Secrets in Blood

by Patricia D. Eddy

  Will slapped his hand over her mouth as she struggled. “Get the tape.”

  If Nic were anywhere close, he would have heard her cry. But she didn’t know where Will and the others had taken her after knocking her out at the cabin.

  Jamison pulled a roll of duct tape from his pack and tore off a strip. Will belted Evangeline in the stomach with enough force that she retched, losing her breath. Before she could even open her mouth, Jamison slapped the tape over her lips. She sucked in a weak breath through her nose and tried to scream, but the muffled sound didn’t carry.

  The men ambled back over to the campfire—all but Will. He knelt next to her with a thick coil of rope.

  “If it were up to me, I’d cart you back to the lab right now and throw you in the cage your precious vampire lived in. I’m sure we’ll find another vamp soon that will be happy to feed off of you. The hell with your angelic ‘Nic.’ But Henry wants the vamp to pay for corrupting your mind. Despite what you did to him, he still cares about you. Well, your body anyway.”

  Uncoiling the rope, Will lashed Evangeline to the tree behind her, securing her from shoulders to hips. The bindings made it difficult to breathe, and she tried to calm her racing heart as Will rejoined the rest of the men around the fire.

  “Nic, please hear me. Stay away. Stay far, far away.”

  Turning her gaze to the sky, she tried to estimate the time. Nic had left the cabin around ten. Midday had now come and gone. She’d been unconscious for at least two hours. There was no way he wouldn’t look for her.

  He’d die, all because she’d been too scared to agree to go to Italy with him. This was all her fault. Evangeline’s tears spilled over and mixed with the blood oozing from the cut on her cheek.

  “Nic, I’m so sorry.”

  17

  Hidden in a large pine tree more than thirty feet off the ground and five times that distance from Evangeline, Nic seethed. The big brute who had cut her would die screaming.

  When he’d seen the blood, he’d barely resisted the urge to rush in and scoop her up into his arms. But without a plan, those bastards would try to kill him, and Evangeline would be lost to her father’s evil once more.

  The full spectrum of light and color painted the world with subtleties he used to try to sense any danger. Nic inhaled deeply. Layers of scents rolled over him: the freshness of the pine sap beneath his hands, the earthy musk of the dirt and moss below, and the smoke from the campfire were first. Next, the sweat of the dark-haired man who had gagged Evangeline and the stench of alcohol on his breath.

  The tree bark cracked as Nic clenched his fingers on the branch he balanced on. Merda! He had to calm down.

  The big man smelled like cedar soap and vampire blood. The last two men confused him. One couldn’t be more than a few years older than Evangeline. Thin and frightened, he kept glancing into the trees and bushes around them. This man’s unpredictability worried him.

  Gun oil and the scent of silver reached him, along with the sickly sweet scent of the serum. If he had to guess, the men had coated all of their bullets with the deadly toxin.

  The last man gnawed on some jerky, breathing heavily. With a large belly and flushed cheeks, his wasn’t an active role in the catacombs. Aluminum. Stainless steel. Explosives.

  Evangeline had tried to warn him. The men had planted explosives around the camp.

  Listening carefully, Nic picked out the sound of Evangeline sobbing quietly, barely moving. He wanted to reach out, to speak to her mind, but something stopped him.

  She’d offered herself up in exchange for his life, and the selfless act stabbed at his heart. If he spoke to her now, she’d try to save him, and his plan would fail.

  Regret and fear pushed at his mind. But the emotions didn’t belong to him. Evangeline. How could he sense her?

  “Nic.”

  No. He did not just hear his name whispered to his mind. He had to be imagining things. He’d once longed for such a connection, and he’d heard stories from other vampires of the power of a life bond, but he couldn’t form that sort of bond with a human.

  Shaking his head, he pushed the thought aside.

  “I will come for you, cara,” he whispered. “I swear.”

  Carefully, Nic lowered himself to the ground. Leaping the last fifteen feet, he landed in a soft crouch on the balls of his feet.

  Before he’d left the cabin, he’d packed up all of the weapons he could find. A hunting knife sheathed at his belt, Evangeline’s bow and quiver slung over his shoulder, and the shotgun strapped to his back made up a rather healthy complement of offensive power.

  Nic’s speed, well beyond that of a normal man, might let him pick off the four men before they could harm Evangeline, but what if he missed? He’d never shot a bow before, and grappling with the men brought too much risk. The shotgun could kill them, but he only had two shells.

  He would have to find another way, but he’d stick the blade in the big man’s gut as punishment for hurting his Evangeline.

  When had she become his Evangeline? Perhaps she had always been his. The illness he’d felt while scouting haunted him. The nausea hadn’t faded until he’d found her again, only twenty minutes ago. This wasn’t post-traumatic stress. No. The illness had been the separation from his intended life mate. They’d bonded—or started the process.

  How?

  Her humanity should have been a barrier. Few vampires ever chose to bond. They were solitary creatures, preferring to spend their long lives alone. A bonded pair had a need for one another—a hunger much stronger than the need for blood. But bonding required years of close companionship. Two decades or more…

  Nic staggered back against the tree trunk. He couldn’t bond with her. In sixty or seventy years, her body would fail, and he’d have to watch her die—if he didn’t have to watch that happen this very day. He couldn’t fight his feelings. His heart knew what his head wanted to deny.

  Evangeline was his everything. His tesoro—his treasure.

  Even now, his body protested the distance between them. Nausea hovered at the back of his throat, and his heart pounded. Squaring his shoulders, he drove all thoughts of her from his head. Now he had to focus on the task at hand—finding the traps that waited for him.

  Slowing his pace, he moved closer to Evangeline. At times, he crawled on his belly under blackberry brambles. Thorns tore into his palms and cheeks, but the wounds healed in seconds. Evangeline’s blood coursed through his body so strongly that a steel spike could impale him directly in the heart and he’d survive.

  Throwing his leg over a fallen tree trunk as wide as his chest, he froze. A thin, steel wire stretched an inch away from the sole of his boot. Painted in green and brown camo, the tripwire would have been invisible to a human.

  Nic skirted the tree and dropped to his belly again. Moving forward at a snail’s pace, he approached the wire.

  Smoothing away a small layer of the forest litter, he traced the path of the wire, finally locating an anchor point ten feet to his right. A metallic disc the size of his palm buried in the dirt glinted in the waning light.

  What do we have here?

  Nic had fought in two wars. He’d disarmed IEDs—improvised explosive devices—before. Nothing about this bomb worried him, beyond the silver and serum contained within.

  No one takes the time to add finesse to their work any longer. So simple to hide, yet they think me stupid, so they do not even try.

  Though he could have sped through the task, he forced himself to take his time. Evangeline’s life—and his own—depended on caution. An hour passed, perhaps longer, but when he stood, his back and neck aching, he brushed off his hands and smiled. Finesse indeed.

  Before he could head back to the other side of the camp, the young man spoke up. “I don’t think he’s coming.”

  “He’ll come,” the big man replied. “Give him time.”

  A radio crackled. “Status report!”

  Longo, you are lucky you are hidden away in
the catacombs. Otherwise, I would gut you with my bare hands.

  “No sign of the vampire,” the big man said.

  “And my daughter?”

  “We bled her a little. But she’s still alive. Keeps giving us the stink-eye. We had to gag her. She tried to warn the vamp.”

  “Unsurprising. Keep her quiet. If you have to hurt her again, that’s fine. Just make sure she stays conscious. I want her to see the vampire die.”

  “Yes, sir.” The radio fell silent.

  Evangeline stared at her captors with equal parts fear and malice. The big man rose and pulled his knife from his belt again.

  Ti stappo le palle e gliele faccio mangiare. Nic watched helplessly as the man thrust the knife into Evangeline’s shoulder. She screamed through the tape over her mouth and thrashed about, trying to kick at the man with her bound feet. But he pressed his palm against the new wound, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Her chest heaved, and she spasmed weakly.

  I will rip your head from your body after I have shoved your tiny balls down your throat.

  If he couldn’t get to her soon, he’d lose her. Only the desperate need to free her kept him from flying over the distance and ripping out the man’s throat. When she passed out, and the constant presence from her emotions fled, Nic found himself alone and terrified. He could wait no longer.

  Do not break, tesoro. I will come for you.

  Time ebbed and flowed in Evangeline’s mind. Interminable moments where she struggled to breathe. Then, she’d drift off—to sleep or unconsciousness, she didn’t know—and she’d wake with a start, glaring at her captors gathered around the fire just a few feet away.

  Everything hurt. Her wrists throbbed. Flames consumed her shoulder. Agony tied her stomach into knots, and she had to regularly stifle the urge to vomit behind the gag.

  He hadn’t come. Her vampire had abandoned her.

  No, don’t be ridiculous. He’s not yours. He was never yours. The two of them had spent a single day and night together, shared a couple of passionate kisses. If Nic came for her, he’d be killed, captured, or tortured.

  Stay away, Nic. Please.

  Still, the idea that he’d abandoned her didn’t sit well. Tears pricked at her swollen eyes until she shook her head to clear them. She’d cried enough tonight.

  Evangeline flicked her gaze to the horizon. The setting sun painted the sky with purple, the same color as his eyes. Long, stringy clouds stretched over the trees. How long had she been here? Five hours? Seven? More? She moaned behind the duct tape and prayed that her father’s men would tire of waiting and just bring her back to the catacombs. Whatever her fate, she just wanted to get it over with.

  Please, she prayed to a God she didn’t even know if she believed in. Just let my death be quick.

  “Evangeline.”

  The single word shattered her. She scanned the small camp, though she kept her head lowered so as to not alert her captors. Nic! Where are you? Oh shit, shit, fuck, stay the hell away from me!

  “Evangeline, I cannot hear you. But I hope you can hear me. I know of the traps. I have disabled them. I will come for you very soon. Raise your head and show me you hear me.”

  Evangeline forced her head up, tears trickling down her cheeks. She gave a small, nearly imperceptible shake of her head.

  “Do not be ridiculous. I am coming for you. I will not leave you in the hands of those animals.”

  Evangeline let her head fall back against the trunk of the tree. He’d die. Sorrow welled in her chest and escaped her throat in a moan. Her captors looked over at her. Will scowled. “Keep that up, and I’ll give you something to moan about.”

  Evangeline closed her eyes.

  “Cara, do not give up on me. Per favore, you must remain strong now.”

  She took as deep a breath as she could and gave a tiny nod. She couldn’t stop him, so she had to do whatever she could to save him. She tried to flex her toes in her boots and brush her fingers against the bark. A thousand tiny needles pricked her hands.

  I won’t give up. Just hurry.

  Nic crept closer. Evangeline faced the fire, a rope binding her to the only tree in the clearing.

  Speaking to Evangeline’s mind, he tried to reassure her. “In a few moments, there will be an explosion. Do not fear. I will be nowhere near the silver. As soon as the bomb goes off, I will come for you. I am behind you now. Thirty feet or so.”

  The crackle of the fuse reached his ears. He’d used the knife to shave aluminum from the struts of her quiver and fought against his fear of flame to ignite the shavings with the flint. He only needed a minute, perhaps two. “Get ready, tesoro.”

  The explosion rocked the forest, and Evangeline flinched within the confines of her bindings. Nic flew towards her and sliced the ropes around her waist as three of the men raced in the direction of the explosion. But the big man saw through the ruse. He pulled his gun and grabbed Evangeline by the arm just as the ropes fell away.

  Nic stumbled over a branch, losing his opportunity to snatch his intended away from her captor. She struggled against the man’s hold, and he jammed a gun against her ribs. Whatever they’d done to her, she couldn’t get her feet under her, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “Show yourself, vampire.”

  Hidden behind the tree, Nic cursed and eyed the shotgun. If he fired, he’d hit Evangeline.

  “Two choices, bloodsucker,” the man spat as one of the others came back around and aimed a pistol at the tree. “You can come with us willingly, or you can watch me send a curare-laced bullet through her.” He stepped towards the fire, dragging Evangeline with him.

  “You will not kill her,” Nic replied. “Her father wants her alive.”

  The big man smiled, jabbing Evangeline harder in the ribs. “True. But the curare will paralyze her.” He held Evangeline just inches from the campfire. “Just think about what the fire will do to her perfect skin. You won’t be able to touch her without succumbing to the flames yourself. She doesn’t need to be unharmed. Just alive.”

  A whimper escaped Evangeline’s throat as the man jerked her body, pretending to lose his hold on her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and, when she opened them again, the dark determination churning in their brown depths sent a lance of panic through Nic’s gut.

  “No, tesoro. Please!”

  Evangeline reached back and grabbed the man’s balls in her bound hands. She twisted, hard, and her captor roared.

  A shot rang out, the bullet tearing through her stomach, and she fell forward, right into the fire.

  Flames licked at her skin, and she rolled away, smothering them, but not before huge patches of blackened skin caked her arm, hip, and thigh.

  Something primitive and savage broke free within Nic. In a single leap, he covered the twenty feet that separated him from the big man and buried the knife deep in the bastard’s gut. A shot scraped over his shoulder, the singed fabric smoking. No longer caring if he lived or died, Nic ignored the others and yanked the knife up, spilling the man’s intestines into his flailing hands.

  “You’re…dead…vampire,” the man gasped.

  “No, you are.” Another shot grazed Nic’s thigh. Moving with the speed the vampire mutation had bestowed upon him, he grabbed the second man—Jamison, he had heard Evangeline call him. A quick twist of the man’s head, and his neck snapped in two. Inches away from the last two men, he grasped at air as the portal opened and the men disappeared into the blue light. “No!” he growled with a hatred he had never known before. For a few ragged breaths, he stood with his hands clenched at his sides, staring down at the man he had gutted and the blood that coated his thighs. If he could kill him a second time, he would do so, gladly.

  Evangeline’s gagged sobs brought him back. Springing for her, he cradled her in his arms, her blistered irises and burnt skin driving his panic higher. “Shhh, cara. I must get you away from here before your father’s men return with reinforcements. You will not die. Endure the pain for me f
or a little while, and I will give you my blood.”

  Nic moved faster than he had ever moved before, leaping over rocks and branches, pausing only for a moment to toss the pack, the bow, and the quiver over his shoulder. He tore through blackberry vines and splashed into the river. His life mate trembled in his arms as the pain wracked her burned body. She moaned, words muffled by the gag, and he ripped the tape from her lips.

  “Nic,” Evangeline sobbed. “Can’t see.”

  “I know. You must tell me now. What is the range of those portals your father’s men use?”

  “Fifteen…miles. Need to recharge…every two uses. One hour.”

  “I must keep running, then. Hold on for me.”

  Trekking through the frigid water, he put enough distance between them and the clearing that her father would be unable to sneak up on them for some time. When he felt they’d be safe for an hour, he dropped to his knees at the river’s edge and laid Evangeline in the water. Severing the ropes that bound her, he tried not to let panic infuse his voice. “Evangeline?”

  She coughed weakly. “Sorry. Had to try…to remove his…leverage.”

  Her heartbeat worried him. As did her stuttered breaths. The bullet had punctured her lung. Thick, black blood coated his hands from her abdomen. His fangs descended as all-consuming anger rose within him, darkening and sharpening his vision. He ripped at his wrist, opening the vein with a savage bite. He held the wound to Evangeline’s blistered lips, letting the blood drip onto her tongue.

  “Too late,” Evangeline moaned as his blood coated her lips. Her head lolled to the side, but he caught her chin gently, peeling off layers of burned skin from the slight touch.

  “No, tesoro. You will not die. Stay with me now. My blood will heal you. Please do not fight me.”

  Her eyes closed. Her hands fell away from his arm.

  “No! Drink. Please. Do not leave me,” Nic pleaded. “There is so much I need to say to you.” Tears flowed down his cheeks as she fought to open her eyes. “I need you.”