Chapter Seven
ELIZABETH ACCOMPANIED LUKAS back outside, her hand firmly tucked in his. She was so confused. So confused. For two years, she’d ached, mourned, railed at Lukas for leaving her without a word of explanation. She’d felt humiliated, angry, and sad. At times she’d even wondered if he’d died, and no one had known to contact her.
Now she’d found him gloriously alive. Or, at least, thoroughly undead. And he claimed he’d never stopped caring about her, that he’d been unable to return to her. That he was trapped and in danger of dying, this time for real.
She didn’t know what to think. Worse, she didn’t know what to feel. Her heart sang at his nearness, at his touch, as it always had. And it trembled now with fear that he might once more be ripped from her life, this time for good.
But, my God, he was a vampire. A bloodsucker who’d fed on her the entire time they’d been dating, then wiped her mind clean of the memory each time. And he’d not only fed on her blood but on the pleasure she’d found in his arms. He’d used her in the most despicable of ways. Yet he claimed he cared. That he’d always cared.
What on Earth was she supposed to believe?
“We have to get you out of here,” he said quietly, as they left the house and started toward the next one on the street. “Tell me what you remember. How did you get here?”
She glanced at him, her heart melting a little more at the beauty of his face and the intensity in his eyes. “I was walking to school with Steph. Between one step and the next, right in the middle of P Street, everything changed. Everything went dark. Silent. I heard the sound of horses, then your friends came riding around the corner. And then you,” she added softly.
His mouth turned grim. “You came in on the sunbeam. I figured as much. The sunbeams are the places where the real world is breaking through. As the magic crumbles, the real world breaks through more and more often and in more and more places. Every now and then, a human will slide into Vamp City through one of those breaks between the worlds. How, we don’t know. Most can’t. Most pass unaffected through the breaks and never sense them at all.”
“So why me?”
“I don’t know. But you have to promise me something.” His grip on her hand tightened. “If I get you out of here, you must never return to the area of D.C. overlaid by Vamp City, or you could walk right back in again through another sunbeam.”
“How will I know where that is?”
“I can give you some directions. Your apartment is safe. It’s just outside. Your school, unfortunately, is just inside. You can’t go back to Adams Middle as long as the worlds are bleeding through this way. Not until the magic is renewed.”
“But I . . .” She stopped, swallowing her automatic objection that she had to get back to school. One step at a time. First, she had to get home.
The rumble of a vehicle engine sounded in the distance, cutting through the unnatural stillness of this world, surprising her. The sound was so . . . anachronistic.
“You have cars here?”
“Some.” Lukas stopped at the base of the front steps. At the sound, he’d tensed. “Come on. He changed directions, heading back toward the street. “SUVs are the only ones that can manage what pass for roads in this place. Most of us ride horses.”
As they started down the street the way they’d come, Elizabeth listened to the approaching vehicle. There were so few sounds in this place. “I haven’t seen a single bird,” she mused. “Or heard one. Not even any insects.”
“When the sorcerer created Vamp City, he duplicated the physical aspects of D.C., but nothing living conveyed. No plants, no animals. The only creatures here are the ones we’ve brought in. Horses, humans, and a handful of cats and dogs. All foodstuffs and supplies have to be brought in from the real world.”
Lukas and Elizabeth joined Lukas’s companions as they converged in the middle of the street.
“We’re about to get company,” Lukas said. From the tense looks on the faces of the vampires, she could tell that wasn’t a good thing. “Ricky, take Elizabeth and hide in one of the houses. Keep her safe.”
“That’s my slave you’re ordering,” Pierced-face commented. His gaze slid to her. “There will be a price for his services.”
Elizabeth shuddered before she could stop herself, knowing her fear would only please him. He wanted her blood. Maybe even her body.
“You’re not touching her,” Lukas replied evenly. “But if you want my attention on the fight, and not on guarding what is mine, Ricky must protect her.”
Pierced-faced watched him, his displeasure evident. But, finally, he nodded. “We’ll discuss payment later.” He turned to the kid with the glowing hair. “Take her and hide in that house,” he said, pointing to the one they stood in front of.
“Yes, master.” Ricky motioned to her with his head and started toward the front steps.
Lukas stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the other men, hiding his own expression from his companions. “If you’re in danger, scream. I’ll come.”
“Be careful.” Was she really telling a vampire to be careful in a fight? Apparently, she was.
Lukas’s beautiful eyes crinkled at the corners, warming to the blue of a summer sky. “I will. Now go.”
He released her and stepped back. But as she hurried past the other two vampires, she felt their gazes following her, thick as tar. They made her skin crawl, both of them. If anything happened to Lukas, she was going to have to run.
Ricky waited for her in the doorway of the house she and Lukas had already inspected. When she stepped inside, he closed the door and headed for the dimly lit stairs. “We’ll get a better view from an upper window.”
“Watch the rotted step,” she warned.
She followed him up the stairs and to one of the windows looking down on the street below.
“So you’re a slave?” she asked. “Are you . . . ?”
“Am I what?” His tone was hard and not particularly nice. “Human?” He snorted. “Yes, I’m human. After a couple of years in this place, the magic turns humans immortal, and our hair starts to glow. They call us Slavas. Once we become a Slava, we can never go home.” His tone was too matter-of-fact. As if he’d long ago gotten over it.
“I’m sorry. How long have you been here?”
“Almost eighty years.”
Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped. Eighty years? No wonder he was over it. He’d have nothing, and no one, to go back to.
As she watched out the window, she saw the vehicle, a black Cadillac Escalade, pull into view, trailed by a cloud of dust. The moment it came to a stop, four males alighted with inhuman speed and grace.
The one in front curled his lip. “York scum. This is Gonzaga territory.”
Pierced-face scoffed. “Does Cristoff Gonzaga attempt to claim all of the Nod, now? We’re nowhere near Gonzaga lands, and you know it.”
The Gonzaga vamp pulled his sword. “As long as we’re searching for the sorceress, wherever we choose to search is ours.”
“And what if we find her first?” the bearded one, Butch, drawled.
The Gonzaga vamp scoffed. “And what good will she do any of us in your hands? Cristoff is the only one who possesses the ritual to renew the magic. Without it, she’s useless.”
“You don’t know that,” Pierced-face said.
A second Gonzaga vampire pulled his sword. “Be on your way, scum. Or would you rather die here?”
Lukas’s companions drew their swords. Lukas drew two.
Elizabeth caught her breath, glancing at Ricky. “Are they really going to try to kill one another?”
“Of course. The York and Gonzaga kovenas are enemies.”
Even as he spoke, the seven vampires all but disappeared, flying at one another so quickly that she lost sight of them. Four against three. Only Lukas took on two opponents at once, swinging his swords in an incredible display of strength and dexterity. She’d often thought he should have been a Viking. Now she wondered if he’d actually been one. Her fingers gripped the window frame, her breath turning unsteady. Watching him fight was at once terrifying and thrilling.
Lukas, dammit, you’d better not die.
“If this battle turns against us, I suggest you run,” Ricky said beside her.
If Lukas and his friends died. “Do you think the other vamps will find us up here?”
“If any of them are fear-feeders, I guarantee they will.”
The thought chilled. “Where would I run to?”
“I don’t know.” He made a sound of amusement as if it was all a joke. A sick one, but a joke. “There’s no escaping this place. Once you’re brought to Vamp City, you’re here for life. For most people, that’s not very long. For a few of us, it’s very long indeed. Just run. Maybe you’ll get lucky. The very last place you want to be taken is to Cristoff Gonzaga’s castle. He’s a pain-feeder of the worst kind.”
As her gaze remained glued on Lukas’s faster-than-lightning moves, a yell turned her attention briefly to the other two battles. She watched as Pierced-face’s head rolled from his body and hit the dirt with a thud.
Elizabeth gasped, clutching the window frame.
“Well, hell,” Ricky muttered. “He was my master. Sorry, chickadee, you’re on your own. I’m leaving.” Without a backward glance, he darted out of the room. Escaping.
For one pregnant moment, Elizabeth wondered if she should follow him. But, no. Not as long as Lukas was still alive.
Her pulse racing with fear for Lukas as much as herself, she turned back to the window just as a second head rolled, this one belonging to one of Lukas’s opponents. The battle was now three against two, but Lukas once more battled two at once. How long could he keep that up?
In the street, the remains of the two dead vampires exploded suddenly, one after the other, raining down around the fighting vamps like ash, leaving nothing visible behind. And then a third head rolled as Butch took down his opponent, at last, leaving only Lukas fighting two Gonzaga vamps.
Elizabeth expected Butch to go help Lukas. Instead, he disappeared.
Had he run? The coward!
But a moment later, she knew exactly where he’d gone when she felt a strong, unwelcome arm grab her from behind and yank her away from the window, that bushy beard scraping against her temple.
“What are you doing?” she cried. “Why aren’t you helping him?”
“He’ll be fine. And I’m hungry.” He struck, his fangs impaling her neck like two red-hot spikes.
Elizabeth screamed.