Darkfell Vampire Clan Boxset, page 4
My feet shuffled forward while my brain tried to process what was happening. Out of the whole bloody scene, only Luthor’s outstretched hand made sense, and I grasped it like it was my last chance. “Don’t look down, watch Cyrus, and keep hold of my hand.”
Cyrus’s rough warning floated back to us as I picked my way through the bodies. “I don’t mind clearing the way, but we still have to breach the outer walls.”
He sounded worried, and I wondered if I was imagining the hungry glow in his eyes, which seemed to grow brighter every time he looked at me. “I haven’t fed in decades. I don’t have the juice for it.”
“I’ll take care of the wards,” Luthor said, his hand tightening around mine.
Then blood-splattered walls blurred, my stomach lurching as we moved with incredible speed down one corridor then the next, diverting around bodies sprawled in our way, my stomach struggling to catch up to my brain, feeling car-sick from the momentum.
We reached the end of the corridor and faced something like what Luthor had made. An impenetrable wall of black fog obscured everything, and the closer we got, the tendrils reached toward us, as if they had a mind of its own.
“This is what keeps the prison hidden from human eyes,” Luthor explained before he released me.
“Don’t you think Viktor has used your magic for long enough?” Cyrus growled, his voice so low I shivered. “Maybe it’s time to take it back.”
Stepping almost up to the fog, Luthor raised his hands and spoke softly. Like my captor, his words seemed magically amplified, and I watched the tendrils reach toward him… then disappear straight into his hand.
As if they were being absorbed back into their source.
A door replaced the wall of blackness, its hinges rusted and rotten and dripping with slimy mold. Luthor hobbled forward, me in tow, while Cyrus took up position behind us. I didn’t want him at my back, but I wasn’t staying in here a second longer.
“Ready to taste free air, Cyrus?”
“Ready, Commander.”
Everything blurred again, and my stomach churned like I was carsick, but when cool humid air hit my face, I knew we were still in Louisiana.
North of Lake Pontchartrain, maybe, from the boggy-dead-fish smell. Old oaks dripping in moss came into focus as we skidded to a stop, and Luthor steadied me with a hand clamped around my arm.
Ahead, in the middle of the clearing, someone was waiting.
8
LUTHOR
“Carpathian.”
The King’s name burst from my mouth like a curse, and I slowed, holding the girl firmly so our sudden stop—from high velocity to standing still—didn’t hurt her. I swayed on my good leg, and Viktor, his blond hair pulled back, grinned at my weakness.
I shouldn’t be surprised he was waiting for us.
I found it odd he had no guards with him, but maybe they were all dead.
“Fontaine.” He was arrogantly confident, believing I couldn’t get past him in my current condition. He would have been right. But I’d just fed from a queen.
“I received word there was trouble. Imagine my surprise, when they said you were escaping. I came down to see if the rumor was true. I was curious why, after all these years. And you decided to play the hero.” His voice turned curious. “Come forward, girl, let me get a better look.”
She tugged against my hold as Viktor compelled her to move, forcing her body to obey her hijacked mind. She tried to fight him, but there was no way she could resist.
Reluctantly, I overrode his compulsion with my own, shielding her from his assault, and she stopped fighting me.
Viktor’s eyes widened, then narrowed as he realized my scent was different.
That’s right. I’ve fed, and now I’m a viable threat.
“Cyrus.” The King’s gaze went over my shoulder, his face tightening as he realized there were two of us. “I see you’re recovering nicely.”
“As nicely as can be expected, Viktor, given you tried to saw my head off a week ago.”
“Anything to shut you up.”
Beside me, the girl went rigid; surprise and fear rolled off her in sheets. While I could keep her safely behind me, I couldn’t stop her from listening, nor processing this improbable conversation. There’d be questions to answer later, if we escaped this clearing alive.
“There’s two of us, Viktor, and your guards are dead.”
The King gave a careless shrug. “Dead, yes, but what are you, really? Hopelessly damaged. A starving vampire barely able to control his hunger. Don’t let go of your little human, Luthor. Cyrus will eat her alive.”
Indeed, he was right. Cyrus was starving, his hunger made worse by his recent healing, and though we were friends, no amount of loyalty overrode a vampire’s appetite.
Viktor flicked his hand our way, and the girl whimpered as a long, deep wound opened up on her arm.
Immediately, her sweet-blood scent filled the small clearing, the fragrance of jasmine and honey causing saliva to explode in my mouth. Behind us, Cyrus’s growl was deep and menacing. Ravenous.
But Cyrus wasn’t my worry.
It was the way Victor’s face slackened for an instant.
He knew.
One breath and he knew everything.
Why I was escaping. Why I’d taken the risk. Who she was.
Everything.
I was trapped in my body, watching everything, capable of doing nothing.
The second I heard the blond vampire’s voice in my head, I tried to stop my feet from moving toward him. I fought wildly against his Come here girl command, which offended me at every level.
I recognized Viktor as a threat, yet was helpless to stop myself. But then his compulsion was replaced by something even stronger.
Luthor’s.
Luthor made my feet stop moving. He took away Viktor’s horrible compelling control, and my body relaxed. There was a steady calmness to Luthor’s stewardship over me, as if I was wrapped up in his arms, and he was keeping me safe.
But I still couldn’t react as a burning pain sliced down my arm.
Nor run, and when Cyrus growled behind me, deep and menacing, my heart beat rabbit-fast.
Arrogance radiated from Viktor, as if he was accustomed to everyone in his vicinity being on their knees.
I couldn’t move, but I could hate just fine.
I hated the coldness in his eyes, hated the way he mocked Luthor’s bad leg. Hated that he taunted Cyrus, while eyeing me like a side of beef.
“Well, well, well. It looks like all my reaping finally paid off. Aren’t you a pretty little thing?”
Viktor sprang with a flash of fangs, but before he reached me, Luthor intercepted him.
They collided, and I tumbled to the ground as my invisible bonds disappeared. I landed on my stomach and blinked as Luthor grappled with Viktor, their mouths filled with impossibly long teeth, the fight turning into a blur as they moved faster and faster.
Behind me, Cyrus growled again, hot breath skimming the back of my neck as I crawled away, my progress stopped as he pinned me easily with one hand, then flipped me over so we were nose to nose.
Inches away, I clearly saw the mirror-like sheen in his eyes, the long, deadly curve of his fangs, the slackness to his face that told me the joking, insolent side of him had been replaced by a ravenous animal.
“Cyrus.” I tried to think of what Luthor had said to get his attention before, but my thoughts were like spider silk, too flimsy to take hold. “Please, Cyrus. Please don’t hurt me.” I tightened my fingers around the rock, eyeing those deadly teeth way too close to my throat.
“I’m really sorry about this…”
The rock struck the side of his face with a deep, meaty thud. I didn’t expect the blow to do much, but it just pissed him off even more.
Cyrus snapped those teeth, barely missing my nose, saliva dripping from his mouth to my face. Like Luthor had earlier, he ran his tongue up my mangled cheek, the ominous growl turning into a rough purr.
“Cyrus. Get off her,” Luthor shouted before Viktor flipped him onto his back, snapping at his throat.
“Get some control for fuck’s sake.”
Luthor’s shouted warning was more grunts than words, then he yelled louder in that strange language. I didn’t know what he said, but there was no mistaking the ring of command to the words.
Cyrus backed off, confusion in his face.
“That’s right, I’m not your enemy,” I reassured him while I climbed to my feet, pointing at Luthor pinned on his back. “The king is. Help Luthor.” I begged him. “Please help him so we can all get away.”
Cyrus’s chest heaved beneath the sheen of blood. For a second, I didn’t think he understood, but slowly his gaze followed my pointing finger to the blond king and a deeper, more animalistic snarl rumbled out of his mouth.
“That’s right, Viktor’s the one who hurt you. This is your chance to hurt him back.”
In a blink he was gone, and I turned just in time to watch him take Viktor down in a flying tackle, wrapping his arms around him. I heard a ripping sound as Viktor’s teeth sank deeply into Cyrus’s shoulder. He threw his head back and howled.
“Get her out of here.”
Cyrus screamed, while Viktor’s manic laughter echoed through the trees. Cyrus growled again but was cut off with a grunt of pain.
Then I was yanked off my feet, and the world went blurry as we flew.
9
SERAPHINA
We didn’t stop until it was dark.
The second Luthor released me, I collapsed, spongy moss and dead leaves cushioning my fall. I didn’t know exactly where we were, but the stench of the lake was so strong, I knew we hadn’t traveled far.
My arm… screamed. I didn’t know how else to put it. The wound was deep, bleeding, and the pain went beyond normal. I felt like my skin was burning off.
“I tried to get us away from the prison, but there were too many roads. Wide roads and vehicles and lights.” He fell to the ground beside me. “I don’t know where we are.”
Well, that makes two of us.
“Are we to the north of the lake?”
“Yes, but everything looks different from what I remember.”
“Well, it is night…”
He shook his head. “I can see well enough in the dark. Everything else looks strange… the roads… they are marked with yellow lines, and the cars are… too quiet. They move at such high speeds.”
I processed his confusion while I searched our surroundings for some clue of where we’d ended up. Definitely north of the lake, but how far?
“I saw nothing at all, since everything was a blur.” I’d spent most of the time fighting my urge to throw up, forcing my heart to stop beating so fast, focusing on breathing. Tried to ignore the fact we were moving faster than should be physically possible.
“We were moving too fast for you to see anything.”
Yes, exactly.
Nothing made sense to me, nothing except getting away from that prison, the handsome, cruel king, and whatever he’d been doing to poor Cyrus at the end.
“Cyrus… he stayed behind so we could get away.”
“Cy is a good soldier. The only thing that mattered was keeping you safe from Viktor.”
I had so many questions. But later, they could be asked later. My mind snagged on what he’d said about the roads. Of course, they had lines. Except for back country roads, every road had lines. Unless…
“Luthor, how long were you in prison?”
“What is the date?”
When I told him, he blew out a shaky breath. “Almost a hundred years.”
Wait, that didn’t make sense. “You’re telling me you were in there for… a hundred years?”
“Close to it. I was captured in 1917.”
“And Cyrus?”
“The same amount of time as me.”
I wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all, but I was afraid I wouldn’t stop. “Which means you don’t know anything. Nothing about the modern world, nothing that’s going to help us right now,” I muttered, illogically frustrated by the fact my savior would need saving. I rubbed my wounded arm, and my hand came away red.
Luthor snagged my wrist, pulled me toward him, and sucked in a quick breath when he saw my arm. “This is deep, and you’re still bleeding.”
“I know. And it hurts.” I pulled my hand back, more worried about Viktor charging out of the darkness, than a cut, no matter how deep. “I’ll deal with it later.”
“We have to find shelter.” He climbed awkwardly to his feet. “Somewhere far away from New Orleans where Viktor would not think to look. I know somewhere…”
“I have a place we can go.” Even with the woods around us, I felt completely exposed. I checked my back pocket, and a prickle of unease went through me. “I don’t have my cell, or I could navigate us out of here.”
“Cell?”
I wanted to stomp my feet in frustration. “Yes, my cellphone. I need a landmark so I can get us to my grandmother. She’ll know what to do.”
Luthor shook his head. “You’ll only lead Viktor straight to her door.”
“They took my phone. Them having my phone means they know who I am, and where I live,” I carefully explained, trying to stay calm. He didn’t even blink.
“I store everything on my phone. Think of it like a portable file cabinet with the locations of everyone I know and everywhere I’ve ever been. All my addresses, pictures of people and places… clues Viktor can use to track me down.”
Which means if Cyrus didn’t stop Viktor permanently—I refused to say killed—he could already be looking for us. He could be watching us. Right now.
“Get me back to that road. The place where you saw the stripes.”
I pushed aside the fact he was sweaty and pale, that he had a bum leg, and was on the verge of collapse. He could still move faster than anyone I’d ever seen, and we had to get out of these woods and somewhere safe. Once I knew where we were, I could navigate us home, and I’d figure out the rest once I talked to Gram.
Not that I trusted him entirely, but something told me he was vested in my survival.
He offered me his hand and hauled me upright, teetering on his one good leg. There was a snap from deep in the woods, and I whispered, “Get us to that road. Now.”
With his arms wrapped around me, my feet left the ground, the wind tore through my hair, and seconds later, we landed right on the double yellow.
“It’s Route 22.” I breathed in relief. “We aren’t far. About ten miles north of here is Abita Springs. That’s where we need to go.” I pointed for emphasis to make sure he understood.
He looked doubtful. “Leading them back to where you live is foolish. If you have kin there, it puts everyone in danger.” He looked down the road for a long beat before his serious blue eyes slid back to me.
He was trying to protect me right now.
Protect my family.
“Abita Springs isn’t my permanent home, well, not any more. I have an apartment in the city, but when that vampire guard was chasing me, I panicked and led him straight to my apartment building.
I can’t go back there, which means Grandma Claire’s is my only other option.”
“My job is to protect you. There has to be…”
His job…?
I held up a hand. “Look, this is not up for discussion. I appreciate everything you’ve done. I really do. Once I’m there, you can be on your way.”
“What about this cell phone? The addresses and pictures? Won’t the king use that to track you here?”
For someone who said he was out of the twentieth-century loop, Luthor was pretty observant.
“She doesn’t even own a phone or let me take pictures of her. Nor put anything on social media or anything. Gram says she’s afraid the government will arrest her for back taxes. Thing is, she might not be lying about that part.” I did my best puppy-dog eye routine.
“What I’m saying is she lives completely under the radar, and there’s nothing on my phone that would tie me to her. I’m only asking for a… ride to my grandmother’s, that’s all.”
I didn’t know if ride was the best description for what he could do, but I was damned if I could come up with anything better. We had to get moving soon. My arm was slippery with blood, and I was so dizzy I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t pass out.
It took us several tries, hop-scotching across foggy bayous and big-box store parking lots, dense oak forests and upscale suburban sprawl, before we landed on the dirt road in front of Gram’s.
Definitely no lines here.
I took one step forward, and Luthor’s arm shot out, stopping me dead.
“I go in first and do a sweep.”
I pressed against his restraining arm, and a cold smile played on his mouth. “Not up for discussion. My job is to keep you safe. I go in first, or we go somewhere else.” When I clamped my mouth shut, he only snorted. “Swear to it or we leave.”
“Fine,” I snipped. “I swear I’ll stay here while you go check it out.” I did air quotes on that last part, even though it made my arm hurt worse.
It was hard watching him limp down the unpaved drive, his bad leg jerking as his bare foot scraped along through the rocky dirt. He was halfway there when he suddenly stopped like he hit a wall.
He visibly shivered, scrubbed his hands up his arms and shot me such a look, I swore his eyes sparked. After a moment, he kept going, dragging that worthless leg behind him. Somewhere during his slow progress, a terrible thought occurred.
Luthor didn’t know Gram.
Didn’t know about the twelve gauge by the front door.
Her eagerness to use it.
And shit, it was the middle of the night, how could I have forgotten that? She’d wake up, grab the gun, and then…
