Almost Human (12 page)

I laced my fingers through his, still too
hot and sweaty to cuddle up next to his warm body. “I’m great. That
was fantastic. At least if you’re going to force me to spend a year
or more with you, we know the sex works. Even if we can’t spend
five minutes together without fighting.”

“Sure we can. That was a good fifteen
minutes.”

I smacked the back of my hand on his abs. “I
mean the minutes when we aren’t having sex. And we were arguing
before. Though I can’t remember what it was about.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me,
pulling me tightly against his side. “Don’t try. I think every time
you start a fight I’ll fuck you, and make you forget about it.”

“You’re not funny,” I tried to say in a
serious tone.

“I’m hilarious. You just don’t get me.”

He kissed my forehead and stood. He swayed
and sank back on the bed. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his
shoulders.

I kissed the back of his neck. “Are you all
right?”

His eyes narrowed as he glanced at me over
his shoulder, and then the corner of his mouth quirked up. “I’m
fine. I need to feed soon, with you robbing me of my bodily
fluids.” He patted my hand. “Not that I’m complaining. I’ll go out
hunting tonight.”

I lay back on the bed and watched him dress.
“Will you kill your victim tonight?”

His back tensed but he didn’t turn around.
“Not unless I happen to find a child molester or a serial killer. I
don’t kill innocent people. I grew a conscience long before I
became a vampire.”

I snorted. I didn’t believe he wouldn’t kill
tonight. I could feel his power, and it told me he’d killed many
times. Before I could blink, he was straddling my waist, glaring
down at me, his jaw clenched.

“What will it take to convince you? Everyone
I kill has victims of his or her own. Most of those victims are
women and children. Most will never be brought to justice by the
law. And even then, I haven’t killed in about a hundred years.”

“So you want to be a vigilante?”

He got off me and sat at the end of the bed.
“Nothing so noble. I killed to maintain my power, and I killed them
because I can’t bear the thought of taking away someone’s loving
mother or father or daughter. For thousands of years, we didn’t
know we could live without murder. No one had ever thought to test
it. We’re predators. Killing is a drive in us that’s almost
impossible to resist. We have to fight it when we feed. When you
drink from a human, you’ll feel it. Surely killing a murderer is
not the same as killing an innocent person.”

Or that’s how he’d had to justify it to keep
going. He wouldn’t face me, and his tone was…broken, like he’d been
living with too much guilt for too many years. I almost agreed with
him about murderers, but, “It’s still killing.”

He rolled his eyes. “You agree with me. You
can’t bring yourself to give up any of your moral high ground. It
would bring you down to my level, and since you think I’m pure
evil, you can’t have that.”

He stood and this time when he swayed I made
no move to comfort him.

“Speaking of your mother—”

“How were we speaking of my mother?”

“Where does she live? She needs to be taken
care of.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What the fuck are you
talking about?”

He rounded on me. “You’re mother needs to be
killed. And you’re going to tell me where she lives.”

“You can’t kill my mother. I know she’s a
raving bitch, but she did give birth to me. I owe her some kind of
loyalty.”

“Why the hell not? She would kill you. She
would kill all of us.”

I sat up. “She’s doing what she thinks is
right. She was raised to believe vampires are evil and
soulless.”

“Every villain thinks they’re doing the
right thing. And now that I have you to tell me where your mother
and Astra and her hunters live, they can be taken care of.”

A chill went down my spine. “Astra. What
does Astra have to do with this?”

“She and her hunters need to be stopped.
They’re killing vampires.”

I shook my head. “My mother is one thing,
but Astra is a good person. She’s putting her sister through law
school. She counsels people who’ve been through vampire attacks.
She puts them up in her own house if they have nowhere to go. She’s
saved my ass a thousand times. If you think I’ll repay her by
sending some vampires to kill her, you’re sadly mistaken. I’ll die
before I tell you shit.”

He shrugged. “Jairdan’s had her blood, and
has smelled her scent. It would be easier if you told us where she
is, but he’ll find her either way. He’s one of the best trackers
our kind has to offer.”

I glared at him. “I’ll kill him if he hurts
her. Make no mistake, Alaric, Astra is almost as near and dear to
me as Casey is. She’s more family than my mother ever was.”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure I could call
Jairdan off if I wanted to. I might be the head of the house, but
my brothers have minds of their own, and Jairdan wants her dead.
But right now, I want you to tell me where your mother lives.”

I got out of bed, taking the sheet with me.
“Fuck you, Alaric.”

“You just did, but I can go again.”

I glanced around for something to throw at
his smarmy face. “Not likely. Not until hell freezes over.”

He didn’t say anything, but from his smirk I
could tell he was thinking that I couldn’t hold out on him. Well,
we’d see about that.

I pulled on my clothes and stomped
out of Alaric’s room in search of Jairdan. It was time to put a
stop to all this talk about killing Astra.

I spotted him lounging on the
couch in the living room and marched over to him. “We need to have
a little discussion.”

He looked up at me. “You’d think all that
sex would relax you a little.”

I ignored the comment. “I want you to leave
Astra alone.”

He grinned. “That’s not an option. I have a
lot of plans for her. She has a great body. I’ll get to have some
fun with her before I kill her.”

A loud smack resonated through the air when
I slapped him. I hadn’t even realized I was going to until it was
too late. Maybe Dagger wasn’t the only one with impulse control
issues.

He snarled and leapt to his feet. His hands
wrapped in my hair and he jerked me to him. “You’re lucky you’re my
brother’s whore, or I’d kill you. I’ve murdered for less.”

I locked both my hands around his throat.
“Bring it on, asshole. I’m in the mood for a knock down, drag out
fight. If I kill you in self defense, surely Alaric won’t fault me
too much.”

“Yeah, but you started this fight. Alaric
knows how I feel about vampire hunters. Astra is a threat to me and
mine, and he’ll support my decision to kill her if I choose.”

I shrugged. “Being on the outs with Alaric
isn’t that big of a concern. Understand, vampire, Astra is my best
friend. Your kind has taken enough from her.”

His eyes narrowed. “Who—?”

Alaric skidded into the room. “Don’t bash
each other’s faces in yet. We’ve got trouble. I’ll need you both
coherent.”

The door slammed inward, leaving a doorknob
shaped dent in the drywall. Fallon was dragging Dagger’s body up
the steps, leaving a dark trail of blood in his wake.

They passed through the doorway and I felt
my magic buckle. A wave of scalding heat streaked through my body.
All the air had been sucked out of the room. It felt like my heart
was being squeezed. I doubled over and fought for breath. My knees
hit the hardwood with a resounding thwack. I watched the zombie
come up the tree lined walkway.

The foliage died in her wake. Her powers
were growing. Now death followed her.

“She’s coming in.” My voice sounded far
away.

Hands grasped my upper arms and tried to
pull me up, but I huddled into a tighter ball, not allowing them to
set me on my feet.

“Kori.”

“Give her a second. I’m part demon. My blood
broke her spell. It can’t be pleasant.” A groan filled with pain
followed Dagger’s words and then cursing in a language I couldn’t
even begin to understand.

My first complete breath came screaming into
my lungs. The world came roaring back to me, ten times more intense
than it had been. This time I let Alaric drag me to my feet. I
clutched his arms tightly enough that I’d leave bruises, and
probably bleeding fingernail crescents.

“Weapons,” I gasped. “Everything you’ve
got.”

I shoved him toward the rooms where I
assumed they were and almost fell on my face. I stumbled to the
couch they’d laid Dagger on and collapsed on my knees next to
it.

“You get those knives?”

He grabbed my hand and pressed one into it.
“Fallon has the other.” He grimaced. “Sorry I broke you’re spell.
It must have been more solid than we thought to affect you like
that. It probably would have kept her out for a long while.”

Casey and Misha stumbled into the room, hair
disheveled and clothes not buttoned properly. I made my way to
Casey, holding firmly to the couch so I didn’t fall over.

I grasped her hand and pulled her to Dagger.
“Get him out of here. He can’t fight like this.”

She pursed her lips. “Is this also a way of
taking your little sister out of the battle?”

I coughed. “Nice to know you aren’t just a
pretty face. Now get gone.” I glanced at her boyfriend. “You going
to back me up?”

He nodded and tugged her around. He kissed
her fiercely, and then whispered in her ear. She nodded and smiled
slightly.

Misha glanced at me. “I’ll help her pack his
fat ass into the car.”

With her vampire strength she could probably
have packed him herself, but it looked like the only thing holding
in his bowels was a bandage of what must have been Fallon’s shirt.
It would be incredibly cruel to pack a vampire with a gut wound
like that in a fireman’s carry.

Misha grabbed him under the arms and Casey
took his feet. They hauled him off toward the garage.

I sighed. I was happy to have Casey out of
the line of fire, but we’d need backup. Assuming we didn’t all die
in the next five minutes.

Alaric rushed back into the room and tossed
his brothers swords before he handed one to me.

“These aren’t going to be effective on her.
At all. I hope you have another plan.”

Twirling the dagger in my hand brought his
attention to it. “I’m hoping this works. If not, then we can
panic.”

“Shouldn’t I handle the dagger then?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Why? If you want one,
jack your brother’s.”

He didn’t get a chance to answer. The door
shattered. We dove behind the couch to avoid flying wooden shards.
A few caught us anyway. I watched Alaric wipe blood off his cheek
with the back of his hand while I dug the splinter from hell out of
my forearm. I didn’t glance at Jairdan or Fallon, but from the
symphony of cursing coming from them, I assumed they’d been hit,
too.

Ice-cold wind blasted through the house with
enough force to send smaller objects flying. Either she was willing
to waste a lot of power to be scary, or she had enough power to
spare. I seriously hoped it wasn’t the latter.

We stumbled to our feet and prepared for
battle. A heavy, glass ashtray took flight from the table by the
door. The keys were tossed from it as it hurtled toward me. I
ducked, but Misha wasn’t so fast. It smacked him hard in the
temple, and he fell to the ground. Fuck, we’d lost a fighter, and
the battle hadn’t begun.

Alaric yelled a mighty battle cry that must
have frightened many of his enemies and charged her. His sword sank
into her chest. She glanced at it, and then backhanded him. He
tumbled into the wall, leaving a dent in the sheetrock.

She slowly pulled the sword from her chest.
She laughed when the hole sealed up as if it had never been.

Before she could step forward, Alaric
slammed his foot into her knee. There was a sickening crack as she
shrieked and tumbled to the ground. He scrambled out of the way of
her sword, barely avoiding a blow that would have severed his
head.

He scrambled to where we were standing. “I
hope those knives work better than the sword did.” He looked behind
me. “Jairdan, are you going to be all right?”

I looked at the man in question. If it were
possible for a vampire to pale, then Jairdan did. He looked like he
might be sick, too.

“You said it was her, but I didn’t want to
believe it. I’ll be fine.”

In spite of the bold declaration, he didn’t
look like he’d be all right. But I’d have to trust that he would
be, because there was no time for mental breakdowns.

Sherra met my gaze. Hatred twisted her lips
into a snarl. “So you’re one of them now? Poor Priscilla. Both her
daughters are weak vampire whores who couldn’t take their own
lives. No matter, I’ll be killing you soon. I’ll eat the flesh from
your bones.”

“Great, creepy zombie shit. Can we get to
the fighting now?” In spite of the bravado in my words I didn’t
want to get to the fighting. If these daggers didn’t work, we were
at least going to get our asses handed to us. Or worse.

She came at me, and I barely ducked her
sword swing. Jairdan kicked her in the gut and she stumbled
back.

I shoved my sword into her shoulder before
she could recover. It sank into the wall pinning her there. I
shoved the knife into her chest and twisted.

Her shriek of agony brought me to my knees.
Pain exploded in my head. I slapped my hands over my ears, but it
did little to block out the terrible sound.

A blast of energy radiated from her. It
knocked me on my ass and shoved me back into the opposite wall. The
boys had been tossed over the back of the couch and were now in a
tangle of limbs on the other side. I took my hands off my ears and
came away with blood. Shit.