Chapter 29 #2
I took a step back. “You can leave. You don’t have to do this.”
His chuckle gurgled in his throat. “We both know I can’t.”
“You can. Turn around and walk out the door. Leave this town. Go somewhere the Prime can’t find you.”
He scoffed, the sound a hissing rasp in his ruined throat. “The Prime won’t get close enough to do anything to me. He’s afraid of what I am. What I can do.”
“And what is that? Spread your contagion?”
The words hit him like a dagger. “I’m different now. Faster, more powerful. Whatever this is burns through my blood like fire. But ever since you… it doesn’t hurt as much.” Malice and greed glittered in his eyes. “One little sip, Alex. That’s all I’m asking for.”
Lies. I could see it in his face. He wanted to drink me down and only stop when I had no more left to give.
Beckett had lost all semblance of humanity. Vamps could be cold bastards on a normal day, but they still felt emotions. I wasn’t so sure about Beckett. His eyes were flat and cold, and while his voice burned with emotion, the only thing he seemed to care about was himself and his supposed power.
And me. At least for the next few moments. I had to stall.
I licked my lips. “Then why don’t you face him? Take over for him? If you think you can rule, take the Hive.”
Beckett’s eyes narrowed. “No vampire, no matter how powerful, can take a Hive alone.”
“Then get the other vampires on your side.”
Greed flickered over his face. “I have to show them how powerful I am first. They’d never follow me otherwise.”
“Then start there. You’re powerful. Charismatic.
Humans and other kind flock to people with those qualities.
” The last thing I wanted was for him to gain more power, but Beckett proved delusional and like most delusional men, he probably loved flattery.
And saying pretty things to him might gain me more time.
Beckett scoffed. “That will take too long. I don’t want a Hive’s weaklings. They cannot help me. I need better vampires on my side. Not sycophants.”
“Then find them.”
He smiled. The gesture moved only one side of his mouth. Fear roared in my veins. I wanted to run, but he would kill me. I saw it in his eyes. “I’m already making the people I need. Soon I’ll have enough to rival even the Prime’s power. Today, I’m here for you.”
Beckett thought he had enough self-control to keep me alive. I thought different. His gaze dragged to my neck, focusing on the pulse hammering through my veins.
I shook my head. “I can’t help you. The vampires hate me.”
“They respect power. You have it.” He pointed to his face.
“Whatever you did to me isn’t healing. If you could do that to me, you could do that to any vampire who tried to cross you.
With what I have living inside my blood and your power…
” His voice trailed off, a low laugh revealing exactly what he wanted with me.
He wanted to keep me and use me, and if I refused to dance to his tune, he would force me—if he managed to keep me alive once he consumed my blood.
My stomach twisted. I’d already damaged Alric and Vesper. I hadn’t touched them like I had Beckett, but the power was the same.
What twisted magic now lurked in my veins? If I’d damaged the Prime like I’d damaged Beckett, he would find me no matter where I ran.
“I don’t know how to command the power,” I lied. “It comes and goes.”
Beckett didn’t blink. He either didn’t or couldn’t smell the lie, or I was getting used to being around vampires and far better at lying.
The second option didn’t exactly give me the warm and fuzzies.
“We’ll learn together.”
I took a step backward. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll weigh you down, make negotiating with the vampires difficult. The Prime and I don’t have a good relationship.”
He took a step forward. “You’ll come with me whether you want to or not. Pick your purse up.”
I took another step backward. “Leave, Beckett.”
He tutted. “You don’t call the shots, witch. Your blood beckons to me. I can find you anywhere. Even if you somehow escape, I can track you. You won’t make it far.” He spread his arms out wide. “There’s only one choice, and it’s with me. Make it easy on yourself.”
There was no way in hell I was going anywhere with Beckett. I shook my head. “Sorry. I have a dinner date I can’t be late for.”
He chuckled, the sound grating against my skin. “Don’t make me come for you. You won’t like it.”
I called up that strange magic, but it flickered and died in my veins, suppressed by something else—a power that burned hot and angry within me.
I was so tired of being jerked around by shifters, vampires, by everyone. Before this, I lived a quiet life, content to go to work, go home, fill my illegal little orders, and rinse and repeat the next day.
Ever since Beckett came into my life, I’d been afraid. Leaving my house was a chore. Being at work made me constantly anxious he’d come in. Walking back to my car forced my head to act as a swivel, searching for enemies from all directions.
I wanted a good night’s rest in a house free of damage and the influence of his evil.
Darkness rose in me, a foreign magic sparkling through my bloodstream. With it, I felt powerful, and I’d learned long ago no one was invincible. Everyone had a weakness.
Even Beckett. He might be faster and stronger than me, but I’d already proven I could take care of myself. His ruined face was proof of my abilities.
“Don’t come any closer,” I warned.
A sharp burning pain rose in my elbow. I hissed and rubbed at the spot, but there was nothing there. That damned implant.
If I made it out of here alive, I’d visit Marinka again first thing in the morning. Whatever fix she’d made hadn’t worked very well, and I hadn’t had the time to have the implant adjusted again. A mistake if the thing failed at a critical time.
Beckett stopped abruptly. An odd look crossed his face. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
I stared at him. My eyes felt perfectly fine. When I worked in my basement, they occasionally glowed when I set a spell, but that was all. We weren’t like vampires—
Shit.
I was more like a shifter and a vampire these days than a witch, but I still hadn’t had many blood cravings. Not like the first time.
I held up my hands. “Stop, Beckett.”
His eyes narrowed, and his head tilted to the side as he studied me. “Has someone else bitten you?”
He had no idea. The truth was far stranger than fiction. “And if they have?”
Sharp incisors lengthened in his mouth, one of them, the one on the ruined side of his face, was a sickly yellow. My gorge rose. “Then I’ll have to purge him from your body. You have one master, Alex.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “I answer to no one.”
Beckett’s face went blank. I spotted the second his muscles tensed.
He launched himself through the air, so fast he became a blur of muscle and speed.
Beckett crashed into me. We went down in a tangle of limbs. Something popped in my ribs. Agonizing pain bloomed along my abdomen, and every shuddering inhale felt like breathing in glass. Claws dug into my collarbones, ripping the delicate skin around my neck.
At that moment, I knew two things:
First? Beckett was heavier than me, and I was on the ground in the most vulnerable position a woman could ever be in.
And second? If I didn’t do something right now, I was going to die.
Beckett’s teeth pulled away from his lips, his sharp incisors slicing through his bottom lip. Blood dripped from his chin. I didn’t bother turning away to avoid being exposed this time. Swallowing his blood again was the least of my worries.
My hands scrabbled against his chest, scratching and clawing to no avail. I bucked my hips futilely. A keening wail ripped from my throat. He was too heavy to move. My eyes burned with frustration.
Beckett bent, his wicked visage looming above me. Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. “I can’t wait to see what we become together. All my creatures will rise and no one will be able to stop us.”
Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes.
I’d be damned if I let him take me anywhere.
I’d rather die than go with him. I thought of my mother and the father I never knew, the home I’d lovingly restored, the job I’d taken to try to better my situation, and I knew if I didn’t fight with every single bit of strength I had, everything would end here with my blood seeping onto the cold tiles of a coffee shop.
My breath came in heaving gasps, every bit of oxygen precious as his weight pressed against me. I couldn’t get him off me—couldn’t get enough leverage to get myself out of this. Bone-chilling fear screamed through me. Things couldn’t end like this.
A sparkle of rainbow-colored dust streaked through the air, and from my position on the floor I was aware of Quinn’s face screwed up in grim determination as she headed right for us.
“No!” I screamed.
But Quinn ignored me. She screeched to a halt right above Beckett and sprinkled him with shimmering black dust, one of the few weapons available to fairies and pixies with their diminutive size. Large boils rose on the vampire’s skin the moment the dust hit his skin.
His terrible face screwed up into a grimace. Quinn tried to streak away, but Beckett was too fast. He swatted at the pixie, striking her with the back of his hand. Quinn shrieked and tumbled away, a soft crunch the only sound when her body hit the wall. She didn’t move again.
A broken sob rose from my throat. Quinn’s sacrifice had gained me a precious moment.
I wouldn’t waste it. While Beckett slapped her dust away, I mustered up every single bit of power I had inside me.
My elbow sizzled and something inside snapped.
Heat roared down both arms, coalescing in cold blue fire.