Passion Ignited (27 page)

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” Ash
asked, noticing how many bleeding wounds the Guardian was currently
sporting. “It doesn’t look like you have any to spare.”

Raider looked down at his body, then back at
Nitro. “It doesn’t matter. She has to survive.”

Ash nodded silently. He’d never watched the
effects of what a blood exchange entailed, but the way Nitro’s
color came back was nothing short of a miracle.

“Check for survivors,” Raider said. “I’ve got
her.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but remembered
that there’d been a mention of children being down here. Looking
around, there were motionless humps all over the arena floor. He
took off toward the first small figure he saw, then the next, then
the next. They’d been murdered, maimed and disfigured. Used for
food, then discarded as if they’d meant nothing. He lowered his
head in defeat as he checked the last of the children. None had
survived.

While he’d checked the children for pulses,
he’d also scanned the area for surviving demons. No living demons
were left in the arena, the lucky bastards. Had there been any
left, he’d have enjoyed ripping them to shreds as they’d done to
these children.

The building around them shook as the ceiling
buckled, and chunks of debris fell to the ground. “We should get
going. It won’t hold much longer,” he yelled as he ran back toward
them.

Raider was already on his feet with Nitro
cradled in his arms. Ash glanced down at his sister. She was awake,
thank the gods. But she was in bad shape.

He only hoped they could get out of there
before the building came crashing down.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Demetrius had grown nervous waiting for his
warriors to emerge. His protective nature had screamed at him to
follow them inside, but his more sensible side had told him to hang
back in case there were others in need of assistance. All in all,
there had only been four children that had made it out so far—and
that had felt like a lifetime ago. Demetrius had quickly acquired
first-aid supplies and had bandaged the little ones up, hoping that
he’d done a good enough job.

A few of them had really close calls. The
first child that Nitro had brought out had lost a lot of blood, so
he was the first one that Demetrius had treated. He’d be damned if
the boy turned into a damned monster. He’d done everything he could
for the boy, until he had finally fallen asleep.

Gods, those children had been scared. More
terrified than any child should ever have to be. He’d promised them
that they were safe, and followed up that promise by placing a call
in to the local human police. He’d dialed from a payphone stating
that he’d heard a commotion on the private school grounds, and
wanted to make sure that everything was alright. As expected, the
police made it there within minutes and reached the children. He’d
watched from a distance as they were escorted from the building and
driven away in ambulances.

Now, he wasn’t distracted. Now, the worry for
his warriors was forefront in his mind. That, and keeping the cloak
around the premises up in full force. His wings were out, folded
loosely behind him as he paced back and forth in the alley,
listening for anything and everything. A few times he’d heard
sounds around the other side of the building and had taken to
flight. Dozens of demons had escaped through another exit, but he
had cut them off, landing a split second before striking. He’d
taken out every one he’d seen.

As he stared at the burning building, two
shapes emerged from the red-hot flames. Slowly, Ash and Raider
stalked from the building, a woman in Raider’s arms. Pride swam
through Demetrius as he watched their silhouettes growing closer
with every step. He rushed forward to meet them, quickly taking
stock of their injuries. Raider was bruised and bloody. He looked
weak, but determined. Nitro lay limply in his arms, blood tricking
from her mouth as if she were a feral vampire who’d just fed. Blood
dripped from her back, creating a nearly steady stream of blood as
Raider stalked forward.

The three men stopped in a triangle, staring
at each other.

“I need to get her back to the mansion,”
Raider stated. “But I can’t flash. She needs a lot more
blood.”

“I brought my bike,” Ash said. “No way she’s
lucid enough for that, though.”

Demetrius looked from Ash to his sister. There
was no doubt she needed help, and she needed it now. It took an
enormous amount of willpower for him to step forward, and even then
he felt like his jaw was so clenched that it would crack in pieces
any second. But he did it. He stepped forward and reached out with
his arms. “I’ll take her.”

Raider stepped backward, clutching her
tighter. “No offense, brother, but I don’t think you even
like
females.”

Ash’s eyebrows popped up and his gaze bounced
between Demetrius and Raider.

Demetrius blinked tightly and sighed. “Give
her to me, Raid. I can get her there faster. Trust me.”

A tick worked in Raider’s eye before he
finally handed Nitro over. Demetrius’s wings fanned out fully, as
he prepared to launch into the sky. “One of you will need to
re-erect a cloak.”

“Not sure we need it,” Ash said. “Anything
Lore related would already be burned up by now.”

“Okay.” He looked at Raider. “You flashing
there?” Gods, this was hard for him not to just get her to the
mansion and get the hell away from her.

“I’ll try. Not sure I can at the
moment.”

Demetrius offered him a quick nod and shot up
into the air, leaving the warriors staring after him from the
street below.

****

It was full dark, and had been for hours. Ally
roamed the streets as she had the night before, searching for any
sign of fights, or just of Thrash himself. She didn’t know the wolf
well enough to know where he might have hidden. She doubted anyone
did.

She turned a corner and went down a wider
alleyway. This one was large enough that there were dumpsters on
both sides and still room for a car to drive through. Honestly, she
wished she had her car right about now. Unlike her better half, she
couldn’t see perfectly in the dark.

Two figures emerged, both freezing in place,
just as Ally had done herself. One figure turned and walked in the
opposite direction, disappearing from her view. The other walked
closer. She straightened her spine and continued forward, unwilling
to show fear. She’d walked so many streets at night before, mostly
when she was handing out food and supplies to the homeless.
Besides, she was a goddess now. Much harder to kill than other
people.

She thought.

The figure came into view and Ally breathed a
sigh of relief. “Ferox.”

“Ally.” He grinned. “How nice to see
you.”

“Yeah.” She stepped closer until she was only
a few feet away, finally able to get a good look at him. He wasn’t
in the normal Guardianwear, as she liked to think of it. Nope, not
tonight. No ass-kicking boots, worn black leather, or weapons
weighing him down. Tonight, he had his hair slicked back, and he
wore a tailored suit and the shiny shoes. And a freakin’ tie. It
actually made her stomach tighten a little, he looked so much like
Damion. She swallowed that sick feeling and plastered a smile on
her face. “Wow, you look really nice tonight. I thought you didn’t
like suits. Oh, did you know everyone’s been looking for
you?”

“Oh, are they?” A smile that Ally didn’t
understand crept across his face. Yet another thing that made her
stomach clench.

Something was definitely off about Draven’s
father tonight.

****

The bastard really had only brought his damned
motorcycle.

Raider felt like a pussy riding bitch on Ash’s
bike, even though it was currently the fastest mode of
transportation to get back to the mansion. He’d tried a few
different times to flash, but between fighting and giving Nitro a
bite, he’d lost too much blood. So that left him here, sitting on
the back of Ash’s bike, hanging onto the bastard.

If he weren’t so fearful of what happened to
Nitro, he might actually worry about someone seeing him in this
situation. Blaze had shown up too many times just in time for him
to snap a picture of some pretty messed up shit. Their site had
plenty proof of that. But, as it was, he didn’t care at the moment
if Blaze—or anyone else for that matter—saw him riding
bitch.

Despite the fact that he hated being Ash’s
chick for the ride, he had to admit that the bike was fun. Ash had
decked the shit out of it, making it pretty godsdamned fast. It
cornered like a dream and had the kind of power that made a guy
feel like he’d left his balls a few blocks back.

Raider was so getting a bike.

“Faster,” he growled.

“Not punching it more, Raid. Humans are out
and I’ll be damned if I hit one.”

“There aren’t that many. Just get us
there.”

The bike sure as shit had some balls, but the
ride home had still taken far too long for Raider’s nerves. He
wanted—
needed
—to be with Nitro. Needed to be certain she was
safe. As soon as they made it back to the mansion, he hadn’t even
waited for Ash to park the bike before he was running for the
door.

Gregory was standing in the open doorway,
ready for Raider to run through. He was through the foyer and down
the stairs in less than a minute, which was slower than he’d have
preferred. He shouldered his way through the infirmary door and
rushed toward Nitro. Raine leapt out of his way as he nearly plowed
over her, not caring who or what was in his way.

Nitro was lying still on the bed, looking
eerily similar to the way she had when Raider thought she was dead.
This time she only lay on the white sheets and not under them and,
much to his relief, her heart was beating and he could see her
chest rise and fall slowly with breath. Thank the gods.

He couldn’t stand there any longer. He needed
to touch her, needed to be as close as he possibly could. Sliding
into bed, he slid one arm under her neck as he scored his other
wrist. He placed it to her lips, just as he had earlier.

“Raider!” Raine exclaimed. “What are you
doing?”

“She needs blood.”

“So do you. You look like shit.”

He ignored her comment. She didn’t look so hot
right now either. “She needs it more.”

Nitro’s eyes shot open and she looked at him.
Her mouth greedily drank from his wrist as he slicked her hair back
with his other hand.

Raine irritably, audibly sighed, far louder
and longer than she normally would have. It was her way of holding
back what she really wanted to say, but still let him know she
didn’t agree with his decision. Raider couldn’t care less what she
thought of him at the moment. Nitro was his female, his
responsibility. He needed to make sure she was healthy. He looked
down at his female again as she drank from his vein. He continued
to stroke her hair, content to simply be with her.

A blood bag was thrust in front of his face,
severing his ability to look at his female. Glaring sideways at
Raine, he withdrew his arm from under Nitro and grabbed the
bag.

“Drink,” Raine demanded.

It had taken six bags of blood to give Raider
what he’d needed. The bagged shit hardly did anything for his
wounds, but at least it kept him going. Nitro had required a hell
of a lot of his blood to keep her conscious.

“Looks like we’ll need to get you on tap.”
Raine threw the empty blood bags into the garbage and made a hasty
retreat.

With only silence between them, Raider looked
down at Nitro. Her breathing had slowed, and her body had relaxed.
She was awake, but kept her eyes closed as they lay together on the
bed. They remained like that for what felt like hours. For what
felt like minutes. Seconds, maybe. He had no concept of time when
it came to actually being with his female.

“Why?” she whispered.

His eyes met hers as she opened them. “Why
what?”

“Why do you keep giving me blood?” Her lip
trembled as though she was about to cry.

His heart lurched at the sight. “Isn’t that
what you need?”

“I don’t want it from you.”

He could only blink in response before she
continued. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want…I can’t live
like this. I’m always hungry. Always want the kill.” A blood-red
tear trickled down her cheek. “It’s all I think about.”

“Shhh, doll. It’s alright. It’ll all be
alright. We’ll get through this.” He’d do everything in his power
to make sure that everything turned out.

He only hoped he was right.

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

“Finally. I’ve been looking for you
forever.”

Thrash turned and faced Draven’s female.
“Red.” He inclined his head toward her. “Not in your trademark
color, I see.”

Ally looked down at herself before looking
back at him. “You’ve only seen me in red once.”