Blood Betrayal (Deathless Night Series Book 4)

by L. E. Wilson

  Until then, he’d try to get some rest. He was so fucking tired, in spite of how jazzed up the female had him. He hadn’t slept in so long his eyes felt dry and gritty and his brain was just bouncing around aimlessly from thought to thought.

  Ignoring his throbbing groin and spasming muscles, he settled in and closed his eyes.

  Chapter 18

  Ryan ran as fast as she could away from the creature she’d just kissed. She didn’t want to watch what was happening him to him right now. She couldn’t. The last time the voices had gone after someone like that, they’d died. Of course, the bitch who’d been hurting Josefina? She’d deserved it. Her dealer…Ryan stumbled and almost fell but caught herself just in time.

  Oh god, what if it was her doing it? Was it really her that had killed them? What if it was her that had thrown Christian around back at the club?

  Was she crazy? Or was she some kind of freak?

  She’s always assumed she was a paranoid schizophrenic. When the voices had started talking to her, she’d thought they were just that: Voices in her head that weren’t really there. She’d been so sure that she was crazy.

  She’d tried to keep it hidden from her family for as long as she could, and she’d actually managed to do so for years. But by the time she’d turned seventeen, it had gotten to be too much, and even her little brother had started watching her with a strange look in his eyes. So she’d run away from home. Because she’d known that if she’d stayed, her parents would’ve dragged her to the doctor. She knew they loved her, and would only be trying to help, but their concern would’ve gotten her thrown into a psychiatric hospital. And there she would’ve stayed for the rest of her life. So she’d run away. And she’d been running ever since.

  That was six years ago. She’d been running for a year before she’d discovered the diminishing effects of heroin on the voices, and her life had changed drastically in that moment. Unlike many of the past years, she remembered that moment clear as if it had happened just yesterday.

  The red pill or the blue pill, Ryan?

  The red pill meant living with the voices, not sleeping, not eating, wandering the streets talking to herself. The blue pill meant an entirely different life. The blue pill, the drugs, meant the voices were dimmed, meant she could act somewhat normal, but she had to become a person that she didn’t like to be able to have a constant supply.

  Exhausted, starving, and suicidal, she’d chosen the blue pill.

  The first time she’d used had been with another homeless girl she’d met. She had left California by that time, and traveled as far as she could get on foot to put some distance between herself and her family. She’d made it all the way across the border, and shortly thereafter she’d met a girl around her age. They’d started hanging out together for safety. It had been a good arrangement while it lasted. They both suffered with mental disorders, and they’d understood each other. Whenever one went off the wall, the other would watch over them until they got through it.

  One day, her friend had shown up in the food line at the shelter with a big, goofy smile on her face. Grabbing Ryan by the arm, she’d pulled her out of line and taken her back to their sleeping spot close to the highway. Giggling, she’d pulled a small bag and a syringe out of her pocket. She’d asked Ryan if she wanted to go away for a while.

  Ryan stared at the drugs. She knew what it was. She also knew it was a dark path to go down. But by this time, she had been so desperate for an escape from her own mind, any escape, that she’d stuck her arm out and practically begged her to turn her on to it.

  That first rush was something she’d never forget. As soon as the drug had hit her bloodstream, her mind had gotten fuzzy, her body had relaxed, and the fucking voices had dwindled away. It was wonderful. Tears had run abashedly down her cheeks at the relief she’d felt to be all alone in her head for the first time in years.

  She’d spent that day curled up on her sleeping bag, dozing and enjoying the every day noises of the city. But she fast discovered that it was only temporary. As soon as the dope wore off, the voices came back with a vengeance. Her pounding head had woken her up, the voices screaming at her for what she’d done. Tears had started anew as she shook her friend awake and asked for more, but she didn’t have any more.

  Stumbling around the homeless camp, she’d begged and pleaded for someone, anyone, to tell her where to get more of this wonderful stuff.

  Back then, she’d done things she wasn’t proud of. Things she didn’t like to think about. But after living with strangers screaming in her head for years, she’d done what she’d needed to do to shut them up and save what was left of her sanity.

  Until the day she’d gone to a new dealer’s apartment to “trade” for some tar, or black heroin, and she’d woken up in a prostitution ring in Tijuana. She’d been sold by the dealer — a large supply of drugs in exchange for a pretty little white girl.

  Except the joke was on her new “owners”. The voices wouldn’t let anyone touch her even if they were willing to take a chance with a crazy gringa. Her new managers quickly found out this white chick was no good for them unless they kept her supplied, for without the drugs, the voices took over. After the third day of finding her curled up in a corner arguing with no one they could see, they shot her up just to shut her up and threw her out to work the pole.

  Now dance? That she could do. And she did. As long as she had dope and music to dance to, she didn’t care where she was. Until the day the matron had gone too far with Josefina.

  And now she was back on the streets, the voices were screaming at her, and she didn’t have any more dope to shut them up, so she ran. She ran as fast as she could, down this street, and down that one, running aimlessly without looking back until she got to a familiar part of town.

  She was running so hard that she didn’t notice she’d run into the street. She didn’t hear the car come around the corner. And she certainly didn’t see it when it appeared suddenly in front of her because of the tears filling her eyes. Not until it was too late.

  Brakes squealed as she hit the hood and went flying up into the windshield. Glass shattered and fell as she slid back down to land with a grunt back on the pavement. A man stood over her, looking around and yelling in Spanish, then he bent down and spoke soothing words to her. Sirens sounded in the distance, and Ryan tried to get up. She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She couldn’t! If they took her to the hospital, she’d never leave. She’d be stuck in a padded room with only the voices to keep her company forever. But the man, trying to be helpful, held her where she was and insisted she not move so she didn’t injure herself further.

  The sirens were louder now, so loud he couldn’t hear her telling him that she was fine, that she needed to go. The next thing she knew, there were more people around her. Hands were touching her, taking her vitals, feeling her limbs for broken bones. No one listened to her as they stuck a neck brace on her and strapped her onto a gurney, and then she was in the back of an ambulance and they were on their way.

  Chapter 19

  Josiah headed back to the jet. But he wasn’t leaving. Oh no. Not yet. He just needed a safe place to hole up for the day so he could think.

  Fucking morons. Why did he even bring them? Useless, the both of them. Taken out by one measly Hunter before they’d even realized he was there. Josiah had had no choice but to retreat from the scene. For now. If he hadn’t, that Hunter would’ve added him to the pile of bodies before he’d finished draining the witch. He needed to regroup, rethink how he was going to do this. It was just him now. He was going to have to come up with a new plan.

  At least her mortal wound kept the Hunter busy for a while so he was able to get out of there. If there was one thing you could count on with Luukas’ vamps, they were all a bunch of fucking bleeding hearts.

  He tried to think of how Leeha would handle this, but that was no help at all. Leeha was powerful, a force of nature, and much older than him in vampire years. At least, she had been. He
had nowhere near the tricks that she did. If she were here, she’d meet them somewhere alone. She’d seduce the male while she sucked the witch’s soul into her hypnotic red eyes, forcing her into the nightmares that existed there. Her favorite way to kill humans.

  What powers did he have? A whole shitload of nothing. He’d been her plaything, nothing more. She hadn’t taught him anything. He’d have to figure this out for himself.

  Maybe he should head home. Gather up the vampires that were running loose in the area. Try to talk to them. She’d released the demons and possessed the vampires, and then kept them on standby while she amused them with humans for food and sex. Well, they weren’t amused anymore, they were bored. They needed a purpose. And he would give them one.

  As he approached the jet on the runway, he snagged a young male employee and brought him on board with him. He needed to feed and pass the time until nightfall, and this pretty boy was just the thing.

  Chapter 20

  Ryan blinked her eyes against the setting sun, gradually coming awake. As she glanced around at the sparse furnishings in the room, nothing looked familiar. She didn’t know where she was. Her heart began to pound and she began to sweat. But then it all came back to her in a flash: Dark hair. Glowing yellow eyes. A delicious taste in her mouth. Blood. Sultry kisses. Running, running as fast as she could. The shock and pain of the car hitting her. The medical personnel as they swarmed around her bed, hooking her up to wires, taking her pulse, and taking her for x-rays. They’d hooked her up to an IV, and that was where the memories ended.

  She was in a hospital bed. There was a large window to her right, and the blinds were only partially closed. The walls were beige with the bottom halves painted a dark brown. One picture hung next to the window, some bright, flowery thing. A small T.V. hung in the corner.

  Flashing hot and cold, she went to lift her arm to push the sheets down that covered her and discovered she was restrained to the bed with leather cuffs around her wrists. Panic alarms rang in her head. No! No! Dammit! The chains clanked loudly as she fought against the restraints, and a nurse came rushing in.

  “Shhhh…” she soothed. “It’s okay,” she told her in broken English. “Those are only for your own safety.”

  Ryan turned wide, panic-stricken eyes on her. “Please, you have to let me go. I have to get out of here.”

  “That’s not going to happen today, miss. I’m sorry. You were brought in late last night. You were hurt. Do you remember?”

  Throwing herself back against the bed so hard her IV pole rattled, Ryan didn’t bother answering her. As the nurse fussed around the bed, checking her lines and pushing buttons on the machine that was watching her vitals, Ryan stared at the ceiling. She was acting like a toddler, but she couldn’t help it.

  What was she going to do now? How would she get out of here? They would call her family. They would have her committed. She’d never see the outside world again.

  Except, she didn’t have any kind of ID on her. They wouldn’t know who she was if she didn’t tell them. Ryan’s mind flew over all of the possibilities of what she could say when they asked. She could just claim she didn’t remember anything. Not what happened, or who she was, or anything. She may still end up in a mental facility for the rest of her life, but at least this way she wouldn’t burden her family. They probably thought she was dead by now, and it was better that way.

  She turned to the nurse. “Tell me again how I got here?”

  “You were brought in last night. You were hit by a car. Don’t you remember?”

  Ryan frowned and shook her head. “No. No, I don’t.”

  “Can you tell me what your name is?”

  She returned her inquisitive look with a blank stare. “Um…” Wrinkling her forehead, she tried to look distressed.

  The nurse patted her arm. “It’s okay. You rest. There were no major head injuries, but you have some fractures in your left leg and quite a lot of bruising, both inside and out. The doctor will be in to see you a little later.”

  “Um, okay. But is there any way I can get out of these?” Raising her arms as much as she could, she showed her the cuffs and tried to appear calm.

  Shaking her head, the nurse gave her a sympathetic smile. “No, not yet. I’m sorry. You were quite violent when you arrived. Not until you’re cleared by the psych doctor.”

  “But you said I was in an accident. I must’ve been upset…”

  “No. I’m sorry. But since you’re awake now, I can remove this. If you promise to behave.” She pointed to a bag hanging from the bed, and Ryan realized she was also hooked up to a catheter.

  “Yeah. Please. That would be great.”

  The nurse quickly and efficiently removed the tube. “Just call me if you need the bedpan.” Tucking the sheet around her, she gave Ryan a wide smile. “I’ll see you in a little while. Try to get some rest.” And with that, she walked purposely from the room.

  Ryan sank down into the bed. She could’ve at least left the remote control within her reach so she could watch T.V. Turning her head to the left, she saw a phone sitting on the table next to her bed. But she couldn’t reach that either, and even if she could, she had no one to call. So she settled for staring at the obnoxious painting on the wall and tried not to think about what a mess her life was.

  It was quiet in her room. Unusually so. She glanced up at the IV drip. It was just saline. Nothing there that would cause the voices to ease off. They were probably just in shock from the accident, gearing up to return full force as soon as she let her guard down.

  Seconds ticked by, gradually turning into minutes, which dragged into hours. No one came to check on her. No one came to ask her if she needed anything, or if she remembered who she was yet. The window darkened as the sun set, and still, no one came.

  The peace and quiet was actually really nice. There were no voices. No withdrawals either. Had they given her something?

  Ryan burrowed into the bed and tried to enjoy it by not thinking about anything in particular. However, try as she might, she couldn’t shake the brilliant topaz eyes that seemed to be everywhere in the room. Yet as soon as she looked their way, they disappeared. The thought of never seeing them again made her strangely sad.

  Exhausted, she closed her eyes and tried to do as the nurse told her. There was no sense in freaking out about her situation. She’d just have to take it day by day.

  “Are you planning on laying around in here all night? Or would you like to come with me?”

  Ryan’s eyes shot open wide. Christian, the guy from the club, the vampire…it was still so weird to think that…was standing next to her bed eyeing up her restraints. He looked different. His features, although still striking, were softer somehow. And his eyes weren’t glowing. At least not like they had been the night before. His skin was slightly flushed too. “How did you get in here?” she asked.

  He gave her a grin that showed off creases in the sides of his cheeks, and she forgot how to breathe when he reached over and brushed her hair back away from her face with gentle fingers. “I walked. It’s not like you have guards.” He pulled his hand away, but not before running one fingertip down her cheek, tracing her cheekbone. “Sorry it took me so long to get here, she’ashil. There was something I had to get back first, or I would’ve been here earlier.” Holding up his arm, he showed her a silver cuff bracelet with turquoise stones embedded in the band.

  She blinked at him like an idiot, still unable to fathom he was actually there, then she glanced towards the window again. It was barely an hour after sundown.

  “So, what do you say? Wanna get out of here?”

  She wasted no more time with questions. “Yes! Please,” she added. Lifting the arm closest to him, she waited for him to unbuckle her cuff.

  “There’s just one condition,” he said.

  Her eyes flew back to his face in unspoken question and her arm fell back to the bed.

  “You have to stay with me,” he said. “No more running.”

/>   She chewed on that for a few seconds. “For how long?” she asked.

  “Just for now. There’s a crazy vamp out there that’s out to get us, remember? We can renegotiate after we get you out of here and make sure you’re out of any immediate danger.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Okay?”

  She nodded and held up her arm to him again. “What about you? He’s after you too.”

  Unbuckling the cuff around her wrist, he walked to the other side of the bed to undo the other one. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” When the other cuff was undone, he pulled out her IV line with practiced hands and dug through the drawer to find a band-aid, which he taped to her arm. “Where are your clothes?”

  Glancing down at the attractive hospital gown she was wearing, she said, “I don’t know. I can go like this. I just want to get out of here before someone comes in.”

  He strolled over to the bathroom and came back out with a plastic bag. “You need something to wear besides that ugly thing. Here you go.” Tossing the bag on the bed, he went to the door and checked the hall before quietly closing it. “Go ahead and get dressed,” he told her. “I’ll keep watch.” He kept his back to her to give her a little privacy.

  She wasted no time but jumped right off the bed; belatedly remembering the nurse saying her left leg was fractured. But she was standing on it and there was no pain. Shifting her weight from side to side, she tested the strength of the bones, but it seemed fine.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Glancing up, she saw Christian watching her over his shoulder. “Um, the nurse said my leg was broken. Well, fractured. But it feels fine.”

  “It’s probably healed by now.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “Vampire blood,” he told her with a self-satisfied look. “But be careful on it, just in case.” And then he turned back around.