Creature of Habit (Book 3) (22 page)

He nodded but kept his eyes down. Amelia watched him closely, adjusting herself to face him. He moved to her, and as much as I wanted to shut it out—close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening, I couldn’t. I was transfixed by the moment and the way Sebastian circled around her so her back was flush to his stomach. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and his nose grazed her ear. Her head tilted, revealing the smooth skin of her throat. His fingers ran over the curve of her neck—where the bluish veins appeared, like food for the starving.

Amelia’s eyes fluttered shut, and I blocked out the gleeful sound coming from Noor across the room. Sebastian’s mouth moved, tiny whispers that I couldn’t make out and my wrists burned against my restraints.

“Bass,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry,” he said, lifting his eyes not to mine but to Emmanuel’s across the room.  Amelia’s scream broke the moment and she ran—no, was thrown in my direction. She landed on my chest, crashing us both backward.

“No!” I cried, my wrists nearly severing off from the weight. Amelia moved quickly, propping herself on my chest and yanked her shirt to reveal her shoulder.

“Do it.”

“What?”

Her eyes were full and clear.

“Now!”

I plunged my teeth into her skin, sinking deep through her hard flesh to tap into a vein. Pure, heart pumping blood poured into my mouth and I swallowed as though I’d been dying for a drink.  As though my life depended on it.

“What the hell was that?” Noor shouted. “How dare you go against my command!”

“You’ve taken enough lives,” Sebastian said to the two of them. “All of those vampires downstairs. All of the people you transformed over the years. The people lost in Asheville. Laurel. Amelia… Ryan… you don’t get to take anymore. Not while I’m here to fight back.”

Amelia fought against my hunger, pushing off my body. I held her tight but she surprised me by yanking my head up and kissing me hard on the mouth, igniting a different kind of hunger. Two hands wrenched her off my body, and she stood above me, face rimmed in red. She licked her lips greedily.

Her blood.

The same blood coursing through my veins. Filling me with an undeniable strength. I leapt to my feet and my head spun, heady from the nourishment.  I looked to my hands, still bound in the cuffs, but the pain had disappeared, the red sores healing beneath the metal. I pulled my arms apart, yanking at the chain, and it snapped in half.

I felt amazing.

Tearing the cuffs off each wrist I tossed them to the side.

Noor stared at me with an incredulous expression. “It worked.”

“It did,” I said.

She looked at Amelia and cried, “Get her!”

Emmanuel rushed at her but Sebastian blocked his way. I positioned myself between Noor and Amelia.  I held my hands up. “This is over.”

“You may be strong, but you can’t fight all of us,” she said, turning to the wall and pressing a button. She spoke into the small speaker, some sort of jibberish I didn’t understand.

“What was that?” I asked Bass, who stood toe to toe with Emmanuel. Neither had moved an inch.

“She removed the compulsion from the fledglings.”

A roar sounded from below, echoing through the warehouse, and Noor used the distraction to charge at Amelia. I tackled her, hard, using my newfound power to subdue her quickly. Noor struggled against my weight and I said to Amelia, “Go—get out of here.”

She laughed. “Not a chance. This bitch had me held captive for days—months if you go back to the beginning.” She stared at Noor. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Try it, little girl,” she said, still bound by my arms. “That powerful blood may run through your system but you’re still weak. Just like I’ve said from the beginning. Listen to your man, run while you can.”

Amelia’s eyes narrowed and her teeth flashed. The muscles in her arms flexed and my heart trembled. There she was. My Amelia. “You’ve got this,” I said in understanding.

Without warning I released Noor and Amelia pounced, grabbing her hair and punching her hard across the jaw. The crack and shattering of bone was undeniable.

Chapter 40

Amelia

“This will teach you to mess with me and my family,” I said, seething. I kicked Noor in the stomach and then the chest. She wobbled off balance but caught herself against the wall.

She held her chin high and spoke clearly. “I am your better. Your superior. You’ll bend down on one knee and beg for mercy.”

I paused for a moment, hands clenched, blinking at the woman. Grant looked on at the ready but gave me space. Something inside me shifted, not the power of compulsion which she was leveling on me at full force, but the upgraded systems with a heavy dose of magical blood coursing through my body. I was prepared to handle my own fight.

Noor held my gaze for a second longer before she cracked, calling out, “Emmanuel!”

A quick glance to the side told me he didn’t reply—verbally or physically. He and Sebastian were caught in their tragic battle, miles away from the one being waged between me and Noor.

The pounding of feet on the metal stairs snapped Grant into action and he quickly blocked the door. It seemed that everyone in the room had a battle to fight, and he was giving us the time to see them through.

God, I loved that man.

Once she realized she was on her own, Noor attacked with a vengeance, claws out and teeth bared. She was tiny, dressed in expensive clothes and ridiculous shoes, but her moves were lethal. I blocked each one, dodging elbows and jabs with her fists. My brain and body synched, dodging as well as landing my own blows time and time again.

“Does it ever get tiring,” she asked, “feeling weaker than everyone else around you? Don’t you realize they’ll use you just like I’d planned too, but without the perks of The Council?”

I slapped her hard, feeling her jaw shift beneath my palm. She growled and I slapped her again. “We’re a family. I don’t think you understand what that means.”

Her shoulders slumped and her hands trembled at her sides.

“You’re giving it all up for a man, you stupid bitch. Too bad for you I’m not that weak.” Her eyes darted at Grant. Then with a flash of silver and a final howl she leapt at me, catching me completely off guard. I fell to the ground, landing on the wooden desk in the middle of the office. The wood splintered under my back, crumbling on impact, and hot pain seared through my abdomen. The polished hilt of a blade stuck from my body. She didn’t waste a second before lunging at my throat, tearing off a chunk.

She jerked back, eyes wide and pained. Blood dripped from her mouth and I saw the metal contraption that she’d bound Grant with earlier snapped tight around her throat. “No,” she whispered, tongue lapping up any blood she could reach.

Grant held her hands behind her back and breathed into her ear, “You’re done.”

Sebastian ran to my side, lifting me up. He yanked the blade out of my stomach and I growled.

“Are you okay?” he asked, handing Grant the weapon.

“Yeah,” I said, touching the wound at my neck. It was wide and gaping, but it would heal.

No longer barricaded, the door flung open and the first fledglings poured into the room. Emmanuel and Grant moved to the defensive. Sebastian shoved me behind his back, and although the poison on the blade should have slowed me down the blood seemed to have countered the effects. I was still strong—stronger than I’d ever been, but it was clear the moment they entered the room the fledglings had caught scent of my blood. Back to their true nature they fought with one another to get to me first.

“Shit,” we all said at the same time.

Noor cackled with laughter mixed with hisses of pain from the blades digging into her neck. Sebastian and Emmanuel ran to the door and struggled to push them outside, back down the stairs. Grant ran to my side and I asked, “What do we do?”

“Run!” Sebastian yelled, but his words were cut off by the sound of a loud explosion on the warehouse floor. The office walls and floor shook with tremors.

The building shook again under the powerful force of a second explosion. Grant used his shoulder to ram into the back window of the office. The glass cracked against his weight, shattering to the floor around our feet like rain.

“What’s causing that?” I asked.

“If I had to guess,” he said. “Ryan.”

“Is he trying to kill us?” I asked looking back at Sebastian who was still covering the door. “Do we just leave him? Emmanuel?”

“I’m not really sure,” he said, hoisting me over the edge of the windowsill. There was nothing beneath it other than the solid concrete of the warehouse floor below, and a few dozen fledglings fighting with one another. Smoke crept into the room, and the yellow light of flames flickered off to the side.  “We’ve got to jump. Go first.”

I didn’t hesitate, pushing my feet off the ledge. I fell quick and hard, landing on my feet. The fledglings turned at the scent of my blood, the wound still open and fresh. Grant landed behind me and began fighting before I even thought to throw a punch. That was why he was the best. A legend.

Necks snapped behind me, arms were twisted and broken off. Grant smashed their jaws and cut their throats with the blade we’d taken from Noor. He showed zero mercy for the threat around us. I followed his lead, releasing the inner beast that resided in us all, pushing past the faint pull of humanity that continued to beat through me like a drum. I punched a vampire in the face before clawing at her neck, animal instinct roared in my soul.

The line between me and them was thinner than ever before.

Two bodies fell from the sky landing nearby. Before their feet touched the ground both Sebastian and Emmanuel had joined the fray. The light and heat from the explosions moved into the crowd and Grant shouted for us to head to the exit. He touched his fingers to mine, but he let go to continue tearing a path through the squabbling vampires. Even over the dust and debris they smelled my blood and probably heard my heartbeat. I saw the warehouse door, wide and rolled to the ceiling and the familiar dark of Grant’s hair bobbing above the swarm.

“Leave. Me. Alone,” I shouted and he spun around, with a decapitated head in his hands. Our eyes met, fear spiked in the violet as he realized how far apart we’d gotten.  Eyes of black and sharp teeth bore down on me.

“Amelia!” he cried, but his head disappeared in the surrounding crowd, separating me from the others.

I lashed out, using any and every tool in my wheelhouse. My feet, my nails, my own fledgling strength. I was kicked to the ground, stepped on, as again, they fought with one another. Rolling to my stomach I used the distraction to crawl on my blood-soaked belly, weaving through their feet.

Overhead I heard a scream, no—not a scream. The squealing sound of a propelled explosive whizzing through the air. The fledglings froze, looking over head and I watched it land in the office we’d just been in moments before. In two heartbeats the bomb exploded, engulfing the small room in flames. Pieces of fiery debris showered over our heads. A shard landed on my arm, stabbing through my skin like a hot, blazing poker. I ripped it out, the flesh on my palm melting and threw it under the feet of my enemies. Grant was right; we
had
to get out of here.

I flipped back to my stomach and got on my hands and knees.  Pushing my way through the distracted crowd. A flash of grey wove through the legs of the fledgling in front of me. I blinked, peering through the dust rising from the floor and pushed through the legs.

The blood must be wearing off and I had no idea how long the effects of compulsion lasted. Another explosion rocked the metal warehouse walls, and I heard something big fall, a wall or a beam, creating more chaos.

Soft fur rubbed against my cheek and I turned. Narrow yellow eyes came into view and I asked, “Adam?” sure I was delusional.

A hand reached down from above, clasping around my neck. I froze, feeling a mouth near my ear.  Grappling for the hand, I rose to my knees, fighting against the vampire. Sharp teeth pressed against the skin on the back of my neck. I heard a hiss and spitting from the ground, and watched with ultra-fast speed as the very real cat pounced, jumping over my back and sinking his claws into the fledgling’s face. He howled in pain, and as fast as a vampire blinked, Adam shifted, turning from animal to man.

“Let’s go!”

“Wait,” I said, reaching for the amulet hanging on my neck. I yanked it off and the clasp snapped. “It’s time to let her go.”

With a burst of strength I crushed the red stone between my fingers, letting the shards drop to the ground.

Adam snatched my wrist and looked at the powdery dust that remained.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

A screech echoed above us and we both looked to the ceiling of the warehouse. A huge falcon flew through the smoke, snapping us back into the moment.

Adam jumped into action, charging through the crowed, his arm on mine. We reached Grant, who was fighting his way back into the fray. His eyes popped wide when he saw us, his jaw tight. He nodded at Adam and grabbed my hand, electricity jolting through the two of us.

“This place is going to fall,” Grant said, looking behind us. The entire building was engulfed in flames.

“What about Sebastian?”

He glanced to the right and I saw the crowd near the back of the warehouse moving erratically like a storm. Above everyone was a familiar head, holding a giant sword, swinging it like a warrior.

“Ryan?” I asked, the scope of the rescue mission becoming clear.

“And the others. They’re all here.”