachin might’ve just saved her, but he’d said he intended to “fulfill the prophecy.” He had kidnapped her with the same intent—to take her to this other vampire.

  She narrowed her gaze on Jachin. “When I get my equilibrium back, I’m dragging your sorry ass into the sunlight.”

  “That mouth will most assuredly be the death of you.” He gave a low chuckle and set her on the ground, then slid his backpack to the cave’s dusty floor.

  Her entire body continued to shake in the aftermath. Even though she was pissed at him, Ariel found herself inching as close to Jachin as she could without touching him. She had to be in shock, she told herself. Why else would she stand in a vampire’s personal space after what she’d just experienced?

  Shivering, she closed her eyes against the memories of the two vampires’ vicious bites, but the trickling sensation of her blood rolling down her neck wouldn’t let her lock the memory safely away.

  She reached up to touch one of her wounds, but Jachin grabbed her wrist before her fingers could connect with her skin.

  “Sit. We need to tend to your injuries.”r />
  Her gaze locked with his hooded one. His face was shrouded in darkness, so she couldn’t gauge his mood…or his sincerity. His voice told her nothing. It was devoid of emotion. Apparently that was his norm.

  “Do I get a choice in the matter?” she asked.

  “No,” came his stoic response.

  She sighed, and apprehension tightened her chest as she lowered herself to a seated position on the hard ground in front of him.

  Jachin unzipped his pack and withdrew a red apple. He held it out, and his voice was gruff when he said, “Eat.”

  Terror still flowed through her. Food was the last thing on her mind. She started to shake her head. “I’m not hungry—”

  Jachin’s dark gaze narrowed and his jaw tensed. Ariel’s heart jerked at his fierce look. He obviously wasn’t taking no for an answer. She took the apple and bit into it. The flavor exploded over her tongue, making her mouth water. As she crunched the sweet fruit, she asked, “Why do I feel like Adam?”

  He ignored her comment and gave her a curt nod. “Turn around.”

  Ariel dug her teeth into the red peel for another chunk of fruit and did as he asked. As soon as her rear settled on the floor, he gripped her waist and pulled her between his opened legs. “You need to move closer.”

  She stiffened and gasped at their intimate position, almost choking as she swallowed a large piece of apple. Her rear and hips were cradled by his groin, her back against his muscular chest. Heat radiated from his hard body, seeping into her skin through her clothes. The smell of smoke mixed with his exotic masculine scent made her pulse race.

  “Relax, Ariel.” His low voice ran over her as the slow rhythm of his heartbeat thumped against her back. The combination had an unexpected and immediate calming effect on her frazzled nerves.

  Her stomach rumbled, hunger finally kicking in after her first couple of bites. She bit off another chunk of apple and chewed as she waited for him to pull some bandages from his backpack.