Vampire born, p.33
Vampire Born, page 33
I didn’t dare call out her name again for fear she’d hear me upstairs and come down to find me. I also didn’t want to alert anyone standing in the pantry that I was on the other side of the door.
Tightening my fingers around the knob, I drew in a deep, steadying breath. My plan was to jerk the door open, ready to go on the offensive in hopes I could catch an attacker off guard. But at the very second I turned the knob, I caught the curtains behind the dining table moving in my peripheral. The pantry door was shoved open just as my head swiveled toward the curtains, and a man wearing a camo ski mask emerged.
Luckily, this time, the door caught me in the shoulder instead of my face, and though it knocked me off balance, I still managed to jam the heel of my hand into the lump where I thought his nose should be.
A second man had come out from behind the curtain, his ski mask a bright tomato red, and I stepped back to widen my stance, preparing to strike as he approached.
The man in camo lunged for me, but I spun and eluded his grasp. Unfortunately, it left me at a bad angle to confront the one in red, and he was able to grab my arm.
Even as he pulled, I bent to kick low, sweeping Camo’s feet out from under him as Red jerked me to his chest. I stomped my heel on top of Red’s foot with all my might, but my bare feet were no match for his boots, and I cried out with regret.
“Give her to me,” Camo said, and Red spun me to face his friend, gripping my upper arms so hard his stubby fingers dug into my skin.
Shoving my upper back against Red for leverage, I kicked out with both feet square in Camo’s chest, knocking him into one of the dining chairs, which broke and sent him tumbling to the floor.
Unfortunately, the move put Red off balance, and he toppled over backwards, crashing into the window behind him and pulling me down with him.
As soon as we landed, I rolled from his loosened grasp and went for the large fruit bowl on the island.
I held it over my head, sending the fruit flying, and as Camo came toward me, I chucked it at his face.
He ducked, and the bowl hit the wall, shattering into pieces that scattered over the dining room floor along with the glass shards from the window. While I’d known I wasn’t likely to hit him with the bowl, the move had bought me time to step farther way and think through my next move.
I’d maneuvered myself between the counter and the island, figuring it gave me a smaller area to defend, but as Red made eye contact with Camo and nodded toward the living room, I realized there was no way I could cover the stairs from my current position.
Coming around the island, I ran straight at Camo in a rage, determined to block him from reaching my baby upstairs. I managed to get in one blow before he captured both hands, but he released them when I brought my knee up into his groin.
Red grabbed me from behind and tried to wrestle me to the ground, but I kicked at his shins and knees, making him dance in his attempts to avoid me.
Camo headed toward the living room once more, and I broke free of Red’s grip and ran to jump on Camo’s back, wrapping my legs around his waist as I clawed at his eyes. He spun and rammed me backwards into the cabinets, trapping me in place as he pushed back with all his weight.
Frantically reaching around behind me, I was able to grab a knife from the knife block on the counter. I raised it to stab him, but Red shouted a warning and Camo lunged forward, jarring me loose from his hips.
I fell to the ground hard, dropping the knife with a yelp as my ass hit the floor, but I had no time to nurse the injury. Camo was once again moving in the direction of Sage, and I scrambled to get to my feet so I could stop him.
Red lifted his arm to back-hand me, but I ducked low and rammed my head and shoulders into his gut, pushing him into Camo and then shoving us all into the wall.
Their strength combined was too much for me to hold, though, and they knocked me backwards to the floor.
I spotted the knife where I’d dropped it, and I scooped it up and dove for Camo, plunging it into his thigh just as he reached the living room door frame.
Camo yelled in agony, pulling the knife from his thigh with a stream of curse words that would make a sailor blush as Red grabbed my arms and yanked them back.
Kicking my feet out from under me, Red managed to get me to my knees, twisting my arm up between my shoulder blades as he used his chest and hips to push me down toward the tile.
I knew if he managed to pin me face down, my options would be extremely limited, so as he moved closer behind me, I bucked back hard, ramming my hips into his gut to keep the jackass from straddling me and gaining more control. He didn’t anticipate the move, and it launched him sideways, knocking another of the dining chairs over in a loud crash.
Camo was already coming for me as I untangled my limbs from Red’s to try to stand. I’d barely made it to my feet and thrown my elbow up hoping to catch Camo’s chin when he ducked my blow and slammed his fist into my stomach. I dropped like a sack onto my knees as the air rushed out of me.
Red pounced as I struggled to suck in air, and suddenly, I was flat on my back, the tile floor cold through the thin material of my pajamas. Red straddled my chest, pinning my arms between his thighs and my ribs, and Camo’s hands clamped down on my ankles.
I still hadn’t managed to take in a full breath after being punched, and his weight on top of me made it even harder to so do. An inkling of panic at the lack of oxygen made me writhe beneath him as I struggled to free myself, kicking my feet at Camo in a mad frenzy.
Red and I locked eyes as he drew his fist back, and I braced, knowing it was going to hurt like hell. But before he could swing, a loud crash exploded from the living room, and a deafening, guttural roar filled the air. Both men looked up in alarm, and I swear for a moment, I expected a pissed-off grizzly bear to come charging into my kitchen based on the sound alone.
Instead, I saw the most terrifying, badass version of my husband come sweeping into the kitchen like an avenging demon straight out of hell, and if I’d had enough oxygen in my lungs, I might have cheered.
Red immediately moved to get off me to address the greater threat, and I took the opportunity to lock my fists together and smash them up into his crotch with all the force I could manage.
He didn’t have time to register the pain before Nick plucked him off me with one hand like he weighed nothing at all, and then Nick slammed him down onto the dining room table with so much force the table’s legs splintered and collapsed beneath Red.
Gulping in a huge breath, I yelled a warning that Camo had grabbed the knife.
Nick moved so fast he was literally a blur, disarming Camo and lifting him by the throat before the masked man knew what hit him.
With his back to me, Nick tilted his head to the side as he held Camo in front of him, and whatever Camo saw in Nick’s face terrified him so much that he cried out, his eyes impossibly wide inside the open holes of the ski mask. I worried Nick was about to do some crazy vampire shit, and I wasn’t sure I was up for watching it, but instead, he butted his forehead against Camo’s, and Camo slumped unconscious as Nick dropped him to the floor.
Spying Red crawling toward the knife, I rushed forward to pick it up first, but as I came within his reach, I realized he held a broken leg of a chair clutched in his hand. He lunged for me, raising the wood in the air like a dagger, and before I could even react, I’d been pushed out of the way and Nick was between us.
The jagged piece of wood sank into the side of Nick’s thigh, and he let out a roar of pain and then reached to yank it from his leg as Red picked up a larger remnant of a chair and stood with it lifted over his head.
I went for Red, intending to kick his knee and knock him down before he could swing the wood at Nick, but I never got the chance to make contact.
Moving so fast I didn’t even see the blur this time, Nick knocked the chair from Red’s hands and slammed him against the wall. He closed one hand around Red’s throat and with the other, he pressed the broken edge of the bloodied wood from his leg beneath Red’s chin.
Nick released a menacing growl that made the hairs stand up all over my body, and Red let out a yawp like a wounded puppy as he stared at Nick, his eyes filled with horror in exactly the same way Camo’s had been.
I looked from Red to my husband, immediately understanding what had scared the men.
Nick in full-on predator mode was a magnificent sight to witness. His eyes were as wildly fixated as any tiger’s during a hunt, and he carried himself with the same lethal grace. With his fangs fully bared and his muscles flexed, he looked like a horror movie version of himself, but this was no special effects costuming and make-up illusion. It was simply Nick, completely manifested in his truest form.
Perhaps I should have been terrified as well, but instead, I felt an odd measure of pride and a disturbing surge of desire.
Red clasped his hands around Nick’s on his throat and began to beg, and in response, Nick pressed the sharpest spike of the chair leg inward until it just pierced Red’s skin.
I thought of what Nick had said about bloodthirst in newborns, and I wondered if he was truly past that phase. Would seeing Red’s blood trigger him and cause him to lose control?
Strangely, I didn’t fear for my own safety if that happened, and I didn’t give a damn what he did to Red. My concern was for the consequences Nick would face.
“Don’t!” I yelled, moving closer to put my hand on Nick’s arm. “Don’t do it! Don’t kill him! You’ll go to jail, and he’s not worth that.”
Nick didn’t loosen his grip on Red, but he turned his head to look at me with a twisted, chilling grin. To my surprise, he seemed calm and completely in control. “I wasn’t going to kill him, Angel. I just want to make him suffer a bit. Scare him a little, so he’ll talk.”
He tossed the bloodied piece of wood aside but still held Red suspended a few inches above the floor with one hand.
“Grab me a cord from the garage to tie these assholes up. I want to see what I can get out of them before we call the cops.”
I took off running to do as he’d asked, but then I stopped and turned back. “You’re not going to, like, torture them or anything, are you?”
Red’s eyes opened even wider, and he let out something akin to a whimper as Nick looked back at me with a slightly less sadistic grin. “Not unless you ask me to.”
Flinching at his matter-of-fact tone and the impression I got that he was quite serious, I continued to the garage and grabbed two bungees from the hook on the wall.
When I returned to the kitchen, Nick was just pulling off the red ski mask, and I gasped to see Greg King.
“You son of a bitch,” I yelled, rushing forward in a fit of anger. “How dare you!”
“You know this guy?” Nick asked, still holding Greg in place.
“That’s Greg King, Cazzie’s husband. The one who got me arrested.”
“You got yourself arrested, meddling in—” Greg started to say, but when Nick tightened his grip, Greg began to gag and cough.
I didn’t feel the slightest remorse for the terror in his eyes.
Nick shifted his focus to me as he twisted both hands in the front of Greg’s shirt and lifted him higher. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You got anything you want to say…or do…to this asshole?”
I watched Greg as his eyes darted from Nick to me. “No. He’s not worth another minute spent away from my child. I trust you to handle it.”
Nick winked at me. “I got it. Go check on our baby girl.”
Frantic to have my baby in my arms, I left, certain my husband had the situation handled but not really wanting to see how he handled it.
THIRTY-SEVEN
ARIA
Sage wasn’t in her bedroom or her closet, but before I had a chance to panic, I realized my bedroom door was closed, and I was sure it hadn’t been before.
She’d locked herself inside, and I pounded on the door as I wiggled the knob. “Sage, baby, it’s Mommy! Open the door. It’s Mommy. It’s okay! Everything’s okay! Open the door, sweetheart.”
No response. Not even a sound.
Moving to the closet door at the end of the hall, I ran my fingers along the top of the door frame in search of the small spindly key I kept there in case my child had ever accidentally locked herself in a room.
I never thought she’d need to do so on purpose.
As soon as the lock clicked opened, I scanned the room, still not seeing her.
“Sage?” I asked as I dropped to all fours and looked under the bed, but she wasn’t there. “I need you to come out, Sweet Cakes. Mommy’s here. It’s okay.”
I tried the door to my closet and found it locked as well.
“Sage, open the door, baby! It’s okay. It’s safe.”
Running back to where I’d set the key on the end of my dresser, I scooped it up and turned just as she opened the door a narrow little crack.
“Sage!”
She opened it wider when she saw me, and I collapsed to my knees and pulled her into my arms, the sense of relief so overwhelming that I felt lightheaded and dizzy.
Pulling back to look at her, I held her face in my hands as she stared up at me, her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them before. Her skin, normally a pale alabaster, was so washed of color that even her freckles seemed lighter.
“Who are those men, Mommy? Are they gone?”
I crushed her in my arms, rocking back and forth as I pulled her into my lap and held her to me. “They will be. Daddy is making sure they can’t get away, and then he’ll call the police, and they’ll come arrest them.”
“Aria? Sage?” Nick’s voice rang out in the hallway.
“In here,” I called out, laying Sage’s head against my chest to smooth her hair back away from her tear-drenched face.
“You okay?” His eyes met mine, and when I nodded, they moved to hers, and he knelt beside us. “You okay, Strawberry?”
“Yeah,” Sage said, nestling deeper into my arms.
“You did good,” he told her. “You were very brave and very smart. You stayed hidden like I told you.”
I looked from her to him in surprise. “When did you talk to her?”
“She called me from your phone as soon as she heard the commotion downstairs.”
Sage sat up and stared at him. “I thought you were out of town.”
“I came back,” he told her, his eyes darting to mine.
I’m sure he was concerned that he was saying the wrong thing, but in that moment, I didn’t care.
All that mattered was that the three of us were safe. Together and safe.
At the sound of sirens in the distance, I remembered the men downstairs.
“You took care of things?”
“Yeah. Let’s just say they’re both sleeping for a while.”
Concerned about what exactly that meant, I eyed him warily. “But they’re okay, right?”
“They’ll be fine, Angel. Nothing they can’t recover from…eventually.”
“But you called the cops, right? That’s them on their way?”
He did an odd half-shrug, looking away from me. “Essentially.”
His answer confused me, but he’d turned his focus to Sage.
“Can I have a hug?” he asked her, and she crawled from my arms into his, wrapping herself as tightly around him as she could. “Oh, that’s a good hug! You have no idea how much I’ve missed your hugs these past few days.”
His eyes were closed, and his voice was thick with emotion.
The huge lump that settled in my throat made it hard to swallow, and I thanked the universe again that we’d all three made it out relatively unscathed.
Then, suddenly, I remembered his injury.
“Your leg!” I said as I reached for it, but he shook his head above Sage’s shoulder.
“It’s fine.”
His dress pants bore the hole and the blood stain ran down the length of his leg, but the skin was smooth and healed except for a faint pink tinge.
My mouth dropped open as I traced my finger over the freshly-healed skin. Though I’d witnessed it the night he’d first shown me his fangs, I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“What happened to your leg, Daddy?” Sage asked as she pulled away from their embrace so she could look down. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the blood stains.
“It’s fine, see?” He showed her that there was no wound.
The sirens were coming closer, and the thought of having to answer questions and relive what had happened sent my anxiety soaring.
“Sage, I need to talk to Daddy before the police get here. We’ll be in the hall, right outside the door, and we’ll only be a minute. You’re safe. We’re safe. Nothing is going to happen. Okay?”
My brave girl nodded.
Nick tucked his thumb beneath her chin. “Would you rather wait in your room with Mr. Snuggly and Bunny and the rest of your toys?”
She nodded more enthusiastically. “Are the police coming to arrest the bad guys?”
“They sure are,” Nick said. He stood and picked her up, carrying her down the hall to her room as I followed. “You’re getting so tall I won’t be able to pick you up much longer.”
A flash of that horrible nightmare popped into my head, but I refused to entertain it. She was safe with him. I knew that in my heart. Plus, he’d been telling her that since her last growth spurt, so it wasn’t like it came from the dream.
“What if Greg tells them what he saw?” I whispered once she was occupied in her room and we’d stepped out into the hallway.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll go down and talk to the officers when they arrive. You stay up here with Sage.”
“But they saw you! What if they say something? You know the cops will want to talk to me. They’ll ask me questions. What am I supposed to say about what they saw?”
“You tell the truth. Nothing more, nothing less.”
