Chapter Forty
It was four in the morning before Mike slowed enough to set Mollie down again. Her cramped legs wobbled so bad she nearly fell over, but she remained standing by leaning against a tree. Aida crumpled to the ground and lowered her head into her hands.
Mollie staggered to her side and collapsed next to her. “Are you okay?” she whispered as she draped her arm around her sister’s shoulders and pulled her close.
“Ye-yes,” Aida murmured. “He ran so fast I got dizzy.”
Mollie pulled Aida closer as she studied the thick pines surrounding them, then Aida’s battered feet. Her bleeding had stopped, but dry blood crusted the soles of her feet, and a nasty scratch ran from her ankle to her calf. Releasing her, Mollie sat forward and scooped up some pine needles and earth.
“Probably not the best way to clean cuts, but we have to get the blood off you,” she said to Aida.
Aida unfolded her legs and plopped her feet before Mollie. Mollie winced at how battered they were, but using pine needles and dirt, she cleaned the blood off the best she could. While she worked, Doug and Mike scrubbed the blood from them too. Most of it was from others, but they’d both sustained injuries. Mollie had somehow managed to avoid any cuts and blood splatter.
“They were my friends,” Aida whispered. Her lower lip trembled, and tears shimmered in her eyes before she wiped them away. “The people in the basement with me; they were my friends. We were all each other had in there, you know?”
Mollie squeezed her sister’s calf as anger and sorrow swelled within her. She’d give anything to take away what Aida had endured and make her captors suffer, but she couldn’t do either of those things. She hadn’t felt this helpless since her mother was dying.
“I know. I’m sorry,” Mollie said. “We tried to save them.”
“Maybe some of them got away.”
“Maybe,” Mollie agreed, but looking in her sister’s eyes, she realized Aida also knew the truth; they probably would not survive.
She finished cleaning Aida and tossed the debris away. Another howl was followed by a shrieking scream that went on for what felt like hours but was at most only a minute. The eerie silence following the agony was even more unnerving.
Her gaze traveled to Mike when he stepped closer to them. His nostrils flared as his eyes turned red. Mollie held her breath and slipped the rifle off her shoulder while she waited for some monster to launch out of the shadows at them. Overhead, the small breeze caused the trees to creak as their limbs clicked together. Beneath the rays of the full moon hanging heavily in the sky, every shifting shadow felt ominous.
When her finger twitched on the trigger, she pulled it away. The last thing she needed was to fire a shot because she was so wound up. A snapping branch had her rising to her feet as she lifted the rifle to her shoulder.
She steadied her shaking hands but kept her finger away from the trigger; she didn’t trust herself not to fire on a squirrel right now. Doug edged closer to them, and Aida pushed herself to her feet.
Through the trees, Mike spotted a shadow slinking toward a target he couldn’t see, but he recognized the predatory gait of a vampire. He stepped closer to Mollie and, cupping her elbow, drew her against his side.
The shadow paused behind a large oak. If he could see it, then all the vamp had to do was look this way to see them. Then the vampire dashed forward and vanished. Mike expected a scream to follow, but none did.
Mike didn’t speak as he lifted Mollie and clasped her before him again. Her eyes were rimmed with dark circles when they met his, but her grip was strong on his shoulders, and her face was set in grim resolve as she slid her legs around his waist. Aida didn’t complain when Doug lifted her, and they started through the woods again.
Mike kept his senses attuned to the world around them as he slipped from one tree to another. They were almost to the lighthouse when the hairs on Mike’s nape rose; something was stalking them. Unwilling to let their enemy know it had been detected, Mike didn’t change his pace or react in any way. He glanced at the sky, noting the hint of gray on the far horizon, but full daybreak was nearly an hour away; there was still plenty of time for a Savage to hunt.
A subtle rise in Doug’s shoulders alerted him that his friend was also aware of their stalker. Mollie lifted her head from his shoulder when the lighthouse came into view.
Nothing will happen to you, he vowed.
When her eyes met his, a small smile curved the edge of her mouth. Gripping her nape, he drew her to him and kissed her deeply before bringing her ear to his lips.
“We’re being stalked,” he whispered. “Don’t let them know you’re aware of it.”
She stiffened against him but didn’t try to search for their enemy. If he said someone was out there, then someone was after them. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, and she held him closer.
“Hold on,” he murmured.
Her arms clamped around his neck as he took one more step before bursting into a run that whipped her hair around her face. Between the blur of the world and the hair battering her eyes and cheeks, she couldn’t see anything beyond Doug sprinting behind them with Aida in his arms.
Mike leapt over something and skidded to the side before thudding up a set of stairs. She realized they were in the lighthouse only when she saw the overturned chairs surrounding the kitchen table. Then they were rushing through the rest of the house. She glimpsed the slaughtered family before Mike took the stairs three at a time to the tower.
At the top of the stairs, Mike set her on her feet so abruptly she staggered back and almost crashed into the inner wall. Doug clambered through the doorway behind them and all but dropped Aida. Mollie caught her sister before she fell as something monstrous charged out of the stairwell.
The first creature crashed into Mike’s chest and knocked him into the half wall in the middle. Mollie gasped when the boards behind Mike groaned ominously. If they gave way, Mike would topple all the way to the first floor again, but they held steady beneath the weight of the two vampires. The second creature to come out of the stairwell went low at Doug’s legs and took him out at the knees.
Mollie couldn’t see the face of the vampire Mike battled, but a glint of red nails in the fading light of the moon told her exactly who stalked them this far. The vampire from the library healed far faster than she expected after the damage Mike inflicted on him, but though his nose remained crunched, his face had pushed out again.
Mollie shoved Aida behind her as fists pummeled flesh and the vampires grunted while they brawled. She dodged a flailing leg when Mike succeeded in pulling himself away from the boards. Lifting her rifle, she tried to aim at the Savage, but she couldn’t get an accurate shot off while he was battling Mike. With his hand on the Savage’s throat, Mike spun him around and smashed him off the boards.
More wood groaned, but Mike ignored it as he sank his fingers into the vampire’s throat. He should have destroyed this bastard earlier when the creature was weakened. The power of the Savage radiated over his skin. This vampire was older than him, a killer, and stronger, but Mollie’s blood in his veins fueled Mike to levels of strength he’d never achieved before.
The vamp’s lips pulled back in a sneer and his vicious, red nails sliced down Mike’s side. Mike grunted when his flesh splayed open, and his blood spilled free, but he didn’t dare ease his grip on the Savage. He’d felt this thing’s desire to get at Mollie. She’d escaped him once, and if he got the chance, this bastard wouldn’t let it happen again.
Mike would bet money he held Raul Mrack, club president and proud owner of more trophies than any other Savage in the club.
“Raul?” Mike growled, and the vampire smiled smugly.
Somehow Raul managed to get his hands up between them. They came down on Mike’s arms, knocking his grip free. Mike grunted and dodged in time to avoid a kick to his chest, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid it altogether. Raul’s foot caught him on his shoulder.
The strength of the kick knocke
d him into the outer half walls. Rotten wood cracked beneath his weight before the wall started to give way. His arms pinwheeled as he tried to stop himself from going over, but it was too late. Already off-balance, there was no defying gravity when the boards splintered apart, and air rushed up to meet him.
A loud cracking caused Mollie’s heart to plummet as the railing gave way and Mike vanished. “No!” she cried and lunged forward before stopping herself from getting any closer to the vamp standing between her and the broken boards.
Mike! No! No! NO! Not dead! He can’t be dead! But her heart felt as if it were tearing in two, and her hand trembled on the rifle as tears filled her eyes. She pointed the gun at the vamp’s back, and in her fury and sorrow, almost pulled the trigger, but the beams supporting the roof blocked her from a kill shot. As much as she wanted to murder this bastard, she couldn’t waste her bullets or risk attracting more Savages.
Mollie scrambled back when the vampire with the lethal talons turned toward her. His grin revealed the glistening points of his fangs as he prowled toward her, bobbing and weaving again to avoid giving her a good shot at him. Cruelty emanated from every inch of him as he stalked her with the casual ease of someone who knew their prey was already theirs.
Raul, she recalled as she’d heard Mike call him Raul and seen the vamp’s smug smile. She loathed him even more now that she knew who he was.
A crashing bang jerked her head toward Doug and the vampire he battled before they fell backward and disappeared into the stairwell. She winced when their bodies thudded off the steps as they tumbled down. Aida remained at Mollie’s back while they edged toward the stairs.
When her sister turned to slip down the stairs, Mollie tried to follow. She didn’t make it two steps before a hand entangled in her hair and yanked her back.
Chapter Forty-One
Air tore at Mike’s clothes and hair as the earth rushed up to meet him. Except, he didn’t slam into the ground. Instead, he landed on the corner of the roof below. His teeth clacked together when the impact jarred his entire body and his back cracked. Agony exploded across his brutalized spine, and his legs went numb before the pitch of the roof caused him to roll down it.
He got his hands under him and braced himself as he fell the remaining ten feet to the ground. When he crashed onto the earth, his breath wheezed out of his lungs, but he tried to jump to his feet. His numb legs didn’t follow the commands of his brain and only his chest came off the ground.
“Mollie,” he breathed as he fell back again.
Determined to get to her, his fingers dug into the earth as he started dragging himself toward the door of the lighthouse. He didn’t know if his back was broken, if his spine was severely bruised, or if he’d pinched a nerve. His spine would heal faster if it weren’t broken, but he didn’t think it would be fast enough to get to her in time.
No. He would not lose her! And he would not allow Mollie to endure what Raul would do to her.
Drawing on the strength of her blood flowing in his veins and his intense love for her, Mike pulled himself faster across the ground. He didn’t care what it took; he would save her.
* * *
A scream lodged in Mollie’s throat, she kicked backward at the creature when his hands twisted in her hair and tore strands of it free. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she refused to shed them.
When the nails scouring her skull drew blood, she almost released her rifle to beat at them, but he’d probably only laugh at her attempts to get him off her, and she refused to be his entertainment. Plus, she also couldn’t bring herself to release the only weapon she had.
Reemerging from the stairwell, Aida flung herself against Mollie and started hitting the creature. Raul gave a mirthless laugh and caught one of Aida’s wrists with his free hand. Lifting her off the ground, he held her away from him. Aida twisted in his grasp as he let her dangle in front of Mollie. Aida’s face was a mixture of pain and fury as her feet kicked in the air.
“Let her go!” Mollie yelled.
She tried to lurch forward, but Raul bent her head back until he nearly drove her to her knees. Gritting her teeth, Mollie struggled to remain on her feet; she would not be subservient to this thing.
“Pretty little toys all for Raul,” the twisted bastard holding Mollie said and made a clicking sound that sent chills down her back. “But I already tasted this toy.” He drew Aida closer until her feet brushed against Mollie’s knees. “And she was delicious.”
“You prick!” Mollie spat, and Raul laughed.
With a flick of his wrist, he flung Aida away as if she weighed no more than a rag doll. Aida soared a few feet through the air before crashing to the floor and skidding across it until she slammed into another section of rotting wall. The wall shuddered, and Mollie held her breath as she waited for it to give way beneath her sister’s weight, but the wood remained intact. Aida’s head thudded off the boards before she rolled to the side. Getting her hands under her, Aida pushed herself halfway up before collapsing and going still.
“But first, I want to play with this pretty,” Raul murmured and yanked Mollie upright.
Mollie nearly screamed when he skimmed one of his claws down her throat and pushed her shirt lower to reveal Mike’s marks on her flesh. Mollie kept the rifle against her chest and her finger curled around the trigger; she’d kill herself before she ever allowed this bastard to destroy her, but that would be a last resort.
“Someone’s already dirtied my pretty,” he murmured.
“Fuck you!” she spat.
Cruel laughter sounded in her ear before he spun her around and she found herself gazing into the reddest, most sadistic eyes she’d ever seen.
“Fuck me?” Raul drawled as he gripped her upper arms.
“Yes,” she said with far more bravado than she felt, considering she was the mouse in the path of the cobra, but this mouse wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Fuck you!”
She jammed the rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. The force of the shot and her awkward grip on the gun knocked the gun from her hands and caused them to go numb. The top of Raul’s head exploded outward in a shower of gore. Mollie almost threw up when bits and pieces of him rained down over the two of them.
Despite the shocked expression in his rolling eyes and the spasmodic twitching of his body, Raul didn’t release her. His jaw clicked as the bullet had torn away a good portion of the muscles in his chin and throat.
“Bi… bi… bi… bi…”
Mollie realized he was trying to get the word bitch out, but like a buffering video, he couldn’t move on from where he was stuck. Then his eyes fastened on her neck, and she knew that though he couldn’t speak, he could still drain her dry. And her blood would help him heal faster.
“No!” she yelled.
Mollie battered at him with her numbed hands, but they slapped uselessly against his chest as his jaw continued making that ghastly clicking sound. Lifting her foot, she attempted to drive her knee into his groin, but he evaded her blow and yanked her forward. She’d blasted a good portion of his brains out, yet she was helpless to stop him from sinking his fangs into her neck.
Her scream caught in her throat and strangled there as his first slurp of her blood made it feel like someone was taking a razor to her flesh and slicing away her skin piece by piece. She no longer had any concerns over her hands being numb as fire licked over the tips of her fingers, spread through her hands, and coursed up her arms.
What had been so magnificent with Mike was excruciating with this monster. The more Mollie tried to resist, the more she became certain the pain would drive her insane. She swore cracks erupted to race over her bones before they started to shatter, yet somehow her skeleton kept her upright in his grasp. The blood rushing through her ears became a bellow she couldn’t drown out.
* * *
The foul-tasting blood from the Savage Doug was fighting flooded his system. Typically, he would have gone out of his way to avoid feeding on one of them, but
when he’d crawled inside to discover Doug and the Savage battling each other at the bottom of the stairs, he hadn’t hesitated before sinking his fangs into the vamp’s ankle.
Surprised by the unexpected attack, the Savage reeled back and punched Mike’s cheek, but the blow didn’t knock him aside. Each swallow of blood made his stomach turn, but it also filled his body with strength and returned feeling to his feet. His back wasn’t broken, since even with the Savage’s blood, it wouldn’t heal this fast if it were.
Doug plunged his fist into the Savage’s chest to tear out his heart when Mike released his bite on the creature. A gunshot reverberated from above as Mike climbed to his feet.
“Mollie,” he breathed.
She wouldn’t be able to hold out long against Raul, but she was putting up a fight. He didn’t look at Doug before racing up the stairs to the lighthouse tower. Leaping off the top step, he almost skidded to a stop when he saw the thing clinging to Mollie. The top of its head was gone, leaving only broken bits of gore behind, yet it was still moving…
Still feeding on Mollie!
Mike roared as he ran at them. Snaking his arm around Raul’s back, he smashed the vamp’s chin up with his hand to knock Raul’s fangs free of Mollie’s neck. Raul sputtered as he stumbled back into Mike’s chest. Gripping his shirt, Mike lifted Raul before hammering him into the ground.
Mike caught only a glimpse of the full damage Mollie had inflicted on Raul before he drove his fist into Raul’s face. Raul’s eyes rolled in different directions as bone gave way beneath the blow, and Mike pulled back his fist to batter him again.
Even when his knuckles broke and nothing but pulverized flesh and bone lay beneath him, Mike didn’t cease pummeling him. He couldn’t stop because he couldn’t get the image of this bastard feeding on his mate out of his head. He’d touched her, and he would pay for it.
Red filled Mike’s vision until everything he saw became shaded in the color. Adrenaline and something more coursed through his system as his fangs extended. Death and blood became all he could taste and smell and feel; it was all he craved until it pulsed through his body with each beat of his heart.
Consumed: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 8 Page 24
