Last Vamp Standing

by Kristin Miller

  Ariana, on the other hand, paced around the circle before finally taking the seat to Dante’s left. Since the staggering death toll had been announced, anger had flowed off Ariana in rich waves.

  “Someone want to tell me what the hell went on out there?” the Primus asked, leaning forward out of his chair.

  “You just met Savage’s death shades. He had to be close behind, manipulating them from a safe distance away.” Slade spun his chair around and straddled it, folding his arms over the back. “The only reason we’re still here right now is because Eve bound the light of elders’ shades with the dark that he’s possessed.”

  “I’m not sure I understand exactly,” Ariana said. “You’re a mundane. How can you have any kind of powers?”

  Her lips pulled back into a slow smile, like it was no skin off her nose that she was being questioned in such a way. “I have the oldest soul on record, possibly reincarnated from the original Eve from the Bible. When an elder is killed, the dark part of their spirit, their death shade, becomes controlled by the person who took their life. The light of their shades—ghosts as mundanes know them—are drawn to me, and their mawares into this amulet. I can use the accumulation of their mawares to bind their shades, extinguishing the hold Savage has over the dark, and allow them to pass into the Ever After.”

  “That’s a mouthful,” the Primus said, pulling at the long white tail of his beard. He thought a moment, his eyes glazing over. Was this the truth-setting maware Ariana had mentioned? Was he putting Eve’s words through some sort of ringer, deciphering the truth on his own? “You won’t stay in this haven without the others, will you?”

  “No.” She put her hand over her heart. She somehow made the motion look genuine. “They’re my family.”

  “If Savage knows Eve is protected behind Black Moon’s walls, he won’t be able to attack with his death shades again.” Slade leaned forward and stomped a clod of mud off his boot. “As long as she’s here and agrees to help in the cause, Savage is just a pissed-off hybrid without an army.”

  “Maybe we should split up.” Ariana kept her eyes on the hardwood. What she was about to say didn’t sit well with her. “Our elders might have a better chance to survive if we split up and went our separate ways. They could go back into hiding.”

  “You don’t think Savage will be able to track them down like he’s doing now to the ones still out there?” Slade pointed to the east, toward Crimson Bay. “He’ll pick them off one by one. No, we have to take a stand. We have to fight back.”

  “If we work together we might be able to defeat him for good,” Dante said. “We can make Black Moon a stronghold.”

  Why the hell did he just use “we”? This wasn’t his battle. And he certainly didn’t have any say in whether the elders ran for the hills or stood their ground and fought Savage head on.

  “We don’t have the resources to feed everyone.” The Primus spoke quietly, almost as if he was speaking to himself. “Our distribution center can barely keep us afloat.”

  “Leave that to Dylan,” Slade said, placing his hand on the knee of the vamp next to him. Dylan had curly dark hair that dangled past her shoulders and eager blue eyes that begged to help. “She’s run ReVamp for years and has managed to feed the hundreds of vamps we brought with us for the last few weeks.”

  “If she was doing such a good job,” the Primus said, “why’d you feel the need to come barking up my tree?”

  Ruan and Slade growled in unison, a symphony of testosterone and possessiveness that made Dante’s skin crawl. Morons. They didn’t have enough strength between them to remove the Primus’s coat, let alone his head. Dante reminded himself never to become a fool in love.

  Slade and Ruan had completely lost themselves in their partners. Dante didn’t have the privilege of losing himself in anyone. In fact, it was the other way around. Lovers lost themselves in him . . . forever.

  If things were different, if he didn’t have to feed off the energy of others, would a life tied to Ariana be that bad—a life like the kind Ruan and Slade were committed to?

  He dared say he desired that life more than he could afford. . . .

  “Dylan, if we contacted distribution centers outside the area, could you figure out a way to have it delivered to a distant, private location for pick up?” Ariana stood and walked to the Primus’s desk. After fumbling through some papers, she came back with a blank sheet and pen.

  “Yes.” Dylan nodded slowly, her sapphire eyes shimmering with hope. “Yes, of course.”

  Ariana scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Dylan. “I’ll help you locate that elder. He’ll be in training until tomorrow morning.” She pointed to the sheet. “He’ll have a maware that can help you travel outside of Black Moon and return without being seen. The other name is our contact at Blood America. They’ve never come out this far, but that’s because we’ve never allowed it. I’m sure you can arrange something.”

  Dante scrubbed his hands over his face as a flash of sexual heat surged through him. Ariana was damn hot when she took charge. Her purposeful stride swung her hips with more force. And the directions she dished out made him want to sit down like a good school boy and be taught a lesson or two.

  Would she take charge in the bedroom? he wondered, then clamped down on the thought by clenching his hands into fists until he thought they’d break into fleshy little pieces.

  “There’s got to be rules.” The Primus stood so fast that his chair wobbled, nearly falling backward. “If we’re going to do this there’s got to be rules.”

  He strode to a table near the back wall and poured himself a drink. Bourbon and O, from the smell of it. His nerves were getting the best of him—his words were a bit garbled and his glass trembled. The changes were slight, but Dante caught them.

  “Since elders are day-walkers, they’ll have the run of the haven during the day. Your vamps from the city can make themselves at home once the sun sets. I think it’s best if we keep their waking times as separate as possible. But most importantly, no one may leave the haven unless they’re given a specific order from me.” He took a hard swig. “If anyone breaks the rules, they’ll no longer have any reason to fear Savage. I’ll be the only one they need to worry about.”

  “You have our word.” Eve stood and bowed. “I’ll help any way I can as long as my family is being cared for.”

  “What the hell,” the Primus said, emptying his glass. “We’re all going to the Nether Realm anyway.”

  Well, Dante thought, at least one of them was.

  Ruan and Slade stood together, buzzing about which walls were more susceptible to attack. Dante wasn’t paying much attention. He was too busy feeling the hardwood rumble beneath his feet.

  Something, or someone, was charging the chamber.

  Dante stood in one swift, powerful motion and braced Ariana by the arms, moving her outside the circle of chairs.

  “What are you—” she asked, but her words were cut off.

  The chamber doors burst open, answering her question. Two elders stormed in, dragging behind them a husky vamp dressed head to toe in winter gear. He sported a zipped-up parka. Snow boots. Cinched gloves.

  Where’d he come from? The North Pole?

  The Primus rushed to their side and helped the vamp into Slade’s chair. “What’s happened to him, Manny? Was it a death shade?”

  As the taller of the two—Manny—nodded, Dante noticed his hands shaking. “The dead have all been accounted for. He’s—”

  “Jude?” Dylan squealed, kneeling beside him. “Jude, are you all right? Can you hear me?”

  “You know this Eskimo?” Dante asked, eyeing the Abominable Vamp from head to toe.

  Dylan put a hand to Jude’s forehead. “He’s been coming to ReVamp for years. He was one of the first recovering vamps I treated using Bloodlust Drinkers’ Anonymous meetings.”

&nbs
p; “What’s he recovering from?” Dante moved beside the Primus for a better view. “Hypothermia?”

  Ariana put her hand on Dante’s back, causing his abs to tense and his teeth to clench. She leaned around him, carrying a whiff of lavender perfume with her. Damn, she smelled good. He fought the urge to close his eyes and savor the scent.

  “He’s unconscious, Manny.” The Primus glared at the elder who’d brought him in. “Why didn’t you take him to the infirmary?”

  Shoulders shaking hard, Manny said, “He—he’s not unconscious . . . he demanded to see—I mean speak. He demanded to speak with you.”

  What the hell?

  With a hiss, Jude spasmed to life, his arms and legs flailing like he’d been zapped with the hard buzz of a Taser. Dylan fell back, scrambling over the floor. As the three women backed away, the men charged, pinning Jude to the chair.

  Frozone wasn’t going anywhere.

  Dante double fisted the flaps of his coat as Jude’s eyes flipped open. They were flaming red with black pits for pupils.

  “You even think about going toe to toe with me, Jude, and you’ll regret the day you stepped out of your igloo,” Dante growled, letting his fangs drop. This was going to be a knock ’em down, drag ’em out fight. Hot sparks of adrenaline fired in his core, readying him for the kind of blood bath he hungered for.

  He shot a glance at Ariana.

  Good. She was out of range, standing near the Primus’s desk. Out of danger. Where she belonged.

  “Surrender,” Jude hissed, his fangs crooked and blood tinged. “Surrender Black Moon or prepare for death.”

  “It’s the death shade,” Slade said, twisting Jude’s arms behind his back. “Savage is using it to speak through him.”

  “Holy shit,” the Primus breathed and took a step back. “These things come to life?”

  “He’s inhaled it.”

  As if on cue, Jude coughed out a thin stream of charcoal black smoke. It drifted to the ceiling and coiled slowly around the chandelier hanging in the center of the room. Dante turned his head away and gripped a tighter handhold on Jude’s collar.

  “Surrender,” Jude hissed again, his mouth gaping like a gutted fish. “Surrender Black Moon and you will be spared.”

  “It’s possessing him,” Ruan said, squatting over Jude’s legs, holding them down. “Eve, you ever read anything like this in the Grimorium?”

  She shook her head, staring at the smoke circling the ceiling. “It’s the blood Savage drained from me, it has to be. We knew it’d change him, but I didn’t think he’d be able to—”

  “Possess the vampires he overtakes,” Ruan finished, putting more pressure on Jude’s legs as they squirmed. “Damn it.”

  She clutched the amulet, as if readying to extinguish the death shade if it escaped from Jude’s mouth. Ruan shook his head slowly, and she dropped her hand.

  “Dylan?” Jude’s voice went from slithery demon to freaked-out vamp in two seconds flat. His eyes shot open and his head jerked back. “Dylan, where are you?”

  “I’m here.” Leaving Eve and Ariana on the opposite side of the room, Dylan sped to their side.

  “Close enough, love,” Slade said from behind Jude. “It’s not out of him yet.”

  “I’m right here, Jude,” she said. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

  But it wasn’t, and she knew it. Jude wheezed and choked and fought for his arms and legs to be freed. He was fighting for more than his physical freedom. He was fighting for control over his entire body, voice included.

  “Savage . . .” He moaned and bowled over, tugging against Slade’s hold. Jude’s arms were pulled taut, twisted like a pretzel behind him. “You have to surrender Dylan, he’s going to use the death shades to possess others. He’ll—”

  He screamed, winced, choked back another thin stream of smoke. “He wants to wipe out every elder he can.” He coughed up blood mixed with a black tar-like substance. It fell on his parka, staining the pale blue coat nasty brown. “He wants to bind every maware to him to be the only vamp . . . the last vamp—” A string of coughs cut him off.

  Letting go of Jude’s jacket collar, Dante stood and dropped the big-ass puzzle piece into place. “If Savage gets his paws on the elders in Black Moon, he’ll be all-powerful. He’ll have their death shades at his disposal and their mawares to use how he sees fit. He could practice his mawares inside these walls and be protected from his enemies by the barrier that keeps this place off the grid.”

  The entire room stared as he strode toward Ariana. She didn’t owe anything to Jude or her Primus. He was getting her out of here, to safety.

  “I’m not letting him have it!” the Primus screamed, jerking Jude so hard his head snapped forward, smacking into his chest. “You tell him I won’t let him corrupt what I’ve built!”

  Jude’s crimson eyes glazed over as a loud, painful-sounding hack convulsed his chest. The death shade had returned to the forefront. Jude had lost the battle.

  “Black Moon will not surrender,” the Primus said. “You seep back to Savage and deliver that message. I’ll die before I let him take Black Moon.”

  Jude coughed, choked on the tar-like smoke clogging his windpipe. “Then you shall.”

  With a primal roar, the Primus unsheathed a wood-tipped dagger from his boot and stabbed it to the hilt into Jude’s chest. Dylan gasped, turning away from the carnage. Slade was at her side in a flicker of a second, wrapping her up in his arms.

  If that Jude character really was her friend, Dylan had reason to be distraught. Although he would’ve met the blunt end of a stake anyway—they couldn’t let a possessed vamp run amok around Black Moon—it couldn’t have been easy to see him staked firsthand. Dante simply figured he had it coming. Any vamp who dressed like a Sherpa on the sunny streets of California was bound to get his ass staked sooner or later.

  Ruan released Jude’s legs, letting his body go limp in the chair.

  “It’s not out of him yet,” Eve said, coming to his side.

  Ariana put a hand to her mouth as Dante approached her. “I never knew . . . I never knew that’s what happened when an elder was murdered. Their—our soul . . . I didn’t know it could be used for such evil.”

  “How could you have known?” He reached out to brush his hands over her shoulders and chill the ache that must’ve been creeping over her. Instead, a pang of hunger hit him hard, and he dropped his hand. “There’s never been anyone like Savage before. Elders are revered, and rightly so. Only a hybrid with a psycho switch would even think about doing what he has.”

  Ariana bit her bottom lip, making Dante want to lick the place her fang had touched. “Your soul will pass to the Ever After, Ariana,” he said, reading the worry etched on her face. He tipped her chin up to raise her gaze off the floor. “Your soul is pure and good and . . .”

  And the closer he got to her, the more he was making a liar out of himself. Her soul would remain pure as long as he didn’t get close to it.

  She waited with piercing hazelnut eyes for him to finish. She didn’t move his fingers off her chin. Just left them there, waiting for his words, churning the guilt in his stomach.

  “As long as I’m around,” he said, trying to find something to say that had a spark of truth, “you won’t have to worry about Savage using any part of your soul.”

  His words came out fast, taking him off guard. While he felt protective of Ariana when she was at his side, he certainly hadn’t planned on sticking around until Savage came knocking. It could take him days to round up enough vamps to make a solid attack. Weeks, even! Sure, he assumed he’d stay for a bit to help Slade and Ruan get Black Moon on lockdown, but it shocked Dante that the words he spoke really were the truth.

  Savage wouldn’t touch her. He’d stay as long as necessary to ensure that wouldn’t happen. As long as his voices stayed on the back burner.
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br />   If she crawled between his knees like she did in the library one more time, his back teeth would shatter under the pressure.

  Another jagged hack drew their attention to Jude.

  “He’s releasing it,” Slade said, keeping Dylan behind him.

  Blood and smoke trickled past Jude’s lips, the red ooze trailing down his chin as the smoke lifted to the ceiling. The smoke that was already there, spiraling around the chandelier, meshed with the new string of smoke and veered from its circular path. Clinging to the ceiling, it drifted to the window. And with a high-pitched squeak, it oozed out the gap between the window and the wall and disappeared into the night.

  Ariana slipped out of Dante’s arms and strode across the room, the train of her dress whipping behind her. She knelt at Jude’s side as if she’d planned to do it since she first laid eyes on him.

  “I wouldn’t—” Dante began, reaching out for her.

  But it was too late. Ariana took Jude’s hand as the room went deathly still. She brushed her hand over his, her head drooping to her chest. As if she was trying to heal him . . .

  With a sigh, she rested his hand in her lap and gently patted his knuckles like a mother reassuring a sick child.

  Eve’s gaze leveled on Dante, her mouth dropping into a confused O. The only question he could answer, the only thought on his brain, was how in awe he was of Ariana at this very moment. She acted without fear. With little concern for her own safety. Though she’d never seen a death shade before and had no idea what it could do to a body it possessed, she was right there, helping a vamp she had no ties to.

  “I’m so sorry, Jude,” Ariana whispered, her velvety voice echoing through the chamber. “I’m so very sorry.”

  Over the chaos Jude brought in and the threat of Savage’s return, Ariana carried a sense of grace, a promise of peace. Like she could somehow bring Jude back to life by clearing out the tar the death shade left beneath his skin.

  Dante held his breath, waiting for a miracle. A part of him knew he was staring at it—the living, breathing vision of compassion and kindness, gentleness and harmony.