Caleb (41 page)

You
cannot win.

Watch
me.

And
from Allie, her own personal war cry.
Fuck you!

That
was his woman. Grit to the bone. Strong enough to weaken Vincent’s hold. Strong
enough to keep fighting no matter what.

Caleb
felt Allie gathering strength. An incredible amount. More than was possible for
her to have. More than she could spare if she unleashed it all at once.
Instinct, vampire and human, said to drive her back, shelter her. Protect their
baby.

A
start of surprise rippled through Vincent’s shield.

So
she’s breeding.

Caleb
gritted his teeth. Shit. He knew. Adrenaline pumped. Rage hammered out the
imperative, Vincent needed to die. Icy calm centered Caleb’s purpose. He
searched the pattern of Vincent’s energy, found the center of the stream he
held, and drove straight up the middle, striking at the heart of Vincent’s
mind, expecting his parry, slipping around it, looking for the spot behind,
that tiny break that would flash. Catching it at it’s widest point, he thrust
through.

Vincent’s
howl echoed inside and outside his head. Caleb struck again and again, until
his mental gash gushed energy. Then he changed targets and aimed for the pink
markers Allie had left. Beneath each pink thread, the light spilled in a
rushing stream. Caleb didn’t know what Allie was doing, but whatever it was, it
was working. Vincent was hemorrhaging faster than he could repair.

Caleb
sent out a mental call.
Jared!

This
time there was an answer.

On
our way.

Allie?

I
feel her.

Get
her out of here.

How
badly are you hurt?

Bad
enough.

Shit.

There
was a pause.

You
okay?

Another
one of these wuss ass banditos.

Wuss
ass?

The
term fits.

How
soon can you get here?

Keep
talking and I’ll let you know. The place is a labyrinth.

Work
fast.

Light
flashed in the perimeter of his mind’s eye in a warning. The energy blow that
came at him was incredibly strong but wild. Caleb easily evaded it. Vincent was
getting desperate.

Caleb
wrenched at his bonds, the light surrounding the steel bands flickered and
weakened. He yanked again, the bones in his right wrist broke, but the band
broke. He absorbed the agony, freeing his feet with equally brutal yanks,
swearing when Allie’s attention immediately diverted to him, freeing Vincent.

He
rolled off the table, dragging her with him as the other man struck with savage
force. Steel groaned and rattled as Vincent’s fist punched down. Caleb shoved
Allie under the table. She glanced up. Her face turned paper white at the
perfect outline of fist and talons above her head.

“Stay.”

His
fangs made the order a guttural exhalation.

Her
gaze cut to Vincent. He no longer resembled the smooth, urbane gentleman they’d
met at the gates. Fully morphed he was as ugly as his energy. The ridge of his
brow thrust over his eyes, eyes that were no longer cold but burned with the
fires of a man who knew he was on his last chance.

Allie’s
gaze cut back to him. Her eyelids flickered as she caught a glimpse of his
face. Caleb knew he was fully changed and to her eyes must look as hideous as
Vincent. He didn’t have time to reassure her beyond a light touch on her cheek.
His talons were obscene against the delicacy of her skin. “You did good.”

She
didn’t respond with her usual humor, just a nod and a glimmer of something he
didn’t understand. Her blue eyes abruptly flew wide. A shadow passed over their
surface. Shit! Caleb twisted and blocked Vincent’s thrust, using the other
man’s speed to offset his balance.

Caleb
leapt to his feet, stepping back. Vincent followed, swiping at his midsection.
Caleb sprang back, away from Allie. Son of a bitch, he was fast. But not fast
enough. Caleb bent over, clutching his midsection and waited. He had only one
chance to make this right. He sent Allie a mental command.

Run.

Allie
got to her knees. The door was only a few feet away. Slightly ajar, no doubt
from the hopefuls’ rapid departure. She’d make it. That left only Vincent to
contend with. Caleb let his anger settle around him, draining his world of
anything but the cold clarity that sharpened his senses.

Vincent
was scared and determined. He wanted Allie. A breeder for the super race he
thought his genetics would create. Caleb tackled him mid-lunge as the man made
to cut off her escape. “No fucking way, you bastard.”

“She’s
mine.”

“Never.”

“Yes!”

“Caleb!”
Allie screamed in warning.

Burning
agony ripped through his chest, back to front. Once, twice. Son of a bitch. He
looked over his shoulder as he dropped to his knees. Four more vampires had
entered the room.

RUN.

Caleb’s
order screamed in Allie’s mind as he went down. The newcomers leapt onto his
back with evil hisses of victory. She held her breath.

Get
up, get up, get up!

The
chant thundered in her pulse as she watched the battle. Blood suddenly spewed
in a horrifying spray. Caleb’s or one of the others’? One of the lesser vamps
stumbled to the side.

She
released her breath. Not Caleb. Caleb was alive and he was fighting. Making the
ultimate sacrifice to buy time. For her.

She
dug her nails into her palms as she got her feet under her. And it would be all
for nothing, because no way in hell was she leaving him there, but what could
she do? Even Lara Croft would be no match for that much muscle. She needed
help. There was only one place she knew to look for it.

Slade?
Nothing.

Jace?
Still nothing. Damn. She took a breath.

Jared?

At
first nothing, but the void wasn’t as empty as it had been with the other
brothers. There was a silence that was something more. Almost invisible static.
Like maybe she wasn’t quite tuned to where she needed to be. She screamed as
one of the attacking vampires went flying, blood following from him in an arc.
The cry died in her throat as the second vampire, a black-haired monster,
landed a blow to Caleb’s side. Adding more blood to his already covered torso.
It didn’t slow him down. He launched the other vampire to the left. Straight
into Vincent. Oh God. She hadn’t even seen him stalking her.

The
order came again.
Run
.

She
stared at Caleb helplessly. She couldn’t leave him. He bared his fangs, no
doubt trying to scare her. Like that was going to happen. Beneath the morphed
form was a man ready to die for the chance that she and her child could have
life. It was hard to be afraid of someone like that.

Allie
refocused, summoning the memory of Jared’s anger that first day, locking onto
the determination she’d felt from him.
Jared!

Calm
smoothed over her panic.
Coming.

She
shoved back at his calm.
They’re killing him.

We’re
almost there.

Almost
wasn’t here. And Caleb didn’t have any more time. There were only two other
vampires and Vincent facing Caleb now. The other two were motionless, scattered
across the room like so much bloody debris. But Caleb was still standing,
battered and bloody, but he was standing, muscles tensed, head thrown back, an
image worthy of a movie poster with all that rampant masculinity, power, and
challenge. Her man. She stood up, took a step forward . . .

Get
back.

She
ignored Caleb’s and Jared’s combined order, frowning as the vampires converged
on him again. His blood splattered the wall. The agony flowing from him to her
unchecked a split second before he cut it off. The next blow Caleb took
shattered something deep inside her, releasing something primitive and feral
she didn’t recognize. But welcomed.

The
two vampires hauled Caleb up, imprisoning him between them, dangling him as a
gift for Vincent. A growl erupted from within. Her face tingled and numbed.

“I’m
going to enjoy this,” Vincent gloated, squaring off against Caleb as he
struggled between the two vamps.

The
statement echoed around her as reality shifted. Vincent’s image blurred behind
a strange light. She saw Caleb’s lips move, but she couldn’t hear. Sound
distorted. Time froze in a deadly tableau. Only she could move. Only she had
control. She drifted through the fragmented spectacle, focusing on Vincent. She
reached out. The light luminesced, flowing forward, toward the bright yellow
light that was Vincent, finding the black tendrils perverting his energy that
were so obvious now. So obvious.

Elation
boosted her rage as she slipped into the flow of energy, ignoring the
distraction of its discordance, focusing on the center pulse, pulling it into
her. More and more. An endless amount, expecting the initial resistance but not
the ease that followed. And it was easy, so easy to draw off his power. To
drain him. And so damn satisfying. More. She had to take more until there was
nothing left and Vincent was just an empty shell. A threat to no one.

“Allie!”

Caleb’s
voice slid along the edges of her consciousness, drawing her attention, drawing
Vincent’s. She held Vincent harder, too afraid to let go. If she let go, Caleb
would die. That couldn’t happen. Ever.

“I’m
okay, Allie girl,” Caleb said again, his mental touch stronger. “You’ve got to
let go.”

She
shook her head, frowning as her hold weakened. Vincent had to die.

Caleb’s
whisper in her mind was as gentle as his touch.
But you don’t have to be the
one to do it
.

No.
She couldn’t kill.

“Let
go, Allie.”

Hands
tugged at hers. She opened her eyes. And blinked. She could have sworn her eyes
had been open before, but they hadn’t been, because no way would she have
forgotten the sight of her hands wrapped around Vincent’s head, her talons sunk
like tentacles into his skull. “Oh my God.”

She
leapt back into Caleb’s chest, turning into his arms as she fought to erase the
image of Vincent’s lifeless body slumping to the floor, ten perfect punctures
staring back at her in accusation.

Caleb’s
left arm came around her. “Shh, baby.”

She
shook her head, her cheek sliding in the blood covering his big form. Then she
was saying “Oh my God” for another reason as she checked him head to toe for
damage. She cradled his broken wrist in her hands. Tears dripped onto the red
swathe, making clear circles in the crimson pool. “I’m so sorry.”

His
kiss landed on her head rather than her cheek.

“It
wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” she whispered.

“No,
it wasn’t.”

There
was no accusation in his voice. She heard footsteps. Jared and Slade joined him.
Both men’s clothes were torn and spattered with blood and stuff she didn’t want
to identify. Slade knelt beside Caleb. He dropped a kit on the floor and pulled
out an air splint. After probing the wound on Caleb’s right side, Slade asked,
“How many times have I told you not to drop your right hand?”

“I
was distracted.”

By
her. Allie bit her lip. “When did you get here?”

Slade’s
smile was more a quirk of his lips. “About the time you started sucking the
life out of Vincent.”

“I
didn’t bite him.” And the horror of that was greatest of all. Without biting a
man, she’d killed him.

“He’s
not dead.”

She
could have kissed Caleb for his habit of reading her mind.

“Going
to be in a minute though.”

She
quickly buried her face back in Caleb’s chest as Jared jerked the man up. He
hung limply in his grip, all sophistication gone. The scent that was uniquely
Caleb’s reached her through the stench of blood. She clung to it, riding the
rapid rise and fall of his chest, slipping her arms up his back, taking more
and more into her. Just needing something familiar to cling to.

“He’s
not going to kill him right now,” Caleb said so easily, so at ease with the
violence around them.

“Does
it make me a failure as a vampire if I say ‘good’?”

“No.”
His hand cupped her skull, his fingers curling into her hair. “It just makes
you human.”

She
ignored the small tug that was an invitation to look at him. “But I’m not human
anymore.”

“Not
strictly, but you’re still the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s
an evasion, not an answer.”

This
time she couldn’t ignore the tug on her hair. She tilted her head back. Caleb,
the human, looked back at her. She touched his cheek. “Your face is back to
normal.”