Bryce pulled Alison to her, blood-stained tears of relief streaming from her eyes. She had dispensed with the lycans, and had doubled back to witness the disposal of Rayven’s body and Alison being buried. Annabel had become enraged when the fifth lycan returned without Bryce. A second later the animal crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap of flesh and bone, another victim of the witch’s rage.
Leaning back, Bryce looked around the empty field cautiously, and then back at Alison, her face and neck covered in scratches and mud. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner, but I had to wait for them to leave.” Bryce gently stroked Alison’s cheek with her thumb. “Can you walk?”
Alison’s legs felt useless as she clung to Bryce. “You’ll have to carry me.”
Bryce nodded, and without a word picked Alison up. Cradling her gently in her arms, she began a brisk run across the uneven terrain of the field. Once beyond the tree line, the vampire stopped, and carefully put Alison down. “Better?” She watched Alison closely to make sure she was able to stand on her own.
“Yeah. Still a little woozy.” Alison looked around. A faint light was coming from the eastern sky, and she knew it must be nearing dawn. Rubbing her sore and swollen cheeks, Alison looked around. “Should we still try to get to my parents’ house?”
Bryce shook her head. “No. I don’t know if they were following us, or if they knew where we were going and intercepted us.”
“It happened so quickly, I don’t even know -” She looked down at her hands. Her nails were broken and dirt and blood clung to her skin.
Bryce took the shaken woman’s hands in hers. “A pack of lycan rammed the car, and the rest - well you know that part.”
“Poor Rayven.” Alison shuddered remembering the woman’s anguished cries. “I wasn’t a fan, but she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
“It will be full on war now. Coleen is - was - Rayven’s maker. She won’t stand for such a brutal act against one of her offspring.” Bryce pulled Alison to her, taking comfort in the woman’s warmth. “We need to get back to Coleen’s and tell the group what’s happened. My phone was shattered in the wreck, and I can’t find yours.”
Alison buried her face in the side of Bryce’s neck. Considering her exertions over the past few hours, she was amazed the comforting scent of oranges and vanilla still emanated from the woman. In that moment, Alison found herself somewhere beyond her doubt and denial, at a place where the truth about her feelings for Bryce lay waiting for her.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” The professor leaned back, and looked intently at Bryce. The vampire’s brow furrowed as a look of concern crossed her face.
“Are you hurt?” Bryce ran her fingers through Alison’s hair, and along her shoulders, worried the woman was in pain.
“I love you.” Alison couldn’t stop from smiling. “I appreciate this is the worst timing ever, but you never know minute to minute what’s around the corner. So - ” Stepping back she looked nervously at the ground, and then back at Bryce. “So I needed you to know. I love you.”
Bryce didn’t know the moment she fell in love with Alison. She had spent so much time thinking about it that she hadn’t recognized it when it arrived. It had crept into her and now it consumed her. “I love you. You -” Bryce took Alison’s face gently in her hands, wiping an errant tear away with her thumb. “You let me be myself. You’ve never tried twisting me to fit your image of me, though I know I’ve not always been the best company.”
Alison laughed, and turned her lips to Bryce’s palm. Bryce pulled her into her arms. “I probably won’t be any good at being in love, but you know I’ll try my best.” She kissed the blonde’s cheek as she spoke.
“We’ll figure it out.” Alison clung to the woman in her arms, marveling that in spite of the horrors she had witnessed, and the violence inflicted on her, right now there was more kindness and love in the world than she could ever have imagined.
***
“She’s dead?” Coleen stood in the study of her house, her eyes blazing as Bryce conveyed the events of the past five hours to her.
“I’m sorry. It all happened very quickly. By the time I got back -” Bryce could see Coleen struggling to maintain her composure. Her eyes glowed and her incisors were protruding from under her upper lip.
Lewis stepped up first, and placed a reassuring hand on the woman’s shoulder. Coleen shrugged it off, and turned her back to the group.
“How many lycans were there?” Ash asked as she took Emma’s hand in hers, struggling not to put herself in Coleen’s place if something should happen to Emma.
“Five. I killed four, and Annabel killed the one that returned without me.” Bryce pinched her lower lip between her teeth, a thought skittering through her mind.
“What?” Ash asked.
“After she killed the lycan, her heartbeat slowed, and her blood wasn’t flowing as quickly through her body.” Bryce looked at Ash. “It was nearly a minute before it returned to normal.”
Emma interrupted. “That would make sense.” She looked at Ash. “It’s similar to what you experience if you shift too quickly or too many times in a short period. Your body burns through a lot of calories, i.e. energy. You’re weak for a bit until you recuperate.”
Ash released Emma’s hand and walked toward Coleen, whose back was still turned. “Have you heard of this? A Necromancer needing to - recharge?”
Coleen turned around, a blood-stained tear trickled down her cheek. “No.” She wiped at her face. “I want her and those other two bitches killed immediately, and as horrifically as possible.”
Lewis cleared his throat. “I know this is a loss, but we need to regroup here. It’s not just Annabel. Clearly the one named Christine is a threat.” He looked at Alison, who had been sitting on the sofa listening intently to the exchange, and wishing there were more she could do. “She was able to restrain Rayven?”
“Yes, but she made a comment that she wouldn’t be able to for very long.”
“Her power is like a muscle. It’s only so strong, and evidently we’re stronger.” Emma speculated.
The doorbell chimed, and Lewis excused himself. “That will be Rachel and Sara.”
“I think we should all stay here tonight. There is clearly safety in numbers.” Ash suggested.
“It doesn’t matter.” Coleen’s voice was layered with hate and rage. “They’ll be dead anyway.”
“That’s the end, Coleen, not the means.” Ash’s voice was stern. “You want to skip to the end with no clear idea how we’re to get there.”
Coleen turned and lunged at Ash, in a single second her hands were wrapped around the woman’s throat, her teeth bared. “Should I practice the means on you, shifter?”
Ash’s skin reddened as the tendons and muscles in her hands and arms began to expand and bulge. She clutched Coleen’s wrists, but her jaw stayed tightly locked as she refused to indulge Coleen in a physical or verbal battle.
Seeing Emma and Bryce move toward Coleen, Ash held her hand up. “Don’t.”
Emma spoke softly to the enraged vampire. “I know you loved her. I really do understand, but please try to feel the hurt and not the anger right now.” She reached up, and gently stroked the woman’s cheek. “I need your head clear if we’re going to get out of this alive.”
Ash felt the vise like grip around her neck loosen as Coleen leaned away from her. Just then, Lewis, Rachel and Sara entered the room.
“What’s this?” Lewis ask, clearly confused by the turn of events.
Emma looked over at the man, and managed a faint smile. “We were just problem solving.” She looked closely at Coleen, whose eyes had filled with blood tinged tears. “Right?”
Coleen released her grip on Ash, and stepped away, wrapping her arms around Emma, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m sorry.”
Emma had known Coleen her entire vampire life, and could count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of times the woman had apologized f
or anything. Knowing the significance of the moment, Emma held the woman to her. “It’s fine.”
Emma looked over Coleen’s shoulder toward Ash. “Are you okay?”
Rubbing her still red throat, Ash nodded. “Peachy.” Tilting her head back and forth, a series of pops sounded from the shifter’s neck before she spoke. “Well, now that that’s out of everyone’s system, we can talk about those means.”
“What’s happening?” Sara asked as she and Rachel sat down on the sofa.
Coleen stepped away from Emma. “Rayven’s been killed by Annabel and her coven.”
“Oh god. How?” Sara took Rachel’s hand in hers.
Bryce cleared her throat. “We were ambushed by lycan, and then Annabel turned Rayven into a human.” Looking at Alison, whose face was fraught with worry, the redhead continued. “Then a lycan turned on Ray, and it was - it was over very quickly.”
“This is getting out of hand.” Rachel stated the obvious. “How do we find these women and kill them?” The resolve in the woman’s voice was solid. Looking at Sara, her brow furrowed, she squeezed the woman’s hand. “I know you aren’t in love with the idea, but I - I just found you, and I’m not ready to lose you.”
Leaning in, Sara kissed Rachel softly on the lips. “I feel the same.” Addressing the group, the attorney spoke confidently. “Are they coming after us, regardless of our affiliation with Bryce?”
Bryce responded. “Yes. It’s bigger than any vendetta Annabel may have with me.”
Sara nodded. “It’s a question of self-defense then. So, what’s the plan?”
Coleen, who remained standing next to Emma with her arm wrapped around the woman’s waist, spoke, her voice calm and matter-of-fact. “It will be easier if we can isolate them. Address them one at a time instead of as a group.”
“I agree, but I can’t find Annabel anywhere in the systems, and the other two - Christine and Victoria - no better.” Ash shook her head. “Short of knowing where Annabel works...” She glanced at Alison. “All addresses are either post office boxes or street addresses that don’t exist.”
“I can help with that.” Alison nearly raised her hand as if asking to be called upon in class. “I have a friend in the university payroll department. Annabel isn’t working for free, and the group just underwent an extensive audit and passed; so whatever they have on file for her for tax purposes has to be accurate.”
Sara chuckled. “It’s how they got to Capone.” Multiple eyes turned toward the attorney. “Tax records. Uncle Sam always gets his, even if you are a three hundred year old witch.”
***
“Well, that was entirely too easy.” Ash sat next to Alison in her Jeep outside a non-descript apartment complex on the north side of the city. It was nearly ten at night, and the dimly lit parking lot adjacent to the apartment buildings was full.
“It helps that I’m nonthreatening.” Alison said casually.
“Still, she gave you Annabel’s address, phone, and I think if you had been so inclined, you would have got her social and mother’s maiden name.”
Alison smiled. “I had a very plausible explanation for requesting the information. I’ve been out sick, Annabel sent me flowers, and I wanted to mail her a thank you card. Plus, I’m friendly.”
“Kill’em with kindness.” Ash shook her head. “So to speak.”
“There.” Alison pointed toward the apartments. “That’s not Annabel - it’s Victoria.”
“It makes sense they would live near each other. Maybe even together.” Ash grabbed her phone, and dialed.
“Do you have her?” Coleen’s voice filled the car via the Jeep’s Bluetooth.
“No. We see Victoria though.” Ash responded. “She’s walking to her car.”
“Hey.” Bryce appeared next to Alison’s window.
“Holy shit!” Alison jumped, and then hit the power window button. “You scared the crap out of me.”
Bryce cringed. “Sorry.” She looked across the car at Ash. “I circled around the back of the building to the unit. There was only one heartbeat, and it -” She scanned the parking lot to see a short, heavy set woman with a pageboy hair cut getting in a late model, black Mazda 6 sedan. “Well, there it is.”
“Coleen, we’ll follow her. Maybe she’ll lead us to Annabel.” Ash suggested before disconnecting the call.
Bryce opened the back door of the Jeep and climbing in, leaned over the front seat to Alison. “You okay?”
Smiling, she took the woman’s hand. “Yeah, just don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Force of habit.” Bryce said, then frowning, shook her head. “I mean, not that I sneak up on people, but I was trying to be, you know quiet, and when I’m quiet - it’s really quiet - so -”
Alison gently laid her hand across the vampire’s mouth. “I get it.”
“Thank god, because much more of that rambling, and you were going to walk home.” Ash started the car, and keeping a respectable distance, followed Victoria out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
The embarrassed vampire sat back. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Follow her, see if she leads us to Annabel, or even Christine for that matter.” Ash intentionally let another car merge between them and Victoria.
The Mazda took a left turn into a neighborhood development that was still being leveled and the streets paved. “Where the hell is she going?” Ash muttered.
Coming to a cul-de-sac, the sedan stopped. “What’s that smell?” Bryce asked.
“Get out!” Ash yelled.
Before Alison could find the door handle, Bryce had ripped the passenger door off its hinges, grabbed her by the waist, and cleared the Jeep just as a massive wall of heat slammed into the back of Alison. Her ears were ringing as she turned her head to find Bryce hunched over her.
Thirty feet behind them was what was left of Ash’s Jeep. The vehicle was engulfed in flames, and a thick plume of black smoke billowed from it.
Alison was pulled to her feet, followed by a swirling sensation as Bryce swiftly moved her behind a small construction shed. “Stay here.” Bryce’s voice was low, verging on a growl.
The vampire turned as the witch spun her car around, with the squealing of tires and the roar of the taxed engine filling the night air. Scanning the carnage, Bryce saw Ash lying unconscious, but clear of the Jeep, and seemingly unharmed as her heartbeat and breathing were strong.
Pushing up and off the ground, Bryce propelled herself toward the Mazda. Landing squarely on the hood of the vehicle, the weight and force of her impact cracked the car’s front axle, and the nose of the vehicle dug into the pavement.
Victoria had been flung back into the seat by the force of the air bag inflating, and now slowly leaned forward, pushing the rapidly deflating bag down and clutching the steering wheel of the car. Her face, illuminated by the light of the burning Jeep, was distorted into a demonic sneer as she glared at Bryce.
An intense heat began building in Bryce’s chest, quickly running through her arms and out the tips of her fingers. The sensation was unfamiliar, but not painful as the vampire examined her hands to find the tips of her fingers resembled smoldering coals.
Teeth bared, Bryce lunged at the woman. Her fist easily shattered the windshield and she grabbed Victoria out by her hair. The vampire drug the plump woman across the hood of the car and onto the ground, then deposited her on her backside with a loud thud.
Feeling like weights had been added to her feet, Bryce looked down to see the rubber soles of her Skechers melting into the dirt. “Stop!” Bryce snarled at the woman. “You can’t kill me like this and you know it.”
Victoria didn’t speak, her eyes fixed on Bryce. The vampire blinked as a flash of light temporarily blinded her. Then the cotton v-neck t-shirt Bryce was wearing crackled as the fabric burned in a flash of intense heat.
Bryce stood in a black bra and jeans. Kicking her shoes off, she pleaded with the woman. “I don’t want to kill you. Please, stop.”
; The woman’s expression softened and she blinked several times. “Stay away from me!” She began to crawl backward, away from Bryce.
“I just need to know where Annabel is. This feud has to end.” Bryce struggled to keep her voice low and calm.
Victoria managed to stand, her round cheeks streaked with dirt. The billowy, floral pattern dress she wore was torn and tattered from where Bryce had pulled her from the car. “Leave me alone!” The woman walked to the left, her hands out in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth between Bryce and a point over the vampire’s left shoulder.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Bryce tried to reassure the witch, who reminded her of a cornered, feral animal. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
The witch’s posture shifted, her back straightened and her shoulders stiffened. “You stupid bitch. I’m not afraid of you.” Looking past Bryce, the woman’s stare locked on the Mazda. The sound of metal being bent reached Bryce’s ears a split second before a wave of heat, speckled with shards of metal hit the vampire.
A cloud of smoke wrapped around Bryce as she slowly dusted debris from her shoulders and hair. Walking toward Victoria, Bryce twisted her neck to the right, causing a faint popping sound. A single, quick step later, and her cool hand was wrapped around Victoria’s throat, her incisors fully extended as her eyes glowed a vivid green in the darkness.
“Annabel. Where is she?” Bryce’s patience were wearing thin. “If you can’t - or won’t - be helpful, then I have no use for you.” She tightened her grip on Victoria’s throat.
Victoria smiled, tears streaming down her face. Closing her eyes, her body went limp, and a moment later she was engulfed in flames. Bryce dropped the woman to the ground, and began to roll her back and forth, trying, in vain, to smother the flames.
Alison appeared, fire extinguisher in hand, but even that proved useless as the witch was burning herself from the inside out. Within a minute, Victoria’s charred remains laid lifeless at Alison and Bryce’s feet.
Dying Forever (Waking Forever Book 3) Page 26
