He needed that girl. He needed the life she could give him.
He'd do whatever it took.
He pressed against the limo window, watching closely. The boy seemed confused. George stepped in close and suddenly took him by the arm, bending it behind his back. He pushed him toward the side walk, over the curb, and into the street. As Upton had predicted, the girl followed. She ran from the steps and caught up with them close to the car. Upton had the back door open just before George pushed the boy inside.
George turned swiftly to the girl.
"What are you doing?" she said. "Let him go."
Upton had a small caliber silver pistol aimed at the boy. When the girl opened the door, he waved it at her, making sure it was the first thing she saw.
"Join us," he said, "or your friend is going to have a hole in him."
She didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes made Upton think for one second that he'd made a terrible mistake. "Get in!" he shouted, his sudden fear causing him to raise his voice. "I'm not very good with this gun and it might go off."
The girl slid in beside the boy and took his hand. "Who are you?" the boy asked. "What's this about?"
"If she's vampire, she can read my mind. Can't you, girl?"
"He wants to be like me," Dell said. "He's using you to get what he wants. He's been looking for me for a long time. He's dying."
George had started the car and pulled from the curb. Full dark had fallen on the neighborhood now and lights came on inside the houses as they passed them.
"I don't understand," Ryan said.
"It doesn't matter what you understand," Upton said. "Just do what I say and you'll be all right.” He glanced at the back of George's head. "Take us out of this city. Take us somewhere private, far away from here.'
"You better not do this," the girl warned. "You're sick and feeble. I can hurt you.”
Upton pushed the gun into the boy's ribs until he grunted. "I'm not playing a game with you," he said, speaking to Dell. "You'll give me what I want, or you'll lose this mortal. He'll die a lot sooner than I will—and that's a promise."
All of Upton's fear vanished as he spoke. He saw the girl's resolve waver. She sank into the leather seat, gazing ahead of her, and holding tightly to the boy's hand. She might still be reading his mind. If she were, he wanted her to know just how serious he was.
I wouldn't mind killing everyone in this car, he thought, hoping she could hear him. You know I'll do it if provoked. Don't try it.
He relaxed, but kept the gun firmly against the boy's ribs as George drove them from the neighborhood onto a freeway entrance ramp.
For once Upton's frozen smile was genuine. He thought he would smile forever now. Life was only beginning.
24
Mentor and Ross were involved in a deep struggle when they both heard the cry for help from the girl. It was like a screech on the wavelength they both unconsciously monitored every moment of their lives. The wail startled them into rigidity.
Ross, taking advantage of the interruption, threw Mentor off easily. Mentor landed against the wall of Ross' home, striking it so hard his body dented the sheetrock and caused a painting to crash to the floor.
"Stop it," Mentor said, shaking himself off. "We can finish this later."
Ross stood immobile, listening intently to the pleas coming to him from the girl who called herself Dell. "Who is this new one?" he asked. "What makes her interrupt us this way?"
Mentor said, "Dell Cambian. You know the Cambians?"
"Of course I do. I supply them, don't I?”
“Listen," Mentor said, cocking his head, holding one finger aloft to silence Ross.
She was telling them where she was. She was caught, a prisoner of an old crippled man and his chauffeur. They were going to kill her boyfriend if she did not make the old man a vampire. Help, she cried. Mentor! Help!
"She doesn't want to kill them," Ross said, sneering. "You see how your namby-pamby Naturals handle a crisis? They buckle. They call for help when all they have to do is strike back."
"She's not like you, Ross, you murdering fiend. She's more human. And she loves the boy."
"Look where that got her. Every Natural and every human involved with one ought to be put out of his misery."
"Oh, just shut up, you bastard, and let's go get her."
"Only if I get to take the kidnappers for myself."
"I don't care what you do when we get there," Mentor said with disgust. He had been fighting with Ross for more than an hour, trying to keep him from going to kill Bette and Alan. Ross knew they knew. He knew the woman had thrown off Mentor's memory wipe. He knew they were dangers to vampires as long as they lived.
It didn't matter when Mentor told him he'd extracted a promise from the woman or that he knew she'd keep it, and she'd make Alan keep it. Ross would take no chances, he said. And then he'd landed the first blow, attacking with a fury Mentor had not expected. He had kept the Predator's fangs from sinking into his neck by only centimeters. His own fury rising, he had almost made a determination that Ross was too far out of control to be of use to the clan any longer. He would kill him and train someone else to take his place.
Except . . . he realized suddenly during the struggle that it was his own judgment that had become clouded. Ross was acting as only one who would protect their clan would act. Still, Mentor trusted Bette. She would never bring them harm.
Then they'd both heard the strident call for help from Dell.
He'd let Ross live as long as he didn't say he was going to do harm to Bette Kinyo. No one would ever be allowed that privilege.
The two vampires, Predators both, threw themselves into transformation at the same moment, disappearing from the destroyed living room of Ross' home. Dell was being held in an abandoned old house just outside of Dallas in the suburb town of Ennis, Texas. The house sat on the edge of a newly plowed field that stretched in all directions for hundreds of acres. When the two vampires arrived outside the house, a fierce dark wind was blowing, shaking the boards of the sagging building, lifting shingles and sending them flying. Geese flew past the face of the full moon in the sky.
"This is an ugly place," Ross said with distaste. "But the man's got a car, I can say that for him."
Mentor looked at the limousine. Wealth. Tremendous wealth. This must be the man Alan was going to tell about his discoveries. Obviously, he had told him. And led him back to their dens, their homes. Ross would have even more reason now to kill Alan Star.
Would the complications never cease? Mentor wondered. It was all so out of hand.
"Let's go," he said to Ross. They approached the leaning porch and stepped lightly over the warped boards. It was Ross who pulled the door open, ripping it from rusted hinges and flinging it aside. It clattered and tumbled down the steps and onto the ground.
Wind rushed past them, pushing them into the room, startling the two men there with Dell. They turned in surprise, letting her go. "What the hell?" the old man said.
"Well you may ask," Ross said, eyes flaming as he stepped forward in two long strides and grasped the old man by his throat, hauling him inches into the air off the floor. "What the hell? That's where I'll dispatch your black soul."
"Let's think all this over," Mentor said, moving toward the two men.
Ross let go of Upton, and turned, furious. "We will not discuss this. You try to stop me from doing what's best for our people. I won't stand for it anymore."
Mentor roared back, "You do what I say, or we'll continue where we left off before we came here."
"What would you have me do, spare this old evil one?"
"There might be another way . . ."
"No. No other way. Not this time." Ross advanced again on the old man.
~*~
Dell fell back from George's clutching fingers as the door to the old house flew open. In the garish light from the battery operated lantern the two vampires stood as tall as the doorsill, their long shadows curling over the floor
and up onto the opposite wall. "Mentor," she screamed, so relieved that she went to her knees.
She hadn't known what to do. The old man was insane, slobbering, his teeth shining in the lamplight from stretched tight lips. He was a horror to behold. Weeping sores oozed on his old wrinkled neck. There were soiled bandages on his forehead, and other bandages were coming loose from his hands. He could hardly walk and grimaced all the time, scowling from thick white brows.
"I have porphyria," he said. "You're going to save me from it."
"I don't know how to do that," she insisted.
"Yes, you do. You will take my blood, but not enough to kill me. You'll bring me to the brink of death and let me return. You'll make me like you."
"You don't understand. We aren't like that. Only a few of us ever do what you're asking. We're genetically changed by the same disease you have. In us, it mutated and caused us to be vampire, and now it's a gene we carry. We pass it down through generations. But we don't turn one another into vampire the way you're asking." She was lying. They could change others if they wished, but she'd never tell him that.
His idea of vampires was very distorted and he could not understand that she was like a vampire child, untried, unlearned, and probably incapable of doing what he wished.
"I'll have George douse you with gasoline from the car and set you afire if you don't do what I want," he threatened. His gaze was as evil and unrelenting as any Predator's. She knew he meant it.
All she could do was to send out a plea for help, for Mentor—either that or kill the old man, and she did not want to kill, ever. Her anger, which sat near the surface all the time, was moving out of control, however, and she feared what she might do to the two men if someone didn't come to her rescue.
She didn't want to do it. She didn't want to hurt them. The old man was desperate and disillusioned. He was pitiful.
And now Ross had him by the throat. She got to her feet and ran forward to pound on Ross' steel-vise arms. "Don't hurt him, don't!" She didn't know what possessed her. She couldn't think about anything but deterring murder in her presence.
"I'll kill him!"
Even as she screamed no and pleaded with Mentor to intervene, Ross swooped low over the old man's neck. Dell reached between them and caught Ross around the neck, hauling him backward. He let go of the old man and knocked her back so hard she flew across the floor, out the door, and all the way across the small broken porch to the bare yard outside.
Inside, Ross sank inch-long fangs into Upton's throat. The old man arched his body, crying out in pain and terror. George ran to him and beat at Ross' face with his fists. Ross swept him aside with his free hand, throwing him to the floor.
As Upton's blood rushed into Ross, he fell into the other man's thoughts and realized with sudden shock how alike they were. The old man said telepathically: Make me like you and I'll give you more power than you've ever dreamed existed. I can help you. Search your soul and see if I'm not telling the truth.
Mentor stood as if in a trance, then suddenly he moved, rushing outdoors to see about Dell. He lifted her into his arms and tried to get her to her feet.
Inside, using these few seconds alone to make a decision, Ross spoke aloud to Upton. "What can you do for me? Show me." He bent to the old man's bloody neck to take more of his life.
Upton, nearing death, showed Ross all the possibilities. How together they would siphon off from Upton Enterprises all the funds Ross might ever need. When they had enough, they would begin buying corporations, going global, until they owned the largest financial empire in the world. How he'd share all that with Ross, give him anything, give him not only riches, but enough power to do as he pleased about the Cravens and the Naturals. If only he'd make Charles vampire, they could do anything.
Ross paused and removed his lips from the old man's throat. He looked deep into the man's eyes and saw there a kindred spirit, someone so much like himself that it was like seeing a mirror image. "All right," he growled, blood dripping from his lower lip. "I'll give you immortality. And you will give me whatever I ask, forever."
"Yes," Upton whispered hoarsely. "Anything. Everything. Forever."
Ross sank his fangs again for the third time, forcing back the old man's head, bringing him just to the brink of death, feeling his heart beat slower and slower. Then Ross drew back and dropped Upton to the floor. He'd been tempted to kill him anyway, but the thought of what he'd been promised stopped him at the last moment.
When Ross turned, he saw Mentor standing in the open doorway.
"Now what have you done?"
"You want some of this? You're ready to end what we began?" Ross snarled, moving forward.
Mentor took him by the arms and threw him out the door and onto the porch, following in a blur.
Dell, unhurt, entered the house and knelt with George over the old man. He was bleeding profusely from the neck. George tried to cover the wound, but blood welled beneath the palm of his hand and rivered to the floor.
The old man opened his eyes. "I'll be like them," he said. "I'll live forever now. Don't worry, George, don't worry."
Dell looked for Ryan and found him cringing in the corner. She took his hand, lifting him, and pulling him with her to Upton. She stooped down, felt of the old man's heart.
"You shouldn't have come for me," she said, sorry for him now. He was crazy and sick and old and he probably would have killed her—except now she realized she never would have permitted him to do that. With him prostrate on the floor in a pool of his own blood, she could sense the depth of his despair, his terrible longing for life, and she respected that about him. He was human. At least for the moment. He should not die this way.
She heard the sounds of struggle outside the house and left the old man, rushing to the door to see about Mentor. "Stop it!" she screamed. "Ross, stop it!"
Ross had Mentor on the ground, pushing his face in the dirt. Wind whipped Ross' coat jacket away from his body and slicked his hair to his head. He turned to her, teeth bared, eyes like coals, and he growled.
Dell felt all the anger rise within her that had been building ever since she died. It had been lying in wait, crouching within her, eager to spring to the forefront of her consciousness. It came on her in a tremendous wave. It felt red and fiery; it felt slick and red and bloody.
She looked around and saw Ryan watching the scene, frozen in place. He was caught in a nightmare that might never end. She must do something to stop it.
She leaped from the door across the broken porch, past the steps, and landed on Ross' back. She dug her hands into his shoulders, clawing at him. Her fangs locked on the back of his neck where it was exposed just above his collar.
Ross howled and tried to throw her off. She tasted blood, warm blood, the first she'd ever tasted and it filled her with images of great rivers, deep gorges, endless caves, dark, dark, dark woods where the moon shone scarlet and the wind carried death on its feathery wings. She bit down harder, seeking a vein, hunting for it the way a mole will dig through earth, making a tunnel toward a tasty root. She jerked her head this way and that, her eyes closed tightly, rending the flesh beneath her teeth with a viciousness that welled straight from her soul.
Ross fell off Mentor and twisted, taking her by the hair and pulling with all his might. Dell knew nothing, felt nothing but hunger. She felt no pain from the tearing of her hair from her scalp, no fear of the huge Predator who was more powerful than any who might have lived. She meant to kill him and take his blood. She'd find the vein, she'd bite down until she reached it, and then he would be hers.
Lightning struck her in the head, or that was what it felt like, and she was flung across the ground, rolling like a tumbleweed. Mentor stood over her, glaring and pointing. "You stay here," he said. "You are not to engage in battle."
Blood dripped from her lips and down her chin. Her tongue snaked out and she licked it clean, then she smiled. "If he touches you again, I'll be sure to kill him."
Mentor turned s
wiftly to Ross. Dell saw he was up now, a hand to the back of his neck. He was hunched over. She knew she'd hurt him. If Mentor hadn't intervened, she might not have taken his life, but she wouldn't have stopped trying. Her arms felt as if they were made of steel. Her body felt as strong as stone. Her mind swirled with the aftertaste of his blood. Though she thought they were all cold and dead, it wasn't true! His blood had been warm and alive. It still tingled on her tongue and through her veins, giving her strength and the desire to take more.
Ross said, "I ought to kill your little protégée for that."
"She thought I was in danger."
Ross laughed and it was a terrible sound, competing with the wind that howled around the eaves of the old house.
"You can leave now, Ross. I'll handle this." Ross turned to look through the doorway into the lantern-lit house.
"You made him vampire. Go now. You've done a terrible thing."
Ross scowled at Mentor then he looked with new, bright anger at Dell. "You'd better do something with her," he said. "If I ever come across her alone, she's mine."
"Handle your own business, Ross. I am the master in this region. If I have to, I'll get you replaced."
"You'll try to kill me, you mean. You're nothing but a weak old man, Mentor. You should never threaten me."
LEGIONS OF THE DARK (VAMPIRE NATIONS CHRONICLES) Page 25
