Blood Law Page 16

  Varik struggled to keep his own rising anger at bay. “It was a psychic wound. She was reliving the death of one of the murder victims.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You were there when it happened. Ever since you showed up, Alex has had more trouble than help from you.”

  “Believe whatever you want, Stephen, but I’m telling you the truth when I say I’m only here to help.”

  Stephen clenched his fists and blood rose to color his face in bright pink splotches. “You’re here to finish what you started in Louisville. All you want is to—” He stopped abruptly, staring at Varik. His gaze danced over the bandages on Varik’s arm and neck, and then darted to Alex and back. “You son of a bitch,” he breathed. His eyes narrowed and he leapt across the bed, clearing it in a single graceful movement.

  A fist connected with Varik’s jaw and sent him tumbling over in the chair. Stephen’s weight crashed into him as he fell and knocked the air from his lungs.

  “You bound her—again!” A hail of fists punctuated each word. “You goddamned son of a bitch!”

  Varik gasped for breath as someone pried Stephen off him. Hands gripped his arms and waist, pulled him up from the floor, and helped him sit in the righted chair. He tasted blood, and his face and sides hurt, but sweet air once again flowed into his lungs. A warm trickle snaked down his neck from the now exposed bite and soaked into his shirt.

  Stephen continued to hurl curses and insults at him from across the room. Several members of the hospital’s staff blocked his path, and a couple of vampire orderlies restrained him, keeping him from lunging at Varik. “He bound her! She didn’t want it!”

  Varik touched his lip and flinched. His left arm hurt from trying to fend off the blows, and he tucked it close to his body. He could tell that a few of the stitches in his wrist had weakened and that the wound had begun bleeding again.

  Stephen had surprised him twice since his arrival, unacceptable for a former Hunter, and it was time to make good on his promise. He pushed himself out of the chair. “Let him go.”

  The two orderlies holding Stephen glanced at each other. One looked over his shoulder. “You sure about that, sir?”

  “Let him go,” he repeated. “No one intervenes this time.”

  “We can’t—” one nurse began.

  “That’s an order,” Varik said. He nodded to the vampires holding Stephen.

  The orderlies shared a look.

  One shrugged. “His funeral, man.”

  They released Stephen, and he charged forward.

  Varik sidestepped the rush. His uninjured hand gripped the younger vampire’s throat, stopping him in his tracks. Stephen’s eyes widened, and he clawed at Varik’s arm, drawing blood. He tried to speak but managed only a strangled gurgle.

  Movement caught Varik’s eye, and he looked at the staff who’d inched forward. He shook his head, and they backed away.

  Stephen gasped, and his struggles slowed.

  “I told you before, Stephen, you had your freebie.” His muscles tensed and bulged. He drew Stephen closer. “I said I wouldn’t be so charitable the next time.” His fingers tightened, slowly choking off Stephen’s air supply.

  “Varik.”

  Alex’s hoarse whisper echoed in both his ears and his mind. He looked down at her, met her dark green eyes as she reached for him. His anger evaporated. He shoved Stephen away and grabbed her outstretched hand. “I’m here, baby.”

  She swallowed visibly and winced. “Water.”

  Varik stepped over the prone and coughing Stephen, and grabbed a plastic pitcher filled with half-melted ice. He poured water into a small cup and slipped a straw into it. “Here,” he said, and sat on the side of the bed.

  Her hand closed over his while he held the cup and straw. She sipped the water and then nodded that she’d had enough.

  “How’re you feeling?” He set the cup down on a wheeled tray table.

  “Like shit.”

  “Well, you kind of look like shit.” He tried to smooth her hair back, but she blocked his hand.

  Her eyes never left his. “You okay, Stephen?”

  Stephen groaned and coughed from his position on the floor. “Just peachy.”

  “Alex, I—” Varik stopped when she held her finger over his mouth, mirroring his own gesture from earlier at the morgue.

  She looked past him to the knot of hospital staff near the door. “A little privacy, please?”

  They all looked to Varik, and he nodded. They turned as a group and filed out. “Holler if you need us,” one of the orderlies said, and pulled the door closed behind him.

  Varik met Alex’s gaze. His heart lurched at the cold hatred he saw reflected in her swirling eyes. “Alex—”

  “Don’t you dare speak to me.”

  “But—”

  She shoved him off the bed. “Shut up!”

  His foot slipped, and he landed on the floor beside Stephen. He hissed as his already bruised ribs protested the rough treatment. A warm coppery taste told him that his lip had ruptured again. Her words rang in his ears and echoed through his mind. He felt the wave of her emotions—anger, fear, betrayal—crash into him, and it left him gasping for breath.

  Her hands clawed at her temples. “I can hear you in my head. Feel your pain like it’s my own.”

  Sadness—her sadness—overwhelmed him. He pushed against the tide and managed a weak whisper. “It’s the blood-bond.”

  “I didn’t want it. You knew that! How could you do this to me?”

  Varik swallowed the lump in his throat. “It was the only way I could save you.”

  “I didn’t ask you to save me!”

  He watched as Stephen struggled to his feet and sat beside Alex, comforting her. He had to reason with her, make her see that he’d had no choice. “Will you please listen—”

  “Get out.” Her words were muffled against Stephen’s shoulder.

  Varik rose slowly, stiffly. “Alex—”

  “Get out!” She threw the plastic cup at him.

  Water splashed his face, and the cup bounced off his chest. He staggered under the weight of her anger. They both needed time to adjust and accept what’d happened. He’d back off and let her cool down for a while.

  He reached for the door, and Damian’s words drifted through his mind before he could stop them: You’ll have to take over the investigation.

  Alex gasped behind him.

  He looked over his shoulder at her stricken face.

  “You … bastard.”

  ten

  TASHA ENTERED THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND FLASHED her badge to the desk clerk. “Lieutenant Lockwood. I’m looking for Enforcer Alexandra Sabian.”

  The clerk pressed a button beneath her desk’s edge and a pair of metal doors opened with a loud buzz. “Down the hall, take a right, and listen for World War Three.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “They’ve been arguing for about half an hour now. Security tried to break it up, but after seeing three vampires ready to kill each other, security backed out and let them have the room.”

  Tasha hesitated but then made the decision to see it for herself. She followed the clerk’s instructions, and as soon as she rounded the corner, she heard Alex shouting and a loud crash. She cautiously opened the door.

  “You son of a bitch!” Alex roared, and threw a plastic pitcher at Varik, who was using a bedpan for a shield, as the two circled a gurney. “You planned this, didn’t you?” She threw a box of latex gloves at him. “Didn’t you!”

  “No, of course not.” Varik kicked the pitcher out of his way and ducked to avoid the sailing box that showered the room with gloves. “If you’d just let me explain.”

  “What’s with the ruckus?” Tasha asked, edging into the room to stand beside Stephen, who was watching the fray from the relative safety of a corner.

  “Varik’s kicking Alex to the curb.”

  “You arrogant asshole!” Alex threw a jar of cotton balls at Varik.

  He batted it with the bedpa
n and forced Tasha and Stephen to duck when it exploded against the wall next to them.

  “You used me!” Anger made Alex’s voice tremble. Monitors beeped wildly, reacting to her elevated pulse and heart rate. A broken IV line dripped onto the floor, creating a widened puddle under the bed.

  “No, I didn’t,” Varik countered. “You misunderstood—”

  “You said you were taking over.” Alex ripped the remaining IV tubing from her arm. “I heard you.”

  “Damian’s words, not mine.”

  “But you agree with him. Don’t try to deny it.” Her eyes narrowed, and she sneered. “I can sense it in you, Varik.”

  “Fine, I won’t”—he spread his arms wide—“but you should also know that I want you on the case. Damian ordered me to take over if it became apparent you couldn’t handle it anymore.”

  Stephen shook cotton balls from his curls and folded his arms over his chest. “Since when do you care about following orders?”

  “You stay out of this,” Varik snarled, using the bedpan as a pointer.

  “Or what? You’ll kill me?”

  “No. I don’t do that anymore.”

  “Oh, really? Then what do you call that little stunt of yours? Remember? When you had your hand around my throat!”

  “Self-defense.”

  Stephen lurched forward.

  “Knock it off!” Tasha grabbed his arm. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but fighting isn’t getting anyone anywhere.”

  “I’m not giving up the investigation,” Alex said hoarsely. She rubbed her chest and winced.

  Varik, across the room, flinched at the same time.

  Tasha’s gaze flickered between them. Something Alex had said gnawed at her. “What did you mean when you said you could ‘sense’ Varik’s agreement?”

  All three vampires noticeably tensed.

  “Does this have something to do with that blood-bond thing?”

  “How do you know about that?” Alex’s amber eyes darted from Tasha’s face to Stephen and narrowed. “You told her?”

  “She came to Crimson Swan asking questions about him,” Stephen said, pointing at Varik. “She said she didn’t trust him. I told her she shouldn’t, and yes, I told her about what he did to you.”

  Fury raged in Alex’s eyes. “You had no right, Stephen. No right!”

  “What was I supposed to do? Lie?”

  “I went to him, Alex,” Tasha said, feeling as though she needed to be on the defensive. “He didn’t want to tell me—”

  “But he did anyway, didn’t he?” Alex’s fists clenched tightly, and her body shook. She pinned Stephen with an icy glare. “I can’t believe my own brother would betray my trust.”

  “I was trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need your fucking protection.”

  “Obviously you do, since you allowed yourself to be blood-bound!”

  “Allowed myself? You think—”

  “He’s in your head. Messing with your mind or—”

  “I reestablished the bond!” Alex thumped her chest. Both she and Varik flinched in pain.

  “That’s just great! I get the breath choked out of me for defending your honor, when I could’ve saved myself the trouble had I known my sister was a goddamn whore!”

  Silence filled the room, drifting in on the wake of Stephen’s words. Tasha shifted her focus between the siblings until Stephen stepped forward, the knowledge that he’d crossed a line evident on his face.

  “Alex—”

  “Get out,” his sister growled.

  “Alex, please—”

  “Stephen”—her voice was a barely audible rasp—“you’re my brother. I love you, but if you don’t leave right now, I swear I’m going to rip your balls out through your eye sockets.”

  He stiffened. “You don’t mean that.”

  Alex charged him, and Tasha scurried to avoid being caught between them. The two vampires crashed into the door. It groaned from the force of their impact, and dust drifted from the ceiling tiles like a fine mist.

  Tasha remained motionless in the corner and watched as Varik tried to pry the siblings apart. Alex released Stephen, stalked to the opposite side of the room, and punched the cinder-block wall. Dust and brick chips flew into the air, and a fist-sized hole appeared.

  Alex stood in front of the hole with her back to the room, sucking in air and releasing it in harsh puffs.

  No one moved as the seconds ticked away. When Varik finally moved to Alex, Tasha joined Stephen. The expression on his face was unreadable. He met her gaze briefly before opening the door and leaving without a word.

  Tasha held the door open, watching him walk away. She looked to Alex and Varik. He saw her and jerked his head to the side, silently indicating that she should go as well.

  She left the room, closing the door softly behind her. She passed through the emergency-room waiting area and exited the hospital, seeing no signs of Stephen.

  Her cell phone rang as she opened her car’s door. “Lieutenant Lockwood,” she answered wearily.

  “Fire proceedeth out of their mouths and devoureth their enemies,” a distorted voice said.

  “Who is this?”

  “Judgment shall come to pass on those who spill the blood of God’s children.”

  “This is Lieutenant Tasha Lockwood of the Jefferson Police Department. Who—”

  “We know who you are, Lieutenant. We know where you live.”

  Fear uncoiled in her belly and wrapped around her spine. “What do you want?”

  “Cooperation. We’ll be in touch.” A series of clicks played in her ear, and then silence.

  Tasha checked the caller history, but the call registered as “unknown.” She hailed JPD’s dispatch operator on the radio. “Have someone pull the records on my cell phone, and I also want cars sent to two thirty-one Mimosa Street.”

  “Two thirty-one Mimosa?” the operator repeated. “Isn’t that your—”

  “Yes, damn it! That’s my house. Just get someone over there.”

  “Cars are on the way, ma’am.”

  Tasha tossed the radio mike aside. She felt sick. She flipped the switches to activate her lights and sirens, and sped from the hospital’s parking lot. One word repeated in her thoughts: “cooperation.” What the hell was that supposed to mean? Cooperate with what or with whom?

  As her car rocketed through the night, she tried to shake the fear loose from her spine, but it remained firmly lodged in place. She realized the madness that had thrown her life into chaos would never stop, not as long as she worked with vampires, and the first seeds of hate began to sprout in her heart.

  “Just put the stuff in the truck, Bill.” Harvey thumbed the ashes from his cigarette. “And quit your bitching.”

  They’d planned this for months. More vamps were coming to Jefferson every week, drawn by the blood bar. Not all of them stayed, but that didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that tonight would see the end of their invasion. Humans would regain their town and be able to live in peace once more. If only Bill would be quiet and load the truck.

  “Are we sure about this?” A sealed five-gallon bucket slipped from Bill’s grip and landed heavily on the tailgate of the truck. “Do we really want to—”

  “I told you to quit bitching.” Harvey ground the cigarette butt beneath his heel. “You had your chance to back out.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Shut up, Bill,” Martin Evans said from the bed of the truck. He slid the bucket into position with the others. “We all agreed we wanted the vamps out of Jefferson. Now’s our chance.”

  “I know, but this—” Bill shook his head. “What if somebody gets hurt?”

  “Goddamn it!” Harvey advanced on the smaller man. “They’re vamps, Bill. Bloodsuckers! They’re stealing our lives, our souls—”

  “Yeah, but what if there are humans in—”

  “They made their beds. I can’t help that.”

  “Harvey—”

&nb
sp; “Anyone siding with the vamps deserves the same fate.”

  “But—”

  “I’ve had enough of your bellyaching. You agreed to the plan.”

  “I know. It’s just—”

  Harvey poked the smaller man in the chest. “You showed up tonight, and you will go through with it, or so help me”—his hand rested on the butt of his pistol—“I will strike you down for the craven coward you are!”

  Bill paled. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me.” Harvey stepped back. “Now get back to work.”

  Bill dashed away.

  He glanced at the silent Martin. “That goes for you, too.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Harvey reached for the crumpled pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He licked his lips and inhaled the earthy scent of fresh tobacco. Fire erupted from the tip of the disposable lighter. He lit the cigarette, stared at the blue-and-yellow flame dancing over the silver metal of the lighter, and smiled. Tonight he’d send those damn vamps where they belonged.

  Straight to Hell.

  Varik opened Alex’s Crimson Swan apartment door and helped her over the threshold. The doctors in the emergency room had cleared her to go home, but she was still a little shaky. He was reluctant to leave her, despite her prior insistence that she would be all right on her own. At least she’d stopped being pissed at him and shifted her anger to Stephen.

  Alex tottered away from him by using the back of the leather sofa as a handrail. “Have a seat,” she said, assuaging his unspoken concerns. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She moved slowly as she passed through the bedroom area and disappeared into the bathroom.

  He heard the muffled sound of running water as he closed the front door and hung her keys on the hook next to it. Looking around the tiny apartment, he took in the ramshackle appearance and sighed. This was not the neat Alex-style environment he remembered.

  Clothing littered the floor and spilled from boxes, refugees from her water-damaged apartment. The dark-brown leather sofa divided the studio’s common space into two rooms. A folding table with two chairs served as the dining area between the living room and the small kitchen. A profusion of take-out menus clung to the refrigerator with magnets from various local businesses. A calendar that advertised a car-repair shop and featured landscape photos was tacked to a cabinet door.