Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (20 page)

The tunnel’s walls and ceilings widened, leaving plenty of room to walk two or three abreast. Daniel slowed enough that I could trot next to him instead of shambling blindly behind. We hadn’t spoken since the door, and I fought to keep from blurting questions at him. He gradually slowed to a regular walking pace, and I sighed in relief. Cardio and I have a hate-hate relationship. I wanted to stop but continued to trudge on. If the other vamps knew where this tunnel let out, they might be setting up an ambush.

We walked in silence, using the illumination from his eyes to guide us, for several minutes until I couldn’t take it anymore. “How the hell are you doing that thing with your eyes?”

“It is one of my gifts. A perk, you might say.”

Whoa, too cool. Not a spell. Although, he had said there were many variations among vampires. “And you knew about the secret passage because…” I looked over at him when he didn’t answer. He closed his eyes for a second, and I stumbled in the dark. I grabbed his free hand for reassurance. We were underground in the pitch black of a tunnel that lacked ventilation. That tiny second of complete, inky, suffocating darkness brought a well of panic to my chest.

His thumb brushed the back of mine and butterflies erupted in my stomach, chasing the panic away. We’d had sex, and not an hour ago I’d sucked his dick, but the sweet gesture gave me weak knees. “I was in your father’s residence before. Years ago. Every vampire keeps a bolt hole or two to facilitate escape.”

Jealousy flared when I thought of him in that room with another woman, and I squashed it like an annoying mosquito. No reason to be jealous. The gorgeous man next to me must have had dozens of lovers. He’d saved my ass, fed me, patched me up…called me endearments in what I surmised to be Italian. I’d heard the words before in movies or whatever but didn’t know what they meant.

Daniel had some kind of interest in seeing me survive, and he might even like me more than he should, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t get turned over to some other bunch of vamps with designs on me. He was a Guardian, and even though I suspected he didn’t like his job, his sense of honor and duty were sure to cause conflict.

“How many years ago, exactly?” I kept my eyes firmly on the wall of darkness beyond the edge of illumination.

He clenched my fingers. “Twenty-six.”

My stomach lurched. During my mother’s pregnancy. Coincidence? I thought not.

I tried to take my hand away, but he tightened his grip. “We will go to your apartment and retrieve your things. You can no longer stay there. I will tell you everything I can, all that I know when we are safe.”

“Uh-huh. And just when will that be? I have a feeling your apartment isn’t exactly safe either, T.T.B.” I kicked a rock, and the sound of it hitting the wall echoed.

“It is for now. Stephan would not dare try me there.”

His eyes flared bright enough that I closed my own for a moment against the light. The back of my eyelids swam with colors from the burst.

“Who the hell are you, exactly? What are you? He called you Guardian, mentioned a Vampire Council, and treated you as not an equal exactly, but almost like a messenger or emissary. So did Adrian.” I glanced at him, took in the stubborn set of his shadowed jaw and creepy eyes, and faced forward again.

“I will explain all. Later. This I vow. I am already in trouble—” He shook his head. “When we are in a secure location, I will divulge the answers you seek.”

“I am already done for, anyway.”

The stray thought ghosted through my mind with the power of a lightning bolt. A wave of energy slammed down between us and struck me with a stinging slap.

I stopped walking until the pressure on my arm forced me to keep going. I rubbed his thumb with my own a few times but stopped when he looked at me, eyes holding emotions I could see even through the blue light blazing forth. I didn’t want to categorize or think about what he’d shown me too closely. I cleared my throat but didn’t take my hand back.

“So, do you think we’re still being followed?”

“No, I do not hear anyone behind us in the cave. And none in that coven would know of my ability to see this way, so they may well believe that we are trapped on the other side of the door in the dark.”

“Yeah, right.” Neither one of us really believed that optimistic thought. “How can we get back to my apartment? Won’t they be waiting for us?”

“Not if we get out of here in time, before sunset. None of those creatures dares to move about in sunlight any longer.” He trailed his fingers over the rock wall on his left.

“I thought it was funny, all of them being down in the basement. But you said the sunlight thing was a myth.” The pillowcase bumped the backs of my upper thighs.

“I also said there are variations within a population. If a vampire becomes as
they
have, twisted, perverted with feeding on fear and horror, torturing victims, resorting to murder to feed, they can become anathema to the sun. Even the reflection of sunlight during a full moon is damaging to them. They are forever forced to lay in wait below ground, to live as parasites on other vampires or humans belonging to other vampires, coming out only when in the direst of need.”

I swung my arm and his in a pendulum motion. “That makes them sound like they’re pretty low on the food chain, pretty limited.” I wrapped the pillowcase around my wrist and let my arm hang down by my side. Stupid head. The goop that had seeped through had gotten on me and soaked through the back of my pants.

“And that is what makes them so dangerous.” He glanced over at me. “They can infiltrate a coven cloaking themselves and appearing as someone else, slowly bleeding the coven from the inside out until it is so weakened that it is taken over and then exterminated when the last drop of power has been sucked out.”

I stopped again and this time ignored him when he tugged on me until he turned and faced me. The glow emanating from his eyes concealed most of his emotions, but I thought he was angry, enraged over old pain.

“They’ve been here for years, slowly taking over my father’s power base, and he never knew? How? How could he not know? I could see through their disguise or whatever. They manipulate their aura. Stephan said the ward lines only let members of the coven in.”

“I do not know. This is not the first time this has happened.” He scuffed his shoe on the ground. “I’ve never heard of anyone who could see through their lies. The ward lines could have been put up at any time. They had most likely already infiltrated the coven. It would be a simple manner for one of their kind to manipulate your father into performing the ceremony to bind in more of their ilk.”

“You saved me from that. You got me out of there.” The realization was hard and sharp, a cold knife to the gut. “You’ve seen this before, haven’t you? With this group? This particular coven of Empaths.”

He nodded and turned his face away. I pressed myself against him and leaned my forehead against his biceps. I wanted to hug him, but I didn’t want to get any closer to the rest of the body in the sheet.

“What about the Council? Why would they let this happen?” My lips rubbed his skin when I spoke, and the contact made them tingle.

“They do not stir for matters of regional politics. If a king or queen cannot hold their territory, they are not fit to rule.” His arm flexed and bulged.

“That’s bullshit.” Even covered in blood and bodily fluids, he still smelled of the crisp cleanliness of the sea.

“Yes.” A shuddering breath rippled though his frame, and I pressed a kiss to a clean spot on his arm.

“Thank you, T.T.B.”

“Still not going to tell me what that means, are you?” I could hear the smile in his voice when he asked. I almost gave in but instead shook my head.

“Come on, let’s get outta here. God only knows what time it is.” I started forward, dragging him behind me.

“It’s after three o’clock.”

“Oh, you have a watch on you?” I examined his wrist.

“No. I just know.”

“Hmmm. You know where this tunnel lets out?”

“In a park. At least it did the last time I was here. Let’s hope developers haven’t gotten a hold of it yet.” His biceps bumped my shoulder.

“What do we do about the bloody stuff and the body and my lack of a shirt?”

He shrugged and looked down at me. “We’ll worry about that when we get there. This tunnel let out in a wooded area when I examined it before. Lots of trails around it that humans use for recreation and exercise. Shouldn’t be too hard to stay out of sight.”

“Wait. You must mean the Metroparks.” He didn’t know what I meant, but I shrugged, dismissing his look of confusion. “Doesn’t matter. This may be the first thing that’s gone right all day.”

We walked for what felt like forever. I had to switch the pillowcase to my other hand—the unrelenting weight was heavy after awhile.

“So what exactly are a Vessel, a Guardian, and the Council?”

“The Vessel is a very special Chosen Childe. I knew for certain that you were one when I saw your birthmark. When your gift for giving and receiving sex energy is combined with the other Chosen you have the ability to work great magic. Not only do you feed, you can provide food for others. Most vampires only take. Of course, all that power means there are competing factions who want to control it.”

“What kind of magic, exactly?”

“I don’t know for sure. It has not happened in my lifetime. Stephan may already have the Fountain.” He looked at me, distaste evident on his face. “The female—Veronica.”

“The one with the dripping blood? Kinda glad that isn’t my gift. Yuck.” I chewed my lip and tripped over a rock, stumbling into him. He caught me and set me back on my feet. “Clumsy, I know. What are the other parts of this little club?”

“There will be an Empath vampire called the Catalyst. And a Flesh Eater—the Sacrifice.”

“OK, so we need to get Veronica away from him if we can, right?” I shoved stray hair out of my eyes. My fingers caught on a clump, and I frowned.

“Or kill her.” I gasped and Daniel shrugged. “He cannot retain control of her,
cara
. It will only help him become more powerful.”

“OK. I guess.” Would he kill me if I was captured? I’d probably want to die. “And what exactly is a Guardian?”

“We are the military arm of the ruling body of vampires—the Council.”

I wanted him to explain more about what that meant but let it drop. He walked faster, and I jogged to keep up. For some reason he didn’t want to talk about it. I could be patient. Besides, he’d given me a lot to chew on already.

Chapter Thirteen

Filtered light illuminated the end of the tunnel. It was like seeing a beam straight from heaven, and I picked up my pace until Daniel forced me to stop. He pressed a finger to my lips and then crept toward the light. I stayed put, finally understanding that he needed to check the entrance to make sure we didn’t run right into a trap.

The sunlight hit brilliant golden highlights in his hair, and even covered with mud, dirt, and nasty fluid from the sheet hanging halfway down his back, Daniel stunned me. I wondered how old he was as he stood there just beyond the reach of the light, listening and watching. He finally made a “come here” gesture with his hand and slid the sheet wrapped bundle to the ground. His hands flowed over the buttons on his shirt, and he had it halfway down his arms when I reached him.

“Really? You want to get busy now?”

He threw me a look full of consternation and pressed the shirt into my hands. The thin white undershirt he wore stuck to the hard planes of his muscles. Yowza. The greenish-black goop had seeped through the outer shirt and dried the other to his body. Gross, yet captivating at the same time.

“Put it on. It is unusual to see a woman running about with no shirt on.”

“Oh.” I shoved my hands into the sleeves and buttoned it up. It hung down to my knees, so I undid a few of the buttons and tied it at my navel. At least the size made it nice and baggy so Christophe’s nasty body sludge didn’t get on even more of me.

Daniel reached over and moved to button the garment up to my neck. I grabbed his hand. “Whatcha doin’ there partner?” My best John Wayne came out in a low drawl.

“You should not be attired in such a fashion. The tie is a necessity so you can move about, but there is no reason to expose your breasts for all and sundry.”

“Since when do you care who sees my breasts? And since when do you get to tell me how to dress?” I stepped out of range, into the open air, and took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of rich earth and the moisture that hangs in the air in the fall when you are under a canopy of leaves in the woods.

“Your power still calls to me, I can feel it.” He closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his sides. Muscles in his face flexed. “It would be prudent for you to button the shirt.”

My head cocked to one side as I contemplated taking advantage of this information and climbing up his body like one of the many trees around us. No one around to see. I could probably have my way with him and no one would be the wiser.

“Oh yeah, do that.”

I sighed. Of course the voice would chime in. All the stress of the past few days was catching up to turn me into a nymphomaniac loon. “You didn’t seem to have any issues in the cave back there.”

“Adrenaline. And both of us were focused on staying alive. Your magic flared when I took my shirt off.” The curve of his fingers over his waist fascinated me. It took a moment, but his words processed. I blushed and pretended to be fascinated with a huge rust-brown mushroom.

“Sorry.” I still wanted to seduce him, and I knew it wouldn’t take much effort. But it wasn’t the right thing to do. If, as he claimed, the Hunger called him and other vampires against their will, it wouldn’t really be consensual. And when I divested T.T.B. of his pants again, I wanted it to be because he lost control, because he needed me, and not because of a by-product of magic. “Stop being all sexy and stuff then.” I gave him a half-smile and tried to think of unsexy things like Stephan and all the dead bugs stuck to my head.