Haven (10 page)

Thomas scooped me up, leapt off the stage, and rushed me through the club to Heaven. I clung to him, desperate for one little word to extinguish the inferno raging in my lungs. In the VIP lounge, he tossed me onto the couch where, not so long ago, Adrian had pleasured me. I landed in an ungraceful heap, the last bit of air blasted from my lungs. Darkness took me. A sting on my cheek brought me back.

Thomas leaned over me, his face a mask of fury. “What part of
do not touch him
did
you
not comprehend?” Anger poured off him in chilling waves.

“What would you have of us, sire?” A male voice rumbled.

The four giants pushed my friends to their knees in front of the couch. My boys were stoned, vampire-style. Faith, however, remained lucid and terrified, her captor’s meaty hands squeezing her delicate shoulders.

“Thomas Ward, you must help her,” Faith pleaded.

Thomas harrumphed.

My eyes burned.
He’s going to let me die. He doesn’t love me at all.
Maybe he’d loved the thirteen-year-old me, but he’d allow the adult me to suffocate.

Alexander stalked into the room, a livid lion of a man. “What are you doing?”

Thomas waved him off. “Stay out of this.”

“She’s dying,” he snarled, emotion clear on his face.

“Oh, now you believe?” Thomas straightened his cuffs. “You could not trust my word.”

Guilt lined Alexander’s face. “But I held back my power this time, it should’ve—”

“Should have what?”

“Should’ve been fine,” he finished. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, I just—”

Thomas stepped into him. “You forget yourself, Youngling. You think like a human, though you are vampire. You scoff at our laws, our ways, you think us old and foolish.” He pointed at me, struggling against a veil of gray threatening my vision. “Witness what happens when you disobey a direct order. You suffer little, vampire, while she suffers greatly for your foolishness.”

Thomas’s tirade faded into white noise and my body fell into a black ocean where my lungs no longer burned and my limbs floated pain free.
I’m dying.

“Breathe,
cara mia
, breathe.”

My lungs obeyed the soft command. Cool fingers feathered over my face. My eyes fluttered open.

Thomas stared down at me with his hypnotic, green eyes. “There, much better.”

My anger flared and I bolted upright. “You—” My fist flew at his face.

He caught it with ease, eyes bright with amusement. “As I said, much better.”

“Rina.” A frantic Faith reached for me.

I glared at the huge vampire restraining her, speaking through gritted teeth. “Let her go.”

Thomas nodded at the big guy and Faith scrambled to me. “Not over. It’s not over,” she babbled. “The door is destroyed, a mind wildfire. The darkness, it hungers. I see blood, there’s so much blood.” Faith shuddered and moaned.

I hugged her quaking body and shot Thomas a murderous glare. “What have you done to her?”

“I have done nothing,
cara mia
. Yet.”

Foreboding frolicked in my gut.

“Stop it, Thomas,” Alexander growled. He leaned against the bar, shooting disapproval at the other vampire. “This is wrong.”

“Wrong? You know nothing of this, Youngling.”

His eyes narrowed. “I know enough and this is wrong.”

The air crackled with Thomas’s energy. “Everyone out,” he commanded, waving one arm.

A gaggle of vampires and their human dinners rose from every couch and chair and filed out the door. The goons pulled Mark, Ren, and Kai to their feet and led them out, too. The last vampire came for Faith.

“Back off,” I snapped at the enormous monster. He gave me impassive gray eyes.

“Leave us,” Thomas ordered. The vampire made a low bow and retreated. “Be gone, Alexander.”

“No.”

“That was not a request.” Thomas moved in a blur, reappearing before the other man.

“No.” Alexander’s lip curled in a snarl.

“Do not choose a battle you cannot win, Youngling.” Thomas dropped the temperature in the room and lashed out with his power.

Alexander stumbled back, steadying himself on the bar. He straightened and stepped into Thomas, refusing to back down. Admiration warmed my chest.
Sexy, brave man.

A moan from the corner broke the tension. Adrian slumped in a chair by the overlook, head lolled on one shoulder, legs and arms splayed. He appeared drunk, but I doubted it. He wasn’t much of a drinker. Faith and I rushed over to him.

“Adrian, can you hear me?” I pushed tangled locks of hair from his face and palmed his forehead. Cold and clammy.

Faith checked his pulse. “Slow. Floating. Empty.”

“Translation, girlfiend.”

“Blood deficiency.” Her eyes strayed beyond me to the vampires.

“You bastard,” I cursed at Thomas.

“He’ll recover, my child,” he replied blithely, as if we spoke about the weather.

“I’m not your child, you psychotic son of a bitch.” I sucked in a slow breath to calm down.
Hate feeling helpless.
“How do we help him?”

“Vitamin B12 and a lovely steak and potato dinner,” replied a sultry, female voice.

~ * ~

A woman materialized next to Adrian.

First there was nothing, then
poof
, a petite blonde.

She looked like a marble sculpture come to life. A sleeveless, silver evening gown with a deep V front draped her perfect body, accentuating her slight curves, the delicate bones of her shoulders, her milky white skin. Her long blonde hair, swept up in a high ponytail, shone like spun gold in the track lighting from the ceiling. She was radiant, incandescent. Utterly beautiful.

“Who—how—what?” I struggled to ask too many questions at once.

The woman stroked Adrian’s hair and observed me with stunning, blue-green eyes.

“You did this.” My voice shook with nerves.

“No. Not this one.” The woman’s perfect bow lips parted in a smile, revealing dazzling, white teeth, complete with fangs. My heart pounded and my legs twitched with the urge to jump up and put some distance between us. She might be tiny, but I sensed big-time power in her. I didn’t want to be her next meal.

Faith inched closer to me. “Stella’s mistress.”

I glanced at Thomas and Alexander for confirmation. Thomas gave me an indulgent nod from the couch. Alexander crossed his arms and scowled at the female vampire. I liked him even more for his fierce crankiness on my behalf. I gave him a hesitant smile. His gaze flicked to me, softened for a moment then hardened when it returned to the other woman.

I cleared my throat. “If you don’t mind my asking, why punish Stella? Why did you care she attacked us? Me, in particular?”

The blonde’s eyes narrowed. “My minion is fortunate I did not rip out her heart and feed it to her, one tiny morsel at a time.”

I stiffened.
Gross.

Faith leveled one of her all-knowing stares at the vampire. “Translation, she loves you.”

The lovely vampire’s face brightened and she laughed. A bolt of pain seared my head along with a flash of her gazing down at me, laughing just like this.

Hand in hand we spun and twirled, one in the dance. “My little star,” her voice whispered from everywhere and nowhere.

A light caress across my cheek jerked me to the present. I massaged my temples. Another childhood memory, another painful shock to the system.

The vampire knelt in front of me and searched my face, one slender hand resting on my arm.

I like her touch.

“I know you, but I don’t, I can’t—” My throbbing head made me stumble over the words.

Adrian moaned. Faith eased away to check on him. I focused on the vampire, no, the woman in front of me. Dead or alive, I cared for this beautiful creature and instinct assured me she shared the sentiment. I reached for her. She leaned forward.

At the last second, I pulled back. “I can’t remember your name.” I tapped my temple. “It hurts when I try.”

Thomas called from the couch. “Then let us open the door and reveal—”

The woman raised her hand and he shut up.
Interesting
. Thomas wasn’t the only
undead big and bad around here.
Good.
I felt safe with her. Foolish feeling, maybe, but I clung to it.

“
Mi chiamo, Isabella
.” Loss clouded her eyes and the musical chime of her voice sounded subdued.

I didn’t want her sad. I wanted her to laugh and hold my hands and whirl me around the ballroom like she had when I was five. I wanted to squeal in delight and chant her name. It echoed off the walls in my memory now, not
Isabella
, but…

“Tessa,” I exclaimed. “
Mia bella contessa
!”

Tessa made a happy sound and crushed me to her chest. She was soft and warm and smelled like lavender. My heart hummed in happiness.

“Hey, babe.” Adrian interrupted our reunion with a weak smile.

I extracted myself from Tessa. “Hi.” I kissed his cheek and addressed the room. “Okay, someone tell me how my friend here ended up on your dinner menu.”

“Come, my darling,” Tessa beckoned me. “Sit with me and all will be revealed.”

“But—” I objected, even as she led me away from Adrian.

“Come. The doctor arrives. Our Adrian will be well cared for.”

Our
Adrian?

The door opened and Stella entered with a tall, gaunt bald man carrying a classic black doctor’s bag. His tight, black, topcoat buttoned to his pointy chin, black pants and shoes gave him the look of a Goth undertaker. His mask-like face chilled me with its black eyes, hook nose, thin-lipped mouth, and sunken cheeks.

I didn’t like him at all.

Stella curtseyed in front of Tessa, eyes on the ground. “Mistress.”

“Mistress,” echoed the doctor, bowing low.

“Go,” Tessa commanded.

The two vampires whooshed to Adrian. From his bag, the doctor produced a large hypodermic needle and a syringe containing a red liquid.

Unease stirred in my gut. I pulled away from Tessa. “What’s that?”

She joined Thomas on the couch then gave the doctor a regal nod.

“Hydroxocobalamin injection,” the doctor replied.

“Vitamin B12,” Faith translated.

“Okay.” I nodded my approval though no one asked for it. “You were serious? B12, steak and potatoes?”

“Yes, child, dinner awaits him below. Now, come. Sit. Let us renew our bond.” Her words wrapped around me, nudging me in her direction.

I took one step then stopped.
No
. First, I needed to check in with Adrian. Then chat with the vampires about their mental and physical abuse of my friend.

Thomas raised a hand. “You see, it is as I told you. Even cut off from her whole self, she has the ability to resist our charm.”

Tessa tilted her head. “Ah, but that was the gentlest of touches, nothing more. Surely she cannot fend off a truer persuasion.”

“Indeed not. Yet I am curious to witness her strength of will once the barrier has been removed.”

“Oh, I am sure it will be magnificent,” Tessa touched Thomas’s arm. “Though I question whether it would withstand a push from the oldest among us.”

“We shall see soon enough, shall we not?”

“Uh,
hello
, standing right here.” My voice betrayed my annoyance. I felt less like their long lost loved one and more like a lab rat.

The two vampires ignored me, deep in conversation about the finer points of power plays.

Adrian hissed as the needle sank into his arm. “Easy there, doc.”

It took a long time for the red liquid to leave the syringe. Adrian caught me staring. “Rina, I’m fine. Relax.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s not okay. They used you. I won’t let them feed on you and wipe your mind. It stops now.” I shot Thomas a glare.

The doctor pulled out the needle and pressed a cotton ball to the entry wound, securing it with a strip of surgical tape.

Adrian nodded his thanks to the doctor, eyes on me. “It’s not like that, babe.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I wasn’t forced. I volunteered.”

I closed the small distance between us. Stella and the doctor sped past me in a swish of air. Faith remained at Adrian’s side. She gave me a cautionary look and mouthed ‘
no
,’ but I ignored her.

“You volunteered. You’re their
voluntary
midnight snack. They didn’t enthrall you?” The guilt on his face made me add, “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

“Well...” he averted his eyes from my heavy stare. Faith patted his arm.

I gaped at him in disbelief, too angry to speak. Faith backed up against the glass of the overlook, out of the line of fire. Perfect. I kicked his leg.

“Ow, Rina, dammit.” He rubbed his shin. Lucky for him, I held back and didn’t break it. Lucky for him, I still cared despite his betrayal.

I paced back and forth in the middle of the room, cursing under my breath in Italian. Thomas opened his mouth and I rounded on him. “
Neanche una dannata parola
,” I warned. If he dared say one more word...

Thomas locked his lips with an invisible key and tossed it into the air with an elegant flick of his long fingers. I eyed Alexander seated atop the bar. He raised both hands in surrender. I resumed my angry pacing and muttering.

“English,” Faith suggested. I halted my heated pacing. Right. Adrian needed to hear every single word of my rant.

“I can’t believe you lied to me. I know you’re the King of Excuses with the people you screw and dump, but you never lie to me.” My fist thumped my chest.

Adrian winced.

“How long have you known what they were? How long have you been food? Just how long have you been letting Thomas and his
people
use our club as a fast food restaurant?”