Authors: Joey W. Hill

Vampire Trinity (54 page)

BOOK: Vampire Trinity

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“It’s cold, love, but drink. It will bring back your strength. Wake up. Daegan, we don’t have much time.” She took a deep breath, blasted him in her mind as well as with her low, urgent voice.
We’re in danger. I need you.

He came awake with a sudden snap, his hand clamping down on her wrist in a painful vise that could have broken human bones. As it was, it wrenched a gasp from her, but he was too immediately disoriented to gentle his touch. He was drinking, though, pulling hard at the packet in her hand, draining it. She fumbled to reach the other, trying to pull the seal off it one-handed. Ignoring her curt order, Gideon came back and did the task for her. Sliding the empty one from Daegan when he drained it, Gideon brought the next to his mouth. Daegan’s hands closed over Gideon’s fingers as he drank. Gideon held that contact until Daegan was able to hold the packet on his own; then he slid his hand free.

Anwyn put a hand on his shoulder, another on Daegan’s, drawing strength from the fact the three of them were here, together, and alive. At least for the moment. She didn’t know if vampires could drink so fast that it would make them sick, but fortunately it didn’t seem to be the case. As Daegan gulped down four of the containers, color started to come back to his face, his eyes growing more alert and sharp on the two of them. By the time he finished pack five, he was sitting up without aid, his feet planted solidly on the floor.

The burn lines of the live wires didn’t seem to trouble him, and she assumed they were already healing. Other than that, there were no marks on his naked body, save for a pair of crossed ugly slashes high on the inside of his thigh. A branded X. For that scar to remain, Xavier had seared it with Daegan’s own blood, the only way to permanently mark a vampire. He’d wanted Daegan to carry his brand. She wished she’d dispatched the piece of shit in a more painful way.

Could have been worse,
cher
. He talked several times about cutting off my cock, putting it in a blender and making me drink it.
Daegan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced around. “Are my clothes anywhere around?”

Just like that. Fully in command of the situation, now that his sensibilities had been restored, but Anwyn sensed he needed more. “You’re not at full strength. You need some fresh blood.”

“I’ve had enough to get us out of here.”

“But not enough to finish the job you came here to do.” She knew he wanted that, felt it from him in a low-level pulsing fury that matched her own. She didn’t care about what the Council would or wouldn’t do to her. She wanted those vampires taken down because they’d hurt him, bound him. She didn’t have to reach out far to know Gideon felt the same way.

“Getting you both to safety is my first priority,” Daegan said evenly. Gideon had found the cabinet where they’d stored his weapons and clothes. Daegan yanked on the jeans without bothering with the torn briefs, ignored the tattered shirt. Shrugged into the duster and loaded it with his weapons. The state of the clothes, the bloodstains on the jeans, told her how many injuries he’d initially sustained when they took him down. He twirled the sword, loosening up his wrist, sheathed the knives.

“She’s right,” Gideon said. “And it’s not just about payback, Daegan. They’re holding prisoners in the next room, and half of them won’t be able to walk out on their own. If we leave them, they’ll kill them before we come back. She’s right about the blood, too.”

Daegan twisted around as Gideon shed his torn coat, revealing his bare upper body, though he left the collar on. “Take it from where you need it.”

Anwyn was surprised, warmed by it. Until Gideon locked gazes with her.
Might as well give it to him before you make it an order. Right, Mistress?

Gideon excelled at wry humor in high-pressure situations. She knew that. But the deepest layers of his soul were at high tide, darkening any light, and the comment didn’t hit her as casual wit. He was horrified by what had happened down here. Female victims were always the most difficult for him to handle. His mind was replaying ten years of layered images, the things he’d seen vampires do to his kind.

His kind. She swallowed. Had she really just thought that? In such a short time, was she already identifying more with the vampire she’d become than with the human she’d always been? Remembering the flicker in his gaze when she’d commanded him to go get blood out of the women’s cells, she realized that was what he’d seen in her eyes, what had given him pause. And she couldn’t deny it.

Not very long ago, he’d expressed amazement she’d handled everything that had been done to her so well. On that same note, she wondered that he’d managed to get this far at her side without having more moments like this, when his passive angers reared up and struck like venomous snakes.

Regret crossed Gideon’s face, apparently realizing how the comment had struck her, but before he could reach out to her, Daegan surprised them both. Picking up the coat, he tossed it back to Gideon.

“No,” he said. “I don’t need it.” When he strode from the room, they exchanged a glance and followed him, puzzled, to the cells that held the women. Anwyn saw the same confusion of fear and hope that Gideon had confronted, but when they recognized what Daegan and Anwyn were, they shrank back again.

“I need to take some fresh blood from one of you,” Daegan said in his velvet, sensual voice, the one that stroked frayed nerves. “Not all vampires are like those here. It won’t hurt, and it won’t harm you. Three minutes, and then I will be strong enough to get you out of here. You will be able to go back to your homes and families.”

He moved into the cell. There were no volunteers, of course, but Anwyn was surprised that he moved toward Sarah. But since she’d uncurled from her fetal position, she’d made it obvious she had the most spirit, even if she was weak from malnourishment and blood loss. Maybe Xavier and his monsters had gotten bored with her and used her less than the newer girls. She looked like a wild animal, hair disheveled and no makeup. Anwyn assumed they let the girls bathe, because the stench in here was from sickness, blood and fear, not unwashed bodies. However, when she saw a coiled hose in the corner with a cold-water tap, the image of them being hosed down through the bars made Anwyn feel fury anew.

But Daegan was murmuring to her, as if to a wounded and abused animal, which she supposed was what Sarah was. While her fists were still clenched, her frightened, angry eyes watching him, she was trembling. The others shrank back, made no move to bolt toward the open cell door, as if they’d realized long ago how futile that was, only an amusing game for their captors.

“Your name, child,” he said quietly. “Do not fear me.”

“They called me Sarah. I don’t . . . I can’t remember my real name.” As she met his gaze, hers unexpectedly filled with tears at what she saw in his face. Perhaps she saw the truth, that he did mean to help. Anwyn knew Daegan Rei had that effect on a hurting woman.

Then, oddly, the girl’s eyes became unfocused, and she swayed forward, toward Daegan.

“Sarah,” he murmured. “Come to me.”

Gideon knew compulsion was a gift that some older vampires had. However, it usually worked only on a human whose blood the vampire had taken, unless the vampire was extremely powerful, like Lady Lyssa. Or in this case, Daegan Rei. As the magic spun its hypnotic web, Daegan drew her closer to his body so she leaned into him, getting lost in the folds of his duster. Her cheek rested on his chest as he stroked her hair to the side and bent his head. When he sank his fangs into the side of her throat, he released the pain-numbing pheromones immediately, for she moved in lazy sensuality against him, responding to it. As he drank, he pressed his arm around her back, stroking her, keeping her still, soothing her. It was probably the first kind touch she’d experienced in months. She certainly hadn’t experienced it from Gideon.

He turned away, unable to watch. Anwyn’s focus was all on Daegan. Reaching out from his head to hers, he saw the gremlins trembling in the corners of her mind like gladiators waiting for the gate to go up so they could charge the arena. He moved through that center area, going by instinct to help calm her, give her strength against them. He wasn’t sure she was even aware of the effort, as everything in her was attuned to the other vampire.

As Sarah’s hands relaxed, burrowing into Daegan’s coat and the increasing warmth, Anwyn’s clenched. Gideon wondered what thoughts were in her mind right now, but his own were so torn up, he couldn’t summon the courage to find out, to rise above the insidious gremlin chatter. It was safe there, black and white. His world was easier if he kept it that way.

He’d been there, right in front of him, offering, and Daegan had turned him down.
I don’t need it.

Daegan
had
needed it; he just wouldn’t take it from Gideon, though he’d have given him ten quarts of his blood if it got him off that damn table and looking like the Daegan he knew. Untouchable, capable of handling anything, even Gideon’s constant barbs.

Just because he couldn’t offer blood with fucking enthusiasm didn’t mean he wasn’t willing.

They’d lost precious seconds convincing and gentling this terrified woman to get the blood Gideon could have given in a blink. Damn it, he’d screwed up. He hadn’t meant to give Anwyn attitude at such a stupid time, but it had been knee-jerk. A reaction to what he’d seen rear its head in her mind at that moment, like a fire-breathing dragon, scarier than the voices, because it had been
her
, not them.

Yeah, he knew this environment was taking its toll on both of them, particularly her. She was working her ass off to keep the things in her mind under control, drawing on his energy as much as possible. But unfortunately, he knew the difference between what Anwyn, the tough-as-nails woman, would do to protect her own, and what the vampire blood thought it had every right to demand. Even though she hadn’t consciously recognized it, when she told him to go to the cells to get the blood, it was that voice he’d heard and seen.

If she’d thought fresh blood was necessary, she would have made him drag one of those girls in here and open up her vein for Daegan. Or done it herself. She would have stopped short of killing the girl, just as she said, but she would not have been denied. She knew she had the strength to force her will, and she would have used it.

Just as vampires always did when it came to a choice between what they wanted and what a human wanted. He knew his reaction to that was fucking idiotic. They were in a life-or-death situation. If something happened to her, he knew he’d go to extremes to protect her as well, care for her. But this was different. He could see in her mind, so he couldn’t tell himself he’d misinterpreted her emotions in the heat of the moment. She hadn’t thought of it as extreme. It had simply been an option available to her.

Daegan eased a weakened Sarah onto one of the bunks, drawing Gideon out of his mind, and Anwyn’s. The cot was filthy, but since the floor was worse, it was the better alternative. “Stay here with her,” he commanded the rest of the prisoners, as if they’d become active participants in the rescue. “We must dispatch the others before we can get you out, so you are safer in here until we have done that.” Then he was turning and leaving the cell. He left the cell door closed but unlocked. None of the girls moved, and Gideon didn’t blame them.

When Daegan turned toward the two of them, there was nothing remotely human about him. Something had happened while he was drinking. His eyes had gone all the way dark, no whites, though there was a tinge of crimson to them. His movements were so eerily graceful Gideon realized he was moving almost exactly like a feline predator. Now he knew why Xavier had called him a captive lion. It hadn’t been an idle taunt.

Was the transformation the result of restoring so much blood so quickly, or was this how he looked right before a battle? Gideon didn’t know, but it kept everyone in place, waiting to see what he would do. Even he and Anwyn.

Daegan turned his attention to her now. “Take the west staircase back up to the club floor. They don’t watch that one, because it only opens from this side and they don’t expect anyone but Xavier or his people to use it. Tell them Xavier finished his tour and you’re leaving. You can say your servant already preceded you.”

She stared at him, incredulous. “I’m not leaving you. There’s absolutely no way.”

“Yes, you are.” The deadly tone made it clear she wasn’t talking to Daegan, but to a warrior who would brook no argument from his troops.

BOOK: Vampire Trinity

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