Birth of Jaiden (38 page)

“
Telepathy?” Chris
asked.

“
You have to; Malcolm and
Levine already know we’re here. I can’t believe they left her
alone, knowing that. Even guarded.”

“
Besides that, we don’t
have much time before the bombs light this place up,” Michael
agreed.

“
All right.” Chris closed
his eyes and secured Jaiden in his arms again. “I’ll send him the
message.”

38

Alex swallowed back the
fear that threatened to surface as Malcolm and his minions circled
them. Intentionally, Alex ignored the guards, keeping his eyes on
Malcolm only. It was clear to him that escape was not an option;
they were in the lair solely to save Jaiden, and killing Malcolm
would simply be a bonus in Alex’s book.

He felt Jackie’s heart begin to
pump harder and he, along with every other vampire in the room,
picked up on her scent as the fresh blood surged through her body.
Little did they know that it wasn’t fear which caused her heart to
beat faster, it was
lust
for the kill. Skillfully, she aimed the tip of her bolt at
Malcolm’s heart and stood frozen as a statue to ensure the
shot.

Alex felt Danielle at his
back and silently hoped she had gotten her senses back because they
were going to need her. He desperately wanted Malcolm for himself
but he knew Jackie didn’t want to lose the moment and would fire
soon.

Just then, the clicking of
high heels echoed through the caves. Levine was coming to join her
husband. It was now or never.

Jackie pulled the trigger of
her crossbow. The bolt was released and the guards took her
down.

Malcolm staggered
backward, choking and clutching his chest where the bolt had
pierced his flesh but missed the heart. Alex shot forward and
pushed aside any guards who tried to stop him but getting to
Malcolm was like going the wrong way on a crowded sidewalk in New
York City. He wanted Malcolm, wanted him so badly that he would not
let himself be killed before he killed Malcolm.

Almost distantly, he heard
the echo of Jackie screaming. He risked a glance her way and wished
that he hadn’t looked at all. Jackie knelt on her hands and knees,
her head thrown back in the way of a wolf when it howls at the
moon. She was totally defenseless against the bloodthirsty guards
as they tore the soft flesh from her body bite by bite.

He turned away quickly.
While the vampires ripped away her life, he continued to shove his
way through the guards. Jackie had seriously injured him but Alex
was going to take him to his death. It felt like he had never in
his long existence wanted something so badly.

The guards parted and he
finally had a view of Malcolm, but ironically, Levine entered the
room at the exact same moment. It felt like time froze when he
turned and saw Levine, her emerald gown shining brightly in the
torch light, standing in front of two guards who each held the arm
of a sagging and unconscious Isabella.

“
Let her go!” he
demanded.

Levine lifted her chin
sharply toward her guards and they promptly released her arms. She
dropped to the ground and her skull cracked dangerously against the
hard floor. Alex felt his eyes bulge when he saw the puddle of
Isabella’s blond hair turning crimson.

But, she still had life within
her. He could practically feel her heart beating. Actually, it
beat
too
hard for a human being who was supposed to be
unconscious.

“
You will pay for this by
watching him die,” he growled. With his eyes on Levine, he jerked
his head toward Malcolm.

“
I doubt that.” She threw
him a cold stare.

Levine stood on one side
of him and Malcolm stood on the other. He was trapped and wondered
where his angel was at that moment.

“
Danielle?” he
whispered.

“
I’m here.” Her voice was
saturated with defeat and he couldn’t take the chance to look at
her and see what was wrong but he sensed from her that she couldn’t
or wouldn’t help him. Without Danielle, he was totally on his own
with Malcolm and Levine since Jackie was gone.

He turned away from Levine
and raised his sword high into the air, preparing to leap toward
Malcolm, when Malcolm, still clutching bleeding chest, crumpled to
the floor without so much as a word, straight to the ground, and
landed in a heap of black silk cape.

“
What the…” Alex first
thought it was some kind of trick, Malcolm playing dead.

“
No!” Levine jolted
forward and crouched down protectively beside her
husband.

Alex felt his adrenaline
going and decided to cut his head off anyway. Better safe than
sorry.

“
Stop!” Isabella’s shaky
voice called out.

He turned. All the guards
wore shocked expressions and faced Isabella who stood tall, still
in only her white, blood spattered tee shirt, and a throbbing heart
dripping with dark blood raised high in her hand. Malcolm’s
heart.

“
Bitch!”

In a shimmering emerald
blur, Levine appeared before Isabella. She reached out and grabbed
her by the throat, digging her long nails into Isabella’s warm
flesh.

“
Give him his heart back!”
she hissed.

“
I will
not
!” Isabella choked out. “Give us the baby
first.”

“
Never.” Levine squeezed.
Alex knew Levine was keeping her alive on purpose; even a gentle
squeeze by her hand could kill a mortal.

Isabella threatened her
back by doing her own squeezing on Malcolm’s heart.

“
The baby!” she
demanded.

Alex fought the urge to try and
help her somehow. He never thought she would have tried to bargain
for Jaiden but he had underestimated her. He should have known that
she would do anything for a child, any child. If he tried to help
her, that might only hurt her in the long run. He glanced back over
his shoulder and saw Danielle pressed against the wall of the
cave.
What
is wrong with her
? He wondered. The guards watched Levine intensely, waiting
for orders.

“
We have Jaiden!” Alex
heard Christopher’s shout in his head. “Let’s get out of
here!”

Thank God, it was safe to
use telepathy again. “Isabella,” he called out, moved his arms in a
cradling motion behind Levine’s back and mouthed “let’s
go”.

Levine whipped around to
see what Alex had done. As soon as her back was turned, Isabella
crushed Malcolm’s heart between her fingers until it oozed down her
arm. Tears streamed from the corners of her red, puffy eyes and
down her cheeks as she mashed the now dead heart to a
pulp.

Luckily, Levine turning
gave Alex the chance to get her off of Isabella. He bounded forward
and swung his sword backward in a sweeping motion, then over his
head. Levine followed suit and charged him back. His sword met her
raised hand and bounced off it as if it was made of rubber. Some
sort of protective shield she had conjured or perhaps the power to
deflect attacks. Either way, Alex knew he wasn’t able to take her
with his sword.

“
I’ll kill you!” she
screamed, completely losing the composure she normally portrayed.
“I’ll rip you to pieces and feed you to the wolves.” She grabbed
Alex one hand on each arm and sent electricity jolting through him.
“You aren’t even worthy enough for another immortal to
taste.”

Alex felt the fire flowing
through him. It was similar to what he had felt when he had stood
under the blazing heat of a sunrise. Maybe she would kill him, who
knew; after all, it hadn’t been a sure thing that he would live
through that from the beginning. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t
think any coherent thought except that maybe, that was really it,
that maybe, he wouldn’t make it. He could feel his body stiff and
jolting. Distantly, he could hear Isabella screaming, and in his
mind, he saw the tears which had escaped and had started to run
down her cheeks when she had crushed Malcolm’s heart. He was so
proud of her.

Then, he felt his body
fall to the ground and the world spun around him. He heard Chris
and, though it seemed a bit perverse, he was more than thrilled
when he heard Jaiden’s terrified cries. He heard Corrine shouting
to Deanna to help her. He couldn’t move. They had to get out and it
had to be soon.

Danielle’s dark form
appeared over him. “Get up, Alex.”

“
Where the hell have you
been?” he demanded.

“
I couldn’t help you; this
was something you had to do yourself. Now get up so we can get out
of here.”

“
What’s the use? You will
get out whether or not I make it; remember, you’re an
angel.”

“
Alex!” She scolded him and
grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “On your feet, let’s
move
.”

She forced him to stand
and to regain his wits. He wasn’t going to die; his body healed too
quickly for that.

“
Go, go, go. It’s time to
go,” Michael shouted to everyone in his path as he ran in from the
same door where Levine had entered. Then came the biggest surprise:
Through the doorway ran countless numbers of humans, their arms
blazing with torches and various weapons they had apparently
acquired from the dead vampire bodies.

While Alex stood
flabbergasted, the humans shouted their revenge and went after all
the remaining guards in the room.

“
Let’s go, this place is
gonna blow!” Michael shouted.

Bent over Malcolm’s still
body, Levine had apparently forgotten her mission to acquire
Jaiden. But, her head snapped toward them when she heard Michael’s
shouts and Alex saw understanding dawning on her pale, tear
streaked face.

Alex took a few steps
toward her but she rose and simply disappeared into the throng of
humans who had surrounded her.

“
Damn it! Let’s get out of
here!” he yelled to Danielle over the chaos in the room.

“
These people?” Deanna
questioned when he saw her.

“
We have to go. If they
follow, then they follow, and we’ll deal with it later. If they
don’t make it, there is nothing we can do. They have been freed and
that should be enough for now,” he told her. “But, we need to go
now.”

He ran to Isabella’s side
and lifted her from her knees. “Come on, sweetheart, it’s time to
get out of here.”

He lifted her into his
arms because she didn’t seem to be able to move.

Chris cradled Jaiden in
his arms, protectively covering her. Then, as fast as they could,
with vampire speed, they ran for the exits leaving Jaiden’s screams
echoing through the caves while they ran.

Chaos followed. Damion and
Danielle were right behind them but Michael, Deanna and the other
vampire slayers were much slower so they were stuck back with all
the people who had been prisoners in the caves.

Alex felt relief when he
saw the doors looming ahead of them. He knew sunlight, the enemy of
his afterlife, lit the world beyond the doors and he didn’t care.
Hopefully, he would live through it; after all, the serum had
worked on him with artificial light.

“
Isabella, you have to
stand,” he whispered to her when they reached the doors.

She mumbled a sentence
full of gibberish and sagged against Alex when he set her on her
feet.

“
I’ve got them, take her.”
Chris held Jaiden out to Alex. She wore a little pink sleeper and
pounded her fists against her sides while she screamed her protest
at all the noise and commotion.

Chris placed both his
hands on the handles so he could fling the doors wide open for
everyone to get through. But, before he could turn the handles, he
was thrown to the ground by an emerald green streak of lighting
which landed on his back.

Levine held him in a choke
hold. “I’ll kill you, you murderers, kill you!”

If it was possible, she
had gone even more insane than she had been before. Alex felt
sudden pain rip through his chest. White, hot, pain. He couldn’t
let go of Jaiden. He couldn’t give Levine the chance to snag her
again.

“
Knife…” Isabella
rasped.

Damion showed up just
then, ripping Levine off of Chris. Danielle positioned herself as a
shield in front of Alex, Jaiden and Isabella. Alex couldn’t help
but think that as she hadn’t helped before, what good would she
possibly be. The pain in his chest was gone. Alex knew that was not
a good sign.

Chris lay still while
Damion wrestled with Levine. Alex held Jaiden in one arm and
supported Isabella with the other. He wanted to help, to lift Chris
off the ground. Someone needed to move him or he would be trampled.
The pounding of human footsteps was seconds away.

They were
coming.

“
Move him!” Alex called
out and Danielle shot forward, took Chris into her arms and held
him up.

Alex was horrified when he
saw the golden hilt of a dagger protruding from Chris’s chest. From
his heart. Blood bubbled up from the wound and stained his
shirt.