Ignoring Markus’ posturing and posing, Carter risked a glance my way. His stare pleaded with me for an ounce cooperation. “We have to go. There’s no time for choice or debate. I promise you we will find a way to come back for him, but right now we need to go.”
As if to further prove his point, the screen of his phone flashed its warning that the battery life was at twenty percent. The lights of the device dimmed enough to be notiecable.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I chanted to Rau and Amber, while Carter yanked me from the ground and tucked me tight against his side.
“Everything okay?” Markus folded his hands with staged concern, eyes narrowing with a vulturine gleam. “Don’t feel you have to rush off. If the girl needs medical care, we would happily see to her.”
Carter stabbed the phone out in front of him with the lethal intent of brandishing a machete. “You’re not getting anywhere near her.” While he edged us toward the door, his gaze remained on a swivel for possible threats. Adjusting his grip to gather me more firmly in the fold of his arm, he muttered against my hair, “We will see Rau again. For now, I need you to stay with me.”
“And what, pray tell, is your plan when that door bangs shut behind you?” Markus queried, looping his thumbs into the pockets of his suit coat.
Battery at ten percent. Any second now, the lights would shut off and it would be open season for our hides.
“I’m going to keep the camera rolling as long as possible, you son of a bitch,” Carter bluffed. Kicking open the door with the heel of his foot, he scooted us through it. His voice dropped to an urgent whisper as he muttered into my hair, “Can you run?”
“I-I don’t think so,” I stammered, tipping my face up to his. Up that close, I could see a small mole next to the bridge of his nose, directly under the corner of his eye—a slight imperfection that added an element of approachability to an otherwise flawless face. It seemed extreme blood loss had me waxing poetic. “But I’m willing to die trying.”
“No one else is dying. Not today.” His phone picked that moment to make the effective counter point of shutting off. Spinning on the ball of his foot, Carter launched forward, catching my wrist to drag my stumbling mass behind him.
Rutherford charged our way, only to be halted by Markus’ hand slamming into his chest. “No, you can’t be seen. Call the boys. Make sure they don’t make it off this airfield alive.”
Door banging shut behind us, we were thrust into the blanket of night. Steering us in the direction of the row hangars to the east of us, Carter screamed to be heard over the deafening boom of jet engines roaring overhead. “Go! Run!”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Disproven Theory – To prove to be false or wrong by finding a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory.
Clamping my arm over the hemorrhaging hole in my gut, I stumbled to keep my feet under me. Each forced stride sent a fresh wave of the pain searing through my core and bile scorching up the back of my throat. I was physically broken and emotionally shattered. For so long, I ached to return to what I once was: another hapless mortal blind to elements of the world I didn’t understand. Now, seeing firsthand the atrocities humans were capable of, I found myself relieved to be rid of that narrow-minded affliction. If I died this night, in the final sense of the word, I would do so not as a monster, but as an evolved being capable of understanding, compassion, and mercy.
The limo that dropped us off reappeared around the side of the hangar we hobbled to escape, screeching to a halt in a spray of loose gravel. Two heaving gorillas in suits stormed from the car, slamming the doors behind them. “Do a sweep! Find them!”
Carter’s head whipped around, searching for a safe haven. “They haven’t spotted us yet. We’re too exposed here. Between the hangars, move!” Dragging me onward, he pulled us both around the side of the closest hangar.
I collapsed against the metal sheeting of the structure, bequeathing it the majority of my weight in effort to keep myself upright. Glancing to Carter, I watched his chest rise and fall, and envied him for the relief he could derive from a calming breath.
Engines of luxurious private jets rumbled from the hangars housing them. Noses of posh liner’s poked out, taunting us with the promise of escape. Silently, I said a prayer of thanks for their thunderous symphony. At least I didn’t have to hear the footfalls of our approaching doom. My heavy lids were falling shut in resignation of the inevitable, when wind rushed past my cheek. The hair was blown from my face by the wings of a low-swooping crow.
No. Not a crow.
The crow.
The same avian creature of darkness that had inadvertently become my totem since my transition. Times of crisis or unease, it always seemed to lurk nearby. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Streaking into the open hangar opposite us, it seemed to be guiding me onward like a beacon in the night.
“The crow, follow it.” As I pushed off the hangar, a dagger of white hot pain twisted my gut, folding me in half. My stumble forward morphed into a stumble onward. “I can’t … just go,” I croaked. Sinking to the ground, one fist collided with the earth as spots swam before my eyes.
“Like hell I will.” Carter scooped me into his arms, hooking one hand under my knees and the other around my back. Breaking into a sprint, he didn’t let a little thing like my head bouncing against his shoulder slow his stride to the welcoming maw of the beckoning hangar.
Skirting around the nose of a Hawker 400, my slipping consciousness allowed me pivotal glimpses of the otherwise mundane. Carter wove behind a row of pallets stacked with shipping crates and silently melted to the floor with his back against the wall.
“Normally,” chest rising and falling in frantic pants, he fought to catch his breath as pearls of sweat dotted his forehead, “I would launch into the whole stay awake, stay with me routine. But now, more than ever, being still as the dead would really work in our favor.”
If they found us, our only option would be to bend to their will and pray for mercy. Fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, I peered up at Carter’s face to await our fatal end.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped. The pain was less now. Somehow, that seemed like a bad omen. “For everything I said. I wish—”
“Don’t.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “We get out of here alive, and we’ll take turns confessing for all of our asshole tendencies. My list will be a lengthy one. Right now, let’s focus on a quiet survival.”
Lips parting with a sticky pop, I tried to coerce sentimental words of forgiveness and loyalty from a swollen, lethargic tongue.
“Shhh,” Carter soothed, holding me to him with one gentle hand supporting the back of my head.
Outside the fleeting safety of our thinly veiled cocoon, heavy footfalls thundered into the hangar.
“Around the sides of the jet! Find them!” a deep baritone, with a hint of a twang, boomed.
Blame it on the blood loss, but I swear I heard the ruffle of feathers.
“Can I help you, gentlemen?” a calm, familiar voice asked, growing nearer by the second.
Carter’s head swiveled away from mine, leaving behind a lonely chill. “Thomas. It’s Thomas,” he breathed.
“Two people may be hiding in your hangar. We fear at least one of them is armed and dangerous. If we could search the area, we will make sure the space is clear of threats for you.” One of the henchman lurked close enough to make the hair on my arms rise. Still, I couldn’t pry open my weighted lids. His words seemed to echo down a stretched tunnel, pinging off the fog encapsulating my slipping mind.
“Didn’t see anyone come in here.” The smile in Thomas’s tone was audible. Fabric rustled in three steady swipes.
“No?” the guard with the gravel voice pressed. “One was bleeding and there’s a spot of blood right here on your floor.”
“Lost my arm in a hunting accident recent enough for it to still ache on the regular. I popped one of my stitc
hes trying to work on the engine like I used to.” I could see Thomas behind my eyes, edging closer to position himself between us and danger. Ever the regal sentry, prepared to sacrifice himself for the cause he deemed worthy.
“Sorry to hear that, friend.” At the long pause that followed, I envisioned the guard craning his neck to sweep his gaze over as much of the cavernous hangar as he could. “In your injured state, wouldn’t you feel better letting us have a quick look around? Just to be safe?”
As if arguing otherwise, the jet’s engines purred to life.
“It would seem the pilot is ready to take off.” Thomas hollered to be heard over the deafening roar. “Which means I need to lock the hangar down and board. I’m afraid I can’t jeopardize my employment by delaying departure to allow strange men with guns to scope the place out.”
Tires rumbled across the ground, the iron eagle gliding from its nest.
“It’ll only take a moment,” one of the guards injected into the hush that followed. “I’m sure your boss would understand.”
“You think so?” Thomas sounded close enough to touch, his presence pushing against the intruders to herd them back out the wide flung doors. “He’s a Fortune 500 businessman, with a private hangar for his opulent jet. Does that sound like the type of man with an abundance of patience?”
“I’m sure if you explained the situation …”
“That was a rhetorical question.” Thomas’s tone hardened, his earlier playful lilt replaced with a swiping blade of annoyance. “The answer was no, he does not. If this plane isn’t waiting for him when he’s ready to leave, the entire flight crew is out of a job. That means we all have to move in with you gentlemen. Are you prepared to extend your families to include a few grown ass adults over this matter? I should warn you, I’ve been known to sleepwalk naked.”
“I really must insist we take one minute.” Even as the guard attempted the demand, his voice grew more and more distant.
Huddled in Carter’s arms, my teeth chattered as a vicious rash of shivers ravaged me to the bone.
“A minute is exactly what I don’t have.” Tone sharp and cutting, Thomas slid one half of the hangar door shut in a screech of metal. “I promise you, boys, I’ve been staring at these four walls all day, and no one that didn’t belong wandered in—except for you. I would have reveled in a little company or excitement, even if it was some gun wielding maniac.”
“We’re actually talking about an injured vampire,” one of Markus’ boys tried to implant in an ominous threat. “One that would make a gun-crazed maniac look like a fuzzy bunny.”
“Bunnies must be terrifying in your world.” Catching the other side of the door, Thomas yanked it across its track, preparing to close it in their faces. “Now, I would suggest you boys scurry off and find that blood sucker of yours. Every minute you’ve spent with me, they’re getting farther away.”
“If you do see anything—”
“I’ll scream like a tiny little girl so you two can burst in, guns ablazin’, and be heroes. Until then, off you go.” Metal rumbled over metal and the outside world was shut out in a reverberating clang.
Exhaling a trapped breath, Carter peeled me from his chest. “Vincenza, can you hear me? Vinx?”
I wanted to answer, to wrestle my eyes open and peer into the languid pools of his cerulean stare, but that was not to be. My body locked me in an icy prison within, where the chill of death sucked the morrow from my bones.
Carter readjusted his hold on me, freeing one arm. Sucking air through his teeth, he muttered a colorful stream of expletives. The coppery scent of blood wafted to my nostrils, awakening a scorching burn in my veins. “Vincenza, you need to feed.” Sticky warmth dripped on to my lips, streaking salvation down my chin. “It’s right there, baby, just open your mouth.”
It was a beautiful, self-sacrificing moment, ruined by the hourglass of my borrowed time running out.
A long shadow fell over us, Thomas’ frame blocking out the glare from the industrial lighting. “Noble as that act is, son, all it accomplished was getting you a step closer to needing a Tetanus shot. That’s not going to help our girl. If she were a traditional vamp, a little bite-n-bleed would do the trick. But Vinx here is the new and improved Ferrari model of Nosferatu. You feed her premium, not regular, if you want her to run right.”
Still, Carter kept his wrist hovering over my mouth, in hopes of a blood sucking miracle. “I’m not going to let her die. I’ll slice open every artery if I have to.”
“I appreciate a gory martyrdom as much as the next vamp.” Crouching down, Thomas forced open one of my plastered lids. The dam of darkness broke, flooding light in with a blinding flash. “I would advise, though, that your efforts may be better served getting her aboard the jet. We need to evaluate her injuries. Even for a hybrid, she should be healing far quicker than she is.”
“Y-you know the t-truth … about h-her?” Carter stammered. Gathering me in his arms, he stumbled to his feet.
“Brother, I have insight that would blow your brain out the back of your head.” Slapping a hand to Carter’s back, Thomas strode back to the doors, opening one far enough to poke his head out. “Looks like the Dynamic Duo took the hint. We’re safe to hustle your sweetie aboard.”
“Whose plane is that? How did anyone know we were here?” Seemingly cemented in that spot, Carter took a tentative step forward.
“Whoever the plane belongs to, they should be proud it took Elodie as long to hot-wire it as it did. She normally does it in half that time. We tracked the four of you here from the high school ... Vlad rest Duncan’s soul. I will gladly answer more questions, and we can play catch up, just as soon as we are safely aboard the stolen vessel. And, I would walk fast if I were you. There’s a thin line between undead and just-dead, and she looks like she’s about to trade Vera Wang for a body-bag.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Inquiry – Diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.
“Lay her down over there,” Elodie commanded. Side-stepping to allow Thomas to take her place in the cockpit, she pointed to a table in the middle of the seating area. A sweep of her arm cleared the makeshift gurney, the mess clattering to the floor as Carter eased me down onto its surface.
Teeth chattering hard enough to chip a molar, my muscles locked to stone. Consciousness came in rippling waves of coherence. It took Carter and Elodie’s combined strength to pry my arms from their rigor state curled against my core. Outside, the engines roared louder still. The jet lurched forward to begin our voyage.
“She was stabbed with her silver nail file.” Carter’s mask of concern floated before my fluttering lids. “But silver doesn’t affect her. I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Silver may not affect her the way it does traditional vampires,” Elodie corrected. Curling her fingers around the collar of my blouse, she tore it open to better assess my wounds. “However, there could still be a sensitivity there. A milder form, but not nonexistent. If, for example, someone were to oh, say stab her in the chest with it, she could still have a reaction. Think of it like a bee sting. If you’re not allergic, it’s just an irritant. Unless, the entire hive swarms and you suffer a thousand stings all at once.”
Wadding up my tattered shirt, she used it to wipe away the excess of blood. Carter hovered at her elbow, brow pinched with concern. “What can I do?”
Elodie peeled one of my eyes open, peering down to evaluate my pupil dilation. Whatever she saw folded her face into a stern scowl. A jerk of her chin gestured to a designer satchel pooled in the corner. “In my weekender, there’s I.V. bags of serum and blood. Grab me one of each, two packages of tubing, and a needle. We’re going to hit her with everything we’ve got.”
“Do you always travel with medical supplies?” Spinning in the tight space, Carter was on the bag in two strides.
Applying pressure to slow the bleeding, Elodie blew her bangs from
her eyes. “My employer insisted one among the triplets have those items on hand whenever we traveled anywhere with Rau and Vincenza.”
“The undying loyalty implied Rau was your boss.” Carter offered her the retrieved items.
“I could take the time to explain all that now. Or, I could save your friend. You pick.” Not waiting for an answer, Elodie threaded the stainless-steel I.V. needle into a vein at the crook of my elbow. Attaching the tubing, she connected it to a bag of the serum that made me the undead American I was and ran it wide open. She peeled open the second package of medical tubing, unraveled it, and pinched one end between her thumb and forefinger. “She won’t be able to feed on her own. Open her mouth and tip her head back.”
Doing as instructed with quaking hands, Carter averted his gaze as she threaded the thin tube down my throat and into my stomach.
The chills subsided into an oppressive blanket of numbness, granting me clemency from the pain attributed to the invasive procedure. Matter of fact, I felt nothing at all. It was as if my spirit checked out and floated above my tattered body to patiently wait for a less traumatic time to return. Stabbing the other end of the tube into the blood bag, Elodie gave it a gentle pulse to get the flow started.
The second the first drop of vampire blood settled into my stomach, the fires of hell tore through my gut. Launching off the table, my body seized in spastic convulsions. I clawed at my face, tearing the tube out, gagging as it hurled it from my gullet. Unimaginable pain and torment punched through my core, a scream rattling from my raw and raspy lungs. Slamming to the carpeted floor, I twisted into a tight ball as a fresh onslaught of spasms claimed me.
Veiled (Veiled Book 1) Page 21
