Bite of Envy (Just One Bite #4) (17 page)

Lizbeth shook her head and moved quickly to her side,
blocking her in. In the next eye-blink Diandra was at her other side. “No,
Sandy,” Lizbeth said quietly. “We’ll kill you to make sure you’re not a threat
we’ll have to deal with later. So stay and fight, or run and die.”

“The choice is yours,” Dia said, her voice neutral.

Run, please, just go
ahead and run
, a voice whispered through Sandra’s mind. She shuddered, her
voice shaky when she finally spoke. “I’m not running. I’ll stay. But if I’m so
damned useless to you, what the Hell is the point?”

Eamon spoke again. “The point is to stand back and actually
learn something. I doubt the fighting will require your assistance, but if
you’re locked in your room you’ll learn nothing.” He smiled, but it wasn’t
friendly. “Consider it part of your training.”

“Oh, you all are just precious,” Carson said from behind
them. As one, the vampires all crouched into defensive positions with Lizbeth
and Diandra instinctively blocking Adrian from Carson’s reach. He let out a
rumbling laugh. “Are you serious? Why are there so many of you here to greet
me?” His eyes hardened and the faked joviality of a moment before was now gone.
“You don’t need to do this. Simply hand over Eamon and Lizbeth and the rest of
you can go on with your lives.”

Diandra snarled, her rosy lips peeling back from her fangs.
“Fuck you,” she said simply.

Carson smiled, but there was no warmth to it. “You can come
with her. I owe you one, too, bitch.”

Eamon straightened from his crouched position. “Tonight you
die, Balfleur.”

Carson raised a well maintained brow. “Is that so? Bring it
on then, bring it on.” And then he lunged.

Damn, he’s fast
,
Diandra thought, stepping to the side to avoid the reach of the blade he’d
whipped out from underneath the edge of his trench coat. He missed her, but she
lost her footing and it cost her invaluable seconds as the knife’s blade winked
in the moonlight, red from the blood it had drawn from Lizbeth’s arm. Lizbeth
howled, quickly surveying herself for further problems as she made sure no
muscle damage had occurred.

Eamon lashed out with his right fist, swinging with deadly
accuracy toward the spot Carson now stood. His back was to Eamon as he lunged
for Lizbeth again, attempting to slit her throat. At the last second, before
the punch could land, Carson ducked and the blow knocked Lizbeth off balance.
She fell heavily to the sand and Diandra dove in front of her to allow her time
to recover.

Sandra backed away from the fight.
It’s all too fast
, she thought frantically.
It’s going so badly. Why are we losing? There’s only one of him- this
shouldn’t be happening
. She made a move to join in the fight but Carson
winked at her and stopped her forward movement. The wink was horrifying as the
realization of what he’d just done hit home. “Oh my God,” she cried out. “He
literally has eyes in the back of his head.” She shuddered, watching the blood
red eyes glow from within his well-groomed black, silky hair.

Eamon jumped back into the fray, but his every move was
countered by Carson. He’d no sooner strike out before Carson juked left or
right, laughing gaily as he dodged each blow before it could land. Eamon tried
faking him out- he made a move to the left before striking out to the right,
two inches further than Carson would normally move, and there was some success
this time around. He landed the blow, but it was merely a glancing one, barely
jarring the man’s shoulder.

Carson growled and his anger lay heavy in the sound. “You
son of a bitch,” he snarled. “You’ll pay for that.” He dove for Eamon, tackling
him and striking out with three short-armed punches to the ribs. In a flash he
was on his feet and lunging for Adrian, as the man was unprotected. He grabbed
him and drew him close, the blade pressed tightly against the skin at his
throat. “Make one motherfucking move I don’t like and you’ll all be sorry, and
he’ll be dead.” He smiled, triumph lighting his unnatural cat eyes. “Now, I
believe we have some negotiating to do.”

Adrian did two things then. He made his body superheated to
Carson’s touch- everywhere the vampire touched him, it would be akin to
sticking his hand on an active stovetop. He also heated up the hilt of the
knife, scorching the hand that held it. Carson howled with pain and rage,
shoving Adrian so he flew fifteen feet, his progress halted only by his back
slamming into a boulder. He passed out, unaware of the paralysis that came from
his spinal cord being damaged. He lay slumped in the sand, limp as a rag doll.

“No,” Diandra howled, and she made a lunge for Carson at the
same time as Lizbeth. This time she received a cut, deep, running across the
front of her stomach from hip bone to hip bone. Lizbeth growled low in her
throat and managed to get her fingernails into his neck. She roared with anger
and sorrow as she tore at him, trying her best to rip his throat out.

Sandra dove into the fray then, feeling braver now that
there was more than one of them attacking him at a time. Carson flung Lizbeth
away from him, pushing with all his strength so she landed on the shoreline,
sputtering as a wave slammed full force into her face. She got up and came at
him again, water dripping from her dark hair and running in rivulets down her
body. The salt water stung where it flowed into her cut arm, but she
disregarded it, all her focus on him.

Carson ignored Lizbeth, choosing instead to focus all his
energy on Sandra. In one quick movement he had her hair wrapped in one fist,
while his other hand dug painfully into her shoulder. A loud crack followed,
and she screamed in pain and terror as her collarbone broke under his grip.
“You stupid fucking cunt,” he snarled. “You should’ve died the first time, you
bitch.” He tightened his hands around her and pulled. In one quick, clean
movement he ripped her head from her body. Sandra’s pouty mouth was frozen in a
scream, her eyes wide with surprise and confusion. Gore dripped from her
severed head, her spine startling white where it was suddenly visible. He threw
her body to the side disinterestedly, ignoring the blood that flowed onto the
beach, too bright in the moonlight, a stark contrast against the paleness of
the sand.

Lizbeth sank to the sand, unable to process the horror of
the scene before her. In the blink of an eye a woman she’d thought she’d loved
had been brutally murdered. Her short eternal life was no more, the candle of
her soul snuffed out with casual disregard. She stared blankly at Sandra’s body
and reached one hand out to grasp Sandy’s outstretched arm. Just before she
could touch her, the body disintegrated into ashes, quickly carried away by the
wind.

“Oh, you bloody bastard,” Dia said, her tone low. She’d been
perilously close to hating Sandra, but no one should have to die that way.
Sandra wasn’t evil- she was self-absorbed, shallow, arrogant and unhappy. She
didn’t deserve to die. She should be getting used to her new life, merging it
with her old one if that had been what she wanted, and not blowing away across
the ocean, nothing but scattered ashes. She flew at him again, her bleeding
stomach forgotten in her rage.

Lizbeth knew what Diandra was planning, and she lunged in
from the left, not even bothering to get up first, setting herself up to tackle
him at the knees. None of them noticed when Eamon slipped up quietly behind
Carson. As the elder vampire prepared himself for the frontal attack from the
two women, Eamon grabbed Carson’s arms from behind, effectively hampering any
actions he would have made. “Let go, Eamon. I’ll fucking kill you,” Carson
said, but the fear in his tone was stronger than the anger. In his confidence,
he’d forgotten to watch behind him. Now it would be his downfall.

“Not a chance, Balfleur,” Eamon replied. “This time you’re
done. Love may have created you, but love is what’s killing you now.” He
tightened his grip and planted one foot on the small of Carson’s back.

Lizbeth and Diandra exchanged a glance and grabbed a leg
apiece. “This is for Jonah,” Diandra told him, her eyes a blinding purple in
her anger.

Lizbeth simply said, “This is for them all. For Heather
Segman, for Sandra Willis, for all the deaths you caused, directly or
indirectly, all of your miserable existence.” While he howled and begged for
his life, the woman pulled at his legs like they were trying to break a
wishbone, snapping them free of the hips that held them in place. Eamon pulled
with his arms and pushed away with that one balancing foot, ripping the
vampire’s arms from his body.

“You can’t kill me like this,” Carson said. He looked like a
failed biology experiment, nothing but a head attached to a torso. “My arms and
legs will grow back,” he said confidently.

Eamon smiled and picked up the dropped blade. “You’re right-
this won’t kill you.” As he plunged the blade down, he looked directly into the
vamp’s eyes. “But this will.” And with a puff of dust, District Attorney Giles
Carson was no more.

Adrian jiggled his suitcase in his hands, suddenly anxious.
“I’m truly sorry, guys,” he said earnestly. “It’s time to move on. It’s the way
of the Goddess, and I don’t dare turn from what she compels me to do.” He set
the suitcase down at his feet and scooped RaeLynn up in a fierce hug. “I’m
going to miss you, Princess RaeLynn.”

She was one week past her first birthday, no longer a baby.
Love you, Ian
, her tinkling voice said
in his mind. She hugged him back and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek.
Tears glistened in his eyes as he set her down gently on her feet.

Diandra stood there with her arms around Lizbeth. “We
understand,” she said, her own eyes wet. Adrian had been a part of their lives
for so many months that it was hard to believe he was really leaving. She had
known the time would come eventually, but she’d tried to pretend that it
wouldn’t. He walked in as a housekeeper she never thought she’d bring herself
to trust, but he was leaving as a member of the family and her heart broke with
it.

Lizbeth patted Dia’s arm gingerly then stepped out of her
embrace. “You’ll always have a place with us,” she told him, pulling him in for
a hug. She had known it would be hard to say goodbye, and normally she avoided
them, but he deserved better than her hiding in her office until he was gone
and it was too late.

After Carson’s death, they’d struggled to fall into a
pattern of normalcy. Adrian had been in poor shape, and were it not for
RaeLynn’s amazing gifts, he’d be a quadriplegic if he’d even survived at all.
He’d barely been breathing when Diandra set the baby down next to him. As was
her talent, she’d made him whole and undamaged again, but the psychological
burden had been a difficult one to carry. It had taken weeks before he’d
stopped jumping at shadows, and before the dark smears from sleepless nights
had faded from beneath his eyes.

Lizbeth took some time off. After all, now that Carson was
gone the crime rate in Bethany Beach and its surrounding towns had dropped
dramatically. She’d allowed herself a week’s vacation and indulged in her
grief. She had never truly loved Sandra, and somehow that made it all the more
tragic. It hurt her heart to know that the woman had died with no one giving a
damn. So she grieved, and then she slowly began to heal.

Diandra, too, had finally started to let go of all the
heartache that had resided in her since Jonah’s death. It had seemed as though
a physical weight had been lifted from her. Carson had set in motion a flurry
of events that had changed her life entirely. Although most of the changes had
been for the better, it still had been a far cry from the life she’d imagined
for herself all those years ago when Jonah first crashed into her life.

RaeLynn had healed them all in her own special way, and now
the time had come for changes to take place. Adrian had picked up the paper
that morning, knowing it was time for him to move on. Sure enough, he’d stumbled
across an ad for someone seeking a live-in helper for their father in
Wilmington, Delaware. It would put him two hours away from the home he’d come
to love, but it was necessary. He still had work to do.

Eamon was staying on with the women. They’d offered him a
room, but he’d declined, preferring to remain in his feline state as much as
possible. Lizbeth didn’t say anything to him about it, but she knew, in his own
way, this was his version of suicide. He was keeping that form to avoid having
to deal with anyone of anything. It hurt her to know that there were stories in
his past that he was still unable to confide in them, but she knew, someday, he
would trust them and himself enough to tell them all about his life. She was
content to wait, knowing he’d stay with them. Everything else would come in
time.

The women gathered at the door to wave to Adrian one last
time as he climbed behind the wheel of his beat-up car and prepare for the
drive north. He said he’d visit, and perhaps he would, someday. He also told
them that if he ever felt they could be of use, he’d call them to help, but who
knew when or if that call would come?

With a heavy heart, Adrian backed out of the crushed shell
driveway. He cast one final wave towards the doorway, and blew a kiss to
RaeLynn. A thought sent his eyes drifting to the left where an ivory cat sat,
unblinking. In a very human movement, one slender paw was raised in farewell,
and with a smile Adrian returned the gesture. Then he finished backing out of
the driveway, heading towards his new life. He knew that those he’d left behind
would continue on. Their future would be a bright one- the Goddess had told him
so.

Kay Glass is the author of the Just One Bite series, the
short stories Heaven Can Be Hell and Table of Blood, and the upcoming Strange
Curses series. She also writes and publishes under the pen name Kendra Glenn.
She lives in Delaware with her husband, their two children, and a variety of
beloved pets. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, swimming, and
spending time with her family.