Haven (46 page)

Alexander’s unwavering stare speared me as my own gaze flitted between him and Greg’s arm. I was so thirsty it hurt, like a hot knife burning my gut, my throat. Did I want to feed straight
from a human body? I had no fangs, but I was certain Alexander would help me out in a heartbeat. Did I want to go there?

My vampire half growled,
hell, yeah,
while my human half whispered,
no way back from that one.

Yet, hadn’t I already crossed the point of no return? I was already drinking blood and I’d murdered a person, albeit in self-defense. If I let myself feed from a body, like a true vampire, would that be it? Would my human half disappear under the weight of my vampire nature? Was I okay with losing my humanity and driving full bore on the vampire highway?

Greg twitched one last time and died before I made the call. I tried to feel remorse, regret, horror at his passing, some
human
sentiment, but I felt nothing for this man who had shot, beaten, and drugged me. And stuffed me in a body bag. Delivered me to the bad guys. Felt nothing, but vindicated.

Did that make me a monster?

Alexander raised his head. I licked my lips, eyeing his crimson chin, wanting to lick it clean. He tossed Greg’s body aside, clearing the way for my pounce. But Aaron’s beefy hand stuck a black mug in front of my face, distracting me. I caught the scent. Blood. My greedy hands snatched the offering. Aaron snickered. I hissed in his direction before downing every last drop.

Oh, God. Alexander was right. His vampire blood wasn’t food. Powerful, useful and delicious in its own way, but not a meal. The rush from this source made the inside of my skull tingle and my body hum with power. This blood was
food
. Robust, rich with energy, heat. Life.

It tasted much better than my first cup ever at Adrian’s place, better than any blood I’d consumed since. Because it was fresh from the host, tastier, stronger, more complex, layered like a fine wine. The dominant flavor was metal, a rich copper, like pennies, and underneath, salt, a hint of chocolate, something sharp and tangy I couldn’t identify, almost medicinal, like cough syrup, maybe, and lastly, coffee. Yep, coffee, a dark roast with a touch of vanilla.

Wow.

I opened my eyes to request more of that heady brew. To my delight, Aaron offered up another cup. I made short work of it. By the time I finished, my strength returned, as if the beating at the hands of Tiffany, Paolo, and Greg never happened. A pretty illusion, but we were still in a whole world of trouble. I put the empty cup on the floor.

Alexander’s hands covered mine. “You feel better?”

“Yeah. You too, right?”

He raised a brow. “What do you think?” When I didn’t reply, he sobered. “I wasn’t dying, you know.”

“Seemed like you were close.”

He shook his head. “Lead bullets aren’t a problem.”

“But there were so many. You’d lost so much blood, and you didn’t heal right away.” My eyes fixated on his bloodstained chin. I shifted onto my knees and leaned into him.

“Silver is more of a problem, but even then it depends on location,” he murmured absently, gaze on my lips.

“How so?” A mere breath separated us.

“You want a vampire basics lesson right now?”

“No.” I kissed him, once, twice, and set to work cleaning his chin with lips and tongue and teeth.

He sucked in a breath, fingers trailing up my arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I bit his lower lip. He groaned and squeezed my arms. My hands explored his smooth chest, the perfectly-healed skin, the contours of his sculpted muscles. He shuddered and kissed me hard, his tongue pushing inside.

At some other time, in some other place, it all would’ve been awesome foreplay for our first time, because I had no doubt if we were elsewhere, we’d go from there to full-on sex in a hot second. But, alas, we were still in the middle of hell.

“Ah, young love,” a familiar, accented voice mused. “So tasty.”

Twenty Two

Alexander sped us away from Dixon. Aaron appeared in our path, cocked one bushy brow, and herded us back to the other vampire.

Dixon was every bit as horrible as I remembered. Tall, gaunt, dressed in combat black, only his platinum blond hair and long, chalk-white hands uncovered. He bared his long fangs, silver eyes alight with triumph.

“Like what you see?” he mocked, leaning against the dentist’s chair, one arm resting along the top.

Dr. O stood on the other side by a stainless steel countertop, expression bored. His poker face, I’d bet. The chair was empty now. When had they moved Paolo? The fact I hadn’t noticed the disposal of his large, dead carcass made me nervous. They could’ve done anything to us while we were busy drinking blood, yet they let us sit there—
unharmed
—and feed, let us recover our strength. Hell, they even gave me seconds.

Why? What could they possibly
gain from making us strong again?

“You are thinking too hard, little kitty,” Dixon teased.

I frowned. “Don’t call me that.”

“My apologies,
Princess
,” he mocked.

I ignored him and took stock of the room, searching for an exit. Large space, a macabre blend of restaurant kitchen meets dentist’s office meets operating room. Straight-out-of-a-slasher-film creepy. In the center, a modified stainless steel food prep table, its surface covered in my blood. Two lights shaped like a mushroom’s underbelly
hung above the table, along with large hooks suspended from thick black chains, ascending into darkness. A very high ceiling. A warehouse?

Brigid watched me scan the room from her position near a wall of doors. Four in all, stainless steel, the kind used for walk-in freezers. Each door had a security panel with a number keypad, a digital temperature display, and two, square lights. Two doors had the green light, the other two, red. The next wall over was inset with two commercial refrigerators with sliding glass doors. Blood storage.
No surprise, there.

I had yet to spot an exit. And Brigid’s stare made my skin crawl.

Evil. Enemy.

Yes, inner vampire, got the message about that. Crystal and clear
.
Yes, I wanted to launch myself at her and kick her ass, but realistically, I’d be the one getting my ass handed to me. Again. Although, maybe if I timed it right, played the weak-victim card, caught her off guard, I could take her down, crack open her skull on this handy cement floor. Worked on Tiffany.

Dixon interrupted my scheming. “What do you think of the Deep Freeze?”

“What did you say?” No. Can’t be.

“You heard me, luv.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call you little kitty, don’t call you luv,” Dixon taunted. “How about I call you my new pet?” His gaze slid over my body, a tangible, cold caress. I shivered.

Alexander stepped in front of me. “You can’t have her.”

“Oh come now, Youngling, do you truly believe you can stop me? Or do you have a wish to taste true death?”

“Bring it on, old man.”

I grasped Alexander’s arm. “Are you nuts? Don’t antagonize the psycho.”

“I can hear you,” the psycho sang out. Aaron chuckled.

“Shut up, Dixon.” That earned me hoots of laughter from Aaron. I frowned at the giant. “You, too, big guy.” More guffaws from the big guy.

“Mind your tongue, pet, lest you lose it.”

A real threat this time.

He glided toward us. “Now, to business.”

Alexander backed up, taking me with him. Behind us, Aaron growled.

Dixon stopped an arm’s length away, extended his hand. “Come, pet, come to me of your own free will and I promise you an experience relatively free from pain.”

“You lie.” My heart pounded. I scanned yet again for an exit. Where was it? Time to stall. Based on our first encounter with this psycho, Dixon liked to hear himself talk.

“Is this really the Deep Freeze?” My voice quivered like my body.

“Why yes it is, pet. Come, I shall give you the grand tour.” He waggled his fingers at me.

Alexander hissed.

“So this is Roland’s place, right? Is he here?” It hurt my head—and heart—to think my former nanny-slash-bodyguard might be playing for the dark side now, but since we were at his warehouse...

“Do you mean is he one of us? Oh no, pet. No, he is not here. He is at your club, of course, with the rest of the Warden’s inner circle, for their Sunday festivities.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “It is rather ingenious. We hide in plain sight, in one of their own jails for naughty, little monsters. It is the last place they would think to search for you, luv. If they looked for you. But they will not bother.”

I swallowed. “How can you be so sure?”

“Well...” Dixon cupped his chin and tapped his cheek with one long finger, pretending to give my question serious consideration. The faker.

“You were last seen at the museum. And we blew it up.”

My stomach tied itself in a knot. “So what? We could’ve left before that happened.”

Dixon shook his head, eyes bright with glee. “No, no, my sweet pet. You are dead.”

“No, I’m not.” I didn’t like the direction of this conversation.

“This is the Deep Freeze, pet. You are as good as dead here.” He waved in Brigid’s direction. “No power in. No power out.”

“No power,” I echoed, starting to get it.

Alexander filled in the blanks. “Magic circle. Containment. They can’t sense us. And you can’t call to them.”

“Can’t sense...” My head spun. My family thinks I’m dead
.
But Stella would know the truth.

“Where’s Stella?” I forced myself to give Dixon excellent eye contact.

His thin, purple lips twitched. “Resting.”

Relief flooded through me at his words. And hope. “Where?”

“She cannot help you, pet.”

I didn’t believe him. I called to her.
Stella? Are you in here? Can you hear me? Where are you? I—we need you.

“She cannot hear you. Well, she can, but she cannot help you. Nor can she help herself.” He motioned at the freezer doors. “Only I can free her now. I might do that one day, after she has had adequate time to reflect upon her situation. She is mine, now, as are you.”

His silver eyes glowed with triumph, trapping me in their light. The longer I stared, the brighter they glowed, silver-white like the moon, so bright I wanted to hold up my hand against that cold, piercing light, a beacon, filling my vision, bathing me, drawing me in. His power hummed across my flesh as the light held me, the gentle stroke of a cool wind on a crisp spring morning, the promise of wondrous pleasures, new adventures, the—

“Carina!” Alexander shook me hard.

I blinked at the silver-eyed devil. He’d almost captured me with his gaze. “How did you do that? They told me it didn’t work on me.”

Dixon cocked his head. “What confuses you, pet?”

“You almost enthralled me. I was told that was impossible, that I’m glamour-proof.”

Dixon tsked. “They have indeed left you alone, have they not, my kitten? You do not even understand the basics of our—of
your
true nature. That was no mere glamour or simple compulsion. I am older than you can imagine, my sweet young woman. There is more to my power than the mere meeting of eyes. Sadly, you know no defense against the bite of true power, do you? Come, I am your teacher now, your master. Come to me, my pet, and learn.”

Dixon’s words wrapped around me and pulled, demanding I obey. I squirmed in Alexander’s embrace.

Alexander’s arms tightened. “Back off, Dixon.”

Dixon shook his head as if he regretted what he was about to do. “It is time for our tête-à-tête, my pet. And I am afraid you have one too many—” he eyed Alexander “—distractions attached to your delicious person at the moment.”

“Yes, let us begin,” Brigid chimed in from across the room.

Alexander called his power to action and mine even flared to life in response, but it was too late. Her magic hit us hard and fast. Alexander stumbled backwards. I fell to the floor. My arms took most of the impact and kept my face from eating cement, but Brigid’s power pinned me.

Dixon knelt beside me. “That’s better.” His hand slipped under what little remained of the back of my T-shirt, cold fingers gliding along my spine.

I shrieked.

“Bastard.” Alexander lunged, but Aaron intercepted him.

The two men crashed together, flying across the room. Above us, chains rattled, hooks clanged, while elsewhere in the room glass shattered and the two vampires snarled in combat. I fought the spell pressing me to the floor. Sweat broke out on my forehead and my vision blurred. Oh, I was holding my breath. Time to breathe. In, out, in, out. My sight cleared and I renewed my struggles, ignoring Dixon’s hand caressing my back.

Brigid’s spell pressed harder, crushing me. Is this how it would end? Smashed like a bug on the floor?

“Mustn’t break my new pet, Brigid.” His fingers trailed down my spine and slipped under the waistband of my jeans.

“Stop. Touching. Me.” I wheezed.

His hand slid deeper, fingers curling around my hip bone, squeezing. I choked back a scream, biting my lip so hard I drew blood.

“You need her unharmed, Brigid,” Dr. O chimed in. “Or have you changed your intended course of action?”

I’d forgotten about Dr. O. Every time he spoke up, he uttered something helpful. Did that make him a good guy or a good-ish, bad guy? Either way, color me grateful for the interruption.

The fighting stopped. Brigid spoke into the sudden, heavy silence. “I know what I want, Oliver. And I shall have it. The plan proceeds as originally crafted.”

She lifted the spell.

Dixon scooped me into his arms and strode across the room, crushing me to his cold granite wall of a chest. Trapped again. Dammit. He chuckled, a masculine, confident sound, too sexual for my liking.