Blood Mates (9 page)

Rhage actually chuckled. He couldn’t help it. He liked the way she put things. And she was CONCERNED about him. “The older an immortal is the more he can handle. We just don’t expose ourselves to the sun because it starts damaging at the first ray of the sun. The longer we are exposed the more blood it takes to repair the damage. So we just try to avoid it all together.”

“Oh! Alright… I understand that… better safe than sorry.”

“Yep... Now if you could just remember that…”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Really? We have had this conversation, Rhage…Jill is important to me. I don’t have any family just her.”

He nodded. He just didn’t like it. He wanted her safe! That was all he cared about. He noticed she kept glancing at him. He had already made sure he kept his emotions under tight reign so she wouldn’t feel anything else from him. He didn’t want the connection to grow. It wouldn’t be right since he didn’t have any intention of claiming her.

“What?” he finally asked. He couldn’t stand it.

“How old are you?”

“What?”

“How old are you? I know Lucien is as old as dirt.  I want to know how old you are.”

“I was born in 1581.”

“Oh!” she turned to look out of the windshield again. “Who is the youngest?”

“Holden. He was born in 1843 I think.”

“That is still old….” She murmured.

“We live a long time…”

“I see that. What’s the day?”

“Of what?”

“Your birthday.”

“October 21st I think.”

“You think?” her eyes shot back to him. “You don’t know?”

“Birthdays kind of aren’t a big deal after a while.”

“Oh! That makes sense… I guess... after a couple of hundred it probably gets boring.” she sighed sadly. It was sad to her though.

When they reached the apartment building Rhage looked at it and then at her. It wasn’t in the safest neighborhood nor was it a nice looking building. Ava shrugged.

“It’s what I can afford after paying for school. School is more important than where I sleep.” She told him. Rhage didn’t like it. She deserved the best. It was a two story walk up. An old reconverted brownstone which had seen better days. Rhage didn’t say anything, but nodded his head. Ava watched him walk around the SUV to open her door. She worried about him in the sun. Rhage didn’t know what to think when she grabbed his hand hurrying toward the front door---- then he chuckled realizing she wanted to get him out of the sun as soon as she could. Once they entered the building she looked up at him.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m good… you don’t have to worry about me getting crispy...”

“Better safe than sorry…” she rolled her eyes. When she moved away from him Rhage quickly pulled her back to his side. He liked her being next to him and he rationalized it by telling himself it was for her protection. Ava didn’t argue.  She slipped her arm around his like it was a natural thing to do. Rhage wanted to groan because despite wearing a leather jacket which hung around his legs to hide his weapons he could still feel her body heat… and damn it felt good. He wanted her naked… he wanted her naked now! He even felt his incisors lengthen and his cock was pressing against his zipper painfully. His body was demanding.

“Where to?” he managed to grunt.

“There are only four apartments…I’m upstairs across from Jill.” Rhage noticed she was looking toward a door that was closed.

“What is it?”

“Mrs. Vaughn, she is the old lady that lives in that apartment. She must be out. She usually is always peeking through her door. I was going to say hello.” She shrugged. “Come on… Jill must be going crazy by now.”

Rhage kept her between him and the wall as they headed upstairs. When they reached the second floor Rhage realized he only heard a TV. There weren’t any other sounds. He knew he should be hearing other sounds like Ava’s friend in her apartment or people in general. He paused and tuned his hearing even more. He couldn’t even hear Jill’s heart beating or breathing. Something wasn’t right. There weren’t any sounds except for the TV.

Ava felt him tense up. She knew something was wrong. She slipped her hand into his drawing his attention down to her. She knew not to make a sound so she raised her eyebrows silently questioning him. She saw it in his eyes.  He slowly shook his head.  Rhage reacted without thinking and answered her in his head.

‘I don’t hear your friend at all. It’s too quiet. Something isn’t right.’

Ava’s eyes widened in shock. She could hear him! His mouth hadn’t moved and yet his voice was in her head. ‘I didn’t just hear you…’ she didn’t say anything out loud.

‘Ava…..’

‘SHIT! I do hear you! How the hell is that possible?’

‘We can discuss that later….’ Rhage knew he was digging himself a hole he was never gonna get out of, but DAMMIT! He pulled her to the corner near a window. ‘I don’t sense your friend Jill at all…. ‘

‘What? She has to be there. She called me. She is on crutches.’ Ava told him.

‘I need you to do anything I tell you to. No questions. I think this is a trap.’

‘How the hell could anyone know about Jill or where I live?’

Just then Rhage heard slight shuffling and his instincts told him it wasn’t a good thing. He heard someone suddenly moving. Just as the door knob moved he pressed Ava deeper into the corner and focused his attention on Ava and protecting her. He would kill anyone who tried to hurt her.

‘Whoever it is won’t see us…just stay still.’

Ava clutched his jacket in her hands to keep them from shaking. His back was pressing her into the corner and he was shielding her from everything with his body. She could see around one of his arms.

‘What do you mean they won’t see us…?’

‘I can camouflage us... No one will see us.’  He never used his defensive gift. He always liked to fight, but he had no idea who or what he was up against. He was the only one to protect Ava.

‘That’s your defense--- Lucien said every immortal had one.’

‘Yes…..I need to see what we are up against first…they won’t see us. They will only see the wall not us.’

‘That’s cool as hell, Rhage….’

He wanted to chuckle, but didn’t. Ava heard the door squeak. It was Jill’s door. She never wanted it sprayed with WD 40. She said it was a part of her security.  Ava watched as a tall blonde man step outside at the far end of the hall. His face had a long thick scar across one side as if he had been seared with a metal poker. It started at his hairline traveling across his right eye which was white void of an iris all together and stopped half way down his cheek. He made Ava shiver. He looked evil. She didn’t want to know him.

‘Do you know him?’ Rhage asked silently.

‘No. I’ve never seen him before. Do you think he has hurt Jill?’

Rhage didn’t want to lie to her. He didn’t want to hurt her either, but he had a feeling her friend was dead already. He wasn’t sure how to tell her when she spoke before he did.

‘You think she’s dead, I know…he used Jill to lure us here…oh! I’m so stupid.’ she whispered in such a low voice he almost didn’t hear her.

‘You aren’t stupid…u cared about your friend.’ Rhage kept his eyes on the stranger. Rhage had a feeling this bastard was an immortal. It was confirmed when he spoke.

“You might as well give up the woman. You’re outnumbered and you aren’t getting out of here. Give me the woman and I won’t kill you.” The bastard said out loud. “I know you are in here somewhere and I will find you.”

Rhage felt Ava shake against him. He covered her hand with his and squeezed. She was scared. It pissed him off that someone was scaring her. No one scared his mate. He would kill this bastard long before he ever got close to Ava. No one would ever lay a hand on her. ‘He will have to go through me first, Ava. I’m not going to let him touch you. I’ll kill him.’ he reassured her. ‘I trust you, Rhage….I’m sorry I got us trapped.’

‘Don’t be sorry, baby. I will get us out of here and everything will be fine.’ they watched as four more immortals stepped out of Jill’s apartment and Ava’s old one. ‘My camouflage will keep you hidden.’

‘How long can you keep it in place?’

‘As long as I have to.’ Rhage really had no idea. He hadn’t used it in so long he almost forgot he possessed the ability.

“Find them!” scar face ordered the other four immortals. “We know they entered the building and haven’t left so they are hiding somewhere. Find them! I want that woman. Kill the immortal with her!” Rhage watched the others spread out to search, but he kept a close eye on scar face. Rhage wondered if this was the “Dante” from the house he and Talon had watched. They had plans to raid it tonight, but apparently the bastard was one step ahead of them trying to draw Ava to them which worked. Rhage felt Ava lay her head against his back and her hands clutched his sides tightly. ‘You’re safe, baby… I promise. I got you.’

‘I know, but HE scares me.” She whispered silently.

Ava stood there clutching Rhage’s leather jacket listening the bastards roam around tearing things up. She wanted to scream and cry because she knew Jill was probably dead. And it was all her fault. Because of her even Mrs. Vaughn was dead. This was ALL HER FAULT! Then she heard a growling in her head just before Rhage’s hand closed around hers and he turned around to face her.

‘Don’t you dare!’ he growled in her head. ‘Look at me!’ Ava raised her head to meet his dark eyes. She was trying not to cry. He was still shielding her from view. ‘This isn’t your fault…NOT ONE FUCKING THING ABOUT THIS IS YOUR FAULT!’

              She winced because he was yelling at her in her own head. Rhage reached out and cupped her chin gently brushing his thumb across her lips. Ava bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making a noise. As soon as he touched her she felt as if a volt of electricity shot through her body. She slowly nodded her head and murmured.

‘I know, but I can’t help it.’

Rhage needed to distract her. She was about to cry and he knew he couldn’t stand to see that. It would tear into him.  He had already come up with a plan.

‘Does this building have a basement?’ he asked.

‘Yes...’

‘Is it deep?’

‘Yes…’ she nodded.

‘Good…we are going to get down there and wait for the cavalry.’ He held her hand in one of his and dug into his pocket with the other. He had to keep touching her to keep her hidden. He kept glancing over his shoulder at the others making sure they were not close to them.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m gonna cause a slight explosion and we are gonna hide in the basement.’

‘WHAT?’ she gasped. ‘Have you lost your mind? An explosion? You will blow us up!’

Rhage chuckled. ‘I know what I’m doing… once I set the charge we will need to be in the basement in one minute.’ He watched her shake her head back and forth arguing with him silently. ‘We can do this, baby…. Alfred will wake Lucien when we are late. Trust me he won’t wait five extra minutes. That is only twenty minutes from now. Then the entire house will be on their way. All we have to do is hold these bastards off and THIS will definitely do that.’ He told her.

‘One minute?’ she echoed. ‘I can’t run that fast….you have lost your mind, Rhage!’

‘You won’t have to because I’m going to carry you. I won’t leave you behind... and this is the best way. If we don’t do something the dumb fucker might be smart enough to figure it out. Now tell me how to get downstairs.’ She nodded and told him exactly how to get to the basement.  Rhage nodded and then began to attach the small plastic clay mound to the upper frame of the window so it couldn’t be noticed. ‘Once I put the charge in we have to move.’ He noticed her eyes were wide and she looked like she was going to puke. He squeezed her hand. ‘Do you trust me, baby?’

‘Yes….’ She nodded.

‘Good…. Because here it goes….’ He jabbed the metal cylinder into the clay, turned and scooped her up before blurring down the nearby stairs. He was afraid one of the immortals searching would sense him. It was a big possibility he was willing to take. He did manage to stay near the walls hoping that would keep them from sensing anything until it was too late. He made it to the first floor with Ava wrapped around him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck tightly and he could feel her breath against his skin. He reached the basement door opening and closing it as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to alert the bastards upstairs to anything until it was too late. He hoped one of them survived so they could question him later, but if they all died Rhage was ok with it. Killing them was one step closer to keeping Ava safe and that’s all that mattered to him.

Rhage reached the far corner of the basement with Ava when the “SMALL” explosion rocked the entire brownstone. The foundation shook beneath them and the beams above them cracked sending shards of wood around them. Rhage quickly covered Ava’s body with his own as things began to come down around them from the floors above.

“Rhage….” Ava whimpered clinging to him squeezing her eyes shut. The impact of things coming down around them didn’t seem like it would end. Wood, metal and who knew what else kept slamming down above them. She wondered if they would be crushed beneath it all.

“I got you, baby…..”

She heard him right at her ear. “Are you alright? Please be alright….”

“I’m fine, Ava…. All that matters is you are safe.”

Slowly the crashing above them stopped, but the dust poured down.  Ava coughed as Rhage managed to slide them on their sides underneath three beams that held them pinned in the corner.  The three beams kept everything else off them. They didn’t have a lot of space, but they were safe and alive.

Rhage had to draw his legs up to turn so he could make sure she wasn’t hurt. He began to run his hands over her to make sure she was physically alright. He cupped her face.

“Ava! Look at me!” she had her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes he sighed. “Are you in any pain?”

“No…I don’t hurt anywhere...” she shook her head.

“Good….” He nodded.

“You?”

“I’m good…” he lied. He had felt something hit him in the back of the shoulder.

“You’re lying….how the hell do I know you are lying?” she demanded. She didn’t wait for him to answer. She shoved at his jacket until she could get it off his shoulder so she could see for herself. She cried out seeing the huge ugly bloody wound. “OH GOD!”