“Okay,” he said, moving to lie down beside her, “Close it up, and I’ll uncover her.”
John leaned down. “Not going to happen. You ride in the front with Eric.”
“John…”
“No. I don’t want to take the chance of her waking up hungry with you locked in there with her.”
Rogue smoothed a hand over the bundle that Kaitlyn was wrapped in.
“My way or no way, Rogue,” John warned.
Rogue felt like fighting but he knew John and Eric would just drag him out by his ankles. He promised himself that once they got back and Kaitlyn got settled, he and John were going to have a long talk.
Rogue scooted out of the truck, leaving Kaitlyn covered. He glared at John. John looked levelly back at him.
“Let’s go. We’re pushing it,” John said, then turned and walked around the corner of the house.
“Good thing she doesn’t need to breathe with the way you’ve got her wrapped up in that cocoon,” Eric said, slamming the tailgate and locking it.
“She does breathe. When she’s awake.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”
They both got in the truck. Eric pulled out and drove around the side of the house, then down the driveway to the street.
Rogue saw the ‘Vette idling at the corner. As soon as Eric drove the truck out into the street, the ‘Vette jumped forward with a squawk of tires.
They were on their way.
Eric and Rogue rode silently for a while. Rogue looked out the side window watching the scenery pass, wishing they were traveling at the speed of light. He knew better than to ask Eric to floor it. All they needed was to get pulled over and have some cop search the truck only to find what would look like a beautiful young woman’s lifeless body in the back. No, that would not go over well.
Time was crawling along even though Rogue knew that they were making progress toward home. He decided to break the lengthy silence. “Did you call ahead and tell them we were coming?”
Eric nodded. “Of course. You don’t think bringing an actual vampire into the hearth and home of the Unkindness of Ravens is big news?”
“I was just asking.”
Eric glanced at him. “I wasn’t being sarcastic.”
Rogue shrugged. “Will Lydia be ready for her?”
Eric laughed and slapped the steering wheel. “Are you kidding? That woman was talking a mile a minute, asking every question about your girl she could think of.” He smiled at Rogue. “Be prepared for the third degree when we get there because I told her to ask you all of this stuff.”
“Will she be ready though? With the antidote?” Rogue hoped that Lydia would start giving Kaitlyn doses of whatever concoction she had made up as soon as they arrived.
“Don’t worry. She’s dying to start testing. She’ll be ready.”
Rogue sighed. He wished they were there already, for the thousandth time.
“You know,” Eric said, “it may not work. Are you prepared to deal with it if it doesn’t?”
Rogue clenched his jaw. “I guess I’ll have to be, won’t I?”
* * * *
They were about forty-five minutes from Ravencrest when they drove into a rainstorm.
“Damn,” Eric said, “is it dark or what?” He turned on the headlights. “It’s dark enough, what with this storm, it looks almost like night.”
A gnawing feeling started in Rogue’s chest. It was getting dark. Earlier than normal, thanks to the cloud cover and the storm. He glanced over his shoulder, looking out the rain-spattered back window toward the bed of the truck.
“Can you go any faster?”
*
Kaitlyn felt movement. A sort of rumbling movement. She frowned, not wanting to open her eyes. A sharp jolt bounced her on the bed.
“What the…” She began to struggle. Covers were wound around her. She tried to take a breath. The air was hot and close. Panic began to take over. Kaitlyn ripped the covers from her face, shredding them with a strength that she hadn’t even thought to use. She sucked in a deep breath, trying to sit up.
She hit her head on something hard and was knocked back down on the mattress.
“Oh God.” It was pitch black. Something was tapping on whatever was above her. It sounded almost like water. She raised her hands, tentatively testing whatever sort of confinement she was in.
Horror filled her. She placed the palms of her hands flat against the hard smooth surface above her. Where in God’s name was she? It felt like she was in a coffin. One that was large and moving.
She began testing her boundaries. She couldn’t sit straight up but she could prop herself up on her elbows. She was lying on a mattress though she felt no sheet. It felt like it was covered in plastic. She moved, sliding over its surface.
“Okay. Don’t lose it.” She tried to think calmly. Her hands continued to explore. She encountered softness along one side. She grabbed it, her hands roaming over it like a blind person, trying to picture what it was in her mind’s eye. A pillow. It was a pillow. And there were more of them.
Another jolt bounced her and then she felt whatever she was riding in turn, sliding her slightly.
Then it hit her. She must be in some sort of container that Rogue had put her in to make the trip.
She lay back, listening.
It sounded like rain spattering above her. She was puzzled. She thought they were going to wait until nightfall to take her to Ravencrest. She wondered what had changed their minds to make them start early.
At least she hoped she was being taken to Ravencrest by Rogue and his friends.
She bit her lip. Surely Rogue wouldn’t have let someone come in and take her while she was comatose. A drop of weak blood trickled into her mouth, she had bitten her lips so hard.
Then the hunger began to chew at her.
Kaitlyn rolled onto her side and brought her knees up, hugging them to her chest. She tried to think of something else. Anything. She took slow breaths, which she knew she didn’t really need but couldn’t stop herself from taking. It was like an addictive habit … breathing. Like not being able to stop chewing your nails down to the quick.
There was rattling and bumping. It felt like they were on a rough road. Kaitlyn scrunched her eyes tight, drawing her wounded lip into her mouth. She gently sucked on it, the little bit of blood that came from the wound like watered down coffee, but she hoped it would keep her hunger controllable.
As she bounced along, a litany repeated itself through her mind.
Hurry, Rogue. Please hurry.
Chapter Ten
Kaitlyn jerked when she heard the loud bang.
She blinked. They weren’t moving anymore. And there was light. She cringed for a second before she realized it wasn’t sunlight, but the light of electricity. Still, she shaded her eyes and looked toward her feet where the light was coming from. A figure moved into the block of light but the face was in shadow.
“Come on, baby,” Rogue said. “We’re home.”
* * * *
Kaitlyn lay on the table and fought to keep from complaining. The room they had taken her to looked suspiciously like the sterile environment of an operating room, except for the fact that there were three of these cold hard tables like she was lying on lined up in a row. “Do you do mass production procedures in here or something?”
The tall, lithe blond who had introduced herself as Lydia smiled at her. “Sometimes.” She went back to arranging things around Kaitlyn. There was a metal tray stand by Kaitlyn’s shoulder. It held a small vial and two wicked looking syringes. On her other side, Lydia was hooking up an I.V. to a tall pole. “When was the last time you fed?” Lydia asked, hanging a bag of clear liquid on the pole.
“Yesterday.” Kaitlyn could smell the blood flowing through Lydia’s veins when she leaned over her to catch the opposite end of a strap that would fit across Kaitlyn’s waist. She shuddered, the hunger eating at her insides. Lydia snapped the strap into place.
Kaitlyn looked away. “I’m really hungry,” she said, trying to give Lydia a warning without coming right out and saying, “If you don’t keep your distance, I’m likely to start gnawing on your neck.”
“I know you are,” Lydia said softly as she went around the table, checking the straps that held Kaitlyn’s wrists and ankles. “We’re almost ready to begin.”
A bitter taste entered Kaitlyn’s mouth. It was fear. “Will I die?”
Lydia walked around the table and looked her directly in the eye. “It’s possible.”
Kaitlyn searched the other woman’s face. “At least you’re honest.”
“You know you have to do this. They won’t allow you to exist if you don’t.”
“That’s not the reason I want to do it. At first it was because I wanted to be normal again. But now … I want to be with Rogue.”
“I understand perfectly.” Lydia walked to the door and opened it. “Boys? It’s time.”
Kaitlyn watched as seven men filed into the room. Rogue came immediately to her side and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. He mouthed the words “love you.” Kaitlyn tried to smile, but she doubted that it came off as anything better than a grimace.
The rest of them surrounded the table, making a circular wall of pure testosterone-laden, hard bodies. John and Eric, she recognized but not the others. Three of them had raven-black hair and obliviously were related to John and Eric. The other one had thick sun-streaked chestnut hair and the most arresting emerald green eyes. He was older, maybe late thirties, but he wore it well. All of them were mouth-watering handsome. If Kaitlyn was in any other shape than her current one, she would swear she was having some sort of fantasy.
Lydia came around to the side with the I.V. pole. “Watch her,” she ordered.
Kaitlyn tried to see past one massive male body to see what Lydia was doing, but her line of sight was almost completely blocked. She did see Lydia reach up and hang something, hooking it into the tubing that ran to Kaitlyn’s arm. Then she moved away.
Kaitlyn wiggled, the table hard beneath her. It was cold, too. They had stripped her naked and there was only a sheet between her and the table, and a sheet draped over her.
Lydia picked up one of the syringes and filled it from the small vial. She laid it down and did the same to the other. Then she wheeled the table to the side with the I.V.
Kaitlyn looked at Rogue, fear and hunger warring inside her to see which was stronger. She let out a tittering laugh. “This kind of reminds me of death by lethal injection.”
“Hang in there, baby,” he said, giving her hand another squeeze.
“Ready for the first injection,” Lydia said.
“Rogue…” Kaitlyn didn’t take her eyes from his.
“Injection in. Starting blood flow.” Lydia sounded very much in charge.
“Rogue.” Kaitlyn felt something icy entering the vein in her arm, then quickly travel up, over and toward her heart. She gasped, her muscles seeming to first freeze, then shatter. Her body convulsed, her chest arching up off the table as her jaw clamped shut. Something was squeezing her heart. Bruising it. Crushing it. She heard voices but couldn’t make them out. It felt like she was truly dying.
Then, like a warm bath, heat began to fill her. It started in her arm, traveling the same path as the viciously icy cold liquid. Her muscles, melting in the warmth, knitted themselves. And when the heat reached her heart, the vise that was gripping it loosened. Kaitlyn felt her body relax. She was floating in a red haze but she wasn’t scared anymore.
Her eyes were closed but she could swear she saw clouds.
Is this heaven? She wondered idly as the warmth continued to fill her up.
Something entered her again, following the same veinous path. This time it was neither warm nor cold but tepid. She wondered vaguely if she had stayed in the warmth that bathed her for too long, allowing it to grow cold.
Then—a miracle happened.
Her heart, a solid mass in the center of her chest, twitched. Stuttered. Finally—a beat.
Kaitlyn took a breath.
Another beat. Weak, but there.
She opened her eyes. Her senses flooded back. The chill of the table against her back. The sterile medicinal scent of the room. The warmth of the bodies surrounding her.
Someone squeezed her hand.
She looked to find Rogue watching her. He was smiling, his eyes sparkling clear blue, but there were tears running down his face. “Don’t cry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Rogue’s grin widened.
“Everyone out now,” Lydia said, her voice strong and confident.
Kaitlyn licked her lips. The men filed out the door but Rogue stayed.
“You, too, Rogue. She needs rest.” Lydia moved to where Kaitlyn could see her. She winked. “It worked.”
Kaitlyn felt like yelling but she couldn’t muster the energy. Instead she felt hot tears of joy stream down her face.
Rogue leaned down and began to kiss them away while Kaitlyn marveled at the way her beating heart sped up.
“I love you,” he said against her ear. “I love you so much.”
“I love you,” she breathed. She felt completely reborn.
* * * *
Rogue walked slowly through the halls of Ravencrest, on his way to the main kitchen. He was bone-tired, more tired than he’d ever been in his life. The stress of waiting to see whether Kaitlyn was going to regain her life or die had aged him ten years in a matter of minutes. Since Lydia had kicked him out of the room, there was only one thing to do—have a beer.
John was sitting at the large table, sipping a cup of coffee, when Rogue entered the kitchen. “How’s she doing?”
Rogue pulled a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and twisted off the top. “Lydia says she needs rest and more blood.” He sat down across from John. “Kaitlyn’s body is soaking the blood up like a sponge.”
“Hmm.” John took a sip of coffee.
Rogue turned his beer bottle between his palms on the tabletop. “John, I want to apologize…”
“Stop.” John looked at Rogue, his face serious. “You love her.”
Rogue nodded.
“Believe it or not,” John said, “I know what it’s like when a woman steers you from your goal.” John shook his head. “When a woman takes over not only your heart but your mind. Makes it hard to do your job.”
“Don’t I know it.” Rogue took a swig of beer. It went down smooth, cold and just right.
“Anyway,” John continued, “if it’s the right woman, the risk is worth it.”
“She is the right woman.”
“Glad to hear it.” John lit a cigarette and lazily blew out the smoke. “I’d hate to think I allowed you to bring Kaitlyn back and put the whole family in jeopardy, and she turned out to be the wrong woman.” Then he smiled.
Rogue felt a little easier. John’s smile said a lot. Rogue found John hard to read sometimes. There was a lot of responsibility riding on his shoulders. “I’m glad that Lydia’s potion could help her.”
“Yes.” John got a faraway look in his eyes. “If Kaitlyn is completely cured, this changes the whole battleground.”
“What do you mean?” Rogue couldn’t quite grasp what John meant. “There are still vampires out there.”
“Yes—but now,” he turned to look at Rogue, “do we destroy them or save them?”
“I don’t think there are that many worth saving,” Rogue said.
John drew his cigarette through the ashtray, rounding off the tip. “Who’s to make that decision? Which one to destroy, which one to save? Usually when our radar spots an active Clutch of vampires, they’ve already made a kill or are about to. Do we save that sort? The ones that take humans? Because that’s the majority of the Horde.”
“No, of course not.” Rogue didn’t quite understand the way of John’s thinking. “What’s the problem? What’s wrong with the way we’re doing things now? We hunt them—we kill them. It’s a d
one deal.”
John tilted his head thoughtfully. “We saved Kaitlyn.”
Rogue took a large swig of beer, then brought the bottle down on the table a little harder than necessary. “Look,” he said, getting tired of this conversation very fast. “Kaitlyn isn’t like the others. She didn’t want to be turned. She didn’t enjoy being a vampire. She didn’t even want to feed from me, for Christ’s sake.”
“Tell me what you know about her turning.” John smashed out his cigarette butt in the ashtray.
Fine, Rogue thought. He wants all the details, I’ll give them to him. Then maybe he’ll lay off. “Kaitlyn went on vacation in New York City,” he began. Rogue told John how Kaitlyn had wanted to walk on the wild side for once. She had gone to a club called “Chained” wanting to see what it was all about. The rougher side of the dark. Rogue knew exactly how she had felt. Locked in a small town where the only excitement was when someone got arrested for buying beer under age. The streets were vacant by eleven o’clock. Quiet, serene and oh-so-boring for someone who had a bit of spunk. Yes, he knew exactly what it felt like to want to run with the wolves and howl at the moon once in a while.
Rogue told John the whole story of how Kaitlyn had been seduced by a vampire named Nicolas, had easily given into him not knowing the danger she was in. By the time she came back home to Garville, she had known something was terribly wrong. Then she had been trying to make things right.
“So,” John said, propping his chin on his hand, “there’s an active Clutch in New York City.”
Rogue nodded. “I think—from the way Kaitlyn talks—it’s a large one. She said that after she had realized just what this was, she remembered that she had seen quite a few people in the club that were very, very pale and,” he hesitated for a moment, “sensual. That was her word for it.”
“Looks like we have some investigating to do then, doesn’t it?” John leaned back and stretched. “I think I’ll retire to my quarters and get some rest.” He rose from the table. “You should do the same.”
Rogue the Redeemer Page 12
