Vengeance (Night Roamers) Book Three (18 page)

“What
’s going on? What are you trying to say?” asked Duncan.

“He was
already here,” he replied, glaring at Ethan, “when I arrived. Jordan was on top of Nikki and Ethan did nothing to stop it.”

“That’s a lie!
” cried Ethan. “I would never let anyone hurt her, let alone touch her intimately. You, of all people, know this, Duncan.”

“The only thing I really know is that you’ve been manipulating Nikki
ever since she moved to Montana. To be honest, I don’t know what the hell to believe.”

“I saved your life,” replied Ethan
, standing up. “You should obviously believe me.”

“Only because Nikki begged you to
do it,” said Duncan.

“
I didn’t have to. I could have lied and said it was too late. But instead, I saved your pathetic life and now… now you have the nerve to question
my
motives?”

“Don’t let him
take her,” warned Max. “He’s on some kind of agenda.”

“
You’re
on some kind of agenda,” replied Ethan. “Your kind took her and now you’re spouting out lies about me?”

Max took a step forward, his eyes beginning to glow.
“Oh, you’re good. What I don’t understand is why you were allowing Jordan to rape her? Is this some kind of twisted fantasy of yours, or something more sinister?”

“You’re
a pathetic liar,” smirked Ethan. 

“I don’t know what’s going here,” said Duncan,
“but I’m getting Nikki out of here, and if you try stopping me, Ethan, so help me, I’ll kill you.”

Ethan
chuckled. “Seriously? You couldn’t kill me if you tried.”

“Maybe he couldn’t
do it alone,” said Max, “but I’m willing to wager the both of us could take your ass down.”

Ethan
stepped back. “You’re both making a big mistake.”

“Get
the hell out of here,” snarled Max, his face beginning to change.

“You’re both going to pay for this,”
replied Ethan, backing away further. “Nobody takes what is mine and gets away with it. Nobody.”

“She’s
not
yours,” snapped Duncan.

He smiled darkly. “When the time is right, she’ll
come back to me. She will always choose me over you.”

Before
Duncan could respond, Ethan was gone.

“Better get her out of here,” said Max
, staring up into the sky. “Before he or Jordan returns.”

“I will. Thank you, Max.”

He turned to him. “I didn’t do much, but you’re welcome. Thank you for helping my partner, Rena. I wouldn’t have gotten there in time to protect her. You saved her life, my friend.”

“It was the least I could do.”

Max looked down at Nikki. “Listen, bring her to my hotel and I’ll get you a room. Something tells me she’s in a lot of danger and needs to be hidden.”

“Okay.
I need to try and get her to feed first.”

“Do it quickly. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the others.”

Duncan nodded and watched as Max began scouting the area around them, giving them some privacy. He bit into the side of his wrist, drawing blood, and then raised her head. “Nikki?” he whispered. “Try and open your mouth.”

“Ethan?” she murmured
, her eyelids fluttering.

He forced a smile. “No, it’s me. Duncan.”

She closed her eyes. “I’m so cold.”

“Here,” he said, “y
ou need to feed.”

She released a sigh and fell back asleep.

Groaning, he pried her mouth open and squeezed as much blood as he could into it. After a few moments, Nikki’s teeth were clamped onto his wrist and she was drinking on her own.

“Sorry,” he whispered, touching her cheek.
“Sorry for everything that’s happened to you.”

She opened her eyes and stared into his, looking confused.

He kissed her forehead, noticing her skin was slightly warmer. “I have to save some of my own blood to get us out of here alive. Unfortunately, I’m pretty weak myself.”

She moved her mouth away from his
wrist and closed her eyes. “So tired,” she whispered.

“
We’re getting out of here,” he murmured, gathering her into his arms.

He still couldn’t believe
Nikki was alive. The truth was, after finding out his father had been murdered, he hadn’t put much hope into actually finding her alive. Hadn’t wanted to set himself up for more pain. But, here she was, the girl he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since she’d swam into his life in her orange and pink bikini. The memory of seeing her getting out of the lake last summer was something he’d never forget. Or, the first time they’d kissed in his truck. How unexpected and totally awesome it had been.

He looked
down at her heart-shaped face and could feel his chest swell. With her flawless skin, thick lashes, and full lips, he felt like he could stare at her forever. Plus the love and determination she had to save her family made her even more beautiful, inside and out.

A howl from somewhere
in the distance reminded him how dangerous their situation was. Unfortunately, he was too weak to fly, especially holding Nikki. It didn’t matter, however, he vowed to kill anyone who threatened her life. Anyone, including Ethan.

Seeing her eyebrows furrow in
her sleep, he kissed her forehead again. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you’d been killed. I love you, Nikki.”

“
I love you, too,” she murmured, her eyes still closed.

Unable to wipe the smile from his face,
he started walking towards town. He had to admit, her words seemed to give him a little extra pep.

“Ethan
…” she whispered.

Nathan

“You kill me and your dad will
obviously know that
you
were responsible!” hollered Nathan as Celeste advanced towards him. “You think he’ll be happy with that?”

“
No worries. I’ll just make it look like an accident.”

“Come on, he’s a cop and a vampire, he
’s not gullible.”

Celeste paused.
“I’ll tell him that another vampire did it. We’re not the only ones in Vegas, you know.”

“
Don’t try and fool yourself. He’s going to know it was you, and I’m pretty sure that’s not going to make daddy very happy.”

“He’
ll just have to get over it,” she growled, leaping towards him and knocking him flat to the ground.

“Celeste!” he cried frantically, holding her face back with his finger. “Please stop!”

Just then her purse, which was lying next to them on the cement, began to vibrate.

“Shit,” she said,
sitting up. She grabbed him around the neck and held him down while she reached for her satchel. She pulled out her cell phone and frowned. “Now what? I seriously don’t have time for this.”

“
Don’t worry about me, I’ll wait,” croaked Nathan.

“Shut up
, idiot,” she replied, putting her pink phone to her ear after punching in some numbers. Soon, her lips tightened. “Dammit. Those fools can’t handle anything without me or Victor around to babysit. I thought we had this all figured out.”

“You’d better go and help,”
he said hoarsely as she released her hand from his throat.

She stared at him for a second and then nodded.
“Looks like you’ve lucked out. I see that I’m going to need you for bargaining purposes, now that those incompetent idiots lost your sister.”

His eyes lit up. “She got away?”

She smirked. “Yeah, but don’t get too excited. It won’t be for long. Then both of you will be out of my hair. For good.”

***

Max

He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel, finish off his bottle of Jack, and crawl into bed. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Duncan and Nikki were safe on their own, however, so he diligently followed them at a distance which made him fairly inconspicuous. As he trailed the couple, he thought about the strange twist of events. Not only had he misjudged Ethan, but Rena had surprised the hell out of him by following him into the desert. In the future, he’d have to be much more careful, in case she decided to trail him again. It would also be in his best interest to find out why she’d followed him in the first place.

Had he been careless?

It didn’t seem plausible, considering how careful he’d been, hiding his true form. He hadn’t changed for months and had learned how to suppress most of his Lycan urges.

So what in the hell was going on
?

As he mulled over Rena’s sudden
interest in him, he passed by a group of boulders, and a shadow from above caught his attention. Looking up, he saw nothing but stars, but it certainly didn’t quell his uneasiness.

Something isn’t right.

His senses on high alert, he ran around the large formation of rocks only to find Ethan waiting for him on the other side. Before he could react, the vampire shot forward, slamming his fist into Max’s throat.

Yelping from the pain, he fell over and tried to catch his breath.

Ethan held up a large butcher knife covered in blood.

His
blood.

“I told you not to interfere,”
he smirked, licking the knife. “You should have listened.”

Max opened his mouth to respond
, but could only gasp and choke.

“You’re not so heroic now, are you?” asked Ethan
, bending down.

Max
tried reaching for Ethan, but the darkness was already setting in.

Ethan laughed. “Your race really does need help. Any last requests before I send you to reunite with the
hairy bitch that gave birth to you?”

An image of Rena entered his thoughts and he cursed himself for being such
a coward. He should have at least tried kissing her.

At least once.

Nikki

I woke up in Duncan’s arms as he carried me through the desert. He was naked from the waist up and my cheek rested against his cool chest.

“Duncan?” I
whispered.

H
e stared down at me, shadows under his silvery-blue eyes. He smiled. “Hey there.”

I smiled weakly.
“You found me.”

“
Yep.”

“What happened?”

His smile fell. “Let’s talk about it later, okay?”

“
Sure,” I replied, noticing the haggard look on his face. Both of us had obviously been through our own kind of hell.

I looked down
at my chest, relieved that I was wearing a T-shirt, although it barely covered my butt. I was grateful he was being such a gentleman. “I almost thought you guys had abandoned me.”

He stopped
walking. “Nikki, I searched for you all night. I never stopped.”

I thought about Jordan and what a monster he
’d become. “I passed out when one of them was on top of me. Did he... um?” I looked down, mortified and sickened by the memories. The weird thing was, there would be no physical evidence that I’d been raped since we healed so quickly. I wished it were the same way emotionally.

“We
got there just in time. Actually, Max made it there first.”

I
sighed. “Thank God.”

“
Yeah, and Max, too.”

“Definitely Max.”

He kept walking, holding me in his arms as if I were his bride. For some weird reason, it made me giggle.

His eyes twinkled.
“What’s so funny?”

“
Oh, nothing. My emotions are just all over the place right now after such an awful experience.”

“I’ve
certainly missed your laugh. It seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve heard it.”

“There hasn’t been much to laugh about lately.”

“That’s for sure.”

I licked my dry
, cracked lips, wishing I had something to drink, even water. Seeing how far we still were from the city, I knew it would be a long time before I’d get a chance to quench anything.

“
The sun is rising,” I said, staring up at the sky. “Neither of us have any sunglasses. This may really suck.”