Authors: Toni Kelly
Fear and rage clenched Luke’s chest as he headed down the long hallway in hopes of cutting Lorenzo off. The house seemed more like a labyrinth with its rooms and hallways. He should have expected the other vampire’s interference. He had not reached Rafe across the room when he’d seen Lorenzo and his minions surround Broderick and Savannah. Lorenzo must have grown desperate, to attack this publicly, especially with Ancients in attendance. If Rafe was there, it stood likely Drago and Cybele were also.
A shadow crossed the intersection before Luke. “There is nowhere you can go,” he said. “I do not know what kind of businesses you have got running but she alone will not hold off the Ancients forever. You cannot truly believe she is the answer to your problems.”
Lorenzo turned and laughed, shook his head. “No, I don’t believe her to be the answer to all of my problems. But she sure as hell will make my life a bit easier. Besides, I hear there is a lot of money to be made in the underground blood market.” Savannah hung limp in his arms, her hair a midnight veil over her face.
“Hand her over.”
“I don’t think so.” Lorenzo smiled uneasily. “You made your stance clear. Don’t worry though, I won’t abuse her too intensely. Wouldn’t want my weapon of destruction to run empty.” He shifted her in his arms, shaking the hair from her face. The wine from earlier tinted her lips a deep red. “So still, as she sleeps. Pure innocence.” He laughed.
“She does not deserve to be used this way.” Luke edged closer, his gaze trained forward even as he sensed Broderick’s emotions. “Think about what you are doing. You are lying to yourself if you believe you will walk away unscathed.” With each step, he honed his body for action, knowing Lorenzo must have sensed the company.
“Any closer and you’ll regret it.” Lorenzo spun, but too late. Broderick launched himself from behind. Lorenzo loosened his grip to fight him off and Savannah fell to the wooden plank floor.
“Take her and go,” Broderick said, struggling to keep a hold on the elder vampire.
Luke took in his friend’s bloodied face, courtesy of Lorenzo’s halfling goons. Lorenzo remained an aged pureblood, stronger and faster than them both. This time, Broderick most likely would not leave the fight standing. Nodding a silent
thank you
, Luke scooped up Savannah and ran. Chandeliers and people whipped by, but he did not slow as he broke through the crowded ballroom into the night.
Christ. What had he been thinking, taking such a chance? He should have been preparing for the inevitable instead of dreaming like a lovesick human. Only a day ago, he’d ridiculed Broderick and Savannah for possessing such weakness as to be driven by emotions. And yet he wanted nothing more than to pretend he was human.
Time ticked by. He stole a glance at Savannah. Her lashes fanned along pale cheeks. So peaceful in her slumber. Such irony, that he’d found her when the death he’d desired for so long grew close. Lorenzo would never stop chasing her and without the protection of the Ancients, others would follow. Luke’s only hope was to buy enough time to turn her.
In no time, he reached the city. The impossibly fast click of his shoes along the cobblestones echoed as Savannah shifted in his arms. She moaned as Lorenzo’s sleep command wore off, and he slowed pace so as not to make her sick.
“So sleepy. Luke?”
“I am here, pet.”
“I dreamed we went to an auction and Lorenzo was there.” She shivered and he squeezed her close. He would miss her scent of citrus and vanilla. As if she suddenly realized they were moving, she lifted her head and blinked at the racing scenery. “Where, what’s going on?”
“Shh, love. Trust me. I will take care of you.” He would not, could not fail her.
* * * *
Broderick swiped an arm across his mouth, breathing hard. Blood, dirt and sweat stained the ripped sleeve of his borrowed blazer.
“You’re waning and I haven’t even gotten started.” Lorenzo laughed, casually rolling up his cuffs. “Did you actually think you could pin me? Idiotic fool.”
“Don’t you worry about me, I’ve got plenty of fight left,” he lied. He might have been better off if Lorenzo’s goons hadn’t played a number on him, but considering he’d won out in three to one odds, he couldn’t complain. Still, this time around didn’t look or feel promising.
“You never were a good liar.”
Broderick barked a laugh he didn’t quite feel. “I guess I lack your talent in that arena.”
Lorenzo swiped at him with a fist and Broderick leapt to the side a nanosecond too late. Bone crunched along bone, setting his face afire. He pulled back. Every second he stole gave him a chance to heal.
“No use buying time, halfling. You don’t heal fast enough.” Lorenzo lunged again, catching Broderick in the side. Breath left his body in a rush. “How do you like the feel of it?”
Damn Lorenzo and his bullshit taunting. He thrust forward with his right fist, grazing air as he missed his target by a couple inches. Too slow. Moving too slow. “Like the feel of what?”
“Death, of course. Don’t you feel it creeping up on you?”
“You wish.”
“Don’t be stubborn. I can still use you.”
“I’d rather die.” Broderick spat.
Lorenzo rushed toward him, buried his forearm against Broderick’s neck. “Something I can easily arrange.” He pressed forward.
Broderick’s throat burned and his breaths wheezed. Pushing back at Lorenzo, he lifted his chin higher. “Go ahead.” If it was his time, he would go with pride. “When you find Luke it will be too late.”
“He can’t possibly fight off all my men.” Lorenzo laughed. “Your efforts have been for nothing.”
“Never.” Broderick took a gulp of air and pushed back. Despite his attempt, his breaths grew shallower, his throat more painful. And then it stopped and he gulped in a mouthful of air before coughing uncontrollably. What the hell? Even with the relief of being able to breathe, his vision blurred and he doubled over.
“What have we here?” Drago entered the small space, making the air hum around them.
Broderick attempted to stand. If he thought himself done for before, there was no hope for him now. What was the Ancient doing here? Did he want Savannah too?
“Drago.” Lorenzo’s shirt hung off one shoulder and his mouth was bloodied.
Rafe stood behind Drago, arms crossed in front of his chest. “I warned you not to cross me. If it weren’t for the score that needs to be settled, you wouldn’t have lived to come to this auction tonight.”
Lorenzo’s gaze flipped from Drago to Rafe. “Savannah is with Luke and my men are after them. If we go now, I can show you everything I said is true. She can kill us all.”
Drago tilted his head. “A bit of deja vu? Do you take me for a fool? Will you assure me the same way you swore you never touched my sister, never exposed her to danger?” Drago closed in, facing off with Lorenzo.
Lorenzo shook his head. “I can explain.”
Drago laughed. “I’ve looked the other way with you for far too long. I only spared your life because you kept to the shadows and my sister thought she loved you. But now she’s overcome that ridiculous notion and you’ve made the stupid decision to come out of hiding. I believe it’s time I do what I should have done decades ago.”
Lorenzo hissed and the two vampires dove at each other, wrestling in a blur of movement between the walls of the hallway. Snarls echoed as they bared their fangs. Lorenzo moved fast but he didn’t stand a chance against the Ancient. When the shuffling stopped, Lorenzo hung limp in Drago’s arms.
“You killed him,” Broderick said, disbelieving what he’d seen. The Ancient had made it seem effortless. He rubbed his throat, knowing otherwise.
“So I did.”
As if on cue, a couple of vampires entered the hallway. One took Lorenzo’s lifeless body from Drago’s arms. He then turned to Rafe and said, “You’re needed for the opening auction speech, my lord.”
“Fine.” Rafe straightened his jacket. “I’ll be right there.”
Drago brushed a hand down his jacket and pants, which had remained impeccable despite the fight. “I believe I’m going to have a drink. Run-ins with riffraff always leave me thirsty. Besides, I’d rather avoid Cybele if possible. As soon as she learns I killed her ex-lover, she won’t be too happy.”
“I’ll do my best to keep it secret for as long as possible,” Rafe said.
Drago nodded and left them standing in the hallway.
Rafe spoke to the man who still held Lorenzo. “Remove his head and burn it along with the body.” He turned to Broderick. “Where is Luke?”
“He left with Savannah.” Broderick ran a hand through his hair. “Lorenzo’s men went after him.”
“He’s going to try and change her, isn’t he?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Rafe turned to his men. “I must go. Have Cybele give the welcome speech.”
“Yes, my lord.” They turned and left.
“Let’s go.” Rafe grabbed the back of Broderick’s left arm and guided him to a back entrance.
“I don’t understand. Why are you helping us?” Broderick asked.
“Let’s say, I don’t like to let debts go unpaid.”
29
Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.
—Mahatma Gandhi
Luke sensed Lorenzo’s men before he saw them standing at a vacant cross street ahead. Several more would follow them. He slowed to a walk. “Listen to me,” he whispered in Savannah’s ear. She nodded, eyes wide. The fright he saw in their emerald depths turned his insides. “There is much I still need to tell you but we are short on time. I am going to give you my blood to drink. You understand, right? There is no other way. These or other vampires will find you. They will use you.”
“I know.”
He set her down, unbuttoned the cuff of the sleeve covering his good arm and rolled it up. Bringing the underside of his wrist to his mouth, he met her gaze and bit down. Blood, sweet and tangy, oozed from a vein. “Here.” He lifted his arm to her mouth.
She gripped his hand and forearm, swallowing as she stared at the broken skin. “I put my mouth there and drink?”
“Yes.” He held back his wrist a bit as she tried to pull it close.
“What is it?” Savannah asked.
“I want you to know I am sorry, for everything,” he said. “And I love you.”
She tightened her hands around his arm, tears pooling in her eyes.
“You need not say anything. I wanted you to understand.” He went quiet as a knot formed in his throat. He was not sure he knew the words to convince her any further.
She pulled his wrist close and rested her lips around the edges of his puncture points. Her eyelids drooped as she drank, a sight more erotic than any he had ever known. A ripple of heat speared through him.
“Enough.” His voice came out gruff, hungry. He did not want her to stop. She pulled away and a blush stole up her neck. Her full lips dripped red.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” One of Lorenzo’s halflings approached, leading five vampires. The dark waves of his hair skimmed his shoulders and his pale blue gaze glowed beneath the dim street lamps. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Luke laughed and pulled Savannah against him. “What would you classify as stupid?”
“You’re outnumbered. Let her come with us and we’ll let you live.” The halfling turned, looked at his companions then grinned at him. “At least for a little longer.”
“And if I refuse?” With a hand, he smoothed over Savannah’s back then around her shoulder, lifting her hair away from her neck.
“We’ll kill you and take her anyway. So what’s it going to be?”
“What are you doing, Luke?” Savannah trembled beneath his touch and he hated the fact they frightened her.
The vampires and halfling surrounded them, their thirst for death suffocating. Luke gripped Savannah’s neck and forced her to face him. “Fight, Savannah. Never give up on your dreams.”
She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stop its quivering. “Where are you going?”
“So brave. Even now, my pet.” He caressed her cheek.
“Touching.” The wavy-haired halfling closed in, his muscles contracting as he readied himself to pounce. “But it’s got to come to an end.”