Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (38 page)

"What—?"

She sank her fangs into his neck, more forcefully than she meant to.
 
Travis cried out and resisted for a moment.
 
A tear ran down her cheek as she held tight, wrapping her fingers in his hair.
 
She wondered if those first few seconds would ever get easier, if she would ever not feel like a monster.

It didn't take long for Travis to stop struggling as his body tensed.
 
His hand fell on her thigh, sending tingly shocks all throughout her body.
 
He did everything in his limited power to draw her in closer, nearly pulling her on top of him in the swinging seat.
 
Zoey didn't resist, and sat in his lap.
 
The beautiful crimson oozed down her throat, and she could sense Travis begging her to continue.
 
She closed her eyes as the backyard, the tree, the swing, all faded away.
 
It was only Zoey and Travis.
 
Erotic thoughts invaded.
 
She imagined taking Travis back to her hotel room and having their way with each other.

Her eyes shot open as an image of Steven assaulting her popped in her mind.
 
After that was the memory of Shawn's face, nearly dead in his minivan.
 
A vampire had nearly killed her, and she responded by nearly killing someone else.

Her willpower returned, violently shoving aside every pleasure.
 
One day, maybe willpower and pleasure could exist together.

Zoey withdrew her fangs and quickly licked at the puncture wounds, drawing the skin together.
 
The sensation made Travis shiver. She could only assume she was doing it correctly, but he did stop bleeding.
 
He held on as tight as he could, and she made no effort to move from his lap.
 
She wanted to stay with him all day, but knew that was impossible.

"Oh, shit," he whispered.
 
"What did you do to me?"

"Are you okay?"

He wiggled in place, fighting the erection Zoey felt underneath her.

"Yeah, I'm definitely okay.
 
Could you do it again?" he joked.

They laughed together, and Zoey felt infinitely better than the last time she tried to feed.
 
Travis suddenly couldn't keep his eyes open, and his hands fell from Zoey's body.

"I'm
so
tired," he said.
 
"Did I drink something?
 
I don't remember drinking anything."

Zoey was alarmed for a moment, but realized exhaustion was settling in, as well as a vampire stealing a bit of blood.
 
His head fell forward, which she caught on her shoulder.
 
She gently lowered him onto the seat, wishing she could nap with him.
 
His heartbeat was still steady and strong.
 
She felt great herself, like she could lift a car over her head.

"I'm Zoey," she whispered in his ear.
 
He wouldn't remember, but she felt she owed him an ounce of truth.
 
"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Kylie.
 
Or Zoey.
 
You're beautiful."

Travis drifted off into a deep sleep.
 
Zoey kissed him one more time, gently on the lips.
 
She'd make an announcement to the party, for Travis' sister, that he was asleep in the backyard, so he wouldn't be late for work.

Zoey didn't know how she felt.
 
Excited, relieved, apprehensive, empowered, terrified.
 
For the first time, she'd successfully drank from a mortal without harming them.

Maybe, if she ever talked to Victoria again, she'd be proud of her.

The neighborhood surrounding the address Greg gave Victoria was a rough one.
 
The mortals on the streets eyed her Porsche like it was candy as she wound through the streets.
 
The parking garage had been abandoned for some time.
 
Graffiti lined the structure, and tattered police tape served as a crime scene long forgotten.
 
Victoria drove through the tape and headed down.

It was dark, but only for a moment.
 
The sounds and scents flowed into her senses.
 
Music, laughter, food, drugs, sex, fire.
 
At first she only saw shapes and shadows, moving ahead of her.
 
She parked the car, even taking the time to stay in between the faded lines, and approached the gathering.

Conflicted emotions ran through her as she took in the setting.
 
There was somewhere around fifty people.
 
It was close to an even split between vampires and mortals, and they were coexisting like she'd never seen before.
 
Dancing, singing, kissing, talking.
 
There were empty drums full of burning wood for light, which the vampires stayed away from.
 
The music was even at an acceptable level, out of respect for the vampires' sensitive hearing.

However, she couldn't approve of
all
the behavior.

A couple was having sex against the concrete wall.
 
A male vampire fed from a mortal woman, easily holding her up while she wrapped her legs around his hips.
 
A group of mortals snorted lines of cocaine off each other.
 
A newborn vampire joined in, wanting to see how it affected her.
 
The vampires and mortals both gave Victoria an awkward glare as she passed through.
 
She was so obviously out of place.

Seeing the sights around her only made her want to call Jack.
 
She wanted Zoey home as fast as possible.

She didn't see Thomas, but could smell him.
 
Trying to find the center of the party, she stood next to a couple making out in a sleeping bag on the ground.
 
She was ready to call out when a familiar voice beat her to it.

"Who let that bitch in here?"

The party quieted down as Thomas pushed his way forward.
 
He passed a woman feeding from a man, and Victoria had the displeasure of watching him climax as his knees buckled.

"Thomas," she said, trying to keep her tone polite and even.
 
"A word, please."

"Oh, you want to talk to
me
?
 
You hear that, everybody?
 
The hot little redhead suddenly thinks she gets to talk to me.
 
Look around.
 
You don't exactly belong here."

"Please, this is important—"

"Fuck!
 
Did you hear that?
 
Did I hear a
please
in there?"

"Listen—"

"No, you listen."
 
He spoke with the power of someone surrounded by their fellow kin.
 
It was a shame it was an illusion.
 
"One word, and my people here will tear you apart.
 
This is your only warning.
 
None of us have anything to say to you.
 
Get the fuck out."

Victoria resisted the urge to issue her own warning.
 
She didn't come to the parking garage to fight.
 
Her own kind was dying, and she didn't want to play a part in hurting anyone else.

"Don't be a fool—"

"I can't believe this."
 
Thomas glared at several of his friends, and slowly a circle of bodies formed around Victoria.
 
They each tried to look menacing, opening and closing their fists.
 
"They say we have good hearing, but you could have fooled the fuck out of me.
 
She can't hear worth shit."

Thomas had interrupted her three times.
 
She wasn't sure if she could take a fourth.
 
She didn't have Jack's ability for perception, but it wasn't a problem to break down who was a vampire and who wasn't.
 
She'd need to be careful in the upcoming fight.
 
The appropriate strength and skill needed to be applied.

"I'm trying to help—"

"Whoa!
 
You hear that?
 
She's only trying to—"

It was Victoria's turn to interrupt.
 
She charged forward and sliced Thomas across the face, and the battle was on.

It was a shame Jack wasn't with her.
 
It wasn't that she needed his help.
 
He simply would have enjoyed himself.

Victoria could handle herself very well.

Thomas and his friends attacked, slowly and without precision.
 
One of the nearby vampires occasionally managed to land a lucky strike here and there, but they barely slowed her down.
 
She shifted her hands constantly, from claw to hand and back again, depending on the target.
 
Most of the party-goers only wanted to do just that, to party.
 
But a few of Thomas' mortal friends decided they'd test Victoria with a weapon, and shoved broken brooms and mops into the nearby drums of fire.

That only further enraged her.

One wielded the fiery weapon.
 
Victoria expertly snatched it from his grasp and slammed the broken end into the chest of a vampire attempting to sneak up behind her.

In between beatings, Thomas tried to slip in to strike at Victoria.
 
He failed each time, with every encounter ending with another lacerated body part.

The fight ended when a mortal tried to attack her from behind, only to be tossed into a drum of fire.
 
The drum spilled over, catching several old mattresses on fire.
 
Vampires and mortals alike backed away in fear.

Victoria surveyed the chaos around her.
 
Several mortals with broken bones lay about.
 
Bleeding vampires limped away to lick their wounds.
 
Victoria herself was a mess.
 
Her stomach had five equally deep gashes, and her calf was cut as well.

Thomas had received the worst of anyone.

His face was more blood than flesh.
 
His shirt was nearly torn away.
 
He lay in an ever-widening pool of his own blood.
 
Another mortal stepped forward.
 
Victoria wasn't sure if he wanted to fight or check on his fallen friend.

Victoria took no chances.

Her eyes turned crimson as she let out a feral hiss, her fangs exposed.
 
Her claw was at the ready on her side, ready to bleed anyone that approached.
 
The party-goers that were still upright backed up, and Victoria could see in their eyes there would be no more fighting.

She leaned over Thomas and lightly tapped him on the cheek with a finger.
 
Everything from her elbow down ached.
 
So many changes from claw to hand had taken its toll.
 
Without blood, it would be a day or so before she gripped a pencil.

"Thomas.
 
A word, please," she said again.

"Fuck you."

She pulled out a photo she printed of the Vermilion lobby.
 
She made sure to get a shot that included both Thomas and the mysterious visitor.

"I need to know who this is.
 
You met him three days ago."

He said nothing, only grimaced in pain.
 
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward.

"For the love of fuck," Thomas complained.
 
"I haven't hurt any humans.
 
I swear.
 
I've been behaving, like you said."

Before she could press the photo to his face again, there were frightened yelps in the gathered crowd.
 
They parted and backed away in all directions, leaving only a single male vampire lying on the ground.
 
He writhed and convulsed as he begged for help.

Victoria knew what was coming, and could do nothing.
 
She'd never felt so helpless.

Seeing the utter pain on a silent camera was not the same as witnessing it in person.
 
His screams filled the parking garage.
 
He actually lost control over his body, as his eyes changed from red to normal, and his hands to claws, and back again.

She grabbed Thomas' hair and lifted his head for him to see.

"This," she said.
 
"Is why I'm here."

"Billy?" he said, recognizing the vampire.
 
Finally, something else was in his voice besides disdain.
 
Concern for someone he called a friend.
 
"Billy, man?
 
What's wrong?"

Thomas flipped over and crawled toward Billy.
 
He only made it halfway when the inevitable happened.

His skin started to flare, as if the sun had reached him.
 
With one final outburst, he turned to dust, falling in place exactly as he laid, like some bizarre crime scene police outline.

The crowd broke out in panic.
 
Vampires and mortals alike ran for the exit.
 
Some didn't even bother with their clothes and drugs, leaving them behind.

Thomas remained on his hands and knees, still in shock.

Victoria knelt beside him and again brandished the photo.

"Do you see?" she said, her voice compassionate.
 
"We're dying.
 
Something is killing us.
 
Look at this picture.
 
I think this man has something to do with all of this."

He said nothing.
 
His eyes fell on the picture, but he couldn't form words.
 
Victoria could see he was somewhere else, far away.