Lucas (Immortal Blood) (13 page)

She swallowed and looked at the ground. When she looked back at me she had obviously gathered herself together, as a slight smile was playing at the corner of her lips. “What good does it do me to stay when he doesn’t love me back?”

I snorted and let go of her. She flinched but kept her eyes on me, and there was no mistaking the message they were giving me. I shook my head slowly. She was good. So good I almost believed her. The question was how far was I willing to take this? Was she playing for time and waiting for Dane and his cavalry to arrive, or did she believe she could play me and make me believe her? Either way, I couldn’t resist the temptation to check this game out, and maybe I was secretly hoping she was for real. That in the end we could put all this behind us and find a way to make this work.

I stepped into the shadows, leaving her on the ground. She was half sitting and didn’t try to get up.

“You can’t know that for sure,” I whispered.

“I do. Believe me. He wants nothing to do with me and I don’t know what I can do to make you to see that. Maybe if you gave us a chance you’d see it for yourself.”

I broke a dry branch from a fallen tree and played with it in my hand. “Or maybe I should just kill you and then kill everyone you care about.”

Sam sighed. “You don’t want to do that.”

I refused to look at her.

“Lucas.” Her voice was honeyed. “We had fun before, didn’t we?”

“And look how great that ended,” I said dryly. If I was smart, I should kill her now.

“Lucas,” she said alluringly, “come here.”

Oh, I wanted to resist her, I really did, but after all I was just a man, so I took a step closer and before I could regret it I was in her arms again, her legs entwined with mine.

“Sam,” I growled, devouring her body.

She whispered my name repeatedly and I got lost in her, in a way I had never thought could be possible. This was so different from the previous time. I had wanted nothing but to take advantage of her, but now something beautiful and promising was waking inside me. All the warnings, the reasons why I shouldn’t be doing this disappeared and all I could think about was her and only her. Her lips touched my ear softly and her fingers felt so gentle on my cheek. I was in heaven.

Suddenly, I jerked and glanced at my chest, surprised. For a moment I didn’t realize what had happened and I glanced flabbergasted around. But when the truth hit me I quickly looked at my chest again. The tip of a branch
was sticking out of it, immobilizing me.

Sam pushed me away and crawled away from me. She looked disgusted. I growled and tried to make my hands move, but the branch must’ve hit a nerve or something, as the only thing I could move properly was my head. She kicked the branch, pushing it deeper, and I roared in frustration. This couldn’t be happening.

“Samantha,” I said warningly, but she refused to listen. “Sam, stop this madness at once. You hear me? Pull the branch out and I will save you.”

She laughed. It had a desperate edge. My eyes widened. There was no way she would do it. I tried to move with no result and felt the branch touching my heart painfully when I breathed. However, I was sure that if I had enough time I could defeat the pain and move the branch inch by inch and
get my mobility back. And then - I grinned cruelly - then there would be no mercy for anyone.

As if Sam could read my thoughts, she leaped next to me and started to fumble feverishly in my pockets. I breathed deeply, focusing everything I had on one task. Surviving. I managed to move an inch. She glanced at me, her fingers continuing their search. I focused again and felt the branch move inside me. Life came back to my fingers, but before I could grab her she was gone.

Slowly, I gripped the branch and took a deep breath. I had started to pull it slowly out when a slight noise caught my attention. Sam was holding another branch and had my lighter in her hand.

“No!” I yelled, but she didn’t even glance at me.

Before I could react she had lit the branch that was in me and was already lighting the other. I could feel the heat of the flames dancing on my back but there was little I could do to avoid my destiny. She pushed another branch into me and backed away. I tried to pull it out, but the burning inside me half paralyzed me and my hands were too weak and slow. I tried to ignore the burning pain and gritted my teeth. I knew I had to pull the branch out within seconds but I just couldn’t do it. My movements had gotten slower and my fingers were slipping. And the pain, the terrible pain, was making me crazy.

“Sam,” I pleaded but she didn’t listen.

Instead, she lit more branches and started to push them into me as if she were a machine. She lit more and more branches and stuck them into my body and I could swear I heard her muttering something like, “Isn’t this bastard ever gonna die?” I knew my time was up, as there was nothing I could do to save myself. My body was on fire and I could feel my insides melting. She had gotten me off guard and managed to beat me at my own game. I stared at her and she stared back at me, and for a moment I was sure she would put the fire out. But as the moment stretched and nothing happened, I smiled at her for one last time and whispered, “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye,” she whispered back just before everything went black.

SAM

I was in shock. I crawled backwards but couldn’t escape the ashes that were covering my body. I had done it. I had saved myself and Dane and killed Lucas.

“I’m a killer,” I said quietly and stared at my dirty hands. “I’m a serial killer.”

Then I leaned on a tree and hugged my legs. I pressed my head on my knees and let myself cry.

After what felt like ages I heard someone approaching and quickly wiped away my tears. I grabbed a branch from the ground and my fingers squeezed around it. My eyes darted around franticly, searching for whatever was coming towards me. I held the branch so tight I felt small splinters digging into my skin. There was no proof that Lucas had operated alone, so maybe he’d had a back-up plan and someone was coming to find out what had taken him so long. I tried to swallow my fear, but the more I thought about it the surer I was that Lucas had told someone about his findings.

I stared ahead of me and saw the leaves moving in a bush not far away. I moved quietly behind a tree and waited. At first I didn’t see anything, but soon a familiar figure came into view and I dropped the branch.

“Dane!” I cried and rushed into his arms.

Dane held me tight, scanning the area at the same time. I clung onto him and buried my face in his chest. His hand moved to my hair as he tried to calm me down. I let him take care of me but only for a few minutes. I lifted my head and looked at him. He hadn’t said a single word since he’d got there and his face was unreadable. Yet I knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.

“What took you so long?” I asked quietly and touched his cheek gently.

“Kate didn’t heal as quickly as Lucas thought. So she only managed to call me half an hour ago.”

“Is she all right?”

“She is now.” Dane gritted his teeth. “After drinking several bottles of blood.”

“Good.” I sighed and let my gaze drop.

“It’s not her body I’m concerned about,” Dane continued. “I’m worried about her mind. Something really bad happened to her, but no matter how hard we tried she refused to talk about it.”

I sobbed and buried myself deeper into his arms.

He held me as if I were a fragile piece of glass. After a while he stepped back and forced me to look at him again. “What the hell happened, Sam?”

I opened my mouth but couldn’t form the words. I knew I had been stupid rushing into a rescue mission alone and not telling a soul where I was going, but how could I explain what I was feeling? I was glad Lucas was dead but my heart was aching, and there was no way Dane could ever understand the conflicted emotion inside me. And then there was Kate. Would she ever heal from what Lucas had done to her? Could anyone? So while Dane waited for me to tell him everything, I just couldn’t. I needed to think about it by myself, and yet I had no idea what would happen now. My chin wobbled and I felt tears rushing to my eyes.

“Hey.” Dane softened and touched my chin. “It’s all right now.” He gathered me into his arms, stroking my hair softly.

“No, it’s not. I’ve totally screwed things up,” I sobbed into his shirt.

“Shh.”

“You were right.” My voice trembled. “I always manage to screw things up.”

He shrugged, not bothering to deny my words, and that hurt me to my core. Maybe just this once he could’ve lied or said something totally useless. But no. He either hadn’t realized the severity of the situation or he stood behind his words and thought I really was the biggest mess-up of all time. Suddenly, I realized there was no one else in the clearing but the two of us. “Where is everyone?”

“They’re not coming.” He pressed his lips on my hair.

“Why not?” I asked, suspicious, but didn’t dare move. It felt so good and so right to be in his arms that I wanted to stretch the moment as much as I could.

“Because I left the second I heard where you were and I didn’t ask them to follow.”

“But―”

“What does it matter anyway? I’m here and he’s not.”

“No, he’s not,” I said slowly and moved away from him.

“Where is he?” A playful smile flickered on his lips. “Did he let you go or is he hiding somewhere?”

I looked dead pale.

“Sam?” He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“I…” I stammered.

“Yes?”

“I kind of killed him.”

“What?” Dane yelled and looked at me incredulously. “But he’s immortal.”

“Is he?” My voice was barely a whisper. “’Cause last time I checked, vampires can be killed, too.”

His face fell and it looked as if he had a hard time believing me. He took a couple of steps, then stopped, raked his hair and rubbed his face, then took a few more steps, muttering something like, “No way. This is bad,” and a couple of words that were too harsh to repeat. Finally, he stopped in front of me. “But how?”

“I burned him to death.” I met his eyes steadily and lifted my hand as if to touch him. But as he did nothing to reach for me, I let my hand drop and waited for him to say something.

He swallowed, looking at me. His eyes rested on my dirty clothes, the small ash flakes in my hair, and finally slid to my blackened hands. He swallowed again and slowly understanding hit his brain. “You’re covered in him. Literally.”

“Yes,” I sobbed. “I’m a serial killer.”

“Come on, Sam. That’s ridiculous.” He seemed to gain his balance.

“Is it?” My eyes burned with guilt. “Is it really? ’Cause as far as I know, when someone kills as many people as I have she or he is a serial killer.”

Dane’s lips twitched and he shook his head. Luckily, he was wise enough to stay quiet.

“Okay, so technically I was already a serial killer,” I snapped. “But you get the idea.”

“Sam.” Dane put his hands on my shoulders. “You are not a killer. Accidents happen. Besides, I’m sure you didn’t mean to kill him.”

“But I did.” I sighed and wiped my tears fiercely away. “I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“Okay,” he said calmingly.

I shook his hands away. “No. It’s not okay. Nothing about this is okay!” My voice rose alarmingly and he grabbed my arms. I tried to struggle free, but this time he didn’t let me. He knew that I was on the edge of becoming hysterical and would lose it totally if he didn’t stop me. I tried to resist, but he turned a deaf ear to me.

He did the only thing he knew and whispered smoothly, “Come here.”

“No,” I whispered shakily.

“Come here, Sam.” His voice was pure silk and I couldn’t help myself as I stepped into his arms.

He held me there for what seemed a very long time and only when he felt my muscles relax and my breathing slow did he ease his grip.

I sighed and pressed my head to his chest. “What happens next?”

“Well.” He obviously thought about offering me a lie, as any lie would have been more merciful than the truth, but the thought vanished from his mind before the words came to his lips. “If his creator knew where he was and what he was doing he’ll probably show up demanding to hear some answers. If we’re lucky, he’s okay with that, but if not…” His voice trailed off.

“What?” I asked shakily. “What then, Dane? You have to tell me. I can take it.”

“He has a right to claim a trade,” Dane said in a tone that made the blood freeze in my veins.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” He pressed a kiss on my hair and managed to smile. But if I could’ve seen through it, I would’ve been scared to death. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“But what if…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Hey,” Dane comforted me. “Let’s not worry for nothing. I’d never heard of Lucas before he showed up on our doorstep so, figuratively speaking, I doubt his creator was anyone important. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whispered and tried to relax.

A million questions were swirling in my mind. I didn’t trust that Dane was really okay with all of this. Not when I could feel how stiff his body was no matter how he tried to pretend. I knew it was never a good thing when a vampire killed another vampire. Especially if the dead vampire had been someone that mattered. But I agreed with Dane. We had no idea if anyone would even show up. Maybe Lucas had been a rogue. Maybe he hadn’t told his creator or anyone that he was there or what he was doing, and maybe Dane and I could eventually get our forever after. As if. What was it that one of the master vampires had called me? Ah, yes. A trouble magnet. So even if we tried to will it differently, I was sure someone would come.