Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (9 page)

“You were all wrong. Look at him. He’s a
blood recipient rather than a donor. His blood is too tainted to be of any
value to anyone.”

“He’s both. But he’s fine. Being a demon
nothing could ever completely destroy his blood.”

“Wait. You aren’t planning to allow him
to live, are you?” Eli asked. “If he escapes he will slaughter thousands of
your precious humans before you have any hope of stopping him. We have to
destroy him.”

Zack glared at Eli. “I would love for
you to try.”

“He isn’t a coldblooded killer. He’s in
control.”

“Of what?” Eli asked.

Seemingly ignoring Eli, Nikolas moved
forward and stood in front of Zack. “I know you’re confused right now. I need
you to trust me. Let me help you.”

“You need to help Demetri’s mate. Find
Sara before he does. When he kills Sara his immortality will belong to Mary.
She has more power and control than any of us thought possible.”

“Do you know how Sara has hidden from
him for so long?” Nikolas asked.

Zack shrugged. “Your guess is as good as
mine.” He paused. “I crave human blood, Nikolas. I can’t fight it. I fear that
I must be destroyed.”

 “For thousands of years you have
protected mankind from being destroyed by corrupt vampires and other evil
forces. It was what you were created for. The power of your blood is absolute.
It can’t be destroyed by the blood of the undead. I see Emily’s image in your
mind. You’ve found your mate. You believe you’re protecting her by staying
away. That’s why you’re asking me to kill you. You can take the easy way out. I
wouldn’t blame you. Who would? But have you considered the fact that Demetri is
using Emily to find you? What will he do to her when she fails to lure you in?
You have a purpose. Getting her the hell away from Demetri is imperative.”

“I’ve already taken her away. She’s
safe. Once we kill Demetri and Mary you will go to her. You will look after
her.”

“Where did you take her?” Nikolas asked.

“My home.”

“You expect her to stay there?”

Zack shrugged. “Of course. I told her to
stay.”

Nikolas laughed. “You have a lot to
learn about women.”

“You think my mate would disobey me?”
Zack frowned. He looked perplexed. “I promised her I’d come back to her, but I
now know I can never go to her again. I would kill her. When she’s near her
blood awakens something terrible in me. I can’t control it.”

“You’re already controlling it. Trust me
controlling an insatiable thirst for her blood will always be a hell of a lot
simpler than it will ever be to get her to obey.  Go to her. Keep her
close.”

“But…”

 “If you were wholly consumed by
evil you wouldn’t give a damn about her. You would’ve gone to her. You would’ve
used her to satisfy the thirst you’re struggling to deny.”

“I took her blood. I nearly killed her.”

“You didn’t kill her. Go to her. Take
care of her.”

 Eli grabbed Nikolas’ arm and spun
him around. “You aren’t thinking clearly. He’s too dangerous. He knows it. He’s
trying to tell you that. You can’t let him go to her. She was been turned. His
blood has been tainted. They both have to be destroyed.” With a slight wave of
his hand, Nikolas sent Eli hurling through the air. Eli got to his feet. “What
the fuck is your problem?”

“Leave us. Zack isn’t your concern.”

“He was my concern a few moments ago.
What has changed? Besides the fact that he’s been turned into a blood crazed
murderer and you don’t have the balls to put him out of his misery.”

“You need to worry about getting your
pack under control.”

Following Samuel’s lead, his former
second in command, Eli’s pack had been hunting him down. They were determined
to kill him. He wasn’t having it. As a matter of fact, he had another plan
altogether. He intended to make an example out of Samuel. While leading the
traitor to his death, he was preparing to restore his reign over the pack.

“I will handle my pack as I see fit.”

“Ditto.” Nikolas said.

“You don’t have a pack,” Eli stated.

Nikolas shrugged. “I have family.”

“Nikolas is right. You need to get your
pack under control. Things are bound to get worse for everyone.”  Zack
said.

“Define worse.” Regardless of how he
felt about Zack’s condition, Eli figured it would be best to learn as much as
possible.

 “We’ve all assumed Demetri was
simply amusing himself by catering to Mary’s wishes by lending his power to
corrupted vampires and allowing her to use my blood to make them stronger.”

“You think there’s something more going
on?” Nikolas asked.

“I know it. Whatever Demetri is doing,
he is doing it for himself as much as he’s doing it for her. Maybe even more.
They are united and yet not. It’s as if they’re engaged in a competition or
power struggle of sorts. If either succeeds, they will alter or destroy
everything as we know it. No being is safe. We need to be united. We need to be
at our strongest. We need to fight.”

“Does that mean you wish to go on?”
Nikolas asked.

“From the sounds of it I have no other
choice. Do you truly believe she would defy me in a dangerous time such as
this?”

“Absolutely.” Nikolas smiled.

“I’ll go to her now. I cannot leave her
fate up to Demetri. He has her convinced that he is her friend. I will return
with her shortly.”

***

Leland
Terrick motioned for Tom to get into the car. “I wasn’t expecting to meet with
you this soon.”

“Is it done?”

Tom pointed at the nurse sitting in the
front passenger seat. “Hospital scrubs. Who’s she? A nurse?”

“It doesn’t matter to you. She’s on my
payroll. Is it done?”

“Yes.” Tom answered.

Leaning back he crossed his arms over
his chest. “You followed my instructions?”

Smiling, he nodded. “I put a bullet
right in the back of her head.”

“You removed the cuffs?”

“Yes.”

“You got rid of them?”

Tom nodded. “I did.”

 “And you disposed of the gun?”
Leland asked.

“Of course,” Tom answered a little too
quickly, his voice cracking. “That’s what you wanted me to do. That’s what I
did.”

“Are you lying to me?”

Tom shook his head. “No, sir. I swear. I
followed every one of your instructions, right down to the gun I was to use. I
dumped them in the old mine shaft on the map you gave me.”

“It’s good to know it’s done and over
with.” When Kara threatened to go to the authorities, Leland knew she would do
it. She knew too much. She would betray him as quickly as her dirty whore of a
mother had betrayed him. “It’s a good day for you. I had my doubts. I wasn’t
sure you had it in you. Now that I know you’re depth of loyalty to me. I’m
certain I will allow you to engage in many more business endeavors with me in
the future. If you continue to prove your faithfulness, you will enjoy the life
of a very rich man.”

“It’s an honor to work with you.”

“Not with me. For me.”

“Of course.”

I never give second chances. Cross me
once and I will have you killed.” He lifted a duffel bag containing the half a
million dollars he’d offered to pay Tom for killing Kara and her unborn
bastard.

“I fully understand.” Tom reached to
take the bag.

Leland kept a hold of the bag to prevent
him from taking it. “Do you still plan to buy the bar on the waterfront?” He
wanted…no, he needed him to buy it so he could gain access to the old tunnels
beneath Portland for storing drugs, weapons and occasionally people. He also
needed Tom to buy the bar for laundering money.

“I’ve an appointment with a real-estate
agent first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll be sending a few of my guys to
help you out with establishing a security team.” Meaning he was sending his men
to act as his eyes, ears, hands and feet.

“No. Don’t bother. It isn’t necessary.
It’s fully staffed. I’ve already signed an agreement to keep all of the
employees already working there from the previous owner.”

“I wasn’t asking. I was telling. I don’t
care who you employ to run the bar. My men are there checking the place out
right now. They won’t be bothered by you.”

Tom nodded. “I understand.”

“I employ them. They report and answer
to me.”

Beads of sweat began to form on Tom’s
forehead as his neck and cheeks reddened. “Of course.”

Leland frowned at him. “Perhaps I’ve
made a mistake.”

“With what?”

“You’re reaction to my generosity is
quite upsetting, but not as much as the fact that you’re willing to lie to me.”

His hand visibly trembling, Tom pulled a
hanky from his pocket and wiped the moisture from his brow. “What do you mean?”

“A few hours ago I got a call from the
hospital because my daughter was admitted a few weeks ago after she’d been shot
in the head and thrown from a car.”

“I can explain.”

Leland yanked the bag away from Tom. “I
don’t want to hear excuses. We’re going to the hospital now. You’re going to
keep her nurses busy while I take care of her.”

“I won’t do it. It would make me a
suspect.”

“You’re going. We’re headed there right
now.” He’d never liked Tom. Since it was a public place with several
surveillance cameras, he planned to make sure the idiot was recognized in case
the authorities found Kara’s body before Mary’s vampires disposed of it.

Tom looked even more nervous when the driver
pulled into the hospital parking garage. “What’s the plan?”

“A woman is guarding her. All you need
to do is cause a distraction. Make sure the woman sees you and knows that you
are there for Kara.”

“What woman?” Tom asked.

“My informant says her name is Mia
Harte.”

“I don’t know her.”

“It doesn’t matter. Kara is on the fifth
floor. Tell them you are her husband and would like to see her.”

“No way.”

Leland took his gun out and pointed it
at Tom’s head. “Then you die right now.”

“Fine, I’ll go, I’ll do it.” Tom left
the car and headed towards the elevators.

“I’ll follow Tom up. As soon as he’s
been noticed I’ll have the cameras turned off. I’ll call you when everything is
ready. Wear the scrubs. Make sure you stick to the route I gave you earlier to
avoid being seen or captured on video,” the nurse said.

“You’re sure you can disable all the
cameras on the route?”

“I’m positive.” 

***

“She
won’t recover. There’s enough heroin in this syringe to kill an elephant.”
Hearing her father’s voice while feeling a needle pierce her arm, Kara came
aware suddenly. She opened her eyes.

“She’s awake.”

Recognizing her nurse’s voice, Kara
turned her head to look at the woman. 

“Not for long.” Her father gripped her
face and tilted her head back to force her to look into his eyes. “She won’t
give you any problems.” He released her face and lifted her from the bed and
then plopped her into a wheelchair. “Stick to the plan. Get her to the
basement. My men will take care of her from there.”

Kara’s most pressing thought was to get
up out of the wheelchair and run, to get away, but she couldn’t force her body
to function. She was in and out of consciousness as the nurse pushed her into
an elevator and down one dark corridor after another. Once they stopped, the
nurse pulled her out of the wheelchair and then dragged her toward a wooden
chair.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Kara
asked.

“Money.” She didn’t offer any further
explanation. She didn’t need to. Money was a great way to motivate people to do
all sorts of evil acts. She tied Kara’s wrists behind her back and her ankles
to the chair legs and then, without saying another word, left her
alone.   

Kara squinted up at a bright light directly
over her head. She remembered seeing Tom at the gas station. She remembered
leaving with him to avoid anyone else getting hurt. Not just anyone, Eli. Her
eyes were heavy. She struggled to remain alert. She felt lightheaded and
nauseous. Wait. She’d been shot in the head. She’d jumped from the car Tom was
driving. After a few minutes she realized she needed to stop trying to figure
it out. It didn’t matter. She had to find a way to get away before it was too
late.

She tried to move her hands, but the
restraints were tight and coarse enough to tear her skin. The only thing she
managed was to wiggle her fingers. Attempting to glance over her shoulder at
her hands made her feel woozier than before. Bile rising in her throat, she
gagged. That’s when she realized it was too late. Her baby had died the night
she’d been shot. She didn’t know how much time had passed since then.