Taken by the Others (34 page)

He’d reverted to human form, kneeling naked and bleeding among the mess of remains by the stairs. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he cradled a still, limp body to his chest. It was Vincent, the guy I’d barely known, who once in a while came out with us to the movies. He’d reverted to human in death but still had all the injuries he’d suffered when shifted. Innumerable fang marks and ragged tears littered his frame. Simon hung back awkwardly, not making an effort to conceal his nakedness, though he was using a hand to put some pressure on a seeping wound on one arm. Dillon hadn’t shifted back yet. He was hunched over Chaz and Vincent, making a low, mournful sound in his throat.

I wasn’t part of the pack, and I didn’t think now would be the right time to intrude on their grief. Instead, I surveyed the rest of the room.

Devon was talking quietly with Dawn as she helped him to the stairs. One of the vamps had come up on the other side of him, giving him a hand despite his protests. Mouse was busy collecting fallen weaponry off the floor. The guy with the seawater eyes was helping somebody else to the stairs.

I couldn’t see Tiny anywhere. Frowning, I looked at the bodies on the floor, searching for his unmistakable figure.

Almost lost in the shadows at the far corner of the room, he was using the remains of a tool shelf for support while he lit up a cigarette. He gave me a smile, showing teeth in a savage grin of victory. He couldn’t be too badly hurt if he was looking that pleased with himself. I found myself smiling back.

Even as the first threads of relief seeped through me, something strange happened. Between one blink and the next, I found myself halfway from the stairs to one of the doors. The same one Max and his people fled through. I didn’t remember moving.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled, putting a hand to my forehead. My head was hurting, just a little, though it hadn’t been a second ago. What was going on?

Another blink, and I was at the door itself. I braced my hands against the frame, widening my eyes. No one noticed anything was up with me yet.

“Um, guyth?”

Everyone was too busy helping the injured or seeing to the dead to notice me. The querulous note to my voice warbled into a thread of panic as I found myself inside the passage, not remembering how I got there. I was blacking out for a few seconds every time I closed my eyes.

This time, I screamed. Max was calling me to his side.

“Help!”

Chapter 34

Strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind, hauling me back toward Royce’s basement. I struggled and screamed, not sure why, only knowing the overwhelming need to rush headlong down that tunnel.

“Stop fighting, I’m trying to help you!” a voice I didn’t recognize growled in my ear, grunting when my elbow connected with his sternum.

I felt an overpowering need to break free and run, to meet the silent call’s source. The hands holding me back were nothing more than a distraction. I twisted and squirmed to get away, the desire to run drowning out all other thoughts.

Royce’s pale hands were suddenly cradling my face, forcing me to look up into his eyes. The longing to run was still there, but it was dim now. Fading under the intensity of those depthless black pools, sucking me down to a quieter place. Despite the fierce need to escape, I soon settled in the arms of the man who held me, spellbound by Royce’s gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were bound?” he hissed, sounding deeply disappointed. “Damn it thrice, no wonder he gave you up without a fight.”

I couldn’t find my voice to answer him.

“I don’t know of any way but one to break his hold on you,” he whispered, that sweet, smooth voice almost as tantalizing as Max’s to my confused and way too overworked senses. “I’ll have to bind you as well. I need you to agree, Shiarra. I won’t do it against your will.”

A trickle of fear penetrated my consciousness. I blinked, rousing from the false calm he had me under. My voice came out weak and thready as panic returned. “No. I can’t.”

Distantly, as if in a dream, I heard Chaz’s voice from somewhere far away. “What the hell are you doing to her? Don’t touch her!”

“Don’t do it! Don’t listen to him, Shia!” Devon shouted. I could hear a scuffle, but Royce wouldn’t let me look away.

“Don’t be fools. Do you people want her running back to Max? I’m doing what I can to protect her from him, so save the righteous indignation for another time.”

Slender, delicate fingertips traced along my temples and jaw, keeping me focused on him throughout their little spat. Despite the thunderous, warning growl from Chaz, I couldn’t help relaxing. Royce’s voice took on a sweet, surreal quality, pleading, cajoling in a way I’d never heard, drowning out the harsh demands from Max.

“You want to stay with your friends, don’t you? Let me do this, Shiarra. Let me help you.”

Like an angel on his knees, begging to show me a slice of heaven. Royce was anything but an angel, and I had no doubt his “help” would come with a price I wouldn’t want to pay. Only the deeply ingrained terror of knowing what being bound by blood as well as contract to him meant made me hesitate. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand up against this brand of assault much longer.

“Please, Roythe,” I pleaded with him, clinging to that little bit of sanity screaming about what a terribly bad idea it would be to agree to this. Chaz gathered up one of my limp hands in his, though I was still far too focused on Royce’s eyes to look at him. It was impossible to turn away. “I can’t. There’th got to be another way.”

“You know there are no other options here,” Royce said. “You need to choose now, between Max and your friends, people who love you. If you don’t do this, you know Max will call you back to him. Even if we manage to keep you safe for tonight, he’ll be back, and I can promise you he won’t be nearly as lenient and understanding as I am.”

Jack’s mocking voice played back in my mind. There’s a new player in the game. It’ll be down to him or Royce. Or us. I hated that the smarmy bastard was right. He’d warned me I’d get tied up with forces above and beyond my ability to cope with; I just hadn’t wanted to listen at the time.

Honestly, I might have laughed if I’d been more myself. The idea of Royce being “lenient and understanding” would’ve been hysterical under other circumstances. I tried to rationally consider what he was saying, to think it through, but it was incredibly difficult to concentrate. Would it be so bad being bound to him? Oh, yes. Yes, it would. Still, was there anything else I could do that wouldn’t result in my being summoned by Max?

I wanted to close my eyes so I wouldn’t be forced to stare up at him while I weighed my options. It was unbelievably distracting. He pressed on, not giving me the time to think it through, that impossibly alluring tone begging to allow him the chance. The serpent in the Garden of Eden had nothing on that soft, surreal voice.

“Please, Shiarra. Say it. Say yes …”

There is a point where a person can only take so much. I’d done my best to keep my head despite everything that had happened to and around me the past couple days. As much as the idea frightened me, I was lulled into passivity by whatever he was doing. The charm around my neck should have prevented any mind games of this sort, but it hadn’t been doing me much good lately.

I swallowed hard and stared up into the mesmerizing gaze that quieted Max’s siren call, silently praying I was making the right choice. My voice came out as little more than a strained whisper once I found the breath to answer.

“Yeth.”

The curve of his thin lips was more mischievous than reassuring. Terror assailed me at the thought I’d just made a horrible mistake. Chaz squeezed my hand reassuringly. It helped. He was here, he wouldn’t let Royce or anyone else hurt me. It couldn’t go that badly if he was by my side, could it?

Don’t answer that.

“Just keep your eyes on me,” Royce instructed, pulling back half a step. He lowered his head just a bit. His eyes stayed focused on mine as he withdrew one of his hands and brought his wrist up to his mouth. The few drops of crimson on his lips and trickling down his arm shattered my false calm. I jerked back from his offering, knowing Jack was right about this, too.

The guy who had his arms wrapped around me whispered in my ear, holding me tighter against a still, cold chest. Vampire. “Just relax, it’ll all be over soon.”

I wished I could believe that.

I wanted to tell Royce to stop, to wait, to give me a minute to wrap my wits around needing to swallow his blood. There wasn’t any time for it. Before I could get the words out, he was pressing his arm to my lips. The taste of that bitter, metallic liquid coated my tongue as I twisted away. Royce’s other hand tightened slightly on my jaw, holding me in place.

However, he’d kept me calm before, it wasn’t working now. I closed my burning eyes, too sick and tired for tears.

If I didn’t do this, Max could call me back to him. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t flat out kill me this time around, if for no other reason than to piss off Royce. I didn’t want to die like that. I could do this. I could drink Royce’s blood if it would keep me alive and sane, out of the hands of that psycho, Max.

It tasted awful, but I drank a few drops, feeling it burn a chill path down my throat. As soon as I swallowed, Royce pulled his arm away and the vampire who had been holding me let go.

I thought I might be too weak to stand. That I’d have hysterics, panic, or do something equally stupid. Instead, I felt … fine. The taste lingering in my mouth wasn’t anything to write home about, that’s for sure. It felt like something was tickling the back of my throat, but otherwise, I was fine. I stood where I was, probably looking sort of stupid to the others as I sought an appropriate reaction. What does Ms. Manners say you do after drinking a vampire’s blood? Thank him? Curse him? Run screaming from the room? I didn’t know, and none of those options sounded that great.

Chaz wrapped his arms around me, blocking my view of the rest of the room. I blinked woozily up at him. His features were twisted with concern and fear; I wished I knew a way to persuade him I was all right. First I’d have to figure out how to convince myself.

“Are you okay, love?”

I cleared my throat but my voice still came out hoarse and raspy. “I think I’ll be all right.”

Wonder of wonders, it didn’t hurt to speak. I touched a hand gingerly to my lip, and was surprised to feel … nothing. No pain. There was a small ragged bump like a scar, but I wasn’t lisping anymore, and the cut from Peter’s fangs had vanished. Did vampire blood do that?

“Shiarra.”

The call of my name was like the dulcet chiming of a bell, ringing out with command. I pulled away from Chaz and stared at Royce. He was watching me, his eyes narrowed to thin slivers. Had he always sounded that way, or was I hearing him differently with his blood inside me, changing me?

“Do you still hear Max’s call?”

“No.” I shook my head, but realized after only a few seconds it was a lie. He was there, whispering in my mind; it just wasn’t as strong as it had been. The instant I focused on it, the call was louder, more insistent, demanding. My eyes widened and I took a step back, putting a hand to my forehead. “Wait, why is he still there? I thought you fixed this!”

Royce sighed and advanced on me, his easy, boneless grace more attractive than it had ever been. I’d once admired his walk, that predatory mien, but the draw I felt now was magnetic. Not like before. I wanted to get closer to him, to meet him halfway, but didn’t quite dare. Was I seeing Royce through rose-colored glasses now that we were bound by blood?

Hadn’t I always felt this way?

One chill finger tilted my chin up so I was once more staring into those depthless black eyes. “I have the advantage of proximity. For the moment, my tie to you is stronger than his. He won’t be able to reach you while you’re with me.”

Chaz was suddenly there, slamming Royce by the throat up against the wall and sending me stumbling back. Chaz’s eyes were positively wild as he hissed through his teeth, muscles straining as he fought the rage putting him on the verge of change.

“You lying son of a bitch! You never said any of that! You didn’t tell her she’d be bound to both of you leech fucks!”

“Chaz, no!” I cried.

Though I felt sick at Royce’s revelation and the implications of what he had done, I still had an intense desire to be near him. I didn’t want to see him dead.

Chaz’s hand spasmed around Royce’s throat until rivulets of blood trickled down his fingers. His hand shifted into claws, biting into the vampire’s skin.

Royce didn’t look fazed. He calmly met Chaz’s narrowed blue eyes as though staring at him from across the expanse of his fancy desk in his office, laying out the terms for a business contract. Not like he was being held bleeding against the wall of his corpse-ridden basement.

“Take your hands off me. You heard her; she agreed to this.”

Chaz slammed him against the wall again. The first hints of red bled into Royce’s eyes. His fingers clenched at his sides, but he didn’t fight back.

“You told her you were breaking Max’s hold on her, not leaving it there!” Chaz accused him.

“I’ll ask one more time. Take. Your. Hands. Off. Me.” Each word was enunciated slowly and clearly, making me nervous. Almost as much as the unnatural swelling of muscles under Chaz’s skin. He was going to shift, and it wouldn’t be pretty when he did.