Eternal Flame Bundle with Eternal Hunter & I'll Be Slaying You (79 page)

Zane blinked at that. Yeah, vamps could die from blood loss, but he’d never heard of a vamp taking his own life that way.

You had to want death pretty badly to take that route.

“Last night, he said some SOB named Grim was after Dee. She needs help. I’ve got to find her, help her—”

At that, Zane knocked the cop back. Tony staggered, nearly fell to the cement. “And how are you gonna help her?” He demanded. “Offer to be her snack?”

A muscle flexed along Tony’s jaw. “She’s not like that. She wasn’t crazy, she was just…Dee.” Sadness again.

Fucking shame.

Tony’s chin jerked up. “I don’t want her to wind up like Gomez or Grace. I don’t want—”

He stiffened. Okay, yeah, this was one of those moments in life that sucked. “Grace was working with the vamps. She lured the hunters out, got them to lower their guards.” Then served them right up to the vampires.

A woman he’d known for years. He’d laughed with her. Talked with her about her dumbass dog. Stolen her coffee more days than he could count.

And she’d set them up.

“What? No, man, she was a vic, same as the others, Grace wouldn’t—”

“We hacked into her hard drive today. Did interviews with family, friends, and we got her doctor to talk.” Patient confidentiality, his ass. That old rule stopped the moment the patient got zipped up in a body bag. “She was dying. Cancer. She had about six months left to live.”

“Christ.”

“You know humans,” Zane said softly, watching the cop carefully. “Once the clock starts running out, they get desperate. They’ll try anything.”

“Hell!” His throat worked. “Grace saw Dee.” He ran his hands over his face. “She was here. She saw Dee change, survive—
live.
”

Vampire. “Guess it was too much temptation for her. The bastards sent her an e-mail. Told her to bring a trade outside to them. The vamps promised her a new life.”

But just gave her death.

“They’re going after Dee. You know they won’t stop until she’s dead.”

No, they wouldn’t. “It’s time for you to step back, Tony. You’re not strong enough to handle the hell that’s coming.” Not with a Born Master playing in the game.

“I’m not leaving her alone.”

His brows shot up. “Who says she’s alone? Word I have is that Dee’s got a new lover, a vamp who risked the fire for her.” Interesting. In his experience, vamps really didn’t like to burn.

“I don’t trust that bastard.”

Neither did he. “You think he’s setting her up to die?” Grim. That was the Born’s name. Old as frigging dirt. And the older the vamps were, the stronger they were and the harder to kill.

Dee was a newbie. So easy for her to die.

“No,” Tony gritted out. “I think he’s setting her up to kill for him.”

Footsteps shuffled and a woman with short, red hair appeared, rounding the corner. She drew up when she saw them, her eyes widening.

The scent of smoke teased Zane’s nose.

She hurried past them, and he caught a whiff of…blood?

Hell of a combination.

“
Zane.
Shit man, forget about your dick right now, okay?”

He yanked his gaze off the woman’s ass and zeroed his stare back on Tony. “Go home. Leave Dee to me.”

But the cop’s head started shaking, hard. “I’m not abandoning her, I’m not just—”

“You want to be her prey?”

“
What?
No, she’s not like that!”

“Every vamp is ‘like that’ when they get hungry enough.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You want to find her? Go inside and talk to Pak. You know that guy always has info about this city.”

Tony’s dark stare measured him. “And where the hell are you going?”

He brushed by him. Didn’t meet his stare. “Hunting.”

“Who are you hunting?”

Zane ignored the question and kicked up the stand on his new motorcycle.

“
Who are you hunting?”

A flick of his fingers, a press of his foot, and the engine roared to life.

“Not her, you got me? Not. Her!”

The motorcycle shot away from the corner, racing right in front of an old, gray truck.

“Tell me about your change.” They probably didn’t have time for this. She should be getting dressed. Finding weapons. Figuring out what the hell they should do next.

But she needed to know more about Simon. Wanted to know and she didn’t want the blood link to tell her. She wanted him to talk. “Your parents, the vampires attacked them.” Killed them. Just like they’d killed her family. “Is that when you changed? Did they trans—”

He rolled away from her.

A chill rose on her flesh. “Simon?”

He sat on the edge of the bed, giving her a view of his strong, powerful back. “Don’t make me into something I’m not, babe.”

She pulled the covers up to her chest and waited.

“I was already a vampire before my parents were killed. I’d been a vamp for a year before the attack.” He glanced back at her. “You thought I was forced to turn?”

A nod.

His lips twisted. “No. I was one of the ones who chose to change.”

“Why?” The word came out husky, rough. To choose to be a vamp, to drink blood, to
kill
?

He rose, gave her a fine view of his ass and stalked to the jeans they’d tossed aside at some point. He yanked them up. “I was working in the Middle East. The shittiest and hottest place the world ever forgot.” Simon turned toward her. “One night, my men were ambushed. Cut down in the road by bullets and bombs.”

Dee didn’t move. Couldn’t.

“They died around me, their screams in my ears.” His fingers brushed over his stomach. “I bled out on the ground. My leg was shot to hell. My chest torn open. Every breath I took tasted of fire, and I knew, I
knew
I’d wouldn’t make it off that road.”

“But you did.”

His eyes darkened to black. “A man came out of the rubble. He walked straight to me. Asked me if I wanted to live or die.”

He’d chosen to live, as a vampire. Her lips parted.

“I heard the thump of a helicopter’s blades then. Whirring in the air. They were coming to help us, but I was the only man still living.”

So he could have made it without the change? He could have kept being human?

“I knew about the
Other
.” He swallowed. “I’d been to so many places, seen things people wanted to pretend didn’t exist. War brings out the monsters, Dee. It brings them out like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’d believe almost anything.” Sad and true.

“I knew looking up at him—I could see his fangs, see his eyes changing. I knew what he was, and I knew I wanted to be like him.”

She sucked in a sharp breath.

“The medics could have tried patching me up. Could have saved my ass—and
maybe
, maybe I would have pulled through. But my job was to fight. I had to be strong.
He
could make me strong. Stronger than I’d ever been, and I’d never have to worry about choking on my own blood as bullets and hellfire took me down on a dirty road ever again.”

No, he’d just have to worry about getting his head chopped off and having a wooden stake driven through his beating heart.

“You don’t understand, do you?” His voice was grim. “Vampires are always young, always strong. That’s a deal a man dying on a battlefield isn’t gonna refuse. I wanted the bite. I would have done just about anything to keep living right then.”

“But the helicopter—”

“I wanted the bite,” he said again. “I wanted forever.” His shoulders lifted, fell. “I’m not gonna lie to you. Not gonna say the change was forced on me. I chose.”

“And would you choose the same thing now?”

His lips thinned. “Would you?”

“
I
didn’t choose this, I didn’t want—”

“Getting out is easy, Dee. Bleed out. Let the fire take you. Every single moment you live, you’re choosing.”

She knew he was right. She was choosing this life because for her, there was no alternative. “I’m not killing myself. That’s not me.” Too easy. Fight. Survive. Pak had taught her that. You survived, no matter what. You lived.

“It’s not me, either.” Soft. “I didn’t know—didn’t understand about the Borns when I was brought over. After the exchange, I woke up, strong, thirsty, so thirsty, and I didn’t even feel the Born’s power at first.”

Ah, key phrase there.
At first.

“Then the prick started trying to worm his way into my mind.” His chin lifted. “That link gets weaker the farther you are from the Born, so my tactic was to stay as far away from Grim as I could.”

Her fingers knotted around the sheets. “Guess that tactic didn’t work so well, huh?”

“He knew what I was doing. Sometimes, it seems like Grim knows everything.” He exhaled heavily. “To teach me a lesson, he went after my family. They didn’t know. They had no idea what I’d become and when the vampires came for them…” He shuddered. “They suffered. Grim and Leo made sure of it. All so they could bring
‘my ass in line.’”

She flinched.

“I buried them, and I heard Grim’s call in my head every fucking second.” He unballed his fists, stared down at his palms. “He wanted me to come to him. Wanted me to kill. Wanted me to be part of his twisted vampire family.”

“The alpha,” she managed. “Controlling his pack.” And sensing a challenge from within. “What did you do?”

He glanced at her. “Made a deal with the devil.”

That didn’t sound good. Dee rose, fumbled with her clothes, and managed to dress.

The silence in the room thickened.

She shoved on her shoes.

Simon just stood there, bare feet, bare chest. Watching her.

Dressed, armored, she finally asked, “What kind of deal?”
No, not for me. Don’t tell me that you’re—

“I found a warlock in Vegas. Asshole named Skye. He has magic—dark magic—and he used it on me, for a price.”

Dee licked her lips. His gaze darted to her mouth. “What price?”

“I bled for him. Thirty days straight. Skye drained me nearly to death before each sunrise.”

“Simon!” Blood loss like that—

“In return, he put a spell shield in place for me. One strong enough to weaken Grim’s call. Not block it completely, but to mute it so I could turn away from the Born.” He stalked toward her. Lifted his hand and ran his fingers down her cheek. “And find you.”

Her fingers lifted and curled around his wrist. “Why didn’t you tell me all this at the beginning?”

“Because you would have run from me. No.” A slow shake of his head. “You would have tried to kill me, and I needed you too much to have you turn away. You’re my shot at freedom, Dee. Real freedom. This shield won’t last forever. I’ll be lucky if it lasts a few more months. Grim’s too strong to keep out. I know it. Skye knows it. Grim knows it.” His eyes blazed darkness as he told her, “I don’t want to become what he’ll make me.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “You won’t.” He wasn’t like the others. He’d fought too hard. Held on to his sanity by going right into the darkness.

“Over the years, there have been others who were changed and didn’t become—” His lips flattened. “Vamps don’t have to be killing machines. It’s the Borns, they’re in control. The Taken just dance like puppets on freaking strings. The Borns who have been tainted by the power—”

Or curse, depending on who you asked.

“—they’re the ones who want the blood on the streets.”

“Is that what Grim wants?”

A bitter laugh. “Grim wants the world. And if he can, he’ll take it.”

Not while she was around. “He’ll keep coming for me, won’t he?” Keep attacking those she cared for, just as he’d attacked Simon’s family.

“It’s his way. He separates his prey. Makes you suffer, tries to break you.”

His flesh was warm against her. “I don’t break easily.” Never had. Never would.

“No, you don’t.” He leaned down, brushed his lips over hers. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”

Whoa, now, what was that—

“Dee, I know this thing between us—shit, I know I wasn’t honest with you at the start, but you and me, what we’ve got between us, it’s real.”

“It’s lust,” she told him, fighting to keep her voice even. Couldn’t be more.

“It’s that.” One brow rose. “But if it was just me wanting to fuck you, things wouldn’t be so damn complicated.”

Ah, okay.

“We want the same thing, Dee. We want to stop Grim.”

A nod.

“Partners?”

She’d need him. No doubt. But when hell came calling, would she be able to trust him in those last minutes? Or would Grim take control?

His lips thinned at her hesitation. “When you drink from me, what happens?”

Pleasure. Need. Fire. Dee swallowed. “I get stronger.” The revulsion wasn’t there. Not with him. It had
never
been there with him.

“No.” He stepped back from her, putting a few feet between their bodies. “What do you see?”

Her breath caught.

“I thought so. You see my life, don’t you? Flashes?”

“Yes.” She
knew
that wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure, vampires could use their power to look into the mind of prey, but she hadn’t been focusing, hadn’t been trying, hadn’t even wanted to see—

“You saw with Leo, didn’t you?”

“I saw him kill his wife.”

Simon blinked.

“I saw that asshole Grim, standing over them, laughing.” She’d seen Leo cry. If he’d been enjoying the kill, he wouldn’t have shed a tear. Maybe, back then, he’d still had a conscience. A soul.

But no control.

“Borns don’t have to focus their power to steal memories.”

Steal memories. Not her plan.

“They have to focus
not
to do it. Their psychic power is so strong, the images come automatically.”

Well, damn. She’d been afraid of that. “You don’t have to try and convince me anymore.” Time for her own honesty. She crossed her arms. “I know what I’ve become.”

“Knowing and accepting are two different things, babe.”

Hit. They were and she was a long way from accepting her new “life.” “We’ll hunt him together,” she told him, straightening her spine. “But if I think you’re turning on me…”