Not Quite Dead (A NightHunter Novel) (15 page)

"I'm not in the mood to die."

"Me either." She was holding a small turquoise bag with feathers tied to the cord around its neck.

The vampire's attention went to Jordyn. Eric felt the moment that it focused on her. The raging hunger turned into bloodlust. Sex. Feeding.

Possessiveness flooded Eric, jacking up his adrenaline.
She's mine, you piece of shit.
"Jordyn, you need to back up—"

He didn't get to finish his warning. The vampire launched itself at Jordyn. "No way, you bastard!" Eric leapt forward at the same time, and the two bodies crashed into each other in midair. The vampire was brutally strong, its claws raking across Eric's chest, tearing his flesh to shreds as it fought to get to Jordyn. "Back off," Eric shouted as he slammed his dagger into the vampire's torso.

The green blade flashed brightly and glittery gold flames erupted from its chest. The vampire screamed in agony, but then threw Eric aside with ridiculous ease, its strength insurmountable. It lunged for Jordyn, but she was gone. For a split second, it froze, its head turned as it scanned the night for her.

Eric used that moment to attack. He slammed his palms together, and power exploded from them. The burst of energy hit the vampire, throwing it against the side of truck. The metal collapsed like an accordion. The vehicle skidded across the road and into the ditch as the vampire tore itself out of the side of the truck. He shot toward Eric, moving so fast he was only a blur.

"Hold him still," Jordyn shouted from the edge of the woods, where she'd apparently gone when the vampire had targeted her.

"Hold him still? Are you fucking kidding?" But Eric held his power and didn't attack as the vampire launched itself at him. He let the vampire crash into him. The vampire's teeth sank into Eric's neck again, and this time, he didn't throw it off. He twisted his energy around the vampire, locking it against him, using the energy as invisible bonds. The vampire convulsed and screamed, trying to pull back enough to get its teeth out of his neck, but Eric held it tight against him, not letting it back off. His arm and a thousand pounds of magical force were locked around the back of the creature's head, holding its fangs into Eric's neck.

Because this was what he'd had planned when he woke up this morning. Find a clue about his brother, help a vampire rip his throat out, all in a good day's work.

"Perfect!" Jordyn raced over to them, putting herself right in the damned path of danger.

He was going to yell at her to back off, but he had no energy left to spare. He was too busy trying to hold a raging maniac in a bear hug, while keeping at least part of his neck still attached to his body.

Jordyn tore open the small bag she'd been holding and dumped it over the vampire, chanting words in a language he didn't recognize. Violet powder dumped over them both, and he gagged as it filled his mouth and burned his eyes, because he wasn't facing enough of a challenge at the moment, right?

"This is supposed to help him find his humanity," she shouted as she backed up.

The vampire's teeth sank deeper, and Eric swore. "It's not working!"

"It has to work! I used a huge amount!"

"Well, it's not!" He was out of time. He slammed his palms into the vampire's chest, and the explosion threw the vampire back again, ripping its teeth out of his neck, and taking too much of Eric's flesh with it.

Eric groaned and rolled onto his side, struggling to stand up as the blood poured from his neck. "Get in the truck," he gasped. "Get away. I'll keep it occupied as long as I can. Go!" He knew he couldn't defeat the vampire, but if Jordyn could get away, if he could give her time, then that was at least a heroic way to die, so yeah, that was good. He'd always had a bit of a hero complex, at least according to his brother.

Completely ignoring his command, Jordyn held up her hand, telling him not to move, which of course, he wasn't about to do. Moving required blood to be flowing to his extremities so they could function, and that wasn't really happening at the moment. "Wait a moment," she said.

"Because waiting for a vampire to get its strength back is such a good plan?" His legs gave out, and he went down on his knees. He bent his head, staring at the vampire as he began to summon more magic. The creature had been stunned by Eric's hit, but its fingers were twitching, so apparently, not quite dead.

He tried to watch the vampire, but the night was spinning, and he couldn't focus. "Get out of here," he ordered Jordyn, watching the vampire as it gathered what little strength it could assimilate.

Eric didn't have much left. One more assault, maybe, enough to give the vampire a small bruise before it finished the job.

The vampire rolled onto its side, and then to its hands and knees. It raised its head to look at Jordyn and Eric. Blood cascaded down its face and over the front of its shirt.

"That's my blood," Eric gritted out. "You're wasting it."

The vampire's gaze went to Eric, but it didn't stand. It was still on its hands and knees.

"Look at his eyes," Jordyn whispered.

Eric noticed then that the vampire's eyes were no longer red. They were dark, hidden in the shadows of the night.

"It worked. The shock of your blow was enough to break the hold of the vampire and let the powder work. He's fighting for his humanity now." She took a step, as if she were planning to march over there and give the vampire a high five.

Eric grabbed her ankle. "I don't think so."

She didn't fight him, but she put her hand on his shoulder. "You have to leave," she told the vampire. "The powder won't last long. You have to do it on your own. You have to fight it. Make the right choice now. Remember that you were once human, and you still have that inside you. Leave before you kill another innocent.
Leave
."

The vampire stared at her, and this time, Eric saw that hard, sculpted face contort, as if he were in great suffering. He saw the humanity in that creature, just for a split second. Tentatively, he opened his mind to the vampire, and this time, woven among the bloodlust and the evil was something else. A thin, barely-there tendril of light, spreading out like the most fragile of filaments through the darkness "Son of a bitch," he whispered. "You're right." But even as Eric spoke, the dark red of bloodlust began to creep down the silvery filaments, eating away at that brief glimpse of humanity.

Eric reached out with his mind, pushing barriers at the vampire, shoving metaphysical obstacles in the path of the evil, trying to help the vampire break his ties to his prey.

The dark eyes met his, and Eric felt a sudden howl of anguish roll through his mind, a wail of human suffering so great that it was almost unfathomable. Then the vampire leapt to his feet, whirled around, and sprinted into the woods, disappearing in a whisper of movement.

"Oh, my God," Jordyn whispered. "It worked. We did it."

"Yeah, I'm a badass." The words slurred as Eric slumped onto the road. "I think I'm part vampire. I need blood." He thought it was a joke, but when Jordyn sucked in her breath, it occurred to him that he wasn't sure exactly how vampires were made. Something about being bitten and drained, right? 'Cause he'd been bitten, and he was pretty low on pints.

Nah.

He wasn't the vampire type.

An IV bag would do just fine.

He felt Jordyn's arms wrap around him as he fell. "Eric," she commanded, her voice distant through the haze of his mind. "We need to get to the truck. Your legs work, so use them."

"Bossy chick," he slurred, as he tried to make his legs function. Weirdly, they didn't feel like they were attached to his body. "Totally hot."

"I'm not bossy. You're bossy. I'm just a nice, sweet girl." She threw his arm over her shoulder and put her arm around his waist. "Now get up and get to the truck. We need to get you some help or you're going to die."

He cracked his eyes open enough to see the truck. It was half in the ditch and at least twenty feet away. He stared at it numbly, having difficulty focusing on it. "That's too far to walk. Drive it over here to pick me up." Yeah, that sounded good. "I'm just going to sit down here." He started to sit down, but Jordyn wouldn't let him.

"That powder won't last long," she snapped. "He'll be back. So get your butt into the damned truck so I can tell everyone what a hero you were fighting the vampire."

"I'm a hero. Everyone knows it. You don't need to tell them." He let his head flop to the side and closed his eyes as his face wound up in her hair. The strands tickled his nose and he sighed. "You smell good," he slurred. "Like a really hot, sexy woman who wants me and kicks vampire ass. Let's have sex." He wasn't sure he'd actually said it out loud. His body was so heavy, and cold. He was really cold. It took too much effort to talk. Or think. Or breathe—

Jordyn's breath was warm against his neck. "If you get your cute little butt to that truck," she said softly, "I promise I'll have sex with you."

He let that thought roll around in his head for a long moment, struggling to process it and figure out what it meant, but his head felt thick. "Sex?"

"God, you lose half your blood supply, and you become a complete idiot. I didn't realize you were such a wimp," she complained as she continued to drag him along.

"I'm not a wimp." He tried to stand up again, and his legs just didn't seem to care. He didn't like being called a wimp, but was disproving it really worth the effort of walking? No, no, not really. He was pretty sure it wasn't.

"Damn, you're incredibly difficult. You know that, right? Challenging your manliness doesn't get you going, so let's go back to the sex thing. You know what sex is, right? Making love. Orgasms. Me naked. You naked. But only if you get in the truck, you big oaf. If you die, you'll never have a chance to have sex with me, and I'm really good at it, so you'll be majorly missing out."

Naked.
Jordyn naked. An image flashed into his mind of her breasts. Perky nipples. Rounded hips leading down to... What was left of his blood shot straight to his groin, and he was suddenly a hell of a lot more conscious than he had been a moment before. "Okay." He closed his eyes and concentrated really hard. One step. Then another. Then one more. "Yeah, check this out. I'm awesome." He kept his face in Jordyn's hair, his eyes closed as he let her direct him. Then, finally, weirdly, he was in the truck. He sank into the leather seat, slumping down as Jordyn climbed in beside him.

Yeah, he did it. He was the man. "Naked," he mumbled. "You promised."

"I know. Later."

"Okay." Later sounded good. Right now, he just needed to sleep. He closed his eyes as the truck roared to life, but he was still cold. So cold. "Jordyn."

"Just hang in there," she said. "We'll get you help soon."

"Where's your hand?"

"What?" The truck lurched forward, and he slid lower on the seat, unable to hold himself up.

"Your hand." His eyelids were too heavy to keep open, and the coldness was crawling down his limbs. "I want it."

"Why?" But even as she asked, he felt her hand on his. He immediately slid his fingers between hers, entangling them together.

"Warm," he slurred. "Nice."

The smile was still on his face as he faded into unconsciousness.

"Still alive?" David raced up to the truck as she slammed on the brakes in his front yard.

"I think so. God, I hope so." She was trembling as David opened the passenger door.

He whistled softly as he took in Eric slumped almost on the floor of the vehicle, literally covered in blood. "Damn," he said. "I knew this was coming. Let's go."

She grabbed Eric under the shoulders, but he didn't respond as she angled him toward the door. She helped David get him upright, and then David squatted down and hauled Eric across his shoulders. He stood up easily, not even flinching at the effort of lifting a well-muscled man. She frowned as she grabbed her bag and hurried after him.

When they were kids, David had been about as strong as she was. A nerd with a heart of gold. And now he was slinging Eric over his shoulders as if he weighed nothing?

"I can feel his heart thudding against my back," David said as he broke into a jog. "He's still alive."

"Oh, thank God." All thoughts of David's strength fled as she raced across the yard after them. She followed them through the front door, just barely getting indoors in time to see David disappear down the basement stairs. She ran after them, her feet thudding on the steps as she went down into the dimly lit space.

Dammit. She didn't like basements. The old familiar fears crept over her, and she instinctively looked around as she hurried down the steps. The cement walls were cracked, and the small windows were so covered in grime that they were completely opaque. The only lights were a few barren light bulbs jammed into sockets in the ceiling. "This is where you work now? Seriously?"

"Don't judge," David said mildly. "I'm always full of surprises." He kicked open a broken wooden door at the back of the basement, and strode inside.

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure nothing was following her, she hurried after them, then grinned with relief as she walked into the room and saw David setting Eric down on a hospital bed. The room was pristine and immaculate. There were gleaming white cabinets, a glistening stainless steel sink, and a beautiful wooden worktable that was laden with an assortment of herbs and plants, along with several pots of dirt. On the wall above the table were shelves filled with hundreds of small glass bottles filled with assorted powders and liquids. "Wow, you have even more than you used to."

"A lot of shit's been going down here lately," he grunted as he unpeeled Eric from around his neck. "I've been busy."

Eric groaned and suddenly grabbed David, his fingers digging into his throat. David grimaced and grabbed Eric's wrist. "Get your boyfriend off me, because he's in no shape for me to hurt him right now."