Cole’s gaze flew from her colorless face to the marred side of her neck. Her eyes, even filled with obvious terror, were glassy and dazed. Her whimper sounded fragile, delayed. And Cole recognized the signs for what they were.
She was weak from blood loss—severe blood loss—hovering on the edge of death. Fear and unconscionable rage washed through him. He wanted to fly down the last of the steps and
shred
Deacon, to swim in his blood. He wanted to sweep Alex to safety, to protect her with his own life.
She’s mine,
Cole silently railed.
Mine to
cherish. Mine to protect. The bastard would die—
slowly and painfully—for daring to touch her, for
daring to
drink
from her.
Then his mind faltered.
Mine to protect…
Yeah…done a real bang up job there, haven’t I?
Deacon dragged her up, rubbing against her in a sickeningly intimate way. His hand twisted tighter in her hair. She flinched but remained silent. Cole snarled, taking a menacing step forward. As Deacon moved, maneuvering the dazed Alex like a rag doll before him, the
Odhroerir
on her back
flirted with Cole’s vision for just a moment. It was enough to push him back onto somewhat stable ground.
Wisdom.
Stop. Take a breath. Think before you rush
in, Cole silently chanted.
Deacon yanked on her hair again, his arm 307
slid around her waist as he bent her back…all the better to give Cole an unhindered view of the fangs pressing against her throat. Deacon’s tongue skimmed across the delicate skin over her jugular, and the beast in Cole turned rabid. “Me and Alex here are gonna have a real good time when I’m through with you.”
Wisdom and stopping to think fell by the wayside.
Kill
the threat
, the beast roared.
Protect my female
, it snarled.
“Don’t come any closer, Cole, or I’ll drain her,” Deacon hissed, flashing his fangs in warning. “I’ll rip out her fucking throat. One more step and she’s finished. That won’t make me very happy, Cole. It’s not time for her to die…not yet anyway.”
308
Fear almost paralyzed him. Fury drove him on. It took Deacon’s fangs scoring her tender skin, and the unmistakable crimson trickle, to sink through the livid haze and stay Cole’s movements.
The icy blue of Cole’s eyes beamed like lasers through the darkness, eerie and unholy. He was sure he looked more like the monster who’d sired him right now than he ever had in his entire existence. His fangs were enormous in his mouth, throbbing for the kill. His skin stretched taut over sharpened cheekbones. His hands curled at his sides, claws aching to tear Deacon’s flesh from his bones. Cole’s blood raced, his heart hammered with the need to protect her.
“Your female bleeds, Gunnarrson.” Deacon grinned, gloating as the taunt struck home. “She tastes so…
sweet
. No wonder you found her irresistible. Too bad these Humans have such pitifully
short
lives.”
Kill.
Protect.
Kill. Protect. KillProtectKillProtect!
MINE!
And yet, Cole didn’t move an inch, didn’t so much as blink.
His voice was a harsh rasp, cutting through the darkness. “Why are you doing this, Deacon?”
“Because they’re sheep!” Deacon exploded.
“They’re all useless, fucking sheep! They’re
food
, Cole. Yet we tap dance around their tender 309
sensibilities. We have the power. We should be masters, instead of timid shadows clinging to the night. You should try playing with your food once in a while, Cole. It’s really rather…liberating.” Deacon’s maniacal bark of laughter ricocheted off the block walls hollowly.
His laughter cut out as quickly and unexpectedly as it had begun. His shrewd gaze snapped to Cole’s, flashing golden fire in the darkness. Dead calm. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved. I might have eventually…taken you under my wing.” He chuckled then, hoarse and twisted, but the chuckle died a swift death, replaced with cold certainty. “We could have been unstoppable. There are so many others out there, others like us. We could have taken those fucking
Enforcers
out. Then there wouldn’t have been anything to stand in the way. We could have ruled. We’d have lived like fucking kings. You should have told that prick Crispin to fuck off.”
“You know it doesn’t work that way, Deacon.
Not with them.” Cole did his best to keep the venom from his voice as he edged a little closer, down one more step…then another. He could do nothing about the glow of his eyes.
“Yeah, well, they’re the fools now. They’ll never catch me. I’ll move on, start over…find others who believe as I do. They’re out there, Cole. You know I’m right. They’re out there, and they’ll join me in a Human heartbeat. Those fuckheads, the TFRA won’t even be looking for The Party Crasher anymore, not after tonight.” Cole eyed him, suddenly wary, the back of his neck starting to itch. Another step disappeared.
“Why not?”
“Because they’re gonna come here. They’re gonna come here when
I
call ’em.” Deacon’s eyes flashed with smug pleasure. “And you know what 310
they’re gonna find?”
Apprehension fisted in Cole’s gut.
“Those freakin’ bastards are gonna find
her
.” Deacon yanked Alex’s hair again, straining her neck back until tendons and veins bulged. She whimpered, and Deacon’s eyes locked on Cole, smiling at his reaction. “They’re gonna find her down here with her throat ripped out. Oh, I’ll bleed her dry first. She’s mostly there anyway.” His hoarse chuckle was short, then he pressed his taunts home. “I’ve found she’s too tasty to waste. I might even sample a few other pleasures her body has to offer while I’m at it. But they’re gonna blame you, of course.” Deacon’s grin was the embodiment of evil. “I’m gonna tell ’em I trailed you here. I’m gonna tell ’em that it was you all along, that I saw you kill her. And you know why those stupid fucks are gonna believe me?”
Cole slowly shook his head, a muscle ticked along his jaw. Another step slipped past.
“Because, when I’m through, even Styx will doubt you. He saw you earlier with her fleabag ex…yeah, I was there too. Didn’t know that, did you? He saw the shape you were in when you left.
Nice work on the study, by the way…that’ll go a long way toward confirming my story. That…and because this is
your
house, Cole,” Deacon informed him, giving a crazed chuckle. “Nice digs, by the way.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed. “This isn’t my—”
“Oh, but it is. You have no idea how easy it was to buy this place in your name.” Deacon’s eyes narrowed, calculating and vicious. “And when they get here, I have a little added bonus upstairs. A little something…extra special.” The scent of blood when he’d first entered the house…
311
Cole dragged in a very slow, very deliberate breath and remained silent, waiting.
“They’re gonna find that little…gift…I left, and assume you’re the one they’ve been after all along.”
Cole’s mind swirled. He had to keep Deacon talking, had to give himself time to do something.
But what? “Why the number eleven, Deacon?” Deacon’s eyes glinted. His voice ripped through the room with barely leashed fury.
“Because that’s how long it takes for love to be sucked from a Vampyre’s soul.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I had a female of my own once. Didn’t know that, did you, Cole?” Deacon’s eyes flashed in the darkness. His fangs gleamed as his lips pulled back in a vicious snarl. “Eleven years…I had her for a measly fucking eleven years. That’s like a goddamned tick of a second hand for a Vamp. I wanted to change her, tried to explain to her the dangers of her staying Human. But she wouldn’t let me change her, wouldn’t let me give her the gift of eternity.” Some of the glow faded from his eyes, but his expression remained fierce, his voice edged with fury. “She wouldn’t take my blood either. She swore she loved me, regardless of what I was, but she couldn’t bring herself to drink from me.
“She was too weak to face eternity…and I was weak for loving her. Eleven years of my life, I spent denying what I was. Eleven years I wasted trying to be something I wasn’t…for her, for a woman who died in my arms on a cold November night from a Human disease. She wasted away to nothing. Even after they diagnosed her with breast cancer, she wouldn’t take my blood, Cole.
My blood could have saved her, but she still wouldn’t take it.”
312
Cole thought perhaps Deacon might lose his focus for a second, just long enough for Cole to strike, but he didn’t. Deacon didn’t drop his guard for the tiniest moment, despite of the furious pain boiling in his burning gaze. “Hell, I’m doing you a favor, Cole. Lovin’ a Human ain’t worth the pain.”
Alex hung helplessly in Deacon’s arms, leaning limply against him. Her heart pulsed a little stronger now in Cole’s ears. Adrenaline coursed thicker. Was she hearing this? Did she understand what was going on? She had to be terrified.
His woman was terrified.
Cole’s breath sped, his muscles tensed. A snarl hovered in his throat, waiting to rip free. He pushed it down.
Wisdom
, he reminded himself,
logic and reason.
“You loved her Deacon. She was Human, but you loved her. How could you destroy all those women like that? Women like the one you loved? What was her name, Deacon?”
“Aw, man, don’t go getting all psych 101 on me. Weren’t you fucking listening?” Deacon’s snarl slashed through the night. “She left me, Cole. She goddamned left me. She was weak, just like the rest of her kind. They’re all weak.” The glow of Deacon’s eyes brightened, flashing through the darkness like lasers. “You know, on second thought…I can always pick another Human later for the final act. Our little Alex was supposed to be my number fourteen, you know.
That was smart, by the way, figuring out my little message. The TFRA all looked like fuckin’
monkeys chasing their asses. Ah well, I can always find another little lamb. I have plenty of time. They’re so much better fresh. Say goodbye, Cole.” Deacon’s pupil’s elongated. He lifted his head, bared his fangs, and smiled with sadistic 313
cruelty.
So unwise…
With fangs stretched long and deadly, Cole launched himself off the last step, and flew through the air. An ancient warrior, a deadly predator…an enraged Vampyre protecting his Bride. A roar, dark and gruesome, erupted from Cole’s chest, echoing in the cavernous darkness around them. He swooped down on Deacon, filled with the kind of fury only an angel of hell can deliver.
Alex jerked, listing to the side now that Deacon’s malicious hands no longer held her trapped and his fangs no longer hovered, waiting to tear at her throat. She was free, but too weak to move. Then she was catapulting through the air as Deacon’s body slammed against her. The unforgiving block wall met the side of her head and she crumpled to the floor. Unmoving.
Cole desperately wanted to go to her, to scoop her up and run with her. To carry her to safety.
The searing burn of Deacon’s fangs slashing through his shoulder brought his focus back where it needed to be…centered solely on the spitting, snarling Vampyre before him. But in the back of his mind, Alex’s presence hovered like a flame in the night, her heartbeat weak, her breathing too slow now. Cole leaped between her fragile body and danger, becoming her shield and guard. As he grappled with Deacon, as the two of them clawed and punched, lunged and bit. Worry and fear danced through him.
Why wasn’t she getting back up? Why wasn’t she moving at all?
Rage swelled inside him anew, and he fought like a demon possessed. Wine
bottles crashed and shattered, shelving
rock
ed, splintered and
cracked. Snarls and hisses rent the air, 314
punctuated by the dull thud of fist connecting with flesh, and the sharp snap of deadly fangs.
Vampyre blood splashed the walls and floor.
Deacon’s fangs sank into his thigh, and Cole howled at the vicious pain. He fisted his hands in Deacon’s hair, yanking, tearing it out by the roots, smashing his fist into the Rogue’s nose with a satisfying crunch. Searing pain tore down Cole’s side as Deacon’s claws slashed at his ribs.
Cole twisted away, darting swiftly back,
determined to remain between Alex and Deacon.
The bastard would never get close to her again.
Kicking out a leg, Deacon swiped Cole’s feet out from beneath him. Cole’s arm shot out, and he took Deacon down with a resounding grunt of pain. The two scrabbled and wrestled on the floor, both determined to get the advantage. Cole latched onto Deacon’s wrist, wrenching his arm up and around behind his back. With his other arm, he grasped Deacon’s jaw with hot resolve, twisting his head to the side, exposing his vulnerable neck.
Only one of them would walk from this cellar alive, only one of them would lay hands on his female again. And Cole was dead certain that it would
not
be Deacon. In a swift, violent move, Deacon wrested to the side, shoving away from the floor with superhuman strength, toppling Cole from his back. Cole came back in a flash, and the two rolled over and over across the small room, angling for the advantage.
A wild spray of blood arced across the wall.
In a matter of seconds, the wine cellar fell silent…nearly silent. Harsh, ragged breath echoed through the darkness as a massive form—a fallen titan—crawled slowly, painfully across the floor toward Alex’s prone body, leaving carnage and death behind.
315
With gentle care, Cole turned Alex over and cradled her tenderly in his arms, wiping a forearm across his bloodied face. He closed his eyes and drew a steadying breath, dropping his forehead to hers. The sound of her struggling heartbeat, weak and uneven, echoed in his ears.
A single tear slipped from the corner of his eye, trailing down his bruised and battered face, mingling with the blood covering his split lip, dripping from his chin onto her pale cheek.
Cole looked away for a moment and used his shoulder to wipe more of the blood from his face before he turned back to her.
His hand trembled as he cupped her cheek.
“Alex, open your eyes. Gods, sweetheart, please open your eyes.”
She didn’t respond, and fear coiled in his stomach. Suddenly the walls were closing in on him. The scent of blood, Vampyre and Human, hung heavy in the air, revolting him. The shredded, lifeless body on the floor only a few short feet from them was more than Cole could stomach. He had to get her out of here. Now.
As he shifted her in his arms, the metallic clink of the chains drew his attention. Anger flared once more, and with an enraged tug, the metal snapped without a fight.
In the blink of an eye, he gathered her close, cradling her like a newborn babe. Cole lost his hold on reality, on all awareness, and didn’t find it again until he lowered Alex to her own bed in her own house.
He stared down at her pale face and smoothed the hair back from her brow, drawing a shaky breath. Crimson trailed down the ivory, translucent column of her throat, and he cringed at the sight, cringed at the mark of Deacon’s bite marring her neck.
316
He hurried into the master bath and quickly wet down several of the lacy hand towels hanging on the rack. Catching sight of himself in the mirror, Cole stopped long enough to quickly wash away the remaining evidence of his violent, fatal clash with Deacon. She couldn’t see him like that.
A monster like Deacon. She’d be terrified of him.
Lowering himself to the side of her bed, Cole gently cleaned the blood from Alex’s neck and face. He leaned close and smoothed his tongue along the marks Deacon had left on her flesh.