Crave (13 page)

Another werewolf attacked the male that had fallen, tearing at him.

The vampire who had been bitten on the arm barrelled into Callum and sent him crashing into the hard black wall at the back of the stage. Callum kicked out as the man reached him, catching him hard in the balls, and he hit the deck.

“Enough!” Antoine’s voice cut through the cacophony of shouts, jeers, snarls and growls. The sound of steel creaking under pressure had Callum, the two remaining male vampires, and the three wolves stopping and turning towards the source of the sound.

Antoine pulled the thick steel bars apart with his bare hands as though they were made of rubber. The formidable display of strength and the rage rolling off the powerful aristocrat vampire had everyone on stage staring, the fight forgotten. The three female werewolves slunk back towards the corner, gathering into a group so tight that the brown, black and tan of their fur blended together.

Antoine stepped through the bars and frowned at his dirtied hands and then at the two male vampires.

“I have allowed this to go on long enough,” he said, the calm edge to his tone unsettling Callum. He sidestepped away from the two vampires, experience making him move. He had seen Antoine in a foul mood and normally when he sounded as calm as he did now, it ended in bloodshed and then death for some unfortunate soul.

A squat fair haired man came to the edge of the stage. “Explain what is happening here!”

Antoine turned icy eyes on him. “The performance is off. I never would have agreed to this if I had realised this sick show was your intention. You requested performers, not victims. I consider that a contravention of our agreement. I suggest you and your companions leave before I decide to make everyone pay for bringing such a depraved and disgusting act into my theatre.”

The man didn’t move.

Antoine roared.

A few seconds later, Snow burst through the double doors, broken chains rattling against the thick metal and leather cuffs around his wrists, his overlong white hair bright in the darkness of the theatre. Javier rushed in behind him, wearing only his black trousers, closely followed by Lilah. Her chestnut hair was wet and her black bathrobe swamped her slender figure.

Snow looked around, eyes wild and searching, his broad bare chest heaving as he dragged in deep breaths, and spotted the source of his brother’s irritation. He snarled, his eyes flashing bright crimson.

Lord Hallebrand moved then, backing away from the immense, snarling vampire heading towards him. Snow was older than most aristocrats, his strength twice that of his younger brother Antoine, and his power unsurpassable. The audience made a break for it, fleeing towards the exits, leaving Lord and Lady Hallebrand and their son to fend for themselves.

Javier caught Snow’s arm and pulled him back, tugging on the broken restraints. It looked as though he was trying to restrain a three hundred pound attack dog as he grappled with a snarling vicious Snow, taking a few blows in the process.

Lilah leapt in front of Snow.

“Lilah, no!” Javier shouted with obvious distress at the thought of Snow hurting her.

The hulking mass of vampire stopped dead, his glowing red eyes on her, his snarls lowering to rumbling growls. Javier clung to Snow’s arms, holding them both behind his back, his dark eyes pinned to the back of Snow’s head, watching him. Callum didn’t doubt that he would seek to wound Snow if the vampire dared to even attempt to harm his mate. The Spaniard was fiercely protective of her, and Callum could understand why now that he had a woman in his life that he would do anything to protect.

Lilah bravely reached out to Snow, so small and fragile compared with the immense male, and gently laid her hand on his cheek.

Snow instantly calmed, his eyes closing and the sharp spikes of anger emanating from him turning to gentle ripples.

Antoine hadn’t moved an inch since roaring. He stood immobile in the middle of the stage, eyes glued on his brother, horror filling them.

Lord and Lady Hallebrand chose that moment to make an ungainly dash for the exit, their son hot on their heels. The two vampires opposite Callum fled too, throwing the stage door open so hard it didn’t swing back again.

“Snow?” Antoine said in a soothing tone and the large male vampire looked up at him and huffed like a wild beast. Antoine carefully approached him, crouched at the edge of the stage, and reached through the bars to his older brother.

Snow shifted his cheek to rest in Antoine’s large hand and closed his eyes.

“I did not mean to disturb you,” Antoine whispered and Callum turned away, leaving him to calm his brother.

He had more important matters to tend to.

The three female werewolves had yet to change back. He approached them. The tan and the brown one moved forwards, snarling and bearing their fangs, their hackles rising again. They were protecting the black one.

All three of them were injured, blood staining their fur. Was the third injured worse than the other two? He couldn’t tell. The wolf’s fur was so dark it obscured the blood.

“Kristina?” He looked at each wolf in turn. The two at the front growled at him again and took a step forwards, holding their heads low, their ears going backwards. “I am not going to hurt you... any of you.”

The black wolf slowly changed, her fur sweeping backwards to reveal pale bloodstained skin as her limbs twisted back into human form. She snarled and whimpered, and then curled up on her side when she had finished her transformation.

“Kristina.” Callum reached for her and the other two wolves lunged for him. He backed off again and Kristina pushed herself up, sitting with her legs tucked to one side and her arms crossed over her breasts.

“I had nothing to do with this,” he said and she looked at him through her tangled brown hair, her hazel eyes dark and cold. “Please, Kristina. You know me. I only source performers, never victims. None of us knew what was going to happen. We thought they wanted werewolf performers, not people they could treat like animals and abuse.”

His stomach turned at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t returned when he had. The vampires had obviously been ordered to break the werewolves and bring them to their knees before violating them, and possibly killing them. It sickened him.

It was one thing to act out something natural like a vampire hunting a human, feeding on them before an audience, giving the human their pleasure so they felt no pain and creating an illusion of death that would satisfy the vampire audience. It was completely another to violate and abuse a conscious creature, using it for sport and then killing it.

Vampirerotique hadn’t killed anyone on stage in years. It was easy to fool the audience into believing the humans died just as they had always done in the past. The scent of blood and sex when combined with the sight of a vampire feeding was enough to make even the strongest, oldest of his kind hazy with hunger and pleasure. All the vampire controlling and feeding on the human had to do was send a command for their heartbeat to slow as far as it could go and the audience were fooled.

It certainly made business a lot cleaner and easier. Everyone was happy. The humans were paid handsomely for their erotic dealings, just as they had been promised, and had their memories of the night wiped, the audience got their high from the blood and the sex and apparent death, and the vampire performers were well fed. No need to dispose of bodies. No conscience nagging him. Just the way he liked it.

“Kristina,” he whispered and sank to his knees. “Please believe me. When you disappeared, I didn’t know what to do. I looked everywhere for you. I thought you had been taken by those werewolves, and then by your pack. I came here tonight intending to tell Antoine that I would be leaving again straight away to track down your pack and find you.”

“You what?” Antoine turned on him and Callum ignored him. He muttered to himself. “I don’t need this. Not after Javier.”

Callum knew that. He had openly declared that she was his lover in front of a large group of aristocrats tonight. It would filter through to the others and then down to the elite vampires. The potential impact on their business was frightening, but not as much as the other problem that firmly settled at the front of his mind, terrifying him. His parents were going to be paying him a visit when they heard that he had a werewolf lover.

Bringing humans into the family was one thing. A werewolf? He wouldn’t be surprised if they disowned him.

And he didn’t care.

He would endure it if it meant being with Kristina.

“Kristina,” he said, trying to get her attention again. “Let me tend to your wounds. I only want to protect you. I love you, Kristina... and I know you love me.”

She cast her gaze downwards, crimson heating her cheeks.

He rose to his feet and stepped towards her. The two female wolves growled again.

“It’s fine,” Kristina said at last. “He won’t hurt me. He means it.”

“It damned well is not fine,” Antoine muttered and strode to the bent bars. He slipped through them and hopped down onto the red carpet. He took Snow from Javier and led his brother out of the theatre.

Javier looked over at Callum, smiled, and led Lilah out too.

Callum wasn’t going to celebrate the fact that Antoine hadn’t killed him, not just yet. He was sure that the older more powerful vampire would be requesting his presence in his office soon enough. He would face him when the time came, but right now he had to tend to Kristina and the other two females. They changed back, covering themselves with their hands.

He picked up the black velvet cage cover and tore it into three pieces. The two women took all three pieces from him, the blonde wrapping one around Kristina’s shoulders as she stood.

“Are you hurt?” He waited with bated breath for her response. With all the blood on her, it was hard to tell whether any of her wounds were serious, or whether it was just shallow cuts and the rest was blood from the vampires.

She shook her head. “Nothing more than scratches... just a little shaken up.”

He wanted to track down the vampires who had done this to her and butcher them for that reason alone. Fear still lingered in her scent and in her blood within him. He resisted his need to reach out to her and touch her, to comfort himself and soothe his anger by feeling her and confirming that she was alright. He looked at the other two werewolves.

“What about you?”

They still looked wary of him but both of them shook their heads. He walked towards Kristina and he half expected them to snarl again and force him away.

“I have a car outside.” Callum looked from her to the two female werewolves. “I will take you all to The Langham, all expenses paid of course, and will see to everything for you. I can’t make up for what happened to you here... but I can promise that you will all be safe there.”

The two females didn’t look as though they were going to accept such an offer from a man obviously involved with the theatre that had almost got them killed.

Kristina stepped past them and held her hand out to him. Relief beat through him and he slipped his hand under hers, closed his fingers around it, and sighed. It felt so good to touch her again. He drew her into his embrace and held her close, wrapping her carefully in his arms, reassuring himself that she was safe now. He didn’t care what the future held for them, or how angry Antoine was or how his parents would react to the news that he had fallen in love with a werewolf. He only cared that Kristina was safe.

“I love you,” he whispered close to her ear, aware that the two females were watching them and listening. He tangled his fingers in her wavy hair and leaned into her.

Kristina tipped her head back, so her cheek pressed against his, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you too.”

Callum closed his eyes and sighed, warmth filling him and urging him to make her say it again. He didn’t get a chance. She spoke before he could.

“We’ll need suites.” Kristina drew back and looked thoughtful, a wicked glint in her eyes. The sight of it reassured him more than anything she could have said. She was safe and unharmed, and wasn’t going to run away from him, but he was certain that she was going to make him and Vampirerotique pay handsomely for what had happened to her and her companions. “The best suites, and the best food, and the finest clothes, and no check out date... and the name of the bastards who set this up.”

He opened his eyes and looked at the two women. Their yellowing eyes held his, feral and dangerous, conveying their feelings perfectly. They wanted revenge too.

“Whatever my ladies want, my ladies will receive... including a vampire bodyguard. I will track the vampires with you and we’ll deal with them together. I want their blood for this too.”

Kristina nodded. The two women echoed her agreement. He wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders and led her from the stage, the two women following them. Vengeance would have to wait. First he had to tend to Kristina and her fellow werewolves, ensuring their injuries were seen to and that they felt safe again and on their way to recovering from their ordeal.

“I have your belongings,” he said and she glanced up at him.

“You really were looking for me,” she whispered and he nodded.

“I went crazy without you, Kristina. I had to find you and had to have you in my arms again. I came back intent on heading straight out to track down your pack and face your alpha. I never expected I would find you here. I’m only glad I got here when I did. I wish I had got here sooner.” His voice cracked as images of what might have been flickered across his eyes and he squeezed them shut, trying to push them away.

He was sure that Antoine would have stopped it if he hadn’t been here to do so himself. Antoine had seemed genuinely distressed by what he had witnessed on stage before the act had turned sickening. When the veil had lifted to reveal the three werewolves, Callum had felt the spike in his anger that pushed it into the volcanic zone. The vampires were lucky that Antoine hadn’t lost it and butchered them all.

Kristina leaned her head against Callum’s chest, bringing him back to her. “You got here in time, and that was all that mattered. You did a bad thing tonight didn’t you?”