chapter Nine
Cassie’s surge of joy came first. It was all emotion. No thoughts involved. She would have been happy to stay in that state forever.
But her mind couldn’t keep from messing with her happiness. The doubts began. He hadn’t mentioned love. Vampire or not, he was male. Was this only about mind-blowing sex? And he’d mentioned a thousand lifetimes. She’d be able to share only one with him. He’d have to trudge through the other nine hundred ninety-nine alone.
Since she didn’t particularly want to start a dialogue on any of those topics, she chose to discuss something impersonal, nonthreatening. “Is there a reason you think you might not be able to keep me safe?”
Only when she saw the flash of disappointment in his expression did she realize her mistake. He’d opened to her, told her his feelings, and she’d ignored him. Regret weighed her down, but it was too late to go back. She’d chosen to retreat from emotions that were too scary, that opened her up to hurt, and that had happened way too fast.
His expression smoothed out and he turned his head away. “We lost Darren tonight.”
Shock punched her hard enough to drag a gasp from her. “How?” She hadn’t really known Darren, and he’d been a jerk the one time they’d met, but she hadn’t wanted him dead.
Ethan laid his arm across his eyes as though the dim glow from the nightlight was still too much. “We’ve been splitting into small groups searching for Garrity and his men. Tonight it was just Darren, Zareb, and me. We found a gang of Garrity’s enhanced humans—or whatever they are—and their beasts. Lots of them. They were trying to capture a lone vampire.”
Cassie realized how totally selfish she was. All she felt was terror at knowing the danger he’d faced, was facing every night. She didn’t have any fear left over for Zareb or the others.
“There were too many of them. We knew if we tried to fight them, there was a good chance they’d get one of us. Vampire numbers are down in the city, so we couldn’t afford to lose anyone. We decided to follow them instead and see if they led us to Garrity.”
He paused and she sensed he was back in the darkness watching the enemy, wanting to destroy them, but knowing he couldn’t do a damn thing.
“But Darren had always been a killing machine. He was too close to the edge. His Second One took control. It didn’t have a lot of survival instincts, just a lust for slaughter. He attacked Garrity’s men before we could stop him.”
She wanted to say something comforting, but her mind was blank to everything except the horror.
“He caught a lot of them by surprise, and they looked at him. The ones that did died. The rest were smarter and didn’t stare directly at his face. Once Darren betrayed our presence, we had to fight too.”
He turned his head enough for her to see the bitter twist of his lips.
“Zareb went into kickass sorcerer mode, I was picking the humans off without getting my hands dirty, and Darren was berserk. We made a great team.” He paused and allowed the silence to gather. “We’d killed most of the humans and a lot of the beasts, but we were tiring. We decided to leave.”
He took his arm from his eyes. “We turned to run but Darren stayed. I saw one of the beasts rip his head from his body.” Rage filled his voice. “I stayed long enough to destroy the beast, and then I followed Zareb.”
Ohmigod, Ethan had almost died tonight. The realization froze her.
Ethan snorted. “The vampire we saved escaped while we fought Garrity’s men. Gratitude isn’t a vampire characteristic.”
“I’m sorry about Darren.” She had no other words.
“This is why I worry. Garrity could take Zareb or me some night and then he’d come for you. I have to find a way to keep you safe.” He was silent for a moment. “Your family doesn’t live here?”
“No.” She knew what he was about to suggest. “Forget it. My family might live in a different state, but I still wouldn’t take the chance of leading those monsters to their doorstep.”
He simply nodded before climbing from the bed. She couldn’t help appreciating the play of muscles across his back and the motion of his tight butt cheeks as he walked across the room and reached into the closet. He came back to bed with his sleep mask and hoodie.
He took off his glasses, and she quickly looked away.
“I like to see the woman I’m making love with.”
She smiled absently while he slipped on the sleep mask and pulled the hoodie over his head.
“Would someone who was with you a lot ever become immune to the Second One?” Dumb question. She would only be with him until Garrity was dead. That should make her happy, right? It didn’t.
He remained silent so long that she thought he wouldn’t answer. “Eventually you’d be able to look at my face without being affected as long as my eyes were covered. There’s no immunity to the face and eyes together.”
She felt his stare.
“You’ll wake before I do. Dress and get out of the bedroom before me.”
She could only nod. There was nothing left that either of them was willing to talk about. Cassie glanced at him. He’d tugged the sheet completely over his head. Evidently breathing wasn’t an issue.
They both lay still until the clock told her that dawn had arrived. She didn’t need to see Ethan to know that the day sleep had taken him.
Closing her eyes, she forced everything from her mind. Allowing her thoughts to run in circles would drive her crazy. She could only help Ethan if she stayed sane. And somewhere during her attempt to think of nothing, she slept.
Cassie sat on Zareb’s couch with the cat curled up beside her and watched them leave. After finding out what had happened last night, she was terrified to see them go.
Ethan paused to look back at her right before he walked out. He had his glasses on and was holding his hoodie closed over the lower half of his face.
For a moment hope flared that he’d come back to kiss her good-bye.
He shook his head. “Can’t. Not when I’m like this.”
She didn’t bother yelling at him for being in her mind. “You did the first time.”
“That was different.” He didn’t explain how it was different. “Stay safe.”
“Right back at you. . . . What the heck is your last name?” She was doing her best to sound perky, but Cassie had the feeling that even though her “per” might be fine, her “ky” was drooping badly.
“Russo. For now.”
His voice had that deeper, more dangerous tone she associated with the Second One.
“Well, right back at you, Russo.”
She kept her smile pasted on her face until they’d left. Then she sighed and looked down at the cat. “Anything you want to see on TV?”
The cat yawned to express her complete disinterest.
“Me either.” Cassie glanced over at the two men who stood by the door looking bored.
Colin and Dylan. They were almost carbon copies of their brothers, Ben and Todd—big, muscular, with shaggy orangey hair and amber eyes. They were her bodyguards for the night.
“The TV is all yours, guys.” She’d go into her room and read a book.
She wandered into the bedroom, grabbed her book from the nightstand, and flopped onto the bed.
A half hour later she was still on the same page. She put the book down. Cassie hated waiting here for Ethan to come home. She felt useless. But she’d learned a lot during the last week. Not the least of which was that she had no place in the middle of a battle involving vampires. She’d been lucky to survive that first day. Even loaded down with weapons, she was a liability. Ethan might try to protect her instead of watching his own back.
Just when she was about to give up on the book and try the TV again, someone tapped on the bedroom door. She climbed off the bed to answer it. Colin, or maybe it was Dylan, stood waiting.
“Zareb just sent us a text message. They’re in a battle and pretty much outnumbered. They need us now.” He looked torn. “I sent for someone to take over for us. He’ll be here in about twenty minutes. We don’t like leaving you alone, but Zareb wouldn’t ask for us if he wasn’t in a bad situation.”
Cassie didn’t hesitate. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
Colin nodded and ran back down the hall. A few minutes later, she heard the front door close. She was alone with her panic.
What had happened? Were they all still okay? Why couldn’t Zareb call in some of his other children who were scattered throughout the city? Was Ethan safe?
She was pacing the living room with her phone in her hand when the knock came. Cassie frowned. That was fast. The new guard must have been closer than Colin had thought.
Cassie hurried into the bedroom and got the gun from her purse. If she had to open the door, she’d do it with a weapon in her hand. She shoved her phone into her pocket.
Before opening the door, she tried looking through the peephole. Damn it, the outside light had burned out. “Who is it?”
“New guard.” The man’s voice was gruff but sounded normal.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
Cassie glanced past him to make sure no one was lurking in the shadows. “Did you see anyone—?”
She didn’t get any farther because someone grabbed her arm and yanked her outside. Before she could raise her gun to shoot, something massive hit her with enough force to flatten her. The gun fell from her hand. Dazed, she stared up into gleaming feral eyes.
The animal, because it was an animal, curled its lips back to reveal fangs at least six inches long. Terror froze her in place.
A man leaned over her. “Don’t move, lady. Oh, and I wouldn’t scream. Loud noises make Henry here excited. I’d hate to deliver you with puncture wounds.”
It only took seconds for Cassie to put together the steps of her stupidity. She hadn’t asked Colin for the name of the new guard, and she hadn’t asked this man for any proof of identity. He worked for Garrity. And she was having an up-close-and-personal introduction to one of his beasts because she’d been naïve enough to think she could shoot faster than the animal could move. She wasn’t suicidal, so she remained motionless.
“Very good.” The man sounded almost fatherly. “Cooperation makes things a lot less messy. Now I’m going to call off Henry, and you’re going to get up and walk quietly to that big van. Understand?”
She nodded, never taking her attention from the beast’s lethal fangs.
Her heart pounded, pounded, pounded as she took short gasping breaths in an attempt to control her fear. Think. Panic wouldn’t save her ass.
As she climbed to her feet, she noted that her captor had picked up her gun and shoved it into a jacket pocket. He held the end of a long leash that was attached to the beast’s collar. The leash looked way too flimsy to contain all that animal power, so she assumed there was more involved in controlling it.
Cassie didn’t move as the man took her phone from her pocket.
“Love cell phones.” He chuckled. “They store so much great info on them. For example, that bloodsucker we offed last night had the phone numbers of the guards that I just sent on a trip to an empty lot on the other side of Philly. Guess they’ll be pissed.” He handcuffed her hands behind her and nudged her toward the van. “We need to move fast. Bet they called in a new guard to watch you. I don’t want to be around when he gets here.”
Cassie bit her lip to keep from screaming. She wanted to fight. But her common sense kicked in. The beast hadn’t killed her, so they must want her alive for some reason. Fighting wouldn’t free her, and there was no one around to hear her scream. Besides, alive was a lot better than dead.
She stared at the van’s open doors. To hell with common sense. She fought. Cassie kicked the man in the leg at the same time she screamed. When he tried to grab her arm, she bit him. She had to keep him from putting her in that van until the new guard arrived.
But as she stumbled away, he moved with a speed no human should have. She had no way to defend herself as he reached her. He punched her in the stomach. At the same time, she felt a searing pain in her arm. Cassie fell.
With a curse, the man dragged her to her feet and toward the van. “See, that was just dumb. You upset Henry, and he got your arm with a claw. The boss’ll be mad because you have a mark on you. That doesn’t make me happy, and you want to keep me happy, lady.”
He shoved her into the van and pushed her down onto the bench. Then he locked her cuffs to a short chain attached to the side of the van. The beast crammed its massive body into the back with her. It crouched a few feet away, its unblinking stare fixed on her. Cassie swallowed hard. She would not throw up.
The man closed and locked the back of the van before climbing into the driver’s seat. He started the van and pulled away from the warehouse.
“How did you know I was alone?” Don’t panic, don’t panic.
“I watched. Two guards went in. The same two came out.”
“Where’re you taking me?” Her stomach ached and she could feel blood trickling down her arm.
“To hell, lady. And if you try any more tricks, you’ll get there sooner than you expected.”
A*shole. Cassie didn’t ask anything else.
Instead, she tried to get her terror under control by staring at the beast. Face your fears. The man had called him Henry. Who would give an animal this frightening such an ordinary human name? Someone sick, that’s who.
He’s only an animal. Calm down. Right. That was like calling a tornado only a breeze. She took a close look at him. Huge furred body. A grizzly came to mind. Three clawed toes on each foot. The talons were at least five or six inches long. And the middle talon on each foot was longer and more curved than the others, good for ripping out stomachs and throats. Breathe, just breathe. They looked like the talons she’d seen in pictures of the Velociraptors from Jurassic Park. And those fangs. Definitely saber-toothed tiger–sized.
Finally, she lifted her gaze to the beast’s eyes. She caught her breath. The beast stared back at her. Those eyes. Cassie recognized them—haunting, compelling, savage.
They were the yellow eyes of the Second One.