Blood Secrets (27 page)

Kirk felt a stirring of recognition with the memories. The blood flow seemed to lessen even though he drew on the wound. Growling, he shook his head, ripping flesh, and was rewarded with more of the sweet liquid.

More of Janet’s memories filled his mind. The image of the red-haired vampire stuck with him as recognition finally settled over him. He withdrew his fangs and staggered away.

Janet moaned and crumpled to the floor, unmoving.

He wiped the excess blood from his mouth and loomed over Emily, who had managed to push herself into a seated position. Squatting beside her, he cocked his head and grinned. “I know who you are now. You’re that Enforcer bitch’s mother.”

The distant wail of a siren shot a flood of adrenaline into his system.

Emily smiled. “Time’s up.”

The first siren was joined by others and their cries grew louder. “You called them.”

“Don’t be stupid. You had Janet check me for phones. She didn’t find any.”

“Yeah, but she’s also a fucking liar.” He leveled the revolver with Emily’s chest and used his other hand to quickly inspect her pockets. Somehow either she or Janet must have contacted the police. He was certain of it.

His search revealed nothing, just as Janet’s had, until he shoved his hand down her shirt and felt the hard sleekness of a cell phone nestled between her breasts. Her defiant stare never wavered as he pulled the phone from its hiding place.

Kirk checked the display, saw the counter ticking away on an open call, and growled. He pressed the button to end the call and touched the barrel of the .22 revolver to her forehead. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

She met his gaze with pure amber eyes. “Go ahead,” she murmured. “Kill me. Kill Janet. You’ll be dead before you can even set a toe outside this house.”

Tires screeched and sirens and shouts erupted from outside. Cursing, Kirk pulled the revolver away, rose, and ran for the windows in the living room that overlooked the front of the house. He cautiously moved a section of the miniblinds and assessed the situation.

Uniformed human officers were busy setting up barricades
in the street. Others were ushering neighbors across the street out of harm’s way or telling curious gawkers to move back inside their homes. In the center of the action stood a tall, dark-haired vampire and even from a distance Kirk could see the burning gold of his eyes and the rigid set of his jaw.

Kirk let the blinds fall back into place and returned to the kitchen.

Emily now sat beside Janet with a towel pressed firmly against the unmoving girl’s neck and shoulder. “She’s badly hurt. She needs help.”

“Sew her up like you did me.”

“It won’t work. She’s lost a lot of blood and she’s human. The wound is too deep. You have to let me take her out of here.”

Kirk shook his head and checked the revolver’s cylinder. Only five bullets remained. Not nearly enough to shoot his way out. “Move her to the living room and do what you can for her if you must, but you may as well settle in because this could take a while.”

“She’s going to die if you don’t let them help her.” Emily gestured to the front of the house with a bloodied hand.

He snapped the cylinder into place once more. “No one leaves.” He strode toward the front windows again, throwing his final words over his shoulder. “Not without a tag on their toe.”

PETER HID IN A CORNER OF THE SHADOWLANDS ROOM
he’d constructed to detain Alexandra’s consciousness while he worked to sever her blood-bond with Varik. He remained motionless, watching, learning, and waiting.

She lay curled on the floor with her back to the video monitor. The chains binding her wrists and legs weren’t true physical restraints but they were restraints nonetheless. Only he could release them, and he wouldn’t until the bond was broken.

The monitor behind her continued to play scenes from both hers and Varik’s pasts, with the attack that had forged the blood-bond repeated frequently. Reliving that moment was eating away at her willpower. Soon it would be easy to snap the bond and then she’d be wholly Peter’s. That same memory was playing even now. Her pleas for Varik to stop turned to strangled gurgles followed by sharp snarls as Varik savaged her neck.

He watched as she fingered the scar that remained. It was time to show her something of what he could offer her, and he focused on the monitor.

One final soft plea to Varik played over the monitor before the sound of a heavy foot crashing into a door filled the room. Peter shouted his rival’s name and his voice overlaid her brother’s in the memory.

Alexandra rolled onto her back, staring up at the monitor.

On the screen, Peter stood in the place of Stephen.

She frowned and sat up, intensely watching the altered memory.

“Step away from her,” Peter said, following the memory’s dialogue like a script.

Varik glared at him with bright golden eyes over her motionless form and growled.

On the screen, Peter moved forward and Varik retreated, hissing like a cornered cat. He continued to move away as Peter confidently closed the distance. Once Peter reached Alexandra’s side, Varik lunged. Instead of following the memory’s script, Peter changed it. He grabbed Varik’s throat and one arm, holding him in check as Varik’s other—clawlike—hand ripped at Peter’s arms and chest.

“You will
not
have her,” he said, jerking Varik to one side. A sickening wet
pop
sounded and Varik ceased his attack.

“No!” Alexandra gasped and reached for the monitor as she watched Varik’s lifeless body crumple at Peter’s feet.

The picture paused, showing a frozen image of Varik’s bloodied face.

“That’s not the way it happened!”

“But it could have,” Peter whispered, projecting his voice to appear as though he stood beside her. “It still could.”

“You can’t change the past.”

“According to whom?”

She didn’t answer.

“Who says the past cannot be changed?” he asked again. “Humans? Their gods? Your father?”

Color tinged her pale cheeks, and he felt the heat of her anger. “Don’t talk about my father.”

He chuckled, adding fuel to her anger.

“It’s impossible to change the past, not without altering someone’s memory.”

“Nothing is impossible when you believe anything is possible,” he quipped. He’d learned long ago that he was limited only by his imagination in the Shadowlands. The environment was different for each individual who found their way here, unless they knew how to manipulate its energies in such a way as to project their perception onto another individual. It was a skill he’d mastered, and one he would gladly teach Alexandra in time.

She searched the room, looking for him. “If you believe that, then show yourself.”

“No.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Far from it.”

“Then why not reveal yourself?”

“In time.” He projected a phantom version of his hand brushing her cheek and she flinched. “You aren’t ready.”

“Coward.”

Peter ignored her attempts to provoke him into revealing himself. “He doesn’t deserve you, not with the way he’s treated you.”

“Varik doesn’t hold me prisoner, doesn’t torture me.”

“Torture isn’t my intention. I merely want you to see the truth of what he’s done to you. How he’s corrupted you. You were pure and innocent until he seduced you and twisted you.”

Alexandra laughed and it was sharp and derisive. “That’s what you think? That
Varik
seduced
me
?”

“He corrupted you,” Peter insisted.

“
I
seduced
him
, you jackass!” Her laughter took on the strained notes of one close to madness as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Peter shook his head, refusing to believe her. “No, you were pure, innocent, and he—”

“He resisted,” she interrupted. “He tried to keep our relationship professional, but he eventually caved.”

“Stop it! He twisted you with his perversions.”

She flashed a cruel smile. “He didn’t twist me. Hell, he wasn’t even my first, but he’s certainly proven himself to be the best.”

Peter snarled and directed his attention to the monitor, shutting it off to reveal a flat black surface.

Alexandra glanced at her reflection. Her smile vanished, replaced with a look of horror.

In her reflection, a large gaping wound slashed across the left side of her neck from below the ear to her collarbone. Bruises, cuts, blisters, and bites covered her face, arms, and the upper portion of her chest visible above her shirt’s V-neckline. However, when she raised her hands to her neck, confusion replaced horror and she looked down at herself and then back to her battered reflection.

“I’ve shown you every injury you’ve sustained as a result of
his
callousness,” Peter said. “Will you continue this foolish assertion that he cares for you?”

Alexandra didn’t respond. She covered her face with her hands, turned from the monitor, and lay down once more.

Peter turned the monitor on and her scream filled the small room. Soon she’d see the errors of her ways and renounce her blood-bond to Varik. Once she did, they would be free to start a new life.

Together.

Emily held the towel against Janet’s neck, making sure to keep the pressure constant. She’d bandaged the
wound as best she could but blood continued to weep through the dressing. The girl was pale and pasty and her skin was cooler now than it had been an hour ago. Janet was not only going into shock but was slowly dying in her arms. She had to convince Kirk to let her summon the Enforcers and get the girl the help she needed.

From where she sat in the middle of the living room, she could see the mass of cars and people milling in the street in front of the house. Kirk stood to one side of the windows, watching them through the slightly parted blinds. He’d remained there even while the phone rang for twenty minutes solid. Now both the phone and the house were silent, save for Janet’s ragged breathing.

“They haven’t moved,” Kirk murmured. “No one’s coming forward. It’s like they aren’t even trying to storm the house. Why?”

“They’re probably waiting for you to make some sort of demands,” Emily said and felt a rush of satisfaction when he jumped. “That’s why they called. They want to know what you want.”

He grunted. “What I want, I can’t have. They’d never give her to me.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“They may, if you’re willing to show some sort of goodwill in exchange.”

“Like letting you go?” He chuckled. “Forget it. You’re worth too damn much.”

“Then let Janet go. Please. She needs medical attention.”

His gaze dropped to Janet’s pale face.

“If you release her, they may be willing to negotiate with you,” Emily said. “But if she dies, you know the penalty for killing a human.”

He looked out the window. “I’m already a walking dead man so what’s one more human?”

“Let her go and I’ll do my best to make sure you see your girlfriend.”

Kirk was at her side before Emily could process that he’d moved. “You can do that?”

“I can try, but you have to let the Enforcers send in someone to help Janet.”

He hesitated for a moment and then reached into his back pocket. He handed over her cell phone. “Keep it on speaker and make it quick. No tricks. If I think you’re pulling a fast one, I’ll put a bullet in both your brains.”

She nodded and took the phone, dialing it with one hand while she kept pressure on Janet’s wound. As soon as the first ring sounded, she switched to speaker mode.

“Emily!” Varik’s voice sounded strained and tinny through the small speaker. “What’s going on? Has that bastard hurt you?”

“No,” she answered, watching Kirk. “I’m fine but Janet is badly hurt. She needs medical attention.”

“What the hell happened?”

Kirk shrugged and smirked.

“She was bitten and has lost a lot of blood.”

“Goddamn son of a bitch—”

Kirk frowned and pointed the revolver at Janet.

“Varik, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” Emily interrupted his profane tirade. “He’s agreed to let Janet go if he can see his girlfriend.”

Caution crept into Varik’s voice. “I’m not sure I can do that. We may have trouble finding her.”

“Bullshit!” Kirk jerked the phone from her hand. “Her name is Piper Garver, and she’s sitting her fat ass in the fucking Jefferson Police Department right now!”

He jumped to his feet, paced to the window, and peered outside. “You get her here—
now
—or a bitten human is going to be the least of your worries!”

“You listen to me, you little turdstain,” Varik growled. “You so much as breathe on either of those women, and I’ll hang your fangs from my rearview mirror.”

“Try it, motherfucker, and you’ll be mopping up the blood for days.”

Kirk pressed the button to end the call, cutting off Varik’s response.

From outside, Emily heard the Enforcer’s roar of frustration followed by a loud
bang
and a siren’s pitiful, short
whoop
. She glanced out the partially obscured front window and saw Varik walking away from a still-rocking patrol car, a large dent in its fender near the wheel well.

Janet moaned weakly as Emily peeled away the towel to check the bandage over the girl’s neck. The blood flow had slowed to a trickle but Janet wasn’t improving. Emily re-covered the wound and hoped help would arrive soon.

And that Varik would find a way to use the opening she’d created in Kirk’s defenses. If he didn’t, she would be left alone with an unstable young vampire. It wasn’t the first time she’d faced someone like Kirk. However, the last was before Bernard was killed, and then, she’d been the one holding the gun.

Peter slowly opened his eyes, allowing himself time to reorient to being in the physical world. His body felt heavy and stiff as he swung his legs over the side of the narrow bed on which he lay and sat up.

Transitioning from the Shadowlands to reality seemed to become more difficult each time. The freedom he felt in the Shadowlands disappeared once he returned
to his physical body with its limitations. When he parted the Veil, his consciousness was free to go anywhere, become anything or anyone, and the rush of power he felt there left him breathless. Here in the physical world he felt only barrenness and coldness so deep he sometimes wondered if he even still possessed a soul.