Blood Lust

by Heather MacKinnon

  But no more.

  Within minutes, we’d be at the training facility and we’d start the bonding process. Maybe we’d even go back out to the lake and do it there. Under the moonlight, with only the smell of pine trees and the gentle lapping of the water to keep us company.

  It sounded perfect.

  Adrienne sighed and gave me a chaste kiss before grinning. “I should probably pull my pants back up.” When she was done, she crawled off my lap and onto the passenger seat.

  I laughed and tucked myself back behind my zipper. “Same.”

  We gathered ourselves before I turned the truck back on, and she once again commandeered the radio. The trip was short, so she couldn’t make it through more than a couple songs, but she made sure to make them count.

  When we pulled up to the training facility, Alexander’s SUV was there, so I knew they must be inside somewhere. I parked in front and turned the engine off before hopping out to get Adrienne’s door.

  “I wonder where Edmund is,” she said, referring to the vampire who worked the grounds here at the training facility.

  I shrugged and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “He’s probably busy with Alexander and Charlotte right now.”

  She nodded and gripped my waist as we walked up to the front door.

  “Why aren’t there any lights on?” she asked just as I noticed the same thing.

  “I don’t know,” I said slowly.

  Maybe the caretaker, Bea, forgot to turn them on for the night?

  Maybe they’d lost power recently?

  Maybe they needed to replace a couple bulbs?

  But it wasn’t just a couple bulbs. It was all of them. And none of those excuses really rang true.

  Deep in my gut, I had a feeling that something was wrong.

  Off.

  “Maybe you should wait out here while I go inside and make sure everything’s all right.”

  Adrienne pulled away from me with a frown. “Wait, what? What’s going on?”

  I looked back at the large house in front of us as my stomach twisted harder. The longer we stood out there, the more I was sure something was going on. I just didn’t know what.

  I kissed her head and unentangled our limbs. “Just wait over by the truck and I’ll be right back, okay?”

  “Nicholas, no.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” I said as I climbed the front steps.

  “Nicholas.”

  I glanced back, thankful she at least hadn’t moved from where I left her. “I’ll be right back,” I said again.

  I didn’t wait for another response. Hurrying up the final steps, I twisted the door handle and ripped it open.

  My eyes took no time to adjust to the dark interior as I searched for something amiss. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough.

  A soft clinking sound was the only warning I had before my whole body erupted in flames.

  I sank to my knees as my skin began to sizzle, the smell twisting my stomach. It had to be silver, the only metal deadly to vampires.

  “Nicholas!”

  No.

  The urge to protect her surged through my limbs as I tried to climb to my feet. But the silver was too heavy, and it had already caused too much damage. And as the seconds ticked by, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker.

  “Adrienne, run!” I yelled.

  A powerful blow to my midsection knocked the wind out of me as I went sailing across the room. I slammed against a wall and slid to the ground, still wrapped in the silver net. My head was spinning, but I had no trouble hearing the accented words that sent a chill down my spine.

  “Ivan. Retrieve her.”

  No.

  How? How could he be here? I put that bastard away!

  “Adrienne, run!” I screamed again, as loud as my voice would allow. So loud it tore at my throat. I turned to where I’d heard his voice, my eyes straining to see through the sizzling metal. “Massimo, you son of a bitch! I will kill you for this!”

  I struggled to pull the silver blanket off me, but it was fused to any bit of bare skin it was exposed to. The more I tried to remove it, the more it got stuck.

  “I don’t think you will, Talbot,” the Italian vampire said, his voice coming closer.

  He finally stepped into view, and I got a good look at the monster who made Adrienne a vampire and then left her to awaken on her own. The asshole who petitioned the courts to return her to him only to beat and torture her as soon as they were alone.

  He was supposed to still be locked behind UV bars.

  He was supposed to be starved of blood.

  He was supposed to be so weak he couldn’t escape, let alone plan all this.

  I heard her struggling and cursing before another vampire walked in, Adrienne restrained between his arms. I did my best to scan her for injuries, and so far, she looked unharmed, but that gave me little relief.

  I was still lying on the floor, burning alive while Adrienne was at the mercy of these two vampires. One I knew had no qualms about hurting her.

  I felt like I’d be sick just thinking about it.

  Who was this other vampire, though? Who could Massimo have convinced to help him do this? Struggling to see through the chainmail and the smoke rising from my skin, I just barely made out features I recognized.

  “You’re the blood bank worker,” I spat between gritted teeth. “What the hell are you doing? You work for Parliament!”

  I’d just talked to this bastard last night! He’d been within arm’s reach, and I’d had no clue he was working with the biggest threat to my mate’s life. I raced back through our conversation, picking up on things I hadn’t the first time.

  That was when I realized they’d found us because he heard me talking about it on the phone with Adrienne. I might as well have drawn a map and given them the key.

  Stupid!

  The vampire’s eyes darted from me to Massimo and back again. He clutched Adrienne in front of himself, almost like a shield as he deferred to the older vampire.

  “He’s my progeny, stupido,” Massimo said around a chuckle. He strolled closer to me, his big, black boots thumping loudly against the hardwood. “You thought you were so smart. So powerful. And yet, you never stopped to think how far my reach might go. Never stopped to wonder who I might have working for me.”

  He stopped right in front of me before lifting a foot and letting it fly right into my face. I heard Adrienne scream and my nose break as blood gushed down my face. It hurt, but I barely felt it. “You thought you could lock me up like an animal? Deny me my basic rights? You thought you’d take my property from me?”

  That wasn’t the first time he’d called Adrienne his property, and it made me just as furious.

  “She’s not yours, she’s mine,” I said as I spat out a mouthful of blood.

  Massimo laughed. “How will she be yours when you’re dead?”

  “NO!”

  Adrienne’s blood-curdling scream sliced me right to my core. The anguish. The heartache. It was a pain was worse than any amount of silver.

  I grit my teeth harder and tried my best to tune her out. If I got too caught up in her, I’d lose any kind of edge I might have.

  “So, will you kill me like this? Like a coward? Or will you allow me to defend myself?”

  Massimo’s chuckle was like nails on a chalkboard. “Defend yourself. Against me? Well, I suppose you could try,” he mused before shaking his head. “But, no. I have other things to do.”

  Without warning, the ancient vampire leapt onto my back, his weight digging the silver even farther into my skin. I hissed in pain but held my tongue. Massimo peeled the net away from my face, chunks of skin being stripped with it.

  “Say goodbye,” he said before grasping each side of my head and pulling.

  I felt the skin and tendons stretch, the muscles rip, the bones break, as he tore my head from my body. The agony was excruciating, but nothing could compare to the pain of hearing Adrienne’s tormented wails.

&nbs
p; And then there was nothing.

  No pain, no burning. Everything was just blank. Erased.

  “Nicholas! No!” she screamed. I heard her struggling, but knew it was no use. I didn’t know how old Ivan was, but she was only a newborn. She wouldn’t be strong enough to overpower another vampire.

  Massimo dug his fingers into my hair, holding my disembodied head by the strands. Even that I didn’t feel.

  He held me up to his face and laughed. “This is a good look for you, Talbot.”

  I could do nothing but stare as he spun me around to face Adrienne.

  She was screaming and writhing in Ivan’s arms, but even I could see she wasn’t making any progress. Great big tears raced down her face as I stared helplessly.

  The pain was back, but this wasn’t physical, it was mental.

  I knew how scared she must have been. For me. For her. Just like I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

  Massimo set me on the floor with surprising care. “There, now you can watch as I take your puttana with me. You can sit there until dawn, knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop me. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop me. You were foolish to even try.”

  “Massimo, please,” Adrienne cried. “Don’t do this. I’ll go with you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just don’t leave him here like this.”

  “It’s too late, wife,” he said as he stepped over my head and stalked toward her. “You had your chance to be obedient, and you failed. Now you all have to pay.”

  She squeaked as he grabbed her roughly and pulled her to his chest. “I can’t wait to break you,” he whispered into her hair.

  Rage like I’d never felt before surged through me. So hot, so all-consuming, it felt like the sun had already risen and I was burning alive.

  “Wait, where’s Charlotte?” Adrienne asked. “Where’s Alexander?”

  The questions surprised me, because I hadn’t thought of the two of them since I’d walked in.

  “The other vampire and his human?” Massimo asked.

  “What did you do to them?” she yelled, her face turning red.

  He shrugged. “The vampire is dead, like your vampire will be soon. As for the human, she’s somewhere around here. Why? Would you like me to bring you a snack for the trip?”

  “No. Leave her alone.” Adrienne’s voice wavered only the smallest bit, and I was so proud of her in that moment. She had to have been so scared, but she was nothing but brave in the face of her worst nightmares.

  Massimo’s hand whipped back, his palm ready to strike her when he stopped himself. He curled his fingers into a fist and let it drop to his side. Surging forward, he gripped her by the chin so hard she winced. “You will not tell me what to do ever again.”

  I watched Adrienne swallow once, but she said nothing, her eyes meeting his head on. Finally, he tossed her away, and she stumbled into the other vampire.

  “Ivan, cuff my moglie in silver and then grab the human. She can feed one of us tonight.”

  The nervous vampire scurried around the room, doing Massimo’s bidding as I watched helplessly. Adrienne’s wrists were carefully wrapped in silver, the tears on her face never slowing once.

  As soon as Charlotte’s body was retrieved and slung over Ivan’s shoulder, Massimo turned to me and smiled. “Have a good night, stronzo.”

  He stormed out of the house, dragging Adrienne behind him. And all I could think about was this was the last image of me she’d have in her mind. She’d forget all the amazing times we’d had, because this one night, these ten minutes, would eclipse all of that.

  And all I could do was sit there in two pieces and wait for the sun to rise.

  Chapter 7

  Adrienne

  “Let go of me.”

  My tears were blinding, making me stumble after Massimo as he dragged me down the front steps of the training facility.

  I yanked on my arm that he had ahold of, the silver around my wrists burning hotter, but he didn’t budge an inch. “I said, let me go.”

  He continued to ignore me as we hurried across the clearing out front, headed toward the tree line.

  I glanced behind me at the big house, my heart seizing in my chest. Nicholas was back there. Torn to pieces and just waiting for the dawn to burn him to a crisp. This was the last time I’d be this close to him, and I was only getting farther away as the seconds ticked by.

  I squeezed my eyes closed as I was dragged behind Massimo and the other vampire he had working for him. But the blackness behind my lids was even scarier.

  In it, the last few minutes played on repeat.

  My heart had stopped the moment I saw Nicholas drop to the ground under the heavy silver blanket. I’d had the same done to me the last time I’d had the misfortune of being in Massimo’s presence, and I knew how excruciating it was.

  I’d raced forward to help him, but that other vampire had caught me almost immediately. I’d had to watch helplessly as Massimo hurt Nicholas even more, knowing full well my former maker loved to kick you when you were down.

  But that wasn’t the worst part.

  I’d gladly have watched all that a hundred times if I could just get this one image out of my head. Because for as long as I lived, I knew I’d never be able to forget what it looked like to watch Massimo rip Nicholas’ head off his shoulders.

  A sob wrenched its way out of my chest as my stomach twisted so painfully I thought I’d throw up. I must have slowed my pace as I wallowed in my heartache, because Massimo yanked my wrist harder. It dug the silver into my skin, and I had to jog a few steps to catch up.

  I glanced behind me again, just as the training facility faded from view. My heart ached in my chest, so hard it felt like it was actually crumbling inside me.

  But as sad and lost as I felt, it was the guilt I couldn’t see through.

  Because as soon as Massimo had pulled Nicholas’ head off, I’d looked away. I’d closed my eyes because I couldn’t watch anymore. I couldn’t see him like that.

  Now, though, I wished I’d had one last look at him. One last second to memorize the exact ratio of brown to green in his eyes. One last moment to remember the precise angle of his jaw. Because I knew it would be the last time.

  As we crashed through the underbrush, I tried to come up with some sort of scenario that ended with Nicholas not dying. But my imagination was failing me.

  I knew that no one came up to this training facility in the off season, and that was still set to last for months. I figured it was fair to assume Bea and Edmund were also dead if Massimo had already set a trap there for us. That left few options.

  Nicholas told me once that vampires can live for a short amount of time without their heads, but if they’re not put back together soon, they’ll die for good. I didn’t know how long that window was supposed to last, but I did know that if that didn’t kill him, the sun rising in a handful of hours would.

  My sorrow was overwhelming. It beat at my brain until my head throbbed and my chest felt like it would cave in.

  At some point that night, I’d be losing the man I thought I’d spend the rest of my existence with.

  All because this Italian asshole thought he had some sort of claim to me.

  The sadness settled into one corner of my mind while the anger surged to the forefront. It ripped through my veins like wildfire, easily becoming too hard to contain.

  “Did your time in prison affect your hearing? I said let me fucking go!” I dug my feet into the soft forest floor and yanked my arm out of Massimo’s grip.

  The ancient vampire slowly turned to me, his expression entirely blank. Without warning, his fist shot out and blasted me in the face. I felt multiple bones break as I flew backward and landed at the base of a tree. Blood oozed down my face, but I had no trouble seeing Massimo stalk toward me.

  He reached down and grabbed a handful of my hair before pulling me to my feet. “The next time you disrespect me, I’ll rip off one of your arms and shove it down your throat. Are
we clear?”

  I didn’t answer.

  Didn’t blink.

  Didn’t breathe.

  Didn’t move a muscle as he stared me down.

  I had nothing left to lose at that point.

  And I knew death would be a welcome reprieve from any future Massimo had planned for me.

  Finally, he scooped me into his arms and took off running through the woods. I recoiled from his touch, but there was only so far I could move away from him.

  I hated being in his arms like that.

  It reminded me of all the times Nicholas had caught and held me cradled in his hold. It reminded me that I’d never feel his arms around me again.

  The tears fell harder again, mixing with the blood still dripping down my face. I didn’t care though. I didn’t care that I was crying. I didn’t care that I was bleeding. I didn’t even care what Massimo did to me.

  I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again.

  I squeezed my eyes closed and pulled up Nicholas’ face in my mind. Even though it hurt to even think about him, just seeing his face, even in my memory, still brought me comfort.

  When Massimo began to slow, I opened my eyes again to see we’d made it out of the woods. He kept up a quick pace as he hurried through a small, concealed parking lot toward a dark van at the far end.

  “Open the back,” he said, his voice rumbling through all the places he touched me. I shivered in his arms, but thankfully, he didn’t notice. I wasn’t in a hurry to catch his attention again any time soon.

  The other vampire raced ahead, Charlotte still slung over his shoulder. He pulled open the back door and tossed my old roommate inside. I winced as I heard the heavy thump of her body hit metal.

  If I thought I might not meet the same fate because I was still conscious, I was severely mistaken.

  The moment Massimo got close enough, he chucked me into the vehicle and slammed the door closed. I fell into a heap on top of Charlotte and hurried to scramble off her.

  Massimo climbed into the passenger seat as the other vampire got behind the wheel. He fumbled with the keys, his hands noticeably shaking.

  “What is wrong with you? Let’s go!”