Bloodstorm (Heart of a Vampire) (19 page)

He’d been captured.

And she knew exactly who had him. Who’d left the little droplets of blood like bread crumbs for her to follow. The crimson trail stopped at the pharmacy. Niki stared into the dark windows. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the unlocked door.

A little bell jingled, announcing her arrival.

So much for being sneaky.

Silently, she slid the short sword from the scabbard on her side and held it by her thigh. The store was empty. Shane’s blood trailed toward the back. She cautiously headed through the pharmacy, alert for those who would be waiting.

No hint of movement broke the air, no sound came to her. But she didn’t buy it.

Near the pharmacist’s counter in the back, she finally heard the tale-tell sounds of others. Below the floor. She reached to push the counter up when a dark shape barreled over it and crashed into her.

Claws slashed down her shoulder, ripping her shirt and gouging her flesh. Musty fur brushed her face. She cried out, stumbling, trying to stay on her feet with the weight of the wolf pushing her back.

Paws scrabbled on the slick, tile floor and she shoved the wolf away.

Niki swung at its face, cutting deep into its silver-furred muzzle. It yelped, backed up, and glowered, lips curled to show long, sharp teeth.

She gripped a silver dagger from her boot and rushed the animal. It chuckled, leaping to meet her charge. She thrust the sword into its belly and let go, then grabbed the scruff of its neck and slid the silver dagger along its muzzle.

The wolf whimpered, in pain from the blade sticking from its belly, but more so from the touch of silver on flesh.

“
Where are they?” Niki demanded.

The beast whimpered again, rolling its eyes as if searching for help.

“
Tell me.” She rubbed the silver blade over its muzzle.

“
Down.” The words were garbled coming from the wolf’s throat.

“
How do I get down there?”

Its paws flashed out, claws scratching along her belly and thighs. It twisted against her hold and Niki lost her grip.

The wolf fell on the sword, plunging it all the way through its back.

Niki pushed the stupid thing to its side. Its eyes were glassy from pain, but it would live. Her short sword wasn’t silver and she didn’t plan on finishing the creature. She yanked out her blade, sighing as the wolf passed out.

In the pharmacy’s bandage isle, Niki grabbed a couple rolls of surgical tape and hogtied the wolf’s paws.

One down, who knew how many to go.

Heading through the pharmacists area, she found the office. And inside, on the far wall, stood an open door. Niki crept down wooden stairs, cringing at every squeak and groan. As she reached the bottom, light flooded over her.

***

Shane drifted in and out of consciousness. Around him, others cried out in pain. Someone sobbed and an animal whimpered. The air was stale with the stench of vampire, wolf and blood.

He pried his eyes open, realizing magic held him captive.

Shane concentrated, blinking to see the power. It was dark and sickly, tinged black. Not his pure earth magic, but something corrupt and evil.

His hands were bound and hooked above his head to a concrete wall. Numbness spread from his fingers to his back and chest. He called for his magic, but either this place was warded or the power around him was too thick, he couldn’t feel his ties to the earth.

Something brushed against his side and he lifted his heavy head. An emaciated vampire crawled blindly, dry, thin lips drawn back, teeth snapping.

Someone shouted. The vampire was yanked back into the surrounding darkness.

A wolf howled, the sound all pain. Then a vampire began feasting. The slurping sounds made Shane’s stomach shudder.

“
She’s here,” a young girl whispered.

“
He’ll kill her,” a boy replied.

“
No. Niki can beat him.”

“
Niki?” Shane yelled.

“
Shh.” Soft hands reached above Shane and began tugging on the ropes. “If he hears us, we’ll be in trouble.”

“
Where’s Niki?” he growled.

The tugging at his ropes grew more insistent. “Shh.”

The knots loosened and Shane pulled at his numb wrists.

“
Stop it,” the girl said. “I’m trying to get you free. She’s going to fight the Master.”

“
She’ll die,” the boy keened.

“
No, she won’t,” Shane replied, trying to stay still so the girl could release the ropes.

“
She might,” the girl said. “But if you help her, maybe the two of you can kill him.” Her hands stopped. “You’ll help us, then, won’t you? You won’t kill us too?”

“
Of course not.”

“
Master says you’re a Keeper. You’ll kill us all,” the boy cried.

“
And Master is a liar.” The girl’s hands brushed Shane’s face. “You smell of truth.”

She yanked hard and the ropes fell from his arms. “I can’t get you out of the magic circle, you’ll have to do that.”

“
Thank you,” Shane said, but his senses claimed he was alone.

As he pulled his hands to his lap, Shane’s left arm screamed in agony, his shoulder throbbed. His wrist was broken, the shoulder out of joint. Biting his lip, he set the injured arm on his leg.

As the last of the numbness faded, the pain screamed shrilly in his head, blocking out rational thought. He wouldn’t be able to get out of the magic containing him soon enough with this mind-numbing distraction.

The only thing keeping him together was the image of Niki.

She was facing Thomas. Shane had to save her, from the Master, and herself.

He grabbed his side, palm on the grizzly bear tattoo, and pushed his last remaining strength into the ink. A roar built inside him and burst from his throat, echoing through the room. The noises around him, dim already, faded into nothing. Heat spread over his arm and shoulder, bringing the numbness back. This time, it was warm. He grew lightheaded as the power of the bear healed him.

Then it faded as if it’d never been there.

Shane thanked the great spirit of brother bear. Rolling onto his stomach, he sprawled on the floor, gasping through the nausea.

Niki.

Had to get to her.

Slowly, Shane pushed to his knees and looked at the blackness surrounding him. He gathered the little bit of power still inside him and threw it at the dark magic.

Nothing happened.

***

More lights automatically flashed on as Niki headed down yet another cavernous tunnel. She was no longer in a basement beneath the pharmacy. It was as if the entire town stood on top of a vast cave system.

And she was sure she kept going in circles.

She’d only met two vampires and one wolf, so far. Those three were now trussed up and left behind.

She reached a small, circular cave, with tunnels leading in five different directions. She stopped in the center, trying to figure out which way to go.

Screams came from all directions as vampires and wolves flowed out, surrounding her. Niki fought with blades, fangs and claws.

Blood and fur filled the air.

She slashed with dagger and sword, taking blows. Teeth bit into her wrists and legs. Claws gouged her skin.

Refusing to give up, Niki fought harder. Bodies fell, but more came. She slammed her sword into another vampire, then another. A cry came from behind her, but she couldn’t turn in time.

An iron-spiked fist slammed into the back of her neck and she fell. Then they were on her, ripping her weapons away.

Drenched in blood, Niki stared up into a sea of faces. A wolf in human form grabbed her arms and jerked them behind her back, holding them an inch from breaking, as a vampire took the medical tape and bound her wrists together.

“
Come with us before we hurt you more.” The musical voice contradicted the sight of a small girl, only twelve or so, bringing blood drenched fingers to her lips and licking them clean. “The Master wants that pleasure for himself.”

Hands yanked her up and pushed her in the direction of the far right tunnel. She stumbled over the bodies on the floor. As she walked into the darkness, she kicked at the rocky wall. More hands pushed her. A wolf growled. Niki hid a grin as she continued on. She didn’t know how, but they hadn’t found one of the daggers hidden in her boot. The blade Shane had given her.

As they continued to march her down the endless tunnel, weakness began to drag at her. She’d lost a lot of blood and it was starting to catch up. She bit her tongue. Niki would be damned if she’d stop now, when she was so close.

They finally came to the end of the tunnel, and a door. The little girl opened it, pushing Niki into a receiving chamber. She stumbled and fell to her knees. The door closed, leaving Niki alone with the girl, another burly male vampire, and a wolf with ice-blue eyes flashing hungrily.

The room had been decorated in old-world opulence, with red velvet curtains hiding the walls. Two Victorian-era chairs faced each other over a cherry-wood table. And on the far side, a closed black door stood sentry with two people chained to the wall on either side.

On the left, a young woman, her short blonde hair streaked with hot pink, listed against the wall, held upright by chains. The kid, Robby, had mentioned a woman with pink hair tending him. He hadn’t known if she was a prisoner, but if the state of things in this room was true, the woman wasn’t there by choice.

She moaned, throwing her head back, and Niki saw the punctures on her neck. So, Thomas had his own little buffet.

The man beside her didn’t move. Niki wasn’t sure he was even breathing. On the right of the door, two more men slumped unconscious in their chains.

The black door creaked open. The vampires behind Niki grabbed her arms and drew her to her feet, then hustled her into the next room. This, too was decorated like the sitting room. But a bed took up most of the area, covered a red and black mosaic blanket. Niki gritted her teeth at the thought how the color would be good at hiding bloodstains.

Thomas sat in a regal chair to the left of the room in front of a roaring fire, watching dispassionately as she was pushed to her knees before him. Hands forced her into a bow.

Her forehead touched Thomas’ feet. After a long, drawn minute, the hands disappeared. She struggled to sit up.

Thomas reached out and traced his fingers down her jaw. “Hello, Dear.”

She fell back from his cold touch. “Where’s the sheriff?”

He raised a brow, waving for the others to leave. The door slammed shut with a finality that wanted to steal her hope. She refused it, though the weakness creeping through her made her thoughts fuzzy. Blood continued to ooze from the cuts and bites covering her trembling limbs.

“
I thought taking the Keeper might get you here. Did you like my little magic show? Heard you bumbled right through it.”

The dig couldn’t even raise her ire. “Where is he?”

“
Maybe I ate him.”

“
You wouldn’t dare, bastard.”

His eyes reddened and his fangs pushed his lips apart. “Watch your tongue.”

“
Why should I?”

Thomas snapped his fingers and pain shot into her temples. She gasped, biting her lip to keep from crying out.

Jumping to his feet, Thomas strode around Niki. “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me lately?”

“
A lot, I hope.” Her voice was a mere whisper.

He faced her once more. “Yes. I’d heard you’ve turned into quite a smart ass since turning. Wonders never cease. You used to be so weak. It was really quite pathetic.”

She said nothing, ignored his barbs.

“
Well,” he said, taking his seat once more. “You’ve at least kept things lively on occasion these last couple centuries. Unfortunately for you, I have no more time for your games of cat and mouse.”

“
Games?” she rasped. She’d been hunting him for over two hundred years, her very purpose to destroy him, and he saw it all as a game?

“
You didn’t truly believe you could ever best me?” He laughed. “Come, my dear. Even you can’t be that naive.”

Niki tugged at the ungiving tape on her wrists. Not such a brilliant idea now that she was the one trussed up. She sat back on her heels, and met Thomas’ blood-red gaze, moving her hands slowly as to not catch his notice. She slipped her fingers inside of her boot, wiggling them until she touched the hilt of her lone remaining knife.

Chapter Seventeen

S
omething finally pulsed along Shane’s magic. The opening. He surged power into the hollow and the circle around him cracked. With a wet, ripping sound, the darkness disappeared.

He sat in a cave.

The walls were covered in chains, about ten of them holding prisoners. And on the far side, silver bars caged another three, only one in their wolf form. The other two, a young girl and boy, stared at him.