I closed my eyes, trying to send out a message of strength to Kellan. How I wished we could speak telepathically from afar. The lone tear hitting my cheek awoke me, brought me to the present, to right now. I was in my car with his parents on a mission, hell bent to find my soul mate and his best friend. Thinking of Craig shifted my thoughts to Mel. I would have to call her later, explain everything. I’d seen the fear in her eyes during my outburst; electric energy charged me too quickly to slow down. I was knee deep in lightning before I even realized it. I sighed. I was a mess. I couldn’t even concentrate on one thing. My head was all over the place and my heart barely keeping up.
I looked out the car, my eyes doing a double take when I saw the sign. “Aiken? We’re already in Aiken, South Carolina?”
“The launch pad Auggy was referring to is here, as is his personal office,” Al stated.
“Oh.”
Less than five minutes later, we were on a dirt road, surrounded by trees. The gravel shot up as the computer said, “Unidentified object repelled.” When it repeated the verse over and over again, I nearly ripped the wires in half. I was on edge, anxious to get to Kellan and Craig, anxious to hold my fiancé in my arms, to soothe him and protect him.
We finally pulled into a clearing, the dirt road dead-ending right where the helicopter was parked. Off to the right was a ranch-style house. A porch stretched the entire width of the front; several rocking chairs sat abandoned, yet inviting, beside one of two large windows.
I barely resisted shoving Beth out the car to get to the air transportation quicker. Auggy stood by the entrance on the helicopter’s side, a headset in place. He said something into the microphone dangling by his cheek and the blades whipped into action. Al handed all of us a headset before climbing aboard. Beth leapt in after him, squeezing on his lap behind the pilot’s seat. The moment my foot touched the metal floor of the craft, I spotted Aunt Claire. She held her arms out wide and I rushed into her embrace in the back row. Her hug was welcome, reminiscent of the few good ones with my mom. My life wasn’t the same without her.
“How are you holding up, sweetie?”
“I’m fine.” She gave me the same look my mother did when she knew I wasn’t telling the truth. “Okay, so I feel sick to my stomach with worry. Why didn’t you tell me grandpa was still alive?”
She smoothed my hair as the helicopter took off into the air. It scaled the trees with ease as we headed north.
“He hasn’t been in our lives since your mom and I were young. He popped in once or twice a year to drop off a wad of cash, say ‘hello,’ and then take off again.”
“You know who he really is, don’t you?”
She pursed her lips, her eyes gazing beyond me as she nodded. “Auggy told me about a month ago when I showed him a picture.”
I grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. “I guess we were both ambushed.”
“Not that it matters, but you have very little vampire in you. Learning that Cesar is only twenty-five percent vamp, all of our numbers have dropped.” Her voice was sad, as if this new revelation had knocked us all down a notch on society’s pole.
“What exactly does that mean?”
“That you will have more human weaknesses than vamp strengths.” Her tone was matter-of-fact. The conversation itself felt forced, as if she dreaded the topic.
“I don’t mind.” I shrugged. How could I? It wasn’t like I could change it. It was what it was; it is what it is.
“Lex, you—”
“We’re going to land a couple miles away out of earshot. I’ve loaded the tracker’s signal to my phone so we can follow it. I don’t care what the hell you see in there, you’re not to make a peep. No human emotional shit; that will only make you careless. We can’t afford to make a mistake. Now follow me,” Auggy ordered, jumping out of the moving helicopter before it landed. Beth followed, then Al.
My stomach whirled again, fear knotting inside me. I swallowed the serum that chose this moment to finally erupt into my mouth. I looked down at the empty highway beneath us. Trees lined the pavement, forests on either side of the road. I took a deep breath and leapt out. I landed on my feet, quickly seeking refuge in the woods behind the others.
Aunt Claire placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “He’s my father, but he’s cruel. Blood means nothing to him, honey, so brace yourself.” Her words hit me like a sharp knife, cutting deep, cutting hard, splashing me with ice-cold water.
We dashed through the trees, shuffling our feet to avoid leaving a solid trail behind. Serum coated my tongue; the longer we were on the ground, the more anxious I became. Several miles in, my thoughts were in disarray as my veins began to glow.
“Keep your shit under control, Jackson,” Auggy ordered.
I stopped, the others flying past me. I took a few deep breaths. It would do me no good to go in like a glowworm, not only attracting attention, but also running the risk of exploding, only to pass out. I didn’t have control over this… this thing that Sir Staten had given me. It seemed more like a science experiment gone radioactive bad than a gift.
Knowing Kellan was up ahead in need of me, I pulled myself together the best I could and doubled my speed to catch up with the others. I reached them just as a large home came into view. My gaze traveled the area; it was an odd location for the size of the property, but the build itself fit the landscape in the middle of the woods. Cedar shingles covered the outer surface of the home, giving it a homey feel, but I recognized the misgivings. I knew beyond the white French double-door entry lay the worst of my kind. I knew I was about to enter the battle of my life to save the man I loved.
We’d stopped just short of the opening. Auggy turned to Al. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come with us. You need to stay behind.”
“He’s my son! I’ll be damned if I’m staying behind.” I’d never seen Al’s features crumple so tightly on his face.
“Lower your voice, dear.” Beth seemed sallow, peering at the forest floor. She was caught in the middle. She knew no vampire could safely set foot inside; even vampeens weren’t safe. “We’re trusting you with our son’s life,” she stated, lifting her face to Auggy.
“You have our word.” Auggy nodded as Aunt Claire came to stand beside him.
Aunt Claire’s eyes held the ferocity of a jostled lion. I knew she loved me, but seeing her here, I knew for certain that she’d come to love Kellan, too. She saw what he meant to me, all he’d done for me. He kept me sane; he kept me grounded. “I’d do anything; I’ll do anything,” she assured them.
Beth shook her head, gripping Al’s arms strongly. Her knuckles were white as snow, her shoulders shaking as if she was silently sobbing. Al pulled her into his chest and kissed her head. My stomach knotted. Kellan was their only child. I couldn’t imagine a world without him, but he wasn’t my child. The bond between child and parent was incomparable.
Serum swamped my mouth as Al and Beth turned and headed deeper into the blanket of trees. I faced Auggy and Aunt Claire, determination rooting inside me. “Let’s do this.” A look of understanding and respect passed between us. Somehow Auggy knew what I was going through.
I followed them around the perimeter of the house, staying behind the trunks of the tall oak and pine trees. My nerves were ratcheting up. The moment we stopped across from the cellar doors peeking up from the grass, my slow heartbeat sped up. I unblocked my mind, praying Kellan could hear me.
“I’m here. We’re here. Just hold on a little longer.”
AUGGY
Every bit of military instinct said this was a trap. It was too damn easy to access this house, especially considering the level of command behind those doors. No guards roamed the perimeter, scanning or listening for trespassers. Given that they had soundproof walls capping this place, they would have that, at the very least.
I’d checked the outer shingles of the home, every roofline, every slope and crevice, and no cameras were present, either. I couldn’t bring myself to warn the women, especially afte
r hearing Lexi’s cry to Kellan. After all these years, I guess I still had a bit of coward hiding beneath my hard heart.
I slipped my hand inside my pocket, pressing the button that would call off every soldier headed this way. I didn’t want a massacre. We were on their turf. We’d be the ones massacred.
I turned towards Claire. In a short amount of time, she’d wiggled her way into my ice-covered heart. She warmed me. She and Lexi were my family. They were all I had, all I’d ever wanted. Time hadn’t erased my desire for a human experience. Love was the single thing shared across all races, even the paranormal.
Chapter 3
Auggy motioned for us to stay behind as he ventured beyond the tree line. He headed straight for his target, not bothering to double-check his surroundings. He reached down and yanked the thick metal lock right off the aged wood doors. They rattled beneath his strength, creaking as they slammed back into place. Auggy seemed angry. His face was a hard line of focus, his lips nearly invisible.
I clasped Aunt Claire’s hand, giving it a death grip; my lungs barely cooperated as Auggy leaned down to lift the doors open. I heard her inhale and hold her breath as he threw open the first door. A single wavering heartbeat could be heard inside. Craig.
Nausea consumed me as Auggy threw the other door open. Something was wrong. Kellan hadn’t answered me. I couldn’t hear him, either.
I didn’t think; I just acted. I let go of Aunt Claire and raced past Auggy, down the rickety steps into the darkness below.
“Stay back!” Craig yelled.
I froze. A second later the overhead light flickered on, illuminating the cinder block walls of the dingy space. The space was empty, cobwebs mucking the corners. The two light bulbs dangling from the ceiling were the only décor. It was obvious whatever studio lights they’d used earlier were gone.
Auggy came up behind me, Aunt Claire on his tail. “Shit! I fucking knew it!” His voice was a growl.
My heart stopped as I took in the scene before me. Both men were locked in solid iron chains at their ankles and wrists. Kellan’s naked chest barely lifted as he inhaled; his head hung down. I wanted to run to him, embrace him. Rub his wrists, his ankles; console him the way he’d always comforted me.
“Pick him. Save him,” Kellan stated, his voice mangled. A blue light flickered at his ankle, causing him to jerk.
“What do you mean?” I swallowed my serum.
“No. You’re meant to be here. I’ll be blister-effin tastic to die here, mate. I know you’ll do what’s right. I know you’ll rip the crufflin’ bastard to shreds in my honor.” Craig lifted his head, narrowing his eyes at Auggy. He was daring him to defy him, to say it wasn’t true.
“Why do we have to choose?”
“Their ankles are connected to a bomb. When one side of the chain is detached, it sets off the alternate bomb.”
My eyes widened as I looked between the two men. My chest constricted. I was being forced to choose between my brother and the man I loved. I was being forced to choose between saving the man my best friend loved and the man I loved.
“There has to be a way around it! No. I… it…they… No!” I shook my head vehemently, trying to control my reaction. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at Kellan. He struggled to lift his face towards me; his eyes glistened beneath the light. “It’s not fair.”
“It’s the way he wanted it, babe. He’s forcing you to choose between vampeens and vampires. He’s making you choose your side.”
Slowly I closed the gap between us. I cupped his cheeks as I pressed my lips lightly against his. “I’ll always choose you, no matter what side that puts me on.”
I felt a tear slip down my cheek as I skimmed my fingers over his war wounds. He was healing slowly, the scratches just beginning to scab over where they’d tortured him. The deeper cuts appeared to have barely stopped bleeding in the minutes before we arrived, which explained the blood trailing down his flesh.
I kissed a few of the purple bruises that were beginning to fade to yellow. I kissed his shoulder, my lips gathering a bit of the dirt that created a layer of smut over him. I ran my hands over his chest and down his muscled core. I adjusted his boxers for him.
He chuckled lightly, his eyelids at half-mast. “Thanks.”
“I figured you would have moved your hands by now if you could.”
“They laced the cuffs.”
I swallowed the serum drowning my mouth at his announcement. I bit my lower lip, drawing blood as I peered into his muggy emerald eyes. “We’ll get you out of here. Somehow.”
“I love you.” His lips lifted slightly at the corners.
I choked back a sob. “I love you.”
I turned away from him. He didn’t need to see my weakness. He needed strength. I sucked in a deep breath, stood straight. Kellan needed a fighter, not a wimp. He needed someone who wouldn’t give up or crumble in the face of adversity. He deserved someone who would move heaven and hell just to save him. Crying wasn’t included; it didn’t help. It only wasted time and energy.
“Energy!” I swung around to face Auggy. “Can you tell what kind of bombs those are?”
He nodded once. “E-bomb.”
“E-bomb?”
“Electromagnetic pulse bomb.”
“What would that do?”
“It can release billions of electrical watts in one strike, knocking out communication over an extended area.”
“I don’t get it. Why put it on them?”
“Because the electrical current running through our system will disable our vamp cells and make all the damage irreversible… not that there’d be anything left of us.”
“What do you mean, ‘us’?”
“It’s a trap. There is no saving one or the other. There’s no saving anyone down here when that thing goes off.”
“What if we covered ourselves in rubber?”
“This isn’t lightning.” Auggy frowned, pursing his lips as his gaze passed along the chains.
I looked at a silent Aunt Claire. She seemed stunned. Her eyes were wide as they searched the cellar. I couldn’t figure out what was running through her mind, only that she was trying to think of something.
I met Kellan’s eyes. “I’m a conductor. I have to be with the electricity that comes off me. Maybe I can absorb it, too.”
“Your electric force would have to have a positive and negative field that is so close they were on top of each other. Plus, two hundred volts can kill a human. Ten times that will kill a vamp, and we’re talking about a hell of a lot more probably,” Auggy said.
“We have to do something. I can’t just stand here anymore. They’re absorbing some chemical every second they’re still in those chains. Unless you’ve thought of some other ingenious idea, then I think it’s worth a try.”
“You’ll die, Lexi.” I heard the plea in Aunt Claire’s voice but couldn’t acknowledge it. Maybe I was being selfish; maybe I was being self-less. Regardless, we had to do something.
“We need something that will absorb the electricity without spreading it. Unless you can think of something else that will do it, then I have to at least try, Aunt Claire. I wouldn’t do it unless—”
“I got here as soon as I could,” he interjected, sounding breathless.
My jaw dropped. I’d recognize that English accent anywhere. “Will?”
I turned towards him. He stood in pristine khakis, his button-up shirt tucked in neatly with a belt helping to secure it. His pale blue sleeves were rolled up haphazardly, and the top few buttons were undone, giving him a relaxed appearance. What caught my attention, though, was that his oxford loafers had a bit of mud around the edges. He really had rushed.
“I am still your mentor, aren’t I?”
I smiled, but quickly frowned at the realization. “You knew this would happen.”
He nodded. “I can’t change fate, Lexi, but I’m willing to help you try.” He looked at Kellan and Craig. “Bloody bastard did a stellar job of hooking you two up, I see.
”
“What do you know about electricity and e-bombs?”
“Not much. But I know about you, Lexi.” He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through the pages of the leather-bound book. “He changed the membrane potential of your cells.”
“My what?” I raised my brows in question.
“He changed your ion channels to that of electricity, rewired the membrane potential of your cells to be charged by your emotions.”
“In English?”
“Your emotions conduct electricity. You are a conductor.”
“Can I absorb electricity, too?”
“You create electricity, but you do not absorb it.”
“So I can power a house, but can’t take any electrical shocks from it?”
He squinted his eyes as if he was trying to blur everything out in order to concentrate. “Electrical currents would run through you in order to do that,” he mused.
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“The possibility is minute. From all I’ve gathered, you are a conductor, and nothing more.” He flipped through the pages of his micro-ledger.
“I don’t like this at all, Jackson.”
“If you were in my shoes and Aunt Claire was on that chain, wouldn’t you at least try?”
“Don’t flip the switch on me. You know the damn answer, but it doesn’t change what is.”
“What about an electrician?” Craig chimed in.
“They cut off the electricity before they go to work. They couldn’t do anything with those.” Auggy pointed towards their bare feet.
“An engineer?” Craig posed.
Auggy shook his head. “The individual pieces are built by hand, but never assembled by a person. It’s too dangerous.”
“Okay, new plan. What if we yanked them both off the chains at the same time?” I asked.
4 Vamp Versus Vamp Page 2
