Laura marched into the kitchen and gripped Vlad’s arm. “Find another way.”
Shon was instantly there. “Easy, babe. Come sit with me.”
Guiding her around the bar, he pulled out a stool for her to sit on. His heart had nearly stopped when she’d grabbed on to Vlad’s arm.
Shon sat next to her and rested his hand on her knee. “It’ll be okay. Gina can’t kill me any more than I can kill her.”
Vlad pushed his hood back to reveal pale blue eyes that burned with determination. “True. But she can have someone else do it for her.”
Shon felt Laura stiffen next to him. He gently squeezed her knee for reassurance before meeting Vlad’s gaze once again. “I lure her out. You kill her.”
Vlad shook his head. “I cannot kill her without a trial by the elders.” He held up a hand when Shon would have interrupted. “Furthermore, I believe that she is the only one that can tell us where to locate the Seeker Society. We find them and knock out two birds with one stone.”
“Gina will be expecting a trap,” Shon pointed out. “Which rules out me showing up at her door, carrying a heart in a Walmart bag.”
Vlad’s lips twitched. “It would be such a waste to see you destroyed.”
Shon straightened in his seat. “I vote we not see me destroyed. So, the Walmart bag is out of the question. Help me out here, old wise one.”
“Unfortunately, Gina has fixated on you, young Shon. She cannot come after me herself, nor does she hold the power to harm Angelo. But you do.”
Shon shook his head. “Not true. Angel’s blood saved my life after my brother cut my throat.”
Vlad’s brows lifted. “You are bonded with Angelo?” At Shon’s nod, Vlad continued. “Gina is obviously unaware of that little detail. That might work in our favor.”
Laura suddenly threw up a hand. “Let me get this straight. Gina Calimari needs your heart in order to resurrect Lilith, but she can’t kill you herself, so she wants Shon to do it since he’s not bonded with you.”
“Why not bond with Vlad?” She directed that last part at Shon.
“Gina has my brother.”
“And my parents…”
Shon turned to face her. “I will not let anything happen to your parents. You have my word.”
Laura’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “How can you make a promise that you’re not sure you can keep?”
“Because I will offer myself to her for their safe return if it comes down to it.”
The tears standing in Laura’s eyes spilled over to track down her cheeks. She stumbled to her feet. “Either way, I lose.”
“Laura…” Shon began as she fled the room.
Vlad spoke up before Shon could go after her. “Let her be. She will come around once she has had time to think.”
“She’s going to be hurt, no matter how this turns out.”
“Yes,” Vlad agreed. “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you took her to your bed.”
Shon knew the elder spoke the truth. If Gina found out Shon’s true feelings for Laura, she would kill Laura without batting an eye.
Vlad interrupted Shon’s torturous thoughts. “The best thing you can do for Laura and her parents would be to get as far away from Miss Donovan as you can.”
Pain sliced through Shon’s heart at the thought of leaving Laura after years of waiting to have her in his arms. “She’ll think I used her,” he bit out.
Vlad nodded. “Yes. But it will keep her safe until Gina no longer draws breath.”
Shon ground his teeth in anger. He’d wanted Laura for as long as he could remember. After years of vying for her attention, she’d finally allowed him into her bed. How was he to leave her now?
If leaving Polk County would remove Laura from Gina’s radar, then he’d gladly walk away. No matter how much it hurt to do so. “Tell me what to do.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Laura stood beneath the hot spray of the shower, allowing the tears to fall freely from her eyes.
Gina Calimari would kill her parents if Shon didn’t return with Vlad’s heart. Laura refused to stand back and let that bitch hurt anyone else that she loved.
Laura stilled as the reality of her thoughts hit her square in the heart. Did she truly love Shon? She did, she realized, closing her eyes in resignation. She had since high school.
Why had it taken her so long to admit her feelings to herself? she wondered, watching the water swirl around her feet.
She’d grown up watching Shon bounce from female to female, never staying with the same one for more than a week.
After years of sleepless nights and jealousy-induced dreams, Laura had finally come to the conclusion that Shon Wells wasn’t meant for her. Until recently, when she’d uncovered the truth about her mother’s deception.
Shon had apparently had feelings for Laura as well.
Pain welled up in her heart over the years she’d lost with Shon. Where would they be now had her mother not interfered? She didn’t know, nor did it matter at this point. He was a vampire now. There could be no turning back. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life watching him remain young and sexy while she aged and eventually died.
With a sigh of resignation, Laura finished her shower and climbed out to dry off.
She dressed in the clothes Shon had recently peeled off her, minus the bra. It lay in pieces next to the bed they’d made love in.
Running her fingers through her damp hair, Laura trailed off toward the kitchen in search of Shon, only to find him gone.
A once-again hooded Vlad stood in the same place she’d left him half an hour before. “Where’s Shon?”
“He left.”
Her heart began to pound. “Left? But where? It’s almost daylight.”
“He didn’t say. But he left you a note.” Vlad nodded to a folded piece of paper on the bar.
Laura snatched up the note and quickly opened it. Nausea nearly crippled her as she read the words written on the page. Laura, last night was a mistake. It should have never happened. I’m going to get your parents and send them someplace safe. I would like for you to be gone before I return. It’ll be less awkward for us both. Shon.
Laura dropped the note and swayed on her feet. Shon had used her. He’d slept with her and walked away as if she meant nothing to him.
“Is everything all right?” Vlad asked, staring at her from beneath his shadowed hood.
“I…” Laura’s voice failed her. She couldn’t seem to speak around the lump in her throat.
She turned and fled to the room Shon had so thoroughly loved her in not long ago.
Repacking her clothes, Laura shouldered her bag and staggered down the hall toward the front door.
“Where are you going?”
She paused with her hand on the knob. “As far away from here as I can get.”
Jerking open the door, she rushed toward the stairs without bothering to close it behind her.
Laura threw her bag onto the passenger seat of her car and started the engine. The sun had just begun its ascent as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward home.
Shon had probably returned to Gina, Laura thought, turning onto the Parkway. After all, the blonde bitch not only had beauty on her side, but she was vampire as well.
Laura fished out her cell from her pants pocket and sent Shon a text. Send my parents to Uncle Marvin’s place in Alabama. They’ll be safe there. And don’t ever contact me again.
Shon didn’t reply, but then she hadn’t expected him to.
Ten minutes later, Laura pulled into her drive. The sky had turned shades of pink and orange, letting her know the sun would be up soon.
Grabbing her bag, Laura exited the car and climbed the steps to her house. She would get some rest, without the threat of vampires killing her in her sleep, and pray that Shon would see her parents safely to Alabama.
Laura unlocked the door, stepped into the living room, and bent to set her bag on the floor. Something slammed
into the back of her head. She stumbled forward, blindly reaching for the couch as a masculine laugh echoed throughout the room. Her world turned black.
* * * *
Pain throbbed inside Laura’s head, keeping time with the drip of a faucet somewhere in the distance. She slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.
She lay on a bed in a dimly lit room with her hands bound behind her back.
Shifting her gaze toward the sound of the endless faucet drip, Laura opened her mouth to yell for help, but no sound came out.
Agony seared her skull as she rolled her head to the side.
Memory came rushing back with a vengeance. Someone had hit her over the head when she went home this morning. At least she thought it was morning. She had no idea how much time had passed.
Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “Hello?”
The soft croak that departed her throat sent more shooting pain through her head.
“You’re awake,” a man’s voice called out from the foot of the bed.
Laura tried to lift her head, but the stabbing sensation in her skull prevented it.
“Are you thirsty?” The man appeared in her field of vision. He leaned in a few inches above her face. “Sorry about the noggin. I’ve bandaged it. You’ll be fine in a day or two.”
“Who are you?” Laura whispered, squinting up at the stranger hovering above her.
His eyes were a light brown and his head was devoid of hair. He looked to be about her own age.
“Name’s Ellis.”
Laura studied his expression through the blur of her vision. “What do you want from me?”
“Answers.” Sliding an arm under her shoulders, he slightly lifted her and placed a glass against her lips. “Drink slowly. Wouldn’t want you to choke.”
Laura turned her face away. The guy had knocked her in the head, tied her hands, and now offered her a drink? “Go to hell,” she rasped.
A loud sigh escaped him. He returned her head to the pillow and set the glass on a small table next to the bed. “Very well. I’ve brought you here for a reason. And as long as you do exactly as I say, you won’t be hurt.”
“What reason.”
“To draw out Angelo Dimitrov, his wife Ember, and their child Lucius.”
Laura strained against her bonds. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m a member of the Seeker Society. You’ve been brainwashed by the vampires, Miss Donovan. But I’m here to rectify that.”
A bright light appeared on the ceiling above her. Horrific images of mutilated bodies flashed before her in gory detail.
“This is what vampires do,” Ellis murmured, lying back and resting his head on the pillow next to hers. “They take, they maim, and they kill without remorse.”
Laura shrank as far from him as her bonds would allow. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” He stopped the automatic slideshow, freezing the frame on an image of a young, brunette woman naked on her side in a pool of blood. Her throat ripped open to reveal the bone of her neck. “That’s Teresa. My wife. She was raped and slaughtered by one of those…those things.”
Tears filled Laura’s eyes as she stared at the horror before her.
Ellis pressed a button on a remote he held, and the image moved to a child broken nearly in half. “Stop it,” Laura cried, squeezing her eyes shut.
The Seeker grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look up at him. “How many times do you think they begged for them to stop? For it all to end?” He jerked his chin toward the ceiling. “Do you think received any mercy?”
Laura blinked up at the steady flow of images. Each one worse than the last. “Angel and Ember would never do something like that,” she choked out, unable to look away from the carnage.
“They are demons, Miss Donovan. You don’t know what they are capable of. Just because they haven’t killed you yet doesn’t mean they won’t. And if not you, someone else.”
“No. They wouldn’t do that.” Laura thought of the way Shon used her and tossed her aside. “Ember is good. She isn’t capable of hurting anyone.”
“What of Angelo? How much do you really know about him?”
Laura paused. The truth was, she didn’t know anything about Angel other than what Ember had revealed. “I know everything about him,” she lied.
Ellis laughed. “You speak with a forked tongue, Miss Donovan. We’ll see how long that lasts.”
Rising from the bed, Ellis pressed another button on the remote, filling the room with tormented sounds of begging and tortured screams.
He turned and moved toward the door.
Laura fought against her bonds, horrified by the endless wailing ricocheting off the walls surrounding her.
The heinous images continue to flash overhead, leaving Laura nauseous and weak. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes, the torturous pictures danced behind her lids in vivid detail.
“Please, stop,” she cried, unable to block out the sickening sounds surrounding her. But no answer came.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shon entered the house that Gina Calimari had acquired for her stay in Polk County.
The scent of her sickened him. It seeped through his pores, choking him with its putrid essence. How had he never noticed it before?
“Shon,” Gina purred, gliding into the room. “You have come to bring me the heart of the Impaler?”
“I’ll get you the damn heart after you release the Donovans.”
She blinked up at him. “The who?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Calimari. I know you took them.” He took a step forward. “Are a couple of insignificant humans really worth fucking up your plans over?”
Uncertainty flickered in her eyes. “Why are they so important to you?”
“I could give a rat’s ass about them,” he lied. “But Vlad has called a meeting with the elders over their disappearance. They arrive tomorrow.”
Gina paled. “The elders would not come all this way over a couple of humans. You lie.”
“They are more than that. They are the parents of Ember’s closest friend. Vlad fears the Seeker will become involved.”
Shon intentionally left out the fact that he and Vlad were already aware of the Seeker’s presence in Polk County.
Gina studied her nails. “And what do I get in return, should I release the old folks?”
“Me.”
“But I already have you, my pet.” She reached up and ran a pale hand down his chest.
“Willing,” he ground out. “You would have me willing.”
Her eyes lit up with his proposal. “For how long?”
“Forever.”
“Well, now. I can’t pass up an offer that sweet.”
Gina sashayed over to the door and spoke softly to someone in the hall before turning to face Shon once again. “Theodore will take them home.”
“Not good enough,” Shon barked. “I take them home or no deal.”
Gina’s eyes narrowed. “You do not trust me?”
“Hell no, I don’t trust you. I’m not an idiot, much to your disappointment.”
“I do not trust you either, Shon Wells. How do I know you will return after you have seen them safely home?”
“Because, you sadistic witch. You have my brother.”
A smile curved Gina’s ruby-red lips. “That I do. Very well. But I want you back before sunrise. I have big plans for you.”
Shon held back the gag that rose and nodded in her direction. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Bring them in, Theodore,” Gina called, brushing at her long skirt.
Irene and Arthur Donovan stumbled into the room, pale and confused.
“Shon!” Laura’s mother cried, staggering forward into his arms.
“Shhhhh. It’s going to be okay, Mrs. Donovan. Let’s go now. I’m going to take you home.”
“Hurry back, gorgeous,” Gina breathed, following the trio toward the door. “I’ll be w
aiting. If you’re not back here within the hour, your brother will pay the price.”
Shon continued walking. “I heard you the first time, Hazel.”
He had the satisfaction of hearing her gasp before leading the Donovans to Ember’s car.
Come on, Angel, Shon silently pleaded. Hurry up.
Angel rounded the house with an unconscious John thrown over his shoulder. He blurred his way to the car and tossed Shon’s brother unceremoniously into the back seat before climbing in behind him.
Arthur and Irene squeezed into the front as Shon slid behind the wheel and sped out of the drive like a bat out of hell.
“Is he all right?” Shon asked, meeting Angel’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
Angel nodded. “He’ll be fine once the drugs wear off.”
Shon’s jaw tightened. “You drugged him? With what?”
“Don’t ask,” Angel murmured, adjusting John’s body to a more comfortable position.
“You’re vampires.”
Irene’s softly spoken statement caught Shon off guard. He glanced at her momentarily before turning his attention back to the road. “I’m sorry you are involved in this mess, Mrs. Donovan.”
“Where is my daughter?” Arthur growled from his position next to the passenger door.
Shon’s stomach tightened at the mention of Laura. “She’s safe.”
Irene stared straight ahead, her body stiff with tension. “Does she know what you are?”
“She knows,” Shon quietly responded.
“Then I hope she has the good sense to stay away from you. You’re monsters.”
Arthur wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her close to his side.
Shon spoke without taking his gaze from the road. “You won’t have to worry about Laura. I doubt she’d ever look in my direction again.”
“Thank God for that,” Irene spat, huddling closer to her husband.
Shon couldn’t blame her for the contempt she felt for him. He’d feel the same if he were in her shoes. “If it’s any consolation, I’m truly sorry for everything.”
Irene jerked her head in his direction. “It isn’t. I will see that Laura gets as far from this area as she can go. And you, Shon Wells, can go back to hell where you came from.”
Shon (The Seeker Series Book 2) Page 9
