25. Emily
25
EMILY
I ’d thought that lying on the sofa, slowly wasting away was the worst possible thing I could experience, but it turned out that seeing Alex had topped it. He didn’t care. He had stood there in the doorway, staring at me like I was a piece of furniture, not a woman he had touched. Had slept with. Had devoured.
Hot tears gathered beneath my eyelids, but I kept them closed in the darkness.
Hours had passed since he’d been here, and nothing had happened. It seemed like we were safe. For now.
Whatever magic Michael and Alex had done was keeping the peace, but I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would last.
Surely, two little barriers wouldn’t be enough to block powerful vampires. Michael had mentioned that he’d warded my apartment and that Alex had gotten past that ward. What if other vampires could do that too?
I inhaled through my nose, and my chest hurt. The curse was getting worse. It was more difficult to breathe now than it had been an hour ago, and while I wasn’t nauseated anymore, I was exhausted .
Keep it together. Mike’s going to figure it out.
He was in the room down the hall with Reginald Tailwag, working through the night. Several times he’d come out on his phone, talking to one of his contacts. Apparently, one of the other vampire hunters would be coming by tomorrow to make sure we were safe. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I wasn’t sure I wanted protection from new people. Not after Alex.
Morgan snored on the armchair, her head lolling.
She’d finally managed to drop off after we’d talked about more mundane things. Like work.
If only I could remember what was in that book.
A gentle tapping came, and I frowned, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness in Mike’s living room.
Morgan grunted in her sleep.
The tapping continued.
I pushed up and flopped down. Finally, I pushed up again and managed to press myself into a sitting position. My head swam, but I scanned the interior of the living room and the kitchen. The window to my right shed moonlight on the space.
And then …
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The noise had come from the window.
I peered at it, and my heart leaped into my throat.
A man wearing a cloak floated in mid-air outside the window. A long, pale finger reached out and tapped repeatedly on the window.
“Mike,” I croaked. “Mike!”
The door opened, and he strode into the hall. “What? What is it?”
“There’s a vampire in the window.”
He reached for his gun where it hung on his makeshift utility belt. He had other items on it. A cross, a stake, and what looked like cloves of garlic. He pointed the gun at the window and moved over to it.
Mike swept the curtains back, but there was no one there. No one was floating outside.
“I swear,” I said. “I swear there was someone there a second ago. A vampire. Maybe I dreamed it.”
“Maybe,” Mike said, then came over and patted my back. “It’s okay, Em. You’re going through it. I get it.”
“I—”
A thump came at the front door, and we both stiffened.
Michael aimed his gun at the door, just in case.
“They can’t get in here, right?” I whispered. “With the vampire magic, and the ward, and all of that?”
“No. They can’t get in here. We just have to ignore it, that’s all. Ignore it and try to sleep.”
“Emily.” The voice came from outside the front door. It was Alex. I’d recognize his voice anywhere, even though I didn’t want to now.
My shoulders sagged, and I released a heavy breath. “It’s just Alex.”
“Emily, we need to talk. I’ve discovered something I think you’ll be interested in.”
“Open the door, Mike,” I said.
“That’s not a good idea. It might be a trap,” Mike said.
“It can’t be a trap. It’s Alex.” I licked my dry lips. “I might not trust him anymore, but I know that he doesn’t want me dead, at least. He would have killed me otherwise. He had plenty of opportunities.”
Mike didn’t look as sure, but I ignored the stare from him and nodded toward the door.
“Fine.” Michael switched on the lights in the kitchen then opened the front door.
But there was no one there.
“What on earth?—?”
Reginald Tailwag trotted out of his room and sniffed around. He let out a growling bark, then darted for the open front door.
“Reggie, no!” Mike shouted, grasping for the dog’s collar.
But Reginald was too quick. He barreled into the hallway, and there was a small flash of … something I couldn’t quite understand.
“Shit!” Michael growled. “Reginald, get back here.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Michael patted his knees, and the Labrador ran back inside to join him.
“Mike?”
“He was the ward,” Michael said. “He was the key point for the ward, and now it’s broken because he crossed the barrier. It’s going to take me another hour to get that set up again, I?—”
“Good evening.” A vampire stepped in front of the door. A second joined him. Then a third.
They stood side by side, all of them hooded and cloaked, and the only way I knew they were vampires was from the power that emanated from them. A crimson light.
My heart pounded against the inside of my rib cage. “Mike,” I squeaked. “Mike.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, as Reginald released a volley of barks, tugging against Mike’s grip on his collar. “They can’t get through. Mine wasn’t the only ward, remember?”
Morgan jerked awake. “Wha—?” She blinked and peered around then spotted our “visitors”. “Oh God. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Hell no.”
The vampires removed their hoods as one, and I swallowed bile.
They looked exactly the same. Three handsome, blonde men with tan skin and blue eyes. Triplets, with piercings in their noses and ears and lips. Their gaze never left mine.
“Mike. Close the door.”
But Mike was too busy trying to keep Reginald under control.
“Mike!”
“I can’t get him to stop.” Mike dragged Reginald backward.
“Mike, please!”
Morgan got out of her chair and ran toward the door. She slammed it shut then locked it and backed away.
Mike managed to get Reginald back under control and guided him to the guest room. He shut him inside, swearing under his breath. “Just relax,” he said. “Everyone relax. They can’t get through to us.”
“Great,” Morgan said. “They can’t get through to us. Great. But what about us? Did either of you consider how the hell we’re going to survive in here? Without food? I mean, eventually it’s going to run out. What happens then? Huh?”
“You should have thought about that before you decided to stay. We told you to leave!” Mike yelled.
“Yeah, well, if you’d told me that there were bloodthirsty vampires hovering around, I might have thought twice about staying,” Morgan shrieked back.
“You wouldn’t have believed us if we’d told you. You?—”
“Shut up, guys,” I said. “Both of you shut up.” I sat back, trying to keep myself upright and the dizziness at bay. “It’s quiet.”
They fell silent.
It was intensely quiet. So quiet that there was no sound at all. Not the passing of cars in the street, or the distant honk of a horn, or movement in the apartment building, or the settling of the pipes, or a distant TV. All those sounds were gone.
“What the?—?”
The door blew open, slamming against the counter behind it.
Morgan shrieked and fell over the armchair.
Mike drew his gun.
The three vampires stood out in the hall as they had been before.
“I’m warning you,” Mike said, but his voice trembled. “Do not take a step over the threshold, or you’ll regret it. I am warning you.”
“Warning us?” The vampire on the left laughed. “As if you could do anything to us.”
And then he stepped across the threshold and burst into a literal ball of flames. The vampire screamed and howled, clutching at himself, and the other two yelled and hissed.
“Nathaniel!” the middle vampire screamed. “No!”
“A ward. A vampire ward,” the third vampire said. “It seems you had help.” He caught his brother and stopped him from entering the apartment. “Jeremiah, wait. Just wait.”
“They killed him,” Jeremiah spat. “They killed him. I’ll tear her limb from limb. I’ll?—”
“Patience, brother. Nathaniel’s sacrifice will not be forgotten.” There was a steely coldness about the speaker. As if the death of the first vampire hadn’t affected him at all, as if he had no emotion to give.
And that in itself was terrifying.
I tried to get up but failed.
“Stay where you are,” Mike shouted. “Just stay there. They can’t get in.”
“That’s where you’re mistaken,” the vampire said.
“Ezekial—”
“Silence.” Ezekial held up a hand and shut his eyes. Crimson light poured from his hands and spread over the doorway, pressing against Alex’s magic. “Ah, he was strong, your friend. Mr. Knight, is it? I can taste his magic. Strong but tainted. Interesting. Tainted by human touch.”
“Mike, shoot them. Shoot them!”
Mike popped each of the vampires in the forehead, and they recoiled slightly. Morgan had risen, and she started toward the door but stopped when the vampires returned.
“Werewolf venom?” Jeremiah growled. “You’ll pay for that.”
Ezekiel made a face, and the bullet itself fell from the hole in his forehead and dropped to the floor with a ping .
“I’m going to be sick.” Morgan ran off toward the bathroom.
“Leave,” Mike roared. “Leave this place or I’ll kill you.” He removed a stake from his belt and held it aloft.
Again, Ezekiel sent out his vampire magic, and this time, his brother stood in front of him to shield him. The crimson light spread over the doorway and ran into an invisible barrier, and then?—
A “pop” and Ezekial sighed. “Done. ”
And then both vampires stepped over the threshold and entered the apartment.
“No,” Mike shouted. “No, you can’t?—”
But the vampires didn’t need his permission. Jeremiah was on him in seconds, and Mike lashed out, using his gun and the stake, weaving back and forth expertly, quicker than any man I’d seen before. But he wasn’t quick enough, surely. Not quicker than a vampire.
I wanted to cry out, but I stopped myself for fear that it would distract him and?—
“Come with me, darling,” Ezekiel said, extending a hand. “You are so sweet and supple. So sickly. Come, let me take you back to the coven, and we will make you well again.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and I shivered.
The kind words were a lie.
I didn’t move, and the vampire bent and swept me into his steely arms. “Jeremiah, leave the toy.”
“Mike,” I screamed. “Mike, be careful!”
A hiss sounded, and Ezekiel spun around on the spot, just in time to witness Mike staking Jeremiah through the heart. The vampire burst into flames, and Mike stumbled, clutching at a bleeding wound on his side.
“Mike!” I screamed.
“If only I had time for you,” Ezekiel said. “You’ve taken both my brothers from me. I’m going to come back and take everything you love from you.” And then he swept toward the door, impossibly fast and down the hallway.
Mike’s shouts followed me, and I panicked, trying to fight my way out of the vampire’s arms, but it was like beating against rock. It was futile.
“Let me down,” I whispered. “Let me down.”
“I can’t do that, darling one. You will be coming with me.”
“Where are you taking me? ”
“To the place where you belong. A new home. You,” he said, as we fled into the night, his blue gaze fixed on the horizon, “are going to Sanguine Nox.”
I had no idea what it was, this Sanguine Nox, but the name filled me with fear from the tips of my toes to the top of my head.