by A. Vers
I would not go after Ryder.
I knew about his mother, how she had died at the hands of one of my kind. He would not want to see me right now. Would not want to listen to useless apologies or sympathy.
And my actions last night showed I had my parents voracious appetite.
Only ...
I had not drained Ryder. I fed from him, true. But I had not wanted the glorious beat of his heart to stop. There seemed something criminal in it stopping. Something wrong.
He was too alive. Too ... human.
And that was something he could never lose, his humanity.
I took the map and opened the passenger side door. Pressing the lever, the glove box opened and a paper bag was visible inside. I stared at it, not remembering it being there the day before.
Scanning the trees, I lifted it out and gave an experimental shake. It rustled and something thumped inside. I unrolled the top and peered in at a box barely as wide as my palm.
But I remembered enough from health class to know what the box contained, and heat flooded my body until my cheeks grew so hot I was sure they glowed.
The slip of a receipt was dated and stamped for yesterday after the movie.
Ryder had bought the box of protection when he sent me into the pizzeria.
I sat down on the chair, my limbs shaking.
It made sense. He, at least, had been thinking coherently enough to know that until my transition, I was still mostly human. I could still get pregnant.
My fingers tightened on the paper bag.
And he had bought the little box with the intention of using them, and yet ... He had not pressed last night when we got back to the house. He had seemed content to wait. To let me sleep.
And when I bit him and his scent spiked? Had he been thinking about using them then?
The warmth returned.
I had no experience beyond a few furtive kisses with Ryder and Ames—
Ames.
I winced, rolled the bag back up tight, and shoved it and the map inside the glove box.
My betrothed betrayed me. By keeping the truth of my parents to himself, he made sure that I spent four years blaming myself for my nanny’s death. He lied.
But he said he loved me.
I shut the thought down.
No. You don’t lie to people you love. Not with something like that. Not with something that caused me physical pain for so long.
Like I caused Ryder pain by keeping the truth of my parents from him. That was a betrayal as well. I knew it deep in my heart. His finding out like that was no better than my finding out about my parents. We both had reasons why it hurt.
But it still hurt.
I lifted my head, searching the trees.
“Oh, he’s far enough away now that he won’t hear you scream,” came the silken rumble of a masculine voice very close to me. But it wasn’t Ryder’s voice. My head started to turn and something hard pressed into my temple. Fear made my insides weak. “Don’t move, girl. You’re surrounded, and your friend is too. Any wrong move and we take you both down. Nod if you understand.”
I gave a jerking move of my head.
“Good,” he said. “Now, see, Chris wants you both alive.” Something trailed up my bare arm, raising gooseflesh. “But, we really just want the boy. Alive, that is.”
Sweat damped my spine. “Please,” I breathed.
He dug the piece of metal tighter into my temple. “I didn’t tell you to talk, did I?”
I bit my lip hard enough that blood dribbled down my chin. He made a sound of disgust.
“For a vampire, you’re the weakest one I’ve ever met.” He leaned in, inhaling my scent. “But you sure are pretty for a fanger.”
“Mitch.” The voice was feminine. Cold. “Back the fuck up.”
The male, Mitch, scoffed. “I ain’t doing nothing.”
“Chris wants her unharmed. No touching.” Mitch stared at me. There was an audible click. “I said back up,” she added.
His smile was coy. “Alright, alright, Stel. I’m moving.” The pressure on my head eased and he took a step back, letting the gun in his grasp hang loose at his side. But there was something in his eyes. He didn’t like his fun getting interrupted. I could see it.
And I swore I would never be alone with him again.
The woman, Stel, bodily pushed him back by stepping into the space beside the open passenger side door. She gave me a cursory glance from pale brown eyes, her carrot-red hair shorn and worn short above her ears. It was a very no nonsense style. As were her boots, jeans, and tank top.
After her first glance, she did not look at me anymore, merely seemed to stand sentinel at my side.
Perhaps it was to keep me from running away. Or perhaps she knew Mitch had seemed a little too keen to be alone with me. But she crossed her arms, pistol naked in her hand, and stared stonily into the trees. “How fucking long does it take to grab one kid?” she seemed to demand of no one in particular.
Mitch continued to watch me from near the tree line. His focus left goose flesh raised all along my arms and a sense of wrongness perverting my insides. “Chris will grab him. He always does,” he muttered.
I turned my head away from his dark stare and found a pair of glittering hazel irises in the trees behind him. My body went still.
Ryder was barely visible, even to me, his tan body cloaked in shadow. The woman, Stel, was turned away, her back to him as she peered in the opposite direction. And Mitch was too fixed on me to notice much else.
For a long moment, Ryder and I stared at each other. There was a wealth of things I needed to say, words that I was sure I would never get to speak. He gave a minute shake of his head, his gaze searing into mine.
Right.
I casually turned away from where he was, but Mitch was the closest thing to look at. Heat washed into my face as I fought not to give Ryder away. The male hunter smirked at me, seeming to appreciate my focus.
Nausea boiled into my throat, and I forced myself to breathe so I wouldn’t wretch. The woman, Stel, glanced at me. Her pale gaze shifted from mine, like she was going to look into the trees.
“Why do you want us?” I asked. It was the first thing that came to mind.
She paused. “I don’t. Personally, you’re just two kids Chris happened to come across.” She went back to staring past me. “But it’s not every day a human and a vampire are traveling companions.”
“Homeless traveling companions,” Mitch called.
Stel huffed. “Regardless, anytime Chris finds an anomaly, he has to poke at it. To see how it works. Vamps and humans only come together for one reason.” The look she gave me was equal parts disdain and disgust. “You turned that boy into a blood whore with your vampire charms. He’s no better than cattle to you.”
I jerked back at the venom in her tone, and an immediate denial rose to my lips. “I would never—”
“You’re a vampire, girl,” she cut in, not letting me finish. “Humans are one of two things to your kind. A way to fuck or a way to feed. Blood whores.” She spread her hands in a voila gesture.
Heat scalded my face and neck.
Ryder was a lot of things to me. My friend. A teacher. My protector.
But he was no blood whore.
I knew from personal experience that some vampire colonies still had humans on staff for that very reason. They paraded their donors around in scanty outfits, showcasing bite marks and bruises as their bodies wore the stench of sex like perfume.
“He’s not a blood whore,” I said, surprising myself with the very real rage boiling inside of me. “He’s not.”
Stel looked at me. “He is.”
“No. He’s my friend. I would never treat him like that. He means more to me than his blood. I would fade today before I drank from him again.”
Her eyes widened a touch at my words. “Would you?” I knew by her tone she didn’t believe me.
So I said the only thing I could. “Yes.”
She tur
ned and raised her gun until I stared into the dark barrel. All the blood drained from my face, from my limbs. I was lifeless already.
Mitch righted himself behind her, his eyes bright and excited.
“If I shot you in the head, it wouldn’t matter anyway,” Stel said. She cocked the little lever at the back with an audible click. “You would bleed out before anyone could save you. Before you could feed and heal yourself.”
There was a grunt behind her. She whirled at the same time I ducked under her outstretched arm and took her to the ground. Ryder and Mitch brawled near the trees, the rustle of bushes marked with the slap of flesh hitting flesh.
Stel slammed her elbow into my face and I rolled away, nose and cheek aching. Warmth gushed down my lips.
“Stop or I kill her.” But it wasn’t the woman’s voice that proceeded the return of the gun barrel against my head. It was a voice that I knew would haunt my dreams.
The male hunter.
Ryder froze. Then he slowly raised his hands and turned to face me.
If it wasn’t for the deadly press of the hunter’s weapon, I would have been pleased to find him mostly free of injury. Mitch was not so lucky.
The other male clutched at his face and blood seeped through my fingers. I was not happy that our wounds seemed to match.
Ryder’s expression tightened as he looked at me.
“I got to admit,” said the male hunter, “when I first saw you in town, I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating, or if a vampire and a human were really this close.”
Ryder just glared at him.
“I see,” said the man. “Well, the bite you bear is all the answer I really need.”
“Then why don’t you shoot both of us and be done with it?” Ryder’s voice was colder than I had ever heard it.
“Because I admit to being curious, son,” the hunter said. “I’ve hunted this world over and it’s rare enough to come across a vamp and a human without some sick arrangement. But you’re kids. Where the hell are your parents? Hers? What colony would let you both run away like you have?” He pulled the gun away enough that it no longer dug into my skin. “Those are the kinds of questions that have kept me up at night since I saw you both.”
Ryder’s sneer was malicious. “Interesting. Because I can say I haven’t thought about you at all.”
The male hunter laughed, but the sound held little humor. “Take them both.”
From out of the trees and around the car, numerous hunters surrounded us. Three men grabbed Ryder and bodily forced his hands behind his back as two lifted me to my feet. Ryder let out a deadly howl and wrenched loose, slugging two of the men before they could react.
I thrashed, too, trying to get free like I had before. Something struck me hard in the temple. I cried out in pain and darkness danced along my vision. I swayed, knees buckling. Another punch lit my stomach up with a deep ache that made me choke. Caving inward, I gagged and fought not to vomit.
“Don’t!” Ryder bellowed. “Don’t hurt her. Fine. I’ll stop. Just don’t hurt her.”
There was a whistle and the hands on me vanished. I collapsed onto the earth and leaf-strewn ground, breathing hard. Through the haze in my sight, Ryder was on his knees across from me, his expression feral.
The male hunter crouched in front of me, as he had the night before, blocking Ryder from view. In the afternoon light, his dark hair held a gentle wave, and his blue eyes were piercing. A hint of gray flecked his temples, but his face was almost ageless.
He lifted his gun where I could see it, but it wasn’t pointed at me. It was leveled dead center of Ryder’s body. “Here’s how this is going to go. If one of you doesn’t cooperate, I hurt the other.”
Despair washed over me.
“So you’re going to both act sensible, climb to your feet, and allow my people to restrain you. Then you’re going to get in the car, and Mitch and I are going to drive you out of here.” The hunter stared at me. “And while I may be a little soft on hurting kids, Mitch has no problem with it.”
I swallowed down the bile rising.
He waited. “Do you both understand?”
My eyes dipped past him to find Ryder already watching me, his jaw set and his gaze tight. “Do what he says,” he told me. “Please. Don’t fight.”
I wanted to scream, to rail against the very notion of being captured again. Of being held against my will by anyone.
Ryder stared deep into my eyes and all I saw was death. Not mine, but theirs. I knew he would hurt them for this. “Please,” he breathed.
But I knew they would hurt him, too.
Tears burned my cheeks. I looked away and held out my hands.
Chapter 16
Ryder
We were blindfolded and forced into the rear of the Jeep. Morgan’s sobs were so quiet, so heartbroken, that my fingernails dug into my palms until blood welled. I wanted to apologize for putting her through this. For not realizing the hunters were in the woods until they had already surrounded her.
But I couldn’t stop seeing the gun pressed to her head. And with the blindfold, there was nothing that my eyes could focus on instead. I was stuck with that image on a constant loop.
Damn them. Damn them all for this.
The Jeep swayed and the dull hum of the engine was broken only by the constant bump of the roadways. The hunters spoke in low tones near the front. But my hearing wasn’t as good as Morgan’s and with her broken breathing, I couldn’t get my attention to shift from her. I wanted to pull her into my arms. To comfort her. But it was impossible with my wrists bound.
Not that I expected her to tolerate me. Ever again.
But I got us into this mess, and I was going to have to get us out.
Somehow.
The voices near the front trickled off and the car began to slow.
We were stopping. Why?
The Jeep rocked a little as it was put into park and the front doors opened and closed.
For a long moment, I didn’t move. Didn’t speak. No other sounds came from the front of the car.
I stiffened. “Morgan.” Her sobs blanketed my ears. “Morgan, I think we stopped.”
She sniffed. “Can ... you see anything?” Her voice was ragged and missing the normal husky rasp.
“No,” I told her. “I’m still blindfolded.”
“Ryder, what are they going to do to us?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. Not one that didn’t inevitably end with our ultimate end. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “The leader was looking at you like you were a damn science experiment.”
“I don’t understand what that means.” Her voice was so soft, so timid. This was not Morgan from the first time I met her. This was Morgan after she had been kidnapped by Giroux at Lokworth.
And her sobs suddenly seemed so much worse.
“I’m going to get us out of this,” I whispered. “I swear it.”
Her breathing hitched. “I’m sorry, Ryder. For not telling you.”
My eyes closed behind the blindfold and I tried to squirm closer. Her cooler frame brushed mine and she let out a yell. “It’s just me,” I told her fast. “I can’t hold you, dammit.” I pressed my face to her bare shoulder and felt the tickle of her hair on my cheeks. Nose. She whimpered and sidled closer. “I don’t blame you, Mor. I don’t.”
And I didn’t. Her parents hadn’t killed my mother. Just like Morgan didn’t kill the kids at Lokworth. She felt guilty by association, but the sins of the parents didn’t have to be the sins of the child. “We’re going to get out of this. On my word.”
“You’re too young to have a word of honor.”
I went rigid.
The voice was mild and belonged to the male hunter that had been tracking us. The way the others differed to him made me believe he was the leader of their little band. And he was also an eavesdropper.
“What? No more declarations?” he asked. There was no condescension in his tone, just more of that mild curiosity. “Please, don�
�t stop on my account.”
“Let us go,” I said.
“Unfortunately, kid, I can’t do that,” he told me. “What was it you said? I look at her like a science experiment?” The Jeep rocked and we rolled forward. “Well, that is where you are wrong. I don’t look at her like an experiment. I look at you both like one.”
“Why are you together? How did such camaraderie form in two people so young?” he continued. “How can a vampire and a human be friends?”
“Why don’t you just ask?” I snapped. “I’ll tell you whatever you want if you’ll just let us go.”
Silence.
“Again, kid, I appreciate your spirit, but you’re not going anywhere.”
The Jeep stopped again and the engine died beneath us. The door opened and closed and my ears strained. There was a click and cool air billowed inside the Jeep. Rough hands snared my arm, wrenching me out.
Morgan gave a startled cry and the sound that ripped from me was not human. “Don’t fucking hurt her,” I spat, twisting in the hunter’s hands.
“Easy, gents,” the leader said. “They’re ... our guests.”
I snorted and turned my head, trying to see anything through the dark fabric covering my vision. “Then why are we still cuffed?” I demanded of him.
The blindfold was tugged off, leaving me blinking under bright white lights. I had a brief impression of a large ship and the smell of water before strong fingers dug into the muscle on the side of my neck.
The leader stared at me, his face empty, like a statue. “Because I don’t trust you, kid,” he said. When he stepped back, the two men holding me tightened their grip enough that I was sure it would bruise. “Take them below,” the leader said. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
We were pushed and dragged over the rough boards of a dock, up a spindly ramp and onto a large black and gray vessel. The slap of water rocked the boat in a rhythmic sway, and my stomach rocked with it.
I hated boats.
They led us down a dim hallway of riveted metal panels, the paint flaking in little rusty flecks all over the floor.
“You guys know a rust problem will leave you sinking along with this can, right?”
One of the men cuffed me in the back of the head, the smack hard enough it made my teeth knock. I snarled.
