Blood Judgment (Judgment Series)

by Nickie Asher

  THREE HOURS after hitching a ride, Julian and Saranna stepped into the safety of their apartment.

  “I need to let Slade and Ashton know we’re all right.” She dialed her brother and paced the apartment while she talked, giving him an abridged version of the truth.

  He didn’t blame her.

  She ended the call. “Slade said they’ll be over tomorrow night. They’re going to work out a plan to get Vali out of there.”

  He could help them. He’d been there and had at least some idea of where Vali might be held. “I’m going with them.”

  “I knew you would.” She stroked his cheek, her touch like warm silk. “I need a bath. I have to get that place off of me.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  TWO HOURS later, she came out of the bathroom and sat beside him on the sofa.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “No, but I will be.” She moved closer and laid her head on his shoulder.

  “You’re safe, Saranna. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you.” Like those two pigs he was going back for. His fangs ached with the desire to kill. He ground his teeth, wanting relief from the pain in his gums.

  She drew her feet up and tucked them under her. Without looking at him, she said, “I don’t disgust you? I mean … you know what they did to me.”

  His heart squeezed. “God, no. Why would you think that?”

  She buried her face in his shoulder, hiding behind her hair. “I feel so dirty. Disgusting. Violated. How can you even look at me?”

  He hesitated, half afraid to touch her. Dampness seeped through his shirt. He slipped his arm around her and she pushed into him. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “None of it. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I’m so sorry.”

  “Not your fault.”

  But it was. He’d failed her in so many ways. “If I hadn’t been acting like a bastard and had been paying attention, we wouldn’t have got caught. I failed to protect you. I failed you in every way possible.”

  “Don’t ever think that. You came for me. Like you said you would. And you saved me.”

  He stroked her arm. He had, but she wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it hadn’t been for him. A fact he’d added to a list of deeds that would follow him to his grave.

  Chapter Nineteen

  VALI DIDN’T have much time left.

  He tried to swallow past the taste of death, but it hung in his throat like dry cotton.

  His leg smelled like a dead animal. The stench, combined with the odor of blood and feces, sent his stomach into a sick roll. Infection had a deep hold on him and he was too weak to fight or even care.

  Most of the time, he didn’t know where he was. He hated the moments of lucidity, but they were growing further and further apart.

  He lay on cold concrete, stiff and sore from immobility. His broken arm throbbed and kept him from repositioning himself and relieving the pressure points. A mass of pain enveloped his upper body, while his legs were dead, useless.

  He took solace in knowing he couldn’t live much longer. Half-starved and dehydrated, he had no strength to battle for his life. He was okay with dying. Mostly.

  He wanted his mother. Wanted her arms around him when the end arrived and he stepped into whatever came next. If anything. But he would die alone. And he deserved it. No one knew that better than him. He had no right to wish for comfort.

  At least he would die knowing he hadn’t talked. Not one word. They hadn’t been able to break him no matter how they’d tortured him.

  And they had tried.

  He shivered. He didn’t remember everything they’d done to him. His mind had shut down during the worst of it. But he remembered enough.

  None of it mattered now.

  A deep chill had seeped into his broken body. His time was nearing, or rather, ending.

  Soon, his organs would call it quits and shut down. He wouldn’t suffer long afterward. Another day, two at the most, and he would probably fall into unconsciousness hours before his heart stopped.

  At least he hoped so.

  ASHTON AND Slade showed up thirty minutes after sunset. Ashton didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Julian, I hope you can help us.” He pulled blueprints from a cardboard tube and spread them out on the scarred coffee table.

  Saranna clutched at Julian’s arm.

  “I’ll do anything I can to help.” This was his chance to show Ashton he could be an asset. Damn right he would help. Besides, Vali was his friend.

  “Can you show us what part of the building you were held in? Vali will probably be in the same area.”

  Julian sat on the sofa and studied the floor plans of the Vampire Control and Security Center until he oriented himself to the drawings.

  He pointed to the garage. “This is where they go in and out with the vans. Here is where I was held.” He pointed to the rooms along a hallway. “Here’s where they do the processing.” A shudder ran through his body.

  He met Ashton’s eyes. “I want to come along. He’s my friend. I want to help.”

  “No.” Slade said. “You aren’t a fighter. This won’t be a trip to the Symphony.”

  Julian bristled. “I can fight. I want to go. I want to help.”

  “Breaking into a government building won’t be easy. And it’s going to be dangerous,” Ashton said. “You’re wanted. If they catch you and we can’t free you, you’ll be executed.”

  “I want to go.”

  Ashton nodded. “Okay. As long as you understand.”

  Slade gave Julian a frosted look. Julian refused to back down. Slade was going to be a jerk at every turn. Well, tough shit. Slade could go piss up a rope if he wanted to.

  “I’m coming, too,” Saranna said.

  “No, you aren’t.” Julian wouldn’t stand for it. “It’s too dangerous. We’ll get him.”

  She jammed her hands on her hips. “You can’t make me stay home.”

  “He’s right.” Ashton backed him up. “I won’t allow it. You both agreed I’m leading. So, you will do as I say in regard to this.”

  She gave Ashton a dirty look. “Fine.”

  Ashton shoved his hair out of his face. “It may be too late for Vali, but I’ve put out feelers to find out who the hell is killing whores. I don’t know if it can do Julian any good at this point, but this bastard has to be stopped.”

  “Even if you find him,” Julian said. “There’s no way to clear me. Is there?”

  “No. But it might save some other poor bastard from getting blamed if…”

  “If Vali and I are both killed and the whores keep turning up dead.”

  “Yes. That’s correct.”

  Julian swallowed at the brutal honesty, but said nothing.

  “Now,” Ashton said. “I have information about your father.”

  Julian jerked his head up. His heart pounded his ribs. “You’ve found him?”

  “There’s a Christopher Wilkes here in Seattle. He’s originally from New York, but he’s lived here for the last fifty or so years. He’s wealthy. Very wealthy, in fact. That’s the good news.” Ashton paused. “The bad news is I haven’t been able to pin him down and none of my contacts know where he is. But as of a month ago, he was still alive.”

  “My God,” Julian said. He had a living parent, a vampire parent.

  “I’ll keep my contacts working on finding his residence. We’ll locate him eventually.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate your help.” His father lived right here. And he sure as hell hadn’t been looking for Julian. His father didn’t want anything to do with him. His chest squeezed with the simple truth of being unwanted.

  THE VAMPIRE Control and Security Center operated around the clock and though it was after eleven, the building was fully lit and people came and went through the front doors.

  “Come on.” Ashton motioned for them to follow and they snaked their way to the back of the building.

  Julian’s heart inched up his throat at the prospect of going insi
de the Security Center. Yet, he had to. Vali would die if they didn’t rescue him.

  “Shit, there isn’t a door.” Julian looked up at the building. “There aren’t even any windows.”

  “That’s right. It’s perfect. You’d think they would be smarter. Then again, it’s government run. The traders wouldn’t be this stupid.”

  “What do you mean? How the hell are we going to get in?” Julian asked.

  Slade touched the brick. “Have you tried to wall-climb yet?”

  “Wall-climb?”

  “Yeah, right up the wall, like Spiderman.”

  Julian’s guts knotted up. “Oh, hell no.”

  Slade gave him an evil smile of perverse enjoyment. “You’re about to learn.”

  The roofline was nine floors overhead. His stomach did a slow flip. He’d never make it. He’d get halfway up and fall.

  “Come on,” Ashton said. “We don’t have time to be pissing around. Grip the little spaces between the bricks. You can do it.” He moved forward and climbed.

  Julian placed his hands on the brick but stood frozen. Cold sweat coated his skin and fear dug around in his belly with icepick claws.

  He couldn’t do it. Not even the thought of Vali being tortured and slaughtered would make him move forward.

  He had to do it.

  Choking on fear, Julian gripped the little lines of mortar with his fingertips and placed the toe of one shoe against the wall.

  Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, he pushed off with his other foot. Amazed, he climbed spider-like, afraid to stop. If he lost momentum, he might hang there, suspended, too petrified to continue up or retreat back the way he’d come.

  Don’t look down. God, don’t look down.

  Eyes fastened on the brick, Julian forced his hands and feet to move until, five floors up, the toe of his right shoe slid against the brick. Scrabbling for purchase with his foot, his heart dove into the back of his throat and lodged like a stone.

  He clung to the wall, terrified to move, while Slade and Ashton climbed farther and farther ahead. The pounding of his heart and ringing in his ears overwhelmed his senses and his head swam with dizziness.

  I’m going to fall and splatter my guts all over the place. I don’t want to die like this.

  Rationally, he knew the fall wouldn’t kill him unless he was injured badly enough to bleed to death. Still, it did nothing to spur him forward.

  He couldn’t move.

  If he tried, he’d fall. His confidence was shot.

  So what was he going to do? Hang here until dawn?

  He squeezed his eyes shut, whispered a prayer, and forced his foot to move up a step. He didn’t slip, but he hung there just the same.

  “Come on, Julian. Get your ass moving,” Slade snapped from above.

  Fuck it to hell.

  Julian squeezed his eyes shut again and took a blind step up. Then another. He opened his eyes and focused on the brick.

  Vali is going to die if we don’t get him out. Now, climb, damn it.

  He climbed.

  He reached the sixth floor and kept going.

  After an eternity and coated with sweat, he made it to the roof. Ashton grabbed Julian’s forearm and pulled him to safety. “We aren’t leaving that way, are we?” Julian asked.

  “No.” Ashton stood and waited for him. “We’re going out the front door. I didn’t give you a gun for you to take home and use for a paper weight.”

  The nine millimeter fit snug, tucked in the back of his jeans.

  Ashton led them to a little shed-like structure and yanked open the locked door. They slipped inside the dimly lit stairwell. Descending fast, they reached the bottom in under a minute.

  Ashton pulled an automatic out of his waistband, checked it, and moved it to the front. He waited until Julian and Slade did likewise before cracking open the door.

  A flood of sound washed into the stairwell. Employee chatter. The moans and cries of vampires. The clatter of cage doors and other unidentifiable noises.

  Julian tried not to inhale the odors drifting in. They were too familiar, too stomach churning, too mind numbing.

  “Kill anyone who tries to stop you and be as quiet about it as possible. Firepower is last resort. Got it?” Ashton said.

  Julian nodded.

  “Yeah,” Slade said.

  “Okay, let’s do this.” Ashton opened the door and they slid into a long hallway with a dozen or so doors off to the left.

  A scream cut through the other sounds. “Jesus.” Julian shivered.

  “Vampire. Probably being processed. Motherfucking bastards.” Rage burned in Slade’s eyes.

  “How the hell are we going to find him?” Julian asked.

  “His scent, if we can pick it up.” Ashton took a long draw of the foul air. “If not, we open doors and go in.”

  Julian hoped they would find him without resorting to that.

  They walked down the hallway. For Julian, too many odors assaulted him to sort out. Medicinal odors, blood—which made his stomach lurch with need—scorched flesh, pain, hunger, despair. They overwhelmed him.

  A door opened and a technician stepped into the hall. He gaped at them. “This is a restricted area. What are you people doing here?”

  “We’re looking for one of the vampires you have detained here.” Ashton gestured at the row of doors.

  “No one’s allowed down here. And what do you want with one of those vermin anyway?”

  “We’re from the press,” Julian blurted in a moment of inspiration. “We want to do a story about your fine work of catching a killer. You know the one, killed those prostitutes.” He hoped to God the technician didn’t ask for credentials.

  “Oh. But you still aren’t permitted down here. Where are your badges to access the building?”

  Julian waved his hand in dismissal. “Didn’t give us any. Some problem with them at the desk. Something about the computer system.”

  The technician looked torn with the desire to see his name in print and knowing they were breaking the rules. “I’m not supposed to allow anyone in here, but he’s being kept down there.” He pointed to the last door.

  “He’s supposed to be moved to the execution wing later tonight and put down Wednesday. Though I don’t think he’ll be alive two days from now. If they want to use the drugs on him, they’d better do it tonight.”

  Ashton tensed. “Why?”

  “They’ve been usin’ him for a test rat. Some hush-hush drug they’re developing.” He stopped and alarm registered on his face. “You boys can’t repeat that.”

  “You’ve nothing to fear from us,” Ashton said.

  He nodded. “His leg’s infected. I guess he has blood poisoning. They aren’t treating him and they haven’t exactly been gentle with him.” He shrugged. “No big deal since he’s slated to be put down anyway.”

  Julian wanted to rip the technician’s throat out. Instead, he put out the bait. “Can you let us in to see him? We’d love to interview you as well. We’ll make it read like you talked with us off premises. We wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for assisting us.”

  “Yeah, I’ll let you see him. What’s the harm, right?” He produced a ring of keys. “This way.”

  He led them to the end of the hall and opened the door.

  Ashton was all over him the moment he stepped inside. In a blink, he hung limp in Ashton’s hands, his head at an odd angle. Ashton discarded him and cursed.

  Vali lay in a twisted heap on the bare concrete floor. He had no blanket, no pillow, nothing to ease his discomfort. Along with the combined odors of sickness and pain, the stomach clenching scent of death hung thick around him. He opened glazed eyes. No sign of recognition glimmered in the silver-blue depths. His eyelids drifted shut.

  “Holy fucking shit.” Slade’s face contorted.

  Ashton knelt beside him. “Vali, I want to look at your leg.”

  Vali opened his eyes, but it was only a reflex.

  “He’s out of it.
I don’t know how he’s going to like me messing with his leg,” Ashton said. “Hold him still. We don’t need him doing any more damage.”

  Julian and Slade held Vali’s arms, pinning him down.

  Ashton ripped Vali’s jeans and pulled the denim away from Vali’s leg. It peeled freely at first, but became resistant, sticking to his leg, glued with blood and whatever else wept from the wound. Ashton tried to coax it loose and something gave under the force of his pull.

  Vali didn’t move, not even a flinch.

  Ashton scowled. He peeled the split material out of the way.

  Blood and puss oozed from a long, deep wound. The stench of rot and infection rose from his leg. His flesh had turned red around the gash. Vali moaned and tried to pull away, but he gave no real indication of pain.

  “Stop it!” Ashton’s voice cracked like a whip. “We’re trying to help you.”

  Vali’s weak struggles ceased.

  “Julian, I need you to hold his leg still.”

  Julian shifted and took the leg. The smell wafted up and he fought the urge to gag. Vali’s skin was hot. He was cooking with fever. Ashton used his thumbs to separate the puss crusted edges and Julian expected Vali to lurch despite the hold they had on him, but he didn’t. He didn’t move at all.

  “I don’t think he has any feeling in his leg,” Julian said.

  “I think you’re right.”

  Vali laid limp, unconscious.

  “It’s better that he’s out.” Ashton said. “I want you to carry him. If we have to shoot our way out of here I want Slade to be the other trigger man. He and I are good shots.”

  Julian gathered up Vali and got onto his feet with his awkward load.

  Ashton cracked the door open and eased out. Julian followed with Slade on his heels.

  They hurried to the elevator without incident. Ashton hit the button and the group fidgeted until the car arrived. Ashton and Slade positioned themselves in front of Julian and dropped into a crouch, ready for a confrontation. The doors slid open.

  The elevator was empty. They piled in and Ashton poked the button for the ground floor. No one spoke during the rapid ascent. The bell dinged and Julian tensed. The doors slid open and they stepped off.