CHAPTER 11

 

 

 

 

 

The mother of migraine headaches woke her. Even blinded by the pain, she realized she was lying on the cold, musty ground with her hands bound behind her. Nothing covered her mouth though, and for that she could be grateful. They’d also been too stupid to bind her ankles.

Jeez, she’d let those bumbling corpses get the better of her. Fear had her gulping like a goldfish out of its fishbowl. Unfortunately, she wasn’t getting much air into her lungs.

When the pain subsided enough to allow her to focus, she realized where she was—an old mausoleum. There were grooves in the dirt leading from the entrance, apparently where they’d dragged her in.

“You ghouls don’t give up, do you? Let’s see, we have five, six, seven…” She stopped counting when they all shuffled together into a group, making it difficult to distinguish one stinking corpse from another.

The worst part of it? She’d seen the group right before the attack. And she’d walked right into it. Why? Because she was stupid, hot-tempered, and aggressive, feeling like she needed to prove herself. She didn’t need Pike around to get her out of trouble or save her ass every time she walked into a bad situation. His lessons had been crap, anyway. She knew enough now to worm her way out of whatever distress befell her.

Thus, the ghouls. The mausoleum. And the gnawing fear that she was about to meet her end, despite her attempt at bravado.

Lavinia tugged at the ropes embedding themselves into her wrists, causing them to cut lines along her already chafed skin. Luckily, her desire to live was bigger than the pain.

“I know I’m like crack to you guys, but this needs to end.” She struggled against her binding. “I’m not always going to be available to tie up like a stuck pig.”

The lead ghoul laughed, the sound like wet laundry tumbling together. With a sentience that ghouls rarely possessed, he took her chin between two rotting fingers and jerked it up.

“Go on and take a bite,” she taunted with a glare. “I swear to God I am going to get out of here and wrench your head off your spine so hard your buddies will feel it.”

The ghoul snorted and released her.

She hadn’t exactly come up with a plan yet. A foolish whim had brought her to the graveyard in the first place, after the latest vision resounded off the walls of her skull until she was forced into action.

These ghouls were a nuisance and getting on her last nerve.

“Honestly, I’m kind of looking forward to murdering every last one of you. Although you’re already dead, so I guess it doesn’t count as murder. You’re just a bunch of necromancer rejects.”

One of the ghouls snarled and an odorous wash of putrid breath spilled over her. She grimaced at the smell, using it to fuel her anger. The trembling in fear would have to wait.

“He couldn’t even stick around long enough to give you all a change of clothes. What did you die of? A fashion police firing squad?”

That last crack earned her a slap across the face. She blinked at the bright flash of pain and stars floating across her vision. Wow, those dead hands could hit hard. So hard her world went black for a number of seconds. Remnants of dead flesh the color of a rotten honeydew melon clung to her skin, and when she shook her head, a sliver of finger bone dropped off onto the ground.

Good enough. It had to be good enough.

Her cheek throbbed as she rolled to her side, moaning. The ropes limited her movement but the slap gave her enough cover to shuffle and grab the finger fragment. It was slippery to the touch, gag-worthy. She swallowed a heave and felt bile rise in her throat. It was her only chance to slip the ropes.

“Wow, you guys might be dead, but I think you must have been abusive in a previous life. You like beating up a defenseless woman. One whose only crime is smelling good!”

It was slow going, using the decomposing bone to slice through the ropes. Luckily, ghouls weren’t smart enough to master the art of knots. This one slipped once she managed to cut through several of the strands.

The stomping of feet caught her attention, followed by the soft whispering grunts of the ghouls. Her wrists released with a hiss and, though her heart hammered in her chest, Lavinia jumped to her feet. Adrenaline surged through her blood in a red wave of electricity. With a screech, she bounded on the closest ghoul and wrapped her legs around his waist.

She saw the future clearly in her head. There was no static. No sense of confusion. The scene played out in bright color, a scene where she saw herself as the hero. She knew what she had to do. Every move she had to make between now and then. The knowledge settled deep below her ribcage.

A fierce smile split her face. “You are not going to control my life!” The demand was accompanied by a satisfying wrench as she snapped his vertebrae. “Do you understand?”

The second the corpse fell, her heel dug into its shoulder, the body decomposing in a hailstorm of sand. The other ghouls looked up, their decaying retinas focusing in on her. Although a slight sheen of sweat dotted her forehead, Lavinia felt pumped. And furious. She swiped a hand across her brow and gestured for the rest of them to come on.

It took little effort to jab her elbow into the throat of the closest ghoul, almost taking his head off in the process. The momentum carried her onto the next one. Her boot came up with a roundhouse kick to the third ghoul, sending him flying into the wall.

It wasn’t her superior strength that decapitated the next one. Or even the next. Lavinia did not consider herself particularly athletic or strong. Hell, she was barely able to wrench the cap off a bottle without assistance. This was to prove a point. She didn’t need a man to take care of her, and she definitely didn’t need Pike. She hoped the bastard starved.

“You assholes!” she screamed. A lunge brought her fist into contact with another ghoul. But an attack from behind to the backs of her knees had her knocked down hard on her tailbone. Though another slash of agony coursed through her, it didn’t stop the adrenaline. She sucked in a breath, rolled the pain into a little ball she could ignore, and bounded to her feet. Closed her eyes. Fought, knowing she would win.

The next few minutes passed in a blur until the vision in her head merged with the reality in front of her eyes. At last she’d seen something real, something true. Later, when she was able to think, she would remember the moment and wonder what had happened. Why her gift chose now to work for her.

Her throat was hoarse from yelling but she didn’t stop.

Until a hand caught her wrist mid-swing. A warm hand. A hand not attached to a ghoul.

“When are you ever going to learn?”

The next breath filled her body with relief so strong it tingled on the back of her tongue. Accompanied by regret. Desire. Too many emotions to put into words. She swung wildly and was unsurprised when his free hand closed around her fist.

“Enough, Lavinia.” The grim finality of his voice softened when their skin made contact. “It’s done.”

A phenomenal heat surged through his fingers and into her body, amplifying her already racing pulse and electrifying her blood. “Pike.” His name came out as half sob, sticking in her chest. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple.

She should have been proud to elude certain death. Maybe not certain death, but enough of a blow to the nervous system to have Pike wiping away the tears that finally sprang free. He released her abruptly and she lost her balance, staggering away. Ghoul ash and grime were soaked into her shirt. A large rent along the shoulder had the fabric hanging loose over her right arm.

She swallowed, staring at the damage and wondering, always wondering, how he’d managed to find her.

“Are you hurt?” he asked. He sounded weird. Preoccupied.

When she finally looked up at him, a muscle in his jaw tightened to the point she thought it would snap. “No.” It came out as a trembling whisper of sound. Luckily, the vampire had a keen sense of hearing.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

She fell back two more steps. Pike followed with arms outstretched, palms reaching for her. God, she wanted him to touch her. Wanted it more than… “I don’t need your help,” she grumbled.

His deep voice thrummed with agitation. “No, I can see that. By the time I followed your scent, you were three ghouls deep. I took care of the rest. I called out to you but you never answered. What’s going on?”

“I could have handled it,” she insisted.

“So I see. So you proved.”

“You should have left them all to me.” She swung around in a circle, not knowing what to do with her legs. Then skidded to a halt. “You have no business being here.”

“I should have left you alone, is what you mean.”

“Yes, leave me alone.”

He continued to watch her. “Sorry. I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Can’t find anyone else to dupe? You’re looking a little gaunt around the edges. Are those ribs I feel?” She jabbed at him.

“I deserve that” Pike’s spine straightened, as straight and rigid as a steel beam. “I deserve everything.”

“Ha. You have obviously been following me, but you really need to get over it. You said you’d never apologize, that day in your kitchen. So there’s nothing more to say.”

He grunted in response. Typical Pike.

Lavinia sighed and purposely lengthened her stride as she left the mausoleum and struck out across the cemetery. Her patience with the whole mess was wearing thin. Had she ever had the patience to begin with? She must have, to spin on the merry-go-round with him for the last two years. No apology in the world would be enough to have him crawling back onto her good side.

His longer legs ate up the distance between them soon enough. “Lavinia, wait.”

“How did you find me?”

“I told you. I followed your scent. It was easy. You have corpse on your face.”

She rolled her eyes and gave him her best I’m-going-to-punch-your-lights-out look. “What else is new. Silly me for thinking one shower a day was sufficient. Now go away.”

His nostrils flared. “Be mad at me if you want. I deserve it.”

She stopped. “Why are you suddenly changing your tune?”

“Maybe I had a long talk with a few people.”

“Come up with anything good?”

“A few good things,” he said. “A few bad. The other ladies are history.”

“Then I must have been right about the ribs. Who knew missing a few meals would be enough to have you resembling a stick figure.”

“Actually, I haven’t had the need to feed. For which I thank you,” he said as he stood with his hands behind him, a hint of hesitation in his voice and manner. His usual arrogance was nowhere in evidence. And somehow that shot her nerves straight to hell.

“You mean you’ve been feeding off my love for you even though we haven’t seen each other? I’m better than I thought, then. If it was me.”

“It was you,” he insisted. “All of it. I’ve been so fucking blind, Lavinia.”

“If this is your way of apologizing, you are about three years too late. These are things you should have told me when we first met. Not when I’m ass-deep in loving you.” Memories flashed through her mind, the feeling of strong arms coming around her waist and drawing her to the bed. The cool evening breeze on her over-heated skin. The crack in her heart from his deception.

“Or this could just be more of your seductive lies. Which is it? Never mind, I don’t really want to know. I’m fine without you,” she continued. “I’ve got a long life ahead of me.”

“I know. I want to be part of it.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

“This isn’t a joke, love. I’m being honest.”

“Yeah? That’s a stretch for you.”

“Look.” He raised his fingertips to her face and slowly pushed the hair away from her eyes. “I’ve lived for centuries on love and lies. It’s all I was taught since I was made. I didn’t realize there was any other way. Might I insist, however, there might not have been any other way? Until you were made.”

“Until I was made,” she repeated. “Sure.” A combination of distrust and denial took her breath and she stood there, wondering at his end game. If he tried to win her back now, would his meal double? Was the love from a heart healed by forgiveness enough to last him months? Years?

She would be okay either way. Whether he told her exactly what she wanted to hear or made the final exit from her life, she would be okay. She would continue to love him, but she would be okay. Except that her desire for happily ever after made that more than likely impossible.

“There’s no one like you in this vast world. Believe me, I know. I’ve looked. I would still be playing, cheating, and scrapping around for meals. Then you found me.”

Something was going on. Call it her woman’s intuition, but Lavinia knew something was happening. “I shouldn’t have gone searching for you that first night.”

“Searching for trouble, more like. I am nothing but trouble. I’m yours, however. If you’ll have me.”

She glanced down to the ground and her feet instead of looking at him. “You’re just saying that because you don’t think you can live without me.”

“Love, I can’t live without you,” he said softly, and her heart rate doubled, “truly. However, that’s not the only reason why I want to be with you.” His thumbs stroked away her tears before gathering her against his chest. “I knew you were in trouble tonight. I was terrified I wouldn’t reach you in time.”

“You did.”

“Yes. But if I’d been a second too late—”

“Then you know I would have had it covered,” she finished for him. Relief flooded her nervous system so completely she thought she would slide down to the ground. Would have if Pike hadn’t held her up.

She felt his smile against the top of her head. “Exactly.”

“You know, I could really use a shower. I’m covered in grime. Grime and ghoul. It was a hell of a fight.”

His fingers trailed along the dip of her waist. “You’re sexy when you’re filthy.”

“Do you mind if we go back to your place?” she asked.

“Depends. How long are you planning on staying?”

“That’s up to you.”

“How about the rest of forever?” This time there was nothing but interest in his question. “I find I quite like you with me.”

It was enough to melt her insides into a puddle of goo. “You sure do know all the right moves.”

“After the mistakes I made with you? I like to think I learned a thing or two along the way. Oh, my love. You look peaked. I think you need mouth-to-mouth.”

Lavinia swallowed, her body shaking with the effort it took to stand next to him. Warmth surged beneath her heart. “You don’t say.”

“Hold on tight.” Pike leaned forward and drew her lips up to meet his.

She held her index and middle fingers up between them, stilling the movement. “Wait. What about my mom?”

He sighed. “What about her?”

“You can’t just expect me to ride off into the sunset with you and forget about her. I have responsibilities. People who need me. I’m all for a good romantic fairy-tale ending, but I need to think about the facts. She can’t be left on her own and I refuse to put her in a home.”

Ah, love.” His laugh rumbled in his chest. “I wouldn’t dream of whisking you away without her. Have I mentioned I’m independently wealthy?”

Her smile was wry. “Of course you are. Beyond the little mishap with the rat shifters?”

“Semantics.” His arm curled around her waist. “You’ll still need to practice your techniques. There are many creatures in this world. You’re not prepared for all of them.”

“Just please tell me there will be no more succubuses in our future.”

“Succubi.”

“What?”

“The plural of succubus is succubi.”

“Whatever. No other women period,” she insisted. “Got it?”

“You’re the only woman I plan on having in my bed. For the rest of eternity.”

“Good.”

This time, she didn’t stop him when he stooped low for a kiss.

She felt his lips brush across her mouth, and she knew. No vision, just a knowing that went as deep as her soul.

Life would never be the same.

 

 

THE END