Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (34 page)

Then he saw Cade. Leaning back against a wall, staring right at Lucian, blade resting at his side and still dripping blood. Next to him, tied to a hook in the ceiling, was one of the rebel vampires. What was left of the still living vampire.

Cade had managed to cut off every tattoo visible on his face and stomach. Probably would’ve kept going if Lucian hadn’t interrupted. The vampire was gagged with a towel held in place with a sturdy silver chain.

“What the hell is this?” Lucian made sure his voice had no accusatory tone, but it was hard not to be freaked out.

Lucian had seen plenty of torture in his time and this was far from the worst. But he’d never imagined Cade doing the torturing, let alone enjoying every second.

“What does it look like? I just scalped a guy.”

Lucian glared at the skeletal-looking face in front of him. Only a few patches of skin hung on. “I’d say that’s a bit more than scalping.”

Cade pushed away from the wall. “I had every reason to do this.”

“Do you feel better?”

“Fuck yes. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be enjoying myself even more.”

Lucian wanted to pull Cade away but knew it wouldn’t help anything. Cade would still be a completely different person. Well, the vampire would be helped, but Lucian couldn’t care less about him. “Was this one of the vampires who hurt you?”

“Yes. Does that soothe your conscience?”

Lucian ignored the question. “Why don’t you take the gag out so we can at least get some answers.”

Cade reached out and ripped the silver chain and gag from the bloody vampire’s face. He screamed as the silver cut into his already raw neck and fell to the floor.

“’lease,” he moaned, the
p
silent because he no longer had lips.

Lucian had to look away. Revenge was one thing, but this was straight from a horror movie. He wanted to just put the vampire out of his misery but knew he had to protect his own. That meant finding Rok and killing him before he ever had a chance to find Ella or Clara.

“Your leader. Rok. Where is he? Why wasn’t he here?”

“Looking ’or girl.”

That would be easy enough. All he would have to do was scope out Pikesville and hopefully he could track down Rok by the end of the night. “Do you know where he was looking?”

“Her ’ather called.”

Lucian’s blood ran cold.
Why would Murray call Rok?

Fuck. Why wouldn’t he call him?
Rok hated Lucian and so did Murray. Two enemies of Lucian would make them best fucking friends. Even if he didn’t already have reason enough to side with the vampire, there was always mind control.

Either way, he had to get back to Ella. With the flick of a wrist, Lucian sent his blade straight through the vampire’s heart, gritting his teeth as the vampire’s eyes went blank.

Instead of his normal satisfaction at a kill, all he felt was pity. Not a feeling he enjoyed.

None of his men could teleport to the doctor’s cabin because Lucian was the only one who’d been there before, and Lucian could only take one of his soldiers. He grabbed Cade’s arm and transported them both.

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H
er heart sank at the sight. “How?” she breathed.

Rok cocked his head at her distress. A sadistic smile twisted his mouth. “When did you break loose? Better question.
How
did you get loose? I had my dog trapped in there for years without him coming close to escaping.”

Ella refused to answer, backing away from him until her thighs ran into the counter. Not looking away from the new threat, she blindly reached behind her until she felt the knives from the chopping block and tore one free.

He raised an eyebrow at her weapon. “You gonna slice and dice me? That pathetic thing isn’t going to help you.”

Ella studied the blade for a moment. “I can cut off your head with it.”

“No. You can
try
to cut off my head. Those are two very different things.”

Ella stood up straight, not caring whether she looked like crap and was nowhere near as strong as this vampire asshole. “No backup? You really aren’t afraid of me.”

He scoffed at that. “That’s the thing. I was expecting you to be safe and sound back in your little prison. All I came here to do was interrogate your daddy. I told him to call me if Lucian showed up, and three years later, I get the call. Fucking serendipitous.”

Ella rolled her eyes and gripped the knife tighter. “It’s not serendipitous if you’re the one who caused it.”

Her father stood behind Rok, same vacant expression on his face. No comprehension of what he’d been forced to do.

“You’re giving me English lessons now? It’s a messed-up language, lady. I can only learn so much. I want different lessons from you now. What are you?”

Ella opened her mouth to tell him where he could shove it when her heart froze in her chest.

“Mommy? I couldn’t find Lucian.”

No
. She charged forward, refusing to let Rok get anywhere near her daughter. She threw herself at him, aiming the knife for his neck, but she never stood a chance.

One beefy arm swung out, whacking her in the face and sending her flying across the kitchen and into the cabinets. Her head slammed into the wood. The force sent splinters spraying across the room as she fell limply onto the floor, her world dissolving into blackness.

Clara screamed and Ella tried to push herself up. Nothing. Her arms refused to move, and her legs didn’t even twitch. There wasn’t even any pain. Just the dark.

“Who are you, little girl?”

Ella tried to scream at the sound of Rok’s voice, but her mouth didn’t budge.

Suddenly her neck wrenched back and pain reverberated through her body. She reached her arms back, frantically trying to stop whatever was jerking her around, but her hands only found air.

She was moving!
Everything hurt like crazy, but she could move! Even opening her eyes sent a fresh wave of agony through her, but she pushed past it, scrambling to stand.

Ella’s legs shook as she tried to steady herself, but she refused to let herself fall. She scanned the room, frantically looking for Clara, but didn’t see either of them.

She made her way to the hallway, tripping over every step and propping herself up against the counters and refrigerator as she moved as fast as her body would let her.

She pulled two random knives from the block as she stumbled by, one big chopping blade and a smaller dinner knife. She gripped them both in her left hand, not wasting any time to hide them. Every step, every tightened muscle sent shockwaves of pain through her spine and head.
No time. She had to get her daughter.

When she turned the corner, her heart sunk in her chest. The son of a bitch had Clara by the throat and up against the wall.

Clara’s eyes were wide with terror; her tiny hands clawed at the vampire’s hand. Ella’s vision went red. There was no pain, no fear. Just rage.

She transferred the small knife to her good hand, all of her throwing skills learned from Charlie sweeping through her.

The blade flew through the air, firmly imbedding in the vampire’s neck.

It wouldn’t kill him, but it would damn well get his attention.

Blood squirted from the wound, hitting Clara on the top of her head and splattering on the wall.

Rok dropped Clara and turned to Ella with his black, soulless eyes filled with rage.

Ella’s heart felt as though it were about to beat out of her chest, but she refused to let her fear show. “Clara, go.” She tried to keep her voice even, but it caught on the last word.

She’d already thought she said good-bye to her daughter. Now that she’d just got her back, she wasn’t saying good-bye again. Not without a hell of a fight.

Rok held a hand to his neck to stop the blood that flowed. “There is nowhere to run.”

“Who said anything about running?”

Rok turned back to where he’d just dropped Clara, but she wasn’t there anymore. Ella had no idea where her daughter teleported to, but as long as she was away from this monster, Ella could breathe easier.

Rok growled and bared his fangs. “So how did Lucian do it? How did he find someone to whelp his young?”

“For one, he used more romantic words than ‘whelp.’”

He removed his fingers from the neck wound, blood still seeping free, and clenched both hands in fists at his side. “I thought you liked my dirty talk.”

Ella moved the chopping knife in front of her. “Wait until you hear mine. You’ll just die with pleasure.”

Rok charged her. His body became one big blur as he raced through the short distance. Knowing she couldn’t run at anywhere near his speed, Ella ducked, holding the blunt side of the knife against her shoulder as she dove to the side.

Just as she hoped, his own momentum worked against him, and the blade dug deep into his shoulder.

He screamed in anger and pain as she scrambled to the other side of the hall.

Once again, they stared at each other, but Ella knew she didn’t have many more chances to escape. There were only so many times she could duck his attacks. She needed to get some sort of sword or silver if she really wanted to stand a chance.

Blood ran down his chest from his latest injury, his neck still gleaming with fresh blood.

Ella’s brow knotted together and then a big grin spread across her face.
Dad might just be human, but he was no fool.

His kitchen knives were silver.

Rok ran at her once more and she braced herself, aiming the blade straight for his heart. But Rok was smarter than the vampire in the deli and grabbed her knife with one hand; the other punched her in the gut.

She grunted as the blow seemed to reverberate through all her limbs, sending her sprawling on the floor.

Her eyes only saw the hardwood below her, but she felt Rok’s smugness above her. Gloating over his victory.

Every time she started to feel better, he managed to break her in some new way.
How had Cade endured this for three years?
Judging from the state he was in, the answer was “not well.”

She had no doubt Rok would kill her now. He wanted to know why she was special and now he knew about Clara.

He had new game to hunt. The thought of Clara having to be on the run broke her heart, but at least she had Lucian to look after her now. He would keep her safe, just as he had tonight.

Something poked into her side, and Ella shifted, trying to avoid at least some pain before she was killed.

Rok grabbed her shoulder and flipped her over, straddling her just like he had three years ago. “You were right,” he hissed. “I did enjoy that. Foreplay’s over now, babe.”

He shot forward, sinking his fangs into her neck, and moaned in pleasure.

Right when he relaxed and started to take long draws from her neck, she twisted, giving herself just enough room between his chest and hers to slam the smaller steak knife through his heart.

He went still, withdrawing from her neck to stare down at her in confusion.

“Word of advice. Next time you pull a knife out of your neck, don’t just throw it on the ground all willy-nilly. It’s rude.”

Rok’s body went limp above her, and she twisted under his weight. It was harder than she thought to get two hundred fifty pounds of dead vampire muscle off her.

She let her head fall back and laughed.
Of all the problems to have, this was one of the best.

She turned her head at the sound of shuffling feet.

“Ella! Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Dad knelt next to her as he helped to roll Rok over.

“I’ll live,” she muttered. “How about you? Still feel like you want to serve me up to the vampires?”

He sat down next to her and leaned against the wall. “I don’t even know what I was thinking. I mean, I wasn’t thinking at all. Everything he said just seemed to make so much sense. He could’ve ordered me to drink bleach and I would’ve thought he was the smartest being I’d ever met.

“How can something have that kind of power over us?”

Ella belatedly remembered she was bleeding and held up a hand to her neck.
How did someone forget about that?
“I’ve been bitten by vampires too many times. They get less painful the more you do it,” she muttered

Her father scanned her face, brows drawn together. “Let me see your neck.”

She moved her hand.

Dad frowned. “It’s not bleeding.”

Ella stared down at her hand in horror. Just like he said, there was no wet blood on her hand. “What do you mean it’s not bleeding? How is it not bleeding?”

The sound of wood being split into pieces had both her and Dad looking to the front of the hallway. Loud footsteps pounded in the entryway right before Lucian bounded into sight.

“Ella!” His shout died out as he looked down and saw her, Dad, and the dead Rok.

He fell to his knees at Ella’s side, cupping her face and examining her injuries.

Cade walked in stoically behind him, eyeing the scene.

“I’m so sorry. I should’ve been here.”

Dad shook his head. “No, this is my fault. She is my daughter and I should’ve been able to resist if her safety was at stake.”