Creature of Habit (Book 3) (21 page)

“I’m here,” I announced. My voice echoed off the high, wooden beams. “You brought me to this location. You clearly were hoping I was nostalgic enough to show.”

I heard the soft sound of a footstep. A shadow crossed the pathway between stalls. I inhaled, catching mostly the scent of rust and grime, the faint, lingering smell of livestock. I searched for the smell I knew best, the one that had lured me from a life of monotony, to this very ironic moment.

Amelia’s lemony presence wasn’t here, but something familiar wafted toward me all the same.

Noor stepped into the light, small but powerful. My hands clenched, wanting nothing more than to smack the smirk off her mouth.

“Took you long enough,” she said, her dark hair and eyes glinting in the dark.

“You’re behind this?” I asked, searching her face.  “You think this is funny?”

She laughed and clasped her hands together. “Darling, I’ve been waiting decades for this moment. It brings me more joy than you could ever imagine.”

Wasting no time, I charged her, running full force at her body. We fell to the ground, skidding back across the dusty wooden floor. My body landed on top of hers, stopping only when we crashed into a support beam that creaked from the impact. I secured both of her wrists next to her head.

She grunted, but looked entirely unimpressed. With a lick to her lips she said, “I’d heard you liked it rough.”

Only one person knew how I ’liked’ it. I tightened my grip but it only seemed to delight her more.

“Where is she?” I growled.

“Your pet? She’s working for me now, didn’t you know?” Her eyes darted to mine gleefully. “I guess maybe she left in too much of a rush to notify you of her resignation.”

“What did you do with her? If you laid a hand on her I will…” I couldn’t even finish my threat, the rage too intense. “Where. Is. She.” She squirmed beneath me, pushing her hips into my body. I ground my teeth and pushed her away. I stood, brushing the grime off my hands. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.”

She hopped to her feet and brushed her hands together. “I think you’re confused, Grant. You’re no longer in control. Of anything. Not your territory, not your family and not even your fiancé. And you haven’t been for a very long time.”

“So it’s been you all along,” I said.

“From the very beginning.”

“And Emmanuel? Was that a false flag?”

“Emmanuel is a protégé of mine. Very skilled. A bit dramatic at times, but skilled all the same.”

“Why are you doing this?”

She walked toward me with a slow gait. “I thought Caleb made that perfectly clear. You. Are. Not. A. God.” She accentuated each word with a stab to my chest with her finger. I reached for it, prepared to snap it off, but she moved faster than I was able.

“I never claimed to be a God,” I said. “But I did commit myself to helping humans.”

“You misunderstand. I’ve never had a problem with your noble efforts. Your power and strength are something to be admired.” She placed a hand on my bicep and squeezed. My fists balled tight. “Caleb was a test. Something to see you rise to the top of your game. Bravo, Grant, you succeeded.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

She shrugged. “I wanted to see you in action. Fully challenged. I simply gave Caleb a small nudge with the resources and information he’d been seeking for nearly a century.”

“You knew he wanted Olivia and you knew she was with me.”

“The Council knows more about the vampire world than you could imagine. Petty rivalries, small businesses, hobbies, and deviant behavior.” She released my arm and announced, “I’ve been watching you for years, even offering you a place by my side. Offering you… well…” She frowned, looking my body up and down. “That was a long shot I suppose. Although I won’t deny it hurt a little when you chose a mate. Lucky for both of us she has an extraordinary attribute.”

“So what?” I asked, more than a little confused by her confession. “You decided to drive Sebastian mad? Fuck with Amelia’s head? Lure me out here to my place of origin and tell me your sob story about how I rejected you?”

“I came to tell you that your days of running the South East are over. Your choice of living as a free man has come to an end. You’ll come back to The Council with me and work as a solider, under my terms.”

“You
have
lost your mind,” I muttered.

“Perhaps, but I have a hundred fledglings, hungry and strong, waiting for a taste of your girl.”

“Excuse me?”

“Her blood will propel them into the strongest army the earth has ever seen. I will send them, with immortal blood, running through their veins across this country until there is nothing left but carnage.” She smiled. “Unless…”

“Unless you come with me. Now.”

“I’m fairly sure I’m not worth the gamble you’re playing.”

“It’s a bet I’m willing to make.”

“For what?” I asked, unable to process her demand.

She laid a hand on my cheek, stroking my face with her thumb. In a soft, faraway voice she replied, “For you.”

My mind went numb as she pushed her way into my head. My limbs followed, making my movements sluggish and slow. I heard them from behind, then above. The sound of scuffling feet, the echo of iron clamped around my throat and wrists. Screws tightened, pressing razor sharp points into my flesh no larger than the size of a pin point.

“What…” I tried, awkwardly reaching for the contraption at my throat. My hand fell to my sides as though they weighed a thousand pounds.

“Just a little insurance,” she purred. Her voice sounded miles away. I blinked and saw the room was filled with vampires, dozens of black-eyed predators waiting for instruction. She walked past me, toward the door and said, “Take him away.”

~*~

A skinny vampire named Keats drove us from New York to the outskirts of Bangor, Maine. I recognized the name and location. It had been on the list of sites the carnival passed through roughly around the time the twins had been turned.

Bound and weakened, I’d gone over a dozen ways to kill Noor from my spot in the back of the car. None mattered until I got the contraption off my neck and arms.

“When Miles told me about the Shifters and their venom, I was skeptical, but under the guise of ’research’ I acquired some anyway. Who knew nature had made its own vampire kryptonite?”

With non-stop jabbering she made it perfectly clear that Amelia and Sebastian were under the careful watch of Emmanuel, who she’d left in command of a growing army of fledglings. He sired some himself, in the same sadistic way he’d tortured Sebastian and Amy, but many of the others were created by careless vampires Sebastian had been ordered to kill. Once their sire was gone, the fledglings were willing to follow a new leader and with Noor and Emmanuel’s combined compulsion abilities, gathering them together proved an easy task.

“You said Emmanuel had a flair for the dramatic, is that who picked all these locations?” I asked, as the car eased into a parking lot near a large, fenced-off warehouse.

She turned her head and I saw the faint smile ghost over her lips. “Okay, maybe we both have a little flair. Why not travel down memory lane while we’re having fun?”

Everyone exited the car, but Noor made a gesture to leave us alone. In the silence of the car, I asked, “Why haven’t you fed on Amelia yet?”

“I thought maybe you’d like to watch.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I know stalking is one of your favorite pastimes.”

Again, Noor knew too much about me. Particularly too much about me and Amelia. I lunged toward her, but the points holding me back tore into my flesh, injecting the venom deeper under my skin.

I sat back, rigid but managed to grunt out a weak, “Fuck you.”

She smiled, the door wrenching open next to me. The skinny vampire yanked me out of the car, and I gritted my teeth against the pain. Noor passed me and promised, in a low voice, “Soon, Grant. Very soon.”

Chapter 38

Amelia

Sebastian wouldn’t look at me. Not past a cursory glance over my person, taking in what I had become since he’d last seen me. His eyes lingered near mine for a brief moment before turning and staring out the small office window that looked out to the warehouse floor below.

Emmanuel on the other hand, hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since I’d arrived. He leered, sending phantom shivers up my spine. Twice he spoke to me, nudging words into my brain bringing up a flare of emotions and desires that should have felt confusing.

They didn’t.

They felt right.

“They’ll bring him here,” Sebastian finally spoke. Before I could respond in any fashion, he added, “Grant.”

“I know,” I said. The thoughts had been pushed into my head for weeks. What I had to do.  The fog of my memories cleared when Sebastian called me. Something he said, some word or signal, had opened my mind. I remembered everything. Emmanuel tracking me down at the cabin in Montana. Meeting Noor in the woods near Asheville. Sebastian’s calls. Their voices in my head trigged a variety of actions that I didn’t understand until now.

Like stabbing Adam. That had been planned. They needed access to his venom. Same with leading Ryan and Grant to the wrong location. Also planned. Why? God knew. Noor probably just found it amusing. She and Emmanuel shared a sick, twisted desire to fuck with people’s minds and bodies.

As if he read mine right now, Emmanuel ran his hand down my arm, soft and sensual. I flinched—mentally at least, but my arm didn’t move. Instead, I actually moved closer, placing a hand on his knee.

I was nothing more than a puppet whose mind and body were being pulled by invisible strings.

His mouth moved to my neck, his tongue cool. I knew deep down I should feel repulsed, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t stop him either. I tilted my neck giving him better access.

“Don’t.”

My head snapped to Sebastian’s, his eyes catching mine in the reflection of the window. His scar jagged and raw. Emotion flickered across his face, too fast for me to grasp. In a quiet but firm voice he said, “You’re not to touch her.”

The vampire next to me paused, but only for a split second. I gasped when his teeth grazed down my throat, pinching the skin on my shoulder. My stomach clenched, and I exhaled in anticipation.

The blur of movement was fast and forceful. Sebastian’s hand clamping down on Emmanuel’s wrist. He released me and leapt to his feet, shoving his sire off. He followed him across the room and clenched his fingers around Bass’ neck. “Since when do you tell me what to do?”

“Since Noor told me to keep an eye on you.”

Emmanuel glanced up and down, studying Bass. The energy that flared between them was palpable. The older vampire wasn’t old at all, possibly in his early twenties when he’d become a vampire. Sebastian though had only been a teenager. Regardless, it was easy to see why the pimps and sex workers had given him free reign. He was handsome, with caramel colored hair tied at the back of his neck. There was a sharp line to his jaw and a glint in the black of his eyes. The tight cotton of his shirt revealed every line of his muscular chest and torso. Even without compulsion he’d be invited into many homes—many beds. But it didn’t take long to feel the intensity behind his gaze or the rage thrumming beneath his skin.

The anger slipped away like water in my fingers, and I saw Emmanuel dip his mouth near Sebastian’s ear. Bass’ jaw clenched but his eyes softened. Something unique was unfolding before me—something no other Palmer had ever witnessed.

“It’s not worth it,” Bass said quietly, his voice carrying less conviction. “Just wait until she arrives. Then you’ll be rewarded for your service.”

Emmanuel’s fingertips skimmed over Bass’s cheek, his throat and down to his chest. “What about you? Will you be rewarded?” the older vampire asked.

Sebastian kept his eyes forward and he placed a hand on Emmanuel’s hip, pulling their bodies together. Against his mouth he breathed, “If it is your desire.”

A slow grin spread across Emmanuel’s lips, and I saw his tongue dart forward, touching Sebastian’s. There was only a brief moment of hesitancy before both men caved, kissing one another deeply, aggressively.

I sat with my back against the ratty sofa and watched, blinking. Was this real? Was it another hallucination? I pinched my arm, the sharp nails breaking skin.

No
, I thought, and their mouths attacked one another as urgently as their hands,
this is definitely real.

I shifted and moved to rise, but Emmanuel broke free and pinned me with a look. “Don’t move,” he said.

I froze, willing or not, and watched the clothing as it fell to the floor.

Chapter 39

Grant

The warehouse floor was teeming with fledglings, waiting like a crowd before a concert. We were barely a step inside when I heard it—her—a shallow
thump, thump, thump.
My girl was in the building. I just had to figure out how to get us both out of here alive.

I laughed at myself, forcing the points to push into my neck and my mind was still foggy and cluttered. Between the Shifter venom and the compulsion, I was useless. Zero help to Amelia or Sebastian. One quick movement and my entire neck could hang by a thread.

“Something funny, dear?”

I didn’t answer because it hurt too much and Noor’s eyes shifted below my chin, probably determining if it would mess up her plans too much if I decapitated myself. “Remove it,” she said to her nearest minion, adding, “But not the wrists. I need him coherent, for this anyway.”

The clamp was removed, and I felt the tiny blades as they pulled from my neck. The feeling returned, but my mind was still muddled. No, she wouldn’t give that back yet. Not until she was sure I was of no threat.

“Come,” she said, parting the tide of vampires like Moses. I followed, still unable to exert my own free will. I’d follow her anyway. She was headed toward Amelia.

We climbed a tall metal staircase, leading to an on office over the main floor. The vampires swayed on their feet, black eyes following Noor like a beacon, but never actually moving. They were clearly controlled by Noor or possibly Emmanuel. They didn’t fight with one another like the fledglings Caleb had managed.

I shuffled behind her, the binds on my wrists cutting with quick, tiny pricks. The chain wasn’t heavy, but cumbersome since I couldn’t move my hands.

The door opened at the top of the stairs and I spotted a vampire I didn’t know but who had to be Emmanuel.  I felt his nudge in my brain the second our eyes connected. I sensed his fingers massaging my thoughts—pressing against my memories.

I pushed back, weakly.

“Grant Palmer,” he said, eyes bright. “I’ve waited years for a formal introduction. Sebastian wasn’t fond of the idea of us meeting.”

Passing him, I caught Sebastian’s scent
on
him and skimmed over his shoulder toward the office. Bass stood just inside the door. His shoulders and chin raised high. He made no effort to hide his disfigurement.

“Bass,” I said.

He simply stared at the healing wounds on my throat and down at my wrists.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“I’m here,” she said. Disregarding the pain on my wrists I pushed past Sebastian and into the office to find Amelia standing by a dusty green couch. She looked clean, with no wounds or scars that I could find. Her eyes fell flat as they landed on mine, the flare of our connection dulled to nothing but an empty ache.

The door slammed behind me, and Noor walked to the middle of the room.

“Now that everyone is here we can begin.”

“Begin what?” Amelia asked, obviously not up on all the plans either.

Noor smiled and crossed over to Amelia. My spine bristled, the way an animals would if I was hunting it. She wasn’t aggressive though, instead stroking her cheek with the back of her hand. “I want to thank you for your hard work, dear. Going against your sire is always difficult, but you understood from the beginning that this situation was bigger than Grant Palmer and his narcissistic views of himself.”

I snorted.

“Do you have something to add, Grant?” Noor asked.

“No, please continue discussing how I’m narcissistic, yet you’re a selfless woman of the people—uh—vampires. I’m sure the mindless drones downstairs agree with you.”

“Oh, but I am. I’m not the one that had this treasure locked away from The Council. You realize when we share her blood that the whole world will bow at our knees? Vampires and humans and even your little shifter friends.”

“What exactly do you think her blood is going to do?” All we had was theory about Amelia’s blood and what it could possibly do, but there was no proof. Not yet.

“We’ll find out together. Are you ready?”

Amelia stood and brushed her long, blonde hair to the side. She tilted her neck, revealing her smooth, perfect skin.
My
smooth perfect skin that no one had permission to touch.

Noor stopped and glanced at me, her eyes flashing. “I really don’t want you to miss any of this,” she said. I felt a sharp pain in my head, followed by the rush of anxiety. She’d removed the compulsion and the harsh, bleak reality of the moment crashed down on my shoulders.

Amelia had been brainwashed. Sebastian was miles away. I was chained. Noor had her hands on Amelia’s face, her arms. A current flowed between them, something supernatural, but equally compelling.

There was no way out of this today. I had to think of our future.

“Wait,” I said, fighting off the anger and jealousy of seeing Amelia so close to another. “I need a moment with her—alone.”

Noor’s mouth curved and her hand bunched Amelia’s thick hair. “I’m sure you would, but it’s out of the question.”

“I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll go with you to Europe. I’ll take whatever job you have in mind. I’ll allow”—I swallowed—“this. Without a fight. Just give me a chance to say goodbye.”

Noor gave me a sly look and ran her finger from Amelia’s ear down the valley of her breasts, skimming over the amulet. She squeezed her hand and said, “Five minutes. Then we proceed. We can’t hang around here forever. And the cuffs stay on.”

I nodded.

The three left the room, Sebastian in the rear.

I stepped forward, grimacing at the pain, as soon as the door clicked shut.

Amelia stared at me, curious but unemotional. On the flip side I felt like my heart may crack into two. “I just want to know what happened. How did this happen?”

How did I fail you?
I wanted to ask.

I thought maybe she’d lie but she spoke freely. “It started in Montana, when I was confused and overwhelmed. At first I thought it was just my imagination. My brain playing tricks on me. Shadows in the snow. Whispers in my ear. One day he appeared, and he touched me, and I knew it was real.”

“Who touched you?” The binds forced me to remain controlled.

“Emmanuel. He found me right from the beginning and told me about how I could be important to The Council. That I was possibly the most important vampire in centuries.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He wiped my mind—confused me. I never knew he was there. And I didn’t remember Noor coming to see me in Black Mountain or the conversations Sebastian and I had on the phone, until this last time.” She tilted her head. “You also confirmed it a little bit, too. You told me my blood made me a target—something special. So when my mind cleared and the memories came back, I knew Noor had been truthful.”

“What happened to Olivia?”

“Noor placed some sort of security system in my brain. Olivia got too close and she got burned.”

“Will she be okay?”

“She should heal. We’ll be long gone by then.”

She sounded so aloof. So disconnected. Nothing like the girl I’d known for months. That I’d mated with. My eyes moved to her hand and I saw my ring on her finger.

“Do you understand what Noor has planned for you? For us?”

“She needs my blood—to make herself stronger.”

“And you’re willing to do that?”

She nodded, but it wasn’t really her, and that made everything about all of our situation wrong. I never believed in forcing people to do things against their will. Not Amelia, not the others in the coven, not the humans I protected on the street.

I decided to use honesty. “For us to get out of here alive I’m going to have to go with Noor. She’ll use me, and she’ll make you a blood slave. We’ll both lose our freedom—we’ll lose one another.”

She doesn’t respond other than moving closer to me, her eyebrows furrowed over her bright, blue eyes. I attempted to reach my hands up to touch her, but the pain was too excruciating and they fell helplessly.

She brushed my hair off my forehead and I closed my eyes, inhaling. “I’ll do anything for you, Amelia Chase. Fight a vampire army. Wear uncomfortable shoes. Slay a dragon. Open my heart. You are my eternity, for better or worse. As long as there is a you and there is a me, we will have something—something that no one can touch. Not Noor. Not Emmanuel or a thousand mindless fledglings.”

Her hand touched mine, cool against the fiery pain.

“I waited over a century for you. I can wait another one.”

I opened my eyes to find her staring back at me, cold but curious. I spared a glance at her mouth. “Can I kiss you? Once more?”

She moved closer, bumping her hips into the cuffs. I clenched my teeth, and she lifted one hand to soothe the knot at the back of my jaw. She placed the other on my hip, careful to avoid my wrists. She pushed to her toes, lips connecting with mine. I responded, tentatively at first, feeling a bit intrusive. But I might only get one more chance and I wasn’t going to let it pass.

Her hand moved from near my ear to the back of my head, tugging me closer. Spurred by her action I bit down on her lip, opening her mouth to kiss her harder. I wanted desperately to touch her, to be free of my binds and claim her. Instead I breathed her in and breathed into her until…
thump, thump, thump
, her heart kicked into gear.

I pressed my forehead to hers. “I love you Amelia Chase. They can fuck with your head but they can’t change your heart. Never forget that. Never forget that you’re mine.”

The door opened and Emmanuel stuck his head in and said, “Time’s up.”

Her hands dropped and her posture reverted back to the aloof pose from before.

Time was up.

~*~

As a signal of our new agreement, Noor instructed Emmanuel to remove the cuffs. One look conveyed he didn’t agree, and they huddled close to discuss.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked quietly glancing over at Amelia who stood off to the side with a blank look on her face. To my surprise, he didn’t carry the same faraway expression. He wasn’t under compulsion.

I ignored the pain in my wrists, thinking if I had not been bound I would probably beat the crap out of him. I swallowed the rage and replied, “Are you?”

“This whole thing… it’s complicated.”

“Is it?”

His eyes dart to Emmanuel’s back. “Yes, but I am sorry I dragged you into this. That was never my intention.”

“Did you know about Caleb?” I asked, curious despite my anger.

“No. Not until… not until it was too late. That’s why I left.”

“So you decided abandoning us—“ I stopped. “Ryan has been worried. You should have called. You should have contacted him—something.”

“I know,” he agreed. “But again, it’s complicated. I know you all think I’m weak and lost, and some of that may be true, but there are other things at play here, things I can’t easily explain.”

I recalled Sebastian’s scent on Emmanuel when I arrived. No, things were definitely not what they seemed.

“I’ll do what I have to in order to protect Amelia,” I told him. “But you know Noor’s intentions are wrong. She’s caused a lot of damage and pain.”

“It’s not so bad,” he said. “You get used to it. I don’t have to hide here. They accept me for who I am.”

His words brought on a wave of sadness for a side of Sebastian I never knew existed. He’d rather be here with Noor, chained mentally and physically to The Council, than back at home with the coven.

I thought I had issues with the family.

“You know I’ve struggled with the family and their expectations. I spent years on the run, trying to escape the noose, but ultimately they always had my best interests at heart. They’re the ones that helped me when I needed it. It’s too bad you can’t see that,” I said. “We always accepted you, Bass. Always. We would have supported your choices. This isn’t real.”

Pain flickered in his, yes, but disappeared so quickly I wondered if words had no effect, either because of his scrambled mind or he just didn’t care. Noor and Emmanuel broke apart, a triumphant smirk on the man’s face. Okay. Guess the cuffs were staying on.

“Care to share the plan?” I asked the two vampires, feeling as though I had nothing to lose.

“Sebastian will feed first.”

Bass and I both snapped our eyes to Amelia.

“What?” Bass asked.

“Since her blood is truly an unknown and we’re running on theory, it’s unsafe for me to go first.”

“And she doesn’t trust you to go instead,” Sebastian said, revealing the true pecking order of the group.

Emmanuel smiled. “No.”

But they did trust Sebastian because he was fully under their control, or they assumed he was. The thought of Bass drinking from Amelia filled me with mixed emotions. I’d rather it be anyone but Noor or Emmanuel, but with Bass… it felt like a personal violation. They were using Amelia like nothing more than a blood slave.