Chapter 8
My hands were zip-tied behind my back and I was thrown into the back of a vehicle. A van, I would guess by the echo of the doors as they slammed and the cheap, cold vinyl flooring I landed on. I was still naked, aside from the hood over my head, and I should have been hysterical with fear but all I could think of was Sasha. The look on his face before the sack was thrown over my head. I needed him to be okay. I prayed he would find a way to survive.
Lying face down on the floor of the van, my ass in the air, I felt soft fingers on the back of my neck. They stroked tantalizingly slowly down my spine and I wanted to retch in revulsion and fear.
“I warned you, kitten,” Valentina’s mouth was suddenly right by my ear, which meant someone else was driving the van, “I warned you to stay away from my Sasha. Now, look what chaos you’ve caused.”
“What are you going to do?” I spat from under the cover, trying to sound defiant.
“Now, kitten, there’s a question,” She sounded amused and I’m pretty sure she licked her lips. “Let’s face it, I could do pretty much anything I wanted to you right now, which includes some things you might like and some things you definitely won’t.” Her fingers reached the base of my spine, paused, then tickled gently over the top of my ass. My body automatically tensed in defense. “For now, though, I’m afraid you’re more valuable alive, unmarked, unharmed,” she let out a sigh, “And no fun.”
“In that case,” I ventured, as cocky as I dared, “can I get a jacket, or can you turn off the AC or something. I’m freezing.”
Surprisingly, Valentina took off her leather jacket and draped it around me. She even sat me up against the van wall. I thought it best not to engage her too much, as simple questions like “Where’s Sasha?” and “Where are you taking me?” received more and more petulant replies. I believed her when she said I was valuable unharmed, but I also believed that she was insane and unpredictable and that too much pushing had the potential to seriously devalue me.
We drove for hours. The hood let in just enough light for me to determine that night had fallen before the van finally stopped. I heard muffled voices outside, but little else until the back doors were flung open. My hood was yanked off and my senses bombarded. Rock music, shouting, roaring, laughing, motorcycle engines, glass breaking and at least one woman having really loud sex. I smelled meat roasting, fire burning, leather, gasoline, and trees. In the seconds it took for my eyes to adjust, I was tugged away by the arm.
From what I could tell, I was in the middle of some stereotypical biker party. Something I’d only witnessed through the television. We were somewhere in the woods. There were bikes everywhere, a lot of mean looking guys and gals in denim and leather drinking beer, bonfires burning, barbecues cooking, but here and there were some things I’d never seen on TV. Or anywhere else.
Over in the opposite corner from where I was heading, a blonde girl of about twenty-five was leaning forward on the back wheel of a big Harley trike. Her firm, perky breasts were exposed where she’d pulled down her tank-top and her tiny mini-skirt was hiked up to her waist. She was grunting out loud moans of pleasure as a bald, bearded, man-mountain fucked her relentlessly from behind.
Not ten feet away from the occupied couple, I saw a scared kid, no more than twenty, thrown down by a tall, greasy haired biker chick. He tried to get back up, but she grabbed his shoulders, bent over and bit his neck. Thick blood spurted from him, splashing the ground, coating the biker chick’s face and drenching her t-shirt, but she kept her mouth on the wound as they both fell to the earth. My blood ran cold and I shuddered and had to look away.
Had I just witnessed any of the things that were about to happen to me? I couldn’t think. I just silently repeated to myself, “Sasha is okay, Sasha is alive,” and concentrated on trying to hide how freaked out I was. Soon enough, we reach our apparent destination and stopped.
Two males sat leaning against separate motorcycles in a small clearing of bikers, with four tall, burning torches marking a square around them. One had an enormous belly and arms like tree trunks, a bald head, and a long dirty-blonde beard. The red on black name badge sewn into the left breast of his vest read ‘Preacher’. He barely registered my approach. Instead, he was listening to a scrawny biker with black hair tied up in a hairband, who was kneeling in front of him whining some excuses.
The male one was more in shape. His long dark hair was mostly covered by a red and gold bandana, and his tanned leather-like skin wrinkled dramatically around his eyes and mouth. He had a sexy young blonde sitting on his knee, who seemed pretty uninterested in her surroundings, but he didn’t take his steely-gray eyes off me from the moment I came into view. The badge on his vest said ‘Bernhard’.
Preacher held up one giant, meat hook of a hand and the scrawny guy stopped bleating. “You, Ratchet, know the rules,” came Preacher’s voice. His laconic delivery had all the urgency of an iceberg. “You steal a brother’s kill, that brother decides your punishment. He also gotta keep in mind it’s your third time getting in trouble for this particular offense. What you say, Idaho?”
A tall, broad-shouldered biker standing by the torch nearest Ratchet looked up. “End him,” he said firmly.
Preacher searched the crowd, a smile widening on his face when he spotted Valentina. “Val, honey…” he began. I felt Valentina stiffen behind me.
“Perhaps,” interrupted Bernhard, finally moving his fierce eyes from me to Preacher, “this being a celebratory evening and all, we maybe shouldn’t be ending brothers tonight?” He kept his expression even as he spoke.
I saw a flicker of anger in Preacher’s eyes before he said, smiling, “Appreciate the sentiment, good buddy, but Hogs will deal with Hog business, Dogs with Dog business.” I had no idea what that meant, until I saw the patch on Ratchet’s back said ‘Hell’s Hogs’. There was clearly no love lost between the two leaders. They were being cordial, but the tension was high.
“Understood, brother,” offered Bernhard, looking back to me. His staring was making me really uncomfortable, not the least because Valentina’s jacket on my shoulders totally failed at hiding any of my lady bits. Still, it was my face he focused on.
“Val,” repeated Preacher. Valentina seemed to click to attention like a Gestapo officer. She handed me off to someone I couldn’t see, then moved, catlike, over to where Ratchet was still kneeling. She stood just behind Ratchet before, suddenly, a look of pure glee appeared on her face. She pulled his head back, punched her fist into his chest, and pulled out his heart, almost too fast for me to see.
There were some uncomfortable noises, a couple of groans, and a few cheers, before Ratchet’s lifeless body collapsed. Still wearing her certifiably-insane smile, Valentina looked at the heart in her bloody hand. It beat once, despite the torn tubes and ripped flesh hanging from it. She put one of the ventricles to her lips and, like a soda straw, took a long pull on it.
Her face turned sour and she tossed the heart over her shoulder, before hacking and coughing. “Ugh, he was foul,” she spat. “I did him a favor.”
Preacher laughed and tapped on his knee, beckoning her to sit down.
“Did you get her alright, baby-doll?” he asked. She smiled like a little kid with her favorite uncle and gestured my captor to bring me forward.
“What’s this?” Bernhard sounded nearly angry. “We don’t treat honored guest this way.” He got up, forcing the blonde off him, and moved behind me. I was shaking. He lifted the jacket off my shoulders. I heard what I assumed was a switchblade open, then my heart leaped into my mouth as he cut the zip-tie binding my wrists.
“Is that the best idea?” inquired Preacher.
“She can run or fight if she wants to,” Bernhard replied. “Regardless, she won’t get far.” Unexpectedly, he held out the jacket for me to put on properly. I zipped it up, feeling grateful to be finally semi-covered again. Okay, so I was still only a low branch away from flashing everyone my business, but it was an improvement.
&n
bsp; “So, this here’s the little human that stole your boy away from my beautiful girl,” Preacher made it a statement, not a question. “Speaking of boys, where is the groom, so we can get his started?”
“Right here!” my heart jumped for joy in my chest and my knees went weak at the sound of his voice but, as I turned to see Sasha push his way through the crowd, I cringed at the horrible bruises on his face. He was also carrying his arm painfully. Then it hit me what had just been said.
Sasha was here as the groom.
Chapter 9
As he strode defiantly into the small lit square, I, like everyone else, was watching Sasha closely. He was dressed in his jeans, dark t-shirt and a leather vest with his name stitched into the left breast. He did look beaten and hurt, but he still held an air of confidence and strength around him. And, he still looked sexy as hell. His eyes moved between Preacher, Valentina, and Bernhard as he moved, but not once, not for an instant, did he look at me. I thought he was going to walk right by me like I didn’t exist.
To my relief, he drew level with me and turned in a flash, taking me in his arms and kissing me fiercely. I felt giddy, light-headed, and happy, despite our situation. Sasha was alive. There were groans and mocking wolf whistles from the crowd, and I’m sure I heard Valentina curse and spit, but everything quickly melted away as his lips pressed against mine, our mouths opening in unison to allow our tongues to come together. My skin was on fire with the electricity of it, the sensations making me suddenly very aware of how naked and exposed I was under the oversized jacked.
I broke off the kiss and held him close, our mouths close to each other’s ears.
“Nice outfit,” he whispered. I didn’t know how he could make a joke at a time like this, but I loved him for it.
“Thank God you’re alive. I was so scared,” I sighed back at him.
“I’m here now,” he breathed back, “I won’t let harm come to you.”
“If you’re done?” Valentina had a sharp, sarcastic tone in her voice. Sasha’s face turned fierce and he rounded on her violently, taking a threatening step forward.
“If you touched her, I’ll…” he started to snarl.
“You’ll do nothing, boy!” Bernhard shouted over him. “You really think attacking Preacher’s daughter is going to lead to anything except all-out war between San Antonio and Austin? You’re here to marry her and seal this treaty.” Sasha stopped, his jaw clenched, his fists opening and closing. His eyes flicked to Bernhard. “Trust me, the only way your mortal survives this night is if you keep your word and marry Valentina. Right now.”
Valentina couldn’t help looking over at me with an entitled, superior look on her face. I guess, vampire or not, a spoiled bitch is still a spoiled bitch. Then I spotted something and kicked myself for not seeing it sooner. The patch on the back of Sasha’s vest. It was the same as about half the bikers here. It said ‘Angel Dogs’. It was the same as Rectum’s.
“Sasha,” I whispered, hoping his heightened hearing could pick my voice up. “Those bikers you killed last night, the ones who attacked me. They were vampires.” Without facing around, he lowered his head slightly. I got the impression he was trying to tell me he knew that already. Of course, he did. Heightened sense of smell. Not only were they vampires, they were Bernhard’s vampires. “You can’t trust him!” I shouted. He paused for a millisecond, then turned to me, not the slightest trace of shock or surprise in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, April,” he said, “I have no choice.” Whether he was doing it to save me, whether he’d just changed his mind about he and I, or whether he’d been lying to me all along, it didn’t matter. I didn’t matter why. All I knew was that I loved him so deeply, my heart and soul belonged to this man and now I was going to witness him being married to someone else. I could feel my heart splintering into tiny fragments. I fought to stop the tears running down my cheeks.
“But,” he continued strangely, “You really do look good in that jacket.” He patted the lower left pocket of his own vest and turned towards Bernhard.
“Oh, don’t cry, kitten,” teased Valentina as she took her spot next to Sasha. “Come, you can be my maid of honor.” Her loud mocking laugh pierced my eardrums as I was walked over to her left side. I had no more strength to protest. It didn’t appear that I had anything left to fight for, so I numbly obeyed.
The two gang leaders debated for a second before Preacher deferred to Bernhard, letting him perform the ceremony. “All yours, good buddy,” he said, magnanimously, and ambled over to join congregation behind us.
The words Bernhard spoke didn’t even register in my brain. I shoved my hands in the jacket pockets and kept my head low, praying this would be over soon. I was consumed with bone-deep exhaustion.
Somehow I was brought back to attention when Bernhard said the part about anyone having just cause speaking up. I thought, fuck it and figured I’d get in one last grand-hurrah to piss everyone off. I opened my mouth to speak, and the word was on the tip of my tongue when Sasha said, “I do.”
Both Bernhard and Valentina stared at Sasha in disbelief. There were groans and clucking noises behind me, but I was sure I heard Preacher let out a quick snort of laughter.
“You want to repeat that, son?” said Bernhard ominously. He wasn’t expecting an answer.
“I have just cause,” declared Sasha. “I love only one woman.” I couldn’t contain my smile as he pointed at me, “I’ve loved her for centuries. You knew that, father, and you attempted to have her killed.”
“You didn’t exactly leave me a choice,” Bernhard yelled back, his voice booming, “I couldn’t risk this peace treaty falling through just because your mortal lover appeared out of history. How long do you think you’ve got to spend with her anyway? Fifty years? You’re a dumbass…”:
“It’s still fifty years more than you’ll have,” said Sasha softly. His arm darted like lightening, reaching behind his back and under his vest. His movements were too fast for me to follow, but I realized that he’d drawn a pistol and fired. Bernhard moved too, diving out of the way in a blur. But, Sasha had counted on that. He’d fired ahead of Bernhard and the bullet caught him in the face, and he quickly fired twice more into Bernhard’s chest.
Still turned away, he didn’t see Valentina drop into a fighting stance. I knew she was going to attack Sasha from behind and only had a heartbeat to react, but I was ready, palming the small knife Sasha had slipped into my jacket pocket when he’d kissed me. Channeling as much fury, strength, and hate as I could muster, and by this point I had bucket loads, I stabbed Valentina in the back, easily penetrating her flimsy tank-top, and plunging the blade into her heart. Withdrawing it, I stabbed her again, and I kept stabbing. I couldn’t afford for her to turn around, so I stabbed her as she froze in shock, stabbed her as she fell, and stabbed her as she lay on the ground until my hand was slick with blood and I couldn’t hold the knife anymore.
I saw Sasha kick over the nearest torch setting Bernhard’s body on fire, then turn to me. His eyes widened as two huge hands came around my chest pulling me off of Valentina’s lifeless form.
“That’s enough, little human,” came Preacher’s slow, deep voice as he lifted me clean off the ground. “And stop waving that pea-shooter at me, if you want your mortal to live, boy.”
To my surprise, Preacher sat me gently back down and let me go. I ran to Sasha and threw my arms around him. It took me a second, but I realized there were a lot of angry noises coming from the crowd, yet no one was rushing us. I also knew that I had just killed the only remaining gang leader’s daughter and I had no idea what the punishment for that might be.
“So,” I managed breathlessly, “Now what?”
“Way I see it,” Preacher seemed to be thinking out loud, “This here makes you head of San Antonio, boy. I believe you just staged a coup. And, I’m guessing that if I were to end you now, there’d be no choice but to go to war. Believe it or not, I don’t want that.”
“What about her?�
� asked Sasha, waving his gun at Valentina’s limp body.
Preachers massive bulk edged closer. “I reckon you might have done me a good turn there,” he said in lowered tones. “Hundred and fifty years and she ain’t never grown up. Was always just a bit too much for me to handle.” I stifled a laugh and Preacher shot me a disapproving look. “My gift to you two, disappear. I hear of either of you even setting a foot in Texas, it’ll be your last.” He made a gesture and someone tossed a set of van keys to Sasha.
“Go,” Preacher grumbled, “‘fore I forget what a big softy I can be.”
Sasha swung me up into his arms, ran us to the van I was brought in, and helped me inside. We were both grinning ear to ear.
“Are you really totally naked under that jacket?” he asked with a smile once we were belted in.
“Seriously?” I scolded him. “Is now really the time?”
“Okay,” he teased, “I’ll give it a few minutes.”
An hour later, I felt as though we’d put in enough distance that I could breathe again. We were headed east towards Huston and then on to Louisiana. I sat curled up on the seat with my legs under me and snuggled against Sasha’s side. He had his arm around me as we drove and I’d opened my jacket so he could softly stroke my breast.
“We’re not really leaving San Antonio permanently, are we? I have a life there, a job,” I complained.
“Your job got pretty trashed this afternoon, I’m sorry to have to tell you,” he said. He turned and looked at me. “Anyway, being a mom is going to be a full-time job.”
“What do you mean, vampires and humans can’t have children, can they?”
“We had five in the eighteenth century. But they’re always born mortal.”
“And who says,” I sat up to look at him now, “I’m ever going to have kids?”
Bears of Burden: THORN Page 99
