Catch

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Stay out of the house, we’re twenty minutes away.” Colby disconnected the line and left me staring at the house of torture.

“Who were you speaking to?” Bel crossed her arms over her petite chest. Her thin eyebrows furrowed in a frown.

I couldn’t trust Bel, no matter how much I wanted to. The pistons in her head didn’t fire like they should, and our priorities didn’t match.

She wanted me to convince her husband of his mistakes, yet if Archios laid one finger on my vampires then he could go straight back to hell.

“It was Gwen.” Technically, did that count as a lie? She did accompany Colby. My conscience wasn’t bothered by it much. “She’s coming to help with Luckard. Neither of us can fight him without a lot of help.”

Bel chewed at her bottom lip then nodded. “She might not hurt Archios if you ask her not to. I think we should just tell him to leave before she gets here.” Twisting she marched across the street.

I scampered after her and grabbed her elbow. “Are there guards?” Someone helped transport Tane and Rurik here.

She stopped mid-step and looked at the ground, refusing to meet my stare. “Not anymore.”

“Bel?”

“They’re dead.” She glanced at me, tears brimming in her eyes. “Don’t tell Archios.

He’ll be so angry if he finds out. He’s always telling me I have to stop feeding before the human dies, but my hunger is so strong.”

“You fed on all of them?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

She counted her fingers and held up six.

My eyebrows shot up before I could school my expression.

“They were only human, Connie. I am capable of hunting on my own.” She sighed.

“But we’re not supposed to hunt like this anymore. Not since Dragos died.”

Cold intuition froze my gut. I recalled the story Tane told me of Bel’s creation. How she’d started as a bound human like me, except separation from her master and the hunger drove her mad, until Archios made her a vampire. Did changing her really cure her hunger or mutate it?

Was this my future?

The hunger had stayed quiet since I’d fed from Tane, but what if he abandoned me?

I wanted to make her feel better. I understood the hunger, and I prayed to never become like her. So I took her hand and smiled. “It’s okay. We’ll explain it to him together. He’ll believe us.”

She grinned at my reassurance. When I died I’d be joining Dragos in hell for those lies.

Hand in hand, Bel and I approached the house. Every light appeared to be on. It streamed out of the windows and bled onto to the street. Like a bug zapper it drew us in.

A driveway ran along the rectangular building and red flowers grew at its base.

White lace curtains hung in the windows. A picturesque little home in the suburbs of Rio, except for the splatter of blood drops across one of the windows.

My stomach clenched at the sight. Two stairs led to a red door. I stood at the foot of the first step and stared at the pattern of blood drops that formed a rainbow of gore.

Bell brushed past me, climbed the steps and opened the door, not disturbed by what she’d find inside.

Then I recalled she probably caused the mess. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Innocent Bel was still a predator, maybe the most dangerous kind, where she lured her prey with sweetness.

Sometimes I could be so stupid. I was about to follow her inside a house that contained Luckard and Archios. Short of carrying a flamethrower, I didn’t have a chance of rescuing my vampires without Colby and Gwen. “Bel, I don’t think we should go in,” I whispered. “Let’s wait for Gwen.”

“I need you to speak with Archios and convince him to leave before she gets here.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “They might hurt him—”

A toe-curling scream interrupted our debate. My spine snapped to attention and I bit down on my lip. I recognized the cry. I’d made similar ones under Luckard’s care.

Bel ran into the house.

I took the first step and halted as every horror movie memory returned. Don’t go in the house, my instincts shouted.

The red door stood open where Bel had left it and I caught a glimpse of a hand.

Fingers curled, it lay on the white tiled floor in a small pool of blood. As I rose on tiptoe to glance around the corner, I could see the arm of the victim. I steeled my courage and prayed rescue would be here soon, because I couldn’t ignore the noises of pain and I was the queen of stupidity.

Long live the queen.

Either all three of us got out alive or none of us did. I couldn’t bear anymore grief.

Taking the last stair, I crossed the threshold. Three bodies lay across the kitchen floor. I expected more blood, but then again, Bel probably drained them dry.

I stepped over the legs of a Latino man I didn’t recognize. Tane’s home brimmed with people so they all could have lived there. The muscles in my arms and legs trembled with tension, tight as bowstrings ready to spring into a sprint. My breaths sounded loud to my ears and competed with the drumming of my heart.

A slow footfall at a time, I crossed the kitchen to the archway leading to the dining room.

Creaking wood, as if someone climbed the outdoor steps to the doorway, caused me to spin around.

Luckard entered the kitchen.

My heart slammed into my throat and I back-pedaled into the dining room in a futile attempt to escape.

Luckard stood a full foot taller than me. The bright lights shone off his bald head as the Nosferatu stalked across the room. Dark soulless eyes glared at me, sending a wave of fresh terror through my body.

I always imagined when I met my worst nightmare that I’d have enough presence of mind to say, kick him in the balls or gouge his eyes, before he killed me. But no, my brain disconnected and I devolved into a scrambling, prey animal.

Adrenaline finally kicked in and basics instincts took over. I ran. No destination in mind except to get far away.

The wild screech of a starved animal split the air and fueled my short legs to leap over the sofa blocking my path to the front door. Hope of salvation still flourished in my delusional mind. I sprinted the short distance. Touched the cool metal of the knob.

Twisted my wrist and heard the click of the mechanism opening.

Then a tug of my hair halted my forward motion. My neck snapped back as Luckard yanked me away from the door. He kicked it closed.

I landed on my ass, my weight supported by the roots of my hair. Grabbing his wrist, I attempted to yank free, but he kept pulling until I stood on tiptoe. Tears welled in my eyes as I faced the vampire who shredded my soul and haunted my dreams.

“Bel told the truth. You’re really are foolish enough to have followed her here alone.” His deep voice rumbled with amusement as he spoke.

“Who says I’m alone?” I prayed for Colby to break down the door.

“I checked the perimeter before returning inside. I sense no thoughts of attack.”

My terror escalated while my hope died. I stared into his merciless face. All my worst nightmares were about to come true, again.

By the hair, he dragged me as he climbed the stairs. “I do appreciate your arrival.”

Sharp pain radiated across the top of my scalp

Crawling and scrambling, I tried to keep pace.

“Tane’s proving to be most stubborn. Short of killing Rurik, I’m at a loss of how to make him speak.”

“I—I wasn’t any use last time.” The terror in my voice made me sick. I couldn’t stop it, I knew firsthand what awaited me down the hall.

Whips, chains and knives. I whimpered. Pain and blood and screams. With the frenzy of a cornered rabbit, I struggled against his hold, scratching, tearing at his grip.

“Let me go!”

My plea ignored, Luckard towed me into what used to be a large master bedroom.

Once again, Tane stood pinned with steel bars through his torso. They’d only used two this time instead of four. His flesh healed to the bars and kept him from moving, an ingenious way to trap a powerful vampire.

Rurik, young by Nosferatu standards, hung from the wall in front of Tane by thick chains around his wrists. From the dried pool of blood at his feet, I assumed they bled him. Without blood, a vampire weakened. No wounds showed on his skin, they’d already healed.

Both of my vampires hung limp from their bindings and stripped to their underwear.

Luckard released his hold once we reached the center of the room. “Look who I found.”

Rurik lifted his chin and our gazes met. Fear dawned in his blue eyes. “No,” he whispered.

A tray of bloody instruments stood next to him, which Luckard picked through as if shopping for a ripe piece of fruit. He glanced at my lover. “I understand Tane gave you the drug in Budapest to use on Dragos.” He held a thin, sharp dagger close to his face and twirled it in his fingers.

I could see Rurik’s Adam apple work as he swallowed. “Yes.” He stared at me. “I never asked for its source. I didn’t care.”

Luckard ran the edge of the blade along his thumb. A trickle of blood oozed from the cut. “I believe you.” Twisting to face Tane, he pointed with the blade. “Beg him to tell you.”

“No.” He shook his head. The muscle of his abdomen tensed as if bracing for a blow, however Luckard turned from him.

With slow deliberate steps, he approached me, spinning the blade in his hand.

“Rurik.” I knew he couldn’t help, except his name came to my lips like a reflex.

He’d saved my skin so many other times. Scrabbling on my hands and knees, I scurried away from my nightmare, but the door was on the other side of the room.

“What’s he going to do?” I heard Bel’s soft voice. Searching the room, I saw her next to Archios in the far corner. He held her in his arms.

Rurik shifted in his bindings to face them. “Archios, don’t let him do this. Please, brother.”

I leaned against the wall, nowhere to go, my knees drawn to my chest. The galloping beat of my heart sounded in my ears.

“Brother? Our clan, including you, abandoned me to those inquisition monsters. It’s your fault my Bel suffered and changed.” Archios stroked her disheveled golden hair. “I will never forgive any of you for leaving her in Dragos’s care. Now you can watch your woman suffer.”

“We had no choice. How could we have disobeyed him?”

“We always have choices.” He turned his back to Rurik and blocked my view of Bel.

The Nosferatu snatched my left wrist and yanked to stretch out my arm. He set the knife’s blade on the tender underside. “Let’s see how easy it is to skin you, Rabbit.”

“Tane!” Rurik shouted, his voice straining with desperation.

My blood bound vampire raised his head for the first time since Luckard dragged me into the room. Dark shadows circled his eyes and his gaze wandered from Rurik to me.

The situation didn’t seem to register in his face. “What would you have me do? Offer the world to a madman on a silver platter?” He rested his chin on his chest. “I wish I’d never discovered it.”

In my head, I sensed his touch. “Let me at least take your pain, Connie.”

“Don’t give up. Please, don’t give up.” Anger boiled away my fear. “Colby’s on his way with Gwen and your people.”

Nothing showed on his exterior at my comment, but I felt his tremor of hope. He slipped past my shield and strengthened them with his presence in my head. “You’re strong and stubborn. Outlast him.”

Even with Tane shielding me in his drugged state, a sharp pain shot up my arm as the blade bit into my flesh with a surgeon’s slow precision. A scream tore from my throat.

“No, no stop!” Bel’s shout competed with my cries. She came into my view and grabbed Luckard’s hands. Tugging and pulling, she didn’t move him any. He glanced over his shoulder at her, giving me a clear shot.

Cranking my leg to my chest, I let loose a heel kick to his chin, which knocked his head back. The momentum took him over so he landed on his ass. I rose, but he still gripped my wrist. “Pry his fingers loose,” I ordered Bel.

She worked at them while I rained kicks at every available part of Luckard’s body.

A set of strong arms surround Bel’s small waist and lifted her away. Archios carried her from the room kicking and screaming. She cried out, “She’s my only friend. She came here to help you.”

Quick to respond, Luckard twisted my arm at a sharp angle.

I fell to my knees with a howl, trying to prevent him from breaking it. The muscles in my shoulder wrenched at the rough treatment.

Luckard’s face filled my field of vision. “Have you ever seen a butcher take apart a chicken? People are just as tender.”