Finding Lily

by Emma Shade

  I dashed away from the guy after me to help Jamison. I used the slick floor as an advantage and skidded closer to the guy holding Jamison’s head down. After a carefully placed kick and a pained grunt later from his assailant, my feet flew out from under me again as I lost my footing. Jamison thanked me and helped me to my feet, but we were surrounded again in seconds.

  “Where are they coming from?” I asked out of breath from exertion.

  “I don’t know. But I suggest you let those mystical powers that everyone’s so scared of come out to play, because we’re out numbered here.”

  “I’ll try.” Sparks sputtered to life along my fingers, my vision sharpened to microscopic details, and my gums ached as supernatural electricity tunneled through my body.

  Jamison chuckled. “Well, scary as you look right now, kick their ass.”

  I charged the first Enforcer close to me and wrapped my hands around his neck as Jamison attacked the one on our left. However, to much disappointment, my abilities didn’t do the damage I’d hoped. The only thing I’d accomplished was surprise and fear. He ripped me off his neck and tossed my body to the ground. I landed with an oomph.

  Paige still attempted to wound the man who’d spoken to me, but she didn’t have the advantage. With a sonic boom, the floor shook and Paige’s flailing body flew ten feet in the air. After soaring airborne, she landed hard, body splayed out on the floor and blood swelling beneath her head.

  While war raged around me, time seemed to crawl to a stop like a slow-motion action scene in a movie. My wet hair slapped my cheeks as I glanced at Jamison ripping his fangs into the neck of his assailant and then whipped my attention back to my friend’s body. Paige’s blood trickled along the floor, a steady stream accumulating in my direction.

  As the sound rushed back in, I screamed and raced towards her.

  Before my feet carried me a meager five feet, arms enclosed around my waist and lifted me in the air. Tossed over my capturer’s shoulder, I kicked and beat my fists on his back. Cold air blasted over me as he darted outside, me protesting the entire time. He continued to cart me through the parking lot and confirmed his identity as a vampire, when the surrounding buildings flashed by in a blur.

  I knew this wasn’t Jeffery or Ashton though, and the thought scared me to the core.

  Once we slowed down, I scraped my fingernails along his backside, because he’d captured my thighs so I couldn’t kick him in the face anymore. Being sure to make his trek as difficult as possible, my teeth found the meaty flesh near his shoulder.

  “God dammit, Lily! Quit being a pain in my ass! That hurt! I’m saving your dumbass!” a memorable voice cried out.

  I halted my attack, my teeth released the skin, and my lungs restricted behind my ribcage. My heart, after all it’s been through tonight, just stopped as the blood drained from my face.

  No freaking way. This had to be a hallucination or a dream. The voice, that sweet voice wasn’t real. Sam was dead.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “I’m dreaming. This isn’t real,” I muttered under my breath and shook my head. “A hallucination. That’s what this is.”

  Once the motion stopped, the desert landscape surrounded us with the bright lights of Las Vegas in the near distance. The surrounding area was quiet, not even the sound of traffic penetrated the air.

  I was placed on my feet and once I straightened, I stared directly into Sam’s blue eyes. I blinked in absolute doubt. My knees wobbled and I fell to the ground in shock, squeezing my eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening. A flashback of Sam’s broken body in the hospital bed whipped through my mind. Sam had died.

  “Lily, look at me,” Sam murmured. He crouched down and placed his fingers underneath my chin to lift my face.

  Opening my eyes, I held my breath. Tears misted along my lashes as my heart stuttered in my chest. I breathed out, “Am I dead?”

  Sam chuckled. “No, you’re not dead.”

  My hand lifted to cup his cheek and there wasn’t the normal human vibration under his skin. A tear drifted down my cheek, but not from sadness. I cried because my heart lurched in happiness and disbelief. “This can’t be happening, Sam. I have to be dreaming. You died.”

  “Well, girlfriend, I told you not to run away from your problems now didn’t I? You never know what you could miss out on.”

  “You’re a vampire. I don’t understand. How?”

  He tucked a stray hair behind my ear, and said, “Ashton changed me.”

  “What?!” I stood in a hurry and backpedalled away in anger. That lying son of a bitch!

  “Before you go and get your panties in a bunch, let me explain,” Sam said and strolled forward to close the space between us. “It was my decision to keep this from you. I made Ashton promise not to say a word. I wanted to be the one to tell you, Lily. Don’t blame him for keeping this from you.”

  “He should’ve told me, Sam! It would’ve saved me so much pain and anguish over losing you. I thought you were going to die!”

  Sam’s face contorted in irritation. Fangs protruded below his lip as he retorted, “And instead of finding out the truth and dealing with everything, you took off without so much as a goodbye. Don’t you think it hurts me that you wouldn’t have gone to my funeral if I did die? That you weren’t there while I went through hell to make sure I changed into a freaking vampire? For you.”

  Lost for words, my mouth gaped like a fish. I finally shook my head and replied, “I couldn’t face losing you. My sister was hard enough. If I hadn’t been your friend, Con wouldn’t have kidnapped you. Something inside me died when your blood splattered across my face that day. Besides, everything that happened to you is my fault. I ran to save everyone from the misfortune that follows me around like a never ending nightmare!”

  “You don’t think we can handle things thrown in our direction? Lily, we’re all stronger than you give us credit for. Besides, I don’t blame you for what happened with Con. It wasn’t you that stabbed me with a sword. It was him. It wasn’t you that physically abused me. It was him. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this!” he cried out. “Please don’t take all this unnecessary guilt and place it on your shoulders. It’s way too heavy to carry around.”

  “It is my fault. All of it.” I sighed and ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. I stared at my much alive friend and said, “Sam, I missed you. I’m glad you’re not dead.”

  “So am I, doll face. I can’t believe you ran and left me chasing after you like a lunatic. Don’t you ever do that again!” Sam insisted and pointed at me to get his point across.

  In a flash Sam wrapped me in his arms.

  Was Sam being alive what Blake had tried to tell me in the dream? I wanted to kick myself. Instead of staying to hear him out, I withdrew from the dream before I had to face him and the truth.

  I inhaled Sam’s woodsy cologne. My best friend, the one I thought I’d lost, was alive.

  All of a sudden Paige’s body splayed out with blood flashed through my mind. I pulled back and gasped. I grabbed his hand and started tugging him back in the direction we’d came.

  “She’s fine, Lily,” Sam said and pulled me to a stop. “We’ll meet up with those two back at the hotel.”

  “How did you know what I was thinking?”

  He shrugged. “I just figured that’s what you were thinking.”

  I narrowed my eyes and bit my lip in thought. “How did you know we’re meeting with more than just Paige?”

  Sam bit his lip in thought. He released it and replied, “I know that Jamison guy was helping you fight off the attackers. And I knew his name from Ashton. The guy had been sending us pictures of you for a few days.”

  “Sending you pictures?”

  “Yeah. The guy is ballsy. But, Ashton trusts him and so do I. They’ll all be meeting up in the morning. But Paige and Jamison are both okay. The Enforcers left to chase us. Of course, this guy,” he took his thumbs and curved them in the direction of his chest, “is way too smart and
fast for them.”

  “How do you know all this?” I asked, confusion plastered on my face. How did Sam know that they both are okay and that the Enforcers left the masquerade ball?

  He shrugged in response. “Hell if I know. I just do. Do you have a phone on you?”

  I glanced down to take in my semi-dried dress and realized my phone was indeed with me. I’d tucked it in my strapless bra before we left. I’d learned the hard way to not leave it out in the open in case I was kidnapped again. I pulled it out of my bra, surprised it still worked with the punch I’d been doused in.

  I held it up. “Yeah. Why?” Sam yanked it from my hands and started dialing. I tried to snatch it back from him, but he was too fast. Damn vampire speed.

  “Ashton,” Sam said, “I’ve got her. Where are you meeting Jamison?” Pause. “She’s fine. And I just knew you’d be meeting him.” Another lengthy pause. “No, I don’t think speaking with her right now is the best idea. Of course Carlotta and Jeffery are here looking for us.”

  My heart lurched. Had Ashton and Blake travelled to Las Vegas as Sam spoke to them? Or where they already here? It had only been a matter of time until they found me. I’d been fooling myself to think otherwise.

  And even though I rammed my emotions to the recess of my mind, they cracked through my hard shell like roots on a tree. My past started to collide with my present at an astronomical rate. Everything I’d pushed away, or pretended to, was going to come crashing back in like a battering ram.

  As I stared off in the distance, Sam’s voice droned behind me. I shivered and the lights of Las Vegas twinkled in the distance as if they taunted me. How far was I going to make it if I ran?

  “Don’t you think about running, Lily. I’ll chase your ass down and tackle you,” Sam warned. “You need to pull up your big girl panties and deal with shit from now on”

  “But what if I can’t find my big girl panties?” I muttered under my breath, fully aware Sam heard me when his face edged into a grin. “By the way, how did you know I thought about running?”

  Sam winked at me and continued to speak with Ashton over the phone. Finally with a huff he held the phone out in my direction and said, “Ashton wants to speak with you. He’s apparently got a boner from the opportunity to listen to your voice after all this time.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t talk to him right now,” I choked out and swallowed the lump in my throat.

  Sam sighed and placed the phone back to his hear. He wandered back and forth along the dirt and desert landscape as he talked. I observed at him walk to and fro as though I watched a volleyball bounce during a match.

  Sam had been alive this whole time. The pain I’d been holding in for so long about his supposed death shattered into tiny fragments. I fell to the dusty ground in an unceremonious heap. My damaged dress and sticky hair collected dirt and dried, brittle pebbles. I picked at them for a few minutes as I tried to shove the threatening emotions at bay. But like a tsunami, I wasn’t able stop it as my face fell into my palms. Head in my hands, I cried and tears flowed down my mascara tarnished cheeks.

  “Baby girl,” Sam murmured and lifted my tear soaked face to stare at him, “why are you crying?”

  “Everything. You’re alive. Ashton and Blake are going to come barging right back into my life. And I don’t know how to process it all.”

  With a sad smile, he said, “That’s the thing about pain. You can try to hide it all you want. But it demands to be felt.”

  I sniffled and allowed Sam to pick me up off the ground and wrap me in his arms. The tears spilled for a bit longer before I sucked it up and stared up at the sparkling stars long enough for them to disappear completely. After a few deep breaths, I pulled back enough to see Sam’s face.

  He wiped the semidry tears with the pads of his thumbs. “All better now, babe?”

  I nodded and glanced back at the lights of Las Vegas. Who knew what awaited me in a few short hours. Right now, all that had mattered was that Sam hadn’t died. And Ashton had lied to me. Again.

  *****

  Sam and I walked back into the edge of town and hailed a taxi to take us back to my hotel. The whole ride back I couldn’t stop staring at Sam, afraid I’d wake up and this was all a dream.

  My cell phone rang a few times, but Sam refused to give it back to me and powered it off instead.

  When we arrived back to the place Paige and I were staying, Sam helped me out of the taxi and paid the driver. Linking his arm in mine, he asked, “How long have you two been in Las Vegas?”

  “About a week. We’ve not even had a chance to find the person we’re after though.”

  He frowned and opened the doors for us. “I guess I didn’t think about you two girls being here for something besides fun. Who are you after?”

  “Some vampire that’s in charge of a blood and prostitution ring. For a little bit I thought it was Jamison, but not anymore. We’re pretty sure they are running Desert Sands though.”

  “Lily, I think you’re right. However, why isn’t Alistair or Jeremy here with you? It seems a little dangerous.”

  I patted his arm and smiled. “Yeah, well, believe it or not we can take care of ourselves.”

  “Except when it came to the Enforcers. I saw how that went down.”

  “Sam...”

  He squeezed my arm interrupting me as we got into the elevators. “I’m sure that you both would’ve eventually made it out on your own. But forgive me for being so protective over you. I can’t lose you now that I just got you back.”

  Letting out a long breath between my lips, I decided not to argue. I wasn’t so sure Paige, Jamison, and I would’ve made it out before one of us was seriously injured or killed. Who knew what powers the conjurer assassins had up their sleeves.

  Once in front of the hotel room, I realized I didn’t have the key. My little handbag had been left behind in the ball room somewhere during the struggle. “Sam, I don’t have the key to get in.”

  He winked and then knocked on the door.

  It flung open and Jamison stood in the threshold. His body sagged in what could only be relief and said, “Thank god, Lily. I was afraid we’d lost you. Or worse.” His eyes swung to Sam. “Who’s this?”

  “Sam?” Paige whispered and dropped a styrofoam mug she’d been holding. She stood slightly behind Jamison with her mouth gaped like a fish, liquid pooling and the mug swaying at her feet.

  “Gah. Paige, you and Lily need to see a hairdresser to fix these horrible dye jobs. What were the two of you thinking?” Sam said, shaking his head.

  “W-what? How...did you...h-how?” Paige stuttered and blinked a few times. “Am...am I dead or in a coma?

  Sam tilted his head back with a laugh. “That’s almost the exact same thing that came out of Lily’s mouth. Can we come in or are we going to stand in the hallway while you gawk at me the rest of the night?”

  Jamison moved so we could enter the room, his brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s going on?”

  Once inside and the door was locked behind him, Sam held out his hand and shook Jamison’s hand. “I’m Sam Arbor. Paige and Lily’s long lost friend. Don’t worry, I’m the good guy. Ashton and Blake should be here in the next hour or so and they can vouch for me.”

  Paige’s feet thudded against the carpet as she ran and tossed herself in Sam’s arms. I barely avoided being thrown out of the way in the meantime. Her hands ran over his face and arms in disbelief, making sure he was really here. She said, “I thought I’d hit my head a little too hard and was hallucinating.” Then she slapped Sam across the face. “Don’t ever do that again. And how in the world did you live long enough to become a vampire?”

  “It’s not like that was the original plan, Paige,” Sam replied and rubbed his cheek where her hand connected. “Ashton and I already had this mapped out in case something happened to me, but we never expected it to be like that.”

  At the mention of Ashton having a secret pact with Sam, irritation filtered through again. It
wasn’t like Sam had been able to tell me, but Ashton sure as hell could have. The fact that he’d lied to me and let me suffer with the thought Sam had died, was almost unforgivable. Even though Sam hadn’t wanted me to be mad about it, I still was.

  As though Sam felt my anger, he turned to face me with an exhale. “Lily, I told you not to be mad at Ashton for keeping the secret. He made a promise to me.”

  “Yeah, well, he made a promise to be truthful with me too. For somebody who supposedly loved me, I don’t think that’s holding up to his promise.” I said, and stormed off to grab some clean clothes. “I’m taking a shower to wash this stupid punch and dirt off of me.”

  Sam snatched my arm on the way to the bathroom. “Please don’t do this. I made him swear to me, Lily.”

  I shook my head in frustration and freed my arm.

  Without replying to his statement, I shut the bathroom door and locked it behind me. After starting the shower and stripping down, I gritted my teeth in anger.

  Ashton may have sworn to Sam that he wouldn’t say a word about their pact, but I was worth more than a lie. Blake never lied to me.

  On the other hand, I couldn’t expect people to be perfectly truthful when I was far from it when it came to Blake and Ashton. Even though I knew there’d be no stopping the two men from barging back into my life after I’d ran, I promised myself I wasn’t going continue this tug of war with their hearts or mine.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  ASHTON

  The plane landed at the McCarran International Airport around five in the morning. Gary secured the aircraft and we exited the tarmac. Blake had booked our stay at Indigo Casino, compliments of Jamison Masters.

  A limo awaited us and as soon as the both of us took our seats, Blake’s phone started ringing incessantly, to which he ignored and silenced each time. I was so on edge at the thought of seeing Liliana that I jumped every time the phone rang.