Chapter 25 #2
“Get the fuck over yourself,” I spit, feeling the fire in my fingertips. I twist my hands and dig my nails into the flesh on top of his hands.
He turns to the vampire behind him. “Hold her down. I wanna taste.”
“We’re not supposed to,” the other says through gritted fangs.
“Just one won’t hurt. She’s a malefica.” He licks his lips, salivating at the thought. With a sneer, he turns back to me. “I haven’t tasted a witch in half a century. I thought you all died out. What a lucky day for me.”
With no hesitation, he opens his mouth and brings his teeth down onto my neck. His fangs sink in, slicing open my flesh. He bites down hard, and my skin crunches under his teeth as it tears open. Pain radiates down my neck and I scream.
He moves on top of me, pinning me down with his body weight, and sucks at my neck for a second before taking his mouth off to lick the drips. Then he brings it back and sucks hard, pulling my blood out.
“Get off me!” I shout, doing everything I can to fight him, but he’s too strong.
He takes another mouthful of blood and turns to the vampire behind him. “There are other juicy veins. I’ll even let you take my favorite.”
“If I get my mouth that close to her pussy, there’s no way I’m stopping at just drinking blood. Move over.”
“No,” I cry when the other vamp closes in. “Get off me!” Suddenly, fire encases my hand and lights up the room. It takes both vamps off guard, giving me the half-second I need to yank one hand free from the grasp of the one holding me.
I go to press my hand into the face of the one who bit me , but he stops me, grabbing my wrist again. Though this time, he gets burned.
“What the fuck?” He recoils, cradling his hand, which looks like he just stuck it in a roaring fire—and held it there for several seconds. Scrambling up, I bring my left hand to my neck, holding it over the bite wound, and keep my right up in front of me. Neither vampire moves.
I can feel the energy leaving my body. Magic is as draining as the rapid loss of blood. I can’t hold onto this fire much longer. My heart races and the faster it beats the more blood drips from my wound.
“Fucking witches,” the other vampire sneers, and lunges for me. I hold my hand out and get him in the chest. His shirt catches fire and he madly flails at his chest to put it out. A handprint sears through the fabric and onto his skin. He looks down at it, then back at me, seething.
I back-step. I need to get into the living room and grab another wooden stake. Hell, I’ll throw the bowl of holy water at them if I have to. Stars spot my vision. Shit. My hand shakes, giving me a warning the flames are about to go out.
Turning, I sprint past the sitting room and into the living room, hoping to lose the vampires in the house if they were to follow me. I grab two wooden stakes and whirl around, expecting them to jump at me from behind.
But they don’t, and the house is silent. I’m panting, and when I bring my hand away from my neck, I see just how badly I’m bleeding. People are full of a startling amount of blood, and you can lose quite a bit before it becomes life-threatening.
The back door opens and slams shut, and the sound of heavy footfalls echoes through the kitchen.
Shit. There are more of them. The magical fire has gone out now and my fingers prickle like my hand has fallen asleep.
I plunge my hands in the holy water and splash more on my neck.
It burns in the open wound. Not having time for pain, I inch out of the living room.
One lifeless vampire is left in the foyer. The front door has been shut but not locked. The other two are still in the house. They wouldn’t have shut the door if they’d gone out. Voices echo through the house. I turn my head to listen, picking up on three new male voices.
That makes five vampires. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. I’ll get out of this. Somehow.
With a stake in each hand, I silently move up the stairs to use the balcony as a vantage point. There might be two injured vampires upstairs. There are for sure three uninjured vampires in the kitchen. I’ll take my chances upstairs.
Pausing on the landing, I hear the others.
“Fucking witch. Look at what that cunt did.”
They’re all downstairs. All five.
Five.
I slip into the master bedroom and shut the door as quietly as possible. I lean against it, tears filling my eyes. Exhaustion is hitting me hard. I shouldn’t have used magic, but what other choice did I have?
“Hello, Acelina.”
The voice in the dark makes me jump. I grip the stakes tighter in my hand, heart racing.
The pretty blonde woman I saw in the car earlier saunters out of the shadows.
She’s still wearing the hat but has lost the glasses.
Her tight black dress hugs every curve of her body perfectly, and she carries herself with grace in her five-inch heels.
There’s no denying her beauty. One look at her is enough to make you fall in love with her or want to be her. Big, baby-blue eyes are perfectly lined in black, and her red lipstick is perfect. I’d hate her even if she wasn’t a vampire.
She closes a book, setting it on the dresser. It’s the grimoire. Relief washes over me. It’s here in the house. It hasn’t been lost forever.
“You’re the sire,” I say, straightening my back.
“Weren’t expecting a woman?” She clicks her tongue. “Such a shame, Ace. You seem like such a progressive female, with you being one of the few in your line of work and all.”
“It makes sense now. You obviously have a fetish for guys with brown hair.”
“I do,” she says with a smile. Unlike the others, only two of her fangs show, making her look a lot like a sexy TV vampire.
I hate her even more.
“Though I don’t think it’s fair for you to judge.
It seems you have quite the fetish of your own.
” She inhales, eyes fluttering closed. “Mhhh,” she breathes, as if she just smelled freshly baked cookies.
“It smells like sex in here. Two—no, three different men? A girl after my own heart. Too bad I have to rip yours right out of your chest.”
“You can try,” I retort.
She makes a face. “Actually, I’d rather not. I just got my nails done.” She looks at her long, pointed nails. They’re painted black and have clusters of jewels on each one. “Oh, boys! She’s up here!”
“You’re making them do your dirty work?”
She shrugs. “That’s why they’re here, darling.”
“So you’re like the female Charles Manson of the vampire world.”
Her full lips curve into a smile. “I like that. Maybe I’ll use it as a catch phrase.”
“Catch phrases won’t work when you’re dead.”
“Too bad for you, then.” She yawns, acting bored, and moves to the mirror to check her hair.
“I saw you. During the day.”
She lets out a high-pitched and girly laugh. “Don’t trust everything you read on the internet.” She shakes her head. “You really are dumb, aren’t you?”
“But sunlight…” I blink. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is killing this bitch.
With a sigh, she turns back to me. “I might as well tell you. You’re going to be dead soon and dying with this knowledge in your little brain will be like salt on the wound.
” Her lips curve into a smile. “We learn to tolerate sunlight in small doses. Not direct light, but cloudy days like today are as good as twilight for us older vamps. Remember that as I drain the life out of you. Everyone you hold dear…everyone you care about…they’re not safe at night or on days like today.
Which seems to be most days around here. ”
I swallow hard. “So the nurse at the free clinic is a vampire,” I think out loud. This is bad. Really fucking bad.
She laughs again. “That idiot? No. Well, not yet. He doesn’t fuck well enough for me to want him around forever.” She turns back to the mirror. “I suppose he has time to learn. And I am a good teacher.”
I look her up and down, weighing my options.
Jacques told me the older a vampire is, the more powerful they are.
And not just physically. Some have abilities and can kill you without even touching you.
This woman has sired an army and has her back turned.
She knows I’m not a threat, not in the state I’m in.
Keeping the stakes out in front of me, I circle around the room, going to the window. It’s my only way out. I can’t fight five vampires, but I might be able to get out and get away long enough to figure out how to recharge my magical batteries.
And we’re closing in on sunset.
Never in my life have I admitted to needing someone. I’ve appreciated help. I’ve allowed them to ease the burden of something I’m more than capable of doing alone. But right now, I know in my heart I need them.
And they need me.
I reach behind me, feeling for the lock.
I flip it and slide the window open. I’m halfway out when the bedroom door opens.
My eyes widen in terror and I bring my arm back, chucking one of the stakes at the first vampire to enter the room.
It hits him in the arm, tearing open his flesh.
He yells and clamps his hand over the wound.
“What are you waiting for!” Vampire Barbie shouts to the others. “Kill her!”
I back up and topple out the window. My head throbs, and more blood drips down my neck. Clambering away, I look through the fog and see the outline of Jacques’s wings.
He’s still frozen in stone.
I get up onto my feet and hold the stake out in front of me. I’m fighting with myself not to get dizzy from blood loss. A vampire comes through the window, his tall frame rising in the fog. I recognize him as the one I burned back at the bar. His wounds haven’t healed.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he says with a sneer.
“A long time? It’s been days, buddy. You’re immortal. You need a better sense of time.”
He throws his head back, laughing. I keep walking backwards, away from him.
Come on, guys. Wake up. Another vampire comes out onto the roof.
And another. And another, until they’re all standing there, watching me.
My heart is beating so fast it hurts. I’m cornered.
I squeeze my eyes shut, screaming at Jacques to wake up.
I feel something pass through me, and suddenly I can’t breathe.
Everything has been taken from me, and it’s all I can do to stay on my feet.
“I’m disappointed, Ace,” Vampire Barbie says. The others part way for her, looking at her as if she’s a goddess. “As soon as we got your scent, we knew it was you who killed my babies. And the magic you pulled at the club…bravo. And this is how it ends? It’s so anticlimactic.”
Little pebbles crumble from the roof onto the sidewalk below. My eyes flutter as I fight to stay conscious. I shuffle back. “Just wait,” I mumble, and my vision fades and I fall back, disappearing into the fog below.