Night Bites (2 page)

“Why shouldn’t he be locked up?” Sebastian replies seething. It seems the closer we get to the guard, the madder he has been getting. “He left you and wasn’t there for you when you needed him.”

“Wait, that’s it?” I remark coming to a halt. “You locked him up and probably did damage to him, judging by the blood on your shirt, just for not being there during the attack?”

“He was your guard on duty. He shouldn’t have left you,” he replies.

“I guess I can see where you would be upset, but it wasn’t like it was well known danger was around the corner. The Collective side of things had been quiet and my demon problem was put on hold. You are the one that can sometimes see the future, not him. It isn’t like it was the first time one of the vamp guards went for a snack while on duty,” I say trying to get through to him.

“You know good and well that once you grew your fangs, I have had even more troubles seeing you in the future, and it is the last time any of the guards will be dumb enough to leave you down a guard. As far as his punishment, I am his master. He has sworn a blood oath to protect you. What happens to him when the oath is broken is entirely up to me. Me being alerted to you awakening is the only reason I didn’t finish the job and turn him to dust.”

I can see this is going to take heavy doses of some kind of anti-anger medication. Too bad I don’t stock it in case someone tries to use it on me. I also doubt yoga exercises will work in this situation. Maybe if I lock him in a room painted with pastel colors that will do the trick.

I start walking again. I would like to have a chat with Marcus and I hope I can do it before Sebastian goes for the heart. I would guess that Marcus is also getting some of the blame for the bond dissolving. If it was still intact, I doubt we would be having this conversation.

Alex stops in front of a silver lined cell. There are other things involved in the lining, but I can feel the silver. The dungeon isn’t the same as our holding tanks for criminals, like Sam, the guy that was involved in my shooting a few weeks ago. No, this place is straight out of an old-time horror movie.

Chains, racks, iron maidens. You name it, we have it. If you are looking for a great deal, give us a call at...Oh wait, we aren't doing a commercial now, we are trying to find out if we need to save a vampire from certain death. Let's get back to our program.

We walk in, after Alex opens the door, and I see that Marcus is currently attached to a rack that is stretching his already tall frame out beyond its capacity. His face is bloodied so much that I cannot really tell what the damage is to it. Was he punched or was some kind of weapon used? Maybe he really was run through a meat grinder.

He moans quietly, noticeably in pain. I feel bad for him, but I have to know something before I try to fight for his release.

“Can he still talk?” I ask almost hoping he cannot in the shape he is in.

“I suppose. I haven’t removed any parts yet and he hasn’t passed out,” Sebastian says with a little shrug. I had thought if they weren't close, they at least had a good amount of respect for each other. His callousness is a little scary.

I am glad I got here before he started cutting off the parts. I move closer, Marcus is still wearing clothes, but I can see large slashes in them where a knife blade must have crossed.

“Marcus,” I say softly not wanting to add to his pain. He opens his eyes to reveal crimson orbs filled with pain and hunger. “Marcus. Are you the traitor?”

He looks at me questioningly. Well, that is what I assume that look means. It is hard to tell with his face all messed up.

“You are my queen and I am loyal to the king. I am not a traitor,” he finally replies.

Now, the question is whether or not to believe him. Sebastian, being the oldest vampire anyone knows, has made himself the self-proclaimed king to anyone that listens. He has spent many years proving to others why the title fits. It is one of the reasons I have a real tough time believing either of the vampire guards could be a traitor.

“I believe you,” I tell him softly. He has never shown me any kind of real malice, so I don’t think he is the traitor and I don’t feel like having dessert is a punishable offense. With that out of the way, I am on to the part where I have to bargain for his life.

Looking back at Sebastian tells me I am going to have a battle on my hand.

“I don’t want him killed,” I say still speaking decibels below my normal voice. “He asked and I granted permission for him to leave. If you punish him further, you will have to punish me as well.” It is really the only argument I have.

“How can you even stand to look at him? He took away everything we had,” Sebby replies. As I thought, the missing bond is the real issue here.

“But he didn’t. Tommy took the link away. I am sure he had contingencies in place for one or two guards. Marcus being there wouldn’t have made a difference,” I plead with him.

“It feels like you have died,” Sebastian says strangling out another sob. I always knew the guys felt the connection more than me, but I didn’t know it was this strong. I love Sebastian and all, but he is still here. It isn't like one of us really fell off a cliff.

“But I didn’t,” I say walking over to take his hand. “I am still here and we still love each other. Even if the bond doesn’t come back on its own, there has to be a way to reconnect. You are the scholar amongst us, so hit the books. I am sure between all of us, including Demon Boy, we can find something that will reconnect us. Until that time comes, you are not going to mope around punishing people that don’t deserve it. If you want vengeance, take me to Tommy and we will kill him nice and slow. Marcus doesn’t deserve all of this.”

I watch as thoughts cloud his eyes. Evidently, it isn’t a simple decision in his mind. Eyes finally cleared, he nods his head and walks over to Marcus.

“You will not leave her alone again, ever. She is your savior now and as such you will worship her,” Sebastian says and the words seem to have a power behind them.

“By my blood I swear,” Marcus answers swiftly. It seems a new blood oath is in place. I don’t know how I feel about the worshiping part of the deal, though.

“And so it shall be,” Sebastian states ending their little ceremony. He pulls a lever that slowly relaxes the rack back into place. I don’t imagine you want your bones all crashing together at once.

Alex walks over and starts helping to unstrap the vampire. Marcus is going to need some food soon, as the red in his eyes indicate. I wonder if they have anyone on hand. I have seen black vampire eyes before, but have never been around one that is this far gone.

Once he is let loose, I am amazed to see he stays on his feet and makes his way to me. Up close, his wounds aren’t any better, but at least they look to be mostly closed and he will heal quickly.

He drops to his knees at my feet and bows. “My life for yours, my queen.” I totally don’t like the way that sounds. Things are getting a little bit too formal in here.

“I am hard to kill, so I hope it will never come to that,” I tell him. I bend down to try to help him to his feet, but he is basically dead weight. “Do we have blood available for him?” In his weakened state I am a little worried for the donor, but he needs to eat now.

“Send Doreen in,” Sebastian says to no one in particular. With the super ears in this place, I am sure the right person heard his command.

Further proof of this is evident when a large woman appears in the cell. Large, in the fact that she towers over me. She isn’t exactly husky, but she hasn’t been missing meals either. She has short spiky pink hair that seems to glow in the dark.

“Oh Marcus,” she sighs and rushes to the man now limp in my arms. “Here you go, love.”

She takes her wrist and quickly slices a cut with a knife she pulls from an ankle sheath. With her blood flowing freely she forces her wrist to his mouth trying to work some of the stream down his throat. It doesn’t take long for him to come alive and aggressively start feeding.

The feeding reminds me of the one Sebastian and I just shared. There is pleasure in the gift of taking her blood, but no sparks. Her being human clued me in that they weren’t bonded, but she did call him love, so there must be some emotional exchange. Or, of course, she may just be delusional.

As his pulls start to lessen and he loosens his grip, Sebastian says, “Thank you, Doreen. You can go now.”

Marcus lets her go and smiles a little at the pout that forms on her face. “Thank you for coming,” he tells her trying to stand on his own.

He makes it up and seems to be in good shape. All of the wounds are for sure closed and I imagine if he washes the blood off, things won’t look too bad.

“Now that that is taken care of, you can guess that I have some questions I want answered. Can we head back up to the apartment so we can begin the interrogation?” I ask bringing myself off the ground and dusting off my pants. I still cannot believe the guys actually dressed me in my normal clothes when they had me lying there naked.

“That is probably a good idea. We may have questions of our own, so it will be good to get them out of the way,” Alex replies leading the way out of the cell.

Sebastian takes his place beside me again. This time he wraps his arm around my waist. I think, at least for a while, he is going to be really touchy. I will have to get used to it, or potentially strangle him. In the early stages, either possibility still has a fifty-fifty chance.

Marcus ends up falling in behind us, the effects of his torture not evident in his step. It’s a good thing I woke up when I did, otherwise I don’t believe he would still be breathing.

We make our way in silence and it takes every bit of willpower I have not to ask them to take me to where they are holding Tommy. They want to question him, which is fine, but they better not take their time about it.

I still want his head on a pike and I want it there soon.

Chapter 3

Answers to all the questions a mush mind can come up with

When we enter my living area, Jake sees us first. “Whoa, Marcus man. I think you have seen better days.”

Rude much? I look for Jonas to verify that he isn’t somehow disfigured for being taken out on the job. On the surface everything looks okay.

“His penance is self-imposed and I have accepted it,”
Alex informs me.

“What is it?”
I think back.

“Not something I will share. If he wants to, he can, but as I said it was his idea so it is up to him to say who can know.”

I hope whatever it is, it’s not that bad, like cutting off one of his nuts. Tommy is a sneaky bastard and could have got by any of us.

I settle onto the couch with Alex and Sebastian surrounding me. Jonas, Jake, and Smitty take up the other couch and Marcus sits on the ground in front of me. I don’t want to get into it with him right now, so I stay quiet on that account.

“Before you start, can we get you anything solid to eat?” Alex asks. “You haven't eaten in a day so I expect you should be hungry.”

I think about it for a second and find I don't feel hungry at all. Not even for some bacon, which I could usually eat all day, every day. That being said, or at least thought, I remember feeling a little bit queasy from the drugs and don't think adding solid food would be a good idea.

“No. I think I am good. Sebastian must have been extra satisfying today.”

Said person, leans in next to me and rests his head against mine. From shoulder to knee he touches me everywhere. Yup, definitely touchy.

“The first question I have is how much time has passed?” I ask.

Please don't say months. Wait, maybe that wouldn't actually be a bad thing. We might have zoomed right past January, so I have a full year before the whole mating with Alex thing has to be done.

I know it is just a pipe dream. My father isn't here and it sounds like he is going to be around for my birthday, which just happens to also be in January.

“It is the next night. Alex kept you sleeping calmly to hopefully halt any other side effects of the drug,” Sebastian claims.

“Okay. How about the witch that lured us in? Was she working with Tommy, is she still alive?” My brain is trying to start working and it is flashing questions at me rapid fire. Too bad half of them aren't getting through the fog because my brain isn't totally back online.

“Tommy did pay her to get you in off the street. When she saw your mark she panicked, though, and eventually sent up the bat signal that alerted Ben to her whereabouts,” Alex says. “When he showed up, he wasn't expecting to have to rescue you. He just thought he was getting back something that he had misplaced over the years.”

“It seems that Helen knows Ben pretty well. Fifty years back, she sold her soul to him for a power boost. She has been in hiding ever since and freaked when she saw his mark. He showed up when she started thinking about him and found Jonas coming to and us not far from the scene,” Sebastian adds.

“And with my mark he could pinpoint my location without difficulty.”

“Yup. He locked onto the closest person and took over,” Alex says.

“What about Phee. How is she doing?” I ask. I warned the girl it was dangerous to hang out with me, but I didn’t think she would get proof of the statement so quickly.

“She left here not that long ago. We actually had to force her to go. I think she is okay now that you are back from enemy hands. When we first got to the shop she was curled up in a corner,” Sebastian tells me.

“She cleared her scans, just so you know. You can start training her for real whenever you feel up to it,” Alex adds. “It is obvious from her reaction, your work is not going to be easy. I have never seen a wolf so traumatized, or one that doesn't know a lick about defending themselves.”

“You really think she still wants to learn from me?” In her shoes, I would stay as far the fuck away from me as possible.

“I am sure of it. She seems more determined to learn how to use her new knives. The only thing that has kept her from practicing is the fact that Jonas reminded her she promised not to do it when you weren’t supervising. In addition to her, I was wondering if you would be willing to take on more students.”