Hunger

by Jacquelyn Frank

  There were two men guarding the door. One sat lazily in a chair while the other leaned against the door itself. It was obvious how bored they were. It was also obvious they were a team of human and phant, just like the one in the corridor. Strange that they should be working together so closely. Roth must have a following of humans along with his sycophant minions. It was not unheard of, but Roth had only turned away from the lawful side of vampire law a short while ago. It seemed strange that he would have so many followers so quickly…unless he had been building them up covertly over time. But dirty vampires were inherently mistrustful of lawful e-vamps. Sycophants wouldn’t follow a clean vampire. Hell, it was only Roth’s high placement in the queen’s life that had given him any value when he had been turned into a sycophant. The information he carried was a valuable commodity. It was no doubt what had led to this plan to dirty up Halo.

  It was all a worry for another day. Another moment. His focus had to be in that warehouse. On his escape. God only knew where this warehouse was. God only knew what was waiting for them outside. Were they in the country or the city? Were they isolated or were they part of a row of warehouses? He wouldn’t know until he walked out that door.

  Halo didn’t sneak the last few steps to the guards. He came out from behind the crate nearest them and advanced on them with lightning speed. He had switched the gun with the knife, pocketing the noisy weapon and going for the stealth of the other. Again, the human was a nonissue, except perhaps for the noise he might make. Halo silenced him first, yanking him backward out of the chair and smashing his head into the concrete floor with enough force to crack, if not crush, his skull. It knocked him out instantly. Then Halo leapt on the sycophant. Immediately the phant sent out a pulse. It was so typical—so like them to resort to the gracelessness and lack of skill it displayed.

  Phants disgusted him. That was why flirting with becoming one himself filled him with dread and fear. It was a feeling he had to put aside. A thought process that did him no good in that moment. But it was so hard to focus. So damn hard.

  A pulse was an electrical charge, and it came with a light display. It was sunny on that side of the warehouse, for the most part, so it was possible the light would not be visible to the point of drawing attention. Still, Halo couldn’t take the chance, and he acted accordingly. He pounced on him, fighting through the agony of the pulse. This phant was stronger than the others, his pulse more concentrated, as if he had recently fed from an abundant source just like Halo had done.

  Halo kept him from having the opportunity to alert others with a strong and well-placed punch right in his Adam’s apple. The phant gagged, his hand going to his throat. He was on the floor on his stomach with all of Halo’s weight on his back in the next moment. Halo ringed a powerful arm around his neck, gagging him effectively as he choked him out. There was no better way to render a vampire or a phant unconscious than sapping him of all his energy, but because this phant was tainted Halo couldn’t do that. Besides, he had just fed. He couldn’t glut himself.

  He didn’t use a pulse, not knowing what lay ahead and realizing he had to conserve his energy. He could conceivably feed again if he depleted his energy supply to the same point it had been when he’d been forced to feed from Felice, but that was not ideal when he didn’t know if he’d be able to find a clean source. And he most definitely could not feed from a tainted source again, no matter how tempting it might be.

  And it was very tempting.

  He took the tip of the knife and pressed it to the back of the vampire’s neck, inserting it only half an inch.

  “Tell me what lies ahead,” he hissed into the sycophant’s ear. “Tell me what’s out there.”

  “You’ll never make it,” the vampire gagged.

  “We’ll see. Tell me.” Halo pushed the knife in farther.

  “You’ll kill me anyway!”

  “Probably. Maybe I’ll just drain you dry,” Halo lied.

  The phant thought about it a moment too long. Halo fitted the tip of the blade right into the sweet spot between vertebrae.

  “Okay! There’s four guards that walk the perimeter of the warehouse!”

  “Sycophants…or sycophant and human?”

  “Sycophants. Powerful sycophants. More powerful than me.”

  “I think you’re a liar. But then again, so am I,” Halo whispered in his ear just before he jammed the knife home. He jerked the knife free and let the phant’s body fall where it would. He beckoned Felice over to him, and she hurried from her hiding place to get to his side. “There are guards outside as well,” he said softly. “He said four, but there could be more. I think he was telling the truth. I don’t know.”

  “We have no choice but to take our chances,” she whispered back.

  “True. Let’s go. I wish it were dark out, but we have to use what we’re dealt.”

  “I’m right behind you,” she said.

  “Let’s go.”

  Halo opened the door slowly, just a crack, and peered outside. He switched weapons, knowing the time for the gun, a distance weapon, was at hand. Firing it would bring all others running, but it would take a while for them to figure out which way it had come from. By then he planned to be long gone.

  What they needed was a set of wheels.

  He peered outside and saw a parking lot. On the plus side he saw a truck. On the downside they were backed up to woods, indicating they might be in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t see what was on either side of the warehouse from that position.

  Halo knew their best bet was the truck. He grabbed hold of Felice’s hand and, keeping low with her, he snaked his way out of the door and headed for the side of the truck he felt provided the most cover, the passenger side. When they reached it, he took the butt of the gun and with a powerful smack he broke the passenger-side window. He reached in and unlocked the door. He cracked it just enough to slide inside, letting Felice take up the rear. Otherwise he’d have to climb over her to get into the driver’s seat. He took a moment to brush away the glass from the broken window, cleaning off the seat so she wouldn’t cut her bare bottom and legs.

  As soon as she was in he hit the locks on the door and with a wrenching of his hands he cracked the column of the steering wheel, exposing the ignition. He searched around the cab and found a screwdriver on the dashboard. He dismantled the ignition just far enough that he was able to fit the screwdriver in and, with a turn, started the truck.

  Diesel. The truck ran on diesel fuel. It was immediately apparent because of the noise of the engine. Realizing they were exposed, he slammed the truck in reverse and with a screech he backed out of the parking spot and into the lot. He was driving blind, not knowing which way was best. All he could do was follow the blacktop and hope it went all the way around to the front of the warehouse.

  He made it to the first corner just as the first shot came whizzing through the windshield, punching a perfect hole in the glass right in front of Felice. She cried out, whether it was in fear or pain he didn’t know. Had she been shot? Halo couldn’t spare any attention for her. He was careening around the building and two sycophants were standing in his way, taking aim at him. He ducked down, barreling through them as a hail of gunfire erupted. He yanked Felice down low, hoping the engine block would protect her from the barrage of bullets.

  He saw it then. The exit that led out onto a road. Which way? Left or right? He didn’t know so he took a guess. He went right, trying to decipher the topography with guesses and logic. There seemed to be denser woods to the left; the road might dead-end that way and then they would be trapped. He went right because the woods didn’t seem as dense and he thought he saw a gate.

  He was right. But it was a guarded gate. He floored the gas pedal, hearing the complaints of the shot-up engine. He didn’t care. All the truck had to do was get them the hell out of there. Halo could only hope they wouldn’t pursue them once they hit the public roads.

  Halo flew past a guardhouse and slammed through the closed ga
te in front of it. There were two sycophants in the house, but they were so stunned by his appearance that they didn’t start shooting until the truck was well through the gate. The metallic pinging of bullets hitting the bed of the truck behind them was nerve-racking. But there was no time for fear.

  He raced out of the gate and down the road.

  It was only two turns later that he hit a highway.

  Content they were clear of danger, Halo sat up straight and glanced in the rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. They weren’t as far as he could see. As far as he could tell they were out of danger.

  He took stock, looking over at Felice.

  She was clutching her shoulder, blood seeping through her fingers. She’d been shot!

  “Shit, Felice! We’re out of danger. Hang in there. I’ll get you help.”

  “It’s all right,” she gasped through the pain. “Just drive. Get us somewhere safe.”

  Safe was relative. They could drive for ages before finding somewhere safe. Truly safe. But she wouldn’t be safe if she lost a lot of blood. His feeding from her had depleted her energy, had weakened her immune system. Getting shot was the worst thing that could happen to her right then, no matter how slight the wound. The only thing worse would be if she caught a virus or some other bacterial infection. Feeding made it harder for the body to fight. That was why they didn’t feed from the same source over and over. It lowered the immune system too much, allowing things like cancer the opportunity to grow unchecked. Or any other number of pathogens.

  When he got on the next freeway, he began to see signs that were familiar.

  They were in Upstate New York. About an hour and a half out of the city. The city where the e-vamps had a centrally located building—the very building where the queen resided. Her apartment took up the entirety of the top floor. Halo was supposed to live in that building as well, along with all the other vampires in NYC, but he was given a lot of latitude because of his value to the queen. She allowed him to make an exception of himself and live off campus.

  If Felice could make it that far there would be medical care without questions, and they would be safe behind the most protected walls in the vampire nation.

  “We’re about an hour and a half away from the safest place I know,” he said to her. “Can you make it that long?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry about me. Just drive—if you think the truck will make it.”

  She was right. The rattling of the engine was ominous. The radiator had been hit and was no doubt leaking fluid. They would have to change vehicles.

  “Let’s pull off and find another truck at the next exit,” he said, trying to keep her conscious and alert as her eyes began to droop closed. He had sapped her of all her energy. She had to be exhausted.

  And it was all his fault.

  Chapter 13

  They switched from one truck to another, Halo impressing her with his ability to start whatever car he wanted to with only his strength and a screwdriver to assist him. She felt bad for whoever’s truck it was, but she knew the person would understand if they had known the desperation of their situation.

  They got back on the highway and Felice struggled to stay conscious. She felt as though she had done nothing but sleep since this whole thing had begun—whether voluntarily or not. But she had never known the type of exhaustion that threaded through her at that moment. Her limbs were heavy and uncoordinated; her whole body felt like dead weight. Pain radiated from her shoulder like a burning fire in her skin. She had amazed herself by being able to so much as walk after Halo had gotten through feeding from her.

  And what a feeding it had been! She had never felt anything so electric, so stimulating in her life. He had been underselling the experience to her when he’d so simply tossed out the term “sexual high.” It had been damn near orgasmic. If they had been in another situation, if she had been free to lose herself in the feelings, she knew she could have reached orgasm just from the feeding alone.

  She felt cheated of that. Cheated of all the luxurious sensation she should have been able to indulge in. She knew this might be the one and only time he fed from her, that he might decide to wipe her memory the moment they were somewhere safe. She knew her time with him was growing short. He would be back with his frivolous women and she would be forgotten. She took small consolation in the fact that she wasn’t likely to remember their encounter anyway.

  “When we get to this safe place,” she said drowsily, “don’t wipe my memory before I have a chance to say goodbye.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he said, a stormy frown darkening his features. “And anyway, you’ve been shot. We’ll have to wait until you’re healed to erase your memories because there’s no way even the strongest of us could implant a plausible reason for you to be shot and unable to remember it. And by then…the longer you know about us, the harder it is to erase. We’ll have to wipe out months of your life by the time you heal. Only someone as powerful as the queen could possibly pull that off.”

  “Months? I could…you’d let me remember all of this for months?”

  She was suddenly overjoyed, the idea giving her a new vigor.

  “Good,” she whispered. “Good.”

  “We shouldn’t erase your thoughts anyway. Not so long as there is an unknown threat out there for you. It wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be fair to you to leave you that vulnerable. Although…I would watch over you,” he said softly. “I will watch over you.”

  Again pleasure swirled through her, competing mightily with the pain of her shoulder. He wasn’t going to just dump her off and forget all about her. The idea pleased her far more than it should have. She had to be careful. She knew she couldn’t get attached to him. It would be setting herself up for disappointment. For heartache.

  Not that her heart was involved, she quickly told herself. It was clear he didn’t keep any long-standing friendships. Certainly not with women. Perhaps not with anyone. She felt sad for him about that. Sad that he set himself up for so lonely a lifetime.

  She had never thought she would think it, but she was glad she had been shot. The pain was worth it. She could feel the bullet embedded in the front of her shoulder, grinding every time she dared to move her arm. The pain was bracing and excruciating at the same time. But it was welcome. Anything to keep her memories intact was worth it.

  Felice felt suddenly nauseous and put a hand to her lips to fight back the sensation. Keen to her every movement, he caught the gesture and frowned at her.

  “Are you going to be sick?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, hoping it was true.

  “You’ve lost a lot of blood,” he noted.

  “So have you. You more than me.”

  “I’m a vampire,” he said dryly, as if it explained all the difference. She supposed it did.

  “I…I wanted to say…” She huffed out an exasperated breath. Why should this be so hard? She was grateful to him and she wanted him to know it. “Thank you,” she said at last.

  “Don’t thank me,” he said bitterly. “I was half the reason you were in there. I’ve used you for my own survival. I’ve used you, period.”

  It was a cold assessment of their time together, and she tried very hard not to be hurt by it. She had gone into this knowing he was not the type to form emotional attachments. She shouldn’t be feeling any herself. But they had been through so much together. Surely that had to leave some kind of impression. On him as well as her.

  “Well, I don’t feel used. And I don’t blame you for any of this. Not in the least.”

  “Well, you should,” he said darkly.

  “Don’t tell me how to feel,” she snapped at him.

  He looked over at her and after a minute he cocked half a grin at her. “Yes, ma’am. Now, tell me, do you think you can make it to the city?”

  He reached across the truck and plucked at her shirt where it clung wetly to her shoulder, clearly testing to see how much blood she had lost.

  �
�Ouch. Don’t touch it!” she protested.

  “Don’t be a baby,” he countered. “You’re tougher than that.”

  The compliment was a bit backhanded, but it pleased her in spite of that. She liked that he thought she was strong. It made her feel like she was as tough as he believed her to be, something she wouldn’t have thought of herself before all of this had begun.

  “I can make it,” she said firmly.

  “I know you can. Just let me know if you feel dizzy or any sicker than you already are. If you feel like you’re going to pass out I need to know.”

  “I’ll let you know,” she said.

  “Good girl.”

  They fell into silence and she was comfortable with it. She needed the quiet to fully process all that had happened to them. She still couldn’t believe they had made it out of that place alive. This Roth had underestimated Halo’s resourcefulness. He had thought he could bully an accomplished bully. He had thought he could hold power over an incredibly powerful man.

  Roth had depended far too much on his electronic observation and control methods. He had not counted on Halo shorting out his entire system, forcing him to come into the room blindly. It was easy to think of Roth underestimating Halo. Five to one odds with Halo nearly depleted of energy, it had seemed as though Halo would be an easy target for being subdued. It had been a miraculous escape. All pulled off by a miraculous man with a little bit of help from her.

  A very little bit.

  To her surprise, Halo reached across the seat and cupped her bare knee in his huge hand. He rubbed it soothingly. Giving her comfort. It seemed so out of character for him. And yet she had always suspected there was a softer side to him hidden somewhere deep beneath all the bluster and crudeness. She wouldn’t have given herself to him if she hadn’t thought that he was completely irredeemable.