Feral Passion

by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

  Dante held up his badge. It glinted in the dim light. A couple of the feral vamps backed up a step. The rest surged forward.

  “Give it up,” Xandra said with disgust. “They’re too far gone.”

  The lighter had nearly exhausted itself. She tucked it back into her pocket and unclipped the last water pistol from her belt. Dante had thought to snatch his off the seat as they leapt from the Hummer. Standing back to back they turned in a slow circle, spraying the vampires with holy water.

  Torn between the blood surging through their veins and this new torture, the feral vamps hissed in horror. A few tried to brush the holy water from their bodies, only to find their hands and arms smoking. The smell of burning and rotting flesh filled the air.

  Xandra emptied her water pistol. Dante did the same. Screaming, the vampires backed up, breaking ranks. She still had the thermos clipped to her belt, but she didn’t have time to reload. So she drew the gun loaded with the silver bullets and fired.

  Tormented by this new agony, several of the feral vamps bolted, leaving them a clear path. Xandra charged through it. Dante made use of the gun loaded with the wood-tipped bullets and followed her.

  She pulled out the lighter again and used a quick blast of butane to take their bearings. A long metal staircase led to a catwalk above. Darkened holes showed where the ledge branched into rooms on the upper level.

  “There!” Dante pointed. “He’d keep Alix up there. It’s easier to defend.”

  Behind them, the feral vampires recovered their scattered wits and surged after them.

  Her boots skidded against the damp step, but she grasped the metal railing and kept going. Dante’s feet clattered against the stairs behind her.

  Hissing, the feral vamps followed them like a swarm of bees. Steam still curled off their burning flesh from their onslaught of holy water.

  Dante shoved at her, urging her to move even faster. She quickened her pace. He made a graceful turn and shot off another couple of wood-tipped bullets. A vampire went down, his body decaying even as he fell. Others slipped in the puddle of black ooze his body left behind. They clawed over each other, trying to reach the staircase.

  Her head was nearly level with the floor above. She grasped the railing in an attempt to heave herself up to the relative safety of the next floor.

  Suddenly a loud click followed by a whimper cut through the roar of the vampires below.

  “That’s far enough,” Jeremy said from above them.

  Slowly, Xandra brought her head up. “Damn!” In her haste to escape the feral vamps she hadn’t paid enough attention to what might be happening on the floor above.

  Jeremy perched on the catwalk above them. His left arm snaked around Alix’s neck. With his right hand, he held a gun to her head.

  In the dimness Alix looked very pale. Her brown eyes were wide open, the whites exposed. She seemed on the verge of trying to tell Xandra something, but decided against it. Blonde curls tumbled over her shoulder in a disorderly mess. A nasty bruise marred one cheek. Dirt scuffed the knees of her jeans. Apparently, Alix hadn’t gone willingly.

  Jeremy looked even worse. His gray hair hung in greasy tangles. Normally, he kept it brushed neatly back from his forehead or secured by his ever-present sunglasses. In the darkness his piercing blue eyes darted around the interior of the factory as if he worried Dante and Xandra had broken their word and come with backup.

  If they survived in one piece, she’d interrogate him later.

  “Drop the gun,” Jeremy ordered.

  Carefully, Xandra laid it on the step.

  “And the water pistol.”

  She balanced it on the metal stair beside the gun.

  “And the others.”

  Xandra held up her hands.

  Jeremy sighed. “Put your second water pistol, your backup gun and the thermos of holy water down on the step as well.” He raised his chin at Dante. “Don’t move so much as a muscle, Rodriguez.” He pressed the gun harder against Alix’s temple. She uttered a squeak of protest. “Or the lady dies.”

  Xandra unclipped her backup water pistol and placed it on the step. Straightening, she shook her head sharply at Dante, warning him against sudden movement. She undid the thermos from its tie and added it to the growing pile of her weapons. Then she reached inside and pulled out her last gun. Making a great show of presenting it to Jeremy, she put it on the stair beside everything else.

  “And the ammo belt,” Jeremy said. She put the ammo belt on the top of the pile. Below them the feral vamps shifted in disorder, waiting. “What else are you carrying?”

  “Nothing.” She held up her hands in submission. She simply had to hold on to some of her weapons. Alix’s life might depend on it.

  Jeremy let go an explosive breath. “Now Wheeler, do you think I’m stupid? I trained you. No operative of mine would go out on a maneuver without a knife or two. Maybe even one last gun hidden somewhere…” he gave her a leering grin, “…interesting.” Do you want me to call one of my operatives down there to frisk you?”

  “Operatives!” None of Jeremy’s human operatives, her former coworkers, were present. “Where are the others anyway? Where’s Joe?” She especially wanted a shot at Joe after the incident with the sedative-filled hypodermic.

  “Joe couldn’t make it.”

  So the entire maneuver was off the books. It appeared Jeremy was in deeper trouble than they thought. She forced a sneer to her lips, despite her fear. “Operatives,” she repeated with disgust. “They’re not even human. You let any one of them touch me and I’ll—”

  Jeremy drove the barrel of the gun harder against Alix’s temple. “You’ll what?”

  “He’s crazy, Xandra,” Alix squeaked. “Don’t make him mad.”

  “Okay, okay.” Xandra unsheathed her knives and slid them along the metal stair to where the rest of her weapons lay.

  “I notice your abhorrence for the inhuman doesn’t apply to our vampire liaison here,” Jeremy observed wryly.

  “It’s none of your business,” Xandra said through clenched teeth, earning her a warning glance from Dante.

  “But it is.” Jeremy smiled widely, drawing out whatever he intended to say. “I’m your father.”

  It took a moment for his words to sink in. It had to be a ploy to throw her off guard, she decided finally. She wouldn’t play.

  “Yeah, right,” she scoffed.

  Yet something in his tone made her reconsider. Her gaze raked over his features, dismayed to find the shadow of a resemblance in his blue eyes. She’d never known him with dark hair, but from the repressed memories Clarice had freed, she knew his hair had once been as dark as her own. A horrible sense of recognition and dread settled in her stomach.

  She hadn’t wanted to harbor the fragile hope of finding her biological father. Yet since they’d found the computer file containing her mysterious family tree, that’s what she’d done. Now that dream shattered. Dread settled in the pit of her stomach. There was no benevolent Daddy waiting in the wings. Her father was monster and he’d made her one as well.

  Having dropped that verbal bomb, Jeremy’s gaze shifted to Dante. “I’ll have your gun as well, Officer,” he said matter-of-factly, like he hadn’t just shaken the foundations of her entire world. And now he’d moved on to destroying the rest of her life.

  Dante’s eyes slid sideways to lock briefly with hers, warning her that no matter how deeply Jeremy had shocked her, she had to keep her mind on their current situation.

  He was right. She couldn’t afford to let her emotions rule her now. Despite the conflicting feelings of fury and pain roiling in her gut, she focused her attention on their present dilemma.

  Dante made a big show of putting the safety back on his gun and adding it to the hill of weapons she’d surrendered. Hopefully, Jeremy wouldn’t realize that Xandra had given Dante an extra gun. She prayed he wouldn’t call those ghouls on the floor below up to frisk them just to be sure.

  “Okay, you’ve got what you w
anted,” Xandra said before the situation could deteriorate further. “Let Alix go.”

  “Not so fast.”

  “That was the deal,” Dante added.

  Jeremy laid his head against Alix’s. She tried to shrink away from him, but he held her fast. “Ah, but Miss Goodman here is my insurance.”

  “You don’t need insurance. You have us.”

  “That is what you wanted, wasn’t it?” Dante said.

  “It was,” Jeremy agreed. “But I don’t believe for one second that you intend to give yourselves to me.”

  “If that’s what we have to do to save Alix, we’re willing.” Xandra said.

  Below, the feral vamps began crawling toward them, lured by the promise of their blood. It appeared Jeremy didn’t have the situation under as much control as he pretended. Xandra had the feeling things were about to go from disastrous to deadly.

  Dante must have had the same thought because he stiffened.

  “When I’m finished with you, you’ll be willing,” Jeremy said.

  That had a portentous ring to it.

  “You agreed to let Miss Goodman go.” Dante attempted to inject some reason into the situation. “We’ve presented ourselves and surrendered our weapons. It’s your turn to keep your end of the bargain.”

  “You are a weapon. That’s what you were designed to be.”

  “And we’re turning ourselves over for further development,” Dante said without so much as a blink. Damn, he was good. But then, he’d probably been trained in hostage negotiation in the police force.

  “Ensure her safe passage through that mob…” She gestured with her free hand at the horde below. The motion made Jeremy tighten his grip on Alix. “And we’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Sure. Like I’m going to take your word for that.”

  Jeremy wasn’t going to keep his word, Xandra thought with a pang of terror. She didn’t worry about her own life. Since she’d signed up with Jeremy death had been a definite possibility. Every maneuver brought it close enough to feel its cold breath down her spine. But Alix’s life was at stake here, not to mention Dante’s. And that brought a totally new element to her fear.

  She loved him. That realization made her suddenly very calm. He was her mirror image, her other half. The only person in the entire world who might truly understand her. That knowledge gave her a new kind of courage as well. Jeremy wasn’t going to release Alix the way he’d promised. But that didn’t mean they’d go down without a fight.

  Xandra glanced at Dante. Silent communication passed between them. He read the message in her gaze.

  On the floor above them, Jeremy backed up a step. He tightened his grip on Alix and thrust the gun harder against her temple. Alix read the murderous intent in his touch and whimpered. The staircase vibrated as the feral vampires below them began to climb.

  “Put your hands in the air and come up here,” Jeremy ordered.

  Far too quick for human eyes to track, Dante reached for the gun hidden in the waistband of his jeans. Xandra obeyed Jeremy’s command. Hands in the air, she put her foot on the next stair, making sure to stay to the side and give Dante a clear shot.

  But Jeremy seemed to sense the shift in Dante’s intention. With her enhanced vision, she saw the tension in Jeremy’s hand tighten.

  “No!” she screamed.

  In a blur too sudden for even her eyes to follow, Dante drew his gun. It flashed in the dim light. The sudden explosion made her ears pop. She smelled the gunpowder and saw the flash from the barrel.

  Dante had perfect aim, but he had a civilian to consider. The bullet hit Jeremy in the hand. Jeremy’s fist spasmed. His gun went off. Alix screamed, then fell abruptly silent.

  Jeremy let Alix’s body fall. Already on the next step, Dante caught her before she could tumble to the floor before.

  Dripping blood, Jeremy lunged for the shadows on the floor above and disappeared. Seeing their master injured, the feral vampires surged forward, crawling over each other in an attempt to reach the source of freely-flowing blood.

  Whirling, Xandra caught the first of them with a kick to the stomach. Unbalanced, he tumbled back, falling into the rest of the vampire horde. She snatched up one of the guns Jeremy had insisted she surrender and glanced back. The feral vampires were already scrambling to their feet again and rushing up their stairs toward them. Others had forsaken the staircase altogether and were now crawling up the walls.

  Xandra stuffed her gun into her pocket and grasped Alix’s other arm. In an odd three-legged race, they hurried to the floor above. Dante had his cell phone out, desperately calling for backup and an ambulance.

  Alix’s mouth moved, trying to tell Xandra something.

  “Shh,” she said, helplessly holding her friend. “It’s okay, the paramedics are coming.”

  They wouldn’t arrive in time she realized. Though Dante’s shot had prevented Jeremy from shooting Alix through the temple, the bullet had pierced her chest. Blood spurted from the wound far too quickly for her to staunch.

  He started to herd them down the hall toward a room with a door they where they could barricade themselves inside.

  “Dante!” she whispered. He glanced down at Alix and visibly paled.

  Words came sluggishly from Alix’s lips. Her friend’s eyes were open wide in shock. She felt cold and clammy to the touch. “Leave me.”

  “We’re not leaving you,” Xandra told her. “So you just hold on, because if you don’t, I swear I’ll never forgive you!”

  Alix smiled at that. Her eyes drifted closed.

  Dragging them along the catwalk, Dante spied a doorway, pushed them inside. Xandra lost her grip and they sprawled in a heap on the floor. She was on her feet in a second, slamming her shoulder against the door. On the other side a feral vamp screamed in pain as she caught his fingers between the door jam. She shoved her shoulder against the door again. The feral vamp pulled his hand from the door. To her relief, it shut.

  Dante was already barking orders into his cell phone. “Medics…need you yesterday…”

  His words seemed to fade into the background. She focused her entire attention on her friend. No matter how much yelling Dante did, the medics weren’t going to get here in time. And they certainly weren’t going to make it through the throng of feral vampires.

  Already they were trying to batter down the metal door to get at the source of fresh blood inside. It shuddered with the force of their blows.

  Tears streamed down Xandra’s face. Jeremy had stolen her mother from her. He’d ruined every chance she’d had for a normal life. Now he was intent on taking not only her best friend, but her lover as well. She wouldn’t let him.

  Through her enhanced senses, she could feel Alix’s life slipping slowly away from her. A thought suddenly occurred to her. If Dante’s blood had healed her injuries and given her superior senses, would it help Alix?

  “Dante,” she whispered.

  His back against the door, he glanced down at Alix and swallowed hard. “It’s not that simple, Xandra. Who knows what she would have wanted…?”

  “She’s dying, Dante!”

  In the darkness, he looked truly tortured. “She might not thank us.”

  Truly, she might not. Though she seemed to like Dante enough to keep an open mind, Alix had often professed an anti-vampire bias. Would facing death change her best friend’s mind? Xandra knelt beside her. “Alix!”

  In response, Alix’s eyelids flickered.

  The door shuddered again. Dante braced his feet against the floor and the door held.

  “Alix!” Xandra demanded. There was an appalling amount of blood on the floor. It glittered blackly in the darkness. Her own hands were sticky, her clothes practically coated with it.

  Alix’s eyes opened. It took a moment for her vacant gaze to focus on Xandra.

  “Dante might be able to help you. What should we do?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dante winced as Xandra gripped Alix’s shoulders. “Alix!”
She repeated her friend’s name urgently to hold her attention. “What do you want us to do?”

  Slowly, Alix’s pain-filled eyes drifted toward him. He held her gaze as she contemplated him. Even from across the room he could feel her life fading. Death crouched close around her. Her fear hung in the air.

  Understanding crystallized between them. He knew what she wanted. But his hybrid existence came with no guarantees.

  Alix’s eyelids drifted shut. “No!” Xandra snatched her closer, but she didn’t open her eyes. Her lips moved. No sound came out. With great effort she tried again. “Do it,” came her slurred whisper.

  Xandra looked up at Dante. “She says to do it.”

  He still had his back braced against the door in a futile attempt to hold off the feral vampires on the other side. He’d heard her last wish clearly enough. Still he hesitated.

  “Damn it, Dante, we can’t leave her to die.”

  Xandra was practically drenched in her blood. The smell of it nearly overpowered him. Only the necessity of holding back the tide of feral vampires kept him braced against the door.

  She’d need more blood than he could spare her. But if she lived through the next few minutes, and if his reinforcements arrived with the medics, she might survive. In what condition, he wouldn’t want to bet.

  Frustration welled up inside him. He’d tried so hard to protect Xandra. It had all gone badly, despite his attempts. On top of everything that had happened, he just couldn’t let her best friend die too. But could he save Alix? He just didn’t know, wouldn’t know until he tried. “It’s not that simple, love.”

  The endearment slipped out before he had time to ponder it. He did love her, he realized with certainty. He’d do anything in his power to put her world to rights. Yet she needed to understand. “I’m not a full-blooded vampire. I’ve never tried to make another of our kind. Who knows what could happen?”

  ***

  Did he just call me love? Xandra had no time to consider this new turn of events. Alix needed help only Dante could give her. And fast.

  “I’m sure she realized the risks.”