Marked by the Vampire (3 page)

The door flew open behind him.  Case rushed in, with two guards right on his heels.

Shane leapt to his feet and whirled toward them.

“No, don’t!” Olivia cried out, but the guards had already fired their weapons.  The bullets slammed into Shane’s chest and he stumbled back against the table.

She grabbed for him, clutching his shoulder.  His head turned and his eyes met hers.

“Why did you do that?” Olivia whispered. He’d known the others were watching. Had he
wanted
to get punished?

“Solitary!” Case shouted. “Throw his ass in the sun for twenty-four hours, and let’s see how he likes it!”

Shane’s eyes began to sag closed. She realized he’d been hit with tranq darts. “Remember…always…guard…”

He was trying to protect her? The cold-blooded killer wanted her to have a guard at her beck and call? 
What. The. Hell?

Case’s hands wrapped around Olivia’s shoulders and he pulled her away from Shane.

Then the vamp was dragged out of the room.  His chains trailed behind him.

***

Sunlight.  Burning from every wall. Burning down from the ceiling. From the floor.

“Neat little cell, isn’t it?” Case asked him as he shoved Shane into solitary. “Scientists can invent the most amazing things. I mean, it’s not real sunlight, but your kind gets weak from ultraviolent radiation, too, right? I mean, this is like one big ass tanning bed.” He laughed. “So I’m sure you can see just how much fun this place will be for you.”

The light blazed all around him. For an instant, Shane remembered another time. Another place.

He’d been tied to the ground. Wooden stakes had been driven into his hands. His chest.
But the fools missed my heart.
He’d been pinned there, helpless, as the sun rose.

The sunlight hadn’t killed him then.

It wouldn’t now.
If the real sun can’t kill me, this fake shit won’t take me out, either.

But being tossed into solitary on his first day in Purgatory…that
would
help him. Playing by the rules in that place wouldn’t get him the contacts he needed. He had to prove himself as an alpha vampire, he had to be willing to take the pain that would come…and Shane had to be ready to destroy anyone who got in his way.

He tilted back his head and let the light sweep over him.

He knew the drill. After all, he’d done his research on this place. On the new warden. The guy liked to play with the prisoners.  After he thought Shane had been weakened enough, the warden would toss Shane into the yard so the other vamps could have a go at him.

That’s when they’ll see I’m not their prey.

A new alpha vamp was in town, and he’d learn all the secrets that Purgatory possessed.

***

“I kill because I like it.” The werewolf in front of her pushed a hand through his midnight black hair. “I enjoy watching the light drain from my prey’s eyes. In that last moment, the victim knows that I have all of the power. Life or death, it’s all on
me.
”

Revulsion twisted Olivia’s stomach, but she kept her gaze on the prisoner before her. In the last twenty-four hours, she’d heard stories to give her enough nightmares to last for the rest of her life.

As if she didn’t already have enough of those.

She’d talked to two other vampires.  Begun the process of getting them to open up with her.  But the thing about vampires…they didn’t just have a few years of bad deeds behind them. The powerful vamps—the vamps in Purgatory—had
centuries
of horror to share. And they had…almost gleefully.

But the werewolves were different. Or at least, the other two that she’d interviewed had been.  They talked about their attacks and their beasts as if they were separate entities, as if they had no control over what happened when they were in wolf form. Regret had tinged their voices.

But not  this one.

David Vincent slouched in his chair. He’d spread out his legs and arms to take up as much space as he possibly could. The silver collar gleamed around his neck, a silver the exact shade of his glittering eyes.  He was a man in his prime, probably around his mid-thirties, with the powerful build sported by most of his kind.

“You don’t feel that your…beast…made you kill?” Olivia asked him carefully.  The sun was shining through the big, open window. Bright and hot. She could just hear the murmur of voices outside of her window. The vampires were in the courtyard below.

“The beast and I are the damn same.  I do what I want.”

Alpha.

She nodded slowly. She’d suspected he might be an alpha werewolf as soon as she started reading his files. His attacks had been particularly brutal, and, since coming to the prison, he’d made a point of attacking other werewolves.

Those who challenged his power?

“You have no regrets about what you did?” The others had expressed remorse. There had been loathing in their eyes. Not a hate directed at her. At themselves.

“It’s survival of the fuckin’ fittest. I’m the fittest.” He leaned forward. “I always survive.”

No matter what he had to do.

“You were infected with a werewolf bite five years ago.” Those details had been in his file. Most humans didn’t survive a werewolf bite. But certain individuals had DNA that let them…transform. A genetic coding was there for some individuals so that when they were bitten, they didn’t die. They became beasts.

Werewolves.

Before his bite, David Vincent had been a boxer—a man who’d enjoyed the battles that came his way. A bump lined his nose, silent testimony to his old bouts, and faint scars crossed his knuckles.  “What happened to the werewolf that bit you?” Olivia asked, curious about that.

“I baked him a fucking thank you cake,” David growled at her as his lips twisted in a savage smile. “What the hell do you
think
happened to him?”

Well, fine. If he wanted to stop the little dance, then so would she. “I think you killed him as soon as the change was complete for you. You hunted him down, and you made him pay for what he’d done to you.”

That twisted smile slipped a bit from his lips.

“Darkness grew in you after that kill. Because you liked it. You liked the way it felt to take a life.  So you hunted and you killed again and again. You kept killing, kept feeling that thrill, until you were locked up…” She glanced around at the stone room. “Here.”

His chair scraped as he pushed back.  Her hand slipped beneath the table. She had the remote for his collar right there, and her fingers slid over it.  If he made one move toward her, she was supposed to send a surge of silver at him. Through him.  But she suspected the guard standing less than five feet away would beat her to that punch.

He had a remote for David’s silver collar, too.

“If you know so much about me,” David snapped, “then why bother with your lame ass questions?”

“Because I know your crimes. I want to know
you.
” Her breath heaved out. “Did you try to fight the cravings? When the urge to kill came, did you try to stop? Did you spare anyone?”
Was there ever any hope?
Or, once the darkness came, was it too late?

David glanced away from her. His gaze locked on the window.   Her body tensed. 
Avoidance.
 “David?”

“You can try to fight the dark, but when instincts take over, control doesn’t last real long.”

“So you did try to stop.”  Now excitement quickened her blood. “You can
still
stop. You can fight what you’ve become. You can—”

His head jerked toward her. “I will kill anyone who gets between me and what I want.” Said with absolute certainty. “And I will have a fucking blast while I do it.”

Chill bumps rose on her arms.

The voices rose outside of her window.  Shouts filled the air.

Her gaze jumped toward the streaming sunlight.

“Just like they’re having a fucking blast now…” David murmured. “Vamp blood is gonna stain that yard.”

The guard moved so that he could better stare out that window. Whatever he saw below made his body tense.

“Wh-what’s happening?”  Olivia asked as her heart beat faster.

“My guess is…that new vamp is about to lose his head. That happens here, more than you would think.”  David’s words had her focusing on him. That savage smile was back in place. “Survival of the fittest…”

The new vamp—that was Shane.  It had to be him! Olivia jumped to her feet and ran toward the window.

Sure enough, she saw Shane standing in the middle of the courtyard. The other vampires had formed a circle around him, but no one was touching him, no one was attacking him, not yet. They all stood back, maybe a foot or two, as they shouted their insults and threats at him.

“Get the guards down there,” Olivia ordered. She’d brought the silver remote with her, and her sweat-slick hand held it easily.

The guard near her—Brett McKey—lifted his radio.  “Courtyard. Got a 666 occurring.”

“What’s a 666?” She’d never heard that code on any police scanner before.

David laughed. “It’s a monster beatdown.  But don’t worry, I’m sure the guards will all get down there in time for a nice, up-close view of the bloodbath.”

She didn’t see any guards closing in. She only saw—

The crowd attacked. A pack of big, powerful vampires lunged at Shane. They covered him completely as they took him down.

“No!” Olivia screamed. “The sun is up! They’re supposed to be weak!”

There was a faint rustle of sound behind her.  “Funny thing about that…” David’s voice rasped. “Things here aren’t always how they’re
supposed
to be.”

“Sit back down, wolf,” Brett snapped. “Sit the hell back down,
now.
”

Olivia didn’t glance back at the men. Her gaze was on the battle below. She could hear the snarls and the growls and a splash of blood already stained the ground.  “Stop!” Olivia yelled. “
Stop!”

Then the first vampire flew back into the crowd. It was one of the men who’d attacked Shane.  He was just—just thrown through the air like a rag doll.

A second vamp followed him.

So did a third…a man with blood gushing down his chest.

The crowd stopped screaming then.

She could see Shane once more. His left hand had locked around the neck of one of his attackers. His right hand had curled around the throat of another.  He was holding the other vamps easily. Seeming to exert no effort at all.  As she watched, stunned, Shane tossed one of the vamps straight into a stone wall. The last of his attackers squirmed in Shane’s hold, kicking and punching, and Shane just…he laughed.

“I’ll be damned,” David whispered.

Olivia jumped at that whisper. David was right beside her. She hadn’t heard him close that distance at all. She’d been too focused on Shane and the fight below.

She whirled toward the werewolf. Too late, Olivia saw Brett on the floor behind him, his body twisted.  Oh, hell,
no.

“Boo,” David said, and then he grabbed for her remote.

She hit the button on it even as his fingers locked around her wrist. The collar was supposed to send silver straight into his bloodstream as tiny needles shot from the collar and into his neck. He should have fallen back then. Should have stopped.

He didn’t.

He grabbed the remote from her. Smashed it in his fist.

Then he yanked her toward him. “Now…
I get to ask the questions…”

***

The crowd was silent around him.  Hell, yes, they were backing up. They should back up.

Was that vamp pack attack supposed to have been scary? Was that supposed to have been a challenge for him?  Even after twenty-four hours in solitary, kicking their asses had been too easy.

He rolled back his shoulders and waited to see which fool would come at him next. Shane even started to smile—

A scream ripped through the silence.

His head jerked up. His eyes locked on the window in the west tower. The room
she’d
used to interview him, and he knew that scream was Olivia’s. He
knew
it.

The scream cut off abruptly.

Hell,
no.

More vampires swarmed toward him.  They must have thought it was time for round two.

He stared up at that window…

And felt hands grab hold of him.

***

David had yanked Olivia with him and toward the door. She thought he was going to try and escape, but instead, he shoved the table and a filing cabinet in front of the door, sealing them inside.

“That’ll buy us some privacy,” David said.

No, this
wasn’t
happening.

The silver collar
should
have worked. It hadn’t.

The guards who’d been monitoring the video feed
should
have been rushing to her rescue.

Were they coming?
Hurry!

His grip was so tight on her wrist that Olivia feared he’d shatter the bones any moment.

“What are you?” David demanded as he yanked her closer and then he—he
smelled
her.  Sniffed her.

Her free hand shoved against his chest, but he didn’t let her go. His mouth hovered over her throat and he seemed to be drinking in her scent.

At least he’s not ripping my throat out, not yet.
“I’m a psychologist. I’m here to try and profile—”

“
What are you
?”

Olivia’s gaze flew frantically around the room. Brett was on the floor, his eyes closed. He was breathing, but that was about all she could say for him in that instant. “I-I’m a human…”

“Liar.” He said the word as if it were a caress.  “I wonder…are you what I’ve been waiting for?”

She screamed again. Loud and long even as she kicked at him. Punched.

He just smiled.

He likes the fight. He told me…he likes it.

Olivia stilled.

His smile slipped.

“I’m human,” she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. Panic and fear had overwhelmed her for a moment, but she had to stay in control. Help would come. She just had to stay alive long enough for it to arrive.