Christian (Vampires in America: The Vampire Wars Book 10) (27 page)

He maneuvered Alon’s sleep-heavy body to the bed, then stood and walked over to join Marc. Taking the phone from him, he hit the Call Back button and waited.

“Christian, thank God.”

Marc was right, Scoville
was
panicked. Hell, he sounded scared shitless. And from the noises behind him, he might have a good reason.

“We’re under fucking attack, man. We need help, or this place will be overrun.”

“Where are you? What the fuck is going on?”

“We can’t fight these things. We’re all going to die if—”

“Snap out of it,” Christian yelled. “I need information. Facts. How many of you are there?”

“We started with twenty-five.” Scoville’s voice was quieter, but there was a hitch in his voice, like he was fighting the urge to cry. “Twenty-five,” he repeated in a whisper. “Now? They’re killing us. Swarming like bugs. They don’t feel pain, nothing stops them.”

Christian was moving, the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder, while he started pulling things out of his closet. He turned and his eyes met Marc’s questioning look. He nodded in response to the unvoiced question, “
Are we going
?”

Marc immediately spun away, racing down the hall. He’d be making arrangements, lining up transport, but to where?

“Damn it, Scoville, calm the fuck down.”
Merde! This guy had wanted to be Lord of the South?
“Tell me where you are.”

“Laredo,” he said dully. “Anthony put me in command down here. It was my punishment for not killing you.” He laughed bitterly. “Or for not dying while trying to kill you.”

“Laredo,” Christian repeated for Marc’s benefit. “Did you call Anthony?” he asked, switching back to Scoville.

“He’s not answering. I don’t even know where he is, or whether he’d even come if I found him.”

“What about his fighters? You must be able to get some of them moving.”

“A lot of them went with Anthony, which means I can’t reach them either. And the rest won’t move without his say so. He’s totally fucked us!”

“Anything from Vincent?” Christian asked calmly, hoping it would rub off on Scoville.

“He’s coming, but he’ll take hours to get here. We’ll never last that long. I think this is it, man. Hubert’s on his way.”

“Why call me? We’re not exactly friends.”

“Because we need help, damn it. And there’s no one else to call. My people are
dying,
do you get that? And when we’re all dead, they’ll go right up the 35 to San Antonio. They’re like locusts. There’ll be no stopping them.”

Christian’s thoughts were racing. He knew Hubert’s creatures, and Scoville was right. They were an infestation that needed to be wiped out. And Hubert needed to be stopped before he could create more.

Scoville was right about Vincent, too. It would be hours before he rallied his people and got them on the scene. He and Marc were a lot closer, but there were only two of them. Granted, he could bring the kind of power that won battles, but could he trust this? He sure as hell didn’t trust Anthony, but Scoville had no reason to love his Sire. And there was no faking the screams or the sounds of battle he could hear over the vamp’s terrified breathing.

It was the screams that settled it for him. He wasn’t going to stand by while vampires died fighting for a territory that he would soon call his own. Vampires who would be his people, if they survived.

Fuck it.

All right,” he said, as though just deciding, although in his heart, he’d decided the moment he heard that first scream. “We’ll be there.”

Marc ducked into the room, yanking a heavy black turtleneck over his head to join the black combat pants he was already wearing. He sat on the bed to pull on his socks and boots. Christian stripped off the jeans and T-shirt he’d donned to greet Natalie earlier, then washed the blood from his already healing arm and started pulling on clothes more suitable for fighting fucking zombies.

“I’ve got a chopper on the way,” Marc said. “The flight time is longer, but they’ll pick us up at the local high school, five minutes from here, and drop us right at the location. Saves time overall.”

“I can’t leave Natalie alone here with Alon,” Christian said, sitting to put on socks and boots.

Marc stood. “Don’t even think about leaving me here to—” he started to say, but Christian interrupted him.

“Hell, no. I need you to keep anyone from stabbing me in the back while I’m fighting fucking zombies for them.” He stood and stomped his feet, settling into the boots.

“Alon’s out for the night, right?” Marc asked.

Christian nodded. “Until tomorrow night.”

“So we shut the vault, and lock the house down. Natalie’s smart. And after last night, she’ll stay put.”

Christian didn’t like it, but he didn’t see any alternative. There was no one he trusted enough to give them access to his lair, not even this temporary one. Besides Marc was right. Once he activated the house’s full security suite, no one was getting inside unless he wanted them to. “I don’t think we have a choice.”

“Right. You need help with the big guy there?”

“No, I’ve got this. I’ll be out soon, and I’ll talk to Natalie.”

NATALIE KNEW something had happened the minute she looked up from her computer to find Christian and Marc both storming into the kitchen dressed in black from head to toe like a couple of special ops guys from a summertime action flick. Her heart was doing its best to crack a few ribs as she slipped off the kitchen stool and met Christian’s somber gaze.

“What is it?” she asked him breathlessly.

“Hubert hit the border outpost south of Laredo,” he said briskly, striding past her to the alarm panel where he started punching buttons. Shutters she hadn’t noticed before began sliding down over all the windows, including the big sliding glass door. And these weren’t the fancy, decorative kind of shutters, either. They looked more like the heavy metal barriers that some people installed against hurricanes back home in Louisiana.

“What are you doing?” she asked in alarm.

“Activating a total lockout. Stay in the house and you’ll be fine.”

“Stay . . .” she repeated slowly. “Are you
leaving
? Where are you going?”

“Alon’s downstairs—”

“Stop!” she shouted. “I know where Alon is. Now, tell me what’s happening.”

Christian walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly before moving his grip down to her arms. “Scoville called from Laredo. Hubert is on the move, and Anthony is MIA. Marc and I are flying down to help Scoville and his team hold the line until Vincent can get there with some serious fire power. You’ll remain here with Alon.”

“I thought you said—”

“He’s already fed, and will sleep until tomorrow night.”

“Then why can’t I go with you?”

“It’s a war, Natalie, a
vampire
war. There will be no humans on the field.”

“I know you think I’m useless—”

“I do not.”

“—but I can sh—”

“I need you safe,” he almost shouted, cutting off her protests. “Marc and I will be on our own out there,” he continued in his regular voice. “With allies who will probably be as happy to stab us in the back as fight by our side. I can’t keep you safe and watch Marc’s back at the same time. Do you understand that?”

Natalie
hated
it, but she understood. Except . . . “You’re trusting
Scoville’s
word on this?”

“Never. I trust no one but Marc. He has my back, and I have his. For the rest . . .” He shrugged. “As long as they’re willing to kill our enemies, I’ll stand by them. But trust? No.”

“I understand. I do, but—” Her attention was dragged away from an argument she already knew she wasn’t going to win, at the sight of Marc upending a bag of blood over his mouth and sucking it dry. She stared, more fascinated than she would have thought possible. “You can drink that stuff?” she asked, turning back to Christian.

“That
stuff
is human blood, though we prefer the warm, fresh kind,” he said, a small smile playing around his lips. He caught a full bag that Marc tossed his way, broke the seal, and gave her a warning look, as if to say,
“This is your last chance to look away.”

Natalie shook her head. This was an important part of Christian’s life. If she turned away from it, she might as well walk out the front door and never come back.

He shrugged, then tilted his head back and drank, just as Marc had before him.

She glanced over at Marc, and asked, “Where’d you get that? I didn’t see any in there.” She gestured at the big stainless steel refrigerator where her perfectly ordinary food was stored.

“Vegetable crisper,” he said, grinning. “A special compartment in the back.”

“Oh,” Natalie said faintly, and turned back just in time to see Christian finish off the bag and toss the empty to Marc. “So what’s with the DEFCON 1 security?” she asked him. “You never did that before.”

Christian licked his lips before answering. “Normally, I drop the shutters every night. But I didn’t want to freak you out before I managed to seduce you.” He grinned at her scowl, and continued. “It’s for your protection. Anthony still wants you,
chére.
Never doubt it. We don’t know where he is, and we can’t be sure what’s really happening down in Laredo.”

“Then why are you going? Shouldn’t you wait—?”

“Because whether it’s a trap, or a real threat, vampires are dying down there. I can’t stand by and let that happen.”

Natalie was scared out of her mind, and trying not to show it. Not for herself, though. She had the gun Leighton had sent her. If Anthony tried anything, she’d shoot him and be done with it. But she was terrified that something would happen to Christian. And then what would she do? She’d just found him. She couldn’t lose him now.

“Chopper’s five minutes out,” Marc said, standing in the short hallway that led to the garage. He was plainly ready to leave, staring at the two of them, as if urging them to get on with it.

“Natalie,” Christian said softly, squeezing both of her hands and drawing her attention back to him. “The security system is fully armed, every door and window locked down. No one can get in or out without the code.”

“What if there’s a fire?” she asked, trying to be rational, to be calm. She’d be fine. He needed to worry about himself.

He let go of her hands to write a number down on a sticky note and press it against the counter next to her laptop. “If you need to get out, enter that code on the alarm panel next to the front door, or the sliding door here. It won’t work anywhere else. You’ll only be able to open that door, but all of the window shutters will be accessible from inside the house. Everything will lock down again after sixty seconds, or when the door is closed, whichever comes first.”

“But what about Alon? He’s too heavy for me—”

“If you’re in danger, don’t worry about Alon. You get out and call Jaclyn. She’ll help you.”

“I’m not leaving Alon in a burning house!” she said, staring at him in shock.

He gave an impatient growl, gripping her shoulders again and shaking her slightly. “There’s not going to
be
a fire. But if there
is,
Alon will be safer than you. He’s locked in a fireproof vault in the basement.”

“Oh. All right, then.” Privately, she was thinking that meant she could leave anytime she needed to. Not that she would readily abandon Alon, or defy Christian either. But as long as Alon was protected, she could think of several scenarios where she’d have to break out of this prison, er, safe house. None of which she shared with Christian, who was regarding her with evident concern.

“We’ll be fine,” she told him. “You worry about yourself and Marc. I don’t trust any of Anthony’s people.”

“Neither do I. But if this is Hubert’s grand move, he needs to be stopped. And I need to be there when it happens.”

She nodded again, then wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself into the already familiar comfort of his muscled body. Fighting tears she was determined not to show, she kissed his cheek, then the corner of his mouth. His arms were bands of iron around her.

“Come back to me,” she whispered.

“Always
.”

He was trying to be patient, trying to give her what she needed. But she could feel the same tension in his body that she’d noticed in Marc’s. She stepped back with a forced smile.

“You, too, Marc,” she called over to him. “I want you both back here in one piece.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Marc said, but he tossed a set of keys up into the air, catching them impatiently.

Natalie surprised herself by laughing. “Okay, the girlfriend drama is over. You’re free to go.”

Christian speared his fingers through her hair, tugging her head back, before settling his mouth over hers in a luxurious, lazy kiss that held everything sensuous and loving, and nothing of his need to leave.

“You be good while I’m gone,” he murmured against her mouth, then kissed her one last time, and turned away to stride down the hallway. Marc was already in the garage, the door swinging shut as Christian caught it with one hand. He turned and gave her a final wink good-bye, and then he was gone.