Shon (The Seeker Series Book 2) (10 page)

Chapter Twenty

Shon could feel his heart pounding in his throat. And not from exertion. He reached up and untied Laura’s bound hands and gently removed himself from her body.

He slowly turned her over. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“I’m better than okay. That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“I wet the entire bed,” she whispered, obviously embarrassed. “Was that what I think it was?”

“Yes. Most women go their whole lives and never experience that kind of orgasm. You’re very passionate. I always knew you would be.”

“I often wondered what you would be like too,” Laura confessed. “But I had no idea you would be this incredible.”

“
We
. We would be this incredible. It’s different with everyone. Not all couples have the chemistry that we have.”

She reached up and touched his face. “Kiss me.”

A knock sounded on the front door.

Shon bounded from the bed and had his jeans on in record time. “Stay here,” he ordered, blurring down the hall to the kitchen foyer.

“Am I to stand out here on the deck until the sun comes up?”

“Vlad,” Shon greeted, opening the door to allow him entrance.

Stepping over the threshold, a hooded Vlad breezed into the kitchen and took down a bottle of wine. “May I?”

“By all means,” Shon murmured, locking the front door. “Can I help you with something?”

Shon wanted nothing more than to return to Laura’s room and make love to her until daylight.

“Gina will not relinquish her hold on your brother until you hand over my heart.”

Running a hand down his face, Shon meandered around the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. “I thought we’d established that already. And she didn’t ask me to hand it over. She demanded it.”

“We cannot allow her to resurrect Lilith,” Vlad stated thoughtfully. “But we can make her think that we will.”

“How do you propose we do that? And why does she want to bring Lilith back? I still don’t get that.”

“If she drinks the blood of the mother of all vampires, Gina will become immortal. Or so she thinks. Lilith will more than likely kill her, along with the elders…their children included, before creating a chaos on earth such as the world has never seen.”

“So, why don’t you just end Gina’s life before she finds a way to accomplish her intentions?”

Vlad poured a glass of red wine and took a healthy drink. “It would appear that she leaves me no choice.”

Shon’s mouth nearly fell open in surprise. “You’re seriously going to kill Gina?”

“I fear that I am the only one who can at the moment.”

“What are you going to do?”

Finishing off his wine, Vlad set his empty glass in the sink. “Lure her out before the elders arrive. She must be judged by them before she can be put to death.”

“Lure her out? How?”

“Using you as bait.”

“Like hell you will,” Laura snapped, storming into the room. “She will kill him, Vlad.”

The elder spoke without looking up. “Perhaps. But it is the only way.”

Laura marched into the kitchen and gripped Vlad’s arm. “Find another way.”

Shon was instantly there. “Easy, babe. Come sit with me.”

Guiding her around the bar, he pulled out a stool for her to sit on. His heart had nearly stopped when she’d grabbed on to Vlad’s arm.

Shon sat next to her and rested his hand on her knee. “It’ll be okay. Gina can’t kill me any more than I can kill her.”

Vlad pushed his hood back to reveal pale blue eyes that burned with determination. “True. But she can have someone else do it for her.”

Shon felt Laura stiffen next to him. He gently squeezed her knee for reassurance before meeting Vlad’s gaze once again. “I lure her out. You kill her.”

Vlad shook his head. “I cannot kill her without a trial by the elders.” He held up a hand when Shon would have interrupted. “Furthermore, I believe that she is the only one that can tell us where to locate the Seeker Society. We find them and knock out two birds with one stone.”

“Gina will be expecting a trap,” Shon pointed out. “Which rules out me showing up at her door, carrying a heart in a Walmart bag.”

Vlad’s lips twitched. “It would be such a waste to see you destroyed.”

Shon straightened in his seat. “I vote we not see me destroyed. So, the Walmart bag is out of the question. Help me out here, old wise one.”

“Unfortunately, Gina has fixated on you, young Shon. She cannot come after me herself, nor does she hold the power to harm Angelo. But you do.”

Shon shook his head. “Not true. Angel’s blood saved my life after my brother cut my throat.”

Vlad’s brows lifted. “You are bonded with Angelo?” At Shon’s nod, Vlad continued. “Gina is obviously unaware of that little detail. That might work in our favor.”

Laura suddenly threw up a hand. “Let me get this straight. Gina Calimari needs your heart in order to resurrect Lilith, but she can’t kill you herself, so she wants Shon to do it since he’s not bonded with you.”

“Why not bond with Vlad?” She directed that last part at Shon.

“Gina has my brother.”

“And my parents…”

Shon turned to face her. “I will not let anything happen to your parents. You have my word.”

Laura’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “How can you make a promise that you’re not sure you can keep?”

“Because I will offer myself to her for their safe return if it comes down to it.”

The tears standing in Laura’s eyes spilled over to track down her cheeks. She stumbled to her feet. “Either way, I lose.”

“Laura…” Shon began as she fled the room.

Vlad spoke up before Shon could go after her. “Let her be. She will come around once she has had time to think.”

“She’s going to be hurt, no matter how this turns out.”

“Yes,” Vlad agreed. “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you took her to your bed.”

Shon knew the elder spoke the truth. If Gina found out Shon’s true feelings for Laura, she would kill Laura without batting an eye.

Vlad interrupted Shon’s torturous thoughts. “The best thing you can do for Laura and her parents would be to get as far away from Miss Donovan as you can.”

Pain sliced through Shon’s heart at the thought of leaving Laura after years of waiting to have her in his arms. “She’ll think I used her,” he bit out.

Vlad nodded. “Yes. But it will keep her safe until Gina no longer draws breath.”

Shon ground his teeth in anger. He’d wanted Laura for as long as he could remember. After years of vying for her attention, she’d finally allowed him into her bed. How was he to leave her now?

If leaving Polk County would remove Laura from Gina’s radar, then he’d gladly walk away. No matter how much it hurt to do so. “Tell me what to do.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Laura stood beneath the hot spray of the shower, allowing the tears to fall freely from her eyes. 

Gina Calimari would kill her parents if Shon didn’t return with Vlad’s heart. Laura refused to stand back and let that bitch hurt anyone else that she loved.

Laura stilled as the reality of her thoughts hit her square in the heart. Did she truly love Shon? She did, she realized, closing her eyes in resignation. She had since high school.

Why had it taken her so long to admit her feelings to herself? she wondered, watching the water swirl around her feet.

She’d grown up watching Shon bounce from female to female, never staying with the same one for more than a week.

After years of sleepless nights and jealousy-induced dreams, Laura had finally come to the conclusion that Shon Wells wasn’t meant for her. Until recently, when she’d uncovered the truth about her mother’s deception.

Shon had apparently had feelings for Laura as well.

Pain welled up in her heart over the years she’d lost with Shon. Where would they be now had her mother not interfered? She didn’t know, nor did it matter at this point. He was a vampire now. There could be no turning back. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life watching him remain young and sexy while she aged and eventually died.

With a sigh of resignation, Laura finished her shower and climbed out to dry off.

She dressed in the clothes Shon had recently peeled off her, minus the bra. It lay in pieces next to the bed they’d made love in.

Running her fingers through her damp hair, Laura trailed off toward the kitchen in search of Shon, only to find him gone.

A once-again hooded Vlad stood in the same place she’d left him half an hour before. “Where’s Shon?”

“He left.”

Her heart began to pound. “Left? But where? It’s almost daylight.”

“He didn’t say. But he left you a note.” Vlad nodded to a folded piece of paper on the bar.

Laura snatched up the note and quickly opened it. Nausea nearly crippled her as she read the words written on the page.
Laura, last night was a mistake. It should have never happened. I’m going to get your parents and send them someplace safe. I would like for you to be gone before I return. It’ll be less awkward for us both. Shon.

Laura dropped the note and swayed on her feet. Shon had used her. He’d slept with her and walked away as if she meant nothing to him.

“Is everything all right?” Vlad asked, staring at her from beneath his shadowed hood.

“I…” Laura’s voice failed her. She couldn’t seem to speak around the lump in her throat.

She turned and fled to the room Shon had so thoroughly loved her in not long ago.

Repacking her clothes, Laura shouldered her bag and staggered down the hall toward the front door.

“Where are you going?”

She paused with her hand on the knob. “As far away from here as I can get.”

Jerking open the door, she rushed toward the stairs without bothering to close it behind her.

Laura threw her bag onto the passenger seat of her car and started the engine. The sun had just begun its ascent as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward home.

Shon had probably returned to Gina, Laura thought, turning onto the Parkway. After all, the blonde bitch not only had beauty on her side, but she was vampire as well.

Laura fished out her cell from her pants pocket and sent Shon a text.
Send my parents to Uncle Marvin’s place in Alabama. They’ll be safe there. And don’t ever contact me again.

Shon didn’t reply, but then she hadn’t expected him to.

Ten minutes later, Laura pulled into her drive. The sky had turned shades of pink and orange, letting her know the sun would be up soon.

Grabbing her bag, Laura exited the car and climbed the steps to her house. She would get some rest, without the threat of vampires killing her in her sleep, and pray that Shon would see her parents safely to Alabama.

Laura unlocked the door, stepped into the living room, and bent to set her bag on the floor. Something slammed into the back of her head. She stumbled forward, blindly reaching for the couch as a masculine laugh echoed throughout the room. Her world turned black.

* * * *

Pain throbbed inside Laura’s head, keeping time with the drip of a faucet somewhere in the distance. She slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.

She lay on a bed in a dimly lit room with her hands bound behind her back.

Shifting her gaze toward the sound of the endless faucet drip, Laura opened her mouth to yell for help, but no sound came out.

Agony seared her skull as she rolled her head to the side.

Memory came rushing back with a vengeance. Someone had hit her over the head when she went home this morning. At least she thought it was morning. She had no idea how much time had passed.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “Hello?”

The soft croak that departed her throat sent more shooting pain through her head.

“You’re awake,” a man’s voice called out from the foot of the bed.

Laura tried to lift her head, but the stabbing sensation in her skull prevented it.

“Are you thirsty?” The man appeared in her field of vision. He leaned in a few inches above her face. “Sorry about the noggin. I’ve bandaged it. You’ll be fine in a day or two.”

“Who are you?” Laura whispered, squinting up at the stranger hovering above her.

His eyes were a light brown and his head was devoid of hair. He looked to be about her own age.

“Name’s Ellis.”

Laura studied his expression through the blur of her vision. “What do you want from me?”

“Answers.” Sliding an arm under her shoulders, he slightly lifted her and placed a glass against her lips. “Drink slowly. Wouldn’t want you to choke.”

Laura turned her face away. The guy had knocked her in the head, tied her hands, and now offered her a drink? “Go to hell,” she rasped.

A loud sigh escaped him. He returned her head to the pillow and set the glass on a small table next to the bed. “Very well. I’ve brought you here for a reason. And as long as you do exactly as I say, you won’t be hurt.”

“What reason.”

“To draw out Angelo Dimitrov, his wife Ember, and their child Lucius.”

Laura strained against her bonds. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m a member of the Seeker Society. You’ve been brainwashed by the vampires, Miss Donovan. But I’m here to rectify that.”

A bright light appeared on the ceiling above her. Horrific images of mutilated bodies flashed before her in gory detail.

“This is what vampires do,” Ellis murmured, lying back and resting his head on the pillow next to hers. “They take, they maim, and they kill without remorse.”

Laura shrank as far from him as her bonds would allow. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” He stopped the automatic slideshow, freezing the frame on an image of a young, brunette woman naked on her side in a pool of blood. Her throat ripped open to reveal the bone of her neck. “That’s Teresa. My wife. She was raped and slaughtered by one of those…those things.”

Tears filled Laura’s eyes as she stared at the horror before her.

Ellis pressed a button on a remote he held, and the image moved to a child broken nearly in half. “Stop it,” Laura cried, squeezing her eyes shut.

The Seeker grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look up at him. “How many times do you think they begged for them to stop? For it all to end?” He jerked his chin toward the ceiling. “Do you think received any mercy?”

Laura blinked up at the steady flow of images. Each one worse than the last. “Angel and Ember would never do something like that,” she choked out, unable to look away from the carnage.

“They are demons, Miss Donovan. You don’t know what they are capable of. Just because they haven’t killed you yet doesn’t mean they won’t. And if not you, someone else.”

“No. They wouldn’t do that.” Laura thought of the way Shon used her and tossed her aside. “Ember is good. She isn’t capable of hurting anyone.”

“What of Angelo? How much do you really know about him?”

Laura paused. The truth was, she didn’t know anything about Angel other than what Ember had revealed. “I know everything about him,” she lied.

Ellis laughed. “You speak with a forked tongue, Miss Donovan. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

Rising from the bed, Ellis pressed another button on the remote, filling the room with tormented sounds of begging and tortured screams.

He turned and moved toward the door.

Laura fought against her bonds, horrified by the endless wailing ricocheting off the walls surrounding her.

The heinous images continue to flash overhead, leaving Laura nauseous and weak. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes, the torturous pictures danced behind her lids in vivid detail.

“Please, stop,” she cried, unable to block out the sickening sounds surrounding her. But no answer came.