"What triangle?" I glanced over the chart then set it in the outbox. Thoughts of my brief conversation with Mal spiraled through my mind. I hadn't even considered who I would be to Vanessa's child, at least not fully. Mal's words and Vanessa's nonchalance affirmed that they both thought the title of "mommy" would apply to both of us.
"The one where you have a hot stud-muffin in to see you one week and the next a gorgeous redhead you're calling baby. That triangle."
"There's nothing to tell." I sipped my coffee. Did people really talk about their relationships this much with folks they barely knew? Granted, Beth and I were friendly but I would hardly consider her a close confidant by any means.
"C'mon Doctor T, my life has dwindled down to near nothing. Just give me something to chew on. Just a little? Pretty please?"
"Why has your life dwindled down?" I dropped my coat on the empty chair beside her. "Is everything okay?"
"There is nothing out there but douchebags. Men who think they're all that, and let me tell you they are not. Where did you find your tall semi-dark hunk of love?"
"He found me, actually." Oh jeeze, I answered a question. I've dug my own grave.
"Does he have a brother or any other male relatives who are single?" Beth perked up, her eyes twinkling with a mischief that mirrored Xany's. How did I attract such nosey friends?
"He doesn't." I chuckled and sipped my coffee again. "Ever think of dating a woman?" Whoa, she must've spiked this coffee.
"Now that you mention it, there was this pretty little thing at the club the other night. I'm pretty sure we hooked up but I can't remember." She looked up at me, her expression seemed far off.
"Word of advice, coming from the ancient person that I am… One day, you're really going to want to remember those moments. So… I recommend stopping whatever you're doing, drinking, or snorting that makes you forget." I set my coffee down when I heard the doors open.
"Oh no, that creeper chick is back." Beth dropped her feet from the desk and sat upright. I turned around only to be met with the smiling face that belonged to Ileana.
"What are you doing here?" I stepped out from behind the desk, remembering to keep my eyes averted. "Get out."
"Come with me, please." Ileana kept walking right past me as if she owned the place.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
Ileana stopped a few yards ahead of me. She turned around and slipped her hands into the pockets of her blindingly white jacket. "Excuse me?"
"Get out."
"I'm calling security," said Beth.
Ileana walked over to me, her mouth an inch from my chin. "Come with me or every human on this floor will quench my thirst and become my children," the tone of her voice deepened through the whisper and a shrill of warning raced through me. She wasn't threatening me, she was making a promise. Ileana turned on her heel and I followed her. What choice did I have? "Don't bother summoning your puppies. They won't get here in time."
"What the hell do you want?" I stopped beside the fire exit when Ileana gripped the handle. The pack bond pitched and tightened my chest. They knew something was up but their energy wasn't focused on me. "What have you done?"
"I've told you twice now. You owe me a childe." She shrugged. "A little diversion never hurt anyone. Now." She opened the door and the alarms began to wail. We stepped out into the rear portion of the parking lot. It was empty save for a lone ambulance. Ileana pointed to it as the back doors opened. "Get in."
"No! I will not. What the hell is a childe? You crazy bitch." I turned to grab the door before it locked me out but it was too late. Ileana snatched my arm, her grip tighter than a vice.
"You killed my Izzy." She growled. "And refused to provide me a replacement." She jerked me about as the commotion inside the hospital traveled down the hall near the fire door. "Now, I said, get in!"
I didn't have a chance to respond before I found myself dragged into the back of the ambulance. The doors slammed and the sirens wailed as the driver pulled away. Ileana took a seat across from the gurney she forced me to sit on. Like a stab in my torso, the pack bonds focused on me. They couldn't find me. My connection to Mal and Vanessa seized.
The ambulance sped from the parking lot and, from the rear window, I saw the hospital being evacuated. Barron and June raced through the crowd and into the building as the rest of the people flooded out.
"You have three days to name a replacement for my Izzy." Ileana crossed her legs, calmly leaning back against the wall of the ambulance. I half expected her to begin filing her nails. "Or I'll turn you instead."
"You're kidding me, right? There are seven billion people in this world." I continued to send distress signals to the pack, hoping they would be able to follow me.
"Oh honey, when you've been around as long as I have, people are boring. It's finding the one interesting person that makes it worth it. You are interesting. I'd like to play with you for a while." She smiled, tilting her head to the side when I glanced at her. I ripped my eyes away and stared at the back of the driver's head.
"Is he glamoured or one of your minions?"
"He's my puppet. Alder is a good boy. Though he has tendency to stray every now and then."
What is this leech playing at? Why was she talking so much? My heart raced though the fear hadn't quite met me yet. Xany would tease me about this later, I thought. Again, here I am, kidnapped in an ambulance by a leech who acted more human than me. Was it still kidnapping if I went half-willingly? I sensed my mother, loud and strong, closer than the others yet further away from me. My mate bonds, thrown wide open, sent me messages of rage and fear. In that moment, there was no separation between the two.
"Are you going to kill me or what?"
"That depends on you. I told you. You've got three days to name a fit for me. Who do you think would make a good vampire, Doctor Twofeathers? That little receptionist? How about the blood collector?" She tapped her lip. "You could name someone right now and I'll let you out on the side of the road." In the latter part of her speech, a glimmer of an accent peeked through. It hinted on something harsh like German or Greek.
"How old are you?"
"Older than your ancestors."
"My ancestors are pretty old."
"Mine are older. And it isn't proper to ask a vampire her age, you know. It's polite to ask our time." Again she tried the head-tilt thing. I closed my eyes this time. They'll find me. Hurry, please.
"So… what time are you?"
"I am Byzantinian."
"Why are you answering my questions?" Was she telling me the truth? A vampire from the Byzantine Empire would make her an ancient. I've only heard stories about the ancient vampires. Why didn't I ask my mother more about them?
The sirens continued to wail as the connection to my pack family began to stretch. As the distance grew, so did my distress. Pack bonds faded first. The mate bonds thinned but remained strongly flooded. Mal and Vanessa merged in a sort of unified rage. They'll find me. They will. Don't freak out yet.
"What have I to lose compared to you?"
With my eyes closed, I couldn't see her smile but I heard it. I took a deep breath and tried to block out the sound of the ambulance barreling down the road. An unexpected tug grabbed me backward and I gripped my chest. Vanessa's trying to call me. I can't answer, baby.
"Let me go and I will name someone." I opened my eyes to stare at the corner of her jacket collar.
"Name someone and I will let you go." Her paled lips curved into a frown. "Why don't you smell of fear? It's my favorite."
"I'm really good at being afraid." Vanessa's call steadied in my chest, returning to agonized fury. Mal burned along with her. "Fine. I'll name someone."
"Go ahead." Ileana folded her hands in her lap.
"Dugan Flynn."
"And where can I find him?"
"Ireland."
"What part?"
"Dublin."
"Will he make a good childe?"
"Some people thought s
o."
"All right. Alder will take you to the house to wait for me while I fetch your Mister Flynn. It shouldn't take too long, no?" Fuck this leech. I wanted nothing more than to stab her through the heart with a sycamore tree. "It might take a while but he'll be worth the wait then." Ileana sat back as if that settled everything.
"You said you'd let me go if I named someone. Now let me go." My hands balled into fists and I fought the urge to rip her throat out. A desire that rose from somewhere inside me, somewhere familiar and beast-like.
"Hmm. You have a temper, don't you? I can match that, lovely." Ileana moved from my field of vision, then reappeared a split-second later with her nose an inch from mine. I snapped my eyes shut, my bated breath met hers. Why is she breathing? "Empty your pockets." Her voice seemed to slither. "Now."
"Fuck you," I spat and ripped the pagers from the waist of my scrubs. I opened my eyes and made sure to focus solely on her shoes.
"The phone, too." She took them, and I slapped my phone in her hand. I held onto my small wallet. The edges of the sonogram pictures grazed my fingertips. Ileana moved away from me and opened the little window that led to the driver's seat. "Throw one out the window every mile or so for the next three. Then we're ready."
"Yes, ma'am." The sirens stopped and the ambulance returned to a regular speed.
"Don't call me ma'am." She growled at him. Alder laughed and glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "You're straying again."
"Stop saying that and deal with your next feed-bag." Alder tossed one of the pagers out the window. I flinched when I heard the snap and crunch when it hit the pavement. Ileana slammed the window and frowned.
"He'll need some retaming."
"What do you mean he's strayed?" I asked as I heard the second pager, or phone, crash on the pavement.
"Give him a sip of my blood and he's my pet. Want a lick?" She held her wrist out to me.
"Let me go, dammit." With my patience thinning, so went my composure. All of the bonds inside me reared, thrashed, and called to me. Their distress matched mine now.
"I've got other plans for you first, darling." Ileana returned to her seat across from me and again folded her hands in her lap. "Your puppies are far away now, yes?"
"Shut up," I said through clenched teeth. I wasn't getting out of here anytime soon. Trapped in an ambulance with a leech. Xany would have a field day with this. I've officially exceeded the universal quota for kidnapping. It hurt to think about Xany, to think about what she might be feeling because of me.
It's your own fault.
I allowed myself to settle into a false sense of security when I assumed Caden or Hank would handle the vampire situation and wrote off Ileana's visit as a hallucination.
You should know better by now, Shawnee.
And the worst part about it is that I didn't tell anyone about her. Never mentioned her name or the visit.
Just to protect your integrity.
After a period of quiet, the only sound was the smooth hum of the road beneath us. Alder spoke. "Everything is purged, Ileana." The last electronic device belonging to me hit the road.
"Good. Another mile south and we're ready."
"Ready for what?"
"You talk too much. Maybe I mistook you, Doctor Twofeathers." Ileana crossed her legs, nudging me with her foot.
"I think you might've, ma'am."
Ileana raised her hand to my face as if threatening to slap me. I pursed my lips and prepared for impact but when the ambulance slowed, she rose from her seat. Her short stature allowed her to stand without ducking. We came to a stop and I heard Alder exit the vehicle. He came around back and pulled open the rear doors.
"Hurry," he urged.
Ileana grabbed my arm and pulled me into the woods. Alder followed. They rushed me away from the empty road, a sign marked 80 told me we had moved closer to Salt Lake City, but not close enough to see any landmarks. The darkness thickened and Ileana tugged me behind a tree.
"Three, two…" Alder counted but I never heard the "one."
An explosion ripped through the ambulance. The blast sent a ball of fire upward and whooshing heat in our direction. I covered my ears as debris flew our way, tucking myself closer to the tree. Alder looked on, wide-eyed and unfazed by the noise. Ileana seemed to underestimate the noise. She let go of me and I found her crouching as she, too, watched the fire burn.
This is your chance. Run, Shawnee!
I obeyed and bolted into the woods. My feet slammed into fallen leaves and twigs blindly as I ran with reckless abandon. With my heart thundering in my ears, I leapt over a log illuminated by the fading glow of the fire. Alder shouted something behind me as I ducked under a branch, heading into a thicker area of woodland. Brambles caught my lab coat, yanking me off course. I stumbled but caught myself.
Mal roared inside me, his bond responding first. He recognized the sensation, he knew I was running and he ran, too. I cried out and ran in whatever direction toward him, or what I thought was toward him. Vanessa's stillness sent waves of dangerousness through my veins, fueling my plight with grace and added speed. Alder couldn't catch me, I knew he wouldn't be able to. As for Ileana, the breathing vampire, I knew nothing of her abilities.
In the end, it wasn't my mates who I sensed strongest, but the rage and wrath of my mother, the one who I was bonded to the most. Our original pack bond, our new bond, our family link superseded the others. Images flashed through my mind of a forest more familiar. She was running, too.
Hope spiraled through me, maybe I would catch up to them. Maybe they would find me before Ileana did.
"Now, now," Ileana's voice burst through the air in front of me. I didn't have a chance to stop myself, but it didn't matter. She grabbed me around the torso and spun me around, using my momentum to guide both of us. "You are much more trouble than I suspected." She hissed out the final word and yanked my head to the side. I screamed the moment her fangs tore into my neck. My legs gave out and the searing pain shot down my body. Internal darkness veiled my eyes as her venom coursed through me.
"That'll do," Ileana said, before the hand of death dragged me down into its slough.
Chapter Twelve
"Where's your security room, dammit?" Caden's voice growled.
"It's this way, Mister Lionsong, please remain calm," said a stranger. My pack was there, crowded around several monitors in the security office at the hospital.
"What is she saying?" Xany's voice pressed through.
"She doesn't seem upset," the stranger commented.
"That's the woman who kept showing up here asking for her," said Beth. "What's she saying?"
"I don't know," again the stranger spoke.
"I can't tell," said Caden.
"Something about 'on this floor will quench my thirst and become my children,'" Vanessa said, her speech paused momentarily. "'They won't get here in time.'" Vanessa continued to repeat portions of what Ileana said to me.
"How can you—" Beth began to speak but someone must've stopped her.
"Shawnee is saying, 'what the hell do you want? What have you done?' then the leech answers, 'I've told you twice now. You owe me a child. A little diversion never hurt anyone,'" Vanessa finished her translation.
Don't leave me, baby. I'm right here. Xee, it's the ambulance. We're in the ambulance.
"Is this her phone?" A different stranger asked.
"Yes, where did you get this?" Caden's voice returned.
"We found it on the road west a few miles while responding to a vehicle fire," the stranger said, then after a pause. "No one was in it."
"Get the outside camera feeds immediately." I'd never heard Caden so demanding before, so authoritarian. He began to fade, all of my loved ones did.
No, please. Caden, don't go.
I woke up gasping as the filtered sounds of my family pulsed painfully through Vanessa's mate bond. She'd sent me sounds and images. I coughed and spit a mouthful of blood onto a stone-tiled floor. The room around me slowl
y came in to focus as the reality of my situation returned. Anger fueled my movements, shoving me to my feet as I swatted at my neck where Ileana bit me. I found no cuts or abrasions on my skin.
"Hey!" I shouted into the empty room. Gray tiles covered both the floor and walls. Thick black curtains covered the windows but daylight poked through from the tiny crevices at the top. A giant four-poster bed stood in the center of the room. Ornately carved bed tables flanked it on either side with a matching armoire positioned by the window. At the end of the bed, an antique gothic-style trunk seemed to glare at me. I didn't like it. Something about it gave me the creeps.
I rushed to the window and pushed the curtain aside. The sun shone brightly overhead, reflecting off the surface of an in-ground pool below. Endless property stretched out toward a sandy-stone villa several yards away. I pounded on the window, my fists nearly soundless on the thick matted glass.
"Quit shouting," Alder said as he entered the room, the heavy wooden door creaked on its hinges. "That won't help, by the way. The windows are reinforced."
"Where's the leech?" I made a play for the door but he slammed it behind him, sending a hefty echo through the room.
"No you don't. She's off looking for that Dugan fella." A smile spread across his lips.
"You're lying."
"Only a bit. You better name someone before she turns you, trust me, it's not pleasant." He leaned back against the door, crossing his bare feet.
"Why hasn't she turned you?" I looked him over. Although young, he seemed confident enough in his position. "You live here with her."
"I do and she has no need to turn me."
"Does she know you're in here?"
"Someone's got to check in on you."
"Why aren't you holding me in a dungeon or something cliché like that?" I frowned at him. He's only a human. I can take him.
"Ileana wants to show you the amenities herself."
"Where is she?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
"Answer me, asshole." I seethed, unable to control the anger over my confinement.
"I think she underestimated you." Alder crossed his arms over his chest. "You're more potent than she thought."
Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 11
