CHAPTER SIX
In reflex, she fell into battle stance with legs spread, her muscles loose and ready, and her eyes fixed on the enemy. She was no match for the oversized thug so she had to think fast, had to act fast.
He launched himself at her, slicing the air with his right hand. She dropped to the floor a second before he would have made impact. The high swooshing sound of his talons slashing the air where she’d been was the last sign she needed that Nick wasn’t pretending. If he could, he would kill her. Slice her to bits and watch as she bled to death.
She kicked out as hard as she could, connecting the heel of her boot with his right knee and winning a surprised cry of pain from him. The already injured leg wobbled, but he didn’t go down.
She rolled toward him and made a grab for the blade embedded in the flesh above his knee. She got close, reaching out with the tips of her fingers, then all at once, blunt pain had her curling in on herself.
The beast had kicked her in the stomach. The pain jarred, was nearly too much to bear. She couldn’t scream because the air had been driven out of her with such force all she could manage was a weak intake of breath. Without her enhancements, the blow would have killed her. As it was, she fell back, clutching her injured abdomen with one arm.
He lifted his foot a second time, no doubt to kick her again. She tried to move away, but the small space was too constricted. There was no place to retreat, no way to get away from him.
Keening and mad with blood lust, he brought his foot down. The pain of this second blow washed over her. She thought she heard her forearm break, and possibly a few ribs. She cried out at the pain.
Before she could catch her breath, he fell on her. There was the sting of his claws along the side of his face. She cried out again when he dragged the talons over her breasts. The pain of it was nearly too much. He was too strong and too fast. He countered every move she made before she had a chance to hurt him. But he didn’t kill her, though he could have done it quickly. Instead, he dragged the torture out.
He wanted her to suffer.
With one hand, he lifted her by the throat, spun toward the aisle and tossed her as though she were a rag doll. She landed hard on her back in the center of the cellar. The air erupted out of her lungs. She’d long since lost the wine bottle, hadn’t even had a chance to use it.
Then he was on her again, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her to her feet.
“Gaia will be devastated by your loss,” he said, laughing manically.
Gaia? What did Gaia have to do with anything?
“Her little apprentice,” he went on. As he spoke, he spun her to face him. “I’ll tell her you went to the vampires, told them of the mission and caused the death of four Talhari. She’ll be heartbroken.”
When his hands closed around her throat and he began to squeeze, she was almost glad. He was going to blame the failure of the mission on her, not the fact that Umberto already knew who and what they were. Gaia would be devastated. Gaia was like the mother Bleu had never had, and Gaia would never forgive herself for training a traitor.
“How does it feel to know you’re going to die, Bleu?”
Gaia would believe Nick because she’d have no choice but to believe him. Bleu wouldn’t be around to tell her the truth.
“Nothing to say?” he taunted. “All choked up?”
Darkness played at the edge of her vision. She gritted her teeth against it, fought to remain conscious.
“Die!”
She wouldn’t die, she couldn’t let things end this way.
With the last of her energy, she brought her foot down on the knife in his leg.
He cried out and reared back. To her surprise, his grip loosened enough for her to squirm free. She dropped to one knee and tugged the blade free of his leg. With a high-pitched scream she drove it into his gut and twisted.
Black sludge spilled from the wound, but she knew it wasn’t enough. She pulled the blade free and drove it home a second time.
Nick howled, spun on his heels and disappeared into the aisle.
Had he moved off to another area of the wine cellar to lie in wait for her? She decided she didn’t care. At least not enough to remain where she was. She had him on the run and couldn’t back down now.
When she stepped in front of the first the aisle and heard a voice tell her not to move, she froze.
“Umberto?” she stage whispered, turning to face the voice.
He was there; eyes flashing red and teeth bared.
The creature reappeared, leaping forward and smashing an arm down on Umberto’s shoulder just as Umberto was spinning to the right.
Though Umberto stumbled, the blow didn’t do much damage. Without losing his momentum, he whipped around and attacked the Nick thing. Umberto slammed the back of his hand into the side of the creature’s face. The beast sailed across the room, tumbling head over heels and landing in a heap on the floor.
Before he could move, Umberto was on him again.
Low grunts of rage and wails of pain rose from the pair. Bleu realized that though the creature was larger than Umberto, he was no match for him. Umberto was an old vampire, much stronger and faster than Nick, even now. Already Nick’s beastly face had been crushed beyond recognition. Black sludge oozed from various rents in his flesh.
The thing was hurt, battered, and possibly as close to dying as it could get.
A loud crackling rose from the floor, surprising her. She knew Umberto had broken Nick’s neck before she looked down at Nick’s battered and bleeding body. He wasn’t moving anymore.
Umberto got to his feet. “I have to get him upstairs.”
She moved forward to help him, crouched and took it by the shoulder with her good arm. She noticed the fur was grimy with sludge a second before she fell backward onto her butt and groaned. Her abdomen burned with pain and her forearm felt like it was on fire.
Umberto looked up. For a moment, he was motionless, then he came forward. “You’re hurt.”
“A bit.”
“Where?”
“My arm is broken, and I think a few ribs, and he cut me up pretty good.”
He eased closer, then began to feel her for injury. He prodded her stomach, winning a fresh groan from her, and gently touched her ribs. “Three broken,” he muttered, speaking almost to himself. “Your face, your breasts, your shoulder.” He exhaled. “Your right arm, he did more than cut you up some.”
“I tried to defend myself but he—” She paused, nearly whimpering when he touched the slash along her face. “he wanted me dead and he wanted to do it with as much pain as possible. I think he’s wanted me dead from day one.”
“Why did he want you dead?” As he spoke, he bit into his hand and let blood pool in his palm.
“I don’t know. What I think is that it has something to do with my mentor, Gaia Knight. He kept talking about her, saying he would tell her that I’d betrayed the Talhari—what are you doing?”
He’d lifted his hand to her face and began smearing blood on her cheek. “My blood will help you heal.”
“I’ll heal anyway.”
“This will make you heal faster.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but already she could feel the tingle of regeneration on her face where he’d tended. Seconds after he’d seen to the cuts on her arm, it too began to tingle.
“I can’t do anything about the broken bones yet,” he was saying, then stopped speaking. He looked over his shoulder and frowned. “He’s waking up. I have to get him upstairs. Can you walk or do you want to wait down here for me to come back and get you?”
Hell no, she wasn’t spending another minute in the cellar if she didn’t have to. “I’ll be okay.” Nick’s legs twitched. “Just hurry up and take care of Nick. I’ll be right behind you.”
Umberto bent and hiked the body over his shoulder. “It’s not dead yet. We have to burn the body.”
“You don’t need my help carrying him?”
He stood, regarded her with one brow quirked, then shaking his head, turned and started for the stairs. “The rest are dead and burned. He’s the last one.”
Though it took her a few seconds, she stood and started forward, trying her best to ignore the pain burning in her stomach. “Why the fire?”
“So he doesn’t come back.”
She followed across the dusty floor and up the cellar stairs at a limp. “It’s the only way to be sure,” she said, half to herself. Gaia had drilled the importance of burning the enemy after a kill. It was disconcerting to hear the same tactic being employed on someone she had known.
“Are you all right?” Umberto asked.
Nick was nearly dead and she was alive. “Yeah,” she said, making her way up the stairs. “I think I am.”