Raz

by J. S. Striker

  Raz said that there were others more powerful than him, and she probably couldn’t detect their presence, either—but instinct told her that wasn’t it now. She and Peter trekked what they could, covering their tracks and stopping at intervals for only a few minutes so the boy could feed on animal blood. He was obviously still struggling, but it was impressive how much he made an effort to control the bloodlust and keep it in.

  He was also obviously still grieving for his sister, which gave Eva the push to stop thinking about going back and to keep moving forward as fast as they could.

  They finally reached a highway and managed to hitch on the back of a truck filled with hay, where they settled in and got comfortable enough to sleep during the journey. Eva woke Peter up at dawn, and it was back to walking as they finally got to New Jersey. There, they booked a flight, using an alias that Raz gave them to take them to a place Eva never thought she would end up in.

  Hawaii.

  Beaches, mountains, sun. Those were the top three things that dominated the state, and it obviously brightened Peter up a bit. They trekked some more, finally getting to a mountain area where she used her new family name to get past the spell hiding Raz’s place. Then they were in, and Eva could only stare in amazement at the setup Raz made—a simple but huge house made of wood and glass, some vegetation on one side, a forest on the other, a mini pond connecting to the ocean for fish to thrive, and the most breathtaking view of the sunset over the sea. She remembered Raz’s mansion and realized that was only one part of him, the other being this one that wanted to live peacefully.

  They settled in, and Eva let Peter wander around and see the forest. She needed to show him she trusted him, and that was the first step. Now, it was up to her nephew, the ball in his court now. Eva explored, too, but mostly she waited for Raz, counting the days in her head and telling herself the next day, he would be here with them.

  But he didn’t come, and she worried. Days turned into a week, and soon the week extended enough to have her worry. She didn’t like sitting back and worrying, but Eva also didn’t like making rash decisions and getting herself in trouble because of impatience. So she weighed the options.

  In the end, it wasn’t the options that made her pack a bag again—a tinier one this time as Peter sat on the bed and stared at what she was doing.

  “I want to come with you,” he declared. There was no petulance in his tone, and it made Eva realize how much he’d grown in just a couple of days. It was heartbreaking really, to have grief do that to a person.

  Much like Raz tried to explain to her, she did the same to Peter. He listened intently as she said she needed to go get the man who was now a part of their family, and he needed to stay here because he was the one that they needed alive the most. Eva repeated over and over how much she loved Peter and would return to him, and in her mind, she knew it was true. Peter felt it, too, as he finally nodded. Then he cried and hugged her, telling her he was going to wait for her return and was going to be a good boy.

  It was the best Eva could hope for, really.

  She used the same route to go back to Manhattan, but she didn’t even have to go back to Raz’s mansion to be found. She felt the presence that she felt before as soon as she got to the forest beyond Raz’s backyard, and she stopped walking once she did.

  Banking on civility, Eva took an inward breath. Then she spoke out.

  “Vladimir, I know you’re here. Can you please take me to Raz?”

  Silence followed her words. But a few seconds later, a blur appeared right in front of her and stopped, and she was treated to a sight of what had to be the most intimidating looking man she’d ever encountered. While Raz was pleasant looking and intense in his own right, this man…he was so much more, holding in such raw power that it almost had her cowering. But she straightened her shoulders and met his gaze.

  “Where’s the boy?” he asked.

  “Take me to Raz first,” she replied quietly.

  He didn’t like that answer. But he didn’t hurt her, either. Vladimir finally accepted her bargain, and soon she was heading towards what they called vampire headquarters—a place that was so staggeringly large and teeming with vampires that made her hair stand on end. If she thought Vladimir was crazy dangerous, then this even larger mansion filled with deadly creatures like him was just a death sentence waiting to happen, and she couldn’t imagine how one leader could keep them all in line.

  When she finally met Lucinda, she realized she thought too soon.

  The woman was beautiful—staggeringly beautiful, really, with her golden hair and mesmerizing green eyes. But that wasn’t what kept Eva’s attention. It was the power she exuded, much subtler than Vladimir’s, but so much more seductive in how it was so easily contained. Eva had a feeling that in a fight between vampires, she would easily beat them all and not even mess up a single strand of her hair.

  The woman looked at her straight on, almost placidly.

  “I had a feeling you would come for him,” she said. Her voice was pleasant and lovely, hiding no threat at all.

  Eva knew that was part of her glamour, so she steeled her spine and didn’t break the overwhelming gaze. “And here I am.” She had once said to herself she wouldn’t plead with anyone, not when they were enemies who were bound to kill her. But so much was at stake now, and Eva knew what she had to do.

  She knelt down.

  “Please. If Raz is still alive, don’t kill him. And if he’s dead…” She almost choked on the words but pushed on. “I hope to God his death was worth it for your so-called cause.”

  “We don’t believe in your God,” Lucinda replied softly, tilting her head. “But we do believe in retribution.”

  The words were a puzzle; one Eva couldn’t figure out. Before she could, the door opened behind her, and the sound of footsteps filled the meeting room. Eva turned her head when she realized she recognized his scent.

  She froze when she also realized it was mixed with the scent of blood.

  In a split second, Raz was thrown right in front of her, tied up in chains and bleeding all over. Horror filled her, followed by fear as the signs of torture showed on his body. Vladimir stood beside him, perfectly expressionless.

  Eva looked back at Lucinda. The vampire didn’t look delighted at the sight as she expected.

  But there was no mistaking the words that came out next.

  “Eva, will you bargain for him?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The fact that his already tired senses could still recognize Eva’s scent and voice was enough to cement what he felt for her, and again, he found it the most incredible thing in the world. But the thought left as soon as it came, and pain took over as he felt it in his very bones.

  He’d been tortured for a good many days now, but it wasn’t done with relish. In fact, Raz was surprised that the most just of vampires had been the one to do the torture—Vladimir included, who did everything so mechanically that he might as well not have been there. Every day, the same question was asked of him. Every day, his answer was the same.

  The boy is safe and away from here.

  It was now mostly a battle of wills, one that Raz wasn’t quite ready to give up yet. But it was obvious they weren’t ready to give up, either, and he had to wonder how long his body was going to take before it snapped. Through it all, thoughts of Eva and Peter flitted in and out of his mind, and the fact that they were safe made him feel better once every torture session was over.

  But now Eva was here, and it felt like his world was crumbling.

  She was kneeling—kneeling in front of Lucinda, her words stumbling all over each other. Or maybe it was just his mind messing with him because hell knew he couldn’t think straight anymore. He managed to catch on to some words, hearing her pleading tone and the way Lucinda calmly replied. Then he heard one word that had him straightening, which in turn made pain shoot up his spine.

  Bargain.

  “No,” he said through gritted teeth. He looked in
Eva’s direction, watching her petite form hold still, but she didn’t even look his way. “Eva, damn it.”

  But those were the only words he could get out, and he could only listen to the rest. He caught on as Lucinda kept asking where Peter was, and Eva kept refusing to tell her. He caught on as Eva kept evading the mind games the vampire leader played, an impressive feat that she was obviously starting to lose as her body trembled with the effort not to succumb to Lucinda’s charms. Raz caught on as Eva finally switched the tables, bargaining her life in exchange for Raz’s and leaving Peter out of the picture completely.

  He might have protested. He was pretty sure he shouted some curse words, something that was rare for him. But the pain caught on to Raz, too.

  Before he knew it, darkness was taking over.

  *****

  Raz woke up to the sight of a ceiling that didn’t look like the one in the prison they’d placed him in. His body also wasn’t in as much pain, and the fact that his mind was so sharp now indicated something that had him shooting up into a standing position instantly.

  A quick scan of his body determined that he was fully healed, which meant he’d been asleep for three to four days, which was his usual regeneration time from severe injuries. He felt around with his senses, but heard nothing and felt no one.

  He was left alone.

  Eva flashed in his mind, and fear gripped him. Then he was putting on the clothes provided nearby and slipping out of the room, walking as calmly as he could and not caring that he was being seen.

  A hand clamped on his arm, and he paused. He glanced to the side and found the red-haired, lanky Finn Jackles—Lucinda’s partner. It once surprised him how the vampire leader couldn’t have a vampire for a life partner and strengthen her power with that kind of alliance, but he now realized how stupid of an assumption that had been. Feelings didn’t dictate who you would end up with, and Lucinda fought for those feelings.

  It gave him hope. At the same time, it made him tense up and brace himself.

  “Eva,” he murmured.

  Finn shook his head. “Wait for Lucinda.”

  “Is she alive?”

  “Wait for Lucinda.”

  Frustration hit him with the vague answer, but Raz clamped his mouth shut and tried to rein it in. The dragon shifter directed him to the meeting hall where council meetings and gatherings were usually held for important decisions. He supposed whatever was in front of him was an important decision for their society now, and it helped push Raz forward when all he wanted to do was look for a certain non-shifting shifter right away.

  Lucinda was with Vladimir when he entered, reminding him of a scenario in the past where he was a part of that team passing judgment on someone. How the tables had turned. He waited in the middle of the room as Finn left.

  Then, surprisingly, Vladimir stood up and left, too.

  Raz and Lucinda stared at each other in silence. Finally, unable to help himself anymore, Raz asked the most important question.

  “Where is she?”

  Lucinda didn’t waste time with niceties. “Alive. I let her go.”

  The answer wasn’t what Raz was expecting, and he detected no lie. It was so shocking that he could only stare for a while, trying to process the words and furiously analyze them in his mind.

  “She bargained for her life in exchange for mine.”

  “I didn’t accept the bargain,” Lucinda replied easily.

  “I don’t understand,” Raz finally bit out.

  The vampire leader straightened from her sitting position, never once taking her gaze off Raz. “Then let me make you understand.”

  And she did.

  Half an hour later, Raz was still reeling from the conversation, unable to believe what happened actually happened. As a vampire, he usually wasn’t the type who felt tiny inconveniences like a headache—but he was feeling that now, throbbing inside him and making it hard to think further.

  So he let all thoughts go.

  *****

  A few weeks later, Raz went back to his mansion, where he packed the essentials and left behind what he could. No one followed him, telling him that Lucinda was holding her part of the bargain—as she usually did when someone wasn’t an actual enemy.

  And hell knew he wasn’t one.

  When he was done, Raz turned off all the lights and locked all the doors, knowing he wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. Then he began walking away, using the route that he gave to Eva in the past. He thought of her, wondering how she and Peter were faring…wondering if she was still thinking of him. Whatever was happening to them there, he was going to find out soon enough.

  He was free.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “I got you some fish. Maybe we can have grilled fish tonight?”

  The hopeful tone of Peter’s voice had Eva smiling as she picked some vegetables from their garden. The vegetation they found when they first got there was huge, with only the bare minimum planted and uncared for. Now, it was thriving with all their favorite vegetables, along with some fruits that Eva painstakingly watched before they bloomed and could finally be left alone.

  The same could be said about Peter. It had been so difficult to manage him at first, as he struggled with his nature and fought to stay in his lane and not seek out human flesh. He’d often cried at night asking for Ana, then looked lost and helpless in the morning before the hunger set in. When Eva had returned from Manhattan, she’d found him bloodied, confessing that he’d killed a deer and had feasted on its flesh before he could stop himself. Instead of reprimanding him, Eva knelt beside him. Then she hugged him tight and told him that it was alright, and to keep fighting it.

  That was a month ago, and the changes within him now were very significant. He started liking fruits and vegetables again, even grilled and fried meats rather than raw ones. When the urge became too strong, he willingly locked himself up inside a prison cell at the back of the house and waited out the hunger. Sometimes, he had a raw rabbit or two, but that was it.

  “Grilled fish sounds like a good idea,” Eva replied. “Don’t you want blood?”

  Eva realized that there was no tiptoeing around the subject matter, really, and it was better out in the open to let Peter know that he wasn’t some monster to be ashamed of. But he wasn’t normal, either, and he needed to control himself first before he could be reintroduced to the world.

  “I can last without blood every other day now,” Peter said proudly. Then he suddenly looked troubled. “That’s a good sign, don’t you think?”

  Eva nodded her head. “It’s a very good sign.”

  “So I’m learning to control myself better?”

  “Yes. Which is a good thing.”

  “I miss Ana,” he blurted out. Then he bit his lip, kneeling down beside her as she selected some ripe tomatoes.

  “I miss her, too,” Eva said softly. She’d been so wrong about her niece, and she was still coming to terms with that. The image of Ana’s love for Peter struck a chord inside her.

  “I miss Raz,” he added. “Where is he?”

  This time, the striking was more intense. Eva looked down. “He had some things to do.”

  She could still remember that day clearly—how she begged for his life in exchange for hers, and how Lucinda had refused. She was then told to go away and never come back, else they were going to kill both Peter and Raz.

  Now, she might never see him again. It hurt like hell, but it was for the best. At least, that was what she kept telling herself.

  “Raz.”

  “He’s gone, sweetie.”

  “No, Raz,” Peter insisted. “Raz!”

  “Hi, Peter.”

  The deep, familiar voice had Eva freezing. It struck her heart once more, and she blinked her eyes a couple of times to better control her emotions.

  “You’re squeezing that tomato to death,” the voice said.

  Eva blinked again, then looked at her hand, which was indeed squeezing the tomato. She dropped it to the
ground and stood up, staring at the man just outside the spell border and wondering if he was real.

  He looked good. In fact, he looked so good that she couldn’t quite reconcile how he looked now from how he looked when they were at vampire headquarters—skin riddled with injuries, blood flowing freely, eyes not quite there. The pain of that moment reverberated back inside her, and she marveled again at how his skin looked polished right now, with almost no scars. It made her take a step back now and eye him suspiciously.

  She picked up her basket of vegetables, intending to throw it at him if he wasn’t Raz.

  “Prove yourself,” she said, keeping her voice perfectly calm. “Or else I’ll have Peter tear you to shreds.”

  Peter readied himself, eyes widening.

  Raz tilted his head. “We’ve made mistakes and choices we’re not proud of, but we did our best—and that’s what matters in the end.”

  Eva dropped the basket upon hearing the same exact words she said to him before.

  Then she was walking fast in his direction. She stopped just a few inches away from the invisible barrier, staring at him once again as her heart almost burst out of her chest.

  “Raz,” she whispered.

  “Eva.”

  He took a step forward and crossed the barrier, closing whatever distance was left between them.

  *****

  The catching up took a while, as Raz filled her in on what had happened to him so far while she made the preparations for dinner. Apparently, he thought he was going to die, too—but the vampire leader shocked him when he woke up a few days after Eva’s visit and found that the torture had stopped, and they’d allowed him time to rest. Then he was taken to Lucinda, who told her the conditions for his life.

  First, he needed to continue a couple of crucial missions for the vampire leader for a month.

  Then, after that was done, he was permanently banished from the vampire society and was never to show his face again.