Pretty When They Collide (13 page)

“
You heard about a girl who could move things with her mind living on the streets in El Paso,” Aimee answered in a trembling voice.

“
That
’
s right. And I found you, didn
’
t I? I knew what I wanted and I found you. I saved you from living on the streets. I didn
’
t take you home to that freaky religious compound yo
u escaped from, but brought you
to my beautiful house.” Slowly, his fingers raked through her sodden hair, pushing it back from her face. “I gave you everything a girl could want, didn
’
t I?”

Nodding, Aimee whimpered, “Yes.”

Frank
’
s kiss was tender, but that made it all the worse for her. “And I made love to you, gave you my blood, made you mine. I even fell in love with you.” He slowly inhaled the scent of her hair. “That nasty smell is all gone now.”

“
Frank, I
’
m sorry.”

“
I know, Aimee. I know.” Frank kissed her cheek, his hand tangled in her long hair. “I know you feel sorry when you
force
me to be this way with you. If you would just obey me, love me, submit to me of your own free will
–
”

The tone of his voice deepened with his rage and Aimee cried out in terror.

“
--I wouldn
’
t have to do this!”

The sharp fangs of the vampire tore into her throat, Frank
’
s lips moving against her damp skin to draw in her blood in great gulps. The pain sliced into her, making her twist under him, trying to break free. Crying and screaming, she tried to push him off her. Though he had the ability to make his bite sensual and erotic, Frank obviously wanted her to feel every rent of her flesh and her blood gushing into his hungry mouth. The agony was so great, she felt as though she could not take it another second. Burying her fingers in his dark hair, she tried to pull him off, but he would not relent. He wanted her to suffer, and suffer she did.

At last Frank finished feeding and licked the wound he had inflicted upon her, compelling it to heal. As his tongue worked against the ragged edges of his bite, she whimpered. At last, he drew back, his face stained red from just under his cheekbones to his chin. Blood rivulets trailed down his neck as he grinned at her.

“
Now, you
r
turn. If you won
’
t love me by choice, you will love me by force.”

Slashing his wrist, Frank straddled her. Forcing her mouth open with one hand, he held his bleeding wound over her lips. The blood, cold and bitter, surged into her mouth, choking her.

“
Swallow,” he commanded.

Aimee tried not to. She attempted to spit it out.

Angered, Frank shoved the gashed flesh against her mouth, pressing down until she gagged, her lips spread wide around
the
width of his wrist. His blood poured into her throat.

Weeping, she felt the dark power of the vampire blood slithering through her like the roots of a weed, choking her magic, her will, and her mind. Overwhelmed, frightened, and increasingly confused, Aimee fought to cling to her own soul and strength. The vampire bond tightened around her like a straitjacket, crippling her in its darkness.

Just when she felt she would drown in his power, she felt her fingers tingling. It wasn
’
t the cold, the water, or the loss of blood, but the traces of Cassandra
’
s power that still lingered after her dream. Focusing on the sensation, Aimee fought through the strangling power of the vampire to that one tiny bit of hope. In her mind
’
s eye, she remembered Cassandra
’
s mysterious, compelling smile, and the warmth of her hand. She was still clinging to it when Frank
’
s power smothered her and plunged her into darkness as his lips covered hers.

Part Three
:

The Witch and the Dhamphir

Chapter 13
:

Arrival

West Texas was hot as hell.

Even with the rental car air conditioner cranked up all the way, the sun spilling through the windshield felt like it was baking Cassandra alive. She had flung a lightweight denim jacket over her arms to keep the sun from giving her an actual burn. Clad in jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hat, Cassandra looked like any other Texan girl
,
except for her t-shirt bearing the Superman logo. It was mid-afternoon, so she was going to have to bear the sun for a bit longer.

A quick check of the dashboard clock assured her that she was on time. Scott had booked her a motel in Marfa, Texas and she wanted to check-in before grabbing something--and someone--to eat.

The landscape was beige and gold along the road. Dirt swirled through dry brush in little whirlwinds. In the distance the craggy mountains were a dark purple backdrop beneath a pale blue sky empty of clouds. The drive from the Midland-Odessa airport had been uneventful and she was going to make it to Marfa in just under three hours. The heat shimmered over Highway 17 as the
rental car Scott had
arranged
for her sped toward the very small town rising out of the desert. With every mile, her stomach twisted into an even tighter knot. Cassandra had never been so anxious in her life. All her previous jobs had been varying degrees of dangerous, but she had been responsible only for her own survival. Now Aimee
’
s fate rested in her hands.

At last the desert gave way to the small human enclave. Marfa was a quaint town that was an artist haven. As a Texan, Cass had always known about the town, but had never visited. She was impressed with the beauty of the old buildings and the grandeur of the 19th century pink stucco courthouse. A tall white tower adorned with Lady Justice loomed over the rest of the building that looked like something from Europe or the
Addams
F
amily
with a dash of West Texas flavor.

The town was so small it didn
’
t take long for her to find the place
where
she would be temporarily staying. The Thunderbird
M
otel looked like something out of the
f
ifties or
s
ixties. Her destination was a two
-
story mote
l with outside door entry. The exterior
was blue stucco and a fancy new sign was perched aloft the wall.

Spotting a Dairy Queen sign down the road, Cassandra opted to grab food. Within a half hour, she was eating the second of the three hamburgers she had bought while perched on the bed of the hotel room. Scott had already
made arrangements
for her and left a bag inside with everything she needed for the job. Now she was studying on her laptop all the information he had provided on a flash drive tucked into the bag. The room was surprisingly modern and comfortable, much to her relief, but she wouldn
’
t be staying long. If things went according to plan, she wouldn
’
t even sleep in the bed.

“
Everything has been provided for you,” Scott
’
s voice narrated the video she was watching. “Schematics of the house, the location of the relic, and the security codes. All came at a high price, but the relic is incredibly rare and your cut, as we discussed, will be very lucrative.”

Cassandra winced when the relic came on screen. It was fairly hideous. Chewing on her thumbnail, she squirmed as a disquieting thought occurred to her. What if Scott actually knew this was all an elaborate trap set by Frank? She immediately dismissed the notion. Scott made a lot of money because of her work and she sincerely doubted he would toss her away. He had seemed genuinely concerned that she had almost been caught in Vegas. Maybe he didn
’
t consider her to be a friend, but he did consider her to be an asset.

Based on all the information Scott had gathered for her
,
the job was relatively easy. Drive
to
a
n area a
half mile outside the complex, leap over the perimeter fence, make her way to the main house, scale the outside, slip in through a balcony doorway, disarm the security system, snatch the artifact from the shelf in Frank
’
s office, and leave the same way she had entered. But when she added in Aimee
’
s information, she saw very quickly that the path she needed to take through the house was perfect for an ambush. It was a long hallway with no openings except for at the two ends.

Studying the layout of the house and the guard posts, she didn
’
t see another
feasible
way into the house. Like most vampire lairs, there were only two primary entrances
and both
were heavily guarded.

Again she took inventory of the bag Scott had left for her and checked the weapons. Silver daggers, dart guns, and a stake. The darts injected a strong sedative the second they hit their target. Guns were very loud and too messy.

Flopping back on the bed, she stared up at the ceiling and sighed. “Fuck!” It was going to be rough, but she knew she could do it. She
’
d have to feed from at least five people to get enough blood in her system, but if she went in at full power, she could do some serious damage. Frank was a lower level vampire, so she was fairly sure she could take him.

Closing the lid of her laptop with one hand, she reached for her half-eaten burger with the other. She
’
d finish eating human food, then find herself actual
human
food.

“
Time to kick some ass, save the girl, and ride into the sunrise,” she said. “I can do this.”

The rental car melded seamlessly into the darkness dwelling at the base of an outcropping of bedrock. Satisfied that it wouldn
’
t be detected, Cassandra once more did a quick inventory of all her weapons. Clad in black body armor and heavy duty combat boots, she looked like something out of a science fiction movie. The Kevlar body armor was top of the line and so expensive that Scott made her return it after each job. She was just relieved it wasn
’
t bulky and allowed her a full range of movement.

Taking in a deep breath, she slowly exhaled. The blood she had consumed was boiling in her veins, imbuing her with the powers of her father. The vampiric aspect of her nature was coiled tight within her by her sheer willpower. It hissed at her to hunt and feed. She felt inhuman, outside of her mortality. All she had to do was release her tight control.

“
Here we go,” she whispered, opening her eyes that burned with red fires.

Leaping ten feet up onto the bedrock shelf, she felt the rules of nature unshackle her. She landed easily and perched briefly, scanning the desert before her. In the distance she could see the lights illuminating the perimeter of the vampire
’
s estate.

It was time.

Like a sledgehammer disintegrating a glass window, her vampire nature shattered her human side. Instantly, she felt her joints popping, her muscles strengthening, and her senses sharpening. With a wild
,
gleeful grin, she launched herself into the air and landed already in a full sprint. The wind whistled in her ears, giving her body slight resistance as it sliced through the night. Faster than any human ever and matching vampire speed, Cassandra raced across the desert, her boot heels leaving plumes of dirt in her wake.

The fence encircling the estate rose before her, topped with barbwire. Cassandra didn
’
t even try to climb it, she half-leaped, half-flew over it. Landing hard, she rolled, then was up on her feet immediately. The carefully
-
sculpted and tended rock garden didn
’
t even slow her down as she jumped over boulders, cact
i
, and flowering desert foliage.

She sensed more than saw the first guard. One second she was skirting a Joshua tree, the next second she was slamming her forearm into the throat of the startled man, sending him to the ground
gasping
for air. Snagging his firearm from his hand, she flung it away and bounded toward the multi-level adobe home before her.

Not even slightly winded, she raced along a walkway straight toward the outside wall. Like the schematic had revealed, most of the windows were either bricked over or heavily barred. The balcony was easy to spot with its wrought
-
iron railing and red-tile accents. Cassandra jumped, landed on the wall, and scale
d it like a spider. The Spider-M
an trick drained quite a bit of her power, but she was aiming for swiftness and the element of surprise. Grabbing the rail, she flung her body over it and landed just outside the balcony windows. Pulling out the small device Scott had included in the bag he had left her, she activated it and watched it remotely hack into the security system. Tapping in the code, she saw a small red light on the wall beyond the balcony door wink off.

So far, so good.

Whipping the door open, she mentally ran the layout of the house through her mind. Heart thundering in her chest, she raced down the hall and hopped down the staircase, landing to landing, arriving on the bottom floor. The long hallway that bisected the house and led to Frank
’
s study lay before her. Dim lights illuminated her path, the glossy black marble floor dappled with warm light. The layout of the house had been a lie though. Doorways opened off the hallway, perfect for a trap.

Cassandra had never deliberately entered an ambush before and her pulse was racing. Drawing her dart gun, she surged forward.

The dhamphir had just cleared the first two doors when they were flung open and heavily armored men burst out. Swiveling on one foot, she kicked one man in the throat, knocking him back into the room and into the men behind him. As the assailant from the opposite room attempted to Taser her, she dropped to the floor and shot him in the soft underside of his chin. The dart slammed into his flesh and he cried out in pain, but to her surprise he did not go down.

For a moment, confusion gripped her as the man she had sedated snatched the dart out of his skin and flung it away. Behind him, another man moved to fire his Taser at her.

“
Fuck!” Cassandra screamed, realizing the darts were faulty. Hurling the dart gun at the man aiming at her, she burned even more of her power as she rolled onto her hands and knees and kicked out, knocking the first assailant back. A grunt and a cry of pain informed her she had hit both her marks.

Scrambling to her feet, she only had a split second to see her next accoster aiming at her. Grabbing him by the wrist, she pivoted toward his body, slamming her elbow into his Adam
’
s apple, before swinging him into two more guards trying to get a bead on her. Panic gripped her and she fought for control.

Pumping more of her blood power into her limbs, she snatched one of the men who had previously attacked her and used him as a battering ram against the others coming for her. A scuff on the marble informed her that more guards were filling the hallway behind her.

The first Taser barb to catch her hooked onto her Kevlar, and the jolt merely drew her attention. Smashing her fist into the face of the guard who had hit her, she saw his blood splatter against her knuckles and spray the air. Her tongue lashed out between her lips, and the sacred vitae rained onto it. Instantly, she felt back in control as the world slowed around her
and
her inhuman speed accelerated.

Cassandra laughed with joy.

These were the moments when she knew her soul teetered on the brink of darkness. Moving among the insanely slow humans trying to fight her, she kicked, punched, and even bit her way through them. Snatching one man around the neck with her arm, she pierced his throat with her fangs, while using the momentum of her action to kick into the air and send two guards flying. Her feet landed against the wall and the world flipped sideways.

Grinning, she ran along the wall, knocking the mortals off their feet. She snagged the vest of one of the guards and hurtled him into the ceiling, spinning around to catch another one with a sharp jab to his nose. Blood, moans, and cries of pain filled the air.

Cassandra launched herself into the air, flipping her body so she landed on the floor just behind the downed men and looked toward the end of the hall
,
waiting for more. All around her echoed the soft moans of pain from the unconscious guards.

“
Come out!” she called out. “I know you
’
re there. Fight me!”

A solitary figure stepped into the hallway from a side door. Clad in a flowing white dress, Aimee stood in silence, her head tilted to the side to regard Cassandra.

Taking in a deep breath, Cassandra felt the world return to normal around her. Swiftly leap-frogging over the guard
’
s bodies, she moved toward Aimee. Maybe Frank really wasn
’
t here and they could get out now that the guards were gone. She was almost to Aimee when she saw something in the other woman
’
s fingers.