Creature of Habit (Book 3)

by Lawson, Angel

He nodded. “They’re hibernating. But in the spring, sure.”

  “Have you heard from Ryan?” I asked.

  “He’s in Chicago. Had a tip up there, but I’m not sure he’ll find anything. Bass seems to be headed straight North East.”

  “Is Adam still with him?”

  “Yes. They seem to be doing okay together.”

  We walked back the way we came, past the broken branches and the churned up dirt from where I tackled the deer. Grant slipped his hand in mine. “It must be hard on him. Losing his brother like this.”

  “There’s always been a struggle between them. They handled transitioning differently from the beginning. What we know about Emmanuel may explain some of that now.”

  “Why do you think he singled out Sebastian?” I questioned. The thought had crossed my mind more than once.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he looks for a certain weakness of mind. It sounds like he paid more attention to Sebastian from the beginning—even before he killed their mother. Ryan was immobilized for most of the attack. Emmanuel made Bass watch while he tortured her and then later him, mercilessly.”

  A feeling of regret and disgust rolled in the pit of my stomach. “How does it make you feel to know Caleb may have been involved with him?”

  He tilted his head and looked up at the barren, leafless tree tops. “It feels like I’m really fucking out of control, and maybe I never had any in the first place.”

  I grabbed him by the fabric on the front of his jacket. “That’s not true.”

  He looked down at me, his face pale in the gray morning light. “Isn’t it?”

  Chapter 33

  Grant

  We traveled for 24 hours straight, hoping to pick up Emmanuel’s trail. We came across nothing, only the burned out nest, reeking of vampire but not a single one in sight. Amelia had taken to calling Sebastian’s phone, leaving message after message hoping maybe he’d return. I left her in a hotel room doing that exact thing when Ryan got into town.

  He sat in the bar, tucked into a booth in the back, looking human, weary to the bone.

  “Hey man,” I said, sitting across from him. I nodded at the glass on the table. “Taken to drinking?”

  “It’s just for show. That bartender kept giving me the eye. I finally realized it was for sitting here too long and not ordering anything.”

  I snorted, because Ryan wasn’t quite as adjusted to human life as I had become. On cue, a waitress in a short black skirt and tight white shirt appeared at the table. I nodded at Ryan’s drink and asked for the same.

  “How was Chicago?” I asked once she’d left.

  “Total bust.”

  “Yeah, I had a feeling.”

  He rubbed his massive hands over his face. “What about you? Anything helpful?”

  I sighed. “I’ve come across some new information, but you’re not going to like it. I don’t like it.”

  I explained our working theory and the connection between Emmanuel and Caleb. His eyes widened as I explained the link with the fledglings and Sebastian’s kills. Nothing about it makes a huge amount of sense. ”I swear to God, Emmanuel is just one extreme mindfuck after the other. Amelia thinks he has some sort of compulsion superpower.”

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “I think she’s probably right. Like usual.”

  “Why do you think Emmanuel picked Bass over me to torture?”

  “There must have been something about him that made him a target. Or maybe he could only pick one of you? I have no idea how his mind works.”

  “Don’t you though? You use compulsion.”

  “Not like this.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you? If you honed your skills? Maybe he’s not better than you—not really. Maybe he’s just pushed himself further.”

  The concept made me uncomfortable. Being an immortal, appealing, strong vampire placed me high enough on the food chain as it was, mind control was a whole other situation. “Maybe,” I agreed. “But what does it matter. I’m not going there—ever.”

  Ryan frowned, clearly not convinced or even finished with this conversation, but the tone of my voice must have implied that it was.

  “So,” he said, running his finger over the rim of the glass. “We have to kill him.”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “Do we know where he is?”

  “No.”

  “Great,” he muttered. “What’s next then?”

  “Amelia is trying to reach Sebastian. Hopefully he’ll talk to her.”

  “Do you think she’s the right one to make contact?”

  The leather cushion squeaked when I leaned back. “She seems to think so. I mean, we’ve all tried. Maybe she can get through to him. It can’t hurt to try.”

  He studied me for one more moment, like I had the answer to all of this. I don’t. In a blink the look of scrutiny was gone, and he stretched his arms over his head. “I’ll go find Adam and fill him in.”

  “How’s that going?”

  “Eh, he’s okay. Moody bastard.”

  “Right?” I laughed, wondering how my life had changed so much in such a short period of time. Shape shifters, serial killers, rogue vampires, and lost family. It was a far cry from the organized, predictable life I’d created for myself. It didn’t take long to come up with the answer.

  Amelia.

  ~*~

  I found her standing by the wide hotel window, curtains pushed to the side.

  “Ryan’s letting Adam know what’s going on with Emmanuel, but we probably should head down soon to meet them. Did you ever get ahold of Sebastian?”

  The faint sound of a horn blared from the street below and another door closed down the hall, but Amelia said nothing in reply.

  “Amelia?”

  I stepped closer, observing how her forehead and fingers pressed against the glass. I peered out the window and saw nothing but street cars, ant sized people and general city life.

  “Hey,” I said, quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  “I remember before I met you… I had no idea monsters existed. I thought they were just fairy tales.” She flexed her fingers, the diamond ring I’d given her glinting in the early morning light. “Are fairies real?”

  “God, I hope not.”

  “I’ve read they’re actually mean, not the sweet little creatures from the movies.”

  A faint smear of red marked her cheek. It felt waxy against my fingers. Mud covered the toes of her boots. Had she gone outside?

  “In my experience most things in life aren’t like they appear in the movies.” Again I tried to lure her back to the actual present—to focus on the here and now, through touch and a firm voice.

  “Did you think it would be like this? Me and you chasing monsters?”

  “Until five months ago I never knew there’d be a me and you.”

  “But now that there is,” she said, turning her head, although not moving it off the glass. “Is this how you saw it?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  I shook my head only slightly, concerned she’d drifted off on one of her mental breaks. The lights. The traveling. The hum of the elevator. God knows what sparked it. “No. I thought we’d live in a tidy house, with color-coded schedules and seasonal shipments of clothing made of the finest fabrics and styles. I thought maybe you’d help the Foundation through charity work, and I’d stop the occasional drunk driver and we’d feast on wild animals. At night, or during the day, it doesn’t matter, we’d make love hard and fast or slow and soft, whichever we wanted. Whenever we wanted.”

  She smiled, wistful and dreamy. “That sounds nice. Let’s do that.”

  I placed my hand on her hip. “We will. Soon.”

  In a faraway voice she said, “I found Sebastian.”

  “You did?” I raised an eyebrow, hoping it conveyed the scolding I wanted to give her for not revealing the information earlier.

  “Yes.”

  “And…”

/>   “And I know where he is.”

  Chapter 34

  Amelia

  Grant pushed me against the tree and pressed his back next to mine. The sound of the blaze tore through the night. The light was bright and distracting. We were at the location he’d given me the coordinates for, numbers I committed to memory.

  “Why would Sebastian be in the forest in Vermont?” they’d asked, standing in the parking lot. “I don’t know.” I didn’t. Moments weren’t fused together, but the information I carried, I knew it was right.

  But now I wondered… had I been right?

  Snapping twigs and heavy footfalls told me Ryan and Adam were nearby. I caught a scent—heard a voice—a shout.

  The questions I had were stuck in my throat. Was Sebastian in the cabin when it went up in flames? Did he set the fire? A flicker of doubt licked my brain.

  Grant’s hand clutched my arm. “Come on,” he said, tugging me away from the tree. I followed him, racing fast, feeling the heat from the fire. “Do not go inside your head. Not for a second. Stay focused.”

  There was no mistaking the urgency behind his words. The whole forest might go up in flames, taking all us with it.

  He stopped with a skid, dirt scattering across the forest floor. He held out an arm and caught me, twice, before I stumbled forward. Low, I heard him mutter, “No, no, no… fuck.”

  “What?” My eyes darted around, trying to understand. Another shout, a loud crack. Grant’s hand relaxed but only because he was on focused on the dark woods surrounding us.

  “Grant?” I asked, because he seemed to know what was going on.

  “Stay here.”

  I nodded. The light and heat and sounds were too hard for me to process. I closed my eyes and tried to prioritize, landing on a bizarre whizzing sound. A pop and crackle, followed by a rank, familiar odor.

  Burnt flesh.

  My eyes opened just in time to see Grant charge toward the moving flames, a long sword clutched in his hands. He swung the blade into the moving fire, slicing a head off at the neck. He adjusted and attacked again. The flames were moving—bodies—attacking from the cabin. Suicide bombs.

  I ducked behind a tree, armed with only the blade Olivia had given me. It was enough to kill a vampire I knew that, but one on fire? Without killing myself in the process?

  The tree dug into my back, my fingernails thick with bark.

  Voices carried through the woods, bouncing from one tree to the other. Ryan. Adam. Grant. Screams came from those lit on fire. I peeked to get a count, my face heating as I surfaced from my hiding spot. Two, ten… my eyes clicked over each vampire, blazing orange, intent on doing damage to my family. All in all, there were more than a dozen vampire fire bombs streaming through the forest.

  “Go.” I felt a nudge from the dark. The amulet warmed. My heart raced.

  I stepped from the shadows, clutched my blade and propelled toward the fight.

  ~*~

  Seconds passed, hunger bringing me to the present. Daylight hovered on the horizon, blocked by the tall trees. The air tasted of ash and copper. My tongue ran over my teeth.

  “Amelia!”

  I blinked, bringing the world into focus, only seeing the dark stain of red.

  “Amelia!”

  “What?” I screamed, or thought I did. My words sounded like they were caught in a bubble.

  “Put down the knife.”

  Ryan’s voice. Hard. Angry. I turned and found him inches away. His giant hand around my wrist. His squeeze made me drop the blade and it fell with a thud to the ground.

  “What happened?” I sniffed, finding the source. Adam stood a fair distance away, in a pile of ash, pressing his shirt against his chest.

  “You don’t remember?” Ryan asked. His eyes flicked over my head and I spotted Grant pacing behind me. He was pissed—no furious. His hair stuck on end, his fists clenched tight. He disappeared behind a tree, and I heard him swear followed by a loud crack.

  “We were fighting,” I said, flinching. “The vampires were on fire.”

  Ryan looked to Grant again as he reappeared. Adam hissed at his wound, his jaw grinding in pain. Blood coated his hand. “How bad is it?”

  “Not good. There was still some poison on the blade, which did something funny to the wound and it’s not healing as quickly as it should.”

  “The blade?” My eyes darted downward. The silver edge coated red. My hand moved to cover my mouth. “Oh my God.”

  Grant grabbed the back of my shirt, yanking me away from Ryan and the entire scene. Rage rolled off his skin, but the dark look in his eyes told me he was far from angry. Fear had taken over.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Reality was fast approaching, the cobwebs shaking from my brain. What was wrong with me?

  “You attacked him.” His face was covered in soot, streaks across his neck and forearms.

  “It must have been an accident—things were crazy. All the fire and heat. The vampires everywhere.”

  He stared at me long and hard. “It wasn’t an accident.”

  I recalled the last time Grant seemed so distant—so angry. When he fought against Sasha in the alley behind the bar and later when he killed her. When he faced Caleb in the bank vault. Never, other than some of our first encounters, had I experienced his anger directed at me.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

  “You’re letting the transition win, Amelia.” He spoke in a low, controlled voice. “You’re too distracted. It’s dangerous.”

  “Did you find Sebastian?”

  “No.”

  “No? How…” I pushed the heels of my palms into my eyes. “This is where he told me to go!”

  “Are you sure that’s what he told you? Are you sure you were even talking to him?”

  “Who else would it be, Grant?”

  He stared at me like I should know the answer. When I didn’t come up with one he said, “We walked into a trap. You can’t convince me or Ryan that Sebastian would do that to us.”

  “So I’m the one that’s wrong then. Not the guy that took off and has murdered his way up the East Coast. You trust him more than me?”

  Grant gave me a hard look. “Something isn’t right, and no, sorry, you just stabbed our ally. We can’t trust you be out here right now, Amelia.”

  “Then what?”

  He stepped forward, his eyes softening although his jaw was still tight. “You’re always my first priority. Always.”

  I nodded, feeling a strange twist in my stomach. Guilt from hurting Adam. Panic from upsetting Grant so much. Disturbance for my own actions. “Help me get through this.”

  His shoulders relaxed and he pulled me into his arms. “Always.”

  ~*~

  The moan lifted me from my dream, the feeling that was so, so good. Exactly right. Did it count as a dream if you don’t sleep? Or was it simply the rush of pleasure that was just too good to be true?

  That was what I told myself as I blinked and felt the packed dirt under my back and Grant’s wild hair between my legs. A full, moon lit sky arched overhead. His thumbs dug into my hips.

  He murmured against my thigh and I tried to gather my thoughts, get my bearings. Smoke and ash were thick in my throat so we couldn’t be far from the cabin. He rose above me and kissed me hard, a hint of anger in the force of his tongue.

  Definitely not a dream.

  “I can’t believe you talked me into this,” he breathed, moving inside—thrusting hard.

  Me?

  I masked my confusion, ghosting my fingers down his cheeks. His clothes and body were filthy, streaked with soot and dirt. He was right, there was no way Grant Palmer would have sex in the woods, spitting distance from a massacre, with dirty hands. Not without a fair amount of convincing.

  “You bring out something in me… something feral and wild.” He lifted me from the ground and slammed me into a tree, hips moving faster. I groaned, feeling the pressure where I craved it m
ost and wrapped my legs around his body.

  My human body would have bruised and broken, being handled so roughly. A flash of Grant’s anger from earlier tore through me like lightening. I’d inadvertently tapped into Grant’s desire while he was in fight mode. Triggered a switch.

  Despite my confusion, fear and worry, I couldn’t help but bask in the pleasure that washed over every inch of my skin. His body reacted by going harder, knocking the air out of me with each thrust. My nails and heels dug into his backside, the bark behind me falling to the ground like dust.

  His movements grew erratic and a deep, guttural groan came from his chest. He dropped his head to my shoulder, teeth sinking deep.

  Grant collapsed against the tree, fully relaxed, my body trapped under his weight. He lowered me and kissed me soft on the lips and shoulder, where the teeth marks were already healing.

  I brushed the hair out of his eyes and plastered a look of confidence on my face—as though the memory loss and confusion weren’t plaguing me. From the shadows lurking in his eyes I had a feeling he was hiding something from me too.

  Chapter 35

  Grant

  “We can’t trust Amelia.”

  The entire family sat around the table, each with an even, non-committal expression on their face at my statement. Well, except Olivia who looked like she wanted to jump across the table and tear out my hair by the roots.

  “Overall she’s adjusting well to the transition, even with the added complication of the heartbeat, but her level of distraction is off the charts. She can’t focus. She’s dangerous.”

  A liability, Noor’s words echoed in my head.

  I don’t tell them about the darkness I sensed in her. The utter confusion and slipped grip on reality.

  “Grant’s right,” Ryan said, before Olivia could argue. “She nearly killed Adam.”

  I nodded. “She’s apologizing to him now. It’s how I got away to talk to you all.”

  “Maybe we need to spend more time with her. I volunteer,” Olivia said. Elijah looked panicked at the idea.

  “I think what Grant is trying to say is that even we can’t trust her. She could hurt any one of us, even you.”