Addict

by Lexi Blake

  “I get the feeling she’ll have to stand in line,” Casey muttered.

  I noticed he didn’t shove Liv off his lap. He cuddled her close. Vampires are especially affectionate creatures after a feed. Casey wasn’t attempting to fight that part of his nature. Liv’s face pressed into his neck and he rubbed his cheek against hers thoughtfully.

  “Is she better?” Gray ignored what was going on in the backseat. His attention was divided between me and the road. He didn’t seem to have any trouble driving in the awful conditions.

  Marcus looked into my eyes, studying them carefully. “I believe the concussion is gone.”

  My head was perfectly clear. I was able to think straight and reason. The vampire blood had done its job. It healed everything it could.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t bring back the dead things of this world.

  “Bella, why are you crying?” Marcus’s hand cupped my cheek. His dark eyes were filled with concern. “It’s all right now. Everyone is well. I want a report on what happened, but otherwise it’s fine.”

  I shook my head. There was nothing to do at this point except to show him. I pulled my dead right hand out of my jacket where I’d kept it cradled to my chest. I didn’t need to look at it to know it was completely fucked, but the sight of it made me nauseous anyway. It was black and withered, as though it had been dead and gone for weeks, not mere minutes.

  Marcus gasped as he caught sight of the withered thing that used to be my dominant arm. He never gasped. His breathing was almost always steady as a rock. “What did this to you?”

  “Kelsey…” Gray’s eyes were wide with horror. He blanched. He turned to the vampire as though he couldn’t look at me anymore. “Give her more blood. It didn’t work.”

  Marcus gently touched my dead hand. Not that I could tell by touch. I was watching him so I knew. His voice was laced with guilt and sadness. “It won’t work. The flesh is dead.” His eyes slid past me to the lieutenant. Now they were coldly furious. “You did not mention you were dealing with a duke of Hell, Lieutenant Sloane. There is only one I know of with the power to freeze objects with a mere touch of his hand.”

  “It was one of his servants.” I explained what had happened. The whole time I had stupid freaking tears that wouldn’t stop running down my face. My voice was still shaky as I finished. “He said he had his master’s power. He said something about Jack Frost. Isn’t that some old faery tale?”

  The vampire squeezed my good hand in his. “No. That is merely one of the demon’s names. Long ago, he took on the powers of the elements. He specialized in winter. This particular demon is extremely old and powerful. I would never have allowed you in the same city with him had I known he was here.”

  “Isn’t killing demons my job?” I asked stubbornly. I didn’t like being told I couldn’t do something even when the effects of the bad idea being discussed were right in front of my face. It was a perverse part of my nature.

  “I would never have let him touch her.” Gray’s hands tightened on the wheel.

  “You are both children, idiotic children, to believe you can take on one such as him.” His voice was low and controlled, which told me he was truly angry. “I can forgive Kelsey. She’s young. It’s in her nature to be arrogant. She could not have known this could happen. I blame myself. I’ve given her too much latitude. I preferred to be her lover rather than her trainer.”

  “It isn’t your fault.” I tried to soothe him. I used my good hand to rub across his neck.

  “And I blame you, Lieutenant,” Marcus continued, obviously unwilling to be comforted. “You knew who he was.”

  “I can handle him.” Gray slapped at the dashboard. He wasn’t as good at controlling his anger as Marcus. When he turned our way, his eyes were turning violet. “My brother and I can handle Winter and I can protect Kelsey.”

  “How can I possibly know this is true? Would you like to give me your brother’s name so I might be familiar with his strengths and abilities? He is a full blood?”

  “He is.” Sloane turned onto the road that would take us home. “And you know I can’t give you his name. He’s going by Matthew on this plane for now.”

  Marcus huffed, an aristocratic dismissal. “Yet you expect me to trust my Hunter with you? It will not happen. The deal we made previously is done, Sloane. I will be taking my Hunter back to Italy in the morning.”

  “Marcus!” I couldn’t leave. Twenty-four hours before I would have given anything to be back in Italy. Now it sounded like the worst idea ever. I couldn’t leave things the way they were. I have a real thing about starting something. I had to finish it.

  Something dangerous was going on, and I was the one to deal with it. It was kind of the point of me.

  “No,” he said firmly. “I’m your trainer. This is a job I would be hesitant to send a seasoned Hunter into, much less a green girl.”

  “Vorenus, I need her.” Sloane sounded almost savage. “Winter is expecting that I’ll bring Kelsey to his house. I can’t walk in there tomorrow without her.”

  “You’ll have to handle it yourself.” Marcus’s arm tightened possessively around my waist. “She won’t be here.”

  “Do you understand what’s at stake?” Sloane asked in a tight voice.

  Marcus shook his head, and he was all arrogance himself. “Lieutenant, you make a mistake if you believe that I care. Do you have any idea the horrors I’ve seen? This world is filled with them. There will always be wars whether it’s humans killing each other or demons slaughtering vampires. I’m finished with all of it. I protect what is mine. What happens to the rest is none of my concern.”

  Sloane turned into the parking garage. “You can’t mean that. You can’t mean to take away the best weapon we have to fight him. Do you understand what’s going on? That drug can hurt the entire supernatural world. It might start here, but don’t think it won’t get to you eventually. She has to live in this world, too. It’s her fight.”

  “Not any longer.”

  The truck stopped, and I was outside in one of those blindingly fast vampire moves. My good arm was wrapped around Marcus’s shoulder. From the wall of elevators that led to the compound, I saw a group waiting. Henri and Hugo began jogging toward us.

  Marcus turned back to Sloane. “If you ask me to choose the world or my lover, I will always choose her. When you live as long as I have, you come to see the world means very little.” I felt terribly numb as he carried me toward the entrance. “Henri, you will prep the operating room. Our Hunter is going to lose her arm.”

  “What!” Hugo’s voice rang through the garage.

  Henri turned and began to run back up to the hospital unit.

  Casey stood with Liv still unconscious in his arms. He cradled her carefully against his chest as though she was infinitely fragile. He looked super young and slightly scared standing there. Marcus’s next words didn’t give him any comfort.

  “Mr. Lane, you will take care of Miss Carey, and then you’ll come to the hospital. I require a word with you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Casey managed. He was obviously not looking forward to the next hour or so. Then again, neither was I. I was about to get acquainted with the word amputation.

  “Kelsey.” Sloane’s shout echoed through the garage. I glanced back over to where he stood alone now. His face was a mask of grief. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

  Marcus kept walking.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “How is this possible?” Henri examined my arm with a frown on his face. “This should have taken much more time. She was fine when I saw her earlier today. This damage should have taken many hours of raw exposure to the elements.”

  “It was Abbas Hiberna.” Marcus’s entire countenance was grim as he sat next to the gurney I’d been lain on.

  Henri had spent the better part of an hour examining me. He’d taken x-rays and shoved me into his MRI. He’d spent what felt like an eternity studying those reports when I was sure they’d all told him the same thing. I
knew what he was really trying to do. He was putting off the time when he had to call for the bone saw and relieve me of my arm.

  Hugo cursed under his breath. “What’s that bugger doing here? Doesn’t he have a realm on the Hell plane to rule?”

  “He’s expanding,” I said bitterly. The waiting was starting to get to me. The outcome was inevitable. There was a part of me that wanted to get it all over with. “Henri, is there any point in drawing this out? Cut the damn thing off.”

  I’d figure out what would happen later. I could guess. The king wouldn’t consider me an effective Nex Apparatus without my dominant arm. Marcus could talk about taking me back to Italy, but I doubted that would last. I gave him a month tops before he started wondering what he was doing with someone like me. I had no illusions about my relationship with Marcus. He was attracted to me because I was a Hunter. I was a dangerous, unpredictable creature and that got Marcus off. Without that, I had to wonder what we would find to do together. There was a big old piece of me that already accepted that I would be alone again.

  I would have to learn how to do shots with my left hand.

  Henri’s face fell. “No, there’s no reason to wait if you’re ready, dear.”

  “I’m not going to get any readier.”

  The doors to the small operating room burst open and Gray strode in. I noticed the king wasn’t far behind him.

  “Kelsey, don’t let him touch you,” Gray commanded.

  Marcus was on his feet immediately. “What are you doing in here?”

  “I couldn’t keep him out, Marcus.” Donovan stared down at my arm and took a deep breath. His eyes came back up. “He called and demanded a meeting.”

  “Well, Your Highness, there’s a word you can use,” Marcus spat with more sarcasm than I thought him capable of. “It is no.”

  “I don’t think he was going to accept a no.” Donovan’s eyes tightened as he examined my injured arm. “Right now, there are five Texas Rangers waiting outside the building for a search warrant that the lieutenant swears he can get to raid Ether in search of illegal firearms. I would tell him to go to hell, but we all know why I don’t do that.”

  He didn’t do that because Gray would find a whole bunch of illegal firearms if he raided Ether. I was sure Quinn was hauling some serious ass to hide the P-90s. The Rangers were the only law enforcement the king couldn’t persuade to leave. They would be ready. Sloane’s commanding officer might not like what he did or how he had to do it, but he wouldn’t let his men go anywhere unprepared. They would be armed with anti-persuasion charms and talismans. Donovan might be the king of the supernatural world, but he was a Texan, and we were raised to respect those badass cops.

  Gray wasn’t listening to the king argue with his oldest ally. His eyes were on me. “Kelsey, sweetheart, you don’t have to lose your arm. I talked to the king. We worked out a deal. I’m calling my father in…”

  Chaos broke loose. Marcus got in Gray’s way, trying to shove the big half demon away from me. Gray’s fangs came out, and he pushed back at the smaller vampire.

  “Stop!” Donovan placed himself between the vampire and the demon. “Both of you get to your fucking corners.”

  Marcus’s fangs had come out and his fingers had sprung claws, but he took a step back. “He needs to stay away from my Hunter.”

  “You need to listen to me,” Gray growled back, his eyes that shade of violet that let me know he was getting close to the edge.

  Donovan shook his head. “Everyone calm down. I read over the files Owens managed to smuggle out of that clinic. I don’t understand all the medical jargon, but I get the gist. Some asshole demon is playing around with drugs. This drug, called Brimstone, damages the impulse center of the brain leaving some intensely powerful creatures without any impulse control. That’s so bad for us I can’t begin to describe it. Now, I could go to the demons and yell and scream and try to enforce our contracts…”

  “It won’t work, Your Highness,” Hugo interrupted. “Unless His Grace has been forcing the drug on vampires, there is nothing we can do. The contracts we have in force at the present time are only between vampires and demonkind. You’ve used that to your own advantage by designating a non-vampire Nex Apparatus.”

  Donovan sighed and ran a hand over his hair in a deeply weary gesture. “I know that, Hugo. Look, we can discuss the ins and outs of my decision making later. Right now, I’m going to let the lieutenant call his father to see if there is any way we can save her arm.”

  Marcus stepped back up. “No. If you think for one second I will allow my charge to sign a contract, you’re out of your mind. I’ll take her from this place, and you won’t see us again.”

  Then he was off, yelling in rapid-fire Italian. The room was a powder keg again.

  “Hey!” I was sick of the fighting and upset that no one had even bothered to ask my opinion. It was my arm and my soul after all. “Shouldn’t it be my choice?”

  The men turned to me. Donovan didn’t look like his answer to my question was going to be yes. For that matter, Marcus didn’t seem super interested in my opinion either.

  Henri was the voice of reason. “Yes, dear. What do you want to do? I’ll clear out the room if you like. This is my hospital, and I’m king here.”

  I closed my eyes and laid back. “Get rid of them, Henri, so we can get this done. I’m not signing a contract.”

  Marcus’s hand reached out and squeezed mine.

  “Kelsey, baby, I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” When I opened my eyes, Gray was kneeling beside me.

  “The lieutenant is the only one putting anything on the line, Owens,” Donovan said bluntly. “I would never allow you to sign a demon contract. Sloane believes he can bargain with his father.”

  Gray’s violet eyes beseeched me. “I can convince him. It won’t cost you a thing. Please, let me do this for you.”

  I was overwhelmed with his suggestion because I knew the truth. It might not cost me, but it would absolutely cost someone. Demons don’t heal a person because they’re looking to fill their karma banks. I had to believe if Gray could work a deal, he would owe his father something awful.

  “If the lieutenant believes he can broker such a deal at no cost to my charge, then I agree. Hugo can go with him to ensure that there is no possibility Kelsey could be held accountable.” Marcus stared down the lieutenant.

  “No. No one is signing anything.” I couldn’t sign my soul away. I wasn’t about to let someone else do it. I certainly couldn’t allow Gray to do it.

  An aristocratic sigh hit my ears, and I realized there was someone standing at the door. Alexander Sharpe stood in the doorway with a superior smile on his face. “Oh, so much drama over one little limb.”

  “We don’t need your input, Alex,” the king said sharply. “Henri can handle this on his own.”

  Sharpe was dressed in his usual dark suit, the tie perfectly knotted. “Oh, I apologize for interrupting. I was under the false assumption that the doctor was going to hack that arm off our lovely Nex Apparatus’s body. If he knows how to save the limb, then I’ll leave you in his capable hands.”

  “Stop.” No one could mistake the king’s reluctance. I got the feeling he’d almost rather I signed a contract than have to deal with the former serial killer. I was kind of with him on that one. Still…

  “You can save the limb?” Marcus didn’t mind dealing with Sharpe.

  Sharpe walked in, and his eyes flared at the sight of my arm. He didn’t flinch the way the others did. He seemed almost fascinated by the black, shriveled thing. He paid careful attention to the place where the dead flesh met the living. I sat quietly under his stare, though it made me uncomfortable.

  After a long, silent exam, he sighed and nodded to the king. “Yes, Your Highness. I can save the limb without involving the lieutenant’s father, though I will need the lieutenant himself.”

  “Whatever you need.” Gray was on his feet, offering himself up.

  “The Hell plane is goi
ng to eat you up,” Sharpe said with a shake of his head. He turned back to the king. “I’m going to need counsel before I go any further. Mr. Wells, if you don’t mind?”

  Hugo sighed and followed the vampire outside to conference with him.

  “Kelsey, I’d still rather bring in my father.” Sloane was quiet but resolved. He ignored Marcus’s low growl. “I know it will work. I don’t trust that vampire. We can’t know he isn’t plotting something.”

  Marcus huffed. “Of course, don’t trust the vampire. We should place more faith in the Hell lord.”

  Gray regarded Marcus sullenly. “At least we know why he’s doing it. He’ll do it because he wants an even bigger hold on me. I have a lot to offer him.”

  Marcus’s smile was ruthless. “And Alexander will do it because I’ll pull his heart out if he does not.”

  “He’s a warrior,” Gray shot back. “I doubt you could best him in battle, and your mental tricks won’t work on him.”

  “Ah, but he sleeps, Lieutenant,” Henri Jacobs pointed out. “And we do not.”

  The doors swung open again. Hugo strode back in, his face set in serious lines. I like to think of it as his lawyer face. “Your Highness, my client wishes to be assured of complete immunity from prosecution if he is to proceed.”

  Donovan’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “Why?”

  I didn’t need a magic eight ball to answer that question. Alexander Sharpe was a doctor. An evil doctor. “You’ve been experimenting, haven’t you, Sharpe?”

  The vampire shrugged and flicked at his fingernails. “I am a curious lad.”

  “Dr. Sharpe will not answer any questions concerning the nature of his medical experimentation without the aforementioned immunity,” Hugo stated. “Not that I’m affirming or denying that the doctor has actually been involved in any form of experimentations.”

  “Right.” Donovan shook his head as though he wished he didn’t have to do what he was about to do. “This had better work, Hugo. He has immunity.”

  Sharpe clapped his hand together. “Excellent. I’m going to need a couple of donors. I need a bit of the lieutenant’s blood and the king’s as well.”