Dark Salvation (12 page)

Kitara wasn’t at Jeremy’s apartment. No-one was. Nicholas could smell her scent. The sweet orange and vanilla trail was there, but too old to have been recent. If she hadn’t come back to this apartment, then where had she gone?

This wasn’t good. His heart raced as he wondered what atrocities might have befallen her – if she was still alive. How many hours had passed since she’d gone off on her foolhardy mission?  How could he have been so stupid to let her slip away in such a fragile state? She might not have been his woman, but he felt responsible for her current wellbeing. If she died, it would be more blood on his hands. Another failure to protect someone close to him.

Nicholas flipped open his phone and speed-dialed Alyssa.

She picked up on the first ring. “Nothing here. The church is all clear.”

“The apartment too. Try the park again. I’m heading for her hotel.”

“Got it… and Nicholas…”

“Yeah? What?”

“We’re going to find her, okay?”

“Do I sound that bad?”

“Yeah. I’ve never heard you so worried. We’ll get her. Stay positive.” Alyssa might have been a nuisance on a good day, but she had a heart bigger than any person he’d ever met. It was part of what made her a magnet for trouble. That girl never gave up on a lost cause. It gave him a small measure of hope that she sounded so confident. He hoped she was right; but for now, he needed to move on.

Nicholas clicked the phone off and pocketed it.

Santino rounded the corner, coming up quickly at Nicholas’s back. “No new scent trails here. This is a dead end.” That word sent a shiver down his spine. He prayed again that he would find her in time.

“Santino, is there anywhere else you know of that the Saints might have taken up residence?”

“That’s a tricky question. They kept plenty of apartments for barracks, but only the higher-ups knew all of those locations. Due to my… nature, I wasn’t kept with the rest of the human troops. I never stayed in one city for too long anyway.”

“So we are left with more dead ends?” Nicholas couldn’t hide the desperation in his voice.

“We keep backtracking, we’ll find her.”

“Then let’s go.” Nicholas took off in a blur, calling on all of his vampiric speed as he headed for the hotel. As soon as he neared the stone building, the scent of her blood stung his nose. She’d been hurt. Panic sent his heart thundering.

He followed the tangy scent mixed with her perfume to a spot on the ground. No sign of blood was visible, but it was there, strong enough to arouse a beastly anger within him. She’d better be alive, or his retribution would be slow and extremely painful.

“You smell it too, huh?” Santino crouched down on the spot. The grizzly old vampire fingered a damp crack in the sidewalk. “Yep. She was here all right. They got her good. He brought the finger to his nose and sucked in a slow breath. “They didn’t kill her here. Not enough blood for that, and no smell of cleaner. Probably just incapacitated her and got her off the street quick. My guess, they either had a car ready or she’s close. Maybe one of these buildings.”

Nicholas frantically looked around, hoping for any sign of where they might have gone.

Santino stood and pointed towards a dark area just across the way. “There’s an alley running the length of that street over there. If I’m not mistaken, it runs behind a few sets of row houses. We might try there.”

  He didn’t have to be told twice. Nicholas was already walking in that direction, sniffing like a bloodhound for any sign of Kitara.

***

Kitara’s head ached as consciousness slowly returned to her. She cracked open one eye, then the other, fighting to focus on her surroundings. How long had she been out? She tried to move but her arms were held back, tied to the arm of the tall chair she was sitting on. Her legs too had been restrained.

She replayed the last few hazy minutes of her memory.
How could Jeremy do this to me?

A man stood in front of her. Who, she couldn’t quite tell; her vision was still foggy. But she knew it wasn’t Jeremy. That sent her anxiety to a new level. He was a Saint. A full-fledged one at that. If the vampires had spoken true, then her life was as good as gone. But why hadn’t they done it already? Why kidnap her?

“The only reason you’re still alive, witch, is that you have information vital to us. Make this easy on yourself and don’t try to be a hero.” His accent was Bostonian through and through.

She tried to blink away the clouds in her vision. The room slowly came into focus. Dark, drab unpainted brick walls. Stairs leading upward. Small rectangular windows set high up against the ceiling. Unease settled in her belly. She had no clue where she was, and judging by the surroundings, she was nowhere anyone would find her.

“What do you want from me? What did I do to you?” She groaned, still fighting the effects of the tranquilizer.

The man carried something in his hand, a file of some kind judging by the shape of the manila colored blob. “You’ve been with the vampire known as Decimus Claudius Naevius Aurelius, also known as Klaus, Claude, and more recently, Nicholas. We have reason to believe he is part of a nest of vampires here responsible for the destruction of our repository.”

She blinked and tried to focus. The man was bald, like the last Saint she’d met. He was tall, too, and slightly heavyset. He stared down hatefully at her with piercing hazel eyes. She tried to reach out with her mind, and make a connection to him, like she and Nicholas had been able to do back at the bar.

The bald man must have known what she was doing; he quickly broke eye contact and smacked his hand with the folder he’d been holding. “Answers! Now! Do you know this vampire?”

“Sure… whatever… yeah, I met him. But I’m not
with
him.”

“You were seen entering this home no less than three times.” He held up a picture of the rowhouse where Nicholas and the others lived. “Don’t lie to me. He would not have taken you to his residence if you were not close.”

“So, you know where he lives. Good for you. Why do you need me?”

“The artifacts stolen from our repository have been relocated. Where are they?”

She was starting to regret ever setting eyes on Nicholas – and Jeremy, for that matter. Somehow she’d ended up a pawn in the middle of their fight. “Look, I don’t know. Let me go.”

The bald man refused to acknowledge her request. “Are they located on the premises?”

“How am I supposed to know that?”

“You’ve been inside!”

“Look. I have no part in this whole fight between you guys. I came here for Jeremy—”

“Then maybe we should have Jeremy here to help you remember.” The man turned and walked to the stairs. He pressed a button on the wall. “Send down Angles.”

A soft buzz sounded and the door at the top of the stairs opened. Dressed in black fatigues with a red cross emblazoned on the shoulder, Jeremy descended into the basement.  

“Reporting as ordered, sir!”

“You told me she would cooperate. Make her, or we’re through with her, understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Jeremy snapped to attention and saluted.

He turned on her. Even through the haze in her vision, she saw the coldness in his eyes. The man she’d once loved was truly gone. “Let’s have it, Kit. Make things easy for us.”

“Why, so you can kill me when you’re done?”

“If you cooperate, we can work with you, rehabilitate you. Help you to see the light.”

“Do you hear yourself? What the fuck is wrong with you, Jer?”

“Tell us what we need.”

“Go fuck yourself.” She spat at him. When this was over, she’d come back to haunt this sonofabitch! That was for sure.

“Be a bitch all you like. We have other ways of getting the information we need.”

“What are you going to do, hurt me? Is that how you get your jollies now? Make you feel like a big man?”

His big hand flew faster than she’d been able to react. The sharp sting in her cheeks caused tears to well up in her eyes. He’d never been the type to hit a woman before. He’d get angry, sure. They’d exchanged heated words, but never in the entire time that she’d known him had he raised his hand in anger toward her. Heat throbbed in her cheeks.

“Don’t make me do this.” Jeremy warned. “I don’t want to, but I will if you keep this up.”

It became painfully clear at that moment that she wouldn’t be leaving this room alive. She barely recognized the man in front of her, and if he was bad, the other man standing at the back of the room supervising was probably worse.

“I already told you, I don’t know anything.”

“Then you’re of no use to us,” the bald man at the back of the room said.

“She knows something. She’s just holding back,” Jeremy said enthusiastically to his boss. “I can get her to talk.”

“Perhaps she needs a little persuasion.” The bald man stepped forward, pulling a long black stick from a holster at his belt. The end of the stick had two metal prongs.

Kitara blinked away the last remnants of haze from her vision, just as the tip of the black stick lit up with a small flash. A low buzzing sound emanated from it. She’d seen something like this before, on her parents’ old ranch.

Oh shit.
“I told you, I don’t know anything,” she pleaded, knowing what was about to come.

“What were you doing with the vampire?” Jeremy asked. His voice, though still determined, had softened a bit.

“Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything with the vampire. He was just trying to keep me safe from you.” Panic laced her words, making her voice crack. She knew no matter what she said, she’d soon feel the sharp jolt of the cattle prod.

“Why?” The soldier aimed the tip of the cattle prod right at her face.

Kitara shrieked. “Because he said Jeremy would kill me.”

“I wouldn’t have had to do anything to you if you’d just stayed away. That’s why I left.” For the briefest of moments, Kitara heard tenderness behind Jeremy’s cruel tone.

“Don’t let the witch cloud your judgment. Continue the interrogation.” The other man urged Jeremy on.

“Yes sir!” Jeremy looked to his commanding officer and gave a quick nod before turning back to Kitara. “Were you in the vampire’s home?”

“Yes, you already know that, but I didn’t see anything.”

“How many other vampires were in the house?”

“I don’t know.”

The bald soldier tipped the cattle prod down, tapping her bare arm with the arcing end.

Every muscle in her body contracted as the jolt raced through her body with a snap.

Kitara screamed the moment the soldier pulled the stick away. Every nerve in her body seemed to be buzzing, but not in a good way. It was as if her whole body had been lit on fire and quickly extinguished. Her muscles refused to work. She twitched uncontrollably in her seat.

***

Nicholas heard a woman’s scream. Faint and muffled, but not too far away. His blood boiled in his veins. It had to be Kitara. “This way!” he shouted, and took off down the dark alley in the direction of the sound.

Santino wasn’t far behind.

Together, they reached a gate, halfway down the alleyway. It had been left open, leading to a small courtyard surrounded by a three-story building.

They stopped just short of the gate. Kitara’s scent was strong here. This was the place. Thank the gods they’d been able to find it. And Kitara, though in obvious pain, was still alive. He’d make those bastards pay for what they’d done to her, but at least she had not been killed.

Another scream pierced the night. Nicholas had to fight every urge not to burst into the building. He needed a plan. Going in half-cocked would get them both killed. There was no telling how many Saints might be in that building, or what they might do to Kit if they knew he was coming.

“We need a diversion. Draw as many of them out as we can, so I can get in there and extract Kitara.”

 Santino nodded with a grunt. The old vampire stood silently for a moment, his pale eyes scrutinizing every inch of the perimeter. “The others should be here soon. Can we hold until they arrive?”

Nicholas was ten seconds away from bursting through their front door as it was. Waiting was not a viable option, especially with Kitara screaming. He could only imaging the torture she must be enduring at that moment. “I don’t know if soon is going to be good enough. Do you have any firepower?”

Santino smiled. “I might have a little something in mind.” He opened his coat and pulled out a small grenade, one very similar to the one the saint had used a few nights back.

“Very nice. Where did you get that?”

“Saul and I have been stockpiling the weapons we recovered when we cleared out the repository. You’ll have to be careful, though. These things are aimed at killing our kind. They’ll do some severe damage to the humans, but if you’re too close…”

“I know. I’ve already take a hit or two.” Nicholas snatched the grenade from Santino and pocketed it for later.