Know Thine Enemy (22 page)

The guard nodded fiercely, his hands shooting up.
"What do you want?"

"
You know where they're keeping Ryker?"

"
Who?"

Her jaw tightened.
"Maybe you know him better as Subject 061. You know where he is?"

"
Y-yes."

"
Looks like this is your lucky day, kid. By all means." She jerked her head, indicating he should move. "Lead the way."

The moment felt surreal
—hell, everything did. Gliding across the floor, mindful the softest peep could bring down the house. The air filled with the ragged, terrified breaths of the clumsy guard, offsetting the thunderous echo of her racing heart. She expected her hostage to fill the silence with a load of the usual, "Don't do this. I have a family," protestations, but he had at least enough wits to know speaking wouldn't do him any favors.

As it was, she didn
't care if he was the Pope's love child. Anyone who walked these halls freely was an accessory to kidnap, torture, and rape, and therefore deserved no mercy.

The guard stopped outside a cell just
a couple turns down the hall from hers and indicated the door with a jerk of his head.

"
This is it?"

"
Yeah."

"
Open the door."

Again, she expected an objection, or a claim that he didn
't have access to these rooms. Instead, he nodded and withdrew a room keycard from his pocket.

"
You'll let me go?" he whispered.

"
You knew what they were doing here?"

H
e could have argued or played innocent, but instead he said, "Yes."

"
You didn't try to stop them."

"
I'm a soldier of Heaven. These are beasts from Hell."

"
Yeah. Here's the thing, though. Somehow I can't imagine Jesus locking up an innocent girl and making her fuck in front of an audience." She snatched the keyboard from his hand and cocked her head, leveled the gun's nozzle at the guard's temple, said, "Why don't you ask him?" and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered against her face but she didn't flinch. She watched him fall to ground with indifference, then slid the keycard into the lock.

Then she looked up, not sure what she expected. This all still felt like a dream.

The look in Ryker's eyes was unlike anything she'd seen, and likewise something she knew she would carry with her forever. A middle ground between awe and astonishment, as though trying to determine whether or not he had imagined her. At that moment, she felt touched by God.

"
Oh hell," he murmured, taking a dazed step forward. "Izzie, are you real?"

Izzie flashed him an uncertain grin.
"I dunno about you, but I've had just about enough of this place."

Ryker nodded, his gaze drifting to the mark on her throat. The place where he
'd tasted her. And instead of the disgust or fear or any of the thousand possible things she would have expected, her blood pumped hot and she found herself weak with an emotion she couldn't name.

"
You're coming with me?" she asked.

"
I didn't think you'd want me to."

"
I didn't fake everything."

His
expression turned molten. "I didn't fake a
second
."

And before she could blink, the self-imposed shackles collapsed and the beast in her chest ripped toward freedom. With a growl on her lips and hope spearing her heart, Izzie stormed forward and met Ryker halfway,
flinging her arms around his neck.

Then those blue eyes pulled her into oblivion and she surrendered completely, and before she could do so much as gasp his name, her cheeks were between his hands and his lips had crashed upon hers.

And then the floor fell away and the walls melted, and there was nothing but them. Ryker's mouth moved against hers, hungry, demanding, his tongue prying her lips apart to taste her every corner. And Izzie was so stunned she could do little more than stumble back, her racing mind stuck on repeat. She seized his forearms and secured her balance. And Ryker kept kissing her. Pouring every inch of himself into the union of their lips. When he pulled away, it was to sigh her name. When she needed to breathe, he would pant for air while peppering her face with sweet kisses. It was the most passionate embrace she'd ever known—the sort of thing she'd only recently dreamed of touching, and only with Ryker.

It ended, of course. All good things did. But when her eyes met his again, she found herself swallowed in warmth.

"Wanted to do that forever."

"
Me too."

"
Good." Ryker grinned and nipped at her lips. "What was that you were saying about getting outta here?"

She nodded shakily and released a deep breath.
"Let's blow this popsicle stand."

Chapter Thirteen

At first, her thundering heart made his head hurt. The pull of her blood was strong—stronger than he would have imagined—and it took every ounce of self-control not to lean over merely to inhale her scent. Ryker didn't know what had changed. Never before had he experienced trouble controlling himself around someone he'd tasted.

Then again, he
'd never felt about any of his other bed partners the way he did about Izzie.

Ryker inhaled sharply and cast his sleeping passenger a glance. Everything still felt a bit surreal
—from being dragged away from her with her blood on his tongue to meeting her eyes over the body of a dead security guard.

She had looked juiced, all right. On the natural high provided by a vampire
's bite. How much of it was her he didn't know. He just hoped once she began asking questions—and she would—that his explanations wouldn't cost him whatever they'd started.

Izzie wasn
't a normal girl, though, and she didn't try to be. The difference was what had drawn him to her the second he set eyes on her, the second he realized she didn't have a motive for doing what she did. He'd learned a few things here and there; Briggs had fed him several key details pertaining to Izzie's upbringing, but facts alone did little to paint a picture. He had no context for them.

Even still, he
'd given Izzie enough strength to ensure her escape, and she'd made sure he left at her side. He hadn't expected a rescue—he hadn't expected to be anything but an afterthought. A demon hunter, a true one, would have left him to die. She hadn't. And she'd stepped over at least one human body to set him free.

Ryker had no idea how long they
'd been on the road, though he knew they couldn't afford to remain in the open for long. The keys pulled off the security guard's body would be missed soon, if they weren't already, and then these parts would crawl with authority-types. Ryker was determined he'd never see the inside of that cell again, and damn sure wouldn't let any asshole take Izzie back to her dungeon.

He cared about her too fucking much.

Noise from the passenger seat directed his attention off the road. Izzie blinked sleepily, then sat up with a jerk as though only just remembering where she was. Her gaze shot to Ryker in question before she twisted to view the road behind them. She wouldn't see anything but dark. Ryker didn't let a minute go without glancing to the rearview mirror, and his eyesight was much better than hers.

Seemingly
satisfied they weren't being followed, Izzie settled back in her seat, her hands falling to her lap. She seemed tense and he didn't blame her. It was the first time they'd been truly alone since the alleyway, yet Ryker wasn't the same man, and he knew she had changed as well.

"
How long was I out?" she asked.

"
Two hours, maybe."

"
We've been on the road two hours?"

Ryker nodded.
"Wanted to put as much distance between that shithole and us before stopping."

She was quiet for a moment.
"They'll probably be looking for this car."

"
I know. I intend to be off the road before we can give 'em a whiff." He looked at her in time to see her wet her lips, and something in his gut twisted. "We're a ways from St. Louis."

"
How far?"

"
Iowa."

"
Iowa?"

Ryker nodded again.
"North of Des Moines."

"
I don't remember anything between the alley and the cell."

"
Me either, sweets."

"
And anything strong enough to knock out a vamp for more than a couple hours is fucking dangerous." Izzie shuddered. "Do you think . . . they told me they were government guys."

He shrugged.
"Had no reason to lie."

"
No reason to tell the truth, either."

Fair point, but he didn
't pursue it. In the end, it didn't matter who those crazy scientists were or who provided the funding. The things going on in that building were beyond any horror Ryker had experienced. He'd always known if something were to take him out it wouldn't be pretty. While he'd never guessed anything like the hell he'd just escaped, the capacity for human monstrosity never surprised him.

But to do what they
'd done to Izzie for no other reason than her being convenient . . .

Ryker
's jaw tightened.

A small, shaking and wholly feminine sigh touched the air. The sort of sigh that had his mind going to places it ought not go, but he couldn
't help it. Couldn't help sharing her air and remembering the way she responded to his touch. How she whimpered and thrust her pussy against his mouth. How she tasted…how she felt…

When she spoke, though, her words were anything but sensuous, and effectively cut through the lust clouding his mind.
"How did I do that?" she asked.

"
What?" The question was a stall. He knew to what she referred.

"
I killed Briggs."

"
Good fucking riddance."

"
With a spoon. A
plastic
spoon. Not even the pointy-stick end." Izzie's intent gaze was on him, now. "You know, don't you? How I killed him.

He could lie to her, but she was smarter than that, and he had too much respect for her to tell her half-truths. Ryker exhaled deeply.
"You did it 'cause of me. I bit you."

"
You bit me." Her voice shook, and she reached for the spot his fangs had touched. The sweet little mark on her throat. "And that's how it happened?"

"
Yeah. That's how it happened."

"
Don't vampires drain blood?"

He offered a flat grin.
"Last I checked."

"
But that's not what you did."

"
I took a little. Not a lot." Ryker breathed again heavily. "You know how vamps are made?"

"
Well . . . I'd assume you suck my blood and I suck your blood. That's the popular—"

"
And wrong."

"
Wrong?"

Ryker nodded.
"It takes three bites from a vampire to turn. Like a virus or whatever."

"
Three?"

"
Yeah. Has to be the same vamp, too. Whatever reason, if three different vamps sink their fangs into you, nothing happens." He shrugged. "Figure it has something to do with mutating cells or DNA or whatever scientists call it these days. Didn't know that 'til recently, of course."

Izzie pursed her lips.
"So, you bit me."

"
Yeah."

"
But I won't turn."

"
Not unless you want me to bite you two more times." The thought was damn near too exciting to endure, but he managed to stifle his natural reaction. Izzie would never consent to this life, and he'd never force it upon her—no matter how it was. To have her for eternity . . . .

It wouldn
't happen, and he was better off not fantasizing about a life he'd never have.

"
Wish I could say sorry," Ryker said. "But I'm not. Biting you was what got you out. You're coming down off the high now, so things might not . . . those assholes back there deserved whatever you did to them."

She blinked and looked at him.
"What?"

"
They're not worth crying over."

"
Wait—you think I feel
bad
for what happened?" Izzie barked a short laugh. "I don't discriminate, Ryker. I learned not to a long time ago."

"
But these were—"