Replica (The Blood Borne Series Book 2) (20 page)

A slow grin spread across his face. Was it because he saw the doubt in my eyes? Or because I was on top of him again? “Twice now you have held my own blade at my throat. Should you try a third time, there will be consequences.”

“Let him go.” Lea sounded weary as she climbed to her feet.

I swung my leg away from him and stood, but I still held my blade out in a defensive move. “You’re coming with us.”

He sat up and rubbed the back of his head. “That was the plan all along,
mi guerrera.
”

If Lea was surprised by my change in tactics, she didn’t let on. But I didn’t trust him not to run off and tattle on us.

“How soon until Ivan can move?”

“Another few minutes.” Lea scanned the horizon. “Which way do we go?”

I pulled out my phone and waited for it to boot up. “The village is to the northeast. We can find a place to stay before sunrise.” I paused. “The sun is brutal here, Lea. You’ll barely make it, even with your full gear. If we want to travel by day, we’ll need a transport truck of some kind. You can ride in the back.”

“How far are we from the facility?”

I shot a glance at Antonio, then back to her. I wasn’t sure we should talk about our plans in front of him. “Hard to say. I need a map. I’m sure I can get one in the village. Someone who lives in the area owes me. Once we get close to the village, I’ll contact him. But it might take a day or so for him to get it together. It depends on where he is and what he’s doing.”

“Who is
he
?” Antonio asked.

I ignored him, keeping my gaze on Lea.

She nodded. “I’m going to see what I can salvage in the debris, then we’ll go.” She turned her steely gaze on Antonio. “She better be completely unharmed when I return.”

He nodded, looking solemn. “You know I will not harm her.”

I considered protesting—I’d just knocked his ass to the ground mere moments ago—but all four of us knew he’d let me take him.

The question was why.

LEA

I found two silver stakes in the debris, the glimmer of metal beckoning to me through the smoke. I stepped over the pilot’s mangled body. I didn’t think he and his co-pilot made it out. A twinge of remorse cascaded over me, and quickly fled. For those who were looking for us, a couple of bodies would help solidify that the crash might have killed us.

I bent and scooped the two stakes up, tucking one into the top of my boot and tossing the other lightly in my hand, feeling the heat of the metal on my skin. “Rachel. Do you still have your stake?”

Through the smoke, I saw her nod and hold it up.

I flipped the second stake toward her so it buried into the ground at her feet.

“Here’s a backup. Just in case.” I turned back to the wreckage. A beat-up bag lay underneath a section of seats. With a tug, I pulled it out. Singed and battered, it had hooked onto the undercarriage of the seats. Inside the bag were Rachel’s notes, her destroyed laptop and a few other odds and ends. I shook my head.

“Rachel, you aren’t going to believe this.” I held the bag up so she could see it.

“No fucking way!” She ran to me and I handed her the bag. “How is this even possible?”

“It hooked onto the seat.”

A low groan brought my head around. Ivan was in a shit ton of pain—it all but rolled off him in waves. I sucked back the saliva pooling in my mouth at the thought of his wounds.

“Can’t you give him...some blood?” Rachel slung her bag over her shoulder.

“No. I haven’t fed in far too long now. If I give him any, I will be putting myself at risk.”

“Can’t have that, can we?” Antonio quipped. I turned to him, a slow anger building in my veins. Cazador he may be, but he wasn’t really one of us.

My steps took me to him like a magnet drawn to steel. I stopped only when I could feel Antonio’s breath on my face. “I would be able to help Ivan if I could feed.”

He took a step back and pulled a silver stake up. “You could try. I do not think you would like how I taste.”

I grinned. “Well, you can’t be that bad. Rachel seems to like your flavor.”

His jaw dropped and Rachel sucked in a sharp breath. Ivan grunted, and when I glanced his way, laughter sparkled in his eyes. I went to him and helped him stand.

“Come on, wolf.”

He slung an arm across my shoulders and gave me his weight.

It took me a few feet to realize we were the only ones moving. We slowly turned around. Rachel and Antonio seemed to be in some sort of stand-off. I blew out a sigh. We did not have time for this shit. “Rachel, you leading this circus?”

She shook herself and nodded. “Yeah.”

No snappy comeback. Damn, I must have struck a nerve. She got in front of me and Ivan, setting a brutal pace considering I was all but packing two hundred pounds of werewolf. I said nothing about slowing down. We needed cover, and we needed it fast. I called over my shoulder to Antonio. “Think you can cover our tracks?”

“Already done, bloodsucker. Some of us are professionals.”

Ivan let out a low growl that rumbled through me, but I tightened my hold on him until he stopped. “Not worth it. Right now, we can use all the help we can get.” I paused and raised my voice. “Besides, Antonio is a killer, just like you and me, Ivan.” Though Rachel’s stride didn’t falter, her head tipped ever so slightly to one side. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed, but I knew her well enough by now to pick up on it. I could almost feel her interest as if it were inside my own head.

“He doesn’t even know you,” Ivan grumbled. “Doesn’t he get that we’re out to save the world?”

“Feeling dramatic tonight?” I glanced up at him, saw the intense and serious way he was looking at me, and dropped my eyes.

“Cazadors don’t get to know their prey. We kill them. End of story.” Ivan’s eyes were guarded, cluing me in that he’d already suspected. “It will mess with his head on more than one level if he realizes I’m not like the other vamps.” I shifted where my arm tucked around Ivan’s waist so I could grip his belt and use it as a handhold.

We walked for an hour before lights came into view. Not the kind of lights you would see in a city, but the flickering faint lights of a few candles lit in windows. “Rachel, your friend is here, in this village?”

“If it’s Shwan, then yes. If not, then it seems unlikely.”

She strode forward with impressive confidence. The village consisted of two streets set across one another, with homes and what looked like a few businesses scattered along the edges. Rachel dialed a number and lifted her cell phone to her ear.

After a minute, she nodded. “Baran, it’s Rachel. Listen, you aren’t going to believe this, but I’m in the area, somewhere south of Arbil, at these coordinates.” She rattled off the longitude and latitude on her phone. “We’re hoping for a place to crash. Somewhere people won’t be looking for us.” She shot a glance back at Antonio.

I glanced at the Cazador, who had us both in his sights.

“What’s his number?” She paused. “Thanks, Baran. I owe you big for this. But I need some other things. Transport—something I can hide someone in—a map, and weapons if you can get them.” She looked toward the village as she listened. “I am forever in your debt, my friend.” Then she said something in Arabic and hung up.

“What did you say?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes, obviously irritated by the question. “The literal translation is
peace be upon you.
We could use a little peace ourselves. Karma and all that.” She entered a number into her phone, then held it to her ear. In the distance, I heard the telltale ringing of a phone. The timing was too coincidental for it not to be her contact.

I steered Ivan in the direction I’d heard the phone ring. Rachel made a grab to stop us, but I kept moving, forcing her to come along.

“Siyad,” she said, then spoke to him in soft Arabic, looking furious that I had taken off without waiting for her to finish her conversation. She hung up and called out to me. “Slow your ass down, Lea. You can’t just barge in on him.”

“Watch me.”

The house was at the far end of the village, of course. Which was good as far as I was concerned. I knocked on the door and stood back. Rachel stopped giving me a murderous stare for long enough to grab a scarf out of her bag and cover her head.

The door opened and a short, older man filled the threshold, looking like he’d just gotten out of bed. “Rachel?”

She stepped in front of us, adjusting the folds of fabric at her neck. “Siyad, I’m sorry for our late intrusion. We’ll only stay one night before we continue on our way.” Then she said something in Arabic.

His eyes widened as he took in Ivan and me. He swallowed hard enough that the gulp was audible. I narrowed my eyes as I let Ivan go. “You three stay here, I want to take a look around. Make sure things are safe.”

Ivan gave me a nod. “Be careful.” And he pushed his way into the tiny house while Siyad was still spluttering. Rachel pointed at Antonio and whispered out of earshot of our host.

“Get in or fuck off.”

He shrugged and followed Ivan without a word. She fell in beside me. “Feeding?”

My jaw ticked. “I have to, or the threat to Antonio will become very real.”

She drew a slow breath. “Don’t be long.”

It comforted me to know she was as safe as she could be with both Ivan and Antonio looking out for her. I backed up and headed toward the center of the village, following the scent of a flock of sheep out to the surrounding hills.

Movement ahead snapped my reflexes into action before I fully registered what I saw. I dropped to the ground, my belly flat against the hard-packed dirt and my side against the closest house.

A figure edged from the corner of the same house. I caught my breath; his scent was as familiar to me as my own.

Calvin.

With a burst of speed, I leapt to my feet and rushed him. We slammed onto the ground, rolling until we ended up against a large rock. I had my hands around his throat.

“You bastard, you set those demon dogs on me, didn’t you?”

His hand clutched mine and he struggled to speak as I strangled him. “No choice. Please. No choice.”

Damn him. I eased off and he sat up, but he didn’t take his hands from mine. He squeezed them tightly instead. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. I have a master, I can’t deny him. I can’t even tell you who he is.”

“I can take a fucking guess, Calvin. How long were you swapping blood with vamps? Months? Weeks?” I’d sensed this weeks—hell, even months ago. Why hadn’t I called him on it?

Because I’d wanted to believe it wasn’t happening.

His jaw tightened. “I didn’t know, you self-righteous bitch.” And he jerked me forward. I braced for a blow to the head, so I was completely caught off guard when he kissed me.

He slid his hands around my back, taking my arms with him, pulling me into his lap as his mouth locked on mine. I groaned and leaned into the kiss, remembering all too well the one night we’d shared years ago. The heat of his mouth, the feel of his hands and body. He cupped the back of my head and pulled his mouth from mine. “I hate you,” he snarled, but it lacked the heat to make it truly dangerous. At least at
this
moment. Yet there was a glimmer in his eyes that suggested it was true. “This is your fault. You wanted me to be a vampire. But it won’t work. I won’t let you ever forget this is your doing.”