But if he didn’t know the truth yet, he soon would. If Roxy had her way.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as Lockwood pulled into the parking garage behind the condo.
This time, there was no long line of limos waiting to drop off or pick up vampire guests, no party in progress.
“It’s almost six,” Gregory said, glancing at his watch. “Not long until sunrise.”
“I want you two to stay in the car,” Mill said to Gregory and Laura. “With Lockwood. He’ll get you out of here if things get hairy.”
“What about Cassie?” Laura asked, eyeing me nervously.
“I’ll protect her,” Mill replied. Then he turned his eyes on me. “Are you ready?”
My ribs were good and bruised, if not broken, I’d cracked a finger, and cuts and scrapes covered my entire body. I was going to need a doctor at the end of all of this. Assuming Mom and Dad didn’t kill me.
If I made it home again.
No. Not if. When.
But whatever state I was in, I was going to fight. So I said to Gregory and Laura, “Listen to Mill. We’ll see you guys soon, okay?”
They both nodded at me, their eyes huge.
I didn’t wait to hear a reply. If either tried to argue me out of it—well, we were here, on Lord Draven’s doorstep, and I was about to risk everything.
Mill had clambered out. He was already digging through his gear in the trunk. He had a handful of holy water vials, and a few stakes poked out of his pocket. I joined him, re-examining the trunk’s contents. Adding to the stake in my hair, I grabbed a few more, slipping them into my waist band. I wished I was wearing my jeans, but at least Mill’s pajama bottoms were easier to move in.
I also took one of the last bottles of holy water, as well as a Molotov cocktail.
“Don’t get into an up-close fight with them,” Mill said. He placed a lighter in my hand and picked up a Molotov for himself. “You’re injured.”
“I know,” I said.
Mill slammed the trunk closed.
I followed him back out to the street and the front of the condo—
Roxy’s shrieking laugh echoed into the pre-dawn light, down the empty streets.
“There you are, Bestie,” she said. She was walking down the sidewalk toward where Mill and I were standing.
Ivan was following close behind, and I gasped when I saw him supporting Xandra underneath her arms, bound and gagged with strips torn from a sheet.
“Xandra!” I shouted.
Mill put his arm out, stopping me from going any closer.
She stared at me with wide, horrified eyes, her bright blue hair tangled and askew. A cut on her forehead oozed blood, a smear of it across one eyebrow—where one of her captors had licked it, I realized with a sickening churn of my stomach.
Ivan tossed her aside as if she were a ragdoll, and she hit the sidewalk, hard.
“Your little friend here has been most amusing,” Roxy said, hands on her slender hips. “Brave too, which I am sure you’ll be happy to hear. Called us some names. Ivan didn’t take it too well when she spat in his face, though.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Xandra, who was struggling against her bonds, attempting to roll over. “That’s how she got her that little souvenir on her face.”
I pushed against Mill’s arm, but he held me in place. My heart hammered against my chest.
“Let me go!”
“Stop,” Mill hissed at me.
Okay. Charging stupidly into the vampires and their superior strength was probably not smart. Fair point to Mill. I changed tacks. “So you ran back to Draven with your tail between your legs, huh?” I shouted. Blood still surged in my ears, my vision turning red.
Roxy snickered. “I’m not an idiot, Elizabeth. Or should I say … Cassie?”
My heart sank. She knew my real name.
“I take it by the looks of you that you caught up with our sweep team?” Roxy asked. “There was really no need. We already came here to turn ourselves in. Draven prizes knowledge above anything, and we knew that giving him the name of the vampire—I’m sorry, human—who killed Theo—well, it’d allow us to walk away scot-free.”
Mill growled, and I gritted my teeth.
“Gotta admit, you fooled me. There was something mysterious about you, and it intrigued me.” She glowered at me. “Angered me, sure. Lots of people do that on first blush, though. I thought you were different. Special. I guess that my gut was right, though; there was something off about you.”
“Your buddies lapped it up,” I said. “Benjy and Charlie especially. They just loved me. To death.”
Hate flashed in her eyes, and her hands curled into fists. “How dare you speak their names.”
“Why so sensitive?” I asked. “Did somebody die?”
Roxy snarled and started to move toward me, but Ivan grabbed her arm. “We have the advantage here,” he said almost so low I missed it.
Roxy wrenched her wrist from his grip, and then turned her glossy gaze back onto me.
“You came crawling back to us,” she said. “And I’m glad you made my job so easy. Once I get rid of your boyfriend—” she looked pointedly at Mill, “—I’ll be taking you up to see Lord Draven. Giving you over to him as peace offering, you understand. Get back in his good graces. I hoped maybe it could go differently—maybe we’d turn you, that you’d see things my way, that we could be besties, but …” She shook her head. “It’s not worth the risk, running with you.”
“And to think you and your little gang were so excited to party with me earlier tonight,” I said. “You were so brave. What happened to all of that talk about overthrowing Draven? About how much you hated him and his rules?”
“I’m smart enough to realize that staying on Draven’s good side means protection, long life, and freedom. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just showing themselves as a fool.”
“So you’re scared?” I asked. “Afraid of an old man?”
“You have no idea what you talking about,” Roxy snapped back. “Draven has more power than most vampires combined. He’s lived a long time. He knows everything.”
She exhaled and pushed her hands away from herself as if to clear her way. “But that isn’t why we’re here,” she said, her voice calmer. “It’s time for you to pay for what you’ve done. You’ve caused so much trouble for us, Cassie. You’ve taken away … my dear ones.” Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Roxy took a few steps toward us.
Mill’s hand gripped my shoulder more tightly.
“Do you know what that means for you?” She smiled, but there was no joy in it. “War, Cassie. You have declared war on the vampires of Tampa.” She threw back her head and laughed into the waning night.
I was glad she was as shallow as Mill had said she was, because while she was talking, I’d slowly pulled the lighter from my pocket, and unscrewed the Molotov cocktail bottle.
As she cackled, I flicked the lighter three times before the heat of the flame pressed against my hand. I heard the crackle of the flame as the fire took to the fabric tucked inside the bottle and pulled it from behind my back.
And then I chucked it into the air.
All of our eyes watched it sail through the air. Roxy’s laugh died in her throat, and Xandra screamed against her gag.
The bottle soared past them and shattered against the sidewalk. Golden light flooded the street.
Missed.
Roxy shrieked another hearty laugh—and then started toward us.
Mill clenched his teeth. “Good try,” he said—and then launched himself at Ivan.
Chapter 35
Their fight from the airport resumed with a vengeance. Dialed all the way to eleven, they were a flurry of blurred movements, thrown punches and kicks and grapples and clawing rakes that I could barely follow. Ivan and Mill went at each other like two men who’d never hated anyone more in their lives, totally focused on each other.
Which meant I had to deal with Roxy.
“So, Besti
e,” she said, taking a step toward me. A wide grin played on her face. “Looks like it’s just you and me now.”
I snuck a glance over at Xandra. She’d managed to prop herself up so that she could watch what was happening.
I had to get close to her. If I could reach her, then maybe—
“You do know that Ivan is the best fighter on my team, right?” She directed an appreciative look toward him. “He trained in Japan for almost a hundred years, honing his craft.” Her lips pursed. “Though I must say, Mill is quite the fighter too. I wonder who he trained with.”
We circled around each other slowly, a slowly rotating top.
Roxy’s eyes glowed with murder. She intended to hurt me, and it wasn’t just because she was a vampire and I was human.
No. This was personal. Like with Byron.
Circling, I knew she wouldn’t let her guard down now, not even for an instant. That Molotov cocktail had been the last gap I’d find, the last opening she’d inadvertently give me.
So how in the hell was I going to win this?
Not alone. I needed Mill. Which meant he needed to beat Ivan … and I needed to stall.
“Valiant Cassie,” Roxy murmured, about to spring. “Savior of humans. Friend of vampires who have turned their back on their brethren.” Her face was growing clearer, and I wondered if my fear was giving me ultra-sharp vision, because of the adrenaline or whatnot.
But it wasn’t that. The sky overhead was growing brighter, with the grey light of dawn bleeding into the black from below the horizon.
“You aren’t going to win, Cassie,” Roxy said. “Your friend over there is losing. I know you can see it, too.”
She was right. I glanced at Mill, feeling like I must be watching a bad movie. It all felt so unreal. It had to be dream. He was flagging. Ivan pressing his advantage, and Mill was barely holding him off.
“Dawn may be coming, but you’ll be dead before then,” Roxy said. “How sad, to die after everything you fought so hard for tonight. You almost—kinda—made it.”
I had fought for a lot last night. And even as the clouds overhead grew clearer, brighter by the minute, dawn wasn’t coming fast enough.
And I wasn’t going to see it.
I watched as if through a window as Roxy pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a few pictures of Mill and Ivan as they fought. She giggled, giving me a wide berth—because this taunting pause was not my chance, she was keeping well clear of me, and her reflexes were much faster than mine if I did try to make my move.
“Draven will want to see these. Seeing this murderer and traitor ripped to shreds will bring some joy into his sad little life,” she said.
“And maybe spare you a staking,” I added.
She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “A worthy cause, you gotta admit.”
Then she held up her phone high over her head, turned her back on me, and switched it over to selfie mode.
“Say cheese, girls!” Roxy cried. She winked at the camera, laughing.
I could see my slight form in the corner, my hands at my side, clenched into fists. I was disgusting. Covered in black blood, my hair hanging in my face, and my clothing torn. Xandra was lying off to the side, peering up at the camera.
“I think I’ll hashtag these ‘bloodknights.’ Or maybe even ‘blooddays,’” Roxy said. “All my Instaphoto followers really love to see my little adventures. They’ll be super interested about the fact that I managed to get my hands on two humans. But the after photos …” She turned back to me, eyes glowing, her teeth showing. “Those, I probably won’t be able to post.”
She lowered her phone. “It’s too bad I won’t be able to turn you, Cassie. It would have been fun to make you my bestie slave for all eternity. Dress you up in cute outfits. Make you catch our human snacks.” She sighed. “Maybe Draven will let me come and take you out for a night once in a while.” She snickered. “If there’s anything left of you to take out.”
What would Draven to do me? Images of blood and collars and fangs and death filled my mind. Would he keep me as a pet? Or would he turn me himself?
I doubted he’d just kill me. He wouldn’t be able to prove anything that way.
No, Draven was a politician. He’d use me as an example. Tour me around like a trophy.
I swallowed hard and pushed those thoughts out of my head.
“But your friend?” Roxy said, pointing at Xandra. “The police are going to find her body in a dumpster.”
And like that, I snapped.
I reached into the pocket of my pants, grabbed a vial of holy water, tossed it—
And Roxy caught it effortlessly out of the air. She smirked at me. “Really? You didn’t think that would work, did you?”
I glanced over at Xandra who was thrashing on the ground as if she were having a seizure. She was howling over her gag.
“Xandra!” I cried and took a step toward her.
And then Roxy was between us, appearing in a blur of motion.
She grinned. “Uh, uh, uh,” she said, wagging a finger in my face.
I tried to peer over her shoulder and saw Xandra looking up at me. Her face was stained with tears, and I could see her desire to live. It was all there.
My heart constricted.
Roxy sneered, and turned her attention back to the fight between Mill and Ivan. Unable to match her speed or think of a way to fight her off, I did the same.
Mill tossed another punch. It was a slow, a great struggle. Pain pulled at his face, twisting his features.
Black, tarry, stinking blood stained the ground. His feet danced over it, dodging Ivan’s blow—but it was too late, the ground too slick. Ivan sidelined the punch easily at the same moment as Mill slipped—
Then he drove his fist into Mill’s gut again, right into the same spot he had wounded him earlier.
Time slowed. Mill teetered, doubling over.
A scream wrenched the air, and it wasn’t until it was fading that I realized it had come out of my mouth.
Mill fell to the ground, landing on his knees, with a thud that echoed across the street.
He had lost.
I had lost.
It was over.
I was going to die.
Chapter 36
I remembered when I was really young, maybe no older than five or six, and my dad took me to a state park to see all of different colored leaves in the autumn. The air was crisp, the scent of a distant bonfire underlining it.
The most picturesque place in the park was on the path that followed the cliff alongside a river, which was fed by a lofty, wide waterfall in the distance. Rainbows danced in the spray. It was the most magical place I had ever been.
We were walking, hand in hand, and I was chewing on a candy apple, the caramel gluing my teeth together. Children were laughing, dogs barking, and the constant thrum of the crashing water filled the air.
Dad told me to stand up on a stone beside the river to get a picture. He said I was too cute, holding my apple with caramel on my nose and my hair in pigtails.
I stood on that rock, hoping he would get the picture soon so I could keep eating.
But the spray from the falls had coated the rock I stood on, making it slick. I tried to reposition my foot, but I slipped—
That fear that I felt, that paralyzing, heart-stopping terror as I plummeted from the rock and into the frigid, raging river stuck with me for my entire life. It was a frequent uninvited guest in my dreams, and up until I met Byron, that memory had been the most frightening moment of my life.
That falling feeling came back to me now, the complete loss of control, the inability to stop any of it.
Roxy was laughing maniacally as Mill tried to crawl away from Ivan, who kicked him in the side, knocking him over onto his face.
I clutched my chest, wishing I could rip my heart out. It was beating so hard now it was painful.
I pulled another bottle of holy water out of my pocket, unstopped it, and threw the open bott
le as hard as I could at her.
The water bounced across her back and raced down it like rainwater.
She stopped laughing, and for a second, I thought it had hurt her.
She wheeled around, looking over her shoulder, and saw the vial on the ground, shattered. The water dripped onto the ground from the back of her jacket.
Looking up at me, she smirked. No damage done whatsoever, and—
I was out of holy water.
That left my stakes.
I tore one from my waist and charged across the distance to Roxy. I threw myself onto her back, screaming like a hyena, and wrapped my arms around her neck.
Roxy bucked like a bull, and I clung on even harder.
She wrapped her icy, stony fingers around my wrist, and pulled them away from her neck as if I were nothing more than a scarf.
My stomach clenched as she hurled me across the sidewalk, right near the road.
For the second time that night, I yelled in pain as my skin scraped against the hard ground. Blood streaked. Grit stung.
I rolled over and pushed myself up onto my hands, locating Roxy as quickly as I could.
She apparently didn’t consider me a threat. Her back was to me again, and the stake I had been holding was on the ground at her feet. The others that had been tucked into my waistband were gone, apparently lost when I fell.
I was weaponless, aside from the stake in my hair. Of all of the weapons that filled Mill’s trunk, I was down to my single, trusty stake.
History sure had a way of repeating itself, didn’t it?
Roxy didn’t care about me because she was far more interested in Mill and Ivan’s fight, which was at its end. Ivan was just laughing now, going after Mill with cruelty, pushing the pain to him now that he’d beaten him.
“Mill …” I whispered, my lip trembling.
Xandra cried out against her gag, and I looked over at her.
She nodded her head back toward the alley where we had parked.
I looked around but didn’t see anything.
“I don’t understand—”
Mill shrieked with pain, and tears spilled out of my eyes.
Someone Should Save Her Page 16
