Crimson Groves (32 page)

Blah, blah, blah. At this point I completely shut Bronx out—you’ve heard one jerk’s leadership routine, I’m sure you’ve heard them all. I concentrated on Tyler and the prisoner. The familiar scent danced intensely on my tongue, like palm fronds whirring in a hurricane. Then, I got a much-needed break. The vampire turned his head and looked straight at me. I gasped aloud, interrupting Bronx, causing silence to fill the room. I immediately knew who it was. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d never forget that face after the interrogation he had put me through back at 7.

Brian’s eyes widened, recognizing me instantly. He looked weak and hungry, like he hadn’t had blood in days, or maybe longer.

“Abigail, this is Brian,” Bronx said. “I believe you two have already met. He never should have tried to help you. Soon he will pay for that. Very soon.” He laughed—deep, horrible, evil.

I didn’t understand how Brian had helped me. If anything, he’d intimidated me. “What are you talking about? This man didn’t help me in any way!” I slapped the table, anger growing, heat waving up my neck. “All he did was give me access to a blood donor. What crime was that?”

Bronx grabbed his hips. “This poor vampire knows too much. If you would have returned to his donor club, he would have told you everything and spoiled my plans for you.”

I knew it! I knew Brian was up to something. But why didn’t he tell me that the first night? What was he waiting for? “But you have me now! There is no reason to kill him for something he did not do! Please!”

Bronx lowered his hands to the table, evil eyes gleaming down at me like dark pools in a fire. Something twisted was coming and I waited for him to say it. My stomach clenched into heavy knots, pressing against my throat. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he finally spoke. “Oh Abigail, it is not me who will kill this vampire. You will be the one to sacrifice him for me.”

24

Missing Pieces

“I WILL NOT KILL HIM for you! I won’t kill anyone for you, ever! I will never do anything you ask of me!” I pushed up out of that chair so fast—too fast—and a wave of nausea swept through me. My head felt dizzy, disoriented. I couldn’t stop the anger. It was coming like a tsunami—towering, unstoppable. I tried to fight it, feeling fatigued and helpless. At least I was still on my feet. Now what?

“Abby’s right.” Tyler said. “You have her now. There’s no need to kill—”

“Silence! You will not speak again. You are here to serve me, and you are lucky that your fate will not be the same as this idiotic vampire after what you have done with Abigail!” Bronx’s voice roared loud, like a lion calling to its distant pride. He looked back at me, his eyes glossed over with rage. “Enough of this delay. It is time to take what is mine.”

Bronx charged over to me and grabbed me by the back of my hair, instantly lifting me off my feet. He brought my eyes level to his. I kicked and swung my fists, causing sharp pains to scatter around my head, but nothing seemed to faze him. I was too weak. Then I remembered he would need to look into my eyes for his mind control to fully work. As fast as I could, I looked away.

“We will just try this a different way!” In a flash, I was pinned against a wall, both of his hands holding my head. I couldn’t look away, I couldn’t move. He was holding me too tight. So I did the only thing I could. I closed my eyes.

He pulled my head forward and then slammed it back into the wall. And then he did it again. And again. The angrier I got, the weaker I got, and him slamming me into the wall was only making it worse. I knew once he locked eyes with me, it would all be over, so I kept them closed, squeezing tighter and tighter—like trying to remove excess water from a damp cloth.

I had to fight. I had to resist. Lily needed me. The vampire community needed me. Backstabbing Tyler needed me. And oddly, this stranger, the dark-haired vampire from 7, needed me. I’d always wondered what it was like to be popular. I guess this was as close as I’d ever get.

I couldn’t for the life of me understand what Brian could possibly know that would jeopardize his life so badly. How did he get involved in the first place? He was obviously not working for Bronx. No, that dirty job belonged to Tyler. The puzzle pieces kept coming, and the puzzle was so close to becoming something I could make out. Either that, or the whole thing was about to blow apart. If Bronx got control over my mind and then forced me to kill Brian, I’d never find out the truth. It would die with the mystery vampire from 7.

My head wasn’t slamming in the wall anymore, but it was ringing like a bunch of church bells going off simultaneously. Bright white lights swirled around on the back of my eyelids, like a laser light show projected on a screen. Bronx dragged me by my head, taking swift steps. I put up a bit of a struggle but it got me nowhere. He slammed me down on the table, in some awkward backbend position, smashing my head into the wood. “Open her eyes! Open her eyes, now!” Bronx’s voice was full of rage and impatience.

Familiar fingers gently touched my face, tracing around my eyes, then tugging them open. I was too weak to fight back anymore. Tyler’s lips mouthing “I’m sorry” was the first thing I saw. Then Bronx’s eyes were on me like moths to a flame. They burned with hate, rage, and a splash of the psychotic. I watched him (because I didn’t have a choice!) while I waited for his mighty power to subdue me. Eerie waves of pressure soared around in my head like nitrous gas at the dentist’s office. Here he came. This was it. I swallowed hard. I tried to blink. My eyes were hot, dry, like Vegas heat in the summertime. The pressure got more intense. The heat grew thicker, hotter, suffocating. I couldn’t take it anymore. I screamed. I screamed again. Loud—so loud, my voice shrieked with raw fear. I bit my lip, tasted blood. My blood! It’s still me! I’m not Bronx! The pressure slowly lifted like sails on a boat, until it was completely gone.

I relaxed, but not much since the position Bronx held me in was pure torture. His eyes hovered above mine like evil alien spaceships. He pushed me harder into the table, mashing my shoulders beyond what they could bear. He was going to crack my bones. No problem, they’d just heal back. That part I could handle; the whole weak and nauseous thing, not so much. Tyler gasped, distracting Bronx to the point that he released my shoulders. It didn’t matter—I still couldn’t move with Bronx on top of me. But I was able to glance at Tyler. His facial expression was beyond horrified: eyes wide, mouth gaping, eyebrows raised and forming creases on his forehead.

“IT IS NOT WORKING!! WHY? WHY IS SHE NOT RESPONDING TO ME?” Bronx shouted, voice deep, borderline lunatic. In one swift motion, he picked me up and tossed me across the room like a rag doll. My back hit the wall with a loud
smack,
and then I fell face first to the floor. Real graceful, yeah I know. I rolled to the side, attempted to get up, but stopped short. That dreaded nauseous feeling swarmed me like bees on honey, except this didn’t offer the sweet reward. So I lay on the ground, waiting, trying to anticipate his next move. But he wasn’t coming for me. His attention was on Tyler.

“I don’t know! It should work!” Tyler said, swinging his hands up and down. “I saw it in my premonition. We’ve done everything exactly as it should’ve been!” He pushed his chair back, hitting the wall, and stood up.

Bronx flashed to Tyler and backhanded him across the face, all in one whirlwind movement. Tyler flew across the room like a paper plane, landing a couple feet away from me. “YOU ARE NOT TELLING ME EVERYTHING! I HAVE NO REASON NOT TO KILL YOU IF THERE IS NOTHING MORE YOU CAN HELP ME WITH.” In the blink of an eye, Bronx was grabbing Tyler by his head. He chucked him straight into the wall. It happened so fast, I barely saw any of it. I tried to get up, to help Tyler, but it was already too late. Tyler lay motionless on the floor, the scent of his blood flooding over me.

I painfully pulled myself up, leaning back against the wall for support. Brief daydreams of crawling to Tyler and drinking his blood played vividly in my head. Bronx walked, in human steps, toward Tyler, eyes still filled with vengeance, rage, and death. If I couldn’t snap out of the blood haze and stop Bronx, Tyler was going to die. But oh he was still very much alive right now, his blood so sweet, tangy, and fragrant. All right, enough! We can dream about that later! “Bronx, STOP THIS!” I said, voice choked up but confident, not trembling. “I will help you! Don’t kill him! Promise me there will not be any more blood shed and I will help you!” I tugged the bottom of my red dress trying to pull it down, keeping a careful eye on Tyler.

Bronx took a few more steps toward Tyler. He was right there, ready to finish him off, but he didn’t. Instead he hesitated. His eyes flitted around the room; his nose twitched. Something was up. I could tell he sensed something. He looked disturbed, annoyed, afraid. “Your offer is not appealing to me in the slightest, Abigail. I do not trust you. You would never work for me unless I controlled you.”

He was right. If he took this stupid necklace off, I would kill him. No question about it. But why wasn’t he able to gain control over me? The necklace was on, which meant I couldn’t prevent him with my ability to block powers.
Oh my gosh! Stone! How did I block his ability? I had the necklace on then.
Perhaps I was powerless as long as I wore the necklace, but somehow, some way, the necklace not only made me powerless, it also prevented powers from being used on me—a two-way power blocker. Was that what Bronx just realized? Could it be?

The only way for Bronx to gain control of my mind was to remove the necklace. But if he did, I’d be waiting. Ready to fire back at him with all the power of fire that I could harness. Was that why Tyler winked at me? He knew all along that even though he would turn me over to Bronx, there was no way for Bronx to control me. He knew it when he put the necklace around my neck. Even though it would leave me without my powers, it would still protect me from Bronx’s evil plan.

“Get up,” Bronx demanded, “now!”

Still feeling weak but fueled by the latest discovery, I slowly pulled myself up. I tugged at the dress, getting it to stretch just a little bit further down my thighs. I tossed my head to the side, getting some of my hair out of my eyes, and looked up at Bronx. He was tilting his head like he was listening to something. His eyes were looking in my direction, but they seemed to look past me. I chose not to interrupt him and waited for further instruction—or perhaps another ass beating. Could this really be my lucky day?

After a short quiet moment, Bronx’s eyes were no longer distant. His full attention was back on me. “I should kill him right now!” he said. “No one lies to me and lives!” Drops of spit flew between his exposed teeth and fangs, several of them landing square in my face.

“But he works for you!” I glanced down at Tyler, fighting the urge to get on my knees and check on him, and then looked back at Bronx. “How can you blame him for this? He was following your orders!”

“That is what I will find out! You can trust me on that. If you want him to live, then you need to find a way to carry him to the bedroom. Now! My mind can change on this decision at any minute.” He turned abruptly, threw the helpless vampire over his shoulder (chains and all), and went out of the room.

Instantly, I jumped over to Tyler, dropping down on my knees, his blood tempting me like Godiva to a chocoholic. “Wake up, please.” I checked his pulse. It was steady. I gently shook him a few times and then rolled him onto his back. “Please, Ty, wake up.” His face was bloody. I wasn’t sure if anything was broken or if everything was, but he was definitely alive, his pulse rapping stronger than Snoop Dogg. “Tyler, can you hear me?”

Nothing. No response. Out of time. I scooped him up in my arms, holding under his knees and across his back, and pushed up with my legs. It worked, thank God! I was standing. But unfortunately Tyler’s blood was on my arms.
Just one step at a time. I’ll deal with that later. I can do this! I don’t want his blood.
Yeah sure, if I keep saying that I’ll start to believe it eventually, right? The nausea wasn’t making this any easier either. I’d have to take more blood from Lily. It was too soon, but just a little shouldn’t hurt her, and it would help me tremendously.

I walked out of the dining room, through the living room, taking careful, cautious steps. The gargoyle statues still stared down at me. What the hell were they looking at? I heard movement in the bedroom, and that worried me. Lily was in there alone. I sped up down the hall. The master bedroom door was open, so I walked in. Lily still lay on the bed with her back propped up by pillows. I laid Tyler down next to her, very gently, very slowly. I fought the urge to lick my arms. Lily’s eyes widened, slowly moving to the right and then back at me, like they were directing me toward the bathroom. I followed her lead and saw Bronx was coming out of the bathroom.

He stopped a few feet from the bedroom door and flicked his eyes back at me. “There is no escape for any of you! This room is secure just like the last one you were held in, Abigail. I will be back soon and when I return, you will be mine! At that time I will decide Tyler’s fate.” He burst into a sinister laughter, turned abruptly, and went for the door.

“Where are you going?” I shouted after him but got no response. The door slammed shut and then the lock engaged. This really was going to be our prison until he returned and killed all of us. Oh goody for me.