Prologue 7 страница

attacker.

No one rushed toward me. Nothing

moved at all, in fact. I used the railing to

hoist myself to my feet, my head

continuing to ring while nausea and the

pitching waves made it hard to find my

footing. I hadn’t taken one step before I

tripped, cursing my clumsiness. Then I

looked down... and stared.

I hadn’t tripped because I was dealing

with the aftereffects of getting my head

bashed against the hull. I’d tripped

because the deck was covered in what

looked like lasagna. It took a few seconds

to translate the sight.

Not lasagna. The remains of the

vampire who jumped me. Had to be; the

other vampire was slumped over the

controls, slowly withering as all vampires

did when they truly died. I’d shoved so

much electricity into my attacker that he

had exploded.

I was torn between wanting to laugh

from relief and wanting to crawl back to

the railing and throw up until I passed out.

I’d wanted to kill my captors and I had,

yet I hadn’t been ready to know the full

extent of my abilities. As usual, life hadn’t

waited until I was ready to show me what

it had in store.

The sound of several hard thumps

yanked my focus from the terrible sight

around me. They came from below deck,

and caution mingled with hope. Was that

Maximus? Or another guard trying to lure

me down to the same lethal trap I’d used

on his buddies?

I went over to the narrow staircase,

looking at it with resignation. My whole

body was drained but the fight might not

be over. Bad guys didn’t stop for timeouts

and neither could I.

I didn’t bother to creep down the

staircase. At my stealthiest, I couldn’t

sneak up on a vampire who knew I was

coming. My only defense was my right

hand, and it felt like a light bulb that was

one switch flip away from burning out.

The thumps continued, coming from

underneath the floor despite me being

below deck now. Did this boat have

another level to it?

I flinched at every pitch and roll of the

boat, anticipating a sixth attacker about to

pounce on me. The only open door along

the narrow hallway was the one filled

with bodies, but I wasn’t alone. The

continued sounds proved that.

I’d reached the end of the hallway when

a thump vibrated right underneath my foot.

I jumped back, weak sparks shooting from

my hand, before noticing the latch in the

floor.

A cargo hold locked from the outside.

That ruled out an imminent attack by a

sixth guard. Another thump sounded.

Maximus, I thought, relief making me drop

to my knees. I pulled out the bolt, flung

open the trap door... and stared.

“Please, ” a red-streaked girl mumbled.

Her eyes were closed and more bloody

forms were beside her.

I wanted to pull her up but didn’t touch

her. Even drained, the juice in me would

harm her and she looked near death

already. Hannibal’s directive to Stephen

rang across my mind. Fuck someone in

the hold instead. I hadn’t been the only

cargo Hannibal had picked up.

“It’s going to be all right.”

Fury made my voice sound stronger

than I felt. The girl’s eyes fluttered open.

“Who’re you? ” she mumbled.

“I’m the person who killed every last

vampire on this boat, ” I told her. After

seeing the contents of the cargo hold, I

was no longer repelled by my abilities. In

fact, I was glad I’d blasted the fifth guard

to smithereens.

She smiled weakly, then that faded and

her eyes closed. I rattled the door to get

her attention.

“Don’t. You need to stay awake, and if

anyone else is alive, you need to wake

them, too. Tell me you understand.”

Her eyes opened, their blue color

reminding me of Gretchen’s. They looked

to be the same ago, too. My anger grew.

“Got it.” Then she began to shake the

closest form to her.

“Get up, Janice. Help is on the way.”

I rose, filled with fresh determination.

Damn right it was.

Then I opened every door in the tiny

hallway. Two were storage closets, one

was a bathroom, and the fourth...

I rushed forward. Maximus was on the

floor in a tiny bedroom, duct tape around

his mouth and something that looked like

silver razor wire binding him from ankles

to neck. It wrapped so tightly around him

that it disappeared into his skin in places,

as if his struggles had driven it deeper.

I’d cut my fingers off if I tried to mess

with that wire, but I could help with the

gag. I ripped it off, slapping his face when

he still didn’t open his eyes.

“Maximus, wake up! ”

No response. If not for the fact that

vampires turned into withered husks when

they died, I would’ve sworn that I was too

late. Then, with excruciating slowness, he

opened his eyes.

I stared at him in horror. The whites

were streaked with dark gray lines. A

closer look revealed that underneath all

the dried blood, his skin bore similar

streaks.

“They never got the liquid silver out of

you, ” I whispered.

No response from Maximus. His eyes

rolled back and he shuddered so hard that

the wire tore away chunks of flesh. Marty

had told me what would happen to a

vampire if liquid silver stayed in their

system long enough. It wouldn’t kill

Maximus. It would do something worse:

degrade his brain until he became a

madman, and once it reached that stage, it

couldn’t be reversed. Even if I cut the

razor wire off him, the real poison would

still be destroying him from the inside out.

Maximus couldn’t help me save the

dying humans in the cargo hold. He

couldn’t even save himself.

Chapter 16

I searched the dead vampires’ bodies.

Hannibal had the only cell phone, yet it

was cut in half along with the rest of his

upper body. Then I spent a futile several

minutes trying the boat’s communications

system, but I’d overloaded that when I

killed the vampire slumped over it. Even

if a 1–900–VAMPIRE helpline existed, I

had no way to reach it. I didn’t see lights

from nearby boats, either, not that I could

steer toward them. The engine was as

fried as the communications system.

I wanted to scream out of sheer

frustration. There had to be something I

could do!

Then my frustration began to fade as

logic took over. I could wait until I

eventually drifted to land or the path of

another boat, but that would be too late for

everyone else. There was, however, one

vampire I could reach without the aid of

technology, and despite the many reasons

why I didn’t want to, unless I was willing

to let Maximus go mad and the humans

die, I had no choice.

I sat down on a section of the deck that

wasn’t covered in body parts. With the

cool breeze whipping my hair, I ran my

right hand over my skin until I found a

familiar essence trail and followed it.

Within seconds, the deck vanished and I

found myself looking at the parking lot of

the Motel 6 in South Bend.

Lights from three police cars cast a

red and blue glow over the ruined

exterior of my former hotel room. Most

of the window was gone and bullet holes

pockmarked the outer walls. With all the

gunfire, the inside must look like Swiss

cheese, too. Then I noticed the darkhaired

figure on the edge of the parking

lot, barking furiously into his cell phone

in Romanian.

Seeing him at the site of my

kidnapping didn’t bode well, but if I

doomed Maximus and those poor people

by not taking this chance, I couldn’t live

with myself anyway.

“Hang up, Vlad, ” I said shortly. “We

need to talk.”

Shock flashed over his face. He

whirled as if trying to pinpoint my

location, hanging up without saying

another word.

“Leila. Where—”

“Are you here to admire your lackey’s

handiwork? ” I cut him off, going on the

offensive. “If so, you’d be proud.

Hannibal shot up this place with an utter

disregard for innocent peoples’ lives, all

to make sure Maximus was pumped full

of enough liquid silver to make him

barely able to move.”

Fire erupted from his hands. “I had

nothing to do with this, so tell me where

you are. Right now.”

He could be trying to find my location

in case he realized I’d managed to free

myself, but as I told Maximus, if Vlad

wanted to kill me, I expected him to be a

lot less cowardly about it. I was still

asking the most obvious question,

though.

“Then why are you here? And put out

your hands, cops are crawling all over

the place.”

To punctuate my point, a police officer

walked up, looking at Vlad in the

suspicious way any sane person would.

“You. What’s wrong with your hands—”

“Shut up and leave, ” Vlad said with a

flash of his gaze, though he did

extinguish the flames. The officer headed

back to the hotel and Vlad continued as

if we hadn’t been interrupted.

“I’m here because I tracked

Maximus’s cell phone to this area, but

I’m not behind this attack.”

“Then we’ve got another problem,

because the vampire who grabbed me

knew things about my abilities that only

you and a few of your guards knew.”

Vlad’s features hardened into

diamondlike planes. “Oh? ”

“First things first. You’re not

surprised that I’m alive, so I really did

connect to you in my dreams before,

didn’t I? ”

His hands didn’t light up again, but

they briefly turned orange, as if the fire

tried to free itself but he held it back.

“Yes. Perhaps you don’t need to

physically touch anything to link to me

because we’ve shared each other’s

blood, perhaps it’s because your powers

are stronger than you realize. Either

way, your ‘dreams’ were real.”

I sighed. Deep down, I’d always

known that, even when I desperately

wanted to deny it. Of course, that meant I

had a bargain to work out first.

“Promise me you won’t kill Maximus

and I’ll tell you what I know of my

location.”

Vlad growled out something in

Romanian. I couldn’t translate all of it,

but I recognized several curses.

“We don’t have time for games, ” he

finished.

“I know, ” I shot back. “I’ve got

several humans who need medical

attention and a vampire going insane

from silver poisoning, but you said you

were going to kill Maximus. So unless

you swear on your father’s and son’s

graves that you’re not, I won’t give up

my location. Oh, and you can’t torture

him, either, ” I added, remembering the

backhanded way he’d kept his promise

not to kill Marty.

Vlad’s eyes changed from copper to

green, glowing so hotly that I found

myself thinking if dragons were real,

they’d have eyes just like his. My next

thought was We’re screwed, because

then he smiled in that lethally genial way

I’d seen him do right before he burned

someone to ash.

“On the graves of my father and son,

I, Vladislav Dracul, swear not to torture

or kill Rossal de Payen, the man you

know as Maximus.” He paused a moment

as if letting those words sink in. “Now,

Leila. Where are you? ”

Vlad was infamous for his honesty, yet

that smile made me feel like I’d

overlooked something. Still, I’d done the

best I could, and Vlad was the only

chance Maximus and those humans had.

“I’m on a boat, and since I wasn’t

unconscious long, we’ve got to be on

Lake Michigan...”

T he sun rose three hours ago, but I had yet

to see another boat. In some ways, that

was good. I’d never explain the mess on

the deck to the Coast Guard, and it meant

Hannibal’s boss hadn’t discovered his

“package” had killed her delivery boys.

I was below deck, alternating between

checking on Maximus and doing what I

could for the critically drained victims.

That didn’t consist of much beyond

dropping down blankets, duct tape and

fabric for bandages, and cups of water for

the conscious ones. I’d considered cutting

Maximus to give them some of his blood,

but the last time I got close, only a quick

leap backward kept him from biting off a

hunk of my leg. Either the pain made him

lash out instinctively or the madness had

started to set in.

I found myself praying to anyone who

might be listening that help wouldn’t

arrive too late.

I was on my way back to the cargo hold

when all of a sudden, I couldn’t move. It

was as if an invisible, massive fist

squeezed me from head to toe, choking off

my breath as instantly as it had frozen me

in place. Panic had me mentally

screaming, but I couldn’t twitch or draw a

breath. It even felt like the currents inside

me came to a screeching halt.

Buzzing started to sound in my ears,

growing louder as the seconds stretched

longer. Then, just as abruptly as it had

come, that terrible squeezing sensation

vanished. I fell forward, sucking in huge

gulps of air. I had to blink repeatedly to

chase away the tears and black spots in

my vision. Once I could see straight again,

I looked up—and then froze for a different

reason this time.

Vlad loomed over me, dark hair wildly

tangled, lean stubbled features a

thunderous mixture of fierceness and

triumph. His pants and shirt were soaked,

their light blue color making them almost

see-through. I blinked, wondering if I’d

fallen over the edge of consciousness

without realizing it.

A faint smile twisted his mouth. “I’m

real, Leila. See? ”

He grasped my arms and pulled me up.

My legs trembled but held, and with

ragged pieces of rubber still dangling

from my hands, I touched his bare wrists.

Heat scalded my flesh at the same instant

that a current sizzled into him.

Oh yes, he was definitely real.

Of all the thoughts to cross my mind in

that instant, He looks even better than I

remembered was the last one I wanted

Vlad to hear. It didn’t matter. His

widening smile told me he’d caught it. I

let go, seizing on a more important topic.

“What just happened? I couldn’t move.”

“Mencheres is with me, ” he said, as if

that explained it.

My brow rose. “ And? ”

He dropped one hand but tightened the

other. “Come.”

I followed Vlad up the narrow steps.

Once topside, I saw the Egyptian vampire,

also soaking wet, surveying the remains of

my captors with detached admiration.

Then Mencheres turned, shading his gaze

against the bright, mid-morning sun.

“My apologies for using my power on

you, Leila. We thought it necessary to

immobilize the entire boat in case some of

your captors had survived.”

You think I wouldn’t notice someone

else trying to kill me? I thought jadedly.

“One could have jumped overboard and

then waited to catch you unawares, ”

Mencheres replied, reminding me that

Vlad wasn’t the only mind reader on

board. “That’s why we swam the last few

miles. Less to notice when we’re under

water.”

“So you’re the reason I felt like I was

encased in invisible carbonite? ”

The vampire shrugged. “I can control

things with my mind, ” he said, his tone

implying that it wasn’t a big deal.

With that incredible ability, Vlad

should take Mencheres with him on all his

rescue missions. All his assaults, too.

A growl made me glance up. Vlad’s

expression was closed off, reminding me

that this wasn’t a happy reunion.

“Thank you both for coming, ” I said, my

voice turning businesslike. “The injured

people are in the cargo hold and Maximus

is in one of the rooms below.

Another ominous sound from Vlad. “I

know. I smelled him.”

“The humans need blood for healing, ” I

said, ignoring that. “And Maximus needs

that silver out of him. He’s already

showing signs of... mental instability.”

With that, I headed downstairs, making

sure to sing anything that came to mind as I

went. Being near Vlad was so much

harder than seeing him in a dream. Every

emotion I’d tried to suppress resurfaced

with pitiless intensity, and that was only

how he affected my heart. My hands still

tingled from their brief contact with his

skin, and if his wet clothes molded any

more explicitly to his body, I’d soon smell

like eau de slut to any vampire within

sniffing distance.

He’ll be gone soon, I consoled myself.

Then I could go back to burying those

traitorous emotions by hunting for Marty’s

killer. Hannibal said he didn’t know who

hired him, but a search through the

memories in his bones would show if he

was lying.

I’d gone into Maximus’s room without

thinking about it. He lay exactly as he had

before, but with one marked difference.

His eyes were open, silver streaking them

like hideous veins, and they were fixed on

a point over my shoulder.

I turned. Vlad was in the doorway

behind me. He stared down at Maximus,

his face coldly expressionless. Then,

almost casually, he withdrew a knife.

Maximus’s eyes fluttered shut, either

from resignation or insensibleness.

Without my even needing to concentrate, a

whipcord of electricity shot from my hand.

“You promised! ”

Vlad glanced at the glowing strand and

his eyes went green.

“Are you threatening me? ”

His voice was buttery smooth—and

deadly. My gut twisted from a mixture of

fear and resolve. He could burn me to

death before I snapped this whip, but I

wasn’t about to back down.

“I am if you’re about to break your

word.”

My wrist was suddenly seized in an

iron grip. Any other vampire would’ve

been knocked backward from touching my

right hand when it was fully charged, but

Vlad absorbed the voltage like it was

mere static electricity. Then he leaned

down, brushing my hair back with his free

hand.

The one that still held a knife.

“I told you before—I dislike being

called a liar.” Breath from his words fell

like the softest of blows against my neck.

“But more importantly, if I had decided to

go back on my word, you wouldn’t be

able to stop me.”

Just as blindingly fast, he was kneeling

in front of Maximus, slicing through that

razor wire with brutal efficiency. The

cord of electricity I’d summoned curled

up into itself before disappearing into my

hand like a turtle seeking the shelter of its

shell.

No, he’d proved that I couldn’t stop him

even if his pyrokinesis was out of the

equation. At that moment, I felt like

exactly what I was: a woman who was in

way over her head with the creatures

around her. All at once, loneliness

overwhelmed me. I didn’t belong in the

vampire world, but thanks to my own

oddities, I didn’t fit into the human one,

either.

I turned on my heel and left the room. I

couldn’t do anything about being an

outcast in every society that existed, but I

could at least let the terrified survivors

know that help had arrived at last.

Chapter 17

M encheres and Vlad stood close

together, talking too softly for me to

overhear. Still, they stopped as soon as I

came back on deck.

Weariness helped me hold back my

snort. They weren’t even trying to be

subtle, were they?

“My associate will be here shortly to

transport us, ” Mencheres stated.

Good. I’d checked on Maximus again,

too, since he looked in worse shape than

the humans, which was saying something.

“Just drop me anywhere after you take

care of them, ” I said, giving the dead

bodies a calculated look. I hadn’t cared

before in my search for cell phones, but a

few of them carried cash. I’d need that to

keep up my hunt for the female vampire.

“Robbing them won’t be necessary.

You’re coming with me.”

Disbelief snapped my head up. Vlad

flashed me a smile that was both charming

and challenging, while his expression

almost dared me to argue.

I took that dare.

“I’m not coming with you because my

problems no longer concern you.” Ice was

warmer than my tone. “So thanks for the

arrogant assumption, but no thanks.”

“But they do concern me, ” he replied,

his tone as pleasant as mine had been

cold. “If I do nothing when someone

attempts to blow up and then kidnap my

former lover, my enemies will think I’m

weak and attack more of my people.”

“I’m not one of your people and I don’t

need your protection, as all the bodies on

this boat should attest.”

Vlad’s charming smile never slipped. I

stiffened, remembering he was never more

dangerous than when he smiled.

“As you wish.” Then he glanced at the

door leading to the cargo hold. “Their

heartbeats are faint, and they might not

live long enough to make it to the hospital.

Pity.”

My fists clenched, the only sign of the

fury coursing through me. “You promised

to heal them.”

“No, ” he replied instantly. “You made

me swear not to kill or torture Maximus,

but you never bargained for them.

Dropping them off at a hospital is free, but

my blood comes at a price.”

I hadn’t thought to bargain for them

because Vlad normally wouldn’t need to

be bribed to help innocent victims. Yet

from his expression, he would do nothing

more than bring them to a hospital if I

didn’t go with him, and that might not be

enough. Only vampire blood could

guarantee their survival.

I glanced at Mencheres, but the other

vampire appeared to be fascinated by the

waves lapping against the boat. Really? I

thought in disgust.

His oblique shrug was my answer. I’d

get no help from him, either. Once more, I

found myself cursing the limitations of my

humanity. Vlad had me cornered and we

both knew it.

“Heal them and make sure they’re safe,

and I’ll come with you, ” I said, jaw

clenched so tight I could barely speak.

His teeth flashed in something too feral

to be called a grin. “Wise choice.”

Probably not, but unless I wanted to kill

those people myself, I didn’t have any

other option.

I stared down at the boat from the

helicopter. We were up high enough that

the water was no longer white from the

churning rotors. Vlad sat up front with

Mencheres, but I was in the back with the

humans, trying to convince the crying ones

that these vampires wouldn’t eat them.

My attempts at comfort were

interrupted when an eerie blue light

suffused the entire boat. For a few

seconds, I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Then a flash of color yanked my attention

over to Vlad. He sat as if completely

relaxed, a half smile curling his mouth, but

his hands were engulfed in flames.

My gaze flew back to the boat. Now I

knew what that blue light was. Fire. Vlad

never changed his relaxed position, even

when the boat exploded with a spectacular

boom! that shook the chopper and littered

the lake with flaming debris.

“We can go now, ” he said to the pilot, a

muscular blond vampire Mencheres had

addressed as Gorgon.

I closed my mouth with an audible

click. Vlad hadn’t rigged the boat with

explosives. He’d destroyed it with his

power, and while I’d seen him burn

people to death, I hadn’t known the full

extent of his abilities. Since he’d just

made a forty-foot craft go up like a Roman

candle, I suppose I should be flattered that

he hadn’t laughed when I threatened him

earlier. The boat explosion was as

devastating as the gas line bomb—

“Shit, ” I burst out as something

occurred to me. “We didn’t grab any

bones off of those vamps.”

I’d also lost Adrian’s charred body

part. Not that Hannibal would have taken

it with us even if I’d asked. Kidnappers

were notoriously uncooperative.

“They were hired mercenaries; I doubt

their bones would contain anything

useful, ” Vlad stated. He didn’t ask me to

explain the context behind my thought

about Adrian. He must have figured out

why Maximus and I had carted around a

body part.

“I exploded the boat to hide the

evidence of what you did, and to send a

message to whoever hired Hannibal that

now he’ll have to deal with me. Or she, ”

he added reflectively.

He must have read that from my

thoughts, too. Then Maximus let out an

extended moan, turning my attention to

him.

“Why haven’t you started to get the

silver out? ”

Vlad’s smile remained but his features

hardened.

“It will require extensive cutting. If I do

it, then I’m guilty of torturing him. Gorgon

is flying the helicopter, and while

Mencheres could hold him down, you

don’t have the experience to remove it

properly.”

I swallowed. Much as I hated the

thought of Maximus continuing to suffer, I

didn’t want to release Vlad from his word

not to torture him. Wait it was, then.

“Where are we going? ” Please don’t

say back to your castle, please don’t say

back to your castle...

“Fine.” Glints of emerald appeared in

his burnished copper eyes. “I won’t say

it.”

For the second time in ten minutes, the

word shit flew out of my mouth. Vlad only

chuckled, the sound as enticing and

merciless as the man himself.

M encheres and his wife, Kira, lived near

Chicago, which explained how quickly

he’d rendezvoused with Vlad. We stopped

by his house first, which relieved me for

several reasons. For one, several of

Mencheres’s staff immediately went to

work on Maximus. Two, I got to shower

and change out of the oversized wetsuit