Turned (39 page)

Ty looked shocked by her words. “No. No, I could never hate you. I’m only thankful that you’ll live.”

“How can you suddenly lie? You hate yourself.” Her gaze went to the knife she’d used to kill her sister. Could Ty still use it? Would he?

He gripped her chin and brought her gaze back to his. “I’m not going to kill myself, Ana. I haven’t wanted that for a long time. You’ve changed so many things for me. You showed me my life is still worth living. That I—that I can still love. And if I can still love you as I am, then I’m not the monster I thought.”

“You really love me?” she whispered.

“I can’t lie, remember? But ask Pablo. He’s been in my head. Isn’t that right, Pablo?” He glared at the other vampire, who merely nodded.

“He loves you more than himself, Ana. More than his next breath.”

“That’s right,” Ty said. “But you don’t need to hear
him
say it to believe it. You heard my thoughts before. You know I love you. That I don’t want to live without you.”

The ice surrounding her heart seemed to melt slightly. “I did hear you. I just wasn’t sure if I’d been imagining things.”

He took her hand. “You weren’t. You heard me and you did the right thing. The only thing you could do. You saved yourself. And in doing so, you saved me, Ana. Because as long as the world has you in it, it’s a place I never want to leave.”

She couldn’t quite feel joy, not with the carnage that surrounded them. But she knew what she wanted to do.
She turned to Pablo. “I love him, too. I don’t want you to stop the turning process.”

“Ana, no!” Ty said, but she saw what he couldn’t hide. She saw his hope.

“I want to live forever if I can. With Ty.”

Ty grasped her hand tighter, then lifted it to kiss it. “Are you sure, Ana? The turning process is … I mean, it won’t be easy.”

“Will you stay with me? Help me with it?”

“Of course.”

“And afterward? Will you want me for an eternity?”

“Forever will never be long enough.”

“Then I’m sure,” she said. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my whole life.”

Ty’s face lit up. She’d been wrong. It was possible to feel grief and profound joy at the same time. She was feeling it now.

Because she had a chance at a future with Ty.

She kissed him then. They kissed for a long, long time.

When they finally pulled apart, Pablo was gone. And so were the bodies of Miguel and Gloria. He’d taken them with him, once again protecting her, this time from the pain of disposing of their bodies.

“Do you think we’ll see him again?” Ana asked.

“I don’t know. He came when you needed him, but odds are he’s been working with Gloria and Miguel. He could have been giving the orders.” If that was true, then Pablo was a Rogue, and it would be their duty to take him down.

“Now what? Because Miguel said this was a trap, Ty. They knew we were coming here and why. They were supposed to kill us.”

“I read Carly’s mind, Ana. Whoever is playing us played her, too. We just need to figure out who that is.”

“And the people here? The children?”

“We’ll call Carly and the rest of the team. They’ll help
us talk to everyone, and we’ll make sure we bring them someplace safe. Then we need to call in the Strange Phenom brass from the FBI.”

“Even though you don’t know who to trust?”

He nodded. “We have to pretend we’re still operating in the dark. Belladonna must continue its work. That’s the only way we’re going to find out the truth behind why we were sent here and why we were set up. It’s the only way we’re going to be safe. Because even though vampires are immortal—”

“They can still die,” she said, automatically thinking of Miguel and Gloria again. Someday she would be able to grieve for them.

But for now … for now she was going to focus her energy on what mattered.

Surviving.

Only this time, she didn’t have only herself to rely on. She had Ty.

CHAPTER
FORTY

An Undisclosed Location

Ty’s eyes flew open and he jerked to a sitting position. It
took a moment to orient himself. To realize that he’d been having a nightmare again. Not about being turned or tortured. No, his nightmares were about Ana’s pain now. And how helpless he felt because he couldn’t spare her from it.

Right now, however, Ana’s naked body was curled slightly away from him, her expression soft and relaxed. Her breathing was steady, her body enjoying a much-needed respite from the difficulty of her transition. The tightness in his chest unraveled and he gently reached over, smoothing her hair back from her face, smiling when she instinctively burrowed closer. He stared at her for several more minutes before pulling the sheet over her and then standing.

He was acutely aware of the stiffness of his muscles and the ache in his joints as he dressed. His mind was equally sluggish, insisting on returning again and again to the memory of Ana lying on the ground, bite marks at her throat, choosing to give up her last chance for humanity in order to spend an eternity with Ty—even if that meant spending it as a vampire. And even though he didn’t think of himself as a monster anymore …

Despite the fact that she was still in bed and sleeping
peacefully, guilt assaulted him. Seven months ago, he’d experienced suffering firsthand. This past week, he’d witnessed hers. How she’d been sure, despite his assurances otherwise, that there would never be enough blood to sate her hunger, never be enough sex to appease her lust. How she’d cried, certain she was being eaten from the inside out. Time and again, he’d cursed himself a hundred times for allowing her to put herself through such torture, certain he wouldn’t be able to stand it for another second …

But now …

Now, thank God, most of her pain had eased. Even with the worst of it over, the next few months would still be difficult—for both of them.

He made sure she got what she needed to drink—bottled animal blood, since giving her human blood risked her becoming addicted to it. And he made sure she got what her body needed in other ways.

Sex … God, they’d been going at it until he was raw. He’d given her orgasm after orgasm, exhausting both of them until they were unable to move. She’d be satisfied for a while, barely enough for them to rest, and then it would start all over again. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty. But it wasn’t the same kind of transition he’d experienced, either. Ana had him, and thank God, that seemed to be enough for her. He hoped it always would be.

He loved her more than he’d ever thought possible. She was his. Whatever happened next, they’d work through it together. After all, their reward would be an infinite future in one another’s arms. Included in that future, however, was the need to finish their work with Belladonna.

Above all, to find the person who had set them up by sending them to Salvation’s Crossing.

Until they found him, stopped him, he would always be a threat. And they
would
find him.

Swiftly, in case Ana woke and needed him again, Ty called Carly.

“How’s she doing?” she asked.

“She’s strong. She’s handling it.”

“And how are you doing?”

He swallowed hard. “I’m doing the same. Waiting for her suffering to ease. Praying that she never regrets the choice she made.”

“Give her more credit than that, Ty. She’s seen firsthand what she’s going to have to deal with. She obviously thinks you’re worth it. And she’s right, of course.”

It was a rare compliment from Carly and sure enough, before he could even attempt to respond, she kept talking. “So you found hard evidence of human blood trafficking. Looks like a vampire sex ring is up next.”

“Based on what?”

“The Russian women who posed as Ramona and Becky Montes have been identified via a DNA match through Interpol’s Most Wanted. Their real names: Oksana Kaptsova and Daria Tkachuk.”

“Who played whom?”

“Oksana impersonated Ramona, Daria impersonated Becky. Even though Daria passed for sixteen, she’s actually twenty-one.”

“Did they kill the Montes women?”

“Maybe. They have a string of prior arrests but none for murder. Oksana practically raised Daria. Encouraged her to join a cult.”

“Another cult. Just what we need,” Ty spat. “What kind this time?”

“Pseudoreligious crap, dark and deep,” Carly said. “With ties to vampire cults in Eastern Europe. Their mystical leader saved lost souls, cash only, but he did admit young women for free if they were pretty.”

“I get the picture.”

“Anyway, Oksana and Daria signed up new members.
They cleaned out the cult’s bank accounts and fled to America. But not before they founded a multimillion-dollar whore factory in Odessa.”

“Nice way to put it. What happened?”

“The Russian mafia muscled in.”

“So how did you find all this out?”

“They’re looking to strike a deal and they’re willing to talk to get one. Daria met Miguel online and they hit it off. Posing as Ramona and Becky, they volunteered to be a part of Salvation’s Crossing. To work with the teenagers.”

“Of course. Full access to innocent and vulnerable girls. They couldn’t know Miguel and Gloria were vampires.”

“Oh, they knew,” Carly said. “And common sense tells us Oksana and Daria had partners on the outside. I’m betting at least one was a vampire, too. They’re not talking.”

“You think they’re scared?”

“Of us? No. Of whoever they were working with? Definitely.”

“So who’s handling it?”

“Barrett. She helped find trafficked children in foreign countries while she was in the army.”

“She had support in the army. Miguel told Ana we were set up. Have you decided about Rick Hallifax? Mahone? Queen Bianca?”

“Until we have time to check it out, I’m not giving anything away. Our intel stays within Belladonna. Same for the fact that Ana’s been turned. And your current location.”

Ty nodded even as he heard movement in the other room and Ana’s voice softly calling his name. All concerns fled but one.

“I’ve got to go. Ana needs me.”

*   *   *

Gloria had been so busy playing with her new doll that she hadn’t even noticed their mother had left and they were alone in the house with nothing to eat but leftover cake. Eliana, however, had known the moment her mother had left, taking the man with the slicked-back hair and shiny leather jacket with her. She’d seen that look on the faces of her mother’s “friends” before when they looked at her, when they looked at Gloria, and it scared her. She knew what they wanted, and it wasn’t what Prince Eric wanted from Ariel, or Prince Charming wanted from Cinderella, or Prince Phillip had wanted from Sleeping Beauty. Luckily, however, Gloria seemed oblivious to such realities, and was content to play with her baby doll, brushing her yellow hair and smoothing her gingham dress while feeding her her “bottle.”

“I’ll take care of you, baby,” Gloria crooned. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you. We’re going to have a wonderful life together—you, me, and Eliana. I’ll protect you the way Eliana protects me.”

Eliana smoothed Gloria’s hair. “That’s right, Gloria. I’ll always protect you.”

Gloria smiled up at her, the dimple in her cheek flashing, but then she frowned. “But if I’m taking care of my baby, who’s going to take care of you, Eliana?”

Eliana shook her head. “I can take care of myself, Gloria. You know that.”

“But everyone needs someone to take care of them. When you work so hard, who’s going to take you to the ball? And if you sleep too long, who’s going to kiss you awake?”

No one, Eliana thought, thinking once more of her mother’s “friends.” “I have you, that’s all that matters to me.”

Biting her lip, Gloria stared down at her doll. When her eyes filled with tears, Eliana hugged her
.

“Why are you crying? It’s your birthday, Gloria. Mama got you a beautiful doll. She loves you. I love you. Be happy.”

“I love you, too, Eliana. Do you think that someday, when you don’t have to worry about taking care of me anymore, you’ll find your prince?”

Eliana had thought about it, but even with all her fantasies about being a Disney princess, she couldn’t lie to Gloria. She didn’t have a fairy godmother, after all … “True princes are hard to come by,” Eliana said. “But anything’s possible. Now come on. Let’s have some of that cake.”

Giggling, they dug into the leftover birthday cake. Afterward, Eliana and Gloria climbed into bed and snuggled, just as they had for years. Just as they would for the months to come, until the day that Gloria would leave Eliana for a better life …

“Gloria!” Ana jolted awake, disoriented and confused. At first, she didn’t recognize where she was; part of her was still in the small bedroom she shared with Gloria in the Bronx.

Then reality settled into her bones and her confusion faded.

Gloria was dead.

Along with the hopes Ana had for a happy life with her baby sister.

Alone in the dark, her throat parched and her bones aching, grief overtook her … until she suddenly heard Gloria’s childish voice, “All those nights I prayed for you, Eliana. For you to find
your
prince. And now you have. You’re Ana now and you have.”

A soft giggle followed.

Automatically, Ana’s gaze darted around the room.
Nobody there. But … she’d heard the words clearly. The happy giggle still vibrated in her ears.

Gloria.

Maybe it was just a figment of her imagination or wishful thinking or a delusion aided by her turning … but vampires were real, for God’s sake. Who’s to say that really hadn’t been Gloria’s voice. Not the voice of the person Gloria had become after she’d left to live with her father’s parents, but the voice of the innocent and loving little girl she’d been before that.

To that girl, Ana whispered, “I’ll always love you, Gloria. Always.”

In the past, she’d had to take care of herself. She’d also taken care of Gloria as best she knew how. The ache that she should’ve done more would probably never dissipate, but her life had changed. There was another person determined to take care of her.