SURVIVAL

by Karen Payton Holt

  “I have no idea.” Connor looked at him accusingly. “You told me it was safe.”

  “Well, one hundred unsuccessful hybrid inseminations over the last decade were strong indicators. Everything pointed that way.”

  “Well, it looks like you were wrong.”

  “And trust you to achieve the impossible.”

  “Hell, Julian, we have no idea how this pregnancy will go. The onset has not been easy. We’re going to have to be ready for anything.”

  “We have more to worry about than that,” Julian stated flatly. “Sebastian’s awake.”

  “Already? I should have finished him when I had the chance.” Connor replayed the moment when he shoved the spike up into Sebastian’s jaw, and the satisfying vibration as his eyeball collapsed. I should’ve gone for the frontal lobe. At least then, awake or not, it would have made no difference. Perfect outcome.

  “Serge will be coming after the humans.” Julian’s eyes locked onto Connor. “But he’ll have to get creative. The direct approach has lost him too many guardsmen.”

  “But he has to get through you, Marius, and Alexander in council?”

  “The Council won’t forgive unsanctioned attacks, so, yes.” Julian rubbed his pale fingers over his jaw. “I can buy time, but the outcome is inevitable. We have to move the humans again.”

  “You’ve got to hold Serge off until we have an escape plan in place.” Connor began circling the cavern. “I think it’s time to call on this other eco-town. They took Annabelle in, so-”

  “Do they know about us?” asked Julian. “You and I?”

  “No. Greg doesn’t say much, and he only talks about Seth, the Marine he served with. All vampires are the enemy in their minds.”

  “But we can use them as a safe place? If Serge moves before we are ready, we could hide them there?” Julian’s eyes narrowed.

  Connor stopped pacing and turned to face him. “I’m not moving Rebekah. I need the hospital and Anthony close at hand.” He raised his hand at Julian’s protest. “Keep me informed, and if things start to look bad, we move the others out. Harry, Oscar, and the rest. Leizle too, but Rebekah stays here.”

  “As if Leizle will go anywhere and leave Rebekah behind. And she’s not the only one you’ll have trouble with. Thomas, Oscar, Harry, Greg, they’ve all been worried sick.” Julian laughed harshly.

  “I’ll talk to them. I know Harry has the beta-blockers and pheromone spray stockpiled for this kind of emergency. He, more than anyone, knows that survival is about necessity, not choice.” Connor resumed his breakneck circuit of the cavern. “I will go with him to the other eco-town, to negotiate.”

  Julian tried to track Connor’s hurtling path. “For God’s sake, stand still.”

  Connor stopped, folded his arms and stared at Julian.

  “Okay.” Julian nodded. “Negotiation and you. Is that a good idea?”

  “I will stay out of sight and listen. But, if Harry’s powers of persuasion fail him...” Connor frowned suddenly. “Greg and Oscar should go, too, Seth’s group have never met Harry.”

  “They have no reason to risk their camp for ours, you do realize that, right?” said Julian. “It sounds like Greg knows one guy who stepped up and took in Annabelle. It is a huge leap to what we are asking now. A dozen extra mouths to feed, and a vampire in the wings might be pushing it, Connor.”

  “We won’t know until we ask. And if all else fails, then I’ll show myself, and offer them protection.”

  Julian lifted a brow. “Really?”

  “Or scare them a little.” Connor’s laughter was as tense as Julian’s frown. “You just have to keep Serge in your sights and give me as much breathing space as you can, and leave the rest up to me. Are you up to it?”

  Julian nodded seriously.

  “Great. Just Rebekah, my baby, Anthony’s cooperation, and Leizle to worry about. Easy.” Connor grinned. “You’re right about Leizle, she won’t leave Rebekah. Although, you’ve got to take some of the blame there.” He laughed at Julian’s resigned expression and clapped him on the back.

  Rubbing a hand over his face, Julian looked at the domed ceiling for inspiration. “She’s too young, and I shouldn’t be stopping her from living.” He locked eyes with Connor. “I’ll be away for a while. I’ll do my best to stall the council for as long as possible. Try and persuade her to go if you can.”

  “I understand.” Connor knew how hard it was for Julian to ask him that. “I guess things get more complicated from here on in, for all of us. Welcome to my world.”

  Chapter 16

  In the dimly lit alcove where the tumbled bed bore witness to Rebekah’s restless slumber, Connor smoothed his palm over her warm skin as he reluctantly rolled away. Resembling an apparition swirling around the cavern, his blurred form changed color as white skin was covered by black cloth, until finally, he stopped moving and sat on the side of the bed, fully clothed.

  “Sleep, honey, while you can,” he said, smiling down into Rebekah’s drowsy eyes. Her scent had altered again, and he could feel another storm brewing inside her. I just don’t know what form it will take. He leaned over to kiss her lips, placing his cool palm over the rounded swell of her stomach. “You too,” he muttered. “I’ll be back soon.”

  “Do you think it will work?” Rebekah said, the words muffled by a yawn.

  “Greg and Harry should make contact today.” Connor’s eyes darkened. “It will work. I’ll be there to keep watch, don’t worry.” With a graze of a cold fingertip down her cheek, he was gone.

  Running in a circuit which followed a five mile arc around the eco-shelter location, Connor made sure the coast was clear before he left the area. Fine tuning every vampire sense at his disposal, he absorbed the nocturnal symphony of wildlife before it died at his whistling approach.

  A fox darted across Connor’s path, lost in the chase of a rabbit that scurried on ahead through the undergrowth. With the sound of crunching bone, the fox triumphed, and the scent of blood sailed on a light breeze. Registering Connor’s presence, the white blaze on a deer’s tail flashed as it dived into the thick foliage. You would have been too late. The wind played over his unyielding skin as he smiled. But today I’m not hunting and you live to fight another.

  Satisfied that it was safe, Connor altered course and headed for the coordinates agreed upon with Oscar, Harry, and Greg. Connor’s part had already been completed; he dug the burrows and filled them with food and sleeping bags. The away team had traveled by day and hit the marks agreed upon to hide at night. Connor was meeting up with them now, before dawn on their second night out. Greg knows the terrain. I’m sure they’ll be there waiting.

  He could disable a man with a grip on the carotid artery, knowing precisely where to dig in his thumb and cut off the blood supply. Connor was happy to have him along on this trip, after all, it may yet turn into the engagement of an enemy. Who knows what tales Annabelle has told to justify her eviction from the eco-shelter. Greg’s combat skills might be useful.

  Three hours remained before Connor need concern himself with dawn’s fingers tearing holes in the black velvet night sky. As he skirted the trunks of towering beech trees on the final approach, he smiled. The odor of sweat laced with the hint of dopamine drifting in the air confirmed that Greg was true to his word. They’re here.

  Connor reduced his speed as though he collided with an invisible wall, then stepped forward.

  “Hello Harry.” The man’s heart leapt in his chest at the sudden arrival and Connor grinned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  Greg glanced over his shoulder but his movements did not falter in the act of refolding the sleeping bags. Tugging the drawstring bags closed, he forced them back into the space under the tree roots. Standing and nodding in greeting, he said, “Connor.”

  Oscar appeared holding a clutch of sticks in a closed fist, all cut to the same length. “I’ve left the signal.” Pointing through the trees, he said, “One stick per person, left inside a hole in
a tree on the edge of the glade.”

  Connor raised a brow. “How do they know when to look. Looking every day lays them open to discovery. Repeating a pattern of behavior is never a great idea.”

  “Owl call.” Greg laughed quietly at Connor’s expression.

  “Hey, don’t knock it.” Oscar chipped in. “The old ways are always the best, lad. There are no barn owls in these parts.”

  Connor cocked his head, about to say ‘fair enough’, when his chin went up and he said, “Four men. One is young, lighter than the others. About half an hour out.” He looked at Oscar. “How do they know where to meet?”

  Oscar held up the sticks again. “Grooves carved into the sticks. Coordinates, if you know what you’re looking at.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his head. “Our last meeting was a little less... controlled. I couldn’t think straight for a week after delivering Annabelle. I’m not going through that again.”

  “And they are coming here?”

  Greg gave Connor a ‘what do you take me for’ look. “No, we’ve got a trek of about fifteen minutes. The meet is at oh-five-hundred.”

  “Better get moving then,” said Connor, “I’ll hang back.”

  The three men moved quietly through the wood. Greg checked his compass at intervals until he stopped as though ‘X’ marked the spot. “This is it.” He nodded at Harry and Oscar, and they settled down to wait.

  Within a few minutes, four men stepped out from between the trees. The tallest man carried a staff, but his grip on the shaft made it clear it was a weapon, not a walking aid. The other two heavyset men wore frowns, and a thin boy, maybe nineteen, also seemed to glower but his complexion was waxy and his respiration sounded shallow.

  The tall man smiled, and all hell broke loose.

  The boy collapsed. His legs folded beneath him and his breathing began to rasp. He tumbled forward and his companions froze.

  A white, long-fingered hand appeared from nowhere, supporting the boy’s head and guiding it to a soft landing. The moonlight revealed a wraithlike, rigid white face, with eye sockets cast in cavernous shadow. The black clad figure knelt beside the boy’s prone body. Curling pale fingers beneath his knee to bend the youth’s leg, the vampire pushed up the fabric of his pants and sank his teeth into the boy’s calf muscle.

  The man with the staff burst into action first, bellowing as he lifted the stick and rushed forward. Connor, continuing to bite into the boy’s soft flesh, shot out a hand, and the clutch of his palm filled with sawdust as the stick disintegrated in his grasp.

  Greg moved in fast, coming up behind, he shoved his arms underneath the tall man’s armpits and locked his hands behind his friend’s head as the man grunted.

  “He’s with us, Seth.” Greg hissed into his ear, “I’m saving your bacon. You really don’t want to pick a fight with Connor.”

  Oscar faced the remaining two men with his palms upraised in surrender.

  “Just wait,” muttered Harry.

  As he fumbled for words to explain the unexplainable, Connor surged to his feet and spat out a mouthful of blood. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he faced the man who still held a broken piece of his staff. “Let him go, Greg.”

  The man yanked his arms from Greg’s slackened grasp, saw Connor’s blood spattered face and bellowed, “Traitor.” He roared, as he swung around and launched a well-aimed punch at Greg’s face.

  His fist was swallowed by Connor’s grip as he absorbed the impact but resisted crumbling the human hand to dust. Keeping his hand folded around the clenched fist, Connor grabbed a handful of Seth’s shirt and finally got his full attention.

  “Snakebite,” Connor said.

  “You can trust him, Seth. He’s one of the good guys,” said Greg.

  The boy groaned and clutched at his leg. Black cloth torn from Connor’s shirt was already tied tightly above the bite mark as a tourniquet. Commonsense dawned in the tall man’s eyes, and Connor released Seth’s fist.

  Connor submitted to Seth’s probing gaze and said, “I think you owe us a favor. Adder venom won’t kill a healthy human. But this boy is far too thin, and fighting a chest infection. You could have lost him.”

  One of the men helped the boy to sit up.

  Maintaining his grip on the man’s shirt, Connor continued, “So, you are Seth? Good to meet you at last.”

  Seth slumped as the realization hit that his boy could have died were it not for this fierce looking vampire.

  “Funny,” said Seth, “Greg never once mentioned you.”

  Connor let him go and shrugged. “He probably thought you wouldn’t understand. As you said, you’d think he was selling you out.”

  Seth shot his comrade a loaded glance and grunted. “Appearances are deceiving. Greg’s a solid guy.”

  It was an apology of sorts, and Greg waved a hand that wiped the slate clean.

  Connor turned to Harry. “I guess this is where I leave you to negotiate.”

  “I think we can take it from here,” said Harry.

  Connor scanned the stunned faces. “I’ll leave Greg and his men to fill you in on why we needed to meet.” His eyes moved quickly over the youth. “And I’ll get some antibiotics for the boy, I’m a doctor.”

  As Connor raced the dawn, headed back to see Rebekah, his thoughts turned to Annabelle. I’m glad she didn’t come. She has reason to fear me. Rebekah had suffered in ways that Annabelle could not imagine. It would’ve been hard to gain their trust if I had got my hands on her. Picturing the thin boy and knowing he had tasted clean blood, Connor was satisfied he had sucked out all the venom. I’m sure Harry can close the deal.

  Chapter 17

  Greg entered the dining cavern, rigorously rubbing a towel over dripping hair, and then he gave up. He sat down beside Oscar and Harry, picked up a mug of hot tea and cradled it in his palms. Resting his elbows on the scarred tabletop, he slipped into a weary silence.

  The tidemark of dirt around their necks and the sopping wet towels slung around their shoulders were evidence of the gruesome last day of a trek home through a sustained deluge which had battered the tree canopy until the water came pouring through.

  Connor sat at their table, too. Hidden beneath the wooden surface, his hands gripped his thighs as he listened to their news. He was painfully aware of their heartbeats. Even the chill on their skin could not detract from the alluring scent of the blood-cells pumping beneath it.

  Julian has been away too long, this time. I need human blood. The taste of Seth’s boy was still fresh in his mind and the dehydration in Connor’s brain distorted his vision.

  The warm blood of the three men radiated as heat haze. Connor narrowed his eyes and allowed wish fulfilment a moment of freedom, imagining Greg, as a worthy adversary who would thrill him, draining of color as the hot tide of his blood filled Connor’s stomach.

  Connor pushed the demon back into the cell and slammed the door shut as he pulled Harry’s face into focus. “So, you have their agreement?” he asked.

  Greg toweled the nape of his neck as he answered. “Seth has agreed to take all of us.” He shot a wry glance at Oscar.

  “I’m not going,” said Oscar emphatically.

  “Then, neither will I,” said Harry.

  “Whoa, hold on one moment.” Connor’s granite glare swept over the bedraggled humans. “After all you’ve been through, you will all go.”

  “Even Rebekah?” Oscar’s square jaw was set.

  “No, not Rebekah. You know I need the hospital nearby. This new colony is not the place for her or our baby.”

  “Exactly,” said Oscar. “And, unlike you, she has to eat. I’m staying.”

  “I see.” Connor nodded slowly. “I can see the sense in that, but you, Harry. They will need you there.”

  “There’s a condition to their hospitality,” said Harry.

  “Go on.”

  “Seth’s son, the snake-bite kid, it’s not just him that’s ill. Their sleeping burrows are damp and poorly ventilated
.” Harry pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with a diagram pencilled on to it. “We need two cubic feet of clean air per person to ensure the oxygen levels stay at twenty one percent. I agreed you would dig out a new sleeping cavern, with better ventilation shafts, after all this is done.”

  Connor’s lips twitched. “Hiring me out, hmmm?” He chuckled. “I never thought you had it in you.”

  As Harry flushed, Oscar leapt in. “How is Rebekah?”

  “The exhaustion has passed. She has trouble sleeping now.” Connor frowned.

  Since Connor’s return from the meeting with Seth, fear cramped his chest every time he held Rebekah. When he kissed her skin and a blush blossomed beneath his lips, the scent of her blood was tainted with a scorched aroma which fed the confusion in his mind.

  “She has trouble sleeping?” asked Oscar, frowning, as if the shift took away the firm ground from under him. “What happens now?”

  “I would say, she has mood swings, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I’m keeping her under observation. Leizle’s with her now.”

  Oscar drained his mug of tea and banged it decisively down on the table. He stood up. “I’ll get cleaned up and cook her something nice.”

  Connor smiled. Oscar’s solution was not far off the mark – a full stomach would solve a lot of Connor’s problems, right now. “And I’d better go and check on her. I’ll catch you guys, later?” Connor said as he got to his feet and headed for the door.

  His rush along the tunnels was eased by revival sleep as instinct told him to prepare for the worst. Her adrenalin levels are through the roof. He heard Leizle’s yelp of pain and increased his speed.

  Rebekah no longer slept, her rioting emotions allowed no such relief. The circles under her eyes were deep violet now. With her anger and frustration only ever a heartbeat away, when it boiled over Connor was the only one who could get close to her. The missiles she launched were well aimed and even Leizle wore three layers of clothing as protection.

  The problem, well not a problem under other circumstances, thought Connor with a wry grin. Is that, if I contain her, to get her to eat or rest, she becomes ravenous... but not for food. She had torn several of his shirts in her hunger for him. If making love is the price to get her to sleep, I’ll gladly pay it. Except it isn’t love, it’s lust, pure and simple.