Bound by Vengeance

by Brenda K. Davies

  “Full disclosure,” Vicky said to Sister. “Nathan is a hunter, the born kind.”

  Sister June gave Vicky a look of such heartrending despair and betrayal that Vicky blurted her next words.

  “It’s okay! He’s not going to attack you, Duncan, or the children! He knows what I am, but we’ve been working together to stop one twisted bastard of a vampire.”

  Sister June didn’t look at all appeased as her gaze swung back and forth between them. “You brought him here? I trusted you!”

  “I brought him here to keep you safe,” Vicky said. “What’s going on isn’t good.”

  “We’re safe in our tunnels.”

  “You’re not always in your tunnels, and I don’t think you are safe, not anymore. I never would have brought Nathan otherwise, and I took such a winding route he’ll never be able to find his way back here.”

  “Really?” Nathan asked her.

  “Yes,” Vicky replied without remorse. “Sister June, please listen to what I’m going to tell you, and then you’ll understand why I believed it best to bring Nathan here.”

  Vicky told her all about her captivity, Joseph, and Ronan, as Sister had no idea who Ronan was. She also revealed the pact the hunters and Ronan’s men had forged, the growing number of Savages, and the possible looming war with the Savages.

  Sister’s eyes filled with tears when Vicky succinctly talked about her imprisonment. She went to hug Vicky before stopping herself, lowering her arms, and listening to the rest of what Vicky had to say without any reaction.

  “And are you sure you’re okay, dear?” Sister asked her when Vicky finished speaking.

  Vicky realized Sister sensed something off with her and worked to cover it up. “I’m fine,” she drawled.

  “Victoria—”

  “Truly, Sister, I’m good. The shackles put a crimp on my lifestyle for a bit, but I’m making up for lost time and currently living it up at a luxurious hotel.”

  Sister looked at Nathan. He could tell she wasn’t buying Vicky’s response either, but she didn’t pressure Vicky further about it.

  “Sometimes, I fear what is coming might be so big the humans will learn of our existence,” Vicky revealed to Sister.

  Her admission startled Nathan before he realized she might be right. Unable to relax, he walked back toward where they’d left the children.

  Halfway through her story, Sister June started to relax and stopped staring at Nathan as if she were going to tear out his throat. As Vicky revealed this final bit, Sister slumped against the wall. Lifting her hands, she pulled at the sides of her wrinkled face until her flesh became smooth again.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Sister murmured before crossing herself. She bowed her head and clasped her hands beneath her chin in prayer.

  Vicky left Sister and walked down the tunnel to join Nathan. “You didn’t trust me enough to bring me straight here?” he inquired.

  “It’s not my trust you have to gain,” Vicky replied. “It’s hers.”

  Nathan glanced back at the praying woman. “Sister as in nun?”

  “Well, it’s certainly not sister as in we’re related. I’m a born vampire, remember? And Sister wouldn’t have aged so much if she were born too.”

  “A vampire nun?”

  Vicky rested her fingertips against the cold concrete wall. “Is that any weirder than the leader of all hunters aligning with vampires after his sister became one?”

  Nathan scowled at her, but Vicky’s attention was drawn away from him by a soft scrape. “Go back, Elmo!” she called down the tunnel.

  “Aw, shit,” a disgruntled voice muttered, and a sneaker squeaked on the concrete.

  “Language,” Vicky scolded.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Elmo muttered, and she pictured him flipping her off again as she listened to his retreating steps.

  “Do the children know she’s a vampire?” Nathan inquired.

  “No,” Vicky replied.

  “If they do figure it out, we change their memories, for their own good,” Sister said.

  Vicky and Nathan turned to find her staring at them. Vicky strolled back to her, but Nathan remained where he was, alert for any kids who might try to spy.

  “Where did the children come from?” Nathan asked as he leaned against the wall.

  “Some ran away from home or their group homes. Some were found wandering the streets as they sought to flee their parents and some horrific situations,” Sister replied. “Elmo was a newborn when I found him in a trashcan. I didn’t beat the rats to him, but thankfully I wasn’t far behind the rodents. A couple of drops of my blood in his formula healed the rat bites, but he still has some scars from them.”

  “How can someone do that to their child?” Nathan muttered.

  “Human, hunter, or vampire, there are many monsters in this world,” Sister replied.

  “True,” he agreed. “How long have you been taking in children?”

  Sister June glanced questioningly at Vicky.

  “It’s your story to tell,” Vicky said again. “He saved my life; I trust him.”

  “For over a hundred years,” Sister said. “When I was a young human, I was a nun, and I loved my calling. Unfortunately, I also loved liquor. At thirty, I was thrown out of the convent, and with nowhere else to go, I lived on the streets of Boston. After a time, I started to find a purpose in caring for the numerous orphaned children roaming the streets, and one day I found my way down here. The children came with me. I couldn’t quit drinking for God, but I did for them. They needed me, and after a while, I realized the children had always been God’s plan for me.

  “One of those children, Duncan, went to work on a fishing vessel when he grew up, but he always returned to visit while in port. One day, he came back different and offered me the chance to be different too. He presented an opportunity to continue helping countless children for centuries to come. Perhaps God wouldn’t have approved, but I didn’t see Satan’s hand in Duncan’s offering; I only saw the saving of many lives, so I accepted his gift.

  “The two of us have cared for children ever since. Three hundred and fifty children have come and gone from our care over my lifetime. Twenty of them went on to be doctors, eighteen lawyers, thirty teachers, and many went to work in the foster care system. All of them came back at least once to visit, most returned more often, and some came so often we had to make them think we'd died. Even the few who went out into the world and turned to drugs or crime are successes to me as they are all my children.”

  The gleam in her eyes dared Nathan to disagree with her; he couldn’t. “What you’re doing here is a good thing,” he said.

  “It’s tougher now with all this newer technology,” Sister admitted. “We had to get tutors for the children. Duncan takes them every week to meet with their tutors at different libraries throughout the city. The tutors have no idea who the children are, but they teach them about computers and those cellular phones and stuff. Duncan takes classes to help teach them the newest things too, but I don’t go above often. So far, it’s prepared them for life after the sewers, but with the way things are always evolving, we may have to up those sessions to get them into college.”

  “How do they have the documentation to go to college or afford it?”

  “Vampires have a way of working those things out,” Vicky replied.

  “So what do you need from me?” Sister June asked her.

  “Have any of the other groups living down here gone missing? Have you noticed anything different or a little off down here?” Vicky asked.

  “I stay far away from most of the other groups; many of them are up to no good. They’ve given up on trying to steal our supplies, but many of them aren’t a good sort.”

  “What about Duncan? I know he ventures out more than you.”

  “He hasn’t mentioned anything.”

  “Sister June?” a deep baritone voice called down the tunnel, and Nathan suspected the footsteps approaching belonged to this Duncan.

&n
bsp; “Down here, Duncan,” Sister called back.

  Nathan directed his beam onto the mountain of a man coming toward him. Stooped over to make it through the tunnel, the guy had to be at least six foot six with the shoulders of a bull. He scowled when he spotted Nathan.

  “Who are you?” Duncan demanded.

  “Nathan Holter, who are you?”

  “He’s with me, Duncan,” Vicky said and sauntered forward to greet the giant man.

  Duncan’s scowl vanished, and a broad smile spread across his weathered face. With his warm brown eyes, brown hair, flannel shirt, and bulky build, Duncan reminded her of the Brawny paper towel man, if the Brawny guy also sported a beard as Duncan’s thick beard hung to his chest.

  “Look at what the cat dragged in,” Duncan greeted and embraced her.

  A flash of trepidation crossed her face before she wrapped her arms around Duncan’s neck. The irrational urge to pull her away from the man swallowing her within his embrace hit Nathan. When Duncan let her go, Vicky straightened her coat, and he realized she was trying to hide her discomfort over the embrace.

  Nathan clasped her elbow, and when her haunted eyes met his, he opened his mouth to tell her she deserved kindness and to stop punishing herself, but he held back the words. She wouldn’t appreciate him saying those things in front of others.

  “Duncan, these two require your help with something,” Sister said.

  CHAPTER 14

  After a night spent traveling more tunnels with Duncan, Nathan suspected the man took them on a convoluted route to keep them from knowing where they were going. They came across one other group living below, but none of them had heard or seen anything out of the ordinary.

  Duncan said there were more groups, but with dawn approaching, they decided to call it quits for the night. After leaving the sewers, Nathan and Vicky returned to his apartment. They showered and changed before he drove to her hotel. The entire time she was in the shower, he paced from one end of his apartment to the other, unable to stop himself from imagining her beneath the spray of water.

  “They’re amazing people,” he said to Vicky as the edge of the sun broke over the horizon.

  “They are,” Vicky agreed.

  So are you, he held the words back. He would feel like a horny, self-conscious teen if he blurted them out. He’d never expected to discover Vicky knew of the existence of such people and that she visited them on a regular basis before her captivity. Every discovery he made about this woman amazed him more.

  “Why don’t Sister June and Duncan live in a house somewhere if they have enough money to send all the kids to college?” Nathan asked.

  Duncan had revealed they often, anonymously found ways to give the children money for school. “These kids have it tough enough and will be at a disadvantage throughout most of college, as they’re not accustomed to the straight world. The last thing they need is to be in debt when they get out.”

  “The children wouldn’t trust them as much then,” Vicky said. “They also might not be able to find the ones like Elmo. Besides, sometimes when one way of life is all you’ve known, it’s difficult to change. Sister and Duncan have spent most of their lives in those tunnels; it’s their home.”

  Nathan pulled up in front of her hotel. Her hand fell on the door handle, but when he placed his palm on her thigh, she stiffened before turning toward him. She didn’t try to fling his hand away, but he was about to remove it when she relaxed beneath his touch.

  “If you prefer, you can bring your things and start staying at my apartment,” he said. “There’s an air mattress in the bedroom with brand new sheets and blankets. There’s even a TV in there.”

  “Are you asking me to move in with you, Nathan Holter?” she teased.

  He smiled tiredly at her. “It would be easier.”

  And I’d like to know you’re there, in my place, waiting for me.

  He waved the thought off instantly. Keep your head in the game. Sleeping with a vampire could be a disaster, and you’ll be engaged soon. And the hunters will oust or kill you if they ever learn you bedded a vamp. This arrangement between you is only to find Joseph.

  But staring at her, he knew it wasn’t.

  His thumb rubbed her thigh. She licked her lips before she bit enticingly on her bottom lip. Nathan’s gaze fastened on her mouth, and when her legs opened wider, his hand dipped briefly between them. For a second, neither of them breathed as they stared at each other.

  If she moved her hips just a little forward, his hand would brush intimately against her. She wanted that so badly, she could almost taste it, yet she didn’t move, and his hand remained where it was.

  Then, Vicky shook herself from the haze of passion he evoked and opened the door. “I’ll consider the invite,” she told him.

  Before he could reply, she pulled away from him, leapt out of the truck, and closed the door. He couldn’t tear his eyes from the formfitting jeans hugging her ass as she strolled toward the entrance. The doorman opened one for her; she stopped to speak with him before glancing over her shoulder at Nathan. She cast him a sultry smile and sauntered forward with an extra sway in her hips.

  He suspected she knew what she did to him, and she enjoyed it. The prospect of being teased or played with would bother him with any other woman, but not with her. With her, he craved more.

  The sexual encounters he’d experienced over the years were all brief. The women were all more hesitant than Vicky was about anything. Hunters took virgin wives; it was the way of things, and what they were supposed to want, but he wanted something far different. And he wanted her now.

  Without thinking, he pulled his truck into a parking spot and turned it off. He removed the keys and strode toward the hotel. The doorman opened the door for him and gave a nod of greeting. He barely glanced around the elegant interior of the five-star hotel as he made his way to the elevators, but he understood why Vicky insisted on showering and changing before returning here. This was the kind of place that looked the other way for money, but a woman stinking of earth, with dirt streaking her, was sure to attract unwelcome attention.

  He should return to the stronghold, where he belonged, but he found himself watching the numbers on the panel until they stopped on the eighth floor. This was the worst mistake he would ever make with his people, and Vicky might tell him to get lost. He couldn’t get his feet to walk away from the elevator.

  No matter how he tried, Nathan couldn’t deny this constant pull he felt toward her as he pushed the call button.

  His foot tapped as he waited for the elevator to return. With a ding, the doors slid open in front of him. Vicky’s scent assailed him when he stepped inside and hit the button for the eighth floor. Out of habit, he kept his head down and away from the cameras as the elevator ascended. When the doors slid open, he stepped into the hallway.

  He didn’t look at any of the other doors as he followed her scent to her room. Stopping outside her door, he hesitated there. What was he hoping for here? There could never be anything lasting between them. There shouldn’t be anything between them at all; they were far too different. He was the leader of the hunters, her vampirism should attract him as much as a dog did, yet it excited him.

  He should walk away, go back to his apartment, take another cold shower, jerk off, or find any other woman to slake his lust before returning to the stronghold. However, the idea of anyone but Vicky repulsed him.

  Before he could stop himself, he knocked three times on the door. There was only the briefest of pauses before it opened to reveal her. Nathan’s cock became so rigid, he feared breaking the button on his jeans.

  His gaze raked over her curvaceous body, covered only by a skimpy red bra and matching, see-through thong. “Fuck.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Vicky said as she rested her hand against the doorjamb and stuck out her hip. When her gaze dipped to the erection straining against his jeans, a pleasant ache spread between her legs, but Vicky would stick to her guns on this. If sh
e didn’t, she might be condemning herself to death. Doing this would push her toward dead-woman-walking status, but she couldn’t turn him away. “I can ease us both, but no sex.”

  Nathan barely processed her words as he drank in the sight of her lush breasts pushed up by her bra. Against the lace of the bra, he spotted two silver hoops, and his mouth watered when he realized her nipples were pierced.

  Then, his eyes ran over her flat stomach with its lean muscles and rounded hips before settling on the triangle of neatly trimmed blonde curls between her legs. Her skin was an enticing golden hue all over.

  “Come in,” she said.

  She crooked her finger, beckoning him forward with a look that somehow managed to promise sin and redemption. Too fixed on watching her as she sashayed away, he didn’t move. She stopped near the bed and turned to face him.

  “Are you going to keep standing there, or are you going to get your ass in here so I can make you come?”

  It was the best invitation he’d ever had. He stepped into the room, closed the door, and walked toward her. He’d always taken the lead with women, but he was very interested in seeing where this would go.

  “Remember,” she said when he stopped before her, and her hands fell to the button of his jeans. “No sex.”

  He buried his disappointment. “Nothing you’re not willing to do.”

  She smiled at him as she stepped so close her breasts brushed his chest while she undid his button. “There are so many things I’m willing to do to you. Boots and pants off.”

  CHAPTER 15

  She stepped away from him and watched as he kicked off his boots before his hand fell to the waistband of his jeans. Her heart hammered in anticipation while she watched him slide his boxers and jeans down his tapered waist and powerful thighs before pulling them off. Her gaze latched hungrily onto his cock when it stood proudly out from his body. A bead of moisture already glistened on the tip of its thick head.

  Vicky couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips as she stepped closer to him, gripped the end of his sweater, and pulled it off. The bronzed hue of his skin, stretched taut over lean muscles, was more tempting to her than the box to Pandora.