“I’m sorry about your friends,” Aiden said.
When he rested his hand on her shoulder, she flinched away from him. Aiden buried the stab of hurt the rejection brought with it. She had every right to hate him. He didn’t blame her for it, yet if he let her walk out of his life, he would have to go to Ronan and ask to be destroyed. Yesterday, that prospect hadn’t seemed bleak. Now that he’d met her and glimpsed the promise of a life without his constant, insidious cravings, death was the last thing he wanted.
They were only a couple of blocks away from the alley when the putrid stench of garbage hit him. Aiden grabbed Maggie’s elbow, halting her as he searched for the enemy he knew was near. He looked to the doorway beside them as Maggie tugged angrily on her arm.
“Let go!” she hissed.
“There are Savages near,” he said.
Maggie forgot all about fighting him as she glanced wildly around. Those things were close! Where were they supposed to go? Which way was the right way to avoid them?
“Where?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know they’re close?”
“I can smell them. This way.”
He pulled her toward an alley tucked between two brownstone houses. Maggie’s nose wrinkled as the aroma of the garbage in the dumpsters wafted to her. Aiden’s pace increased; he hurried her forward and turned to the right. Before Maggie could stop him, he spun her into his arms, lifted her off the ground, and plunged downward.
Maggie gasped, her hands dug into the solid muscle of his shoulders as he hit the ground. Glancing around her, she realized he hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth but into a staircase leading to a basement.
Cradling her closer against him, Aiden cupped her nape as he edged into the shadows until his back came up against a metal door. He shifted Maggie and set her down as he gripped the metal handle behind him. If it became necessary, he would rip the door off and enter into whatever lay beyond, but he wouldn’t alert the Savages to their presence or trigger any alarms if he didn’t have to.
Maggie’s heart beat rapidly against his chest as her short nails bit into his shoulders. The silken strands of her hair tickled his hand. He caressed her neck with his thumb, hoping to calm her. If he didn’t have her to worry about, he’d go after the Savages and hunt them down with or without his weapons.
However, if something happened to him, there would be no one to keep her safe from the killers. His family and friends didn’t know she existed yet, and she wouldn’t know where to turn for help.
Mate or not, her blood was more potent and sweeter than any human blood he’d ever consumed. The Savage who attacked her still lived, the others had to have smelled her, and they would all hunt her for her blood. It wouldn’t be difficult for the Savages to find her either. They knew where she worked and could easily track her with that knowledge.
Savages may be ruthless killers, but they weren’t mindless. Many times, they were almost too cunning in their hunt, and they often liked to play with their food. They would destroy her.
His gaze fell to her throat and the wound the Savage had left in the hollow of where her neck and shoulder met. His blood had healed the wound, as well as the marks he’d left on her. Blood still stained her shirt, but the odors of the alley should cover it.
Aiden’s muscles rippled against her cheek when footsteps rang off the buildings surrounding them. Maggie had resolved to distance herself from him as soon as she could, but she found herself pressing closer when the footsteps drew nearer.
She turned her face into his chest, the hair there tickling her nose. His flesh was warm against hers, and she had to resist the urge to nuzzle it, or even worse, lick him. Her skin prickled with awareness, her body came alive in a way that was completely out of place given their current circumstances. His masculine scent filling her nostrils pushed out the lingering odors of blood and trash as whoever was out there ran past where they stood.
Aiden remained unmoving while he strained to hear more. Maggie’s breath warmed his chest as the rotten scent of Savage faded away. Briefly, he closed his eyes to relish in the feel of her lush breasts pressing against him.
His driving urge to keep her alive opened his eyes and propelled him back into motion. He didn’t release her as he edged toward the bottom of the stairs and craned his head to peer up. “It’s gone,” he murmured.
Lifting her head, her lips brushed his chest when she turned to look too. She hated the thrill that went through her at the contact. It made her recall when he’d bitten her in the ambulance and the rush of erotic carnality that swept her. She took a deep breath and cursed her sweaty palms.
“If you could smell him, how come he didn’t smell you?” she whispered.
“I don’t carry the same rancid stench the Savages do.”
“But he’s a vampire; he couldn’t detect your blood or mine?”
“There are thousands of scents in this alley, including blood. And going by the strength of the odor of blood here, someone bled a lot in this alley within the past week, possibly to the point of death. There is also the feral aroma of wild animals as well as the stench of garbage that has nothing to do with the Savage who went by,” he whispered in her ear. “Those scents masked us from him.”
Maggie inhaled deeply, picking out hints of the different things he’d spoken of on the air. “The Savages smell like garbage to you?”
“Like extremely rotten garbage. I don’t scent him anymore, but stay here while I take a look.”
She started to protest, but she didn’t have it in her to deal with any of those monsters again.
Icy air brushed over her skin when he released her, and for the first time, she realized she’d left her coat in the ambulance. They’d been moving so much and so rapidly, she hadn’t had a chance to process the cold. Without Aiden’s arms around her, and just standing there, the frosty March air cut through her clothes. Her warm exhalations created plumes of smoke in the air as she shifted from foot to foot to get some heat back into her numb toes.
It felt like she’d left her entire life behind in the ambulance, and she couldn’t shake the thought she may never get it back.
Of course, I’ll get it back, she firmly decided. As soon as Aiden found a phone and she figured out a way to go home, she’d return to her life.
She had no idea how she would explain all of this to the police, her boss, Roger, and everyone else, but she’d puzzle that out when she wasn’t running for her life, cold, starving, and exhausted.
Maggie’s gaze fastened on Aiden’s back as he walked up the stairs. Not only was his spine no longer visible, but neither was his muscle, and she swore his skin was closing before her eyes. Around the healing flesh, faint white lines spread across his back. She recalled seeing them when he’d been lying in the alley and thinking they looked like whip marks zigzagging out from his wound earlier.
What had he endured to leave scars like that on him?
With the way he healed, she wouldn’t have expected him to have any scars, but there they were. Tonight wasn’t the first time he’d been severely injured, and with the brutal life he apparently led, she suspected it wouldn’t be the last. She sensed a darkness in Aiden that might match or exceed that of the vampires hunting them.
Aiden turned back to gaze down at her. Illuminated in the dim glow of a distant street light, his face was stark, his body streaked with blood and dirt. She should run screaming from the danger he radiated. She should draw the attention of someone who might call 911 or help her. She could flee easily enough, yet when he descended a couple of steps to extend his hand to her, she took it.
CHAPTER 15
To avoid the Savages, Aiden traveled a crisscrossing route that eventually led them back to where it all started. Maggie froze when she saw the empty alley and the lack of police cars there. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “They should still be here.”
Aiden glanced over the brick walls and the blood-streak
ed asphalt. “One of the Savages must have come back here to clean up their mess while the other went for Glenn and Walt. Or both of them came back here, and the Savage in the ambulance worked alone.”
Panic clawed at her as she tried to process his words. “But where did all the police go? Did the Savages kill them all?”
“I don’t know,” Aiden said.
“Some of those officers were my friends, or at least acquaintances. I have to find out what happened to them.”
“We’ll find out,” he promised. “But they’re probably not dead. Killing a bunch of police and emergency workers, or turning them, is a lot tougher to cover up than changing their memories and sending them on their way. The Savages would have preferred to kill them, but though they're bloodthirsty, they aren’t stupid.”
“You really think the Savages didn’t kill them?” she croaked.
“Yes.”
“But they killed Walt and Glenn?”
“That was different,” Aiden said as he carefully picked his way around the blood splattering the alley floor. If the police happened to come back here, they couldn’t see his fresh footprints, or Maggie’s. He didn’t have to tell Maggie that as she also avoided the blood.
“Most likely the two who didn’t pursue me came back here to fix the mess they created,” Aiden explained. “They must have decided their friend would either awaken and take care of himself, or they would deal with it later, if he did make it to a hospital. The Savage with Walt and Glenn was mutilated, ravenous, and looking to feed so he could heal himself. If the two Savages came back here, it was probably to cover their tracks and not to kill.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
He heard the note of hope in her voice and turned to look at her. “No, I’m not,” he replied. He would have done anything to make her smile, but he wouldn’t lie to her. “I don’t know for sure, but I would say those who were here are still alive, minus some memories, and probably any cameras or evidence they had.”
“Okay, good.”
Aiden searched the alley for his phone and the key card to his hotel room. He discovered the phone at the other end of the alley. Lifting it, he examined the broken bits before tossing the useless thing aside. The key card was gone. Either one of the officers had picked it up before the Savages returned, one of the Savages had it, or it had fallen out somewhere else.
Either way, it didn’t matter, they couldn’t use it to find him.
Aiden’s head lifted when the scent of garbage wafted to him; he sniffed at the air as the aroma drew closer. Maggie placed her hand over her nose. Aiden frowned as he studied her, but the growing stench drew his attention away. They had to get out of here, but the only safe place to go was Carha’s club.
He despised revealing any glimpse of the depravity of his soul to Maggie, but her safety was far more important than keeping his secrets hidden. Most of the vampires in the club weren’t fighters, but they wouldn’t tolerate an attack from Savages on anyone, especially since Savages had a habit of turning on and killing their kind for more power.
Placing his hand on the small of Maggie’s back, Aiden hurried toward the door. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
“They’re coming.”
Maggie glanced nervously over her shoulder, but she didn’t see or hear anything. She wouldn’t argue with his vampy senses. However, she had no idea what he expected to do with a closed metal door that had no handle. She had no doubt he could break it down, but their location wouldn’t exactly be unknown if he did.
Stopping before the door, Aiden knocked three times on it. He paused for a few seconds before knocking two more times, then paused again and rapped five times.
A window in the middle of the door suddenly slid open. Maggie would have leapt back if Aiden’s hand hadn’t been there to stop her. Perfectly hidden, she hadn’t seen the outline of the window until it opened. Leaning forward, she tried to peer inside, but there was only darkness on the other side.
Maggie jumped when a set of brown eyes appeared in the window. Those eyes settled on her before going to Aiden. “Back so soon?” a gruff voice said from the other side.
“Let us in,” Aiden commanded, and he could sense Brutus’s annoyance over the order. He also knew Brutus would do as he said.
After a hesitation, the click of locks turning filled the air, and the door creaked as it swung open. Maggie’s heels dug in when Aiden nudged her forward, but unwilling to face those Savages again, she gave in to his prodding and stepped inside.
The door swung shut behind them, and the locks slid back into place. “Reeks of blood out there, and you look like shit. What happened?” Brutus demanded.
The voice coming from her right sent shivers down Maggie’s spine as she glanced anxiously around, but with the door closed, a tomblike darkness enveloped them.
“Didn’t you look?” Aiden inquired.
“Couldn’t risk giving away our location,” Brutus replied. “Heard the voices and sirens and figured it was a human situation.”
“Not entirely,” Aiden replied. “Some killer vamps were involved, and they’re coming back.”
“Bastards,” Brutus hissed. “They may be coming back, but they won’t be coming in.”
“Good.” Aiden turned away from Brutus, and keeping his hand on the small of Maggie’s back, he led her onward.
“Carha will be happy to see you again,” Brutus said from behind them and gave a small chuckle.
“Who is Carha?” Maggie inquired.
“She owns this place,” Aiden replied.
“Where are we?”
“It’s a private club.”
“As in a private vampire club?”
“Yes, but there are humans here too.”
Maggie’s step faltered before she forced one foot in front of the other again. “Did you bring me here to pass me around to your friends?”
“I would never allow such a thing to happen to you. No one will touch you here; I’ll make sure of it.”
“Is this where you were before the Savages jumped you?”
“Yes.”
She heard a hint of something she couldn’t quite place in his voice; was it reluctance? Annoyance? “You said you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
“I don’t.”
The crisp way he said it made her hackles rise. She should be the irritable one. She was the one who’d been bitten by two vampires tonight, consumed vampire blood, attacked, and who was now walking into a vampire club with one of her biters. He may say he’d keep these vamps from touching her, but what if he couldn’t? She’d seen how brutal he could be, but how many vampires were inside here? And what if he changed his mind and she became the vampire equivalent of movie theatre popcorn in this place?
All she knew about vampires was what she’d seen in movies or read in books; so, he was either a completely misunderstood, brooding guy looking for love, or he was biding his time before turning her into a bloodless husk. Either way, she didn’t know vampire culture, and she didn’t like uncertainty in her life. She’d had far too much insecurity as a child and teen; she didn’t tolerate it as an adult.
“So is Carha an ex-girlfriend who will be happy to see you again so soon?” Maggie retorted and hated the jealousy she couldn’t keep from her tone.
“She’s not an ex.”
Maggie opened her mouth to speak before closing it. She didn’t care who Carha was to him. As soon as he got a phone, she could go home.
At the end of the hall, Aiden pulled open another door, and the most cliché, slow, emo music she’d ever heard drifted to her. She rolled her eyes and looked to Aiden. “Really hyping up that whole misunderstood creature of the night vibe in here, aren’t they, Nosferatu?”
Aiden’s mouth quirked in a smile. “It’s not my place.”
“Nope, you just support it.”
Something flashed through his eyes, but she couldn’t make out what it was before he glanced away from her and led her forward. Maggie kept her fa
ce impassive as they passed shadowed booths with couples sitting in them. Many of the couples were sipping glasses full of red liquid, but judging by the scent and the viscosity, they weren’t drinking blood.
The place was huge and could easily hold at least three hundred people, but there were only fifty or so occupants. Maggie’s eyebrows shot up when she spotted the coffins in the corners of the room. When she realized the music came from those coffins, she had another eye-rolling moment. She almost gagged at the coffin-shaped bathroom doors.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “I feel like I stepped into a bad, B horror movie without the campy humor. I don’t know who in here is human and who isn’t, but they’re all eating this up.”
“For some, this is a way of life.”
“For some, or for you?”
“Not for me.”
“Could have fooled me. That guy at the door knows you, and so do they,” she said as two men waved to Aiden and he returned the wave with a nod.
His eyes flashed to her. “There’s much you don’t know about me, Magdalene.”
“And I never will.”
The tug of sadness accompanying her words startled her. She wanted free of Aiden, and she’d prefer not to learn anything more about him. So then why was she trying to figure out what he’d been doing in this place earlier? She may not know him well, but she didn’t think he’d have to come to a place like this for sex and blood.
Aiden’s teeth grated together. He’d finally met his mate, and everything that could have gone wrong with their meeting had. He didn’t expect it to get any better while they remained in here, but he couldn’t do anything about that.
CHAPTER 16
Aiden steered her toward the bar and an empty seat at the end of it. “They’re not all real blood,” he assured her when he saw her gazing at the red jugs.
“I know,” she replied.
“I guess you would know, with your job and all.”
She shrugged. “I can also smell the difference.”
He opened his mouth to question her further, but the bartender arrived before he could. “Aiden,” Zeke greeted and was unable to keep the surprise off his face when he saw Aiden’s hand on Maggie’s back. Unlike many of the other vamps who frequented Carha’s, Aiden had never brought someone with him. “I’m Zeke.”
Ravaged (Vampire Awakenings, Book 7) Page 8
