Blood Dark (37 page)

C
aitlin thrust
back against Rob only to have him slam her harder against the wall, his thighs pressed against hers to hold her steady.

She bit into her bottom lip with the impact. She’d been trained to take down bigger and stronger than her ex, but he was unmovable. And now she knew why.

‘Go steady, my darling,’ he said, ‘I don’t know my own strength lately, and you’re too precious to hurt just yet.’

He yanked her from the wall and wrapped both arms around her as he carried her further down the alley towards the open corrugated door.

‘The rabbit is snared,’ she heard him say, no doubt into an earpiece. ‘Get a vehicle over on West Street. I’m heading through.’

As he carried her into the abandoned building and across the room, she lashed the heels of her boots against his calves, against his thighs, frustrated at the lack of impact.

But as he reached the door, she swung her legs forward, snagging it and slamming it shut.

The second he was forced to free one hand to reach for the handle, she did the same, and rammed her elbow back into his jaw.

She stunned him enough to unravel from his grip so that he only had a hold on her wrist. Getting behind him, she slammed her foot hard into the back of his knee, enough to make him buckle, to nearly lose his balance. From sheer reflex, he let her wrist go. As he turned around, she swung a high swivel kick, catching him hard in the side of the head.

It threw him off balance, Rob falling back against the door.

She lifted her leg in a sidekick to knock him out cold, but he caught her ankle and shoved, Caitlin losing her footing.

Her palms hit the floor before her face did, giving her the perfect position to spark into sprint.

She bounded across the room, bursting back out into the alley. She took a left and then a right, running in the opposite direction to West Street, leading him away from his support.

She nimbly cleared obstacles whilst Rob merely ploughed through them. Taking another left and then another right, she scaled the wall ahead, landing on all fours on the other side before picking up speed again.

She’d always outrun him. Always. Even back when she used to talk about joining the VCU, when she used to join him on his training sessions, she’d always held her own on his training grounds. He’d won hands down in strength and speed but, in agility, he’d lagged behind. He’d never been a match for her on the assault courses.

That was then though.

Now Rob was hot on her heels, ploughing through as much as she was hightailing over.

And when he finally caught her again, he caught her with a ferocity that knocked the breath out of her as he spun her and shoved her through the first available door into the derelict house. She hit the ground backwards, her head cracking against the splintered wood.

Fuelled by adrenaline, she struggled to her feet only to have him grab her by her jacket and slam her forward over the kitchen countertop.

She shoved her foot backwards, catching him in the shins and then the kneecap, thrust her elbow into his side, before smacking her knuckles back against his temple.

She slipped out from the gap her retaliation had created before spinning to face him as he squared-up to her again.

‘Come on, Caitlin,’ he said, his eyes colder than she’d ever seen them, his pupils unnervingly dilated. There was something different about his expression – something upsettingly primal. Whoever was stood in front her was no longer the Rob she knew. Whatever was now behind his eyes had sapped any sense of soul from them. ‘You can’t win this one. Play ball because, one way or another, you’re coming with me.’

‘As bait for Kane? I don’t think so. I
know
what Sirius is planning. He couldn’t get me to bring him in so now I’m nothing but hung meat.’

‘So what are you going to do, Caitlin? Keep fighting me until you exhaust yourself?’

Caitlin took another wary step back as he took a step towards her. She narrowed her eyes on him. ‘I know what you did to Tamara, Rob.’

He smiled.

And it grated through every inch of her.

‘She was another one who couldn’t do what she was told,’ Rob remarked. ‘Just like Arana. But if you put that clever head of yours on, Caitlin, you’ll learn from their mistakes.’

‘How did I ever love you? How did I share a bed with you?’

‘As opposed to your vampire lover?’

‘Oh, you’re in a whole different league,’ she said. ‘Kane would
never
do what you’ve done. Even when he hated me, even when he had every reason, he still couldn’t bring himself to do to me what you did to her. That’s the difference.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. I think we can bring it out of him when he finds you strapped to the post in the same warehouse where we took Arana. When his wolfy friend Jask is unleashed on you. He wanted poetic justice by setting the soul ripper on me? Well, I know all about poetry.’

Fury coursed through her. ‘You’d do that to
me?’

‘You’ve left Sirius with no choice. That’s what you get, Caitlin, for choosing Kane over every innocent here you were being paid to protect. Your father will be turning in his grave – your mother too. When I think how hard he fought to protect you, to stand up for what was right. He was like a father to me and
still
you dare to sully his name.’

‘You all did that for yourselves.’

‘No,
you
did it the second you laid eyes on Kane. I hope it was worth it because so many are going to pay for your mistake. You sided with the wrong team, Caitlin. Blackthorn’s going down and you’re going down with it. Before you know it, this place is going to be under martial law with all the rights we need to defend the safety of the residents of Midtown and Summerton.’

‘That’s the story, is it?’

‘That’s a fact. And I’m going to lead it.’

‘But you
still
need me to draw him out, don’t you? Do you think I’m going to let that happen?’

‘You don’t have a choice.’

But she did.

And she would do what she had to if she had no other alternative.

She would die before she let them do that to Kane.

She turned on her heels and ran, bursting through the back door. She fell to her knees in the courtyard before bursting out through the gate and into another alley.

Rob was soon behind her but she ran with all she was worth, clearing the debris laying in her way.

She felt a blow to the small of her back, it winding her and sending her to her knees again.

She looked up as Rob circled her.

She forced herself onto her feet again but his moves were fast and accurate, his strike to her face, her chest, followed by his sharp kick to her knee, sending her to the floor again.

She spat the blood from her mouth as she blinked the tears from her eyes from the impact of his blows.

‘Come on, Caitlin,’ he said, standing over her. ‘Keep going.’ He grabbed her by the back of her jacket and pulled her to her feet again. ‘Let’s see if you pass out before you manage to fight to the death as you clearly intend to.’

She drew back her fist but he saw it coming and caught it. But he didn’t anticipate her knee rising full force into his groin. She grabbed the back of his head as he bent double. She rammed her knee into his face once and then twice, before stepping back and swivel-kicking him in the head.

Every muscle and nerve ending ached as she clutched her wrenched shoulder from the fall, as she stumbled on her twisted ankle from the last blow.

This time he ran at her, knocking her clean to the floor again against the mound of discarded rubbish.

She gasped as she felt the pain spear her side, not unlike a wasp sting.

Her hand reached down to feel the length of metal that pierced her side.

‘Ouch,’ Rob said, standing over her again. ‘That’s
got
to hurt.’

Gripping the end of whatever it was, she rolled onto her side. She could already feel the heat of her own blood seeping from the wound, a chill flooding her.

She glared up into his eyes.

He knew as well as she did what yanking it out could do, that the loss of blood if it had pierced a major organ as she suspected, could be lethal.

‘Who are you trying to kid, Caitlin?’ he said, kicking her hand away before standing on it. He crouched down over her. ‘Give up, Caitlin. Retain
some
dignity.’

After a few seconds she closed her eyes. She let her hands fall lax.

Grabbing her by the lapels of her jacket, Rob pulled her to her feet.

It was all she needed.

She reached inside her jacket.

She slammed the now open drawstring pouch of ash in his face.

The ash that Kane had given her.

Rob released her. He stumbled backwards, his hands to his eyes as he was temporarily blinded.

Caitlin staggered to her feet, clutching her side. There was no way she’d be able to keep fighting him.

She could not let them take her.

She would not let them take her.

The blood from her split lip trickled down her throat, the metallic taste of it filling her mouth, fuelling her belligerence. Because she didn’t know how Kane felt about her and, for that moment, she didn’t care. What mattered was that she loved him and that there was no way she would ever allow him to go through what he did with Arana again.

She gasped for breath as pain crippled her left side, the numbness already setting into her leg.

She knew the only option she had was to get away as far as she could; to lay low long enough for them to be too late.

With all the strength she had left, she tugged the metal shard from her side, crying out as agony dominated every sense.

She rammed the makeshift spear into Rob’s back, right into one of his kidneys before she stumbled away.

She discarded her jacket, clutched her side, stemming the blood flow as she staggered further down the alley. She took a left, trying to orientate herself, trying to find somewhere to hide. The walls swayed, the sky suddenly becoming oppressive. She tripped over an abandoned tin of paint, barely catching herself before she fell back against the wall.

She collapsed to her knees, one hand holding her up as she coughed up blood.

Struggling to her feet she used the wall for support as she zigzagged deeper into the alley.

She had to keep going.

Her side became numb, her hand that clutched it no longer recognisable as her own. She felt the perspiration trickling down her head despite an icy chill consuming her.

She fell to her knees.

Seeing the metal sliding door ahead, she tried to crawl towards it, but she was too weak even for that.

She fell against the wall again. She rested her head back against it.

Because all she wanted to do was rest.

Her eyes grew heavy.

Maybe to sleep.

She felt a hand on her collar, felt herself being lifted roughly from the ground, but she didn’t have the strength to fight back.

‘You don’t get away that easily.’

Her knees scraped on concrete as she was dragged towards the metal door. It was slid open, ratcheting back on old runners.

The room he led her into was darker, but there was a faint glow of light beyond.

Rob dragged her through another set of metal doors and into another room, the wooden doors beyond hanging off their hinges.

Her face hit concrete.

She rolled onto her back, scanned the beams above that throbbed as erratically as the pressure in her skull.

She tried to fend Rob off as he tied a makeshift tourniquet around her waist before stepping away. She frantically tried to undo the knot with her numb fingers.

‘The garage on Beaumont street,’ she heard Rob say as he stepped away. ‘And get a medic. Don’t drag your heels or we’re going to lose her. And you can be the one to tell –’

But he fell silent.

She craned her neck to see him stood behind her less than eight feet away.

She rolled her head to the side to see what had snagged his attention.

Through blurry eyes, in the open doorway, she saw a shadow.

R
arely had Kane used it
. Originally it had been intended for his own peace of mind – his preparation for the day when he’d have to let Caitlin wander beyond the safe confines of his haven.

It had never taken on more relevance than when she’d rejoined the VCU. And never had it proved more useful than for times like finding her in the club, at Tamara’s place, and times like then when he had become frustrated by the wait; when he had become increasingly anxious having not heard from her in hours.

Caitlin, however, knew nothing about the chip he’d had installed in her ankle bracelet: that the tiny pendant that hung off it had never been a part of the original design.

Watching her running had set off the alarm bells. Seeing her stall, even more so.

But though he had run across Blackthorn at full speed,
again
he hadn’t got there in time.

From fifteen feet away, the metallic scent of her blood consumed the air.

Just like with Arana, Caitlin lay there on the cold concrete floor, her blood fresh on the hands of the same monster.

Except Caitlin was still alive.

From hearing her heartbeat though, her troubling pulse rate and her shallow breaths, it wasn’t good; he knew it wasn’t looking good at all.

Without taking his attention off Rob, Kane closed the gap between himself and Caitlin. He lowered to one knee to gently cup her neck, to brush his thumb along her jawline, to make sure she knew he was there. He glanced down at the wet patch of dark blood at her side; looked back at her pale, perspiring complexion.

‘Go,’ she said firmly, her eyes locking on his. But the lack of pressure behind her hand as she pushed against his chest was even more worrying.

His glare snapped to Rob’s – Rob who he already saw that same subtle glow around that he’d seen around Eden, except Rob’s glow had a fetidness about it. His smirk, the accompanying glint of triumph in his eyes, triggered something primitive in Kane.

‘Oh, this is better than perfect,’ Rob declared. ‘There’s me worrying that I’ve killed the bait and you turn up in the nick of time. How long has she got?’ he asked, mockingly craning his neck to look down at her. ‘Your sort can tell, can’t they? Isn’t that how you know when to pull back during the feed before it gets to that lethal dying-blood stage? I give her less than fifteen minutes maybe. Arana, then Tamara, now Caitlin too.’ He tutted. ‘You really suck at this hero lark, don’t you, Kane?’

Kane fisted his free hand against the concrete floor.

Rob looked down at it and smiled. ‘Exactly. Here I am, Kane,’ he said, palms outheld as he took a few steps back, summoning Kane to join him. ‘So come on: how about we finish this?’

Finish it with Rob whilst leaving Caitlin to die alone on the cold concrete floor just like Arana had.

His fist tightened.

‘No,’ Caitlin said, her weak grip tugging his shirt. ‘
Go
!’ she demanded.

And he knew why. He knew Rob was far from alone. Or that he wouldn’t be soon enough.

He knew a trap when he saw one.

If Rob had been human, he would have smashed him out cold in a second. But Rob wasn’t human. The battle would be timely.

And if he tried to get away with Caitlin, Rob was going to come for him – Kane disadvantaged by having her in his arms.

‘She’s a goner anyway, Kane. I’m right here. This is your one chance for payback before backup arrives.’ He held up both hands. ‘I’m unarmed. There’s something honourable about the old-fashioned way, right?’

Kane glanced back down at Caitlin. She choked on something deep in the back of her throat, her glossy eyes glazed as she lay there shivering.

He pulled off his coat, laying it over her before taking the hand nearest to him and interlacing their fingers.

He was
not
going to lose her. There was no way he was going to lose her.

And there was
no
way he was leaving her alone.

There was no way he was choosing anything over her this time.

Not even his vengeance.

But the seconds were passing quickly, which Rob no doubt knew.

‘Oh, my heart breaks,’ Rob declared. ‘Even in her dying minutes you’re still pretending you give a fuck. We both know what she was to you, Kane. Let her die knowing the truth. At least give her that dignity.’

Kane squeezed Caitlin’s hand, silently assuring her of Rob’s lies as he refused to take his glare off him.

‘You’re wasting time, Kane,’ Rob warned. ‘She’s a lost cause. This is your one window of opportunity before my team get here.’

‘And your opportunity to be the hero. To be the one to bring down Kane Malloy alone,’ Kane said. ‘Isn’t that right, Rob?’

Rob smiled. ‘I’m owed, Kane.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ Kane said, keeping his voice low and even. ‘You sure are.’

‘So do something about it. Or is your bitch there going to die knowing you’re a pussy, huh?’

Kane clenched his jaw, his incisors involuntarily extending behind his closed lips as fury scorched his veins at the insult, at the unnecessary delay.

‘Just like Tamara did,’ Rob added. ‘I must be honest, I didn’t enjoy her very much. She was a little too
slack
in certain places for my tastes. Definitely way past her prime, that one. Not like Arana.’

Numbness took over his hands.

Numbness took over his heart.

‘Now that
was
prime viewing,’ Rob added. ‘But I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? Yeah, watching those lycan boys go at her like dogs on heat is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.’

He felt Caitlin’s weak grip tighten as he fixated his rage on Rob. Rob who dared to meet his gaze. Dared to grin as he did so.

‘It’s one of the favourite stories amongst the new team,’ Rob continued. ‘I tell you what, that footage has done the rounds more than anything else…’ He frowned. ‘I
did
tell you I filmed it? We’ve done voiceovers and everything.’

The arm flew across Kane’s chest from behind, but he didn’t even flinch. He’d sensed him coming from the room behind. He knew his scent.

‘Two for one,’ Rob said, his glare intensifying. ‘Even better.’

‘My pack are holding them off but they’re closing in,’ Jask said in Kane’s ear. ‘I can handle this from here.’

‘No,’ Kane said firmly as he met Jask’s troubled gaze. ‘He’s
mine
.’

Jask’s arm tensed. ‘Kane –’

‘But not yet,’ Kane added, as he peeled Jask’s arm off him, an unspoken understanding passing between them.

Jask held Kane’s gaze and gave a single nod.

Kane lifted Caitlin in his arms, meeting Rob’s incensed glare as he stood.

‘Are you fucking serious?’ Rob asked. ‘You’re running away with your tail between your legs? You’ve been hanging around with the lycans for too long, Malloy. Hey, Jask, you stay and play then. Let’s see if you go down as quick and easy as your pack did when I broke in with my boys. Those little pups of yours sure know how to take a bullet.’

Jask’s glare snapped to Rob. His lips curled back in a way Kane rarely saw. As Jask stepped forward, Kane abruptly blocked him, handing him Caitlin to force him to accept the distraction.

Kane turned to face Rob. He licked his incisor as he looked at Rob side-on. Only this time it wasn’t behind closed lips. This time, he ensured it was on display as he edged a few steps closer.

Rob lowered his head, daring to glare up at him from beneath his eyebrows, to form something between a smile and a sneer as he braced himself for the fight.

Kane held his gaze.

Then put a sharp foot forward.

Rob flinched just as he’d wanted him to.

It gave Kane the psychological upper hand as he had hoped. And it was his turn to meet Rob’s glare with a smirk.

From behind Rob, through the wooden doors, one, and then another, lycan entered the space.

Rob glanced over his shoulder and exhaled tersely. ‘You
are
a pussy.’

‘No,’ Kane said. ‘It’s just your lucky night.’ He scooped Caitlin back out of Jask’s arms. ‘But watch over both shoulders, Doyle. Watch the alleys either side of you, the ground beneath you and rooftops above you – because when we do this next time, it’ll be on
my
terms.’

Rob’s gritted teeth, his clenched hands, emanated his awareness that he was getting nowhere near Kane.

‘I want all fucking units here now,’ Rob said curtly into his mouthpiece. ‘Malloy is getting away. I repeat, Malloy is getting away.’

‘The car’s on its way,’ Jask said quietly to him. ‘Get underground.’

‘No stand-off,’ Kane said firmly. ‘You hear me? Not yet. As soon as we’re clear, disperse.’

‘That was my plan,’ Jask said. ‘The fog’s giving us the best advantage.
Go
!’ His eyes were laced with solemn sincerity. ‘I don’t want to be near you if that girl doesn’t make it.’

Pulling Caitlin close against his chest, all that filled Kane’s ears was the sound of her erratic pulse, the terseness of her breaths. He could hear footfall battling on the corrugated roof above, the sound of engines roaring far in the distance as he hurried back across the concrete floor, through the first set of metal doors and then out into the alley outside.

The click was subtle.

He froze to the spot.

He gave out an impatient sigh as he looked across his shoulder to where Morgan stood braced, his gun poised in Kane’s direction.

‘It’s like déjà vu,’ Morgan said.

Kane squeezed his eyes shut for a second as he looked away before looking back across his shoulder at Morgan. ‘She’s dying,’ he said. ‘You let me go now, Morgan, or she’s not going to make it.’

The car screeched up at the end of the alley ahead.

Jessie pelted down towards him, but came to an abrupt standstill out of sight from Morgan as she saw Kane’s hand, still holding Caitlin, indicating for her to stay away.

‘You’re going to use her to guilt me?’ Morgan said. ‘The girl who got me shot? By
you
.’

‘Fine,’ Kane said firmly. ‘You want to do this, we’ll do this. Take me. But you let me hand her over to someone who can help her.’

Morgan’s eyes twitched nervously towards the alley out of view.

‘No one moves,’ Morgan said firmly.

Jessie held her hand up behind her, he guessed towards Eden waiting in the car.

‘Did you hear what I said?’ Kane asked through gritted teeth. ‘This is between us, Morgan.’

He didn’t care that the tear leaked from his eye. He couldn’t help it amidst the tension in his body as he felt Caitlin waning in his arms.

Morgan exhaled tersely. ‘Shit,’ he hissed quietly. ‘You really
do
care about her. Oh, Kane, you’re going to want her dead now. That’s one hell of a fucking chink in your armour exposed there.’

Kane looked behind him to where Meghan Yale stepped into his view: another to contend with.

‘You need her alive, Morgan,’ Kane declared. ‘You all do.’

‘And why’s that, Kane? She’s served her purpose.’

‘I’m not sure I like the sound of that,’ Meghan said, pressing the barrel of her gun against the back of Morgan’s head.

Morgan’s eyes flared. He snatched back a breath. ‘
Yale
? What the
fuck
are you doing?’

‘My job,’ she said calmly. ‘Now
drop
it.’

‘You’re making a mistake, Yale.’

‘As big a one as you’ve made? I don’t think so.’ She met Kane’s gaze. ‘Get her out of here.’

His heart uncharacteristically skipped a beat. He frowned, not sure if he could trust her enough to move from the spot.

‘Hey,’ she said to Kane. ‘Me and you can sort our differences another time. The TSCD needs all the good agents it can muster. And she’s one of them.’

He didn’t hesitate a second longer as he hurried down the alley towards the car, Caitlin tight against his chest, Jessie watching his back.

‘You’re finished, Yale,’ he heard Morgan claimed.

‘It’s looking more to me like you are, Morgan,’ he heard Yale respond. ‘So exactly how deep does this corruption run?’