Seth's Chance [Brac Pack 27] (5 page)

The vampire shook his head.
Chance headed toward the bar to realize in horror that the bar was just a ruined pile of bricks and wood, fire licking at the rubble behind it. The only thing that saved the club from burning out of control was that brick had been used for walls inside as well as outside. There wasn’t much wood for the flames to eat, so the fire was compartmentalized to just the wood of the bar.
Chance felt hot tears slide down his face as he searched for his brothers. There was no way they were dead. He loved Bryce with all his heart, but Chauncey was his twin, his sidekick, his left lung. If Chance lost his twin, he knew he’d never be the same again.
Resisting the urge to shift, Chance pushed past the screaming humans toward the ruined bar.
That was the last place he’d seen Chauncey and D.
Fuck, the Santiago brothers were here as well. This was going to be one nightmare that the Brac paranormal community would suffer greatly from if any one of the men were dead.
Chance searched, spotting Tryck and Dagon coughing over by the back hallway that led to the BDSM rooms.
He didn’t see Law.
Everything seemed to slow down, the screaming, smoke, running, all slowed down in front of Chance as he wondered if Chauncey was dead somewhere in the midst of the rubble. Feeling detached from reality, from anything but finding his twin, Chance dropped to his knees and began to dig through the rubble. He had to find Chauncey. He had to know.
“We have to get out of here and let the fire department do their job,” one of the vampires said as he pulled at Chance’s shoulder. Chance slammed the man in the chest with his fist, knocking the vampire a few feet away as he began to dig again.
Chance wasn’t giving up.
He wasn’t walking away from the building until he found Chauncey. And if his brother was dead, Chance’s heart wouldn’t be leaving this place at all.
Chance wiped the tears on his shirt. It smelled like smoke, but he didn’t care. He needed to see. His fingers dug into the brick, pushed the mess aside as he sought his twin. Sirens blared from outside, but Chance kept right on clearing a path, searching for either Chauncey or Bryce, or both. His pa was going to be devastated if he lost one of his cubs.
Both would ruin the man.
His phone rang, but Chauncey ignored it as his heart beat like a fish in a net when he saw a hand. It was large, beefy, and looked identical to his very own. Chance was more determined than ever.
“You need to get out of here,” one of the fireman shouted. Chance kept on digging, an arm now in view. “This building hasn’t been secured. You’re in danger.”
“The only one in danger is you if you make me leave my brother!” Chance roared over his shoulder. “Now back the fuck off and let me get my brother out.” His next mission in the wreckage was finding Bryce. He was not leaving until he had both his brothers with him, dead or alive.
Chance cleared enough debris to see Chauncey’s face. His head was covered in grey-and-black soot, his eyes closed.
Screw this.
Chance grabbed Chauncey’s arm and heaved him from the pile of brick and wood. He laid the large man down, and his world spun like a carousel out of control when he saw that Chauncey wasn’t breathing. “Help!” he shouted as he brushed away the dry soot from Chauncey’s face. “Somebody help me!”
Chance picked Chauncey up, tossing him over his shoulder as he ran for the door. He spotted an EMS off to the side of the building and bolted straight for it. “He’s not breathing!”
The EMS worker began administering CPR on Chauncey as Chance ran back inside the building, knocking the fireman’s arm away when the man tried to stop him. He had to find Bryce. There was no way he was losing his brother or telling his pa that he was unable to find him. His pa would not accept that excuse. His phone rang again. This time Chance grabbed it and shoved it toward his ear. “What?”
“I’m okay, Chance. I made it out.” It was Bryce. “Abe shimmered me out of there when the blast occurred. Did you find Chauncey?”
Chance dropped to his knees, resting his free hand on his thigh as he cried. “Yeah,” he said as he swallowed, “but he’s not breathing. The paramedics are working on him now.” He could hear Bryce curse up a storm.
“I’m outside the club. I already called Pa and Maverick. They’re on their way. Did you find D?” Chance could hear the hesitation in Bryce’s voice and knew what the man was thinking.
“Not yet, but I’m not giving up.”
“Find him, Chance. Even if it’s just his body. Don’t you leave that fucking building until you find him. Sloane would never forgive you.”
Chance knew that.
Bryce continued. “I’m trying to get back in, but the cops showed up and won’t let anyone near the place.”
“I’ll find him,” Chance said as he wiped his face and hung up. He had to find Law as well. He saw Tryck and Dagon fighting the firemen, trying their best to stay inside until their brother was found. Tryck was going ballistic as Dagon searched. Chance went back over to the bar as the firemen sprayed the hose inside the building. With all the smoke, so far Law hadn’t been spotted.
Chance dug through the rubble, searching for D. How had so many things gone wrong in one night?
“I found him!” Dagon shouted. Chance didn’t have time to look. He had to find D before the cops dragged him from the building. He kicked the bricks and wood aside until he found D lying there. There was a big gash across D’s shirt, blood mixed with soot, forming a greyish sort of paste on his chest.
Chance grabbed D and headed toward the hallway that housed Christian’s office. There was nothing the paramedics could do for D. Chance needed otherworldly help with the vampire.
The place was bathed in darkness and smoke as Chance coughed and raced toward Christian’s office. He stopped where he was, knowing he was far enough away from the chaos. Throwing his head back, Chance shouted, “Panahasi.”
The demon appeared, his eyes wide as he looked around. “What has happened?”
“You have to take D. The paramedics can’t work on him. Take him to Christian’s, please.”
Normally Panahasi railed against anyone ordering him around. Thank goodness the demon leader nodded and grabbed D, disappearing just as quickly as he appeared. Chance coughed, staggering back toward the front of the building. Everyone was out. Everyone that he cared about or knew was out of the building. Now all he had to do was find an exit.
Chance’s eyes felt like someone was pushing hot pokers into them, and his lungs felt as though his chest had been opened up and shoved into an oven. It was hard to breathe. He slammed into a wall, knowing he was close to the front door.
Staggering outside, Chance took in a lungful of fresh air, and then his body slammed into the pavement, lights out.

Christian stood in the hallway, looking around at the humans who worked there. He hated hospitals. Not because there were sick and dying humans here, but because he remembered how a dear friend of his, a human friend, had refused to be converted when his life was slowly being sucked out by a disease that could be treated with today’s medicine. Thornton had died in a hospital, leaving Christian behind to mourn his loss. He had known the man for twenty years, not long for a vampire, but long enough for Christian to grow fond of the man.

That was back in 1943 when influenza had become an epidemic. Christian had begged his friend to join him, but Thornton had refused, saying that although he loved Christian like a brother, his time on earth was what god willed it to be.

“Have you found out what happened?” Malcolm Lakeland asked, bringing Christian out of his nostalgic memories.
“I found out that Chance was a very busy bear.”
Malcolm’s face darkened as he leaned in closer, his voice dropping low. “Do you think my boy had anything to do with this?”
Christian shook his head. “No. Chance found the culprit, rescued his twin and D, and kept a cool head through all of this. He is a hero.”
Malcolm’s face relaxed as he straightened. “Who was it?”
“It was some woman who claims to work with the vampire hunters. According to her, hunters have been coming into my club for a few months now, scoping things out and then slipping back out past Harley unnoticed. Which is hard for me to believe. My bouncer is very thorough. She won’t speak of who it was that was coming in, but apparently I have a traitor in my coven.”
And Christian was going to find out who the hell it was. It made his teeth grind to think of the damage the explosion caused. Ten dead humans and two vampires. Even a vampire could only take so much destruction before the damage was irreversible. “I have someone collecting your cubs’ blood now, and Dr. Max Samuel from Zeus’s pack is on his way to get Chauncey ready for transporting to Brac Village. Dr. Sheehan can attend to him there. Max tells me that as soon as your boy is stable, he will be taken back to town.”
“Thanks,” Malcolm said. “Do you know what’s going on with Sloane?”
“His lawyer is going in front of a judge in the morning to get his bond set. He should be able to post bail after that. I have a few men working on the witness.”
“How’s Dudley?”
“Better. He needed a lot of blood to heal, but he will be fine. I’ve arranged for Sloane to stay with me while this legal mess is taken care of.”
“I want that bitch to pay for what she did to my boys.”
Christian met Malcolm’s eyes, seeing the fire and anger burning in their depths. “If there is anything left of her, I’ll send it your way.”
Malcolm nodded as he walked back into Chance’s hospital room. Christian took one more glance around before hurrying from the hospital. The place brought back too many painful memories for him.

Seth bent at the waist and grabbed Oscar, swinging his nephew up into his arms as he raced down the hospital corridor.
His boss, Cody, had called Seth, waking him from his sleep to tell him that Chance had been in some sort of explosion and was at the hospital in the city. Seth hadn’t a clue how he was going to get there until Chance’s brother, Roman, had swung by to grab him.
Oscar rested his head on Seth’s shoulders, a coat wrapped around his pajamas as Seth raced to Chance’s room. He was just friends with Chance. He honestly didn’t know why he was being hurried to the hospital, but Seth was grateful. Chance may be a barbarian, but he was Seth’s friend and hell if his heart wasn’t careening out of control at the thought of Chance being hurt.
Seth stepped into the hospital room, noticing right away that the Lakeland men were there. It was hard to mistake them as anything but related. They all looked alike from one degree to the next.
“I’m sorry. I’ll wait until you’re done visiting him,” Seth said as he stepped toward the door.
“Nonsense, son, you’re a part of our family,” Mr. Lakeland said. That confused the hell out of Seth, but he didn’t argue. He didn’t want to leave Chance. But for Chance’s father to declare he was family was a bit strange. What in the hell had Chance been telling these folks?
“How is he?” Seth asked as he stepped closer to the bed.
“I’m fine,” Chance said as he cracked his eyes open and stared at Seth. His voice was a little gravelly, sandpaperish. Seth felt a stranger stirring inside of him, as if something long asleep was finally waking. He’d never felt that before. Not with Chance. Not with anyone. He shuffled Oscar to his other shoulder as he stared down into Chance’s eyes.
“What happened?” He wanted to know. Chance was lying here in the hospital, black soot adorning his nose with a voice that sounded almost like the Godfather, deep, rough, and…somewhat sexy. What in the hell was Seth thinking? This was no time to have those kinds of thoughts.
It must be the lack of sleep.
“Let me have the whelp while you talk with Chance,” the father said as he reached for Oscar. Seth pulled back. Although Chance had been Seth’s friend for two months, he really didn’t know the father all that well. They’d met a few times, but not enough to let Seth know he could trust the man with his nephew.
Mr. Lakeland stared at him and then dropped his hands away, giving a slight nod. Why did that make Seth feel bad?
“He’s fine, Seth. Pa won’t let anything happened to Oscar,” Chance said.
Hesitantly, and because his back was starting to kink up, Seth let
Pa
take his nephew. Mr. Lakeland had insisted Seth call him that, but Seth had never felt right using that term. Mr. Lakeland folded Oscar into his large and beefy arms, Oscar smiling up at the man. Oscar seemed to really take to the Lakeland clan. He was always smiling the few times he had been around them, as if he knew a secret that Seth was clueless about.
“We’ll be right outside if you need anything,” Mr. Lakeland said as he and the other men left the room. He watched them leave and then turned back to Chance. It was amazing how much larger Chance seemed as he lay there in the hospital bed. Seth wasn’t sure the beds were designed for someone as big as Chance.
“Now tell me what happened,” Seth said as he grabbed a chair and pulled it close to Chance.
“It’s a very long story,” Chance said.
“So give me the condensed version.” There was no way Seth was going to just sit here and wonder what happened. Chance had nearly lost his life. That was enough to earn Seth an explanation.
“Basically, I went into the city to find a friend of mine who shouldn’t be left to his own devices. I was at a club known for…partying when an explosion rocked the place. My twin and Bryce were there, buried inside, along with my friend.”
Seth had heard the stall on the word
partying
. He let it go for now. “Were you in the club when the explosion went off?”
Chance gave a slight shake of the head, as if it hurt to move. “I was outside in the parking lot calling you.”
Seth gasped. “So calling me saved your life?”
Chance looked as though he was thinking about it and then nodded. “I guess it did.”
“How are your brothers and friend?” He was almost afraid to ask. Seth was aware that Chance was very close with Chauncey. He often spoke of his brother with a sparkle of love in his eyes. Seth didn’t have any siblings, not anymore since his sister died in the house fire at Christmas and he’d come to care for Oscar. But he remembered Julia. They hadn’t been close, nowhere near what Chance was with Chauncey. Although he had only known Chance for such a short amount of time, he knew it would devastate the man if he lost his twin.
“D is with some friends. He’s recovering.”
“Chauncey and Bryce?”
“Bryce made it out.”
Oh god.
Seth was afraid to ask. Chance was skipping around the subject of his twin. That wasn’t a good sign. Seth moved a little closer, taking Chance’s hand in his. “What’s wrong with Chauncey?”
Tears glistened in Chance’s eyes as he shook his head, trying to pull his hand away, but Seth held on, squeezing the hand firmly. “Tell me.”
“He wasn’t breathing when I found him. The paramedics had a hell of a time bringing him back. They say…” Seth felt his insides roll when a sob hiccuped from Chance’s large chest. “They say he may have brain damage from prolonged lack of oxygen, but it’s too soon to tell.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Chance?” He could see it in the man’s eyes. He wouldn’t meet Seth’s, and they were darting around the room.
Chance snapped his head back around, and for a split second, a minute space in time, Seth could have sworn Chance’s eyes had changed to a strange honey color. But now Seth was staring at pale grey eyes, saddened by the news of his brother. “Nothing.” Chance said the word as if defeated.
Seth laid his head on Chance’s shoulder, needing the closeness, the touch. He had nearly lost the man tonight, and it made their earlier argument seem petty.
He sighed and then felt a hand stroke through his hair. A warmth filled Seth, as if the sun were touching something deep inside of him, filling up, and then spilling over as Chance’s fingers stroked through his hair. Seth never wanted to move, never wanted Chance to stop touching him because he never wanted to lose that warmth.
“Thank you for coming.”
Reluctantly, Seth turned his head, praying Chance didn’t stop petting him. That was what it felt like. “You’re my friend. That means if you’re in trouble, I come running.”
Chance grinned widely, but Seth saw something deep in the man’s eyes, something he couldn’t quite figure out at the moment. “That goes both ways, Seth. If you or Oscar ever need anything or ever need me, just call.”
Seth nodded as he laid his head back down, content to just let Chance smooth his fingers through Seth’s hair.