Chapter 34
Benjamin kicked the gas pedal of his Porsche down even further, while Anita looked at the screen on her cell phone, following the dot that represented Judge Tylor Norton’s car.
“He’s stopped,” she reported.
“Where?”
“Divisadero and Broadway.”
It took only a fraction of a second for him to know what was at that location. “The Prestons.”
“What is he planning?” Anita asked.
“Nothing good.”
There was really only one reason to get Catalina out of prison in the middle of the night and bring her to the Prestons: to stop her from looking into her brother’s case.
And with all the evidence he and his colleagues had unearthed in the past couple of hours, it was evident that the Prestons had a lot to lose if that evidence came to light.
However, they didn’t know that Catalina wasn’t the only one who was looking into them, or they would have tried to kidnap him too.
Not that they would have had much luck with him.
He was stronger than the Prestons and their corrupt judge.
However, Catalina was vulnerable. He had to get her out of the Prestons’ clutches. Every second counted.
He tossed Anita his cell phone. “Call Ethan and put him on speaker.”
A moment later, his cell phone rang over the car’s speakers. Ethan answered instantly.
“Bro, was about to call you. A dark SUV drove into the Prestons’ garage, but it’s not theirs. I’m running the plates right now.”
“No need. It’s Judge Norton. He’s got Catalina.”
“Fuck!”
“Make sure he doesn’t leave. Do you have backup?”
“Lydia is with me.”
“Get ready to break down the Prestons’ door, but wait for me and Anita. We’re only a few minutes away.”
He disconnected the call before Ethan could say anything else. At the next intersection, he turned without taking his foot off the gas. The Porsche obeyed, and he was glad that he had a car with a low center of gravity that was forgiving when it came to high-speed turns.
“Who responded to my emergency alert?” he asked without taking his eyes off the road.
“Ryder, Damian, and Sebastian,” Anita said. “They’re a minute ahead of us. And Buffy sent a message that she’s leaving with the ambulance now.”
“If they hurt Catalina, they won’t need an ambulance; they’ll need a hearse,” he ground out, his fingers clasping the steering wheel even more tightly.
His heart was pounding out of control. He blamed himself. Had he not lost control over himself and exposed his vampire side, he would have been able to calm Catalina down after she’d been bitten by Ross. He could have explained it away. If he’d been with her, this would have never happened.
He should have gone to the jail the moment he’d heard that Catalina had been arrested, and even if they hadn’t allowed him to talk to her, he could have kept an eye on the building.
Judge Norton would have never managed to sneak her out of prison without him noticing.
She could have been safe, had he reacted right away.
“That’s Ryder’s SUV,” Anita said, pointing to a car parked half a block away, right outside the Prestons’ home.
Benjamin brought the Porsche to a stop right behind him and jumped out. Ryder, Sebastian, and Ethan were already standing in front of the house. He ran toward them, Anita on his heels.
“Damian and Lydia are around back, watching the garage,” Ethan informed him.
“Good.”
Benjamin rushed up the five steps to the front entrance.
“There’s some light coming from the salon, I think,” Ethan said. “But the curtains are drawn, so I can’t give you an exact location of where they are holding Catalina.”
“So be it,” Benjamin said. “I’ll go in first. The rest, follow me.”
He noticed Anita sidling up to him, a gun in her hand.
Sebastian was already at the door and pulled his lockpicks from his pocket when a gunshot came from the interior of the house.
“Fuck!” he cursed. There was no time for picking the lock. “Anita, shoot the lock!”
Sebastian jumped aside, and Anita aimed and shot.
Benjamin kicked his foot against the door at lock height with all his vampire force. The wood splintered, and the door gave way. He pushed against it and charged inside. He didn’t care if the shooter shot him too, because a regular bullet couldn’t kill him, only a silver bullet could do that.
The scent of blood hit him instantly. His legs were already moving, catapulting him in the direction of its source.
Behind him, his friends entered the house, but he only had eyes for what was in front of him.
As he crossed the front room and hurried through the open pocket doors into the salon, a nightmare unfolded in front of him.
James and Elizabeth Preston stood in the salon, wearing dressing gowns.
He saw a gun in James’s hand. Only about five or six feet away from them lay Catalina, blood spreading on her T-shirt.
She’d been shot in the chest. Pain and fury collided inside him, and with one movement of his arm, he flung James against the wall. Elizabeth screamed hysterically.
“Restrain both of them!” he called over his shoulder without missing a step.
There was no time to lose. Catalina was gravely injured.
He crouched down at her side and put his hand to her neck.
She had a pulse, but it was barely there.
His eyes stung with tears, but he didn’t allow himself to break down now.
He had to be strong for her. He pressed his hand onto the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.
“Catalina,” he murmured to her. “You can’t leave me. I need you, baby. I love you.”
Her lips parted, and her eyelids fluttered, but he could feel her strength leaving her body, her heartbeat slowing with every second. He blocked out the protest the Prestons mounted as Anita and Ethan dragged them out of the room and concentrated only on Catalina. His beautiful, innocent Catalina.
“You have to act now,” Ryder said from beside him.
He looked up, his heart breaking. “It’s too late to heal her. She’s dying.”
“I know that. That’s why you have to turn her,” Ryder said.
He knew. He pulled Catalina’s head into his lap. “Forgive me for what I have to do.”
He bit into his wrist, opening his vein. Then he pressed it to her lips to let his life-giving vampire blood drip into her mouth.
“Drink, my love. Stay with me.”
He spoke soothing words to her, words she couldn’t hear, while she existed between life and death, between human and vampire, between the past and the future.
Her existence hung in limbo now as his blood spread in her body to bind her soul to it so she wouldn’t leave this plane, so she could awaken with a stronger body, a body that would defy this injury and heal itself—but only if her human body accepted this transformation.
He prayed for it, prayed that she would awaken to a new life.
A life he hoped she could accept. But what if she couldn’t forgive him for what he’d done?
For the decision he’d made without her consent?
He would throw himself at her mercy and accept her punishment.
But she had to live, no matter in which form.
Because a world without her wasn’t a world he wanted to live in.
While he held her as she went completely motionless in his arms, without a heartbeat, without a breath, the sounds around him that he’d shut out reached him again.
His friends had removed the Prestons from the salon so they couldn’t witness that he’d given Catalina his blood.
He also heard the garage door now. Moments later, more footsteps came closer, and he saw from the open door that Damian and Lydia had apprehended Judge Norton before he had a chance to escape.
He was trying to shake off Damian’s hand, but his twin brother was stronger.
Anita entered the salon now, her weapon back in its holster.
“Buffy is about five minutes out with the ambulance.”
He nodded, concentrating on the practicalities of the situation. He couldn’t lose his head now.
“And forensics?”
“Ethan is taking care of it. We’ll be bagging James Preston’s hands to preserve gunshot residue before he’s transported to the station. We need the bullet.”
“It’s still inside her.”
“Okay,” Anita said with a look at Catalina. “Buffy can get it out at the clinic. We need it for ballistics.”
“I know.” Then he looked up at Anita. “We need to get the Prestons and Judge Norton for murder and conspiracy to commit murder.”
Anita gasped, her eyes widening. “Are you saying she’s not gonna make it?”
“She’ll make it,” he said. I hope, he thought to himself. “But her human life is over. They took that from her. They killed her. Do you understand?”
Slowly, Anita nodded. “I got it. But since we can’t leave her here, we’ll have to say that she died on the way to the hospital. I’ll inform Donnelly. He’ll get us a signature on the death certificate when it’s time.”
“Thank you. They’ll pay for this.”
He stroked his fingers along Catalina’s face. Her skin was still warm, but she looked pale. There was no sign of her transformation yet. It would take hours before he could know for sure that she would make it. But he had to believe in it. She was strong. She was a fighter.
“I’ll make sure they pay for what they did to you and Santiago. I promise you, Catalina.”