by J. C. Diem
“How can you possibly expect me to believe that?”
He took a step closer and I took a corresponding step back, keeping the distance between us. Frustrated, he clasped his hands together, possibly to stop himself from taking me by the shoulders and shaking me. “After we bit each other, Gloria tried to kiss me but something strange happened.”
I knew what he was referring to and spoke before he could. “Your body rejected her.” It wasn’t a question.
He gave me a startled look and nodded. “Nina kept me caged until the bonding ceremony. That was the first time we’d tried to be intimate.”
Deep inside me, my wolf stirred and I felt a momentary flare of fierce joy that he hadn’t slept with Gloria. Then the sensation was gone and I was back to being devoid of feelings again.
“I pushed Gloria away, which made Nina furious,” he continued. “She had two of her underlings hold me still while Gloria tried again.”
Despite myself, I had to know what happened. “What did you do?”
“I head-butted her,” he said with a grin. “I broke her nose and blood sprayed everywhere.” His amusement vanished and he looked haunted again. “I don’t remember much of what happened while I was held captive by my mother, but the bonding ceremony stayed with me.”
“Why were you being held captive? I thought you joined her pack willingly.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he said and made to move closer to me again. I held up a hand to stop him and he subsided. “Her control was subtle at first,” he explained. “It started even before I met her. She whispered inside my head, telling me I could never truly be happy with you. She invaded my dreams and did everything she could to turn me against you. She was the one who called me out of the hotel so Gareth could attack you. She wanted him to steal your bond from me so I could mate with Gloria when I joined her pack. It was just one more way for her to control me. ”
I nodded in understanding and was mildly surprised to realize my fists were clenched. Some part of me had known who was responsible for our relationship turning sour. “I doubt it was Nina who sent you the dream of your perfect world when we were captured by the succubae,” I said. I didn’t know why Nina had caged him and I no longer wanted to know. It didn’t seem to be very important anymore.
He grew even more haunted at that reminder. “I don’t think that came from her. I think there’s something else in my mind. Something else has been using me as its puppet.”
“You think this mysterious being was helping Nina to turn you against me?” He nodded at my question and I shrugged one shoulder. “Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter anymore. Their objective has been reached. Our bond is broken and we’ll never be together again.”
Denial darkened his eyes until they were almost the same shade of brown as mine. “You might have severed your bond with me, but I’m still tied to you.” Against my wishes, he stepped forward and took hold of my shoulders. “I can still feel you in my head. I know something went wrong when your mother turned you, but I don’t know what it was. What happened to you, Lexi?”
“Can’t you tell?” I asked and he looked at me blankly. “Katrina didn’t take my life when she turned me into her servant. She destroyed my ability to feel instead.”
Understanding dawned and he was appalled. “Is that why you feel so empty inside?” he whispered. At my nod, he pulled me against him and held me tightly. “I swear I’ll find a way to fix you.”
I stood immobile for a few seconds. I felt nothing as my former lover who I would have once gladly died for, held me in his arms. He went rigid when I spoke. “I don’t want you to fix me, Garrett.” He stepped back and stared down at me incredulously. “I loved you,” I told him and hope welled in his eyes. I’d never told him that before. I’d always known that he didn’t feel the same way and that he wouldn’t have wanted to hear it. “You killed my love when you rejected me. I don’t ever want to feel pain like that again.”
His hope withered and sadness took over. “Don’t you care about me at all anymore?”
“No. I don’t.”
Devastated by my rejection, he dropped his hands, hunched his shoulders and turned away from me. While my wolf howled mournfully inside my head, my vampire rubbed her hands in glee. Her joy at seeing Reece in torment didn’t filter through to me, yet I felt some satisfaction. With only a few words, I’d given him a mere taste of the agony that he’d put me through. If I put my mind to it, I could drive him to the brink of insanity just as he’d done to me.
₪₪₪
Chapter Sixteen
With our nest now reduced by two members, it seemed almost too quiet when I returned to the living room. Katrina sat in her leather chair, brooding and staring at nothing. Benjamin, Orlando, Pricilla and Candice ceased whispering together when I entered the room.
Reece regained control of his emotions and his expression was stony when he followed me inside. Taking my usual chair, I ignored him when he took a seat beside me. He either wasn’t getting the hint that I didn’t want him near me, or he was ignoring it.
Katrina shifted her gaze to us and studied us both intently. The others jumped when she spoke. “I take it you are both the same? You still breathe and have a heartbeat?”
Reece was startled at first then seemed to realize he was still breathing, if much more slowly than usual. He put two fingers on this throat and found his pulse. I nodded in answer to her question.
“You’re both some kind of half-vampire, half-werewolf?” she queried and I nodded again. “Is there any record of this happening in your agency’s records?”
“No,” Reece replied. “Not that I’m aware of anyway,” he clarified.
“What does this mean?” Benjamin asked. “How can they exist?”
“That is a very good question,” Katrina said. Her Romanian accent thickened with her confusion. “You seem to be far stronger than us. I wonder what other differences you have?” She focused on my hands and pointed at them. “Make your claws grow again.”
I could easily have ignored her imperious command, but it wasn’t worth the tirade I’d no doubt receive, so I dutifully concentrated. My fingernails lengthened into deadly claws for a few seconds before I returned them to normal. “Now you,” she ordered Reece.
He stared down at his hands and frowned, but nothing happened. “I don’t know how,” he shrugged. “I’m not like Lexi. I don’t think I can change unless it’s a full moon.”
“Why are you so different from everyone else?” my mother asked me in something close to exasperation.
“That’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot since Garrett turned me into a werewolf.”
“Don’t call me that,” he said in a low voice.
“Your name is of no importance,” Katrina snapped. As always, her minions cowered at her anger. They relaxed slightly when she turned back to me. “Can you transform yourself into a full werewolf?”
“I could, but it would ruin my clothes.” I wasn’t willing to strip down in front of everyone just to satisfy her curiosity.
“Werewolves have always been more deadly than vampires when they are in their bestial forms,” she mused. “It may prove to be very handy having a servant who can change on my command.”
“Why?” I asked her bluntly. I couldn’t see how my ability to change at will could be of any benefit to her.
“I sense danger coming,” she said in a dreamy voice. “It draws nearer with each hour that passes.”
“It’s not another invading nest again?” Pricilla asked in trepidation.
At my frown, Benjamin explained. “Katrina always seems to know when another master is planning to invade our territory.”
“How?” I asked her.
She shrugged in response. “It is a gift that I possessed even before I became a master. I always know when someone is planning to attack us. This has happened three times in the past. New Orleans is a city that tends to draw our kind. Previously, we’ve always had the number
s to be able to survive an assault.” She took in our diminished nest and despair flitted across her face. “This time, I fear we will be annihilated.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say that it would hardly be a pity if we all died. Then my necromancer whispered in my mind. She pointed out that Reece’s suffering had only just begun. Did I really want his misery to be cut short so soon? “How many vampires will we be facing?” I asked instead.
“I am not sure,” she replied. “However many there are, it is certain that they will outnumber us.”
“We don’t have to take them all on,” I said. “We just have to kill their master.” I knew enough about our kind to be aware that taking down their leader would be our safest plan of action.
Katrina’s lips pulled back in a smile, revealing her fangs. “That will render the rest of them helpless and we will be able to wipe them all out.”
“Guns would be useful,” Reece said and drew her attention. “Even master vampires aren’t invulnerable to bullets.” We both remembered that my father had shot Katrina’s master in the head. It had been enough to distract him when he’d been about to kill me. The wound hadn’t been fatal, but that had only been one bullet. Emptying a full clip into a vamp no matter how old or powerful they were should do the trick.
Katrina came to the same conclusion and waved her hand dismissively. “Go and find what you need. Don’t let anyone see you.”
Reece didn’t want to be separated from me, but I made no move to follow him. With a quiet sigh, he headed for the stairs.
“Why were you so adamant for me to turn him when you obviously despise him?” Katrina asked when she could no longer hear his footsteps. She didn’t realize how good our hearing was. Reece came to a stop on the third floor as he waited for my answer.
“For revenge,” I replied. “He ruined my life and now I’m repaying that favor.”
“Hmm,” she mused. “Perhaps we’re more alike than I’d realized.”
“I always thought I took after my father.”
Her pause lasted longer than I’d expected before she replied. “If you took after your father, I would never have contemplated turning you.” She tried to hide her shudder and failed. Major Philip Levine was the best sniper the US Army had ever seen. I could understand her terror at the thought of having him hunting her. She had no way of knowing that I was an even better shot than he was now. I had unparalleled skill with a gun and had no way of using it against her.
Realizing our conversation was over, Reece stepped outside. The door to the roof thumped shut behind him and I could no longer hear him above the sounds of traffic and human activity outside.
He was gone for over an hour and had changed his appearance when he returned. He’d found clippers somewhere and had cut his hair and had neatened up his short Mohawk. He was also smoothly shaven again.
He took a seat beside me, sending a furtive glance at Katrina. I knew him well enough to know he was up to something.
“Did you find what you needed?” our master asked.
Now dressed in tan cargo pants, a fitted black t-shirt and black jacket, he nodded. He placed a backpack at his feet then opened his jacket to reveal twin holsters. I caught a glimpse of the guns and wasn’t surprised to see they were Colt .45s. Everyone in the Shifter Squad preferred them, except me.
“How long do we have before the invaders arrive?” I asked. Until I saw the nest for myself, I was having trouble believing they were really on their way.
“They have stopped somewhere nearby, probably to feed and to rest,” she replied. “They know we are here and they will come for us tomorrow night.”
I exchanged a look with Reece. “Their master will probably send his minions in rather than attacking us himself,” I said.
He nodded in agreement. “We should lead them somewhere out in the open so he has nowhere to hide.”
“They’ll be able to pick us off too easily if we do that,” Orlando complained. “What chance will we have against them?”
“You won’t be in any danger,” Reece said with a hint of contempt. He didn’t even know any of the group yet and he already didn’t like them. “They’ll be targeting Katrina.”
“You want to use me as bait,” our master realized. Suspicious of our motives, she gave us both a hard look. “How do I know you won’t use their attack as an opportunity to get rid of me and to start a nest of your own?”
“I don’t even want to be part of this nest let alone start one of my own,” I told her truthfully. The mere thought of having minions following me around was distasteful. I didn’t want to be worshipped or feared. I wanted to be left alone as much as was possible now that I was tied to this band of bloodsuckers.
Katrina switched her gaze to Reece to see him staring forlornly at me. She realized he wasn’t going to try to usurp her position either. “Fine. We will follow this plan of yours. But know this; if you fail to destroy their master, they will eradicate us all.”
“Don’t worry,” I said to her. “Garrett and I are very good at killing monsters. It’s what we’ve been trained to do.”
“Yes,” she said sourly. “I am well aware that you are experienced at destroying our kind.” Her hand rose to her forehead for a moment. My father had been the one to shoot her rather than a member of the PIA, but any one of us would have done the same.
“We’ll need our strength if we’re going to face a battle,” Orlando said hopefully. “Can we at least have a proper meal for once rather than living on scraps?” None of the group was content with the few mouthfuls of blood they were allowed to snatch from the homeless people that we’d been preying on.
“Will your boss realize who is responsible if a single homeless person goes missing?” Katrina asked Reece. I wondered what had happened to the family she’d eaten. I guessed she must have disposed of their bodies herself after I’d fled. If not, Mark and his team would have already arrived by now. They’d have wiped them all out while I’d been on my mission to seek revenge on Reece.
“Not if we destroy the evidence,” he said reluctantly. Like me, he hadn’t become a ravenous eating machine after becoming a hybrid. Apparently, the thought of killing a human still went against his morals. Being half alive, maybe he still had a conscience. Mine had disappeared right along with the rest of my ability to feel.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seventeen
Anticipation and an unholy hunger spread through the group when our master stood and beckoned for us to follow her. Now that she was dressed in clean clothes and had washed away the dirt, Katrina was almost ethereally beautiful. She’d chosen another plain white dress, but her feet were still bare. I didn’t know why she preferred not to wear shoes, but the others emulated her in an effort to curry favor.
We trooped up to the roof then stepped over the ledge and dropped to the ground below. Reece didn’t hesitate to step off the roof and landed beside me without stumbling. He was quickly adapting to his new status as a half-vampire.
Benjamin pushed his way to the front of the group and Katrina allowed him to lead the way. He trotted through the dark streets to an alley and headed straight to a slumbering wino. The stench of unwashed flesh and alcohol wafted off the man from half a block away.
Benjamin wrinkled his nose in distaste, but he’d made his choice and he was going to stick with it. Putting a hand over the man’s mouth, he dragged him out from beneath a pile of raggedy blankets. Snorting awake, the wino stared at us with wide, terror-filled eyes. Taking in our pale faces and elongated fangs, muffled shrieks came from him even before he was taken to the ground and we began to feed.
Reece sent me a sickened glance before he crouched down and bit into the weakly struggling human’s arm. We both took only a few mouthfuls of his blood while the others savaged him like a pack of rabid dogs. Blood splattered Katrina’s face and dress by the time he finally expired. Sitting back on her haunches, she took a few moments to collect herself.
Seeing their uncontrollable fee
ding frenzy had been an eye-opening experience for Reece. His hands hovered near his guns while he battled the temptation to kill them all. They dropped away again just before our master turned to him as if sensing danger. While he couldn’t end her life, she knew that he could easily wipe out her minions.
“Get rid of the body,” she ordered us both. We were the only ones who weren’t still recovering from the euphoria of draining a human dry.
Without a word, Reece plucked the deceased up with one hand. He held him away from his body so he wouldn’t get any blood on his clothes. Like me, he had cleaned off the small amount of blood that had been smeared on his face.
He waited until we’d left the nest far behind before he asked a question. “Why do I still have a reflection?”
“Because you still have a soul.” I couldn’t be completely sure about that, but it seemed to be the most likely reason.
“Do you still have a reflection?” he asked.
“Yes, but it’s weak.”
“So is mine.” We went silent as we made our way towards the edge of Denver. We took our time rather than sprinting at full speed. Neither of us wanted to return to the lair until we had to.
Reaching the outskirts of the city, we stopped to stare at the distant mountain range. Our base was nestled in the foothills and it was familiar territory for us both. By mutual unspoken agreement, we decided to lay the body to rest near the place where we were no longer welcome. In minutes, we’d closed the distance that would have taken us two hours to reach by car.
Skirting around the edge of our compound, we made our way deep into the woods. Reece chose a spot in a clearing and dropped the body. We used our hands to dig a deep hole then pushed the wino into the grave and packed the dirt back on top of him.
“We should let the approaching vampires kill Katrina,” he said bleakly when we were finished. “Neither of us can finish her and she needs to be put down.”
