Rogue (Relentless Book 3) (37 page)

Jordan had wormed her way to the front of the crowd. She grinned and gave me two thumbs up.

The vampire moaned and Nikolas took a step forward. “We need to get her secured again before she comes to. How the hell did she escape in the first place?”

Geoffrey came forward. “She picked the lock on the shackles. I don’t know how she did it. Most vampires can’t handle silver that long.”

“Desperation will make you do a lot of things you couldn’t do before,” I said. If she hadn’t been a blood-sucking monster, I might have been impressed by her survival instinct.

Geoffrey and one of the other warriors came forward. “Good job, Sara. We’ll take her now.”

The vampire woke up as I was handing her off to Geoffrey. She stared at the two warriors reaching for her then looked up at me. Terror filled her eyes, and she snarled and began to twist in my grasp. I zapped her again and she went limp.

“That’s some trick,” Geoffrey said.

“You should see me pull a rabbit from a hat.”

He smiled as he and the other warrior took the vampire by the arms. “We’ll make sure this one doesn’t get loose again. Not sure if she’s worth keeping, though.”

“Why?”

“Some vampires break. Most don’t. After a while you can tell the ones that will.”

“Then why waste your time with her?” Jordan asked.

“Because they can’t take the chance of not getting information out of her,” Nikolas said as the two warriors started to drag the vampire from the kitchen.

“Wait.” An idea came to me, one that Nikolas was not going to like. “Maybe I can get something out of her.”

Geoffrey stopped and looked back at me. “How?”

Nikolas shook his head. “No.”

“Nikolas, you said they need information. And it’s not like she can hurt me.”

He laid his hands on my shoulders, his eyes troubled. “You don’t have the stomach for torture, and that’s what it will take.”

“Maybe not.” I bit my lip because I knew how he was going to react to my next sentence. “I could connect with the demon.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Absolutely not. Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you did that?”

“No, but I’m a
lot
stronger than I was that time, and I know what to expect now.”

“No.”

I placed my hands on his chest. “I know you’re worried, but I’ve come so far since that thing with Nate. I’ve spent months working with Aine and Eldeorin, and I know what I can do.”

“What are they talking about?” Jackson asked. No one answered him.

Nikolas stared at me for a long moment. Then he let out a pained sigh and lowered his forehead to mine. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.”

“I mean it, Sara,” he growled softly. He pulled back so I could see the worry in his eyes. “If I have to sit by a hospital bed for another two days, I really will lock you up.”

I gave him a reassuring smile. “That won’t happen. Trust me.”

He released my shoulders. “What do we need to do?”

“Just lay her here on the floor, and I’ll do the rest.”

Geoffrey and the other warrior looked surprised when Nikolas asked them to put the vampire on the kitchen floor, but they did it without question. After my display on the lawn tonight, they all knew I was different, and they looked curious to see what I was going to do next.

“I need some room to do this. Can you all move to the living room?”

Once the kitchen was empty except for me and the vampire, I knelt beside her prone body and laid my hands on her chest. I didn’t even have to call my power forth. It rushed to my hands as soon as it sensed a demon close by, and I had to hold it back to keep from killing the vampire outright.

The vampire’s eyes opened and her mouth twisted in a scream as I pushed my power slowly into her chest. My aim was to make contact with the vamhir demon, not kill it like I had done with Nate. It didn’t take me long to find the gelatinous membrane surrounding the heart, and I touched it to let it know I was there. The demon trembled and shrank away from me, but there was nowhere it could go.

I remembered every detail of my experience with Nate as if it had happened yesterday. Drawing on that knowledge, I let my power envelop the demon and called on the same force I had tapped into the first time I’d done this. The demon convulsed, and I could feel its scream inside my skull.

No!
screeched an alien voice that was not my own.

You want it to stop?
Tell me how you knew about this house.

It fell silent for a long moment and I began to think I’d imagined the voice. I gave the demon another jab.

Hurts!
it howled.

It’s going to get a lot worse.
I poked it again to make my point.

Stop!

Not until you tell me what I want to know. How did you find us?

Silence.

I zapped it again. The demon screamed and a shudder went through it.
Stop.

Answer my question.
I felt no empathy for this creature, and I was willing to keep this up as long as I had to.

The demon finally realized that, too.
Followed hunters.

You followed us from where?

Not you. Followed hunters from casino.

When?

Days.

How many days ago?
I asked.

Two.

Two days ago? That meant they had been planning this attack all along, and they’d had no idea the rest of us would be here. Geoffrey was not going to be happy to learn that his team had been followed right back to their safe house.

Stop now!
the demon cried.

Fine.
I loosened my hold, but immediately tightened it again. The demon howled, and I waited for it to stop to ask my next question.

Who is the Master?

Have no Master.

Liar. All vampires have a master.

Not true. Many do not.

I applied more pressure and it struggled uselessly.
But you’ve met a Master, haven’t you? I want to know his name.

He has no name. Stop. Hurts.

Then tell me where he is. Tell me something.

Can’t.

I zapped it again and the membrane started to harden
. I can do this as long as I need to.

The demon’s scream filled my head. Then a picture formed in my mind of a stately stone house with turrets that made me think of a castle. Excitement rippled through me. But then the image disappeared before it could come completely into focus.

Where was that? Show it again.

Can’t. Hurts.

Show me!

The demon began to scream and shake until I thought it was going to explode. I realized then that I was getting nothing else out of it and I pulled back.

From out of nowhere, another image floated into my mind, faded and grainy like an old photograph. For a second, I thought the demon was trying to show me something else. I looked at the image and saw a dark-haired couple sitting on a beach with a little girl between them who couldn’t be more than ten. The three of them were laughing and the girl was pointing at the person whose memory I was seeing. The girl looked vaguely familiar...

I knew the human remained after the vamhir took control of the body; my experience with Nate had proven that. But aside from Nate, I’d never thought about the human souls trapped inside of vampires. Nate remembered most of his short time as a vampire except for the things he had been compelled to forget. He still struggled with the memories. It had to be a special kind of hell to be trapped like that inside your own body, knowing death was the only way you would be free.

I looked at the memory again, and this time I could feel the pain and longing that clung to it. The demon had taken the girl from her family a long time ago, and she still grieved for them and the life stolen from her.

My chest tightened, and I felt a tear run down my face.
What is wrong with me? Am I actually crying for a
vampire
?

No, not for the vampire. My heart ached for the teenage girl who had suffered so much. I wished I could help her, but the kindest thing I could do was to end her horrible existence.

Another memory floated toward me. I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to feel more of the girl’s pain. But then a familiar voice filled my mind, and I cringed from my own memories of it.
Hello, sweet thing.
I forced myself to look at the memory she was trying to show me, and a shard of fear pierced my heart when I saw Eli’s dark eyes and charming smile. The vampire who had tried to kill me was the same one who had taken this girl.

I felt it then, the delicate connection forging between me and the nameless girl who had been taken years before I was born. The vampire and I were mortal enemies, but the girl and I shared something that went beyond that. Our lives had been changed forever by the same monster. But I was free and she still suffered.

Suddenly, I understood what I needed to do. Whether it worked or not didn’t matter. I had the power in me to set this tormented soul free, and I couldn’t refuse her that. I wasn’t sure if I believed in fate, but it felt like some greater power had brought this vampire to me.

The demon trembled violently and the heart stuttered as I gathered my power.

No!
it screamed.
You said you’d stop.

I changed my mind,
I said without remorse.

Then I struck.

“Goddamnit, Sara, do
not do this to me again.”

Disoriented, I opened my eyes and looked up into Nikolas’s distressed ones. “Why am I on the floor?”

He crushed me against his chest. “Fifty years. I’m locking you up for the next fifty goddamn years.”

“Can’t breathe,” I gasped, and he eased me back down to the floor.

“How do you feel?”

“Great.” I was still trying to figure out what I was doing down there, and why he was looking at me that way. “My butt is cold.”

Relief flashed in his eyes and a smile touched his mouth. “We can’t have that.” In the next instant, he was sitting on the floor with me cradled in his lap. “Better?”

“Much better.” I leaned my head against his chest, suddenly tired. God, what a night. First, I met the mother I hadn’t seen in sixteen years. If that wasn’t enough, we were ambushed by vampires. And then –

My head jerked up. The vampire girl!

Someone was sobbing, and it was the most heartwrenching sound I had ever heard. I twisted in Nikolas’s arms until I could see behind him. In the corner, curled into a tight ball, was the vampire. Only she wasn’t a vampire anymore. The absence of cold in my chest told me I’d done it again.

I tried to go to her, but Nikolas held me back. “It’s not safe.”

“Yes, it is.” I met his worried gaze. “Trust me. She won’t hurt anyone else.”

It was another minute before he reluctantly released me. I crawled over to the girl who cowered and cried even harder. “Shhh, it’s okay,” I crooned softly. “You’re safe now and no one is going to hurt you.”

Her entire body shook from her sobs, and the agony in her voice was almost too much to bear. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through or how terrifying this was for her. All I could do was try to help her through it.

A sound drew my attention to the kitchen doorway where a dozen warriors watched us in shocked silence. Except for Nikolas, Chris, and Jordan, no one here knew what I could do. In their eyes, I was offering comfort to a vampire. This was going to require some serious explaining. Right now though, I had more important things to take care of.

I laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder, and she cringed away from me. I kept my hand in place as I spoke to her. “My name is Sara. I know you’re scared and confused, and I swear I won’t let anything hurt you. I’m just going to sit here with you until you’re feeling a little better.”

I sat on the floor by her head with my back against the cupboard doors. She was still crying, but she didn’t try to move away from me. After a few minutes, I touched her back soothingly. It was too bad my calming ability didn’t work on humans because I really could have used it now.

“Sara?” Nikolas spoke in a low voice. He was sitting where I’d left him and looking ready to come to my rescue if he sensed a hint of danger.

“We’re good.” A breeze blew in through the broken window and I shivered. At the same time, I felt the girl tense up under my hand. “Can I get a blanket for her?”

Several minutes later, Jordan came into the kitchen carrying two thick blankets. She approached me slowly and draped one of the blankets over the girl who was crying more softly now. Jordan smiled at me and wrapped the second blanket around my shoulders.

You okay
? she mouthed.

I nodded and she shook her head and said,
showoff,
before she backed away, leaving me alone with the girl again.

Out in the living room, people were starting to talk softly, and I heard more than one ask what was going on. I looked over at Nikolas and inclined my head toward the other room. He shook his head, and I knew he wasn’t going anywhere until he was sure the girl posed no threat to me.

The girl made a mewling sound, and I rubbed her back gently.

“Shhh. It’s going to be okay.”

In response, she scooted closer to me. Taking heart from that, I shifted until her head was on my lap. I began to smooth down her long dark hair, and she let out a shuddering breath and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. A lump formed in my throat as I tucked the blanket around her shoulders. I was so not qualified to deal with the trauma this girl must have been going through, but I was all she had right now.

It took over an hour for the girl to cry herself to sleep. Her arms went slack around my waist, and I could hear her deep even breaths. My backside and legs ached from sitting on the hard floor, and I wanted to move, but I was afraid of disturbing her.

Nikolas took the decision from me. He gently picked up the sleeping girl, blanket and all, and placed her on the love seat, which was the only couch in the living room that hadn’t suffered damage. As soon as he released her, she curled up into a ball again, but she didn’t awaken. The poor thing had to be exhausted.

The warriors stared at the girl, which wasn’t surprising since she’d been a vampire an hour ago. They were also giving me a wide berth. I guessed making a vampire human again was right up there with raising someone from the dead. It just wasn’t done.

“Is she really human again?”

I glanced sideways at Geoffrey who had come to stand beside Nikolas and me. The warrior’s normally dark skin was ashen and he had the look of a man who had witnessed a miracle.

“Yes.”

“That’s... not possible.”

I was too tired to explain. I gave Nikolas a pleading look and he nodded.

“Geoffrey, let’s talk in the kitchen so we don’t disturb the girl.”

“We can go downstairs if you don’t want to be overheard.”

“The kitchen will do.” Nikolas’s gaze met mine as he and Geoffrey moved past me. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let me out of his sight until we got home again. I was more than okay with that.

The other warriors resumed their work, packing up the equipment and preparing to move to another location. They kept throwing curious glances at me whenever they passed by, but I was used to being stared at.

Unsure of what to do next, I sat at the foot of the loveseat. The girl might sleep for hours, but I was afraid to leave her in case she awoke. Exhaustion washed over me, and I leaned back and closed my eyes.

“You okay, Sara?”

I opened my eyes and gave Chris a weak smile. “Pretty good, considering.”

He studied the sleeping girl. “You’ve had a busy night.”

“You could say that.”

“Why did you do it?” He crouched by the loveseat so he was at eye level. “Why this one?”

“I wasn’t going to.” I began to remember more details of my experience with the vampire. “But then I saw a memory of her family, and…” My voice cracked. “It was Eli who changed her. I actually heard his voice, Chris. I felt her pain. I couldn’t... I had to…”

He laid a hand on my arm. “It’s okay. You did the right thing.”

My gaze shifted to the girl who whimpered in her sleep.

“Did I?” She was a teenager who had suffered horrors I didn’t want to imagine. Her family and her old life were gone. There was no going back to them. She hadn’t uttered a word yet so we had no idea what her mental state was. If a Mori could drive a person insane, what was there to say that a vamhir demon couldn’t do the same?

“Maybe it would have been kinder if I’d…”

“I don’t believe that and neither do you.” His warm green eyes held mine. “You’ve grown into an amazing warrior since I met you, and I’m proud to fight beside you. But you have a healer’s soul. You could not have killed that vampire, knowing you could save the girl. If I know anything about you by now, it’s that.” He looked at her and let out a slow breath. “She has a rough time ahead of her, but she’s alive and human again thanks to you.”

“Thanks, Chris,” I whispered.

He smiled again. “Now, please don’t cry because I really don’t want Nikolas to come over and kick my ass.”

My lips twitched. “He wouldn’t do that. You’re his best friend.”

“When it comes to you, all bets are off.”

I looked at Nikolas and Geoffrey in the kitchen. Nikolas was talking to the other warrior, but he was watching me. I smiled to let him know I was okay. He said something to Geoffrey, and then the two of them walked over to us.

“How is she?” Nikolas asked me.

“Still asleep.”

“Do you think she’ll be able to talk to us when she wakes up?” Geoffrey asked.

I looked at the sleeping girl. “I have no idea.”

He rubbed his chin. “We’ll have to question her. There’s no telling what information she can give us about the attack tonight.”

“I can tell you that your warriors were followed here from a casino two days ago. The vampires had no idea the rest of us would be here when they attacked this place.”

Geoffrey inhaled sharply. “She told you that?”

I hesitated. If I told him I’d spoken to the vamhir demon, he was not going to believe me. I could tell by his wary expression that he was still struggling with whatever Nikolas had shared with him. I was too tired to try to explain something I was still trying to understand.

“Yes. That’s all she said.”

“Son of a bitch.” He looked around for his team and called to the brunette who’d spoken to me earlier. “Evan, weren’t you guys at the Mirage two days ago?”

“No, that was Tyler’s team. Why?”

Geoffrey swore then apologized to me. “I need to contact Tyler. His team is out on a job right now. Excuse me.”

“I think we should move her somewhere quieter,” I said to Nikolas and Chris. “She’ll be scared if she wakes up and sees all these strange people.”

Nikolas nodded and I could tell he’d already realized we were not flying out of Las Vegas tonight. “We’ll take her to the new safe house. You need to rest, too.”

“We all do.” It had been a long day and night for all of us. I’d rest when I knew the girl was taken care of.

Hours later, I sat in a chair in one of the bedrooms in the new safe house and watched the sleeping girl. She hadn’t awakened once during the drive to Henderson or when Chris had carried her into the house earlier. Every now and then she made a frightened sound, and I wondered what horrors she was dreaming about.

Jordan walked into the room. “I’ll sit with her for a while. You need to lie down before you fall over.”

“I’m okay.” I stifled a yawn.

She pulled me out of my chair and pushed me to the door. “Sorry, but those are Nikolas’s orders. You can take the room next door so you’ll be close, and I’ll let you know if she wakes up.”

I was too tired to argue. I gave her a grateful smile and went into the dark room, not even bothering to turn on the light or pull back the comforter on the bed. During the night, Nikolas came to check on me, and I sleepily tugged him down to lie beside me. It was the only time I woke up until the next morning.

A girl’s scream jerked me from my sleep, and I almost fell out of bed. I burst into the room next door and found the girl cowering in the corner with her long dark hair hanging wildly around her face.

Near the door, Jordan stood holding a plate of food and a glass of orange juice. “I just went to grab some breakfast. I didn’t think she would wake up yet.”

“That’s okay. I’ve got it.”

Nikolas arrived with Chris on his heels. “Sara?”

I put my finger to my lips and backed them out of the room. “She’s awake, and she’s terrified. I’m going to try to talk to her.”

I approached the girl slowly with my hands at my sides. “Don’t be afraid. Do you remember me? I’m Sara, and I talked to you last night. You remember my voice, don’t you? I promised you I’d stay with you. I’m still here and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

I spoke to her like that for at least thirty minutes before she lifted her head and looked at me for the first time. Through the veil of her dark hair I could see her pale cheeks, frightened brown eyes, and trembling lips. Her gaze flicked past me to Nikolas, Chris, and Jordan standing in the hallway.

“They won’t hurt you. They’re here to help keep you safe.” I sat on the bed, facing her, and tried to look as unthreatening as possible. “I’m Sara. Do you remember me?”

She stared at me for a long moment before she nodded.

I gave her a warm smile. “Good. Do you want to tell me your name?”

“E-Emma.”

I swallowed painfully. “It’s nice to meet you, Emma. I bet you must be pretty confused and scared right now, huh?”

“I-I saw you.”

“Saw me where?” I asked gently.

She swallowed and her eyes darted around the room. “You were th-there. You... talked to it.”

“Yes.”

“You killed it?”

“Yes.”

She let out a ragged sob and sagged against the wall. “This is... not real. Is it?”

The trace of hope in her small voice was almost my undoing, but I had to be strong for her. “All of this is real. I killed it and now you’re safe.”

“Safe?”

“Yes.”

She put her head down and didn’t speak for several minutes. Finally, she stared at me and said, “It’s really gone?”

“It’s as dead as it can be. It’s not coming back.”