This Blackened Night (8 page)

She wanted to scream out her frustration. Was Terrence telling the truth or wasn’t he? Why couldn’t she make up her mind?

Maybe because she wanted him to be innocent.

To avoid that unsettling thought, she persisted. “I think it’s very relevant. You know how old I am. Why shouldn’t I know how old you are?”

She glanced over her shoulder, but Pierre’s face was in shadow. All she could see was the glint of his eyes. Much like Terrence’s eyes, these eyes pierced right through her. But where Terrence discerning her deepest secrets and fears seemed like a comforting thought, the thought of Pierre knowing them sent chills down her spine.

“Let’s just say I’m so far over the hill, I’m buried under it,” he answered in an eerily calm voice.

He could say that again.

Lori dropped the subject. She’d spent too much time in Pierre’s company already. Time to enact Terrence’s plan.

Turning her back on Pierre–now that she knew his identity–felt like suicide. His gaze settled solidly between her shoulder blades. Each footstep crunching against loose gravel made her cringe. Could he tell? Bad enough that if he chose to kill her, she would have little to no warning. Her practiced art of appearing to be invulnerable seemed to be crumbling the longer it took her to reach her destination. She felt as though she marched into a courtroom to be condemned.

Eventually, she turned the last corner. A square loomed ahead, abandoned at this advanced hour. Streetlights glared at long intervals. The one closest had sputtered out. No sign of Terrence. Her footsteps grew heavy and hesitant as she approached the center. When she drew a deep breath, she coughed against the pungent stench of fish. An ominous omen.

Had Terrence deceived her, after all?

She turned to face the man trailing her. Terrence? Pierre? She didn’t know anymore. He stood beneath the broken streetlamp, peering at the sky as if bored. He presented only one side of his face. Was the other horribly scarred, as Terrence had described? Or was this Terrence’s overcomplicated way of isolating her so he could finish her off?

Which of the two had kidnapped the Spenta Michos? Which of the two murdered the innocent? They might even be working together to pull the wool over her eyes. Lori didn’t know what to think anymore.

Without looking down, the vampire said, “Are we done?”

“Not quite, Pierre.”

Another form stepped closer, from behind Pierre. Terrence.

Lori’s knees weakened with relief. He’d told her the truth, after all.

The light descended on Terrence’s face, enough to discern his unmarred complexion. And his eyes… How could she have mistaken Pierre for him? Terrence’s eyes were such a vivid blue, they warmed her from the inside. They were cold as ice now, as he looked upon his cousin.

With Terrence to serve as a distraction, this was a perfect time for Lori to pen in Pierre. They hadn’t laid this trap for nothing, after all.

Terrence said, “You’ve defied the law for too long.”

Pierre laughed. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Lori reached for her stake, drawing it clear, inch by slow inch.

“And who are you, cousin? The police?”

Even from the back, Pierre looked different from Terrence. He dressed differently–Terrence in understated, black clothing and dark jeans, Pierre in more expensive clothes. Pierre’s hair, roughly the same shade as Terrence’s, was just a touch shorter. Not enough to notice unless she looked closely.

Which Lori didn’t have time to do. Inwardly berating herself, she crept forward, stake at the ready. She had to cut off as many escape routes as she could.

Pierre continued, “We are above the law, you and I. There is no one to stop us.”

Lori risked a glance at Terrence. His face was stony, but he seemed to be doing his part. All she had to do was corner Pierre, and Terrence would take care of the rest. At least according to the plan. She hadn’t liked it, but she had to admit, Terrence’s reflexes superseded hers by leaps and bounds.

Terrence took a single step forward. Hemming Pierre in. Pierre seemed as nonchalant as ever. “No one is above the law,” Terrence answered. “Morals are all that keep us human, Pierre.”

“We’re not human. Or did you forget?”

The fierce tone rocked Lori back on her heels. When Pierre spoke like that, he sounded far from human. More like feral. She tried to imagine Terrence’s face twisted into a monstrous expression, but couldn’t. He could be fierce at times, but with just cause. He was only fierce when someone’s life was in danger. Pierre…was something altogether inhuman.

“We were human, and I know there is some humanity left in you yet.”

“Are you waiting for me to confess my sins? Say a Hail Mary or three?”

Terrence ignored the barb. “The Spenta Michos. Is he safe?”

Lori halted in her tracks. Her mouth felt like sandpaper. Everything in her rested on the answer Pierre would give in only a few seconds. Was she already too late?

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Pierre replied, his tone lackadaisical.

Terrence stiffened, echoing her outrage at the response. “You know,” he snarled.

Firming her grip on her stake, she launched forward. If Pierre wouldn’t voluntarily confess the answers they needed, she would take more extreme measures. She angled the stake to serve as a threat and pulled back so the tip just brushed her jacket.

But Pierre wasn’t in front of her anymore. In the blink of an eye, he’d disappeared. She stood, frozen. How?

Pain scorched her hand. She howled, cradling it to her chest as a vision replaced her eyesight.

Terrence clutched one side of his face in agony as farmer-Lori looked on, a forbidding expression on her face.

The vision fled. The sound of Lori’s stake hitting the ground rattled in her ears. What had the vision been about? A continuation of the last, surely. But what did it mean?

Twin pricks of agony blossomed along her skull as someone fisted her hair, drawing her back. All thoughts of deciphering the vision dissipated. She glanced as far over her shoulder as she could. Pierre loomed over her. A grisly scar marred the near side of his face.

The scar. Clutching his face. The vision had been about him, all along. He had been the trigger, not Terrence.

Terrence made a choking sound, bringing Lori’s attention back to him. He was closer, too, but still out of arm’s reach. He’d frozen in place, a panicked expression contorting his face.

Something pricked Lori’s exposed neck. Blood whooshed in her ears.

Pierre said, “Move, cousin, and I’ll drain her while you watch.”

Chapter 10

Lori shifted, cautiously searching for her stake with the tip of her boot. Not that she knew what she would do with it once she found it. Unless she’d suddenly become a professional foot juggler, it was far out of reach.

She was at Pierre’s mercy.

“Let her go,” Terrence said. His voice was strained, though he’d schooled his expression into a facsimile of calm. The wild look in his eyes gave him away.

“What will you give me in return?” Pierre’s voice was bored. Smug. He knew he had Terrence firmly in his grasp.

Terrence didn’t answer. The tips of his fangs poked through the rigid line of his lips.

“Seems I have you at a disadvantage,” Pierre taunted, “Do you have nothing to offer me worth the life of your ladylove?”

“No,” Terrence gritted out. His eyes darkened as he clenched his fists. He looked about to lose his mind.

Please don’t do anything stupid
, Lori prayed. Bleeding was not among her favorite pastimes.

Pierre laughed. “Then she must be mine, to do with as I will.”

Try it, buddy, and I’ll carve my name into your balls with the heel of my boot.

The vampire yanked her hair, forcing her head at an acutely uncomfortable angle to stare at the murky sky. She shifted on the balls of her feet, wincing. Would she be able to get in a good kick without needing to resort to a wig afterward?

“Harm her, and I won’t stop until I’ve ripped you apart. Piece by piece.”

Terrence’s voice stilled her efforts. Could that tone really have come from his throat? She’d seen him fierce in her defense before, but never as savage as this. His voice–if not the sentiment behind it–was almost inhuman. Would his expression be as feral? Maybe it was for the best that she couldn’t see.

Pierre’s voice, when he answered, was mocking. “You would kill your own cousin? Really, Terrence, who are you kidding? You couldn’t control me years ago and you still can’t.” Pierre trailed his smooth, sweaty fingertips over Lori’s exposed throat. She shuddered in disgust and fought the urge to retch. “I can do anything I want to her.”

Terrence didn’t answer. Pierre’s grip on her hair slackened as he bent over her neck.

Lori snuck a glance at Terrence. He would save her, right? He would stop this. But Terrence stood frozen, hand in mid-air as if he wanted to reach out to her. Defeat clouded his eyes. He’d given up.

She trembled. She couldn’t move without the vampire behind her stopping and killing her. Every other time she’d been in danger, Terrence had come to her rescue. Why not now? Didn’t he love her? Didn’t he want to fight for her? In seconds, she would be dead. If Pierre didn’t subject her to worse things first.

She stomped on his foot. A feeble effort. He didn’t even twinge. Instead, he tightened his grip as if to punish her. She stared at Terrence, silently begging him to help. He fisted his hand, bringing it back to his side.

Tendrils of black wafted from his form, growing with every passing second. Black with tinges of red. Her aura sight? She tried to banish it, but it only grew stronger.

Something sharp grazed her skin, opening a shallow scratch. She choked on a cry. Begging wouldn’t help. Nothing would stop Pierre. She was helpless.

Searing red assaulted her eyes, but it didn’t come from Terrence. Panic. Fear. Could it be hers? She tried to focus, to breathe. The tips of her fingers tingled. Every breath made the colors stronger. They bulged and bubbled before her eyes. A warm tongue licked a dribblet of blood from her neck. Hot, rank breath skimmed over her skin.

Get away!
She thrashed. Nothing but red and orange filled her eyes. Brightening, pulsing when she was unable to break free. Then, like too much static building up, it broke free.

Her second sight collapsed as electrical light surged in the square. Arcing from streetlamp to streetlamp. Crackling. Then reaching the one above her head. Sparks bulleted down, stinging as they touched her skin.

Pierre roared. He loosened her hair.

She didn’t wait. She lunged forward, into Terrence’s waiting arms. He lifted her and raced down the street. Faster than she could comprehend. The rapid beat of a heart filled her ears. Did vampires have heartbeats? Or was it hers? Buildings blurred into a long stream as the seconds ticked by. Then Terrence ducked into the first building with lights on.

The bar. Her head still spun as he lowered her to the ground. His hands roved over her shoulders and back. His thumb wiped away a bead of blood from her neck.

She blinked against the light, waiting for the last few seconds to catch up with her. What had happened? Would Pierre find them here? She turned to Terrence. His expression was grim.

“Are we safe here?” Her voice, little more than a whisper, should have been washed away by the rumble of patrons in the bar. Patrons who were now eying them curiously.

Terrence shut his eyes as if in pain. Either they weren’t safe, or he didn’t know. Would a crowd of people stop Pierre if he happened to find them?

Lori thrust aside the flutters of fear in her stomach and said, “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

Let’s get off this damned island
. But their work here wasn’t done. Pierre still had the Spenta Michos…didn’t he?

“Give me a minute,” Terrence said in a curt voice. Now that she noticed, she realized he breathed hard. Maybe moving so fast was a challenge to him. They had covered half this decrepit town in little under a minute.

She nodded.

Come to think of it, a shot wouldn’t be amiss right now.

She wobbled over to the bar. Her heart stopped trying to claw out of her chest, but she still jumped at every quick movement. Shakily, she lowered herself onto a chipped stool. “Scotch. Shot.”