Vampire in Geek's Clothing (Psy-Vamp Book 6) (21 page)

Phoenix wasn’t sure what the protocol was for answering Isaiah’s
phone. He’d run downstairs, and the call was from his mother, so she decided to
answer it.

“Hello,” she said.

“I need to speak to Isaiah.” There was an unmistakable
tremor in Helena’s voice.

There was no doubt in her mind that Helena was in some kind
of danger. “What’s wrong?” Phoenix asked.

“I need to speak to my son,” she repeated, and then let out
a squeak.

“Helena!” Phoenix shouted.

The next voice on the line, Phoenix recognized all too well,
and it sent a chill down her spine. “Answering your vampire’s phone,” Hayden
asked in a disapproving tone. “Are you serving the vampires in every way now,
you little slut? How many of them are you fucking?”

“What do you want, Hayden?” she demanded. “Whatever it is,
I’ll do it as long as you let Helena go.”

She wasn’t stupid enough to believe he’d actually let Helena
go, no matter what she did, but she figured this would at least buy them both
some time. Time to do what, she still had no clue, but hopefully she’d come up
with some sort of plan.

“Give me your phone number, and I’ll send you directions,”
he ordered. “You come alone, and I’ll have someone meet you. If they see anyone
with you, I’m going to kill the vampire whore. That is, after I have a little
fun with her. She’s much too pretty to just kill her.”

Phoenix felt her anger surpass her fear. “Don’t you dare
touch her!”

“You don’t give the orders, slut,” Hayden growled. “You are
mine, and you will do as you’re told or the pretty vampire whore will pay the
price for your stupidity. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes,” she told him, and rattled off her number before
ending the call. Grabbing the medication Justin had given her for anxiety, she
took one pill and slipped another in her pocket in case she needed it. After
putting on one of Isaiah’s hoodies, she snuck out of the room and headed down
the hall toward the stairs to the kitchen. Thankfully, she made it out of the
house and to the garage without running into anyone.

“Where are you going?” Josef asked from the shadows just as
she entered the garage. Her heart was in her throat when she spun to face him.

“I’m just going out for a little while.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Josef told her. “From the looks of
things, you’re trying to sneak out of here without Isaiah knowing. Tell me
what’s going on, and I’ll help you, but I’m not about to let you go alone.”

“My cousin has Helena,” she admitted softly.

Josef nodded. “We’ll call the others on the way.”

“No!” she told him. “Hayden is having someone pick me up,
and he said if I wasn’t alone, he’d hurt her. We can’t risk that.”

Josef considered the situation before opening the back of
the Range Rover and lifting a section in the back to reveal a large hidden
compartment. “There should be enough room for me to hide under here,” he told
her. “I’ll send a message to make sure Aiden starts tracking you, and I’ll
follow you after they pick you up.”

“Won’t you be a little conspicuous in this thing?” she
asked.

He nodded. “You’re right. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll
take the Range Rover. If not, I’ll have Aiden pick me up. You’ll need my code
to get out the front gate. I’m assuming Isaiah didn’t give you one because he
didn’t want you leaving.”

She nodded, and he rattled off the code as he climbed into
the compartment in the back of the Range Rover.

Phoenix waited until they were out of the canyon to pull to
the side of the road and text Isaiah, not wanting to give him time to stop her.

Hayden has your mom. I’m going to meet him. Don’t text me
back.

She deleted all the messages except the one from Hayden with
the directions to the meeting spot. With any luck, Hayden wouldn’t kill her the
second he saw her. Actually, she was pretty sure he wasn’t going to kill her
anytime soon. What she was really hoping was that he wouldn’t torture her the
moment he saw her. At least, she had the beginnings of a plan. Don’t die and
don’t get tortured. It was a start.

Isaiah knew something was wrong the moment he walked into
his room. There was no reason to think Phoenix’s absence meant anything other
than she’d gotten tired of waiting for him, but he still couldn’t shake the
overwhelming sense of dread. Tucking his phone into his back pocket, he decided
to head out of the room to look for her and ran into Drew in the hallway.

“Is Nix ready for self-defense lessons?” Drew asked.

“I’m not sure where she is,” he admitted in a distracted
tone.

“Did you get in a fight?” Drew asked.

“No,” Isaiah replied with a shake of his head. His phone
buzzed, and he grabbed it, relieved to see it was a text from Phoenix. That is,
he was relieved until he read the text.

“What’s wrong?” Drew asked.

“Hayden has my mom, and Phoenix went to meet him,” he
explained, fear gripping his chest so tightly he could barely breathe.

His phone buzzed again, and he was seriously tempted to
ignore the message from his father, but decided to read it.

I’m with Phoenix. Hiding in the back of the Range Rover.
Aiden will be tracking her. She is meeting someone to pick her up and take her
to where your mother is being held.

“Let’s go!” Isaiah called out to Drew, before heading back
into his room and opening the safe in the corner to remove weapons. He didn’t
usually carry a gun, even though he had a concealed carry permit. Hayden had
seriously screwed up when he’d threatened the women Isaiah loved most. Isaiah
had no intention of letting the crazy asshole walk away.

Drew whistled through his teeth. “You’ve got quite an
impressive collection in there.”

“Grab what you want,” Isaiah told him as he strapped on the
shoulder holster.

“Nah,” Drew said. “I’m not big on guns. Naturally, I can use
one when I have to, but they’re too impersonal for my tastes. So, are we going
to kill this fucker when we find him?”

Isaiah gave a curt nod and jogged down the stairs toward the
garage. “You can drive while I call the hunters and arrange to meet up with
Aiden. It’ll be easier if we’re all together.”

After they pulled out of the garage, Isaiah called Aiden.

“Where are you?” Isaiah asked as soon as Aiden picked up the
call.

“Fucking traffic,” Aiden growled. “I’m almost in Castro
Valley. Ivy is driving, but she can’t stay with me much longer because she’s
running a group session in an hour. This is one she can’t miss.”

There was no need to ask why Ivy was driving. Aiden was a
terrible driver and had a tendency to go ten miles under the speed limit. If
they were already in Castro Valley, they must have been on this side of the bay
when his father had contacted Aiden. “Track my mom. Hayden will have her in the
place he’s bringing Phoenix.”

“Are you sure he won’t have her stashed somewhere else?”
Aiden asked.

“I’m sure,” Isaiah replied, confident in his answer. “He
only came out here with two hunters, and I don’t think they have the resources
to hire much help.”

“Good point,” Aiden agreed.

“Text me a location where we can pull over to the side of the
freeway and pick you up,” Isaiah told him.

“Will do,” Aiden agreed, and Isaiah ended the call.

The next call was to Mason, in the hopes the local hunters
would help them.

“What’s up?” Mason asked by way of greeting.

“It’s Isaiah,” he told him.

“Yeah, I can read my Caller ID just fine,” Mason said
impatiently. “I assume you’re not calling just to chat.”

“Hayden has my mother and Phoenix,” Isaiah told him.

“Fuck,” Mason hissed.

“We’re tracking them,” Isaiah continued. “What I need to
know is if you can help us.”

“Yeah, we got your back,” Mason assured him. “Traffic is a
bitch getting out of Santa Cruz at this hour, and I don’t know of any hunters
up your way, but I’ll see what I can do. It’ll be at least two hours until we
can make it out there. Where should we head?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Isaiah admitted. “We’re tracking the car
with Phoenix in it, but it’s still moving.” He figured he’d let Mason assume
they were using some electronic tracking system since Aiden wasn’t all that
happy with anyone knowing about his ability to track people he’d met by their
energy. “I’ll send you details.”

“Keep me posted on your location,” Mason told him. “I’ll
grab some people and head up that way while we try to find someone closer.”

Phoenix parked the Range Rover in the McDonald’s parking lot
and wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans. Were it not for her medication, she
was sure she’d be having a panic attack. She still didn’t have a good plan for
getting Helena out safely. She was hoping she could talk to the hunters who met
her and convince them that helping Hayden was wrong. She was surprised they’d
agreed to let things go on as long as they had.

The two men who met her weren’t hunters, from what Phoenix
could tell, and she suspected they were probably humans Hayden had hired. That
made it more likely the missing hunters were dead.

“Don’t make any sudden moves,” one of them growled as he
stepped closer to her. He had pale blond hair, dark beady eyes, a stocky build,
and stood just over six feet tall. His large hands roughly searched her before
tossing her phone and keys on the front seat of the Range Rover. “Good girl,”
he breathed against her ear, and she had to fight the urge to break free from
his grip.

“Let’s hurry and get out of here before we attract any
attention,” the other guy added as they guided her to the car and into the
backseat.

The second guy slid into the backseat beside her. He was
smaller with a wiry build and an almost pretty face. He had black hair, soft
blue eyes, and full lips. It was the cruel twist of his lips that led her to
believe he was in this line of work because he enjoyed hurting others. What he
said next confirmed her suspicions. “I’m sure we’ll get to play with you later.
The guy paying us wants you to suffer, and he’s already hinted that we could
have you for a few hours after he’s done fucking every hole on your body.
That’s not all he has planned for you, sweets, but I don’t want to spoil all
the surprises.”

Phoenix ignored him, knowing he was trying to get a reaction
out of her. The rest of the ride was relatively quiet. Apparently, the men were
bored with her unless they could get a satisfying response. They wanted to see
her fear, and she was determined not to give them the satisfaction.

They drove to a canyon lined with only a few homes. The men
parked behind an old barn, and Phoenix struggled to keep her breathing under
control. She refused to let Hayden see her fear ever again.

“Let’s go, honey,” the larger man said, grabbing her arm to
yank her out of the backseat and lead her into the barn.

The first thing she noticed was the foul smell. Her nostrils
were assaulted with the scent of urine and feces, mixed with the tangy scent of
sweat. Tied to chairs at the far end of the barn, were two men. Even slumped
over, Phoenix noticed both were bloody messes, and she wondered if those were
the missing hunters.

“How nice of you to drop by,” Hayden called out.

Hayden didn’t look much different than he had the last time
she’d seen him, nearly five years ago. The cruel twist of his lips was the same
one she’d seen so many times growing up, but the madness swirling in his blue
eyes seemed more intense.

“How could I possibly resist your kind invitation,” she
replied dryly, not looking at Helena. “I’m here like we agreed. Now, let the
vampire go.”

Hayden chuckled. “Where would the fun be in that?”

“You promised you’d let her go,” Phoenix insisted, even
though she’d already known Hayden would go back on his word.

“I lied,” he said with a shrug.

“Are you sure we can’t play with them both,” the larger
human asked.

Hayden looked seriously pissed, and his left eye twitched.
“The pretty nurse is
mine
!” He scanned the area for an outlet for his
rage before focusing on Phoenix. Stalking toward her, Hayden backhanded Phoenix
hard enough to make her head snap back. It was a miracle she remained on her
feet.

Helena let out a little scream before launching herself onto
Hayden’s back and tugging at his hair. That obviously was enough to stun Hayden
because it took him a moment to react. When he did, he slammed his body against
the wall, crushing Helena behind him.

Phoenix launched herself at Hayden, but she was stopped
short by the wiry human, who tackled her to the ground and held a gun to her
head.

Hayden had Helena off his back, and he was gripping her
hair, shaking her. “You’re going to regret pulling something that stupid,” he
snarled. “I’m going to enjoy hurting you both.”

“Put the gun down,” Helena called out, and Phoenix felt the
push in her voice. She almost laughed when she realized Hayden’s mistake in
having humans guarding a vampire.

The human started to put the gun down.

“Bitch!” Hayden practically screamed, slapping Helena hard
enough that she probably would have fallen if he weren’t still gripping her
hair.

Just like that, the compulsion was broken, and the guy on
top of Phoenix pointed the gun at her head again.

“Get me some fucking duct tape,” Hayden shouted at the other
human. “We’ll have to make sure my vampire whore can’t talk. Then, I think
we’ll have a little fun.”

“How much farther can they be?” Isaiah demanded. They’d
picked up Aiden and his father along the way, hoping the four of them would be
enough to save his mom and Phoenix. Justin and Roman were also heading this
way, as were the hunters, but traffic was making it difficult to get there.

“It’s just up ahead,” Aiden replied. “You were right about
your mom and Phoenix being together. We should park along the road so they
don’t hear us coming.”

“Bet they’re using a barn,” Drew remarked after parking the
car.

“Why a barn?” Josef asked. “It could just as easily be a
house.”

“It’s a barn,” Drew insisted, not seeming the least bit
worried. Then again, Drew was a sociopath and not known for his concern for
others.

Sure enough, they found themselves outside an old barn.

“At least, it’s not a warehouse. I’m getting tired of
rescuing people from creepy warehouses,” Aiden said.

“Barn’s not much better than a warehouse. In fact, it’s just
a warehouse for farm stuff and animals,” Drew pointed out before his attention
strayed.

Isaiah saw it, too. There was a woman running along the side
of the barn. She moved with surprising grace as she scaled the side of the barn
and slipped in through a window.

“I’ll go after the crazy chick,” Drew told them.

“Good idea,” Aiden agreed. “We have no idea who that is.”

“I know who it is,” Drew stated, sliding out of his seat and
taking off after her.

“You know he’s likely to get us killed, don’t you?” Aiden
grumbled.

“Let’s just worry about saving Helena and Phoenix,” his
father suggested, sounding surprisingly calm.

Isaiah wished he were calmer, but he was honestly terrified.

“So, how are we going to handle this?” Aiden asked.

“Hayden’s short on people helping him,” Isaiah mused,
considering their options.

“What makes you think that?” his father asked.

“If he weren’t, there’d be guards outside the barn. It’s
always possible he’s just so arrogant that he believes no one can find him, but
I’m guessing he’s spread thin,” Isaiah explained. “Still, it might be best if
we don’t all walk in there together until we know what’s going on.”

“I’ll go in first as a distraction,” his father offered.
“You should both go in the back entrance, if there is one. It will be safer
that way. I can call you, so you can listen to what’s going on. That is, if I
can figure out how to keep the phone from disconnecting in my pocket.”

Isaiah considered his father’s suggestion. “Okay. We’ll
hurry and circle around the back. Just try to let us know how many of them are
in there.”

His father placed a hand on his shoulder. “Be careful.”

Isaiah just nodded because he didn’t know what to say. His
father had changed a lot in the last couple of weeks, and Isaiah still wasn’t
sure how to react to those changes. They took a moment to set up the call
between Isaiah’s phone and his father’s. Thankfully, Isaiah had a good
noise-cancelling Bluetooth headset with him, so he’d be able to listen while
they made their way into the barn.

“I sure hope we don’t get killed,” Aiden muttered. “Tempest
would be pissed.”