Genesis (The Legend of Glory Book 3) (12 page)

“Not going to happen.”

“I could just take you.” He stepped in my direction.

“Yes, but you won’t. You want me to
want
to be with you.”

“You always were a smart girl.” He moved closer. “There is a guest room, but you could have a lot more fun in mine.”

I tried to back away from his slow, deliberate approach, but ended up against the bar.

He leaned in, grasped my head with both hands, and looked deep into my eyes. “Relax. We’re just getting to the sexy part.”

I tried to turn away, but he held tight and kissed me. His soft, seductive lips tasted sweet, like oranges.

Finally, he released me. “I love it when girls play hard to get. Makes the winning so much more fun.” He winked and headed toward his bedroom, but turned back to face me. “Oh, and you really might want to rethink your sleeping arrangements before Nyx gets here. She’s planning on using this as a base of operations for a while, until your baby comes. Wants to be here for the blessed event, and all. You might feel safer in my arms. The devil you know, and all that.” He went into his bedroom, and the door slammed shut behind him.

“Well,
hell
,” I said to the walls of Hell.

*          *          *

Later, when getting ready for bed, I discovered that the leather sheath containing the angelically-blessed throwing knives was still on my belt, tucked away under my thick sweater.

I considered the apparent hopelessness of my situation, and the obvious solution came to mind. But how could I kill Jesse? I could never kill Jesse. Despite the choices he had made, I loved him. I would always love him. If there really was a God, how could He want me to do that?

My struggle with spiritual faith had been constant all my life, and nothing that happened in my dealing with the supernaturals had ultimately changed that. Yes, I now understood there were many species of beings I had never before known about, but that didn’t mean there was a caring God overseeing the crowd. I mean, if there were, why did such horrible things happen? It had been a total disconnect for me ever since my sister went missing and my family fell apart. No amount of prayers to God had done any good then. Prayers pre-pandemic didn’t save at least sixteen thousand children from dying of starvation every day. Prayers during the pandemic hadn’t saved over a billion lives. Prayers post-pandemic hadn’t healed the world. Because of the magnificent beauty of creation, part of me believed in intelligent design, but in an actual Divine Being who gave a damn about what happened to that creation? Not so much.

The angels in my life were convinced that God was their father. But what if their father was just an alpha-type angel?

Zane had always believed in God with all his heart. However, that didn’t make it true. Certainly, not my truth.

That said, I still occasionally tried to reach out to the Mystery. Now seemed like an ideal time.

I stood in the middle of the room, bowed my head and whispered, “God, if you’re there I need help. Look, I can’t do this. I try to be strong. I understand this world is a battleground between good and evil, and I took a vow to serve the light. But this is just too much to ask. With life, there’s hope. Maybe Jesse will turn away from all this someday, but not if I kill him now. I’ve always found the strength to do what I think is right, but I don’t know what’s right here. Please? Please tell me what to do.”

I waited.

God didn’t answer.

However, Gen kicked me. It was the first time I had felt that kind of ninja move from her, and it reminded me that I needed to get us out of here before Nyx arrived. Nyx was the mother lode of demonic power, and I couldn’t let her get her hands on my baby.

How could I
not
defend Gen with all the weapons at my disposal? “No, no, no. Please, no. Isn’t there another way?”

I waited, but no burning bush appeared.

There was only one solution, and the crushing blow of certainty sent me to my knees. I also knew that if I did it, a part of me would die.

Tears overflowed, and I tried again. “I don’t know if anyone on the light side of this battle is listening. If not God, how about the Caretakers? Anyone? If you can hear me, please don’t make me do this. I’ve done everything I’ve been asked to do, helped everyone I could. I even offered up my body to the light. Don’t make me kill Jesse. Not this. It’s too much. I’m not strong enough or brave enough to take the life of someone I love. I’d rather die myself than do that, but I have Gen to think about, and the salvation of the human race. Is this what it comes down to? A blood sacrifice?”

No one answered.

Horror overcame all my senses and I moaned. Then my tears turned to sobs. I covered my mouth with both hands and tried to stifle the sound.

Finally, I was able to say, “God, if you are there, I think you’re a cowardly son of a bitch and you’ll never have my devotion. Not that I imagine you care. Know I’m doing this for humanity, and certainly not for you.”

Anger mingled with grief and an overriding sense of unreality. Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, opened my bedroom door, and sneaked out of my room. Dizzy and struggling for breath, I made my way as quietly as possible down the hall to Jesse’s room. Carefully, I removed a blade from its sheath. Opening the door, I could hear his steady breathing. A muted wall-mounted
TV
was on, throwing flickering light against the darkness. He lay on top of the covers, flat on his back and dressed only in jeans.

Bile threatened to rise.
It’s not my Jesse
, I told myself. Not really. Tears continued a steady trek down my face, and I swiped at them angrily.
It’s not Jesse
.

Approaching the bed, I brought the knife up and plunged it toward his heart. At the last moment, his eyes flew open and terror filled me. He grabbed my arm, twisted it, and yanked me over onto the bed beside him. Wresting the weapon from my fingers, he glared down at me with an expression of utter wrath. Through clenched teeth he said, “Don’t test me, Glory. I’d rather see you dead than lose.”

CHAPTER TEN

†          †          †

Zane woke up to the intoxicatingly sweet smell of human blood. He was on the floor of Kate’s apartment, cowboy hat over his face to block out the light, and a warm body was using his chest as a pillow. The drunken party of the night before came back in flashes of disjointed memories.

The blood was close, and the enticing scent caused his heart to gallop. Slowly, he lifted up his hat and looked down at Erica’s head on his chest. Dead to the world, long disheveled hair covered much of her face. It was her hand, wrapped in a white bandage, which the monster wanted. Badly. Fresh blood leaked from underneath the dressing and awakened the wild beast in him. “Ah, hell,” he whispered. “I hate when this happens.”

He recalled she had cut her hand on a broken bottle, Kate had cleaned the wound and bound it, and no one had given the tightly controlled blood lust in him a second thought. The blood hadn’t bothered him much while intoxicated because the liquor deadened his senses. Now he craved his next drink, and it wasn’t whiskey that he wanted. He struggled to steady his sudden shakes. “Damn.”

Erica’s wounded hand lay just a few inches below his chin. It didn’t help his growing blood lust to smell a hint of Glory’s blood in Erica’s.

He didn’t dare move. His stomach clenched, every cell in his body came alive with desire, his mouth salivated. Sweat covered him. The monster hovered, and he pushed back.

When Hope had been dying—bleeding out onto the ground—she insisted he drink her blood. He too was dying because he had hardly been feeding, and somehow she knew that. Her final act of love saved his life. After that, with the encouragement of the Goth Girls, he ramped up the hunting and bleeding of wild animals. The Goth Girls drank human blood, donated to them from their myriad of adoring friends. He, however, never partook of their stash. The only time he had ever consented to human blood was while recovering from severe injury. In the hospital, he took transfusions. Beneath the nursing ministrations and coercion of worried Goth Girls, he drank. But he had otherwise managed to keep his monster at bay. He may have lost his soul, but he was determined not to lose his honor.

Now his body screamed for fresh, human blood rich with life force. The animals he drank were a poor substitute.

With a trembling hand, he wiped the sweat from his face.

“You really don’t think you can fight me forever, do you?” the inner beast once again taunted.

“I can fight you now.”

“Can you?”

“Always have. Always will. One battle at a time.”

“You’re an arrogant bastard,” the beast said.

“I am. And I’m coming to get you.”

“Your hubris will be the death of you, son.”

“Hubris is arrogance toward a god. You aren’t my God. My God is so much stronger than you are.”

“Your God turned His back on you when you became unclean. I’m the one who’s never forsaken you. No matter what happens in these laboratories, do you really think you’ll be welcomed back into those divine arms again? Hell, you’ll likely not even be welcomed back into Glory’s arms. You’re damned, and you know it. You might as well just enjoy the life you were given.”

Before Zane realized what was happening, he drew Erica’s wrist up to his mouth and ran his tongue over it. Aroused by her strong pulse and cut palm, he moaned.

Erica stirred. Looking down, he saw her eyes staring at him. “Are you planning to seduce me with that soft tongue of yours?”

Please God, I need your help here. I’m so tired; I don’t know how much longer I can keep up the fight. If you can’t take pity on me, at least show mercy for this girl.
Sucking in a deep breath, he summoned every bit of inner strength he could muster, and finally managed to shove the monster back.

He covered his relief by offering Erica as charming a smile as he could manage. “Just admiring your perfume.”

“I’m not wearing perfume.”

“Hmm. Must be your blood then.”

Her eyes grew wide.

“Don’t worry. I can appreciate the heady bouquet of wine without indulging.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re incredibly sexy?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She managed a weak grin. “And an arrogant bastard?”

“Surprisingly recently.”

She reclaimed her arm and shoved the hair out of her face. “I feel like I’m going to die.”

“It’s the middle of the night. You’re still three sheets whipping in the wind. It’ll get way worse before it gets better—hangovers are a bitch.”

“Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Come here, princess.” He pulled her up to lie next to him. Ignoring her surprised look of expectation and rising smell of desire for him, he simply relinquished his pillow, stood, grabbed a blanket off the bed, and knelt to tuck her up in it. “Sleep it off. You did good for your first drunk. I’m proud of you.”

She regarded him from beneath heavy-lidded eyes. “I should tell you that I don’t give a damn about your approval, but for some crazy reason I do.”

“Maybe because we’re destined to be family?”

“Kate? Glory? Not my family. That ship sailed forever ago.”

Zane noticed that in her alcohol-slogged hanging-over state, the icebergs were once again swimming in the stormy depths of those brown eyes.

Despite that, he bent to kiss her forehead. “Sleep tight. Don’t let your demons bite.”

“Come on, Zane. I’m sure you can do much better than that with those strong arms, nice lips, and velvet tongue.”

“These arms, lips, and tongue have big plans, as soon as I win my bride back.”

“Some girls have all the damn luck,” Erica whispered before her consciousness winked out again.

Still shaking from the battle just fought, Zane stood and retrieved another blanket from the bed. Kate had passed out on a big pile of floor pillows. He knelt to cover her, but as he was standing up her hand darted out and grasped his. “I can’t imagine what it’s like when your demons bite you,” she whispered.

Before he could respond, her eyes closed and she was gone.

Great
, he thought.
My possible future mother-in-law just saw me almost drink her daughter. Way to make an impression.

Trembling, Zane needed to walk it off. Grabbing Kate’s key fob from the table, he shrugged on his jacket and slipped out of her apartment into what passed as the outdoors in this strange underground world.

Despite the artificial environment, its design mimicked a twenty-four hour cycle and it was deep into night. At least they hadn’t gone so far as to create a fake moon, but there was some illumination provided by strategically-placed security lights. However, Zane found it easy to stick to the shadows. He wanted to lose himself in one of the parks, but wasn’t sure where they were. The rail service didn’t run at night, and it seemed that people were discouraged from roaming because he didn’t encounter anyone.

He pulled out his pocket flask to sip on cougar blood while he walked toward what he deemed to be the outskirts of the city. At least it was the most dimly lit area in sight. His night vision was excellent, and he recognized the huge building that perched on the edge of the void as the science building where Kate and Erica worked. His pace slowed when he heard voices on the building’s far side.

“I’m slipping,” a girl’s frantic voice said. “Don’t let me fall.”

Zane took off at a run and managed to catch a little girl before she took a header while climbing out of one of the windows.

Startled, the redhead only stared at him with bright twin-moon eyes. She looked to be around six years old, and something in her arms wiggled.

“Awesome catch, dude,” a boy a few years older than Red said.

He set the girl down, and she clutched the squirming rabbit more tightly.

“Thank you,” she said.

Zane tipped his hat. “Always happy to help a damsel in distress.”

“The window’s high so I tried to climb out onto that, but slipped.” She pointed to a thirty-pound tank of Halon fire suppressant located next to the window.

He squatted to her level. “I’m Zane. Who are you?”

“Tessa.” She held up the white rabbit for his inspection. “And this is Alice. She’s a lab bunny and they were hurting her and so we rescued her.”

Zane ran his hand through the creature’s soft fur. He could smell the bitterness of toxic chemicals on its breath. “What a nice thing for you to do.”

“I’m Sage,” the boy said. “You’re that visiting cowboy.”

Zane nodded.

“Heard about how you wouldn’t go native.” He raised his hand to give Zane a high-five.

Zane grinned and returned it.

“I like rebels,” Sage said. “I can totally relate.”

“I can see that.”

Sage shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jumpsuit and shifted from foot to foot. “Our mom cleans the labs and we overheard her talking about things they do to the animals. Tessa nagged me until I agreed to help. We stole Mom’s keys and got in okay when the guard station was empty, but then we thought we heard them coming so climbed out the window.”

Zane looked through the open window and listened, but he couldn’t hear any human activity.

“There’s another bunny we didn’t have time to get,” Tessa said. “I dropped Mom’s keys when I ran for it.” Her bottom lip trembled and tears pooled her eyes. We’ve gotta get Alice’s boyfriend out of there.”

Sage groaned. “We’ve got to get those keys back or they’ll blame this on Mom.”

“That would be real bad,” Tessa said.

“Yeah, around here they don’t fire people like out in the world,” Sage said. “They really fire people. In the crematorium.”

Startled, Zane looked at the boy’s face and saw that he was serious. “Don’t they have surveillance cameras in this place?”

Sage assumed a cocky expression. “My geek friend, Ruby, disabled them tonight. She’s the man.”

“With such a harsh regime here, don’t you think it’s a mite foolish to be involved in this sort of thing?” Zane asked.

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

That made Zane laugh. “Exactly how old are you, son?”

“Old enough. The price for every repressive regime is anarchy. I’m not one for following the rules.”

Zane admired the kid’s brass. “Okay, then. Let’s fix this. I’ll go in and grab Alice’s friend and find the keys, then you two need to skedaddle.”

Tessa tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. “First can you tell us something about the outside?”

Zane gave her a quizzical look. “Never been out there?”

Both children shook their heads.

Zane couldn’t imagine never having seen the world and his heart broke for them. “It’s beyond beautiful. It’s God’s masterpiece.”

“God?” Sage asked. “Talking about God here will get you fired faster than stealing rabbits will.”

“Why?” Zane asked.

“They want to make science the new religion.”

Zane looked around and realized that they certainly had the power to force their agenda on those trapped down here. But why would they want to control people’s faith?

Tessa tugged on his arm. “So, anything else about the outside?”

Zane patted the pockets of his jacket. “Maybe I have ... yeah, here.” He found a heart-shaped cockleshell and a hunk of blue topaz. He offered the shell to Tessa. “Picked this up at the beach while shelling on Jekyll Island with my goddaughter, Joy.”

Her eyes grew wide, and she snatched it from him.

Zane tossed Sage the topaz. “From my ranch in Texas. Maybe I’ll see you there someday.”

He caught it and gave him a solid nod. “Count on it.”

Zane climbed in the window. It was a large lab, but the animal cages were all empty, except one. When he opened it, the rabbit cowered and Zane felt its terror. Whether the terror was from the creature sensing his vampirism or because of abuse at the hands of humans, Zane didn’t know, but a wave of shame overcame him on both counts. He grasped the trembling creature by its neck scruff and carried it to the window, where he gently lowered it into Sage’s waiting hands. The dropped keys were easy to find, and he tossed them onto the ground next to the kids.

“You go on, now,” Zane said. “I’m going to poke around a bit.”

“Be careful,” Sage said.

“Thank you so much,” Tessa added.

“Stay safe,” Zane told them.

Sage said, “Our dad’s called Junkman and Mom’s Megan. If you’re going to be around a while, look us up.”

“Will do.” Zane tipped his hat to them and turned away to begin exploring.

The building seemed practically deserted, but down the hall from the lab Zane did hear a heated conversation between a man and woman. Because of his superior hearing, he didn’t need to get very close to make out their words.

“Dr. Templeton disabled our listening devices prior to her visit with the vampire,” the man said. “We can’t let her get away with such defiance.”