Replica (The Blood Borne Series Book 2) (33 page)

LEA

Calvin jerked in my hands, but I tightened my grip on his forearm until the bones ground together. He stared up at me. “Kill her, Lea. She’s the only thing between us.”

I saw it in him, something that happened to many young vampires. He was not the Calvin I’d known; his mind had cracked under the strain of the change, and I’d been too stupid and blind to see it. There was no way I could let him go now, not like this. And there was only one way to truly help him—to honor the person he’d been.

I pulled him with me, dragging him toward the carnage of the werewolves. Back the way we’d come, a second chorus of howls lit up the night air. “How many more are coming, Cal?” As I purred the words, I could hear Rachel barking something at me. She wanted to know what I was doing, and I couldn’t blame her. He would have taken her life if I’d gotten there a moment later.

Killing him kindly. His mind is broken.

I knew she didn’t fully understand what I meant, but she relaxed—which allowed me to focus. Whatever information Calvin had, I wanted. It might just save us. But that would mean drinking him down. I pushed him to his knees. “I’m going to bind you to me.”

His eyes lit up, like a child in candy store.

I ran a hand over his head and tightened my grip on his hair, tipping his head sideways. I didn’t give him warning, but I softened the bite and pushed a sense of pleasure into it. A final goodbye. He sighed and dug his fingers into my waist, gripping me hard.

His memories flowed through me. I saw myself through his eyes, the mix of love and hate, of pride and disgust he’d felt for me throughout the long years we’d spent together. And then the night Stravinsky had turned him and broken his mind, how he’d put him back together just enough to function.

An image of the old man he’d been wavered in my mind, the old man I’d loved with all I’d been able to give him.

“You’ve done good, Lea. You have. Don’t forget it, no matter what happens. You were right to bind her to you. It’s the only way you’ll both survive this. I never really was a good bond, I know that.” He let out a sigh and snorted. “Go on, save your friends.”

“You are my friend, too.”

“I know. Now get the fuck out of here, bloodsucker. Go save the world; that’s your job now.”

I jerked my mouth off his neck. His heart was still beating, but it faded fast. Judging by the sound, the second pack was at best a mile away. I drew my silver stake and drove it through Calvin’s heart, twisting it once for good measure. “Goodbye.”

I ran from him, tucking the blade back into my boot as I moved. I scooped up Rachel as I went by, ignoring Antonio’s protest that he could carry her. “More wolves.”

“Yeah, we heard. Calvin?” Rachel asked.

“Dead.”

“For sure this time?”

“I drank him down.”

Ivan grunted. “His memories, was there anything in there to help us?”

Fuck, I’d barely paid attention to that. I fast-forwarded through the last weeks of his life as we bolted across the desert. “There’s an oasis up ahead. Weapons and the antidote to the toxin are stashed there.”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear,” Antonio said.

A trickle of concern rolled between Rachel and me. I nodded. “Yeah, some of Stravinsky’s boys could be lying in wait. But that could work in our favor. The pack behind us is big.”

“How big are we talking, and how the fuck can you tell?” Rachel spat out, the words jarred by the bumping of my stride—which also made her wince with pain I could feel as if it were my own. I looked at Ivan and gave him a nod.

“The howls are the Alphas calling their packs to them,” he said. “There was at least four sets of howls.”

“Four packs. Are you serious?” Her heart rate escalated against my back. “And you said packs can be—”

“Roughly twenty members. On average,” Ivan said.

Antonio grunted. “So close to a hundred zombie werewolves on our asses?”

“But they will kill anything that gets in their way,” I said, “and the oasis holds weapons and cannon fodder.”

At least, I hoped it did. Rachel’s injuries from Calvin had to be handled too. She wasn’t going to like the solution, but it was the only way.

“Fuck me,” she muttered. “I don’t want to drink blood again.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Antonio spat out.

Rachel shook her head and I said nothing. There was no choice. She had a broken hand, plus a slashed-up leg and bicep. Without my help, there was no way she’d be able to stand on her own, never mind fight.

“The village is the other way,” Rachel said. “I won’t leave without trying to help them.”

“Neither will I,” I said.

A large sand dune rose ahead of us and we charged up it. Ivan put out a hand, slowing us. “Voices.” He breathed the word, and I dropped to my knees to let Rachel slide off. Once she was beside me, I handed her a knife and held up my wrist. “No time to be squeamish.”

With hunched shoulders, she took the knife and slashed my wrist with more force than necessary. I didn’t flinch. I lifted my wrist and looked away as she drank from the wound.

Antonio choked and Ivan put a hand on his shoulder. “Rachel will slow us down and probably die if she isn’t functioning at full speed.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to fucking like it,” Antonio snapped.

Rachel drew back from me and I took her hand, making sure the bones were all in place. I counted the heartbeats, sensing her body heal.

“Twenty seconds,” I said.

“We’ve only got a minute before the wolves are on us, so I hope you’re right,” Ivan said.

I counted down the seconds, and Rachel’s eyes popped open by the time I hit twenty. “I’m ready.”

The four of us belly-crawled up the last ten feet of the hill to peer over.

Calvin’s memories had been on point. The oasis was bigger than I had realized, though, easily covering a twenty-acre area—the palm trees and bushes thickening deeper into the center. There was movement within the trees..Stravinsky’s men, I had no doubt, and I could see several Humvees.

I looked behind us, and could see the four packs coming in fast and hard. “We’ve got to move. We’ve got cannon fodder, the antidote, and weapons ahead of us. Rachel, stay with me. Antonio, stick close to Ivan.”

“Meet at the water?” Ivan asked.

“Weapons first,” Rachel said. I nodded.

“Weapons first. Water second. Trees if we have to. We’ll take the antidote when we leave.” At least, that was the plan. The four of us stood and ran down the side of the sand dune. Rachel kept pace with me easily, though I had to put out a hand to help her keep her balance a couple times when she lost her footing.

And for a fucking miracle, she didn’t snap at me.

“I’m not that big of an asshole,” she said, reading my thought.

“Sometimes you are,” I said.

She grimaced, but there was humor under it. Maybe this mind-reading thing wasn’t so bad.

All of those thoughts fled, though, as we raced toward the oasis and the soldiers saw us. The rapid staccato of gunfire filled the air at the exact moment the wolf packs hit the top of the sand dune.

I ran straight for the first Humvee. I yanked the driver out of the seat, snapping his neck with a sharp twist. “Rach, check the back.”

“Already on it.”

Three more soldiers came at us, and I dispatched them—breaking backs, arms and legs—and kicked away their weapons.

“Kill them!” Antonio yelled at me.

“No. They are a better distraction this way. Wolves like live things to play with,” I said.

Antonio cursed me, but didn’t argue. Rachel came up triumphant. “Guns and silver bullets. And a shit ton of antidote!”

The triumph didn’t last long; the wolves swept into the oasis, flooding us with the scent of death and wet dog.

I grabbed Rachel, shoved her into the front of the Humvee and climbed in after her. I cranked the engine on and backed the truck up as a werewolf leapt onto the hood. Rachel took aim and shot it through the eye, and the beast rolled off without a sound. The windshield cracked, but didn’t shatter.

A thump came up from above us. “Go, go!” Ivan yelled.

“I hope he remembered Antonio,” I said as I hit the gas. Dawn was only a few hours off, and if Calvin had remembered it right, we were still a two-hour drive from the village. I glanced at Rachel. She nodded.

“Why, you like him now?”

I grinned at her from across the cab. “No, but you do.”

“Get out of my head, Lea,” she snapped, but there wasn’t a lot of heat to it.

I waited until the sounds of gunfire and werewolves faded behind us. I tapped the roof of the truck and Ivan leaned in through the passenger side window. “You remember the Cazador?”

“Was I supposed to?”

Rachel went absolutely still beside me. I raised an eyebrow at Ivan. “Don’t tease her, it’s not nice.”

He reached in and patted Rachel on the head. “I got him. Even if he’s grumpy about not being able to do it on his own.”

She eased back in her seat, reclining her head and closing her eyes. “Do you think we can save the village?”

I flicked through Calvin’s memories. “From what I can see, it’s not looking good. The strain they are using is virulent, violent, and based on what Calvin knew, they aren’t even sure the antidote will work.”

“Fuck.”

I agreed with her. But with two hours on our hands and the boys in the back of the truck, I had to say something.

“I’m sorry.”

She didn’t need to ask for what. “I’m going to be real mature about this, Lea. Real fucking mature. Don’t get excited by what I’m going to say because I’m only saying it once.”

I braced myself, tightening my hands on the steering wheel. “Okay.”

“I’m not.”

I blinked several times, fighting the urge to shake my head. “You aren’t?”

“Fuck, I’m not sorry. It’s not that I like the idea of being bonded to you, but we are a kick-ass team. Admit it, Calvin didn’t have a thing on me.” She grinned at me.

I burst out laughing. “No, he certainly didn’t.”

“What happens, though, after this?”

I shrugged. “Depends on if we’re both still alive. Chances are good I’ll be dead, and you’ll be free of me forever.”

“And if we both survive?”

I glanced at her. “I’m not sure. I’ve heard of bonds like this, true bonds between vampires and their servants—”

“I’m not bringing you fucking oatmeal in the morning.”

“I’d never ask. The point I’m trying to make is I’ve heard of this sort of thing, but never experienced it. Not with any of my helpers. Which tells me something about you is truly special.”

She went quiet for a moment, thoughtful. “You thought you were telling me about the bond on the plane, didn’t you? You tried to fess up, but I didn’t catch the drift.”

“Yes. I thought you understood.”

“Well, even I have my moments.” She gave me a wink as she ran a hand through her blonde hair. I laughed under my breath.

“You did not just make a blonde joke, did you?”

“Of course not, that’s fucking ridiculous.”

I shifted the truck into a higher gear and pressed the gas. “Try to sleep. I’ll wake you when we get close.”

She nodded. “Lea?”

“Yeah?”

“No more secrets. One more fucking secret and my head might explode.”

You think we can keep secrets from each other right now?
I thought.

She groaned and I grinned.

Maybe we would die before dawn, but at least we’d die as friends. That had to count for something.