Last Vamp Standing (7 page)

He stepped out of the aura of light coming from a wall sconce and into a shadow. Then he put two fingers to his lips and ferried a whistle like he was calling for Lassie.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ariana pressed against the door, aching to steal a glimpse down the hall.

“You two hungry?” Dante yelled, his voice booming through the chamber. Though Ariana couldn’t see a damn thing, Dante must’ve caught their attention. He hunched lower, ready to spring. His fangs dropped, two thick tusks of white, brushing his bottom lip. “Then come and get it.”

He was calling them to him so that she could remain safely in the chamber. But Ariana wasn’t about to sit back and wait for Dante to get himself killed so they could come after her next. She scanned the room fast, determined to find another way out.

No window. One door with a war being waged outside it.

She was trapped.

She smelled the therians before she saw them. Reeking of aggression and wet fur, the therians charged Dante fast, shifting as they clambered over the walls and floor. In a flash of speed, one shed its skin and shifted into a mangy, white wolf while the other shifted into some sort of monstrous black cat.

Dante didn’t look fazed in the slightest.

As the wolf leaped through the air and chomped at Dante’s neck, he swatted it away, looking more irritated than worried. It slammed against the wall with a thud and landed in a tangled heap of limbs and fur.

The cat clawed up the wall and vaulted at Dante, nails and teeth aiming to tear into his flesh. Dante sailed a fist at the cat’s open jaw, dropping it straight to the hardwood. Momentarily stunned, as if it hadn’t expected Dante’s speed or strength, the cat shook out its fur and bound to its feet.

Dante took a step back as the two shifters regained strength.

What was he waiting for?
Why did it look like he was enjoying the fight more than he was trying to finish it? As the two animals stalked forward, side by side, Dante smiled, his nails elongating to curved picks at his side.

Ariana choked back a gasp. Vamps didn’t have nails that extended like fangs. It chilled the blood rushing through her.

The thought that Dante was something entirely different flashed through her mind. Not therian. Not vamp.
Something else.
He looked like a vamp, with fangs and the enormous warrior-like stature. But he could teleport and had nails the size of ice picks.

What was he besides, undeniably, the toughest fighter she’d ever laid eyes on?

Ariana closed her eyes as a flicker of pre-projection sailed through her. As the crack of bone on bone rang through her ears, she couldn’t help but wince and peek at the damage in the hall.

The scene before her had deteriorated quickly.

Dante had the wolf in a headlock. Each time it snapped for Dante’s arm, he nailed it in the muzzle. It clawed. Dante sliced through its paw. It howled. Dante silenced the canine permanently by gouging a handful of his razor-sharp nails into its throat. Dante withdrew his bloody hand and stood upright. The wolf’s body flopped to the ground at his feet.

The cat was on the ground twitching, the obvious victim of the cracking sound she’d heard. Ariana could barely see through the slit in the door, but its head was bashed in pretty bad.

Standing eerily still over the therian carnage, Dante met Ariana’s gaze. The flat line of his lips pressed white. Why was he looking at her that way? With such heated intensity?

“There will be more,” he said. His voice was calm. As if he hadn’t just taken down two beastly therians like it was a walk in Crimson Park. “We need to get you out of here. Come on.”

Two minutes ago, Ariana wasn’t sure if she wanted to kick Dante in the groin or kiss him on his damn irresistible mouth. But things had changed. If his path led out of the black market and away from pissed-off therians, she was on board.

Ariana peeked into the hall before stepping out completely.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Dante reassured her, extending his hand—the one that wasn’t soaked in feline blood.

It was odd to think how much had changed in so little time, but Ariana actually believed him. If he’d wanted to hurt her, he could’ve tossed her into the hall. But he hadn’t. He’d tried to protect her.

Even so . . .

“I can handle myself,” she said, hiking up her robe. She stepped over the cat’s body without his help, but she didn’t make it far.

A high-pitched wail erupted from the floor as jagged feline nails stabbed into Ariana’s right calf. Leg burning something fierce, Ariana screamed and fell forward. Dante spun and caught her before she hit the floor, but he couldn’t pull her free from the cat’s grip. It felt like she’d been ensnared in a bear trap. One serrated, rusty trap that could rip her leg clean off with the slightest movement.

“Get down!”

Two gunshots rang out.

Dante buried Ariana’s head in his chest and used his body as a shield as radiant starbursts lit up the hall. And as the cat fell to the floor a second time, its nails slid out of her flesh.

Tingly and numb from brain to bloodied leg, Ariana looked back. A vamp with flowing blonde hair and emerald eyes stood at the back of the hall, a pistol extended in his hand.

“Leave you alone for a second,” he said, shoving the gun in his waistband, “and look what happens.”

“Ruan, don’t flatter yourself. Another second and I would’ve taken care of business my way.”

Dante lifted the cat’s face into his cold, steely grip and squeezed. The sound of its skull crunching was unlike anything Ariana had ever heard. A stomach-souring munching sound she didn’t want to ever hear again. When Ariana thought it was the most grotesque scene she’d ever witnessed, Dante ripped the cat’s head clean off and tossed it aside.

Silver and decapitation were the only ways to kill a therian, but Ariana had never seen it happen firsthand. Knowing how they died and seeing it happen were two very different things.

“Snap, crackle, pop, my man.” Ruan stalked to their side, staring at the cat’s busted face.

“Well,” Dante said with a shrug. “I asked if they were hungry.”

Chapter Six

T
HEY DIDN’T HAVE
much time. A minute. Two, tops.

The shifters Juan Carlos sent down to the basement were scouts, not guards. Once they didn’t report back to his office, there’d be more therians thundering down on their heads.

He needed to get Ariana out of here. Again. It occurred to Dante that this was the second time in two nights that he’d have to teleport her to safety out of the black market. Two too many for his taste. She should’ve stayed in the forest where he’d left her. And he should’ve stayed home and told Ruan to take a hike.

But what burned Dante most was that he’d told Ariana he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. He didn’t have a clue why he’d said it. It’d slipped out. For some reason Dante couldn’t explain, Ariana seemed to bring out the protective side of him.

Now, because she’d trusted his words—and really shouldn’t have—she was hurt.

If Dante didn’t know better he’d think the pinching in his gut was guilt.

“Is your leg all right?” He stripped out of his coat and tossed it aside. Then ripped the sleeve off his shirt and tied it around Ariana’s calf to stop the bleeding.

Her blood smelled sugary sweet. Like no scent he’d ever picked up before. Although Dante didn’t need blood to survive, he found certain varieties of the red ooze to be refreshing. With one whiff of the blood flowing through Ariana’s veins, Dante’s mouth watered.

The cat diced her good. Looked like its nails stabbed right into the bone. Although vamps healed fast, they still experienced pain. And her wound was downright mangled.

“It’ll be fine,” she said, scooting up to a sitting position. Her chestnut hair was twisted into a braid and draped over her shoulder, ratted and falling loose. The glimmer in her eyes had simmered from rich honey to doe brown. Her gaze reached through the space between them and shrank the skin over his bones. “I’ll be fine as soon as I get out of here.”

She was either tough as nails or pretending to be. Either way, Dante knew a handful of males who couldn’t take a hit like that.

“Why’d you come back?” Dante asked, checking the hall. “You should’ve stayed in your haven.”

Ariana started to speak when Ruan kneeled beside her, smiling one of those perfect, illuminating smiles that made Dante want to throw up in his mouth.

“I’m Ruan,” he said and stuck out his hand.

Ariana eyed him skeptically but shook his hand anyway. “Ariana.”

“We work together,” Dante said, hoping to clarify their situation as he put pressure on her wound.

Ariana wouldn’t help unless she trusted them—he knew that much about her already. Bitter truth was, between Ruan and Dante, only one of them could be trusted through and through. The blood trickling from her leg proved stone from sour.

“And hopefully you’ll be able to work with us, too,” Ruan said, leaving their side to check the chamber across the hall. “Thanks, by the way.”

“I’ll . . .” Ariana’s gaze concentrated on Dante. “. . .
what
?”

Damn it.

Dante had been thrown off guard seeing Ariana in the chamber and had forgotten to tell her about their situation. About how they needed the help of an elder to show them the way to the haven—her haven. And he hadn’t asked a thing about Black Moon or what the fabled haven could do for the vamps roaming Crimson Bay.

He told Ruan from the get-go that he wasn’t going to be much help.

His uselessness was epic.

“Come on, let’s get you up.” Cradling an arm beneath Ariana, Dante lifted her to her feet.

“I don’t need your help,” she said, removing his arm. “I told you I’d be fine.”

Putting up his hands, Dante drew back. But in a heartbeat, her entire body trembled, wobbling as if she’d fall against the wall. On instinct, Dante wrapped an arm around her, supporting her weight. He could’ve sworn Ariana wavered . . . but not physically. It was the strangest feeling. One he couldn’t describe. Almost like she weakened, melted, flowing into him.

Dante was still shaking off the eerie feeling when sirens wailed upstairs, followed by the sound of therians barking orders at one another. Someone got wind that the security of the market had been compromised.

“Roxy,” Dante said.

Ruan nodded. “She was gonna break through those chains sooner or later.”

“Looks like sooner.”

“Work your magic, Dante. Jump us out of here.”

Dante balled the energy swirling through his gut into a tight fist. “You two ready?”

“No, wait.” Confusion pitched Ariana’s voice so high that it hit the crusty ceiling and shattered around them. If Dante didn’t know better, he would’ve said Ariana’s pupils were vibrating. “You’re not taking me anywhere.”

“Let’s go, D,” Ruan said, keeping his gaze on the spiral staircase over Dante’s shoulder. “Jump us out and we’ll fill her in on what’s happening later.”

“No, you can’t.” Ariana spoke fast, the color in her cheeks changing from blush to porcelain white. “I’m going my own way from here.”

The floor rattled beneath their feet, and dust shook from the walls. More orders boomed over their heads.

“Are you crazy? They’ll find you here in two seconds.” Dante was more confused than ever. Why wouldn’t she take his ticket out? “You can’t stay here. They’ll kill first and ask questions later.”

Ruan pulled two pistols from his belt. “Therians are about to raid us like gangbusters. We don’t have time for convincing. Let’s go.”

He popped off a racket of shots as the first wave of therians flooded down the stairs. Instead of returning fire, they roared, shifting into a herd of beasts.

“It’s not your job to protect me,” Ariana said, planting a hand on the wall to steady herself. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

She didn’t understand. Dante had returned to the black market because he wanted to see her again, if only for a minute. He’d planned on following Black Moon’s breadcrumbs to her doorstep and had gotten so much more. If she thought he was leaving her behind now, while he and Ruan teleported somewhere safe, she was crazy.

“I can’t leave you here,” he said as Ruan unloaded a round of bullets into the furry targets down the hall. “But if you take my hand, I can take you somewhere safe, just like I did last night. You can trust me.”

“Trust you?” she scoffed, forehead crinkling. “I don’t even know you.”

“What’re you waiting for, Dante!” Ruan backed against them. “I’m on my last round of silver!”

“Then I’ll stay with you,” Dante said, knowing how crazy the words sounded coming out of his mouth. But there had to be a reason Ariana wanted to be left behind. A reason she’d come back after he’d teleported her last night. “I’ll help you with whatever it is you’ve got to do, and we’ll find a way out together.”

She shook her head. “I don’t need your help.”

But she did. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She didn’t know what the future held and it spooked her, no matter how she tried to play the independent part.

“Come with me.” Dante took her hand. It was cold and jittery, clamming on contact. “And I’ll take us as far away from here as possible.”

For the second time tonight, Dante spoke words he couldn’t stand behind. He couldn’t control where he teleported. That’s not how it worked. And now that he’d seen the forest firsthand, there was no saying he couldn’t teleport back on this jump. Still, he had to believe wherever they teleported would be better than the situation they were in.

“You have no clue where you’re going to take me, now let me go,” Ariana said as Ruan tossed an empty weapon to the ground and unholstered another. She recoiled from Dante’s touch, jerking her hand from his. “You’re not going to do this to me again.”

Did she really expect him to teleport without her, leaving her to the mercy of the therians and Juan Carlos?

He didn’t have time to think things through.

Ariana flickered. Right before his eyes. One second she was tangible and talking and as real as Ruan. The next she was fading into the wall like a ghost. Something was happening. There wasn’t time to figure out what the hell it was.

A beast of a lion charged Ruan, its massive paws striking the floor heavy and fast. Ruan popped off two shots that dropped the fur bag, reloaded, then fired two more.

“That’s it, Dante! I’m out!” Ruan pushed against Dante’s back.

Surging behind the fallen lion, a wall of snarling creatures chomped at the bit for some vamp action.

Dante met Ariana’s amber eyes and glimpsed a shadow in their depths.
Fear.
His stomach pinched. He had no other choice.

“I’m not leaving you,” he breathed, gathering all the energy he could muster into the pit of his stomach. “I can’t.”

He brushed his hand over the long, white shadow extending from her body and sank his fingers into what used to be her hand.

“No!” she yelled, fading out.

The ground trembled.

As a cold, crippling sensation slithered up Dante’s arm, he seized Ruan by the elbow, dragging him with them into the unknown.