Blood Judgment (Judgment Series) (22 page)

He clung to the wall, terrified to move, while Slade and Ashton climbed farther and farther ahead. The pounding of his heart and ringing in his ears overwhelmed his senses and his head swam with dizziness.

I’m going to fall and splatter my guts all over the place. I don’t want to die like this.

Rationally, he knew the fall wouldn’t kill him unless he was injured badly enough to bleed to death. Still, it did nothing to spur him forward.

He couldn’t move.

If he tried, he’d fall. His confidence was shot.

So what was he going to do? Hang here until dawn?

He squeezed his eyes shut, whispered a prayer, and forced his foot to move up a step. He didn’t slip, but he hung there just the same.

“Come on, Julian. Get your ass moving,” Slade snapped from above.

Fuck it to hell.

Julian squeezed his eyes shut again and took a blind step up. Then another. He opened his eyes and focused on the brick.

Vali is going to die if we don’t get him out. Now, climb, damn it.

He climbed.

He reached the sixth floor and kept going.

After an eternity and coated with sweat, he made it to the roof. Ashton grabbed Julian’s forearm and pulled him to safety. “We aren’t leaving that way, are we?” Julian asked.

“No.” Ashton stood and waited for him. “We’re going out the front door. I didn’t give you a gun for you to take home and use for a paper weight.”

The nine millimeter fit snug, tucked in the back of his jeans.

Ashton led them to a little shed-like structure and yanked open the locked door. They slipped inside the dimly lit stairwell. Descending fast, they reached the bottom in under a minute.

Ashton pulled an automatic out of his waistband, checked it, and moved it to the front. He waited until Julian and Slade did likewise before cracking open the door.

A flood of sound washed into the stairwell. Employee chatter. The moans and cries of vampires. The clatter of cage doors and other unidentifiable noises.

Julian tried not to inhale the odors drifting in. They were too familiar, too stomach churning, too mind numbing.

“Kill anyone who tries to stop you and be as quiet about it as possible. Firepower is last resort. Got it?” Ashton said.

Julian nodded.

“Yeah,” Slade said.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Ashton opened the door and they slid into a long hallway with a dozen or so doors off to the left.

A scream cut through the other sounds. “Jesus.” Julian shivered.

“Vampire. Probably being
processed
. Motherfucking bastards.” Rage burned in Slade’s eyes.

“How the hell are we going to find him?” Julian asked.

“His scent, if we can pick it up.” Ashton took a long draw of the foul air. “If not, we open doors and go in.”

Julian hoped they would find him without resorting to that.

They walked down the hallway. For Julian, too many odors assaulted him to sort out. Medicinal odors, blood—which made his stomach lurch with need—scorched flesh, pain, hunger, despair. They overwhelmed him.

A door opened and a technician stepped into the hall. He gaped at them. “This is a restricted area. What are you people doing here?”

“We’re looking for one of the vampires you have detained here.” Ashton gestured at the row of doors.

“No one’s allowed down here. And what do you want with one of those vermin anyway?”

“We’re from the press,” Julian blurted in a moment of inspiration. “We want to do a story about your fine work of catching a killer. You know the one, killed those prostitutes.” He hoped to God the technician didn’t ask for credentials.

“Oh. But you still aren’t permitted down here. Where are your badges to access the building?”

Julian waved his hand in dismissal. “Didn’t give us any. Some problem with them at the desk. Something about the computer system.”

The technician looked torn with the desire to see his name in print and knowing they were breaking the rules. “I’m not supposed to allow anyone in here, but he’s being kept down there.” He pointed to the last door.

“He’s supposed to be moved to the execution wing later tonight and put down Wednesday. Though I don’t think he’ll be alive two days from now. If they want to use the drugs on him, they’d better do it tonight.”

Ashton tensed. “Why?”

“They’ve been usin’ him for a test rat. Some hush-hush drug they’re developing.” He stopped and alarm registered on his face. “You boys can’t repeat that.”

“You’ve nothing to fear from us,” Ashton said.

He nodded. “His leg’s infected. I guess he has blood poisoning. They aren’t treating him and they haven’t exactly been gentle with him.” He shrugged. “No big deal since he’s slated to be put down anyway.”

Julian wanted to rip the technician’s throat out. Instead, he put out the bait. “Can you let us in to see him? We’d love to interview you as well. We’ll make it read like you talked with us off premises. We wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for assisting us.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you see him. What’s the harm, right?” He produced a ring of keys. “This way.”

He led them to the end of the hall and opened the door.

Ashton was all over him the moment he stepped inside. In a blink, he hung limp in Ashton’s hands, his head at an odd angle. Ashton discarded him and cursed.

Vali lay in a twisted heap on the bare concrete floor. He had no blanket, no pillow, nothing to ease his discomfort. Along with the combined odors of sickness and pain, the stomach clenching scent of death hung thick around him. He opened glazed eyes. No sign of recognition glimmered in the silver-blue depths. His eyelids drifted shut.

“Holy fucking shit.” Slade’s face contorted.

Ashton knelt beside him. “Vali, I want to look at your leg.”

Vali opened his eyes, but it was only a reflex.

“He’s out of it. I don’t know how he’s going to like me messing with his leg,” Ashton said. “Hold him still. We don’t need him doing any more damage.”

Julian and Slade held Vali’s arms, pinning him down.

Ashton ripped Vali’s jeans and pulled the denim away from Vali’s leg. It peeled freely at first, but became resistant, sticking to his leg, glued with blood and whatever else wept from the wound. Ashton tried to coax it loose and something gave under the force of his pull.

Vali didn’t move, not even a flinch.

Ashton scowled. He peeled the split material out of the way.

Blood and puss oozed from a long, deep wound. The stench of rot and infection rose from his leg. His flesh had turned red around the gash. Vali moaned and tried to pull away, but he gave no real indication of pain.

“Stop it!” Ashton’s voice cracked like a whip. “We’re trying to help you.”

Vali’s weak struggles ceased.

“Julian, I need you to hold his leg still.”

Julian shifted and took the leg. The smell wafted up and he fought the urge to gag. Vali’s skin was hot. He was cooking with fever. Ashton used his thumbs to separate the puss crusted edges and Julian expected Vali to lurch despite the hold they had on him, but he didn’t. He didn’t move at all.

“I don’t think he has any feeling in his leg,” Julian said.

“I think you’re right.”

Vali laid limp, unconscious.

“It’s better that he’s out.” Ashton said. “I want you to carry him. If we have to shoot our way out of here I want Slade to be the other trigger man. He and I are good shots.”

Julian gathered up Vali and got onto his feet with his awkward load.

Ashton cracked the door open and eased out. Julian followed with Slade on his heels.

They hurried to the elevator without incident. Ashton hit the button and the group fidgeted until the car arrived. Ashton and Slade positioned themselves in front of Julian and dropped into a crouch, ready for a confrontation. The doors slid open.

The elevator was empty. They piled in and Ashton poked the button for the ground floor. No one spoke during the rapid ascent. The bell dinged and Julian tensed. The doors slid open and they stepped off.

A dozen or so humans milled about the lobby. A man focused on them. “What the hell?”

“Holy shit!” A young man in a lab technician’s coat gaped at them.

Chaos erupted.

A woman screamed.

Two officers leapt from behind a desk and a third materialized from around the elevator bank.

An alarm went off.

The other lobby occupants scattered like roaches, taking cover wherever they could.

Guns held ready, Ashton and Slade plowed forward. Julian didn’t think the people in the lobby realized they were vampires. The humans were focused on their artillery not their fangs.

A shot rang out. Ashton jerked and returned fire.

One of the officers fell and someone, a woman, shrieked.

The pungent odor of blood burned through Julian’s senses.

Slade squeezed off a shot and the two guards fired in unison.

A bullet tore a red, burning trail across Julian’s bicep. He hissed and tightened his grip on Vali before pawing for his own gun.

He freed the weapon from his jeans, brought it up, and fired. The gun kicked hard, the shot going wild.

A man howled. He’d hit an office worker.

Fuck
!

Another shot rang out and Ashton staggered. He caught himself, but before he fired, Slade dropped the guard with a well-aimed shot. A hole leaked blood from the man’s forehead like an injured third eye.

Vali struggled weakly. “Hold still, damn it.” He fired another wild shot into the melee.

The remaining guard fired in their direction in a series of wild shots.

Slade hissed and returned fire.

The guard dropped.

They bunched together in a tight knot and shuffled toward the double doors. Ashton limped and blood stained his jeans just above his right hip. Slade kept his weapon ready.

Ashton yanked one of the doors open and held it long enough for Julian to pass through with Vali’s limp but heavy body. Slade exited a second behind him.

They sprinted toward the car. Ashton struggled to keep up. Slade dropped back, gun ready to defend them. Julian wrestled Vali’s unconscious body into the back seat and piled in with him. Ashton and Slade dove into the front.

Ashton keyed the car to life and tore out into traffic amid a blare of horns. He mashed the gas pedal to the floor, dodging cars and cursing in a race to save Vali.

Ashton dug out his phone and dialed. In a grim tone of voice, he gave Jason a rundown on what to expect.

To Julian’s relief, they reached the yellow house in record time. He didn’t want Vali dying in his arms. And death hovered close. The stench hung around the youngster like a heavy blanket of rot, choking Julian with each breath of the foul air he drew into himself.

Jason met them at the door, a frown on his face. “Bring him down to the clinic. Damn, you’re
all
bleeding.”

“We’ve had a busy night,” Ashton growled. He had a shoulder wound in addition to the hip injury. Slade’s sleeve was covered with blood.

Julian carried Vali down the steps to Jason’s treatment area. His own arm burned like fire, but he wasn’t badly hurt. He’d fared better than his companions.

“In here.” Jason motioned for him to take Vali into a little room.

Julian laid him on a gurney and stepped out of the way.

“Ashton, sit your ass down.” Jason indicated the single visitor’s chair. “You two help me get him undressed so I can see what we’re dealing with.”

“As soon as I get him stabilized, I’ll take care of you guys.”

THREE HOURS passed before Jason attended to the rest of them and sent them home.

Saranna took Julian’s hand, and he settled deeper into the worn but comfortable sofa and tried to let some of the tension in his body dissipate.

“You need to feed. Let me take care of you.”

“I’m okay,” he lied.

“I smell your hunger. You can’t hide it from me. Besides, it will help you heal faster.”

“I can put it off a while.” Ravenous, he salivated at the mention of feeding, but if she was uncomfortable he wouldn’t touch her. He would hunt instead.

“It’s okay.” She touched his face for a moment.

“Do you want me to use your wrist?”

“No. I’m not ready for sex, but I need to feel you close to me. I need to bond with you.”

“If you want me to stop, I will.” He breathed in her scent. Lilacs. A delicious, sweet scent kindling a fire in his blood.

He gathered her in his arms. A tremor ran through her and she tensed. He pushed aside the waves of silky yellow hair and nuzzled her throat. Unable to stop himself, he licked over her pulse. She quivered in his embrace and he involuntarily tightened his hold on her. Groaning, Julian sank his fangs into her warm flesh.

She jerked and her fingers clamped hard on his shoulders. He closed his eyes and drank. Her blood slaked his hunger, but didn’t eradicate it.

The pleasure of holding her in his arms, taking from her, overpowered his senses. He didn’t want to release her. He shifted and pulled her onto his lap. She settled against him, but her body was tight with resistance.

Against his will, his cock stiffened and pressed against her. She shuddered. His heart twisted with hurt even though he understood. He forced himself to stop feeding and licked the bite mark clean.

She slid from his lap, but cuddled close to his side. Still hungry, he slipped his arm around her. With a sigh, she burrowed into him. Julian shifted, trying to hide the bulge in his pants.

“It’s okay.” She said. “Stop trying to fight nature.”

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

She leaned over and kissed him, a light brush of her lips, but quickly broke the contact. “I’m so glad you came into my life.”

He ran his hand through her hair in a sweeping stroke. “I’d probably be dead if it hadn’t been for you and the others. I didn’t know what to do or where to go.”

But it went deeper. What he felt for her was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. Protective and possessive feelings. And others he couldn’t label.

He wanted to play the violin for her. Something sweet and beautiful. He caught her hand and warmth radiated through him.