“What about that hellhound of yours?”
“You know what he is?” I sputtered.
“What? Little human, I’ve been around a long time. I know that male, and because of that, I wouldn’t dare harm you. Not if I want to live, which I can assure you that I do. But…” His nose caressed my neck. I hated the feel of him touching me. “You are very tempting, and after all, it’s been days.”
“Olezka wouldn’t want you to touch me, let alone drink from me,” I warned.
“You’re using him as a shield already, yet he hasn’t even… claimed you,” Effie whispered as his hand tightened around my hip.
I saw a flicker of movement down the hallway and recognized Ana’s slender form. “Ana!”
Effie jerked when I screamed her name. I hoped she could hear me. When her head swiveled as if searching the area, I knocked on the window.
“She won’t hear you,” Effie said, gliding away from me and allowing me to breathe. Thankful for the space, I remained glued to the window and watched for any movement. Ana had disappeared, and I couldn’t hear anything outside the room.
“Crap.”
“Is she gone?”
“No.”
“You might be considered a decent liar among your human counterparts, but I can smell your deceit a mile away,” Effie said.
“Well, it’s rude to smell people,” I muttered. I stepped away from the door and stood in the furthest corner away from Effie. He sat on the flat and very uncomfortable looking metal table located in the center of the room. A jumble of shiny buckles and chains hung from it. Hopefully, Effie’s fear of Olezka was greater than his desire to get revenge on me for tasing him.
“Since we’re giving lessons on manners, it’s rude to lead insane humans who want to harvest para blood for their own gain straight to a para’s front door.”
“So that’s for sure what they’ve been doing. But…why?” My mind started to wonder.
“Yes, little human. It’s why they put you in here. They were hoping that your fear and blood would entice me, therefore heating my blood and making it more delectable so they could siphon it off to build their little drug,” Effie explained.
“Are you talking about those two humans out there?” Something didn’t feel right. Why did I feel like I was missing a crucial element?
“Well, they must be getting outside help because I wasn’t brought in by humans,” Effie sniffed disdainfully as if the idea of an ancient vampire like him being captured by weak humans was laughable.
“Can you hear anything out there?” I asked.
Effie remained silent for a moment with his head cocked. A strange smile spread across his face the instant before he lunged at me. I squealed and threw my hands up to try to fend him off, but he was too strong.
“Get off! What the hell are you doing?”
“Payback.” Effie tucked his face between my shoulder and neck.
Squeaking, I tried to pull away from him as he ran his tongue against my neck. Just then, the door burst open hard enough to leave an indention in the wall behind it.
I screamed, which caused him to latch down on my neck.
Chapter 30
A thunderous roar pierced the small room, followed by the splintering of the door. My scream became mangled as Effie was torn away. I reached a hand to my neck just to reassure myself that he hadn’t drawn blood, but before I could, a warm, calloused hand brushed over my neck. Feeling dazed, I glanced up to see beautiful amber eyes staring back at me.
“You found us,” I whispered, a warm feeling spreading throughout my body.
“Sixx.” Olezka leaned down, his lips capturing mine before I could even breathe.
The combination of his overwhelming presence and the security of him taking control in a situation that had lost all of it was overwhelming. I melted. Reacting without thought, I pressed my body against his, parting my lips to meet his eager advances. My body burned when his hand gently gripped my waist. He pulled away, pressing his forehead against mine.
“Zhizn’ moya, never again.”
“Never,” I promised. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted out of this cell, far from Effie, far from the two humans who had been producing Dreamscape. For a moment as I stood in Olezka’s grasp, the events of the past day felt very far away. I felt safe.
“We will be discussing this; do not doubt that,” Olezka said as he brushed his finger over the curve of my cheek. I smiled up at him. Then, his expression darkened. He straightened to his full, impressive height before tucking me behind his back protectively.
“And you…” Olezka’s body exploded with flames. They danced around my body, warming me, caressing but never burning me. “You will die for touching my mate.”
“Olezka!” I slapped his back, but he didn’t react in the slightest.
“Trust me, I only meant to taunt her. You bursting in scared her, which made me react on instinct,” Effie answered primly.
“Sixx?” Ana called.
What happened outside? Ana is here, Olezka is here. Who else is here?
“In here!” I answered. “Olezka, let me by.”
“Nyet.”
“Olezka!” I pushed against him. “Did you guys get Scott and Doug? What’s going on?”
“Move, you big oaf.” Ana pushed Olezka’s shoulder, effectively moving him when I could not. She hugged me, but we didn’t move from behind Olezka’s hulking shadow.
“What happened?”
“I’m so sorry, Sixx. If I’d known they were going to put you in a room with Effie, of all people, I would have broken you out first. When the lights came on as we stepped out of the elevator and the two humans saw you, I used a glamour spell so they couldn’t see me. But your idiot boyfriend here busted in with Kallan’s magic a’ flaring, accompanied by a whole gang of paras with guns and powers blazing. Whatever. Kinda unnecessary, if you ask me,” Ana said, rolling her eyes.
“So, you have Doug, Scott, and…” Why do I feel like I’m missing a crucial puzzle piece?
“It was just the two of them. They confessed to using para blood in order to enhance Dreamscape. Your boyfriend’s team is taking them into custody as we speak.”
“This is not something we need to discuss right now. We will be leaving now,” Olezka said, glancing over his shoulder at us. The look in his eye promised we would be having a rather serious talk.
“I think that’s a great idea. I really want to go to bed,” I admitted.
The events of last night and tonight had taken their toll on me, and now that I was safe, my body wanted to shut down. The adrenaline that had kept me moving had pushed out of my system and left me feeling exhausted.
“Hey, we’re safe now, right? We’re good?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Ana responded, looking like she had enough energy to go another three rounds.
Unfortunately, this sidekick was done.
“’Kay, cool,” I mumbled weakly. My eyes rolled back in my head and darkness took over.
****
“This is normal for humans?” someone asked, poking my cheek. I sleepily swatted their hand away.
“Well, she was drugged. Someone used mind control to make her return to the place where she was drugged. Then she was taken and thrown into a cell with a vampire who wasn’t too happy with her the last time she saw him since she tased him in the balls. So, yeah, I guess this would be normal for a human in that situation.”
“You should have released her from her cell,” a voice whispered, soft lips brushing against my ear. Instead of tickling me, my heart pounded. A contented growl rumbled against my back. “Sixx, you are awake.”
“Yeah, because you guys won’t shut up.”
Roman replied dryly, “It’s not our fault your friend will not allow my brat to take you back to his room.”
“I think you need to stop taking such liberties with my friend!” Ana replied hotly.
“Well, I think you shouldn’t have stolen my bike!” Roman roared.
&n
bsp; I opened my eyes to see Roman alight with flames, looking utterly pissed off. The world seemed to be tilting sideways, and I saw a coffee table in front of my face.
“This was our compromise,” Olezka said.
“How so?” I muttered, trying to sit up and scoot away from Olezka. He didn’t budge; instead, he moved with me, keeping me close and moving me to sit on his lap. Ana stood toe-to-toe with Roman as they practically growled at each other.
“Ana wanted to take you home. I refused. I wanted to take you to my room, lock you inside forever, and keep you safe. Especially since, for some reason, you have an unnatural ability to walk straight into danger. But your friend refused. This was our compromise.”
“Hey! I didn’t mean to walk straight into danger as you so eloquently put it. I don’t even remember leaving the house.”
“Yes, I know. We believe that was an unknown side effect of Dreamscape. Unfortunately, we also believe the Nova office building was only one of the locations they used to produce the drug. We believe it is interconnected with something else.”
Olezka nuzzled against my neck in the same place where Effie had bitten down. I wanted to brush my fingers over the skin to see if it was unblemished. I seemed to remember Effie claiming he didn’t break the skin.
“You are safe, Sixx,” Olezka promised, brushing his fingers over my curves. Suddenly, I was stricken by the fact that I wasn’t a small girl and was probably killing his legs. I wiggled to get off his lap, but Olezka tightened his grip and grunted.
“Oh my God, did I hurt you?” I asked, mortified.
“Stop,” Olezka growled, pressing his forehead into my back. His body’s reaction to me was suddenly evident, but before I could truly process it, someone cleared their throat. We both stiffened.
I looked up to see Ana tapping her foot with folded arms.
“Well, look who’s wide awake now.”
I tried to jump off Olezka’s lap, but he held me firm.
“Maybe we should get some Pina Coladas,” I proposed through clenched teeth.
Ana just smiled at me. “Nah, I think we’re good.”
“So says you, who’s not hiding a boner,” I muttered under my breath. Olezka grunted in response.
“Let your girl go. Dinner is almost done,” Roman chastised as he stomped out of the living room.
Ana remained where she was, raising a brow. I shrugged. “We are so talking after dinner,” she declared gleefully.
Once Ana trailed after Roman in the kitchen, Olezka finally let me stand, but he grabbed my hand before I could leave. “A moment, Sixx.”
I decided that I preferred him calling me any of his various Russian pet names because when he said my name, he said it like a purr. Desire fluttered through me at the sound.
I looked down at Olezka, truly seeing him for the first time since I woke up. His five o’clock shadow had become a full-grown beard. Dark circles weighed heavily under his eyes. Maybe I should consider letting him lock me up for a week just so he can relax. My poor hellhound. Shaking off that thought, I lifted my arm and brushed my fingers through his hair. He turned his head into the palm of my hand, nipping me carefully before kissing away the sting.
“You need to rest, Olezka.”
“I will tonight if you will join me.”
I smiled. “We’ll talk about it after dinner. Come on, I’m starving.” I grabbed his hand and tried to tug him upward, but he tugged me back.
“I was scared of losing you, Sixx. Of you getting hurt.”
I sighed. “I can guarantee you that I’m not normally the type to rush into danger. I’m a planner. But Ana provided a good argument for staying to investigate, and that’s not something I can easily refuse.”
“Should such an issue arise again, will you call me? Will you trust me?”
“I will.”
Olezka gave me a weird look before standing and towering over me.
“Not yet, you don’t. But you will. Come, let’s eat.”
****
Olezka and Roman remained in the kitchen after dinner, cleaning up while Ana and I headed to the living room to relax. I learned that Timur hadn’t returned to the house after he found me drugged up, wandering in the lower levels of the Nova building. His brothers didn’t seem too concerned. Ana kept quiet about what happened between Erebus, me, and her and asked me to keep it that way. I agreed because she asked.
We each had a drink in our hand, and a piece of pie with two forks sat on the coffee table.
“So, what exactly did,” Ana paused for a moment, checking the room to ensure we were alone, “Erebus say to you?” Ana asked as she took another sip of her beer.
I thought back to the night it happened. They told me that I had slept through the rest of the evening and the whole next day, still riding out the effects of Dreamscape. I had taken on powers that were akin to Roman and Olezka’s rarog side. Apparently, the fireballs I was flinging were made of hellfire, about a hundred times hotter than normal para-produced fire. Though he didn’t say it, I could tell Olezka was upset with that bit of information. Before, he assumed the side effect was due to some type of time-limited magic that replicated magic to which I’d recently been exposed. But after learning they were using para blood to create Dreamscape, it meant one of theirs was in there. Or had been, because none of the prisoners they released were rarog.
Part of me thought that was the reason for the emptiness I felt. The knowledge that my momentary strength was the result of stealing blood and magic from others.
Before I could mull too long over that aspect of my predicament, Ana jumped to the next topic, telling me how Olezka came storming in to save the day with a squad from the para-police force. Since it was the middle of the night, the illicit drug operation should have been in full swing, but they only found Doug and Scott. Olezka said it was highly probable that the paras who worked with them were tipped off. Erebus obviously knew the authorities would be coming, which was why he created his little portal and zipped away before getting caught. He probably hoped to pin the entire operation on the hapless humans left behind.
After checking in with us following the bust, Kallan remained behind at Nova to see if he could figure out the rest of the details.
We all struggled with an explanation for why I left in the middle of the night. The last thing I remembered was my stomach growling and feeling the sudden urge to find something to eat. Then, I woke up inside Nova with Erebus holding me in a crushing grip. I didn’t know what the Sentinel would do with Scott and Doug. Or Erebus, if they found him.
“I’m not sure. I don’t know what language it was, to be honest.”
“Try me.”
I frowned as I tried to remember the exact wording he’d used.
“He said, ‘Bidh mi a ’tighinn air mo shon mo charaid.’ I think I butchered it, though.” I may have gotten the pronunciation wrong, but something about the words strung together felt right. Every time I thought about Erebus’s closeness, it unsettled me. Not just because I believed he was the brains of the operation but also because of the way his words sounded. Like a promise. Like this would not be the last time we saw him.
“Where did you hear that?” Olezka snapped, his eyes raging as he stomped into the room.
Oh, boy. I thought we were going to have a peaceful evening for once.
“Um, nowhere?”
“Where, Sixx?”
“Um…”
“What does it mean?” Ana interrupted.
“It means… someone is trying to claim my mate,” Olezka snapped.
“Oh… shitballs.”
To Be Continued…
Join Sixx in her next adventure: The Sidekick Chronicles: Sixx and the Fae
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Stuff about the Author
Becca Vincenza lives in wonderful Michigan. She has an obsession with candy, her animals, and of course books. When she's not wearing her author hat, she's working to pay off her student loans for her acquired English degree.
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The Sidekick Chronicles: Sixx and the Hellhound Page 20
