“You could probably pick me up.” His fangs run out a little.
“Like that idea, do you?” I smile coyly. “Wanna see what else I can do?”
Before he can answer, I lean up and kiss him on mouth, my tongue darting inside to lick around his fangs which are a direct line to his sex drive. He reaches for me, but I am too quick. I use my new speed and strength to launch away from him and dart up the stairs. He catches up quickly and pounces on me somewhere near the couch. I pull him down to the cushions and kiss him again.
“Holy shit, Abri.” He isn’t winded at all, but there is exasperation in his voice. I am nowhere near vampire speed, but I can blow the doors off most humans in a short distance.
“I’m not sure how much of that is Sodalis and how much is vamp genetics but it’s freakin’ cool.” I’m not winded either, even with Lucan’s weight on top of me. “Now, are you going to let me shower or not?”
Lucan smiles and flashes to his feet, pulling me with him. He smacks me lightly on the butt as I head for the bathroom. There are no more amps unless he wills them and I kind of miss it.
“I am so glad we will be alone later tonight,” he calls after me.
I catch a few lusty mental images from him as I strip to get into the shower. I turn to glance at myself in the mirror and open my mind so he can see what I’m seeing. He drops what sounds like a glass in the kitchen and it makes me laugh.
***
Mark is flopped across the couch with Lucan when I open the bathroom door again. I didn’t hear them come in over the sound of my hairdryer. Guess there are some limits to my increased senses. There is a hockey game on the television and Mark is muttering something about Dallas and playoffs. Lucan scoffs beside him and goes on about the Rangers taking it all the way. Sarah is staring at her phone, a bored look on her face.
“Hey guys. How have ya’ll been?”
“Good. Abri, you look amazing. I think that Sodalis thing is making you look younger.”
“Possibly or maybe it’s just the vampire genes that kicked in.” We haven’t told anyone about my discovery. Mark and Sarah look puzzled. “Yeah, apparently my great-great grandparents were Sodali too and my great-grandma was a vampire-human hybrid. The blood exchange during the ceremony awakened some latent vampirism in me. That’s why I was so blood hungry afterwards.”
We spend the next twenty minutes filling them in on me and my blood cravings, the danger of turning me, and my newfound abilities. Mark wants to arm wrestle but Lucan is afraid I might actually hurt him, so we settle on seeing who can bench the most weight. I beat him by ten pounds and five reps.
“I’m so happy for you guys,” Sarah says as we settle back down in the living room. “We wanted to give you guys something as a thank you for all you’ve done for us. Without you both our marriage would be over and God knows what would have happened to Mark.” She tears up as she reaches into her bag.
“We wanted to give you something to commemorate your bonding,” Mark adds, as Sarah finishes rummaging around in her suitcase-sized Louis Vuitton. “And our appreciation.”
Sarah produces a flat box wrapped in silver paper and a white bow. She hands it to me with a huge smile. I carefully pry the end of the paper up.
“Oh just rip it open!” Lucan exclaims next to me.
Inside the box is a photo in a silver picture frame of Lucan and me kissing after the ceremony. Sarah must have snapped it during the reception because I am in my Cinderella dress. Tears are welling up in my eyes now too. It had crossed my mind more than once over the past few weeks that, unlike a wedding, there had been no photographer present to record the festivities.
“Thank you. This is the best gift ever,” I blubber.
“It was while you two were dancing at the reception. I realized there was no photographer and I just happened to bring my digital camera, so there you go. I figured you’d like one in that dress and not the ceremony monstrosity.”
Lucan takes it from my hands and places it on the shelves that hold the stereo system and massive music collection. “Thank you both. We will cherish this always.”
We talk a while longer about how things are going with the hunt for Serge. It’s been slow with Zaid gone but the Enclave still had a search team active. Mark had tried calling Serge’s number but it was disconnected. Zaid asked him to do it after he left town in the hopes that Serge would resurface.
It is nice to spend the evening with friends that know all about Lucan and me. I am already nervous about explaining all of this to Lindsey when we start working together. There is no way I can keep her in the dark if we are all going to be in the same office. There is time enough to worry about that, for now I just enjoy Mark and Lucan’s debate on the upcoming football draft.
I doze off at some point and come to as Lucan is picking me up from the couch. Sarah and Mark are heading for the elevator.
“I'm sorry guys. I have been so tired lately. I guess it’s because I’ve stopped moving being off work and all.”
“No worries,” Mark replies. “It’s pretty late. We can see ourselves out.”
“We’ll do dinner next week,” Sarah offers.
I nod and wave sleepily as they shut the elevator grate. I sense disappointment in Lucan as he turns towards the bed. He feels like a jerk for evening thinking about messing around now that I’m half-asleep. I force my eyes open and play with the buttons on his shirt as we cross the room. I can perk myself up enough for that, can’t I?
“No, it’s okay,” he says, laying me down on the bed. My shirt rides up in the front and his breath catches a little.
“No it’s not. You’re not going to be home tomorrow night and I promised.”
“It’s not like we don’t have forever,” he murmurs. “We’ll make up for lost time when I get back.”
He is leaving early for an Enclave meeting in D.C. I can’t say I’m not a little miffed about staying home, but it’s only an overnight trip and Lucan won’t have time to do any sightseeing with me. I want to argue but another wave of exhaustion over takes me and I drift off to sleep before I can even try.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Serge had mulled over the idea of calling Mark for a few weeks. He wanted to kick the guy’s ass for leaving him to rot. If it hadn’t been for the lost maintenance men coming to his aid that next morning, he might have dried up and met his final end in that sorry ass apartment. Okay, so the apartment hadn’t been bad. It was better than his shithole in Hell’s Kitchen. The very same shithole that he’d had to abandon after that tracker had come looking for him.
After he was kicked out of the bar he’d gone back home with a six-pack only to discover that the tracker had been there. Serge hadn’t even gone back inside.
But, ever the opportunist, Serge had taken up residence with a very obliging young woman he’d met in the park that night. He provided her with drugs he took from a dealer he’d drained and she provided him with blood. Sure, it tasted like heroin, but he couldn’t be choosey. His hand was nearly at full function and his eyesight was almost back in vampire range thanks to her selfless donations.
Selfless was probably an overstatement, Serge laughed to himself as he kicked her near lifeless body. She was face down on the bed in a pool of her own vomit. “Wake up, bitch.” He shoved the toe of his boot into her side. “I’m hungry.”
The woman, frail and dirty, rolled over to stare at him with lifeless eyes. The fight had gone out of her a few days ago, either from the drugs Serge regularly dosed into her veins or from the lack of blood. Maybe both.
Disgusted by her weakness, Serge launched himself at her neck and within minutes, he’d drained her of the last drops of life. Sated for the moment, he sat back and looked her over. He toyed briefly with giving her some of his blood and turning her. No, she was skinny with no breasts, brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. Nothing like his beautiful Abri.
Serge had tried, without success, to infiltrate O’Reilly’s apartment since he’d regained most of his streng
th. He’d stalked the main lobby of the Chrysler until the human security detail banned him, but Abri never left the building that way. He was actually shocked the Enclave didn’t have guards posted at every entrance waiting to bring him in given.
It was so strange in fact, that Serge wondered if O’Reilly had lost his hold on Abri. Maybe she had balked when he wanted to drink from her and run away. No, that couldn’t be it; even that wouldn’t stop Lucan from keeping her safe.
“Abri, I do wish you’d come out and play,” he mused aloud. “One day. One day your prince will leave you in his castle unguarded.”
Serge was bored. He’d have to find a new place to live before long as someone was bound to come looking for his now lifeless meal ticket. Not to mention that eventually she was going to start to smell.
He flexed the nearly formed fingers on his “new” hand and contemplated his next move. He was tired of hiding out in Brooklyn in a shitty walk up. He deserved better digs. Hell, Mark Ainsworth owed him better digs after all he’d given that miserable fuck. How did he repay him? By going back to his human wife. According to Hicks, that bitch had dropped her divorce case and they were living together again.
Serge took out his phone and scrolled for Mark’s number. Ainsworth was a sniveling shit and Serge planned to extort enough cash out of him to live comfortably until he had his chance to go after Abri Cole. A few hundred thousand should do it and he knew Mark was more than good for it. He’d pay if Serge made a threat against his wife—better yet, his wife and Abri. Serge was almost certain the women were still in touch with one another now that they were both living in the supernatural.
Smiling at his genius, Serge waited for the idiot to answer.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
The sound of an unfamiliar ringtone blaring across the apartment wakes me up. My newly acute hearing locates the sound as coming from between two couch cushions. The caller is insistent because they hang up and immediately dial again. It must be Sarah or Mark’s phone since they were the last people to sit on the sofa. There is no number displayed, only the words “Unknown Caller.”
“Hello.”
“Well, well, well,” comes the voice at the other end. “I did not expect this.”
“What do you want, shithead?” I don’t stop to identify the caller. I know who it is.
“I guess your tracker has given up on finding me,” he continues.
Logic tells me to text Lucan immediately. Instinct tells me to get to Serge any way I can, that this is my only chance, our only chance, to catch him. I waste no time.
“Meet me. Now.” My voice has a steely tenor I’ve never heard before.
“How sweet of you. I was just going to suggest the same thing. Grand Central Station. Five minutes,” he replies without pause.
“Too public,” I bite back. “Why involve others when it’s just me you want?”
“True. So true, Abri. You are the smart one. Why don’t I just come see the little nest you and O’Reilly have created together? I think that’s fitting, don’t you? He’ll never be able to come back to that place once you’re gone. I like that.”
“Take the main elevator to sixty-six. You’ll be able to find your way from there. You better hurry before I change my mind.”
I hang up and spring from the couch. I have to disable the security system before he tries to use the elevator. If anyone accesses the system without the proper credentials the elevator will lock down and only Zaid and Lucan can open it after that. It would still end with Serge being dead, but I want my own revenge. A chill runs down my spine and I feel my senses grow even more acute as adrenaline courses through my veins.
This is going to be a battle, an all out war probably. My fight or flight reflex is instinctively set to flight but I override it. If I try to hold him at bay until backup arrives, I rationalize; he will come after me anyways or else disappear for good. I have to take the upper hand and lure him in while he thinks I am vulnerable and alone. Serge has no idea I am immune from his bite. I refuse to allow myself to think of the other ways he can hurt me as I suspect he will once he figures out draining me won’t work.
The panel for the security system is near the main elevators several floors away. I take the stairs down, leaving the elevator available upstairs to use as an escape pod. There is a good chance the steel grate is strong enough to keep Serge out while I call for help if it comes to that.
A sick laugh escapes my throat. What the fuck am I thinking? I have no help. No Lucan. No Zaid. No Enclave security detail since I refused to be a guarded prisoner in my own home. An argument Lucan fought valiantly but in the end lost. He reluctantly agreed to trust my Sodalis protection and the security system Zaid had installed to protect me.
The same security system that I promised not to disable as a condition of being left on my own today. The same system that I am now disabling. Sure, I have my newly acquired speed and strength, but I am still nowhere near as strong as a vampire.
I shake my head to clear it. This is the way it has to be. It is between this asshole and me. He is ultimately the reason I had to move out of my apartment and quit my job—not that I’m not completely into living and working with Lucan, but keeping my old life a bit longer would have been just fine too. And I am absolutely certain that Mark and Sarah’s old lives would have been just fine with them as well. Serge is not deserving of the justice that the Enclave would afford him. No matter what Zaid said, I know that in the end he will try to bring Serge in alive.
I enter the codes to override the security system and turn to survey the terrain. While the main floor is spacious and full of numerous hiding spots behind drop cloth covered antiques, Serge’s sense of smell would out me in seconds. I am better off on my home turf upstairs where I can see him coming. I run back up the rickety staircase making sure to touch the walls every so often so he can track my scent.
I stash my phone and the first aid kit in the elevator, along with the biggest butcher knife I can find. The rationality of those actions calms me. I can’t be crazy and on a death march if I am able to think of that.
I hear the elevator ding two floors below. Something I wouldn’t have been able to do before my bonding. He’s here. My heart is thumping so hard that it drowns out his footsteps on the stairs. One final deep breath to center myself.
“You get more beautiful every time I see you.” He steps into the foyer and gives me a low whistle of approval. I am still dressed in last night’s outfit because Lucan didn’t want to disturb me by putting on my pajamas. My hair is messy and my makeup smeared. Not beautiful at all.
“Sorry I can’t same for you.” I shift my body so that I am firmly on both feet. My hands feel empty without something to weld in my defense. I remind myself that it won’t make a difference.
He stares at me for a few more seconds, taking it all in. His breathing is erratic. From what I can tell, his eyesight is fine. His hand has grown back but the fingers are short and weak looking. In the human world, this would be an advantage. But unfortunately in the vampire world, even deformed he is stronger than I am—even as a bonded Sodalis.
Before I can open my mouth again, he lunges. He wraps his arms around me, gripping the wrist of his lame arm with his good hand, and traps my arms at my sides. A swift angling of his hips blocks my attempts to knee him in the groin and stomp on his instep.
Rage flows through my body, squelching any fear that might have been there. I feel something primordial unlock inside me. Power is flowing through me from some unseen force. I imagine this is what it feels like when someone channels superhuman strength to lift a car off their child. Flight is no longer an option to be overridden. Fight is my only response.
The Sodalis tattoo on my wrist begins to burn. The more I push my anger outward the hotter it feels. Serge shifts his grip just enough so that I am able to work my arms in between our bodies.
Naturally, he enjoys my perceived struggle and moves to close the distance between my neck and his elongated fangs. I
smile at him, feeling the heat of the bonding mark rise up my arms, through my chest and towards my neck.
Serge strikes. His fangs, extended longer than anything I’ve ever seen outside of a zoo exhibit, gnash at my neck but fail to hit home. The Sodalis bond is holding him back. I can hear the air around me crackling as I push out further with my mind.
From his reaction, I can tell this isn’t something he expected. His face flickers between confusion and rage. I am certain I can break free, maybe even overpower him, if I bide my time. He is going to have to change positions to get a better lock on my jugular.
Clearly, he has no idea what I have become. He probably doesn’t even know what a Sodalis is or what I am now capable of. I’m not entirely sure either, but I plan to give it everything I have. A laugh begins in my throat that I can’t control.
“You think this is fucking funny?” he spits at me.
I want to nod but think better of it.
He is struggling to shove me towards the bed and maintain his grip. When shoving doesn’t work, he changes directions and begins to drag me. He’s concentrating so hard on his grip that he doesn’t notice me work my legs in between his. Our feet become entangled and he trips over the low glass coffee table. Serge can’t prevent the fall without losing his grip on me, so he softens his landing with a midair twist that leaves me to bear the weight of our landing.
I hear the glass crack and feel the giant shards slice into my back as we hit the floor. I smell the blood even before it begins to soak through my shirt. The stereo remote must be under me because the system fires up at full volume across the room. Now is not the time for Rob Zombie’s Living Dead Girl.
“Oh fuck yes.” His eyes are red as fire, and in spite of the seeming impossibility of it, his fangs grow even longer until they are dragging below his lower lip. “I like your choice of music. It aids the digestion, I think. You just served yourself up on a fucking platter, bitch.” His fangs slur his words. A mist of spittle hits my face.
42nd & Lex Page 34
