Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (55 page)

Tell me what it said,
Phil whispered
. I thought you’d tell me before now, but if you’re this scared, I can no longer wait for you to get around to it.

It’s nothing really.
She felt his small surge of anger, then his love. She felt bathed in it.
It said that I wasn’t as safe as I thought.

What did it say exactly?

She didn’t answer him right away, just realizing that he was speaking to her through their link and her family too.

I’ve had a great deal of practice handling two conversations at once. Stop procrastinating. Tell me.

Holly Force, I’m going to enjoy killing you and that bat you are fucking.
She shifted on the arm of the chair before she continued.
I don’t go by Holly Force in the company. I’m Heather Wells.

“There’s been a few changes in what Holly has told you,” Phil blurted out. “She’s not just being tagged, but someone wants her dead.”

“What the fuck?” Holly said to him as she jumped to her feet and stepped back out of his reach. “What the hell are you doing? I told you that because I thought you’d keep it between us.”

The room around them erupted just as she thought it would. She ignored it as she and Phil argued. The moron had just put her family into danger, and she was going to show him how pissed she was. Before she could think about what she was doing, she shifted and lunged at him.

Chapter 15

Theresa let the room’s voices flow around her. She fed off the energy from the shouts and heated arguments. She thrived off their stupidity, and also their ignorance of what they were.

They all knew they were vampires. It would have been impossible to have hid that from them, but there were other things, things that she’d only just figured out on her own. Like feeding off the emotions of those around her. She couldn’t live off it, but she could get a quick fix. She shifted in the chair that she had claimed for her own and waited for the high to slow as the voices calmed a little. She opened her eyes when she took a deep breath.

“Are you all with me now or do I have to kill someone else for you to realize who’s in charge?” She glanced over at the pile of ash that she left there every time she killed one of them, all two of them. It wasn’t as many as it looked, of course. She’d brought in some soot from a fireplace and put more and more on it daily to make herself look all “bad assed.” She grinned at the term she’d heard a few days ago.

“I don’t understand how you can be so calm when the big guys are looking for us.” She simply smiled at Peter, the newest vampire to the group. “What are we being targeted for anyway? For feeding?”

Technically, the Trustees were only looking for her. But she thought that if she told her posse, another term she’d learned recently, that she was the one they wanted, they might turn her in for the reward. She stood up and he bent at the waist before her.

“They seem to think that we’re not supposed to feed from people but each other. They want us to drink each other’s blood and then die.” She’d seen what happened when a vampire drank from another, and she shivered with the memory. “I think they want to be the only vampires in existence and want all of us underlings to die.”

Anye had come to her last night and told her that Holly Force and Phil Campbell were looking for her and were going to kill her as soon as they found her. Anye said she didn’t know why other than they had some sort of grudge against her. Theresa didn’t believe her, but she was thrilled about having their names confirmed. She’d known who they were from the hotel, but she’d not asked them if those were the names they went by. She was also surprised to find out that Holly was some sort of killer. She’d not thought that by looking at her, and Theresa thought her mother was lying to her to scare her. Anye told her that werewolf blood was by far the best to live off of. Theresa couldn’t wait to find out. She licked her lips when she felt her fangs drop.

“Then we’re all doomed.” One of the others, someone Theresa couldn’t put a name to if her life depended on it, nor did she care to, flopped down on the filthy couch. “We might as well go on in the sun and end it for us.”

Theresa was at her throat in a heartbeat. She wasn’t startled by how fast she could move this time, but was thrilled for the way it happened. The girl was just about to die, only she didn’t know it yet. Lifting the girl up, she held her high then tossed her away before she turned to the rest of them.

“We will end them before they do us. Do I make myself clear?” They nodded to her and she knew that they wouldn’t talk like that again. “As of right now, we’re gonna find that bitch and make her pay. But the vampire? He’s all mine.”

And he would be too. Theresa had decided that he was going to fuck her. She knew he’d be good at it too. Nothing like the stupid babies she’d been with, but a real man. She moved to the chair again as her people dispersed.

Her people. She’d been running this group for nearly a decade and she was tired of them. Thinking about how she was going to get rid of this group, she felt the air stir around her. The second her “mother” walked into the room Theresa was ready for her.

“Who did you tell?” The first slash of the blade hit Theresa across her cheek. It burned like fire and she jumped back as she lunged at her again. “Who did you tell you were my daughter?”

This time Theresa was able to hit back, not as hard as she’d have liked, but hard enough to knock Anye to the floor. She stepped back quickly before she answered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you honestly think I want people to know who you are to me? What the heck is wrong with you?”

The wound at her cheek continued to bleed and Theresa licked her thumb and ran it over the open cut. It still bled, but didn’t hurt nearly as bad. She bit her palm open and rubbed her blood over the cut and could feel it begin to seal. She wondered briefly why it hadn’t healed on its own.

“They know. I don’t know how they found out unless you told them, but they fucking know. The Trustees are asking me all sorts of questions as if I had something to do with what you are.” Theresa had a second to be hurt by the comment, but Anye wasn’t finished yet. “They are asking me to give my blood to the knight. Telling me it would go faster for me if I cooperated.”

Theresa didn’t understand why they wanted her to spill her blood to the darkness. Night wasn’t really anything to be afraid of, and she was about to say so when Anye ran at her again. She was quick, almost quicker than Theresa remembered her being, and she was barely able to get out of the way before the blade sank into the chair she’d been standing next to.

With a roar she attacked. Theresa ran at Anye with a pipe she’d hidden a few days ago when she’d been playing with a human. It still smelled of blood and fear, and she nearly missed her mark thinking about when she’d licked the pipe clean. She’d had so much fun that night. This time she was able to hit her.

The pipe broke her jaw and her cheekbone, if Theresa didn’t miss her guess. There was a crunching sound and, for a few seconds, a wheezing that sounded like Anye was having trouble breathing. Theresa didn’t go to see, didn’t even get close enough to smell. She watched the wounded vampire as if she knew she was going to attack no matter how much pain she may or may not have been in.

“You fucking whore,” she shouted at her. “You mother fucking whore. How dare you hit me? I’m the counselor of the Trustees, the highest ranking officer in the whole of vampires.”

Theresa took several steps back from Anye, knowing somehow that this woman was beyond just mad, even beyond pissed. She was in a murderous rage. When she picked up another pipe and held it in front of her Anye laughed.

“You moron. You really think you can hurt me? What do you know about power and age? I may be a mere few decades older than you, but I have been taught while you stumbled around like a babe at her mother’s tit.”

Theresa was suddenly afraid. She hadn’t been taught. The first time she’d stumbled over her meal of the night, she’d been so afraid she’d not fed for over a week. And then when she had again, she’d killed three people trying to figure out what had happened to her.

“My mother’s tit, as you well know, wasn’t there for me. You didn’t even hang around long enough for me to be named. Father said you’d died giving birth. But I guess the night called to you.” Theresa attacked again. One pipe missed its mark while the other broke Anye’s arm. “I will break you apart one piece at a time and spit on your ashes afterward.”

When Anye rushed her this time, Theresa fell backward. She knew she was going to die as soon as Anye fell atop her. The claws that morphed at the end of her hand both terrified and fascinated her. So much so that when they came toward her throat Theresa felt excitement rush through her blood. But at the last second she moved and knocked Anye back. The older vampire moved then, faster than Theresa had ever been able to. First she was standing in front of her, then she was at her throat. Theresa tried to get loose, but all she managed to do was tear her fingers from her hand, sending her mom screaming into the night.

~~~

His phone going off woke him. Phil wasn’t sure who it was; the ringer was the default one, but he knew for someone to call him this late in the afternoon, it had to be important. He answered it cautiously.

“Anye Sabalz just came to me with her hand nearly ripped from her body. She claims that she doesn’t remember what happened. You should also know that we’ve got a location as to where the rogue and the others have been hiding. Won’t do us much good now, mind you, because the house is burning as we speak.” Phil heard Myles laugh and was worried for the man as he continued. “They are trying to get it under control, but the entire area is going up.”

“What else has happened, Myles?” The man laughed again and Phil looked over at Holly as she rose from the bed to go to the bathroom. “Tell me.”

It was hard to compel someone to tell you what you wanted over the phone, but apparently, it worked. Myles started crying the moment he started talking. For a grown man to break down like this had Phil beyond worried.

“She killed four others. Humans, I guess you call them. They were camping out in the upper floors. Or so the police here are saying. I saw one of them. They had been…she’d been…I guess she’d been using them.” Phil closed his eyes, knowing there was more and dreading it. “They were babies. One couldn’t have been much more’n ten or so. The youngest was a kid. I’d say six or seven. They couldn’t have gotten out if they’d been able to move. She had them near death when…the coroner said that they’d been drained or something. I’m thinking she had them chained up to one of them old fashioned radiators. They were alive when they burned up like they did.”

Phil looked over at Holly when she came out dressed. Her entire outfit was black from the top of her head to the shoes on her feet. He nodded. They were going hunting and there was no reason to hide it.

“Tell me where you are.” Myles gave him the address. “Holly and I are on our way. We should be there in about ten minutes, less if I can convince her to let me take her.” She nodded when he looked at her. “Don’t say anything to anyone that you called us. We’ll be there shortly.”

Holly was wrapping her body around his when she asked something he’d only just thought of. “How did he know that the rogue was there? I mean, I know enough about vampires to know that their sense of smell is extraordinary, but he knew she was there. How?”

He knew she’d missed part of the conversation and he related the part of Anye going to Myles. “I didn’t think to ask him why she’d go to him and not to someone she knew she could trust. Could she be trying to cover her ass? I would be.” Phil kissed her mouth then grinned at her. “Hang on. I’m going to move us very quickly and I don’t want to drop you on the way.”

“You do and you’ll be very sorry.” She buried her face in his neck and her hot breath made his cock thicken where she wrapped around him the most intimately. She looked up at him. “Seriously? We’ve done nothing but fuck since I moved in with you.”

“Yes we have, and you’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” He swatted her hard across her ass. “Now behave or we’ll be late and you’ll have to explain to Myles why I had to stop long enough to fuck you against the wall before we left.”

Christ, his entire body hardened when she groaned. He was going to have to move her off his cock now or really fuck her. Her soft folds were very tempting spread over his cock the way she draped over him. Wrapping both his hands around her ass, he did press her against the wall before he moved to a safe place to move. She growled this time and he could smell her. They were going to kill each other at this rate.

The crime scene tape was everywhere. It didn’t stop him or Holly, but it did slow them down. They found Myles at the far corner with a group of uniformed police officers. None of them looked happy to be there.

“Anye is spilling her guts to that other guy. I don’t know who he is, but he keeps hissing at her and showing her his fangs. Tell me,” Myles asked suddenly, “do your fangs get bigger the older you get?”

Phil didn’t answer. He didn’t figure Myles was serious and he wasn’t sure the man could handle the information. Yes, fangs did get longer as a vampire aged, and sharper as well. He wondered what the human would think if he knew that as a vampire, Phil could find every person he’d ever bitten and tell just where he’d fed from them. It would probably freak him out. He knew that there were times when he was a little overwhelmed by his knowledge too.

The man that Anye was currently speaking to was her second. Jose Benson was older than Anye and a great deal less tolerant of today’s actions. Phil walked up to him and bowed low. Jose growled low before he spoke.

“You’re a good deal older than me and a great deal more experienced. Had you taken this job when it was offered, this mess….” He looked around the area before continuing. “It would now be your problem and not mine. Do not bow before me, knight. I have enough going on right now to be worried that you might break a hip.”

Jose’s laughter was chilling and made the hair on his neck rise. Phil looked over at Holly when she came to them, and laughed again when she too bowed before Jose and earned another growl.

“What is to become of her? She’s not as innocent as she has led us all to believe. We’ve found…evidence that she not only knew of the rogue, but is related to her by blood as well as being her sister from the same maker.” Holly growled at Anye when she tried to deny what she’d just said. “I don’t lie, vamp, and you have made a living from it. Behave or I’ll snap your neck like a chicken.”

Jose glanced down at Anye before he spoke. “She is going to be staked when this is over. For now, she is going to give you her blood so that you may find the rogue. She will cooperate or she will not. Either way, you are to taste her.”

Phil didn’t say what was really on his mind about staking the former Trustee, but thought the man knew what he was thinking. Anye had been the center of this since before she’d been made what she was. She should have been killed long ago. But he looked at Holly before he answered about the blood. Holly had been quite clear on what she would do to him if he even tried to bite the Trustee.