Whatever It Takes (7 page)

Headlights danced along our vision and neither of them had time to say anything else. I used their momentary blindness to my advantage and jumped from the car. Ready to face whatever the Nocturns had in store for me. I left a very stunned Quiet Man and a very pissed off Josef in my wake. Well I guess I’ll have to deal with that later. That’s if there was a later.

It no longer mattered if I was facing doom or not. I knew my soul would go home at the end of this journey I called life. What I didn’t know was where my companions were destined to spend eternity and I wasn’t willing to take a chance with that. No one was heading to hell on my watch.

The nose of the stretched limo stopped five yards in front of me. I watched as the back doors opened and Priest and Sabine stepped out. Her delicate frame shivered in the heavy rain. She was still in the nightgown she’d worn the night she was taken, it was now torn and dirty. Her bare feet must have hurt from the gravel beneath them. Two more sins to add to the list of wrongs Priest had done to her.

My backup came around the car to flank me; I could just make them out in my peripheral vision. I didn’t bother to acknowledge their presence; right now I only had eyes for Sabine. I was trying to see if any more harm had come to her while in the care of Priest. If one hair was out of place on her head he would be performing his own funeral rights and I would be the one to make sure of it.

She tried to dart forward, “Dara!” Priest grabbed her, dragging her backward.

Sabine shocked the hell out of me by lashing out with her foot. She nailed him in the shin and I could feel his anger rise. Crap, this wasn’t going to be good. The sound of his palm connecting with her cheek was like a bomb exploding in my ears. I felt the muscle in my jaw tick with my barely concealed rage. How dare he hit her? She was half my size, which made her about a third of his. As soon as Sabine fell to the ground Priest kicked her. That was all it took for my control to snap.

Before I knew it I was across the distance, gun barrel pressed against his heart. “Some days I use regular rounds, others silver hollow points. Ask yourself just how lucky you feel today, prick.”

For some reason I felt very Dirty Harry saying that. If the situation were different I might have laughed. But this, right here, was no laughing matter. If he touched her again I was going to make him nothing more than a smear on the gravel. The only thing stopping me now was that Sabine was too close to us. But one more false move and I wouldn’t care if she was right next to my elbow when the gun went off.

Priest’s lips turned up in a grin, his beast began wavering over his form. I spotted it too late, not realizing that he had set me up. He had let her run knowing if Sabine was in danger I would be distracted. Priest used a child to get to me. Child of God or not things like that just pissed me off.

“Run.”

My words fell on deaf ears as Sabine was frozen to the spot. I could only imagine what the beast crouched over Priest looked like to someone as sheltered as Sabine. She needed to be taught how the Mythos world worked and maybe to get out a little more. I would need to have a long discussion with Vicktor about that. If all went well tonight, maybe she could spend the summer with me and I’d show her the ropes. But right now we needed to find a way out of this mess.

“She isn’t going anywhere.”

With a nod of Priest’s tattoo covered head the back door was opened. A hand sporting a set of claws reached out and snatched her off the ground. A shriek left Sabine’s lips as she kicked and clawed and yelled. A wave of pride swelled inside me at her antics.

“Give’m hell, kitten.”

“Disrespectful bitch.” Priest’s hand connected with my cheek.

The impact sent me flying, my gun falling from my hand. My body made contact with the roof of the limo awakening the pain in my ribs. They were like twin beacons of fire, lighting the anger in my soul. A roar rent the air and I knew Josef was preparing to rip someone’s head off. He wouldn’t get to me in time and we both knew it. This had all been planned and deep down I had known it coming in.

I rolled, trying to fight through the pain, our eyes met across the distance. Josef’s were alight with a feral need to destroy whoever was in his path. Priest anticipated Josef’s move and pulled me off the roof of the car by my hair. He tossed me into the backseat as if I weighed nothing, jumping in after me.

As soon as the door closed the driver took off, backing down the gravel road at a speed that would have made Dale Earnhardt Jr. blanch. Looking out the front window, I could see Josef running after us. Futile though it was, the sight of him giving chase renewed my fight. I jumped at Priest my hands balled into fists. There wasn’t much I could do to him without my gun but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try.

He grabbed both my wrists in one massive hand. Effectively stilling my assault. “Enough.”

“Like hell it is.” I struggled for all I was worth.

Priest bared his teeth trying to frighten me. All he did was make me redouble my efforts to get free. I wanted to get one good shot in, at least before I couldn’t anymore. His legs had fallen open in the effort to subdue me. Grandpa always said, ‘when opportunity knocks make sure you answer’. So I did.

As soon as my knee connected with his groin, I knew it was a bad idea. Instead of pain Priest gave off waves of excitement. Damn, I just kneed a sadist in his junk. So not smooth. Priest sniffed my hair and ran his tongue over the shell of my ear. It took everything I had to keep from throwing up on him, but I glared hard at him for good measure.

“It’s a pity I can’t sample the delights of your body. But my orders are to bring you back as untouched as possible.” He gave a disgusted look at the mark Josef had left on me and I just raised my chin in an act of defiance.

“Too bad you didn’t get here sooner. Kristoff is gonna be pissed that you couldn’t acquire his goods undamaged. Bet it’s gonna cost you now.”

Priest smiled a wicked smile, “Do you think so? After I’ve made my delivery he won’t mind if I brought him a virgin or whore.”

I spit in his face, hoping it would piss him off. God knows I already was. Priest just wiped it off, his smile growing wider, a jackal's smile. He nodded to the goon sitting next to Sabine and he grabbed hold of her. She cried out in pain and my eyes shot toward her.

“Let her go or I’ll kill you where you sit.”

The creep holding her just chuckled at my threat. Priest pulled my face around so I was looking at him once more. This was getting too tense and I didn’t want Sabine getting hurt because I couldn’t behave like a good little girl.

“You will stop fighting us. All you need do it sit back and enjoy your ride.”

Shit! There was compulsion in his words; why hadn’t Josef told me that Priest was an alpha. Now I had no choice but to submit to his will, to fight an alpha was a fight to the death. Doing something that crazy would put both Sabine and I in jeopardy. What was a girl to do, sit back and shut up, that’s what. I felt my mind go blank as he placed me back on the seat. Then he tied a rope around my wrists for good measure. With the compulsion he placed me under I couldn’t even fight him off.

As my will seeped back into me and the fog of compulsion lifted from my mind I noticed several things. The first being wherever Priest had taken me it looked like an old church. The walls, or what I could see of them were made of marble, their high arches reaching up to a dark ceiling above. There was red velvet drapes covering most of the windows accept the one that stood directly to the left of us. It was a stained glass window depicting the devil’s fall from heaven.

The second thing was that my arms were chained high above my head, my shoulders screaming in pain at the odd angle. I also had an audience, bigger it seemed then a mob of bleacher creatures in Yankee Stadium and none were sporting jerseys with their favorite player’s numbers on the back. But all were decked out in red robes, standing at attention, hands hidden in their long sleeves. Did they think hiding their hands made them look Jedi, because it didn’t. What really annoyed me was Kristoff was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes caught on one creep toward the center that held Sabine by her shoulders. I stared at him hard, making sure he knew I didn’t like how he was holding her. He wasn’t wearing his hood so I committed his face to memory. An evil grin lighting my face when I saw his eyes meet mine and his hands twitch nervously on Sabine’s shoulders.

“I’d be nervous to. Especially, when someone as pissed off as me never forgets a face.”

The goon didn’t answer, but he did avert his eyes and that was good enough for me. Though my victory was hollow and short-lived because let’s face it, I was probably going to meet a horrible end tonight and he was going to live to creep another day. I had to wonder where the justice was in that.

The clearing of the throat alerted me to Priest’s presence. He stood right next to the cold marble slab I was chained to. At his left was a tall man, maybe six foot five, in a long black cloak. He must have been the head of this cult for his robes were greatly adorned. My eyes tried to make out the scroll work. There were ruins and I think some Aramaic words, but that was all I could decipher.

I wasn’t versed in occult symbols, so I didn’t know where to start. It was the pentagrams on the sleeves that gave me pause. They left no doubt in my mind that this group worshiped the dark one. If not, then they at least did his bidding. Whether they were high ranking with the dark one or not, I wasn’t sure and I really didn’t want to find out. Chances are that either way these guys were into some scary crap.

The realization that the demon high lord bent on claiming me could be amongst these creeps hit me full force. My heart began to pound in my chest, causing my vision to waiver slightly.

“She wakes.”

There was gravel in the lightly accented voice. It was a bucket of cold water against my fog clouded mind. I knew that voice, it caused my heart to jump into my throat at its deep tenor. Pulling the chains I tried to free myself to get a fighting advantage, or at least to die on my feet instead of flat on my back. If I had to leave this world at the hand of my enemy I wanted to do it with a little dignity.

“It’s been a long time, Dara. Yet it appears you remember me. How flattering.”

Flattering my ass, I was scared shitless here. I know I was always saying that Kristoff the Cruel didn’t worry me. Guess what, I lied. I redoubled my efforts to loosen the chains. I didn’t care if I took my hands off trying to get free. A life without hands was a shade better than no life at all. I was sure of it.

“Look how she struggles, master. Exquisite.”

I hadn’t liked Priest before, but now he topped my short list. Not only was he a sadist, he was a sycophant to boot. He just couldn’t get any more low-rent goon than that. I’ve seen street hoods with more self-respect than he had.

“Let me up you skeeve and we’ll see just what you think about me then.”

Pulling down his hood with all the flare of a ring master, Kristoff gazed at me. The smile that took over his features made my heart stop. Not in a, ‘he’s an Adonis’ type of way. More like rabbit caught by the wolf, heart stopping. It was arrogant and told me he had me right where he had always wanted me.

He ran a long finger down my arm and over my cleavage. As I fought to hold in a shudder, gooseflesh erupted across my skin. Just the feel of him had my skin crawling, it made me feel stained. I was going to have to bathe in acid the first chance I got.

Where most women would beg for Kristoff’s attention I wanted none of it. I wasn't going to lie to you, he was a sculpture of perfection carved from granite. His features were regal, with a hard demanding edge to them, a take no prisoners look. In times of old his looks would have marked him as a warlord, someone to be feared and respected. Women of that time would have swooned. Good thing it wasn’t the Dark ages and I wasn’t the swooning type.

As I said, he did not lack in the looks department yet neither had Lucifer. Often times the most beautiful beings hide the blackest of hearts. For what its worth I felt one could not get any blacker than Kristoff the Cruel. He was a ruthless vampire, who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted. At ten he had forced me to watch my grandfather die at his hands, something that I would never forgive or forget. Say what you will, but sometimes you just couldn’t let bygones be bygones.

“How nice of you to accept my invitation.” He smiled indulgently.

“I didn’t really have much of a say in the matter. Now did I?” I still tried shaking free of my chains.

His deep red eyes gazed back at Sabine and to her credit she stood tall under his scrutiny. Her sliver eyes narrowing a fraction. She was doing her damnedest to look hard but the bruise that had blossomed on her cheek, kept that from happening. Still I was proud that she stood her ground. You go, baby girl.

My glee turned to dread when Kristoff glided away from me and toward Sabine. Not a good place for him to be in my humble opinion. I didn’t want him near me but I wanted him near Sabine even less. She could not protect herself from him; I on the other hand pretended I could. There was no telling what he would do to her. But if I allowed my imagination to wonder I’d come up with something, of that I was sure. I was also sure that whatever I came up with would pale in comparison to what Kristoff could or would actually do to Sabine.

His long tan fingers brushed her hair away from her face in a soft caress. My eyes narrowed, just what was he playing at? There was nothing soft or tender in Kristoff. He was just trying to fill us with false hope. So when he did strike and strike he would, our heartache would be much deeper.

“I believe you had a choice. Something I don’t afford others.”

I rolled my eyes heavenward. He’d offered me a choice? Well at least he thought he had. I know that if I hadn’t come he would have killed Sabine and sent her to me in little pieces. He must have thought I had forgotten what he had forced me to watch all those years ago. Could a vampire forget a murder most foul? Maybe they all blended together after a while.

“An honor I’m sure. But I did nothing to warrant it.”

Kristoff shot me a look of wonder as if he thought I was toying with him. Maybe he thought I was playing hard to get. I can assure you I was not. I was only playing a game of trying to stay alive.

“Nothing?” His smile was slow, “You have invaded my heart like a parasite, taking over my soul. Consuming me with a need for you that plagues me day and night. I have not forgotten you, not since the day I first laid eyes on you when you were five.”

If I wasn’t chained to a stone slab, I would have pretended to faint. Because as sick and twisted as it sounded, Kristoff really thought calling me a parasite was flattering. Someone needed to teach him the art of seduction and stat, because that tripe that he just spewed was so not sexy.

Wait a hot damn minute… Did he just say since I was five? Good Lord, he was a stalker, or a liar. Because I would have remembered seeing him and I couldn’t pull up even one memory of him. Not even a glimmer of a thought of him from before my tenth birthday. So I was willing to bet he was lying about everything. Now liars pissed me off as much as murderers. Since Kristoff was both I felt he needed to feel the sting of my sharp tongue.

“By all means you can have your soul back. I’m afraid I’d catch your darkness.”

Kristoff tisked. “If you are afraid of my darkness, than you fear your own soul. For you and I shall soon be one.”

I was ready to freak out. This right here was not cool. What the hell was he going on about? He could not claim me, I knew that now. He was a vampire and I was predestined for a demon high lord. At least thanks to some trumped up prophecy. We were most definitely not going to be one, not if I had a say in any of it. Gee, I guess that’s why I was chained down.

“Please, don’t flatter yourself.”

“Enough.” He growled, and then turned back to Sabine. “I am truly sorry for what you have been put through.”

Kristoff was still trying to soothe her hair. The size of his hands made the gesture look awkward. After all, his hands had been made to maime and torture, not gently caress. It was written in the way he behaved, he had been born to end lives. So he could stop trying to play the misunderstood villain, because I wasn’t falling for it.

Enough with the pomp and circumstance. If we were going to get out of here I needed to make Kristoff mad, because there was no one sloppier than a pissed off vampire. They were ruled by pure rage, which in this case could work to my advantage. So long as he raged at me and not Sabine.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own age, perv? Oh, that’s right Methuselah’s dead.”

I saw Sabine’s eyes widen in disbelief. Honestly, I couldn’t believe I was mouthing off to someone like Kristoff either. But if I cowered he would only feed off my fear. So yeah, I was going to play the hero.

Kristoff turned to look at me, his hand still in Sabine’s hair. Still soothing the raven strands. “I don’t hunger for little girls, if that is what you’re insinuating. I waited for you to grow up, didn’t I?”

Holy shit, I had insulted him. Who knew that there were things even Kristoff wouldn’t do. I guess you learned something new every day. Wait a minute. Did he just say he had waited for me to grow up? As in like he was thinking of what? Bedding down with me? Well, he had another thing coming to him. I don’t bed down with vampires or murderers.

What the hell was he thinking? Know what, forget I even asked that, cause sometimes it’s better to be clueless about what’s going on. Or else every bit of knowledge you get could slowly kill you from the inside out.

“Well by all means don’t stop waiting on my account. The day I get freaky with you is the day hell freezes over.”

I was staring at him, waiting for the explosion that didn’t seem like it was coming. Kristoff’s fingers slid from Sabine’s hair and cupped her cheek. That put a good dose of fear into me. He meant to punish her for my smart mouth. I began to struggle, there was no way I was going to let him hurt her further.

I drew in a ragged breath, as he dragged his fingers across her cheek and the bruise began to recede. He was healing her, even after he had been the one to order her pain. My mind didn’t understand what my eyes were seeing. So my body continued to struggle as I waited for the other shoe to drop.

“Be still. I mean the child no harm.”

I looked at him as Eve should have looked at the serpent in the garden. Because when something sounded too good to be true, it normally was. So always ask to read the fine print, especially when signing your soul away to evil incarnate.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that draining her for a week was for her own good.”

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. The power that ebbed off of him seemed to dance along my skin, like a chilled graveyard wind. He didn’t like that I would question him. His ways were not to be judged by anyone especially someone like me. Kristoff thought he was of a higher power than I. Than everyone, really.

I hadn’t seen him move, but instantly he was at my side. I didn’t know whether I liked him better here or across the room. It seemed that he wasn’t going to hurt Sabine, but what he was going to do with me was still up for debate. Suddenly, I realized that the center of Kristoff’s attention was a very bad place for me to be.

His outstretched hand hovered over my torso. Kristoff hesitated, like some awestruck teen taking the head cheerleader to prom, or the computer geek asking the Goth queen to homecoming. His eyes told me more than even reading his mind would have. Kristoff had waited a very long time for this moment and he was going to savor it.

“She was only a means to an end.”

Crap! If he felt that way he might kill her; at least after she no longer served her purpose. How the hell was I supposed to keep her safe from Kristoff when I was chained like this? Let’s face, it right now I couldn’t even protect myself. Think Dara, and quick.