by C. J. Pinard
That was the last thing I remembered before he’d closed the door. I’d awoken about an hour later, having healed some and able to get up and walk. Out of the two dozen blood bags which had been in the refrigerator, I had drunk at least ten. I was feeling stronger, and as I sat in the light of the lamp, I watched my bruises and cuts fade into nothing.
I knew I should be angry, but I also knew in my old age that Phil and probably the other two had had no choice. I could tell by the vacant and lost look in his eyes, one I hadn’t ever seen before on him, that he wasn’t doing these things by choice. The other two? Well, I wasn’t so sure. Those sadistic bastards seemed to have actually enjoyed dishing out the abuse. They weren’t going to do that to me again, though. Even if I was trapped in this house, I would formulate a plan to defend myself, and even kill them if I had to. I didn’t want to harm Phil, but when push came to shove, I wouldn’t be the one to die for Linden, regardless of who was delivering the death blow.
Even though I knew deep down Linden would never kill me. Torture, psychological games, and even guilt trips were normal coming from him, but he had had plenty of opportunities to kill me, and I’d even begged for him to do so several times over the years. He never even tried, though. Not even once.
What he did try, however, was incessant sexual and romantic passes at me. At first, I dismissed them entirely as being overly friendly at inappropriate times, but as the years wore on, I came to realized that Linden felt something for me much more than friendship, or perhaps a boss-subordinate-type of relationship. We never, ever spoke of it, but we didn’t need to. He eventually resigned himself to realize that I did not have any feelings toward him whatsoever, friendly or otherwise. I think part of him was hurt, and the other part of him angry that I would not reciprocate the feelings he tried to tell me he had. He would even shower me with extravagant gifts, like the house I now had, but he would only do this during the times he would be feeling and acting somewhat normal and humane. I never tried to outright reject his advances for fear of making him angry, but he wasn’t stupid, and when he felt hurt or rejection, he took it out on me. He would have act out his anger for him, though, rarely laying a hand on me himself.
I put all thoughts of him away, and instead directed my mind toward the woman who had truly stolen my heart.
“Ayla, can you hear me? I need you to answer me, love.”
When I got no response, I sat on the small, red sofa in the living room and resisted the urge to turn on the large television that was mounted to the wall. There was an anxiousness in me that was eating away at my very soul, and I knew it had to do with Ayla. I’d never been much to believe in soulmates before, and if you’d asked me a year ago if I thought I’d ever had one, I would have probably said Amelia, the mother of my son who never even got to live. But now that I’d spent so much time with the infuriatingly beautiful, tough, but stubborn werewolf, I knew there was something about her. Something that had crawled under my skin and settled into a heart I thought had been cold, dead, and unable to feel anymore.
Her youth and vitality had called to me the minute I’d laid eyes on her in Moon Chasers. Many women—human, witch, vampire, or otherwise—had frequented that bar over the many years and through its many name changes. The place that I had been assigned to keep the peace in. But, none of those beauties had caught my attention like Ayla had that first night.
I had heard of the vampire love bond, but had never experienced it. And the oddest anomaly to the entire thing was that Ayla was a natural-born werewolf. She’d only been turned into a partial vampire against her will. A true hybrid. I had heard the bond was strictly between two vampires… yet, here we were.
In my time, I had met a few hybrids… werewolves infected with too much vampire blood and turned into what Ayla was. Humans getting bitten or scratched by a werewolf and turning into one, only to be turned by a vampire before the wolf could completely take over, like in the case of Ayla’s friend, Evan Grant. I had never met a vampire who’d been scratched or bitten by a wolf and had turned into a hybrid. Either the vampire died a true death, or he became very sick for quite a few days, but then eventually recovered and reverted back to a pure vampire. I had learned that the older the vampire, the more likely he or she would overcome the bite and just endure a few days of sickness the wolf poison caused. The younger, more newly turned ones were never so fortunate.
I got up from the sofa and began to pace the small living room. My shoes whispered over a dark-red and yellow rug decorated in some kind of swirly design as I paced back and forth over it. There was just no way I was going to be trapped in here. I couldn’t go through it again. Even though I was much wiser and knew what was going on, the short years of being imprisoned by Edgar and his witch bride Genevieve had been pure hell on earth. I hadn’t thought about such things in many decades, but when Ayla had asked me to talk about my past, it had brought up a lot of painful memories. Ones I thought I had long since forgotten.
As I had been talking to my beautiful Ayla about these things, while they had been painful, I realized it had been somewhat liberating to speak about my past after stuffing it down so long. I felt it was important to never forget where you came from, for sometimes if you don’t remember your past, you may not be prepared for the future. Besides, the way she’d looked at me with big, curious blue eyes, and the hurt and sympathy she seemed to feel as I was relaying it, had touched me deep into my soul. Ayla could be tough and ferocious, but I also knew she could be kindhearted, compassionate, and what I loved most about her was that she was fiercely protective of those she loved.
As I’d tried to reach out to her through the bond over the past several hours, I’d been met with some kind of mental block—an invisible wall of some kind. Much like the one that barred my exit from this prison. I’d felt anguish and extreme fear through our bond after I’d recovered from my injuries, and I prayed to anyone who could hear me that she was alive and okay. I knew she’d escaped somehow because of the rush of excitement and terror that had engulfed me. I just hoped she’d gotten away—for both of our sakes. And I sure as hell prayed that if Ayla were to come for me, that she has brought Sanja or some other witch. For I feared there was no escape from this place without some kind of magic.
Chapter 11
Ayla
A voice had been niggling at me in the back of my mind since I’d escaped, but my brain felt scrambled and unable to process anything except my own survival and the fact that I had just very violently killed two more damn vampires. I looked down at my arm, which was now human-looking again, and could see it covered in crimson up to my elbow. It looked as if I was wearing a gory red glove. Shuddering, I leaned down and rinsed it off in the water flowing at my feet. It wasn’t clean, but I would rather have dirty water on me than vampire blood.
As I rinsed, I wondered… why should I even feel bad about vampiricide? I’d killed vampires before—lots of them. And this time, it was in self-defense, right? Of course it was. They had been trying to kill me. Or at the very least, capture me.
“Sounds like you did the right thing,” came Kellan’s voice.
I stopped my arm-bath and froze inside the dark tunnel, cocking my head to the side. Relief flooded me and I felt tears spring to my eyes. “Baby, oh, my God! Where are you? I really need you right now.”
I felt pathetic and weak for that cry for help, but I was exhausted, panicked, and needed something comforting. I stood up, wiped my hand on my pants, and looked down the length of the pitch-black tunnel.
“I’m trapped, little wolf. I’m on the property somewhere. I just heard screams and yells coming from outside. Was that you? Are you hurt?”
Shaking my head, I grinned despite myself, twirling my Dagestan dagger between my fingers as I put one foot in front of the other and began walking again. “No, the screams weren’t mine, but caused by me.”
I took more steps, my shiny black boots now wet and caked with mud, trash, and God only knew what else.
“A
nd what of Phil?”
I wiped my runny nose with the sleeve of my shirt and kept walking. “Figures you’d ask. He got away. I was gonna keep him as a hostage, you know, torture information out of him as to why he was such a traitor and all that. But I was too busy killing the other cronies Linden had sent to bring me back.”
“So you’re safe, then?”
The question gave me pause. “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
“That doesn’t mean you’re safe.”
“True,” I replied, continuing to walk through the dark, smelly tunnel and having no idea where I was headed. “Define ‘safe’,” I said, knowing he’d be furious with me if he knew how reckless I could be.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, very. I’m in the storm drain, heading to fuck knows where. I’m afraid if I head back the way I came in, they’ll find me. Phil knows I’m down here.”
“Storm drains could lead to a big body of water. Or a plant. Or God only knows what else. Please, Ayla, listen to me. You’re better off going back the way you came and fighting your way to freedom—”
I stopped walking and blocked out Kellan’s voice when I heard a noise, and realized it was footsteps behind me. Panicking, I took off in a sprint and ignored Kellan’s pleas inside my head. I ran with my hands in front of me, unable to see clearly in the dark now that I wasn’t the wolf-girl anymore.
I ran forever, it seemed, until I saw a small pinprick of light. Wanting to scream with joy, I blitzed toward it, Kellan’s voice still calling my name over and over. Once I reached the outside, I would answer him, regroup, and have him help me to figure out what to do next. What I had failed to notice in my panic to get away was that the water had been rising very quickly, and in one second, I was running through the dark tunnel, and in the next, my feet were swept out from under me and I was riding on a wave. I tried futilely to grab onto the walls or anything else to stop the current. It was too late once I realized that the light I had been running toward had just been moonlight, and that on the other side of the tunnel was a sharp drop-off into a huge body of water. One in which I now found myself plummeting into. I screamed as my body fell forever.
My head hit the surface as I rose up out of the water, and I gasped in shock. The water was freezing-cold, but I was grateful to be out of the godforsaken tunnel. I looked around at my surroundings to find where the edge was. Behind me was the large mountain face, and I looked up at its monstrosity as I treaded water like a dog. The mountain was so high, the half-full moon seemed to sit right on its jagged peak. I stared at the water pouring out of the hole in the side. I could see that it was a manmade hole, as the metal around the tube glinted in the moonlight. The water rushed out at an unreal speed, and I couldn’t believe I had just fallen out of there. I continued to tread water and watch the opening to see if anyone—or anything—had been brave enough to follow me out.
“Ayla!”
I flinched, as, to my utter shock, two silhouettes were on the shore of the lake waving their arms. I squealed in joy when I recognized Evan’s tall frame, and Sanja’s ponytail and voice. Without a look back, I began to swimming as fast as I could toward the shore, all those years in swim lessons and lifeguarding coming back to me as I did the breaststroke at double speed.
As I reached the shore, both Evan and my best friend waded knee-deep into the water to help me out. Sanja threw her arms around me and her voice broke as she exclaimed in my ear, “I’ve never been so happy to see your ass in my entire life!”
I pulled back from her, shivering, and kissed her on her cheek. “Same here, girlfriend.”
Evan pulled me in for a hug. “We have been worried sick.”
I nodded into his chest, and he pulled back and led me out of the water by the hand.
“Who’s we?” I asked, my teeth starting to chatter.
He pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around me. “Us. Everyone.”
“You’re not gonna believe this shit when I tell you,” I said, suddenly worried about my dagger. I breathed in a sigh of relief when I saw it still strapped to my thigh. It was dripping wet, but so was the rest of me.
I looked up to see Evan typing with his thumbs on this phone. Then he pocketed it once more. “I let them know we found you.”
He began to walk away, and I followed. “Where is everyone else?”
“They thought they heard screaming in a storm drain on the property when we snuck in to find you, so Aden and Karina went to check it out.”
If possible, the rest of the blood drained from my face. I stopped walking along the rocky and sandy shore of the lake and gripped Evan’s arm. “No. We have to get them out of there. Linden’s goons chased me in there… that’s how I ended up here.” I jutted a thumb behind me at the water rushing out of the side of the mountain.
“We know,” Sanja said, grabbing my hand and leading me toward the copse of trees on an embankment that led up a small hill. I was still shivering from my romp in the icy cold lake water, and decided maybe we should run so I could dry off. You know, like a dog.
“Where are we going?” I asked, following them through the trees as we climbed the berm.
“Back to the main part of the property,” Sanja whispered.
“Why are we whispering?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
I shook my head and walked upward until the land flattened out and we continued to trudge through the trees. “Which way is the property?”
Evan pulled his phone from his pocket and scanned the screen. “Shit. We need to go.”
“About fucking time,” I murmured.
“Hop on,” he instructed Sanja.
She did without hesitation, and when he blitzed with her on his back, I followed suit, adrenaline surging in my veins.
Chapter 12
I was barely winded by the time we reached the edge of the property. From this view, I could see the back part of the property in all its glory. The moon shed its light over the sprawling lawns that stretched away from the lighted swimming pool and the damned storm drain I’d just committed murder in. It was amazing to think about that gush of water coming from the mountainside, and to know how high this property truly was. I hadn’t even realized how far up we were climbing when we’d blitzed here.
Sanja jumped down from Evan’s back and paused wide-eyed at the property as we stood protected under a massive pine tree. “Where are Karina and Aden?”
“They snuck into the house,” Evan replied, his jaw bunching in annoyance.
I gasped. “What? Are you serious?”
Sanja made a squeaking noise in disbelief.
“Yes.” Evan nodded and looked down at his phone. “Karina said there wasn’t anything but a couple piles of ash and blood spatter in the ditch, and that she and Aden had found a way into the house to look around.”
“Oh, God,” I said, putting my hand to my forehead. “That’s not good.”
“What’s not good? The piles of ash, or them in the house?”
I narrowed my eyes at my mentor and said, “I’m responsible for the dead vampires, in case you didn’t figure that out. Them being in the house… Karina might be able to sneak around, but they can smell a wolf. Aden’s screwed. We need to get in there now.”
“I agree,” Evan said, the panic in his voice becoming evident. “Give me a second.”
He began to type furiously on his phone, and I could see the frustration in his face at his inability to just pick up the phone and call her.
“You killed two vampires?” Sanja whispered to me, yanking on my arm and piercing me with a wide, brown stare.
I shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, so? They were trying to capture me.”
Her eyes twinkled in amusement. “Of that, I have no doubt. How did you do it?”
I lifted an eyebrow and folded my arms across my chest. I looked back over my shoulder at Evan, who was glaring at his phone screen, then back to my friend. “You really wanna know? You sure?”
&nbs
p; She grinned. “Hell yeah. Tell me. You use the dagger?”
I shook my head and smiled back at her. “Nope, didn’t even think about it. My primal instincts took over. I kinda partially wolfed out.”
“What? Again? Girl, you have got to learn how to control that!”
I laughed softly. “I agree. It was way too easy to kill them when I was raging, and had claws and fangs at my disposal.”
“So, tell me the whole story,” she urged, chancing a glance over my shoulder at Evan, then back to me.
“First guy, I just ripped into his neck with my fangs. He bled out—or maybe he was decapitated? I can’t remember. The second dude… he pled for his life, but I punched a hole in his chest and removed his heart.”
“Ayla! That’s fucking gross!”
“Did you just say fuck?” I asked, amused.
Sanja winked at me.
“It is fucking gross, but also awesome,” Evan replied from behind me.
I stared at him expectantly, waiting for instruction on what we were gonna do next. “So…?”
“Karina and your brother found a way in through an upstairs window.”
“My brother climbed the side of that house?” I asked, jabbing a finger toward Linden’s massive mansion.
“I guess?” he replied.
I found this odd and disturbing. Aden could do a lot of shit, but he wasn’t one to scale buildings. He was afraid of heights, but only I knew that. He usually just broke or fought his way in or out when he needed to get in someplace. “So, we’re going in the same way?”
Evan shook his head and shoved his phone into his pants pocket. “Nope, Karina left a back door unlocked for us. Come on.”
I rubbed my hands together. “Oh, hell, this is gonna be fun.”
“I agree,” Evan replied with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Uh, I don’t agree,” Sanja said, worrying her lip. “Maybe I could be the getaway driver or something?”
