Something cold smashed against her arm. Searing pain erupted from it. LeAnne could smell what she could only assume was burning flesh, but she still did not let go. Power flowed into and throughout her with each gulp. The human’s heart fluttered in a fast panic and her hands fought at LeAnne’s shoulders, but there was really no struggle. She was stronger than she ever imagined, and the bigger woman had no effect on her grip.
Once the deafening rhythm of the woman’s blood coursing through her veins softened to a whimper, LeAnne pulled her mouth away from the cool skin and climbed to her feet. The human’s face was slack, almost like she slept there on the floor. The skin was pale. She wasn’t dead, but she didn’t have far to go. Once the blood finished oozing from the neck wound, she would be gone.
With the immediate threat gone, LeAnne realized her arm was still aching. She looked down to see a three-inch burn in the shape of an ornate cross. It was so deep that she could see bubbled muscle. With a groan, she turned to face the room and assess the situation. Dorian fought on the floor with the lead agent. He was on top and seemed to know what he was doing. On the bed, Tori struggled to pull a dagger out of Jonas’s chest. Although both men’s lives were in danger, Dorian was in the most immediate.
She cut her eyes back to the fight. If she could jump on the thing’s back, she could cut its throat. LeAnne grabbed the knife from its sheath on her leg, crouched the way she had seen the others do, and took a few deep breaths. Her senses honed in on them and like tunnel vision, the rest of the room faded away. The men moved slower, slow enough that she could almost anticipate each movement.
The agent kicked his leg up, then shoved his hip up and threw Dorian over. As soon as he sat upright, she pounced on his back, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. He bucked, but LeAnne held on.
After the agent struggled against her for a few long seconds, he turned his attention back to Dorian, who was almost sitting up. He swiped at his head, but Dorian dodged. He grabbed the wolf’s arm and forced its claws into the floor. It was just the break LeAnne needed. She wrapped one arm around his head, jerked his head back and in a split second, raked the knife across its throat. She felt muscle give and pop under the blade. Then the head flipped back. He bucked again, tossing her back onto its legs while her legs held on. Warmth—from blood, she assumed—covered her legs. .
LeAnne screamed and threw herself away from the body. Dorian ripped the thing’s head off and rolled out from under the carcass. Blood covered his chest. But he didn’t seem affected as he dropped the head and kicked it across the floor.
In a flash, he darted over to Jonas. Only then did LeAnne realize that Tori was screaming for help. She jumped to her feet as Dorian yanked the knife out of the garante’s chest.
Tears streamed down Tori’s face as she shook Jonas, muttering. “Wake up…please, wake up.”
“He needs to feed,” Dorian said. He placed both hands on her shoulders and his eyes widening in LeAnne’s direction. She knew the look, even though it was the first time she’d seen it on his face. He thought more was wrong but hoped a little blood would fix the problem.
“Okay.” She sniffled. “You’re right.” Tori wiped her eyes, then shook off the fear and Dorian’s hands. “Help me get him out of here.”
LeAnne moved closer and watched Tori pull the limp body up to sit. She wrapped an arm around Jonas’s back.
“You can’t carry him.” Dorian put his hand on her shoulder again.
“But fire trucks will be here any minute. Last thing we need is him getting pulled out of a house with a yard full of dead bodies and put in a morgue.”
“She has a point,” LeAnne said.
“Help her get him out while I clean up.”
Dorian disappeared.
Tori had him on the edge of the bed by the time she was close enough to touch him. LeAnne put his arm around her neck and together they managed to get him up over LeAnne’s shoulder. Tori was necessary to stabilize his long body, but LeAnne was sure she could have done it alone if she’d had to. His weight was no worse than carrying a kid, but his height made it awkward.
They carried Jonas out to the SUV, which appeared unharmed by the fighting and explosions. Tori opened the back and together they slid him inside.
They hurried around to the front, and Dorian stood with the passenger door open. “Get in. There will be fewer questions if no one is here.”
Movement caught her attention and LeAnne looked up to see Blane coming around the far corner of the house. He too was covered in blood. “We can’t find Michael. G is taking Elena’s body to Fallen.”
“She’s dead?” Tori asked in a gasp.
Blane nodded.
LeAnne’s unbeating heart ached in her chest. In the back, Tori sighed. In the span of just a few ephemeral minutes, the friendly Elena, who had been just feet away, was dead. Jonas, as her blood-bonded mate, was either taken to the afterlife when she died, or he was in some sort of vampire coma. Michael was essentially M.I.A. Neither was going to sit well with the other vampires.
“Is everything cleaned up?” Dorian said, as if he had not heard the information.
“Yeah.” Blane darted over to stand beside the vehicle. “We got rid of everything. Ruined the house, though.”
“It’s all right,” Tori muttered and climbed into the back seat to sit beside the other man she loved. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“I’ll make one more sweep. Take them to Fallen, too.”
“On our way.” Dorian slid into the driver’s seat and LeAnne into the passenger seat beside him.
As he backed up the SUV and sped out of the drive, LeAnne looked once more at the mansion and wondered if they would ever come back, if there would even be anything left of it. She also wondered what happened to the padrone, but didn’t spend too much time on it because they had bigger problems, like keeping the authorities from catching them all bloodied at the site of an explosion. Moreover, they had to wake up a garante whom she had the distinct feeling should have been conscious by now.
When they pulled onto the road, she heard a sniffle from the back. Tori was crying. There was no doubt in her mind that Tori was going have a tough time with all the changes and loss. Her friend had never been good with change, and that made her worry. LeAnne was new to this life, and still it seemed unsettling to have these people and her new home suddenly ripped away. Tori would be shell-shocked.
The one bright spot was that her bestie always got back up when life knocked on her ass. Sometimes she had to lie there and weep for a while, but she eventually got up swinging. A mile or so down the road, they passed the first of the fire trucks barreling down the road. Something slid across her hand. LeAnne looked down to see Dorian lacing his fingers with hers. He didn’t look at her, just kept his eyes focused ahead, body relaxed, his hand holding hers. He seemed comfortable and confident, and that made her feel the same way. It was comforting amidst the chaos, and she loved him for that.
“I gave Jonas blood, and he still won’t wake up.” Tori sounded utterly defeated. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Chapter Nineteen
LeAnne looked at Dorian.
“I don’t think so.” He glanced into the rearview mirror. “Are you getting anything from Michael yet?”
“Nothing. I can’t feel him at all. Do you think he’s dead?” Tori’s voice broke on the last word.
“I believe you would have felt him die. You’re too close not to.”
LeAnne felt the tension in the air as Tori fought back tears. Her fear was palpable and a little appealing, which disturbed LeAnne slightly. Beneath that feeling was something else: a sadness so strong it twisted her gut. But it wasn’t coming from Tori. She glanced back. She didn’t think it came from anyone in the vehicle, but she couldn’t be sure.
Dorian’s thumb stroked hers. “What is it?”
&n
bsp; “Nothing,” LeAnne said and faced forward to let the lie settle. “Just thinking.”
He sat there, then grunted and stopped moving his thumb. “Where should we go, Tori?”
Tori never answered.
LeAnne turned around in her seat. “Give me your phone, Tori.” She held her hand out. When Tori did not respond, she cleared her throat. “Tori!”
Her friend looked up. She reminded LeAnne of a lost child. Her eyes were wide and tear-filled, and her face was pale and streaked with blood and black that might have been eyeliner.
“Hey.” She smiled. “I need your phone.”
Tori nodded and handed her a small black phone. She took it, sat back down, found Blane’s number in the contacts screen, pushed dial, and handed it to Dorian.
A short conversation between the men and a few minutes later, they were parked near the side entrance to a tall brick building with a sign out front labeling it The Fallen. If she correctly remembered what Tori had said, the club belonged to Michael. He had shut it down when he took over the city, preferring to keep it a personal space since he no longer needed the income.
When they all piled out, Dorian went to the back and took Jonas from the vehicle. LeAnne opened the back door. “Tori?”
Her friend looked at her again with those frightened eyes.
“We need you to come inside with us. Jonas needs you.”
She nodded and slid out of the vehicle. LeAnne motioned toward the building. “Show us how to get inside.”
Tori led them inside to a hallway, then down a flight of stone steps. When the three stopped at the foot of the stairs, they stood in a large room filled with living room furniture and a huge plasma television. LeAnne marveled at the underground complex of stone and drywall. It resembled a house without windows.
Dorian spoke up first. “Where should I put him, Tori?”
Tori wandered down a hall ahead of them. LeAnne followed with Dorian close behind, stopping when Tori paused to enter a code in a keypad beside a large steel door.
“Tori?” LeAnne moved closer to her.
Her friend didn’t answer.
“Put him in the back room on the right.” Blane’s voice came from behind them.
LeAnne turned to see him coming down the hall with Greg, who carried Elena’s body. A petite woman in green scrubs with black hair in a ponytail walked behind them.
“That’s Michael’s room,” Blane added.
As she had been instructed, LeAnne moved around Tori and headed toward the last room. Dorian followed her down the hall and waited while she opened the door for him. Inside was a cold, monochrome room with a sleek black satin bed centered on the far wall. A black fainting couch rested against the stone wall on the left. On the right, a chest of drawers that looked antique stood between the two doors.
Dorian placed Jonas on the bed. The new girl went straight to him.
“Marie thinks he may be in a coma,” Blane said.
“From what?” Dorian stepped away to give her room.
“Stress,” the woman said while she swiped a pen light back and forth in front of Jonas’s eyes, the lids of each she held open. “Sometimes our kind does that, shuts down to process and recoup when the stress on the body and mind is too great. Kind of like humans do.”
“You should probably check on Tori, too,” LeAnne said.
“I’ll check her when I’m done here.” The woman rolled Jonas over, examining his back.
Blane pointed toward the hall. “You two take the first room on the right. It’s my old room. There’s a bathroom and a closet full of clothes. Use whatever you want.”
“Thanks,” Dorian said, slipping an arm around her back.
LeAnne let him lead her into the hallway. When they passed the door, she tried but couldn’t hear anything through the steel. “I’m going to check on Tori.” Dorian gave her a small kiss and pushed her hair back behind her ear. “I’m going to shower. Be quick. There isn’t much time before sunset.”
“I will.”
As he walked away, she turned and knocked on the door to Tori’s room. She waited but there was no answer. LeAnne knocked again with more force, and waited. After a few minutes, Tori opened the door. The poor girl was still just as bloodied and haggard as she had been when they entered the building.
Tori didn’t even speak. She just turned and walked back to the canopied bed. She climbed up onto it and curled on her side.
LeAnne followed, shutting the door behind her. “Talk to me, Tori. You’re scaring me.”
Tori whispered so low that she wasn’t sure she would have heard her if she were still human. “What is there to say?”
“Just say anything.”
Tori sighed. “I feel empty. I know he’s gone.”
“I don’t think he’s dead. I’m sure it probably would have killed me.” At least that was what LeAnne had understood was possible.
“Not if you’re strong enough. Not if he found a way to protect us.”
“I don’t know if any vampire is that strong, Tori.”
“He was.”
“Look.” She took a breath and tried to think fast. “Even if he were dead, he wouldn’t want you to lie around, mourning him. He would want you to keep things running for him…right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
LeAnne heard sniffles. Rather than pushing, she went to a door on the left and pushed it open. Behind it was a massive travertine bathroom, which was exactly what her friend needed. She started the water in the shower, then walked over to the bed and smacked Tori on the back playfully. “Go get a shower. If Michael comes in while you’re asleep, he’s gonna think you’re dead looking like that.”
Tori made a pffft sound.
“Then get some rest. I’ll see you tonight.” LeAnne walked out of the room without giving her a chance to argue. At the very least, Tori would have to get up to turn off the water. With any luck, she would bathe while she was in there.
Walking up the hallway toward her room, LeAnne could feel it. A strange sort of exhaustion went bone deep and made her feel cold as snow. Her body was dying again, and she was frightened. She hurried into the bedroom. The bathroom door was open. She stripped on her way and walked into the plain khaki-colored bathroom in her birthday suit. The wavy glass shower door mottled Dorian’s pale muscled form. Watching him bathe, nerves overtook her. She was dirty and probably stunk. Plus, they had not been together long. Maybe she should just dress—
Dorian opened the door and looked her over from head to toe with a crooked grin. “Coming in?”
LeAnne plastered a smile on her face and went forward.
As soon as she was close enough, Dorian grabbed her hand and pulled her under the hot water. She looked up into his eyes. He pushed her hair back out of her face, slicking it with water. “How is she?”
“Bad.”
He held her face. “I’m sorry. For all of this.”
“Don’t. You did not cause everything that’s happened. I have the feeling it would be the same with or without you. Actually, it probably would have been a lot worse.”
He gave her a sad smile and then leaned down to kiss her. It was a deep but short-lived kiss. When he leaned back, he smiled brightly. “You’ve got five minutes.”
Dorian stepped out of the shower and closed the door, leaving her a bit of privacy to clean up, for which she was grateful. LeAnne used her new speed to take the fastest shower of her life. Of course, Blane did not have the right shampoo or conditioner, and the soap made her skin feel dry, but she was clean.
Standing in front of the mirror, wrapped in a white towel, her damp hair brushed back, LeAnne saw the difference vampirism had made. Her skin was smoother, firmer, and even a lighter shade of pale. Her eyes were brighter, almost glowing, and her hair had darkened. Like the best plastic surgery, the improvements were barely noticeab
le. However, the overall enhancement was striking.
She flipped off the bathroom light and opened the door. The world had flipped upside down and even come to a gravel-slinging stop all in one night. Tomorrow might be just as unnerving, and she needed rest. But for now, she needed comfort more. To be exact, she needed the kind of comfort she would only find in Dorian’s arms.
She walked, fighting to ignore her body’s ache for sleep. Dorian lay on the bed, barely visible in the darkness. His arms rested behind his head. All of his body was visible except where a strip of white sheet lay across his hips. A growling need that was much more human took over as she walked toward him.
When he looked at her, his eyes glowed with a dark hunger that matched, then multiplied her own. She dropped the towel and climbed onto the bed beside him, on her knees. Without waiting for her to settle in, Dorian leaned forward and took her lips in a hungry kiss.
She kissed him back, opening for his tongue. His mouth tasted warm and salty as she remembered his skin.
“Ow.” Dorian jerked back a few inches and laughed. “We’ll have to be careful of those. They’re sharp.”
A drop of blood beaded on his bottom lip. LeAnne leaned forward and licked it off slowly, teasing him with her tongue.
Dorian growled and wrapped his hands around her waist. He rolled, pulling her on top of him in a smooth motion. Her body was ready, so she did not stop him from planting her straight down on top of his hips. His rigid flesh pressed into her, sliding across moist skin as slow as molasses.
When he had made a few inches inside, she pulled up on her knees and made him start all over again. His hands found her breasts and caressed them. His fingers tickled and teased her nipples with his thumb. She teased him with penetration until Dorian growled and grabbed her head. He took her mouth, kissing her hard enough to make her head swim.
While bliss disoriented her, he pushed deeper inside her. LeAnne gasped and pulled back from his mouth. She took control again, inching her way up and down on his shaft. The sticky sounds of their skin moving against each other added to the tension already building in her core.
Dorian Page 17
