Dark Awakening (9 page)

“I myself am no one,” he purred with an inviting half smile. She got the sense that he was trying to pull her in, to lull her into the same trance that Tynan had been able to achieve with merely a look. And yet still, she felt nothing, only the same bright panic she’d felt when she’d first seen him. Her unwanted guest seemed to sense it, and after a moment, the smile faded.

“I’m just the hired help.
Expensive
hired help, but my employers have excellent taste. And as for you… it isn’t
what you’ve done, dear Lily, but what you
are
that’s the problem.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His gaze was unnervingly direct. “It doesn’t really matter if you know or you don’t. You can bury certain things, lovely Lily, but blood can’t be denied forever. Trust me, it’s a fact I live with every day. Well, night,” he said, his mouth curving slightly. “I’m a vicious killer. And you are, shall we say, a woman of vision. Or at least, I’m assuming you must be, otherwise you wouldn’t have had Ty sniffing at your heels for days.” He cocked his head at her. “How sad. You really don’t know what you are, do you?”

And the hell of it was, she didn’t. She never had. As a child, she’d felt a power inside her that she didn’t understand, but she knew that whatever it was, it made her different, and not in a good way. So she had buried it deep, so deep that it could manifest itself now only in nightmares. But the miserable affliction that had plagued her as a girl, that had left her alone in the world, had never truly gone. What on earth it had to do with this man, Lily couldn’t imagine. And she wasn’t at all sure she’d live to see the question answered.

“Are you going to kill me?” she asked. The truth in his eyes was unmistakable.

“What I’m going to do,” the man said, “is be paid for a job well done. But I must say,” he continued, his gaze traveling slowly over her, “the pleasure I’ll get from taking you will be a welcome bonus. Such things are few and far between in my line of work. Still, it’s a living. In a manner of speaking.”

“What
are
you?” she asked hoarsely, every ounce of her common sense rebelling at the things she couldn’t
seem to blink away—the red eyes, the fangs, the pale and perfect skin.

His lips curved in a small, pitying smile. “My dear Lily, please. It’s not much of a stretch to figure it out, even if you don’t want to believe it. Would it help if I spoke in a bad Romanian accent? Not that knowing will matter while I’m drinking you dry, but I try to be obliging where I can.”

He stood then, in one swift and graceful motion that caught Lily off guard. She took a step back. Horror rose in her throat. This was really happening. She was about to be attacked by a…
vampire
. And Tynan, if he’d ever really intended to help her, was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t want to die. Please. I’ll… I’ll give you whatever you want. There has to be something I can do!” she cried, hearing the desperation in her own voice. When it came down to it, she would beg for her life. Oh yes, she would beg. She would scream.

And that was exactly what this creature wanted.

He chuckled again, a sound that grated on Lily’s ears.

“Dying is easy,” he said, striding toward her. “Nothing to it. But if you want to run, by all means, do. It’s so boring when your partner just lies there, don’t you think?”

Lily felt the reality of the moment crash through her system at once. Staying still meant death. Running probably meant the same, but she had to try. She burst into motion, whirling back into the hallway, her feet barely touching the floor as she willed herself toward the front door.

She moved faster than she ever had in her life. Time seemed to crawl sluggishly, every second drawing out into an eternity. His laughter echoing in her ears.

He was toying with her. She was only human, no match
for the strength and speed he would surely possess. Still, Lily reached the door, all of her will focused on the dead bolt that she needed to flip, the knob she needed to turn. Her vision narrowed until they were all she could see, all that existed. A strange sensation shimmered through her that had nothing to do with fear. It felt electric, like the charge gathering in the air before a storm.

She remembered this, what to do with it. Shreds of those memories were still within her, locked away in the dark. If she could just tap into that current, make the door open…

At the instant before Lily gave all of her amassed energy the final push she both feared and needed, several things happened simultaneously that sent the world from grayed-out slow motion into Technicolor hyperspeed. The front door slammed open so hard it nearly came off its hinges. Something big, black, and yowling like a banshee came flying in from the night. Behind her, a hand slid into her hair and yanked her back so hard her teeth clicked painfully together. There was a rending sound as her shirt was torn down the front, baring not only her neck and chest, now scored by her assailant’s eager claws, but also something else… something she had been taught at an early age to cover at all cost, now burning fire bright along her slender collarbone.

She saw her attacker’s eyes go wide as they lit on her strange tattoo, a mark she had carried before she had any memories, before her parents were ripped from her and she was thrown upon the mercy of strangers. She saw the instant of horrified recognition, heard the hiss as his lips peeled back to reveal dagger-sharp incisors.

As though in a dream, she heard Tynan’s voice.

“Damien! Lily, no—”

But she couldn’t stop. All of Lily’s focus, all of the power she’d drawn into herself, hit critical mass at that moment. With the door already open, its purpose lost, it had nowhere to go.

Nowhere but
out
.

She shrieked as power burst from her in a wave, tearing through the house with the force of a sonic boom. Lily felt her body bow sharply as the surge left her, her vision lost to a blinding flash of white. Pictures fell from the walls, glass shattered. The floor beneath her shuddered as though the Earth had moved. She was held rigid in the air for a single second, then dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap. The hands that had gripped her had vanished as soon as the power had let go.

Unfortunately, so had all of Lily’s strength. She lay there, dazed, drained, eyes closed, listening to bits of glass dropping to the floor. All around her was silence. She knew, in a dim sort of way, that she should get up, run. Her attacker could be anywhere.

But all she could do was stay where she was. This sensation was one she also knew, though Lily thought she’d locked it away tight. She had experienced it only once, and as a much younger child. It had changed everything.

Ruined everything.

S
HE KNELT WEEPING
in the middle of her ruined nursery, shattered toys littering the floor. A young, attractive woman watched from the doorway, eyes wide with horror, one hand resting protectively on her still-flat belly. A child of their own. An unexpected thrill. They wouldn’t need her anymore, Lily knew. Not with a baby of their own flesh and blood. They would send her away, the little changeling whose oddities were becoming too numerous to ignore. An embarrassment. What would the press say if they ever found out? They would send her away, and she’d been so…
angry
….

“Lily. You’ve got to get up, Lily. We don’t have much time. He’ll be back to finish the job. His sort doesn’t quit until they’re finished. Lily?” A pause. “You’re not going to blow me all to hell if I touch you, right?”

There was a tentative, shuddering breath, then a gentle nudge at her shoulder to go along with that rough-edged brogue she couldn’t ignore. She waited a moment to see if
he’d go away, if this would all just pass. Because she knew that when she opened her eyes, her well-ordered little life, the one she’d always dreamed of, would be over.

The darkness would begin to seep back in.

And yet, what choice did she have? As much as she’d ever had, Lily thought bitterly as she slowly opened her eyes. Tynan crouched over her, closer than he’d been since the night they’d met, silvery eyes full of concern and… something else. Something wild, feral. Something completely inhuman. His mouth was set in a thin, hard line. No fangs were visible. But Lily was certain they were there just the same.

“Vampire.” She whispered the word hoarsely, as much a statement as an accusation.

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. “Yes. Me and the other. I did warn you.” He frowned, and the ferocity of it might have frightened her if she’d had any emotion left to give.

“Why?” she asked dully. “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone?”

The unshakable conviction she saw on his face made her want to scream. He would not be leaving her here, and with that realization came helpless despair. She would have destroyed her house a hundred times over if it meant he’d leave her in peace.

“My queen needs your help.”

“I don’t have any help to give anybody.”

He glanced around, at what Lily was sure was the complete mess she’d made out of her pretty little house. His voice was dead calm when he replied.

“You have something, woman. That much is certain.” Then his eyes dropped to her tattoo—the snake, the star.
She waited, even hoped, for the same horrified look she’d seen on the other vampire’s face, waited for it to drive him off. Instead, he focused on it with intense interest.

“What do you know about this mark?” he asked. “Where did you get it?”

She glared up at him, hating the disadvantage her prone position put her in. “It’s just some stupid tattoo my parents put on me before they died, when I was a baby. Apparently, they were freaks. I’m not one. And if you’re going to try killing me now, too, you should probably just get it over with.”

He continued to study the tattoo. “Green,” he murmured. “And see how it catches the light, how it shimmers. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s just a stupid tattoo,” Lily muttered, turning her head away as embarrassment bloomed. So she had a glittery, green tattoo. She assumed the artist had been some sort of psychedelic genius. And she wished he’d plied his trade on someone,
anyone
, else.

She sucked in a breath at the shock of Tynan’s thumb, his skin cool against her warmth, as he rubbed slowly across the tattoo.

“It’s not a tattoo,” he murmured. “And Damien knew what it meant.”

He seemed to be speaking more to himself than to her, but still his words reignited one of her deepest fears: that the glittering green symbol inked into her skin meant more trouble in her life, when she’d done everything she could to insulate herself from it.

“That’s not—” she began, but stopped short before the word
possible
. If tonight was really happening, if Tynan was what he professed to be, then nothing was impossible.

Lily gritted her teeth and turned her head away from the searching gray eyes that lifted to look into her own. “Whoever you are—
whatever
you are—you need to call off the other creeps and get out of my life. I’m nothing. I’m nobody. And I repeat,
I can’t help you
. I’m not going anywhere.”

“The one creep, as you so accurately describe him, won’t be bothering us again. The other will return before long.” He shook his head. “There’s no deterring a Shade.”

The word sent an icy chill down Lily’s back. “Shade?”

“
Shade
is an old word for ‘ghost’ or ‘spirit,’ and the ones coming after you are just as difficult to spot when they don’t want to be seen. Shades are the most elite group of criminals in the vampire world. The most talented ones are filthy rich, and they’re all a bit taken with themselves. Damien certainly is. The highbloods, our nobles, use them for all sorts of dirty work.” He paused. “Like this.”

The thought made her feel ill. Someone had gone to that much trouble… over
her
? “Well, since you’re chasing me around, I doubt you’re much better,” she said flatly.

Tynan breathed out an exasperated hiss of air. “Do you really want to be here when Damien gets back?”

“What are my choices? Get eaten now or eaten later?” Lily asked, feeling as miserable and helpless as she ever had in her life. “Maybe sooner is better.”

She heard him sigh, a hollow, unhappy sound that almost made her look at him. Almost. But Lily knew that if she did, she’d just get sucked in again, unable to think, unable to resist him. She could feel him studying her, those odd eyes searching her face for clues about her thoughts. She could actually
feel
him, lurking at the periphery of her mind, trying to get in.

All of the vampire pop culture garbage she’d ever
ingested—movies and books, some bloody and all a hell of a lot more romantic than her own bleak reality—came flooding back to Lily as she lay there. She wondered which bits of it were true, what she might be able to use to get out of this mess. She suddenly wished she had some garlic. Or some holy water.

Or a nice, sharp stake.

“Killing me wouldn’t do any good, even if you could manage it, which you can’t,” Tynan said.

She glared at him. “Even if you can read my mind,” she bit out, “don’t.”

Tynan’s smile was grim. “It would be easier if I could. I’ve tried that already, though, and no dice. Your thoughts are locked up tight. Your expressions, however, are another story.”