With a scream, Bryn turned away from her, her shoulders shaking as she hunched in on herself, cradling her bleeding arms tightly against her empty, gnawing stomach.
Charlotte's heart ached, but she knew that approaching Bryn would only make things more difficult for the vampire.
She doesn't want me to see her like this. She thinks I see her as a monster. I don't!
Charlotte was hurting for her friend, but at the same time, she was fiercely proud of her. Those rogue vampires had locked her in a cage with a human, to force her to feed and kill in order to survive. They wanted to turn her into a monster like themselves. But they had underestimated the resolve of the fearless, young vampire. Bryn had chosen to hurt herself, rather than sink her fangs into Charlotte's throat. It would have been so easy. She could so easily have drunk Charlotte's blood while she had been unconscious.
A sudden thought struck Charlotte. “Bryn, why don't you just transform yourself into mist, and escape?”
There was a short, bitter laugh. “I can't. I'm not that old or powerful. But even if I could, I can't. These bars are made of silver. Silver can strip a vampire of her powers.”
Charlotte fell silent, trying not to make any unnecessary movement. Bryn was much stronger than she gave herself credit for. If Charlotte was famished and locked in a cage with a large, juicy burger that was constantly making noises and jiggling around to tempt her to eat it, she wasn't sure she could fight the temptation. The burger would be gone before it could even squeak “eat me!” The only proof of the burger's existence would be a burp and a trickle of ketchup down her chin.
Charlotte shook away the image of herself as a huge burger sitting in a cage. She was dressed in leather, not lettuce.
“These...rogue vampires, have you seen them?” Charlotte cleared her throat and asked at last.
“Yes. They're older than me, and there are four of them. I can't fight them.”
Violent shudders were beginning to wreck Bryn's frail body. When Charlotte moved to try to help her, she shouted her back. “Don't! Just don't...come near me. You're just making it worse.”
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” Charlotte scuttled back to her corner. “I won't do it again.”
“You won't have a chance to,” Bryn replied in a cold voice. “Where are your wooden stakes, Charlotte?”
“Huh? Um...here.” Charlotte patted the side of her jacket.
“Take them out.”
“What? Why...”
“Take them out! Now!”
“Okay, okay, I got them,” Charlotte mumbled, dragging the stakes out. “There.”
Bryn turned around slowly.
“Charlotte,” she said, attempting a smile and failing. “Will you...will you promise to stake me if...if I...”
“No!” Charlotte sheathed those deadly stakes under her coat in a hurry. “No. Way. Not negotiable, not bargainable, not contemplatable. Just no.”
“Charlotte, listen to me...”
“Not listening. La la la la la!” Charlotte sang loudly and tunelessly, covering both ears with her hands. “Can't make me!”
“You must! You must.” Bryn's voice cracked. “Promise me that you'll stab me cleanly through the heart, or take off my head entirely, so I'll turn to dust and won't regenerate. You can kill me by piercing my heart fully, you know, staking me or decapitating me. Don't let me rise again. Because if I do...I—I'll kill you.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper, her voice anguished but her gaze hard and steady. “Promise me!”
Charlotte opened her mouth but her words refused to come.
“Please, Charlotte.”
“I...I promise,” Charlotte whispered, her heart breaking.
A door creaked open and four figures stepped into the room. Charlotte drew a dagger and a stake from her coat and crouched protectively in front of Bryn, her eyes and her blade glinting menacingly.
You'll have to get through me to get to her, you shits!
The four vampires were wearing hoodies and dark sunglasses. The tallest one, the only vampire who didn't have his hood pulled over his head, sauntered over to the cage and smiled broadly, displaying his fangs. With his dirty blond hair and tattoos covering half his face, he looked like a teenage thug, instead of an old vampire. Hard to believe these rogues were older than Bryn.
Maturity didn't necessarily come with age.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose in disgust and disdain. You could live for centuries and still be the same. The only thing you did was grow older, not grow. And growing older wasn't something you did. It just happened.
“You didn't feed,” the dirty blond vampire smirked at Bryn. “How...disappointing.”
He crouched and stuck a gloved finger through the bars to twirl around Bryn's hair. “Why didn't you feed, sweetheart? Didn't you like what's on the menu? Not to your taste? Are you on a low fat diet? Is this one too...fatty?” He chuckled, as he eyed Charlotte's curvy figure.
The other vampires hooted and cracked more inane jokes, all of which Charlotte had heard before. She tried not to roll her eyes. Had to keep her eyes on them.
The blond vampire stopped laughing suddenly. His smile turned ugly. “You are tougher than you look, bitch,” he told Bryn. “We didn't think you could hold out for so long. Granted, fatty foods aren't good for you, but they're irresistible. Yum.” He smacked his lips at Charlotte, and curled his tongue suggestively round his fangs.
“Anyway, sweetcakes, we brought you a little something.” He turned his attention back to Bryn. “Never let it be said that we starve our own. This one's fresh, tender and young.”
He snapped his fingers, and two of his minions stepped forward.
They were holding something between them.
Something in the shape of...a little girl.
Charlotte's throat went dry. It was a tiny, terrified toddler with wispy brown hair and large chocolate eyes that were filled with tears. She was too frightened to make a sound, or struggle against the two scary vampires holding her by the scruff of her neck.
She simply clutched an old teddy bear to her chest and stared at Charlotte with wide, frightened eyes. The little girl was dressed in a frilly pink pajamas with Disney princesses dancing all over it.
This sweet little thing was her parents' precious princess. And those filthy vampires had broken into her home and snatched the sleeping tot from her cot.
The blond vamp, who acted like he was the gang leader, took the girl and dangled her in front of the cage. The child whimpered and let out a small shriek in fear and pain, her chubby legs kicking the air. She began to cry in earnest when the vamp shook her and snarled at her to shut up.
“We got you a fresh meal, Bryn,” the vamp smiled. “Can you smell her blood, so warm and fresh? We got you a young one, so her flesh is sweet and tender. Come on out. Dinner's ready, Bryn,” he cooed, and turned the key in the lock.
Charlotte noticed that all the vamps were wearing gloves, to protect themselves from the silver cage. The door swung open and the vamp reached in for Bryn. Charlotte moved to stab him, but he caught her wrist in a flash and twisted viciously. She cried out as the dagger clattered to the floor. The vamp kicked it away and hurled Charlotte against the bars. She landed in a corner of the cage, dazed at the impact.
Struggling up, she watched Bryn being dragged out of the cage and screamed when the door slammed shut in her face. “Let her go! You can't do this! Let them go! I'll kill you, I swear!”
The vamp threw the little human at Bryn. The girl was crying noisily, but when she saw Bryn with her matted hair and bloodstained face and arms, she screamed even louder, and ran blindly towards the cage.
“Girl, come here,” Charlotte whispered urgently, stretching out her arms through the cage to the child. “Come here. I won't hurt you. I promise. Come!”
The child turned to Charlotte, screaming, “M-Mommy...I want my Mommy!”
“We'll get you back to your Mommy. Come here,” Charlotte coaxed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bryn pushing hers
elf up. The young vampire stood swaying, her thin arms hanging by her side. “Come here quickly!”
The girl finally went to Charlotte, whimpering and burying her face in her teddy bear, her only source of comfort. Charlotte gathered the frightened child against her, clinging to her tightly through the bars. “Shhh, hush, just stay with me,” Charlotte breathed against the little girl's soft, bubblegum scented hair. “We'll be all right. All of us. You, me and Bryn.”
The blond vampire flicked his finger, and one of his hooded minions stepped forward. He walked towards the cage and bared his fangs in a scowl. The girl screamed and shrank back against Charlotte.
“Go away, you bully. Frightening a child. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Charlotte scolded. “Shoo!”
The vampire stopped, unsure of how to react. He seemed to hang his head, until his leader snapped a command, “Do it!”
“Oh, o-okay. Sure. Y-yes, Lance,” the hooded vampire stuttered and tugged his glove off his scarred, tattooed hand. His nails were curved and sharp like talons, almost like claws. Charlotte stared at the back of his hand and saw tufts of fur peeking out from under his sleeve. Strange. A were-vampire?
He knelt in front of the bawling toddler and stammered, “It'd just be a small cut, okay?”
He reached towards the girl's chubby hand, his claw poised to scratch through her tender skin. At the last instant, Charlotte jerked her hand up to shield the girl and the vampire's claw sliced into her own hand. Ignoring the pain, she grabbed the vamp's bare hand and slammed it against the silver bars of her cage.
The vamp shrieked in pain, as his flesh burnt against the silver. He finally twisted out of Charlotte's grip, scrabbling back and screaming obscenities at her.
His blond leader, Lance, watched dispassionately, not coming to his aid. “You didn't cut the child,” Lance said, the corners of his thin lips turning down.
“I...I...it was her fault!” the vamp yelled, pointing at Charlotte while sucking on the back of his burnt hand.
Lance's attention was riveted on the growing line of blood on Charlotte's hand. He sniffed the air and smiled slowly. “Can you smell her blood, Bryn?” He turned his head over his shoulder. “Come get your dinner. What are you waiting for? The scent of fresh blood is intoxicating, isn't it? It is irresistible. So why resist it? Why confine yourself to the boring blood bars that are licensed and regulated by the PAC? Humans can donate or sell their blood to the blood bars, but the blood is refrigerated and stored, to be artificially heated up just before consumption. That blood isn't fresh. You have to take blood from a pumping artery. Now that's real food. Food fit for a vampire! And you are a vampire, Bryn. You are one of us. Yet you hunt us, hurt us, kill us. We'll show you that you are just like us. No different, no better! Now eat. Enjoy a real meal on us. And you—” Lance took off his sunglasses and turned his yellow eyes on Charlotte. “Enjoy the show.” He leaned in and whispered, “While you can.”
Lance gave a dramatic, mocking bow before exiting the room with his vamps. Charlotte watched that narrow door seal shut in the far wall of the small, cramped room. She glanced around quickly. This looked like a storeroom of sorts, with no windows at all. The only way out was through that door.
From the corner, Bryn was slowly crawling forward, drawn by the scent of Charlotte's flowing blood. Bryn was shaking violently, moving painfully and pitiably, her face a tortured mask of hunger and loathing. She kept shaking her head, muttering to herself, and pressing her mangled arm to her mouth. Her fangs had already sunk into every inch of her thin arm, and in her mad hunger, she had torn out chunks of her own flesh. There was almost nothing left of herself. As she'd told Charlotte, she wouldn't last long.
“Bryn, Bryn...please...” Charlotte called desperately to her friend, but the young vampire didn't seem to hear her. She was growling and crying, dragging herself closer and closer towards the child, who was stuffing the leg of her teddy bear into her mouth to muffle her cries.
A savage scream tore from Bryn's throat as she twisted round and flung herself forcefully away. Stumbling up, she ran towards the wall, not slowing down, not stopping.
“No!”
Charlotte's scream was ragged as she watched her friend run into the wall, and smash her head in. Bryn collapsed, her petite body lying motionless in a heap at the foot of the wall.
A rivulet of blood trickled out from under her tangled, midnight-blue hair, flowing across the floor towards Charlotte.
The little girl turned her head and bawled into Charlotte's shoulder. “She killed herself!” the child wailed. “She's dead!”
“No, no, she's not dead, not dead,” Charlotte patted her little head and repeated in a monotone. “No...”
Her vision appeared to be misting over, but when she blinked hard, she saw that the mist was in fact seeping into the room from under the door. Gaping, she watched the tendrils of gray mist creep across the floor, and slither rapidly towards Bryn.
“Bryn!” she croaked. “Bryn, get up! Please, get up now! There's something...”
The mist was gathering around Bryn's fallen form, becoming denser as it wrapped around her body.
Vampire!
With one arm around the child, Charlotte grabbed her wooden stake with her other hand and took aim. She wasn't going to let those vamps take Bryn.
But how was she going to throw her stake at the mist, without hurting Bryn?
Bryn's form rose up, as if someone was holding her up under her arms.
A tall, dark-haired man materialized from the mist behind Bryn. He had his arm around her tiny waist, holding her like a rag doll against his chest. He was dressed in a long-sleeved silk shirt, and well-tailored black pants. He was elegantly and expensively dressed. Designer cufflinks right down to his polished, designer shoes.
Charlotte tightened her grip on her stake. This vampire might be well-dressed, well-groomed and very good-looking, but he was still a vampire. And he had Bryn.
“Let her go,” Charlotte swallowed and said in her strongest voice.
“I'm not going to let her die here,” the vampire grated out. His dark eyes flashed at Charlotte, then widened. She thought she heard him breathe a name that sounded like Charlene, but she couldn't be sure.
At his voice, Bryn jerked her head up and turned to stare up at him. “Glenn,” she whispered. “You came...”
“Of course. You're safe now,” he said soothingly, but his eyes were dark and deadly.
Charlotte blinked at the handsome vampire holding her friend. She had called him Glenn. This must be Glenn Constantine, the Master vampire and Council member.
She had not met all the PAC members. Only Jett, the Chief Trainer and Head of the Enforcement Unit. And Lucas, the PAC Alpha.
Glenn turned and saw the tiny human by Charlotte's side. Keeping his gaze rapt on the child's face, he said softly, “Come here, child.”
The little girl got up and staggered over to him. Charlotte cried out, and strained against the bars, but the little girl ignored her entirely. The tot simply ambled over to Glenn, holding her teddy bear by the hand and smiled happily up at him. She raised her hand to him and allowed him to hold her small, chubby hand in his large one.
“Bye.” She turned to wave at Charlotte.
Dumbstruck, Charlotte could only bend her fingers stiffly and slowly in a halfhearted wave. Were they really leaving?
Shouldn't she try to stop them?
“Wait...”
Holding on to the human child and Bryn, Glenn Constantine shot one last look at Charlotte before his form started to shimmer. He opened his mouth to say something, but she couldn't make out the words. A column of dense fog had shrouded their forms. The fog started to disperse, and Charlotte watched the mist race across the floor and disappear through the cracks of the door.
Glenn had taken them away.
They should be safe. Right?
Charlotte leaned her forehead against the cold, silver bars of her cage. She was all alone now. While she was glad that
Glenn had come for Bryn, she was a little disappointed that no one had come for her.
Well, no time to sit and mope. She had to find a way to get out of here. Dusting off her bum, she began to test each bar of the cage, using all the weapons at her disposal. She sawed, she pried, she hammered. Daggers, wooden stakes, potions and salt all took their turn at the bars, doing their worst. But nadda. Not even a scratch.
As Charlotte mopped the sweat from her brow and growled—she gave a start at the sound. She didn't know she could growl. The growl rumbled from her again, and she glared down at her tummy.
But her stomach wouldn't be silent. It continued protesting loudly, “F-e-e-d Me!” it growled.
She sat down heavily, feeling slightly woozy from her exertions. She was exhausted and hungry. When was the last time she had eaten?
Instead of stars, she saw pizzas, burgers, chips, chocolate bars and hot dogs fluttering around her head, beckoning to her.
Her skin began to prickle, and the hairs at the back of her neck rose. She frowned. Hunger had never affected her like this before. But then, she was never this hungry before. Slowly, she turned to fix her eyes on the door, her whole body tensed.
She could sense him.
He was here.
“Lucas,” she whispered, scrambling up.
She smiled.
He had come for her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Once Lucas and Jett stepped out of the mist, Lucas turned around and said, “Go. Attend to Bryn. She needs you, Glenn. We don't.”
The mist swirled for a moment around Lucas, then dispersed.
Glenn had kept his word. The moment he could sense Bryn, he had misted to her and retrieved her. Dropping her off at the medical bay of the PAC Headquarters, the vampire had then misted Lucas and Jett back to that broken barn at the edge of the woods just at the periphery of New Moon City.
Lucas smiled at the four hooded vampires who had upended their chairs and table, sending their cheap liquor and cards scattering to the floor, upon their arrival.
Alpha Mate: BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance Page 9
