Betrayal Bites (Tales of Sydney Sedrick Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter 7

This wasn’t the club, I realized.

A high-pitched whining sound erupted from around the corner, bringing me to the here and now. Except, I didn’t know where the here and now was. The sound hurt my ears. I covered my ears with my hands, trying to muffle out the sound so I could think. Who the heck was causing that obnoxious noise?

The walls lining the room where I stood were made of cement blocks. Familiar cement blocks. Inspecting them closer, there was a pattern of dark brown spots splattered along the length of the far wall. My gut twisted from painful memories. It wasn’t my first time being there. I could smell the stale stench of blood and other body fluids caking the creases of the cell. Hot bile rose in my chest as I fought the urge to vomit. I had smelled it before.

Peeking around the corner of the room’s doorway into the next, a staircase stood before me. The horrible sound was coming from the next room, on the other side of the staircase. Slowly creeping up to the doorway while holding my hands tightly over my ears, I peered in to find out what or who was causing that awful noise.

What was taking place before my eyes shocked me into momentary paralysis. My lungs felt like heavy cinder blocks in my chest. It was difficult to breathe as dust from the cement clouded the air.

The room was full of a white powder, making it hard to see exactly what was going on. But I was able to make out enough.

Rogue vampires and werewolves circled a stone base covered with cryptic symbols carved into the sides and top. The rogues knelt on the floor, each holding a knife and a cup in their hands.

The whining noise stopped when the only rogue standing withdrew the blade of a chainsaw from the stone, which sat in the center of the room. When he spoke, his voice boomed, echoing against the cement walls.

“It is ready. Set him free.”

The kneeling rogues stood one by one, each taking their turn pouring the contents of their cups into the crevices created by the symbols until the last rogue left stood.

The liquid they were pouring into the lines carved into the stone was dark in color, close to black. I took a deep breath and got a whiff of the liquid. It was unmistakable, like what you smell from meat when it sits out too long.

Blood.

The last rogue’s face was covered by a large hood connected to the indigo robe he wore. He didn’t pour the contents of the cup into the creased lines of the base like the other rogues. He poured the contents of his cup directly into the cut in the stone just made from the chainsaw.

A bright white light flashed, blinding me.

A deep thumping bass pounded against my body as my sight cleared.

I felt a very warm set of hands on my arms, shaking me roughly.

“Sydney! What is going on? Are you all right?”

Blake kneeled before me as I opened my eyes. I put my hands up when he tightened his grip, ready to give me another good shaking.

Did I just get a new Selected power?

“Blake, I’m okay. I think I need to get out of here.” My stomach began to churn as my body felt flushed. I needed some fresh air. Once I got outside I was sure I would feel better.

Blake grabbed my arm to help me up from the floor where I must have fallen during the flash. He leaned in close and nuzzled my neck, rubbing his rough jaw gently against my skin. Even through the pounding pain in my head from whatever had just happened, a streak of desire warmed my entire body. The pain lessened from my having physical contact with Blake.

How the heck was a girl supposed to fight off that kind of response from her own body to a man? Sometimes, life was just so unfair. I didn’t fight having direct contact with his body. Somehow, Blake’s touch was soothing the aching pain in my head and the soreness traveling along my body.
Did I get hurt when I fell?
It sure felt like I took a serious tumble. Or was it the after-effects of being near so many rogues, even though they weren’t actually in my presence?

I turned around to face Blake. I wanted to feel the warmth and comfort only he could provide.

The hairs on my arms rose.

Thick tendrils of icy fingers crawled up my spine, colder than anything I’ve ever felt by a presence of a rogue vampire until that moment. Pain began to creep up my legs until it made its way to my torso, then into my chest. Despite the cold feeling, my body broke out into a sweat from the pain. The urge to vomit wrapped its nauseating grip around my throat. I leaned heavier against Blake for support, not wanting to pass out in the middle of the nightclub, again.

“Blake, I’m pretty sure a rogue vampire just walked into the club. We need to leave.”

Even before I finished my sentence, his eyes turned into the golden-bronzed color they did when he was angry, or turned on.

“Sydney, I’ll take care of the rogue. Get Michael and Brianna and leave.”

“I’m not going without you!” It was hard not to shout in his ear, but I had to make sure he heard me over the music.

Blake growled in frustration, his inner beast threatening to come out in the middle of the club. His protective instincts were kicking into high gear. Those instincts were telling him to go fight the bad guy because he felt my safety was threatened. I could see it in his face as his mouth tightened.

Blake didn’t know what to do. He knew we were in danger from the rogue, but he also knew I wasn’t going anywhere unless he went with us.

Another flash of white light blinded me. I was no longer in the club, again.

“Yes, Master, it will be as you wish.” A rogue vampire, hunched on his knees, bowed his head in submission to the lightning demon from Hell.

I shook my head to try and clear my vision. What the heck was happening to me? Without warning, I felt myself somehow being flung from one reality to the next. There was no gradual pull on my body like when I left the vision the last time. This time was more like a quick snap of the fingers, one that made my lungs feel like they were deflated like a popped balloon. I seriously had to get a hold of these Selected powers.

“I want that vile being out of the way. Someday I will have her under my thumb. If you play your cards right, you will be generously rewarded. If you fail me, I will make sure every single rogue in this place will suffer a long, excruciating death.”

I could tell Andras was ticked. It wasn’t good to have a lightning demon, infamous for taking pleasure in creating chaos and pain, upset about anything.

The rogue vampire didn’t budge. Vampires were known for keeping their emotions and thoughts from their facial expression. Despite that fun fact Grandma continued to express through her writing, this one couldn’t completely hide that he was scared for his life. His bottom lip quivered in fear against the bloodstained fangs poking out over his lip.

Maybe he hadn’t been a vampire for very long. Hopefully Kieran would be willing to tell me the stages of vampiredom the next time I had the chance to ask him about them. Did they go through a vamp puberty of sorts?

The rogue, with his guilty little fangs hanging over his lip, didn’t appear too confident, compared to the majority of vampires that belonged to Kieran’s coven. They seemed older, more in control than this one did.

“You will not be disappointed, Master. When we have fully summoned The One, everything will be set, and your plans can go forth as you wish. You will be pleased. I swear it.” The rogue bent his head down in a show of submission, exposing the skin on his neck. Scorch marks seared his skin in thick, puckered welts. Andras hurt his servants? I’d figure that would be counterproductive in getting done what you wanted.

There was so much in my newfound life I didn’t understand. Each different band of bad guys seemed to have their own way of doing things, and how they treated each other. It was like they each had their own unique culture; some were similar to each other, and some were vastly different. Why would a rogue vampire choose to work for a vindictive demon lord who hurt them instead of hanging out with the covens and enjoying the posh parties they seemed to hold for every possible event imaginable?

A gentle breeze swayed Andras’ long white hair. From my viewpoint around the corner of the compound’s library, I didn’t feel any wind blowing through the room, and there were no open windows. Was I between realms? How was I able to see them? Blake didn’t say my body had disappeared. But then again, there wasn’t much time for chitchat before being sucked into this next vision, or whatever the heck it was.

The smell of old blood was everywhere. I looked down at my feet. I could see right through them to the floor. There was no blood on the carpeted floor anywhere around me. I put my hand up to the dark-stained, wooden doorframe of the library. My hand didn’t touch the wood.

It went through it.

I could feel the presence of the mass that made up the doorway, but it didn’t stop my hand like it would have in the real world. I didn’t even know what the real world was anymore. My instincts told me that what I was seeing in the visions was really happening, but I couldn’t tell if it had already happened, was happening, or was going to happen. Nothing in the visions told the timing of the events. There were no clues like the local newspaper lying around on a coffee table with the date handily printed on the top header like you see in the mystery movies.

The rogue and demon couldn’t see me. I took a silent step over the threshold of the doorway. Neither Andras nor the rogue paid me any attention. They had no idea I was standing there, even though I could see them clear as day. I must be in some sort of alternate universe, maybe some type of shadow world?

My shoes didn’t make a sound as they landed on the carpet with each step. I entered the room they occupied, hoping to find some sort of indication as to their plans.

Who was The One they wanted so badly to have come out of that hole in the cement base covered with all those symbols? It had to be some type of dark magic they used. Nothing good could come out of having to use blood to bring forth some kind of being.

I lifted my hand out in front of me. My skin wasn’t solid. Wiggling my fingers, the light from the lamp on the desk went right through them, giving them a pink iridescent hue. That’s when my translucent arm began to waver right before my eyes. A vacuum pulled at me, my body slowly became a whirl in the air, and then I was gone from the library.

I felt like I had a rock inside my gut. Nausea began to curl tendril-like extensions up my chest, reaching toward my collarbones, and I was sure I was going to yak.

Firm, warm hands roughly shook me. Blake. I’d know his hands anywhere.

“Sydney, we have to get you out of here. Would you snap out of it?” Blake was clearly losing his temper. I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me while lying on the floor of the club.

Blake helped me slowly get to my feet. I looked down at myself. Figures, I had to fall on the part of the floor that someone had spilled part of their beverage on. I snarled in frustration at the big wet spot on the back of my favorite jeans and the pain starting to cover my entire body. I wouldn’t recommend ever spending quality time lying on a club floor. They weren’t exactly clean, and I didn’t want to ever lie on one again.

Blake put his hands gently on each side of my face and leaned his forehead to mine. Despite being surrounded by people dancing, laughing, and spilling their drinks as they thumped to the music, he made me feel better. His touch centered me while the pain and nausea started a gradual retreat.

“Sydney, you scared the hell out of me. Don’t do that again, okay?”

I laughed. I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.

“I’ll do my best. Let’s just get out of here, and let’s take the lovebirds with us.”

Blake raised his lips and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. His lips lingered overly long, resulting in a low growl sounding from deep in his chest, making me giggle.

“Blake, now’s not the time to get all excited. You know we can’t be like that. I’d really appreciate it ...”

He didn’t let me finish my usual lecture because he shoved me roughly behind him. Before I could ask him what the heck he thought he was doing, Blake said, “Stay there.”

Normally, if a man shoved me like that, with such force, I would have balked. But something in his voice told me to let it go. That something was fear.

I looked over his shoulder as he was trying to encircle me with his arms behind him. A hooded man and woman swayed through the crowd. Not one of the club goers seemed to notice them or even look their way, despite the wide berth the people on the dance floor gave them.

They clearly were not human. The female had black skin streaked with silver lines running over it, and the streaks were shaped into some type of tribal art. As she approached us, I saw the silver streaks on her skin weren’t stationary; they roamed over her body as she moved.

The icy feeling I felt before, when I sensed the presence of the rogue, was gone. Now the air felt charged with an indescribable darkness, like a void. It was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

The woman, or whatever she was, thought she was hot stuff. Clearly she thought she was sexy, too. In my opinion, she looked like a snake slithering over the floor, readying to strike.

The male at the woman’s side kept his distance, even from her.

“Blake, Selected. Don’t worry about the rogue vampire. Damas has already taken care of him while you two were busy enjoying this nice club.” Disdain dripped from her words as she sneered while gazing over the bar patrons. I could tell she didn’t like the club one bit.

Blake didn’t look happy to see her, whoever she was.

“Sydney, this is the Judge, Kasdeya. She’s the one I told you about when I was scouting the compound, the one who attacked me from behind without justifiable cause.” Blake turned from me to the male beside her. “I assume the demon with you is also a Judge?”

Real live Judges stood before me. I never thought I’d meet one, let alone two. It was like meeting a celebrity, only the dark, scary, Underworld kind. The mystery and intrigue that followed them throughout the vampire and werewolf communities made the Judges out to be legends.

They were the big, bad boogie men to the beings that humans thought were the creatures to be afraid of. Little did most humans know, their boogie men had stories of beings so scary that made even them behave.