Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (33 page)

“Not that different.” Lucian opened his closet that held his favorite swords. “We’re going to destroy that place tonight. I just want to know if you are in or out. No pressure. If you say no, I’ll tell the guys I wouldn’t let you go.”

Cade walked up to the weapons case and ran his fingers along one of the silver blades. “I haven’t held one of these in years.”

“If it’s going to be weird...” Lucian trailed off.

Cade grabbed the sword, deftly twisting the handle in his hand. “I know this might not make me sound any more sane, but I think killing something would make me feel much better.”

Lucian grabbed his dagger and sheathed it in a waist holster. “To be honest, I’d think you were worse off if you didn’t want to kill something.”

––––––––

E
lla sat up and gently pushed Clara off her. She rolled her shoulders and neck, trying to loosen her tense muscles. Apparently a rock-hard floor wasn’t the best place to recuperate from serious injuries.

To be honest, she didn’t feel all that bad. She brought her injured arm up but couldn’t see how bad it was due to the bandage covering her wrist. Dad must’ve wrapped it in a splint while she slept, and whatever pain pills he gave her worked wonders. She stumbled into the bathroom, getting her first good look at herself.

Sure enough, she looked as if she got hit by a semi. Between the bruises on her face and bags under her eyes, she could easily pass as a zombie.

She ran the water and waited for the water heater to kick in. When it was warm, she ran the washcloth down her neck, moaning at the relief of washing away the grime. She’d hop into the shower right then and there, but Dad never had towels in the guest bathroom.

She looked at her neck wounds, and frowned. They were tiny. Just a few small scratches against her skin.
That couldn’t be right.
She remembered the vampire biting into her. Maybe he would leave two small punctures where his fangs bit in, but they were still deep punctures.

Cade’s bite was different. His fangs weren’t for puncturing and drinking. They were for ripping and tearing. She’d felt every agonizing second of it, so she had a pretty good idea how severe the bite was.

Her bruises were still evident, though.
Was Cade’s bite healing faster or something?

Ugh! Stupid supernatural crap. Just one more thing for her to try to figure out when Lucian came back.

She laid a soft kiss on Clara’s forehead before she made her way out of the guest room. It was time to burn these clothes and find some towels.

Dad stood next to the front door, staring out the window.

“Looking for someone?” she asked.

He jumped at the sound of her voice. “You’re awake. Thank God!” His big grin made her heart melt and she gave him a tight hug.

“Hey, Dad. It looks like you took good care of me. I already feel a lot better.”

He stepped back to look at her. “I did all I could. I can’t believe what those monsters did to you. Are you okay? When did Lucian find you again?”

She took a breath, a bit overwhelmed by all the questions. “I’m hanging in there. The Lucian development is, um, new.”

“Don’t you worry about him. When he comes back, I’ll be ready.”

Ella winced.
Nothing like having your father hate your boyfriend
. God, that word seemed much too casual. “This wasn’t Lucian’s fault, Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

“How can you defend him after everything he’s done?”

“Because this is legitimately not his fault. I ran into a vampire on my own and killed him in self-defense. The vampires would’ve tracked me or Charlie down eventually.”

Dad raised a white eyebrow. “You’re saying vampires took you?”

“Pretty much.”

“Why would they kidnap you instead of killing you? Not that I’m complaining.”

Ella took a deep gulp. “Well, that part might be because they saw me with Lucian, but the kidnapping still wasn’t his fault.”

Dad groaned and grabbed his hair with a fist. “Can’t you see his game? He puts your life in danger and saves you, making him looking like the hero when it’s all his fault to begin with.”

“I’m not saying he hasn’t made mistakes. He has and even he admits it. But if you just see him with Clara, you’ll know what I see in him.”

“But this isn’t you wanting him in Clara’s life. You want him in yours.”

Ella’s silence was answer enough.

“It doesn’t matter. I have someone coming and he’s going to fix this.”

Ella’s eyes widened. “What the hell does that mean? Who’s coming?”

“After I got you back the first time, he came to me. He told me to call if I ever saw Lucian again. I called as soon as he dropped off Clara yesterday.”

Ella felt the world tilt. “You called some random guy to do what? This doesn’t even make se—” She trailed off as it suddenly clicked. “You called a vampire.”

Dad scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not a vampire.”

Ella backed away from the door. “He made you. He came to you and planted the compulsion to call him if Lucian ever showed up again. We need to get Clara out of here.”

Dad slowly followed her. “Just take a breath and relax. He will be here soon to sort this out.”

Suddenly the warm eyes she was so used to were cold. Determined.

Phone.
If she called Lucian, he would come to her.
Where the hell could she get a phone?

Dad didn’t have a landline here. He’d finally gotten rid of it as he’d become more used to his cell. She could make a run for his room, but there was no guarantee it was there.

Clara was the first priority.
Grab her and make it to Dad’s car before any vampires arrived.
She took one calming breath before she turned on her heel and ran back toward the guest bedroom.

Dad was surprisingly fast, fingers grabbing her shoulder to hold her back.

She twisted out of his grip and instinctively punched out with a fist but pulled back at the last second.

This was still Dad. His actions were not his own. He was under the influence of some creature who made him think she was Lucian-obsessed and that vampires were the good guys.

Well, she
was
Lucian-obsessed and some vampires
were
good, but still. He reached for her again, and she kicked his leg out from under him.

As he toppled to the floor, she scrambled back to the guest room, ramming her shoulder into the door as she slammed it shut.

Clara jumped up at the sound. “Mommy! Did the monsters find us?”

Dad banged on the door, and Ella kept herself propped against it. She didn’t think he could be that strong with his arthritis, but obviously whatever the vampires had done let him work through the pain.

“Something like that. Can you go to Lucian’s? Tell him I need a ride, okay?”

Clara nodded and closed her eyes, but she didn’t go anywhere.

Why wasn’t it working?

The banging suddenly stopped on the door and she set her ear to the wood, trying to hear what was happening. If he was going outside to grab the axe, she wouldn’t be able to keep him out of the room. On the other hand, she might have just enough time to get Clara to his truck.

All assuming Dad wasn’t just waiting to attack when she opened the door. She turned back to the bed, but Clara was gone.
It must take her longer to teleport than Lucian.
She hadn’t had as much time to perfect it as he had.

Ella leaned her head against the door and let out a sigh of relief. Now that Clara was safe, she could focus on herself. She turned the knob, trying her best not to make a sound. The door cracked open and Ella peeked through the one-inch crack. There was no sign of Dad, but he could easily be on the other side of the door. Just waiting.

She took another breath and stepped one foot out of the room, just waiting for something to jump out at her from behind the open door.

Nothing.

She held her hand up to her beating chest as she tried to formulate her next move.
Now that Clara was gone, should she go back to wait for Lucian?

No.
There was no guarantee Clara would find him. She had to make sure she had options.

Dad’s keys would be in the kitchen. All she had to do was make it down the main hallway and she would have a chance. Her bare feet moved silently on the hardwood floor. She kept close to the wall, keeping an eye out for any sign of movement.

Her father was far from subtle.
What could he be doing?

Not wanting to waste any time, she darted into the kitchen, sliding past the refrigerator to grab the keys from the holder on the wall.

She turned to run for the door and ran straight into Dad.

“Honey, where are you going?”

A small scream sneaked past her lips as she jerked away from him. “Dad. I didn’t know where you went.”

He smiled, eyes vacant and arms limp at his sides. “I was getting our guest. He was so polite, I had to insist he come inside.”

On cue, a vampire walked behind Dad.

Rok.

L
ucian kicked his foot out, effectively dislodging the dead vampire from his sword. The other myotis were finishing off their kills all around him.

Once Lucian’s men kicked down the doors to the warehouse, there hadn’t been much of a fight. The vampires were strong, fast, and clearly trained fighters.

But Lucian’s men were better.

There were probably four vampires to every one of Lucian’s men, including Charlie, but it didn’t matter. All of his guys were a little banged up and bruised, but Rok’s men were dead. Except Rok.

Lucian had kicked down every door in the building but hadn’t seen any sight of him, even though his scent saturated the place. He was gone now and probably wasn’t coming back.

The rooms he had seen were the stuff of nightmares. The whole place had essentially been converted into a science lab. There were various rooms constructed, most with one-way mirrors, but some completely closed off, like the one he’d found Ella in.

And plenty contained prisoners. His men freed werewolves, witches, a demon, and a few human-looking creatures with long claws and completely white eyes that seemed to stare into his soul.

Whoever they were, he was happy he wasn’t on their bad side.

Even Charlie held up his own. Lucian provided him with a silver dagger and a gun that shot silver bullets. The human took down at least two vamps that Lucian saw. Maybe more when he wasn’t looking.

Though Dean had watched Charlie’s back and gotten him out of a few close calls. Micah and Ash had each done respectably, racking up a decent body count.

But Cade had killed more than any of them. Even in his weakened and starved state, even in his human form, head after head piled up at his feet.

Except Lucian had no idea where Cade was now. Each of the containment rooms were set up like little islands in the warehouse, with pathways leading along all four walls and a good thirty feet of open air over each cell before there was ceiling. As though a guard could stand watch on a raised platform and take out anything that tried to escape.

He made his way through the dark passages. When they’d first arrived, they’d been lit well enough, but some of the bulbs must’ve broken during the fight.

A human probably wouldn’t have been able to see anything, and even with his enhanced vision, it was hard to make out the doorways in the containment rooms.

He checked cell after cell, repeating the same process he’d gone through when looking for Rok. “Cade!” he yelled.

Could something have happened to him?
He’d seemed as though he was fighting so well, but that kind of anger and focus could be the recipe for some resourceful vampire sneaking up behind him and finishing what the vampires had started three years ago.

He stood still as he listened for a response from Cade. After he didn’t hear anything, he started to move on when someone moaned in the room to his left.

Hadn’t they already freed all the prisoners?

He strode through the open cell door and peered into the darkness. The first thing to hit him was the smell. Blood. So much of it.

He frowned. His men definitely wouldn’t have missed a cell filled with this much fresh blood.