The Bite That Binds (The Deep In Your Veins #2) (20 page)

My focus flew to David as he stood upright with his gun held high and a blob of paint on his mask. Crap. I nearly had a sodding heart attack when Salem appeared beside me. I jabbed him with my gun. “You little shit.”

“Look.” He pointed at the ‘B and B’. I looked in time to watch Butch hurrying inside it, while Chico covered him by pinning Denny in place with pellets. Meanwhile, Salem was shooting crazily at Stuart, who was squatted behind a car beside the ‘B and B’. Had Salem not pinned him in place like that, Stuart would have been inside that building at the same time as Butch.

“We need to cover Butch as he runs with the crate,” I told Salem as I reloaded. I had every confidence that Butch would get the crate in a matter of seconds. I was right. As soon as he appeared in the doorway, Salem launched a smoke grenade. Butch waited only until it exploded before he sprinted out of the building. He hadn’t taken his gun with him, trusting that those of us left – me, Salem, and Chico – would cover him as he ran. We did.

It took the other team a few seconds before they realised what was happening and started firing at him. Salem, Chico, and I ran backwards, exchanging shots with Jared, Denny, and Magda. Although the other team had now redoubled their efforts, so had we.

Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t long before Jared picked off Chico – the fucker. Pissing me off even more, Magda almost took me out. Time to get rid of the bitch. A well-aimed shot to the head eliminated her from the game. But – fuck it all! – a well-aimed shot from Jared took Salem out of the game no more than a second later. It seemed only natural to then turn on my fiancé, who at the same time turned on me, and we eliminated each other simultaneously. He dived on me then, knocking me to the ground and lounging on top of me, laughing.

Chuckling myself, I turned my head to watch Butch, ready to yell in victory as he reached base camp – something he was literally seconds away from doing. Although Denny was chasing after him, his shots were going wide and it looked like we had definitely won. But then Max – who I’d forgotten was only out of the game temporarily – appeared from around the corner of the last street and shot Butch right in the head.

Growling, Butch halted and dropped the crate at his feet.

Jared and his team started cheering and clapping, but Evan
tsk
ed. “Until you get the crate to your own base camp, you haven’t won, guys.”

Shrugging and laughing, Max and Denny both walked toward the crate. Startling all of us, there was a loud battle cry and Fletcher came charging out of our base camp, firing a series of pellets that seemed to go in every direction. Miraculously, some of his totally inaccurate shots caught Max and Denny’s masks.

Cheers rang out from my team.

“Fletcher, put the crate in our base!” I shouted.

Nodding, he dragged it into the small building and then came back out, mask off, grinning like a Cheshire cat. As the cheers rose in volume, he adjusted his glasses and curtseyed.

Maybe it was childish, but I whipped off my mask and laughed in Jared’s face. “How do you like that?”

He removed his own mask, appearing stunned. “How did I forget about Fletcher?”

I’d
forgotten about him, too. But I wasn’t about to tell Jared that. I smiled, joining my hands around his neck when he kissed me. “All part of the strategy.”

He kissed me again. “Well played. But I
will
win you at the next game.”

I gave him a sympathetic look. “I’ll allow you to have your fantasies. I sure hadn’t thought that wearing a mankini would be one of them, though.”

His smile was quickly replaced by a scowl.

I began teasing him about the mankini again when we woke the next evening – even going as far as to call him Borat. That got me a punishment in the form of him pinning me down and shagging me until I came so hard I saw stars – ha, like that was a deterrent. We were lying in the bed, still reverberating with the aftershocks, when I noticed that he was staring. He did that a lot, never feeling uncomfortable as if it was totally normal to just stare at someone. I playfully snapped, “What?”

He flashed me an innocent smile that quickly turned roguish. “I like looking at you. I like looking at you, knowing I know this body better than even you do. Like knowing you belong to me.” His kiss captured and muffled my ‘I belong to myself, thank you very much’. When he pulled back, he had the oddest expression on his face. “That’s not you touching my leg, is it?”

I looked down the bed to see that Dexter had made his way from the living area to the bedroom and was now slithering his way up the bed. I giggled. “Maybe he’s starting to warm up to you.”

“More like he’s jealous that I’m touching you,” grumbled Jared.

Yeah, Dexter often hissed at Jared, not yet comfortable with him.

“I’d appreciate it if you moved him away from me. He’s heading in a direction that I’m not happy about.”

Smiling, I gently coaxed Dexter over to me. He came easily. “Only
I
get to bite that part of you.”

A devilish grin took over his face. I’d just joined my lips to his when we heard two distinct beeps. And we knew just which mobile phone was beeping. Swallowing hard, Jared retrieved Leon’s mobile phone from the kitchen drawer and brought it to the bed. “It’s from ‘Del’.”

This was what we’d been waiting for. This was what we’d been stressing over since meeting Jude. This was also something that was going to cause a humungous argument between Jared and me. “I’m not staying behind.”

“There is
no
way you’re going on this assignment, Sam.”

“Oh I think you’ll find I am.”

“Oh I think you’ll find you’re not.”

And on and on it went.

(Jared)

A full hour. I’d spent a full hour trying to make the homicidal bitch listen to me, trying to make her see reason. What had she done the entire time? Smiled indulgently at me, much like a parent would at a teenager having a tantrum. “Sam, you can’t expect me to be okay with you going out there helpless.”

“I’m not helpless.”

“Really? Conjure your whip. Go on.”

I watched as she absorbed energy into her palms, just as she had done thousands of times before. As I’d anticipated, nothing happened. Well,
one
thing happened: a stream of energy shot out of her palms in the form of water, drenching Luther.

Wincing at him in sympathy, she said, “Sorry, Gandalf.”

Dignified, he wiped at his face. “It’s quite all right.”

I gestured at the soaking wet Advisor. “And
that
is why I want you to stay behind.”

She snorted. “Tough titties. I’m going. Everything shouldn’t always come down to my gifts…unless you’re saying they’re all I have to offer?”

The woman always knew what cards to play. “Of course I’m not.” I truly wasn’t. To me, she was intelligent, skilful, determined, tenacious, strong, resilient…
and still not going.

“I won’t send off my co-commander and my squad on a risky assignment while I stay home all safe and sound. Jude doesn’t have an offensive power, yet you haven’t objected to her going.”

“Jude isn’t the woman I intend to Bind with.”

“No, she’s not, but you wouldn’t allow any person to go on an assignment unless you thought they were capable enough to handle it. So am I to take this as you think
she’s
capable, but I’m not?”

Damn, how did she do that? How did she take something I’d done or said, twist it around, and use it against me?

“You have so little faith in me, do you?” That smile was back. She knew I was struggling with this one, and she was enjoying it. Of course I could declare that neither female was going, but in that case there would be uproar – particularly since Jude was out for blood. “You believe I’m weak like those Master Vampires who’ve come to supposedly offer their congratulations to us?”

“Stop twisting things.” I was ashamed to say that had come out sounding a little petulant. She appeared to have enjoyed that, too. “I just want you to be safe. If you can’t properly defend yourself, you won’t be safe. Right now, as much as it pains us both, you can’t—”

She held up a finger, wearing a look that reminded me of one of my old school teachers. “Quiet now. It’s your own time you’re wasting.”

Chuckles burst of both Antonio and Luther. How supportive of them.

“So I’m the only one who cares whether or not she’s safe?”

Antonio quickly sobered. Well, sort of – he was no longer chuckling out loud, but his body was still shaking with it. “You know Sam’s well-being is of great importance to me. If I believed, for even one moment, that she could not handle this assignment, I would insist that she remained behind. But Sam is right; there is more to her than her gifts. You are simply unable to look at this objectively and I understand why. Bear in mind that you will not be facing vampires, but humans. Sam may not be a Pagori or a Keja, but she is still significantly stronger and faster than any human.”

Before I could respond, Sam said brightly, “Now that that’s all sorted, why don’t I tell you my plan?”

Plan? Why did I get the feeling that I wasn’t going to like this?

“You remember I took Janine’s artificial baby bump after Jude had killed her, right? You never wondered why I wanted it?”

Oh shit.

CHAPTER NINE

(Sam)

I would have thought that seeing a pregnant woman stumbling out of a supermarket would get a reaction out of people. Most hadn’t even noticed, wrapped up in conversations or using their mobile phones. Out of those that did notice, only one person had asked if I was okay. Some had looked at others, trying to judge if they would act or thought it necessary to. It seemed it was that whole bystander apathy thing.

It was as I reached the parking lot that a vehicle pulled up beside me. One of the tinted windows of the grey Volvo wound down just enough to show me a concerned face. This sure looked like our Wendy − if that was even her real name, of course. Approximately ten minutes ago, Jared had sent a response from Leon’s phone; giving a description of me as the pregnant woman who had been drugged.

“Is everything all right, hon?”

I continued to stagger at a slow pace as I slurred, “F-fine.” It was at times like this that I wished I’d been paying a little attention in drama class.

“You look like you need to see a doctor.”

“Really, I’m fine,” I slurred again.

“You’re not fine, hon. Come on, jump in, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“But my car—”

“You can’t drive like that. You’re close to passing out. It’s important you get to a hospital fast…as long as you don’t mind listening to a two year old recite his ABCs all the way there,” she added with a laugh. Yes, Wendy had brought along a toddler to look unsuspicious. I wondered if he was her child or she’d borrowed him like the weirdo that she was.

Once the familiar mush by my feet had wriggled through the cracks of the rear door and was inside the vehicle, I said, “Okay, thanks.” For show, I fumbled and stumbled as I got into the Volvo.

“Don’t worry about anything, hon. You just rest. I’ll get you help.”

If I’d been adhering to Jared’s proposal, I would simply have waited patiently until he and the rest of the squad stopped the vehicle. But as my own plan had been more popular – more popular to everyone but Jared – I would be continuing the ‘I’m in agony and disorientated’ act, allowing her to lead me and the others right to the Medics.

Jared had insisted that the Deliverer would have easily told us their whereabouts. After a bit of torture, she most likely would have done. But that would have taken time. We couldn’t risk the Medics deciding to leave as this was our best chance at getting to them. I knew that Jared was still pissed, but he had been slightly placated by my keeping Denny with me.

During the entire journey, I was sure to moan in pain, and to appear as if I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Instead of taking us to an isolated spot, as I would have expected, Wendy took us deeper into the city. Once we reached a row of industrial warehouses, she stopped the car. She paid me no attention whatsoever as she took her mobile phone from her purse and dialled a number. “Outside” was all she said.

Moments later, there was a loud crashing sound as one of the yellow roller doors opened. Three people, all in scrubs, came dashing out with a flatbed trolley. Wendy lit a cigarette and watched with a bored expression as they – all humans, I detected – placed me on the bed and wheeled me toward the building. Shame I wouldn’t get to see her face when Denny materialised in front of her.

Thankfully, the little boy in the backseat was asleep. As instructed, Denny and Chico would immediately hand the little boy over to the police.

I was surprised by the interior of the warehouse. The large, bare space was much cleaner than I’d been expecting. In the far corner was a large white lorry that, at first glance, seemed like an average heavy goods vehicle. It was actually a mobile hospital.