Eternal Prey

by Nina Bangs

  Lia finally worked up the courage to look at Utah. He was staring at Christine, a look of horror on his face.

  “What did you do to him?” Lia clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. She welcomed the pain.

  Christine waved her concern away. “He’s fine. I just limited what he could do. He’ll walk and talk when I want him to, but other than that, he’ll be a silent witness. I’ll release him once everything is over.”

  Lia flashed back to Philly. Eight had done the same thing to Kione, frozen him in place. I’m so sorry, Utah. Somehow, she didn’t think he’d be in a forgiving mood.

  Jude looked grim as Christine led them from their small room down a hallway to . . . Lia blinked. A garden center? They were in the store part, surrounded by gardening tools, pots, and other stuff. All the windows were boarded up except for two glass panels at one end of the large room that allowed them a view into the greenhouse. Lia didn’t visit many greenhouses, but the plants she could see looked a little too healthy. It was a jungle in there.

  But that wasn’t the disturbing part. Nonhumans five-deep lined the walls. They watched with avid curiosity, and some with obvious hunger. She glanced at Christine. “These aren’t all vampires.”

  Christine looked excited as she scanned the room. “I’m an inclusive leader. I believe the future is in bringing together many different beings under one umbrella.” She swept her arm to include all of her people. “Vampires, demons, shifters, I accept them all.”

  They stopped in the center of the room where Christine had erected an elaborate altar. Red silk was the decorating fabric of choice. She’d clustered plants around the altar. Lia controlled her need to roll her eyes. She’d hoped to become vampire in an intimate setting involving only her maker and her. Now she was part of a Hollywood production.

  Christine handed her a long white silk robe. “Put this on. It’ll keep your clothes from getting more blood on them, and it looks really spectacular against the red.”

  Lia slipped into the robe. Great, now she was playing the virgin sacrifice. Could this get any worse? She glanced at Utah. He watched her from burning eyes, the only part of him that could move. She sighed. Nope, he’d never forgive her.

  Christine looked giddy with the thrill of it all. She clapped her hands and a line of humans paced into the room. They looked like sleepwalkers. Silently, they formed a ring around the makeshift altar.

  Lia swallowed hard. She had a bad feeling about this. Keep talking. “So what’s with the greenhouse?”

  “I’m obsessed with the magnificence of life.”

  Lia looked at the humans. Maybe she was wrong, but she had a feeling good old Christine was pretty fond of death too. “What are the humans for?”

  “They’ll help my people celebrate your great moment.” She waved vaguely. “Isn’t there some kind of saying about an army marching on its stomach?”

  Lia couldn’t save these people, she couldn’t help Utah or Jude, and she sure as hell couldn’t help herself. This was Philly all over again. She hadn’t been in control there either. Fury washed over her. Once she was vampire, someone would pay for this. And if anything happened to Utah . . . No, she wouldn’t go down that path.

  Keep talking before you turn into a chittering idiot. And yes, she was scared. See how far she’d evolved? She was admitting to so much terror that she wanted to curl up in a fetal position on the floor.

  “How long have you had the greenhouse? Where exactly is this anyway?” She didn’t give a damn about the greenhouse, and she didn’t for a moment think Christine would give her its location.

  “I took it over three weeks ago. The first thing I did was drink to the former owner.” She put her fingers over her mouth and giggled. “Oh, wait. I meant that I drank the former owner.”

  This was so bizarre. Immortal destroyers of humanity shouldn’t giggle. Even Eight, a raving psychopath, had displayed a certain whacked-out dignity.

  “You don’t need to know anything else.” She glanced at the altar. “It’s time.”

  Oh crap. “It’s awful hot in here.” For the first time, Lia realized she was sweating.

  Christine shrugged off her complaint. “I hate cold. I love lots and lots of wonderful heat. Life thrives in heat.” She closed her eyes, almost a look of ecstasy on her face. “I love my blood hot.”

  Okay, more info than Lia wanted.

  “It’s too cold outside. But that’s fine”—a sly look crept across her face—“because I’m going to heat things up in this town.”

  “Maybe you should’ve settled in Florida.” Lia resigned herself to what would come next. She’d run out of meaningless conversation.

  Christine opened her eyes. She smiled. “I’ll go there next.”

  Not if we can help it. Lia looked at Utah. He watched her with unblinking intensity. She turned away from what burned in his eyes.

  Christine glided over to the altar, her long black dress rippling behind her like some evil night wave. “Lie down here.” She looked at Jude. “Don’t block my view when you drain her. I don’t want to miss a single drop. You don’t get this on HBO.”

  Now that the moment had come, Lia’s heart pounded out its last desperate beats, her breathing quickened; frantic gasps for air she would soon not need.

  Too soon, too soon. Of course, it wasn’t too soon. She’d been looking forward to this moment her whole life. Besides, once she rose, she’d be able to kick some serious ass. Dad would be disappointed, but her change wasn’t unexpected. She forced calming thoughts to take the place of the chaos building in her soul.

  One more thing to do. Lia began to withdraw the tentative strands of attachment she’d sent Utah’s way. He’d really meant nothing to her. Sure, they’d made love, but she had to initiate the whole thing. What could a vampire and a man with the soul of a prehistoric predator have in common anyway? They could still work together, but that would be where it ended. In fact, once she became vampire, she wouldn’t be any help to him. He needed a human to keep him off Seven’s radar. So once she told Adam that there was no vampire raiding his territory, she’d fly back to Philly, back to her old life.

  And if she didn’t completely believe everything she’d just thought? Well, she would. Eventually. She went over to the altar and lay down.

  Jude followed her. He leaned over her, his dark hair falling forward and shielding them for a moment. “Are you sure, Lia?”

  “Choice is not something either of us has. Yes, I’m sure.”

  “There won’t be any pain.” He brushed her hair away from her face.

  “Pain wouldn’t be a bad thing.” It would keep her from thinking.

  Against her better judgment, she turned her head so she could see Utah one more time through human eyes. He was bathed in sweat, every muscle tensed against the invisible restraint Christine had wrapped him in. Agony shone from his eyes. Lia couldn’t meet his gaze, she just couldn’t.

  She looked back at Jude in time to see a flash of rage in his eyes. He was being forced into this because of her. Time to bring down the curtain on a light note.

  Lia forced a smile and hoped it didn’t look as ghastly as she thought it did. “Will I have to call you Daddy now?”

  Jude’s lips tipped up in recognition of her effort. “Call me anything you want. Hey, once you rise you might even be able to whip my ass.” And then he lowered his mouth to her neck.

  Just as he’d promised, Lia felt the sting of his fangs and then nothing else. A languorous sense of pleasure and well-being washed over her. She couldn’t seem to think anymore. Jude was doing that. And as darkness swallowed her, she was grateful.

  Utah forced himself to watch, even when he wanted to close his eyes against the horror. The bitch had at least left him that option.

  His beast screamed its rage, trapped two times over. It couldn’t escape its cave, and he couldn’t escape whatever mental shit Seven had thrown at him.

  He refused to ever again call her anything but Seven in hi
s mind. The name Christine humanized her, and he never wanted to make the mistake of thinking she had any human qualities.

  He’d met Lia’s gaze right before Jude sank his fangs into her neck. In that one moment, he hoped she saw everything in his eyes. The question. Why had she helped Seven bind him? He could have at least tried to stop this. She didn’t want you to stop it, dumbass. This is what she wanted.

  Utah had no way of expressing his sorrow and fury, no way of doing anything except choke back all emotion. Once again, he was in that restaurant in Philly, crouching over his brother’s body, knowing he’d failed to save him. He was batting zero when it came to saving the ones he . . . What? Loved? No, he didn’t love Lia. But he sure as hell cared a lot about what was happening to her right now. And someone would pay for this.

  “The transformation is a beautiful thing. Lia will emerge a magnificent butterfly.” Seven sounded almost awed. All her people murmured their agreement. They sounded hungry.

  A butterfly with fangs. Utah didn’t see anything beautiful about that.

  And then he poured himself into Lia’s dying. He heard her heartbeat slow and then falter. His heart pumped harder as though he could compensate for hers. Instinctively, he took deeper and deeper breaths to help her live. Please live.

  But his will alone couldn’t keep her alive. And when her heart took one weak final beat before falling still, he silently raged against his helplessness. Where was Fin? Where were his brother and the rest of the Eleven? Where was the almighty fae prince? What good was all their power if it couldn’t save one small human woman?

  Utah finally closed his eyes. He didn’t want to watch how Jude intended to force his blood down her throat. He hadn’t loved her. Then why did this hurt so much? He swallowed hard. She wasn’t the same woman anymore. She was vampire. Knowing that, he’d stop caring pretty fast.

  The only way he knew it was finally over was when Seven released him. Too late, too late. It was a mantra that could only be silenced by Seven’s death. Problem. She couldn’t die, so he’d have to be satisfied by something less but just as permanent.

  “Open your eyes, my beautiful raptor. Jude has taken her to her resting place. You’re such a silly child. You should be celebrating her change.” She laughed at him.

  Hate blossomed in him. He kept his gaze averted as he opened his eyes. If he looked into her eyes, Utah wouldn’t be able to control his need to tear her apart. Then she’d kill him, and Lia’s sacrifice would’ve been for nothing.

  Unfortunately, he turned to glance one last time at the altar. And forgot all about control.

  The vampires had watched the show and now were descending on the free buffet. They ripped into the strangely unresponsive humans, tearing out throats, gulping down blood, ignoring the smears and spatters coating them from head to foot. They made no noise, and their victims died silently, without trying to defend themselves.

  This was too much. Seven had turned to talk with someone. She wasn’t watching him for the moment. Utah crouched, ready to spring. Even if he could take out a few of them before . . .

  Someone touched his arm. “Not a good idea, raptor.”

  A man stepped in front of him.

  Seir. The need to kill was a compulsion that curled Utah’s fingers into claws and brought his soul screaming from its cave.

  Fin’s brother shook his head. “Back up and dust your brain off. My brother would go ballistic if you forced Christine to kill you. Then he’d have to call you guys the Nine. I don’t think nine is his favorite number.” He grinned. “Besides, I have a gun. This close, I could kill you before you had a chance to change.”

  Utah glanced down at the gun pointed at his chest. “I’m going to kill you.” Utah wanted to make that perfectly clear.

  “Uh-huh. Got that. We’ll discuss it later.” He scanned the crowd. “Christine wants me to take you back to your room. Now might be a good time.”

  A quick glance showed that it was too late to save any of the humans. Utah took a deep breath and stepped away from the precipice. He couldn’t help Lia if he was dead. Seir was right about that. He nodded, and Seir led him back to the small room with the big memories.

  Lia’s scent still clung to the room. Her human scent. That thought tore a hole in Utah that promptly filled with ice.

  Seir stayed in the room with him. He even closed the door and locked it so they’d have privacy. Then he dropped the gun to his side. Utah figured there was a catch. He wasn’t a favorite of the gods, so no one would offer up his enemy to him this easily.

  “Want to explain why I shouldn’t kill you right now?” Utah sat on the cot and tried not to imagine Lia seated next to him, her hand on his thigh, her warmth enveloping him.

  Seir remained standing by the door. “Because I’m the only one who can get you out of here. Oh, and I’m Fin’s brother. I have his power. I don’t need a gun to stop you, but people always respond better when I have a prop.”

  “And why would you help us get out of here?” Utah could reach him in one leap, before Seir could bring up his gun. His raptor wouldn’t fit in the small space, but Utah was angry enough to do lots of damage in his human form.

  Seir shrugged. “I miscalculated. Everything went to hell back at the bridge. You weren’t supposed to be taken. So now we wait for Jude.”

  What game was Seir playing? “You want me to believe you’re on our side?”

  Seir stifled a bark of laughter. “Hell no. I’m on my own side.”

  Whatever else he might have said remained a mystery because someone unlocked the door and flung it open. Seir slipped behind the door, his gun ready. Utah stood, ready to launch himself at whoever came through the door. But whoever opened the door didn’t step inside. He just shoved Jude into the room, slammed the door shut, and locked it behind him.

  Jude turned his back on Utah to face Seir. He didn’t get a chance to ask anything, because suddenly Seir moved. One second, he was by the door, and in the next instant, he stood between Utah and Seir. Stretching out his arms, he touched both of them at the same time.

  Blackness and then . . . Utah blinked. He was outdoors. There were trees and . . . He looked up. Fin’s condo. He was outside Fin’s freaking condo. What the hell? Beside him, he heard Jude’s low curse.

  Utah looked around. It was just Jude and him. Seir was gone. No explanation. Nothing. “No. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen.” He grabbed Jude’s arm. “Where the hell is Lia?”

  Jude scanned the area. “Christine made me take her down to a small room under the back of the building. There’re a bunch of them down there. Guess that’s where the vampires spend their days. Lia should rise in two or three nights.”

  “Do you know where this garden center is?”

  Jude shook his head. “After Christine beat the crap out of me when I didn’t jump at the chance to visit with her, she did her teleport thing. I landed inside the building. Guess that was the same way she got you and Lia there.”

  Utah nodded. “I wonder why she didn’t just freeze you like she did me? She didn’t have to fight you.”

  “I made her chase me all over the city. Guess she was in a shitty mood.”

  So Seir was the only one who could tell him where the damn garden center was.

  Jude stood beside him in silence.

  Utah wondered if Jude sensed how close to death he was. Frustration hammered at Utah. Bloodlust flooded him, urged him to kill everyone, starting with the vampire he’d watched drain Lia. He could almost taste the blood, feel the adrenaline rush as he tore through flesh and bone.

  Civil war raged within him. The human part of him fought to be heard above the roar of his beast. He had to use his brain. Find Fin. Tell him what had happened. Get the rest of the Eleven out on the streets searching for Lia. Don’t lose control.

  His beast only knew one word. Kill. Utah took deep breaths, trying to drown out the drone of that one word repeated over and over and over in his head. He wanted to clap his hands over his ears,
but he knew that wouldn’t help.

  And as suddenly as that, Utah knew. This moment, in this spot, would define what he was. He could become raptor and drown his fury, his failure, his fear in blood. Or he could think like the human Fin wanted him to be.

  “So have you decided?” Jude sounded a little too casual.

  “What?”

  “Are you going to take a shot at destroying me?”

  Utah turned to look at him. “Not tonight, vampire. I have to talk to Fin.” He didn’t look back as he strode toward the condo entrance.

  He thought about Lia all the way up in the elevator. She was safe for the next few days. But he had to find her before she rose as vampire. She’d be confused, hungry, maybe disoriented. What if she attacked Seven?

  So what do you care? She’s vampire now. Not your concern. But Utah knew she was very much his concern. He just wasn’t sure why.

  Utah didn’t get a chance to bang on the condo door because Fin flung it open first.

  Fin’s quick scan seemed to satisfy him that Utah was in one piece. “Everyone’s in the dining room.” He turned and walked away.

  Utah followed him to where the rest of the Eleven along with Kelly and Jenna sat around the large table. They watched silently as Utah took a seat beside his brother. Fin sat at his usual spot, the head of the table.

  Tor leaned close. “Was worried about you, bro.”

  Something inside Utah uncurled a little. He was with pack again.

  “Tell us.” Fin didn’t waste words.

  Utah managed to hold his rage in check as he ran through the night’s events. He watched Fin’s face when he told everyone that Seven had taken them and that Seir had set them up. Fin’s expression never changed.

  Utah was tempted to brand Fin as a cold bastard—he’d done it a lot before Rap died—but he remembered that even as Fin had sent the soul of his brother to its resting place somewhere in Arizona, he’d mourned. The memory of Fin’s sorrow redeemed him in Utah’s mind. Barely.